Guild Wars 2

Hi,

I’m used to playing with a staff since launch and loved it from the start. However, after 5 months I feel the need to change my play style, since I’m getting bored with staff lately and want a more active kind of gameplay.

I mainly play PvE with an occasional WvW or dungeon and was wondering what builds our viable out there and what the main differences are in play styles between the different setups. What Gear for which setup? Any general tips?

Thanks in advance!

hi,

i really love D/D in pve and i am settled for an little bit diffrent spec then usual.

0/20/0/20/30 focused on arcane skills: http://tinyurl.com/bu7rd6t

in air i usually choose inscription. with the glyph heal you already have perma sprint since it last 13secs and aplies it twice or 8 secs of protection or two stacks of might or 26 secs regeneration. (i really do not get why people do not use it – its even more redicolouswith 30 water)

water is for 20% more damage vs. vurnable targets and vurnable on arcane use.

arcane is for elemental attunement (with the inscription and glyph you see where this is going 12 secs protection when you swap to earth and heal) and 20% CD reduction.

elemental surge is the Grandmaster and in combination with arcane power and arcane precision its just a lot of fun… i usually blow erverything at once.

water
you can put 25 stacks of vurnability on your target in like 2 seconds while chilling them for 10+. if the target is low on health you get a 40% damage boost on arcane wave, blast and 5 base attacks.

fire
little bit more boring but do it at the beginning of the fight and the target will burn for 10+ secs while you can change to do something else.

lightning
if you are against a single mob its just "leave me alone for 7 hits and stacking some weakness.

earth
arcane blast becomes a 1500 range 1 sec instant immobilize, arcane wave becomes a nice addition to your escape tools. standard attack can be pretty much a 5-8 sec immobilize.

the beauty starts when you start casting churning earth switch to lightning for a pbao blind and another singeltarget blind… jsut before the hammer falls you go to water hit arcane power and put chill on 5 targets whe it lands. do another frozen burst or swap to fire for ring of fore and to escape with burning speed….

i just love it.

huge downside: no stability and no condi removal but its for pve so who cares.

works well in dungeons although i tend to spec 0/10/0/30/30 there for condition removal and i swap the arcane blast for mist or armor of earth. (inscription is nice but not really important)

perma chilled champions are really easy

>wondering what builds our viable out there

for pve almost any, some are better for some situations, some are better for others.
Seriuously try it yourself – this is also the fun part in the game – trying new builds.
Just dont start with GC/dps

>and what the main differences are in play styles between the different setups.

staff is totally different than dd. Its like completely other class, as dd in most cases you are more like warrior/thief rather than a staff ele.

>What Gear for which setup?

I would start with pow/tou/vit armours + accesories with healing and slowly move on to dps gear for example you change one accesory to dps each week – you will not feel much of a difference after one change but after 2 months you do lot more damage.
Ofc support aura sharing dd is also valid pve build for dungs.

>Any general tips?

rebind your keyboard. Default binding in unplayable and you will bever be good dd with it. You may also consider 12 button mouse, but I found keyboard with good binding a lot better than 12 buttons razer naga.
My binding is corresponding to the user interface:

I move with yghj instead of wasd.
My attunement change are on asdf
My 1-5 skill are on zxcv and mouse thumb for auto attack
My utils are on m,./
heal is on u
I use 3 finger for moving and at the same time i can use small finger for skills and attunement swapping and thumb fot utils – its way better for me than 12 button mouse

Asmodal.6489:

water
you can put 25 stacks of vurnability on your target in like 2 seconds while chilling them for 10+. if the target is low on health you get a 40% damage boost on arcane wave, blast and 5 base attacks.

How do you get the 25 stacks? Shards of ice gives 3 stacks on the build you’re using for both Arcane Blast and Arcane Wave, so that makes 6… and then 1 stack for your first 4 attacks after using Arcane Power… that adds up to 10 stacks, not 25… what am I missing?

Lavadiel.6231:

rebind your keyboard. Default binding in unplayable and you will bever be good dd with it. You may also consider 12 button mouse, but I found keyboard with good binding a lot better than 12 buttons razer naga.
My binding is corresponding to the user interface:

^This. I have heal, utilities and attunement swaps on my thumb. Razer Naga is so overkill, but I love mine and don’t know how I played ele without it (bought it last december, had been playing ele since launch, that’s a lot of months doing a lot of left-hand acrobatics)

SlimGenre.6417:

Asmodal.6489:

water
you can put 25 stacks of vurnability on your target in like 2 seconds while chilling them for 10+. if the target is low on health you get a 40% damage boost on arcane wave, blast and 5 base attacks.

How do you get the 25 stacks? Shards of ice gives 3 stacks on the build you’re using for both Arcane Blast and Arcane Wave, so that makes 6… and then 1 stack for your first 4 attacks after using Arcane Power… that adds up to 10 stacks, not 25… what am I missing?

