Guild Wars 2

As the title says, I JUST started an Ele last night. Got a little familiar with the skills, choose my weapon and did some attunement swapping practice. I haven’t started PvE yet, but I can honestly say that even when I’m losing in 1v1, Ele is a lot more involving and fun to play than the other classes; especially my main level 80 Ranger.

My build consists of something like 0/20/30/0/20 with the utility to drop three conditions, ARcane Shield, and Mist form. I have around 17k HP and 2k toughness. I can put up a fight but I do find it more difficult to down people solo with this build. It happens, but it’s a sloooooow process and any screw ups are felt very heavily.

My questions, however, are this: What can I expect in PvE and WvW as an ele in the upper levels? I will probably stick with staff as the skills are just really fun and easy to understand. I know this is a general and broad question, but I’m actually looking for a general and broad answer.

Also, for Staff Ele, what are some combos I could practice to make downing others in sPvP a little easier? I’ve been trying to chill/cripple and Lava Font people which does work but trying to be too offensive usually means I have to switch back to a defensive and less damaging stance which allows my enemies to recover quicker. Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated and if anyone is bored enough to sparr with me and give me tips in-game please send me a PM either here or add me as a friend in-game.

Thanks.

I don’t sPvP with staff (S/D) and even then not terribly much so I’ll focus on PvE and WvW.

PvE: A lot of people dislike Ele here. They can’t just walk in, grab 50 mobs and 100b them all down, but if you don’t mind the ele playstyle of using a million spells to do anything then PvE really isn’t too bad. It’s not as mindless 2 buttons to kill everything, whether you consider this a plus or a minus depends on what you want out of PvE.

Dungeons: I think Ele’s are solid here, especially staff. Staff has very good support options and two water fields.

WvW: You can actually make a glass cannon Ele work a lot better here if you zerg surf, so you can do a ton of damage with meteor shower in keep fights. Or you can do with something like S/D and roam around instead.

Is glass cannon anything really the best way to go in WvW?

It seems like everyone and their mom is running max damage builds. I can understand the thought process behind it, but I’m not sure I like that WvW is that simple in terms of character variation.

Chesire.9043:

Is glass cannon anything really the best way to go in WvW?

It seems like everyone and their mom is running max damage builds. I can understand the thought process behind it, but I’m not sure I like that WvW is that simple in terms of character variation.

It isn’t. Glass cannon builds are niche and if you ever catch one alone, they’re always dead… excluding thieves if they play their cards right. Maybe.

You definitely need some decent damage, but the way everyone wants to roll a glass cannon is folly. And then people turn around and complain why fights seem to last about two seconds.

People are funny.

Don’t underestimate the earth and water lines for survivability. Don’t try to be an ele tank (that’s for a specialty build with conjure earth shield), but don’t neglect these lines.

The elementalist does multitasking to the point of it being essential to be at the top of your class; you can’t be “just” a fire ele or an air ele.

You also have to juggle a little support now and then with earth and water, and generally play with everything else you have.

The elementalist attunements are synonymous with the other classes weapon swaps. You must make effective use of all of them or you will be subpar.

If that kind of play style befits you (‘elementalist’ gives off the idea you’re awesome with all the elements, not just one) or if you can get into that mindset, you’ll find the elementalist is very powerful.

A heavy learning curve compared to some of the other classes, but very rewarding.

Another tip, something you might want to do is carry many different kinds of weapons with you.

Even though the ele can’t weapon swap mid-combat, different weapon combos are suited to different kinds of playing styles.

You can’t swap in the middle of combat like many of the other classes, but you can re-equip yourself in a moment of clam.

Are you playing in a group? Staff is generally helpful to everyone. Another ele playing staff already in your group? Go dagger or scepter.

Scepter and dagger work well if you’re solo and don’t have to worry about other folks/don’t have the breathing room to launch the staffs massive but slow AoEs.

You have to adapt and kind of get a feel for it and your potential comrades. It’s sort of hard to explain, but it becomes second nature after a while.

I also found that playing in spvp really teaches you how all the skills very quickly. You have to think on the fly and learn to change your game play with the tide of battle. That being said, it isnt going to be that fun at first but once you start to master the attunement dance you will start to see improvement in your game play. Then when you switch to pve solo isnt that bad and running with a group becomes cake walk.

A staff elementalist in PvE is going to do better in a group. In DE’s, spot an incoming wave and try to predict its path, throw a meteor shower in the way, and manage a decent number of tags before melee allies engage. When the battle starts, keep an eye on where the battle’s thickest, stay close enough so that allies can benefit from your attunement swaps, and put your AoE there. Anyone nearby will also appreciate your heals. If you use Arcane XI, roll into your fields to combo, but also remember to get back out so you don’t get insta-downed.

On your own, you’ll want to use all of your CC (Water 4, Air 2,3,5, and Earth 4 and 5 come to mind) to keep mobs at bay and in your AoE damage. Earth 2 is a popular opener because it’s a blast finisher, it takes forever to animate, and you don’t aggro the mob until the damage is dealt, giving you time to put down a field and roll in for the combo effect without needing 30 in Arcane. Also, I’ve heard that you can pop Mist Form while casting Meteor Shower for invulnerability, but I haven’t tried it. You’ll farm slower than many other classes, but you’ll look awesome doing it. If you ever get bored, try carrying around a second weapon set to use in situations like this.

Staff elementalists in WvW do great in supporting zergs, sieges, being part of small roaming groups, and the not-so-glamourous task of running dolyaks (Air 4, Earth 2, Air 5, Air 4 …). Aim Meteor Showers at people and siege weapons on a different altitude, heal and buff allies, and static field any stragglers. Your lower single-target damage means that you’re not going to be able to 1v1 as easily, your low HP means that thieves really hurt, and your lack of awesome escapes means you’ll have to be a little careful.

Can’t help you with sPvP. It’s just not my cup of tea.

TL;DR: Staff elementalists in PvE and WvW do best as team players. And use Blasting Staff (Arcane VIII).

Thank you, all, for the input.

I’m about to log in and try out some S/D gameplay to see if I like it better than Staff, but currently Staff is pretty fun even in sPvP. I’m still trying to find the proper utilities and combos to use though. I don’t have 30 into Arcane so I don’t get the benefit of rolling into my own AoE.

Is this pretty mandatory right now or do people have success without it?

Since you have so many fields to use, it is kind of a waste to not finish your own combos. I’m not going to tell you that it’s mandatory to put 30 in Arcane if you don’t want to. Arcane Wave (if you have a free spot for a utility) and Earth 4 are also blast finishers. Earth 1 and 5 are projectile finishers, as well.

Regardless of the combo, you’ll need to move into the field to get the effect for yourself.

Honestly I would say to wait until the patch tomorrow, then you can see the changes and get a feel for what weapons you like!