Guild Wars 2

I have actually swapped out the Perplexity runes partly due to the moaning i got but also to see if it was really just the runeset that made the build strong – So far, i have found that statement to be wrong.

After changing to Runes of Orr (a LONG time farming!) i have to say i think i like them more than Perplexity. I have 70% Poison duration increase which means near perma Poison uptime from the Runeset and Sigil of Doom, Reaper of Grenth now gives me 5 seconds of Poison every 3 seconds as well.

The Burning, Bleeding and Poison up time i have now is rather insane. I did try 10 points in Fire for even more increased Burning Duration but found the loss in defense to not really be worth it. If Elemental Attunement ever became class mechanic with of course a trait for it to be AoE. I would instantly go 2/0/6/4/2 I can’t lose the points in Water, the 3 point trait is just SO important.

Even without the Burning duration, with all the Fire skills bar one inflicting Burn it isn’t really needed. Having the 20% Bleed Duration and increased damage trait is rather nice as well.

Finally started the editing for the final WvW tournament video. Hope to have it up either today or tomorrow.

ArmageddonAsh.6430:

Finally started the editing for the final WvW tournament video. Hope to have it up either today or tomorrow.

Today… that’s an order!

FinalPatriot.8034:

ArmageddonAsh.6430:

Finally started the editing for the final WvW tournament video. Hope to have it up either today or tomorrow.

Today… that’s an order!

We’ll see. I have the video and most of the captions done. The hardest part is picking the music

Uploading the video now, should be up in about 3hours.

I’ve noticed condition ele is very strong 1v1 which seems true of condition builds in general. I would be more interested to see how it fares in 1v2 or possibly 1v3 situations. 1v2 is my pretty much my limit with a non-condition ele. There are very few 1v3s I can do because of how fast I will melt when caught in big damage.

I may have to try something like this with an exotic set.

I have won 1-2 against Warriors and Thieves, Condi Mesmer and Condi Engineer and against Warriors and Rangers. My problem is (which happens ALOT) You will start off a fight say 1 Vs 1 or 1 Vs 2 and before the end you will be in a 1 Vs 10….

I had a fight last week against a Ranger and Mesmer. I managed to get the ranger downed but just as i want about to finish Hammer spamming dude came up just bashing everything he had. So knew i had to go

I do have a 1 Vs 2 fight in this weeks, but its VERY one sided. Both running Pure condition builds, me running Diamond Skin Mesmer ran for the hills but managed to get the kill on the Engineer.

I need to venture away from the ruins i think, they tend to either be solo or in groups of like 5-10 going through them to get to another location.

My latest Video : http://youtu.be/V1VSzi5apCo

Need to find out how to make it so that it takes up the full screen :/

Crazy stuff, you didnt dodged a single(!!!) time in a 8:50 min video. Gladly each opponent seems to run tanky equip without any damage at all…

Mister Fluffkin.7358:

Crazy stuff, you didnt dodged a single(!!!) time in a 8:50 min video. Gladly each opponent seems to run tanky equip without any damage at all…

Its sad, is it not. I have pretty much not used Stone Heart all last week. All i encountered was Bunkers, Condition builds or Condition Bunkers. I think even a few of the Guardians managed to deal more damage to me than some of the other classes O.o

It’s what i hate about Silver league. During one night i saw a group of about 5-7 people taking camps and they were ALL condition builds. It’s been a while since i encountered a direct damage build in WvW. See quite a few in OS duels but i don’t record them.

Yea no dodges in that video.

It looks very strong I still think element of surprise is working in your favor as nobody expects a condition elementalist but it is strong nonetheless. Still not my cup for a Ele I don’t think I will ever go conditions on my Ele but it looks strong. I fought frowny’s 4 earth before stone heart and it was strong then.

I can see this catching on especially after this last video. Good job on the build Ash. I think every build has it’s place and every style also. I am not anti-condi I just wouldn’t run condi on my ele I use my necro and engi for that but still great job putting together a solid build alternative for Elementalist.

You might as well give it some snazzy name so people can quickly reference it.

Another great video there Ash. I’ve been playing your build now for a few days and I’ll admit that it has gotten me out some really rough situations that my normal DPS build probably wouldn’t have. Course, that could be due to my skill level as well. I’ll be honest in that I’m not completely convinced this is where I want to go yet as I don’t have the mats/time to build 2 sets of ascended gear. Either way, it’s been pretty fun though I think most people just don’t have a clue what to do with a condi D/D ele.

Already got a name for mine.

