Guild Wars 2

Hey guys

Sorry if this has been asked countless times, but with the recent patch I was wondering if there are any decent WvW builds out there for an Elementalist with a Staff.

You see, I’m levelling my elementalist (lvl57 now; yay me!) and like the Staff very much. I also like explosions and fire but I’m pretty sure that I would kitten myself if I mainly focus on Fire.

As such I was wondering what type of gear, runes, traits and such I might best focus on.

Thanks!!

I’m no expert when it comes staff ele:s in WvW, but I’m currently testing a support build with 30 in air for CC, 30 in water for healing, and 10 in Arcana for Blasting Staff. Sorry.. no fireworks from me =)

Knight’s stats, Altruism runes (up for review), and Sigil of Energy.

i’m still using the same pre-patch trait allocation – 0/0/10/30/30, full celestial
tried some other variants, but this one still feels most comfortable for my playstyle.

You can’t win any 1 v 1 with staff in wvw regardless of build anyway. Might as well go full zerk in zergs.

Hey again guys, thanks for your replies

My main goal in WvW would probably be to act as a form of area-denial when an enemy group is near a gate/wall and area-support when our group is near a gate/wall. So no 1v1 for me if I can help it, just support and bombardment.

I was looking at the traits some more and was wondering if the following could be used as a build or if there are any go-to traits that I might rather use or should avoid.

http://www.gw2db.com/skills/calc/elementalist#5|0|1150|1848|48|2817|1027|30|1653|1655|915|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|20|1684|1680|0|20|2252|1630|0|0|0|1|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|

DeathPanel.8362:

You can’t win any 1 v 1 with staff in wvw regardless of build anyway. Might as well go full zerk in zergs.

This sums it up pretty good. I’m not in favor of full zerk, but the point also extends to traits so might as well roll with 30/30/0/0/10 for pure AoE havok.

Deathpanel might not be able to win 1v1 with staff in wvw but i can. Haven’t tried it out after patch yet but before patch in full celestial and bunker I can win 1v1 roaming wvw solo, and no i am not talking about just taking out that are low rank.

cobalt.1846:

Deathpanel might not be able to win 1v1 with staff in wvw but i can. Haven’t tried it out after patch yet but before patch in full celestial and bunker I can win 1v1 roaming wvw solo, and no i am not talking about just taking out that are low rank.

You are an exception my friend . Maybe you can share your buidl since that’s what the OP was asking for in the first place.

During season 1 when BG faced maggma for the first time, there was this very skillful Staff ele player dueling and winning almost all the duels in 1v1. He came very close to defeat my ele. It was a very rare sight to see a Staff ele perform this great on 1v1 against various good players from diferent professions..

Full celestial and classic bunker (0/0/10/30/30) works great for me. I’ve also won 1v1 duels with staff in WvW, and occasionally 2v1, but I wouldn’t say it’s the normal outcome.

Estarioll.5781:

i’m still using the same pre-patch trait allocation – 0/0/10/30/30, full celestial
tried some other variants, but this one still feels most comfortable for my playstyle.

Agree, 0/10/0/30/30 is still the best. Don’t go zerker in zergs, you’ll rally half the enemy zerg when you die.

juno.1840:

DeathPanel.8362:

You can’t win any 1 v 1 with staff in wvw regardless of build anyway. Might as well go full zerk in zergs.

This sums it up pretty good. I’m not in favor of full zerk, but the point also extends to traits so might as well roll with 30/30/0/0/10 for pure AoE havok.

Considering how fast an zerk ele goes down in small scale fights, I would not recommend full zerk in a zerg. You would die within 1 second of AoE spam if you get caught in a push. Plus, you are the first ones focused during a fight by the enemy skirmishers. Ya need some survivability. The celestial builds offered are pretty solid and can hit pretty hard while still having a great deal of uptime.

That said, it’s all about positioning for staff Eles in a fight. So if you are confident in your play and can stay out of stuff, feel free to go more zerk.

