Guild Wars 2

Summary

The footage for this video was taken over approximately 3 days of dueling. Included are my favorite 1v1 wins. These duels take place in Obsidian Sanctum, Solo-Queue Tournaments and private duel rooms. The builds for all are very similar.

Disclaimer
Do not make the false assumption that I am beating these players with ease. Many of these players are very good. In some cases it took me multiple attempts before capturing the win. But generally, I got most of these wins on the first duel when my opponent underestimated me.

Advice for New Staff Elementalists

Fighting thieves in Obsidian Sanctum is much harder than sPvP. If you’re just starting out, I suggest practicing your skills in sPvP before taking it to OS or risk being severely depressed. Don’t go into any duel expecting to win, and keep at it. Practice your combos over and over until they’re second nature. The tutorial for some of the combos used in this video can be found below.

What’s different?

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vEAQFAWnMISJD2zAuMAdEGAIKgxEhCLco8ImZqB-zUyAoeA6DQyvIasVtioxqqh0LYqzkqcDs3QZlUAMJMC-w

The major differences from this build and others is the use of Elemental Surge, and Arcane Mastery. This build does not use blasting staff. Many elementalists will struggle with this for a while—but the skill is not all that useful once you learn how to use your skills correctly. Electric Discharge (15 air) is also a big part of what makes this work.

Leave Comments!

I will reply to everyone (barring trolls) so please leave a reply! I’d love to hear what you think.

The Videos

Featured Video – 1v1 Staff Elementalist Duels:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXEmfz1L36s&feature=youtu.be

Tutorial Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDX7lo1xtak

~~~~~

UPDATES MAR 3/13/14
I tracked my way onto the SoloQ leaderboard playing only this staff build. It’s probably not a monumental achievement for most… but for me, on this class/weaponset, I’m quite proud of it.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y82/kildron/657_zpsff043ad9.jpg

Hi Azilyi, do you have footage of this build playing vs a condition build? I notice that you didn’t fight a condition class in the video.

Sunshine.5014:

Hi Azilyi, do you have footage of this build playing vs a condition build? I notice that you didn’t fight a condition class in the video.

Nope.

I only found one or two condi engis, and one condi necro in my whole three days in the OS. I think that they are fairly rare there because people perceive them—and then either build to combat them (and then its a sure-win) or choose not to fight them at all (and so they get bored and leave).

It’s kind of a game of Rock, paper scissors…. Everyone builds for Rock. So when paper comes around, only those who play scissors end up dueling. Then paper just buggers off.

But if you’re looking for a means to make this build viable against condi:

1) Take out Arcane Blast and add in Cleansing Fire.
2) Change Elemental Surge to Evasive Arcana
3) Cycle in to water every 10 seconds.
4) Use Lemongrass, -40% condi duration food (I run this all the time, anyways)

It won’t be an easy win (it never is), but you’ll have a fighting chance.

lol i am running the same build with daggers.Well almost..

Graendall.4765:

lol i am running the same build with daggers.Well almost..

Yeah – sadly there reallly aren’t a lot of options to be creative with elementalist these days. Still, it’s a lot of fun to try.

well done I enjoyed watching that video

I can’t help but notice that a big reason you’re even winning is because of your arcane burst.

That is a really solid build. I gotta admit!
What do you think about Arcane Lightning over Air Training and Piercing Shards over Soothing Wave?

jkels.6398:

well done I enjoyed watching that video

Thanks for watching!

The Game Slayer.7632:

I can’t help but notice that a big reason you’re even winning is because of your arcane burst.

Definitely. All of the arcane utilities synergize very well with staff. Add to that the (Out of control) critical damage currently in the game, you’ve got a set of utilities which are going to hit very hard, with really short cooldowns.

And in 1v1, they’re also great for sustain since you can use 3/4 of them defensively when used in conjunction with water fields.

Even better than that—your burst goes off at the same time as your heal (since you’re blasting the snot out of those fields)—so a lot of the time, your opponent will think they’ve got you…

Then bam. Full health, and they’re choking down 6k+ damage with your arcane utilities—and condis from elemental surge.

Thanks for watching!

CMstorm.8679:

That is a really solid build. I gotta admit!
What do you think about Arcane Lightning over Air Training and Piercing Shards over Soothing Wave?

Arcane lightning can definitely work in place of Air training. I used to run that a lot, but I changed to air training because it helps me burst.

