Guild Wars 2

It seems as though the fire and air overloads are great for adding more AoE damage to a class that already has a good amount of it. Seriously, using lava font, meteor shower, glyph of storms, icebow 4, and both of these overloads means crazy AoE action in heart of thorns maps.

Given that I actually somewhat enjoy tempest, I must asks, is tempest a dps increase for PvE? Or is base ele the way to go?

Without looking closely at the numbers my guess would be no. While something like Air OL has great potential, you lose out on a lot of damage modifiers due to having to drop a traitline for Tempest.

imho its possible, but u would take ALOT of the healing out the proffession which your raid wont like if u do it, like in SPVP currently testing out D/D Tempest builds, i have started to use

Dagger/Dagger Fire / Arcana / Tempest, this is ALOT more squishy xD alot lower Stability due to no earth and Less survivability… Less Healing.. Less Support no aura sharing or anything, however the Damage is much higher, and it does seem to work in SPVP (its under the SPVP Test tab currently)

so u can bring Tempest into a DPS Specc, its just u’ll have to go Anti-support which as a Elementalist you will likely be used for your off-healing via Water as it’ll help keep people alive at times, so It maybe not the Favored specc to run realistically as u’ll either Sacrifice DPS or Support to hold the Tempest. :P

we wont know til we see the raids realistically.

If you use the Fire Overload as frequently as possible, you have about 10% dps increase over the normal non Tempest glass staff.

If you use the Air Overload as frequently as possible, you lose about 10% dps over the normal glass staff.

Fresh Air air-fire staff tempest is by far the best dps in this game against stationally bosses.
There’s no competition. You can test it yourself with full zerk.
Hint: You can pre-swap to air while channeling Meteor Shower.

Also the fact that you can move, gain protection/stability/breakstun while using Air overload, and can use it every 5 second is very convenient.

Pre-swap to air while channeling Meteor Shower is actually a dps loss.

Sunshine.5014:

Pre-swap to air while channeling Meteor Shower is actually a dps loss.

Have you considered making your Air Overload 3.5 secs CD longer is a greater dps lost?

Channel Meteor -> Swap right to air -> by the time you finished casting Meteor shower, your Air Overload would be ready in 2 secs instead of 5.

ps: I’m talking about fresh air dps Tempest here.

Aomine.5012:

Sunshine.5014:

Pre-swap to air while channeling Meteor Shower is actually a dps loss.

Have you considered making your Air Overload 3.5 secs CD longer is a greater dps lost?

Channel Meteor -> Swap right to air -> by the time you finished casting Meteor shower, your Air Overload would be ready in 2 secs instead of 5.

ps: I’m talking about fresh air dps Tempest here.

He’s telling you that you’d be losing the 10% damage modifier on meteor shower from fire attunement by switching to air.

Also those 2 seconds of dead time waiting for air attunement is still a DPS loss over lava font and fireball spam.

The only place I see for a fresh air build is on the dagger variants since the highest auto on dagger is actually air.

Either way if you bother to do a boss like Alpha from CoE you notice the critical failure of Overload design in GW2 combat. Too often in actually challenging content you are forced to dodge, cancelling the channel, or you finish the channel and take a crapton of damage or even get downed.

Hell even with Harmonious Conduit,that measly 1 stack of stability isn’t enough in HoT meta events where mobs are farting out CC right and left so you get stunlocked out of overloads often assuming you haven’t been 1-2 shot by a champions poorly telegraphed charge/smash attack or the puddles of lethal aoe mobs love to cover the entire floor in.

Watch this. Tempest staff build now appears to be the highest DPS staff build.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kw7zQi-t1s

grahf.7540:

Watch this. Tempest staff build now appears to be the highest DPS staff build.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kw7zQi-t1s

Yeah I think people really should try out for their own.

It’s really different from pure fire spam Ele which I really like it.

I used to hate playing Ele in PVE because of this. (I want to be AOE cannon build, but I find that playing that is too boring because our highest dps rotation is spamming /stacking in fire).

Then I tried Tempest and now totally in love with it. I actually have to think of rotation more for dps, and the animation and hit box is really good. The old Lava Font radius is just not big enough for my taste, and Meteor Shower has 20 sec CD and long cast-time and immobile while casting. In fact, using Overload can sometime actually be a mean of survival rather than just an offensive attack, because you get protection, stability and breakstun when you use overload.

The proof of how good this spec dps is that a few Tempest against Chak Gerent cut his hp by 90% in just 2 phase. My last match would have won if Nouch line does not fail to emerge Gerent in phase 3…

Aomine.5012:

grahf.7540:

Watch this. Tempest staff build now appears to be the highest DPS staff build.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kw7zQi-t1s

Yeah I think people really should try out for their own.

It’s really different from pure fire spam Ele which I really like it.

