Guild Wars 2

So after the patch I’m dedicating each day that I can play to one of the classes I care about: Ele today. (WvW mostly atm)

I’m decided to run 00111 as it allows me to not worry about condi enemies at all, in 1v2s i can even totally ignore them if i am able to burst down any power opponent.

What do you think though, is 10011, 01011 or 00111 better? Fire line also looks pretty decent with my strength runes for extra might stacking and also offers pretty nice condi remove as well as blinds (not sure if i should take that one?)…

And in 00111 I’m still unsure about whether to take Earth’s Embrace (60s CD, Condi Remove, Stun Breaker, Regen, Vigor, 5 Stab and Protection for 6,5s) or Elemental Shielding (3,5s Protection on Aura)
I’m tending to Earths’ Embrace atm because it seems to offer me a lot more (even though that seems a bit like stability overkill, i should probably switch out my major Rock Solid [1 Stab on switching to Earth] to Strength of Stone [10% of toughness in condi dmg] then?)

Edit: got 1940 toughness

I feel like anything is on the table right now. I am personally a fan of 01011 right now bc it is the trait line i took before the patch. I can see a 10110 or dare i even say 11100 build becoming a possibility. You will have to be creative in trying to fill the gaps left behind by leaving water or arcana but i believe if people are willing to alter their play styles a bit any combination of the 5 is possible to become effective. I would even consider Traveler or Speed ….or the Radiance runes to make up both Boon duration and or Swiftness (since you are celestial stats anyways traveler i can see working out fine)

what is 1 ? I thought we were using 3?

Ya i can see how it would be confusing. The way i read the OP was Fire/Air/Earth/Water/Arcana in that order. I dont think the 3 or 1 makes a difference really bc it is then while trait line or nothing now. So saying how many points you put into the line doesnt mean much. Id rather see them as letters not tbh. F/R/E/W/A

i am too used to playing my elementalist with arcana + water by now though, for pvp i used to run with earth for +10% dmg and wvw with the fury/swiftness from auras

but i am trying out 10011 atm (fire, water, arcana) and it seems really good with the extra might stacking by using the cantrips, having a lot of extra condi damage (with might you get +30 power, +30 condi damage per stack – and if i checke correctly 10% of that extra power is also going to your condi dmg by the major trait in fire)
also playing with burn applies blind currently, seems the most viable GM in Fire for a cele wvw roaming build
for the might stacks on fire attacks i just dont camp fire enough and i already got perma fury through arcana minor + major so the blind on burn is something im trying out

Are you guys still running full celestial ? I’ve heard it has lost its tankiness…

Ekletik.3724:

Are you guys still running full celestial ? I’ve heard it has lost its tankiness…

But gained a lot of damage, which is still nice.

ArthurDent.9538:

Ekletik.3724:

Are you guys still running full celestial ? I’ve heard it has lost its tankiness…

But gained a lot of damage, which is still nice.

It is, but if our survival depended on having high defense / healing, we actually get the short end of the stick now – specially with everyone and their mother running zerk builds.

D/F is looking better just because of the defense mechanics. Helps you stay alive to try and do your damage, but honestly, I feel like an easy kill with D/D and when I am going with my ranger I no longer have respect for eles, specially now that rangers have access to taunt as another interrupt through their pets.

Still have to try condi ele.

Honestly, I am thinking (as of now) you are best off running Air/Water/Arcana:

http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-o33;2B2VU0z4-NkY0;9;432G;0147046146;9;1F-03F-030y

Why air over fire/earth:

Fire is honestly just bad. At GM, you only would take the blind-spam, but until that has a per-target CD it is just trash. They even nerfed the adept burns. Earth isn’t too bad, but the GM options are pretty lack-luster. Earth can work, but it doesn’t seem to provide that much. Air, however, gives you great mobility and damage options, and I feel like this is a time where a good offense is a good defense.

