Guild Wars 2

I know I’m probably doing it wrong but I just can’t seem to play the elemental. I’ve tried about 10 different (recommended) builds and none of them seem to work. Since my ele hit eighty I’ve spent nearly 2 GP in armour repairs as a result of getting rubbed out more or less as soon as I engage. The toon survives all the one-on-one engagements but, the minute two mobs target me, (even lev 77s) I die almost instantly.

• Yes, I dodge (you only get to do it twice before you run out of energy);
• Yes, I swap attunements (I start with fire and end with water in the vain hope of surviving long enough to cast a heal);
• Yes, I hit heal in time.
• I throw as much shielding up as I can;
• I’ve tried staffs, daggers & sceptres, none of them seem to make much difference;
• I’ve tried cantrips, glyphs, arcane and all the variations thereof.

I admit my armour isn’t the best (only mid range level 80 exotic but then I’ve run out of money doing repairs). The upshot is that I’ve NEVER managed to get to the centre of the Altar of Lies in Malchor’s Leap. I invariably get wasted on the way.

The bottom line is, I can’t seem to do enough damage before I get killed so I must be doing something wrong and I can’t see what! I’ve read loads of forum posts about techniques and (allegedly) unstoppable Elementalist builds but I’ve yet to try one that works (for me)

By contrast, I have a human warrior that’s virtually indestructible. Easily takes on four or five mobs and, while I was levelling it, could take on two or three mobs five or six levels higher without any trouble.

Really sick of this character now. It’s just too much hassle to play without (from what I can see) any significant benefit.

Maybe my network connection is too slow or something.

i have not done PVP or WvW jet but my suggestion, i got it from video, but i changed 1 or 2 things only, but this build is only part of it utility skills & elite skilled count to, & also depends on what u use & how & also on gear, necromancer with S/D has good bleed/DPS to, really good in PVE, fast kill & also i can be support when attuned to water, earth is my mane
my Sylvari ele future build, i say future cause i’m not lvl 80
weapon S/D
earth 30/3/4/7
water 30/3/5/11
arcane 10 /5
good build if u want to survive long battles & do a lot of dam, i tested it in are were u can reset & try meany builds but u will be back to normal when u return to game, it also kills fast & u can switch to water sometimes to support ur group, to get erth & fire both 30 dose not give much earth water is better, i try’d it in Heart Of Mists, it kills faster then then other ele builds

& if u use my build then u need armor with con, at first u ton’t get stuff with con but when u find replace ur stuff what has power with con, armor with con is good with S/D earth & fire, cause both do con dam with S/D, but earth is better at con dam

A few people have recommend this build
Elementalist survival (Earth) Build

Tried it but it doesn’t do it for me. Still seems to have problems with multiple mobs

It’s hard to say what you’re doing wrong without more specific information. What is your trait spread like? How much health do you have? What skills do you slot?

As a largely damage-oriented Elementalist with anywhere from 12k to 16k health, I usually don’t have any problems. 2k power, 1.8k precision, 900 tough, 1.2k vitality. If you’re dying repeatedly in dungeons, but your party is not, that usually indicates that nobody is bothering to rezz you when you’re downed, or you’re overextending a bit.

Consider traiting Arcana VI – Renewing Stamina to help with your dodging. The 33% figure it gives you is extremely misleading, especially when you’re using daggers, which have several multi-hit and AoE abilities. I often exit extended fights with over a minute of Vigour stacked on my character.

I am currently leveling in D/D going for toughness/vitality/healing gear. I kill elites two levels above me with adds joining the fight, and I do it reasonably fast. Its all about chaining CC and kiting. I love how engaging the fights are, but yes you have to work harder!

i suggest this build http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEAQJArYhMmebzxzgjDAkHnYCLjHhwxHlCzA

gear shod be with con, cause power gives ferry little to earth ele, con gives more, so u can be support to sometimes with heal & do a lot of dam, it works fine for me

It doesn’t seem to be just me complaining about this. Seems there are a lot of people moaning about the Elementalists tendency to die at the drop of a hat even on these forums.

I’ve tried lots of trait combinations. My current one is:
30/i/vii/vi
0
0
30/vi/ix/iii
10/v

My armour is pretty middle of the road; I can’t remember the stats offhand though.

I’m presently using a staff (I read it was better for survivability) but I used to use a sceptre/dagger combo which was better (in my opinion). Something that happens a lot is I get interrupted while I’m casting heal and then the next shot kills me. Maybe I should try to spec for stability.

I think the biggest hassle with the ele is that you can lose 60% of your health with a single crit (which happens all the time with elites) Then a couple of minor hits take you down the rest of the way and this can happen in less than a second.

Maybe I should just video a fight and then you’ll see what I mean.

Gribold.4298:

Maybe I should just video a fight and then you’ll see what I mean.

This would really help. Also, in my opinion, your trait spread is extremely unoptimized. I don’t mean to be condescending; all the points in Fire are more or less wasted, as Fire simply doesn’t have that many good traits to begin with and you’ll get more power from gear anyways. Your water ones are slightly better, but you’re missing the mark on truly great ones, in addition to ignoring some of the great Arcana traits.

This is the build I use in just about any situation short of sPvP:

0
30/VI/I/X
0
10/V
30/V/VI/XI

This is for dagger/dagger, but it also works decently with staff. Comes with Glyph of Elemental Harmony, Mist Form, Arcane Wave, and an optional utility of your choice. Use your auras (Water 4, Air 3) liberally for constant Fury, regularly Arcane Wave and dodge into your own fire fields for might, swap attunements like a madman.

