BUILD
This topic is all opinionated and open to other ideas. I speak from my personal experience in tPvP. Others will have more and certainly different experiences and are welcome to share/criticize!
Current state of Ele in tPvP: It’s not bad at all. It for sure takes more practice then most classes and more work to set-up and land downs; but that’s what makes Ele what it is, that’s why I play it.
Strengths/Weaknesses:
Strengths:
~Good damage – Both sustained and burst
~Great survivability – The use of cantrips gives us 3 stun breakers, stability, condition removal, 2 in-vulnerabilities, projectile reflection and projectile destruction, healing, protection and blinds
~Team support- As you do your rotations you give nearby allies buffs and blind enemies. Your knockdown from air can set-up kills and if you use the water elemental, you and it will heal allies.
~(MY TREB-DESTRO BUILD)
Make a 2nd ele and give it that build. Run to enemy treb, avoid fights and summon your fire elemental. Lightning flash from below to their treb. Pop earth armor and cast your 5 in fire attunment. Spam your 1/2/3 on the treb and dodge the treb user all the while. Treb should be down in a matter of seconds. Do this each time the Treb is up. When Treb is down aid your team by dropping aoe nukes and support at primarily CT.
Weaknesses:
~Lack of (or not as great as dagger off-hand) mobility- Because I use focus over dagger I do not get “Ride the Lightning”, I try to limit the impact by taking “one with air” (although you could swap that out for “Bolt to the Heart” if you want more damage).
~Bad 1v1/2 – This build is not a great 1v1 or 1v2 build. You can hold your own and can no probably win some 1v1s but the build’s job is to supply your team with the advantages in team fights.
~One shot syndrome – While this build gives you the ability to live through 1 or more people for a decent amount of time it is still squishy. If your cantrips are down or you are sitting at 50% health you are an extremely easy target for any high damage builds. Back stab thieves and rangers are the worst for this.
Tips:
Rotations:
~Because of the 30 points in air an the sigils on your weapons your air attunment will be doing great damage. You can cast your 2 and 3 while channeling your 1 creating great burst and control from the 8 secs CD blind.
~Burst dragon’s tooth combo:
If not in air switch to it
knock him down with your 5
switch to fire Cast your dragon’s tooth and right after phoenix(slightly behind them)
(optional)switch to water and cast your 5 (2’s daze) then your 4 (chill)
~Keep switching! Global those attunments if you can! Learn all of your spells, switch when you think you need to or it would be beneficial; go with your gut because that’s how you’ll learn. If your team is taking high ranged damage drop your 4 in air stopping all of that damage for 6 secs (this has and will win team fights). If you have a large pile up on a node drop the dragon’s tooth, chances are you will hit at least one, or switch to earth drop the aoe blinding tornado!
~Lastly have fun! Ele’s are lacking slightly but it’s a fun profession to play and we can make a difference in tPvP
Living through those Bursties!:
If a thief jumps on you with Haste and starts pistol whip spamming, what do you do?
You must have a good idea on the cooldowns you have available and the attunment you are in. If mist form is up pop that negating their haste PW spam and leaving them with no endurance. If on skype(or another communication program) communicate with your team, tell them the thief is vulnerable. If the thief made the mistake of not initiating the fight with infiltrators strike then this is the best time to land the kill by doing the dragon’s tooth combo (see rotations).
A Ranger using the Longbow burst build starts unloading… go to earth and pop your 4 which reflects projectiles. I’ve 1v1ed a ranger while I was at less then 30% because he unloaded all of his burst unto himself. After the reflect is gone go to air and drop that 4 as well… then proceed to blind/burst him down.
If you seem to be in the thick of things switch to water and earth regularly to get the healing from water (use the 3 at your feet) and the protection, invunrability, protection and reflection from earth.
Ending Note:
This profession takes time, practice and dedication. Very few will pick it up and start carrying through tournaments right away. You have to keep at it!
PS: Please ignore any grammar or spelling mistakes I might have made, and probably did.
~