User:Tmak/Now I know why there are so many bad builds on PvXWiki

This is a very versatile elementalist with excellent utility in all situations commonly encountered in Alliance Battles. Although primarily designed for providing team support it has decent solo operational capabilities. It is best suited for an aggressive playstyle where breaking enemy teams is at least as important as capturing shrines.

Attributes and Skills
[build prof=Elementalist/Paragon Fire=12+1+1 Energy=8+1 Water=5+1 Command=9][Glyph of Immolation][Mind Blast][Steam][Slippery Ground][Searing Heat][Teinai's Heat]["Fall Back!"][Fire Attunement][/build]

Equipment

 * all Survivor insignia
 * +5 energy spear/axe/sword of Fortitude and a set of Fortitude Command shields with inscriptions at least versus Fire, Slashing and Piercing, and reduced Cripple duration
 * 40/40 Water set
 * 40/40 Fire set
 * high energy Fire set

Usage
Double heats are used to kill shrine NPCs and to punish tightly packed real players (mostly on choke points like bridges). Mind Blast is the primary energy management skill which also provides decent point pressure when combined with Glyph of Immolation. The glyph should always be preloaded when a fight is imminent so that Steam can be used to blind enemy physicals as they come in. Slippery Ground is the finisher of the combo which - as a cheap and fairly spammable Knockdown - can be used as an interrupt against self-heal and condition removal skills. If neither the healer of your team or you yourself are being pressured by enemy physicals you can use the combo to knockdown kiting targets for your frontline to finish off. Use the party wide speed boost to cut down transit times from shrine to shrine and to help with kiting while fighting another team. "Fall Back!" affects all allies including minions. Consider giving a helping hand to allies beyond your own team whenever an opportunity arises. Keep the attunement up by default but if convenient let it expire before attacking a shrine with mesmers or necromancers to avoid related damage since finishing off the NPCs with Mind Blast will compensate for the lack of attunement while casting the heats.

Switch between defensive and offensive play as necessary and use the 40/40 water set if you are mainly spreading blind (2 or more enemy physicals around), the 40/40 fire set if you're pumping out damage to help your frontline, and the high energy set if you have depleted your energy while forced to operate for extended periods from the shield set. Since the build meets shield requirement it is recommended to take full advantage of it and always swap to the shield set when there's a potential for incoming damage.

Counters
The build fares poorly against shutdown mesmers, caster/signet assassins and competent interrupt-heavy rangers.

Variants
It is possible to replace Glyph of Immolation with Immolate, Slippery Ground with something like  Freezing Gust,  Maelstrom or even  Meteor, or one of the heats with  Rodgort's Invocation. In practice, however, the given build is optimally balanced for the given task.