Guild Wars 2

Compiled the guide, images, and spreadsheets into a more accessible PDF, here

Dec 15th, 2013 Revision:

- Incorporated suggestions/criticisms posted in comments prior to Dec 15 ; click here to view post-revision comments:

DISCLAIMER:

Most of the following content does NOT consist of my own original ideas. Rather, it is a compilation of bits of information gathered from multiple other threads, and more importantly, it includes “best practices” used by top speed-run guilds.

This guide is intended for use in all Story-Mode and Explorable Dungeons, and Fractals up to lvl 30. The builds specified in the guide can be used for Fractals 31-40, but many players choose not to. It is not intended for use in PvP, WvW, or Fractals above lvl 40.

This guide is oriented towards players who do PvE content in zerk groups, and would like to maximize their group’s damage, which is the best way in which they can help their group. The term “zerk groups” includes both organized guild runs and pugs who ping zerk gear – yes, you CAN pug with these builds!

Settings:

- Turn on “AoE Loot On Interact”
- Turn on “Autoloot”
- Turn on “Show Skill Recharge”
- Turn off “Disable AoE Rings”
- Turn off “Autotargeting”
- Turn off “Melee Attack Assist”
- Set “Targeting” to “Instant” or “Fast-Cast”

Assumptions & Variables:

All builds assume the following:
- Zerk ascended trinkets without stat infusions
- Zerk ascended weapons (for s/f, force + night/dungeon [15% modifier]; for staff, night/dungeon [10% modifier])
- Scholar Runes
- Powerful Dungeon Potion (10% modifier)
- Discipline Banner (170 prec & 15% crit dmg)
- Strength Banner (170 power & 170 condi dmg)
- Arcane Brilliance healing skill
- Signet of Fire (180 prec) & Arcane Wave Utilities; Lightning Hammer for s/f, Arcane Blast for staff
- A burning, bleeding, vulnerable target
- You have perma: Fury, 25 Might, 5 boons total, 50% uptime on full endurance
- On the staff build, 100% uptime on Arcane Lightning (10% crit dmg)
- On the s/f builds which have Arcane Lightning, 50% uptime on the 10% crit dmg.
- On all s/f builds, Conjure Lightning Attributes (180 prec & 5% crit dmg)

Variables used to optimize each build’s damage:
- zerk/assassins exotic armor mix
- 250 power/prec from bloodlust/perception stacking weps
- Food, either Sweet&Spicy (100 power & 10% crit dmg) or Curry (100 prec & 10% crit dmg)

My calculations can be reviewed here. (There are tabs for both Exotic and Ascended armor. The following builds assume Exotic armor for the zerk/assassins mixes, but if you’re using Ascended, refer to the relevant tab in the spreadsheet instead.)

Which Build Should I Use?

You should use different builds based on what your group needs. The following link contains a diagram that shows various builds (also attached at the end of this post). Each build maximizes your personal DPS within the given constraints (does the group need me to stack Might? Fury? Vuln? Etc.).

Ele Meta Build Diagram

Each of the following builds is labeled A through G, which refers to its place in the previous diagram.

The Builds:

A: Staff, 30/20/10/10/0

Might? – 9 stacks for first 20 secs, 6 stacks with 66% uptime after initial 20 secs
Fury? – perma for first 30 secs, 66% uptime after initial 30 secs
Vuln? – No

= Traits: =
- Fire: (30) (VI)(VII)(XI)
- Air: (20) (VI)(VII)
- Earth: (10) (VI)
- Water: (10) (VI)
- Arcana: (0)

= Variables: =
- Zerk: Gloves, Legs, Boots; Assassins: Head, Shoulders, Coat
- Perception Stacking (Precision)
- Sweet&Spicy (power/crit dmg)

B: S/F, 0/20/25/25/0

Might? – 21 stacks with 66% uptime; 25 stacks with 100% uptime if fire fields from external source
Fury? – No
Vuln? – No
Conjurer? – No

= Traits: =
- Fire: (0)
- Air: (20) (VI)(VII)
- Earth: (25) (IV)(VI)
- Water: (25) (IV)(VI)
- Arcana: (0)

= Variables: =
- Zerk: Coat, Gloves, Legs, Boots; Assassins: Head, Shoulders
- Bloodlust Stacking (Power)
- Butternut Squash (prec/crit dmg)

C: S/F, 25/10/10/25/0

Might? – 21 stacks with 66% uptime; 25 stacks with 100% uptime if fire fields from external source
Fury? – No
Vuln? – No
Conjurer? – Yes

= Traits: =
- Fire: (25) (II)(V)
- Air: (10) (VI)
- Earth: (10) (VI)
- Water: (25) (IV)(VI)
- Arcana: (0)

= Variables: =
- Assassins: Full
- Bloodlust Stacking (Power)
- Butternut Squash (prec/crit dmg)

D: S/F, 0/25/20/25/0

Might? – 21 stacks with 66% uptime; 25 stacks with 100% uptime if fire fields from external source
Fury? – No
Vuln? – Yes
Conjurer? – No

