Guild Wars 2

Ok just got my level 80 thief up and was having a blast with DD and S/P weapons. Despite what people say to play a thief properly it’s quite hard.

So having done that, I’ve made an elementalist. And i’m loving some of the attunement swapping shenanigans I can now do! Having cool-downs means I can dance through the 4 attunements and have all sorts of shiny things on my screen.

Where i’m struggling is to find a best compromise weapon set. So far i’ve unlocked the sceptre, staff and double dagger sets of abilities (currently level 10).

Double dagger is probably the most fun with lightning surge and other fun abilities but it lacks range for when I get low health and want to deal damage from afar.

I find the staff a bit clunky in close combat. After the initial air 5, fire 2+3, water 4+2, earth 5 and back to air for 3 it’s awkward. That’s a bunch I just made up which basically keeps them away and helps keep them in some of the AoE’s for a bit longer. After that you can’t really keep them in anything till they all come off cool-down again, and with air 5 being a critical part of the whole setup that’s problematic. Putting fire 2 on the floor means nothing if they don’t stay in it, and auto attacks aren’t great (i talk for both pve and pvp, i know in pve you can dance in your fire 2 and the ai stays in it).

Also feel the staff is a letdown in that it has all those combo fields, and sod all combo finishers.

So if anyone has advice for me on what works for what please do help. Lack of weapon swapping is awkward to say the least but that’s for another thread.

Thief is god-mode. There is nothing at all you can do but release corpse.

Thanks for the advice mate, appreciate it.
As said, i’m enjoying the elementalist just missing weapon swapping.

Not much you can do about the range issue except swap out of combat. As for combo finishers, there’s Evasive Arcana (the grandmaster trait), Arcane Wave, and Eruption, all of which are blast finishers.

So the finishers are got down the trait lines. Alright. Best get leveling some then.

Evasive Arcana is the only trait one. Eruption is the Staff earth 2 skill, and Arcane Wave is a first tier slot ability, so you have access to finishers pretty early on. Just remember to throw eruption down before using whatever combo field you are trying to trigger it with because otherwise the field will disappear before the eruption goes off.

Edit: oh I forgot shockwave is a finisher as well (physical projectile).

If you’re looking for a build that has some range and melee, I’d suggest scepter/dagger. The #1 attacks in earth and air are quite good dps on their own, and there are a ton of synergistic abilities.

Ring of fire + dragons tooth + phoenix + earthquake + churning earth is a fast easy way to stack aoe might (S/D has 4 blast finishers built into the set) not to mention blast aoe heals and other cool effects off other players fields. Evasive arcana is the trait everyone suggests for another blast finisher, and there is a trait lower in the same line that increases endurance recharge when using a scepter (although I prefer the gain vigor on crit trait). Two weapons also means you can put a sigil of energy on one for a free dodge every 10 sec or whatever the cooldown is and sill have a sigil to increase damage or do something else).

I run my traits at 0-10-10-20-30 currently, with cleansing flame/lightning flash/mist form (3 cantrips) and mostly power/toughness/vitality karma (orr) armor and knights trinkets. I can chase down or escape from nearly any group in WvW, deal damage at range or melee and support groups quite well. I don’t usually feel the need to switch to staff, because even in the most intense siege I can survive long enough to get out the door and do damage warrior style then mist/flash back inside.

For PvE, I prefer to enter combat (while using staff) attuned to Earth. I use 2, 4, swap to fire, 2, 5 (they will be crippled, letting MS hit for some damage), 3, 4 to leap back without wasting dodge and placing another fire field, then water for 4 and 2, then to air for 5 and 4 for speed to help me kite.

I recommend a sigil of energy while on staff for extra lulzy amounts of dodging into your own fields once you get Evasive Arcana.

Pve i always go staff, scepter is a nice concept but i prefer to lure alot of enemies and use staff to kill them quickly, its fun if they never make bots run from aoe that is…

I too find the staff clunky in close combat, especially WvW. But, I think it excells in WvW and Dungeons too. Nothing is more effective around sieges than a staff elementalist in WvW. In Dungeons I find the sheer number of Combo Fields I can put down at range, that others and myself can use Combo Finishers on, to be very helpful.