Guild Wars 2

As Lightning rod works right now it does damage and inflicts weakness upon cc-ing an enemy. However most weapon sets have only 2 or 3 cc skills on a long cooldown which does not justify going 30 into air for the trait in pvp. My suggestion is that the trait be changed so that it activates upon every other attunement swap, with the first swap in combat activating it, and reduces attunement recharge by 1 second. With this change it would actually be a viable trait for pvp.

wat

HAha what! There’s loads of CC

Ignorant post is ignorant…

Ele has more CC than any class in the game even with staff as your weapon you can legitimately kill another player with thedamage from lighting rod alone

Barring utilities and traits, here’s what I come up with.
Staff has 3.

D/D has 3.

And focus has 2.

Some of them, namely Shocking Aura and Unsteady Ground, can be triggered many times during their duration by multiple people. This is on your weapon skills. Most classes have maybe 1 on a weapon set. Warrior is probably the only class that can come close to that amount of disables with Hammer having 3(counting the burst) and Mace/Mace or Mace/Shield having 3 each.

Another post from a person who lacks knowledge of his own class? It seems like a plague recently…..

He’s probably talking from a PvE perspective. I’d agree there, it’s complete trash when compared to Fresh Air.

I’d urge you all to consider what your reflects can do with this trait. Ever seen what it can do to a certain candy corn? Just think about it for a while.

Honestly I was expecting a nerf on this amazing trait.

Bluefox.9580:

I’d urge you all to consider what your reflects can do with this trait. Ever seen what it can do to a certain candy corn? Just think about it for a while.

Honestly I was expecting a nerf on this amazing trait.

Hmm, you just made my day m8. Thanks to this post, I realized that I have to try something with my Mesmer (Feedback + Halting strike) on that said Candy Corn

Hi there.

Um.

Y’know how any Staff Ele build needs to use CC to land any damage?

Lightning Rod’s buffs are incredible for these.

"oh hey you just put some effort into locking this foe down"
"yes, yes I did"
"well, here’s some bonus damage! And they’ll not hit you as hard for a few seconds!"
"eeeeeeeeeeee"

6/6/0/0/2 is *fun*.

I regularly play 0/6/0/2/6 lightning rod staff ele in wvw, and it is very fun. I am still able to give great support and heals to my team like going deep into water, but get SO MUCH MORE damage from cc.

In fact, I probably end up doing more damage from my static fields and unsteady ground b/c they can hit literally everyone that run through them (and doesn’t have stab) while meteor shower/lava font/etc. have 5 target limits. It also gives you decent 1v1 capability if you are smart: run away and drop aoe’s, unsteady ground, static fields behind you, then you can turn, swap air (1 hit), gust (2 hit), lightning flash and attack for a great single-target burst. Have killed many an over-confident thief this way….and a thief dying 1v1 to a STAFF ele in wvw is HUMILIATING (I always laugh at them).

BlackBeard.2873:

Have killed many an over-confident thief this way….and a thief dying 1v1 to a STAFF ele in wvw is HUMILIATING (I always laugh at them).

It is indeed quite the humiliation for any thief to be defeated in duel by a staff ele. GG with that. I’m always amazed to see many thief thinking themselves so hot when they beat us… never mind when they are 2 or 3 vs you alone…

My own setup’s usually 0/6/0/2/6, and I must say: I get in plenty of LR strikes. It’s even funnier when that happens and the Air/Fire Sigils kick off.

it’s like terror for a power build.

First I didn’t like this trait because you had to interrupt enemies, but now its kittening awesome. I love the lightning effect, especially when you use earthquake and updraft!

I use 0 6 0 2 6 D/D as well, but I can’t decide between 0 6 0 4 4 or 0 6 0 2 6…

cheese.4739:

Hi there.

Um.

Y’know how any Staff Ele build needs to use CC to land any damage?

Lightning Rod’s buffs are incredible for these.

