Guild Wars 2

Running around on my ele this morning, and somehow I keep getting autoattacked for 2-3k/hit by staff eles. The bounce also seems a little odd. I was standing on a bridge by myself and got hit three times by it instantly, for more than 5k damage total. Is there something going on here I don’t know about? I don’t know how it’s even possible for me to be getting hit so hard by an ele autoattack.

Not too sure on the Air Auto attack but my Fire Auto crits for 3K, with the build i’m running.

If you build for crits, the air auto-attack can do that, yes.

If he is Air spec he can do that. Also, chain lighting can hit you twice if their are only 2 players. That makes it the highest dps skill in those situations.

I think it, mine already crits for about 1.5k with some berserker items and I have 0 points in fire and some in air….I know you can get a total of 50% damage bonus in the air tree or so which is massive.

Also, yeah it bounces 3 times so it can hit you twice very fast. Ele’s can be built to be glass canons, especially with the staff air tree since it has a blind and 2 crowd control spells…sadly with no points in arcana once they ele switches to get a heal or a CC spell from another tree they won’t do crap for damage since air and earth staff auto attacks tickle.

a full GC ele with gear can definitely crit up to 3k on a single hit off chain lightning. if they are runing towards u and with how slow the projectile move sometimes, a quick bounce off a 2nd target and back on u will be near the same time as the 2nd auto atk hit.

5k is nothing in terms of quick dmg off a properly built GC ele, i have done 7k+ hit with a single arcaneblast+sigil of fire proc. granted the target was cloth armor but i only had 3-4stacks of might on and target was not under 33% hp for bolt to heart.

people never usually suspect an ele being GC build, but a full out 1 can deal out some hilarious dmg, u simply dont have the single target burst nor survivability like other classes, but u make up for it in shear aoe dmg capacity.

Ya it certainly caught me off guard. I quickly changed my mind about attacking that group when the ele took me to half with two autos. I’ll definitely tread a little more carefully around staff eles now until I know how they’re built.

dreztina.4820:

Ya it certainly caught me off guard. I quickly changed my mind about attacking that group when the ele took me to half with two autos. I’ll definitely tread a little more carefully around staff eles now until I know how they’re built.

Im surprised you didn’t know that…but overall the risk is not charging groups with a glass canon ranged character, but rather a group that doesn’t tunnel vision. There are much more dangerous things out there than a glass canon lighning ele. Maybe if I catch you while playing my rifle warrior you’ll see :P

Oh, and Air #1 also bounces not only between enemy players, but also between players and critters… so if there’s an inconspicuous bunny hopping around near you, you’re going to get zapped twice.

SuiRyuJin.4615:

a full GC ele with gear can definitely crit up to 3k on a single hit off chain lightning.

snip

Wait, what’s a GC?

DanteZero.9736:

SuiRyuJin.4615:

a full GC ele with gear can definitely crit up to 3k on a single hit off chain lightning.

snip

Wait, what’s a GC?

glass cannon

Indeed. As I mentioned in my Staff WvW post, once I saw Chain Lightning’s damage,
I use it ALLOT. Especially in battles that are on the move, its good to use this
over trying to land AOE as a staff user.

In addition, in large zergs in WvW, some of the supply camp or keep lord battles
are over before you could get a channeled AOE off, so I just rely on Chain Lightning
for immediate and high damage on multiple targets.

Ekove.4586:

dreztina.4820:

Ya it certainly caught me off guard. I quickly changed my mind about attacking that group when the ele took me to half with two autos. I’ll definitely tread a little more carefully around staff eles now until I know how they’re built.

Im surprised you didn’t know that…but overall the risk is not charging groups with a glass canon ranged character, but rather a group that doesn’t tunnel vision. There are much more dangerous things out there than a glass canon lighning ele. Maybe if I catch you while playing my rifle warrior you’ll see :P

I had literally never seen a glass cannon staff ele before yesterday lol. And trust me, I’ve taken my fair share of kill shots. “Ok that’s actually more than I want to deal with. I’m at half health, just going to duck out of here. You have been hit for 13k by kill shot! ……. :|”

dreztina.4820:

Ekove.4586:

dreztina.4820:

Ya it certainly caught me off guard. I quickly changed my mind about attacking that group when the ele took me to half with two autos. I’ll definitely tread a little more carefully around staff eles now until I know how they’re built.

