Guild Wars 2

In my opinion,

Elementalist are not underpowered. Yes you have to try harder, but some people actually enjoy the challenge (like me=P). If you like mashing 1 button to victory, then this is not the class for you, simple as that. Yes, some elementalists can be considered overpowered due to the sheer nature of the class, as massive versatility and utility leads to more effective options that are harder to counter for all other classes.

As to the state of elementalists, there are some flaws concerning the class:

no fall damage trait
pigeonholed into 20 or 30 arcana
lack of variability in traits and builds
mediocre underwater damage
buggy skills and traits (you should be fixing these first>_>)
no out of combat swapping, or in combat weapon swapping with global cooldown on all skills (seriously, running out of combat to swap weapons is tedious especially with staff and 2 daggers)
a lot of useless utility skills that I would never even use

november 15 nerfs that actually simplified the class (all classes in my opinion should be getting more complex to reward better players, considering the original model GW2 followed was that the gameplay was simple for enough for anyone to pick up, but complex to master for even the best of players. You don’t get into competetive e-sports by making a class more simpler to play over time [plus all the poor balancing…..especially the november 15th one concerning other classes])

There’s probably more in this list, but I don’t remember the rest

signet of restoration is actually one of the best heals as an elementalist. You just need to learn to stack vigor properly, and attunement swap properly. I usually dodge roll 4/5ths of the way through with my spells, in order to reduce my total effective cast times and put out more spells per given time frame.

Also try learning to use spells while running away. I still have trouble doing this properly, as this requires you to cancel all targets and auto attack nothing while running. Swap attunements at the beginning of channeling spells, and learn to use evasive arcana to its maximal effect.

@Marz

Nope no idea who that is

@lleyst
2sup rune of water, 2 sup rune monk, 2 major rune water

Here’s a video of all my epic tornado compilations =P

You guys are really fun to play against
(last weeks matchups were really boring for FA>_>)

sincerely,
that one elementalist from FA in the midst of TC and YB battles =P

Walk out of the boss fight and swap weapons =P

@Kronen
Still the same setup is fine for wv3 and spvp. For sPvP, I might change all the boon gear
to divinity’s runes.

Notes: Added a really long wall of text for earth (had to cut off some parts cause it didnt fit in)

Newest videos E.4 and E.5

@Oatsan
:]
@Empresso
Walk out of the boss fight and swap weapons =P

@Kronen
Still the same setup is fine for wv3 and spvp. For sPvP, I might change all the boon gear
to divinity’s runes.

Notes: Added a really long wall of text for earth (had to cut off some parts cause it didnt fit in)

Newest videos E.4 and E.5

@Nvmvoidrays

I run mango pies and master tuners
tornado is more or less useless now, unless you intend to knock off alot of people
(I’ve knocked off 13 people with it and killed 8 within one duration of tornado – will upload that video later)
Cleansing fire is great b/c it removes alot of conditions and has a low CD.

@lord
lots of practice =P

@Raikkonen
everything except eliminating evasive arcana to nothing is justified. They should’ve just reduced its effects as a blast finisher.

@everyone
Yes evasive arcana no longer gives blast finishers for stacking might

@nvmvoidrays

AC dungeon armor for PVT gear

@plague
I put a update for people leveling in guide

pre-nerf video I uploaded awhile ago

and

an update for an alternative build

@Brainz
The leap finisher from magnetic grasp from what I’ve read on forums is still the same, but the aura generated from fire 4+earth 3 is no longer considered by zephyr’s boon. I’m not relaly sure whether the issues concerning magnetic grasps / dragon’s tooth are actually bugs, or just hidden stealth nerfs.

@ReQuiem /Kuthos
Not really sure how viable this build is now for sPvP (healing ripple reduced to 50% in sPvP is a really big slap in the face for any elementalist). It’s still perfectly fine for Wv3 and PvE, and just a tad bit weaker due to Evasive arcana blast nerfs (meaning less might). I’ll probably work up some other variation to this build later, but evasive arcana is still useful for its dodge roll under water attunement (which helps out survivability)

@Wal
If you do this you have less survivability, but more DPS. All up to you =P

@Zahrim
Stat priority is in defensive stats (mostly toughness + heal power) and a decent amount of vitality (b/w 15 to 20k HP). Offense stats are mostly in power and condition damage.

@Anacrusis
Thats actually a pretty good idea, water 5 is kind of inferior to water 11 anyways. Ether renewal did get buffed to total cast time from 4.75 to 3.5seconds, but I’m not sure if this maintains the same number of extra condition removals as it had previously

Incase anyone wants to know how I feel about the update:

Evasive arcana nerf kills all the fun of playing an elementalist. It brought about a means of rewarding advanced positioning and planning skills, but now the removal of EA has dumbed down the overall skill level for any elementalist, whether staff , d/d, s/d, etc. Anet should focus on making a better input / reward incentive, and this update completely contradicts what playing an elementalist is all about. While I agree that EA was slightly over powered, it should have been nerfed to a 10second CD, or possibly have a reduced effect in conjunction with combination fields. I find it kind of stupid that the mechanic itself was removed, it sets a poor precedent of where this game is heading in the future.

In sPvP, elementalists now seem to be much weaker. The decrease in boon duration for gear, nerf to EA, and nerf to healing ripple hurts the elementalist greatly. There weren’t many viable builds to run in sPvP besides a bunker setup, be it staff or d/d. Staff elementalists were nerf to oblivion, so that only further kitten the input/reward incentive, and discourages teamplay synergy coming from an elementalist.

Anet did have a focus at the beginning of the game to make all classes fairly simply to play, while rewarding advanced players with tactics that gave players an advantage. I feel like the update completely contradicts this notion.

Not sure why they buffed conjured weapon skills, there almost never going to be viable in sPvP besides Icebow regardless of how much you buff it

I haven’t really had much time to play this week either, so thats why I haven’t really responded to posts

@rTeku

I’ll wrote one maybe after my d/d guide =P

@Otaur
I use it predominantly in sPvP matches. Its actually more like 300 Z units upward (I think I may have overestimated units earlier), or basically the height distance of a very large norn. . You can use earth 1,2,4,5 to hit enemies on the the small raised platform in graveyard on legacy of foefire from ground level. You can also hit enemies on the 2 raised platforms from the pathways to svnair / chieftains from capture point at keep. You could also hit enemies from the capture point at dock to the raised platform coming from the red base in Raid of the capricorn. I haven’t had time to check out the new map though.

@Plague
I’ll try and make a guide when I got time, just I got so much stuff to do in rl :S

@zzled / quidnunc /ljaphillips
:D glad you learned something

@Superkav
Try using clerics amulet with a soldiers gem. I find it to be optimal in terms of survivability, and it has made a pretty big difference.

@PlagueParade
Your right. This guide assumes you have some knowledge about what an elementalist is, and how its played. I know that some people struggle playing as an elementalist, and I find that the key to becoming better is to test out the elementalist with different weapon setups and see what works for you from level 1-80. Make sure to constantly upgrade your armor from auction house and your weapons, by buying blue/green/gold gear. Green / blue gear is dirt cheap, and can be bought, used, and sold at nearly the same buying price at auction house too so you don’t lose any money.

Here’s my short sweet version to your answer:
Traitwise,
I find zephyr’s boon (10 air) to be really useful for d/d players early on. It provides the ability to maintain perma swiftness so you can have a much faster gaming pace.

I would recommend aiming for 15 water for healing ripple followed by maximizing arcana straight after, using some of the traits used in my build setup

Also learn to kite and heal; battles are won by outlasting the enemy in terms of survivability. Learn to strafe away from enemies while attacking as much as possible.

@Soraky
Thanks for your input =S. Didn’t realize you had said a lot of things I had just thought of and wrote down lol

@Crunchy gremmin
Fast targeting is not good in my opinion. While you may pull off a spell perhaps .1 seconds faster, you are introducing a very high probability of missing your spell because you misjudged the distance of your AoE circle (its hard to tell where the circle will be on your mouse pointer at different camera angles / slopes / against walls)

I did recall that some top PvP players said to avoid using fast targeting because of this. Its better to learn to increase your actions per minute (APM) and nail that spell perfectly and flawlessly in a short frame of time then possibly risk messing it up.

