Guild Wars 2

Obviously my logic is flawed somewhere. I thought that as an elementalist, using conditions like fire, freezing, etc. would potentially benefit by using armor that, well, you know, had CONDITION DAMAGE as one of it’s stats.
However what I have is a character that is so weak on both offense and defense, that she got killed by a kittening dust mite in silverwastes.

Is it to much to ask to be able to kill the simplest of mobs? Apparently so. I really do not understand what exactly people are doing running around on ele’s in Sivlerwastes, because if they are anything like me, the last thing they are doing is dps. Meanwhile I’ve blown a bunch of gold on an armor set that does absolutely kitten for survivability (I will never again use Carrion).

It is depressing and discouraging when I see other players just mowing down Mordrem mobs like they were just running around in Queensdale at level 80, yet it takes me minutes to kill something.

I’ve never considered deleting a level 80 before today.

If anyone would like to show me exactly how an elementalist can do something other than tickle their opponent, I would love to see the traits and gear.

Look up some of the PVE DPS stuff, if you learn that, you can just destroy things. Specifically I’d suggest Dagger/Focus. Do your might rotation, whip it with lightning, and things fall over like they’re nothing. Condition damage isn’t all that great, especially for killing things that have lower hp as it takes a while to ramp up to full damage potential. Being an Ele you’re always going to be on the squishier side but learning to use the defensive tools you have you can avoid most damage.

Funny, here I was thinking Ele had the best DPS in GW2.

Neural.1824:

I thought that as an elementalist, would potentially benefit by using armor that,had CONDITION DAMAGE

Using condition damage on elementalists is quite bad. If you shift your main damage source to power damage you will see a huge improvement.

I don’t do open world pve much, but when I do I use:
d/d strength+force sigil with 6/6/2/0/0 V,VII,XI/VI,X,XII/VI for exploration
staff frailty+force sigil with 6/6/0/0/2 VI,VII,XI/VI,VII,XIII/V for zerging
I use berserker gear with strength runes.
There probably are better rune and sigil choices specifically for open world pve and PVT is more optimal for bosses you can’t crit but I’m not going to waste my time, money and inventory space on them.

I also advise you to read these guides, although they mainly focus on doing dungeon runs, they contain a lot of information on eles in general. Most of the builds, rotations and tactics discussed can be applied in open world.

http://dulfy.net/2014/07/11/gw2-elementalist-pve-class-guide-by-haviz-and-zelyhn/

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/elementalist/Guide-DPS-Elementalist-for-PvE/first

PS: guys don’t be so mean, all of us had to learn at some point. 1.5 years ago I thought knights gear auramancer build was the kitten in dungeons :p.
PS 2: It’s Gollum, not Golem

Yes, I know I’m a bit salty. It’s just that there is so much information(just check the stickies) and still posts like this show up.

petyr baelish.9675:

Using condition damage on elementalists is quite bad. If you shift your main damage source to power damage you will see a huge improvement.

I don’t do open world pve much, but when I do I use:
d/d strength+force sigil with 6/6/2/0/0 V,VII,XI/VI,X,XII/VI for exploration
staff frailty+force sigil with 6/6/0/0/2 VI,VII,XI/VI,VII,XIII/V for zerging
I use berserker gear with strength runes.
There probably are better rune and sigil choices specifically for open world pve and PVT is more optimal for bosses you can’t crit but I’m not going to waste my time, money and inventory space on them.

I also advise you to read these guides, although they mainly focus on doing dungeon runs, they contain a lot of information on eles in general. Most of the builds, rotations and tactics discussed can be applied in open world.

http://dulfy.net/2014/07/11/gw2-elementalist-pve-class-guide-by-haviz-and-zelyhn/

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/elementalist/Guide-DPS-Elementalist-for-PvE/first

PS: guys don’t be so mean, all of us had to learn at some point. 1.5 years ago I thought knights gear auramancer build was the kitten in dungeons :p.
PS 2: It’s Gollum, not Golem

Thank you for the information.

