Guild Wars 2

Hey guys, I’ve been playing my Elementalist alt lately, about to ding 80. I play MOSTLY WvWvW but every now and then I’ll do an explorable dungeon or some outdoor PvE. My question is, is there an optimal build for WvWvW as an elementalist for survivability/damage? What kind of gear should I be wearing? I was thinking power/vitality/precision but not sure what to do with toughness. I’ve been leveling as scepter/dagger and when I do WvWvW, it’s pretty tough to hit anything (compared to my necro or warrior anyway)

Thanks

usually theres a build for survivability, and theres 1 for dmg. the middle ground for ele is unimpressive. if u decide to lean towards dmg then u are basically forced to use a staff the entire considering how squishy u would be.

generally people run staff for keep/tower seige&defense and if ur traited correctly D/D for open field zerg/roaming. keeping a focus available for switching when u need to use swirling wind for blocking seige shots.

I am using D/D for weapons set. Its a cantrip build with 10-20-10-20-10.
Fire – IV
Air – I – VI
Earth – III
Water – III , IX
Arcana – V
Ether Renewal
Mist Form
Lighting Flash
Cleansing Fire

Armor I use PVT set. Jewelry and accesories I mix to get a balance of more power, precision and healing. Using power/condition for food.
I should try and post it, but not sure how yet. I have a nice balance of stats i think, having good results with it.
Damage is good as is survival. Switch utilites around, equip your staff and your good to go.

Should I be going for Power/Precision/Toughness…

Or Power/Vitality/Toughness?

Thanks for the tips guys.

All of it depends on how you want to play the game.

Do you want to roam around a lot, possibly solo, and be able to survive/hold your own against any class (often against multiple enemies, depending on their class/skill and your skill) and do very well in small scale engagements? If so you’ll want to be D/D, which pretty much requires that you gear defensively (PVT). D/D is gonna get less kills in zerg vs zerg standoffs though . You can still fight in them, weaving in and out of combat, but it’s nowhere near as easy as just dropping a meteor shower on the zerg from 1200 range and watching the numbers. Likewise in tower offense, D/D is near useless, and I usually go around picking off people trying to enter, or worst case scenario switch to a staff (I personally prefer to just roam near the keep since usually there’s enemies around, spamming meteor shower at a wall is boring).

If you want to stand back and AoE people, especially in tower attack/defense type scenarios, obviously staff is your best bet, and with staff in those kinds of fights, you can easily afford to go full berserker to watch people get obliterated by meteor shower. Just don’t expect to hold your own in 1v1 with that kind of setup, because the types of classes/builds you’re most likely to encounter solo would walk all over it.

I’m actually quite amazed by how much damage a D/D Ele is able to do from behind the door. Most of our skills hit fairly hard without having to be worried about CC. Had alot of fun last night being “The Catapult” since we didn’t have one up yet.

I basically just keep rotating against the door, monitoring my Mist Form cooldown, jumping off bursting a little further back, retreat inside when pressed and hitting behind the gate waiting for cooldowns.

If they’re not sanctuary bubbling, necro fear welling, or countering with kittenloads of retaliation we can use Drake’s Breath, Burning Speed, Ring of Fire, Cone of Cold, Frozen Burst, Frost Aura, Earthquake and Churning Earth from behind the door, I’ll throw in Shocking Aura for the buffs and Updraft on the off chance that it works (haven’t confirmed this visually yet though).

If you’re bunker built you can survive an amazing amount of damage that bleeds through the door and have ample condition removal only requiring you to step back and heal up occassionally.

What about stats? What stat combinations should one go for in WvW?

D/D or S/D: PVT armor with clerics, valkyrie or knights jewels (slotted with valkyrie)

Staff: Valkyrie Shoulders/Gloes/Shoes + PVT Chest/Helm/Pants with zerker jewels if you plant on staying behind doors or roaming with groups or Knights jewels slotted with exquisite Ruby orbs if you plan on roaming with small groups. The fury you get from the arcane fury trait should make up for the hit you take in precision. Just be smart about your attunement swapping and your crit rate should be pretty high.

Alternatively, you can go full carrion gear and do well with both sets. It really depends on your playstyle.

how do you deal with range issue with D/D…..
Imho D/D is not the best weapon for www unless you want to hunt thieves or do small tasks in particular.

LordByron.8369:

how do you deal with range issue with D/D…..
Imho D/D is not the best weapon for www unless you want to hunt thieves or do small tasks in particular.

D/D is for pushing zergs, especially if you have aurashare and a coordinated party.

Staff is better for wearing down opponents at a range, i.e. it’s a perfect weapon for battles of attrition or keep defense.

Spec for DD then just switch yo staff when you are zerging.

Actually this conjure-build thread has serious WvW potential. Not every WvW role has to be The Ultimate Roamer™. The idea of using a staff and then using conjures to supplement your close game and confuse the heck out of opponents is very appealing to me.