Guild Wars 2

I run S/D so fire field comboing is definitely something I shoot for.

My question is when is the optimal time to start the combo? I’ve heard different opinions such as you stack right before you engage in combat and rush a mob so you can burn them down faster, while others say that the skills you use to stack the might would be better used to deal damage to the mobs instead of wasting them before the fight putting them on cooldown.

In other words, would the might you prepare ahead of time add more to the damage, or would the team be better off might stacking while already engaged in combat thus damaging them as you build up might?

Granted I realize that this doesn’t really make too terrible of a difference in the long run, but I’m one of those people that aims at efficiency. There’s also a lot of variability that would affect the answer to this: professions in the party, stats, trash vs pro mob, bosses, etc. so both answers could be right depending on the situation.

Anyways, looking for any data anyone might already have or discussion for this as well. Not limited to Ele’s, though personally, I’m usually on “might duty” when I roll my Ele as the offensive support on these guys are pretty amazing.

I dunno if there’s a universal right or wrong, it would depend on whether the guys you’re running with open with big alpha strikes and how high your own offensive stats are. Personally I just open combat with my might combos (granted I’m usually D/D not S/D) rather than pre-buffing, but that’s because I enjoy flying into packs of mobs and zooming around. :P

If it were a fight where I thought I might have to interrupt my might chain to avoid a one-shot or something, then I’d pre-buff of course.

/2 coppers

I’d personally use them after fighting has begun. Any seconds out of combat is wasted efficiency of the outbound damage being dealt, in order to ensure you get the full bang for your boon, you’d want all receiving it to be using it’s effects for its full duration (dps speaking). Also, you’d have the benefit of other boons being given by your teammates, increasing the effectiveness of the boons you’re dishing out at the same time.

The only counter argument I can think of is if some kitten in your party blows his load immediately at the beginning of the fight, before checking to see he’s buffed, in which case you’re only helping that guy be luggage.

I was thinking more along the lines of when a team is hanging around as the boss/mobs are being lured/los’d. There’s not really anything you can do there other than wait til the targets are in place for engaging in combat. It’s that downtime where I’ve personally use my guard’s empower (since I’m not losing damage on that skill) but was wondering if burning the ele’s blasts were worth using or saving for their dps.

Save it for dps.
Cooldowns are too long to use it before the fight imo.

DOnt play with SnD , so not sure. But i know DnD with sigil , elemental attunement , fire combo with my boon duration gear i get an easy 7 might in the first 2 seconds of a fight and almost 20 by the end of a fight.

According to the leaked patch notes for oct 1. Stack-size for boons and conditions will be limited to 5,
so when to do this?

Answer:
Before Tomorrow 18h

Duran.3196:

According to the leaked patch notes for oct 1. Stack-size for boons and conditions will be limited to 5,
so when to do this?

Answer:
Before Tomorrow 18h

only for conditions and boons that stack in duration, not in amount.
Might will not be affected, fury will be for instance

Stoneflesh.8634:

Duran.3196:

According to the leaked patch notes for oct 1. Stack-size for boons and conditions will be limited to 5,
so when to do this?

Answer:
Before Tomorrow 18h

only for conditions and boons that stack in duration, not in amount.
Might will not be affected, fury will be for instance

Dont worry about fury.

Fuzzion.2504:

Stoneflesh.8634:

Duran.3196:

According to the leaked patch notes for oct 1. Stack-size for boons and conditions will be limited to 5,
so when to do this?

Answer:
Before Tomorrow 18h

only for conditions and boons that stack in duration, not in amount.
Might will not be affected, fury will be for instance

Dont worry about fury.

I don’t, just an example

I run a S/D build and to stack the most amount of Might (but doesn’t necessarily have top dps) would be to trait cantrips to give might.

Starting in fire attunement, while running to a mob use glyph, hit dragons tooth from a distance and set up your Ring of Fire, shooting your Phoenix into it, while popping arcane wave, then switching to earth attunement (during swap use cleansing fire and armor of earth), pop earthquake and hit churning earth (which won’t make it into the combo field but still do a ton of damage)

This may seem like a lot, it requires a lot of practice but if done right nets you about 21stacks of might while doing a huge amount of damage.

>My question is when is the optimal time to start the combo?

it depends, if in a party you are the top damage dealer (which v. rarly is the case) and not the only decent might giver then dont waste your CD only for might stacking…but if for example you do cof p1 and have 3+ dps warriors in party then stacking 25 mights for all members before the first boss fight and then conjure FGS/LH is ofc better option.

There’s probably an optimal choice, but you can ask yourself this: how much time will it save you? If it’s less than a minute over the whole dungeon, then it may not be worth stressing out over it. :-)

Definitely at the beginning of the fight, not before it. Firstly, because you can’t use your Earth Evasive Arcana blast finisher if you’re not in combat, robbing yourself of 3 more stacks, and second, because a lot of those skills do some very good damage.

If you’re getting all 18 stacks the S/D setup allows, the last blast finisher to go off will be your Churning Earth. You’ve already gained 15 stacks of might by that point, so when churning earth goes off, that’s an extra 525 power and condition damage added to the skill and its bleeding.

All in all, if you’re not doing it in combat, you’re robbing yourself and your team of 100k+ damage in one run of combos. (assuming 20k total damage in skills x5 mobs)