Guild Wars 2

I’m really trying to grasp how to play ele better, but its hard to get into a rythym with my scarce paying time and only being level 30. I have no problem wiping the floor in PVE killing 4 or 5 enemies a level higher than me, but I want to create good habits now for when I play WvW.
So, to get used to attunenent swapping, which I find it hard to actively use 25 skills (5×4 attunements +5 skill slots) so I want to get a sequence going…

Excuse me as I’m going by memory and currently on my cell phone, but ill piece it together as best I can.

Open skill that gives you 5 crits in a row, then in fire do 3->4->2->5. Then water 5->4->3 (5 at end of cycle if my health is looking OK) then earth 3->4->5->2 then air 4->3->2->5. The knockback from 5 will lead me back into fire and the gap closer.

Now ill only use the gap closers if there is a gap to close. Which heal should I use? Also for skills I was thinking fire signet for the critical chance and burning damage incase i gotta chase someone down, the 5 critical skill to use before my fire combo. What other skills should I take, how should I spend trait points and what traits should I bring in as I level.

Is this a solid sequence to use while I learn to situationally attune switch?

Bump for some help

I guess it’s easiest to do this by element…

Water: Stacking 4 and 3 is a waste, unless you’re specifically spamming skills for the heals when using the healing signet that heals with every spell cast. 4 chills enemies that attack you, 3 chills enemies in a radius around you, so it’s something you’d want to space out normally. Regardless, I typically switch to water late in the fight to provide a buffer while I finish an enemy off, as it’s really only good for keeping your health up and keeping enemies off of you.

Fire: Using 4 before your other fire skills is kind of a waste. Since you’re already in close range, 4 isn’t going to do much to the enemy on its own. What it DOES do is combo extremely nicely into Earth. I use 4 as a “parting shot” before leaving fire to set up..

Earth: 4 is a Blast finisher, doing it inside the ring from 4 will give you (and any nearby allies) 3 stacks of might. Considering using Arcane Wave as well; it does pretty good damage in AoE and can be used at any time — and since it’s also a Blast finisher, you can chain it with 4 inside the ring from Fire’s 4 to get a total of 6 stacks of might for you and your allies instantly. 5 is your best damage as a D/D elementalist, but you have to wind it up — for this I typically use Glyph of Storms, in Earth attunement, to create Sandstorm which spams blind on enemies. Drop it on yourself just before going into 5 to give yourself a buffer.

Air: Honestly, I don’t use air much in PvE except for its utility with my traits. I go in with 4, use 5 to knock things down, hit 3 while I’m in the air (because I’m traited to get boons when I use Aura skills), then switch to Fire or Earth and use their 3 to get back into melee range.

If we are talking purely WvW then your position is extremely important,
mist form and lightning flash are D/D’s best friend for getting out of the zerg
And a little trick you can do with lightning flash is cast churnning earth and
just before it completes is to cast lightning flash into a large group of players.

the most basic d/d combo is air 4-5 fire 3-5 but most people can see it coming
from a mile away. i would say one thing you dont want to do is use skills just
because you can. Unless its a fight your side is winning you pritty much wanna
get in there and do as much burst damage before you have to get out. a simple
fire 3-4-5 earth 4-2 would work but in the end theres no real order to your
moves but rather what you need right there and then.

I always pick the glyph for wvw, nice big heal and regen while in water.
as for traits thats really up to you. but i will say 15 water 10 arcane is awesome.

though thats just me , everyone plays different and in the end you will find
your own way of playing.

You are going to use DD in WvW.. Lol good luck with that one :P You will die within 3 seconds if the enemy get any sort of immobilize/stun on you.

Thanks for the advice so far. How would I fare building my stats around toughness/vit to make myself less squishy while fighting up close, I’ve always hated the idea of playing for all damage and no survivability, and would rather gonna damage spec with tanky stats… just my style of play.

Also, excuse me for sounding like a noob, but how can I easily find out what combos withwhat and what the resulting effect is and what it does for me? Like I hear people talk about stacks of might but I don’t know how to get them or what they do. I work 50 hours a week and have a 10 month old, and a pregnant with that works full time too, so although I’m very competitive, I don’t have the time to research all of this, that’s what helpful people like you all on the forums are for

Bunzy.8674:

You are going to use DD in WvW.. Lol good luck with that one :P You will die within 3 seconds if the enemy get any sort of immobilize/stun on you.

This is where mist form and lightning flash comes in , with increase to cantrip recharge im always going in and out of a fight. can even take armour of earth to help.
That being said you will want a staff with you at all times , many places in WvW where D/D is not great/viable.

If you keep your main dmg stat of either power/condition/precision as your top priority go ahead and stack as much tough/vit as you want. thats what i do.

gw2Wiki if you take a look at your spells it will tell you if they have a field or finisher effect

Actually d/d is totally viable in WvWvW – it all depends on the situation and the number of people you’re fighting. In large open fights/keep fighting you’re better off using staff. Otherwise stick to d/d for smaller fights. I try to keep a well rounded build/gear set that allows me to utilize both weapons on the fly.

I just want to point out that your opening skill that gives 5 crits (Arcane Power) is actully not giving 5 crits. Currently the skill is broken and gives at most 2 crits, as such i suggest dropping the skill as it simply isn’t work the slot for 1/2 crits.

I’m trying out this build at the moment for PvE: http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#Mzszz9MzMmxTMMmxTox0G0GokboczV

Using Carrion gear. So far I’ve had decent success in dungeons, although it’s weak against conditions (which is why I’ve added Cleansing Fire, although that’s got a pretty long CD).