Guild Wars 2

How so FirstBlood, if every class has the option to play melee why not Elementalist? I play D/D with Fresh Air and Stone Splinters in WvW, works fine for me.

You should actually invest in both superior sharpening stones, and bloodlust/battle sigil.
Stick with celestial armor + weapons
Same runes (2x melandru, 2x monk, 2x water)
Go with power,toughness, critical damage rings (2) and an optional power, toughness, critical damage accessory (1), and the already power,toughness, critical damage backpiece. The rest of the trinkets should stay full celestial
This applies to all trait setups

Wow. Even if you’re still running 0/10/0/30/30 or something similar? That low Power number is downright scary to me.

flyingfox.6150:

How so FirstBlood, if every class has the option to play melee why not Elementalist? I play D/D with Fresh Air and Stone Splinters in WvW, works fine for me.

Having the option to do something doesn’t make it a smart choice. Don’t get me wrong, the melee ele is viable in PvP, but Stone Splinters and Fresh Air are just terrible traits for a D/D ele.

How is it terrible? It’s been working fine for me. Elaborate? I personally don’t feel D/D should be pigeon-holed into the same old bunker style. Granted, melee in WvW isn’t the most ideal choice but from what I’ve experienced, certain scenarios do favor melee even though one of our drawbacks is that we can’t active weapon swap.

Yes yes, we can’t weapon swap. We get that a lot. But we can swap attunements and decide to deal condition damage instead of direct, or we can heal, or we can control…
It’s not all just about range versus melee.

protomic.4627
“Took a look through the Celestial Gear analysis and it looks like it could be good. As you said, the analysis focused mainly on Fresh Air 0/30/0/10/30 builds, but I still prefer 0/10/10/20/30 bunker for D/D mainly for PvE. Is Celestial still viable over Knight’s gear in that build, or does it lose too much damage (power/prec/crit%) from not allocating points to air? If that is the case, is it still better to take Celestial on the helm and possibly one or two other pieces?”

I wrote a new response on the blog, and I believe you asked the question to the first one. For the last question, I would take celestial on items that have much more weighting first, i.e. coat / legs. These items offer more stats than the other pieces yet still have a fixed cost of 5 quartz crystals (to my knowledge)

FirstBlood.7359

Your statements are correct. In PvP, investing 30 points in water is definitely a big advantage for your team, and that outweighs the traitlines in other areas for D/D at least (such as earth). Then you’d still want to invest in 30 points in arcana, and well the rest in air for perma swiftness.. 30 points in air for D/D has too many drawbacks in sPvP, due to lack of survivability.
However in PvE and WvWvW, I don’t really think it matters too much. I think min/maxing is the most important aspect for both of them. Your setup doesn’t need to be tailored for a specific reason in these instances, unless you want to run a particular weapon type (staff for zerg WvWvW). In sPvP, synergy is much, much more important. Every little change in traitline makes a significant difference, especially since you have less stat points to work around. This brings out specific builds / trait/ gear roles, such as burst support, solo tanky point cap, roamer, etc.

Excala 16 featuring S/D play?

@ Daphoenix
Could you give me the info I am missing to analyse your new builds compared to your previous builds?
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/elementalist/Survivability-healing-and-passive-defence/first
I would like to know the food, runes, infusions and sigils of your previous gear and of your current gear. Thanks!
Also if you have any remarks on how I make this analysis I would be glad to hear them

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJAoYhEmmbwR5wjDAEFm4iQxDNUeMTO2A-jEzAo+ASQAJRAJ/AlAXGblLsV3oVeDiqWISbjphhVxoyAwMGA-w

This is what I am aiming for. Build and utilities are what I feel most comfortable roaming with.

Any optimizations on gear are most certainly welcomed.

Have a nice weekend.

If you could please take a look over it Excala, it would be nice.
It is different to yours as without 30 in air I have a harder time keeping up reasonable critchance to legitimate the high critical damage. I always preferred 36sec mightstacks over 10% less condiduration, so other runes. Overall I prefer a little more offensive playstyle.

Hello Daphoenyx.

First off all thx for the great guide and time you´ve invested in.
Is there a chance that you post your build your actual running.
Till now i running a bunker build ( 0 10 0 30 30) and i´m interessted
in testing your favorite 0 30 0 10 30 build.

So if you can build your temp here : http://en.gw2skills.net/
and post us your actual build i would really appreciate this.

So Thanks for your great work. I hope you keep on working

Regards… Rega

Thank you so much for this guide, Daphoenix! Using the 0/10/0/30/30 standard build with brand-new-80 soldier gear from Orr, and I can actually roam and kill in WvW! Awesome!

