Guild Wars 2

Took me a couple of hundred spvp games to start getting how to play the ele. Took another of couple of hundred games to start getting when and where to use the flame ax and great sword. I may be a little slow in this respect…

Anyway no QQ here please. Please dont say how you dont use them and keep gripes to a minimum save where they are deficient in the specific way you use them.
Just the facts maam. How do you use conjures?

I have heard some interesting takes on how to use lightning flash with the ice bow offensively.
I have some personal basic understanding of how the ax fits with auras and what not.

But to keep it simple

1. Which conjure you use.
2. where you use. (pve/wvw/spvp/dungeons)
3. your impression of your skill level with it.
4. the basic tactic around the use.
5. the specific combinations.
6. Build used as its relevant and why.

videos are gold.
Please also link references to other threads if needed.

Greatsword in wvw

Tornado is situational and elemental has too many times offered my enemy an easy rally.

Most often i use it for bit quicker travel and taking out npcs, so that my own skills won´t be on cooldown incase i get jumped.
Sometimes i charge in a clueless zergs just because it´s funny.

Near glasscannon spiker, s/d.

lay down combo field
bust out hammer
use leap and/or blast finisher

The only conjure i actually use is frost bow i like the #4 skill just incase the enemy is trying to res his teammate u can just use that over them and kill them both it does pretty high damage i was surprised and i have never stopped using it since :P lol

I use greatsword a lot. Not only does it have amazing dps but you can also use to chases down enemies or get away from zergs.

Which conjure you use.
Ax
where you use. (pve/wvw/spvp/dungeons)
spvp
your impression of your skill level with it.
medium
the basic tactic around the use.
after initial d/d combo from water generally
the specific combinations.
just the ax really. 4/5/2/3/1 or drop
Build used as its relevant and why.
pretty much standard dagger dagger cantrip with ax instead of armor of earth.
also air1 to pick up the aura buffs off of the 4 and 5 combo.

Which conjure you use.
icebow
where you use. (pve/wvw/spvp/dungeons)
pve
your impression of your skill level with it.
noob
the basic tactic around the use.
single target opener generally drops mobs before they get to me.
the specific combinations.
5/4/2/3/as little as possible 1
Build used as its relevant and why.
generally i take waters +20% damage on vulnerable targets. icebow #2 with this is a natural combo

Which conjure you use.
greatsword
where you use. (pve/wvw/spvp/dungeons)
wvw
your impression of your skill level with it.
noob
the basic tactic around the use.
3 and 4 for travel
also throw the initial cast on walls and try to rain fire on walls with 5.
the specific combinations.
none
Build used as its relevant and why.
no real preference

I was runnin AC and another ele was summoning them. They work amazing on all th parts where you need to kill the burrows.

I get the most use out of my ice bow, which i pretty much only use with my staff in WvW. Meteor shower + Glyph of Storms + Ice bow 4. If you have the staff trait for increased aoe range this is a pretty mean combo.

As others have mentioned the greatsword is pretty sweet, too. I usually use it in sPvP as a last resort if i’m having trouble bringing down an enemy.

Level 48 D/D and only play PVE I use the Frostbow’s Icestorm ability against a big group of mobs to soften them up. After that I’ll be charging in

Works really nice here. Negates the short range of D/D a bit imo.

I’ve tried the Lightning Hammer as well. It’s a pretty nice weapon. But using it left me quite vurnerable. Unless attuned to water.

The big fiery Greatsword is a pretty cool one actually. Real nice single target and AOE damage. Biggest downside, since it’s an Elite, is the long cooldown.

Just picked up the Fiery Axe last night, and although it’s a nice one. I prefer D/D fire spells.

Earth Shield is quite nice, but not fitting my playstyle that much.

So Frostbow for me

Only use Frost Bow for destroying objects in pve. Other than that they dont come near my utility bar

I use them all the time on PvE.

Frost bow:

-a single rotation will drop most mobs before they can hit me
-#4 when I need to demolish something. This really is very good, no other ability we have will destroy static structures as quickly and effectively. So far haven’t come up to a structure which could take more than half a voley.

