Elementalist is a curse. I picked it and my expectations were set by it. Now that I've started to try other classes, I'm disappointed by how simple they all feel :c
Started playing yesterday, as an elementalist (I usually go for more complicated/fast paced classes in mmos, like FFXIV Ninja, or wow druid, monk or rogue) and your videos are the ones that helped me choose between elementalist (weaver/catalyst) and thief (daredevil). Will probably make a thief as my next one, then maybe rev after that.
Welcome to the elementalist family! While weaver is my favorite spec in the game, but I would also suggest you look into mesmer. It's probably the most unique class in guild wars 2 and can be quite fun as well.
Funny that you named the few WoW classes that are hard-capped in speed since they don't gain action speed from haste and have to wait for energy regeneration
Dude this is awesome. Are you planning to do something like this for each class? This is exactly what the new player (like myself) needs to feel more comfortable with their class. Appreciate you!!
Played GW2 for the first time a few days ago and looked for a bunch of new player class guides and everyone said to pick the easier to pick up classes, so I started with Ranger and also tried Guardian. I almost dropped the game because of how bored I was coming from FFXIV. They all said Ele was one of the most difficult classes to learn and I was scared to try it, but when I finally did, I was having so much more fun. Thank you for making these videos!
My favorite thing to do when I started out playing ele was learning how to juggle the enemies with a single weapon/set; it helped build muscle memory. I didn't have enough damage to quickly down enemies, so I would use the weapon abilities to push back against, stun, or slow their advance while laying down damage areas for them to walk over with my favorite weapon, the staff. Since most PvE enemy's AI is "make a beeline towards the player before attacking", this is pretty simple. And if all else fails, learn to kite in a smallish circle (so long as there are not too many other enemies in the area) and keep going to air for staff air 4's swiftness (now with superspeed!) to keep ahead of them. Also, the part he mentioned about the elementals is true - earth elementals are great (earthen)meat shields, water elementals are pretty tanky and slow enemies, fire elementals are for when you get confident and just need more damage, and the air elementals are better for spread out enemies since they have a ranged attack. When you get the elite elemental glyph, also learn what each elemental's special ability does - the earth one is an aoe cripple that does a great job getting enemy attention, the water one has an aoe heal, the air one stuns (good on breakbars!), and the fire one... does MORE damage. I loved running the Inscription glyph and all glyph skills - it's not ideal by any metric, but it is a lot of fun and very versatile.
I feel like that's an important aspect that people forget about, instead of min maxing numbers, remember to have fun! Even if your build isn't the "optimal" pne
Some additional queries about your suggested leveling build: 1 - do you recommend choosing your spec trees in the order given: Fire, then Air, then Arcane? 2 - Is the absence of equipment stat suggestions intended? Celestial, as mentioned in the video, is an endgame choice rather than a leveling choice. Thanks for an excellent video.
I would say that getting air early will help out significantly as then you can have a near baseline increased 25% movement speed. Ideally as your leveling trying to find cohesiveness with the gear you get is key. Either focus on power damage (power precision, ferociry) or condition damage to hone your build. Leveling gives a random roll of stats so each decision should try to work with the next! Thanks!
Ahhhh... The time when I started the game as ele and finished the main story and went into HOTs expansion with my patchwork of green and yellow gear. Getting turned inside out by everything in a second. Good times.
I played it until tempest. But weaver and catalyst scared me. I tried to play and died very fast. I then switched to condi virtuoso. Tried mechanist but got bored of autoattack play.
I feel like if you wanna play a hard class you should do it from the beginning. My first characters were Mesmer and Thief wich are often described as two of the harder classes. But since I played them from the beginning I am very confident on these classes now. Learning elementalist (or other classes) now as a veteran player on the other hand is quite the task.
In my opinion the key element to learn to play a proper ele in instanced PvE is to become flexible in your gear/traits/utility. Especs such as virtuoso and spellbreaker are very well rounded. They provide alot of extra utility by default and are an excellent addition to the group. For elementalist this isn't necessarily the case. Every build has multiple elements it excells at but simultaneously also multiple inherent weaknesses: a lack of CC, melee damage, not much aoe, no group support, condi damage, squishyness, relying alot on boon uptime etc etc. Yet if you keep adjusting your build to the situation you can mitigate most/all of these weaknesses. Dagger, scepter, staff, sword and hammer all have damage builds in the 40k dps range.Especially staff right now is really undervalued by the gw2/ele community. Also there is a wide variety of core traitlines that you can use for your builds. Fire, earth and arcane provide good condi damage and fire, air, arcane and water provide good power damage. The ele basically has access to melee+ ranged power damage and ranged condi damage. The only real inherent weakness is its limited access to CC (especially the utility skills really suck for CC). Elementalist is probably one of the very few (if not only class) that can actually benefit from picking the asura race. Technobabble is actually a very viable utility skill incase you need to slot in extra CC.
Agreed! The ele does not bring any inherent benefit to the group composition especially core, but can do quite a few things pretty well! Asira ele, now that's a really good combonation!
arcane skills can be useful if ya doing a build where ya use the trait which does a condi based on ur attunement and with earth thats imbo, which then also goes will with the trait that does bleeding when u imobo a target
For me the biggest issue has been the class's squishiness. I started out using largely Berserker's gear at 80 but was dying too quick to pack much punch. Following another guide I popped in some Soldier's for some survivability and it's so far worked for me.
Ditto, Ele was my first class, but I came to believe Ele is really a support class, and so much of the game is either Solo, or Zerg. and I found it just sooo much harder than my War.
I like Ele, Necro and Engineer the best so far. Options baby, options. I also have a warrior, guardian and a ranger. I am really loving the stories and starting all these toons. Can't wait to go through expansions and get my specials.
@@CaffeinatedDad Yes thanks! It's been a while since I didn't play Scepter and man they changed that skill! It used to simply send to the target a direct wave of dust, now it is an AoE that cast a whirlwind on it and not only blinds, interesting change.
TBH, Tempest healer in WvW is way more intuitive for me than Healbrand... Elements swapping is still easier than trying to remember what all the skills on the Tomes do
I started playing a few months ago and immediately picked the Elementalist, The Weawer. I really like it . Usally i play solo so at the moment I prefer sword+focus for normal content and Staff for group world events
Im loving dagger/dagger Air/Earth/Catalyst build. In my humble opinion, running with dagger/dagger as core ele will help new players understand how Ele abilities flow and tie in with eachother. Best weapon to master attunement swapping. Edit: Also note you can switch attunments while channeling/casting. So with dagger fire, 2 is Drake's Breath, while I'm breathing fire I have already switched to the attunement i wanted to be in after fire. That way right when drakes end, BAM already using another element.
Great vid! First toon (and the one i've got the most hours on) is an Ele. You fit a lot of really great info into less than 20 minutes, and even though it wasn't new info for a veteran Ele like myself, I still had fun listening to it. It's nice to hear my own enthusiasm about this profession mirrored in someone else. Due to falling in love with catalyst after EoD came out, I went for Aurene's Weight for my first Legendary Weapon. Love the altered spell effects like on air 1, fire 1, and the orbitals. HOWEVER, it is a little annoying that the orbitals lose their distinguishing elemental appearance. I find myself losing track of what I've already activated sometimes and it can really botch my rotation if I'm not careful. Where as before, I could always see at a glance what attunements I'd already been in that rotation.
I love the unique effect of aurebes weight but it would been better if they added a slight prismatic light to the circulars! Also thabk you for the kind words!
