Guild Wars 2

Hey daphoenix.4283

Any chance to tell me which transformations and dyes, did you use in this picture http://imgur.com/yDEDhdX ?

Thank you very much! And great guide.

Ascended Celestial trinkets of all types got a bonus to +4 in every stat (And I think +1% Crit damage, not sure.)

So now the amulet gives 54 to every stat and 7% crit damage. Rings give 43 to every stat and 6% crit damage. The new earrings give 38 to every stat and 5% crit damage.

In light of this, would you say the best choice for ascended gear would be to get celestial stats on all the trinkets you can? (Not including back piece of course.) Or would you still suggest some Cavalier rings/earrings?

EDIT: I double-checked. They did indeed receive an extra 1% crit damage.

why is this guide not stickied?!
Thank you for this, it has completely revamped the way I play my ele for the better.
You’ve got yourself another fan

I am confused on the guide. It says Air1 gives you perma swiftness, but how do you get auras on a d/d ele?

Am I misunderstanding something or is this guide outdated or what?

silklash.6154:

I am confused on the guide. It says Air1 gives you perma swiftness, but how do you get auras on a d/d ele?

Am I misunderstanding something or is this guide outdated or what?

D/D’s auras are Shocking Aura (Dagger Air 3), Frost Aura (Dagger Water 4), any leap finisher through a fire field which give Fire Auras (Dagger Fire 4 + Earth 3 twice; Conjure Fire Axe 4 + 5), and blast finishers in ice fields (D/D has none, but Necros, Staff Eles, and others may) give Frost Aura. With Zephyr’s Boon (Air Trait I), you get fury and swiftness. This alone isn’t enough to make swiftness permanent, but boon duration runes and other sources of swiftness (Air 5, Elemental Attunement Trait, etc.) make it very easy.

daphoenix, i’m new in the game and im trying to use your build, but i didn’t realized which rune do you use in the knight’s armor… can you (or someone that know it) tell me?

thanks.

Vitors.6273:

daphoenix, i’m new in the game and im trying to use your build, but i didn’t realized which rune do you use in the knight’s armor… can you (or someone that know it) tell me?

thanks.

Unless he has changed his build recently, he uses 2x Superior monk runes, 2x superior water and 2x major water (or 2x major monk would also work).

The 2-set bonus for monk and water is +% boon duration. Between the 3 different 2-set bonuses, he gets +40% boon duration.

daphoenix555 what race he was?

Daphoenix is a human female.

The racial elite is nice.

Edit: Runes = 2x Superior Monk, 2x Superior Water, 2x Major water.

There was mention of 2x Divinity instead of major water (and mention of major monk working too) which are also possibilities. Keep in mind in sPvP boon duration is nerfed.

Zephyr’s Boon (air trait tree 10 points) gives swiftness and fury on aura use. Perma-swiftness was very easy to maintain prior the previous patch. You now gain less swiftness duration off Shocking Aura (d/d skill 3) with the recent patch. From 10s down to 5s. Perma-swiftness can still be maintained with the 70% boon duration in WvW and PvE with attention paid to switching in and out of air attunement. Without that, expect some downtime.

With d/d auras are granted in 3 ways. Frost Aura (water 4), Shocking Aura (air 3), and Fire Aura (magnetic leap [earth 3] in a fire field [fire 3/4]).

@GoatCheese: It’s really a matter of flavouring. With the full knights gear + whatever daggers (zerkers, soldiers, w/e), the accessories are really where you “tweak” your build. With that in mind you can’t go wrong with celestial (all-stat) ascended accessories as the ele benefits from it all. If you want to “tweak” your build in one direction or another (toughness, crit dmg, vit, prec, w/e) then toss in an ascended or two of those specific stats for that added bonus. Depends how far you want to specialize.

Thanks very much i just started today … any other tips for ele?

Ravidel.8546:

Vitors.6273:

daphoenix, i’m new in the game and im trying to use your build, but i didn’t realized which rune do you use in the knight’s armor… can you (or someone that know it) tell me?

thanks.

Unless he has changed his build recently, he uses 2x Superior monk runes, 2x superior water and 2x major water (or 2x major monk would also work).

The 2-set bonus for monk and water is +% boon duration. Between the 3 different 2-set bonuses, he gets +40% boon duration.

