Guild Wars 2

so i just started an Elementalist. They seem a bit hard to play tbh, changing stances from 1 element to another.

But my real question is whats best to use, 2 handed staff? 1 handed item + a focus?

Also what to spent ure Traits on, wich spells are best to learn. Also should u just stay in 1 stance all the time? or should i try to level up every one of them?

Ok, get every spell in every stance. All the weapons are good to use in different circumstances. You will want to change attunments but with a purpose when you do so. That will take some time to put together.

Your character will be squishy to start and does not come into their own until higher levels. You are in light armor. You will need to learn to avoid damage first off. Dodge and swiftness are your best friends. Those are followed by crowd contol and self healing. imo. You have plenty of time before you need to worry about traits.

Staff
Pros: long range, best support, lots of control, combo fields and aoe in both pve and pvp.

Cons: helpless in close range combat (pvp), long cast times on spells, low mobility.

Mid skill cap, requires you to do some kiting and predict where to place your aoes, you also need good positioning to stay out of trouble while dealing damage. Ideal for dungeons.

Dagger/dagger
Pros: Best mobility (in the entire game perhaps), best potential in 1v1 for eles (pvp), Great instant burst damage, Best reliable and responsive autoattacks for an ele.

Cons: Low range (melee pretty much), low survivability for new players, low support compared to the other weapon combinations.

High skill cap, D/D’s longest range spell is 600, you pretty much have to be in melee range the entire time to do damage and that can be risky when playing an scholar class. Knowing the limits of the profession is advised before you can reliably equip D/D in dungeons and other high end content.

Anything + focus
Focus spells lean more on the supportive side, however, they are not that useful in PvE. Long cooldowns, single target crowd control and others are more suited for PvP (though they are kinda lacking there as well). Just skip focus imho.

Scepter+Dagger
Pros: Mix of middle and short range spells offers versatility in playstyle, huge amount of blast finishers, great burst (although predictable in pvp), decent mobility and support, most potential for condition damage in the ele class.

Cons: Lacks sustained aoe, subpar autoattacks, not much damage outside fire attunement.

Lower skill cap, it’s a great combination to start playing as an ele, very forgiving to play and versatile. You can buff yourself pretty good with the blast finishers (10+ stacks of might) and the free toughness shield in earth 2, you can also deal with pve pretty easily with 2 blinds, 2 aoe knockdowns and excellent burst on the fire attunement. You can even mash the air autoattack while moving backwards in circles and a monster won’t even touch you, if it does, you have your blind on demand that won’t interrupt your channel.

I play all 3 combinations, switching regularly according to the encounter. I hope this was helpful!

Edit: Use ALL the stances by the way, oh and avoid using signets for your utility spells.

Why avoid signets? They are quite useful if fully traited, and their passive bonus is especially useful at lower levels.

Signet of Fire inflicts decent burning damage on a short cooldown and offers a passive boost to precision.

Signet of Water is more useful past level 40, when monsters start dealing out more conditions, as its passive ability removes a condition from you (on a 10 sec cooldown). The active ability is a short chill effect, which is useful if you want to keep foes at a distance.

Signet of Air is a passive speed boost. Great for jumping puzzles and running around in cities, as well as PvP. The active ability (small area blind centered on a single target) is less stellar.

Signet of Earth provides a passive bonus to toughness, which is great for survivability at low levels, as it reduces incoming damage. The activated ability is an immobilize effect, which is useful in emergencies, when you want to run away from something.

Fully traited (30 trait points in earth), signets become even more useful. I don’t use them in WvW (except Signet of Air), and I don’t play sPvP, but in open world PvE, dungeons and fractals, I rarely have less than two signets on my utility bar.

(Signet of Restoration, the healing skill, is a different story. It provides an underwhelming heal, but also has the passive effect of giving small heals each time you use a skill. There is an entire debate on whether it is better than Glyph of Elemental Harmony for the healing slot. Check this forum for a thread with “Signet of Restoration” in the title. It may have dropped off page 1 by now.)

Jornophelanthas.1475:

Why avoid signets? They are quite useful if fully traited, and their passive bonus is especially useful at lower levels.

Signet of Fire inflicts decent burning damage on a short cooldown and offers a passive boost to precision.

Signet of Water is more useful past level 40, when monsters start dealing out more conditions, as its passive ability removes a condition from you (on a 10 sec cooldown). The active ability is a short chill effect, which is useful if you want to keep foes at a distance.

Signet of Air is a passive speed boost. Great for jumping puzzles and running around in cities, as well as PvP. The active ability (small area blind centered on a single target) is less stellar.

Signet of Earth provides a passive bonus to toughness, which is great for survivability at low levels, as it reduces incoming damage. The activated ability is an immobilize effect, which is useful in emergencies, when you want to run away from something.

Fully traited (30 trait points in earth), signets become even more useful. I don’t use them in WvW (except Signet of Air), and I don’t play sPvP, but in open world PvE, dungeons and fractals, I rarely have less than two signets on my utility bar.

(Signet of Restoration, the healing skill, is a different story. It provides an underwhelming heal, but also has the passive effect of giving small heals each time you use a skill. There is an entire debate on whether it is better than Glyph of Elemental Harmony for the healing slot. Check this forum for a thread with “Signet of Restoration” in the title. It may have dropped off page 1 by now.)

I made that thread and yeah, signets are mostly useless.

I have to admit when I first started I took signet of fire up until level 70ish or so (maybe higher, not sure), the burning is really good when soloing a monster, and the passive gives huge amount of crit chance early on.

All the other signets, however, are outclassed. Even in pvp Cantrips, glyphs and arcane spells are just so much better both offensively and defensively imho.

About the signet of restoration… perhaps that’s the only signet that is not unviable in end game builds, however you seem to instantly discard it -_-

Oh and 30 in earth doesn’t justify taking signets. Even with that trait, the other utility spells are still better.

As a D/D elementalist I’m specced for healing and boonduration with power and toughness as secondaries and some condition damage and vitality.
Utility skills:
Signet of healing
Armor of Earth
Signet of Air (Cleansing Flame for more power and condition removal)
Lightning Flash

Cantrips give me vigor, regen and 3x might.

My initial attack sequence is:
air 3-4-5-fire-3-4-earth-4-5-air signet and both cantrips while casting churning earth for 6 more might and a blind on enemy plus lightning flash for when they run-2-water-3-2-1-1-1-fire-2345-earth-3-3-2?-air-1-1-1-1 etc.