Guild Wars 2

I’ve just started doing 30+ Fractals and Dungeons like Arah/CoE much more frequently. I’ve always ran ‘Meta’ DPS builds in Zerk which has been fine but it’s getting to the point where I get downed too easily now and I’m not always running with similarly minded DPS people so fights can last quite a while which has a knock-on effect on my survivability.

I’m not looking for a ‘Tank’ build as such, but a better surviving DPS build. My Ascended Armour and all Trinkets are Zerk with Scholar Runes so I don’t really have the option to change these (I suppose I could change trinkets but I’d have to re-buy a lot of AR which I can’t afford right now due to shortage of Relics).

This basically leaves me with changing traits.

I did a 38 Fractal last night and ran Staff with 6/0/0/4/4. I figured the Zerk Gear + Trinkets made up for the lack of Precision traiting and the build generally worked well and we completed Charr > Ice Svanir one > Dredge > Molten in 90 minutes.

I was wondering if there’s anything better I can try though? I’ve seen the 5/4/0/5/0 staff build which also looks do-able.

I’m also assuming that Staff is the way to go in Fractals? I’m an experienced S/F + LH player so have always been open to melee combat on my Ele. I used to use D/F Fresh Air at lower level fractals but I really don’t find the damage to be high enough to justify constantly being on the edge of death, plus a lot of the bosses fought in Fracts tend to favour ranged combat.

Any help would be great

You don’t need tankier crap, dw.

D/F is what you should primarily be using in FotM because it offers way more utility and you will be able to protect yourself much more. Staff isn’t even a viable option in a lot of FotM encounters, such as archdiviner at the end of cliffside where he reflects.

Staff is generally better to only use in Arah also for:
a) soloing Lupicus
b) possibly soloing Ancient Ooze (haven’t tested it but it sounds like a good idea)
c) I guess Korga/Abomination soloing for similar reasons as one another but I normally do D/F for them
d) blasting a water field on top of someone rushing the 2nd orbs in Arah P3/P4 as they run by
e) Vahid (Melandru) in Arah P4
f) You can use staff on just about all the P4 bosses but I don’t suggest doing so if you are solo because you’ll just get rekt. Also only do this if you aren’t the only ele and the other one is not staff. Someone (an ele) is expected to provide might and fury from persisting flames.
g) blasting swiftness periodically while doing trash runs

I mostly use my staff for g) and while moving around I will quickly throw down a static field, use arcane brilliance + arcane wave, use staff #4, swap to dagger offhand and use #5, maybe RTL too if it’s off cooldown, back to staff and use #4 off cooldown again. It’s just a way to maintain swiftness uptime while traveling from point to point.

Also, staff is easymode for Lupicus soloing if you know what to do. Like, big time easy mode.

For just about anything that’s not listed there, I will use D/F for. Staff is a fine choice in dungeons for when you aren’t the only ele but if you are you’re not contributing nearly enough as you could be by having S/F or D/F to provide your group might and fury. Emphasis on this as it’s more important than a warrior remembering banners etc.

Staff is great personal DPS, but it’s generally bad against anything that moves and if you have to kite then you shouldn’t be using it. Also, you have little to no defense with staff without swapping attunements. It’s always best to swap attunements for a might stacking rotation on S/F or D/F but on staff it’s different because your DPS is incredibly low unless you camp fire.

Remember: D/F for like 90% or more of FotM encounters as well.

ALSO:
It’s come to my attention that a lot of people who watch the videos on youtube/read forum posts that have meta builds are literally under the impression that they should camp that weapon set.

I.e. people who know that the optimal build for warriors in dungeons is 65003 GS + axe/mace actually f***ing stay on axe/mace lol. THIS IS FOOLISH. 99% of the time it’s better to use warhorn while moving around, swap to sword MH to travel quicker, swap to sword OH to block while skipping trash that ranges/maybe shield as well, etc.

Do not be a fool like these people. Regardless of what class you use, you should always be taking advantage of when you’re OOC and abuse weapons by swapping them for their benefits temporarily. Prestack might, stack swiftness, use mobility skills — do all of it. Be fancy, don’t camp the same weapon set throughout all dungeons if you’re keen on being efficient!

P.S. did I mention you should be very frequently changing traits depending on what encounters/dungeons/fractals you’re in and what utilities/weaponsets you’re using?

