I'm strong and weak. Why?

[Akiyoto.2670]

I've an Elementalist (Power 2631, Thoughness 1484, Vitaly 1484, Health 16.485).Tried to run the Eye of the Brand Storm. Terrible, bosses drove me crazy, every 20-30 second dead and/or retry at a starting point.I've a Ranger too (Power 2238, Thoughness 1000, Vitaly 1000, Health 15.922).First run: never died, never retry at starting point. Just fun.The lesser mobs didn't do much harm, got the idea my NPC friends helpt me more and faster to survive.The Elementalist (she uses fire only) has some ascended gear, has higher stats, still she's weak.I didn't even try the full berserker gear set.The "weak" ranger, with mediocre gear is strong.Why??P.S. I'm just a leisure PvE player with little knowledge.

[Vayne.8563]

Elementalist is arguably as strong as ranger, but is' a harder class to play and probably wasn't designed to be played by casual players. Arguably staying in fire is a bad way to survive. It's like saying I'm using 1/3rd of the class.

Ranger has it's defense traits and stats built into what you normally use. The elementalist is more compartmentalized. Water is your healing spec and earth can help you resist damage as well. You're simply not making use of those options.

Some professions have a higher skill cap. Elementalist and Engineer are generally two two highest skill caps, probably followed by thief and mesmer. If you want to play those professions well, you have to learn to play them.

A mediocre ranger, necro or guardian can often just get through content based on their builds being simpler, but make no mistake, as a casual player, even though you can get through content on your ranger, you're not playing it as efficiently as someone who really knows the profession and makes use of all their abilties. There's nothing wrong with this of course, I play like you and get through content.

I'm probably not quite as casual and I've looked up some builds, though and learned to change things up on other professions. Ranger, however, remains my main.

[AliamRationem.5172]

@"Akiyoto.2670" said:I've an Elementalist (Power 2631, Thoughness 1484, Vitaly 1484, Health 16.485).Tried to run the Eye of the Brand Storm. Terrible, bosses drove me crazy, every 20-30 second dead and/or retry at a starting point.I've a Ranger too (Power 2238, Thoughness 1000, Vitaly 1000, Health 15.922).First run: never died, never retry at starting point. Just fun.The lesser mobs didn't do much harm, got the idea my NPC friends helpt me more and faster to survive.The Elementalist (she uses fire only) has some ascended gear, has higher stats, still she's weak.I didn't even try the full berserker gear set.The "weak" ranger, with mediocre gear is strong.Why??P.S. I'm just a leisure PvE player with little knowledge.

Not all classes are created equal. Ranger is one of the easier and more forgiving classes, while elementalist is the most complex to learn and very unforgiving. However, that doesn't mean ele is weak. It's actually quite versatile and can be played many ways. Here's an example of a boss that most players probably consider very difficult to solo with any class, let alone go toe-to-toe with on dagger/dagger elementalist!

It may be that ele is simply a poor fit for you or perhaps you just haven't found a build that works for you. That's not uncommon because, as I said, ele is not an easy class to learn.

[Fluffball.8307]

It's not so much that one profession is more complex than another, there are easier builds to run and some of them also just click with different people.

If your ranger is running longbow and hiding behind a pet, anything in PvE is going to be trivially easy. On the other hand if you're running a pure melee ranger versus a staff ele attacking from extreme range behind summons, you're going to have an easier time on the ele.

All professions have an equally sky-high skill cap, but the build you're currently running is going to make a huge difference. A berserker ele using double daggers is going to have little room for error (although I would argue is infinitely more fun.)

[AliamRationem.5172]

@Fluffball.8307 said:It's not so much that one profession is more complex than another, there are easier builds to run and some of them also just click with different people.

If your ranger is running longbow and hiding behind a pet, anything in PvE is going to be trivially easy. On the other hand if you're running a pure melee ranger versus a staff ele attacking from extreme range behind summons, you're going to have an easier time on the ele.

All professions have an equally sky-high skill cap, but the build you're currently running is going to make a huge difference. A berserker ele using double daggers is going to have little room for error (although I would argue is infinitely more fun.)

I see your point, but I think ele and engi are special cases, especially ele because no matter what build you run you will always have to deal with attunements. That means not only do you have significantly more skills available to you at one time than any other class, but you have to manage the attunement cooldown properly to avoid locking yourself out of essential skills. If you take weaver it gets even more complex in both ways (more skills and more thinking ahead to manage attunements!).

That isn't to say that there is no learning curve with other classes. Just that ele has more skills and the task of managing your attunements is relatively more difficult due to the fact that there are twice as many of them as standard classes have with their weapon swap. Also, because the skills are compartmentalized such that wasting an attunement can leave you in a bad spot more easily than weapon swaps which are designed to be more self-sufficient (e.g. water attunement has all of your healing while standard weapon skills have a mix of everything).