@@CaffeinatedDad Right? Just a red/purple/blue/green aura around each one would be all I ask for. Or even have it overlap, rather than replace, the original particle effect? Maybe that would be too noisy. I will note, when I unlocked the Soon-Wan variant and applied it, my ele was automatically shifted into water attunement. It was a really nice subtle touch. I might not have noticed if fire/air weren't my 'rest' attunements.
muscle memory - its been 5 years since I stopped playing, recently restarted again and holy mother the d/d ele basic combo is still in my hands. d/d and staff are the 2 I just...can do without actually remembering anything (my hand just does it automatically) but I can't remember the sc/f or d/f or tempest rotation anymore, I didnt get to play those as much I guess. so um yeah...muscle memory is a BEAST
Honestly that's what the elementalist boils down to! Muscle memory. Remembering what ability is where and then crushing it! Happy to hear you picked it up so quickly!
This was/is indeed very helpful, however if im honest, not quite as helpful as i wished for - but that could be me wishing too hard :) So do understand i appreciate this guide Heres a few things i have struggled with as a new player, selecting Elementalist as aa second/third toon Firstly as we level we are given about 12-15 Staves, and like 2 Daggers, a Focus and maybe a couple of Scepters, thats over 80 levels, which means of course no matter which weapons you prefer or choose, youre pretty much going to be using a staff until 80 This of course means you havent been practicing the right skills (at least it does if you play to Double Dagger etc Similarly, the game lets us level too fast, you can barely get half a 1-15 zone done before you find yourself fighting weaker foes (which doesnt help you learn) OR you go into a 15-25 zone and get trashed because your Gear is a range of level 5-10 Your solution to this "low level gear is quite cheap on auction", does not seem to be true, at least not for my last 2 toons, i listed all i had "spare" as i levelled, no one wants to buy which means i actually lose some of those precious copper and silver i actually earn And if you wish to buy any gear it is either not there at all, or its Vitality/Toughness - which yes might help, but not as much as Power/Precision I do recognize this IS NOT YOUR FAULT of course But it is a hurdle, and its much more of a hurdle on a squishy Mage who still hasnt figured out which element they should be switching to, and when, and then getting the wrong skill because "oh yeah i had to buy a scepter because i couldnt find a dagger for sale" The following here isnt your fault either, and i shall try to be very brief (but will probably fail) I know MMOs, never played WoW, but most other MMOs i did, since UO in 1997 (not a boast, a fact) This means that perhap unlike other - much younger - new players i have some idea of what to do and when etc, i have experience (ok im old dammnit) I bypassed the Free Trial and went straight for the big package, with all the story content pre-bought (LW stuff) I was given 2 level 80 boosts, which i didnt want to use, but as theyre worth $10 didnt want to delete either, and you cannot move them, so if you want the shared slot you got to use them I made a Ranger, Boosted it to level 80, unlocked Raptor, Jumper and Glider - by doing Chapter 1 of EoD, and then i retired that toons, i wont play a boosted toon So then i made a Ranger, levelled it properly, i ran into similar gear issues, but this wasnt a probablem because my Pet Tanked and i shot arrows Now i levelling my Elem, and im currently 73, so your guide is a bit late anyway - again NOT YOUR FAULT :) The problem ive got now is i got 2 guys waiting to buy/earn Exotic level 80 gear Celestial is 12g + per piece, Berserkers is 4g +, and Nika's is affordable at less than 1g But as soon as i popped my level 80 cherry, all login rewards are based on me being level 80 They want me to go to Zones i have never heard of, even if i find them on the map i need to go through 12 other zones to get there - or spoil more story - so im not even getting my 2g a day from login Ive sold all my mats i had collected, not knowinf i f i will come to regret this later, ive scounged up about 15g I REALLY DO APPRECIATE THIS GUIDE, AND YOUR EFFORTS What i would have liked to have seen is maybe a short series on what to do when your new, penniless, and lets assume you have ZERO money for gear See i thought getting to 80 and being an unstoppable Elem would mean i could grind up some easy gold and get geared really easily, but didnt think of the fact you are not an unstoppable killing machine until you got gear and maybe a Specialisation too (try earning 250 HP with unsuitable gear I have subscribed, and i always Like videos that i Like You maybe cant help, but you seem like the kind of guy who might try to help, so im taking advantage of your niceness ❤
An option for gear is to use the lvl 80 boost (gives a full set of celestial) main reason its so expensive is its locked behind a daily craft material another option is to do dungeons for their currency can get lvl 80 pieces from that (from the dungeon vendor i mean) beyond those the biggest way ppl get gear is doing stuff in the first map of the first expansion (which if going with the story starts just after season 2 of living world least if im remembering right) you farm up map currency and get pieces of stat selectable exotic armor if you want you can purchase a head piece off the tp of 80 stat selectable armor (think its on the tp as the ice golem box or something the like) think it runs less than 2g if you want a celestial piece
I would say start with a named armor. Berserker stats are always a good start. (Zhed-light armor, Nika-medium armor, Devona-Heavy armor). You can use this setup to get more money and eventually get celestial.
Mighty Teapot has an over 60 episode series of going from fresh with just expacs to purchasing with gold everything you need and getting kitted in ascended. he also has a 3 episode mini series leveling and gearing celestial guide from having no gold on fresh accounts. A tldr if you dont wanna watch the gearing one is get bladed gear boxes from verdent brink in heart of thorn each piece minus the chest is 2 gold and 500 airship parts and is stat selectable the chest is gotten by completing the meta while the map is t4 which will happen passively while doing the stuff on the map. you can look up gw2 event timers to see when people will be on verdant brink doing it. as for trinkets which im including all accessories and rings in just skip exotic and go straight to ascended. you can get all the trinkets minus backpack from pvp wvw and t1 fractals with celestial being included the complications arise however if you want to hard focus on condition or harriers healing stat types but berserker and celestial are there. laurel merchant also sells trinkets. for the ascended bookbag the easiest to get is actually just crafting it in the mystic forge its called the quiver of a thousand arrows iirc or you can get mats in living world but you seem to not want to jump around story so im just recommending the mystic forge recipes. As for daily achievement do daily t1 fractals and some pvp unranked matches you dont even have to win the pvp matches you will complete the daily achievements without spoiling story. buy named berserker gear off the trading post its under 1 gold with the same stats as the berserker set dont get tricked. YOU DO NOT NEED CELESTIAL GEAR TO DO EVERY CONTENT IN OPEN WORLD. I personally dont recommend it because it builds bad habits knowing you can facetank most things and when you start doing instanced content builds are gonna rely on getting the most damage because boons and the like will be taken care of. you can be unkillable in zerkers and vipers if you learn how the class works. By this point you are probably already 80 on ele but just the basic overview of the traitlines, Arcane and Water will offer a mixture of offense and defense, while Air will offer a massive damage increase if taken after Fire. Earth offers some defense, but tends to perform poorly under level 80. if you are struggling with living glyph of lesser elementals and glyph of storms can be used in earth form for some good defense and a add to facetank for you. they can also be used offensively in fire and lightning. At higher levels, Glyph of Elementals can also be a very powerful tool. Arcane Shield, Arcane Blast, and Armor of Earth, are also excellent options. While leveling as Elementalist, it is recommended to use either Scepter or Dagger as your mainhand weapon, with Focus or Dagger as your offhand. Doing this, you will rely heavily on Air Attunement for damage.
Ha don't worry about taking advantage of niceness, I am here to help! I do understand your plight and I appreciate your feedback. I may be able to cook something up for this do stay tuned!
Ele is the class that is so complex that even Anet doesn't know how to balance it and give it interesting elite specs but is STILL the most fun class in the game by far. Bonus points for basically playing the game on hard mode, because the class is - alongside engineer - easily the hardest to play right.
