Guild Wars 2

Hi,
So my ele is lvl 51, having difficulties staying alive and killing things quick enough. I have a lot of difficulty with more than one or two mobs.

Ive tried d/d and staff and maybe its just me but both have their pitfalls which make elementalist difficult to play.

Does anyone have any leveling suggestions? Gear/ stats / traits/ playstyle? How should I be going in and out of attunements for the different weapon sets?

It should get easier to play ele after the dec 10th update. If your wearing honed gear(power/precision) and having problems then try vigorous armor (power/vit). The ele as has had survival issues for a long while and we have been shoehorned into traiting for survival. The ele is also good at using combo fields solo and that can help.

About combo fields..it seems that I can either create a lot of fields, or blast a lot of fields. Never an even mixture of both

d/d you throw down some fire fields, then have to switch to earth to blast them. If you are in another fight 5-10 seconds later, your blasts from earth attunement are still on CD. So what do you do? You are very vulnerable at that point, kiting, just using other abilities. You feel very week then.

Same thing with staff really.

Try s/d and take advantage of its burst and range capabilities. Even though pve is very easy, playing very well as an Ele isn’t.

For just leveling? At level 51?
Throw 20 into Fire and get conjurer, throw 20 into water and grab yourself from cleansing wave and vital striking. Then put at least 10 into Arcana for renewing stamina and the rest wherever you want. Maybe 10 into earth for stone splinters?
Then get yourself that Lightning Hammer on your utility bar. I’d throw in Arcane Shield for sure on your utility bar. From there you have one of the easiest leveling set ups in the game imo. So good. Just spam that auto attack because every third swing is an AoE blind. Combine that with your soothing mist from sitting in water and you have yourself some decent survivability. Seriously, taking down multiple vets above your level and undergeared becomes very possible with this build.

Try this. I wholeheartedly recommend it. I even used his build 10/30/10/10/10 for WvW (armor & D/D changed only)

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/elementalist/Zelyhn-s-Advanced-D-F-PvE-Guide/first

Ed: Zelyhn explains everything in his guide. Strength, weakness, rotations included.

SkyChef.5432:

Try this. I wholeheartedly recommend it. I even used his build 10/30/10/10/10 for WvW (armor & D/D changed only)

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/elementalist/Zelyhn-s-Advanced-D-F-PvE-Guide/page/6#post3321237

Yea I run this set up currently with DD.
Ran LH for a long time though, just got bored with it.
Still easy leveling though.

since you are past lv 50, you are high enough to take the blasting staff trait, so I can recommend staff. 20 in fire, mostly just for the power, and 20 in arcana for blasting staff and elemental attunement

easiest way to kill things is to lay down eruption (earth 2) under your target at max range, and then swap to fire and wait for a moment, and then drop a lava font under it and hit it with flame burst before the eruption.

if it’s something that is already attacking you, you can do the same thing, except without the waiting part, and immobilize the target with shockwave so that it doesn’t run out of the eruption area

or if your attackers are melee, you can fight in melee range, running around the edges of your lava font area and dodge rolling through it. and since you have three dodges (thank you, burning retreat), you can do this for a long time. Speaking of burning retreat, it’s very useful to get accustomed to turning around right before using it, so make sure you have the turn-around button bound to something you can reach easily.
Frozen ground (water 4) also helps immensely with kiting melee attackers inside your AoEs

ranged attackers are almost even easier to deal with than melees. just drop lava font+flame burst under them and they will just stand there in it, while you can turn on magnetic aura and go have a cup of tea

Fire and earth (mostly fire) are the main damage attunements, but I’ll make a pit stop in air and/or water when switching between them even if I don’t need the utility they offer because skill 2 in each of them does good damage.

oh and probably the most important thing is to make sure all your keys can be reached comfortably. I never touch the F-keys. My attunements are 1-4 (and 1 is also bound to middle mouse, since 1 is hard to reach, as I use ESDF to move). so yeah, find a key setup that works for you. I found the default to be unplayable.

