Leveling an Elem...constructive advice requested

Leveling an Elem...constructive advice requested

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Posted by: Kesarai.5084

Kesarai.5084

Ok, I’ve hit 80 with my Ranger and while she still had tons of stuff to do and I love playing her, I am going to be leveling an Elementalist when taking a break or when I just want to get away for a bit. So I’m asking for some constructive advice from experienced Elementalists that really like this class, I don’t want “don’t play it, they suck” type advice please.

My playstyle is generally solo PvE (unless of course at a DE or run across someone killing the same mobs as me). I don’t WvW or sPvP, ever. Or at least I don’t see it in my near future, just not really my cup of tea so to speak.

~What stats are important to an Elem?

~Is Air a viable element? I ask because even though she is only 8 right now, I have been having a lot of fun with it. If it is viable, what should I trait and equip?

~If Air isn’t a viable element, then what would be for a solo player? Recommendations please

~I know they are somewhat fragile, most casters in every game I’ve played are, so I’m prepared for that and to be downed or die probably frequently. I’m ok with that.

Looking forward to hearing from all, if you need more info on my playstyle, just let me know and I’ll answer…

Thanks all

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Posted by: Shockwave.1230

Shockwave.1230

Firstly, I suggest reading up a bit on the ele to get to know the skills (all of them) and understand it at a basic level. There’s a lot of ele bashing in regard to pvp, but since you’re focus is PvE ignore it.

Yesterday my ele reached 80, I’ve got a lot I can say about my experiences. Firstly, the class is a combination class (not talking combo fields specifically fyi, just combo’s in general). Experiment with skills and see how they play together, for example the skill Phoenix can hit foes 3 times by itself and you can simultaneously land a Dragon’s Tooth if cast before Phoenix, additionally these skills are blast finishers so if you threw down a combo field you’ll trigger a combo twice.

You’ll want to quickly learn attunement swapping, and get used to having 2-3 attunements on cool down. This is important because it adds to the combos you can do, for example using the offhand dagger you can lay down a ring of fire then swap to earth and use earthquake and churning earth in the ring of fire to trigger two area might twice giving you and others 6 stacks of might. Another example with the staff is using frozen ground to slow enemies then swapping to fire and laying down a lava font that they can’t get out of.

Experiment, learn your skills, understand the mechanics and it’ll be fun. It’s a lot to take in, but entertaining for those who enjoy complex combat.

For the first 20 or so levels you should have a healthy focus on power, as it shines early on. As you progress in level you’ll find it’s best to have a balanced spread of stats. For the elementalist specifically, it’s hard to go wrong with shaman armor and emerald accessories in PvE. If things start to get too tough to where you’re getting downed a lot even while effectively dodging attacks, check up on your gear level.

I’ve found a balanced stat spread works best for me, but it may be slightly different for you. I played mostly solo. In combat try to use the big damage skills on recharge, and supplement that with condition damage. Make sure to apply burning when recharged, apply some bleeding. If you find yourself using your skill 1 more than once or twice it’s time to swap attunements and use more skills. Seriously, avoid using skill 1 regardless of attunement. It’s sometimes useful to spam a skill a bit, but you’ll be far more effective if you pick and choose skills 2 through 4 and keep swapping attunements.

I wouldn’t worry at all about extra crit damage while leveling, but it’s not bad to have. While leveling I think it’s best to have a healthy balanced spread between the 4 primary stats. Once you get to the higher levels and have a good grasp of how to play the class you can probably spread stats how you like. Here’s my stats at level 80 with all masterwork (green) gear and 10/10/10/10/30 into traits…

Power – 916 + 550
Precision – 916 + 498
Toughness – 916 + 493
Vitality – 916 + 356
Condition Damage – 308
Critical Hit Damage – 14%
Healing Power – 255

tl;dr
Attunement swap! Attunement swap! Attunement swap! Use skill 1 fairly infrequently, pick and choose skills 2-4 and swap attunements picking other 2-4 skills. Use power early on (like the first 20 levels). Balance out the primary stats mid level, (Healthy Balanced spread if I haven’t said it enough). Once your at a higher level and understand the class you can play around with stats.

