Guild Wars 2

I’ve been trying to figure out the best way to take advantage of the new celestial armor stats. In theory, a scepter/dagger build should be most effective for this set-up as it uses nearly every attribute equally. It has better condition damage than any other wapon set, yet still maintains plenty of means for dealing direct/critical damage. It’s also nearly equal to staff in terms of healing skills. I see this build being used mainly for small direct combat situations involving a single boss or small group of enemies in dungeons/fractals, although it should also work well for PvP and WvW.

In the trait department, I’ve been thinking that 20 fire, 10 air, 30 earth, and 10 arcana is the most optimal distribution for survivability and damage output. The 20 in fire is there for the fire shield (IX) trait, which is used with four signets on a 20% reduced cool down w/ signet mastery. This, in combination with Zephyr’s boon (air I) and Elemental Shielding (earth V) grants permanent fury and swiftness, and semi-permanent protection. I’m not sure if most players recognize or have forgotten the enormous value promised by this kind of set-up: considering how 1% of critical chance is equivalent to approx. 21 precision* (making fury a 420 attribute bonus to precision), and how 1% damage reduction is equivalent to approx. 100 armor (an over 3,000 point attribute bonus). The fire shield (mixed with blast finishers/sharpening stones) also means quite a bit more damage potential above just these base states. I opted for Written in Stone (earth XII) to maintain all passive signet bonuses (in this case it means a permanent 160 point attribute bonus to both precision and toughness). Additionally, I included the standard 10 points in arcana for the slight increase to boon duration and attunement recharge rate; along with the arcana V trait, Elemental Attunement, because why not, right?

In summary, the pros and cons seem to be the following:

PROS

1. Permanent swiftness/fury + semi-permanent protection using sigils.
2. Moderate dps (adjusted base stats + signet of fire + sigil of accuracy) to high dps (with might stacking from fire shield/blast finishers + sharpening stones).
3. Very high melee dmg reduction thanks to celestial stats, earth specialization, Signet of Earth, and Earth Barrier (scepter, earth skill, 2).
4. Moderate healing power (adjusted base stats) to high healing power (with max Sigil of Life + Kralkachocolate Bars).
5. Reasonable condition removal (with Signet of Water + Sigil of Generosity).
6. Noticeable improvement to magic find.

CONS

1. Boon duration may become a limiting factor (another reason for maximizing the number of signet utilities)
2. Minimal dodging and endurance regeneration capability (also, no evasive arcana)
3. Attunement recharge rate might be a bit sluggish (slightly mitigated by the cast time of signet utilities).
4. Limited tactics for escape if things go south (no Mist Form, Lightning Flash, Ride the Lightning, cripples, or chills).
5. Limited support skills for boon sharing/healing.
6. Restricted to smaller combat situations; not much AoE/blast potential.

(*) Edited expected precision/crit chance bonus with fury.

The stats, armor, trinkets, weapon set, utilities, skills, and traits are included below for those interested in the specifics.

STATS

• Power: 1,668 (not including might stacks)
• Attack: 2,664 ^
• Precision: 1,568 (1,728 with Signet of Fire)
• Critical Chance: 35% (68% with Signet of Fire, Sigil of Acccuracy, and Fury)
• Toughness: 1,768 (1,928 with Signet of Earth; 2,178 with Rock Barrier; or 2,558 while in earth attunement)
• Armor: 2,688 (2,848 with Signet of Earth; 3,098 with Rock Barrier; 3,172 while in earth attunement)
• Vitality: 1,468
• Health: 12,291
• Healing Power: 552 (up to 974 with Kralkachocolate Bars + maxed out Superior Sigil of Life)
• Condition Damage: 852 (not including might stacks)
• Condition Duration: 20%
• Critical Damage: 83%
• Magic Find: 77%
• Boon Duration: 10%
• Attunement Recharge Rate: 20%
• Agony Resistance: 35
• Consumable #1: Kralkachocolate Bars (6% vitality + 5% toughness is given as a bonus to healing power / lasts 20 minutes)
• Consumable #2: Potent Master Sharpening Stones (6% toughness + 4% vitality is given as a bonus to power / lasts 1 hour)
• Sigil Bonus #1a: Superior Sigil of Life (+250 healing power with 25 stacks; switched for 1b)
• Sigil Bonus #1b: Superior Sigil of Generosity (60% chance to transfer a condition on critical hit)
• Sigil Bonus #2: Superior Sigil of Accuracy (+5% critical chance)

ARMOR

• Head: Celestial + Rune of Divinity (+30 Power/Precision/Thoughness/Vitality/Healing Power/Condition Damage; +5% Critical Damage; +3% Magic Find)
• Shoulders: Celestial + Rune of Divinity (+25 Power/Precision/Thoughness/Vitality/Healing Power/Condition Damage; +4% Critical Damage; +3% Magic Find)
• Chest: Celestial + Rune of Divinity (+55 Power/Precision/Thoughness/Vitality/Healing Power/Condition Damage; +8% Critical Damage; +3% Magic Find)
• Hands: Celestial + Rune of Divinity (+25 Power/Precision/Thoughness/Vitality/Healing Power/Condition Damage; +4% Critical Damage; +3% Magic Find)
• Legs: Celestial + Rune of Divinity (+40 Power/Precision/Thoughness/Vitality/Healing Power/Condition Damage; +6% Critical Damage; +3% Magic Find)
• Feet: Celestial + Rune of Divinity (+25 Power/Precision/Thoughness/Vitality/Healing Power/Condition Damage; +4% Critical Damage; +3% Magic Find)