Don’t go full zerk. Don’t use more than 10 air and next to never any points in fire.

0/10/0/30/30 and 0/0/10/30/30 are both good, but I prefer the former. If you feel confident in your ability to survive I’d go for zerkvalk trinkets, celestial staff/helm/coat/legs and valkyrie, zerk or soldier in the other slots.

It’s not purely what the OP asked for, as it’s a support build, but what do you think of this build guys ?
http://intothemists.com/guides/100-staff_fotm_celestial_support_new_dec_2013

It says “for fractals”, but it might be good in WvW as well imo. I’ve been using kind of the same build until now but with a cleric stuff, worked pretty good, but I wonder if this one is better ?

Thanks again guys, I wouldn’t want to be viewed as a rallybot and some added protection would be nice as I’ll be familiarizing myself on how to fight.

So a good bet for me would be to go Celestial with either 0/10/0/30/30 or 0/0/10/30/30?

Can you guys tell me which traits and utility skills are commonly used by these builds?

EDIT: Durden, is that one of those classic bunker builds by any chance? I see the layout being 0/10/0/30/30 with full Celestial.

Yup, it is!
Well, as I said, I’m not using exactly the same build at the moment, mine is slightly different because of my cleric’s set. But I think they are really close to each other.

The thing is, with that kind of build, you’re ok in dungeons and valuable in a WvW-zerg.
And while roaming, it’s been a rare occurence that I lost in a 1v1 duel, because when you master that kind of build, it’s really difficult to be killed, as you’re evading most of the opponent’s dps + you’re dispelling every single condition. You don’t have much dps, but you’ll win over the long run, as there’s one moment your opponent will lose his concentration, and you’ll kill him at that moment. But be prepared for long fights, especially against guardians (I’ve done some duels against guards lasting for more than 10min, I can tell you that’s a reaaaaally long time for a duel !).

Cool, sounds like the direction I’d want to follow for my elementalist as well then! Thanks

I’m still waiting for more experienced elementalists theorycrafters to comment the build I linked, so I wouldn’t follow myself until they confirm it’s a good way to go, especially since celestial gear is so painful to get ahah !

EDIT : oh, and be aware that this kind of build is really difficult to master. Took me more than 100h I think, playing every gametype with it, from open world to tPvP. There’s one spell for each moment in each fight, you just have to learn how and when to use each. But again, I’m an average player

Yes, the build linked is a great guide. I’ve run both 0/10/0/30/30 and 0/0/10/30/30; I find the former better for PvE and the latter better for WvW. With the 10 in air you want to take quick glyphs, both elementals and glyph of storms if you feel like it. The elementals are wonderful in PvE and dungeons, but less useful in a zerg. The 10 in earth keeps me alive longer in WvW; I take the trait that puts up armor of earth at 50%hp and switch out the glyphs for cantrips. Extra toughness and the ability to cleanse and pop stability has saved my tail more than once.

As for your water and arcane traits, that guide does a good analysis of your options. I’d play around with them until you find what works best for you.

Noted. On a personnal point, you think I should definitely leave my Cleric stuff for the Celestial one ?

Another interesting build for wvw is 0/0/20/30/20. Sure you give up EA, but you get on-demand party-wide stability. Pretty dang sweet to swap to earth after a refresh since many of your frontline may have already blown their stability.

cobalt.1846:

Deathpanel might not be able to win 1v1 with staff in wvw but i can. Haven’t tried it out after patch yet but before patch in full celestial and bunker I can win 1v1 roaming wvw solo, and no i am not talking about just taking out that are low rank.

Lol and then you woke up. Staff elementalists in wvw alone are free loot bags. Those in full celestial are even more helpless since in addition to having a bad 1v1 weapon you hit like a sponge. That fact that you try to deny this shows you are either outright lying, or just don’t know what you are talking about.

