Guild Wars 2

Hello Forumers,

This will be my second guide for users who want another indepth guide to something that’s not a dagger /dagger elementalist. There’s already a few Scepter /dagger guides out there, but I felt like there is a need for a user guide to one of the more common weapons that a elementalist utilizes.

My original dagger/dagger (D/D) thread:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/elementalist/Guide-Mastering-the-D-D-ele-12-20-12

I don’t expect this guide to be done that early either. I still need to finish making my d/d ele guide sometime :S

Update Notes

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Table of Contents

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Why use a staff as an elementalist?
I had mentioned some background information on all weapon types as an elementalist / reasons to play an elementalist in general on my other guide.
I will go into more detail as to the reasons why the staff is a very useful weapon as an ele.

Staff elementalists (I’m going call them staffies) can deal a lot of damage at long range, with a maximum range potential of 1200 units on all the auto attacking abilities. Staffies have some of the best ranged crowd controlling (CC) abilities in the game, and very strong support abilities for the team. They also have a large potential for combos as well, as staffies possess several types of fields (fire, air, frost, and water), which leads to great synergy combinations between allies.

Staffies are most commonly found in PvE and WvWvW. There not as commonly found in the competitive PvP arena, due to nerfs in the past rendering them less useful in terms of support and survivability. However, most people don’t even play competitive PvP anyways, so this guide will still be relevant to mostly everyone =P

In WvWvW, staffies are considered to be one of the strongest weapon setups in the game for large scale battles (zerg battles). In these large scale battles, staffies can press deal a lot of damage to zerg armies with meteor showers, heal entire armies with water fields, cut off army escapes with crowd controlling fields, harass at choke points, etc. They can ultimately determine whether a large scale battle is won or lost, and having plenty of staffies on your team generally increases a zerg army’s success.

In PvE, staffies generally sit in the back and spam buttons at random depending on the situation. They generally should not get hit because the enemy’s AI is not really intelligent enough to target them most of the time. They can dish a lot of damage out depending on their setup, while providing great team heals and support /cc at long range.

Build Background
There are several traits worth mentioning before describing what the possible staffie builds are out there.

Water 15(Passive)– This skill is a must have for almost all elementalist builds. It provides a large burst healing for up to 5 allies at a heal amount of

Amount healed = Base Amount (1302 @ 80) + Healing Power
Coupled with 30 points in arcana, this provides a large sustainable burst heal to the team every 9-12 seconds for up to 5 players

Arcana V – This trait is a must have for any elementalist build. It gives you 5 seconds of regeneration, protection, swiftness, or might depending on your attunement. With 30 arcana and full duration boon gear, it gives you 8 seconds!

Arcana VIII – This trait is needed for any staff elementalist, as increasing your total area of effects on your AoE spell is incredibly useful. Note that the cap limit for hitting enemies at any given time is maxed out at 5 enemies, and heal limit caps from water fields are at 5 allies as well. However, this does not stop your allies from doing blast combos on your water field to heal themselves (namely with projectile finishers that grant them regeneration). So you technically can heal more than 5 people indirectly, and this works great for those super large scale events with 30 people in your field. See link for more details

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Combo

Also if you run a 30 arcana build, the traits that you should take are:
Arcana V, Arcana VI,Arcana VIII, and Arcana XI

You have 3 traits to pick from, and any combination of these 3 are viable depending on what you want. Arcana VI is only picked in the instance vs. real players (WvWvW and PvP)

Build Types
As mentioned above, having 15 points in water and 20 points in arcana are a must have in my opinion for any staff build setup. That leaves 35 points into whatever else you want to put, depending on your play preference. I will list the builds out in terms of what points I put in each field (water magic, arcane power, fire magic, etc), and then list possible alternate traits along with it.