Ty man, very helpful…

What runes do you use for your armor as a D/D in sPvP?

Last time I checked he used 2x Runes of the Water, 2x Runes of the Monk, and 2x Runes of Divinity.

How do you kill necros that just spam your hp down in 3s? They apply way more conditions than we can remove. I just fought one with 25 stacks of condition damage and got destroyed, even a 2nd round when I attacked him when he was at 10%. lmao The RTL nerf is the only reason I couldn’t get away. I switched out of ethereal renewal so I got screwed over. I was using armor of earth instead of cleansing fire. I need 1 more monks rune still. I have no idea what I’m doing vs necros.

Necros should not be able to do that. They’re not a burst class. The only thing I can think of when that happens for you is corrupt boon, when they change all your boons into conditions. If that’s the case and you had a number of boons on you before, change to water, roll, skill 5, 4, heal (you can choose to do all of this or just first two depending on whether or not you manage to get rid of immobilize/cripple and other deadly conditions), and rtl the hell out of there until you recuperate and get back into the fight. If it’s a sequential addition of conditions that happen pretty quickly and you see a “blast” animation, they’re probably using their staff on you. in that case, just change into water and keep dodging for now, and find some way to knock down the necro asap (air 5, earth 4). Proceed to do whatever you want to the necro. If in the last case, you are actually being hit by epidemic from a corrupt boon on a guardian’s save yourselves (sigh that bad guardian), then you’re probably in for some trouble. Do the same that you did for case one and get your kitten out of there… for now… and find a way to sneak up and once again knock down that necro when you are ready to. The reason you don’t want to engage as much in cases 1 and 3 is that they probably still have all their staff skills (and a lot of conditions) that they can use on you. If it’s case two and you knock them down, they probably can’t track you fast enough or find a good enough opportunity to use corrupt boon on you if you get very close to them, or that they’ve already exhausted their utilties.

Note: this is very situational and based on how fast you react and how many skills/ hp you have left.

ChaosDoom.8459

No idea :P

Cervaux.8436
It makes cantrips slightly less awesome, but you can still easily perma stack vigor though in battle. Doesn’t make much of a difference.

dmitrycx.7465
Ask your friend to join a server # that has no one in it. Then you join it, and you will be faced against your buddy. Sometimes other people will join, and when that happens you need to start over again.

Ashiri.9342
I used a combination of feathered gear, carrion, and masquerade gear. I used abyss and redemption and white dye.

GoatCheese.2704
Now that they’ve buffed celestial stats even further, I would say that those stats are superior to other ascended items. Elementalist benefit much more than other classes for all stats. The only downside of getting all celestial items is your toughness might be low though. Consider still getting Power,toughness, crit damage.

Mattamis.8143
:D

Gareth.2615
+1 for answer :P

Vitors.6273
2x superior rune of monk, 2x superior rune of water, 2 x major rune water

Ravidel.8546
yeah i still use that setup :]

Zen.1965
+1 for answer

Dylan Lee.5260
Fiery great sword is pretty sick, especially with its 4th ability untargeted. If you use both the 3rd and 4th ability on a wall next to an enemy, it does lots of damage

Talgor.9427
I use divinity’s runes, although there are other choices for PvP. . Boon duration runes are not the same as in PvP to PvE. I haven’t played alot of PvP lately, so I think somebody else might have a better opinion.

katniss.6735
I haven’t played enough of as a necro to really give you a good answer. They do have a ton of HP, and against a good necro you just have to outlast them/constantly hit and run out of combat.
+1 to Raptured.9307 response.

Hi dapheonix,
Glad to see that you’re paying attention to the comments as well!
Gotta say I really love this build – it got me started as an ele in gw2 and I’ve stuck with it since then, it’s very effective. What do you think the 2/26 update has done for eles with this build? Personally, I think we suffer a bit in spvp with these changes, but our supportive role has become even more grounded and damage output is slightly higher in pve (overall a buff in pve).

