Guild Wars 2

Let’s sum up some tricks & tips for Staff elementalist

- Use lightning Flash after casting meteor shower to retreat, it does not cancel the skill
- Use tornado after meteor shower, it adds you 1500 power & precision = X2 dps.

Do you have some other tips / combo /build tips ?

Oh nice tips didn’t think of this meteor tornado combo.

I’m afraid that’s all ;o

i only knew the meteor+tornado :p

Oh yeah, cancelling meteor shower drops less meteors. Some eles I see like to stop channeling it prematurely.

General PvP-Tips:

• though it’s rather obvious you should always try to combo Lava Font or Ice Spike with a CC, best are Frozen Ground and Unsteady Ground, Shockwave or Signet of Earth
• never waste your earth #2 by trying to do damage with it (it won’t hit, even if you try to CC) – use it for explo finisher only
• try to place your AoEs strategical in a direction your enemy is running

Pro-Tip:

• Casting Lava font with Arcane Power and switching to earth causes Lava-Font ticks to immobilize your target with Elemental surge for the whole duration while doing nice critical damage

Gorni.1764:

Pro-Tip:

• Casting Lava font with Arcane Power and switching to earth causes Lava-Font ticks to immobilize your target with Elemental surge for the whole duration while doing nice critical damage

Actually, you should Flame Burst after the Lava Font and switch to Earth before Flame Burst hits for both a faster immob and for the burn to cover the immob. It is quite sexy when you follow it up with an Ice Bow but still Elemental Surge just isn’t worth taking over Evasive Arcana, wish ES wasn’t a GM trait

Oh yeah, Geyser heals THREE times: On cast and then once per second for 2 seconds so don’t lead it to far, you want it to be on top of the target when it goes off. Some eles lead it waaaaaay too far.

-While casting Meteor Shower, switch attunements (twice if needed) to proc Arcane Fury for extra damage on your meteors. Switch to earth for acces to magnetic aura if needed so you’re also less vulnerable when casting it.

-Cast your spells where you expect your enemy to go, not where they are when you cast the spell.

-Don’t be afraid to cast Meteor Shower on top of yourself in a 1v1 duel. A lot of people will blindly charge you thinking you’re vulnerable, but the extra damage from meteor shower will quickly make the fight go your way. Works especially well against those pesky warrior that are otherwise almost impossible to damage.

-You don’t need max range to be effective.

-Gust an enemy and then use Burning Retreat if you need to escape.

-Windborne Speed removes cripple, chill and immobilize. Don’t waste it.

Might blast finisher rotations are possible going both Fire → Earth and Earth → Fire

Earth → Fire
Eruption – switch to Fire – Lava Font (this is pretty well-known)

Fire → Earth
Burning Retreat – switch to Earth mid-animation – aim and fire eruption (time-sensitive, optimally you want to be casting it immediately after the roll ends)
Bonus points: Re-engage by EA dodging back towards the enemy

In a boon duration set-up (using Glyph of Elemental Harmony:Fire and Arcane Wave on cooldown as well) I can maintain 20+ might stacks, regularly hitting 25, by just rotating between earth and fire attunement.The cooldown of Burning Retreat lines up perfectly with 30 arcana attunement recharges

With the new changes to Unsteady Ground, plus the pre-existing Frozen Ground and Static Field, staff ele has a lot of tools for keeping enemies stuck within the radius of Meteor Shower. That can be very fun in WvW.

Let us not hand over a list of more things to nerf, please. Thanks.

Actually I’m quite liking this thread - is great to see something in ele forum, particularly for staff, that isn’t ’qq I can’t use buggy or op skills to pwn everyone, ele sux’.

My contribution:
- Air 2 isn’t an instant blind to use against incoming attacks, but it /is/ a long-range AoE blind with some healthy damage to boot. Useful for easing pressure on allies while you stay relatively safe at a bit of a distance or on your way into a fight.

- Glyph of Elemental Power + Meteor Shower gives that bit more burning damage to our strongest pure damage skill; cast the glyph in Earth or Water for some snaring instead. For skills with multiple AoE ticks like Frozen Ground, you can apply glyph’s conditions pretty regularly on top of the skill’s own effects.

- Gust is wildly inaccurate at range unless against PvE mobs, but most classes won’t dodge it nearly so reliably if you cast close to them. As with ThiBash’s mention of Windborne Speed, save it until you need some space, rather than waste it before you’re in danger.

- Magnetic Aura is surprisingly effective for communing. Glyph of Storms in Earth will apply several blinds, so a combination of the two will allow you to get at almost every PvE communing point without even having to kill things first.

Oh, and you can share a /lot/ of swiftness with Eruption/Static Field then Windborne Speed. Add more blast finishers from Arcane Wave or your allies to make the most of the only lightning field that counts!

Same really nice tips here!

Here a nice list of combo’s:

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Table_of_elementalist_combo_skills

What I want to add:

Geyser: Combine it with Eruption / Arcane wave for extra healing
Healing Rain: Combine it with Eruption / Arcane wave for extra healing.

