Guild Wars 2

Cool, well it’s good, at least, that everyone stopped whining =) I always did enjoy the ele, but there were just a few frustrations. I think after I hit 80 in PvE as a glass cannon and then tried to do some WvWvW, I got fed up, in part because my server was sucking but also because there wasn’t that much more to do.

So I stopped playing just shortly before the Halloween event. I’ve read over the patch notes and am interested in coming back now that the school semester is over; however, I’m curious how the game has changed since that time. My main is an elementalist who specced primarily as a glass cannon. How are we faring? What is the game like right now when playing as an ele? I ask this for all three areas: PvE, PvP, and W3.

Thanks!

Here’s a potentially more damaging and survivable spec:

http://tinyurl.com/c4txod3

The extra survivability comes strictly from the addition of Ether Renewal for condition removal. Personally, I like cooldown-reduction over certain % damage bonuses, but I’m just sticking to the theme of your build.

I used to run a similar build in sPvP, and I had a ton of fun doing it. It was actually 30/30/0/0/10, so even less survivable from a trait perspective. The difference, though, was ether renewal, which made up for the lack of condition removal. The object of the build was to deliver the burst to a group of people — not just one guy — and then hightail it out of there to recover.

Mist form helped you recover from your initial push on a point, because that’s when you’d be most likely to get hit by something debilitating. Ether renewal, being on a much lower cooldown, was there for later bursts. Bear in mind that several of your major burst skills are on a 12-15 second cooldown.

Sticking to this sort of formula, victory came pretty easily. Thieves can burst a single target more handily than you can, but their area burst is much lower. If you can sacrifice a sense of individualism for the sake of team play, it won’t matter to you as much that you don’t shine 1v1 as a total glass cannon. Stick to your role, and do it well.

No matter whose side you’re on in the “ele is OP/UP/fine” debate, this is unquestionable.

Fix ride the lightning. /signed.

I’ve just finished my exotic zerker’s set, working on runes for it. I play D/D. I still have some work left to go on my gear, but my crit chance is 70% from constant fury and crit damage is 83. Power is just shy of 3k, I believe. Also, my character looks kitten.

Playing Wv3, I make surgical strikes which decimate small groups of enemies, then I head for cover. Mist Form makes sure I survive while Ether Renewal makes sure also that I can run unimpaired. Granted, Mist Form is only every 75 seconds, but I consequently make less risky strikes until it recharges. I was very pleased with its effectiveness.

Also, if you want a huge burst with moderate toughness, go valkyrie set and use Arcane Power. Your sustained DPS will go down, and your burst will go down slightly, but AP will ensure that your initial hits — presumably Fire Attune, Burning Speed, Ring of Fire, Drake’s Breath, and Fire Grab — will crit 100% of the time. Arcana Trait III may assist your sustained damage.

ArenaNet — FIX RIDE THE LIGHTNING!!!

Sticking to the facts with regard to the OP.

1 – Downed state has several negative aspects. No ability to avoid initial stomp plus vapor form counts as going down again.

2 – Our autoattack skills hit somewhere between 2-4 times as hard as any pet. 2 times as hard is something like Vapor Blade, where 4 times as hard is Lightning Whip, to say nothing of either skill’s AoE potential.

3 – Flaming Greatsword needs more exploration, and Tornado might work well with an extremely durable build as a way of taking a point. I generally agree with you on this, but we might want to look for applications of these rather than dismiss them. Fiery Whirl might be ridiculously damaging if frozen, crippled, or immobilized.

4 – Lightning Whip received a major buff. Camera changes in the latest patch made aiming with breath spells and Fire Grab much easier.

5 – This is patently not true. Many people are running many different builds. Some people are tanks, some support, others glass cannons. There are very satisfied people in each.

6 – More work, yes. Less payout, no. If you’re not capable of putting in the work (meaning you simply can’t hit the buttons fast enough), I admit that the class may be weak. For those of us who can, the class is quite good.

7 – I generally agree. I rarely use either glyphs or conjures. Cantrips, signets, and arcane spells seem to do well, though. That said, there may be niches in which glyphs or conjures can contribute.

Bull’s Charge, though, is what stuns you. That’s on a 40 second timer.

Thanks for the input. Glass cannon is a strong option for us, but only if you play it well. The more advice, the better. Here are a few more extras to incorporate into your routine.

• Close-range Magnetic Grasp

If one considers Magnetic Grasp as merely a leap/distance-closer, one loses out on a very useful application of this skill. Casting MG from a distance will miss fairly often, making it a not-so-great skill in that regard. If you instead use it up close, you can take advantage of its immobilize. Use it to retreat, to use spells from a distance, or even to set up a Burning Speed combo.