“oh hey you just put some effort into locking this foe down”
“yes, yes I did”
“well, here’s some bonus damage! And they’ll not hit you as hard for a few seconds!”
“eeeeeeeeeeee”

6/6/0/0/2 is fun.

I’m now using lightning rod 6/6/0/0/2 with staff and zerker and it is indeed a lot more enjoyable than I thought it would be.

Lightning Rod is one of the best and most underrated traits for ele.

A proc can deal 4k damage on a heavy golem, with a realistic setup, very glassy but realistic…. This alone would make it a good trait, however, it really shines after you consider the lack of ICD and the built-in weakness. Weakness is good.
In reality this allows for things such as:

1- Updraft and Earthquake dealing up to 4k extra damage each on a big area of effect. Updraft usually deals no damage. A s/d build can be made with Lightning Bolt, and such build is the only one I know of that can burst down the heavy golem in no time at all, and I mean no time at all (No casting times/recovery animations/whatever are involved in the burst sequence). Probably the most fun, trollish build there is for hotjoins, with latency on your side I think it can be competitive but requires an entirely different approach to play. The burst is aoe-ish.

2- Doing a d/d glass build, earthquake, updraft and lightning aura proc it. Having 4k damage+weakness proc out of a lightning aura with no cooldown could be interesting in some situations. Havent tried this one yet, so only theory.

3- Having obscene damage potential on earth and lightning attunements while wielding a staff. Usually, those attunements do not offer damage potential, with LR, Lightning Field, Gust and Unsteady Ground. Due to the nature of these skills, they can proc on the same foe more than once, and offer massive aoe damage potential. Laying down the earth wall in WvW and seeing a clusterkitten of lightning bolts dealing 4k damage each to a zerg is priceless, the versatility offered by being able to dish damage on air and earth is priceless. The most interesting aspect of the staff LR build, however, are the combo possibilities. Gust someone through a a static field that has an Unsteady Ground in the middle, deal 12k damage. There are ways to proc it four times at once too, but I’ll let you figure that one out yourselves. Staff build with LR is challenging tho, requires you to play decently with the ground wich is something not everyone is used to. Very fun build in pvp, be on earth, get focused by ranger, activate reflect aura, switch to air thus procing air minor trait, then do gust. If the ranger is glassy, it will die even if it dodged its reflected arrows. The build is great on 1v1s against classes that usually prevail against staff ele, like thieves. So fun against thieves <3

Sorry for the bad english if any.
Ele master race

EDIT: Now that I think of it, this trait is similar to terror, but better I think. Like terror, its countered by stability. Hard.

EDIT2: Tornado procs it twice on each hit, assuming stone tornado. Damage is really great, I never managed to use it effectively for aoe burst/kamikaze tho, but its really nice once you learn to quickly cancel it after you interrupt/deal 10~12k damage once, and use it to prevent/secure stomps and generally troll the kitten out of people. Cancel cast mid cast for kitten spining animation, looks like dancing, ele master race indeed.

Cristobal.8640:

EDIT2: Tornado procs it twice on each hit, assuming stone tornado. Damage is really great, I never managed to use it effectively for aoe burst/kamikaze tho, but its really nice once you learn to quickly cancel it after you interrupt/deal 10~12k damage once, and use it to prevent/secure stomps and generally troll the kitten out of people. Cancel cast mid cast for kitten spining animation, looks like dancing, ele master race indeed.

I’m really considering trying tornado again, since it should actually deal decent damage with LR… but I can go entire matches without touching the skill since it’s so very situational >_<

cheese.4739:

Cristobal.8640:

EDIT2: Tornado procs it twice on each hit, assuming stone tornado. Damage is really great, I never managed to use it effectively for aoe burst/kamikaze tho, but its really nice once you learn to quickly cancel it after you interrupt/deal 10~12k damage once, and use it to prevent/secure stomps and generally troll the kitten out of people. Cancel cast mid cast for kitten spining animation, looks like dancing, ele master race indeed.

