Guild Wars 2

So, I do not post much in this thread, however I am interested in seeing how the community has begun using the new trait: Lightning Rod

Lightning Rod
Interrupting an enemy causes them to be struck by a damaging lightning bolt.
Damage Damage: 539
Weakness: 4 s

My biggest issue with this is that Elementalist interrupts are so hard to land, which yes I understand that puts a bit of skill into playing a build that revolves around this trait, and that is exactly what I’m wanting to play. However, the only build that seems to spring into my mind is combining the traits Lightning Rod, Electric Discharge, and the Superior Sigil of Air for damage while using Blinding Ashes for survivability.

Basically going 6/6/x/x/x with offhand Dagger for interrupts and sustain.

When it comes down to this build, I’d presume I’d be playing PvE or possible 1v1 scenarios as this trait should be used with Staff for Static Field for anything larger scale.

But yes, thoughts? Theories? Preferably some builds my fellow elementalists are running that makes good use of this trait?

Stealing a list of elementalist interrupts from another user, which can help in the theory crafting here:

serapheles.5409:

To the best of my knowledge, Gust, Static Field, Shocking Aura (proc), Updraft, Earthquake, Comet, and Gale, plus a couple underwater/conjured skills, all interrupt.

I also feel like Unsteady Ground interrupts if they run into it, but I’m not sure.

That gives us the following interrupts on the following weapons:

Staff – Gust, Static Field (2)
MH Dagger – Shocking Aura (on proc) (1)
OH Dagger – Updraft, Earthquake (2)
Scepter – None (0)
Focus – Comet, Gale (2)

Since my above idea focuses on also using Burns to Blind via Burning Ashes I would also need sources of burn. Which leaves me with the following:

Staff – Flame Burst, Burning Retreat (2)
MH Dagger – Dragon’s Breath, Burning Speed (2)
OH Dagger – Ring of Fire (1)
Scepter – Flame Strike, Dragons Tooth (2)
Focus – Flame Wall, Fire Shield (2)

Judging by access alone this leaves me with two suggested weapon sets that would provide the most interrupts and burn chances; Staff or Dagger/Focus. Though it is worth noting the burst potential of having a main hand Scepter if I feel my damage is too low.

Which leaves me thinking of something along the lines of:

Traits: 6/6/0/0/2
- Fire: V – X(VIII/VII) – XIII
- Air: VI – X – XIII
- Arcane: II

Any constructive criticism so far?

0/6/0/4/4
Fire blinding doesn’t give anywhere near the amount of protection you need in pvp. Water is needed for decent sustain and 4 in arcana is needed for the essential atunement swapping.

Weapons S/F
Focus in pvp is much better than dagger simply because the air knockdown is ranged and cannot miss compared to the air knockdown of staff. Focus also has comet which almost never misses even at range compared to Static field which is quite obviously telegraphed with a giant red circle. But I guess static field could be considered more useful.
Fresh air is better by the way…

0/6/0/4/4
Staff
Wvw build you will interrupt ppl spamming 1. Also staff have 3 interrupts the earth 4 wall will interrupt and you can run tornado for massive intrudes. If you feel that you need more you can use the earth shield for the pull and daze. As for 1v1 you may be better off running fresh air though it seems the on air swap dose less dmg then the lightning rod but its much harder to land lightning rod if they have stability.

While the Trait itself sounds pretty good, the Ele just doesnt have enough access to interrupts to make it worth taking.

Duran.3196:

While the Trait itself sounds pretty good, the Ele just doesnt have enough access to interrupts to make it worth taking.

About 6 if you go all in its just not as easy for ele to interrupt as say a mez because they tend to have cast times where mez interrupt tends to be one button interrupt but most of ele interrupts are aoe so its good vs larger groups.

Duran.3196:

While the Trait itself sounds pretty good, the Ele just doesnt have enough access to interrupts to make it worth taking.

GOOD? This kitten sounds good to you ???? A grandmaster trait that does the same dmg as the 15 point MINOR trait in the same line with a totally random chance that you even interrupt anyone with your cc’s.It is as of now the new worst ele gm trait and should be boycotted by everyone until it gets seriously reworked.

For all the people who hate on this trait, it DOES have its place.

When running with my guild as a staff ele in WvW, I LOVE THIS TRAIT!! Remember, there is NO ICD on the interrupts, and staff has lots of aoe interrupts.

The BEST thing is that it super-charges Meteor-shower—>tornado:
Lay down your meteor shower, tornado, and yolo into a large group. Not only do your meteors hit like trucks, but you are going to get tons of interrupts, which also hit like trucks, while spamming out blinds to cover yourself, and bodies HIT THE FLOOR! This alone has turned some outnumbered fights completely in our favor.