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the pointers Miku, I am actually already the kind of player who will swap traits/weapons constantly throughout a run, I do wish they’d hurry up with saved trait setups as it would save a lot of hassle. It would be nice if I could have a consistent setup to master though which I assume is going to be D/F from the sounds of things.

I think the reason I’ve struggled with D/F is that most groups I run in don’t stay majorly close to each other so I’m effectively stacking Might for myself. Also, spending all my time dodging melee attacks when I could be safely DPS’ing from range seems to be a big loss in damage output.

You mention that D/F will be used for 90%+ of Fractal encounters, and also that Ele’s need to have persisting flames on. Does this mean you recommend a 6/6/0/0/2 setup for high levelled fractals? Is that not way too squishy? And I assume to make this build work you need similarly people who are all built for damage?

If you’re stacking might for only yourself and everyone’s running around frantically, that’s not your fault. You have no control over it at that point.

Btw I can only post once every 30 minutes/1800 seconds, because ArenaNet has strict flood control on my posts. Forgive me.

I recommend either 66200 or 66002, yes. Stone splinters gives a 10% damage modifier that you’ll always meet the condition for with D/F so it’s a very noticeable DPS increase to have, but if you truly wanted to make sure you’re always surviving then simply go for renewing stamina (Arcana II) instead. Hell, throw in an energy sigil if you really want to make sure you can always dodge when needed.

Oh, let me point out a problem with something you just posted:

Grimezy.5679:

Also, spending all my time dodging melee attacks when I could be safely DPS’ing from range seems to be a big loss in damage output.

See, this is the same logic all of the pugs use that people ingame and on the forums frequently whine about. Nobody likes it when pugs range bosses. That person is contributing negligibly by
a) not sharing party buffs,
b) not sharing utilities their class can provide (reflects/projectile blocks, etc)
c) usually lower DPS (staff ele is an exception most of the time but mind you — optimizing personal DPS isn’t your goal here usually in FotM)

Let’s say you’re fighting archdiviner, at the start of the cliffside fractal. Let’s also say you have no mesmer and one guardian. The guardian uses his WoR and it’s on cooldown. If you’re using D/F, you can use swirling winds for his spinny attack that shoots out all those projectiles that really hurt. That’s super helpful for groups because even some of the better players occasionally can mis-time an evasion on it.

Same thing with the last encounter in the harpy fractal… the more projectile blocks/reflects you can pump out, the better. If there’s none, the raving asura’s agony will destroy whoever it’s targeting…

See like I said, you have way more utility with D/F than other weapon sets:
-swirling winds (air focus #4) for party-wide projectile block
-gale and comet (air focus #5 and water focus #5) for interrupts/removing defiance
-ring of earth (earth dagger #2) for a brief + immediate personal projectile block
-magnetic wave (earth focus #4) for cleansing 3 conditions and temporary reflects
-obsidian flesh (earth focus #5) for temporary invulnerability

Also obviously 2 of those are blast finishers as well. Staff offers significantly less utility at the expense of being capable of healing (more relevant for PvP/WvW as in dungeons/fractals you’re interested in optimizing DPS and being efficient and what-not) and having better personal DPS.

Once again, hope this helps.

Thanks, that is very helpful I will stick with D/F and see how I go then. I’ve been checking the guides on Dulfy and they also have a 0/6/0/4/4 D/F build which I may try while I get to grips with it and until I can get in optimal co-ordinated groups. I’ve always been a fan of bashing things up close (usually with my lightning hammer) but most the people I fractal with main Heavies and spend most their time ranged which is why I assumed if they can’t survive melee, I wouldn’t be able to. I’ve used my own warrior recently in fractals and had forgotten how weak the ranged damage is which is why I’d assumed my staff damage was okay as it was considerably more.

I suppose I’ll spend some time studying different videos, etc to get some pointers off other zerk ele’s though I’m definitely keen to go for pure damage, it’s just finding other people who want to have that element of risk as well…

If you’re with warriors/guardians that are ranging… christ, I can’t believe how patient you are. That’s pretty sad to know how unlucky you are with the groups you’re in!

Ok, it might actually pose a significant problem if you have everybody ranging while you’re in melee range. That means that guardians won’t be providing aegis/reflects for the group if they’re far away and the warriors likely aren’t using warhorn #5 (call to arms) for weakness uptime on trash mobs. In FotM it’s more than often the trash mobs which pose the biggest threats.