Now for those of us who choose to not drop our professions to power level tailoring to take advantage of this new gear, what would you recommend instead? currently im trying 3 cavalier and 3 zerker, with celestial off pieces and zerker daggers, but just a tad bit too squishy for my liking, so will try getting my toughness above 1600 (1524 atm).

Also im running 2 Sup Water runes and 4 melandru since i refuse to dungeon run for monks.

i tried the s/d but after a few days i settled back to my dagger dagger since the play style suited me better. Im very much a front liner.

build i’m using is the 0/10/10/20/30, roaming in wvwvw with group. I play almost exclusively for wvwvw, but prefer smaller groups over a zerg.

i am open to trying different gear combos out, as with runes and tweaks to my build, but i wish to remain a dagger dagger and not have to resort to dungeon running for gear, just having trouble finding the balance between too tanky im wasting stats and too squishy. Any help is appreciated.

I think it will be very helpfull when people post their build here. Its really easyer to help somebody when you know his armor/trait build.
Just use the build Websites and post your build here.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEAQFAWhEmmbxRywjDIkCng4hF4AcY5xMsD2AA-jEyAYrgQWQoCAJ/ioxWGLiGrqGQbjpiXUtMAMLA-w

Had this in mind for my ele.

I think your tinyurl build links might not be lining up with the descriptions. Some have identical traits, etc.

Rega.2719
rephrased question:
“Can you build your build on some form of template”

Sure here you go Rega :]. This build is a little generic though toward most setups, but this will give you the general idea :

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJAoYhEmmbwR5wjDAkCnIeYhDSUeMTO2A-jkyAo+ASQAJRAJ/ioxWGDS1Nal3wqqFS12Yq4ILDAzYA-w

If you want an overview over all of the gear, traits, and skills involved in detail for WvW, PvE, sPvP, etc. check out my compiled build list on my webby :]

https://daphoenix555.wordpress.com/3-build-and-gear-setup-updated/

oZii.2864
I’m taking a break from making videos :S

Zumy.6318
Your build is definitely viable! 0/20/0/20/30 is like a hybrid mix of other reasonably traited setups. 2x rune superior monk and 2x superior water is definitely a must have, and the last 2 runes are really optional. You could opt with really anything, although I prefer 2x major water or 2x melandru. In my opinion, if your opting for more might, I would suggest going 2x major water, as 10% buff increased over all buffs is superior to 20% might duration increase.

neven.3785
I put all of my recommended items/sets in Rega’s response and my webby link
As to your specific setup, I would opt celestial for berserker’s anyday. It provides the same amount of critical damage, if not more. Also you should never go more than 2x superior melandru.
When I originally created the 0/0/20/20/30 tanky WvW setup, I opted for 6x superior melandru with the addition of lemongrass + the earth 33% CC trait (before all the warrior craze with their new copycat trait). It would provide 98% CC reduction to chills, cripples, immobilize, but you’d sacrifice 30% boon duration, which was a big hit to both defense and offense. I never really have a problem with cc’s at 2x superior melandru (83% CC reduction to chills, cripple, immobilize using 0/0/20/20/30 setup)

neven.3785:

Now for those of us who choose to not drop our professions to power level tailoring to take advantage of this new gear, what would you recommend instead? currently im trying 3 cavalier and 3 zerker, with celestial off pieces and zerker daggers, but just a tad bit too squishy for my liking, so will try getting my toughness above 1600 (1524 atm).

Also im running 2 Sup Water runes and 4 melandru since i refuse to dungeon run for monks.

i tried the s/d but after a few days i settled back to my dagger dagger since the play style suited me better. Im very much a front liner.

build i’m using is the 0/10/10/20/30, roaming in wvwvw with group. I play almost exclusively for wvwvw, but prefer smaller groups over a zerg.

i am open to trying different gear combos out, as with runes and tweaks to my build, but i wish to remain a dagger dagger and not have to resort to dungeon running for gear, just having trouble finding the balance between too tanky im wasting stats and too squishy. Any help is appreciated.

I don’t use celestial gear but instead mix and match a bunch of stats. This is the gear breakdown I end up with:

Soldiers – Head, Chest, Pants, Dagger (Legendary, don’t have a choice)
Knights – Shoulder
Cavalier – Back, Accessories
Berserker – Amulet, Rings, Scepter, Gloves, Boots

I use 2 Superior Rune of the Monk, 2 Superior Runes of Water, 1 Superior Rune of Divinity and 1 Ruby Orb. Weapons have Sigil of Battle and Sigil of Bloodlust.

