Guild Wars 2

A lot of people have told me D/D ele is one of the easiest to play, the most effective, and can be rather tanky while hitting decent. The problem? Im super squishy.

I’m using the build from metabattle and I am very often killed before I can even stack might, if I am focused I die in the blink of an eye lol. I must be doing something wrong here, can someone tell me how to play d/d ele and more of the combo fields? I tried watching a video on d/d ele too but it didn’t help much

If you are not heavily focused, stack might. If you are focused, chain protection by applying aura. Learn to save dodge for when you really need it. Learn some blink spots to disengage from a fight. Pay attention to the state of the fight and ready to make a run when it gets stale.

Eles are squishy. They have low armour and low hp, however, they have a lot of sustained healing.

When you take pressure, here’s the general defensive rotation:

Say you’re in fire, and you start taking heavy damage. You’re now down to half health.

Pop your fire field (Fire 4).
Switch to earth. This immediately gives you protection.
Immobilize the person focusing you and then use the Earth 3 again to leap through the fire field. This gives you fire shield and, thanks to your traits, more protection.
Dodge roll back into the fire field whilst still in earth, this’ll blast the fire field and cripple anyone near you.
Use Earth 4 to knock down anyone near you. This will also blast the fire field.

At this point, you’ve got protection, fire aura and you’ve crippled and knocked down people pressuring you.

Now, switch to water.
If your fire field is still up, you could use Water 3 to blast it and gain some more might – this depends on how much pressure you’re taking. It’ll also chill enemies around you which is great for kiting.
If you can, try to line of sight the guy pressuring you
Dodge to give yourself a small heal.
Use Frost Aura (Water 4) – this reducing incoming damage by 43% thanks to the aura trait and Frost Aura’s -10% damage.
Now use Water 5 for a big heal.
Use Water 2 to heal yourself a bit more.
If you still need more healing, you should be able to do another dodge in water soon.

You should now be back up to ~90% hp, maybe 100%. With might stacked and your air/fire attunements ready to go.

Rinse and repeat, basically. A lot survivability also comes from dodging the right attacks.
For example, if you get hit by a hambow warrior’s CC chain, you’re gonna find yourself dying pretty fast. Save your dodges for when he switches to hammer and kite him whilst he’s using it. Then when he goes back to the longbow, you can pressure him again.

It’s all about knowing when to be offensive and when to be defensive. If you’re getting seriously focused, don’t be afraid to pull out of a fight. Ride the Lightning will get you out of basically any fight. Use this to disengage and relieve pressure then either rejoin the fight or go elsewhere.

Hopefully this helps.

William C.6195:

Eles are squishy. They have low armour and low hp, however, they have a lot of sustained healing.

When you take pressure, here’s the general defensive rotation:

Say you’re in fire, and you start taking heavy damage. You’re now down to half health.

Pop your fire field (Fire 4).
Switch to earth. This immediately gives you protection.
Immobilize the person focusing you and then use the Earth 3 again to leap through the fire field. This gives you fire shield and, thanks to your traits, more protection.
Dodge roll back into the fire field whilst still in earth, this’ll blast the fire field and cripple anyone near you.
Use Earth 4 to knock down anyone near you. This will also blast the fire field.

At this point, you’ve got protection, fire aura and you’ve crippled and knocked down people pressuring you.

Now, switch to water.
If your fire field is still up, you could use Water 3 to blast it and gain some more might – this depends on how much pressure you’re taking. It’ll also chill enemies around you which is great for kiting.
If you can, try to line of sight the guy pressuring you
Dodge to give yourself a small heal.
Use Frost Aura (Water 4) – this reducing incoming damage by 43% thanks to the aura trait and Frost Aura’s -10% damage.
Now use Water 5 for a big heal.
Use Water 2 to heal yourself a bit more.
If you still need more healing, you should be able to do another dodge in water soon.

You should now be back up to ~90% hp, maybe 100%. With might stacked and your air/fire attunements ready to go.

Rinse and repeat, basically. A lot survivability also comes from dodging the right attacks.
For example, if you get hit by a hambow warrior’s CC chain, you’re gonna find yourself dying pretty fast. Save your dodges for when he switches to hammer and kite him whilst he’s using it. Then when he goes back to the longbow, you can pressure him again.

It’s all about knowing when to be offensive and when to be defensive. If you’re getting seriously focused, don’t be afraid to pull out of a fight. Ride the Lightning will get you out of basically any fight. Use this to disengage and relieve pressure then either rejoin the fight or go elsewhere.

Hopefully this helps.

Thank you, I had no idea about the auras, the combos have been confusing me but im slowly starting to get them down.

I should probably ask too, what would you say a d/d eles main role is that makes it so useful when compared to other classes?

DrDivine.5378:

A lot of people have told me D/D ele is one of the easiest to play

Completely wrong. Elem is a possible hardest class to master your hands with it. Before that – you’ll find yourself constantly downed.

DrDivine.5378:

Thank you, I had no idea about the auras, the combos have been confusing me but im slowly starting to get them down.

I should probably ask too, what would you say a d/d eles main role is that makes it so useful when compared to other classes?

Combos are a bit confusing to start with, but they’re actually one of the most interesting mechanics I’ve seen in any MMO. You can read about them here: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Combo

For elementalist though, you only need to know how fire fields interact with your finishers, since that’s the only combo field we get.

A blast finisher on a fire field gives might, a leap finisher through a fire field gives you Fire Aura, which gives you 1 stack of might when you get hit and burns enemies hitting you in melee range. With Elemental Shield trait, you also get protection from auras.

The role of the D/D elementalist is fairly flexible, but it excels at 1v1 and 2v2 situations (so defending your home node, pushing a far node). You can also survive for a reasonable amount of time 2v1, although you won’t win that against any competent players.

You also provide great team support through your AoE might stacking, healing, condi cleanse and protection. That said, in a fight of 4v4 or 5v5, you won’t be as effective Your healing becomes less noticeable when there’s a lot more damage flying about since it comes from small burst heals and regen. So, you’re not useless, but it’s not your optimal situation.

You also have good burst mobility by way of Lighting Flash, Ride the Lightning and Firey Greatsword.

A little tip you might not have realized: Lightning Flash is a cantrip and therefore doesn’t interrupt channel skills. This means you can cast Churning Earth (Earth 5) and just before it finishes, teleport to your enemy. This makes it safer and easier to cast Churning Earth while also making it harder to dodge.

You can combine Lighting Flash with Burning Speed and Earthquake, although you have to be much quicker.

Speaking of Lightning Flash, you can use this to help kiting and escaping by utilizing the Z axis (i.e. vertical movement). There are certain spots in maps where you can teleport up a ledge, roof, etc. You can escape, survive or just relieve some pressure from yourself this way. It also confuses the hell out of people if you suddenly teleport through the roof.

I couldn’t find any video on this, but if you PM me in-game I’d be happy to show you the spots.

Dagger/focus is also just as easy & can be even tankier- but thrives in celestial stats & I use it when I’m faced against another ele, you’ll take down the D/D faster with D/F
Eles are naturally super squish so you literally Get in – Get out
Keep the might going & learn rotations
Stay on your enemy, know when to pressure them- an ele that doesn’t successfully pressure is a rally bot