I use s/d in pve. With lightning flash gap closer. Fresh air spec, with shorter air cds. This allows you to have ride the lightning up as much as possible, and attuning to air with a target does a ranged lightning strike to it.
Use combos like ring of fire, earthquake, then armor of earth or arcane shield to finish with churning earth. All the mobs around you should either be dead or dying by this time. You can swap back to air while doing this to blind a mob that normally applies an interrupt, such as an ogre doing a club smash. Porting the churning onto mobs that are even in range will add extra burst from the damage that the lightning flash does. Sort of like using cleansing flame for the damage it does as well as removing a condition from you at the same time.
No. Scepter/staff skills work just as good at max range as melee range. If they had a min range, I would agree, but they don’t. A warrior who has a hammer/gs has no range options. He can swap out of combat, sure, but so can you.
Now, the discussion on if we are fine or not depends on if we talking pve or PvP or wvw.
I can’t really debate since I’m currently only level 45 but in comparison with warrior, guardian, even Mesmer, Staff doesn’t seem very viable when I get mobbed as the other classes I mentioned. Warrior, I can start off in range with bow or rifle and pretty much kill everything before anything gets to me and if something does get to me I can weapon swap to any of the melee weapons and kill whatever is left. Right now I’m not really able to accomplish that with staff.
Now with D/D I can take mobs out with no problem in whatever attunement.
I haven’t gotten into scepter yet so I can’t comment on the weapon at this point.
Uninstalling the game over a profession seems a bit extreme. Simply stop playing the profession if you don’t enjoy it and focus on one that you do enjoy. If that doesn’t do it for you, play something else for awhile and return later down the line. Who, knows, Anet may include something new to the game that makes game play exciting for you again.
Sure that ele is active combat but we don’t have the tools to balance the fact that we are weak, we don’t DPS, we don’t support a lot. We are just trying to DPS a bit without beeing OS. We are in paper and Anet tells us that perma vigor is just a too big advantage?
That’s all true, but the OP’s complaints weren’t about that. He claimed he couldn’t defeat PvE foes and keep them at distance while standing still. I merely told him that if he moves while fighting, he will have enough survivability to at least be able to complete PvE stuff.
I am not standing still. But the Ele is over the top dependent on constant running around. Other classes need to dodge now and then! But with Ele I need to be lolcoptering the enemy all the time, and thats just plain silly.
Are you swapping attunements ? Try D/D and go through your attunements. Also try other slot skills like that signet that gives you toughness and that signet that passively cures conditions every 10 seconds. These things keep me alive with D/D not to mention the survivability you get just from using D/D alone. Anddddd don’t forget the different shields you have at your disposal. Annnndddddd trait yourself to take damage and give it.
staff ele, in fire alone, is better than mesmer in 90% of PVE
With the changes being made in December, it would be nice if they moved the blasting staff trait out of arcana and pit it into fire. That would really make staff a strong weapon.
I’ve been looking at some of the traits and powers that unlock at higher levels and from what I’m reading, it appears Elementalist can tank pretty good with dual daggers. Their healing abilities keep them going plus you have a variety of shields to choose from. Dual daggers AOE is pretty good with high survivability.
If you haven’t deleted your Elementalist I suggest using dual daggers and look into a tank build. Hang in there until you unlock the professions full potential before making a final decision.
Congrats. You found out, why many eles are unhappy with their class. Anet has no clue how to design the elementalist and their attempts at doing something with this class are quite ineffective.
Even with attunement switch I personally think the class would be more enjoyable if the player was able to weapon swap. Man, If I could swap between D/D and Staff, that would be insane !
I know what you mean, however, I’m up to the challenge. I’ve leveled a Warrior, Guardian, Mesmer and thief up to 80 with little to no problems. Out of those 4 classes, Thief seemed to be the most challenging but still easy to level. I was working on a Necro but realized at level 43 or so, this class too was going to be a breeze leveling so I deleted him for the slot and made an Elementalist. I already knew what to expect when making the Elementalist, because I’ve deleted this class atleast 4 times out of frustration then ended up leveling the other classes I mentioned lol.
I feel this class is a class for players who are looking for a challenge and I’m up to it. Also, I’m finding out through conversation with EXPERIENCED Elementalist that I was playing the class totally wrong.
P.S.
But yes I do agree with you that the other classes are FAR superior to this one. Well that’s how I feel at the moment as a low level Elementalist. I’ll see how I feel after hitting 80 and unlocking the full potential of the profession.
Cool, thanks for all the feed back. Staff and D/D are my favorite weapons for this profession so I’m sure ( Later on ) I’ll return with a D/D rookie thread question.
It’s very much possible, in fact, I do just about everything on my staff ele including 1v1 duelling.
As for the tips for rookies, you can’t really go wrong with using an elite Earth Elemental for the tough bits. Not only does it attract aggro like a champ, but it can take a beating that would make other players jealous. That’ll give you the time to either cap skill points or beat enemies.
