Guild Wars 2

Syeria.4812:

TheGuy.3568:

You didn’t but i can sum it up thief is the only class that has a skill like that on the left had side on short cd (more like no cd) that’s all. Everybody else has to take a utility for it.

As was pointed out, both guardian and mesmer also have them “on the left.” Ranger (when traited, but everyone has this trait) also has quickness stomp “on the left.” Necro and Ele have a blind stomp (although it’s a single shot blind) “on the left.” It seems only engineer and warrior lack an option there (although necro and ele’s option is rather poor). Actually, can a focus wielding ele stomp through Obsidian Flesh? Probably not I’m assuming. It seems that the classes who don’t have that option are more rare than those who do.

But I assume for thief you’re referencing CnD, using that would require the thief to still have 6 initiative (if they used HS spam, that’s just not going to happen). Using Steal burns a skill with 45 second CD and depending on the fight length, could still be on CD from being used as a fight opener.

I am disregarding the first part of the first paragraph as you cleverly forgot I said short cd (hint: all those skills have long cds). You also toss in traits that are completely meant for defense in nature and application that can’t be used for stomp consistently. Engis are special case see smoke vent (http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Smoke_Vent)

Sigh… initiative regens naturally at 1 point per 1.33 second the max cd on a skill like CnD is 8 seconds (that’s completely untraited). That’s a very short cd.

Be realistic and try your very best not to troll.

TwoBit.5903:

NaturalPortman.9562:

There will always be tiers in a game. Perfect balance is impossible in basically every game unless everyone is literally the same (Chess).

In chess, the player who goes first has a statistical advantage. Although that doesn’t necessarily guarantee victory, it’s an advantage still.

And to answer TC’s question, perfect balance is not achievable, ever. However, balance such that there are numerous, well established strategies and counters involved in the metagame is possible and should be the aim of this game. There will always be that one golden spec that is too effective at what it does, and when the nerfbat hits it another spec will take its place. Similarly, new specs and builds that are introduced or discovered by players can sometimes change the metagame, causing nerfs to the new spec or buffs to obsolete ones. Evidence of imbalances discovered by players is a sign that the metagame is constantly evolving and fresh, and thereby healthy.

With GW2, however, these imbalances occur too far to one extreme or another due to the game mode they chose. Coupled with low population and general lack of interest, you have a recipe for disaster.

Think you hit the nail on the head. I would also like to ask if the type of match we have in Spvp is the main reason its unbalanced?

NevirSayDie.6235:

I guess I wasted my time writing the previous post.

You didn’t but i can sum it up thief is the only class that has a skill like that on the left had side on short cd (more like no cd) that’s all. Everybody else has to take a utility for it.

Honorable mention to the prestige.

Aeonex.7482:

Lastly, Glass Cannon “Ride the Lightning” elementalists with daze+stun+blind. Thieves are the best glass cannon build when stomping? Your argument is invalid.

How the hell did you assume that would be good for a stomp? And where did you get blind from?

If you want cash gold and a bank roll play PvE. Spvp is balanced around the fact it has next to no effect on PvE and that PvE has no effect on it at all. They are 2 separate world. Because gearing is so stupidly cheap in PvE this is a qq thread if I have ever seen one. Btw WvW is considered part of PvE.

If you played that many hours in pvp get you should have gotten into a few paid tournaments, won them, and sold the gems.

I’m sorry but this is garbage every class has access to stealth, stability, or invulnerability.

Sabre.1384:

TheGuy.3568:

Tip: if you’re not new or have cash to spare you can just level crafts and spare yourself the headache.

This is what I ended up doing. I tried several times to roll an ele and each time I quit, annoyed by the stance dance. Finally I just leveled one by crafting and now that the attunement cooldown is a more reasonable length I’m actually enjoying the dance. It was just too annoying always trying to switch attunements and finding I needed to wait another 2-3 seconds. The base cooldown is just too long and much of the shortening is gated to mid/higher levels.

Its how I level the alts I am going to play. Funny thing is I started an ele long ago got frustrated deleted it. Then started one again said eff it I will just level crafting and never looked back last time I checked I was 285 hours deep on ele. I really do love the class.

MaXi.3642:

get more defensive gear -> learn to play with it -> get more offensive gear -> profit

soldiers amulet + berserkers jewel is a good start imo

Read the OP and read his level and its not an spvp question. I sware no one reads OPs just titles lol.

I notice a lot when I am moving while using this kit even in melee range the 1 (Flame Jet) skill tends to miss. Is there anyway around this or am I missing something?

Not a QQ about stealth but I do wonder why there isn’t one on a very long cd in one of the classes.

MindlessRuff.1948:

TheGuy.3568:

MindlessRuff.1948:

Seether.7285:

I think an even better question to ask would be, if players were playing a theoretically perfectly balanced, yet complex game, would they recognize that it was balanced or would there be just as many complaints about balance?

