New player -Struggling to find main - leaning towards Elementalist

[Viteske.2698]

Hello 

I am a new GW2 player and after years of playing WoW and other MMOs I fell in love with GW2 “casual” feel.

just the freedom to do what you want is very much relaxing for me after a day of work.

 

Now I want to play an Elementalist as I really like magic based classes and love the gameplay of having the 4 elements at your disposal.

 

now the thing is I heard and read that Ele is one if not the hardest class in GW2… 

 

therefor the question of how good it would be for me to start with Ele as a first character and probably main ?

I read and heard they are squishy and very punishing when making mistakes, also I rarely play with groups as I am more or less a solo player. 
how good is Ele in end game ? Is it really *that* hard to play? 
Im up for a challenge but dying every second because of a mistake is not really fun… also how is end game regarding new players that want to learn the class ? Thing I didn’t like about WoW is how every group just scolds you because you make a mistake or don’t fully master your class yet…
 

please share your wisdom and talk me into or out of playing Elementalist.

 

thank you for your time.

 

have a great day.

 

Viteske

[DanAlcedo.3281]

I would say that Ele has 3 problems. If you want to call it that. 

1. Other classes have normally 10 Weapon Skills. 5 For each Weapon Set. 

Ele has 20. 5 For each Element. 

Which is usually balanced in a way that each individual skill has lower impact. 

Which means you having to actively switch elements for maximum efficiency. 

Thats why Ele is often called the piano class. 

You simply need more apm then other classes. 

 

2. Low HP and Armor. 

Ele is fragile. And when you want to go for maximum dps, you won't have extra HP or Armor from gear. 

While other classes are OK to make a mistake here or there, making a mistake on Ele will lead to a fast downstate. 

3. Balance. 

You would assume that having the negativ attributes from above would means you do more dps when played correctly. But that not really the case. 

Ele suffers from the fact that it's always good but never the best option. 

Why play Ele that needs higher apm and is risky to play when you can play another build that does similar dps while being easier/safer to play. 

 

Don't get me wrong. Ele is good. But you will have a much easier time on another class like necro that needs no skill whatsoever but brings similar results. 

 

Edited May 19, 2022 by DanAlcedo.3281

[Guybrush.4762]

Elementalist is not the easiest class to learn but to be fair every class require to put some time and effort before understanding the mechanics and the controls. Yes, even the "simple" one! As far as the difficulty and the actual squishyness of the class is concerned, it highly depend on what build you are playing, Trailblazer or Celestial builds tend to be quite beefy. For example, as far as solo open world build are concerned, I would not call dagger/warhorn celestial Tempest squishy or super hard to play and that's probably the kind of build I would recommend for someone learning Elementalist (If you don't have access to celestial gear, try Carrion gear instead and slot in runes of Balthazar and a Sigil of smoldering in order to get closer to 100% burn duration).

Currently I would say Elementalist is in a below average spot end-game wise. The problem is, regardless of the role you want to fill there is often at least one class that can do the same thing with less effort, more utility and in a safer manner. That being said there is for sure some decent build going around if elementalist is your jam. Here is a quick summary (it is opinion based so take it with a grain of salt) :
Raid, Fractals and Strike - Good : Power Catalyst, Power quickness Catalyst ; Decent: Condition Weaver
PvP - Good : Fire Weaver side-noder, Support Tempest, Decent : dps Hammer Catalyst
WvW roaming - Good : Celestial Sword focus Fire weaver, Celestial catalyst ; Decent : Fresh air Scepter/focus power weaver, Celestial Double dagger tempest
WvW zerg - Good : Minstrel aurashare tempest ; Decent : Staff power weaver
Solo Open world - Good : Celestial or Trailblazer Sword/focus fire weaver, Celestial Catalyst, Celestial or Trailblazer tempest
Group Open world - Good : Pretty much every semi-reasonable build

Edited June 6, 2022 by Guybrush.4762

[Viteske.2698]

44 minutes ago, DanAlcedo.3281 said:

I would say that Ele has 3 problems. If you want to call it that. 

