Your Guide to Elementalist Spear | Guild Wars 2: Janthir Wilds Review

[@sarasteege2265]

Just wanted to say, I really appreciate these spear overview videos! If you play all the classes (like I do) it can be kind of overwhelming to try and master them all at once, so having a nice chill vid that showcases how each ability works for each class is pretty awesome. :D

[@KROOF]

@@sarasteege2265 thank you so much! I’m really enjoying making these.

[@bennb1858]

I’ve had so much fun with spear on ele !! Dare I say, this is by far one of my favorite weapons they ever added !! it’s just so much fun to play, though it could do a little bit more damage. I think it works really well with tempest even though the overloads are melee because you get lots of stability and stun break. I also pair it with the elementals so you keep enemies away. Anyways, great video !! I’m so glad to get your thoughts on the spears :))

[@Draxynnic]

In terms of how the elite specialisation works, Weaver is actually the best one for going full range in PvE. The features that you want to go into melee range for on weaver are optional, so you can actually build so that you don't lose anything by getting in close. Tempests obviously want to get close for overloads, and catalysts in PvE want both themselves and their enemies in their spheres, especially on power builds (in competitive, the sphere's damage is basically nothing). It's something of a flaw with elementalist in that all of the elite specialisations were designed for melee, making weaver normally the least bad for range. The bigger issue with spear weaver is that none of the dual skills on spear are actually attacks (which leaves the spear weaver short of options for their adept major trait), and spear generally seems to be designed to push weaver back into a single element ASAP. It's probably the biggest criticism on elespear - it conflicts with every elite specialisation.

[@CallmeCocoRider]

The fact that i read this while working is.... Interesting (as someone who love the idea of weaver professions ofc)

[@MInorek5]

​@@CallmeCocoRiderSo what that you have a job,others do too lol

[@Daslicey]

Would a core build work in that case?

[@kunkudunk1133]

yeah the weaver dual skills really show how much whoever was working on the skills really don't understand what weaver needs or how it functions. Dual skills are weavers overloads and it is reliant on them being good and impactful to compete with the other 2 specs(especially now that weapons aren't spec exclusive). I'm immensely disappointed in how they were handled as simple flipping through combined elements doesn't really add any inherent value without the dual skills being worth the time and effort. And yeah the idea that weaver is the melee oriented spec when nothing forces it into melee has been one of the most frustrating things I've seen. It used to be that way because sword was just that good but even then staff weaver was good in wvw for a long time for a reason.

[@Draxynnic]

@@Daslicey I have seen a few people suggesting that core might be the best fit, or, well, the least bad fit. Could well be still suboptimal because it is, after all, core, but maybe...

[@Dumpy_Wumpy]

Appreciate the detail of your guides and how clear the vocals are on your video. Incredibly well done.

[@ThatGaudyFox]

Personally, I've found the most success out of Power Tempest on this thing. If you're cycling through every element and using all your Overloads except Water, you're able to keep up Tempestuous Aria 100% of the time, and the animations/cast times on the Overloads lines up the CDs perfectly to where you're not going into the next element "too early" where your Etching isn't back up quite yet, and you're still doing some good sustained DPS in the process. Bolt to the Heart builds tend to perform better in my experience due to the weird skill queueing that makes Fresh Air feel unwieldy as hell, and Bolt to the Heart honestly makes the rotation "flow" better in my experience since you're cycling through all four elements as seems to be the intent with the weapon at its core. Even though the Etchings look really, REALLY cool, I have run into some issues with AoE visibility for fights like Sabetha and Vale Guardian where their telegraphs kinda get lost in the sauce of magic circle spam, but it's not too big of a deal overall. Overall, it's definitely a 10/10 weapon in terms of class fantasy and certainly feels like the Spear skillset with the most effort poured into making it feel "cool." It really is just cool. The visuals are 100% what make this weapon as fun as it is.

[@DrukenReaps]

Ah finally, some real content. Not one of those pretend professions ;P

[@ArkhBaegor]

You're killing it with these guides!