= Traits: =
- Fire: (0)
- Air: (25) (VI)(VII)
- Earth: (20) (IV)(VI)
- Water: (25) (IV)(VI)
- Arcana: (0)

= Variables: =
- Zerk: Legs; Assassins: Head, Shoulders, Coat, Gloves, Boots
- Bloodlust Stacking (Power)
- Sweet&Spicy (power/crit dmg)

E: S/F, 10/25/10/25/0

Might? – 21 stacks with 66% uptime; 25 stacks with 100% uptime if fire fields from external source
Fury? – No
Vuln? – Yes
Conjurer? – Yes

= Traits: =
- Fire: (10) (II)
- Air: (25) (VI)(VII)
- Earth: (10) (VI)
- Water: (25) (IV)(VI)
- Arcana: (0)

= Variables: =
- Zerk: Legs; Assassins: Head, Shoulders, Coat, Gloves, Boots
- Bloodlust Stacking (Power)
- Sweet&Spicy (power/crit dmg)

F: S/F, 30/10/10/20/0

Might? – 21 stacks with 66% uptime; 25 stacks with 100% uptime if fire fields from external source
Fury? – perma
Vuln? – No
Conjurer? – Yes

= Traits: =
- Fire: (30) (II)(VI)(XI)
- Air: (10) (VI)
- Earth: (10) (VI)
- Water: (20) (IV)(VI)
- Arcana: (0)

= Variables: =
- Assassins: Full
- Bloodlust Stacking (Power)
- Butternut Squash (prec/crit dmg)

G: S/F, 30/30/10/0/0

Might? – 21 stacks with 66% uptime; 25 stacks with 100% uptime if fire fields from external source
Fury? – perma
Vuln? – Yes
Conjurer? – Yes

= Traits: =
- Fire: (30) (II)(V)(XI)
- Air: (30) (VI)(VII)(X)
- Earth: (10) (VI)
- Water: (0)
- Arcana: (0)

= Variables: =
- Zerk: Coat, Gloves, Legs, Boots; Assassins: Head, Shoulders
- Bloodlust Stacking (Power)
- Sweet&Spicy (power/crit dmg)

Basic Ele Information:

Using Fiery Greatsword:
FGS does maximum DPS in the game, no doubt about it. But only if your target is backed up against a wall or in a corner. Deselect all targets, then use Fiery Rush (FGS 4) into the wall. You will see a LOT of ticks. While Fiery Rush is on CD, use the 3 attack into the wall (this is nearly identical to a Warrior’s Whirlwind (GS 3)). While both the 3 and 4 attacks are on CD, use the 5 attack if your enemy has a large hitbox or if there are multiple enemies grouped together in the corner. If there is only a single enemy or 3, 4, and 5, are all on CD, auto-attack. You don’t usually need to select a target for the auto-attack to hit, but if you do, remember to deselect before using Fiery Rush again.

Aiming Dragon’s Tooth:
With S/F and S/D builds, you start off your Might rotations with Fire 2 (Dragon’s Tooth). To make it drop in front of your toon within melee range, angle the camera up to the sky, then move forward a bit. Wait a sec, then cast Dragon’s Tooth. Quickly move forward slightly and cast Fire 4 to make Dragon’s Tooth combo Area Might.

Aiming Phoenix:
With S/F and S/D builds, when stacking Might on boss, you want to cast Fire 3 (Phoenix) slightly behind the boss, but still within your fire field, so it combos Area Might and hits the boss 3 times.

Stacking Bloodlust or Perception:
Upon entering an instance, equip a Scepter and Dagger (OH Dagger has better AoE than Focus). If you’re stacking Bloodlust, ensure both have Bloodlust Sigils; if you’re stacking Perception, ensure both have Perception Sigils. Using 2x of the same stacking sigil will cause each kill to give you 2 stacks. After you’ve reached the cap of 25 stacks (meaning after 13 kills), wep swap to non-stacking weps, either Staff (if using Build A ) or Scepter/Focus (if using Builds B-G ). You will retain your stacks even though your stacking weps aren’t currently equipped.

Pre-Stacking Might with S/D (your Bloodlust/Perception weps):
Fire 2 > Fire 4 > Fire 3 + Earth Atune while casting > A. Brilliance > Earth 4 + A. Wave while casting > Earth 5 + Water Atune while channeling > Conjure Lightning Hammer (summon 2nd hammer on top of boss)

Summoning the LH on top of boss will not put you in combat. This rotation provides 18 Might, counting only your own blast finishers.

Stacking Might on Boss with S/D (your Bloodlust/Perception weps):
Fire 2 > Fire 4 > Fire 3 + Earth Atune while casting > Earth 4 + A. Wave while casting > A. Brilliance + Water Atune while casting > Conjure Lightning Hammer (summon 2nd hammer on top of boss)

This rotation provides 18 Might, counting only your own blast finishers and your own fire field.

