Guild Wars 2

So I choose elem to be a glass-cannon mage with staff as a weapon and ….. I think you know what.
But I dont giving up but I need some suggestions.

I really want to play elem with power/prec/crit gear with staff in my hands.
I use a modification of this build
http://en.gw2codex.com/build/7420-staff-aoe-boon-bomber
and question is …..
1 – whats your suggestions for elem dps (single target or aoe) are?
2 – maybe I need some changes in my build?
3 – maybe I need to rol Ranger?

Any advice is appreciated.

If you manage to make this work. I’m pretty sure Anet would nerf it. I look forward to seeing what you come up with since release. I’ve been playing from the start with this in mind and it didn’t really ever work.

Thats a fine spec, there are many many specs that you can do that are quite equally good, so I’m not gonna try suggesting anything hugely different. Just couple things.

Your chosen water trait is Grandmaster, you can’t have it with just 10 points. So take V instead for the cleanse.
You chose Signet of Earth for utility. I would rather use a Catrip like Mist form for pvp.
And for PvE purpose you should definetly take use of those glyph traits you chose. So mayby Glyph of Storms.

That’s it, hf.

Yeah if you want to be an aoe bomber glyph of storms is a must. aoe blind in earth form, aoe chill in water form ……………….

I personally think a cantrip based build is a better boon generator for staff eles. Mine is 10/10/0/30/20 with the relevant cantrip based traits chosen.

Very pretty please put your build into some www. Please.

morrolan.9608:

Yeah if you want to be an aoe bomber glyph of storms is a must. aoe blind in earth form, aoe chill in water form ……………….

I personally think a cantrip based build is a better boon generator for staff eles. Mine is 10/10/0/30/20 with the relevant cantrip based traits chosen.

i am not sure about ur choice of arcane wave. u want to be range dps but arcane wave is strictly a close range aoe. if u want dmg, use arcane blast for single target or glyph of storm for aoe i would say.

SuiRyuJin.4615:

i am not sure about ur choice of arcane wave. u want to be range dps but arcane wave is strictly a close range aoe. if u want dmg, use arcane blast for single target or glyph of storm for aoe i would say.

He is correct in his use of Arcane Wave. It is the bread and butter blast finisher along with Eruption for any bomber based Staff Ele. Don’t think about using everything at range as a bomber Ele. Think instead about how you make use of our Combo Fields…. A true bomber Ele makes heavy use of self combo fields to stack up Might, Fury, and etc.. You then use those 10+ Might stacks to rain down AoE death on a grand scale. The damages I have worked up to on a Meteor Swarm are truly epic.

Yes. Glass Cannon Ele. does indeed work exceptionally well when played right. Have been doing a build similar to this for weeks now and absolutely fell in love with it. Couple tips -

-Blasting Staff is nice, but not necessary. I spec 0 into Arcana and my build works better than anything else I have ever been able to do with an Arcana spec after the EA nerf. I am currently 30/20/0/20/0 in full Berserker gear, trinkets included. I run Sigil of Battle and Undead Runes. Rubies in everything else. This build is very much glass cannon, but this build also truly gives you the cannon on both ends – raw dps AND condition damage. This gives me ~3200 Power, ~52% Crit/56 Crit Damage if I remember right or close to that. You blow things up with this, but also die very very very fast if caught by a Thief or Warrior but only if your not watching for that. In PvE you melt things. Fast. If the fight lasts longer than 30s then you might be in trouble if you don’t run.

-Sigils. Variations of the Auramancer build works very very well with glass cannon Staff Ele.
-Glyphs. Glyph builds work very well and posters above are right. GoS is the way to go for a bomber build IF your traited into Glyphs. If your going for a Glyph build then I would supplement traits into Cantrips as well and go for Mist Form or other Cantrips to give you trait benefits for using them as well.
-Learn to use Combo Fields. These are absolutely essential to any bomber or glass cannon build. Yes, you need to spend a couple seconds preloading yourself up with boons, but I think you will find it worth the trouble.

i understand the want to combo with finishers but if this built is intended to be taken into WvW u simply wont be using much anything thats short ranged. enemy isnt going to sit still and let eruption to combo off either.

XD i run 30/30/10 in full zerker with accessory for WvW on my ele. u… dont want to be anywhere within 1k distance with that if u can help it. u can do some stupidly silly aoe dmg in exchange though XD i built it not to depend on any field or combo simply on stupidly high crit dmg increase fireball sucks at 1kish dmg but mine goes over 3k at times on crit. considering how staff combo require either close range or long combo time to setup it really isnt something u want to try on full glass cannon.
using sigil of fire with full rubies on everything. i think my crit dmg is 103%. theres no setup time, theres only cooldown time on fire skills. of course i am sure u can get higher burst aoe potential with comboing using slot skills but it also drastically increase any downtime of ur dmg potential if u depend on them.

SuiRyuJin.4615:

i understand the want to combo with finishers but if this built is intended to be taken into WvW u simply wont be using much anything thats short ranged. enemy isnt going to sit still and let eruption to combo off either.

