User:Malokai92/Guide Index/Ele

The Elementalist update was introduced because the power creep in PvE made Elementalists almost obsolete as a profession due to the way armor scales in Hard Mode. The goal of the update was to make Elementalists viable for usage in PvE again. Hard Mode was changed in two ways to meet this goal. More information on the update can be found at gww:Feedback:Game updates/20120105.

Hard Mode changes
Along with the Elementalist skill revamp, Arenanet made some changes to Hard Mode to make Elementalists more viable: This reduced armor level for Hard Mode enemies by 3 and raise maximum health by 20 for each level above 20.
 * Reduced the armor level for Hard Mode enemies.
 * Raised the maximum Health of Hard Mode enemies.

In effect, it removes the native armor scaling in HM. This does not affect innate armor modifiers since these bonuses and penalties aren't affected by the game mode. This translates to 18 less armor and additional 120 health as most foes are level 26 in HM. The armor reduction translates to roughly ~27% (1-1/1.3660) increase in damage from armor-respecting skills.

What do these changes do?
In Hard Mode, armor scaled with level, where enemies got +3 armor for each level after level 20. This is on top of the base armor rating for professions and innate armor bonuses against certain elements. Elemental damage received heavy penalties because of this. Where Searing Flames would hit for 112 damage against enemies in Normal Mode, this damage could be reduced by half or more in high end areas. In effect, this limited armor-respecting damage to Normal Mode areas where there are no such penalties. The update changed the armor of Hard Mode enemies to be identical to level 20 players, evening the battlefield if you will. By removing the armor scaling, elemental damage became equally effective anywhere in PvE, independent of the mode. The result means Elementalists and melee players receive a significant damage boost.

Why did the update also raise the maximum Health of Hard Mode enemies? This seems to be compensating for the increased damage output from Elementalists right? First of all, the meta is heavily biased towards armor-ignoring damage because of the aforementioned penalties. The mechanics work the same in PvE as in PvP, it's more advantageous to use armor-ignoring skills to bypass foes with high armor. Thanks to power creep over the years, in the current meta, hero teams can bring enough armor-ignoring AoE damage to take out enemies quickly or possibly in a single go with a spike. This includes extremely powerful skills such as Energy Surge, Ray of Judgment, Mistrust, and Wandering Eye. With the change in armor, elemental skills now scale to similar amounts. Raises the maximum health of enemies reduces the effectiveness of armor-ignoring skills because they won't scale with the reduction in armor like armor-respecting skills do. More health means the more armor-ignoring damage you need to kill enemies. Most armor-ignoring skills hit around 100 damage; Fire Magic spells hit in a similar range. Because Ebon Battle Standard of Honor only affects armor-respecting skills, you can generally hit harder than is possible with armor-ignoring skills. This shifts the meta towards taking advantage of elemental damage.

The lower armor means an average increase in damage. This damage increase is roughly Enemy healers will also be affected by this change. Players should find that strong healers will be easier to pressure and kill such as in Domain of Anguish. You may notice this works similar to the Massive Damage flux. This is why the healing bonus was added onto the flux.

What do these changes mean?
In Arenanet's infinite wisdom, they decided that they might as well adjust meta while they revamp the Elementalist. These changes include reducing Mistrust's damage and certain Channeling Magic skills used in a certain elite area. The increase in enemy maximum health is aimed mostly at reducing the effectiveness of armor-ignoring damage along with compensating with the increased damage from armor-respecting skills. The problem is the change in armor only served to bring armor-respecting up to the same level as armor-ignoring damage, not supersede it. The increase in health only serves to prolong battles in general PvE.

The changes to Destructive was Glaive, Ancestors' Rage, Cruel was Daoshen, and Spirit Rift are to compensate for the increased damage from these skills. These changes are targeted solely at builds utilizing DwG for clearing areas such as Frostway. Except for Ancestors' Rage, there isn't a significant effect on these teams. You will also notice the change to Signet of Spirits decreased the damage from spirits slightly. This is aimed nerfing the use of a spirit spammer to farming enemies. Because of the increase in health and reduced damage, it takes longer to kill enemies. This has no impact on general PvE, where the meta no longer relies on the damage provided by Signet of Spirits. Mistrust was also changed to reduce its damage slightly, which literally does nothing at all.

All Arenanet has done is give us something we already have available and made Hard Mode slightly more annoying to play in terms of general play.