As to your question to typing while fighting, playing an elementalist tends to give you alot of versatility and leeway even in the heat of battle. Sometimes I’ll have a conversation going on while casting churning earth b/c I don’t need to pan my camera, or talk to someone once I hit a corner and autorun. It just comes down to instincts and playing too many video games :S

@Strodor
I noticed a big difference in survivability

@Katniss
Evasive arcana is considered a blast finisher, but don’t get used to it cause it was probably never meant to be this way.

Here’s my newest video
enjoy

threw in some edits on air weapon skills. Sorry I don’t have time to respond to posts this week. I did mention powerful aura in water trait 12 in skill section

@mindless
thanks for the input:D

@eleazy
There probably going nerf elementalists in some way

@Kratos
Thanks

@Dedalus
I find survivability to be more important. Toughness and healing power are really important stats to have in terms of sustainbility.

@semprena
It all depends on the situation. In a 1v1 or small combat situation, a D/D elementalist will outperform a S/D elementalist. If going in melee range is just a really bad option, than a S/D would be great.

S/D suffers in the fact that abilities are extremely easy to dodge. Air is great for long range DPS, but its not as useful at close range distances against a melee attacker. S/D users will have a harder time killing thieves who stealth though, since D/D’s PbAoE is one the strongest counters to stealth.

S/D does have the higher damage burst, but in terms of sustainable overall DPS a D/D elementalist is much better in my opinion.

@Drunk
I did some tournys today, and I run 2 sup rune of water, 2 sup. rune of monk, and 2 sup rune of divinity. The great thing about using this setup is that its versatile. I can play a bunker point elementalist, roamer, anti bunker, treb destroyer, and practically any role that I can think of.

I usually use multiple weapons during a battle, and swap skills during battle (not in combat). I also swap amulets depending on the situation too. Sometimes I need more DPS over healing in a 1v1 cap point situation, or I need more defense while holding off2 people from capping. Sometimes I might need a mixture of both – since I’m not getting targeted heavily while at the same time I need lots of DPS.

I use a total of 3 daggers, 1 focus, 1 scepter, 1 staff, and 4 or 5 amulets in competetive PvP.

@Whimsical
Thats why I chose those runes xD

@undermine

sorry I had assumed you were talking about me. In the last wvwvw matchup, I got accused of hacking alot on the thread and in game

@Regrets

I don’t know which bugs you refer to in how I play

@Tijo

Its not easy to defend a “botting/hacking” argument without bringing up how I play.

@Regrets

Your argument follows the logic of banning all WvW CnD thieves for exploting the perma stealthing and latency effects from stealthing. You might as well ban all the top ranked PvP players as well, I’m sure they “exploit” too according to your logic.

@undermine

I dont run any 3rd party programs, besides my video recording software. I don’t hack. Having a macro makes it much more harder to play since theres thousands of combinations of skills used specifically for each situation. By having a specific macro, you will put yourself at a big disadvantage because those macros you talked about require a set of skills to be used. Skills have varying cooldowns, which defeats the point of a macro to be used consistently

I don’t think you did enough research on the d/d elementalist. There is lots of information that I did not put in my guide, and an elmentalist is by far the most complicated class out there. I could write a 10 page guide and still not finish completely cover all the tactics and game mechanics that I utilize. All of them are legit, such as utilizing terrain in methods that most people don’t think of (no glitching here), psychological effects and taunting, blindsighting enemies specifically using only positioning, ambush tactics, specific skill combinations, underwater/land techniques, auto rallying, etc. I could go on with this list if I wanted too. You could try as hard as you want to think that I supposedly “hack”, but it all comes down to raw skill, advanced tactics, and build setup. It takes a lot of effort to memorize CDs, rotations, devising strategies on the spot, utilizing specific combination of skills for each situation, utilizing terrain to its maximal effect, knowing exactly where each enemy is and their predicted movement projection, predicting when and where the enemy will gank you, reading enemies and predict their next move, weapon swapping and skill swapping before intiating, constantly checking for the conditions you have on you, when your boon duration is ending, when to dodge and when not to, exactly how much HP you have, when to not pop your cd skills and when to, devising ambush tactics and juking techniques on the go, when to give up the fight and find a neutral to rally on, etc. I could go on here but I’ll stop here. Factor in all this consistently while fighting several enemies at once and realize that not all situations are the same, and 1 fatal error will get you killed. It took me a very long time to come up with some of these techniques and use them efficiently.

To your argument about the damage you are doing on illusionary repotse. I don’t think you ever considered weakness or criticals as an argument, or toughness /armor for that matter. Warriors have may have inherently high amounts of toughness and HP, but most of them are geared toward DPS as opposed to defense. It all depends on the build setup that you are utilizing. You may have gotten a critical on a low toughness warrior, and got a glancing blow from weakness on a high toughness (w/ protection) elementalist. As to your argument on crippling the elementalist, an elementalist can simply remove conditions instantaneously by using cantrips or swapping to water attunement.

To your argument on fighting on open ground and not being able to kill an elementalist, you did not factor in the movement displacers an elementalist possesses, nor positioning techniques. Positioning by itself is already a very strong tactic to mitigate damage, as it confuses enemies and puts them out of their line of sight, meaning they cannot attack.

I hope this answers your concerns.

sorry about your cow loss and your fully upgraded camp xD

They actually are hitting really hard, I’m just doing so much CC’ing , juking, dodging, and blocking that I actually mitigate most of my damage on me

just an epic old video I had when we fought yaks bend

Here’s another video

@Bufferfish

I am using that guide to make my guide =P. There’s just not that much information though comparatively to what I know

@Curring
I don’t have a team assembled for paid tournies. If I had a good team I can make better commentary videos. I could just do random PUGS in sPvP, but its just not fun playing against easy people

@Gothir
I have thought about the +precision per kill but didn’t go through with it. Precision bonuses is actually useful when you already are gaining lots of power + condition damage through might anyways. I haven’t had time to figure out whether +precision or + condition damage is better, I just went with condition damage

@Rhoto
Ihaven’t played any tournies recently. I do very well in tournies actually, but the thing that brings me down is I don’t have a good team most of the time and elementalists in higher tiered sPvP are geared more toward teamwork as opposed to solo gameplay styles
—
@ everyone else. I’m going to only answer direct questions now since writing this and replying to everyone takes ages.

—
I don’t think the 30 replies / posts I made for reserving the thread is actually enough for me to post everything I know thats relevant. I might have to put all this info somewhere else in the future (like a website I might make later).

I stuck some stuff up on basic fire/ water abilities

I’m not familiar with how sPvP works that well (tournaments, rankings, etc)

I want to go competitive but I don’t have a good team to work with. What are your suggestions to that? :P

Can you upload some videos so that I can learn off your mad skillz? =P

I’ll probably throw in some updates to this guide this week, and maybe upload another video.

Here’s my most recent video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQ-c0wK13Ww

@Tg Slasher

I’m not entirely sure what you mean. Do you mean the passive effects on SoR are stacking (double passive effect healing for 5 seconds?).

@Mobott
You actually don’t need GoEH for perma swiftness. The extra 40% boon duration from runes allows you to stack perma swiftness indefnitely with the zephyr’s boon trait. Swapping to air attunement, using air3, and water4 are all the skills you need to maintain permanenet swiftness. You could also use air 5 as well, but I tend to reserve that incase I really need to use it.

I usually prepare my boons before a large battle starts, using GoEH to further boost my total duration on swiftness. Right before the battle starts, I swap to SoR and build boons on neutral mobs.

@Wildclaw

Yea the great part about arcana and water is that your CD recharge time is lower, and you can swap attunements faster (which means more buffs to allies). Also another thing to note is that all boon duration effects that you have are transferred over to your allies as well. So having boon duration runes not only benefits you, but your entire team.

