Adapting your Elementalist for underwater combat

[Gorani]

Adapting your skills for under water combat in a new [Guide:] thread might seem like retelling information already posted on the forum, but the BWE3 has introduced this little icon , which makes taking a second look at your skill bar worth it, as it tells us which skills are not available under water - and that are quite a few.

Here is the link to all the Drowned & Trident skills of the Elementalist, which will replace your weapon skills #1 to #5 anyway, so we won't take a closer look at them. Please follow the link to the latest revision of skills for the Trident weapon.
What we will be looking at now, are the general slot skills, the healing slot and the elite skills, which can all be found on the right side of your health globe. The upcoming skills are not available to you under water.

1. Where is my heal!

A little surprise is the fact, that "Ether Renewal" is not available under water (making this heal even worse compared to the others, but that's another topic), limiting the three self heal skills you can use. So if you happen to take "Ether Renewal" as your healing skill below the surface, you are trapped there without any means of regenerating in combat.


2. No Conjures, when it's wet!

Those are pretty obvious to be not working under water, as they change the weapon slots, which are fixed to the aquatic Trident weapon.

3. Where are my Glyphs?

You can not summon an Elemental ally (whether normal or elite and they die, when you enter the water) and the lack of Glyph of Storms takes away an ability to create a massive field of elemental damage, probably due to the ground targeted use on a flat surface. It would just not work in the 3D environment of under water combat.



4. And this is your Elite

Whirlpool is the only profession Elite that is working under water.

Conclusion

If you know that you have to do adventuring for e.g. a Heart Quest or an DE (perhaps even a late game dungeon we don't know about?), prepare another set of skills. Change your skill bar, which is possible now (unlike the BWEs) and face the perils of the sea.
The Arcane skills are now all available and most of the Cantrip skills are working. People running Signet builds do not have to switch out anything compared to fighting on land.

[Gorani]

Of course, as you lose some skills on your utility bar, some traits become less effective and you might want to reconsider using them in long lasting under water adventures. The traits are:

• Burning Fire - 2 out of the 4 skills affected are not available.
• Conjurer - As no conjure skills at all are available.
• Persisting Flames - As you have no skill with the Trident that can create a fire field.
• Powerful Aura - As you can not create any auras under water due to the lack of the right weapon.
• Arcane Lightning - 2 out of the 4 skills affected are not available.
• Grounded - There are very few skills under water, both from you and other profession that deal stun and the knock down effect is not accessible under water.
• Quick Glyphs & Inscriptions - As you Glyph skills are limited.
• Zephyr's Boon - There are no aura skills available under water.
• Zephyr's Focus - There are no channeling skills available under water.
• Elemental Shielding - There are no aura skills available under water.
• Obsidian Focus - There are no channeling skills available under water.
• Arcane Mastery - 2 out of the 4 skills affected are not available.
• Blasting Staff - No staff weapon available.
• Evasive Arcana - No data available, if those surface skills will trigger under water.
• Vigorous Scepter - No Scepter weapon available.
• Windborne Dagger - No Dagger weapon available.

With 18 out of a total of 60 Major traits directly affected by going into the water, this is a large chunk of them. As you can not refund trait points without a cost in coin, this is a factor to consider. The most affected are builds centred around auras and channeling skills, which can not transfer to an under water environment.

[Gorani]

Drowned skills - under water

Slot	Type	Icon	Skill		Description
Drowning	General		Water Fist	-	Throw a punch of concentrated water 600 -
Drowning	General		Stone Kick	6	Wrap your foot in stone and kick a foe 600 -
Drowning	General		Steam Vent	15	Float to the surface on a burst of steam, Blinding and Burning enemies. Condition/Effects:3 3
Drowning	General		Bandage	5	Call your allies for help. Restores health while you channel it. Interrupted by damage. Condition/Effects:

Two Handed (long range aquatic weapon, fixed skill set)

