Guild Wars 2

hey everyone, ive had the game for awhile but never really dove into the content much until recently. I just have a few questions that id like to get across to benefit myself and the fun factor. I have been looking in the forums and just couldnt really find any threads regarding some issues or just a plain downright answer.

right now im running a d/d elementalist and im still getting used to the PVE aspect and not so much PVP at the moment. My question is should i just go the standard power/ferocity or power/precision gear? or maybe add in some condition/toughness?
ive noticed the monsters getting pretty tough as i gain levels and ascend into the harder maps.

another question i have been conjuring is what would actually benefit me more in PVE , should i stick with the d/d or maybe switch to a d/f style? or would that decline my output drastically? i know their is alot more weapon sets to choose from but im pretty fond of the dagger mainhand. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

if you’re feeling you’re a little bit to squishy don’t feel uncomfortable to run abit more surviveability, especially when you’re running d/d or d/f. Ele is designed (especially the dagger ele’s since #1 air is very strong) to do alot of damage even when they are tanky. When you’re fully leveled up you should reroll to the standard stats (power, ferocity, precision) incase you want to go dungeons, bigger variety of builds ’n armors when going pvp/wvw.

D/D provides more moveability and therefore is often used in pvp/wvw. D/F offer abit more control, damage mitigation and even a projectile block, and therefore is better when running dungeons.

D/D is easier to learn then D/F, when you’re spending alot of time during the lvling process i’d recommend just to try out both and see whatever fits you the best :p

If you don’t want to swap out all your gear I’d suggest like the post above. Add the focus and don’t be afraid to use the earth reflect/invuln. (I don’t know much about D/D though so if you’re in doubt try some earth traits for the toughness.)

thanks for all the insight you two, i greatly appreciate it. Im around 55 now, and noticed that berserker stats are the way to go. for me at least, the surviveability issue was just my gameplay and timid reactions. i tried the focus and it just didn’t feel right with me, so its definitely a personal preference for sure.

Some quick thoughts about D/D:

Dagger mainhand and offhand doesn’t get well together in pve. In pvp, the added burst and mobility/condi cleansing is valuable as you don’t care about damage over time bur rather quick rotations of burst and kiting, but in pve, dagger mainhand is a steady dps weapon, with the advantage of not being reliant on lh, whereas dagger offhand is a burst weapon with lacking support options, basically a weapon for high burster eles in speedruns or in dungeons where everything is already covered by other classes. Having a dagger offhand gives you burst, but when you used everything, you’ll end up spamming your mainhand dagger skills, mainly air aa, without the added bonuses of focus. Dagger OH goes well with scepter, because they are both burst weapons, and since you’ll be using lh in between your burst rotations, the lack of focus skill isn’t a problem ( you won’t have access to your weapon skills, so better use all the dagger offhand burst right away); whereas in a d/x spec, the main advantage is the accessibility of all your weapon skills, especially focus air 4, earth 4 and 5. It takes so time getting used to focus for sure, as the fire and water attunement feels weaker, but it’s definitively a great weapon coupled with a dagger.

I’d say don’t limit yourself to a single set. IMO DD/Staff are the two best options when roaming around due to the swiftness/mobility skills making it much less tiresome. In combat though the focus becomes pretty invaluable with skills like swirling winds, obsidian flesh and even the fire shield giving some might.

So I’d say run around with DD, if you find something a bit tougher swap on a focus for it, then go back DD when you’re done with that.

Though I’d advise you play around with a bit of staff/scepter options as they really have some great things too. Personally I had a lot of fun in open world running scepter rotations and seeing piles of mobs just disappear from the burst.