Re:PS2. I know, but with the Asuran creations running all over GW2, I thought it was a silly twist. Guess not. lol

Use Power instead.

Ok. I am completely confused now. I had traits at 6/4/0/4/0, with the trait items set at anything that would increase burning duration or similar.

Why did it make such a huge difference when I switched to the 6/6/2/0/0 V,VII,XI/VI,X,XII/VI ?

I mean, the difference is HUGE (to me). I was using scepter dagger, so switching to d/d wasn’t that much of a change, but …why is such a simple change doing so much better?

Neural.1824:

Obviously my logic is flawed somewhere. I thought that as an elementalist, using conditions like fire, freezing, etc. would potentially benefit by using armor that, well, you know, had CONDITION DAMAGE as one of it’s stats.
However what I have is a character that is so weak on both offense and defense, that she got killed by a kittening dust mite in silverwastes.

Is it to much to ask to be able to kill the simplest of mobs? Apparently so. I really do not understand what exactly people are doing running around on ele’s in Sivlerwastes, because if they are anything like me, the last thing they are doing is dps. Meanwhile I’ve blown a bunch of gold on an armor set that does absolutely kitten for survivability (I will never again use Carrion).

It is depressing and discouraging when I see other players just mowing down Mordrem mobs like they were just running around in Queensdale at level 80, yet it takes me minutes to kill something.

I’ve never considered deleting a level 80 before today.

If anyone would like to show me exactly how an elementalist can do something other than tickle their opponent, I would love to see the traits and gear.

Generally speaking, playing a condition ele isn’t really a smart idea since we are somewhat limited to only bleeding and burning. You’re better off going direct damage. Also, the reason why you’re doing so much better is because conditions take time to build up while direct damage is instant.

One more thing: You have higher critical chance and critical damage with that 6/6/2/0/0 setup. Stone splinters (earth VI) adds 10% additional damage on top of the additional 100 precision and ferocity when you have 6 points in air as opposed to the 4 points in air in your previous build. Also, Bolt to the Heart (air VI) kicks in at 33% so that also affects your damage.

Dedicated Condition Elementalist sucks, it really just does. Just get passed it and move on.

Use Berserker gear in PvE and Celestial gear in PvP.

Neural.1824:

Ok. I am completely confused now. I had traits at 6/4/0/4/0, with the trait items set at anything that would increase burning duration or similar.

Why did it make such a huge difference when I switched to the 6/6/2/0/0 V,VII,XI/VI,X,XII/VI ?

I mean, the difference is HUGE (to me). I was using scepter dagger, so switching to d/d wasn’t that much of a change, but …why is such a simple change doing so much better?

Scepter is a burst damage weapon and the auto attacks are quite pathetic. Dagger’s autos are very decent.

You’ve changed to the power based dagger build where you really can pretty much lightning whip everything. Ideally rotating between attuenment to hit other big damagers and stack might then upon swapping back to air you get a large hit from the GM minor in your Air trait tree.

Builds are a big deal in this game, it may not seem like a major change to you but you shored up multiple areas.

http://dulfy.net/2014/07/11/gw2-elementalist-pve-class-guide-by-haviz-and-zelyhn/

/thread

fell out my chair looking at the carrion part

Neural.1824:

Ok. I am completely confused now. I had traits at 6/4/0/4/0, with the trait items set at anything that would increase burning duration or similar.

Why did it make such a huge difference when I switched to the 6/6/2/0/0 V,VII,XI/VI,X,XII/VI ?

I mean, the difference is HUGE (to me). I was using scepter dagger, so switching to d/d wasn’t that much of a change, but …why is such a simple change doing so much better?

The difference is huge because of damage multiplier. These 10% there and there that you added in your build are really powerful and are one of the reason why in PvE, condition build are not that good. They don’t add up, they multiply together, getting stronger and stronger as you add more of them. That’s the strength of the elementalist since he have access to so many of them at the same time.

