Guild Wars 2

UPDATED – JANUARY 3,2013 5:00pm EAST

Hello, my name is Reveaux. I am currently rank 40+ and have my home in Anvil Rock. Many of you, however, know me by the name of Pintresting!

Before i enter the nitty gritty of the guide, feel free to post suggestions below on what you would do differently for other players who are reading. I am not the best player out there, however, i created this guide in order to share my knowledge in order to make other players better. I hope you guys post some helpful knowledge!

Another reason I am creating this guide is to try and introduce other players to a different kind of gameplay other than a d\d aurashare build. Many of the topics floating around concerning this build has left many players feeling bored thinking that there is only one viable way to play elementalist. Hopefully I can introduce to new and current players a different approach on elementalists that they may find not only entertaining but viable as well.

In advance, I would like to apologize for any bias based opinions that may appear in my post. My intention is not to advertise one play style over another, but rather to inform the players on different ways to approach their elementalists. I will also be slightly piggybacking off of some of the collective ideas from the forums themselves concerning elementalists and I will do my best to give credit to their source as best as possible.

Ele – “We see the elementalist as the king of versatility. The skill ceiling for the Ele is exceptional, as the ability to leverage all four attunements at the right time is crucial for understanding the elementalist. The Ele boasts some of the best team support and control abilities in the game, as well as some great area of effect damage.” (A- net developers)

Video Guides:
Pintresting’s GW2 Scepter/Dagger Elementalist PvP Burst Build Part I
Pintresting’s GW2 Scepter/Dagger Elementalist PvP Burst Build Part II

Chapter I – Why Scepter/Dagger?
Chapter II – Scepter/Dagger Bunker Build (Invincible Elementalist)
Chapter III – Scepter/Dagger Bunker Build….The Method to the Madness
Chapter IV – Scepter/Dagger DPS Build
Chapter V – Scepter/Dagger and You! (Making Your Own Build)

CHAPTER I – WHY SCEPTER/DAGGER?
Scepter/dagger is the most versatile of all the weapon sets. It has great mobility (second only to Dagger Dagger) and the potential for heaviest aoe burst damage of all weapon sets. Scepter/Dagger also has the greatest defense of all the weapon sets with its quick heals, rock barrier, and quick blinds. The main issue this build is overlooked is because of the ease that comes with being able to dodge the burst that comes primarily from the fire attunement.

SCEPTER/DAGGER IS HARD! The inability to guarantee damage makes it hard, however with the right setup the skill cap is determined by being able to land the damage! In the right hands a S/D bunker will not die and a S/D DPS will have the ability to give incredible burst damage! The issue is that because it is harder people aren’t able to see the potential as easily as D/D.

There are many reasons that people think D/D is preferred over the S/D setup.
1) Aura share is a boss
2) Too easy to dodge burst from S\D
3) QT Vain plays D/D and he’s boss!

However, there are also many reasons that S/D is a viable setup for reasons people don’t realize
1) THE MOST BLAST FINISHERS OF ANY ELEMENTALIST WEAPON SET. For those who do not understand blast finishers and combos please follow the link below and educate yourself.
Guild Wars 2 Wiki – Combos
2) ALLOWS ABILITY TO CAST SKILLS ON PLAYERS WHILE YOU ARE STOMPING, REVIVING, AND DODGING using air attunement (aside from arcane utilities)! For example, you are stomping a player and you know he is about to use a downed state skill that prevents you from stomping. While in air attunement, you can blind that player mid stomp and prevent the CC ensuring a successful stomp.
3) THE BEST DEFENSE FOR WEAPON SETS. S/D offers the best defense of all the weapon sets. This is a very close comparison between d/d and s/d but tips in s/d favor very slightly.

D/D has access to shocking aura, an extra chill, and cone of cold which ensures a heal readily available whenever you switch your attunement to water. D/D’s main attacks are usually about ½ seconds long to cast reaping the most benefit from Signet of Restoration.

S/D has access to two blinds (blinding flash and dust devil), rock barrier which grants 250 toughness (that’s a lot!), condition removal and vigor from phoenix, and water trident which heals for twice as much as cone of cold with a fraction of the cast time. Cone of cold is 2 ¼ seconds to cast once. Casting it twice takes 4 ½ seconds, has a chance to be interrupted, and does less healing than Water Trident. Based off the facts given S/D is easily more durable that D/D, however, the comparison becomes slightly closer when we consider that most of the main auto attunement attacks take at least ¾ of a second to cast giving less of a benefit from Signet of Restoration.
4) GREATEST BURST POTENTIAL. This is old news, everyone knows that the burst for the weapon set is boss but is easy to dodge. The trick is to not waist your damage, which I will explain later in the guide.

What am I sacrificing to switch from D/D to S/D?

You can’t really pull someone away from what is believed to be a meta build without supplying proper reasoning behind your beliefs that what you have could be just as good.
1. You no longer are considered Aurashare!
This is the main and most important thing you end up sacrificing to switch to a S/D build. Aurashare focuses on two main principles, give auras and buffs to your team. Shocking aura would be what you lose which would be most devastating to Aura lovers. As Aurashare becomes more popular it is easier to spot this aura and easiest to counter. All your enemy has to do is stand at a distance and attack! Even if the enemy attacking is stupid and attacks you at most he will only be disrupted for 2 noncontiguous seconds (usually).
The biggest loss would be the ability to share your frost aura. Frost aura is a wonderful aura when shared with your team. Giving mass chill to the enemy always turns out to be a nightmare without condition removal; however, teams that know to watch for it will usually have some form of condition removal on standby for massive stacks of chill on their allies.
Of course, you lose the ability to give your team lots of fury and swiftness.
2. You lose a two second immobilize
Let’s face it, immobilize is the most devastating condition applied in the game when used properly (followed shortly by chill)….
3. Great sustained melee damage
This being said I would still encourage people to try some of the builds I have created below to show to themselves that there is something more to scepter dagger!

That being said, the following are two builds created for use with S/D. The first is a bunker build and the second is a burst build. To avoid confusion please take the time to study my reasoning behind each piece of the builds.

CHAPTER II – SCEPTER/DAGGER BUNKER BUILD (Invincible Elementalist)
This build is commonly referred to as the Invincible Ele build because it offers superb defense against any opponent. It is the jack of all trades bunker in that it offers fantastic physical defense and unmatched condition removal and healing. It also has the ability to give great stability stomping and team support via boons, heals, and condition removal.