While my question is pretty much rhetorical, I would bet that there would still be a forum full of cries about balance, since the average players perspective on balance is based on what they experience which is influenced by their choice of class, their level of play and any biases they may have.

**I am not saying GW2 is a perfectly balanced game or anywhere close to it, but I think that many of the whine posts regarding balance on these forums are completely unjustified.

100% percent agree on this.

While this isn’t necessarily a bad question to ask completely eludes the question I asked so…..

Not really since hes saying that if theoretically the game has 100% perfect balance mechanically, it would not matter because the forum would still be flooded by people who perceived imbalance issues when in reality they have no grounds to complain and are only whining based on subjective feelings of balance instead of worrying about objective and logical “balance”.

You would need to define this logical “balance” as what your stating now is akin to saying no matter what you do their will still be complaints. Isn’t that a given?

DCUO is a good example of a pvp system with logical balance (rock paper scissors) that complaints still arose from for a number of reasons including class imbalance (in terms of population).

BTW logical balance does not go hand in hand with your with your near nihilistic views on class balancing. It’s just another way of saying “Everything is OK” or “L2P” veiled in high speech that’s sounds much like philosophy.

Also using a term like flooded is subjective.

That “class balance is possible but because players wouldn’t recognize it”, argument really gets my goat. We shouldn’t undermine the intelligence of those around us it’s disgusting.

Edit:

To add a point I missed about DCUO while its true balance was off due to pop over time it was balanced around hard counters where dps was the outlier. This game has very few hard counters. Its not so much about perception but factual counters. Is it possible with this game?

Zenyoga.6910:

Your just in luck. I’m just about to write up a guide on this build. It’s very tanky, and offers very good damage (about as much damage as a full condition engi), can get anyone off a point and you can tank almost as long as a bunker. Some may snicker and laugh since it sounds like its to good to be true, but try it out and see for yourself. If you want to be more of a defender I recommend trying out the rocket turret instead of the mine, since it can offer good additional damage, but you can still use it offensively as well (it’s my fav. honestly).

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fcAQFAUl0paZX3SfF1LJxIFk+zgUk3+KSRl1/nCsF;TkAA1CnoQygkAJLSOkkINIA

Thought I wouldn’t get a response lol. Ty Ill look into it. I would love to read your guide to.

I was in the 5v5 arenas the other days and we started just dueling. Not only was it respectful but a learning exp. We didn’t worry about the points etc. Heads up no running away build v build skill vs skill. Honestly more than the other things I would like more of this.

Edit:
Arenas

Will allow support to finally shine. Will be a better skill challenge than conquer in the general sense. It might also bring the community together and allow different builds to enter the fray and be useful.

Psikerlord.2569:

DD ele is new fotm.

This is sadly the truth. I play DD ele it is my main and has been for nearly 2 months .

MindlessRuff.1948:

Seether.7285:

I think an even better question to ask would be, if players were playing a theoretically perfectly balanced, yet complex game, would they recognize that it was balanced or would there be just as many complaints about balance?

While my question is pretty much rhetorical, I would bet that there would still be a forum full of cries about balance, since the average players perspective on balance is based on what they experience which is influenced by their choice of class, their level of play and any biases they may have.

**I am not saying GW2 is a perfectly balanced game or anywhere close to it, but I think that many of the whine posts regarding balance on these forums are completely unjustified.

100% percent agree on this.

While this isn’t necessarily a bad question to ask completely eludes the question I asked so…..

For lowby encounters D/D is sigh somewhat of a pain you don’t have the stats to back up the build and your swap is so long but your combos still work.

Gear for power(some vitality might help too) and follow this combo Air4 ->5 Fire 3->4 Earth 4->5

Water attunement has the longest range auto attack plus chilled for kiting earth 2 has a snare component air 3 is the best defensive skill you have use it. Fire 1 is your strongest auto attack.

Tip: if your’e not new or have cash to spare you can just level crafts and spare yourself the headache.

ashleydoll.8563:

Properly played in PvE, a Mesmer can do the exact same thing, if not more mobs. It is possible to be completely untouched in PvE as a Mesmer if you know what you’re doing. Different builds are required for different mob situations though, you can not use the same build you use for melee enemies against things that just keep you targeted with ranged, in that regard the Ele is maybe better if you can do it all in one build.

I do not believe Ele is more difficult or more skill-based just because of attunement swapping. Heck, WoW was not a complex game, but any class you play there is managing more skills than anything in GW2. The number of buttons you potentially have to press has little bearing on things at the end of the day. Because then you could just say playing the piano takes more talent and skill than being a drummer, for example, or the drummer could say “well I have to keep time with my band and I have to manage the sticks, so drumming takes more skill!”, but neither is actually true.

