Guild Wars 2

I just feel I have to tell the rest of the forum community about different rotations because I keep seeing the new s/d eles in wvw using the same starting rotation over and over again even against the same opponent (earth skill 1 or 2, air, air 2, blast). The problem with using the same rotation is that as a player it becomes predictable and thus others will see it coming. Of course, you can also use this towards your advantage like having your opponent waste 1 or 2 dodges while you are just doing earth 1 skill but if you are throwing this rotation all at once, any experience player will have your air bursts miss. I will list some of the starting rotations I use and hopefully more s/d eles can incorporate it into their playstyle.

Fire:
Starting with fire casting skill 1 to apply burning, then calculate well and cast fire 5 at a distance from your opponent but as soon as you start casting fire grab do lightning flash to melee distance (this takes a couple of practices to calculate it well specially if your opponent is strafing and not just moving forward or standing still…practice with mobs first). The initial reaction of any player when getting hit with fire grab this way coming from a burst build ele is to dodge and try to heal, switch to air, cast air 2, rtl and updraft to interrupt.

Earth:
Instead of the usual earth 1 or earth 2 hurl, air, air 2 blast rotation, you can do the following. At a distance cast earth 4 as soon as you begin to cast it do lightning flash close to your opponent location to get him with the knock down, follow with air, air 2, blast. You can also confuse those opponents that are familiar with this rotation by jumping in place, having them waste a dodge or two and still be anxious that this is coming.

Water:
You can start off by taking a little bit of punishment specially against a ranger, necro or warrior using bow or rifle at start as a example. Cast water 4 and do Ether Renewal while you are receiving damage, once you are done, unleash with air, air 2, air 3, lightning flash to melee and updraft your opponent really fast (note: always watch your opponent buff whether he/she has stability on before you use updraft) or you can follow up with one of the starting combos mentioned above.

Air
You can even start off and maintain with air. kite your opponent while you are channeling skill 1 and casting air 2 every 3 secs (if you traited for it). rtl to them but don’t updraft immediately unless you are interrupting a heal or you are getting your opponent from their blind spot.

Conjure Fiery Greatsword
It can be an awesome starter too. The great mobility, single and aeo damage it provides makes it a great choice on 1v1 and specially when you are in 1v2, 2v4 or something similar. You keep your actual ele skills intact ready to be used at any moment while you have already dealt significant amount of damage to your opponent just with this elite. Of course switch between attunement to gain those buff from Arcana V trait when needed. If you are outnumbered or trying to get away from a zerg, rtl first; If air attunement or rtl is on cd then cast this elite and while casting gain distance with lightning flash. Switch to water attunement to remove possible cripple or chilled condition then spam skill 3 and 4 while gaining some speed with air attunement.

Did I ever mentioned lightning flash is my favorite ele utility since beta? now you can see the reason why.

FGS
Signet of earth > remove target > fgs 4 > lightning flash > switch attunement for fury = 70-100% hp off most builds if executed perfectly

earth v2
traited for arcane XII (forgot name)
earth 4 > earth 2 > fire attune > arcane wave + blast > fire grab
put in cleansing fire if not traited

Adastra.9821:

FGS
Signet of earth > remove target > fgs 4 > lightning flash > switch attunement for fury = 70-100% hp off most builds if executed perfectly

earth v2
traited for arcane XII (forgot name)
earth 4 > earth 2 > fire attune > arcane wave + blast > fire grab
put in cleansing fire if not traited

That’s an interesting one Adastra. I want to make sure the remove target part you stated you meant no longer have your enemy target and then do fgs skill 4? if so what does that accomplish when you will be missing the leap hit from that skill to your target? just run past them with the fire left behind?

LightningBlaze.4913:

Adastra.9821:

FGS
Signet of earth > remove target > fgs 4 > lightning flash > switch attunement for fury = 70-100% hp off most builds if executed perfectly

earth v2
traited for arcane XII (forgot name)
earth 4 > earth 2 > fire attune > arcane wave + blast > fire grab
put in cleansing fire if not traited

That’s an interesting one Adastra. I want to make sure the remove target part you stated you meant no longer have your enemy target and then do fgs skill 4? if so what does that accomplish when you will be missing the leap hit from that skill to your target? just run past them with the fire left behind?

Yes that’s it, no longer have your enemy targeted. The trail of fire left behind hits in a small aoe and you want to concentrate that in a single area.

This is what it looks like. The golem died or else it would’ve done more damage.

Here’s one I took soon after i casted lightning flash. Note in both these screenshots, I didn’t actually swap attunements for fury so I was sitting at 38% crit chance running 0/30/10/10/20 with all the damage traits I could take.

