Guild Wars 2

Have a relatively new Ele, just hit 80 on it and starting to train the tempest line but I only have the first minor trait unlocked right now. What’s a good build to use in PvE while I finish unlocking tempest? Right now I’m using Arcane 121, Water 121 and Fire 233.

Run around with Staff and I never really used any utility skills other than arcane blast and SoA (for runspeed) in central tyria and I honestly don’t remember what other utility skill I have on the bar. Using FGS as an elite for a bit of extra mobility currently.

What’s a better build to use for general PvE that doesn’t involve the tempest line?

I’d say add ice bow to get used to it in case you like it, you just have to use skill 4 ice storm and drop the bow (or skill 3 too if the enemy is close enough). Also swap water for lightning for mobility, arcane already gives you nice suvibality.

Now, even if you don’t have Tempest completed you can still use it for the overloads, the rest of traits from tempest are support-oriented so you won’t notice much while doing dps. Another thing, try other weapons, specially dagger/warhorn/focus since they’re faster and the gameplay is completely different from staff, if you don’t like them just keep staff.

Dagger/dagger is actually really fun and mobile in PvE. I would suggest you go full DPS with fire and air. You can equip Tempest from the start since overloads are the main perk of it. AFAI remember, “Feel the Burn!” should be the 1st utility you unlock, and you may want that along with Cleansing Fire and Glyph of Storms.

Something like this:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vFAQJAoYnMICNOgNNAGOA8RgFCATYSOBKBuIoAEAGAA-TRRLABVo+z+KB5R5nBaBAQHAA-e

(PS. Persisting Flames is a lifesaver against pocket raptors)

Thanks for that build, I’ll try it out when I login later. It looks like a lot of fun

dagger+dagger carrion fire/earth/arcane, signet of fire, glyph of elemental power, balthazar or flame legion runes

reikken.4961:

dagger+dagger carrion fire/earth/arcane, signet of fire, glyph of elemental power, balthazar or flame legion runes

Yeah, baltha runes is what I would have used with the build I posted, I just left it open on purpose because it was just supposed to point out the general idea, and not to restrict creativity.

oh, yeah, for sure
I was thinking more something like this, though:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vFAQJAoYhMMoohNOwsB8RMIAITwdFr3tTHBKcA-TxhAABzqEMG9Aws/AAPAAgU/5BzfPp8TQAKC-e

ie extreme burning damage

main advantages of ele’s condi build is that it’s nothing but high intensity burning— meaning that it kills almost as fast as power builds, and you don’t need any stats but condition damage and burning duration to max it out, so you can afford to have a big chunk of health

reikken.4961:

oh, yeah, for sure
I was thinking more something like this, though:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vFAQJAoYhMMoohNOwsB8RMIAITwdFr3tTHBKcA-TxhAABzqEMG9Aws/AAPAAgU/5BzfPp8TQAKC-e

ie extreme burning damage

main advantages of ele’s condi build is that it’s nothing but high intensity burning— meaning that it kills almost as fast as power builds, and you don’t need any stats but condition damage and burning duration to max it out, so you can afford to have a big chunk of health

:o interesting, I’ll try that one out too. Burning stuff is always fun and those burns look pretty awesome

Obviously, personal opinion incoming:

If you plan on using your elementalist for PvE activities like fractals or raids, I’d suggest already taking tempest for the overloads, and using fire and air trait lines. You will be quite vulnerable, but since you will be playing glassy builds in group content you would better get used to it playing easier content, even if solo. If you find yourself dying frustratingly often like that, maybe you could try to use some defensive utilities over offensive ones, like arcane shield, lightning flash or glyph of storms in earth attunement (I usually have at least one on my bar if I solo PvE).

In addition to staff, I’d also suggest starting to get used to dagger/focus with a fresh air build, as focus skills add increased survivability based on active damage mitigation (and decent hard cc), it’s what I prefer for solo PvE or when pugging in fractals. It’s also a decent preparation for using dagger/warhorn, which has a similar rotation and is often used in more organised raid or fractal teams (but offers less damage mitigation).

If you don’t plan on playing much PvE with this elementalist except open world it does not matter that much I guess.

tbh staying alive as a glass tempest in a raid (discounting things out of your control—major errors from teammates) is easier than staying alive in HoT solo pve where the attacks are harder to predict and all directed at you

running around open pve with a big group though is, of course, very easy

reikken.4961:

tbh staying alive as a glass tempest in a raid (discounting things out of your control—major errors from teammates) is easier than staying alive in HoT solo pve where the attacks are harder to predict and all directed at you

running around open pve with a big group though is, of course, very easy

Well that’s certainly good to know! I eventually want to get into raiding, and I figured it would be easier to learn the tempest rotation than the chrono one.

An under appreciated combo is Earth shield and Lighting Rod. Its a risky strategy, but every hard CC deals damage, and Earth shield 3 can hit multiple times. Might not be optimal DPS, but its fun as hell.

starlinvf.1358:

Earth shield 3 can hit multiple times.

What, how?

I would probably go with
air water arcana and dagger/dagger.