Guild Wars 2

daphoenix.4283:

Whizzy.5723

Arganthium.5638
I think knowing the thief downed state is important, especially when your fighting several enemies at once and don’t have time to go for a stomp.

I didn’t really realize about the new D/P trend, but it does make sense using a combo + leap to grant stealth. I’ll add that in the notes.

“Just emphasize “spam AoE/PbAoE” when Shadow Refuge is thrown down. " ->
I thought I mentioned t hat already, but I’ll make an additional note about that, and about thieves edging its field of effect

Air5 is the only spell that misses against invisible people. I’ve tried it before with an enemy thief in the party.

Fair enough, perhaps it’s just my personal bias against the downed state.

Yes, D/P is really starting to make its rounds through the thief community, like the one shown in Yishi’s “Outnumbered” Commentary.

I know, but I wasn’t sure it was emphasized enough. Another thing to note might be not to waste all of your AoE spells when the thief is stealthed and you don’t know where it is. When you do have some clue as to its location, AoE is very effective, but I’ve seen too many players waste attacks while I was standing five feet to their left, simply b/c they didn’t know my location. Also- don’t know that you emphasized this enough- spamming 1 when you don’t know where the thief is is particularly useful when you don’t know where the thief is. Particularly given the PbAoE granted by spells like Lightning Whip. Even against skilled thieves, this can be annoying, and it gets even more annoying if you spin around, changing direction while spamming LW at the same time. Best-case scenario: if you do everything perfectly, you’ll avoid a Backstab and the thief will have to resort to using less optimal attacks. Against a D/D thief, this would be absolutely lethal. With the D/P spec currently (and P/D, for that matter), this is less effective because of less reliance on backstab and because of range, but it’s still better than running head-first into 8K damage in a single blow.

Didn’t know this. Huh.

daphoenix.4283:

Whizzy.5723
Air5 is the only spell that misses against invisible people. I’ve tried it before with an enemy thief in the party.

Air5 dagger? Are you sure? I often run to the center of Shadow Refuges and use Air 5 to force a thief out and reveal them. Admittedly, I probably haven’t done this since the March patch, but prior I would often find a thief fading into view and starting to stand up as if I hit them with Updraft.

In a strictly open world PvE scenario, I like a signet-aura build much better than cantrips. I feel like the damage output is significantly higher than the cantrip build.

Kaleden.9386:

daphoenix.4283:

Whizzy.5723
Air5 is the only spell that misses against invisible people. I’ve tried it before with an enemy thief in the party.

Air5 dagger? Are you sure? I often run to the center of Shadow Refuges and use Air 5 to force a thief out and reveal them. Admittedly, I probably haven’t done this since the March patch, but prior I would often find a thief fading into view and starting to stand up as if I hit them with Updraft.

I actually did this about an hour ago. Updraft did knock the Thief out of his Shadow Refuge.

Hi there,

Love the guide, thanks for all your efforts. Very interesting for the newbie ele.

I have seen some builds suggesting to change the traits from Air 1 to Earth 3 (Earths embrace) – logic being you get fantastic bang for the buck in survivability.

Do you have any thoughts on this Vs Zephers?

Thanks in Advance !

@ Daphoenix
I don’t remember the particulars of the flaming axe build. It is used as a condition bunker build. You get 25 seconds of burning on a foe when you drop the axe on his head lol (which is hard to do). While 1 stack of 25 seconds of burning can be cleansed easily its the other burns the axe applies (as well as 2 fire rings, 1 from axe, 1 from fire 4). The heal is either heal and since your max health is so low, it is a full heal.

Either heal is covered by either auto armour, armour or mist form. The build also uses a fair few of the endurance regens, so you can dodge like a boss (not that bosses dodge). The idea is to set everyone on fire then stack on the bleeds through earth.

It is a S/D build with a very strict play style, if you try the build as a FotM you will lose quickly. Will have to get the traits of my friend and give it another run

@ Daphoenix
do you suggest for a more damage based build with dagger dagger 0,15,0,25,30 or something else more damage based ?
regards and thanks for sharing your experience

Why, after all this time and effort and helpfulness from da Phoenix is this thread not stickied?

Heyas, great guide.

For dagger/dagger,
I don’t get which Amulet + Jewel I’m supposed to use though in sPvP, since there’s no true knight in sPvP (they only have pow/prec/vit, and not pow/prec/toughness)

Sheris.6789:

Heyas, great guide.

For dagger/dagger,
I don’t get which Amulet + Jewel I’m supposed to use though in sPvP, since there’s no true knight in sPvP (they only have pow/prec/vit, and not pow/prec/toughness)

Hey! For sPvP, when I’m using the daphoenix build, I use Valkyrie Amulet with Soldier Jewel.
However, I find This Hybrid Build to be way more fun!
I basically moved 5 from water to Air for the Electric Discharge, and added the arcanes for more dmg. Then I swapped some traits around that were useless and changed them to fit the arcanes.
You’re not as bunker as the original, but you can still live through a lot. (If there’s a lot of conditions around or a lot of thieves I swap the valkyrie Amulet to a soldier one) And you can actually kill stuff with it instead of just tickle the oppenents to death :P

Bump just because it ought to be Stickied

you still list ancient karka shell as one of the recommended accessories. I’m guessing something like celestial sigil would be better now is that right? Or is there something special about the shell that I don’t know about?