I used to hate playing Ele in PVE because of this. (I want to be AOE cannon build, but I find that playing that is too boring because our highest dps rotation is spamming /stacking in fire).

I agree, having the additional Overloads makes the gameplay so much more interactive beyond Fireball, Lava Font and Meteor Shower.

People seem to forget to factor in the ~10 pulsing stacks of might from overload fire and ~15 stacks of vulnerability from overload air. Taking Harmonious Conduit also helps negate the damage loss of not taking Bountiful Power or Aquamancer’s Training quite a bit if you save the most damaging parts of your rotations for when it’s on.

zencow.3651:

Aomine.5012:

grahf.7540:

Watch this. Tempest staff build now appears to be the highest DPS staff build.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kw7zQi-t1s

Yeah I think people really should try out for their own.

It’s really different from pure fire spam Ele which I really like it.

I used to hate playing Ele in PVE because of this. (I want to be AOE cannon build, but I find that playing that is too boring because our highest dps rotation is spamming /stacking in fire).

I agree, having the additional Overloads makes the gameplay so much more interactive beyond Fireball, Lava Font and Meteor Shower.

People seem to forget to factor in the ~10 pulsing stacks of might from overload fire and ~15 stacks of vulnerability from overload air. Taking Harmonious Conduit also helps negate the damage loss of not taking Bountiful Power or Aquamancer’s Training quite a bit if you save the most damaging parts of your rotations for when it’s on.

The problem is the argument for 10 stacks of might and 15 stacks of vuln is unimportant because in any well organized group for pve you should be getting 25 stacks of might and 25 stacks of vuln (for the enemy) regardless.

It only works in a solo group and you have to give up damage and healing. The dmg from overload is alright but the fact you have to be so close will honestly be a huge detriment as you will get destroyed by high damage mobs.

Senario.2038:

It only works in a solo group and you have to give up damage and healing. The dmg from overload is alright but the fact you have to be so close will honestly be a huge detriment as you will get destroyed by high damage mobs.

Being in melee for four seconds does not in any way mean you will get destroyed by high damage mobs. If that was true then the old meta Scepter LH build would never have existed, and the current D/F FA build would not exist. Having the lowest armor/health rating does not mean eles can’t go into melee, it just means they need to be careful about it.

And honestly, when you get into the harder content (which is the only place where min/maxing DPS really matters), mobs hit so hard that ALL classes need to be careful about being in melee. But just because you have to be careful about it doesn’t mean that it will “be a huge detriment as you will get destroyed by high damage mobs”. That’s just silly. If you’ve ever run a high level fractal with competent players you will see that they are almost all running melee builds, regardless of their class.

Senario I’m not sure what your fascination is with melee and death, but it is heavily misplaced. All you need to do is know your class, know the encounter, and have halfway-decent timing, and you will never have issues in melee regardless of your class or build.

inbe4 “Ahmagawd you elitist prick, stop picking on me! Not everyone is a super champ at playing their class!”
- Being a halfway decent player, which is all that’s required to be in melee, is very different from being a pro. And just to be clear, I’m not saying anything about your personal skill level. I’m just saying your philosophy on melee DPS is highly flawed and inaccurate.

tl;dr
Staff tempest is indeed the highest DPS power ele build, and is recommended for anyone looking to min/max their build. It is easy to play, provides great damage support for PUG runs, and provides better DPS than base ele in both PUG and coordinated runs. The only ele build that beats it is condi staff tempest, but that build requires perfect execution where any interruption will cause significant DPS loss, so in most situations it’s impractical to use.

Edit for Senario
Since I’m sure you’re going to come back with some argument against me, I’ll break it down even more for you. Coincidentally, if any eles are having issues staying alive in melee, this may be helpful.

Good to know information:
- Every boss has a tell before its big hitting abilities.
- Big hitting abilities have a cooldown.
- Most big hitting abilities are not omnidirectional.
- Aegis negates big hitting abilities.

How to stay alive in melee with STAFF:
Staff only needs to enter melee to use OLF. This means you will have four seconds in which you may be hit by the boss’s melee attacks.
- In order to not die like a nub, watch the boss’s tells. Wait to go into melee until you see the boss use a big hit.
- If you don’t want to wait (because waiting generally results in a DPS loss) then get to an area of the boss where you won’t be hit (usually the back or the side).
- If you are running with a guardian (which is meta), then make use of the ample aegis they give you to avoid being hit in melee.

