Guild Wars 2

Hi guys, let me start off by saying that I am not new to the elementalist class nor Crucible of Eternity. I have taken my elementalist through every dungeon and done just fine, and have enjoyed it, HOWEVER…. CoE is so much more of a pain than anything else and I don’ know why. I’m running S/D and D/D most of the time and stacking anywhere between 12-18 stacks of might, but it also seems like I take aggro 100% of the time and just constantly get downed. I mean, CONSTANTLY. P1 is especially a kitten, because P2 and P3 atleast have the red circles so I know when to dodge. I’m running full zerk with 5/4/0/4/0. I took 2 points out of earth and put it into water for the condi removal since I seem to have 100% burn on me regardless of how many times I cleanse it. I normally take arcane wave, glyph of storms and lightning hammer as my utilities.

Do you guys have any advice on better utilities to bring or tips to help an elementalist survive in this dungeon? I can run all 3 paths with my thief without dying once, but the second I step foot into CoE with an elemetalist I have aggro 100% of the time and cannot stay up.

Maybe try taking focus offhand for the parts you think you may have trouble with? It’s def better for survivability. What utilities do you bring to CoE?

Strange, I’ve always called coe the ele dungeon. I often go with 4 eles/ 1 warrior for this dungeon. For trash mobs, you already have enough blinds so I guess that’s not a problem. For alpha, deep freeze him. 5 seconds is enough to burst him down. Having a guardian helps if the dps is lower. It’s not about your utilities or build, it’s a matter of bursting it down fast enough, imo. Going scepter focus should be enough survivability if needed.

P1 Alpha: He will do 3 attacks, the crystal, the AE fire, and the direction cone of teeth.

There is no viable tell for any of these attacks other than the fire one… but if you waste dodges on the fire one you will get hit by the teeth which is the especially deadly one.

For the teeth it comes in waves of circular attacks, this means overlap, if you stand at max melee or there abouts you’ll be hit with the first and second hit of it, which really hurts, so hug alpha tight if he’s targetting you. This being directional though makes stacking actually a bad idea, you’re better off surrounding him and letting whoever’s being targetted be the only one at risk.

His attacks will generally go Fire-1 – 2 – Teeth – 1 – 2 – Fire, same timing as the p2/p3 red circles but you use the fire as your tell instead of the circles. This does mean you’ll be taking some damage though.

The crystal I’m not sure on how exactly that works, but basically it’ll reset his rotation and you’ll have to figure it out again maybe eating another tooth attack.

For the robot, just get used to always being targetted, it’s simply a fact that Ele is primary target there. Use Swirling winds when available on the laser, dodge when not, hopefully if you have a decent team someone else can help out. Then I like to make sure retal turret is down so I can really utilize IB and what not, Retal can kill you quick if you don’t take it out.

Personally I’ve been going D/F in there, I find it easier than S/F personally and it leaves me without having to go LH meaning I have Obsidian Flesh and Swirling winds at the ready. I run the standard AB + Awave/IB/GoStorms for my heal/utilities.

If you’re having trouble maybe take the vigor trait?

Well first of all S/D and D/D are pretty terrible weaponsets for an ele in dungeons.

You should always be using either S/F + LH, D/F, or staff. D/D is generally always lousy in PvE unless you’re bursting trash mobs in open world, and if you’re running scepter then it’s more certainly for the extra blast finishers correct? Well you can’t even use churning earth unless it’s for prestacking, so you may as well take focus since it has more defensive utility and better blast finishers on shorter cooldowns.

You can use the Water Elemental elite, heals like 4-5k and removes a condi every 15s, beast elite to have. I usually use this to maintain the scholar bonus since nothing else is worth taking imo.

As for the hardest part of coe for an ele imo is the frickkin golem which decides to aim everything at you. Swirling winds and earth 4/5 on focus are your best buds here, or earth 3 on staff (basically reflects/absorbs).