Go through different guides on the subject because for now you are all over the place. Your trait is better, but don’t fit with your weapons. You also don’t use the weapons in the right place. Scepter/Dagger is mostly use for stacking might in PvE and every time you spend on them while doing only dmg and not stacking might is not a good idea. Ppl using scepter/dagger and better scepter/focus also use the Lightning Hammer as their main source of dps. If you want a weapon that can do good dmg by itself Staff would be top, while Dagger/Focus is also a popular setup for more survivability in hard content.

Start by figuring out what Weapons you prefer to use between D/F, Staff, S/F or S/D.

True elementalists use D/F.

Those who use other builds are obviously picking content that is too easy for them to face, therefore they are not worthy of the knowledge of the elements!

Zelyhn Lekovitch:

You just hurt my wvw PVT/Zerk D/D elementalists feeling…

Aggrostemma.1703:

Zelyhn Lekovitch:

You just hurt my wvw PVT/Zerk D/D elementalists feeling…

In secret, very late at night, in the dark, I used to go PvP with my cele D/D and wreck stuff but shhhh

(I just realised I wrote that in the dark at night I play with my D/D)

I’ll read through the guides linked and go from there. For now changing the traits and weapons has made the character viable. Still broke from making the carrion gear, but will switch over to new gear when I can afford it.

Is there any benefit to mixing gear types? (i.e. half zerker, half rampager, or all zerker, but knights trinkets, etc.)

Neural.1824:

I’ll read through the guides linked and go from there. For now changing the traits and weapons has made the character viable. Still broke from making the carrion gear, but will switch over to new gear when I can afford it.

Is there any benefit to mixing gear types? (i.e. half zerker, half rampager, or all zerker, but knights trinkets, etc.)

There can be, but I’ll say that I’d go with zerk trinkets as eventually you’ll want to go full zerk once you master the use of active defense (at least in PVE) and gear is acquireable through multiple means. You can go to WvW and get cheap sets (remember though you can’t salvage to get runes back). You can get drops with the right stats. You can do Dungeons and buy the gear with those tokens. Or, you can craft it up.

To add though, steer clear of Rampager, it’s not that good. Knights gear + zerk trinkets is a pretty common “starter set” for PVE, sub in Soldier if you need more passive defense, or possibly Valkyrie if you want the HP because conditions are what’s killing you (that’s what I started with on my Ele).

Either way GL.

Neural.1824:

I
Is there any benefit to mixing gear types? (i.e. half zerker, half rampager, or all zerker, but knights trinkets, etc.)

Yes and no. It depend on what you want to achieve.

- Hybrid Power/Condition don’t really work well because condition don’t work well in dungeon. In PvP hybrid work very well (see the explosion of celestial Engineer and Elementalist in sPvP these day), but not in PvE.

- Hybrid Zerker/more tanky gear work well for ppl that are learning the game, content, profession or ppl that just want to have a good time in casual run. More tanky gear like soldier and knight are made for that exact purpose in PvE. But it is not the most optimal way to go in the end. As you get better you’ll slowly replace your knight or whatever gear to more and more zerker pieces.

- Zerker/Assassins. That’s more tricky. They both have the same purpose as in maximum damage, but which gear is better depend on a lo of things : your profession, yours build, what you use the most, your party, food, buff, etc. Whatever the best answer is for your situation, the difference between assassins and zerker is always really small, so I end up using zerker on most my character only for the sake of simplicity. Which one is better change too often for me to invest into assassin over zerker. But here some really simple guide line.

- Thief is always better with Zerker because it have so much crit chance in a meta build. You can go over 100% really fast.
- Engineer is usually better with Assassin gear because of all the good proc that you can do.
- Mesmer are usually better with Assassin gear because a good mesmer can reflect like crazy and that reflect is not affected by your power, but by your precision. The less you use your reflect and the more zerker will be effective.

FWIW I use assassin’s armor w/ zerker twinkets on my non-meta lightning rod staff ele for everything…it’s a challenge, but with a somewhat slow rate of fire…I really want every hit to crit the mostest….and they typically do. Watching that meteor shower or multi-lightning rod proc meeeeeeelt face is just too fun!