0/0/10/30/30

EARTH MAGIC: III
WATER MAGIC: III V XI
ARCANA: IV V XI

AMULET: Shamans Amulet/Shamans Jewel OR Shamans Amulet/Knights Jewel
RUNES: Runes of Earth or Runes of the Forge
SIGILS: Sigil of Superior Life, Sigil of Superior Energy
UTILITIES: Signet of Restoration and All cantrips!!! (Mist is a must)
ELITE UTILITY: Glyph of Elementals

CHAPTER III – SCEPTER/DAGGER BUNKER BUILD…..THE METHOD TO THE MADNESS
This build is the strongest bunker build available to elementalists. This build allows for incredible amounts of CC, healing, condition removal, toughness, dodging, and stun breakers.

EARTH MAGIC: The reason you pick III is for the Armor of Earth which grants the stability and protection. With the 30% boon increase from Arcana you are looking at about a 10 second protection and stability buff at 50% as well as an automatic stun break. Also, I found the other choices to be not as viable for a bunker setup

WATER MAGIC: This combined with an increase in attunement recharge makes water attunement changes very powerful to restore hp. This setup allows for a condition to be removed as well every time you switch to water (aprx 10 seconds for attunement cd with 30 Arcana). It also grants about 12 seconds of vigor and regeneration when you cast a cantrip. Finally, when you give regeneration to yourself you remove an additional condition from yourself. This means all cantrips remove a condition and you remove an additional one when you change to water attunement! This build is also a low hp build so it relies on the vitality gained from a full 30 in this skill tree.

ARCANA: A full 30 in Arcana is always strongly advised no matter what type of ele build you prefer. The attunement recharge rate is too invaluable to waist. The V is self explanatory for the buffs granted to you and your team are invaluable (especially when you get more of those buffs with a faster attunement recharge). The IV is just a final safety trigger to help save your life if your health is getting low. Three hits of protection doesn’t seem like much but it will save your life more than you know. Finally, Evasive arcana is invaluable for this build for the air and water dodge. The water dodge will grant you over 3000 hp each time you use it and the air dodge will inflict aoe blind.

AMULET: Shamans amulet gives the best toughness and great healing. Makes your primary source of damage your conditions, your strongest skill will become your flames and your earth attunement autoattack. Jewel discretion is allowed for trading a little toughness and healing for some vitality.
RUNES: These are your best bunker runes for this setup. Substituting the 6 for earth shield for another toughness rune as allowed as well because earth shield may conflict with final shielding from arcana tree.
SIGILS: Sigil of Superior Life is optional but Sup Energy is a MUST. Energy works with your attunement swaps giving you A LOT of extra endurance overtime which helps also with your evasive arcana!
UTILITIES: Signet of Restoration is the only viable heal. Each cantrip grants 12 seconds of vigor and regeneration, removes one condition, and breaks stun on use. Mist is the only necessity out of the four cantrips. Amor of earth grants fantastic protection and stability but has a rather large cd which will hurt you in a long fight. Blink is fantastic for getting back on the point or evading a strong amount of melee burst. Cleansing fire damages the enemy and removes three conditions (great for removing trash conditions preventing cleansing of deadly conditions). Finally, Mist form is a must because it grants guaranteed stomps every time (assuming the target doesn’t move or is revived).
ELITE UTILITY: Only viable Elite

General Tips for this build:
Thieves: Watch for them! They will usually short bow attack you off point. DO NOT BE AFRAID TO LEAVE POINT TO PRESSURE A THIEF!!! Especially when it is a 2v1 against your favor. Focusing the thief helps make sure you do not let your guard down and get instadead due to thief burst.
Warriors: Watch out for Hundred Blades! Keep your blink ready in case of immobilize!
Mesmers: You will probably not kill the Mesmer solo, so avoid the shatters by dodging into them. Again, have blink or cleansing fire ready to remove immobilize followed by Mesmer instaburst!
Elementalists: More than likely it’s a D/D, so cleanse conditions = win! And watch out for insta burst from arcane spells. These guys generally don’t have stun breakers (except for mist) and poor condition removal so feel free to use frost aura and stun them!
Hunters: Try not to show your back too much……LOS if possible.
Engineers: Condition build is your big problem, be on your toes for condition removal.
Necromancers: Use your Condition removal wisely; don’t pop cd’s when you only have a small amount of bleeds on.
Guardians: If it’s a bunker have a dance off till someone assists. If it’s a DPS just dodge roll and apply damage to the best of your abilities.

This build isn’t set up to destroy any target that comes your way, rather, it is a great distraction build to distract the other teams members and keep them from fighting your teammates! You also need to be smart about your dodges! Don’t dodge if it won’t help you! If you have Armor of Earth and Mist you have EXCELLENT stability stomping abilities, so use them well!

OPENING ROTATION: You will open in this build in air attunement. When you engage in combat or are about to engage switch to earth and cast rock barrier then begin your rotation. From there you will change attunements as necessary and dodge when necessary (which most times means whenever you can dodge)

Also don’t be afraid to run off point! You do no good as a dead bunker, a lot of the times two fantastic burst classes (thief, Mesmer, even warrior) can annihilate you even when your build like a tower. Know when you need to run and know when you can survive. IMMOBILIZE IS YOUR DOWNFALL. When running against known immobilize teams be sure to use blink and cleansing fire with your mist utility. These offer your best change against surviving an immobilize burst onslaught!

CHAPTER IV – SCEPTER/DAGGER DPS BUILD
This build is an offshoot of the aurashare build for d\d (made popular by Qt Vain). It is modified for scepter/dagger and I found it works out quite fantastic!

0/10/0/30/30

AIR MAGIC: VI
WATER MAGIC: V VI XI
ARCANA: I V XII

AMULET: Valkyries Amulet/Berserker Jewel
RUNES: Runes of Divinity or Runes of Scholar
SIGILS: Sigil of Superior Battle and Sigil of Superior Bloodlust
UTILITIES: Signet of Restoration, Arcane Blast, Arcane Wave, Mist Form
ELITE UTILITY: Glyph of Elementals

CHAPTER V – SCEPTER/DAGGER DPS BUILD…METHOD TO THE MADNESS

AIR MAGIC: Gives the increased precision and critical damage from putting 10 points into the tree as well as 20% increased damage to the targets with less that 33% hp!

WATER MAGIC: This setup is similar to the bunker setup for the survivability. The increased damage above 90% comes in handy because many players don’t realize that you have extra damage when you are at 90% or higher and wont attack you unless you are the focused target. The condition removal comes in handy against stacking condition builds to give you a little more diversity and able to handle many situations. If preferred, XI can be swapped for XII for the sharing frost aura with your team. Even without giving your team the buffs from aurashare or the ability to share Shocking Aura, using XII can still be viable because frost aura is so powerful when shared among your team because it affects attacking enemies no matter what the range (compared to close range shocking aura)! The 2% additional damage for each buff is also a plus and works fantastic with the V from Arcana tree!