Also, any thoughts on what would be a good secondary accessory? Should I just go for an ascended with knights stats?

I was wondering that myself. I have over 100 laurels now and don’t know what to use them on. I was considering the celestial sigil and either a knight’s accesory or a cavalier’s one.

Arganthium.5638

I watched the commentary and learned a great deal about D/P thieves, and tried one for myself. The backstab is something to watch out for, since it is their strongest opener imo.

Another thing to note is that thieves can actually use their blind AoE field + leap and hit you, while stealthing at the same time. The damage does not negate their stealth in this case, where damage normally does unstealth you.

Kaleden.9386/Goblin Beet Farmer.3045
some reason my updraft never works, it might just be because I’m missing.

FoolsErrend.2168
I prefer earths embrace to be honest, since it offers more defense rather than flexibility. The loss in perma swiftness and fury is a lot to sacrifice though, its personal preference.

TGSlasher.1458
Interesting, didn’t know you could use the summon as an attack for 25seconds of burning. I usually never use my summoning to attack my enemies, but rather place it off the side where I can hide/pick it up later.

PierPiero.9142
For a pure DPS spec, 0/15/0/25/30 is usually my other traiting choice for pure offensive trait setup on any weapon type. Alternatively you can use a more defensive trait setup like the 0/0/20/20/30 setup, with berserker armor and weapons. The traditional 0/10/0/30/30 does not need the last water trait, since its mostly for condition removing purposes/aura sharing.

Yohimbe.1876
Probably because ANet does not want to promote d/d elementalists, since they are considered to be “op” and will be nerfed to some degree in the near future.

Sheris.6789
For PvP, I use valkyires amulet w/ soldiers jewels. The soldiers jewel is used since my HP pool is a little low and needs to be higher against instagib burst from thieves.

Nuithari.3728
Thats definitely a good setup to use for PvP, since you don’t need to run as tanky in most situations. Some PvP elementalist users also run “dodging removes burning and chill” trait as well over “10% more damage when hp>90% trait”

Altharion.7961
;]

Vapur.4680
When in doubt go knights with a beryl jewel (Power, vitality, crit dmg jewel). The karka shell is used because it offers a very high combined stat total, and offers 6% critical damage, which is 1% more than the +all stat equivalent ascended item.

Nikkinella.8254
To spend the 100 laurel, you should consider the following:

First do you have an ascended amulet? If not buy that for 30 laurels, since the alternative is buying the triforge which cost over 200gold at auction house.

Do you have a karka shell? Then you only need 1 ascended accessory. You can either obtain it with 40 laurels+50 ectos, or 12 guild commentations. Pick one or the other

Do you have ascended rings? Personally I would do fractals for these, since its not too bad to obtain. Otherwise you need to spend 35 laurels, and those laurels could definitely be used elsewhere such as amulets for other characters, etc.

Items statwise should be +all stat items mainly.

Emperor.1360
Yes these builds I listed were mostly for PvE and WvWvW, since I didn’t play too much PvP recently. PvP definitely favors a 0/10/0/30/30 setup, 0/0/10/30/30. or 0/15/0/25/30 setup in terms of overall effective builds for good team play and mobility.
WvWvW / PvE tends to favor the above as well, and 0/0/20/20/30 for more solo-oriented roaming.

There are definitely other builds out there that are viable. For instance, 0/25/0/25/20 is a fairly effective staff setup. You can also run a conjure-oriented setup, with a focus on the major fire trait that adds +10 more charges as well. There are definitely other builds for various applications, you just need to try them out:]

12th video i think…
13:00-13:15

I was like WTH just happened to guardian, did he just melt?!?!?!? Noticed it was FGS, definitely adding that.

Side note, Can you inform us of some techniques on how to approach an engy who knows what they are actually doing. I struggle against the p/p and pistol shield engy which stack up tons of conditions, the main one being confusion which hurts me alot.

I cantrip out of his “happy meal” that drops on my head and break combat to reinitiate, but always ends with me running or getting staked =/

What i noticed in the duels, was that the engy plays reactionary compared to my aggressiveness and I believe this works in their favor.

Thanks for a great guide! Btw if you hate running dungeons, two superior runes of water and four superior runes of altruism is your only choice for 80% boon duration (not a bad choice either).

Thanks so much for this guide!

davidcrickett.8536:

Thanks for a great guide! Btw if you hate running dungeons, two superior runes of water and four superior runes of altruism is your only choice for 80% boon duration (not a bad choice either).

Oh lol, that was related to what I was going to ask. I have that set up at the moment because I hate dungeons and don’t have access to monk runes. Was going to ask if it’s a viable set up….

Is this a good build:
Gear
Knight’s exotic Armor with sup runes of Divinity
Beryl Orich Accessories of the Valkyre
Soldier Statted Temple Back

Knight Statted Corrupted Shards with sup sigils of Force
Knight Statted Corrupted Shards with sup sigils of Bloodlust
Corrupted Septer with sup sigil of battle
Knight Statted Corrupted Branch with Beryl Orb (need sigil suggestion for this one)
Venom Trident of Rage

Healing:
Ether Feast

Slot Skills:
Lightning Flash
Armor of Earth
Mist Form

Elite:
Glyph of Elementals

Traits 0/10(I)/0/30(III,X,XII)/30(V,VI,XI)

Any advise you can give a noob Ele would be much appreciated I know this is not a full d/d as i main hand dagger gets switched for my septer as needed with the sigil of Force, and swap between my BL dagger and Dagger of Battle stays off hand,

Aether Solair

Anyone have the approximate numbers of the stats I should be aiming at for an “ideal” full build of exotics for WvW? Currently, I have full PVT gear, but I feel like I could sacrifice some of my tankiness for damage to get more offensive capability. I feel like mixing and matching to obtain some balance of Power, Vit, Toughness, Healing Power, and Crit Damage would be best, but I’m not sure what’s “good” and I can’t just go and buy a bunch of armor to test out different stuff.