I was wondering that, too. My guess is Vapor Blade with Arcane Power activated and hitting a target with both the outgoing and returning attack of Vapor Blade.

Kaleden.9386:

SlimGenre.6417:

Asmodal.6489:

water
you can put 25 stacks of vurnability on your target in like 2 seconds while chilling them for 10+. if the target is low on health you get a 40% damage boost on arcane wave, blast and 5 base attacks.

How do you get the 25 stacks? Shards of ice gives 3 stacks on the build you’re using for both Arcane Blast and Arcane Wave, so that makes 6… and then 1 stack for your first 4 attacks after using Arcane Power… that adds up to 10 stacks, not 25… what am I missing?

I was wondering that, too. My guess is Vapor Blade with Arcane Power activated and hitting a target with both the outgoing and returning attack of Vapor Blade.

I’m not harping on this to troll or be the guy that says, “every ele is wrong except those that run MY build.” No my goal at all. But I do want to know if either I’m completely missing something or not. I have a boat load of hours on ele and know a ton more than most people I see post, but I don’t know everything… so teach me if I’m wrong here, however…

It can’t be vapor blade, he said 25 stacks in 2 seconds… OK, so maybe it is and he’s exaggerating a little bit, you could easily get to 22 stacks in about 5 seconds, but it doesn’t last very long. Vapor blade attacks once per 1.0 seconds, according to GW2 Wiki, so 4 attacks on vapor blade with Arcane Power and vulnerability on those 4 attacks, plus the vulnerability from vapor blade itself, assuming it hits in and out on all 4 throws, that would be 16 stacks, plus the 6 from the initial Arcane Wave and Blast takes you to 22 stacks, but only for 2 seconds, since the initial 6 stacks only last for 6 seconds each and it took a minimum of 4 seconds to get the other 16 stacks… One player does not have the ability to either achieve or maintain 25 stacks.

But let’s play fantasy land quick… assuming you “could” maintain 25 stacks of vulnerability which gives everyone 25% extra damage to the single target… sounds great for dungeon bosses.

Compare that to my s/d might stacking build, which I can easily maintain 25 stacks of might myself, adding 875 power to myself and all party members.

Simple math. 25% damage increase vs. 875 additional power… Anyone with base power less than 3500 will benefit more from the might stacks than the vulnerability. Anyone over base power of 3500 would benefit more from vulnerability than the extra 875 power. I don’t know many people that have power higher than 3500 before any boons are applied. Might stacking wins. Also, might duration is more than 3 times that of vulnerability.

Again, please know that I’m not trying to poop on anyone, but I do desire to be of the greatest benefit to my party when I’m in dungeons. I was very intrigued by this post in hopes to figure out another benefit I could bring to the table. If I could drop in and in two seconds dump 25 stacks of vulnerability and it lasted longer than 6 seconds, that sounds awesome, but compared to what else an ele can do, I just don’t see how these benefits trump others that we can bring to the table.

Ok, so maybe 2 ele’s, one stacking might and one stacking vulnerability would be nice, but assuming vulnerability lasts longer than it does

I’ll say it again, if I’m missing something here and there’s something besides just chucking vapor blade over and over again to get the majority of that vulnerability for the few seconds that Arcane Power will let you maintain it, but the math screams might stacking is substantially more beneficial than vulnerability.

Probably only a slight exaggeration. Vapor blade isn’t a projectile finisher so sending it through lightning field does nothing. Using Shards of Ice + Arcane Power + Vapor blade means every hit gives 2 stacks of vulnerability, which can mean 4 stacks if it’s hitting on the outgoing and incoming attack. Arcane Precision would probably proc on at least one of the attacks. Add in Arcane Wave (3) and Blast (3) and in 3 seconds, you might see about 16 + 1 + 3 + 3 = 23 stacks.

Toss in a consumable like Skale Venom and you’d probably reach 25 stacks easily. Though I’d love to hear from Asmodal, as arcane builds seem like fun if I could learn to be without my cantrips.

I see your edit and raise you this: it’s not sustainable on your own, but nice for a quick burst of damage. Rare veggie pizza would likely increase the duration of some of the vulnerability conditions, but probably not to the effect that it’s entirely sustainable by one character.

SlimGenre.6417:

Kaleden.9386:

SlimGenre.6417:

Asmodal.6489:

water
you can put 25 stacks of vurnability on your target in like 2 seconds while chilling them for 10+. if the target is low on health you get a 40% damage boost on arcane wave, blast and 5 base attacks.

How do you get the 25 stacks? Shards of ice gives 3 stacks on the build you’re using for both Arcane Blast and Arcane Wave, so that makes 6… and then 1 stack for your first 4 attacks after using Arcane Power… that adds up to 10 stacks, not 25… what am I missing?