[Khisanth.2948]

The Elementalist (she uses fire only) has some ascended gear, has higher stats, still she's weak.

If this is how you plan to play elementalist it is probably best to just go play a different class instead.

[Akiyoto.2670]

@Vayne.8563"Water is your healing spec and earth can help you resist damage as well. You're simply not making use of those options."Right,, I've read once swapping attunements costs time, better stay at Fire for better DPS. I see it's risky, if that statement is true at all.

@AliamRationem.5172Nice vid. Oh my, all that swapping of attunements, Too complex for a casual player like may, I prefer spending time for playing and fun, so a forgiving class is more suited for me.

@ Fluffball.8307"If your ranger is running longbow and hiding behind a pet". Yep, longbow and pet, that's me, exactly. The "hiding" phrase sound a bit like being a coward. Nevertheless, it works !

@ AliamRationem.5172As said, the attunements thingy is to difficult for me

@ Khisanth.2948"probably best to just go play a different class instead" I'll do, however keep the Elementalist for groups, I've someone keeps aggro, I can deal a lot of damage, even go as full berserker. I've satisfying results in such a setting.

Thanks all for advise :-)

[AliamRationem.5172]

Glad you enjoyed the video and found it helpful...even if it only helped convince you that ele isn't really your thing in solo play!

[Urud.4925]

@Akiyoto.2670 said:I'll do, however keep the Elementalist for groups, I've someone keeps aggro, I can deal a lot of damage, even go as full berserker. I've satisfying results in such a setting.I'm a complete noob with the elementalist, I also die very often. I just wanted to say that's it's also satisfying to heal your group, not only damage the boss.If you learn few combo on other attunements, you'll enjoy your class even more. Not only as dmg dealer, but also as support! The pleasure of a refreshing rain when you're dying... aaah

[Biff.5312]

When I first played elementalist I hated it. Died all the time. And I couldn't figure out how to manage with any build other than staff/fire. But over time I've simply learned to be a better player, partly by playing other classes. When I came back to elementalist I found it was like easy-mode. You just have to know what the limits are - when to dodge out of combat because you can't take another hit - and make sure you use skills that help you evade damage, not just pour on the dps.I now have three elementalists - one staff, one dagger, one sceptre - and I find I die as little as I ever did with any other class. You MUST switch attunements. Not doing so is a real waste. You don't have to optimize the cycle like some people do, but you do need to take advantage of some of the additional skills it allows. You can often avoid death by simply switching and using a skill that isn't one of your go-to fire options.

[Neutra.6857]

@AliamRationem.5172 said:

@"Akiyoto.2670" said:I've an Elementalist (Power 2631, Thoughness 1484, Vitaly 1484, Health 16.485).Tried to run the Eye of the Brand Storm. Terrible, bosses drove me crazy, every 20-30 second dead and/or retry at a starting point.I've a Ranger too (Power 2238, Thoughness 1000, Vitaly 1000, Health 15.922).First run: never died, never retry at starting point. Just fun.The lesser mobs didn't do much harm, got the idea my NPC friends helpt me more and faster to survive.The Elementalist (she uses fire only) has some ascended gear, has higher stats, still she's weak.I didn't even try the full berserker gear set.The "weak" ranger, with mediocre gear is strong.Why??P.S. I'm just a leisure PvE player with little knowledge.

Not all classes are created equal. Ranger is one of the easier and more forgiving classes, while elementalist is the most complex to learn and very unforgiving. However, that doesn't mean ele is weak. It's actually quite versatile and can be played many ways. Here's an example of a boss that most players probably consider very difficult to solo with any class, let alone go toe-to-toe with on dagger/dagger elementalist!

It may be that ele is simply a poor fit for you or perhaps you just haven't found a build that works for you. That's not uncommon because, as I said, ele is not an easy class to learn.

It's true that ranger is a class that is relatively easy to pick up the basics and survive on, the issue is going beyond that. You can let the pet attack on automatic (just leave it alone), but if you want to be a stronger ranger you need a better control of the pet, including positioning yourself to best work with the pet. Since the pet AI sucks big time this isn't exactly the easiest thing to do.