After giving elementalist another (10th) chance what i have found that the class is not really that hard to play in fact during these 5 or so weeks after making it my main i have had more success with it in both wvw and open world than my necromancer and i have actually had way more fun playing it than harbinger mostly it seems that in wvw if i go insanely aggressive mode most people do not know what to do when a tiny madly scepter waving Asura fireball goes ham on them might be because there is so few elementalists compared to dime a dozen rangers and people have way less experience on what to do against eles. I even have had way more success to fight against thiefs and other professions that usually just faceroll me when i try to play on professions that are marked as "easy" to play.
As a scourge main, im finding it difficult to get into any other class. I really am fascinated by elementalist and mesmer....however i am struggling to wrap my head around continuously swapping elements. I forget to swap them and trying to remember that is proving taxing for me.
Thx for the informative video! Thinking about coming back. Played D/D ele (norn) back in the day before the expansions came around. How are eles these days? Desired in dungeon runs etc?
i played it long time ago, i would need 1 or 2 staff/element build (sins u need staff for each element as i remember, switching staff switches element), just switching between so many is a hassle and would probably cause more deaths if i half to do so many things, i am fan of mages but they should come up with a change for this class that makes it simpler
I love Elementalist, I hate not using my hands to cast (except for staff). In Dungeons and Dragons, I will pick a component pouch over a focus ANY DAY. I also would like more ranged options aside from scepter and staff. I love how dagger plays but I don't feel like a caster
@@CaffeinatedDad hence why they made weaver use a sword and catalyst use a hammer. and probs why they didnt give ele a long range weapon for end of dragons
I levelled the Elementalist up to 50 and then got frustrated with the levelling experience so I tomed it up to 80. Now my problem that I have had on it all along is the same no matter the level and that is dying, more specifically "fight to survive." No I am not talking about survivability, as this profession in staff mode is pretty hard to kill, but when they do go down and you enter into "fight to survive" mode. When it does work you come back with half your health (standard) in wisp form for a few seconds and then change into regular form, at which point I die instantly every single time, so I don't even bother trying to "fight to survive" on the Elementalist. I have tried to find out online about this and there is no information, everyone just goes on about "survivability" and as I cannot find any information on it then I can only assume that I am doing something wrong, but don't know what.
I started gw2 just2 week ish in, love elementalist, but my main gripe is that I don't know if its possible to reorder the skill shortcut like my main damage is fire staff but the 4th skill rolls my character back and it messes me, I know i should't push it but to reach 5 sometimes I accidentally presses 4 it's annoying
I will always advertise Azeron Cyborg for any Elemental Player 😁 makes it so much easier in my own opinion. Tough it is expensive, around 300€ when I bough it ~2021.
@@CaffeinatedDad keybad with thumbstick that gives you 5-6 easy access Keys for each fingers which makes playing Elementalist easier for example 😄 no longer are you reaching 7 and F1 while holding W.... they have few different similar style products and I am drooling for Azeron Cyro 😉 can't afford yet.
Oh god 03:05 Pussy-Ants DX im pretty sure thats not how you say that, lol. Also I feel like the complexity of Elementalists isnt as hardcore or scary as many make it sound. While with most builds you need to be swapping attunements, you dont lose much if you play suboptimally. So you can chill and use the elements you deem useful, but you dont have to stress about doing the "perfect rotation". Only the Elite Specialization Weaver is difficult and needs you to play very well to be impactful. Tempest and Catalyst and Base Ele are not that crazy difficult.
No not all! And I did Google translate this and let me just apologize now... omg. Ele isn't scary and shouldn't be daunting. It's great fun and is very much about muscle memory and learning!
I had a question. You say the weaver is a "tankier, sustain master" but I had a lot of trouble with survivability when using Sword-Dagger weaver even when choosing barrier traits, and I think this is because of the close-range playstyle and because Weaver felt like it had weaker heals compared to Tempest. How do you recommend surviving with Weaver?
Well the sustain comes from skill usage for the most part. Signet of Restoration does alot of work for the weaver. I also speced into the Arcane line (believe it's the first row) that offers passive healing when you swap attunements. I swapped out later when I had celestial gear that traitline for earth traitline for more conditions and the Written in Stone grandmaster trait.
My first class 2014, was elementalist, zerk through and through, when there was no mount, map completed. Was downstate all the time at zhaitans map, at HOT i was a hot garbage. Now it is park at kaineng city getting me jade crystals😅
Puissance is power in French. Had to look it up. It's pronounced Pwee-Sance. Although Pyromancer's Pussy-ants suits me just fine. 😊 Great vid btw. Really helped my ele game out!
Question as i might have missed it in the vido. What stats do i pick to put into my armer as iam lvl my Ele she only level 9 and some of the armer wants me to pick witch stats to put in. I dont knoew what one to pick. Iam also running with a Staff a i prefer ranged combat in mmos. Ps sorry for my bad spelling
playing the game for the first time I made an elementalist today and now almost after 12 hrs of random roaming around and not using any hero points I came here lol
@@CaffeinatedDad yeah I am mostly in down state but I kinda get the hang of it now. And I didnt use my free boost thing i am afraid of unlocking too much to quick for my ele was it a good discission? or should I use it
Yea don’t get me wrong I love my dual staff mirage when I don’t wanna think and solo everything but my main ele is just the cheap kiss man I can’t stay away long I’ve tried every class and almost every elite spec and spent thousands of gold building all different builds on said classes but nothing compares to my ele I wish now I would have just spent all that gold on more build and equipment slots for my ele
elementalist is one of the most versatile professions. if you're starting out with it, you should play like chess thinking about 4 to 6 steps ahead. realizing that you need to basically loop in heals and defense skills especially within pvp / wvw. if you're looking for most optimal damage scepter / focus is key. Staff is really for maximizing aoe or casting heals. daggers are my favorite as they are all about mobility. it is true that elementalist is known to be a glass cannon but in pvp / wvw mobility and power damage is key to success. heals and defense comes into more pracitcality within pve for dealing with mobs that bully you. the reason why most people have problems with elementalists is because most professions in gw2 are spam friendly. elementalist you can try to do that but you will fail most of the time if you're just spamming. you will want to work towards understanding your opponent more than understanding your own skills. knowing what kind of damage players or mobs cast onto you lets you learn when to cleanse debuffs and condition damage and when to layout strike or aoe damage. i would venture to say that elementalist is one of the most focused in a fight because if you pick the wrong skill at the wrong time will be the worse time in the fight to keep fighting. with most other professions you can be ok with being lazy in fights. catalyst / tempest are basically what i play most for ele esp for pvp / wvw.
Dude my first alt was an elementalist, but i never maxed them. Im workin on my max level Spellbreaker and a 22 Guardian, homeboy bouta enable my alt addiction 😢
Guys plz for your hands sake don’t use shift modifiers for 123 buttons, you’re killing your hand. Assign a side mouse button as the alt key and use alt modifiers instead
@@CaffeinatedDad Content idea: fashion for ele (light armored class). Armor combination if you want to be a certain look (battlemage, wizard etc). Other classes for future content.
I`ve been waiting ages for a ele with a proper long range spec... I dont get it why Anet makes every elit spec for ele close range! Bow ele? Yeah.. you could wish for... actually viable frost bow or conjure weapon builds? Well no... too bad for a good class!