One of the biggest problems with killing an enemy as a staff is that you can’t catch them! Often times, they’ll get really low on health, only to jump back and strafe left/right to avoid your fireballs (So frustrating!! They really need to fix this).

Having 10% more damage in air lets you auto-attack with air more efficiently to finish people off. This auto-attack tracks the target and won’t miss when they’re at range. Couple that with bolt to the heart, and your auto-attack is on par with fireball (but it actually hits!)

As for soothing wave—I don’t think I would. Vulnerability is great, but regen on this build is critical. Especially against thieves, when this is trait is going off every time the ICD comes up (because they don’t NOT crit) makes it invaluable.

Nice video! I really enjoy watching staff eles in a non zerg setting. Anyway, I am not sure if ya knew this but celestial ammy is getting buffed in pvp so yea I think you will enjoy that Also, Imo arcane lightning would still be better then air training since it would be constant 10 percent damage boost rather then 10 percent in a specific time, and also you are running all arcane utils

Warlord of Chaos.7845:

Nice video! I really enjoy watching staff eles in a non zerg setting. Anyway, I am not sure if ya knew this but celestial ammy is getting buffed in pvp so yea I think you will enjoy that Also, Imo arcane lightning would still be better then air training since it would be constant 10 percent damage boost rather then 10 percent in a specific time, and also you are running all arcane utils

I had not heard they were buffing celestial. Oh good grief, that’s excellent I’m still worried about my celestial set in WvW though with the ferocity changes… but oh well!

I made a post above about Arcane Lightning — you’re completely right. Arcane Lightning is definitely a great trait and (arguably) better than air training for this build. I’ll have to give it another look.

Thanks for watching!

KrazyFlyinChicken.5936:

Warlord of Chaos.7845:

Nice video! I really enjoy watching staff eles in a non zerg setting. Anyway, I am not sure if ya knew this but celestial ammy is getting buffed in pvp so yea I think you will enjoy that Also, Imo arcane lightning would still be better then air training since it would be constant 10 percent damage boost rather then 10 percent in a specific time, and also you are running all arcane utils

I made a post above about Arcane Lightning — you’re completely right. Arcane Lightning is definitely a great trait and (arguably) better than air training for this build. I’ll have to give it another look.

Thanks for watching!

If you were using multiple Arcanes for burst, without Arcane Mastery, you might lose the benefit since the trait doesn’t stack – but with your heal being Brilliance, and with traited Arcane cooldowns, you’ll probably have higher uptime on AL than the time you spend in Air attunement.

cheese.4739:

If you were using multiple Arcanes for burst, without Arcane Mastery, you might lose the benefit since the trait doesn’t stack – but with your heal being Brilliance, and with traited Arcane cooldowns, you’ll probably have higher uptime on AL than the time you spend in Air attunement.

I think you meant AL (in place of Arcane Mastery) but I can definitely understand where this argument is coming from. AL will almost certainly have a 90% uptime, at least. So it’s basically a tossup between 10% more critical damage (all attunements), or 10% more overall damage (Air only). It’s a tough call. I think either can work.

Another point for Air Training: It also works with meteor shower. Switch into air during the cast to get 10% more damage.

Thanks for watching, Cheese. As always, your insights are appreciated

Thanks for posting the video. Appreciate that you took the time to explain scenarios and actually showed times where you did not execute perfectly and had to reorganize yourself.

Also hard to hate this video when the music choice was classic SNES and not generic screamo.

That is freaking awesome KFC. I have watched many videos and I don’t recall seeing anyone playing with as much skill as you do.

I think it drives a melee class crazy trying to get at you. the Rifle/hammer Warrior fight is a great example. At the start of the fight he did a good job avoiding your Lava Fonts. A few minutes in I can imagine him raging because he was having such a tough time hitting you consistently. So when he actually got close enough to hit you he was more than happy to eat the Lava just to have the satisfaction to actually hit you.

Me thinks that is part of your strategy. Lots of patience waiting for the other guy to lose patience and make mistakes

well done

Clear.8512:

Thanks for posting the video. Appreciate that you took the time to explain scenarios and actually showed times where you did not execute perfectly and had to reorganize yourself.

Also hard to hate this video when the music choice was classic SNES and not generic screamo.

Thanks for watching Clear I think you must be referring to the tutorial since I didn’t do any explanation of the 1v1s. But I’m still glad you enjoyed it!