Lostwingman.5034:

For just leveling? At level 51?
Throw 20 into Fire and get conjurer, throw 20 into water and grab yourself from cleansing wave and vital striking. Then put at least 10 into Arcana for renewing stamina and the rest wherever you want. Maybe 10 into earth for stone splinters?
Then get yourself that Lightning Hammer on your utility bar. I’d throw in Arcane Shield for sure on your utility bar. From there you have one of the easiest leveling set ups in the game imo. So good. Just spam that auto attack because every third swing is an AoE blind. Combine that with your soothing mist from sitting in water and you have yourself some decent survivability. Seriously, taking down multiple vets above your level and undergeared becomes very possible with this build.

Ive tried this and had two issues with it:
1. If I wanted to melee, I’d just log onto my 80 thief or warrior or guardian.
2. After spending charges on the hammer to kill one pull of mobs, I need to grab the second hammer. And then its on cooldown.

SkyChef.5432:

Try this. I wholeheartedly recommend it. I even used his build 10/30/10/10/10 for WvW (armor & D/D changed only)

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/elementalist/Zelyhn-s-Advanced-D-F-PvE-Guide/first

Ed: Zelyhn explains everything in his guide. Strength, weakness, rotations included.

This guide is mainly for lvl 80s though. He said the core of the playstyle is the trait ‘Fresh Air’ which is a grandmaster trait that I do not have access to for another 9 lvls. Im just trying to get there.

cesmode.4257:

Lostwingman.5034:

For just leveling? At level 51?
Throw 20 into Fire and get conjurer, throw 20 into water and grab yourself from cleansing wave and vital striking. Then put at least 10 into Arcana for renewing stamina and the rest wherever you want. Maybe 10 into earth for stone splinters?
Then get yourself that Lightning Hammer on your utility bar. I’d throw in Arcane Shield for sure on your utility bar. From there you have one of the easiest leveling set ups in the game imo. So good. Just spam that auto attack because every third swing is an AoE blind. Combine that with your soothing mist from sitting in water and you have yourself some decent survivability. Seriously, taking down multiple vets above your level and undergeared becomes very possible with this build.

Ive tried this and had two issues with it:
1. If I wanted to melee, I’d just log onto my 80 thief or warrior or guardian.
2. After spending charges on the hammer to kill one pull of mobs, I need to grab the second hammer. And then its on cooldown.

1. The point is to have an easy time leveling and one of the highest DPS’s in game for dungeons. This build will give you the easiest time leveling and get you used to being a squishy in melee. Also, as you will well find out, this game encourages getting within 600 range. Sorry, if you wanted a pure ranged class you will be suffering no matter what. MH Dagger? That’s melee. Guang’s Staff? He encourages being in melee with staff with Stone Splinters for that damage benefit plus the might stacks you get from your constant fire fields. S/D? Yea you can do some at a little range but you’re away from teammates dropping blast combos. Additionally your own combo rotation will have you in melee very often.
tl;dr GW2 is fought in melee, get used to it.
2. Having run the LH build into the ground, that isn’t an issue. You reset before your second hammer is used up. Even if it is or someone else grabs it you can drop a combo rotation for might stacks and then drop into Air to bide out your LH cd which is really fine because Air autoattack in MH Dagger or Sceptor are decidely solid, especially so with MH Dagger.
tl;dr Isn’t an issue practically speaking.

cesmode.4257:

Lostwingman.5034:

For just leveling? At level 51?
Throw 20 into Fire and get conjurer, throw 20 into water and grab yourself from cleansing wave and vital striking. Then put at least 10 into Arcana for renewing stamina and the rest wherever you want. Maybe 10 into earth for stone splinters?
Then get yourself that Lightning Hammer on your utility bar. I’d throw in Arcane Shield for sure on your utility bar. From there you have one of the easiest leveling set ups in the game imo. So good. Just spam that auto attack because every third swing is an AoE blind. Combine that with your soothing mist from sitting in water and you have yourself some decent survivability. Seriously, taking down multiple vets above your level and undergeared becomes very possible with this build.

