Guild Wars 2

vesica tempestas.1563:

i was replying to someone else.

’ think they don’t run the staff because it takes 10 times more learning time than another weapon’

is not how high end pvp works, people cannot afford to pick weak builds, and will always switch and learn the best builds.

‘in gw2, as a staff ele, you really can’t use range to your advantage as much as the ranger can. So i never really consider range while making builds.’

Exactly, and the staff build is focused on long range, and the benefit of that range is offset, as is aoe. Otherwise you would be saying that staff is as good at ranged as it is at melee and is good at aoe as it is at melee damage. Clearly this is not the case., and could never be the case or it would be OP.

you think one thing, the vast majority of the community say otherwise and have a far greater collective knowledge. Your not the only one that has played staff for thousands of hours, and mages for far far longer. Staff is a fun weapon, but it has its place.

That first statement of mine was a wild guess, i obviously don’t know much about being a professional gw2 player.
And, well, i can’t argue about the collective knowledge.
But I think you misunderstood me concerning range. The staff does a rather good job keeping certain professions at range. But it’s not as consistent as the ranger’s ability to do that which is rightfully so since the whole profession relies a bir more on range than the elementalist. I’m also not saying that the staff is as good at range as at melee, what i’m saying is that range isn’t all that important.

“people cannot afford to pick weak builds, and will always switch and learn the best builds.”

That’s exactly what i said in my previous comment, except you replaced ‘hard to learn to use’ with ‘weak’ and ‘weapon’ with ‘build’ because there are quiet some builds that are strong on staff.
Also, i know a few other staff elementalists who’s played as long as i have but still don’t use the staff as strategically as it can be used. Ofcourse i don’t know how you do, but playing time doesn’t always convert to high play skill. That’s another reason i even made the guide.

You might be right, it might be weak.
But considering how i use it and how i would use it if i was aspiring to be a professional, there could be some spectacular/game-changing applications of it in organised teamfights, which is why i don’t understand the lack of it in high-end play.

I feel like we’re diverging. This thread is only about how to be a better staff elementalist, and not about comparing it with other weapons/professions.
I don’t really care about wether or not it competes with other professions yet. I first want to show how it could be used in a smarter and more efficient way.
Like, for example, take the thief segment in my guide.
Before i knew what I wrote, i didn’t stand a chance against any thief, good or bad. These ideas in the segment, however, greatly increased my chances of victory vs thieves. And that’s exactly what the purpose of this guide is! And it’s also more targeted towards the regular to relatively experienced but not high-end players and less towards high end players because i wasn’t a consistent one when making the guide.
I’m planning to update it, however, and i’ll be giving more concrete examples with respect to high end play.

I think that’s fair point, when you take how competitive the staff is against other weapons out of the equation (spvp in particular) and look at your guide with the viewpoint of simply trying to improve/maximize your staff game play then its good stuff.

vesica tempestas.1563:

I think that’s fair point, when you take how competitive the staff is against other weapons out of the equation (spvp in particular) and look at your guide with the viewpoint of simply trying to improve/maximize your staff game play then its good stuff.

For the moment, yes. But still i think the staff has a place in high-end spvp tough. And my next update will be able to back that statement up with footage and more comprehension. Going on and on and on about things i could just show on footage doesn’t get me aanywhere.

Don’t forget to put up that trait guide! It’d be nice to know what complements what better & how and why they could work with staff and the utilities used.

Fire is an offensive / escape

I recommend using Pyromancers training trait for its evade skill

And water for heals

MrJefferson.1704:

vesica tempestas.1563:

I think that’s fair point, when you take how competitive the staff is against other weapons out of the equation (spvp in particular) and look at your guide with the viewpoint of simply trying to improve/maximize your staff game play then its good stuff.

For the moment, yes. But still i think the staff has a place in high-end spvp tough. And my next update will be able to back that statement up with footage and more comprehension. Going on and on and on about things i could just show on footage doesn’t get me aanywhere.

