Guild Wars 2

Hi! Just wondering which would generally be better for PvE/WvW? I love DD but I recently tried DF and found that it has more survivability

In most cases, offhand dagger will work out better, especially for PvE.

Focus is generally only useful in PvE where you need the defensive ability or the particular encounter, such as projectile absorption on some fractal bosses.

As for WvW, both can be nice choices, so it might just end up depending on personal preference. I always go through this loop where I’ll use offhand dagger and wish I had focus equipped, then I’ll equip the focus and wish I had offhand dagger equipped.

Personally, I’ve always felt the focus fits the scepter a bit more than it does main hand dagger, but I’ve seen people make both work.

D/F is much more standard for high-end PvE (check out DEKeyz’s and Zelhyn’s stickies above). The extra mobility of offhand dagger is useful, but the damage difference is minimal (air auto-attack is still the best source of damage) and the extra survivability from things like Obsidian Flesh and Swirling Winds is substantial.

D/D for WvW — either for dueling.

I also red a lot of contributions on this topic and I think it is up to you, play what you like. I love D/D. D/F is not my cup of coffe, tried to learn F properly, but failed.

I love D/F in sPvP. I tend to switch to DD for WW still though.

D/F is better against ranged enemies and if you noramlly do not use cantrips. D/D is just as common as the 0-0-2-6-6 build. Few will say focus is better.

I’ll just note in an effort to test this (for high level dueling) a friend and I set out to duel with these weapon sets.

Both of us are quite proficient, but neither of us could down one another. So at best; results are inconclusive. At worst; the two are roughly equal.

We also paired up as a roaming duo. We did some awesome things. We regularly courted double and triple our number. What really brought us down in a 6v2 and specifically a camp+5 was the invulnerability on DF. When my partner went invulnerable, instead of the 1-3 that were on me, every single person was focusing the D/D (me). So I could hold out for a while, but we lost my DPS as I was forced into turtling. So we lost a few of those ventures.

My advice is: DF can be a fantastic set, so can DD. It comes down to flavor. You’ll build DD a bit different than DF, but if you go roaming, I’d say do double DD or double DF.

DF All the way for PvE for difficult content, like higher end fractals or content that you’re learning. DD is inferior for dungeons since the extra durst damage matters little, and doesn’t let you stack might really any better than with DF. For the difficult content like that I wear all zerker but use more arcane/water traits. For explorable dungeons though I typically run S/F-hammer or fire staff with full DPS traits.

As for WvW I usually run staff when I’m with my guild, but DD is great for roaming/small groups, and DF works great too, you just wont have ride the lightning to clutch an escape.

I am looking to get back into the game….. I havent played since November, so i am a little lost with the trait and rune changes. I used to run D/D 0/15/10/30 in the old system, with Knights armor with boon duration runes and celestial trinkets. is this still able? for PvE mainly.

the boon duration rune set up got pretty much destroyed, so I am at a loss as to what is good to run these days, any help would be welcome.

When it comes to pve your task as ele is mainly stacking might/fury and spawning fgs/frost bow for your party.

For easy dungeons:

If you are the only ele s/d and s/f:
6/6/2/0/0 II,V,XI/VI,VII,X/VI most pug friendly build because it gives fury and vulnerability, you do your lh chain in air.
5/5/2/2/0 II,V/VI,VII/VI/IV if you know the party can achieve perma fury but lacks vulnerablility, higher personal DPS, LH chain in water
5/4/0/5 II,V/VI,VII/IV/VI you’ll never use this in a pug, highest personal dps, LH chain in water

heal/utility/elite: arcane brilliance/signet of fire, arcane wave, LH or frost bow(arcane shield if you’re using fgs)/fgs
——————————————————
As a secondary ele staff:
6/2/2/2/2 VI,VII,XI/VI/VI/VI/V
6/4/2/2/0 VI,VII,XI/VI,VII/VI
Both are a matter of preference instead of situational.

heal/utility/elite: arcane brilliance/signet of fire, arcane wave, arcane shield/fgs
—————————————————-
High lvl content (arah and fractals):

d/f
6/6/0/0/2 V,VII,XI/VI,X,XII/II more dodges
6/6/2/0/0 V,VII,XI/VI,X,XII/VI more damage

Heal/utility/elite: arcane brilliance/signet of fire, arcane wave, arcane shield/elemental

Useful: singnet of storms in earth attune and LH when clearing trash, use fgs wherever you can push stuff against a wall, lightning flash and signet of air when skipping. Earth elemental is especially useful in the old tom fight because he can bodyblock the aoe for your party, same applies to sparki in TA aetherblade.
————————————————-
Optimal gear would be berserker stats in all slots with runes of the scholar, however rune of strength is better than scholar when pugging. If you feel too squishy try using knights gear first and replace it with berserker gear when you have learned how to dodge.
Sigils mainhand: night, undead, accuracy (depends on the dungeon) and offhand: force, energy. Tbh if you just run night+force/energy you’ll be covered for most of the dungeons.
Consumables: steak and asparagus (or slice of candied dragon roll when soloing) + quality charpening stone/dungeon potion of slaying.

I suggest you watch some vids to get an idea of how dungeons are run nowadays. I didn’t write down the skill rotations for the different weapon sets because it’s getting late and i’m lazy but you can easily find those on youtube. The gear you are currently using is fine for casual runs but far from optimal.

