Guild Wars 2

Profession Overview
The Elementalist is a light armor profession with low HP. Its unique mechanic is the four elemental attunements that each provide a set of weapon skills instead of having two weapon swaps. This gives an Ele 20 weapon skills instead of 10.

An Ele can equip six weapons, including one aquatic:

• Dagger: Main hand and offhand. High burst and mobility when using dual daggers, good might stacking and sustain when using dagger/focus. Main hand dagger provides a fire field, one blast finisher, and one aura. Offhand dagger provides a fire field, two blast finishers, a leap finisher, and an aura.
• Focus: Offhand only. Good support, defense, and single-target control. Focus provides a fire field, two blast finishers, and one aura.
• Scepter: Main hand only. Weak auto attacks, good burst and might stacking when paired with dagger, good might stacking when paired with focus. Scepter provides access to two blast finishers.
• Staff: Two-handed. Low DPS except for fire. Good in WvW for fields and AoEs, and useful when running through trash mobs. Staff provides fire, water, ice, and lightning fields, one blast finisher, and one aura.
• Trident: Two-handed. Trident provides fire, lightning, and smoke fields, one blast finisher, and one leap finisher.
• Warhorn: Offhand only. Tempest only. A unique mix of offensive support and damage. Access to a fire field, a might/fury copy skill, water field, two hard CC’s, one blast finisher, and an AoE blind.

This yields six weapon sets that are generally useful in PvE:

• D/F has good DPS and many survival skills and is very strong in difficult content, enabling an Ele to stack some might, have decent sustained DPS, and access survivability skills.
• D/W has great DPS that makes it a worthwhile consideration over D/F. With overloads, its damage is comparable to staff, and it can help buff a party with fire fields + blasts and boonsharing as well as defend it with CC, immobilization, and blinds.
• Staff is also top in DPS and is stronger than all other Ele weapon sets on targets with large hitboxes such as Gorseval or Lupicus.
• S/W is a viable variant on D/W, bringing more blasts at the expense of lower cleave damage.
• D/D has burst combos that make it devastating against targets with low HP, but doesn’t have blast finisher availability to keep up with D/F in utility while being comparable in sustained DPS.
• Trident an Ele’s only underwater option and should be played like D/F or D/D except DPS in Fire, swapping attunements as necessary and using blasts as they come off cooldown.

Since an Ele will die in a few hits, it is important to understand game mechanics, know enemies’ attacks, dodge, and be aware of your positioning. PvE enemies can be LoS’ed for ideal positioning, but your group needs high DPS for you to survive stacking. Having a Guardian who knows when to use Aegis or a Mesmer with group distortion also helps. When fighting, use dodges and evades to mitigate attacks, and once a mob is positioned, remember to use your 300+ range attacks to your advantage. If you are having trouble surviving with a full DPS build, do not hesitate to swap in some Marauder’s gear or grab a utility or two for your survival – the best way to learn a fight is to succeed with a more defensive build.

Unlike PvP, PvE enemies usually have slow attacks, enabling an Ele to focus on maintaining a good rotation. When practicing a rotation, I start at the Indestructible Golems in the Heart of the Mists (DPS Trials Waypoint), then giants and ettins in open world PvE, then finally dungeons.

Ele’s have a variety of combo finishers (mostly blasts) they can use in their and others’ fields to provide a variety of effects to those standing within 360 range of the blast. These effects include boons to the party and conditions enemies. By blasting in a fire field, for example, an Ele can provide might. Because of this self synergy it is preferable to be near an enemy – even when using staff – so that an Ele can quickly reach her or her fields to apply blasts and benefit from the effects. Note that if two fields are placed on top of each other, the first field placed will react with finishers, so if a guardian partymate wants to use a symbol for DPS, ask him or her to wait until a fire field is down.

Weapons, Armor, Trinkets and Consumables
Weapons
Use Berserker weapons of the best rarity that you can afford.
Daytime sigils: Use Force/Air for general group activities, Slaying/Air for single targets and Slaying/Force for groups if available.
Nighttime sigils: Use Night/Force for general group activities and Night/Slaying if available.
Other useful sigils: Sigil of Strength is strong in solo situations, and Sigil of Energy is useful for difficult content.
Budget alternatives: Sigil of Hydromancy, Fire, and Leeching are useful budget alternatives. Sigil of Accuracy usually causes an Ele to run into crit chance cap but is also acceptable in suboptimal situations.

Armor
Exotic: Full Zerk. Assassin’s armor is okay but often less economically feasible. While learning to play, use some defensive armor such as (in order of lowest DPS loss) Marauder, Valkyrie, Knight, or Cavalier, swapping out to Zerk/Assassin shoulders, gloves, boots, chest, pants, and helm, in that order, as you become more comfortable with content. Try to keep your gear one step out of your comfort zone.
Ascended: Both Berserker and Assassin armor are strong. Predominantly Berserker gear is stronger when using a Fresh Air build, while Assassin’s Armor is stronger with fire-centric Staff builds. Suboptimal balances of Berserker/Assassin are typically <1% DPS difference.

Trinkets and Infusions
At the ascended level, use Assassin accessories and otherwise Berserker trinkets. When prioritizing gear upgrades, improving the rarity of your trinkets will result in some of the highest DPS/survivability increases. Prioritize offensive infusion slots if you plan on eventually using Precise or Mighty Infusions. Mighty Infusions are in general a safer choice in order to avoid 100% crit chance cap, though having 2-4 precise infusions is easy to work with.

Runes

• Runes of the Scholar are the highest DPS option.
• Runes of Strength are 7% less DPS but enable better Might stacking. They are most beneficial in S+LH rotations and D/F soloing.
• Runes of the Flame Legion are an economic option that could be higher DPS if one can’t maintain a 50% uptime of a Scholar’s bonus.
• Runes of the Ranger are strong with Staff and D/F if using both Elementals for high companion uptime.
• Runes of Rage, Runes of the Ogre, and Runes of the Eagle are third-tier options if Flame Legion ever gets too expensive.

Food

• Bowl of Seaweed Salad for Fresh Air rotations
• Plate of Orrian Truffle Steak for Staff rotations
• Experimental Remnant or Bowl of Asparagus and Sage Salad as an economic alternative to seaweed salad
• Slice of Candied Dragon Roll, Omnomberry Ghost: Lifesteal food for difficult content
• Dragon’s Breath Bun: Optimal when clearing small groups of enemies such as in open world or some dungeons if salads aren’t an option
• Minotaur Steak: Precision/ferocity food for everyday
• Plate of Steak and Asparagus: Power/precision food for everyday
• Birthday Blaster: All stat food (better than Minotaur Steak) with +%karma for open world

Utility Consumables

• Slaying Potions: Use in situations with many enemies of the same type.
• Skale Venom: Useful in high level fractals. Attacks that affect foes as well as you or your allies (Phoenix, Vapor Blade, Water Blast) may apply the effect to you or your party.
• Toxic Sharpening Stone: Use with staff or offensive Fresh Air builds if not using slaying potions or Scale Venom.
• Bountiful Sharpening Stone: Use with aurashare builds if not using slaying potions or Skale Venom.
• Bountiful Maintenance Oil: Use with staff or D/F if not using slaying pots AND not using Signet of Fire.

When with a Ranger with Spotter
If not using a salad, use Sweet and Spicy soup instead of Truffle Steak. Utility consumables unchanged. Alternatively, swap out 150 precision worth of gear or use another utility instead of Signet of Fire.

Other Useful Items

• Fire Elemental Powders from Jhales Coalgrip in Fireheart Rise for fire fields or additional DPS in tough situations. They have a 30 minute cooldown.
• Harpy Feathers (6 sec CD) from Forager Hitkiti in Harathi Hinterlands, Ash Legion Spy Kits (60 sec CD) from Kyra Sharptracker in Plains of Ashford, and other stealth consumables for deaggroing at the end of a trash run or communing with a skill point.

Dagger/Focus
Dagger/Focus is a self-sufficient weapon set excellent for difficult situations such as high level fractals. It has a mix of offensive skills from dagger and defensive and control skills from focus. Note that Fresh Air builds such as this do not do well in situations in which you can’t crit such as against structures.

