Guild Wars 2

You know, trying to make an Ele build when you’ve put in almost 0 time into the class in PvE and haven’t played it in months in PvP is .. kinda hard. Especially when you’re commited to stubbornly sticking to staff like an STD.

I’ve ran into some impressive staff Eles (I’m lying, I ran into one) in hotjoin and SoloQ and was wondering if anyone was taking staff and making it work? I wanted to study a build so I could draw my own conclusions and eventually forge something specifically tailored to myself.

If it helps, direct damage isn’t my primary concern. I like the staff for its control and supportive abilities but I do want to be a significant contributor to my team.

Can anyone help? If this doesn’t exist yet, can we put our heads together and theorycraft one? I refuse to believe that it’s impossible to play an effective staff Ele and would rather defy the meta than succumb to it.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEAQFAGhEmgblxzKAIFgJUggRhOEPsoBJKF2B-TkAA1CtIQShkDJDSSksINEB

Pretty bunker while dishing out good damage

If you want control, you might wanna try a signet build. Or maybe team it up with conjure earth shield for even more control skills.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEAQFAWhEmkbnx5QlEAkCoEeQgBMIKYRRxOzA-TkAg0CnI4SxljLDXSuscN+A

devasting but squishy.
viable? for me yes. test it yourself.

Currently, I’m using something like this:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEAQFAWhImgboR1gjDAEFwYiQRFPUeszM2A-TcAg0CmI6S5lzLTXDRA

which basically allows me to change my tactic based on my opponent. The elementals cause quite a bit of conditions and boons and combined with GoEP they can do a lot to hinder the target. The only downside is that they can be kinda slow, so often you’ll want a greater Air elemental and a lesser Ice elemental. However, they all have snares and earth causes weakness/protection too (making them great against warriors and thieves). Zephyr’s Boon basically gives me permafury when combined with Arcane Fury through Magnetic Aura alone, although I can double it up with blast finisher/ice field for another boon.

The most important thing however is to make sure you hit stuff and the glyphs go a long way in making that happen. As for tactics, I usually cast a meteor shower on my own location while in armor of earth…you’d be surprised how many people fall for that and melee you.

You guys rock! I’ll be trying each of the proposed builds over the week.

Last night I ran with FrownyClown’s suggestion, but ended up making a couple tweaks: I moved the 10 from Fire into Arcane for Elem.Attunement and switched the water trait to 20% damage on vulnerable foes, hoping that I could manipulate this with Lingering Elements.

For day one, it was really pretty kitten fun. I like the concept of focusing traits on damage while your amulet and utilities made up defense, Mesmer don’t have nearly as many “% damage increase” traits so that was an interesting change. Working withSoldiers amulet was a new experience as well since Im usually running zerker, I was really surprised with the damage I was putting out! Still… might swap the jewel to zerk.

Overall my initial impressions was that the build felt both strong and survivable, and while I felt I somewhat lacked damage by a small margin, I havent learned to properly take advantage of the damage increases yet.

.. The concept of Conjures really intrigues me, whats the Elementalists’ forums general opinion on them?

(Sorry for typos. Dat cellphone)

Ice bow is great in pvp. Others aren’t really used

Also use meteor switch to water for the bonus damage and then use tornado. It doubles your stats. You can follow up with ice bow.

ThiBash.5634:

If you want control, you might wanna try a signet build. Or maybe team it up with conjure earth shield for even more control skills.

Not sure you’re playing the same game as the rest of us.

FrownyClown.8402:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEAQFAGhEmgblxzKAIFgJUggRhOEPsoBJKF2B-TkAA1CtIQShkDJDSSksINEB

Pretty bunker while dishing out good damage

The only thing “bunker” about that build is the soldiers amulet, Soothing Wave’s heal is pathetic and you might as well grab Vital Striking and take Pyromancer’s Alacrity for shorter Fire cooldowns. Increases survivability slightly too with faster Burning Retreat.

The only way Ele can even remotely be considered bunker is with atleast 20 points in water, at least 20 arcana, or 30 in Earth for Diamond Skin.

