Guild Wars 2

Already been playing around with S/D via my build located here:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/1fuwpk/hamartias_sd_elementalist_dps_mightstacking_build/

Patch today significantly buffed that build by providing 100% fury uptime in an AOE area around blast finishers.

But this is a quick attempt to make something work with fresh air. Arcane didn’t provide anything TOO necessary previously.

So 300 precision and 30% crit damage is very much appreciated. Will have to see if I end up preferring 10% damage in air over 20% CD reduction— I’d like to get more RTLs for some AOE damage in air and mobility.

30/30/0/0/10

Grounded = fresh air
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJArYlw1iMWZQzAOyAQ4BBMUg4hFNERpQOA-jAyAYLhQCCIZBI5psm9EELuFRjVXjpcJiqBA-e

If for some reason you don’t feel you need vigor, swap to 10 water for 10% more damage over 90% health.

I will probably end up swapping the air CD reduction for the 10% crit damage on arcane skill, since this build should provide 100% uptime on that which is a more than 5% damage increase across all attunemnts, assuming 50%+ crit chance.

Perks:
25 stacks of might, like the old S/D build.

100% fury uptime.

Some vulnerability stacking, not sure how much it will add up to fully buffed in a group, but it seems like around 8 stacks.

Refer here for rotation:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/1fuwpk/hamartias_sd_elementalist_dps_mightstacking_build/

Id like to see the dmg 5 eles with this build can do :P Everything will just melt away and only leave ashes behind:P

Ptolomy.6984:

Id like to see the dmg 5 eles with this build can do :P Everything will just melt away and only leave ashes behind:P

Since Might caps at 25, more than one in a team is kind of wasted actually.

Yeah forgot about that cap xd. At least in my head it sounded destructive

Is this fury… party-wide?

I think it has the same range as the area might

Winds.3087:

Is this fury… party-wide?

Same range as might, so 300 if im not mistaken.

Nice change then!

I really like this build, however, you can get destroyed in dungeons if you miss a dodge or stay in too long. I preferred your other version you posted prior to this one, I had more options to heal with evasive arcana…I’m going to add in full PVT gear with Beserk Acc. to see if it off sets the issues I mentioned prior.

XcmGT.3847:

I really like this build, however, you can get destroyed in dungeons if you miss a dodge or stay in too long. I preferred your other version you posted prior to this one, I had more options to heal with evasive arcana…I’m going to add in full PVT gear with Beserk Acc. to see if it off sets the issues I mentioned prior.

To be honest, the Arcane version felt more fun to me as well, and I need to do more testing before I’m confident this one is significantly better.

Sadly, I think in most groups the 8 stacks of vulnerability this build provides ensures that it will be better, since almost every group I run with on my Ele is short of 25 stacks of vulnerability—- 8% damage to group with no room for error is pretty nice.

I will probably be swapping the air trait to the one that provides 10% crit damage on arcane use, and not focus on spending much time in air.

I will miss all the things Arcane was able to provide. =(

Just curious on whether you changed up the rotation? I found myself in air a lot more using the instacasts because of fresh air procs. I also was playing around with Arcane Lightning and I really enjoyed it, since I’m running two arcane skills to begin with.

XcmGT.3847:

Just curious on whether you changed up the rotation? I found myself in air a lot more using the instacasts because of fresh air procs. I also was playing around with Arcane Lightning and I really enjoyed it, since I’m running two arcane skills to begin with.

I definitely think Arcane Lightning is the right choice for this build and will update future threads accordingly!

And yeah, I haven’t had much time to play, but I’ve been starting in air, unloading all my air moves, go to fire, pop all my combo finishers, swap to air 2,3, swap to Earth, 4, 5, back to air, 3,2, water, 4, back to air if I can for 3,2, then back to fire.

Basically, just sneak air into every chance you can since swapping to air does solid damage, and air 2 does very solid damage.

Does the lack of boon duration from Arcane have a noticeable difference? I see you’re running scholar runes in your build.

Rhialto.8423:

Does the lack of boon duration from Arcane have a noticeable difference? I see you’re running scholar runes in your build.

I noticed it somewhat, however, in many groups I have been in a lot of people are using blast finishers in my fire fields so I get 25 stacks in no time. I do notice that I hit a lot harder running scholar than water, monk, and fire. The key for me is to find the right ratio of PVT and Beserk for high end PVE/survivability.