Edit: nevermind. I haven’t played in a while and there was an update since I last looked at this guide. I’ll give it another read.

So, Daphoenix. Any adjustments you think you’re gonna make with the SOTG announced nerfs to D/D eles?

Yes, DaPhoenix, we are eagerly awaiting your wisdom!

delete ele, reroll faceroll warrior or thief

I think d\d eles will go to 0/15/0/25/30. Water 25 so good, best using of 5 points is 15 air.
Now we need moar condition removal.. after nerf of mist form+heal signet it can be Ether renewal+Armor of Earth
It is just logic adaptation

Imalight.6124

I haven’t played much into engineer, but from my perspective as an elementalist, you need to avoid the engineer’s bombs/melee attacks. Engineers now a days run prybar / wrench set combined with confusion bombs iirc to proc 8-12 stacks of confusion. Another thing to note is that engineers that run heavy encampments (bombs / turrets) are usually have an advantage in close range combat. Mid range combat tends to favor the elementalist more, and terrain does make a big difference vs. engineer.

davidcrickett.8536/xarallei.4279
Well actually that would be 15+15+30(from arcana)= 60% boon duration for 6 runes: P

Raven Quiroz.6870
Water X or soothing wave is not really that great, since its duration is rather low and only applies to the mistform cantrip in battle.
All of the items you use look reasonable though, with that knights setup! :]

engnayr.9150
I think the recommended armor setup I currently use fits that criteria. I spent a lot of time adjusting to what I felt was min/max for me, after reading various theorycrafting from other people.

Grimstar.6931
I feel like Anet likes to go over the top with nerfs in general, and this is their way of approaching nerfs. They want to invoke a response form the community in order to gauge how much they should nerf X by, instead of going the lighter route and nerfing it harder later.

Ride the Lightning: Recharge increased from 20s to 40s. Recharge on this skill is now halved if you strike a foe. Reduced the range to 1200 from original 1550.
As to the elementalists nerfs, 40 seconds for missing RtL is a bit excessive. It really limits our out of combat mobility to a really excessive degree, considering the nerf also applies a range reduction of RtL from 1550 to 1200. We’re talking about a nerf to RtL by over a 50% margin in this case.
In addition, I rarely ever use RtL to initiate unless I know that I will not have to run in the next 20 seconds. You can never be sure what the situation will be 20 seconds after a battle starts (or 40 now if you miss your RtL), so it is always better to assume the worst case scenario.
My point is that RtL in my mind is now 40 seconds because I almost never use it for damage/initiation purposes. I usually just run up to opponents and use a combination of Fire 3 and Earth 3 instead. The only time I use RtL on a target is when I’m chasing someone.

Mist Form: Now locks heal, utility, and elite while in use
This doesn’t change much in terms of utility, but does for elite / healing.
Mistform+ Fiery Great sword (FGS) cast was a useful tactic for me since casting FGS requires you to stand still, making you vulnerable to attacks.
Mistform+ Ether renewal was another common tactic I used, but this nerf doesn’t change much. It requires that you now cast ether renewal before using mistform, and you can still get the same effect.

Signet of Restoration: Reduced effects passively
I don’t really run Signet of Restoration anymore, since I still feel ether renewal is superior in every situation

ICD on condition removal on applying regeneration to 5 seconds (water 11 trait)
Regeneration was applied every 10 seconds at the minimum swapping to water attunement with Arcana 5 trait, and cantrips with the water 3 trait. I’m not sure why this nerf was necessary since it doesn’t change anything. Unless you use 2 cantrips within a 5 second duration, then I don’t see a problem with this.

50% condition damage reduction on confusion
I feel like confusion damage for mesmers/engineers in general was a bit excessive, since I have killed myself in one dodge roll at full HP (~16k) by swapping to earth attunement. (1 Spell = EA dodge roll, 1 spell = dodge, 1 spell = earth attunement, 1 spell= passive earth attunement spell, 1 spell = auto proc’d armor of earth at 33% HP) = 5 spells in one dodge = instant death with 8 stacks of confusion. The real issue was passive dodge procs not really confusion itself. A reasonable nerf would be 25% imo, or reworking of confusion damage.

I would hope that in lieu of all these nerfs, that S/D and staff would be buffed instead.

Can’t really talk like an expert here, but I feel 40 seconds on RtL significantly reduces the roaming capabilities of ele which is already the main reason we use it for unless someone goes with the combo air 4+air 5+fire 3 which kills pretty much most if not all your gap openers/closers. It’s a straight “I want you to die with no escape” nerf to me.

The signet really doesn’t affect much but I guess it ‘ll either “die” from competition with Ether renewal or will push more healing/defense stats into those who use it. Either way I very much doubt it’s an incentive for people to go from cantrips to a more signet oriented builds (with 30 in earth maybe).

