Guild Wars 2

Sorry…I know this topic has probably been talked to death but there are valid points to both rune sets. Here’s the deal, I have a full set of both runes (the forge spat out the strength runes for me over time) so it’s not like this a cost issue.

My Ele is purely PvE. I run dungeons and fractals with the very occasional WvW if my guild runs a havoc run. I have no interest whatsoever in PvP. The ascended armor I am in the middle of crafting is Berserker’s for that reason.

Seems this forum is divided on which set is better, some say Strength and some say Scholar. I am using the scholar runes now and that 6th bonus is sort of a pain to have to keep up, but it’s manageable. Would I miss that ferocity bonus from the scholar if I switched over to Strength? I’m leaning more towards the Strength, as the 6th bonus doesn’t require me to be at almost full health. I find I am always with might so it’s not hard to keep it up. But I have to admit, that gold price of the 6 strength runes is really tempting!

Should I just suck it up and stick the strength runes on there or should I sell them, as they aren’t really all they are made out to be?

It’s quite simple really.

Scholar’s is for maximum selfish* DPS output.

Strength is for meta might stacking and DPS.

Disregarding gold, use Strength if you plan on pugging/general PvE/never run with dedicated 5 for dungeons. Use Scholar for ideal groups in dungeons that you’re not the one might stacking.

*Selfish = necessary might stacking achieved by another.

Staff=Scholar
S/X S/F= Strength

See what you run the most and use those runes on your ascended armor. Carry the others on an Exotic armor in your inv.

First of all, it’d be useful to know whether or not you plan to solo/duo ever or if you specifically plan to do only full group stuff.

Because you said fractals, it makes me lean towards suggesting strength but also if you ever plan to solo or duo dungeons/fractals keep in mind strength is also much better for that.

Scholar is roughly 7% better DPS with 100% uptime and permanent fury+25 might when compared to what it would be with strength runes. Strength runes need to maintain ~8 or more might stacks over scholar in order to provide better DPS.

Scholar is the obvious rune choice for optimal DPS, but it has conditions that are tougher to meet like having 90% or more HP.

As Acotje.5689 also said above me it’s noticeably worse to use strength runes over scholar runes on a staff ele unless you are soloing specifically because you are limited to using only 2 blasts (arcane brilliance + arcane wave) with the exception of eruption (earth #2) at the start of a combat engagement.

Consider all of these facts while deciding.

Either way, both runes are a great choice. In the end you should consider getting an exotic set with the alternate rune type, but I want to throw in there that it makes it much more relieving on levels 40 and 50 if the ele is in strength runes, due to that mistlock instability with the agony constantly ticking. You can of course use either and it wouldn’t be a problem, just thought I’d mention it because those are two commonly chosen levels for daily fotm runs. :P

rabidsmiles.5926:

Sorry…I know this topic has probably been talked to death but there are valid points to both rune sets. Here’s the deal, I have a full set of both runes (the forge spat out the strength runes for me over time) so it’s not like this a cost issue.

My Ele is purely PvE. I run dungeons and fractals with the very occasional WvW if my guild runs a havoc run. I have no interest whatsoever in PvP. The ascended armor I am in the middle of crafting is Berserker’s for that reason.

Seems this forum is divided on which set is better, some say Strength and some say Scholar. I am using the scholar runes now and that 6th bonus is sort of a pain to have to keep up, but it’s manageable. Would I miss that ferocity bonus from the scholar if I switched over to Strength? I’m leaning more towards the Strength, as the 6th bonus doesn’t require me to be at almost full health. I find I am always with might so it’s not hard to keep it up. But I have to admit, that gold price of the 6 strength runes is really tempting!

Should I just suck it up and stick the strength runes on there or should I sell them, as they aren’t really all they are made out to be?

strength, it is not the 6th bonus but the increase in might duration that I use it for. Using it I achieve near permanent 25 stacks of might.
Comparing that to a dmg boost while above 90% hp I’d say go for the runes of strength.

