Guild Wars 2

So i started levelling my Elementalist Alt in Wv3 only. Thought it would be a good way to get to know the class and besides it’s more fun the the regular PvE.

I want to use my staff as main weapon as i find i can contribute the most whilst using this. (Tower defence, AOE walls offense, creating gaps, slighty repel enemy zergs with shock and awe AoE, AoE healing, etc…
I do switch to dagger offhand in non combat for movement speed from A to B.

a) What build do you suggest for maximum AoE (traits/skills/skillrotation) but still have some survival skills (links would be very welcomed)
b) What exotic gear to get + sigils/runes in combination with a)

If possible i rather buy gear with karma points as i will have a full set once i’m 80 (saving all account jugs to use with karma boosting).
Currently also have near 800 badges but rather want to keep them untill something truely great can be bought with it (feels abit expensive to spend it on gear).

PS: whilst running with a staff build do you also have trouble winning 1v1’s or is it just my not “being” 80 and geared/traited enough?

Thanks,

No, staff is just terrible at single target.

Staff does have bad single target. So it’s not a superb dueling weapon. But in Wv3 that shouldn’t happen often. And none of our weapon sets come close to having the same impact on the battlefield as a staff.

My current build for Wv3 (And spvp, though I wouldn’t recommend it) isn’t exactly what most would consider optimal. And it’s tailored more to my play style and personal preferences.

I actually DO go 30 into fire. Because I’m insane and a bit of a masochist. For Pyromancer’s Puissance. I rarely switch out of fire in Wv3 as has our strongest AoEs and best single target auto attack. Every fire spell gives Might, so I’m always sitting on at least 5 might stacks at any given time. Combined with Spell Slinger and good ol’ Blast Finisher: Fire it’s not uncommon for me to get to 10-15 stacks of Might under my own power. Plus Might from allies I’ve hit 25 stacks fairly often. Which leads to some devastating Meteor Showers and Lava Fonts. And Internal Fire for 10% more damage with fire spells because why not? Not like there’s any better choices in fire tree.

So obviously fire is my default element. I use earth mainly for eruption as a blast finisher, as well as Magnetic Aura for defense when on the walls.

Then I have 20 points in Water. Typical Cleansing Wave for condition removal. And Soothing Disruption so my cantrips grant regeneration and vigor when I use them. More boons the better! And it provides with pretty decent healing support, which makes water my second most used element. Comboing water blasts with geyser and healing rain gives me plenty of survivability when under a hail of fire from arrow carts and the meteor showers of some of our bunkyer cousins. Also Ice Spike isn’t bad for damage either since I’m already in this attunement. Why not throw it out?

And my last 20 goes to Arcane. Elemental Attunement is a must because I’ve grown addicted to the easy access to the various boons, and gives all the attunements a little added bite. And Blasting Staff for larger AoEs. This DOES dilute the concentrated power of Meteor Shower. But the larger Lava Fonts and Eruptions means they’re harder to avoid and hit more people. Which consequently makes 1v1s a bit easier in my experience (Hence why I’ve taken to using this build in spvp too from time to time).

As for Air attunement I make good use of it’s swiftness boon for traveling. And Static Field is good for cutting off escape routes and disrupting enemy movements in general.

My gear is mostly exotics from dungeons. A mix of rampagers and invader’s gear stat-wise. But I’m looking into getting a Knight set. Basically needs high power and decent crit chance, and some vitality/toughness to improve survival. My runes are a mix of monk/Baelfire runes because again I’m poor and need more gold for better stuff. But the sigil my staff has is Superior Sigil of Battle. I don’t switch often, but when I do I enjoy the stacks of Might to compensate for the time not spent in fire nuking things.

My fireballs are critting for upward 1.4K and Meteor Shower crits between 1.7K to 2.4K damage a meteor depending on the target. And Lava Font crits for about 1.1K a tick. With a 30% crit chance I find I get enough crits to bring enemies down fast and hard, enough to make them rethink spending any time at all standing on my lava fonts. Which I just so happen to have a habit of placing on downed players to prevent revives and stomps.

It’s far from an optimal build. But I enjoy it. And it’s effective at what it does. Burn things.