I have had this convo before with a thief. Yes other classes can 1 v 10 mobs. Mesmer aoe shatter staff whatever is simply less spread out than my own. Combine that with the way ele stacks might in such a quick fashion that our big hits actually hit big. So yes mesmer can but like I have said time and time again its just not as efficient as ele aoe. Single target a properly dps speced memser should out dps me due to the length of shatter cooldowns. AoE vs multiple mobs its a pipe dream.

One more thing I quipped that to play ranger effectively actually requires me to hit one more button than ele. Ele is not difficult to play because our combos are hard to pull off or anything like that. But I honestly cant imagine a “Well my class is harder to play” discussion with anything other than an engi or ranger. Between mesmer stealth through clones and actual stealth and the same goes for thief there is an argument for the skill challenge being considerably less as you level. I will concede mesmer low level game play is rather pitiful.

So i agree attunements aren’t the skill based part its the lack of tricks or raw defense. We are literally required to know our class to play well. Its way so many new ele gets stomped by old eles. Time with the keyboard will make you realize that factually other classes have it easier to pull off simple combos we just have better upper level potential. Simply put we can do more in the long run. Overall we are more flexible and we are allowed to spec that way.

Consider a case in point. If a mesmer wants to go true support that have a few options. The main one is for mantras. The traits for reduced cd don’t really matter all that matters is for you to heal you have to have pain spam (since the trait only heals on cast pain has no cd). With a 4 1/2 second cast this has a huge window for error. If you go with phantasms granting regen its 4s every 8s and you have to be in 150m range (melee basically) of the phantasm. You could also spec for staff (to give boons).

Now for ele by attuning to water I heal my team mates (http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Healing_Ripple) grant a passive regen (http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Soothing_Mist) and actual regen (http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Elemental_Attunement) even on D/D I also clear (condtions when I do this http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Cleansing_Wave_ ) forget about the 2 other 2 group condition wipes I have (http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Cleansing_Wave). All the while I’m on D/D (http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Dagger) so I can stack might for my team as well. Forget about the cc which is on the immense side. The amount of dps I sacrifice is marginal considering the coefficient on power to precision and I usually sit around 2700 attack that’s without might which is usually up and access to fury (http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Zephyr%27s_Boon) for every big hitting skill I have.

My overall point is while on another class I could spec pure support or dps or tanky etc and be of use to my team and myself I could play ele do a little extra work and cover most roles and do it all AoE. Basically we need to juggle more to maximize our capabilities.

Fields. Its the fields plus the blast finishers staff + D/D would go fro hard to kill to near impossible.

Serious question.

No E-sport because of hundred blades?

Lets be honest here a sec e-sport is for fps where your all pretty much on eqaul ground. Hundred blades while some what a pain is not trully OP putting on a class with that much base hp is another story.

to continue

portal=no esport
boon rips not working = no esport
quickness = no esport

As the title says I am at the point where I am going to have to relegate engineer to PvE only since I am not a fan of pure bunker o burst I am asking if anyone is running anything middle of the road effectively.

I have no criteria for weapon or traits just that the build be relatively balanced. If anyone is willing to help I thank you in advance.

Louhetar.2901:

So shoulkittenep playing with my elementalist (level 23) or will it be better if I make a new one? Traits 0/8/5/0/0.

(I don’t understand why it reads something about kittens at the beginning of this post, its not what I wrote.. o__o )

No need to make a new one as you’ll have to respec at 10 (which you already did) 40 and 60 no matter what.

Your picture is of your skill points. A little point of interest you’ll likely get hundreds of these because they just keep accumulating even after max level. (there also a form of currency in game)

sjatzkov braskav.3689:

D/D is op that’s it 1vs1 or 1vs2 doesnt really matter in most cases 1vs3 you can even get away. Everything another class throws at you is gone in a second and you won’t die if you know how it works. CC/Movement/Damage/Conditions/Survival everything is covered in D/D… The only counter is another D/D ele it seems. Insanely op and just a waste of time to challange one. No QQ just my 2 cents here

Sigh……..Rifle warrior or rifle engi time your immobilize and likely you’ll drop the ele. Guardians are basically a tie no matter the build. No ele can’t survive 2 back stab thieves if they are doing it right.

No one mentions this but its super obvious. D/D is technically melee if your smart you can range one down worst case the ele run. Most fools chase but realize its not like hes going to actually burst you down of your paying attention. Its like fighting P/D thief if you chose to stick around you may just get owned.

D/D is not OP for what we sacrifice in burst we get in survival we have no stealth and limited access to block and stability. Anyone who plays a D/D ele will likely beat a D/D ele on an alt.

Compared to the 4 (warrior guardian thief and memser) worst we can do is run or survive.

pricer.5091:

TheGuy.3568:

Ha ha ha. That was good for a laugh any D/D ele in the standard build can survive better than just about any other class. The most mobs I have fought at once is 10. The most vets 4 taking supply camps solo. Its not that tricky.