I end up with the stats shown below in the picture. However, I do sometimes switch my berserker rings for Cavalier rings if I find that there is a lot of damage being thrown around, or I’m playing a little poorly that night. I also use Truffle Ravioli (100 Toughness, 70 Precision) and Maintenance Oils. With the Cavalier rings I end up with another 206 toughness bringing up the total to 2786 armor with Rock Barrier up.

Now, could I end up with more crit damage? Yes. But I would lose some crit chance and some power along the way (while gaining toughness and other stats). I find that specializing in your chosen role is a little more fulfilling than speccing for everything but celestial gear isn’t a bad choice.

Think of this as an alternative to using celestial gear.

Edit – I just noticed you wanted this for a D/D build, so I went in game and re-specced with my balanced D/D build that I run with. Second picture is the set with D/D.

Gear:
Soldiers – Head, Chest, Pants, Dagger(Legendary, don’t have a choice)
Knights – Shoulder, Dagger, Boots, Gloves
Cavalier – Back, Accessories, Rings
Berserker – Amulet

Sometimes I switch the Knights dagger for a Berserker dagger for a little more crit damage. On this gear set I use 2 Superior Rune of the Monk, 2 Superior Runes of Water, 2 Superior Rune of Divinity. Weapons have Sigil of Battle and Sigil of Bloodlust.

Right now I runes of divinity with knights gear all stat trinkets.

I feel that the power of the elementalist is its healing now we don’t have to specifically trait for it the power is more in the frequency at which we heal through just normal play.

I currently rune ether renewal but I feel that signet of restoration is the better heal for d/d. The problem is when you get condi bombed then you are hurting. I also have a warrior on my warrior I run the popular setup of melandru runes lemongrass. So I was thinking how I could move that over to my ele but not take a large damage loss from my divinity runes.

So this is what I came up with.

http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/elementalist/?1.0|8.1n.h2.8.1n.0|0.0.0.0.0.0|1c.79.1n.79.1c.79.1c.79.1c.79.1n.79|3v.d19.3v.0.2v.0.211.d13.311.d17.2v.0|0.a1.0.u15b.u56b|15.1|1n.1u.1v.1s.28|e

The effective power loss is not huge and it retains the numbers I like for armor (2.7k guy) and hp at 17k I lose 12 critical damage 20 critical chance but I can keep pressure up since I would be running the signet and have -60% condition duration .Ether renewal is basically 3 secs of not doing damage. Pretty much signet is good against everyone except condi builds. I don’t find I really need to burst heal often against none condi classes unless its like 2 thieves on me and a swap to water and dodge roll are usually enough to get me back up.

I haven’t put this together yet I need to get more badges but was wondering if anyone else runs something similar.

As much as I want to love the Celestial gearing strategy (as it seems so well balanced and all) there’s still a lot that bothers me.

For example, the power loss is so significant that running the Full Celestial + Cavalier pieces versus 100% Soldier items actually results in less effective power, despite the very high crit damage. Of course it also has much lower defensive stats. (Except healing power)

The exact effective power difference varies by build (About 12% less in a 0/0/20/20/30 build, and maybe 3% in a Fresh Air build) but 100% Solder always seems to come out on top for overall damage. The Celestial gear does have the advantage of being occasionally bursty though, I suppose.

There does come a point where after stacking Bloodlust to 25 and getting some might stacks that the Celestial set does start coming up on top, but not by much. (It takes a full 25 stack of Bloodlust and 21 stacks of Might before Celestial is on top in 0/0/20/20/30. It takes significantly less for a Fresh Air build) So there is that, but it becomes a question of whether you can maintain that level of Power buffing on a regular basis.

You do get some condition damage in there, but it’s hardly significant.

I think the TL;DR here is that the Celestial gearing strategy seems like a good way to make a non-glass burst build, but I’m dubious of the value of it for any build that isn’t running 30 in Air. (Mostly because the Precision from Celestial alone ends up being too low to take advantage of the high crit %)

Bovinity.8610:

I think the TL;DR here is that the Celestial gearing strategy seems like a good way to make a non-glass burst build, but I’m dubious of the value of it for any build that isn’t running 30 in Air. (Mostly because the Precision from Celestial alone ends up being too low to take advantage of the high crit %)

This. I’m facing the same dilemma right now. I’m running a mix of PVT + Celestial Helmet and a mix of Celestial and Cavalier Trinkets. I’m pretty happy with most of my stats as of now. Pretty tanky but has a decent crit chance/damage (17k HP, 2.7k toughness, 73% crit damage, 51% crit chance, 447 healing).

