Thursday, February 3, 2011

In-depth look: Elementalist

The elementalist is a spell casting, scholar profession, who is able to attune at will to the different elements to change the spells they have available to cast. The elementalist can cast fire to damage multiple enemies at once, wind and lightning as powerful focused damage, water to hinder enemies' movement and earth to increase their own defense.


Elementalist concept art.


The elementalist has the unique ability to attune to different elements using special skills. There are four attunement skills in total, representing the elements of fire, air, earth and water. When one of these attunement skills is activated, the first five skills on the skill bar change to reflect the action. These attunement skills can be used in combat, allowing players to effectively switch from four different sets of skills. The flexibility of switching between attunements means that the elementalist is restricted to only one weapon set in combat.

Special spell types
  • Glyphs — These arcane spells enhance or modify the natural power of the elementalist. For example, Glyph of Elemental Power increases the damage, range, and duration of their spells.
  • Signets — Signets provide an ongoing benefit to the elementalist, but can also be activated for a greater effect. An elementalist equipped with the Signet of Earth has increased damage resistance, but activating the Signet sends out a wave of stone, stunning nearby enemies.
  • Conjure spells — The elementalist uses conjure spells to summon useful items and potent weapons that they or other party members can use. For instance, they can use Conjure Flame to create a fiery rock to hurl at the enemy.
  • Area spells — Using area spells, the elementalist creates hazards and mayhem all over the field of battle. The elementalist fires lava arrows in a cone-shaped blast or creates walls of fire that scorch any enemies passing through.


Traits
The elementalist has one general trait line: Arcanum. They have lines for each attunement: Earth Mastery, Air Mastery, Water Mastery, and Fire Mastery. They also have lines for each of the weapons they can wield. An elementalist might find traits through the study of ancient tomes or particularly powerful elemental locations.
See list of elementalist traits.

Attributes
Elementalists can put attribute points into Intelligence, Willpower, and Perception, the other attributes being considered minor for this profession.

Armor
The elementalist is a scholar profession and will thus use light armor.

Weapons
  • Two-handed
    • Staff - Focuses on slow, long ranged spells.
  • Main-hand
    • Scepter - Focuses on close range spells in a large area.
    • Dagger - Focuses on fast, medium ranged spells.
  • Off-hand
    • Focus - Provides powerful close ranged abilities.
    • Dagger - Provides powerful medium ranged abilities.
Although the elementalist has access to only one weapon set during combat, they effectively have the ability to switch between four different skill sets using attunement skills. There are five possible combinations of weapon sets for elementalists - twenty when attunements are incorporated - allowing for diversity among elementalist playstyles.



35 comments:

  1. Oh...my GOD, that is some nice concept art.

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  2. Nice Post (:
    Really looking forward to GW2.
    I never played GW1, cause of WoW ^^
    Hope GW2 rocks ;D

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  3. @JANDI

    Check out my post about GW2 concept art.

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  4. I've played GW before, I kinda liked it! Playing didn't last too long because I started WoW.. Now I'm on a break from WoW tho and might consider trying this again!

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  5. very nice art..do you have bigger images??

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  6. pic looks AWESOME! someone is about to get reamed lol

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  7. Elementalist seems to be a very versatile class

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  8. I just started playing the first GW game, Rangers FTW :D This Elementalist looks cool though. I might play it!

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  9. Cool class. Might be this when it comes out.

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  10. That picture makes the class look totally badass. xD I might have to look into the game.

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  11. I should pick up GW2... I was into GW since it came out, but quit a couple years ago :P

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  12. I really love the picture. Anyway, did you make the picture yourself or did you find it?

    I really love the guides up to now, they're very interesting and all very detailed!

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  13. Great article! I've never been interested in GW, but this looks pretty cool

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  14. I like that concept art. I wish I could get into the whole MMORPG scene but my internet connection is just straight shitty.

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  15. Oh man, eeee i'm getting all excited about gw2 again

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  16. Can't wait for rolling with the wizards, being a monk is fine too.

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  17. Oh man I am SOOO looking forward to this game.

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  18. I played a lot of Guild Wars when it was first released, great times!

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  19. I never really got into GW, I did like it, though. All of my friends stopped playing after about a month too.

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  20. AHHH HELL yea Guild wars!!
    I played this game so much when i came out!!!

    Following!!!

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  21. I also played this game when it first came out @news and stuff. Its really addictive.

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  22. Never played guild wars. I always wanted to get into it though...

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  23. Awesome concept art. Following you. http://mmomoose.blogspot.com/

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  24. This game looks awesome. I've never really been into MMO's but I'll definitely have to check this one out. Great info.

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  25. Shit! You got me back into Guild Wars! Noooo! Even more sleepless nights now ;)

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  26. never played gw due to wow, but looking for a new mmo these days since wow's gone stale...

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  27. Makes me want to go back to gw bad :[

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  28. I've been a WoW player a while and lookign at GW2 over the last little while only makes this game more promising, really considering trying this out.
    I play a mage in WoW, so this elementalist looks like a nice crossover change

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  29. awesome used to play guild wars all the time.

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  30. necro all the way! but elementalist isnt bad either!

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