Guild Wars 2

So, I’ve been trying to make staff ele work in pvp for a long time now. I’ve done bunker but that’s boring if you play spvp and only works well in tpvp. sPVP is all about the kills and you won’t get much as a bunker staff ele.

I’ve tried numerous builds, going glass, condition, boons, various mixed builds. Some worked better than others and I ended up doing pretty well. My condition and glass builds did the best. In a good game, I could rack up an easy 200+ glory. But I wasn’t satisfied and I still felt weaker than I’d like in 1v1s. I didn’t want to forever be the guy who sits back behind the front lines firing away and hoping no one would target me while I was firing my bombs into enemey crowds.

I decided to try something new. I tried so many builds but after all this time, I finally found the secret.

I gave up staff and went Dual Daggers.

lol Not really a secret but yeah that’s the long and short of it. Welcome to the dark side

Double daggers isn’t that bad…. But yeah, sucks to be pigeonholed into one build.

quitter. and i love it when i am not being targeted, because that means they are underestimating you, meaning easier to hit them. so win win

Atomic Sharks.7250:

quitter. and i love it when i am not being targeted, because that means they are underestimating you, meaning easier to hit them. so win win

I’ve been trying to make staff work since release. It’s not working out, man.

DD is so much better. Compared to staff, I feel like a God. I’m ok with fighting 2 people at once and I jump into big groups, unleash my load, and then run away in a fly. Thief bursts don’t even scare me anymore with updraft and lighting aura.

I do have trouble against good mesmers though that utilize chaos storm.

Are you doing d/d bunker or glass canon? I haven’t tried it yet myself, but i find really hard to imagine a gc d/d elementalist being suscceful in pvp or pve for that matter. I hope to be proven wrong though, but even then this games favors bunkering to much.

I’m 30 arcane, 30 water, 10 air. I use knight ammy + zerker jewels with monk, water, dwayna runes.

It rocks so hard compared to staff.

SecondtoNone.7549:

I’m 30 arcane, 30 water, 10 air. I use knight ammy + zerker jewels with monk, water, dwayna runes.

It rocks so hard compared to staff.

Interesting… I run soldier gear with healing/condition dmg jewels. Do you find that water/arcana build works for a gc ele build by jus using zerk/knigh gear?

Yeah man i feel your pain but after scepter staff nerf pre release yeah its pretty lack luster.

Staff used to do min 1k on auto so yeah staff is hard to play now since you can be attacked and not put pressure on your oponent to get them to plan their combo attack.

Remember offense can be a good defense but not with ele since the cannon out of glass cannon dont exists for us

I dont get this, I run staff in sPVP and 90-95% of the time I´m the top player in my team. I get a tons of kills around 20 a round.
And I´m a 10/30/0/10/20 build with berserkers Jewl and amulet

Anadur.4832:

I dont get this, I run staff in sPVP and 90-95% of the time I´m the top player in my team. I get a tons of kills around 20 a round.
And I´m a 10/30/0/10/20 build with berserkers Jewl and amulet

But are you really killing them or just spreading aoes thatget a couple hits of while your allies actually do the killing? I don’t think there’s a difference between assists and kills in this game. Honest question btw.

Anadur.4832:

I dont get this, I run staff in sPVP and 90-95% of the time I´m the top player in my team. I get a tons of kills around 20 a round.
And I´m a 10/30/0/10/20 build with berserkers Jewl and amulet

So do I. On a good round, I’m usually top player with 200+ glory. But you know what happens when someone realizes what’s going on? They target you. And in sPVP, you can’t rely on your team for kitten. It’s every man for himself. No one even resses in you sPVP. Most times, people just walk over my body and use it as a stepping stool. When you get targetted, it’s 1v1 time. I’ve played staff for a long time, I’m pretty decent at 1v1 but some classes are still very hard to play against and I would lose a lot to various classes, like the DD ele for example.

Now, I switched to DD and 1v1 battles are fun and challenging. Before, with staff, they were fun, challening, hard, and sometimes frustrating. I get less points, but I’m new to dd ele. And imo, most of the staff ele kills were assist kills from raining bombs from 1200 range while my team did the work.

