Seeking Profession Advice

[Hammerhawk.8631]

Hello all, I have been playing GW2 for a little while now and I believe that I understand a large amount of the important aspects of the game including what is important for group play (boon application and dps uptime). I am most interested in joining end game PVE events including strikes, fractals, and raids. I currently main an elementalist (trying to get some other characters to catch up) and I have access to all 3 elite specs and weapon mastery. Currently at this time I have been gathering up some ascended trinkets and messing around with different builds. Unfortunately I find that elementalist can be somewhat difficult to reach some of the build benchmarks consistently, most notably dps. However, as I am playing around with the builds and my gear a bit I can provide pretty decent alacrity uptime, good might uptime, and good protection uptime with my tempest build. Seeing as I am a bit of a noob I am seeking a build that will enable me to enter and learn the end game PVE content without being a complete leech to the team. Would anyone have any good recommendations for builds that may assist me? This will also assist me as I can select the stats needed for the gear I am acquiring I am open to dps, support dps, and support healing builds. I am beginning to think that elementalist is pretty okay at everything but struggling to find and area that I can excel. Ultimately any elementalist build that would be relatively easy to perform, that provides value to the team, and would enable me to begin mastering the mechanics of the fights would be greatly appreciated. Thank you to anyone who reads this post, hope to grind some end game content with you soon!

[QueenKeriti.5176]

https://snowcrows.com/builds/raids/elementalist Have you checked their builds out?

[Hammerhawk.8631]

32 minutes ago, QueenKeriti.5176 said:

https://snowcrows.com/builds/raids/elementalist Have you checked their builds out?

I actually hadn't spent much time with Snowcrows. I have looked at others such as GuildJen, Hardstuck, etc but I really like how snowcrows has everything laid out. Thank you.

[RavensSorrow.6128]

I appreciate all the work you are putting into being an asset to the team. However, don't forget to just get in there! Not everything is DPS, you also need to learn the fight and flow of the instance. So don't be afraid to step in and get that knowledge. You need to know when the boss moves or goes immune, or has a Defiance bar,  ect. . 

That said, and to the point of your post, I recommend starting with someone Low Intensity (LI) to learn with. These LI builds are designed for minimal button pressing (APM) while still contributing to the party. These are great that you can concentrate on the fight while just hitting a few buttons to keep pace. I usually use Mukluk Labs Builds when learning something. You can always add to these builds as you get comfortable. 

Don't forget to learn what buttons give you a strong Crowd Control as well for those defiance bars. A stun, push, pull, fear, ect. can break these bars to make bosses vulnerable or interrupt a big spell they are casting. As DPS too you should be prepared to Rez (when safe) as well. This allows the healers keep you alive while you get someone up.

All that said the first few fights, strikes especially are quite easy and don't require big numbers to start.  Even fractals, tier 1 is more about learning the instance. Agony and more mechanics get added at higher tiers. You'll get currency or drops of ascended gear as you progress through these. Exotic is more than good enough to take on the normal modes Strikes and early tier fractals. I actually lead Strikes, you really will laugh at the first few after all this prep. 

For Raids, I'd suggest looking for a guild that does raid trainings and plays similar times to you. You'll need some time set aside to fight a few bosses in a row. Don't get frustrated by wipes or personal deaths. Just find a way to learn from them, ask questions of your team leads. Even with low damage if you are asking questions, admitting mistakes and trying to improve most groups will have no issue keeping you along. 

Don't forget to have fun! Play something you enjoy. Hope this helps friend. 

Edit:

You asked:

Quote

I am beginning to think that elementalist is pretty okay at everything but struggling to find and area that I can excel.

As an Elementalist you have many buttons. You can give protection, destroy projectiles, provide healing, ect. Just by swapping stances (depending on weapons). Learning how to apply your many skills in the right situation is powerful. You can protect teammates even doing a damage role. Don't overlook the utility of a class!

Edited June 24 by RavensSorrow.6128
Additional info

[Hammerhawk.8631]

13 hours ago, RavensSorrow.6128 said:

I appreciate all the work you are putting into being an asset to the team. However, don't forget to just get in there! Not everything is DPS, you also need to learn the fight and flow of the instance. So don't be afraid to step in and get that knowledge. You need to know when the boss moves or goes immune, or has a Defiance bar,  ect. . 

That said, and to the point of your post, I recommend starting with someone Low Intensity (LI) to learn with. These LI builds are designed for minimal button pressing (APM) while still contributing to the party. These are great that you can concentrate on the fight while just hitting a few buttons to keep pace. I usually use Mukluk Labs Builds when learning something. You can always add to these builds as you get comfortable. 

Don't forget to learn what buttons give you a strong Crowd Control as well for those defiance bars. A stun, push, pull, fear, ect. can break these bars to make bosses vulnerable or interrupt a big spell they are casting. As DPS too you should be prepared to Rez (when safe) as well. This allows the healers keep you alive while you get someone up.