Ive tried this and had two issues with it:
1. If I wanted to melee, I’d just log onto my 80 thief or warrior or guardian.
2. After spending charges on the hammer to kill one pull of mobs, I need to grab the second hammer. And then its on cooldown.

To be fair, it is working wonders for me, even without Conjurer trait (the AoE blindness helps quite a bit). I use both the hammer and the greatsword for bigger challenges. Of course, I understand that it may not suit your playstyle, but it’s fun for my particular character concept. If you don’t like melee that much, daggers will feel awkward, though they are powerful. I love the focus too, because it does adds tons of survivability IMHO (currently using Scepter/Focus, though Dagger Focus also works for me-I am also leveling as you do.) There’s nothing wrong with the Staff or the ranged combat you prefer, of course, but the Hammer hits hard and gets rid of annoying stuff quickly.

(I admit it may be a particularly cumbersome playing style while leveling on the PvE map, but it does work for me-if it sucks for you, because of grabbing weapons, etc. I totally understand.)

And even then, I cannot (or should not) do the same miraculous tasks I do on my Warrior or Guardian (especially the latter), taking tons of enemies on my own. At this low level point, I limit myself to perhaps no more than 5 enemies IF I can help it, using Focus utility skills as needed for survival. I have tried, as I am used to challenging myself, but sometimes I am just too weak to survive too many attacks. I did solo one Ogre Champion at Fields of Ruin, but he was slow and easy to kite, and I am sure all of us could have done that. As long as you are careful and mind your survivability, you’ll be fine-it gets better and better (the game got so much better/easier after I reached 40, for instance.) I just take for granted that it’s a different Profession which offer many advantages (and disadvantages) that my hardier characters don’t have (otherwise I would break my computer when frustrated, because I hate Ele downed mode so much vs other my other Professions.)

cesmode.4257:

SkyChef.5432:

Try this. I wholeheartedly recommend it. I even used his build 10/30/10/10/10 for WvW (armor & D/D changed only)

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/elementalist/Zelyhn-s-Advanced-D-F-PvE-Guide/first

Ed: Zelyhn explains everything in his guide. Strength, weakness, rotations included.

This guide is mainly for lvl 80s though. He said the core of the playstyle is the trait ‘Fresh Air’ which is a grandmaster trait that I do not have access to for another 9 lvls. Im just trying to get there.

Sorry. I overlooked your level.
I would still suggest using that to level up. You probably just use the 1st 40 pts to 10/20/0/10 and working toward to get First Air.
Dealing w/ mobs in low level areas is all about knock down, chill and stun them so you just put some rotations having maximum accessed to those. I normally run D/D so I would work on a rotation like this:

Fire 3 > Fire 4 > Earth 4 > Earth 2 > Air 4 > Air 5 > Air 1 couple times > Water 3 > Water 4 > (Water 5 if needed) then back to Fire 3.

If you want to use LH, then have fun w/ it and put it in your rotation by using LH5 first.

I have 6 classes but necro & engie and I melee everything in GW2 w/ a very few exceptions so I am definitely bias toward melee on all of my characters. If you think only war & guard can melee, then I really can’t help you, because I am really bad at ranging, except w/ my ranger when I farmed materials.

Lostwingman.5034:

cesmode.4257:

Lostwingman.5034:

For just leveling? At level 51?
Throw 20 into Fire and get conjurer, throw 20 into water and grab yourself from cleansing wave and vital striking. Then put at least 10 into Arcana for renewing stamina and the rest wherever you want. Maybe 10 into earth for stone splinters?
Then get yourself that Lightning Hammer on your utility bar. I’d throw in Arcane Shield for sure on your utility bar. From there you have one of the easiest leveling set ups in the game imo. So good. Just spam that auto attack because every third swing is an AoE blind. Combine that with your soothing mist from sitting in water and you have yourself some decent survivability. Seriously, taking down multiple vets above your level and undergeared becomes very possible with this build.

Ive tried this and had two issues with it:
1. If I wanted to melee, I’d just log onto my 80 thief or warrior or guardian.
2. After spending charges on the hammer to kill one pull of mobs, I need to grab the second hammer. And then its on cooldown.