Pre-Stacking Might: Other Professions
It is virtually guaranteed that there will be 1x strength and 1x discipline banner in your group, since most groups have 2 wars, and even if there is only 1, he should be using both banners. When you cast your fire field (Lava Font, Flamewall, or Ring of Fire), the wars should summon their banners inside of it to combo Area Might. Then, each person should pick up a banner and use the 5 attack within the field to combo more Area Might. Your group will reach 25 Might just with your own blast finishers and those from the banners. Stacking Might this way is best done before engaging the boss.

Playing the Staff Build (A):

Prior to engagement, stack Might with the following rotation:
Earth 2 + Fire Atune while casting > Fire 2 + A. Wave while casting > Arcane Brilliance

This rotation provides 9 Might. Once you’ve placed Lava Font, your group should stack more Might via banners.

Upon engagement, when not using FGS, sit in Fire Atune and spam 1, 2, and 3 with Staff in melee range. If the boss has a large hit-box, spam 5 as well. If the boss is pushed against a wall or into a corner, face away from the corner and use 4 – it works just like Fiery Rush. Spam until the boss is dead. To restack Might during combat, use Arcane Brilliance and Wave on top of Lava Font.

When using FGS, stack Might, summon FGS, have someone else in the group pick it up, then pull boss into a corner and kill him. He’ll go down in seconds.

Playing the S/F Builds (C, E, & F):

Prior to engagement, stack Might with the following rotation:
Fire 2 > Fire 4 > Fire 3 + Earth Atune while casting > A. Brilliance + Earth 4 while casting > Summon LH + Water Atune & A. Wave while casting (summon 2nd hammer on top of boss)

This rotation provides 15 Might. Once you’ve placed Flamewall, your group should stack more Might via banners.

Upon engagement, execute 6 complete LH AA chains, then swap to Fire Atune, execute 2 more complete LH AA chain, then drop the LH.

The rotation from this point until the boss dies is as follows:
Fire 2 > Fire 4 > Fire 3 + Earth Atune while casting > A. Brilliance + Earth 4 while casting > Water Atune > Water 5 + A. Wave while casting > summon/pick up LH > 6 complete LH AA chains > Fire Atune > 2 complete LH AA chains > drop LH > [repeat]

Assuming you have no lag whatsoever and your Flamewall is the only fire field, this rotation provides 24 Might. If you have some lag, this rotation will provide 21 Might. The 21 Might version is shown in the following vid (pretend the Boon Durations are Might Durations – it was an error on my part):

Ele Meta: s/f LH – Post Dec 10th

Playing the S/F Build (G):

Same as “Playing the S/F Builds (C, E, & F),” except that you swap to Air Atune after Water 5 (Comet) and you AA with the LH in Air the entire time.

Playing the S/F Builds (B & D):

Prior to engagement, stack Might in the same way as Builds C, E, F, & G.

Upon engagement, execute 5 complete LH AA chains, then swap to Air Atune and execute 1 complete channel of the AA, and use Air 2 and 3 while channeling it. Then swap to Fire Atune.

The next part of your rotation is as follows:
Fire 2 > Fire 4 > Fire 3 + Earth Atune while casting > A. Brilliance + Earth 4 while casting > Water Atune > Water 5 + A. Wave while casting > pick up LH > 5 complete LH AA chains > Air Atune > Air AA channel + Air 2 & Air 3 while channeling > Fire Atune > Fire 2 > Fire 4 > Fire 3 + Earth Atune while casting > A. Brilliance + Earth 4 while casting > Water Atune > Water 5 + A. Wave while casting

If the boss isn’t dead by this point, you’re kittened. Without Conjurer trait, these 2 builds do not have 100% uptime on LH when not Might-stacking, the way Builds C, E, F, & G do. Therefore, after your 3rd Might-stacking rotation, if the boss isn’t dead, you’re forced to AA with Scepter since your Summon LH utility is still on CD.

When to Use Might Duration Runes (2x Fire, 2x Pirate, 2x Hoelbrak)

Two of the constants used for optimizing the respective Effective Powers of Builds A-G via the previously mentioned variables were: 1) Scholar Runes; and 2) perma 25 Might stacks. However, Builds B-G can only provide perma 25 Might stacks to the group in Scholar Runes if there are perma fire fields, usually given by: a Guard using PF/HG, a War using LB f1, or party members spamming Embers.

If there are not fire fields from an external source, and you are the only party member giving Might, is it better to use Might Durations than Scholars? If the fight lasts longer than 20 secs, the answer is YES! Here’s why:

Might provided by an S/F build in Scholars, with 0% Might Duration:
21 stacks with 66% uptime = an average of 14 stacks for each of the 5 party members, plus personal bonuses of 165 Power, 8% crit dmg, and a 10% dmg modifier for you via Scholar Runes.

Might provided by an S/F build in Might Durations, with 60% Might Duration:
21 stacks with 100% uptime = an average of 21 stacks for each of the 5 party members, plus a personal bonus of 75 Power for you via Might Duration Runes.