ArmageddonAsh.6430:

Mister Fluffkin.7358:

Crazy stuff, you didnt dodged a single(!!!) time in a 8:50 min video. Gladly each opponent seems to run tanky equip without any damage at all…

Its sad, is it not. I have pretty much not used Stone Heart all last week. All i encountered was Bunkers, Condition builds or Condition Bunkers. I think even a few of the Guardians managed to deal more damage to me than some of the other classes O.o

It’s what i hate about Silver league. During one night i saw a group of about 5-7 people taking camps and they were ALL condition builds. It’s been a while since i encountered a direct damage build in WvW. See quite a few in OS duels but i don’t record them.

No offense, but honestly your video just shows button smashing vs. very bad players. Its no skill to press a lot of buttons, its skill to use them wisely. Maybe try your build in some sPvP 1on1 servers without that buff food, you will quickly see condition ele isnt a good choice at all. Plus you should really bind your dodgekey and start learning to dodge. Actually your vid isnt much of a joy to look at if you arent even use the basics of gw2 combat.

Mister Fluffkin.7358:

Maybe try your build in some sPvP 1on1 servers without that buff food, you will quickly see condition ele isnt a good choice at all.

Firstly, condition ele is not as good in pvp as it is in wvw. We lack the sigils/runes that actually make us good, and yes I’ve tried it. Secondly, why should we resort to playing pvp anyway? WvW is way better. If you think the food buff is bad then why does -40% condi duration exist? (I’m sure you’re using +40%, right Ash?) It’s there for a reason so don’t blame us condi ele users for using food buffs.

the music sucks but everything else is alright.

edit: condi is only strong because you can focus on vitality/toughness while slapping on high damaging dots as you kite/cc your enemy.

I roam solo alot, or small man. Up until yesterday I was running a 0,0,2,6,6 build, power based and I enjoyed it alot.

After playing for a few hours I encountered nothing but p/d perplexity spec thieves, perplexity 1 button spamming engineers, condi necros, condi mesmers, crossfire spamming rangers….just hardly any non condi classes.

On a whim I switched to Broskis spec and gear, and the fights went from being a pain in the kitten to their total obliteration. I had a p/d thief complain at me for 10 minutes that I was lame for taking diamond skin, and had no skill as he couldn’t counter this.

I still don’t like conditions though, I think the game rewards too much passive play. When in rome though….

oZii.2864:

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Yeah, when pretty much everyone i fought last week was running Condi or Bunker i didnt really have the need to dodge which is kind of stupid. I am hoping with the fact we are facing FSP this week that i encounter some more of the zerk kind of builds that i faced before.

Yeah i mean that Thief in the first fight was pretty much downed within 5-10 seconds simply because of all the burst i had. Changing a few things up has helped in the damage department as well like taking the trait for increased Bleed Duration and 5% damage. Combine that with Geomancy, that is increased duration for that and all bleeds and pretty much a near 100% up time on the damage buff. I just have to get better at remembering what skills will proc it when they shouldn’t (Ride The Lightening is a pain is the kitten for this!) As it procs when you use Ride The Lightening rather than at the end which would be great.

I used to run Consi Necro and Condi Engineer, i got bored of them especially Necro which just seemed like all you do is spam marks with staff, auto attack with scepter and use Signet of Spite. The same could be said for Engineer where they rely on Grenades, Bombs and Tool Kit.

I suck at picking names as much as i suck at picking the music for my videos lol

FinalPatriot.8034:

-SNIP-

of course this is down to personal preference, i am not trying to say this is the be all and end all of Ele builds, because we know its not. It is just an alternative should people be getting bored of what other limited builds we had before.

I play it because i find it fun, of course it is more fun when you are actually facing more than 2 types of build which got rather annoying last week. However, as i said i hope that FSP brings back some of their Zerk roamers as i had some decent fights with them last time.

Though the only Ascended i have are the accessories which are now account bound and i got them through WvW vender or Guild Commendations.

Mister Fluffkin.7358:

-SNIP-

Isn’t all builds about “bashing” buttons. Though i would disagree that my video just shows that. Seeing as i have played Ele from the start at Pre-launch other than a few times where i forget what attunement i am in or getting a little lag when i swap attunement i know straight away what skills i will be going for. Is it really “button bashing” just because you are fast with it? (Naga 2012 helps!)

“Basics of GW2 combat” – Tip, if you don’t need to dodge – don’t. That is pretty much it. Why dodge (unless you have EA) when you have no need to? Like i said, i pretty much faced ONLY Bunkers and Condition builds. Neither are much of a threat.

I mean i had a few Ranger fights and i got low, but why dodge when i can go into Water use 1 skill and be back up to 80-90% health? If i was facing a zerker which i am pretty sure none of the builds i faced this week were then of course dodging would be more important.