30 points in arcana is almost a must have for dmg ele. What do you say about that?
Apart from that, i really dont see grounded trait working. All bosses have defiant stack up once you kd/stun/etc, so the trait is pretty much a waste on bosses, on the other hand, great for trash/veterans.

I also dont see any stun breakers in the build. Its not that critical as in pvp, but in dugeons you need at least 1 stun breaker.

Zosek.3658:

30 points in arcana is almost a must have for dmg ele. What do you say about that?
Apart from that, i really dont see grounded trait working. All bosses have defiant stack up once you kd/stun/etc, so the trait is pretty much a waste on bosses, on the other hand, great for trash/veterans.

I also dont see any stun breakers in the build. Its not that critical as in pvp, but in dugeons you need at least 1 stun breaker.

Arcane Shield.

Zosek.3658:

Apart from that, i really dont see grounded trait working. All bosses have defiant stack up once you kd/stun/etc, so the trait is pretty much a waste on bosses, on the other hand, great for trash/veterans.

Also, Grounded = Fresh Air. You might need to catch up on today’s patch notes.

My bad. Sorry

XcmGT.3847:

Rhialto.8423:

Does the lack of boon duration from Arcane have a noticeable difference? I see you’re running scholar runes in your build.

I noticed it somewhat, however, in many groups I have been in a lot of people are using blast finishers in my fire fields so I get 25 stacks in no time. I do notice that I hit a lot harder running scholar than water, monk, and fire. The key for me is to find the right ratio of PVT and Beserk for high end PVE/survivability.

This.

I never aimed to create a build that hits 25 stacks of might solo, as thats overkill. Every group I’ve ever run with has at least 3-4 stacks of might, so I really only wanted to bring around 18-20 stacks of might. 25 might just kinda happened =) That being said, in practice, with people running around, being able to constantly apply might over 25 stacks DOES help your group actually maintain 25 stacks in practice.

I don’t think 30/30/0/0/10 can actually hit 25 might solo without boon duration. Without boon duration apart from Arcane, I previously needed the earth dodge roll to maintain 25 stacks of might.

I wouldn’t be surprised if 30/30/0/0/10 with scholar runes can only really maintain about 18 stacks of might in practice. However, I think this is a reasonable amount where any half decent group can make up the rest of the difference.

In a group where, for some reason, NO one else is providing might, the other build with boon duration will be a better choice.

I was tempted to try 2 runes of fire for 20% might duration, and then 4x ruby orbs/divinity runes, but I’m pretty sure scholar is solidly the best use.

The 20% might duration will help a lot more with 30/30 than it did with the old build, so this might be a smart, cheaper choice.

XcmGT.3847:

I really like this build, however, you can get destroyed in dungeons if you miss a dodge or stay in too long. I preferred your other version you posted prior to this one, I had more options to heal with evasive arcana…I’m going to add in full PVT gear with Beserk Acc. to see if it off sets the issues I mentioned prior.

/signed. I changed my build and went into the new dungeon last night and really missed my healing. I don’t think anyone can evade those aoes from the cannons on the second boss for long no matter how well they dodge or how lucky they are.

I think this kind of build is more of a PvP kind of thing.

Baladir.2736:

XcmGT.3847:

I really like this build, however, you can get destroyed in dungeons if you miss a dodge or stay in too long. I preferred your other version you posted prior to this one, I had more options to heal with evasive arcana…I’m going to add in full PVT gear with Beserk Acc. to see if it off sets the issues I mentioned prior.

/signed. I changed my build and went into the new dungeon last night and really missed my healing. I don’t think anyone can evade those aoes from the cannons on the second boss for long no matter how well they dodge or how lucky they are.

I think this kind of build is more of a PvP kind of thing.

Nope this is intended for PVE. Just gotta stack more survival if you’re having issues.

My ele is currently zerker, PVT head, legs, celestial trinkets and survival feels great (although my gear is non-optimal for anything).

Switched to 30/0/0/10/30 for the patch, and I usually run zerk for almost everything… but since the DPS you need for the last boss fight in the new dungeon is around “hit it with a wet noodle and you’ll kill it”, and the AoEs are kind of hard to see, I threw on my “OMG the dredge horde is going to eat me” PVT set – with zerk trinkets. Stayed up for the most part.

I’ll have to try this out, as well I love how much this patch increased ele build diversity.