@TheGuy
I only use it when running (SoR)

@Ndran
Casting the signet of restoration puts you at a disadv if you use it since you lose the passive healing effect

@Hagnefelt
Np :P. As for your rune question, the 2 major runes of water can be replaced by divnities, since those runes are not as good as the superior runes of monk / water.

No don’t replace those runes. Get a new set of AC armor and keep those pieces for an alternative backup armor set:] (afterall divinity’s runes are expensive)

@Gothir
That was what I thought too when swapping to this setup

@Ndran
Its 25 seconds approximately b/c I primarily use tornado in WvWvW. I use it for shoving people off to their doom (instagibs are always nice), stopping enemies from resurrecting, and for the stability reasons. Most of the time I just cancel it after I use it.

@Gothir
I usually maintain 16-25 stacks in battle all the time

@Verdican
Cleansing wave allows you to remove one condition on you after swapping to water attunement. Cleansing water removes another since your getting regeneration upon going to water attunement. With both traits on, you remove 2 conditions upon swapping to water attunement. Its more focused on keeping yourself alive then worrying about teammates.

@Wildclaw
Yes your math is right. I don’t use values for referencing, because comparing offensive stats to defensive stats doesn’t make much sense to me

@Bleeds/Pridecry
I don’t get AC armor for looks, just for stats. Thats what fine transmutating stones are for =P. I dunno what HotW armor looks like, but finding a group for that is generally harder and the runs are generally longer as well.

@Nvmvoidrays
Yeah, AC armor actually comes with 6 Superior runes of the monk already for the full set of armor embedded into it.

@nilgoow
I primarily focus on defense since I get most of my offensive stats from might, fury, and +10 condition damage per kill weapon. Sometimes my condition damage is as high as 1100 and my power up to 2700, with that nice tanky shell to boot with it.
I consider defense to be much more important than offense, because a dead elementalist is a useless elementalist.

@aurum
I use the same traits across everything , PvE, WvWvW, sPvP.

@mars Hill
I could cover some S/D later I am quite familiar with s/d too. I just was never a fan of it since its so easy to dodge and counter / isn’t as versatile as d/d

@Malykk
thanks :P

@The demonic spirit
I’ve seen that build floating around before, the only downside I see from it is no evasive arcana (which is the best trait for eles imo) and no air traits either (so no perma swiftness). It looks more tanky and less mobile though, with a drawback of less healing too and less DPS as well (no 2% dmg per boon trait)

@TimeBomb
I had originally assumed d/f was useless since nobody ever talks about it, but after using it a little bit more I can conclude the following:

D/F is more focused on melee ranged abilities, and the focus puts more emphasis no defense than mobility when compared to D/D. It doesn’t have as many gap closers as D/D, so it does have a pretty big drawback when fighting against opponents that kite heavily. Since the mobility is much lower than D/D, D/F users would be forced to fight losing battles should they be in that situation and cannot retreat as easily.

S/F is more so for teamplay reasons

@Superkav

Signet of restoration is chosen over glyph of elemental harmony because it grants passive healing which allows for a more sustained combat situation.

It may seem mediocre at first, but signet of restoration actually procs on several things you may not have known:

1 spell = 1 dodge
1 spell = 1 evasive arcana spell
1 spell = 1 attunement swap

You can see where this is going. I constantly swap attunements in battle, and utilize almost every evasive arcana spell on CD recharge (not so much air though) and I dodge quite frequently with vigor on. That adds up to alot of passive healing.

I only actually cast signet of restoration when I’m down to 1-5k HP and need to run away.

@Rawkfist
Ether renewal does heal much more compartively per given time frame to all other healing abilities that an elementalist has, but the only drawback to it is that its a channeling ability. Channeling abilities are interuptable by knockdowns, stuns, etc. When your fighting several enemies at once, you will be CC’d alot. Having your heal disrupted can get you killed very easily. Signet of restoration on the other hand, is a passive heal with an emergency active heal. I don’t have to waste time casting heal abilities when I can just constantly bash my enemy to death while healing.

While the condition removal from ether removal is pretty godly, you already have loads of ways to remove conditions. A D/D elementalist already has the most means of removing conditions of any class already out there.

@Mik
Thanks :P

@Nvmvoidrays
I have looked into that “written in stone” which lets you use your passive signet effects even while the signet is on cooldown. The greatest potential from this skill is for signet of restoration. You get a passive healing on all spells with a 25second CD hard healing ability to boot on top of that.

However, the only drawback with this is that this trait requires you to invest 30 earth. This means you have to sacrifice some healing/condition removal from the water trait line, healing from evasive arcana, or perma swiftness from the air trait line. None of those are really worth giving up for this trait in my opinion, as the price for this trait is too high.

“Written in stone” is best used for a less mobile ranged build such as Scepter/dagger, staff, and S/F. the Passive 25 earth trait gives you an incentive not to dodge in order to get an additional 10% overall damage.

The other drawback to “written in stone” is that you have to sacrifice a cantrip utility for an additional signet to maximize this trait’s effect. Cantrips are pretty godly in my opinion as they remove a condition upon cast and grant regeneration using the water traits I posted in the build. There not worth giving up =P

@XodoK
Glad you like d/d =P

@aurum
yes

@bleeds
leveling is a pain >_>

I made a new video, and will probably follow this format in the future videos I make. I’ll upload some with commentary (for you learning players out there) and some with music (cause no one wants to listen to elementalist commentary if they haven’t played one)

@reQuiem

Yes your idea was good =P

@Srebrna
Healing power is definitely useful from what I’ve seen. I haven’t done any calculations yet

@Minoru
My toughness at the moment is approximately 1600. The boon duration i get from the runes is extremely useful for both survival (increased regeneration and protection) and DPS (longer stacks of might)

@Wildclaw
Thanks for the analysis =P. Actually I didn’t think about swapping amulets in gear in sPvP, thats a great idea!

@XoDoK
Were you in video 2 or 1?: S

@DivineBeing
Yea my bad i didn’t update my build recently.

@Bleeds
glad your having fun =p

@chandelier
Well if you get bored trying using different weapon combinations. Staff, S/D, D/D, S/F, D/F, etc and familiarize yourself with them.

As for traits and gear, get the 10 air trait as soon as possible. The next traits should go to a mix of arcana / water.

Also buy your gear from auction house. you can get free armor there by simplying buying blue colored gear then reselling it at a merchant when your done using it.

I’m making a new guide at the moment:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/elementalist/Guide-Mastering-the-D-D-elementalist-11-6-12/first#post656535

I might make a website too, once I get it up and running then make other guides.
Also don’t forget to check out my latest video

USEFUL LINKS ABOUT IN DEPTH GAME MECHANICS

Useful links:
Stat optimization threads from reddit / indepth game mechanics from super smart people :P

http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/12dmi5/tip_stat_optimization_with_crit_damage/

http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/136aa7/pve_gear_calculatorefficiency_optimizer/

http://www.tashadarke.co.uk/2012/10/attributes-and-equipment-in-guild-wars-2/

https://dviw3bl0enbyw.cloudfront.net/uploads/forum_attachment/file/20628/sheet.PNG

Feel free to comment whatever you want

My Videos

epic WvWvW w/ epic music =P
Episode 1 to latest videos made from top to bottom (episode 7,8, and 9 are my fav)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQ-c0wK13Ww&feature=plcp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzBn32Fqm9w&feature=plcp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5LPuQdiMCE&feature=plcp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXz5nVpS3Ds&feature=plcp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UY3vwYuoceY&feature=plcp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suBOJ9f2R2E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2_GXr9o-Us&list=PLttydQxkm4qudK4xJT3_UvJ0ekkwq5lIH
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeZODCzAPgw&list=PLttydQxkm4qudK4xJT3_UvJ0ekkwq5lIH
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdJeibf3e60&list=PLttydQxkm4qudK4xJT3_UvJ0ekkwq5lIH

sPvP / tPvP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEEkv8KmkTs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s08bmVKG_DU

