Guild Wars 2

Scrambles.2604:

Sometimes when i’m blocking trebs, usually with another ele, after about 15 mins or so, i begin to realize how pedantic my actions feel…sitting there, taking turns casting swirling wind, even though i am helping my server.

then i think about the person on the other end, that has been mashing “2” for 15 mins on the treb, only to see “immune” pop up over and over.

it’s that thought that keeps me going, lol.

This made me smile. I hadn’t thought about it like that before, this will definitely give me more motivation to sit there longer

Strang.8170

Shatter stone? Ooooooh you mean that skill nobody ever uses? I almost forgot it was there.

^this. What is this “shatterstone” you speak of? Never heard of it…

Static.9841

Don’t agree with this at all, the second the Ele misses their opener (yeah some of us understand what dodging is), they’ll try churning earth, and when that fails, it’s run away time for the Ele until they can do it again. Ele’s are great at running away.

A good ele will not mindlessly go into Churning Earth simply because they missed their RTL opener (due to a dodge). Hell, a good ele might not even use RTL as the opener! I try to steer clear of Churning Earth when fighting a D/D thief cause it’s basically inviting a CnD/backstab combo (since i’m standing perfectly still for almost 4 seconds). ALthough sometimes it’s fun to bait them into that combo by starting the CE channel, then switching to air and putting up lightning shield. They’ll stun themselves on it and then be a sitting duck for my furied churning earth. This is a dangerous proposition however.

And they have tons of AOE to hit the theif when stealthed. I don’t have any trouble whatsoever with most thieves on my ele, save P/D thieves and those can be handled sometimes as well.

Zorlak.7926

I think it’s getting derailed from what the topic is about.
Maybe I’m just upset that Warriors do not have the capability to do the stuff d/d eles can and that I’m limited by the game and not me and my skills.
I do not think it’s balanced, but that’s me and my opinion, maybe I’m wrong.

I can see how that might upset you to some extent, but different classes bring different benefits to the table.

A D/D bunker Ele might be able to lead a random noob zerg on laps around the map. But they’ll never be able to do what the Lords of Death Charr Warrior Pain Train can do either… (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, check out some of their videos)

Zorlak.7926

Yes, there are other stupidly OP specs but does that justify d/d eles being this good?
Is it so hard to see that these specs, like the bunker guardian, some thief specs are too good/op compared to other classes and need to be nerfed/looked at?

D/D ele’s are generally not “this good.” Excala is against random noob, mostly upleveled scrubs who don’t know how to play.

And no, I do not consider a bunker class that cannot be solo’d to be OP. If a person wants to trait defensively, use all defensive utilities (e.g., 3 cantrips), gear defensively, and use a defensive playstyle, it would be pretty stupid if random scrubs could still kill them.

This is not balanced, when a class “can’t be solo’d for the most part” there is something wrong.

I should have clarified, D/D ele’s CAN be solo’d by some well played classes (necro, for example) if the Ele is dumb enough to hang around or gets outplayed.

In this sense, they might be considered somewhat “immortal” in that they can run away, but they are far from the only class being capable of this and WHO CARES. They can’t kill you either!!

I cannot stress this enough. If you’re lvl 80 and equally geared/skilled as them, they WON’T kill you. Who cares if they flee. Just go back to the business of WvW and leave that kill alone. I’ve done this all the time when facing a bunker Guardian (and I was using the bunker D/D spec). We fight for a minute or so, neither of us are getting anywhere, so I simply walk away and go do something more useful/fun. There is no shame is fleeing or stopping a fruitless fight that’s accomplishing nothing! There is no “deathmatch” mode in this game, fights CAN end without someone taking a dirt nap!

Warriors being able to cope with large amounts of CC? Are you joking? Even the devs say warriors needs a buff in regards of coping with CC.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hByqoWsnz-I 19:00 minute mark.

And to be fair, I’d be inclined to agree with the Devs on that one. They could use some condition removal help as well. Rangers need the most love imo, however.

Zorlak.7926

Other people in this thread are also saying, bring this class, bring that class, do this, do that.
You’re basically saying, d/d eles should be treated as something that can’t be solo’d and must require a certain class.

A bunker D/D Ele can’t be solo’d for the most part. Neither can a bunker Gaurdian, probably a bunker Engi or Necro, nor just about any well played thief (doesn’t even have to bunker, they can just stealth and run away).