I was wondering that, too. My guess is Vapor Blade with Arcane Power activated and hitting a target with both the outgoing and returning attack of Vapor Blade.

Can’t be vapor blade, he said 25 stacks in 2 seconds… What he’s talking about sounds like blast finishers, but no blast finishers give vulnerability stacks. You can get combo finishers whirl or projectile through a lightning field, but d/d has no lightning field. Could do vapor blade through lightning field for 2 stacks per hit I bet, so that’d be quicker, but still, not “2 seconds” quick.

Either I’m missing something or he’s HEAVILY exagerating

yeah i got carried away and i am exaggerating …BUT NOT HEAVY

- you get 6 stacks from arcane wave and blast
- vapor blade hits 6 times in 2-3 seconds (roll to and back from the target) applying 11 (6 from its own hits and 4 from arcane power) stacks so you end up with 16.

in addition you get them from Arcane Precision. wiki says chance is 7.5% but it feels higher to me — i am generous so lets say 2 more

leaving it at 18 and me as a show off… BUT…

if you need more … i used to run 0/25/0/15/30 (got me confused)

which gives also vurnability on crit and since all of these (8) hits are crit 5-6 additional crits are not uncommon.

and there you have it .. 25 stacks
toss in sigil of fragility and you get there as well (not sure if the cooldwon would stop the other procs on crit)

bam!

its true though they drop quickly but you can still manage to get a ring of fire and fire garb out.

its not OP its just cool to do. you can test it yourself in the mists. (i will too when i get home)

Kaleden.9386:

Toss in a consumable like Skale Venom and you’d probably reach 25 stacks easily. Though I’d love to hear from Asmodal, as arcane builds seem like fun if I could learn to be without my cantrips.

didnt even consider food …

Well i do think the build is fun. I do not know how it performs in WvWvW in the long run. i did some and had great laughs but with this spec you really need somebody to clear conditions so i can speak mainly for pve.

personally i hate cantrips. the cooldown ist just too long i want to use my abilities. (the effects are awsome though) if i need them is swap them in.

i have zero problem in dungeons and in the open world (who has though). and a chilled boss is only half as dangerous.

the build just feels like you can insta burst single trash mobs when you have them around 50%. and you might still have your hard hitting skills off CD. coming from a staff ele who takes forever to kill anything this is just something new.

arcane blast and arcane wave are instant so even if you are knocked down you can get a blind off. hell you can even activate arcane power and blind single target just be attuning to lightning. wait for the hit an activate shock aura.

the best about this build is that your attunements feel mor dedicated. max chill vurnability in water, max burn in fire, perma blind in lightning…
earth is more control and not so important in pve but if all the arcane traits would apply bleed … well taht would be off the hook.

I hadn’t considered the blind from Arcane Wave/Blast while stunned. That’s a nice trick. One of the more fun combinations I had done with a build similar to yours is Arcane Power + Glyph of Storms in Earth Attunemnet for an AoE damage/blind/immobilize that was pretty fun to toss down on zergs in WvW.

Thanks again for sharing, it makes me want to give my Arcane Surge build another go.

Yeah, hadn’t thought about food either. Again, I wasn’t trying to troll by any means, I’m always looking for new and fun ways to play this class.

Would be a great additional burst on dungeon bosses, especially if you drop it right when, say a mesmer puts down Timewarp, which lasts 10 sec’s I believe, drop on 25 stacks of vulnerability in 3 or 4 seconds and the last half of Timewarp will have that extra 25% dmg… sounds enticing.

As said above, I hate cantrips as well, just a waste and really on necessary in VERY specific situations. I usually run Lightning Flash, Arcane Power, Arcane Wave with my s/d build, so I’m used to having the arcanes anyway, perhaps I’ll play around with the build some time too, see how it goes.

More than anything, thanks for posting something different. I’ve probably said this too much now, but not trying to be argumentative, just want to get the most out of it as I can.

@Asmodal
How do you go with arcane power? Everytime I use it, it bugs out. Wanted to use it on Churning Earth but it consumes all 5 uses and only imobolizes (arcane 30) on the final hit. I assume you use this mainly for auto attacks as alot of the other skills just fully waist the skill

Slasher,
not asmodal, but I use it, so I’ll tell ya how. I run s/d, drop dragon’s tooth, ring of fire, phoenix, swap to earth and hit Arcane Power – Dodge Roll Back for CE (1), Earthquake (2), CE (3), Arcane Wave (4), swap to air, and lightning bolt (5). That’s 5 guaranteed crits in the middle of my might stacking chain for 18 aoe might.

