Guild Wars 2

Every Elementalist deserves their own build. It’s what makes the game fun and unique, seeing so many different builds. However, I have heard people literally reprimanding others for their build choice. I’m not talking about the people who give advice in a kind and helpful way. I mean “omg, use D/D or you suck it’s like the only good build LOLZ.” These people are most likely good at the game, but for some reason that skill comes with a God complex and they think everybody should be just like them or they’re horrible.

My point isn’t that these people are just idiots with bad builds, but that they have to realize that there are pros and cons to every build, and depending on your style you’ll choose what fits you the most. If everybody was running around with the same weapons using the same attunements and the same traits playing the exact same role, the game wouldn’t be very fun. The point of this post is really just to let new Elementalist’s know that there most likely will be people telling you your build sucks or that it won’t work. Honestly though, you shouldn’t change for these people, even if they are level 80’s with legendary everything. Everybody is entitled to their own choice when it comes to builds, and just because somebody does good in one area with one build doesn’t mean you can’t do good in another area with a different build.

To be fair, some builds I’ve seen posted don’t have any pros at all :P

I don’t agree that d/d is the only way to play, but it’s certainly the easiest to be good at and give good returns with – hence its popularity

But the unfortunate facts like the one that S/F is much worse in WvW than D/D remain. And I think most of the time you hear reprimands, it will be about using inappropriate weapons in certain situations, like staff for solo roaming or D/D during keep defense.

There are traits that are meant to work together, and from multiple trait lines. The 0/10/0/30/30 build is a great cookie cutter to really learn what ele is all about, but I don’t know any proficient ele’s that use it like they did when they first hit 80. I agree that there are lots of build specs and the more time spent in ele the more you learn that there are viable builds and playstyles for every weapon set.

In WvW I’m constantly swapping wep sets and changing a trait or two depending on 1) what the rest of the ele’s in my guild are doing and 2) where we are and what our objective is. Our ele’s work as a team in WvW and try to compliment each other. If I log in and I’ve got 3 ppl running s/d and only 1 staff I’ll spec for staff, or vice versa.

Regarding Gaudrath’s comments about staff for solo roaming or d/d during keep defense, to each their own. I agree that staff “solo” roamer is hard, but a guild mate and I, running staff and s/d as a 2 man team have rolled 3/4/5 man parties multiple times in WvW. And who really runs solo in WvW anyway? At least not at the higher tiers. Regarding keep defense, d/d is perfectly viable if you know some keep defense tricks that d/d or s/d can bring to the table, but it requires some coordination with other ele’s, but FAR more viable than just dropping Meteor Shower from the walls and thinking your accomplishing something amazing.

I guess what I’m getting at is I completely agree with OP. We have a complicated class and it’s still a learning experience. I’ve been running ele since launch and I’m constantly tweaking things, and probably always will. I also try to find a trait line that works pretty well with all wep sets because I don’t want to have to head back to retrain skills every time I want to swap weps, just open my hero panel and swap one or two traits up while I’m running to the next keep or tower or camp. I don’t recommend this for everyone, but I’m in charge of about a dozen ele’s at a time in our guild sometimes and I have to make sure I can compliment what my guys are doing.

There are plenty of things out there that many say are “must haves” and they just aren’t. Mist Form for instance… A lot of beginner ele’s, or even those that may have 300 or 400 hours in the class tell you it’s “mandatory” and I used to feel the same… but the longer you play this class the more skill you gain and you can replace those “Holy Crap I’m Gonna Die” safety nets like mist form and cantrips, arcane shield etc. with things that are more beneficial in the long haul, like extra blast finishers, working arcane power into the middle of your finisher chains so you’re stacking might and criting at the same time, lightning flash bombs.