If you’re just looking for something to copy paste and get started use the first s/d(s/f) build for easy content and the first d/f build for hard content.

Edit: Fixed an error where i put s/d instead of d/f

petyr baelish.9675:

When it comes to pve your task as ele is mainly stacking might/fury and spawning fgs/frost bow for your party.

For easy dungeons:

If you are the only ele s/d and s/f:
6/6/2/0/0 II,V,XI/VI,VII,X/VI most pug friendly build because it gives fury and vulnerability, you do your lh chain in air.
5/5/2/2/0 II,V/VI,VII/VI/VI if you know the party can achieve perma fury but lacks vulnerablility, higher personal DPS, LH chain in water
5/4/0/5 II,V/VI,VII/IV/VI you’ll never use this in a pug, highest personal dps, LH chain in water

heal/utility/elite: arcane brilliance/signet of fire, arcane wave, LH/frost bow(arcane shield if you’re using fgs)/fgs
——————————————————
As a secondary ele staff:
6/2/2/2/2 VI,VII,XI/VI/VI/VI/V
6/4/2/2/0 VI,VII,XI/VI,VII/VI
Both are a matter of preference instead of situational.

heal/utility/elite: arcane brilliance/signet of fire, arcane wave, arcane shield/fgs
—————————————————-
High lvl content (arah and fractals):

d/f
6/6/0/0/2 V,VII,XI/VI,X,XII/II more dodges
6/6/2/0/0 V,VII,XI/VI,X,XII/VI more damage

Heal/utility/elite: arcane brilliance/signet of fire, arcane wave, arcane shield/elemental

Useful: singnet of storms in earth attune and LH when clearing trash, use fgs wherever you can push stuff against a wall, lightning flash and signet of air when skipping. Earth elemental is especially useful in the old tom fight because he can bodyblock the aoe for your party, same applies to sparki in TA aetherblade.
————————————————-
Optimal gear would be berserker stats in all slots with runes of the scholar, however rune of strength is better than scholar when pugging. If you feel too squishy try using knights gear first and replace it with berserker gear when you have learned how to dodge.
Sigils mainhand: night, undead, accuracy (depends on the dungeon) and offhand: force, energy. Tbh if you just run night+force/energy you’ll be covered for most of the dungeons.
Consumables: steak and asparagus (or slice of candied dragon roll when soloing) + quality charpening stone/dungeon potion of slaying.

I suggest you watch some vids to get an idea of how dungeons are run nowadays. I didn’t write down the skill rotations for the different weapon sets because it’s getting late and i’m lazy but you can easily find those on youtube. The gear you are currently using is fine for casual runs but far from optimal.

If you’re just looking for something to copy paste and get started use the first s/d(s/f) build for easy content and the first d/f build for hard content.

Edit: Fixed an error where i put s/d instead of d/f

As a general question, how do you decide whether to use S/D or S/F? I like S/F better since flamewall lasts longer, and the survival skills are pretty nice in general since I’m pretty bad at dodging.

S/F+LH is better than S/D+LH in most situations. This is due do its superior might stacking combo: it takes less time and deals more dps. Therefore it works best if you are going to stack in combat. However, the off-hand dagger allows for an easier might stacking out of combat.

either is good and both offer slightly different things depending on one’s preferenced play-style.
Focus is more for those who plan ahead. In both air and earth you can completely negate damage for several seconds plus there’s slightly more condition removal on the focus. Flame aura is better than the frost aura if you want the extra might stacking plus damaging burn. The dps on Dagger for fire is slightly better though so if you wanna be more bursty go Dagger off-hand for sustain and longer duels the focus is better.

I like s/f vs mez as the clones can’t even hit you. d/f vs hambow for evades, cc, immunity, might. d/d or staff for solo/group roaming, and spvp.

AoE, CF, LF, and replace cf for mf or as vs large groups. 99% is FGS, and odd occasion of Tornado for extra stab/ staff burst. AS is especially good vs telegraphed skills from rifle warrior, lbow ranger, and engie. It provides extra damage for melee range just like CF does.

My hard fights lately are multiple thieves spamming interrupt + condies, and necro condi bombing, fear bombing, and stripping stab so I can’t clease, while another dps strips away the remaining health. I barely get 1v1s in gold league. If I do, I usually win unless it’s a warrior that engages just after I killed someone else. Or one of those condies for days engies. A full zerker/good ele has a chance with d/d. Condi Mesmer has a chance if I’m running MF cause it doesn’t do anything for me but stun break, speed boost.

Use LF to LoS to buy time to heal up. Stay above 10k health at all times. If you have narrow escapes, read combat log to see who did what, and with what skill(s).

For WvW

I prefer D/D but D/F is a good setup I find it good with a 6 earth build taking diamond skin. D/F is good with 6 Air also.

My main issue with D/F in WvW is the lack of burst abilities in PvE as other pointed out the damage difference is minimal in WvW not having fire grab and earthquake you notice a difference. I may need to play it again I did so for about a week and felt I relied on lightning whip much more with D/F and no ring of fire damage really hurt the pressure I could put on, Ring of fire is really good damage at in melee range.

I like focus it’s different but I really wish the fire abilities where better the rest of the set I like. Fire Aura is ok but long cd and the 3 skill is bad maybe up the burn duration to 2 second burst perhaps would help.