I’m personally looking forward to it; I’m interested in seeing how a staff ele plays in such a scenario. Staff eles are really massively underrated due to the difficulty in using them.

Hey, I think some info on dos and don’ts would be good. So, what should I never do as Staff, and what are times when exceptions can be made?

Also, I know you mentioned that you want players to figure out for themselves for rotations, but suggestions would be nice. This could give us an idea what a good rotation looks like. And if not rotations, then combos. You mentioned the combo of CES 4 with Air 5. More things like that would be great to see.

Another thing, a little info on counters against professions, especially Thieves, Warriors and Necros. You talked a bit about how powerful Thief is against Staff Eles, but I always have trouble against Warriors and they’re ability to stick to me, and Necros with their constant corruptions and condi bombs. What to avoid and what skills can help nullify the effects of their skills.

One more thing, a guide on good positioning would be fantastic. Staff is a range weapon and, like many squishy, hard hitting range specs, positioning is important. So info on good spots on maps to sniper players and kiting paths, etc. Just info about where to move, how to move around in fights and things like that.

I look forward to any updates!

Fashion Mage.3712:

MrJefferson.1704:

vesica tempestas.1563:

I think that’s fair point, when you take how competitive the staff is against other weapons out of the equation (spvp in particular) and look at your guide with the viewpoint of simply trying to improve/maximize your staff game play then its good stuff.

For the moment, yes. But still i think the staff has a place in high-end spvp tough. And my next update will be able to back that statement up with footage and more comprehension. Going on and on and on about things i could just show on footage doesn’t get me aanywhere.

I’m personally looking forward to it; I’m interested in seeing how a staff ele plays in such a scenario. Staff eles are really massively underrated due to the difficulty in using them.

It’s not about the difficulty, it is about our underperforming DPS fields and utilities. Most of our utilities have long cooldowns which don’t benefit DPS eles, especially the staff elementalist. Lava font dps must be instant and tick faster because it will add much more pressure in fights. It’s not meant to be dropped at the middle of a Lightning Field, no, that’s a certain miss, but it shouldn’t allow enemies to escape so easily from it. In our current moment, every profession has easy access to swiftness and other ways to avoid damage (invul) and our soft CCs applied by staff were reducted to only immob (earth #5) and chill (water #4) but they’re easily dodgeable and have way too long cooldowns. Most people argue that they are large AoEs but then I ask you if this pays off the fact that you can still avoid them 99.9998% of the you see them? You cast a Frozen Ground, foe gets chilled for like 2s, dodge and keep running…seriously? Is it trully meant to be so avoidable and neglectable?

Think about it.

Ok so, after a really, REALLY long break from gw2 i’ve been able to find some time to add a build guide to the original. You can find it in the edited comment under the Original Post. Unfortunately, I think these are the last things i’ll be able to say about the staff ele for now. So my plans of making a whole new comprehensive guide with footages and all will have to be postponed/discarded. Hopefully you’ll find enough tools in the guide to set you off on your own way.

Guizao.4167:

Fashion Mage.3712:

MrJefferson.1704:

vesica tempestas.1563:

I think that’s fair point, when you take how competitive the staff is against other weapons out of the equation (spvp in particular) and look at your guide with the viewpoint of simply trying to improve/maximize your staff game play then its good stuff.

For the moment, yes. But still i think the staff has a place in high-end spvp tough. And my next update will be able to back that statement up with footage and more comprehension. Going on and on and on about things i could just show on footage doesn’t get me aanywhere.

I’m personally looking forward to it; I’m interested in seeing how a staff ele plays in such a scenario. Staff eles are really massively underrated due to the difficulty in using them.

