Guild Wars 2

Just got to 80 and want to roll with a staff, I was wondering what’s the best way to get high dps but decent enough survivability to last more than like..2-3 hits. In fact, what does the most damage as a staff ele?

Right now I usually use fire attunement mostly and traited for lower cds. Then I throw out conjure ice bow and use the skills, switch to fiery greatsword and use those skills while in fire attunment (traited for +10% damage) and I do decent damage, but I drop like no other.

Basically what I’m asking is what is the backbone of our defense? Do I need gear as well to supplement our light armor base being so low?

I’d say the backbone of our defense would be cantrip utility skills followed by defensive/cc/mobility weapon skills. Save cantrips for hairy moments when you need to make your escape. Use Magnetic Aura (Earth 3), which is an instant-cast skill and can be used while channeling, to reflect ranged attacks. Magnetic Aura doesn’t last long, so you’ll need to kill or break line of site to ranged enemies. Burning Retreat (Fire 4) is also good for evading attacks and gaining distance from melee enemies. It even works while you’re immobilized – though you don’t move, you do evade attacks.

If you actually want to survive hits – use a combination of weakness (Stoning – Earth 1) on your enemies and protection (various methods) on yourself. Depending on what you’re fighting, you can even tank attacks by standing in your own Geyser (Water 3) and using combo finishers to enhance the healing (eg, Eruption > Geyser > Arcane Wave for 2 blast combos and lots of healing).

Both in PvE and (situationally) in PvP you can toss out time delayed skills before you’re noticed by your enemy so you’ve dealt a good chunk of their HP before they even know it. For example, Eruption > Ice Spike > Lightning Surge will all hit at about the same time if you’re quick at changing attunements and using skills. The enemy will be blinded, but you can also follow up the attack with CC – like Gust and Static Field to prevent the enemy from reaching you. If the target is ranged, drop a lava font under it and hit it with a flame blast while you wait for Earth attunement to return so that you can use Magnetic Aura and reflect their attacks.

Do you have more specific questions or scenarios you’d like to cover? Did you reach 80 using a different set of weapons? How did you survive with those weapons?

I mainly used staff while leveling. I didn’t want to expend on a d/d set even though I’ve heard good reviews. It just isn’t as aesthetically immersive as a staff xD. But my main case is for dungeon runs, I recall any kind of dungeon and I seem to always die due to consistent damage. I can never seem to outheal or outlast enemies at times and need to be ressed by teammates :\.

Thanks for the advice though, I think probably my main issue is being too close to enemies most of the time (usually play guard ><). But a more specific question is are conjure weapons viable? I like the idea of exhausting my fire spells and then conjuring ice bow use all skills, conjure fiery sword and use all skills, pick up the second copy of the conjures and repeat then go back to staff. I find conjure weapons to do quite a bit of damage.

I find conjure weapons to be useful in the right situations. I mostly play WvW so those situations depend on where I am, how many allies are with me, and how many enemies I’m up against. Typically, in WvW, damage isn’t the most important or unique aspect I bring with me to a fight.

For dungeons, I don’t think the conjures provide a lot of defensive abilities, except maybe Lightning Hammer – which includes a knockback, an AoE blind and Blast Finisher on every 3rd auto-attack, Static Field, and a leap finisher which you can use with Static Field (both the one from your staff and the one from the hammer) to daze enemies. If you have other classes putting down fields, you can create a lot of combos with this weapon. That said, the ice bow has its share of defensive skills, but fewer and on longer cooldowns. I also find the effects from blast and leap finishers to be more worthwhile than projectile finishers.

I think you’ve found the issue, though – with staff, you typically don’t need to be close to the enemy unless doing something specific like using Evasive Arcana, combo-ing with your fields, positioning burning retreat under your enemies, trying to land all attacks from Frost Fan (Frost Bow 3), or stacking retaliation against an enemy. All other times, you should stand further away.

Kaleden.9386:

I find conjure weapons to be useful in the right situations. I mostly play WvW so those situations depend on where I am, how many allies are with me, and how many enemies I’m up against. Typically, in WvW, damage isn’t the most important or unique aspect I bring with me to a fight.

For dungeons, I don’t think the conjures provide a lot of defensive abilities, except maybe Lightning Hammer – which includes a knockback, an AoE blind and Blast Finisher on every 3rd auto-attack, Static Field, and a leap finisher which you can use with Static Field (both the one from your staff and the one from the hammer) to daze enemies. If you have other classes putting down fields, you can create a lot of combos with this weapon. That said, the ice bow has its share of defensive skills, but fewer and on longer cooldowns. I also find the effects from blast and leap finishers to be more worthwhile than projectile finishers.

I think you’ve found the issue, though – with staff, you typically don’t need to be close to the enemy unless doing something specific like using Evasive Arcana, combo-ing with your fields, positioning burning retreat under your enemies, trying to land all attacks from Frost Fan (Frost Bow 3), or stacking retaliation against an enemy. All other times, you should stand further away.

Thanks for the tips!

One last question though, in your opinion what’s the best rune options for ele?

That’s a question for someone more in line with your traits/setup. The real question is, what do you want to do as an elementalist and are there runes that would help enhance your goal or reduce your shortcomings?

My typical rune setup is 2 water runes + 4 earth runes for the additional boon duration, toughness, protection duration, and protection on hit effect because I’m geared a little on the glassy side, but like to provide buffs to allies. I’m not sold on this setup, but I have no real complaints about it, either.

That said, I’ve read there may be a bug with the protection duration buff and I may just reslot those to something with more crit damage or might duration. I’ve also wanted to try full Lyssa for the 5 seconds of every boon benefit when using an elite skill.

No one mentioned Dodge or Swiftness. Moving the feet is a foolproof way to avoid damage and most skills can be used while on the move. Most mob attacks have a “tell” leading up to the attack. Look for it and dodge. If you can throw in a cripple, chill, or some other skill so much the better. Kite them if you have to until you lose agro.

The mobs are stonger than we are. That’s why there are 5 in a party. In light armor in a dungeon, all the damage mitagation and health in the world will usually fail if they can lay a weapon on you.

the problem is that you can’t.. not with a staff. there is no build which will allow the staff a high consistent dps while having a decent survivability. you either sacrifice one or the other or become mediocra at both..

the only way to do staff ele, is support build = no dps. or l2dodge like crazy (you basicly need to be able to dodge all incomming hits )