• Time your combos

In the first post, I suggested using Arcane Blast as a lead-in to Fire Grab. As I was reviewing my traits and considering my gameplay, I realized that I oftentimes end up waiting for my arcane skills to recharge before running my Burning Speed combo (Burning Speed, Ring of Fire, Arcane Blast & Wave, Fire Grab). Even if Fire Grab isn’t available, it’s still nice to be able to set them on fire and have an extra three stacks of might. Pick your traits accordingly. There’s no sense in picking 20% faster recharge on fire spells if you’re waiting for other spells to recharge before using them.

And now for some more PvP-oriented tips.

• Maximize Your Burst Damage

If you’re playing glass cannon, your role is to end the fight in a matter of seconds. Pick the traits that will help you do this; don’t approach the “cannon” part halfheartedly. Your best defense is for there to be nothing left to attack you. All the 5, 10, and 20 percent bonuses our traits give us will add up to an incredible burst.

Slow-burn builds don’t get many kills except in 1v1; they start wars of attrition. Your goal when entering a fight is to sink someone’s health all at once so that there is no hope of recovering. There may hypothetically be ways to increase your sustained DPS, but that burst will be more useful in downing players.

• Don’t Force a Fight

In sPvP especially, I have found that the most effective thing is to unload your spells and then retreat to a defensible position. By “defensible,” I mean that your enemy is not attacking you. This means that there’s either a person or a wall in between you and the enemy. Wait for RTL to recharge before reentering the fray.

Also, don’t feel like you have to participate in small skirmishes. With near-constant swiftness and some tactical awareness, you can skip 1v1 fights where you’re not as effective and move straight on to supporting your group with heavy AoE damage. If you spec glass cannon, own your role instead of trying to be what you are not.

Xriah.5743:

Ultimate counter to 100 blades and any other stun and burst attack:

Tempest Defense.

Gave you a +1. Most of the time that 100b poses a problem for me, they’re using quickness, and it’s difficult to react. Auto-counters really help.

As for me, I generally enter a fight after it starts. People tend to front-load their damage, so if you hang back for a bit, you can avoid a lot of AoE spells and burst attacks. A warrior can’t quickness/charge/100b you if it’s already on cooldown. Let a guardian absorb that while you lay in waiting.

Selo.1250:

If you go to Orr..you die alot

I don’t know about your other claims. I haven’t done Wv3 just yet (intending to do that later today). I do know, though, that this is false. I only die in Orr if I try to do something inherently risky. Now granted, I do risky stuff pretty often, but it pays off, and I succeed more than I fail. By “risky” I mean taking on vets with adds, clearing rooms, completing events solo, etc. I can’t take a champion like the tank/heal spec, but I kill several times faster.

If you play glass cannon well, seeing a mass of creatures gives you a sort of giddy feeling as you anticipate melting them several seconds later. No joke.

I play glass cannon D/D in both sPvP and PvE. Here is a list of helpful maneuvers that have improved my gameplay significantly. I have not included blast finishers inside fire fields, since people generally know about this already. Most “helpful hints” I see are defensive in nature. These are to help you maximize your offense.

• Arcane Blast in Ring of Fire

If you use Arcane Blast inside Ring of Fire (or generally just a fire field), you can combo straight into Fire Grab for maximum damage. Projectile finishers in fire fields inflict burning. I used to use Drake’s Breath to ensure my target was on fire, but this little improvement has eliminated that step and dramatically improved my burst damage on a single target.

• Ether Renewal/Mist Form

I hesitated a long time before using Ether Renewal over any other ability, but one of your best assets in glass cannon D/D is the ability to run away and prepare for another burst. Ether Renewal ensures that you can run away by curing a total of 16 conditions over its duration. Mist form ensures that you can cast it unhindered. Your enemy will not immobilize you.

• Auras/Zephyr’s Boon/Arcane Fury

D/D gets two auras, lightning and frost. With Zephyr’s Boon, each of these grants 5 seconds of fury and swiftness plus any boon duration adjustments. 5 points into arcane grants and additional 2 seconds of fury per attunement swap. Between those and the swiftness you gain from updraft, it seems unlikely that in any normal circumstance you will go without either of these two boons. 5 seconds is long enough to end a fight.

If you start from water and use Frost Aura, switch to Air and use Lightning Aura into RTL, Updraft, Fire Attune, etc., you have just accumulated 14 seconds of fury and 24 seconds of swiftness before accounting for your points into Arcane.