If I swapped to air mid cast, I would’ve had fury plus another 10% bonus damage from the air trait. More crits also means more vulnerability from the air minor trait.

i dont get the idea behind s/d marriage. either you are ranged or you are melee. either you are trying to get away and have control for kiting for ranged advantage or trying to catch up and have interrupts for melee advantage.

so, which one is it with s/d? whats the gameplay? you waste your teleport to be both far away and up close? and what do you do in between for 40 secs before lightning flash pops again?

gesho.9468:

i dont get the idea behind s/d marriage. either you are ranged or you are melee. either you are trying to get away and have control for kiting for ranged advantage or trying to catch up and have interrupts for melee advantage.

so, which one is it with s/d? whats the gameplay? you waste your teleport to be both far away and up close? and what do you do in between for 40 secs before lightning flash pops again?

Why can’t it be that you have both melee and ranged advantages?

How is it a waste if you’re using lightning flash for positioning? If you use it to get away, you can’t use it to initiate and vice versa. It’s up to you how you want to use your skills. It can be a lifesaver if you’re caught with your pants down.

And of course, lightning flash isn’t the only way to initiate, or get away. There’s always the ol’ RTL into updraft. You could attack from range with your air skills, then when they get close, you have some pbaoe skills.

Adastra.9821:

Why can’t it be that you have both melee and ranged advantages?

it can sure be, in fact it would be great. may be it is.

but then there are seven other profs in the game and they need their gameplay too. if melee caught up with ranged – melee is supposed to win. if ranged managed to stay away from melee – ranged is supposed to win.

single class can’t have advantage in both scenarios. balancing, right?

gesho.9468:

Adastra.9821:

Why can’t it be that you have both melee and ranged advantages?

it can sure be, in fact it would be great. may be it is.

but then there are seven other profs in the game and they need their gameplay too. if melee caught up with ranged – melee is supposed to win. if ranged managed to stay away from melee – ranged is supposed to win.

single class can’t have advantage in both scenarios. balancing, right?

Every class can equip a ranged and a melee set if they choose. There is no such thing as a melee class or ranged class (they are called professions anyway) in GW2.

Having options to deal with both ranged and melee fights on a single set is necessary for game balance in this case. It’s also a fun style once you get the hang of it.

LightningBlaze.4913:

Adastra.9821:

FGS
Signet of earth > remove target > fgs 4 > lightning flash > switch attunement for fury = 70-100% hp off most builds if executed perfectly

earth v2
traited for arcane XII (forgot name)
earth 4 > earth 2 > fire attune > arcane wave + blast > fire grab
put in cleansing fire if not traited

That’s an interesting one Adastra. I want to make sure the remove target part you stated you meant no longer have your enemy target and then do fgs skill 4? if so what does that accomplish when you will be missing the leap hit from that skill to your target? just run past them with the fire left behind?

That line of fire does massive damage, actually if you can make you target follow you into an obstacle, or he’s meleeing a gate or so and you cast FGS4 against an abstacle, you will insta kill your target ^^

If a small havoc squad is trying to take a tower I usually use this against those who are attacking the gate. To even speed up the kill more you can cast FGS3 against a wall after it.

FGS:

You can use FGS 3 or 4 and then LF behind you or around you. This is useful if you want to confuse and engage a different target. Or it can be used to maximize damage on FGS 3 by using LF behind you. To get more whirl hits on the skill if you pass your enemy already (like say hit them once or twice).

FGS 4 can be used in combination with LF to gain distance to attack someone or a small group. FGS 4 till around 500-600 range (max range is 900) and then use LF at near max range. You will be covering approx. 1300 range if done correctly and the person will take a lot of damage.

Other LF tricks:

Cast earth 4 → mid animation use LF → swap air → air 2 + 3 + arcane (if you carry one) → updraft → fire 3 + 5 . Most squishy targets will die if you hit everything.

LF → Updraft → damage combo

Dodge roll in combat → LF on top/near enemy + swap to fire → Fire 5 + 3 → Swap Air

LF can be used after fire 3 to redirect the path so that you can get the return faster (LF towards the enemy on return. Or you can use it in group play to redirect it to hit other targets.

Hope this helps all the S/Ds out there

Or you can use Dragons tooth and cast tornado while dragons tooth is in the air, will give it a damage boost. Could possibly do it with other delayed spells also. Just watch out for the tornado’s casting time.

So after updraft with S/D you’re optimally going to land Fire 3 + 5?

The bad thing is that they’re not burning by the time you land Fire 5… if they were, man… I think I have a solution, but that would mean wasting a precious utility slot – Glyph of Elemental Power. After your combo they would be Weakened, Crippled and with some luck you would hit Fire 5 with them burning. Too bad this glyph sucks and I don’t think I could replace LF or Air Signet with it. What do you think?

