Guild Wars 2

I’m doing a full review of each class’s Elite Specializations here:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/All-Elite-Specializations-Analysis/first#post5574892

The following is my analysis of the Tempest.

I’ll be covering the following things in this review…
01) General Descriptions
02) New Traits Analysis
03) New Weapon Analysis
04) New Skills Analysis
05) Gearing Options
06) Rune/Sigil Synergies
07) PvE Usefulness
08) PvP Usefulness
09) WvW Usefulness
10) Overall Opinion

Elementalist – Tempest

General Description
The Elementalist is the Master of Fire, Water, Air, and Earth. They can deal massive damage or provide incredible support. The Tempest only enhances their abilities so what could go wrong?

New Traits Analysis

Minor Traits
Singularity
Grants access to Warhorn, Shouts, and Overloads.
You must be in an Attunement for 5s to Overload it.
Speedy Conduit
Gain Swiftness when Overloading an Attunement.
Hardy Conduit
Gain Protection when Overloading an Attunement.

Adept Traits
Gale Song
Trigger “Eye of the Storm!” when CC’d. — 45sec ICD
Great support skill.
Latent Stamina
Apply Vigor in a radius when attuning to Water. Granting Vigor to allies also restores 10 Endurance. — 10s ICD
Decent support skill.
Unstable Conduit
Overloading an Attument grants an Aura based on the element you’re attuned to when the ability is completed.
Powerful support skill.

Master Traits
Tempestuous Aria
Allies affected by your Shouts gain Might. Enemies are affected by Weakness.
Amazing support skill.
Earthen Proxy
Enhances Protection to -40% damage reduction.
Good support skill.
Harmonious Conduit
Gain Stability when Overloading. Completing an Overload grants you +10% damage
for 5s.
Decent damage increase.

Grandmaster Traits
Imbued Melodies
While wielding a Warhorn gain +20% boon duration. Use Sand Squall when struck below 90% HP — 10s ICD
Decent support skill.
Lucid Singularity
Remove Immob, Cripple, and Chilled and gain 100% duration reduction against them while Overloading.
Allows for greater mobility when Overloading.
Elemental Bastion
Auras you apply heal allies. Apply a Frost Aura to yourself and nearby allies when struck under 75% HP — 30s ICD.
Amazing support skill.

New Weapon Analysis
The Tempest gains access to the Warhorn.

Fire:
Heat Sync — 30s ICD
Give +3 Might to self and then spread all boons you have to allies.
Fantastic Support.
Wildfire — 30s ICD
Create a Fire Field that slowly extends to 600 range.
Good for combos.

Water:
Tidal Surge — 35s ICD
Send out a tidal wave that grants 8s Regen, Heals allies, and KB’s enemies.
Great heal/control skill.
Water Globe — 35s ICD
Create a moving Water Field that heals allies as it travels.
Great for healing combos if you’re on the move.

Air:
Cyclone — 25s ICD
Blast out a cyclone that Pulls enemies toward its location and grants Swiftness to Allies.
Good control skill.
Lightning Orb — 25s ICD
Launch an orb of lightning that fires projectiles at nearby foes.
Can cause massive Vuln and Damage if target is running away.

Earth:
Sand Squall — 30s ICD
Apply protection to you and your allies, then increase the duration of all boon on you and your allies by 2s. Gain Magnetic Aura.
Amazing support skill and counts as a Blast Finisher.
Dust Storm — 30s ICD
Creates an extending AoE that does +2 10s Bleed and 2s Blind per pulse.
Lasts 5 seconds.

New Skills Analysis
The Tempest gains access to Shouts and Overloads.

NOTE: All Overloads have a 20s ICD and Break Stun

Fire -> Overload Fire
Pulse Burning. Create a Fire Field. Whirl in Fire Field. Leave Fire Field present if you complete Overload.
Great way to spread Burning and combo with allies.
Water -> Overload Water
Pulse Healing, Regen, and Condi-Cleanse. Burst heal upon completion.
Great Support.
Air -> Overload Air
Pulse damage and Vuln in a large area.
Creates Lightning Field. Good Damage.
Earth -> Overload Earth
Gain +3 Stability, pulse 1s Protection to allies, Cripple foes in range, and Blast Finish by leaving behind a Dust Storm.
Good Support.

“Wash the Pain Away!” — 25s ICD
Create a pulsing heal for yourself and allies.
Great support skill.
“Feel the Burn!” — 20s ICD
Burn foes for 4s. Grant Fire Aura to self and allies.
Great support skill.
“Flash-Freeze!” — 25s ICD
Chills foes for 3s. Grant Ice Aura to self and allies.
Great support skill.
“Shock and Aftershock!” — 50s ICD
Cripple and then Immob foes. Grant Magnetic Aura to self and allies.
Great support skill.
“Eye of the Storm!”
Grant Stun Break and Superspeed to allies.
Great support skill.
“Rebound!” — 75s ICD
If an ally would die under the effects of Rebound (5s) they will negate death once and be healed instead. If they would live while under the effects of Rebound they gain an Aura based on your Attunement.
Great support skill.

Gearing Options
The following are acceptable gearing types to consider for a Tempest.

NOTE: These are types that can work depending on the overall goal of your build. They are not all equal as some are much better than others.