-Lightning Hammer:

-drop down a combo field and use leap. Use against tough, slow-hitting mobs for perma-blindness. Use in conjunction with staff Chill effect on faster hitting mobs for the same effect. Also good when you need to go in against a bunch of hard hitting but weak mobs, as it has nice AoE damage + AoE blind.

Basically I use it as a melee backup when going about with my staff out.

-Fiery Greatsword: use it as my go-to skill for champion mobs. #3 has a cripple on it, which works really well for kiting with #1 and #5, also great damage

-Flame Axe: don’t use it that much since Hammer is better in my opinion, but it also has decent damage and is ranged for the most part, so I guess it could be used with a D/D setup, only you can get higher damage from daggers anyway so a bit redundant except for range.

Basically I use conjured weapons all the time, but mostly as situational single skills, as in I conjure them up, use up everything useful, then immediately drop them and continue with my normal skillset.

- Axe has the best AoE attack (2) we have access to if yon consider cooldown and casting time. It also have two fire combo fields and a jump finisher.
In some very specific PvE events with heavy steady AoE damage needed and basting teamates (thieves mostly) I use it for might stacking.

- Frostbow is good for burst AoE (4), I use it when I run staff glass canon AoE builds for keep defense or specific dongeon events with heavy structure damage. Tho its just push 4 and drop (sometimes 5).

If I WvW in D/D it is generally more usefull to switch to staff than to change a cantrip for frostbow when attacking a keep. I tried changing Earth Armor for Frostbow on the long run but it just doesnt work.

- Lightning Hammer was great for xp’ing but its pretty much junk for the rest of the game. The damage doesnt compensate the lack utility in dongeon, not even to mention PvP.

- Greatsword is one of the worste summoning. If I wasnt Norn (I use cat shapeshift for stealth and charge) I may use it on non /D builds (Ride the Lightning > Greatsword) for mobility reasons, run away and chase mostly. But the damage is very bad.

- Shield is one of the weapon I used the most. I used to run 7man team and fight the zergs on open area using
1- Guandian AoE grip
2- Ranger Entangle (or any CC we had if not up)
3- Every AoE damage we had (I was playging glass canon S/F)
4- Finish under projectile protections and stability
5- Run away and pick bags before realise they outnumber us

Sometime our guardian wasnt here so me and the necro used the 4 on earth shield (actually 4 than 5 for me or I died) to gather the mass and AoE them down.
Of course its use and drop usage.

Frost Bow: I use this for it’s number 4 ability (burrows, big mobs or large groups) i also like a well timed number 5 on bosses. Haven’t tried in pvp.

Earth Shield: I use this one on very specific hard pve scenarios where a guardian is not available and i need to group up mobs fast. Path 2 of AC where you have to kill the ghosts comes to mind. Haven’t tried in pvp.

Lava Axe: Don’t use it.

Lightning Hammer: I mostly use this one when I’m soloing hard content, like story mode in a dungeon or to jump gaps with the leap. Haven’t tried in pvp.

Fiery Greatsword: I have a mesmer friend and to be honest the only way i found to make quickness actually be worth it for an elementalist was to use the GS auto-attack. Usually my friend warns me he is about to use time warp, then i drop the GS for both of us, he uses TW and we both auto-attack for great damage.

I have a question for people that like to use lava axe for pvp, specially as a auramancer d/d. Is that extra aura really that necessary? I find that i have perma fury and swiftness as it is with only frost/electric aura and boon duration. Lava Axe’s damage is really lacking and I always have something else in my d/d that i could be doing instead of it. Not even taking into account that replaces a slot that could be used by many of the much better utilities out there (like all cantrips). So what am i missing?

D/d already has a 3rd aura – fire 4 + earth 3.

As for conjures, I don’t use them. Why sacrifice a utility slot just to nerf yourself from 20 skills down to 5?

The only one I seriously use in regular play is Frost Bow. If I know there’s going to be an enemy with a large hit-box, I switch the slot that regularly holds Glyph of Storms out for it.