The problem lies now in Power. I only have 2,587 attack and I find it pretty weak even after getting might and 25 stacks of bloodlust. I’m unable to use Sharpening Stones because my Crit chance will drop below 45%. It’s easier to hit 3.6k atk with the right food and stacks of might and bloodlust when I was still running the standard PVT set.

TL;DR – Celestial is good when you’re balancing out defensive and crit related stats but don’t let it deceive you as you lose more Power than you’d notice. I don’t know the math, but as far as I’ve noticed high crit damage with low power doesn’t cut it.

The problem lies now in Power. I only have 2,587 attack and I find it pretty weak even after getting might and 25 stacks of bloodlust. I’m unable to use Sharpening Stones because my Crit chance will drop below 45%. It’s easier to hit 3.6k atk with the right food and stacks of might and bloodlust when I was still running the standard PVT set.

Yeah, and it would be fine but this game values damage over survivability far too much. Bunkering up is fine in sPvP but in WvW all it generally means is that you can’t kill anyone and you end up just living a little longer.

On that note, am I the only one that feels even squishier than normal lately? Seems like a couple weeks ago I felt unkillable, now I’m running full PVT and toughness/vit food and still eating 9k backstabs. It really feels like something changed recently. That or I’m just running into a lot of full zerker people.

I actually really dislike the celestial gear after going through the trouble of making some. Stats are more balanced, but you lose ALOT of toughness and power. Am I the only one thinking celestial gear needs a buff given how much of a pain in the sack it is to get? The individual stats are what, half what it would be on something else? I’d be a lot happier if the stats were about 75% instead of less than half of what I could get by taking a zerker ring or something else. It will take forever to craft a whole set because of the stupid time gated thing requiring charged quartz that you can only make once a day. They should buff it given what a pain it is to get. Yeah I realize we get a little bit of everything from celestial, but that’s still no excuse. Half as effective at everything instead of being good at a few things isn’t that great in my opinion.

Nikkinella.8254:

I actually really dislike the celestial gear after going through the trouble of making some. Stats are more balanced, but you lose ALOT of toughness and power. Am I the only one thinking celestial gear needs a buff given how much of a pain in the sack it is to get? The individual stats are what, half what it would be on something else? I’d be a lot happier if the stats were about 75% instead of less than half of what I could get by taking a zerker ring or something else. It will take forever to craft a whole set because of the stupid time gated thing requiring charged quartz that you can only make once a day. They should buff it given what a pain it is to get. Yeah I realize we get a little bit of everything from celestial, but that’s still no excuse. Half as effective at everything instead of being good at a few things isn’t that great in my opinion.

My only theory is that whatever they do with the magic find change is what will make celestial worthwhile. That is the only way I can see it tbh. If it is boon duration like many suggest that would be a cool bonus but still not enough imo.

The defensive stats on celestial depend on what you value. I think most people have at least 2-3 stats that they value more than others. I think the mistake some people are making is that the they value those 3 stats then look for a way to make celestial better than what they currently have because it is new.

I made a celestial dagger equipped it ran around with it for a day transmutated back to knights. Crit damage is good on it (great actually) but the chance is so low unless your high in your precision line. I don’t know I still collect my crystals daily just in case but I don’t plan on gearing full celestial.

If it’s boon duration that would make it worth using a few pieces of it, depending on how high the boon duration is. Maybe I could afford to lose the boon duration runes on my armor then and put something like scholar runes or divinity, or something with a nice effect that gives me a crapload of toughness or healing.

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fEQQJAoYhMmmbyR4gjDAUGmci8wDlHzkjNA-jEyAorASfAJCAJPh1EoiYVrIasabMVMRUtQAjWAA-w

Okay I exaggerated. It has 3.9k attack with 25 might and 25 stacks of bloodlust

Raif.9507

I think thats a good alternative to mix and match sets if you don’t like going celestial. I guess the question is how much you value stats other than power, prec, crit dmg and toughness. For me I like a balance of everything, it allows me to be more versatile in any situation :].

Bovinity.8610/Kyon.9735/Nikkinella.8254
For the tradeoff in power, that is why I use superior sharpening stones to balance it off. Also bloodlust helps in offsetting power loss, and its fairly easy to obtain at least 9 stacks of might in combat from just weapon swapping.

