Guild Wars 2

My Sylvari ele:

With your powers combined, I am Capt Plant It!

Hear hear!

15 Baubles

Cracks knuckles

SAB is the single greatest piece of content that has ever been made for an MMO.

As someone who grew up playing NES games, I remember quivering with anticipation for the launch of the SNES. My brothers and I all saved our allowances and pooled together to buy one.

Perhaps most of the joy that I get from SAB comes from the absolutely faithful recreation of the “feeling” of playing many of the great games from that era of gaming. Everything from the incredibly bright and cheerful opening level, to traveling to the dark and scary woods. Even the lack of control on the ice on the mountain in world 2 hits right in the nostalgia.

Anet did a great job incorporating the attitude of the Asura into SAB as well. Everything from easy being labeled “Infantile” and treating you like they have to hold your hand every step of the way to keep you from hurting yourself to hard being called “Tribulation” and working like the brutally punishing games that are disgustingly cheap and hit below the belt as often as possible. That just seems to fit with my understanding of Asuran culture.

As for not liking the sounds the minis make, I feel you there. While the SAB ones are welcome in my book I can’t stand the talking backpack.

Keep in mind this is all just my opinion and your mileage may vary. /shrug

I can sum up my thoughts on this episode in three words; too much padding.

Still getting this error after one full week.

Also in Colorado with CenturyLink and getting the same error. /shrug

You can only have 1 Lava Font active at a time from the same source. The new cast replaces the old one. The Lava Font that spawns when you get downed (thanks to Persisting Flames) is a separate Lava Font, so that can overlap with the staff Fire 2 Lava Font, albeit briefly.

Also, the ticks of damage don’t quite line up with the animation, at least not how I expected to see it. Head to the Heart of the Mists and throw a Lava Font at a target dummy and watch the numbers closely to see what I mean.

Hey Tiggers. Welcome to Ele!

You are absolutely right about healing via blast finishers, and that staff only has one: Eruption (earth 2). You can get 2 more pretty easily through skills: Arcane Brilliance, and Arcane Wave. Both Geyser (water 3) and Healing Rain (water 5) provide water fields. Healing Rain is easier for others in your party to blast since it has a longer duration. In fact, Healing Rain’s duration is long enough that you can cast it then switch to earth and cast Eruption and still get the blast before the water field runs out.

As for keybinds I recommend using ZXCV for your attunement swaps. They are fairly easy to reach so they shouldn’t give you hand cramps.

Happy blasting!

Kodiak.3281:

I think you’d be pretty surprised long as you just actively avoid the “Berserker” groups. In my experience they’re really the only ones who really will call people out or ask them what their spec is or why they are doing X instead of Y…

So, basically you are saying the only groups that will notice an under-performing player are the ones that have skilled players in them. I mean, a player that is capable of running zerker gear and an offensive (direct damage) spec with the awareness to detect another player’s performance is always welcome in my group.

I know I am paraphrasing here, but this seems like exactly the kind of group that I would love to join; one with skilled players.

Here is my Asura ele sitting on the beach with her charr minipets.

Have you tried Nomad’s?

Seriously, Nomad’s armor with zerker weapons and zerker trinkets does better damage than you might think (with might stacking of course).

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fFAQJAoYhMMac25wwBd0AdAB5xqvRBlzbnB-TxRBABXp8zY1fuZ/hOeAAooHAgTAgZKBBA-e

Note: I would NOT recommend crafting ascended Nomad’s gear — stick with zerker or whatever for that.

This all looks great, but what I want to know is when do I get to play Super Adventure Box again?

cheese.4739:

silvermember.8941:

You know, you honestly did not need to make a new thread for this. People are going to whine and cry but that is pretty much standard whenever something is nerfed, it is not a new phenomenon. They are going to cling to every trite and stupid reason why it is a turible idea and you are better off not worrying about it.

I mean what mmorpg forum doesn’t have QQ.

It’s spectacular in this occasion, though, because it’s not really a ‘nerf’ so much as ‘fixing an exploit’.

I honestly find it hilarious that people are so up-in-arms about clearly broken mechanics and unintentional behaviours getting fixed.
…

I remember when Ride the Lightning (Dagger Air 4) got a much needed bugfix and a questionable cooldown increase at the same time. I seem to recall the majority of the QQers lumped both the bugfix and the nerf together.