Well, I dont PvP as I dont like it…but what I’m saying is that in PVE (currently 66 and very bored with it), levelling is nowhere near as easy on this character. So 3 or more undead of the same level as me and it’s pretty much game over. I just don’t have the capacity to do the damage required before the mobs roll me over. And yes I’m attunement switching and using what CC there is. And it’s also about speed…so lets assume you are a much better elementalist player than I am, there is no way on the planet you can go through the mobs quicker on your elementalist than I can on my thief. Fact. Therefore…levelling an elementalist is slower than levelling a thief. And as I have a warrior too, I can definitely say with confidence that the same goes for a warrior. And this appears to be true all the way from level 1 up to level 80.

If I wanted to spend 10 minutes kiting mobs around, then yes I am sure it is possible…but its as boring as hell.

First off read my sig 80 ele and have been one for months. Second the stats on my gear are in accessible at your level so there’s that. You judge by how fast you can drop a mob. I get that. What you fail to understand is that every skill I have is aoe. So I don’t fight one mob at a time. While its true vs one mob a thief will do more dps than me but anything more than 3 and its a reversal because I’ll be clearing more mobs faster.

Now here’s my guess. Your playing ele glass and you want to pew pew like the big boy classes. Well guess what that’s a recipe for disaster. Ele plays best when you learn how to kite and dps all at the same time and when you balance your stats.

Without knowing your weapon set i cant give you a lick of advice except gear better. the reason for that is D/D D/F S/F S/D and Staff have vastly different play styles.

I really wish guys like you would read the numerous post that come up and explain that your doing it wrong, Warrior is simple beyond simple high health high armor straight forward attacks your not the first person to complain warriors kill faster. Thief stealth nuff said. These class are easy. Ele is too with time but it still requires more work.

BTW in WvW you play with PvE stats so taking a camp is a PvE experience as you are literally facing the AI. Now the 4 vets there all hit hard 2 are ranged and blind the other 2 knock down and stun. Its basically a test of know the class how it plays and your gear.

3 tips to help you I would listen but you don’t have to

1. Leveling is a joke pick up a craft and hit 80. Leveling is boring by its nature most players like me once you have funds craft alts to 80 if they like the play style its significantly faster and relatively cheap.

2. For D/D air 4->5 fire 3->4->5 Earth 4->5 do this and most mobs are done. (note you should have some stacks of might after pulling this off)

3. https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/elementalist/Tanky-DPS-Elementalist-Videos-11-21-12/first (I dont actually use this build exactly but its in the same vein.)

Read its months ago and never looked back. Ele in the right hands solos champions plus there vet adds and can pretty much 1 v 10 any regular mobs.

Last thing if you don’t like the play style or feel its too hard quit. I don’t say that with the kitteny bullkitten you hear nowadays on forums. If you don’t like the class don’t play it. The goal is to have fun not be frustrated. If you find ele to be a chore and constantly compare it to classes you like more and then come and kitten here not only are you doing your self a disservice but us as well.

Lat little bit if you still want to play the class I suggest at your level going half carrion half cleric. It should significantly take the pressure off surviving multiple mobs if your build has any form of survival (earth water arcane) built into it.

I am 0/10/10/20/30 almost full PVT but there is 1 piece of cleric and my jewelry is all cleric. I am usually just fine surviving fractal mobs. I don’t use staff but I do use scepter for ranged fights. Over all if you know your build and are comfortable with the mechanics of each fractal is very hard to go wrong.

So I have been leveling my alt and no matter what way I look at it I feel under powered no matter the class I play.

The only real analogy I have is this. Ele is a Swiss army knife and no matter what “knife” I use I miss all the cool little tools the Swiss army knife has.

Hard to play? With practice not really.

Harder than other classes? Yes by far.

pricer.5091:

Elementalist so far for me is the most frustrating class, I cannot even contemplate taking on the numbers of mobs I can take on my thief or warrior. The damage sucks and they have very poor survivabiity…unless of course you nerf your damage into the ground, and even then they’re not great.

Ha ha ha. That was good for a laugh any D/D ele in the standard build can survive better than just about any other class. The most mobs I have fought at once is 10. The most vets 4 taking supply camps solo. Its not that tricky.

Its all situational but classes are irrelevant builds on the other hand work wonders. I find having a decent mix of dps and support builds no matter the class makes runs easier. While its true some classes have an easier time fact is competent players doing their jobs leads to easy run no matter the class break down. There is no min maxing necessary bad players will ruin runs good players you wont even notice.

Casia.4281:

Conditions do not. And the majority of your damage is direct.
Pistols without coated bullets are weak. With, get much better.

Once you do have them though, you need to understand a few things.
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/engineer/Engineer-skill-coeffs/first#post771054

Pistol 1. 920 average damage with a level 80 exotic.
Deals .35 skill coeff per hit. 2s bleed. .8s attack speed.