Sylvari Elementalist – Mystree Duskbloom (Lv 80)
Norn Guardian – Aurora Lustyr (Lv 80)
Mia A Shadows Glow – Human Thief (Lv 80)

(edited by Shockwave.1230)

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Posted by: Erebus.7568

Erebus.7568

do like every bambie do and build very tanky survive builds or get REALLY good at dodging and kiting while using slows and roots and go full out dps, i like the staff for this becouse of the high amount of slow and kitability it gives+targeting spells which you can controll.
^^
i personally hate the tanky builds for ele (which every one is so fond off these days becouse it gives you the illusion you can do something more when you live longer while doing nothing.) and just got REALLY good at dodging and kiting while still applying high dmg, but know it will be very frustrating in a lot of situations, but on the other hand you get very good at something very usefull for later use which will set you apart from most ele’s since in the late endgame stuff your gonna die so darn fast if you get hit that dodging is the only real option anyway

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Posted by: Oghier.7419

Oghier.7419

If you generally solo and dislike WvW, here’s one important hint: Forget staff. It’s only good in situations you don’t seek. Try the various other weapon combos, and see what suits.

Snit Dirtnap (Thief)
Ratbag Dogsticker (Guardian)
…Yak’s Bend

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Posted by: Rack.4930

Rack.4930

It’s a simple trick, but I find it hugely affects my impact with an Elementalist. Use Scepter/Dagger (other weaponsets are available) and use Burning Field, followed up by a quick Phoenix and Dragons Tooth. In tough situations you can swap to Earth and drop an Earthquake and (situationally) Churning Earth. Optionally you can also use the utility skill Arcane Blast right at the start.

Since every one of these skills is a blast finisher every one of them will add Area Might if you cast it in the 8 seconds of that initial Burning Field. That’s up to 12 stacks of might. Or in other words, a puppy ton of might. While levelling that’s 20 seconds where you’re actually doing comparable damage, or even slightly more if you hit them all, to the other classes. The best thing about it is the cooldown on all of the fire skills is 20 seconds or under. You can’t always drop to earth, you can’t always drop the arcane wave, but you can have 6 stacks of might near constantly.

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Posted by: Kesarai.5084

Kesarai.5084

Thank you for the suggestions so far. I don’t really want or expect a easy class, if I did, I would have made a Warrior – which I don’t have. I tend to gravitate towards the harder to play classes, in this case my Ranger is an exception. The reason for that is every MMO I have played, I always have a Ranger/Archer/Hunter type. I just have a special fondness for them and in some games they are easy, some they are hard.

That being said, I kinda like what Shockwave said about utilizing all elements and swapping back and forth. I have started levelling up her weapon skills beginning with dual daggers (I think I have the last element left on that one) then will try the next one.

As I said from the onset, I’m just starting on her, only lvl 8 so have a lot to learn, hence why I’m here asking for advice I’m not looking for the “Easy Mode”, I’m looking for those little tips & tricks that people have learned on the way that works for them. They may or may not work for me & my playstyle, but won’t know until I’ve tried, true?

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Posted by: Barabbi Moonshadow.3089

Barabbi Moonshadow.3089

[Level 50, mostly PVE, light WvW, staff (since unlocking all weapon abilities)]

A. The most important thing about ele(mentalist) is to, as stated above, learn how abilities will work together.
B. My current / future build. (Fire 10 V, Air 25 VI & ?, Water 10 VI, Arcane 25 V & VIII) Equipment = Precision, Crit Dmg, & Power. Runes = 2 Lyssa for Condition Duration and 4 Eagle for Precision & Crit Dmg. (As of level 50). Point: Critical hit for high dmg & to cause conditions while using your 1.2k range to all its benefit.
C. Skills: Glyph of Elemental Harmony (can heal on move), Cleansing Fire (clear conditions), Signet of Fire (crit chance, needed at my level), Signet of Air (movement speed), [Sylvari race] Take Root (turrets, let them help you + invulnerability in longer fights)
D. Always keep an active look around you when in the general world. You survive via killing things before they agro on you. If you are agro’ed first (at my present level), it will be a much … much tougher fight.
E. Run around in Air magic, giving you 10% more run speed.
F. Typical pull:

