Guild Wars 2

Tell me, have you even checked the Earth Shield Auto-Attacks?

Sadrien.3470:

Alekt.5803:

The point is not to counter Pure Condition builds. Though, it does that very well at the same time. Actually, Diamond Skin acts as an insurance against high condition builds, and works around the low condi clear of the build. Otherwise, high condition builds would counter Settler.

Demonstration might be the hard part. I don’t have the material for a video. But, my MMR is high, and I am ready for a friendly duel anytime.

Define high? You have a win ratio of 70% or something? If so it’s one of the many problems with the current matching systems.

High enough to play with and against big names. You keep Editing your post. It becomes hard; also, I understand that I will not be able to argue with anything since the build itself is so alien to mainly anyone. You’re discussing against unknown concepts, thinking DS gets broken in one tick of fire.

The point is not to counter Pure Condition builds. Though, it does that very well at the same time. Actually, Diamond Skin acts as an insurance against high condition builds, and works around the low condi clear of the build. Otherwise, high condition builds would counter Settler.

Demonstration might be the hard part. I don’t have the material for a video. But, my MMR is high, and I am ready for a friendly duel anytime.

Sadrien.3470:

There are lots of great s/d condi eles with strong s/d condi specs. Much stronger than your spec which can easily be outcleansed by many meta builds.

Bring those s/d Condi Eles. A shame I don’t have any videos.

If you’re talking about about Shoutbows or Cele D/D, they don’t kill the build either. Shoutbows trying to decap can also die to DS/CES.

You are wrong about Conjure Earth Shield, at least for sPvP. Earth Shield only needs a smaller cast time and finishers on its abilities, mainly.

-100% Projectile finisher (x2) on the third Auto attack (Crippling Shield).
-Leap Finisher on Magnetic Surge (The charge that dazes).

Extras:
-Ignore Cripple and Chill on Magnetic Surge.
-Gain 2 seconds of Retaliation for every enemy struck with Stone Sheath.

I’ve decided to write down the complete Diamond Skin / Conjure Earth Shield Condition Staff Elementalist. http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Elementalist_-_DS/CES_Condition_Staff

First things first, when played correctly, this build will vanquish any other versions of Elementalists Condition Builds. Looking at the Quad Signets builds and their variation. It brings an important load of AoE support and Crowd Control as well as applying a worrying amount of conditions, unlike the Quad Signets. DS/CES is also very strong in duels.

To make it work, it is necessary to;
1. Know how to use the Staff.
2. A proper use of the Condition combos with Eruption.
3. Master the Diamond Skin Trait
4. Master the Earth Shield
5. Learn how to use Glyph of Elemental Power.

Pros:
-Immune to full condition build.
-Hard to kill.
-1200 range cleaving conditions.
-Good damage
-Good team support (Ton of CC, Healing and Zone Denial)
-Counters Thieves.

Cons:
-Mediocre condition clear (mitigated by Diamond Skin)
-Vulnerable to Crowd Controls

So, if you’re interested to play with a hard-to-use but rewarding build that brings a total of eight hard CC to the table whose 7 of them are AoE, try it out. Try it out slowly, and on practice mobs first!

Sorry for talking against S/F Condition Builds, but they will simply feel lacking.

Of course, this old change completely killed my Fresh Air Staff build. Either it’s too tanky, either it’s not tanky enough.

If they simply add more stats to the amulets and removing that stat customization from traits, it’s my other Elementalist build that is going to be thrashed. I completely hate the Amulet system.

Don’t waste your time with those crazy Zerker fanatics. Leave that circlejerk.

Where is Sigil of Rage in the list?

Supreme.3164:

Mattmatt.4962:

30sec cd is stupid.
You have to switch to earth for your rotation meaning you’ll never use this 5sec efficiently unless you keep yourself out of earth …
Its almost as random as X% chance when stuck

Yeah you’re right stupid idea, then I’d say this:
“Diamond skin= reduce inc conditions by 25% as long as you are above 50% HP”

It’s too weak and no longer supports the niche of build using it. You are certainly aware of the difference between “not getting immobilized or feared” and “getting immobilized or feared for less than a second”. One means big trouble for a squishy class; it can even means the difference between a successful cast and an interrupt.

