Buff Core Elementalist- bring back D/D

[Stallic.2397]

Core Elementalist seriously needs the Rev treatment. Without F5, both elites stand out as superior choices. Buffing core traitlines will only complicate balance between Tempest and Weaver. To avoid disrupting balance, Core Ele needs a tradeoff skill not available to elites, that addresses the greatest weaknesses of its build: lack of survivability and lack of auras.

Woven Aura- Gain the aura of your existing attunement for 4 seconds total.• Fire/Water/Air/Earth Aura access (4 sec)• 45 sec cooldown• Instant Cast

Arcanic Transmutation- Transmute any aura attained by woven aura and detonate all four elemental energies into one powerful blast• Unleash flame expulsion (Fire), Cure 3 conditions (Water), Grant tectonic shift for 4 sec (Earth) and Break stun (Air)• 60 sec cooldown• Instant Cast

Most of these buffs address survivability which is the hardest draw back to Core Ele. Tempest and Weaver are great specializations leaning towards support or bruiser/condi damage; but neither have the versatility that Core does. Woven Aura/Arcanic Transmutation affects Elementalist’s adaptability.

Every weapon set will now have access to all four auras due to the F5. These auras can benefit by aura trait synergies, and can be transmuted on weapon skills if the skill set is available.

Arcanic Transmutation can only be transmuted via F5. All four effects activate no matter the attunement. This skill is similar to flipped transmutation skills. There is a 4 sec window to use the ability and it can only be used after activating Woven Aura. Flame expulsion will remove might just like the grandmaster trait. Because Arcanic Transmutation is a flipped over skill, those who want to spam it will have to waste the aura granted by Woven Aura, and the scenario is vice versa. Gaining the benefit of both will take a bit of luck and timing, especially in the pvp setting.

[Downstate.4697]

Nerf dual skill weapon damage. Buff core weapon damage. Increase base heal of healing ripple and cleansing wave to around 1600. Increase the heal scaling. Remove the aoe affect. Buff firegrab to churning earth damage. Reduce its cd by 5. Reduce cd of updraft by 5. Reduce cd of earthen rush by 3.

[Zeesh.7286]

@"FrownyClown.8402" said:Nerf dual skill weapon damage. Buff core weapon damage. Increase base heal of healing ripple and cleansing wave to around 1600. Increase the heal scaling. Remove the aoe affect. Buff firegrab to churning earth damage. Reduce its cd by 5. Reduce cd of updraft by 5. Reduce cd of earthen rush by 3.

Buffing core "weapons" will buff up weaver and tempests too since the weapons skills are same across. In fact it would make D/D weavers OP as weaver adds so many damage modifiers on double attuning.

I honestly think if Earth and Arcane are buffed up people might consider taking them over specialized weaver/tempest lines and play core more. The difference between Core and elites is just one specialization. You need to make the other specializations attractive so people want to pick them over weaver and tempest.

[Downstate.4697]

@Zeesh.7286 said:

@"FrownyClown.8402" said:Nerf dual skill weapon damage. Buff core weapon damage. Increase base heal of healing ripple and cleansing wave to around 1600. Increase the heal scaling. Remove the aoe affect. Buff firegrab to churning earth damage. Reduce its cd by 5. Reduce cd of updraft by 5. Reduce cd of earthen rush by 3.

Buffing core "weapons" will buff up weaver and tempests too since the weapons skills are same across. In fact it would make D/D weavers OP as weaver adds so many damage modifiers on double attuning.

I honestly think if Earth and Arcane are buffed up people might consider taking them over specialized weaver/tempest lines and play core more. The difference between Core and elites is just one specialization. You need to make the other specializations attractive so people want to pick them over weaver and tempest.

Weaver dual skills are overloaded with damage (half because of LR) partly why they are better at that role. Nerf that and compensate damage on offhand dagger. Now weavers will need to choose between the utility of focus or the damage of dagger. DPS tempest would probably be overtuned at that point though

[Stallic.2397]

Weaver dual skills are overloaded with damage (half because of LR) partly why they are better at that role. Nerf that and compensate damage on offhand dagger. Now weavers will need to choose between the utility of focus or the damage of dagger. DPS tempest would probably be overtuned at that point though

It's not damage that Core is lacking. They have great burst damage, especially if traited for it. Weavers are supposed to be a damage dealing class, so it's really counter productive.