Dahir.4158:

Firstly, condition ele is not as good in pvp as it is in wvw. We lack the sigils/runes that actually make us good, and yes I’ve tried it. Secondly, why should we resort to playing pvp anyway? WvW is way better. If you think the food buff is bad then why does -40% condi duration exist? (I’m sure you’re using +40%, right Ash?) It’s there for a reason so don’t blame us condi ele users for using food buffs.

I have been running my ele as pretty much the same in SoloQ as i have in WvW. It has several problems such as the stats are NOTHING alike, in SoloQ i have about 12k health, that is about 4-5k less than just being in WvW.

That being said, it works well enough. Will it go into professional Tournaments of course not but this isn’t one of those builds i use it to have FUN. Personally, i find WvW much better. The lack of build options the fact that pretty much everyone in PvP is either Bunker or Condition build is rather meh, the lower stats, stat options and such ruin it for me as well.

I do run 40% food, as do most condition builds in the game. So i don’t quite see the point in mentioning that a condi ele is using something that all condition builds use anyway…

As most of our conditions aren’t that high of a duration without them is it kind of needed. Though i currently have

40% Duration for all conditions with Poison and Bleeding having higher duration. No using Perplexity now either so people can’t cry when they lose saying i only won because of Perplexity and people saying condi ele is only good because of perplexity. I do plan on trying out other Condition runesets in the future.

sorrychief.2563:

-SNIP-

yep, i kinda suck at choosing music for my videos :/

Isn’t that what every condition build does?
Though i am tinkering the build again, reducing the Vitality and seeing if i can get some Power into it as well. Against Bunkers and Condition builds nothing will change, it is the zerker and hybrid builds that i need to think about.

Where do you see me kiting? I have to stay 100% melee to continue to deal damage and inflict conditions. I only have things like Updraft and Earthquake as CC, maybe Magnetic Grasp if it decides to work but that is more to stop them running away than anything else and Updraft and Earthquake have INSANE cool downs

phaeris.7604:

-SNIP-

The problem is, Diamond Skin was INTENDED to be like this, i have had loads complain as well and told them, even had a few people i know show them just how easy it is to counter just by going Hybrid.

The problem is everyone seems to think if you go conditions you MUST only concentrate on condition damage. This sort of mentality is what Diamond Skin punishes and is trying to stop.

For example. I have faced a ranger on another server LOADS of times. When they go full Condi they stand no chance and we both know it when they change up and go hybrid it becomes another story and it is me from the start that is on the back foot. I can still win, but i can still lose them as well it is nothing like the current fights where from the opening seconds you know if they are pure condi they will lose.

Though i get messages from people that haven’t even encountered people running Diamond Skin before which i find strange considering just how strong it is especially in WvW roaming where SO many are condition builds.

Dahir.4158:

Mister Fluffkin.7358:

Maybe try your build in some sPvP 1on1 servers without that buff food, you will quickly see condition ele isnt a good choice at all.

Firstly, condition ele is not as good in pvp as it is in wvw. We lack the sigils/runes that actually make us good, and yes I’ve tried it. Secondly, why should we resort to playing pvp anyway? WvW is way better. If you think the food buff is bad then why does -40% condi duration exist? (I’m sure you’re using +40%, right Ash?) It’s there for a reason so don’t blame us condi ele users for using food buffs.

If i read it right, this thread is about presenting a condition ele build. And for build presentation, i simply prefer a “neutral” environment. In this vid, half of the opponents dont even consumed any buff food, nor all these other buffs. Its just fully buffed ele vs. opponents who arent even specced right, otherwise they would deal some kind of dmg…

So its not the build beating them, the better equip just wins in here.

ArmageddonAsh.6430:

Mister Fluffkin.7358:

-SNIP-

Isn’t all builds about “bashing” buttons. Though i would disagree that my video just shows that. Seeing as i have played Ele from the start at Pre-launch other than a few times where i forget what attunement i am in or getting a little lag when i swap attunement i know straight away what skills i will be going for. Is it really “button bashing” just because you are fast with it? (Naga 2012 helps!)

“Basics of GW2 combat” – Tip, if you don’t need to dodge – don’t. That is pretty much it. Why dodge (unless you have EA) when you have no need to? Like i said, i pretty much faced ONLY Bunkers and Condition builds. Neither are much of a threat.

I mean i had a few Ranger fights and i got low, but why dodge when i can go into Water use 1 skill and be back up to 80-90% health? If i was facing a zerker which i am pretty sure none of the builds i faced this week were then of course dodging would be more important.

Its not button smashing because of the speed you press them, its because you dont combo your skills in any way.
And saying theres no need to dodge because you can simply outheal the damage is just weird. Isnt it better to save your heal/stunbreak/etc.? Dodging is GW-combat-mechanic number 1 to avoid damage/stuns/cc and stuff. Ignoring this simply shows that you dont understood the combat system yet.

