Guild Wars 2

So, I recently joined a guild after a longtime haitus from wvw zerging and decided to try my hand at creating a d/d build that could work at the front of the zerg. My initial thought process was providing stability for myself and minor stability to my allies. I made this build for it.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fFAQJAoYhcM6cW5wwBf0AhABxtlhBFlrLXB-TliDAByouyUKDmTHgrKBBSpBAm+GRLwO7P4jSMYUpgUACqMC-w

However, I found in most fights that the stability was usually underutilized and I spent more of my time trying to stay alive than actually doing damage. Typically for this kind of build you want to have a nice initial push burst from fire then utilize air auto for cleave damage. Instead I would push in and crit for about 3k, lose half my health, switch to water, and fight to maintain my health.

The build would do okay in a gvg setting, but in outnumbered situations it isn’t up to par with heavies. That is why I came to the conclusion that a build similar to serane’s would be better do to the higher healing power and permanant vigor and regen uptime.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fFAQJAoYhcM6cW5wwBf0APAC5fx2JKQ5sJfC-TViDABTpMYOdAepEUT1fASpBAmGGRLAXKx2Z/BSBcxyI-w

This build does more damage, heals passively and still gives minor support to your allies. Being a stability bot was good in theory but not in practice.

Is frontline d/d possible? very much so. Why does no one run it? staff ele hype train and no one bothers to practice with a d/d ele in their comp.

Thoughts?

Its a cool ideal it may be hard getting though all the condition though. I am not sure how it would work but i want to throw an ideal of running the new Furious Sharpening Stone seeing how much Toughness your running maybe this will help you live a bit longer at the same time making your crits hit that much harder.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Furious_Sharpening_Stone

My advice would be to go for Powerful Auras and Elemental Shielding. You can keep up near perma-protection for yourself, and decent protection uptime for your party. Let the staff eles and warriors take over the AOE condi cleansing for a change!

Using frost aura on the initial engage will cut down the damage you and your party receives by almost half (10% from frost aura, 33% from protection).

both great suggestions that make sense. shouldnt need vigorous renewal since i gain it on cantrip use and 43% damage reduction at push seems pretty good. the furious sharpening stone probably wouldnt change much considering it lowers my power a bit and i only gain like 12% crit damage.

DnD frontline pushes run at 00266 with atleast 650 in healing, 30%crit before fury ,180% crit damage, 22k vit after stacking, and 2.8k armour factor before earth attunement.

Full Cantrips are required giving you LF, condi clear and stability.

In GvG your role is duel. On one hand you can kill the backline and on the other assist the pin.

In zerg fights, dnd frontliners need perfect timing and need to go deep with the commander. Your are an AOE,bombing and blasting bot. Pulling back and the use of your cantrips are something you must learn overtime.

If you die easily, you either are not doing the job sufficiently, or your commander may be making the wrong calls.

Yea, aura share’s a must, if you’re partied with 2 decent guards who sort out a stab rotation you’ll be fine, protect on aura is also worth it over fury and swift which you’ll have more than enough of when zerging, you should have a shout warr or 2 in your pt as well for that fury uptime.
For me 2.6k-2.7k is good enough armour to sit on for zerging, if its blob action maybe 2.8k needed.

Front line D/D is possible but requires 0/0/2/6/6 Armor of earth at 50% is very nice if you dont have guards in you grp. If you do have stab from guards than Earth Trait V combined with Aura share is very nice because of perma protection. It goes w/o saying that you wont be able to run armor/weapon/runes for dps. I’ll leave this here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jiTXy3myho&index=4&list=FLxq6sL6bSj3jriH4CdsctBA

the reason why people dont runpure front line dd is that other classes can provide more due to their very basic nature, such as increased stats. basically, its just not as efficient. this and also, it takes a lot of skill to play dd to the point where its useful over a warrior or guard. in a 20v20 scenario you have to justify its presence over a guard warrior or an extra caster which is often very hard to do unless you are very skilled. its best to talk about this from a 20v20 pov rather than open field wvw as if your group is running say 30-40 people, there isnt much being sacrificed to make a spot for the dd ele, infact there is no spots being sacrificed at all.

some basic things though, in a 20v20 scenario, even a roaming scenario, you need -condi. you need hoelbrak runes and lemongrass. its just significantly better than everything else. the alternative would be lifesteal. stats may look good on paper but practically you need either -condi or lifesteal, minus condi being significantly better than all other options. just trust me on this.

the biggest problem is that in the current 20v20 meta, dd eles just arnt as efficient anymore. any top tier group is running 4-5 necros, 3 if you are running a heavy gank. any good necro will identify you as an easy target. every push you make you have to deal with ridiculous amounts of damage and possible spinal shivers procs. the best way to play it still remains as a floater. vs smart necros and smart melee, along with the avatar of melandru nerf, dd ele just isnt as strong as it needs to be. this is ofc speaking at the very general level. im always ready to play dd ele whenever needed, its just unfortunate because the meta has developed into something thats just not suitable for dd eles. hopefully that changes soon.

all this is just my opinion on the matter. at a very personal level i still think i can play it well enough to justify its spot but if my guild feels like something else would be more useful then thats that. at the end of the day, its a decision as a guild to run it. dd ele is a lot like say a dps front line guardian. your guild needs to know you have one in there and give it the necessary support and play around it. its not a quick process and you dont just stick a dd ele in a melee party and tell him to kill things.

sorry for long post. im sad

As the zergs get bigger, d/d gets worse. If you run with up to 15 ppl (and of course the enemy zergs you fight have a comparable number), d/d might work. If you run in a bigger zerg, I would go staff and stand in the backline because as you said, you’re too squishy and take too much dmg to stand in the frontline.

virtue.7235:

the reason why people dont runpure front line dd is that other classes can provide more due to their very basic nature, such as increased stats. basically, its just not as efficient. this and also, it takes a lot of skill to play dd to the point where its useful over a warrior or guard. in a 20v20 scenario you have to justify its presence over a guard warrior or an extra caster which is often very hard to do unless you are very skilled. its best to talk about this from a 20v20 pov rather than open field wvw as if your group is running say 30-40 people, there isnt much being sacrificed to make a spot for the dd ele, infact there is no spots being sacrificed at all.

some basic things though, in a 20v20 scenario, even a roaming scenario, you need -condi. you need hoelbrak runes and lemongrass. its just significantly better than everything else. the alternative would be lifesteal. stats may look good on paper but practically you need either -condi or lifesteal, minus condi being significantly better than all other options. just trust me on this.

the biggest problem is that in the current 20v20 meta, dd eles just arnt as efficient anymore. any top tier group is running 4-5 necros, 3 if you are running a heavy gank. any good necro will identify you as an easy target. every push you make you have to deal with ridiculous amounts of damage and possible spinal shivers procs. the best way to play it still remains as a floater. vs smart necros and smart melee, along with the avatar of melandru nerf, dd ele just isnt as strong as it needs to be. this is ofc speaking at the very general level. im always ready to play dd ele whenever needed, its just unfortunate because the meta has developed into something thats just not suitable for dd eles. hopefully that changes soon.

all this is just my opinion on the matter. at a very personal level i still think i can play it well enough to justify its spot but if my guild feels like something else would be more useful then thats that. at the end of the day, its a decision as a guild to run it. dd ele is a lot like say a dps front line guardian. your guild needs to know you have one in there and give it the necessary support and play around it. its not a quick process and you dont just stick a dd ele in a melee party and tell him to kill things.

sorry for long post. im sad

that crit nerf = (

In blob vs blob, i just don’t see D/D as a good choice.