Guild Wars 2

I know that the elem class is a ‘glass cannon’ of sorts, but I can’t keep mine alive for anything. I just die, die, die, oh, and die.

He’s got NO survivability! Meanwhile my necro doesn’t drop at all!

My current build on my elem is:
6 ( VI, VII, XI )
2 ( VI )
2 ( VI )
2 ( VI )
2 ( V )

I also currently use a Staff.

What am I missing? Or is this a class that just stays downed a lot?

Take the trait 2 in arcana. It give you perma vigor, which will help. But whatever you do elementalist zerker are the hardest profession when it come to survivability. We all had to go throught that. The feeling that you are useless and that people are judging you because you go down so much. Don’t worry it will take time, but you will stop dying so much as you get better. Elementalist zerker is all about position.

There is also some change that you can do if you really have a problem.
1) You can use some piece of more defensive gear as training wheels. As you get better you get back to zerker gear.
2) You can take a look at D/F Elementalist. A bit less dps, but more survivable and more versatile. It’s also a really fun build to play. It’s a popular build in high level fractal where staying alive can be harder.

Thanks! I’ll give D/F a shot . . .

D/F will help with the mitigation, so giving it a try should help. I just got used to dropping, my party expects me to anyway. Most players know that an Ele can do down by being looked at funny by some bosses/mobs.

Staff can be brutal when stacking, you lack a lot of self helps other than the water heals.

I know it’s not meta, but lava tomb has helped me more than any other trait. When we are stacking and I happen to do down because of a lot of mobs…it will usually do the damage needed to help me rally.

It’s basically that if a mob sneezes on you…there goes half your HP.

I’d recommend swapping over to Valk armor as well as the suggestions above. It’s about a 2k HP gain…but that’s saved my life more than I can count. Honestly, if you’ve got a way to keep fury up, then you won’t feel a huge difference in fewer critical hits.

Yup …. tried D/F …. some better but not really.

I think I hate this class now. Which is sad as I usually love being a wizard in mmorpgs.

This class is SO frustrating! And that’s coming from a EQ1 Erudite Wizard, I was lvl 55 when I quit back in the day… dang… When I wasn’t looking I got old…. shoot.

Don’t give up! It took me 6 different tries at this profession to ‘get it’. It is frustrating but once you understand how each attunment works and what buttons to press at what time to get the most out of it, it will come naturally.

This isn’t the profession to button spam and hope for the best! You have to know what skills provide a combo field and what skills provide a finisher and use them accordingly. Don’t just spam 1-5 just because you can, and don’t attunement swap unless there is a reason to.

If you are going d/f, you should be using air attunement for your default auto attacks. Fire will provide you the fire fields for blasting into. Water gives you two blast finishers, Earth gives you a condi clear and blast finisher along with a nice invulnerability as well. Before combat you should place the Fire 4 down, swap to Water, use 3 skill to blast, swap to earth, use the 4 skill to blast, if you have Arcane wave or the heal Arcane Brilliance, blast those as well. Then move into combat with your stacks of might. It should make leveling a little easier.

Also, conjures. Lightning hammer will be your best friend while leveling. Ice Bow is equally as amazing. Use them as you level!

Just try to get it to 80 and you will see how amazing this profession is!

What are you dying of? Can you give some examples of your difficult encounters?

I thought I had found the problem. I thought it was my gear being out of date. NOPE! I just bought new gear for every slot! Didn’t help.

Dry Top inquest, I’ve tried different builds. D/F, D/D, talent spec changes. Nothing. The story quest sends me alone against some elite mobs, who wipe the floor with me. Even when I’m in a group with other npcs, that are attacking, EVERYTHING agros on me.

I’m so ticked off right now. Glass cannon is one thing, this is just sadomasochistic to keep playing this class! I’m just going to go play something else, I won’t say the name of a different game on a games own forum, where I can play a caster, and not be first target, and dropped this easily. I feel powerless as an elmen!

Oh great Soluesk-Ro what every shall I do? (And NO EQ is not where I’m going. I’ve a laundry list of MAJOR issues with that game! )

Do not give up!