Simplifying it, the comparison is:

Scholars: 8% crit dmg & a 10% dmg modifier for you
Vs.
Might Durations: 155 power & 245 condi dmg for you, and 245 power & condi dmg for EACH of your other 4 party members

Just looking at the total additional Power from all that additional might (1135 Power), you can tell that there’s really no comparison. Furthermore, factor in the 1225 condi dmg and what that’ll do to the burns via guard/ele and bleeds via war/mes/ele, and it becomes even more obvious. Therefore, if a boss fight will last longer than 20 secs and your group is not giving your fire fields, it’s better to swap to Might Duration gear. This most often applies to zerk pug groups, since organized guild runs usually kill bosses within the initial 20 secs.

Build A: Why Not Use Blasting Staff?

30/20/10/10/0 with Arcane Lightning is better than 30/10/10/10/10 with Blasting Staff. For PvE, since the boss is a single target and standing still, Blasting Staff does not effect your Fireballs and Lava Fonts in any meaningful way, in regard to DPS. The only thing it does is increase the blast area of each individual meteor in Meteor Shower, causing more meteors to hit your target, and resulting in higher damage from that one skill.

So what you need to do is weigh that increase in Meteor Shower damage against: perma 10% crit dmg from Arcane Lightning, perma 10% crit dmg from extra 10 in Air, 100 prec from extra 10 in Air. Since the majority of your damage will be done by Fireballs and Lava Fonts, even against targets with large hitboxes, the choice is obvious. The extra 10 in Air is FAR superior to 10 in Arcana.

When to Use Conjures

limbeurt.6942 made a great flow chart in this thread that helps non-Ele’s decide whether or not it’s OK to pick up your conjures. His diagram can be found at the following link, and it also as an attachment below:

Ele Conjure Flow Chart

RESERVED FOR FUTURE USE

RESERVED FOR FUTURE USE

Open for comments. I’ll try to keep this thread updated as the meta’s change.

Have you tried this before? I personally have never tried 2 on-kill stacking of the same 1. But I am pretty sure that you will only get 1 stack. Since once the main hand sigil proc, your off-hand sigil will go on internal cd. But if this work then it will be interesting.

There is no ICD on stacking sigils

yup it works. I have that on my mes

Ok. Maybe internal cd may not be the appropriate word. But you can’t stack 2 different on-kill stacking sigil. So unless you have another better term to explain why you can’t have 2 on-kill stack sigi, I think it’s easier to understood to use internal cd on the secondary similiar sigil.

Cool. This can be abusive on PvP. 10 stack on each kill.

Yeah. I’ve been doing exactly that on my thief for a while now in PvP. 2x bloodlust weps, I max out at 25 stacks after 3 kills, then I swap to force/accuracy weps.

Well, this is not even close to being efficient or even a meta build but hey, it isn’t too bad either.

Dub.1273:

Well, this is not even close to being efficient or even a meta build but hey, it isn’t too bad either.

Well, technically the meta is 30/10/10/20/0 S/D + LH, since that’s max damage and superior might stacking, and I did include that spec. But I also included one with 10 in Arcana because I’m just too noob to survive without vigor. I usually need more dodges, and I don’t want to gives up Sweet & Spicies for endurance regen food. There are some ele’s who can survive without extra dodges, or can go full damage because they’re getting vigor from a teammate, but I’m just not one of them.

Some ele’s using S/D + LH go further into the Earth trait line because they think it yields more damage, and if you’re arguing that doing that is the meta, I’m happy to provide numbers proving 30/10/10/20/0 is better.

One way that you can increase personal DPS is to put less than 30 trait points in Fire, but then you can’t give yourself perma fury (which is fine if you’re getting it from another source, such as from Warbanner). However, the bigger downside of not taking Persisting Flames is that your fire field doesn’t last as long, so it’s a lot harder to summon 2x banners and have 4 people use the 5 attacks with those banners inside your field. It IS possible, if the wars start channeling their banner summons before you use Fire 4 and if you get the fire field up at exactly the right time, but it’s a lot more difficult. So although it is possible to get slightly higher DPS than 30/10/10/20/0, the utility of that spec for the group outweighs the personal gain in DPS.

i prefer use 25/25/0/20/0 or 30/20/0/20/0 but now testing 20/20/10/20/0, normaly we have a ranger for the permafury. If you use the LH the battle sigil is just a waste of gold

For dungeon tours, our group comp is usually: 2x wars, 1x guard, 1x mes, 1x ele. We use TS to coordinate everything and stack might via fire field/blasts/banners before bosses very quickly; but even so, sometimes the last 2 people who use banner 5 attack miss the field if I’m not traited into Persisting Flames.

The warriors also prefer to either activate Sig of Adrenaline when they get below maximum might or keep Warbanner ready for a mass res just in case, and they wouldn’t want to waste a Warbanner just to give me fury because I can’t give it to myself. Plus Warbanner has that stupid long cast time.

So yeah, while I agree that the 20/20/10/20/0 spec (or the 25/25/0/20/0 if you, for some odd reason, need to stack your own vuln) is higher damage than 30/10/10/20/0, it lacks the utility that you get from Persisting Flames.