I must add however that what we know now of the Elementalist may not apply to the HoT Elementalist. Right now, Earth forces you to have Condition Damage, which some build do not like; therefore, do not go too far in Earth. Should a wider variety of Elementalist have free access to Earth Line without notable trades-off, it might go wrong.

lLobo.7960:

Alekt.5803:

Diamond Skin (DS) is not just good 90% of the time. DS allows the Elementalist to;
1. Have a clear initiation: No blind, no Nightmare runes.
2. DS wrecks most classes and specs initiations. For instance, a Medi-Guard may not begin the fight with an immobilize on scepter, nor may he apply a burning or blind on Judge’s Intervention.
3. DS allows to mitigate the a lot of condition damage from hybrid classes.
4. DS allows to completely counter full condi-specs, which allows the build to run a minimal amount of condi-clean.

This^

The thing is, DS is a GM trait on a defense line. But its main use is as a starter burst safeguard. (a bit like the new thief trait that grant resistance if you get the first strike on combat)
In its current state it should not be a GM.
As a GM trait it should give something else for under 90% health. Like a flat 30% condi duration reduction.

If Diamond Skin becomes anything else than a Grandmaster competing against Signets and Stone Heart, it would become incredibly overpowered. Just imagine an Elementalist immune to condition that can also be immune to crit.

But it seems like people usually view DS as weak; perhaps adding an extra effect would help. A passive increased Boon Duration? After all, it stays thematic.

Actually staff needs reliable auto-attacks OR redesigned auto attacks.

Earth 2 (Eruption could get a more realistic delay 1,25 cast time + 3, 25 wait time to explode, making it a 4,5 cast time. Reduce cast time to 0,75 like most Staff skil and put a 2,25 delay time for explosion, giving a nice full 3 sec to explode.)

Air 2 (It could enjoy a drammatic cast time reduction to five seconds to open a new window to Fresh Air Staff. After all, it is the only direct damaging skill in air.)

Air 3 (Gust needs to be faster and a bit wider. Currently you can jump over it to avoid the projectile: I tested it and it works. Or/And It needs a small damage for the purpose of proccing runes and on-crits.)

Earth 5 (Shockwave could have a 1500 range; because it would look nice)

Terrorsquad.2349:

Alekt.5803:

I am not EU; I am NA. But seeing the Settler ban, I see that I won’t participate. And no, it’s not a bunker build.

Settlers is a bunker’ish amulet with 2 bunker stats. Rabid/Carrion are still allowed and are even better for condition eles imo.

I can kill someone faster with Settler than with Rabid.
Again, I am just saying that I would not participate if it was NA; and I would’ve probably shown something nice and unseen, especially with that aggressive Earth Shield.

I use Conjure Earth Shield number 5.

Terrorsquad.2349:

• I would bring back SoloQ, to bring back more players since they wont have to play with the thought being outplayed due TeamSpeak of the parties/premades they’re facing

• I would bring back old leaderboard based on MMR like before. When pro-players actually cared about Leaderboard as it reflected closest for skill. Look at it now, no pro players to be seen, I wonder why.. Because they don’t like how it is now and many have confirmed through the PvP section already. The only thing they got is ESL to practice, which is once, twice or max 3 times a week sometimes.

Bringing back old leaderboard is in my wishlist. I find it awful how starting late in that season doomed me to a low position. It took me twenty games before fighting against the first pages of the leaderboard.
How is it possible then to climb if you’re facing against the theoretical “best players” the system can give you? Did they expect me to climb? With 90 ish points, I was 500 points away from rank 1, and I would see those players continuously fighting as “equals”. Why do I not deserve the same ranking as them if I play with them and win?

I hate the point earning Leaderboard system.

For the Solo Queue, I just hate to fight premades.

I think that Anet should reconsider both decisions here. Something tells me they already did and they got something planned. Also, I think that Anet should know that they look like a poor company when they wait so long in-between balance patches. They could’ve added Sinister Amulet already. They could have told us plans about PvP Amulet Changes (That will be needed with the removal of Trait Stats). There is a ton of WvW roamers or duelists who dislike the lack of Stat diversity from the sPvP; the common use of Celestial Ammy is a symptom of that.

