Guild Wars 2

Anyone can provide tips on Scepter/Dagger playstyle and combo?

I have always been running staff or D/D. Tanky heal build with 20 water 30 arcane. I cant imagine ever using Scepter cos most of the spells are slow casting. Dragon Tooth??? Is it even worth it?

I dont sPvP. It is for soloing, dungeons and WvW.

Scepter has much higher bursts and much more range, however you trade survivability and working skills to achieve this (working skills refers to the numerous dragon’s tooth & phoenix bugs). Dagger survivability comes from the extra two auras.

Dagger also means you are up in their face 24/7. If rtl fails you are screwed vs any ranged. Than again you got flash.
For wvw zerg staff without a doubt, for solo just what you prefer. Soloing dungeons… ive seen video of staff ele doing it… in 3h+

Earth 2 should be up 100% of the time.

Air should be in for mere seconds to blind or to pushback or to escape. Take these moments to toss in a free Air 2.

Earth 1 is amazing, Earth 3 is for blinds, Earth 4 is an area KD, and you can cast Lightning Flash while channeling Earth 5.

Water is… lacking. Water 1 is the fastest actual attack, good if you’re using Restro Signet.

Water 2 = Vuln. Use it if there are heavier hitters then you who will benefit from Vuln.

Water 4 is good to kiting melee, Water 5 is good for your team.

Remember that Fire 3 is an AMAZING ability. Good damage, burst combo, Vigor, and it cures ALL OF YOUR CONDITIONS. Use it offensively and defensively. Fire 2 is slow but I use it a lot in PvE and WvW. Fire 4 is a fire field for combos, use it. Five 5 is strong damage but your target MUST be burning and it MUST not miss.

Lets see tips:
Gear → Toughness/Condition Dmg
Traits → Earth→Water→Arcane
Skills → Armor of Earth/Lightning Flash/Arcane shield
Gameplay: Pull as much as you possibly can without them rubber banding back to their spawn with Earth 1. Cast armor of Earth or arcane shield or lightning flash a distance away depending on cooldown. Cast Churning Earth, following by shockwave. Everythings dead. Note: This only works until 60. Group 2. Pull everything with earth 1, switch to fire, 2, 3, 4, 5 combo. Switch to lightning 4, 5 combo, switch to water to finish. Then rotate back to group 1 strategy.
After 60 after the shockwave proceed to the fire rotation for each group. If churning earth is on cooldown rotate between fire and lightning until churning earth is off cooldown. Look to circle strafe. Circle strafing is extremely important.

Updraft is your longest duration knockdown. If you use Updraft (wind 4) and then immediately switch to fire, you can actually land a fire 2 before the opponent stands up, providing they don’t use any stun breakers (and even then it’s a fantastic way to force a stun break)

Tips on S/D:

I go with following build:
20 Fire —> More damage
10 Air --> Faster runspeed while attuned to air
10 Earth —> 50% shield
0 Water
30 Arcane --> 25% Shield, Evasive Aura, Boon on Attunement Switching and faster Attunement Switching

Utility:
- Glyph of Elemental Harmony
- Arcane Shield
- Cleansing Fire
- Mist Form
- Elite Glyph of Elemental

Skills:

Start in Air (usually up for the faster runspeed)
- Air 2 & Wait for Air 1 to do max amount of damage
- Air 4 to jump in, Air 5 to knock down and jump back
- Fire 4 (Combo Field)
- Fire 3 (Finisher for +might)
- Fire 2 (Finisher for +might)
- Earth 4 (Finisher for +might & Knock Down)
- Earth 5 (Finisher for +might & Massive Damage)
- Cast Arcane Shield while channeling Earth 5 (will not interrupt channeling)
- Earth 2 for more armor (do not use it a second time)
- Earth 1

If mobs are not down, switch back to air and repeat the sequence

throw in a bit of water to keep healed up and use your elite-elemental only when in water, don’t need it to tank for you, only to heal

sorry i am french , if you want you can see thats .

