Guild Wars 2

I just returned after a 1 year break and have a 36 ele. I prefer playing healer type roles in other mmos. Know that doesn’t really exist but is now viable if unpopular?

Please give me advice for a healer build at 80 and entry gear.

Also does it take long to get full sets? I’ve never had an 80 and wouldn’t mind a bezerker set for dpsing. I prefer staff play or d/d.

I’m happy to be linked to other posts. When i tried searching before i struggled to find relevant results.

Ps do i just sit in water if i want to play healer? Or still switch elements?

For the build:
http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Elementalist_-_Staff_Backline

For how to play (this is not related to the build, but you can learn combos/tactics from it)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0j9VZEDk3U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W1JX07e0YE

The “healer” type of gameplay with ele is not really the good way to go. It’s been explained to death that GW2 playstyle works DIFFERENTLY from the common mmo Holy Trinity type. Each charracter has:

1. DPS – which are damaging skills
2. Heal – ussualy the 6th skill but can be occasionally some other ones
3. Support – neccessary weapon and utility skills that provide Active Defense (reflects, invulnerability, blocks, boons like vigor, might, protection, aegis etc)

The gameplay is about each class maintaning as much damage with as much neccesary support it can provide. Since healing power CANNOT outheal the damage mobs do in most PVE and especially high level Fractals, you HAVE to rely on either Passive Defense (Toughness, Vitality) or Active Defense (dogdes and things mentioned above) to survive the battle WHILE doing as much damage as you can since the mobs can and will go down quickly if you are good enough.

The gameplay in this game is MORE about skill and reacting to the situation and mindless button mashing. Yes there are people that think Meta is all about 5 Warriors spamming 100b. Well – these teams suffer quickly. Its all about cleverness and skill.

To sum up – Do Not Go into healing – you will not help the team. You will be really a deadweight since you wont do any damage, the heal will not provide really any support as you wont be able to outheal the damage.

Adding to that the ele is not really even good in active healing. Just for the sake of it I recently made 3 characters that seemed to have viable healing builds: Ele, Necro and Guard. Only the Guardian could make any difference but that was on condition I used its potential to the FULLEST which the PUG healing guards dont even do to 50% since they camp staff only thinking they make LOTS of difference.
However, it was obsolete in normal dungs – where it could be useful was with my guilds “i play how i want” members in Ta Aether and Fractals. Then I took it for level 50 fractal and boom – even with my dearest wishes I simply wasnt able to outheal the dps and keep in mind that in healing the Guardain was FAR SUPERIOR to the ele.

Summing up – get yourself to know the builds from the Metabattle site. Also check out DeeKeyZ’s video about Dagger/Focus ele – the one to rule them all because it is all in one really

I’ve been dissapointed with my efforts to play healer in PVE. Its only valued in squads of borderline fails and then all you have to do is hit the auto attack in water on staff or use the Frost Bow with the trait which increases charges and thats enough. Everyone wants to be needed but the healer ele is only needed by his loser friends who blame him when they die.

If healing is important to you my gear advice is get celestial gear, which only exists in ascended form and thats expensive and time gate to around a month no matter how much you spend. Other than using celestial gear my recommendation is keep a staff with two healing related sigils in your inventory for when you want to play healer. Thats all you really need. I tried Cleric’s gear and it didn’t help me or my squad. One staff, I use a Monsoon cuz its pretty and has healing stats on it, with 2 healing related sigils on it is enough no matter what your gear. If you want armor that heals as well get Celestial.

Do not underestimate the healing potential of the Frost Bow especially if you take the Fire trait for extra charges. You can use offensive weps like daggers and still heal the squad that way. It works as well as any other gear set up.

Big problem with trying to play healer in GW2 PVE, to really make it work ppl need to stack(cluster up) together to get in range of your healing. Ppl smart enough to do that are pros and don’t need healing. The people who need healing are the ppl who form a drum circle around the boss and range him.

Despite all this I don’t give up on healing. Wear Celestial gear and keep one staff in our inventory with healing stats. Don’t go farther than that in gearing to heal because it won’t help, I know this from experience. Be ready and willing to forego the staff and use Frost Bow for healing its so underrated for this IMO. Just the freeze will save lives forget the healing.