Yeah, I was kinda sad to see catalyst was melee when it came out. It's still fun, but was really hoping for a ranged spec. Anet has said they are not going to do elite specs for a while and instead will do other things. I've been thinking it might possibly mean new core weapons, so maybe possibly hopefully we get bow core ele? Still waiting for the conjure rework though. I'd be happy if they made it so they only summoned one conjure weapon in their hand (none on the ground) and then cut the cooldown in half. It would make conjures much easier to use.
Let's do some napkin math to see whether the "Elementalists have so many buttons" meme is true, and just how far we can take this: - Attunements have a button each. 4 buttons. - Elementalists have five attack buttons like everyone else. These change with the attunements. 4 attunements * 5 buttons = 20 buttons. - If you switch to another weapon you get another full set of attacks. 20 buttons. - Several attacks have sequences: if you go with two one-handed weapons you get 2 additional buttons for each set (dagger 4 air and 3 water, scepter 2 earth and focus 5 fire). The staff only has 1 extra button so we ignore this one. 2 buttons * 2 sets = 4 buttons. - Even though the Elementalist can't do so in combat, they can press a button to switch between weapon loadouts. 1 button. - The Glypoh of Elemental Balance heals and gives a boon based on attunement, giving it four different modes. 4 buttons. - Conjure Lightning Hammer, Earth Shield and Flame Axe are one button each, but they change all your attacks. The first two have a three sequence basic attack, the last one two. 8 + 8 + 7. 23 buttons. - Glyph of Elementals is an Elite skill that lets you summon an elemental based on your attunement, and the button itself is replaced while it's summoned. 2 * 4 = 8 buttons. 4 + 20 + 20 + 4 + 1 + 4 + 23 + 8 = 84 buttons. Note that you can reach this while still leveling up. Playing an Elementalist is comparedd to playing a piano, which is not that far off because one octave is 12 keys (7 white, 5 black), and there's seven octaves on a piano for a total of 84 keys (although the piano sitll has a few extra keys to get to 88 above this number). But wait, there's more! Once you hit 80 and pick up the Weaver you get even more buttons: - All Sword attacks have a three button sequence for the auto attack. 4 attunements * 5 buttons = 20. This replaces the 13 buttons you get from either of your main hand weapons, so the increase is by 7 buttons. - If you have two different elements attuned your third button is replaced by another. There are six possible combinations that differ based on your weapon, so 2 sets * 6 attacks = 12 buttons. - You can now attune two elements at once, and it changes your attack buttons based on the order you have them in. This replaces your old attunement system, 4 attunements * 4 attunements - 4 buttons from the old system = 12 buttons. - The Primordial Stance skill changes its effect based on which elements you are attuned to. 4 * 4 = 16 buttons, which can replace Flame Axe for 9 buttons. This gives the Weaver access to 7 + 12 + 12 + 9 = 40 new buttons, adding to the previous total of 84 for 124 buttons. Have fun!
The ele needs a rework. Each of its specs are far too similar. The ranger feels like it has 3 nee classes.. while the ele feels like 3 new talent tree branches.
@@CaffeinatedDad Aye. I used it for backline AOE spam Weaver in WVW. It's good for tagging big groups of enemies and clearing siege on keep walls but that's about it. Any team smart enough to just push through won't be bothered much by it.
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Elementalist is a curse. I picked it and my expectations were set by it. Now that I've started to try other classes, I'm disappointed by how simple they all feel :c
looool never heard it this way but you are absolutely right!
Thanks for this! I just started playing GW2 for the first time a week ago and been having a blast with my Elementalist!
Same! 🤘🏼
Glad to hear you are having fun!
Started playing yesterday, as an elementalist (I usually go for more complicated/fast paced classes in mmos, like FFXIV Ninja, or wow druid, monk or rogue) and your videos are the ones that helped me choose between elementalist (weaver/catalyst) and thief (daredevil). Will probably make a thief as my next one, then maybe rev after that.
Excellent choice! Elementalist is great fun!
Welcome to the elementalist family! While weaver is my favorite spec in the game, but I would also suggest you look into mesmer. It's probably the most unique class in guild wars 2 and can be quite fun as well.
@@jerod4036 yeah, mesmer does seem very unique, I just doubt I would enjoy it 😅 but you never know, I mighr end up trying it in the future
Funny that you named the few WoW classes that are hard-capped in speed since they don't gain action speed from haste and have to wait for energy regeneration
Dude this is awesome. Are you planning to do something like this for each class? This is exactly what the new player (like myself) needs to feel more comfortable with their class. Appreciate you!!
I would love to expand out to each of the core classes just have to get around to practicing them more lol
I just started GW2 today and this is perfect. thank you so much
Played GW2 for the first time a few days ago and looked for a bunch of new player class guides and everyone said to pick the easier to pick up classes, so I started with Ranger and also tried Guardian. I almost dropped the game because of how bored I was coming from FFXIV. They all said Ele was one of the most difficult classes to learn and I was scared to try it, but when I finally did, I was having so much more fun. Thank you for making these videos!
Of course! It's important to find the right character for you but if you know you like complexity, then absolutely go for those difficult specs!
My favorite thing to do when I started out playing ele was learning how to juggle the enemies with a single weapon/set; it helped build muscle memory. I didn't have enough damage to quickly down enemies, so I would use the weapon abilities to push back against, stun, or slow their advance while laying down damage areas for them to walk over with my favorite weapon, the staff. Since most PvE enemy's AI is "make a beeline towards the player before attacking", this is pretty simple. And if all else fails, learn to kite in a smallish circle (so long as there are not too many other enemies in the area) and keep going to air for staff air 4's swiftness (now with superspeed!) to keep ahead of them.
Also, the part he mentioned about the elementals is true - earth elementals are great (earthen)meat shields, water elementals are pretty tanky and slow enemies, fire elementals are for when you get confident and just need more damage, and the air elementals are better for spread out enemies since they have a ranged attack. When you get the elite elemental glyph, also learn what each elemental's special ability does - the earth one is an aoe cripple that does a great job getting enemy attention, the water one has an aoe heal, the air one stuns (good on breakbars!), and the fire one... does MORE damage. I loved running the Inscription glyph and all glyph skills - it's not ideal by any metric, but it is a lot of fun and very versatile.
I feel like that's an important aspect that people forget about, instead of min maxing numbers, remember to have fun! Even if your build isn't the "optimal" pne
Some additional queries about your suggested leveling build:
1 - do you recommend choosing your spec trees in the order given: Fire, then Air, then Arcane?
2 - Is the absence of equipment stat suggestions intended? Celestial, as mentioned in the video, is an endgame choice rather than a leveling choice.
Thanks for an excellent video.
I would say that getting air early will help out significantly as then you can have a near baseline increased 25% movement speed.
Ideally as your leveling trying to find cohesiveness with the gear you get is key. Either focus on power damage (power precision, ferociry) or condition damage to hone your build. Leveling gives a random roll of stats so each decision should try to work with the next!
Thanks!
Ahhhh... The time when I started the game as ele and finished the main story and went into HOTs expansion with my patchwork of green and yellow gear. Getting turned inside out by everything in a second. Good times.
Loool ain't that the truth! I got rocked by everything in heart of thorns!
Ele mains rise up!
My first and only level 80 is an Asu Ele. It's quite an adventure playing it!
Engineer sucks in lvling.. Ele rulez 💥
What what!!!
@@KikiTheHobo 1100 hours in game and 1000 on elementalist LETS GOOOOOOOOO
I played it until tempest. But weaver and catalyst scared me. I tried to play and died very fast. I then switched to condi virtuoso. Tried mechanist but got bored of autoattack play.