With dd ele, I earn my kills. It feels good. With staff ele, I would stare down from a cliff and when someone died, I go “oh, looks like another one fell to my lava fonts and meteor storms.” He’s just another 25 glory. Another statistic. In a 1v1 duel, the killing is more personal and it feels more satisfying.

SecondtoNone.7549:

Anadur.4832:

I dont get this, I run staff in sPVP and 90-95% of the time I´m the top player in my team. I get a tons of kills around 20 a round.
And I´m a 10/30/0/10/20 build with berserkers Jewl and amulet

So do I. On a good round, I’m usually top player with 200+ glory. But you know what happens when someone realizes what’s going on? They target you. And in sPVP, you can’t rely on your team for kitten. It’s every man for himself. No one even resses in you sPVP. Most times, people just walk over my body and use it as a stepping stool. When you get targetted, it’s 1v1 time. I’ve played staff for a long time, I’m pretty decent at 1v1 but some classes are still very hard to play against and I would lose a lot to various classes, like the DD ele for example.

Now, I switched to DD and 1v1 battles are fun and challenging. Before, with staff, they were fun, challening, hard, and sometimes frustrating. I get less points, but I’m new to dd ele. And imo, most of the staff ele kills were assist kills from raining bombs from 1200 range while my team did the work.

With dd ele, I earn my kills. It feels good. With staff ele, I would stare down from a cliff and when someone died, I go “oh, looks like another one fell to my lava fonts and meteor storms.” He’s just another 25 glory. Another statistic. In a 1v1 duel, the killing is more personal and it feels more satisfying.

Thats the great thing whit sPVP noone relize =). Hell I even stand in the middle of all chaos and just pour AOE down above my point and killing of anything that aproahes me. I admit that 1 vs 1 is so hard, I win maby 1 out of 10 1vs1. But thats not the playing style for this build I run.

I guess its how you feel about the game , I like beeing on the highground just massaker evereyone belove whit my spells. So what if its an assist kill it a kill thet helped my team win + it gives me more points. Its not less you kill you just did it as teamwork and that “smart”.

Yet you still cant hold your own by yourself, dont get me wrong, it’s definitely a good strategy, but most of the time people is not stupid.. Even if they don’t attack you if you see a point being taken, as a glass cannon staff ele there’s very little you can do about it. You rely on a big guy to go in and distract the enemies for you to start doing damage. Maybe it’s just not my style…

Anadur.4832:

SecondtoNone.7549:

Anadur.4832:

I dont get this, I run staff in sPVP and 90-95% of the time I´m the top player in my team. I get a tons of kills around 20 a round.
And I´m a 10/30/0/10/20 build with berserkers Jewl and amulet

So do I. On a good round, I’m usually top player with 200+ glory. But you know what happens when someone realizes what’s going on? They target you. And in sPVP, you can’t rely on your team for kitten. It’s every man for himself. No one even resses in you sPVP. Most times, people just walk over my body and use it as a stepping stool. When you get targetted, it’s 1v1 time. I’ve played staff for a long time, I’m pretty decent at 1v1 but some classes are still very hard to play against and I would lose a lot to various classes, like the DD ele for example.

Now, I switched to DD and 1v1 battles are fun and challenging. Before, with staff, they were fun, challening, hard, and sometimes frustrating. I get less points, but I’m new to dd ele. And imo, most of the staff ele kills were assist kills from raining bombs from 1200 range while my team did the work.

With dd ele, I earn my kills. It feels good. With staff ele, I would stare down from a cliff and when someone died, I go “oh, looks like another one fell to my lava fonts and meteor storms.” He’s just another 25 glory. Another statistic. In a 1v1 duel, the killing is more personal and it feels more satisfying.

Thats the great thing whit sPVP noone relize =). Hell I even stand in the middle of all chaos and just pour AOE down above my point and killing of anything that aproahes me. I admit that 1 vs 1 is so hard, I win maby 1 out of 10 1vs1. But thats not the playing style for this build I run.

I guess its how you feel about the game , I like beeing on the highground just massaker evereyone belove whit my spells. So what if its an assist kill it a kill thet helped my team win + it gives me more points. Its not less you kill you just did it as teamwork and that “smart”.

Yeah. Exactly, 1v1 is hard even when you build for it. I consider myself a good staff ele but 1v1s are still quite hard, even if you’re fighting against a glasscannon—or even a noob who spams 1 skill over and over. The only easy kills I have are other staff eles (who aren’t bunker).

