Guild Wars 2

Just finished AC story mode and died many, many times.

I am a level 31 elementalist with a glass cannon type build. I was thinking of switching to all toughness and vitality gear for better survival or would it be better to use all healing gear and switch to water?
Usually 1 or 2 hits and I’m dead. Most of the time there isn’t time to dodge out of the fire.

I want to contribute to the party as much as possible, either with dps or healing.

You will quickly find going up in the ranks that dungeons are more difficult when you are closer to their level, so it will get easier regardless of your build. Secondly, it has been discovered and widely agreed upon that glass cannon builds (full power/crit/crit damage) are more of a nuisance than helpful. Sprinkle some vit/toughness in your build somewhere.

I typically run with a mix of vit/toughness trinkets and possibly running it on my weapon as well. Bottom line is, FULL damage gear generally makes you too fragile to be of any help.

I run dungeons as an Elementalist, using a fairly balanced build. 10 points in each of the Elements, and 30 in Arcane. I have a pretty even stat spread on my gear (with the exception of Condition Damage, which I’m kinda lacking…), and 6/6 Dwayna runes.
It works well, for me. But whatever you use is up to you. There’s many different ways to do dungeons and survive them, but it comes down to your own playstyle and preferences. I just wouldn’t recommend specialising into 1 single thing. If you go pure DPS, you lack the defence to survive, and the support your party might need from you. If you go pure healing, your party will miss the extra DPS it could’ve had. Which is why I go balanced.

What I’d recommend, though, is not to go melee with dual daggers in dungeons until you’ve done them a few times, and know what you’re up against. Personally I like staff is some of the dungeons, because stuff tends to hit pretty hard, and staff lets you stay on a safe distance most of the times. It also has useful CC abilities that’ll help you kite enemies and protect yourself.

Your utilities are also important. Bring stuff that helps you survive.
Personally I like Arcane Shield, because it blocks any 3 attacks for you, really useful when you get targeted by something powerful and can’t dodge at the moment or something. Lightning Flash is nice, like if you get knocked down and need to get the hell out of something. Mist Form is handy for its few seconds invulnerability, which can help you survive a powerful series of attacks launched at you, or to help revive a teammate in the middle of a fight.

Churchland.7524:

Just finished AC story mode and died many, many times.

I am a level 31 elementalist with a glass cannon type build. I was thinking of switching to all toughness and vitality gear for better survival or would it be better to use all healing gear and switch to water?
Usually 1 or 2 hits and I’m dead. Most of the time there isn’t time to dodge out of the fire.

I want to contribute to the party as much as possible, either with dps or healing.

If you are on Yak’s Bend whisper my toon and I will help you. My main is an ele.
If you are on a different server I would recommend you get ALL knights gear to run dungeons with and for can trips you want to use armor of earth, mist form and arcane shield.
I use my staff for mob areas in the dungeon and then if it’s a really tough area I use a scepter focus. My weapons are rampage exotics.
You can use a glass build but you want to have those can trips and the highest quality gear you can get.

The first time I did AC Story, I died a ludicrous number of times. Don’t worry too much it comes it with the territory. In time, you’ll get better at reading enemy tells, know when it’s best to disengage and heal up or even know where to go to “down” yourself in an easy to get to location. In short, you’ll get better. And things will get easier.

I’m happy to hear that you and your team stuck with the instance and finished it instead of quitting and then coming to the forums shouting that it’s too hard. Keep it up dude

Thanks for all the tips and the offers of help. What a great community!
This was my first mage and I started using a staff exclusively and my build is 30 fire, 10 air and 30 arcane. My gear did needed upgraded, I was using a full set of blues from level 20 when I ran AC personal story.

I will definitely try all the tips everyone recommended and see what fits my playstyle. I really enjoy playing a support role and hate having everyone to revive me all the time.

Level appropriate gear is CRUCIAL for dungeons. But yeah, AC is a tough one when it is your first dungeon. Keep an eye on what each mob does (hints under their name when you target them). These are a big help.

Also, make sure you have AoE circles on. I didn’t for a while because I preferred to not have them for aethstetic purposes, but they are too valuable to go without.

Here is your help, as requested:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/dungeons/Explorable-Mode-Video-Guides-Wiping-is-Overrated/