Basic Guide to Playing Elementalist
This guide was created by Cebe of the Guildwars Guru Forums. All credit for this guide goes to him To see the original posting of this click here.
This guide is intended as a guide for starter Elementalists
Article Contents
1. Elementalists
2. Attributes
3. Weapons
4. Runes
5. PvE Skills
6. Secondary Profession Choices
7. Exhaustion
8. Elementalist Elites
9. Common Elementalist Builds
10. Farming with the Elementalist
11. Elementalist F.A.Q.
"I only have one campaign, What is a good nuker build?"
"Is Meteor Shower really as good as people say?"
"Are Elementalists useful in Hard Mode?"
12. End Notes
1. Elementalists
Elementalists are quite often thought of as being the damage dealers in a group. The good old "Tank 'n' Spank" routine where a Warrior "Tanks" foes and an Elementalist lays on the Area of Effect "Nukes" is very outdated these says and outclassed by many other options. The Elementalist's downfall is due to the majority of the damage they inflict being elemental damage, damage which can be reduced by high-armoured, high-level foes. Elementalists are no longer purely used as a damage dealer. This must be understood, and kept in mind from the outset, as bringing "utility" skills powered by your high energy levels can be extremely beneficial to the party.
A very important point to remember about Elementalists is that they only have a base of 60 Armour. This makes them more vulnerable than classes like Warriors and Paragons when it comes to taking damage. As an Elementalist, you can reduce the likelihood of being attacked by remaining at the back of the group and kiting (running away from) attacking foes. Elementalists can also use skills called Wards, which provide a buff to allies stood in the Ward which will help defend your party as a whole, and not just yourself.
2. Attributes
Elementalists have 5 attribute lines. One each for the different "Elements", and one for Energy Storage. Each of the elemental magics excels at certain tasks. We will now take a look at each attribute line:
Energy Storage - This is the primary attribute for Elementalists, and provides an additional 3 energy for each rank of Energy Storage you have. It is very important, however, that higher maximum energy does not mean you have good energy management! This is a common mistake of many new Elementalists, who max out Fire Magic and Energy Storage, equip 8 AoE spells and "go nukin'" oblivious to the fact that when they have cast those 8 spells their energy will be depleated and they wll be useless. Energy Storage contains several good skills which really help manage your energy pool. Worthwhile skills include [Elemental Attunement], [Ether Renewal] and [Glyph of Lesser Energy].
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Air Magic - This line of magic excels at condition spamming (namely Weakness, Blind and Cracked Armour), as well as single target spiking and knockdown. Due to the single target nature of this magic it is less useful in PvE from a damage perspective. It is excellent, however, for keeping packs of Physical damage dealers under wraps thanks to [Blinding Flash] + [Epidemic] or [Blinding Surge]. [Enervating Charge] spreads weakness around and [Lightning Orb] and [Shell Shock] inflicts Cracked Armour (Lightning Orb only in PvE-Only!). Knockdown is also very prevalent in Air Magic where [Gale] is widely used as a spammable knockdown, and [Lightning Surge] can be used as part of a "spike" as well as knockdown disruption.
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Earth Magic - Earth Magic is fundamentally very defensive in nature. Like Air Magic, Earth also gives you the ability to cause a lot of Knockdown with skills such as [Unsteady Ground] and [[Dragon's Stomp], but also Earth Magic contains many party support elements known as "Wards". Any party member stood in the ward will receive the benefits from it, whether that is a chance to block ([Ward Against Melee]), additional armour ([Ward Against Elements]) or ability to not get knocked down ([Ward of Stability]). Earth Magic contains many defensive enchantments which are widely used in Elementalist farming builds.
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Fire Magic - This is the typical "nuking" line of magic. Fire Magic is a very direct, indiscreet line of magic focussed primarily on fire damage and burning. Burning in itself is a very powerful condition as it inflicts the greatest amount of health degeneration by any one condition (-7 pips = 14 health loss per second). Fire Magic contains many Area of Effect, Damage-over-Time (AoE-DoT) spells such as [Searing Heat], [Savannah Heat] and [Meteor Shower]. These skills benefit greatly from a snare (either cripple from another party member or a PvE-Only skill or a Water Magic Hex snare) to stop foes fleeing from the area! One of Fire Magic's best elite skills would have to be [Mind Blast] which is an excellent energy management skill outwith the Energy Storage line. Mind Blast allows you to power skills from a secondary profession.
