August 23 Balance Update Preview For Elementalist

[Zhaid Zhem.6508]

On 8/11/2022 at 4:59 PM, Rubi Bayer.8493 said:

Elementalist

We've firmed up the role of Fire Attunement skills in condition builds and improved Air Attunement skills' direct strike damage. Tempest's Transcendent Tempest trait has more than doubled in power to set it apart as the keystone choice for damage builds.

Staff
Fire

• Fireball: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.0 to 1.4. Now also inflicts 1 stack of burning with a 1-second duration.
• Lava Font: (PvE only) Now inflicts 1 stack of burning with a 1-second duration on each strike.
• Flame Burst: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.01 to 1.0. Burning stacks applied increased from 2 to 3.

Air

• Chain Lightning: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.66 to 0.8.
• Lightning Surge: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.44 to 1.8.

Earth

• Stoning: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.5 to 1.2.
• Shock Wave: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.5 to 2.5.

Scepter
Fire

• Phoenix: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 20 seconds to 10 seconds. Burning stack count increased from 1 to 2.

Water

• Water Trident: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 20 seconds to 10 seconds.

Earth

• Rock Barrier: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 15 seconds to 8 seconds.

Dagger (Main Hand)
Water

• Vapor Blade: (All game modes) The aftercast animation duration before another skill can be used has been decreased by 0.5 seconds.

Air

• Convergence: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.5 to 1.8.
• Shocking Aura: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 25 seconds to 10 seconds. Duration increased from 4 seconds to 10 seconds.
• Transmute Lightning: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1 to 1.5.

Earth

• Ring of Earth: (PvE only) Final impact damage multiplier increased from 1.2 to 1.5.
• Earthen Rush: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 18 seconds to 12 seconds. Damage multiplier increased from 1 to 1.8.

Dagger (Off Hand)
Fire

• Fire Grab: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 25 seconds to 20 seconds, matching PvP and WvW.

Water

• Frost Aura: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 30 seconds to 10 seconds. Duration increased from 4 seconds to 10 seconds.
• Cleansing Wave: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 30 seconds to 20 seconds.

Air

• Ride the Lightning: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 30 seconds to 20 seconds.
• Updraft: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 40 seconds to 20 seconds.

Earth

• Earthquake: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 30 seconds to 16 seconds. Damage multiplier increased from 1 to 3.
• Churning Earth: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 30 seconds to 20 seconds.

Trident
Fire

• Magma Orb: Now also applies 1 second of burning on explosion.
• Boil: Now also applies 1 second of burning on hit.
• Steam: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 15 seconds to 10 seconds.
• Lava Chains: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 20 seconds to 16 seconds.

Water

• Ice Globe: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 10 seconds to 8 seconds.
• Ice Wall: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 15 seconds to 12 seconds.

Air

• Electrocute: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.2 to 2.4.
• Air Bubble: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 25 seconds to 20 seconds.

Earth

• Rock Anchor: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 30 seconds to 20 seconds.
• Murky Water: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 30 seconds to 25 seconds.

Weaver

Sword

Fire

• Fire Strike: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.66 to 0.8.
• Fire Swipe: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.77 to 0.9.
• Searing Slash: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.25 to 1.6.

Water

• Seiche: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.33 to 0.5.
• Clapotis: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.45 to 0.6.
• Breaking Wave: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.66 to 1.0.

Air

• Charged Strike: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.77 to 0.8.
• Polaric Slash: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.88 to 0.9.
• Call Lightning: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.0 to 1.2.

Earth

• Crystal Slash: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.66 to 0.8.
• Crystalline Strike: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.66 to 0.9.
• Crystalline Sunder: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.0 to 1.4.
• Earthen Vortex: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.25 to 1.8.

Tempest

Traits

• Transcendent Tempest: (PvE only) Damage modifier increased from +7% to all damage dealt to +15% to all damage dealt.

Shouts

• "Feel the Burn!": (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.0 to 2.5. Might stacks applied increased from 3 to 5.
• "Eye of the Storm!": (PvE only) Cooldown reduced from 40 seconds to 30 seconds. Now also applies 1 stack of stability to allies for 5 seconds.
• "Aftershock!": (PvE only) Cooldown reduced from 35 seconds to 30 seconds. Now also applies aegis to allies for 5 seconds.

