Many people loves swords, the idea of an elemental swordsmaster is pretty cool, and there’s some iconic examples from other gaming series with similar classes (think of Red Mage from final fantasy). I, personally, would love to wield a Bolt with my Elementalist. In fact, I absolutely love swords. And elementalists.
Because we know the current weaponry is going to be expanded for all professions in the future, here’s my wishlist for a possible mh sword for the elementalists:
So, what do Elementalists lack?
Dedicated condition-damage weapons. Elementalists already have plenty of party support, especially from Staff; Scepter already focuses on “single-targetting” bursting, daggers already fulfill the “melee mage” role, and focus is defensive.
How would this work?
Elementalists have plenty of access to burning, and decent access to bleeding. Taking inspiration from the warrior’s sword, our bladed weapon is going to bring in easier access to bleeding.
What makes it different from other condition damage builds?
Necromancers and engineers have access to poison, and can inflict a lot of aoe, ranged condition damage. Engineers can almost even “burst” with it. An elementalist with mh sword would have a more rigid range (600, inbetween dagger and scepter), rely only on two conditions to deal damage, but be able to cover the with several other, more defensive conditions (weakness, cripple, etc).
So let’s formulate a skillset at last!
Fire Attunement
1. Fire Trail
- Slash your sword into the air, sending a scorching trail your opponent and anyone inbetween you and them.
- 600 range, piercing, direct damage only;
2. Flame Wave, 6c
- Swing your sword, spreading a wave of flames to all foes around you;
- Mechanically similar to guardian’s staff auto-attack, 600 range, 3-4s of aoe burning;
3. Call of Fire, 15c
- Thrust your sword into the air, filling it with flames. You burn foes for 1 second for every third attack;
- 15 seconds.
Water Attunement
1. Healing Slice
- Attack at melee (130) range. Each strike spashes water around you, healing you and nearby allies at that range.
2. Spring Swing, 12c
- Swing your sword, spreading water waves that apply regen to you and all allies around you.
- 4-6s of regen, 600 range.
3. Ice Block, 15c
- Block the next incoming attack with a frozen blade. The ice is shattered by the impact, bleeding foes and making them vulnerable.
- 5 stacks of vulnerability for 6s, 5 stacks of bleeding for 6 second.
(Sequence) Icy Summoning
- Manifest the ice in your blade into a chilling beam against your foe.
- 2s chill.
Air Attunement
1. Lightning Slash (Chain Sequence)
- Two quick hits for low damage, at 600 range thanks to lightning’s aid, followed by a much slower hit that summons a random sequence of lightning bolts within the radius of the target.
2. Blade Storm, 10c
- Leap to your foe with the aid of lightning, striking them fast with a flurry of strikes.
- 8x (low) damage, melee range (130), leap finisher.
3. Call of Thunder, 15c
- Thrust your sword into the air, calling into it a lightning bolt. You inflict 3s weakness to struck foes every fifth attack;
- 15 seconds.
Earth Attunement
1. Magnetic Strike
- Wave your sword through the air with magnetic power, striking and bleeding your foe at range.
- 600 range, 2 hits, 1 stack of bleeding for 6s for each hit.
2. Rocking Blade, 6c
- Throw your sword into the foe like a rock-weighted spear, and bring it back with magnetic power.
- 600 range, slow but strong attack, 3 stacks of bleeding for 12 seconds, 100% projectile finisher.
3. Counter Quake, 15c
- Block the next incoming attack. If an attack is blocked, target foe and foes around you are knocked down by a groundshacking impact.
- Blast Finisher.
(Sequence) Ground’s Summoning
- Manifest your blade’s the shacking power around your ground, crippling nearby foes.
- Blast Finisher.
So, whats the playstyle?
This MH Sword elementalist has a few key details to note: It can spread several conditions to cover burning and bleeding, one of which is reliable; it has one source of bleeding outside earth (in water) and two sources of burning outside fire (fire’s #3 passive effect, earth’s projectile finisher on a fire field). Fire and air offer more aoe and/ or multi-hits to make use of their passive third skills, while earth focuses on applying bleeding through slower means. The two truly melee-range attacks are either supported by a leap (air) or are meant only as a defensive tool (water’s auto-attack). The counter skills allow for an interesting duelist/ riposting flavor.
Thanks for reading!
EDIT 1
Improved the skillset based on feedback. Call of Fire activation was changed to every third attack (instead of every fifth), and bleeding skills were improved.
(edited by DiogoSilva.7089)