So I am returning to the game after a long hiatus and considering rolling up an Elementalist.
However, after catching up in the forums, all I have seen is that Eles are in a really awful place right now: falling short of practically every other class, and with no sign of change on the horizon.
So, is it worth the effort to try them? I am more focused on PvE and getting it leveled then WvW or PvP, if that makes any difference
I have 1800 hours on ele and 500 hours on warrior. From what I can see is that my warrior is doing at least 2x the damage my ele is doing while having 5000 more hp. He also seems more useful to other teammates with those banners.
Actually Elementalist are in a really great place right now. They have one of the best DPS of the game for PvE and are now regularly use for min/max speed run.
For WvW, elementalist are one of the good Ranged DPS with great support with combos field.
I have 1800 hours on ele and 500 hours on warrior. From what I can see is that my warrior is doing at least 2x the damage my ele is doing while having 5000 more hp. He also seems more useful to other teammates with those banners.
Actually Elementalist are in a really great place right now. They have one of the best DPS of the game for PvE and are now regularly use for min/max speed run.
For WvW, elementalist are one of the good Ranged DPS with great support with combos field.
If you enjoy it, stick with it. Right now even with our rut in PvP play we have some of the strongest presence in PvE usage. With Fiery Greatsword and other conjure weapons we make a presence in many dungeon speed-clears and as well add a interesting build diversity between players that like DD SD DF SF and Staff. You have 5 different skill sets that all have their uses with different people preferring different specs.
Where Trixie is right on one regard, Warrior being easy-mode right now (or is it hello kitty mode?) That doesn’t change the fact that ele is as viable to a party in PvE as a Warrior is, and a good ele can be worth more then the vast majority of Warriors that just rolled it because it was the FotM and no other reason. So if your looking at a class to play seriously, find one you enjoy and don’t worry about the state of the class. If it ever gets to unbearable then you can make an alt for that reason.
In PVE an ele can deal more damage than any other class (by far, like seriously, insane damage). But getting that damage is hard. You need an organised group who know what to do, you need to get your rotations right, you need to stay alive – and that’s harder with Ele than with any other profession – and you need to heavily use conjured weapons (lightning hammer, frost bow, flaming greatsword), which to some is very un-Ele like (I know staff is an exception, but you won’t be getting any might from anywhere else in an average Pug).
A warrior can’t hit the same heights of damage but it’s easy to deal very high sustained damage, all while being relatively durable even when fully geared and specced for DPS. It’s also a very forgiving class when played in very disorganised groups. In practice I’ve usually seen Warriors dealing far more damage than Eles in Pug groups because they are always able to go ‘full on’ while Eles have to hold back from dealing maximum DPS just to survive.
There are exceptions to the above and very good Eles who can survive and do everything a Warrior can better, but they’re as rare as female thieves not wearing tier 3 human armor.
The thing is that the Elementalist get its DPS from all the Damage Modifier.
+20% Damage when enemies have 33% or less HP.
+10% Damage when you are at 600 range or less.
+10% Damage when you have 90% or more HP.
And depending on which attunement you gonna DPS (Fire for Staff or Water for Light Hammer)
+10% Damage when in fire attunement
+20% Damage when in water attunement and the enemy have vulnerability.
That’s a lot of modifier, but not all of them are easy to get. 90% HP can be hard to maintain if you are a squishy Ele in melee range. Several Elementalist like to be in Range, especially if you have Staff, but its a mistake. Usually ele don’t give that much vulnerability, so you need other profession to activate your +20% in Water. Also a lot of strength of the Ele is to give boost to the party with Might Stacking, Constant Fire Field and Fury. If the party don’t work well together the value of the Elementalist drop, while a Warrior is good DPS whatever is happening.
In WvW, eles are one of the 3 most important classes for group fights. They are crucial because of the water fields and aoe.
In PvE, any class is fine so doesn’t matter as much
In PvP, they are harder to use than other classes. I’ve seen plenty of great eles recently at higher levels of solo queue. There just aren’t that many great players given how difficult it is to play. Compare it to a bunker engi. They can just run around spamming bombs/ etc and be fine. Eles need more skill.
had some fights today, (wvw) me and a friend guard
i been running d/d ele w maxed aura stuff
we did awesome, we won several outnumbered fights such as 2vs 4-8(yes several)
so from what i can tell , elementalist rocks for roaming, w a medi guard at least.
(enginners killin me kitten, someone gimme hints how to beat em, they r my only real prob)
and thx to mbelch , if he ever checks this thread, thx for helping out w some advice for gears, cheers!
^Toughness only helps with mit damage brotha need to utilize gw2’s dynamic combat system better with traits dodges roots etc. if you want to live thru a thief burst without having to move just stack everything in vit. you’ll live 1 bs maybe
Mystogan! fairy tail show is coming back in April! The experience varies by each individual. Personally if the thief is not abusing the broken constant/perm stealth mechanic after every single hit he is too easy, specially those that deal 12k+ or so damage in one hit. At op, just like any other mmo, the profession subforum is usually fill with negative aspects so don’t rely your decision based on what you read here. Try it yourself first before judging the profession.
Heidia- The elementalist is the #1 most OP profession in this game since beta!
^Toughness only helps with mit damage brotha need to utilize gw2’s dynamic combat system better with traits dodges roots etc. if you want to live thru a thief burst without having to move just stack everything in vit. you’ll live 1 bs maybe
The problem with the min-maxed dps ele (LH or Fire Staff) is only playable in an organized, full zerker dungeon group, while a berserker warrior is also playable in PUGs due to the higher sustain (triple eHP). That’s the main reason I run a more balanced build (but then it’s clear that the zerker warrior deals 2x the damage with AA alone).