Tactical Weapon Skills

• Burning Speed (Fire 3) is an evade and places down a 4 sec rectangular fire field that deals damage and burning every second and ends with a damaging burst. If not at a wall, start at 300 range away from the enemy and use this skill through the enemy to inflict damage from the field and burst.
• Flamewall (Fire 4) is a 8 sec rectangular fire field that deals damage and burning each second.
• Icy Burst (Water 3) damages and chills nearby enemies and is a self-centered blast finisher.
• Comet (Water 5) dazes an enemy and is a target-centered blast finisher. To aim without a target, look down, move forward, stop, and cast. The comet will land 300 units away in the direction you are facing.
• Lightning Whip (Air 1) is the primary source of sustained damage in MH dagger builds.
• Swirling Winds (Air 4) blocks projectiles for 6 sec.
• Gale (Air 5) knocks down an enemy but deals no damage and does not break stealth.
• Magnetic Wave (Earth 4) damages nearby foes, cures 3 conditions, reflect projectiles for 3 sec, and is a self-centered blast finisher.
• Obsidian Flesh (Earth 5) grants invulnerability for 5 sec.

DPS Tempest Build
Fire (Up, Up, Up); Air (Bot, Mid, Mid); Tempest (Top/Bot, Bot, Bot)
For challenging content, swap Harmonious Conduit for Invigorating Torrents

DPS Non-Tempest Build
Fire (Up, Up, Up); Air (Bot, Mid, Mid); Water (Mid, Bot, Mid)

Non-Tempest Build for challenging content
Fire (Up, Up, Up); Air (Bot, Mid, Mid); Arcana (Mid, Bot, Bot)

Tempest build + Scholar’s Runes: 17000 DPS with Truffle Steak
Non-Tempest build + Scholar’s Runes: 13800-13950 DPS with Truffle Steak
Non-Tempest build + Strength Runes: 13000-13150 DPS with Truffle Steak

Tempest builds maintain a very high level of vulnerabilty on Unshakeable enemies and have the potential to stack might and fury with variations on their base DPS rotation.

Non-tempest builds average 5-7 vulnerability on Unshakeable enemies and 9-10 might (Scholar’s) or 13-15 might (Strength). With Golden Dumplings and a Strength sigil, both rotations will sustain 20+ might with Scholar’s Runes.

This self-sufficient build combines the synergy of a high fire field uptime with blast finishers for 100% fury uptime and decent might. Rotations jump in and out of air attunement, which is refreshed because of Fresh Air, to activate Electric Discharge for additional DPS.

Rotations
When swapping to air from other attunements, change attunements during the channel of the preceding spell so that non-air spells to benefit from the 190 precision from Aeromancer’s Training. When in combat, have your target selected to benefit from Electric Discharge, which these rotations try to proc as frequently as possible. If you don’t have a target, Electric Discharge does not activate.

Rotation for Fire/Air/Tempest

OL Air – Fire – Burning Speed (or Flamewall for a longer fire field) – Earth/Water blasts if needed – Air – Lightning Whip – repeat

Rotation for Fire/Air/Water

Fire – Flamewall – Burning Speed – Air (after BS completes) – ArW if applicable – LW x3 – Water – Comet – Frozen Burst – Air (before FB completes) – LW x3 – Earth – Ring of Earth or ArBr – Mag Wave – Air – Auto x4

Fire – Flamewall – Burning Speed – Air (after BS completes) – ArW if applicable – LW x3 – Water – Frozen Burst – Air (before FB completes) – LW x3 – Earth – Ring of Earth or ArBr – Air – Auto x5

This rotation will average 9 might, 100% fury uptime, 5-7 vuln, and almost 100% burning uptime.

Rotation for Fire/Air/Arcana

Fire – Flamewall – BS – Air (after BS completes) – ArW – LW x3 – Earth – Ring of Earth or ArBr – Magnetic Wave – Air – LW x9 – Fire – Flamewall – BS – Air – LW x3 – Water – Comet – Frozen Burst – Air – LW x8

This rotation will average 10 might, 6-7 vuln, and 100% fury and burning uptime. Flamewall’s long-lasting fire field is useful when others have a lot of blasts to contribute or when you are frequently interrupting your rotation. Swap to fire about five seconds after Fire is off CD.

If using GoS, use GoS in your first set of LW.

Scepter and Hammer
Builds that combine Scepter and LH are strong because of their solid damage and high group buffing potential with their own fire fields and blast finishers. S/D+LH rotations provide 12-18 might, S/F+LH provides 21-24, and both can maintain fury if traited. Scepter/Hammer builds are relevant only when Tempest is unavailable.

Tactical Weapon Skills

• Dragon’s Tooth (Fire 2) is a target-centered blast finisher, damages, and burns. To aim an untargeted Dragon’s Tooth, look up, walk forward, stop, and cast. It will appear 300 units away in the direction you are facing.
• Phoenix (Fire 3) is a ground-targeted blast finisher. To hit an enemy with both paths and the blast, aim it behind or inside the back half of the enemy.
• Ring of Fire (Dagger Fire 4) is a 6 sec self-centered circular fire field that deals damage when cast and burns foes that cross the fire ring.
• Flamewall (Focus Fire 4) is a 8 sec rectangular fire field that deals damage and burning each second.
• Fire Grab (Dagger Fire 5) deals massive damage to burning enemies. Use at 300 range to hit your target.
• Ice Shards (Water 1) is the auto attack used if LH and FGS aren’t up when using a build with Piercing Shards. Use Shatterstone (Water 2) off cooldown if the enemy is relatively stationary.
• Cleansing Wave (Dagger Water 5) heals and cures a condition on nearby allies.
• Comet (Focus Water 5) dazes an enemy and is a target-centered blast finisher. To aim without a target, look down, move forward, stop, and cast. The comet will land 300 units away in the direction you are facing.
• Arc Lightning (Air 1) is the auto attack used if LH and FGS aren’t up when using a build without Piercing Shards. Spam Lightning Strike (Air 2) with it.
• Blinding Flash (Air 3) is a single-target blind
• Updraft (Dagger Air 5) is a medium-distance launch that deals no damage.
• Swirling Winds (Focus Air 4) blocks projectiles for 6 sec.
• Gale (Focus Air 5) knocks down an enemy but deals no damage and does not put you in combat or break stealth.
• Dust Devil (Earth 3) blinds foes along its path
• Earthquake (Dagger Earth 4) is an AoE knockdown and self-centered blast finisher
• Churning Earth (Dagger Earth 5) is a self-centered blast finisher but DPS loss in LH rotations.
• Magnetic Wave (Focus Earth 4) damages nearby foes, cures 3 conditions, reflect projectiles for 3 sec, and is a self-centered blast finisher.
• Obsidian Flesh (Focus Earth 5) grants invulnerability for 5 sec.

Scepter Dagger LH Build
Fire (Top, Top, Top); Air (Bot, Bot,Top); Water (Mid, Bot, Top)
14500 DPS, 12-15 might per hammer with scholar runes. Use for fights under 45 sec.

Scepter Focus LH Build
Fire (Top, Top, Top); Air (Bot, Bot,Top); Water (Mid, Bot, Top)
14000 DPS, 18 might per hammer with scholar runes. Use for long fights.

Since PS Warriors are very common, it is unlikely that an ele should need to run these builds.

S/D Non-Conjurer Rotation
Hammer 1: Lightning Strike – Ride the Lightning – Glyph of Storms (Air) – Fire – Dragon’s Tooth – Ring of Fire – Arcane Brilliance – Phoenix – Fire Grab – Water – Conjure LH – LH auto chain x4 – Air – LH auto chain x1 – Drop Conjure – Lightning Strike – Ride the Lightning – Fire

Hammer 2: Dragon’s Tooth – Ring of Fire – Phoenix – Pick up Conjure – Water – LH auto chain x1 – Arcane Brilliance – LH auto chain x4 – Air – Drop Conjure – Lightning Strike – Ride the Lightning – Fire – Dragon’s Tooth – Ring of Fire – Phoenix – Fire Grab

S/F Conjurer Rotation
Hammer 1: Dragon’s Tooth – Flamewall – Phoenix – Air – Glyph of Storms (Air) – Lightning Strike – Earth – Magnetic Wave – Arcane Brilliance – Water – Comet – Conjure LH – LH auto chain x6 – Fire – LH auto x2 – Drop Conjure

Hammer 2: Dragon’s Tooth – Flamewall – Phoenix – Earth – Magnetic Wave – Arcane Brilliance – Pick up LH – Water – LH auto chain x6 – Fire – LH auto chain x2 – Drop Conjure

Staff
A fire staff build is powerful when others provide might, vulnerability, and fury. This build supplies an average of 4 might stacks and 70% fury uptime plus 100% fire field uptime through synergy between Pyromancer’s Training and Persisting Flames.

