Guild Wars 2

Hey, I’m a little new to Tempest in PvP. I’m playing the cookie-cutter heal/bunker MetaBattle build because I’m not really experienced enough with the class to devise my own builds. I’m only really doing it for the profession achievement since I regrettably don’t enjoy the healing/bunkering playstyle very much. I have a couple of questions though.

1.) I feel completely at the mercy of my teammates. If the teammates are good, I can heal them up, we focus people down well, stomp, etc. If they’re a bit inexperienced or unfocused, we lose miserably and no amount of healing I do can save the game. Are there any general tips for turning games around with this build?

2.) I almost always stand around in mid point, even when there’s nobody there. Whenever I leave mid to help another point, some sneaky enemy player goes and takes it, and then I’m blamed by my team for losing mid. Is there any point roaming to other points beyond mid at all?

3.) What exactly should I be… doing? My focuses generally are spamming auras off-cooldown, trying to land at least one overload in the plethora of AoE dazes/stuns, healing allies when I see them low, and using CC on the enemy we target. That seems to work out, but it feels overly simple and “same-y”. Where’s the skill gap between good and bad Tempests? What do you see Tempests do in PvP that make you think “kitten that’s a good Tempest”?

4.) I usually urge my team to focus the enemy tempest if he’s used his Obsidian Flesh or just swapped out of Earth. Is that usually a good idea?

5.) Are there any general survival tips and tricks if you’re getting focused? Naturally aside from using Obsidian Flesh and usual kiting / LoSing.

Thanks!

1.) you are right. While ele wins teamfights, he winth them with the team. You can´t turn it with the meta build. If the team is bad you loose.

Suggestion: In solo Q don´t use meta build. Build more agressive but keep enough teamsupport to make the diffrence. Menders amulet is one option here. This might allow to win duels too. I do it with viper. This can win matches. In random groups you will loose to a premade regardless of your build but you can win the more uncoordinated matches.

2.) This is usualy not so bad. On foefire you can move a bit, but watch the map carefully. It happen to me to that i left the point to win elswere but got decapped …
This is situational and i can´t give a general advice. Sitting on the point is more often the better choice.

3.) In a teamfight you keep protection on your team and heal if someone gets hit. Your auras keep regen and protection up quite easy. Use earth overload. It normaly does well inbetween aura spam :-). Start fights in air with swirling winds and try overloading before you swap. For rebound i fire it a moment before the clash, so it kicks in after the first hits poping shock or magnetic aura.

4.) Depends on your team. If you have a necro do it. Use boon corrupt and balst him.
If you can Moa him do it and win. Never try it with projectiles. You loose the fight against a good tempest player if you try. Focusing oposing necromancer is often better first.

5.) Kiting is important. Don´t stay in all area effects …. Keep moving. Learn to use magnetic wave perfectly. This one is a killer and life saver in one. Use your knockdown against a necromancer. Staying in earth and overloading also helps well to stay alive.
All i can say is try to keep battle awareness. If you are out of earth and a rev or thief picks you without you dodging you die ^^.
I survive a while well without obsidian flesh and keep it for savestomp. If i get realy heavy focused and must use it, i also fire rebound(if available) and disengage to eiter survive or pull the enemy off point behind me.

What to do as a bunker ele to help you carry not so great players I think is what you are really trying to ask.

The safest thing would be to just stay at mid the entire game, unless you are just getting 3v1 its better to run away than die. Bunkering mid makes the mid fights easier while allowing teammates to focus their efforts on to the home node or push to far.

The hardest thing is trying to make up for your teams mistakes by carrying them at home and mid.

A couple of fighting tips.
1. Dont be afraid to stand off point for a second or 2 to avoid damage
2. Earth overload is the safest overload to use in large team fights and should be used often

Are there any viable builds with a staff for Ele in PvP?

auromancer staff is ok, but at higher levels you miss the defense of focus, and dagger has better offensive options.

The savestomp from focus 5 is a winner and magnetic wave a strong joker.
Staff is to slow and predictable when people know how to play.
I pesonally would swap magnetic aura from staff with obsidian flesh from focus. This might turn a lot :-)

Maelwro.7562:

Are there any viable builds with a staff for Ele in PvP?

I was playing staff in PVP for over 6 months (over a year in PVE). Last month I went d/f. Though I am no expert (at Ruby currently), I can say without doubt that d/f is way better for support and survival, with auramancer build. You cannot kill a baby rat though… but at least you stay alive long enough when targeted, with staff you melt in seconds.

I play staff ele. So far at Legendary prestige 2, soon reach prestige 3 if I can get games hahaha. I’m not competitive player so keep that in mind. It’s fine for casual games. Use water 131, coz aquamancer training with cleansing water makes water 5 so awesome.

Your job is basically to make your teammates stay alive. A good Ele rotates well. Several rules that I have for rotation : Always go to teamfight, Never do +1 coz your damage sucks and you need to be at teamfight instead of 1v1. If your teammate +1 you, and you see there is a teamfight somewhere else and you think your teammate can 1v1 your current enemy, leave the point and go to the teamfight instead. You have to count your enemies as well, make sure they won’t sneak behind and steal your point easily. If the teamfight happens at enemies’ point, It means your teammates are dumb and they deserve to die bcoz it makes your points vulnerable and if they die at that fight, your enemies will snowball really hard to your points so just try to keep your distance(if you use staff , stay between the teamfight and your closest point so you can help your teammates from good distance to your points). Another case, you fight neutral point at mid and you see someone is going to steal your home . Don’t leave the fight bcoz they will die without you. Rotation takes some time to learn but very important as ele.

TL:DR for rotation: Always go to teamfight while paying attention to your points. Don’t fight at enemies point as stated before, fight at your points or neutral points.

Don’t spam auras. Use it for healing and condi cleanse. Pay attention to your teammates’ health bar at the top left.

Staff is cheese mode bcoz you can range so you don’t have to be good at dodging key attacks. You don’t have obsidian flesh though so you can’t safe-rez or safe-stomp really well. If you are focused, use lightning flash to higher ground and damage/support from range. Stack swiftness at the start of the game. Overload fire along the way to give mights to your teammates and swap to earth after that. You need to be at earth coz you may be focused. The stability and prot and earth defense trait will help you through that.

It’s a common knowledge that necro can be focused easily especially at early game coz they have low life force. Focus necro instead of Ele, unless you guys have MLG strategy like attacking from stealth. If you have necro on your teammate, pay attention to that necro. People usually jump to necro so it works both ways.