1. The point is to have an easy time leveling and one of the highest DPS’s in game for dungeons. This build will give you the easiest time leveling and get you used to being a squishy in melee. Also, as you will well find out, this game encourages getting within 600 range. Sorry, if you wanted a pure ranged class you will be suffering no matter what. MH Dagger? That’s melee. Guang’s Staff? He encourages being in melee with staff with Stone Splinters for that damage benefit plus the might stacks you get from your constant fire fields. S/D? Yea you can do some at a little range but you’re away from teammates dropping blast combos. Additionally your own combo rotation will have you in melee very often.
tl;dr GW2 is fought in melee, get used to it.
2. Having run the LH build into the ground, that isn’t an issue. You reset before your second hammer is used up. Even if it is or someone else grabs it you can drop a combo rotation for might stacks and then drop into Air to bide out your LH cd which is really fine because Air autoattack in MH Dagger or Sceptor are decidely solid, especially so with MH Dagger.
tl;dr Isn’t an issue practically speaking.

I disagree that GW2 is all about melee combat, though of course I agree it generally does the most damage and tends to be the most effective strategy for most encounters (shared boons, etc.) But the way you put it seem like an exaggeration, much like those people who say GW2 is all DPS and nothing else matters-an oversimplification (no offense intended.)

I do admit Elementalist is easier (for me, that is) with Conjured weapons, even on the PvE map, though I wouldn’t fault any player for not liking the playstyle. I wouldn’t know what to tell the OP other than being patient and avoid expecting similar results vs his/her other Professions, especially since they tend to be much easier and simple to play, at least theoretically speaking, and as he/she keeps learning the Profession.

Star Ace.5207:

Lostwingman.5034:

cesmode.4257:

Lostwingman.5034:

For just leveling? At level 51?
Throw 20 into Fire and get conjurer, throw 20 into water and grab yourself from cleansing wave and vital striking. Then put at least 10 into Arcana for renewing stamina and the rest wherever you want. Maybe 10 into earth for stone splinters?
Then get yourself that Lightning Hammer on your utility bar. I’d throw in Arcane Shield for sure on your utility bar. From there you have one of the easiest leveling set ups in the game imo. So good. Just spam that auto attack because every third swing is an AoE blind. Combine that with your soothing mist from sitting in water and you have yourself some decent survivability. Seriously, taking down multiple vets above your level and undergeared becomes very possible with this build.

Ive tried this and had two issues with it:
1. If I wanted to melee, I’d just log onto my 80 thief or warrior or guardian.
2. After spending charges on the hammer to kill one pull of mobs, I need to grab the second hammer. And then its on cooldown.

1. The point is to have an easy time leveling and one of the highest DPS’s in game for dungeons. This build will give you the easiest time leveling and get you used to being a squishy in melee. Also, as you will well find out, this game encourages getting within 600 range. Sorry, if you wanted a pure ranged class you will be suffering no matter what. MH Dagger? That’s melee. Guang’s Staff? He encourages being in melee with staff with Stone Splinters for that damage benefit plus the might stacks you get from your constant fire fields. S/D? Yea you can do some at a little range but you’re away from teammates dropping blast combos. Additionally your own combo rotation will have you in melee very often.
tl;dr GW2 is fought in melee, get used to it.
2. Having run the LH build into the ground, that isn’t an issue. You reset before your second hammer is used up. Even if it is or someone else grabs it you can drop a combo rotation for might stacks and then drop into Air to bide out your LH cd which is really fine because Air autoattack in MH Dagger or Sceptor are decidely solid, especially so with MH Dagger.
tl;dr Isn’t an issue practically speaking.

I disagree that GW2 is all about melee combat, though of course I agree it generally does the most damage and tends to be the most effective strategy for most encounters (shared boons, etc.) But the way you put it seem like an exaggeration, much like those people who say GW2 is all DPS and nothing else matters-an oversimplification (no offense intended.)

