Guild Wars 2

Exactly as in topic. I had about 5 months break from the game and I’m not sure how all classes are doing right now. Were any major changes implemented? And how is ele compared to other classes? I’m interested in everything but WvW
And is scholar zerker still top? Or meta has changed? :P

Ele is in kind of an awkward spot right now.
Its DPS remains the highest in the game, yet has taken more of less of a hit since some balance changes. The reaction in the forums was as you would expect from a nerf, but in the end it was not too bad.
The thing is: its supportive heal capabilities have also been cut, making it very squishy, especially if you’re into HoT content. Unless you have some sort of backup in form of a player that heals you you will have a rather bad time in PvE.

In Raids however, because such “Backup” is actually supplied in the group comp, Ele is an amazing class to play and is highly sought after because of its insane DPS.
Reply to Your edit: Yes, scholar zerker still has the highest DPS in the game

In PvP…. well…. If you’re here to kill people you’re kitten out of luck. Because the currtent Meta consists of classes that are very resilient to damage (like Necro, Guard, Ranger….) despite having high and, in many cases, unavoidable damage. You will need to run a heavy bunker/healer build just to survive longer than 3 seconds which will cut your damage almost entirely.

So… that’s what we’ve been dealing with the last few months. Pray for the next Balance patch to reveal a gem.

Yes, scholar zerker is still top. I can’t speak for PvP, but in PvE Elementalists are still quite strong. Only a few big changes come to mind-

Fractals have been updated. They upped health scaling base toughness levels, but got rid of toughness scaling completely. Essentially, while 4 Necromancers and 1 Druid is still a strong comp, it’s no longer 100x better than everything else, because power classess like Elementalist now deal much more DPS to make them on par or even stronger than condition builds.

In raids, Elementalists are still the top dogs in ideal situations, like Gorseval due to his large hitbox. against smaller hitboxes though, Elementalists aren’t as necessary anymore, especially since the buffs to Guardian make Scepter/Torch a very strong and easy power DPS class. If you want to know more about the raid meta, I suggest going to qT’s website, where they have updated optimal DPS charts for every relevant build, like staff and fresh air Ele for example.

I’ve only been playing the game for a few months myself, but if you stopped playing sometime in April, they changed A LOT OF STUFF IN APRIL. I won’t bother listing it here since there is way too much relevant information, both about Elementalist and pretty much at least a little of everything else as well.

Bonus tip: If you want to make gold, go into Auric Basin about 20 minutes before an odd hour in GW2’s time zone (can be shown on minimap if you turn on the option) and ask what a “Multimap” is. Then participate and enjoy anywhere a minimum of 5 rares per map in addition to a bunch of other loot and loot bags, as well as more bloodstone, empyreal fragments, and dragonite ore than you will ever need.

“scholar zerk is still top”

I don’t see how anything beats dragonhunter’s traps really.

In PvE, ele is the best dps while still having good utilties. So a popular pick for sure.
In both WvW and PvP, ele is mostly used as a healbot. It is a strong healbot but it definitely starts to feel boring now.

I’d say that at the moment the elementalist is struggling.

Exciton.8942:

In PvE, ele is the best dps while still having good utilties. So a popular pick for sure.
In both WvW and PvP, ele is mostly used as a healbot. It is a strong healbot but it definitely starts to feel boring now.

Only top DPS against a stationary target with a large hit box or against a stationary target at 1200 hundred range. Any other situation it is out classed. Utility is also wholely unremarkable being mostly just some group healing and fields\finishers that are unreliable due to all the useless fields every other class spams.

They changed the traits that affected skill cooldowns in the last patch to make it the same percentage everyone else has. This affected rotations of course, and everyone kittened because god forbid they have to relearn something in this game. Ele is still strong for PVE, end of story.

PVP I have no idea. Not my gametype.

I’ve had Ele experience in PvP for about over a month by now after the patch. Only 1 out of 100 players will be able to play like a god with it. What I nean by that is winning at least 70% of all 1v1 battles you encounter.

It’s very difficult to play ele, with the only really viable build right now being Fresh Air S/F. Demo ammy or Mara ammy, though Demo ammy is obviously easier to heal with. Have water/arcane/air specs, with water on 1/1/3, arcane on 2/2/1 or 2/3/1, air on 2/2/2 or 2/3/2.

Because water has a trait that charges cantrips faster, make your utilities cantrip-based: Lightning Flash, Armor of Earth, Cleansing Fire.

Cleansing Fire, Magnetic Aura, Water evasive arcana are all condi cleanse (3 condi cleanses each so 9 in total).

Cleansing fire has 32 sec recharge with water cantrip trait.

But water evasive arcana is the one you wanna look at.

Utilizing damage, condi cleanse, healing, defense, mobility, timing, and skill choice is crucial to your survival as ele in PvP with this build. It’s very MLG and the skill-ceiling is ridiculously high. If you’re a pro player use this build – you’ll love it

I personally run with Scholar’s for damage, and Sigils of Leeching/Blood for maximum healing potential. But even I am not able to efficiently squeeze out this build’s potential.

Edit: water evasive arcana only cleans off 1 condi, my bad

Abelisk.4527:

It’s very difficult to play ele, with the only really viable build right now being Fresh Air S/F. Demo ammy or Mara ammy

Uh.