PvE staffie builds and WvWvW

0/10/0/30/30
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEAQBYAg8wEUKRU4hyjZ2xGA
(I use this build setup the most, same point setup as D/D so no need to retrait^^^)

0/20/0/20/30
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEAQBYAgowEUEKewiyjZ2xGA

0/25/0/25/20
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEAQBYAgywEUkMewiiiZ2B
(Utilize heavy amounts of criticals from AoE to cause vulnerability to enemies)

0/20/0/30/20
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEAQBYAg8wEUKRo4BLKKmZHA

0/15/0/25/30
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEAQBYAgyAFTkHeo8YmdsB
(Use both the air and water minor traits to deal more damage+single target focus)

10/0/0/30/30
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEAQBYAg84EXMJUQhyjZ2xGA
(Run 3 cantrips to and use those to heal, grant yourself might, and remove conditions. 20% faster cooldown on cantrips to utilize them more effectively)

30/30/0/10/0
http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fEAQFAWhEmObyR2wjDAkCoEeQADJIe8gFSA;T8Ag0ynEOJdS9kyJqcM5IyxmjLHZOjMOQMXA
(This is a pure fire type setup, only recommended for PvE (Hypno.2649))

20/0/0/30/20
http://www.gw2db.com/skills/calc/elementalist#5|0|2771|48|100|3928|1027|20|1665|1658|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|30|2261|1680|2259|20|2250|1631|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0

Old cantrip build w/ use in conjured weapons. See Kodiaks response page 2 for more details
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/elementalist/Guide-Mastering-the-Staff-Ele-1-18-13/page/2 → Control F “Kodiak”

tPvP Builds

0/0/10/30/30
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEAQBYAg84EVYZUIkyjZ2xGA
(Use the armor of earth cantrip trait in conjunction with cantrip boosting water traits)

0/10/0/30/30
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEAQBYAg8wEUKRU4hyjZ2xGA
(There are other staff builds for tPvP, most are similar variations)

List of of traits + allocation of points reasoning + passives

Fire IV is chosen as one of the traits in the build as staffies have a harder time obtaining mights of stack then D/D elementalists. You should run both lightning flash + cleansing flame if running this trait

Earth III grants armor of earth, which is stability + protection. Elementalists do not have very many methods of obtaining stability without using an elite, so this free cantrip is very useful. Note: I believe its still bugged and triggers at 30% HP instead of 50% HP. Same ability as the real armor of earth utility

Air I is chosen because you can use magnetic aura (30second CD spell, earth spell #3) to grant yourself 8 seconds of fury swiftness (with boon duration gear). This allows you to obtain permanent swiftness and fury at all times while constantly attunement swapping.
edit: you can obtain perma swiftness already, but you can’t upkeep your fury 24/7 without utilizing air1 + magnetic aura. I’m also factoring in the Arcana V trait + 2-3second fury per attunement swap 9second attunement swaps.
Also you can use water4+blast finishers to grant “area frost armor (auras)”

Air VI is chosen because most of the other air abilities revolve around staying in air attunement, which is not something we want. It is a semi decent trait, as most of the earth/fire/air traits are bad anyways

Water III is used in conjunction with cantrips to provide vigor (double endurance regeneration) and regeneration. It stacks very well with Water XI to make all cantrips remove conditions as well. Cantrips are cleaning flame, armor of earth, mist form, and lightning flash.

Water V is used as it provides a 9-12 second method of removing a condition off yourself and your teammates without casting anything. It is a very good standalone trait in water tree.

Water VI is very useful for a staffie as it provides 10% more damage across all spells granted your HP is above 90%. Since most PvE’s AI is rather lacking, you can easy have over 90% HP most of the time anyways. WvWvW is a different story though, your HP will almost never be above 90% in combat.

Water VII is used primarily in tPvP. Chill and burning are considered to be two of the strongest conditions in the game (immobilization is considered the strongest CC condition). Having a dodge roll to remove those 2 conditions can help you stay alive longer and give you more options

Water IX is used in conjunction with Fire IV, and Water III + Water XI to remove conditions. Focus is heavy on cantrips

Water XI is used because you can give yourself more ways to remove conditions. Using

Water III with this trait allows all cantrips to remove one condition, as Water III makes your cantrips give you regeneration. Swapping to Water attunement with Arcana V provides regeneration also, so that’s another method of getting a condition removal. Also blast projectiles + water fields provides an additional method of removing conditions, as you gain regeneration there too.

Water XII is used because you can provide the magnetic aura from the earth tree to your allies, and this can be used in conjunction with Air I to give your allies swiftness+fury too, with a permanent upkeep.
Water VIII (aka Arcane abatement) Not shown in the build maker website. Provides 50% damage reduction on falls, which is extremely useful in WvWvW and PvE. Note that the water fall does not work properly. Earth provides a knockdown on everyone (same as D/D earth4 ability), air provides the equivalent of staff 5, and fire provides the d/d’s fire4 ability.