There is really only one thing about playing ele and playing a healer in a traditional MMO that is the same. When ppl die they blame you.

you are better off going with either a staff might stack or a s/f might build for pve then going for healer. you will be more valued by your teammates

Healer roles don’t exist in this game and trying to play as one will just result in both abuse from other players and annoyance with being unable to complete anything as effectively.

Do you guys even read the OP? He “know that doesn’t really exist but is now viable if unpopular?”

Instead of trying to convince them to play the style they don’t like, just give them what they wants. It’s fine if it’s weak, as long as they like it. The dungeon run may take 12m now instead of 9m. It’s still okay.

Keep in mind that there are casual players who value play style over min/maxing every thing.

Yes I read it. They asked for a healing build in PvE and there’s unfortunately nothing even remotely close to decent to provide for that question.

Because I saw the opportunity to, I’m trying to help steer the OP in a more helpful direction.

OP if you want to heal you can still do it even in DPS setups. Blasting in a water field will result in aoe healing regardless of your traits/gear. You should always spec for DPS in PvE.

i did too… full healer build in gw2 is utterly useless in pve. its all about buffing if your an ele and giving conjures. i had a “healer” in a high lvl fracs once on swamp. we kicked him first mossman. did absolutly no damage and we had good self healing. its pointless except if your in teq maybe. thats it. it would be smarter to go for a necro siphon build if you want pve healer. theres a great tutorial on youtube.

here if you want a viable “healer” try this: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fFAQFAWnMISLDWzAWPAfEGQAwIfFaCLxwBgCwDQUKA-T1BBABPqEEgLAAq6Ag+BAEq6PAu/gYK/IFArCjA-w

this is a healing/vuln builld with some decent damage. you wont get kicked out of dungeons with this.

traits:

Fire:
V- there is nothing better to get in this line for a healing type build unless you want a cantrip build in that case you can use spell slinger to stack might.
VI- to boost damage in fire attune.
XII- boost damage as time goes on.

Air:

VI- boost damage to bosses mainly

Water:

II- great with arcane power. gives 15 stacks of vuln in total. and arcane wave gives aoe vuln also.
VI- Punishes stupid AI good damage booster
XIII- for healing….

Utilities/ Heal:

Heal:
Obviously one would take AB for the blast finisher.

Utilities:

AW- for blast finishing heals might etc.

AP- ensures crits and gives vuln.

FB- for damage

Other utilites:

Fire axe- great for might buff and can be used for leap/ blast finishes

Cantrips- if you decided to go cantrips which are mainly defensive you would need might on cantrip in the fire trait line.

Gear:

Staff- because its the best at healing

Sigils- renewal for teh healz and acc for a decent damage output.

Armor- the mix of magi for armor and clerics for trinks gives:
Healing
Tough
Vit
Prec
Pow

This mix would be the best for maximizing PVE style gameplay for your “healer/damge-er”

Runes:

Runes of Alt will give you more healing power and might/fury on using a heal skill which if you use as a finsher will give even more buffs.

food/oil is for prec stat to boost damage.

gl

I figured healing in this game isn’t about getting people to max health so much as sustain. Holding death at bay by increasing the groups effective health at the expense of damage.

But see you don’t have control over that on this game. That’s all the responsibility of everyone individually. Also it’s worth noting that the majority of encounters in this game involve hard-hitting attacks that can be evaded/blocked as opposed to tons of tiny attacks.

There are no healer builds in this game that don’t involve being a guard and even then it’s more about giving stability and protection. If you want to be a healer you have to play another mmo, as sad as this statement might be. The earlier you face this fact, the easier it’ll be for you.

Ok even if it’s not exactly viable I’ll do it anyway. Once i cap I’ll get a bezerker set to keep the dungeon people happy and a cleric set for healing in WvW

There’s a time and a place for healing ele builds. I know some disagree, but there are difficult events where people do benefit from the passive healing you provide. Tequatl, understaffed Jormag, some events in Orr, events in the SW and WvW come to mind. I wouldn’t set myself on using such a build all the time, but it’s good to know that it’s available and how to use it. Ele achieves impressive damage, but it’s still primarily a supportive class (in my opinion.) So no, I don’t think you have to abandon the idea entirely or re-roll a guard. You can heal without building for it too, but the amount you heal for will be drastically reduced. I’m doing world completion on ele now, and it’s fun to come across people in lower level zones having trouble with a specific mob. Like the spider queen in Kessex. Switch to water and people start being vertical more than horizonal, it’s great.

