(edited by Splody.2640)
Fractals Staff or sceptre/dagger DPS help
Yes, I second this question. Can any ele with high lvl frac experience please comment about gear/rune/weapon setup that works well for them.
I always find it hard to give advice about playing the elementalist, I’ll give it a shot (fractals level 20).
The big difference between staff and daggers is not the range. It’s the ground targeting and mobility. For a staff user, the ground targeting off the spells is essential. Lava font, eruption and ice spike do heavy damage in an AoE, if the mobs remain in the AoE zone until the spell is done. (The same is true for meteor shower, but it’s a totally different skill. The radius and duration are huge, but you’re never sure what the meteors will hit). It’s totally different then the point blank and damage on cast you find in the daggers. This also means that with a staff you will move a lot less, since you have to aim where to put the ground targeted spell to optimize the effect. You also have to try and time your ground targets, learn when the boss is moving and when he will stand still.
Stats: It’s up to you to decide what set up you can use without dying a lot. My armor is full knight, staff berserker, accessories are a mix (karka shell, ascended rings, guild back pack …) My traits are 0/10/0/30/30. Don’t forget the minor trait Bountiful power, because I almost always have five boons up, it’s a damage increase of 10% on all spells. I only have 14800 hp and about 1500 toughness. But still I usually die less then my party members. This is probably because my high upkeep off protection, swiftness and regeneration. The long range doesn’t really count since half the time I’m within a 600 radius of target. Sometimes I even go melee with the staff so that the mobs stay in my AoE fields. Glyph of Storms in earth is a great utility for this tactic. I would make sure to get the renewing stamina trait. Every mob you hit with an AoE can get a critical hit and thus give you the vigor boon.
My skill rotation is usually something like this: Eruption/lava font/flameburst/meteor shower/ Ice spice/frozen ground/ lightning surge/ static field/ stoning/ schockwave/eruption… Frozen ground and static field don’t do damage, but as combo fields they contribute a lot in the fight. Heal your group when necessary with healing rain and gyser.
On fractals, most of the bosses and mobs don’t have long range. The staff has a clear advantace then. Like the Mossman, I can keep hitting him and take all the aggro. He can’t land a single melee hit so he’s never a treat. The same is true for the dredge/ice_elemental boss, the yellyfish, the golems, the svanir shaman. The ascalonian captain and the Cliffside boss are a threat because of their unpredictable leap attack. (Also, a lot of these bosses have big attacks that have some build up time. If they are close, you can just run throught hem. Since they can’t damage you if they don’t have a line of sight, your in the clear. Place a ground target AoE under their feet and they even take damage while you evade damage.
Biggest tip: burning retreat, it has saved my life a lot of times. It counts as an evade and you get twice as far then with a normal dodge.
PS: I haven’t mentioned Evasive Arcane, because I’m still in mourning over the nerf. Now I use elemental attunement/renewing stamina and blasting staff. EA can still help though.
Hey,
I played a full berserker ele with staff and only 10k hp from lvl 1 to 30 in fractals. I did lvl 20 to 30 in 2 days. Just let other players tank, practice dodging like a boss and use survability utility skills like mist form, teleport and arcane healing which removes 5 conditions.
Arcane healing?