WvWvW commentary
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wettu6MqNI&feature=plcp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBP4_ZzunaU&feature=plcp

Older videos (some of these techniques used in video were nerfed)
http://www.youtube.com/my_videos_edit?ns=1&video_id=o_DE7AZrTj8
(highlights some of the 1v1 aspects of ele, full on 1vArmy rushes, insane escapes, etc)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3r0eQczl0E&feature=youtu.be
(highlights how useful an elementalist can in be in competetive PvP)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7U45lv_uY0&feature=youtu.be
(highlights more full on 1vArmy attacks and juking techniques)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgG_IwJTQBA
(Highlights almost all of the juking methods an elementalist possesses)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67ToSaS9xjQ
(Highlights how effective this PvP build is for PvE scenarios)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgNuu4peuk4
(Highlights two consecutive 4v1 battles)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Og8tnQ-rieI
(Highlights survivability)

and more=S

TGSlasher’s post stuff

Combos
Fire 3 and 4 are Fire Combo Fields.
Finisher
Earth 3 is a Leap Finisher now fixed again (this is not mentioned in the tool tip unless it was updated with the latest patch)
Earth 4 and 5 are Blast Finishers
These are the only combos you have within the weapon skills.
There are other skills that will create fields available to the elementalist in dagger dagger spec. These include:
Combos Utility/Traits
Util: Fire Axe 4 same skills as Fire 4 and a Fire Combo Field
Util: Lightning Hammer 5 same skill as staff air 5 and a Lightning Field
Finishers Utility/Traits
Util: Arcane Blast is not a blast finisher, it is a 100% Projectile Finisher
Util: Arcane Wave is a Blast Finisher
Util: Fire Axe 5 is a Leap Finisher
Util: Frostbow 2 is a 20% Physical Projectile (its a multi hit skills with 20% chance per projectile to apply the finisher effect) (I think this is incorrect and it is actualy 100% per projectile as 100% flaming ice bolts of justice are cool and the ingame tool tip says projectile finisher without 20%)
Util: Lightning Hammers 3rd skill in its auto attack chain is a Blast Finisher
Util: Lightning Hammer 2 is a leap finisher
Elite: Fiery Greatsword Elite skill 3 is a Whirl Finisher
Elite: Tornado is a Whirl Finisher for its full duration
Trait: Evasive Arcana dodge in earth attunement is a Blast Finisher
Back to the basics.
Combos Basic
Fire 3 or 4, then earth 3 will grant a fire shield, and if you are using Daphoenix or my build then you will get fury and swiftness from Zephyr’s Boon
Fire 3 or 4 then earth 4 or 5 will grant you 3 stacks of might
Fire 4 then earth 4 then earth 5 will gran you 6 stacks of might
To use one of these combos you must be within the fire field at the start (earth 3 must be in the field or at least pass through the field on travel). Therefore, if you use earth 5 you must start the skill in the field, you will then see “area might” or similar in a heart then you can use the lightning flash to teleport at you foe. The blast finisher for earth 5 churning earth does not need to “explode/blast” in the fire field, it counts as long as you start the skill in fire.
If your using Daphoenix’s earlier build with 30 arcane and Evasive Arcane instead of 20 arcane and 10 fire then you can dodge whilst in earth inside a field to get a combo. For Evasive Arcane to be counted as a finisher the end of your dodge must be within the field, not the start or middle but the end animation.
Your max might rotation is now, fire skills bla bla, fire 4, switch to earth, dodge into the field so you will end within the ring, earth 4 then earth 5 and teleport if you need to or if you want to damage your foe. This grants 9 stacks of might.
Earthquake (earth 4) and Churning Earth (earth 5) have long cooldowns, ring of fire is quite short, so your next rotation you can go fire bla bla, fire 4, earth 3 so you are in or pass through and net yourself some boons and a fire shield.
If you are fast enough or you foe is standing inside the fire field you can use earth 3 for the boons, then (dodge into the field if arcane 30) earth 4 then earth 5 and teleport to foe. This will net you fury, swiftness, a fire shield, protection from switching to earth and 9 stacks of might.
With the 20 arcane and 10 fire your net might will be 9 if you used the teleport, 6 for earth 4 and 5 in fire then 3 from lighting flash and the fire trait.
Those are all the combos for your weapon set
Combos Utilities
This is up to you, if you use dapheonix’s build you wont need to worry, if you have your own variation then you can experiment around with the different finisher from the utilities.
For e.g. if you drop a cantrip and take arcane wave you will gain 12 stacks of might from that fire 4, earth dodge, earth 4, earth 5 and arcane wave during earth 5 before the teleport then teleport.
(note, arcane skills can be used at any time like cantrips and not interrupt your skills in progress)

There’s more of TGSlasher’s stuff on page 6 of the thread (very useful information imo =P).
I’m kind of running out of room here and I don’t wanna be redundant

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/elementalist/Guide-Mastering-the-D-D-ele-12-16-12/page/6

Arganthium.5638:
8. -Spam AoE/PbAoE” when Shadow Refuge is thrown down. Typically, thieves can do little or nothing about damage you do to them when they’re in SR, and, 99% of the time, thieves will spend the entire duration of SR just sitting there, waiting to max out stealth. If there aren’t any nearby enemies threatening to kill them, they’ll typically just stand in the center, but otherwise they’ll stand closer to the edge of the circle to avoid getting hit. I would say that this makes Lightning Whip most useful, because it hits the entire radius around you, while other skills don’t have that option. Also, because LW is so powerful, that gives you yet another reason to use it.

Reserved for editing
countering elementalists, rangers, engineers, necro etc

Note that all of your spells can hit a thief except updraft, as long as you can predict where the thief is right after stealthing. Drakes breath is extremely effective here.

3. Understand how stealth works.
This applies to any class with access to stealth on their own- engineers, mesmers, rangers, elementalist, and thieves (yes I did say elementalist, rangers, and engineers). Stealth can be stacked several times in duration, as long as you don’t deal damage. When you do deal damage in stealth, you are “revealed” for 4 seconds, preventing any re-stealthing from occurring. This does not apply if you let stealth wear off and then attack, but thieves lose out on any special first moves if they do this.

4. Know what stealth moves the thief is capable of.
Most thieves will bring in their utility and heal slot:
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Shadow_Refuge
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Blinding_Powder
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Hide_in_Shadows

Shadow refuge is something every thief will carry. It grants them 15 seconds of stealth, and has a noticeable animation. Thieves will generally stand within this area to build up on stealth, and exit the area once the spell is done. You can land many attacks when the thief is building stealth in this spell, especially with spells such as Fire2,3,4, earth 2,4,5, water 2,3, air1. If the thief’s HP is low, you may actually down them in stealth refuge. If this is the case, feel free to spam AoE for the next 15 seconds within that area, + a little bit surrounding it. A thief can revive himself with 15seconds of stealth as long as they are not attacked, but if you spam AoE you can stop this from happening.

Blinding powder is an instant AoE cast, and has a noticeable animation as well.
Hide in shadows is a utility skill that most thieves use to stealth+heal.
Cloak and dagger as mentioned previously
Combos as well, but your average thief won’t perform this.

5. Keyboard and Mouse Reflexes
Offensive reflexes
You have to be quick when dealing against a thief in order to kill them. P/D thieves will attack and give themselves a short time frame for you to attack. You can counter this by constantly 360* panning + Closest target filter + ride the lightning once they unstealth and instantly start your DPS combo. This applies to D/D thieves as well, when they are trying to run away.

Defensive reflexes
For D/D thieves, you need to prepare for the worst situation possible. Assume that a thief can spike you in 2-3seconds, using quickness and the elite basilisk venom (turns you into a stone statue). Have your Dodge and cantrip button ready to be pressed the moment you see the thief’s animation clipping and hitting you. Identify the spike by looking at your HP bar first, since there is a slight animation delay between your HP dropping, and the enemy’s blur. Dodge as soon as you can, and use any other spells that can CC / prevent you from dying such as earth 4 and air5.