Furienify.5738:

Gribold.4298:

Maybe I should just video a fight and then you’ll see what I mean.

This would really help. Also, in my opinion, your trait spread is extremely unoptimized. I don’t mean to be condescending; all the points in Fire are more or less wasted, as Fire simply doesn’t have that many good traits to begin with and you’ll get more power from gear anyways. Your water ones are slightly better, but you’re missing the mark on truly great ones, in addition to ignoring some of the great Arcana traits.

This is the build I use in just about any situation short of sPvP:

0
30/VI/I/X
0
10/V
30/V/VI/XI

This is for dagger/dagger, but it also works decently with staff. Comes with Glyph of Elemental Harmony, Mist Form, Arcane Wave, and an optional utility of your choice. Use your auras (Water 4, Air 3) liberally for constant Fury, regularly Arcane Wave and dodge into your own fire fields for might, swap attunements like a madman.

i agree about the part were u talk about the fire, but u for got to mention that power dose not give much to S/D earth ele, its useless for S/D earth ele

i find arcane useless that’s why its gonna be 10, water is more useful, that’s my opinion & that’s how i felt when i try’d different build in heart of mists

Arcane is in no way useless…

Wreck.2634:

Arcane is in no way useless…

well this is better

i try’d air & others in heart of mists, & this has best dam & Survivability, fast kill, i did not get good dam wit S/D air ele no matter what my secondary was

air is not condition & it has low dam, even crit did not save me, i died a lot when i did quests, but this is good in PVE & PVP to cause i so video form some1 with 99% same build

arcane is only useful to get Attunement duration down so i can switch between earth & water faster

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEAQJArYhMmebzxzgjDAkHnYSJjHhwxHlCzA

Sugram.3106:

Wreck.2634:

Arcane is in no way useless…

arcane is only useful to get Attunement duration down so i can switch between earth & water faster

So not true and if you think that you really should go look at the traits again. I never play without atleast 10 points in arcane and it’s not for the Attunement duration.

In sPvP I used to play 0/0/20/20/30 on my elementalist but it got boring after a while cuz’ my damaged kind of sucked. I barely died though and I could easily tank atleast 2-3 enemies and sometimes I tanked the entire enemy team wich probably is cuz’ they sucked but still.
Now I play 20/0/25/15/10 and I really love this build. I do decent damage and my surviability isn’t to bad.

Calle.8746:

Sugram.3106:

Wreck.2634:

Arcane is in no way useless…

arcane is only useful to get Attunement duration down so i can switch between earth & water faster

So not true and if you think that you really should go look at the traits again. I never play without atleast 10 points in arcane and it’s not for the Attunement duration.

In sPvP I used to play 0/0/20/20/30 on my elementalist but it got boring after a while cuz’ my damaged kind of sucked. I barely died though and I could easily tank atleast 2-3 enemies and sometimes I tanked the entire enemy team wich probably is cuz’ they sucked but still.
Now I play 20/0/25/15/10 and I really love this build. I do decent damage and my surviability isn’t to bad.

weapon S/D
earth 30/3/4/7
water 30/3/5/11
arcane 10 /5

& thsi works rely good for me, good dam & i can switch to support as healer if i want & good surviability

i ton’t use arcane skills what do arcane dam cause they cool down is slow!!! i use wepon skills

i wont use more then 10 point to arcane

@Gribold
From what you’re saying in your OP I think part of this issue here is that you’re trying to run in the Orr areas alone which is just a bad idea for any class IMO (I’m sure pleanty of people will disagree with me here) I don’t think the high lvl areas were meant to run solo in (an MMO where you never need to run with anyone else isn’t really an MMO, eg. SWTOR) That’s only a small part of what you were saying, I just wanted to throw my two cents in.

Sugram.3106:

Calle.8746:

Sugram.3106:

Wreck.2634:

Arcane is in no way useless…

arcane is only useful to get Attunement duration down so i can switch between earth & water faster

So not true and if you think that you really should go look at the traits again. I never play without atleast 10 points in arcane and it’s not for the Attunement duration.

In sPvP I used to play 0/0/20/20/30 on my elementalist but it got boring after a while cuz’ my damaged kind of sucked. I barely died though and I could easily tank atleast 2-3 enemies and sometimes I tanked the entire enemy team wich probably is cuz’ they sucked but still.
Now I play 20/0/25/15/10 and I really love this build. I do decent damage and my surviability isn’t to bad.

weapon S/D
earth 30/3/4/7
water 30/3/5/11
arcane 10 /5

& thsi works rely good for me, good dam & i can switch to support as healer if i want & good surviability

i ton’t use arcane skills what do arcane dam cause they cool down is slow!!! i use wepon skills

i wont use more then 10 point to arcane

Not quite sure if you had a point with this reply lol? :p

In pvp I tend to die pretty fast when targetted, but with my elementalist (main, lvl 80) I can easily pull 5 or more mobs and down them all pretty fast.

I use a signets staff build. I don’t recall exactly but its 30 earth, first major slot is armor of earth at 50%, last slot is written in stone. I run fire/earth/healing signets and in pve I run the air signet (instant cast AE blind that you can fire during a spellcast). I have 30 more in Arcane with the on-attunment boon spell as well as evasive arcana (dodge into your field spells for nice bonuses). Lastly I have 10 points in water and I took the vulnerability on signet-cast major trait slot (3 stacks iirc per cast). If your having trouble surviving, you can drop one of the signets (fire IMO) for arcane blast. Switch to water and drop your small heal on yourself and use arcane blast in it for nice damage and a decent bonus heal.