Thrashbarg.9820:

Every class can equip a ranged and a melee set if they choose. There is no such thing as a melee class or ranged class (they are called professions anyway) in GW2.

Having options to deal with both ranged and melee fights on a single set is necessary for game balance in this case. It’s also a fun style once you get the hang of it.

i sure mean build (obviously “classe” is not gw2 vocabulary).

build imo is either based on ranged or melee gameplay. what is the positioning goal of s/d? to stay away or to get close up? not surprising that the very first rotation in this thread has to use teleport. dunno, may be it works for atm s/d (just played couple of nights), but if game is balanced (ranger has advantage in range, melee in close up) this kind of hybrids are supposed to be subpar.

but seems like it’s working for some. what can i say, good for you.

Adastra.9821:

Here’s one I took soon after i casted lightning flash. Note in both these screenshots, I didn’t actually swap attunements for fury so I was sitting at 38% crit chance running 0/30/10/10/20 with all the damage traits I could take.

If I swapped to air mid cast, I would’ve had fury plus another 10% bonus damage from the air trait. More crits also means more vulnerability from the air minor trait.

Wow! I will definitely try this when I play today. Thank you Adastra!

gesho.9468:

Adastra.9821:

Why can’t it be that you have both melee and ranged advantages?

it can sure be, in fact it would be great. may be it is.

but then there are seven other profs in the game and they need their gameplay too. if melee caught up with ranged – melee is supposed to win. if ranged managed to stay away from melee – ranged is supposed to win.

single class can’t have advantage in both scenarios. balancing, right?

That’s one of the beauty of s/d, you get the option to specialize on both melee and range. Sort of like a boxing match, you get to go in and out to do damage. The idea behind if melee caught up with ranged, melee wins and vice-versa is a traditional mmo playstyle, it doesn’t apply in gw2. In gw2 all the melee classes can easily catch up to ranged classes and still lose while in melee.

gesho.9468:

Thrashbarg.9820:

Every class can equip a ranged and a melee set if they choose. There is no such thing as a melee class or ranged class (they are called professions anyway) in GW2.

Having options to deal with both ranged and melee fights on a single set is necessary for game balance in this case. It’s also a fun style once you get the hang of it.

i sure mean build (obviously “classe” is not gw2 vocabulary).

build imo is either based on ranged or melee gameplay. what is the positioning goal of s/d? to stay away or to get close up? not surprising that the very first rotation in this thread has to use teleport. dunno, may be it works for atm s/d (just played couple of nights), but if game is balanced (ranger has advantage in range, melee in close up) this kind of hybrids are supposed to be subpar.

but seems like it’s working for some. what can i say, good for you.

The very first rotation doesn’t have to involve in teleporting to your target. It is only a choice if you like and if the situation allows you to. For example instead of the fire rotation i stated, from range you can cast fire 4 just to have the fire field up then use utility blast and phoenix to gain the finisher effects as a starting combo, follow with air or earth attunement, all while keeping yourself at range.

Avatar Yirachi.7162:

LightningBlaze.4913:

Adastra.9821:

FGS
Signet of earth > remove target > fgs 4 > lightning flash > switch attunement for fury = 70-100% hp off most builds if executed perfectly

earth v2
traited for arcane XII (forgot name)
earth 4 > earth 2 > fire attune > arcane wave + blast > fire grab
put in cleansing fire if not traited

That’s an interesting one Adastra. I want to make sure the remove target part you stated you meant no longer have your enemy target and then do fgs skill 4? if so what does that accomplish when you will be missing the leap hit from that skill to your target? just run past them with the fire left behind?

That line of fire does massive damage, actually if you can make you target follow you into an obstacle, or he’s meleeing a gate or so and you cast FGS4 against an abstacle, you will insta kill your target ^^

If a small havoc squad is trying to take a tower I usually use this against those who are attacking the gate. To even speed up the kill more you can cast FGS3 against a wall after it.

Woooow! I have always used FGS only to escape (even before rtl was nerf) but during the past 4 weeks i started using it during combat and this combo never occurred to me. I can now see how it deals even more massive damage this way and I will definitely put it in practice when I log in!

Adastra.9821:

Here’s one I took soon after i casted lightning flash. Note in both these screenshots, I didn’t actually swap attunements for fury so I was sitting at 38% crit chance running 0/30/10/10/20 with all the damage traits I could take.

If I swapped to air mid cast, I would’ve had fury plus another 10% bonus damage from the air trait. More crits also means more vulnerability from the air minor trait.

I just did this to one opponent and wow he just melt with these 2 skills. This deals such a massive damage.