• Instant-Cast Spells

If you can wrap your mind around it, there are a number of instant cast spells which will dramatically improve your performance when melded with other spells. For example, before casting RTL, I will cast Lightning Aura, but I might as well be hitting them simultaneously. Also, if I notice my fury running low, I can swap into ice and pop Frost Aura while also casting Cone of Cold.

Arcane spells, too, work while doing other tasks. When used at the same time as other skills/spells, they contribute heavily to a concentrated burst. Aside from the burning/might which you get from using them in a fire field, you also get another ~5k damage instantaneously by casting blast/wave, which is no small number.

Air spells in general tend to work this way. Attuning to air gives an instant nuke, then you can immediately RTL even when you’re next to someone for an extra 2k on a crit. It will cast lightning whip immediately, for an impressive total burst of up to 6k or so in an instant.

• Lightning Whip

This is minor. Another thing I tend to hear is that some classes can just spam the same skill endlessly and do decent damage. Well, here is our skill. If I don’t feel like blowing my cooldowns, I can literally stand still doing lightning whip against most creatures. In a full glass build, You may do 2k per cast once your crit rate is high enough. Once vulnerability starts stacking (air 25 trait), I’ve seen 4k per cast.

Anyhow, I hope some of these suggestions will help you add a bit more cannon to your glass cannon. These suggestions work with any style of play, but I’ve been able to use them to great effect in doing damage.

http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html

Nice videos. Your gameplay is similarly frantic to mine. I might have to try that build sometime, but I’m currently exploring the depths of pure glass to see if there aren’t any more nuances to discover. I can’t solo champions, but I sort of knew I wouldn’t be able to going into the class.

That said, if you and I were duoing that champion/vet pair, it would have gone much more than twice as fast =)

Alright, I’ve already commented on this to some length in another thread, but after having gone D/D glass cannon in sPvP and PvE alike, I wouldn’t have it any other way. Haven’t done W3 yet since I hit 80 and started gearing. I’ve tried more durable specs, but they’re not for me. I am as vulnerable as it is possible to be.

You can facemelt creatures in Orr in 4 seconds without their laying a finger on you. You can decimate a point in stalemate. I don’t know where these rumors come from that “ele can’t burst” or “ele is plenty glass not enough cannon.” I really don’t.

I would advise, though, that if you go berserker’s gear, be sure your fingers can keep up. If you’re slower, you will probably die very quickly. A normal kill in PvE might just take 3 seconds or less, but in that time frame, I’ll have pressed 9 buttons. Compare that to a warrior’s quickness/100 blades combo, which does a metric crapton of damage but requires 3 buttons (quickness buff, stun/charge move, 100b).

You have to work for your damage as ele glass cannon, but it pays off in spades. I might suggest going to the mist and using the training dummies and sparring npc’s to hone your combos.

So I thought I would report back after having been in Orr for a day. This is roughly my spec (full zerker’s). I should add that I do not yet have full scholar’s… still working on the money to afford it. I might go eagle’s eventually, but it’s more expensive. Using rare-quality silk zerker gear I made myself (not gossamer).

I’m Sylvari, btw, which gives me the plant turret elite skill in PvE. That’s what I use instead of our class elites.

I have to say that Orr is a piece of cake. I was doing map completion with very few problems except when events were taking place in places I needed to go. I could take on entire rooms at a time, meaning 4-5 guys. If a vet were to add, it wouldn’t be too much problem.

As for the veteran giants mentioned earlier, when killing them in story mode, they didn’t last but two rounds of burning speed/ring of fire, so the above estimate of 25-30 seconds is far from impossible. I’m pretty sure I saw a fire grab hit for 11k.

Here’s my facemelt combo (D/D): 3, 4, 5, F1, 3, 4/7/8 (slashes indicate simultaneity), 5. That will decimate an entire group. Clean up with 2; F4, 4, 2; or F2, 4, 3, 2 (or any combination of those). Chances are, though, that if you’re just killing a single creature, it didn’t last long enough even to use fire grab. Start to finish, the fight lasts maybe 3 seconds. Lightning whip also hits like a freight train. Use F3 in conjunction with RTL to get a whole bunch of hits really fast.

If feces and fan collide, mist form/ether renewal. Ether renewal is far and away our best heal, because it will cure you of 12 conditions. It takes longer to cast, but it heals for more and keeps you out of cc. It’s also a good filler skill while waiting for your heavy-hitters to recharge.

Even your water skills are pretty good under this spec. Aside from some seemingly-bugged creatures with absurdly high damage, I was demolishing underwater. Water and lightning attune are your heavy hitters, with a few decent spells in the other two. I rarely used whirlpool, but it still hits like a freight train even post-nerf.