But, if you play right, they won’t kill you either and will end up running away (this is when his kills happen, as he runs and stupid upleveled noobs follow him behind a wall/tunnel/mountain and get solo killed rather than just forgetting about him and working on a meaningful objective).

StormWolf.7645:

To be fair, the answer to Thieves has always been Guardians. I may not always kill Thieves in 1v1, but that’s because the ones I don’t kill run away.

D/D Ele’s also eat them for breakfast.

People need to learn the difference between “culling” and “rendering.” Just a pet peeve of mine…

Stealth doesn’t last longer because of culling (that’s a zerg not showing up), they last longer because of rendering.

Zorlak.7926:

Seeing as most of you people think it’s normal to kill 10+ very bad players as a skilled player, let me ask you this.
Why can’t my class do it?
I’m a warrior and I’ve gone up against very, very bad players before but I don’t have the heals or boons to outlast that many players.
Why is it okay to for a d/d ele to be able to do this, but not other classes?

Cause 99% of D/D ele’s CAN’T do this. That’s excala, dapheonix. For all intents and purposes, he INVENTED the common D/D build seen amongst most D/D ele’s these days. He’s a master of the class, and of that build in particular.

He SEVERLY outskills just about anyone he meets on the battlefield. If you were as good at warrior as he is at Ele, you could probably kill that many noobs too (although the Warrior will NEVER be able to escape as easily as he can on Ele, but you’d kill faster).

Kardiamond.6952

Did you ever try it?

I do it often on my necro.

The result? They swap to water, get all their boon back like 1-2 sec after losing them, and removing every condition.

To be fair, swapping to water will only produce ONE boon. That is, regen.

And in threads dapheonix has popped up in he claims to have the most trouble with good/geared Necro’s (who corrupt his boons).

buki.3108:

It’s an annoying noob bunker build – completely useless. If you’re not running a staff for walls or focus for swirlies then go play another class. Waste of ele.

Basically the build tries to outlast an opponent. They always open with their knockdowns then try to hit you with Churning Earth. Super predictable.

lol, you couldn’t be more wrong. Not to mention, do you even know who that video is of? That’s excala, also dapheonix. He might be the best WvW ele playing right now, period.

If he makes a cameo in this thread (as he does time to time) you should take note and pay attention. He will teach you a thing or two (or ten).

maddoctor.2738:

~You will be able to change attunements while in Mist Form

~Maybe they’ll add a trait that halves falling damage

Those are my best bet because devs already posted about them

You’re clairvoyance is astounding I 2nd these predictions.

Gladiat.6278:

If you’re fighting a full burst thief then they take out about 40-45k HP in about 3-4 seconds

Just pointing out how big of a lie this is. I don’t even play a thief (in full disclosure, I have a lvl 10 thief “alt”, so yeah), but this is just plain wrong.

You’re forced out of stealth if you’re hit by an AoE. Correct me if I’m wrong on this.

as others have pointed out, you’re very wrong on this too.

papacooldown.9482:

Good lord man looking at your post history you complain so much about thieves! Its especially strange since your sig says D/D Ele, which is probably the closest thing to a hard counter to a thief. You have two or three times the tools to deal with thieves than any other profession. Why dont you stop whining about them and go play one to learn its weaknesses?

^this. Bunzy is the king of the criers on these forums, and the majority of his ire is directed at thieves which is freaking laughable cause he plays the class most capable of completely shutting down and nullifying a thief. I tend to have no trouble whatsoever with them on my D/D ele, not sure why Bunzy hasn’t figured it out just yet…

I don’t seem to have too much trouble with stealth. It doesn’t last for very long (3-5 seconds) and it’s fairly predictable when/where they’re going to use it. They can’t really “start” a fight in stealth (ala the WoW rogue), so you’ll see them coming before they vanish. At that point, assume they’re coming for YOU and plan ahead (and for god’s sake, don’t stand still and keep turning so you don’t present them your back as a stationary target). I don’t even play a thief, so I’m not trying to defend “my class,” I just think it’s fine and people should learn to deal with it. It’s harder for some classes to deal with than others, but that’s the nature of the game (i.e., every class has a counter class they loathe). Oh, and if you see them shadow refuge, THEY’RE STANDING IN IT. GO HIT THEM!

