What professions+ elite specs for a ranged caster?

[Godfather.9058]

The catalyst elite spec for my main elementalist felt like a bad joke. I wanted more ranged options and they turned me into a barbarian with a hammer. Had to go for celestial stats so I don't constantly get downed.

I want something that feels similar to the vanilla staff elementalist. Long range spells, crowd control spells, mobility spells. Ideally a power build but not mandatory. I got HOT, POF and EOD. So all professions and elite specs are available to me.

[Sobx.1758]

Sooo staff elementalist, whichever espec you want. 😄 Or maybe virtuoso.

Edited December 17, 2023 by Sobx.1758

[Omega.6801]

You can keep using staff on all elites. Other that that, maybe try out Scepter or Pistol when it hits in about two months. You could also try out other classes but since you're talking about "ranged casters" I don't think you'll find those outside of eles as GW2 classes/elites don't work like classes/roles in other RPGs do.

Edited December 17, 2023 by Omega.6801

[Danikat.8537]

The only parts of an elite spec you have to use are the traits and any changes to the profession skills, and sometimes you could ignore the profession spec as well if you wanted (for example a tempest could simply never use the overload skills). If you don't like the weapon or the new skills you can just keep using the core profession ones. My tempest uses a staff and double daggers for example.

[Cuks.8241]

This is not about meta builds, just about fun and caster feeling.

Mesmer. Greatsword feels great, 1200 range, power. Now with soto you can complement with dagger main hand and offhand of choice. Lots of mobility and best utility. Not so heavy on aoe as ele staff but you can equip enough aoe if you want.

And very strong condi ranged setups also. Condi virtuoso for example.

All elites will actually do fine (talking about fun and caster feel, not viability in specific content) allthough I find mirage most fun. Virtuoso if you dont like to deal with clones and just want to nuke or chrono if youre weird.

Now theres just one thing. Instead of fireballs and ice boulders and lightning bolts, youre casting pink lasers and swirly purple farts and throwing imaginery friends at your foes.

[Qys.5937]

Imaginary friends that explode!

[Blood Red Arachnid.2493]

For the elementalist, there's two caster builds that I would recommend.  The easiest one is the fire tempest:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PGgEsEW2ALhdxqYk4oa12uA-DSRYmBRyGNcbjRiCIeC44YAAVA-e

The exact distribution of stats isn't as important.  Just make sure you've got about 5% condition damage from vipers gear, and the rest can be either Sinister or Griever.  The gimmick of this build is that it doesn't leave fire attunement, so it is built to maximize as much burning and strike damage as possible.  It summons a lot of lesser fire elementals, and the trait setup makes Arcane Power act like a burning version of a thief venom.  You can use an off-hand focus instead of a warhorn for more damage, but warhorn has greater range and is easier to use.  This is the closest thing to an LI build that elementalist can get.  It does most of it's damage at range, has minions to distract enemies, and it caps might for all of your teammates.  Failing that, know that the elite skill summon gives you an arcane shield when you activate its skill.

The second one is significantly more involved, but it can accomplish more.  That is scepter condi weaver:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PGgEsEWmBTidxmYm4o6Y+qA-DSJYmRD/ZEnEIXFgCPGAQFA-e

Again, a focus can be used instead of a warhorn for greater damage and different utilities.  The way this build works is it alternates going form Fire/Fire, to Earth/Fire, then Fire/Earth, and then back to Fire/Fire again.  Doing this maintains all the trait buffs and gives it 100% global condition duration with food.  Having access to Earth gives it a lot more defensive utilities that the Fire Tempest doesn't otherwise have, and it does more damage.  Also, it is important to know that the utilities here aren't set in stone.  You'll be changing the utilities based on circumstances:

Primordia Stance does the most damage AoE with no animation, but is only good at melee range.

Glyph of Storms does high AoE damage in fire and blinds enemies when cast in earth, but it has an animation time.  Good against groups and mobs you'll want to blind.

Glyph of Elemental Power is a stunbreak with no cast time that enhances the next few attacks, but it is only good against single targets.

Glyph of Lesser Elementals is good if you're fighting in one area for a long time, as it takes along time to get all 4 elementals up and they die instantly when mounting.

Signet of Fire and Restoration are generally anchored to the bar and aren't swapped out.

The hardest part about this build is the Weave Self Portion.  If you're trying to benchmark, it can takes many hours of training to get the right flow and sequence of elements, and even more to use it properly in combat.  However, if you aren't particularly trying too hard, you can just alternate between Fire and Earth for all relevant buffs.  This requires a lot of button presses, but it will surprise you with how much damage it can unleash at 900 range.

[Nabbut.7480]

Necromancer's got long ranged AoE wells and marks from staff, cc with fear and chill, mobility with teleports and swiftness, plus lots of sustain with Death and Blood Magic traitlines in addition to shroud.

[starlinvf.1358]

On 12/18/2023 at 12:44 AM, Cuks.8241 said:

This is not about meta builds, just about fun and caster feeling.

 

I mean, thats pretty vague than.  How do you define "caster feeling"?   There have been people who vehemently argue that Necro is not a Necro because it doesn't have enough Minions, nor a Warlock because it has too much of a death magic theme.  Speaking of.... Warlock folks are stupidly picky some times.   Rev isn't a Warlock, despite having a magical sugar daddy, because it can't summon a familiar pet.