Guild Wars 2

Have a question for you more seasoned Staff Experts here.

I’ve seen videos/screenshots of people doing 5-7k damage per hit/tick on Lava Font and Fireball, and upwards of 16k, even hitting 20k on Meteor Shower per meteor.

Try as I might, I can only get my fireballs and lava fonts to hit for about 4k max. Normally I only do 3k. My meteors only hit for about 5-7k each.

Obviously I am disappointed, and I am already maxing out my gear in Exotics with Full Zerk, Scholar Runes, Sigil of Force, and Exquisite Rubies. I haven’t gotten any Ascended trinkets or weapons yet, but surely the difference there shouldn’t be enough to almost double the damage.

Even with 25 Bloodlust stacks and 25 might stacks, I still can’t hit anywhere close to these figures. I also eat +100 food, haven’t used sharpening stones yet. I’ve gotten my power as high as 4,800 with buffs, but still not hitting 7k fireballs.

What am I missing?

My Traits right now are 30/20/0/0/20 with the usual Fire skills (using the Fire Field grand master trait, Bolt to the Heart in Air, and blasting staff in Arcane. I did not take Stone Splinters or Vital Striking in this build, but I am thinking the extra 20% damage in those optimal conditions shouldn’t double the damage up to 7k.

Any help to make myself even stronger would be much appreciated; I’ve sacrificed a lot of survivability to do this and I’d at least like to be hitting that hard.

Getting the really absurd numbers requires taking a lot of situational traits and armor and then lining up generally unrealistic scenarios to have them take effect.

+10% damage while within 600 range of your target
+10% damage with stamina full
+10% damage while attuned to fire
+10% damage when your health is above 90% (trait)
+10% damage when your health is above 90% (scholar)
+20% damage when your opponent is below 33% health
+20% damage to knocked down/stunned targets
+5% damage to burning targets

They may also be using sigil of the night or a nemesis sigil to gain +10% damage instead of +5% with force.

Throw in 25 stacks of might and vulnerability for good measure.

It also matters who the target is. Some mobs and players in WvW have very low armor for their level, which can cause damage to be as much as 50% greater than the expected values.

Builds would be 30/20/10/10, 20/30/10/10/0, 10/30/25/0/5, 10/25/25/10/0 or similar

If there is a warrior nearby they can also boost you damage using

- banner of strengh
- banner of discipline
- empower allies.

There might be other traits or skills that i’m not aware of that can boost damage

20k Meteor Shower? Maybe against low level players without any armor but other than that I don’t think it’s possible. If you could post those videos/screenshots we might be able to help you.

What trait is the 10% damage when stamina full? I don’t have that.

I didn’t think of getting the +20% damage to knocked down/stunned targets, not sure if I have slots for it.

I also didnt’ get Stone Splinters (600 range 10% bonus) and Vital Striking (scholar rune trait) but I have all the other traits.

Thanks for the listing, I guess realistically it’s not viable to be hitting like that all the time, but man would it be nice if I could. As it stands I do substantially more damage than some Warriors or Guardians who aren’t going full zerk, and at range, but my survivability is shot. I would have wanted to do even more damage considering I get one shot sometimes by some enemies, and usually die in 3 hits to most other enemies.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Enduring_Damage_%28elementalist%29

You can’t use all those traits at the same time anyway. You would need 25 Fire, 30 Air, 25 Earth and 10 Water.

25 earth minor trait Enduring Damage

Blackhat.4016:

20k Meteor Shower? Maybe against low level players without any armor but other than that I don’t think it’s possible. If you could post those videos/screenshots we might be able to help you.

Well here’s a video I saw in YouTube. I’m at work right now so I didn’t view the vid, but this is probably the same vid I saw before:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vx0G8L-VS3M

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&ved=0CD0QtwIwAg&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dvx0G8L-VS3M&ei=QJCXUrRgxZe0BvzvgLgD&usg=AFQjCNHSd3CRJnORWQa2PO42hTehyKdgeQ&bvm=bv.57155469,d.Yms

Someone also posted a screenshot here in this forum, can’t find it right now though. The Ele was fighting the COE P3 boss in the lava pit, was getting 7k Lava Font ticks.