If I had a dollar for every instance wherein a thief stealthed when fighting me, I kept attacking, utilized AOE, and tried to predict his whereabouts only to see him reappear in the downed state, I’d be reasonably wealthy…

Oh hey everybody, look! It’s another Bunzy thread crying about something. Shocking, I know.

ITT:
“Scissors is fine, nerf paper” ~ Rock

Panas.5974:

In short, make sure your team knows what field combos do what and what finishers they should be using through them, focus on ccing the right opponent at the right time and keep buffs on your allies instead of trying to deal damage.

This is very good advice. Know when to “shockwave” (to immobilize) someone coming after your squishier friend, and/or “gust” them off of them.

In addition, when playing staff I liked to focus a lot some might call “area denial.” Static field is obviously very good for this, as if frozen ground and crippling earth (earth skill #4), but “eruption” is perfect for it. When enemy players see that red circle and stones growing out of the ground, they MOVE. Sure, eruption may never hit an enemy paying any attention whatsoever (and if they’re not paying attention, it hits like a truck and stacks a lot of bleeding, and it’s a 6s cooldown, so you can throw it out a lot), but you can use this and other AOE skills to kinda funnel enemies to where you want them to go.

Delusion.9543:

Okay, first off, I love the Staff and I know right now it’s state is god awful. But is it still useful as Support? I know it’s not AS powerful as Guardian, but is it still viable for lets say a five man running supply camps? I just really like all the control and support heals that goes with it, and I do not like playing the Guardian class (or Engineer for that matter)

Staff is still very much useful for support and for 5man supply camp capping, just not AS useful as it used to be. Just try to avoid 1v1’s and 2v2 style skirmishes and you should be fine. Also, keep daggers in your inventory in case you need to switch on occasion.

Also, do you think it will get any love in the future? Cause I don’t mind struggling with it now and figuring it out if it’s gonna get some nice new changes in the future.

I think the Ele community hopes so. They nerfed it’s bunkering capability hard with the EA nerf (probably rightfully so), but it got no offensive or damage boosts to compensate. Hopefully these might be forthcoming (word on the street is that they’re talking about buffing the flight speed of ranger arrows to make them harder to dodge, I would think the same could be said for ALL the staff auto-attacks, so I would hope to see this).

What changes would you like to see?
And do any of you have some really nice support specs going on?

I listed some wishful changes above, and as far as specs go the standard 0/10/0/30/30 spec (or 0/0/10/30/30) is still VERY good for bunkering and support. Damage is pretty poor, but I’m not an expert on offensive staff builds (so I’ll leave those responses to others).

Sorry if my questions seemed annoying. I am only just now starting to play Ele ><

No annoyance at all, we’re glad to help. Best of luck with the Ele class, I think you’ll find it the most entertaining and exhilarating class out there (I know I do, I can barely stand to level my alts, they’re so boring in comparison).

15 characters {self-delete.}

muscarine.5136:

I am saying you guys pack to much defensive and healing power in comparison to how steadily you can put pressure on your opponent, and if you ask me, some guardians, thief and engie builds bring the same issue on the table.

but the bunker spec that “pack(s) to much defensive and healing power” CAN’T put a lot of steady pressure on their opponent. A true bunker spec has their flame grab (45second cooldown mind you) hit for like 2k on a burning target. If you’re playing against them correctly they will spend their entire lifetime dodge-rolling, using up cantrips, swapping between water and earth (to keep regen and protection up), wiping your conditions, and generally just staying alive rather than dealing ANY significant damage to you. That’s what they’re built to do, that is stay alive on a node.

Now, if you’re talking about the Auramancer spec, this spec CAN put a ton of pressure on their opponent and deal decent damage (if they’re geared for it), but they’ll drop a hell of a lot faster than the bunker spec, especially if you know WHEN to burst and how to make them blow their cantrips early (tip: use immobilize if you have it, burst AFTER they leave water).

To be fair, muscarine wasn’t the biggest “troll” in this thread. I wasn’t getting the impression he was even “trolling” at all. Just slightly misinformed, which we’ve all been guilty off on occasion.

Many people seem to have the impression that D/D ele’s get insane burst, and insane bunkering ALL in one trait setup, which is laughable. But thieves got this same treatment for the 1st month or so of the game (i.e., people complainging about the mythical 30/30/30/30/30 builds) and those people were just as stupid.