Also I suggested using cavalier rings, backpiece, and one accessory (you could opt for more anyhow).

oZii.2864
I agree with you on the weighing stats for celestial. That is why in my calculations in finding stat point trade off for celestial vs knight items I assign the following weights:

https://daphoenix555.wordpress.com/
-> Celestial stat analysis

Weighted values for stat types:
1 : Critical damage, power, precision, and toughness
0.5: Vitality, condition damage, healing power.

Now I could have assigned all stats in equal weights. But that would not make sense, since I’m happy where my vitality, healing power, and condition damage are at.
If you had assigned a higher value for those traits, critical damage wouldn’t be worth as much, and power would be worth a lot more.

Magic find is not really relevant

Rhythm.7256
Well like I said earlier, mixing and matching is dependant on how much you value each trait. I like having all traits, for versatility reasons. For instance, condition damage is worth more when your fighting heavily armored opponents. Healing power makes a difference when your constantly fighting and need to recover quickly. Vitality to prevent burst attacks, etc.

I haven’t tested my attack , but attack is just a gauge for damage. Its not used in any calculations, power, critical damage, and precision are.

Also sacrificing runes for divinity / ruby is not worth it imo, even though it gives you much more attack. However, attack is just an inflated value. That 30-40% additional boon duration goes miles to increased sustained DPS, survivability, etc. Its like a hidden attribute that boosts everything up basically.

Incase anyone wants to know how to defeat Liadri, here’s my build setup:

0/0/20/20/30 (same one as on my guide)
https://daphoenix555.wordpress.com/3-build-and-gear-setup-updated/

Utilities:
Ether renewal, lightning flash, arcane shield, mist form

Elite:
Fiery great sword

Food:
Lemongrass poultry
Superior Sharpening stones
(Alternative, opt for orian truffles to grant +40% endurance reg)
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————
From dulfy’s guide:
http://dulfy.net/2013/08/06/gw2-queens-gauntlet-guide/#12

Make sure to:
1. Turn off post processing in options
2. Party with someone so you can call target (CTRL+T)
3. Scroll your camera all the way back to see impending shadowfalls

You can use D/D, S/F, S/D, or staff here. Personally I prefer D/D because I have much better control than the other weapon setups.

Phase 1:
Keep swapping attunements to upkeep your healing. If your using D/D, use long range abilities in phase 1 to aggro the clone bombs toward the white areas. Long range abilities include Fire2, Water2, Water1, etc.

If your stuck in an area about to get hit by shadowfall, time your dodge such that you dodge once shadowfall hits. Otherwise resort to arcane shield to block, LF, or mistform (not recommended though) or if you can just simply walk out of it.

Oh and make sure to kill those orbs otherwise they pull you. When you get downed for any reason, quickly filter through targets and find one if possible, if not delay your vapor form to hopefully find an orb.

Phase 2:
Liadri will go melee you / daggerstorm which in all honesty doesn’t really do that much damage to your high healing rate. The real problem is the clone bombs and the much larger range of shadowfall.

Shadowfall’s instant KO ring has a safe zone that goes around in a circle, so just circle your way around. Its actually much easier for an ele to do it thanks to FGS. Make sure to summon your elite FGS right after phase 1 is done.

Use the following:
1. FGS’s 1st ability to primarily deal damage to Liadri. This ability has a 360* range cast type, so you can run around in circles without ever having to look at Liadri while dealing damage.
2. FGS’s 3rd ability to reposition yourself into the safe zones. It also acts as a dodge, so you can literally stay in shadowfall the entire time and simply dodge it using the 3rd ability. Sometimes you’ll be casting FGS’s 1st ability and need to use FGS’s 3rd ability to dodge, and it doesn’t work.
You can cancel your attack by pressing [ESCAPE]

3. Use lightning flash + FGS’s 4th ability if you get the chance. You might die on the clones but chances are you’ll kill them at the same time, allowing a rally.

4. After you burnt out your FGS’s (and its pick ups), you need to just use your remaining abilities to finish her last ~20% HP. Personally I used D/D long range attacks.

Why isn’t this mega topic sticked?

It’s getting close to 500k views!

If by some miracle they remove the MF stat from Celestial and add boon duration, I will be using this. http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJAoYhMmkbzR4wjEIEFmQGOK0BiCPQ5xMkD2AA-jEzAoehQCCIJKIJfiM2EIU5sIasqahItNmKO12bADuisJPrCBobLA-w

The last time they released an armor with boon duration you remember how much it had?

i’m hoping for a decent amount on this. Probably wont happen, but oh well. Maybe they’ll just remove that one stat and boost all the others up without adding anything new. That would be just as good.