All that said the first few fights, strikes especially are quite easy and don't require big numbers to start.  Even fractals, tier 1 is more about learning the instance. Agony and more mechanics get added at higher tiers. You'll get currency or drops of ascended gear as you progress through these. Exotic is more than good enough to take on the normal modes Strikes and early tier fractals. I actually lead Strikes, you really will laugh at the first few after all this prep. 

For Raids, I'd suggest looking for a guild that does raid trainings and plays similar times to you. You'll need some time set aside to fight a few bosses in a row. Don't get frustrated by wipes or personal deaths. Just find a way to learn from them, ask questions of your team leads. Even with low damage if you are asking questions, admitting mistakes and trying to improve most groups will have no issue keeping you along. 

Don't forget to have fun! Play something you enjoy. Hope this helps friend. 

Edit:

You asked:

As an Elementalist you have many buttons. You can give protection, destroy projectiles, provide healing, ect. Just by swapping stances (depending on weapons). Learning how to apply your many skills in the right situation is powerful. You can protect teammates even doing a damage role. Don't overlook the utility of a class!

Thank you for this insight, for some reason the LFG is so intimidating at times! This post has boosted my confidence. I intend to start joining some of the easier strikes, stating that I am new, and if they have problems with me then I will attempt to find some more patient players haha

[RavensSorrow.6128]

8 hours ago, Hammerhawk.8631 said:

Thank you for this insight, for some reason the LFG is so intimidating at times! 

I understand. I came from WoW and their LFG can get a bit toxic. I didn't do a strike/raid until EoD. I was "forced" to do one for my turtle mount. I found a training run, learned what I could from guides and gave it a shot. I was one of 4 people alive at the end. It's not that the fights are "hard" per se just overlapping mechanics can sometimes get complex. Learning how to prioritize what keeps you (and the rest) alive while doing your job is a process.

The Mukluk site I posted earlier also has guides for strikes, fractals, raids all on their too if you need to see what they entail first. After you do one or two you'll see the difficulty is a bit lower than you are probably expecting (way lower on some). You should have no problem stepping in and getting a handful under your belt quickly. Raids though may need a static so you can progress as a group and learn the team dynamics a bit more.

I play on the NA regions by the way. Usually, late evening EST time zone but not every day. If you want to add me or mail me and I can assist if you need a more guided approach to these instances. Or just keep posting here I will try and keep up with it. Have fun!

[Atoclone.4810]

Keep in mind benchmarks are incredibly good players doing perfect rotations under perfect conditions and as such are pretty unrealistic. 

 

I use this for raids and don't completely embarrass myself (most of the time) 

https://snowcrows.com/builds/raids/elementalist/condition-tempest

 

The recommended rotation is great when you're attaching a dummy that doesn't move out fight back. In real life I found it was too easy to get lost in it and now I do some thing like this(off top of head but should be though to give you any idea)

Fire 3 2 overload 3 2 5

Water 2 3

Air 3 5 2 (the air bit is very awkward and where I find the 2 doesn't always activate hence 5 in the middle but tbh, you could probably get away with skipping air) 

Earth 3 2 overload 5 3 2

Back to fire and start again.

As an ele you're always going to be fighting uphill against other classes that can do the same with much simpler gameplay. But we don't play ele because we went to easily top the DPS charts. 

[Atoclone.4810]

On 6/24/2024 at 11:59 PM, RavensSorrow.6128 said:

 

For Raids, I'd suggest looking for a guild that does raid trainings and plays similar times to you. You'll need some time set aside to fight a few bosses in a row. Don't get frustrated by wipes or personal deaths. Just find a way to learn from them, ask questions of your team leads. Even with low damage if you are asking questions, admitting mistakes and trying to improve most groups will have no issue keeping you along. 

 

This is excellent advice, I only ever raid with my guild, most of us had never raided before but we have a lovely couple of ducks that are knowledgeable and we all learnt together (and now all have our legendary armour). Some fights took us weeks to get down and whilst it sometimes got frustrating we worked together. And if we didn't get any loot that week we at least got a fun Friday night with friends. 

 

[Tinker.6924]

On 6/24/2024 at 3:49 PM, Hammerhawk.8631 said:

Unfortunately I find that elementalist can be somewhat difficult to reach some of the build benchmarks consistently

Elementalist builds almost always require high actions-per-minute and the more key presses a rotation requires the greater the chance for mistakes and interruptions from fight mechanics causing issues.  Consider simplifying it into a "low intensity" version.  A build that hits the benchmarks on the training golem but fails to come close to expectations in actual fights because its complexity causes issues can be less desirable than a simpler version that does less well but is more consistent.

Pretty much every high APM build can be simplified.  Not always documented on a website but you can probably come up with your own version.