The bleed is direct only. While the .35 power is aoe.
Now with coated bullets, shots pierce. Straight line.
The nature of the exploding bullets means however, if two or more targets are close and in a line, they will get hit directly, and also get hit by the explosions as the bullet hits each.
so, shot hits target A deals .35 power, and applies bleed. shot explodes hitting target B for .35power. Shot continues and hits Target B, deals .35 power, and applies bleed. Shot explodes and hits Target A for .35p.

So, what just happened was Target A and Target B got hit for .7power, and 1 2s bleed.
More specifically, the direct damage component hit twice, but the bleed only hit once.
the bleed is NOT aoe.

When firing into a pack, this becomes a major issue. As the direct damage component will hit 2-3 times, while that bleed will only hit direct targets once.
A target D that is not even in direct line of the shot, will get hit with the aoe, and no bleed at all, for example.

And P1 is by far the majority of your damage. its a .8s cast.
While PDV is 8s CD, 12 static.
15 p1 shots for every 1 static.

But even then. PDV .4×5 scaling direct. 10s of poison, which scales at .1, so 1 scaling vs 2 direct.

Static. .4 scaling direct. 2 stacks of confuse each hit. or .3 each hit. Consider armor, and confuse actually wins this probably… Assuming they attack.

End result. Power by far.
Also note traiting down firearms gives crit and cond. That crit just makes any power you gear for even better. And that cond is free cond damage.

P/P is not super dependent on any secondary traits. you can go alch for that boon duration, 409/hgh. Might does sit very well with pistols. power and cond. perfect for that natural crit. While tools also works, crit damage, TK works well with pistols. etc.
Explosives is the only one that doesn’t have good options.

Dude lol ty. Months ago I had asked if power P/P build was possible but got pretty much shot down. Your write up pretty much confirmed what I thought. This makes sense to me. I think I will level an engi and shoot for pvt armor and see how it goes thx again.

I alted a ranger (80) and while it does require more work to play overall its not as fluid as ele. Going over to engineer next.Also have a P/D thief 70 mainly used for pvp if used at all these days.

For me its like this. D/D ele is a Swiss army knife and no matter what class I go to I end up wanting all those tools.

Given what the OP said I am pretty sure alchemy potions P/P engineer, mesmer staff (shatter confusion spammer or clone condition bleed or both lol) and anything D/D blossom or P/D thief are the only real options.

I have been seeing this a lot. I am not asking how to beat it but what the build is. I am interested in making an engineer alt and would kind of like to try this. From what I saw there was nearly perma up time fury and swiftness and pistol shots seemed to hit decently on the front end. After leveling ranger as an alt and having Ele as a main I am kinda of looking for a challenging build. Reason I am not checking P/P condition is because I swore I saw a good chunk for front end dps while conditions didn’t hit all that hard.

Any help appreciated ty.

nerva.7940:

TheGuy.3568:

nerva.7940:

thieves are completely out of control, and eles shouldnt be able to achieve perma swiftness so easily. they gotta give up some tank, or something.

Well I will give you a somewhat counter argument but the thing that always has to be remembered is that mobility is not dps it doesn’t win fight it helps you survive them. That being said…..

mobility absolutely can win fights (i.e. if youre about to die, you jump out, heal up, come back and rez a teammate), and it absolutely wins matches. there’s an obvious imbalance here, especially when it comes to mix maxing for tpvp, leading to teams just picking the fastest roamers to complement the bunkers.

Rezing a teammate and mobility do not go hand in hand (think about it). Notice the list of weaknesses I spell out after your quote. The funniest thing is the classes you can make highly mobile builds on are engineer, guardian, thief, warrior, ele, and mesmer. 6 out of 8 not bad. Fact is instead of screaming for nerfs ask for a counter because there are so many.

nerva.7940:

thieves are completely out of control, and eles shouldnt be able to achieve perma swiftness so easily. they gotta give up some tank, or something.

Well I will give you a somewhat counter argument but the thing that always has to be remembered is that mobility is not dps it doesn’t win fight it helps you survive them. That being said…..

Perma-swiftness while being a relatively easy skill combo requires you to spec a very specific way and to burn cool downs needed for dps. If you choose to run that what your weighing CD that might save your life or win a fight. You don’t get both. Our skills are also on long Cooldown so this does require some though.

The thing that has to be pointed out is that Perma-swiftness is not mobility if that were the case may rifle warrior would be my best toon for running away. Mobility comes from skills and that’s about it. If your smart you’ll realize D/D mobility can be destroyed by immobilize. funny thing is we say it all the time. We know the class best. If you save you immobilize for right after water you likely have us.

Tank is tanky. Its going to take hits. And its also going to run away and its not going to one shot you. We lose a lot of dps across the board. The reason most don’t notice is that they run glass builds closing that gap. That’s no ones fault. Balanced vs balanced = long fights period mobile or not.

For necros you really only need 2 skills and you pretty much have a decent counter http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Spectral_Grasp and http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Dark_Pact due to the number of conditions you have access to speced for it or not you burn DD cleanses. Making using these 2 skills toward the end of a fight amazing for you.