I used to run that build (30 0 10 20 10), but have gotten feedback from a clannie to only focus on might stacking with perma fury; I use 30 0 10 0 30, but anything with 30 x x x 30 can easily keep the team at 20+ might even without boon runes and food.

My biggest concern is whether it’s better for eles to focus purely on might stacking so other team members do not have to interrupt their dps to stack might. I have a very solid group I run dungeons with frequently and the 30 0 10 0 30 feels a lot more effective to me.

EDIT: Gear is all zerk with scholar runes. Ascended zerk backpack/amulet/accessories/rings.

InFluEnZa.6908:

I have a very solid group I run dungeons with frequently and the 30 0 10 0 30 feels a lot more effective to me.

EDIT: Gear is all zerk with scholar runes. Ascended zerk backpack/amulet/accessories/rings.

With a solid group you shouldn’t need boon duration, blasts can come easily from banners at start of fight to get 25 straight off. The extra +20% damage or more from damage multiplication is much much better.

Anierna.6918:

Well, technically the meta is 30/10/10/20/0 S/D + LH, since that’s max damage and superior might stacking, and I did include that spec.

That is neither max damage nor “meta”. Usually you don’t need an elementalist buffing fury in an organized group.
Also you’ve got quite some faults in your gear setup.
S/F is better than S/D anyway, allowing you to stack 18-21 might permanently (without/with persisting flames) aswell as yieling a little better dps/time ratio.

Dub.1273:

That is neither max damage nor “meta”.
Also you’ve got quite some faults in your gear setup.

There are the 2 trait setups that SoliSnake mentioned (25/25/0/20/0 and 20/20/10/20/0) that cause you to do more personal damage, but neither of them has Persisting Flames – which is preferable for increased group damage for 2 reasons. No point in repeating them – you can just scroll up in the thread.

As for gear – what exactly am I missing? I think I covered it all. Zerk/scholars, sweet&spicies/dungeon potions, double bloodlust stacking weps then swap to force/dungeon sigil weps.

The only thing that may possibly be a problem is the balance between power/prec/crit damage – after factoring in buffs from bloodlust stacks/nourishment/disc & str banners/etc and coming up with final values for those stats, I could plug them into the Reddit equations to find the optimal balance. It may well turn out that replacing a few pieces of zerker with assassins yields higher total damage, for instance. However, I don’t see the point in doing that unless someone else advocates a better meta and I feel like proving them wrong.

Anierna.6918:

Dub.1273:

That is neither max damage nor “meta”.
Also you’ve got quite some faults in your gear setup.

There are the 2 trait setups that SoliSnake mentioned (25/25/0/20/0 and 20/20/10/20/0) that cause you to do more personal damage, but neither of them has Persisting Flames – which is preferable for increased group damage for 2 reasons. No point in repeating them – you can just scroll up in the thread.

As for gear – what exactly am I missing? I think I covered it all. Zerk/scholars, sweet&spicies/dungeon potions, double bloodlust stacking weps then swap to force/dungeon sigil weps.

The only thing that may possibly be a problem is the balance between power/prec/crit damage – after factoring in buffs from bloodlust stacks/nourishment/disc & str banners/etc and coming up with final values for those stats, I could plug them into the Reddit equations to find the optimal balance. It may well turn out that replacing a few pieces of zerker with assassins yields higher total damage, for instance. However, I don’t see the point in doing that unless someone else advocates a better meta and I feel like proving them wrong.

Exactly, with your current setup you are just putting too much power in, even with 0 might it would be better to add quite a few assassins pieces. And given that you should be able to permanently self buff at least 15 might with any setup, thats a really bad idea.
For the build, there are just too many viable variations with countless advantages and disadvantages. You can’t found a meta build just because there are too many viable ones, neither worse nor better than yours. If you’re aiming for personal damage though, 20/0/25/25/0 (with conjurer) will yield the highest damage. If you’re going to play in a suboptimal group (you seem to be assuming) 30/30/0/10/0 will deliver best results.

Have you actually calculated relative power/prec/crit dmg? I really can’t be bother to. Maybe I’ll do that tomorrow night if you haven’t already done it.

I’ve calculated every possible build when we’ve been doing this.

While it took me a while to give up PF for organized group runs, it really is unnecessary with warriors, rangers, mesmers, and the occasional ember.

For suboptimal groups, 30/30/0/10/0 is okay damage and Zel and I think it’s a lot of fun to play (though he’ll toss that /10/ into earth or arcane). There are a lot of builds similar to 30/10/10/20/0 and 20/0/25/25/0 and the differences will probably be lost in RNG and human errors (some elite groups excluded).