So within air, which traits are best? Truth is, most options are pretty good besides the glyph trait. Variations:

Fresh air: This is one of the 4 most powerful ele traits (lots of damage AND utility). Not only does it give you more damage from lightning procs, it also gives you access to lightning whip on-demand (our best auto-attack) and much more variability to break out of a “rotation.” If you take this, you probably want one-with-air, as you can get really high super-speed uptime, making you hard to kite and limiting the impact of cripple/chill to really slow you down. I love aeromancer’s training, as 27s RtL is SUPER strong, and more access to updraft and shocking aura is also very powerful. You COULD take tempest defense, which is defensive in a different way. If I did that, I would be tempted to take Zephyr’s boon. However, you probably don’t want to bother with zephyr’s boon, as you should have 100% fury uptime between the pack runes, elemental contingency, arcane fury, and fresh-air giving you extra swaps to air.

Lightning rod: While fresh-air is super strong, this variation might work very well with tempest defense, as you could get VERY HIGH uptime on shocking auras that not only do damage, but also weaken your enemy to really cut down on dps. Ferocious winds would probably be best here as one with air is only very good with fresh air, and you get pleny of fury making zephyr’s boon redundant.

Edit: As a poster above suggested, you COULD run d/f if you used fresh air (as that super speed really helps you get around). However, I personally just LOVE that 27s RtL SOOOOOO much!

BlackBeard.2873:

Honestly, I am thinking (as of now) you are best off running Air/Water/Arcana:

http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-o33;2B2VU0z4-NkY0;9;432G;0147046146;9;1F-03F-030y

Why air over fire/earth:

Fire is honestly just bad. At GM, you only would take the blind-spam, but until that has a per-target CD it is just trash. They even nerfed the adept burns. Earth isn’t too bad, but the GM options are pretty lack-luster. Earth can work, but it doesn’t seem to provide that much. Air, however, gives you great mobility and damage options, and I feel like this is a time where a good offense is a good defense.

So within air, which traits are best? Truth is, most options are pretty good besides the glyph trait. Variations:

Fresh air: This is one of the 4 most powerful ele traits (lots of damage AND utility). Not only does it give you more damage from lightning procs, it also gives you access to lightning whip on-demand (our best auto-attack) and much more variability to break out of a “rotation.” If you take this, you probably want one-with-air, as you can get really high super-speed uptime, making you hard to kite and limiting the impact of cripple/chill to really slow you down. I love aeromancer’s training, as 27s RtL is SUPER strong, and more access to updraft and shocking aura is also very powerful. You COULD take tempest defense, which is defensive in a different way. If I did that, I would be tempted to take Zephyr’s boon. However, you probably don’t want to bother with zephyr’s boon, as you should have 100% fury uptime between the pack runes, elemental contingency, arcane fury, and fresh-air giving you extra swaps to air.

Lightning rod: While fresh-air is super strong, this variation might work very well with tempest defense, as you could get VERY HIGH uptime on shocking auras that not only do damage, but also weaken your enemy to really cut down on dps. Ferocious winds would probably be best here as one with air is only very good with fresh air, and you get pleny of fury making zephyr’s boon redundant.

Edit: As a poster above suggested, you COULD run d/f if you used fresh air (as that super speed really helps you get around). However, I personally just LOVE that 27s RtL SOOOOOO much!

I’m running similar in WvW, but I took tempest defense and lightning Rod. Lightning rod is pretty strong when it cries and is unavoidable damage if it procs unless they are invulnerable at the time and combined with attuning to are proc that’s respectable damage. I thought about running runes air and sigil of air for lulz just to have strikes going off all the time but those are pretty bad.

I’m still kind of unsure how to setup water soothing ice is a must, but I’m kind of partial to cantrips on a lower cool down tbh and taking the removing a condi with regen. I think both work though. The pack runes are great but I can’t drop hoelbrak at least in WvW anyway.

I like Water, Arcane, and Earth. Diamond skin still OP as ever. Celestial armor, hoelbrak runes, D/D, doom sigil and Energy sigil, and Cleric Trinkets. This means condi’s can’t get me, Soothing Mist Heals for a butt ton, and I still deal moderate damage in a 1v1 situation in wvw. I don’t drop people nearly as fast as previously, but I’ve noticed the tankiness that’s lost is well made up with the crazy heals.

Ekletik.3724:

Are you guys still running full celestial ? I’ve heard it has lost its tankiness…

i never ran full cele, always a mix between cele, cavalier, berserker (not sure, maybe also knights) and clerics.