Another trick I personally use a lot, is run into a group of enemies with Armor of Earth and Magnetic Aura active, and cast Meteor Shower at my own location. Especially when followed by some other AoE skills, you can quickly clear out a group of foes without taking too much damage yourself. If you swap attunements while performing this trick, you will also get extra might from Sigil of Battle and fury from Arcane Fury, which will further empower your meteor shower.
The common belief that staff is rubbish is false, though it’s not always easy to play. But there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be able to do well with it in PvE. It’s main issues lie in PvP after all.
Well that’s good to know. You said it’s good in 1 v 1 dueling so I’m assuming you come across this in wvw. This is perfect for me since all I play basically is pve and wvw when soloing.
I got side tracked and leveled a thief to 80 and now back on my elementalist. With that said, is it possible to get 100 % map completion with staff solo ? If so, care to share your tricks and build with a rookie ?
I would say Guardian or Warrior. Guardians can take quite a bit of damage and reflect damage back to the enemy which makes them very hard to kill. Warriors can take quite a bit of damage and have high dps. Both of those classes are easy mode in my opinion.
During the character creation for necromancers there are a set of zombie eyes you can choose. I really like the look of them so I transmutate the look as I level. Well stupid me sells them by mistake to a vendor. After realizing the stupid mistake stupid me made, I go back to the vendor to try and by them back and can’t.
Is there any way I can purchase those zombie eyes ? Is there a skin available for those necromancer zombie eyes ?
LFG is hit and miss from what I’ve experienced. If you’re bored and want to mix things up, then it’s a great addition. If you’re looking to complete an instance with little to know problems, you should stick with people you know or your guild.
Oh yeah, never argue with anyone, it could be a set up to get you banned. If someone tries to start an argument with you either report them or leave, never argue.
I just started a necro. I’m enjoying the class thus far. They seem to be pretty tough and flexible. I’m thinking, with the wells, they’re AOE is pretty good.
I’m pretty sure I level this one up to 80 which will give me 4 level 80’s.
In PvE minions are the most common build for levelling and walking around, which is why you seem them that way. But (at least until this new patch) they are far from the most popular for dungeoning.
I just started a necro so I’m no expert but it seems they are really good at AOE damage.
Most time people run MM its for flavor. It’s the most FUN way to play, just not the most effective. The reason I said I’m not sure what you mean, is because, most players who’ve been around for a few months was affected by or at least heard the uproar over Condition Necros and their sheer OP reign they had going on. I wasn’t sure if you meant totally minionless BECAUSE technically in most cases Flesh Golem is the best Elite to run with, which does make you “have a minion”. However, it’s not MM. Also if you’re power Lich Form can be good, but if you go conditions I wouldn’t really use plague in pve. The damage isn’t that great. Fleshy is better.
Ah okay, I understand. I’ve been gone for a few months so I’m doing some catch up.
Erm, not sure what you mean since MM is honestly one of the LEAST popular necro builds and not all that affective, so I guess the answer would be yes. DS power builds and Condition builds are rather viable.
I think you know what I mean since you answered the question lol. The question was pretty straight forward and simple to comprehend.
With that said, thanks for the reply and answering the question. As far as MM not being very popular, every time I see a necromancer I see a bunch of minions following them so this is why I thought minions were the preferred build for necromancers.
Since necro’s can roll without minions, I’m in.
I have three level 80’s in full exotics so I’ve been looking for a knew class to level. Tried the elementalist. Not to fond of that class.
I was thinking about making a necro but not a big fan of pets, which is the reason I never made a ranger. Is there a such thing as a necro build absent pets ( minions ) that is viable in pve ?
Also do necro’s have any type of stability ? or does that come in later by way of traits ?
Just like Lanfear said, I wouldn’t worry about it too much. There are instances like this all over GW2.
Who knows, maybe even one day we can pick two classes, like GW1
Is Guild Wars 1 gonna stay open or will it be closing soon ? I might check it out because I’ve never played it.
There has been nothing hinting or implying that the servers will be closing any time in the near future.
In fact I would say the opposite. Just last week I decided to instal and log on. I couldn’t remember my name/password so I emailed support. They got back to me within a day, had a back and forth conversation, and reset my password.
So, the support is still very much there. (It’s possible it’s the same support, so not sure)
I’m gonna check it out then since I’m such a big fan of guild wars 2. How are the graphics and gameplay on guild wars 1 ? Do they have a monthly sub and if so what are the limitations for the free to play people assuming it’s free to play.
I did an escort mission in the dreadhunt cliffs and escorted a mage that was using a shield and sword. What’s that all about ? Have new abilities been added to classes ? or is this some kind of teaser to what might come in the future ?
It’s been pretty bad for me thus far. I got through Ascolonian Catacombs and COF. Other than those two, we went down pretty quick and everyone dropped out.
Been gone awhile and returned to see a lot has been added to the game like the new lfg option. Being new to dungeons I’m wondering which dungeons are good for pugging and which one’s should be avoided, for pugging ?
Seems like survivability is pretty good with dual daggers. Any tips for a rookie on dual dagger use ? I’ve pretty much been killing everything staying in fire. I’m still low level so I know that won’t last.
Staff has is strong in utility, but its damage is also very significant (in fire).
I would say it is a balanced weapon and a safe start in PvE if you are less experienced
