Does anyone know if the blasting staff trait increase the area of healing rain and geyser as well? Or the trait only works for dps skill? Thanks in advance.
There are some bugs with this trait & they had the sense to not increase the size of your larger AoEs because that would reduce their effectiveness in WvW.
There are some bugs with this trait & they had the sense to not increase the size of your larger AoEs because that would reduce their effectiveness in WvW.
More precisely it seems to increase ground targeted aoes…but yea, buggy and unclear in practice.
It absolutely buffs geyser and healing rain, it’s a fun trait to have (i love collateral damage and all sorts of AoE so this is essentially a MUST for me), however don’t stress over taking it or not because it’s not -that- good, it’s just really nice, especially if you like having really big AoEs, but there are some options that can be better.
They sing dark, delicious notes about power and family.
As their mother, I have to grant them their wish. – Forever Fyonna
How can you not get blasting staff as a staff ele? That’s just… blasphemy. The increased AoE is invaluable. It’s SOO much easier to aim and actually hit stuff, especially in 1v1. Seriously. I hate how mandatory this trait is for staff eles in fact. I don’t think any trait should be mandatory but for staff eles, imo, this trait is a must.
There is no good reason to fight with smaller AoEs. The only mild argument for it would be that increasing meteor storm radius is bad because the meteors hit less often but even then…
Get it. It’s a MUST. Best trait ever for staff ele. The increase heal radius is very very nice. Allows more room for you to run inside it and get the passive heal from it.
There is no good reason to fight with smaller AoEs. The only mild argument for it would be that increasing meteor storm radius is bad because the meteors hit less often but even then…
Get it. It’s a MUST. Best trait ever for staff ele. The increase heal radius is very very nice. Allows more room for you to run inside it and get the passive heal from it.
It takes just a little more practice to get your enemies stay within normal lavafonts area, and when you can do that blasting staff is just a waste of a trait.
Drop it and you can get final shielding, arcane retribution, renewing energy, arcane mastery or arcane energy. All of those far superior IF you don´t need the blasting staff to hit stuff.
Because little practice can make this trait redundant it´s overrated and waste of a trait in the end. Just my 2 cents.
I have to agree with Strang. Contrary to most of what I’m reading in this thread, there are perfectly viable staff setups that do not use Blasting Staff. Yes, it’s useful. Saying it is “required” is an overstatement. As with every other aspect of building your character, it’s going to depend on personal preference.
There is no good reason to fight with smaller AoEs. The only mild argument for it would be that increasing meteor storm radius is bad because the meteors hit less often but even then…
Get it. It’s a MUST. Best trait ever for staff ele. The increase heal radius is very very nice. Allows more room for you to run inside it and get the passive heal from it.
It takes just a little more practice to get your enemies stay within normal lavafonts area, and when you can do that blasting staff is just a waste of a trait.
Drop it and you can get final shielding, arcane retribution, renewing energy, arcane mastery or arcane energy. All of those far superior IF you don´t need the blasting staff to hit stuff.
Because little practice can make this trait redundant it´s overrated and waste of a trait in the end. Just my 2 cents.
Sure, you can still hit enemies without blasting staff but it’s harder and it’s also easier for enemies to run out of it. Blasting staff is superb in pvp and wvw. Sure, in pve, you can get away without using it but not in pvp and wvw. It’s just… strange not to use it. Why would you not want to hit more easily? Give heals more easily? To combo more easily? To have it harder for your enemies to escape from your AoEs? For longer lasting chill? To force people to sit in your AoEs because they encompass the entire cap points in pvp? Without blasting trait, you’d have none of this. It is very useful to have your AoEs take up the entire cap point in pvp. People will sit in it and take a lot of damage because they dont want to leave the cap point.
-Blasting Staff Trait does not effect all staff skills. Healing Rain visual does grow in size, but the actual AOE remains the same.
The increase in radius is as follows:
Lava Font: 50%
Ice Spike :25%
Geyser: 50%
Frozen Ground: 25%
Lightning Surge: 100%
Static Field: 33%
Eruption: 25%
In other words, it only affects 7 of the 20 staff skills (does not effect Meteor Swarm).
Lava Font and Static Field are the best affected IMO, but as a staff ele I dont dump
20 points into Arcana to get it. The staff skills are long CD anyhow so speed switching
stances doesnt really with points in Arcana.