Besides that the level of “bunkerness” simply boils down to amulet and runes, our traits are extremely inflexible

Wintel.4873:

FrownyClown.8402:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEAQFAGhEmgblxzKAIFgJUggRhOEPsoBJKF2B-TkAA1CtIQShkDJDSSksINEB

Pretty bunker while dishing out good damage

The only thing “bunker” about that build is the soldiers amulet, Soothing Wave’s heal is pathetic and you might as well grab Vital Striking and take Pyromancer’s Alacrity for shorter Fire cooldowns (very useful).

The other build in the thread with 20 Water + 30 Arcana is more bunker :P

Yeah probably. Personally I run 10 30 0 20 20 with almost all damage modifier traits. I would pick up a different water trait for sure. Made the build on the fly

scerevisiae.1972:

ThiBash.5634:

If you want control, you might wanna try a signet build. Or maybe team it up with conjure earth shield for even more control skills.

Not sure you’re playing the same game as the rest of us.

Yeah, I know, it sounds silly…but I’ve ran a signet build with staff before and you’d be surprised how well Signet of Earth works in combination with the other staff control stuff. And it makes landing say, an Eruption a lot easier. The main benefit of the signet build that I experienced, was that you can spec pretty offensively (signets require some fire and air traits after all) and still get good uptime of defensive boons. Try it sometime, you may like it.

FrownyClown.8402:

Yeah probably. Personally I run 10 30 0 20 20

Where’d you get those 10 extra trait points from :P

ThiBash.5634:

scerevisiae.1972:

ThiBash.5634:

If you want control, you might wanna try a signet build. Or maybe team it up with conjure earth shield for even more control skills.

Not sure you’re playing the same game as the rest of us.

Yeah, I know, it sounds silly…but I’ve ran a signet build with staff before and you’d be surprised how well Signet of Earth works in combination with the other staff control stuff. And it makes landing say, an Eruption a lot easier. The main benefit of the signet build that I experienced, was that you can spec pretty offensively (signets require some fire and air traits after all) and still get good uptime of defensive boons. Try it sometime, you may like it.

Personally, I’m more confused about conjure earth shield than the signets. I didn’t even remember that thing existed a few days ago, when I tried it out for the first time in a year, and promptly shoved it as far away from me as I could.

P Fun Daddy.1208:

Personally, I’m more confused about conjure earth shield than the signets. I didn’t even remember that thing existed a few days ago, when I tried it out for the first time in a year, and promptly shoved it as far away from me as I could.

Can agree with you there. It’s a tool mostly, with very specific purposes mostly aimed at cc. Some people can probably make it work, but I’m not one of them either. It was fun pulling someone in a gap in Skyhammer with it though, because they don’t expect eles to be able to do that. I’m sure the shield has a niche somewhere for someone.

ThiBash.5634:

P Fun Daddy.1208:

Personally, I’m more confused about conjure earth shield than the signets. I didn’t even remember that thing existed a few days ago, when I tried it out for the first time in a year, and promptly shoved it as far away from me as I could.

Can agree with you there. It’s a tool mostly, with very specific purposes mostly aimed at cc. Some people can probably make it work, but I’m not one of them either. It was fun pulling someone in a gap in Skyhammer with it though, because they don’t expect eles to be able to do that. I’m sure the shield has a niche somewhere for someone.

You sort of expect the skills to be worth using, but then its like, 3 second rooted invulnerablility, a smallish aoe pull, a very small daze leap… so meh.

Wintel.4873:

FrownyClown.8402:

Yeah probably. Personally I run 10 30 0 20 20

Where’d you get those 10 extra trait points from :P

He has level 90, that’s obvious

I love these

I’ve been staff since I started, and am sticking with it because I love how the weapon plays. It’s not some godlike superweapon, but is also not nearly as useless in sPvP as folks like to claim.

My current setup is similar to this, with a couple of possible changes:
- Arcana I (Arcane Mastery) for Arcana V (Blasting Staff) - less frequent blast finishers but larger AoE.
- Arcane Brilliance for Glyph of Elemental Harmony - more reliable self-heal, though you lose a blast in exchange for a boon. Makes Arcana I affect only one skill on your bar, so you may wish to change that trait for another.
- Earth III (Earth’s Embrace) for Earth VI (Stone Splinters) - lose a bit of defence for a bit more damage.
- Runes that give Vitality rather than Toughness - I quite like Ice for this. Also considering swapping out the amulet for Soldier’s with Cleric’s jewel, and bringing Healing Power runes - I’ve not done any real testing with this yet, so can’t say how easy it is to keep health high with much higher vit but lower heals.