Keep in mind you can be more of a hybrid class than you might think, since you don’t have to spec only for healing power or only for damage. Celestial gear come to mind, since the ele is one of the few professions that can make use of every single stat on celestial gear. I’m using three pieces each of berserker’s and assassin’s armor with celestial trinkets for world completion. It feels pretty versatile.

As far as what to do with your build around level 20, I’m going to leave that to more knowledgeable people. I made my ele prior to the new trait system, so I never had the particular experience you’re having. I can tell you with confidence though that it’ll get better when you hit 80/unlock all your traits.

Smiggles.6823:

I just returned after a 1 year break and have a 36 ele. I prefer playing healer type roles in other mmos. Know that doesn’t really exist but is now viable if unpopular?

Please give me advice for a healer build at 80 and entry gear.

Also does it take long to get full sets? I’ve never had an 80 and wouldn’t mind a bezerker set for dpsing. I prefer staff play or d/d.

I’m happy to be linked to other posts. When i tried searching before i struggled to find relevant results.

Go with Staff. Staff also has alot of crowd control adding it to your healing would be quite benefitial to your party. Add to that a zerker gear for faster runs you’ll still want to use staff.
Frostbow is good for dps but its auto-attack also heals.
Just get a full set of clerics with rune of the grove or rune of the flock. You will then need 6 in arcana and 6 in water the other 2 in earth probably but if you want to use aura share I think your allies and you would prefer swiftness and fury so 2 in air is also a viable option. You’ll want to bring arcane blast too. The Staff ele has a lack of blast finishers so having an arcane blast will allow you to do AoE healing or give frost aura. Magnetic aura is situational but can be really useful sometimes.

“OMG, there is no healer build in this game” – yada yada.

Supposed that the OP just wants to play healer for a kick and doesn’t want to be a complete dead weight. I say it’s possible to do so. My friend Zoii and I came up with a lot of experiments around Zealot when it first came around. She used her Zealot build for pugs and it seems to be a roaring success (for her). So I want to re-create that spirit with this build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fFAQFAWnMISLDWyAWPAdEGACwIPD+BvQxNgAQBo0QA-T1BEABJ8AAGUJIn6A8U9H62fAgLAAoK/IFArCjA-w

What to know about this build:
1. Zealot has a decent Power/precision spread so your damage/crit chance ain’t bad at all.
2. Stacking might and Bloodlust will help your even mediocre water auto attack deal some weighty damage.
3. The Arcane skills will be used in cycle to boost your next to nothing crit damage (ferocity) and also to apply vuln to increase damage.

So, how to use this build:
1. For burst: Start with Earth 2 → Fire 2 → Swap to water attunement → Arcane Brilliance → Arcane Wave → Summon Ice Bow, IB 5, IB 4, IB3, IB2 → Drop Ice bow

2. For Sustained DPS: Spam Ice Spike on CD → Autoattack in water. Repeat stacking might when your skills are off CD.

3. For Healing: Use Geyser and Arcane Brilliance. Use Arcane Blast on Geyser to gain Regeneration as much as possible. Use Healing Rain for condi cleanse and a bigger water field for any projectile (looking at rangers)/blast finishers Let people know that you are about to drop the water field so they can combo with you.

There it is. The build for d/d will be a lot more difference in trait spread as you will need to keep up 100% Regeneration uptime instead of straight healing.

Have fun and good luck.

I have a “healer’s” armor set just for laughs when I’m doing guild dungeon runs. Cleric’s with Superior Monk runes, and a Staff with Sigil of Battle/Renewal on it. Switching to Water Attunement is a pretty big heal boost in itself, and throwing up Geyser + Arcane Brilliance/Arcane Wave can make for a big AoE heal blast in tight pinches when the party is stacked up.

You’ll still want to switch to Earth (for Protection) and Fire (for Might stacking) on a regular basis, but you can think of yourself as a healer/buffer in that regard. Don’t forget to summon your Earth Elemental for more Protection spamming in boss fights!

This is not a trinity game. There are no dedicated healers.