Guild Wars 2

Hi guys,

So I recently decided to switch back to Staff for general (non-Fractal/non-dungeon) PvE since I enjoy its play style the most. I wanted to do something different from the usual 30 Arcana/20+ Water build because I’m bored to death of it. So just for fun (I know this is not the best build in terms of efficiency) I decided to load up on all the +% damage traits from across the trait lines and it’s actually been pretty fun to play.

This is what I have so far:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQFAWhEmKbkx4wjEAkCoEecABFMK0hQhFQA-jQCBYLAkIApPFRjt4qIas6aYqSJV5SQ2IGzbIpA-e

The 2nd and 3rd Utility slots are flexible; I switch to cantrips/Arcane Shield as needed if I feel I need more defense. Generally though since I’m running Valkyrie armor and not zerker I think I have enough defense.

The thing is, I really miss Blasting Staff. I’d like to increase the AoE on Lava Font and Eruption but I just don’t know where to take out 20 Trait points to put into Arcana. I was thinking of taking out 10 from Air and taking Arcane Retribution to compensate for the drop in precision/crit damage, but I don’t know where to get the remaining 10 points for Blasting Staff from.

Thoughts?

Why take all the close range benefits? Are you planning to use staff like a scepter it dagger? I guess you could do that abd essentially aoe yourself as if they are point blank aoe. I don’t think you are durable enough fir that tactic, but you definitely don’t need blasting staff if you’re going to try to play that way.

Personally I think you’d be better off dropping the furry burst for might from fire (because we all know fire is the only real element in staff, the others are just support) and the 90% and up dmg for some arcane if you want to try for blasting staff.

I play staff all the time and I don’t think this build would be particularly good for Fotm but with the right group it could be ok in dungeons I think.

Arcane Lightning might not be the best trait to choose. It sounds like 10% more damage, but instead it increases your critical damage by 10%. This means that if your normal damage is 100, your criticals would be 195 and Arcane Lightning would increase it to 205. That equals roughly 5% more damage on your critical hits compared to what you would deal without it, and at 57% citical chance (with Fury) you get a dps increase of 3% at best.

On a sidenote, if you want the Fury from combos without Persisting Flames, you could consider taking Zephyr’s Boon instead. That would make your Ice Field finishers (Frozen Ground and those from your Ice Elemental) give Fury too. Combined with Arcane Fury and Magnetic Aura, you’d have perma Fury too.

Hm, good question.

I always took persisting flames for the field duration rather than for the fury. Making your best dps skill 25% stronger is pretty great. The fury is just icing (very good icing though). And the 100 power is basically a +5% damage trait (or +4%) by itself. I also love condition duration (for the longest time I thought signet of earth was base 4 seconds immobilize, since I’m always running some condition duration). Monsters don’t remove conditions, so it’s amazing in PvE. So I wouldn’t dock any from fire.

Arcane lighting is indeed pretty weak. Zephyr’s boon, however, is also pretty weak. The only auras staff can produce are eruption->frozen ground, and magnetic aura. And frozen ground is too powerful and on too long a cooldown to only use it when you can combo it with eruption, so you may not even always get that aura. Air’s traits don’t strike me as too hot for boosting your damage. The stats themselves, of course, are great and give about +7% damage. Furthermore, the 15 point minor trait, electric discharge, is awesome for damage.

Water! gives 10% damage, but only when above 90%. How often are you above 90%? Regardless, as the stats don’t give any damage, this trait is going to give you less damage than either of the two above. The extra 1k health of course is nice, but if you’re staying above 90% anyway, you probably you don’t need it! So I’d axe this. This is of course handwaving the healing power. I don’t expect it would be very useful, but I could be wrong.

Earth. Since you’re using a staff, you won’t always be in range for this to take effect. I do end up doing the majority of my damage at less than max range for general PvE, so it is of course not entirely wasted. But I’m not sure how much closer. I don’t have a good feel for where 600 is. Also, the extra condition damage will add up a bit even without focusing on condition damage. Does it come out to more or less damage than that 10 in air? I do not know. But if you include electric discharge, it’s definitely less.

Anyway, if you take my suggestions, you’re left with the build that I switched to after also getting bored of the heavy arcana/water build, which is 30/20/0/0/20. The only thing I really miss is the condition removal from water. But now that I’ve said that I realize another plus for taking Vital Striking in water. You can, whenever you want, switch over to Cleansing Wave and get that delicious condition removal. Which makes the choice hard again. Less damage but more flexibility. Decisions, decisions.

If you go scepter/dagger (which does probably do more dps then staff, seeing as you go all offensive) you dont have to worry about blasting staff.

reikken.4961:

Arcane lighting is indeed pretty weak. Zephyr’s boon, however, is also pretty weak. The only auras staff can produce are eruption->frozen ground, and magnetic aura. And frozen ground is too powerful and on too long a cooldown to only use it when you can combo it with eruption, so you may not even always get that aura.

That’s true, in this build it probably wouldn’t work. I’m still running Evasive Arcana and boon duration runes, so for my build even just triggering on Magnetic Aura, Zephyr’s Boon would give me perma Fury. And of course, I have more blast finishers available in my earth dodge roll.