The water trait change was indeed pointless or very limited at best.

Mist form was again one of those “I want you to die without escape”. Using it mostly to avoid heavy, unexpected bursts from hidden or new arrivals on the enemy team, in combination with Ether renewal and maybe RtL for escaping (depending on whether the fight was worth the effort), I can not see any other reason for the extension of this nerf.

But the target was clearly mobility and more specifically escaping. Problem is, no buffs where mentioned for this patch….

Ps. Putting all these in a few words, processed from my mind which has tried half the classes, the nerfs are total bs! Contrary to eles my necro – a minion master with scepter/dagger or axe/dagger – outlived since day one, with ease, 2 average players of whatever class and now that I play him for about 2-3 weeks, I outlive couples of thieves and even bunker-thief combination. Yet no changes there other than improved pet UI…

daphoenix.4283:

Signet of Restoration: Reduced effects passively
I don’t really run Signet of Restoration anymore, since I still feel ether renewal is superior in every situation

How (if) do you upkeep permaswiftness then? Last patch they reduced/fixed the amount of swiftness frostaura grants you. And not using Glyph of Elemental Harmony means you miss out on another 17 seconds or so of swiftness (considering the increased boon duration through runes).

And what are your thoughts on swapping Mistform (from a WvW perspective) with Earth Armor now if one would still use Glyph of Elemental Harmony? Might be the better deal now, considering how long the damage reduction lasts and it also brings stability to the build, which i often have been missing in bigger WvW fights wehere I was subject to a lot of CC.

Yuki Chuki.2457:

daphoenix.4283:

Signet of Restoration: Reduced effects passively
I don’t really run Signet of Restoration anymore, since I still feel ether renewal is superior in every situation

How (if) do you upkeep permaswiftness then? Last patch they reduced/fixed the amount of swiftness frostaura grants you. And not using Signet of Restoration means you miss out on another 17 seconds or so of swiftness (considering the increased boon duration through runes).

And what are your thoughts on swapping Mistform (from a WvW perspective) with Earth Armor now if one would still use Signet of Restoration? Might be the better deal now, considering how long the damage reduction lasts and it also brings stability to the build, which i often have been missing in bigger WvW fights wehere I was subject to a lot of CC.

You’re thinking about the glyph heal, not the signet.

I use ether renewal too and I can achieve permaswiftness. Auras, air swap and air 5 is enough for me.

vinceftw.5086:

Yuki Chuki.2457:

daphoenix.4283:

Signet of Restoration: Reduced effects passively
I don’t really run Signet of Restoration anymore, since I still feel ether renewal is superior in every situation

How (if) do you upkeep permaswiftness then? Last patch they reduced/fixed the amount of swiftness frostaura grants you. And not using Signet of Restoration means you miss out on another 17 seconds or so of swiftness (considering the increased boon duration through runes).

And what are your thoughts on swapping Mistform (from a WvW perspective) with Earth Armor now if one would still use Signet of Restoration? Might be the better deal now, considering how long the damage reduction lasts and it also brings stability to the build, which i often have been missing in bigger WvW fights wehere I was subject to a lot of CC.

You’re thinking about the glyph heal, not the signet.

I use ether renewal too and I can achieve permaswiftness. Auras, air swap and air 5 is enough for me.

Thanks! Of course I meant the glyph. Corrected it in my original post. Too bad they can’t nerf my personal confusion…

I imagine you really have to use the auras, air 5 etc everytime you can to keep up the permaswiftness?

Yuki Chuki.2457:

vinceftw.5086:

Yuki Chuki.2457:

daphoenix.4283:

Signet of Restoration: Reduced effects passively
I don’t really run Signet of Restoration anymore, since I still feel ether renewal is superior in every situation

How (if) do you upkeep permaswiftness then? Last patch they reduced/fixed the amount of swiftness frostaura grants you. And not using Signet of Restoration means you miss out on another 17 seconds or so of swiftness (considering the increased boon duration through runes).

And what are your thoughts on swapping Mistform (from a WvW perspective) with Earth Armor now if one would still use Signet of Restoration? Might be the better deal now, considering how long the damage reduction lasts and it also brings stability to the build, which i often have been missing in bigger WvW fights wehere I was subject to a lot of CC.

You’re thinking about the glyph heal, not the signet.

I use ether renewal too and I can achieve permaswiftness. Auras, air swap and air 5 is enough for me.

Thanks! Of course I meant the glyph. Corrected it in my original post. Too bad they can’t nerf my personal confusion…

I imagine you really have to use the auras, air 5 etc everytime you can to keep up the permaswiftness?

Yes, you have to use the air swap on cooldown and the auras. Problem with this is getting caught without the auras quite often. Though that problem also applies to the glyph heal as well.

If you’re too slow you might have a second or so without swiftness, but it’s do-able. Just got to keep track.

Thanks. I hade some time now to test the changes. Sadly, casting Ether Renewal and then activating Mist Form interrupts Ether Renewal.

But I found the combination of Ether Renewal and Armor of earth to be at least ok, maybe even quiet good. Combine Earth Armor, Frost Aura and the increased boon duration and you got over 10 seconds with 43% damage reduction and stability. Add Ether Renewal, water 5, the dodge roll and cleansing fire and you got a ton of healing and condition removal on top of those 43% damage reduction while still being able to fight.

