Guild Wars 2

I have been playing a ele for a bit and have nailed down a couple sequences or ‘rotations’ that allow me to maximize my own combo fields. I wanted to create a post where people can share what they have discovered or even learn a little. Most of these I have set up to stack might, since I go all out for boon duration (+70%).

combo fields: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Combo

I’ll be using abbreviations for each attunement (e.g. fire #3 weapon skill = f3, or switching attunement into fire = saf).

d/d: Open with f3, get some dmg done with f2 into f5 (which can hit like a truck) and then start the might stacking. f4 > sae > earth evasive arcana for blast in field > e4 > arcane wave > e5. Its about 50% of the time that I am quick enough to get earth 5 finisher in there too, but this gives about 12 stacks of might. Air is open for any control you need to lay down, and water for recovery.

s/f: (my favorite!) f4 > f2 > f3 > sae > earth evasive arcana > arcane wave > e4… for a whopping 15 stacks of might. I prefer this setup since focus provides tones of nice survivability in PVE.

s/d: I really dont prefer to play with this setup, but i imagine the ‘rotation’ would be similar.

staff: I dont always staff, but when I do staff I prefer to blast into water fields and heal everyone. It looks a little like… e2 > saw> w3 > w5 > evasive arcana water > arcane wave, which usually tops anyone off. Remember to place the w3 on top of the e2. I have been told several times that the amount of support I can provide lets people play a little more ‘fast and loose’ to pump out more dmg.

I’m kind of excited to see what other ‘sequences’ or ‘rotations’ other people have come up with!

I need to get more practice in, I just switched to evasive arcana, and have been using a scepter for the first time regularly, but haven’t been able to layer in enough time to get earth5 into the combo yet. I believe the combo field lasts for 6 seconds.

For S/D: f2 > f4 > f3 > arcane wave > sae > e4. That’s as far as I usually get. I have a sigil of battle to grant 3 stacks on swap, so this combo grants 15 stacks. I’m working on getting the evasive arcana roll in there and get it about 33% of the time right now. Still an awesome sequence either way.

Sleepcoma.9487:

I need to get more practice in, I just switched to evasive arcana, and have been using a scepter for the first time regularly, but haven’t been able to layer in enough time to get earth5 into the combo yet. I believe the combo field lasts for 6 seconds.

For S/D: f2 > f4 > f3 > arcane wave > sae > e4. That’s as far as I usually get. I have a sigil of battle to grant 3 stacks on swap, so this combo grants 15 stacks. I’m working on getting the evasive arcana roll in there and get it about 33% of the time right now. Still an awesome sequence either way.

Try doing fire 3 before fire 4. Or at least just rely on f4 for being your fire field. It stays up long enough to fit in EA, earth 4, and earth 5.

And personally, i dont even bother with fire 2 & fire 5 in the first rotation, i just switch back to fire after i have 25 stacks of might from my rotation, then use fire 2 and 5.

On topic: Might stacks are about the only one you can get creative with that’s also useful. Learning to stack swiftness is also useful.

Staff – Earth 2 > switch to Air > Air 5 over your erupting earth > and arcane wave.

i usually use d/d or s/d, but i switch to my staff while i’m traversing great distances for that swiftness combo. Once i’m back to my offhand dagger, i use Air 5 for more swiftness.

@Sleepcoma: Yeah, dagger f4 lasts for 6 seconds. This plays into why I choose to use the focus off hand to generate the fire field for two reasons, time and ease. Flame wall lasts for 8 seconds, which makes it much easier to fit everything in. Second, flame wall is much nicer to wield and then use. When using Ring of Fire, I have to place the field then back up, then ‘roll’ into the field for earth’s evasive arcana blast finisher. Flame wall I dont have that problem.

Also, about sigils. I use intelligence for the 100% crit chance and force for the flat dmg bonus. But this brings up another question, do on wep swaps all work together? In other words, would have both battle and intelligence and swapping give both the 100% crit chance AND the three stacks of might?

iilii.9648:

But this brings up another question, do on wep swaps all work together? In other words, would have both battle and intelligence and swapping give both the 100% crit chance AND the three stacks of might?

No. On swap Sigils all share the same cooldown

Churning earth only need to start in fire field to get the combo, and since arcane wave can be cast during channel, you should move it there.

Without evasive arcana i usualy do f4-e4-e3-e5-arcane blast if i have it.

Not entirely related, but just a nice tip that some people may not know. You can switch attunements part way through a casted spell. This not only lets you get through your attunements quicker, but also lets you take advantage of traits (Switch to Air part way through your Fire Grab cast to take advantage of Air Training) and take advantage of fury (granted on attunement switch with 5 points in arcana.)

Has anyone ever made a conscience effort to use combo fields in a group setting. Like, letting a warrior know your about to drop a fire field then they let loose their finishers?

Dragons tooth→ring of fire→phoenix→earthquake→arcane wave→churning earth→lightningx2-Ride the Lightning→updraft→ice shards→frost aura→heal up if necessary→dragons tooth→ring of fire etc. (+sigil of battle for 18ish stacks of might on the initial burst and with boonduration runes you’ll be able to stack might up to 25.).

I coordinate with my guild frequently both in WvW and when running dungeons. Once everyone knows what finishers they have access to and constantly see my combo fields on the ground, they know to help themselves to healing, regen, frost armor, might and swiftness. Also, we coordinate vulnerability stacks using projectiles when I drop a static field, it’s both fun and effective!

We’ve been thinking about setting up a couple of coaching sessions to get new members familiar with dodging and combo mechanics, so I might put up a video tutorial to go with it in the future.

iilii.9648:

Has anyone ever made a conscience effort to use combo fields in a group setting. Like, letting a warrior know your about to drop a fire field then they let loose their finishers?

If you’re with a good group in WvW you will see this a lot— a concerted effort to blast water fields at doors, might stacking before engagements, swiftness on the run, etc.

I just wish they would increase the duration you get for frost auras. You can blast it with like 2 or 3 finishers and only get like…4 seconds of frost aura? I wish they would increase the duration, it’s a cool skill and it could be useful if it lasted more than a few seconds.