How old is the video? Remember that Elementalists took heavy damage nerfs between beta and now. If it’s sufficiently old, that could explain the damage.

Also, as an aside, if you pop tornado while meteor shower is going, it greatly increases the damage, though I don’t remember if it’s 2x or 3×. You probably won’t see 20k per hit, but 10k is not out of the question.

Fire staff has been constantly buffed since release and is now has one of the best dps potential of the game. Still, this weapon is a weak choice for PvE in my opinion.

Mochann.5298:

Blackhat.4016:

20k Meteor Shower? Maybe against low level players without any armor but other than that I don’t think it’s possible. If you could post those videos/screenshots we might be able to help you.

Well here’s a video I saw in YouTube. I’m at work right now so I didn’t view the vid, but this is probably the same vid I saw before:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vx0G8L-VS3M

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&ved=0CD0QtwIwAg&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dvx0G8L-VS3M&ei=QJCXUrRgxZe0BvzvgLgD&usg=AFQjCNHSd3CRJnORWQa2PO42hTehyKdgeQ&bvm=bv.57155469,d.Yms

Someone also posted a screenshot here in this forum, can’t find it right now though. The Ele was fighting the COE P3 boss in the lava pit, was getting 7k Lava Font ticks.

Here is the build:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEAQFAWhImIbmR5QlEAkCoEecABJIUYBElCxA-j0xAY/gQFCSyrIasF3ioxqrxUuER127ioVLFQELjA-w

VI, VII and XII for the fire traits should be slightly better though (5% less damage for -20% CD).

It’s the basic high DPS staff build. You hit hard but you also die fast.

Blackhat.4016:

Mochann.5298:

Blackhat.4016:

20k Meteor Shower? Maybe against low level players without any armor but other than that I don’t think it’s possible. If you could post those videos/screenshots we might be able to help you.

Well here’s a video I saw in YouTube. I’m at work right now so I didn’t view the vid, but this is probably the same vid I saw before:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vx0G8L-VS3M

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&ved=0CD0QtwIwAg&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dvx0G8L-VS3M&ei=QJCXUrRgxZe0BvzvgLgD&usg=AFQjCNHSd3CRJnORWQa2PO42hTehyKdgeQ&bvm=bv.57155469,d.Yms

Someone also posted a screenshot here in this forum, can’t find it right now though. The Ele was fighting the COE P3 boss in the lava pit, was getting 7k Lava Font ticks.

Here is the build:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEAQFAWhImIbmR5QlEAkCoEecABJIUYBElCxA-j0xAY/gQFCSyrIasF3ioxqrxUuER127ioVLFQELjA-w

VI, VII and XII for the fire traits should be slightly better though (5% less damage for -20% CD).

It’s the basic high DPS staff build. You hit hard but you also die fast.

Heresy !! -20% cd is much better than 5% increased damage!

Works for WvW too btw. Just stay in the back and watch the enemy zerg melt.

Mochann.5298:

What am I missing?

Maybe tornado?

Moving 10 air into 10 water for vital striking would help. Losing 5 fire and 20 arcana and getting 25 earth for Stone Splinters, Serrated Stones and Enduring Damage would also gain you more situational damage (25/10/25/10/0).

Alternatively 25/25/0/20/0 with Vital Striking and Piercing Shards and lava font→ flame burst→meteor shower+switch to water. I don’t think you’re counted as in Water Attune when you are in tornado though so there’s less synergistic damage there but it’s easier than getting the earth damage traits to happen.

The most I’ve seen on a meteor shower was a 9k crit. It was from a total glass canon.

I don’t think 20k is possible, 10k perhaps.

ATMAvatar.5749:

How old is the video? Remember that Elementalists took heavy damage nerfs between beta and now. If it’s sufficiently old, that could explain the damage.

Also, as an aside, if you pop tornado while meteor shower is going, it greatly increases the damage, though I don’t remember if it’s 2x or 3×. You probably won’t see 20k per hit, but 10k is not out of the question.