I’m really considering trying tornado again, since it should actually deal decent damage with LR… but I can go entire matches without touching the skill since it’s so very situational >_<

Yes, its not that great… You can still use it every match if you get trigger happy with it, sometimes I just use it to burst/interrupt a necro casting heal, for example, saves the real burst at worst…

Cristobal.8640:

cheese.4739:

Cristobal.8640:

EDIT2: Tornado procs it twice on each hit, assuming stone tornado. Damage is really great, I never managed to use it effectively for aoe burst/kamikaze tho, but its really nice once you learn to quickly cancel it after you interrupt/deal 10~12k damage once, and use it to prevent/secure stomps and generally troll the kitten out of people. Cancel cast mid cast for kitten spining animation, looks like dancing, ele master race indeed.

I’m really considering trying tornado again, since it should actually deal decent damage with LR… but I can go entire matches without touching the skill since it’s so very situational >_<

Yes, its not that great… You can still use it every match if you get trigger happy with it, sometimes I just use it to burst/interrupt a necro casting heal, for example, saves the real burst at worst…

Mostly… is a quick burst and possible decap/cap/save worthwhile compared to the mobility of FGS?

Guess I’ll run it for a few days and see how it feels – might have to get trigger happy, should at least deal with Engineers and their CC, if nothing else!

Also being able to switch to water and burst (I use D/F) with comet, nobody expects burst after you switch to water.

Okay, no, Tornado sucks. Period.

Situations it might be useful in: several foes fighting on a point with no boonstrip, no stability, no immobilise.
Situations that never realistically come up: see above.

It just... isn’t at all useful now.

I wonder if it would work well with staff/lightning hammer. An extra static field and a knockback would be useful. The shield has a daze and pull too that could be useful.

Lay an unsteady ground > magnetic shield (pull) > magnetic surge > lightning field > lava font. Or something?

Shanks.2907:

I wonder if it would work well with staff/lightning hammer. An extra static field and a knockback would be useful. The shield has a daze and pull too that could be useful.

Lay an unsteady ground > magnetic shield (pull) > magnetic surge > lightning field > lava font. Or something?

LH has 3 procs too, leap finisher through static field = dazing strike.
Its decent, probably viable if one were to learn to incorporate LH into regular “rotations” instead of hoping to camp/dps on it.

Cristobal.8640:

Shanks.2907:

I wonder if it would work well with staff/lightning hammer. An extra static field and a knockback would be useful. The shield has a daze and pull too that could be useful.

Lay an unsteady ground > magnetic shield (pull) > magnetic surge > lightning field > lava font. Or something?

LH has 3 procs too, leap finisher through static field = dazing strike.
Its decent, probably viable if one were to learn to incorporate LH into regular “rotations” instead of hoping to camp/dps on it.

I’ve considered this, but last time I tried running hammer I found it far too clunky against all the quick-moving and doding foes that are already pretty threatening.

With a celestial setup rather than zerk, though… it could be pretty nice.
Shame that, if the whole purpose is to Lightning Rod, you only get to choose one other GM trait – Persisting Flames for sustained dps and more regular might blasts, or Cleansing Water so condi doesn’t insta-win, or Evasive Arcana for its utility.
I’d suggest Blinding Ashes… but with its ICD iunno if that’d be a bit of a waste, since the LH AA does that for you. Pretty sure that 30 fire should be used for Persisting Flames with its fury and field duration.

blinding ashes works perfectly check out broskibro’s pvp videos.

BA+LR? I’ll look these up, then. Not watched many player videos in a while >_<

ever drop comet from focus water on a enemies with this trait? if not do it do it now. then switch to earth and earthquake them. then for wvw or trash mobs (lets face it WvW players not on your server are just trash mobs) switch to staff and go berserk with lighting and earth.

