Guild Wars 2

I have preferred raw fire to airs crits but what do others thnk is more efficient as a pure dps build?

I have more often thatn not had to turn to water mid dungeon to assist with healing.

To be most effective, you’re gonna want to switch between all of the elements frequently. I rarely go an entire fight without using all 4 elements just once; they all offer unique options for crowd control and damage (ESPECIALLY condition damage;) going pure DPS in this game just seems to be highly inefficient.

i switch quite often between Air, Water, and Earth only really going into fire on occasion but I go staff so fire does have some nice aoe’s and the roll skill is very useful but i find blind is much more useful

I have learned that the hard way. Especially in Explorer mode dungeons where every single mob is as unforgiving as a boss. I have often had to call on my AOE healing abilities just to keep us tipped up. AIR for its stuns and Water for its slowing. Fire when I just need to nuke. But I wondered if there was an advantage to someone using air as a dps spec and not just a utility spec. I hit as pure fire alot harder than they do.

Maybe I just don’t see alot of elementalists swapping roles like they should. It seems natural to me to help out where i can but i wouldnt go full air unless i had a specific role to play. Maybe a pvp role.

Well I am not sure exactly what weapon you are using, but since you said you were attuning to watching to heal then I am assuming staff.

When playing an Elementalist, it is best not to just stay in one attunement. You need to learn to quickly switch between all attunement to maximize damage while abilities are on cool down.

Swapping attunements is optimal. If you sit too long on any one element, you are losing out on the support, control, and conditions the others offer. Even in quick fights, I find myself using at least two elements, but in long fights I rotate through them all multiple times to keep the pressure on with stacks of bleed, burn, vulnerability, etc, and to benefit my team with heal/regen and fury and might that all get granted just for switching (traits are wonderful.) In the end, though, you need to find a play style that fits you and the situation at hand (I prefer double dagger, but I’m not opposed to bringing out my backup staff for long range challenges like group event champion bosses.)

That earth signet spell that keeps enemies in place alongside an Air starter helps me keep them away. Meanwhile, I burn them to death.

Very much what TigerDragon said. All of your cool-downs are independent and recharge even if you are not attuned to that element. I haven’t objectively tested this yet, but I would be very surprised if jumping between fire and air to utilise both sets of cool-downs didn’t offer considerably better overall damage (and utility in the form of multiple combo fields and control) than sticking to one. For me jumping between the elements encapsulates both the joy and the bane of playing an elementalist

I agree with MisterStranger here, incorporating DoT’s/Condition Damage from Fire/Earth is a good way to increase overall DPS. The phrasing of the original question seems to be emphasizing the stat bonus associated to each trait, though; in which case I recommend investing in Arcana as well.

Basically echoing what the others said, I initially thought I would stay in one Element 99% of the time, but after actual gameplay I swap quite often. Unless I am completing a lower level map, then I will usually stay in fire. (I think its fun)

I agree, you have 20 weapon skills, why would you want to limit yourself to just 5, especially with the long cooldowns on the last 2? I mean if I’m up against a random mob in the middle of nowhere, the I’ll probably just kite and bleed them with earth spells. For any serious engagements and mob swarms I switch between attunements as soon as all the skills hit the cooldown.

I do wonder how the damage of an elementalist has been balanced. I can only assume we are balanced in the sense that an elementalist that only ever used one element would be fairly underwhelming, it certainly feels that way compared to say my brother’s thief who can pull amazing numbers very consistently (though my combo fields do help!).

Agree ,totally. Its not been until about level 40 did I really understand this. Kudos to arenanet for making the Ele a truly versitile class in the Elementalist.

Yes im a staff wielder I still havent tried daggers as Ive heard this is the ideal weapon for single targetting. I cant say ive ever been a fan of sceptors right from the get go.

Using dual daggers, I always open with lightning (ride the lightning), then switch over the fire and the other elements. I generally use all 4 elements in a fight, unless I’m feeling lazy or fighting something weak.
Anyways, I feel fire is more useful for its damage. It has AoE and burning. Lightning however has a leap, a knockback (+free dodge), shield and weaken. Both elements are good and worth using.

As a D/D elementalist, I typically only switch between Fire and Earth. I use air for traveling / openers. I dont find myself in water that much.

Actually i prefer fire, since fire has this really nice and easy combo abilities, and acutally air cant compair to earth or fire dmg(earth even have the same or better cc abilits) -.- that is really annoying, only underwater the air thing does make really nice dmg ^^
(pve i normaly play sceptor/dagger or Dagger/focus, only use staff for pvp since there the distance equils the less dmg)

the way the elementalist is set up is like a cable package. you have to take a group of channels you’ll never watch to get that one you will.

I love what they tried to do here. I was an ele main in GW1 and naturally made an ele here.

problem I found was over the many weapon varieties and attunements i never found a set up that i felt lived up to it’s potential. I liked staff for earth and fire and loved daggers for water and air. Scepters i unlocked all the skills but didnt really spend much time with.

Every set up I used just left me feeling uneasy about what i wasn’t using. You do have to switch it up to use an ele effectively, but I think they’ve spread the ele out too much to find any real strength anywhere. I’m sure this is by design and agree with the reasoning, but it really put me off playing an ele.

Just to put the D/D is for single target only thought to rest … D/D has some really nice area damage, as well… it’s a matter of where the caster is in relation to the area effect that makes staff superior in certain situations. For area, fire has attack 1 and 2 (cone) 3 (line of fire) 4 (ring of fire), water has attack 1 (straight line) 2 (cone) 3 (small radius pbaoe), air has attack 1 (comparable to area affected by a one handed sword user) 4 (the burst at the end of the ride is area), and earth has 2, 4, and of course 5 is massive area, all pbaoe. On top of the area damage, water has 2 really nice area heals (2 and 5) and an array of entry methods (air 4, fire 3, and earth 3.) Toss in the various conditions (bleeds, vulnerability, burning) and as long as you don’t over aggro, you can take down a nice group of mobs in a short amount of time.

Air sucks. I honestly just use fire, earth and water.

ETA: Except when using daggers. Air is good with daggers.

one reason I don’t switch attunement much is that I have not figured out how to switch weapons in the middle of a fight. There is such a big diff between weapon skills for staff and scepter/focus. Water attuned staff does practically no damage. It’s all healing, which is cool in a big mob battle you can stand back from, but sucks otherwise.

I use staff, if it’s a single mob or a vet+ mob with a few friends I go through my attunement rotation trying to end on fire. Earth – Air – Fire, repeat

If it’s alot of mobs, I start with fire and try to end on air. Fire – earth – air, try to stay alive and running around alot At this point everything is after me

I rarely go into water unless I really need to get a mob off my back and everything else is on cool downs