The rest of the Dagger buffs mentioned are just sustain buffs that will off balance both elites. Core Ele needs something that won't affect Tempest or Weaver.

Buffing Earth traitline is a good idea too but I'm not optimistic that will happen at this point

[Downstate.4697]

@Stallic.2397 said:

Weaver dual skills are overloaded with damage (half because of LR) partly why they are better at that role. Nerf that and compensate damage on offhand dagger. Now weavers will need to choose between the utility of focus or the damage of dagger. DPS tempest would probably be overtuned at that point though

It's not damage that Core is lacking. They have great burst damage, especially if traited for it. Weavers are supposed to be a damage dealing class, so it's really counter productive.

The rest of the Dagger buffs mentioned are just sustain buffs that will off balance both elites. Core Ele needs something that won't affect Tempest or Weaver.

Buffing Earth traitline is a good idea too but I'm not optimistic that will happen at this point

tempest takes earth now instead of fire depending on team comp. I thought buffing earth would fix it too, but it just makes tempest better. My initial thoughts for increasing offhand dagger damage was core could build tankier without sacrificing all damage. Whatever anet decides to do it probably wont make sense either way

[lLobo.7960]

I don't think core ele needs a F5.Core traitlines just need to be better so that they can compare to weaver and tempest.Something like this: https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/59263/elementalist-traitlines-for-the-current-state-of-the-game (a bit outdated but still some relevant things there)

What made core d/d good was being able to have 2 elemental traitlines and arcane.The main way to make this great again is to reinstate the old Lingering Elements trait. It would let core ele keep the buffs of its two other traitlines longer, while elite specs would only have one elemental traitline available to keep the buffs... So an Air/fire/arcane ele would be able to keep bonuses from both air and fire (stats from minor traits, improved crit/ferocity/dmg from other traits) longer while swaping attunements, giving them an edge over the weaver buffs.

A few other ideas to make not just core better, but also the elite specs:

Auras:

• Healing auras should be in water, and aura-share in tempest. This will let core use auras for sustain and let tempest use aura-share offensively (fire/air/tempest).
• Each elemental traitline should have a trait to improve auras in general and one aura in specific. Air would provide swiftness to all auras and quickness to static auras, fire would provide might to all auras and resistance to fire auras, earth provides protection to all auras and stability to magnetic aura, water provides vigor to all auras and regen to frost auras...
• Make arcane shield into an aura. Give the arcane trait similar treatment as above, giving fury to all auras and the unblockable buff while arcane shield is active.
• Make improved auras (with the traits above) pulse buffs instead of just a single application. This would make good aura management important as they don't stack. So pacing the aura application would provide more buff. It would also make traits and runes that extend aura duration more valuable.

Traitlines:Fire

• Removing conditions should stay in water. Fire should let you resist them. Making fire auras apply resistance would provide fire with a different gameplay to water, where you try to keep your fire auras going to avoid the effects of the conditions instead of cleansing them.
• Conjure weapons and the conjurer trait need a big rework. The utility skill to conjure the weapon should have charge, letting you summon 2 at once or pacing them so you could always keep one going. The conjurer trait could then improve the recharge of the charges (letting you keep more conjures going) and improve the buffs you get while using conjured weapons.Air
• If air can provide quickness on static aura it would go a long way to help set it as a burst attune, as you could get swiftness with the aura, then blast the aura for CC and follow with the burst quickly. Giving the aura-share to tempest would let tempest become an offensive buffer providing quickness to the group with air overloads.Earth
• Rock-solid needs more than just a single stability stack when attuning to earth. Giving stability to magnetic auras would make it a nice option.
• Just like aura heals should be in water, the improved protection should be in earth. Give it to the trait that provides protection in auras - elemental shielding.Arcane
• Get lingering elements back and working properly.
• Arcane precision, make it so it gives "minor arcane power" when swapping attunements (so your next 3 strikes are crits after swaping attunements, no group buff). This would synergize well with the arcane line and elemental surge trait.
• Renewing stamina needs a shorter ICD, and maybe to restore endurance every time you give vigor.
• Bountifull power needs to apply buffs based on attunement. A flat dmg increase is nice, but arcane is about versatility and attunement swapping. Make it so that the bonus it gives is based on attunment. Instead of a flat 2% dmg bonus:
  • fire: 1% dmg, 1% condi dmg;
  • air: 1% dmg, 1% crit dmg;
  • water: 1% healing, 1% outgoing healing;
  • earth: 1% dmg reduction, 1% incoming condi duration reduction