Not only that, but dropping static fields, earth 4, and gust all now increase my dps as a damage dealer. It also allows me to be offensive while I gtfo. Staff ele has some great mobility, and while people chase they often spam attacks. I have killed (accidentally even) thieves by continuing to drop aoes, with my earth 4 rock wall finishing him off as he pursued with heartseeker (2.5 k damage!). Just remember to use the free camera so you can lay down these cc’s behind you while you run!

I am even trying this trait out on staff zerker ele in pvp, as it allows you to apply more aoe pressure over yourself to ward off melee attacks when you are caught alone. Dropping a line/static field and positioning just next to it, any thief that shadowsteps to you eats the interrupt, takes serious dps, and has 4s of weakness (which kills their dps).

I think this trait is a hidden gem in this patch for staff dps builds, and will see more use once people catch on.

Swimsasa Stoon.8936:

0/6/0/4/4
Fire blinding doesn’t give anywhere near the amount of protection you need in pvp. Water is needed for decent sustain and 4 in arcana is needed for the essential atunement swapping.

Weapons S/F
Focus in pvp is much better than dagger simply because the air knockdown is ranged and cannot miss compared to the air knockdown of staff. Focus also has comet which almost never misses even at range compared to Static field which is quite obviously telegraphed with a giant red circle. But I guess static field could be considered more useful.
Fresh air is better by the way…

While I do agree with some of your points made, I do have to point out a few some flaws.

I agree that Focus is the better offhand, if I want to go without staff, which I noted in my second post.
I also agree that I prefer the interrupts on the Focus compared to the staff, primarily Gust which is rather easy to avoid even when used skillfully.

But I do not agree that Fresh Air is a better trait. It is a great trait for a full on S/D(F) bust spam fest. But if you want to break away from the same cookie cutter builds that everyone else is playing you cannot discredit a Lightning Rod Interrupt build. It is definitely something worth looking into.

I also do not necessarily agree that Blinding Ashes does not provide enough defense. Remember, I stated that I primarily would be focusing on PvE and 1v1 scenarios – which a constant blind every five seconds, on top of dodging, interrupting, invulnerability on Earth 5 (Focus), etc you get quite a bit of defense.

I also do not agree that it’s necessary to put 4 into Arcana simply for the Elemental Attunement. In my opinion that falls into the same assumption that many elementalists make requiring you to go after Evasive Arcana at all costs..

Jski.6180:

0/6/0/4/4
Staff
Wvw build you will interrupt ppl spamming 1. Also staff have 3 interrupts the earth 4 wall will interrupt and you can run tornado for massive intrudes. If you feel that you need more you can use the earth shield for the pull and daze. As for 1v1 you may be better off running fresh air though it seems the on air swap dose less dmg then the lightning rod but its much harder to land lightning rod if they have stability.

I didn’t think about pulling Earth Shield into the mix (though I must sayI did start theorizing in this thread just before I went to bed, so I was beat); I personally think it’s a great idea. Same with Tornado. Might make it a little more appealing as an Elite to throw on your bar. I appreciate the suggestions!

Windwalker.2047:

Duran.3196:

While the Trait itself sounds pretty good, the Ele just doesnt have enough access to interrupts to make it worth taking.

GOOD? This kitten sounds good to you ???? A grandmaster trait that does the same dmg as the 15 point MINOR trait in the same line with a totally random chance that you even interrupt anyone with your cc’s.It is as of now the new worst ele gm trait and should be boycotted by everyone until it gets seriously reworked.

First, this deals more damage than Electric Discharge has a base damage of 287 and Lightning Rod has 513. It’s also not random, if you know how to play an interrupt build. Second, I do agree that it is significantly harder than on a Mesmer, where I also play interrupt, but it’s not random.

Either way, great to wake up to so much discussion. I’ll be revising my first two posts sometime today and hopefully will have come up with a few more ideas.

Jaco it is different perspective. In WvW, u need some support and that’s come with “Staff” not “Focus” For lightning rod, u have earth4, wind3, static, tornado that’s work for the rod. It’s extremely good.
Talking about build 0/6/4/0/4 is a teamplayer build. Rocksolid,Ele attument is definitely ‘a must’ for any guild group oriented staff ele build. (U can switch out rock solid for something else if u feel ur team has enough guardians)

Tajz.9826:

Talking about build 0/6/4/0/4 is a teamplayer build. Rocksolid,Ele attument is definitely ‘a must’ for any guild group oriented staff ele build. (U can switch out rock solid for something else if u feel ur team has enough guardians)

Yea, I was stuck on rock-solid for a while, but I really like the cleanse and blast I get from evasive arcana to support the group. Also, rock solid has such a small aoe range, it often-times isn’t shared with as many people while you are staying in the back-line.