Here’s to hoping that Anet doesn’t nerf the D/D ele for a couple of reasons. 1.) they don’t really need it, they’re not really OP in their current form. 2.) Staff and scepter just suck in comparison, if they nerf D/D we’ll be left without a truly viable weapon set. 3.) They just got done BUFFING the D/D skill set in the last few patches, they obviously felt D/D wasn’t OP just a few short weeks ago, so why the sudden uproar now?!?

Anyway i’ll just wait a month or so when enough cool kids will be rolling d/d eles and the forum with flow with tears, then the actual discussion will probably have a chance to start.

to be fair, Anet doesn’t really go around buffing/nerfing stuff based on forum tears. And for good reason. All-in-all, D/D Ele’s are fine, people are just starting to take more note of them cause it’s the only weapon set you see any more for Ele’s in PvP gameplay. The reason for this is NOT because they’re OP, but rather because staff/scepter blow. If you know what type of Ele you’re up against (i.e., are they glass cannon or bunker?) there are a plethora of counters that exist to take them out.

In summary, those complaining about D/D ele’s quite simply need to learn to play. The same can and WAS said about those complaining about backstab thieves, 100B warriors, and shortbow rangers (seriously, people cried about rangers, ABOUT RANGERS!!!).

possante.8310:

this isnt a bunker build…..you must be blind to think this is a bunker build -.-

With only 1840ish power and 20k hp I assumed you were talking a bunker build. All in all, the build you linked is kinda all over the map, especially with regard to trait choices. I’ve never seen that build before, I certainly wouldn’t use it.

You don’t need 25 kills. Only 5. 1 kill = 5 stacks.

I admittedly do not use the Sigil of bloodlust on my offhand in s/tPvP, so I was unaware that you got 5 stacks per kill in sPvP. In WvW and PvE, you only get 1 per kill. 5 kills is, obviously, eminently doable. Perhaps I may have to check it out I’ve kinda given up on sPvP recently in this game, it’s boring/repetitive. Most of my time recently has been in WvW.

but elementalist can tank a large moment and escape with RTL , because RTL cooldown is OP .

Not sure it’s OP, but I think this is what frustrates a lot of people when fighting D/D ele’s. They’re ridiculously slippery and can get away easier than any other class save a thief.

muscarine.5136:

As for the frost aura it comes from unload i believe, and i swear i’ve already been frozen for like 10-15 seconds a few times, it should seriously be capped.

yeah, the chilled can stack quite high sometimes. Using a skill that hits multiple times very quickly is a dangerous proposition against a D/D ele with frost aura still available. Try to save unload for after the aura ends, you’ll have 33 seconds of downtime between aura casts. Also, shocking aura only works for melee attacks, so you can “unload” safely through that.

I understand the need of temporizing but it is simply not an option since the next heal back to full health gets closer every time i delay.

If the Ele can heal back to full that quickly, they likely ARE a true bunker spec running water/dwayna runes, etc., and have 1k+ healing power (and low hp). They shouldn’t be doing basically ANY damage to you at that point.

People in this thread have said things like “D/D ELe has insane burst, and they’re the best bunker in the game!” which is strictly NOT TRUE.

A D/D ele CAN have insane burst, and to get that they’ll be super squishy. And they CAN be an insane bunker, but to get that they’ll hit like a wet noodle. People get killed in 5 seconds by D/D ele “A”, and then can’t kill D/D Ele “B”, and assume they’re the same build when they most certainly are not. They’re either one or the other, never both.

possante.8310:

please share with us your amazing d/d build.

0/10/0/30/30 or 0/0/10/30/30 is the D/D “bunker build.” And they’ll typically use Dwayna or Water runes to up healing power.

i cant stack 250 power? you must be play some strange tournaments were you do mostly 1vs1 -.-

A bunker build sitting on a point is not going to rack up 25 kills in a match…

20% recharge time on air skills why?

Becuase those points are far better spent in arcana or earth (for protection on aura, and/or auto-armor of earth).

muscarine.5136:

Today from all my spvp games i could count at least 5 of them every game. And of course, all of them rolling d/d.

To be fair, they all roll D/D cause, for the most part, it’s the only viable weapon set for Elementalist PvP. You’ll see the occasional staff or scepter user, but they’re so much weaker than D/D that we’re all D/D now.

