Guild Wars 2

Hi guys,

Reading the current specializations do you think fresh air ele will be done for? Mainly talking about PvP.

A build with Blinding Ashes and Fresh Air will be interesting. BA’s internal CD is being reduced to 3s, making it a much stronger trait when combined with chance to burn on crit- blinding your enemy every 3 seconds which will be extremely powerful vs almost all classes. However the bolt to the heart change is a bit of a nerf.
Also now that you have to go all the way into a trait line, it will be a tough choice between water or arcana. Water will give undoubtedly higher dps, but you will lack the perma vigor and boons you gain from arcane.

Pretty much. Fresh air will do LESS damage overall, and gain some utility in the process. The net effect is that its just a worse burst build (and burst was all it really had).

More importantly, thieves and mesmers (the counter to fresh air) are getting MAJOR buffs to both damage AND sustain. It will mostly die b/c it can’t keep up.

If you want to play ele, tank up or go home.

one with air is getting buffed to 3s of superspeed. That and the blinding ashes buff I think it will be really good 1v1 and even numbered fights.

FrownyClown.8402:

one with air is getting buffed to 3s of superspeed. That and the blinding ashes buff I think it will be really good 1v1 and even numbered fights.

But fresh air is a zerker spec, meaning it is meant to burst and end outnumbered fights. This is why blinding ashes isn’t that great for fresh air, it doesn’t fit with the role. If you have a zerker built for 1v1’s, it gets destroyed in outnumbered fights and can’t hold on for help to arrive like something tankier can.

The utility of more super-speed is nice, but its WAY more important to be great at your role. In the end, fresh air is in a WORSE place (damage wise) than other burst specs at fulfilling that role, making the gained utility meaningless.

BlackBeard.2873:

FrownyClown.8402:

one with air is getting buffed to 3s of superspeed. That and the blinding ashes buff I think it will be really good 1v1 and even numbered fights.

But fresh air is a zerker spec, meaning it is meant to burst and end outnumbered fights. This is why blinding ashes isn’t that great for fresh air, it doesn’t fit with the role. If you have a zerker built for 1v1’s, it gets destroyed in outnumbered fights and can’t hold on for help to arrive like something tankier can.

The utility of more super-speed is nice, but its WAY more important to be great at your role. In the end, fresh air is in a WORSE place (damage wise) than other burst specs at fulfilling that role, making the gained utility meaningless.

well, scepter ele is already pretty bad at playing that role. Thief or ranger is still much more preferred right now. I have a fresh air d/f build that I use. its great but lacks sustain. The one with air buff plus being able to get all that condi removal and regen from water is going to make it really good. Now i can add tempest defense into the mix. Basically you build for high dps (with the ability to sustain) you use air 5 for a knock down, switch to fire and burning speed onto them and switch back to air when it hits. If all that crits you are looking at some pretty good burst damage.

i think it’s possible that s/f fresh air ele will become kind of a.. bruiser dps class.. possibly outsustaining other dps classes while not being as bursty. can’t really say as i’d have to test it first.. if it is indeed the case it could be viable for small scale even fights.

problem is, what fresh air needed was damage and survivability, not either or.

Jekkt.6045:

i think it’s possible that s/f fresh air ele will become kind of a.. bruiser dps class.. possibly outsustaining other dps classes while not being as bursty. can’t really say as i’d have to test it first.. if it is indeed the case it could be viable for small scale even fights.

problem is, what fresh air needed was damage and survivability, not either or.

Scepter just can’t work as a bruiser…the sustained dps even as a zerker is just pathetic. Also, not being able to cleave makes you even MORE vulnerable to burst builds with stealth as you have no way to apply pressure. Thieves have an insanely easy time killing a tanky, low-damage scepter ele b/c there just isn’t any defense. Maybe that changes with Anet making the class rely more on passive procs and brainless mechanics, but I doubt it. But it still remains, scepter is a crappy weapon that has burst and nothing else (except a lot of useless skills).

