Guild Wars 2

Hello everyone i have some questions regarding fractals.I run dailies on my ele up to t3 in full zerk gear (fire/air/tempest) and i really got survivability issues in there (mostly t3).My agony is more than enough to run them but mobs seem to hit really hard that’s common sometimes to get 1-2shotted.I’d really like to try t4 as well but worst possible scenarios come to mind.Is zerk gear mandatory in fractals?If not then up to which level?Also which class would you recommend as the most survivable and also needed in high level fractals?Thanks in advance.

Check you use potions applicable to give a -10% dmg reduction. Ensure you have the right AR..beyond that
It’s all about the team composition tbh – sometimes you’ll find one of your party will be taking care of the environmental effects so you can do your job (DPS or Condi removal etc).

I have found all the fotm much easier post hot and these latest changes compared to what a fotm 50 used to be like.

There is no “manditory” gear in fractals, and there never really has been. They’re meant to get more challenging as you increase in level, and allow for pretty much any group composition to successfully complete them.

There aren’t really “required comps” in fractals. It’s not a raid. You can slap together pretty much any five random characters, and as long as they know their characters and the encounter and have enough AR they can succeed.

If you’re dying a lot, then a change in build, gear, or playstyle is in order based on your personal preference. Your problem seems to be survivability, so perhaps you should make some build changes to make yourself more survivable?

would not recommend running full zerker gear for high scale fractals (or really anywhere at all, for ele)

I for my power dps build, I use a mix of berserker’s + marauder + some zerker valk trinkets. You can get an extra 400 vitality (ie 35% more health, for an ele) while still doing 94% dps of full zerker

but for the really high scale fractals I just go condi. On condi you can get a ton of defense and still do a lot of damage. and the high scale stuff has higher armor anyway and has more protection.

but yeah, potions help a lot
can also pop damage reduction food instead of power food

also change up your traits and utility skills to deal with whatever the fractal presents

in fractals tier 4 it is pretty normal to get 1 or 2 shotted depending on which attack is hitting you

You really need to dodge the 1 shot attacks and have good group synergy where you share heals (for Ele definitly use Tempest heal!) and rez allies quick or target and kill a low health enemy so that the downed group member can rally

Things like blinding bigger groups of normal enemies can be essential too
(Glyph of Storms on Earth is very useful here! – and when you dont need the blind you use it on Air for the dmg + vulnerability)

Just try to learn the animations of every boss and remember to use the skills i said above …. the rest depends on your group and not on you

There isn’t really a mandatory comp, but Warriors are always good to have in any comp and have quite some survivability. On the other hand condition Necromancers are really nice on higher level Fractals and are also quite tanky with Reaper/Deathshroud. In addition they can corrupt the boons that a boss can steal from you at 81+.

I wouldn’t really recommend to change your gear, having Berzerker’s is still going to make things faster. Having said that support from the rest of the party has quite an impact on your survivability as well. Potions too are really handy and I would recommend getting potions for the corresponding Fractal as they give a flat damage reduction (Outlaw Slaying for Cliffside for instance), in addition to the Fractal potions.

As for Elemantalist survivability, are you using “Wash the Pain Away” and “Rebound”, possibly even Arcane Shield? That should be enough survivability besides just getting used to the mechanics and knowing when to dodge. You can always slot in more offensive utilities once you get used to avoiding damage. Using Glyph of Storms in Earth also creates an AoE blind on trash mobs. Bear in mind that you have Earth skills and overload which gives some protection as well as Water skills and overload that act as extra heals.

Play dagger and max melee range. Aggro is not only based on aggro but proximity, so let your higher HP classes in first.

Take aftershock and either flash freeze or glyph of storms. That plus your heal and blasting water fields should keep you up. Your two auras will mitigate you a lot of damage from both projectiles and hits that do land on you, plus they heal you with the tempest grandmaster.

Berzerker ele is perfectly fine.

Of course, if you got some crap comp with 2 eles 2 mesmers, you are gonna be in a world of pain.

Comp is really important in harder content.

If you can’t play zerk, play something else, till you get better at dodging (or knowing when to dodge) and till you know the fight better.

I always found the “fast – all zerker” pug group to be silly. Okay you can potentially deal more damage but if you constantly have to heal or rez a down, you’re actually losing time. Having a full ascender zerk gear doesnt mean that you actually know how to play zerk.

It’s not just about being good in general, it’s also knowing the fight, knowing when to dodge, what to do after each move. Bit like playing a new Dark Souls, you might suffer a bit more at the first playthrough, then it’s super easy

While it’s relatively forgiveful in low fractals, it isnt in T3, even less in T4. Fighting moss for months won’t make you better at the Aetherblade boss for example, you need some training.

Again, I will never stop saying it, you can use the gear you want, the weapons you want, if you don’t have experience with it, and not a big experience with the encounter, you will die.

You can run fresh air and take advantage of the large radius of air overload to cleave enemies as you move around. Also comboing cc with your other party members helps on trash mobs. d/f brings lots of projectile defenses if there are ranged enemies hitting you that you can’t pull in immediately.

I mean, Dagger/Warhorn has all the possible tools you could need in fractals.

Personal reflect on earth, projectile destruction from ring of earth and a cripple to keep mobs in check.

You got a line pull/interrupt on air attunement plus a ranged vulnerability stacking orb to pull with.

All dagger autoattacks except for earth attunement have longer range than a mob/boss’s actual melee range, so you can melee perfectly safe and only worry about ranged mobs pelting you with projectiles.

The points of danger in your dagger rotation involve Burning Speed and Fire overload, so use those cautiously. Everything else can be done from max melee range.

With Aftershock and Warhorn #4 on earth, you got 8 seconds of reflection. If you find you need more, you can switch out grandmasters for the warhorn grandmaster that procs warhorn #4 at a health threshold, so now you have 12 seconds of reflection.

And then there’s water attunement on water warhorn, where you 5>3>4>earth 4 for 2 water blast heals, massive heals of your own, and if you need a third blast, use aftershock on that water field as well.

This is not mentioning the strongest heal in the game, Wash the Pain Away. That thing alone will completely refill your health bar and heal up your allies nicely to boot.

All of this happens in zerker gear, you do not need healing power to heal up and survive.

Worst case scenario you drop signet of fire and take 3 shouts and with the grandmaster you’ve just healed for about 4k just using shouts, use water ele elite active ability and you’ve got even more heals.

The only point at which you might be forced to use a staff is in stupid open world events where Chalk mobs and other champions spam aoe all over themselves that will 1-shot you.

MAYBE Molten fractal will also force you into staff if people can’t rotate reflects and don’t jump through waves effectively, or their DPS is crap.

Dagger ele is by far the most fun and interactive melee build to play in this game. Stick with learning it and you won’t regret it.

Staff is so boring ;x

To be blunt its mostly l2p.
A strong group comp will go miles towards making it easier though.

As has been mentioned, bring personal reflects ( like aftershock), glyph of storms in earth for mass blinds. drop into water for extra heals.

if you have a war or rev, ask them to might stack, things should die before you do.
Ideally you’d have both, along with a chrono and probably a DD on competent, but pug roulette is a gamble..