Guild Wars 2

hybrid.5027:

Jerus.4350:

Thaddeus.4891:

Spoj The Second.7680:

Well nothing lasts long in an optimised group. But say you are doing fractals which have long drawn out fights. What you want for that is D/F ele and a staff or second D/F ele. Easy 25 might when done right. And you also have to keep in mind almost every class can contribute a blast or two mid fight.

So with a staff ele and LH you should have no problem maintaining might no matter how sloppy you are in a dungeon. Its simply the best sustained might combination (ignoring phalanx) for regular dungeons. Phalanx only has the advantage if you lose time by prestacking might. But theres almost always a way to pre stack might without losing time. Sometimes it involves a short range portal.

D/F Elementalist can only keep a constant 7 might of stack over long period of time while doing 2-3k less dps than a staff ele. PS Warrior over D/F Ele without question for that situation, except for some fight where the utilities of D/F will be more important than the dps lost. But ppl usually bring a guardian in Fractal to take care of that part.

For other party member having some blast in mid fight. Unless you don’t take a meta build :

- Guardian have 1, but can keep 2-3 constant might
- 1 warrior can provide 4 with the help of other (banners), but only at the start of the fight.
- Engineer can blast 5 times, but only 3 are reliable (1 other is their elite and the last sacrifice their healing turret).
- Thief have a good amount, but switching to Shortbow in the middle of a fight? Really. Only blinding powder is a reliable blast mid fight.
- Ranger, Necro and Mesmer don’t have one.

Again, like I said. Engineer and Guardian can pick up the slack for 1 staff + 1 s/x Ele.

D/F with the rotation Zelyhn posted is more like 15 stacks of might, and i’ve heard you can even get higher than that, though I don’t run it smooth enough apparently.

It’s 15 with strength runes. Closer to 10 with Scholar.

True, sorry always just assume strength rune when talking about might stacking Ele but I guess it’s even more of a DPS loss compared to the staff Ele.

Jerus.4350:

Thaddeus.4891:

Jerus.4350:

If every guard brought Hallowed Grounds and Wall of reflection in SEp1 I’d be so happy, sure you can run it without but just saying, Hallowed Grounds is quite amazing, and while it may not be an always thing (good point) it is a major tool in the guard’s kitten nal.

The thief thing, my point is that you don’t need to waste that third utility. If you use it for something, you can swap the signets, then swap them back in before the fight wherever you can (including the third slot) and rotate things around.

You make a good point though, IF you were to stick with a single utility setup what you said is right, I just felt the need to point out the possibilities of other things. Sticking to one setup is pretty silly when you can get quite a bit extra out of your play by being a bit more flexible.

Ya switching utilities is really important. I tend to play with about 12 different utilities most professions.

For the thief thing, what do you try to bring in fight with your 2 signets? There is not much other stuff that is really that good. I like to keep smoke screen for the blind in some particular fight, otherwise I like SR as a OMG my friend is down button. Otherwise what would you bring as a third utility in a fight? Shadowstep in heavy condi fight but that’s rare, haste bring dps but it can be dangerous, skale venom give vulnerability but I most group we already have that max out. For me most of the time, smoke screen or shadow refuge seem the best 3rd utility in the fight even if its only just in case.

Haste if I feel safe with it. Smokescreen for projectile defense. Roll for Initiative if i think I might really need it (I bring it on Abom for example, in case someone screws up defiance), Shadowstep for some fights (I bring it on Lupi), and then if nothing else at least Initiative Signet, might as well get the extra 1 per 10s, I can always swap it right back to my stealth stuff after the fight.

smokescreen is also worth 6 initiatives/30secs, heart seeker backstab only 3initiatives! it can be 9ini if you time it perfectly

D/F stacking capability can change a lot depending on your setup. Like hybrid say, you can get between 15 and 10 with the right rotation. But if you can keep 9-12 might for all the fight with your D/F (Scholar), then the fight isn’t hard enough to justify using D/F. D/F is use in hard fight when you won’t be able to keep your rotation perfect.