6. Predicting, countering, and positioning
Thieves only have a limited stealth duration, and will generally strike near the end of it to reap the benefits of HP reg, initiative reg, and CD on spells. Expect D/D thieves to be within melee proximity when they’re stealth is running low. You can cast AoE spells such as earth 5, fire 4, fire 2 (and do a 360*) to easily hit them when this is going to happen, and just spread AoE at random.

For a more defensive approach, use air3, air 5, earth 4, etc. when you expect a D/D thief to come at you from stealth. Air3 can be casted in advance and still be effective, and this will stop D/D thieves in their tracks.
Thieves also deal double damage if they hit you from behind with their 1st ability out of stealth. You can easily make this extremely difficult for a thief to perform if you run around in circles, constantly spamming random AoE spells to punish them if they are in range.

7. Downed state
Thieves have 2 downed moves that allow them to escape. The 2nd downed move allows them to teleport to any location they want, and the 3rd ability stealths them. You can only stomp a thief if you do so within the first ~1second of them being downed, otherwise they will teleport/ stealth. If they do teleport, you can always chain your stomp with lightning flash.
The best method to killing a thief in its downed state is to just burst them on the floor, so you don’t have to worry about either ability they possess. Just spam AoE until they teleport, and spam more AoE where they stealth. Repeat until thief is dead. You can always chain this while killing another enemy at the same time as well.

Countering Thieves
As mentioned earlier, the best way to counter a class is to play one yourself.
Thieves are known to be the highest burst class in the game. Most thieves run a combination of Pistol/dagger, dagger/dagger, and shortbow. Occassionally you might find a Sword/pistol type, but they are not common.

Build types are not really important when countering thieves, unlike that of a mesmer. Identifying what weapon the thief is using is more important. Their main damage type is burst through direct damage, usually right out of stealth. Condition based thieves aren’t really that a threat to elementalist since they can’t cover it with other conditions.

Steps to defeating a thief
1. Understand what the thief is capable of
The first step is to understand how the thief actually works. They actually have an “energy” counter called initiative, that regenerates linearly. Thieves can only combo as much as their initiative allows them too. Most thieves will use their initiative and spam it on heartseeker, the dagger 2 skill that leaps them to you and deals more damage the lower your HP.

Often times you’ll see a thief use only a few skills, since in all honesty most of their skills are not worth using. The main skills you want to look out for are the following:

-Cloak and Dagger - Dagger skill 5. Melee attack that stealths them if it lands on you. Almost every thief relies on this skill to stealth, and if you cause this attack to fail you’ll have the upper advantage.
-Heartseeker – Dagger skill 2. Enemy leaps forward toward you, and deals more damage the lower your HPs at. This is the infamous spam kill spell.
-Dancing Dagger – Dagger skill 4. Throws a crippling projectile at you.
-Infiltrator’s arrow – Shortbow skill 5. Allows thief to teleport to a position, similar to lightning flash but shorter range and spammable.
-Basilisk Venom elite – turns you into a statue, behaves like a stun. Countered by cantrips

You probably at this point have heard much QQ about thieves being able to instagib enemies, and this is mostly true. A thief before the 3/26/13 quickness nerf was able to perform a 15k burst on a fully armored guardian within 1.5seconds. The 1.5seconds spike only worked if the enemy utilized quickness, combined with consumables, utility preparations, basilisk stun elite (optional), and cheating with macros (1 click that performed several skills in sequence) etc. that had a fairly long cooldown of up to ~90seconds. Most burst from your average D/D thief occurs within a spam of ~5seconds though, with a spam of heartseeker thereafter if you aren’t dead yet.

2. Identify what type of thief you are fighting.
Most thieves come in two flavors : Dagger/Dagger (D/D) and Pistol/Dagger (P/D) for DPS.
D/D as mentioned earlier is infamous for its burst. The way they deliver this burst is from stealth, using a combination of backstab (2x normal damage from stealth), Mug (steal skill traited such that it does damage), cloak and dagger + another backstab, and heartseeker spam. If the thief is using quickness, you will not be able to react to the mug, and initial backstab which will do approximately ~9k damage. It is possible to avoid the next cloak and dagger +backstab, and fairly easy to identify the following heart seeker spam. Dodge as soon as you identify a thief spamming heart seeker, as this will negate most of their damage and initiative.
Once a thief’s initiative is used up, his next move will be to use cloak, either through his healing skill, utility, or cloak and dagger. This is when you hit him as hard as possible with your burst, CC’s, conditions, etc. You need to finish him off before he cloaks and runs away.

P/D is known to be a tanky archtype of the thief that is a roamer in WvWvW. They kill through a combination of attrition through condition based damage, and lack of condition removal on the enemy side. Most P/D thieves will start this attack from a safe distance away. He will then follow up with a “cloak and dagger” skill to re-stealth

Arganthium.5638:
What you can expect from Dagger/Pistol D/P is:
- A lot of blinds
- A combo field that blinds you if you stand in it. Also, the combo field allows for thieves to HS?Stealth, so be prepared for that.
-Tends to rely more on HS than regular D/D builds would
- A bit more of a “tanky” thief build, but still one where you might want to watch out for Backstabs, as they can still really, really hurt.

6. Keep heavy pressure on the mesmers
Mesmers have almost no condition removal unless they use their utility skill. This means skills that cripple, chill, burn, bleed mesmers will seriously cause a lasting impact and end the battle sooner. Skills like Drakes breath, Churning earth+lightning flash, etc are strong counters. Getting into the mesmer’s comfort zone is the fastest way to kill one, since they have the advantage at long range. The best way to kill a Mesmer is to do it inbetween their Blurred Frenzy shatter spikes.
Do note that their staff2 ability makes them teleport 900 units away from you, and creates a clone where they were once at. The animation cue and sound cue is how you notice it. Also be wary that mesmers also create clones upon dodging too.
Their staff 5 ability creates a giant dome that applies boons to them and conditions to you every second. Counter this using mid range abilities, such as Drakes breath while outside of the bubble.

7. Watch out for cliff sides.
Mesmers have very strong pulling / pushing abilities with the focus and great sword. The focus’s temporal curtain is a freecast pull in any direction, and can easily pull you off a cliff if your not careful. Therefore, it is best to avoid cliff side drop offs.

8. Watch out for their downed state
Mesmers have one of the most powerful downed DPS states in the game. Their 3rd downed ability causes a whirling phantasm (same as their 4th GS ability), very similar to the warriors great sword 3rd ability spin. It has a 10second CD to start, and can deal upwards of up to 9k damage if you are not careful.
To counter this, hide behind a terrain obstacle and heal up once they are downed. Don’t go for the stomps, just keep AoE bursting them until they are dead WHILE constantly moving and dodging, as this will make it harder for their spike to land. Their downed state 2 ability is on CD right when they are downed, and teleports them / makes them invisible + makes a clone. The real Mesmer has a larger red triangle icon above its head.

9. Call target if you have a party
“Control + T” the Mesmer using the standard keyboard configurations. You will be able to see the real Mesmer at all times, provided they do not use stealth skills. IF they do stealth, you need to re-target. Also at the same time, note what stealth abilities they possess
1- Torch 4 provides a 3second stealth + burn AoE
2- Utility Veil provides a line that grants them 4 seconds of stealth
3- Utility decoy creates a clone that grants them 3 seconds of stealth (you can see when the Mesmer uses this by a change in their attack animation)
4- Elite Mass invisibility takes 1.75seconds to cast, and grants all allies 5 seconds of stealth
5- Utility teleport is also noted here as well, b/c they can use it while stealthed to escape. Or they can use their staff 2 teleport skill.

10. Note your spell counter vs. Confusion / Condition mesmers
Spells come in 4 forms for an elementalist, and are all affected by confusion and your signet of restoration spell.
Dodging = 1 spell
Attunement Swapping = 1 spell
Casting a spell = 1 spell
Each unique evasive arcana roll = 1 spell.
Dodging with an evasive arcana spell is considered 2 spells.
Channeling skills cancelled early are not considered spells. Therefore spamming Fire2 and cancelling it near the end with “escape” key is a strong tactic. Same with Water2

Confusion damage per spell ranges up to 1k per spell cast. Your average spell cast is about 1 cast / second, so it really adds up quickly, on top of the mesmers ability to shatter spike on you. The worst case scenario battle is when you fight both a confusion mesmer, and a condition necro at the same time. If that is the case, you might as well run b/c you will not win.