How to stay alive in melee with DAGGER:
Because D/F builds are quite strong and provide excellent group support, it is worth mentioning some tips to use with them.
- First and foremost, dagger eles almost never need to fully enter melee range. The range on your autoattack, Lightning Whip, is 300. That’s over 50% farther than most melee attacks, including the attacks of most bosses. Learn to stand at max melee range and most bosses will never be able to hit you.
- You have plenty of defensive abilities at your disposal.
- Starting in Air, you have Shocking Aura which will heal you as well as stop any mob that doesn’t have a breakbar (i.e. trash).
You also have Gale which is essentially a 2s stun, or decimates breakbars.
Swirling Winds doesn’t apply to melee attacks, but it is still extremely valuable when you are attacking a ranged mob.
- Moving on to Fire, you have Fire Shield which will heal you.
You also have Burning Speed which is an evade.
- In Water you have plenty of chill from Frozen Burst and Freezing Gust.
You also have Comet which is an AoE daze.
- Finally in Earth you have Ring of Earth which blocks missiles for 2s.
You also have immobilize from Magnetic Grasp which lets you attack from your maximum melee range (which as I mentioned, is outside the range of most melee mobs).
You also have a reflect and cripple from Magnetic Wave.
And finally you have one of the most powerful defensive abilities in the game: 4s of complete invuln from Obsidian Flesh.
- From utilities/elites you also have Glyph of Storms in Earth, which provides pulsing AoE blind.
You also have Earth elemental which is an excellent tank.
You also have Lightning Flash which can get you out of tricky situations.
You also have Eye of the Storm which breaks stun and grants a large amount of superspeed.
- Using all of these abilities to their fullest, along with staying at max melee range, will keep you completely safe in just about any melee situation.

Unless a fight is specifically designed to require standing at range, an ele who is familiar with their skills will actually have an easier time in melee than most other classes.

You cannot seriously compare HoT meta event mobs, many of whom have a breakbar making them immune to the blind spam that made fractal 50 easy, to fractal 50.

It’s just a terribly ignorant comparison.

Try doing overloads consistently on a dagger berzerker ele in HoT meta events and come back to me.

Hell try the Chalk Gerent or Vinetooth Prime as a berzerker dagger ele.

Since all these people in forums whined about melee, all we got in HoT is viciously antimelee mobs like Vinetooths and hammerheads and champ vines that lay a permanent lethal aoe so you can’t even melee them, most of this miserable content ends up with the DE zerglings camping ranged autoattacks.

Zenith.7301:

You cannot seriously compare HoT meta event mobs, many of whom have a breakbar making them immune to the blind spam that made fractal 50 easy, to fractal 50.

It’s just a terribly ignorant comparison.

Try doing overloads consistently on a dagger berzerker ele in HoT meta events and come back to me.

Hell try the Chalk Gerent or Vinetooth Prime as a berzerker dagger ele.

Since all these people in forums whined about melee, all we got in HoT is viciously antimelee mobs like Vinetooths and hammerheads and champ vines that lay a permanent lethal aoe so you can’t even melee them, most of this miserable content ends up with the DE zerglings camping ranged autoattacks.

lol. I think it’s either your skill issue or gear issue or trait issue.
HoT is not exactly “hard” compare to high level fractal with disgusting debuffs, (Cliff Side lv59 rings the bell)

I tried Earth Air Tempest, half marauder and the rest full zerk and can roam in HoT map with ease and still killing things very fast. In fact the survivability is much better than I originally anticipated. Long lasting protection, on demand stability/breakstun, high aoe damage, lots healing.

Honesntly speaking, unless you really really want to solo lots of Champions .(Which probably only ranger can do so), you should have no trouble surviving the jungle.

Hint: Why do you use a dagger against a stationary boss namely Chak Gerent?
The dps is LOWER than staff tempest, and staff tempest is safer to dps him too.
Also the fact that you bring out Chak Gerrent kinda make me laugh because Tempest is the most important dps cannon against it, otherwise the dps would not be enough and the event will fail. Yet you talk as if tempest is bad at doing Chak Gerent, even though it’s pretty much mandatory lol.

If I run into HoT maps with a glass staff build such as Fire/Air/Tempest I expect to die…a lot.

However, If I run in with something like Air/Earth/Tempest I rarely die. Though, I’m still not gonna expect to take on Champs by myself at first site since I realize the class wasn’t designed with that in mind; I can’t facetank like some of the more resillient classes, and it’s likely that I’ll burn out on mitigation/evasion tactics before I make a dent on the boss. Not impossible to kill a champ on an Ele, but some classes will have an easier time with it the first couple times around.

Aomine.5012:

Fresh Air air-fire staff tempest is by far the best dps in this game against stationally bosses.
There’s no competition. You can test it yourself with full zerk.
Hint: You can pre-swap to air while channeling Meteor Shower.

Also the fact that you can move, gain protection/stability/breakstun while using Air overload, and can use it every 5 second is very convenient.

I don’t see how overloading every 5s improves dps vs bolt to heart, extra power in fire and 10% dmg mod.

Aomine.5012:

Zenith.7301:

You cannot seriously compare HoT meta event mobs, many of whom have a breakbar making them immune to the blind spam that made fractal 50 easy, to fractal 50.

It’s just a terribly ignorant comparison.