Tactical Weapon Skills

• Lava Font (Fire 2) produces a 4 sec circular fire field
• Burning Retreat (Fire 4) is an evade and produces a 6 sec rectangular fire field that may be stacked under a target if used into a wall or corner
• Healing Rain (Water 5) is a large water field and cures conditions
• Windborne Speed (Air 4) gives swiftness to nearby allies.
• Static Field (Air 5) stuns foes with each pulse and is a lightning field
• Eruption (Earth 2) is a blast finisher
• Magnetic Aura (Earth 3) reflects projectiles and can be aurashared
• Unsteady Ground (Earth 4) and Shockwave (Earth 5) can prevent enemies from moving out of a Lava Font

DPS Tempest Build
>20000DPS, trace might and vuln.

DPS Non-Tempest Build
17000 DPS, trace might

Arcane Non-Tempest Build
Sacrifices about 10% in Frostbowing modifiers for more survivability from Renewing Stamina and Final Shielding

Base Tempest Staff Rotation, no Frost Bow
Glyph of Storms (Air) – Overload Air – Fire Attunement– Lava Font – Meteor Shower – Lava Font – Overload Fire – Lava Font – Fireball x3 – Lava Font – Fireball x3 – Lava Font – Fireball x3 – Lava Font

Then repeat:
Meteor Shower – Air Attunement – Chain Lightning x2ish – Overload Air – Fire Attunement – Lava Font – Fireball x3 – Lava Font – Overload Fire – Lava Font – Fireball x3 – Lava Font – Fireball x3 – Lava Font -

Staff Tempest Rotation with Frost Bow
Glyph of Storms (Air) – Overload Air – _Fire Attunement– Lava Font – Meteor Shower – Lava Font – Overload Fire – Lava Font – Fireball x3 – Lava Font – Fireball x3 – Lava Font – Air Attunement – Conjure Frost Bow – Ice Storm – Frost Fan – Frost Volley (50%ish) or Glyph of Storms – Overload Air- repeat italicized skills

Base Staff non-Tempest Rotation
Eruption – Air – Glyph of Storms – Fire – Lava Font – Meteor Shower – Lava Font – Fireball x3 – Lava Font – Fireball x3 – Lava Font – Fireball x3 – Lava Font – Fireball x4 – repeat from 1st Lava Font

Staff non-Tempest with Frostbow
Eruption – Fire – Lava Font – Meteor Shower – Lava Font – Air – Glyph of Storms – Water – Conjure FB – (Deep Freeze) – Ice Storm – Frost Fan – (Frost Volley or Ice Spike if Fire is not up) – Fire – Lava Font – Fireball x3 – Lava Font -Fireball x3 – Flame Burst – start rotation 1 from first Lava Font

If you need a Deep Freeze to open: Glyph of Storms (Air ) – Conjure Frost Bow – Deep Freeze – Ice Storm – Frost Fan – start rotation 1 from first Lava Font

Fresh Air Warhorn

Warhorn is a pretty strong offhand with some interesting utility through boonshare, CC, and a water field. It pairs well with both Dagger and Scepter mainhands.

Tactical Weapon Skills

• Heat Sync (Fire 4) grants might and copies might and fury to your allies
• Wildfire (Fire 5) is a large, long-lasting fire field
• Tidal Surge (Water 4) is a small heal as well as a knockback
• Water Globe (Water 5) is a water field
• Cyclone (Air 4) is a hard CC
• Sand Squall (Earth 4) is a blast finisher and provides magnetic aura
• Dust Storm (Earth 5) blinds and cripples foes

DPS Build
19000 DPS in raid gear

Party Support Build
17000 DPS in raid gear

Dagger/Warhorn Rotation
Overload Air
Fire Attunement
Wildfire
Air Attunement
Glyph of Storms (optional)
Lightning Orb
Lightning Whip until OL is off CD

Overload Air
Fire Attunement
Burning Speed
Air Attunement
Lightning Whip until OL is off CD
repeat

Scepter/Warhorn Rotation
Overload Air
Fire Attunement
Wildfire
Dragon’s Tooth, Phoenix if blasts are needed
Air Attunement
Glyph of Storms (optional)
Lightning Orb
Arc Lightning + Lightning Strike until OL is off CD

Overload Air
Fire Attunement
Phoenix
Air Attunement
Arc Lightning + Lightning Strike until OL is off CD
repeat

Slot Skills
While many slot skills have niche uses, I will cover the ones I frequently use.
Healing Skills

• Arcane Brilliance: Moderate, quick heal and self-centered . It is a DPS loss in most rotations but can help stack might.
• Wash the Pain Away: Reliable group heal.
• Ether Renewal: Big, slow heal. Useful for clearing conditions when you won’t be interrupted

Utility Skills
Arcane: Because arcane skills hit for critical damage, they will proc Fresh Air.

• Arcane Wave: Ground-targeted blast finisher on a 30 sec CD
• Arcane Shield: Blocks 3 attacks over the next 5 sec and is a stun breaker. Useful to avoid a hit without interrupting a key skill
• Arcane Blast: A 1500 range projectile finisher. Useful for long range pulls.

Cantrips: Useful defensive skills that can help you in a tough spot or trash run

• Armor of Earth: Only utility source of stability, though Mist Form can also be used
• Cleansing Flame: Fast condition removal
• Lightning Flash: Medium range teleport. Use while channeling Meteor Shower to move to a safer position or Churning Earth to move next to the enemy before the burst.
• Mist Form: 3 sec invulnerability. Useful for reviving allies or if you run out of dodges. It will make you lose any held conjures.

Glyphs

• Glyph of Elemental Power: Adds a chance for skills to inflict a condition on enemies based on your attunement at the start of GoEP’s cast. Cast in Earth for cripple, Air for weakness, Water for chill, or Fire for burning. It is a stunbreak.
• Glyph of Lesser Elementals: Summons an elemental, dependent upon attunement at the end of cast. Useful in open world PvE for something else to take aggro
• Glyph of Storms: Creates a storm based on attunement at the start of the cast. Cast in Earth for a 10 sec AoE blind or in Air for the most hits plus an easy 15 vuln on a boss for about 10 sec.

Signets

• Signet of Fire: Adds 180 precision at level 80, applies burning when activated
• Signet of Earth: 3 second immobilize when activated, adds 180 toughness at level 80
• Signet of Air: 25% speed boost, blinds when activated

Shouts (Tempest only)
* Feel the Burn: Roughly the same DPS contribution as Arcane Wave and works well with shout/aura traits.

• Aftershock: Provides a group magnetic aura for projectile reflects

Conjures
A conjure replaces your weapon skills. You may use the skills 15 times (25 with Conjurer) over 60 sec. You also create an environmental copy of the weapon that persists for 60 sec. Once picked up, charges last for 60 sec.

Frost Bow: FB5 will take out roughly 1/2 a breakbar in dungeons and fractals. FB4 is useful against targets with very large hitboxes like Lupicus or Gorseval, and FB3 is always great to pair with other skills.

Lightning Hammer: The auto attack chain has a high damage coefficient, and AoE blinds and is a blast finisher on the third hit. LH 3 launches, LH 4 is an AoE that does damage on par with GoS, and LH 5 creates a Static Field which stuns enemies. If fighting a large foe or a group of foes, are not solely responsible for stacking might, and have the Conjurer trait, you may use your last charge for LH 4.

Elites
Fiery Greatsword: High DPS conjure also useful for running. Turn off Auto-Targeting in game options. If auto attack is left on, it can be interrupted by other skills but waste charges. If you press 1 to attack, the skill cannot be interrupted by other weapon skills but can be interrupted by pressing the Esc key or dodging. FGS 2 applies burning.

A full FGS rotation against a very large target (such as Lupi) is: FGS 4 – 3 – 5 – 1 – 3 – 4 – 1 – 3 – 1 – 5 – 4 – 3

You may cut this rotation off after the second fiery rush because the DPS drops off.

Glyph of Elementals: When it is unsafe to FGS, an elemental is a useful boost to DPS or can draw aggro so that you can safely DPS. Elementals are immune to Agony. The summon is determined by your attunement at the end of the cast. Elemental activated skill CDs are affected by alacrity.

• Fire: Best DPS against groups of enemies
• Water: Low DPS, has an AoE heal.
• Air: Best DPS against single targets, attacks at range, and applies swiftness
• Earth: Low DPS, great at holding aggro

Tornado: An Ele’s only aquatic elite. Can be used for stability or throwing around enemies.

