@Retsuko
Oh staff builds for zergs are not useless. In fact one of my favorite builds I used previously to my fresh air build as a support build that has some good damage in groups and is balanced out was 10/10/5/15/30. This build required full celestial ascended equipment as every point counted as well as those willing to get full infusions in order. I ran runes to give me either confusion or torment as a third damage condition. Running torment, I also used a sigil to increase my power, but food for condition damage and condition duration along with another weapon to switch out bloodlust sigil when its at 25 stacks. I loved the one that caused AoE bleeding.
I would open up fights by throwing eruption when might stacked. Then I would throw a frozen ground, have it detonate for area frost armor. Then the dodge roll, attunement swapping and my traits and buffs, I easilly had players with burning, weakness, torment. 20 – 25 stacks of bleeding, cripple, etc while doing good damage with ice bow’s ice storm, meteor shower and other skills. I used my staff build for months before working a fresh air build due to all that staff has to offer.
Though it had damage that was good might stacked from an outside source, it was a support build aimed at reinforcing anything out there. Good in dungeons, fractals and WvW since you needed to output damage and have some survivability.
As far as my fresh air build went. I use s 20/30/0/10/10 build with berserker armor + divinity runes from an old set along with full celestisl trinkets. Run with a
pair of guardians who can give you 24 stacks of might and know what you are doing and easilly enemies get killed and its nice having 3500 – 4000 point ice storm blasts in ice bow.
I use this build as a measure of keeping enemies off the line in zerg fight. Other ellys and I throw sandstorm into the point whete zergs clash and alternating we use swirling winds. That helps a lot against the zergs.
Fresh Air builds have to play differently, below is a list of things to do:
1) If you are pulled and are on air, throw your knockdown skill on focus, even if you dont have it due to being on fire, you still have your greatest chance at hitting with a point blank phoenix three times, for massive damage. If your KD skill works you can hit with dragons tooth and phoenix.
2) While you are launched or disabled, as long as long as you change to air, and use your arcane skills (the one with 1500 range) you can still hit.
3) if you are targetted in the midline, you get earth skill 4 , them you can use earth skill 5 which if all its ranged projectiled, the combination of that and swirling is 13 seconds of taking no damage from any projectile, but 4 seconds invul. In fact sometimed i use invulnerabilit on earth focus 5 and fire frost bow and ice storm on myself and down depleted enemies around me.
4) As long as you know your own place in a zerg battle its works out. Also if you are in a zerg battle and are not the commander, the build works great in focusing enemies who target commanders. I remember when I was being chased by an enemy commander, I hit him with Air focus skill 5, he fell and then our zerg rolled over him on their way back.
These builds are amazing if players with you, in your group know what you are running. Thing to elly is that if your group is horrible, everyone dies….but so many elly builds are out there where under good and experienced groups, the elly becomes the backbone that holds the group together.
Other thing was, I use Elemental Attunement like 40% of the time. Only in good and experienced groups do I use it, it breaks the rhythm an elly has to attune and get the boon, which is mostly swiftness that doesnt help as much in-combat (when other classes have a much better way to grant swiftness. Staff elly swiftness actually removes all conditions hindering speed) as well as protection, which helps but not so easy to focus and target outside of certain conditions. Its an example of a trait that I absolutely loved and adored but had to learn the hard way why this perceived A+ trait is actually a C grade trait.
I’d much rather have a guardian trait five points to apply protection in virtues and use retreat to cover the group’s protection/swiftness need without ruining rhythm than have the poor elly trait 20 points in arcana post dec. 10th for a trait that at times the elly will lose their rhythm to apply the boon itself over playing the rest of the class.
I even managed to reduce a single enemy zerg to half by my Lafa font + Meteor Shower and then my zerg came in and finished the job