Guild Wars 2

As of now, I’m trying to get the hang of the elementalist, but so far I’m constantly overwhelmed by the sheer amount of skills the elementalist possesses. (which in turn made me have a great deal amount of respect for good eles out there; people really don’t give them enough credit for playing well)

I main a thief, so I’m largely unused to the long cooldowns of the elementalist (thief has no cooldowns on wep skill to speak of), and the cooldowns on my necromancer is pretty short, and i do not have to juggle between a huge amount of skills on my necro either. Not to mention both thief and necro only uses f1 on their class skills, while i have to stretch all the way to f4 to use earth attunement (embarrassingly, i had to look at my keyboard to make sure i’m pressing f3-4, which is why i never really used earth in the first place, and considering changing the keys to QERT instead, while asigning heals to f1)

The first thing I’ve learnt by playing the ele is that there is no ‘straight forward’ way of playing the elementalist, as in with only one or two skill rotations, -maybe aside from playing as a staff elementalist- . However as a thief player, I’m attracted to the fast paced playstyle of the dagger or scepter elementalist, so I’m trying to get the hang of it.

However, after watching guides for the elementalist, most videos generally lists down skill rotations that consists of up to 10+ skills, all which needed to be performed with exact timings to take advantage of combo field. So as you may imagine, even after taking down notes, I found myself mostly staring at the skillbar and my notes rather than what is focusing onscreen. (the long cooldowns did nothing to help me learn rotations when I f***ed up my rotation)
And in the open world, most mobs die with 2-3 skills, and with the long cooldowns of the skills, fighting multiple mobs becomes a problem for me (ride the lightning anyone?) so in the end i found myself spamming auto-attacks , or giving up entirely and reverting to staff elementalist and spamming skill 2 in fire attunement.

So, anyone has any tips for a beginner scepter or dagger elementalist in general, especially in terms of basic weapon skills, attunment swapping, cooldown management etc? (currently my ele is lvl 35)
(btw, I haven’t even gotten into utilities and traits yet… Orz)

TL;DR: I suck at ele, can anybody pls give super-bare-bones-basics-of-basics-stuff for a newb ele? Even video tutorials makes my brain melt.

press 1 2 3 4 5 and random dodge whenever your stamina bar is full from having perma vigor

but for pve you just camp in fire with staff ignoring all your other 15 weapon skills (is it 15? I’m bad at math)

EazyPanda.6419:

So, anyone has any tips for a beginner scepter or dagger elementalist in general, especially in terms of basic weapon skills, attunment swapping, cooldown management etc? (currently my ele is lvl 35)
(btw, I haven’t even gotten into utilities and traits yet… Orz)

TL;DR: I suck at ele, can anybody pls give super-bare-bones-basics-of-basics-stuff for a newb ele? Even video tutorials makes my brain melt.

omg I almost wrote up this simple beginner guide to D/F FA build for dungeons/fractals. ANYWAY…. BLOOPER

As condescending as this might sound, scepter is only used for very specific things and its really weak outside of those things.

Dagger mainhand is a good base, especially for leveling. Mapping/leveling as Dagger/Dagger gives you good burst+stuns. Dagger/Focus is mostly used for defensive utilities and it really wants Fresh Air trait.

As a lvl35 I’d recommend Dagger/Dagger. Run around in Air, hit 4 (to zoom up to something), hit 3 and 5 at the same time, immediately hit Fire, 3, 4 and mb 5. That’s your basic burst.
After you plop Fire, u can go either Water (use 3 while standing in Fire), hit 4 immediately, feel free to use 5 to heal. If you follow up with Earth instead of Water, use 4 while standing in fire (Blast+Knockdown) then just do stuff until you can get back into Air.
Once you get back into Air, just keep mashing out with Lightning Whip. Basic things shouldn’t survive very long past this, if it gets to this point.

For utilities, pick up Arcane Wave (blast, autocrit, instant), Signet of Fire, Signet of Air for simple mapping.

For traits, just pick up whatever seems solid. (+10% dmg to targets within 600, +10% dmg while Fire attuned, Vigor on crit, ect ect) There’s a lot of things that can function well for casual D/D stuff.

OMGimAnoobLOLOL.4730:

EazyPanda.6419:

So, anyone has any tips for a beginner scepter or dagger elementalist in general, especially in terms of basic weapon skills, attunment swapping, cooldown management etc? (currently my ele is lvl 35)
(btw, I haven’t even gotten into utilities and traits yet… Orz)

TL;DR: I suck at ele, can anybody pls give super-bare-bones-basics-of-basics-stuff for a newb ele? Even video tutorials makes my brain melt.

omg I almost wrote up this simple beginner guide to D/F FA build for dungeons/fractals. ANYWAY…. BLOOPER

As condescending as this might sound, scepter is only used for very specific things and its really weak outside of those things.