You can’t earthquake and comet in the same weapon set :p

emikochan.8504:

You can’t earthquake and comet in the same weapon set :p

holy kitten i thought that would go over everyones heads kudos to you good sir

Zuko.7132:

As Lightning rod works right now it does damage and inflicts weakness upon cc-ing an enemy. However most weapon sets have only 2 or 3 cc skills on a long cooldown which does not justify going 30 into air for the trait. My suggestion is that the trait be changed so that it activates upon every other attunement swap, with the first swap in combat activating it, and reduces attunement recharge by 1 second. With this change it would actually be a viable trait.

Tornado every 3s on multipe targets (though I will concede that since tornado is basically a suicide pact it’s not a viable use)

Lightning hammer can trigger lightning rod 3 times in quick succession. (static field while in melee range of a target, wind blast, lightning leap)

Staff has static field, gust, and unsteady ground

Focus has gale and comet

Offhand Dagger has updraft and earthquake

Trident has Air Bubble, Undercurrent, Rock Anchor, and Static Cage

Magnetic shield has a pull and a daze

Every weapon combo has at LEAST 2 ways to trigger the effect, plus you can conjure for more.

If that’s not enough triggering for you, go fresh air.

Devildoc.6721:

Trident has Air Bubble, Undercurrent, Rock Anchor, and Static Cage.

Oi! You missed one! You can Tidal Wave through the combo field of the Static Cage!

I’m really very sad that we don’t have Capricorn any more; locking down single targets in CC chains, proccing LR a whole bunch of times, could be great fun!

I’m not 100% sure about this, but I have a feeling that when I was trying the Lightning rod build, #5 earth – Shockwave procced it too. Can someone try this please? I’m at work now so I can’t confirm…

STRanger.5120:

I’m not 100% sure about this, but I have a feeling that when I was trying the Lightning rod build, #5 earth – Shockwave procced it too. Can someone try this please? I’m at work now so I can’t confirm…

It shouldn’t. In PvE there are what I call “mini mobs” that can be interrupted by anything. A good example of these mobs are the new menders in Silverwastes. Lightning Rod DESTROYS those little buggers. You may have poped to air and hit your aura out of habit, that may have caused it.

Hm, guys and gals!

I would like to try a Lightning Rod D/D build for Silverwastes… Yesterday I was doing fine with my regular 02066 wvw D/D build, with some adjustment obviously.

How should I build for a LR based DD? I think 06404 should do fine with Aeromancer’s and Geomancer’s Alacrity and Zephyr’s Boon and Stone Splinters….

What do you think?

Bluefox.9580:

STRanger.5120:

I’m not 100% sure about this, but I have a feeling that when I was trying the Lightning rod build, #5 earth – Shockwave procced it too. Can someone try this please? I’m at work now so I can’t confirm…

It shouldn’t. In PvE there are what I call “mini mobs” that can be interrupted by anything. A good example of these mobs are the new menders in Silverwastes. Lightning Rod DESTROYS those little buggers. You may have poped to air and hit your aura out of habit, that may have caused it.

I was trying the build quite some time before Silverwastes occured, so that’s not the case.
However, Lightning rod doesn’t work on interrupt-only, it was buffed.
description now: “Disabling an enemy causes them to be struck by a lightning bolt.”

Even though Immobilize not being listed under the “disabling” conditions, I think it worked with this trait. I may be wrong of course, it’s quite some time back…

STRanger.5120:

Bluefox.9580:

STRanger.5120:

I’m not 100% sure about this, but I have a feeling that when I was trying the Lightning rod build, #5 earth – Shockwave procced it too. Can someone try this please? I’m at work now so I can’t confirm…

It shouldn’t. In PvE there are what I call “mini mobs” that can be interrupted by anything. A good example of these mobs are the new menders in Silverwastes. Lightning Rod DESTROYS those little buggers. You may have poped to air and hit your aura out of habit, that may have caused it.