@lifelike
Actually wrong. Takes pressing “v” and he dodges it. Really not possible to hit it vs player thats actually sitting behind his desk.

why do people always give comments on how to spec and play pve better? i think anyone can figue otu the pve part.. its the PVP that required input

Bond.4813:

@lifelike
Actually wrong. Takes pressing “v” and he dodges it. Really not possible to hit it vs player thats actually sitting behind his desk.

Nope. Do it fast enough and it actually hits before the player recovers from their ‘knocked down’ animation. Can’t dodge while you’re knocked down. If the player somehow does have reduced knockdown duration, then they still aren’t going to be dodging the Phoenix/Earthquake/RoF that comes immediately afterwards. remember that the ele can move again before Dragon’s Fang lands.

Might be true since tooltip gives zero info about it… But ive had people dodge out of it with me spamming DT. As for phoenix, its pretty much short range cast if you want any chance for it to hit. Will check combos again later.

Well if they’re close enough for you to have just hit them with Updraft, then they’re close enough for you to hit them with phoenix. I’ve tested this combo, and it’s even possible to forward-roll after an updraft to land earthquake before the opponent can stand up. Granted, I tested it against a PVE mob. I assume players can spec for decreased down time on knockdowns, but as far as I know, knockdowns follow the same rules for monsters and players.

Nice. Updraft just got a whole lot better for me. lol. I can’t imagine how I missed that for so long. Wow. I’ve just been stunned. 10 minute duration. Better pop Coffee. Effect: Self Reflection, Readjustment

I play S/D. I have tried all kinds of builds and combos. The only one that works is 30 earth. you need the toughness and trait where your signets retain the passive effect even after you fired it off. This gives you a lot of healing with your heal 5. use water signet to chill ppl and it cures conditions , earth for even more toughness and root ppl so you can land your slow hitting dragon tooth. Damage I rely on air and fire. No pts in water so I have low hp. This means you do have to react fast and move a lot. But as long as you dodge ppl’s super hard hitting skills you will live and gain health back as you fight.

S/D is more of a control/utility set up with high burst and mediocre sustain. The burst is similar to D/D. After that you basically either stay in Air for single target spike and wait for cd or water to support the team.

Dragon Tooth is good in pve. Just pick a target that is in the middle of the pack. In WvW dont use it without updraft unless the target is being cced by others. Playing S/D you need to be a little more aware of combo field and cd management. Expect to do less dmg and more utility. Believe it or not, S/D is more defensive than D/D.

Bond.4813:

Might be true since tooltip gives zero info about it… But ive had people dodge out of it with me spamming DT. As for phoenix, its pretty much short range cast if you want any chance for it to hit. Will check combos again later.

Unless you have quickness or immobilize, any person can dodge out of DT before you land it after Updraft. There is a split second that allows this if the person is spamming their dodge button.

My PvE/WvW/dungeon build (I don’t play sPvP either)

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEAQJArYhImKbkR4gjDAhHEwQCjCdUeMDN1A;TsAA0CvoyxkjIHbOuck5ME5IyECA

The skill build calculator is for sPvP, but you can still see my traits and skills, and it’s basically:
Full Valkyrie gear (power/vit/crit damage)
Sigil of Bloodlust in one weapon
Sigil of Battle in the other
Runes of Strength in all armor slots

It’s a might-stacking power build; the Sigil of Battle triggers with no cooldown every time you change attunement. My combo goes something like:

Start in Water Attunement, cast Frost Aura
Change to Air Attunement, Ride the Lightning onto target, cast 2 and 3 as well since they’re instant
Change to Fire Attunement, cast Ring of Fire, Dragon’s Tooth, Phoenix, Fire Grab AFTER Dragon’s Tooth lands
Change to Earth Attunement, cast Earthquake, Arcane Wave, Arcane Blast

^ This combo leaves me at 22 stacks of might (tested on Golems in Heart of the Mists)

Disclaimer: Thief can steal the might off you and destroy you in 1 second in WvW; also in WvW you should equip Signet of Earth for third utility and cast it after Ride the Lightning since you need to hold them in place for the combo to land.