Elementalist as compared to Guardian and Mesmer

Hey all! I am a casual player with limited playtime. I’ve been bouncing back and forth between a Power Dragonhunter and a Condi Mirage for a while now, and I’m looking to branch into a third profession. I am thinking of diving into the Elementalist. It’s always intimidated me a bit because I see everywhere about how it’s one of the harder classes, but I feel like I have a solid grasp of the game and am up for the challenge.

Given I don’t have a ton of time to play, before I level one up and gear it, I am interested in the perspective of players that have played all 3 (guardian, Mesmer, and elementalist). What would you say are some pros and cons of Ele vs the other two? What are some things you love about elementalist that the other professions are lacking? What are the things you dislike? If you had to pick just one, which of the three would you play and why?

Please none of the “just play them all” answers ?. I’m really looking to decide if I should invest my limited playtime into ele or look around at the other classes.

Oh and I am almost entirely an open world PvE player, and occasionally dip into fractals, dungeons, and PvP.

Ele isnt that hard once you grasp their skills. Weaver is the hardest so dont start with it. Core ele is the epitome at good at all master of none, making it unideal in pvp and pve, but can do okay at any role. Tempest is a great support option that is just as easy as core to learn. Weaver takes getting used to. People either hate ele or love it so play it and see if its something you want to invest time in

In open world (if you can stay alive in HoT maps by yourself) you can play anything you want.

For instanced pve (fractals) ele is pretty good but weaver rotation is, not gonna lie, pretty hard. Otherwise it's definitely viable.

For pvp, ele is mostly about positioning/kiting/dodging so it's harder than most classes (not the hardest).

In general, ele is a hard but extremely rewarding class.

It's not gonna be as easy as any Guardian build or condi Mirage. Those builds are more forgiving after making mistakes. Though core mesmer reminds me a lot of Elementalist because, to survive, there are a lot of active defenses you have to rely on.

-Evades-Blinds-Passive heals-Kiting

Once you get used to all those skills and know the perfect time to play them, I would say Ele is a easy class and very fun to play. You start steam rolling through activities because you have so many skills to choose from.

I would say the same about Mesmer but Anet is still deciding on how to balance the class. If that class was in a better spot, I would say stick with it. But as of right now, Ele has good builds from all three specs. Even core has some tricks up its sleeve many don't know about.

Ele is fun and viable once u learn it.....But seeing as u already have a meser, wouldnt it be good if u have a med armor class as well?

@Kelvor.3471 said:Hey all! I am a casual player with limited playtime. I’ve been bouncing back and forth between a Power Dragonhunter and a Condi Mirage for a while now, and I’m looking to branch into a third profession. I am thinking of diving into the Elementalist. It’s always intimidated me a bit because I see everywhere about how it’s one of the harder classes, but I feel like I have a solid grasp of the game and am up for the challenge.

Given I don’t have a ton of time to play, before I level one up and gear it, I am interested in the perspective of players that have played all 3 (guardian, Mesmer, and elementalist). What would you say are some pros and cons of Ele vs the other two? What are some things you love about elementalist that the other professions are lacking? What are the things you dislike? If you had to pick just one, which of the three would you play and why?

Please none of the “just play them all” answers ?. I’m really looking to decide if I should invest my limited playtime into ele or look around at the other classes.

Oh and I am almost entirely an open world PvE player, and occasionally dip into fractals, dungeons, and PvP.

So I'm a player that started back when the game was first released and to answer your question I tried to think back to when I first learned elementalist. It really wasn't difficult once you break it down into what each element does (overall) and then later, just with spending time on the class you'll get a feel for what each skill does and best element to attune to for the situation. I wouldn't say it's hard. Every class in this game is quite simple after you spend enough time on each, if anything some of the easiest classes to pick up and play have the highest skill ceilings, like thief.

I started with dagger/dagger which I recommend you do to as it will get you into the habit of attunement swapping, staff is a bit more stationary and while it's easier to play in PvE initially, it won't teach you the important skills you'll need later on. I would say learn dagger/dagger first, dagger/focus, then staff. One of it's elite specs (weaver) cranks it up a few notches by breaking that down even further and mixing elements, but that too just takes time to learn it.

Something I liked about elementalist was that it's the first spellcaster I've ever liked playing in an MMO. I usually either go with paladin types or with beast masters (my main is ranger in gw2). It's playstyle is very similar to a warrior in a way, kind of a bruiser with centralized AoEs around the player. It also was once of the first strongest classes in the game at launch, allowing players to like 1vs25 which was an awesome feeling and the basis for how I turning into a WvW roamer seeking out outnumbered fights. What I don't like about ele is in group settings and using the meta builds for raids/fractals you are VERY reliant on your group. It's meta really only brings DPS, so you are vulnerable and reliant on your party to provide the necessary boons and tools to your survival. That is the number one thing I hate about weaver now. Tempest is better but for fractals at least, its better to just have a firebrand. DPS tempest is great due to its large AOE DPS, quick might stacking/weakness, condi clear, and fast stacking vulnerability, but still is reliant on the group.

At the end of the day, play what you find fun the most. If you're going for just efficiency and what can do all content, then it will be guardian - dragon hunter is amazing DPS for endgame group content with tools for its own survival, it has the option of going condi firebrand for something different, and being the main healer with healbrand. However, what will keep you playing this game is staying with what you enjoy. I love my ranger and I'm grateful there is 2 useful builds for endgame group instanced content with druid healer and soulbeast, but even if it didn't have that, I would still be playing it because if I was forced to be guardian for everything I wouldn't even log into this game (I use healbrand for fractals though).

@FrownyClown.8402 said:Ele isnt that hard once you grasp their skills. Weaver is the hardest so dont start with it. Core ele is the epitome at good at all master of none, making it unideal in pvp and pve, but can do okay at any role. Tempest is a great support option that is just as easy as core to learn. Weaver takes getting used to. People either hate ele or love it so play it and see if its something you want to invest time in

they need to optimize weaver a bit more, having dual attacks is interesting but to get the most use you have to continue to switch attunments over the 4 elements. That's not exactly great for many builds. Its a bit convoluted and their elite skill is just a huge balancing act with little reward.

@mizaru.1385 said:Ele is fun and viable once u learn it.....But seeing as u already have a meser, wouldnt it be good if u have a med armor class as well?

This way you can swap ascended armor between your ele and your mesmer, though.