Thaddeus.4891:

D/F stacking capability can change a lot depending on your setup. Like hybrid say, you can get between 15 and 10 with the right rotation. But if you can keep 9-12 might for all the fight with your D/F (Scholar), then the fight isn’t hard enough to justify using D/F. D/F is use in hard fight when you won’t be able to keep your rotation perfect.

I was just trying to point out that you can maintain 15. You’re right though it can be tough on harder bosses, but it’s fluid enough that you can slip in the rotations. That’s why I prefer it over S+LH play style wise, it’s not a series of blasts all at once, but instead 2 small spurts rotated together. Not saying it’s the better choice, S+LH surely is, but D/F is nice, easy, and fun… and as a PUG player it’s nice having swirling winds when you’re in a group with a guard and a mesmer who don’t use reflects…

EcoRI.9273:

Jerus.4350:

Thaddeus.4891:

Jerus.4350:

If every guard brought Hallowed Grounds and Wall of reflection in SEp1 I’d be so happy, sure you can run it without but just saying, Hallowed Grounds is quite amazing, and while it may not be an always thing (good point) it is a major tool in the guard’s kitten nal.

The thief thing, my point is that you don’t need to waste that third utility. If you use it for something, you can swap the signets, then swap them back in before the fight wherever you can (including the third slot) and rotate things around.

You make a good point though, IF you were to stick with a single utility setup what you said is right, I just felt the need to point out the possibilities of other things. Sticking to one setup is pretty silly when you can get quite a bit extra out of your play by being a bit more flexible.

Ya switching utilities is really important. I tend to play with about 12 different utilities most professions.

For the thief thing, what do you try to bring in fight with your 2 signets? There is not much other stuff that is really that good. I like to keep smoke screen for the blind in some particular fight, otherwise I like SR as a OMG my friend is down button. Otherwise what would you bring as a third utility in a fight? Shadowstep in heavy condi fight but that’s rare, haste bring dps but it can be dangerous, skale venom give vulnerability but I most group we already have that max out. For me most of the time, smoke screen or shadow refuge seem the best 3rd utility in the fight even if its only just in case.

Haste if I feel safe with it. Smokescreen for projectile defense. Roll for Initiative if i think I might really need it (I bring it on Abom for example, in case someone screws up defiance), Shadowstep for some fights (I bring it on Lupi), and then if nothing else at least Initiative Signet, might as well get the extra 1 per 10s, I can always swap it right back to my stealth stuff after the fight.

smokescreen is also worth 6 initiatives/30secs, heart seeker backstab only 3initiatives! it can be 9ini if you time it perfectly

I was always curious on this, is it a dps increase at higher health? HS certainly doesn’t pack that big of a punch at higher healths.

Actually maintaining the might in the D/F rotation is the easy part. Its doing it to maximise dps in addition which is hard. Basically you can keep the might up with pretty subpar rotations. And if you have to you can use flawewall for a longer fire field.

Jerus.4350:

I was always curious on this, is it a dps increase at higher health? HS certainly doesn’t pack that big of a punch at higher healths.

His points is not of using HS for dps, but to use somescreen+HS to stealh himself and save a cloak&dagger which cost more than a HS in initiative. Each time you can get a backstab from somecreen +HS and not from C&D, you save 3 initiative. Since you can’t always C&D wihtout depleting rapidly your initiative, it would be a gain in DPS. The actual dmg of the HS is irrelevant in that particular situation, its just a nice bonus.

Oddly enough, it seems a lot of people are hyping “stack with scepter and swap to staff for the fight” tactical meta whereas I’m sorta moving in the direction of finding Staff worthless in dungeons outside of static field. Most fights are 10-30 seconds and unless the boss has a huge hit box that gets annihilated by Meteor Shower I would be surprised if double staff killed faster than double Scepter/* Lightning Hammers for most encounters. People can do their records runs however they like, but from what I’ve seen and done it appears that 2x hammers is far superior.

