(edited by daterxies.6479)
So whats the best weapon(s) for leveling?
I’m assuming the Elementalist you met was using a scepter. The air attument’s autoattack is a continuous electrical discharge.
I had fun using D/D while levelling, but it’s really up to you. Just use the weapon you have most fun with.
I’m assuming the Elementalist you met was using a scepter. The air attument’s autoattack is a continuous electrical discharge.
I had fun using D/D while levelling, but it’s really up to you. Just use the weapon you have most fun with.
I completely agree with you. The only reason I play ele over other classes is because I find it the most enjoyable. I personally find D/D the most fun, but plenty of people prefer scepter; all up to you.
Tyronee Biggums- Warrior SBI
“If fifty people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing”-Bertrand Russell
I used dagger/dagger for leveling. I died a lot, though.
You don’t need to respec for PvP, it uses an entirely different set of weapons/armour separate from your PvE gear and you’ll automatically equip it when you travel to the Heart of the Mists.
Nameless Inversion/Ascension/Evasion/Ruination/Impression/Perdition/Compassion/Tactician
Guild Wars 2 will be an amazing game when it’s finished. Compare Prophecies to EotN!
Also i ran into a Ele earlier and it looked like he had a lighting chain thing.. it looked really sick but its not in any of my skills yet. Any idea what it was?
Dagger air 1, I guess. I love it animation and it is actually pretty good (the ele’s only good) autoattack skill.
As for leveling I’d suggest d/d too since it has best fast and dynamic dps. But it wont hurt to switch on other skills in encounter requires so.
I leveled most of the way with dagger/dagger, and still use it when solo because it’s my favorite play style. That said, lightning hammer (one of your skill-point-bought skills) is probably the most effective for solo leveling in my opinion. It’s pretty boring to play with since auto attack 1 is all you need to do, but it sure does a lot of damage!
Like others said, what you were describing is most likely air attunement skill 1 with dagger main hand. It does look pretty sweet.
I have to agree, I am level 66 now, and play along D/D, but I am having trouble deciding what armor I want. Right now I am full Zerk, as I am pretty good with dodge and kite. All in all I am loving it.
Level with d/d(lightning hammer at hard parts or when you just want to kill with no action required) and get your rotations down because it will help immensely later in pvp or WvW. The sooner you learn how to cycle effectively through your attunements and manage cooldowns across all 4, the better off you’ll be.
Definitely Staff.
Lowest health/armor + no base-defense mechanics = not optimized for fighting in close quarters. Staff lets you keep your distance and deal massive damage.
I use the staff on my elemental. I just started so I’m not the most reputable source, however, I’ve decided that the staff is the safest based on my (short) experience.
-AoE damage to handle crowds
-Tons of disengage spells
-An extra roll
-Knockback
-Plenty of AoE cc
-An AoE stun
-Path block
-Blind (but it’s 1 target)
– AoE snare
-A projectile shield
- 3 sources of heals if things get dicey
The staff has an answer to almost anything tbh.
Staff for every reason that SubZero mentioned.
Keep in mind that tags (doing enough damage to a mob to get kill credit) are important in PvE so you can get your loot and XP (especially in large events). The Staff AoE is one of the best methods of getting those tags (seriously we have it very good compared to many professions in that regard).
glass cannonish staff + signet of earth for the immob. use earth #4/#5 when SoE is down.
don’t bother switching attunements in PVE, it’s not worth the effort — you’ll just end up killing stuff way slower.
just stay in fire and nuke.
glass cannonish staff + signet of earth for the immob. use earth #4/#5 when SoE is down.
don’t bother switching attunements in PVE, it’s not worth the effort — you’ll just end up killing stuff way slower.
just stay in fire and nuke.
Disagree on the “don’t bother switching attunements”. If you want to be the worst ele you can be at level 80, then by all means follow that advice. However you should learn to play smart, and then practice playing smart. Leveling is the training ground to learn the smart behaviors. Otherwise you get to 80 and do the same stupid stuff and your team mates think “this is the worst ele ever”.
glass cannonish staff + signet of earth for the immob. use earth #4/#5 when SoE is down.
don’t bother switching attunements in PVE, it’s not worth the effort — you’ll just end up killing stuff way slower.
just stay in fire and nuke.
Disagree on the “don’t bother switching attunements”. If you want to be the worst ele you can be at level 80, then by all means follow that advice. However you should learn to play smart, and then practice playing smart. Leveling is the training ground to learn the smart behaviors. Otherwise you get to 80 and do the same stupid stuff and your team mates think “this is the worst ele ever”.
you shouldn’t be switching attunements from fire as a staff ele because all the other staff skills are pretty garbage for DPS. and yes, DPS is what you (and every other party member) should be focusing on in a dungeon. the inability to swap attunements is probably the biggest disadvantage to the staff build, which can provide among the highest DPS in-game.
if you want a more flexible build with regards to attunement swapping dagger/focus fresh air builds are probably better.
glass cannonish staff + signet of earth for the immob. use earth #4/#5 when SoE is down.
don’t bother switching attunements in PVE, it’s not worth the effort — you’ll just end up killing stuff way slower.
just stay in fire and nuke.