It’s not about the difficulty, it is about our underperforming DPS fields and utilities. Most of our utilities have long cooldowns which don’t benefit DPS eles, especially the staff elementalist. Lava font dps must be instant and tick faster because it will add much more pressure in fights. It’s not meant to be dropped at the middle of a Lightning Field, no, that’s a certain miss, but it shouldn’t allow enemies to escape so easily from it. In our current moment, every profession has easy access to swiftness and other ways to avoid damage (invul) and our soft CCs applied by staff were reducted to only immob (earth #5) and chill (water #4) but they’re easily dodgeable and have way too long cooldowns. Most people argue that they are large AoEs but then I ask you if this pays off the fact that you can still avoid them 99.9998% of the you see them? You cast a Frozen Ground, foe gets chilled for like 2s, dodge and keep running…seriously? Is it trully meant to be so avoidable and neglectable?

Think about it.

You couldn’t be more right!! I absolutely can’t hide the fact that the staff shouldn’t be indeed so hard in landing its skills, but, unfortunately, it is! Like you said, meteor shower is way to underperfoming for the cd and cast time.. instead of using the cc skills for higher purposes i have to always use them for landing my offensive skills better. But maybe that’s why the staff is so hard to use offensively (i do have to admit that it was fun, trying to think of solutions and ways and all).
Some defensive skills like healing rain, still have indeed tomuch cd time (btw, i’d be among the people who’d admit it if staff went OP but it’s far from that).
But yet again, I’m not here to start a petition to change its skills, i think that’s a lost cause, i’m just here to show that the staff has a good side too :P

Zintrothen.1056:

Hey, I think some info on dos and don’ts would be good. So, what should I never do as Staff, and what are times when exceptions can be made?

Also, I know you mentioned that you want players to figure out for themselves for rotations, but suggestions would be nice. This could give us an idea what a good rotation looks like. And if not rotations, then combos. You mentioned the combo of CES 4 with Air 5. More things like that would be great to see.

Another thing, a little info on counters against professions, especially Thieves, Warriors and Necros. You talked a bit about how powerful Thief is against Staff Eles, but I always have trouble against Warriors and they’re ability to stick to me, and Necros with their constant corruptions and condi bombs. What to avoid and what skills can help nullify the effects of their skills.

One more thing, a guide on good positioning would be fantastic. Staff is a range weapon and, like many squishy, hard hitting range specs, positioning is important. So info on good spots on maps to sniper players and kiting paths, etc. Just info about where to move, how to move around in fights and things like that.

I look forward to any updates!

1) Hi, there aren’t really any do’s nor don’t’s, if there are don’t’s, they’re quiet obvious really. And when you ever do them, you’d know and learn right away

2)i’ve given plenty of examples of rotations and combo’s in my original guide, you should check them out

3) If you didn’t find any discussion about countering thieves in my original guide, you’d find it in its extension about builds..
Fighting necro’s shouldn’t be a problem since you, as an elementalist, can basically choose to fart out condition removals at no expences and without limiting your build diversity. (also see extended guide)
Warriors should really be the least threathening to you, they can indeed stick to you, its in their profession mechanics, but unlike the thief, you see them at all times. use your soft cc’s like frozen ground or shock wave. You also have more than enough utility skills to keep him at bay: one signet skill, two tempest skills, 2 glyphs (elemental power and storms), lightning Flash, arcane shield. and also earth shield to buy you time. try experimenting with these.

4)The staff doesn’t benefit from range like the ranger does. Especially if you’re bunker, you should stay IN the fight, IN your fields. If you run damage build, just try keeping distance as much as possible. When they’re closing in on you, either use your cc to get away or have something to deal with them in melee (like for example) earth shield or lightning flash. either way, if they want to get to you, they wil eventually except if you use the positioning of the ranger. What i’m saying is that there are no special positions for a staff ele, for this map kiting guides i’d like to refer to others.

clap
Great guide.
Thanks

Hi all.
Possible build for PVP:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vFAQFAWn0XCdOg9XCOYCcYilNAzdv+XPsF9gdwNY4BEAKgA-TJRWABm+AAAY/BHLDs3FAAA
Opinions are welcome….

Unranked – meh
Ranked – you will get laughed at and get the beat down like a Klansman at a Black Panther Rally

If only staff had an invul CD like Obsidian Flesh, staff ele is viable in pretty much no section of the game and honestly while playing my S/F ele I’ve never seen a staff ele that wasn’t a free kill. Sorry but it’s true.

