Guild Wars 2

So, I’ve been away for a while, giving another game a chop. Logged into GW2 the other night for some pvp with a friend. D/D bunker (geared toward damage, zerkers) and a S/D condition/tank spec. We decimated 3 other foes in a 2v3, 2 necros and a D/D bunker ele. Then continued to beat some other D/D eles, either in 1v1 or 2v2.

Why? How? They are OP thats impossible isn’t it?
NO! They were predictable.
Note: This was in hotjoin for you info, we weren’t in the mood for Tournies. Tourney players are much more skilled and would have whoop our buts or put up a strong fight.

Seems as though most of the guys we versed were using the build to win with the standard rotations. There is much more to a build then the build itself and following the same rotations dayin dayout will make you to predictable. Being Tricky is much better then being Predictable. If you can feint an attack, trick your opponent into a dodge where you can land the same attack as his dodge ends you get the damage and he waists his dodge. Same is for using unconventional rotations, where you know an opponent will dodge your attack if you use the normal rotation so you throw a curve ball and land the attack you would have missed.

The main rotation I see is the good old Ride the Lighting into Updraft followed by x and Burning Speed into Fire grab.

Ride the Lighting into Updraft:
Whats a good mixup? Lighting Flash into updraft, everyone is expecting the RTL when you are at a long range, let them come a little closer then use your Lightning flash to get up close and personal and put them on thier but. Try also a trick attack here. Use your Ride the Lightning at your foe, if he dodges that is great. You can now hold off your updraft and then use it when his dodge is over.

Burning Speed into Fire Grab:
If you buring speed at me I’m going to be ready to dodge your fire grab. We all know your using Evasive Arcana. What does EA in fire do agian? Burning? So dodge, switch to fire before the end then Fire Grab.

Do you have cleansing fire? I do, I take it over Mist Form to output more damage and less invun running away like a pansy man. I do run away when needed but not while invun. How about you switch to fire then Fire Grab straight away. But they’re not burning you will say. Did I just mention Cleansing Fire, use it offensively, start Fire Grab, then pop Cleansing Fire just before it hits. This is also useful if your enemy removed your fire condition. You can quickly use cleansing fire to put that condition back on them allowing your Fire Grab to hit for full damage.

Cleansing fire can also be used to obtain a trick attack. Using your Burning Speed or Drakes Breath will prompt your opponent to get ready to dodge, if he does dodge premptively then you can get a free Fire Grab + Cleansing Fire hit.

What’s your Elite?:
What Elite do you have? Do you remember to use it? I’ve fought a few eles recently that used no elite at all. My elite is the Fiery GreatSword of great justice. Lighting flash with this baby will rock your world (if you have some nice might stacked up, or have zerkers like me). You want to use FGS 3 then teleport back to where you started as you pass your foe. This takes a lot of practice as your character and camera move quite quickly. But if you pull this off you will hit for 2x more damage with the whirl. If you deciede to take the Elemental Elite don’t forget to use it.
_
There are some other things that I do, such as Lightning Flash + Frost Bow 5 to stun my foe from a much larger range, carry the frost bow in general and the FGS of great justice. Don’t forget with the summoned weapons that you can still get the heal from changing to water as well as the EA skills and fury on changing element (even if it doesn’t change your summoned skills).

I know alot of you are reluctant to use your cantrips offensively but think about it, you lose your condition removal but still gain the vigor and regen. So if your target isn’t using heavy conditions why not hold 1 for stuns / imob and use the other 2 in an offensive matter. I personally roll with 2 cantrips, cleansing fire and lightning flash my other skill is Frost Bow unless in a tourney, then frost bow is situational and normally replaced with Amour of Earth.

If anyone else would like to add thier Tricks or Unconventional openers please feel free to.

Earthquake -> midcast lightning flash -> phoenix

3x phoenix hits harder than fire grab and doesn’t require you to use cleansing fire to put burning on the target.

Obviously not D/D though. =D

That’s what my problem with D/D ele’s, everyone that uses this weapon set usually follows a pattern with their rotations. That’s their main weakness.

I love your tips. I wish I can pull them off though. Thanks!

@Caffynated
Nice, using Earthquake then lightning flash takes a bit to get used to and requires a good keybind for LF but this can really throw your enemy off. Your also getting a free full damage phoenix off and possibly a fire grab after.

@Dolgaris
Yea, predictability, it killed 100Blade warriors, Pistol Whip thieves and Backstab thieves and soon D/D eles.

@Gallrvaghn
Practice makes perfect. Just gotta break the rutine, ride the lightning into updarft is the one to start with. Against any competent player you will lose your updarft 90% of the time and its CD is 40sec so losing it isn’t a good for your side of the fight.

TGSlasher.1458:

@Caffynated
Nice, using Earthquake then lightning flash takes a bit to get used to and requires a good keybind for LF but this can really throw your enemy off. Your also getting a free full damage phoenix off and possibly a fire grab after.

@Dolgaris
Yea, predictability, it killed 100Blade warriors, Pistol Whip thieves and Backstab thieves and soon D/D eles.

