Guild Wars 2

Anyone here who uses that combo?
I think about creating such a build, idea is to be able to fight at two ranges: first seek a good position and do AOE damage with staff and than switch to LH.
But my experience with ele is limited, so I don’t know if that would really be going to work...

I’ve considered this, but not yet run with it - I think we’re just too squishy for the LH.

It may well be worth trying after Feature Pack comes out, though! All CC skills proccing Lightning Rod means the launch, the second Static Field, and the ability to leap through that lightning field will all get that much more powerful in a 6/6/0/0/2 setup - with the Weakness from LR going quite a way towards mitigating damage from foes.

After first thought, I think lh does not work in tpvp because of its slow attack and the very fast paced nature of pvp in GW2. You might be better off using icebow to increase the burst because your job as a squishy staff ele is to put pressure on nodes and not get in the middle of the fight.

Tried it a long time (but after staff buffs )ago briefly with a bunker build for the fast decaps.
Worked fairly "ok "for soloq in top 100-150 at that time but it was obvious it got carried by staff and lightning hammer was a no factor expect a few occasionally clutch times

Tried it also with an offencivegeared setup with stoneheart as well and generally defencive traits in an attempt to raise the dps of celestial or generally hybrid builds.
Again the hammer was way to clucnky and the dps increase was minimal
The reason was that it had to be used only in small fights were stayin in melee range is affordabe and against slower opponents since the casting times on its skills means that you will get kited and generally have your damage avoided.
Might be worth with the new lighting rod but even if we assume that you land all your cc does it really justify compromising your ranged potition to use it? Is even the damage at maximum comparable to lighting strikes and fresh air if we take the huge cooldonws into consideration?
Is the extra damage you get from losing range worth the extra damage you lose due to weakness application here and then?
Plus all the other options teamwise you have in water are so much better.

But otherwise is a combo that ID LOVE to play.It makes you feel you can do anything.
They need to reduce the aftercasts asap.. or give us a way to cancel part of it ( )

Tried it a long time ago and it didn’t work.

Here’s the problem:

- You deal a lot of damage with your staff attacks
→ you’re too squishy to be in melee range
→ you can’t use LH
→ you should pick a different utility skill which works at range or improves your defence

I would love to use LH in PvP myself but the problem is we lack the base stats (mainly HP) to make it work. You either deal no damage or you’re too squishy.

cursE.1794:

I think lh does not work in tpvp because of its slow attack and the very fast paced nature of pvp in GW2.

exactly this. I’ve already tried to make it work, but I failed. You’ll never get off 3 auto-attacks for the blind/explo-finisher without getting CCed or dying. It’s just too clumsy and eles also rely too much on dodging to chain these 3 slow hits. Even the process of conjuring the hammer or picking it up from the ground is valuable time you’re loosing.
The spells other than auto-attacks are lacklusters or can also be found on staff itself (except the lightning storm). It may sound nice in theory but it doesn’t work just as earth shield (would have some really nice pvp-spells but it’s just too clumsy), flame axe and FGS don’t work in combat.
Further, the damage can’t be compared to the damage-output in PvE since you’ll lack the necessary traits. Therefore staff will also deal more damage than the hammer.

Generally speaking – like some already have mentioned – I’d also say that ele is too squishy for pvp-melee-combat. D/D only can handle melee-range due to the vast amount of spells, CC and heals which LH doesn’t have.

Blackhat.4016:

Tried it a long time ago and it didn’t work.
- You deal a lot of damage with your staff attacks

Does anybody use staff in pvp?

Steinpilz.5078:

Blackhat.4016:

Tried it a long time ago and it didn’t work.
- You deal a lot of damage with your staff attacks

Does anybody use staff in pvp?

Yes but either as a full support with clerics or a hybrid with celestial/
Its actually really good!

Steinpilz.5078:

Blackhat.4016:

Tried it a long time ago and it didn’t work.
- You deal a lot of damage with your staff attacks

Does anybody use staff in pvp?

I’m playing 6-3-0-3-2 with soldiers or zerker amulet in solo-Q and it’s a ton of fun as long as I don’t encounter thiefes.

i’m looking forward to actually see more zerker staff eles. they do a kittenload of damage, but at least they don’t have lich form

Avead.5760:

Steinpilz.5078:

Does anybody use staff in pvp?

Yes but either as a full support with clerics or a hybrid with celestial/
Its actually really good!

Hi guys. Zerk Staff here, consistently in top200 EU soloq. Highest rank 17.

Not been playing much soloq recently (and getting frustrated quickly when I have tried it) due to the combination of being sick to death of Skyhammer, and more recently, sick to death of lagspikes. As you can see, the current leaderboard system with its non-permanent decay means I won’t lose my rank much even if I don’t play often - but I can certainly hold my own with my trusty Staff, and have held my highest rankings while playing several games a day.

Also do alright in teamq, but decent allies I find keep moving off to other games (or just giving up on gw with the complete lack of attention paid to pvp). If anything, Staff is more useful there since you can coordinate with allies and get a better idea of when/where to nuke and make full use of your various fields.

Zerk Staff is *so much fun* and I really wish I’d tried it sooner (only started running my build in about March this year). Cele may be more useful now, but prior to this all the support/bunker options I tried were useless.