Dagger mainhand is a good base, especially for leveling. Mapping/leveling as Dagger/Dagger gives you good burst+stuns. Dagger/Focus is mostly used for defensive utilities and it really wants Fresh Air trait.

As a lvl35 I’d recommend Dagger/Dagger. Run around in Air, hit 4 (to zoom up to something), hit 3 and 5 at the same time, immediately hit Fire, 3, 4 and mb 5. That’s your basic burst.
After you plop Fire, u can go either Water (use 3 while standing in Fire), hit 4 immediately, feel free to use 5 to heal. If you follow up with Earth instead of Water, use 4 while standing in fire (Blast+Knockdown) then just do stuff until you can get back into Air.
Once you get back into Air, just keep mashing out with Lightning Whip. Basic things shouldn’t survive very long past this, if it gets to this point.

For utilities, pick up Arcane Wave (blast, autocrit, instant), Signet of Fire, Signet of Air for simple mapping.

For traits, just pick up whatever seems solid. (+10% dmg to targets within 600, +10% dmg while Fire attuned, Vigor on crit, ect ect) There’s a lot of things that can function well for casual D/D stuff.

Thanks! I’ll try it out =D

I think that the best choice is playing for world completion.
I personally wouldn’t level the ele by leeching dungeon parts or buying them.
You will learn when to dodge especially when missing almost all the ‘good’-godly-damage applying skills – So roaming through open world content is the best way to go
—-
Staff still has a rotation. But you should stay in fire as long as possible.

I personally would recommend D/F. Focus’s fire field last longer then the fire field granted by Dagger offhand. Also you will only get the additional ‘burning foe buff’ if the mob runs through your fire field. Which in most cases doesn’t happen – because stacking everything (in corners) is considered – good. And damage dealt by S/D is far behind – when your LH is gone and for instance, your stuck in air.

I personally find myself playing Staff most of the time. Pre stacking might – changing to staff. Especially since almost everything in this game dyes in an instant – there is no point in playing ‘safe’.

Well anyways. I would also recommend watching her videos.

OMGimAnoobLOLOL.4730:

[…]
As condescending as this might sound, scepter is only used for very specific things and its really weak outside of those things.

Dagger mainhand is a good base, especially for leveling. Mapping/leveling as Dagger/Dagger gives you good burst+stuns. Dagger/Focus is mostly used for defensive utilities and it really wants Fresh Air trait.

As a lvl35 I’d recommend Dagger/Dagger. Run around in Air, hit 4 (to zoom up to something), hit 3 and 5 at the same time, immediately hit Fire, 3, 4 and mb 5. That’s your basic burst.
After you plop Fire, u can go either Water (use 3 while standing in Fire), hit 4 immediately, feel free to use 5 to heal. If you follow up with Earth instead of Water, use 4 while standing in fire (Blast+Knockdown) then just do stuff until you can get back into Air.
Once you get back into Air, just keep mashing out with Lightning Whip. Basic things shouldn’t survive very long past this, if it gets to this point.

For utilities, pick up Arcane Wave (blast, autocrit, instant), Signet of Fire, Signet of Air for simple mapping.

For traits, just pick up whatever seems solid. (+10% dmg to targets within 600, +10% dmg while Fire attuned, Vigor on crit, ect ect) There’s a lot of things that can function well for casual D/D stuff.[/quote]

Made some great suggestions. I also played D/D back in the days, when I was leveling my Ele. I would say it’s the easiest way to get the ele anywhere near 80.

Good luck!

Here’s what works for me:

Pick a rotation, any rotation, and try to get it down pat. I practice at the PVP golems. Once I master it, I go perform it under pressure, meaning, out in the open world. The object is to get a basic rotation down. If I die, I die. This is not EVE, I don’t lose my stuff …

Example for D/F: Fire 3, Water 3 5, Earth 4 2 all on top of each other to build might stacks. Air auto attack until the might stacks are about to run out and start over. (What you’ll find, though, is that a lot of stuff is dead before your rotation is finished.)

Trust me, you will get a feel for it. You will know what those skills do, they become second nature. Now is the time to introduce other things. For instance, Earth 5 for the invul, Air 4 for projectiles, Water 4 for the chill, etc.

Just take it step by step, and don’t let yourself get overwhelmed by everything. Restrict yourself by narrowing it down to manageable chunks. Don’t get frustrated by dying. Nobody is watching and no one cares.

Hope this helps!

E: Zelyhn caught it!

BrazenNL.9857:

Water 2 for the Chill

You mean water 4?

Zelyhn Lekovitch.2867:

BrazenNL.9857:

Water 2 for the Chill

You mean water 4?

Good catch!

Yes.