Skill Changes

 * : Rather insignificant buff to Water Magic damage, likely to be used due to lack of choices.
 * : The damage is low but spammable and the AoE damage is conditional and at adjacent range. Considering the damage is pretty meager (50+25%AR at 14 Air Magic wut), the 50% more damage effect is laughable against Warriors and Rangers. It only becomes decent with Cracked Armor and EBSoH. This is lackluster for heroes when you have access to Ineptitude but is much more useful in comparison to pre-update.
 * : k
 * : Because heroes will spam this indiscriminately, they can quickly kill their energy. This is the only non-elite AoE spell available in Air Magic however.
 * : This makes Churning Earth more useful with an Assassin's Promise Elementalist but the recharge does not justify use on heroes.
 * : Heroes do not use this effectively and the damage isn't great for the recharge. Unlikely to be touched in PvE except for gimmicky builds.
 * : This skill gives a significant boost to damage and removes the need for additional energy management. Spam away with your Fire Magic skills. One of my favorite changes.
 * : For spiking in PvP, won't see much use in PvE due to the cost.
 * : As an energy management skill, this is impressive at higher levels when used on yourself. This skill serves as a battery similar to Blood Ritual or Blood is Power. The health boost is also fantastic, the hero will cast this on recharge to buff and serves to prevent training and wipes. There's a lot of flexibility available in one skill.
 * : Totally useless in PvE.
 * : The reduced casting makes this much more powerful in PvE and likely a staple on Fire Magic bars.
 * : PvP change, no impact on PvE.
 * : While useless on heroes, this is a strong option for players. It's useless for spiking and the adjacent range isn't impressive though.
 * : Made obsolete by Elemental Attunement.
 * : Heroes will only use the on players being attacked by melee. This is of limited use beyond constantly KDing melee.
 * : k
 * : Makes it a better option for Water Magic damage.
 * : Because heroes will spam this indiscriminately, they can quickly kill their energy. Because it's not feasible to use this and Chain Lightning together and the only difference is shorter casting time and slightly more damage, this skill can be considered useless for heroes. Players may still find it useful for damage.
 * : Useless for PvE.
 * : There is some potential for this skill, but none of the current combinations beyond Arc Lightning offer an inclination to use it on heroes.
 * : This is inferior to Searing Flames in almost every way.
 * : Useless in general PvE.
 * : Useless in general PvE.
 * : Heroes do not use this skill. It's currently not feasible to use.
 * : There aren't many nearby/in the area Water Magic hexes to guarantee the damage reduction, which isn't very useful in the first place. The AoE healing would be useful if Water Magic didn't suck so bad. Spamming 10 energy spells only provides 25 AoE healing, inferior to Orders Dervish or similar anti-pressure builds available. You won't be using some gimmicky crap with Burning Speed either.
 * : Spiking in PvP.
 * : Useless for PvE.
 * : Sandstorm has always been hit-and-miss in PvE because it does great damage except it causes scatter and scattered foes won't be attacking. Lowering the recharge by 5 seconds does nothing.
 * : Unusable by heroes and useless for PvE.
 * : Very strong skill because it is spammable and has nearby range. The damage is similar to Rodgort's Invocation.
 * : Unusable for heroes. It provides very strong spiking damage. The Blind effect means jumping into mobs is much less dangerous as well.
 * : Spammable big damage with in area range and provides energy management. If there was ever a golden PBAoE skill, Starburst is it.
 * : The armor boost is awesome and spread Weakness easily. This makes it a great defensive skill. Unfortunately it can't be used efficiently by heroes. Players may find sticking it on a hero and microing to be a very effective.
 * : k
 * : Utility elite that provides decent damage with a bunch of goodies tacked on.
 * : The 5 second duration and KD for attacking foes almost guarantees enemies won't scatter often, so the damage turns out to be pretty nice. The shorter recharge makes this pretty viable elite now.
 * : This is a great defensive skill. It provides pressure relief, damage mitigation, and protection against nukes. Water Magic still has underwhelming skills available to it however.
 * : This is like a spammable version of Invoke Lightning. Ignoring the secondary effect, this is quite useful in smaller areas. Water Magic still has underwhelming skills available to it however.


 * Mesmer
 * : The reduced damage is trivial for general play. This only impacts Mesmers using the skill for spiking, especially when enemies have more health now.


 * Ritualist
 * : Deals a similar amount, change is due to Frostway builds.
 * : Change so people don't use of DwG.
 * : Deals a similar amount, change is due to Frostway builds.
 * : Makes farming with spirits take much longer, no significant effect on general play.
 * : Deals a similar amount, change is due to Frostway builds.