Sure, you can still hit enemies without blasting staff but it’s harder and it’s also easier for enemies to run out of it. Blasting staff is superb in pvp and wvw. Sure, in pve, you can get away without using it but not in pvp and wvw. It’s just… strange not to use it. Why would you not want to hit more easily? Give heals more easily? To combo more easily? To have it harder for your enemies to escape from your AoEs? For longer lasting chill? To force people to sit in your AoEs because they encompass the entire cap points in pvp? Without blasting trait, you’d have none of this. It is very useful to have your AoEs take up the entire cap point in pvp. People will sit in it and take a lot of damage because they dont want to leave the cap point.
It´s harder, but gives better results in the end, atleast in my opinion.
I can see why it would feel required for spvp, but for wvw? Nah.
In wvw there´s usualy plenty of targets available, with 5 person cap on aoes i find it rather useful that my skills hit my intended target, and not some five dudes sitting at the edge of my screen (exaggeration, but you get the point).
Being able to more efficiently control areas is nice, and having easier time landing things is nice, but my opinion that added survivability from renewing energy, arcane energy or final shielding outweighs that ease. Imho, survivability in wvw is the king.
Little practice can make you as efficient in hitting things and controlling area as you´d be with blasting staff, but no amount of training makes your energy bar fill any faster, other traits do.
Without Blasting Staff, Lava Font barely reaches over the lip of a tower wall. With it, you cover half the battlement. It lets you hit people who would otherwise be out of range. That’s often the difference between killing somebody and them getting away.
A 50% increase in radius is a 125% increase in total area. That’s huge.
I would not run staff in WvW without BS. It’s mandatory to be effective in wall fights, and helps a lot in open field zerging.
I just want them to increase the blast radius of the individual meteors in meteor shower.
“We recognize that the changes to [ele] will essentially remove it from play. In the future,
we may consider whether or not there is an incarnation of [ele] that would be viable
but balanced. For now, we do not expect it to see serious use.” – ANet
I agree on the Lava Font effectiveness for sure, but at least for me, dont
want to invest 20 points into Arcana to get it. I find Arcana more useful
in D/D spec since you are attunement swapping allot more.
Without Blasting Staff, Lava Font barely reaches over the lip of a tower wall. With it, you cover half the battlement. It lets you hit people who would otherwise be out of range. That’s often the difference between killing somebody and them getting away.
A 50% increase in radius is a 125% increase in total area. That’s huge.
I would not run staff in WvW without BS. It’s mandatory to be effective in wall fights, and helps a lot in open field zerging.
I just want them to increase the blast radius of the individual meteors in meteor shower.
Staff is perfectly viable without BS in wall fights too, be it on the wall or under.
CC at the right moment does everything BS could do and you save a trait.
I`m not denying it doesn´t make things easier, but everything it does can be done with little practice aswell. Other traits offer benefits far harder to compensate with training.
What kind of trait would you recommend instead of Blasting Staff?
Renewing stamina is awesome. All the fields constantly ticking damage make sure vigor stays activated plenty of time. There´s no better defense than avoiding all of the damage with extra dodges.
Arcane energy if you have many arcane utilities or signets.
Arcane retribution if you have some crit dmg in your stats, and even without crit dmg if you wish to go more offensive. Description doesn´t make it clear, but it gives 5 seconds of guaranteed crits, everything you do after ti activates crits, no matter how many hits you score.
Final shielding is worth it too, when it chooses to work.
They all offer something that simply cannot be achieved with training, unlike most of what blasting staff offers.
What kind of trait would you recommend instead of Blasting Staff?
Renewing stamina is awesome. All the fields constantly ticking damage make sure vigor stays activated plenty of time. There´s no better defense than avoiding all of the damage with extra dodges.
Arcane energy if you have many arcane utilities or signets.
Arcane retribution if you have some crit dmg in your stats, and even without crit dmg if you wish to go more offensive. Description doesn´t make it clear, but it gives 5 seconds of guaranteed crits, everything you do after ti activates crits, no matter how many hits you score.
Final shielding is worth it too, when it chooses to work.
They all offer something that simply cannot be achieved with training, unlike most of what blasting staff offers.
Oh kitten it’s for the full 5 seconds? I may need to pick that up… but i just -really- like blasting staff (i’m a huge fan of my aoes being larger because even though i can make them sit in the untraited ones it becomes a lot easier to force them into it when it’s huge). Now… what to eliminate…
They sing dark, delicious notes about power and family.
As their mother, I have to grant them their wish. – Forever Fyonna
hope that helps…its a almost required trait if ur maining staff in just about any situation