Disagree on the “don’t bother switching attunements”. If you want to be the worst ele you can be at level 80, then by all means follow that advice. However you should learn to play smart, and then practice playing smart. Leveling is the training ground to learn the smart behaviors. Otherwise you get to 80 and do the same stupid stuff and your team mates think “this is the worst ele ever”.
I second that since in Orr you need more CC and extra heal against multiple targets.
Though fire is your source of DMG I often lure mobs with air attunement together, slow them with that incredible good ice field, give some earth #2 and finally Fire #2 and 5. Then, I just roll through with #4 and they burn burn burn!!!
In low lvl areas you can stay in fire ofc.
For more mele action D/D or D/F is so much fun. Especially with fresh air. If you do quests and kill single mobs one by one fresh air is the most satisfactory thing for me!
For easy?
Staff then Lightning Hammer when you hit 40.
Nothing is easier than 10 in fire and everything else in water and arcane with LH spam.
Bad@Thief: Kiera Gordon
Sea of Sorrows, a server never before so appropriately named.
glass cannonish staff + signet of earth for the immob. use earth #4/#5 when SoE is down.
don’t bother switching attunements in PVE, it’s not worth the effort — you’ll just end up killing stuff way slower.
just stay in fire and nuke.
Disagree on the “don’t bother switching attunements”. If you want to be the worst ele you can be at level 80, then by all means follow that advice. However you should learn to play smart, and then practice playing smart. Leveling is the training ground to learn the smart behaviors. Otherwise you get to 80 and do the same stupid stuff and your team mates think “this is the worst ele ever”.
you shouldn’t be switching attunements from fire as a staff ele because all the other staff skills are pretty garbage for DPS. and yes, DPS is what you (and every other party member) should be focusing on in a dungeon. the inability to swap attunements is probably the biggest disadvantage to the staff build, which can provide among the highest DPS in-game.
if you want a more flexible build with regards to attunement swapping dagger/focus fresh air builds are probably better.
I’ll make sure I never run a dungeon with you — an ele that stays only in fire attune is not an ele I want in my team. You can play that brain-dead style if you want, but you are not doing your mates any favors.
Yeah that sounds harsh, but if DPS was your only role, then why are you playing a staff ele?
Use all of the weapons. But staff and dagger mainhand will give the most AoE damage.
Zulu Ox Tactics [zulu]
glass cannonish staff + signet of earth for the immob. use earth #4/#5 when SoE is down.
don’t bother switching attunements in PVE, it’s not worth the effort — you’ll just end up killing stuff way slower.
just stay in fire and nuke.
Disagree on the “don’t bother switching attunements”. If you want to be the worst ele you can be at level 80, then by all means follow that advice. However you should learn to play smart, and then practice playing smart. Leveling is the training ground to learn the smart behaviors. Otherwise you get to 80 and do the same stupid stuff and your team mates think “this is the worst ele ever”.
you shouldn’t be switching attunements from fire as a staff ele because all the other staff skills are pretty garbage for DPS. and yes, DPS is what you (and every other party member) should be focusing on in a dungeon. the inability to swap attunements is probably the biggest disadvantage to the staff build, which can provide among the highest DPS in-game.
if you want a more flexible build with regards to attunement swapping dagger/focus fresh air builds are probably better.
I’ll make sure I never run a dungeon with you — an ele that stays only in fire attune is not an ele I want in my team. You can play that brain-dead style if you want, but you are not doing your mates any favors.
Yeah that sounds harsh, but if DPS was your only role, then why are you playing a staff ele?
Did you not read what he said or are just doing it selectively to have a flimsy argument? The most important thing in dungeon clears is dps and dodging. In other weapon sets for ele’s swapping attunements constantly improves dps, it does not however do that in fire where your dps is built around lava font spam.
He even mentions that there are other builds that play better to that naming one.
And actually, no one wants the dead weight running around trying to CC and cleanse when dps will get you through the engagement with much more survivability (from not having to drag out fights).
Bad@Thief: Kiera Gordon
Sea of Sorrows, a server never before so appropriately named.
Disagree on the “don’t bother switching attunements”. If you want to be the worst ele you can be at level 80, then by all means follow that advice. However you should learn to play smart, and then practice playing smart. Leveling is the training ground to learn the smart behaviors. Otherwise you get to 80 and do the same stupid stuff and your team mates think “this is the worst ele ever”.
I’ll make sure I never run a dungeon with you — an ele that stays only in fire attune is not an ele I want in my team. You can play that brain-dead style if you want, but you are not doing your mates any favors.
Yeah that sounds harsh, but if DPS was your only role, then why are you playing a staff ele?