Thaddeus.4891:

Jerus.4350:

I was always curious on this, is it a dps increase at higher health? HS certainly doesn’t pack that big of a punch at higher healths.

His points is not of using HS for dps, but to use somescreen+HS to stealh himself and save a cloak&dagger which cost more than a HS in initiative. Each time you can get a backstab from somecreen +HS and not from C&D, you save 3 initiative. Since you can’t always C&D wihtout depleting rapidly your initiative, it would be a gain in DPS. The actual dmg of the HS is irrelevant in that particular situation, its just a nice bonus.

Yeah, for some reason I had thought HS was less damage than C&D, but at least according to the tool tip it’s the same above 50%… nice, may start just sticking with Smokescreen in more situations.

hybrid.5027:

Oddly enough, it seems a lot of people are hyping “stack with scepter and swap to staff for the fight” tactical meta whereas I’m sorta moving in the direction of finding Staff worthless in dungeons outside of static field. Most fights are 10-30 seconds and unless the boss has a huge hit box that gets annihilated by Meteor Shower I would be surprised if double staff killed faster than double Scepter/* Lightning Hammers for most encounters. People can do their records runs however they like, but from what I’ve seen and done it appears that 2x hammers is far superior.

Oh ya that’s for sure. Unless your fight last more than 20sec, you are better off with S/X. And for most of my runs I prefer to stay to S/X even if some fight last a bit longer because i don’t always want to switch around. But for stuff like Arah and Fractal, enough boss last longer for staff to be a good assets.

Jerus.4350:

EcoRI.9273:

Jerus.4350:

Thaddeus.4891:

Jerus.4350:

If every guard brought Hallowed Grounds and Wall of reflection in SEp1 I’d be so happy, sure you can run it without but just saying, Hallowed Grounds is quite amazing, and while it may not be an always thing (good point) it is a major tool in the guard’s kitten nal.

The thief thing, my point is that you don’t need to waste that third utility. If you use it for something, you can swap the signets, then swap them back in before the fight wherever you can (including the third slot) and rotate things around.

You make a good point though, IF you were to stick with a single utility setup what you said is right, I just felt the need to point out the possibilities of other things. Sticking to one setup is pretty silly when you can get quite a bit extra out of your play by being a bit more flexible.

Ya switching utilities is really important. I tend to play with about 12 different utilities most professions.

For the thief thing, what do you try to bring in fight with your 2 signets? There is not much other stuff that is really that good. I like to keep smoke screen for the blind in some particular fight, otherwise I like SR as a OMG my friend is down button. Otherwise what would you bring as a third utility in a fight? Shadowstep in heavy condi fight but that’s rare, haste bring dps but it can be dangerous, skale venom give vulnerability but I most group we already have that max out. For me most of the time, smoke screen or shadow refuge seem the best 3rd utility in the fight even if its only just in case.

Haste if I feel safe with it. Smokescreen for projectile defense. Roll for Initiative if i think I might really need it (I bring it on Abom for example, in case someone screws up defiance), Shadowstep for some fights (I bring it on Lupi), and then if nothing else at least Initiative Signet, might as well get the extra 1 per 10s, I can always swap it right back to my stealth stuff after the fight.

smokescreen is also worth 6 initiatives/30secs, heart seeker backstab only 3initiatives! it can be 9ini if you time it perfectly

I was always curious on this, is it a dps increase at higher health? HS certainly doesn’t pack that big of a punch at higher healths.

Usually i do
CnD backstab, auto chain.
if(RnGesus == Good)
{ //if the initiative is at 11 after the auto chain i will put this extra rotation in
CnD backstab, auto chain
}
Steal CnD backstab, auto chain,
smokescreen Heartseeker backstab auto.
Most of the time the enemy is below 50% when i use my smokescreen