Have a look at this build:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fFEQJAoYlcMowhNOwzB8rNgDgRMIMDEPACAvwiXhlAA-TVSAABYcCA4R9HwUSMxDAAATQppcDG9AxqEEp9HIDAzYA-w

Forget the ascended things and gear at all but pay attention to the traits:

massive crit chance due to Air trait points
perma regen: check
perma vigor: check
perma fury: check

What I would try: start with 2 elements! Air as offence and water as defence. Attack in Air, do as much as you can then switch to water when you have conditions or lower than 50% HP. Use your water skills to do some (low) damage and heal to full. Switch to air and deal more damage. Use your defensive utilities (cantrips and shield) in air attunement. Keep swapping! It only takes a few minutes – an hour to learn this two.
Once in Air: autoattack!!! Use your Shocking Aura but while it is active do NOT use air#2. After the aura dissappers you can use the LightningTouch to inflict weakness or the Updraft to knock back. Do not spam these!
Once in Water: Use CleansingWave then Cone of Cold to heal yourself. If your opponent stuns-interrupts make sure you use these right after you Updraft in Air or used Shocking Aura.
Once you learn this you can add a third element. Your call: Fire or Earth.

I suggest Fire: after you used your Updraft switch to Fire immediately and cast Fire#3, then #2, then try to land Fire#5.

Make sure you use the right utilities: cantrips are your best friends to learn the basics.
Also Arcane skills have some nice effect. Do not bother to combo might now. Learn to stay alive. And trust me: Once you learn to use your defensive skills (weapon, utility) elementalist becomes a beast!

I hope this helps!

EDIT: elementalist is a key element of the PvP parties, very-very strong in PvE and unreplaceble in WvW… Try some easier content… Hey some of the harder story missions even teach me a lesson while on my Guardian Nobody is invincible!

Well some D/D ele are unkillable if not 3v1 but this is another story

I started staff & I’ve mostly never waived (tried d/d, d/f & s/f),

And I can’t tell you how much I like staff better than anything else available. Is offhand focus more survivable? Oh yeah, dat earth 5! But it depends on what your goal is. If you want the bit of survival, s/f might be a good choice as it’s still mid/long range plus some of the helpful defenses available from the focus.

I personally don’t care for melee Mages on this game, so I can’t recommend daggers at all. But that’s just me.

When it comes to ele, being all fire is definitely the way to go. Eles are nukes, plain and simple. Can’t really suggest a PvE build that isn’t heavy fire or lightning or both.

I personally sack Arcane for more Wind, but that’s more dps & less survivability.

Did I die a lot to start? Yes.

Do I die a lot now? Not so much (but I still die yes).

When you play glass you have to rely on positioning & dodging. Which basically translates into practice practice practice. If I need a Wall to save me, I summon an Earth Elemental. If I know I need to soak some hits, I sack a utility for Arcane Shield or Armor of Earth. Don’t be afraid to drop attunements to CC mobs or switch to water to regen for a bit.

It’s a rough path, but the end’s pretty solid.

THAT’S IT!

Thank you Aggrostemma.1703 for the build to try. I hadn’t tried that one.

So I did. It didn’t help. Investigating Dry Top those Assassins will NOT DIE! They’re elites, there’s two, and you CANNOT pull just one. I cannot do enough damage! And I HAVE to solo it. The mission sends you in ALONE! This is SO NOT FUN! I am SO mad right now!

I’m sure it’s me.

I play a Wizard in every mmorpg I play, and normally I’m good at it normally.

Maybe I just am terrible at GW2….. so frustrating….. so mad….. so close to uninstalling for sanity sake…. must…. put…. down…. knife…..

It is definitely not a class issue as my Elementalist rarely goes down and I complete most of the game content without issue (solo story, solo zone, world boss farm, all dungeons, fractals 1-20). This is because I’ve incorporated defensive stats into my build so I don’t have to play perfectly all the time. Sometimes I just wanna farm events in Silverwastes or do a public dungeon while Netflix is rolling on the other monitor and just think about did I dodge that, do I need to spend a cool down and clear this, etc.

One of the biggest things glass cannon guides leave out is that you’re pretty much expected to know every encounter and play it perfectly. That means if you got hit with something, that was you messing up cause you got hit or you didn’t down the content fast enough. I see this all the time in pub runs where an Elementalist comes in D/F glass and just gets smoked cause you got a Ranger kiting, a Condi necro, and some Thief who’s never been in the dungeon before and the Ele just dies in the first 5 seconds of a fight.

Personally I don’t get it. I’d rather kill slightly slower and have zero effort surviving but that’s just me.