I wonder how well two eles running this build (or this + something like a 30/15/0/25/0 lightning hammer build) with scholar’s runes would synergize…

Baladir.2736:

XcmGT.3847:

I really like this build, however, you can get destroyed in dungeons if you miss a dodge or stay in too long. I preferred your other version you posted prior to this one, I had more options to heal with evasive arcana…I’m going to add in full PVT gear with Beserk Acc. to see if it off sets the issues I mentioned prior.

/signed. I changed my build and went into the new dungeon last night and really missed my healing. I don’t think anyone can evade those aoes from the cannons on the second boss for long no matter how well they dodge or how lucky they are.

I think this kind of build is more of a PvP kind of thing.

I just ran the new instance after adding in 5 PVT stat gear items and it made the instance much more manageable. I had a larger margin for mistakes and in my pugs I was always the last one alive kiting the mobs around. As for might stacks I can get about 18 solo but I have different sigils in my weps. I may end up adding one more PVT item just to top it off, my gear is only full exotic so no ascended atm but I will post likely go for celestial.

As for healing in this instance I ended dup using ether renewal which works wonders on both bosses since this build lacks condition removal (Water 5 or if you spec into water 10). On the last boss however it was difficult to get stacks going, I would get about 12 before I had to run and heal, so for that fight this build is rather difficult. However with Fresh air I still managed to do decent damage and weave in my might stacks when I could.

Baladir.2736:

XcmGT.3847:

I really like this build, however, you can get destroyed in dungeons if you miss a dodge or stay in too long. I preferred your other version you posted prior to this one, I had more options to heal with evasive arcana…I’m going to add in full PVT gear with Beserk Acc. to see if it off sets the issues I mentioned prior.

/signed. I changed my build and went into the new dungeon last night and really missed my healing. I don’t think anyone can evade those aoes from the cannons on the second boss for long no matter how well they dodge or how lucky they are.

I think this kind of build is more of a PvP kind of thing.

I ran the new instance using a 0/30/0/30/10 build:
Air – Zephyrs Boon/Zephyrs Focus/Fresh Air
Water – Vital Striking/Cleansing Wave/Soothing Disruption
Arcana – Elemental Attunement

and it was fine. Just need to learn how to dodge/stay still during the cannon phase. The thing is don’t dodge unless you have to. Find that little area between the circles and stand still in it and don’t move till you see the red circles again and see that open area and move to it quickly only saving your dodge if you can’t get there in time. I after each dodge I used when I was standing still in the safe zone or even while moving to a new safe zone I would just channel the Air auto attack as 1 channel with Zephyrs Focus will give you 1 dodge.

Raif.9507:

Baladir.2736:

XcmGT.3847:

I really like this build, however, you can get destroyed in dungeons if you miss a dodge or stay in too long. I preferred your other version you posted prior to this one, I had more options to heal with evasive arcana…I’m going to add in full PVT gear with Beserk Acc. to see if it off sets the issues I mentioned prior.

/signed. I changed my build and went into the new dungeon last night and really missed my healing. I don’t think anyone can evade those aoes from the cannons on the second boss for long no matter how well they dodge or how lucky they are.

I think this kind of build is more of a PvP kind of thing.

I ran the new instance using a 0/30/0/30/10 build:
Air – Zephyrs Boon/Zephyrs Focus/Fresh Air
Water – Vital Striking/Cleansing Wave/Soothing Disruption
Arcana – Elemental Attunement

and it was fine. Just need to learn how to dodge/stay still during the cannon phase. The thing is don’t dodge unless you have to. Find that little area between the circles and stand still in it and don’t move till you see the red circles again and see that open area and move to it quickly only saving your dodge if you can’t get there in time. I after each dodge I used when I was standing still in the safe zone or even while moving to a new safe zone I would just channel the Air auto attack as 1 channel with Zephyrs Focus will give you 1 dodge.

Nice use of Zephyr’s Focus. Thank you.

I have been trying a 30 30 0 0 10 build in sPvP (hot join). My god it is amazing. You die almost instantly, but anyone that comes near you is also downed (by lava tomb) and your damage output with +33% makes a downed ele sorta usefull. 2k auto attack, 2k/s lava tomb and 2k/s downed 3.

I’ve been using S/F. This makes those pesky rangers almost kill themselves while giving me defences to live long enough to down non rangers.

Baladir.2736:

Nice use of Zephyr’s Focus. Thank you.