1. Other classes have normally 10 Weapon Skills. 5 For each Weapon Set. 

Ele has 20. 5 For each Element. 

Which is usually balanced in a way that each individual skill has lower impact. 

Which means you having to actively switch elements for maximum efficiency. 

Thats why Ele is often called the piano class. 

You simply need more apm then other classes. 

 

2. Low HP and Armor. 

Ele is fragile. And when you want to go for maximum dps, you won't have extra HP or Armor from gear. 

While other classes are OK to make a mistake here or there, making a mistake on Ele will lead to a fast downstate. 

3. Balance. 

You would assume that having the negativ attributes from above would means you do more dps when played correctly. But that not really the case. 

Ele suffers from the fact that it's always good but never the best option. 

Why play Ele that needs higher apm and is risky to play when you can play another build that does similar dps while being easier/safer to play. 

 

Don't get me wrong. Ele is good. But you will have a much easier time on another class like necro that needs no skill whatsoever but brings similar results. 

 

Thank you for your reply.

 

I don’t like Necro, not the class neither the lore etc…

I do prefer ranged over melee, what would you recommend?

 

Ranger I find quite boring too…

[DanAlcedo.3281]

1 minute ago, Viteske.2698 said:

Thank you for your reply.

 

I don’t like Necro, not the class neither the lore etc…

I do prefer ranged over melee, what would you recommend?

 

Ranger I find quite boring too…

I don't know how to say it without making it sound stupid but all 3 elite specializations for Ele are melee. 

You can play them Ranged but truth is, ranged options for Ele are currently *cough* kitten poor *cough*. 

Don't ask us why The elemental caster class has only melee specs. We don't know either. 🙃

If you play Ele, expect playing alot of melee. Except maybe in Wvw, but staff (Eles only long range weapon) just got nerfed. 

 

[Viteske.2698]

19 minutes ago, DanAlcedo.3281 said:

I don't know how to say it without making it sound stupid but all 3 elite specializations for Ele are melee. 

You can play them Ranged but truth is, ranged options for Ele are currently *cough* kitten poor *cough*. 

Don't ask us why The elemental caster class has only melee specs. We don't know either. 🙃

If you play Ele, expect playing alot of melee. Except maybe in Wvw, but staff (Eles only long range weapon) just got nerfed. 

 

Sad to read that the only “real” mage class in GW2 is focussed on melee weapons in late game, I quite enjoyed the staff 

 

well think I’ll give Ranger another go as it is the only class that gave me the ranged feel I’m looking for!

[PaulPottwal.7239]

1 hour ago, Viteske.2698 said:

Sad to read that the only “real” mage class in GW2 is focussed on melee weapons in late game, I quite enjoyed the staff 

 

well think I’ll give Ranger another go as it is the only class that gave me the ranged feel I’m looking for!

You could also look into Mesmer, which can be played 100% at range and is also a magic based profession

[Eddbopkins.2630]

For me as a 9 yr vet of gw2 ele is by far the most fun and rewarding class for me. It requires knowledge in you're 20 skills or 20+ with weaver, and forethought on what you want to do next, not bash and spam your skills and keys thoughtlessly. My favorite playstyle since I started has always been fresh air, using scepter/focus or scepter/dagger. It's a fast pace high apm playstyle. The most effective spec Is probably air/arcana/weaver. But I would suggest playing core fresh air, arcana/air/and either water for clears and heals, or fire for alittle more damage. Just till you get used to and know the 20 skills and there capabilities befor going weaver and having mixed attunement. Going straight to weaver without having core ele knowledge will probably make ele undesirable to play.

I pretty much only pvp though so I dont think there are any viable pve freshair build that will be fun to play. Anet pretty much nerfed FA into the ground but It's still my favorite.

[draxynnic.3719]

I think FA is still...well, as viable as anything else with elementalist in solo PvE, really. I would probably recommend dagger for solo PvE, though, and go into Tempest as your first elite spec and throw an air overload every ten seconds.

[Jski.6180]

Play this class for fun and you will enjoy it. Do not play this class for max min game play in any game type you will always be disappointing due to the lack of effects and over all bad scaling and HEIGHT skill cap for over all avages out put.