1. Switch to Earth magic & gain 10 seconds of Protection and 2 seconds of Fury. Cast Eruption under the mob or mobs you are pulling.
2. Immediately cast Unsteady Ground 3/4 from you between the mob(s) and you. (Most pulls have a melee based enemy in the group.)
3. Cast Shockwave.
4a. (Put points in Arcane first as to lower your element switch times.) Until you can switch back to Air, Cast Stoning.
4b. Switch to Air magic, gain 2 seconds of Fury and 5 seconds of Swiftness.
5. Cast Lightning Surge on the enemy most likely to actually get a hit on you.
6. Cast Windborne Speed, gain 10 seconds of Swiftness.
7. (Use Gust if necessary.)
8a. Finish mob(s) with Chain Lightning if probable to kill them.
8b. Switch to Fire, gain 10 seconds of Might & 2 seconds of Fury.
9. Cast Flame Burst. (Instant cast)
10. Cast Burning Retreat. (If room is available.)
11. Cast Flame Font so the circle will dmg the mob.
12. Switch to Water, gain 10 seconds of Regeneration.
13. Cast Frozen Ground. (Get some distance between you and the mob while Flame Font hits again.)
14. Cast Geyser on yourself (if needed.)

Thus far, both in solo (farming nodes and doing the odd event) and group/event play, it works well. Further, it is easy to be productive in WvW if you ever decide to do so while running “with the zerg” and/or operating wall mounted siege.

Thought I would give you a staff ele’s point of view/play scenario.

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Posted by: Seraskus.6810

Seraskus.6810

I play Staff ele too. Combos posted by barabi are quite cool from what I see- I use some of those as well.

Nice combo is also (best working with Evasive Arcana making explosion of elements when you dodge):
-Water: Frozen ground to stop them
-Ice Spike to make vunerable
-Quick switch to fire
-Flame Burst (instant cast)
-Lava Font

Now the best part- I roll into the lava font creating an Fire Burst giving me might (Evasive Arcana) and damaging them. Than I use Burning retreat o get away.
As result enemies stay in the lafa font for all the time it is placed+ they get burned and I get might x)

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Posted by: norael.2104

norael.2104

1. The stat choice tends to depend on the primary element, so I would say follow some rules of thumb about each element.

Fire is all about the power aspect since most of its damage is front loaded with only a minor DOT from burning as back loaded damage.

Air is all about critical hits and damage, so precision and power both equally help in this regard (precision more so for the crit chance).

Water is all about healing, so healing power and power are good stats to keep up.

Earth is the primary condition element, thus needs condition damage to offset its low burst.

Overall vitality is a tertiary stat which only needs supplementation from time to time considering most of the time you will want to avoid attacks regardless (even as an Earth spec, you will not have the health to facetank).

2. Air is a defacto viable element in PVE simply because it’s real easy to bolster precision to get approximately 40-50% critical hit chance. To make Air attacks really hurt you will have to put on some power gear or runes as base attacks on Air are paltry compared to Fire attacks.

3. Aside from Fire and Air as good elements to use in solo, Earth attacks are great if you can deal with waiting for bleeds/DOTs to accumulate. By the second round of most attacks the NPCs shouldn’t be standing or at least half of them ought to be dead (even if they’re a higher level than you). This is especially true if you use a staff since eruption is a good way to mass bleed NPCs while you burn them down with Air or Fire attacks.

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Posted by: IPrime xPhantom.5097

IPrime xPhantom.5097

Tell you what… At this point im lvlv 32 and very happy with the ele. Heres what i do.

When i approach an enemy keep in mind that fire is a great AoE grouping and is going to (possibly) be you first choice going into a solo fight. Burning effects are always nice mainly with the staff (atleast to me). When ever im with more than 2 more people, i run in attuned to water, i can combo (with the staff) 2 healing abilites, and give great support to either yourself or a larger group of enemies (All depend on situation, solo can be great to by you some time to get some breathing room) When i pop out the air attunment, (for staff mind you) its mainly because i have a large group of lower level enemies coming towards me. Comboing air with fire attacks is a great way to deal mass damage. Earth personally is where things get intresting. Earth is a great starter for more challenging or idle enemies. When you use earth try to use it to deal out mass bleeding and damage then combo in fire and air attacks (that is if they are still alive). I have used daggers, scepters and focuses but the staff is really what calls my name. In PVP the ele can be a bit hard to use, it doesnt completely match up to the point other professions have made. Always stay with a group so you can support them and they can draw attention away from you buying you time to cast a higher dmg ability in the distraction of your foe. And as i learned the hard way… never charge in on the front lines in WvW.

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Posted by: Drew.1865

Drew.1865

I enjoy playing my ele but I have to admit it is a difficult class to play correctly. I would prefer people not roll this class as their first toon until Anet fixes the class. You can have lots of fun with it but it is broken ATM and will never be as good as the other classes until it’s damage is increased.
My advice if you are going to play it is pick either a tough build with low but sustainable dps or make a glass cannon build but make sure you have earth shield and arcane shield and mist form in your cantrips.

