Guild Wars 2

I have probably 500+ hours on my elementalist, primarily PvE/Dungeons, but have never tried the focus. As far as I can tell the only spells really worth using are Swirling Winds and the 2 earth spells. When should swirling winds be used? Is there a guide, like “in this part of this dungeon”,or, “when X enemy does Y attack”? I assume not every projectile attack is worthy of using the spell, and I don’t want to waste it as it has a decently high CD.

There is a guide on the mesmer forums that has all the places where they can reflect projectiles.

the same goes for swirling winds, only it will destroy them.

sometimes you have to place it strategically to destroy the projectil before it actually comes to you, for example placing it ontop of a boss. i.e lupicus if everyone is stacking on him.

when the mesmer summons his 3rd iduelist

CoE 4-turret golem. Prevents them from rebuffing.
TA U/U all spider mobs.
TA U/U Malrona before she does the AoE instakill technique
AC all paths against spiders.
Fractal Mai Trin – Prevents her from using the pistol-teleport technique, which as an ele allows you to solo her. Makes the other classes go wuttt and other elementalists wonder why they can’t seem to match you.
Uncat fractal harpy Launch lightning balls.
Uncat fractal Old Tom poison nova.
Uncat fractal… I think it was Professor Mew.
Dredge fractal – nullify the dredge ranged attacks when on the switch. Then use Earth 4 and reflect the next set. Then use Earth 5 and invuln the next set. Then Water 3-selfheal or Arcane Shield or whatnot.
Volcanic fractal, when the boss uses its multihit agony projectile series after its shield breaks. It also nullifies all the lava elementals’ attacks as a bonus.
TA F/F runs, nullify archer shots on the way.
SE, stacking situations with multiple elite bombers.
When multiple mobs are doing rapid-fire pistol shots. Like for instance, taking a camp in WvW.
CoE story mode – Kudu

There are more. Basically when your entire party except you is wiping from a projectile based attack, use it there next time.

And it’s not true that only Air 4 and Earth 4/5 are worth using. Learn to use Air 5 and Water 5 strategically to Interrupt important attacks, they’re your ONLY CC skills, generally speaking. Water 4 is important in chilling Defiant bosses and certain mobs like the Assassins in CoFP2.

Fire 4 is also essential to the mightstack start.

However, Fire 5 is pretty much useless.

the correct answer is not to use focus at all.

Hayashi.3416:

CoE 4-turret golem. Prevents them from rebuffing.
TA U/U all spider mobs.
TA U/U Malrona before she does the AoE instakill technique
AC all paths against spiders.
Fractal Mai Trin – Prevents her from using the pistol-teleport technique, which as an ele allows you to solo her. Makes the other classes go wuttt and other elementalists wonder why they can’t seem to match you.
Uncat fractal harpy Launch lightning balls.
Uncat fractal Old Tom poison nova.
Uncat fractal… I think it was Professor Mew.
Dredge fractal – nullify the dredge ranged attacks when on the switch. Then use Earth 4 and reflect the next set. Then use Earth 5 and invuln the next set. Then Water 3-selfheal or Arcane Shield or whatnot.
Volcanic fractal, when the boss uses its multihit agony projectile series after its shield breaks. It also nullifies all the lava elementals’ attacks as a bonus.
TA F/F runs, nullify archer shots on the way.
SE, stacking situations with multiple elite bombers.
When multiple mobs are doing rapid-fire pistol shots. Like for instance, taking a camp in WvW.
CoE story mode – Kudu

There are more. Basically when your entire party except you is wiping from a projectile based attack, use it there next time.

And it’s not true that only Air 4 and Earth 4/5 are worth using. Learn to use Air 5 and Water 5 strategically to Interrupt important attacks, they’re your ONLY CC skills, generally speaking. Water 4 is important in chilling Defiant bosses and certain mobs like the Assassins in CoFP2.

Fire 4 is also essential to the mightstack start.

However, Fire 5 is pretty much useless.

Thanks. I did some but there are still a lot more to learn from you.

Never use Swirling Winds. It destroys projectiles, so does not actually do any dmg. The mes or guard in your group should be using Feedback/iWarden/WoR so those projectiles actually dmg the enemies.

Focus IS useful, but only for: Flamewall, Magnetic Wave, Comet, and sometimes Obsidian Flesh. Swirling Winds is not worth it because it’s a DPS loss.