[Ace.1784]

On 5/19/2022 at 7:29 AM, Viteske.2698 said:

Sad to read that the only “real” mage class in GW2 is focussed on melee weapons in late game, I quite enjoyed the staff 

 

well think I’ll give Ranger another go as it is the only class that gave me the ranged feel I’m looking for!

Don't limit yourself to range gameplay. When the game first came out, I was very standoffish to dagger, and it ended up becoming one of my favorite weapon sets easily.

Levels 1-80 in this game is straightforward. I recommend playing these levels and trying out all of the different weapons, seeing how they feel. Even if a weapon is melee, they often have some great gap closers and dynamic gameplay that makes it fun.

Right now, my favorite Elementalist weapon sets are:

1. Hammer (Catalyst)
2. Staff
3. Sword/Dagger

[AzuritaBlues.3206]

On 5/19/2022 at 8:03 AM, Viteske.2698 said:

Thank you for your reply.

 

I don’t like Necro, not the class neither the lore etc…

I do prefer ranged over melee, what would you recommend?

 

Ranger I find quite boring too…

check mesmer out. virtuoso is the epitome of a ranged caster right now and its much fun to play in pve, but its a pure dps spec. 

core mesmer, mirage and chrono also have nice ranged options in staff, scepter, pistol and greatsword.

 

Ele is not that bad tho, it's just a lot of cooldowns to keep track of. All ele specs handle open world PvE very well, and Catalyst made sure Ele has a spot in instances content as a quickness boon support. As long as you know what your traits and skills do, you should be fine. Even glassier builds are easier to play now a days in PvE content thanks to Jade Bots and Power Cores increasing your base Vitality, but if you're having a bad time survoving you can always resort to tankier gear, such as Celestial, Traiblazer, Marauder and Dragon gear.

 

 

 

 

[Popel.1468]

On 5/19/2022 at 12:29 PM, Viteske.2698 said:

Sad to read that the only “real” mage class in GW2 is focussed on melee weapons in late game, I quite enjoyed the staff 

 

well think I’ll give Ranger another go as it is the only class that gave me the ranged feel I’m looking for!

Rangers can become a druid with option to wear staffs - and they also got nature magic traits tree. Staff give them on all 4 first skills 1200 range. They have permanent pets which just add up to have a more relaxing exp.

[Dayra.7405]

On 5/19/2022 at 10:35 AM, Viteske.2698 said:

please share your wisdom and talk me into or out of playing Elementalist.

I think it is the most shaky (doesn't forgive mistakes) class in the game, to survive you really need to learn active defense (not only dodge, but master its defensive skills and traits). Also the missing switch between long and short range (you need to be out of combat to switch weapons, with the ice bow as exception) makes life in open world harder.

Not suitable as open-world/story main especially not as first char. Can be good and fun, in some situations, if you are experienced enough to know what your doing and already know the enemies you will face very well.

Currently, I've most range fun with Marauder-Virtuoso (1 Mesmer elite needed) and as range isn't always (rather rarely) the best with Marauder-Daredevil/Deadeye hybrid (2 Thief Elite on switch needed).

Edited May 26, 2022 by Dayra.7405

[Seera.5916]

On 5/26/2022 at 11:41 AM, Dayra.7405 said:

I think it is the most shaky (doesn't forgive mistakes) class in the game, to survive you really need to learn active defense (not only dodge, but master its defensive skills and traits). Also the missing switch between long and short range (you need to be out of combat to switch weapons, with the ice bow as exception) makes life in open world harder.

Not suitable as open-world/story main especially not as first char. Can be good and fun, in some situations, if you are experienced enough to know what your doing and already know the enemies you will face very well.

Currently, I've most range fun with Marauder-Virtuoso (1 Mesmer elite needed) and as range isn't always (rather rarely) the best with Marauder-Daredevil/Deadeye hybrid (2 Thief Elite on switch needed).

Short of the limited time I played in the final beta weekend, Elementalist was my first class. It's still my main to this day. I did Warrior mostly in the beta, followed by Ranger and finally a tiny bit of Elementalist.