+1 for EQ! (know what you mean by the mountain of issues with the game, but it still will always hold a special spot in my heart).

Dodges/interrupts/obsidian flesh, maybe pull out arcane shield, should be good to go, D/F is a lot of fun and good damage, just don’t forget to stack might and let the sparks fly.

The first ever MMORPG I played was EQ1. Thereafter, EQ2, WoW and GW2 (and a few others not worthy of note).

Just like you, I have always played (and very much enjoyed doing so!) a ‘wizard’ type profession like you mentioned. In EQ1, EQ2 and WoW, playing such a profession has always, in my opinion, been quite similar (especially in PvE) – once you learn how to play it in one game, it’s pretty much the same concept in the next game.

However, I got a big shock when I started playing GW2 for the first time and picked an Elementalist, staff wielding glass-cannon! It was nothing like the similar professions I had played in previous MMORPGs. I had a terribly difficult time trying to adjust. I gave up at first, and played a Mesmer instead for a while. When I finally returned to the Elementalist, after some time, I improved.

Upon returning, I think my road to Damascus moment came when I finally accepted that I needed to cast from my mind everything I learned about playing a glass-cannon-wizard type profession from the MMORPGs mentioned above (especially EQ1)…this included the way I learned to play such professions in games using a ‘generic combat system.’ Once I did that, I found it somewhat easier to mentally adjust to GW2’s combat system and play a glass-cannon-wizard a lot better, even after years of being used to the same old bland combat systems in MMORPGs that came before GW2.

It will just take some time to re-adjust. Don’t give up!

If you die as an ele in a group, it means the guardian is bad. If you die as anything else than guardian, actually, it means that the guardian is bad. If you die as a guardian, it means that you, the guardian, is bad.

tl;dr: find a competent guardian and you will never go down. Having good teammates plays a role in your survivability until you’re able to solo all the encounters.

Ok try this:

02066 D/D

Healing Signet, IceBow, Armour of Earth, Summon lesser elemental, Summon Greater Elemental.

Before you pull: summon the greater elemental in earth attunement than cast IceBow. Use Bow (note you get a second one for later use…) pull with bow#5 an the nearest. Immediately cast Bow#4 on the top. Drop the Bow. Switch to Air attunement than Ride the Lighntning, Updraft, Shocking Aura, Fire#3, Fire#2, Fire#5. Swap earth, use earth#4 than pop Armour of Earth and channel earth#5. Swap to water. Heal yourself with 5 and 2 while running back for the IceBow on the ground. Use 5 and 4 than drop it again. Summon elemental if needed… Repeat…

I hope this helps!!!

Using Staff is fine, it often depends on positioning to survive in PvE. I would advise against using full Berserker gears, Valkyrie is a good alternative for the extra HP.

It’s also a good idea to invest at least 3 points into Water magic for the Healing Ripple minor trait. That bonus burst heal (when switching to water) helped kept me alive numerous times.

Lastly for utilities, besides Ice Bow, always carry a defensive/position skill like Mist Form, Arcane Shield, or Lightning Flash. Staff Water 4, Air 3 5, Earth 4 5, are all soft/hard CC skills to keep mobs off your back.

Well said Fracture!

The elementalist has a terrible innate defense, if you consider only the passive attributes like armor and health. Some people do the mistake of trying to solve this problem frontally, by taking defensive gear. It’s a common human mistake. But there is a simple fact: the ele is not made to sustain hits. So even if you take defensive gear you are going to get spanked, unless you start using the real defensive tools of the ele. We survive by taking advantage of two of our most valuable mechanisms. The first is damage: kill before being killed. The second is active defense. We have a plethora of active defense abilities! For example, I tend to use glyphs a lot when I am in a difficult situation: I use builds like these http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fFEQJAodhUMaaW0w6BdEBOAGpawoPg4HQAoDW8KsEA-T1RBABXp8jm9HwTPgGnAAAeAAUq+jZKBBA-w or with the earth points into water for more heal and condition cleanse. The trick is to control the enemy: use glyph of storms in earth, glyph of elemental power in air or earth and kite, dive in – jump out, etc. Use conditions like weakness, cripple, and chill to hinder your foes (I even use condition duration food for this purpose sometimes). Time your burning speed and ice IB4 bursts. It is very a dynamic playstyle and it overcomes any kind of content.

