(PVE) looking for support-ish build
what weapon set you want to run? probably the most useful build if I’m understanding what you’re saying is daPheonix’s auramancer build, 0/2/0/6/6.
Personally I run a fresh air s/d build for a lot of pve stuff like silverwastes b/c it’s decent dps and decent survivability…
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fFAQJArYnMISnDWyA+MAdEIgAwCFAGNDEXCyAxwithvAA
In a dungeon I’ll run a straight dps output s/d might/fury stacker with lightning hammer.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fFAQJArYnMISLD2zAGQAdEIYAQCHYQhR1EeaTp3A
If you are serious about supporting your team while still maintaining some good dps, then you want to go staff.
I run a staff support build all the time in both PvE and WvW, because it’s great in silverwastes, it makes pugs more forgiving while still being a dps contributor if you are running with pros and its pretty much your job as an elementalist in WvW
Here is my personal build. It’s a variation of the staff backline meta build from meta battle WvW.
So some general notes about how to play this…
- Superior Sigil of Might on your staff, because you are going to camp fire for dps, making it a better choice than Superior Sigil of Battle.
- Superior Sigil of Energy, because if you are dodging, it means you are pressured and if you are pressured, you are mostly likely going to swap to water or earth, thus triggering the energy refill.
- Superior Runes of Might, because Might is the key to your dps.
- Arcane VIII with attunement swapping is important.
- I take Water VI Vital Striking instead of cantrip mastery, because I only use one cantrip and most of the time, you are going to be dpsing in the background at full health.
- All your conditional removal comes from Water XI and Arcane XI and you have a lot of it. You lose a condition when you trigger regen and you have a lot of regen. That means conditional removal on using earth armor, conditional removal when earth armor pops from Earth III, conditional removal on your entire team when you swap into water, additional conditional removal from the regen in Healing Rain in addition to the conditions it already removes, and a aoe conditional remove at the end of your dodge in water attutnement.
- Arcane Brilliance, Arcane Wave, and Earth 2 give you 3 blast finishers to use with all your staff combo fields. You also have one at the end of your dodge roll in earth attunement thats a bit harder to coordinate.
The general rotation for this is Earth 2 > Swap to attunement with combo field you want > Combo Field on Earth 2 > Stand in Combo Field > Arcane Brilliance > Arcane Wave
Now, applying this to various combo fields creates some powerful buffs for your team
Fire 2 Combo Field = 9 stacks of might from 3 area mights
Water 3 and Water 5 Combo Fields = a hell of a lot of area healing
Lightning 5 = 3 Area Swiftness combos + the swiftness boost from attunement swap + Air 4 = Permanent swiftness for you and your entire team.
Water 4 also gives area frost armor, but that’s not as useful as the others.
I can decimate decent sized groups in Silverwastes while tanking them with this build.
Swap into Earth as you run into group of mobs for protection.
Lay down Earth 2 in middle of group.
Swap into Fire.
Lay down Fire 2 on Earth 2.
Arcane Wave.
Arcane Brilliance to heal any dmg I have taken at this point.
Now I have my full stacks of might, so lay down Fire 5.
Drop Ice Bow and bomb area with 4.
If anything is still alive, I can switch to water to heal up, dodge out for another heal, swap to air for swiftness and finish off survivors at ranged.
No, you won’t achieve the same raw dps with this build as a glass cannon staff, but this build has so much more to offer your team, both in PvE and WvW and is a lot more fun for me to play than a glass fire camper. You can hold your own solo in PvE content.
The one big con is it’s not very awesome in 1v1 PvP.
Rehabilitated Elementalist. Now, trolling the Thief forums with my math.
Also, the slot skill selections in the editor are just my general setup.
I tend to alter them based on need and rotate between….
Arcane Wave,
Ice Bow,
Mist Form,
Cleansing Fire,
Lightning Flash,
Earth Armor
and sometimes Glyph of Storms if I am in a WBT train.
Glyph of Elementals is just the standard go to for different situations. Fire elemental for more dps, earth elemental when I need a really stupid bunker.
Fiery Great Sword gives great mobility and Tornado has some tactical value in certain scenarios.
Rehabilitated Elementalist. Now, trolling the Thief forums with my math.
Running with pug groups I often find myself dying alot to conditions that my party doesnt remove, or find myself missing that ONE thing(whatever it may be) that will make the run go abit easier, whether it be some CC or maybe a little Regen to ease big hits, etc.
So i’m here to ask what traits/gear i could be using to make my ele into a “I’ll do it myself” character.
I was thinking Celestial gear?
any help greatly appreciated!
Based on the things you want to bring, it really sounds like you should be trying D/F FA, definitely before going Celestial. You still do great damage and have good group survivability options.
Since FA attunement swaps often, you can make really good use of Glyph of Storms. It still has good burst with Glyph of Storm and Icebow. Brings big anti-protectile(air4), weakness(air2), invulnerability(earth5), reflects(earth4), personal condi cleanse(earth4) and has more blasts in its damage rotation than Staff, mo fury mo betta! It’s definitely a high damage support build!
Here’s the build:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fFAQJAodnMISLD20AWPAdEGQAwCHAqAHgR3AxpgMQNE-TBRBAB0s/QenAAAeAAUq+DA-e
If your team has a lot of burning, trait to +10% dmg in Fire attunement.
If you need more dodges over damage (aka, Mai Trin or such), then 66002 for vigor on crit.