+1! I’ve been agonizing over choosing between Elemental Attunement and Renewing Stamina. But with ER as my heal and the number of channelled skills in S/D, Zephyr’s Focus solves all my Endurance woes.

This patch really has opened up build diversity; I’d been dependent on 30 Arcane for so long I’d pretty much forgotten about sneaky little traits like this!

process execution.8014:

Baladir.2736:

Nice use of Zephyr’s Focus. Thank you.

+1! I’ve been agonizing over choosing between Elemental Attunement and Renewing Stamina. But with ER as my heal and the number of channelled skills in S/D, Zephyr’s Focus solves all my Endurance woes.

This patch really has opened up build diversity; I’d been dependent on 30 Arcane for so long I’d pretty much forgotten about sneaky little traits like this!

Vigor is all around better as it recharges the endurance faster, but it’s good enough for PVE. You can also spam Phoenix just to get the vigor while running aruond in that part.

Glad I can help.

Raif.9507:

Vigor is all around better as it recharges the endurance faster, but it’s good enough for PVE. You can also spam Phoenix just to get the vigor while running aruond in that part.

Glad I can help.

The endurance regen bonus is the same (+100%), and given that Vigor is a boon (and can thus be stripped), it’s certainly not “all around better”. But my original comment wasn’t really about which is better, but more about alternative ways to get more dodges that don’t require 100% Vigor uptime.

I noticed you’re using arcane power along with the arcane attacks, if you place the last 10 points into arcane to get good uptime on it you can probably get away with just using valkyre and cavalier armor/trinkets. Along with 30 in air and maybe some berserker weapons you should be criting pretty regularly with 100+% crit damage and still have ~16k hp and ~1400 toughness with rock barrier.

I’m currently using the 30/30/0/0/10 full glass but am planning to try this next:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEUQJArYhEmibkR3gjEA0DoMUkBAiHW4AAVBA-jkyA4rASUAICgpviox2HKiGriBTfuoalLgRHwdwoVHFQEB-w

(the blank traits are fresh air and rock solid)

Solo.9027:

I noticed you’re using arcane power along with the arcane attacks, if you place the last 10 points into arcane to get good uptime on it you can probably get away with just using valkyre and cavalier armor/trinkets. Along with 30 in air and maybe some berserker weapons you should be criting pretty regularly with 100+% crit damage and still have ~16k hp and ~1400 toughness with rock barrier.

I’m currently using the 30/30/0/0/10 full glass but am planning to try this next:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEUQJArYhEmibkR3gjEA0DoMUkBAiHW4AAVBA-jkyA4rASUAICgpviox2HKiGriBTfuoalLgRHwdwoVHFQEB-w

(the blank traits are fresh air and rock solid)

This looks awful to be quite honest with you. It throws away the best parts of S/D right now, which is 30 Fire for might and fury stacking, and gains nothing of value.

Hamartia.3421:

This looks awful to be quite honest with you. It throws away the best parts of S/D right now, which is 30 Fire for might and fury stacking, and gains nothing of value.

I should have mentioned that I planned to wvw with it, where might stacking doesn’t really happen unless zerging. For wvw, its functionally identical to your 1st build but it also has solid toughness, vitality, healing, low cd stunbreak, pseudo-swiftness and stability on demand. I may swap in mist form over signet of air depending on the circumstances as well.

By the way, I wasn’t trying to one-up you… no need to be so dismissive.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/elementalist/Hamartia-s-S-D-Might-Fury-DPS-June-25th/first#post2309790

Update there in case anyone stumbles upon this older thread.

I’ve been using the 30/30/0/0/10 build for some time and am almost at full zerker gear + scholars runes + knights jewels.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJArYlw16MWZQyAOyAS4BBwAFg4hF0AcYpQOA-jgyAYLhQCCIZJIJPl1sngYxtIas6aM1Lg+N1a4EBA-e

So far it’s a great build and my damage has gone way up since the patch while keeping nice utility. I can shred the gate in CoF in seconds.

Another build I’m tempted to try is 30/30/0/10/0 for the water traits.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJArYlw16MWZQyAOyACpAKEeQAMQBIeYBTAHC-jgyAYLhQCCIZJIJPl1sngYxtIas6aM1Lg+N1a4EBA-e

This build would require using Air 1 to regen endurance from time to time, but gets an extra condition removal, 10% damage when above 90% health, or more vulnerability stacking. So it would take a bit more effort.

I’m curious how you think these builds stack up against your other builds?