Moreover, the amulet bans are over-the-top and automatically disqualifies any Condition Elementalists; I don’t see the point of amulet bans. I saw plenty enough of s/d or s/f thinking they’re so good because they can use a Berserker Amulet; they then cry a river when they get beaten by a Conjure Earth Shield.
Do they think that their cause is more honorable because they can press Arcane Blast and Lightning Flash at the same time and swap to Lightning and instantly cast their stuff?

I am not EU; I am NA. But seeing the Settler ban, I see that I won’t participate. And no, it’s not a bunker build.

TheUpSide.4152:

Alekt.5803:

Elementalist vs Elementalist is not even a skill match-up.

We like to use less serious, more fun concepts for the Funday Mondays. With the Funday Mondays we aim at more casual players.
If you want to play our more serious cups, there’s the 5v5, Go4 and 2v2 cup!

Aye, sorry about that. It was mean. I’d like to see some ember d/f signet get beaten there.

I feel like you’re putting it way worse than it actually is. The system has its current flaws, of course, but I’ve seen more people trying sPvP out. I also put more hours in sPvP than before. I am not the only one with that opinion, I think Chaith (5g) agrees with that: sPvP is better than before, is fun, and has a “future”. GW2 is the MMORPG with the best PvP game mechanics. I’ve tried Wildstar; I prefered Roleplaying in Wildstar (The PvP there was bad).

You can see my point. I have a wishlist of my own, but I think that we need more players first. 25 minutes queue times would not help with that. What would you do if you were Anet?

Also, I am sure you’ve came across decent matches, just as I did.

Elementalist vs Elementalist is not even a skill match-up.

Belenwyn.8674:

Balsa.3951:

xiexie ni

nice to watch but dam China still need to censorship Skulls in game? thats quite sad for Necro.

I already hated that when they done that in WOW

It is Chinese culture. We have to accept it.

I am not the expert on the subject, but I think it is mostly related to the government; the ministy of culture that does the censorship. It is not the “Chinese” culture. I may be wrong, of course.

I do agree with moving Conjurer to Arcane (surely Adept). But, for the other functionality of having it as a F5 beside atunements will provoke a lot of balance issues.
Of course, we do not know what is the intended cooldown you wish to give it. I fear that this solution might be too easy to play around, and be too powerful.

Just imagine a second Burning Retreat in the cooldown bar? (Flame Axe) An extra X finisher here and there. Should the conjures be limited to one? No, I do not agree with the proposed changes; I fear it might result a nerf.

Conjure weapon, baseline
-Reduce cooldown to 45 seconds for all conjures with the exception of 30 seconds for Flame Axe
60 seconds seems punishing if the weapon conjured on the floor is not used twice. Flame Axe deserves a little extra since the weapon itself has no major abilities.

Customize cast times;
-Conjure Flame Axe ::: Instant
-Conjure Lightning Hammer ::: 1/4 second
-Conjure Earth Shield ::: 1/4 second
-Conjure Frost bow ::: 1/4 second
Long Cast times on Conjured Weapons is annoying. Especially since their abilities also have their own cast time; making two cast times in a row. Instant Flame Axe because it is a momentum weapon. Cast times for the other weapon will give a chance for the opponent to see what’s being conjured to interrupt or respond to the weapon skill following (and not the conjure itself).

IMPORTANT: Fix the bug where dropping the conjured weapon during a dodge roll cancels the dodge roll. Same with the Burning Retreat of the Flame Axe

Baseline Changes to the weapon skills
Conjure Lightning Hammer
Anet already have some plans on it; and I personnally don’t use it in PvP. (Cast times are too long)

Conjure Frost Bow
Anet already have some plans on it.

Conjure Flame Axe
They were worked on to to give the auto-attack 1 stack of might. Number two to have a Blast Finisher. (Those changes were very good.)

Conjure Earth Shield
Give the Auto Attack final chain a Projectile Finisher. Or even two times (It throws the shield in a boomerang pattern.) Or perhaps, make it so that it bounces between targets instead of doing an old and boring line.
Give number 3 (The charge and Daze) a Leap or Blast Finisher.

What would I like to see for Conjurer (Arcane Adept)?