The tutorial video is a little dated now, and the build has changed immensely—but the combos are all the same. If you take the 1v1 video and break it down slowly you’ll see all of the same combos used there as they were in the first video. I even added a few more which I’m probably going to make a new video about later.

And thank you for mentioning the music. I was beginning to think no one watched the video at all given that no comment was made about it. I was beginning to think that if I didn’t add heavy industrial death-metal that I’d be laughed off the forums. I thought very carefully about the music I chose (even if its not all classic game music) and eventually just went with the ones I liked.

Thanks for watching and posting!

Forzani.2584:

That is freaking awesome KFC. I have watched many videos and I don’t recall seeing anyone playing with as much skill as you do.

I think it drives a melee class crazy trying to get at you. the Rifle/hammer Warrior fight is a great example. At the start of the fight he did a good job avoiding your Lava Fonts. A few minutes in I can imagine him raging because he was having such a tough time hitting you consistently. So when he actually got close enough to hit you he was more than happy to eat the Lava just to have the satisfaction to actually hit you.

Me thinks that is part of your strategy. Lots of patience waiting for the other guy to lose patience and make mistakes

well done

Haha, definitely. One of the biggest problems with staff ele is that it’s largely a defensive role you’re playing in the fights. So a lot of the time you’re right it does come down to waiting for your opponent to make a mistake.

On the note of that rifle warrior, I have to agree. I’m sure he was getting quite annoyed with me by the end. Every time he switched to rifle, I’d walk up to him and blast him at 0 range. Then he’d switch back to hammer and I’d run off and kite—and yes im almost certain you hit the nail on the head. By the end of the duel he was just pushing his way through all my fields to get some hits down. I can’t deny I was more than a little amused by that. But I think that’s what ultimately cost him the fight. The magnetic aura to his killshot put him in over his head when he was already at half from wading through all those fields.

Thanks for watching! Glad you enjoyed it

Wow, this is great, man! Sometimes I’ve wondered if this is the direction that Anet is pushing. More of a support/heal class that is still viable in a 1v1 setting. Anyways, well done! It’s always nice to see a skilled elementalist, especially a staff one!

(By the way, I commented on one of your youtubes that I think I saw you in OS the other day.)

Either this, or your original “Burn the Zeitgeist” Staff Ele video should really be stickied.

MightyMicah.7451:

Wow, this is great, man! Sometimes I’ve wondered if this is the direction that Anet is pushing. More of a support/heal class that is still viable in a 1v1 setting. Anyways, well done! It’s always nice to see a skilled elementalist, especially a staff one!

(By the way, I commented on one of your youtubes that I think I saw you in OS the other day.)

Im quite worried with the way Anet seems to balance things as well. But it’s still a great game… so what more can we do but wait

I cannot seem to reply to your youtube comment. For some reason I don’t have a reply option – so ill reply here

We fight SoS alot so its quite likely you’ve seen me there I’m usually the idiot jumping up and down in the middle of the OS hoping someone will come duel me. It’s funny because I actually sometimes had a hard time finding a duel. I guess people think the same thing: “He’s a staff… he’s probably just here to watch.”

Hehe.

Chaos Archangel.5071:

Either this, or your original “Burn the Zeitgeist” Staff Ele video should really be stickied.

Lol thanks. I don’t think its on that level, but I appreciate the sentiment

i hadn’t played my ele in a long time and this build and playstyle got me psyched on it again. nothing like a new build to revitalize an old toon. thanks!

I think this is a good demo of how to adjust the placement of the staff’s AoEs based on your opponent’s attack style. I fight some staff eles sometimes who just try to drop all their skill on me or the people they’re fighting, but against a melee opponent it’s often best to use them to control space and force the enemy into choosing to take damage.

For instance, in the thief battles, even just a simple lava font would sometimes cause them to back of slightly, giving you breathing room. I thought the fight against the hammer/rifle warrior was good too because you would essentially change gears when he swapped weapons and start moving and dropping your AoEs very differently.

I usually don’t like celestial heavy builds because they feel like a well rounded but dull rock, but I liked the showcase for it. I think I would probably use arcane lightning instead of air training, and maybe shard of ice instead of soothing wave.

Also, I like how that one spectator in obsidian sanctum ran up close behind you and gave you and extra 20% boost on your heal in one of the fights.