ARCANA: The reduced cool down on your arcana skills is invaluable when running two arcane abilities. The V (Elemental Attunement) is a must no matter what build you run because it is foolish to give up free buffs. Finally XII (Elemental Surge) turned out to be a real diamond in the rough for me. You can give even more chill on your targets ultimately helping you and your team’s survivability. You can also choose to use them to apply burns to targets who insist on playing in stealth. The blind is use full to assist in stomping to ensure you don’t get interrupted. The immobilize works FANTASTIC in coordination with your team or ensuring a proper landing of Dragons Tooth!

AMULET: This amulet is the perfect hybrid giving you enough healing and toughness to keep you alive but giving you the power and critical damage to make you deadly on the field.
RUNES: These are the two strongest power runes available
UTILTIES: The arcane skills are instant cast and have very short cooldowns. Your imagination is the limits when it comes to creating different tactics to use these with your Elemental Surge trait. Mist Form is always a necessity no matter what you play on Ele, it’s just too amazing not to use!
ELITE UTILITY: Only viable Elite

The big issue behind this build is the burst damage is sometimes hard to land, so here are some tactics to assist you in your battle to the top!

Opening with Updraft, switching to fire attunement, and casting Dragons tooth will not always guarantee a successful hit! Even though Dragons Tooth is a one second cast time it still hovers in the air long enough for someone who was just knocked down to stand back up and dodge. Normally if the target cannot dodge he will eat the dragons tooth, however, if you feel the target may dodge, quickly switch to earth attunement and cast arcane blast before he stands back up. The target will not expect the immobilize and will more than likely eat your burst damage.

DON’T PUT YOUR EGGS IN ONE BASKET. It’s normally not smart to cast both your arcane skills at the same time, if one misses then they both miss. It doesn’t hurt to wait a second to ensure the target isn’t invulnerable or dodging between casts and then cast your second one.

DON’T WAIST A BLAST FINISHER! This is the biggest issue with players playing this build, they waist their burst! You don’t have to waist a dragons tooth ever again! Your dragons tooth has a very short cd and will be available every time you switch into fire attunement. Every time you enter this attunement begin by casting this skill, follow it immediately by ring of fire and then phoenix. Even if your dragons tooth misses you get 3 stacks of might from the blast finisher three stacks from phoenix. Phoenix has a large area of impact so don’t be afraid to cast it right into the right of fire to hit your target who may be standing outside it!

Your target will not dodge every dragons tooth in a group fight when fighting on point. Sometimes dragons tooth is good to cast just to get your target to dodge and use endurance or to waist a cd for fear of annihilation if stunned. Many times though in a group fight your target won’t even see the dragons tooth unless the player is very good (of which he still has to move out of the way which works in your favor because you are making him dodge more). Most people don’t have time to watch for it or think it does so much damage that its worth using a cool down to avoid!

STACK YOUR MIGHT! You have A LOT of blast finishers so make sure you are in your fire field every time you use one, this tactic used in conjunction with the sigil of superior battle will give you a lot of might if you utilize your combos properly!
Your target can’t dodge your burst too well on point! You should do massive damage to those who are point defenders for the shear fact that they can’t always dodge or move off point!

Know when to run! You have a lot of toughness to survive a little of incoming damage and fight head on off you have to, but your best bet is to run away and heal up and come back into the fight! Ride the lightning is an amazing tool to exit a losing battle so use it! Also remember that you can pop mist if you get jumped by a thief and then ride the lightning away! Even switching to earth attunement is a cooldown in itself because it gives you over 6 seconds of protection!

Chill is probably your strongest tool! If you ever come across a class who just constantly seems to tear you apart try to chill them! Chill makes the strongest of players look like kittens! Don’t be afraid to cast that Frost Aura or use your arcane skills while in Water Attunement.

Updraft works well with arcane blast! If you use updraft followed by arcane draft there is a chance your arcane blast can hit your target twice! This means twice the damage and twice the condition duration! Seeing as it is useless to immobilize your target while he’s knocked down or double blind him your best bet is switching immediately to fire or water attunement after updraft and casting arcane blast for double chill or burn.

OPENING ROTATION: You will start in air attunement and open with updraft if possible, more than likely your target will freak out after seeing a dragons tooth heading his way and pop a cd. This is your chance to lay on some burst using your phoenix and fire field, remember your combos! If you fail to land the updraft at the start it would be wise to go to earth attunement instead of fire and give yourself rock barrier and prepare for a fight. Also remember to change attunements frequently and make use of your chills and immobilizes!

CHAPTER V – SCEPTER/DAGGER AND YOU! (MAKING YOUR OWN BUILD)

Too many bad guides have been put out misleading players about what builds they should be playing and how to play it. This guide was made as a way to introduce a new way of playing ele and explaining the ins and outs of my reasoning. Even if you have no desire to play S/D there is a lot of information In here that hopefully could make you a better ele!

There are some key things to be noted when you make a S/D ele and decide to make your own build.
1) Arcane utilities – generally help increase your overall damage/burst
2) Cantrips – generally helps defensively
3) Signets – besides restoration are currently not viable in pvp for eles.
4) Conjure Weapons – Currently not viable in pvp, however, some eles have been successful in creating builds with Earth Shield and Frost bow. I would not advise using unless you absolutely know what you are doing!
5) Not going a full 30 into Arcana not only risks survivability but damage as well! At this point in time 30 in this tree is required no matter what your build or weapon set. Fast attunement swaps is the most important thing for a versatile ele!
6) Going deep into your Water Magic tree gives not only damage but good survivability as well, 2% for each boon at 25 in the tree really goes a long way and going the full 30 gives great survivability!
7) Going into fire or all the way into air for Grounded (XII in Air Magic) is overrated. Going into fire tree or really far into air will take away from survivability and your damage. Fire is just not worth it at all at the moment and grounded is too far into the air tree to make it good to use.
8) Having troubles with dying? – Elemental Surge (Arcana XII) – Can be substituted for Evasive Arcana for increased survivability! This also works great with Sigil of Superior Energy (50% endurance restored every weapon swap, CD: 9 seconds)

These builds aren’t guaranteed to be amazing for your playstyle or for your team’s composition in tourneys, but it lays an excellent framework for the player to determine how he will play his ele or if the player finds that a S/D build is only good for sPvP. One thing I can promise is a very rewarding skill cap when you become proficient with these builds (especially the bunker build).

