Guild Wars 2

Hello guys,
so a few days ago i leveled my new elementalist up to level 80, and start using this build: http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Elementalist_-_D/F
I love the damage, i love the fact that i can only make maybe 1 mistake before being killed, but is there any other advice you guys can add to this build? I’m not asking for gear changing, but mostly for better surviving technique for this build. I’ve taken this build into dungeon, and if the group is zerk i have no problem surviving since we killed too fast, but if not then the only dungeon that i have a hard time surviving is Arah, all the other ones i can stay alive alot longer. Oh and another thing, i can stack up to 12 mights from all the rotations on my weapons + heal + 1 utilities, is there anything else i can do for better might stack?
thanks
sorry for my bad english

You can use multiple weapons out of combat ( by swapping from inventory or hero panel) to get more blast finishers. You can also strafe around or through a mob or simply backpedal and avoid some attacks, conserving dodges for bigger, harder hitting attacks.

Also while less interesting to play ( in a perfect party*), staff builds are often easier to stay alive due to range, and tend to have higher damage.

- I say a perfect party, because a staff ele has huge amounts of utility to help out its team too, if you rotate out of fire attunement.

You could also try using lightning hammer for blast finishers during fights ( which means a lot of letting auto attack do the work, but gives you time to work on your positioning and learning the animations of enemy attacks).

It sounds like you’re doing a pretty fine job as an ele though!

PS) your english seems perfectly fine to me.

Should be able to get 15 stacks with Strength Runes if you’re not holding off Comet for defiance (A.Wave, A.Bril, Water3, Water5, Earth4)

For survival Swirling Winds is great in many places, and Obsidian flesh can be a lifesaver. Also utilizing Earth Ele can provide a “tank” it’s not always consistent but does a decent job. Also, they’re harder to use but if you time your Burning Speed right it’s a small evade frame so it’s doable. And Earth2 is projectile defense as well which can prove quite useful. Of course utililzing Deep Freeze is good, but also Air5 is good for enemies without Unshakable, a well timed interrupt is very nice.

Other than that, try to stay max melee, your lightning whip has a much further range than most melee allowing you to more easily avoid some stuff, of course be careful about causing issues by going too far (screwing up a LoS pull, or triggering range only attacks).

Also, I do like Sigil of Strength as my second sigil, Night is better in most dungeons, but strenght is a nice catch all if you’re not running with outside might sources (which pugging is often the case). With the might rotation, strength runes and this Sigil you can maintain 20-25 might for yourself and 15 for the group.

You can also swap in Renewing Stamina for the last 2 trait points instaed of Stone Splinters for extra dodges.

And again to mention Strength Runes, IMO every Ele should have 2 sets of gear, 1 scholar, 1 strength, if might isn’t an issue scholar, if you’re the primary might provider go strength.

thank you for your kind words.
hum…so i should start having a staff in my inventory? I was using staff before, but i don’t like ranging, so i settle on d/f. I’m mostly main a mesmer, and surviving on mesmer is not a hard thing to do. I had a huge rude awakening switching to ele though, but it’s a very fun class to play. Now i just need to learn how to survive if my group is not all zerk.

Yea, better have a staff in your inventory for one of those “omg, meta ele, staff, max deepz, or kick, plz” groups.

If you want to be a special snowflake, staff is still useful to have for stacking swiftness unless you want to waste a LH cooldown

Or just leave your party to take care of the swiftness, kek.

I’m sure your Guardian will have fun when he has to use retreat just to get around faster

Last time I checked warriors had access to warhorn, same goes for rangers.

Edit: Did I mention thieves?

Rangers, lol
Warrior gives 10s swiftness on a 15s cd, Thrill of the Crime has a radius of 360 and wastes the CD of your Steal for something as trivial as Swiftness

On another note why would I carry around a Warhorn for my Warrior when I don’t carry a staff for my Elementalist?

Sorry, I didn’t realize I have to go straight meta on this thread, mate. Excuse my PHIW-ness.

Bad advice is bad advice, meta or not. One should have all weapons ones profession can use, even if it’s just for a quick blast or one niche situation.

If you don’t that’s fine but don’t expect to be carried by your party

I have staff and daggers in inventory in case of change but, i run scepter focus for a year now and i don’t plan to stop it because it’s by far the most fun weapon combo(for me). I stack stuff, i conjure, i can be close to boss without fear it will one shot me (focus for the win) and i also provide some protection for the team. And deal decent dmg.

Discover your most fun weapon combo and stick with it you’ll see it’s much more fun to play what you like than what somebody else wants.

Cheezy.2039:

Bad advice is bad advice, meta or not. One should have all weapons ones profession can use, even if it’s just for a quick blast or one niche situation.

If you don’t that’s fine but don’t expect to be carried by your party

The point I was trying to make is that it’s not that critical to just go with dagger/focus or scepter/dagger instead of carrying around a bunch of weapons. Most pug parties couldn’t care less if you drop a static field or not.

And if not stacking swiftness = getting carried, I can only say “lulz”.

@OP

There are many tweaks and techniques to learn with DF. You started well because you picked the best build in the game! Check out the guide I wrote with Haviz on Dulfy.net for detailed insights on the matter
(Link in my signature)

winterchillz.2564:

Cheezy.2039:

Bad advice is bad advice, meta or not. One should have all weapons ones profession can use, even if it’s just for a quick blast or one niche situation.

If you don’t that’s fine but don’t expect to be carried by your party

The point I was trying to make is that it’s not that critical to just go with dagger/focus or scepter/dagger instead of carrying around a bunch of weapons. Most pug parties couldn’t care less if you drop a static field or not.

And if not stacking swiftness = getting carried, I can only say “lulz”.

OP asked for ways to make his runs/his performancec better, not how to half-a** his way through the dungeon. Even if your pugs don’t blast your static you can still blast it yourself. And bringing this up after talking about letting your party keep up your swiftness makes no sense.

Not stacking swiftness does not mean getting carried but not doing what your profession offers and thus holding your party back, that’s getting carried. Not blasting your Thief’s blackpowder, being slow on skips so your party has to wait for you (with stealthing, specific events, etc.) and stuff like not chilling Imbued Shaman. And if all of that is the case just because you are too cheap/too lazy to bring a few other weapons with you, that is getting carried.

OP asked about how to improve his dagger/focus gameplay, not whether or not he should be the one stacking swiftness in a party.

As of whether or not you completely missed my sarcastic joke, I will not comment. And while I agree that eles can easily stack swiftness, I was pointing out that many other professions can do it too without too much of a trouble.

While in guild parties of our caliber this is pretty much a routine, you should, maybe, realize that most players are not interested in the most optimal, min-maxing, speedclearing, meta tactic there is out there, nor in playing in the style of the high tier PvE guilds. I can go on and on but it has already been said over and over again.

I’m making wild assumptions here, but if OP cares about improving one part of his gameplay chances are high that he also cares about doing his job for the party.

And whether your comment is/was a joke or just a condescending ‘kitten you’ is hard to distinguish for someone who is not very experienced. Remember how Obal tried to convince people that Mace and Torch are actually useful on Guardian and many people thought he was just trolling? Same kind of mistake