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Water Magic - This attribute line is very support-based. Water Magic contains many snares in the form of Hex Spells, as well as other varying defensive skills. [Deep Freeze] is one of the best Water Magic snares around for the simple reason that the snare is unconditional - No points are required to be invested in Water Magic to get the 10 second snare, and therefore can be used with Fire magic to keep foes in an AoE spell longer. [Maelstrom] is also worth noting as an excellent Water Magic spell due to it's ability to interrupt spells once a second for 10 seconds. Water Magic snares have a very great synergy with Air Magic's skill [Chilling Winds], which works particularly well with [Icy Shackles] or [Mind Freeze] and a very long period of a potential 90% slower snare.
3. Weapons
Elementalist Weapons are a hot topic in the Elementalist forum. "What's a good Ele weapon?" is a question which is asked time and time again. There are several weapon sets which are beneficial for Elementalists to look into acquiring:
A "40/40" set. 40/40 sets require a wand and a focus, where both components have a Halves Casting Time of <Elemental> Magic Spells (20% Chance) mod (also known as HCT 20%), as well as a Halves Skill Recharge of <Elemental> Magic Spells (20% Chance) mod (also known as (HSR 20%). This combination of mods will give you the greatest possible chance to cast faster, and achieve a half recharge on certain spells, which is a very saught after ability in a weapon set.
An example of the above in Green Weapon form for Water Magic would be using a Drikard's Rod with The Brainfreezer.
The Enchanting Set. It is quite commonplace for Elementalists to use multiple enchantments, and on these occaisions an Enchanting Weapon can be beneficial to lengthen these enchantments. The only piece of Caster equipment it is possible to put a enchanting mod on is a Staff, however, Staves are often an inefficient choice of weapon so we must therefore look elsewhere. If we look at martial, one handed weapons, it can be seen that you can use enchanting mods on Spears, Axes and Swords. It is very commonplace for Elementalists to weild, say, a Spear and a Focus. This way the spear acts as the wand but with the ability to have an enchanting mod. Spears are often preferred because they are ranged. Spears modded up for casters are known as "Caster Spears", and typically use a Halves Skill Recharge of Spells (10% Chance) (HSR 10%) inscription - these inscriptions have the name "Let The Memory Live Again".
High Health Set. If you get into difficulties in PvE where you find your party dying a lot and Death Penalty taking it's toll it's always handy to have a high-health weapon set around. Generally, anything with +60 HP is good for this. You have 2 choices: Either a Staff with +60HP, or a Caster Spear with +30HP grip instead of an enchanting grip, with a focus or shield with a +30 HP mod. The reason I suggest a shield is purely because of the additional armour. Even if you don't meet the requirement on the shield you still gain the base 8 armour any shield will give you. The downside to this set, of course, is you lose a lot of your HCT and HSR modifiers.
An example Staff in Green Weapon form as suggested above for Fire Magic could be Koosun's Fire Staff.
High Energy Set. The only PvE-reason to want to use a high energy set would be when running a [[Mind Blast] bar and fighting other enemy Elementalsits in Hard Mode! This set, again, is a Wand + Focus set, but the Wand has a "Sieze the Day" inscription, and the Focus has a "Live for Today" inscription to give +30 energy, but at the cost of -2 energy degeneration. This set must be used with caution and only when needed.
4. Runes
As a general set for most Fire Magic PvE playstyles:
Headpiece: +1 Fire Magic with +1 Fire Magic rune
Chest: Vigor rune
Hands: Vitae
Legs: +1 Energy Storage rune
Feet: Vitae
Notes: The hands have a Vitae Rune, however a Water Magic rune is useful when needing a Water Snare (such as [[Deep Freeze]) to keep foes in AoE. If not required use a Vitae rune.
The above can be applied to any element really, and most Elementalists keep a selection of Headpieces for each Element which are just interchangeable.
Use Blessed, Survivor or Prismatic insignia. Do not use Radiant!
5. PvE Skills
There are two Elementalist-specific PvE skills:
- [Intensity]
Available From: Shiloh (Sunspear Great Hall)
This skill only increases the damage when the enchantment is active. If you use Intensity and cast Meteor Shower, you will have waster 8 seconds of Intensity!
