Guild Wars 2

I’m starting a staff ele, and plan on focusing on water. I figure 20 points into water just to make it good.

Any other traits I really, really should get, or should avoid?

Also, what slot skills/heal tend to go best with a water staff ele?

(I know I will have to change elements, etc., but for rp, I’m going to be water-focused).

No dungeons, but a little wvw is probable.

If you’re going with a ‘water ele’ theme, you might as well go for full 30 in water. It gives you access to more vitality and condi-cleanse. Depending on whether you’re running cantrips in your skills or not, there are some really useful traits at the adept/master level (Water III, Cantrip Mastery and Water IX, Soothing Disruption) If not, I’d recommend ones like Water X and Water XI, which are condi cleanse when attuning to water and condi cleanse when granting regen respectively.

For the heal slot, I would recommend Arcane Brilliance, the blast finisher heal. Using that on top of the small water field (Staff Water 3) is almost a full heal in most situations and of course is an area heal for your allies as well.

From what I’ve seen, Mist Form appears to be a must-have skill. I can understand its use as a panic button in PvE, and it’s great for getting into a tower or keep that’s under siege in WvW.

But the most annoying thing I’ve seen in sPvP is something I call the “fogstomp.” Mist Form renders the elementalist invulnerable to all skill effects, so you can’t be knocked back, stunned, etc. I was playing a necromancer against a team with 3 elementalists, and whereas I could usually use my fear skills to interrupt a stomp and revive a teammate, these elementalists all used Mist Form and were completely uninterruptible. Seriously, I thought it was annoying when thieves would stealth-stomp, but at least they were still subject to non-targeted skill effects. The fogstomp is much worse, because it puts the other team in the infuriating position of not being able to do anything to stop what’s happening, regardless of skill(s). But I digress.

TL;DR: Mist Form is useful in a wide variety of situations.

RoyHarmon.5398:

From what I’ve seen, Mist Form appears to be a must-have skill. I can understand its use as a panic button in PvE, and it’s great for getting into a tower or keep that’s under siege in WvW.

But the most annoying thing I’ve seen in sPvP is something I call the “fogstomp.” Mist Form renders the elementalist invulnerable to all skill effects, so you can’t be knocked back, stunned, etc. I was playing a necromancer against a team with 3 elementalists, and whereas I could usually use my fear skills to interrupt a stomp and revive a teammate, these elementalists all used Mist Form and were completely uninterruptible. Seriously, I thought it was annoying when thieves would stealth-stomp, but at least they were still subject to non-targeted skill effects. The fogstomp is much worse, because it puts the other team in the infuriating position of not being able to do anything to stop what’s happening, regardless of skill(s). But I digress.

TL;DR: Mist Form is useful in a wide variety of situations.

Then you remember that it has a 75 seconds cooldown.

Gl fearing a warrior that autopops stability lol, or a thief using 50s cd shadowstep, or any class blinding you the moment you cast it (or d/p thief).

Distortion mesmer stomping is also a thing. It’s unfair to complain about using a 75s cd utility when other classes can do it as well and with lower cooldowns that don’t render them defenseless at the same time for future battles within its recharge durations.

By far obsidian flesh stomp is the funniest though.

On topic: Spam the fire trait line apparently its OP.