As masters of the elements we are meant to control the battlefield

Just some thoughts.
Since there’s already a ton of (good) builds posted with some very detailed “how to play” informations, I somehow get the feeling it’s not the class itself that’s causing trouble to the OP, it’s more his general playstyle paired with the ultra-squishyness of the elementalist.
So I’d like to give you just some general advice about gw2 combat.

Things you should do:
- always keep an eye on your opponent; is he doing something irregular, like glowing or screaming? this usually tells you a big hit is incoming = have your dodge ready
- in addition: use your defensive abilities wisely. well timed blinds, blocks, etc. can mitigate a ton of damage
- keep moving. don’t just stand there, move your feet! ranged foe? strafe to avoid some arrows. meele foe? kite him around, you want as much of his swings to happen when you’re just out of his range
- dodge a lot, but only when needed; random dodges usually are bad and just leave you out of endurance when you need it

Things you shouldn’t do:
- facetank. GW2 combat just isn’t designed for standing still and getting beaten.
- giving up. everything is just a matter of practicing

Good luck!

Kodiak.3281:

Personally I don’t get it. I’d rather kill slightly slower and have zero effort surviving but that’s just me.

Zero effort surviving + kill slower sarcasms on sound like so much fun sarcasms off

Thaddeus.4891:

Kodiak.3281:

Personally I don’t get it. I’d rather kill slightly slower and have zero effort surviving but that’s just me.

Zero effort surviving + kill slower sarcasms on sound like so much fun sarcasms off

Didn’t you know? Berserker is about spamming 1 in a corner anyway. Nomad takes skill because you have to manage aggro.

oxtred.7658:

Thaddeus.4891:

Kodiak.3281:

Personally I don’t get it. I’d rather kill slightly slower and have zero effort surviving but that’s just me.

Zero effort surviving + kill slower sarcasms on sound like so much fun sarcasms off

Didn’t you know? Berserker is about spamming 1 in a corner anyway. Nomad takes skill because you have to manage aggro.

Oh sorry you are right. I get confused when I see a post about how zerker make the game braindead by stacking + pressing 1 just next to a post about a PHIW guys that laugh at zerker as he pick them up from the ground.

Thaddeus.4891:

Kodiak.3281:

Personally I don’t get it. I’d rather kill slightly slower and have zero effort surviving but that’s just me.

Zero effort surviving + kill slower sarcasms on sound like so much fun sarcasms off

Dying all the time and thus end up still killing slow sarcasms on sounds like so much fun sarcasms off

I mean Defensive Ele is arguably one of the strongest specs we have as a class. It’s so good that in SPvP tournaments it’s pretty much impossible to find a team that doesn’t have one or two bunker Elementalists on it. It’s great for Roaming 1vX in WvW. All these parts of the game where your survivability is directly challenged a Defensive Elementalist has no problems powering through. So to say something ridiculous like the Elementalist isn’t made to sustain hits is simply and factually incorrect. It’s only unable to sustain hits if you make it unable to sustain hits. In fact the #1 repeated nerf to our class year after year has been hits to how defensive we are.

Now if you take that principle and port it over to other parts of the game, you’ll find it’ll work there too but you’ll actually have so much defense you’ll pretty much never go down in your average day-to-day scenario. That’s where we can begin to peel off a few layers of defense either in terms of spec or few pieces of gear and have plenty of offense to burn through and plenty of defense to take hits.

Imagine that. Understanding the strengths of our class in all game modes and literally getting the best of all worlds

Kodiak.3281:

Dying all the time and thus end up still killing slow sarcasms on sounds like so much fun sarcasms off

Can’t really help you with that. I learn how to play 2 years ago, don’t die much anymore on my zerker elementalist.

Kodiak.3281:

So to say something ridiculous like the Elementalist isn’t made to sustain hits is simply and factually incorrect.

Therefore the elementalist is made to sustain hits, ok. Thanks, ok. Ok.

It’s the class that by nature is the least able to sustain hits of all, but ok.

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/professions/elementalist/

Elementalists are multi-faceted spellcasters that channel elemental forces, making fire, air, earth, and water do their bidding. What they lack in physical toughness, they make up in versatility and the ability to inflict massive damage in a single attack.

Even the devs disagree with you, but ok.

I guess “factually incorrect” lost the meaning it used to have!

Thank the Great Alchemy!!!! I finally did it!!!!

Thank you Aggrostemma.1703, that worked for me!