EDIT: Also, what is the sPvP version of this? Celestial amulet with berserker jewel?

EDIT 2: Any particular reason for not selecting traveler runes? Or is it just that you can’t be bothered to spend that much right now?

KrazyFlyinChicken.5936:

Chaos Archangel.5071:

Either this, or your original “Burn the Zeitgeist” Staff Ele video should really be stickied.

Lol thanks. I don’t think its on that level, but I appreciate the sentiment

When I started up on my staff Ele and really wanted to learn rotations, mentality, ect. there were no guides specifically tailored for staff in pvp besides daphoenix’s. (This was like last month) I fished through a bunch of older pages in the ele forums just to find your guide, and it taught me quite a bit.

If you don’t feel this worth a sticky, ya should make one that is. There are many terribad staff Eles out there that are giving the class the reputation as “rally-bait.” x_x Videos like the ones you produce could go a long way to changing that.

In pvp, how bad would it be if you switched out Elemental Attunement for Arcane Energy and also used Adventurer Runes + arcane brilliance so you’d get 3/4 of your endurance back whenever you’d heal

mcarswell.3768:

i hadn’t played my ele in a long time and this build and playstyle got me psyched on it again. nothing like a new build to revitalize an old toon. thanks!

I’m glad! Good luck, and let me know if you need any help. Thanks for watching!

Yamsandjams.3267:

I think this is a good demo of how to adjust the placement of the staff’s AoEs based on your opponent’s attack style. I fight some staff eles sometimes who just try to drop all their skill on me or the people they’re fighting, but against a melee opponent it’s often best to use them to control space and force the enemy into choosing to take damage.

For instance, in the thief battles, even just a simple lava font would sometimes cause them to back of slightly, giving you breathing room. I thought the fight against the hammer/rifle warrior was good too because you would essentially change gears when he swapped weapons and start moving and dropping your AoEs very differently.

I usually don’t like celestial heavy builds because they feel like a well rounded but dull rock, but I liked the showcase for it. I think I would probably use arcane lightning instead of air training, and maybe shard of ice instead of soothing wave.

Also, I like how that one spectator in obsidian sanctum ran up close behind you and gave you and extra 20% boost on your heal in one of the fights.

EDIT: Also, what is the sPvP version of this? Celestial amulet with berserker jewel?

EDIT 2: Any particular reason for not selecting traveler runes? Or is it just that you can’t be bothered to spend that much right now?

Thanks for watching (closely)!

It’s actually really counter-intuitive that staff ele needs to be close up to your opponent to really get the full effect. So I’m glad you noticed that spacing. There is a very fine line I have to walk between getting in their face, and backing out. Because if I’m not on top of those fields when blast finishers go off, I’m not getting their benefit (which is almost 60% of what makes this build work).

You basically have to play like a thief. Get in close, and deal your damage—and then use your CC (instead of stealth) to back out and apply pressure to get your next combo ready.

Everything comes down to that CC—very much like a thief’s stealth. It’s critical to walk that line, and I’m really happy you saw that. The warrior duel is a source of great pride for me for especially this reason.

On the note of the OS spectator… yeah. Oops It’s absolutely not my intention to do that (Even in my video I had to check to see if I accidentally hit him. You can see my camera swivel to him for half a second).

It’s also annoying for burning retreat because I can’t always see what’s behind me when I use it. But I don’t have a choice sometimes. Oh well. It’s not a perfect arena, but it’s close enough to be fair.

The sPvP equivalent for me is just Celestial/Celestial/Divinity. But there’s been a lot of people saying I should try Zerker/Valk.

I don’t think I like the idea of giving up the extra stats. But there’s always room to experiment when you’re this far outside of the meta >.<

I see no reason why Traveller Runes can’t work. Makes good sense to me. But i’m a welfare elementalist. I can’t afford better

Chaos Archangel.5071:

KrazyFlyinChicken.5936:

Chaos Archangel.5071:

Either this, or your original “Burn the Zeitgeist” Staff Ele video should really be stickied.

Lol thanks. I don’t think its on that level, but I appreciate the sentiment

When I started up on my staff Ele and really wanted to learn rotations, mentality, ect. there were no guides specifically tailored for staff in pvp besides daphoenix’s. (This was like last month) I fished through a bunch of older pages in the ele forums just to find your guide, and it taught me quite a bit.

