Guild Wars 2

I love the playstyle of dual dagger ele, but I can see that at later levels I’m going to have a difficult time being in melee ranger and having no armor to cushion the incoming blows. So, that said- does anyone know of a decent, tried and true, dual dagger ele build that has decent survivability?

Any gear suggestions, traits, etc would be appreciated =D

Are you planning to use this in any of the following situations? :

1. dungeons
2. WvWvW defending
3. Bosses with exceptionally strong melee attacks (risen high priest, ETC)

If so I suggest firmly that you give up now, As someone who uses D/D every chance he gets, there are certain situations that you must use a ranged weapon for. I suggest always keeping a staff on you regardless.
However if you simply want a tanky D/D ele for general pve shenanigans.

1. get a set of pow/vit/toughness gear. Easiest is probably from AC, or HoTW. You could get the SE set, but it’ll be harder.
2. Use crests of the soldier. They’re cheap, and they’ll last you until you play around a bit more and discover what you want
3. accessories are really not that important. Beryl or Ruby, your choice. Invaders if you lack money (karma bought rare ones arent so bad) or Invader exotics if you happen to have a truckload of badges of honor lying around.
4. daggers should probably be I believe it’s called knights? Power/vit/crit damage. 400 artificer I believe makes them. (maybe weaponsmith?)

5. For a trait build I recommend something like this:
30 arcana – Evasive arcana, Elemental attunement, renewing stamina
20 water – cleansing wave, and then either cantrip mastery or soothing disruption
10 earth – earths embrace
the last 10 are up to you. I personally like 10 air for quick glyphs, and the 10% movespeed.

utilities: Arcane shield, armor of earth, lightning flash, mist form. Learn to love these 4, they’ll be on your bar quite a lot. I usually switch out lightning flash and armor of earth as needed. (Depending on which is more important, mobility or stability) Glyph of renewal is also pretty ok in niche situations.

General combat advice:
You are still squishy. Learn to accept that
Switching to water removes a condition. Rolling also removes a condition. You can do this every 10 seconds. Keep that in mind
Attuning also grants you boons. earth is protection. Use that often.
Attuning gives fury too, use that to get crits to trigger renewing stamina, Vigor is powerful, especially when you get bonus effects as you roll.
Evasive arcana can proc combo fields even when on the 10 second cooldown. Using ring of fire and rolling into it twice in a row for example, will give 6 stacks of might, rather than the expected 3.
You will probably want to turn off melee assistance. Walking through monsters is invaluable.

this is the build you’re looking for, it’s all you’ll ever need from now on

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEAQJAoYhMmKbnR5gjDAUGnYikxDWUUMDOA;ToAA0CnoqxUjoGbNuak1MIYaB

I use it in spvp and pve and wvw

for dungeons use bow of frost, it’s awesome

Second poster is totally wrong about all those things mentioned at the start. WvW, dungeons, and heavy hitter bosses are fine as double dagger. You just have to know what you’re doing and have a good build / gear.

You can’t build glass cannon. You need some hit points / defense. How much is kind of up to you. I am comfortable with around 17k health. Some like more than that.

You NEED 10 into water for conditional removal.

10 into arcane for auras is a huge bonus as well. 20 helps get you extra vigor which is great for dodging.

10 into earth gives you armor of earth which is another good one.

You need at least 2 defensive utility skills imo to go along with d/d for WvW. Dungeons can be whatever depending on how comfortable you feel.

Arcane shield, teleport (can be used both offensively and defensive), mist form (this one is fantastic), are my favorite.

Gear is a mix of Power, Vitality, Condition Damage, Precision, Toughness in roughly that order

You dont want a full build of condition damage, but some mixed in helps a lot. D/D can reliably stack conditions on people enough to where it’s still effect in pvp. Just dont throw it all into condition.

Dungeons your first time start out with staff, then once you learn the dungeon switch to D/D. Learning it as dual dagger is kinda rough. But once you know the dungeon it’s not that bad.

D/D is one of the most complicated classes in the game, but it’s really fun and rewarding once you learn it. Good luck.

I’m currently leveling a d/d ELE currently switched from S/D, I love it, Granted my tailoring is up to my level (325) so I’m Constantly Decked the F’ Out which I found important after not seeing a point in upgrading my gear lvl 20-46, when I almost re-rolled. I Currently run all in precision/cond dmg/power build, Yes i am a glass cannon, i have 100% crit rate, Your an elementalist you have to know your role in battle,pvp,pve, ext. at all times goal = don’t get hit, reality it happens A LOT stack your conditions study your skills and multiple attunement combos and blow kitten Up. I love d/d but I carry a Staff on backup because I KNOW it is required in certain situations WvWvW PvE PvP whatever you dabble in keep it on hand disengage from combat when you need to switch and switch. Really if your looking for a character to sit back let auto attack rack up,and tower over foes, change classes now, its not going to happen.
Sorry rant over, beer set aside.