I must admit, while I enjoy the staff a lot, not being able to either take hits or deal out hits is getting tiresome.

Grats. I realized this months ago. Theres no ranged dps spec for eles in pvp.

Spamming AoE that anyone with half a brain can avoid doesnt make it good.

And tbh, the damage of the aoe in staff is not that good, its not as bursty as D/D and Meteor shower only hits 5 targets.

Make all skills in staff activate and travel twice as fast, then we can talk.
Add some more homing of the nr1 skills while your at it, air is the only nr1 skill that works in pvp, the rest misses 90% of the time.

Selo.1250:

Grats. I realized this months ago. Theres no ranged dps spec for eles in pvp.

Spamming AoE that anyone with half a brain can avoid doesnt make it good.

And tbh, the damage of the aoe in staff is not that good, its not as bursty as D/D and Meteor shower only hits 5 targets.

Make all skills in staff activate and travel twice as fast, then we can talk.
Add some more homing of the nr1 skills while your at it, air is the only nr1 skill that works in pvp, the rest misses 90% of the time.

Your saying that AOE on staff isent good and that ppl avoid it, still I whery often get 300 point + and around 20 kills. I must be hiting something lol

SecondtoNone.7549:

Anadur.4832:

I dont get this, I run staff in sPVP and 90-95% of the time I´m the top player in my team. I get a tons of kills around 20 a round.
And I´m a 10/30/0/10/20 build with berserkers Jewl and amulet

So do I. On a good round, I’m usually top player with 200+ glory. But you know what happens when someone realizes what’s going on? They target you. And in sPVP, you can’t rely on your team for kitten. It’s every man for himself. No one even resses in you sPVP. Most times, people just walk over my body and use it as a stepping stool. When you get targetted, it’s 1v1 time. I’ve played staff for a long time, I’m pretty decent at 1v1 but some classes are still very hard to play against and I would lose a lot to various classes, like the DD ele for example.

Now, I switched to DD and 1v1 battles are fun and challenging. Before, with staff, they were fun, challening, hard, and sometimes frustrating. I get less points, but I’m new to dd ele. And imo, most of the staff ele kills were assist kills from raining bombs from 1200 range while my team did the work.

With dd ele, I earn my kills. It feels good. With staff ele, I would stare down from a cliff and when someone died, I go “oh, looks like another one fell to my lava fonts and meteor storms.” He’s just another 25 glory. Another statistic. In a 1v1 duel, the killing is more personal and it feels more satisfying.

you have got to understand something, staff is not made for 1v1, so it will always be subpar to weapons that are 1v1, if you are in a 1v1 matchup. but if its 2vX it will turn out much better since, people don’t focus on the staff because everyone believes for the most part that staff is underrated and useless, so they target your teammate, so i keep my teammate alive and roast the enemy for not taking me seriously enough. for instance 2v4 me and another D/D beat a warrior, ele, ranger, and either another ele, or a mesmer, we killed 1 and neary killed the rest before we got any backup(it was tpvp) so the 1v1 D/D weapon could do some major damage to 1 person, but i was the one hurting all of them over that area. if you are using a weapon not for its purpose then you are doing it wrong, if you want to own in 1v1 use a 1v1 weapon, a staff, because of its aoe, is a support and mass assault, or 2v2 match ups

EDIT: and about your having problems 1v1, here’s what i do, when i am trying to have a 1v1 match with other good players, some people sometimes interrupt me, so i go a destroy them, then head back to the 1v1 matchup, they didn’t really cause any problems for me anyways(well most of them) i rarely ever lose 1v1 matchups(warriors? dead in less then 10 seconds if everything goes decent, thieves? depending on how stupid they are even less, or if they are smart more, mesmers? only the tanky ones can survive, because of my AoE it can hit them and their clones, so unless they want me to know which one is them they just stand there and take it, and because i just hit them with eruption their clones are dead and they are dying, only the tanky mesmers can get past that sort of setback, engineers, haven’t faced many honestly so cannot give an accurate representation, rangers, as i mention later i only lot to that 1 really good one, all others are easy, guardians are the ones i either tie with or its an endless match, unless they are not heavy on the condition removal, necro? i out condition damage them so they die, since i have better condition removal), ties, maybe(stupid condition removers), losses, rarely(i have only lost twice with the build i use, but i’ve only used it about 20 times, stupid guardians and that 1 really good ranger)

I must admit I love all the “I never die to XXX class with XXX build”.
Yet to find anything outside of broken bunkers and exploits that I can’t kill with with almost anything except engineer and guardian as I am just terrible with those 2 classes.