I honestly dont care about how you play, it was your choice to present us your build/gameplay. I watched it and for me it looked pretty “nooby”. Most obvious was that you didnt dodged a single time in like 15 fights, so i thought i might give you the advice to improve this. Saying theres no need to dodge is just ignorant, so heres my last advice: learn to accept critisicm!

As i have already said, most of them are either bunker or Condition. That is why so many of them are rather poor when it comes to damage. I do hope that changes with FSP this week, had some good fights with them before.

Not needing or even thinking about changing Diamond Skin all week really says it all about the roamers that i encountered. As for buffs, Nothing i can do. I mean i could just ignore all those that aren’t buffed and only fight those that are….

Also. If you want a neutral environment you don’t pick the one that limits your build, removes all your gear and limits what you can use – Just go to OS or even just duel in the world, i know i have had plenty.

As i have said, this build works okay in S/TPvP but its not an S/TPvP build, the stat difference alone is rather big. Though i have tried doing Duels in 1 Vs 1 servers most seem rather insistent you use the amulets they decide are okay and not the ones that work for your build.

The only real CC people you want to dodge with are either Engineers or Hammer warriors. Other than that it is again not needed to waste dodges on something you know wont have that much of a risk of killing you.

After all, i have NO form of Vigor at all so i have to save my Dodges for the RIGHT time and it just so happened that this week all i encountered was Bunker and Condition builds. No need to dodge a bunker that is doing no damage and no need to dodge a condition build that can’t apply conditions. Of course, this is all just my opinion. Why go defensive when you have no need to?

Yeah that is the point of this game, Show me any part in the video where me not dodging cost me? The reason i didnt dodge, i had no need to. Pretty much that simple.

Again, you think its “nooby” not to dodge, despite the fact i was at very little risk in most of the fights, maybe i could have against the Ranger but in the end, again i didnt need to. You don’t dodge for the sake of dodging if you have no need to. Maybe if i was running EA and i was getting something out of it then i might have other than that, when you are taking rather low amounts of damage a little CC won’t suddenly turn the fight on its head.

The problem is, your criticism is wasted. Not once in any of the fights did i NEED to dodge. That is my point, i don’t dodge just because i can. None of those fights would have ended differently had i dodged. Most of them ended with me being near full health as well.

Sure, YOU might love dodging and rolling around with all your Vigor (i hope) but not every dodges for the sake of dodging. I CHOOSE when and if i need to dodge and it just so happened that i didnt NEED to dodge. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Nothing but excuses! If you dont dodge a single time in a cropped 9 min video, you simply never dodge at all. Simple as that…

If a big fat war is somersaulting with his hammer straight in your face, a rangers pet spiting 5 chunks of green slime at you, a ranger barraging a rain of arrows to your feet, a engi dropping supply crates straight on your head, its time to dodge! No matter what you/your opponent plays.
I know its quite difficult to see/react to this and this is advanced gameplay(im not able to dodge every big attack as well, but at least i try), but saying dodging is “going defense” just shows your understanding of this game.

Same thing goes for your knockbacks. You just fire them out mindlessly, thats what i call button smashing. Look for big animations or opponents raising their arm above their head(heal), then rupt them and get much more effectness out of your skills.
I know this vid is about presenting your build(therefore goes my former “bad environment”) and not about proffessional gaming, but what youre saying in here is just absurd so i had to write this down. :P

And as i mentioned before, its your equip thats winning these fights, not your build.

Lol, “nothing but excuses” – surely not actually needing to dodge wouldn’t be an excuse. I mean if you play that way spamming dodges (guessing you run with EA as well) that is fine. Some of us prefer to dodge things that are actually a threat – a Condition class spamming conditions with low damage against Diamond Skin is no threat. A bunker is no threat. So why dodge low damaging attacks?

Of course if it something like a Hammer Warrior then of course you dodge, did you see any in my fight? Because i must have missed them…

Oh yeah ranger slime, when using Diamond Skin – that is SO much of a threat – Not. Like i said. You use dodge to dodge something that is a THREAT. If a skill does low damage and inflicts no conditions – why waste a dodge?

You have plenty of ways to get around all of them without needing to dodge…
You have Arcane Shield, Armour of Earth, Earth Attunement (increased toughness) as well as other weapon skills like Burning Speed (Evade) You might like to dodge every time its up.

I prefer to dodge something when needed, even at 5k health against anything bar a Condi class i have ways to get health back up quick, so i can SAVE a dodge for a time it IS needed.

Dodging when you dont NEED to dodge, this is the thing you seem to not be understanding. If you dont need to dodge. You shouldn’t. You mean like using Ride The Lightening and then going into Updraft? Yeah that isn’t mindless button bashing. Sure it would be great if it interrupts but the fact that it gets them down on the floor is what is important. On the floor dealing no damage to me while i can swap attunement, go Fire and burn them, Go earth and lock them in place.