When fighting a confusion/ condition mesmer, the hardest thing to learn is to RECOGNIZE confusion stacks ASAP and NOT cast spells but instead to run away, heal up, and re-initiate. You need to utilize that line of sight tactic as much as possible to win, and time your condition removals perfectly.

11. The trick to winning against a mesmer is through attrition/long drawn out battles, since you have much higher access to healing abilities than they do.

Countering Mesmers

The best way to know how to defeat a class is to play one yourself. Mesmer Vs. Elementalist is generally decided upon the better player.

Since most people have problems fighting mesmers, I will list the tactics to combat them. The most common one is probably the “shatter cat” build by osicat.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Guide-WvWvW-Pve-Shatter-Cat/page/17#post1585372.

There are many variation of builds out there for mesmers. For the most part, most build setups revolve around 0/20/20/0/30 setups. From there, you can categorize the damage each mesmer does by the following:

Retaliation/Tank Spec
Confusion/Condition damage Spec
Burst/Zerker Spec

Then you can categorize mesmers by weapon type, almost all mesmer builds run a staff and a sword/x, where x is a focus, torch, sword, or pistol. Sometimes the mesmers might run greatsword for burst specs, or scepter for confusion/condition damage setups.

Steps to defeating a mesmer
1. First recognize what type of mesmer you are fighting.
Retaliation / Tank specs are generally the lowest threat ones, since you can really only kill yourself. You should assume all mesmers are burst / Zerker setups though, since this is the most common setup b/c the gear is cheap and easy to obtain from running dungeons. The highest threat build setup is the confusion/condition mesmer, as you can easily take 1k damage from 1 spell due to confusion stacks. You won’t find as many confusion / condition mesmers since the price of gear is so expensive. Confusion / condition mesmers also use scepters, so assume all scepter mesmer users as confusion types.

2. You need to watch out for the common Blurred frenzy + immobilization spike.
It is associated with their sword hand weapon number 2 and 3 skill. What happens is the mesmer sends a melee, crippling clone at you, and then teleports at that clone+immobilizes you, followed by a blurred frenzy spike (High DPS burst spell that makes them evade all attacks in place). Most mesmers also follow up with “shatter”, which is their F1 to F4 abilities, to which their clones blow up on you, dealing either daze, confusion, burst damage, or grants them evasion. Most will use the first 3 on you.
To deal with the spike, immobilization is their key ability to hold you in place. It lasts 2 seconds long, and blurred frenzy is a 2second spike + shatter. Essentially their spike has a 2 second time spam. You need to remove that immobilization and dodge ASAP when you see it. This means blowing off a cantrip with the Water 3+Water11 trait to remove it, or immediately swapping to water to remove 2 conditions. The other alternative is to use ether renewal, but it can be interupted if the enemy uses a daze “shatter” with their spike.

3. Watch out for the clones / Phantasms.
Clones are exact replicas of the mesmer, and deal very minimal auto attack damage, but can be devastating for “shatters” and combined traitlines. Phantasms hit extremely hard, but have less HP. Clones have about 3.2k HP, and its shatter based damage, and armor is dependent upon the mesmer’s stats. Phantasms ~2k HP.
Some mesmers can trait such that clones you kill give you various conditions. For the most part, it is recommended you spread your PbAoE / AoE upon both the real mesmer, and its clones/phantasms. Phantasms need to be dealt with before clones, since they present a threat.
Clones will run up to you when the mesmer uses his “shatter” ability. When you see the clones stop auto attacking, and run to you, dodge the incoming shatter. Shatter between clones has a 0.25second interval.

4. Use line of sight.
Mesmers utilize LoS very poorly, whereas D/D elementalist is the best class to utilize it. This is because, as mentioned earlier, D/D ele’s spells go right through trees / obstacles most of the time. Mesmers on the other hand, can actually lose out on their spell and cause it to go to CD without doing anything if their clone/phantasm summoning ability is blocked by line of sight.
That being said, fighting on open ground is an advantage to mesmers.
Mesmers also have the advantage on high ground access locations, due to their staff 2 ability as well.
Forest / tree heavy areas / walls/ obstacles / Flat terrain are all in your favor.

5. Your cantrips are your lifeline. If there all on CD, you might as well run.
Cantrips are used to coutner the blurred frenzy/ shatter spike by removing the immobilization, and if you don’t have any available you will most likely die. The alternative is to physically dodge right before the blurred frenzy spike by recognizing when it is coming. Your other alternative is to swap to water attunement right before the spike will occur, but a good Mesmer will spike you when you are already in water attunement and force you to burn a cantrip.

Role of a D/D elementalist in
WvW
sPvP
PvE

countering classes: warrior

countering classes: Thieves, backstab, permastealth etc

countering mesmers

countering guardians

Air casting
Air casting is very similar to air dodging, except instead of jumping + immediately dodging, you jump + immediately cast. The uses of this applies primarily to channeling /long cast type abilities (i.e. churning earth) and defending keeps with the staff weapon. I don’t use it too often since its rather hard to pull off in most cases when being pressured by many enemies at once, but I’m sure there are players that can utilize these strategies.

The 2 methods to use this technique
It is highly suggested you use arcane abatement (Water 8 trait, fall damage 50% reduction) when doing method 1 and 2.

Method 1 –
This method is for the D/D’s churning earth spell (earth 5)
The enemy is right below you, on a drop off at a cliff. Move and jump forward off the ledge and cast churning earth immediately. Your spell should channel in midair, and finish by the time you reach the ground. Chain the arcane abatement in earth attunement to also knockdown your foe while the churning earth goes off.
The best way to execute this spell is to be on auto run, jump off a cliff and immediately press churning earth.

Method 2-
This method is primarily for the staff’s meteor shower (fire5)
The enemy zerg army is assaulting your keep, and you don’t have line of sight with your staff to deal AoE damage while standing on the keep’s walls. Your fear is that once you have a clear AoE target to channel spells on the enemy mob, an enemy will drag you down to their army using skills such as the mesmer’s temporal curtain, thieves scorpion wire, guardian’s GS pull, etc.
The solution is to have a clear line of sight between you and the enemy army, and to jump into a no line of sight area. While jumping, cast the spell that you intend to using air casting. This can be done with spells that require you to stand still, such as meteor shower, so you don’t have to waste a lightning flash / magnetic aura to be on the safe side.
The best way to execute this spell is to use auto run, and have your AoE target marker ready before jumping.

Advanced Weapon Swapping
Weapon swapping before a battle starts is an extremely useful tactic that I use all the time. It requires the use of all weapon types – scepter, dagger, focus, and staff. The reason this works is because there is no cooldown when you swap weapons, and you are free to cast whatever abilities you want as each weapon has its own CDs associated with it. It is very commonly done with the warrior class to get a speed buff using the warhorn.
Essentially what you are doing is combining spells from all weapon types an elementalist has. The only downside of these techniques is that you can get caught while swapping weapons , i.e. namely with only 1 weapon in your hand. They’re also very micro intensive.
There are two types of weapon swap combos, support or offensive
I will use a different naming convention b/c it will get confusing when describing spells of different attunements and weapon types.
Z = Staff
S= Scepter/Focus
D = Dagger/Dagger
Earth 1 = e1 , Earth5 = e5, Fire 3 = f3, water4 =w4, etc. air 2= a2
Scepter Fire skill number 3 = Sf3

Support weapon swaps
This is the more useful of the two. There are several uses for this method such as gaining longer swiftness buffs, pre-might stacks, +300 armor, etc before a battle starts.

Swiftness Stacking
There’s 3 types. Type 1 takes less time to do but doesn’t give as many benefits as type 3.