Is GW2 a game or a virtual casino?

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Posted by: Robin.8517

Robin.8517

I’m lazily playing an asura ele, currently 58 and i have to agree with shockwave on the attunement swap part and knowing your skills.
Most people complain about the lack of weapon swap but if you consider that an ele by changing attunement does get a new set of weapon/off hand skill bar at every change then wouldn’t that be over powered?

I started playing as staff user and i still do that when i play group events that allows me to hit from far, but in all other cases i use a dual dagger build.
It’s a close range approach that forces me to be constantly on the move, get close to the enemies to hit but the damage output is pretty high in my opinion.

Consider this, while using a staff i had trobules facing a veteran, now i take them head on, the only situation i find hard to face is multiple know downs, say two or more ettins that manage to catch me with the right timing.

PVP is a totally different story for me, i haven’t yet figured that out but that is largely due to the fact that i’ve been stuck on a bad connection since launch day and lag is usually why i die in pve so pvp is out of the question for now.
I know people say ele suck in pvp but i cannot speak about it for personal experience.

(edited by Robin.8517)

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Posted by: Kesarai.5084

Kesarai.5084

Thanks everyone, am really looking forward to the challenge. I truly appreciate the advice and tips.

So far I have been using dual dagger, but still filling out all her weapon skills so that may change.

As for them being ‘broke’ thats alright. In one of the MMO’s I played umpteen years ago, I was one of 3 people on the server I played, that insisted on continueing to play Void Eldritch even though their main bolts were broke, making it even harder to play & level. But they were still fun none the less. So if they have issues, thats alright, I’ll learn to deal with them and find a way to work around it that makes them playable. Just another challenge and challenge is good

Gonna have to break out the notebook to jot down the tips & tricks and suggestions.

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Posted by: Ephiny.9831

Ephiny.9831

Some good tips above – Ele’s die a lot so make sure you go for gear and runes with power, vit & toughness. Also don’t solely focus on damage skills, equip defensive skills and traits too. Mist form cantrip will get you out of many sticky situations.

The thing about Ele is that although they are a ranged class they require a lot of movement and kiting – dodge is your best friend – bind it to a mouse button. It helps if you can get a glyph pet to tank. When I levelled I used 2 at the same time (glyph of lesser elemental and the elite elemental).

Valar Morghulis

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Posted by: Alexander Drako.6498

Alexander Drako.6498

I didnt see this mentioned, but I found myself having an easier time with my elementalist once I put alternate binds for switching attunements. Hitting Alt+1 was way easier for me than hitting F1 for example, so if you find an easier way to switch attunements for quick cross-element combos, you’ll kill things a lot faster.

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Posted by: Polaritie.4851

Polaritie.4851

D/D elementalist gets most of their damage from fire or earth attunements. Churning Earth does absolute ridiculous damage, but has a long cast time. If you’re using it, I highly recommend Glyph of Storms (in earth mode) and/or Air Signet to apply blinds to cover your cast (Sandstorm goes down before the cast, signet during it, both can prevent interruption nicely).

Drake Breath does high damage too once you account for the burn (but it takes a while for it to finish, since burns stack duration), and fire is more bursty than earth’s bleed spam is. It also has a fire field, which you can set off for might with earth’s 4 or 5 or Arcane Wave (tier 1 utility, a good choice for raw damage all around).

Water is very good at kiting, with two sources of chill and the longest range of all D/D attunements. Also has two skills that heal you for a bit, one removes a condition. Basically, you use it to sustain yourself, because it’s lacking in damage (somewhat mitigated by traits, to become a slow but safe kiting setup 1v1)

Air is mostly utility. The basic attack does nice damage, and is a good choice for destroying objects. The second attack inflicts weakness… and then it’s all utility skills. Shocking Aura, Ride the Lightning, and Updraft all have their uses.

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Posted by: Keldrath.4735

Keldrath.4735

I struggled a bit at first but honestly I watched this episode: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=VkQaJLGs1HY

specifically the elementalist roundtable section, which you can find a timestamp of in the description.

The big things I pulled from it that helped me go from feeling like leveling was a chore and the class was weak, to, wow this class is really fun and I don’t feel weak at all, I feel really STRONG and able to solo many monsters that I wouldn’t have dreamed of before with the class was mainly, attunement swapping.

first off, I use the staff, scepter feels like total garbage to me and I will not use it, and dagger/dagger is fun and all but I feel really strong with the staff.

