Guild Wars 2

I just recently made an ele for the sole purpose of WvW, mainly running in zergs as I’m not a huge fan of solo roaming. I’ve been reading the forums and watching various youtube videos regarding WvW ele’s and I’ve got a few questions.

1) I’m not sure which weapon is the best fit for zerging, I do like playing staff and I’ve seen a lot of back and forth as to the benefits of staff as opposed to d/d
2) gear choice wise I’ve seen some that recommend full zerker and others that say cele or bust.

As for my own play style I’m not a huge fan of running in melee, I prefer to hang back and nuke from a distance (something I’ve done with my ranger just spamming LB5 every time its off cool down and bursting down with LB2 when people try and escape), staff seems to be the best fit for this but I don’t know the class well enough to really say if its better or not.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated, especially if you could point me in the direction of guides or something. Thanks in advance!

Hi there!

http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Elementalist_-_Staff_Backline

This is the traditional staff bunker. Purpose: defensive zerg support via water fields and condition cleanse. Has some AoE bomb potential in Fire.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fFEQFAWlMMowhNOwzB8rNQDgRaIIuAEAihlzCNhpAA-TFSBABQqEEH1f4SZVXKVIa/BU0BswkittenHAAZAYGDA-w

This is the offensive support build. If focuses on CC and dealing massive damage via Lightning Rod procs and constant critical strikes while having a healthy amount of survivability.

Very good if you already have some experience staying alive.

I don’t link the full Zerker Orbital Strike build since I don’t play one. I’m sure someone else will but I guess you know the basics… Proper positioning and good teammates are critical since a thief can oneshot you…

For what you’re looking to do – staff support is the way to go. At the moment, most elementalists run either (0/2/0/6/6) or (0/0/2/6/6). The bunker traiting allows you to spec with more damage and less tankiness than many people would recommend.

If you want training wheels to get used to positioning with your elementalist – Full Soldier armor with Zerker trinkets would do you nicely.

I personally play on a Full Zerker elementalist for staff. Positioning keeps me out of damage and I’m able to focus on casting fields for the commander to blast.

I’ll link you a couple videos to watch to help you get a hang of positioning: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zz9iqSywHjI
( Two guilds in this video are # 1 and 2 for GvG. This video is good because if you watch carefully you can see how this player avoids getting ganked by enemy thieves and mesmers, and how their melee use the fields the ele places.)

(Open field fighting and positioning)

thank you both for the responses, I have ascended zerker trinkets/jewelry on my ranger so maybe I’ll try the soldiers training wheels. Also thank you for the videos, I’ve come to understand that positioning is really important for ele’s as they have a really low health pool.

staff either cele or zerker/assassin. zerker/assassin for wrecking faces cele for healing.

if your not roaming your not using d/d people will tell me i am wrong those people are liars who honestly think a bunker d/d is as valuable as a staff zerker simply because the d/d can possibly survive given enough skill but the damage will be way down