Each weapons have a specific element attached to them…
Shield= Earth
Axe= Fire
Bow= Water
Hammer= Air

Allow the initial action of conjuring the weapon cast the On-Atunement-Swap-Related -Traits as if the Elementalist swapped to the element matching the Conjured Weapon. For instance, casting Conjure Frostbow would grant Fury for 2 seconds, apply Soothing mist for 5 seconds (related to Lingering Atunements), cast Healing Ripple (probably a smaller version for that one). This would only apply to minor traits. (Not Elemental Atunement.)

Example in action; Casting Conjure Lightning Hammer would proc Electric Discharge. Should it be a Fresh Air Elementalist, the lightning strike could proc Fresh Air… Et cetera. See the flow?

I do not run meta because I enjoy the gameplay I’ve self-found. Also, because my Condition Staff Elementalist build probably beats your meta thing with a lot of dedication and practice.

I’ve got a pile of haters because I play my Elementalist the way I want, and do it successfully. They do not like Condition Staff Diamond Skin. Sometimes, I do not want to play with some of them.

I chuckle when I see them dying from condition damage they can’t cleanse in Mist Form. But I do get your point, it’s very good most of the time.

One of the best thing that could be done to a more offensive oriented Elementalist is to give the Staff some more faster and reliable auto attacks.

Chain Lightning.
No longer a projectile. Instant cast like the mesmer GS that will do the 3 bounces as before (Think WoW Shaman Chain Lightning)

Fireball.
Make it a straight liner that is much faster. Keep the AOE (Add 20% blast finisher Why not? finisher)

Water Bolt.
Make it a small cone (this one might be too radical) like the Guardian staff auto. This one would deal a minimal amount of damage, but would heal by a small amount in the area.

Stoning.
Make it shoot two stones (like the warrior longbow attack). Give the the old fireball projectile behavior ( Angled shot that goes to a medium speed.) First stone applies cripple for 1 sec, Second stone applies weakness for 3 seconds (like before). (20% projectile finisher instead of 100%, a lil nerf here)

I main a Celestial / Undead Condition build with Staff using Diamond skin on High MMR sPvP.

Firstly, the proposition of the OP is rather bad. OP forgot about the Fear Condition. OP proposition is very weak since the condition can still be applied. Also, you will never know which condition comes next. OP wonders if DS should give immob, while doing so, he shows his or her lack of knowledge about the trait, which is the main reason why DS can be effective.

Diamond Skin (DS) is not just good 90% of the time. DS allows the Elementalist to;
1. Have a clear initiation: No blind, no Nightmare runes.
2. DS wrecks most classes and specs initiations. For instance, a Medi-Guard may not begin the fight with an immobilize on scepter, nor may he apply a burning or blind on Judge’s Intervention.
3. DS allows to mitigate the a lot of condition damage from hybrid classes.
4. DS allows to completely counter full condi-specs, which allows the build to run a minimal amount of condi-clean.

A few considerations. If Diamond Skin needs a rework, it cannot be reworked into a simple " x % condition duration reduction". Diamond Skin should be kept with a sort of challenging Threshold.

For instance,
Diamond Skin could be designed as such.
You gain Resistance whenever you attune at Earth above the 90% threshold. When first hit, the Resistance debuff will fade after x (5ish) seconds. When attuning to Earth, you and your allies gain resistance for 1 seconds.

With Blasting staff being a baseline, allow the current Master Minors (effects on attunement swap) gain the increased AoE.

BlackBeard.2873:

Condition builds don’t work, so condition traits are dumb.

I actually believe that Condition Elementalist will be the next apex build. I don’t tell more.

Looking for a team :S

Can we expect to see gems in the amulet back to allow more stat diversity that was previously achieved through traits?

It would be interesting to re-implement a gem system in the amulet, with more stats too.

Jekkt.6045:

0/0/6/6/6
elemental shielding, rock solid, diamond skin/stone heart or even the glyph grandmaster
armor of earth switched for glyph of elemental power

welcome to the (possible) new meta

Noooo! Don’t make my Diamond Skin meta.

Can we expect a reasonable balance for the Minor Traits?

For instance, the Gandmaster Minor of Earth Magic of the Elementalist is rather weak and misplaced. Will those bad Minor be changed or balanced in the new specializations?

Added to that, some Major Traits were designed to compliment with another Major Trait from another Line without investing fully to it. (Signet mastery:::Earth Adept + Shard of Ice ::: Water Adept)
What will happen to these kind of specific combo of traits that required a small investment in the Trait Line?