If you don’t feel this worth a sticky, ya should make one that is. There are many terribad staff Eles out there that are giving the class the reputation as “rally-bait.” x_x Videos like the ones you produce could go a long way to changing that.

That’s not a bad idea

Given the success of this video so far, I may have to do another full-on tutorial. There’s a lot of additional content I’d like to add. We’ll have to see!

KrazyFlyinChicken.5936:

cheese.4739:

If you were using multiple Arcanes for burst, without Arcane Mastery, you might lose the benefit since the trait doesn’t stack – but with your heal being Brilliance, and with traited Arcane cooldowns, you’ll probably have higher uptime on AL than the time you spend in Air attunement.

I think you meant AL (in place of Arcane Mastery) but I can definitely understand where this argument is coming from. AL will almost certainly have a 90% uptime, at least. So it’s basically a tossup between 10% more critical damage (all attunements), or 10% more overall damage (Air only). It’s a tough call. I think either can work.

Another point for Air Training: It also works with meteor shower. Switch into air during the cast to get 10% more damage.

Thanks for watching, Cheese. As always, your insights are appreciated

No, I meant Arcane Mastery – your heal and other arcanes recharge slightly faster, so you can cast them more frequently and bring up AL more regularly.
Pre-Brilliance, you’d be much more likely to cast all arcanes at once

At any rate, I might try this out in the next few days, or at least steal your ideas/suggestions and add them to my own build – I’m a bit bored of getting called a noob for running Diamond Skin (by minion necroes, decap engineers and spirit rangers), and my PvP MMR has been kinda ruined by 4v5s over the past week so I haven’t got much to lose if it turns out it’s not for me! ^__^

Oh, one other thing – Lingering Elements was only fixed for the 5-point minors, right? I’m pretty sure that Air Training and similar still don’t linger, even though to make use of any you need to use trait slots, and to get more than two at once you kinda have to cycle all your elements and be locked out of most of your skills for 10s…

CMstorm.8679:

In pvp, how bad would it be if you switched out Elemental Attunement for Arcane Energy and also used Adventurer Runes + arcane brilliance so you’d get 3/4 of your endurance back whenever you’d heal

Early on in this build, I tried removing elemental Attunement for Blasting Staff (acrane Mastery, blasting staff, evasive arcana… sounds pretty sweet!)

But in the end I opted out of Blasting Staff for Elemental Attunement because of protection.

Protection is so important. Almost every player you fight will have a burst combo. Dueling players enough will teach you what preludes the burst (Mesmers is immobilize, thieves its timing their stealth durations, etc).

When you see it coming… switch in to earth for protection to mitigate the burst.

Then eruption + unsteady ground + geyser (on the eruption) + Arcane Brilliance + (optional) arcane wave = full health and damage mitigated.

Predicting your opponent and using that protection is invaluable. Especially since you can get it every 10 seconds if you need to.

But if you find another way to make it work let us know! I’d love to hear more suggestions.

Chaos Archangel.5071:

If you don’t feel this worth a sticky, ya should make one that is. There are many terribad staff Eles out there that are giving the class the reputation as “rally-bait.” x_x Videos like the ones you produce could go a long way to changing that.

It isn’t really a reputation, it’s more of a fact. Staff ele is objectively bad for 1v1 fights. I’d say the biggest reason the op won those fights was because his enemies were either not aggressive enough or they were so aggressive they ran into too much aoe. Despite the disclaimer, I can’t believe the other players were good. I swear at least 3 of them spent half their time swinging at air.

I’m not criticizing the op, I’d say he plays staff ele well. I’m not even trying to dismiss the wins; winning a 1v1 against anybody on a staff ele deserves some kudos. I’m just saying staff ele will never be considered good for solo to small group pvp in its current form. It can work in spvp because people have to stand in capture points, so all aoe is somewhat easier to hit with. However, anybody you fight in obsidian sanctum will likely just power through your cc and/or tank any damage that follows it regardless of how expertly you time and place them.

Tei.1704:

Chaos Archangel.5071:

If you don’t feel this worth a sticky, ya should make one that is. There are many terribad staff Eles out there that are giving the class the reputation as “rally-bait.” x_x Videos like the ones you produce could go a long way to changing that.

It isn’t really a reputation, it’s more of a fact. Staff ele is objectively bad for 1v1 fights. I’d say the biggest reason the op won those fights was because his enemies were either not aggressive enough or they were so aggressive they ran into too much aoe. Despite the disclaimer, I can’t believe the other players were good. I swear at least 3 of them spent half their time swinging at air.