I was trying the build quite some time before Silverwastes occured, so that’s not the case.
However, Lightning rod doesn’t work on interrupt-only, it was buffed.
description now: “Disabling an enemy causes them to be struck by a lightning bolt.”

Even though Immobilize not being listed under the “disabling” conditions, I think it worked with this trait. I may be wrong of course, it’s quite some time back…

It almost certainly wasn’t your Shockwave that did it; LR is only procced by ‘hard’ CC, that are broken by stunbreaks – so the only condition that can trigger it is fear (since that’s affected by both cleanses and stunbreaks).

Did you have a Sigil of Air equipped that might’ve procced (and all those lightning bolts do look identical…)? Switch to Air Attunement for the 3pt trait proc? Any allies that might’ve applied weakness? Did you have either Static Field or Unsteady Ground up that they could’ve run into?
As Bluefox suggested, did you have a Shock Aura? You won’t’ve had that from your weapon (Staff for Shockwave means no Shocking Aura), but could it have been granted to you by someone else or some runes?

cheese.4739:

STRanger.5120:

Bluefox.9580:

STRanger.5120:

I’m not 100% sure about this, but I have a feeling that when I was trying the Lightning rod build, #5 earth – Shockwave procced it too. Can someone try this please? I’m at work now so I can’t confirm…

It shouldn’t. In PvE there are what I call “mini mobs” that can be interrupted by anything. A good example of these mobs are the new menders in Silverwastes. Lightning Rod DESTROYS those little buggers. You may have poped to air and hit your aura out of habit, that may have caused it.

I was trying the build quite some time before Silverwastes occured, so that’s not the case.
However, Lightning rod doesn’t work on interrupt-only, it was buffed.
description now: “Disabling an enemy causes them to be struck by a lightning bolt.”

Even though Immobilize not being listed under the “disabling” conditions, I think it worked with this trait. I may be wrong of course, it’s quite some time back…

It almost certainly wasn’t your Shockwave that did it; LR is only procced by ‘hard’ CC, that are broken by stunbreaks – so the only condition that can trigger it is fear (since that’s affected by both cleanses and stunbreaks).

Did you have a Sigil of Air equipped that might’ve procced (and all those lightning bolts do look identical…)? Switch to Air Attunement for the 3pt trait proc? Any allies that might’ve applied weakness? Did you have either Static Field or Unsteady Ground up that they could’ve run into?
As Bluefox suggested, did you have a Shock Aura? You won’t’ve had that from your weapon (Staff for Shockwave means no Shocking Aura), but could it have been granted to you by someone else or some runes?

Like I was saying, I may have mistaken I was just asking for someone to test it in-game, ‘cause I couldn’t
That’s all

Well one thing’s for sure, I switch to lightning rod when in silver wastes now because of the point made that pretty much any damage procs lightning rod against mordrem menders.

You can absolutely nuke entire packs of those things with lightning rod.

scepter focus ele with lighting hammer and earth shield will have so many lighting rod procs your enemy will be under perma weakness

Also worth noting: it still works against champion-grade foes that are Unshakable (so get stacks of Defiance).

While a stack of Defiance stops a CC skill from moving/stunning a foe, it doesn’t make them *immune*, it just nullifies the effect and is then removed itself.
This means that, while foes with Stability (so immunity to CC) can’t have LR procced on them... bosses with Defiance can. Huzzah for dps increase!

is this trait of any use in spvp? i tried several setups but always failed due to stability.

cheese.4739:

Also worth noting: it still works against champion-grade foes that are Unshakable (so get stacks of Defiance).

