Is this class very good at solo'ing PvE content relative to other options?

I'm a new returning player, and my main was an Ele last I played back around launch. For the last 2 or 3 weeks I've been bouncing back and forth somewhat between Ele and Mesmer play, and so far it seems like the Mesmer is more self sufficient. I have both HoT and PoF, and 3.5/4 of the elite specs unlocked now (50% through Chronomancer).

Problem is I definitely enjoy Elementalist more. Even with Weaver spec looking like it'll be a genuine nightmare to learn, the whole class is more appealing with its wider range of options at any given time. That said, fun for me comes in 2 parts: general appeal, and effectiveness. What I basically want to know is whether or not an Elementalist can be as effective solo'ing content as a Mesmer. My experience so far has been that an Ele is usually ok, until things get crazy. At this point I have a few buttons I can press before its all over. However, I haven't tried a lot of things, and I only have basic exotic gear so far.

Note that this is just for ease of solo'ing normal content. I will by all means group up later down the line for dungeons and fractals and whatever else. I just don't want to have to bang my head against a wall for a difficult story segment or something, and it seems like the Mesmer may never struggle in that regard.

TL;DR - Can an elementalist be as effective solo'ing open world/personal story/living world content as a Mesmer? If not, is it close, or is Ele a weak soloist?

ele is better at soloing than mesmer imo

but as always, it's really about build rather than class for these kinds of things. Both classes can build to be extremely self sufficient.

@reikken.4961 said:ele is better at soloing than mesmer imo

but as always, it's really about build rather than class for these kinds of things. Both classes can build to be extremely self sufficient.

Really? What kind of build provides this level of self sufficiency?

@Xialoh.7261 said:

@reikken.4961 said:ele is better at soloing than mesmer imo

but as always, it's really about build rather than class for these kinds of things. Both classes can build to be extremely self sufficient.

I did great as a DPS. You kill things before they have a chance to kill you. For veterans mobs that I may struggle with, I used summons to tank them for me.

A Necro with minions is relatively safe but I found it to be slow.

Fresh air d/x tempest is pretty good open world. You're squishy, so you have to be mindful of positioning and dodge well compared to other classes... but it's a good time. And I believe weaver is also desirable in group content for damage... though I only PvP and fart around in open world, so I don't know much about that.

It depends on what your expectations are. If you're just doing the storyline and you join squads when available for open world bosses/events, either class is more than adequate and you should choose the one you enjoy most (or play both!). However, if you want the very best option for taking on almost anything you come across, I think mesmer is the better choice for two reasons:

1) Mesmer isn't restricted to one weapon type. By comparison, a build like sword/dagger weaver is left out in the cold whenever it isn't feasible to be at melee range.

2) While ele has more tools in the toolkit, including the strongest heals in the game and plenty of tankiness should you want to take it, it has to sacrifice a lot more to gain that survivability. Mesmer (Especially Mirage!) is far more survivable without having to use tanky stats or defensive/support trait lines at all.

Just thought I'd provide some video to help illustrate the differences between mesmer and ele.

Viper Mirage vs. Champion Avatar of Balthazar

Celestial Tempest vs. Champion Avatar of Balthazar

These are two very different play styles. The W/E/T celestial tempest is more of a tanky PvP/WvW-style healer build. Plenty of health, armor, and effortless healing. You can see that she is actually able to facetank this boss, absorb everything he can dish out, and heal it back easily while staying on offense. The boss doesn't stand a chance of killing her!

Compare to the Mirage build which is using all offensive gear and trait lines (chaos/dueling/mirage with full viper stats). She's at considerably greater risk and can't afford to take hits the way the tempest build can. However, she is still able to survive and defeats the boss in less than a third of the time it takes the Tempest build!

Maybe somebody else can manage it, but I wasn't able to go full glass against this boss using ele. He was just too strong for me.

For me Chronomesmer sword/sword and shield is the easiest solo build in the game. Lots of blocks and damage mitigation, invulnerability skill wich can chained together. Great movement for dis/engange like blink. Also your illus/clones makes life easy. It also has with the GS an lazy open world option for range camping. With focus you can have an nice pull and if traited missle reflect. Mirage is also great maybe even better for soloing. I just don't like the flashy playstyle.

@"AliamRationem.5172" said:2) While ele has more tools in the toolkit, including the strongest heals in the game and plenty of tankiness should you want to take it, it has to sacrifice a lot more to gain that survivability.

It has to sacrifice a lot less than you think. Celestial is not good for doing damage in PvE. You can have a build that's just as tanky but does way more PvE dps.For example, this build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vFAQJAoYncMANNgF5CmNAM5iFTAjIBEAii3n508cuoKWADBA-jRiAQBvUJYi0BUGlfdSlAA8AACkWAOcCAgx+DkSdHSBAzoN-e

@reikken.4961 said:

@"AliamRationem.5172" said:2) While ele has more tools in the toolkit, including the strongest heals in the game and plenty of tankiness should you want to take it, it has to sacrifice a lot more to gain that survivability.

I think it was pretty great! I'm not familiar with weaver yet, but it looks like a much better damage spec than tempest even using such poor damage gear. And what a coincidence! I've actually been looking into the possibility of a water/arcane/weaver build and here you go with an example of it working way better than I ever thought it could! Thanks! You might just get me back into the ele!