[Downstate.4697]

@"lLobo.7960" said:I don't think core ele needs a F5.Core traitlines just need to be better so that they can compare to weaver and tempest.Something like this: https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/59263/elementalist-traitlines-for-the-current-state-of-the-game (a bit outdated but still some relevant things there)

What made core d/d good was being able to have 2 elemental traitlines and arcane.The main way to make this great again is to reinstate the old Lingering Elements trait. It would let core ele keep the buffs of its two other traitlines longer, while elite specs would only have one elemental traitline available to keep the buffs... So an Air/fire/arcane ele would be able to keep bonuses from both air and fire (stats from minor traits, improved crit/ferocity/dmg from other traits) longer while swaping attunements, giving them an edge over the weaver buffs.

A few other ideas to make not just core better, but also the elite specs:

Auras:

• Healing auras should be in water, and aura-share in tempest. This will let core use auras for sustain and let tempest use aura-share offensively (fire/air/tempest).
• Each elemental traitline should have a trait to improve auras in general and one aura in specific. Air would provide swiftness to all auras and quickness to static auras, fire would provide might to all auras and resistance to fire auras, earth provides protection to all auras and stability to magnetic aura, water provides vigor to all auras and regen to frost auras...
• Make arcane shield into an aura. Give the arcane trait similar treatment as above, giving fury to all auras and the unblockable buff while arcane shield is active.
• Make improved auras (with the traits above) pulse buffs instead of just a single application. This would make good aura management important as they don't stack. So pacing the aura application would provide more buff. It would also make traits and runes that extend aura duration more valuable.

Traitlines:Fire

• Removing conditions should stay in water. Fire should let you resist them. Making fire auras apply resistance would provide fire with a different gameplay to water, where you try to keep your fire auras going to avoid the effects of the conditions instead of cleansing them.
• Conjure weapons and the conjurer trait need a big rework. The utility skill to conjure the weapon should have charge, letting you summon 2 at once or pacing them so you could always keep one going. The conjurer trait could then improve the recharge of the charges (letting you keep more conjures going) and improve the buffs you get while using conjured weapons.Air
• If air can provide quickness on static aura it would go a long way to help set it as a burst attune, as you could get swiftness with the aura, then blast the aura for CC and follow with the burst quickly. Giving the aura-share to tempest would let tempest become an offensive buffer providing quickness to the group with air overloads.Earth
• Rock-solid needs more than just a single stability stack when attuning to earth. Giving stability to magnetic auras would make it a nice option.
• Just like aura heals should be in water, the improved protection should be in earth. Give it to the trait that provides protection in auras - elemental shielding.Arcane
• Get lingering elements back and working properly.
• Arcane precision, make it so it gives "minor arcane power" when swapping attunements (so your next 3 strikes are crits after swaping attunements, no group buff). This would synergize well with the arcane line and elemental surge trait.
• Renewing stamina needs a shorter ICD, and maybe to restore endurance every time you give vigor.
• Bountifull power needs to apply buffs based on attunement. A flat dmg increase is nice, but arcane is about versatility and attunement swapping. Make it so that the bonus it gives is based on attunment. Instead of a flat 2% dmg bonus:
  • fire: 1% dmg, 1% condi dmg;
  • air: 1% dmg, 1% crit dmg;
  • water: 1% healing, 1% outgoing healing;
  • earth: 1% dmg reduction, 1% incoming condi duration reduction

Very solid ideas.