Scholar is essential for burst. Strength is good for sustained DPS. I have two sets of armors on my ele, an exotic set with Scholar runes for sub 80 dungeons or with coordinated group and an ascended set with Strength runes for fractal 50, low man Arah and bomb-mode Zerg wars. Please note that there is an attribute cap on dungeons lower than level 80 so exotic quality is equal to ascended quality.

If gold is an issue, just sell your strength runes. Scholar is sufficient on its own.

Strength.

sustained DPS is more important than burst.

Hamster.4861:

Strength.

sustained DPS is more important than burst.

Scholar is better sustained DPS unless strength is able to maintain 8 or more stacks of might over it. 100% scholar uptime isn’t difficult to maintain in dungeons when you’re in well coordinated groups.

Just some more info. Doing my rotation with Scepter/Focus + LH I’ll do 18-21 stacks(depends if I get the LH blast in time). With Strenght I maintain that, even bump up and overlap up to 24 if I don’t get interrupted. With Scholar though I’m dropping down to 3 stacks by the time I’m hitting the rotation again.

That was enough for me to buy Strength runes.

If I’m going in as the staff Ele focusing on damage I’ll go with my Scholar set, if I’m going in as a might stacker I go with strength set. Exotic is cheap enough I think it’s a good idea to have both, though that may not be what you want so /shrug.

The bonus from Scholar can be lost extremely easily if you do not run in a coordinated group. All the videos of DnT and other assume that everyone is as good as they are. Tbh they should make build for people that are not really that good or at least provide guidance in that matter – telling people to equip Kinghts armor is not enough.

If you cannot maintain that bonus, simply go with Strength. Its the go to set for D/F and S/D/F builds. Scholar is more usefull for Staff but, again, if youre using only 1 armor go with Strength. Scholar is really about min/max the dps. What is really more imrpotand is your ability to stay alive with the zerk build and actually keep doing the damage

Since you have both rune sets anyway, I’d lean towards putting the strength runes on the ascended armor. In the event anet opens higher fractal tiers (HAHHAHA) you’ll be ready with the optimal runes and enough AR. For low level dungeons, as Iris pointed out, ascended stats get screwed over by scaling – and that’s where you’re most likely to use scholar runes. So I would say, unless your looking to minmax your CoE runs, ascended with strength and exotic with scholar makes the most sense.

Ok so I should stick the strength runes on the ascended set and keep the scholar berserker’s set I have been using for the lower level dungeons then. Darn, was sort of hoping I could sell off the scholar runes but might as well hang onto them then.

I was considering getting a set of Soldier’s armor and placing the scholar runes onto that, as the higher HP pool might benefit more with that rune set. I tend to run staff with the scholar runes, and am working on getting the pacing down with scepter (trying to wean myself off staff lol). So, was thinking that for staff maybe the soldier’s might be a bit better? Or maybe Valkyrie? Or should I just leave them as they are, on the berserkers?

Thanks guys!

Staff is a really, really good wep for ele, don’t feel you need to not use it. Learning might stacking rotations is important but learning to survive and keep up the scholar bonus in the glassiness that is staff fire attune is equally as important.

Zerk (or sin or a mix) is the way to go in group pve, stat based defense is only going to hold you back. Especially on ele, you are one of the heavy hitters damage wise. If you are struggling to keep the bonus, you can swap to your strength set until you get more comfortable with the encounter.

As an elementalist your passive defense is already extremely low and you not likely to improve it very much with PVT gear – it will allow you to sustain 1 or 2 more hits and wont do much in high level fractals since the mobs hit so hard that youre likely to die in 1 or 2 hits.

That said it’s way better to invest in Berserker armor since you gotta use you Active defense to survive (Dodge, Arcane Shield, Mist Form, Signet of Storms, Reflects, Invulnerability, Boons like Vigor from Arcana II etc.).

So keeping the scholar on the zerk exotic set then. Got it. Thanks again