Hopefully this guide will evolve over time and I can fix the loose ends and even create a video to show tips and tactics for these builds. If there is any flaws in this guide feel free to let me know and I hope you all learned something!

-Pintresting

This is a really good guide, thanks for it. I’ve thought about scepter in the past but never used it, so I decided to grab one off the TP and roam for a while with my d/d build. It actually went surprisingly well considering I had so little experience with the scepter that I had to stop and kill some coyotes to level up the skills. My biggest concern which always kept me from trying it was that I thought I’d get caught by groups without the fire/earth 3’s, but the low cooldown blind let me stop important cc abilities which mostly made up for it.

One thing is tripping me up a bit though. I’m fairly glassy, and without my shocking aura, I absolutely have to have the rock barrier up to survive initial burst damage, but I’m having trouble getting it up. I roam and initiate in air, so if I’m running around and see I’m about to fight, I either have to switch to earth to cast it and lose my initiation, or go in and try to use it after the fight starts, which generally results in me taking way too much damage. I don’t know if you run into this problem as much in spvp (I roam wvw exclusively, generally solo), but do you have any advice for handling it?

I’d definitely watch any videos you put out. The feeling I got when running around tonight was that the scepter was very straight forward on the surface, but that it’d take a lot of practice to actually make it work at a high level.

If u ever get caught by a group that is larger than what u can handle then do not be afraid to ride the lightning away at the start or if they jump u don’t be afraid to pop mist form and run away. Popping mist when your jumped as well also gives you a couple seconds to assess the situation to determine if u should run or if you need to go earth attunement while misted to prepare your defenses for a fight.

With experience u should be able to spot what u can and can’t handle with ur team and with experience ull be able to identify in the middle of a fight if your team is about to lose a fight and u need to leave.

You will always be able to see your enemy coming if u are observant, even thieves can be spotted if u just stop to look around, thieves aren’t always stealthed!

Being ganked by a group of people could happen to any profession or build in spvp. Your counters to this are your mist form and your amazing ability to run away with ride the lightning! Don’t feel bad to run! You do your team a favor and save the enemy five free points! If u find your mist form is mostly on cd because of stomps and you can’t use it to run, then dont stomp with your mist and let other people stomp till you can spot a dangerous situation early and u don’t need mist to run away.
I hoped this helped a little bit

This is a really great guide Reveaux. I LOVE the S/D build. I cannot ever get the hang of D/D.

Do you have something like this equivalent for PvE/Dungeons? Just reading the justifications on the skills/traits and gear you chose was very good. I’m looking for something exactly like this but for PvE.

Thanks!

Good read.
I go 0 0 20 20 30. Bunker build. All boon dur. runes. Sigil of battle and bloodlust. All cleric armor. Reason for 20 earth is for master trait that damage and cripple combined with dodge blast from EA you can really slow someone down to let you land your slow hitting spells.

Mogar.9216:

Good read.
I go 0 0 20 20 30. Bunker build. All boon dur. runes. Sigil of battle and bloodlust. All cleric armor. Reason for 20 earth is for master trait that damage and cripple combined with dodge blast from EA you can really slow someone down to let you land your slow hitting spells.

The only reason i stick with the full 30 in water is the 100 healing and vitality. I also find the condition removal to assist in your survivability much more than the three second cripple and major trait when going 20 into earth. Especially when running a cantrip build you have access to so much extra condition removal as a bunker and the 100 vitality is really needed because the build is already a low hp build.

Hi Reveaux,
thanks for the great guide – we have to bump this back to page 1!

I mostly play D/D but depending on team composition (esp in W3) I often switch to S/D with the exact same trait setup (0 10 0 30 30) but I never thought of water VI but honestly staying default water III with just 1 cantrip is a huge waste.
Thank’s for the insights, I appreciate it!

br, X

Nice guide. My only question, many times you claim s/d as the “best” defense build for us. However, isn’t s/f truly the best defense combo? Anyways, keep up the good job and thanks for your hard work.

The OP may prove me wrong, but to be honest I would never trade 2x AE(!) knockback/downs + mobility from RTL + Frost Aura for the added survivability against ranged classes in current meta (s/tpvp) and map layouts. Earth (MW / OF) is great, but the rest is just mehh…

SilencingMachine.5049:

Nice guide. My only question, many times you claim s/d as the “best” defense build for us. However, isn’t s/f truly the best defense combo? Anyways, keep up the good job and thanks for your hard work.

I would have to disagree that Scepter/Focus is not the best defense, it is very tricky because in earth you are given the 4 second immunity, condi removal, and projectile nulification. However, with the scepter/dagger you receive 2 knockdowns, ride the lightning ( sometimes the best defense is the ability to run from a fight), and frost aura which is probably one of the strongest defense abilities an elementalist can use.

S/F is the best defense versus a ranged opponant;however, in terms of all around defense S/D is your best bet.

Below is his build:

http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-k34;2B2-P015kM-Z0;9;59-TT;15;345A04BSR;4G3G3G3G34BL

Really nice guide man, thanks!

Reveaux.5720:

CHAPTER IV – SCEPTER/DAGGER DPS BUILD
This build is an offshoot of the aurashare build for d\d (made popular by Qt Vain). It is modified for scepter/dagger and I found it works out quite fantastic!

0/10/0/30/30

AIR MAGIC: VI
WATER MAGIC: V VI XI
ARCANA: I V XII

AMULET: Valkyries Amulet/Berserker Jewel
RUNES: Runes of Divinity or Runes of Scholar
SIGILS: Sigil of Superior Battle and Sigil of Superior Bloodlust
…

Here you say to go with Valkyries amulet; if this were wvw focused, would you still wear that same gear?

Can you go over why you chose Valkyries set over, say, Knights?
Basically I’m looking for some insight as to why you chose those particular stats. The critical dmg stat doesn’t seem particularly useful for a build with lower precision. Would you consider taking a higher toughness rating over vitality? (again thinking speficically of knights)

Kara Karang.3218:

Reveaux.5720:

CHAPTER IV – SCEPTER/DAGGER DPS BUILD
This build is an offshoot of the aurashare build for d\d (made popular by Qt Vain). It is modified for scepter/dagger and I found it works out quite fantastic!

0/10/0/30/30

AIR MAGIC: VI
WATER MAGIC: V VI XI
ARCANA: I V XII

AMULET: Valkyries Amulet/Berserker Jewel
RUNES: Runes of Divinity or Runes of Scholar
SIGILS: Sigil of Superior Battle and Sigil of Superior Bloodlust
…

Here you say to go with Valkyries amulet; if this were wvw focused, would you still wear that same gear?