I feel like if you wanna play a hard class you should do it from the beginning. My first characters were Mesmer and Thief wich are often described as two of the harder classes. But since I played them from the beginning I am very confident on these classes now. Learning elementalist (or other classes) now as a veteran player on the other hand is quite the task.
Almost like getting the difficult work out of the way first! Everything is easier after that!
this is me right now
My first character was an Ele and I love that class so much. Sure, it was a STEEP learning curve, but I think I'm doing pretty good now.
I can't imagine playing anything else now to be honest! It is perfect in my eyes!
Your content has grown so much from when you first started and was more meme/joke oriented, awesome video, keep it up
Ha! Thank you! I've had some wonderful people supporting me all along the way!
You are the only one who effectively explained the Catalyst. THANK YOU.
Started playing about a month ago, enjoy the game . Appreciate any and all games related thoughts, insights and suggestions. Thanks
I'd recommend this video. This is more of my personal experience in the game
th-cam.com/video/gHJCLdUSWn8/w-d-xo.html
@@CaffeinatedDad I checked it out, great stuff, thanks again.
In my opinion the key element to learn to play a proper ele in instanced PvE is to become flexible in your gear/traits/utility.
Especs such as virtuoso and spellbreaker are very well rounded. They provide alot of extra utility by default and are an excellent addition to the group. For elementalist this isn't necessarily the case. Every build has multiple elements it excells at but simultaneously also multiple inherent weaknesses: a lack of CC, melee damage, not much aoe, no group support, condi damage, squishyness, relying alot on boon uptime etc etc.
Yet if you keep adjusting your build to the situation you can mitigate most/all of these weaknesses. Dagger, scepter, staff, sword and hammer all have damage builds in the 40k dps range.Especially staff right now is really undervalued by the gw2/ele community.
Also there is a wide variety of core traitlines that you can use for your builds. Fire, earth and arcane provide good condi damage and fire, air, arcane and water provide good power damage.
The ele basically has access to melee+ ranged power damage and ranged condi damage. The only real inherent weakness is its limited access to CC (especially the utility skills really suck for CC). Elementalist is probably one of the very few (if not only class) that can actually benefit from picking the asura race. Technobabble is actually a very viable utility skill incase you need to slot in extra CC.
Agreed! The ele does not bring any inherent benefit to the group composition especially core, but can do quite a few things pretty well! Asira ele, now that's a really good combonation!
An absolutely excellent guide, looking forward to trying your build, I have a level 80 Elementalist I don't play often, but want to play more!
Happy to help! Thank you!
arcane skills can be useful if ya doing a build where ya use the trait which does a condi based on ur attunement
and with earth thats imbo, which then also goes will with the trait that does bleeding when u imobo a target
That is true! Especially when you want tk guarantee the crits!
so much info, feels like i need to take a course before playing
For me the biggest issue has been the class's squishiness. I started out using largely Berserker's gear at 80 but was dying too quick to pack much punch. Following another guide I popped in some Soldier's for some survivability and it's so far worked for me.
It needs some survivability, unfortunately it is paper thin on its own without gear to make up for it
Ditto, Ele was my first class, but I came to believe Ele is really a support class, and so much of the game is either Solo, or Zerg. and I found it just sooo much harder than my War.
I'm new to the game and playing el as my first character so thank you for this info
Glad you found value!
@@CaffeinatedDad I'm using one of the builds you linked and it's really fun
Thanks CD! You were right, I did love this video 😁
As it was foretold!
I like Ele, Necro and Engineer the best so far. Options baby, options.
I also have a warrior, guardian and a ranger. I am really loving the stories and starting all these toons. Can't wait to go through expansions and get my specials.
From 3:16 to 3:18 what skill is that one? Seem to be entering Earth Attun but I can't recall which skill makes that whirlwind
I believe that is the scepter 3 ability that blinds and damages enemies
@@CaffeinatedDad Yes thanks! It's been a while since I didn't play Scepter and man they changed that skill! It used to simply send to the target a direct wave of dust, now it is an AoE that cast a whirlwind on it and not only blinds, interesting change.
Base ele: Okay, this is pretty complicated, but i think i can manage.
Specs: Oh dear god
I plan on making an elite specialization new players guide video where I tall specifically about them. Hang in there!
TBH, Tempest healer in WvW is way more intuitive for me than Healbrand... Elements swapping is still easier than trying to remember what all the skills on the Tomes do
Heal brand has alot of abilities for sure!
I started playing a few months ago and immediately picked the Elementalist, The Weawer. I really like it . Usally i play solo so at the moment I prefer sword+focus for normal content and Staff for group world events
100% one of the best classes in the game!
Didnt know Alt Shift X has also gw2 channel! Thanks for the helpful video sire!
Dad made me stop playing my mesmer to be the avatar. Loving it
I'm serious when I say it is great!
3:05 pyromancer's WHAT NOW
Apparently... I have been saying this wrong my whole life...
@@CaffeinatedDad haha it's alright! i'm a new player though and i appreciate the vid, thank you!
Here because of your ele staff vid with build. Stop with the godly content brother , I'm drinking to much caffeine 😂
Legit is there a thing of too much?
Also I apprciate your kind words!
Thank you!
You're welcome!
Im loving dagger/dagger Air/Earth/Catalyst build.
In my humble opinion, running with dagger/dagger as core ele will help new players understand how Ele abilities flow and tie in with eachother. Best weapon to master attunement swapping.
Edit: Also note you can switch attunments while channeling/casting.
So with dagger fire, 2 is Drake's Breath, while I'm breathing fire I have already switched to the attunement i wanted to be in after fire. That way right when drakes end, BAM already using another element.
Great vid! First toon (and the one i've got the most hours on) is an Ele. You fit a lot of really great info into less than 20 minutes, and even though it wasn't new info for a veteran Ele like myself, I still had fun listening to it. It's nice to hear my own enthusiasm about this profession mirrored in someone else.
Due to falling in love with catalyst after EoD came out, I went for Aurene's Weight for my first Legendary Weapon. Love the altered spell effects like on air 1, fire 1, and the orbitals. HOWEVER, it is a little annoying that the orbitals lose their distinguishing elemental appearance. I find myself losing track of what I've already activated sometimes and it can really botch my rotation if I'm not careful. Where as before, I could always see at a glance what attunements I'd already been in that rotation.
I love the unique effect of aurebes weight but it would been better if they added a slight prismatic light to the circulars!
Also thabk you for the kind words!
@@CaffeinatedDad Right? Just a red/purple/blue/green aura around each one would be all I ask for. Or even have it overlap, rather than replace, the original particle effect? Maybe that would be too noisy.
I will note, when I unlocked the Soon-Wan variant and applied it, my ele was automatically shifted into water attunement. It was a really nice subtle touch. I might not have noticed if fire/air weren't my 'rest' attunements.
muscle memory - its been 5 years since I stopped playing, recently restarted again and holy mother the d/d ele basic combo is still in my hands. d/d and staff are the 2 I just...can do without actually remembering anything (my hand just does it automatically) but I can't remember the sc/f or d/f or tempest rotation anymore, I didnt get to play those as much I guess. so um yeah...muscle memory is a BEAST
Honestly that's what the elementalist boils down to! Muscle memory. Remembering what ability is where and then crushing it! Happy to hear you picked it up so quickly!