@Gallrvaghn
Practice makes perfect. Just gotta break the rutine, ride the lightning into updarft is the one to start with. Against any competent player you will lose your updarft 90% of the time and its CD is 40sec so losing it isn’t a good for your side of the fight.

Sorry slasher, ANET is going to kill eles first.

Judging by their fury comment, it’s not just D/D that will suffer (it will be EVERY build)

I’m using zerker trinkets too with PVT gear, standard monk+water runes setup, not running with EA anymore though, full bunker build just bores me too much nowadays. I’m running 0/20/0/30/20 for some nice damage and group support with Aura sharing.

I like to use lightning flash to get a long range burning speed, they’ll usually be surprised and dodge just after this so you can fire grab right after as they’ll still be on fire. Many of the things OP mentioned work well though and I use them all depending on the situation.

this is why most mock d/d ele’s as there is next to no skill required to suceed with the class. Certainly you can tell the difference between a good one and a bad one, but the damage output and killing potential isn’t that different.

D/D Ele is like the GS Warrior. Both very predictable especially when you see one with 5 sigs on. But run across one that knows what he’s doing and he’ll own your face. Not because he did more damage, but because he outplayed you.

I would say most DD ele’s problem is not knowing when to heal. I have started a mesmer lately , It’s amazing how many DD eles don’t start heal till they are way low on health. I time my boon steal with my burst and melts them on the spot. When I play my ele I never let my health drop below 1/3 , most of the time I keep it close to 80%. With so much boon duration there is no reason not to keep health regen up 100% of the time and remove every condition.

TGSlasher.1458:

What’s your Elite?:
What Elite do you have? Do you remember to use it? I’ve fought a few eles recently that used no elite at all. My elite is the Fiery GreatSword of great justice. Lighting flash with this baby will rock your world (if you have some nice might stacked up, or have zerkers like me). You want to use FGS 3 then teleport back to where you started as you pass your foe. This takes a lot of practice as your character and camera move quite quickly. But if you pull this off you will hit for 2x more damage with the whirl. If you deciede to take the Elemental Elite don’t forget to use it.

Thanks for this tip. I never liked the fiery greatsword before, but now I rather enjoy it. Finally have an elite I want to use.

dreztina.4820:

TGSlasher.1458:

What’s your Elite?:
What Elite do you have? Do you remember to use it? I’ve fought a few eles recently that used no elite at all. My elite is the Fiery GreatSword of great justice. Lighting flash with this baby will rock your world (if you have some nice might stacked up, or have zerkers like me). You want to use FGS 3 then teleport back to where you started as you pass your foe. This takes a lot of practice as your character and camera move quite quickly. But if you pull this off you will hit for 2x more damage with the whirl. If you deciede to take the Elemental Elite don’t forget to use it.

Thanks for this tip. I never liked the fiery greatsword before, but now I rather enjoy it. Finally have an elite I want to use.

I still can’t pull this technique off. Ugh >.<

I know very little about ele, but I can tell you that fighting against a D/D ele is very predictable. I’m not good enough to kill one, but D/D ele’s never seem to be able to kill me either. Certain skills are easily dodgeable, and I know that as soon as I get close to downing one, it will go away, and then as soon as I actually down him, he goes away again. All the eles I see now are D/D eles, and I think their…let’s say consistent…playstyle is probably making them less effective. I prefer a profession with a little variety, I guess.

This is like playing any fighting game. An absolute beginner can only spam single moves. After playing it for a while, he learns some combo and begin to spam them regardless what the opponent is doing. But when he becomes more experienced he begins to adpat to the situation, or mixing up the combo to confuse the opponent.

In fact, in any decent fighting game, you will get killed really quickly (even against a computer sometimes), if you just spam a fixed long combo repeatedly.

Gallrvaghn.4921:

I still can’t pull this technique off. Ugh >.<

The uncoordinated man’s version is to use a push skill to throw people into a corner and then use the whirl attack into the wall. You will just sit on their face and hit for 5-6k (10-12k with high crit/crit damage) against most builds.

Gallrvaghn.4921:

dreztina.4820:

TGSlasher.1458:

What’s your Elite?:
What Elite do you have? Do you remember to use it? I’ve fought a few eles recently that used no elite at all. My elite is the Fiery GreatSword of great justice. Lighting flash with this baby will rock your world (if you have some nice might stacked up, or have zerkers like me). You want to use FGS 3 then teleport back to where you started as you pass your foe. This takes a lot of practice as your character and camera move quite quickly. But if you pull this off you will hit for 2x more damage with the whirl. If you deciede to take the Elemental Elite don’t forget to use it.

Thanks for this tip. I never liked the fiery greatsword before, but now I rather enjoy it. Finally have an elite I want to use.

I still can’t pull this technique off. Ugh >.<

You need a good fast to get key-binding for Lightning Flash and you need to press it right after FGS 3 and position your mouse quickly then click when you go past.

Alternatively you can use the Setting to make ground targets happen on click, then line up to location then use Lightning Flash.

It requires about the same speed as Earthquake → Lightning Flash but adding camera movement into the mix