Can you go over why you chose Valkyries set over, say, Knights?
Basically I’m looking for some insight as to why you chose those particular stats. The critical dmg stat doesn’t seem particularly useful for a build with lower precision. Would you consider taking a higher toughness rating over vitality? (again thinking speficically of knights)

Thats actually a very good question. Considering we constantly stance dance, our main cd’s will be cast within the two seconds of changing attunements giving us the benefits of the fury. This gives us 32-35% critical. The healing from the amulet is good as well, its just enough to get us back to full hp if we need it, not too much, not too little.
With knights amulet you get the power, prec, and vitality. You get more vitality than anything else compared to Valk amulet where you get power over everything else. The vitality is good but its not worth it to sacrifice the heals, extra power, and 5% crit damage. Eles are one of the few professions that benefit from the healing stat (in a way that actually makes it useful you use). Its a great thing to have when your constantly having heals out on your team.

If you feel your not doing enough crit for the crit dmg then equip a sigil of minor accuracy over your bloodlust. The toughness and healing are there so you can survive being focused for a few seconds and not get insta-killed.

Thanks Reveaux, I appreciate the response.
Would you mind touching on the WvW gear that you use?

How would you compare your builds to this? http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJArYhImOblR5gjDAEFmoiQRFOUeEzM1A;ToAA0CnoqxUjoGbXuakdNsYGB this is phantaram’s build (I don’t think he plays anymore but I used to use it about a month ago) and he used to own everything with it.

Edit: for some reason it says bad link, just copy and paste it into your URL bar to see it or here’s his twitch channel http://www.twitch.tv/phantaram and scroll down to his “Elementalist Build Scepter/Dagger Valkyries Amulet”

now you and dapheonix must have a baby that will find a magical way to run a 30/30/30/30/30 build that use a staff/sceptar/dagger

Argh I can’t decide whether D/D or S/D is the way to go. I like the bunkeriness of D/D ele, and haven’t played much S/D honestly. Is S/D truly better for bunker builds? It seems like in high level play it might be too hard to hit with fire spells. Just thinking about it, I’ve got some more comparisons to add.

D/D
-Autoattacks hit faster, procc’ing heals more if you use sigil.
-Fire auto is multihit, and out damages any other auto, far as I know
-D/D is more power, where scepter is more condition, seems to me.
-Affected more by hitboxes/can hit multiple enemies with most autos. Except earth.

BonzerSkate.6275:

How would you compare your builds to this? http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJArYhImOblR5gjDAEFmoiQRFOUeEzM1A;ToAA0CnoqxUjoGbXuakdNsYGB this is phantaram’s build (I don’t think he plays anymore but I used to use it about a month ago) and he used to own everything with it.

Edit: for some reason it says bad link, just copy and paste it into your URL bar to see it or here’s his twitch channel http://www.twitch.tv/phantaram and scroll down to his “Elementalist Build Scepter/Dagger Valkyries Amulet”

Well lets compare gains versus losses.
Losses from my build. (using 6 divinity runes)
- 100 vitality (-120 total)
- 75 healing (- 95 total)
- 20 all stats
- 2% dmg per boon
- 20% dmg when target under 33%
- Signet of Restoration
- Arcane Blast ( which you can cast about 4 in the time it takes to cast one arcane shield, also takes away from elemental surge)
- 10% damage when over 90% hp
- Superior Sigil of Battle
- Superior Sigil of Bloodlust
- Condi removal when granting regeneration to self or team

+ Glyph of Elemental Harmony
+ 20% Glyph Recharge
+ 15% boon duration
+ 80 precision ( slightly less than 4% crit)
+ 6% crit damage
+ Stop drop and roll (removes chill and burn on dodge)
+ lightning strike on air attunement (about 550 base with setup)
+ Arcane Shield
+ 10% damage in lightning
+ Sigil of Superior Fire
+ Sigil of Minor Accuracy

This is a tricky situation when comparing builds that are very similar in nature. Obviously he picked each individual trait and piece for his own reasons and i could completely overlook his reasoning in my analysis. Bear with me as i compare the builds.

I personally think he is trying to compensate for the low crit a little with the 20 in air over 10 and for the weapon sigils. His build also has more crit damage to go with his extra crit, however he has much less overall power compared to my build.

The heal i can understand with the lowered glyph cd. More than likely i feel he does this for the extra protection which is understandable. I feel this heal is too unreliable however because it can be interrupted, you dont benefit as much when your not casting in earth, and you need the glyph trait to make the cd viable.

I also feel the extra 15% boon duration (about extra .75 seconds per 5 seconds of buff) is not as nice as the sustained 20 to all stats and +4% crit damage. The sustained damage is viewed by many to be more viable than slightly longer boons.

He also sacrifices 2% dmg per boon,500 hp, and 50 healing for for 10% air damage, slightly over 2% crit, and 5% crit damage. I think he made this move with the intention of spending much of his time in air attunement, that is the only reason i can find this move reasonable.

The next thing is the dodge roll removing burn and chill. This can be amazing in some fights (for example fighting against other eles to counter frost aura) or a counter for frost trap hunter. I would prefer the condi removal on regen for the extra condi removal for a change to remove immobilizes which is frequently used by many of the best teams in tpvp. Neither can really be proven to be more viable because both are situation based.

The sigil of fire is great for fights where the enemies are in close quarters with each other, great for small node fights but weaker in large nodes. Sigil of Battle provides more sustained damage against enemy players.

The last big thing with this build is his choice to use arcane shield. This concerns me because i have seen a few builds emerging (particulary from EU) with eles using the arcane shield. I have not been able to understand why eles have been using this over arcane blast or another cantrip but i am interested to find out. I can see this skill being useful against theif insta-gib, helping stomps, and helping reviving. For a damage build arcane blast i felt was always a better choice because not only do you get to put out about 4 times the damage in a minute but you get 4 times the benefit from elemental surge. Arcane blast can also act as a “knockback breaker” if used properly when you are knocked into the air before you hit the ground. If someone has more knowledge on the subject of this utility i would love to know.

This is my personal opinion on the matter, i feel my build is more viable for the reasons listed. I also put the disclaimer that i did not make his build and i am only ASSUMING as to why he chose to do what he did.

It would make an kitten of me to assume i know everything about a build i never even made. I am not Phantaram nor have i watched his stream, but i would LOVE if someone could explain his logic to me. Anything new i could learn would make me a better player and hopefully anyone reading!

That being said I hope you found some of this reply to be knowledgeable, feel free to voice your opinion below!

