Guild Wars 2

i fought a d/d ele in wvw one time… he’s really good.. as a first time guardian trying out my builds.. i died 3x in a 1 in 1 fight…

i am seeing my damage so little and he hits me hard…

any tip?

thanks..

I don’t have good specifics for you (my guard build is probably very different from yours) but I will channel a little Sun Tzu and point out that success is going to lie just as much in understanding every step and skill and trait in that Elementalist’s dance as it will in strengthening your own play.

How well could you read his build from his actions?

he’s usually starts by casting earth spell .. then there’s his skill that puts 9 stacks of might to the char and swiftness plus 2 more boon..

he will use that lightning skill to dash at me for an interupt.. encircle me with fire then summon an ember..

thats probably a good thing to do.. know your oponent… its skills etc..

What is your lvl and your stats?
myself never found a problem with D/D even if they hit hard 2k+

No problem with d/d ele for me either. When they cast that earth spike either dodge or interupt. I also normally use 2 stun breakers in my build as well as -65% con duration so thier dmg is REALLY small. Stability will help against their lightning charge aswell as aegis.

D/d ele is all about CC. Hammer is where its at when you need to deal with them.

Refer to my juggernaut build if you are having trouble and need a build to deal with them.

@KensaiZen.3740, a guardian will never kill a good ele. Ele is not only about CC but also about sustain and good damage compared to the defense they have. Maybe in full bunker build you wont be able to kill eachother, but no way you will kill and D/D ele. Even a bad ele can just ‘Ride the Lightning’ away from you.

D/D are hard to kill, but also they hardly kill a bunker guardian. What I usually do is start with Hammer and stability, because they always run to you with lightning trying to knock you down, then give them a few MB (keep hammer as long you are in melee range) when they start to run away switch to staff > #3 > auto attack. Use JI if they get out of range. I found that Hammer/Staff combo is the best to deal with them, but be ready for a long fight…

Zumos.2056:

@KensaiZen.3740, a guardian will never kill a good ele. Ele is not only about CC but also about sustain and good damage compared to the defense they have. Maybe in full bunker build you wont be able to kill eachother, but no way you will kill and D/D ele. Even a bad ele can just ‘Ride the Lightning’ away from you.

I’ll believe it when it happens. Like i said, ive never gad trouble with them. They are just a bit tougher to kill than a normal ele.

Maybe its because i dont run fulk bunker like a numpty.

OP, let’s go over the very basics of the popular 0/10/0/30/30 d/d ele build.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEAQJAoYhImkbzx4gjDAkHnYCLiCPUeMTO2A

First of all it is important to pay attention to what element attunement they’re in, most importantly pay attention to the water attunement. When they switch to it they AoE heal, AoE remove conditions, and apply regeneration buffs. This attunement and their mobility skills form the basis of their survivability. This is why in PvP the time to burst them down is immediately after they switch from water attunement.

Dodge ride-the-lightning and its subsequent updraft knockdown. Although this sequence is so commonly dodged now there may be a high chance they ride-the-lightning just to waste one of your dodge and save the updraft for later.

One of the 2 main ways to do damage is set you on fire and then do fire grab. The other (the main damage source) is churning earth. Honestly I don’t know a reliable way to dodge this because I’m waiting on my lightning flash to (dodge your counter and) follow you while I’m channeling it.

All 3 cantrip utility skills break stuns and are great escape skills. Also they are traited to give regeneration, vigor, and remove a condition. They all make killing a tanky d/d ele difficult.

The d/d elementalists are still squishy if they’re unable to dodge/move away. If you can take away their mobility, they’ll be in trouble. On the other hand you will not be able to escape from a d/d ele. They can freeze and cripple you, then dash in and dodge out waiting for a chance for a meaningful spike. So just keep fighting because turning your back to a d/d ele is almost as bad as turning you back to a thief.

I totally agree with henry. If you play defencive against d/d ele you are just delaying the inevitabale. If you run, its auto death.

Flip the gane on them. Go agressive and make them go defensive. Majority are not pro at ele and will screw up their combo when pressured.

A few 3-4k crits and hes riding the lightning away from you.

You just have to be abke to read the tide of battle and play def or atk when you need to.

As others have said, if you avoid being hit by Churning Earth (large AoE with ~3 second channel that puts up 8 bleed stacks), you negate at least half their damage. If you avoid their lightning attacks that knockdown/daze and don’t run through fire, it helps a lot as well.

Judges+Ring of Warding precast=ele kitten

I actually don’t think the RTL + updraft combo was difficult to handle at all. From all the DD eles I encountered that combo doesn’t do damage or do fairly negligible damage, so I just let them hit. Churning Earth you can dodge by looking at the dust animation, it hits when the dust hits the AoE ring, it’s the move with the biggest tell in game, and if you keep moving in random directions lightning flash will usually miss too. The only thing I have trouble with is the fire grab (because it’s too fast) and whatever it is that allow them to heal themselves back to full in like 2 seconds (seem like a combination of many things).

I have also ran away from a DD ele before… albeit not a very good one, he seemed to be too preoccupied with spamming /laugh than chasing me down, but if you have at least some condition removal you can remove most of their snares, and RTL is the only thing they can use to hit you then, so just keep running until you get into a building or some allies.

I am not thinking a lot of you are being honest. Post up some videos of a 1v1 with an 80 DD ele. A good one will crush a good guardian every time. Every time.

The good ones are not using condition damage btw, they are stacking power through the roof and hurting you with burst.

I beat bad ones all the time, which gives the illusion that they are not that hard. But any average or better one will destroy a guardian.

There’s a tank D/D ele, and a burst D/D ele. You have to deal with them differently.

I usually make their health drop so low that they have to use their healing skill… What would happen next remains a mystery since at that point they always pop Hounds of Balthazar. Sometimes they just run away. So I guess I can’t kill a D/D Ele either.

if an D/D ele cant move around then hes a dead man

Start counting times when the ride the lightning away from you as a kill and you kill plenty of D/D eles

I’m finding good dodging and Bane Signet pretty well levels the field.

Nothing breaks tempo quite like being inexplicably slammed face down .

I like this guardian class and all but my main is a D/D elementalist, and I would have to say I have NEVER had a prob with guard’s. The only classes that make me really work threw my attunments is a thief/ ranger, and I have been playing since release. I have so many ways of escape and cleansing. As for ppl immoblizing me still not a problem. I wear cleric exotic’s and Dolyak runes so when I switch to water attunment that alone gives me a quarter of my health back and with cleansing wave I will be back to full. A guardian alone does not have enough burst to burn a elementalist down. I am not trying to say anyone are bad players im just saying if you are beating ele’s you are beating scrubs.
I have 4 80’s and working on a guardian now (54) but as for a elementalist (one that knows his class)you will not solo one, back up is needed

Most D/D Elementalists are terrible, but the few that are amazing are incredibly hard to kill and on open ground can always escape from a guardian if they are losing. I don’t view them as threats however, since they have easy to avoid burst and the rest of their damage is so low that they cannot kill me alone. I actually find fighting them, to be very similar to fighting a GS guardian, in that they open quick and hard with debilitates and then switch to a highly defensive roll until their cooldowns recycle. One of the biggest challenges for me is that they have a lot of maneuverability, so forcing them to use mist form early via Ring of Warding and then following up with good immobilizes works well.