Guild Wars 2

Greetings,

My wife and I have decided to roll up a pair of Elementalists together; she is pretty set on the ranged dps aspect of the class, so I expect she’ll be trying to use a staff or whatever allows her to concentrate on that. (I realize this may not be “the best”—something about the EA nerf?—but that’s what she’s running with, so we’ll try to make it work.)

With that in mind, I’m looking for advice on how to build my Elementalist in the most complementary way possible. I am entirely open to suggestions, as my time and experience with Elementalist has been limited. I am not daunted by a complex build, nor am I attached to a particular element, weapon set, or trait-line. (I’ve heard the claim that “it’s PvE, anything works.” That’s not entirely true, and it’s certainly not true in light of the “complementary” constraint.)

In other words, I would greatly appreciate any helpful suggestions from the experienced members of this class.

Oh, I should specify, we’re talking almost exclusively PvE here: dynamic events, open world pve, and dungeons.

Many thanks.

Well depends a lil on how you two want to play… if you make a ranged build then just do what you feel comfortable with since dodging or just staying out of range works best.

If you want to go melee while she a more supportish build, make sure you invest in power and precision gear because if you can’t outdamage her then you’ll chase the mob chasing her and get no where fast.

If she wants to glass cannon it with the staff (like meself) then it might be wise to look into a build that allows you to help control the field more…

Really dunno what else to add at this point, you kinda need to figure out what path you two wanna walk down before I can help any further.

I’d have her go glass cannon staff or scepter / focus (if she has absolutely no interest in getting up close). Staff has overall better AoE options. You, I’d recommend going PVT D/D w/ some cantrips, or maybe a D/D auramancer / protection build. Fly all over the place, holding aggro. Have her spam the area w/ dmg while you dance around in it, tossing your own down. If they go for her use your knockdowns and / or shocking aura (if you take powerful auras) to maintain crowd control. She’ll be able to add to the CC w/ earth and water snares so that you will not take a ton of damage if you keep moving.

You’ll have a great time. It will be a delightful combo. For elites two elementals will be nice and not interrupt your flow.

I’m actually quite jealous. I bet it will be a beautiful thing to watch.

Edit: used the word “delightful” too many times.

PlatypusRex.3428:

I’d have her go glass cannon staff or scepter / focus (if she has absolutely no interest in getting up close). Staff has overall better AoE options. You, I’d recommend going PVT D/D w/ some cantrips, or maybe a D/D auramancer / protection build. Fly all over the place, holding aggro. Have her spam the area w/ dmg while you dance around in it, tossing your own down. If they go for her use your knockdowns and / or shocking aura (if you take powerful auras) to maintain crowd control. She’ll be able to add to the CC w/ earth and water snares so that you will not take a ton of damage if you keep moving.

You’ll have a great time. It will be a delightful combo. For elites two elementals will be nice and not interrupt your flow.

I’m actually quite jealous. I bet it will be a beautiful thing to watch.

Edit: used the word “delightful” too many times.

^-^;; Hope that works out for them… with my Glass Cannon staff build warriors and guardians can’t keep the hate. Would love to run some PvE with a D/D and see if they can keep me from having to run all over the map lolz

Between both of their CC, it hopefully won’t be a problem. Also, since they can work so well together they’ll be able to time some crazy heals in her water fields.

Ranged attackers might be a problem, but they always pose more of a threat to eles.

Imo, you should go condition with staff. Eruption PWNS PvE mobs. Someone else should go DD and tank. Oh, and you should both run 2 elementals at a time. They’re awesome tanks.

Thanks very much for the replies. I’m going to try to follow your advice, Playtpus, and go for a DD build with a focus on PVT. I was using daphoenix’s guide as a template; think that’s wise for leveling?

We’re about level 15 and having a lot of fun. I’m having kind of mixed results, but I think that’s mostly because I’m trying to learn how to use DD most effectively. For example:

Usually, I’ll Ride the Lightning into a group, throw up Shocking Aura, switch to Fire and use Ring of Fire or Blazing Speed to a) set up a Fire Field, and b) get some of them burning. Then I’ll use Arcane Wave for Area Might and decent AoE damage, followed by Fire Grab. If stuff is nearly dead, I’ll finish them off with Dragon’s Claw and/or Drake’s Breath. If we’ve still got a few live ones, I’ll swap to Earth and lay down some more AoE and Knockdowns.

1) Does this sound like a good approach?
2) I still find myself walking a razor’s edge. When this works, it is beautiful. I mean, a hell of a lot of fun. When it doesn’t work (very well), I find myself downed or nearly downed from just a few hits. Thoughts on how I could improve?

Once again, thanks for all the help.

Edit: I forgot to mention, I’m using Arcane Wave and Signet of Earth as my utility skills right now, and the standard Glyph of Elemental Harmony as my heal. I’ve put all my traits into Air so far.

<em>1) Does this sound like a good approach?</em>

dapheonix’s guide is pretty much the gold standard right now as far as im concerned. so if you are using it as a template its a good idea. The only thing I could tell you about your rotation is that you should look into using your water skills a bit more. take advantage of the AoE heal, chill, and the aura there. not to mention water 2 is pretty awesome.

<em>2) I still find myself walking a razor’s edge. When this works, it is beautiful. I mean, a hell of a lot of fun. When it doesn’t work (very well), I find myself downed or nearly downed from just a few hits. Thoughts on how I could improve?</em>

keep in mind we are a low armor, low defense class. Its really only expected that this will happen at the early levels, once you get better gear and some more vitality and toughness, you will find that there are fewer mobs who will be able to handle you. Since your wife prefers a staff you guys already have an advantage in terms of utility. just get her to AoE and CC as much as possible and you kite and DPS thats just the basics, once you get low on health dump all of your healing skills on yourself and keep kiting then go back to it. if you get into a serious pickle you might want to actually switch between ranged DPS and up close DPS just to get those mobs down fast.

how that helps! and good luck!