Type 1:
Ze5+Za4+Za5 (onto Ze5)+Swap to D/D

Type 2:
Ze5+Za4+Za5 (onto Ze5)+Sf3 (onto Za5) +Swap to D/D

Type 3: (this is using zephyr’s boon trait, MS + Fury buff upon aura cast)
Ze3+Ze5+Za4+Za5(onto Ze5)+Da3+Sf3(onto Za5)+Sf5 +Swap to D/D

Armor buffing
Se2+Swap to D/D

Might stacking
Sf4+Sf3(onto Sf4) + Se4 +Swap to D/D

The combined total buffing (using zephyr’s boon trait)
Ze3+Ze5+Za4+Za5(onto Ze5)+Da3+Df5+wait until Za5 gone+Sf4+Sf3(onto Sf4)+Se4+Se2+Swap to D/D

This grants you lots of swiftness and fury, 7 stacks of might, +300 armor before a battle begins. You can chain it further by using scepter air skills 3-5 to attack your enemy before swapping to D/D, then use RtL to initiate

Offensive Weapon Swapping
Nobody will probably utilize these because the timing and weapon swapping needs to be perfect.

Sa3+Sa5+Sf2+Sf3+Df3+Df5
Blind, knock down your enemy, and follow up with a dragons tooth scepter combo and a dagger burst combo

Ze2+Ze3+Df3 initiation
Mid-range initiation blast finisher with a magnetic aura protection

Se5+De5+Lightning flash
The traditional churning earth+ lightning flash with invulnerability during casting

Zw5+Sf3+Se4+Se5+De4+De5+Lightning flash
Quad blast water healing to team + Invulnerability initiation. Only useful when you arrive and your team needs healing / ready to re-engage.

There’s more combinations than these listed here, this just gives you a general idea.

3/13
To be added later:

More terrain techniques (fall damage, more line of sight)
Mind games
Cover conditioning
Combinations with other classes
Fiery Great Sword
Racial Skills and Elite combos
Underwater/Land techniques

The Almighty Level Up technique
Yes leveling up is a method of fighting too, albeit not something you would ever think of when fighting. There is a % chance that all enemies will be pushed back away from you, and you can use this to your advantage. Near the end of my 2nd video,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzBn32Fqm9w

I actually used this ability without realizing it. Everyone just flies away from you at such incredible speeds that its actually OP in its own right. Do your daily reward and accept it when you need it, if your EXP bar is almost there. Also you can use it to revive yourself too and fully heal yourself.
The only downside is this isn’t exactly reliable

Downed techniques
Since elementalist can use vapor form while downed, this actually brings in a whole new level of tactics in your arsenal. You can purposely die as a legit form of strategy, when you know you will die because your HP is too low and all your CD’s are on cooldown. This was done in my 5th video, I got moa’d with really low HP leftover and I knew I was going die. I used it to my advantage and found a nearby firefly.

You can also use a suicidal tactic as well. If you know that you have no chance of rallying yourself and are near a highrise, simply jump off the cliff using vapor form and you can make your silly enemies kill themselves.
Another tactic is to jump into a body of water using vapor form, and revive yourself that way out of combat. If an enemy decides to chase you down there, you can constantly surface and hold them off longer

Anti-stealth
Thieves can be particularly annoying when they can just stealth and run away. The best way to counter a sneaky thief or any stealthing class ability in general is to use CC’s and AoE.
The first thing to do is predict when the thief will stealth. Most thieves will back out when there aware that they are losing a battle, or are taking way too much damage from the enemy player.
General scenarios:
I predict when the enemy will stealth. I cast earth 3 as he is casting stealth, and it connects while he is in stealth. Therefore I know that the thief is immobilized for 2 seconds at that location while stealth, and I will follow that up with earth 2, and then earth 4 once the immobilize ends. Follow thereafter, I cast Air 5 and knock him backwards, follow by the typical fire3+fire5 combo. Finish it off with a fire4 field, and randomly spread fire2 thereafter. Usually this will kill all the bad thieves, but good thieves will get away because they will break your immobilize , stun and dodge / port away before you know it.

Weaving
Weaving is an advanced tactic used against primarily ranged opponents (i.e. rangers). Fire1 and Earth1 are both incredibly strong auto attack abilities that weaving is great for. Basically what you do is run around your enemy and “weave” into their avatar constantly such that they never get a clean shot of you with their targeting abilities. You can then couple that with PbAoE abilities as well, such as earth 2, as this will hit regardless of where your facing. Earth 1 also does not require you to face your enemies as well, so this spell is great for weaving. Having swiftness up + crippling/ chilling your enemies makes weaving very effective.

Air dodging
I learned this awhile back from some random person in WvWvW, and I had originally thought it was useless. It is basically where you move+jump, immediately followed by a VERY quick dodge click. The animation looks as if your dodge rolling in mid air.

It’s a fairly hard technique to master. The timing must be PERFECT for this to work right, and of course you need enough energy to dodge. I don’t even get this down most of the time when I want too, it only works half the time I intend it too.

Now for its uses:
Air dodging is the most effective method of jumping from one location to another, as it gives you the furthest possible distance achievable. The reason why is as follows: Why do people dodge on the ground to get around places? It is because it is one of the most effective ways to travel, as dodging is basically an effective temporary speed buff. Technically ride the lightning is much more effective at doing this (you can jump cliff chasms with it), but this skill is specific only to d/d elementalists, and you will not always have it handy. Plus no other profession has access to anything remotely like ride the lightning.

Locations:

Any area that requires you to jump (i.e. low walls, hopping from island to island, far distance jumps, etc) benefit from air dodging. One particular location is worth mentioning. This is on Raid of the Capricorn, on the sPvP map at the “Docks” capture location area. There is a highrise “sniping” location at the “Docks” capture point that one team generally has access too from their starting location. You cannot physically get to that “sniping” location without wasting time running around the corners. You can’t to my knowledge teleport up there either using the elementalist’s lightning flash or the Mesmer teleport skill.

However, you can actually climb that “sniping” location by simply jumping on a box on the corner in the “docks” capture zone area, and jump up there. Normal jumping only works if your out of combat. However when in combat, normal jumping does not get you far enough to reach the “sniping” platform. Air dodging does get you far enough though.
Other locations that this air dodge is useful is jumping from cliff to cliff.

One very useful location is in the EB Jumping puzzle where enemies will attack you and therefore give you a “in combat” movement speed debuff, making it difficult for regular jumps to work. Air dodges ignore movement speed debuffs.

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Underwater techniques
Double click screen + Water 5+ 180* turn + repeated “s” backpedaling +Water 3 + 180* turn

• This is the fastest way to get around underwater. Double click the screen to deselect all targets. The repeated backpedalling animation cancels approximately .5 to 1 seconds of aftercast effects. Water 3 always moves you directly backward relative to where your character is facing

Dodge+ horizontal air 3 + teleport+ dodge

• In order to maximize the furthest distance you can possibly achieve using air3, dodge before you use the ability as dodging during the duration of air3 negates the effects of how far you can get. When casting air3, always cast it parallel to the surface of the water, as this gives you the greatest net distance you can possibly achieve. There really is no point in diving deep underwater when traveling, skirting the surface + using abilities are the best way to travel.

Water 5 + “w” forward movement spam

• Another method to get away faster

Earth5 (freecast while not moving and slightly above ground floor)Water5 (aim it slightly downward to ground floor) Arcane Wave+ Water 3

• Elementalist have access to 13 seconds of stealth underwater to escape in any situation. The best part of this technique is that enemies will not see you stealth since you are comboing, and the Water3 pushes you backward making this an effective juking method against anyone. The only downside is that you can’t be CC’d during this combo elsewise it will mess up.
  You can chain this with Air3 to move faster while stealthed, and Air4 to CC enemies in stealth. You don’t unstealth as long as you don’t deal any damage to enemies

Fire2+Blast finisher (Arcane blast)

• More might stacking

Water5+Corner

• You can proc Water5’s damage many times if you use it on an enemy trapped in a corner

Advanced terrain fightning techniques
Line of sight Earth 5 delayed Air3

• Pop churning earth such that the enemies will be forced into a point blank position away from you when they reach your position. I did this in one of my videos (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXz5nVpS3Ds&feature=plcp). I dodge rolled off a cliffside and used tornado (this was prenerf nov. 15) for stability to give myself extra protection while waiting for my enemies. I then proceeded to time my churning earth perfectly as they jumped down the Cliffside to follow me, and popped a delayed air3 right as the first attack was about to connect. Most people’s instincts is to attack on sight before thinking it through, so I did not give my enemies a chance that small window to dodge right before churning earth hit. Also I forced them into stunning themselves right as my churning earth connected. You could use this same strategy elsewhere too, with any line of sight obstacle.