Granted, I might die a bit more often. But at the moment I also stay longer in the fights and feel like I deal a noticable bit more damage. The dying might also be because I have to get accustomed to this new build. Call me crazy but I feel the next nerf comming =(

Only played for maybe an hour and what hurts me the hardest (at least until now) is by far the nerf on mobility. Not in fights but as a roamer.

Mpiftekis.1529/Yuki Chuki.2457

I might not have clarified the entirety of the nerfs Anet is implementing. I usually anticipate the worst case scenario possible in every situation, so that I am almost always able to escape regardless of how bad it gets. I intentionally hold back on a lot of my abilities until I feel the need to use them. This is how you fight extremely hard battles against several opponents at once, and live to tell about it.

In terms of nerfs, signet of restoration to me is like an easy mode skill, since it makes easy situations even easier. When dealing with difficult situations, your burst healing options are poor, which makes you more prone to die with SoR. Ether renewal resolves this problem due to its higher burst healing / cond removal. Like I mentioned earlier, its all about preparing for the worst situation possible, not the easy ones.

Ride the lightning behaves in a similar manner. I always assume everything will go bad in a situation, and refrain from using RtL offensively unless I clearly know that nothing bad will happen in the near future (i.e. fighting one person in open terrain, having a clear field of view on surroundings).

RtL will always be an escape skill in my mind. Its one of those “oh —--” abilities, in addition to all those cantrips. You can’t fight difficult situations without having these skills on hand, since they increase your survivability by a large factor.
Yuki Chuki.2457/Raif.9507
I still run 0/0/20/20/30, so there’s an auto proc’d armor of earth built in already. I maintained perma swiftness using items, i.e. pot of hylek poison. Its’ first ability offers 15 seconds of swiftness, so its fairly easy to maintain perma swiftness in combination to swapping to air. I never think of updraft as a means of obtaining swiftness, since its CC is way more important.

I also weapon swap before every battle starts. I proc 1 minute+swiftness + 300 armor before every battle I jump in. This is done using staff’s air 4 abilility, combined with staffs air 5 + scepters Fire 3 + scepter/focus’s earth 2 + earth 4. The best part about this combo is that if executed correctly, you can do this while constantly moving without ever having the need to stand still and cast (This is when your not in combat). I maintain swiftness in combat thereafter using pots as mentioned previously, in combination with poison jukes + LoS. It takes some practice though since you have to memorize how long 15 seconds (CD of the pot’s first skill) is approximately while in combat.

I haven’t tested anything yet though after the update.

You said you can use Ether Renewal and then enter Mist Form for the same effect as before, but it cancels the condition removal process and the heal upon entering Mist Form.

daphoenix.4283:

Mpiftekis.1529/Yuki Chuki.2457

I still run 0/0/20/20/30, so there’s an auto proc’d armor of earth built in already. I maintained perma swiftness using items, i.e. pot of hylek poison. Its’ first ability offers 15 seconds of swiftness, so its fairly easy to maintain perma swiftness in combination to swapping to air. I never think of updraft as a means of obtaining swiftness, since its CC is way more important.

I also weapon swap before every battle starts. I proc 1 minute+swiftness + 300 armor before every battle I jump in. This is done using staff’s air 4 abilility, combined with staffs air 5 + scepters Fire 3 + scepter/focus’s earth 2 + earth 4. The best part about this combo is that if executed correctly, you can do this while constantly moving without ever having the need to stand still and cast (This is when your not in combat). I maintain swiftness in combat thereafter using pots as mentioned previously, in combination with poison jukes + LoS. It takes some practice though since you have to memorize how long 15 seconds (CD of the pot’s first skill) is approximately while in combat.

I haven’t tested anything yet though after the update.

I thought consumables were removed from WvW. Tried to use the pots myself and they aren’t working. Or am I missing something?

katniss.6735:

You said you can use Ether Renewal and then enter Mist Form for the same effect as before, but it cancels the condition removal process and the heal upon entering Mist Form.

He said that before the patch actually went live. He assumed that we would have to start the heal just before going into mistform but it turns out it just interrupts the heal and all it’s good for is to delay your death by 3 seconds. Mistform and Elixir S got hit really hard unfortunately.

rolos.7491:

daphoenix.4283:

Mpiftekis.1529/Yuki Chuki.2457

I still run 0/0/20/20/30, so there’s an auto proc’d armor of earth built in already. I maintained perma swiftness using items, i.e. pot of hylek poison. Its’ first ability offers 15 seconds of swiftness, so its fairly easy to maintain perma swiftness in combination to swapping to air. I never think of updraft as a means of obtaining swiftness, since its CC is way more important.

I also weapon swap before every battle starts. I proc 1 minute+swiftness + 300 armor before every battle I jump in. This is done using staff’s air 4 abilility, combined with staffs air 5 + scepters Fire 3 + scepter/focus’s earth 2 + earth 4. The best part about this combo is that if executed correctly, you can do this while constantly moving without ever having the need to stand still and cast (This is when your not in combat). I maintain swiftness in combat thereafter using pots as mentioned previously, in combination with poison jukes + LoS. It takes some practice though since you have to memorize how long 15 seconds (CD of the pot’s first skill) is approximately while in combat.

I haven’t tested anything yet though after the update.

I thought consumables were removed from WvW. Tried to use the pots myself and they aren’t working. Or am I missing something?

There are about 2-3 different locations where you can get the pots. The one you buy from Timberland Fall works in wvw, the others don’t.