This goes along with being able to dispel most conditions, reflect projectiles, resist interrupts and that horrible ice shield that stacks frost for kittening ever.

Most Elementalists have a ton of condition removal, i’ll grant you that. This of course comes about because we’re all 20-30 pts into the water trait line and running triple cantrips because again, it’s for the most part, the only viable PvP setup for the class.

Regarding D/D Ele’s, we have no projectile reflection, only staff and focus users get that.

And as far as the ice shield (frost aura) goes, it has a 7s duration on a 40 second cooldown, and you only get 2s of chill when you hit it. If you’re getting chilled “forever,” stop attacking the Ele with the aura on them, wait for it to end, then go to town on them for the 33 seconds in between casts.

See i’m not saying it’s easy mod, i’m actually saying it’s godmod placed in the right hands.

Fair enough, but this can be said about many classes when played by highly skilled players with extensive knowledge about game mechanics and the abilities of other classes. A good mesmer (that knows the ins/outs of the game) can seem like “godmode,” as can a well played toon of just about any class.

Jericho.4521:

It is literally one of the most telegraphed attacks in the game.

For real right? It’s even easier to see than Kill shot on a warrior. Do you see at that ground effect sucking up towards the Ele during the 3.25 second cast time? Yeah, that’s Churning Earth. Get ready to dodge…

possante.8310:

done: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEAQJAoYhImmbyR4gjDAkHm4SJCFP0QRxM5A;ToAA1CnowxgjAHLOOck4MEZCB

soldier amulet with berserker jewel, all stats i put was from this build

just say this d/d eles with very similar builds are a nightmare on tournaments

with this stats you can still do insane damage, you will crit most of time and because you will not gonna die so easy you can stack +250 power without much problem

Why do I feel like I’m feeding a troll, but in any event, that build sucks. It’s not a true bunker build (no Ele “bunker” would use that build) nor will it do substantial damage. Seriously, 20% recharge time on Air skills and cantrips mastery? Renewing Stamina? Do you even play an Ele?

You’re aren’t gonna get 25 kills to stack the 250 power from bloodlust without dying cause you’re healing is mediocre (no evasive arcana heal and no regen/vigor on cantrips) and your armor is only 2.4k. Yet you don’t have a ton of power, 1839 power and you expect to get 25 quick kills?!?

Umm…

muscarine.5136:

Oh finally someone noticed the rise of the d/d /godmod eles ?

Maybe people will get off thieves back a bit.

Who am i kidding of course they won’t.

…says the thief about his counter class….

Kaimick.5109:

I have held down a point against 4 others (4v1) and killed off 3 before one of my teammates came in to help. This process took me roughly about 35 seconds to kill them off.

I call BS. No, just no. Stopped reading here…

Ya. He’s just a troll. Cmon. He’s using elementalists runes and uses a shaman amulet for a bunker build.

Ha, yeah. I didn’t see that (cause I stopped reading). Again, this post is “no, just no.”

SlimJim.3087:

I posted this is the bug thread but ill add it here, Lightning Flash seems to be able to port you along with AoE spells mid cast, IE the big earth AoE that adds 9 stacks of bleed. An ele was porting to me today and having it follow him and cast on me. As they are 2 different spells I would think casting Lightning Flash would cancel the cast of the Earth AoE.

You’re right. Just like thieves can’t cast Steal/Mug mid-cast with Cloak and Dagger….
Oh wait….

Cause Churning earth is already very powerful and using it with LF makes it almost impossible to dodge.

just hit the “dodge” button when the spell goes off. Viola, they wasted TWO skills for no damage…

maddoctor.2738:

Gorani.7205:

Several different things to be discussed here:
1. " most useless downed skill ever?" – No. After it became instantly available after the down, it is a very good skill, especially if you have endurance left to dodge away.
2. “it will be nerfed to not heal the user” – This needs explaining to the OP. After you have used Vapor Form (once), it heals you to about half (please correct me if I am wrong here) of the health bar.
3. " accumulated downed penalty each time you fall after using Vapor Form?" – Actually this is true. Using Vapor Form three times without any means to reduce the death penalty will mean you have killed yourself (or a second Vapor Form if you already have a death penalty on you – not sure if it has to be a “yellow one”) .