Arcana V is one of the best traits for an elementalist. 5 seconds of regeneration, swiftness, protection, and might (8seconds with boonduration gear).

Arcana VI gives approximately 10 seconds of vigor (with boon duration gear on) at a 33% chance on critical hits. Used in conjunction with heavy crit chance builds allows you to permanently upkeep this, allowing you to utilize Arcana XI more often and dodge more

Arcana VIII increased AoE effects on staff is always more useful.
edit: i also feel it may be worth noting that blasting staff does not increase the size of the green circle used for targeting ground-targeted skills. this applies to fire2, water 2-5, air5, and earth2. (Akbaroth.2861)

Arcana XI is the best trait for the elementalist. Opens up a lot more viable tactical / combat options and versatility. Has a 10 second CD for each attunement roll, and with 30 arcana, your attunement recharge rate is at 9 seconds. Therefore its synergize each roll with attunement swaps. The water roll is considered to be the most useful, as it provides a 1.6~2.1k heal depending on your heal power and removes one condition. Also can be applied to allies as well, granting another method of removing conditions off allies + healing them (the equivalent spell is D/D spell water#5, with a 40second CD). The earth spell acts as a blast finisher, meaning you can use this in conjunction with water fields to grant effects. Earth dodge roll + water field = ~2k area healing. Earth dodge roll + fire field =3 stacks of might ~30seconds long. Earth dodge roll + static field = more swiftness (not really that useful though here). Fire gives you app. 3 seconds of burning to all nearby targets at the end of the roll, and ~500 damage PbAoE damage (same effect as the superior fire sigil). Air dodge roll gives you an AoE blind, which is useful for staffies. Note that the dodge roll spell’s attunement is based off the end of the roll, not the beginning.

Arcana XII is used primarily in competitive PvP. Use this with arcane blast and arcane wave, and Arcana I

Passives

Fire5 is not useful because you shouldn’t get hit while in melee as a staffie

Air5 is kind of useless as movement speeds don’t stack with swiftness

Air15 is amazing for single targeting DPS. Damage is around 2000 and can critical (can’t remember exact numbers). Also you must be in combat to use this while swapping to air, and within 900? range

Earth5 is okay and semiuseful

Water5 is extremely useful. Used in conjunction with Arcana15 to provide you longer amounts of passive regeneration (note this is not considered as “regeneration”, its just a HP/sec buff). At 390 healing power, this skill passively gives 100 HP / sec to yourself and all nearby allies at level 80

Water15 is extremely useful as well. ~2k heal every time you swap to water attunement is awesome

Water25 is also extremely useful. All passive water traits are. 2% more damage per boon really adds up with boon duration gear. It is fairly easy to always have a passive 10% damage boost overall with this trait, using boons such as vigor, regeneration, protection, fury, swiftness, and sometimes stability;

Arcana5 is very useful. 2 seconds of fury per attunement swap. Goes to 3seconds with full boon duration gear.

Arcana15 is used in conjunction with water5 mainly, which is useful

Arcana 25 is an okay trait. Wiki says it has a 7.5% chance to proc
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Arcane_Precision

Utilities for Staffies (in order of my preferences)

Glyph of storms – 10 seconds AoE spell. This spell works extremely well on earth attunement. You can use it to effectively create a storm that constantly blinds everyone, making your team basically invulnerable in PvE for 10seconds. Has a 60second cooldown. Note that the spell that is casted at the end is based off of the attunement you start casting it with

See wiki for more details
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Glyph_of_storms

Conjured frostbow- adds another method of spamming long range damage. Its 4th ability is used the main use of this bow. It provides heavy amount of AoE damage to big targets, as they have larger hit boxes. Those include bosses, buildings, etc. Its 5th ability provides a stun that cannot be broken once hit. 3rd ability provides a quick DPS with chill effects, and the 2nd ability is a mediocre single targeting DPS skill. The 1st ability is pure crap. Frostbow is very useful in many dungeons in fractals, for instance the ice elementals, the fire imp’s shield form, etc. Also a good strategy to utilize is to do an evasive arcana dodge roll in water attunement with this on to grant yourself more healing. You can swap attunements while having frostbow on as well, water and earth are the particularly useful ones.

