Elementalist Discussion

[Valeron]

I just use all of the cc abilities (like the anchor from the earth attunement, the 4 skill?) and then fire for mostly damage. I hardly get touched although it might take a bit of time, at least in comparison to my thief or ranger.

[Deleted]

tbh Ele under water isn`t that good, but at least it got some minor buffs months ago.

You can now create fields for extra damage.
Start off in air & then air 4 to cc mob/player, then same in earth. Switch to fire, use all spells, then water & instantly use water 5.
That will create fire field around you, combined with rushing forwards, that is the only decent damage you can do on an Ele.

If you`re up against an even remotely competent mesmer/warrior/thief chances are you`ll be dead as their damage is much higher/faster & stealth makes things worse for you.

Vaguely recall you can aoe blind too, think it is air 5 & then water 5, will test it later.

[Kalcheus]

Looking for a recommendation/link to a good leveling build that's heavy on fire and light on switching attunements. Weapon preference is Scepter/Focus, but not wedded to it.

[Xuvial]

Looking for a recommendation/link to a good leveling build that's heavy on fire and light on switching attunements. Weapon preference is Scepter/Focus, but not wedded to it.

Firstly I highly recommend replacing the Focus with a Dagger (so Scepter/Dagger). Dagger abilities like Ride The Lightning, Churning Earth, Fire Grab and Cleansing Wave completely demolish anything Focus has to offer IMO.

Secondly when it comes to leveling it's less about "builds" and more about the order in which you spend your points, because during early levels you barely have any trait points to begin with. If you want minimal attunement switching you'd probably aim for something like this:
http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=...;9;9-knF6;1Fbl

Try to gear for power/precision, so basically Berserker gear. All traits are aimed for max damage, you'll be sitting in Fire almost the entire time you're fighting. The points in Air are purely to increase crit damage/chance, speed up your traveling and give you a "oh shit" clutch burst/dodge/escape. Signet Of Air is to give you a permanent run speed boost, but when you need something to help you solo bosses/strong mobs then replace it with Glyph Of Lesser Elementals. Combined with the elite slot you can summon 2 earth elementals as tanks

[Meledelion]

You're looking for a build that suits a playstyle that really isn't recommended at all. The power of ele comes from switching.

I highly advise you to not play an ele at all if you're looking for a build like this. Instead try a ranger or if you want a caster d/d necro.

[Kalcheus]

Firstly I highly recommend replacing the Focus with a Dagger (so Scepter/Dagger). Dagger abilities like Ride The Lightning, Churning Earth, Fire Grab and Cleansing Wave completely demolish anything Focus has to offer IMO.

Secondly when it comes to leveling it's less about "builds" and more about the order in which you spend your points, because during early levels you barely have any trait points to begin with. If you want minimal attunement switching you'd probably aim for something like this:
http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=...;9;9-knF6;1Fbl

Thanks for the info. The reason I like a focus over a dagger is that I'm thinking Fire Shield combos well with something like say, Sunspot. That might be too much focus on melee Burning though.

You're looking for a build that suits a playstyle that really isn't recommended at all. The power of ele comes from switching.

I highly advise you to not play an ele at all if you're looking for a build like this. Instead try a ranger or if you want a caster d/d necro.

This is just a leveling build based around an RP idea; I don't intend to "endgame" or dungeon in it.

[Meledelion]

You'll be making it extremely hard on yourself for no real reason, but play how you like

[Kalcheus]

You'll be making it extremely hard on yourself for no real reason, but play how you like

I learn much more from failure than from success

[Xuvial]

You're looking for a build that suits a playstyle that really isn't recommended at all. The power of ele comes from switching.

Is that the case in PvE though? In PvP I can understand the power of switching due to high boon uptime via Arcane traits, lots of fury/healing/evasion floating around in deep Arcane.

But if you're spec'd heavily into Fire+Air and just looking for raw sustained damage to explode mobs in events/hearts, Arcane isn't needed and therefore switching is largely pointless. Unless you desperately need water heals or Churning Earth. He's leveling lol :P

[Meledelion]

I personally look at leveling as the "introduction" to the game or the time to perfect things. Playing one way for hours on end to then later learn how to play completely differently is double work in my eyes.
It's sort of like learning how to camp in your backyard forest and always shooting with a rifle and then once you're heading into the jungle you decide "I'm gonna use bow and arrow since that's the real way to do it.".

On it's own it doesn't really matter, its' just a QOL thing imo. You can kill "veterans" in 50s or in 5min, it doesn't really matter but I prefer the 50s thing.