1. It’s the only skill that kills the user… After 2 uses
2. Well if it healed you to about half you shouldn’t die after the second usage but you do. Go in a Dungeon and try it, it’s easy
3. Yet sometimes you die after 2 uses of Vapor Form, at least in Dungeons

The healing is because it resets downed state. You go down, a mob beats on you until you have 10% hp, you use vapor form, viola, back to 50% hp. It’s a free heal. This can be near game breaking in pvp.

And if you’re only defeated “sometimes” after 2 uses and not “all the time,” it may not be bugged and you may just have prior downed penalties stacked on you.

maddoctor.2738:

Bsquared.3421:

Occam.9841:

maddoctor is right about how it works the question is if it is intended to be that way.

Even if its bugged to be twice, it’s still the best downed skill in the game. It’s the only guaranteed stomp interrupt available that let’s you control where you end up After its done.

If its bugged to kill you after 2 uses, I’ve never noticed it cause you’re either stomped or revived after the 1st use. I wouldn’t trade vapor form for ANY other skill in the game.

Then you probably aren’t doing dungeons where “preventing” stomping isn’t useful but the mob will still come at you and kill you quickly. How I never thought of this.. it prevents stomping how amazing…

Even in dungeons, where stomping isn’t an issue, it’s still tremendously powerful. If its defeating you after only 2 uses, and you don’t have any prior downed penalties, that’s a bug and it should probably be fixed at some point, but they’ll never remove the downed penalty from it (nor should they) as its probably already overpowered in every facet of the game OTHER than when it bugs in a dungeon…

Occam.9841:

maddoctor is right about how it works the question is if it is intended to be that way.

Even if its bugged to be twice, it’s still the best downed skill in the game. It’s the only guaranteed stomp interrupt available that let’s you control where you end up After its done.

If its bugged to kill you after 2 uses, I’ve never noticed it cause you’re either stomped or revived after the 1st use. I wouldn’t trade vapor form for ANY other skill in the game.

maddoctor.2738:

Strange I die after using it a second time. I didn’t see any heals

You shouldn’t die until you’ve used it 4 times, I dont believe you. And if you’ve never noticed the healing it provides (cause it resets the downed condition) you should pay more attention before asking for buffs on the forums to he best skill in the game…

Vapor form is easily in the top 3 most powerful downed skills, if not THE most powerful skill in the game. If it ever gets changed, it will be nerfed to not heal the user, as its probably overpowered in its current form.

The more you know…

Blaine Tog.8304:

Yes, regardless of one’s preference, you should always carry both weapon sets (heck, I even keep a Focus in my inventory at all times, even though I basically never use it).

Basically this. I keep one of every weapon in my bag (all of them exotic at this point) even though I rarely use the focus or scepter. Typically i’m swapping between D/D and staff, but you might find yourself defending a trebuchet and having that focus in the bag (for swirling winds) is priceless.

alcedonia.7831:

it’s like a nut kicking contest. i’ll kick your nuts, and you’ll kick mine, and the guy who cannot get up loses. unfortunately, in areas like arah, mobs tend to have bigger nuts than you. and they also kick very hard.

I’ll admit, I lol’d hard at this part

have girlfriend problems? shake it off.

I feel bad for you son…

Bullshizle.2675:

This is my personal opinion but I find the D/D healing for Ele a lot better than the staff healing : )

If you can teach your teammates (in dungeon’s for example) to stay INSIDE your geyser and/or rain and use their blast finishers (while also using your own), the staff will way WAY outperform D/D in terms of group healing. D/D healing is better for solo healing however (especially with the signet of restoration due to passive healing on casts).

Staff can also get the 10s dodge roll heal in water via cleansing wave (evasive arcana), the regen from elemental attunement, etc., so that’s moot when comparing D/D healing to staff healing.

Urgh.. But I enjoy staff too much :l

then don’t change but make it a point to inform your teammates what geyser looks like and have them use blast finishers inside it if they need heals.

The group healing potential of a staff far outweighs that of D/D, provided you and your teammates know about combo’s.

Undertow.2389:

Go to the mists, equip a zerker amulet, spec at least 20 into air and pick up the 10% air damage, and you’ll get 2k channels easy on the golems.

key phrase being “on golems”…

Perhaps in this vid the ele is purely glass cannon specced with 30/30/0/0/10 or something similar and that’s why he gets these damage numbers. Of course, if you run that spec today (and not during the Beta when this vid was made) you’ll be wiped before the air skill #1 channel can finish by any competent player.