Blasting Staff, Elementalist. How will a staff Elementalist not trait for Arcana considering the current existence of this mendatory Trait?

Subscribed for future results?

The Earth Atunement convinced me. In the beta, when I was playing an Engineer, I saw this elementalist with a Scepter manipulating the earth to his will, and I was like, “Whoa! This seems neat!”

But then the idea of manipulating the four elements to do something better inspired me. Comboing Ice fields into fire or earth to hit slow moving targets, stuff like that… You can guess that I am a staff elementalist. I like to manipulate the environment in my favor and win the fight this way. But sadly, the Earth Trait Line has been untouched for long (I am looking at the poor 5 points (25) Minor)

The idea of using 20 weapon skills also struck me, as I felt like anything needing such a management was surely having a high skill cap.

Currently, I am running a Staff Diamond Skin build in sPvP. It takes a lot of dedication, but it is surely rewarding at the end. (Possibly top tier MMR)

fracture.9754:

Alekt.5803:

fracture.9754:

Alekt.5803:

The issue is

No, there is no issue here. The trait is very good and staff is extremely good.

My point is not “Blasting staff is bad”. I mean that it is mandatory; everything feels awkward without it.

No it’s not. It’s only good versus specific hitboxes, for others you should retrait to stone splinters / vital striking.

I don’t really care about “feels”, I like efficiency Blasting staff is not the most efficient in a lot of cases.

Sorry, I meant in PvP situation like sPvP or duels.

Enduring Damage
Deal more damage when your endurance is full.
Damage Increase: 10%

One has to point that it Damage Increase does not benefit Condition Damage; Condition damage is not affected by this sort of Damage Increase.

Secondly, some will urge you not to use a dodge roll. No class should be rewarded for not using the most important PvP mechanic of the game, dodge rolling (Except the current iteration of the Bow Ranger, which makes some sense, but at least, they can pick it or not since Steady Focus is a Major trait.)

So, we have four problems with that 5 points (or 25 points of old-school) Minor Trait.
1-It does not benefit the main goal of the Trait Line in question; Earth is for Toughness and Condition. The traits benefit Power builds.

2-It’s a bad decision to simply not dodge as an Elementalist. Especially when considering the existence of Evasive Arcana.

3-It’s obligatory since it is a Minor. Perhaps some would like it as a Major somewhere in Earth?

4-It’s a 5 points (or 25) Minor. It means someone has to dedicate a lot of points in Earth line only to be rewarded with a useless trait.

Some will probably argue that Arcana 5 is bad; but actually, I share that opinion. It should proc the condition on 10% of the spell hit, not on 10% of the crits. And it should also synergize with Arcana 3.

Instead of the current trait, having Serrated Stones could be a welcome addition as a Minor Trait. Fire Trait had a similar treatment with his Major Trait that gave more damage to burning foes being relocated to a Minor.

Of course, I have some better ideas for a Minor trait, and I am sure you guys also do.

Hello, I am also a big fan of Staff. I currently play a Diamond Skin condition. I agree with the Blasting Staff idea. I used to play a Fresh Air / One with Air Staff build for very long too.

I’ll start with that I do not agree with the list:

Utility:
-Do not increase Signet of Earth and Signet of Fire cast time.
“Currently, Signet of Earth can be casted during the Elementalist Gust, Earth wall, Static field. It feels good right now; and it’s the best way to punish someone who has been stunned.

-Earth Auto-attack: Keep the Weakness debuff.
“Cripple is shamefully bad. Instead, give eruption the cripple (I’ll explain later)

What I agree with:
-Fix the horible state of the earth auto-attack, and perhaps fire auto too. (It is not balanced as a “hard-to-hit” or “slow moving” projectile)
-Rod of lightning bug fix
-Give gust a bigger hitbox at point blank.
-Magnetic Aura could get some love too. I agree with your proposition to reduce its cooldown while reducing the duration. But, I feel like the focus variation of the reflect aura is obscenely superior and should be put back in line.
-Lightning Surge; the cast time is indeed weak.

My wishlist:

-Earth 1. Keep the Weakness debuff; it is very good. But,

-Earth 2, Eruption. Give cripple back to staff elementalists (The Earth line used to give a fair amount of it.) Eruptions now applies cripple in the area. Reduce the cast time to 2,5 seconds from 3,50 seconds.
OR, give eruption the same crippling wave of Churning Earth that cripples.