Kodiak.3281
dunno

Nikkinella.8254/Zelyhn.8069
That’d be awesome if they did, but I highly doubt it :S
————————————————

I updated the build guide to be relevant / made it easier to read:

http://daphoenix555.wordpress.com/3-build-and-gear-setup-updated/

Quick Update on what I run atm:

0/0/20/20/30
Signet of Air, Mistform, LF, FGS
All celestial Armor/weapons + celestial trinkets / cavalier mix

0/30/0/10/30
Armor of Earth, Mistform, LF, FGS
All celestial weapons/armor, 5 cavalier trinkets, 1 celestial amulet

How high do you critically hit on S/D? I see very little power and critchance for very high critical damage.

This is my current build, Ill be testing this weekend.
http://de.gw2skills.net/editor/?fEAQJArYhEmmbwxzwjDIkCmg4hF4AcY5xMkD2AA-j0zAoeQ0FAJCkIAk8DUyTZNBCW1Cb1NIl3opqTt2GT5CpeBUxIyAwsFA-w

Edith: Ok, I did the Math. You win.

any plans to make a new video with the new celestial gear in use? just to show off the numbers you get and what not…

daphoenix.4283:

protomic.4627
In PvP, investing 30 points in water is definitely a big advantage for your team, and that outweighs the traitlines in other areas for D/D at least (such as earth). Then you’d still want to invest in 30 points in arcana, and well the rest in air for perma swiftness.. 30 points in air for D/D has too many drawbacks in sPvP, due to lack of survivability.
However in PvE and WvWvW, I don’t really think it matters too much. I think min/maxing is the most important aspect for both of them. Your setup doesn’t need to be tailored for a specific reason in these instances, unless you want to run a particular weapon type (staff for zerg WvWvW). In sPvP, synergy is much, much more important. Every little change in traitline makes a significant difference, especially since you have less stat points to work around. This brings out specific builds / trait/ gear roles, such as burst support, solo tanky point cap, roamer, etc.

I play a lot of dungeons and fractal, from speedruns to pug i play almost only istances.

Ele is quite in a bad position, unless you are carried by other professions and go conjured (that personally i don t even see as an alementalist) you can have your only identity with 30 points in water.

Mostly because you can t do dps anyway (unless conjured) so at least you can shine in those really few situations:

Aetherblade retreat and cliffside fractal are 2 clear examples where elementalist cond cleaning makes really the difference :/ even better than guardians.
Unfortunately its still too situational.

ele needs something other to work with.

^ exactly, LordByron. Well and somewhat buffing team mates while causing minor disruption can work somewhat ok. But other than that and healing, no.

That’s why I basically switched to Necromancer, less frustrating to play then pressing 5891282 skills as Ele to a mediocre result, that is only good when I can heal group members with the usual worn out ….30/30 or 20/30 spec (30 forced arcane points everytime ftl – just give the ele faster attunement swapping by default), and as any other class you don’t die super fast to big hits anymore as you do as Ele with its super low HP pool (except if you max toughness.. for super low damage output as a result).

And I don’t see a non-heal “mixed stats” (read: vit/tough/prec/power/crit%) ele going anywhere either, except to be mediocre in every circumstance compared to other classes, especially warriors or guardians, and still die faster.

However, I would play Ele again if there was a weapon switch, even if it is only out of combat. But I still don’t understand why ele is 1) complicated to play AND 2) has lowest hp/armor AND 3) has mediocre damage AND 4) got his mobility nerfed more and more (RTL) so it’s no longer fun to play in WvW either (bad flow). Something seems wrong here, no?

Yeah. It’s your perception.

If anything, ele has numerous builds (that are working at least “nice”) to choose from, that cover the whole range of options regarding your “role”. One (or more) of them is a full bers build with no more (or less) support than than other zerks. It could be the zerk staff build or a might stacking scepter one with survivability coming mainly from food (like all the others) and/or utilities.

This one (d/d), is a nicely balanced build for all around purposes which naturally can’t be zerking. Why?! Because it already has a great mobility and condition removal. Just imagine how op would be a GS warrior that has all the mobility he needs to stick on you while spamming “hundred blades”, can remove conditions adequately, and has moderate to good healing. That! … would be your d/d ele with more damage.

You ought to recognize and understand the trade-offs. The easier a target you make and the easier you die, the more damage you can do. The less damage output, the more you can withstand 1 or more opponents. It’s natural in existence, it’s organic, and you have to work with it.

