What class do you think has overall the worst elites?

I'm expecting a lot of people to say Paragon, but I'm not going to answer my own topic.

Some things to consider when thinking about all elites in general:

*Comparability of elite skills to normal skills. Are the profession's skills really that much shining better than normal skills? Elementalists provide great examples of how elite skills should compare to normal skills, but what about skills like Balthazar's Pendulum or Shared Burden?

*Usefulness. Sure it's elite, but does that make it any good? There are two things to consider here; how good the skill actually is, and how well the skill fits into builds. Is the skill able to work into almost any build, or do you have to have a very organized and structured build to work around the skill? Take for example Searing Flames; it's a great elite, but if you don't have that one specific build you'll find yourself with very little energy very fast. Compare it to a skill like "It's Just a Flesh Wound." While "IJaFW" is comparatively a poor elite, consider in contrary to Searing Flames. The elite can fit into almost any build and be usable while Searing Flames must be kept with its pal Glowing Gaze or you'll be drained in no time. But then, consider also how they may balance out. Sure you need a build for Searing Flames, but is it not one that is very easy to come by? Consider the comparisons.

*Overall Effectiveness versus potential. Is the elite skill worth it? Is there something about the elites that make them great, or could there be so much more to make them useful? There are, in my opinion, many Ranger elites that are comparatively weak or underpowered that could have so much potential. Consider how the skill is versus what it could be. Take Scavenger's Focus; it's a preparation that deals little damage, but what of it's potential? A stance that deals much higher damage, perhaps?

*PvE versus PvP. (Thanks to Martin Alvito for giving me the idea for this one with his post.) Compare the elites to the overall usefulness in two totally different modes of play. While some elites may make for mob destroying wonders in PvE, perhaps they're not so effective in the PvP world where a Warrior knows how to move away from your Savannah Heat. The long short of this idea is, when considering elites consider their full game potential. Don't toss out a skill like Escape because it's great for PvE but sees no use in PvP, but at the same time consider how having effectiveness in only one half the game influences how much potential the skill really has. Likewise look for the potential of and praise skills that reward players in all aspects of the game. The Paragon's Defensive Anthem makes a great example, being able to find its way into both PvE and PvP universes effectively.

*Satisfaction. Though dealing less with your impression of elite skills, consider how much you like the elites or how much fun it is to use them. I personally believe that the aesthetics should not overly influence your decision of what makes elites "Good," but you should always consider them to a minor degree. Just because a skill is horrible doesn't mean you can't have reasons to like it. Who doesn't love to quote Captain Planet or Monty Python with various shouts, or enjoy the cool icons provided by skills. I for one love the name and icon of Healer's Covenant even though it sees little use. So while this may be the option to consider least, always keep in mind that if you're looking for some fun there's probably a seldom used elite that will satisfy your need for a little humor, whether in the skill's name or simply the effect it has.

Some other things to think about: While it may be easy to just say "So and so has the worst elites because this," put some thought into it. Just because a profession has some blazingly good skills, does that make up for the fact that they may have abundant horrible ones? I know there's more yet to say and honestly my argument to get your thoughts going has much to be desired, but for now I'll leave you with this. So go ahead and voice your opinion, let me know what you think. Don't limit yourself to just what you think has the overall worst elites. Think a class may have bad elites, but compared to a single elite from another profession they appear godly? Say it so. This is a fun topic for sharing ideas and voicing opinions about what could be.

I would say ranger. BHA, Punishing Shot, Burning Arrow, and Barrage are the only elites I would ever use.

I'd go with Mesmers...
Tho' when I look at Seeping Wound and Wastrel's Collapse...

First off, you should indeed answer your own topic, unless you are looking for a class to stay away from. Personally though, I would have to say Ritualists. It pains me to say that because I like the class.

Rit's elites are pretty bad. Offering of Spirit is the only really solid one, at the end of the day; the reason for this is that most of the reasons you want to play Rit are in the non-elite skills, and so anything that gives you more energy to use those skills (Splinter Weapon, Mend Body and Soul, Ancestors' Rage, etc.) is a very good thing. The other rit elites that are viable (Wanderlust, Weapon of Remedy, Preservation) are very dispensable.