I use it, fire off it’s #2 to get some vulnerability on the target, then fire off it’s #4. While doing that, I move up to the target and then fire off it’s #3 and drop it. I’ve instructed my regular teammates to also use the Frost Bow in that manner when they see one on the ground.

In WvW, #4 is excellent for taking out siege and fortifications. #5 is excellent for trolling people.

Frost bow and sometimes Earth shield in WvW sieges to overcome D/D range limitation and pull down enemies from the walls.

Just today I was farming Orr and I was having a lot of fun using the frostbow’s 3 and 4 skills for aoe and the hammer’s auto tack. I never thought of using greatswords whirl skill for mobility :O or that the earth shield had a pull.

Here is what I currently run, on my level 80 elementalist.

I’m traited & geared for Condition Damage/Support. Frost bow & Fiery Great sword are staples of my build. I will alternate back & forth between Lightning Hammer(Mostly while soloing) and Flame Axe.

For dungeons I may switch from a Scepter/Dagger to a Staff but it depends on the dungeon & the situation. Whenever I have a conjured weapon out (Which is most of the time) I’m attuned to Water so I get the effect of regeneration. From the Spell Slinger trait I get 3 stacks of Might whenever I pop Armor of earth. From the trait Earth’s Embrace I gain Armor of Earth when my health reaches 50% which also triggers the 3 stacks of might from spell slinger. With the trait Cantrip Master , Armor of Earth will recharge 20% faster. With the trait Soothing Disruption, Armor of Earth will also give me Regeneration and Vigor. Withe the trait renewing stamina I also have a 33% chance to gain vigor on critical hits.

The build does me quite well and I love using conjured weapons, I use them for everything from farming, to dungeons, to WvW.

personally, at least with my build, I don’t find Conjured Weapons much effective against same level mobs, although they pull out nice performances in very low level areas. Maybe the recent boost improved things slightly, but it might be due a second thought by devs and a further improvement should be able to put them in par with other solutions

1. Which conjure you use.
Frost Bow

2. Where you use. (pve/wvw/spvp/dungeons)
My dagger dagger build (basically the same in pve and pvp)

3. Your impression of your skill level with it.
Long CDs on the skills, good to fire 2 3 4 5 then drop
Auto attacking 1 is fine as unless your going to holding out for the CDs
5 is amazing 4 second stun, cannot be stun broken unless there is another enemy around

4. The basic tactic around the use.
Use teleport and frost bow 5 to get a nice 4 – 5 sec stun

5. The specific combinations.
Start casting 5 before the enemy reaches the conquest point (just out of range of your teleport) teleport in-front of the foe (the teleport damage will remove aegis) then the frost bow 5 will hit them in the face freezing them for 4-5 sec. Then switch attunement use frost bow 4 then switch attunement frost bow 3 at point blank then drop it and continue to cc them with your dagger dagger skills.

6. Build used as its relevant and why
I’m running a variant of daphenoix’s dd build. I have 15 in air for lightning strike on switch to air. And at least 5 in arcane for fury is required here. 5 arcane gives you fury on attunement swap, so when you switch attunement before using the frost bow skills you gain 20% extra crit, which is extra damage and extra crit procs (such as crit sigils, traits etc). Teleport is also important, as it does damage when it lands, with my build it grants vigor, regen and 3x might. The damage on arrival will remove aegis from guardians or anyone else who may have it, allowing your frost bow to actually hit and not be auto blocked. 15 air has the same effect, switching to air before using the frost bow will cause lightning strike and remove the aegis. Finally, using teleport whilst using bow 5 will allow you to keep mobile, so if a warrior is charging you, you can port backwards and bow him before he can reach you.

Bow 5 will be unsuccessful on a target with stability but if they don’t have stability they cannot stun break out.

In dungeons, if I see a ranger in my group, I’ll usually get Lightning Hammer ready.

15 second water field + weapon that produces blast fields on auto attacks = temporary invulnerability, pretty much. It’s even funnier if someone else picks up the other at the same time. Gotten some massive slowdowns from rapid fire water blast finishers from multiple sources.

