fuzzyp.6295

I feel like its hard to say honestly. All classes have potential to run high sustain builds with how powerful Celestial is right now.. And when I think to my time roaming, its hard to really split from classes that are good vs classes that are popular. My first thought would be to say Guardian, actually. Both DH and Core are pretty meh at the moment and not really much of a threat in a 1v1 situation. And while Firebrand can be hard to put down, its certainly not impossible unlike other builds.... Willbenders seem like they need a few more tweaks before they can be a real threat. But on the flip side, I see them constantly, so this might just be a lot of bad Guardian players skewing my judgement. I know a lot of folks will probably say Warrior but I still feel spellbreaker is a strong duelist. Maybe Rev? I remember seeing alot of Revs at the start of EoD but they've kinda fallen out of the roaming scene for me.

Yes. Scepter has a lot of high burst potential with its skills which is why the crictal hit focused line Air works so nicely with it. While there is damage on the condi side now, its just not really enough in WvW/PvP to merit taking Scepter over Dagger, Sword or even Hammer. Can you make a build that uses condi scepter? Sure, but it would probably be a Fire/Earth/Tempest who wins more so with Signet of Fire and Overload Earth rather than anything scepter brings to the table. Earth on Scepter is bad. Auto attack is bad, Dust devil is bad. Rock Barrier is 'okay' in the sense that you press it and forget it and its a projectial finishers so, you know, combos, but otherwises, Earth is garbage. Water auto attack is bad and Water Trident is a solid 'meh', it really needs to heal for more or cleanse a condition to be viable. Shatterstone has been meme'd to death by the Ele community but is actually a good skill now. Problem is there is a delay so you gotta time it right. Good pay off for a good step up. Same issues with Fire: while the AA is okay now, Phoenix and Dragon Tooth are both fairly slow attacks that pack a punch. This is why Scepter works better on power: if you chain your abilities together you can basically one shot people. Weaver Scepters take that up to 11 with stuff like Plasma Beam. Fire can work with Core Elementalist if you want to run a Fire/Arcane/Air build. Water also works with Core. But for Weaver, which Scepter is really strong for, you're usually running Air/Weaver/Arcane. Can you use Scepter with a support? Sure, but like with condi, the question of why you're using it over other options is odd. Dagger offers more for support than Scepter: Heal (W2), Blast for healings (W3), Shocking Aura (A3), Block Projectiles (E2), Mobility (F3, E3). Scepter on the other hand offers in terms of support: One Heal (W3), 2 Blinds (A3, E3) and we can throw in the toughness from Rock Barrier as well. If you want to support, honestly, just taking Dagger for the Aura is better since Tempest is the support Elementalist class and having that aura is useful. (EDIT: Oh, forgot Scepter also has a blasts for healing (F2, F3) oops)

What game mode are you looking at playing? Fresh Air is strong on Scepter in competitive modes, but there a few condi variations of Tempest out there that use Scepter for open world/end game PvE. If you're looking to play competitive PvP/WvW, Fresh Air is just much better than anything else the scepter offers, Dagger is honestly a better condi focused weapon than Scepter for those modes. (EDIT: Should also add in PvP/WvW you can also run traits like Lightening Rod with Scepter and be very successful as well, it doesn't have to be Fresh Air, but Scepter in PvP/WvW is absolutely best used as a power focused weapon)

Stealth options. I don't care about the rest, I'd make it work. Just give me some useful stealth already anet (I'll take reveal too).

(WvW/sPvP mostly point of view) I would like to see an option to case the fields directly on the Elementalist without having to place them. I'd personally just prefer a 'target self' key binding as opposed to making fields cast-on self only, but wouldn't mind either way. Hammer absolutely needs better CC. Air 4 and 5 are not very good for CC at all. They might be scared about quickness abuse but as it stands you basically get 1 usable CC per mode (Air 5 is ok for PvE on targets if you can predict they'll be standing still for a bit and Air 4 is alright for mobility/cc in competitive, but they're not particularly useful for the other mode) I'd like for them to do something with Empowered Empowerment so that its not a dead skill 95% of the time you take it.. Even if you have to reduce the effectiveness from 100% to 70% or something. Maybe have it extend the duration of all applied Elemental Empowerment by 3 seconds? That makes it 18s, which should help maintain stacks longer. I also feel like a lot of people are asking for damage reduction for Catalyst. Personally, I think this can be addressed by a rework of the Earth line, making it a more viable alternative, it already has a lot of damage reduction in it, its just doesn't compete with Fire which offers better sustain and damage dealing even at the cost of a little bit of defense.