For more info https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/elementalist/How-do-you-counter-D-D-elementalist/page/2#post890625

Basically though many of you haven’t realized its already balanced.

Some general notes

Cantrips http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Cantrip break stun however they don’t remove immobilize the only one that does is http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Cleansing_Fire (they also have long cds across the board) . Many ele including myself run build where we cleanse a condition on attunement to water http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Cleansing_Wave_ (also note its only one). If you wait for us to shift out of water your immobilize will be more effective. While in water we have access to http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Cleansing_Wave however it has a long cd. If you watch for the animation (hand up in the air water particle effect looks kind of like a splash) and time it you can pop all types of conditions. Another thing to note is that the CL for evasive arcana is unusable while immobilized.

I honestly only sort of hope this helps I still play ele.

Lumines.3916:

Yes shatter mesmers are one of the strongest specs in the game right now and a tough match up for a lot of builds (I’d say pretty kitten OP!), but they’re still vulnerable to smart play. Try playing one yourself, I main a Guardian bunker in tPvP, but my off role is a shatter mesmer. Because I know the class inside out, I also have an easier time against them.

The thing about shatter mesmers is that like 100b warriors, their burst sequence is extremely predictable. It always starts with duelist, dodge roll for another clone, illusionary leap > swap to blurred frenzy + mindwrack. That is because for optimum burst conditions, they need 3 illusions out and most likely will spend their time on staff pressuring and waiting for sword/pistol cool downs when not bursting.

A lot of times in tournaments, shatter mesmers play like semi-roamers and thus join a fight that has already initiated. A lot of them to make room for portals do not run a single condition removal.

TLDR: Pop your invul/OH kitten when the mesmer swaps onto you. Dodging the illusions running at you to mindwrack will also greatly reduce their burst.

Last note: if you front load all your cool downs, you WILL lose (I’m looking at you pistol whip thieves and 100b warriors), Mesmers have the shortest cds on stun breaks and what not (kitten distortion), if they have any of that up to negate your kill combo with, you’re boned. The only way to reliably harm the mesmer is to bait out its CDs and THEN go for the kill. THIEVES don’t burn all your initiative on their distortion!

Thank you this is pretty much what I was wondering. I had noticed the short cd stun breaks so I wondered if there was even a counter.

For the record I am actually aware that DD ele is good vs just about anything (I have never played bunker so I don’t know about it and I have no glass cannons so dont know much about that either (PVT balanced build)). I also realize mesmer duels will be close. Much like I said in an earlier post its just theory crafting folks not ele vs mesmer. I have no intention of changing the way I play.

Thank you for the responses but instead of worrying about the class I play I was actually wondering if there was a hard counter for mesmer 1v1.

Edit:

Just play a thief, you are unbeatable in pretty much every fight.*

*Note I didn’t say you would win, just that you’re unbeatable. A good thief pretty much never dies. You may not kill your opponent but you don’t lose either. Very few classes have the ability to stop a thief from escaping a fight.

Actually lol D/D ele is somewhat the same in that regard. While stealth is the strongest way to get out of a fight I would argue that I play the most mobile build in the game. So I actually understand that idea. In an earlier thread in the ele forums this was discussed. I actually argue that fights between D/D ele, mesmer, and any thief build other than pure burst BS would if at any point one person wished to end in a draw.

If you wouldn’t mind elaborating lol. I can understand the answer is out there. However it doesn’t seem that simple. As X class beats mesmer consistently. There are few hard counters and the elusiveness f the responses might be because of the general nature of the question (that’s my fault).

Outside of mantra support I cant think of or have seen a hard counter for daze, shatter (mind wrack), or confusion builds. I am not so much in search for an answer for my main (D/D ele) but one in general.

Edit:
BTW I don’t actually think mesmers are OP much like thieves the offset is the limited utility in pve and the general lack of strong AoE. Not so much a QQ and since I don’t plan to change my build this is more of a quandary overall.

Legit question not going to kitten and moan about how OP the class is just wondering if its even possible?

Got to agree its way better than the zergfest and is much closer to tournament play.

Went into spvp random on my P/D thief and I ended up in match with 4 ele all seemed to be D/D. I didn’t lose to any of them but I didn’t win either. Despite knowing the class well and taking little dps. The funny thing is you can always get an ele to run. Range will trump D/D ele if you know what your doing. If all you want to do is get them to move/run than that should be simple enough.

Ill tell you a few things. First ele is far from easy to play its get natural but kitten compared to what other classes have to do to pull off a combo we are placed in a game of keyboard piano. So no I feel 0 guilt that for that much effort we get a kitten ton of mobility. Don’t forget we have no stealth and we have cds so skills aren’t always available we are forced to juggle vs switch to shortbow 5 5 5 stealth. That being said unless the ele is full bunker. Stopping mobility is key.