Not saying I am the best, or even better than above average, I still get my kitten handed to me on a regular basis. Just explaining how kitten your statement is.

Do not underestimate a staff Ele in the midst of battle, for the fun of it I went full glass cannon and staff (I was messing around with arcane skills applying vuln while using lingering attunement to get the damage boost from water) and my god I felt like a game changer (One that can die to someone sneezing) especially on the new temple map – get height advantage on the gate and rain death from above!
Thought I’d randomly throw that out there.

I’m gonna have to try this “ppl in spvp dont target staff elementalists” because as soon as I see a staff elementalist in spvp i just see a walking bag of free glory waiting to be taken.

NdranC.5107:

I’m gonna have to try this “ppl in spvp dont target staff elementalists” because as soon as I see a staff elementalist in spvp i just see a walking bag of free glory waiting to be taken.

I love that personally, I can go round with 3-4 people chasing me – but what they don’t realize is that while they’re distracted with me (I usually move off a point if this happens) is that my team is capping their points and mopping up their other team mates.

A Staff ele is actually great to farm kill points at spvp because of the format’s zergy nature. Make sure you pick a server that’s almost full, and big battles will always happen all the time. All you’ll have to do is spread the chaos with your aoe, and know when and where to fight.

Then you’ll have two big build choices. Glass Cannon to kill faster during zergs, but you’ll also be killed pretty fast on 1vs1. Or Defensive/ Bunker to still kill efficiently enough during zergs (and still get all the glory you would get with a glass cannon build), with better party support, and with being able to survive on 1vs1 (which you can have chance to win overtime against frail/ glass cannon builds that try to duel you).

EDIT: Also, there’s another advantage in going defensive. Because you are an elementalist, more players will want to target you first, thinking of you as a free kill. And in the middle of a 3vs3 or bigger battle, it’s always a bad idea to target the tanks first and leave the glass cannons for last. Many people do this mistake, and I usually end up fighting one or two players at the middle of any zerg. Because they can’t usually kill a defensive elementalist (fast enough, at least), the allies in the area will end up cleaning everything in due time, because they are killing other players while half of the opposing team is trying and having an hard time to just kill a single elementalist.

I mean when there are groups of 2, and i never said i don’t die to them, i probably came out that way, but since i am like the only 1 saying that staff is viable i have to make it sound invincible so people will at least try it before writing it off. and NdranC, its only when its 2vX, since people usually go after the “stronger” profession. theives(if they are glass cannons) are usually easy to kill once you survive their burst, and they have very few condition removals so conditions can kill them easily, warriors usually just charge you, so i can hit them with eruption very easily, meaning they take some major damage, and like i said, 1v1 D/D is usually better since it is made for 1v1

and curring, what else am i supposed to say? the forums are all saying that staff eles is worthless and that D/D is the only way to go. so if i don’t say something like that,(most of its true haven’t faced enough people 1v1 to say for a fact)

Curring.9752:

NdranC.5107:

I’m gonna have to try this “ppl in spvp dont target staff elementalists” because as soon as I see a staff elementalist in spvp i just see a walking bag of free glory waiting to be taken.

I love that personally, I can go round with 3-4 people chasing me – but what they don’t realize is that while they’re distracted with me (I usually move off a point if this happens) is that my team is capping their points and mopping up their other team mates.

I should have specified a little:

Staff glass canon eles = free bag of glory/always look for him/ takes 3 secs to kill, like thiefs.

Bunker staff eles = ignore, its a stalemate most of the time, I’ll only attack to keep him occupied long enough depending of the circumstance, but over all i never feel threaten.

I agree that distraction is a good strategy and people with no real sense of the game’s objective might get caught easily, but over all, you can do that with any class, it’s not an staff elementalist unique feature.

NdranC.5107:

Curring.9752:

NdranC.5107:

I’m gonna have to try this “ppl in spvp dont target staff elementalists” because as soon as I see a staff elementalist in spvp i just see a walking bag of free glory waiting to be taken.