[Hex.2579]

ele is one of the hardest classes to pick up to play, but once you do, it's also harder to play other classes cuz big numbers and kill everything so fast. lol. Aliam already sum it up nicely for you.all classes have weapon swap, whereas engi and ele don't. so you need to change attunements just as you do with weapon swapping. now you only use fire, try air and switch between those 2 for starters. learn 2 sets of skills. not to mention, you gain extra boons or some stats improvement if you switch attunement. and it'll allow you more time for other skills to be off cooldown before you switch back. the utilities are literally "utilities" for now. they will be your stunbreaks, and/or skills to help you disengage easily if you're on low health. so you could fully focus on learning fire-air. it's not that hard. it just needs to to adjust.

also at each attunement, there are 2-3 skills that will deal the most damage, that should be on your priority list instead of spamming every single skill in random orders. that way you could manage your time better when switching.when you get comfy then start to learn water, then earth attunement. water is for healing, and earth is for defensive skills, but could be used aggressively.

as for your ranger, the pet takes aggro for you, so most mobs would focus on it, let you range from far away. that explains why it makes you feel strong. but a power ranger is so far behind a power ele when it comes to big numbers popping up.wouldn't be the same for ele, esp when you have toughness on, mobs will aggro, follow you and may make it hard to stay alive. even if you don't have any toughness on, your heavy damage take aggro most of the time too. lol. try to learn to dodge and save weapon skills that let you leap backward or something like that to create a sweet escape.

[Akiyoto.2670]

Yeah, I said attunements are too difficult for me. However that thing kept me busy. My ele was my first char, good feeling about her, so I returned and tried switching fire with water. Nice healing! And I did finish Eye of the Brand storm now. So I'm happy with your advice guys, even more than when I read 'm the first time. Playing the ele more than the ranger atm ;-)

[Optimator.3589]

I'm relatively new to ele myself, and it's become my go-to character when I don't know what situations I'm going to be encountering, or when I don't really know what I feel like doing. Just such a versatile class that always has something new for me to learn, and never a dull moment while in combat. Stick with it, and I think it'll become a favorite for you, too.

[voltaicbore.8012]

I actually have the reverse hope for you, Akiyoto, in that I hope that as you learn how to play elementalist better, you'll become a better ranger over time. I think new players are attracted to ranger precisely because (as someone already said in here) I can be a very forgiving class. However, these new players often camp one weapon and one pet, and are using such a small piece of the ranger's overall ability set. Good rangers swap pets, merge/unmerge often, swap weapons, and redo their ability bar based on different encounters - all of this should come much more easily to you after you get a feel for elementalist.

[lunarminx.3624]

@Akiyoto.2670 said:@Vayne.8563"Water is your healing spec and earth can help you resist damage as well. You're simply not making use of those options."Right,, I've read once swapping attunements costs time, better stay at Fire for better DPS. I see it's risky, if that statement is true at all.

@AliamRationem.5172Nice vid. Oh my, all that swapping of attunements, Too complex for a casual player like may, I prefer spending time for playing and fun, so a forgiving class is more suited for me.

@ Fluffball.8307"If your ranger is running longbow and hiding behind a pet". Yep, longbow and pet, that's me, exactly. The "hiding" phrase sound a bit like being a coward. Nevertheless, it works !

@ AliamRationem.5172As said, the attunements thingy is to difficult for me

@ Khisanth.2948"probably best to just go play a different class instead" I'll do, however keep the Elementalist for groups, I've someone keeps aggro, I can deal a lot of damage, even go as full berserker. I've satisfying results in such a setting.

Thanks all for advise :-)

Just respect you build and see how things go. I play a staff build and rarely leave fire unless I have to because I just want the fire mage! have fun with it, the elementalist mows mobs down. POF is the only time I have had trouble and I tweaked my gear a bit and I am golden again. Throw a few sentinel pieces on for jewels and staff to boost toughness and vitality. Also use signet of earth if you don't want to switch attunements all the time.

[Malafaia.8903]

I was struggling hard with Ele trying to follow "meta builds".So i just got some Celestial gear and created a "fresh-air" build with Air/Arcane/Tempest lines and now i'm an immortal bender of elements HAHA

[Boulder.3589]

I feel your pain OP. My fully ascended staff ele also dies pretty fast to anything that doesnt die fast. (kills pretty fast too, especially groups of low hp/toughness things). Ele just feels bad in any situation where you are taking any amount of damage. Try taking defensive utilities. Helps a little but not much.

[Ferny.8250]

Played elementalist heaps then took a massive break after living world season 1. If you use exclusively fire you are using 1/4 of the class and can not use any of the crowd control, escape, distance closer or other support skills the other attunements offer. You need to learn a sequence of skills between attunements that combo fire fields and blast finishers mixed with stuns to maximize damage.

Its hard to explain on the forum but I'll run over a dagger dagger rotation. Start in air: skill 4-5 fire: 3-5-4 earth: 4-5. Its got gap closer, knockdown, another gap closer with burn, massive burst damage if they're burning (weak mobs are dead by this time) then knockdown and more burst. Switch to water for some heals.

Staff is pretty easy. Combo eruption in earth with lava font in fire. Other earth skills have a immobilize and slow.

As for gear, the meta general pve is exotic berserkers with superior runes of the scholar. Search Zhed's armor on trading post, its cheap. Berserkers gives massive burst damage to kill enemies before they kill you.