Calm down DeathPanel. He’s not alone as I’m in the same case as Cobalt, and several of my elementalists mates do the same. Maybe staff ele isn’t just your thing.

Durden.5032:

Calm down DeathPanel. He’s not alone as I’m in the same case as Cobalt, and several of my elementalists mates do the same. Maybe staff ele isn’t just your thing.

Wrong. Staff Elementalist in fact IS my thing. That’s why I don’t appreciate people spreading misinformation. I have two elementalists, Staff and D/D. Both fully geared and in wvw. I know how they function and what the limitations are. People like you like to spread tall tales and end up misinforming players and cause them to lose valuable time and resources gearing up to your mythical stories only to be disappointed.

The fact is unless the opponent is totally ungeared and upleveled, afk, or another staff elementalist there’s nearly 0 chance you will win 1 v 1 as a staff elementalist. It’s simply not what the weapon is designed for.

Staff elementalists can win 1v1. That’s a fact, you can not deny it as it happened. It even happened again to me a few minutes ago.

Well, here you go : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlJcIsdXAdU

Durden.5032:

Staff elementalists can win 1v1. That’s a fact, you can not deny it as it happened. It even happened again to me a few minutes ago.

Possibility is not probability. As since we are talking about personal experiences here my D/D elementalist destroyed a staff elementalist earlier tonight in wvw. My hp never went below 90%. The guy rage quit before I can stomp him.

The video you edited your post with is also extremely unconvincing. The first guy killed was ungeared, the second guy killed took like 10 minutes and was a zerg hammer warrior, which is also terrible in 1v1. (Timestamp also suggests this is prior to the stun warrior meta fyi in case you want to bring that up) A D/D elementalist in the same situation could’ve killed everyone in that video 10 times as fast 1 v 1.

The fact is the Staff has it’s role to play, but that role is simply not 1 v 1. To pretend it is dishonest.

DeathPanel.8362:

cobalt.1846:

Deathpanel might not be able to win 1v1 with staff in wvw but i can. Haven’t tried it out after patch yet but before patch in full celestial and bunker I can win 1v1 roaming wvw solo, and no i am not talking about just taking out that are low rank.

Lol and then you woke up. Staff elementalists in wvw alone are free loot bags. Those in full celestial are even more helpless since in addition to having a bad 1v1 weapon you hit like a sponge. That fact that you try to deny this shows you are either outright lying, or just don’t know what you are talking about.

My 4k average lava font, 6k lightning surges, 5k ice spikes, 2k fireballs, 2-3k chain lightnings, 5k eruptions, and 8-12k meteors disagree. But thanks for coming to the forums.

Otaur.9268:

DeathPanel.8362:

cobalt.1846:

Deathpanel might not be able to win 1v1 with staff in wvw but i can. Haven’t tried it out after patch yet but before patch in full celestial and bunker I can win 1v1 roaming wvw solo, and no i am not talking about just taking out that are low rank.

Lol and then you woke up. Staff elementalists in wvw alone are free loot bags. Those in full celestial are even more helpless since in addition to having a bad 1v1 weapon you hit like a sponge. That fact that you try to deny this shows you are either outright lying, or just don’t know what you are talking about.

My 4k average lava font, 6k lightning surges, 5k ice spikes, 2k fireballs, 2-3k chain lightnings, 5k eruptions, and 8-12k meteors disagree. But thanks for coming to the forums.

Do you also have 5k armor and 30k hp and a magic pony? You can’t get damage numbers like that without zerk centric gear, and if you are in zerk centric gear as a staff elementalist I’d love to run into you roaming for the free loot bags. Disagree all you want, but the facts are on my side. Staff elementalists have a role to play in zergs, but 1 v 1 you’re most likely a free loot bag.

I don’t pretend staff eles have an important role to play in 1v1. I agree their role should be in a zerg, buffing their mates.
My point is, if for any reason you end up 1v1 (like when you’re running from spawn to your zerg and a solo opponent catches you), then you stand a chance. But sure, don’t go roaming with a celestial staff ele.

