Guild Wars 2

I’ve finally accumulated enough gold to work on runes for my Elementalist. (I currently have some mediocre to quality gems installed.)

I was wondering what kinds of runes are typical for Elementalist in PvE and WvW play. I have some ideas (e.g., -%condition duration), but I doubt my knowledge is sufficient in this area, and I don’t want to commit to something expensive without considering several viable options.

If it helps, I mostly play WvW (D/D bunker) with occasional PvE (fractals and dungeons). I am currently geared in half Beserker’s, half Knight’s. (Most of my accessories are either Soldier’s or Beserker’s; the amulet is Ascended +all stats.)

Thanks in advance for any information!

For a bunker, +X% boon runes are strong. They work very well with a lot other elementalist’s builds and traits too.

Runes of Divinity are also excellent to any elementalist with good precision. They offer a bit of each stat, which elementalists can make use of them all, while giving a good amount of critical damage. Best of all, you don’t need to stack them, so you can, say, combine 2 or 4 of them with 2 or 4 runes that give + boon duration when stacked in pairs.

6x Runes of Scholar are good alternatives to divinity’s for burst builds.

I can second the recommendation for +boon duration runes. I used 2x Superior Monk, 2x Superior Water, 2x Major Water for a long time with an aura sharing D/D build and they were great.

I also like Runes of Strength, which I’m using in my current build. I have Berserker Armor/Weapons, Valkyrie Trinkets, and I focus on stacking might and keeping it up at all times. These give me +5% damage when I have might, and makes might last 20% longer. For weapons, if I’m going to be in a zone for awhile I have a staff with a Sigil of Bloodlust to stack up an extra 250 power then I switch. If I’m running a dungeon and not worried about stacking buffs I have a staff, scepter, and dagger all with a Sigil of Battle (might on swap). I bring along a Dagger with Sigil of Accuracy (5% Crit Chance) for my offhand.

It has been great with using 0/10/0/30/30 using Evasive Arcana and Cleansing Water as my big traits.

Sleepcoma.9487:

I can second the recommendation for +boon duration runes. I used 2x Superior Monk, 2x Superior Water, 2x Major Water for a long time with an aura sharing D/D build and they were great.

I also like Runes of Strength, which I’m using in my current build. I have Berserker Armor/Weapons, Valkyrie Trinkets, and I focus on stacking might and keeping it up at all times. These give me +5% damage when I have might, and makes might last 20% longer. For weapons, if I’m going to be in a zone for awhile I have a staff with a Sigil of Bloodlust to stack up an extra 250 power then I switch. If I’m running a dungeon and not worried about stacking buffs I have a staff, scepter, and dagger all with a Sigil of Battle (might on swap). I bring along a Dagger with Sigil of Accuracy (5% Crit Chance) for my offhand.

It has been great with using 0/10/0/30/30 using Evasive Arcana and Cleansing Water as my big traits.

Runes of strength are bugged still.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Rune_of_Strength

Oh I have monitored that page forever. Rune of Strength when fixed will be one of the best DPS runes you can get.

I would put them on my mesmer, warrior and possibly my thief.

I run 2 water 2 monk 2 divinity currently. I am contemplating going all divinity but I don’t know. The boons are important

If they ever fix the runes from HOTW I would run those which is suppose to be 2 piece bonus of you guessed it 15% boon duration but right now its chill for some weird reason.

If you run ether renewal then 4 piece altruism and 2 water is good or a full 6 piece altruism.

I use 6x divinity.

I’m enjoying 6x Elementalist.

I wouldn’t call it “Optimal,” but it’s a lot of fun.

I, too, am using 2x monk, 2x water, 2x major water.

As for sigils, am I the only one using a sigil of energy? It’s 1 extra free dodge every 9 seconds, makes playing much more fun without having to look at that endurance bar.

2 dwayna, 2 monk, 2 water. I love the sigil of energy combined with the might on dodge endurance food and evasive arcane I’m a dodging regen machine.

Need a tip about rune set for crit/precision staff ele build.
Currently I’m using full set of Superior Runes of Baelfire, tho it seems not
so effective. I’m thinking on Superior Runes of Fire set, I guess fire aura is
more effective than Nova.
Suggestions?

Runes of Divinity are excellent for critical/ precision, because they offer high critical damage while also giving you a bit of each stat. Runes of Scholar are great if you can keep your HP high (burst at the start of each battle). Runes of the Ogre are probably better than scholar for pve: they allow you to create a rockdog pet, which can be great to aggro for you or for extra damage.

Generally, fire-themed runes aren’t as good for crit/ precision builds, imo, but decent nonetheless. Fire Aura is sucky for elementalists, because you don’t want to get hit, and 1s of burning and 1 stack of might per hit isn’t worth losing huge chunks of your low hp pool.

Thanks for the tips, but I guess Divinity isn’t best choice for me, + to every stat is
great but my crit. damage % is almost 100%, I can’t push it higher.
I considered Scholars Runes but still, I eventually get hit, so it won’t be that effective.
Since I have 0/30/10/10/20 build, I need to push my power as much as I can for better
critical and higher overall dmg. That’s why I chose Baelfires in the first place.
Still, Ogre’s seems as a good choice, gotta try it.

6x dwayna for a CW Staff Support WvW ele healbot.