 

Sadly 99% of changes are "PvE only"

No change to alacrity, no change to weaver or core to be less selfish and less dead.

 

But huge dps increase it seems.

[Jski.6180]

Fire ball going to burn in pve that something! Odd they are buffing tempest dps self buff in pve but not buffing weaver self dps buff as well (in pve).

Sadly all pve!

[Zhaid Zhem.6508]

Wow, I did not pay attention :

Frost Aura: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 30 seconds to 10 seconds. Duration increased from 4 seconds to 10 seconds
Shocking Aura: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 25 seconds to 10 seconds. Duration increased from 4 seconds to 10 seconds.

Perma frost aura and shocking aura ?
Could be interesting for alacrity tempest with water spec or catalyst ?

Edited August 12, 2022 by Zhaid Zhem.6508

[crosknight.3041]

i like most of the changes. still annoyed about the alacrity trait on tempest being in direct competition with consistent heals and a now much better damage increase.
imo they should move alac to the shout trait since it's been the least used trait in the master tier so that DPS tempest and consistent auramancer heal tempest can not worry about having to use water overload then being locked outta water for a time after swapping attunements.
but since anet seems so insistent on alac on overload. perhaps move it to harmonious conduit. make it so you gain stability at the beginning of an overload and provide team alac at the end. that leaves the grandmaster trait open for something that imo should have been there from the start. a grandmaster trait to reduce the cast time of overload (would have it reduce unquicknessed overload cast time from 4s to 2s). could also make the finished overload stronger too

Edited August 12, 2022 by crosknight.3041

[AzuritaBlues.3206]

PvE STAFF AND SCEPTER BUFFS!!! FINALLY

so satisfied with this patch, tempest is going to be a beast

 

 

 

[Roda.7468]

Congrats on y'all getting your wizards back!🙌

(I think, probably.... It's been a hot minute since I've glanced at ele's buildcraft tbh.  Super interested to see what y'all're gonna be able to do with these weapons now tho.)

[the krytan assassin.9235]

To bad it's for PvE only, but i guess wvw/pvp have a seperate balance team or they just want to release the pve updates ASAP. (They better hurry with wvw balance changes cause it's definitely needed!!)

It's good to see staff ele finally getting some love. Staff AA definitely looks like a step in the right direction, but still gonna be lacking behind the other weapons. 

Not sure about the 10 sec duration on frost aura & lightning aura. 4 sec duration on 10 sec CD seems already good enough. Also lowering the CD on Fire and magnetic aura seems to me pretty reasonable in that case. 

Looks like Weaver is definitely going to be the top dps spec for ele again. Good amount of dps boost for power & condi. Also i can definitely imagine a 'low' intensity scepter burn Tempest. HAT Tempest should get a decent dps increase aswell. 

Core ele and catalyst seem to be the 2 big losers now. Can't see any reason to play either of them post patch. 

Although i welcome some aegis & stability to tempest, this is a complete joke. 1 stack of stabi & aegis every 30 seconds is nothing compared to the boon uptime of the FB. 

 

 

Edited August 13, 2022 by the krytan assassin.9235

[TheAgedGnome.7520]

I'm happy to see any ele staff buffs. It will be interesting to see how it helps with no changes to cooldowns or cast times.

I do wish they had reverted the Meteor Shower nerf at the same time, though.

[AliamRationem.5172]

1 hour ago, the krytan assassin.9235 said:

To bad it's for PvE only, but i guess wvw/pvp have a seperate balance team or they just want to release the pve updates ASAP. (They better hurry with wvw balance changes cause it's definitely needed!!)

It's good to see staff ele finally getting some love. Staff AA definitely looks like a step in the right direction, but still gonna be lacking behind the other weapons. 

Not sure about the 10 sec duration on frost aura & lightning aura. 4 sec duration on 10 sec CD seems already good enough. Also lowering the CD on Fire and magnetic aura seems to me pretty reasonable in that case. 

Looks like Weaver is definitely going to be the top dps spec for ele again. Good amount of dps boost for power & condi. Also i can definitely imagine a 'low' intensity scepter burn Tempest. HAT Tempest should get a decent dps increase aswell. 

