Guild Wars 2

Hi, I just recently lvled up my Elementalist and I have a few questions that are bothering me:

While lvling I was mostly lvling in lower area zones by doing dailies/jumping puzzles/farming I used mostly berserker gear if I could get it, d/d all the way to 80. Once I hit 80 I bought myself some 80 masterwork weapons s/d and still runing full Zerk with some random (I think its soldiers + cleric + zerk) jewelry (most of it for around lvl 50-70).
The problem is that while I was d/d and lvling it was easy for me to get a group of 5-10 mobs fire3+fire4+earth4+earth5 + arcane wave in the middle and kill all those mobs + get 10-12 might stacks I was runing towards 0/20/0/20/30 build and it was easy to maintain perma swiftness + fury + in combat protection/might/regen, but now when I swapped to s/d and hit 80 I get pwned by the same mobs when trying to pull off sth similar (I even got beat up by the 3 starting oozes in Provernic Crypt). I know that I need to get used to the s/d. But is s/d realy that weaker in survivability than d/d?

1. I want to get my 1st exotic set but currently I am not sure if zerker is the best idea for soloing and dungeons that is?

2. I am running 20/30/0/10/10 as Wooden Potatoes is (I know he is more or less BiS geared so I shouldnt compare him to myself). Should I change the traits?

3. (Off-topic – I realy like the Winged crafted set, is there any way of obtaining a lvl 80 version off it so I don’t need to wait 1st for the whole exotic set than use Transmutation Crystals, I figure thats the only way to do it? With buying gems?)

4. I am starting to do some sPvP, I realy enjoy it but I only know what to expect from the 2 classes I own at lvl 80, ranger and elementalist. I was hoping for some tips on what to be weary off against other classes (what to dodge).

EDIT: Thank you for the answers, I have also amassed around 110 laurels should I buy an ascended amulet (zerkers) and which one (off/def/uti), I do plan on doing FotM somewhere in the future and I understand agony ress is a key element in higher fractals?

1. Berserker will always be the best at the current state of the game (for PvE). However you will need to know when to dodge, so if you have problems with survival might want to get Knight’s armor, Berserker’s trinkets first, then slowly work your way to full Berserker when you get good at dodging.

2. Two very strong builds are Hamartia’s S/D + Lightning Hammer build and GuanglaiKangyi’s Staff build.

http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/83561-hamartias-sd-elementalist-build-dps-might-stacking/

http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/85568-lh-is-the-new-bearbow-the-real-staff-dps-build-for-manly-men/

3. Yeah, you’ll need to transmute it.

4. Can’t really help you there, I’m not a PvP player and it comes down to experience in the end.

Dreviore.1075:

1. Berserker will always be the best at the current state of the game (for PvE). However you will need to know when to dodge, so if you have problems with survival might want to get Knight’s armor, Berserker’s trinkets first, then slowly work your way to full Berserker when you get good at dodging.

2. Two very strong builds are Hamartia’s S/D + Lightning Hammer build and GuanglaiKangyi’s Staff build.

http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/83561-hamartias-sd-elementalist-build-dps-might-stacking/

http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/85568-lh-is-the-new-bearbow-the-real-staff-dps-build-for-manly-men/

3. Yeah, you’ll need to transmute it.

4. Can’t really help you there, I’m not a PvP player and it comes down to experience in the end.

Thank you so much, this helps a lot. I think it might also be that I am not having the 80 lvl gear yet, I might be probably just scared off by the gap from low lvl content vs same though.

Crnicelad.5924:

I know that I need to get used to the s/d. But is s/d realy that weaker in survivability than d/d?

Yes and no. You are weaker because you don’t have Air #3 and you can’t rely too much on Auras. But what you lose from that, you’ll gain in being able to hit mobs from a longer range (up to 900) and you’ll gain more burst DPS damage.
Try using Fire #2 on a group of enemies, then go in the middle of them and cast Fire #4, then Fire #3, switch to earth, Earth #4 and Earth #5. You’ll gain a lot of might stacks and will be dealing a lot of AoE damage, usually more than enough to kill any non-veteran type of mob.
I used S/D all the way up to lv80 and rarely had problems with that, even in full zerker gear.
For reference, this was my build:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEAQJArYhEmcblR1gjEAkCmMUESGiCWUeMDO2A-e

It is an odd build: I used my utilities for direct damage (Arcane Blast is another Blast to put in your rotation, while Signet of Air provided me with the needed mobility and Elemental helped a lot during fights), while I used my traits for defense (yeah, no renewing stamina: didn’t need that, since I needed my might-stacking rotation to complete and Final Shielding was the best way to ensure that).

1. I want to get my 1st exotic set but currently I am not sure if zerker is the best idea for soloing and dungeons that is?

Yeah, zerker is the best there is for all kinds of PvE.

Crnicelad.5924:

2. I am running 20/30/0/10/10 as Wooden Potatoes is (I know he is more or less BiS geared so I shouldnt compare him to myself). Should I change the traits?

That is up to you. Do you LIKE using Conjure Weapons? If yes, consider following his build. Otherwise, don’t bother going in 20 fire.

Crnicelad.5924:

3. (Off-topic – I realy like the Winged crafted set, is there any way of obtaining a lvl 80 version off it so I don’t need to wait 1st for the whole exotic set than use Transmutation Crystals, I figure thats the only way to do it? With buying gems?)

Already answered: Transmutation Crystals. You’ll need about 10Gold to buy 5 of them: should be enough to get 5/6 pieces.

4. I am starting to do some sPvP, I realy enjoy it but I only know what to expect from the 2 classes I own at lvl 80, ranger and elementalist. I was hoping for some tips on what to be weary off against other classes (what to dodge).

Starting sPvP now is NOT advisable as Ele is in a really weak position right now against the current meta.
Concerning what to dodge, it depends. If you build as a tanky, D/D Ele you should watch out for S/D Thieves (completely avoid them, they will steal all your boons) and Necromancers (will turn your boons into conditions).
If you go as a S/D burst Ele, you should dodge most forms of CCs, especially Hammer Warriors.

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