The build that was my awesome:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fFAQJAoYhcMqeW4wqBd0AVAC5ZlOJKQ5j/CC

The above is:

0
2 ( III )
0
6 ( III, IX, VI )
6 ( III, VI, XII )

Healing Signet, Conjure Frost Bow, Armor of Earth, Glyph of Lesser Elemental, Glyph of Elementals

I stayed in water, constant running, summoning elementals, and frost bows as I could. I can’t believe I finally did it. I’m SO THRILLED! Not giving up is a key indeed. Also some ‘cool down time’ after too many consecutive deaths.

As I said in the beginning I figured it was me. Elemental is just playing on hard mode I suppose.

Even with that small victory … I still in some small ways, miss my journeyman’s boots, and ice comet. /sigh …. I’m just an old finger wiggle I suppose …

Back in my day, we walked uphill, naked, in the snow, barefoot, for 30 minute full mana meditations, and we liked it too!

WTB SOW PST
WTB CLARITY PST

Porting to all Wiz Ports for donations PST

Meditate? naw Soloist Icy Wand spam ftw! I miss my bags and bags of clickies.

Holy . . . I forgot about the Icy Wand …. That was epic . . .

Thaddeus.4891:

Kodiak.3281:

Dying all the time and thus end up still killing slow sarcasms on sounds like so much fun sarcasms off

Can’t really help you with that. I learn how to play 2 years ago, don’t die much anymore on my zerker elementalist.

You can tell the OP that. Personally I play a hybrid and always have. I played a Hybrid offensive/defensive build back when it was fashionable to be bunker Elementalist for PvE and I play a hybrid today when it’s fashionable to be maximum offense and I have never had any issues with any game content.

I’ve also personally never seen anyone playing a more defensive build than Berserker create a post stating that they can’t stand playing their character because they’re dying all the time. Yet in the last few months we’ve seen these same posts, time after time, of new people following guides with no proper understanding of what they’re getting into and they just end up dying a lot.

Zelyhn Lekovitch.2867:

Even the devs disagree with you, but ok.

I guess “factually incorrect” lost the meaning it used to have!

Here you are replying again

Are you really trying to say bunker Elementalists aren’t a thing in this game? I mean is that really the argument you are going with? I mean you can literally go watch any SPvP tournament video and see that bunker Elementalists is one of the most popular builds and it’s not because of their, “ability to inflict massive damage in a single attack.”

I mean common! Are you that eager to start arguing with me again you’d ignore the two topmost builds under Ranked under MetaBattle both of which are bunker Elementalist builds (D/D and Staff)? And try to use some spoonfed advertising writeup about the Elementalist class as proof?

Common man.

Kodiak.3281:

Common man.

You come on. You said the elementalist is factually made to sustain hits. Now prove it, or admit you were wrong and you only said that just because you want to oppose me in everything I say since you have some personal problem against me.

Here are the facts:
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Health#Base_health_by_profession
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Armor#Defense_rating

Now go ahead and explain to me how these facts show that the elementalist is made to sustain hits.

I am tired of you making claims left right and center, and then deflecting when you are faced with perfect counter arguments or the irrefutable proof that you are obviously wrong. Stand for your points, or do not make points.

So much cringe in this thread. Soooooo much cringe.

Either way, I’ll reply to just the OP.

With 62222, that trait spread is suboptimal a lot of the time either way and is really only best for if you’re in full assassins or fighting against an object/structure that can’t be crit.

Going 2 points only into air is just too low of a crit chance to function at your best and you’ll be missing too many valuable crits either way, so even if you had an easier time surviving it’d be smarter to use a different trait spread like 64202 or 64004 if you’re having problems surviving.

64004 is such a wonderful trait setup for staff ele because having both blasting staff and renewing stamina makes it very reliable. You sacrifice 10% damage for permanent vigour which helps a lot for situations where you don’t have enough evades to get by with.

Lol, the builds that you call “bunker” are in fact not bunker. The bunker meta perished with the popularity of bursty zerker builds as they can no longer run around and outheal the damage. Cele builds are OP because they are tanky and their damage come from both Power and Condi at the same time. The builds are not supposed to take hits at all. I lost count of how many times bad cele players overestimate their supposed tankiness, not dodge the burst and get killed easily.

Kodiak.3281:

You can tell the OP that. Personally I play a hybrid and always have.

