Guild Wars 2

not played an ele much, only started playing it for the last week seriosly. anyway i want to play s/x builds but i struggle to do any real dmg. i know its because i am rusty as hell on an ele but i have hardly played 1 but do i really need to run glass while playing s/x? i dont seem to be able to recover from a glass thief and if i run a bit more defensive they have time to reset.

so whats the ideal stats as an s/x ele? this is my current gear.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vFAQJArdhUMoyhdOwwB8RM0AY0RoG8DkKQA4DWZhrwUA-TlTDABM8AAoSJCjqQ8kygqUC9i6Jdp0AEtAwpDAATQKoEUiTAQMqIQz+DBAQA2ZAQY0czbezje0kCwEhWA-w

I only use S/F in pvp, not WvW, but what I’d suggest based on my experiences is running earth instead of water to pick up written in stone and geomancer’s freedom, since written in stone gives you a good low CD heal that you can actually pop, and geomancer’s freedom gives you much lower CDs on your earth focus skills that are important in surviving.

Also One with Air is really nice with fresh air in order to kite and move around more effectively.

Need some advice here too , but after few days playing S/F fresh air, its pretty hard to master.

Also I find that build really viable in pvp still really team dependant tho (i think).

But in wvw its totally useless in the current meta : so many thieves and mesmers that makes you almost unable to do anything (playing full zerk tho , wonder if knight or valkyrie wouldnt make it more “viable”) ?. But facing stealth profession when you are s/f ele…. is just wow , i honestly have no idea how anet will balance it oO .

Anyway i’m looking for advices also ^^. If any veteran s/f fresh air players willing to help and share their advice.

Thanks.

nearlight.3064:

I only use S/F in pvp, not WvW, but what I’d suggest based on my experiences is running earth instead of water to pick up written in stone and geomancer’s freedom, since written in stone gives you a good low CD heal that you can actually pop, and geomancer’s freedom gives you much lower CDs on your earth focus skills that are important in surviving.

Also One with Air is really nice with fresh air in order to kite and move around more effectively.

I agree – I’ve been playing exclusive S/F after D/D patch both in fractals and PvP and have been doing well. Putting stats into earth trait already increases your survivability. I can’t count how many times I’ve won skirmishes in PvP (1 v 2 as well) simply because of obsidian flesh – reminds me of the good ol’ mist stomp days, but this time, you have access to all of your skills. Now staff will definitely be the better choice when it comes to damage and aoe output, and in WvW, but S/F is definitely a force to be reckoned with with practice.

Here are some example vids (I take no credit):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHDiLqpyrbo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiDodDwyGFA

The key is to ensure you make use of the fresh air trait AND your defensive focus capabilities. People seem to forget that you have the ability to block projectiles, interrupt, stun, and that earth 4 is a blast finisher as well as a damage skill (all focus abilities!). Add it to the fire rotation if you’re able to knock someone down. Practice makes perfect!

The Scepter autoattacks are wretched. Truly, they have abysmal DPS and no utility so you should basically never be autoattacking unless your opponent has a Block up or you’re waiting on a cooldown. Most of your damage is in the Fire attunement (DT + point-blank Ring of Fire +Pheonix aimed slightly behind your foe + Fire Grab is a tremendous amount of burst), but there’s some in Earth as well (Earth 4 is good damage, and sometimes I’ll use Earth 5 if I want the style points).

Then there’s Fresh Air builds, which are basically all about cheesing Electric Discharge for everything it’s worth. I don’t really like Fresh Air all that much. It’s ok, but constantly switching to and from Air is exhausting.