Also, I’ve tested this with an experienced trap ranger and glass mesmer friend before in spvp. Here’s my input (maybe it can help!)-
I run 2 superior water, 2 superior monk, and 2 superior runes of the flock (the birds are actually pretty substantial) or 2 superior runes of divinity as you suggested

For my daggers, i run battle and Hydromancy (since you change attunements so often, you can keep freezing your foes). For the amulet, i use cleric’s with celestial jewel (the tradeoff seems lower for the crit dmg %). Pre patch, this build used to make me pretty much invincible except to bursts, but if i survive the burst, i can always heal back to full health in any 1v1 no matter how many conditions/ dmg my opponent puts on me at 1.1-1.2k healing power in exchange for vitality. Maybe test this out and see if this is still effective? Would love to hear more about state of ele in spvp.

I just wanted to say thank you very much for posting this thread and continuing to update it! I rolled an elementalist alt and I really enjoy playing D/D. This thread has really helped me think about my gameplay in a much fuller way.

One quick question, I decided I wanted to level my ele purely by WvW (for whatever masochistic reasons I now forget). Do you think it’s crazy to try leveling a character solely by WvW? The leveling is much slower than PvE but I’m still enjoying myself. But I do wonder if I should be pushing my levels to contribute more to the fight.

Keep up the great work!

Hey, daphoenix. I, too, wanted to express my gratitude on what looks to me to be one of the most comprehensive guides to an MMO class that I have ever seen. You do a fantastic job of explaining how to get the most out of this very nimble and fun class. While I’ve enjoyed my necro, as well, I truly love the trait synergies you’ve worked out and the strategies you’ve shared on how to get the most out of the profession. Kudos, sir, kudos indeed!

Yeah this has been one of the most read and most useful posts on this forum really.

A guide this good only comes every once in a while.

Raptured.9307:

Hi dapheonix,
Glad to see that you’re paying attention to the comments as well!
Gotta say I really love this build – it got me started as an ele in gw2 and I’ve stuck with it since then, it’s very effective. What do you think the 2/26 update has done for eles with this build? Personally, I think we suffer a bit in spvp with these changes, but our supportive role has become even more grounded and damage output is slightly higher in pve (overall a buff in pve).

Also, I’ve tested this with an experienced trap ranger and glass mesmer friend before in spvp. Here’s my input (maybe it can help!)-
I run 2 superior water, 2 superior monk, and 2 superior runes of the flock (the birds are actually pretty substantial) or 2 superior runes of divinity as you suggested

For my daggers, i run battle and Hydromancy (since you change attunements so often, you can keep freezing your foes). For the amulet, i use cleric’s with celestial jewel (the tradeoff seems lower for the crit dmg %). Pre patch, this build used to make me pretty much invincible except to bursts, but if i survive the burst, i can always heal back to full health in any 1v1 no matter how many conditions/ dmg my opponent puts on me at 1.1-1.2k healing power in exchange for vitality. Maybe test this out and see if this is still effective? Would love to hear more about state of ele in spvp.

Hmm, I might test that Rune of the Flock. I ran 2x Dwayna, for 20% regen duration. But I didn’t know about boon duration being worse in Spvp. One thing though, since your dagger sigils both have a cooldown, one will block the other. It just depends which one get triggered first. (Pretty sure about this, not 100%). I suggest using Bloodlust for one of the 2.

Sigil of Intelligence? I’m sure I saw a video with someone explaining why that was a good choice since it got fixed.

hey there, can you play with this build in high level fractals? Im really looking for a 2nd main char besides my engi and its so much fun and she looks cool but I want to be a bit useful and do some decent dmg. tried 30/0/0/25/15. these might you can get is awesome and fire skill cd as well, but your attunements recharge sure is bad like this.

is 0/10/0/30/30 good enough for highend content?

still like that build and tried it in many ways

Raptured.9307

I’ll probably get more into pvp later, but the superior rune of flock sounds like a good idea. Not sure what its stats are though

From what I understand, a lot of GC classes use superior rune of the ogre. It allows you to summon a rock dog, and I tend to see those in pvp.

Hydromancy makes a lot of sense as well, since chill is an extremely powerful CC in sPvP against any classes. This is if your leaning more toward support as a D/D ele, or solo bunker. I still think GC burst ele would be better off with sigil of battle though.

Most teams iirc run 2 or 3 elementalist with a mix of support, solo tanky, and GC

DoctorOverlord.8620
I don’t recommend levelling a toon purely by WvWvW. I’ve had my share of playing other classes underleveled in WvWvW, and my DPS is abysmal usually.

