Guild Wars 2

Hello guys, yesterday it was the first day i decided to try my ele on spvp, just to see how terribly i would do, i went with a tank build so i tought “ok this is not going to 1 hit kill me fer shurr” and i was right, however everytime i faced a thief, i literally had no control over the class, as soo as it got into my spell range, it teleported to me, dazed me took me like 80% of hp, dazed me again to make sure i wouldnt get to move my char and killed me, all this happened in less than 5 seconds, in which i had absolutely no control over my character, this then repeated itself in every single encounter vs that thief unless it focused on someone else first so i could take a whack at it.

Anyone has any idea what im doing wrong? besides playing with staff? daggers is rly not my thing for ele, i do not see a mage wearing daggers for melee range in any other mmorpg that i have tried, that includes GW1, so i dont want to change weapons just for that, i choosen a ranged caster not a melee caster.
Having that in mind, is there any way to be effective in spvp with staff to actually be able to take down a target, or am i stuck having to stay behind a tree, wait for everyone else to get aggro and then come and cast my spells?

Frankly, they have totally overdone the melee, theres almost no disavantage into beying a melee class in this game, my ranged caster is no longer able to keep away unless i climb something which takes time to get to, on the ground its a mere jump to target or teleport to target, i find this far to OP since when u fight a melee class it can get to u in a matter of 1 second or less with its leaps or teleports.

PS, full berserker or full cleric vs the thief had no difference at all, the result was exactly the same.

Thieves are vastly overpowered – a good thief will not lose to you.

Furthermore, a staff s the worst weapon choice you could have made against a thief.

That said, where’s your mist form, etc? You’ll only survive if you bring and use some defensive utilities. You need to clear your conditions, blind that thief, make him fight on top of your lava font, etc.

If both are good that ele will have the odds stacked against him.

Staff is AoE blasting, against a good thief, you may drag the fight on but you will lose.

I run staff ele, i kill thiefs.. /shrug .. they are harder then most classes but if you know how to dodge perfectly, make sure you have at least 2 cantrips ready and know where to place your CC… its quite easy and yust a matter of time before the Thief dies.

I’m not a PvP god by any stroke of the imagination, but here are some things I would keep in mind/try out.

-Always be aware of what is going on so you do not get jumped from out of no where; if you expect the thief to steal/shadow step to you try to dodge it (better said than done)

-if you miss the dodge, be ready with mist form; if you have glyph of storms sequence into casting the storm in earth and stand in it (mostly for the blinds, but the bleeds help too)

-if you get caught in his burst and do not have an escape try to minimize damage; if you have Elemental Attunement (tier 1 arcane trait) immediately sequence into earth for the protection to take 33% less damage; if you have 15 points in water then you can follow this up with a small burst heal + regeneration

-staff isn’t just about aoe nuking, it also has some great control potential (chill, blind, knockback, stun, cripple, immobilize); if you can escape melee range do not let up, try to keep the thief controlled and nearly always sitting in red circles; save Burning Retreat for when they try to close the distance again

The hardest part is keeping all of this in mind AND trying to execute it in the matter of seconds

OP, your problem is staff. It don’t give you good instant CC for 1v1 fights like blind, stun, knockdown. So it’s bad choise against thief. You need to use S/D if you don’t like melee. Or use many cantrips in build if you stay with staff.

Many others have said it. Staff fits a certain purpose and 1v1 is not one of them.

Theives on the other hand have a role of dropping targets quickly. So dont be so surprised.

So next time you see a thief, open your character screen, find your scepter in it, then drag it to your main hand. Then find the dagger, (hurry though, he’s closing in!!) drag it to your offhand slot.

Now you are ready, good to go!

Go get that thief, tiger!

Now after you crushed him. All you have to do is reopen your bags and equip that staff again.

See? It works! Just adapt and be versatile.

Alternatively never ever equip a staff in pvp.

Staff dominates in pvp if you know what you’re doing and know how to employ combo fields and blast finishers. The only thief I lose too is the C&D, steal while it’s channeling, backstab guy that does 15k in 1 second, but then so does everbody if he’s able to get the combo off.

I see that many people are having no issues with thieves playing with elementalist, i guess ill have to rethink my build then.

lay aoes and stand in them, thief will have no chance if he is melee. if he is pistols use magnetic aura as much as u can and immobilize him in your aoes, remove conditions asap as well.

alright, i had to remove my singet of fire and my glyph of lesser elementals, replaced with the teleporter thing which usefull but bugged (it misses to cast for some reason sometimes… and the cooldown still applies) and the second skill beying armor of earth, it helps me more survive now, however staff is still incredibly underpowered, i dont understand how can my criticals only do 2k damage (critical) per meteor with the berserker pendant but theres no way im switching earth to fire or arcana to fire.

Theifs have too much dps. their class is broken making the game unbalanced. we should have more burst than them but we dont. and if we build full out dps, then we lose the survivability and die in like 2 seconds 1v1 against a thief.

Staff auromancer builds where u apply auras to group and heal, cc, buff and clear conditions is the way to go

Basically, if you’ve met an AT/HS /haste/PW spammers (the FotM rerollers) without a clue you have a fair chance to win, but you’ll have to perform flawlessly and be specced correctly (water/earth/arcana).

If you’ve met an experienced/good player playing thief, and you’re using a staff, regardless of spec and cantrips, you have absolutely zero/nada/niente chance to win.

IMO Bunker staff is the only viable SPVP weapon. build Thiefs burst you down in 2-3 seconds. There is nothing you can do. Mistform? He’ll stealth and kill your right after.

Even without the staff he is far superior in damage and survivability.

This is a L2P issue. A good thief will not be able to touch a bunker staff ele. You’re not going to pick it all up in your first couple games. The ele is a very complex profession.

while i cannot imagine a staff elementalist beating even the most unskilled thief, i’ve beaten my fair share of thieves using dual dagger. try that instead.