Guild Wars 2

I have chosen to be an Elementalist, and chose the human race to the start. I am currently level 17.

I have just had a look on-line and I see that the Sylvari is the preferred class for an Elementalist.

My question is this: Is it worth starting my character again as a Sylvari, or should I keep my human Elementalist?

There is no preferred race for ele. Each race has a few different utility and elite skills, but they’re mostly useless.

Human has some of the better elites with hounds and avatar of melandru. There’s no reason to change unless you just really want to use one of the other racials.

They’re all worse than your class utilities and elites though, so it really isn’t an issue.

To be honest race choice is mostly cosmetic, sure you get some racial abilities but rarely do you see racial abilities placed into an effective build. So pick whichever you like, but don’t feel obligated to switch to sylvari. In the long run it feel purely cosmetic.

I actually prefer my racial elites to the ele class elites. Probably not worth switching at this point, but try out your racials. As an asura, the 7 series golem does a ton more (single target) damage than the elite fire elemental.

JCorcoran.4081:

I actually prefer my racial elites to the ele class elites. Probably not worth switching at this point, but try out your racials. As an asura, the 7 series golem does a ton more (single target) damage than the elite fire elemental.

Fire and earth elemental are worthless and should not be compared to anything. Ice is a tank and provides control and healing. Air has great aoe and stuns.

Ok so, no. Earth elemental is a far better tank than water elemental, as it is TANKIER (and by a lot). If you add up the amount of AoE healing a D/D Ele will be doing it’s even better. Fire ele has its uses, since it does deal really good damage but is too squishy to survive for long. Usually I summon it when I’m doing events in Orr to speed things up and maybe tag some mobs I might have missed. Air elementals, as far as I know, have absolutely NO AoE damage, only single-target stuns and multi-hit moves, and an AoE speed boost that they only use when attacking so it’s mostly useless. I really think they should program them to use it when out of combat. Water elementals are a little less good at tanking as earth ele’s, but they do have a frost field, making them better for dungeon’s, party PvE’ing, etc.

Doesn’t the Earth Elly grant AoE Protection Boons? Or was that my imagination?

As to the OP go with whatever Race you like more. If you’re doing PvP in the mists all racial abilities are unusable, and in PvE they’re no better than the Elementalists own abilities (many would argue they’re far worse).

PsiKann.9853:

I have just had a look on-line and I see that the Sylvari is the preferred class for an Elementalist.

There is no preferred race for any profession.

SpelignErrir.4263:

Fire and earth elemental are worthless and should not be compared to anything. Ice is a tank and provides control and healing. Air has great aoe and stuns.

That’s not true at all, Fire Elemental has blast finisher that can use Fire Combo fields for more might stacking. Earth Elemental can tank champions in dungeons, with some help from Water Magic healing it will stay alive for very long. Water isn’t a good tank but it can heal (too bad we have no control over when it heals), Air is the only ranged attack Elemental and it has ranged stun attacks, but it is the most squishy of them all.

Towren.1745:

Doesn’t the Earth Elly grant AoE Protection Boons? Or was that my imagination?

yes it does, its quite good solo PvE summon not sure how long is that protection so no idea if it would be worth even in SPvP team fights…

JCorcoran.4081:

I actually prefer my racial elites to the ele class elites. Probably not worth switching at this point, but try out your racials. As an asura, the 7 series golem does a ton more (single target) damage than the elite fire elemental.

People often think the golem is superior to the elite elementals, but in reality, it’s not. Here’s why:

Cooldown
Without any traits, and assuming the elemental lasts for 60 seconds, the cooldown is the same (180 for the golem, 120+60 for the elemental). However, if you use Quick Glyphs, the cooldown for the elemental is lowered to 156 (96+60) seconds at most. The other advantage of the elemental is that the cooldown starts the moment it goes down. So if it only lasts 10 seconds, your cooldown will also be 50 seconds less.

Damage
The golem has a barrage attack that has a weird way to calculate damage. Rather than listing each hit seperately, all previous damages are added to the next attack. This will give the impression that it does way more damage than it actually causes. Even so, the damage may be on par with the fire elemental. But the fire elemental also gives a might buff to its allies and itself.

Duration
The elementals can last up to 60 seconds per cycle, the golem only 40.

Casting
The elementals have a lower casting time and you don’t have to stand still to use the skill.

Versatility
The greatest thing about glyphs is the fact that you get 4 skills in 1. With the golem, you’re stuck with the golem. So if you need a tank, tough luck. Each of the elementals however, has a different use and they all cause at least 1 aoe buff.

The earth elemental gathers a lot of aggro, and with just a single healing rain, can tank the Champion Karka by itself. The fire elemental is great at bursting down stuff (and combined with the lesser verion, they both get 10 stacks of might). The ice elemental also casts an ice field, which can be comboed with. Finally, the air elemental’s ranged attacks can come in handy in things like the Rata Sum fractal. Note that not only its range is longer than the golem, but it can attack at range all the time. And the swiftness can help less skilled players with the jumping. So all in all, you get a huge amount of utility from just one skill.

Conclusion
The elementals are in many ways superior to the golem, and there’s no way I would ever use it if I had an Asura elementalist. However, for non-pet classes, the golem’s actually fairly decent. I’m having a blast with it on my engineer. But not for my elementalist.

Actually if you want to nitpick, races DO matter, but only in WvW (since you cant use racial skills in Spvp)

One good example is charr racials with engineer proffession. The Charr’s racial skills compliment and combo well with several key engie dps mechanics, making them an ideal race for Engineers.

I have no idea about ele though. For the most part you’re going to want to have your utilities full of ele skills. No room for racials.

Lifelike.5862:

I have no idea about ele though. For the most part you’re going to want to have your utilities full of ele skills. No room for racials.

Admitted, I am a fan, but still, it’s hard to find anything that’ll outperform the glyph. It’s just that good.