Guild Wars 2

So I wanna try out an ele for wvw, and I know people always say a staff ele is good in wvw for walls and aoes, but I remember watching his guy on YouTube that was a staff ele taking on pretty large groups with a staff. I never see this, ever only dd eles nowadays, my question is, is it possible to still play an ele like that or was it something more possible during beta?

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So I wanna try out an ele for wvw, and I know people always say a staff ele is good in wvw for walls and aoes, but I remember watching his guy on YouTube that was a staff ele taking on pretty large groups with a staff. I never see this, ever only dd eles nowadays, my question is, is it possible to still play an ele like that or was it something more possible during beta?

Your question is like ’ can i run 5km distance ? ’ .. well if you want and you will train for that you can do almost anything.

Staff is more for suppotish purposes and AoE. Im D/D Ele thou didint do any WvWvW yet sirious , it is possible i will use staff since you can do way more with staff in those zergy situations.

yes it is possible to run staff in WvW.
now, about the guy taking on zergs in the beta, its way different now then it was back in the4 beta.
back then even as a lvl 2 ele u could do crazy dmg to everyone since everyone is low lvl, but now most ppl are lvl 80 with good gear so it a challange to take on more than 2 alone with staff, but i will say this, runnig staff with in groups it way better then DD, all the support and the AoE skills u have is worth doing staff rather then DD in a group.

Bahlol.6125:

yes it is possible to run staff in WvW.
now, about the guy taking on zergs in the beta, its way different now then it was back in the4 beta.
back then even as a lvl 2 ele u could do crazy dmg to everyone since everyone is low lvl, but now most ppl are lvl 80 with good gear so it a challange to take on more than 2 alone with staff, but i will say this, runnig staff with in groups it way better then DD, all the support and the AoE skills u have is worth doing staff rather then DD in a group.

Adding onto this, back in Beta a lot of people were just AWFUL at this game and the people who picked up quickly (like me, and a very small amount of eles in the beta) were able to just stomp everyone, i mean kitten, i went into 1v10s on my ranger and would kill all of them and that was with a broken pet, god knows what an ele would be capable of. (granted there’s no way in hell i could do that now unless they were all ridiculously bad)

I personally run staff, i find it a very powerful weapon all around, it has great damage, control, and support, dagger granted has more damage, and focus has more control/support, but none of the weapons have the range of the staff. Not to mention it has actual range (1,200 on just about every skill) which makes it very good for zerg vs zerg warfare of WvW.

It’s the only useful weapon in a situation where you’re attacking defending a keep/tower

Thanks for the replies, now that I reread my post it was kinda vague, but you guys pretty much gave me what I was looking for, I’m not looking for something that can pwn 1 vs xyz , but was looking for how useful and effective it is

Staff is great against meele enemies (1vs X is quite possible), but will get owned by every kind of ranged enemy since they arn’t forced to stand in you/your fields.

Also it is a great weapon to solo faceroll supplycamps.

Galrond.5972:

Staff is great against meele enemies (1vs X is quite possible), but will get owned by every kind of ranged enemy since they arn’t forced to stand in you/your fields.

Also it is a great weapon to solo faceroll supplycamps.

Well this is just not true…. It’s harder, but you can still rock ranged, you just need to cripple/immob them to make them stay in your fields whether they like it or not.

It’s sort of a nonsense question. You should carry more than one weaponset in WvW.

The staff is eminently usable in melee, but more for escaping. Staff is an AoE weapon that specializes in pressure and combos. Most people swap between staff and another weapon set as the situation demands. In the right terrain in WvW, staff is absolutely devastating: hold a bridge, a gap, or an approach with style. But when you’re in an open field most people just move around your zones unless you use something like Signet of Earth to lock them into a Lava Font (which, I might add, is very fun to do if Arcane Power is on your bar).

If you like the caster playstyle but find the staff lacking in some situations, consider Scepter/Dagger or Scepter/Focus as an alternative for when you expect close combat. Scepter has some good medium and close ranged potential. Couple it with a dagger for mobility as a skirmisher or with the focus for better defense and burst.

Either way, the elementalist tends to spec how they want to affect the battlefield, then adopt weapons as roles within that spec. If you want to be flexible, you need more than one weapon.

I love condi staff builds. You don’t need to worry about people standing in your fields because you only need to land bleed/burn stacks instead of having them stay still forever. Plus it plays right into the bunker abilities that staff eles have.