-Fix the aftercast bug where Eruption fails to cast if a dodge roll or any other action is initiated during the aftercast.

-Magnetic Aura; now applies cripple and deals a very small amount of damage around the caster on cast. 300 Radius.
“It will give a source of instant damage on earth that is an already very slow source of damage for the staff. Also, it will give a sense of parity between the amazingly good Magnetic Wave (Focus 4). One of the two atunements I call -The Dead-Zone Atunements- ; in Fresh Air, chances are that you’ll get stuck in Water or Earth because you cannot deal any damage to the moving and blocking enemy.”

Notes: The balance should be aimed at making the Staff Elementalist better as a fighter, and not a better at being hard-to-kill.

fracture.9754:

Alekt.5803:

The issue is

No, there is no issue here. The trait is very good and staff is extremely good.

My point is not “Blasting staff is bad”. I mean that it is mandatory; everything feels awkward without it. In comparison to the other weapon traits in the Arcana Line, Staff is the only weapon that absolutely need it unlike the OP scepters and the dagger. I just wish to see in-class weapon parity and play the game against them without that missing trait that I waste on the Arcana to have a radius. (Perhaps I would like that vigor on crit?)

I am pretty sure that there are other classes that would love to have some of these mandatory traits given free. Honestly, I would rather give it for free and make the trait like the other Elementalists weapon that gives an interesting bonus.

It’s probably already happening in the expansion already.

The issue is that the base Area of Effect from staff attacks are extremely kitten by default. You will never see smaller AOEs from Fire 2 or Water 3 compared to any other weapons —designed to be an area support weapon-.

It should be there by default. Traited Staff feels like default and the Untraited Staff feels wrong.

I’ve been running my Diamond Skin with Staff. And that’s in the level of sPvP where you face wild Caeds and some Magic Tokers.

I know exactly the feeling.

Maybe nerf the class in general and they would only need to reduce the hp on the Thumper.

If more, and more Elementalists managed to make it function?

And, have you noticed some lately in your matches?

Ignore them and you might get in a position where the enemy team will simply claim them.

The issue is not that simple, OP. Beast and Ferocity are good objectives when they are done at the right time.

In T-PvP, starting with Beast can be done if the enemy team does not have a thief. You can do Far + Home; skip Mid. While doing so, your home point will use this time to do the Beast, giving extra stats to the Far team while they claim the enemy Beast. Meanwhile, you can be sure that those three guys or even four at mid just wasted time walking to mid. From that, we can expect to start with a 50 points lead and managed to cap 2 points; now is the time for the enemy team to find a way out.

I would be willing to share my secrets of the art of staff dueling, if you would be willing to send me a private message in-game. I’m in NA.

I have a couple of builds you could consider for dueling. Two variations of power, and one condition staff.

One should also note that it is currently the most OP build available at the moment.

It is a pretty common sight amongst a certain very specific demographic. Can’t some action be done to those well known individuals?

Hello,

It might not exactly be what you were looking for, but I main staff Elementalist since the release of the game.

My experience with TPvP is adequate, with a few hours of organized team.

Well, I reached leaderboard position 15 with a Fresh Air Staff build in Solo Q,
And currently is in the top 100.

Why? I am sick and tired of TPvP Pugs.

If for some reasons you guys are not interested with a Staff Elementalist, you can expect me not to swap, and will just find elsewhere.

Builds I run:
Fresh Air / One with Air Staff (Knight or Zerker)
Condition Diamond Skin Staff (Settler DPS)
And, meta crap, possibly.

Edit: Character name Alerie Despins (Sylvari)

If you tried Gust since 15th of June 2013, you probably noticed how low the hit chance is. Actually. you probably missed 4 out of 5 of them because the target moved 1 centimeter.
If you hit, it means 2 things; either you were in melee with the target, or the target was not moving.

There is no way to cope with how bugged this ability is. It says 1200 range, I say 200 range (melee) because </you will not hit> otherwise.

So, I ask, after 11 month of this going on, are people in the balance aware of this. Is it okay to have such a bad accuracy on this spell? Do you plan to fix it?