Guild Wars 2 Elementalist Movement Control Guide

Guild Wars 2 Elementalist Movement Control Guide by Gorani

Here I want to talk a little bit more about the movement altering abilities and skills of the Elementalist.

– Pull – is an effect caused by some skills which shortens the distance between the user and the foe by drawing one of them to another. –

At the current state of the game, the Elementalists has two skills that allow him to draw a foe closer to him: Magnetic Grasp and the aquatic Magnetic Current. Both of them are from the Earth Magic line of skills. Backdraft had this effect too, but it was removed from game. This way, the caster can not vary a lot, when he wants to have this skill effect.

– Knockback – is an effect caused by some skills which physically pushes foes away from the player and interrupts them. – – –

Knockback is the opposite of the pull effect and does the additional effect of and interrupt. The Elementalist has four skills that create this effect: Gust (Scepter) and Water Trident (Staff), plus the two aquatic skills of Tidal Wave and Heat Wave. Therefore, only the Earth Magic line of skills does not have a Knockback skill.

– Leap – is a type of movement where the user rapidly moves forward a short distance.

The definition “leap” is a little bit misleading, as all movement that moves yourself towards a foe in a direct line, whether running or jumping is called “leap” right now. The Elementalist has only one skill that does that, Burning Speed from the Fire Magic line. Considering the weak armor of the Elementalist, this sounds reasonable, compared to the Warrior that has four leap skills. Leap seems to be more offensive, while teleport/flash described below sounds more of defensive movement.

– Teleport / Flash – is an effect which causes the user or target(s) to instantly move from one location to another. – –

Right now, I assume the difference between leap and flash is the fact that you do not need to flash directly ahead of you and you might be able to teleport through obstacles as well. Please correct me, if you have the information about that. Flash is the field of Air Magic. All three skills, Lightning Flash (Utility), Ride the Lightning (Off.Dagger) and the aquatic Air Pocket come from that attunement. The Elementalist is the profession with the second most flash skills, only surpassed by the Thief and his shadow step abilities. Lightning Flash teleports to an area and not a foe, you it will be a good getaway skill from Rangers and Warrior with their leap skills.

– Retreat – is a technique used to roll or jump directly backwards. It is a skill effect and no dodge maneuver.

Burning Retreat is the only retreat skill the Elementalist has, which of course is from the Fire Magic attunement. I am a little bit surprised there are not at least one or even more skills to get away, but only the Thief has a bigger pool of retreat skills so far, other classes even lack the ability completely.

– Knockdown – is an effect caused by some skills which interrupts and causes the foe to be unable to move or use skills for a short duration. Knocked down foes fall to the ground. – –

Knock downs are far less prominent in GW2 so far than in GW1 and seem to be almost Warrior exclusive. With three knockdown skills, Gale (Focus), Earthquake (Off.Dagger) and Meteor Shower (Staff), the Elementalist is the profession which takes the second place. With Glyph of Concentration the profession also has the only skill right now, that can prevent knockdowns.

– Launch – is an effect caused by some skills which interrupts and tosses a character into the air. –

Launch is the “reverse” knockdown and again, the Elementalist is in second place after the Warrior in having that movement altering effect. Updraft (Off Dagger) is the only normal skill from the Air Magic line, because Tornado, which launches foes is one of the elite skills and very limited because of the long recharge.

– Float – is an underwater effect caused by some skills which forces the affected target(s) to move towards the surface.

Actually, Air Bubble is the only aquatic skill in-game so far that causes enemies to move away towards the surface. No other profession can do that.

– Sink – is an underwater effect caused by some skills which forces the affected target(s) to move away from the surface. –

As with the float effect, the Elementalist leads the ranking of professions with only two skills, Rock Anchor and Under Current.

There are not many surprises about movement altering effects when the Elementalist is fighting on land. Other professions can do most of the things more often than him, but the Elementalist has a limited, but wide variety to chose from, which adds a lot to his versatility.
Beneath the waves, the Elementalist is the master of movement control skills and able to separate dangerous foes from team mates or himself with the float & sink abilities.
If you take into account the conditions he can cause (cripple, chilled, immobilize) or grant (swiftness), a good Elementalist can do even more to movement that meets the eyes on a first glance.