That was a great storm to watch.

I am more concerned about how this will alter Burning Speed (Dagger Fire 3) and Burning Retreat (Staff Fire 4 + Conjured Flame Axe 3). Neither of those skills seem particularly OP and furthermore, I really enjoy how there are many subtle tricks/tactics that reward knowledgeable, skillful and strategic play across all professions.

For the record: I totally support this change to FGS.

It never ceases to amaze me how many people believe it takes a group of players to kill the Queensdale Champs.

I really am amazed by all the doomsaying that comes up every time anything changes in an MMO. Especially with ANet’s style of making minor changes across many professions (with a few notable exceptions).

My point is this: there are so many factors to consider about how the live game will change that it is incredibly hard (read: kitten -near impossible) to wrap our heads around without actually playing it.

I look at it as an opportunity to figure out the strongest combinations of traits, gear, runes, and sigils all over again! This is one aspect of the Elementalist playstyle that I absolutely love — and now I get to do it again!

Then again maybe I’m just another glass-is-half-full kinda guy.

/shrug

Maybe I’m crazy but I’m toying around with this:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vEAQJAoYhMMKbW4wxBf0AARhLoEecgAAMUoxHA-zAyAItASVApOAZyioxWNLiGraBTVSEV7RKiWNpAWUZF-e

With this build, Bleeds are much tougher to keep applied than Burns so I would probably start in Earth to get a few stacks then swap to Fire for as much burst as I can manage and save Water for heals and Air for mobility/auto-attack-mop-up.

What do you guys think? How can this be made better?

Lawful.5314:

All of this sounds like spanish to me at this point but i guess i’ll try it, by the way is there any way to reset your traits later at 80? PvE ones, i know you can reset the PvP traits easily.

The reason why there aren’t any step-by-step leveling guides is probably because of how easy it is to reset your trait points. Just talk to a trainer (in any city) and select the “I’d like to reset my trait points” option. At level 80 this costs 3.5 silver.

Also when you use a skill book it will automatically reset all of your trait points.

Cheers!

To all those that constantly compare Ele’s performance to Warrior’s performance, please watch this playlist:

That is all.

Lostwingman is correct, however there is an additional benefit to crafting. You are able to gain 10 levels from the experience that crafting a single profession to max level.

@ArmageddonAsh
Have you tried swapping Arcane Mastery for Windborne Dagger? I’m not sure if the trade off between cooldown reductions would be worth the benefit of giving you other rune options (like Undead or Perplexity) but I thought it’d be worth mentioning.

I have been toying with this idea as well, but I figure since most of the ele’s condi-causing attacks do direct damage as well maybe I should try a hybrid condi-direct damage build?

So far this is the best I’ve come up with:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEAQJAoYhEmKbnR2wjDARGHIwQhGfIZ8gDA-jUCBoOCh0CIUFAkIgZSFRjtsuIasqFYqSER1eeFRrWKAIWWB-w

Notes:

I don’t actually have the Sigil of Corruption on a Trident — it’s on another dagger.

Pros:

Burning, Bleeding, Vulnerability, and Confusion proc all the time due to hits/crits.

40% pre-Fury precision so I crit a lot (useful to proc Burning/Bleeding/Vulnerability) and with 55% crit damage and 1.6k Power the direct damage is decent as well.

Since Arcane skills always crit I can use those to help proc condis (almost) on-demand.

2.4k Toughness and 15k HP means I’m not super squishy.

Gotta love 27k damage from FGS#2

Cons:

Ether Renewal and Cleansing Wave (Water#5) are my only condi-cleanses.

No movement speed buff (low uptime on Swiftness) unless I swap Signet of Fire for Signet of Air (still have 31% pre-Fury precision so that’s not terrible).

Requires 10+ stacks of Might to really start to shine. This isn’t too difficult solo but it means that I really have to time attunment swaps carefully to manage Might stacks.

So far, I have managed to catch most people off guard since they really don’t know what to expect.

Nornaea.6925:

…
I propose that Asura cuteness is allowed as long as it serves as a means to the ultimate end: Asuran World Domination™!
…
Techromancer Luxx – Gunnar’s Hold

Hush!! You certainly don’t want the bookahs to hear you and disrupt our ultimate objective through pure, unadulterated, fumbling ignorance do you?!

