Guild Wars 2

Figured I could as well post of my experience as an ele noob, and see if I am really making the right choice in simply walking out…

I have always liked been a mage/wizard type. In WoW I was a destro lock, in Skyrim I was a Destruction/Illusion mage, in Rift I was a Pyromancer, in SWTOR I was a Fire Bounty Hunter (Pyrotech). So when I finally decided to pick up GW2 I naturally went for the elementalist, and got owned (I like to wonder off in the battlefield 1v1ing, 1v2ing, etc ppl). After some research I made a bunker/tank build and ceased to get owned. Thing is I never signed up for this… >.>

Mage/wizard specially pyromancers are supposed to be masters of control and burst, and I find can’t really step beyond tank role as an elementalist. Does it truly become “ALOT better”, with experience and “skill”? Am I wrong in going instead for my engineer?(I find that I can’t do “it” without some flames on my character…)

PvE PvP or WvW?

PVP: Unfortunately this is the sad truth of the elementalist. People will stop by and share their high damage builds, but at the end of the day they are glass cannon builds (by glass I do of course mean paper). You can have some fun with the d/d tanky build but your damage output is not as high as other games mage classes.

You may have some luck with a Sceptre Dagger build focusing more on damage, but if you are hit it will hurt. These builds tend to take a bit more skill and knowledge of positioning.

Fear not though, there is a patch sometime in the coming week that aims to open up more doors for the elementalist. Seeing some of the builds that come out of the new traits setup could be quite interesting, especially the new 30 point Air trait.

PVE: Don’t do much high end pve or any wvw.

Don’t hope too much from the next patch….. we elementalist has been getting the short end of the stick for very very long time…….. So, it would be better to consider other prof………. seriously…

Play a Mesmer if you want to play a high DPS mage class.

agree anet want the class to die….
They nerf and nerf and nerf…never address weak weaponset and issues in pve…

Leave the class as soon as you can 1 years of unneeded 360° nerfs are enough to realize that any class that can be a thief counterclass should disappear from the game….

I don’t see why everyone is crying all the time…Supposed nerf after supposed nerf,i can still own pretty much anything in WvW unless the opponent is more skilled than i am.(I consider myself an average pvp player that can carry his own weight)..

Proffesion is fine,stop crying and they may just leave us alone as we are,or even better make some other builds viable for you so you can feel OP once again and shut the crying.

To the OP.D/D Bunker build is what a melee fire wizard can be..your 2 strongest(attack wise) skills are Churning Earth and Fire Grab..The last one is a fire burst dmg skill…if you time it correctly and postioned properly it does loads of dmg…so there you go..Now if you want a traditional Mage-Arch Wizard-Gandalf the Grey..go staff and run with a guild..see how Meteor destroyes whole legions of blobed enemies.

Imo Elementalist in GW2 is the best version of Wizard we have ever gotten from an MMO,versatile in every magic aspect.

denial is futile when even devs admitted the poor state of pve ele and yet nerfed it severely 3 more times

unless you write l2p to devs i m not buying it…..

best advice you can get.. play a mesmer… whoever is in charge of elementalists @ Anet really doesn t give a dmn about the class. We are beeing forced left and right to play in ways to be effectiv, that i wouldn t wish to anyone.

the choice is easy when choosing between mages in GW2:

Easy Mode: Mesmer

Nightmare Mode: Elementalist

Grevender.9235:

the choice is easy when choosing between mages in GW2:

Easy Mode: Mesmer

Nightmare Mode: Elementalist

What does that make Necros?

I’m exactly like you and always end up looking for and playing the “artillery” style nuker who sits in the back and goes nuts with ranged damage. If you catch someone 1v1, you just use all your cool downs and just blow them the kitten up. The truth is this game really lacks that play style and I’ve searched for it leveling almost every character to 80. However, it certainly exists for melee.

Phantasm Mesmer was pretty good for this for a while till the changes with Phantasms. Now it’s a shadow of it’s former self. It still does decently, but since you can juke Phantasm casts it makes it much harder. It’s probably the closest however you’re going to find what you’re looking for (use a 20/20/0/25/5 build).

Rifle Warrior is also pretty close to having a pure ranged nuke build but the main issue is that all the shots are a direct line of fire projectiles which makes them very easy to dodge/juke/outrange/reflect/etc.

Engineer the problems become you’re either P/P condition which is lackluster or specifically to WvW you’re Grenadier. The main issue with Grenadier is that the slow projectiles make it really easy to kite the Engie without going 100nades which I thought I remember reading they nerfed. Most 1v1 Engies I encounter are Crowbar oriented instead which is a tankier style like the Ele.

Ele just lacks enough survivability (be it tanky survivability or not) to go full ranged offense in WvW. It has the weakest HP pool but lacks the same escapes and trickery of a Mesmer who can afford to go full DPS and get away with it. I’m sure someone out there will argue with me on this point and say Eles are just fine but there’s a reason you don’t usually see them out there solo when not in a defensive spec.

Sitkaz.5463:

What does that make Necros?

Well Bots.

What’s your build? Hard to give advice if I don’t know what you’re using or how you’re playing.

