For me, leveling was a lot more tedious than max level content was. Especially once you have access to the Tempest elite spec, you should see a big bump in your survivability! I took my elementalist through all of HoT and PoF and it was absolutely fine (funnily enough, I had more issues in PoF than in HoT, which seems to be the opposite of most people). I've tried various different builds over the years, but what I'm enjoying a lot at the moment is a fresh air auramancer tempest with marauder weapons and equipment (more HP!) and berserker trinkets -- you trade a tiny bit of damage for a TONNE of survivability.https://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Tempest_-_Fresh_Air_Auramancer is a good starting point for that sort of build. Obviously, feel free to try out other traits and combinations when you get comfortable playing any build! Sadly, core elementalist feels a tad outdated, so until you get to level 80 and unlock your elite specs you might struggle a bit. I played through core almost entirely on staff because I like the aesthetic, but I'd recommend running either dagger + dagger, or dagger + focus for more defensive options. When facing tough opponents, the glyph of elementals elite skill in earth will summon a durable earth elemental to tank for you; or when cast in water, it will summon a useful healing elemental. I'd also recommend running glyph of storms as a utility skill, which you can cast either in air for a lot of AoE damage or in earth for an AoE blindness field. If you need more defensive options, you can run Arcane Shield and Armor of Earth as well.