Jump to content
  • Sign Up

Depressed warrior main looking for underpowered class to semi-main


Grand Marshal.4098

Recommended Posts

It's definitely fun.  My primary WvW toon is a sword weaver, which alternates to healing tempest when needed.  I've taken both weaver (berserker, griever) and tempest (harrier) into fractals and raids.  

The biggest balance issue with ele is the number of skills.  Proficient players are able to continuously swap attunements and mash every weapon skill in a seamless fashion, giving the profession a high skill ceiling.  Because of this, ele isn't balanced around the average player's capabilities insomuch as it is balanced around peak performance of a select few.  Regular players suffer from these nerfs, creating a profession that is "balanced," except for most of the time.

The two easiest builds to get into for PVE are power weaver (fresh air), and condition tempest.  Their rotations are simpler, and they rely less on conjures than other specs.  

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I like the title that you came up with for this. Usually I am not big mage type player but I do like dealing with the four attunements and playing more around combo fields.  Rewarding not always and sometimes can be frustrating with the amount of health and sustain the character has available. If you move it cancels some of your casting of spells. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You did not say what game mode you are interested in so here is a quick summary :

Prior to yesterday patch the general consensus about the class balance was that Elementalist was more or less outclassed by other builds in endgame PvE ; the patch addressed Catalyst previous nerf and that is pretty much it for PvE. Support tempest is not really played anymore, it does not have anything unique to it. As far as dps options are concerned both Tempest and Weaver tend to sacrifice every last bit of survivability and utility in order to catch their respective benchmark and that is probably not something you want to hear. The last batch of changes improved the power dps of Hammer Catalyst a fair bit which help both the pure power dps option and the quickness provider one... I am personally not sure about how they fair currently though, the buffs look super strong on paper but the starting point was pretty subpar to begin with.

As far as sPvP is concerned. Fire weaver was a strong side-noder option in sPvP but the build is currently outclassed by EoD spec and the last patch did not change that. For Tempest, support auromancer is still a thing and I would argue Dagger/Dagger Tempest is a niche but quite decent build at the moment. With the buff, I could maybe see a Catalyst build working in sPvP  but time will tell.

And now we got to speak about WvW. That is probably the place where Elementalist fair the best at the moment. For roaming you got quite a variety of build that are worthwhile.

-Fire/Arcane sword-focus Weaver has been a solid option for a while now. It is heavily countered by kiting and with the superspeed nerf on Scrapper it is one less kiting build to worry about. Dagger off-hand may replace focus depending on your playstyle and the situation you put yourself into but I think focus will remain better for most people.
-Air/Arcane Fresh air scepter-focus Weaver is a potent bursty 1v1 dueling build and nothing in the patch changes that. It is notoriously punishing to play though so don't get into it if you are not ready to die a few time while you are learning.
-Fire/Earth Dagger/Dagger Tempest has been buffed last patch and is quite frankly a very solid all rounder.
-Roaming Catalyst is a "thing" that people tested but it was not considered strong in the past. I am not sure how many buffs it needs to be competitive ; yesterday patch maybe enough.

As far as zerg builds are concerned :
-Staff Weaver deals massive dps on a stationery blob of player... but the build is a bit tricky to play and the damage it deals is not as instant as other dps option and therefore is easier to heal through. Plus it is way squishier than both power Scourge and power Herald, it doesn't provide nearly has much value outside of dps and commanders largely don't know how to utilize their kit. Yesterday patch roughly left it at the same spot in my opinion ; fun to play and definitely viable but probably not meta anytime soon.
-Aurashare Tempest hanged in the verge of being good for quite some time now. Previously, the popular wisdom told us to ditch it in favor of healer Scraper but if the nerf it suffered is deemed too severe then Tempest may be back as a primary healer and condition cleanser in zerg fight. I need to consult my guild mates on that matter to know what they think and if we are willing to try.

Long story short, Elementalist is in a tough spot currently but I am hopeful it will receive some buffs this summer.

Edited by Guybrush.4762
  • Thanks 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 minutes ago, Grand Marshal.4098 said:

Ah yeah comp modes. I prefer to not play condi. It always seems natural to me that players mean comp modes when asking these questions. 