DeathPanel.8362:

Durden.5032:

Calm down DeathPanel. He’s not alone as I’m in the same case as Cobalt, and several of my elementalists mates do the same. Maybe staff ele isn’t just your thing.

Wrong. Staff Elementalist in fact IS my thing. That’s why I don’t appreciate people spreading misinformation. I have two elementalists, Staff and D/D. Both fully geared and in wvw. I know how they function and what the limitations are. People like you like to spread tall tales and end up misinforming players and cause them to lose valuable time and resources gearing up to your mythical stories only to be disappointed.

The fact is unless the opponent is totally ungeared and upleveled, afk, or another staff elementalist there’s nearly 0 chance you will win 1 v 1 as a staff elementalist. It’s simply not what the weapon is designed for.

Your fully geared in what? I wear celestial head to toe with divinity runes and use a bunker spec of 0/10/0/30/30. This set up is for kiting enemies. If you can’t win 1v1 with staff then you aren’t doing it right, simple as that. I don’t win all the time but I can win.

You sound like the zerker armor people that think there is only one way to play the ele. The ele is all about versatility and adapting. If you can do the attunement dance when fighting then you can win.

http://intothemists.com/guides/100-staff_fotm_celestial_support_new_dec_2013 this is a very popular build and what i use, other than a couple special tweeks and it is what i win with. I don’t imagine that I am going to get though to you that this does work so i will take all my loot bags and leave you to your narrow view of the ele.

juno.1840:

DeathPanel.8362:

You can’t win any 1 v 1 with staff in wvw regardless of build anyway. Might as well go full zerk in zergs.

This sums it up pretty good. I’m not in favor of full zerk, but the point also extends to traits so might as well roll with 30/30/0/0/10 for pure AoE havok.

Yeah, Pure AOE havok here, just with 20 in arcana for the mandatory EA (which should be the part of class mechanic, not a trait imho…)

+1 zerk build

Stay on edges, teleport and fire 4 to stay away, meteor shower and drop aoe’s.

Have fun.

DeathPanel.8362:

Otaur.9268:

DeathPanel.8362:

cobalt.1846:

Deathpanel might not be able to win 1v1 with staff in wvw but i can. Haven’t tried it out after patch yet but before patch in full celestial and bunker I can win 1v1 roaming wvw solo, and no i am not talking about just taking out that are low rank.

Lol and then you woke up. Staff elementalists in wvw alone are free loot bags. Those in full celestial are even more helpless since in addition to having a bad 1v1 weapon you hit like a sponge. That fact that you try to deny this shows you are either outright lying, or just don’t know what you are talking about.

My 4k average lava font, 6k lightning surges, 5k ice spikes, 2k fireballs, 2-3k chain lightnings, 5k eruptions, and 8-12k meteors disagree. But thanks for coming to the forums.

Do you also have 5k armor and 30k hp and a magic pony? You can’t get damage numbers like that without zerk centric gear, and if you are in zerk centric gear as a staff elementalist I’d love to run into you roaming for the free loot bags. Disagree all you want, but the facts are on my side. Staff elementalists have a role to play in zergs, but 1 v 1 you’re most likely a free loot bag.

I have to agree with DeathPanel here. Unless you are playing against an absolute dolt, you aren’t going to win a 1v1. The relatively few 1v1s I win are when the guy stands in my AOE oblivious to what the red circle around his feet means.

Burl.9567:

DeathPanel.8362:

Otaur.9268:

DeathPanel.8362:

cobalt.1846:

Deathpanel might not be able to win 1v1 with staff in wvw but i can. Haven’t tried it out after patch yet but before patch in full celestial and bunker I can win 1v1 roaming wvw solo, and no i am not talking about just taking out that are low rank.

Lol and then you woke up. Staff elementalists in wvw alone are free loot bags. Those in full celestial are even more helpless since in addition to having a bad 1v1 weapon you hit like a sponge. That fact that you try to deny this shows you are either outright lying, or just don’t know what you are talking about.