(Luxon Logo) - [Elemental Lord (Luxon)]
(Kurzick Logo) - [Elemental Lord (Kurzick)]
Available From: Luxon Scavenger (Cavalon or Guild Hall), Kurzick Bureaucrat (House Zu Heltzer or Guild Hall)
Elemental Lord is a little like [[Glyph of Elemental Power]. It's a cheap, long lasting enchantment which boosts your attributes. Given it only boosts attributes by 1, it is generally regarded as quite a useless skill, and there are better ways to fill a skill slot.
6. Secondary Profession Choices
When starting out as an Elementalist in prophecies you have 5 choices of secondary profession.
Warrior: Warriors have very little to offer Elementalist primary. These two classes really are chalk and cheese for the most part.
Monk: Secondary Monk allows you to use a Hard Res, basically a resurrect skill which, unlike Res Signet, does not require you to recharge it with a morale boost. Monk also allows Elementalists to farm, in order to bring in some extra cash. Notwithstanding this, standard [[Mind Blast] bars allow Elementalists to power expensive Monk skills such as [[Convert Hexes], [[Aegis] and [[Protective Spirit] in order to take the pressure off some of the monks, help the party and still be doing some nice damage.
Necromancer: [Enfeebling Blood], in a word. This skill is amazing with Earth Magic for [Stoning] knockdown spam. The Necromancer No-Attribute skill [Gaze of Contempt] is often widely employed by Elementalists who enjoy [Shatterstone] + [Vapor Blade] spiking.
Mesmer: [Mantra of Resolve] allows Elementalists to cast spells without the danger of being interrupted. Mesmer Secondary is also great for condition spamming thanks to [[Epidemic], which when used after [Blinding Flash], can shut down a whole pack of physicals due to Blind. [Arcane Echo] is another useful Mesmer non-attribute skill which is widely used to copy powerful skills including Rodgort's Invocation and Savannah Heat.
Ranger: Rangers don't have a whole lot to offer an Elementalist, with the exception of [[Winter], which is a useful little Nature Ritual, particularly popular in Hell's Precipice in particular, allowing an Elementalist to use non-water Magic skills but still deal Cold Damage.
If you own Factions, later on in the game you can change your secondary profession. Factions has two unique professions:
Ritualist: Again, [Mind Blast] bars a great at powering out powerful Ritualist skills including [Splinter Weapon], [Weapon of Warding], [Protective was Kaolai] and [Ancestors' Rage].
Assassin: Assassin secondary is often used for Farming, and when using pbAoE spells like [Shockwave] to allow you to escape from danger quickly. Assassin shadowsteps can allow you to escape from sticky situations by shadowstepping to an ally, with [Return], although for those who own Eye of the North, [Ebon Escape] is more useful. [Assassin's Promise] is also well used by Elementalists in order to churn out slow-recharging, high-power AoE skills.
If you own Nightfall, later on in the game you can change your secondary profession. Nightfall has two unique professions:
Paragon: Paragons have little to offer Elementalists other than using [Mind Blast] to power out Motivation Chants including [Ballad of Restoration] and [Aria of Restoration]. Speccing into Motivation allows you full use of a shield of course.
Dervish: Dervishes have an Earth Prayers skill called [[Mystic Regeneration], which has great synergy with Elementalist enchantments, and at 8 Earth Prayers, will provide you with a great deal of health regeneration. This skill is well used in Alliance Battles for healing up between shrines.
8. Elementalist Elites
This section will quickly, and generally, appraise some of the Elementalist elite skills.
[Blinding Surge] - This skill is [Lightning Strike] + [Blinding Flash] + [Epidemic] all rolled into one. It's a great utility skill and the damage on top is a nice bonus. Formerly this skill required your foe to be enchanted in order to spread the blindness, but as of the update on 11th December 2008 it will blind adjacent foes regardless.
[Gust] - An odd elite which deals Cold Damage rather than Lightning Damage, however, the draw to this skill is the three second knockdown, which is longer than a normal knockdown. That being said, [[Gale] is often more useful due to the fact that it's not elite.
[Invoke Lightning] - One of the few Air Magic skills which deals damage to multiple foes. This skill is fun, but it's a shame about the recharge. Invoke works best in coordinated teams of Elementalists who want to spike off foes by casting Invoke at the same time.
