Guild Wars 2

I’ll start an Elementalist, and my initial goal is reaching lvl 80 by questing the world map.

I already played as Ranger, and enjoyed a lot his ability to solo anything. So I’d like to have an Elementalist with enough power and survivability to solo every map content (I know the world map is easy for everyone, but sometimes you have to face that harder champion, those harder skill challenges, etc).

I have already decided some things to fill my playstyle:

- Weapon: Staff (no doubt here)
- Equips: Focus primarily on Power, then Vitality/Toughness (for more survivability)
- Traits: Probably Fire, then Arcane, then Water (maybe switch Water and Arcane)
- Elite: Probably Glyph of Elementals (Earth) (again to have a pet as distraction on those hard moments)
- Utilities: That’s where I need help

So, what yous guys recommend as Utilities for world map questing?

Easiest way seems to be Arcane, even more considering their synergy with the Arcane line.. But what about Conjure Weapons (never used them)?

Staff is fine.

For PvE levling i would use fire/air/arcane
If you don´t have air use air signet as utility on 8.
Use a zerker staff (or assasin) . The rest is power equipement as you like but keep your crit rate above 40%. If not ascended i mix valkyr and knight but for levling it is more or less irrelevant. just take power and precision.
A cheap boost is acuracy sigil and i add blood or when using hoelbrak/strength rune strength sigil.

I recomend use either a glyph setup or arcane setup traiting acordingly.

With elemental sourge in arcane: arcane brilliance 6, arcane shield 7, arcane blast 8

With inscription: healing glyph 6, glyph of storms 7, frost bow 8 + elite glyphs of elements

+ i always have cleansing flame on my toolbar 9. Its offensive + defensive.

I run the arane version with my F/E/Ar setup using the air signet and have a very good experience with it but my build is condi/hybrid.

Normaly eles run water + cantrips but you don´t need it in PvE. Hell i even don´t run it in WvW, its sustain but not fun. I have better killrates without it.

Here a lvl 80 build that is not full zerker to orient how i will play staff in PvE. You can do it as full zerker too.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vFEQFAWnMIC9MglMAOOA0RgBBALCAFgHgcJDBpg6N0GODA-T1BGwABuAAHV+VRHAgHAgJ1fSt/wUlgBAQAYn78o78o7sQAlHDA-w

When you want to got WvW with that build you can swap food to lemongrass for a reasonable condi defence. For PvE strength rune is better.
And fire sigil instead of blood fits well. Blood is cheap :-)

Fire/Water/Arcane is more forgiving
Fire/Air/Arcane kills faster.

Ether Renewal is typically a staple for staff, but you can get away with the Sigil in open world. Arcane Brilliance is also great, because of the blast finisher.

Your ratio of cantrips/defense to other offensive utilities depends on your comfort and skill level. I always have lightning flash in any build. If you find yourself downing a good bit, Mist Form or Arcane Shield are great choice. Armor of Earth and Cleansing Fire don’t give much value in open world. Mobs will rarely ever stack 3 conditions on you and the knockbacks are so predictable that stability just isn’t a necessity.

Beyond that, Ice Bow and Gylph of Storms are your heavy hitters with Ice Bow being the strongest. You can build up might stacks in fire, then stack up a group of mobs with static field or wall and then annihilate them all at once with Ice Bow 4. Arcane Wave isn’t for damage, but an on demand blast finisher for your many combo fields. You can use Arcane Wave, Arcane Brilliance and Earth 2 to give you perma swiftness with static field, but that is a lot of utility slots when you could just take Sigil or Air or just move in air attunement if you are specced into air.

Elite is Elemental. Fiery Greatsword and Tornado only have a lot of value in PvP.

And that’s really it. Personally, I’ve never used any other utility skills besides the ones I’ve listed here.

Oh yes… I usually don´t use mist form, but yesterday … I won all three duels in WvW ….
Oponent used their skills to prohibit immidiate finisher and i got shot in the back just a second befor i could end it …
Buts thats not PvE :-). Also cleansing flame is argualbe in PvE but its the only condi remover in a non water build.
And the glyph/ice bow setup i wrote is the heavy hitting PvE setup also MadRabit mentioned. But going tempest defence and arcane utilities is good. In dungeons i swap ice bow in.