-Pintresting

Wulf.5431:

Argh I can’t decide whether D/D or S/D is the way to go. I like the bunkeriness of D/D ele, and haven’t played much S/D honestly. Is S/D truly better for bunker builds? It seems like in high level play it might be too hard to hit with fire spells. Just thinking about it, I’ve got some more comparisons to add.

D/D
-Autoattacks hit faster, procc’ing heals more if you use sigil.
-Fire auto is multihit, and out damages any other auto, far as I know
-D/D is more power, where scepter is more condition, seems to me.
-Affected more by hitboxes/can hit multiple enemies with most autos. Except earth.

S/D is your better choice for bunker atm (taking prejudice asside). Like i stated up in the guide, S/D has more defensive options than arguably any other weapon set. The extra 250 toughness, vigor, extra condition removal (phoenix), blinds, and a better heal from scepter are more defensive than the dagger skills (except shocking aura which can be countered easily by ranged attacks or stability).

Because you are not D/D you are also not gunna be aura share (of which if your not an aura share d/d someone might think your brain is broken unless you found a secret new meta) which gives you access to giving you the earth shield at 50% proc from the Earth Magic Tree (III) and the extra condi removal from the Water Magic Tree (XI). The condi removal also stacks great with your cantrips build (Water Magic III).

Another reason it is considered to be better is because the extra condi removal is very usefully against immobilize and condition based teams (although eventually with heavy immobilize teams you will need to run or die from running out of condi removing cooldowns).

Before evasive arcana blast finishers were nerfed the best bunker ele was a toss up between staff and s/d. Now with the blast finishers removed from 3/4 attunement dodges many people consider s/d to be your best choice for bunker (not saying you cant be good at staff bunkering but that is how it is generally viewed).

If you agree or disagree or have a better solution feel free to let me know below!

-Pintresting

You say s/d can be defensive due to giving you vigor (yet you don’t take vigor on crit trait from arcana). I’m curious, how are you landing Phoenix reliably on good players for burst/survival?

You may be able to time the earth immobilize well enough for the DT to land, but Phoenix would require you to pretty much be point blank range for the slowass projectile to connect.

You can land Cone of Cold because you use Freezing Burst first and can use CoC at longer than melee range. Cone of Cold has a very tiny fraction of the cooldown trident has.

Most importantly, how do you deal with Shadow Refuge on s/d? You have no non-targeted aoe besides phoenix and arcane wave, and phoenix will even take long enough for the thief to already have stacked stealth.

I’m also surprised you don’t consider Ether Renewal Viable. If you can gain stability, it’s your shortest cd burst heal with amazing condition removal. It can be interrupted, but so can signet of removal, and at the current state of the game where people can hit you for well over 6k damage burst, I don’t see signet of restoration saving you without using the big cast heal.

Zenith.7301:

You say s/d can be defensive due to giving you vigor (yet you don’t take vigor on crit trait from arcana). I’m curious, how are you landing Phoenix reliably on good players for burst/survival?

You may be able to time the earth immobilize well enough for the DT to land, but Phoenix would require you to pretty much be point blank range for the slowass projectile to connect.

You can land Cone of Cold because you use Freezing Burst first and can use CoC at longer than melee range. Cone of Cold has a very tiny fraction of the cooldown trident has.

Most importantly, how do you deal with Shadow Refuge on s/d? You have no non-targeted aoe besides phoenix and arcane wave, and phoenix will even take long enough for the thief to already have stacked stealth.

I’m also surprised you don’t consider Ether Renewal Viable. If you can gain stability, it’s your shortest cd burst heal with amazing condition removal. It can be interrupted, but so can signet of removal, and at the current state of the game where people can hit you for well over 6k damage burst, I don’t see signet of restoration saving you without using the big cast heal.

All very good questions i feel i can address without a problem. First, phoenix only gives you around 7 seconds vigor every twenty seconds, not amazing but better than no vigor especially when u can get it from the weapon set. Also, and you are right about phoenix, generally it is a harder skill to land when cast at a distance. This build is useable at both a close range and long range, however, close range is your best bet because of your dagger skills! At close range as well you can throw your phoenix right at the ground in front of you ensuring the target wont dodge because he can see it or you can predict his dodge and throw it if your close enough. As for the arguement “what if he dodges it” so what? Any skill you cast can be dodged! the phoenix doesnt give you benefits other than damage and blast finisher on explosion, it gives you vigor when it returns to you. I can guarantee much more successful casts when you engage targets in their face. Also, crit vigor from the arcana trait is not viable for this build because it is not a survival build with some burst, it is the opposite, your focus is burst and sustained damage but you also have survivability!

In reguards to cone of cold, did you know that casting 2 cone of colds is still more healing than water trident? it also takes 4.5 seconds of cast time to get the .5 second healing that water trident gives! 4.5 seconds is a long time to be interupted by enemies or yourself! that’s 4.5 seconds you are channeling a skill that if you need to dodge or cast another skill you have to stop the channel.

Finally, Ether Renewal is the best heal for an ele if he didn’t have to worry about enemies. The same rules apply as cone of cold, the channel is too long and during that time you cannot dodge or cast any other skills which makes you a meat shield while you cast! Also its to easy to be uninterrupted once spotted. You can gain stability for a successful heal but that’s just not available every time your going to heal!

However, lets do the math….
In my dps spec either renewal heals for 5416 every 15 seconds. Signet of Restoration heals for 236 lets say….for every .75 seconds because that is usually our longer cast time via our auto attacks. At 18.5 seconds of healing (because at the second you cast ether renewal you have to wait 3.5 seconds before the 15 sec cd even starts) you gain 5722 healing just at a .75 second cast time average discluding our multiple instacasts (attunement swaps, air skills, arcane skills)! Thats all healing done without ever having to stop to cast a heal!

Finally, for thieves using shadow refuge run RIGHT in the middle of the shadow refuge. If possible use a ring of fire, phoenix, arcane blast, and an earthquake if you can. Odds are if he pops shadow refuge hes already hurting with low hp and a successful chain of aoe skills may finish him off so if you think you killed him stay in the area and make sure he doesnt revive from downed while invisible. You can also try to knock him out using an updraft if a handful of people were stealthed. If you feel you have not done enough damage to kill him then make sure you switch to earth attunement for the protection and refresh your rock barrier! Embrace yourself for another attack!

-Pintresting

Well then, back to page 1 where it belongs;)

CoC vs WT: I think you mean 2x CoC is still MORE healing.
However both are good and CoC is ready everytime u switch to water for a small heal+obstacle ignoring super small dmg. Hands Down WT is just so much better in teamfights.