Also for P1 especially, try not to stack together on one spot and fight around Alpha, I feel its much easier that way.

You’re not the first one who mentions this problem, I have a guild mate who also said once that he doesn’t take his ele to CoE anymore because of the aggro problem. IMO, the aggro system in this game is completely broken since bosses will almost always target their aimed attacks (cof p1: I always get to eat the firegrab of the first boss as fullzerk ele) towards the class with the least sustain (hp, armor). So an easymode warrior with 18k+ hp and heavy armor gets even more benefits due to the fact that bosses won’t attack him directly anyway. Good stuff, arenanet.

For CoE, you might run dagger/focus and arcane shield. In addition, you could consider switching to water 10 seconds before combat to conjure an ice elemental with your elite. The elemental has a 6k group heal. In combat, don’t use your earth abilities to stack might, instead use arcane wave + frost explosion and ice comet. Then you have arcane shield + your heal + elemental heal + obsidian flesh + dodges to keep yourself alive.

As others have said, swapping to focus will help tremendously. Signet of Fire, Arcane Shield, Ice Bow, and Glyph of Storms are valuable, depending on what you need in each fight (and the size of the boss’ hitbox). If you have the money and already maintain 25 stacks of might, you could also craft an extra weapon and use a Sigil of the Night. Additionally, you may want to consider reverting to the max dps 6/6/2/0/0 build.

However, consider also that your group may be part of the “problem.” If you run with a disorganized group comprised of players that aren’t even slightly optimized for dps, the fights will last longer and you’re more likely to run into trouble sustaining yourself. If that’s the case, you could always just run the more traditional Evasive Arcana build (slightly modified for higher dps), which is safer and can bring great party-wide sustain. With really good groups, it’s arguably a bit selfish to run this, but for pugs it may be advisable.

As many have said before me use the focus. I don’t die with Focus as long as I keep my focus which I don’t always do since I often get distracte. oooh shiny

Earth elemental says hello to all elementalists who have problems with controlling aggro o/

That or just harpy feather yourself to transfer the aggro target to other group member \o\

That or learn the ultimate burst rotation possible to elementalist: http://youtu.be/uVjlzgBSX5Q

The most difficult option: learn the boss mechanics, save your dodge and walk out of some slow attacks instead.

- Use focus like others said. You can use your invulnerability while doing your might stacking to save you 1 or 2 hit.
- Use Icebow to deep freeze when you can to save you and your team 1 or 2 hit.
- Don’t go in first. This was my main problem when I started play Ele. The guardian in always push me to start fight, not a good idea as an Ele.
- I never had to use the Water Elemental, maybe it help. I would have to try it, but I fear the boss could destack in crucial moment. I have deep trust issues with npc.

There is also thing that you can’t really control. A good guardian or mesmer will help your team survive that fight longer. And a good dps team will make the fight short enough so you don’t have problem at all. I try to not pug, but when I do CoE with my Ele I ask for exp and speed run. That usually go well.

CoE is the one dungeon I wont pug with my ele. It shouldnt be a problem in organised groups. But pugs will often cause you difficulty usually because of lack of dps or people slacking on various duties which make things easier for the squishy classes that die fast to alphas instant earth spikes.

1) For the golem, there is not much you can do. That’s the job for a mesmer or a guardian. There is a lot of source of dmg in there, a guardian or a mesmer can make sure that the golem don’t have boons. Without regen/protection, the fight go faster and without retal, you won’t kill yourself. Of course if he aggro you and spawn static field and laser on you all fight, this will be really hard. Just make sure you enter combat last, that will help.

2) For alpha, you should have any dragon tooth on you. If you keep yourself close to him the only problem will be the burning and his cone attack. They are quick and not much you can do about it to evade them. That’s where focus invulnerability and deep freeze will help you for a moment. At that point, its out of your control. Enough DPS and support from a guardian/mesmer are the only thing that will keep you alive. Just do your job with the dps, try to get into good pug group or find a guild to run it.

spoj.9672:

CoE is the one dungeon I wont pug with my ele. It shouldnt be a problem in organised groups. But pugs will often cause you difficulty usually because of lack of dps or people slacking on various duties which make things easier for the squishy classes that die fast to alphas instant earth spikes.