Oh it is? And here I am running around in full zerker gear smashing face even without EE... Clearly I'm doing it wrong. Lol 🙃

Tbh it's not as though Elementalist has ever been lacking in the CC department... all the weapons have access to atleast 2 cc (except scepter(0) and sword (1) but those are main hand so it will still have a CC from off hand). Honestly I feel like the CC weapon combo is D/F weaver with what... 5 skills of CC I think it is? And that's not counting soft CC or elites that had CC too. So idk .. I guess if Hammer isnt going to offer much CC I'd rather the CC it offers to be unique. Pulls, Tauntz, Launches or even Fears... you know something ele doesn't already have would be cool.

Stupid formatting of the forum. Accidentally posted a quote lol. I meant to say I wish they'd change Air 5 to a pull instead of the slow blast stun. Put the whirl finisher on Hurricane of Pain (pls). Wind Storm is eh... they should add the Windfall buff from Air Keep on the Ele so we have a few moments to stay alive if we yeet ourselves off a cliff at least. But Air's CC are not the best. It's kinda strange that Hammer in general doesn't have too much CC.

Thanks for your suggestions. Unfortunately, mouse clicking skills in competitive modes is not particularly comfortable for me to do. Having a binding to have on my mouse would be a much better QoL since I could hit that then immediately my Jade Sphere key after without having to adjust my mouse around and risk losing my target or messing with my camera aim. I will give it a try though I suppose if nothing else.

I'm wondering if anyone else would be interested in ANet creating a keybinding to allow self targeting? I know personally as a Catalyst, the need to actually place the field down manually has caused me to mess up my rotations and die because I lost sight of my mouse when I needed a water field for healing. 9 out of 10 times I find myself casting the field if not directly on me, then basically in the same area of myself and the mob. I understand why having the flexibility to place the fields is useful, but I would really appreciate a way to target myself with a keybind to help cut down on the amount of times I lose my mouse in all the craziness of a fight. I'm not sure if other professions may benefit from this as much, but if anyone else would like this maybe we could get it added in the near future? Would there be any sort of issues with allowing such a keybinding to exist?

I'm not sure if these buffs go far enough to make Hammer viable in competitive gameplay, but I'm really happy about the off hand dagger buffs. Guess ANet is really sold on D/D Catalyst. 🙂

Not disagreeing with Ice being less useful to have than Water, but Hammer has four finisher types: Blast (Fire 5, Air 5, Earth 5), Leap (Water 4), Whirl (Water 5) and Projectile (Hammer 3 x 4). Still hoping one of these days they will make Air 2 and Earth 2 Whirl Finishers too. Would probably prefer that than the Hammer 3 as projectile finishers.

I was hoping we'd get stealth considering Hammer is lacking in mobility. If we don't have the tools to successfully disengage in a battle, having stealth to help put some distance would be incredibly useful. Catalyst is pretty tanky as it is, but stealth would be a good way to add a much needed escape option to the Hammer weapon. Maybe they could add some stealth to Invigorating Air as its Augment ability when used near the Jade Sphere. As it stands, having a conditional effect on a stun break of all things is ... really, really stupid. Although thematically air would probably be the least 'stealthy' of all the elements lol.

It's not really that difficult to maintain 10 Stacks in PvE with Hammer. But if we're discussing WvW, then yes.

It's very possible to reach 10 stacks with D/D Catalyst fairly easy and maintain it for sometime. I'd imagine even easier on D/F, Vicious Empowerment seems like it was made for D/x. And Evasive Empowerment as well, both work really nicely to stack up the Empowerment (although I prefer spectacular sphere for those extra buffs). But honestly, I'd still take either Staunch Auras or Sphere Specialist over Empowered Empowerment since it can be a chore to maintain 10 stacks and that trait is useless otherwise. Maybe they should reduce it from a 10% increase to 8% increase and add another effect that extends the duration of Empowerment to like 17-20s so its not a dead trait at times.