All in all, I love this spec. I can’t speak to how it would perform in dungeons, but it excels in quests, general pve, and dynamic events.

I’ve been hearing conflicted reports on this whole business of PvE in Orr, so I have gone 100% glass cannon. It is physically impossible to be more of a glass cannon than I am presently unless you count mist form. I’m only in the zones leading up to Orr via the story, but currently I am kicking names and taking butts.

In fights, I have near-constant fury, so 64% crit chance, 66% crit damage. I just hit 80. It’s fun to do a combo where you don’t even get to finish before the creature dies. You hit HARD. It’s a lot of fun dancing around your opponents whilst melting their faces. This is in opposition to the build I had run previously which was more survivable. The fun difference is night and day, and if you’re quick, you live. I haven’t died, actually, since the switch to pure glass.

The only thing I’ll cede is that I have to hit a lot of buttons really fast to pull this off, but from the RTL (assuming it works) to ring of fire is maybe 3 seconds, and I can sustain a good deal after that.

Also, does thief burst hit everyone on a point? Thief burst is generally single-target (and potentially higher), whereas the 15-20k burst on an ele will hit everyone in the area.

I’ve been considering melding my RTL combo with churning earth-teleport. The RTL combo already does a heinous amount of damage in AOE, but churning earth, earthquake, ring of earth into RTL, updraft, burning speed, ring of fire/arcane blast/wave would well outstrip any thief, but it would require staking the whole elementalist build on that one moment where you burst down the point.

As it is, I opt for mist form as my last utility and usually run away casting ether renewal as soon as I start taking damage on the point. In fact, I run away often in order to set up for another burst. It works wonders and rakes in the kills. Can’t tell you how many times a nice burst has tipped the scales on a point in stalemate.

And I’ve seen people do high burst, but it is at best equal to that I’ve seen first-hand. The obvious example here for me is the warrior quickness/charge/stun/100 blades, but this combo does just as much or more in the same time frame.

While your claim itself is debatable, can you cast any of those autoattacks instantaneously while casting other damage skills? THAT’S why they’re burst skills.

Air attunement, RTL, Updraft/arcane wave/blast (all at once), burning speed, ring of fire. That happens in the span of 3 seconds and does well over 15k if not more. It melts PvP targets all at once, but it also works on people.

So yes, arcane = burst.

So I’ll say it again, we did get a buff in this patch, and it has to do with the camera changes. Targeting is much easier with breath spells and fire grab, if not others.

Add in the fact that I haven’t seen another class do nearly the burst we can with arcane skills, and I really don’t know what the source of all this complaining is. Running berserker’s amulet w/ full scholar’s runes, Fire 30/Air 30/Arcane 10, I have nearly-constant fury, putting crit rate at roughly 70%. I am almost as much of a glass cannon as is possible, but I have few problems and get top kills semi-frequently.

We have a few bugs, but are we even playing the same class? In sPvP and PvE alike, I have experienced none of the issues which seem to plague everyone else.

So yeah… whatever else they may have done, the camera changes are amazing!!! Seriously guys, stop whining and go play the game. Mainhand dagger fire/water 2 breath spells actually hit. The verdict is still out on Fire Grab.

Personally, I like Fire 3 going toward where I have the camera pointed. I don’t want it going toward the target. It makes it easier to hit a group. The camera updates, though, may make it easier to aim.

Anyhow, I’m off to enjoy what is actually a great class with a few bugs WHICH THEY ARE UNDOUBTEDLY TRYING TO FIX (just be patient, geez — programmers are not wizards).

Gloom and doom! Elementalist is so terrible! ArenaNet obviously hates us!

Seriously, guys? Whirlpool was OP, and our water stuff is actually pretty decent for CC if you stance dance fast enough. Signets not hitting behind us just brings us in line with everyone else. The glyph probably needs some loving, though.

On the plus side…

“We’ve updated the camera to reduce the amount of camera smoothing currently in the game in order to lower the frequency of related bugs. We’re still looking into other camera issues, but we decided to make this quick change because it greatly improves the gameplay experience.”

We’ll have to see what this does, but this may help dramatically with targeting a lot of spells. If this does what I think, D/D will benefit greatly (fire 2/3/5, water 2, maybe earth 3).

I do just fine in sPvP. I’m not the best player in the world, but I do pretty well. I am one of the few ele’s who thinks the class is fine save for a few bugs, and I’m not begging for a buff. I don’t complain just because I lost a fight. I’m complaining here because this is broken.