I do admit Elementalist is easier (for me, that is) with Conjured weapons, even on the PvE map, though I wouldn’t fault any player for not liking the playstyle. I wouldn’t know what to tell the OP other than being patient and avoid expecting similar results vs his/her other Professions, especially since they tend to be much easier and simple to play, at least theoretically speaking, and as he/she keeps learning the Profession.

In terms of PvE, there is nothing inaccurate with what I said.

Lostwingman.5034:

Star Ace.5207:

Lostwingman.5034:

cesmode.4257:

Lostwingman.5034:

For just leveling? At level 51?
Throw 20 into Fire and get conjurer, throw 20 into water and grab yourself from cleansing wave and vital striking. Then put at least 10 into Arcana for renewing stamina and the rest wherever you want. Maybe 10 into earth for stone splinters?
Then get yourself that Lightning Hammer on your utility bar. I’d throw in Arcane Shield for sure on your utility bar. From there you have one of the easiest leveling set ups in the game imo. So good. Just spam that auto attack because every third swing is an AoE blind. Combine that with your soothing mist from sitting in water and you have yourself some decent survivability. Seriously, taking down multiple vets above your level and undergeared becomes very possible with this build.

Ive tried this and had two issues with it:
1. If I wanted to melee, I’d just log onto my 80 thief or warrior or guardian.
2. After spending charges on the hammer to kill one pull of mobs, I need to grab the second hammer. And then its on cooldown.

1. The point is to have an easy time leveling and one of the highest DPS’s in game for dungeons. This build will give you the easiest time leveling and get you used to being a squishy in melee. Also, as you will well find out, this game encourages getting within 600 range. Sorry, if you wanted a pure ranged class you will be suffering no matter what. MH Dagger? That’s melee. Guang’s Staff? He encourages being in melee with staff with Stone Splinters for that damage benefit plus the might stacks you get from your constant fire fields. S/D? Yea you can do some at a little range but you’re away from teammates dropping blast combos. Additionally your own combo rotation will have you in melee very often.
tl;dr GW2 is fought in melee, get used to it.
2. Having run the LH build into the ground, that isn’t an issue. You reset before your second hammer is used up. Even if it is or someone else grabs it you can drop a combo rotation for might stacks and then drop into Air to bide out your LH cd which is really fine because Air autoattack in MH Dagger or Sceptor are decidely solid, especially so with MH Dagger.
tl;dr Isn’t an issue practically speaking.

I disagree that GW2 is all about melee combat, though of course I agree it generally does the most damage and tends to be the most effective strategy for most encounters (shared boons, etc.) But the way you put it seem like an exaggeration, much like those people who say GW2 is all DPS and nothing else matters-an oversimplification (no offense intended.)

I do admit Elementalist is easier (for me, that is) with Conjured weapons, even on the PvE map, though I wouldn’t fault any player for not liking the playstyle. I wouldn’t know what to tell the OP other than being patient and avoid expecting similar results vs his/her other Professions, especially since they tend to be much easier and simple to play, at least theoretically speaking, and as he/she keeps learning the Profession.

In terms of PvE, there is nothing inaccurate with what I said.

“Nothing” is an absolute. That’s why it’s inaccurate, but don’t take it personally, as I doubt you are the kind of person to think like I do, and we’ll never agree on this.

reikken.4961:

since you are past lv 50, you are high enough to take the blasting staff trait, so I can recommend staff. 20 in fire, mostly just for the power, and 20 in arcana for blasting staff and elemental attunement

easiest way to kill things is to lay down eruption (earth 2) under your target at max range, and then swap to fire and wait for a moment, and then drop a lava font under it and hit it with flame burst before the eruption.

if it’s something that is already attacking you, you can do the same thing, except without the waiting part, and immobilize the target with shockwave so that it doesn’t run out of the eruption area

or if your attackers are melee, you can fight in melee range, running around the edges of your lava font area and dodge rolling through it. and since you have three dodges (thank you, burning retreat), you can do this for a long time. Speaking of burning retreat, it’s very useful to get accustomed to turning around right before using it, so make sure you have the turn-around button bound to something you can reach easily.
Frozen ground (water 4) also helps immensely with kiting melee attackers inside your AoEs

ranged attackers are almost even easier to deal with than melees. just drop lava font+flame burst under them and they will just stand there in it, while you can turn on magnetic aura and go have a cup of tea