[@UnderRooer]

I'm so happy ele got some actual WATER attacks and not mostly ice with a little water

[@didoma73]

Hammer has great damaging water attacks too

[@bokan800]

Ele Spear slaps. I like that they increased the duration of the etching to give you enough time. Even with Cele stat, the spear does pretty decent damage. I wish though that Air 2 and Air 5 are switched. It would be so dope to have Lightning storm as the finisher. It also makes sense in the rotation as Fire 5 is a circle AOE.

[@mana_surge]

2:35 I got so distracted by that really jittery Warclaw lfjslf (distractions aside, I've been loving all the new Spear guides!!

[@sylviancreedmarsh9171]

All of the spears have been so much fun to play! I don’t know what they did differently in terms of design process, but I don’t think any other expansion has really nailed the weapons like this before. I’d much rather this same new weapon for every class than random assortment we used to get .

[@deilaaaa6759]

What reshade are you using? Looks great

[@DemethVLK]

Again I was fooled by the beta. I thought it was boring in PvE and not even playable in PvP. I was doubly wrong. I love it. It's a lot of fun. I'm so happy to be a power glass canon elemental wizard!

[@madmagus7693]

A nice video covering the basics of playing spear ele. I have one important question though. No one is talking about using them in pve strikes or raids. From using it in open world, it seems that spear 5 etchings would cause big problems, seeing as they cover all ground affects. I've died multiple times because I could not see the red areas to stay out of. Any idea how to remedy this in the settings? Or, do we just do strikes/raids without using etchings and accept a large dps loss? Thanks.

[@tekenagakun]

They should add the option to hide other people effects like in final fantasy xiv

[@KROOF]

@@madmagus7693 I don’t think it shows up for others with some graphic options. Effect LOD in graphics and also the “show party effect” under general options.

[@taylorgarrett793]

thats why they reduced the visual effects on the etchings they used to be fully dark while active, now they fade out and only breifly light up when ya use a spell or when its fully charged and ya use the fully charged attack

[@MInorek5]

​@@taylorgarrett793nah,its still a mess

[@sparafucilSA]

@@KROOF My wife and I both play GW2, she can't see my elementalist full effects on the etchings- just an outline blue circle. She can see the catalysts jade spheres though

[@willdeit6057]

Thank you Nice info Much appreciated.

[@Chemxst]

Yasssss Shantay you SLAY! Been waiting for this informative video! Thanks for putting in the hard work to bring us this overview! 🔥💧🪨🌬️

[@mishking9547]

Your Charr is so cute, Kroof, omg!

[@KROOF]

@@mishking9547 One of my newer characters. 😊

[@gailbrookhart1777]

@@KROOF She has a sort of Lion King/Beauty and the Beast Disney vibe going.

[@metamystical1]

Thanks for this video Kroof!

[@gweekie]

Love it! Dying for ranger spear next. I am struggling lol

[@aizensousuke7170]

hey , what would you prefer more or what is easier to play Tempests or Catalysts ?

[@sorryyourenotawinner2506]

core ele is way better Fire 1-3-2 Air 3-3-1 Arcane 1-3-3

[@pikolowet]

Did I miss it? WEas there a mention for what equipment ot have for that tempest?

[@gabrielpelegrini6135]

For sustain you can also use water 5 then combo water 3 to leap finisher on it (and blast with fire 2 / air 4 if needed) A lot of ow elementalist gameplay is playing with combos

[@taylorgarrett793]

and air 4 into air 5 as its a blast finisher and earth 2 into earth 5 as its a projectile finisher

[@gabrielpelegrini6135]

@@taylorgarrett793 yes but i was listing the combos to heal, but thanks for reminding me that air 4 is also a finisher. Quick fun fact: if you water 3 on your earth 5 field, you get a dark aura, which is the only way the elementalist can inflict torment aside from upgrade components (it also grants condi dmg reduction)

[@taylorgarrett793]

@@gabrielpelegrini6135 thats a good point, allthough with ele spear, ya wouldnt want to use condi damage anyways as its a power weapon lol

[@taylorgarrett793]

@@gabrielpelegrini6135 could also use air four into water 5 for aoe healing as well that being said the fully charged water 5 does a crap tone of healing anyways so in most cases thats a better way to substain the good thing bout water 3 is that its a condi cleanse as well

[@benalloucheayman9738]

so spear is basically what staff should have been XD this is an apology for the rotation of downstate over the years where elementalists had enough and said: I AM THE AVATAR ANG but cooler with a pointy stick.