With that said I still play staff ele all the time myself mostly in wvw and therefore appreciate the time and effort put in to this guide anyway despite how much anet hates our class. GL HF ele players who attempt this.

I’ve always played staff ele in pvp and we have a quite similar build, i tend to go more on defensive stats and survivability, I liked the recent change to Armor of Earth’s cd and I think I’m doing fine like this.

ProDecius.2609:

If only staff had an invul CD like Obsidian Flesh, staff ele is viable in pretty much no section of the game and honestly while playing my S/F ele I’ve never seen a staff ele that wasn’t a free kill. Sorry but it’s true.

With that said I still play staff ele all the time myself mostly in wvw and therefore appreciate the time and effort put in to this guide anyway despite how much anet hates our class. GL HF ele players who attempt this.

agree, i also play staff in wvw , in my case when defending against large groups. Agree In Spvp a staff players is a free kill, you apply a bit of pressure on them and they have to run. Player with strong 1 single attacks V a player with aoe, equally skilled that’s a bloodbath for obvious reasons.

The real issue with staff is the opportunity cost when considering the other ele weapons.

Hey so I’m a returning player who left a little before HoT came out. Back then ele’s were at their prime! but they don’t seem so popular anymore.

I’m trying to understand why the S/F build is the most popular one now. I recall back in the day S/F was the weakest weapon set, unless u were zerk fresh air. I tried running the popular auramancer build with S/F and it just felt lackluster to me. Maybe i wasnt playing it to its fullest potential, idk

I’m currently running mender staff tempest with max water, evasive arcana (great with staff for that earth dodge blast finisher). Granted I’ve been running it in unranked, but it’s been doing pretty well so far. The new overloads, especially air and fire help support your damage output.
Staff ele has a lot of great options. AoE CC with air 5 and earth 4. AoE heals and condi cleanse. nice single CC with air 3 and earth 5 to help with node capture.

I understand that not all their spells hit, but i feel like people are vastly underestimating the power of area denial, especially in a node capture playstyle.

Its because its not really area of denial, too easily mitigated, too low dmg. You cant survive 1v1 and you cant dmg 1v1. Too easy to pressure you/burst you down, no invuln, no burst. Finally your range 1200 is wasted – you need to be standing in the point to capture it.

Its only good against beginner players that dont realise they can burst you down + allow you to freely aoe.

dagger gives great mobility and burst, and Sceptre plays nicely with sage.

i should add, above only applies to spvp and roaming, fine elsewhere.

vesica tempestas.1563:

ProDecius.2609:

If only staff had an invul CD like Obsidian Flesh, staff ele is viable in pretty much no section of the game and honestly while playing my S/F ele I’ve never seen a staff ele that wasn’t a free kill. Sorry but it’s true.

With that said I still play staff ele all the time myself mostly in wvw and therefore appreciate the time and effort put in to this guide anyway despite how much anet hates our class. GL HF ele players who attempt this.

agree, i also play staff in wvw , in my case when defending against large groups. Agree In Spvp a staff players is a free kill, you apply a bit of pressure on them and they have to run. Player with strong 1 single attacks V a player with aoe, equally skilled that’s a bloodbath for obvious reasons.

The real issue with staff is the opportunity cost when considering the other ele weapons.

@ ProDecius:
Like i said many times before, staff is hard to play, And Anet isn’t exactly helping that either. But if they should add something, it shouldn’t be invuln. Or the staff would instantly become OP. They should instead correct the risk:reward ratio of some of our skills OR reduce some CD’s like healing rain (only in pvp) and ONE OF our defensive ground target skills.

The staff IS hard and that’s the main reason you haven’t seen any decent staff that isn’t “a free kill”, there are just not much out there, they’re quiet rare! When I played gw2 for 2 years on a normal, weekly basis, i only met ONE other staff player who loved the wep set who loved the mechanics of the staff as mutch as i did.

