Guild Wars 2

Scepter in general isn’t my favorite in PvE, as it has limited AoE, feels clunky, and while it has a lot of burst, burst isn’t something critical to dungeon junk. It’s way too single-target IMO. Nevertheless, I want to work with it as it’s the weapon I’m weakest with overall, and of course, it’s the one legendary I have pre for…so…. must learn!

I know /D is a clear favorite w/ Scepter for all those bursty might stacks, but I have to say, I’m addicted to the focus.

How do you guys S/F? The two weapons don’t seem to work as well together as D/F, D/D, or S/D. They both have nice skills, and getting remote might w/ DTooth / Phoenix on firewall is nice…and yes you can burst earth 4 in that firewall for might…but it just all feels kind of off.

How do you build for S/F? Where do you play? Midrange? Extreme range? Point-blank?

Looking for some pointers.

Oh, and I have either full zerk/ruby (can go scholar) or I also have a PvT set w/ boon duration (water/monk/trav).

My playstyle / goals are adaptable, so make any suggestion you like, whether it maxes out damage, or provides utility.

Thanks!

I always bring my ice-bow to deal with the lack of aoe. Plus, ice-bow is OP.

I also always run that spec with fresh-air just to get some decent damage output. I tend to go more offensive b/c of the powerful built-in defenses of the focus.

S/F is meant to be played at near-max range (900) as no skill on the kit requires any closer range.

I am sure you know this, but for people reading who don’t: Phoenix should ALWAYS be aimed to land just behind your enemy so you get 3x hit (hit going out, burst hit, and hit coming back). Even better if you line it up with that teeny-tiny fire-line.

I usually on s/f for certain dungeons however, as the defense isn’t needed in open-world. Also S/F owns if you are taking part in a teq. kill. (Swirling winds SO GOOD there)

I personally loved S/F leveling up because well apart from some really easy might stacking, the skills just looked cool. A lot of your damage will come from air and fire, basically start in fire, use air until everything is on cd, then go back to fire. Although I will admit that the main reason S/F appealed to me was the projectile mitigation because in pve enemies plinking away at me annoys the hell out of me. Between swirling winds, magnetic wave and obsidian flesh you have 3 ways to prevent projectiles and and really long invulnerability skill.

Tips for aoe, get good at aiming dragon’s tooth or kiting enemies under it. It does great damage and has a short cd. Like they already said, phoenix behind them so that is passes through once, explodes, then passes through again. Line up foes and aim for the farthest one if you can because the auto attack in air pierces for I think 5 enemies IIRC. Don’t let long cast times leave you doing nothing, utilize the 3 instant cast skills between air and earth for either damage+blind or invulnerability during channeling.

BlackBeard.2873:

S/F is meant to be played at near-max range (900) as no skill on the kit requires any closer range.

NO! Just…. no. This could not be more wrong in anything PvE. Staying at max-range is the cardinal sin that WILL get you kicked from a dungeon group.

In PvE, you should ALWAYS be within melee range of your team-mates, and almost always within melee range of the boss. Why? So you can stack more might, so that might will get stacked on your allies, and so that their boons will effect you as well.

Might stacking combo for S/F is:

Dragon’s Tooth, Flamewall, Phoenix + Arcane Wave + Earth Atune, Magnetic Wave + Water Atune, Comet, Summon LH, LH AA.

You’ll be able to get off 1 blast finisher from a complete AA chain before Flamewall expires, assuming you traited into Persisting Flames. That’s 18 might in 10 secs. It’s even better than S/D’s 15 might in 10 secs. And it’ll only happen if you are right on top of the boss and your flamewall is directly underneath both you AND the boss.

There are two reasons I use focus:
1) Running a Lightning Hammer build
2) Fighting a boss where you’ll be ranged mostly

Focus isn’t as fun for me to use regularly as a dagger offhand.

That said Swirling Winds and the two Earth skills are great defensive abilities, and the water skills are solid as well.

The earth skills are good to use immediately before casting/picking up a lightning. Big condition removal or invincibility before a lightning leap info the fray.

If there’s one thing to say about focus, it’d be don’t make it something it’s not. It’s a defensive weapon/utility weapon. That’s what it does, and that has it’s uses. Just remember the goal of combat is rarely to survive, it’s usually to defeat the opposition.

For solo, condi build spamming earth auto and signet of fire is great against single target. You also get obsidian flesh and and magnetic wave for great defense, and as always you can switch to water for healing.

I mostly solo’d the new champion toxic wurm in nightmare tower with this setup (zerg came at the end and finished the last 10% hp).

Ya, if you play your cards right you should be almost invulnerable in pve assuming you manage your aggro properly. Make sure your toughness isn’t too high, otherwise it will prevent your earth elemental from grabbing aggro. Between projectile reflection and destruction from focus, invulnerability, blinds from lightning hammer/air and pets you should be able to easily solo things and take on some group events solo depending on the type of boss. Slow but powerful melee bosses are a snap with just lightning hammer, ranged bosses can be a pain if you don’t cycle your focus skills properly.

I’m leveling an ele and he is at lvl 41 now, S/F sounds lots of fun, my doubt is, it is more suited for a power or cond build?

BlackBeard.2873:

I always bring my ice-bow to deal with the lack of aoe. Plus, ice-bow is OP.

I also always run that spec with fresh-air just to get some decent damage output. I tend to go more offensive b/c of the powerful built-in defenses of the focus.

S/F is meant to be played at near-max range (900) as no skill on the kit requires any closer range.

I am sure you know this, but for people reading who don’t: Phoenix should ALWAYS be aimed to land just behind your enemy so you get 3x hit (hit going out, burst hit, and hit coming back). Even better if you line it up with that teeny-tiny fire-line.

I usually on s/f for certain dungeons however, as the defense isn’t needed in open-world. Also S/F owns if you are taking part in a teq. kill. (Swirling winds SO GOOD there)

Have to agree with Blackbeard on this. If you are using focus as a weapon its most beneficial imo to then take some or all defensive utilities and switch them to something more offensive.

I’ve always felt Focus is a defensive weapon and so I also like to pair them with conjures and or all the arcane direct damage utilities.

if you want to use the scepter/x fresh air is always good, if you’r worried about AoE using focus try to stay midrange and use fire 2,3,4 water 2,4 air 1 (aline yourself good and arclightining will pierce through everything) and earth 3,4. Using earth 4 offensivly will cripple your defense though.