Thanks, I needed this
This was/is indeed very helpful, however if im honest, not quite as helpful as i wished for - but that could be me wishing too hard :) So do understand i appreciate this guide
Heres a few things i have struggled with as a new player, selecting Elementalist as aa second/third toon
Firstly as we level we are given about 12-15 Staves, and like 2 Daggers, a Focus and maybe a couple of Scepters, thats over 80 levels, which means of course no matter which weapons you prefer or choose, youre pretty much going to be using a staff until 80
This of course means you havent been practicing the right skills (at least it does if you play to Double Dagger etc
Similarly, the game lets us level too fast, you can barely get half a 1-15 zone done before you find yourself fighting weaker foes (which doesnt help you learn) OR you go into a 15-25 zone and get trashed because your Gear is a range of level 5-10
Your solution to this "low level gear is quite cheap on auction", does not seem to be true, at least not for my last 2 toons, i listed all i had "spare" as i levelled, no one wants to buy which means i actually lose some of those precious copper and silver i actually earn
And if you wish to buy any gear it is either not there at all, or its Vitality/Toughness - which yes might help, but not as much as Power/Precision
I do recognize this IS NOT YOUR FAULT of course
But it is a hurdle, and its much more of a hurdle on a squishy Mage who still hasnt figured out which element they should be switching to, and when, and then getting the wrong skill because "oh yeah i had to buy a scepter because i couldnt find a dagger for sale"
The following here isnt your fault either, and i shall try to be very brief (but will probably fail)
I know MMOs, never played WoW, but most other MMOs i did, since UO in 1997 (not a boast, a fact)
This means that perhap unlike other - much younger - new players i have some idea of what to do and when etc, i have experience (ok im old dammnit)
I bypassed the Free Trial and went straight for the big package, with all the story content pre-bought (LW stuff)
I was given 2 level 80 boosts, which i didnt want to use, but as theyre worth $10 didnt want to delete either, and you cannot move them, so if you want the shared slot you got to use them
I made a Ranger, Boosted it to level 80, unlocked Raptor, Jumper and Glider - by doing Chapter 1 of EoD, and then i retired that toons, i wont play a boosted toon
So then i made a Ranger, levelled it properly, i ran into similar gear issues, but this wasnt a probablem because my Pet Tanked and i shot arrows
Now i levelling my Elem, and im currently 73, so your guide is a bit late anyway - again NOT YOUR FAULT :)
The problem ive got now is i got 2 guys waiting to buy/earn Exotic level 80 gear
Celestial is 12g + per piece, Berserkers is 4g +, and Nika's is affordable at less than 1g
But as soon as i popped my level 80 cherry, all login rewards are based on me being level 80
They want me to go to Zones i have never heard of, even if i find them on the map i need to go through 12 other zones to get there - or spoil more story - so im not even getting my 2g a day from login
Ive sold all my mats i had collected, not knowinf i f i will come to regret this later, ive scounged up about 15g
I REALLY DO APPRECIATE THIS GUIDE, AND YOUR EFFORTS
What i would have liked to have seen is maybe a short series on what to do when your new, penniless, and lets assume you have ZERO money for gear
See i thought getting to 80 and being an unstoppable Elem would mean i could grind up some easy gold and get geared really easily, but didnt think of the fact you are not an unstoppable killing machine until you got gear and maybe a Specialisation too (try earning 250 HP with unsuitable gear
I have subscribed, and i always Like videos that i Like
You maybe cant help, but you seem like the kind of guy who might try to help, so im taking advantage of your niceness ❤
An option for gear is to use the lvl 80 boost (gives a full set of celestial) main reason its so expensive is its locked behind a daily craft material another option is to do dungeons for their currency can get lvl 80 pieces from that (from the dungeon vendor i mean) beyond those the biggest way ppl get gear is doing stuff in the first map of the first expansion (which if going with the story starts just after season 2 of living world least if im remembering right) you farm up map currency and get pieces of stat selectable exotic armor if you want you can purchase a head piece off the tp of 80 stat selectable armor (think its on the tp as the ice golem box or something the like) think it runs less than 2g if you want a celestial piece
I would say start with a named armor. Berserker stats are always a good start. (Zhed-light armor, Nika-medium armor, Devona-Heavy armor). You can use this setup to get more money and eventually get celestial.
Mighty Teapot has an over 60 episode series of going from fresh with just expacs to purchasing with gold everything you need and getting kitted in ascended. he also has a 3 episode mini series leveling and gearing celestial guide from having no gold on fresh accounts.
A tldr if you dont wanna watch the gearing one is get bladed gear boxes from verdent brink in heart of thorn each piece minus the chest is 2 gold and 500 airship parts and is stat selectable the chest is gotten by completing the meta while the map is t4 which will happen passively while doing the stuff on the map. you can look up gw2 event timers to see when people will be on verdant brink doing it. as for trinkets which im including all accessories and rings in just skip exotic and go straight to ascended. you can get all the trinkets minus backpack from pvp wvw and t1 fractals with celestial being included the complications arise however if you want to hard focus on condition or harriers healing stat types but berserker and celestial are there. laurel merchant also sells trinkets. for the ascended bookbag the easiest to get is actually just crafting it in the mystic forge its called the quiver of a thousand arrows iirc or you can get mats in living world but you seem to not want to jump around story so im just recommending the mystic forge recipes.
As for daily achievement do daily t1 fractals and some pvp unranked matches you dont even have to win the pvp matches you will complete the daily achievements without spoiling story.
buy named berserker gear off the trading post its under 1 gold with the same stats as the berserker set dont get tricked. YOU DO NOT NEED CELESTIAL GEAR TO DO EVERY CONTENT IN OPEN WORLD. I personally dont recommend it because it builds bad habits knowing you can facetank most things and when you start doing instanced content builds are gonna rely on getting the most damage because boons and the like will be taken care of. you can be unkillable in zerkers and vipers if you learn how the class works.
By this point you are probably already 80 on ele but just the basic overview of the traitlines, Arcane and Water will offer a mixture of offense and defense, while Air will offer a massive damage increase if taken after Fire. Earth offers some defense, but tends to perform poorly under level 80. if you are struggling with living glyph of lesser elementals and glyph of storms can be used in earth form for some good defense and a add to facetank for you. they can also be used offensively in fire and lightning. At higher levels, Glyph of Elementals can also be a very powerful tool. Arcane Shield, Arcane Blast, and Armor of Earth, are also excellent options. While leveling as Elementalist, it is recommended to use either Scepter or Dagger as your mainhand weapon, with Focus or Dagger as your offhand. Doing this, you will rely heavily on Air Attunement for damage.
Ha don't worry about taking advantage of niceness, I am here to help! I do understand your plight and I appreciate your feedback. I may be able to cook something up for this do stay tuned!
Im a reaper main trying elementalist for the first time, surely this will go well
Take your time! Lol it'll be easy for you!
Ele is the class that is so complex that even Anet doesn't know how to balance it and give it interesting elite specs but is STILL the most fun class in the game by far.
Bonus points for basically playing the game on hard mode, because the class is - alongside engineer - easily the hardest to play right.
After giving elementalist another (10th) chance what i have found that the class is not really that hard to play in fact during these 5 or so weeks after making it my main i have had more success with it in both wvw and open world than my necromancer and i have actually had way more fun playing it than harbinger mostly it seems that in wvw if i go insanely aggressive mode most people do not know what to do when a tiny madly scepter waving Asura fireball goes ham on them might be because there is so few elementalists compared to dime a dozen rangers and people have way less experience on what to do against eles.
I even have had way more success to fight against thiefs and other professions that usually just faceroll me when i try to play on professions that are marked as "easy" to play.
Isn't that interesting! I swear the ele is not bad it just needs practice and you can get pretty good at it in no time!
As a scourge main, im finding it difficult to get into any other class. I really am fascinated by elementalist and mesmer....however i am struggling to wrap my head around continuously swapping elements. I forget to swap them and trying to remember that is proving taxing for me.