Ekletik.3724:

Are you guys still running full celestial ? I’ve heard it has lost its tankiness…

Cele lost nothing.
Ele lost tankiness from spec wich got equally reparted between offense and defense.

As a result a cele builded ele is a bit less tanky than before, but had a lot more damage.
And what was addressed to celestial was to lack some damage. Ele is the winner of the stat/spec split

BlackBeard.2873:

Honestly, I am thinking (as of now) you are best off running Air/Water/Arcana:

http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-o33;2B2VU0z4-NkY0;9;432G;0147046146;9;1F-03F-030y

Why air over fire/earth:

Fire is honestly just bad. At GM, you only would take the blind-spam, but until that has a per-target CD it is just trash. They even nerfed the adept burns. Earth isn’t too bad, but the GM options are pretty lack-luster. Earth can work, but it doesn’t seem to provide that much. Air, however, gives you great mobility and damage options, and I feel like this is a time where a good offense is a good defense.

So within air, which traits are best? Truth is, most options are pretty good besides the glyph trait. Variations:

Fresh air: This is one of the 4 most powerful ele traits (lots of damage AND utility). Not only does it give you more damage from lightning procs, it also gives you access to lightning whip on-demand (our best auto-attack) and much more variability to break out of a “rotation.” If you take this, you probably want one-with-air, as you can get really high super-speed uptime, making you hard to kite and limiting the impact of cripple/chill to really slow you down. I love aeromancer’s training, as 27s RtL is SUPER strong, and more access to updraft and shocking aura is also very powerful. You COULD take tempest defense, which is defensive in a different way. If I did that, I would be tempted to take Zephyr’s boon. However, you probably don’t want to bother with zephyr’s boon, as you should have 100% fury uptime between the pack runes, elemental contingency, arcane fury, and fresh-air giving you extra swaps to air.

Lightning rod: While fresh-air is super strong, this variation might work very well with tempest defense, as you could get VERY HIGH uptime on shocking auras that not only do damage, but also weaken your enemy to really cut down on dps. Ferocious winds would probably be best here as one with air is only very good with fresh air, and you get pleny of fury making zephyr’s boon redundant.

Edit: As a poster above suggested, you COULD run d/f if you used fresh air (as that super speed really helps you get around). However, I personally just LOVE that 27s RtL SOOOOOO much!

I have the same opinion because of the loss of damage from trait lines attributes our damage is to low now but I go into Bolt to the Heart for that %20 damage under %50 because it works in every attunement and Tempest for defense/offense some of our combo fits really good for that %20 damage on knock down.

With FA I lack the discipline, just get out of Air to get the proc, I lock down too many attunement and when I need them they are on CD.

BlackBeard.2873:

Honestly, I am thinking (as of now) you are best off running Air/Water/Arcana:

http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-o33;2B2VU0z4-NkY0;9;432G;0147046146;9;1F-03F-030y

Why air over fire/earth:

Fire is honestly just bad. At GM, you only would take the blind-spam, but until that has a per-target CD it is just trash. They even nerfed the adept burns. Earth isn’t too bad, but the GM options are pretty lack-luster. Earth can work, but it doesn’t seem to provide that much. Air, however, gives you great mobility and damage options, and I feel like this is a time where a good offense is a good defense.

[…]

Fire gives you basically +20% damage for your fire skills and +150 power while in fire attunement. It also reduces fire skill cooldowns by 33% which brings burning speed almost on par with fire attunement cooldown. Considering that as d/d ele your damage comes almost exclusively from fire, this is a huge damage boost. Now add the 3 stacks of might from cantrips that also come from fire.

Air only has +190 precision while attuned to air which is worth much less since only a small amount of damage comes from air and +20% damage against foes with less than 50% hp. And that little 1k lightning every 8-10 seconds. That’s it. So the traitline that actually gives you great damage options is fire, not air. And Blinding Ashes has always been a very strong trait which has now been buffed in several ways:

- fire attunement only has 8 seconds of cooldown and all fire skills have -33% cooldown
- everytime you attune to fire you get a fire shield that applies burning and blinds for free

IMHO, 10011 celestial d/d is the new meta. But so far, this is nothing more than a guess.