Yeah, I’m not knocking arcane. I just don’t use it personally so I can’t recommend them. I probably need to expand my horizons a little bit and play around with Arcane Blast and Arcane Power next time I run a Fire/Air/Arcane build in VW.

Arcane blast is good because its on a 16s timer, does a strong hit, inflicts a condition and gives you 150 ferocity. So i can keep the crit damage permanently higer. Its fire and forget as soon as its up. In my WvW setup it lost to air signet and the ferocity is not so important, but in an air setup it might find a place. Always hard to decide. If lemongrass + hoelbrak is enough condi defence than the spare place is for lighning flash. But i have no real experience running lemmongrass an alwasy use the flame.

When I’m out in the world just questing on my ele I use a setup nearly identical to the pvp d/d ele. Fire water arcane traits, dual daggers, armor of earth for taking damage, air signet for moving faster (if you go air instead of water trait you can trait for speed instead) lightning flash for more mobility because really when questing getting around fast is best, elite glyph of elementals for tanking any boss monsters. If I plan on being in one area or doing a dungeon I replace my mobility utilities for other glyphs and/or arcane shield.

Thanks guys.

I liked the idea of going with some Cantrips at the start. This way I can get that synergy trait on fire line very soon (allowing me to benefit from Might stacks at lower levels, when they are more powerful), and also get better results from Ether Renewal, which was going to be my heal of choice anyway.

Also, something I enjoy doing is grouping together some mobs before casting Meteor Shower, and probably Armor of Earth / Lightning Flash can help me with that channel.

Then at higher levels I can decide if I want to migrate to Arcane utilities, since there is a trait named Elemental Surge that drawn my attention in Arcane line and I want to try it. Seems really good.

D/D is actually the better weapon set for open world stuff. You can kill faster, have good AOE and it’s a lot more fun than staff if you ask me. It does come with a higher learning curve though. It can be tricky to keep the staff’s best skill, lava font, on foes and Meteor Shower has such a long channel.

That being said the best ele weapon set is the one you enjoy playing the most and want to use. As they all can get the job done in the open world just fine. Also, leveling with the one you plan to use when you hit lvl 80 is also a good way to master it.

Not sure if anyone mentioned it yet but always make sure you have a 15% xp food buff on you (Strawberry Ghosts are my choice) and a maintenance oil as well. You can also go crazy with boosters and grab some fireworks off the tp too. Then when you start killing that group of fireflies or moa’s off the beaten path that bonus xp will be soo very yummy indeed!

Almost forgot, Fire – Arcane – Air is my preferred unlocking order. Evasive Arcana is pretty awesome even with a staff build but of course shines in a D/D build. I am also using a burn D/D Sin build on one of my ele’s with Fire/Aracane/Earth and everything melts sooooooo awesomely fast I have found it very enjoyable.

Anyhoo, have fun and happy hunting!

Personally, I prefer S/D for open-world PvE. You get a lot of burst and flexibility, though D/D is probably better overall (I just don’t like it as much). With Staff, you’ll have more difficulty killing single-targets and a harder time with foes getting up in your grill. If you’re set on using Staff, though, go right ahead! Should be fine, just a bit slower.

For Utilities, you have a couple of options.

Cantrips are really strong, as others have already mentioned. Lighting Flash is on my bar 99% of the time because it’s just so versatile, and Mist Form’s usually right next to it as well (it’s particularly nice in groups for rezzing — just start the rez first and then pop it to keep going while ignoring all damage). Sometimes I’ll use Armor of Earth instead of Mist Form, but three Cantrips at a time is total overkill for most PvE circumstances.

My third Utility is usually a glyph or an Arcane skill. Glyph of Storms offers a lot of damage and versatility, which each attunement giving you something new to play around with, while Glyph of Lesser Elementals really helps bridge the gap before you get your Elite (and it can help after that if you find you need an extra distraction — seriously, having some elementals to pop out can help dramatically). Glyph of Elemental Power is ok though personally I’m not much of a fan (the stunbreaker is at odds with the skill’s basic design, which is to use it on cooldown in an attunement particular to your needs) and Glyph of Renewal is obviously only worth taking in difficult parts of some fractals or dungeons.

