Guild Wars 2

I’m trying to visualize in my mind, the “must” have spec for eles in general, there must be something without which your average player wouldn’t run an ele, and without which an ele would be a free kill for real

Personally having 20/30 arcana and mist form are a “must have” for me, I can work out something on any other trait line and still be viable for my team in tpvp or in hotjoin, but I don’t leave home without having 20/30 arcana and mist form, I’m ok with having only mist form.

I can virtually run with 20/0/0/20/30 easily, while fire traits are limited to 2-3 good ones ( III-VI-VII), I still find the spec quite fun to run even though I still got few things to try on it, also I can run without the water minor trait – healing ripple – and still have no problems..but under no circumstances I’d run without 20-30 arcane and mistform.

What are your "must have " skills/traits?

P.S I’m rather intrigued to find out what are the must have skills/traits for ele players, to see how strong would be the general reaction if any negative change would happen to them.

I like the aura sharing in 30 water, it’s the crux of my support style.

In pvp you’re pretty much stuck with 2 cantrips :p I always bring signet of earth though, because immobilise really screws people up in so many situations :P

Most people say you have to have 30 points in Arcana, so you’ve pretty much realized the same thing we all did. Which is unfortunate. I hate being limited. <whine>

I keep coming back to inscription at 20 in Air. Also, the boons on attunement at 10 in Arcana.

30/30 fire and air. u arent a true glass cannon without it:-p arcane shield is a must as ur counter vs glass cannon thief. of course i only wvw with this so its spec pretty 1 sided for only 1 thing.

Cleansing Wave, Healing Ripple, Elemental Attunement are core of all my builds , direct or condition dmg. Mist Form is also very important. Might be Blasting Staff if I use a Staff. The rest are optional.

EA and renewing stamina

I don’t take Mist Form. Usually play pvp and mist form negates me from point cap. My must have skills is either the Fiery Great Sword of Justice, or the Frost Bow of Freeze your Face. All of my builds have 1 or the other, sometimes both.

Boons on Attunement on Arcana.

Elemental Attunement is in every respectable ele build.

Outside of that, I find life more difficult without healing ripple.

10 arcane / 15 water are mandatory in my builds.

Mist form, renewing stamina and cleansing wave are also must haves.

Armor of Earth…it was my favorite skill in GW1, and I use it very much in GW2 too. With just 1 trait, it can become the ultimate protective skills…stability, regen, protection and vigor. It’s very versatile too, and I like it enough that I also bring the trait that gives you an auto Armor of Earth all the time.

Don’t need any other cantrip when I can just use Armor of Earth. :-)

10 arcane and 20 water in most builds I’ve used

one of cleansing flame, mist form, or lightning flash

And of course RTL if I’m not using a staff

30 arcane for elemental surge if I’m using a scepter; I can’t seem to make scepter work well without it. All of the conditions available using arcane wave and arcane power are just too invaluable. AoE burn, 12 seconds chill with arcane power and water auto, blind for stomps, and immobilize to connect dragon’s tooth.

Trait: Evasive Arcana
Utility: Arcane Blast
Staff Skill: Eruption

10 point arcane, elemental attunement.

The trait that holds the entire profession together.

Should be a baseline ability.

Elemental Attunement without a doubt. It gives boons without any extra work, since I cycle through attunements anyway. I can’t see any reason to leave it out in any build. It’s synergy with Bountiful Power (Water 25) and Cleansing Water (Water 30) is an extra bonus.

30 Fire
30 Air
Does wonders when you know how to play with staff ^^
(mostly for stats …but if I have to name, then Puissance)

Elemental attunement is so powerful. Same with Healing Ripple. And the condition removal on regeneration. For skills, I’d say Lightnigh Flash. Perfect for setting up Churning Earths and can be used defensively too.

I wrote a short guide about the traits (https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/elementalist/Guide-Rating-Elementalist-traits/first#post1680422). For me all the traits with a 5 rating are a “must-have”.

For the utility skills I would say all the Cantrips. They offer everything the elementalist needs and are useful for any build.