Guild Wars 2

At the moment ele autoattacks seem to be balanced around a damage/effect tradeoff.

eg. Staff, fire/air does the most damage, water and earth have an extra effect and less damage.

Whilst tradeoffs are usually good, I think in this case it usually means we choose damage and ignore the effect, wasting a bit of depth.

If all the autoattacks were generally on par with each other for single-target DPS, then we could feel free to choose our element based on the situation. I don’t think this would result in OPness or loss of variety.

eg. staff again: 4+ enemies = Fire. Single enemy = Earth. Melee allies = Water. 2-3 enemies = Air.

Of course, ele’s don’t autoattack that often anyways, and we rarely stick to one element. All the more reason to have normalised autoattacks, so we won’t feel that autoattacking in a weaker element is a waste of time.

Imo, Staff Eles that use the auto-attacks usually aren’t that good. Unless, of course, you’re a glasscannon ele that’s spamming Fire 1. I rarely use my autos otherwise.

I tend not to stay i any attunment long enough to use an auto attack but it would be nice if they were all equally effective in whatever way.

If they buffed aa my glass cannon staff fire/air 1 spamming ele would be even more interesting to watch when I proc quickness : P. It’s a fun way to play ele after the usually support healing build, and if your used to the evasive skills and combo’s you will find yourself lasting a fair amount of time in fights.

SecondtoNone.7549:

Imo, Staff Eles that use the auto-attacks usually aren’t that good. Unless, of course, you’re a glasscannon ele that’s spamming Fire 1. I rarely use my autos otherwise.

Just because some 1 attacks auto doesnt mean thier bad im a staff ele aswell and i auto alot against bosses tbh unless my team needs sum heals other than that im staying in fire attunement just for that damage

earth is just plain weak on a side note it applies weakness

water is meh water is water lmao does little damage but provides a decent heal with each hit to ur group

air is ok but i dont normally use it unless it gets mobby and for the swiftness thats about it really.

I understand alot of ppl like to cycle thro attunements but i dnt see the point really if ur just focusing on one monster really thats just my 2 cents.

unless your target is hitting the bleed cap, you should be cycling between fire and earth for eruption (the single most damaging move you have)

Lordryux.9785:

earth is just plain weak on a side note it applies weakness

Nice way to sum it up, but I’m assuming you didn’t mean it in a positive manner.

Stoning’s greatest strength is in fact that very weakness. Sure, it may only deal 2/3 of the damage that Fireball does, but your opponent will only deal 50% of their damage. So you come out ahead.

Also, Stoning is a projectile finisher, which can be useful at times. Spamming stones through a fire field for example, will double their damage (they’ll cause 1 second of burning each) and thus outperform Fireball.