Fire and earth (mostly fire) are the main damage attunements, but I’ll make a pit stop in air and/or water when switching between them even if I don’t need the utility they offer because skill 2 in each of them does good damage.

oh and probably the most important thing is to make sure all your keys can be reached comfortably. I never touch the F-keys. My attunements are 1-4 (and 1 is also bound to middle mouse, since 1 is hard to reach, as I use ESDF to move). so yeah, find a key setup that works for you. I found the default to be unplayable.

This is helping a little bit. Thanks

Still could use some alternate playstyles.

Star Ace.5207:

Lostwingman.5034:

Star Ace.5207:

Lostwingman.5034:

cesmode.4257:

Lostwingman.5034:

For just leveling? At level 51?
Throw 20 into Fire and get conjurer, throw 20 into water and grab yourself from cleansing wave and vital striking. Then put at least 10 into Arcana for renewing stamina and the rest wherever you want. Maybe 10 into earth for stone splinters?
Then get yourself that Lightning Hammer on your utility bar. I’d throw in Arcane Shield for sure on your utility bar. From there you have one of the easiest leveling set ups in the game imo. So good. Just spam that auto attack because every third swing is an AoE blind. Combine that with your soothing mist from sitting in water and you have yourself some decent survivability. Seriously, taking down multiple vets above your level and undergeared becomes very possible with this build.

Ive tried this and had two issues with it:
1. If I wanted to melee, I’d just log onto my 80 thief or warrior or guardian.
2. After spending charges on the hammer to kill one pull of mobs, I need to grab the second hammer. And then its on cooldown.

1. The point is to have an easy time leveling and one of the highest DPS’s in game for dungeons. This build will give you the easiest time leveling and get you used to being a squishy in melee. Also, as you will well find out, this game encourages getting within 600 range. Sorry, if you wanted a pure ranged class you will be suffering no matter what. MH Dagger? That’s melee. Guang’s Staff? He encourages being in melee with staff with Stone Splinters for that damage benefit plus the might stacks you get from your constant fire fields. S/D? Yea you can do some at a little range but you’re away from teammates dropping blast combos. Additionally your own combo rotation will have you in melee very often.
tl;dr GW2 is fought in melee, get used to it.
2. Having run the LH build into the ground, that isn’t an issue. You reset before your second hammer is used up. Even if it is or someone else grabs it you can drop a combo rotation for might stacks and then drop into Air to bide out your LH cd which is really fine because Air autoattack in MH Dagger or Sceptor are decidely solid, especially so with MH Dagger.
tl;dr Isn’t an issue practically speaking.

I disagree that GW2 is all about melee combat, though of course I agree it generally does the most damage and tends to be the most effective strategy for most encounters (shared boons, etc.) But the way you put it seem like an exaggeration, much like those people who say GW2 is all DPS and nothing else matters-an oversimplification (no offense intended.)

I do admit Elementalist is easier (for me, that is) with Conjured weapons, even on the PvE map, though I wouldn’t fault any player for not liking the playstyle. I wouldn’t know what to tell the OP other than being patient and avoid expecting similar results vs his/her other Professions, especially since they tend to be much easier and simple to play, at least theoretically speaking, and as he/she keeps learning the Profession.

In terms of PvE, there is nothing inaccurate with what I said.

“Nothing” is an absolute. That’s why it’s inaccurate, but don’t take it personally, as I doubt you are the kind of person to think like I do, and we’ll never agree on this.

5 is a greater whole number than 4.
Wow, an absolute.
The fact of the matter is you get more out of playing close to your allies in PvE, where are they? usually in melee barring some kind of boss mechanic. This isn’t really a disputed matter. Sure you can play back and do your thing but you’re going to be missing out and not getting the most out of the class. You’re basically arguing my “it’s most effective this way” with “I can do what I want!”.