Guild Wars 2

What kind of variety is there build wise for WvW & PvE? Are there multiple viable specs/flexible play style? Are you pigeonholed into fixed priority based-rotation based on cooldowns? How viable are each of the available weapons?

I come from a Mesmer & Engineer and I like to have lots of variety/buttons and complex gameplay most other classes have bored me to tears. I’ve tried necro and it really was kind of interesting but unwhelming to the nth degree it is riddled with so many bugged traits and abilities right now that people that play them regularly have earned a great deal of respect putting up with it.

As a result I’ve come to see how things are over on the Ele side to poke your brains a bit.

PvE there’s plenty of choice of builds/weapos. WvW where is very little build flexibility or weapon choice. Dagger/Dagger is where it’s at. That said, there are 20 skills from that alone that you have to juggle. Some of your abilities have long cooldowns and you won’t get to see if they are up unless you attune to that element. There’s alot of rotations you can use and self combos. The mobility is fantastic and really fun, it is a very active class.

My main (if Ic an call it that any longer) is also a mesmer but after taking my ele into wvw I’ve barely played my mesmer since. I love my mesmer but dagger/dagger ele out classes it imo (in terms of fun, abilities, chasing, escaping, etc). I also think ele is superiour in pve too.

Although it does’t meet your buld/weapon flexibility requirments I would strongly suggest making an ele it really is out right fun (I’m talking dagger/dagger of course but the other weapon sets do have their place too).

Thanks for the reply.

I have been immensely enjoying my low level elem.. hardly have any trait points but find myself performing well even in WvW. I’m switching between weapons a lot depending on what I’m doing however. D/D is definitely a lot of fun as everyone seems to have stated on here. Staff/Scepter is great for siege <3

I really prefer Staff for WvW. D/D can be very strong in skirmishes, but Staff provides infinitely more support. If you’re in a group being chased, Staff can toss out a chilling field, a crippling field, a stunning field, and an AoE Swiftness+Cripple/Chilled/Immobilized cleanse, probably saving your entire group from an oncoming zerg rush (you can also use all those spells to chase). For sieges, the Staff is hands-down the weapon you want.

S/F could probably work for sieges too, though I haven’t tried it. Swirling Winds seems like a strong choice for blocking a large amount of retaliatory strikes.

Blaine Tog.8304:

I really prefer Staff for WvW. D/D can be very strong in skirmishes, but Staff provides infinitely more support. If you’re in a group being chased, Staff can toss out a chilling field, a crippling field, a stunning field, and an AoE Swiftness+Cripple/Chilled/Immobilized cleanse, probably saving your entire group from an oncoming zerg rush (you can also use all those spells to chase). For sieges, the Staff is hands-down the weapon you want.

S/F could probably work for sieges too, though I haven’t tried it. Swirling Winds seems like a strong choice for blocking a large amount of retaliatory strikes.

I carry both. One decent thing about Ele is that even though we can’t weapon swap, the “standard” 0/10/0/30/30 build is decent for both staff and D/D. So I normally run around with D/D, and then just switch to staff when needed.

Personally, I find D/D to be a much better “general purpose” weapon than staff…and it’s easy to switch to staff when the situation arises.

Creslin.1758:

I carry both. One decent thing about Ele is that even though we can’t weapon swap, the “standard” 0/10/0/30/30 build is decent for both staff and D/D. So I normally run around with D/D, and then just switch to staff when needed.

Personally, I find D/D to be a much better “general purpose” weapon than staff…and it’s easy to switch to staff when the situation arises.

Yes, regardless of one’s preference, you should always carry both weapon sets (heck, I even keep a Focus in my inventory at all times, even though I basically never use it).

As for me, I don’t have a guild so my WvW experience is from the perspective of someone who looks for a zerg to join or a keep to siege/defend. I don’t like D/D much in those situations because of how retreat dynamics work in zergs (you may think you’re safe with your team around you during a fight only to find them backing off just as you pop RTL in to take someone out) and how much focused damage can fall onto the front lines. If I find someone by themselves, though, I certainly don’t try to 1v1 them as a Staff Ele, but it’s also pretty much impossible for them to catch me.

Blaine Tog.8304:

Yes, regardless of one’s preference, you should always carry both weapon sets (heck, I even keep a Focus in my inventory at all times, even though I basically never use it).

Basically this. I keep one of every weapon in my bag (all of them exotic at this point) even though I rarely use the focus or scepter. Typically i’m swapping between D/D and staff, but you might find yourself defending a trebuchet and having that focus in the bag (for swirling winds) is priceless.