For example, we have such low armor and vitality because we are inherently better at replenishing our health pool. 4 good heals on low cd, in every spec with evasive arcana, 3 otherwise. The poor mesmers have only one moderate heal, on a 20 sec cd.

And despite that, they are not unbalanced because their way of surviving is, mitigating damage (through build-in mechanics) and having a larger health pool (so that they don’t have enough tools to escape all deaths, like gods).

If you find a working build inadequate, chances are you can’t handle the mechanics. It’s not that it ain’t good, it’s that you are not ready, able or willing to do what it was made to do.

I don`t know how long since you`ve played an d/d ele, but they don`t have great mobility, not even close.
I`ve a necro that can out run ele & not have to lose damage to do so, ranger the same, thief & warrior are the best mobility in the game by miles, literally
Still yet to see a good reason why all of those that can weapon swap melee/range are allowed better mobility then a d/d which is purely melee range with no options.
As for our heals, yes they can be good, but everyone of them is a HoT or small heals combined.
Warriors built right can heal just as well, if not better, yet still are much higher damage then d/d ele are.
Same goes for Guardian & their heals can go from almost dead to full instantly.

It’s a matter of perspective and perception. What you see as no mobility I see as a good one. Case in point, we have extra vigor regeneration which allows for many extra dodges, a built-in dodge in Air #5 (speaking strictly for d/d), a pull in earth #3, a (usually) uninterrupted charge in Air #3, enough uptime in speed boon to make it “permanent” and another charge in Fire #3.

That’s 6 ways to get closer/further from your opponent (since you can use all of these to achieve either) plus 4 more (for a total of 10) in the utilities which are Lighting Flash (teleport), Lighting Hammer #2 (which also counts as blast finisher) and FGS #3 & #4 (charge). I understand these last 4, are optional but so is the weapon of choice…

In regards to healing, Water #2 and ER (#6) work on ticks but Water #5 and dodge-heal (EA) are instant. Granted, they are not heals of the greatest magnitude, but then again, compared to a guardian for example, they are not in a 20 sec cd. And 3 of them remove conditions, while one of them makes you immune for a second because it is bult in dodges (which you have more, to begin with). And if allowed to take it a step further, the blast-combo heals from staff-Water #3 or #5, and Earth #2 or Arcane Wave can also be counted and they are instant and AoE.

Now, as a gentle reminder, I have all classes. Though I mainly occupy myself with PvE content, I have experience on most of the popular specs.
Best damage dealing warriors are GS and axe/axe – axe/mace. Neither of those has enough innate mobility to chase an ele down so what comes down the pvp drain is at best a substitute of the latter, with reduced damage output. Guardian on the other hand if specced around AH, has 2 very moderate heals (unless built with cleric in which case he hits like a wet noodle) in utility, one great (#6 which is what fills them up instantly) and little cond. removal. Anything that deviates from these specs and has more damage and healing is more than likely restricted in other areas such as condition removal, mobility, bursting capabilities (which are important in their own respect), support. If it survives a lot and you are still dieing in ways you shoulnd’t, chances are you have an old computer and you don’t see that thief right behind you or the ranger hanging upstairs shooting you down.

It’s not that the game is unbalanced. It’s that it gives enough options to create situations you haven’t accounted for. What you need to do is to observe and keep an open mind. Like where you see for example a knockback (Air #5), I see a dodge. Someone else sees the gap opener, while another cares for the interrupt and a 5th one reads a great roaming ability. Even a sixth one exists, who sees +1% damage because of the boon.
See how many options lie intrinsically in a single ability you most likely neglect?!

Has the new stats for superior rune of the traveler been interesting enough for usage in anyone’s elementalist build?

Just to remind people so they don’t need to look it up:
(1): +10 to All Stats; +2% Critical Damage
(2): +15% Boon Duration
(3): +10 to All Stats; +2% Critical Damage
(4): +10% Condition Duration
(5): +10 to All Stats; +2% Critical Damage
(6): +25% Movement Speed

Taking just two is tempting, haha.

hi, i’m german and my english isnt very well, so i cant understand daphoenix guides not so good :/
so could someone tell me what is actuelly a good dd-ele build for middle-group-team-playing (i prefere doing dmg in my group if i can this good with dd) (ca 10-15players)?
it would be nice if you get me a build with this tool here:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEUQBAA-j0xAJ/ioxWGDS1Nal3wqqFS12Yq4ILDAzYA-w

Thakis.6931,
If you are just doing PvE with your group of friends, then any stats works fine for d/d. If you want to do damage and support your group, which d/d is goof for, then get gear with Power and Healing Power. Trait Water line 15+, and your choice of anything else that looks good. A more survivable way to go would be Shaman and Dire gear, Earth line 30, and Water line 15+. That will do decent condition damage. If you want to WvW, then you will need Arcana line 30 to get the Arcane Evasion trait.

