Guild Wars 2

I went through a few other s/f builds and didnt see this one posted. I think my goal in posting builds is to hopefully get others to see how things can work together in different ways. At least, that is where I find value in others builds!

My idea was to come up with a s/f build that was effective in WvW and PvE (though, mainly WvW). What I came up with was based on my d/d heavy crit build.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEQQJArdlEGqMGZQ5A1NBARRLpMKEi4hFNERpQMA

For my gear, I use a mix of Valkyries (weapons, boots, and coat) and Knights. For my trinkets, I use Emerald Ori (Pow/Pre/Tough) with exquisite beryl jewels (Pow, Crit Dam, Vit). I use Superior Sigil of Precision and Superior Sigil of Strength on weapons, and Superior Rune of Rage 6/6 on my armor.

There is no specific rotation, as I find everything is a bit more situational than with something like a d/d build. Though, when “traveling,” I trade out an air trait to “One with Air.” One of my favorite combos is Shatterstone->Freezing Gust->Comet->Dragons Tooth->Phoenix->Arcane Wave->Arcane Blast. Or some variant there-of The amount of burst in the last few skills, if they land (important part), is generally enough to make someone fumble a bit.

I still am a bit undecided on the water traits. The idea with this current incarnation is to apply up to 10 stacks of vulnerability (with Shatterstone, Arcane Wave, and Arcane Blast) and deal damage from there. The issue is that there is nothing in water that really does that much damage, but the vulnerability will carry over to other attunements and allows water to be slightly more viable instead of just an emergency heal and semi-useful chill followed by stun.

I find myself enjoying the build quite a large amount!

With fury and the perception sigil, I can get over 60% crit chance with 78% crit damage. Fury uptime is increased with Runes, but is flat out not as effective as when used in combo with auras granting fury/swiftness (d/d). The loss is more than mitigated, imo, with the defensive properties of earth attunement. Edit: As my elite, I do use the asura racial “D-Series” Golem. The wall of reflection it casts is HIGHLY useful to my playstyle. Your mileage may vary. Health is at 17.5k and armor is at 2500. In earth attunement, with rock barrier, it is close to 2800. Attack is at 2700 even.

I welcome all constructive feedback, and hope this isnt just a rehashing of an old thread (wouldnt be surprised!).

Slight update to the build. After a couple of weeks of playing this effectively, I hadnt really updated my gear from my last build, as they had similar goals.

After doing the math, trying to eke out a bit more, I came to the conclusion that in replacing the amulet, shoulders, and gloves I can get +9% crit damage and +46 power at the expense of 158 toughness. Given the amount of block abilities and defensive capabilities of the build, I felt this was an excellent trade off.

I also switched the air trait Aeromancer’s Alacrity for Arcane Lightning (3% increased crit damage for 10 seconds on Arcane skill use, it also stacks). Coupled with the gear changes, this puts me at 87% crit damage, and after using Arcane Blast and Arcane Wave, 93% for ten seconds. The trade off is that armor is now at ~2300 and ~2650 in earth attunement with rock barrier up. Though, I feel it makes the build stronger overall. A dragons tooth that crit for 5,000 before will now be just under ~6,000. Base crit chance is 38%, with fury 56%, and with a full stack from Superior Sigil of Perception 68%. I am able to generally maintain 10+ stacks of vulnerability on a single target, and 5+ AoE. Pretty effective in that regard.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEQQJArdlEGqMGZQ5A1NBARRLpMKEi4hFQERpQMA

is the link for the slightly updated build. But, like I said, I only changed the one trait

I think this is about the final tweak on it, though Ill always be looking for more!