@ vesica tempestas:

Single attacks vs aoe doesn’t necessarily need to be “a bloodbath”

first things first. thanx mrjefferson. insanely good guide. I learned so much. I made a few changes to my own staff ele for it to fit my style(personally not really a fan of the conjures but that’s on me u have proven they are definately worth it) Are there any plans for making a guide based on the most recent meta? i’m eager to learn more.

vesica tempestas.1563:

Its because its not really area of denial, too easily mitigated, too low dmg. You cant survive 1v1 and you cant dmg 1v1. Too easy to pressure you/burst you down, no invuln, no burst. Finally your range 1200 is wasted – you need to be standing in the point to capture it.

Its only good against beginner players that dont realise they can burst you down + allow you to freely aoe.

dagger gives great mobility and burst, and Sceptre plays nicely with sage.

i should add, above only applies to spvp and roaming, fine elsewhere.

You make it sound like once you equip staff, these are the only skills you have access to..
“too easily mitigated, too low dmg. You cant survive 1v1 and you cant dmg 1v1. Too easy to pressure you/burst you down, no invuln, no burst”
With all due respect, i’m getting quite fed up and annoyed with these kind of comments. It proves you haven’t read nor understood the guide. If theres any weapon set in gw2 that requires extremely high synergy not only between its skills but even more with the mutual profession skills (read: utility and traits) and also requires the maximum skill-on-skill interaction needed to pull things off, it’s the staff. I think i’ve made that clear anough in the guide. I’ve also stressed anough why this is among the main reasons it’s so hard to play.

So, for example, you DO have access to invulnerabilty, provided by the fact that you’re still an ELEMENTALIST. If the staff on its own had any kind of additional invuln skill it would become op. Instantly, despite anything else.
You may be as good as you want, if i know what i’m doing you won’t be bursting me down as quickly as you think. And about getting out of pressure, the staff is far from inferior. If you’ve read the guide toroughly, you’d also notice you DO have access to burst.
Finally, as i’ve said many times before, you don’t rely on range as the ranger does, especially when you’re bunker you NEED to be in your fields and in the point to get the most out of your abilities, but I also showed anough examples where i needed to keep my opponent at a distance and succeeded.

I don’t blame you tough, i also tought the same way when i hadn’t play the staff anough to see this.

And it definitely IS area of denial! You won’t always be having stability up for my cc and if i accumulate some AoE’s (which i could do all day) on a point, even if i’m bunker, it’s till going to hurt. Talkless of the hybrid or damage builds!

Well ive spent about 3k hours with staff so i’m reasonably familiar with it and it has it has place in wvw siege, mid zerg and raid aoe spam but thats it, your playing with a massive disadvantage in any other scenario. As with every other mmo that has pvp, single attack > aoe otherwise aoe would be op. play against an equal skilled player and you will melt – theres a reason why its not meta just now.

I’d say that staff is definately underestimated after watching the guide and practicing . After extensive testing in duels, I can hold my own surprisingly well against the majority of classes so far. with the only hardcounter that actually stomps me bieng chronophantasma shatter on that build. to be fair I’d argue that there are more counters but it isn’t so that u cannot engage and still make a win. I do agree that having a staff build is definately a handicap dps wise even with access to burst. it’s incredibly hard to get a competent player to stand still for a moment even with myself as bait. the stability, stunbreak and resistance to soft cc such as crippled, chill is mainly the culprit here.

Also after figthing staff eles myself on different classes. I’d argue that the entry level is also incredibly high it’s why u rarely see players touching that with an infinitely long pole. to hold your ground at first u need to master a few basic combos. And I’d argue that having a gaming mouse is practically nessisary with all these ground targeting skills. Fighting other staff ele who don’t stand in thier fields and simply espect meteor shower to do the job get punished hard and honestly can be ignored and when u do look at them the most they can do is run away as they don’t know how to apply pressure while keeping distance.

But I’d take Jeffersons word for it having tried this myself. Competent staff eles besides the handicap are not goign to be beaten down so easily.

I still got much to learn but I believe there to be a bit of truth in Jeffersons words.