I’m actually looking for a build to use conjure weapons… Can you tell me what builds you use with conjures? I’m thinking in a power/vitality/toughness but maybe a set with condition damage can be better…

Fox Soul.4809:

I’m actually looking for a build to use conjure weapons… Can you tell me what builds you use with conjures? I’m thinking in a power/vitality/toughness but maybe a set with condition damage can be better…

See my Earlier post, I use it with Conjures. It’s a condition/support build.

In dungeons.

Frost bow for object.

If I am glass cannon w/ staff I use Fiery Greatsword instead of Fire Elemental. on certain bosses, e.g. CoF p1 Effigy, Destroyer of Worlds, etc.

I generally just use the conjures in WvW. I’m only decently experienced with the Fiery Greatsword and the Lightning Hammer.

I typically use the Fiery Greatsword for mobility, but occasionally use it offensively. If there’s a mesmer around with Time Warp, the autoattack (1) and (5) skills are devastating. The spin attack is great when you’re immobilized and enemies are in melee range. It’s also great when your enemy is stuck against a wall and you can just spin on top of them. The number 5 AoE move is okay if I’m trying to stack my AoE attacks on a group, but if that’s the case, I usually toss the Greatsword immediately after using it.

For the Lightning Hammer, I, again, typically use it for mobility. If I’m escorting a dolyak and want to stack a lot of swiftness, I’ll Eruption (Staff Earth 2) > Summon Lightning Hammer > Hammer (5). Hammer (2) is also okay for closing the gap because it’s cooldown is so short. Offensively, I’ll use it for a double daze using Staff Static Field (5) > Hammer (2), then Hammer (5) > Hammer (2) when it’s up again. The blast finishers and aoe blindness on the autoattack are nice when there are others dropping fields.

Considering the feedback in this thread, I might have to try out the Frost Bow for an AoE spam rotation.

Crunchy Gremlin.5798:

How do you use conjures?

I keep them hidden behind my useful utility skills, so that they don’t mess up my gameplay experience… If I could refund the points I spend on them, I would.

Chipster.6713:

Crunchy Gremlin.5798:

How do you use conjures?

I keep them hidden behind my useful utility skills, so that they don’t mess up my gameplay experience… If I could refund the points I spend on them, I would.

You can refund skill points. At least there is a skill trainer specifically for skill points but…
Please stay on topic

Which conjure you use.
Frost Bow

where you use. (pve/wvw/spvp/dungeons)
Pve and hotjoin pvp

your impression of your skill level with it.
lvl 2 of 5

the basic tactic around the use/the specific combinations.
For pve, skill 4 on groups, sometimes skill 5 on a freezable boss
for pvp-skill 5 for the good stun/freeze, often followed by 4 or a dpsing
I also use it on myself when a d/d thief stealths (expecting them to try to backstab)
or a point to keep players out of it. I use it on balled groups as well…which is usually a a control point anyway
If you’re using a staff, you can also use it to keep an enemy in your aoe.

Build used as its relevant and why.
Doesn’t really matter.

Frost Bow

I could just use it for the #4 ability to take down structures. Was defending a keep earlier today and 2 people using #4 twice on the rams pounding at the door wrecked shop.

But the vulnerability and the chill are nice for pvp support when people are tryin to run away.

I haven’t tried this yet but is eath shields range long enough to pull people down from towers in WvWvW?

low walls yeah. i havent tried it either but it should not be any different then any other pull ability. its got a bit of a cast time though.
see above for people talking about using it

any other ideas?

I use the Flame Axe as a part of my rotation. I’m currently attempting a fire dps based build, and not only does the axe give me a good ranged option, it also allows me to proc an additional aura thanks to a quick fire/jump combo, dps while running away from a target (the autoattack can hit targets behind you) and flame axe 2 is just a nice aoe attack all in all. Flame axe 5 is also the fastest, longest lasting burn I can inflict. I’ll often quickly drop the bundle after doing a rotation and go back to using my regular skills.

i don’t use any conjures cuz they are simply kitten

Anyway no QQ here please. Please dont say how you dont use them and keep gripes to a minimum save where they are deficient in the specific way you use them.
Just the facts maam. How do you use conjures?