When does the ele get good?
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Leveling an Ele is really, really rough. We have low base survivability and low damage, which together force you to play extremely well to survive anything on your own before you get a chance to build the damage and survivability you need.
For me, I found it first got easier when I started using Glyph of Lesser Elementals. Mobs often attack the elemental rather than you, giving you a breather mid-combat and time to DPS down mobs. Earth Elementals are extremely difficult for almost everything in open-world PvE to take down, and you can summon different ones if you want more damage or CC. The Elite skill Glyph of Elementals is pretty much the same thing only better, and slotting them both can make much of PvE a breeze.
I also vastly prefer Scepter/Dagger to D/D for leveling (and just in general for PvE, really). D/D is quite strong, but I like the superior kiting potential and defensive options of the Scepter. Scepter also has better burst spells whereas a lot of D/‘s damage is tied up in its autoattacks, which means it’s easier to deal your damage between dodges. I found using the Scepter to deal damage at range while my elementals distract the mobs to be a pretty easy way to level, comparatively.
Other than that, rushing points into Water and Arcana (with a touch of Air) is crucially important. Attunement dancing doesn’t feel fluid at all to me without at least 20 points in Arcana, and we desperately need that extra health to give us time to pop a cantrip and heal back up.
My Ele is my main, and I do have to say that I feel the most comfortable using him for virtually any content in the game. At level 80 with a full trait setup, I can smoothly transition from DPS to defense to support to control and back again. Whatever I need, I have access to at all times and I can pull off some fancy combos to squeeze a bit more out of the profession when I want to. Every profession has the ability to fill multiple roles, but almost everyone has to choose what they want to do ahead of time. Eles can pick something to be better at, but we maintain out in-the-moment versatility regardless of build. For someone like me who doesn’t like making decisions ahead of time, it’s amazing and I love it.
(Oh also, a lot of people swear by Conjure Lightning Hammer for leveling. The hammer’s autoattack deals insane amounts of damage, arguably some of the best DPS in the game. You don’t need the points in Arcana as much to run LH (you’ll be spending most of your time with a Hammer in hand, not Attunement dancing). I didn’t use this much until very recently, though, so I can’t give much more advice than that.)
I main Ele and Necro, though I have an alt of each profession at level 80.
How to Condi Reaper on a budget
Everything I say is only in reference to PvE and WvW.
How to Condi Reaper on a budget
Everything I say is only in reference to PvE and WvW.
I had no problems after lvl 25 most of the time. Before that I was still getting used to the game(oh man, almost 1 year ago
). Just don’t try to fight stuff much higher than your level if you don’t have the best possible gear.
Leveling with fire/arcana and D/D was fine for me. I just looked for a lot of slow mobs, kited them while spamming stuff and used burning speed through them.
It worked until Orr where I had to change to staff because it was less condition-y(mobs there have condition cleanse and transfer). Also using pets(like earth elementals) for soloing bigger stuff really helps.
If I remember correctly I used mostly power, toughness and vitality on my gear.
It’s probably not the most efficient way to level but I definitely had fun most of the time. And that’s what leveling is for unless you want the class only to fill another empty portrait spot with a lvl 80.
Wryog [WBC] – elementalist
Gunnar’s Hold
Gunnar’s Hold
(edited by Wryog.5073)
Leveling an Ele is really, really rough. We have low base survivability and low damage, which together force you to play extremely well to survive anything on your own before you get a chance to build the damage and survivability you need.
For me, I found it first got easier when I started using Glyph of Lesser Elementals. Mobs often attack the elemental rather than you, giving you a breather mid-combat and time to DPS down mobs. Earth Elementals are extremely difficult for almost everything in open-world PvE to take down, and you can summon different ones if you want more damage or CC. The Elite skill Glyph of Elementals is pretty much the same thing only better, and slotting them both can make much of PvE a breeze.
I also vastly prefer Scepter/Dagger to D/D for leveling (and just in general for PvE, really). D/D is quite strong, but I like the superior kiting potential and defensive options of the Scepter. Scepter also has better burst spells whereas a lot of D/‘s damage is tied up in its autoattacks, which means it’s easier to deal your damage between dodges. I found using the Scepter to deal damage at range while my elementals distract the mobs to be a pretty easy way to level, comparatively.
Other than that, rushing points into Water and Arcana (with a touch of Air) is crucially important. Attunement dancing doesn’t feel fluid at all to me without at least 20 points in Arcana, and we desperately need that extra health to give us time to pop a cantrip and heal back up.
My Ele is my main, and I do have to say that I feel the most comfortable using him for virtually any content in the game. At level 80 with a full trait setup, I can smoothly transition from DPS to defense to support to control and back again. Whatever I need, I have access to at all times and I can pull off some fancy combos to squeeze a bit more out of the profession when I want to. Every profession has the ability to fill multiple roles, but almost everyone has to choose what they want to do ahead of time. Eles can pick something to be better at, but we maintain out in-the-moment versatility regardless of build. For someone like me who doesn’t like making decisions ahead of time, it’s amazing and I love it.
(Oh also, a lot of people swear by Conjure Lightning Hammer for leveling. The hammer’s autoattack deals insane amounts of damage, arguably some of the best DPS in the game. You don’t need the points in Arcana as much to run LH (you’ll be spending most of your time with a Hammer in hand, not Attunement dancing). I didn’t use this much until very recently, though, so I can’t give much more advice than that.)
Thanks a lot for that, that’s very helpful. I had assumed the elementals would be useless, but I’ll give them go and try kitting more, plus vit and toughness on gear. Suddenly I have hope, lol.
here is a quick build for PvE:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEAQJArIhMmAcsBHFAIFQJoQgBA-e
Directions : Stay in water attunement. Summon hammer, spam 1 and watch everything die.
It does aoe damage (up to 5 mobs every 3rd swing) plus it blinds. This means mobs and even veterans rarely touch you. Stay in water attunement because the soothing mists grants regeneration + Signet of Restoration will give you heal on hits so with all the passive healing you rarely need to heal. Although it gets boring, it makes your life alot easier. Plus, it’s fun to watch all the high damages
Why do those that know the least know it the loudest?