Guild Wars 2

How do you guys deal with these guys? I’m level 50 and my next story quest I have to fight a bunch of Risen in Lions Arch.

Everytime they spawn I immediately get downed because I had to blow all my cool downs trying to kite the kitten people.

I’ve been running S/D (20/10/0/10/0) and its been effective against everything kiting wise. They just straight up run faster than me.

All the other times I’ve fought risen my Ranger friend was with me. Now that I’m by myself I get overrun.

Risen are fast but weak mobs, nuke them down.

Absolute best defense against Risen?

Aoe Chill/Cripple.

Switch to staff for that encounter. problem will be solved gl.

Just finally did it, honestly I stuck in fire attune this time and just bursted everything down.

Goes to show attunment dancing can be a bad thing at times.

CIRCLE KITE ALL THE MOBS.
No,seriously circle kiting and killing it before it kills you,for which the S/D combo is great for.
So in short what you do is-take arcane wave,arcane shield and whatever else you want for the third utility-like sig of water for those annoying conds that the risen have (remember to keybind the first two to something easy to reach-i have them on E and Q) and a flaming greatsword as the elite (best kill them b4 they kill you elite we have)NOTE:if you are fighting an veteran/champ mob take both summon glyphs and cast them in earth attu – gives you two epic tanks that can tank the vet for hours and hours.
So your average fight should go like this:
A-aggro3-5 mobs,stand in one place with the mobs around you (you should be able to take 1-2 hits from them,if you cant you are too low lvl for the content and should get moar lvlz)cast ring of fire,dragons tooth,arcane wave(instant cast ftw) then phoenix so that is hits the mobs with both the travel dmg and the end explosion dmg AND explode in the ring of fire (which is the main reason you are standing still since risen are on crack all the time and the combo is very hard to hit),you should only be standing in spot for the time it takes you to do DT and PHX after which you should dodge and keep kiting (risen are fast but they cannot hit you in melee if you are moving at normal run speed)by that time the mobs should be quite low,so line em up and hit fire grab if its off cooldown(btw you now also have 9 stacks of might for the next 30 secs from the combo so FG should hit like a truck-a very slow truck that can often miss and can only be cast once in a blue moon,but a truck non the less)and with DTooth being only 4,5secs (if traited which you should do) if thing are not dead yet throw another DT on them so they learn their place or
B-you have done everything i just said and the mob isnt dead or you want to move to the next one without waiting for cooldowns that are too long since Anet thinks we would totally be op if fire aura got a 5 sec cd reduction(oh the horror)-so enough QQing and more pew-pewing – switch to air (omg we have other attuments except fire)dont get to excited air is crap for pve-just use ride the lightning
to the next group of mobs and then go earth and start churring some earth,while hitting arcane shield (its instant so it doesnt stop the skill)in the middle of the chanel so you can soak up the hurtful comments about your fashion sense,because face it you are full grown man/norn/charr running around in a dress doing ‘magic’-if the shield explodes YAY more numbers!,after churring earth has finished casting(you should still have the 9 might stacks from the fire combo so it should hit like another truck-this one exploding or something) hit earthquake,pop the scepter skill no2 and run around auto attacking(or not whatever) and wait for them all to bleed to death.
The hell with CC or crippling/chilling-this is pve and you are an elementalist,just kill
stuff before it kills you.
Still having problems?Pro tip elementals are your best friend for soloing pve- you are like a crappy Minion Master with prettier looking minions.
Edit:holy cow that was a long post

^ Wall of text just crit me.

Yeah I remember doing that, such a pain. I was a glass cannon type spec at the time too. That made it a hundred times worse.

Problem I found at the time was that you had to kite them, but kiting them minimised my DPS a lot. It was pretty painful.

Solutions

1. Just get a friend or a guildie to help you. Thats the easiest way.

2. Conjure Flaming Greatsword is a great kiting tool with good damage and cripples thrown in. If you have that skill, use it. You’ll suddenly find it much much easier to get through by yourself.