EDIT: I’ve been hanging out with clippy too much. Some of these numbers may have different assumptions because I did the calculations on different days and can’t be bothered to write down my assumptions to remind myself. Also assumed full zerk gear, which probably isn’t optimal for some of these, and sig of fire/arcane blast/lightning hammer utilities.
o 0/20/25/25/0 – Pure % damage modifier build, requires bleeding target (27509)
o 0/25/25/20/0 – If you need vuln, requires bleeding target (27063 – .9837)
o 0/25/20/25/0 – If you need vuln and dodges, requires bleeding target (25857 – .9399)
o 25/20/0/25/0 – If you need charges but not vuln, requires burning target (25685 – .9337)
o 20/0/25/25/0 – 25097
o 30/10/10/20/0 – If you need charges, fury, but not vuln, requires burning target (25485 – .9264)
o 25/25/10/10/0 – If you need charges and vuln, requires burning target (25268 – .9185)
o 30/30/0/10/0 – If you need charges, fury, vuln, requires burning target (24044 – .874)

Double edit: anything with points in Arcana tanks your DPS.

zencow.3651:

InFluEnZa.6908:

I have a very solid group I run dungeons with frequently and the 30 0 10 0 30 feels a lot more effective to me.

EDIT: Gear is all zerk with scholar runes. Ascended zerk backpack/amulet/accessories/rings.

With a solid group you shouldn’t need boon duration, blasts can come easily from banners at start of fight to get 25 straight off. The extra +20% damage or more from damage multiplication is much much better.

I’m not worried about getting 25 stacks before the fight; that’s way too easy to achieve. It’s more during the fight itself the might drops very fast if I use lightning hammer. Guardian fire ring does not last long and I doubt it’s efficient for warriors to use a longbow during fights just for the fire field. Which brings me back to my original question of whether the loss in personal dps is worth it to “solo” keep the team buffed at 20+ might at all times during a fight.

Dragon Tooth, Phoenix, Magnetic Wave and Arcane Wave do not even cause a dps loss, therefore it makes sense to do one might stacking combo after 24 lh strikes before picking up the next one. Unless your party uses embers/a staff ele, of course.

@DEKeyz: 20/0/25/25/0 is less dps than 0/20/25/25/0?
Edit2: Yeah, without taking all possibilties for food/buffs into account the latter is better, when calculating with all variables the former gives me a little better results (9.14k instead of 9.12k – not taking any other modifiers into account than 0.5 from burning).

Dub.1273:

Anierna.6918:

Well, technically the meta is 30/10/10/20/0 S/D + LH, since that’s max damage and superior might stacking, and I did include that spec.

That is neither max damage nor “meta”. Usually you don’t need an elementalist buffing fury in an organized group.
Also you’ve got quite some faults in your gear setup.
S/F is better than S/D anyway, allowing you to stack 18-21 might permanently (without/with persisting flames) aswell as yieling a little better dps/time ratio.

Soooo, you want to share the alternative

DEKeyzToChaos.7381:

For suboptimal groups, 30/30/0/10/0 is okay damage and Zel and I think it’s a lot of fun to play (though he’ll toss that /10/ into earth or arcane). T

He’d toss that into arcane after he was struck by cupid.

@ Dub: Assuming Sig of Fire, efficient use of arcane blast, 5 boons, exotic weapons (I know, not a good assumption now) linear dps, etc, Nike’s spreadsheet says 0/20/25/25/0 comes in at 28206 effective power. Taking arcane wave instead comes in at around 27900. For some odd reason, 20/0/25/25/0 clocks in at 25137 with assassin’s armor and zerk weapons and trinkets. I think I assumed 4 boons and low Arcane Power uptime for the EP numbers above hence some of the variation. I could be missing something, though – I’m not used to playing with Clippy all that much yet.

Edit: That Anet filter xD
Edit2: @haviz: love is a burning fire

haviz.1340:

DEKeyzToChaos.7381:

For suboptimal groups, 30/30/0/10/0 is okay damage and Zel and I think it’s a lot of fun to play (though he’ll toss that /10/ into earth or arcane). T

He’d toss that into arcane after he was struck by cupid.

The things love makes me do!

0/20/25/25/0 cool, never thinked about it, will try it today in coe, my personal record atm is 12k-12k-18k on golem and 15k-15k-22k on destroyer wich hammer and 56k with fiery whirl and 4.2k for fiery rush tick

Last time I checked swapping stones for oil, and 100 power food for 100 prec version will balance out the max buffed zerker quite well. Atleast better than the power. Without crafting assasin stuff.

@ Sabull: Swapping power food for prec is probably a good idea, but since you’ll usually be using dungeon potions, using a prec utility instead isn’t really an option.

I won’t know for sure what the exact balance is until I throw everything into Excel, which I’ll do this weekend (but not tonight – it’s Halloween!), after which I’ll update the guide. Unless someone who’s already done it would be nice enough to post the exact gear/buff balance and save me the effort =D

I heard someone developed an excel tool to compute dps

what you think about this?

http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/elementalist/?1.0|b.5g.h2.8.5g.h3.0.0.0|0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0|1g.7e.1g.7e.1g.7e.1g.7e.1g.7e.1g.7e|2s.0.2s.0.3s.0.2s.0.3s.0.2s.0|a3.a6.p64.p46.0|6f.j|1n.26.1r.1z.0|e

Just took another look at this thread, and there are some things that need fixing/were left out. I’ll get to it soon.

