Guild Wars 2

I think it basically boils down to what a totally stupid move Jennah made in the first place. Rather than retreating to the Asura gates, she goes to the keep. WHY? Why not put yourself hundreds of miles away instead of behind a few stones? If she’d just left, Logan could have stayed, and we’d be sans one Elder Dragon.

Thanks a lot, your Royal Butterfingers.

Shockwave.1230:

Given that combat is designed in a way to prevent permanent health upkeep, the dagger off-hand is simply the better choice. Not being able to stay alive forever in combat means you need to take out your opponent before they take you out. The dagger has more control, which is better in combat than survival skills. It also has a better “oh-crap” button than obsidian flesh in ride the lightning, which can not only be used to save yourself from combat but also to be very mobile on a map. Dagger outshines Focus in more frequently encountered scenarios, plain and simple. Compared to the dagger, the focus’ usefulness seems very niche. I’d rather take a staff than a main-hand with a focus.

The dagger has more control than the focus? Laughable, absolutely laughable. Comet and Gale have the same lock-out time as Earthquake and Updraft. Magnetic Wave and Swirling Winds provide an entire 9 seconds of projectile immunity for yourself and 6 for your entire party.

Comparing Ride the Lightning to Obsidian Flesh is even more ludicrous, as Ride the Lightning will terminate in no time if your target is anywhere near you, nor does it make you immune to damage, though I will say it makes for a better escape. But being able to stay in a fight for 4 seconds of invulnerability is amazing. Freezing Gust is probably 5 times better than Frost Aura since you don’t have to get hit for it to be useful. Obviously, the primary downside of the focus is the Fire skills, which everyone agrees on, but I would argue that Flame Wall is better in some regards (such as Might stacking with combos) than Ring of Fire due to it’s longer duration.

With proper use of evasive rolls, focus skills, and utility skills, I have no trouble maintaining high health in almost any fight. The condition removal from Magentic Wave is 3 times better than Cleansing Wave for personal use, though you do lose the extremely weak heal on an extremely long cooldown. I will say that the Dagger is obviously better for offensively oriented builds due to Fire Grab and Churning Earth, but in terms of keeping the Elementalist alive, not even the staff can compare to the focus.

Focus is hands down the best weapon a condition damage Elementalist has. Despite not having hardly any condition damage relevant skills on it, the utility it provides keeps you alive long enough to get the damage out over time.

Swirling Winds is OP against projectiles, as well as Magnetic Wave (while also removing three[!!!] conditions.) Gale is a great single-target knockdown, and Obsidian Flesh is just plain outstanding for staying alive. Even Comet is fantastic in the Water tree. The fire skills are mediocre, but the rest are so extremely good, I find myself using this weapon constantly. Proper rotations of these skills as well as one or two utilities means you’re never getting hit, which is oh-so-important for the Elementalist.

parrk.4690:

I just logged in to look at my sceptre-1-earth tooltip.

I was down-leveled to 76 because of location.

The tooltip said 2046 bleeding dmg over 7 3/4 seconds.

The pulses I am getting are about 98.

While this is not conclusive, I think this lends support to a general theory of a pulse being a damage instance set to occur 3x per second.

as always….I am frequently wrong…this is not gospel, just dirty arithmetic.

Since the scepter first skill applies 3 bleeds, it is not 3x a second, but instead, once a second for 3 bleeds over 7 3/4 seconds.

Each pulse for each condition is once per second at the end of the first second since getting applied. What this means is that condition duration increases will generally want to look for breakpoints as long as you’re not stacking together duration stacking conditions such as burns, which will always benefit from extra time.

I simply don’t understand the mindset that even if your traits are mostly in one attunement, you are supposed to be unwilling to use the others. As an Earth/Water specced Elementalist, I spend most of my time in Earth, but second most in Fire, keeping my burns on while maximizing my bleed stacks.

I am of the opinion, however, that Signet of Fire is the single best Utility skill we have, especially for PvE, providing a source of burning no matter which attunement is right for the job.

An Off-hand Light weapon means that your offhand is simply unequipped.

Manson.6980:

Hi there,

Been playing elementist for abit now , hit level 50 this morning

What weapons are you using ? I find that melee range for an Ele is bad news , so try keep as far as you can !

and always keep in mind that your stats priority is …
Precision > Condition Damage > Power > Critical Damage > Condition Duration

Why would you suggest this stat priority? Precision and Condition Damage have no intersect whatsoever, except through condition procs from crits which are weak compared to standard applications.

I personally suggest maxing Condition Damage, and then focusing on Vitality/Toughness for survivability. Unlike many other professions, Elementalists have to rely heavily on their utility skills to hit a baseline of damage and the ability to stay alive. If you’re having trouble keeping up even after gearing for a more tanky set, I’d suggest at least using a focus offhand, as it provides the best defensive ability set in the game with Swirling Winds, Obsidian Flesh, Gust, Magnetic Wave, and Comet.