[Lightning Surge] - A pressure spell. There is an obvious graphic and sound just before the three seconds are up which, for any good monk, means removing the hex is a piece of cake. That being said, it's widely used with Lightning Orb to "spike" opponents. By casting [Lightning Surge] and then casting [Lightning Orb], the orb hits target foe just as the 3 second timer ends and the foe takes damage from Lightning SUrge and is knocked down.
[Ride the Lightning] - A fun skill to mess about with, but dangerous in many circumstances. This skill takes you right up close to the enemy, which for a squishy caster, is not necessarily where you want to be! Consider using with [Return] or [Ebon Escape] to make a quick escape back to safety.
[Thunderclap] - One of the few ways for a Caster to inflict Daze. Thunderclap will inflict Daze on an AoE basis, providing foes stay in the area for 3 seconds. Snares or [Gale] can work well to ensure this.
[Obsidian Flesh] - A very useful skill for Elementalists who want to farm. [Glyph of Swiftness] + [Obsidian Flesh] + an Enchanting weapon will make you invulnerable to any enemy spells.
[Sandstorm], [Unsteady Ground] - Both very powerful Earth Magic AoE spells. Unsteady Ground is probably the more useful out of the two as foes have a tendency to run from the Sandstorm, whereas Unsteady Ground keeps foes in the AoE (providing they're attacking of course) by knocking them down!
[Shockwave] - An elite sometimes used by farmers, but due to it's point-blank nature, should be used with care or avoided.
[Elemental Attunement] - A stunning energy management elite. When used with [Air Attunement], [Earth Attunement], [Fire Attunement] or [Water Attunement] to return over 80% of the energy you use.
[Ether Renewal] - Since the PvE/PvP split, this skill when used in PvE is simply amazing. With [Ether Renewal], an Attunement, and another enchantment such as [Aura of Restoration], Ether Renewal allows you to spam spells to your heart's content.
[Glyph of Energy] - The ability of this skill to prevent exhaustion is sometimes worthwhile when you want to keep foes knocked down with skills such as [Earthquake] and [Dragon's Stomp].
[Mind Blast] - A superb energy management spell in the Fire Magic line. So long as you have more energy than your foe you can use it to keep your energy nice and high. Works well against foes with lower energy such as Warriors, Rangers, and the like.
[Savannah Heat] - A high powered AoE spell. Often used with other "Heat" spells ([Searing Heat], [Teinai's Heat]) to provide some potent AoE damage. This spell definitely benefits from being used with a snare such as [Deep Freeze] or a knockdown such as [Gale] or maybe [Earth Shaker] on a Warrior party member.
[Searing Flames] - This skill works better when 2 or more Searing Flames Elementalists are used, in order to keep the burning up better and chuck out damage from Searing Flames in quick succession.
[Icy Shackles] - A very potent snare. Works well with [Chilling Winds] and especially when used on Enchanted foes (often such as Dervishes and Assassins) to achieve the 90% snare.
[Shatterstone] - This powerful Hex Spell can be used to spike single targets. It deals damage when applied, and deals damage when it ends. It is often used with [Vapor Blade] (and sometimes [Gaze of Contempt] to ensure Vapor Blade's potency is not reduced) to spike on the second packet of damage from Shatterstone.
[Ward Against Harm] - An elite ward outwith the Earth Magic line. The additional armor versus Fire Magic is great, and works well with a [Greater Conflagration] Ranger. It's use is also greatly beneficial in the Charr Homelands, versus Fire Magic Djinn, and the Ring of Fire Islands.
[Water Trident] - Cheap, spammable knockdown on moving foes. Good for disrupting foes chasing your Monks.
[Glyph of Renewal] - Nice elite for skills with long recharges including [Meteor Shower], [Sliver Armor] or [Eruption].
9. Common/Tested Elementalist Builds
I've included these elite-less builds for those people starting Elementalists on each of the three continents.
The skills should be available immediately, or very early on, however, all three builds contain Energy Management devices, which should always be included in any Elementalist Build you create.
Please Note: Due to the completely sporadic selection of skills you obtain early on in the game it is incredibly hard to create a "good" build. Please use these for ideas only. One piece of advice would be to stick with a maximum of two Elements + Energy Storage for a more concentrated attribute spread. Please note all builds are given as though they use all attribute points. Please use the spread of attribute points as a guide at lower levels.
