Guild Wars 2

I have tried Arah P2 a few times, and feel mostly ineffective on my elementalist because the entirety of a fight is spent healing/dodging as I essentially cannot take a single hit. What is the strategy for this? Can any of the Lupicus circles be negated from arcane shield? I assume that staff is the only real choice of weapon for that fight, as the entire fight is spent kiting anyway – unless I am doign soemthing wrong.

Dagger focus for lupicus. Do use a sigil of energy though. If you mean the phase 2 AoE, yes that can be blocked using arcane shield. But focus swirling winds would be more efficient as you can have it up /40%^ of the AoE phases (given you don’t have spastics parading lupicus around that would significantly increase the percentage) and honestly staff is a terrible weapon for dungeons.

If you run sideways, you can still attack it with only a minimal loss in movement speed. Also, use your ground AoE skills wisely so they’ll land where he’s gonna be, not where he was.

Practice makes perfect.

Best piece of advice – do not use staff. It’s a horrible weapon.

Well ThiBash the truth is staff really is bad :/
It does depend on the playstyle of course but if you stick to a weapon that has weak potential then you will never improve I’m afraid.

Staff is good where you need extra aoe. Everwhere else its wasted, which is most places.

haviz.1340:

I’ve done lupi with staff.

Once.

lupi with staff is fine if you know how to use it.

fire 4: free dodge
water fields help your team mate.
earth 3: reflect.

the easiest lupi is x/focus. cos of whirling wind + earth focus.

I want to ask what are your traits? if you have at least 10 in arcane get the trait that gives vigor on crit. then you dont even need to put sigil of energy in your weap. I almost always put that trait on when I know I need alot of endurance.

ps: know lupi’s animation for all phases so you don’t waste your dodge.

This is very subjective and depending on playstyle. At the end of the day, go with something you find works best for YOU.

The whole “staff sux” isn’t a legit arguement. I’ve ran Arah with all weapons, and even though some make it easier than others and some have pros over cons, what is most important at the end of the day (like in most cases) is your gear, build and utilities. I used to mainly scep/focus Arah, but my past few runs I’ve been sticking to staff and I actually found it to be easier simply because stuff just dies faster. Plus, as mentioned, there is a free dodge in Fire (skill 4), and Earth 3 is useful in the Lupi-fight.

Whatever weapon I use, I think every Ele should bring Arcane Shield +Lightning Flash +Mist Form, at the very least for Lupi, as utilities. This setup pretty much guarantees I don’t go down and can avoid most of his crap.

Focus is really useful in Arah, I admit. Earth 5 and Air 4 can be lifesavers, but never, ever brush away a staff’s DPS. Numbers don’t lie. To call it useless it’s pretty ignorant.

It is too bad that so many people are sticking with staff … if these people didn’t then Anet would feel obliged to buff it to a more acceptable level!

Thanks for all of your feedback. I am running 30/0/0/10/30, Berserker gear. In almost every other situation, I run a might stacking + LH build that I have seen on this forum (Neko’s guide, I believe).

I agree that Staff is weak, I just felt like I should be staying as far away as possible. I will try a S/F build.

pho.9412:

lupi with staff is fine if you know how to use it.

fire 4: free dodge
water fields help your team mate.
earth 3: reflect.

the easiest lupi is x/focus. cos of whirling wind + earth focus.

I want to ask what are your traits? if you have at least 10 in arcane get the trait that gives vigor on crit. then you dont even need to put sigil of energy in your weap. I almost always put that trait on when I know I need alot of endurance.

ps: know lupi’s animation for all phases so you don’t waste your dodge.

Very bold claim, no just no, even with renewing stamina do take a sigil of energy if you’re gonna melee.

The Great Al.2546:

Thanks for all of your feedback. I am running 30/0/0/10/30, Berserker gear. In almost every other situation, I run a might stacking + LH build that I have seen on this forum (Neko’s guide, I believe).

I agree that Staff is weak, I just felt like I should be staying as far away as possible. I will try a S/F build.

Staying close to lupicus is the optimal option. If you however choose to range S/F should be a really safe alternative.

This thread confuses me. I understand the AoE from staff is a bit wasted on Lupi and that its damage might not be as high as our other weapon sets, but isn’t the idea to stay as far away from him as possible (at least during phase 2)?

More generally, I often use staff in dungeons because I dislike the playstyle of scepter and going into melee feels like a death sentence on my ele. Is staff really completely outclassed by our other weapons in dungeons?

Why would you want to stay far away from him? Make him kite you!