I love that personally, I can go round with 3-4 people chasing me – but what they don’t realize is that while they’re distracted with me (I usually move off a point if this happens) is that my team is capping their points and mopping up their other team mates.

I should have specified a little:

Staff glass canon eles = free bag of glory/always look for him/ takes 3 secs to kill, like thiefs.

Bunker staff eles = ignore, its a stalemate most of the time, I’ll only attack to keep him occupied long enough depending of the circumstance, but over all i never feel threaten.

I agree that distraction is a good strategy and people with no real sense of the game’s objective might get caught easily, but over all, you can do that with any class, it’s not an staff elementalist unique feature.

that’s why i’m hoping that the staff ele gets a bit of a buff, but as for now i can live with condition and healing build, but honestly i am tired of the staff ele being so far underestimated, more then it should

Selo.1250:

Grats. I realized this months ago. Theres no ranged dps spec for eles in pvp.

i’ve dabbled with a “shockingly” effective scepter/dagger air glass cannon for some pretty awesome dmg.

also a scepter/focus earth condition build that stacks bleeds so dam fast,

and even toyed with a water dps scepter build witch was pretty hilarious! critting for pretty nice numbers!

ranged is viable, staff is’nt, its all AoE based and noones gonna be idiot enough to stand in your lava font

ranged is viable, staff is’nt, its all AoE based and noones gonna be idiot enough to stand in your lava font

I’ve been rocking Staff since release and frankly, you’d be surprised how many people willingly sit in my AoEs, even when I’m not at a cap point. People even sit in the uber long eruption. That’s just how much people disrespect Staff Eles.

I have to admit though, I feel that way sometimes too. When I see a staff ele, I charge in with glee for the staff ele. If it’s a glasscannon, I eat them for breakfast. They go down in one burst and a few extra auto-attacks. Om nom nom. Of course, you run into the bunkers occasionally and those are a pain in the kitten.

SecondtoNone.7549:

sPVP is all about the kills

Incorrect! Capturing and holding point is the main objective!

[/quote]
Yeah. Exactly, 1v1 is hard even when you build for it. I consider myself a good staff ele but 1v1s are still quite hard, even if you’re fighting against a glasscannon—or even a noob who spams 1 skill over and over. The only easy kills I have are other staff eles (who aren’t bunker).
[/quote]
I have to lol at this nonsense. I am an average player and I can 1v2 in full healing spec
gw2skills.net/editor/en/?fEAQFAWhImkbpxygjDAkHm8CLiCVUeMzO2A;ToAgzCmouxcj4G7Nubk3MAZaB

Thanks to Aky’s build compilation; http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/67305-akys-build-compilation/

ThiBash.5634:

I must admit, while I enjoy the staff a lot, not being able to either take hits or deal out hits is getting tiresome.

you should research into other builds then. I can do both with full support/heal
http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/67305-akys-build-compilation/

thelawofone.6342:

SecondtoNone.7549:

sPVP is all about the kills

Incorrect! Capturing and holding point is the main objective!

Try telling that to people in sPvP.

thelawofone.6342:

Yeah. Exactly, 1v1 is hard even when you build for it. I consider myself a good staff ele but 1v1s are still quite hard, even if you’re fighting against a glasscannon—or even a noob who spams 1 skill over and over. The only easy kills I have are other staff eles (who aren’t bunker).
[/quote]
I have to lol at this nonsense. I am an average player and I can 1v2 in full healing spec
gw2skills.net/editor/en/?fEAQFAWhImkbpxygjDAkHm8CLiCVUeMzO2A;ToAgzCmouxcj4G7Nubk3MAZaB

Thanks to Aky’s build compilation; http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/67305-akys-build-compilation/
[/quote]

I don’t bunker. You can’t kill any good players in bunker. And quit lying about 1v2ing anyone with staff ele. Please. If you mean by 1v2ing, all you’re doing is healing and holding the cap point until your mates arrive to help you. That’s not a 1v2. That’s just you being a bunker holding a cap point. Yeah, good for tPVP, but like I said many times before, sPVP, on the other hand, is all about the kills. Not winning the game.