When you start the game and are learning how to play, that’s understandable.

If you are not new to the game, but play casually only and just want an easy game, that’s understandable.

If you just don’t give a kitten, you just like that way of play even if you know that’s not really good and just make sure to play with other ppl that think like you, that’s understandable.

If you are neither of those, still play hybrid and try to explain stuff to new player, then it’s just sad.

Kodiak.3281:

Are you really trying to say bunker Elementalists aren’t a thing in this game? I mean is that really the argument you are going with? I mean you can literally go watch any SPvP tournament video and see that bunker Elementalists is one of the most popular builds and it’s not because of their, _"ability to inflict massive damage in a single attack."

Repeat after me Brawler. B – R- A – W – L – E – R.

Brawler Elementalist with celestial amulet and defensive trait, that have a good amount of sustain healing, interrupt, vigor, condition removal, etc but can still keep a decend condition pressure and some good burst through rotation and might stacking. Those are popular build in PvP because you can keep a node, but also kill people.

Bunker Elementalist are all about defensive but hit like noodles. They will stay alive and are a viable tactic in low level pvp. But in high level of pvp, you’ll just get ignore while the enemy team will kill your team one by one until you end up 1vs3 at mid and get killed anyway. You don’t have the versatility to decap or kill an enemy in 1vs1, which mean that you often need help from an another of your teamates if you try to do something else than just bunking a point that you already have.

Zelyhn Lekovitch.2867:

You come on. You said the elementalist is factually made to sustain hits. Now prove it, or admit you were wrong and you only said that just because you want to oppose me in everything I say since you have some personal problem against me.

Here are the facts:
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Health#Base_health_by_profession
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Armor#Defense_rating

Now go ahead and explain to me how these facts show that the elementalist is made to sustain hits.

I am tired of you making claims left right and center, and then deflecting when you are faced with perfect counter arguments or the irrefutable proof that you are obviously wrong. Stand for your points, or do not make points.

http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Elementalist_-_Dagger/Dagger

I recommend you watch the Thrackit In-Depth D/D Celestial video as it covers how to play an Elementalist pretty defensively and really breaks down how it works. By going with a Celestial Amulet in this case you can see that it more than makes up for the natural deficiencies in Armor and Health and when added up with more points in Water Line you actually have a great deal of tank. Mostly this is done through the use of defensive tools (many small heals and regen) and the large number of boons we get rather than raw HP/Armor stats. I personally don’t have the time or inclination to show you basic defensive play on an Elementalist especially when there’s a wealth of information already out there on the topic.

However with that said, it’s extremely easy to carry the principles from WvW and SPvP, more challenging game modes where your survivability is directly put to test, to much more easier game modes like PvE and still have their general principles work. Thus is it is very easy to make an Elementalist who is built around defensive bunker play. Generally speaking, because PvE is so much easier than SPvP and WvW, you can even forgo on a lot of the tank (and still keep some) and go offensive instead and come out with a hybrid that still has great bunker protections while still maintaining a respectable offense.

At this point I’m starting to think that Kodiak is just a troll.

This is not important! He DID it!

Elementalist is a hard-mode indeed! But you LEARN how to play this game properly… You will appreciate this later on… If you learn to play with ele there is nothing what can stop you from being an awesome skilled player! Keep it up and do not give up!

Good luck OP!

Thaddeus.4891:

If you are not new to the game, but play casually only and just want an easy game, that’s understandable.

If you just don’t give a kitten, you just like that way of play even if you know that’s not really good and just make sure to play with other ppl that think like you, that’s understandable.

See I fall somewhere in between these two. Largely I like to just easy mode my way through the game because it is a game and it’s not like I’m playing in some ridiculous PvE tournament when I’m just farming geodes in Dry Top lol. A lot of my builds/gear are modified setups of server based WvW builds (won’t find em on Meta battle) because they provide strong defenses but still provide respectable offense. Most other content I do (dungeons, fractals, world bosses) aren’t that complex and long as you avoid the big things you can get through them just fine.

We all got different goals with the game, and each goal has it’s own best route to it, which has always ever been my point.

Aggrostemma.1703:

This is not important! He DID it!

Elementalist is a hard-mode indeed! But you LEARN how to play this game properly… You will appreciate this later on… If you learn to play with ele there is nothing what can stop you from being an awesome skilled player! Keep it up and do not give up!

