Guild Wars 2

Hey pro runners,
I have recently retraited and regeared my ele for PvE. Right now it is full zerker with 1x ascended ring/amulet. The spec was 30/30/10/0/0 s/f using LH.

Problems:
- There are just certain boss fights that I feel I cannot use the LH, but instead have to use a 2h staff (which is really sub par in damage output). Why? Some bosses just look at me and I OTK.

Troubled Bosses:
- Collosal boss (you hit the seals with hammer one).
- Light guy that drops the platforms, doesn’t move.
- Maia (sp?) And Horrik fight.
- Mossman.

As you can see that is a pretty substantial list. Are other zerker eles forced to use a 2h staff on these bosses too? Is it just a learning curve? Is it because I am pugging it so no source of heals or other zerkers?

I am really looking to get better at this so any advice or if you’re willing to run with me would be very much appreciated.

Camping fire in staff is in fact pretty good DPS due to the (nearly) 100% Lava Font uptime when Persisting Flames is traited.

Just go D/F with 30/30/0/0/10 (vigor) and swap to staff whenever you feel it would be a safer choice. D/F stacks might almost as well as S/F and has a lot greater defensive capabilities, combined with a higher damage output.

Work in progress: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/elementalist/Strategy-against-dungeon-and-fractal-bosses/first#content

As Dub said, just go for D/F. It has a better range than LH (300 vs. 150), also cleaves well, one burst plus evade (Burning Speed) and a lot more CC than scepter (chill, immobilization). Besides, the attack rate is amazing against Fire Shaman boss.

I see you’re in BG. Add me to the list and I can run with you.

For some of the bosses you have mentioned, you can go with 2H staff perfectly fine, but if your group is severely lacking in reflection/ projectile blocking, you’ll be in for a lot of frustration:
1. Mossman: his Dancing Dagger bounces between targets who did not dodge, which is also a OHKO. Immobilization and chilling allows one can kite him while the rest DPS from behind. Invulnerability like Obsidian Focus is essential when he’s in stealth and relatively close to you. Slot in Earth Elemental when you need an extra tank to relieve his pressure. However, staff is slightly better at pest control.

2. Diviner: The first boss has a swing-hammer-causing-projectile attack called Cursed Grasp. You can block it with Swirling Wind. The bone fiend attack and some of the chanters’ attack are projectile as well. Especially dangerous are the chanters; they cap vuln on you quickly and kill you fast.
3. The Anomaly: if you’re not the target, you can melee him well. When the platform around him is about the break, run away from him and focus on surviving from the lightning attack. I usually slot Ice Bow if I find a safe spot to range this guy. FGS works, too.
4. Mai Trin: There are a various tactics discussed. The lazy and lame one I’m using is called the ‘sitting duck’ tactic. One mesmer who has no aggro from Horrik will stay in one side of the room and block all her shadow shot attack. The ele will conjure Earth Shield, stay max melee range and tank her in the lightning field using the invuln from skill #5. It takes two people with two earth shields to tank her alternatively once, then the group can focus on bursting her HP down. I use FGS to escape if you have troubles during the cannon phase.

@Iris, without FGS blink rushes, that isn’t viable on Anomaly anymore is it? Pretty sure if you run into the cage around him while rushing it will also stop the rush, but I haven’t been in thaumanova yet since patch.

Nuu… FGS rush isn’t what I mean, FGS auto attack has a 900 range, which is good for when you are wondering what to do when the platform around him has broken. Yeah, sometimes the aggro-man doesn’t know that he gets aggro and forgets to kite away from the boss, causing the platforms around the boss to break. That is also why I’m so against using pets and golems here, they add not much extra DPS, yet becomes a hindrance for melee players.

An alternative way is for the staff ele to always aggro the boss first and try holding it, since staff ele still has amazing DPS at range. It is worth the risk if the rest of your party has great melee DPS potential.

Wait a few days until she does some update with builds, but her videos are great.

Dalanor.5387:

Wait a few days until she does some update with builds, but her videos are great.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6tPsYH9nvA

Great video!

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. Looks like I am switching to d/f then. I already have a legendary dagger.

Now, any good builds you guys recommend?

30/30/0/0/10 as dub suggested. Burning precision, pyromancers alacrity, persisting flames / bolt to the heart, air training, fresh air / vigorous precision. You can put the 10 in earth for stone splinters for easier stuff.

I tend towards staff for the anomoly, since he stands relatively still and you can spam lava fonts / meteor showers on him. And as iris suggested, icebow is also strong.

Alright, so it looks like the general consensus is for me to switch to 30/30/0/0/10 using D/F for majority of my fights and 2h staff with lava faunt situationally?

If anyone recommends otherwise let me know.

I appreciate everyones input btw. Thanks everyone!

Dub.1273:

Just go D/F with 30/30/0/0/10 (vigor) and swap to staff whenever you feel it would be a safer choice. D/F stacks might almost as well as S/F and has a lot greater defensive capabilities, combined with a higher damage output.

How’d you come to the conclusion that d/f has more damage than s/f? Did you mean just the s/f attacks and not LH?

last time i checked you didn’t need a scepter to use lh, but ofcourse i could be mistaken.

Staff does more dps than LH. Go 30/20/10/0/10

Cries Of Sorrow.5864:

last time i checked you didn’t need a scepter to use lh, but ofcourse i could be mistaken.

If your using LH as a main weapon then the point is to use whatever weapon set can stack the most might. Of course then you have to worry about people stealing your hammer and being left with the dps of a mesmer with no phantasms.

You wont have LH available all the time in fractals. D/F is superior and you have an extra blast now thanks to frozen burst.

And D/F’s direct damage is superior to S/F + LH’s direct damage. The latter is often chosen because it has greater might stacking capacibilities.

Spoj The Second.7680:

You wont have LH available all the time in fractals. D/F is superior and you have an extra blast now thanks to frozen burst.

In fractals, survivability >> cap might stacks.

I always feel it way easier to break away from my rotation to dodge when using D/F than using LH. One prime example is against Archdiviner.

Dub.1273:

And D/F’s direct damage is superior to S/F + LH’s direct damage. The latter is often chosen because it has greater might stacking capacibilities.

Only when I can land Burning Speed every single time it is off CD plus being able to stack at least 15 stacks of might with Sigil of Battle. But it is in only a very very rare occasion when I have a good group, RNG, visibility and no latency problem.