IceBlink.4317:

Has the new stats for superior rune of the traveler been interesting enough for usage in anyone’s elementalist build?

Just to remind people so they don’t need to look it up:
(1): +10 to All Stats; +2% Critical Damage
(2): +15% Boon Duration
(3): +10 to All Stats; +2% Critical Damage
(4): +10% Condition Duration
(5): +10 to All Stats; +2% Critical Damage
(6): +25% Movement Speed

Taking just two is tempting, haha.

Like you said; I’ve seen many take 2 of these, with 2 water, and 2 monk (think it’s monk) for the +15% boon duration for all of their second tiers. I haven’t tested it myself but that would be 45% boon duration increase if they stack.

Wraistlin.6072:

IceBlink.4317:

Has the new stats for superior rune of the traveler been interesting enough for usage in anyone’s elementalist build?

Just to remind people so they don’t need to look it up:
(1): +10 to All Stats; +2% Critical Damage
(2): +15% Boon Duration
(3): +10 to All Stats; +2% Critical Damage
(4): +10% Condition Duration
(5): +10 to All Stats; +2% Critical Damage
(6): +25% Movement Speed

Taking just two is tempting, haha.

Like you said; I’ve seen many take 2 of these, with 2 water, and 2 monk (think it’s monk) for the +15% boon duration for all of their second tiers. I haven’t tested it myself but that would be 45% boon duration increase if they stack.

They do stack

ImProVocateur.5189:

Thakis.6931,
If you are just doing PvE with your group of friends, then any stats works fine for d/d. If you want to do damage and support your group, which d/d is goof for, then get gear with Power and Healing Power. Trait Water line 15+, and your choice of anything else that looks good. A more survivable way to go would be Shaman and Dire gear, Earth line 30, and Water line 15+. That will do decent condition damage. If you want to WvW, then you will need Arcana line 30 to get the Arcane Evasion trait.

ah sry, i forget to say that i want only play in wvw
so i need a wvw-build for my dd-ele
it would be nice if you or another here give me a completely build for this

IceBlink.4317:

Has the new stats for superior rune of the traveler been interesting enough for usage in anyone’s elementalist build?

Just to remind people so they don’t need to look it up:
(1): +10 to All Stats; +2% Critical Damage
(2): +15% Boon Duration
(3): +10 to All Stats; +2% Critical Damage
(4): +10% Condition Duration
(5): +10 to All Stats; +2% Critical Damage
(6): +25% Movement Speed

Taking just two is tempting, haha.

I at first went a full 6 piece traveler. Then I dropped down to 2 traveler, 2 monk, 2 water thats 75% boon duration if you are 30 arcana no food. 95% if you run it with the boon duration food. If you wanted to play around for 100% throw on 3 platinum doubloons in your exotic trinkets if you run exotics.

I went with 75% though and I run 20 earth no air traits, 20 water, 30 arcana. Fury is good if you can cycle often not as good at 10 air but it’s not bad at all. I run rock solid trait so I get 3.5 secs of stability when I earth attune which gives me a guaranteed ether renewal if the stab isnt stripped. Swiftness up time is good also that I don’t feel I have to run the 6 piece I just have to think a bit more when I want to turn the speed on.

@daphoenix

0/0/20/20/30 why are you using Cavalier’s trinkets but not Knight’s?

In this build Knight’s will give you more damage cause of a low basic crit chance and also mae you get vigor boon more often.

With a very high Fury uptime your crit chance is > 50% anyway, making the +critdmg from Cavalier’s more useful.

elithrar.7143:

With a very high Fury uptime your crit chance is > 50% anyway, making the +critdmg from Cavalier’s more useful.

Shadowfall is referring to the 0/0/20/20/30 build which only has 15% base crit chance with 57 crit dmg.

Going to be testing this build in both d/d and d/f.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEQQJAodhMmabvR3wjEAkCmMe0xGkIU8gFlCzA-jUCBYjBk+AkKAI5rIasFSFRjVbDTXKpaXCyuDJVGgixA-w

I’ve always loved our signets. It’s just finding a good build that has the best crit dmg—>dmg ratio. Many ppl seem to shy away from not going 20-30 into arcana. But that’s where I feel like signets make up for that. Well see, testing in progress in wvw soon.