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Variety of utility skills an Elementalist can use in WvW


len.7809

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Talking about core. Power buildsExcluding healing skills, cantrips and arcane are the only utility skills used in wvw .

There's no point to use a signet that increase movement speed and when activated blinds(Oh yeah, just what I needed, because there ain't enough blind). Or casting an aoe lighting storm that can easily dodged and has 60s cd(I've heard its damage capped?). Or use an conjure weapon, except FGS for escaping.Why don't we use other skills beside cantrips and arcane? Because they are bad, they have no uses in wvw, even in pve! (eg. Glyph of Renewal, Glyph of Lesser Elementals, etc, etc)What if those skills are useful? You still won't use it anyways because you need at least 2 of your utility slots for cantrips or you are fucked.

What utility skills you guys uses?Mine are: Lightning Flash, Mist Form, Armor of Earth or some arcane skill. And i really hope that one day, without using an spec, I can see the cantrips a NOT must for competitive.

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lightning flash, arcane blast/wave, twist of fate are pretty much the only utilities i ever used on staff/scepter builds, though mist form is pretty good alternative to twist of fate. I do agree with you, most of the signets and glyphs are particularly bad in all gamemodes, and conjures aside from fgs and lightning hammer are pretty meh. Ive always though ele has some of the most boring utility skills.

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The utilities work with different comps and game styles. Of course you're not going to be running Signet of Earth for a Fresh Air Weaver because there are better options. That does not mean the other options are inherently bad.

Signets can be used in condi-focused builds. Signet of Fire is actually a really powerful burn if landed, and Signet of Earth's immob and bleed recently received a buff with the new Strength of Stone change. Glyph of Elemental Power has seen some use with the new Fire Weaver build that is pretty much meta in PvP (effective in WvW as well). Arcane Power can be used nicely if you have an organized group able to synchronize on a timed burst.

And here is the last thing to keep in mind: other skills like Glyph of Lesser Elementants that are bad in WvW are bad because they weren't meant to be used in WvW. The skills in this game are meant to cover a wide variety of gameplay styles. For a causal player enjoying solo PvE gameplay, that Glyph is pretty helpful since it gives you an extra minion to help you out with. Signet of Air helps you run across the map quicker, which back in the day was incredibly useful. The stun break and blind were only added to give it something extra in a world where mounts and gliding were the norm.

EDIT: Let me just say that I understand this topic was focused on WvW, however the point I'm trying to make is that options that are bad in WvW doesn't mean they are bad skills, just they have their niche uses in other game modes. Cantrips focus on self survival, which as one would expect, tend to be very useful skills in a PvP setting.

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Have you played other classes? They have even less alternatives. As soon as I see a class or elite spec I'm 99% certain about what they are using. On ele there's at least some versatility, especially with weapons.

Most of reviving skills are useless because the other few are too strong (MI, illusion, necro signet). Elementals are useful for leveling or general solo pve. Signets are used in pve, water one can be useful on heal tempest anywhere. Conjureds suck everywhere because of cast time and having to pick them up for their full value (there's already tons of threads on this).

Comment above sums it up pretty nicely now that I notice.

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There's pve, pvp, and wvw. Raids, fractals, roaming, etc. Utility skills have to conver everything

Sometimes its great creating a niche build that uses utilities people don't see often. With the right traits, you can buff so many different utilities for any specific need.

That's what makes you more valuable than some cookie cutter common ele. Think outside the box.

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I've been using Ice Bow on my zerg build for awhile now. Normally, zerg staff's DPS output is feast or famine with meteor shower. But, dropping an Ice Storm is still extremely powerful, and makes for a good secondary option.

Ele has a lot of good utilities for WvW. Arcane Wave, Arcane Shield, All cantrips, Ice bow, 3/4 Glyphs, Signet of Fire, and (meta-dependent) Signet of Water. That's quite a few options for offense, defense, and mobility.

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@"Blood Red Arachnid.2493" said:I've been using Ice Bow on my zerg build for awhile now. Normally, zerg staff's DPS output is feast or famine with meteor shower. But, dropping an Ice Storm is still extremely powerful, and makes for a good secondary option.

Ele has a lot of good utilities for WvW. Arcane Wave, Arcane Shield, All cantrips, Ice bow, 3/4 Glyphs, Signet of Fire, and (meta-dependent) Signet of Water. That's quite a few options for offense, defense, and mobility.

TBH frost bow is only "decent" when enemy isnt moving and they arent really pressuring you, so basically when they are sieging in front of the wall and you manage to freecast for a few seconds. Getting rooted for 2 seconds at 900 range is a suicide in any other situation. Even if you hit the full skill, it still doesnt do any impressive damage, you could do almost the same with glyph while needing only a millisecond of LoS because you can walk away to safety as soon as the cast starts.

3/4 glyphs is an overstatement. Besides heal and a niche elemental power for roaming, other ones have practically no use in any competitive build. Same with signets - only heal one is relevant. Even fire signet is optional, but I like it for the meme value because it has huge damage on big range

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@"steki.1478" said:

TBH frost bow is only "decent" when enemy isnt moving and they arent really pressuring you, so basically when they are sieging in front of the wall and you manage to freecast for a few seconds. Getting rooted for 2 seconds at 900 range is a suicide in any other situation. Even if you hit the full skill, it still doesnt do any impressive damage, you could do almost the same with glyph while needing only a millisecond of LoS because you can walk away to safety as soon as the cast starts.

3/4 glyphs is an overstatement. Besides heal and a niche elemental power for roaming, other ones have practically no use in any competitive build. Same with signets - only heal one is relevant. Even fire signet is optional, but I like it for the meme value because it has huge damage on big range

I use it as an ambush option, and also in combination with Lightning Flash to create safe distances. Frost Storm is an incredible amount of pressure in a small area, and easily kills players who are caught off-guard or just unlucky. Glyph of Storms is really light compared to what Frost Storm outputs. The storm glyph is still useful, though, mostly as a spacing and an AoE debuff when used in Earth, but also as siege destruction when used in Air. I don't run a condi build, so I can't speak much on fire.

This isn't PVE. There are far more to a competitive build than just a copy/paste of the meta. Playstyle and inventiveness actually matter here.

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