EazyPanda.6419:

As of now, I’m trying to get the hang of the elementalist, but so far I’m constantly overwhelmed by the sheer amount of skills the elementalist possesses. (which in turn made me have a great deal amount of respect for good eles out there; people really don’t give them enough credit for playing well)

I main a thief, so I’m largely unused to the long cooldowns of the elementalist (thief has no cooldowns on wep skill to speak of), and the cooldowns on my necromancer is pretty short, and i do not have to juggle between a huge amount of skills on my necro either. Not to mention both thief and necro only uses f1 on their class skills, while i have to stretch all the way to f4 to use earth attunement (embarrassingly, i had to look at my keyboard to make sure i’m pressing f3-4, which is why i never really used earth in the first place, and considering changing the keys to QERT instead, while asigning heals to f1)

The first thing I’ve learnt by playing the ele is that there is no ‘straight forward’ way of playing the elementalist, as in with only one or two skill rotations, -maybe aside from playing as a staff elementalist- . However as a thief player, I’m attracted to the fast paced playstyle of the dagger or scepter elementalist, so I’m trying to get the hang of it.

However, after watching guides for the elementalist, most videos generally lists down skill rotations that consists of up to 10+ skills, all which needed to be performed with exact timings to take advantage of combo field. So as you may imagine, even after taking down notes, I found myself mostly staring at the skillbar and my notes rather than what is focusing onscreen. (the long cooldowns did nothing to help me learn rotations when I f***ed up my rotation)
And in the open world, most mobs die with 2-3 skills, and with the long cooldowns of the skills, fighting multiple mobs becomes a problem for me (ride the lightning anyone?) so in the end i found myself spamming auto-attacks , or giving up entirely and reverting to staff elementalist and spamming skill 2 in fire attunement.

So, anyone has any tips for a beginner scepter or dagger elementalist in general, especially in terms of basic weapon skills, attunment swapping, cooldown management etc? (currently my ele is lvl 35)
(btw, I haven’t even gotten into utilities and traits yet… Orz)

TL;DR: I suck at ele, can anybody pls give super-bare-bones-basics-of-basics-stuff for a newb ele? Even video tutorials makes my brain melt.

Just play the class in PvE, and practice with that (If not already.) then go to PvP to maximize your skill level… That’s how I got good at all element list weapons, amulets and traits… (Even some really crappy ones.) Tip: if you PvP play celestial D/D and practice tanking damage, and kiting. Also, once you master that, learn how to time your skills and such, like reflect on 4 earth on an LB ranger. And 5 air on a mesmer about to use GS 2. (Only minor examples. Heh… If I was on my PC I’d give better detail, heck I’d help you step by step by partying up!) Anyways, good luck!!

Honestly, how you go about learning to play S/F ele is by just playing it and learning from your mistakes. As you mess up you will start to see what you can get away with, like maybe I couldve saved my Obsidian flesh right there rather than waste it and have it on cd. I’ve been playing Fresh air for a loooong time now and i’m still learning no combos and what skills to use in certain situations. That being said, there is a couple of things that can be taught to a new S/F or S/D ele that maybe you wouldnt notice through playing and i’d be more than happy to help you out. Just message me anytime @Bitty.1409 and i’d be more than willing to help you out.
I also just noticed that S/F was not an option, i’d highly suggest running that but obviously you dont have too.

Whatever the rotation the other guy posted is bad.
For general open world with any dagger(mainhand) build that doesn’t have the fresh air trait(which you won’t get any time soon) you want to finish in air not start in it.

If you start in air then go fire and leave fire your damage will be 0. Literally. And you will be locked out of your dps attunements which are air and to a lesser extent fire.

Your highest damage in dagger/dagger builds is a burning speed, ring of fire, firegrab and swap to air auto rotation. You can toss in a frozen burst too but it’s usually not worth it. Ride the lightning is a dps gain but it’s not worth sacrificing it when you can use it for mobility. Everything should explode after that very easy rotation. Mostly just air autoattack basically.

For staff it’s very easy. Autoattack and use lava font on cooldown. Meteor shower for large hitbox/multiple mobs. You can also stack yourself some decent swiftness with erruption, static field, whatever staff 4 in air is called.

You can always use d/d for mobility and swap to staff when fighting.
People tend to like d/d for the active combat feeling and staff for the huge damage, aoe presence.

Dagger/focus is a more defensive version of dagger build. It’s basically the same thing except it can stack more might and has a projectile mitigation, personal reflect and invulnerability at the cost of mobility and to a lesser extent sustain. If you don’t feel ride the lightning is that good d/f will get you further in difficult encounters.

