Secondary professions for an Elementalist

Elementalist Warrior
With only a maximum armor base of only 60 AC, good combinations that utilize both the Warrior and Elementalist aspects are very few. However, this is not to say that there are no noteworthy combinations. Those focusing on the Earth Magic have many options when it comes to defense, and those combining the Tactics aspect of Warrior skills will find many likeable defensive strategies that can be exploited. Even without the defensive skills in Geomancy, a skilled player with Area Of Effect skills and defensive options stemming from Tactics can wade into combat and pour heat into the thick of the battle.

An elementalist with a shield will have higher overall AL which will drop the wielder in the priority list of enemy computer-controlled mobs. In addition, rare shields can be found with attribute +1 mods (Example : Fire Magic +1 20% chance). This could make a great combination when paired with decent wand.

Some of the more obvious things that can help is using a elementaly based weapon with conjure element of some type. Some interesting combinations are elemental weapons with the use of Glimmering Mark, which blinds the foes around you, allowing you to hack away without having to worry about physical damage too much. Having a shield that reduces damage from a stance, enchantment, or by chance (it is possible to have two -2 damage attributes on one shield, although more may be possible).

Stances are also a great help. Bonetti's Defense is a great way to regain energy, while other stances such as Disciplined Stance provide excellent cover for the Elementalist while under attack, and in the middle of casting a long spell.

For Elementalists who wish to wield PBAoE spells (such as Flame Burst or Frozen Burst) as their primary weapon, a secondary profession of warrior seems like a solid choice. Combining Shock with Aftershock is a brutal combination, and when in the fray, Whirlwind and Aftershock cause havoc among Warriors and Assassins. Being an Elementalist running out in front makes you a target and a trap at the same time.

Elementalist Ranger
An Elementalist Ranger (E/R) has several advantages over a standard elementalist:


 * An Elementalist can make more extensive use of traps. Traps require lots of energy (unless you are a ranger with HIGH expertise), and since an Elementalist can have more energy than any other class, an E/R can make many traps within a short amount of time (less time to wait for energy recharge).


 * An E/R can use Winter to make the powerful Fire Magic spells deal cold damage, increasing damage against enemies resistant to fire and/or vulnerable to cold.


 * An Elementalist using high energy spells, but using an elite damage skill over an elite energy management skill (e.g. using Mind Burn instead of Elemental Attunement or Glyph of Energy) can make great use of Energizing Wind.


 * A particularly deadly combination is use of the elite Hex Spell Thunderclap, along with a Shocking bow. An Elementalist's higher Energy pool will allow the Hex to be sustained longer, and effectively keep small groups of foes pinned down for short periods of time.

Example Builds:
 * E/R Invincimentalist

Elementalist Mesmer
An Elementalist Mesmer is a character who has Elementalist as their primary profession and Mesmer as their secondary profession. E/Me is one of the more frequently chosen profession combinations. Typical examples are:

Mesmer is a popular second profession for Elementalists because of Echo (or Glyph of Renewal) and Arcane Echo. Elementalists that use the echo spells are known as Echo Nukers and Double Echo Nukers, and are a welcome addition to any team seeking great bursts of damage over a short time.

Some Elementalists like using skills from Inspiration Magic to replenish their energy supply. Such skills include: Energy Tap, Energy Drain and Channeling. Each skill offers a different way of gaining energy. For example, Channeling is best for a PBAoE Elementalist who intends to be in the thick of it all while Ether Lord is good for an Elementalist who uses up his or her energy often.

Being a primary Elementalist provides a character with the bonus energy from the Energy Storage attribute. This is useful for a Shutdown Mesmer. Many interrupt skills have the penalty of costing 10 or 15 energy. A Mesmer with an Energy pool of 90 can benefit to some extent.

Example Builds:
 * E/Me Heavy Nuker

Elementalist Monk
Elementalist Monk is one of the most versatile profession combinations available.

The additional energy from the elementalist's primary attribute Energy Storage can be very useful for monks, especially those that do not plan to invest points into Divine Favor. Many smiting monks use the E/Mo combination because of the high cost of smiting skills. Ironically, smiting skills are so high cost because of their high use in the past by E/Mos!

The fairly unique ability to act as primary damage dealer or primary healer makes Elementalists / Monks quite flexible. For any given party or quest, the E/Mo can switch to area effect attacks, spike damage, dedicated healer, or any combination in between.

A fairly popular PvE setup involves spending attribute points in Healing, Energy Storage, and Fire. The character takes primarily healing capabilities (4-7 skills, including a resurrection spell), and one or two high damage area effect spells (such as Meteor Shower or Rodgort's Invocation). This allows the player to spend most of their time healing, but against particularly tough monsters (especially enemy healers) the E/Mo can throw their offensive weight around and simplify what may have been a difficult or impossible problem.

The fact that Elementalist/Monks aren't a Monk primary may prevent enemy teams from immediately targeting the character in PvP. They can also be used as decoys, especially if you have multiple Elementalist/Monks a team, where some of the E/Mos are attackers and others are healers.

In GvG E/Mos are some of the best flag runners, with Windborne Speed or Burning Speed they are some of the fastest and most consistent runners. The Ether Prodigy elite is always used and when near the main group the flag runner uses Heal Party and Aegis to help ease off degeneration pressure.