To say that a Knockback/Knockdown is wasted/button bashing if it doesnt interrupt something is rather silly. You dont use them JUST to get interrupts out you can use them offensively as well you know.

My equipment? Yeah i am running No Ascended weapons or Armour. Accessories which pretty much everyone that does WvW has now unless they are very new. So after getting told that Perplexity is the reason i win and now with that gone it is now my gear is the reason? O.o

Your points are pointless and very baseless. You assume that because someone doesnt dodge that it makes them bad, ignoring the cactual fights most of which i didnt even need to dodge to begin with. You can happily spam dodge if that makes you feel like a “good” player. I will continue to dodge what i think NEEDS to be dodged. Not dodge for the sake of dodging.

You do know that Elementalist has a minor trait that gives a 10% damage boost when endurance is full, right (With his build this minor trait is active)?

Also, Diamond Skin makes you immune to conditions. If the opponent is running equipment that grants very few power, his direct damage will do nothing and the ele can heal right through it due to his healing signet and high regen up time. Anything that applies a condition will not be applied.

So no, he doesn’t NEED to dodge because there isn’t any threat. The 10% damage boost is probably the better trade off. If the opponent was running a hybrid or power based build. Then yes he would probably need to dodge to stay alive.

KieronWolf.5108:

You do know that Elementalist has a minor trait that gives a 10% damage boost when endurance is full, right (With his build this minor trait is active)?

Also, Diamond Skin makes you immune to conditions. If the opponent is running equipment that grants very few power, his direct damage will do nothing and the ele can heal right through it due to his healing signet and high regen up time. Anything that applies a condition will not be applied.

So no, he doesn’t NEED to dodge because there isn’t any threat. The 10% damage boost is probably the better trade off. If the opponent was running a hybrid or power based build. Then yes he would probably need to dodge to stay alive.

That is the point he seems to forget, when facing Bunkers and Condition builds when using Diamond Skin/Stone Heart the damage is SO minor that you can nearly out heal it just by attacking. He seems to think that if you can dodge, dodge it doesnt matter what the actual skill is or even if you need to dodge – dodge anyway.

I have already mentioned that against things like Hammer Warriors or actual zerk/damage builds then i of course dodge but against Bunkers and pure condis (when running DS) you take SO little damage that you have no need to dodge. Even the CC isn’t enough of a reason in these sort of situations because you can be up and back to full health in mere seconds anyway.

What Keiron said.

ArmageddonAsh, you just don´t want to discuss. 1 word of critisicm for your holy condi build(which isn´t dealing much condis btw) and you simply talk plain nonsense, putting words in my mouth i´ve never said.
Where did i said to random dodge? I explicitly said to dodge “big” animations, nothing else. Because thats how GW2 combat system works if you fight something else than green equiped tanks…

You showed us your gameplay, i critisized that you didn´t dodged a single time, while dodging is without a doubt the basic core mechanism of this combat system, ask any dev! Silly you can´t stand such a critisicm, so it´s just pointless to discuss with you…

Mister Fluffkin.7358:

ArmageddonAsh, you just don´t want to discuss. 1 word of critisicm for your holy condi build(which isn´t dealing much condis btw) and you simply talk plain nonsense, putting words in my mouth i´ve never said.
Where did i said to random dodge? I explicitly said to dodge “big” animations, nothing else. Because thats how GW2 combat system works if you fight something else than green equiped tanks…

You showed us your gameplay, i critisized that you didn´t dodged a single time, while dodging is without a doubt the basic core mechanism of this combat system, ask any dev! Silly you can´t stand such a critisicm, so it´s just pointless to discuss with you…

I am happy to take criticism to improve my build but you going on about me not dodging is not criticism, it is pointless. I had no need to dodge. I gain NOTHING from it. The damage i am taking in most of these fights is easily healed. Why would i want to waste a dodge on attacks i know are no threat?

That is what you don’t seem to understand. You dont dodge for the sake of dodging or dodge some pointless auto attack. You dodge something you know is a threat. Such as hammer warrior, Backstab thieves. Full condi builds when running DS and Bunker builds are NOT a threat. Thus why would you waste dodges on them? just to not take a few hundred damage….

Also, you think the definition of a condition build is by the number of conditions you apply? My Conditions deal high damage or have a reason behind them. I don’t need to spam loads and loads of conditions. That is the point of my build. High Burning damage (800+ per a tick, no Might) High Bleeding damage, long Poison duration as well as Chill, cripple and the odd Vul.

The point is, you are criticizing something that doesn’t even make sense. Saying i should be dodging more, in fights i was in control and under very little threat. Who does that? Apart from bad players.