Lightning Flash or Mistform or Other cantrip

I usually run one or the other, both of these cantrips satisfy the “break stun” in sticky situations, and are both useful in WvWvW and PvE. For WvWvW, lightning flash is good for helping you escape + moving away from backlines. Mistform is also good for WvWvW as well, when it comes to enemies focus firing you / when your low on hp and need to take cover.

Lighting flash synergizes very well with offensive meteor showers. Since it does not stop your channeling time, you can use it to effectively cast your meteor shower as far as you can, then teleport backward. This means you can safely channel meteor shower without getting hit at an approximate range of 1200 (meteor shower range)+900(from lightning flash teleport).

Mist form is especially useful in fractals, as you can cast it after getting “agony” and effectively negate all damage coming in at you. Couple that with heavy burst healing abilities, you don’t actually need any agony resistance until level 20 fractals if you play properly.

Armor of earth is also viable as well, but I find it situationally useful. It is best used in PvE in situations that require you to utilize it, such as those tentacle monsters on frostmaw. You really don’t need to utilize this utility in PvE, but it does have some purpose in WvWvW and PvP.

Cleansing flame isn’t really all that useful for staffies in my opinion. You could use it for extra condition removal

Arcane Wave
This spell is incredibly useful for staffies, as it provides a clutch blast finisher for your combo fields. It is especially useful with water fields, in order to provide more heals to your team. Fire fields + arcane wave is an okay usage, and static field + arcane wave is only useful when travelling around with teammates (i.e. WvWvW)

Conjured earth shield
This item has a situational use, mainly for fractals and high end PvP. For high end PvP, it is used when travelling to a new capture point / counter initiate heavy burst profession openers. In fractals, it is used primarily to agro mobs together with the 4th ability, and the 5th ability for invulnerability. I don’t recall whether or not the invulnerability works after getting agony, or must be used before getting hit
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Magnetic_Shield_

Conjured lightning hammer
This is only used in competitive PvP for point control. It is especially effective using conjured hammer 3 ability + staff air3 + earth staff 5.
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Lightning_Hammer

Glyph of elemental power
When cast in Water or Earth, it basically gives your spells a chance to snare your foe. It’s got a fairly decent uptime (especially if you pick cripple), and by constantly snaring your opponents, you make them more susceptible to getting hit again (rinse, repeat). As an added bonus, it’ll help you kite.
Also, it can make your Meteor Shower snare those hit by hit…that’s pretty neat.
(ThiBash.5634)

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Glyph_of_Elemental_Power

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Optimizing Rotations
There is more than one type of attunement rotation that you can use for optimal CC/DPS/burst healing,etc.

It should be noted that when combining combo fields + finishers, most of those revolve around earth attunement because of its earth2 blast finisher, and evasive arcana dodge blast finisher.

Note that these rotations are mainly applied to PvE, where you are not pressured into making as many decisions comparatively to PvP and WvWvW. When dealing with actual players attacking you, attunements / skills used are based primarily off decision based factors.

Air attunement can be used anywhere that you want too, but it should not be used right before or after earth. If you plan on swapping which way your rotating the cycle, spam Air1 while waiting for attunement recharges. Air1 hits much more reliable than the other auto attacks, and can hit two-three targets that are fairly far apart.

Air’s swiftness combo is sort of mediocre, so its not really used. Its only used in competitive PvP staff players that open up with area swiftness to allies upon exiting the starting gate.

Cycle 1:
Air, Water, Earth, then Fire + repeat cycle. This is the order in which you should use your attunements, and you can start at any attunement you want to initiate.

The reason why this is the most optimal method of rotation is because of self combos made from your elemental fields + blast finishers. For instance,

Earth2+Fire +Fire2 (onto earth2) grants you 3 stacks of might. This only works if
you go from Fire then Earth

Water 5+ Earth + Earth2 (onto water 5) grants you AoE healing to the team. You can actually take this out further and optimize it with evasive arcana by:
EA water roll+Water5+Earth+Earth2+EA dodge roll. This grants you 3 consecutive burst heals that affects all allies for ~2k per burst heal. Swapping to water attunement also burst heals another ~2k. This can only be done going from Water then earth. Note that water 5 lasts 6 seconds, and earth2 takes 3 seconds to activate, and 1.75 seconds to cast. So you need to cast this right after water5 in order to utilize burst healing. You cannot combine this with a fire field, so pick Earth2 to heal your team or grant yourself 3 stacks of might.