Kuthos.9623:

Second poster is totally wrong about all those things mentioned at the start. WvW, dungeons, and heavy hitter bosses are fine as double dagger. You just have to know what you’re doing and have a good build / gear.

You can’t build glass cannon. You need some hit points / defense. How much is kind of up to you. I am comfortable with around 17k health. Some like more than that.

You NEED 10 into water for conditional removal.

10 into arcane for auras is a huge bonus as well. 20 helps get you extra vigor which is great for dodging.

10 into earth gives you armor of earth which is another good one.

You need at least 2 defensive utility skills imo to go along with d/d for WvW. Dungeons can be whatever depending on how comfortable you feel.

Arcane shield, teleport (can be used both offensively and defensive), mist form (this one is fantastic), are my favorite.

Gear is a mix of Power, Vitality, Condition Damage, Precision, Toughness in roughly that order

You dont want a full build of condition damage, but some mixed in helps a lot. D/D can reliably stack conditions on people enough to where it’s still effect in pvp. Just dont throw it all into condition.

Dungeons your first time start out with staff, then once you learn the dungeon switch to D/D. Learning it as dual dagger is kinda rough. But once you know the dungeon it’s not that bad.

D/D is one of the most complicated classes in the game, but it’s really fun and rewarding once you learn it. Good luck.

Please, D/D lupicus and get back to me.
Defend a fort with D/D. Oh wait, you cant, because none of the attacks hit people from the walls.

There are certain situations where D/D will NOT cut it. Thinking you can use them 24/7 is harmful to yourself and your teammates. Dont be a bad.

I’ve done all bosses and paths with D/D. Just because you can’t doesn’t mean someone else can. I’m not going to go and say it’s optimal for every boss fight but you can do it.

I defend forts all the time with D/D. I dont sit inside or on the walls. I go out, aoe, knock people down. Sure if its a zerg then you sit on the walls with staff, but then you’re not going to do much anyway.

Dont be bad I believe you said.

Where did I say use it 24/7? Try harder.

I highly suggest everyone in this thread watch videos of Excala from Fort Aspenwood.
“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wettu6MqNI”
Or look up daphoenix555

Kuthos.9623:

I’ve done all bosses and paths with D/D. Just because you can’t doesn’t mean someone else can. I’m not going to go and say it’s optimal for every boss fight but you can do it.

I defend forts all the time with D/D. I dont sit inside or on the walls. I go out, aoe, knock people down. Sure if its a zerg then you sit on the walls with staff, but then you’re not going to do much anyway.

Dont be bad I believe you said.

Where did I say use it 24/7? Try harder.

So in phase 1 lupicus you forced your team to stand ontop of him, with the grubs? For phase 2 you lost constant DPS everytime he shadowstepped away? IN phase 3 you had to burn 2 rolls or let him lifedrain you multiple times with his massive AOE? Either you’re lying, or you dragged your team down the entire fight.

With a staff you can wreck siege weapons with ease. With a staff you can drop meteor showers and lava fonts to pick off attackers. With D/D you drop down and get immobilized and bursted in 5 seconds. At least, in my bracket you do. Which WvWvW bracket are you in? Anywhere above bracket 4 should probably mean close to instant death if you leave the wall.

“Where did I say use it 24/7? Try harder.”
You literally JUST said you use it for every dungeon every path and WvWvW defense. Which would be every situation, unless you’re changing to staff for the sections of PvE in which D/D is actually very good <.<

Believe what you want. First you say “double dagger is useless in dungeons”. You’re the one that brought up Lupicus. I never said it was optimal either, I said it could be done. WvW defending can mean a whole lot more than just sitting on a tower. I’m sorry if you get burst down in 5 seconds, but I rarely do.

Again you’re putting words into my mouth. I never said I use it all the time for every dungeon path or defense. I said I have done it on every path. That doesn’t mean I do it all the time. Reading comprehension much? I also mentioned that if there’s a zerg outside I will switch to staff. Again that whole reading thing. But if there’s only like 10-15 people you bet I will go outside the walls and wreck some havoc with D/D.

Staff you will get picked apart on the walls just as much as going out with d/d. You were assuming good opponents there right? Because they’re not going to let you sit up top and bombard to your heart’s delight either.

