Guild Wars 2

I hit 80 some time back on my Elementalist and now seem to have quite a bit of trouble while out exploring the world. I have tried many different builds but have very little luck. What I am really after is a comfortable build to deal damage and survive while out in the world. The problem I am running into is that if I do not have all of my abilities off cool down I have trouble finishing a fight without going into a downed state.

So here is the heart of my question. What do you use to do things like farm matts and explore the world for completion without constantly having to re spawn if you make a single mistake?

What are your preferred weapons?

I mostly stick with the traditional 30/10/0/0/30 on Staff and S/D. It gets the job done whether I’m in a DE zerg or soloing. Staff is all range so just watch your run pattern so you don’t pull more than you intended. I’m also stance dance all the time. I’d rather throw variety than build my playstyle around doing one or two things “best”. Kinda tired of that from years of MMOs…

I never realized EA was a blast finisher so don’t miss the nerf

10-15 in water helps me immensely for staying alive, taking the condition removal trait, so if you don’t have that, that’s the first thing I’d add. Next 10 minimum in arcana (first points have a bigger impact on recharge rate than the last points.*) with the boons on attunement trait. Gain 5 s of protection every time I swap to earth? nice. Next take one or two utility skills dedicated to keeping you alive, like arcane shield. With that done, you are now invincible and free to dedicate the rest of your build to killing as fast as possible, if you so choose.

*points in arcana: attunement recharge time in seconds
0: 15
10: 12.5
20: 10.7
30: 9.4

I go 20/10/0/10/30.

My preferred PvE solo weapon set is S/D, which I play very much as melee/PBAoE. (And once Dragon’s Tooth is debugged with the intended fix, that will make the build just a little more point-blank yet than it was before.)

Why PBAoE? Because some of the skills and traits already are that by definition, and because Might stacking works better when everything goes off inside the Ring of Fire.

How PBAoE? Attunement switching to get back to Air for RtL, or just wait for mobs to run up to me (or otherwise gap close). If I have to walk over to them, I usually don’t bother, settling for what I can accomplish at range.

The skills I use in ordinary fights are the weapon skills, the heal, Arcane Wave, and sometimes Glyph of Lesser Elementals. The skills I hold back for tougher fights are my other utility (currently Glyph of Storms, to be used in Earth), Glyph of Elementals, and sometimes GoLE.

My preferred heal is GoEH, but I haven’t tested Ether Renewal.

My preferred fire traits are Internal Flame and Pyromancer’s Alacrity.

The 10 Air are strictly for Quick Glyphs.

The 10 Water is for the condition clear.

Arcane traits past Elemental Attunement are a mess right now, but I want the cooldown reduction, and boon extension is great too.

For gear I DON’T want to waste resources on precision, crit damage, or healing. Power is essential. I don’t have strong opinions on the tradeoffs between toughness, vitality, and condition damage.

The ideal rotation is RtL and the #2 and #3 Air skills in any order (I neglect Updraft and hate the #1) …

Followed by Fire/Ring of Fire, and in some order Dragon’s Tooth, Phoenix, and Arcane Wave …

… optionally followed by Fire Grab after the Might is stacked …

… followed by Earthquake and Churning Earth for more Might stack in the unlikely case anything is still alive …

… followed by refreshing the #2 skill in Earth for armor …

… followed by switching to Water for the passive heals, for any needed condition clear, and to keep cycling my attunements for Sigil of Battle. It’s also a fine place to be in case I didn’t see a ranged enemy and am still taking a beatdown, as I’d want to heal more seriously in that case.

In other fights I RtL with Fire still on cooldown, and go to Earth first, at the cost of some Might stacking. But it’s easier to refresh the armor that way, as Hurl might be needed as a prologue. Those times I’m more careful to use the #3 Earth blind while I’m there. Or, as these aren’t such ideal fights, they might be good times to pull out Glyph of Storms for the repeated blind and also some DPS.

I tend not to use #1 and #2 Water much, or — and this is an oversight — #4 Water either. I also forget to use Updraft as an escape when needed.

The elementals are ideal for DPS in Fire, not least because they help stack Might via blasts. Air is fine for single-target fights or, at the other extreme, when target switching will be so fast that being ranged changes some running around time. I also tend to get the smaller Air pet out when running in the hope of some extra Swiftness.

The big Water guy is the ultimate emergency summons, for his heal.

If I want tanks, I go with the Earth guys.

Since I play a fairly immobile style, I don’t care much about the little water guy’s chill.