If I pug with any classes not my ele, I can see the DPS dropping drastically and the fight last longer D;

Golem: Pull the golem between the Protection and the Retaliation-Turrets. This will help you and your party members to get the mob down easier. Destroy both of them if they are back up. Consider them your main priority if no one else in your party is dealing with them.
You can easily dodge the golem’s light orbs. You will get used to him using his skills – get back a little and use your “movement” keys and move left and right, the golem will cast an orb without hitting you. The other two orbs can be dodged or doge and move left and right afterwards or just move in a straight line left and right. I would consider using a Focus in this particular boss encounter especially if there are no Guardians or Mesmers around helping with their skills.
Your party should talk about when to use which skill, so there won’t be a damage loss, since both Feedback and Wall of Reflection deal damage to the Golem. Since the Golem’s skills are somehow a kind of Crowd control, using reflects on him will lead in a loss of his defiance stacks.

Just my opinion: Don’t use S/D for this boss nor D/D – use D/F or Staff.
Staff will lead to less stacks of might and therefore a loss of your parties damage but it’s better dealing damage then lying on the floor downed or dead, dealing no damage.
D/D well, this weapon set – I don’t get it why it’s even considered to be good in any scenario besides WvW and PvP. You’re losing a lot of damage by the Traits you’re using -which aren’t good but, well – plus your choice of weapon set

Note:
Ring of Earth works as a projectile block, after it’s casted it lasts for about 2 sec or so. Which can also help “dodging” his light orbs.
Burning Speed can also be used as a “dodging” skill, rather challenging to get it the right time, but you can also use it for evading Alphas Fire, wouldn’t use it to evade his Aoe – only if you’re confident enough in your prowess.

I would go 2 points into Arcana, getting Renewing Stamina. You should crit a lot "even with your build " – dodging shouldn’t be much of a concern now.
6 Points in Fire. Persisting Flames is a must, should be missing in your build ONLY if there are other party members giving Furry. Also since it gives a longer duration of fire Fields, main source of your current damage setup.
I would play a Fresh Air build, while playing D/D – but still, this weapon set….well, play your style.

Note: You deal more damage to burning foes – Ring of Fire doesn’t apply burning to foes already inside your Circle.

My suggestion: For Alpha play Staff or D/F – Since…
…Obsidian Flesh which can be a huge help if you’re running low health
…Flame Wall, damage is pathetic but applies burning.
…Swirling Winds, this skill is just imbattable
…Magnetic Wave, huge help to cleanse conditions – reflects projectiles and is a Blast Finisher
Also..
…Magnetic Aura reflects projectiles.
….Stoning does hardly any damage which could be considered good but – Weakness is awesome and can decide weather your HP-pool will go down to 50% or 30% by getting hit.

The groups overall damage will be moderately lower because of lower might uptime. But it still does great amounts of damage. If might is covered but other party members you should play Staff without even thinking. Your Damage will just skyrocket.

Lastly..You should never play just one “style”. It’s true that we can only use one weapon a time, during combat but – there are other different weapon sets, which can be useful and should be used.
During CoE runs i usually swap weapons from boss to boss. Trying to give most of support and damage.

Iris Ng.9845:

spoj.9672:

CoE is the one dungeon I wont pug with my ele. It shouldnt be a problem in organised groups. But pugs will often cause you difficulty usually because of lack of dps or people slacking on various duties which make things easier for the squishy classes that die fast to alphas instant earth spikes.

If I pug with any classes not my ele, I can see the DPS dropping drastically and the fight last longer D;

Doesnt really matter for me. I pretty much never touch CoE anymore.