Guild Wars 2

The goal of this thread is to serve as a guide to help Elementalists with structured pvp by giving general information about the profession and how they can be setup. I will be offering my own views in this thread so please be kind. I do not claim to be the best Elementalist in the world but I do feel I am adequate with the profession. I ask that you read the entire thread before posting, I know its long but you can do it.

I have played an Elementalist since BWE1 and have loved every bit of it. The playstyle fits me, I love that I can quickly change attunements for different spells under different circumstances. I know Elementalists may not be perfect, as there are still many bugs that need fixed and I have often seen complaints about low survivability. But with the right setup Elementalists can be extremely powerful, and survive well. After finding a good balance of offense and defense an Elementalists true potential can be shown.

General information about the profession,
Elementalists have potential for great damage output, but at the cost of survivability. An Elementalist who uses a pure damage build is generally doing it wrong. Because Elementalists have low base health, survivabilty should be of great priority. Finding a balance between offense and defense is key.

Now getting into stats,

An Elementalist with no gear, traits reset, and no passive signet utilities has the following stats:

Attributes
Power: 916
Precision: 916
Toughness: 916
Vitality: 916

Attack: 916
Critical Chance: 4%
Armor: 916
Health: 10,805

Compared to a Necromancer with no gear, traits reset, and no passive utilities

Attributes
Power: 916
Precision: 916
Toughness: 916
Vitality: 916

Attack: 916
Critical Chance: 4%
Armor: 916
Health: 18,372

Compared to a Mesmer with no gear, traits reset, and no passive utilities.

Attributes
Power: 916
Precision: 916
Toughness: 916
Vitality: 916

Attack: 916
Critical Chance: 4%
Armor: 916
Health: 15,082

After comparing all of the light armor classes you can see the health disadvantage that Elementalists have. They will be subpar 5k or more health compared to the other light armor classes.

Attribute talk
When you play an Elementalists you will usually have lower health than your enemies which is why it is important to have a good amount of vitality and toughness. One of the best ways to get that amount is through amulet choice. As an Elementalist I personaly have given up trying to use any amulet without 569 vitality simply because I will not have enough HP. The amulet of choice for my build is the “Soldier’s Amulet”. It offers nearly everything you need in terms of toughness and vitality.

How much Toughness and Vitality is enough?
I personaly feel that at least 1500 Toughness and 17k HP is a good area to be in.

You can also use Runes to add to your Attributes, I like to use “Rune of Divinity” because it improves every Attribute and gives you more points overall.

Weapon Setup:

• Sceptor/Dagger
  My weapon set of choice, It offers great damage, support healing, and defensive spells. Fire attunement will be your highest damage output followed by air. Water attunement offers great support healing and the defensive spell “Frost Armor”. Earth attunement provides defensive spells like “Rock Armor”, “Dust Devil” and an aoe stun (“Earthquake”). Trapping your oppenents for the Aoe fire spells is important here, I would suggest using utility spell “Signet of Earth” in cojunction to the air attunement spell “Updraft”.

• Dagger/Dagger
  Requiring you to be up close to your enemy which could mean potential damage input. Damage output is high with skill 1 attacks and “Fire Grab”, potential for condition damage as well. Like with Sceptor/Dagger, air and fire attunement spells work well together. I will post more information on this in the future.

• Dagger/Focus
  I will provide more information on this in the future.

• Sceptor/Focus
  I will provide more information on this in the future.

• Staff
  Long range distance is always nice. Staff offers great control spells such as “Shockwave”, “Unsteady Ground”, “Frozen Ground”, “Static Field” and “Gust”. “Magnetic Aura” reflects projectiles and can really hurt if timed right. Damage output can be high with Skill 1 and “Lava Font”. There are some great aoe spells and with 10 points in Arcana you can increase the aoe ring size. Theres a lot of possibilities with staff, high power, crit/crit damage, condition build all work well. Healing support is good if a bit slower than sceptor/dagger. Some suggestions I have with a staff build is to use utility spells “Arcane Wave” for the “blast finisher” which can provide aoe healing, aoe swiftness, aoe might in correlation with staff spells. “Signet of Earth” is another good one to keep enemies in “Fire Font”.

Traits:
Depending on the type of build your going for; crit/crit dmg, power, condition, ect, traits are going to make or break your build.

Something important with traits is to not just look at the 10 slot traits but make sure you choose important 5/15/25 slots as well. Some of the best Elementalist traits are in those slots. Such as “Healing Ripple” which heals not only nearby allies but also yourself when attuning to water. “Arcane Fury” and “Lingering Elements” are also great if you use a balanced power and crit build like myself. “Earthen Blast” “Eletrical Discharge” and “Sunspot” all provide additional damage when changing attunment.

Traits are broken down into Magics and Arcana and provide the following benefits,

• Fire Magic: Power, Condition Duration
• Air Magic: Critical Chance, Critical Damage
• Earth Magic: Toughness, Condition Damage
• Water Magic: Vitality, Healing Power
• Arcana: Boon Duration, Attunement Recharge Rate

when selecting your traits its important to know which attributes you are taking to ensure it fits with your build. Try to avoid putting all your points into Fire and Air Magic, instead branch out and try putting points in Water Magic, Arcana, or Earth Magic as well. Learn the 10 slot traits so you can think of effective builds. Try not to get frustrated when a build doesn’t work out the way you planned, and instead think of different ways to improve it. It will take awhile to get a playstyle that suits you and a build that you can settle on but just keep practicing and learning.

Reserved for future posts!

Reserved for future posts!

Good stuff.

Healing ripple is 15 trait slot though. The 5 gives regen while attuned to water.

Yeah, I meant 5, 15, and 25. Thanks for catching that I will see if I can change it.