Guild Wars 2

A build I posted somewhere else, but I don’t want to digress that topic.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fFAQJAoYhcMacW4wzBd0ANAC5h1iNal4CBWA-T1hIAByeCAA4BAgkyvt0DAnSQDV/5j9HIFgXDtA-w
Runes and stats can be varied, I’m more concerned with traits.

Group comp will probably consist of this ele, a shout guard/war, and 3 zerkers (or 2 zerkers + 1 sustain build as it maybe hard to keep 3 guys alive).

Main role for this ele is to provide offensive protection such as shocking aura and other soft and hard CC. While buffing up party with protection/swiftness/fury from auras.

The ele (and other zerkers) still needs a shout guard/war for condi cleanse. Zerkers can be mesmer/fresh air ele/medi guard. Thieves probably won’t benefit much from this, rangers like to stay far far away, and necro is just a huge target dummy in terms of roaming.

I know going away from arcane power is scary, just want to get some opinion on this weird build. Wonder if there’s a brave group that want to try this

This happens to be something I’ve put a lot of thought into. I’ll try to be concise:

- The gear is all wrong. I read that’s not the focus of your inquiry, but it’s still worth mentioning. A DD ele specced like yours doesn’t use the full spread of celestial very well at all. You’d want a very heavy focus on power primary since 6 in air support that very well. You also have very limited might stacking to compensate, which makes it even more important

- You seem to understand that this support shines most when supporting zerker heavy ‘gank-style’ parties such as focus parties in the GvG scene, but then you go on to mention thieves probably won’t benefit much. I wholeheartedly disagree. Thief is one of the scariest combos with an aurashare ele, since it will allow them to dive far longer and harder to score a down, and the ele’s offense won’t be wasted by having to peel back to the ranged dps to support them. Also, the tempest defense modifier can make for godly spikes if communicated with a thief’s basi.

- Having no energy sigil nor a reliable source of vigor is a no-go.

- This one is a bit tricky for me to word. Basically, such an ele will feel and play like a zerker. You can’t base a balanced party comp around this ele supporting. He’ll have far too little frontline presence to make anything happen. I’d advise ditching the frontline guard/war altogether and committing to a stealthy gank squad playstyle. Either that or ditch one of the zerkers for a cleave/control heavy spec such as engi.

Reading this back, I notice I come across quite arrogantly. Didn’t mean to. I applaud the idea, just giving my insight after having played/theorycrafted such a build before.

nah happy to see a constructive feedback. I’ve seen worst replies with no argument values. Just did a little bit of testing in PvP (not quite accurate). Sigil of renewal is kind of redundant and I might replace it with energy as you suggested. Protection on aura is rather too short so I might swap it for vigor.

I’m a bit puzzled by stats choice though, I’m thinking about mixing knight and zerker, how much zerker should I invest in while maintain certain survivability?

Something like this maybe?

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fFAQJAoYhcMqcW4wzBf0ANAC5hziJuQgFlyC-T1BEABtpHIn9HcS5HAPAAuUC+wJAIR1fIFg5atA-w

Since you’re low on sustain, vitality is quite an effective stat. Especially if you’re gonna play a bursty game. I went for full power primary to maximize the excellent precision and crit damage from air magic.

If any choices seem odd to you, just ask.

solid suggestion from gokil. Maybe put a little more toughness in there if you need it.

I run a lot of como groups. I’m assuming you are talking WvW…
I find d/f to be better than d/d in group como as the defensive utilities allow for you to better protect ur team and secure stomps/rezzed, while offering more overall dps if played right.
I play a Knights/zerk mix on armor with celestial trinkets.
4/0/6/4/0
Diamond skin is a very useful trait, as is the earths embrace (can’t get crit while in earth). I find diamond skins much more useful as it is not limited to a single attunement. Also running toughness→ Condi damage puts you at near 1k Condi damage while maintaining 2.2k attack, 40% crit, and 2.8k armor. All of this coupled with the utility of elementalists is fantastic.
This build is also capable of soloing towers and keeps and fighting 1vX scenarios.

One last thing…if there are a lot of power necros or Rangers, try to get out front, pull focus, than put up earth 4. It reflects projectiles and I have dined nearly an entire group because I was reflecting so many high dps projectiles. (Reflected a kills hot into 2 people for 9k each and basically ended them).
Really a fun spec and I urge you to try it