Core ele and catalyst seem to be the 2 big losers now. Can't see any reason to play either of them post patch. 

Although i welcome some aegis & stability to tempest, this is a complete joke. 1 stack of stabi & aegis every 30 seconds is nothing compared to the boon uptime of the FB. 

 

 

No buffs to condi sword for some reason.  I know they want to buff core weapons and power weaver certainly needed buffs, but all melee weaver builds should be near the top DPS given all of their limitations. I guess next year they might get around to it?

[zitounae.4803]

buff on staff seems nowhere near enough, and does weaver realyy needed more dmg? Is that a way to justify the next big ele nerf?    well its pve stuff anyway tho...

[Dadnir.5038]

While buffs are always welcome, from my point of view most of them are in the wrong place.

The fact that it's almost fully focused on PvE also feel wrong (well, water MH dagger got a slight buff for all game modes at least).

 

[ArjukKagrim.6049]

I am just curious why rifle power mecha is buffed again (with big boomer, which is used in the build) as that is currently the most played and arguably one of the strongest builds in the game...

 

Seems there can be no patch without a Mech Buff

[AliamRationem.5172]

3 hours ago, zitounae.4803 said:

buff on staff seems nowhere near enough, and does weaver realyy needed more dmg? Is that a way to justify the next big ele nerf?    well its pve stuff anyway tho...

Weaver is one of the least played specs in the PvE game currently.  Yes, it absolutely needs damage buffs.

[DaKillaOfHell.5907]

1 hour ago, ArjukKagrim.6049 said:

I am just curious why rifle power mecha is buffed again (with big boomer, which is used in the build) as that is currently the most played and arguably one of the strongest builds in the game...

 

Seems there can be no patch without a Mech Buff

 

You forget the most important point:

Unlike Mechanist, an Elementalist is "meta-defining"

[Noodle Ant.1605]

10 hours ago, Zhaid Zhem.6508 said:

Wow, I did not pay attention :

Frost Aura: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 30 seconds to 10 seconds. Duration increased from 4 seconds to 10 seconds
Shocking Aura: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 25 seconds to 10 seconds. Duration increased from 4 seconds to 10 seconds.

Perma frost aura and shocking aura ?
Could be interesting for alacrity tempest with water spec or catalyst ?

powerful auras apparently only grant a fixed duration of auras (4s) listed in a change long ago

apart from the cd change, this is probably aimed as more of a personal defensive buff (-10% dmg reduction on frost, shocking stuns trash) for x/dagger or dagger/x setups that go out of their way to activate them

[Zhaid Zhem.6508]

32 minutes ago, DaKillaOfHell.5907 said:

 

You forget the most important point:

Unlike Mechanist, an Elementalist is "meta-defining"

 

For sure, elem is in great spot. It's just players didn't know it for the past years.

[DaKillaOfHell.5907]

13 minutes ago, Zhaid Zhem.6508 said:

 

For sure, elem is in great spot. It's just players didn't know it for the past years.

 

For sure, if you define "great spot" as in very specific niche-like tactics with very specific setups and bosses where you have ZERO mobility to worry about.

 

My bladesworn can also do over 200k dps.

Against trash mobs, after being fully charged and when someone else pulls the mobs so it won't count as "infight".

That is "meta-defining" too by that kind of logic.

[Zhaid Zhem.6508]

5 hours ago, zitounae.4803 said:

buff on staff seems nowhere near enough, and does weaver realyy needed more dmg? Is that a way to justify the next big ele nerf?    well its pve stuff anyway tho...

 

Weavers(core) would need more than just DPS ; better barrier or barrier spam, some  tools for allies, more choice in utility skills to adap, etc, but if selfishness DPS it the way yeah Weaver really need buff. Only I don't see direct buff to weaver : no buff on sword, no buff on traits ...

 

Only power buff on core weapons used mainly by tempest, tempest who also get a dmg buff in trait + more diversity.  It looks like only tempest exists now, and they struggle to give it identity and viability after the weird alacrity move on grandmaster trait and the mechanist move.