That said, lightning rod is still an amazing trait and I feel it BUFFED wvw ele dps builds.

BlackBeard.2873:

I am even trying this trait out on staff zerker ele in pvp, as it allows you to apply more aoe pressure over yourself to ward off melee attacks when you are caught alone. Dropping a line/static field and positioning just next to it, any thief that shadowsteps to you eats the interrupt, takes serious dps, and has 4s of weakness (which kills their dps).

I’ve considered this on my zerker build, since it wouldn’t require major trait movement – and I could take Alacrity as Master trait to get more frequent rupt skills. Getting Thieves to shadowstep into Static Fields is already fun, but I’m now trying to pay attention to see how often they get rupted on entry. I’d otherwise go for Tempest Defence if trying GM air, but the Staff’s single stun makes that a bit less useful for the added damage.

cheese.4739:

I’ve considered this on my zerker build, since it wouldn’t require major trait movement – and I could take Alacrity as Master trait to get more frequent rupt skills. Getting Thieves to shadowstep into Static Fields is already fun, but I’m now trying to pay attention to see how often they get rupted on entry. I’d otherwise go for Tempest Defence if trying GM air, but the Staff’s single stun makes that a bit less useful for the added damage.

The key to getting thieves to eat the dps and weakness is positioning. Place your line or static ring such that you stand right next to the edge of it with the line/ring right between you and the theif. When they shadowstep in with their precast skill (as most do) they will be placed in a spot that immediately ’rupts them and strikes them. You should already be dropping aoes right ontop of yourself that also cover that spot too, so they will eat a good bit more damage too. If they are interrupted, the weakness really slows their dps a lot and can buy you precious seconds for someone to arrive and protect you (as more than likely you are going to lose the 1v1 with a thief if you are holding a staff).

Jaco.7081:

Swimsasa Stoon.8936:

0/6/0/4/4
Fire blinding doesn’t give anywhere near the amount of protection you need in pvp. Water is needed for decent sustain and 4 in arcana is needed for the essential atunement swapping.

Weapons S/F
Focus in pvp is much better than dagger simply because the air knockdown is ranged and cannot miss compared to the air knockdown of staff. Focus also has comet which almost never misses even at range compared to Static field which is quite obviously telegraphed with a giant red circle. But I guess static field could be considered more useful.
Fresh air is better by the way…

While I do agree with some of your points made, I do have to point out a few some flaws.

I agree that Focus is the better offhand, if I want to go without staff, which I noted in my second post.
I also agree that I prefer the interrupts on the Focus compared to the staff, primarily Gust which is rather easy to avoid even when used skillfully.

But I do not agree that Fresh Air is a better trait. It is a great trait for a full on S/D(F) bust spam fest. But if you want to break away from the same cookie cutter builds that everyone else is playing you cannot discredit a Lightning Rod Interrupt build. It is definitely something worth looking into.

I also do not necessarily agree that Blinding Ashes does not provide enough defense. Remember, I stated that I primarily would be focusing on PvE and 1v1 scenarios – which a constant blind every five seconds, on top of dodging, interrupting, invulnerability on Earth 5 (Focus), etc you get quite a bit of defense.

I also do not agree that it’s necessary to put 4 into Arcana simply for the Elemental Attunement. In my opinion that falls into the same assumption that many elementalists make requiring you to go after Evasive Arcana at all costs..

Jski.6180:

0/6/0/4/4
Staff
Wvw build you will interrupt ppl spamming 1. Also staff have 3 interrupts the earth 4 wall will interrupt and you can run tornado for massive intrudes. If you feel that you need more you can use the earth shield for the pull and daze. As for 1v1 you may be better off running fresh air though it seems the on air swap dose less dmg then the lightning rod but its much harder to land lightning rod if they have stability.

I didn’t think about pulling Earth Shield into the mix (though I must sayI did start theorizing in this thread just before I went to bed, so I was beat); I personally think it’s a great idea. Same with Tornado. Might make it a little more appealing as an Elite to throw on your bar. I appreciate the suggestions!

Windwalker.2047:

Duran.3196:

While the Trait itself sounds pretty good, the Ele just doesnt have enough access to interrupts to make it worth taking.