I… really think you should seek different pugs or if they’re friends of yours… try talking them into changing things up. I don’t play guardian but I know from all of my friends that staff/scepter guardians are “ewwww cringe ewwww” and since I’ve mained warrior always, seeing a warrior using rifle in PvE is just http://i.imgur.com/4kIDWQu.gif

Try forming your own groups and posting LFG messages like “Lvl __ – tell me your build or you’re outta here, no exceptions!” and see what you get. In dungeons, pinging gear is pretty much pointless because of how faceroll they are but for fractals… different story.

Since the majority of people on this game will have a hard time soloing FotM, it’s a bad call to go with people in WvW setups.

I highly recommend ensuring that the people know what they’re doing. Don’t pay attention to their AP or some irrelevant nonsense like that, ask to see what weapons they’re using, what sigils, what runes and what stat prefixes/traits. At least, if you’re gonna pug FotM. If they aren’t willing to share what they have, that’s a sign that they’re going to suck… especially if they didn’t read the LFG. That indicates they won’t communicate at all as well, which is always dreadful in the world of pugging.

I think the big thing people don’t really take advantage with for Elementalist MH Dagger is that the Air autoattack has this gigantic range. Lightning Whip’s 300 range is more than double the range of Triple Chop on Warrior Axe. The attack is also smooth and you can easily strafe around with greater rooom while spamming Lightning Whip. It actually makes the set very versatile and easy to survive on compared to Staff in many cases, where Staff has long casting times that lock you in place and leave you vulnerable (such as when spamming Fireball + Lava Font).

I don’t know about Miku’s (I didn’t read his lengthy text), but in my opinion, go with any weapon set you’re the most comfortable with. I have a fair share of bad pugging with no reflects, blind and condescending range heavy. If you don’t have the protection that you deserve to go all insanely high damage out, feel free to be selfish and use staff. Some pointers:

1. Swamp:

• Situation: No reflect, aegis, everybody range.
• Scenario 1 – Mossman: Staff is better than D/F to cleave all the wolves. You don’t want to deal with too many wolves on top of Mossman. If you are out of his range, use Magnetic Aura as soon as he goes out of stealth to reflect the axe. I recommend keeping an ice bow for Deep Freeze, Arcane Shield and Arcane Wave. You can use Lightning Flash if finding yourself in a pinch frequently. Build: 64004 (Renewing Stamina + Blasting Staff or Elemental Attunement) or 64022 (for Healing Ripple)

• Scenario 2 – Bloomhunger: Get Arcane Wave, Deep Freeze, Glyph of Storm, and Elite FGS. If you see he spits poison onto you while casting Meteor Storm, use Burning Retreat to quickly interrupt yourself.

2. Urban Battleground:
Staff is a well rounded de-facto weapon here. A lot of CC and AoE damage that can be put into use. Get Arcane Shield, Glyph of Storm and Ice Bow. Build should be 66002, traited for Tempest Defense. Try to synchronize the Storms with your CC skill: Sandstorm with Unsteady Ground, Lightning Storm with Static Field and Ice bow. Burning Retreat should be ingrained in your reflex whenever you see an Ascalonian Warrior rushing towards you.

3. Uncategorized

• Situation: everyone panics and is left to his own device.
• Staff isn’t very good when you do the jumping puzzle part and ele has very limited access to stability. Nevertheless, I advise you to bring Sandstorm and Lightning Hammer here. Against the champion, I prefer D/F for their snaring/control skills, but dodging the Fire Shaman when you’re within his melee range requires a lot of practice with precision movement. Staff is doable if you can reflect his throwing fire ball and you can use Earth elemental as a relatively durable tank. I would even use Arcane Shield/Mist Form to pick up the down. For Old Tom, just go full offensive so you can burst him as fast as you can. For the last fight, I strongly advise using x/F so you can make use of Obsidian Flesh if getting focused by the Raving Asura. Of all kitty golems, Baron is the deadliest, but he is a vet, you can use LH to focus on him first then take your time for the other golems.

4. Snowblind

• Situations: lots and lots of knock back. No reflect.
• I admit I have never tried going full staff there because all the vet ice elementals gave me OCD about reflect. They are very annoying to deal with if you decide to use staff there. For the last boss, it doesn’t matter which weapon to use, just go full offensive.