Fire Attunement

Weapon	Attune.	Icon	Skill		Description
Trident	Fire		Magma Orb	-	Shoot a blob of molten rock that explodes after a delay. 1,200 - 120
Trident	Fire		Boil	10	Boil the water around your foe. 1,200 - 4 sec - 240 Combo: Fire Field
Trident	Fire		Steam	25	Blind your foe with superheated water. 1,200 - Condition/Effects: 5 sec
Trident	Fire		Lava Chains	30	Cripple multiple foes with lava chains. 1,200 - Condition/Effects: 5 sec
Trident	Fire		Heat Wave	40	Launch three waves of heat that each burn foes and grant vigor to allies. 1,200 - Condition/Effects: 5 sec 3 sec

Water Attunement

Weapon	Attune.	Icon	Skill		Description
Trident	Water		Water Missle	-	Launch a slow-moving homing missile. 1,200
Trident	Water		‎Ice Globe → Ice Globe Detonate	10	Shoot a slow-moving, detonatable orb of ice. → Detonate your Ice Globe for damage. 1,200 - 240
Trident	Water		Ice Wall → Ice Wall Detonate	20	Create a wall of ice that you can shatter. → Detonate your Ice Wall to damage foes. Chilling enemies near its location. 10 sec - 320 - - Condition/Effects: 2 sec Combo: Blast Finisher
Trident	Water		Under Current	25	Release a current of water to damage (& sink) enemies and give regeneration to allies. Condition/Effects: 5 sec 2 sec
Trident	Water		Tidal Wave	25	Charge forward with tidal force, damaging foes and healing allies. 1,200 - 240 - - Condition/Effects: Combo: Leap Finisher

Air Attunement

Weapon	Attune.	Icon	Skill		Description
Trident	Air		Forked Lightning	-	Fire three bolts of lightning in an arc in front of you. 1,200 -
Trident	Air		Electrocute‎	5	Charge the water around your foe with electricity. 1,200 - 240
Trident	Air		Air Pocket → Vacuum	12	Release a slow-moving, detonatable, air pocket. When it explodes, you teleport to that location. → Vacuum 1,200 -
Trident	Air		Air Bubble	35	Trap your foe in an air bubble and make them float to the surface. 1,200 - Condition/Effects: 2 sec
Trident	Air		Lightning Cage	35	Summon an electrical field that stuns foes crossing it. 900 - 5 sec - 240 - Condition/Effects: 1 sec

Earth Attunement

Weapon	Attune.	Icon	Skill		Description
Trident	Earth		Rock Blade	-	Shoot three rocky blades at your foe. 1,200 - Condition/Effects: 1st/1 sec (per blade) Combo: Projectile Finisher
Trident	Earth		Rock Spray	12	Spray a cone of gravel to bleed foes. 400 - Condition/Effects: 2 to 3 st/10sec
Trident	Earth		Magnetic Current	18	Pulls you to your foe and immobilizes them. 600 - Condition/Effects: 2 sec
Trident	Earth		Rock Anchor	35	Anchor a rock to your foe, making them sink. 1,200 - Condition/Effects: 2 sec
Trident	Earth		Murky Water	45	Cloud the water to blind your target and nearby foes. 1,200 - 120 - 6 sec - Condition/Effects: 1 sec Combo: Smoke Field

[Gorani]

Self induced Combo possibilities using - Trident

Please note that the combo possibilities are only added to the table if the available skills come from the selected weapon. Skills with combo potential from the utility/slot skill bar are not listed.

Combo Field Type		Combo Field Skill		Combo Finisher		Combo Finisher Skill	Combo Description
Fire Field		Boil		Physical Projectile		Rock Blade	Adds burning to attack
Fire Field		Boil		Leap Finisher		Tidal Wave	Adds Fire Armor
Fire Field		Boil		Blast Finisher		Detonate (Ice Wall)	Area Might (x3, 20s)
Smoke Field		Murky Water		Physical Projectile		Rock Blade	Blindness
Smoke Field		Murky Water		Leap Finisher		Tidal Wave	Stealth (3s)
Smoke Field		Murky Water		Blast Finisher		Detonate (Ice Wall)	Area Stealth
Lightning Field		Lightning Cage		Physical Projectile		Rock Blade	Vulnerability
Lightning Field		Lightning Cage		Leap Finisher		Tidal Wave	Dazing Strike
Lightning Field		Lightning Cage		Blast Finisher		Detonate (Ice Wall)	Area Swiftness