The video was from this October.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKmo4FsMxPM

Here’s the right link, sorry. Silly me the build was right there in the vid. Will use this build as I am already used to fighting in this style, just not hitting as hard because I’m lacking a few traits and buffs.

Thanks Blackhat for the build, I will swap out some of my trait choices to try that one, and get the Sharpening Stones and Butternut Squash Soup. Should help greatly.

use tornado to increase you stats after cast meteor shower.

Well…
1. That’s pve
2. Look at his 25 might stacks every scene
3. He’s using tornado to increase his stats
4. He’s running full zerker
5. Traits heavily specced on fire damage and damage above 90% hp

GL in WvW getting 1shotted

Its because he synergising tornado with meteor shower, one of the most undiscovered combo skills. U get insane dmg when u synergise them.

BlackDevil.9268:

Well…
1. That’s pve
2. Look at his 25 might stacks every scene
3. He’s using tornado to increase his stats
4. He’s running full zerker
5. Traits heavily specced on fire damage and damage above 90% hp

GL in WvW getting 1shotted

Actually, he has bigger vitality than my Ele in WvW has (I’m running 30/20/0/0/20) and I’m surviving in WvW just fine

10/20/25/10/5
Fire: Internal Fire
Air: Bolt to lightning, Arcane Lightning
Earth: Stone Splinters, Open
Water: Vital Striking

Scholars

Arcane power, arcane wave

Here is a screenie of me hitting a 17k MS on some poor poor soul, proudest moment of my glass cannon career! A 20k MS though!? That’s crazy!

I use 30/20/0/0/20 build with ruby orbs atm. Although seeing as there are many zerkers here, are scholar runes worth getting for WvW zerging?

Hi guys,
I’ve been trying out the build Blackhat.4016 posted and I have to say it’s pretty epic thank you very much for sharing it, the last few days have been the most fun in wvw for quite some time.
Just wanting to get an opinion on whether or not worth using the dragons breath buns + precision maintenance oils instead of crit food + sharpening stone.
I think the +200 power on kill covers both the power bonuses from the crit food + sharpening stone – ergo you get the option for added precision (or more power if you like).
Base figures look something like:
3850 power (within 30 sec of killing someone….. easily achieved lol)
108% crit damage
53% crit damage…. (73% with fury)

Also in the video above the author highlights that his helm was assassins spec not zerker spec – is it best to mix match or stick with zerk?

Lastly, in terms of achieving max dps over long drawn out fights (think attacking/defending a garrison for example) which do you think is better:
Sigil of battle with -20% cd trait on fire skills.
Or sigil of force with pyromancer puissance?

Yuna.3512:

Here is a screenie of me hitting a 17k MS on some poor poor soul, proudest moment of my glass cannon career! A 20k MS though!? That’s crazy!

I use 30/20/0/0/20 build with ruby orbs atm. Although seeing as there are many zerkers here, are scholar runes worth getting for WvW zerging?

The orbs give an added 4% crit dmg and 4% crit chance compared to than the scholar runes but you have 45 less power, however this doesn’t take into account the 6th rune mechanic which adds another 10% dmg when health is above 90%.

Personally I like the scholar runes and have arcane shield jic to keep my health high to proc the 6th rune effect + vital striking trait….. and to proc arcane lightning trait ( = 20% more dmg + 10% more crit dmg).

As mentioned above a lot of this dps is very situational, hence if in wvw you are even occasionally getting hit and are sub 90% health for most of the fight then the ruby orbs will suit better (also the vital striking trait would be redundant as well).

As someome mentioned earlier, it’s likely the stacking of situational damage traits.

I hit someone with a meteor for 14.6k the other week and could probably push to do more for the sake of challenge.

I personally think the ideal massive number trait setup is 0/30/0/20/20. With bolt to the heart, Tempest Defense, Vital Striking and Piercing Shards. Do damage then pop into water to push you into the 90% damage threshold if you took some crossfire, then go in Tornado. Just hope the RNG Gods bless you with vulnerability.