Now if it was fights against such a Hammer warrior or a Thief and i never used dodge then yeah you would have a reasonable criticism but to say it in fights that i had no NEED to dodge is rather silly

I’m with fluffkin here. Not dodging in a 9 minute video is straight up absurd. How could you possibly defend that… I’m not going to get in this lengthy argument, but come on. Dodge is the core mechanic of this game’s combat. If you REALLY didn’t need to dodge at all in these fights, it’s no use uploading them either… Might as well upload some golem kills.

I further agree that you spam your skills a LOT. You spam lightning whip for no reason (no damage), pop arcane shied for no reason, use your water heals at max hp, use your cc for no reason by not effectively utilizing the time your enemy is controlled and so on. You autoattacked in earth maybe twice in the entire video, which is your only source of sustained condi damage.

I used to not mind the design of diamond skin so much, but watching this video is starting to sway me. It absolutely destroys what could be a deep combat system in every condi duel. You seriously might as well upload some PvGolem.

It is defended easily as several others have pointed out. Not everyone wastes dodges. If i am in no threat. I won’t dodge. Now you can spam dodges at auto attacks or what ever. Not everyone does that.

I prefer to save mine for when/if they are needed and seeing as how most of them builds were condition or bunker builds, i didnt need to dodge. I don’t run EA so dodging has NO benefit – well other than dodging an attack that would do minimal damage to me anyway.

As for Lightening Whip. So you go into Air, use what ever skill(s) you want and then leave right away? Sure, its not amazing damage but the damage is decent enough and its AoE damage. Hits fast, and means you gain more healing from Signet of Restoration – the more and faster you attack the more and faster you are healed….

You do know without Diamond Skin ele will get crushed by most condition builds right? You would have to go 30 Into water, take Ether Renewal as a bare minimum. Just to MAYBE counter SOME condition builds…

As for The others. Arcane Shield Is normally used around 90% health. Some of the fights i will use it early because when do you think most of the burst comes in? Some of the fights i can’t tell right away what build they are using so its best to be safe than get melted.

As for CC, Stopping them attacking and allowing me to attack is fine enough reason for me to use/try to use it. Sure some times i use it when its not really needed. Though can be great followed up by other skills. PLus when you use Ride The Lightening its good just to knock them down from the start so you can switch and go right back onto the offensive.

I think you will find, Switching to any Attunement every 9 seconds gives me plenty enough Bleeding due to the long duration, plus the Poison as well. Bleeding is nice but its not the be all and end all of Ele conditions. I would have to use Impale 4-5 times to get the same damage as i get from switching Attunements and proccing geomancy. Geomncy is 3 stacks for 16 seconds, every 9-10 seconds. That is very solid on its own. You don’t need to be spamming Earth auto which is rather terrible due to its range and such.

I’m tempted, but I’m not going to get into this argument over your playstyle.

About diamond skin though, I’d much rather have an interesting fight with a condi spec, than just winning because i happen to run DS. I duelled a condi necro in the obsidian sanctum last week. Gold raider, NR, top 100 solo queue and all that jazz. Duelled him over 100 times out of which he won roughly 70 percent. Awesome, very interesting fights overall. Then I slotted diamond skin, went with a triple conjures kittened build with half my trait points unspent and lava-axed the guy to death. Sad.

You can be tempted as much as you like. I mean look at those fights. Other than maybe the Ranger fight, in which i nearly had Water Attunement back off cool down anyway i didn’t need to dodge. That is my point. Nothing more. Nothing less. I dodge when i NEED to.

Diamond Skin was created with the purpose to try and stop all the condition builds from running pure condition damage, Though it hasn’t really worked. I have had LOADS of times where people don’t know why i am immune to the conditions and have to actually point out the trait.

Once someone goes Hybrid, it becomes a totally different fight though. The problem is once they go Hybrid you might as well not have Diamond Skin in most cases because you just won’t be able to get back above 90% health. Maybe if you are running Focus for the Earth skills but you lose so much more than its not really worth it.

That would be the Necromancers fault, he is getting punished for running the kind of build that is MEANT to get punished by this trait. The moment he decides to even go slightly Hybrid the match would be a very different story.

If the Necromancer doesn’t run Signet of Spite they can be beaten some times without using Diamond Skin but requires other specific traits and skills, such as Ether Renewal – it can be done, but its more often than not defeat.