The thing with attunement swapping for me that made all the difference in the world was, I stopped just using my skills and auto attacking and only switching if i wanted something specific for whatever reason. I changed that to, i will cast off my fire stuff, swap to earth, cast off my earth stuff, and go back and forth between the two. Often I will swap to air as well throw down a stun, if im hurt swap to water drop a geyser and an ice spike, swap right back into fire and start launching those abilities, then back to earth etc.

Longer fights it makes a huge difference and makes everything so much better. it feels like a really strong class. For really short fights i can often times just sit in fire and after i cast everything… it’s dead. but usually its a combo from fire to earth.

That’s what made the difference for me.

80 Necromancer/Guardian/Mesmer
Isle of Janthir
Super Ultra Mega Awesome [SUMA]

(edited by Keldrath.4735)

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Posted by: Kesarai.5084

Kesarai.5084

I struggled a bit at first but honestly I watched this episode: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=VkQaJLGs1HY

specifically the elementalist roundtable section, which you can find a timestamp of in the description.

The big things I pulled from it that helped me go from feeling like leveling was a chore and the class was weak, to, wow this class is really fun and I don’t feel weak at all, I feel really STRONG and able to solo many monsters that I wouldn’t have dreamed of before with the class was mainly, attunement swapping.

first off, I use the staff, scepter feels like total garbage to me and I will not use it, and dagger/dagger is fun and all but I feel really strong with the staff.

The thing with attunement swapping for me that made all the difference in the world was, I stopped just using my skills and auto attacking and only switching if i wanted something specific for whatever reason. I changed that to, i will cast off my fire stuff, swap to earth, cast off my earth stuff, and go back and forth between the two. Often I will swap to air as well throw down a stun, if im hurt swap to water drop a geyser and an ice spike, swap right back into fire and start launching those abilities, then back to earth etc.

Longer fights it makes a huge difference and makes everything so much better. it feels like a really strong class. For really short fights i can often times just sit in fire and after i cast everything… it’s dead. but usually its a combo from fire to earth.

That’s what made the difference for me.

Thank you for this link, just watched the video and I would have to agree with you. This has cleared up a lot of the questions I had with the various skills/traits/etc.

Am really looking forward now to trying out some of the things that were mentioned.

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Posted by: Paulus magintie.7432

Paulus magintie.7432

Before I did anything major I unlocked all possible skills both on land and underwater that way you can switch around without worrying about accidently having no skills to use.

Also I run with a sceptre and dagger for offensive fighting in PvE and for boss’s I switch to staff for heavy hitting attacks.

As your unlocking skills you start to learn what each skill does so very practical, you get the hang of it fast and before you know it your nuking things from orbit.

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Posted by: delmarqo.5038

delmarqo.5038

This thread is one of the reasons I love this class so much. One class, but so many different ways to play it.

One person mentioned hating Scepter. And yet, for soloing, I’ve been Scepter Dagger for almost all 56 levels. Ring of Fire, Dragon’s Tooth and Arcane Wave for long duration +Might and then everything else as needed to take the targets down. Doesn’t really matter whether it’s one target or four. If there’s five, I’ll drag out the Fire or Air pets.

Staffs for groups of course. So far I’ve only done DEs. Haven’t yet stepped into a Dungeon or PvP. I’d likely get rolled in both cases because I’m mostly Power/Precision with a smattering of Tough/Vit when I remember I probably should slot some gems with it. I play GW2 like an addict, but really only have gotten as far as a casual-level thinker. To be able to do that is one of the reason I love the game so much. Even with my probably-kitten thinking, I’m generally Gold level on DEs, sometimes higher.

One thing I haven’t really gotten good at is Attunement switching while soloing. In groups I’ll switch but mostly just to shift roles from CC to Heal to DMG. But the whole Arcane line where you get boons to durations and benefits to switching, it makes my head heard But as I near 60 and the Tier 3 trait slots, I’ll be studying that more.

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Posted by: Kesarai.5084

Kesarai.5084

I know what you mean Paulus, I’ve had way too much fun unlocking things and trying to figure it out. Sure I’ve died a few times cough ok, so maybe more than a few, but thats ok, getting better at the whole not dying thing too.

The attunement swapping is taking some getting use to, and I am getting better about switching and laying down some CC and Heals (for awhile I was forgetting that was me that could do that since I had gotten so use to playing a Ranger).

Will be interesting to see what the future levels bring