Need fixing:

- Fire traits for staff build should be: VI, VII, XI, in order to maintain perma-uptime for lava font and perma fury.

Need to be added:

- Embers. Can’t believe I forgot these; they’re OP. Each one lasts for 5 mins, and puts up 3 fire fields on/around your target every 15 secs. These fire fields have 50% uptime. The Embers also do damage to your target. Each player can summon one of them by using a Fire Elemental Powder.

If each player in your group uses one, you get 100% fire field uptime w/o needing Persisting Flames and a fair bit of extra damage from the pets. This means that, for the S/D + LH build, you can keep up perma 25 stacks for your group without any boon duration traits/gear, just by using S/D combos and the LH AA chain within the Embers’ fields. The initial might stack via war banners pre-engagement is still needed, but the wars no longer need to carry FGJ and the mes doesn’t need Sig of Insp. If you’ve got a thief in the group, he can spam Cluster Bombs at the start of an engagement, so you don’t even need to prepare beforehand via banner summons/blasts.

- Superior Sigil of the Night instead of Force Sigil in night-time instances

- A post-Dec 10th build (assuming a new list of changes comes out soon; the original list had a few features that the devs have since changed their minds on, such as moving Vigor on crit to master tier.)
.
.
EDIT: for optimizing gear for the 30/10/10/20/0, I’m getting:
- 100 prec + 10% crit dmg food,
- 250 prec from perception sigils,
- assassins armor except for a zerk chest
- zerk ascended weps/trinks

This factors in:
- str and disc banners,
- 20% modifier from Night + Dungeon sigils,
- 10% modifier from Scholar Runes
- 10% modifier from dungeon potion
- 180 prec from fire signet passive
- modifiers from the spec, assuming perma burning and vuln on opponent and you being above 90% health, in water. and within melee range;
- a 6% modifier from the Air VI trait (which I know is wrong, but I don’t know a better value for 20% bonus when opponent is under 33% health).

This does not factor in:
- Empower Allies (which Wars don’t run anymore),
- Spotter,
- Frost Spirit(s).

For optimizing a 10/10/25/25/0 spec, I’m getting:

- ascended zerk weps/trinks
- exotic assassins armor
- 100 power + 10% crit dmg food
- 250 prec from perception sigils

Same assumptions as in the previous post concerning what I did and did not include, except that the target now also needs to be bleeding and you need 5 boons and full endurance (which is why I wouldn’t be able to pull this off).

Changes effecting Ele’s in PvE based on the revised Dec 10th patch notes:

- Fire III – Ember’s Might: No longer a 5% dmg modifier; now lengthens burn duration by 25%.
- Fire VIII – Conjurer: Moved to Adept tier
- Fire 25 – Burning Rage: Increased from 5% to 10% dmg modifier

The base cooldown of the attunement that you just left is now reduced from 16 seconds to 13 seconds. Attunement cooldown rate now increases by 1% per point in Arcane down from 2%. The end result is that now Attunements go from 13s to 10s instead of the old range of 16s to 10s.

Base global attunement cooldown is now 1.625 seconds. Global attunement cooldown rate now decreases by 1% per point in Arcane down from 2%. The end result is that now global attunement cooldown goes from 1.625 to 1.25 instead of the old range of 2.0 to 1.25.

Since PvE Ele’s invest either 0 or 10 points in Arcana, the changes to attunement CD are beneficial for all damage-oriented PvE specs.

If you were already putting either 25 or 30 points in Fire, your net damage modifiers will be the same, but now you can also get either a) 25% longer burn duration, or b) 30% chance to cause burning on crit; so this will be a slight buff.

Moving Conjurer trait down to Adept opens up the possibility of 10/10/25/25/0 with 25 charges per LH.

Assuming full endurance and Conjurer adept trait post-patch, 10/10/25/25/0 would do more damage than 30/10/10/20/0. The question is: can you survive in a glass spec without dodging? If so, go 10/10/25/25/0.

If you need to dodge a few times, go 30/10/10/20/0.

If you need to dodge a lot, go 30/0/10/20/10.

Updated the guide to incorporate the Dec 10th update and to include multiple LH builds based on what you need to do (eg. give might/fury/vuln), the gear/food/stacking sigils being individually optimized for each build to maximize that build’s Effective Power.

Dub and Zelyhn can now stop telling me that my builds aren’t optimal, because now they are, based on what you need to do for your group.

How much does blasting staff affect meteor shower damage?

Grahhhhhh!

If you’re not going to use Conjurer and Lightning Hammer, then there’s absolutely no point to using Scepter Mainhand for anything remotely resembling a speed clear.

Scepter sustained damage is just bad. Really bad. Like Dagger Mainhand has pretty mediocre damage, but Scepter is far, far below it. If you’re making the conscious choice not to play Lightning Hammer or Fire Staff, then your next best bet is MH Dagger. Scepter by itself just doesn’t cut it for speed clearing of any sort. :X

@ Neko: I always take Conjurer. I’m usually in Build F. I thought the same as you originally, but I tried it w/o Conjurer, and it actually worked very well.