Note, I’m okay with the damage #‘s being nerfed after beta, all the old video’s are ludicrous with the damage the Ele pumped out. They may have overnerfed (this is debatable by some) but they certainly needed to nerf it somehow.

Mesmer daze is on what? 18s CD?

45s actually, that is if you’re talking about diversion. They have other skills that can cause daze (mantra, counter blade, etc.) but they’re not as big of a threat (imo). Manta sucks (if they even use it), that I’ll admit, but they only get 2 and then they gotta recast which is like 5 seconds.

And conditions (from any class, be it mesmer, ranger, or necro) shouldn’t scare Ele’s too much. We have the best condition removal in the game, even if ER (which not everyone uses btw) gets interrupted, you still have 2 clears on attuning to water, a clear with each cantrip (and FOUR clears from cleansing fire), a clear from skill #5 in water (be it cleansing wave, or healing rain), and a clear when dodge rolling in water (if using EA, which most bunkers do). I’ll stand on a thief caltrop and “/laugh” as the bleed stacks add up only to be promptly wiped with one flick of a button or a dodge roll.

And i’m not sure why all the hate for staff bunker Ele’s? They were the gold standard for Ele bunkers prior to the EA nerf, they have arguably more healing potential than D/D (especially now that Earth EA blast finishes again), and have the same amount of condition removal. The only thing a D/D bunker brings that a staff bunker does not is mobility/slipperiness, but when fighting on a node the D/D ele is only marginally more mobile. Using RTL to squirt away isn’t going to help decap or prevent a decap of a node…

MrQuizzles.6823:

It’s not hitting for those back-to-back. The skill tallies up the damage done throughout the channel and also through subsequent channels. So when it showed 2k, that means it had done 2k damage total throughout the channel up to that point. When it showed 3k afterwards, that means it had done 3k damage total throughout the channel up to that point, so only 1000 damage was dealt between those two numbers showing up.

As long as you keep channeling the skill over and over against the same target without interruption, it’ll keep adding to that same tally.

Ahh, that explains the huge numbers. Ok, so it’s slightly less OP than it originally appeared but the guy was still just chasing down folks and killing them with Air 1-2-3.

I didn’t play Beta, but most of the video’s I have seen of the BWE’s show Ele’s pumping out ridiculous #‘s but with all the control and healing we currently have now. I understand why the nerfbat attacked us after the BWE’s, but I wish they had left staff and scepter a little stronger.

After watching that video I can see why Ele’s were nerfed hard after Beta. That kitten was so OP. Air autoattack hitting for 1.5k, 2k, 3k, all back to back to back. The guy was killing peeps just chasing them with air auto. Not fun, and severely OP.

Lifeson.4352:

I’m just leveling my Ele but what do you guys think about running cantrip mastery instead of soothing disruption on d/d? I’ll be using 3 cantrips most likely and will get my vigor from renewing stamina.

I don’t like cantrips mastery only because it was bugged to not work with mist form for so long (not sure if it’s truly been fixed yet) that I moved on and learned to live without it. Some people like it, I think it’s “meh.” I’d rather have the cleansing water trait (for added condition removal), cantrips grant regen/vigor (even if you’re getting vigor from renewing stamina, perma-vigor is NEVER a bad thing), and either of the grandmaster traits (they’re both awesome, cleansing water for solo work, powerful aura for group play).

And will cleansing water + cleansing wave traits together with elemental attunement give you 2 condition removals when you go into water? How big is the radius for allies on those 3 traits?

Yes, you will clear two conditions when swapping to water. As far as the radius, it’s pretty small (300 maybe) but you shouldn’t have too much trouble hitting a couple allies if they’re somewhat tightly bunched. Also, be forewarned, granting regen only clears conditions from YOU (via cleansing water) NOT from allies (cleansing WAVE clears from allies).

SuiRyuJin.4615:

staff ele on an aoe cycle on the gate is i think the 2nd best thing u can do for anti ram besides a cata behind gate. assuming of course u cant just aoe it from wall because the enemy has most of that covered.

I’m glad you used the word “cycle” to describe your AOE’ing process. A pet peave of mine is watching Ele’s stand on the walls with a staff in Fire attunement ONLY chucking fireballs, placing Lava Font, and Meteor when off of cooldown.