I usually craft level all my toons with chef first, since it only cost 2-4g to get to 400 crafting, or ~level 20. From there I’ll just do the low level content / story lines, and do w.e it is that I want

For WvWvW, I recommend at least level 40 in order to have access to your elite / major traits, and so that scaling to level 80 works a little more effectively. You can actually contribute decently as a staff elementalist in WvWvW.

Make sure to party with level 80s in WvWvW and leech off their kills :]

zmonkey.8125/ xiv.7136
:D thank you for the remark

vinceftw.5086
Yes your right, any sigil with (X effect on critical or weapon swap, Y cooldown) has shared effects across all weapons. Once one weapon’s effect procs, the other goes on cooldown too. After the cooldown is reset, the first weapon to proc takes precedent.

xiv.7136
Not sure what the internal CD is though, It should behave the same as Superior sigil of might, which has a 9 second internal CD. It means you can critical every 9 seconds.

I imagine you’d only want to use that critical for opening burst though.

shakle.9258
Yes, 0/10/0/30/30 is probably the most optimal setup across all weapon types for elementalist. It can be a staff, dagger/dagger, scepter/dagger, scepter/focus, etc.

You can easily change some of the traits for a specific weapon, such as staff for its “staff AoE increase” trait. Or you can utilize waters “50% fall damage” reduction trait when your doing jumping puzzles or exploring. Then there’s the “shared aura” trait in the water line that works wonders for your team (For Staff’s magnetic aura, and D/D’s shocking aura / Frost aura/ Fire Aura)

For high level fractals, which is what you’d call “highend content”, elementalists are generally considered one of the most useful classes, on par with mesmers/guardians.

Level 70+ fractals are ran by 4 elementalists and 1 guardian usually. You can run most fractals from level 1 to level 30 using D/D. Staff is much more useful in fractals in most cases, and S/F can be replaced for staff too.

If you like running CoF for farming, elementalists can actually out DPS berzerker warriors with fiery great sword and D/D while sustaining themselves in combat. There’s a general bias toward mesmers/warriors there though, regardless of skill level.

I don’t recommend any setup using 30 fire points, because not that great of a build imo.

Hello daphoenix i was wondering is full power prec crit dmg armor and wep + Vit crit dmg accs (currently 16k hp) viable for D/D build (lvl 17+ fractals)? Do you really need toughness that much?

Greate guide btw.

I’m really happy I found this thread, it’s a great guide, and I like the ele community. That said, I’m hoping some of you might be able to answer some questions I have.

1. I have the Powerful Aura trait in water, and it works just fine with applying frost aura and shocking aura to my group. However, I seem to only be able to apply Fire Shield on myself when I use fire field + magnetic leap. Any idea what I’m doing wrong?

2. For the Evasive Arcana trait, do you guys know how much less Churning Earth hits on a dodge than the actual channeled skill?

3. For the Superior Rune of Battle, what is the cooldown on giving might?

Thanks And again, great work Daphoenix, this guide has helped me so much!

Bubbles.5926
3. about 9-10s cd

And little advice for everybody, stacking sigil are useless in dungeons and fractals. I find Sigil of Strength – 30% chance to apply might for 10 seconds on critical.

Mahedros.9103
Toughness is definitely useful

Bubbles.5926
1. It might be an animation error. IIRC all auras have visual sharing bug effects. The best way to check if its applied is to look at your allies buffs.

2. Very little for the EA earth dodge roll. 3 seconds of cripple IIRC and 500 damage

3. Cooldown on might is 9 seconds, attunement swaps are considered to be weapon swaps IN COMBAT

np

Frykas.8703
Pretty sure sigil of strength has a CD too, so I don’t think you get that much of a benefit from it.

Update notes
Added Advanced techniques and Mesmer 3/13

Since everyone is always wondering how “Mesmer Vs. Elementalist” battles goes from my perspective. I play a mesmer also.
Advanced techniques are only for players that know the class in and out already.

Are you sure it’s a visual bug? I tested it with people just now. If I use a focus, it gives fire shield to everyone. If I use a staff, and do an ice field, followed by my earth blast finisher, it gives frost armor to everyone. But when I use DD and do magnetic leap through my fire field, it only gives me fire shield. I tried with them in combat, out of combat, at various distance, it doesn’t work. I didn’t see the visual effect, or the buff in the group window, and they didn’t see it on themselves either. Is it broken? Has anyone tested it recently?