Tyria Starter Build
fire=12+1+1
energy=9+1
earth=9+1
[Aura of Restoration]
[Glyph of Lesser Energy]
[Ward Against Elements]
[Fireball]
[Immolate]
[Fire Storm]
[No Skill]
[Resurrection Signet]
All skills should be available in Post-Searing Ascalon both from Quest Rewards or Skill Trainers. Aura of Restoration should be replaced with a suitable Attunement Enchantment as soon as you can get one! It should be noted that [[Phoenix] can be purchased from Grendich Courthouse in later Ascalonian Regions and may be added to builds, although it's worth noting that this is an expensive skill, and until an Attunement is purchased should be used with caution.
Cantha Starter Build
earth=12+1+1
energy=9+1
air=9+1
[Aura of Restoration]
[Glyph of Lesser Energy]
[Ward Against Melee]
[Stoning]
[Stone Daggers]
[Lightning Orb]
[No Skill]
[Resurrection Signet]
All skills should be available from Shing Jea Island before the journey down Saoshang Trail. Aura of Restoration should be replaced with a suitable Attunement Enchantment as soon as you can get one!
Nightfall Starter Build
box water=11+1+1
energy=10+1
air=10+1
[Aura of Restoration]
[Glyph of Elemental Power]
[Ice Spikes][Ice Spear]
[Lightning Strike]
[Lightning Bolt]
[No Skill]
[Resurrection Signet]
All skills should be available from Profession Trainers in Churrir Fields, and the skill trainer in Kamadan. Sadly, Nightfall gives no options for Energy Management on Istan. You should acquire [Glyph of Lesser Energy] and a relevant Attunement Enchantment as soon as you can (usually at Yohlon Haven)! It is also worth noting that one of the few Elites on Istan is a Water Magic Elite on the Issnur Isles ([Icy Shackles]) - If you have access to a Guild Hall with a Skill Trainer you may be able to purchase a Signet of Capture and be able to use an Elite quite early on in the game!
Rodgort's Renewal
[Ether Renewal]
[Fire Attunement]
[Aura of Restoration]
[Rodgort's Invocation]
[Fireball]
[No Skill]
[No Skill]
[Resurrection Signet]
Energy Storage: 12 + 1
Fire Magic: 12 + 1 + 1
Keep Fire Attunement and Aura of Restoration up at all times. An alternative enchantment can be used in place of Aura of Restoration if desired (such as [Elemental Lord (Luxon)]. Keep Ether Renewal up as much as possible. This can be kept up easier with an Enchanting weapon and [Glyph of Swiftness]. Spam Rodgort's Invocation to your heart's content! The Optional Slots could include [Mark of Rodgort] if you have partymembers with "Fiery" weapons, support in the form of [Protective Spirit], [Convert Hexes] or an Earth Magic Ward, or [Arcane Echo] to augment toe Rodgort's Invocation spamming.
This build will not work well in PvP due to the Ether Renewal PvE/PvP Split!!
Enfeebling Earth (requires Necromancer secondary):
[Earth Attunement]
[Glyph of Lesser Energy]
[Ward Against Melee]
[Unsteady Ground]
[Enfeebling Blood]
[Glowstone]
[Stoning]
[Eruption]
Earth Magic: 12 + 1 + 1
Energy Storage: 9 + 1
Curses: 9
Keep the Ward up as much as you can. This ward can be replaced with any other Earth Magic ward which will be the most beneficial, for exmaple, [[Ward of Stability] in the Southern Shiverpeaks or [[Ward Against Elements] when fighting many Elementalists. Use Enfeelbling Blood on foes, and Stoning to knock them down on demand (when weakened). Glowstone is additional energy management and if you find you don't need it you can replace with another skill of your choosing, or [[Resurrection Signet]. Use Eruption to blind foes, and Unsteady Ground to knock down attackers.
Blind Epidemic (requires Mesmer secondary):
[Elemental Attunement]
[Air Attunement]
[Blinding Flash]
[Epidemic]
[Lightning Orb]
[Enervating Charge]
[Ebon Battle Standard of Wisdom]
[Resurrection Signet]
Air Magic: 12 + 1 + 1
Energy Storage: 12 + 1
Use Blinding Flash on attacking foes, and Epidemic to spread the blind to all adjacent foes. Epidemic can also be used to spread the Weakness from Enervating Charge, and the Cracked Armour from Lightning Orb. Ebon Battle Standard of Wisdom is a great PvE skill which benefits your whole party, but any PvE skill can be chucked in here for whatever situation you may be facing. Lightning Hammer can be added if desired, since the Dual Attunements are more than able to support extensive use of that 25-energy skill.