Very low health, but high healing, means you need to rotate through your water fields and blast in them pretty regularly to stay topped up. You can hold out on your own for a while in most 1v1 fights, with finishing your foe a possibility in a number of them - but heavy burst and folks that can kite around the point staying out of your AoE rings (hello, shortbow rangers) tend to require tactical running the hell away rather than trying to bunker it out and getting yourself killed.
- Against condition-heavy builds you can often win a duel, or at least hold them off indefinitely.
- Glyph of Storms is your friend. Sandstorm gives several AoE blinds, shutting down minion builds and the rock dogs that everyone and their mum is summoning these days. Ice Storm chucks chill everywhere, and Lightning Storm is pewpewpew manyhits.
- Glyph of Elemental Power also helps with this, giving you a decent spread of chill or weakness. Depending on what you’re up against, you can pop it early in the fight or save it for the stunbreak.
- Get close to a foe when healing with Arcane Brilliance, if you possibly can. With just one nearby target, in a water field, you can heal back most of your health bar in one cast.

Groups are really where you get to have fun - while you can dish out a hefty amount of AoE damage, you can also apply might, swiftness, regen to allies and a number of controlling conditions to foes.
- If coming to a fight in progress, don’t rush in unless you have to. Chuck down some lovely circles first! Ciiiircles.
- While you’re more vulnerable in the middle of a team fight, you can also make full use of Evasive Arcana to heal/cleanse/blind/blast.
- Switch to earth when an ally near you is stomping without their own safe-stomp - you can then continue the skirmish or get running to elsewhere, rather than maybe have to mess about more with a downed foe.

Mobility-wise, you’re not too badly equipped.
- Burning Retreat takes you a good distance; this post explains how to easily use the skill to move forwards without making you dizzy.
- You’ve got a lot of hard and soft CC, with chills and stuns and a knockback and a wall. Don’t be afraid to use them to escape or hold up an enemy, just make sure you lead your Unsteady Ground far enough ahead of your foes.

tl;dr:
Anyway yeah, staff ele. I love it, I have success with it, I expect to continue to do so.
You can do a bit of pretty much everything and do it well, just can’t do any of it quite as crazily as anyone else.

Lots of great advice and info here, much appreciated guys!

Yesterday, while working with the same build, I managed to 2v1 two S/D elementalists and beat them both! Granted, this was hotjoin, but I’m pretty sure those Eles had more experience with the class than I do. Burning Retreating forward is no problem, its alot easier than Mesmer’s forward Phase Retreat. Right now I’m learning rotations and trying to memorize the skills duration without having to look at the cooldowns, I love the “piano”-esque style though. Manipulating the Blast finisher from Eruption and Arcane Wave is always great, but I’m curious.. if I use two blasts on my ice field does the duration stack?

I always stick in Earth element before a fight, planning to start with Eruption → Ice field → Meteor Shower (+Arcane Shield &/or Earth) and I find more success keeping most of my AoEs like Lava Font centered more to myself. The buffed Unsteady Ground ROCKS (hurr hurr) though, helps me to trap enemies in the Lightning Field with a lava font.

Are there any other crucial combos I should commit to memory?

Tornado right after meteor. Earth 2 followed by a water field. Static right after a lava font or high dps attack. Water 2 has very high dps if it hits. Try using eath signet to land large hits. You can start an attack in fire then switch to air to get the attunement bonuses and what not

Is tornado an actual useful elite? I feel like a big obnoxious dusty target. I had considered the fire sword for the same reason though. Damage bonus in addition to the fire storm it provides but if Tornado is a better option I’ll gladly take it.

…But every Elementalist I’ve ever seen has failed miserably with it.

Its literally only used after meteor. I’m talking 13k meteor showers on fully geared ppl in wvw. Not really recomended if you are outnumbered but turns the tide of group fights in your favor. Can also sit on points and knock people out with tornado. Strongly recommend using.

Chaos Archangel.5071:

Is tornado an actual useful elite? I feel like a big obnoxious dusty target. I had considered the fire sword for the same reason though. Damage bonus in addition to the fire storm it provides but if Tornado is a better option I’ll gladly take it.

…But every Elementalist I’ve ever seen has failed miserably with it.