Staff is okay for damage if you have decent offensive support but it’s more boring gameplay than pure lightning hammer builds. On the other hand when you try to use staff as a support/cc weapon you are overestimating your efficiency and you might as well swap staff to other weapon sets that are more useful.

I can’t agree that staff is a bad weapon. It is a bad weapon for arah, though. Just as Dagger is.

Maybe there’s a strategy I’m not aware of. I’ve fought Lupi a few times, not extensively, but it just seems his abilities become a lot more deadly at melee range. Phase 1 I’m pretty sure melee range isn’t an option because of grubs. Phase 2 ranging him gives you time to respond to his his shadow-walk and huge AoE (apparently he also has a hard hitting melee attack). Phase 3 he has that life drain AoE centered around him, the bubble prison, and short ranged blast spam – all melee range.

Are Lightning Hammer, S/F, S/D, D/F, D/D all good in dungeons?

You just described the typical more-than-one-year-ago tactics of 99.9% groups which were really bad. I would direct you to the arah guide I had pleasure to write but it’s no longer available. However you could try watching some of the solos to learn a bit more about his attacks and how to counter them.

Zelyhn.8069:

Well ThiBash the truth is staff really is bad :/
It does depend on the playstyle of course but if you stick to a weapon that has weak potential then you will never improve I’m afraid.

Gotta disagree with you there. As for your second comment, I’ll kindly refer you to my signature.

Whats wrong with staff? That all I’ve done dungeons with. I’ve done all dungeons but Arah (haven’t taken the time to try Arah at all, even final PS thing, kinda afraid to try it) with a staff, and with what is probably not an optimized build either. (all have been pug groups as well, as I don’t have guild to try to group with)

Don’t listen to the staff haters, Staff is perfectly fine. I have finished all the dungeons except Arah P4 with staff. Working for my dungeon master title, will get it once I get a party that actually wants to do P4.

As for Lupi — Staff is great for Lupi as you can do it at range. Some people like to melee Lupi — that’s fine, but since I don’t know how to melee, I am surviving at range. The only problem I have with Lupi is that green bolt he fires out in Phase 2. I seem to be too stupid to see it and dodge it. I will get used to it. I can avoid all his other attacks no problem.

It’s easy to hit Lupi with Staff AOEs, especially if you have other party members he is paying attention to. Staff does the most damage to Lupi out of all Ele weapons because of Meteor Shower, which blasts him hard. I will usually hit Lupi for probably 50k-80k damage per Meteor Shower attack. Not really sure, hard to count. I do admit that I tend to dodge a lot so I can’t really hit him with Meteos all the time once cooldown is over. Usually I need to time it right — usually I use Meteo once he starts shooting his own Red AOEs in P2.

P1 is easy, just keep hitting and dodge when he does his grub thing. if your team is having trouble with the locusts, drop a lava font on yourself when the locusts come. P3 is also very easy, when he flies up you hit him with Meteo, it’s like a bonus stage. None of his attacks will hit you in P3, you’re out of his range. P2 is the only challenging part, I have no trouble dodging his red AOE attacks, and his shadow step is easy to dodge. The hard tech that gets me all the time is that green bolt he fires out. I haven’t quite figured out how to defend it properly yet.

I think you just need to play at a higher level of performance to understand how lacking staff is.
I am saying this objectively, not trying to be offensive.
I leveled up with staff exclusively, I played through almost all content with this weapon, but then I tried to perform better and that is when I switched to daggers.
I still occasionally use the staff in some specific situations. I could explain in details why I think it is weak but such reasoning would only apply to my playstyle since in the end it all comes down to this.
However I can tell you one thing: if you want to achieve more in this game with the elementalist you will have to switch to a playstyle that is not best fitted by the staff.

Also, shouldn’t the thread title be guide?

Zelyhn.8069:

I think you just need to play at a higher level of performance to understand how lacking staff is.
I am saying this objectively, not trying to be offensive.
I leveled up with staff exclusively, I played through almost all content with this weapon, but then I tried to perform better and that is when I switched to daggers.
I still occasionally use the staff in some specific situations. I could explain in details why I think it is weak but such reasoning would only apply to my playstyle since in the end it all comes down to this.
However I can tell you one thing: if you want to achieve more in this game with the elementalist you will have to switch to a playstyle that is not best fitted by the staff.

Ehh, I’ve tried both d/d and s/d and didn’t like either. Was using d/d when finishing map completion on my first ele, and found it ok (at least till higher lvl areas, then it didn’t seem that good). Trying S/D on my second ele (only lvl 44, I think), and still find it squishier than my staff ele. It could all be on my lack of traits, but I highly doubt thats it. As for focus, I’ve never really liked any of the skills of it, so I don’t ever really use it.