With a staff, I would be very careful about which way you dodge as you can easily cause mobs to move out of your AEs, which is bad.

If you can manage, start in earth with eruption, then switch to fire during the cast and immediately drop lava font on top of it (slightly closer to you to allow for more damage time). This combo will almost entirely obliterate most mobs outright. If you manage to pull too many mobs immediately start casting meteor shower on yourself (then use the air signet to blind them all about mid-cast). Immediately post-cast drop another lava font right at your feet… if the mobs outlast you then I really dont’ know what to say.

One other small tip, assuming mobs near you aren’t at full HP, the AEs you drop usually will rally you… always be ready to immediately lava-font once you rally, as you typically won’t have much time to do anything else…its instant and does a ton of damage.

You should NEVER have trouble with mobs in PvE.

Feel free to mail me in-game if you’re still having trouble with your build/etc.

I used to swear by S/D, that is until I unlocked the blasting staff trait. So I kind of use this:
20 Fire (random, 20% cooldown)
10 Earth (the one that gives you earth armour)
10 Water (erm I can’t remember the trait)
30 Arcana (elemental attunement, blasting staff and evasive arcana)

Utility wise: Glyph of Storms. Plus two dependent on the area. Usually I’ll take arcane wave for the blast finisher. Elite wise: Glyph of elementals (always). Gear-wise, I’m going for power/toughness/ something.

In PvE, I just think staff is absolutely amazing. It’s got me through everything level 40+ (and all the way to 80) without trouble and with good speed. I stay away from D/D and S/D, because I’m extremely lazy. I feel that I can be lazy with my key presses in PvE, and still be slaughtering mobs with little effort.

In PvE, lava font just eats through mobs, because it’s easy to circle around them and keep them in the field (blasting staff makes this easier). If I know the fight will potentially be a long one, I’ll start in earth to get the bleed and cripple, before switching appropriately. Normally, eruption and two lava fonts = death. After unlocking evasive arcana, your damage output/utility rises.For Veterans, you’ll need to stack a few eruptions and use air to reduce the pressure.

When mobs are bunched together, then I never have trouble. Even in Orr. However, density of the mobs mean I can often be approached from many angles, so… if I am unable to kite mobs into each other, then at most I can cope with three ish?

Also just to note that I don’t feel as squishy as I used to be. I want to keep power as the main focus of my build, but my gear has toughness/vitality as an addition. For PvE, I don’t think you should feel the need to invest 30 into water or earth unless you want the traits. At the very least, put 10 into earth and give yourself the emergency earth armour trait. When things get hairy, earth glyph of storms. When things go completely crazy, earth/water glyph of elemental. The only thing that really scares me is fast respawns and the giant hammer risen guy, who does actually one-shot me.

So yes….

Erm also, I do personally tend to avoid fighting wherever possible. In Orr, I can imagine it being a pain for any profession because mob spawns can be so awkward. That can be an excellent survival tip too. I have no troubles with killing things/not being squishy, but sometimes it’s sensible to just pick your fights carefully.

Sugram.3106:

i suggest this build http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEAQJArYhMmebzxzgjDAkHnYCLjHhwxHlCzA

gear shod be with con, cause power gives ferry little to earth ele, con gives more, so u can be support to sometimes with heal & do a lot of dam, it works fine for me

Honestly, that build has almost NO synergy. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone, but if it works for you, great.

You have 30 in earth (and two signets) on the bar, but DON’T take “written in stone” to gain the passive effect when on cooldown. That’s a no-no.

You have 30 in water (very smart) and have all the appropriate traits that grant regen/vigor/condition clearing on cantrips, but you only have ONE cantrip on the bar. This is a near waste of 30 points.

Take out 10 from earth, put them in arcane (and pick up final shielding, so you get arcane shield for FREE), and then add a cantrip utility skills (mist form or cleansing fire, or double up armor of earth, it’s on a separate cooldown from Earth’s embrace) to get more access to regen/vigor/clears from your 30 points in water. Since you can’t take “written in stone” anymore (w/o 30 in earth), change up the signet of restoration to glyph of elemental harmony because when used in water it grants regen, which is more condition clearing (due to water traiting). You can also use the glyph in fire to boost your damage (through might) or grant more protection in earth.

And you severely underestimate the usefulness of arcane traiting. Not only do you get faster attunment swapping, but longer boon duration, AND final sheilding (or vigorous scepter if you want more endurance regen for dodge rolls) AND evasive arcana (for more combo blasting, healing in water, and conditions in fire/earth).

I lovedmy Ele and played it to 80 all exotics.

After weeks of WvW I have given up on it and have a 70 Mesmer that has been much more enjoyable because I am not constantly dead.

I have defensive outs and put out as much damage (not AOE) I wish they gave Ele a chance in WvW way to squishy with crappy DPS overall unless your in a zerg AOeing walls.

JAX.8347:

I lovedmy Ele and played it to 80 all exotics.

After weeks of WvW I have given up on it and have a 70 Mesmer that has been much more enjoyable because I am not constantly dead.

I have defensive outs and put out as much damage (not AOE) I wish they gave Ele a chance in WvW way to squishy with crappy DPS overall unless your in a zerg AOeing walls.

Ele’s do great in WvW in all roles, the only real problem is that one must decide beforehand which role they wish to fulfill and spec appropriately. This can be somewhat limiting at times (e.g., sieging a keep with D/D in your hands, or caught roaming at a supply camp holding a staff).

Personally, I specced to be reasonably effective with both weapon sets (0/0/10/30/30), semi-tankish, and carry both weapon sets in my bag. I swap them often when I can depending on the objective I’m currently working on. Solo’ing in WvW is a bad idea to begin with, so probably 90% of the time I’m holding a staff.