For burst D/D thieves I could care less. I’ll break it to yah easy 1 v1 (vs a good ele) you wont win. For anyone running anything with staying power shortbow and kite for D/D Ele. For staff and S/D just stay of of the major fire dps since the aoes are slow you can dodge/walk out of them.

The key thing to remember is to shoot for a tie. A good D/D ele in spvp will not go down. Removing buffs wont do kitten. Half of us carry cantrips in the right side bar including a port. Your only chance is immobilize for a win. Seriously your only chance is immobilize. Thieves listen not stun venom etc immobilize.

Don’t take my word for it here’s a link https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/elementalist/How-do-you-counter-D-D-elementalist/first#post867930

Some classes are forced to use the mechanic. In fact let me break it down

Guardians – Use it if you like but passively its always there sort of like a forever buff

Warriors – really its just another attack and there are bonuses for never using it if you trait that way.

Necromancers – Defensive tool to its core but not necessarily something you have to use (mm should understand this)

Mesmer – doesn’t have to use it but shatter is so good however there is nothing that forces you into it as you can spec away from using F1-F4

Engineer – the tool belt is full of just that tools. There is no reason not to use them.

Thief – Is not forced to stealth but it is balanced around being able to.

Ele – Can survive in 2 attune ments but honestly you are forced to as the class is balanced around swapping. Not swapping for most will likely equal swift defeat however you could sit with a staff in water all day long

Mesmer again – clones are required because not using clones is basically impossible and they account for too much of the dps of the class.

Which brings me to

Ranger – pets at the end of the day are a chunk of dps. Like attunements they require you to micro manage and like clones you depend on them for dps despite their kitteny AI.

Asking for a ranger without the pet is akin for an ele asking for a build with no swap or a mesmer saying they want a clone-less build. Its just not practical. The class is built as a pet class, the pet class. If you just want to be an archer warrior with a longbow or thief with a shortbow is what awaits you.

Sigh

Here’s the simple truth if you know what your doing you never need to cast an actual heal with SoR. The last time I used my healing skill on ele was like a month ago. SoR plus water makes up the gaps. I have no written in stone no signet reduction and only 816 in healing. Learn to kite and never look back. Kiting no matter the class will make passive healing look insane.

Honestly I asked this question like a week ago https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/Best-pet-when-attacking-a-moving-target/first#post857719

A few things I have noticed. Canines are by far the best at staying on target even when moving due to knock down, cripple, and fast attack animations across the board.

F2 abilities depending on which one you use are really aided by clearing the attack que bar for your pet ie F3 then F2. On swap the bar clears and if your traited you have quickness up for you and your pet hit f2 and you’ll likely see the cast cut from 5 to 1 second.

Last I checked short bow was already nerfed. Afaik this is like any argument that one thing must be nerfed so the other is balanced and that strictly wrong. Pets are UP not in damage but ai and animations. There is no reason to lower one thing in favor of the other the ai should be working properly and it is not. There is no trade off necessary here. They should fix the pets period.

TxJBxT.9370:

Alright. Anyone have a lvling build? I’m lvl 12.

Crafting. Seriously crafting.

Not in this game but I once named a pet =^_^=

Threat mechanics vary but there are some rules of thumb. This (http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Aggro) might be a good read for you.

I honestly don’t think you’re missing a thing. Ranger is like many classes bottle-necked at the moment. So many traits don’t work and some builds have next to 0 synergy with others so trait swapping isn’t always practical. Imho your best bet is to figure out what you want to do first. Then find a weapon set that provides you what you need (mobility blocking dps etc), and then the pet.

Theoretically with pet management ranger should be more work than others classes but not necessarily more versatile. The pets are a gift if you like them and a curse if not. You are forced into the mechanic in a sense. While you can function without the pet you wont be any better than a warrior with a bow at range. So there is something completely limited about ranger.

Heres the good news. Since you dont know anythng yet you might aswell theory craft using a builder (http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#mco) read others builds and take your ranger to spvp or something to test the builds.

First thing I did was find an acceptable build. Then I chose a pet I liked (birds) then I tried each weapon set out. And after I did all that and played the class a bit I threw it all out and did it again. Went from GS to Sword Warhorn, from birds to canines and reworked the build I found to suite me.

In the long run no one can tell you how or what to play. If you crafted just take it out and try it. For all you know you may hate ranger and it may take time to like it. Its just like that no matter what build someone gives you pets traits weapons whatever it doesn’t matter you need to go out and play the class. That’s about it. GL to yah hope you join the ranks.

One more note my mains an ele. Comparing ele to any class in complexity and versatility ele will win out (we cover too many roles usually). However to play ranger effectively requires me to press one more button than ele lol.