You don’t actually go into the fight with tornado, you sit far away and hit lava font + meteor > tornado and just whirl around on the spot for the huge stat buffs (crazy meteor damage). Stability basically means nobody can stop you even if they notice you.

Zerker staff builds = you cannot allow yourself to be attacked, preferably not even noticed, or you will have a guaranteed death against literally ANY build out there 1v1. Any ranged autoattack is enough to kill a staff ele.

Tornado in sPvP is for the damage boost or, if there are one or two allies around and the point needs decapping, to knock people out of a capture point then immediately switching back for your hard CC skills.
There is almost zero reason to stay transformed for the whole duration, since it locks you out of all your useful skills and you’re left vulnerable to ranged attacks.

Alright, tried again last night and this staff Ele journey gets more and more interesting with each playthrough.

- Switched Soldier’s amulet with Cleric’s and moved the points from Earth into Water. The build now looks like 0/30/0/20/20. Grabbed Water cooldowns & switch 20% damage on vuln targets for Cantrip Mastery (swapped Arcane Shield for Lightning Flash).

Now that I have a better understanding of some of the traits and utilities, I wanted to start leaning towards a more supportive role. The first thing I noticed (and expected) was that without Vitality my health drops a bit faster but the heals compensate for it. I’m a bit mixed on this.. I had traited Earth to give protection when I grant auras (dat frost armor) and with the high vitality, I had a lot more durability and didn’t have to rely as frequently on healing. With this switch I lose a bit of survivability (which, as I become better with the Ele overall isn’t as bad as it would’ve been earlier) but I can better sustain my team with heals. In hotjoin this is fine, but not sure about tPvP just yet, may switch back to soldiers.

Overall I’m really loving it, I’m outplaying most other Eles (but… again, hotjoin) and I have a significant impact on my teams success. From 10+ might to constant protection to 30+ seconds of swiftness at the start of the match and of course the CC/Damage… I’m really having a hard time believing well-played staff Eles aren’t viable (Granted a well-played staff Ele is a rare thing. All the staff Eles I faced didn’t seem to know what a combo field was). I think the current state of more a matter of people parroting someone else’s opinion than actual truth. Eles most certainly need a defensive buff but are far from “useless.”

How are the elites? Firey GS seems rather cool, Tornado I fell in love with once my first meteor dropped for 3-freakin-k in Soldier’s gear (didn’t know you could cancel the duration!) and the elemental… While it looks cool, and I like Water’s Ice Field, it seems Water is the only useful one of the four.

Couple things. Fire ele is great dps. The earth one can absorb a lot of damage from you like a meat shield. The air one stuns a lot and is situational. I think it was ozi who did it but our survability goes up a lot statistically at around 16k vitality. I wouldn’t recommend clerics because the water field blasts are affected by the healing of the blaster. The aura trait is good with aura share because you share the boons too. Once you get bettee you will see. Learn to run from fights if needed

FrownyClown.8402:

Couple things. Fire ele is great dps. The earth one can absorb a lot of damage from you like a meat shield. The air one stuns a lot and is situational. I think it was ozi who did it but our survability goes up a lot statistically at around 16k vitality. I wouldn’t recommend clerics because the water field blasts are affected by the healing of the blaster. The aura trait is good with aura share because you share the boons too. Once you get bettee you will see. Learn to run from fights if needed

Of the three, I think I like Tornado the most but I can’t really figure much use for Firey Greatsword. It seems like I’m more vulnerable when using it and the skills don’t seem to be such great damage to make it worth taking over the Elementals. Dat mobility though; glorious.

To your point about Clerics.. If I’m the one blasting via Arcane Wave and Eruption, then shouldn’t it be worthwhile?

Yeah it helps. Depends on if you want to waste stats for an extra 800 heal

Yeah I run Cleric’s primarily, since I’m blasting 6-8 times every 30s so will get at least one off in each water field I lay down - can’t expect allies to be able to blast in fields you’re laying down when in the middle of a fight, much of the time, so should be ready to supply your own.

With Diamond Skin, it helps, since low vit but high heals means you can more reliably keep yourself above that all-important 90%, even if it takes a bit less work to get you below it too.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fFAQFAWhcM6bW2wnBf0AEACxkFDGIy4d3CC-TJhAwAoLDA4CAM4BAQb/BA

I’ve tried this, it can provide support while making sure your don’t die too quickly, but I’m still working on it