Guild Wars 2

D/D and D/F elementalist is by far my favorite profession + weapon set in this game.
I consider myself to be at least slightly above average when it comes to PvE and PvP, but find myself having issues doing dungeons as a D/D ele.

It doesn’t help that I’m in green gear and often can not see most of the red circles on the ground. Still, I try my best and do okay depending on the boss and adds. I have quite a bit of difficulty with some bosses in explorable mode, though.

I was wondering if anyone had any general tips/tricks or preferred builds for running a D/D or D/F elementalist in dungeons? This is the build I’m currently running in dungeons. (I do my best to make the PvE items I’m using match the stats in that build, which uses SPvP gear.)
It does decently considering I am a D/D ele in green gear. Still, I’m wondering what I can do to be more effective… aside from switch to staff or scepter, both of which I don’t find all that fun, especially compared to dagger.

Thanks all!

I use mistform and armor of earth….it happens too much enemies casts a red circle while you are in th middle of one of your mobility spell so you cannot roll….

Utilities and cantrips helps a lot here..expecially when you see yurhealth dropping fast

What i can say to you also, is once you get exotic things becomes easier….so you can ignore most red circles…..

Also i rely a lot on my cc spells.

I do most dungeons with dual dagger, exceptions would be most of Twilight Arbor and Arah, and a few parts in other dungeons (like nuking graveling burrows in AC). Utility is Lightning Flash, Mist Form and then either Glyph of Storms (in easy fights), or Arcane Shield (in harder fights).

Most important key to survival is to know the dungeon and encounters. If you feel you have trouble with a boss, kill it with staff first till you learn the tricks it uses (use staff to save yourself the repair costs).
Second, invest in better gear.

Also personally I way prefer higher Arcana for faster Element swaps. Wouldn’t put that much in Water, but that’s just me.=p Also the fire Magic trait seems a bit wasted, but I don’t know. I never used it. +5% damage on a burning foe just doesn’t do much.

Your build could use some work some of your synergies are a little strange and some of your point allotments could be better (for example I would put 30 points in earth any day over water.)however your build is solid and you shouldn’t have many problems there.

I’m suspecting like was said before its your gear. Even if you cant afford Exotics Rares will help out a lot. Greens don’t tell us much either. Green level 80 gear? What stats are you running? You cant get soldier in greens which is a go to set for elementalists. So I’m positive this is what is holding you back.

After you gear up its all about situational awareness and learning fights. D/D ele’s are some of the most hardy characters in game. You will be able to stand in melee with guardians and warriors easily while you dish out your damage, and often outlive them.

Just to add to the good advice from everyone else…

Always remember to use your fields and finishers in dungeons. With arcane wave, you can give everyone around you 9 stacks of might with each fire → earth combo. Even if there is no reason to do earthquake or churning earth…I think it’s worth it just for the might you can give your group. And that’s not even counting incidental blast finishers that your group does in your fire fields.

Your group mates will probably make some comment about how they are doing so much damage, thinking they are uber…when in reality, you know that it’s the might you are giving to everyone that is making the difference!

I can’t offer any advice about the class as I do not run it currently. I can say however that dungeons are not so much PvE as they are PvRC (Player vs Red Circle). I would imagine that most classes would have a hard time not being able to see the red circles ANet really should have an option here.

GL
Blood~

Thanks for the tips, all.

In regards to my build: the fire is arguably a bit of a waste; I put it in there mainly for the extra power. I prefer 30 water over 30 earth unless I’m using signet of restoration. I find the condition removal from Cleansing Water to be quite useful. In regards to arcane, I usually do just fine with only 10 points in arcane. I’ve been rolling between all four of my attunements since I started playing ele in BWE1; I don’t usually have an issue timing my attunement swapping to comply with the 12-13s attunement cooldown.

I’ll definitely invest in some rare gear once I have my build more set in place, i.e. so I know what type of gear to get. And Lokki, yes, it’s green lv80 gear. Half light armageddon, half carrion feathered armor; sapphire mithril accessories; carrion glyphic and carrion mithril daggers.

currently i run 0/10/10/30/20 build on D/D with a mix of PVT and cleric gear with this build you have lots of health and defense and most often i find myself being the last man standing (if the group gets into problems) i would really suggest spending 20 point in the arcane tree for elemental attunement and renewing stamina. the last one gives 33% chance on crit to get vigor (more dodges) but in reality it procs more because of aoe skills. also zephyr’s boon from the air tree is nice for your aura’s (at least frost and lightning armor without combos/runes) that give you fury so you get more crits and thus more vigor. if you play this build right then it is really hard to die unless you got a bad day or something.

also i saw that you are using cantrips in your build then you could switch the fire trait for spell slinger it gives you 3 stacks of might on every cantrip use (no cd) a lot better then bit more dmg on burned foes

Hey Time, that gives me a little more to work with as far as advice goes.

First off Carrion looks great on paper because it has so much damage and also Vit which is nice. But being in the thick of fighting you will be getting pummeled a bit. Vit also happens to be the worst defensive stat for us elementalist. It’s still good, but not as good as toughness/healing If you are trying to be a damage powerhouse start looking at Soldier gear. and Shaman gear to fill out your defenses a little without losing too much damage for your troubles. If you want a more tanky feel consider throwing some cleric’s in there.

With the right mixture of these sets you will lose some damage but gain lots of survivability. Learning to maximize your might combos and using a sigil of battle can keep your damage respectable while you are still quite tanky. Personally I can regularly keep 15+ stacks of might on my D/D getting 20+ in groups and by pushing my boons.

If you are confused on the sets I was talking about up there. Check out the wiki’s Item Nomenclature Page.

Lokki.1092:

Hey Time, that gives me a little more to work with as far as advice goes.

First off Carrion looks great on paper because it has so much damage and also Vit which is nice. But being in the thick of fighting you will be getting pummeled a bit. Vit also happens to be the worst defensive stat for us elementalist. It’s still good, but not as good as toughness/healing If you are trying to be a damage powerhouse start looking at Soldier gear. and Shaman gear to fill out your defenses a little without losing too much damage for your troubles. If you want a more tanky feel consider throwing some cleric’s in there.

With the right mixture of these sets you will lose some damage but gain lots of survivability. Learning to maximize your might combos and using a sigil of battle can keep your damage respectable while you are still quite tanky. Personally I can regularly keep 15+ stacks of might on my D/D getting 20+ in groups and by pushing my boons.

If you are confused on the sets I was talking about up there. Check out the wiki’s Item Nomenclature Page.

Thanks a lot for the advice, Lokki. I’ve been trying to include a good balance of vitality and toughness in my build, but I am aware that armor is more useful to us than health, so I suppose I should be more-so prioritizing toughness rather than vitality.

Thanks for the tips about might. I have been planning to get a superior sigil of battle once I get my exotic weapon (the battle sigils are quite expensive on the TP). I’ll definitely focus more on might stacking rather than getting tons of damage from my base stats.

Just dandy and quite fun. I go power/vit/tough or cleric’s if I D/D for up close survivability, and I have at least two cantrips.