VitalSuit.1980:

Mistform and Elixir S got hit really hard unfortunately.

Indeed they did. Elixir S – as well as the trait that automates it – is not something I m very familiar with since my experience with it comes from leveling (still at 74) but it was definitely noticeable. As in “changing my spec” noticeable.

I m having a hard time seeing the point of invulnerability as a defense measure right now. It does nothing but delaying for less than a few seconds the inevitable without having any ability to manipulate the environment towards your benefit. Much like saying “I may die, but in my last few breaths I shall… do nothing but procrastinate for 2 seconds”! That ’ll show them..!

I feel like they tried to move d/d specs more into defensive gearing and offensive utilities, which I can’t see working well enough, if at all. Signets – not individually – aren’t much of a good strategy in pvp, unless they are trying to combine them with conjurations – supposedly we will see changes on them – which is very limited! And personally I don’t want to be a moving weapon rack for allies, with few means of protection other than sturdiness.

On an under-the-table note my minion necro still does an amazing work in both duels and teamplay. In duels I even have the opportunity to troll a bit with rockdog

Mist form does not just delay death, though there’s no denying that was a huge nerf. It still gives you a chance to escape in some situations, just like lightning flash, and triggers boons if you’ve traited for that.

Traiting for the boons (regeneration and vigor) does not provide much of an advantage. At 410 healing power, where I currently sit, 3 seconds of mist form barely give the chance for 2 ticks of regeneration which hits for 185 = 370 hp of healing.
Vigor and might are not going to make much of a difference either when you use mist form as an “oh-kitten” button.

Which leaves us with two choices, that I can think of. Either use it as a stun breaker, which is a waste of slot since cleansing fire has much lower cd and removes conditions, or use it as an “oh-kitten”+escape tool when you expect a huge burst, have ready for use at least 2-3 gap openers and having already a good amount of hp to facilitate this (avoiding imminent death from those who can catch up with you or use ranged options.

In a less crowdy environment armor of earth should be better.

By the way, “oh-kitten” obviously stands for something else, but I didn’t write it like that. The forum’s filter appears to be a funny one. :P

Wow this is amazing!
Now i finally understand a bit more about my elementalist. Thanks a lot! I’m still a noob when it comes to builds etc but u certainly helped a LOT!

I’ve got a question: I’m running full berserker exotic armor (skin looks lots like urs btw! haha) and everything now with D/D but i feel like a glass canon… i do lots of damage (i think) but i need help all the time… This used to be my build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJAoYhEmibwx5gjDAEFp4S4BBKkgQxFOA-jwxAYrASFCYyrIaslsioxqkwUlER1ejioVDA-e

Now, after reading a lot of this topic… i decided i wanted to keep my Berserker armor and daggers, but go with a more defensive build. But i dont need to be a tank… I prefer doing more damage over surviving. Also i move and dodge a lot. But there needs to be way more balance then my previous build.

So i figured to go with something like this:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJAoYhEmKbkR5gjEAEFnYyogIiCPUeMTO2A-jwxAYrASFCYyrIasF3ioxqtx0vER128ioVDA-e

Do you think this will do the trick? Also i’m not sure about which runes to use… And the ascended accessoires, i cant buy them all right now yet. Which will mean i’d lose quite some toughness untill i can buy all.

Normally i would just try but i dont have lots of gold… and i dont game enough to earn gold or do enough dungeons in a short time. So im a bit careful with just buying everything and try.

I hope you can give a little bit advice! <3

I tried your approach (almost to a “T”) before I run into this guide, and for me it was definitely not working. I could barely deal with a mob in Orr back then. Should a second come I felt like a master if I killed it and a third would take my glory…

If you had read dapheonix’s responses along the 13 pages here you ’d have gained quite a lot of info. For example 0/15/0/25/30 is mentioned to be the most optimum build for PVE, with maximizing DPS.

You ’d also have seen my response just above yours, where I mention a total of 370hp healing – I have 600-something healing power – within the 3 seconds of Mist Form. In your build, since you present MF as your only cantrip the trait 3 in water is useless. If you use it just for the boons you waste an oh-kitten button which is already a waste of a utility slot. Plus you lower your dps for a while until you catch up.

Another problem is the arcane utilities. While they do provide a hefty burst every so often, with berserker gear you are nothing but exposed to the first burst that hits you. This is the reason – defense – cantrips where chosen to begin with. To make it worse melee range doesn’t facilitate proper conditions for being so defenseless.

Under these assumptions, your rune of scholar is, too, wasted. You ll rarely find yourself above 90% health, thus you can forget about that 10% damage increase.

Last but not least it ‘d be better to decide whether or not you ll take advantage of boons. Traits 5 and 6 in Arcane, as well as 5 in Earth and 3 in Water – which makes it pretty much have you build – are boon oriented. But if you don’t invest in boon duration, I don’t see that 3 sec of protection being put to any use :P
If you go for it on the other hand, the minor trait at Water 25 is indispensable.

To that end, you have first to tell us where you focus on, in regards to content. If it is WvWvW the runes should change along with parts of the trait build to another direction than that of PvE.

Ps. Keep one thing in mind for your next try at builds. Synergy. In everything! One factor must complement the other.