While a stack of Defiance stops a CC skill from moving/stunning a foe, it doesn’t make them immune, it just nullifies the effect and is then removed itself.
This means that, while foes with Stability (so immunity to CC) can’t have LR procced on them… bosses with Defiance can. Huzzah for dps increase!

can be hard to aim static field with blasting staff though, and you can’t use gust to push them into it (and get a double lightning rod proc to boot)

Some that work against normal enemies like blocking a path with unsteady ground won’t work on bosses either.. so you’re limited to gust, gale, earthquake, comet, the two from earth shield, and lightning leap through a lightning field (waste of charges against a boss since you’ll be going for sustained dps rather than burst), static field if you can get the edge just right,

Devildoc.6721:

cheese.4739:

Also worth noting: it still works against champion-grade foes that are Unshakable (so get stacks of Defiance).

While a stack of Defiance stops a CC skill from moving/stunning a foe, it doesn’t make them immune, it just nullifies the effect and is then removed itself.
This means that, while foes with Stability (so immunity to CC) can’t have LR procced on them… bosses with Defiance can. Huzzah for dps increase!

can be hard to aim static field with blasting staff though, and you can’t use gust to push them into it (and get a double lightning rod proc to boot)

Some that work against normal enemies like blocking a path with unsteady ground won’t work on bosses either.. so you’re limited to gust, gale, earthquake, comet, the two from earth shield, and lightning leap through a lightning field (waste of charges against a boss since you’ll be going for sustained dps rather than burst), static field if you can get the edge just right,

Static Field really is a nuisance to land as a direct attack in PvE, aye – really don’t know why the Blasting Staff trait has only been fixed for targeting circles in PvP.

Static Field and Unsteady Ground still do proc Lightning Rod on bosses if they run through them, though… and you can even hit with UG on foes that aren’t moving if you aim it right.
While it doesn’t function in the same way as a Guardian’s Line of Warding (which can be placed under an enemy player to really frustrate them), if you plonk down your UG the right distance in front of an immobile foe it’ll trigger once on its own, rupting skills if they’re being cast and proccing Lightning Rod.

zaced.7948:

is this trait of any use in spvp? i tried several setups but always failed due to stability.

It’s understandably worthless against foes with high stability uptime, but most folks don’t at the moment – as I think I’ve said above I’m having a lot of fun with 6/6/0/0/2 Zerk Staff, and I’m pretty sure others mention other trait and weapon setups that are workable, too.
If you’re stuck fighting an enemy with stability, you need to either try holding out until they run out before dropping all your CC at once, or peel away and be useful elsewhere. Sadly, if you’re relying on the control/weakness for your sustain, you’ll be doing the running away from folks with high uptime – but then, you’ve gotta know which fights to take on anyway, and not pointlessly attack those who counter you while running any spec.

I’m just gonna leave this right here.

zaced.7948:

is this trait of any use in spvp? i tried several setups but always failed due to stability.

I sometimes play 0/6/0/2/6 with valks and pack runes and its fun. Its certainly not meta, but its not a terrible build. The thing to remember if you trait like this, is that you aren’t really good at 1v1’s and want to be teamfighting, so try to avoid solo situations. You can get by in a pinch, or against worse players, but the build really isn’t meant for that.

The trait is awesome, a natural thief killer as thieves are usually squishy and LR crit can take 30-50% of their HP alone.

If you ever use rams in wvw, LR procs on each fear tick (at least it did the last time I used a ram). That’s 3-6k dmg on each tick if it crits.

Rangerdeity.5847:

Ele has more CC than any class in the game.

Nope that honour goes to engies.

Ele’s have CC but the CCs have long cooldowns. The fact is that D/F has a enough CC to make Lightning Rod work (so the OP is wrong) but the Ele doesn’t have more CC than Warriors talk less of even Engies.

Something 99999% of people don’t consider when looking at lightning Rod: Conjure Earth Shield.

The 3 procs lightning Rod on the 600 range dash

The 4 procs lightning Rod on everyone in a 600 radius with the AoE pull!

Wrecking Ball staff Ele:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fFAQFAWhMMKi2zwzBr0ABAW4AwBIBIeFsBSilqDA-TJBFwACuAA12foaZAAPAAA