AB Water Snare:
[Water Attunement]
[Armor of Mist]
[Glyph of Lesser Energy]
[Chilling Winds]
[Icy Shackles]
[Blurred Vision]
[Deep Freeze]
[No Skill]
Water Magic: 12 + 1 + 1
Air Magic: 9 + 1
Energy Storage: 9 + 1
Use Chilling Winds whenever possible before laying a Water Hex on a foe to ensure it lasts longer. Chilling Winds can also be used as a Cheap cover hex if there are any Monks around. 14 Water Magic is the 10-second Icy Shackles, which, if cast after Chilling Winds, will snare a target for approx. 17 seconds. If target foe is enchanted and there is no hex removal, that foe will be snared by 90% for the full 17 seconds. Use Deep Freeze on groups or NPCs at shrines to reduce their movement. Deep Freeze is especially useful when paired with a Fire Ele to keep foes in an AoE longer. Use Blurred Vision on physicals to help subdue their damage output and, of course, Chilling Winds will help prolong that hex on troublesome foes. Use Armor of Mist for running between shrines or kiting - an enchanting weapon will help lengthen the enchantment!
The optional slow could be use for any number of useful spells: [Maelstrom] for AoE interrupts at caster shrines, [Vapor Blade] or [Freezing Gust] for more damage, or possibly [Blinding Flash] since you're speccing into Air Magic anyway.
Classic Mind Blast:
[Fire Attunement]
[Mind Blast]
[Rodgort's Invocation]
[Fireball]
[Mark of Rodgort]
[No Skill]
[No Skill]
[No Skill]
Fire Magic: 12 + 1 + 1
Energy Storage: 9 + 1
Third optional attribute line: 9 (+ 1 when possible)
Keep spamming Mind Blast as often as you can to keep your energy up. Mark of Rodgort isn't a necessity, but will maintain burning more, and it's usefulness will be augmented if your team members also use "Fiery" weapons.
As said before, Mind Blast can be used to power many, many things. The third optional attribute line could be:
Restoration Magic for spamming defensive weapon spells or using [Protective was Kaolai].
Channeling Magic for [Splinter Weapon] and [Ancestors' Rage].
Earth Magic for Wards ([Ward Against Melee], [Ward Against Elements] etc..)
Water Magic for Snares ([Shard Storm], [Ice Prison] etc..)
Domination Magic for Interrupts ([Cry of Frustration], [Power Spike] etc..)
Protection Prayers for utility skills including [Protective Spirit], [Convert Hexes] and [Aegis].
Motivation for [Ballad of Restoration] and [Aria of Restoration].
Triple Heat:
[Fire Attunement]
[Glyph of Lesser Energy]
[Savannah Heat]
[Searing Heat]
[Teinai's Heat]
[No Skill]
[Deep Freeze]
[Ebon Battle Standard of Wisdom]
Energy Storage: 9 + 1
Fire Magic: 12 + 1 + 1
Water Magic: 9 + 1
This build works best in confined areas, where you can use the local geography to stop Foes running out of AoE too much. An example of such is fighting at the gates in The Eternal Grove mission. Begin by casting the Ebon Battle Standard of Wisdom. This, along with a 40/40 set (see section 3 for details) will give you a great chance to half the recharge time of the "heats". Begin by casting Deep Freeze on a tightly packed mob to reduce their movement speed. Lay on all 3 of Savannah Heat, Searing Heat and Teinai's Heat. The optional slot could be [[Mark of Rodgort] to inflict Burning, perhaps [[Fireball] to give you something to cast in between the triple heats, or [[Arcane Echo] to allow you to use 2 copies of Savannah Heat.
Searing Flames:
[Fire Attunement]
[Glyph of Lesser Energy]
[Searing Flames]
[Glowing Gaze]
[No Skill]
[No Skill]
[No Skill]
[No Skill]
Energy Storage: 9 + 1
Fire Magic: 12 + 1 + 1
Third optional attribute line: 9 (+ 1 when possible)
This build works far better when you have multiple Elementalists using [Searing Flames]. Above is the core of an "SF Build", and the rest is just fluff. Keep in mind you need to be spamming SF as much as possible. The optional slots could include [Resurrection Chant], [Aegis], [Splinter Weapon], [Convert Hexes], [Mark of Rodgort], [Ward Against Melee], [Power Drain], [Drain Enchantment], [Fireball] or [Steam], amongst many, many others.