As for Arcane skills, Arcane Blast and Arcane Wave are ok but I don’t generally prefer them unless I’ve traited Arcane skills significantly. Arcane Shield is a spectacular complement to Lighting Flash and Mist Form, however, if you need some extra damage avoidance.

Now, on to gear. The meta Ele is Celestial armor, but you can only approximate that before level 80 and full Celestial is best with D/D anyway. I run a lot of Celestial gear, but I also have some Berserker gear mixed in there. You could go Soldier’s (Power/Toughness/Vitality) but I would urge you to get at least a dash of Healing Power in there as well. Eles scale extremely well with Healing Power, particularly if you’re speccing into Water, and you’ll see a marked increase in your survivability if you build for Healing Power. Not too much, mind you; an Ele in full Cleric’s gear would take f-o-r-e-v-e-r to kill anything.

Finally, Trait lines. Fire/Water/Arcane is a pretty solid selection, very survivable and flexible. Because you’re running Staff, though, you could also run Fire/Air/Arcane. I’ve been giving that a try recently and finding it very fun. Much more frail, of course, but the damage gains are tremendous. I just have to be on my toes and ready to dodge all the time.

I think that’s about all the basics. Good luck, and hang in there! The Ele is probably the most difficult profession to level up due to our base fragility and reliance on trait lines, but as long as you’re prepared to take a dirt nap every so often and know when to huddle behind one of your Elementals, you should be just fine.

Hey guys, so I heard here a lot about the Air line instead of Water..

Getting 25% more speed without the need to waste an utility slot is great. But what else makes this line stronger? Is Bolt to the Heart the staple in this line?

Yes. Bolt to the heart lets you kill quicker. Tempest defence too and extra ferocity again.
And on top as a boon: Bolt on ele swap + Vulnerability on crits. It all helps to shoot down your target faster.

Blaine Tog.8304:

Personally, I prefer S/D for open-world PvE. You get a lot of burst and flexibility, though D/D is probably better overall (I just don’t like it as much). With Staff, you’ll have more difficulty killing single-targets and a harder time with foes getting up in your grill.

I decided on Staff because after testing all weapons a little bit this was the only one I felt strong enough to bring me both offensive and defensive powers, and all that at range.

D/D was powerful, but too melee oriented for my taste (I enjoy ranged combat). S/D felt way too weird, and I found myself camping fire all the time with no good option on other elements.

What’s the trick to succeed on S/D while questing? When should I change elements?

Some more random thoughts from the foremost forum warrior on defending staff gameplay.

You should really use the weapon set you intend to main with at 80, because all have a pretty high learning curve. There is a perspective that D/D has a higher learning curve than staff and I think this mostly spawns from people who only associate it with PvE. I could write a small thesis on everything you can do with staff as a PvP bunker.

Celestial armor is the best choice in PvP, but for both open world PvE and WvW, my opinion is you should take enough toughness and vitality to feel comfortable and then beserkers. My personal setup is ascended soldiers armor, ascended beserker staff and ascended beserker trinkets.

Evasive Arcana is arguably more important for staff, because of the quantity of combo fields you have and a blast finisher at the end of your dodge roll. You start the channel on the combo field, swap to earth mid channel, then roll into the combo field after it hits. This then leaves you in a position to lay down Earth 2 and swap to another attunement to lay down a different combo field on it before it pops.

leasm.1279:

Hey guys, so I heard here a lot about the Air line instead of Water..

Getting 25% more speed without the need to waste an utility slot is great. But what else makes this line stronger? Is Bolt to the Heart the staple in this line?

First, don’t take the Signet of Air, not unless you’re feeling really lazy. Staff users should especially not take it, since they can get permaswiftness just by toggling in and out of Air and popping Air 4 every so often.

Second, yes, Air is really strong overall. It offers almost as much damage as Fire, so if Fire ever sees serious nerfs, just switch to Air and you’ll be pretty much where you are now. Bold to the Heart is a tremendously good damage boost, especially against bosses (which spend a long time below 50% health), as is Electric Discharge. Tempest Defense is spectacular for Staff builds since it helps patch over your one main weakness (getting attacked in melee range). Basically, it’s a line with a lot of good options.

