Guild Wars 2

I now have 3 level 80’s and two slots left. with that said, I’m looking to fill those two slots. This time around I’m looking to play an Elementalist the CORRECT way.

I’m looking for a solo pve staff build ( since Elementalist can’t weapon swap ). I was told by an experienced Elementalist that he soloed to 80 with a staff with no problems.

With a pve solo staff build, what would you guys suggest to focus on by way of traits ?

The first traits and skills I would go for are Elemental Attunment (Arcana 5), Quick Glyphs (Air 3), Glyph of Lesser Elementals and, when you can get it, Glyph of Elementals. They should give you a good start to work with, especially the earth elementals. They make great tanks and thanks to Quick Glyphs, you can have them active most of the time.

The important thing to keep in mind about staff is that it’s designed around the use of Combo Fields and Combo Finishers.

You have a field in each attunement, and a Blast and Projectile finisher in Earth. You’ll be spending most of your time swapping in and out of Earth to set up your combos.

For traits, I recommend getting Elemental Attunement and Blasting Staff ASAP. The extra buffs and bigger fields will make leveling a lot easier. The rest of your points can be spent wherever you like. I take Quick Glyphs in Air and 20% longer bleeds in Earth. I gear for Power and Condition Damage (Carrion gear), but that’s really up to you. Some people like more crits and crit damage for better Meteor Showers.

The most helpful thing is to learn what all the finishers do, and get used to frequently swapping back to Earth to set up Blast finishers or to toss Projectile finishers into your fields.

Earth 1 is a Strong Finisher, so it’ll 100% proc off of whatever field you toss it through.

For example:

Earth Attunement → Eruption → Fire Attunement – Lava Font (Finishes with AoE Might)… Cast some stuff….Lava Font → Earth Attunement → Shockwave (finishes for extra burning) → Stoning (finishes for extra burning)

PinCushion.7390:

The important thing to keep in mind about staff is that it’s designed around the use of Combo Fields and Combo Finishers.

You have a field in each attunement, and a Blast and Projectile finisher in Earth. You’ll be spending most of your time swapping in and out of Earth to set up your combos.

For traits, I recommend getting Elemental Attunement and Blasting Staff ASAP. The extra buffs and bigger fields will make leveling a lot easier. The rest of your points can be spent wherever you like. I take Quick Glyphs in Air and 20% longer bleeds in Earth. I gear for Power and Condition Damage (Carrion gear), but that’s really up to you. Some people like more crits and crit damage for better Meteor Showers.

The most helpful thing is to learn what all the finishers do, and get used to frequently swapping back to Earth to set up Blast finishers or to toss Projectile finishers into your fields.

Earth 1 is a Strong Finisher, so it’ll 100% proc off of whatever field you toss it through.

For example:

Earth Attunement -> Eruption -> Fire Attunement – Lava Font (Finishes with AoE Might)… Cast some stuff….Lava Font -> Earth Attunement -> Shockwave (finishes for extra burning) -> Stoning (finishes for extra burning)

Thanks for your reply.

Another helpful hint is having arcane wave for the instant blast when you need it. You can use water 3 on yourself then blast finish for an easy heal.

I played through most of my leveling-up process as a solo-staff ele with this build, and it was mostly painless.

Most of your damage will come from fire, especially when running around maps doing events and killing trash mobs, so going 10 points for Internal Fire helps speed up most of your regular-solo play. The 20 in air is pretty self-explanatory. You can change out Bolt to the Heart for Inscription if you want. At least 10 water for Cleansing Wave is absolutely necessary. I like to go 20 for the healing ripple minor and reduced CD on cantrips. At least 20 Arcana is a must for Elemental Attunement, Blasting Staff, and the Attunement recharge reduction. Dropping 10 from anywhere to pump it to 30 and get Evasive Arcana isn’t a bad decision.

I went mostly Berserker with some Knight’s armor for damage, since you have great range and probably can’t put in enough toughtness/vit to survive any real firepower. Rely on your heals. Utilities are really whatever you want. Glyph of Storms is useful since fire is decent AoE damage and Earth is AoE blinds for defense. Cantrips provide some protection since you’ll be alone most of the time and CC can be brutal. If you go for Inscription, dropping Armor of Earth for another glyph skill and dropping Cantrip Mastery is probably a good idea. Glyph of Elementals is a must, the earth elemental is a total bro. For dungeons, I’d usually drop fire, go 30 into water, get Cleansing Water, and be more support-y.

Your early priorities should be 10 Arcana, 10 fire, 20 Arcana, 10 Air, then whatever you want.

I ran a full glass cannon staff Elementalist from 7-ish to 80. Things were a bit tougher in the middle levels, before the traits all came together and Power/Precision/Critical Damage gear became available. But after that soloing PvE became a cakewalk.

Here’s my thoughts on soloing as a staff Elementalist. When more than minimal effort is required to kill an enemy (i.e veterans, skill challenges, large packs of trash mobs), I start the fight with Meteor Shower. The instant an enemy is struck and aggro is established I pop Flame Burst and start the following rotation:
– Water Attunement
– Frozen Ground
– Ice Spike
– Earth Attunement
– Eruption
– Unsteady Ground
– Eruption (against veterans and other individual enemies)
– Air Attunement
– Lightning Surge
– Static Field (against a group of enemies)
– Gust (against veterans and other individual enemies)
– Fire Attunement
– Flame Burst
– Lava Font (if the enemy has managed to close to melee-ish range)
– Arcane Wave (good damage and a self-combo for Might)
– Burning Retreat (if anything is still standing with more than a sliver of health)
– Repeat as necessary (it rarely is)

The Chill and Cripple from Frozen Ground and Unsteady Ground keep enemies at bay, while the damage from Ice Spike, Eruption, Lightning Surge, Lava Font, and the Burning from Flame Burst make short work of whatever is in your spells’ area of effect.

At any point in this rotation I can pop Glyph of Storms. I usually use GoS in Water Attunement for the extra Chill when fighting a group of enemies and in Fire or Air for the extra damage when fighting a tougher individual enemy. GoS can help against packs of enemies who stay at range and attack with ranged attacks, while Magnetic Aura works against individual enemies who do the same

I run the Glyph of Elementals, but I only ever pop it against veterans or skill challenges (always as an Earth Elemental) when playing solo.

As far as traits go, I went with:
Fire – 30
– Ember’s Might
– Internal Fire
– Pyromancer’s Puissance

Air – 20
– Quick Glyphs
– Bolt to the Heart

Arcane – 20
– Elemental Attunement
– Blasting Staff

As for self combos, I just don’t see the point in wasting the effort. Your staff is a ranged weapon. The combo fields are attacks that should be near your enemies, not yourself. And you shouldn’t engage your enemies from anything but maximum range. Might from a Fire Blast has its uses (as does Swiftness from a Lightning Blast when roaming), but Frost Aura only matters if you’re being hit. And if you play your cards right, enemies will rarely get the opportunity to hit you.