But yes, ele is perfectly playable in PvE and WvW zergs.
I can’t wait until ANet releases the game promoted in the manifesto.
Until that, I’ll play GW2.
But yes, ele is perfectly playable in PvE and WvW zergs.
As I main ele as a roamer, I would disagree with you, it just takes a lot more skill balancing. In 15 minutes I may have changed my skills around 5 times to fight against what is being thrown at me. Having the knowledge of your skills is the big thing for roaming and what skill to use for what fight. I always start with AoE Arcane Sheild and Wave, if I am facing condi heavy teams I am liable to pop on Cleansing Fire over Arcane Wave and if they are running heavy burst I find myself flipping sheild out for mist form. If you don’t view roaming as one build fits every situation then you will do fine as ele. All I want to see though is them remake RtL to 20s recharge no matter what, the 40s on no hit was the most kittened thing they ever did to elel in my honest opinion. (only upside is chaining RtL to Updraft is massively easy, but now sticks you without both skills upon entering most combat for say 30s.)
^Toughness only helps with mit damage brotha need to utilize gw2’s dynamic combat system better with traits dodges roots etc. if you want to live thru a thief burst without having to move just stack everything in vit. you’ll live 1 bs maybe
How can I dodge when I’m dead in 2 hits??
Well like in all games knowin is half the battle. If u see a thief stealth antcipate the engage. Visualize the thief walking behind u and wen hes behind u dodge, if u see one stealth you can up draft, mist form, lightning flash, earthquake,arcane shield, focus earth 5, staff earth wall or whatever it is. Like i said knowing is half the battle. The thieves i struggle with are the s/d steppers that run bask venom. Its all about knowing and being 1 step ahead
Ele’s at least have a role in PvE, e.g. doing ultra-awesome AoE with Staff/Frostbow, crazy damage with FGS into walls, etc.
But in PvP they are lacking a role…they specialize at absolutely nothing. Some might say “burst” but Fresh Air is a one-trick-pony that gets exploded in literally 0.5 seconds flat.
The squishyness issue is something shared in all aspects in the game, at this point getting killed 5x more often than other classes is just PART of being an Ele.
I don’t know what ArenaNet were thinking giving a class the lowest health + lowest armor + no built-in defensive mechanics like stealth/clones/aegis.
In dungeons and events/meta events elementalists are in a great place. It is easy to tag events and deal amazing damage on large hit boxes and multiple enemies ( frost bow, meteor shower, Fiery great sword, etc). Alternatively we bring some of the best offensive boons to a party ( Might and Fury). Moreover you have alot of viable weapon sets and builds, just take a look at the stickies.
When you play the meta game type of ele, you’re active defenses are almost none existent and you’re base hp and armor is the lowest of all classes. Survivability will be very dependent on positioning, understanding mechanics and relying on party members. Combined with the fact that to pull of our full damage potentional we require impractical rotations and slight coordination within the group, PUGs when running dungeons might be unforgiving. For example some of the easy dungeons will still be a pain if you’re guardian is not helping with condition cleansing, providing stability and reflects.
Overall if anything in PVE we might require some love with sustainability without sacrificing to much damage and utility. WvW I just really started showing an interest in since the new Edge of the Mist maps.
We’re not as bad off as some claim, yes we near the bottom of the barrel while other classes like warrior are way at the top but we are still quite playable.
In WvW they are one of the top 3 classes that standout above all the other classes. The other two are obviously guardian and warrior. For other game modes I can’t really comment because I really don’t play alot of sPvP or PvE.
Elementalists are actually in a great place in PvE. It’s highly arguable because one of the few reasons we’re good in PvE is because of FGS + Wall combo so once FGS gets nerfed people can start saying otherwise. Low Armor/Low HP isn’t really that much of a problem in PvE as long as you dodge hard hitting skills and spells (that’s why people go full zerker gears in PvE).
In PvP though it’s the complete opposite. Elementalists have no decent condition builds, and only half-baked bunker builds so we have no choice but to go full zerk. Any zerker builds (except hambow warriors and arguably DPS medi guardians) are in a disadvantage against thieves in competitive PvP.
In WvW, full DPS or Staff Support Elementalists are loved by your zergs. You’ll see few roamers using D/x and S/x from time to time but just like PvP, eles of any build are hard countered by thieves.
TL;DR – Yes, we are still viable especially in PvE and WvW zerg wars.
Your ele needs good gear, good food, high rank of 230 and a decent build to fight competitively in WvW. Remember , u play a DnD ele because you like a challenge. Easy mode, go play a warrior or PU mesmer
Fuzzionx[SF]
Guest member of [LOVE]
JQ official Prime Minister
PvE: Awesome. Even without the FGS bug ele still outputs the highest damage in the game(proven several times by users, videos and speedrun guilds). However you need some “help” from other members to survive because you are squishy. You are a might stack machine too.
Just can talk about PvE and there they deal the highest amount of damage. Definitly more than a warrior … But they are also harder to play.
Ziggs Ironeye – Engineer | Madame Le Blanc – Mesmer | Mentor (PvE) | EU
“Mentoring engineers / mesmers and showing you what you can do with your fantastic class!
Just pm me for my advice! Always eager to help!”
