Guild Wars 2

Hi there,
I was wondering if there is a topic already out there, which helps a player (especially an ele) to find out how to counter the current builds of other classes, especially those which are particularly annoying for an ele (mesmer and thief imho). If not, maybe some of the more experienced players can give some tips as to how to be victorious in a 1v1 scenario .

I am not a total noob, but possibly quite close to it so I don’t really know how the typical thief or mesmer build works and which animation I have to connect to which action or which skill rotation is going to happen and when to interrupt best. I am constantly reading that ele has probably the highest potential and when played by a really good player can hold his own against any class. So I am just trying to improve to that point.

Eles should eat Thieves alive to be honest.
Mesmers, they are harder but not impossible (unless they’re PU specced).

Anyway, please provide the build and weaponset you (at least intend to) use, as the strategies are different.

PU specced aren’t impossible at all.

Shatter mesmers are the biggest threat for eles because they are basically just purple purple boon strippers. On D/D keep in melee range and try to keep burning up on them since they have poor condition removal, and use a can trip if they try to blur frenzy you, or just dodge.

On S/F, kiting GS is counterproductive so get close and burst them to bits.

On staff, mesmers are a bit harder but spam all the AoE damage skills with low cast time to at least get an area of denial for their illusions, but since they’re at range and won’t be on point generally, it will be a much harder match up.

Thanks for the answers so far. I am usually running the standard 0/0/2/6/6 cantrip d/d ele. What are your worst match ups, if you think an ele should eat thieves alive? I am talking about spvp btw.

For me personally, good Warriors hammer / double sword or axe + shield are giving me a really hard time. The thing is hammer’s cooldowns are way too short, it’s ludicrous. You don’t have your cantrips up all the time where the perma disabling NEVER stops when you face a hammer warrior. Hammer simply does way too much damages (2-3k per skill) WHILE stunning. I can only play to survive once they switch to hammer, it’s just impossible to focus on dealing damages while you have to think about dodging EVERY cc spell. And even when you dodge accordinly, SEVEN seconds later and you eat another earthshaker… The upcoming nerf should balance that matchup out a bit I think.
Also had some troubles against 2-3 Necros. Necro is the only class I didn’t try so it’s hard to say what build they were using exactly.. but some HEAVY dagger / focus power builds I believe. If they get the jump with a fear, forcing me to go Water quickly to heal / cure some condi, I mostly end up losing due to too much cc and constant pressure ( I was taking some 4k from Spinal shivers).

EDIT: not so much problems against thiefs either. The number of aoe we got coupled with both auras makes it pretty hard for Thiefs, even Sword / dagger ones.

I’m keeping an eye on this thread because I need help too. And for reference, I’m running a 0/6/0/4/4 s/d bursty ele.

Thieves and Mesmers eat me alive. I mean I have very good games but I also have games where I just suck so much. Perhaps I need more practice?

Thanks!!

Cheeps.8765:

I’m keeping an eye on this thread because I need help too. And for reference, I’m running a 0/6/0/4/4 s/d bursty ele.

Thieves and Mesmers eat me alive. I mean I have very good games but I also have games where I just suck so much. Perhaps I need more practice?

Thanks!!

I feel your pain. For me, this is simply glass cannon versus glass cannon, and the more skilled player should always win. I run S/F, and obsidian flesh typically gives me enough time to burst the thief or mesmer down. With S/D, it’s a lot riskier.. but I’d say chaining LF, earthquake, hurl, into air 2345, then into fire to Phoenix if they SR is your best bet, but due to long cooldowns on the daggers burst skills and lighting flash, you’re screwed if you miss the combo, or they stunbreak or reposition. I like S/F more due to lower cooldowns survivability, and it’s focused more on kiting while bursting to win instead of doing a crazy 10 part combo that is stunningly beautiful but difficult to land.

Oh and arcane shield is a must to give you blocks while you blow them up.

^ I run S/F too but I sorta miss the healing and condi clear that D water 5 gives. Also I can’t seem to attune to earth then press 5 quick enough. But I will give it another try. That and play a lot more after I farm Mawdrey.

Cheeps.8765:

^ I run S/F too but I sorta miss the healing and condi clear that D water 5 gives. Also I can’t seem to attune to earth then press 5 quick enough. But I will give it another try. That and play a lot more after I farm Mawdrey.

Magnetic wave is lower cooldown for condition removal, but you can also use it for the reflect or blasts. And I find trident to be enough, but that’s personal preference I guess.

Ergolicious.1507:

For me personally, good Warriors hammer / double sword or axe + shield are giving me a really hard time. The thing is hammer’s cooldowns are way too short, it’s ludicrous. You don’t have your cantrips up all the time where the perma disabling NEVER stops when you face a hammer warrior. Hammer simply does way too much damages (2-3k per skill) WHILE stunning. I can only play to survive once they switch to hammer, it’s just impossible to focus on dealing damages while you have to think about dodging EVERY cc spell. And even when you dodge accordinly, SEVEN seconds later and you eat another earthshaker… The upcoming nerf should balance that matchup out a bit I think.
Also had some troubles against 2-3 Necros. Necro is the only class I didn’t try so it’s hard to say what build they were using exactly.. but some HEAVY dagger / focus power builds I believe. If they get the jump with a fear, forcing me to go Water quickly to heal / cure some condi, I mostly end up losing due to too much cc and constant pressure ( I was taking some 4k from Spinal shivers).