I’m not criticizing the op, I’d say he plays staff ele well. I’m not even trying to dismiss the wins; winning a 1v1 against anybody on a staff ele deserves some kudos. I’m just saying staff ele will never be considered good for solo to small group pvp in its current form. It can work in spvp because people have to stand in capture points, so all aoe is somewhat easier to hit with. However, anybody you fight in obsidian sanctum will likely just power through your cc and/or tank any damage that follows it regardless of how expertly you time and place them.

Have you ever heard the saying that if you have nothing good to say…don’t say anything?

What do you accomplish kittening on his parade? …even if you are 100% correct that the fights he had were rigged. That either the opponents were bad or tanked the fights and lost on purpose. Who cares? The OP doesn’t win any awards for winning those fights. He doesn’t make any money or get a new title. It’s a stand alone video. People can watch and decide for themselves what they have just seen.

Get a life man.

cheese.4739:

KrazyFlyinChicken.5936:

cheese.4739:

If you were using multiple Arcanes for burst, without Arcane Mastery, you might lose the benefit since the trait doesn’t stack – but with your heal being Brilliance, and with traited Arcane cooldowns, you’ll probably have higher uptime on AL than the time you spend in Air attunement.

I think you meant AL (in place of Arcane Mastery) but I can definitely understand where this argument is coming from. AL will almost certainly have a 90% uptime, at least. So it’s basically a tossup between 10% more critical damage (all attunements), or 10% more overall damage (Air only). It’s a tough call. I think either can work.

Another point for Air Training: It also works with meteor shower. Switch into air during the cast to get 10% more damage.

Thanks for watching, Cheese. As always, your insights are appreciated

No, I meant Arcane Mastery – your heal and other arcanes recharge slightly faster, so you can cast them more frequently and bring up AL more regularly.
Pre-Brilliance, you’d be much more likely to cast all arcanes at once

At any rate, I might try this out in the next few days, or at least steal your ideas/suggestions and add them to my own build – I’m a bit bored of getting called a noob for running Diamond Skin (by minion necroes, decap engineers and spirit rangers), and my PvP MMR has been kinda ruined by 4v5s over the past week so I haven’t got much to lose if it turns out it’s not for me! ^__^

Oh, one other thing – Lingering Elements was only fixed for the 5-point minors, right? I’m pretty sure that Air Training and similar still don’t linger, even though to make use of any you need to use trait slots, and to get more than two at once you kinda have to cycle all your elements and be locked out of most of your skills for 10s…

Ahh okay. I see what you mean.

And by all means, steal away. I didn’t make this video to keep it all a secret

I see what you mean now with the AL/AM. A good point It’s interesting to see how one little skill can change everything you know about a class/build.

The meteor shower wouldn’t be using lingering elements though. You start in fire and switch to lightning during channeling:

Fire > Channel Meteor Shower > Switch to Lightning (+10% damage) > and you can even drop a static field if its a available to keep them in the shower (or a gust to push them back in!)

I wonder if it will affect the meteors if you’re in tornado as well as air attunement (since the option to switch attunement disappears after transformation.

Hmm…

KrazyFlyinChicken.5936:

protection

One thing I’m considering is sticking to my current utility setup (with that super fun Lava Axe – ta again for bringing it up), and keeping 20 points in Earth… or even just 10, and using Soothing Wave.

Staff gets access to two auras at present, and can stack the Zephyr’s Boon and Elemental Shielding boons by blasting an ice field several times… but if the leap finisher from Flame Axe is brought along, that’s a fire or frost aura right there, bringing with it some more protection.

Since Frozen Ground is an instant-cast (while not channeling another skill), it’s very quick to blast in to gain that fury, swiftness and protection – and having that source of protection in the build might free up the Major Master Arcana trait slot for high endurance regeneration, or maybe even Arcane Retribution for a load of condi damage.

The vitality and healing loss will affect survivability somewhat, and swapping out runes or a couple of armour pieces might be a plan (which will have less dps impact when crit damage is changed, I expect), but a little more condi damage and toughness, along with potentially permanent fury/swiftness and high protection uptime, could really help.

A quick draft of what I mean - I’ve not touched the gear side of things, because I need to get to bed, but the skills and traits apart from that 10 in water are what I’ll be trying out.