Right now, Elementalist survivability comes from using certain traits, and all your skills properly.

Currently on my Ele, running Rare Knight’s armor, and Masterwork Vaklyrie Jewelery. Using Knight’s S/D. Rock Barrier currently puts me up to 2800 some odd armor (which is only 500 points off of my Warrior’s). Utilities are Arcane Shield, Glyph of Storms, and Armor of Earth

0/20/30/10/10 is my spec. Air: III/VIII. Earth: III/V/X. Water: I. Arcane: V.

You get lots of Protection or Regeneration with this build, always use Glyph of Storms while in Earth attunement if you can.

Note: This is what I use for PvE, I have no idea what to do in PvP

I use 20/20/0/0/30, using knights and soldier’s equips. 3.1k attack, 43% crit, 2.55k armor, 13k hp. Very few problems. The most important thing is making sure your gear good. If you can’t afford lvl 80 exotics, you could try going with lvl 78s.

When it comes to mobs, a very important thing is using your ccs. Also, its best to start off with a battle with a burst.
The old drag tooth+phoenix+fire grab for sceptor, put a ring of fire up first if you want might. Keep up rock barrier, dust devil is nice blind, water heals are important as always.
On staff, eruption, ice spike, frozen ground, lava font. Burst heals from combos are very useful.
Daggers:burning speed, (optional: drake’s breath) ring of fire, arcane wave, fire grab, earth quake, churning earth.
Shocking aura and earth quake are your biggest friends, frozen burst is ok cc as well. Of course the heals are important.
The vigor on crit trait is very nice so you can dodge more (and use evasive arcana more)
And of course, never stop moving.

After all these posts and no one tells him Lightning Hammer… youre all fired.

Nothing whoops mobs like a Hammer Time build.

20 Fire
VI: Internal Fire = Deal 10% more damage while attuned to Fire
VIII: Conjurer = Conjured weapons have 10 more charges

10 Air
VI: Bolt to the Heart = Deal 20% more damage to foes with less than 25% health

20 Water
V: Cleansing Wave = Remove a condition from you and your allies when attuning to Water.
VII: Stop Drop and Roll = Dodge rolling removes burning and chilled

20 Arcane
III: Arcane Retribution = Gain Arcane Power at 75% health
IV: Final Shielding = Create an Arcane Shield when health reaches 25%

Whoopin.2943:

After all these posts and no one tells him Lightning Hammer… youre all fired.

Nothing whoops mobs like a Hammer Time build.

20 Fire
VI: Internal Fire = Deal 10% more damage while attuned to Fire
VIII: Conjurer = Conjured weapons have 10 more charges

10 Air
VI: Bolt to the Heart = Deal 20% more damage to foes with less than 25% health

20 Water
V: Cleansing Wave = Remove a condition from you and your allies when attuning to Water.
VII: Stop Drop and Roll = Dodge rolling removes burning and chilled

20 Arcane
III: Arcane Retribution = Gain Arcane Power at 75% health
IV: Final Shielding = Create an Arcane Shield when health reaches 25%

This is a VERY effective build for just about anything, been using one similar for a while. But just a tip … for the .5 secs you don’t have a conj. weapon, use a stun/cc type skill then pop your weapon back up. It also gives a little variety from the usual D/D, S/D, or whatever you like.

OP-Hate to say it, but if you are getting wasted by two level 77 mobs, it is not the build. You are being mislead if you think changing the build is going to change the results. Nor the gear. Many of us when we did Orr were using the level 70ish Karma gear that was just then available to us there and doing just fine. Exotic gear makes it much easier. Same with weapons.

You asked for builds and you are getting builds, but I think what you should be asking for is tactics.

You say:
•Yes, I dodge (you only get to do it twice before you run out of energy);
•Yes, I swap attunements (I start with fire and end with water in the vain hope of surviving long enough to cast a heal);
•Yes, I hit heal in time.
•I throw as much shielding up as I can;
•I’ve tried staffs, daggers & sceptres, none of them seem to make much difference;
•I’ve tried cantrips, glyphs, arcane and all the variations thereof.
————————-
but none of this means a thing. You are apparently just pushing alot of buttons in the least effective ways possible. A different build won’t change that. In fact, what you don’t say about what skills you are using and when and how you are using them says alot. You say nary a word about your combos or your skill sequences or what you find to be your effective and ineffective skills. I would start by asking this. What are your opening skills? What do you follow up with? etc.

Glyph of storms, one way ticket to eazy mode elly.

Seriously, cast it in earth and you can just stand there rest of the fight, on any build, in any gear you´ve picked up while getting to orr.

Wreck.2634:

Arcane is in no way useless…

Arcana is one of our best trait lines. WTH said it was useless? For a boon stacking build its absolutely essential and it has some of the most effective traits we have access to. Its just that its not the only effective trait line we have, because there are many effective builds without it.

As to the OP, yea, Ele is a paper class and its very hard to get super survivability and still maintain decent dps levels. Its doable, but very costly for Wv3. Plan on spending upwards of 15-20g for all the gear you’ll need, and that’s if your lucky. If you don’t want to spend the cash then plan on tens of hours of dungeon grinding.

Baladir.2736:

OP-Hate to say it, but if you are getting wasted by two level 77 mobs, it is not the build. You are being mislead if you think changing the build is going to change the results. Nor the gear. Many of us when we did Orr were using the level 70ish Karma gear that was just then available to us there and doing just fine. Exotic gear makes it much easier. Same with weapons.