Doublecast Spells
Doublecast spells will typically only see usage in PvP. The fact that eles are squishy makes any offensive usage implausible. Double Dragon certainly has it's appeal, but the long recharge and pulse damage relegates it to niche usage. Players have better options for elites in PvE. Heroes do not use doublecast spells effectively. They do not spam these skills and only use it "super-optimally". This means you will have to micro the skills to use them effectively. The exception to this is Energy Boon, as heroes use this skill on recharge and it has no offensive usage.

Some nice behavior is noted here and on the linked page here.

Exhaustion
The update made a couple changes to the Exhaustion mechanic. The exhaustion value is now given numerically. It still takes 3 seconds to burn off one point of Exhaustion. The only notable skills are Invoke Lightning, Chain Lightning, and Mind Burn. This limits players to using these skills for spiking instead of continuous damage. Hero behavior regarding exhaustion is described here. Heroes seem to avoid building up too much exhaustion and will stop using skills that cause Exhaustion if it takes up over 50% of their maximum energy. While this is the behavior you would want from heroes, it means continuous battles will hurt such builds and can make using these skills obsolete.

In general, a single exhaustion skill on a hero won't have an adverse effect. Chain Lightning has a 6 second recharge and two second cast. This gives it 8 seconds to burn off 5 points or 15 seconds of Exhaustion. Assuming it's cast on recharge and assuming Air Attunement and Aura of Restoration, this is equivalent to a cost of 5 energy and 7 seconds of exhaustion for a total cost of 7.33 energy. Invoke Lightning is slightly higher because of cast time. However, heroes don't use these skills on recharge because they will be using other skills or standing around like a pro. Battles are short enough and walks are long enough in most of PvE to burn off any Exhaustion that is accumulated. In areas with many groups and prolonged battles, players may wish to use other builds.

Effects on Player Builds
The only effective builds players had access to was an AP Ele and Searing Flames, where Searing Flames only had niche use. AP builds now have the option to use Air Magic or Earth Magic due to the cast time on Churning Earth being shortened.

Effects on Hero Builds
Because Chain Lightning is almost identical to Invoke Lightning, Invoke Lightning heroes are unlikely to be viable for any general use. Heroes can still use Chain Lightning by itself efficiently. There are two other Air Magic skills to replace Invoke Lightning: Blinding Surge and Thunderclap. Blind Surge provides AoE blind and conditional AoE damage for attacking foes. This makes it almost useless for spiking and somewhat decent for general damage. Fortunately, heroes will spam Blinding Surge on recharge. This damage can add up nicely against balled foes and groups of melee. If you aren't using it to train balled foes, the conditional AoE damage and adjacent range makes this underwhelming for general play and only serves to be useful in melee heavy areas. Thunderclap provides an AoE interrupt, damage and inflicts Cracked Armor and Weakness. This elite is a box of utility and very versatile. Think of it as a spammable Cry of Frustration with Weaken Armor and Enfeeble functionality added in. The only drawback is the adjacent range and the fact heroes don't use it to actively interrupt.

The update has a major impact of Fire Magic in general. Searing Flames has long been under the radar because of it's restricted use but still had a niche popularity with some players. The high damage and short recharge make it powerful for both spiking and pressure. Previously, you would require EBSoH and Cracked Armor to make the skill worth bringing. Elemental Attunement serves as the generic nuking build for heroes because it provides energy management and a buff in damage along with the update to fireball.

Effects on Other Professions
The armor reduction means melee build do significantly more damage. This also increases the AoE damage from Hundred Blades and Vow of Strength, which can already be boosted with Ebon Battle Standard of Honor. Deep Wound becomes more effective now because you're much more likely to get the full 100 health reduction on enemies.

Builds
With the a second update due to release, these builds are arbitrary at best. These are typically the builds that will move into the meta or at least see usage.

Player

 * Build:E/any Elemental Attunement Fire Magic
 * Archive:E/any Searing Flames

Conclusion
The update makes Elementalists more competitive with other professions for PvE. This applies for both players and heroes. The reduction in armor also effects other professions, notably melee professions. Assassins won't notice a pronounced effect considering their damage comes from attack skills. The health boost and nerf to Mistrust will only have a significant effect on casters spikes, which rely on armor-ignoring damage.

Battles becomes slightly longer in general teams. Players won't find the additional 120 health a problem. This impacts Assassin's Promise builds and therefore Discordway, but the effect isn't significant enough for players to care about.