That’s a known issue with that D/D fire shield. Not sure if it’s a bug or what. I was thinking it might just be an animation error too, but if you tested it and noted that your allies did not get the buffs I think that answers it.

Powerful Auras doesn’t share auras generated by combos (ie Fire + Leap = Fire Aura or Ice + Blast = AoE Frost Aura) or the Arcane Resurrection trait.

daphoenix.4283:

-Get used to swapping attunements regularly, do NOT stick to one / two attunements while PvEing. Keeping swapping skills frequently

Absolutely THIS!

I’m only just starting to learn Elementalist after a 3 month break from GW2, so I’m by no means any kind of expert. At first I couldn’t get my head around the class at all. I kept trying to sit in one element and blast away at stuff like I would any other class. I kept trying to theorycraft and see how to make a single element my focus, with maybe a secondary.

But after reading this guide I started by just kind of spamming abilities at random, then switching attunements at random as well. Slowly I started to get a hang of it.

I’m still learning, but already I can feel the versatility. The more I swap attunements in combat, the better I get at knowing which to use when. I can very easily see how after levelling to 80 and putting in some time in PVP that this playstyle will become second nature.

For the people who are complaining about how the class or the build sucks, all I can say is to try and stick with it. Already at level 20 I can see the potential of the D/D playstyle. I can’t wait to see what it’s like with full gear and traits.

Great guide, made me reroll to ele. But while I’m bissy collecting my armor I actually don’t know what stats to get for my second armor set. I’m going for knights with celestial trinkets and stuff for main armor and I want a second set for dungeons and wvwvw (where I will probably use staff with this set).

So which prefix should I go for with the second set? Cleric, Soldiers or even something else? (Leaning towards more survival style so no Beserker)

Thx a lot!

Kaleden.9386:

Powerful Auras doesn’t share auras generated by combos (ie Fire + Leap = Fire Aura or Ice + Blast = AoE Frost Aura) or the Arcane Resurrection trait.

That’s not true, I just tested it. With a staff, use ice field + earth #2 blast finisher, and you + group members are granted Frost Aura. It doesn’t last 7 seconds like using it with a dagger, it only lasts 3 seconds, but it works.

Fire Shield however, is only applied to the elementalist =/

Exactly. I think it’s a bug like shock aura lasting so much longer than the other auras before the update.

Bubbles.5926:

Kaleden.9386:

Powerful Auras doesn’t share auras generated by combos (ie Fire + Leap = Fire Aura or Ice + Blast = AoE Frost Aura) or the Arcane Resurrection trait.

That’s not true, I just tested it. With a staff, use ice field + earth #2 blast finisher, and you + group members are granted Frost Aura. It doesn’t last 7 seconds like using it with a dagger, it only lasts 3 seconds, but it works.

Fire Shield however, is only applied to the elementalist =/

Don’t worry, this certainly confuses a number of people, especially those who didn’t level using the Staff and combos.

The combo you initiated was an AoE Frost Aura which applies to 5 people. You do not require the Powerful Aura trait to apply Frost Aura to 5 people and it does not affect the combo in any way. Any player or profession that uses a blast finisher in an Ice Field will apply Frost Aura to nearby allies (max 5 people).

Unlike blast finishers that provide AoE effects, leap finishers typically create single/self targeted effects. Thus, Ice + Blast = AoE Frost Aura but Fire + Leap = Self Fire Aura. Neither combo is affected by the Powerful Auras trait. Fortunately, they are both affected by other aura-enhancing traits, ie. Zephyrs Boon and Elemental Shielding.

^^ That’s very interesting, thank you for the clarification.

+1 Kaleden.9386 for clarifying everything

Here’s my newest video showcasing my current skill level

Hopefully this serves as inspiration to everyone :P

Well that was a fun watch! Was that 0/0/10/30/30? I noticed Armor of Earth and a lack of Zephyrs Boon. Were you using precision food? You seemed to have a fair number of crits in there.

daphoenix, what is your take on Earthen Blast, 15 point in Earth?