8D full zerker staff ele is hilariously silly in zergs. with culling issue and ur 1.2k range, half the time the enemy doesnt even know ur there as u cycle through all ur aoe.

oh, fireball from fire in staff has a travel distance thats longer than 1.2k along with a finish explosion radius, it is 1 of the few atks that can hit seige wpns that is placed on high cliff edge where the atk shows out of range but still hits. most other projectile doesnt do that. example, u can hit upper lvl stone mist castle where most people place trebs once u are inside the outer wall. the cannons and on edge trebs are free game for u to hit once there. 2 my knowledge only longbow ranger possibly with trait can achieve the same.

I found that staff is good against enemies that run in a supporting role. Chill + immobilize (air and earth skill) is usually the way to go for me while my party finishes them off.

But then again d/d does that too, in a different way.

I ran full zerk staff on my ele for a long time, but got sick of
getting caught in the open. As stated above, the signet > lava
font > Arcane Blast > Flame Burst combo almost always dropped
someone in quick order.

Now I run the typical d/d bunker build, BUT be creative about what
you can do. When defending a keep, I switch out my gear to full zerker
and equip the staff. Even though your traits dont revolve around this,
you will still do allot of damage.

The main problem with the Staff in open WvW is the lack of escape
compared to Ride the Lightning.

Thunderbrew.7034:

The main problem with the Staff in open WvW is the lack of escape
compared to Ride the Lightning.

Try running an aura/sigil build. You get tons of escape in Staff. While its true that RTL/Updraft gives you a lot of escape options, in Staff you have to use AoE CC – Static Field, Frozen Ground + Arcane Blast, Unsteady Ground, Magnetic Aura, Burning Retreat (make sure your facing the bad guys first). All of these can be cast on the run and in an Aura/Sigil build, you will always have Swiftness up. The key is to stay at as max range as possible and use your CC to stay that way. The very instant you see baddies running your way you must immediately retreat or seek advantageous ground.

I have no trouble staying alive in a full on zerker glass cannon to the hilt setup with 10k Vitality and an Attack and Precision rating that approaches god-mode levels. My FB auto attacks most people for near 2k a pop. I have seen Meteor Swarm hit people for 8k and more regularly.

If you want to take on whole zergs you first need a good team to keep the baddies busy while you move to as hidden and advantageous ground as is possible at max range and then stack as much Might as possible via Eruption/Lava Font/Arcane Wave. You can do all of that while moving into position so you’ll be ready when you arrive at your kill and kitten spot. Once you get there you setup your kitten zone with Static Field > Frozen Ground > Eruption > Lava Font > Meteor Swarm > Cackle in glee as you witness massive levels of destruction. The damage numbers that will pop up on your screen can only be described as shockingly impressive, and most of that all hitting at once with the Meteor Swarm basically finishing people off and also creating a control field. You will kill a lot of people with that and then watch as the rest of the zerg hangs back in abject terror because they realize that they wont be getting through that area without going to downed state. Those few that do will be welcomed by your team and go to downed state in very short order by them, after of course they run through your kill field and have most of their Vitality whittled down.

The Staff Ele is the absolute best class this game has to area control. Pair up with an Engy that actually knows how to play the class (have met one so far, and only one), and you can hold an area virtually indefinitely.

Boozer what is an aura/sigil build? I have done a bit of looking but cannot find an example, but I maybe missing the forest for the trees.

What you profess is true Boozer, Ive done it, but in all fairness
you need to warn people that when a thief sees a staff ele you
will a) not get away, and b) die in zerker gear.

That was the only reason why I left staff Ele, but perhaps Ill have
to get over it and try it again. IMO it is the way to play the class
for me, since I cant stand playing a “melee based” mage in a fantasy
game (even though its better than a warrior lol).

Samous.1974:

Boozer what is an aura/sigil build? I have done a bit of looking but cannot find an example, but I maybe missing the forest for the trees.

There is more than a few posts linking the build(s)…

Basically, you run sigils and fire 20 or 30. Here is one build that has killed a whole lotta folks in an incredibly short time period..

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEAQFAWhMmKbsx2gjEAhHEgQCjCiIK8QRxM8A;TsAg0ynEOJdS9kyJKvMdJ6y51QEA

There is also a VERY strong Water/Fire build thats just as good if not better.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEAQFAWhMmKbsx2gjEAkHtgSJBFEgwogIiCPA;TsAg0ynEOJdS9kyJKvMdJ6y51QEA

And there are more..

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEAQFAWhMmKbsx2gjEABFEgw4hIeQiowDlCzA;TsAg0ynEOJdS9kyJKvMdJ6y51QEA

And

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEAQFAWhMmKbsx2gjEABFEgwogIiCPUeMDP2A;TsAg0ynEOJdS9kyJKvMdJ6y51QEA

For you guys that went lock, stock, and barrel into the bunker build, that last build should work quite nicely.

