Guild Wars 2

Hi guys. I just wanted to say I’ve been using soldier gear on my ele (exotic I think) and its amazing! I still do a lot of damage so I am useful in boss fights and general PVE, but I am sooo survivable. There have been soooo many times where i’ve won my group a fight becuase i’m the last man standing and I manage to finish off a boss etc. Combined with healing power, I think ele with soldier is the most survivable build i’ve EVER tried. What are your thoughts?

ps I am talking about pve here as that is pretty much all I do at the moment (I do a little bit of WvW sometimes!).

If you’re liking it and seeing good results, go for it. Strictly speaking, it’s probably not optimal (more damage = kill things faster = less need for defensive stats), but if you’re having fun, then really that’s all that matters.

At the moment, zerk gear is optimal for all current content. But feel free to stay with soldiers if it’s comfortable for you.

Soldier Ele does no damage and gives bad heals too. It might get carried through dungeons and fractals, but it will be useless in raids.

I love it soooo much. I have soldier’s armor and everything else berserker’s. I guess its not the same if your entire set is soldier’s but I will always have that for my armor.

And if you mix it with the berserker’s trinkets and weapons then you get to hit super hard while still having much more vitality and even some toughness which never hurts

And yes, you are useful.

Mix Soldier + Cele and get Berserker (especially if you run D/D and not staff) makes a very viable combination of stats, do not listen to the zerker crowd.
Like you said, you are often one of the people standing and rezzing the Zerker metas that messed up their dodge rolls or you can be a diversion for others to break off combat to wait for their heal skill to recharge. In WvW groups you will not melt within a second and you will be able to reposition yourself.
Stick with the set if you like it.

inch.3769:

Combined with healing power, I think ele with soldier is the most survivable build i’ve EVER tried. What are your thoughts?

I honestly think it’s a terrible idea, and this is coming from a player who has three different sets of armor for his Ele.

Of course it’ll feel like the most survivable build ever because Ele is an extremely fragile class: Low health and Light armor. Though, by the time you invest gear to better your defenses you’ve lost the grand majority of your offensive output (which is currently what matters most in PvE).

In PvE your survivability comes through active defenses: blinds, blocks, etc since the attacks that kill the most often are those that hit like a truck. In PvP and WvW that is not sustainable since a player is dealing with both one-hit-wonders as well are trickle damage from multiple sources so more defensive armor is preferable in those aspects of the game.

I’m happy that you’re enjoying your build though I warn you that many players will frown upon it. Personally, if I had to choose I’d rather have a Cleric Ele on the team rather than a Soldier Ele. At least the former is contributing to sustaining the team while the latter is being selfish with self-survivability.

Ok fine nice mode:
If you really want to be on the defensive side try rolling a condi burning build with carrion
use d/d or d/f and any trait that helps with burn dmg.
That way you will actually do something in a group instead of being a crappy tank with no dmg or support.
Peace