Mpiftekis.1529:

I tried your approach (almost to a “T”) before I run into this guide, and for me it was definitely not working. I could barely deal with a mob in Orr back then. Should a second come I felt like a master if I killed it and a third would take my glory…

If you had read dapheonix’s responses along the 13 pages here you ’d have gained quite a lot of info. For example 0/15/0/25/30 is mentioned to be the most optimum build for PVE, with maximizing DPS.

You ’d also have seen my response just above yours, where I mention a total of 370hp healing – I have 600-something healing power – within the 3 seconds of Mist Form. In your build, since you present MF as your only cantrip the trait 3 in water is useless. If you use it just for the boons you waste an oh-kitten button which is already a waste of a utility slot. Plus you lower your dps for a while until you catch up.

Another problem is the arcane utilities. While they do provide a hefty burst every so often, with berserker gear you are nothing but exposed to the first burst that hits you. This is the reason – defense – cantrips where chosen to begin with. To make it worse melee range doesn’t facilitate proper conditions for being so defenseless.

Under these assumptions, your rune of scholar is, too, wasted. You ll rarely find yourself above 90% health, thus you can forget about that 10% damage increase.

Last but not least it ‘d be better to decide whether or not you ll take advantage of boons. Traits 5 and 6 in Arcane, as well as 5 in Earth and 3 in Water – which makes it pretty much have you build – are boon oriented. But if you don’t invest in boon duration, I don’t see that 3 sec of protection being put to any use :P
If you go for it on the other hand, the minor trait at Water 25 is indispensable.

To that end, you have first to tell us where you focus on, in regards to content. If it is WvWvW the runes should change along with parts of the trait build to another direction than that of PvE.

Ps. Keep one thing in mind for your next try at builds. Synergy. In everything! One factor must complement the other.

Hey, thanks for your response! Well as you can see, im a real noob when it comes to builds… in GW1, it was a lot easier imo haha.

I focus on PVE and dungeons. I already have a full berserker exotic armor which i spend like all my money on so i kinda want to keep using that.

I just got no idea how to make a build optimal, i do understand everything you say. But the problem is i didnt already figure it out by my self.

I did read quite some replies etc though, but mostly the ones that contained the word ‘Berserker’ lol.

So, what do you suggest?

I guess i should use runes of the monk.. or any boon duration runes and more cantrips at least. Reason i dropped in blasts is because i saw daphoenix say something about that if i went with something like this.. but i mightve understanded that wrong

thesserd.8602:

So, what do you suggest?

I guess i should use runes of the monk.. or any boon duration runes and more cantrips at least. Reason i dropped in blasts is because i saw daphoenix say something about that if i went with something like this.. but i mightve understanded that wrong

For starters tell us what approach you ’d like to have. This thread is focused on boon oriented build, but there must be a few out there that will get the job done with other methods.

If you wish to follow this one, the main “problem” will bve that you want to keep your current gear. Unless you start climbing the stairs of becoming a master by the end of summer, the combination of zerk and d/d will be deadly.

Should you insist on keeping it, follow the rest of the guide with some minor changes:
1) go for the 0/15/0/25/30 (it’s not vital. I didn’t go for it for example. But it will max your dps)
2) grab a scepter and a staff which you will use most of the times
3) aside from the staff, your other weapons should better be defensive like PVT or PPT
4) don’t use conjuration utilities. Go full on cantrips, until you are familiar enough with the fights.

and an extra I haven’t seen it being mentioned:
5) use your glyph in the elite slot. Under water attunment, your pet is a savior in group situations with it’s aoe healing while the one under earth is all you need to make that big pull when you solo.
People underestimate it because they compare its damage with FGS’s but they forget how valuable is to be able to adapt, and that is something you too will learn in time, like it or not, with the ele.

Daphoenix love your guide man few questions though
u use Valkyrie jewels for your acc right? And what about armor which 6 u use for armor slots?

Great guide that I’ve been using for a while now. I recently switched my armour and weapons from soldier’s (PVT) to knight’s (PPT) and found that survivability was just as good and overall damage seemed better.

I’m wondering what the suggested gear for (ascended) trinkets is. I currently run Syzygy (celestial) amulet and PPT/celestial ascended rings, along with knight/valk exo accessories. Is it best to run PPT in all ring/acc/back slots? Or a mix of PPT/Celestial or something else like zerker/valkyrie? Thanks for the help.

protomic.4627:

Great guide that I’ve been using for a while now. I recently switched my armour and weapons from soldier’s (PVT) to knight’s (PPT) and found that survivability was just as good and overall damage seemed better.

I’m wondering what the suggested gear for (ascended) trinkets is. I currently run Syzygy (celestial) amulet and PPT/celestial ascended rings, along with knight/valk exo accessories. Is it best to run PPT in all ring/acc/back slots? Or a mix of PPT/Celestial or something else like zerker/valkyrie? Thanks for the help.

I am sure your current setup is better than switching all ring/acc/back pieces to p/p/t. The reason being is you need to get the crit damage in there. I run Cavalier p/t/crit damage on back and amulet and celestial/all stats in rings and accs and it works great. I am sure Daphoenix will pop in here for a better answer for you.

Hey Liquid Swords, thanks for the quick reply. I agree that trinkets are the slots to get crit damage in to take advantage of high crit chance, and since there are no knight’s/celestial back pieces available the choices for ascended back are cavalier’s and zerker. In that case is it worth having the extra toughness over power/precision?