Water3/Water5+Earth1 / Earth5. This grants yourself regeneration, which is another useful combination to utilize.

Water4+Blast finishers
From Waraxx.4286.
first put down water4 infront of you, quickly switch to earth and use earth 2 inside the frost field asap ( if u do it to late you wont get the third proc). then dodge into the frost field, ( if you have the evasive arcane witch most eles have you will have a combofinisher in earth dodge). and once you’ve dodged into the frost field you may proceed to use your arcane blast ( which also is a very popular skill due to the fact its a combo finisher)

(basically its 3 combofinishers in 1 frost field. giving us 3 frost auras)
a few notes; firstly the zephyrs boons proc will “wait” for a while, if u make all combo finishers go off at the same time, then additional fury/swiftness will be added after 3 and 6 sec because that’s how long the auras last. ( the auras will stack on each other and wont activate until the previous frost aura have worn out), try it out and you’ll understand.

secondly, the auras applied this way will count as a “shared aura” thus it will also grant fury and swiftness to allies that is in the blast area ( with the trait). however, if you are in the blast area and you are within 400 units of an ally which is not in the blast area he will not receive the aura. it’s only the blast finisher that can give the aura and its buffs.

Cycle 2:
Swap the fire and water order. Use Air, Fire, Earth, then water+ repeat cycle.

The advantages of using this combination are mainly the following

Fire4+Earth+EA earth dodge forward.
This is a fairly easy way to grant yourself 3 stacks of might. Note that the CD on fire4 is 20 seconds, so you will only be able to do this at best every 2 cycles

Fire2+Earth+EA earth dodge onto field
Fire2 has a 6second CD, so this can be done on every cycle. The only downside of this is that in order to stack might, you need to either sacrifice fire2’s damage as a fire field, or be close up to an enemy. Place fire 2 in the location you plan on dodging too

Earth2+Water+Water3 (or Water5)
The advantage of this combination as opposed to water 5, and then earth 2 is that you have the option of using both water fields to do burst healing. Water 3 has a 20second CD, and water5 has a 45second CD. It is therefore optimal to use both when doing blast healing.

Earth1/Earth5+Fire2 (also fire4)
After doing might stacks using this fire field, position your fire fields between you and your enemy + use earth spells.

Earth2 (onto them) + “About face key” +Fire4 into them
Suggestion from Tairs.3802, cast earth2 onto them then burn right past them while stacking might.

More combination field types + battle tactics 2

Fire spells
Fire1 (Fireball)
Shoot a dodgeable projectile that arcs with 1200 range. Upon destination it has an AoE effect of 120 units (radius). The damage is not really that bad, it can hit fairly hard at 1-2k with criticals depending on your stats. Cast time is 1 second and a cooldown animation of 0.4 seconds. Considered to be the first or second auto attack of choice for a staffie
edit: Fire1 has a radius of 90, and increased by blasting staff (Akbaroth.2861)

Fire2 (Lavafront) – Fire field
This spell is one of the clutch spells for the staffie. It is one of two fire fields that you possess. It has a radius of 120 which is increased by the blasting staff trait, and range of 1200. The damage hits around ~1k for each critical (depends on stats again) and can proc up to 4xs. Remember that you can also hit up to 5 enemies as well, with the 4 procs on each person in it. So you should cast it such that as many enemies stand in the field as long as possible. Affected by blasting staff trait

Fire3 (Flameburst)
This is a very short cast time spell at ½ second cast, and a decent CD. You should use this ability as soon as possible, and should be casted after any spells that have long cooldown animations, as this spell will override them. Its best to use this after an auto attack Fire1, or any spells from other attunements that have long cooldown animations. Has an AoE of 180, range of 1200. Damage depends on condition damage, and applies 5 seconds of burning. Evasive arcana creates a similar close up version of this spell. Affected by blasting staff trait

Fire4 (Burning Retreat) – Fire field
The only movement displacer in your arsenal as a staffie. It is also a fire field as well, but should not be combined with earth 2. The only time you would utilize its fire field effects is if you go from Fire then Earth, in which case you would cast this then do a EA earth dodge roll forward. Alternatively arcane wave could be used as well for stacking might. The actual fire field created from this spell is actually the same fire trail left behind from the D/D ele’s fire3 ability, and this one lasts 6 seconds long. It works best in PvE mobs when you know they will follow you in a straight line, thereby taking the full damage. Also as mentioned in the D/D guide, the trails can hit many times depending on the hitbox size of the enemy (only applies to PvE), and if used on a corner it could proc even further on big enemies (as trail distance sections get smaller). It is also recommended that you position the fire field between your allies and the enemies, in order to get burning projectile combos. Another use of this ability is to avoid damage, as this is essentially a long drawn out dodge. This means you can counter immobilize with this ability like you do with updraft, by dodging in place. Also don’t forget the “About face” key (Its in Options panel) for more added fun, reversing your direction + utilizing allows you to use it moving forward.