TRINKETS

• Amulet: Syzygy/Triforge (+54 Power/Precision/Thoughness/Vitality/Healing Power/Condition Damage; +7% Critical Damage; +24% Magic Find w/ Guilded Infusion).
• Ring #1: Lunaria, Circle of the Moon (+43 Power/Precision/Thoughness/Vitality/Healing Power/Condition Damage; +6% Critical Damage; +4% Magic Find; +10 AR w/ max infusion).
• Ring #2: Solaria, Circle of the Sun (+43 Power/Precision/Thoughness/Vitality/Healing Power/Condition Damage; +6% Critical Damage; +4% Magic Find; +10 AR w/ max infusion).
• Earring #1: Celestial Sigil (+38 Power/Precision/Thoughness/Vitality/Healing Power/Condition Damage; +5% Critical Damage; +4% Magic Find; +5 AR w/ infusion).
• Earring #2: Ancient Mursaat Token (+38 Power/Precision/Thoughness/Vitality/Healing Power/Condition Damage; +5% Critical Damage; +4% Magic Find; +5 AR w/ infusion).
• Backpeice: Berserker Prototype Fractal Capacitor (+56 Power; +35 Precision; +5% Critical Damage; +5 AR w/ infusion).

WEAPON SET

• Scepter 1a: Celestial + Superior Sigil of Life (+80 Power/Precision/Thoughness/Vitality/Healing Power/Condition Damage; +10% Critical Damage; +6% Magic Find).
• Scepter 2a: Celestial + Superior Sigil of Generosity (+80 Power/Precision/Thoughness/Vitality/Healing Power/Condition Damage; +10% Critical Damage; +6% Magic Find).
• Dagger: Celestial + Superior Sigil of Accuracy (+80 Power/Precision/Thoughness/Vitality/Healing Power/Condition Damage; +10% Critical Damage; +5% Crit Chance; +6% Magic Find).

UTILITY SKILLS

• Healing: Signet of Restoration
• Utility #1: Signet of Fire
• Utility #2: Signet of Earth
• Utility #3: Signet of Water
• Elite: Glyph of Elementals

FIRE TRAITS (20)

• Flame Barrier (Minor): While attuned to fire you get a +20% chance to cause burning against melee attacks.
• Internal Fire (VI): +10% damage while attuned to fire.
• Sun Spot (Minor): Inflict damage at your location when attuning to fire.
• Fire’s Embrace (IX): Signets activate a fire shield for 3 seconds.

AIR TRAITS (10)

• Zephyr’s Speed (Minor): Move +10% faster while attuned to air.
• Zyphyr’s Boon (I): Auras grant fury and swiftness.

EARTH TRAITS (30)

• Stone Flesh (Minor): Gain 1 toughness per level while attuned to earth.
• Signet Mastery (II): Signet’s Recharge 20% faster.
• Earthen Blast (Minor): Damage foes and cripple them when attuning to earth.
• Elemental Shielding (V): Auras grant protection for 3 seconds.
• Enduring Damage (Minor): Deal 10% more damage when your endurance is full.
• Written in Stone (XII): Maintain the passive effects of signets when you activate them.

ARCANA TRAITS (10)

• Arcane Fury (Minor): Grant yourself fury for two seconds on attunement.
• Elemental Attunement (V): Fire/Might; Air/Swiftness; Earth/Protection; Water/Regeneration.

Gesamtkunstwerk.6590:

1% of critical chance is equivalent to approx. 46 precision (making fury a nearly 1,000 attribute bonus to precision).

Actually, 20% critical chance = 420 precision

Alphard.6529:

Actually, 20% critical chance = 420 precision

You’re absolutely right. I based my calculation on current adjusted base stats (1,534) and divided the total critical chance (33%), yielding 1% crit chance per 46 precision. 420 precision is indeed what you get if you ignore the base stats and calculate only the total raw equipment bonus (618), dividing that by the total crit chance (29% without the 4% initial crit chance). In the end though, whether it’s 1,000 or 420, we’re still getting a massive bonus with perma fury.

See: (sPvP)
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/elementalist/S-F-Selfish-Aura-sPvP-build/first#post2287598

And:(Kuruk’s WvW)
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/elementalist/WvW-Signet-Elementalist/first#post2413947

Looks like a lot of interest for this build. Will be much better when you get past the bugs.

Fist link is my usual sPvP build, /d makes it better, but I like the focus to much
2nd link is Kuruks’ WvW one, where I added some notes about things like Glyph of Elemental Power (instead of fire signet) and Sigil of Superior Doom for poison, but those are all on a pvp side.

Nice to see the use of a staff in this build. Unfortunately with the Scepter /x and the Staff you only get the 1 Aura to add to the build. With the nerf to Signet of Air (would have been nice if they made another signet shorter cd) you cannot get 100% protection anymore (close but not close enough).

Also unfortunately there are some bugs to watch out for. Sig of Restoration doesn’t recharge faster with Signet Mastery. Sig of Air only has a 16 sec speed boost with written in stone. When these get fixed (sig of restoration has been this way since release so I don’t think soon) the build will be even better.