PS: ooh, Arcane Lightning is 15 seconds of buff? I thought it was only 10! Much easier to maintain, in that case.

Tei.1704:

…

Thanks for watching the video! As I said near the start, I won’t be making any more comments regarding opponents—I feel I’ve said my peace about them and people can take it or leave it at that

Under the current meta, I certainly can’t argue your points here. It’s hard to say that ‘Staff is good now!’ when there’s so much evidence to the contrary. I don’t think any amount of videos and tutorials will ever convince anyone to take staff ele on their tPvP team. But I hope some people will watch this video and, if nothing else, give it a try to keep entertained while we wait for the new patch.

Failing that, I hope it was fun to watch and offered a fresh addition to the menagerie of dueling videos out there

cheese.4739:

…

I loved reading this post. You followed my exact line of thinking while developing my current build. I thought “Hey! Protection from blasting an ice field… Hmmmm……”

And then I thought “Zephyr’s Boon” and went “HMMMMMMMM…..”

And with lava axe for fire aura?! Yay! More reason to put it on my bar!

… Ultimately it didnt fit my playstyle at all. I hated relying on that ice field being up (40s cooldown)

Let me know how it turns out for you

I’ve watched for 1v1 video and I loved it, it is very interesting what you have done with the staff. I’ll try to find a way to practice it and to be efficient for my group in WvW. Thanks !

I just have one question about the Arcane Lightning trait. It does not have a cool down ?

Asuna.6591:

I just have one question about the Arcane Lightning trait. It does not have a cool down ?

It doesn’t, no – but the effect doesn’t stack, as it says in the tooltip, so if you use an Arcane skill while there’s still time left on the buff you’ll ‘lose’ however many seconds it is.

Really nice video, you can tell that youre always patient and wait for the best time to use your utilities, definitely something myself and probably a lot of others need to work on. But do you ever use renewing stamina instead of elemental attunement? The protection is great but its so hard to survive in this game with only your normal dodges especially in fights bigger than 1v1, which is one of the reasons ive never been able to run an arcane spec like that (granted im nowhere near as experienced).

Thanks for posting it though, gives a lot of great info for people who really want to play staff eles outside zergs but find it hard to

personally i haven’t felt the need to run any vigor traits since i started running Superior Sigil of Energy on my staff. getting half your endurance back every 10 seconds is better than vigor imo.

Asuna.6591:

I’ve watched for 1v1 video and I loved it, it is very interesting what you have done with the staff. I’ll try to find a way to practice it and to be efficient for my group in WvW. Thanks !

I just have one question about the Arcane Lightning trait. It does not have a cool down ?

Cheese answered your first question perfectly (and correctly)

cheese.4739:

It doesn’t, no – but the effect doesn’t stack, as it says in the tooltip, so if you use an Arcane skill while there’s still time left on the buff you’ll ‘lose’ however many seconds it is.

Thanks for watching! In WvW, I would only run this build if you were roaming with 5 or less. But make sure your party knows about your water fields to make the most use of your class.

Good luck and let us know how it goes!

Sizer.5632:

Really nice video, you can tell that youre always patient and wait for the best time to use your utilities, definitely something myself and probably a lot of others need to work on. But do you ever use renewing stamina instead of elemental attunement? The protection is great but its so hard to survive in this game with only your normal dodges especially in fights bigger than 1v1, which is one of the reasons ive never been able to run an arcane spec like that (granted im nowhere near as experienced).

Thanks for posting it though, gives a lot of great info for people who really want to play staff eles outside zergs but find it hard to

Sigil of Energy, all the way!

I think a big part of duelling is learning to save your dodge rolls and utilities. Learning what your opponent is about to do, and then planning for it. The more you practice, the more you’ll find your energy bar sitting near full.

But I definitely understand that desire for more vigor—more than most, actually! I’m really bad with blowing my dodges needlessly (you find a few in this video too). Usually its caused because i’m used to running Evasive Arcana, and I roll to get the effect… but then nothing happens and I want to slap myself.

But if you go through the video and watch my energy bar—it stays above the halfway line most of the time. This is due to sigil of energy—because you’re swapping attunements every 2.5 seconds, you’re going to get half a bar of energy every time the ICD comes up (10 seconds). So as long as you’re only dodging once every 8s or so (cause of passive regen) you’ll never find yourself wanting.