I have already encountered SO many more Zerk/damage builds that i have gone back to using Stone Heart in some of my fights, though against any ele i still use Diamond Skin. I know my build is countered by it as well, doesn’t really bother me. Rather than saying how it is broken i am making tweaks to my gear to try and see if i can make it hybrid enough to beat it without going too hybrid that the conditions suffer.

i know a few Ele that i duel often. So i just get them to go with Diamond Skin and what ever else they would like to and see what changes i make and see if they work. So far its been hit and miss. Though, i think i will get to a time where its more hit than miss. Just need to find the balance.

phaeris.7604:

I roam solo alot, or small man. Up until yesterday I was running a 0,0,2,6,6 build, power based and I enjoyed it alot.

After playing for a few hours I encountered nothing but p/d perplexity spec thieves, perplexity 1 button spamming engineers, condi necros, condi mesmers, crossfire spamming rangers….just hardly any non condi classes.

On a whim I switched to Broskis spec and gear, and the fights went from being a pain in the kitten to their total obliteration. I had a p/d thief complain at me for 10 minutes that I was lame for taking diamond skin, and had no skill as he couldn’t counter this.

I still don’t like conditions though, I think the game rewards too much passive play. When in rome though….

I didn’t see this post. Thanks for that, phaeris. I wasn’t aware people had been using my setup. Glad to see you achieved something from it!

I’d say that condition elementalist is viable in pve/wvw but in pvp its very very sub-par.

Dahir.4158:

I didn’t see this post. Thanks for that, phaeris. I wasn’t aware people had been using my setup. Glad to see you achieved something from it!

Hey! yeah, I’m Constantine on Deso. The build is quite the thing, it’s a joy to encounter p/d thieves now (just so many…..) and the pop gun spamming engis, I don’t think any of them expect condition eles at all.

My friend (kestir, who’s playing a condi mesmer now) and I beat a 10 man yesterday as they tried to take the lord in Bay. It works so well.

I’m thinking of rolling a new ele as a charr race and using the Elite gun as the fire damage seems great +1200 range

I decided not to do a WvW for last week (we faced Drak and FSP) The fights weren’t that great and too many were Pure condition based builds which just aren’t that fun to watch. I took the early days of the week off (Friday to like Wednesday) so didn’t have a lot of time to really get much for a good video.

I have changed my build quite a bit now. I have changed:

Weapons: I have moved from Apothecary to Cleric
Sigil: Replaced Geomancy with Battle
Accessories: Replaced Rings(Apothecary) and Amulet(Dire+Rabid) to Celestial
Food: Tuning Crystal(Condition Damage) to Sharpening Stone(Power)

This means i have gone from 1,726 Condition damage and 941 Power (Food, no buffs) to 1,341 Condition damage and 1,388 Power (Food, No buffs)

Combined with Guard buff and Might from Sigil of Battle (Average around 6 stacks min can be up to 10-11 with no fire blasting) means i end up with around 1,700 Power and around 1,650 Condition damage. Going With some Celestial means i have dropped about 100Toughness as well. Gained about 16% increased Crit damage and about 5-6% Crit Chance increase as well as to Vitality

Worked quite well in the few fights i have had so far. I do feel that little bit more squishy against Power builds but nothing that really makes me think i need more Toughness or anything yet.

I am tempted to drop Some more of my Dire gear for something else. Even at the start of the week with Guard Stacks i have nearly 20k Health. So i think i can drop some Vit for something else.

I have a few options.

Apothecary – This would be a lose in Vitality but a gain in Healing Power
Rabid – This would be a lose in Vitality but gain in Precision
Cleric – This would be a lose in Vitality but a gain in Power

Currently my Helm, Shoulders, Hands and Feet are Dire gear. So i got mix it up with pick all 3 of them once and having one of them twice. All would be a minor decrease again in Condition damage but the more direct offence it would give might be worth it.

All these ppl attacking you cause you don’t dodge, kitten them. Some people need to dodge to stay alive, you don’t. End of the story

johnpoc.8732:

All these ppl attacking you cause you don’t dodge, kitten them. Some people need to dodge to stay alive, you don’t. End of the story

Doesn’t bother me. Only terrible players dodge when they don’t need to. I gain nothing from wasting dodges. I don’t run Evasive Arcana or anything so dodging for no reason is just a sign of bad play.

Lol, only thing I’m worried about dodging are those bloody Eviscerates. Was running along South Stonemist the other day when I encountered a warrior who hit me for 10k (2.8-3k armor). I stood there in shock as I looked at my health bar and combat log as he died to confusion.

I don’t think I need to dodge anything that is condition related since I run DS also.

Dahir.4158:

Lol, only thing I’m worried about dodging are those bloody Eviscerates. Was running along South Stonemist the other day when I encountered a warrior who hit me for 10k (2.8-3k armor). I stood there in shock as I looked at my health bar and combat log as he died to confusion.

I don’t think I need to dodge anything that is condition related since I run DS also.