Err Staff Ele’s do some of the highest damage in the game second to only LH build. I think you’re confusing different builds…D/D or S/D + Evasive Arcana (30 Arcana) is where attunement switching is useful, it’s a more more defense/support oriented builds.
But with a typical 30/20/10/10/0 (or similar) staff build, it’s all about staying in fire and nuking massive damage. You shouldn’t be switching attunements unless it’s an absolute emergency. All it does is lock you out of your main role (damage) for 13 seconds which is an eternity.
I’ve occasionally been in groups where if I go down the damage on boss HP seems to come to a grinding halt, almost like I was doing most of the damage :P
I wish this game had DPS Meters
(edited by Wintel.4873)
Staff ele brings a lot of versatility to a team — all of which is lost if you just play fire-bot. Very little brain power goes into staying in one attunement.
If you want to run that build and play that style, knock yourself out. It’s allowed in the game.
My original point is you can’t L2P if all you do is run in one attunement. Leveling is your sandbox to learn the basics, and attunement switching is a core skill for elementalist. After L2P, if the OP wants to become a fire bot then no harm done. However the reverse is hard.
Staff ele brings a lot of versatility to a team
No, bringing versatility and support is the job of guardians, warriors, engineers, mesmers, etc. They do that drastically better than Ele’s.
Staff Ele’s bring damage and a ton of it, so it’s best to build on our strengths and maximize damage (i.e. stay in fire attunement). All this talk about “brain power” is irrelevant, this is about what gets the job done best.
I hope we’re only talking about PvE btw. PvP is a whole other story.
Staff ele brings a lot of versatility to a team
No, bringing versatility and support is the job of guardians, warriors, engineers, mesmers, etc. They do that drastically better than Ele’s.
You probably think that way from playing fire-bot too long
If you’re there mainly for DPS, there is nothing wrong with staying in fire as a staff elementalist.
As far as best for leveling, I would advise against D/D. Sure it’s fun and it probably has the best skill animations out of all the elementalist weapons. However, you’re still a squishy mage. Unless you’re pretty experienced with the class, expect to die a lot.
For leveling, I recommend a staff or Scepter/any off hand weapon you want.
I think scepter/dagger is great for leveling. The computer generated enemies in this game do more damage if your in melee range and scepter has the range to take you out of that. By the mid 40s I could solo Champion Corrupted Wolfmaster( one of the easier champs) with scepter but still can’t solo it at 78 with dagger because coming closer increases the damage I take.
S/D also gives you tremendous burst AOE damage. In this game fighting several trash mobs at once is inevitable. The only way a squishy class like ele can survive that is to kill them fast. S/D has no problems with this at all. And this weapon set has some good defensive skills and healing and gap closers/mobility skills.
The only drawback to solo leveling with this is that the autoattacks are lame compared to mainhand dagger. That’s not a big problem.
I also think that when playing a new class you should just use which ever weapon drop you got is the strongest up until midgame at least. This save you money and expose you to all the weapon sets eventually.
If you ever get one a zerg train or zerg attack a champ like Shadow Behemoth my advice is to switch to staff and autoattack from max distance. Let the 80s farming the champ do the work for you your just a lowbie.
Staff ele brings a lot of versatility to a team
No, bringing versatility and support is the job of guardians, warriors, engineers, mesmers, etc. They do that drastically better than Ele’s.
You probably think that way from playing fire-bot too long
Dropping the odd field is nowhere near as effective as killing things quickly.
No.
where.
Close.
There is a reason glass cannon is the dungeon meta.
Bad@Thief: Kiera Gordon
Sea of Sorrows, a server never before so appropriately named.
The staff fire 2 spam mode is nowhere close to the dps possible on lightning hammer type builds in PvE, not to mention the damage the mighting does to party members – which the staff type is incapable of doing. That is not to say it is not viable, because of how easy dungeons are.
Fire staff 2 is, however, one of the greatest skills on dps against zergs. It’s not just viable there, it’s one of the optimal configurations.
Use the right tool for the job.
lots of amusing responses here…
the reason to not bother switching attunements in PVE is because PVE is so mind-numbingly easy it’s not worth the effort most of the time.
This is not to say you shouldn’t drop a water and blast it when it’s needed but the rest of the time you might as well just autoattack in fire.
The staff fire 2 spam mode is nowhere close to the dps possible on lightning hammer type builds in PvE, not to mention the damage the mighting does to party members – which the staff type is incapable of doing. That is not to say it is not viable, because of how easy dungeons are.
Fire staff 2 is, however, one of the greatest skills on dps against zergs. It’s not just viable there, it’s one of the optimal configurations.
Use the right tool for the job.
staff build is better DPS than LH because of how OP font and shower are. also, you can bring both in a party and all the might/fury issues will be settled.
most organised groups don’t have much trouble with might stacking, especially with eles. I find that vuln is the less easily accessible condition in most group comps.