Guild Wars 2

who know any cool builds on Elementalist pve [ scepter + dagger ] dps

You cannot put “scepter” and “dps” in the same sentence, it does not compute.

Zelyhn.8069:

You cannot put “scepter” and “dps” in the same sentence, it does not compute.

Afaik S/D does deal quite some dmg. But well i personally dont like the playstyle.

You can get really good dps out of these builds but most of them have you in lighting hammer or fgs most of time however perfect for speed runs
http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/83561-hamartias-sd-elementalist-build-dps-might-stacking/

I don’t like Lightning Hammer builds, simply by choice.

My high damage S/D build simply focuses on arcane synergies with vulnerability, boon duration and attunement swapping:
http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJArYhEmIbmxzgjDAEFtYiQhFQUeEzM1A-jQCBYfBkgAgEBM5pIaslhFRjVZDT5SIS7K12bFRrGA-e

Scepter has very bad auto attack, it will never match dagger in term of personnal dps.

If you call offensive support “dps” than you can pull perma fury+25might with SD but your personnal dps will be low’ish.

As for pure dps as an Elem, whatever weapon you use, the best is always :
10-30-10-10-5 (last 5 points hardly matter)

I use 30/0/0/20/20. Trying to stack as much might/fury I can. Zerker gear, get as much crit dmg and crit % as possible.

Vaugh.7193:

I use 30/0/0/20/20. Trying to stack as much might/fury I can. Zerker gear, get as much crit dmg and crit % as possible.

I would really go for 30 in fire and Arcane of you plan on stacking might/fury. EA is a quarantied blast every 9 seconds.

As for gear, zerker is always the best, Scholar runes are always the best.

innocent ouarior.1954:

Vaugh.7193:

I use 30/0/0/20/20. Trying to stack as much might/fury I can. Zerker gear, get as much crit dmg and crit % as possible.

I would really go for 30 in fire and Arcane of you plan on stacking might/fury. EA is a quarantied blast every 9 seconds.

As for gear, zerker is always the best, Scholar runes are always the best.

I put 20 in water to get 20% less CD on cantrip. Then Lightning flash CD is about the same as Churning earth, I always use them two together. I have also traited the 3 extra stacks of migth when using a cantrip skill. Makes up for one extra blast finisher imo.

Actually it doesnt.
3 might on Cantrip hardly makes it for the extra boon duration on Intelligence and the extra might uptime of shorter cooldown for Elemental Attunement.

Worste, Blast isnt just “3 might for you”. Its 3 might AND fury for the WHOLE team.

The only reason to take 20 in water would be for Piercing Shard+Vital Striking but losing EA is just too expensive if you go for damage support.

The optimal build for damage support (considering you dont team a lot with warriors) would be 30-10-0-0-30

Bolt to the Heart being less damage than Stone Splinter or Vital Striking but the 100prec+10% crit dmg makes it almost as good if you consider both other traits may not have 100% uptime.

Also, you have to understand Churning Earth is a bad skill on single target. Its great burst but its damage/casting time makes it hardly better than an auto attack. With EA you also dont really need the blast component to keep the might and fury up.
Building around having LF for every CE is a bad strategy in PvE.

innocent ouarior.1954:

The optimal build for damage support (considering you dont team a lot with warriors) would be 30-10-0-0-30

Sorry dear compatriot but I cannot let you say that a build with more than 10 in arcana is good.

Only because you dont read the whole thread bro.

30-10-0-0-30 isnt “good”. Its the best way to supply perma fury and might.
If someone is ever going 30 fire and SD for group damage boons than its the way to go.

The problem with S/D as your primary damage source is that you have one fire/earth/air burst combo that takes about 7 seconds and is mostly repeatable every 35 seconds or fully repeatable every 46 seconds. Including a fire combo in there once you can swap back into fire, you have 20-30 seconds of low DPS, no matter if you have quick attunement recharge due to Fresh Air or 30 points in Arcana. So having a lightning hammer or other conjure to pick up during the down time is a way to help keep your damage up. Think about it: you have 25 stacks of might and you’re wasting it on an attack chain that probably has a .6-.7 coefficient per second at most if you’re not using a conjure.

30/x/x/x/30, while it does indeed allow you to stack perma might and fury, means you’re giving up a lot of personal DPS. Additionally, what attunements do you really want to be able to get back to in 9 seconds? Fire’s combo recharges in 20 seconds (the fire field alone recharges in 15), and Earth’s damaging skills recharge in 30 and 45 seconds. About the only attunement you might want to get to quickly is air for its auto attack + 2 and 3, and even then it’s unimpressive damage. You could go 30/30/x/x/x, take fresh air, and make up almost half of your lost +boon duration by using chocolate raspberry cream – it’s super cheap.