CENSOR.6081:

The Elementalist just sent me into a paradox really. Asking myself whether it’s my skill causing these rotations of damage, control, defence, and healing. Or, am I just ludicrously OP bashing my head against everything off cool-down. And yet, their Forum’s asking for buffs because some of them have lost a 1v4~

Not trolling I play ranger too (73 atm if that matters). Ele is my main and honestly you must have just glanced at our forums because we ask questions like that too (https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/elementalist/How-do-you-counter-D-D-elementalist/first#post850000). I am going to take a guess and say the ele you have been fighting are D/D?

Now the best way to counter D/D is immobilize however you have to understand most D/D (ele in general actually) run with 2-3 stun breakers and have at least 2 condition wipes. So when I say immobilize I don’t mean stun I mean root. Our bane is rifle warrior with the immobilize on snare trait. The good thing is ele is not great at hold tanking g so mobility is key. If you can eliminate that you might win.

Here the thing to note. A good ele can and will run whenever they please. So time your immobile. The other thing is many eles run a rotation so you could possibly catch on to it and see when rtl is on cd.

For rangers dogs are your best shot. Drakehound’s immobilize could be a key in victory. The other thing is kd off dogs eats thought cantrips. Hope it helps umm sort of.

Finally got around to testing and I concur with Dahkeus canines are best at it. The snare is one thing but all the animations are short. Moa with the exception of that vul screech and cats come in right behind. However, canines are way far ahead. Shockingly enough birds seemed the worst.

Since sPvP and PvE are so far apart I am not exactly sure how your play style factors in to leveling. Since you have 2 40s and a 20 you likely have a feel for leveling so if none of those is motivating you then you still have 3 options.

Engineer is the closest class to us with kits etc but you likely wont play it the same as ele. Warrior is pretty straight forward and almost all weapon combos are fine for leveling. Ranger (my main alt) is pretty much broken. Whats funny is that in that brokenness is where i find the challenge. Pets not being able to dodge aoe forces the player into pet micro management which for me is half the fun since it requires more effort over all than ele to play well. However you could just pew pew and then it would be about the same as all the others.

Perhaps solving the main issue is a better solution. If your girl friend is lagging behind than you have a couple of options actually. You can have her catch up using crafting. Or you could give her exp boost as you level without them including food (which only marginally helps).

In the long run its up to you. Since you like sPvP just take each class in there and get a feel for them.

S/D and staff can be amazing in the right hands so can S/F. The real issue is many lost EA abandoned staff ran to D/D and said this is the only solution. While I advocate EA gaining back some of its lost steam it by no means dictates that a few nerfs made D/D the only viable option. Its just a little more attractive now. D/D has its short comings optimal word being “short”. Our range is atrocious and on many fight you will feel forced to use range.

Staff over all with the right party is still more useful. Any class that can drop a waterfield (like ranger 15 seconds) can literally make a party nigh unbeatable using the right combos.

Electro.4173:

Sifter.9716:

Srsly people,
Am I blind or stupid? I dont see any dramatic changes done to staff in this patch notes:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/info/news/Game-Update-Notes-November-15-2012

Only tooltip fixes (if we dont count RTL and magnetic grasp).
Im not playing staff ele nor active pve. So I dont get that staff nerf.
Please enlighten me in case of staff nerf.

The nerf wasn’t to staff directly, but to the Grandmaster trait Evasive Arcana. EA used to provide a Blast finisher every time you dodged (in addition to the normal elemental spell left behind). Staff users in particular could use Evasive Arcana dodging to repeatedly Blast in either water or fire fields to stack AoE healing or might. Now the only Blast finishers on Staff are Eruption (which has such a high cast time that its only usable as a finisher if you drop it first or use a longer field like Healing Rain) or Arcane Blast.

Personally, I’m of the opinion that a free finisher on every dodge was broken anyway, so I think the nerf was a good thing. But I think a lot of the outrage is over the fact that people were relying on those finishers to “make up” for being otherwise unimpressive. A lot of people viewed Evasive Arcana as their one real advantage, so taking it away (even if they might acknowledge it was OP) without giving anything positive hurts.

As for me… my Elementalist is only level 34, so I never got to play with EA anyway. And I play D/D so I probably wouldn’t have relied on it too much anyway. Didn’t change anything for me personally.

The blast every finisher was too much. That being said since you dont play ele that much let me enlighten you to the main issue. Many expected and hope ea would be nerfed. Many were using every dodge for a blast finisher. So it went like this vigor field dodge 3 times and stack might or healing. No attunement swap necessary. Many ele complained its was a broken tactic and that EA should only provide blast on the internal timer (10 seconds).

The real problem stems from EA being a blast finisher from the start and removing that role entirely this late in. Many players created playstyles around this skill. Once it was changed those styles were gone. Overall this makes staff an inferior weapon compared to D/D or S/D. Hilariously this is actually a nerf to healing (which was also nerfed in that patch in many ways). While it might not be a big deal to you and honestly barely bothered my build but it was to the community at large. I showed a big disconnect between Anet and our community.