@Thunderbrew. Yea, if a good thief catches you, your going to have a hard time of it, but I have escaped more thief’s than not simply by popping Gust > SoR > Static Field > Lightning Surge > Shockwave. Its situational and you have few stun breakers like this, but you have a lot in your bag of tricks to get by with. If you get run down by the zerg though while your dealing with that errant thief, your pretty much toasty oasty.

For the last part, Gust is an AOE cone isnt it, or is it all around you? If its
the former, I have to imagine that can be easy to miss. Also, with Lighting
Surge, you have to have a target right? Might be a problem vs stealth.

I do know what you mean though, MOST players trying to kill you stay
on your path and walk right into Static Field/Unsteady Ground.

Thunderbrew.7034:

For the last part, Gust is an AOE cone isnt it, or is it all around you? If its
the former, I have to imagine that can be easy to miss. Also, with Lighting
Surge, you have to have a target right? Might be a problem vs stealth.

I do know what you mean though, MOST players trying to kill you stay
on your path and walk right into Static Field/Unsteady Ground.

As far as I know, Gust is a small cone that affects a single target and yea it can miss if your casting it at something that is longer than melee range. I cast it when a Theif pops on me and in that case, it is right up in my face so has never missed. I usually dodge immediately then Gust then Static Field to stun. That allows me plenty of time to do anything I like. Cast the Static Field right on top of yourself and your guaranteed a free escape even vs. a good Theif, who will most likely be running away at that point to avoid any AoE.

Lightning Surge is a crap shoot vs. a good Thief and if they beat feat right after their initial burst fails, and the good ones will do exactly that, then LS is obviously out the window and instead you will switch to Frozen Ground > Arcane Wave > Eruption > Lava Font right on top of yourself. That will be a dead Theif if they choose to keep attacking you. If not, then you will have a good chunk of Might/Fury/Protection/Swiftness stacked up to turn around and launch a fresh Meteor Swarm right on top of the now advancing zerg. :P

most thiefs are on glass cannon build and are pretty stupid. for a zerker staff ele if its off cd, arcane shield+lavafont under u while fireball+flameburst+arcaneblast/wave and the thief will drop when he suicide himself on ur shield. and even if that doesnt work the thief usually ends up running away with 10-20% hp and in which case u can just get urself out also.

for the smarter thief that doesnt just spam HS on u after open, u might want to take the chance to drop meteor and/or glyph of storm on urself while arcane shield is up. then switch to earth and put eruption under u. since hes either A) going going to shortbow u, in which case magnetic aura/shockwave and swap to air for field and surge. charging in in which case let him hit the eruption while u dance him around in the MS/GoS and swap to air/water and drop more aoe around urself C) hes running away in which case run away also.

arcane shield is a near must for a zerker gear staff if u want to fight off a thief. if ur more on bunker setting, simply try and aim all ur aoe on urself and let the thief walk in, most are stupid enough for that. for the ones that swap to pistol/shortbow well>.> its going to be an annoying drawn out fight and not really much u can end up doing as he kites around besides try and get away before u get killed or he screws up

SuiRyuJin.4615:

arcane shield is a near must for a zerker gear staff if u want to fight off a thief.

Yea that certainly puts things on easy mode for a Staff Ele. I don’t slot it mostly because I enjoy the benefits of using Sigils and Aura’s too much and all that extra power you get from using um. But, I can certainly swap out SoF for AS if needs be and swap in a Cantrip trait like Water 3 without sacrificing much in Power/Precision.

I think a lot of the misconceptions about glass cannon is that it is not optimal for a D/D setup, but it works very well for Staff and even S/D. Staff Ele survival is exceptionally good in general and you have a large variety of escape options. More, in fact, than you do in D/D if your on CD with RTL, which does not always assure your escape anyway, especially when it bugs out.

Im going to switch out of bunker today and revisit staff. Need a change
from so long as bunker build. Previously with staff, I was zerker with
30/30/0/10/0, because of the maximium damage with that (went all or nothing).

I had an eye on Blasting Staff for the sole reason of much larger lava fonts,
but I couldnt justify going into Arcana when Blasting Staff only affects 7
of the 20 abilities.

Thanks for the replay Boozer.
These are what I found, but was unsure if they where considered the aura/sigil builds. Have really been wanting to play a staff Elementalist. After a few months of D/D I wanna play a more caster feeling toon, and hopefully this build is more a long those lines. Thanks again. Now to learn to play it at its best.