5. Molten Furnace

• Situations: assuming the same useless group, plus mobs spike extremely hard.
• Nothing can save you, even D/F if you don’t react in time. Blind is key here. As the mob is group up, Sandstorm → Eruption → Lava Font → Meteor Shower → Lava Font → Lightning Hammer. For this map, I suggest keeping Lightning Hammer and Sandstorm up to the last test room, when I would get Ice bow, Glyph of Storm and Armor of Earth. Build wise, there isn’t much room to dodge, you can trait 64020 to get a bit of condi cleanse and more HP (die to burning slower).

6. Cliffside

• Situations: boss leaps around, has deadly projectile attack and minions hits haaaaarrrddd.
• After Burning Speed is nerfed, D/F just loses its lustre to me. Using staff here is completely do-able. You need to use blind on trash mobs the whole time, lightning hammer plus sandstorm is recommended. For the boss fight, be careful not to spam auto attack/ Deep Freeze on him while his protection icon is on. I would always keep Arcane Shield to tank hit while casting Meteor Shower. Lightning Flash is a must during the skip/run.

7. Underground Facility (Dredge)
I would stick to x/F until the last boss or the second to last boss. Having a projectile block just makes life extremely easier here. As you cannot use blind here, try using Glyph of Power to apply weakness while staying on the platform and use all the nuke skills (Ice bow, Lightning Storm) when the dredges are nicely rounded up. The rest are easy mode.

8. Aetherblade Fractal
Everything will be alright until the last boss’ room and everyone decides to stack in the corner. Ele will need a lot of stability and they melt very fast if DPS isn’t up there. If such is the case, go with traditional Caroussel method with your staff (because I really don’t know how to survive stacking with a mediocre group). I myself prefer Scepter/ Focus, given the CC and the quick single target burst of the set. Two things need to be watched out for; a. the pull and b. the confusion stack. I find Ether Renewal/Arcane Shield or Armor of Eath/ Glyph of Air/ Arcane Wave or Arcane Blast works really well here. Build wise, if using staff, 6/4/0/0/4, traited for Arcane Lightning and Arcane Mastery.

9. Thaumanova Reactor
It’s fairly easy life here as every trash mobs seem to focus on a tiny ledge/area. Blind. Blind. Blind them. Watch out for the ooze boss’ shield when you use Meteor Shower on him. For the last boss, if you have trouble surviving, I recommend having Glyph of Elemental Harmony/ Lightning Flash/ Arcane Shield or Mist Form/ Ice bow; other wise, Arcane Brilliance, Arcane Wave, Ice bow and Lightning Storm. Just don’t ever aggro the boss first.

10. Jade Maw
Again, blind is the beast here. The Colossus reflects all the range damage so you shouldn’t go with staff. Blind everything with Lightning Hammer and it’s so easy here. The Irukanji is tricky with their massive damage after stealth so Obsidian Focus helps a lot. The only thing I could think of staff is having a sigil of leeching and auto-attack the boss in Fire, but a rifle warrior or a ranger can do much better than you.

11. Molten Boss Fractal
a. Your group is experienced with melee-ing and ask for stacking. You should use x/F for Might stacking and Swirling Wind during burst (after reflects).
b. You group is a mess. Go with whatever you feel comfortable with. Staff is by far the better range weapon but S/F is easier to play with more protection. It’s really up to you. I would advise against Dagger MH because Molten Firestorm has the tendency to drift away to the edge (or gets pushed) and it’s really annoying for having no options to range him.

12. Mai Trin
Staff is totally do-able! Get your own protection from Conjure Earth Shield. As her shield goes down to 4 or less, feel free to burst her. Ice bow with Deep Freeze is really really solid to create these burst windows.

If you have any other specific questions, please do tell. It’s been a long time since I last was active in fractals so I may forget details here and there.

You forgot the volcano fractal Iris :p

Oh shjt.

13. Volcano fractals

Erm, for this one, I prefer D/F simply out of my stubborness/defiance as a friend of mine once told me: “You died a lot, pick a staff and keep yourself alive at range.” <- rage

Well, to be honest, using a focus at the Grawl Shaman boss is certainly easier to rez people and protect your group against the lava minions.

As for the trash mob at the beginning part, just abuse all your blind and burst skills.