Xanctus The Dragonslayer.2318, i wish i could duel u.
Staff ele is awsm. In water ele is so good… that he must be killed.

It is #1 target after necro.
Just cc him when meteor and OL, root/chill and kill after.
Gold/plat player do it for sure.

I play heal bot 4 shout, and its more effective in any way. More cc, more heal, more sustain… less dmg.
Staff good in bronse)))

Playing staff ele gets you loads of hate from your teammates even before the match starts. And you also get hated by ennemy team by the end of the match.

I had an ennemy guard running from spawn through my team’s unsuccessful coordinated efforts to take him down, only to get to me on Foefire’s mid to burst me down. I just ignored him. Dodged his traps, cleansed his burns, TPed away, sheathed my weapon, won the match.

So much more examples like that. Like I get so much hate-focused sometimes they forget and lose the ongoing fight on mid.

Edit: playing non meta staff ele requires strong will, strong character, and lots of composure. Because you will be flamed. By everyone. If something bad happens, if you lose, if necro dies stupidly because chasing after far when we have 2-cap, in the end it’s gonna be the staff ele’s fault.

I’ve had some success with staff in pvp, but are the builds in the guide up to date? What are you using that works right now? I might do some tests and then post a build here after I find something that works.

Give Elementalists wells and an amulet with concentration + vitality and staff will instantly become amazing

I haven’t played the game for a while now, and probably won’t be able to for another while. But having read the update of some old skills, on staff (3 skills in water att. have been changed/modified, and also earth), the elites (water elemental and FGS) and conjures (with LH getting the most important changes) with, in addition, the new specialisation (weaver) in prospect, I can’t help but admit that the devs are starting to take steps in the right direction in terms of balancing out the staff ele and making it a bit easier to learn and play.. (i.e. ammunition mechanic for arcane skills, ice spike becoming a blast finisher, LH granting quickness and superspeed, etc..)

With weaver in foresight, all elementalist in all weapon combinations will be forced to think way more strategically than ever before if they want to be as good and as effective as they are right now. What I mean by this is that the weaver requires extreme knowledge of the weapon skills good timing AND how to access them. but if you’ve been playing the staff as I showed in the guide, it should be less of a difficulty gap for you to learn the weaver, than for any other weapon set. This is another way the staff becomes a bit more balanced

My only remark: In changing the mechanics of the conjures to cooldown instead of usage count, they should’ve made it easier to pickup the second summoned weapon instead of it still being so clunky to pick up and is mostly disadvantageous to pick one up during a fight.

Mosen.1426:

Hi all.
Possible build for PVP:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vFAQFAWn0XCdOg9XCOYCcYilNAzdv+XPsF9gdwNY4BEAKgA-TJRWABm+AAAY/BHLDs3FAAA
Opinions are welcome….

hi, i know this is quite late, but for what it’s worth: I see that this build is all about support and sustain, in that case i’d suggest going for water specialization instead of arcane, you have soo much healing with the magi amulet that (imo) it would be a waste without the water line… especially when going with diamond skin..
in both the adept and master tiers, go for upper or lower according to your preference (but seeing you only have one cantrip, aquamancer’s training is highly recommended), but in the grandmaster tier, cleansing water is most effective for this build since you don’t have sufficient condi cleanse. “But i have diamond skin” you could say, and yes all good, but it’s not really essential when you’re running tempest, you’ll be kittenting out condicleanses without notice, when you take water line, then it’s best to also take stone heart instead of diamond skin. But yet again, when you’re going up against high condi, then i’d take diamond skin in addition to everything i just said. then you’ll have anough condicleanses to fight two condi build at once.

If you don’t want water, and would like to keep the utility that arcane provides, you would do better by going air and taking tempest defence and lightning rod. those have way better synergy with your build and it’s playstyle.

vesica tempestas.1563:

Well ive spent about 3k hours with staff so i’m reasonably familiar with it and it has it has place in wvw siege, mid zerg and raid aoe spam but thats it, your playing with a massive disadvantage in any other scenario. As with every other mmo that has pvp, single attack > aoe otherwise aoe would be op. play against an equal skilled player and you will melt – theres a reason why its not meta just now.

