Guild Wars 2

Hi there. Been leveling an elementalist for the last week or so, and now that I’ve hit the halfway point I’ve been playing around with traits on build websites. Elementalists seem to be the combo field masters, but I can’t decide on what job it is I need to get done and how I go about that. I like dagger/dagger, fast and in your face, but since I mainly live in dungeons, should I be more focused on staff? I’ve been playing around with scepter/dagger as well, seems excellent when it comes to might stacking.

What stats should I consider? Would elementalist be best utilized as a support/heals style of play or a tanky DPS? Some suggestions would be great

The ele can do a fair mix of dps and support. Weapons selected and the stats on the weapons I select depends on the specific situation in the dungeon and the rest of the party make up. I go for a balance. My main two specs are precision and vitality so I can take a hit but I am also almost always at 62% crit chance and have decent power, crit damage, healing power, and condition in my stats.

The scepter/dagger is unbeaten for stacking might for the party and ourselves in Pve and still has some decent combo fields. To do that of course we need to be in melee range up against some pretty tough mobs. Consequently I feel I need to be able to take take huge hits and heal up quickly. Hence the viability of a balanced build.

In a free for all with lots of mobs running the field, the staff can often work very well with it superior ranged dps, crowd control and combo fields. Most dungeon groups run pretty loosely in dungeons and are rarely grouped together. Putting combo fields on the mobs themselves allows melee to get the direct benefit of the fields and ranged to benefit from projectile finishers. Watching vulnerability, burning, healing etc stack and proc is a pretty satisfying experience for me and I feel in those situations, when my dps is less, that I am still doing my part. I get no complaints and don’t fail.

Dagger/dagger is nice on occasion. Its best use is one on one in melee range of course and offers little synergy for anyone else. It is a selfish weapon in that sense. I don’t feel the dps is enough to justify narrowing down the class to a dps role in a party in dungeons. We simply do not do enough dps. The devs designed the ele and continue to emphasize that it is the superior support class. It will never be a superior dps class. There is so much we can do to increase the effectiveness of everyone else as a result.

all imo. It’s the way I like to play and that is the most important thing. Find the way you like to play and what makes you happy. Really, no one else cares as long as you are pulling your weight and the party is succeeding.

As a beginner , start out in groups. Practice using the staff then SnF. Get your gear,food,combo,attunement swaps,elite skills,utility skills,keybinds,boon understanding in order. Slowly progress your way to full DnD after 2 months. and venture out solo to gain some hardcore skill. Remember, skill makes the ele fun and deadly.

There’s already some great advice in this thread, but I’m going to throw some more at you.

I found that starting out it was easiest to play with S/D. I changed to staff at later levels, but if I was too do it again I would have gone D/D instead.

S/D has a 2 blinds to keep you alive and you’ll learn when the best time to use them is, as well as having some decent burst which is far easier to land in PvE as you can drop a dragon tooth and know it’ll hit even if your target isn’t immobilized. Also has mobility and good healing.

Just know that this class isn’t like any of the others in the game, the closest being engineer with its kits, and it will take some getting used to, but the rewards of everyone calling you OP is very worth it.

Personally I play a hybrid (tankier) d/d which is fantastic since I don’t die to a stiff breeze and still hit like a truck due to ridiculous might and fury uptime and stacking.

Stat wise you definitely want some Vit because our base health is the lowest along with guardians and thieves. I’m assuming you’re going to have 30 in Water eventually so that’ll take you a long way, see how you like it, if you want a bit more, there’s no wearing some PVT (soldiers) armor as those stats are all great for an ele. We have really good fury uptime so we don’t need to focus a bunch on precision, but having enough to give 30% before the extra 20% from fury should be a baseline to aim for. Another great stat distribution for us is Knights which gives precision power and toughness. We have really good healing, so toughness will take you much farther than Vit will EHP wise, and then the Prec and Power will keep your damage high.

I personally run PVT armor and weapons with Knights (emerald) accessories. Keeps me happy.

D/d ele rotation is very distinct in pve. It’s nice to have a staff when you need to range. D/d can go zerker or bunker, the cookie cutter bunker build is really good at support. Watch some of Bit’s yt videos, I think the build is 0/0/10/30/30 focusing on high power, decent condition dmg, great healing power, condition removal, crit & crt dmg low, high tough & vit…this is the bunker build in a nutshell

came expecting PVT

was not disappointed.

@OP: advanced ele tips
1. Elementalists use all the attunements, don’t come thinking you’re a “water mage” or something like that.

2. Use your long cooldown abilities wisely, while it’s encouraged to swap attunements instead of sitting in one, it’s not about doing it mindlessly either.

3. Elementalists are among the most survivable classes when played as a glass cannon. this playstyle however, is not encouraged until you master this class.

4. Master your skillbar for each weapon, underwater included.

5. A good elementalist uses all the weapon combinations, even if they don’t have weapon swapping. Staff, s/f, s/d, d/d are all useful for different situations.

With a tiny bit of common sense you’ll figure out a build, and the utility skills that come with it. (protip: avoid conjures)

Endgame you must have 10 in arcana (30 is recommended), and at least 10 in air and 15 in water. do whatever you want with the rest of the points and ignore anyone that tells you to run power/vitality/toughness armors or weapons. That combination of stats, are not exclusively good for an elementalist more than they’d be for a thief or any class at all.