Although Paragon's elites are also weak, there simply are more elites that you'd like to have, and Paragon also has a few elites whose effects you cannot easily get in other ways.

Every other class has elites that are head and shoulder above those of Rit and Para. A class doesn't have to have a ton of good elites to have good elites (though it definitely makes a class more attractive by comparison). Warrior never had a ton of good elites in Prophecies, but it didn't matter since the ones the class DID have that were good were fantastic. Axe Mastery still only has one good elite, but you never hear any of the PvP-ers complaining about how bad Axe's elites are.

A similar argument can be made for Ranger - the quality elites that the class has are EXCELLENT. This is true in both PvP and PvE; although you'd probably never consider Escape for PvP (unless you're running a very bizarre trap build or something). it's an amazing skill in PvE. Barrage is another great PvE skill that translates poorly to PvP, just as Burning Arrow is a great PvP skill but a lousy PvE one. Still, you'll never hear a Ranger complain about the quality of the available elites, despite the fact that the good ones are a bit sparse.

Rits and mesmers...

Mesmer's elites are quite good. Nightfall didn't add much other than Hex Eater Vortex, but the Prophecies and Factions elites that are viable (which is about half of them) are very strong.

Rits and Paragons

Sure, but the sin elites that are good are REALLY good. Shadow Form is SO good that farmers of many different classes abuse it. The key shadow step elites (Shadow Prison and AoD) are amazing; a few of the attack skills (SA, Moebius) have made appearances in the HA meta. Assassin's Promise was the engine behind the most hideously broken spike in the history of GW, and I've seen Shadow Shroud and Shroud of Silence used to great effect in HA.

While the elites for the class are still weak overall, the presence of a limited number of excellent, indispensible skills makes Assassin elites look a lot more attractive than those of any of the other expansion classes (Rit, Para, Derv).

I would have to agree that Rt's have some pretty bad elites... Not BAD bad but I think they def. need some tweaking. A lot of people I see in game underestimate Spirit's Strength but it's what makes Rt's so versatile and interesting!

As for Paragons... Well I only played mine for about 4 minutes before he went six feet under. So I really wouldn't know about their elites, but I have grouped with some REALLY awesome ones in the past so I don't think that they suck.

Oh and Mesmers... Nah they have some great elites, but much like all of their other abilities, their elites are just awfully direct.

Rit elites are only so so. My survivor rit usually doesn't bring an elite, but I've been toying with WoH since the update. Mesmers have a few okay ones, but not that many.

Assassins...

The reason I decided not to answer my own topic was I simply don't care to answer it. There are many things I'd have to think about and I honestly couldn't give a definitive answer to which class I think has the overall worst elites by comparison. To give you a long short of it, I'd probably narrow it down to Paragon, Ritualist, and Ranger, ironic in that they're three of my favorite classes.

Paragons, they have so few and even then few are actually WORTH it.

Why is there no "Class with the best elites" tread?

Answer: Because this community is so acidous it could melt gold.

It's because the 'best elite' is too open-ended, with different elites serving different roles. You'd have to narrow it much further.

The worst elite is much easier, as there are some that simply fail in all cases.

QFLoT. That'd be quoted for lack of truth.

I'd say Ritualists have the worst elites. Clamour of Souls, Xinrae's Weapon and a couple of others are just, well, not worth being non-elite skills.

I mean these:
[skill]Extend Conditions[/skill]
[skill]Lyssa's Aura[/skill]
[skill]Recurring Insecurity[/skill]
[skill]Psychic Instability[/skill]
[skill]Simple Thievery[/skill]
[skill]Stolen Speed[/skill]
[skill]Tease[/skill]

Some of these could be handy, I guess. They just need too many other skills in the same build to work effectively, imo.

I wouldn't say mesmers.
Mesmers may have some really stupid elites introduced that sit on the shelf, but so does every profession.
I'd say ritualists. I play mostly mesmer and ritualist and I have a really hard time picking rit elites for builds. Bleck.

LOl,what where they thinking when they made this one,how hard is it to hit someone in touch range (unles you are blind ofcourse)

Ritualist. Weapon of Remedy and Offering of Spirit are the only decent elites they have.