You asked for builds and you are getting builds, but I think what you should be asking for is tactics.

You say:
•Yes, I dodge (you only get to do it twice before you run out of energy);
•Yes, I swap attunements (I start with fire and end with water in the vain hope of surviving long enough to cast a heal);
•Yes, I hit heal in time.
•I throw as much shielding up as I can;
•I’ve tried staffs, daggers & sceptres, none of them seem to make much difference;
•I’ve tried cantrips, glyphs, arcane and all the variations thereof.
————————-
but none of this means a thing. You are apparently just pushing alot of buttons in the least effective ways possible. A different build won’t change that. In fact, what you don’t say about what skills you are using and when and how you are using them says alot. You say nary a word about your combos or your skill sequences or what you find to be your effective and ineffective skills. I would start by asking this. What are your opening skills? What do you follow up with? etc.

I agree with this guy. I spent most of the Orr zones in regular leveling gear and green Karma gear that I eventually got from the Orr vendors and a sub optimal trait build. Gear and builds are not your problem, nor is your choice of weapon combos and utility slots.

Sure that stuff can make it easier if you make the right choices and have good gear/build. But learning the ins and out of the class, all our varying skills and what they can do, and what skills to hit when are really more important. I definitely did my share of dying at lower and mid levels and definitely remember getting frustrated with a few of the story quests in the late 20s (and promptly came to the forums to complain about how bad my Order was lol), but once you figure things out it gets a lot better. I would like to see a video as you suggested earlier in this thread and I think everyone can probably give you some good advice after seeing what you are doing wrong.

As for survivability, it comes from a mix of things so, like the class in general, is a bit more complicated than just saying “do this and you’ll be fine”. Ultimately though that complication is what keeps this class fun and engaging in the long run so don’t give up.

Edit: One more thought, I noticed you mentioned trying about 10 different builds. Ele takes time to learn, so pick one build and one weapon set that really fits you and your playstyle and stick with it for a while until you really understand it.

Yup its a hard pill to swallow. IMHO i say that pill is impossible to swallow at once.

Its part of the ele learning curve i think though:
Do everything i have learned up to now.
Plus a little bit.
Recognize that what im doing isnt working. <—- this is the part about the pill looking impossible to swallow.
Try something else. <—- This is the swallowing part.
Other stuff…

I keep one of my armor pieces green, and buy many replacements for a few coppers over vendor price. When it’s damaged, I replace it. That solves the repair bill problem.

As for not dying — you should be able to win against two ordinary enemies pretty straightforwardly. Kill one, heal up, and finish killing the other.

CurtMonash.3498:

As for not dying — you should be able to win against two ordinary enemies pretty straightforwardly. Kill one, heal up, and finish killing the other.

To frustration that way leads.

It´s possible to learn to survive many many many mobs, quite easily in fact, so never try to tackle em one by one….it´s just slow and boring as hell.

“You are apparently just pushing alot of buttons in the least effective ways possible. "

Maybe, but that doesn’t change the fact that my warrior (or probably any less squishy profession) just strolls through areas where the Ele gets pulped all the time.

With a warrior, taking a couple of unfortunate crits or getting stun-locked at an inconvenient moment can be handled. The same thing with the Elementalist is almost invariably fatal. They’re just too fragile and don’t have enough recovery and/or protection spells.

Anyway, it’s moot now, I’ve stopped playing the character; just too much hassle and too little reward.

Gribold.4298:

“You are apparently just pushing alot of buttons in the least effective ways possible. "

Maybe, but that doesn’t change the fact that my warrior (or probably any less squishy profession) just strolls through areas where the Ele gets pulped all the time.

With a warrior, taking a couple of unfortunate crits or getting stun-locked at an inconvenient moment can be handled. The same thing with the Elementalist is almost invariably fatal. They’re just too fragile and don’t have enough recovery and/or protection spells.

Anyway, it’s moot now, I’ve stopped playing the character; just too much hassle and too little reward.

It’s your call, but Ele can actually be one of the more survivable classes in the game, and still deal good DPS if specced correctly. For an example of this, just check out the videos I have here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/Creslin321

They are PvP, but IMO, PvP is much more challenging than PvE anyday…so if my Ele can survive while getting beat on, CC’d, and debuffed by players…then mobs should be (and are) a piece of cake.

I would seriously look at your skill order and execution before looking for a magical build that will save you. I would suggest that you should easily be able to take out 2 level 77 mobs with zero trait points spent if you execute properly. It won’t even be a fight for your life either. It should be rather easy.

With a staff, you should be able to kite any and every melee mob without ever getting hit. If you’re facing something that charges/knockdowns, use a utility skill that grants stability. If you’re facing ranged, simply drop churning earth and lava font underneath them, time a projectile reflect, and drop water fields beneath yourself, all while auto attacking in between.

With a S/D, you can rotate between 2 (or 3 with a signet) blinds and 2 knockdowns. Once again, you can get away without ever getting hit in many cases. And this has nothing to do with build.

I don’t know what more to say other than the class is seriously not the problem. Some classes are just more intuitive to some players. Warrior might just make sense to you. Ele makes sense to me. I have an 80 of both as well, and I personally find it significantly easier to sustain and survive on my ele, although that’s probably because my ele is support specced. I run power/toughness/healing gear. Traits are 0/0/10/30/30. I can fairly frequently maintain protection (-33% damage taken) between swapping attunements (earth), the trait that grants armor of earth when dropping below a certain HP, the heal that grants a boon based on attunement (fire-might, water-regen, earth-7 seconds of protection, air-swiftness) and the utility skill that grants stability and protection on activate. Don’t underestimate protection for any class. 33 damage reduction is like the most powerful Shield Wall in WoW. Combined with toughness on my gear, I feel like I can take an absolute beating…and then I can heal it all back up in an instant!