Dungeon Tips and Tricks
This section is still under construction but will contain notes about what utility skills I use in particular situations as well as where I stand to avoid some damage.

Building Stacks
With the many changes to stacking sigils and organized group dungeon running strategies, most groups do not use stacking sigils. If you choose to use a stacking sigil, in most dungeons it is possible to build 15 stacks.

• AC: Spiders that trigger the Spider Queen
• TA: Nightmare vines and spiders or archers in the old paths, spiders and other mobs in the first room of the new path
• SE: P1 has Inquest along the way to Nokk (but not recommended). P2 has Dredge with the first few champs. P3 has Dredge along the way to and following Volkov
• CoF: P1 doesn’t have much stacking material. P2 has devourers, and P3 has the mobs around the torches and first boss as well as waves of enemies.
• CoE: Icebrood up to and including the first champ plus the 4 golems. In P2 and P3, stack on the exploding golems and risen after the ele-loving Mark T-B34RC3 if you lose your stacks.
• HotW P1: First room of enemies or enemies preceeding Aldus
• Arah: Infinitely spawning Risen plus spiders. If you lose your stacks, there are some paths with places to refill. In P1, there are the Champ Corrupted Illusions. In P1 and P2, there is the group of risen just before Lupi. In P4, there is a group of weak risen followed by a group of spiders following the Priest of Melandru and also the wraiths at Priest of Grenth.
• Fractals: Each fractal resets your stack count, but it still can be worthwhile in Aetherblade, Molten Furnace, and Urban Battleground.

Fractals
I recommend using D/F and Staff for high level fractals due to its survivability, DPS sustainability, and still decent conjure pairing. A DPS scepter-hammer build also works well for low level fractals.

I provide multiple recommendations for utility skills. If you are comfortable with an encounter, take more DPS oriented utilities such as SoF, LH, or FB. If you are less comfortable, take defensive utilities such as Arcane Shield and Mist Form. Use ArBr if you want the blast finisher, otherwise choose a heal appropriate for the situation. Many of these bosses move around which make FGS+LF risky, but it’s always an option if you prefer that.

Aetherblade
Trash: LH and GoS (Earth) for blinds, and use FGS to melt mobs. Use LF to blink past puzzles.
Golem Room: Use D/F or Staff with GoEP (Air) if not using a LoS FGS spot. Good utilities are SoF, ArW, FB GoEP (Air), ArS, and Mist Form.

Aquatic Ruins
Rotation: Fire 2 – ArBr – Water 3 – Water 3 – ArW on enemy in fire field for 9-12 might. Continue with Water 2 – detonate Water 2 – Air 5 (on krait) – Air 2 – Air 1 until Fire is off CD – Fire 1, 2 until ArW is off CD, then repeat. Fire AA is best for cleaving.
Krait: Good utilities are ArBr, SoF, ArW, ArS, GoEP (Air), Whirlpool. Use Whirlpool on second group.
Jellyfish: Good utilities are SoF, GoEP (stunbreak, preferably use in Fire or Air), ArW, ArS. Air 4 and Earth 4 can interrupt the swallow if you cast it as soon as you see the tell. Hover near allies outside of kick range. Use Whirlpool to clear adds.

Cliffside
Cultists: Good utilities are SoF, LH, GoS (Earth), GoEP (Air), ArW.
Archdiviner: Use Energy Sigil. Good utilities are GoEP (Earth), ArW, SoF, LH, ArS, Mist Form. Use GoE (Earth) for a facetank or GoE (Air) for DPS.

Mai Trin
Use Sigil of Energy and Dagger/Focus. Use Swirling Winds when you see her pistol shot. Dodge her lightning projectile spin, and stay out of close melee unless keeping her in a blue field (use Obsidian Flesh to tank). Good utilities are ArW, GoEP (Earth), SoF, ArS, Mist Form, Cleaning Fire. Use Elite when bursting at the end of a phase.

Molten Duo
Chain Swirling Winds with other projectile protection. Good utilitiles are SoF, ArW, FB, LH, ArS, Mist Form. Use GoE after one boss is dead.

Molten Furnace
Good utilities are SoF, ArW, LH, GoEP (Air), GoS (Earth). Run past the enemies at the end of the tunnel toward the steam walls, LoS, and use GoS (Earth) and FGS.

Snowblind
Bonfire: Stack might for lighting the fires. Use Swirling Winds, Arcane Shield, and Obsidian Flesh as needed.
Ice Elemental: Good utilities are LH, FB, ArW, ArS, GoS (Earth), Mist Form. Use elite after grouping vets.
Lornarr: Good utilities are LH, FB, ArW, ArS, GoEP (Earth). Near the end of icicle phases, place a fire field for blasts. Elite may be FGS or GoE (Air).

Solid Ocean
Good utilities are SoF, GoEP (stunbreak), FB, GoS (Earth), LH. Don’t use GoE.

Swampland
Use Ether Renewal, Lightning Flash, and Signet of Air or swiftness to run wisps. Don’t use Mist Form.
Mossman: Use Energy Sigil. Good utilities are GoEP (Earth), SoF, ArW, ArS, Mist Form. Use GoE (Earth) for a facetank that won’t spin. Chain Swirling Winds with other reflects. LH at your own risk, Mossman doesn’t like people who make big numbers.
Bloomhunger: Good utilities are SoF, ArW, LH, FB. Elite may be FGS or GoE (Fire or Air).

Thaumanova Reactor
Trash: Good utilities are SoF, ArW, GoEP (Air), GoS (Earth), LH, FB.
Ooze: Good utilities are SoF, ArW, LH. Chain LH Static Field with other CC’s to keep little oozes away.
Turret Room: Use Arcane Shield, Mist Form, and Obsidian Flesh to get through the room. Use Cleansing Flame to hit the two panels at the back.
Superheated room: Use Lightning Flash to run first cooling rod. Use staff to help your party stack swiftness and regen.
Anomaly: Good utilities are SoF, ArW, FB, LH, GoEP (Air), ArS, Mist Form. FGS at your own risk. GoE (Air or Earth) is useful.

Uncategorized
Harpies: If not stealthing, good utilities are GoS (Earth), LH, ArS, SoF, Armor of Earth. Chain Swirling Winds and weapon CC’s.
Champ Room: Good utilities are SoF, ArW, FB, GoEP (Air), GoS (Earth for vet, Air for others) Mist Form. Use GoE at start or as soon as only 1 is left.
Stairs: Obsidian Flesh and Swirling Winds counter the bars. Use Lightning Flash to hit 2 switches.
Old Tom: Stack might, use GoE (Earth), and then stand behind the elemental. Good utilities are SoF, ArW, FB, LH.
Raving Asura: Good utilities are SoF, ArW, FB, GoS (Earth), Mist Form. Use GoS (Earth) and Elite when all 4 golems are up.

Underground Facility
Switches: Use Swirling Winds, Magnetic Wave, Earth Shield, Obsidian Flesh, Arcane Shield, Mist Form to stay alive on a switch. Use GoE (Earth) before passing through dredge for it to pull aggro.
Rabosvich and Clown Car: Good utilities are SoF, ArW, LH, FB, GoEP (Air). Elite should be FGS.
Ice Elemental: Use Energy Sigil. Use 2 DPS utilities and 1 stunbreak (Arcane Shield, Mist Form, or GoEP). Do not use GoE.
Dredge Powersuit: Use Energy Sigil. Use Swirling Winds for bombs. Good utilities are SoF, ArW, LH, FB. Do not use GoE.

Urban Battleground
Trash: Good utilities are GoS (Earth), ArW, FB, GoEP (Air), LH, SoF.
Ashym: Good utilities are SoF, ArW, LH, FB, ArS, Mist Form. Elite may be GoE (Air or Fire) or FGS.

Volcanic
Trash: Good utilities are GoS (Earth), GoEP (Air), ArW, SoF, FB, LH. Put on Signet of Air if running stones.
Champion Shaman: Max melee. Good utilities are ArW, SoF, FB, LH. Elite should be GoE (Air).
Legendary Imbued Shaman: Use Sigil of Energy and Dagger/Focus. Chain Swirling Winds with other projectile protection during phase changes. Good utilities are ArW, GoS (Earth), FB, LH, ArS, Mist Form. Use elite GoE (Earth) to draw aggro at phase changes.

reserved

reserved

References and Useful Links
Special thanks to Kitsune, Neko, Guanglai, and Zelyhn for formulating much of the Elementalist theory that I use, as well as many other elementalist theorycrafters who have asked me great questions.