I guess I just didn't think a condi setup using only condi damage stat could work for this spec, but it seemed more than adequate. Cool!

@AliamRationem.5172 said:I think it was pretty great! I'm not familiar with weaver yet, but it looks like a much better damage spec than tempest even using such poor damage gear. And what a coincidence! I've actually been looking into the possibility of a water/arcane/weaver build and here you go with an example of it working way better than I ever thought it could! Thanks! You might just get me back into the ele!

I guess I just didn't think a condi setup using only condi damage stat could work for this spec, but it seemed more than adequate. Cool!

a nice coincidence indeed. glad to be of helpAs for tempest, the build is actually based off my old d/w tempest build. Weaver of course does more damage, but tempest isn't too terribly far behind, so you can still put out some solid damage while being a great group healer. but definitely recommend weaver for solo

Speaking from someone who was new to hot and no elite specs, and no mounts yet it is a pain, seriously you will have a hard time period unless you can find a good survivable build or always group with someone, you can kill fast but you will die allot, but its certainly rewarding once you unlock tempest it is pretty decent at open world.

@reikken.4961 said:ele is better at soloing than mesmer imo

but as always, it's really about build rather than class for these kinds of things. Both classes can build to be extremely self sufficient.

What???? Yea 1 through 50 they are but after that hek no, once a mesmer has all their tools they are way better and safer soloers.

i created a ele like 3 months ago never played ele before but with pof i started one i tried to start with more balanced and i had full ascended armor rdy i did run full marshal's armor and weapons and full cele trinkets with dura runes for solo pve i use sword/dagger and i switch to tempest on meta stuff like tarir after i got the hang of it and the rotation i moved to more dmg armor like more zerg stats it is great for pve when you get use to it.

i have 2 mes 1 power and 1 condi finished both hot and pof with but in my point of view condi mirage is far more better in solo pve while power/support chrono is better for meta/fract.

So whatever you feel confi with play it i even finished all 3 maps on condi trap soulbeast lol

@reikken.4961 said:ele is better at soloing than mesmer imo

but as always, it's really about build rather than class for these kinds of things. Both classes can build to be extremely self sufficient.

Ele WAS better solo than Mesmer. Right now it is not even remotely close. Since the Feb 2018 balance update, Mesmer is the strongest class in open world PvE.

@Xialoh.7261 said:

@reikken.4961 said:ele is better at soloing than mesmer imo

but as always, it's really about build rather than class for these kinds of things. Both classes can build to be extremely self sufficient.

Cele ele

@Xialoh.7261 said:TL;DR - Can an elementalist be as effective solo'ing open world/personal story/living world content as a Mesmer? If not, is it close, or is Ele a weak soloist?

Short answer: yes, it can. But it requires you to be very good at ele.

@sokeenoppa.5384 said:

@Xialoh.7261 said:

@reikken.4961 said:ele is better at soloing than mesmer imo

but as always, it's really about build rather than class for these kinds of things. Both classes can build to be extremely self sufficient.

Don't. Cele is just mediocre at everything.

@Feanor.2358 said:

@Xialoh.7261 said:

TL;DR

- Can an elementalist be as effective solo'ing open world/personal story/living world content as a Mesmer? If not, is it close, or is Ele a weak soloist?

@sokeenoppa.5384 said:

@Xialoh.7261 said:

@reikken.4961 said:ele is better at soloing than mesmer imo

but as always, it's really about build rather than class for these kinds of things. Both classes can build to be extremely self sufficient.

I didn't say it is good. But you can basically facetank and kill everything, Balthasar HP, dungeon bosses, champions..

I'd love to see you facetank Balthazar HP on cele ele.

@Feanor.2358 said:I'd love to see you facetank Balthazar HP on cele ele.

was the video above not facetanky enough?

@"Feanor.2358" said:I'd love to see you facetank Balthazar HP on cele ele.

Note the word "basically". And feel free to join watch while i do it with my cele ele water/arcane/tempest and runes of durability ^^

@Feanor.2358 said:I'd love to see you facetank Balthazar HP on cele ele.

By definition, cele offers the most in every attribute. You are certainly average in everything, but overall better sustain than most builds while also doing less damage.

However, when it comes to solo, I personally think that sustain is better. I prefer to take 15mn to kill one champion with some margin for mistake than taking 3mn but die and restart on first mistake.

I suppose apothecary can do a similar job, maybe better. I'm not sure ele is really good on condi alone (vs cele).

@sokeenoppa.5384 said:

@"Feanor.2358" said:I'd love to see you facetank Balthazar HP on cele ele.

My point is, nobody runs water/arcane/tempest in PvE.

@Feanor.2358 said:

@sokeenoppa.5384 said:

@Feanor.2358 said:I'd love to see you facetank Balthazar HP on cele ele.

But there is always option for that. Ofc most players use meta weaver build like i do 90% of The Time. Also water arcane tempest is used in raids ^^

@Feanor.2358 said:

@sokeenoppa.5384 said:

@Feanor.2358 said:I'd love to see you facetank Balthazar HP on cele ele.

Topic is about soloing content. There are no requirements about builds or trait lines. Elementalist is all about creativity, where you have a lot of choices.I don't see anything wrong with his build. Who cares if it is not meta, it is meant for solo ? On a personnal note, I wouldn't even look for META builds even when playing in groups, but it is off-topic.