GM! I'm shocked to find you here!

FWIW though I like to play my Reaper, DH , and Soulbeast on the side when not playing warrior. Have you played any of those specs yourself? Harbinger is pretty fun too. I can also see Cele Catalyst appealing to you if you want to go the ele route.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, Lan Deathrider.5910 said:

GM! I'm shocked to find you here!

FWIW though I like to play my Reaper, DH , and Soulbeast on the side when not playing warrior. Have you played any of those specs yourself? Harbinger is pretty fun too. I can also see Cele Catalyst appealing to you if you want to go the ele route.

No Necro no ranger no guard! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, Grand Marshal.4098 said:

So friends, what does Ele dissapointment entail during nerf patches? 🙂

 

Is the path of the Ele a fun and rewarding one? (rhetorical question) 

I love seeing my class nerfed for being "too powerful" when the play rate in raids is < 1%.

Its so powerful, nobody even wants to play it!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello fellow war mains I too am an ele now.

 

Fresh Air Weaver in spvp is solid. Better one-shot SB more or less.

 

Cele/Viper Fireweaver for WvW.

 

Have not done raid content yet but I'd be shocked if condi weaver wasn't good dps there. Dunno. Cata is supposed to be good.

 

Hammer is passable in pvp as Fire/Earth/Cata side node. Gets punished really hard healing wise if you don't land water 4. Otherwise it's got good damage across the board but it doesn't flow well in terms of combat.

Edited by Tycura.1982
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think ele is super satisfying, but then again im mostly an openworld player and love celestial gear which makes ele really good on all fronts - good dmg, healing, etc. Got all the tools i want for soloing things and if i do it in tempest its not very difficult either.

I thought i would dislike ele coz all the ability spam but its really surprising me that it doesnt trigger me with that. I think a lot dont know how good ele actually is they just see glass cannon gears and downstate and hear about the complex rotations and write it off.

I'm trying all classes except thief and engineer and tbh i find celestial tempest the easiest and most relaxing experience.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/30/2022 at 6:38 PM, Ruisen.9471 said:

I love seeing my class nerfed for being "too powerful" when the play rate in raids is < 1%.

Its so powerful, nobody even wants to play it!

Tbh elementalist could do 60k DPS and no one would play it. 

Complicated options tend to be unpopular. 

On topic:

You will struggle to use ele if your looking at power builds. Elementalists strongest options are all Condi based

The new cata build tends to be more hybrid but still has Condi involved. 

Edited by Daddy.8125
  • Like 1
  • Sad 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Interesting to see a warrior wanting to play yet another underpowered class. Bladesworn is not too bad in pvp though the might from the elite got cut in half along with other changes in WvW. The Strength/Tactics combo seem to carry the spec. 

anyway, welcome to ele! I suggest trying out the cata hammer with avatar if you're not inclined to play condi. Or, go all out and play d/d  zerk with earth shield conjure. 

You also  have tempest for support but other eles here have far more experience with tempest. I play core, weaver and cata. Tempests are powerful but I find the playstyle and attunements a bit slow. 

Fire weavers are good side noders but are getting hard countered by mechanists and specters. 

Also, the ranger untamed almost plays like a spellbreaker 

Edited by greedywholesome.9081
Link to comment
Share on other sites

never really understood the ear wings on the warrior icon's helm, but they surely cut those wings. 

speaking of ele, man it's anets second stepchild, go with soulbeast or engi idk...

I nearly beat a tryhard spellbreaker with laptop touchpad on a condi herald build I copied and pasted minutes before...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tho i died to thief backstabs instantly, I enjoyed Dagg/Focus Catalyst, the quickness is very fun and potent when paired with durab runes and a couple of diviner trinkets among zerk/marauder. LR build ofc. Elemental Celerity is nice for double gales, wish more stunbreaks on ele were not as simple as stab or superspeed but not just plain invulns. I dont like invulns much, tho obsidian flesh and earth shied i learnt to use from core FA ele.

I also play a discharge Tempest with x/warhorn for those sweet shocks from auras and air overload combos. 

 

Weaver i tried condi, i don't rly like condi, gotta try out power.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...