My wvw PVT armour D/D (note: I do not do any dungeons or fractals…) and zerker accessories do wonders in Silverwastes. Lightning Rod build with Evasive Arcana and a slotted ArcanePower… You can just melt Mordrem while keeping some survivability.

And the good thing: with a single change to BlastingStaff you are a nice offensive support with Staff in a large scale battle.

Zelyhn Lekovitch.2867:

True elementalists use D/F.

Those who use other builds are obviously picking content that is too easy for them to face, therefore they are not worthy of the knowledge of the elements!

I used to primarily use D/F but since the burning speed nerf it’s just not worth it anymore imo. I rarely find myself using it because the difference in DPS from staff is extremely noticeable. :/

Purple Miku.7032:

Zelyhn Lekovitch.2867:

True elementalists use D/F.

Those who use other builds are obviously picking content that is too easy for them to face, therefore they are not worthy of the knowledge of the elements!

I used to primarily use D/F but since the burning speed nerf it’s just not worth it anymore imo. I rarely find myself using it because the difference in DPS from staff is extremely noticeable. :/

Yeah but I forgive you because you have proven to be a worthy D/F believer. I grant you your freedom of faith, for now.

It used to be really awesome because if you performed the rotation correctly against a wall or against a large target you could deal as much as a basic staff rotation (without MS that is). But I still have hop! If one day mobs move … you’ll see

Zelyhn Lekovitch.2867:

Purple Miku.7032:

Zelyhn Lekovitch.2867:

True elementalists use D/F.

Those who use other builds are obviously picking content that is too easy for them to face, therefore they are not worthy of the knowledge of the elements!

I used to primarily use D/F but since the burning speed nerf it’s just not worth it anymore imo. I rarely find myself using it because the difference in DPS from staff is extremely noticeable. :/

Yeah but I forgive you because you have proven to be a worthy D/F believer. I grant you your freedom of faith, for now.

It used to be really awesome because if you performed the rotation correctly against a wall or against a large target you could deal as much as a basic staff rotation (without MS that is). But I still have hop! If one day mobs move … you’ll see

ppl are gonna complain about not beeing able to do damage w staff if stuff starts moving and ppl randomly ccing enemy b4 u use icebow 5 (defiance n stuff)

i guarantee that

Staff is great, but I run silverwaste and all open world content as d/d. D/f is superior for utility and might stacki bf but you can kill mobs quicker with d/d. 6/6/2 is obviously ide. Lightning rod or fresh air both work great in sw. I use blinding ashes for d/d, it’s amazing

Azure.8670:

Staff is great, but I run silverwaste and all open world content as d/d. D/f is superior for utility and might stacki bf but you can kill mobs quicker with d/d. 6/6/2 is obviously ide. Lightning rod or fresh air both work great in sw. I use blinding ashes for d/d, it’s amazing

Erm…

Meh.

Purple Miku.7032:

Azure.8670:

Staff is great, but I run silverwaste and all open world content as d/d. D/f is superior for utility and might stacki bf but you can kill mobs quicker with d/d. 6/6/2 is obviously ide. Lightning rod or fresh air both work great in sw. I use blinding ashes for d/d, it’s amazing

Erm…

Meh.

I abuse that GIF on Sherdog lol. What exactly do you need focus for in open world/ SW? Sorry for the bad grammar before, stupid phone

Blinding ashes and lighting rod are sub optimal trait choices.

petyr baelish.9675:

Blinding ashes and lighting rod are sub optimal trait choices.

Is sub optimal really a concern in such an easy, mind-numbing area?

Azure seems to think Miku responded that way because he is running d/d instead of d/f.

I couldn’t care less about open world stuff.

Lightning rod kills Menders in sw basically instantly due to interrupts. Blinding let’s you melee Teragriffs easier. Shrug doesn’t matter I just find it better for sw

Erm. I find it also mindlessly easy with staff, glyph of storm and ice bow in silverwaste. Ever build works fine there. But only staff stack swiftness. Only staff has the range and aoe for me to tag the event credit. /shrug.

Iris Ng.9845:

event credit

You need to let go of material concerns and let the divine faith guide your path.