[@didoma73]

Do other players see those etchings in the ground?

[@bosunbones.8815]

Im seriously considering going core ele so i dont have to mess around with overloads, jade spheres or screwing up weaver in general. 🤣

[@ArkhBaegor]

I'm exactly in the same boat, I wonder how well it would do. I've been going catalyst for now as it's the only one that synergizes okay with spear imo (overloads are for melee and weaver dual attacks just suck on spear)

[@OGWardenofMyHeart]

@@ArkhBaegor I'm running Core Ele right now with spear and it is so much fun and I feel comfortable to take on harder content with it too.

[@MrJAgb]

@@OGWardenofMyHeartI thought of it as well. What do you use? Fire, Air and Water traits? Or Arcane instead of Water? I do like the extra heal of Water.

[@sorryyourenotawinner2506]

@@MrJAgb Fire 1-3-2 Air 3-3-1 Arcane 1-3-3 BUT water is just fine

[@Zemium1994]

Kroof use Ice Beam, its super effective!!

[@blackalphadragon96]

Hope you do theif next!!!

[@FaeMagic]

I was on the snowcrows discord. They do not like spear weaver.

[@Zauriel92]

Too bad for them? 😅

[@johnsonrojo3]

Finallyyy!!! ELEEEE!!!

[@taylorgarrett793]

wait whats that spear skin? also the earth 3 skill does effect ur auto attack its only the air and fire ones that dont as u idealy want to use those on ur big hit attacks and water as well as auto attacks dont have a cooldown to be reduced in the first place also found out that cataysts jade sphere also counts to charge up the etching and can charge it up very quikily if there is enough foes as im fairly sure it counts towards the etching based on how many enemys it hits so as long as it hits threee enemys, then it fully charges it also for some odd reason over load fire also charges up the fire etching over its duration but the water, air and earth ones dont not sure if thats a bug or what also did find in the beta, u could have stacked the fulgor debuf up to a entire minute lol probs why they nerfed it also did find luckily that the 3 skill buffs do not trigger when ya place the etching ( other then the water one ) and will only get used if ya use their flip over skill and YES i would love them to make over loads useable at range. but over all, its a good guide :D heh so with weaver its like ur " weaving " in and out of range? sounds bout right haha

[@KROOF]

@@taylorgarrett793 Achievement Skin set.

[@taylorgarrett793]

@@KROOF ah sweet thanks

[@Rythmius9169]

Specifically, it's the Pinnacle Impaler skin. Looks awesome!

[@joaolana3425]

This is the most mage thing for Elementalist since HoT

[@KROOF]

@@joaolana3425 That *raw* magic feel has certainly been missed.

[@amyt2035]

I'm sad this is only a power damage weapon and not condition damage :( I enjoy playing condition damage on elementalist a lot more but also wish I could use the spear

[@DoseonCJ1]

Still confusing with weaver what purpose for dual attack ? I think its a bit staff rework 😂 damage is decent but in some situation Etching feel like keep you in space maybe they make it to follow you instead of ground in the place. Would be nice if you put on descrip what skin you use on character.

[@taylorgarrett793]

with staff it allows u to quckily fully swap between attunements. normally when u swap attunements on weaver it puts ALL of the attunemnts on a 4 sec cooldown the dual " attacks" on ele spear reset the cooldown of the main attunement so lets say ya fully on fire and want to fully go to earth ya do earth, 3 then earth again and boom ya skiped the 4 sec cooldown

[@SuicidalLemonade]

I'm kinda sad your basic attacks throw the spear, and don't magically summon spears out of glyphs in the air.

[@mishking9547]

Also, what fricken spear skin is that? O_O

[@KROOF]

@@mishking9547 the Achievement spear skin - the one after the yellow crystal set.

[@mishking9547]

@@KROOF Nice, itll look good on my pure air/lightning themed ele

[@mishking9547]

@@KROOF and Just now realized what ya meant, gonna take me a long while to reach that xD I only just reached 22500 ap yesterday hehe

[@Elemental278]

The only people celebrating ele spear seem to be all Anet sycophants or paid sponsors, everyone else looks at the forum or actually play the game to realize the weapon is pure garbage