The main reason I run staff ele (or anyone who runs staff ele for that matter) in pvp is not for the 1v1 encounters, depending on the build, it’s very effective in quickly clearing cap points or bringing BIG, unrivaled support to your teammates. The problem is that it’s its weakest when you’re in a 1v1 or when, depending on your build, you get focused. The guide is a result of me trying to find ways to solve this weakness, so i can still play my favorite weapon set

Sontaran.5904:

I’ve had some success with staff in pvp, but are the builds in the guide up to date? What are you using that works right now? I might do some tests and then post a build here after I find something that works.

They aren’t up to date anymore :S, at least not as much as i would want them to be.

..see the last 4 comments..

What a bore.

You necroed a 10 month old thread you started and you alone were bumping.

And you did it to say what? If anyone played your build would know how to play the new spec? Get out of here with that self promoting nonsense.

EnderzShadow.2506:

What a bore.

You necroed a 10 month old thread you started and you alone were bumping.

And you did it to say what? If anyone played your build would know how to play the new spec? Get out of here with that self promoting nonsense.

Where do you see self promotion? And why would i want to promote myself?
In no way do I say that staff eles should play how i did talkless of playing “my builds”, i just referenced that so people know what i’m talking about.

And about the bumping, I’ve considered it and know it may not have been a good idea! But it was either opening a new thread just to say what I said, or continuing this thread. Since i was planning to give my thoughts about the changes, since said thoughts were in light of the guide, since i hadn’t replied to some comments AND since it isn’t that big a deal to pump up a thread, I chose to put it on this thread.

Honestly, I really don’t care about builds, i’d rather leave it to my target group to individually come up with their own builds, that has been my whole philosophy and I think I’ve made that clear enough in multiple ways. I never talked about builds in that way and only put those up because they were requested. Where on earth do you see me promoting builds? Completing the purpose of this guide by giving every information I have (or found) about everything around the staff, is the only goal i was trying to achieve here. But I also want it all in one thread rather than having to open a new one.

I don’t mind for this thread being out of sight in the forum because of its age. I wasn’t even expecting any additional comments (except of this kind). Although I tried making the guide timeless but its expiration was inevitable.

I didn’t bump up this thread for selfish reasons like you’re claiming, I did it to complete the thread in the hopes of resolving unanswered questions and giving additional advice on how (and in what way) the new changes affect the guide! if I ever feel like this thread needs a bump for any other reason than this one, i’d probably have played more than a day (like i did for this bump) before bumping it. And, in fact, would care enough to just make a new, updated guide all the same.

^ After being reprimanded by moderators I saw the error in my ways. I strongly support everyone go play staff ele in spvp and wvw. Go out there I suggest go a fight a high level thief or maybe 2 or pick a fight with reapers and a chrono. Staff used to be strong so I’m sure you guys can go 1v3. Get some experience an practice fighting them.

I suggest practice vs havoc teams and don’t use tempest traitline you won’t learn core staff ele well. Just read the winds and go at it. Be bold don’t even camp a tower or bay just stand in the middle of south sentry like you see the roamers. Keep that camera rolling I want to see you guys represent. Show anet that staff is strong vs wvw meta roamer builds show that you can down things under 30 seconds. If you don’t well it’s great so anet can see the flaws and hopefully balance staff ele for wvw and spvp. You see they buff many core vanilla specs like war, necro, guardian and thief trait lines.

Please post roaming vids here so anet can see core staff ele in spvp or wvw. I prefer wvw so they understand what needs updating or cooldown adjustments.

Staff ele used to be beautiful pre HOT around 2015 It’s very fun, resistance did’nt exist or prot on demand or stability spamming and condi meta was OP and spam able but since it was frown upon you don’t see 90% of the pop in wvw using it. Maybe 40% and less mobilty dodge spamming for those classes and that was before HOT attributes.