Guild Wars 2

I find it very strange in a game where we are suppost to be able to build our characters the way we want to suit our playstyle, and fulfill any role, that the only really viable builds are defensive tanky ones.

Although there are some damage focused builds that are used by certain players, the majority of the forums seems to be saying stat water or you will die instantly in spvp.

To me this just seems wrong for this particular game. If someone wants to rely on raw damage to destroy enemies instantly, at the cost of being super squish that should be available. Currently however, they will usually be put down before they can even make a dent in another players HP.

Im not trying to complain I just find it odd that elementalist, with such a wide range of skills is being narrowed into one or two particular builds in order to even stand a chance.

I hope it gets looked into eventually. Just my two cents

I think that Ele’s should have more viable builds…but I think that pure glass cannon is just never going to be a good option for an elementalist in PvP.

Fact of the matter is that a dead Elementalist does no damage. And a pure glass cannon ele will get targeted and killed very, very quickly…but this is just the nature of the beast. In fact, pure glass cannon is generally not a good build for almost any class in any PvP game.

I think a lot of us hope so as well. I play a glass cannon in PvE because I can get away with it, but it’s just not feasible in PvP.

We’re with you.

I have played around 600 games in tpvp on my ele, and I cannot help but feel that this is far from the truth.

I will admit, running a double dagger build that’s glass cannon is infinitely more risky than other options, but scepter/dagger glass cannon (berserker’s amulet etc) is definitely fine to use. I think anyone on my team would agree that when I’m running the build we are performing adequately and not being hindered by it.

That being said, I also run staff ele (only on khylo, or in very specific situations other than that(condi heavy teams)) and a more tank double dagger build that i prefer using over my double dagger build, for the fact that it still does good damage, and doesn’t go squish.

All condition builds I’ve tried so far have felt very lackluster, and I’m admitting to it possibly being a learn to play issue, but I think if anything is not very viable atm it would be condition elementalist builds.

I’m willing to post any of the builds I use here, if you would like to try them.

TL;DR – I don’t think power ele is in a bad spot, and condition ele should probably be looked at if anything.

Power builds are completely viable, you just can’t really expect to build full glass. Build balanced – either valk’s or soldier’s amulet with zerker’s jewel.

You don’t lose very much damage and gain a respectable amount of survivability/sustain.

Noctred.6732:

Power builds are completely viable, you just can’t really expect to build full glass. Build balanced – either valk’s or soldier’s amulet with zerker’s jewel.

You don’t lose very much damage and gain a respectable amount of survivability/sustain.

I just don’t think glass double dagger is ok, with my scepter build I feel totally fine running full glass cannon.

EDIT I do prefer running a double dagger build with soldiers amulet, knight’s jewel though. Double Dagger Build

60% boon uptime + 20% extra protection uptime, might on weapon swap and almost 100% fury uptime if you’re using the auras in fights, and it’s like running berserker’s except you don’t die instantly. ^^

I just dinked around with the idea of a power based, fire focused build that should be workable (see: viable) with gearing. I doubt it hasn’t been tried already and it reminds me of a burning mage from warhammer.

I would choose staff or D/D.

25/0/0/25/20

Fire = 4, 6 (traits in the upper numbers are really bad…sheesh)
Water = 3, 5 (or whatever turns your crank)
Arcane = 5, 8 (though I would want to see if 8 actually allows me to kite things into the #2 staff abilities more reliably, if not I would swap it out for something else, like 3 or 4)

No doubt there are better builds, but in simple terms of being able to survive, it should work if you make use of all your abilities. Getting toughness gear would be very important.

I also wonder if popping mist form and armor of earth together or even add in lightning flash would all stack for 6 – 9 stacks of might. Seems like it would be pretty bursty if you can.

Premise of the build, pop your cantrips to boon up and build up your burst attack, maybe save one cantrip for escape, or maybe two for escape. Either way;

1 cantrip = regen, might (3 stacks) and vigor. Thanks to 25 in water that’s an extra 6% damage. So basically, you’ll beef up and try to blow things up before they can react.

Theorycrafters, take over from here.

I don’t mind that going PURE glass cannon is just not a good idea due to horrid survivability.

What I call into question is that the damage for doing so isn’t even particularly impressive. We’ve seen on other classes the damage glass cannon builds put out. They might not be a good idea to run, but they definitely do at least put out the big damage.

Eles don’t seem to do that.