The one on Arcane Wave is wasted because it crits anyway. My other option would be to try and drop it after ring of fire but before phoenix, so it crits on phoenix. I’m going to start working on that timing

If I were running d/d, I’d use it before Burning Speed (1), Ring of Fire (2), swap to earth, dodge roll back for CE (3), Earthquake (4) and CE (5). 12 Stacks of AoE might and 5 guaranteed crits on each.

SlimGenre.6417:

Slasher,
not asmodal, but I use it, so I’ll tell ya how. I run s/d, drop dragon’s tooth, ring of fire, phoenix, swap to earth and hit Arcane Power – Dodge Roll Back for CE (1), Earthquake (2), CE (3), Arcane Wave (4), swap to air, and lightning bolt (5). That’s 5 guaranteed crits in the middle of my might stacking chain for 18 aoe might.

The one on Arcane Wave is wasted because it crits anyway. My other option would be to try and drop it after ring of fire but before phoenix, so it crits on phoenix. I’m going to start working on that timing

If I were running d/d, I’d use it before Burning Speed (1), Ring of Fire (2), swap to earth, dodge roll back for CE (3), Earthquake (4) and CE (5). 12 Stacks of AoE might and 5 guaranteed crits on each.

Those skills are multiple hits like Burning Speed and Phoenix. Arcane Power charges are consumed per hit made and not per skill I think so it will be long gone even before you swap to Earth most of the time.

Yea, watch the Arcane Power buff when you use skills, it drains faster on some skills then others and generall I haven’t noticed it to last longer then 2 or 3 hits can’t say I’ve ever seen it make 5

As Gallrvaghn said, note the skills you’re using and those that are still present on the battlefield before using Arcane Power. Most multi-hit skills or damage fields will consume a charge per tick. On Staff, for instance, never use while you have a Meteor Shower raining.

@SlimGenre,

Gallrvaghn & Slasher are right some of the things you mentioned will waste arcane power too quickly and uncontrolable. bruning spped for example. even with one target its almost instantly gone. and does really no damage. i would keep it away from fire fields. it bugs out on some other skills as well and i can only speak for dd. it does bug out quite a bit.

earth:
Arcane power is used up by hits on target so if you cast churning earth with 3 targets in range it uses up those three charges. it applies the immobilze on the hit which is normal but kind of useless. Thats why i really only use it in earth when i want the guaranteed critical on CE or immobilize a single target for 6-8 seconds with the autoattack and magnatic grasp (does not happen often)

fire:
is a plain deal. i use it for veterans as an opener. if you want a long burn on your target you close in on it and hit autoattack for 3 hits to apply 15 secs of burn then hit fire garb for crit and another 5 second burn…. then i switch to lightning which uses up the last charge with electric discharge for good crit damage and blind.

if i have more targets around me and low health you can use it with ring of fire add arcane wave and get out of there leaving 5 targets burning for 10 secs.

water
pretty much the same as ring of fire deal but leaving them chilled for quite some time.
the other option is the chill+vurnability deal on single target that was described earlier.
if you gear for duration this really becomes a nice trick. if you dont you better hurry to bring down damage. nevertheless the target gets chilled for 20secs+.

lightning
this one is tricky since the double hit on auto attack uses two charges and they are most of the time applied so fast that they overlap withou being used up by your target. on the other hand the whip does really nice damage (at least i feel that way) and it looks super cool. i could see it being funny facetanking 100blades close to the end so you avoid the last 2-4 hits. other then that – just use the single target damage skills activate aura and leave lightning for soemthing else.

but there are a lot of different ways to go about it… i feel it makes you really versetile and arcane precision puts the icing on top of it.

OK, well that’s good to know, while it’s a waste on Ring of Fire or Pheonix, I still think it’s worth it for CE. If I’m stacked to 25 might and hit CE, at least 5 enemies will take 8k or so dmg, that hits harder than using it for something else imo…

I have a reasonable crit chance with fury up

So I usually start CE then switch to something else as its about to cast for the 2sec fury from attunement change. If I do change earlier its for air for lightning aura which also gives fury from Zephers Boon. Most of my CEs crit, but a 100% chance for it to hit would be nice.

0/25/0/15/30

full berserker’s (divinity runes + sigil of battle)

it’s fun to give over 16 perma stacks of might to yourself. it’s also fun to have 107% crit damage with 51% chance.

107% crit damage? Thats alot, I’m assuming you use arcane skills and the air trait to go with them or this is PvE

TGSlasher.1458:

107% crit damage? Thats alot, I’m assuming you use arcane skills and the air trait to go with them or this is PvE

PvE

only the usual 57ish% at the mists.

I was going to say, GIVE ME YOU BUILD. But if its PvE then its cool as bro.
I remember getting crit chance to 100% once, when we had more damage on our scepter skills, but never breaking much more then 50% or 60% crit damage.