BTW I think that ‘pvp’ in the subject line stops some from even reading the guide though much of that info will help in pve as well…

I’ve been going back and forth from D/D to S/D and I enjoy playing both, but one thing I really miss when playing S/D is lack of an in-combat swiftness (less uptime on fury too).

Is there a workaround for this I’m missing? I don’t really want to sacrifice a utility spot for Signet of Air, I’m already hard-pressed on utilities because of the arcane spells. Is Glyph of Elemental Harmony when attuned to air the best choice?

Reveaux.5720

Well lets compare gains versus losses.
Losses from my build. (using 6 divinity runes)
- 100 vitality (-120 total)
[…]
+ Sigil of Minor Accuracy

Just download and post the results of my spreadsheet located here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AiQtMSF8MBTTdDVSZ2xkM3VESHVIMWFJT2thcWNxZVE#gid=1

… it will make your life a lot easier.

Reveaux.5720:

3) *Signets – besides restoration are currently not viable in pvp for eles.*

You know, I was actually reading your posts with interest until I saw this. Now I know your just plain wrong about almost everything.

4) Conjure Weapons – Currently not viable in pvp, however, some eles have been successful in creating builds with Earth Shield and Frost bow. I would not advise using unless you absolutely know what you are doing!

Wrong again. WTH are you posting for?

5) Not going a full 30 into Arcana not only risks survivability but damage as well! At this point in time 30 in this tree is required no matter what your build or weapon set. Fast attunement swaps is the most important thing for a versatile ele!

Wrong, wrong, and oh my gawd so wrong!

Reveaux.5720:

7) Going into fire or all the way into air for Grounded (XII in Air Magic) is overrated. Going into fire tree or really far into air will take away from survivability and your damage. Fire is just not worth it at all at the moment and grounded is too far into the air tree to make it good to use.

Jeezus. WTH are you saying here? Aside from you telling folks that increasing their Power and Precision is a bad thing do you really take yourself seriously? The fire traits are absolutely worth speccing for and increased Power and Condition Damage is ALWAYS worth it! Same can be said of the Air line with increased Precision.

You have no clue of what your talking about. Try playing full on glass cannon for a minimum of 3 months day in and day out with every conceivable build and then you ~might~ have a clue.

boozer.7815:

Reveaux.5720:

3) *Signets – besides restoration are currently not viable in pvp for eles.*

You know, I was actually reading your posts with interest until I saw this. Now I know your just plain wrong about almost everything.

4) Conjure Weapons – Currently not viable in pvp, however, some eles have been successful in creating builds with Earth Shield and Frost bow. I would not advise using unless you absolutely know what you are doing!

Wrong again. WTH are you posting for?

5) Not going a full 30 into Arcana not only risks survivability but damage as well! At this point in time 30 in this tree is required no matter what your build or weapon set. Fast attunement swaps is the most important thing for a versatile ele!

Wrong, wrong, and oh my gawd so wrong!

Reveaux.5720:

7) Going into fire or all the way into air for Grounded (XII in Air Magic) is overrated. Going into fire tree or really far into air will take away from survivability and your damage. Fire is just not worth it at all at the moment and grounded is too far into the air tree to make it good to use.

Jeezus. WTH are you saying here? Aside from you telling folks that increasing their Power and Precision is a bad thing do you really take yourself seriously? The fire traits are absolutely worth speccing for and increased Power and Condition Damage is ALWAYS worth it! Same can be said of the Air line with increased Precision.

You have no clue of what your talking about. Try playing full on glass cannon for a minimum of 3 months day in and day out with every conceivable build and then you ~might~ have a clue.

He gave his reasons for rejecting fire and air – survivability traits. This is his take on s/d and it’s obviously not a glass cannon build as it’s a slightly modified version of 0/10/0/30/30 with a different mainhand. If you have something to say about it, do so in a non-condescending way, and maybe include some testimonies of how you blew up some people in a 1v5. Trashing him without reason won’t give you very many credibility points from anyone looking for advice.

-Dear Boozer (aside from the trolling…)

FIRST
Yes, Signet of Restoration is the only good signet for PVP (NOT WVW). The passive effects of all other signets do not help your damage as much as arcane skills or your increases defenses as a cantrip would.

SECOND
CONJURE WEAPONS SUCK IN PVP OUTSIDE OF SOME RARE ICE BOW USES (like off the wall AOE builds using staff) I do not even have to go into detail about why this is true! To further prove my point, look around……NOONE USES THEM IN PVP FOR A REASON.

THIRD
The boon duration and attunement rechargement rate from the full 30 in Arcana takes precedence OVER EVERYTHING ELSE YOU CAN PICK WITH S/D OR D/D. Your goal kitten D or D/D is not to put all your damage into 1 attunement, its to have the ability to use all of your attunements cool downs back to back. Doing this also keeps your boons up on yourself and on your team. Also, if you need to get back to another attunement quickly (like to water to heal) you dont have to wait the full time because of a slow recharge rate!

FOURTH
Grounded really isnt worth it bro. You sacrifice too much survivability for too little burst. Dragons tooth CANNOT LAND and be used and benefit from this trait unless DT is cast first and then the target is knocked down, by this time the target will more than likely be out of the radius of the DT.

To put all your eggs into one big burst and leave no room to survive is WORTHLESS as an ele. Even if you kill someone, you will be so weak and squishy that you will be a target quickly. A dead elementalist does no damage!

FIFTH
Considering how un- viable the fire tree is, if you sacrifice anything to put into fire magic then you are waisting talent points (yes i said it!). Fire magic IS NOT GOOD for S/D or D/D at the moment compared to other presented builds in sPvP or tPvP (as we are not discussion WvW). This is true no matter if you are a bunker OR a sustained damage build. You are either sacrificing something KEY to survival or you are taking away damage thinking the power is going to increase your dps.

FINALLY
Yes i can understand why someone would want to increase their power and precision; however, There are two BIG reasons to consider when you take out of water and put into air.

1. To go beyond 15 in air would take away from 25 in water which grants a 2% damage increase to overall damage. This allows you to share your burst in your fire AND your air attunements! This makes a more viable choice than the full 20 in air for the 10% damage increase to JUST air attunement. With EVERY boon you have the chance to gain an additional 18% damage (9 boons)! Although realistically in a team fight you are looking between 4-6 boons at a given time.

2) YOU HAVE LOW HP! By taking 10 away from water you are taking 1000 hp away from our health pool. By not choosing an amulet with high vitality we are already drawing a target on our heads for thieves. This is all the more reason to get extra hit points to avoid going from 100% hp to 0% in under 2 seconds by a thief.