Myntal Ellie – Snaff Savant, College of Synergetics

Since the bonus applies when you are within 600 range, when in doubt, move closer!

Assault staff Ele FTW!!

Tarkan.5609:

ah yeah the only thing I don’t like is that my daggers on my asura Ele are soooo smale I can barely see them which makes every investment that isn’t for a fractal/legendary dagger a questionable decision
I think about a human Ele but I just love my asura and my armor and that’s why I’m always gonna stick with it

It’s not the size, mate. It’s how you use ’em.

ATC Alpha.4098:

Oh that’s too bad. Conjures hammer It’s hammer ti- …out of charges -_-’

Oh c’mon! It’s too legit. Too legit to quit.

cheshirefox.7026:

other than sentimental value, why would anyone bring a “jack of all trades, pretty good at everything” to do anything, ever!? …

To do whatever is needed.

If you are running with a pre-made, min-maxed group you have the luxury of being able to specialize. When you are not, you don’t (well you could but it would probably end up with a lot of frustration involved).

For example, I pug dungeons a lot. Usually with an ele because I like knowing that whatever group I join all I need to do is swap utilities, traits and/or weapons to fill whatever role we may be missing.

Great topic Noah!

The first field laid down is usually the one used for all the combo effects. As such, most might-stacking eles should have their fire field down before your hammer chain drops its symbol (at least for the initial round). Though, one notable exception is that fire fields seem to have priority over water fields.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Combo_field

After that I think it is the responsibility of the one laying the fire field to make sure they don’t throw it on top of another, less useful (when blasted), field.

If you are really that concerned about it you could attempt to time your auto attack chain so that it does not place the symbol under the ele’s fire field. Just watch the party buffs to see when the ele switches to fire attunement and then avoid letting your chain complete until after the fire field is down. Another benefit is this should also help you be ready to blast said fire field for 3 more stacks of area might.

Balance is a delicate thing. Especially in a game as complicated as a modern MMO. Even more so with a “jack of all trades” kind of profession. At present, I think that ANet has succeeded admirably with setting up the ele to be decent at everything out of the box. Not great at any one particular thing (unless specifically built/geared/played for it — and even then at the expense of nearly every other aspect of gameplay).

Here is a great video about “Balancing for Skill” by the Extra Credits folks:
http://www.penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/balancing-for-skill

After viewing this, I have a much better appreciation for just how difficult and counter-intuitive balancing a game can be.

Nice guide! I really appreciate how you focus on what I believe to be the single most important aspect of any build: how it is played. (^.^)d

Welcome madamred!

There is a lot of good advice in this thread, but the decision ultimately comes down to your preferences. The Elementalist is a very challenging class to play because the line between triumph and defeat can seem very blurry at times. What I mean is it can be difficult to pinpoint what exactly caused the failure or triumph after the battle.

My first 80 was a Thief. I got tired of how squishy that was so I made a Guardian next and loved it! My third 80 was an Ele and she quickly became my favorite. After that my next two 80’s were also Eles (I know, I’m obsessed). Now, I have trouble playing anything other than my Eles because nothing else is as engaging.

What I’m trying to say is be careful with Eles — they are addictive!

No matter what profession you land on there are lots of great guides (on these forums/reddit/youtube) that will help you learn the ropes quickly.

Happy hunting!

MarzAttakz.9608:

snip

Using the coin metaphor, I’d say eles are made of silver. They look really shiny to begin with but, without proper care, tarnish easily.

Still lots of value though. ; )

KazNaka.4718:

Mbelch.9028:

I thought this thread was more about WvW and SPvP, but it looks as if PvE has taken over?

Oh, so as long as the pvp side of things are fine, the pve can be ignored? If ANet were to balance classes in pvp separate from pve, I wouldn’t be posting here. However, they tend to apply the changes to both sides, and I felt there was a balance issue on the pve aspects of the elementalist as well.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t the general “consensus” among forum-goers that eles are in a better position in PvE/WvW than sPvP or tPvP?

I find this thread amusing because it seems like an argument in which one side can not gather sufficient evidence to support their argument and instead attempts to change the argument into one in which they can win.

At the same time, however, there have been many interesting points brought up about many different aspects of ele gameplay so don’t let me stop things : )

Belzebu.3912:

Windu The Forbidden One.6045:

Gremlins

15charblabla

Underwater battle would be brutal

Also, they’d have no place in a serious dungeon/fractal/ WvW group after midnight. Dem food buffs!!