Thx for the informative video!
Thinking about coming back. Played D/D ele (norn) back in the day before the expansions came around.
How are eles these days? Desired in dungeon runs etc?
For the most part, tempest support is the way to go for support, dps is either power weaver or power Catalyst!
i played it long time ago, i would need 1 or 2 staff/element build (sins u need staff for each element as i remember, switching staff switches element), just switching between so many is a hassle and would probably cause more deaths if i half to do so many things, i am fan of mages but they should come up with a change for this class that makes it simpler
I love Elementalist, I hate not using my hands to cast (except for staff). In Dungeons and Dragons, I will pick a component pouch over a focus ANY DAY.
I also would like more ranged options aside from scepter and staff. I love how dagger plays but I don't feel like a caster
I've mentioned this alot, it is not a traditional mage, it is 100% a battlemage up front close combat!
@@CaffeinatedDad hence why they made weaver use a sword and catalyst use a hammer. and probs why they didnt give ele a long range weapon for end of dragons
I levelled the Elementalist up to 50 and then got frustrated with the levelling experience so I tomed it up to 80.
Now my problem that I have had on it all along is the same no matter the level and that is dying, more specifically "fight to survive."
No I am not talking about survivability, as this profession in staff mode is pretty hard to kill, but when they do go down and you enter into "fight to survive" mode.
When it does work you come back with half your health (standard) in wisp form for a few seconds and then change into regular form, at which point I die instantly every single time, so I don't even bother trying to "fight to survive" on the Elementalist.
I have tried to find out online about this and there is no information, everyone just goes on about "survivability" and as I cannot find any information on it then I can only assume that I am doing something wrong, but don't know what.
I started gw2 just2 week ish in, love elementalist, but my main gripe is that I don't know if its possible to reorder the skill shortcut
like my main damage is fire staff but the 4th skill rolls my character back and it messes me, I know i should't push it but to reach 5 sometimes I accidentally presses 4
it's annoying
change your keybinds. I have my 5 skill on the F key
Really helpfull! Thanks
I'm a Revenant Main, and giving ele another try.
I like to play ele Tempest with dagger and horn !!! I feel like a master at applying boons !!
Honestly I do enjoy the flow of the tempest!
I will always advertise Azeron Cyborg for any Elemental Player 😁 makes it so much easier in my own opinion. Tough it is expensive, around 300€ when I bough it ~2021.
What is that?
@@CaffeinatedDad keybad with thumbstick that gives you 5-6 easy access Keys for each fingers which makes playing Elementalist easier for example 😄 no longer are you reaching 7 and F1 while holding W.... they have few different similar style products and I am drooling for Azeron Cyro 😉 can't afford yet.
I have classic and click shit on accident all the time lol
I pick elementalist as main and I love daggers 😂 🗡️
It's a fun set up!
Oh god 03:05 Pussy-Ants DX im pretty sure thats not how you say that, lol. Also I feel like the complexity of Elementalists isnt as hardcore or scary as many make it sound. While with most builds you need to be swapping attunements, you dont lose much if you play suboptimally. So you can chill and use the elements you deem useful, but you dont have to stress about doing the "perfect rotation". Only the Elite Specialization Weaver is difficult and needs you to play very well to be impactful. Tempest and Catalyst and Base Ele are not that crazy difficult.
No not all! And I did Google translate this and let me just apologize now... omg.
Ele isn't scary and shouldn't be daunting. It's great fun and is very much about muscle memory and learning!
"Pussyance" haha😂 ty for the laugh. Great guide, I've been considering playing ele for a decade. Might have to give it a shot.
I'm so embarrassed I've been saying it wrong forever.... lol
Also thank you!
I had a question. You say the weaver is a "tankier, sustain master" but I had a lot of trouble with survivability when using Sword-Dagger weaver even when choosing barrier traits, and I think this is because of the close-range playstyle and because Weaver felt like it had weaker heals compared to Tempest. How do you recommend surviving with Weaver?
Well the sustain comes from skill usage for the most part. Signet of Restoration does alot of work for the weaver. I also speced into the Arcane line (believe it's the first row) that offers passive healing when you swap attunements. I swapped out later when I had celestial gear that traitline for earth traitline for more conditions and the Written in Stone grandmaster trait.
My first class 2014, was elementalist, zerk through and through, when there was no mount, map completed. Was downstate all the time at zhaitans map, at HOT i was a hot garbage. Now it is park at kaineng city getting me jade crystals😅
Ha! The true elementalist gameplay! Full tilt glass cannon!
Puissance is power in French. Had to look it up. It's pronounced Pwee-Sance. Although Pyromancer's Pussy-ants suits me just fine. 😊
Great vid btw. Really helped my ele game out!
Question as i might have missed it in the vido. What stats do i pick to put into my armer as iam lvl my Ele she only level 9 and some of the armer wants me to pick witch stats to put in. I dont knoew what one to pick. Iam also running with a Staff a i prefer ranged combat in mmos. Ps sorry for my bad spelling
If I choose an elementalist can I pet mascots like a ranger class does?
my fave is weaver with a staff and twin swords
Staff weaver apparently thumps!
Hm...I have played an Elementalist in every RPG I played, so I chose it also in GW2. Started last week. Lets see how it works out...
I hate don't haveing boon strip on ele. Or 0 Utility like ageis or stability like on firebrand or mesmer.
I would love a baseline boon for us, give us something that we are good for like stab because of all the earth!
this class reminds me of the Gauntlet: Slayer's Wizard.
Playing elemental is the reason I had to go out and buy a 12-button gaming mouse. It changed my life for the better.
Nice guide. Thank you for putting it together. 😊
Even 5hough you are an arcane hater. Lol 😆
Ha! I actually want to find better uses for the Arcane lines!
I low-key want to play as the Elementalist but I am worried that I might regret it because of the difficulty.
playing the game for the first time I made an elementalist today and now almost after 12 hrs of random roaming around and not using any hero points I came here lol
Hahaha you are in great company. The elementalist is a fantastic choice for all sorts of content but it can be challenging!
@@CaffeinatedDad yeah I am mostly in down state but I kinda get the hang of it now. And I didnt use my free boost thing i am afraid of unlocking too much to quick for my ele was it a good discission? or should I use it
I imagine my greatest challenge will be keybinding on the steamdeck lol
I find ele amazing to play and not boring at all sure it's not as op as mirage soloing everything but at least I don't fall asleep
I need engaging gameplay to stick with a class that requires the attention!
Yea don’t get me wrong I love my dual staff mirage when I don’t wanna think and solo everything but my main ele is just the cheap kiss man I can’t stay away long I’ve tried every class and almost every elite spec and spent thousands of gold building all different builds on said classes but nothing compares to my ele I wish now I would have just spent all that gold on more build and equipment slots for my ele
Elementalist is the best 😁
That's my go too!
That and the engineer
elementalist is one of the most versatile professions. if you're starting out with it, you should play like chess thinking about 4 to 6 steps ahead. realizing that you need to basically loop in heals and defense skills especially within pvp / wvw. if you're looking for most optimal damage scepter / focus is key. Staff is really for maximizing aoe or casting heals. daggers are my favorite as they are all about mobility.
it is true that elementalist is known to be a glass cannon but in pvp / wvw mobility and power damage is key to success. heals and defense comes into more pracitcality within pve for dealing with mobs that bully you. the reason why most people have problems with elementalists is because most professions in gw2 are spam friendly. elementalist you can try to do that but you will fail most of the time if you're just spamming. you will want to work towards understanding your opponent more than understanding your own skills. knowing what kind of damage players or mobs cast onto you lets you learn when to cleanse debuffs and condition damage and when to layout strike or aoe damage.
i would venture to say that elementalist is one of the most focused in a fight because if you pick the wrong skill at the wrong time will be the worse time in the fight to keep fighting. with most other professions you can be ok with being lazy in fights. catalyst / tempest are basically what i play most for ele esp for pvp / wvw.