If you can handle the deaths that come from learning on a higher difficulty class, then going for a harder class to start may be a good option. It forces you to learn the game at a quicker pace in order to stay alive and you don't form as many habits that make playing the harder classes harder to do.

Edited May 29, 2022 by Seera.5916

[Mongk.2458]

Elementalist has problems, but its a class that make the other onse seems so dull because it feels good to play, the effects are awesome. Its a dangerous choice.

Abou the low status, you can play with celestial (the one that has all status) and do very well. The level 80 booster gives a full celestial gear. I only play cele elementalist in OW and feels really great.

Edited May 30, 2022 by Mongk.2458

[Gibson.4036]

10 hours ago, Mongk.2458 said:

Elementalist has problems, but its a class that make the other onse seems so dull because it feels good to play, the effects are awesome. Its a dangerous choice.

Abou the low status, you can play with celestial (the one that has all status) and do very well. The level 80 booster gives a full celestial gear. I only play cele elementalist in OW and feels really great.

Which spec?

[Serperior.6541]

During leveling period what are you playing dosen't really matter in my opinion nearly all professions can roll over enemies in core tyria, maybe some do better than others but thats not much of a concern. for the end game i find celestial weaver quite strong in open world honestly i can survive most encounters while dealing good chunk of damage it absolutely can solo champs but you need some practice

 

Also i am not a good ele player keep that in mind

 

oh also it is just an avarage dps spec in instanced content with lil bit of spice but you can provide full quickness uptime while doing top dps as catalyst

Edited May 31, 2022 by Serperior.6541

[Mongk.2458]

On 5/31/2022 at 7:17 AM, Gibson.4036 said:

Which spec?

Works with all three

[Gibson.4036]

14 minutes ago, Mongk.2458 said:

Works with all three

I’m aware of cele builds for all three, just wondering which one is feeling great for you.

At the moment I’ve just started learning catalyst, but I’ve also got the gear to try out tempest for what seems like a more relaxed play style. Still haven’t landed on what I want to make my main OW approach.

[Mongk.2458]

Just now, Gibson.4036 said:

I’m aware of cele builds for all three, just wondering which one is feeling great for you.

At the moment I’ve just started learning catalyst, but I’ve also got the gear to try out tempest for what seems like a more relaxed play style. Still haven’t landed on what I want to make my main OW approach.

I prefer catalyst because i like the hammer skills. It has a good amount of aoe, but without the casting of tempest, its more fast paced. Second is weaver on bosses.
Tempest I only use when Im tired and want a layback playstyle.
 

[Matt H.6142]

I've been playing since Beta, and I'm going to give you my conclusion after 10 years as an ele main. - It is relegated to the open world roleplay profession.

I'd really like ele fire to BURN things (Condi damage).  This apparently puts it at odds with its strike damage design in the high end play.  There's a condi spec for weaver, but it relies on primordial stance in the melee range, and the top players don't like the flair of the sword skills because of animation locks, and the toughness you use puts you at odds with the tank.

I've a mild disdain for our organized play because I was ignorant as an ele player.  Don't bring staff into any encounter, because you don't meet their DPS bench marks.  Don't come in your gear you use to survive open world pve, because you don't meet the DPS bench marks.  I've been asked to leave at best, kicked at worst from groups, because I was playing ele.  Now apparently that top end play was so good, it warranted a debuff on catalyst this patch.  I can't be that piano robot to achieve that.

I've pressed 4 times the buttons for half the damage of herald using a sword.

Playing ele through the story is GW2 Hard Mode.  Every boss will down you at least once.

I think playing ele has made me a worse player, and an even worse team player.

Having said that, it's still my first love in the game, and I'll forever RP my lil heart out in the maps.  At least until you encounter a Dragon's End squad asking ele players to go into the last subgroup for being useless, as I did just yesterday.  I happened to be playing necro at that time.

[AliamRationem.5172]

On 5/19/2022 at 2:35 AM, Viteske.2698 said:

Hello 

I am a new GW2 player and after years of playing WoW and other MMOs I fell in love with GW2 “casual” feel.

just the freedom to do what you want is very much relaxing for me after a day of work.

