What's the worst/most underpowered ele spec for wvw roaming?

[Punch.4231]

I'm thinking condi scepter.

Thoughts? We all rag on elementalist but what's the absolute worst iteration of the profession?

[Junkpile.7439]

Glass cannon scpepter/dagged core ele probably if we talk about "real" builds that have been somewhat popular. It's so weak now. Damage and final shielding nerfs really ruined this build.

[steki.1478]

Non FA scepter by far. Other weapons can at least have some build variations that arent terrible (condi staff excluded because that's not even a thing). The build mentioned above can at least escape due to RTL on dagger and superspeed. Staff in general performs poorly when roaming, but at least it can have some usage in +1ing or bursting down people that arent paying attention, with pile driver.

[Arheundel.6451]

Condi scepter/staff...you can't go wrong there..I don't think there is anything worst in the whole game

[Zeesh.7286]

I don't know... I personally feel that condi (any weapon) builds can work regardless of the weapon set because you can max condi damage with toughness and vitality through Dire stats or even trailblazers. A proper signet of fire it alone can deal tons of damage and it has a super low cooldown too. Condi staff can also work with a fire elemental with tempest same for condi scepter. You can pair it with focus. It would be a garbage meme of course but it's not the worst thing since you still have toughness and vitality...

The hardest I think is basically glass cannon staff ele weaver (strictly for roaming. It is brilliant in zergs). Staff projectiles are super slow. On a full berserkers you die in like 2-3 hits. And full berserkers also does not have the cleanses you will want, has no toughness and no vitality...

[Punch.4231]

Thanks for the feedback. I don't play much anymore but I spent a couple afternoons playing tempest and core condi with scepter and staff. They're awful, you guys were right. Zeesh you were also right in that TB stats and signet of fire are enough to get kills at times. It was actually pretty rewarding though, to get kills on a build this bad.

I was curious to see how bad these setups would be, and yeah, they suck. But basically anything can look ok in a montage.

[Megametzler.5729]

This is the worst in my view: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PGgAsilNwAZYsIGKeaX9PTA-zVJYjRDfZ0aBEdCY3hIEbgL5MQfA-w

A "worst roamer build" needs to do zero damage and be actually unable to kill anything. The stats support this, while the traits are often focussed on crits (which never happen anyways). We are looking for zero interactions here! The only problem is taking signet trait and one signet, but this one is so exceptionally bad, it doesn't even matter. Also remember, Flame Axe is bae! ToF is for the 75s CD meme, Unravel would be the alternative. Woven stride is very good without water traitline. Runes of Speed help you in running after enemies, should they somehow decide not wanting to kill you. For this, we sacrifice some badness and use some synergies. Annoy them with Tornado and zero damages until they finally relieve you!

The details are especially important. Like two emergency traits on the same 300s CD and both activating at 50% health.

€: Still nice montage. :smile: But it gets much much worse!

[Punch.4231]

lol I love that you even put in terrible consumables. Thank you for raising (lowering?) the bar. I feel like any kill with your build would be basically beating the game.

[Yasai.3549]

Core Staff.Literally doesn't get any worse than this.

[Punch.4231]

@Yasai.3549 said:Core Staff.Literally doesn't get any worse than this.

condi or power?

[Megametzler.5729]

@Yasai.3549 said:Core Staff.Literally doesn't get any worse than this.

Build it and show it! :lol:

[Tuco.2419]

...

[Coeruleum.9164]

Well if you just want the worst ele build possible don't equip any weapons, armor, or trinkets, don't put any skills in your skill bar, and don't take any traits. That's probably too easy of an answer though.

[Punch.4231]

@"Coeruleum.9164" said:Well if you just want the worst ele build possible don't equip any weapons, armor, or trinkets, don't put any skills in your skill bar, and don't take any traits. That's probably too easy of an answer though.

I guess it comes down to what constitutes a "build". Initially I meant what is the worst/most underpowered damage type and weapon combination and I wanted to see if I could make it work, at least as far as a montage goes, but the literal "what is the worst" is yeah, not really a build at all.

I think the more interesting things are facts like scepter autos apply condis, but scepter is a trash condi weapon. Why? Poor design? Underutilized by the community? Gotta test it. Is there hidden power there? Can a ele be a budget scepter necro?

Today I tried minstrel/nomad (I don't have full minstrel gear) core staff as suggested by MegaMetzler and it turns out it is actually possible to kill someone with it, thanks to elementals. Is it suboptimal? Yeah. Terrible? Probably. Kinda fun? Yup. But I think the point of trying weird stuff is that we may find something viable where we least expected it. I have a super weird build in mind that I think will work because of this exercise. So for those asking WHY and saying WTF there is both an element of challenge in attempting something way off meta and also some small hope that you might discover something you hadn't previously considered. That's kinda what theorycrafting is all about, I think. Anyway, much love to my fellow ele mains.

[Zhaid Zhem.6508]

Reading this thread feels like Elem is so OP we need to handicap ourself. :#

Otherwise, I think there is a misunderstanding. Scepter is an useless weapon outside FA weaver.But Condi elem isn't weak no matter the weapon. First, most of people play condi with dire/trailblazer, and so you're already a cancer bunker for most of players. Second, signets and overloads are sufficients to apply condi and kill, you should just need some condi cover and CC, you can have that with warhorn for example.
Actually I think core* FA scepter is harder than Condi tempest with no mainhand weapon, because your damage mainly comes from weapons, and scepter has been forgotten since Hot. (edit, I forgot they buffed Shatterstone like 4 times in 3 months)

It isn't impossible to kill (A good gale + dragon's tooth + phoenix) but without weaver traits and dual attacks you lose half your DPS and sustain. Or even without Air overload against greedy players.

[cyberzombie.7348]

Magi staff ele. You'll deal pretty much no damage and have no real sustain.

[steki.1478]

https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/comment/1367879/#Comment_1367879 think I found what we're looking for.

[Arheundel.6451]

@"steki.1478" said:https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/comment/1367879/#Comment_1367879 think I found what we're looking for.

Oh wait..somebody took me seriously and he's trying condi scepter....-_-...oh boy

[steki.1478]

@Arheundel.6451 said:

@"steki.1478" said:

https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/comment/1367879/#Comment_1367879

think I found what we're looking for.

Oh wait..somebody took me seriously and he's trying condi scepter....-_-...oh boy

Condi scepter with air and no elite specs. What could possibly go wrong?

[Jski.6180]

Core and scepter but that not to say the other builds of core are any better. Over all core ele is missing so much that its not worth running at any point.

[MasterDeere.3417]

whatever build with trailblazer and staff

[ollbirtan.2915]

Core. core. core.Sadly, also FA weaver/tempest...You need to put twice the effort to win in small scale fights now.As for trailblazer, d/f trailblazer+apotechekary condi tempest is an omg meme noob stomper build. Deletes thieves, and pretty much any class in 1v1. Only has some issues with condi rev.

[Paradoxoglanis.1904]

Core condi staff or zerker dagger/dagger or scepter/dagger. Condi staff deals no damage, and scepter/dagger cant survive. Condi scepter/focus is actually pretty good in some matchups.