Yeah pretty much ALL pure condition based builds you have no need to dodge what so ever. Hybrid i think it all depends on the class and the actual build they are using.

It is Power and Zerker builds that you want to be dodging. Even then if i know i won’t die from it and can heal back up quickly while i am attacking then i will often decide to not dodge and continue to attack to be as offensive as possible.

Only some skills really need to be dodged/Arcane Shield. Those being Kill shot, Eviscerate being the top 2. The ones that can pretty much tear you apart no matter what. Though if i know they are Power builds and have the time i will switch to Stone Heart and just use it to soak up the damage.

I am thinking about using a Stacking Sigil. As i have mentioned in other threads. It requires remembering NOT to gather anything and being VERY careful of water. If you can do that you can gain the stacks on land. Go into water swap the weapon out and still have the stacks.

It is just VERY annoying that some water in WvW will remove the stacks while others won’t while doing ANY gathering will remove them. With just Guard Buffs i have 1,300 Power and 1,300 Condition damage. Not quite sure which stacking Sigil would be better in this situation.

With food it becomes nearly 1,500 Power and 1,450 Condition damage. Can easily have 6 stacks of Might just from weapon swapping. That grants another 210 increase to both Power and Condition Damage. of course this is higher in fights due to going into Fire (1 stack of Might) and blasting Fire fields so can get around 10 stacks (350 for Power and Condition Damage)

Looks like you are headed toward a bunker power build. You keep dropping the condition damage you will get to a point where you don’t have enough damage to kill certain builds other bunkers.

oZii.2864:

Looks like you are headed toward a bunker power build. You keep dropping the condition damage you will get to a point where you don’t have enough damage to kill certain builds other bunkers.

I have no worries against Bunker builds as it is. It is other eles, especially those running Diamond Skin. I just want enough power to break through it and then will be putting points back into Condition Build.

I would say this is a currently a Hybrid Bunker build.

Using Sharpening Stone and Coi Cake my stats are:

Power: 1,418
Condition Damage: 1,371

Health: 17,162
Armour: 2,967

Power and Condition damage get a 100increase each with 5 stacks of Guard Buff. I am kind of tempted to reduce Vitality a bit as i can gain Guard stacks for 2,500extra health. I am hoping that my current Power is enough to break through it. Though i am going to guess that only Bunker/Condition/Hybrid ele will be using it as it is high in the defence line.

With Sigil of Battle i will have at least 210 increase to both Power and Condition damage as well during combat.

ArmageddonAsh.6430:

oZii.2864:

Looks like you are headed toward a bunker power build. You keep dropping the condition damage you will get to a point where you don’t have enough damage to kill certain builds other bunkers.

I have no worries against Bunker builds as it is. It is other eles, especially those running Diamond Skin. I just want enough power to break through it and then will be putting points back into Condition Build.

I would say this is a currently a Hybrid Bunker build.

Using Sharpening Stone and Coi Cake my stats are:

Power: 1,418
Condition Damage: 1,371

Health: 17,162
Armour: 2,967

Power and Condition damage get a 100increase each with 5 stacks of Guard Buff. I am kind of tempted to reduce Vitality a bit as i can gain Guard stacks for 2,500extra health. I am hoping that my current Power is enough to break through it. Though i am going to guess that only Bunker/Condition/Hybrid ele will be using it as it is high in the defence line.

With Sigil of Battle i will have at least 210 increase to both Power and Condition damage as well during combat.

That was a good video Ash, I should share with you my Condition build. I like to fight 3v1(very tough) or 2v1 (not so tough) with my condi build anyways nice video!

Thanks. I have had several out numbered fights. It is when Hammer users come in and you pretty much stand no chance as they will just spam the Hammer while the other(s) will be able to easily get their burst off as you are constantly getting spammed with Hammer attacks.

My build is in the process of getting a slight change. I encountered a Condition based Mesmer that was insanely tanky removing conditions a lot running PU with SO many Stealth skills.

We must have been fighting for about 5+ Minutes and in the end it was decided when an ally came along. He managed to get me Below 90% a couple of times but for some reason just couldn’t make the most of it

Guys… Ash is perma-banned.

The moderators of A-net have done an injustice to our fellow forum poster, even going far as to ignore his appeals. weep

We must take action!

But how?!

Did Ash really get perma banned?

I knew he was a downer on every single thing ele related, but I wonder what he did to get banned…

There are other posters fa more worthy of being banned, like most of the thief forum..

Talking about some wvw season 1/2 stuff and how a-net still didn’t fix problems from before. Still not ban-worthy in my opinion. I’ve seen many other things worse than that lol.

I spoke to Ash a few days ago about his ban and he told me that he made some very critical comments about Anet and some issues with WvW season rewards. He still plays the game though as his YouTube channel was recently updated.