But that’s beside the point. My spec isn’t optimal for effectively slaying hordes of enemies as my damage is a bit subpar, but the principle remains true. Regardless of spec, look at your skill usage first and foremost.

Honestly I don’t know exactly how to respond. L2P always sounded dumb to me but tactics aside knowing your class is the difference between survival and getting 2 shotted. The more I play ele the more I realize I can escape most situations.

Imho pve or pvp ele is a hit and run pressure class. The way I play it in PvE and PvP is run in do my cc combo get out heal wash rinse repeat. This may not work for everyone but it works for me. I honestly believe the more time you spend playing it the better you will get but if you don’t get better and start disliking it just play another class. If your’e not having fun on ele whats the point of playing it?

BTW

I run a pretty balanced build 1700 power 1600 tough 1500 vit & only 1000 prec I have 750 healing power I do ok healing (not great). I run D/D and have enough power to drop mobs at a rate that I find acceptable. I honestly value the gear over the build but I run 0/10/10/20/30 and it works well for me.

I run a 15/0/20/15/20 build with an equally balanced armour.
The only notable trait skills are the Elemental Attunement in arcane for the buffs, Soothing disruption combined with mist form for an extra heal/get out of trouble and earths embrace for an extra dose of not dieingness.
Weapons change a lot but scepter focus for Obsidian flesh and KDs is good choice.
I find I survive most encouters of up to 4 enemies fairly easily.

Also the channeled heal is better than it looks as you can keep kiting whilst channeling.

Homitu.7216:

…….I don’t know what more to say other than the class is seriously not the problem. Some classes are just more intuitive to some players. Warrior might just make sense to you. Ele makes sense to me. I have an 80 of both as well, and I personally find it significantly easier to sustain and survive on my ele, although that’s probably because my ele is support specced. ……..

That struck a chord when I read that. I have always played casters in every game and they always wear light armor. The tactics are very similar across all the different variations of the class as is the terminology, “glass cannon” for example.

For players who are not familar with fantasy light armor wearing casters ie. wizards, mages, sorcerers etc. , the Elementalist as GW2 implements the profession must be a big shock, especially with PvP and the entirely new level of difficulty and playstyle that involves. But, still, there appear to be more players than I would have expected having issues.

In all fairness, this has to be the hardest profession to play well, in all the different venues of the game, that I have ever played.

I only WvW on my ele, but I go 20 air, 20 water, 30 arcane D/D. Great damage and survivability

Baladir.2736:

Homitu.7216:

…….I don’t know what more to say other than the class is seriously not the problem. Some classes are just more intuitive to some players. Warrior might just make sense to you. Ele makes sense to me. I have an 80 of both as well, and I personally find it significantly easier to sustain and survive on my ele, although that’s probably because my ele is support specced. ……..

That struck a chord when I read that. I have always played casters in every game and they always wear light armor. The tactics are very similar across all the different variations of the class as is the terminology, “glass cannon” for example.

For players who are not familar with fantasy light armor wearing casters ie. wizards, mages, sorcerers etc. , the Elementalist as GW2 implements the profession must be a big shock, especially with PvP and the entirely new level of difficulty and playstyle that involves. But, still, there appear to be more players than I would have expected having issues.

In all fairness, this has to be the hardest profession to play well, in all the different venues of the game, that I have ever played.

Shin megami tensei imagine (ftp Japanese game based on Persona series) Had a class called rush mage. Basically it was a combination of warrior traits and mage. Not ranged it would rush and stun lock aoe in a straight line. If you messed up your were downed quickly if not you could solo dungeons and bosses.

My point is that its makes no sense to worry about classic game archetypes. Many games have had melee version of mages. If you consider the combat in this game there is no point in sitting still and casting from a distance. Every class has to move to survive. As one person put it the best defense is not getting hit.

Even the “tanky” classes benefit from not standing still. After you play a few combat mmos (for me Tera and DCUO for much longer) you realize the keeping/getting distance, evades, and blocks far surpass eating hits.

For the majority of the player base, this is their first game when a light armor wearing caster is reponsible for their own healing and when damage evasion has become so important. While many players have been adept at often successfully playing casters in other games well enough that they did not need much heavy healing, many needed healing and received it. Everyone would need it at one time or another. And by heavy, I mean enough that it overcame all incoming damage and was necessary to survive. Now that does not exist. There is no healing spec.

Agro management used to work well to avoid damage and that is out the window now. It’s often random. I often seem to find myself laughing my kitten off when a melee mob starts chasing my ele around in a dungeon, ignoring everyone else, much to my as well as everyone else’s amusement. How often in this game have you heard, “He must really like you.” That’s a rhetorical question lol. The elite mobs in a dungeon really can two shot an elementalist and there is no healing or much of anything anyone can do until the mob randomly changes agro again.

In other games, players could often effectively play a caster if needed and not need awesome skills. There were true glass cannon builds who could stand in the back of a group and contribute little else other than dps, not now. There were crowd control specialists and debuffers who were safe from most agro, not now.

@TheGuy You sound like the kind of player who lived, and lives now, to take your caster out and solo whatever comes your way, maybe even challenge yourself in how many of what kinds of mobs you can solo, or what objectives you can solo. Maybe you are even one of those who have tried or succeeded in soloing a supply camp in WvW. For you this game does not require a drastic change of strategy because evasion, crowd control, debuffing, and pulling have always been part of your style of play. My point is simply that many casters have been able to do perfectly well in other games without that, and now they can not.