My 4k average lava font, 6k lightning surges, 5k ice spikes, 2k fireballs, 2-3k chain lightnings, 5k eruptions, and 8-12k meteors disagree. But thanks for coming to the forums.

Do you also have 5k armor and 30k hp and a magic pony? You can’t get damage numbers like that without zerk centric gear, and if you are in zerk centric gear as a staff elementalist I’d love to run into you roaming for the free loot bags. Disagree all you want, but the facts are on my side. Staff elementalists have a role to play in zergs, but 1 v 1 you’re most likely a free loot bag.

I have to agree with DeathPanel here. Unless you are playing against an absolute dolt, you aren’t going to win a 1v1. The relatively few 1v1s I win are when the guy stands in my AOE oblivious to what the red circle around his feet means.

Agreed, also those numbers doesn’t make sense at all, if the lava font hit 4k average, there’s no way for fireball to hit for only 2k average as an obvious example.
So someone was making up the numbers here, hehe

Given how many classes can potentially dps in a zerg, compared to how many classes can play truly support, I feel more useful for my server as the guy who save the others butt with his water fields!

But again, that’s how you see the “play how you like it” feeling of gw2 I guess ahah.

Durden.5032:

Given how many classes can potentially dps in a zerg, compared to how many classes can play truly support, I feel more useful for my server as the guy who save the others butt with his water fields!

But again, that’s how you see the “play how you like it” feeling of gw2 I guess ahah.

Well, you still have your water fields as a zerker Ele And most of the profit from them is still made by blasting it, therefore your own healing power is very ineffective stat for this…

Presented like that.. ahah!
But one day, we will be buffed, and that day, you will cry over your ascended zerker armor it took you so long to get ! Mouhahahahaahahaha ! (demoniac laugh)

Durden.5032:

Presented like that.. ahah!
But one day, we will be buffed, and that day, you will cry over your ascended zerker armor it took you so long to get ! Mouhahahahaahahaha ! (demoniac laugh)

Not gonna happen m8, I have no intention of making ascended armor for my Ele, just read this topic, my reason is listed there :-)
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/elementalist/Are-you-getting-your-ELE-Ascended-Armour/first#post3366079

Seriously. I don’t know what kind of “zergs” people running staff run with but zerkers is a terrible idea. Number one rule in wvw, if you are dead you are useless. And that goes especially for staff ele who is a vital part of everyone staying alive.

The whole point of staff ele is water fields and meteorshower plus attunement cycle spike. But the most important part of that is water fields. The problem is we don’t get the benefit of a reset water field because you are putting them on melee. So you need a build that will keep you alive. I used to run zerkers before the party priority on boons but it is just suicide now.

Aaron.4807:

Seriously. I don’t know what kind of “zergs” people running staff run with but zerkers is a terrible idea. Number one rule in wvw, if you are dead you are useless. And that goes especially for staff ele who is a vital part of everyone staying alive.

The whole point of staff ele is water fields and meteorshower plus attunement cycle spike. But the most important part of that is water fields. The problem is we don’t get the benefit of a reset water field because you are putting them on melee. So you need a build that will keep you alive. I used to run zerkers before the party priority on boons but it is just suicide now.

Well, that depends, I’m usually one of the last ppl going down, and when that occurs, I’ve taken at least 15 enemies with me in zerg vs zerg scenario. It’s all about the positioning, if you do it right, you can decide battles, literally melting the enemy zerg to half….

Aaron.4807:

Seriously. I don’t know what kind of “zergs” people running staff run with but zerkers is a terrible idea. Number one rule in wvw, if you are dead you are useless. And that goes especially for staff ele who is a vital part of everyone staying alive.

