Guild Wars 2 Elementalist Profession Overview | GW2PC

Guild Wars 2 Elementalist Profession Quick Summary
Skill Type	Elemental Attunement: Fire, Water, Air, Earth
Special Abilities	Arcane Spells, Auras, Cantrips, Conjures, Glyphs
Traits	Fire Magic, Air Magic, Earth Magic, Water Magic, Arcane Power
Armor Type	Light Armor
Weapons	Two-Handed: Staff Main-Hand: Scepter, Dagger Off-hand: Focus, Dagger Aquatic: Trident
Limitations	- Least number of equippable weapons and weapons - Relatively lower defense and health - Highest damage spells require positioning and set-up
Benefits	- Versatile since each weapon set gives access to four attunement skill sets - Powerful ranged and area spells - High number of utility and support skills
Creation Options	Elementalists need to select an affinity between the four elements

Elementalist Background

The Guild War 2 Elementalist channels raw magical energy to become one of Tyria’s most devastating mages. With their ability to control the natural elements and wield them as spells, buffs and debuffs, Elementalists truly are a destructive force.

But Elementalists are far from invincible. In fact, they are quite vulnerable to direct attacks and focus fire. But left unchecked, this profession can inflict massive amounts of spell damage. An Elementalist can also specialize into battlefield support and perform cantrips, conjures and glyphs that improve team performance.

Weapon Skills

There are five possible weapon sets for the Elementalist from a selection of 2 main hand, 2 off hand and 1 two hand weapons. This is compensated by how each land-based weapon set unlocks four attunement skillsets, offering elemental variety depending on the enemy. When fighting underwater, they also have access to 1 additional weapon set, which also spreads out to four attunement skillsets.

SLOT	WEAPON	DESCRIPTION	# OF SKILLS
Main-Hand	Scepter	Close range spells	13 (3 per element +1 additional for Earth)
	Dagger	Medium range spells, fast	12 (3 per element)
Off-Hand	Focus	Powerful close range abilities	8 (2 per element)
	Dagger	Powerful medium range spells	8 (2 per element)
Two-Handed	Staff	Long range spells, slow	20 (5 per element)
Aquatic	Trident	Long range magical weapon	22 (5 per element +2 additional for Water)

Attunement

Through his unique skill called attunement, the Guild Wars 2 Elementalist can switch between four elemental skillsets – earth, fire, air and water. This on-demand change in elemental affinity will come in handy when battling mobs and bosses with specific elemental resistances.

Each attunement offers five skills that are designed for a specific combat tactic:

• [A] Air - Harness wind and lightning doing focused high-damage, single target attacks. Nearby enemies are continuously stuck by lightning and may be inflicted with the blind condition.

• [W] Water - Control an opponent’s movement with slow-inducing ice spells. Also unlocks healing skills, while nearby allies receive continuous passive healing.

• [E] Earth - Enhance defenses and destabilize opponents with seismic shocks. Automatically instills magical protection to self.

• [F] Fire - High damage and multiple targets. Automatically deals fire damage upon being hit by an enemy.

Changing attunements will also release an area-wide buff for the Elementalist. Shifting to the air attunement, for example, activates constant lightning damage against surrounding foes. Remember though that there is a short cooldown to attunement changing, so you will need to consider carefully what kind of attunement element you need in a given situation.

Arcane Spells

On top of their elemental arsenal, the Elementalist also commands four arcane skills, which are non-elemental and have an instant cast time. Two arcane skills – Arcane Blast and Arcane Wave – deal critical damage and are best used for finishing off enemies. While the remaining two arcane skills – Arcane Power and Arcane Shield – trigger critical damage for future spells and block future attacks, respectively.

Auras

Brimming with magical energy, the Elementalist transforms some of it into protective auras that either shuts down projectiles or punishes striking enemies with retaliatory conditions like chills and stuns. Certain traits allow Elementalists to share their auras to nearby teammates.

Cantrips

Elementalists might be a bit on the squishy side, but it will be hard to keep them pinned down. They have four anti-stun cantrips, each activating instantly and removing the stun condition. These cantrips instill the class with a natural escape mechanism from focus fire and stun-enabled combos.

Conjures

Elementalists also have a talent for creating weapons from pure energy. From lava axes to frost bows, these elemental-imbued weapons can be equipped directly by the Elementalist or spawned to be picked up by allies. These conjured arms possess limited attack charges, though, and will disappear after the charges are depleted or when they are dropped to the ground.

Glyphs

Further empowering the Elementalist are their glyphs, which are slotted skills that change effects based on attunement. For instance, the Glyph of Renewal will revive up to three allies when the Elementalist has an Earth attunement. But if you want to revive one ally to full health using the Glyph of Renewal, then you must shift first to the Water attunement. There are several such glyphs, including the Elite slot skill called Glyph of Elements, which enables you to summon a different elemental according to your attunement.

Traits

The Guild Wars 2 Elementalist can choose from between five trait lines. These become available starting level 11 and each new character level grants a Thief one trait point to spend in any of these trait lines.

Trait Line	Attribute Bonus
	Base	Profession-Specific	Offense	Support
Fire Magic	+ 10 Power		+ 1 Expertise
Air Magic	+ 10 Precision		+ 1 Prowess
Earth Magic	+ 10 Toughness		+ 10 Malice
Water Magic	+ 10 Vitality			+ 10 Compassion
Arcane Power		+ 2 Intelligence		+ 1 Concentration

How to Fight as an Elementalist (GW2PC Discussion/Speculation – Subject To Change)

 
Based on what we’ve seen so far in the official previews and beta videos, here are some suggested playstyles and team roles for a Guild Wars 2 Elementalist.

 

 

 

Guild Wars 1 VS. 2 Differences

The Guild Wars 2 Elementalist shares the four-element focus of the Guild Wars 1 Elementalist, and retains his established roles as both a nuker and a utility caster. The most noticeable change is the removal of energy as restricting resource, replaced instead with weapon cooldowns. This frees the Guild Wars 2 Elementalist from the sometimes hairsplitting task of managing energy, and can instead focus more on battlefield awareness and adapt his attunement accordingly. To sum up:

• Attuned magic skill sets based on type of weapon equipped
• Ability to use signets
• Energy storage attribute removed
• Conjure spells create an environmental weapon

Closing Thoughts

With their unique attunement system, the Guild Wars 2 Elementalist is hardly the glass cannon profession everyone mistakes it to be. Their ability to freely switch between offensive attunements like fire and air, to more defensive and support attunements like water and earth, give them astounding flexibility in combat. Leave them alone at a distance and they will send lava and boulders your way, but if you pursue them, they can make the chase frustratingly complicated with a wealth of stuns, slows and escape cooldowns. So that more than anything else, Elementalist players need a quickness of mind to gauge which attunement is suited for the encounter.

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