[Xuvial]

What attunement-switching based build would you recommend for someone who is leveling, and what rotation would they typically use? I need to know this too since I'm not super-experienced with ele.

[Meledelion]

The build you linked is pretty decent, there's not really another way to go. I'd prioritise air over fire though since one of the best combo's you can use is: fire 243 air 241. The trick here is to be in Air before fire 2 and 3 hit so you get the dmg bonus anyway , it's stuff like that which is easier to learn as you level instead of once you actually "have to".

I'd probably grab some other traits though: http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=...;9;9-knF6;1FbB

I'd grab the FGS as elite though since using the rush without having a target selected does insane damage (and it makes it a lot easier to kill certain vets) and so does the fiery whirl thingy.

[Lane]

Looking for a recommendation/link to a good leveling build that's heavy on fire and light on switching attunements. Weapon preference is Scepter/Focus, but not wedded to it.

I've been using this build:

http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/...ight-stacking/

Most things are dead within the initial fire rotation and I haven't had to switch attunements much at all in general PvE leveling. (Sadly, I've hardly used Lightning Hammer, which is what I was looking forward to with this build. Things die too quickly. :P)

"Start in fire, use 2, Dragon's Tooth. Use 4 to throw down your fire field under Dragon’s Tooth and at your target. Use Arcane Blast and Arcane Wave. Use Fire 3 inside of your fire field. Use Fire 5 from melee range, use Fire 2 again."

[Ivy]

Looking for a recommendation/link to a good leveling build that's heavy on fire and light on switching attunements. Weapon preference is Scepter/Focus, but not wedded to it.

I've only been playing for a few months, love my ele. For a long time I stayed in Fire all the time but found switching attunements for a few quick spells isn't all that hard and definitely makes a difference! Tried various weapons but prefer Scepter /Dagger - rotation something like this... Fire - 243 - dragons tooth - ring of fire – phoenix : Switch to Air 345 - blinding flash - ride the lightning - updraft : Switch to Earth - 34 - dust devil (for another blind) - earthquake ... back to Fire - rinse and repeat. Depending on my health - into Water sometimes in-between for a quick healing spell. The blinds in Air and Earth make whatever you’re fighting "miss" their next attack on you! Of course you'll want to throw down an AOE if fighting multiple attackers. I like to keep Arcane Power (your next 5 attacks do critical damage) and Glyph of Elemental Power (chance of spells to inflict a condition) up at all times. Remember, these are just suggestions... Took me a while to figure out what was best for my playing style - Oh and get Fiery Greatsword as soon as you can! Soooo much fun.

[Smitzelplix]

If you want to be more tanky instead of wasting all your traits/gear bring other utility skills like arcane shield/armor of earth/lightning flash. If you can't stay alive with that use the gear that is used in the build I linked PVT on head, chest and legs.

Is PVT on head, chest, and legs how all professions want to gear when they want a blend of defensive gear and zerker gear?

[Meledelion]

Since I'm very tired my reply will be sweet and short: Yes.

I CBA to look up the stat difference now since I've been awake for over 36h and I'm heading to bed.

[Smitzelplix]

Since I'm very tired my reply will be sweet and short: Yes.

I CBA to look up the stat difference now since I've been awake for over 36h and I'm heading to bed.

Thank you kindly.

[Kalcheus]

The build you linked is pretty decent, there's not really another way to go. I'd prioritise air over fire though since one of the best combo's you can use is: fire 243 air 241. The trick here is to be in Air before fire 2 and 3 hit so you get the dmg bonus anyway , it's stuff like that which is easier to learn as you level instead of once you actually "have to".

I'd probably grab some other traits though: http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=...;9;9-knF6;1FbB

Question: in the build you linked, you've selected Arcane Lightning. Where/when are you using Arcane Utility spells in rotation?

[Valeron]

don't think there is a set rotation, I imagine blast and wave you can use on any fight, arcane shield is a bit more situational

I would add in sigil of intelligence to my weapon since I attune swap all of the time, so say I'm in water attunement, I use arcane blast to get the crit damage boost, attune swap to fire or air to get the 100% crit chance, and then use a big attack like dragons tooth (if the enemy is stationary for that particular skill)

[Meledelion]

Arcane Wave in the fire field for more might (preferably at the end of earthquake).
Arcane Blast depends on enemy HP, if you can wait till you're in Air Attunement use it together with Lightning Strike. If you can't wait just Pop it whenever.

Arcane Shield I just threw in for some leeway.