Gribold.4298:

“You are apparently just pushing alot of buttons in the least effective ways possible. "

Maybe, but that doesn’t change the fact that my warrior (or probably any less squishy profession) just strolls through areas where the Ele gets pulped all the time.

With a warrior, taking a couple of unfortunate crits or getting stun-locked at an inconvenient moment can be handled. The same thing with the Elementalist is almost invariably fatal. They’re just too fragile and don’t have enough recovery and/or protection spells.

Anyway, it’s moot now, I’ve stopped playing the character; just too much hassle and too little reward.

Ele doesn’t get pulped. It’s just more complicated a class to play effectively. Ele for example is not supposed to get hit. Traiting and gearing for extra survivability does help a lot, but we can’t rely on any ability to tank damage straight up without doing anything. We have a lot of CC’s, we need to evade well, we need to kite well and make proper usage of shielding skills and healing/cleansing skills. As for being stun locked – we have multiple utilities to get us out of a stun. I personally don’t go anywhere without Mist Form and I really like Lightning Flash as well.

On my Ele I play Staff and rotate my tons of CC’s to keep mobs under control while using a mixture of combos and traits to get around 15 might stacks (I’m mostly support/survivabilty spec so I need extra damage where I can get it) and other damaging moves to both kill him and avoid taking too much damage myself. If I get hit I can go into Mist form, or I can go into Water attune, throw down a Geyser and roll into it – the base healing of the skill plus the blast combo from Evasive Arcana mixed with traits that cleanse any debuffs mean I can heal/cleanse to full without using my Heal skill or any cleansers. I can also switch to Earth for protection buff that lasts several seconds every 10 seconds or so with Elemental Attunement trait and 30 points in Arcane.

That’s just a few examples and other posters have given some as well. Ele certainly can do a lot, it just takes longer to learn and requires more thought than a Warrior.

TheGuy.3568:

Even the “tanky” classes benefit from not standing still. After you play a few combat mmos (for me Tera and DCUO for much longer) you realize the keeping/getting distance, evades, and blocks far surpass eating hits.

I agree with this. It definitely takes a bit of practice. I played both Vindictus (Staff Evie) and TERA (Priest and Sorc) before coming here so I was used to dodging and keeping distance. Evie and Sorc just from doing solo PvE on those characters, and in TERA I did a lot of group world PvP and deathmatches (this was before the BG patch came out at which point I quit) and had to learn to kite well on the Priest and do my job supporting my team at the same time or I’d be the first to die. Playing games like that certainly helps a lot. That’s actually the only reason I played Vindictus – for the first half of this year while I was waiting for TERA I wanted to practice playing an action MMO so I picked up Vindictus – it’s actually a pretty fun game.

Baladir.2736:

Homitu.7216:

…….I don’t know what more to say other than the class is seriously not the problem. Some classes are just more intuitive to some players. Warrior might just make sense to you. Ele makes sense to me. I have an 80 of both as well, and I personally find it significantly easier to sustain and survive on my ele, although that’s probably because my ele is support specced. ……..

That struck a chord when I read that. I have always played casters in every game and they always wear light armor. The tactics are very similar across all the different variations of the class as is the terminology, “glass cannon” for example.

For players who are not familar with fantasy light armor wearing casters ie. wizards, mages, sorcerers etc. , the Elementalist as GW2 implements the profession must be a big shock, especially with PvP and the entirely new level of difficulty and playstyle that involves. But, still, there appear to be more players than I would have expected having issues.

In all fairness, this has to be the hardest profession to play well, in all the different venues of the game, that I have ever played.

See, I don’t think it’s as simple as being in a mage mindset versus warrior mindset. I mean, traditionally that means casting spells from a distance using mana versus powerhouse melee attacks. I think you have to throw those archetype preconceptions out the window in GW2. You can play ele in GW2, for all intents and purposes, as if it were a physical warrior type class in another game, right up in the enemy’s face. What changes, because this is GW not any of your traditional games, is you have to execute your combos properly and learn how to avoid damage, be it through blind rotations, dodging, kiting or timing dazes.

When I said that ele “just makes sense to me” (as I suspected warrior just kind of clicked for the OP), I was talking about GW2’s ele with all of its specific ways to avoid damage and all of the attunement swapping. Now I do suspect that some past gaming experiences could have prepared me for the various mechanics of the GW2 elementalist, but I can’t be sure. Maybe switching forms for years as a druid in WoW or playing Nidalee as my main champion in LoL for years made attunement swapping feel more natural to me. Maybe Vindictus and Dragon’s Nest prepared me for mobile combat and damage avoidance.

When I say the elementalist in GW2 just makes sense to me, I mean that to me, it actually feels like the easiest class to play effectively. It just makes sense!

Gribold.4298:

I know I’m probably doing it wrong but I just can’t seem to play the elemental. I’ve tried about 10 different (recommended) builds and none of them seem to work. Since my ele hit eighty I’ve spent nearly 2 GP in armour repairs as a result of getting rubbed out more or less as soon as I engage. The toon survives all the one-on-one engagements but, the minute two mobs target me, (even lev 77s) I die almost instantly.

• Yes, I dodge (you only get to do it twice before you run out of energy);
• Yes, I swap attunements (I start with fire and end with water in the vain hope of surviving long enough to cast a heal);
• Yes, I hit heal in time.
• I throw as much shielding up as I can;
• I’ve tried staffs, daggers & sceptres, none of them seem to make much difference;
• I’ve tried cantrips, glyphs, arcane and all the variations thereof.