If the goal is perma fury/25 might you will need EA. If its not noone would waste 30 pts in fire.

This trait is pretty strong in fresh air builds.
Anyone tried superspeed with greatsword elite 3 skill, swear to god that mobility seems like 2500 range and will escape anyting chasing u.

dante.2864:

This trait is pretty strong in fresh air builds.
Anyone tried superspeed with greatsword elite 3 skill, swear to god that mobility seems like 2500 range and will escape anyting chasing u.

After you spend 1.5 seconds immobile casting GS

innocent ouarior.1954:

If the goal is perma fury/25 might you will need EA. If its not noone would waste 30 pts in fire.

I wish it was true.

Scepter/Dagger combined with lightning hammer is by far the best dps build for an elementalist. The problem with Scepter/Dagger has already been mentioned, it has an insane burst but after that, you have to wait at least 20 seconds until you can deal damage again.

Lightning hammer lets you get rid of this problem. You use your scepter/dagger burst combo (fire 2, 4, 3, 5 -> earth 4,5 + arcane wave) to stack 50 seconds of fury and 15 stacks of might, then you deal high amounts of dps with your lighting hammer until your next combo is ready.

For me, this is the best build for a dungeon elementalist.

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJArYhEmIbmxzgjDAEFtYiQhFQUeEzM1A-jQCBYfBkgAgEBM5pIaslhFRjVZDT5SIS7K12bFRrGA-e

It offers the following:

- second highest dps build for an elementalist (30/20/0/20/0 with s/d is the best dps build but it lacks defense)
- 15 stacks of might and 50 seconds of fury for the whole group
- permanent vigor, feels like you have 1 million dodges (<- this is your defense in dungeons, one has to get used to it)
- several boons from arcane V

The sad thing is, that if you want to deal high dps in dungeons but you dont like the s/d might stacker combined with lightning hammer, you should switch to another class because there actually is no alternative.

The basic build setup is this:
http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-k;7U0;9;9;0T;36A;9-5o0;9;0m-knF6;55VAWFXKYO3V_-o-G-2i;9;9;9;9;3kkkkkkW
The missing stuff is up to personal preference. If you want to mix in more defense or go pure glass is your choice

cursE.1794:

The sad thing is, that if you want to deal high dps in dungeons but you dont like the s/d might stacker combined with lightning hammer, you should switch to another class because there actually is no alternative.

I want high dps, I hate s/d + LH, and I beg to differ.

Zelyhn.8069:

cursE.1794:

The sad thing is, that if you want to deal high dps in dungeons but you dont like the s/d might stacker combined with lightning hammer, you should switch to another class because there actually is no alternative.

I want high dps, I hate s/d + LH, and I beg to differ.

Also, when I used S/D for might stacking in dungeons, while I was in my dmg build, usually the burst dmg I did was so high that before I finished the combo, I was already downed (you can’t dodge while channeling the Churning Earth and doing this stacking outside of combat seems like a waste to me). Also I hate builds that denies Elementalist as a class, if I want to play a 1-button-smashing build, I just can relog to my Warrior, you know?

Sounds like you should play my builds then!

Zelyhn.8069:

Sounds like you should play my builds then!

Yeah, I tried of course, but it’s quite a problem with PUGs, you know, the survivability problems of our class are multiplied while in not-so-optimized group.
Also, I play WvW more lately, ‘couse the season 1, so I’m trying to develop my own builds in there

S/D is weak if you do silly things like, casting phoenix on or in front your target, not using your instant cast skills while channelling, not combo-ing etc. If you know how to use scepter, the burst is insane.

Alilinke.7690:

S/D is weak if you do silly things like, casting phoenix on or in front your target, not using your instant cast skills while channelling, not combo-ing etc. If you know how to use scepter, the DPS is insane.

Please define insane

Sorry, meant burst. The insane burst coupled with lightning hammer results in insane DPS.

Alilinke.7690:

Sorry, meant burst. The insane burst coupled with lightning hammer results in insane DPS.

Ok I can more easily agree with this

Alilinke.7690:

Sorry, meant burst. The insane burst coupled with lightning hammer results in insane DPS.

The insane burst also cause enemies to instantly target you (PvE) and down you before you finish the burst sequence, due to our not-so-insane survivability

@OP

just some tips for running S/D
always, always cast phoenix just behind your target, this makes it hit 3 times instead of 1. I cant stress this enough. Still I see speed clear videos of people casting it in front of the target, it just irritates me.

you can switch attunes while channelling! Just a basic example; while channelling churning earth, switch into air for electric discharge and lightning strike, then switch into water for the +20% damage on vulnerable foes. (this trait works if you switch into water, but doesn’t work with lingering elements.) Not to mention fury from attune switch.

take advantage of instant cast spells. Things like lightning strike, blinding flash, lightning flash and arcane skills can be used at ANY time.