Im surprised you didn’t know that…but overall the risk is not charging groups with a glass canon ranged character, but rather a group that doesn’t tunnel vision. There are much more dangerous things out there than a glass canon lighning ele. Maybe if I catch you while playing my rifle warrior you’ll see :P

I had literally never seen a glass cannon staff ele before yesterday lol. And trust me, I’ve taken my fair share of kill shots. “Ok that’s actually more than I want to deal with. I’m at half health, just going to duck out of here. You have been hit for 13k by kill shot! ……. :|”

Yeah you don’t see glass canon staff ele’s because other classes can do it better….I have messed around with that build though, and it’s a lot of fun fighting a ranger/flesh golem necro making it bounce through their pet. It is unlikely you’ll come across an Ele like that often though so don’t worry…It was probably a once in a month phenomena

usually u only notice glass cannon ele when ur downed while in a zerg. very very few gc ele is ever found outside a big group fight of some type, its the place where their ability truely shines. when u get hit by those 6k+ crit meteor showers randomly or those 7k+ ice spike, 5k+ eruptions etc. u know its a gc staff ele dropping it

think somewhere a gc staff ele posted kitten of his 10k+ meteor shower crit. the potential for devastating dmg is there as a gc ele, its just so spread out that people dont notice it in a massive zerg fight and its “buried” from public

True enough Sui, and that is the key to playing a GC staff Ele (stay in the
crowd and have map awareness). Its so much burst, even tanky enemies
are not prepared for a AOE cycle.

What is the typical glass cannon build? I’m leveling an elementalist after a disastrous first decision to play a ranger. I’m finding the staff has a lot of defensive skills where I could realistically use a GC build and succeed. Especially if I can do it with 15k hp which seems quite simple.

Ekove.4586:

dreztina.4820:

Ya it certainly caught me off guard. I quickly changed my mind about attacking that group when the ele took me to half with two autos. I’ll definitely tread a little more carefully around staff eles now until I know how they’re built.

Im surprised you didn’t know that…but overall the risk is not charging groups with a glass canon ranged character, but rather a group that doesn’t tunnel vision. There are much more dangerous things out there than a glass canon lighning ele. Maybe if I catch you while playing my rifle warrior you’ll see :P

I can certainly attest to that!

I remember playing a pvp match and there was a Warrior who was blasting my kitten off with the rifle doing absurd damage.

I can’t even imagine the possibilities in WvW

Atherakhia.4086:

What is the typical glass cannon build? I’m leveling an elementalist after a disastrous first decision to play a ranger. I’m finding the staff has a lot of defensive skills where I could realistically use a GC build and succeed. Especially if I can do it with 15k hp which seems quite simple.

this thread was started a little ago by someone on a glass cannon build. its actually pretty difficult to get 15k hp with GC build since u need both power and crit dmg for the high crit which ur primary source of high dmg, without precision to back it up though, it might be difficult. u could try something with fury through traits to make up for it.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/elementalist/Staff-WvW-strats-and-possible-new-info/

Atherakhia.4086:

What is the typical glass cannon build? I’m leveling an elementalist after a disastrous first decision to play a ranger. I’m finding the staff has a lot of defensive skills where I could realistically use a GC build and succeed. Especially if I can do it with 15k hp which seems quite simple.

I thought I would share my build with ya. I do not claim it as being optimal, but it is the most fun I have had on my ele. Quite frankly, its the most fun I have had playing games in a long time! Bunker builds (like excala/dapheonix) are probably the optimal, even with the EA nerf. They just arent “dangerous” enough for me :P There are surely refinements to be done with the build, but:

0/15/30/25/0

Air: I, VI, XII
Earth: V
Water: III, X
(These do change, but its what I am running right now)

All jewelry is “emerald ori” (pow/pre/tough) with exquisite beryl jewels on everything (pow/crit dam/vit).

Valkyrie (pow/crit dam/vit) weapons, chest piece, and boots. Headpiece, shoulder, gloves, and leggings are knight (pow/pre/tough). 6/6 Superior Rune of Rage.

2600 atk (cond dam 170)
~60% crit chance (with fury up) and ~75% crit damage
2500 armor
16k health (healing pow 270)

I tend to use Armor of Earth, Lightning Flash, and Mist Form as my utilities and Glyph of Elementals as my elite. These change situationally though.

The idea is to keep auras up as much as possible because this build almost exclusively depends on getting crits. If you get an unlucky run, things can turn bad real quick. I have to really keep on my toes with this build, but it has enough survivability to stay alive long.. enough.

Certainly welcome feedback as long as its not “this other build is totally better.” Yes, yes it is. I wouldnt have it any other way