These are so nice for you and your party.

Geyser has 3 pulses of healing, so don’t lead it too far. First is on cast, then at 1 and 2 seconds. I see too many eles put it ahead of themselves. If you’re traited with blasting staff, then you can cast the close edge on yourself and still have room to dodge to proc the blast finisher from EA.

Burning Retreat Foward:

Setup: bind a key to About Face.

To execute:

1.) While running, right click to take control of the camera (if not already doing so while moving), let go, and left click once in front of you (don’t hold).

2.) Press your bound About Face key immediately, then use Burning Retreat.

3.) At the end of the Burning Retreat animation, right click to grab the camera again; your character will automatically face forward in the direction of your camera.

Explanation: The left click forces your camera to not turn when you About Face, making this useful if you don’t want your camera spinning like mad.

This trick can be used with the Conjure Flame Axe’s Burning Retreat, too.

Just wanted to thank you all for posting all those ideas! this is very interesting!

When running a Staff bunker build and you are using Glyph of Elemental Harmony, use Air heal when bunkering against a melee foe. There is tons of slow on a staff. With swiftness + slows, you are always away from a melee foe, and he does zero dps on you.

Use Water Heal when fighting a condi build to remove condis.

Use Earth heal against ranged foes because protection is the only thing that can protect you now.

No one mentioned using Geyser→Switch to Earth→Dodge Roll (with evasive arcana) for a nice AoE Healing.
Same can be done with Healing Ripple or Might Stacking.

Zord.6130:

No one mentioned using Geyser->Switch to Earth->Dodge Roll (with evasive arcana) for a nice AoE Healing.
Same can be done with Healing Ripple or Might Stacking.

That would depend whether you’re in Combat, cause Evasive arcana only works in combat.

I usually run Arcane wave on my staff ele for the blast finisher when I’m inside fields, it’s fun using it.
Other than that I like using water 4 and blasting it, love that frost aura.

Quinti.5204:

Zord.6130:

No one mentioned using Geyser->Switch to Earth->Dodge Roll (with evasive arcana) for a nice AoE Healing.
Same can be done with Healing Ripple or Might Stacking.

That would depend whether you’re in Combat, cause Evasive arcana only works in combat.

I usually run Arcane wave on my staff ele for the blast finisher when I’m inside fields, it’s fun using it.
Other than that I like using water 4 and blasting it, love that frost aura.

What’s the point of healing if you’re not in combat?

@cheshirefox: I recommend you study this thread carefully, because if you see that image a lot on your staff ele, then you have room for improvement.

ThiBash.5634:

@cheshirefox: I recommend you study this thread carefully, because if you see that image a lot on your staff ele, then you have room for improvement.

Truth be told, I’m pretty good at my staff ele, and I see that downed bar all the time. Vapor form gives us options no other class has.

I have often turned the tide in WvW by meteoring the enemies siege, then mist form + vapor form to a tower or zerg so I can be picked back up.

Or you can meteor from the tower/keep wall, get downed, vapor form away from the edge, heal up and go again, over and over.

Or they pull you off the wall while meteoring, and mist form + vapor form is enough to get you back inside, even with an entire zerg trying to kill you.

If you are in a well coordinated group, you can warn your teammates when you are about to go down, and vapor form straight to the player who will pick you up.

Or if you go down next to a cliff and have no chance, you can save yourself a repair bill.

Or if you go down and next to a pile of loot, you can pop up to grab your loot before you die.

Oh yes, vapour form is loot-tastic - if I’m in WvW in the middle of nowhere it’s great to be able to grab those drops instead of leave them on the other side of the map from my spawn.

cheshirefox: Yeah you really do need to improve - none of your downed skills are on cooldown! A bit more vulnerability or immob/bleed on foes can really help your allies, y’know!

Kuddlekins: That’s pretty cool, I knew that the camera sometimes detached from the back of my head but wasn’t sure how it worked. I’m still sometimes messing up and rolling backwards, but the method is pretty sound and I’m sure I’ll get it reliable with more practice.

the only trick I can contribute…is a likely unintended bug. I havent told a soul so I can keep using it huehue. sorry o.o

titanlectro.5029:

Truth be told, I’m pretty good at my staff ele, and I see that downed bar all the time. Vapor form gives us options no other class has.

I have often turned the tide in WvW by meteoring the enemies siege, then mist form + vapor form to a tower or zerg so I can be picked back up.

That is true, Vapor Form is more than just a downed skill, it’s a powerful tool and a skilled elementalist can make great use of it. Especially if you have some more AoE’s going, you can extend your defeat long enough to be able to rally again. The way you describe using it, I can’t help but wonder wheter Lava Tomb is useful for you.

However, in my earlier reply I assumed that the person to whom I replied was implying that the staff elementalist was worthless, and thus spends most of their time on the floor. That is something I just don’t agree with. :-)