Guild Wars 2

It’s no secret that this game is highly based on personal comfort and playstyle. That said, some builds are simply on a more advanced level than others. One of the things I’ve developed since BWE1 is my personal combo-based playstyle. It works much the same in solo and in groups, making the transition easy. It also lets me otherwise difficult situations in the world with ease.

The other two big advantages to the playstyle are the freedom in traits and how much you can contribute in events above your level.

The general keys are using a staff, Conjure Frost Bow, and Arcane Wave. You can optionally add in more skills like Arcane Blast, etc. I choose to use Glyph of Storms (for reasons I’ll later explain) and Conjure Fiery Greatsword (because… it’s just that amazing).

The staff has a lot of big abilities. It also has a lot of combo fields, and combo finishers in the earth magic line. By creating combos with yourself, you’re able to get even more out of your various skills. You’re taking all of those great tools you have, and making them even better.

The staff has the following combo fields:
Fire:
Lava Font
Burning Retreat
Water:
Geyser
Frozen Ground (Ice Field)
Healing Rain
Air:
Static Field (Lightning)

It also has the following finishers:
Earth:
Stoning (Projectile)
Eruption (Blast)
Shockwave (Projectile)

The conjure frost bow can be dropped with the 2 skill used quickly after any combo field skill to get five projectiles through the field in rapid succession. Arcane Wave can also give you a quick blast in a field, even while you’re using another skill. Arcane Blast can add another instant projectile as well if you use it.

Some more combo availability comes in the form of:
Conjure Flame’s Flame Leap is a leap finisher. Every third attack from Conjure Lightning Hammer is a blast. Lightning Leap is also a leap finisher. CLH’s Static Field (separate from the staff’s) is a lightning field. Tornado is a whirl finisher. Conjure Fiery Greatsword’s Fiery Whirl is also a whirl finisher.

So, what are some of the things beyond simply taking the skills? Well, first off, I can start off a boss fight with a LOT of chill on my own. In a group, I’ve managed to help produce an entire minute of chill. I’ve also managed to produce as much as 30 sec on my own. If I’m on my own, it looks like this:

Water Attunement > Glyph of Storms > Water4 (Frozen Ground) > Conjure Frost Bow > IceBow2 ( Frost Volley) > IceBow3 (Frost Fan) > Drop Bow > Earth Attunement > Auto Attack until Frozen Ground goes away > Pick up extra Ice Bow > Frost Fan again when off cooldown.

Note that the water version of GoS chills on hit. Using the above opener, I’ve managed to get up to 30 seconds of chill on my own.

Other combos I like to use, lending themselves to the versatility of the build: Burning Retreat or Lava Font + CFB as used above for a lot of burning. Static Field + Arcane Wave for AoE Swiftness (part of the staff elementalist’s permanent swiftness ability). Eruption > Lava Font > Arcane Wave for AoE Mightx6. Static Field > CFB as above for vulnerability. Geyser + Arcane Wave for AoE Heal. Healing Rain > CFB as above > Arcane Wave for stacking regeneration on the melee of your target plus self-centered AoE heal in addition to the AoE regeneration from the initial field.

The gear I use:
Varies by what level of stuff I’m doing. I use Pre/Cond at the moment to simply have more damage output, but will sometimes use Tou/Vit if I’m going into an exceptionally difficult dungeon and can play a more supportive role.

A few traits I like:

Fire VIII (Conjurer): The extra 10 charges on the weapons is really nice, especially in a group when someone else is using my weapons to add to the combo racking. Also adds 67% to the duration of my favorite elite.

Fire XI (Persisting Flames): The staff fire fields are pretty short duration, even if they are short recharge. Extending them makes it easier to get more shots through and coordinate with more group members’ recharges.

Arcana III (Arcane Retribution): I use Arcane Wave almost on cooldown, so speeding it up means more combos so more might, more healing, etc.

Arcana VIII (Blasting Staff): Bigger fields help in general, I find. It’s nice to not have to get in such a tiny space for Lava Font/Arcane Wave. It lets you affect more things with each skill. It’s possibly the best trait for any staff wielder.

Fire III (Ember’s Might) and Earth IV (Salt Stone) are things I like using in group play since I’m helping ensure everything’s on fire and frequent use of Eruption provides strong bleeds in addition to every profession ever having bleeds.

Depending on my focus, I might change things here and there, but this is the style I’ve built since BWE1. I hope it gives some people insight into a higher level of thinking in terms of your build and how to get more bang for your buck in terms of your skills.

By the looks of it, this seems like a good guide.

That is a very cool and very interesting build. I would be fascinated to see it in action!

I’ll work on doing some video stuff over the weekend, possibly. A lot going on at the moment, so I dunno when. It’s all easy stuff to do, though. Do exactly what I wrote up there, and then branch out and experiment.

Hey Ayame, I love your detailed write up, it made me look at the class in a whole different way. What are your traits looking like?

The traits are really variable and depend on what you like to use. I listed the ones I think are kind of the most beneficial to use there at the bottom of the post. If that’s really not enough, send me a PM and I’ll send you back what I’m actually using then.

I’ve got several tells and PMs on this.

The traits are ALREADY IN THE POST. They’re the last part of the post. Read the whole thing before you ask about them.

Additionally, if you don’t know what a trait or skill is by the name, there’s this thing called a Wiki. We have one. Use it.

Elric of Grans.7684:

That is a very cool and very interesting build. I would be fascinated to see it in action!

No pun intended, I’m sure.

Eddard.2930:

Elric of Grans.7684:

That is a very cool and very interesting build. I would be fascinated to see it in action!

No pun intended, I’m sure.

There’s much more capability to it than the chill. I just find the chill to be very useful in boss fights, especially in group play. Most people aren’t at the organized level yet that they’re really thinking about all the people they’re playing with, so no one has any more healing than their own and what bit I’m putting out. By putting that massive slow on attack speeds and movement speeds, I’m making the fight that much easier on the entire group by removing so much of that damage.

But, there’s also putting up tons of burning, since it causes the most damage of the three DoT conditions. You can also a fair amount of vulnerability, though to less effect.