That said, you’re giving up a lot of survivability by going Air instead of Water. Make sure you’re comfortable with your Ele play before making the switch, and even then be prepared to play more cautiously.

leasm.1279:

Blaine Tog.8304:

Personally, I prefer S/D for open-world PvE. You get a lot of burst and flexibility, though D/D is probably better overall (I just don’t like it as much). With Staff, you’ll have more difficulty killing single-targets and a harder time with foes getting up in your grill.

I decided on Staff because after testing all weapons a little bit this was the only one I felt strong enough to bring me both offensive and defensive powers, and all that at range.

D/D was powerful, but too melee oriented for my taste (I enjoy ranged combat). S/D felt way too weird, and I found myself camping fire all the time with no good option on other elements.

What’s the trick to succeed on S/D while questing? When should I change elements?

Ok the major problem with Scepter (and what I most hope they will fix at some point) is how weak the autoattacks are. Staff’s Fire 1 is insanely good damage and the Dagger has a lot of good options for autoattacking, but the Scepter’s autos are all just really, really weak, so it’s extremely important to avoid camping in one attunement.

What I like about S/D is the versatility. It has a few dead spells (Water 2, I’m looking at you) but in general it has an answer for every situation.

Fire is pretty obvious. Dragon’s Tooth -> Ring of Fire -> Pheonix (aim juuuust behind your target so they take all three hits of damage) -> dodgeroll into range (assuming you have Evasive Arcana, which you should) and pop Fire Grab is a tremendous amount of damage, but then I like to switch to Earth and pop 4 and then dodge roll again for a total of 4 AoE Might blasts thanks to the Fire field from Fire 4.

After that burst combo, you have a lot of flexibility. Sometimes I’ll pop Earth 5 if I want to slow things down (and if you do it quickly enough, that’s another AoE Might blast) and see a huge number, but you can also pop Earth 2 and 3 for some extra defense or double-tap Earth 2 if there’s a convenient field near you. Leaving Earth, popping into Air is good since you’ll get some free, instant damage from Air 2 (and Electric Discharge, if you have the Air specialization). The Air 1 autoattack doesn’t hit anywhere near as hard as I would like it to hit, but it’s one of the few ranged autoattacks in the game that doesn’t involve a projectile and it can technically hit several opponents, so it can be useful when fighting mobs with projectile reflection. A quick Air 5 into Air 4 (or vice versa) can give you some extra damage and a bit more lockdown, and then you can either switch to Water if you need some healing, camp in Air for another second or two to go back into Earth, or move back into Fire to try another partial burst combo (you’ll still be waiting on a few spells but Dragon’s Tooth is pretty much always up).

You may need to wait until you have at least two trait lines unlocked to really experience the fluidity of S/D, though, as it’s very dependent on multi-attunement combos. Still, I enjoy it. My Ele’s Scepter is currently the only Ascended weapon I’ve bothered crafting after 3 years of play, if that’s any indication of my enthusiasm for the weapon set.

Blaine Tog.8304:

First, don’t take the Signet of Air, not unless you’re feeling really lazy. Staff users should especially not take it, since he can get permaswiftness just by toggling in and out of Air and popping Air 4 every so often.

You actually got to hit your static field with two blast finishers to maintain perma swiftness. Air 4 and attunement swap only gives you about 50% uptime.

MadRabbit.3179:

Blaine Tog.8304:

First, don’t take the Signet of Air, not unless you’re feeling really lazy. Staff users should especially not take it, since he can get permaswiftness just by toggling in and out of Air and popping Air 4 every so often.

You actually got to hit your static field with two blast finishers to maintain perma swiftness. Air 4 and attunement swap only gives you about 50% uptime.

Nope, you do get permaswiftness just from Air 4 and constant dancing into, out of, and back into Air. I just tested it in-game and each time I re-cast Windborne Speed I ended up with a few seconds more Swiftness than the time before. Windborne Speed is 11/30 seconds and swapping is 8.8/11, which means you get roughly 37 seconds of Swiftness every 30 seconds. Try it out yourself and you’ll see.