Water / Air Single-Target Spike:
[Water Attunement]
[Glyph of Lesser Energy]
[Elemental Flame]
[Shatterstone]
[Vapor Blade]
[Steam]
[No Skill]
[Gaze of Contempt]
Energy Storage: 10 + 1
Fire Magic: 8 + 1
Water Magic: 12 + 1 + 1
Begin by laying Elemental Flame on your target, as this has nice synergy with Shatterstone. Use Gaze of Contempt to strip all enchantments from target foe to help ensure Vapor Blade deals it's full damage. Cast Shatterstone on target, followed by Vapor Blade, and finally Steam. The optional slot should be a snare of your choice.
Alternative: If you are happy running a 2-glyph system, you can replace Elemental Flame with [[Glyph of Immolation]. The beauty of this is you don't require Shatterstone to end in order to cause burning. GoI can be cast alongside Steam and blindness will be caused. For PvE purposes, consider moving the enchantment removal to a Hero.
Lightning Surge Spike
[Air Attunement]
[Glyph of Lesser Energy]
[Lightning Surge]
[Lightning Orb]
[No Skill]
[No Skill]
[No Skill]
[Blinding Flash]
Energy Storage: 10 + 1
Air Magic: 12 + 1 + 1
Third optional attribute line: 8 (+ 1 when possible)
Another popular spike is by casting Lightning Surge on target foe, followed by Lightning Orb for around 200 Lightning Damage + Knockdown (to an Armour 60 target). Optional skills could be [Gale] for more knockdown, [Fetid Ground@8] at 8 Death Magic to inflict poison, [Enervating Charge] to inflict weakness, or perhaps using [Shell Shock] to inflict Cracked Armour before the spike on high-armour targets. [Glyph of Swiftness] could also be used to improve the recharge of Lightning Surge and the flight time, and accuracy, or Lightning Orb.
~More builds to be added at a later date~
10. Farming with the Elementalist
Elementalists are very popular farming characters, and can farm in a multitude of different ways. I will make some effort to describe just some of the methods which can be employed to rake in some cash, but for further details, threads can be found in the Farming section of this forum.
Green Weapon Farmer
["Enchanting Weapon required"]
[Death's Charge]
[Shadow Form]
[Glyph of Elemental Power]
[Sliver Armor]
[Stone Daggers]
[Teinai's Crystals]
[Dash]
[No Skill]
Earth Magic: 12 + 1 + 3
Shadow Arts: 11
Energy Storage: 6 + 1
An enchanting weapon is required.
Basic Usage: Run to the boss location until you are just within aggro range of the boss. use Shadow Form, followed by Death's Charge to shadowstep to the boss. use Glyph of Elemental Power, followed by Sliver Armor. Sliver Armor will usually target the boss first, and deal damage to him whenever a foe tried to hit you. Spam Stone Daggers and use Teinai's Crystals just to help things along. When the boss is dead, re-cast Shadow Form (it will recharge on the death of the boss) and pick up the loot, if any. Optional Slot can be another speed boost if required. Note: you need enough aggro on you for Sliver Armor to kill fast enough!
Raptor Cave Farmer
["Enchanting Weapon required"]
[Channeling]
[Armor of Earth]
[Stoneflesh Aura]
[Mental Block]
[Mantra of Resolve]
[Glyph of Renewal]
[Sliver Armor]
[Ether Feast]
Earth Magic: 12 + 1 + 3
Inspiration Magic: 10
Energy Storage: 8 + 1
Basic Usage: Leave Rata Sum into Riven Earth and take the blessing from the Asuran Scout by the Res Shrine. Watch out for a patrolling pack of "grown up" Raptors who patrol near the came entrance. WHen they clear off, run down to the cave entrance and use Mantra of Resolve, Channeling, Armor of Earth, Stoneflesh Aura and Mental Block. Aggro the Raptors and keep moving until you've aggroed as many as you feel comfortable with. Re-apply Stoneflesh Aura when it runs out, and keep Mantra of Resolve up all the time. Head toward the boss (followed by your little pack of play-mates) and aggro. As the boss heads towards you use Glyph of Renewal followed by Sliver Armor. Always use the Glyph before Sliver to ensure you can keep Sliver up as much as possible. Sliver Armor should target the boss first but occaisionally it does not. Keep renewing all enchantments and stances as required until all raptors are dead. Use Ether Feast to heal up damage taken from Twisting Jaws.
