Guild Wars 2

Im running this here:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fFAQFAWnMISLDW4A2NAdEGwBwIXEGCvgRnAxRgAwLE-T1RSwAZUiEV9HKKPKqDIkSIA7PISJIpAsYYE-w

ever since i started playing ele staff ive used arcane wave in every build. i cant get away from it for some reason.. how valuable is it to us compared to arcane shield or any other good ones… lightning flash etc.

oh and i mainly command in wvw or if im not doin that im roaming

I run a staff on my ele as well and I think that arcane wave is a really solid skill and compliments the build.

1. The only other blast finisher is the earth 2 skill but that takes more work to set up and pull off. It’s easier just to throw out Fire 2 -> arcane wave instead of switch to earth attunement -> earth 2 -> switch to fire -> lay down fire field.

2. Other than the auto attack, staff ele doesn’t have a straight up low cast time damage skill. Everything else is either a condition, it has to be channeled, or it’s like fire 2.

Other than that, I usually mess around with other skills, I run full assassins armor with zerker trinkets and my usual other 2 utilities are signet of fire and lighting flash or some type of stun breaker

yea but there are only three fields to blast u can either heal, gain might or frost armor and thats it

Mystogan.4157:

yea but there are only three fields to blast u can either heal, gain might or frost armor and thats it

you know you just listed all the fields used in WvW right there except light field so i wouldn’t say “only”

might is one of the most important boons + fury which you can actually trait to get from blasting fire field

Mystogan.4157:

yea but there are only three fields to blast u can either heal, gain might or frost armor and thats it

“only” lists 3 best fields

Mystogan.4157:

yea but there are only three fields to blast u can either heal, gain might or frost armor and thats it

Blasting lightning field (staff air 5) offers swiftness to your side, as group speed always has its strategy advantage in wvw/eotm. Just make sure it’s off cd when the battle is near.

I also run Arcane Brilliance as my heal, so it’s “throw up Earth 2, switch attunements, throw down fire/lightning/water field, jump inside, activate Arcane Brilliance+Arcane Wave for 3 simultaneous blasts”.

While teaming in WvW I run “Arcane Wave” and “Arcane Brilliance”. Having two on-demand blasts is just too good.

I’ll jump on the pile and reiterate we have 4 fields because blasting the static is also useful.

We are blast-field combo machines. Nobody can do it like a staff ele.

And the instant-ranged damage it does isn’t too shabby too. =P

Yeah it’s pretty nice for adding to any burst (or instantly interrupting Bandage and other easily interruptible channels), along with being a blast finisher.
And it will always have 100% crit chance (though this can be nullified by things like Stone Heart) with which to proc on-crit effects.

Also, it’s very possible to get quite a few blast finishers on Staff, if you dedicate traits and utilities to it:
- Eruption (Earth 2)
- Arcane Brilliance (heal)
- Arcane Wave (utility)
- Evasive Arcana in Earth Attunement (Arcana XI trait)
- Explosive Lava Axe (skill #2 on the Conjured Flame Axe)

It’s even possible to bring all of these in one build - I’m rather a fan of 0/2/2/4/6 auramancy staff, with clerics or celestial gear (I’m sloooowly replacing my exotic cleric’s with ascended celestial. Slooooowly!). Can spread the finishers out between great burst heals, prot/fury/swiftness when wanted, and of course the all-important might stacking (Flame Axe is *great* for this). With celestial gear, it should have pretty reasonable damage output, too.

It’s not zerk, and in more organised groups zerk/dps is still king, but for PuGs and with less experienced allies it really does provide excellent support for the group.

Not tried it in PvP recently (as in, since it became possible to run Ele again without getting flamed), may need to just become dull-and-boring-and-effective 0/0/2/6/6 for access to Cleansing Water.

I do think it’s a strong skill, but the various cantrips, Signet of Earth, and Ice Bow are all equally valid choices as well, depending on the situation and build.

Regardless, I can honestly say however, your build looks pretty bad. You’re completely missing out on any of the worthwhile support that Ele brings with Cleansing Wave, Cleansing Water, Evasive Arcana, and Elemental Attunement.

Neko.9021:

You’re completely missing out on any of the worthwhile support that Ele brings with Cleansing Wave, Cleansing Water, Evasive Arcana, and Elemental Attunement.

I have no idea how any ele build can ever NOT take ele attunement. It just feels wrong to me…

Also, Evasive Arcana is so strong b/c it gives you an extra blast for your fields.

When I play Lightning rod (my favorite staff build btw when I want to lay down damages) I go 0/6/0/2/6. If you just want to nuke, go 5/6/0/2/1 and yolo kitten hard.