[Zhaid Zhem.6508]

45 minutes ago, DaKillaOfHell.5907 said:

 

For sure, if you define "great spot" as in very specific niche-like tactics with very specific setups and bosses where you have ZERO mobility to worry about.

 

My bladesworn can also do over 200k dps.

Against trash mobs, after being fully charged and when someone else pulls the mobs so it won't count as "infight".

That is "meta-defining" too by that kind of logic.

 

It's just a joke. Anet (and Mteapot) loved to spam "elem is in a great spot" in all patchnotes, while all indicators say it doesn't even exist on wingman combat logs.

[AliamRationem.5172]

1 hour ago, Zhaid Zhem.6508 said:

 

Weavers(core) would need more than just DPS ; better barrier or barrier spam, some  tools for allies, more choice in utility skills to adap, etc, but if selfishness DPS it the way yeah Weaver really need buff. Only I don't see direct buff to weaver : no buff on sword, no buff on traits ...

 

Only power buff on core weapons used mainly by tempest, tempest who also get a dmg buff in trait + more diversity.  It looks like only tempest exists now, and they struggle to give it identity and viability after the weird alacrity move on grandmaster trait and the mechanist move.

Oh I agree 100%.  I'm very disappointed that condi sword is getting nothing.  I don't understand the logic that says a selfish melee DPS should offer low-to-moderate damage while we continue to improve builds that have full support capabilities and also outperform on DPS.  It's really not much fun to play weaver anymore as it kinda sucks at the one thing it can do: damage.

[Gorani.7205]

14 hours ago, Zhaid Zhem.6508 said:

Frost Aura: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 30 seconds to 10 seconds. Duration increased from 4 seconds to 10 seconds
Shocking Aura: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 25 seconds to 10 seconds. Duration increased from 4 seconds to 10 seconds.

Perma frost aura and shocking aura ?

With what you can do with Magnetic Shield as it is now, this would be "too bunkery" for WvW, but I would have loved to see the other changes for the core weapons apply to WvW as well.

[Infinity.2876]

3 hours ago, Zhaid Zhem.6508 said:

 

For sure, elem is in great spot. It's just players didn't know it for the past years.

For sure, elem is in a great spot. It's just my damage numbers didnt know it for the past years

[Zok.4956]

3 hours ago, Zhaid Zhem.6508 said:

 

It's just a joke. Anet (and Mteapot) loved to spam "elem is in a great spot" in all patchnotes, while all indicators say it doesn't even exist on wingman combat logs.

"There is no problem. You are holding it wrong." (Steve J.) 😎

[draxynnic.3719]

14 hours ago, the krytan assassin.9235 said:

 

Although i welcome some aegis & stability to tempest, this is a complete joke. 1 stack of stabi & aegis every 30 seconds is nothing compared to the boon uptime of the FB. 

 

 

I don't think the intent is to make tempest as good as guardian for aegis and stability application, but they're paring back what firebrand can do and giving it to other professions so it's less 'firebrand does it all' and more 'firebrand does the majority but needs contributions from others'.

[Sporks.4395]

This is, overall, a good patch for us. Tempest was really close to being meta, period. This patch should solidify the damage output and support builds to an acceptable level to compete with the rest. Not perfect, still clunkyish, but competitive. I am totally fine with not being the new "Mechanist" of PvE. Weaver, well.. yea... still not the greatest. It needs a little bit more barrier application or something to give it a more hybrid support role if that is the desire of play. A few number tweaks in the traits would be nice as well to get that hyper damage high risk vs reward playstyle back. Catalyst still needs help with how the energy system works and the damage increasing traits work. Although, If tempest does become meta as support, catalyst will, certainly, have the 20% stat modifier with the 10% damage buff 100% of the time. I would still like to see the condition of being max stacks removed and the modifier be around 15%, but interesting build ideas with tempest alacrity support builds coming into play. 

 

As a WvW player, these changes really mean very little, but it is nice to see Anet acknowledging that the class needs core buffs to weapons. I would still love to see the aura cleanse moved from fire to water and the fire trait changed to a way to give stealth... but I won't hold my breath. 😛

 

Hopefully with the future WvW/PvP patch they address some of the core issues with Ele weapons and traits. Then it's just number tweaks to get the class to where it is worth taking in the X spot in organized groups.