Elementalist

Is there any point in attempting to run a damage backline weaver build or are you just better off playing backline rev?

It just feels like the opportunity to land GOOD damage involves perfect positioning and chaining multiple skills at once. A LOT of effort for having hardly any sustain and the damage seems pretty dismal compared to the effort. I've had a few fun times defending keeps or fighting zergs but in general it just feels like it takes significantly more effort and luck to actually get kills between the weaver staff nerfs pre-damage coefficient reduction patch, and then the patch just made it so that you have to land multiple fire fields ontop of a meteor shower?

maybe wait until next week unless u wanna get pewpewed by rangers

Not worth it I believe, you'll die to some random sneeze or invisible aoe or ac lovers or whatever.Backline Ele isn't that great in WvW anymore if it comes to damage.

@Bast.7253 said:Is there any point in attempting to run a damage backline weaver build or are you just better off playing backline rev?

It just feels like the opportunity to land GOOD damage involves perfect positioning and chaining multiple skills at once. A LOT of effort for having hardly any sustain and the damage seems pretty dismal compared to the effort. I've had a few fun times defending keeps or fighting zergs but in general it just feels like it takes significantly more effort and luck to actually get kills between the weaver staff nerfs pre-damage coefficient reduction patch, and then the patch just made it so that you have to land multiple fire fields ontop of a meteor shower?

It's really a bad idea going full glass and try to squeeze as much dmg as possible out of weaver staff, instead try a mix of DPS/tanky stats ; because you don't do glass dmg while using glass stats...use more tanky stats and do above average dmg but contribute more to the fight.

Overall staff ele is quite bad/average DPS wise...dozen of nerfs have severely crippled the weapon

Deal with it. Your place in the squad is being an Aurabot.

Fire weaver is extremely efficient as a support backline, especially if you're rolling fully viper gear. Your power is notable, and your condi is fearsome. You'll die casting your AoEs, but you'll deal significant damage to the other zerg, enough to make them change position, or get wiped if your zerg is engaging. Fire weaver elementalist is terrifying, on your own or with other elementalists.

Your biggest enemy there isn't deadeyes or other suchs, but Retal.

@diomache.9246 said:Deal with it. Your place in the squad is being an Aurabot.

This is the first RPG I've played where the Wizard class is a healbot. It's pathetic.

Staff weaver is fine. But unless you're already at level where you can keep track of enemy commander in the middle of fight 80%+ of the time, you will struggle placing fields to location they will want to go next.

There are bunch of things staff ele can do that no other class can:

• place multiple fields (up to 6: 2 lava fonts, meteor, glyph of storms, fiery gs 5, fire/earth 3) on same spot and one shot things alone AoE
• Fast cast CC from long range
• Dealing more damage next to walls and on choke points (meteor, fiery gs 3)
• Control location where you don't want enemy to go next with all the fields
• Finishing downstates with pulsing low-cd AoE fields on the move.
• Being able to counterbomb a group that got a good engage on you (lightning flash)

Just utilize the kit, it is obviously harder than med kit 1 spam. The most dominant servers in the past were the ones, and still are, who had top 3 DPS eles/weavers. The class frankly is busted provided the group behind it is strong enough to extend the fight more than 1 melee engage. If you have 3 or 4 skilled weavers, you do not only make playing the game for enemy super painful, you can also opt for long-range tactics in case melee doesn't work out.

@Threather.9354 said:Staff weaver is fine. But unless you're already at level where you can keep track of enemy commander in the middle of fight 80%+ of the time, you will struggle placing fields to location they will want to go next.

There are bunch of things staff ele can do that no other class can:

• place multiple fields (up to 6: 2 lava fonts, meteor, glyph of storms, fiery gs 5, fire/earth 3) on same spot and one shot things alone AoE
• Fast cast CC from long range
• Dealing more damage next to walls and on choke points (meteor, fiery gs 3)
• Control location where you don't want enemy to go next with all the fields
• Finishing downstates with pulsing low-cd AoE fields on the move.
• Being able to counterbomb a group that got a good engage on you (lightning flash)

Just utilize the kit, it is obviously harder than med kit 1 spam. The most dominant servers in the past were the ones, and still are, who had top 3 DPS eles/weavers. The class frankly is busted provided the group behind it is strong enough to extend the fight more than 1 melee engage. If you have 3 or 4 skilled weavers, you do not only make playing the game for enemy super painful, you can also opt for long-range tactics in case melee doesn't work out.

What a ridiculous argument....imagine being asked to be the very TOP in all fields of MMO gameplay to use a class...while the rest of the professions in the same game can be used by a hamster on a wheel. That's a failure of a design and there is nothing even remotely fine to that

That's the point. Why bring a weaver which has to be executed perfectly to deal equal damage to a Rev which presses two buttons while Rev has better defense for the group with Dwarf stance and is not as squishy?

@Arheundel.6451 said:

@Threather.9354 said:Staff weaver is fine. But unless you're already at level where you can keep track of enemy commander in the middle of fight 80%+ of the time, you will struggle placing fields to location they will want to go next.