D/F: Most people use it for condition builds due to the invulnerability and the ground target burns. However, due to the incredible ability for might stacking and the great balance of range control and melee control, it makes this set pretty good, only downer, no open access to swiftness or rushing forward like skills, besides 3 on earth. The basics of using it is use reflects stealth detect and to reflect the foes damage back, the stuns are for allowing you time to get close for a burst before they start running back. The auras are for might and melee stuns. (Or burns if you’re playing condition based or hybrid.)
What it counters, elementalist weapon set wise: (All, if played correctly.)

S/D: This set is used normally for quick bursting, no real big source of survival. (You or them) This is tended to be used for singling out since the lack of survival is a serious downer for you, it can take some decent skill to master. The main focus is to land your attacks… ALL OF THEM. Another problem is the fact if you miss or forget to dodge or blind, you’ll basically taste what you give.
What this set counters, Staff, D/D, and itself.

The weapons play different roles but D/F would be a nice place to learn.

So you want to learn some Scepter Ele!

My advice will be for S/F. I’ve been running a zerker build S/F ele in WvW for roaming for a few hundred hours so i’ll try to give you the rundown on Scepter/Focus versus other players.

First, lets take a look at what you have for the S and the F.

Scepter:

Fire – Massive Aoe damage (tooth, phoenix)
Air – Single target damage, blind
Water – little regen, auto attack hits deceptively hard.
earth – condition pressure, toughness + small hits, blind

Focus:
Fire – ground target burning, fire shield
Air -Projectile Destruction, Knockdown
Water – Chill, Interrupt
Earth – Condition Clear, reflect, Invulnerability

For fighting other players, I run a Fresh Air build. Every time I critically hit, I refresh Air Attunement. With mostly zerker armor, this happens pretty often. I also carry two arcane skills (shield and wave) as utilities in order to force an air attunement refresh.

I’ll typically start with the air burst (Lightning strike, blinding flash, arc lightning) and wait until my opponent counters. The arc lightning channel is very strong. Like rapid fire, it will track an enemy if the channel started before the stealth.

Your arc lightning is channelling, and you’re watching your opponent. If they try to counter with ranged pressure, you can use your swirling winds, or attune to earth for reflect. If you rotate into an attunement like earth for the magnetic wave, put up your rock barrier while you reflect. Be ready to use your Obsidian flesh. Many players will instantly swap/cancel their ranged pressure when they realize they’re being reflected. Use Hurl from your Rock barrier. This will probably refresh your Air Attunement.

Now, you’re ready to burst. Pop obsidian flesh (earth 5), rotate to fire, Line up your Phoenix, with the ground target slightly BEHIND your enemy. Ideally, they are in the AoE ring, but with the majority of the ground target on the opposite side of your enemy from you. This is because your Phoenix travels from you, to the target and back. The Phoenix can hit your enemy on it’s way to the location, at the location, and coming back from the location to you. Now comes the tricky bit. This is also your 1 shot kill.

Phoenix is channeling, you have 1/4 of a second to:

Lightning flash (cantrip) to your target
Air Attunement (there’s a lightning strike from being traited all the way into Air)
Lightning Strike
Blinding Flash
Arcane Wave/Bolt

Phoenix Impacts (3x)
GG.

OKAY. So there’s one way to open and execute a burst. What about when you get initiated on?

I spend most of my time in Air attunement. When I get initiated on, I’ll immediately dodge (if possible) acquire the target, and blind them. IF i must, i’ll pop arcane shield, rotate to earth, put up rock barrier, and send ANOTHER blind at them with the dust devil. If by luck, your enemy dodges the exploding arcane shield, throw Hurl at them to ensure your air attunment is ready to be activated. At this point, you’re very low, if not almost dead. Use obsidian flesh, and rotate to fire and do your best to phoenix. It can be effective to phoenix behind you when you’re running away, or you and your enemy are rolling past each other to stay out of melee cleave. If your phoenix lands, immediately follow up with an Air burst, in order to keep up the pressure. If your phoenix does not land, throw out a Dragon Tooth, and run under it. Greedy, 2 spamming punks cough thieves will die to the tooth like this. If you have time, put the flame wall underneath it as well, so that you can get some might out of the blast finisher on the Dragon Tooth.

After your Fire -> Air burst, rotate to water. This is basically all that you have left. Use your Chill, and Comet, and then your remaining arcane utility, wave or bolt. Air burst again, channel Arc Lightning.

If you’ve done all this and your enemy is still alive, you need to kite until your magnetic wave and Rock Barrier/Hurl are back up.

I’ll leave you two links, One is a combo guide that I used to help teach myself how to execute these combos, and the other is some of my own S/F roaming with a small team.

(Zoose S/F guide) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXjGXYXSwek

(S/F roaming, relevant clips stop at 8 min. I’m using a 0/6/0/4/4 build, which is WAY less YOLO than Mallex) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gD4qR3PJFoA

The Mallex Montage is just epic, so I’ll link that here too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4xpjcPSDWQ