Guild Wars 2

Hi everyone,

I have levelled my D/F ele up to 80 and have really enjoyed the ride.

However, now comes the moment for big (and expensive) decisions… what kind of build to run.

I do enjoy a bit of everything in the game (though I haven’t done pvp) and I don’t really want to carry 3 sets of armor/weapons to be able to play the game.

Is there a Swiss Army Knife multi-purpose D/F build that I could go into wvw with and also carry my weight in a dungeon or pve?

I appreciate it will probably not excell at any area in particular and it must be playable by a somewhat ele-noob please :-)

Look forward to any suggestions you may have!

I am by no means an expert, in fact I only got to 80 2 weeks ago, however I think the majority of people talk about celerity stats, since a lot of what you can do, is affected by all of its stats.
I’ve played around with s/f, d/d and I like d/f the best it has a lot of neat tricks

It’s not really possible to have a build good at both wvw and pve, because they are so different. At the very least, you’ll have to change your traits and skill bar.

here is a really good pve build.

here is a decent wvw build. I tried to keep the armour the same as the above build as much as possible but I changed the trinkets because otherwise you’ll just insta-die. Bear in mind D/F isn’t that great for WvW anyway, but if you’re just zerging this should be fine.

Kalen.1423:

It’s not really possible to have a build good at both wvw and pve, because they are so different. At the very least, you’ll have to change your traits and skill bar.

here is a really good pve build.

here is a decent wvw build. I tried to keep the armour the same as the above build as much as possible but I changed the trinkets because otherwise you’ll just insta-die. Bear in mind D/F isn’t that great for WvW anyway, but if you’re just zerging this should be fine.

I respectfully disagree on the last part there, d/f is amazing in wvw soloing. There’s preference, yes. That is subjective, yes. But d/f is very viable.

Kalen.1423:

It’s not really possible to have a build good at both wvw and pve, because they are so different. At the very least, you’ll have to change your traits and skill bar.

here is a really good pve build.

here is a decent wvw build. I tried to keep the armour the same as the above build as much as possible but I changed the trinkets because otherwise you’ll just insta-die. Bear in mind D/F isn’t that great for WvW anyway, but if you’re just zerging this should be fine.

Great, thanks for your input.

I suppose this is the sort of thing I would be looking for.. a single set of armor, with the same runes. One time investment. Swapping around some trinks is less problematic than changing everything.

How about celestial, would a celestial build be any use? I’ve got the charged quartz, so that’s no obstacle.

Celestial armor with zerk/cav/knights trinkets works great in any part of the game as long as you dont want to do harcore dungeon speed runs every night. You do less damage than full zerk but it gives you room to learn fights, and who really cares if a run takes 15 minutes instead of 12. Once you get better at the game and learn every dungeon path then it might be worth getting a full set of zerk gear for speed runs, but doing it the second you hit 80 is not a good idea.

Runes is up to you, divinity/traveler work well, strength is also good but its expensive, flame legion or fury are good alternatives if youre low on gold. Battle and energy sigils are also expensive but really useful.

Having multiple weapons would help, itd be worth making a soldiers staff for large scale wvw/pve, a zerker dagger/focus for fights you know, and probably a celestial dagger/focus for harder fights or wvw.

Sizer.5632:

Celestial armor with zerk/cav/knights trinkets works great in any part of the game as long as you dont want to do harcore dungeon speed runs every night. You do less damage than full zerk but it gives you room to learn fights, and who really cares if a run takes 15 minutes instead of 12. Once you get better at the game and learn every dungeon path then it might be worth getting a full set of zerk gear for speed runs, but doing it the second you hit 80 is not a good idea.

Runes is up to you, divinity/traveler work well, strength is also good but its expensive, flame legion or fury are good alternatives if youre low on gold. Battle and energy sigils are also expensive but really useful.

Having multiple weapons would help, itd be worth making a soldiers staff for large scale wvw/pve, a zerker dagger/focus for fights you know, and probably a celestial dagger/focus for harder fights or wvw.

Thank you for taking the time to answer my question!

Mmm… very tempted now to go celestial and slap some traveler runes on…..

Thanks for the tip on the weapons too…

Food for thought! :-)

Before you get traveler runes (largely useless for eles who have lots of swiftness), I would take Pack (which aren’t too expensive) or Hoelbrak (might be close to strength in price nowadays).

But if you want to have an all-around build, just build solely for wvw. ANYTHING can work in pve.

BlackBeard.2873:

ANYTHING can work in pve.

Exactly, just like having only one leg does not prevent you from running

Hey ! I am looking for a multifunctional build and you ahvent talked about traits and other weapons.

Maybe could you also tell me what traits you go for Pve/wvw ? something like the xxx66?
And the combination with d/f is something new to me. I mostly play d/d.
Whats the advantage of the focus?
How is it about scepter/d or f ?

I would suggest you spend your first load of gold into berserker armor and weapons with the right runes and sigils so you can do pve content without being a burden to the group. Then you have the basics to make enough money to afford your desired wvw equipment.

@Thunder d/f fresh air is an awesome build that has everything; damage, might/fury stacking, defensive capabilities while keeping the ele playstyle of attunement switching. Look at zelyhns signature.

Considering only on-land weapons here.
To be quite honest, beside the Engi (3 weapons) the Ele has the fewest types available (4 weapons). Imagine Warrior (9 weapons) or the Guardian (9 weapons) some Zerker needed for dungeons, and some Soldier/Cavalier for WvW…

Ele I don’t really consider a hassle at all concerning weapons.
How I set up my Ele is this:
Full Celestial Trinkets with a Zerker Ring and Accessory to switch out for (or amulet)
Full Zerker Flame Legion Runes armour. Flame Legion is a comparatively inexpensive and effective Rune set which should start you off.
Full Knights (Some Cele here is ok) Hoelbrak Runes armour. Hoelbrak is among one of the most expensive sets because it is a top choice for WvW guilds, with the -20% condition duration being key. Ele is able to get more out of it due to self-mightstacking.

Zerker used in dungeon
Knights/Cele for a lot of sustain and Hoelbrak allows you to mightstack for longer. However for dungeons the defensiveness of Knight armour + Cele trinkets is overkill and you should reserve this set for open world content to let you farm at a relaxed pace.

If you are not actively avoiding the other weapon sets:
D/D great in WvW/PvP (02066 or 00266)
D/F safest PvE (66200 with 06000 Fresh Air being core)
S/F and S/D Lightning Hammer Burst PvE (66000 being core)
S/F Fresh Air great for WvW/PvP (56201 or 06044)
Staff fairly flexible (00266 bunker, 64220 full damage, 62222 as well, 60044 moderate sustain, good to start with)

D/F definitely a great set to master, it is fairly advanced but has a lot of options in combat, the projectile blocks and invuln give you breathing room while the multiple blast finishers along with the Persisting Flames trait grant you and your whole dungeon party permanent fury and with some help, 25 Might.

D/F is not as great in WvW due to a lack of mobility but there is a particularly broken way to play this set, and that is Dire/Rabid Perplexity Runes Condi Ele.