Another really great trick (brought up in the ‘Burn the Zeitgeist’ thread) is burning retreat is a free dodge which you can use while immobilized. It’s an amazing trick which I use at least once in this video. At 1:40, you can see it happen (link below):

http://youtu.be/sXEmfz1L36s?t=1m40s

So that’s another great way to save energy

Thanks for watching, and your suggestions!

mcarswell.3768:

personally i haven’t felt the need to run any vigor traits since i started running Superior Sigil of Energy on my staff. getting half your endurance back every 10 seconds is better than vigor imo.

Someone had told me they are also going to nerf vigor in the next ‘feature build’.

So that will be interesting to see, as well. Many of my guildmates have speculated that sigil of energy will be worth a lot more after the patch.

KrazyFlyinChicken.5936:

mcarswell.3768:

personally i haven’t felt the need to run any vigor traits since i started running Superior Sigil of Energy on my staff. getting half your endurance back every 10 seconds is better than vigor imo.

Someone had told me they are also going to nerf vigor in the next ‘feature build’.

So that will be interesting to see, as well. Many of my guildmates have speculated that sigil of energy will be worth a lot more after the patch.

They’re planning to alter any vigor granting traits so they can’t offer a 100% uptime anymore. They’ll probably receive a 10 second ICD so that they only provide a maximum of 50% uptime naturally, although this is before boon duration is taken into account. I’m basing that off how the adjusted the engineer’s vigor uptime through invigorating speed and speedy kits.

Also, the sigils and runes will be getting a balance pass in the feature build, so it’s possible they may change the effect on sigil of energy. I’m a bit surprised they haven’t nerfed it already, actually. It’s definitely one of the most, if not the most, powerful sigil in the game.

Forzani.2584:

Tei.1704:

Chaos Archangel.5071:

If you don’t feel this worth a sticky, ya should make one that is. There are many terribad staff Eles out there that are giving the class the reputation as “rally-bait.” x_x Videos like the ones you produce could go a long way to changing that.

It isn’t really a reputation, it’s more of a fact. Staff ele is objectively bad for 1v1 fights. I’d say the biggest reason the op won those fights was because his enemies were either not aggressive enough or they were so aggressive they ran into too much aoe. Despite the disclaimer, I can’t believe the other players were good. I swear at least 3 of them spent half their time swinging at air.

I’m not criticizing the op, I’d say he plays staff ele well. I’m not even trying to dismiss the wins; winning a 1v1 against anybody on a staff ele deserves some kudos. I’m just saying staff ele will never be considered good for solo to small group pvp in its current form. It can work in spvp because people have to stand in capture points, so all aoe is somewhat easier to hit with. However, anybody you fight in obsidian sanctum will likely just power through your cc and/or tank any damage that follows it regardless of how expertly you time and place them.

Have you ever heard the saying that if you have nothing good to say…don’t say anything?

What do you accomplish kittening on his parade? …even if you are 100% correct that the fights he had were rigged. That either the opponents were bad or tanked the fights and lost on purpose. Who cares? The OP doesn’t win any awards for winning those fights. He doesn’t make any money or get a new title. It’s a stand alone video. People can watch and decide for themselves what they have just seen.

Get a life man.

I don’t think Tei was trying to bring KFC down as much as just making sure expectations are realistic. And their right, for now. Staff Ele will always have a harder time being as effective as other classes in it’s current state. It’s great for Dungeons/PvE, somewhat acceptable in PvP if you have the skills to make it work, and could lack in WvW(idk, don’t play it). I’m hoping these upcoming buffs bring it in line with the potential of other classes. I’d love to see staff eles washing up thieves.

Chaos Archangel.5071:

and could lack in WvW(idk, don’t play it).

Actually, staff is the goto weapon for large scale WvW. Some people don’t even want eles around with them unless they’re running staff (not that the other weapons aren’t useful in their own right).

I followed the link to build, and looked at the gear, but I don’t
see a sigil in the Staff.

What is the OP using?

Yamsandjams.3267:

Chaos Archangel.5071:

and could lack in WvW(idk, don’t play it).

Actually, staff is the goto weapon for large scale WvW. Some people don’t even want eles around with them unless they’re running staff (not that the other weapons aren’t useful in their own right).

Our GvG team uses 2 staff eles and a D/D ele for the ‘gank squad’. So there’s definitely some room there. There are also a tonne of D/D eles in the OS who love to duel.

My guild sure does love staff eles though…