I admit my armour isn’t the best (only mid range level 80 exotic but then I’ve run out of money doing repairs). The upshot is that I’ve NEVER managed to get to the centre of the Altar of Lies in Malchor’s Leap. I invariably get wasted on the way.

The bottom line is, I can’t seem to do enough damage before I get killed so I must be doing something wrong and I can’t see what! I’ve read loads of forum posts about techniques and (allegedly) unstoppable Elementalist builds but I’ve yet to try one that works (for me)

By contrast, I have a human warrior that’s virtually indestructible. Easily takes on four or five mobs and, while I was levelling it, could take on two or three mobs five or six levels higher without any trouble.

Really sick of this character now. It’s just too much hassle to play without (from what I can see) any significant benefit.

Maybe my network connection is too slow or something.

I couldn’t help but notice you did not mention combo fields or finishers here. Elementalists are one of the classes that these things can make or break. Did you know in the course of about 3 seconds you can give yourself (and all nearby allies) 9-12 stacks of might in dagger/dagger? Change to staff and you can be a regen macine. The list goes on.

Warriors can be very effective without paying attention to the finer aspects of combat, but for elementalist, mesmer, (and i have been told) engineer understanding and controlling combos makes the difference between someone thinking you are fodder, and someone thinking your class is OP.

Wreck.2634:

Arcane is in no way useless…

I would tend to agree. The abilities in arcane are amazing to me. Constant free buffs (free=no action time required), extra damage/healing/combo finisher blast effects on dodge. Amazing.

JAX.8347:

I lovedmy Ele and played it to 80 all exotics.

After weeks of WvW I have given up on it and have a 70 Mesmer that has been much more enjoyable because I am not constantly dead.

I have defensive outs and put out as much damage (not AOE) I wish they gave Ele a chance in WvW way to squishy with crappy DPS overall unless your in a zerg AOeing walls.

I love this comment. I started as Mesmer to 80 exotics then re-rolled an elementalist and I have the exact opposite reaction. In WvWvW I find the staff elementalist to be 100 times more useful taking towers and keeps. I guess it always looks better on the new charecter.

Baladir.2736:

For the majority of the player base, this is their first game when a light armor wearing caster is reponsible for their own healing and when damage evasion has become so important. While many players have been adept at often successfully playing casters in other games well enough that they did not need much heavy healing, many needed healing and received it. Everyone would need it at one time or another. And by heavy, I mean enough that it overcame all incoming damage and was necessary to survive. Now that does not exist. There is no healing spec.

Agro management used to work well to avoid damage and that is out the window now. It’s often random. I often seem to find myself laughing my kitten off when a melee mob starts chasing my ele around in a dungeon, ignoring everyone else, much to my as well as everyone else’s amusement. How often in this game have you heard, “He must really like you.” That’s a rhetorical question lol. The elite mobs in a dungeon really can two shot an elementalist and there is no healing or much of anything anyone can do until the mob randomly changes agro again.

In other games, players could often effectively play a caster if needed and not need awesome skills. There were true glass cannon builds who could stand in the back of a group and contribute little else other than dps, not now. There were crowd control specialists and debuffers who were safe from most agro, not now.

@TheGuy You sound like the kind of player who lived, and lives now, to take your caster out and solo whatever comes your way, maybe even challenge yourself in how many of what kinds of mobs you can solo, or what objectives you can solo. Maybe you are even one of those who have tried or succeeded in soloing a supply camp in WvW. For you this game does not require a drastic change of strategy because evasion, crowd control, debuffing, and pulling have always been part of your style of play. My point is simply that many casters have been able to do perfectly well in other games without that, and now they can not.

@theguy

I learned these lessons playing a HoX in AoC. It never occured to how much of a culture shock it could be for other clothies.

@Baladir

I am glad someone finally mentioned soloing supply camps. I have seen groups of 3 or 4 people bulk due to not having enough help. I was starting to think I was the only only who did this (and yea, it is really annoying sometimes…sometimes the time to kill is just a little bit too slow).

Bombul.2506:

JAX.8347:

I lovedmy Ele and played it to 80 all exotics.

After weeks of WvW I have given up on it and have a 70 Mesmer that has been much more enjoyable because I am not constantly dead.

I have defensive outs and put out as much damage (not AOE) I wish they gave Ele a chance in WvW way to squishy with crappy DPS overall unless your in a zerg AOeing walls.

I love this comment. I started as Mesmer to 80 exotics then re-rolled an elementalist and I have the exact opposite reaction. In WvWvW I find the staff elementalist to be 100 times more useful taking towers and keeps. I guess it always looks better on the new charecter.

There is no class in this game better than a Staff Ele at Keep/Tower takes and defense. None.

plenty of decent builds just make sure you know ur role.. i personally played spvp earlier with a staff build and went 4 games 0 deaths, heres 1 of them, eles always got pretty nice dmg, so focus on survivability or support regardless of ur weapon choice generally i go dagger dagger cantrips build its pretty standard

but use might stacking set up (evasive arcana fire dodge after fire combo fields gives a nice 3 stacks aswell retuning elements with the might on weapon swap sigil often got 15-20 stacks of might since i also use boon duration runes, anyways havent posted any dagger ele vids yet (later i will) heres a staff one from earlier

think not what is wrong with the build but how am i playing it wrongly?
and if anyone has any class/build combinationg you want me to video in spvp please message me because i will take any challenge because its funny, just did a greatsword ranger one.. a truly harrowing experience :P