Line of sight + Earth 5 + Lightning flash

• I did this in nearly every video I made, normally using an obstacle such as a tree. I position a tree inbetween myself and my enemy in a direct line, such that the tree is about 100-200 units away from me. This gives me both protection via against projectiles which allows me to cast churning earth safely, and gives me a large range of motion as to where I can counter attack with lightning flash.

Line of sight corner+ Fire 2 or Water 2

• In (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXz5nVpS3Ds&feature=plcp), there was one point where I cut across a cliff side corner and shot water2 at them, forcing an enemy to stay back. You can use fire2/water2 around a corner and hit your enemies, without them ever giving an enemy a chance to retaliate. I also use this tactic fairly often with trees as well, similarly as what you’d see in a first person shooter game.

Earth arcane abatement + Mesmer portal + Fall

• You can proc an infinite number of stuns onto an enemy by constantly portalling yourself upward and using the new fall down trait ability under the earth attunement (as it gives you an earthquake spell)

Again there are way more techniques out here than the ones I listed. It all depends on the situation and terrain you are fighting in. There’s way too many to name :S

Other Camera tricks
Double click screen + Air 4 + Target nearest enemy+ 180* turn + Air 5+ 180* turn

• This is one of the best methods to maximize your distance from an army chasing you. Learn to use this properly.

Look backwards + Release right click +“About face” +Fire 3

• This is an extremely powerful method of ambushing an enemy chasing you, granted they are within the right distance for this to work. Enemies generally will not see this coming, and the “about face” key brings a whole new level of confusion to your enemies.

Fire3+”About Face”+Fire5

• Use fire 3 and make sure the blast effect hits on the backend of your trail. Quickly changing directions and casting fire 5 usually connects and can be used to confuse your enemies.

360* panning + casting

• Learn to play while actively looking around and killing your enemies :P

Running + hold “Look Backwards” + Staff AoE casting / Underwater abilities

• I use this tactic primarily while playing staff. By looking backwards, I can effectively cast as far as I want behind me without ever stopping while running forward. This takes a lot of practice to do, since you effectively have to hold the “look backwards” key

Maximizing spell output and efficiency using signet of restoration
Always attunement swap at the beginning of a cast, unless you plan to use more spells in that attunement. Use every dodge roll spell possible under evasive arcana, except maybe air.

Running+ Double click screen+ Auto attack (repeatedly)

• This is a very advanced tactic when using signet of restoration. It is one of the few tactics that I am not fully accustomed to yet, but if you want to maximize healing then do this.

Evasive arcana dodge roll+Attunement swapping

• Evasive arcana procs near the end of the dodge roll, and the spell that comes out depends on your attunement that you are currently. I prematurely dodge knowing that my attunement is not ready at the moment (aka the spell I want), but will be midway through the dodge.

Animation end effects cancellation

• I do this fairly often in most of my videos. Almost all spells have an end cast animation. Dodge rolling effectively eliminates this end cast animation. I usually dodge roll 9/10ths the way into the spell, thereby reducing the total cast time of spell, and any drawback after effects.

Water2+Water3+Water1

• The fastest way to pull off as many spells as possible is to cast your channeling spell first, and interrupt it with another spell before the channel spell ends.

Water3+Dodge

• This builds distance between melee enemies

Notes

• This next part is mainly for players familiar with the D/D setup
  I use almost every tactic and trick in the book in my videos, whether it be line of sight techniques, ambush techniques, juking, timing, etc. There is a lot more to learn from just watching me play than reading this wall of text =P. I learned most of these tricks by playing other video games, as I used to play competitive FPS, SC2, Dota, Gw1, etc.
  I don’t list every tactic / method I invented/utilize, as there are too many

Rotation

• In general, the best way to rotate attunements is always to use fire before earth attunement for DPS, use water whenever necessary, and air generally before fire.
  Fire offers DPS in the form of direct damage, and burning.
  Water offers healing, CC in the form of chill, and vulnerability
  Air offers stun, a heavy hitting auto attack, high mobility, and the best CC countering abilities
  Earth offers bleed, cripple, knockback, immobilization, and the strongest spell you have.

Initiation Techniques
Air 4+ Air5+Move+Fire3+Fire5

• This is one of the best ways to initiate onto a target run. Air4 brings you up to your target, and air5 updrafts them leaving them wide open for a quick burst. You want to move slightly forward after using air 5, such that fire3’s damage and 1 second of burning connects so that you can pop out to deal heavy burst damage. This is fairly easy to counter as air4 is really easy to see coming, and a simple dodge from your opponent during air4 /air 5 will mess up the combo

Earth5+ Lightning flash

• Another great way to start off a fight is to use earth5 and use lightning flash right as the cast time is almost finished onto the enemy. It deals massive direct damage and bleeding damage to all opponents within range, and is very hard to avoid. The best time to use this combination is when your enemy least expects it, via initiation while there not aware of your presence, or when you are running away from a mob. It gets countered by any long range CC, such as daze, knockback, stuns, etc (but not immobilize).

Fire3

• Fire3 in itself is a very strong method of initiation. Because the range of this spell is much shorter than air4 or lightning flash, it is recommended that you lure an enemy into close range quarters to use this. Use line of sight to force an enemy into close / mid range quarters, and use this skill to initiate

Air4+Reverse 180 during air4 Deselect targetAir5+Fire2+Fire5

• Reverse initiation. It can work in your favor, even if your enemy decides to dodge backwards (because you will updraft dodge roll in the same direction too!). You should be close up to your enemy after using this, and can follow up with fire3 should they try to widen the distance b/w you.

Earth 3 + any “WASD” key spam / changing attunement before final destination

• If you just cast earth 3 by itself, chances are you are going waste the entire time waiting for the full duration of the spell. End the spell by cancelling it early, while still retaining its full effects.

Skill techniques
Fire4+Earth4 and/or Earth5

• This is the best method of stacking might. Fire 4 is a fire field, and earth 4 / earth 5 are both combo blast finishers. Using a fire field + combo finisher gives you 3 stacks of might. The combo finisher is applied at the beginning of the cast, and does not physically apply onto your boons until the end of the cast. Basically when you use earth 4 or earth 5, you apply 0 damage first to all enemies within 300 radial units, and then your regular damage upon the cast finishing. This means you can stun yourself on an enemy elementalist’s air3 ability before finishing your cast. Also when might stacking using this tactic, make sure that your actually utilizing the CC and damage to the best of your ability as well.

Fire2+Fire5

• This is a great way to deal a lot of burst and burning damage in a short frame of time. Fire 5 deals more damage when your target is on fire.
  You can deliver the damage in two different ways: Using a full duration Fire 2, or a 1 proc Fire 2. If your facing several enemies at once, use the full duration Fire 2. If you need a quick, finishing burst, cancel Fire 2 early then use Fire 5.

Fire 4+Earth 3

• Use this to gain fire aura (Constant burning damage to enemies adjacent to you), and any benefits from zephyr’s boon. Its also a great idea to use this when many enemies are attacking you at the same time, such as vs mesmer’s clones.

Any fire field (Fire3 or Fire 4)+ EA earth dodge roll

• Use this to give yourself 3 stacks of might, while trying to harass your enemy at the same time.

More terrain

Using terrain as a defensive tool
terrain as a weapon