 

Now I want to play an Elementalist as I really like magic based classes and love the gameplay of having the 4 elements at your disposal.

 

now the thing is I heard and read that Ele is one if not the hardest class in GW2… 

 

therefor the question of how good it would be for me to start with Ele as a first character and probably main ?

I read and heard they are squishy and very punishing when making mistakes, also I rarely play with groups as I am more or less a solo player. 
how good is Ele in end game ? Is it really *that* hard to play? 
Im up for a challenge but dying every second because of a mistake is not really fun… also how is end game regarding new players that want to learn the class ? Thing I didn’t like about WoW is how every group just scolds you because you make a mistake or don’t fully master your class yet…
 

please share your wisdom and talk me into or out of playing Elementalist.

 

thank you for your time.

 

have a great day.

 

Viteske

If you like solo play and you aren't afraid of high-intensity play styles, elementalist is a great pick.  I personally like celestial weaver for a well-rounded open world build.  Here are a couple of sample clips.  Build links in the video comments.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwSi1UO641Q

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGYIhWvj_88

 

[AliamRationem.5172]

39 minutes ago, Matt H.6142 said:

I've been playing since Beta, and I'm going to give you my conclusion after 10 years as an ele main. - It is relegated to the open world roleplay profession.

I'd really like ele fire to BURN things (Condi damage).  This apparently puts it at odds with its strike damage design in the high end play.  There's a condi spec for weaver, but it relies on primordial stance in the melee range, and the top players don't like the flair of the sword skills because of animation locks, and the toughness you use puts you at odds with the tank.

I've a mild disdain for our organized play because I was ignorant as an ele player.  Don't bring staff into any encounter, because you don't meet their DPS bench marks.  Don't come in your gear you use to survive open world pve, because you don't meet the DPS bench marks.  I've been asked to leave at best, kicked at worst from groups, because I was playing ele.  Now apparently that top end play was so good, it warranted a debuff on catalyst this patch.  I can't be that piano robot to achieve that.

I've pressed 4 times the buttons for half the damage of herald using a sword.

Playing ele through the story is GW2 Hard Mode.  Every boss will down you at least once.

I think playing ele has made me a worse player, and an even worse team player.

Having said that, it's still my first love in the game, and I'll forever RP my lil heart out in the maps.  At least until you encounter a Dragon's End squad asking ele players to go into the last subgroup for being useless, as I did just yesterday.  I happened to be playing necro at that time.

I think this is an overly negative take.  Warning! Story boss spoilers ahead! 

Story bosses can be handled quickly and easily with ele.  Here's a Caudecus kill in a single breakbar.  Eater of Souls also in a single breakbar.  And the final fight with Balthazar in a little over 4 minutes.  These were all done using the same kind of tanky builds I use for open world, so there's no need for perfect play here.

For group content I also have to disagree.  If you want to run tanky in fractals and strikes you can.  Toughness is only a problem for raids.  Trailblazer with undead rune has about 250 extra condition damage over a Viper setup, so you really aren't missing out on that much damage either.  I've run enough T4 daily pickups and even CMs here and there to attain fractal savant and I've never had an issue with DPS when I run Trailblazer.  It can make DPS checks even solo checks like Siax split phase on CM.

[Artemis.8034]

On 5/19/2022 at 6:09 AM, DanAlcedo.3281 said:

I don't know how to say it without making it sound stupid but all 3 elite specializations for Ele are melee. 

You can play them Ranged but truth is, ranged options for Ele are currently *cough* kitten poor *cough*. 

Don't ask us why The elemental caster class has only melee specs. We don't know either. 🙃

If you play Ele, expect playing alot of melee. Except maybe in Wvw, but staff (Eles only long range weapon) just got nerfed. 

 

And therein is the problem, im so disappointed in anet that for all 3 expansions instead of giving ele a more magic mage caster type fantasy , they make 3 elite specs of wanna be warriors ...wheres the fantasy anet? 

Edited June 28, 2022 by Artemis.8034