The downtime on both LH and your might-stacking rotations w/o Conjurer is only a very small amount of time – a single Air AA channel with Scepter, during which time you augment the dmg w/ the Air 2 burst attack, then you start the next might-stacking rotation. It’s hardly significant. If you pre-stack might, then can kill the boss in less than the time it takes for you to:

use up your first 15-charge LH, stack might a 2nd time, use up your second 15-charge LH, stack might a 3rd time;

then not having Conjurer might actually end up as higher DPS than having it.

Also, S/F + LH (w/o Conjurer), assuming you kill the boss by your 3rd might-stacking rotation, is not only higher DPS than MH Dagger, but also stacks FAR more might than MH dagger. If you don’t need to stack might, then you might as well go Fire Staff – look at the diagram I attached to the first post, and you’ll see it shows exactly that.

I feel that I am not doing enough DMG without fresh air. It is such a massive dmg boost

Gyler.8150:

How much does blasting staff affect meteor shower damage?

I don’t know exactly, since it depends on the size of the hitbox for each individual target, and since I haven’t run enough tests to be 100% sure of the exact increase in dmg. However, I AM 100% sure that a 30/20/10/10/0 build (what I call Build A ) will do more dmg than a 30/10/10/10/10 build with Blasting Staff. I posted why in another thread, which I will quote below:

Anierna.6918:

The PvE staff meta is 30/20/10/10/0. In my guide, I called it Build A, at the following link:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/elementalist/The-Ele-Meta-Dungeon-Speed-Runs-2-0/first#post3112677

30/20/10/10/0 with Arcane Lightning is better than 30/10/10/10/10 with Blasting Staff. For PvE, since the boss is a single target and standing still, Blasting Staff does not effect your Fireballs and Lava Fonts in any meaningful way, in regard to DPS. The only thing it does it make Meteor hit higher. So what you need to do is weigh that increase in Meteor damage against: perma 10% crit dmg from Arcane Lightning, perma 10% crit dmg from extra 10 in Air, 100 prec from extra 10 in Air. Since the majority of your damage will be done by Fireballs and Lava Fonts, even against targets with large hitboxes, the choice is obvious. The extra 10 in Air is FAR superior to 10 in Arcana.

Assassin.7890:

I feel that I am not doing enough DMG without fresh air. It is such a massive dmg boost

With 0 in Arcana, you have a 13 sec CD on each Atune, and a 1.625 global Atune CD. This prevents you from making full use of Fresh Air. Looking at Fresh Air builds without Arcana, I am 100% sure that LH builds do more damage, under the constraint that you still need to stack maximum Might. If you didn’t need to stack Might, you might as well ditch Fresh Air and the LH altogether, and use Staff.

If you put points into Arcana to make better use of Fresh Air, your Effective Power drops very, very rapidly. Putting points into Arcana quickly makes non-Arcana builds far better. So you’re in a bit of a bind with Fresh Air, which basically prevents you from using it, if your goal is to do maximum dmg under the constraint that you must stack Might.

Reason I think we should test blasting staff, other than increased aoe on lava font / fireball, is that it could be up to a 20k+ burst in those fights that mobs already die super fast. Not sure if casting the meteor shower vs a wall would increase this number exponentially.

Blasting Staff is a huge boost to MS, something around 30-40%. If thats worth it? I don’t know, but I like to be able to use vigor on crit for more difficult fights.

A big thank-you to the moderators for the sticky

Anierna.6918:

Assassin.7890:

I feel that I am not doing enough DMG without fresh air. It is such a massive dmg boost

With 0 in Arcana, you have a 13 sec CD on each Atune, and a 1.625 global Atune CD. This prevents you from making full use of Fresh Air. Looking at Fresh Air builds without Arcana, I am 100% sure that LH builds do more damage, under the constraint that you still need to stack maximum Might. If you didn’t need to stack Might, you might as well ditch Fresh Air and the LH altogether, and use Staff.

If you put points into Arcana to make better use of Fresh Air, your Effective Power drops very, very rapidly. Putting points into Arcana quickly makes non-Arcana builds far better. So you’re in a bit of a bind with Fresh Air, which basically prevents you from using it, if your goal is to do maximum dmg under the constraint that you must stack Might.

Anierna, could you please explain to me, why I need to couple Arcana with Air attunement?
A 13 sec global cooldown compared to a 10 sec traited cooldown on each attunement isnt that much of a difference to me.
I finde the DMG from Scepter #2 compared with fresh air very satisfying. Though I never played any other ele build except from the typical Aura Bunker D/D.
With Air you get Air Training, Arcane Lightning or Bolt to the heart. And ofc. fresh air. Isnt that a hugh DMG boost whether you play Scepter or Staff? For me, both weapons made quite good use of the instant lightning flash which hits really hard.
But as I said, not quite experienced here – so I would be happy to be convinced from the opposite.
Kind regards
Assassin