Guild Wars 2

Starting this thread I need to make on thing clear, i’ve been researching GW2 since beta and i have found MULTIPLE threads and other posts about Elementalists being useless and only good for a support type role. Also i have heard people go on about how they are by far the funnest class available on the game, and basically once you go Elementalist you can never go back. Lastly, before i start asking my questions i just want to inform you all that my impression of the game as this being my first day purchasing it is that it is quite amazing, BUTTTTTTTTTT i don’t want to be stuck with a support role at the end of the day. I’ve been pvping since i bought the game a few hours ago and i’m excited and confused. When i think elementalist i think glass cannon, not full out support. So i’ve been trying different things and i tend to do really well as the cookie cutter condition earth build. but i want an overall opinion to pretty much settle it for me. At the end of the day am i going to be left supporting for teams in actual competitive pvp and high end pve? Or am i going to be left being able to destroy kitten, and if i can destroy kitten. What weapons should i be using?? Thanks for taking the time to read and the information!

I play as Ele and at the beginning hes pretty hard to learn.. But indeed by far is the funnest class I ever played. For those who think that Elementalist is support only take a look into daphoenix video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2_GXr9o-Us

>and basically once you go Elementalist you can never go back

not true, played elem as my main for circa 600h, now as my second I play thief (250h)
Ofc plyed for some hours all other classes to know them cuz as an pvp ele u gonna mostly counterattack thus u have to know all classes, animations, tricks, strategies etc.
I do agree elem is the most fun class to play and by far the hardest one yet very powerful.

> i don’t want to be stuck with a support role at the end of the day

u dont have to, but ele (next to guardian) is best support class. Ofc by support I don’t mean auto attack with staff in the water. Playing a good support is interesting and not as easy as u may think.

>When i think elementalist i think glass cannon

yup, u can play as an glss but this would be extremely hard. Even after hundreds of hours of gameplay u still could die even in pve
If u want to play as an glass go thief, I just completed whole game as pure glass thief and it was a lot easier than with a balanced ele.

>What weapons should i be using??

ofc all of them, depends on situation, your current build, pve, pvp, wvw.

ele = versatility, truly to say you can (and hope u will) play any role with your ele, but in some cases some other clases gonna fit better for some tasks.

For example as a thief u can make a “universal” condtinion build. U will be using bow and aoe poision, drop calltrops, auto atack + signet of mailce. This build is ultra powerfull on pve u will never die, and will play like this from level 1 to lev 80, all dungs, all fractals up to level 20
U dont have to know your other skills, just those 3 I mentioned. BUT THIS IS BORING AS HELL. u dona wanna do this. The problem is this nooby playstyle is WAY more effective than more complicated, focused on balance and all weaplon/skill usage. This is obvious GW2 design “bug”.

With elem the more complicated you play the more powerfull you are. With other clases u just concentrate on one 2-3 skill “major strategy” and masx 2 minor ones and THATS ALL – if u wanna try something different u need to rebuild you character – unfortunatelly to other 2-3 skill build.
That is why I think elem and in some degree engi are the only proffesions that are not broken and fun to play even after hundreds of hours of gameplay.

You won’t be left to support if you don’t want so. But even being more damage oriented, using your supportive skills, like the water magic with staff or d/d, is very helpful. I’ve pretty much always used quite balanced build with 30 points in supportive/offensive traits and 40 in the other. It works well if you do damage the most of the time and then support your teammates when necessary.
For high-end PvE, staff is a solid choice for group activities where as d/d works better when going solo.
Not sure about the importance of support in PvP, but I have used more damage oriented d/d elementalist there.

I do not do much PvP but what I have found is that you have 4 choices
-Dag/Dag – High burst output, low support, close range makes survivability difficult, steep learning curve
-Scep/Dag- Moderate condition and burst dps, low support, more range gives better survivability
-Staff- Support role with some crowd control and lots of fields, moderate survivability but slow and difficult to level
-Sce/Focus- High support, High survivability, low burst damage, moderate conditional, moderatly difficult to level and steep learning curve

Keep in mind that there are obscure ways to use/spec these combinations that may be effective, changing the above synopsis.

It is true that Elementists are not the strongest AT THE BEGINNING. But neither are any of the other classes. As you level up you of course will gain more power of the enemy. You won’t just be left to support, because their for example is no designated healer class in GW2. Every one looks after each other, Elementists can really pack some good hits, don’t worry!

I couldn’t disagree more with Alexixiv’s view on D/D. I play a D/D 0/10/0/30/30 D/D Ele and I have a blast on it. I never switch out of my weapon set, except for defending/sieging buildings in WvW. Orr PvE, Dungeons, sPvP, all in D/D, and I rarely die. With D/D, you have a ton of control skills (1 knockback, 1 knockdown, 1 chill, 1 immobilize, 2 cripples) and most of them are AoE, you have good healing (about 2k+ on each one of: EA water dodge, water 5, and upon switching to water; all of these AoE), and you stack a TON of AoE boons on everyone, and even more on yourself. Also, you can choose between AoE auras (along with all the boons they give you) OR AoE cond removal as your Water 30 Trait, and both are amazing and you should switch them depending on the situation (usually I only go for Powerful Auras on teams of mostly melee characters, since then I can easily apply them on all my teammates and regardless of who the monster attacks one of them will proc) You also have very good constant DPS, since you can get up to 25 might solo (with the blast finisher arcana skill which name I can’t remember and a Superior Sigil of Battle on one of the daggers), prema-swiftness, and very good mobility with Ride The Lightning (Air 4) and other movement skills.

With my build, I’d much rather be in D/D than Staff in group activities like dungeons. I feel like my DPS is very pathetic with Staff compared to dagger, as well as my support capabilities. Really the only thing I envy about Staff is Water 5’s AoE cond removal on every tick it applies regen. kitten’s OP I say. Survivability isn’t an issue as long as you’re smart. You get low, you get out, you heal, you get back in. This game’s designed so no class can AFK tank bosses, or at least I’ve never seen anyone do so.

Also yeah I’m kinda running daphoenix build hehe and I LOVE IT. I’ve played every other class, but my only level 80 is my ele, and the closest I’ve come to liking a class this much are Guardian and Necro, and even then I love my ele much more.

I am going to change my assessment, I went through and played with every combination and found that if traited effectively all have high sirvivability given you pay attention to the fight and use the appropriate skills at the right time. Currently i am annoyed that almost all champions cannot be knocked down, but i am still managing. Also. I am currently favoring a scepter/dagger build which stacks might and aoe supports. High mobility is fun.