This is the build I just started testing in WvW:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEAQBD0cTOGHBAlxJuMPIiowDFFzkDA

daphoenix.4283:

ChaosDoom.8459

Ashiri.9342
I used a combination of feathered gear, carrion, and masquerade gear. I used abyss and redemption and white dye.

Looks bloody awesome.

For D/D build is Knight’s Exalted better than Karma armor? if so/not, how much is the difference?

Gratz on ur incrinator Excala

So, I keep hearing D/D ele’s are getting nerfed on the March 26th patch, but I’m not finding any information on what exactly is getting nerfed. Do you happen to know? And how will this affect this build?

daphoenix.4283:

+1 Kaleden.9386 for clarifying everything

Here’s my newest video showcasing my current skill level

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcprP81h4dk

Hopefully this serves as inspiration to everyone :P

Looks good on paper. Looks good in the video. Until you realize that during that entire fight you didn’t kill a single person. Anybody playing an elementalist can just kite around and heal incessantly. It takes skill and a burst to get kills in the face of insurmountable odds. And this is where Elementalists are lacking. No matter how skillful you are, your burst is just too weak.

Can’t overcome a damage gap with skill mate, not unless your opponent sucks. If you want proof, go look up some really skilled shattercat mesmers.

@ Simplicity.7208 I don’t know if you and I were watching the same vid, but I’m pretty sure I saw some kills going on throughout the 13:55min video that daphoneix posted. It does not take skill to burst someone down, take a look @ a theif, spam some buttons and boom the enemies dead, if you’re an ele it takes a lot longer of a learning curve to actually learn how to play well with the ele. With a low health base pool, it’s crucial for ele to stay alive and keep constant damage.

Anyways back to my questions: Foods/Tuning Crystal/Sharpening Stone: Which one do you have when you’re wvwing? I’ve been looking around and like the Plates of Steak and Truffles but that’s power based, should I go something into that would increase my boon duration instead?

Do you have a favorite food for WvW?

I imagine http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Bowl_of_Curry_Butternut_Squash_Soup might give you a very nice boost of damage. But it’s also about 4.5s/piece.
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Bowl_of_Butternut_Squash_Soup is only around 1.10s and surely has a better price-performance ratio.
But I have tried neither of those.

At the moment I’m running with http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Peach_Pie which gives me some more survivabilty and is dirt cheap (8c/piece). Healing is about 73HP/Sec plus you get the 60Vit which add around 650HP.

Any other kinds of food that might be worth a look?

Kaleden.9386

I ran a 0/0/20/20/30 setup in that video. It takes a little while getting used to not being able to use air1’s trait for swiftness and fury. I usually control my swiftness via weapon swapping before combat or pots, and optimized attunement swapping. I also control fury and boost myself with attunement swaps when I aim to burst enemies down.

No precision food in there

unum.6209
Earth 15 is really nice to have, it came in handy a few times in that video. Its an additional tactic that makes elementalist so much more fun to play :]

mobilejunkie.9260
Depends on stats really, I almost always use knights armor all the time. Karma comes in various types of stats though.

Pete.8417
thanks !

Dandelyn.1362
Not sure about anything about nerfs on elementalist. I’m pretty sure if they do nerf them, it will be a PvP only nerf (WvWvW is not PvP).

Simplicity.7208
I did kill a few enemies in that video. I would have possibly killed more at that instant where the guardian fully healed his team. All 3 of those enemies were down to ~50% HP, and I had the upperhand most of that battle.

But yeah when your fighting enemies at once, they can always decide to peace out and exit the battle.

I’ve seen what shattercat mesmers can do. They can definitely deliver a much higher burst than an elementalist, but can’t handle as many enemies as an elementalist can at the same time (Assuming that the enemy knows how to play to a fairly decent degree)

Fazhu.4519 / Yuki Chuki.2457
I use superior sharpening stones and either Lemongrass poultry, Mango pies, or omnomberry pies. In WvWvW I’m currently using lemongrass poultry atm.
I prefer power stats with consumables as opposed to precision / cond damage.

Yuki Chuki.2457
I prefer defensive nourishments so that I can live all that much longer. My personal pereference is going min/maxing damage, with a focus more so on defense. The reason for this is because when you build tanky, there is just much more flexibility in the build for any situations that might arise, like in that video. There is always the option of Fiery great sword bursting too, so killing people is not really an issue if you position yourself correctly.