Good luck OP!

^^ This

And to the OP, as you get better you can change more into that similar archetype of fingerwiggler that the EQ wizard was. Might/fury stack, be earth attunement drop 2 skill, swap air, drop icebow, run into position while you channel Glyph of Storms, swap fire, drop either IB5 then 4 or just 4 onto the target, hit ib3, drop the bow, then drop a lava font and start summoning meteors of death. Things BLOW up once you get that done assuming they don’t run away

Keep practicing, and eventually you’ll get better at the active defense and when you do you can stack the damage and start blowing stuff up like the good ol’ days.

Kodiak.3281:

Zelyhn Lekovitch.2867:

You said the elementalist is factually made to sustain hits. Now prove it, or admit you were wrong and you only said that just because you want to oppose me in everything I say since you have some personal problem against me.

http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Elementalist_-_Dagger/Dagger

You are deflecting again.

How can you imagine you will ever be taken seriously if you cannot defend your points constructively?

Zelyhn Lekovitch.2867:

You are deflecting again.

How can you imagine you will ever be taken seriously if you cannot defend your points constructively?

You’re ignoring the answers again.

How can I ever be expected to answer questions when you refuse to read and/or understand the answers?

If you wanna pretend there is no such this as defensive Bunker Elementalists that’s your decision. I don’t have a metaphysical argument if reality is real. If you choose to ignore the metabattle links, the top tier PvP tournament, the 24100 results a google search on “bunker elementalist” returns, the 53100 results “defensive elementalist” returns or the very solution the OP took in this thread (props to you Aggrostemma.1703 – great job!) then I really don’t think anything I am going to say is going to convince you otherwise.

Next up: Kodiak gets asked to prove the sky is blue!

Again Kodiak. You linked a brawler build, not a bunker. A bunker elementalist would use cleric, soldier or something like that, not celestial.

Kodiak.3281:

Zelyhn Lekovitch.2867:

You are deflecting again.

How can you imagine you will ever be taken seriously if you cannot defend your points constructively?

You’re ignoring the answers again.

Nope.

I asked you to prove your claim that the elementalist is factually made to sustain hits.

You deflected by talking about healing specs in PvP.

So you avoided answering the question. It’s the third time now. Try to have the moral honesty to admit when you are wrong.

Thaddeus.4891:

Again Kodiak. You linked a brawler build, not a bunker. A bunker elementalist would use cleric, soldier or something like that, not celestial.

Are you implying a “Brawler” isn’t defensive? I mean look if you wanna label it brawler, bruiser, bunker, defensive, boonway, kalamazoo or whatever you feel comfortable about it go for it. However implying it’s not a defensive build is just silly when it literally has all points in it’s defensive lines and is renown for it’s durability and defenses.

Zelyhn Lekovitch.2867:

I asked you to prove your claim that the elementalist is factually made to sustain hits.

You deflected by talking about healing specs in PvP.

So you avoided answering the question. It’s the third time now. Try to have the moral honesty to admit when you are wrong.

Do you really think the only way to sustain hits is through Armor and Hitpoint pool? I mean is that what you actually think? If you answer nothing else, please just answer that one question. Do you also think that because the Elementalist starts with the lowest HP and Armor pool it’s unable to become defensive through other powerful defenses such as boons (protection, regen, vigor) and healing (too many to list really) as well as extreme condition management?

Maybe you should take your own advice and just have the honesty to admit you picked an argument that made no sense. Or not and keep doubling down on how Defensive Elementalists don’t exist. Haha me discredit you? Seem to be doing a fine job of it yourself with arguments like these.

Kodiak.3281:

Zelyhn Lekovitch.2867:

I asked you to prove your claim that the elementalist is factually made to sustain hits.

You deflected by talking about healing specs in PvP.

So you avoided answering the question. It’s the third time now. Try to have the moral honesty to admit when you are wrong.

-snip-
the Elementalist starts with the lowest HP and Armor pool
-snip-

A fourth deflection but at least now you are acknowledging the facts. Next step, you admit that the elementalist is not made to sustain hits?

All the talk about how to overcome this weakness is an other topic, we may address it afterwards, but first I would really like to know if you stand by your point or not.

Zelyhn Lekovitch.2867:

A fourth deflection but at least now you are acknowledging the facts. Next step, you admit that the elementalist is not made to sustain hits?