Kuthos.9623:

Believe what you want. First you say “double dagger is useless in dungeons”. You’re the one that brought up Lupicus. I never said it was optimal either, I said it could be done. WvW defending can mean a whole lot more than just sitting on a tower. I’m sorry if you get burst down in 5 seconds, but I rarely do.

Again you’re putting words into my mouth. I never said I use it all the time for every dungeon path or defense. I said I have done it on every path. That doesn’t mean I do it all the time. Reading comprehension much? I also mentioned that if there’s a zerg outside I will switch to staff. Again that whole reading thing. But if there’s only like 10-15 people you bet I will go outside the walls and wreck some havoc with D/D.

Staff you will get picked apart on the walls just as much as going out with d/d. You were assuming good opponents there right? Because they’re not going to let you sit up top and bombard to your heart’s delight either.

Where did I say D/D was useless in dungeons. I said if he plans to do them he should bring a staff because, and I quote “there are certain situations that you must use a ranged weapon for.” Not every situation. Not even every situation of every dungeon. But certain situations, of which lupicus is one of the easiest examples to point to. You’re the one who claimed he used D/D for every boss of every path (which means you were playing sub-par and were dragging down your team for quite a few bosses)

I play in the tier 1 bracket. I held off 30 JQ people without defensive siege with only 6 other people on the wall with me. I assure you, nuking people from the wall is cake compared to jumping down. Even in lower tier brackets, hopping down into 15 people usually means death, just about everyone has some form of immobilize or cripple. And 15 people can wreck you if ~4 of them are paying attention.

Kuthos.9623:

Believe what you want. First you say “double dagger is useless in dungeons”. You’re the one that brought up Lupicus. I never said it was optimal either, I said it could be done. WvW defending can mean a whole lot more than just sitting on a tower. I’m sorry if you get burst down in 5 seconds, but I rarely do.

Again you’re putting words into my mouth. I never said I use it all the time for every dungeon path or defense. I said I have done it on every path. That doesn’t mean I do it all the time. Reading comprehension much? I also mentioned that if there’s a zerg outside I will switch to staff. Again that whole reading thing. But if there’s only like 10-15 people you bet I will go outside the walls and wreck some havoc with D/D.

Staff you will get picked apart on the walls just as much as going out with d/d. You were assuming good opponents there right? Because they’re not going to let you sit up top and bombard to your heart’s delight either.

It’s odd how you keep saying Zen isn’t reading when he didn’t say DD is useless he said it’s not viable and he enjoys using it but becasue of the situations you get into you should have a staff. And for another example in arah your gonna tank Balthazar on a ele in Arah getting hit for 15k from his spin to win? Or the other trash in Arah hitting 5k a shot at you regardless how your ele is spec’ed your a light armor class and while D/D is fun it’s not optional.

On the note of WvW I have 2 commander’s from Blackgate (currently Tier one bracket) and idk what server your playing on but 15 people attacking a tower? Really is that the activity your playing at cause that seams super low even in tier 4 bracket it was at least 30 and idk how u can justify having arrow carts at your disposal siege weapons being able to have 1350 range with fire magic on a staff in WvW and say that get picked apart just as easy as being in melee range where you have no cover.

your honestly making yourself look bad Kuthos saying people don’t read but your saying people are wrong without even reading there posts because you need 2 stroke your ego and think your builds are the best it’s honestly kinda pathetic and ANYONE who uses D/D on lupi should never be listened to.

Are you planning to use this in any of the following situations? :
1. dungeons

If so I suggest firmly that you give up now

Not my words, his.

Not every fight is a zerg vs. zerg. I could care less what bracket you’re in. Ranks mean nothing with free transfers. Parade around all you want with your “high bracket”, it means nothing.

Where did I say that I use d/d on lupi all the time? I didn’t.

You guys are real funny.

Wait now I know why you’ve never seen a smaller fight before, because you guys never break away from the zerg and get into smaller fights. If there was no one to follow around you’d be lost.

Zenyatoo.4059:

Kuthos.9623:

Believe what you want. First you say “double dagger is useless in dungeons”. You’re the one that brought up Lupicus. I never said it was optimal either, I said it could be done. WvW defending can mean a whole lot more than just sitting on a tower. I’m sorry if you get burst down in 5 seconds, but I rarely do.

Again you’re putting words into my mouth. I never said I use it all the time for every dungeon path or defense. I said I have done it on every path. That doesn’t mean I do it all the time. Reading comprehension much? I also mentioned that if there’s a zerg outside I will switch to staff. Again that whole reading thing. But if there’s only like 10-15 people you bet I will go outside the walls and wreck some havoc with D/D.