• DEKeyz’s spreadsheet of Elementalist Skill Data
• Zelyhn’s Elementalist Skill Data

Assumptions for Effective Power (EP) and Damage per Second (DPS) Calculations
Effective Power is a score that is based on attributes and damage multipliers granted from traits, gear, food, buffs, and boons. It can be used to compare builds that use the same weapon. It does not use any information about a build’s rotation or rotations, so two different rotations for the same weapon would have the same EP even though they could have drastically different DPS. Since I don’t use rotation information, I use the attunement with the highest total damage modifier – so as a result ranking builds by EP gives a different result than ranking by DPS.

Damage per Second estimates can help compare builds that use different weapons or builds that use the same weapon and different rotations. It involves calculating the damage each skill would do to a single target under the assumptions of a particular build over a (often) repeatable rotation and then averages that over the duration of the rotation. Under both perfect and average conditions, I assume optimal rotations for DPS and vulnerability.

For perfect conditions, I assume:

• Sigil of Night or Air, Slaying Potion or BiS other consumable, Discipline and Strength Banners, Signet of Fire
• Sigil of Force
• Ascended weapons and armor with appropriate food and stacks
• 2600 armor target
• 25 Might and Vuln
• 100% uptime on Fury
• 100% uptime on self above 90% HP
• 100% uptime on enemy Burning and Bleeding
• 100% uptime on self full endurance
• 100% uptime on 5 boons on self
• 100% uptime on within 600 range of the enemy
• 3.33% uptime on enemy being CC’ed
• 9% effective modifier for Bolt to the Heart

For average conditions, I assume:

• Sigil of Night, Slaying Potion, Discipline and Strength Banners, Signet of Fire
• Sigil of Force for non-staff builds
• Ascended weapons and armor with appropriate food and stacks
• 2600 armor target
• 15 Might and Vuln
• 100% uptime on Fury
• 75% uptime on self above 90% HP
• 75% uptime on enemy Burning and Bleeding
• 50% uptime on self full endurance
• 100% uptime on 3 boons on self
• 100% uptime on within 600 range of the enemy
• 1.67% uptime on enemy being CC’ed
• 9% effective modifier for Bolt to the Heart

Awesome thanks DeKeyz. Appreciate the videos also.

DEKeyzToChaos.7381:

• DEKeyz’s spreadsheet of Elementalist Skill Data

This seems very useful. I’d like to use it if I ever get around to comparing DPS of the staff meta to each s/f LH meta.
.

DEKeyzToChaos.7381:

• Vulnerabilty stacking build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEAQJArdnEEVZYACyGwjgAgUIlIjBEYUoDJDLgA-jACBYfAkfAUBgZmKr5pCiFXFRjVXDT5iIqGA-e

I object! Assuming the constraints of: Might? Yes. Vuln? Yes. Conjurer? Yes. Fury? No.
And also 5 boons and 100% uptime on above 90% health, you’re comparing:
(25/25/10/10/0) 150 Power + 10% modifier vs. 15.61% modifier (10/25/10/25/0)

Under those constraints and assumptions (there’s a full list of assumptions in my guide, and in the excel spreadsheet linked there), your 25/25/10/10/0 build is inferior to 10/25/10/25/0. Even if you were to lower the uptime on Vital Striking to 75%, so a 13% modifier, 10/25/10/25/0 is still superior due to 1) the high lvl’s of raw stats you’re already getting via gear & buffs, which marginalize the impact of the 25/25/10/10/0 build’s additional 150 Power, and 2) the multiplicative effect of your other dmg modifiers (sigils/potion/etc).
.

DEKeyzToChaos.7381:

Scepter/Focus Rotation
Dragon’s Tooth – Flamewall – Phoenix – Earth attune – Magnetic Wave – Arcane Brilliance – Water attune – Comet – Arcane Wave – Conjure LH – AA 5 chains – Fire attune – AA 3 chains – Drop Hammer

This rotation is not optimal. You need to swap the places of Magnetic Wave and Arcane Brilliance, so you use Brilliance first and M. Wave while casting it. You should do 6 LH AA chains before swapping to Fire, then 2 in Fire, instead of 5 before swapping and 3 after. I’ve copied the correct rotation below, from my guide:

Fire 2 > Fire 4 > Fire 3 + Earth Atune while casting > A. Brilliance + Earth 4 while casting > Water Atune > Water 5 + A. Wave while casting > summon/pick up LH > 6 complete LH AA chains > Fire Atune > 2 complete LH AA chains > drop LH > [repeat]
.

DEKeyzToChaos.7381:

Armor, Trinkets and Consumables
Please refer to the videos for optimal food/stacking sigil combinations for each specific build.
Armor
Exotic: Berserker
Ascended: Assassin’s Helm, Chest and Pants with Berserker’s Shoulders, Gloves, and Boots is the best all-around. A full assassin’s set is better for the staff build by less than 1%, but a full Berserker’s set is better for Fresh Air builds by less than 1%; however, a full Assassin’s set is significantly worse for a Fresh Air build.

I checked the vids you linked, and also the combination of zerk/assassins you cite above. They are not optimal. I checked the link to Nike’s spreadsheet you included, and I found the same thing: you have not optimized variables (gear/stacks/food) properly for each individual build.
.

DEKeyzToChaos.7381:

• Nike’s Effective Power calculator

This spreadsheet is very unclear. It does not break down each source of stat increase and dmg modifier completely. This leads to inaccuracies and errors, such as not optimizing the zerk/assassins mix.

You’re welcome to use my spreadsheet instead, here. It’s more accurate. The lettering from A to G for each build in that spreadsheet references the binary tree diagram in my guide, attached below.

Thanks DEKeyz. This, along with Anierna’s guide, is another excellent resource for the dungeoning community.

Great guide DEKeyz, finally got my Ele to 80 and this (along with Anierna’s guide) has been very helpful.

Question for you: what is your opinion of a 30/25/0/15/0 trait set? I don’t like 30 in air because I only like 2 of the traits. It also does not force me to remain in air (like the 30/30/10/0/0 build), and so I can stay in water for the regen. I lose 10% damage from earth, but have access to vuln/might/fury without losing a health buffer.

If you want to stay in Water for Healing Mist, go 30/30/0/10/0 with Piercing Shards, and LH AA in Water. It is a slight DPS loss compared to 30/30/10/0/0 and LH AA’ing in Air, but I can see why you’d prefer Healing Mist.

A question, which may have been answered in the videos, but I can’t watch those atm.

Why bring a d/f ele over some other class? We know what s/x + LH builds bring (might plus huge dps), but d/f seems to bring much less might and only moderate dps compared to the LH builds. Obviously it’s much more survivable, but what does it have which other classes do not?

Thanks!

Excellent question, Max! I have asked myself the same thing. The benefits of s/x LH are obvious (max might, perma fury, vuln on crit, superior dmg, AoE, blinds, Healing Mist), and the combination and efficacy of those benefits are unique to the Ele. No other class can do all that to the same degree, which is what makes those particular Ele builds so appealing.

The d/f builds, though, do not offer nearly as many benefits. They undeniably offer less group utility. In fact, I don’t see a good reason why you’d ever choose a d/f Ele instead of a different class which could bring more to the table.

That’s basically what I’m getting at, though I know Zelhyn et al. feel otherwise, and so I’d like to understand better why

If the reason is as simple as “run this build if you simply must bring your ele into high level fractals because it is your only toon with AR and this is the best way to make it survivable”, that’s fine too. I am just trying to understand the best situations for each of the builds.

I suspect that reason you gave, the “run this build if you simply must bring your ele into high level fractals because it is your only toon with AR and this is the best way to make it survivable," is the only reason you would ever use d/f.

I simply relog Guard or War, since those perform better in high lvl fracs than a d/f Ele. I really don’t see the point of using d/f, unless you don’t have any other toons you can use.

@Anierna: Thanks for your thorough feedback and typo catching. I know a lot of people’s eyes glaze over when they start to see treatises on number crunching and handwringing over half a percent of theoretical effective power that will be lost to combat RNG, so I didn’t bother with including a lot of my research. If there is sufficient interest, I can add it as an addendum.

@ Bumbler: 30/25/0/15/0 does indeed give you a greater health buffer, and 30/30/0/10/0 while camping in water is slightly lower effective power than 30/30/10/0/0 while camping air, but it if helps you keep your scholar’s buff up then it may be worth it.