I've been able to get it to hit pretty hard while remaining fairly tanky. Was testing the new armor type Dragon with some Celestial and Earth Runes and was surprised at how nice I handled things. Biggest issue I've encountered with Hammer is the condition cleanse. Outside of the Heal, condi cleanse is just a bit too slow right now. No regen means you're not using Cleansing Waters and Diamond Skin is still hot garbage as a cleanse. Smothering Auras work but its pretty slow since you have no detonate skill. Maybe they should just change Soothing Water to reduce its cooldown as long as its in the field of the Jade Sphere and not just Water like the elite. Right now I feel I have to cast the spell before I anticipate a condi bomb which loses me out on healing and needing to be to drop a water field. Probably doesn't help that everyone and their mother is running Celestial gear now in WvW. Still gonna have to take sometime to mess around with different stat combos and runes. D/D Catalyst is pretty fun though, really enjoying it as a nice variation on Core.

Well since you can't dodge while Immob'd your best bet is to use your evades. Earthen Vortex and Riptide can both be used while immob'd to avoid some incoming burst. It sucks to have to waste them, but staying alive is more important. You could also maybe try to slot in Lightening Flash if you know you'll be fighting someone who has heavy condition pressure. It may not be as useful as Stone Resonance, but being able to put some distance from you and your opponent while immob'd can be a good thing. It could help get you out of range of the burst or help you retreat when you've eaten a burst after immob so you can recover later. While it doesn't apply to PvP, if you play WvW roaming at all with Fire Weaver, a good rune set that could help is Antitoxin, which should basically make condition builds (including immob) basically trivial. There isn't really a good rune set in PvP though... however I have used Orr runes in sPvP in the past. Forgeman Runes are neat an all, but Orr gives you some good condition duration reduction. Between your barrier and evades, personally, I dont think you need that extra toughness on Forgeman but thats just me and I have a lot of experience on Ele. You could also, maybe, try Weaver runes since you are running full stances. Its a damage loss but you do get some extra barrier which could help you soak up damage when you're stuck in an immob bind. That extra barrier could be enough to eat up a tic of another condi.

I tried roaming a bit for the first with Hammer cata. It definitely needs work but potential is there, I might need to theory craft a bit more. I did notice that conditions are killer, outside of the heal the only way to really cure condis is Smoothering Aura. Its not bad but too slow, especially with harbingers and that elite of theirs all over the place. Will have to try out more armor and runes but it wasnt too bad, I was successfully holding off most 2v1s.. although not able to win yet. I only spent a few hours tho need more time to figure out things.

Well first off, Earth Shield replaces your entire bar with new skills. So now you're gameplay as a Catalyst is completely changed, espcially if you want to hold it for the entire thirty seconds so you can chain it together. Sure, you'll get an Aura when you pick it up, but thats just one. No other way to combo with your fields with Earth Shield. And if you're not comboing with your fields, then why are you even playing Catalyst? Skill 5 is an Invul, but it roots you, which is digusting. More barrier over time might be useful, but Fortified Earth's instant barrier is also useful, so its not really better just because you get more over longer period of time. Sometimes you need that health chuck asap. They both have their purposes.. not to mention the block on Earth Shield is only a single attack, right? (EDIT: Also, its avaible only you successfully hit an opponent with Magentic Shield, so again, conditional application w/ potential of higher output vs standard application w/ set out put) That extra barrier you get with Tectonic Shift is probably getting chipped away anyway from follow up attacks... Fortified Earth is a channeled, long constant block with the barrier on top, which imo is much better as a defensive tool than anything Earth Shield offers. And I mean, how many ways does Hammer have to make a Magentic Aura on it? Earth Shield is great for what it can do, but that doesn't make Fortified Earth any less great. There are draw backs to using Earth Shield which is why you only see it ever used in very niche competitive settings.

Probably because most of the time you should be using the field on yourself anyway to combo? The whole purpose of the field is to combo into and the vast majority of the time with Hammer you'll be in closer range so not far from the location of the field to begin with. Doubling it doesn't make sense. I'd much rather, instead of it working like shade, we just rework the field to drop around where you're standing base, perhaps allowing the field to follow you along too.

I've been having decent success with Fortified Earth. Time it right to use it with Flow Like Water and you can heal a nice amount HP back. Can basically full heal yourself if you're getting hit by multiple mobs at once! (well, i'm also running zerker so full healing off that isn't hard lol) EDIT: looks like I made a mistake I was healed another way, but still an enjoyable skill to stay alive!