I mostly WvW so here’s some stuff about that:

For 1v1 and small group ranged burst go S/D and get off the stinking bottom heavy traits. I see a lot of complaints that we can’t do much damage, but generally those are coming from players with 50-60 points in water & arcane and running all cantrips (and never using nor understanding how to use firey greatsword).

If you play in large groups, damage staff is totally viable. Especially since so many elementalists build super tanky, people tend to just stand in the aoe (if they smarten up, use some of the 745872 bajillion CCs on staff before attacking).

If you’re looking for a ranged class that can destroy all opponents before they can react, you’re gonna have to go to another game probably. That scenario exists in plenty of other games, but it’s not balanced (aka, also fun for the guy you’re fighting). Instagib anything has to be glass as hell (which you can do as an elementalist, but yeah, dying and all….).

Should even be easier to go full burst in a few days, with the air trait that resets cooldown on air line. x-30-x-x-x builds can burst every 5 seconds……

Also, engineers are fun. No harm in having more than one character, you won’t need 3 months of dungeon runs at endgame just to gear each.

Sitkaz.5463:

Grevender.9235:

the choice is easy when choosing between mages in GW2:

Easy Mode: Mesmer

Nightmare Mode: Elementalist

What does that make Necros?

oh right, necro does exist too.

Necro: beginner mode with free cheats enabled

Can anyone write down all staff ele’s possible combos with utility skills in this manner?
frozen ground + acrcane wave = frost aura
Because I want to know which ones I missed, and those listings in wiki doesn’t provide
solid info on utility + actual skills.

And I’m just curious, does aquatic helm affect my stats while I’m on the ground
and my cowl while I’m under water?… Couldn’t track any changes in stats section.

Senticon.3452:

Can anyone write down all staff ele’s possible combos with utility skills in this manner?
frozen ground + acrcane wave = frost aura
Because I want to know which ones I missed, and those listings in wiki doesn’t provide
solid info on utility + actual skills.

And I’m just curious, does aquatic helm affect my stats while I’m on the ground
and my cowl while I’m under water?… Couldn’t track any changes in stats section.

Not going to write them all down but I’ll give you a general idea…

Eruption > Lava Font (might)
Eruption > Geyser (area regen)
Eruption > Healing Rain (area regen of healing..forget)
Eruption > Static Field (area swiftness)

Arcane wave can trigger the others. So LF to arcane wave will give you might, Geyser to AW will give you area healing. Etc.

If you use evasive arcana, you can pull out some other combos. Staff isn’t well known for their combos.

Sitkaz.5463:

Grevender.9235:

the choice is easy when choosing between mages in GW2:

Easy Mode: Mesmer

Nightmare Mode: Elementalist

What does that make Necros?

Necros can burst 28k dmg just l2p I guess

Grevender.9235:

Sitkaz.5463:

Grevender.9235:

the choice is easy when choosing between mages in GW2:

Easy Mode: Mesmer

Nightmare Mode: Elementalist

What does that make Necros?

oh right, necro does exist too.

Necro: beginner mode with free cheats enabled

Since when were necros easy mode?
It’s pretty much the one class in the game that has to commit themselves when they enter a fight.
To put it simply: A necro escaping a zerg or surviving/winning a 2v1 is a highlight reel in and of itself.

Benji.9203:

Grevender.9235:

Sitkaz.5463:

Grevender.9235:

the choice is easy when choosing between mages in GW2:

Easy Mode: Mesmer

Nightmare Mode: Elementalist

What does that make Necros?

oh right, necro does exist too.

Necro: beginner mode with free cheats enabled

Since when were necros easy mode?
It’s pretty much the one class in the game that has to commit themselves when they enter a fight.
To put it simply: A necro escaping a zerg or surviving/winning a 2v1 is a highlight reel in and of itself.

It’s totally easy mode ;p

Here’s what you do:

Find a zerg near a high cliff. Get them to chase you off the cliff. Stand on their corpses spamming /laugh.

Or maybe that just means cliffs are OP….. Or players brains are UP…… Or something.

Thrashbarg.9820:

Benji.9203:

Grevender.9235:

Sitkaz.5463:

Grevender.9235:

the choice is easy when choosing between mages in GW2:

Easy Mode: Mesmer

Nightmare Mode: Elementalist

What does that make Necros?

oh right, necro does exist too.

Necro: beginner mode with free cheats enabled

Since when were necros easy mode?
It’s pretty much the one class in the game that has to commit themselves when they enter a fight.
To put it simply: A necro escaping a zerg or surviving/winning a 2v1 is a highlight reel in and of itself.

It’s totally easy mode ;p

Here’s what you do:

Find a zerg near a high cliff. Get them to chase you off the cliff. Stand on their corpses spamming /laugh.

Or maybe that just means cliffs are OP….. Or players brains are UP…… Or something.

Or fear them off the cliff or spam staff aoe’s or one-hit wariors which I’ve read on the forum to be possible even though Necromancers have more health and Death shroud as a survivability mechanic.

Better minions (as in more of ‘m if you want), More health, more single target damage, more and somewhat better aoe’s that become unblockable with one trait.
Should I point anything else?