SecondtoNone.7549:

thelawofone.6342:

Yeah. Exactly, 1v1 is hard even when you build for it. I consider myself a good staff ele but 1v1s are still quite hard, even if you’re fighting against a glasscannon—or even a noob who spams 1 skill over and over. The only easy kills I have are other staff eles (who aren’t bunker).

I have to lol at this nonsense. I am an average player and I can 1v2 in full healing spec
gw2skills.net/editor/en/?fEAQFAWhImkbpxygjDAkHm8CLiCVUeMzO2A;ToAgzCmouxcj4G7Nubk3MAZaB

Thanks to Aky’s build compilation; http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/67305-akys-build-compilation/
[/quote]

I don’t bunker. You can’t kill any good players in bunker. And quit lying about 1v2ing anyone with staff ele. Please. If you mean by 1v2ing, all you’re doing is healing and holding the cap point until your mates arrive to help you. That’s not a 1v2. That’s just you being a bunker holding a cap point. Yeah, good for tPVP, but like I said many times before, sPVP, on the other hand, is all about the kills. Not winning the game. [/quote]

i can successfully 1v2, and almost successfully 1v3

Atomic Sharks.7250:

SecondtoNone.7549:

thelawofone.6342:

Yeah. Exactly, 1v1 is hard even when you build for it. I consider myself a good staff ele but 1v1s are still quite hard, even if you’re fighting against a glasscannon—or even a noob who spams 1 skill over and over. The only easy kills I have are other staff eles (who aren’t bunker).

I have to lol at this nonsense. I am an average player and I can 1v2 in full healing spec
gw2skills.net/editor/en/?fEAQFAWhImkbpxygjDAkHm8CLiCVUeMzO2A;ToAgzCmouxcj4G7Nubk3MAZaB

Thanks to Aky’s build compilation; http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/67305-akys-build-compilation/

I don’t bunker. You can’t kill any good players in bunker. And quit lying about 1v2ing anyone with staff ele. Please. If you mean by 1v2ing, all you’re doing is healing and holding the cap point until your mates arrive to help you. That’s not a 1v2. That’s just you being a bunker holding a cap point. Yeah, good for tPVP, but like I said many times before, sPVP, on the other hand, is all about the kills. Not winning the game. [/quote]

i can successfully 1v2, and almost successfully 1v3[/quote]
0k. Sure.

Staff has several support skills, and it also has mostly AOE skills. These are all things that become more effective as you have multiple targets and multiple teammates.

So it’s obvious that 1v1 is the weakest situation for a staff. Its strengths lies in other areas.

A game where part of the gameplay is designing an awesome build, means that there will be weak builds and strong builds. It also means there will be builds that are better or worse for different situations. Your gear, including your weapon, is part of your build.

If you want to perform well, you choose a build that’s best at the situation you want to focus on.

“I’m going to run a Staff (ie. team-oriented) Ele and go and duel 1v1s! If it doesnt work it must be bad balance!” – You’re doing it wrong.

Especially in PvP, where you can roll up a new character in minutes, it’s non-optimal to limit yourself to any particular build, weapon, or even class. You choose the best of each to get the best results.

Feel free to make non-optimal choices just for fun, though. But don’t complain about the results.

S/D is viable too lol so not every ele is a DD =p

Secret of offensive staff style is accepting the fact that staff isn’t for offensive style of play.

the secret of offensive staff ele is finding a build that works

Atomic Sharks.7250:

the secret of offensive staff ele is finding a build that works

If you have a working build, could you share it?

Right now I’m running a 10/0/0/30/30 build with focusing on stacking multiple boons through traited cantrips. I’m running Runes of Lyssa and full Berserker gear.

I find I’m decently survivable – I can survive burst with the protection from cantrips and can remove conditions with the traits from Water. Chain CCs and quickness bursts can still cause me trouble, especially if I’m not ready for it, but I think those are problems for anyone.

My problem is I don’t do a whole lot of damage. Even going full berserker and with all of my buffs up, my fireballs hit for less than 1k against most targets, and I can’t get more than 2k damage out of my biggest damage spells, like Ice Spike or Lightning Surge. The damage from lava font could be impressive, but even with all of my CC spells, I can’t keep anyone in it for more than one or two ticks.

Am I playing wrong? Does my build need work? I’m eager to get some criticism.