Elementalist is probably one of the best classes you can bring. I’d almost rank them alongside warriors. The elementalist key is versatility, which can be incredibly important in dungeons.
Here’s an example of a specific dungeon path, often considered one of the hardest (Bonus points for figuring out which one!)
1st boss – avoiding a melee spin attack.
elementalist counter to it – Ranged, cripple, freeze, weakness, swiftness, protection, ETC. Most other classes, especially melee ones, only have a few of the above, and they’ll be needing to switch weapons (which they may not have brought) to do it.
2nd boss – immobilize, knockdowns
elementalist counter – Ranged (specific to this boss, being ranged makes it way easier because of the mechanics of the knockdowns + most damage in the fight) having AoE also helps (also specific to the fight. The immobilize is binding roots, so lava fonts can de-immobilize your entire team with ease, also things like burning retreat let you de-immobilize yourself without needing to retarget, or spend any time on a skill.)
3rd boss – mass AoE confusion (25 stacks applied all at once to the entire team)
Elementalist counter – condition removal that doesnt require skill usage (I remove a condition from the entire team every 10 seconds if I need to, Also its essentially instant cast so even auto-attack spamming teammates couldnt kill themselves before I removed it. Our strategy was literally to ball up on me and let me handle the boss mechanic. Very few if any classes could do this portion themselves. Most of them do not have the same level of condition removal, and especially not AoE variants on the same cooldown as an ele does.)
4rth boss – typical bossfight of dodge and spank. Nothing really to say besides reflect being pretty cool. TBH the worst boss for ele in this dungeon path, as every other class should have an easier time surviving with their better armor and hp.
5th boss – requires non-projectile attacks. Requires you to be able to solo 2+ monsters at any time. Requires you to be able to sustain yourself while taking constant damage. Being able to go immortal for a few seconds helps big time.
Elementalist counters – every ele weapon has non projectile attacks. Solo’ing is a piece of cake if you’re good at it, and most (not all, but most) ele’s are seeing as they have to be. Sustain is easy with heals, and mist form covers the immortality.
6th boss – Damage and lots of it
elementalist – Another boss where ele falls off compared to other classes. But the AoE does help bunches, as the boss can be tricky to target properly, especially with ranged attacks.
7th boss – clusterkitten supreme
The last boss combines specific mechanics from the previous 6 bosses. Of course, having an incredible variety of what your character can do helps make this fight much easier, as specific trait/weapon set-ups that countered the previous bosses cant be used as effectively (as it draws from every boss at once) of course, ele has versatility and variety in spades. Not to mention staff had everything to counter every boss by itself.
Ele is very good at dungeons. Nearly every boss that isnt just dodge and spank has some crippling flaw to it that an elementalist can take advantage of, despite their weapon choice and trait setup. Now there are indeed dungeon paths that at the end of the day a full DPS comp would blow through in no time at all, but even then those dungeon paths are easy enough that team-comp means essentially jack kitten.