Power: Berserker’s, Zealot’s Soldier’s
Precision: Assassin’s, Rampager’s
Toughness: Knight’s, Settler’s, Nomad’s
Vitality: Sentinel’s, Shaman’s
Condition: Sinister, Carrion, Rabid, Dire
Healing: Cleric’s, Apothecary’s

Rune/Sigil Synergies

NOTE: These are types that can work depending on the overall goal of your build. They are not all equal as some are much better than others.

Superior Rune of (the)…
Power: Baelfire, Brawler, Elementalist, Fire, Flame Legion, Hoelbrak, Ogre, Pack, Strength
Precision: Eagle, Lyssa, Thief
Toughness: Dolyak, Earth, Engineer, Forgeman, Melandru, Resistance
Vitality: Exuberance, Lich, Radiance, Trooper (Soldier), Wurm
Condition: Adventurer, Aristocracy, Balthazar, Krait, Nightmare, Scavenging, Tormenting, Undead
Healing: Altruism, Dwayna, Grove, Monk, Water

Superior Sigil of…
Attribute Bonus: Force, Malice
Duration Bonus: Agony, Smoldering
Chance on Hit: Water, Purity
Chance on Crit: Air, Blood, Earth, Fire, Generosity, Nullification, Strength, Torment
On Kill: Luck, Restoration, Stamina, Benevolence, Bloodlust, Corruption, Cruelty, Life, Momentum, Perception
On Swap: Battle, Cleansing, Doom, Geomancy, Leeching, Renewal

PvE Usefulness
This is an all around support spec by nature. It will work well anywhere in PvE.

PvP Usefulness
Being primarily support this class can really be effective in PvP group fights. Alone it will seem weaker, but it can certainly hold its own.

WvW Usefulness
Zerg fights is where it’s at. Your support skills will go a long way and provide numerous advantages if used in a well coordinated group. Roaming can also be fun, but you will likely feel that things move a bit slower than you’d prefer if you’re completely alone.

Overall Opinion
The Tempest is an amazing support class and has numerous benefits that it can bring to the table. I mean who doesn’t like to defy death? Well now you too can have your very own “Give death the middle finger at least once until 75 seconds later” card!

I have a feeling that the most decent build for PvE (raids) is auramancer healer/boon sharer, there seems to be another layer of complexity as to when you should use a certain overload. I’ve run across situations where I had to decide if I should move to earth to anticipate a huge damage from mobs so protection could be paramount, or attune to water for healing ripple+water globe blasts. On some cases I wanted to smash Overload Fire on mobs’ faces, but felt too vulnerable, and even so I had that feeling “I have to complete this so it will be worth channeling, c’mon HP hang in there!”! ALL of the overloads got to a decent level, it’s just too difficult to make a decision.

Someone mentioned a 5second-cooldown stunbreak is OP, and I unfortunately have to agree. There should be an ICD on overload stunbreak before it goes unbelievably OP (remember we got already pretty nice stunbreaks such as Mist Form, Armor of Earth and now “Eye of the Storm!”, though this last one lacks a Shocking Aura).

Valento.9852:

I have a feeling that the most decent build for PvE (raids) is auramancer healer/boon sharer, there seems to be another layer of complexity as to when you should use a certain overload. I’ve run across situations where I had to decide if I should move to earth to anticipate a huge damage from mobs so protection could be paramount, or attune to water for healing ripple+water globe blasts. On some cases I wanted to smash Overload Fire on mobs’ faces, but felt too vulnerable, and even so I had that feeling “I have to complete this so it will be worth channeling, c’mon HP hang in there!”! ALL of the overloads got to a decent level, it’s just too difficult to make a decision.

Someone mentioned a 5second-cooldown stunbreak is OP, and I unfortunately have to agree. There should be an ICD on overload stunbreak before it goes unbelievably OP (remember we got already pretty nice stunbreaks such as Mist Form, Armor of Earth and now “Eye of the Storm!”, though this last one lacks a Shocking Aura).

I don’t agree that the stun breaks are OP. If you had the stun breaks ready to go upon attuning to an element, then yes. The fact that you have to stay in an Attunement and weigh the importance of the stun break versus swapping and using another skill, along with the cool down penalty, balances the stun break. Not to mention the decision of wanting to use the Overload for its effect versus purely for the stun break.

Glenstorm.4059:

I don’t agree that the stun break are OP. If you had the stun breaks ready to go upon attuning to an element, then yes. The fact that you have to stay in an Attunement and weigh the importance of the stun break versus swapping and using another skill, along with the cool down penalty, balances the stun break. Not to mention the decision of wanting to use the Overload for its effect versus purely for the stun break.

We’ll have to see what happens in PvP, since most balance patches come from there.

Valento.9852:

I’ve run across situations where I had to decide if I should move to earth to anticipate a huge damage from mobs so protection could be paramount, or attune to water for healing ripple+water globe blasts.

The rest of your comment was summarized by the fellow who got here before me ^^;

I just wanted to point out something here in your first statement.

A fantastic option that can work really well depending on execution is to anticipate that damage, but not to mitigate it. Instead use “Rebound!” as it has been reworked to allow players to negate death and receive suitable healing for doing so. You can then follow up with entering earth to get your protection, using your heal skill, and spamming additional auras if running auramancer specs.

Dont forget Overload Air tracks though stealth killed so many thieves with it