Guild Wars 2

Hi there fellow elementalists!

The holidays are coming and we decided to do some wvw again. We really enjoyed some guild roams and even some mindless zerging back in the ol’ days.

So we are after some kind of list of the currently viable elementalist builds for duo/small scale/zerging. I did check metabattle but the informations provided there was not enough for us to decide.

Additional informations about us:

1, I main a guardian, mostly power (mix of zerker/knight and soldier) DragonHunter but I had my zerg-peon Soldier and my Burn Carrion gear undusted. Her gear is mostly soldier+knight with some celestial pieces. Changing a few accessories or exo armor is not an issue at all if needed.
2, She does not like the melee gameplay. I did check Gokil’s videos for example but she does not want to play Dagger main hand (sorry dagger fans…).
3, We have some minimal sPvP/WvW experience already so hopefully we won’t stain our underwear if a 2v3 is coming our way…. We are early Bronze.
4, We’re gonna play mostly 2-5 strong group but occasionally joining a BlueTag.

Can you guys please give us some informations about the:

1, staff
2, tempest
3, other weapons
4, other traits and gear options?

We did not log into WvW since the pirate ship meta was “introduced” so we can use every bit of info.

How is the Ele in the current small/zerg meta? What are the roles? Aurashare? Nuke? Healing? MightStack? Putting the kettle on?

Also we would like to ask for good and entertaining videos/montages of the gameplay.

So feel free to give us links

Thank you!

(Fancsa and Aggrostemma from Desolation-EU)

In a rush… but this.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vFAQFAWn0XC9XiVYCOYCcYiFBAzN1GbztEdhtwRIIAMBOAA-T1RBABBu/QZK/QUHg+PAgGVCOq6PAcBACAgAczZGA+5P/5P/5P7n/8n/8n/MA-w

Heyo,

This is the build I’ve been looking forward to trying myself: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vFAQFAWn0XCNYiVOAeOAcYiFCAzt0+artEZhrQUIoAEAGAA-TFyHABKfBAmTJYiq/Epygv1BskSPV2fAgHAApA8aLA-w

Staff seems like the most promising tempest spec there is. It’ll take a little experimenting to find the optimal setup, but the allrounder approach seems like the logical choice. You’ll be filling the same role staff always has. Carrying large groups in 4 distinct ways, healing, buffing, cc and nuking. With tempest however, your burst healing capabilities, as well as your threat level in smaller scales, skyrockets.

Dragonhunter is a potent roaming partner. Try to alternate cc-burst between the two of you, and you’ll be unstoppable. Be wary of frontlining in larger fights on a dragonhunter, best to let the staff ele do the work from a safe range, while you focus on keeping her safe.

Alternating cc-burst, means you try to capitalise as much as possible on her cc (mainly aftershock and earth 5), while she brings the pain when you lockdown with traited wings of resolve and optionally ring of warding. Longbow/hammer seems like the optimal choice, but staff and greatsword are certainly worth considering.

There’s an enormous amount of variation in the setup. In zerg fights you’d be looking at scholar/monk for runes on the ele, in duo to 5 man pack and durability are your friends. Sigils could also be fire/leeching/bloodlust/battle/… You can lean the build towards more damage or more support by swapping some gear, and changing the amount of shouts on the bar. Making 2 man or even 5 man teams is endless fun, but out of the scope of a forum post

To my knowledge there’s not a single video of staff tempest on youtube though :/ I’m itching to make one, but times are busy, so it’ll probably be a long while before I get to…

Ask away, this happens to be what I’m most interested in atm, so I’d gladly think out loud with you!

Thank you for the replies!

She still did not decided if she wants to play aurashare or a more selfish build. The core differences are small (2-3 traits and food buff if I’m right…). But these are the small things that can be changed on the fly.

My idea was also using Hammer as a secondary weapon to support her with CC. We should not have issues with Conditions so I might trait for the reduced Hammer CD as well.

My plan is to use a minimum amount of traps (maximum two, Test of Faith for CC and Fragments of Faith for Aegis and Stability) and use as much supportive utilities as I can.

The Feel My Wrath elite shout must be evil with Meteor/LavaFont/Overload

Is there any trick we must master with the overloads?

Also:

Is full celestial really mandatory? She only has the Chest armour, two earrings and the ammulett with ascended cele stats. Should she get some healing power/condition damage pieces as well?

Thank you for your time!

You can use the long cast time of meteor shower to start buffering any overload you want to cast. Air and earth overload will be the ones you use most commonly. Being locked out of fire and water can be a little more dangerous, so be careful with that.

Earth overload is amazing for the respectable damage, but mostly the absurdly high protection stacking, stability and very long aoe immobilize. Air overload melts face like mad.

You can add zerk/knights/soldiers (maybe clerics) at your own discretion to replace cele. Be wary of overstacking defensive stats. Staff has a lot of built-in defense and utility, but you’ll be easy to ignore if you’re not careful to bring enough damage. Especially if you as the guardian intend on going heavy on the support route. Don’t go over the defensive stats I linked I’d say. As for the guardian’ s build, make sure you can hold your own and make stuff happen. As strong as staff is, it’s hard to rely on it to be downing people consistently, so you’ll have to pull your own weight.

We will really miss the Defence against guard buffs :P

I do not want to go pure support or defence but from my sPvP experience a guard can be bursted down incredibly quickly. Last time I played wvw I had full soldier armour and zerker everything else but I think the meta has so much power-creep that surviving will be an issue. I aim for 50% crit with fury, 175% crit damage, 2300 power and put the rest on defensive stats (I will keep all my rings/ammies in my backpack…).

For the ele gameplay: as you mentioned locking yourself out of water for example can be a lethal situation especially she has only one cantrip. So I understand she wants to play a bit more defensive. Finding the right balance might take days or weeks.

My biggest fear is based on the incredible difference between us in in-combat mobility.
Getting separated IS a big issue since I move at a speed of a very lazy continent compared to her speediness.

I still believe we could be a respectable duo if built and played right. Time will tell this

p.s.: I was even thinking: what if she would be the “frontliner” and me the kiter/nuker…

WvW is so “new” for us basically we have to rediscover it

Thank you for your time (and please make that tempest staff vid happen… There is none on youtube… and to be honest with you I cannot believe my missis is the only one looking for a staff tempest build/gameplay video… staff ele was so popular back in the history :S )

If you’re struggling to keep up (shouldn’t be that much of an issue I think), you can always swap in gs instead of hammer. Merciful intervention is also an incredibly potent utility in smaller scale, though it can be tricky to make room for on your bar.

Those stats sound good to me. I’d strongly advise double energy sigil on guard. Goes a looong way in keeping you alive. The quickness shout might also be worth swappi g for renewed focus. It’s very nice for ele burst, but kinda wasted in a 2 man party. Moar virtues meanwhile is always nice, and double energy shelter rf guard won’t die.

I have no doubts you can be a killer combo Just remember the cc-burst rhythm.

We did a quick run in EotM (yeah, I know…). Had no time to analyse everything but here are some points:

1, in chokepoints we were an absolute blast. Anything did not have pulsing stability just melted.
2, overloading is not a buff… it’s a decision. Time it right and the reward is huge… Screw it and you die.
3, you have to stay in “normal” staff mode for as long as possible then overload in melee but only if you know you can survive for a few seconds (it helps if you have a dedicated Hammer DH gua as a bulldog!). Overloading in lost situations won’t save the day unlike some other professions’ skills or utilities.

Take everything above with a grain of salt please… This is our first time and we were on the EotM map.

Tomorrow we’ll give it another go and I’ll let you know how it went…