An alternative which some claim is better:
earth=12+1+3
energystorage=8+1
inspiration=10
["Enchanting Weapon required"]
[Channeling]
[Armor of Earth]
[Stoneflesh Aura]
[Magnetic Aura]
[Mantra of Resolve]
[Glyph of Renewal]
[Sliver Armor]
[Ether Feast]
You only need to cast Magnetic Aura when you get to the boss really, as you can tank the baby raptors are you run around collecting them. The greater chance to block simply helps with the damage output from Sliver Armor.
Obsidian Tank Farmer
Obsidian Tank Farmer
[Armor of Earth]
[Stoneflesh Aura]
[Glyph of Swiftness]
[Obsidian Flesh]
[Sliver Armor]
[No Skill]
[Balthazar's Spirit]
[Essence Bond]
Earth Magic: 12 + 1 + 3
Air Magic: 6
Energy Storage: 11 + 1
Basic Usage: On entering an area use Balthazar's Spirit and Essence Bond straight away. On engaging enemy mobs use Armor of Earth and Stoneflesh Aura, always use Glyph of Swiftnedd with Obsidian Flesh which, with an enchanting weapon will give you permanent immunity to hostile spells. Use Sliver Armor to kill mobs when you have enough aggro. The optional slot could be used for a PvE skill, or another Earth magic skill to help you kll faster, such as [Radiation Field] or [Crystal Wave]. This build works well against the first wave of Destroyers in Glint's Challenge in Eye of the North.
11. Elementalist F.A.Q.
"I only have one campaign, What is a good nuker build?"
I've already covered this question in a previous thread. That thread can be found here!
"Is Meteor Shower really as good as people say?"
In a word: No. [Meteor Shower]'s recharge is simply horrible, and to make good enough use of it, you have to incorporate skills into your bar to support it. Skills such as [Glyph of Sacrifice] and even [Assassin's Promise] to help it's recharge. The 5 second cast time is bad in areas of high interruption, so without Glyph of Sacrifice it is very difficult to cast, but not only that, it takes a further 3 seconds (on top of the 5 second cast) to actually do anything! After that 8 seconds is up foes may have moved away or already been killed by the rest of the team.
"Are Elementalists useful in Hard Mode?"
Elementalists are useful in Hard Mode, but not necessarily useful in the same way they are in Normal Mode. In Normal Mode you've been used to "smashing face" by churning out Rodgort's Invocations, Searing Flames, and the like. The first major difference between NM and HM for Elementalists is that the Elemental Damage you churn out is vastly reduced versus the higher armour foes. This means that where your unsubtle means of mass slaughter may have been effective before, now you're relatively squishier with less punch, so to speak. The Cracked Armour condition can help Elementalists increase their damage versus Hard Mode foes a little, so skills like [Lightning Orb (PvE)] (+ [Epidemic]) and [Weaken Armor] can be useful skills to pack onto yourself, or a Hero.
So what's the point of playing an Elementalist in Hard Mode if you can't have the foes "licking floor" in seconds like you can in Normal Mode? In a word: Utility. Elementalists are superb at churning out party support, as well as conditions and knock-down. These must not be overlooked in Hard Mode. Wards are unstrippable pools of protection. Air Magic provides you with the ability to spread some devastating conditions including Blind, Weakness and Cracked Armour (paired with [Epidemic] makes it easy to disable packs of Warriors for example). With Energy Storage and skills like [Ether Renewal (PvE)] it makes it very easy for you to spam skills outwith your primary profession. You could dip into the Monk line for [Aegis (PvE)] and [Convert Hexes], Necromancer for [Dark Fury] and [Order of Pain], or look at PvE skills you can use to aid your party.
12. End Notes
If anyone wants me to add a build on here, or thinks anything should be changed, please post here or PM me. Hopefully I covered all the basics of playing Elementalist but if I've got something wrong, or left something out, please let me know. I'm trying not to be overly technical, since this is more aimed at beginners.
If you want to leave a build for me to put insert please do so, but please leave notes on Attribute Spread, and usage.
Some images on this guide have been borrowed from Guild Wars Wiki.
Discussion on other sub-topics may be added at a later date.
Hope anyone who needed to found this useful.