Paragons I would say have the least number of bad elites.

Eh, to each his own.

Tease would be pretty sweet if it wasn't a hex.
If the ONLY way to remove it was to hit the mesmer.
It would combo well with skills like clumsiness.

looking thru my characters I notice that my mesmers and my rits dont seem to use the elites....all the others do, so I would tend to agree with the crowd and say mesmer and rit elties are bottom of the barrel.

the worst thing about that is that its a hex. so hitting is not the only way to remove it. but if it was you could put it on a W/Me, it wouldn't look odd for a warrior to use skills at touch range, and if used on the right targets it could hurt a lot.

would it stack with diversion? that would mean you could take out any skill on a foe's bar for a minute and a half.

Pains me even more because my main character is a rit and I have no desire to get any of their elites.

no doubt they could use a (big big)buff in order to be "effective" but they sure as hell are FUN to play with.

again the problem of pve VS pvp balance regarding those skills and others in the same vein, if they became buffed to deal with HM type maps they would simply be far far to powerful in pvp. maybe (im not sure, they lack oomph in pve but they certainly have their use in casual pvp).

and Rts have the works draw elite wise imo. but again the same issue arises if Anet were to buff the skill in pvp+pve.

I'd say paragon and dervish. They have their good elites, and bad ones, like any other class. But the fact is they don't have as many elites as the others, almost half of core professions (i think?)

Ummmm dervish has the most broken elite ever so it doesnt matter if he's got any other.

I'll vote for Ritualist, too. Let's see, which elite to use for this map? Hmm... never mind. *runs around without elite skill*

I really dont find a lot of mesmer elites to be overall good, there are a handful of them that all build revolve around of them. One is Assassin's Promise.

The Ritualist has a grand total of... 2 elites I'd really bother running.
[skill]offering of spirit[/skill][skill]weapon of remedy[/skill]

... ahh, well... we can always use Empathic Removal...

So? What does it matter if one elite is imba but alot of others suck? This thread states the overall worst elites..

I agree Rits got a raw deal in the Elite area I more often than not never run my Rit with one or use a secondary class Elite.

Wanderlust was borderline ok until the recent spirit nerf, in fact it by all rights should be removed from Elite status now and Ritual Lord was pretty nice until it was nerf batted useless.

The bright side is since most Rits do not use Rit Elites they are no longer getting nerft. The downside it now they are beating the only good normal skills they have with the bat instead.

i think rit too, not only because lack of useful elites, also this class just seem to be not as great as others. for dmg, rit's channaling not as much as eles, for healing, no where near as much as monk does. for protection, the spirits just doesnt seem to do much since the recharge and the casting time. the only few uses that i ve seen for rit are: GvG flager, old rit spike(got nerfed), some specific high-ended area(i.e mallyx). besides those, i cant think there is a reason i need a rit in my group.

The paragons only usless elite is incoming imo.
[skill][/skill]
Sins have a few but id say monk...
[skill]Aura of Faith[/skill] Boon much?
[skill]Peace and Harmony[/skill]1 regen!
[skill]Unyielding Aura[/skill]steal ure ecto
[skill]Amity[/skill]...
[skill]Mark of Protection[/skill]use spirit bond, even Healing hands beats it.
[skill]Withdraw Hexes[/skill]Quite usless as its adjacent.
[skill]Ray of Judgment[/skill]Holy spear is almost as good minus the elite slot and 15 energy
[skill]Balthazar's Pendulum[/skill]i consider this the worst in the game =D
[skill]Defender's Zeal[/skill]id rather stop them attacking tbh..

And there are others but this seems to be the worst of it.

assassins:
[skill]Shattering Assault[/skill],[skill]Shadow Prison[/skill] and [skill]Moebius Strike[/skill]
Those are the only usefull elites (tho those are just great)

there is a reason sins still use Sprison: there isn't any good elite attack that could fit the bar

Paragon. The most popular elite doesn't even work to its fullest, listed extent. That says a lot.

Ritualist or Paragon.

Whoever says Assassins have crap elites are the ones running wiki builds 24/7!

Actually they use it for bar compression.