Guild Wars 2

Hi everyone. I’m a relatively new player and I was just wondering what would be a good choice for an elementalist build. I mean any kind of build. Please give meaningful advice about the do’s and do not’s when making a build, or just post what your build is and what it’s good for. Anything at all will be appreciated. Thank you in advance!

No. Make your own.

However, you won’t be a able to take a hit for quite a long time, so using staff and kiting around everything is a pretty good way to go for general PvE as you’re levelling.

The most common choice is going dagger/dagger and putting 30 in Arcane trait line for constant switching through attunements which constantly gives boons. But the play styles available for the jack of all trades Elementalist are seemingly limitless, experiment around, find strategies you like, and for the love of god don’t just mindlessly follow someone else’s build.

Dolan.3071:

No. Make your own.

However, you won’t be a able to take a hit for quite a long time, so using staff and kiting around everything is a pretty good way to go for general PvE as you’re levelling.

The most common choice is going dagger/dagger and putting 30 in Arcane trait line for constant switching through attunements which constantly gives boons. But the play styles available for the jack of all trades Elementalist are seemingly limitless, experiment around, find strategies you like, and for the love of god don’t just mindlessly follow someone else’s build.

You misunderstood. I wasn’t planning on using anybody else’s build, believe me. I’m all about originality. I just wanted to make sure that I didn’t make any ridiculously stupid decisions. I wanted advice, not some model that I could clone.

Giovanni.4156:

You misunderstood. I wasn’t planning on using anybody else’s build, believe me. I’m all about originality. I just wanted to make sure that I didn’t make any ridiculously stupid decisions. I wanted advice, not some model that I could clone.

My mistake, too many people on here are 5 minutes into the game looking to copy someone else, which takes all fun out of it IMO.
But anyway just using staff and focussing on damage, investing in the fire attunement is a good way to go for general PvE, as nothing is overly challenging there. Going into dungeons is where you need to start taking the defensive route (unless you stick with staff, just go full damage stats if that’s the case, you won’t take hits on the sidelines anyway, however investing one stat to healing power to help your team is good way to go with staff as well.) Cantrips are great “oh kitten” buttons if you’re rolling around in melee range, and when traited in the water tree they can provide good healing. I’m not really giving you a solid “do this” but these are a few of the options out there.

Dolan.3071:

No. Make your own.

However, you won’t be a able to take a hit for quite a long time, so using staff and kiting around everything is a pretty good way to go for general PvE as you’re levelling.

The most common choice is going dagger/dagger and putting 30 in Arcane trait line for constant switching through attunements which constantly gives boons. But the play styles available for the jack of all trades Elementalist are seemingly limitless, experiment around, find strategies you like, and for the love of god don’t just mindlessly follow someone else’s build.

You’re way too worked up over using someone else’s build…

There is absolutely nothing wrong with using a build crafted by a well-versed theorycrafter, and in fact all 6 of my 80’s use multiple crafted builds by well-respected build crafters.

Originality is great, but I want a build that os optimal. My own “personal” touch doesn’t make a build optimal.

LithePanther.5027:

Dolan.3071:

No. Make your own.

However, you won’t be a able to take a hit for quite a long time, so using staff and kiting around everything is a pretty good way to go for general PvE as you’re levelling.

The most common choice is going dagger/dagger and putting 30 in Arcane trait line for constant switching through attunements which constantly gives boons. But the play styles available for the jack of all trades Elementalist are seemingly limitless, experiment around, find strategies you like, and for the love of god don’t just mindlessly follow someone else’s build.

You’re way too worked up over using someone else’s build…

There is absolutely nothing wrong with using a build crafted by a well-versed theorycrafter, and in fact all 6 of my 80’s use multiple crafted builds by well-respected build crafters.

Originality is great, but I want a build that os optimal. My own “personal” touch doesn’t make a build optimal.

Eh, each to their own. I find it much more interesting to build my own, even if I think my build is good, I will find things wrong with it on the journey to 80. Granted if I see someone using a good strategy, I will try to incorporate it into my own. But the idea of after hitting that Create Character button and jumping on google to just mindlessly follow a guide just seems… Stupid. Like, when you start playing a new game do you just have the guide sitting there next to you? Making you sure you do everything 100% “optimal”? Where is the fun in that? I would rather reach the end on my own, there is satisfaction in mastering a character you built yourself.

Dolan.3071:

LithePanther.5027:

Dolan.3071:

No. Make your own.

However, you won’t be a able to take a hit for quite a long time, so using staff and kiting around everything is a pretty good way to go for general PvE as you’re levelling.

The most common choice is going dagger/dagger and putting 30 in Arcane trait line for constant switching through attunements which constantly gives boons. But the play styles available for the jack of all trades Elementalist are seemingly limitless, experiment around, find strategies you like, and for the love of god don’t just mindlessly follow someone else’s build.

You’re way too worked up over using someone else’s build…

There is absolutely nothing wrong with using a build crafted by a well-versed theorycrafter, and in fact all 6 of my 80’s use multiple crafted builds by well-respected build crafters.

Originality is great, but I want a build that os optimal. My own “personal” touch doesn’t make a build optimal.

Eh, each to their own. I find it much more interesting to build my own, even if I think my build is good, I will find things wrong with it on the journey to 80. Granted if I see someone using a good strategy, I will try to incorporate it into my own. But the idea of after hitting that Create Character button and jumping on google to just mindlessly follow a guide just seems… Stupid. Like, when you start playing a new game do you just have the guide sitting there next to you? Making you sure you do everything 100% “optimal”? Where is the fun in that? I would rather reach the end on my own, there is satisfaction in mastering a character you built yourself.

To answer your question, yes, I do that. Plop in a console game, open up the optimal achievement guide, and follow it to the T.

Designing un-optimal stuff isn’t fun to me, but you’re right, to each their own. And that’s not an insult to you, but based on the majority of self-made builds being inferior to a theory-crafted, tried and true crafted build.