No?

aerodynamique.5267:

Abelisk.4527:

It’s very difficult to play ele, with the only really viable build right now being Fresh Air S/F. Demo ammy or Mara ammy

Uh.

No?

This applies for PvP only, sorry if I was unclear.

Scepter for lightning strike / dragon tooth and phoenix / water trident / hurl, focus for protection / condi cleanse.

For PvE it’s a whole different story. Staff rules with a Tempest build.

Abelisk.4527:

aerodynamique.5267:

Abelisk.4527:

It’s very difficult to play ele, with the only really viable build right now being Fresh Air S/F. Demo ammy or Mara ammy

Uh.

No?

This applies for PvP only, sorry if I was unclear.

Scepter for lightning strike / dragon tooth and phoenix / water trident / hurl, focus for protection / condi cleanse.

For PvE it’s a whole different story. Staff rules with a Tempest build.

only if you are trying to min max.

Might want to just play it for yourself and come to your own conclusions. Seriously, if you go to any of the profession boards now and read most of the threads since the patch, you’ll probably be left with the impression that there is NO good profession to play.

Clasic Zerker scholar/strengh backline is still viable in wvw zergs (for the build, is whst I thing U want to know) … the other option for Zergs right now is Auramancer Ele with tempest (HoT) like front/middle line.

For roam, Auramancer is useful in small squads but hard to solo… Fresh air tempest is better for that, but still not ideal for solo roam.

Only thing ele struggles in atm is Spvp in a dps role. Every other game mode they’re either top tier or very viable.

Lalainnia.3598:

Only thing ele struggles in atm is Spvp in a dps role. Every other game mode they’re either top tier or very viable.

Scepter/Focus. Constant lightning strikes and fire attunement make some very intebse critical bursts.

Ele is underrated a bit because they’re glassy and hard for n00bs to play well; w/ a nerf patch ago. Latest patch helped bring Ele up a bit, or maybe nerfs to other classes was it.

I cannot comment for PvP. But WvW and PvE yeah; ele’s are great in both.

Eles strugle in sPVP and lack diversity (but i think thats a general issue of many classes). sPVP is unplayable outside of auramancer healbot build.
Pve is FA d/w or staff or gtfo. But yeah, we are top dps here.
Wvw i think we are still usefull as backline staff build, midline auramancer or roaming FA (well kinda).

Eles, if played right, are incredible in sPvP.

I am so narrow. I love Scepter/Focus fresh air but decided to theorycraft a build…

And Z0MG I just made a build that utilizes powerful bursts, very high mobility, very high sustain, very great support, and long-lasting boons!!

I think I just hit the jackpot with this build. Ever since I used it my teams have been winning (2-3 games so not a whole lot of experience).

I’ve tried it in 1v1s on 1v1 servers. It’s very very good. High ceiling too. Very high defense, very high healing, very high damage.

Scepter/Warhorn master race. I’ve yet to have extensive experience with it, but from what I’ve played with it, it has been absolutely powerful. I don’t think I’ve ever died in an sPvP game with it so far…

Edit: with more playing, condition users seem to be the only potential threat with this build, but otherwise everything should be good with the build

Abelisk.4527:

Eles, if played right, are incredible in sPvP.

I am so narrow. I love Scepter/Focus fresh air but decided to theorycraft a build…

And Z0MG I just made a build that utilizes powerful bursts, very high mobility, very high sustain, very great support, and long-lasting boons!!

I think I just hit the jackpot with this build. Ever since I used it my teams have been winning (2-3 games so not a whole lot of experience).

I’ve tried it in 1v1s on 1v1 servers. It’s very very good. High ceiling too. Very high defense, very high healing, very high damage.

Scepter/Warhorn master race. I’ve yet to have extensive experience with it, but from what I’ve played with it, it has been absolutely powerful. I don’t think I’ve ever died in an sPvP game with it so far…

Edit: with more playing, condition users seem to be the only potential threat with this build, but otherwise everything should be good with the build

You should post the build for a critique.

Abelisk.4527:

Eles, if played right, are incredible in sPvP.

I am so narrow. I love Scepter/Focus fresh air but decided to theorycraft a build…

And Z0MG I just made a build that utilizes powerful bursts, very high mobility, very high sustain, very great support, and long-lasting boons!!

I think I just hit the jackpot with this build. Ever since I used it my teams have been winning (2-3 games so not a whole lot of experience).

I’ve tried it in 1v1s on 1v1 servers. It’s very very good. High ceiling too. Very high defense, very high healing, very high damage.

Scepter/Warhorn master race. I’ve yet to have extensive experience with it, but from what I’ve played with it, it has been absolutely powerful. I don’t think I’ve ever died in an sPvP game with it so far…

Edit: with more playing, condition users seem to be the only potential threat with this build, but otherwise everything should be good with the build

And then you woke up, didnt you?

I hit 1.4m damage with this build in a random sPvP game topkek

I did a few pentakills with auramancer healbot build a few months ago. I am good, i am godlike, oh wait, i was playing against totally bad players in unrankeds feels bad

soulknight.9620:

I did a few pentakills with auramancer healbot build a few months ago. I am good, i am godlike, oh wait, i was playing against totally bad players in unrankeds feels bad

Although chasing a terrabad player while in lightning overload and they can’t seem to get out of the AoE is pretty funny.