Example Builds:
 * E/Mo Hybrid Flag Runner

Elementalist Necromancer
The Elementalist Necromancer can be used as a support character. In PvE, this combo is usually just for unlocking the Necromancer Skills. In PvP, this combo relies on the Energy Storage attribute.


 * 1) A Hydromancer build can cause AoE hexes with spells such as Frozen Burst and  Deep Freeze. With Feast of Corruption, the E/N can trick the group into splitting up away from Altars and disabling impenetrable fronts.
 * 2) Blood is Power and Blood Ritual can be used together with self-regeneration skills such as multiple Life Siphons.
 * 3) If you can't punch through armor, go around it via Degeneration. Use Immolate and Virulence to cause Burning, Poison and Disease. Also cast Life Siphon and Faintheartedness to counter Regeneration skills.
 * 4) Make a decent Interupter. With high Energy Storage you can keep interupting using Spinal Shivers.
 * 5) Using Glyphs to reduce spell cost, you can cast expensive Necromancer skills such as Animate Bone Fiend, Well of the Profane and Lingering Curse.

Ice/Curses: Using ice spikes to slow and keep enemies in a nice bunch, the curse the mess out of them with spells like Spiteful Spirit, and other AoE curses. A good setup is Maelstrom, Ice Spikes, Blurred Vision, Spiteful Spirit, Suffering, Enfeebling Blood, Parasitic Bond, Shadow of Fear. This decimates the enemies, while your henches or fellow players are nice enough to keep taking hits for you.

Elementalist Assassin
Elementalist Assassins can use the Assassin's shadow step skills to get close to a group of enemies, and then use some powerful PBAoE skills such as Flame Burst and Inferno to do massive amounts of damage to all adjacent enemies.

Another variation of shadow stepping could be for use with defensive Earth Magic wards such as Ward Against Melee or Ward Against Foes.

Example Builds:
 * E/A Dark Flame

Elementalist Ritualist

 * The Ritualist primary attribute Spawning Power increases the health of spirits. If you are not using spirits or Spawning Power skills, the only downside to being an Elementalist/Ritualist instead of a Ritualist/Elementalist is the inability to use runes or headgear to boost your Ritualist attributes beyond the 12th attribute level.


 * Going E/Rt instead of Rt/E, you forgoe many spawning power skills that increase ritualist spirit effectiveness such as Ritual Lord, Attuned Was Songkai, and Boon of Creation.


 * Some of the Ritualist spells which require 15 or 25 energy would be best used on an Elementalist due to the primary attribute of Energy Storage giving the Elementalist a larger energy pool than the Ritualist.


 * The Ritualist armor does not have innate protection against elemental damage. Ritualist armor has more of the conditional modifiers like +Armor while holding items or under while Weapon spells.


 * Since Elementalists are capable of using their spells even without need of a weapon, they can carry around spirit Ashes without losing much an edge in battle, enabling them to maintain the effects without sacrificing their ability to cause damage.


 * As many of the skills the Ritualist has to offer require that allies or opponents be near the spirit in order to be effective, this can mean that tightly formed groups can be effective with an Elementalist primary in tow- having an excess in energy and with AoE abilities mixed in with the Ritualist's Spirits could make fending off against warriors easier as a whole (especially with a skill like Essence Strike, which both attacks and grants the caster 1-7 energy if a spirit is nearby. Even should the Spirit fall, skills like Destruction (which damages foes upon death) and Life (which heals allies upon death) make for interesting combinations.


 * Although the Elementalist is not a healing class by any means, the Earth Magic and Water Magic skills do include a variety of support skills that can protect allies within its range, and many of the spirits that the Ritualist can create have beneficial effects, such as Restoration, Shadowsong, Shelter, Preservation, and Recuperation (which is useful for the energy-intensive Elementalist). Do note that Ward spells do NOT affect spirits.


 * Access to the Restoration Magic line means the Elementalist has an effective way to heal without relying on Aura of Restoration or Ether Renewal.


 * Weapon Spells such as Vengeful Weapon, Weapon of Warding, and Resilient Weapon can boost the survivability of the Elementalist.


 * The Elite Spell Tranquil Was Tanasen adds armor (to an otherwise frail class, no less), and prevents the holder of the ashes from being interrupted. This is particularly useful against interruption builds when using spells with long casting times.


 * Weapon of Quickening can be used to decrease Elementalist skills' recharge.


 * The Elementalist skill Glyph of Renewal can be used to instantly recharge any Ritualist spell (such as Guided Weapon) every 15 seconds, thereby increasing effectiveness of the skill.


 * Like Elementalist Monks, the Ritualist secondary can be used for the "hard" resurrection spells Flesh of My Flesh and Lively Was Naomei.


 * An Elementalist/Ritualist would either use his spirits to supplement his spells, or his spells to supplement his spirits. There are a couple of combinations possible with this build, which includes using Earthbind, Wanderlust, Unsteady Ground, Grasping Was Kuurong, Earthquake and Aftershock to knock down foes repeatedly and cause extra damage to them while simultaneously interrupting them.


 * Since the Channeling Magic line does lightning damage, it can be combined with skills like Iron Mist, Glimmering Mark or Thunderclap for greater effect.