Staff you will get picked apart on the walls just as much as going out with d/d. You were assuming good opponents there right? Because they’re not going to let you sit up top and bombard to your heart’s delight either.

Where did I say D/D was useless in dungeons. I said if he plans to do them he should bring a staff because, and I quote “there are certain situations that you must use a ranged weapon for.” Not every situation. Not even every situation of every dungeon. But certain situations, of which lupicus is one of the easiest examples to point to. You’re the one who claimed he used D/D for every boss of every path (which means you were playing sub-par and were dragging down your team for quite a few bosses)

I play in the tier 1 bracket. I held off 30 JQ people without defensive siege with only 6 other people on the wall with me. I assure you, nuking people from the wall is cake compared to jumping down. Even in lower tier brackets, hopping down into 15 people usually means death, just about everyone has some form of immobilize or cripple. And 15 people can wreck you if ~4 of them are paying attention.

Correction. I held off “30 idiots” with 6 people not using siege. If that’s the tier 1 bracket, then gee that must be some “awesome” pvp.

Anyways, done with this post. I offered advice. Take it or leave it, makes no difference to me.

well i’m a commander so people come with me.

“If so I suggest firmly that you give up now, As someone who uses D/D every chance he gets, there are certain situations that you must use a ranged weapon for. I suggest always keeping a staff on you regardless.”

to read the whole posts he says to take one becasue you can’t all the time. and your the one who said u can do ANY boss with it and HAVE DONE EVERY BOSS i would assume your a dungeon master too than right?

Tolmos.8395:

I love the playstyle of dual dagger ele, but I can see that at later levels I’m going to have a difficult time being in melee ranger and having no armor to cushion the incoming blows. So, that said- does anyone know of a decent, tried and true, dual dagger ele build that has decent survivability?

Armor isn’t everything. What you want is Protection boon, which gives -33% damage when it’s active. If you’ll look at your talents, you’ll find this exact boon in 10 earth magic under trait V – Elemental Shielding. It requires auras, which incidentally D/D is best at applying (you get 3 by default), so we’ll be building an auramancer. The logical next step is getting I – Zephyr’s Boon in Air Magic. We now have auras applying three boons any time you activate them.

Since D/D is only very good if you switch attunements a lot, we’ll want to get V – Elemental Attunement in Arcana. You might be tempted to go deeper into Arcana for this exact fact, but let’s hold it out for a bit and see what else we need. As an added bonus, these 10 also give us fury on attunement swap.

Now, before we continue, let’s look at what utilities we can get. Quite a few D/D auramancers like to go into signets for IX – Fire’s Embrace, but I’d advise against it. Instead, I suggest you grab Armor of Earth and Lightning Flash (breaks out of stun) for defensive utilities. Since that’s at least two cantrips, we might want to look into boosting those. 10 in Water Magic gives us III – Soothing Disruption for regeneration and vigor. 10 in Fire Magic gives us IV – Spell Slinger for 3 might whenever a Cantrip is used. This means that for instance activating Armor of Earth will give you: stability, protection, regeneration, vigor, 3 might. If we’re this far, we might as well get another 10 points in Arcana and grab VI – Renewing Stamina for more vigor. This gives us pretty much permanent vigor as well. We’ve got 10 more points. Where to? Damage of course. Another 10 in fire, grab VI – Internal Fire. What about the third utility? This one is up to you. Original suggestion was Sigil of Earth, but personally I’m a great fan of Arcane Wave – you’re close to the target, so it’s extra AoE burst, plus combined with Ring of Fire, it gives you another 3 might. A combo such as Ring of Fire->Arcane Wave->Earth, Magnetic Grasp, Earthquake, Churning Earth will give you 9 Might, Fire Aura and deal a whole pile of damage to the target(s).

So, we now have our 20/10/10/10/20 auramancer build. We have Frost Aura, Shocking Aura and Ring of Fire + Magnetic Grasp = Fire Aura. Which is missing? Why, Magnetic Aura, of course. Off we go to grab Runes of Earth, which also gives us increased Protection duration AND gives us a chance to get Protection if we’re hit. The Magnetic Aura itself triggers at 20% health and, as other auras, gives us Protection, Fury and Swiftness to boot.

What about the rest of the gear? Personally, I’m using Berserker set + Valkyrie jewels as per guildmate’s suggestion, it gives a wee bit extra health, but mostly ups the damage. For sigils, the Superior Battle is a no-brainer. As much as you’ll be swapping attunements, that thing shines. The other one is up to you – I’d go for Bloodlust for PvE and Fire for PvP, but that’s just personal preference.