All the talk about how to overcome this weakness is an other topic, we may address it afterwards, but first I would really like to know if you stand by your point or not.

Do you really think the only way to sustain hits is through Armor and Hitpoint pool?

Does a class having additional access to Boons and Heals for defenses not count as character design?

Defensive Elementalists don’t exist? What’s next? Are you going to tell us that jet fuel can’t melt steel beams?

Kodiak.3281:

Zelyhn Lekovitch.2867:

A fourth deflection but at least now you are acknowledging the facts. Next step, you admit that the elementalist is not made to sustain hits?

All the talk about how to overcome this weakness is an other topic, we may address it afterwards, but first I would really like to know if you stand by your point or not.

Do you really think the only way to sustain hits is through Armor and Hitpoint pool?

Does a class having additional access to Boons and Heals for defenses not count as character design?

Defensive Elementalists don’t exist? What’s next? Are you going to tell us that jet fuel can’t melt steel beams?

We can answer all these question once you start answering the original question that fostered them: is the elementalist made to sustain hits or not?

It’s the fifth time you are deflecting. Yet you stated quite clearly that your position is factual, surely then it should not be so hard to reply! Or maybe you know you are wrong so you are going to deflect for a sixth time?

Zelyhn Lekovitch.2867:

We can answer all these question once you start answering the original question that fostered them: is the elementalist made to sustain hits or not?

It’s the fifth time you are deflecting. Yet you stated quite clearly that your position is factual, surely then it should not be so hard to reply! Or maybe you know you are wrong so you are going to deflect for a sixth time?

They aren’t two different conversations, they are all the same conversation. Even you know this because (and I quote you):

Zelyhn Lekovitch.2867:

All the talk about how to overcome this weakness is an other topic…

The way we overcome any weaknesses we have as a class are built into the character design, such as Boons, Healing and Condi management. Pretending that these somehow don’t exist or that they are completely separate from character design (as if we just randomly have these abilities!) is absurd and ridiculous.

You asked me in the other thread why would I want to submit anything to the community? This is why. This is the fifth time you’ve ignored the answer. I can lead a horse to water, I can’t make it drink.

Kodiak.3281:

-snip-

Boom! Sixth time you can’t answer something so simple and factual according to you. At this point your hypocrisy could not be more obvious. I hope every reader in this conversation can see this (if they get past the headache).

This is exactly why it is impossible to have a constructive debate with you Kodiak. You cannot be objective. You are too focused on trying to prove me wrong in any way possible, like you have been trying for the past two years! If you want your advice to ever be taken seriously then you need to stop hating me and start engaging into constructive discussions. Constructive discussions are based on facts, and they imply that the respondents do not deflect when objectively proven wrong because in the end it is about helping the community, not making yourself look good.

_
addendum

Kodiak.3281:

Zelyhn Lekovitch.2867:

We can answer all these question once you start answering the original question that fostered them: is the elementalist made to sustain hits or not?

It’s the fifth time you are deflecting. Yet you stated quite clearly that your position is factual, surely then it should not be so hard to reply! Or maybe you know you are wrong so you are going to deflect for a sixth time?

They aren’t two different conversations, they are all the same conversation. Even you know this because (and I quote you):

Zelyhn Lekovitch.2867:

All the talk about how to overcome this weakness is an other topic…

The quote tells exactly the opposite. I don’t even …

Boom! Sixth time you’ve completely ignored the factual answer of how our class is designed to be defensive. At this point your hypocrisy could not be more obvious. Every reader is going to look at your posts about how defensive Elementalist don’t exist and just wonder what the heck you are talking about.

This is exactly why it’s impossible to have a constructive debate with you Zelyhn. You can’t be objective. You’re too focused on trying to prove me wrong in any way possible, like you haven been for the past two years! You reply to my posts. You deny the existence of basic aspects of our class just try to prove me wrong. I mean if you’re really that worried about me discrediting you or dragging your name through the mud you should really be careful what you’re doing to your own reputation in these kinds of replies. Constructive discussions are based on facts and ignoring those facts when presented only serves to deflect the truth and facts being presented before you and doesn’t make you look good.

Every class has weaknesses. Focusing entirely on the weaknesses and claiming that they are the entire picture is factually wrong. Ignore the whole wide range of heals, boons and condition management we get in trade off for weaknesses is looking at only one side of the coin.

I can lead a horse to water, I can’t make it drink.