STRanger.5120:

Also, when I used S/D for might stacking in dungeons, while I was in my dmg build, usually the burst dmg I did was so high that before I finished the combo, I was already downed (you can’t dodge while channeling the Churning Earth and doing this stacking outside of combat seems like a waste to me). Also I hate builds that denies Elementalist as a class, if I want to play a 1-button-smashing build, I just can relog to my Warrior, you know?

1. properly played pve dps GS/axe/x warrior is not one buttons smash. Actually you use all the skills from both weapons and all utils including elite and you do it in the correct time – indeed its not that hard to do and to preserve the proper rotation but it is definitivly not 1 button smash.

2. as for ele, from my experience (mostly pugs, but often with averagre/good players) the best thing that ele can do in typical fractal 48+ run is indeed 30 fire/30 arcana + 75% boon duration from runes to keep whole party at 25mights and perm fury using scepter/dagger + LH/FGS while having full buffs and waiting for CD … but if you already have a party that have perm fury/25mights without you, then scepter/x+arcana trait line is bad choice.

Lavadiel.6231:

1. properly played pve dps GS/axe/x warrior is not one buttons smash. Actually you use all the skills from both weapons and all utils including elite and you do it in the correct time – indeed its not that hard to do and to preserve the proper rotation but it is definitivly not 1 button smash.

You don’t use healing signet and signet of fury at all while fgj and signet of rage are being used on cooldown. Real utility skills.

Lavadiel.6231:

STRanger.5120:

Also, when I used S/D for might stacking in dungeons, while I was in my dmg build, usually the burst dmg I did was so high that before I finished the combo, I was already downed (you can’t dodge while channeling the Churning Earth and doing this stacking outside of combat seems like a waste to me). Also I hate builds that denies Elementalist as a class, if I want to play a 1-button-smashing build, I just can relog to my Warrior, you know?

1. properly played pve dps GS/axe/x warrior is not one buttons smash. Actually you use all the skills from both weapons and all utils including elite and you do it in the correct time – indeed its not that hard to do and to preserve the proper rotation but it is definitivly not 1 button smash.

So you admint that playing LH Ele is basically even bigger boredom than playing a Warrior properly, thank you for supporting my point I was exaggerating of course with the 1-button-smashing warrior, but it’s a sad true for the LH Ele…

>So you admint that playing LH Ele is basically even bigger boredom

ofc
The part before, where you try to give 25mighs and perm furo to your party, while damaging/cc’ing enemies is more interesting, but after you conjure LH/FGS its get easy/boring

>You don’t use healing signet and signet of fury

I dont use heling signet at all, I use surge and mostly to refill adrenaline after evi, not to heal.
Additionally you use signets mostly pasively on all proffesions/builds, an exception here is condi elem with earth XII or rage signet so its not only warior problem… if we even can call using signets pasivelly a problem at all.

> fgj and signet of rage are being used on cooldown

on ele I also use some skills right after they are off cooldown, again on any profesion there are skills that the best time to use is ASAP – its general game design problem, not warrior only, that you dont need to react but just to spam off cooldown skills.

Lavadiel.6231:

I dont use heling signet at all, I use surge and mostly to refill adrenaline after evi, not to heal.
Additionally you use signets mostly pasively on all proffesions/builds, an exception here is condi elem with earth XII or rage signet so its not only warior problem… if we even can call using signets pasivelly a problem at all.

Most speedrunners I know use healing signet. Secondly, I don’t recall using signets for their passive effects on mesmer, necro and guardian.

on ele I also use some skills right after they are off cooldown, again on any profesion there are skills that the best time to use is ASAP – its general game design problem, not warrior only, that you dont need to react but just to spam off cooldown skills.

True but skills like arcane wave actually promote using utilities properly.

Could you try using in-built quotation system?

>True but skills like arcane wave actually promote using utilities properly.

yea, arcane wave is overall nice skill. For best use it requires good positioning, optimal combo starter and can be traited with arcane XII to get nice pbaoe immobilise (pvp usage) or air VII to get more cdmg. The only problem with AW is that I dont give my enemy any chance to react to this skill. If I fight someone with 3khp- I will 100% insta kill him using AW and no matter how good/bad he is, he dies. Generaly in pvp I dont approve instant offensive/opener skills. Instant skills should be only used as a response, or eventualy for some buffing. A perfect example for good designed instant skill is shocking aura.

>Could you try using in-built quotation system?

no, I am old stuborn 2chan conservatist