@max: D/F is much more survivable than LH while providing similar DPS to a LH build when other party members can also provide buffs. I know many people prefer it when PUGging because it can help carry a weaker group while providing a moderate level of might, permanent fury, and a high amount of vulnerability. In LH rotations, your use of utility skills from an offhand focus such as swirling winds or obsidian flesh is constrained to the 5 or so seconds that you don’t have a lightning hammer. Dagger/Focus enables much easier access to those skills at the expense of missing maybe one blast finisher.

In easier situations such as most dungeons when done with a somewhat optimal group, a lightning hammer build will bring much more to the table because of how much more might it can provide. While it sustains less vuln than a dagger/focus build because of the slower auto attacks, it usually provides the additional party utility through soothing mist.

So basically, would I take a D/F build to a normal guild dungeon tour where we have at least one guard (if not also a mes) to provide reflects and other defensive utility? No, I would go scepter-hammer. Would I go scepter-hammer when the other members of the party are 4 warriors and we’re doing a fractal at scale 49? I wouldn’t trait for it, but I would remember the utility of the hammer for trash clearing.

I think I could think of a list or a graphic of some sort that would help with these distinctions.

DEKeyzToChaos.7381:

@Anierna: […] I didn’t bother with including a lot of my research. If there is sufficient interest, I can add it as an addendum.

I’d really like to see your research. You must have used something other than that modified Nike spreadsheet you linked; I was really disappointed when I saw how that spreadsheet had been designed. It’s not just the formatting that was at fault there, but the lack of clarity in assumptions and stat-breakdowns that lead to inaccuracies in EP maximization.

EDIT: I also noticed you haven’t yet fixed your Vuln-stacking LH build or your s/f LH rotation, as per my previous comments. You might want to get on that; the longer you wait, the more likely it is that people will read your guide and start using the wrong builds and rotations. We don’t want to spread misinformation.

Adding in variable optimization for each build should also be on your to-do list, but that will probably take a bit longer. I already optimized the variables for your LH and staff builds, here, but you’re on your own for your d/f builds.

Anierna.6918:

DEKeyzToChaos.7381:

@Anierna: […] I didn’t bother with including a lot of my research. If there is sufficient interest, I can add it as an addendum.

I’d really like to see your research. You must have used something other than that modified Nike spreadsheet you linked; I was really disappointed when I saw how that spreadsheet had been designed. It’s not just the formatting that was at fault there, but the lack of clarity in assumptions and stat-breakdowns that lead to inaccuracies in EP maximization.

EDIT: I also noticed you haven’t yet fixed your Vuln-stacking LH build or your s/f LH rotation, as per my previous comments. You might want to get on that; the longer you wait, the more likely it is that people will read your guide and start using the wrong builds and rotations. We don’t want to spread misinformation.

Adding in variable optimization for each build should also be on your to-do list, but that will probably take a bit longer. I already optimized the variables for your LH and staff builds, here, but you’re on your own for your d/f builds.

There is rage deep within this one. Rage bubbling and rising in the form of elitism on a video game forum.
Chill bro.

Thanks DEKeyz for the explanation. Vuln stacking, perma fury, moderate might, and good dps do seem to be plenty of motivation to run the d/f ele instead of Yet Another Warrior in high level fractals. I personally just do not have the experience with dagger air aa to understand how much DPS loss there is, so I guess that’s something I’ll have to play with to get a feeling for. But even 30% down from scepter-hammer is probably still competitive with other classes. Anything you could do to help quantify this would be highly appreciated, of course!

DEKeyzToChaos.7381:

Fiery Greatsword: …If you press 1 to attack, the skill cannot be interrupted by other weapon skills…

Tip:
Pressing ESC interrupts that attack, but you lose charge and sometimes that menu window might pop up.

Ryorco Marm.9580:

DEKeyzToChaos.7381:

Fiery Greatsword: …If you press 1 to attack, the skill cannot be interrupted by other weapon skills…

Tip:
Pressing ESC interrupts that attack, but you lose charge and sometimes that menu window might pop up.

Thanks for the tip!

Tested it last night while waiting for some world boss to spawn, and I had a pretty low occurrence of the game menu popping up.

Anierna, my spreadsheet does what it is designed to do. Any failures you get from it are the result of user error and bad inputs. Try being more careful when you theorycraft and you’ll avoid this issue.

Nike Porphyrogenita.8137:

Anierna, my spreadsheet does what it is designed to do. Any failures you get from it are the result of user error and bad inputs. Try being more careful when you theorycraft and you’ll avoid this issue.

I can verify that the numbers on there are fairly accurate. Although this matter has already been answered a number of times, I would like to point out that it is a D/F Ele can bring a couple of utility skills that are amazing for fractals, without sacrificing enough DPS to swap them out for a warrior or guardian.

Other than that, great guide DEKeyz!

P Fun Daddy.1208:

Anierna.6918:

DEKeyzToChaos.7381:

@Anierna: […] I didn’t bother with including a lot of my research. If there is sufficient interest, I can add it as an addendum.

I’d really like to see your research. You must have used something other than that modified Nike spreadsheet you linked; I was really disappointed when I saw how that spreadsheet had been designed. It’s not just the formatting that was at fault there, but the lack of clarity in assumptions and stat-breakdowns that lead to inaccuracies in EP maximization.

EDIT: I also noticed you haven’t yet fixed your Vuln-stacking LH build or your s/f LH rotation, as per my previous comments. You might want to get on that; the longer you wait, the more likely it is that people will read your guide and start using the wrong builds and rotations. We don’t want to spread misinformation.

Adding in variable optimization for each build should also be on your to-do list, but that will probably take a bit longer. I already optimized the variables for your LH and staff builds, here, but you’re on your own for your d/f builds.

Chill bro.

Agreed.

Btw Dekeyz, excellent guide well deserving of a sticky.

Nike Porphyrogenita.8137:

Anierna, my spreadsheet does what it is designed to do. Any failures you get from it are the result of user error and bad inputs. Try being more careful when you theorycraft and you’ll avoid this issue.

My theorycrafting is fine – probably because I use my own spreadsheet, a more accurate tool. The fact is, there are errors in the spreadsheet DEKeyz linked (copied below):

DEKeyzToChaos.7381:

• Nike’s Effective Power calculator

Now, you are correct, some of the errors I’ll list next are due to bad inputs. However, it wasn’t me who introduced those bad inputs into your spreadsheet, since I don’t use it for my theorycrafting. It was DEKeyz. Then there are also some errors which are due to the design of the spreadsheet itself (such as the aggregate gear error), and those are your responsibility.

Errors:

1) Aggregate of gear, rather than breakdown by individual armor piece. The Gear 1 column assumes all Zerk, the Gear 2 column assumes all Assassins. Neither one of these is the optimal Zerk/Assassins mix for almost any build. This is an inherent problem with the design of the spreadsheet; the gear section ought to have been expanded to allow for mixing-and-matching, which would result in optimization for higher EP.

2) Under cell C7 (intersection of Power and Base), the value is =916+300. This assumes 30 in Fire. Under cell C8 (intersection of Precision and Base), the value is =916+300. This assumes 30 in Air as well. NONE of the 3 scepter LH builds DEKeyz gives in this guide have 30 in both Fire and Air. Therefore, the spreadsheet DEKeyz linked tells you nothing about the EP’s of her scepter LH builds.

3) The Dmg Modifiers given in the spreadsheet are unclear, and some of them are incorrect.
- The final Dmg Modifier number under Weapon is composed of multiplying the following 3 Dmg Modifier cells together (this cell’s fine):
- The Dmg Modifier under Gear is: 1.1 (obviously Scholar Runes, this one’s OK)
- The Dmg Modifiers under Base are: 1.05, 1.05, 1.05, 1.1, 1.1
- The Dmg Modifiers under Buffs are: 1.1, 1.1, 1.25

Looking at the Dmg modifiers for Buffs: 1.1 = Dungeon Potion, 1.1 = Night Sigil, 1.25 = 25 stacks Vuln. This one’s fine.

Since in Error 2 it was found that DEKeyz assumed a 30/30/x/x/0 build, I’m guessing she meant 30/30/10/0/0, which is one of her d/f builds (although it still doesn’t show anything about her scepter hammer, staff, or other 2 d/f builds).

Looking at the Dmg modifiers for Base: 1.1 = Earth VI, 1.1 = Air X, 1.05 = Force Sigil. So there are 2x 5% modifiers that can’t be accounted for, and a 10% modifier from Fire 25 that’s not included. I know this trait was updated in the Dec 10th patch, so DEKeyz probably just hasn’t updated the spreadsheet yet. The other issue is that it doesn’t make any sense for the Force Sigil to be in Base when the Night Sigil is in Buffs.

design.6057:

I can verify that the numbers on there are fairly accurate.