Try doing overloads consistently on a dagger berzerker ele in HoT meta events and come back to me.

Hell try the Chalk Gerent or Vinetooth Prime as a berzerker dagger ele.

Since all these people in forums whined about melee, all we got in HoT is viciously antimelee mobs like Vinetooths and hammerheads and champ vines that lay a permanent lethal aoe so you can’t even melee them, most of this miserable content ends up with the DE zerglings camping ranged autoattacks.

lol. I think it’s either your skill issue or gear issue or trait issue.
HoT is not exactly “hard” compare to high level fractal with disgusting debuffs, (Cliff Side lv59 rings the bell)

I tried Earth Air Tempest, half marauder and the rest full zerk and can roam in HoT map with ease and still killing things very fast. In fact the survivability is much better than I originally anticipated. Long lasting protection, on demand stability/breakstun, high aoe damage, lots healing.

Honesntly speaking, unless you really really want to solo lots of Champions .(Which probably only ranger can do so), you should have no trouble surviving the jungle.

Hint: Why do you use a dagger against a stationary boss namely Chak Gerent?
The dps is LOWER than staff tempest, and staff tempest is safer to dps him too.
Also the fact that you bring out Chak Gerrent kinda make me laugh because Tempest is the most important dps cannon against it, otherwise the dps would not be enough and the event will fail. Yet you talk as if tempest is bad at doing Chak Gerent, even though it’s pretty much mandatory lol.

Because, as you mentioned, braindead staff is for people to spam lava font and fireball/meteor shower from safety.

Kinda laughable you would be lecturing people about skill when you yourself avoid challenging gameplay by camping ranged weapons. Kinda like a bearbow ranger telling people they must suck because they can’t solo champions relying on the crutch of a bear grabbing aggro while they fire safely from range (and if they somehow manage to mess that up, there’s always #3 for stealth to reset or reposition to safety).

I play dagger because quite frankly staff ele is dreadfully boring and kind of an aberration that a class with a ranged weapon setup is doing equal or greater damage camping a single attunement most of the time than melee classes and setups who actually need to place themselves in danger to perform.

Unfortunately dagger ele does not come with the payoff to the risks it brings relative to other melee specs, let alone some overtuned staff.

Aomine.5012:

lol. I think it’s either your skill issue or gear issue or trait issue.
HoT is not exactly “hard” compare to high level fractal with disgusting debuffs, (Cliff Side lv59 rings the bell)

I hope you mean 94 cause 59 is arguably easier than pre-HoT 50 (much less damage).

I tried Earth Air Tempest, half marauder and the rest full zerk and can roam in HoT map with ease and still killing things very fast. In fact the survivability is much better than I originally anticipated. Long lasting protection, on demand stability/breakstun, high aoe damage, lots healing.

You can’t be serious talking about high damage and earth trait line in one sentence. Fire line is obligatory to get a decent damage spec in pve, picking it increases lava font by more than 81%.

rotten.9753:

Aomine.5012:

lol. I think it’s either your skill issue or gear issue or trait issue.
HoT is not exactly “hard” compare to high level fractal with disgusting debuffs, (Cliff Side lv59 rings the bell)

I hope you mean 94 cause 59 is arguably easier than pre-HoT 50 (much less damage).

I tried Earth Air Tempest, half marauder and the rest full zerk and can roam in HoT map with ease and still killing things very fast. In fact the survivability is much better than I originally anticipated. Long lasting protection, on demand stability/breakstun, high aoe damage, lots healing.

You can’t be serious talking about high damage and earth trait line in one sentence. Fire line is obligatory to get a decent damage spec in pve, picking it increases lava font by more than 81%.

Obviously I don’t use earth in events that require the highest dps to win, like Chak Gerent. I’m talking about ROAMING in HoT map, which is a different case from fighting a Meta boss. Zenith complained about HoT one shot him at melee range because he seems to be over-centric about going full dps while roaming.

Those 2 are different scenario. You still kill alot faster than most classes despite traiting earth during your roaming though. Also I can honestly tell you that the new tempest spec is more durable and convenient than the traditional pure fire staff in terms of roaming capability.

I feel like the only one who finds D/D play boring and extremely easy.

Sollinton.6842:

tldr

I’ll be honest I stopped a short time in because you are such a condescending player. I know how to play my class and I’m saying that I generally don’t agree with the idea that you will never die.

Don’t bother replying if you’re just going to be a condescending jerk lol. You see it as complaining about picking on me but that is just your justification for not staying calm and stating your opinion without calling other people bad for having a different opinion.

Overload DPS is alright but I think having the water traitline is very beneficial in general to the group more so than just taking tempest instead.

P.S. Go ahead and spend 1 hour writing another post where you proceed to not make a case as to why to listen to you. I’ll be waiting, every hour you waste is frankly kinda funny to me.