Fire5 (Meteor shower)
This is your signature move. Every player should be aware that a staffie has this, because throwing meteors down onto the ground is noticeable. It shoots down a lot of meteors when it is cast at its full duration and most of the meteors drop after the full casting time is met (drops for like an additional 10 seconds after cast). You can also cancel the meteor shower early, but this results in fewer meteors hitting the target area. Radius of spell is 360 (increased by blasting staff). I believe blasting staff also increases number of meteors drop too, but I don’t feel like slowing my video down to count all of them :P. Each meteor is a projectile (literally almost the same as the fire1’s auto attack damage) and has a damage radius of 90. Combines great with lightning flash. Also note that the meteors hit randomly in the target area, and your “target” that you are trying to hit may not even be hit at all.
-F5 projectiles all have the ‘max 5 hits’ so it truly is amazing AoE. Scales with hitbox size (Hypno.2649)
-Fire5 not affected by blasting staff (Akbaroth.2861)

Water Spells

Water1 (Water Blast)
Mediocre auto attack spell. It’s considered to be one of the worst auto attack abilities a staffie has. Damage is really low, has the same arcing animation as fire1. Radius is at 120 units on end location for both damage and healing. The healing is at 370 + 10% (Heal Power), for a small uncontrolled radius. Not recommended to use. Attack speed is 1 second, cooldown animation is 0.35seconds.
edit: water1’s damage is single target, only the healing is aoe. (Akbaroth.2861)

Water2(Ice Spike)
This spell is amazing as the damage is very high, and applies 5 seconds of vulnerability to everyone affected. Time for spike to drop ~2seconds. It is optimal to cancel this spell early, as it does not need to be channeled to get its full effect. The best way to end the channeling is by dodge rolling (you should anyways with Evasive arcana to get that heal). Another method is physically pressing “escape”, but you have to close your window to do this (if your inventory its 2 “escape” clicks!), so I don’t bother. You can also cast Earth2 followed by this Water 2 spell, and they will hit simultaneously for burst AoE damage. Great for Line of Sight ambush at chokepoints. Range at 1200, radius at 240.

Water 3(Geyser) – Water field
This spell is a water field. It can heal up to 5 allies at a time and procs up to 3xs per person under the full duration. Range is at 1200, and radius 120(increased by blasting staff). It’s a fairly decent heal spell, and stacks with Water5. The spell itself lasts 2 seconds, and heals for 808 +0.25 (Healing power)

Water 4(Frozen Ground) – Ice field
This spell is an ice field. It does no damage, meaning you can actually cast it on someone and do advanced weapon swapping initiation techniques if you wanted too. Range cast is 1200, radius at 240 units (increased by blasting staff). Has a duration of 5 seconds, and procs 2 second chill effects to anyone in it. It procs up to 6xs total (total of 12 seconds chill), and can affect up to 5 enemies at a time. Combined with a blast finisher, it can give an area frost armor for 3 seconds.

Water 5 (Healing rain) – Water Field
One of the best water fields / heal skills in the game. Provides a stack of 4 regeneration to your allies in the area. Note that the regeneration heal gained is just your regular regeneration scaled by 4. Cures conditions once every 3 seconds. Radius of 360 units (increased by blasting staff), and range 1200 units. Duration time is 6 seconds, and must be casted standing still. Animation cooldown is kind of long.

Air spells

Air1 (Chain lightning)
This skill is one of the best auto attacks a staffie has. Unlike the other staffie auto attacks, this one does not arc whatsoever, so you could say it is slightly harder to dodge this one. It hits up to 3 targets, with a a range of 1200 units. It does not have any AoE associated with it. The best place to use it is to hit two targets next to each other. Aim for the target you want to hit the most, as the shot will bounce onto his ally then back onto him. Casting time is 1 second, cooldown animation at 0.35 seconds.

