Guild Wars 2

Hey guys,
I am playing the elementalist for the first time and don’t have HoT at the moment. I’m planning to play the game to a higher level before buying the expansion.

So my current weapon choice is D/D and it is quite fun. But I saw that all the current meta builds seem to use staff instead. I think staff could be really good when facing bosses with a group of people. But since I am playing Open World PvE atm I have problems getting used to the staff. It feels like I have less mobility when fighting and that I’m not able to kill the enemy before they can hit me. Also I feel that I’m not able to deal the full amount of damage of my skills since the enemies run out of the skill area most of the time.

Therefore I would like to ask if you have any advice for some rotations and play styles? And if you know some good videos I would be very thankful as well

I know that I could play the story with D/D as well but since I heard that it’s not viable for the late game content in comparison to other weapons I would like to get used to them before I get to lvl 80.

Thanks in advance for your help!

I don’t meta, but I went to 80 on staff before learning dagger/dagger.

You have two options: 1) learn to stand in attacks so your target stands in your attacks, or b) accept that your target is going to move around and adapt to it.

Choose option 2 unless your job is to stand in fire. No one likes the guy that takes unnecessary hits.

You’ll lose DPS regardless, so lead your target. Place AoEs off center, and dodge through them so the target paths through your damage to enter melee range again. Since times you can engineer a situation where you evade and your target never leaves your attack. With Lava Font, for example, I’d drop it so the near edge just barely hits my target, then when I need to evade, I dodge forward, usually ending up just outside the other side of the field and the closest melee point on the nav mesh is still inside the Font.

Or use the cc skills on staff, especially useful when you deal with a pack of trash mobs, earth staff 4,2 and lava font

Staff is a ranged weapon but it is excellent in melee as well, the guy above wrote it in more detail ^ ^

It just takes some time to learn to manipulate the AI.

In most cases, clustering the mobs together and stacking Lava Font + Meteor Shower, then Fire Overloading is all you need. The protection during the Overload mechanic is enough to mitigate all damage.

The CC abilities of staff are all designed for PvP and quite horrible for actually managing mobs in PvE. As such, you just have to treat staff like a melee weapon when you are going solo. Having Soldiers gear or other gear that provides some degree of toughness and vitality goes a long way. Your ability to stack AoEs and spike really hard is already top notch, so trading out offensive gear for defensive serves you better in open world.

Start firing at max range and open up with Lava Font+Flame Burst, cast Meteor Shower so that the back-edge of it is where your character is. When done with MS, drop another Lava Font at your feet and start going around the circle to avoid hits while still keeping your enemy in the middle of the Font. Enemy is usually dead when this is done. I run full Rampager’s for open world.

If the opponent is Veteran or bigger, open in Air Attunement with Glyph of Storms, swap to fire and everything I wrote above. If the first salvo doesn’t finish the enemy for some reason, use Burning Retreat to get some distance and fire your Lava Font+Flame Burst again.

Thanks a lot for all the helpful answers so far
Seems that I have to practice a lot more to get used to the staff….^^

Use both Glyphs of Elementals (regular and Elite), summon Earth elementals, use staff to wreak havoc at range while your elementals pull all the aggro and hold the mobs in place.

If you want to have a bit more to do, learn to use the staff CC skills (Air 5, Water 4, Earth 4 and 5) to help hold the mobs in place.

If you run full glass anything should melt before it’s close to you (place Lava Font on their path so they pass through it to get to you). If things do engage you in melee you can use Fire 4 to retreat or place a Lava Font underneath you while running in small circles, the mob will run after you trying to hit you and eat the full damage. You can also shoot fireballs right under you while running (don’t have a target and aim the camera downwards), which can do splash damage to stuff running behind you (on top of the Font damage).

Thanks for your help! But I have another question:
You said that I can shoot fireballs right under me while running (Fire 5). But I thought it is not possible to run while casting this spell since there is a casting time that runs at the bottom. Doesn’t it cancel the skill when I’m running?

Tzarbok.8476:

Thanks for your help! But I have another question:
You said that I can shoot fireballs right under me while running (Fire 5). But I thought it is not possible to run while casting this spell since there is a casting time that runs at the bottom. Doesn’t it cancel the skill when I’m running?

Nope. Moving only cancels casting in some cases like Meteor Shower, which is fire 5 btw. Fireball is the fire staff AA. You need to learn what these skills are and adjust accordingly. All Auto Attacks for example can be cast while moving. Dodging on the other hand cancels any skill you are casting at the time.