Guild Wars 2

Dude, the water element is disappointing, i really wanted to do a pure water build, but that damage is too low. i under stand its a support based element, but they clearly made a statement saying “When it comes to profession, we want you to build your own path.” but ive been having a frustrating time, trying to get the damage up on the water attunement. the best i could do is use sigils of blood lust and get my damage up to 50 or 60 on a staff…but the base damage is 14 damage…14 DAMAGE! can some one show me the way? has anyone had any luck is arena net listening, and if they are can they please buff the water attunement, other wise, like any other game, this dream build will stay a dream!

You’re not supposed to camp water… it’s intended to deal garbage damage. Water has utility such as chilling your enemies/healing yourself/allies. You can camp it if you really want to, but if you want to be an effective ele you’re supposed to make use of all attunements. The exception is staff in PvE where you optimize your damage output by camping fire.

Water is quite focused on support, but if you really want to do some damage & keep a water-theme, you could switch between water & air attunements, water for healing & support and air for damage.
Depending what you use, Air & Water have a few things that work together nicely, pushback & chill by example.

Cryo knight.2493:

“When it comes to profession, we want you to build your own path.”

Sadly, that statement is the least true in the elementalists case, despite having most skills in the game.

Sure you can build however you want, but you’ll end up mostly with dissapointment.

The same as trying to build a dps guard with a staff. Or an aoe farm thief with dual daggers. Or a ranged warrior with maces. Not any different from any other class. First, you are taking it to absurd, and then, ele has never been supposed to stay in one attunement (yes Pyro puissance is an affront to the intended goals of ele design), so it’s not like you were ever supposed to do damage in water.

If you want to do damage in water attunement, spec conjures and piercing shards (however was that trait called). But then again, it’s not a ‘watermancer’, and never will be.

I always like pure Water Elemental theme back in GW1 era. Too bad in GW2 the game designer force us to rotate your elements. (which is most unwise and boring, lack of personality) Most fabulous Water spells in GW1 such as Water Trident, Shatterstone are completely garbage now. (And where is Maelstrom??) At least we have Ice Spike… the only high damage skill.

What I do is… try to always keep Frost Bow with you! Frost bow has the strongest Ice theme AoE (Ice Storm). Always summon two of your Water Elementals. Use a Rune of Ice with Berserker armor stats (or Zealous stats if you have the money). You can cast a lot of Frozen Ground with your Ice ele’s skill and your staff 4 skill. Use a blasting skill for frost aura.

Trait yourself in full Water/Air. Piercing Shards will help a lot (or Full Water, 4 pts in Arcane so you can have more boons) You can stay in Water spells “longer” then other elements, but you still have to switch around. =/! Anet want Ele to be jack of all trade…. there isn’t much we can do. Hopefully in the expansion we can be specialize in one specific element, or at least have a better Water weapon spells.