Overall, let’s recap – a huge pile of quickly reapplied boons (in many cases to allies as well), impressive burst damage and a pile of defenses and escape options. Even better, by getting Blasting Staff and swapping aura traits for something else, you can quickly turn it into a fairly powerful Staff build as well. I want to stress this right here – there are situations out there where you absolutely should be using the staff. For instance, against burrows in AC, Meteor Storm is so insanely powerful that it can change entire fights from hard to completely trivial. Do not neglect this option and always keep a staff on you, even if you’re not built for it.

Feel free to experiment with it as you please

Build originally explained by WoodenPotatoes here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tcr7A2htMMI

Further modifications by my guildmate BobMerlin and yours trully.

This is a variation of one of the most used balance D/D builds, this one being focused on pvp:

http://www.intothemists.com/calc/index.php?build=-k33;2R0-U0-57N-Z0;9;59-TT;10;342A45A4o0;3qNnCrV2D0BV

- It has great – and I mean great – condition removal;
- It has great healing, including regeneration;
- It has great mobility and close to perma-swiftness;
- It has good survivability (due to the above); and
- It has decent burst when combined with fury and might stacking.

The build is excellent in small skirmisher battles and 1v1. Its not as easy to pratice for everyone as you have to be quick, a good aimer and swap atunements constantly. Otherwise you will be bursted down by thiefs and other burst classes.

Remember that you are still rather squishy (its not a bunker build) but its good because you have some offense without sacrificing too much defence. You can’t really go full offense on an ele, they are simply too squishy.

The typical combo looks like this:
Air) Ride the lightning, Updraft, Shocking aura
Fire) Burning speed, Ring of fire, Arcane Wave (Utility), Fire Grab and possibly Drake’s Breath.
Then go from there with possibly Earth) Earthquake and/or Churning earth (more might stacking). Including a dogde roll from fire or earth will grant you even more might stacking. You can easily reach 15+ stacks from the combo.

-

I would suggest looking here:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/elementalist/Guide-Mastering-the-D-D-elementalist-11-6-12/first#post655822

D/D is best in water tossing out waterangs. With healing signet, 20% CD decrease and a bit of +Healing gear they will heal you up pretty well without having to pop them (because you won’t be getting Written in Stone. Just no.). I have +400 healing and find the ’rangs heal me up well.

D/D is the only weapon combo with two auras so it is a prime candidate for aura sharing. Again, water line, 30 points. You can also go with condition removal on regen or water attune to be a condition removal machine or for more dps take decreased CD and 20% more damage to vulnerable foes (rangs cause vulnerability). Again, water line. Water line also gives you 3k more health, 1k for every 10 points.

This is what I use outside of dungeons, and change up traits (mostly water) and skills depending on what I want to do, e.g. Mist Form for Cleansing Fire if I take soothing disruption. Aura sharing or condition removal on regen, condition removal on water attunement, etc.

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQFAWlw16MmZQABPCBARhJqEUQwAiCWUUcDOA;T0Ag0ynEOJdS9kyJKuMcJ4yWjjLJXDIA

Really good for roaming if you swap out aura sharing (which you won’t be sharing since you’ll be alone) for condition removal on regen.

This D/D vs staff bs needs to end. You can use both wherever you like.

As far as siege goes I will tell you about the perfect weapon. Go to siege master pick up an arrow cart then thank me later. Trebuchet , ram, and other are also acceptable.

BTW you can run D/D in any situation. Situational awareness concurs all. If you know your class and aren’t playing fast and loss with a glass cannon you can run any weapon set up.

dont go for earth embrace, 10secs of protection and stability ever 90sec is pitiful.

go for elemental shielding 3secs of protection everytime you use an aura, and you get 3 auras with low CD with d/d (frost,lightning and earth grab through your fire field for the 3rd)

same goes for 10 in air for the swiftness and fury on aura.

i would spec minimal, 15 in water (for heal). 10 in air for auras boons, 10 in earth for elemental sheilding. and 15 in arcane for retaining your buffs for extra 5 seconds (so you can keep those bonuses for alot longer since your switch elements quite alot.

the rest go for whatever you find best, i personally find fire traits to be lackluster, and evasive arcana a gimmick and situational more than useful. for pvp i suggest going 30 in water for condition removal on regen, since you can trait for cantrips to give regen (and use 3 cantrips)

Anyone that’s suggested Excala’s threads/build I totally agree with. Built around the same traits/gear/concept as him and survivability is amazing along with killing many people without worry.