EDIT: not so much problems against thiefs either. The number of aoe we got coupled with both auras makes it pretty hard for Thiefs, even Sword / dagger ones.

Hambow warriors have constant CC and high base damage, a deadly combination to fight against. It is best to fight CC with CC, specifically chill, weakness and immobilization. You need to spend most of your time neutralizing him before you rotate into your burst. It also never hurts to being stability. I use Armor of Earth in every build I make because the extra toughness and stability always helps to secure stomps and counter CC heavy builds.

nearlight.3064:

Cheeps.8765:

^ I run S/F too but I sorta miss the healing and condi clear that D water 5 gives. Also I can’t seem to attune to earth then press 5 quick enough. But I will give it another try. That and play a lot more after I farm Mawdrey.

Magnetic wave is lower cooldown for condition removal, but you can also use it for the reflect or blasts. And I find trident to be enough, but that’s personal preference I guess.

Do you use SoR for your heal skill? I’m just finding the overall healing of S/F to be a little bit lacking. In all other aspects, though, I actually like it better.

Another question on my part. Do you look out for the animations of the different skills of your opponents? I basically just go through with my skills and try to dodge the most obviously animated ones, but don’t really know which animation means what. I also don’t know the typical skill rotations of the other classes so I don’t know when to interrupt. Probably another thing to improve.

nearlight.3064:

Shatter mesmers are the biggest threat for eles because they are basically just purple purple boon strippers.

While some of my fellow players always try to convince me that I should never lose to a shatter mesmer in a 1vs1, they still are the biggest threat to me, because their damage output can become overwhelming quite fast.
That’s why I try to duel good ones whenever I have a chance to. Here’s some hints I can share: Most mesmers use a pretty standard rotation for their initial burst, which mostly goes GS-1… →GS-4 (iZerker, just outrun it or dodge right), GS-2 (always dodge! some better mesmers use it for hard point-blank shatters, so it’s a good thing to pay special attention to when you’re in melee range) → GS-5 (circle strafe whenever possible, so it’s unlikely this will hit you) → GS-3 (hard to hit for the mesmer if you’re moving), then switching to staff for clone production, defense and one of their hardest hitting abilities: the iWarlock. Don’t walk through the Chaos Storm and don’t hit into their Chaos Armor if a warlock is up. Always kite the illusion at range, dodge its ovious animation (slow moving orb), then destroy it (focus target). Same goes for other illusions, and if you got time for it: clones. Without clones and illusions, a shatter mesmer’s shatters don’t hurt that much.

Also remember that on D/x you got 300+ range on most skills, shatters only hit at 240 radius. Try to kite at somewhat 600 range away from the mesmer and its clones to be able to react to a shatter (stuff running at you → dodge, destroy with Ring of Fire or Ring of Earth, teleport away or use invulnerability skills / block skills). I tried to use Evasive Arcana’s blind in air attunement against illusions and clones, but I could not make it work against shatters somehow. If you use Lightning Flash, always try to port behind the real mesmer, because it will make casting and landing harder for a short time (e.g. Mirror Blade).

Always stay calm and train your muscle memory (same goes for thieves). If you panic and lose conciousness of your surrounding, it sure will go in your enemy’s favour. Against shatter mesmers you want to watch your positioning and focus on the illusions. Don’t waste your defensive abilities (Burning Speed, Updraft, Auras if you traited them for protection) and dodges. Stay at range unless you see a window of opportunity to apply forward pressure, etc.

The same goes for burst-type thieves, btw: Stay at range unless you see a chance to put some serious pressure onto your enemy. Good luck

Cheeps.8765:

nearlight.3064:

Cheeps.8765:

^ I run S/F too but I sorta miss the healing and condi clear that D water 5 gives. Also I can’t seem to attune to earth then press 5 quick enough. But I will give it another try. That and play a lot more after I farm Mawdrey.

Magnetic wave is lower cooldown for condition removal, but you can also use it for the reflect or blasts. And I find trident to be enough, but that’s personal preference I guess.

Do you use SoR for your heal skill? I’m just finding the overall healing of S/F to be a little bit lacking. In all other aspects, though, I actually like it better.

I use SoR usually, but glyph also works too, it’s just that you might now be able to get a good boon from it. Overall the burst and kiting of S/F should be your main form of damage mitigation, with skills keeping you safe from projectiles that you can’t kite.

It’s something I learned from playing necromancer. Kill or be killed. But eles can kill even faster once you get your rotations comfortable.

I use D/F + glyph of elemental power (in air it applies weakness). Nowadays I’m back to using Pyromancers puisance, lava tomb and blasting staff for a nice aoe when I go down. Half of my kills are due to my downed skills >_<