Guild Wars 2

Does anyone have any idea how it can be done? I mean, supposedly the +3% damage per boon traits isn’t a free automatic damage buff on eles…so we must have at least one viable non-boon build. However, I’ve not found it yet. Could you guys help me out?

So far, I’ve looked at:
-Cantrips -> boon based traits
-Auras -> boon based traits
-Signets -> uses auras -> boon based
-Glyphs -> cast boons on use
-Arcane -> doesn’t cause boons, but traitline gives boon duration
-Mono-fire -> relies on might stacking and doesn’t have the protection/defense to cope with the extra damage it’ll get

At a loss here…which viable build am I missing? Which ele build can deal meaningful damage without Sigil of Battle? Discuss please.

Other than some gimmick glass cannon builds, the profession completely falls apart in any sort of sustained combat situation without using many boons.

Minion of Vey.4398:

Other than some gimmick glass cannon builds, the profession completely falls apart in any sort of sustained combat situation without using many boons.

Just found out that thieves can also steal our boons after next patch. Guess whatever 1v1 chance I had on my staff ele is now gone too…

…but still, the added boon hinderance does suggest we can somehow do without. As a community, surely we can come up with something?

3% damage isn’t all that much to worry about, so the might stacking fire builds won’t see that much of a change. It’s the cantrip/aura builds that are going to see the most change vs Warriors (33%-15% effectively means casting protection (which will be needed with the other boons) will only grant 15% protection).

What amuses me more is even if you run a build with little to no boons, you could get screwed by other players throwing up boons (Guardians or other Eles for example). Nothing like taking an extra 12% damage because someone put up swiftness, regen, retaliation, stability and/or vigor!!

Basically any buff they give you other then protection and fury will probably do you more harm then good

How about an earth signet build with conjured weapons?
Tried to get something like that to work in PvP, but the signets at the time didn’t hold up to expectations.
As attribute bonuses on signets will be doubled, it might be worth another try.

boons are a mechanic of the whole game, not something exclusive to the Elementalist. This means is developers task to brainstorm and find ways to BALANCE all classes against all classes and every other possible situation in PvE and PvP.

Grevender.9235:

boons are a mechanic of the whole game, not something exclusive to the Elementalist. This means is developers task to brainstorm and find ways to BALANCE all classes against all classes and every other possible situation in PvE and PvP.

Ah, but we know this isn’t true – balance is considered exclusively based upon 5v5. Even then, warriors tend to get the better end of the deal than the other classes.

Also, boons are pretty much the province of ele’s and guardians, since for everyone else, they’re optional – neither ele’s nor guardian’s get a choice, absolutely everything you do puts boons on you.

I’m against boon hate (boon stripping is ok, punishing class mechanics is just wrong.)

How would thieves feel if we did more damage to them based on how much initiative they could hold? Or if rangers took more damage whenever they had an animal companion?

That’s the treatment ele’s and guardians are catching right now.

I’m hoping when the patch notes go up, there’s buffs to offset the various nerf-bats, but I don’t really believe it.

Playing a boonless build is useless. Other players will put boons on you regardless.

You think warrior did a lot of damage? You ain’t seen nothing yet.

not all warriors will have the new trait, it does require 30 points to get it (in discipline I think) and even if they do their attacks are still easily dodgeable and even more predictable so your worrying over nothing really :/

Parktou.4263:

not all warriors will have the new trait, it does require 30 points to get it (in discipline I think) and even if they do their attacks are still easily dodgeable and even more predictable so your worrying over nothing really :/

Pretty much this, in wvw that trais will be hardly noticeable (all wars have 20 thou and 30 in vit trait lines as default and won’t change that), and in spvp it will be balanced by the fact that any war going deep in 30 discipline will lose quite some defensive options.

Still, wait and see – but don’t think that trait it’s going to be a much huge change. At least, as long as it stays in the end of discipline line.

Having boons on and taking 3% more damage per is better than having no boons.

Especially if one of the boons is protection, which protects for more damage than their boon hate adds by itself anyway.

Parktou.4263:

not all warriors will have the new trait, it does require 30 points to get it (in discipline I think) and even if they do their attacks are still easily dodgeable and even more predictable so your worrying over nothing really :/

This. It will be a Discipline gran-master trait, so not every warrior will pick it up (probably rifle warriors will show up more: 30% crit + 3% per boon + unblockable from the new signet = yummy killshot).

Pure earth glyph/condi S/F build (20/10/30/0/10), discarding the Inscription trait; the only boons my ele gets are vigor from Renewing Stamina (which I only use because Zephyr’s Focus doesn’t work for Stone Shards as it should). Defense comes from perma-cripple (earth-Glyph of Elemental Power), vigor and focus skills.

It lacks the self-heal and mobility that makes D/D bunkers tick, though, relying on range, some snares and the heavily defensive earth set on S/F instead.

I think accepting one or two boons won’t be too much of a problem; boon hate’s currently fairly limited.

That said, my build melts pretty heavily under group pressure, being almost entirely single-target. It’s certainly not bunker.

The funny thing about no boon builds is that attunement switching no longer has any utility besides getting a new palette of skills.

ex: switch to earth to soften opposing burst damage

It’s actually very hard to get used to imo.

OP is freaking out for nothing .You will not see MORE damage coming out from a warrior even with the new trait .It will basicly be an alternative to the other +dps% traits that a warrior will be unable to spec for investing 30 points in discipline tree.

Actually it would be smarter to consider what would happen running into a warrior with +30% dps specced like in curent state without having protection buffs actvated

ThiBash.5634:

Does anyone have any idea how it can be done?

It can’t be in PvP. Either you use Elemental Attunement or Signet build. In either case, boons are a massive part of your defense and offense.