I do think a d/f auramancer bruiser that uses fresh air might be a thing, but scepter is a dead weapon. If it can’t burst, you are just wasting your time.

Stone Heart will be a big issue for any classes relying on crit and passive procs.

FRE (Fire-Air-Earth) will have more sustain to counter thief, mesmer, power ranger. FRW will have more damage and/or sustain to counter condi heavy and cele classes. Tempest defense and Blinding Ash are so good against CC, on top of multiple access to burning. If anything, abusing the damage modifier of Tempest Defense to set up a Gale -> Dragon Tooth -> Phoenix -> Swarp to Water → Arcane/Lightning Flash → Swap to Air, hit the three instant cast will net you some serious damage.

If Bolt to the Heart and Air Training are to be still the same, S/x Fresh Air ele will be too OP in sPvP.

Iris Ng.9845:

If Bolt to the Heart and Air Training are to be still the same, S/x Fresh Air ele will be too OP in sPvP.

In the current balance state, surely but everyone gets buffed significantly. Thieves with executioner, panic strike, residual venoms and sleight of hand or resilience of shadows. That just reeks of being potently OP.

Iris Ng.9845:

Stone Heart will be a big issue for any classes relying on crit and passive procs.

FRE (Fire-Air-Earth) will have more sustain to counter thief, mesmer, power ranger. FRW will have more damage and/or sustain to counter condi heavy and cele classes. Tempest defense and Blinding Ash are so good against CC, on top of multiple access to burning. If anything, abusing the damage modifier of Tempest Defense to set up a Gale -> Dragon Tooth -> Phoenix -> Swarp to Water -> Arcane/Lightning Flash -> Swap to Air, hit the three instant cast will net you some serious damage.

If Bolt to the Heart and Air Training are to be still the same, S/x Fresh Air ele will be too OP in sPvP.

fire line is not good enough to take and without water you will be weak against conditions so i would never take fire over water.

as for gale and combo.. believe me.. every decent player will stunbreak out of your gale as soon as you cast it and you can’t bait stunbreaks because shatter stone is just a daze. your best choice is to force 2 dodges and burst then.

Shocking Aura from Tempest Defense is also a good bait. Most of the class only have 1 stun break anyways. Every good player know how to waste stun break before combo. (But since not everyone is that good, Fresh Air isn’t really easy to play).

For condi cleanse, it also depends on the situation. Are you gonna 1v1 or in team fight. Are you gonna have Ether Renewal or Cantrip? Are you gonna engage in that battle or be useful elsewhere? etc…

The current 66002 played by top players doesn’t need all that extra “sustain” nor “damage modifiers”.

Thieves are very very vulnerable to condi. If they can’t crit you, the fight will be an endurance battle not on their favor. On the other hand, if you can land any hits on thieves, it will be enough of a threat to force them to withdraw. I don’t deny the power creep of thief if the proposed change ships. But I think Anet’s philosophy has always been : If it looks too stronger than the others, it’s gonna get nerfed and rarely the other way around. So bringing the argument Thief is OP so Are We won’t be convincing enough.

nobody will stunbreak shocking aura, especially because it triggers when you are stunned.

the current fresh air spec is 06044 and not 66002. even though 66 brings more power, but as i have said multiple times, fresh air doesn’t need more power (sadly it got nerfed for no reason…) but more ways to defend itself. if you want raw power you can play a s/d lightning rod build, you can oneshot people but your survivability is nonexistent.

furthermore will you get the power stats you currently gain from the fire line without having to go into it after the changes.

you can compare fresh air to the meta dps builds: medi guard, thief, celestial engi (and mesmer).

all of them can survive on their own and don’t need babysitting (except mesmer if there is an enemy thief). that’s the reason why they are meta, they are strong on their own.
fresh air on the other hand needs babysitting against thieves and other specs. if the changes can get rid of this, fresh air will be a lot more viable.

oh and there are no top players actively playing fresh air for their teams, at least not in EU.