GOOD? This kitten sounds good to you ???? A grandmaster trait that does the same dmg as the 15 point MINOR trait in the same line with a totally random chance that you even interrupt anyone with your cc’s.It is as of now the new worst ele gm trait and should be boycotted by everyone until it gets seriously reworked.

First, this deals more damage than Electric Discharge has a base damage of 287 and Lightning Rod has 513. It’s also not random, if you know how to play an interrupt build. Second, I do agree that it is significantly harder than on a Mesmer, where I also play interrupt, but it’s not random.

Either way, great to wake up to so much discussion. I’ll be revising my first two posts sometime today and hopefully will have come up with a few more ideas.

Well the reduced atunement swap CD is also necesary to do combos so which ever trait you end up choosing the reduced atunement swap CD feels like a must. But I guess for pve and 1v1’s the blinding ashes trait would be really usefull, could go in tandem with the scepter blinds. If you time ‘m and are fighting a slow attacking enemy you can blind lock ’m probably. But blind is rendered useless when y’r opponent uses quick attacks. This is also something you must factor in.

lightning on interrupt with 2 interrupts each on a 30+ sec. CD while air provides the highest single target damage of all the atunements and fresh air lets you use it freely whenever you want. Plus it synergizes with air 15 and 25 and the prec. + ferocity stats you’re getting from going into air.
Lighning rod does not synergize with the air stats it does not have any added benefit besides the dmg.

Those are my concerns. But if y’r going staff in a 1v1 I betcha it could work. Since most of y’r damage skills and with the minor trait that gives burning on crit y’r sure to blind every couple seconds without intending to. Might actually waste the blind timing… Did you factor that in too? But with Staff earth 4, air 5 and 3 sorta you can do quite a few aoe interrupts… Anyways Fresh air is hard to pull off when playing staff I feel like…

All this trait needs to be really good is one slot skill with an instant speed interrupt. Maybe change sigil of air from a blind to a push. Or maybe make one of the glyphs do…anything. Actually a glyph would be better because it would have synergy with the air trait line.

I have been playing ele for far too long now (since head start -_- I just love personal punishment) and picking up this new trait has felt really refreshing. It adds a new meaning to those interrupts on focus and OH dagger. I think a build of 0/6/4/4/0 would work nicely. D/F in my opinion would work better for wvw and pvp as there is more defence on dagger but sceptre in pve for that extra damage. Also using that trait that gives bonus crit damage when using an arcane skill would work nicely as that would cause the bolt from the trait to crit for lots more. Focus is better IMO as people have said before the interrupts are ranged and harder to predict. Blinding ashes are in my complete personal opinion are not worth it as the cd is a little long for how I would prefer to use it, but in the right hands I think t could work with careful management!
Good luck sorry bout the errors, my phone is being annoying :P

Do the blinds from scepter count as interrupts?

lol no, when you blind someone, do you see interrupt pop up on your screen?

Proc on interrupt is just a joke trait main. C’mon, i mean first you need to disable enemy and 2nd the disable should interrupt.

It is like 20% of chance of a 20% chance. Maybe less. And what u get is a crappier version of Electric Discharge.

I sort of want to try this out just to kitten off people who are stupid enough to continue spamming skills while walking into unsteady ground repeatedly. Could do a ton of free damage on people not paying attention.

I have a theory: Powerful Auras and Shocking Aura… But I haven’t used this trait yet, so someone else needs to test if it counts the interrupts as yours and activates Lightning Rod…

The interrupts on staff are way too “passive” (ie luck-based) for this trait to ever be good. Ele just doesn’t have enough interrupts.

Its good:
http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fFEQFAWhMM6ZW5wzBr0AOAGxgQNQcEIA8CLuFWCA-TVCEABJcBASZ/BnUGhp6PbpEkJlCapkpNdEA8gACAgAwNv5Nv5NvZpAEVYE-w

Staff interrupts are quite reliable if you use it when zergs collide (needs timing).

I recommend:

Frozen ground just before they collide => static => MS+tornado (tornado interrupts itself) => unsteady ground.

I don’t know, 30 points for maybe 2-3 damage procs per 2 min engagement seems pretty bad IMO. Not to mention it gets worse the better the enemies you’re facing.

This has been my most-used build since the patch:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fFAQJAoYhcMac25wwBd0ANAG5jQN4HIeCEAihleCA-TJBFwAOeAAl2fAaZAAnAAA

D/D has some great uses with lightning rod since you can potentially get 3x interrupts, and a weakness from #2 Air.

Aeromancer’s alacrity really helps with those cooldowns too and makes it more feasible to land multiple interrupts in a fight.