You can sacrifice the 30 in water for the extra 5% crit damage and 2% crit strike(which for the record…. 2% increases your crit chance by 1 for every 50 hits) in air by puting 15 in air and only 25 in water. This sacrifices extra boon removal (aproximately 5-6 boons a minute minimum discluding teammates coming receiving soothing mists) for an extra attack on air attunement.

I am not perfect in my reasoning, but i believe i do have a rock to stand on with many of my points. That being said…..STOP YO TROLLIN’!

-Pintresting

Good response! I love the 25 water minor. Only thing i disagree with is the 30 arcana. I think if you’re willing to forego some utility/survivability, speccing 15-20 air and/or 10 fire helps out alot with damage. Bolt to the heart and 10% inc damage in fire are good.

Sorry if that post came off as trolling instead of a disagreement as was intended. Wrong choice of wording on that, I admit.

I did not realize you were talking specifically about sPvP/tPvP. I do agree with you in that case, but like JCorcoran, I do not agree that 30 Arcana is necessary to be effective with it. There is plenty of wiggle room with an Aura build. If your dead set on 30 water, then try dropping to 15 arcana and test. If you can get 20 fire for the aura trait, its definitely worth it if you run sigils.

boozer.7815:

Reveaux.5720:

4) Conjure Weapons – Currently not viable in pvp, however, some eles have been successful in creating builds with Earth Shield and Frost bow. I would not advise using unless you absolutely know what you are doing!

Wrong again. WTH are you posting for?

Please. Just because you may be able to faceroll up-levelled noobs wearing greens in WVW with conjures does not make conjures viable in PVP. Good players don’t use conjures. I wouldn’t use conjures even if they didn’t take up a utility slot. Locking out 20 skills so you can use 5 otherwise unremarkable skills is a stupid, stupid design.

mjharrison.3209:

boozer.7815:

Reveaux.5720:

4) Conjure Weapons – Currently not viable in pvp, however, some eles have been successful in creating builds with Earth Shield and Frost bow. I would not advise using unless you absolutely know what you are doing!

Wrong again. WTH are you posting for?

Please. Just because you may be able to faceroll up-levelled noobs wearing greens in WVW with conjures does not make conjures viable in PVP. Good players don’t use conjures. I wouldn’t use conjures even if they didn’t take up a utility slot. Locking out 20 skills so you can use 5 otherwise unremarkable skills is a stupid, stupid design.

I do not dissagree with you on the design aspect. Conjures need some love, but not so much on their abilities as the awkwardness of usage. There have been a few threads on this already so I wont rehash that. Conjures do not lock you out of anything, so your mistaken on that point. There have been a few posted builds that are highly effective in PvP with LH and I think I remember one with IB. They are definitely viable on their own merits, but using them is extremely awkward, and this is why you don’t see a lot of people using them, not because the weapons themselves are sub par.

Just a thought on your words on Churning Earth, Rev.

While using Churning Earth has its drawbacks without stability and/or Lightning Flash, I do believe you can find use for it in that build of yours, by using Elemental Surge in earth attunement. Most people would try and dodge away. You can use Earthquake, Churning Earth quickly thereafter, then immobilize one person 2 secs and a group of people 1 sec, which likely will prove very valuable, although you need a bit of timing on your side (but that is the least of your troubles). Combo with a fire field (or other combo field) and things will be more interesting.

If successful, you are looking at some fine damage and don’t have to avoid Churning Earth that often. I haven’t tested it personally yet, but it appears to be a valid strategy (or at least my brain tells me it is). :P

your guide for S/D dps build is something based on player luck.I tryed it out in free tournaments and i was extremely squshy,even fighting 1v2.Taking Vlaky amulet with no crit dmg at all is waste.To land some “burst” or any kind of damage,beside pressing skill 1 in air attu,you gota fight afk guy or a completely noob.I have played at least 15 games with your “dps build” and all i was got is maybe 10 kills overall.Numbers were really poor,i felt im not productive in any way coming in PvP with “dps build”.Dont get me wrong,i give you credit for bunker build.I think its awesome,i was able to hold 3 decent players untill my mates come to “clean”.From time to time ill switch betwen D/D and S/D.I gota addmit its nice change to go S/D (D/D is boring now),and i will stay bunker with S/D,thank for your effort sharing this with the rest.

Yeah, it is rather squishy. I prefer 0/20/0/20/30 over this however. A tad more crit chance and crit damage (which is helpful for a burst build), shorter CD on air skills (for retreat, blind, damage etc.), using Ether Renewal and Arcane Shield instead of Signet of Resto and Mistform. Ether because of the lack of condition removal. You just have to use it wisely. Arcane Shield because the CD is lower and you can use it with Churning Earth and stomps, if need be (and does damage, which is good for a burst you down build).

But I tried the original build, and the damage was ok. 30 into water seems a tad over the top, although the extra health and healing is nice, but without plenty of boons, the 25 point trait isn’t important. Besides, you have enough might as it is to make it viable as a burst build.

Nice guide.
I play D/D Ele and I checked this guide out because I met a S/D Ele in sPvP 2 nights ago (I think it was the Bunker build). It impressed me! While we stalemated everytime we duelled, I had to work way harder to keep my health up. He burst me for about half my HP. I could heal up every time but still, it was hard work. While I would die when his 2 friends joined, he would live for ages when mine came.
Impressive! Might try it out.

- cheers

This is a very nice guide. You’ve opened my eyes

Reveaux.5720:

CHAPTER IV – SCEPTER/DAGGER DPS BUILD
This build is an offshoot of the aurashare build for d\d (made popular by Qt Vain). It is modified for scepter/dagger and I found it works out quite fantastic!

0/10/0/30/30

AIR MAGIC: VI
WATER MAGIC: V VI XI
ARCANA: I V XII

AMULET: Valkyries Amulet/Berserker Jewel
RUNES: Runes of Divinity or Runes of Scholar
SIGILS: Sigil of Superior Battle and Sigil of Superior Bloodlust
UTILITIES: Signet of Restoration, Arcane Blast, Arcane Wave, Mist Form
ELITE UTILITY: Glyph of Elementals

Wouldn’t it be better to use Runes of Eagle? More Precision so greater Critical chance?

5 eagle 1 divinity is possible, but the scholar gives more power.

Well, some serious bad attitude on display here from a few notable “pros.” Go somewhere else please guys.
Now, Reveaux, tried this build out today in spvp and…my performance took a quantum leap upward. I’ve struggled with the elementalist on and off never quite “getting it.” I was quite poor with the staff and Dagger/dagger was ok, but not quite my thing. But the scepter’s range and spread of skills seems like the sweet spot for me. I’ve never managed six on one before this….
But by lord, do you have to be sharp with the attunement swapping:)