Impact and reikken both have some great points. I personally love Eles because of the sheer versatility that they offer. With that versatility though comes complexity and, as such, it may be a good idea while leveling to use a sceptor or even a staff to get familiar with the mechanics before venturing directly into the fray with dagger/dagger.

As far as d/d builds are concerned, a safe starting point would be the tried-and-true x/x/x/30/30 build. The key traits to pick up are: Cleansing Wave, Cleansing Water, Evasive Arcana, Elemental Attunement, and Renewing Stamina. Focus on Cantrips for your utilities and either Ether Renewal or Signet of Restoration for your heal. Start with Soldier’s gear (power, vitality, toughness) until you really get the hang of it then move towards Knight’s or Berserker’s gear later for more damage. Add the remaining 10 points to taste. I prefer to put them into Earth for Stone Splinters (10% more damage when you are within 600 range of your target) since you will be within 600 range a majority of the time anyway.

This is how I have my “Tank Ele” set up. The Trident is actually another dagger that I swap out once I have 25 stacks of Bloodlust.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEAQJAoYhMmibzR4wjDAkHuYCLjCdUekzM2A-jwCBYLChEEIkIAUBgJQFRjtMMsVXRr8KI6FYqTER1+DFRrGA-e

Hope that helps!

rainynoble.6531:

I don’t suggest Scholar runes at all, because as the glassiest of the glass cannon out there, you will rarely keep your health above 90%.

I think it really depend on your trait setup. i use rune of ranger because i am lacking crit chances due to my setup.

Forgive my ignorance, but doesn’t being the glassiest of the glass cannons mean that you are either at full health or dead with very little in-between?

Wouldn’t that make Scholar runes even more effective since if you are not above 90% health you would go into “Oh KITTEN!!” mode and try to heal up and thus get the 10% damage buff back right away?

Am I missing something here?

I would love to see Ice Spike become a blast finisher, but I doubt it would happen. We don’t have combo fields and finishers in the same attunement anywhere else so I am pretty sure the devs are against that.

CMstorm.8679:

Does any1 else notice the effect it applies when it stops an enemy? it places something like magnetic aura on you, only for like a split second though. but its noticeable

I noticed this too. It is in fact a Magnetic Aura and will reflect projectiles.

Arikyali.5804:

snip

Bookahs are so cute when they pontificate!

May I present to you, Myntal Elle – Elementalist extraordinaire!

Oh, and just for the sake of argument:
http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=Vk;4BJ-U0v4Z0kY0;9;49-9JT2;35;035-47AM;5udbTudbTu-k51;5VLVQWVX_2f3l42H0BV2q;5cW5PcW5P;9;9;9;9;1NV0;1VR-6J

Anierna.6918:

I assumed…

I think I found the problem. Since I have no way of reading your mind except by what you post, I stand by mine.

Furthermore, I signed on with the ELEtists because I thought that the focus was on helping other players learn “how to Ele”. If you are an example of the rest of that community then I will not allow myself to be associated with it any longer.

Am I the only one that absolutely hates all the condition spam in Living Story events?

I can’t seem to survive on either my Shout Guard (with runes of the soldier and Pure of Voice) or my Bunker Ele (0/10/0/30/30 with Ether Renewal) which if I’m not mistaken are two of the best condi-cleansing specs in the game.

How am I supposed to deal with this? What am I doing wrong?

Anierna.6918:

…
My point still stands though; ThiBash can’t count.

I get 9 stacks of might with staff.

Fire4 > Earth2 > Evasive Arcana dodge > Arcane Wave.

I haven’t tried it but I may be able to fit in a LH auto attack chain for 3 more as well (but that would require some very precise timing and placement to pull off).

I’d respectfully ask you to do some research/outside-the-box thinking before making wild accusations in the future.

Razor.6392:

Mash Hog.5672:

I solo’ed the Hybrid with my own Fresh Air/PvE build.

Edit: Might I add, without deaths!

Wait wtf is that supposed to be something to brag about? No offense because I constantly solo the instance without issue lol.

I’m with Razor on this. I have never even faced the Hybrid in a group. Left me wondering why people were spamming “LFXM Hybrid”.