There are bunch of things staff ele can do that no other class can:

• place multiple fields (up to 6: 2 lava fonts, meteor, glyph of storms, fiery gs 5, fire/earth 3) on same spot and one shot things alone AoE
• Fast cast CC from long range
• Dealing more damage next to walls and on choke points (meteor, fiery gs 3)
• Control location where you don't want enemy to go next with all the fields
• Finishing downstates with pulsing low-cd AoE fields on the move.
• Being able to counterbomb a group that got a good engage on you (lightning flash)

Just utilize the kit, it is obviously harder than med kit 1 spam. The most dominant servers in the past were the ones, and still are, who had top 3 DPS eles/weavers. The class frankly is busted provided the group behind it is strong enough to extend the fight more than 1 melee engage. If you have 3 or 4 skilled weavers, you do not only make playing the game for enemy super painful, you can also opt for long-range tactics in case melee doesn't work out.

Poorly phrased, but I believe they meant top 3 DPS as in players who consistently hit top 3 DPS. Not the most skilled weavers of all time. A weaver needs a bit more WvW experience under their belt to succeed at being a DPS, but I think that's a fair trade off for the benefits they can bring. And if a weaver isn't good at doing DPS, it isn't really adding much else to squad, where as most other DPS have auto benefits that even a cabbage can give.

@diomache.9246 said:That's the point. Why bring a weaver which has to be executed perfectly to deal equal damage to a Rev which presses two buttons while Rev has better defense for the group with Dwarf stance and is not as squishy?

Exactly. Weaver CAN be devastating but it's highly situational, dependent on the zerg, dependent on not being pulled off every ledge/keep/wall, and just much harder in general to land good pockets of damage.

I'm pretty good at hitting large groups of people with my aoe's, but unless they're focusing on the zerg I've noticed that it just isn't very effective because unless you've stacked multiple ticking damage fields AND landed a meteor shower, the damage just trickles in. It seems like Rev is better because the damage can all be frontloaded into a couple attacks and isn't as obvious as to when it's going to hit.

Dunno, I never played ele just for pure meteor shower lol, still plenty of utility thru snares and cc and water fields (yeah yeah, they are not as useful anymore but it's still a small heal from blasting) which rev dosnt have.

@diomache.9246 and @"Arheundel.6451" It's the "meta" discussion again, right?

If you want reliable (easy and useful) ranged damage you can go Rev. If you want useful at ranged damage and possibly more fun with far more flexibility in choices you can go Ele. If you want reliable, useful and easy as Ele you can go Minstrel and Tempest, that being a choice that makes you flexible.

At the end of the day it doesn't really matter. The difference is small enough to make motivation a larger factor than the difference between the classes. If it is useful enough to keep the people around you happy, then play what you find fun. If it doesn't make them happy, weigh the fun of your build against the fun of adapting to the social situation. I do that all the time, in many ways.

If you really want to optimize in the "meta", be as flexible as you can over all the classes/builds and play what the tag wants the most on a per situation basis. Then weigh that against queues and stuff. Also, be vocal, helpful and befriend the tag.

If you want to optimize your own fun, make your choices as flexible as possible by getting the resources necessary to adapt as you please and see fit. This could involve having 10 sets of gear each on a couple of classes that you play alot.

If you want to optimize your performance as something, pick something you find fun and motivating to play and practise it enough and you will get good enough on that to blow every average unmotivated player out of the water and impress the tag enough to stay on his or her good side no matter what you choose to do at any given time.

As much as a paradox it may seem, some people in this game are so experienced that they manage to all those things at the same time.

Weaver play along side safer instead of with squad zerk you just have to find opportunity and sneak around you can still play but rev is better with squad. I like a good weaver.Better if another squad made for ranged prof with a fb for stab support. And the main squad to be the generic group.Both squad go along to support each other..But if players are small.. that's fine to put weavers on separate group with a fb.

Rev is better for damage but Weaver is fun.I play for fun, so Weaver wins

@Arheundel.6451 said:

@"Threather.9354" said:Staff weaver is fine. But unless you're already at level where you can keep track of enemy commander in the middle of fight 80%+ of the time, you will struggle placing fields to location they will want to go next.

There are bunch of things staff ele can do that no other class can:

• place multiple fields (up to 6: 2 lava fonts, meteor, glyph of storms, fiery gs 5, fire/earth 3) on same spot and one shot things alone AoE
• Fast cast CC from long range
• Dealing more damage next to walls and on choke points (meteor, fiery gs 3)
• Control location where you don't want enemy to go next with all the fields
• Finishing downstates with pulsing low-cd AoE fields on the move.
• Being able to counterbomb a group that got a good engage on you (lightning flash)

Just utilize the kit, it is obviously harder than med kit 1 spam. The most dominant servers in the past were the ones, and still are, who had top 3 DPS eles/weavers. The class frankly is busted provided the group behind it is strong enough to extend the fight more than 1 melee engage. If you have 3 or 4 skilled weavers, you do not only make playing the game for enemy super painful, you can also opt for long-range tactics in case melee doesn't work out.

This is why I quit elementalist long, long, long ago. There is very clear blatant bias against the class and it's not fun being nerfed over and over again because 5 people out of a million can make your class "overpowered".