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Elementalist - Survivability issues while leveling

Muintir
Jymm
Muintir
Posted On: 07/27/2015 at 06:43 AM
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I currently have a level 52 Elementalist, and she has green gear for her level, but I am having survivability issues.   Does anyone have suggestions on weapon choice, and utilities?  Currently I am playing with dual daggers, and using lesser elemental, Summon Hammer, Earth Armor, and summon Firesword. I also have the full fire and water track, and half of the earth track.

Any suggestions/tips would be helpful.

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Response:

Tiarna de na Griobhta Donn
Nikodemus
Tiarna de na Griobhta Donn
  • GW2: Kazarik.6917
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Replied On: 07/27/2015 at 08:11 AM PDT
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Personally I found dual Daggers, running primarily Air/Fire with Arcane utilities to be the easiest way.  Not really "Survivable", but can burn down groups fast enough as to not really matter.

Something like this.

 

That said if you want "survivable", I think you're going to want to run Water/Earth, but I found it to be a bit grindy (slow), YMMV. I don't have a good feel for those builds unfortunately.

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Caomhnoir de na Aracos
PuaHone
Caomhnoir de na Aracos
  • GW2: monk seal.8079
Replied On: 07/27/2015 at 08:16 AM PDT
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Since you play with dual daggers, this video by Phantaram explains the proper rotations.  Although it is aimed at PvP, he explains the basics.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAtDKypiS5M

 

After you use your water skills for healing, switch out of water attunement immediately so it can come up again.  Always make sure you have another attunement available after using water attunement.  Earth would be ideal for protection.  

 

E lawe i ka manawa e hanu i na pua loke. Take the time to smell the roses.
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Laoch de na Iolair Dearg
Lakshmi
Laoch de na Iolair Dearg
  • GW2: Lakshmi.5941
Replied On: 07/27/2015 at 08:27 AM PDT
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Something that doesn't change with elementalist is the squishiness.  It's true at level 80 too.  

Your #1 tool is learning to avoid damage.  Dodge roll and positioning are fundamental.  With dagger/dagger (D/D) you also have some positioning skills on Fire and Lighting, and skills on Earth to CC the enemy if you need to disengage for a few seconds.   The utility skill Lightning Flash (aka "blink") is very helpful too.

You can add a little more survivability by trading your offhand dagger for a focus.  The playstyle is a little different, so something to check out to see if you like.

In terms of utilities, be sure to give Conjure Ice Bow a look.  It does far more damage than the lightning hammer, especially skill 4.  Another really great utility is Glyph of Storms: it hits 18 times and, depending on your attunement, can stack some big damage/debuffs on a group of enemies.  A really potent combo is (air) > Glyph of Storms, (fire) > Ice Bow 4. 

Gear does make some difference, especially the LEVEL of your gear.  Due to dynamic level scaling changes in the June 23rd patch, you'll get more from gear closer to your level (even if it has the same stats as a lower level piece of better quality).

Hope this helps!

~Shmi

 

edit: typo



» Edited on: 2015-07-27 08:48:12

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Muintir
Jymm
Muintir
Replied On: 07/27/2015 at 08:38 AM PDT
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Very helpful suggestions all around.  It gives me some things to try, test, and refine.   I am too used to playing a Guardian, and need to adjust for squishyness.

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Ban Caomhnoir de na Aracos
Fym
Ban Caomhnoir de na Aracos
Replied On: 07/27/2015 at 09:30 PM PDT

I love running around on my Ele, and I find her to be pretty durable since the update.  I completely changed her build and equipment after the update.  Like you, I am dual dagger and specializing in Fire, Water and Earth:

Fire: Cleansing Fire, Pyromancer Training, and Blinding Ashes.  Fire is what gives me the highest damage and the blinding ashes lasts 4 seconds with a 5 second cool-down, so my target's blindness is almost constant. 

Water: soothing ice (regen when crit hit), soothing disruption (regen + vigor when use a cantrap), soothing power (improves soothing mist 200% when you switch to water)

Earth: earth armor, geomancer training, stone heart

I load my skills with cantraps: ether renewal, armor of earth, cleansing fire, and tornado.  I also use sigil of air as my only non-cantrap mostly because I like to gather and move quickly.

Thus, as long as I remember to use my cantraps regularly, I am in an almost constant state of regeneration.  I default to lighting while running (and gathering).  I use "ride the lighting" and "shocking aura" when I first target.  This will usually stun the target. Then i use armor of earth (cantrap triggers regen + vigor) and switch to fire and use "ring", burning speed, and fire grab.  This blinds them and does a lot of damage and surrounds me with stability and protection.  Usually they are dead at that point. If not, hit cleansing fire, and I switch to water or earth depending on whether I am facing a group or a solo enemy.  This grants me regen again and if I switched to water I get massive healing.  With earth, I can get tanky for a short time.  As you don't have stone heart yet, you may want to make your earth rotation very short.

I made myself new armor and now my condition damage is 1700.  I have dressed her in power, vitality and condition damage armor.  I use the +100 power, +70 condition damage food.

This build kinda sorta works in WvW.  I lost the only 1:1 fight I have had, but now I can take a supply camp by myself -- which I couldn't do before.  In PvE I can pretty much solo champions and groups of veteran or regular mobs. 

Anyway, I am loving my Ele, so feel free to chat with me in game if you like  :)

Fym

 



» Edited on: 2015-07-27 21:31:56



» Edited on: 2015-07-27 21:39:36

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Muintir
Jymm
Muintir
Replied On: 07/30/2015 at 07:15 AM PDT
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Just wanted to follow up and thank everyone for their help.  My problem was definitely spell rotation, and not doing enough of it.   I am not ready for anything hard core yet, but slowly getting there.  I can at least handle some decent size mobs now.

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Draoi de na Griobhta Bán
Kitty
Draoi de na Griobhta Bán
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Replied On: 07/30/2015 at 08:09 AM PDT
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Yeah, you will get there with time and practice.

Playing Ele is a lot like playing a piano! :D

 

"Be the player you want to meet".- Foghladha
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Laoch de na Iolair Buí
Sekkerhund
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Replied On: 07/30/2015 at 02:06 PM PDT
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You should not be dying in green gear, that is appropriate for your level.  To be blunt, yes it is something that you are doing, but you can easily fix it.

  • Elementalist requires a lot of elemental skill rotation for various situations.  An Ele player can't just say, "oh, I want to be Fire" and stick with just Fire. 
  • Use Scepter/Dagger, examine your skills in different elemental states, to understand them and when its best to use them.
  • Examine your Traits tree, to understand them.  Some have good survivability benefits.
  • Make sure you fight critters that are your level or below.  NPCs above your level will beat you harder than in a lot of other games you might be used to.
  • Most of your XP will come from Quests, not mobs, so you will need to move around to level appropriate zones and do those quest lines as well.  The game down-levels you, so it actually worthwhile to quest in zones that might appear to be too low of level. 
  • Example:  If 17ish in level  and done with Queensdale quests, choose to move over to Plains of Ashford or Caledon Forest and do those quests, rather than move to Kessex Hills, where the NPCs will be equal level and higher.  Faster questing = better XP for your time spent (and less dying)


» Edited on: 2015-07-30 14:09:06

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