Guild Wars 2

Hi,

Vet D/D. Love it, but always trying something new.
Finally seeing some good results with staff.
This brought me to Scepter/Focus.

I have tried different traits / strategies, but I’m having problem making sweet music with that weapon combo like D/D. Any suggestions? D/D feels like a set. It works off each other. S/F feels like 20 isolated skills with no real synergy.

I know that I can firewall / tooth / phoenix, but everything after that is just…well…skills. Some focus stuff is great, but too much of it is lame. Scepter has its weaknesses too, but I like the range/feel of some skills.

I love scepter air, but wish it was much stronger.

Anyone really feeling confident / successful with S/F? If so, please share build/strategies.

Thanks!

I used it for bunker builds until I realized that you don’t count as being on a point when using obsidian flesh (just like stealth or mistform). Meh

S/F is used in large zerg armies similarly to staff. S/F offers long range damage and high burst using fire, and provides group defense using air 4.

S/F has the poorest mobility of all the other weapon setups and fairly poorly 1v1 capabilities, so using it solo is not a good idea.

daphoenix.4283:

S/F is used in large zerg armies similarly to staff. S/F offers long range damage and high burst using fire, and provides group defense using air 4.

S/F has the poorest mobility of all the other weapon setups and fairly poorly 1v1 capabilities, so using it solo is not a good idea.

Air 4 should really give a swiftness buff to make up for losing ride the lightning.

The only time I’ve ever used S/F is when I’m defending against siege fire in WvW. Which will probably be nerfed at some point, robbing the Focus of one of its only useful skills.

I see it a lot in sPvP, though, and I’m not sure why. The survivability is even worse than dagger/dagger, somehow. It seems to rely entirely on your enemy being dumb enough to stand inside a dragon’s fang, all while doing very little overall damage. I remember it (at least, the sceptre) being very strong in the beta, but that was more the Arcane skills carrying the build.

I leveled up for a while in PvE with Scepter/Focus. Killed things faster than Staff, slower than Scepter/Dagger. I found going through the skills toolkit to be fun, although Earth 2&3 (defense) seem redundant with Earth 4&5 (defense). Utility skill choices definitely need to be offensive, or you really don’t do much damage.

I don’t have much of an idea how to use it in sPvP, however, except for an almost pure single-target conditions approach, because of the difficulty of hitting with the direct-damage skills.

If a coordinated team is using immobilizes timed with the use of Dragon’s Tooth and Phoenix, I can see why the scepter would be preferred in higher level pvp, however, I don’t see the big threat from a weapon whose highest damage is easily avoidable aoe, since neither OH dagger or focus have the CC required to make those skills land, forcing the ele to burn valuable cantrip/spike slots on Signet of Earth, etc.

I recently saw a very interesting dagger/focus auramancer bunker. He/she didn’t really do that much damage, but held up to a large, uncoordinated barrage of attacks from 2-3 people fairly well.

You are probably better off running a condition build with S/F, since this can tie into your defense fairly well. Earth 1 provides a nice amount of bleeding if you can sit in the element, and the flame shield will add some dps against melee attackers. I fought a S/F bunker ele once though on my ranger, and the ele didn’t do enough damage for me to worry about using my heal skill for more than 2 minutes of fighting. My passives just ate up his damage.

I only use S/F in Dungeons for the utility it offers. And only when get owned with other weapons…

I’m only level 33, but I’ve been experimenting with S/D and S/F, instead of D/D which makes me feel squishy. The S/F gives up several nice things (RtL, Earthquake, Churning Earth), but gains a projectile reflect and a projectile destroyer, plus a total immunity (during which you can continue to do anything you need to do). I also like the scepter’s E1-E3 a lot more than the dagger’s E1-E3, and Earth seems to be my go-to attunement.

i used it pvp while i started pvp. knockdown and drop a rock on them.

but primarily i used s/f in harder pve.
5 levels higher at lower levels.
dungeons
invulnerability and able to cast.
anti projectile.
blinds.
combos.

In WvW I have been using a build that is pure offense. It’s actually pleasantly surprising to me how effective it is. I absolutely love Earth 4/5 and Air 2/3/4/5. I love scepter/focus.

My main use for scepter is in TA, on the Volatile Blossoms, since staff 1 attacks are too slow and getting into close range with the Blossoms is contra-indicated due to extreme chance of face-plant. The only thing Scepter has going for it is range.

Focus lacks something for me. In Water, it lacks the second heal. In Air, Comet is never going to hit anything moving. In Fire, really, I get an aura skill on a 40 second CD that inflicts burning — wow, guess I can’t have enough of that. Only earth offers two worthwhile skills with reflection and invulnerability --- but since ele is reliant on switching attunement to be more effective, Focus for the loss as far as I am concerned.

IndigoSundown.5419:

My main use for scepter is in TA, on the Volatile Blossoms, since staff 1 attacks are too slow and getting into close range with the Blossoms is contra-indicated due to extreme chance of face-plant. The only thing Scepter has going for it is range.

I have to disagree with this. Air 1 on staff with the blossoms? You take out 3 per shot because of the ricocheting it does.

comet is a fast blast finisher and it can hit mobs.
its useful for building might.

water in scepter is weak.
dagger/focus/conjure might be better for pve and possibly wvw.
Havent wvw’d with my ele more than a few hours.

still i like all the quick blast finishers in scepter/focus and the range and the defense.

the anti projectile stuff is pretty powerful. it blocks treb hits in spvp. the air one.
the magnetic aura does not seem to but it would be so much cooler if it launched the treb hit back at the treb.

against rangers in AC the anti projectile stuff will save your butt. the beauty of the ele abilities is that they do not stop the ele from being offensive.
although i think the swirling air anti projectile is not friendly meaning it will block friendly projectiles but im not sure of that.