Mango Pies are better than peach pies, and mango pies are really not that much more pricier. I like using mango pies for PvE definitely, b/c I don’t like wasting expensive cons unless I do WvWvW.

daphoenix.4283:

Simplicity.7208
I did kill a few enemies in that video. I would have possibly killed more at that instant where the guardian fully healed his team. All 3 of those enemies were down to ~50% HP, and I had the upperhand most of that battle.

But yeah when your fighting enemies at once, they can always decide to peace out and exit the battle.

I’ve seen what shattercat mesmers can do. They can definitely deliver a much higher burst than an elementalist, but can’t handle as many enemies as an elementalist can at the same time (Assuming that the enemy knows how to play to a fairly decent degree)

I was just watching the sigils of bloodlust and the counter stayed at 7 the entire time so I assumed you didn’t get any kills. Could’ve just been on your staff instead. Regardless, I have an elementalist and I know it’s easy-peasy to kill some people…my problem comes when it’s impossible to kill others. I hate stalemates. Even if I lose, at least it’s not a stalemate. So when I fight a bunker guardian I get upset because we just fight for 30 minutes and neither of us even comes close to dying. So I ragequit to my shattercat memser which actually can kill bunker guardians and when played as to use terrain to your advantage can even take on upwards of 5 people at once and kill them all.

I guess I just miss the lack of a glass cannon build for elementalists. There is just too much glass and not enough cannon on any build you can make. The closest I’ve found is staff nuker, but then you kind of fail in small skirmishes where you can die to one thief stealing and heartseekering you.

Simplicity.7208

My only problem with shatter based mesmers is that they are squishy, although you can counteract that by planning out all your moves in advance. I know what a mesmer is capable of doing at its full potential, and I haven’t really had any trouble taking one down. Taking a tanky elementalist on the other hand just doesn’t sit well and neither side wins.

My point here is that a shatter mesmer is prone to dying much more readily than what I run on my elementalist against highly skilled opponents. At the same time, a mesmer can deliver a much higher burst. So there is a trade off between survivability and DPS, which is not really a suprise.
Although my DPS is lower than bursting mesmers, there are many ways you can enhance your bursting DPS as an elementalist. These could include pre-emptive might stacking, swapping weapons before combat starts, using underwater CC’s on land, FGS fire trail bursting with walls or teleports, exiting and swapping to arcane blast/wave.

My biggest peeve is to be able to handle any situation I come across, or at least survive from it. Mesmers don’t offer as much flexibility as the elementalist when it comes to this vs. very high skilled opponents. Most of the time mesmers win due to a combination of skill, and a lack thereof skill from the opponent (you’ll see this when enemies wander around whacking clones when the real mesmer goes invisible). People just don’t know how to predict a mesmer’s location upon stealthing/unstealthing, or re-targeting to the real one.

My last peeve is being useful in a team fight. A D/D elementalist does a great job drawing aggro in large fights, can dish out incredibly large amounts of DPS using the fiery great sword, and can actually harass an escaping zerg army / cut it in half through cripples on the FGS 3rd ability. A mesmer can do similar feats using Glamour mass confusion on an army, but again doesn’t have the survivability that I like to handle any situation.
When a situation gets too tough, I leave the battle with ride the lightning. For a mesmer, when the battle gets too tough, you pray that someone doesn’t know how to recognize stealth/unstealthing right off the bat, or go all out and hope that someone doesn’t know how to dodge a spike.

Get to T1 already! I’ve been dying to find you and fight you since reading your thread and watching your videos!

Still interesting to see the differences in our gear sets though… You’ve got like 200~ more armor than me, but I have the higher damage output to offset it (9% more crit damage and higher power). Would be a lot of fun to fight you I think, we have a pretty similar playstyle.

Why do you prefer the sharpening stones over the maintenance oils though? I have both and switch between em, but I find that the precision is great due to the somewhat downtime in fury with the recent changes. I do time my bursts (Firegrab/CE) with attunement swaps though, so I could do without it, but it certainly is nice to have that cushion especially with Burning Speed.

I tend to use the maintenance oils and truffle ravioli (100 toughness/70 precision) so I can hit the 30% crit chance.

Oh and I hear you made an Ele only guild? Throw an invite if you did :p I’d love to run something with someone of your skill level!