In my opinion, you really should be cycling through ALL your AOE capabilities to be most effective at taking down the ram crew (not to mention you’re buffing all your teammates with protection, healing/regen, and might stacks. I will run to a teammate before switching attunements JUST to take advantage of that). Eruption (Earth #2) is GREAT for the ram crew, cause they’re usually so busy beating on the door they don’t see it’s obvious animation. It hits hard and stacks a TON of bleeding (watching all the little white #‘s is glorious). While in earth, use magnetic shield to protect yourself (and possibly others is traited to share aura’s) and use shockwave (you can hit people with it from up on the walls).

Move near a teammate or two, swap to water (they get healing ripple and regen, clears conditions possibly as well), then use Frozen Ground and Ice Spike (Ice Spike hits like a truck, very good AOE skill). Again, ice spike has a slow animation, but the ram crew rarely pays attention. Drop your AOE heals on yourself/teammates, another ice spike (the cooldown is VERY short), then go back to fire.

By cycling through all your AOE options, you’re basically always dropping a big hitting AOE skill on their heads. This, again in my opinion, is FAR preferable to standing there for 30 second throwing kitteny fireball autoattacks waiting on meteor shower (the only exception to this rule is if you’re 30 pts in fire and pure glass cannon, but I rarely see Ele’s specced like that).

Also, if you swaps weapons (say from D/D to staff) while climbing the walls to defend your keep/tower, swap out lightning flash (or cleansing fire, etc.) for glyph of storms while on the move. It takes like 0.5 seconds to do the swap, and you get another awesome AOE to use from the keep walls.

Rashagal.5867:

I hope I’m wrong in writing off this week as a landslide, but the silver lining in all this is that next week AR very well might get a chance to seek vengeance on those Smug Borlis Pkitten!

Nice post Rashagal, but I really had a laugh about the “Pkitten.” What, it’s censoring their own Realm names now LOL….

Florgknight.1589:

Invader Kills might be problematic in some cases when a server is completely stompig adnt he map is devoid of players.

Agreed. I think something like 10 kills should be part of it, but 50 is too many for sure.

My idea: 1 camp, 1 tower, 1 side-objective (e.g., ogre, hylek, dredge, etc.), 1 scout point, 10 kills, escort a dolyak, 10 supply repairing (e.g., wall, door), and 20 supply building siege.

Basically 1 of everything for the daily.

MonkeyBullet.8715:

Watch this video…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=BDmCNfyrbHE

That is all…

The video is “meh,” but the song choice is OUTSTANDING (I love me some swedish house mafia).

Also, for the big dance number, you should have all made use of the “/dance *” command, so you all started dancing at the same time. Would have resulted in more dramatic effect

Creslin.1758:

You just need to level up.

If you INSIST on doing WvW at lower levels, then it is IMPERATIVE that you keep your gear up to date. If you are level 18, in level 15 gear, your stats will SUCK due to how scaling works.

If you want to roll with a zerg and be artillery, then I would say put all your trait points into fire, and buy all power gear. You will likely have A LOT of power due to the level scaling.

^this for the most part. If you’re leveling in WvW keep your gear semi-up-to-date and just roll with the herd/zerg. Stay in the back and nuke with staff. You’ll get a couple of kills this way, and get all the karma/XP from taking camps/towers/keeps with the group.

You’re not gonna make a good roamer cause other lvl 80’s will eat your for breakfast.

Intigo.1653:

Good little guide! In case your Elemental is on cooldown or you have issues having it tank all the damage, it’s also doable by swapping to the Signet heal and using that to tank most of the damage (or pulling the guards by themselves without the Lord coming).

That is definitely the right way though

You don’t even need the Elemental, OR line of sight to do this really. If you’re good at kiting/dodging, you can solo camps while remaining out in the open and without the elite (I personally run FGS a lot, just cause it’s fun). This guide however is great for doing it in the safest manner possible and without any hiccups.

I usually target the ranged mobs first (as you can simply kite the others) and have some stunbreakers/clears (cleansing flame is great) for wiping the immobilize the vet guard is gonna hit you with. RTL into the first ranged mob, blow all your cooldowns AOE’ing near that spot till you take out both of them, then kill everything else.

D/D ele might be the best class overall for solo’ing camps, easy peasy I LOVE IT.