So yeah, practice is what is going to save you. It will take sometime to break out from using Water as your primary cleanse if you're used to it. You get two condi cleanses when you use Detonate on Fire Aura, but everytime you apply a Fire Aura you will get a cleanse. You should be getting a free cleanse anytime you attune to Fire (Sunspot) and can get Fire Auras through comboing with your fields. Leaping with either Polatric Leap or Flame Uprising through your Flamewall or Fire Field from Flame Uprising will also cleanse a condition off you by applying an aura. Get into the habit of this, especially when you're getting ready to go for a Pyro Vortex. As your running a Fire Weaver, you should really be spending the majority of your time in Fire/X so there shouldn't really be an issue with you needed to rotate to Fire Aura for the detonate. It should almost always just be one attune off (at least try to get into the practice of keeping Fire on as long as possible. I know other combos like Earth/Air are useful for CC, but Fire should be your primary attunement, always swap back to it when you can) Since you'll constantly be rotating back to Fire, you should be getting a free cleanse basically every 8-ish* seconds with Sunspot, which goes a long way to keep your condi load down. You also get Sunspot twice if you double attune to fire, so you can Attune to Fire (sunspot aura) Attune again (another sunspot aura) then detonate for a total of 4 cleanses. Follow up by using your Fire Aura skill and that's 5. Although double attuning to fire is only really good if you can capitalize on Cauterizing Strike, its a good thing to keep in the back of your mind. You should also use your barrier wisely as it helps with mitigating condition damage. Popping a Lava Skin or Stone Resonance when you are condi bomded (preferably before) will help eat up the damage keeping your HP decent. FYI: Immob (and chill) really screw over Elementalist because we need to keep moving to stay alive. If you get stuck in immob and don't have an aura, its probably best to swap to earth, use your earthen vortex to evade then attune to Fire so you're in Fire/Earth. You'll get a cleanse off swapping to Fire an then have Magentic Wave for another 3. But yes, Immob sucks on Weaver, Immob Druids are no fun to fight. I would still recommend running Sigil of Cleansing, especially if you're struggling with condi clears. You can also run Lesser Cleansing Flame too, if you really want too. Burning Precision is fine and all but atleast until you get the hang of using your Fire Auras to cleanse, it might be worth holding off. Hope that helps.

I mean, sure but isn't that a massive waste of a field? They do virtually no damage on their own and the energy required, while not hard to get, isn't really worth the pay off? Fields are better used for comboing, enhancing your Catalyst's stats and giving the buffs than tagging. Why not just use Triple Sear or Hurricane of Pain to tag? Not to mention that change would go a decent way to making Catalyst across the board a more competitive class in other modes if the fields worked like scrapper fields and followed along which means Catalyst isn't stuck playing around a field. Maybe ANet could just give an option to allow fields to be cast on you like how they have the option to cast automatically on target. Or I guess maybe I could try running a target self button and using that option see how it runs. Ah well. Still hoping ANet will give us the option.

I really haven't found it too clunky to be honest. The biggest change I would want to see if fields just appearing around your character instead of having to be placed down. Even if the fields don't move from when you activate the F5, having to place the field is kinda messing with my flow a bit. 90% of the time I'm just placing it around myself anyway so its just an unnecessary step. And Hammer 3 Skills, just lose the stat boosting effect and increase their projectile damage and have them last longer (8 seconds maybe). That way Eles don't feel obligated to rotate through like crazy to get all of them up.

The majority of Elementalists use traits in either the Fire or Water line to keep themselves cleansed which have different ways of interacting. There aren't too many utility skills that cleanse conditions because these two trait lines are absolute powerhouses in condi cleanse. Your best bet is to run Ether Renewal and some sort of stability (you need to give your build). That clears up to 7 condis and can basically carry most builds in terms of condi cleanse (in addition to weapon cleanses). But, again, we'd need to see your build before we can give you any more advice. If you're running an Air focused build, condis will be very difficult to deal with. It might be worthwhile to also pick up a Sigil of Cleansing. This sigil clears 3 condis on weapon swap. On Weapon Swap sigils are generally pretty strong for Elementalist since attunement swappings counts for weapon swapping.