They’re not accurate. And I just spent a great deal of time explaining exactly why they aren’t accurate, and how to correct them.

There was one other thing I noticed in Nike’s spreadsheet, that he used 1.25 as a modifier for Vuln, and factored it in with the other modifiers. From another comment I just made…

Anierna.6918:

I knew Vuln stacked additively, meaning a 1.25 modifier, rather than multiplicatively, which would have been a 1.28 modifier.

I had assumed it was applied after everything else (EP, wep strength, skill coefficients, target’s armor), but I’m not so sure. In case it stacks with the other modifiers, I’ve revised my spreadsheet, here

I think part of the problem is the difference in the intent of each calculator. Anierna presents his results from his calculator, I present just the calculator with an example build so that others can download it and plug in their own build.

1) Aggregate of gear, rather than breakdown by individual armor piece. The Gear 1 column assumes all Zerk, the Gear 2 column assumes all Assassins.

Yes, and the user can change the gear by looking up the armor attributes, doing a bit of napkin/calculator math, and plug in their own stats so that “Gear 1” and “Gear 2” are whichever mix of stats they would like.

Anierna.6918:

2) Under cell C7 (intersection of Power and Base), the value is =916+300. This assumes 30 in Fire. Under cell C8 (intersection of Precision and Base), the value is =916+300. This assumes 30 in Air as well. NONE of the 3 scepter LH builds DEKeyz gives in this guide have 30 in both Fire and Air. Therefore, the spreadsheet DEKeyz linked tells you nothing about the EP’s of her scepter LH builds.

These values are also ones that I recommend that the user change to reflect his or her build.

Anierna.6918:

3) The Dmg Modifiers given in the spreadsheet are unclear, and some of them are incorrect.
- The final Dmg Modifier number under Weapon is composed of multiplying the following 3 Dmg Modifier cells together (this cell’s fine):
- The Dmg Modifier under Gear is: 1.1 (obviously Scholar Runes, this one’s OK)
- The Dmg Modifiers under Base are: 1.05, 1.05, 1.05, 1.1, 1.1
- The Dmg Modifiers under Buffs are: 1.1, 1.1, 1.25

Yes, those values should be moved around so that Force and Night modifiers are over with the gear. When I was playing around with Nike’s original spreadsheet, I started separating everything out just for my own convenience, though someone could just as easily set most values to 0 and plug in the values straight from their Hero Panel to get an estimate of EP. The spreadsheet was last published in mid-November before the change to fire traits, so that is where two of the 5% modifiers come from. I also notice in your calculator that you don’t factor in the effect of Bolt to the Heart to your calculations. Why is that?

Concerning vuln, yes, xx stacks is counted as a 1.xx modifier, not a 1.01^xx modifier, confirmed by in-game testing on HotM golems.

Anierna.6918:

1) Aggregate of gear, rather than breakdown by individual armor piece. The Gear 1 column assumes all Zerk, the Gear 2 column assumes all Assassins. Neither one of these is the optimal Zerk/Assassins mix for almost any build. This is an inherent problem with the design of the spreadsheet; the gear section ought to have been expanded to allow for mixing-and-matching, which would result in optimization for higher EP.

I didn’t add the gear section, that isn’t from my spreadsheet. My spreadsheet you simply manually adjust the Power and Precision.

3) The Dmg Modifiers given in the spreadsheet are unclear, and some of them are incorrect.
- The final Dmg Modifier number under Weapon is composed of multiplying the following 3 Dmg Modifier cells together (this cell’s fine):
- The Dmg Modifier under Gear is: 1.1 (obviously Scholar Runes, this one’s OK)
- The Dmg Modifiers under Base are: 1.05, 1.05, 1.05, 1.1, 1.1
- The Dmg Modifiers under Buffs are: 1.1, 1.1, 1.25

Looking at the Dmg modifiers for Buffs: 1.1 = Dungeon Potion, 1.1 = Night Sigil, 1.25 = 25 stacks Vuln. This one’s fine.

Since in Error 2 it was found that DEKeyz assumed a 30/30/x/x/0 build, I’m guessing she meant 30/30/10/0/0, which is one of her d/f builds (although it still doesn’t show anything about her scepter hammer, staff, or other 2 d/f builds).

Looking at the Dmg modifiers for Base: 1.1 = Earth VI, 1.1 = Air X, 1.05 = Force Sigil. So there are 2x 5% modifiers that can’t be accounted for, and a 10% modifier from Fire 25 that’s not included. I know this trait was updated in the Dec 10th patch, so DEKeyz probably just hasn’t updated the spreadsheet yet. The other issue is that it doesn’t make any sense for the Force Sigil to be in Base when the Night Sigil is in Buffs.

These aren’t issues with my spreadsheet, but sound like either confusion on your part or a mistake on Dekeyz’ part.

And Vulnerability additive? What?

DEKeyzToChaos.7381:

Yes, and the user can change the gear by looking up the armor attributes, doing a bit of napkin/calculator math, and plug in their own stats so that “Gear 1” and “Gear 2” are whichever mix of stats they would like.

I saw in Nike’s spreadsheet that there are sections for choosing between stacking sigils, where the user can just enter “250” in power and leave the prec blank (or vice-versa), and choosing between food, where the user can enter “100” in power and leave the prec blank (or vice-versa). What I’m saying is that there is no similar breakdown given of stats from armor/weps/trinks, and there should have been.

What he should have done is created a section where you can swap prec and power stats for the armor and weapons, then for the base power cell use “=SUM (<8 cells of power stats for armor&weps>) + constant”, where constant = <sum of power stats from ascended zerk trinks>, and do the same thing for the precision cell. That way, you can swap the power and prec values of just a single piece of armor to simulate the swap between Zerk and Assassins, to more easily mix-and-match gear. Basically, it’s more user-friendly. You already do it for food and stacking sigils, so why not gear?

DEKeyzToChaos.7381:

I also notice in your calculator that you don’t factor in the effect of Bolt to the Heart to your calculations. Why is that?

Initially I used “=1 + (20/300)”, so approximate the BttH modifier as 1.0666 etc.

However, I chose to drop it altogether because that’s not entirely accurate. The increase in your dmg once the boss drops below 33% health causes you to kill the boss faster, meaning it’s not EP X for the first 67% the boss’s health, EP Y for the last 33%, and EP Z as the estimated average using 1.067 as the BttH average modifier, which is what a 6.67% modifier implies.

Furthermore, you have 4 other party members attacking that same boss (each doing a different amount of dmg), and for the moment, let’s assume their aggregate dmg is constant regardless of the boss’s health. So even if you could figure out how much BttH sped up the boss’s death in the final third, once you jump from EP to actual dmg via factoring in rotation et alia, you’d have to redo everything to take into account the dmg done by your group, which changes the speed at which the boss dies and thus the effect of your BttH modifier.

Then on top of that, some classes (like thieves) have traits similar to BttH, so you can’t even assume that the group’s dmg is constant regardless of the boss’s health.

Basically, BttH is a nightmare, and I just chose not to deal with it. If you’ve got a good method of dealing with it, I’ve love to hear it.

Or you could just add 10 power and subtract 10 precision and vice versa if you want to see the result of switching a glove.

Since I have compared builds that use BttH to those that do not, I just use a 5% modifier to represent it. It’s conservative enough to account for variances in DPS given that partymates burst at the beginning and end of the battle and that other partymates may have other target health-based modifiers.

If DPS were linear for the battle and each party member contributed exactly 1/5 of the DPS to the target, then the actual modifier would be something like .2*.33*(.67+.33(1-.2*.2)) = .065, but even then I feel like my arithmetic may still be generating too generous of a multiplier.

Regarding the S/F rotation, the order of MW-AB doesn’t really matter. I tend to roll my fingers for key combos and my heal is bound to Q, so a 3-F4-4-Q combo is easier for me than 3-F4-Q-4. What’s key is having minimal downtime between Phoenix, Arcane Brilliance, and Comet, and attuning to water before the damage from Arcane Brilliance connects.

At best, 10/25/10/25/0 and 25/25/10/10/0 are equivalent. Sure, 10/25 has about a 1.5% higher EP if one can maintain 100% uptime on the scholar’s buff and VS, but the superior vuln stacking of 25/25 makes up for that small difference. And honestly, I wouldn’t run x/25/x/x/x unless there really is a vuln deficiency in the party because LH eles really don’t contribute much.