Air2 (Lightning Surge)
Had infinite range at one point in the game, but its range is now at 1200 units. Radius is 120 units (240 with blasting staff), and the projectile blinds all enemies affected for 5 seconds. Has a really long cast time at 1.5 seconds. The blind is really useful against bursty classes. The spell hits instanteously at the end of the cast. Still can be obstructed by walls.

Air3 (Gust)
Pushes back enemy with a projectile. The projectile moves at a speed similar to the air1 ability. It is the only staffie weapon skill that pushes back enemies, and it can be incredibly useful for knocking people off cliffs /instagibbing them in WvWvW. Used in PvP for point control reasons. Gust has a range of 1200 units, and knocks back 400 units. Combines extremely well with lightning flash, as you can prechannel this ability and control where you want your enemy pushed back with lightning flash. You can kill d/d elementalists this way by standing on a cliffside and wait for their updraft + do a quick air3+lightning flash from behind.

Air4(Windborne Speed)
Use this whenever its available or to counter CC conditions. Grant swiftness to you and all nearby allies, and cures crippled,immobilize(especially immobilize), and chill!. Duration of swiftness is 10seconds (with no boon duration), and radius of 240 units.

Air5 (static field) – Lightning field
This is a lightning field. Grants swiftness with blast finishers. Creates an electric field that stuns any enemy for 2 seconds crossing it. Used for point control in PvP, and cutting off chokepoints in WvWvW. Enemies cannot dodge through the field as they will still get stunned. Radius at 180 units, increased by blasting staff. Duration of field at 4seconds.

Earth Spells

Earth1 (Stoning)
Twice the arc length as all the other autoattackers. Grants 3 seconds of weakness (not 1 second) which is extremely useful. It has no AoE associated with it. The range on the spell is 1200 units. It is optimal to use this at close – mid range, as it is harder for enemies to dodge this ability. This spell works really well against melee classes, and is considered to be a physical projectile combo finisher for your elemental fields. 0.75 second cast time

Earth 2 (Eruption)
Your only blast finisher skill in the staff arsenal (not including EA and utilities). Damage is fairly good with a mix of condition damage and regular damage. It hits for ~2k on criticals and does 6 stacks of bleeding for 12 seconds. Earth2 has a delay of app. 3 seconds before its damage takes in effect, as well as its blast finisher effect (don’t confuse this with D/D ele’s earth 4 and earth 5, their blast finishers are applied at the start of the spell). Radius is 240 units, increased by blasting staff

Earth 3 (Magnetic Aura) – Aura
Gives you 5 seconds of magnetic aura, which reflects all projectiles. Combines well with Air I traits and Water XII trait. Can be used to permanently upkeep fury+swiftness with those 2 traits on to the team. Does not reflect siege weapon attacks.

Earth4 (Unsteady ground)
This is not an elemental field. It creates a line that cripples anyone walking past it. The first proc that the enemy receives last 2 seconds, and any proc after that adds an additional 1 second. Total number of procs from this spell is 10, and like all AoE spells can hit up to 5 people. The best way to utilize this is in PvE is to position it such that any melee mobs are forced to run through the entire line thereby taking the full damage and cripple effect. This can be done via positioning your character correctly. The line is always created perpendicular relative to you (imagine a bunch of radial lines coming off you, the earth4 is perpendicular to those). Range 1200 units.

Earth 5 (Shockwave)
Creates a shockwave that bleeds and immobilizes your target. Note that this spell can be dodge, and it goes right through enemies. It hits everyone in a straight line in front of you, dealing its full damage and conditions to all. Range is 1200 units, immobiliziation lasts 2 seconds, and the bleed lasts 20 seconds. It is considered a physical projectile combo finisher. Works best in hallways where you can immobilize and hit everyone.

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Feel free to comment / suggestion / post w.e you want
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I really enjoy the staff, with all the support (combo fields etc) it gives for dungeons with my friends, but whenever I try it out (often when I feel optimistic) in PvP, I just can’t help but feel like it has nothing to actually kill anyone because it feels like really passive play. D/D and S/D have much less casting time, and there is much less placing of AoEs with other weapon sets.

There are 10 staff skills which deal alright damage, compared to the 15 damaging skills on a D/D weapon set, where the d/d has much more mobility, I just can’t seem to get a good rhythm going with the staff in PvP, do you ever find this?