BTW, Tornado…. extremely OP when used in the right situation. An elite that many have said is just crap for months, actually isn’t… there’s a lot more out there, while the spank and tank Warriors have pretty much maxed out their knowledge base at this point in the game, we’re just scratching the surface

Well, I tried D/D i keep defense, everything from Churning behind gates to wall-bombing with Arcane Abatement / Evasive Arcana / “suicide” attacks and then Mistforming into keep to get back up…

But in my experience nothing beats the Blasting Staff / Eruption→Ice Spike→Frozen Ground→Lava Font→Meteor Shower combo on gates. That stuff just kills. I’ve had zergs back off gates entirely with that and I was the only one in there.

Some tools are better for certain jobs than others. For example, nothing beats focus for trolling enemy trebs, but for everything else in WvW focus pretty much comes last, sadly.

Well there is the realm of min/max, and the realm of doing something different because you want to and it’s fun. That said I run 0/20/15/15/20 d/d instead of the standard 10-30-30.

Shimond.2478:

To be fair, some builds I’ve seen posted don’t have any pros at all :P

I don’t agree that d/d is the only way to play, but it’s certainly the easiest to be good at and give good returns with – hence its popularity

True, some builds are simply random. However, my point is simply that I don’t think it’s anybody else’s place to reprimand others. I know that’s not what you’re saying though :]

Gaudrath.6725:

But the unfortunate facts like the one that S/F is much worse in WvW than D/D remain. And I think most of the time you hear reprimands, it will be about using inappropriate weapons in certain situations, like staff for solo roaming or D/D during keep defense.

Yeah, I see what you mean. But other times, people simply just like to brag about their builds, and make you feel like your build is inferior. It really is strange to solo with a staff or defend with D/D, but is it really anybody else’s responsibility to rage at them for it. Unless they’re in your dungeon party or PvP team, I don’t get it.

Gaudrath.6725:

Some tools are better for certain jobs than others. For example, nothing beats focus for trolling enemy trebs, but for everything else in WvW focus pretty much comes last, sadly.

Agreed… just the range when standing on top of the wall is garbage unfortunately… and people use Arcane Abatement incorrectly IMO for gate defense.

We are also talking about two different things though, I’m talking about 2 or 3 ele’s working together, not a single ele trying to fend them off… unfortunately any one worth their salt in WvW would just back off and cata if you’re the lone ele up there and just have to wait until the gate goes down or your reinforcements arrive, but such is the life of WvW.

I guess my point was more showing that there are plenty of viable ways to use different wep sets… and you’re talking to a guy who’se probably never had the same set in my hands for more than 10min straight in WvW for the very reason you mentioned. Different things serve different purposes, and some sets ARE unquestionably better than others given what you’re trying to do, but that seems to be limited to PvP and WvW. I have plenty of fun running any weapon set I want in any dungeon or PvE area, because it’s just not difficult and if I didn’t run different builds the boredom would kill me…

No matter what though, teamwork trumps all, if you continually find yourself the lone guy fending off a zerg of enemies pounding at your door, it’s probably time to find a new guild or server

I play D/D because the combat is fast and fun. Knowing what to use in what situation and chosing the wrong skills from time to time leading to my defeat only to get back up and learn from my mistakes. I run a bunker build, I’ve also run glass cannon S/D (more fun back in beta before the damage nerfs) I don’t fancy the staff. I follow peoples guides, try thier builds out, see what works for me and what fails then I incorperate other changes that I find to be better, or that I like.

For example there are people that live and breathe Dapheonix’s build, they must have it, MY PRECIOUS. What is your new armour, what are you doing now, why are my stats not exactly the same as yours? Why can’t I think for myself?

Me, I run a variation of Dapheonix’s build that isn’t too far from the build I had previously (0 0 10 30 30). The 10 in Air was an amazing boost. I do muchly prefer 0 15 0 25 30 since the EA got its blast finisher back. Before that 10 15 0 25 20 where cantrips grant might and my cantrips are used offensively. None of this panzy mist form or clerics amulet, Knights or Zerkers all the way (sometimes soldiers but mainly against thieves).

I loved my 30 30 10 0 0 S/D build way back when but now it is so weak, feels like paper with not much of a cannon.