Assumptions:

• Banner of Disc, Signet of Fire, and 100% Fury uptime
• Using S/F for superior vuln stacking to S/D and all hits of rotation connect
• No interruptions in the rotation
• Using ascended zerk weapons, trinkets, and shoulders/gloves/leggings so that crit chance is 91% without LH and 99% with LH. Also assuming that crit chance truncated to 2 digits is actual crit chance for a conservative estimate, though the game often truncates/rounds in visuals when it uses actual amounts for calculations.
• While I round to 4 digits for stepwise calculations shown here, I actually reevaluated all operations at each step to reduce roundoff errors.

A rotation using 10/25/10/25/0 would hit 41 times during its 29.4 seconds. 12 hits have a 91% crit chance, 17 have a 99% crit chance, and 2 (arcane skills) have a 100% crit chance. Due to traits, a stack of vuln lasts 5.5 seconds on a normal mob and 2.75 seconds on a mob with Unshakeable.

• ((12*.91) + (27*.99) + 2))*.6 = 23.79 strikes that cause vuln per rotation
• 29.4/23.79 = 1.236 seconds on average between strikes that apply vuln
• 2.75/1.236 = 2.225 average stacks of vuln on a mob with Unshakeable.

A rotation using 25/25/10/10/0 would hit 42 times during its 29.4 seconds. 12 hits have a 91% crit chance, 18 have a 99% crit chance, and 2 (arcane skills) have a 100% crit chance. Due to traits, a stack of vuln lasts 6.25 seconds on a normal mob and 3.125 seconds on a mob with Unshakeable.

• ((12*.91) + (28*.99) + 2))*.6 = 24.38 strikes that cause vuln per rotation
• 29.4/24.38 = 1.206 seconds on average between strikes that apply vuln
• 3.125/1.206 = 2.592 average stacks of vuln on a mob with Unshakeable.

So that small loss in personal DPS is compensated for by the slightly higher vuln stacking capability plus a small increase in damage coefficient per rotation from Sunspot. Additionally, if your group happens to burst to 25 vuln, your awfully short stacks of vuln will be slightly less awful.

tl;dr: In my opinion, 25/25/10/10/0 is sufficiently better at vuln stacking to make it worth recommending over 10/25/10/25/0. But I’m pretty sure there are other classes (warrior) – and even other ele builds (D/F) – that are much better at providing sustained vuln than an LH ele.

I am back from my two week forum ban and very happy to see you have finally posted a guide Keys!

As always and as expected, you are doing awesome work!

I think you should request a sticky and your thread will become the reference for PvE eles. After Neko decided to focus more on WvW and Anierna started infesting this subforum with his narrow ideas, you contribution is timely, especially since I am going to stop playing GW2.

Best of luck helping the elementalist community

Zelyhn, sorry to hear you are leaving GW2. I’ve enjoyed reading your threads. You will be missed.

The build I’m most interested in is the s/f LH build for might and fury. Checked yours and Anierna’s guide on it. Armor-wise there’s a difference, Anierna says go assassins and here it says go zerk (talking full exotic here).

So I guess the basic question is, which is it?

cranos.5913:

The build I’m most interested in is the s/f LH build for might and fury. Checked yours and Anierna’s guide on it. Armor-wise there’s a difference, Anierna says go assassins and here it says go zerk (talking full exotic here).

So I guess the basic question is, which is it?

Notice also that DEKeyz says go for perception stacking, and Anierna for bloodlust. The difference in the armor sets, after full stacking, is going to be basically marginal. Berserker is way easier to get, so I personally just went with that.

This is exactly what I was worried about, that someone would read DE’s guide and take it at face value. DE did NOT optimize the gear for her builds, which I cited previously as an error in her guide, and which she has still not fixed.

In regard to the 30/10/10/20/0 build specifically (Build F in my guide), I am 100% certain that under the assumptions in my guide and the constraints of: 1) Ascended Zerk trinkets; 2) Ascended Zerk weapons; and 3) Exotic armor, the following variables are optimal:

Full Assassins Exotic Armor, Butternut Squash Food, and Bloodlust Stacking

You could increase the EP slightly by using Ascended Assassins weps instead of Zerk, thus discarding constraint #2. With Zerk weps you are at 98% crit chance, and Assassins weps would get you to 100%.

You could also increase the EP by using Ascended armor, but as that only recently came out, I doubt many people have the resources to make a full set. I do, but I wouldn’t presume to make it the standard for my guide’s calculations because most don’t. I can rerun calcs for ascended armor if anyone’s interested.

maxinion.8396:

Notice also that DEKeyz says go for perception stacking, and Anierna for bloodlust. The difference in the armor sets, after full stacking, is going to be basically marginal. Berserker is way easier to get, so I personally just went with that.

The difference is there. It matters. If you’re going for “optimal,” which I’ve assumed is the goal, any difference at all, even a “marginal” one, matters.

EDIT: One other thing I just noticed. In all my LH builds, you’re stacking Bloodlust. That means that you start the instance with either 98% or 100% crit chance, depending on the build, immediately. As the instance progresses, you accumulate Power via Bloodlust stacks. Each stack of Bloodlust gives 10 power, up to a maximum of 250.

In DE’s builds, you’re stacking Perception, so you start off the instance with significantly less crit chance. Each stack of Perception gives 10 precision, up to a maximum of 250.

An important thing to note is that, at the start of an instance (meaning without any stacks), my builds have significantly higher EP than DE’s builds, and each stack of Perception has a greater impact on the EP of her builds than each stack of Bloodlust has on the EP of mine. This means that even though the difference in EP once both builds have maximum stacks is minor, prior to maximum stacks, my builds are significantly better.

If for a given dungeon you have maximum stacks only half the time, my builds will FAR outperform DE’s due to stacking Bloodlust rather than Perception. Even if you assume maximum stacks 90% of the time, the slightly higher EP of my builds for that 90% plus the significantly higher EP of my builds for the 10% averages out so that the differences become more apparent.

Zelyhn, the infestation you mentioned is still here. Please don’t leave until it’s gone >_<

Furthermore, I say we replace a certain inaccurate sticky with DeKeyz’s guide.

swiftpaw.6397:

Furthermore, I say we replace the certain outdated and inaccurate stickies with DeKeyz’s guide.

If you’re referring to my guide, I assure you my maths are accurate. After Dub pointed out some unrealistic assumptions I made, I revised the spreadsheet, and I’m quite confident of its accuracy in it’s current form.

I did notice that neither Zelyhn’s nor Neko’s guides have been updated to incorporate the Dec 10th update (indeed, they’re even further behind the times than that), so it’s quite possible I misinterpreted your comment, as you were referring to one of those.

Anierna.6918:

maxinion.8396:

Notice also that DEKeyz says go for perception stacking, and Anierna for bloodlust. The difference in the armor sets, after full stacking, is going to be basically marginal. Berserker is way easier to get, so I personally just went with that.

The difference is there. It matters. If you’re going for “optimal,” which I’ve assumed is the goal, any difference at all, even a “marginal” one, matters.

EDIT: One other thing I just noticed. In all my LH builds, you’re stacking Bloodlust. That means that you start the instance with either 98% or 100% crit chance, depending on the build, immediately. As the instance progresses, you accumulate Power via Bloodlust stacks. Each stack of Bloodlust gives 10 power, up to a maximum of 250.

In DE’s builds, you’re stacking Perception, so you start off the instance with significantly less crit chance. Each stack of Perception gives 10 precision, up to a maximum of 250.

An important thing to note is that, at the start of an instance (meaning without any stacks), my builds have significantly higher EP than DE’s builds, and each stack of Perception has a greater impact on the EP of her builds than each stack of Bloodlust has on the EP of mine. This means that even though the difference in EP once both builds have maximum stacks is minor, prior to maximum stacks, my builds are significantly better.

If for a given dungeon you have maximum stacks only half the time, my builds will FAR outperform DE’s due to stacking Bloodlust rather than Perception. Even if you assume maximum stacks 90% of the time, the slightly higher EP of my builds for that 90% plus the significantly higher EP of my builds for the 10% averages out so that the differences become more apparent.

Right, the difference (once at max stacks) is 160 points more to precision for DE, and 160 more to power for you. I guess the point is that the 160 points actually are too much in prec, since you’ll be at 100% already, assuming fury and everything.

That’s still probably a minor point, as natural fluctuations in might, vulnerable, etc all will probably be larger than this. But point taken~