XD i run 30/30/10 in full zerker with accessory for WvW on my ele. u… dont want to be anywhere within 1k distance with that if u can help it. u can do some stupidly silly aoe dmg in exchange though XD i built it not to depend on any field or combo simply on stupidly high crit dmg increase fireball sucks at 1kish dmg but mine goes over 3k at times on crit. considering how staff combo require either close range or long combo time to setup it really isnt something u want to try on full glass cannon.
using sigil of fire with full rubies on everything. i think my crit dmg is 103%. theres no setup time, theres only cooldown time on fire skills. of course i am sure u can get higher burst aoe potential with comboing using slot skills but it also drastically increase any downtime of ur dmg potential if u depend on them.

Ok, so thats a fine build you got there and you claim you dont need or use “short range” combo fields. You go on to say that, with crits, you get 3k FB’s, and I believe you because I do the same or close to that with my build. So now lets imagine that you start using “short range” combo fields and lets compare your damage output..

Try -

Eruption on yourself, followed by Lava Font, followed by Arcane Wave — Do all this right on top of yourself. Thats ~7-10 stacks of Might depending on traits/build. More might = more damage.

Or

Eruption → Ice Field → Arcane Wave

That will give you ~3 stacks of protection, Ice Shield, and 3 stacks of Fury. Fury = Crit/Crit damage. More fury = more crit/crit damage.

This takes ~2-3 seconds to achieve and lasts for ~12s.

Ok, so now that you have all these crazy boons stacked on yourself, go ahead and unleash your best ranged dps options on bad guys. Lets see who hits for more/harder.. You with your “I dont mess with combo fields because I am just awesome”, or someone else with your identical build who does stack boons…

Aba.6419:

Very pretty please put your build into some www. Please.

morrolan.9608:

Yeah if you want to be an aoe bomber glyph of storms is a must. aoe blind in earth form, aoe chill in water form ……………….

I personally think a cantrip based build is a better boon generator for staff eles. Mine is 10/10/0/30/20 with the relevant cantrip based traits chosen.

Here’s the build I use:

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fEIQFAWhImSbxR4gjEAkHn4CLhCKIKURRxM7A;ToAA1CookyIlQKLXOpkSNAZSA

I swap the utilities in and out but generally have 2 cantrips there all the time.

morrolan.9608:

Aba.6419:

Very pretty please put your build into some www. Please.

morrolan.9608:

Yeah if you want to be an aoe bomber glyph of storms is a must. aoe blind in earth form, aoe chill in water form ……………….

I personally think a cantrip based build is a better boon generator for staff eles. Mine is 10/10/0/30/20 with the relevant cantrip based traits chosen.

Here’s the build I use:

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fEIQFAWhImSbxR4gjEAkHn4CLhCKIKURRxM7A;ToAA1CookyIlQKLXOpkSNAZSA

I swap the utilities in and out but generally have 2 cantrips there all the time.

Try giving this a go -

(copy/paste link)
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEQQFAWhMmYbtxygjEAkCtEeQgAJIU8gDlCzA;ToAg0Cnoay0koJbTumkNNEZSA

first the issue is ur spending ur aoe getting boons on urself instead of dropping them on enemies. do u do more dmg by using 3 skills to self buff then dropping some aoes. or dropping a eruption+lava font+1 slot skill all on the enemy without boon along the same aoe u were planning on dropping earlier. i personally think it would be dropping them all on the enemy i could be wrong of course, it would require testing.

second. the combo still requires u to spend precious time self comboing for buffs. theres plenty of time where u simply dont have time for self buffing.

thirdly, self comboing this way locks up some of ur attunement from swapping in middle of combat. i am sure u can find ways to negate this disadvantage but it is there regardless.

4thly. considering this was started about the use of arcane wave. i think i should point out having 1 slot skill on ur bar solely for self comboing for buffs seems.. a little wasteful. if the intended build was not for glass cannon i would say arcane wave can definitely have a place but since its for pure range dps. a range skill for dmging seems more.. appropriate since u wouldnt be trying to dps while in melee with glass cannon staff.

Heres one tip for might stacking, if you see an enemy zerg or are defending a keep switch to scepter/dagger 1st and build up stacks of might using that then switch to staff and stack any might you can with that then let off a meteor shower. That about 18+ stacks of might w/o any traits/attune swap bonuses ect.

Curring.9752:

Heres one tip for might stacking, if you see an enemy zerg or are defending a keep switch to scepter/dagger 1st and build up stacks of might using that then switch to staff and stack any might you can with that then let off a meteor shower. That about 18+ stacks of might w/o any traits/attune swap bonuses ect.

Yea I have tried that and your right, it works, but thats a bit more dancing than even I care to mess with. My build currently builds might by itself just through slamming people while in Fire and also through attunement dancing so once I stack up that initial Might/Fury, its really more about maintaining it while I lay down the pain. Fights usually dont last long enough to cap Might this way, but if you have a Warrior buddy to help you stack, you can cap Might in like 2s and just keep it there the whole fight like that. Wish I had taken some screenies of some of the damage I lay down while capped like this. Like I said, its eye popping.