I have two level 80 Eles and a third at level 62. I remember that leveling the first one was very challenging but somewhere around level 50 things started to “click”. I’m really not sure if it was the traits or gear or just the repetition of using the skills but things started to feel right.

The biggest challenge in regard to playing an Ele is the sheer number of factors that must be considered before any and all attunement swaps. More than just how many and what type of enemies you are facing but also things like placement of enemies/allies. What other professions are nearby (if any) and what can they provide in this encounter? What does the terrain look like and how can I use it to gain an advantage in the coming battle? What utilities will provide an advantage in a given situation? What sort of trait bonuses do I have and how can I use that to my advantage?

It’s all about stacking your advantages. Eles don’t shine at any one particular thing but they do everything pretty well – all at once. My point is that no matter what situation you find yourself in there should be something that you can do better than your opponent.

My advice would be to start with one weapon set and focus on one attunement at a time. Once you are intimately familiar with one attunment then switch to the next and so on. Keep in mind that certain attunements are easier to sit in than others (Fire tends to be more effective on its own than Water for example). Pretty soon you will understand what a given attunement provides and which attunement is most helpful for the current situation. Once you are comfortable with all of the abilities at your disposal give yourself a challenge. Here’s an example that I like to use when running with a Staff. Find a Veteran (or Champion) that doesn’t have any ranged attacks and see how long you can kite it by cycling through all of your CC abilities. The objective is to learn not just which ability to use in which order but how to get the most out of each ability.

As far as whether to bring a Scepter or a Dagger alongside your Focus, why not bring both? Play around with one for a bit then try the other and see if you can determine which you prefer. They both have upsides and downsides. Scepter provides decent range but once you use the big hitting attacks you are stuck auto-attacking while waiting for other abilities to finish their cooldowns. Main hand Dagger has some nice damage and a few neat tricks to boot. Burning Speed (Fire 3) is one of my favorite abilities in the game (try using it when your enemies is up against a wall to stack the entire “tail” in the same spot and watch as the enemy just melts). The real decision boils down to what you’d rather have: Burst damage (Scepter) or sustained damage (Dagger). What’s odd about this is Scepter, having longer range, is easier to survive with than Dagger.

Wow that turned into quite the wall of text.

TL:DR – Start with one weapon set and one attunement. Stick with it until you really know how to use each ability to maximum effect – remember to position yourself and your enemies to force as many as possible into the line of fire! Also, stick to low level zones until you are ready for a greater challenge.

Hope that helps!

The Gas Mask got me playing my Guardian again. Thanks ArenaNet!!

I always suspected that Darth Vader’s suit was influenced by Superior Asuran technology…

I’d go with Human or Asura.

My favorite Asuran line is “Synergy is beautiful”. Seems to sum up the class nicely.

I’m currently leveling my third Ele (I guess that makes me a bit of a nut). To really be successful with an Ele you need to have very good situational awareness – more so than most other professions at least.

Every 5 or so levels buy Blue quality weapons/armor. Most Blue quality weapons/armor sells on the Trading Post for 1c more than vendor value so you can effectively gear up your Ele for less than 10c per set. Focus on the defensive stats at first (Vitality, Toughness, Healing Power) and then switch to offensive stats once surviving doesn’t seem to be a problem anymore.

Learn all of your weapons. Experiment with which ones help in which situations. Staff might look desirable for its 1200 range, but in can be difficult to master. The cast times are pretty long and the AoEs don’t last very long so it becomes a game of anticipating/controlling your opponet (much easier to do in PvE than PvP/WvW). Dagger/Dagger is great for in-combat mobility but it very much puts you in harms way (melee HURTS!!) so it may be best to wait until you have better survivability before really giving it a spin.\

Last tip (this one applies to all professions): Dodge! A well-timed dodge is usually the difference between life and repair costs especially because Eles tend to be pretty squishy out of the box.

Carry all of your weapons with you in your pack all of the time. It is very useful to be able to switch up without running to your bank and it should only take up 5 slots anyway (unless you go crazy with different sigils/stats).

When using Staff in WvW it is really funny to follow up Meteor Shower with Tornado for an extra 1500 power. To make it even better swap attunements to proc Fury for %20 more crit chance (with the 5 point minor trait in Arcana, of course).

BITTER BEER FACE!!