I use a pure fire staff build for every dungeon, including arah many times a day and ive never had a problem

Azure.8670:

I use a pure fire staff build for every dungeon, including arah many times a day and ive never had a problem

It is not about having problems, it is about performing better.
You could use the earth shield and have no problems, yet you would be performing poorly.

Zelyhn.8069:

Azure.8670:

I use a pure fire staff build for every dungeon, including arah many times a day and ive never had a problem

It is not about having problems, it is about performing better.
You could use the earth shield and have no problems, yet you would be performing poorly.

Its not always about performing better. Its playing to your own personal style (and ability). I prefer the staff. Sure apparently s/d or d/d can do more damage, but I like to keep to my staff. I like all the aoe and combo fields (and the healing aspect kinda). You apparently like s/d, which you’re free to choose. Anet stated in the beginning that dungeons should be able to be done with any combo of professions and builds.

That is why I said that in the end it all comes down to your playstyle
For the record I am not a fan of S/D though !

Cries Of Sorrow.5864:

pho.9412:

lupi with staff is fine if you know how to use it.

fire 4: free dodge
water fields help your team mate.
earth 3: reflect.

the easiest lupi is x/focus. cos of whirling wind + earth focus.

I want to ask what are your traits? if you have at least 10 in arcane get the trait that gives vigor on crit. then you dont even need to put sigil of energy in your weap. I almost always put that trait on when I know I need alot of endurance.

ps: know lupi’s animation for all phases so you don’t waste your dodge.

Very bold claim, no just no, even with renewing stamina do take a sigil of energy if you’re gonna melee.

first off, I did say know lupi’s animation. sigil of energy gives you wiggle room to dodge but if you know his animation, there is no need for sigil of energy, instead put in an offensive sigil. Again, it is only recomended for experienced players. I use to do lupi path 1-4 dailies when the champ boxes came out. I am not saying that I know arah like the back of my hand but doing 4 lupis per day for a month. I think I know his animation pretty well.

it isnt hard to predict his moves. I have never put sigil of energy on any of my ele’s weap. It is always either sigil of force and/or battle. (battle always on staff +off hand weap, force on main hand)

p1, dodge everytime he raise his hand. he does this about every 5 secs to cast a grub on you. if you dodge this you will get 0 grub to worry about except maybe the last 2 grubs at the end.

p2, he has the crazy aoe circles that you can just side step and get out of it or dodge back. if using staff, earth 3 sometimes work but the timing need to be right. I’ve been hit using earth 3 bfor. it doesn’t always work, you need to cast it before the aoe hit you. or fire 4.

if you are using focus use air 4 or earth 5. you can actually switch be and forth between air 4 and earth 5 with 1 dodge because of the cool down. so that’s why x/focus is the easiest because you do not need to dodge much. earth 5 is such an amazing weap skill on focus.

then you have his charge, that one is easy to see.

then you have his little spit poison that 1-2 hit you. he kinda bob his head and move his hand when he’s about to do this.

I assume you have something like mist form or arcane shield when you do lupi. I save those for when I have less then 50% endurance or when I am resing someone.

p3, super easy. you have his life suck( he raises his hand to do this).

if you are “melee” do it from behind. I guarantee that he will not focus on you for the death bubble or the super poison spit field. if that happen there’s always focus 5 or mist form or earth armor or whatever utility that negates dmg.

the big life suck circle is easy to get out.

he still have that poison spit from p2 in p3. ( same animation as above)

There is also traits and utility skills to help you with this. I run a 0/30/0/10/30. I dont use LH so you can guess that I have evasive arcana on, and the bigger aoe staff if I use staff(switch with renew stamina if I use other weaps). and in all honesty if you are using staff why the heck would you be in melee range. but if you are using x/f then there is less room for usage of your endurance to dodge.

my gear is a mix of cavalier and berzerker. I only have with 2 rings and pants drop from fractal with cavalier stats so that’s why i am using it. and a ptv amulet. everything else is berzerker.

my staff is most of the time valkery and other weaps berzerker.

sorry, if my English is hard to understand.

ps. I didn’t want to write so long because my english is crap and when I say things noone understand it. My guild mates have told me this in ts. But, I try to be helpful, it isn’t always helpful if people don’t know what you are saying. And I understand this because when I try to explain things to guild mates, they often say they don’t really understand my english.

Although Staff is still a better choice than D/X. In some situation Staff is the best choice, AC as an example. In situations where mobs have a larger HP pool but not as big of a hitbox instead, scepter/X is a better choice, though.