For rings and accs, do you run celestial in all four slots? When I was in PVT gear, I would use zerker trinkets to get more damage in, but with PPT gear I’m trying to find the best balance of damage with toughness and perhaps some extra vit in those slots.

I’d also like to get Daphoenix’s input since the trinkets section in the gear guide seems a bit out of date with no ascended accs.

protomic.4627:

Hey Liquid Swords, thanks for the quick reply. I agree that trinkets are the slots to get crit damage in to take advantage of high crit chance, and since there are no knight’s/celestial back pieces available the choices for ascended back are cavalier’s and zerker. In that case is it worth having the extra toughness over power/precision?

For rings and accs, do you run celestial in all four slots? When I was in PVT gear, I would use zerker trinkets to get more damage in, but with PPT gear I’m trying to find the best balance of damage with toughness and perhaps some extra vit in those slots.

I’d also like to get Daphoenix’s input since the trinkets section in the gear guide seems a bit out of date with no ascended accs.

Yes for all 4 rings/accs i run celestial. I can’t seem to make a better build using anything other then the celestial as an ele since they benefit from all stats a lot more then other professions.

My wvw build
http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/elementalist/?1.0|8.1c.h1h.8.1c.h2|0.0.0.0.0.0|1n.71g.1n.71g.1n.71h.1n.71h.1n.7r.1n.7r|3v.e17.211.e13.311.e17.211.e13.311.e17.3v.e17|0.0.k39.k39.u56b|15.7|1m.1s.1u.1v.0|e

My pve build(except in orr i use my wvw build a lot cause the cc)
http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/elementalist/?1.0|8.1c.h1h.8.1c.h2|0.0.0.0.0.0|1n.71g.1n.71g.1n.71h.1n.71h.1n.7r.1n.7r|3v.e17.211.e13.311.e17.211.e13.311.e17.3v.e17|0.f1.0.p19.u56b|39.1|1n.1q.1r.1s.0|e

Pretty standard stuff here for most ele builds. I have tried everything and these work well for myself but maybe not for others.

In that pve build calculate in 250 power from bloodlust and 20% crit chance for perma fury. Then also add 20+ stacks of might since I always have that while in combat. You could also swap the x2 melandru runes for divinity. Quite ridiculous effective power imo. I think over 5k effective based off that site.

So what are common runes to be used in the armor slots i have no idea what to use some say use 6 of melandru but i dont know what works best for d/d ele

also knights acc or?

katniss.6735/VitalSuit.1980
Yes I made that assumption before the update went live

rolos.7491/LightningBlaze.4913
Yup, the timerlands location pot has always worked :P. You just need to do an event and ressurect one of the frog guys.

Mpiftekis.1529/nothing.7941
Mist form is still going to be always useful, especially toward bursts where you are either immobilized or stunned. Its a 3 second invulernability, but you can also reposition yourself / move which is invaluable even post nerf.

thesserd.8602
I don’t recommend any spec with 30 fire in it, Pyromancers Puissance trait (1 might per spell cast) really isn’t that great.I only capped at about 8 stacks of might in fire using full boon duration gear, and thats hardly anything.

For the recent build, this is almost exactly what I ran since day one in GW2. I adapted to better traits and currently use 0/0/20/30/30
http://tinyurl.com/daphoenixBuild3

I’ll run this on my staff or S/D
0/15/0/25/30
http://tinyurl.com/daphoenixBuild4

Mpiftekis.1529
+1 everything you said there was correct :]
Yes 0/15/0/25/30 is the way to go for PvE DPSing imo, or a 0/25/0/25/20 setup.

thesserd.8602
Keep the same trait setups, and run berzerker armor and weapons with +all stat trinkets :]

SAKRAY.3690
I run all knights armor and knights weapons in my gear setup using 0/0/20/20/30 trait setups for my all purpose build. For my DPS oriented setup, I’ll run the same trait setup, or 0/15/0/25/30, and then use berzerker weapons + berzerker armor (except on the legs, and helmet which are knights due to stat optimization)

protomic.4627
You need to run crit dmg on all accessory slots since its optimal. I use +all stats items on amulet, accessories, and rings. For my backpiece, I use power, toughness crit damage.

If you can’t obtain ascended gear, I would opt for knights with a beryl or ruby jewel in it.

Liquid Swords.1740
I used ur link and updated it with my preferences :P
WvWvW
http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/elementalist/?1.0|8.1n.h1h.8.1n.h4|0.0.0.0.0.0|1n.71g.1n.71g.1n.71h.1n.71h.1n.7r.1n.7r|311.e17.211.e13.311.e17.211.e13.311.e17.3v.e17|0.0.k39.k38.u56b|15.1|1l.1t.1u.1v.0|e

SAKRAY.3690
Use 2x superior monk rune, 2x superior water, 2x superior melandru :]

Knights accessories with beryl or ruby jewels if you can’t get ascended gear. Back piece use a rare power, toughness, crit dmg with a ruby or beryl jewel off auction house if you can’t afford an ascended.

Hey daphoenix, glad to see you again. Just wonder would you be able to help me by duelling me? It will be my honour. By doing so, you can see my lv so skill and tell me what I have been doing wrong and how to improve myself. My name in game is Kanne Moka, I take part in SOAC last Sat in the match up against Mesmer. I would like you to have a look and point out why did we lose and how can we improve our teamwork. Would be awesome if you can do it. Once the footage is released, I will let you know. Thanks a bunch in advance.