I don't think I could have put this any better! The elementalist requires a certain degree of focus to perform wellA
I never thought that I would feel so seen in a niche corner of a niche game in a niche genre!
ELE MAINS RISE UP!!!
Loool we found you!
i accidently started gw2 with elementalist (level 24 rn) should i just make new character or continue?
Dude my first alt was an elementalist, but i never maxed them. Im workin on my max level Spellbreaker and a 22 Guardian, homeboy bouta enable my alt addiction 😢
Enable:engaged lol
Should i use action cam or normal cam?
I prefer normal cam but if you want that exciting change action is great!
Guys plz for your hands sake don’t use shift modifiers for 123 buttons, you’re killing your hand. Assign a side mouse button as the alt key and use alt modifiers instead
I want the pain! It makes me feel alive!
My problem with ele is it's light armored thus the lack of "cool" fashion unlike heavy armored classes
Right though! It is such a tough thing to get right with light armor
@@CaffeinatedDad Content idea: fashion for ele (light armored class). Armor combination if you want to be a certain look (battlemage, wizard etc). Other classes for future content.
ele is fun, only took me 2000 hours to master!
*Only*
@@CaffeinatedDad yeah just only
That's fast 😊
With ele expansion coming time to make one 😂
Why oh why are all elite specs so heavily focused on melee, where is my ranged AoE DPS/Controller :(
Agreed!
I miss playing elementalist. I'd always get 3-5 of the pvp accolades. No class can beat the tempest air damage.
It's brining back the memories of charging up the thunder storm thing and teleporting into a large group of enemies to nuke them all down.
That Sand Giant is really a P. I. T. A.
how did you manage to put him down alone?
The elementals helped kite but I basically saved every dodge roll for his cc. He caught me a few times however
@@CaffeinatedDad and that's the reason people just tend to ignore him. he gots tons of CC
lonely sand giant, sad boi.
Building The Elementalist Is The Hardest Challenge For Me 😮
oooooo they added ele weapon swapping recently didn't they.
New payer here👋 I'm hesitating between the mesmer and the elementalist
I love the staff ele playstyle but struggle when switch elements fire is my happy place 😂
what video is that!!!?? (dragons!)
ggwp
How bad is weaver on 280ms
Uhh prolly not too too bad... prolly not great thiugh lol
@@CaffeinatedDad 😭I suppose Tempest is fine?
Celestial great is great on ele
Can never go wrong with it!
Shift 1 ? ah shit my fingers don't reach. Also keybinding numbers don't work only letters
Hmm. Do you have an mmo mouse? They can sometimes work very well!
Lightning flash should be a stun break, change my mind.
Looking at you.... filthy.....Mesmers.
Need guardian guide let's go
I`ve been waiting ages for a ele with a proper long range spec... I dont get it why Anet makes every elit spec for ele close range! Bow ele? Yeah.. you could wish for... actually viable frost bow or conjure weapon builds? Well no... too bad for a good class!
Yeah, I was kinda sad to see catalyst was melee when it came out. It's still fun, but was really hoping for a ranged spec. Anet has said they are not going to do elite specs for a while and instead will do other things. I've been thinking it might possibly mean new core weapons, so maybe possibly hopefully we get bow core ele? Still waiting for the conjure rework though. I'd be happy if they made it so they only summoned one conjure weapon in their hand (none on the ground) and then cut the cooldown in half. It would make conjures much easier to use.
I would bet it would be the longbow and elemental arrows if anything. Haha but that's hopeful wishing!
Dual pistol ele with elemental bullets is my dream
There seems to be a trend to make range classes melee in the expansions.
To me, it kills the RP
Let's do some napkin math to see whether the "Elementalists have so many buttons" meme is true, and just how far we can take this:
- Attunements have a button each. 4 buttons.
- Elementalists have five attack buttons like everyone else. These change with the attunements. 4 attunements * 5 buttons = 20 buttons.
- If you switch to another weapon you get another full set of attacks. 20 buttons.
- Several attacks have sequences: if you go with two one-handed weapons you get 2 additional buttons for each set (dagger 4 air and 3 water, scepter 2 earth and focus 5 fire). The staff only has 1 extra button so we ignore this one. 2 buttons * 2 sets = 4 buttons.
- Even though the Elementalist can't do so in combat, they can press a button to switch between weapon loadouts. 1 button.
- The Glypoh of Elemental Balance heals and gives a boon based on attunement, giving it four different modes. 4 buttons.
- Conjure Lightning Hammer, Earth Shield and Flame Axe are one button each, but they change all your attacks. The first two have a three sequence basic attack, the last one two. 8 + 8 + 7. 23 buttons.
- Glyph of Elementals is an Elite skill that lets you summon an elemental based on your attunement, and the button itself is replaced while it's summoned. 2 * 4 = 8 buttons.
4 + 20 + 20 + 4 + 1 + 4 + 23 + 8 = 84 buttons. Note that you can reach this while still leveling up. Playing an Elementalist is comparedd to playing a piano, which is not that far off because one octave is 12 keys (7 white, 5 black), and there's seven octaves on a piano for a total of 84 keys (although the piano sitll has a few extra keys to get to 88 above this number).
But wait, there's more! Once you hit 80 and pick up the Weaver you get even more buttons:
- All Sword attacks have a three button sequence for the auto attack. 4 attunements * 5 buttons = 20. This replaces the 13 buttons you get from either of your main hand weapons, so the increase is by 7 buttons.
- If you have two different elements attuned your third button is replaced by another. There are six possible combinations that differ based on your weapon, so 2 sets * 6 attacks = 12 buttons.
- You can now attune two elements at once, and it changes your attack buttons based on the order you have them in. This replaces your old attunement system, 4 attunements * 4 attunements - 4 buttons from the old system = 12 buttons.
- The Primordial Stance skill changes its effect based on which elements you are attuned to. 4 * 4 = 16 buttons, which can replace Flame Axe for 9 buttons.
This gives the Weaver access to 7 + 12 + 12 + 9 = 40 new buttons, adding to the previous total of 84 for 124 buttons.
Have fun!
i decided to main ele this xpac and...wtf.
Lol it's a roller coaster! We will be back!
Aways wanted play like Aang
The ele needs a rework. Each of its specs are far too similar. The ranger feels like it has 3 nee classes.. while the ele feels like 3 new talent tree branches.
True I think the ele could be alot better with quite a few things and unfortunately I don't know what exactly it would take to change it
@@CaffeinatedDad I'd argue each element for each spec. Since theres 4 inc the core class
I'm still mad Anet neutered D/D ele. 😡😡
I wish staff was stronger tbh....
@@CaffeinatedDad Aye. I used it for backline AOE spam Weaver in WVW. It's good for tagging big groups of enemies and clearing siege on keep walls but that's about it. Any team smart enough to just push through won't be bothered much by it.
Step 1: get a robotic hand/wrist.
Step 2: don't get EoD, so you don't realize Harb is better.
When they say glass canon, they mean elementalist.
It's under Websters definition
@@CaffeinatedDad Send me a guild invite, Tere.4759 You're really fun to watch.
I'm coming from ESO and left because couldn't get over how easy and boring the combat was. Looks like I chose the right class in GW2 lol.