Guild Wars 2

Would using s/d in wvw/spvp without fresh air completely destroy your damage? Given that it’s a great burst tool and is staple in a lot of current meta s/d builds, I’m trying to create an s/d build without fresh air but all signs lead to “hits like a wet paper tower, gets torn through like tissue paper.” Just asking for some general opinions and anecdotes.

Scepter/dagger has plenty of burst damage without Fresh Air, but its sustained damage is pretty much nonexistent.

If you have teammates to cc your enemies for you it should work, but it’s a pretty bad idea otherwise.

brickforlife.1364:

Would using s/d in wvw/spvp without fresh air completely destroy your damage? Given that it’s a great burst tool and is staple in a lot of current meta s/d builds, I’m trying to create an s/d build without fresh air but all signs lead to “hits like a wet paper tower, gets torn through like tissue paper.” Just asking for some general opinions and anecdotes.

Considering that eles have been playing with 0/20/0/20/30 since launch, yes, S/D without fresh air is possible.

brickforlife.1364:

Would using s/d in wvw/spvp without fresh air completely destroy your damage? Given that it’s a great burst tool and is staple in a lot of current meta s/d builds, I’m trying to create an s/d build without fresh air but all signs lead to “hits like a wet paper tower, gets torn through like tissue paper.” Just asking for some general opinions and anecdotes.

I was using my burst build months before fresh air was even introduced and it worked perfectly fine with 30 in air. Fresh air trait just makes the dps a bit more sustainable. You’ll do fine if you choose not to invest 30 points in air or choose another master/grandmaster air trait.

I sometimes go without Fresh Air. Tempest defense is quite nice because of the extra 20% damage against knocked down foes. It’s pretty hilarious to jump down on someone in earth attunement with arcane abatement trait and knock them down, then burst them to hell. Taking arcane abatement isn’t really optimal most of the time though. I just use it when I feel like trolling people by jumping on them. You’re better off with vital striking and just use earthquake to knock them down then burst them.

/troll
i like to take arcane abatement, just because i like to use master traits that other profession access in adept!

Don’t rub it in. They’re moving it atleast in the next patch. so i’ll be able to take arcane abatement and vital striking.

They are rare, but they do exist.

How effective is LH in wvw/pvp? Cuz you can burst without Fresh Air and then whip out a LH for sustain/knockdown/daze.

From my experience, the lack of passive defense makes LH a horrible choice in pvp. You can do some nice damage with auto-attacks, but the remaining skills are simply too ineffective, and everything is too slow, that an elementalist will just melt with it on before doing any worthwhile damage. I haven’t tried it in a tankier build.

Fresh air gives more sustain, but less burst than tempest defense.
S/D in general is an amazing burst weapon, but the autoattacks leave something to be desired. Water is the highest dps auto I believe, but it’s hardly worth it to waste your water swap just for that. I play full zerk or close to full, so I float in and out of the fight, bursting targets then backing out to heal and get cd’s.