3. Re-build your spec and go for toughness, slows, speed boosts, vigor. Maybe even buy some greens off TP to buff up some stats, especially if some of your gear pieces are lower level then the recommended quest level. Also consider buying sigils like Majour Energy, which give you 25% more endurance everytime you change attunement.

Good luck

The problem with Risen is that more than a few of them run faster than you, so kiting isn’t always effective. On the slower ones, that’s a good tactic. And it doesn’t get better when you get closer to Cursed Shore. My suggestion is to make sure that your gear is the best you can get/afford for your level and I would strongly suggest that gear have a lot of +vitality.

Once you’re geared up how you prefer, really try to fight with good tactics. Sometimes kiting is OK, sometimes, especially in the higher level zones, it’ll get you killed with adds. As a level 80 elementalist in Cursed Shore, I more often than not, solo my way through, often fighting 3 or 4 at once. I use both elementals we get and I use staff. Sometimes I kite, sometimes I stand and burn everything down.

Incidentally, the gear suggested by the above poster are great choices, though I personally find the greatsword to be utterly and completely useless. But that’s a preference, not a fact. Elementalists might need some tuning, but our class is definitely not helpless — take a hard look at each spec and build to your play style. That’ll help too.

Every piece of gear you have should be green or better. Trading Post prices for most green gear are only a few coppers more than the price you can sell it back to the vendor for.

Similarly, you should never repair anything except your aquatic helm and back brace, if those. Just buy a new copy on the Trading Post when the old one breaks.

— FC

I remember doing Claw Island on my elementalist at 1 or 2 levels below the suggested one, first time i failed hard with D/D, then being stubborn as I am I decided to try staff and use water’s chill plus earth’s cripple and root.

Mission accomplished

@Sushi
Let me guess… and full gear is power/precision? Just forget about glass cannon build. Get some toughness and use more defensive spec (not full tank, hybrid will be enough). I did story quests up to +10 lvls higher then me solo (whole storyline solo with D/D except Arah quest).
P.S. And get stun breaker (you can’t always dodge brute’s attack).

As always, the answer is Lightning Hammer.

Just face tank them and loot.

Put down a snare and nuke em. The fast ones dies really quickly, the slower/normal speed ones shouldn’t be a problem, just kite normally.

Risen often hit hard and fast, with their fancy crazy kicks and everything.

I think that they have really bizarre pathing? Maybe because they’re undead and can’t think properly, but I notice they will often try to run around me and hit me from behind.

So I often think kiting towards them messes them up a bit. As a staff person, I’ll use lava font, dodge forward into it. They’ll continually take damage as they reorient themselves. At least I always deal with risen in this way.

Ranged spellcasting risen can be a mild annoyance.

Risen are nothing against the Enchanters in the zone where Shatterer spawns (forgot name), or wolves, or worse: underwater Risen using spear surge attack :p
Seriously, those mobs need dps nerfs…

P.S.: how could I forget sharks man

I do this (with d/d):
- try to attract as many Risen as I can in the same spot
- start a long combo sequence
- just 1 sec before the finisher, keep ready teleport
- switch to water, W3 to slow down potential pursuer, w5 to heal
- should something be not lootable yet, repeat from start…

Sigil of Hyromancy makes kiting easy but also half-way lets me stand and fight down Risen on my Dagger/Dagger. Rotating through attunements to use their defensive abilities while applying their damage and when they stack too much bleed, Etheral Renewal can take them off while I kite, all the while hydromancy sig will freeze/chill foes and do damage.

Risen are only hard because they come in large crowds and constantly. I had problems with them too but only because I relied on bursting them down with little care in consistency. After your good burst cooldowns are done, you need something to go on the defensive so you can do it again, preferably something that doesn’t sacrifice lots of damage.

What the hell is circle kiting going to do against ranged mobs?

Good advice there…..