The whole point of staff ele is water fields and meteorshower plus attunement cycle spike. But the most important part of that is water fields. The problem is we don’t get the benefit of a reset water field because you are putting them on melee. So you need a build that will keep you alive. I used to run zerkers before the party priority on boons but it is just suicide now.

We are also apart of T1 servers where an ill timed rally can essentially rally 20 downed. I think a zerker build has more viability on the lower tier servers as the zergs there at much smaller and the DPS can be more appreciated. The better you are at placement and escapability should determine the level of zerk you run as a staff ele. I find myself going more zerk as time goes.

It is about play style.

I might have been over aggressive in my stance as positioning is THE most important thing you can learn that will keep you alive. I know that most of the time, in open field, I am the target of at least 3 thieves and they can’t kill me.

If you can pull it off, then go for it. As Burl said, it is probably much easier to do zerkers in lower tiers but, I maintain that you first job is staying alive and you should use every advantage to that end that you can.

For staff 0/30/0/20/20 or 0/30/0/30/10 are pretty good builds with good defense.

I would not settle for 0/10/0/30/30, the damage less half that of 30 in air.

I am fairly happy with my 0/20/0/30/20 staff build for WvW:

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fEAQFAWhImkbzR4QlDAkHocCLCFWQRRxOzA-jEDBYfAYLIkFAUBIpPKrJQCilhhtkKIVXRTZDTdiIq2bgIqWKA9EGB-w

Key features:

- Reasonably good at everything. This is a hybrid, designed for groups and zergs, providing AoE damage, buffs and heals. It is great at nothing

- Easy permaswiftness. WvW is painful if you’re slow

- A lot of personal condition removal, with a fair bit of AoE clears (the synergies between cleansing water, elemental attunement and soothing disruption are wonderful)

- I prefer to use dodges defensively, not to cast spells. I do not like evasive arcana, as powerful as it is

- Enough survivability to forgive a few mistakes. This is an alt (my main is a thief), so I’ll never have the reps needed to become fantastic at playing it

- Plenty of boons for myself and others. I really like Elemental attunement

- Major Con 1: I am not a mobile trebuchet. Pure zerk gear, however, gets me killed too often

- Major Con 2: I am terrible at 1v1. I don’t seek them out, but you sometimes get caught. I may try fiery greatsword for this, or just equip a different weapon set when running from the spawn to zerg

- Major Con 3: No vigor

Feedback is welcome. I’ve put a lot of thought into making this build do what I want it to, but again, this is an alt, so I’m not an expert on the class. Note, the gear is not finished, but what I happen to have on him. I have not decided whether to go for ascended celestial, or the same armor types I have now.

Oghier.7419:

It is great at nothing

I disagree, you have a great build there… It’s great at a surviving AND contributing to the damage instead of just kiting for bags and placing fields.

I prefer 30 in air to the sacrifice of evasive arcana and your water 30 condi removal, because Eather Renewal removes plenty of conditions. With fresh air I get perma swiftness lingering in battle and that extra bolt crit every time I crit in another attunement. With 10% more crit damage and 4% extra chance I run at 44/104% crit: that bolt hits for 2500dmg. Considering I have near perma fury my crits are the equivalent of 64/104% (I always have fury swapping attunements).

As they say, sometimes offence is the best defence. I like that when I cast my nukes I see people move. Otherwise why play an ele?

0/20/0/30/20
0/30/0/20/20
0/30/0/30/10
0/20/0/20/30
are all good staff builds.

I’m happy I bumped the thread yesterday, and I intentionally gave my (maybe not so insightful) build to start an itch. It seems it worked, and I learned plenty from it. Thanks. The number of viable builds is awesome.

Anyway… just an update. I continued running 0/30/0/30/10 a couple of hours yesterday, and I felt it worked for me.

I also got separated from my guild, and managed on my own — mostly by evading since I recognize the difference between roam- and zerg-builds.

I finished my run with a 1v1 against a thief. None of us could kill the other, even though I felt it was his main. He had the edge, but I still feel that’s enough solo survivability to me =)