User:Devuu/Elementalist Damage Project

This is a personal project of mine. I want to objectively test the damage and effectiveness of the best Elementalist builds, in areas that are challenging enough that differences in build will matter. I have chosen Ravenheart Gloom HM. This is not only a relatively difficult area (so a player build will matter), but also because of Lightbringer, armor ignoring damage from Mesmers is stronger than ever, really putting pressure on an Ele build to perform to be on-par or outperform powerful domination Mesmer heroes. Areas like the Cave, initial pulls and Dervish swarms will put the AoE Nuking capability of these builds to the test. To the extent a build offers utility or shutdown, Ravenheart is a great place to consistently put that on display.

Below are my initial tests, covering the most popular Elementalist builds:


 * (1) Build:E/A Assassin's Promise Variant Used:
 * [Test 1] [Damage]: '48.5k' [Damage Share]: 22.1%
 * [Test 2] [Damage]: 50.3k [Damage Share]: 20.2%
 * [Conclusion]: Offered similar to near-identical damage as Domination Mesmer heroes. Spiking capability on Torment demons is superb. Meteor Showers in Cave made it fastest clear time of all builds tested, although it does less AoE damage.  Losing AP on a target is frustrating, but careful Meteor Shower usage means no exhaustion spam unlike other builds. EVAS front-line with Meteor Shower made Dervishes at end significantly easier.  Overall conclusion is that what it lacks for in direct nuking capability, it more than makes up for in utility, but it is much harder to play and much more punishing for making a mistake.
 * https://i.imgur.com/qkwRveH.jpg
 * https://i.imgur.com/patT092.jpg


 * (2) Build:E/any Elemental Attunement Fire Magic Variant Used:
 * [Test 1] [Damage]: 55.8k [Damage Share]: 25.1%
 * [Test 2] [Damage]: 63.5k [Damage Share]: 26.8%
 * [Conclusion]: Significantly outperforms Domination Mesmer heroes and AP Ele from a raw damage point of view. Also undoubtedly brings far better raw AoE Nuking than its competitor builds. However, the lack of shutdown (including targeted and AoE shutdown) and spiking made runs slightly slower (e.g., Cave, Dervishes). Ultimately, the damage is unparalleled by other Elementalist builds.  Easy enough to maintain, as always, although enchant removal is quite difficult to deal with.  Suffered slightly from Exhaustion/Overcast build up because of Incendiary Bonds use in cave.  Probably the best damage with the easiest energy management.
 * https://i.imgur.com/hq2FZvq.jpg
 * https://i.imgur.com/d5VvOtc.jpg


 * (3) Build:E/any Elemental Attunement Fire Magic Variant Used:
 * [Test 1] [Damage]: 56.7k [Damage Share]: 26.4%
 * [Test 2] [Damage]: 56.2k [Damage Share]: 24.6%
 * [Conclusion]: More reliable than AoS version. EBSoH gives heavy damage and support to team. The damage of EA is still superior to any other Ele build tested.  Clear time was 24 minutes exactly, so on par with AP.  This version of the test used a N/Mo prot hero and a Panic Mesmer to handle utility and for easier protting.  Over all same level of effectiveness. Second test nearly wiped due to a bad pull, but recovered. Cleartime 28 minutes.
 * https://imgur.com/0ptYOMj.jpg
 * https://imgur.com/N1xBt2Z.jpg


 * (4) Build:E/any PvE Star Burst Variant Used:
 * [Test 1] [Damage]: 53.9k [Damage Share]: 23.7%
 * [Conclusion]: Definitely clunkier than Ele Attunement. The Water Magic hexes in this region are very strong against it due to melee range. I was impressed by its damage.  While not quite as good or reliable as Ele Attunement, it is far from bad. Energy management is decent with Elemental Lord.  Flame Djinn's Haste is a must for more damage.  Over all, surprised me with how good it was, although I still see nearly no reason to take it over Ele Attunement or AP othere than for easier body blocking.  Finally, scattering is very annoying.
 * https://imgur.com/ZjXsvLd.jpg