EDIT: I should add that every time I’ve seen a thief use this exploit, he knew it was unfair, and so did everyone else.

frodamn.3706:

@Fievre All I got from your post was “im in denial and my first line proves it, i like mediocrity” So, here is a clip from a very underrated movie http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnW2-jKskKc

@Yukishiro you’re right, we do have more combo fields, but other classes have better ones. Healing spring beats both our water fields.

Static field isnt really needed because an organized group will have 2 bleed and vuln stackers.

Fire. Well sure I’ll give us this one.

@SeraVerte I’ve 2 shot people too! But then you fight people who actually have a slight idea bout how to play and therefore beat you because you picked an elementalist. See thiefs heartseeker / pistol whipping.

As for the agro system, Anet said multiple times “whoever is closest tanks” so yeah, thats not really a point of discussion about “how well my ele can hold aggro”

I’ve tried so many specs its not even funny, I’ve done ones used by other people that works for them and they all have the same problem. They are just so much effort when you can just go make a warrior, thief, ranger and just faceroll.

I like having to work my class in order to get results, but its just stupid when other classes dont.

And this still goes back to my original point, everyone else can simply do it better than an elementalist can.

Even in PvP i got fed up with getting blown up so I went full earth water, 10 in arcana for the V trait (mandatory amirite) and got full toughness vitality gear and I even went scepter for rock barrier, signet of earth, had around 1800 toughness (give or take a few) and was still getting torn to kitten just by autos and other abilities that take nothing to aim/use

You specced for toughness and had 1800 toughness?! I have no idea what you’re doing. Are you sure you don’t mean 2800? If I go tank spec, I go Fire 20, Air 10, Earth 30, Water 10 and build the spec around signets and auras. I have ~2900 toughness and quite literally constant protection, fury, and swiftness. I deal moderate damage and take a very long time to kill. There are other specs which focus more on regeneration and do something similar.

In short, if those are really your stats, then you are speccing poorly. I don’t know what else to tell you. I’m definitely on board with the group of people who do not think ele is underpowered. Unfortunately, though, both in the moment and in the setup beforehand, it is hard by comparison. What I spec to do, though, I do very well. If I want to kill people, I do. If I want to tank, I do that, too.

I’ll grant this: it takes a lot more knowledge to play an ele than the other classes. I played a guardian in sPvP, spent 5 minutes learning the skills beforehand, then specced for group support and did wonderfully. Ele, though, has been far more complicated.

Your opinion of me is irrelevant. It’s an exploit, plain and simple. Barring inane developers, which is unlikely, infinite evasion was never an intended consequence.

For the record, I’ve never been killed by a thief underwater in a way that I thought, “Wow! That was so OP. I should go complain.” Rather, I have been killed by sharks and other people while being completely unable to take the ruins simply because a thief was doing his infinite evasion exploit.

EDIT: Also, read for comprehension. Nowhere do I say, “Shadow assault is OP!” Using that skill is not an exploit. Figuring out that the game mechanics allow you to use that skill infinitely, however, is.

Hardly. It is almost impossible — in the very literal sense of the word — to kill them underwater if they use this exploit. I have 3 spells which can hit them, none of which do damage and rely on my ability to spike my damage to have any hope of killing them.

This probably doesn’t apply to most of you. This is only a problem for this one particular exploit. If you don’t use it, it doesn’t apply to you, and I have nothing against you. I can’t comment on the rest of your underwater abilities, and perhaps they need a buff. I don’t know and won’t know, because I don’t want to play a thief.

What I do want is fair play. This is not fair. It is — I’ll say it again — an exploit.

Ruufio.1496:

Look at all the idiots!!! LMAO! Not an exploit? HAHAHAHAHA! Have you noobs played this game?

I, a Thief, frequently guard the Ruins with my spear 5 attack INFINITELY with my signet build because I NEVER ruin out of initiative. I just sit there spamming 5 while the sharks kill everyone. But no, being able to never die ever defending a point isn’t an exploit. Not at all. LMAO.

I like how you people are trying to act all smart when you are clearly wrong rofl.

At least someone knows. Everyone else thinks I’m just some guy QQing because I lost.

Look, I have no problem with thieves in general. It has grown increasingly easier for me to beat them in sPvP. This, though, is clearly an exploit. Infinite initiative for infinite evasion. Obviously not intended.

Violet.7935:

Nicomachiavelli.3046:

This is an exploit…

“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”

An exploit, in video games, is the use of a bug or glitches, rates, hit boxes, or speed, etc. by a player to their advantage in a manner not intended by the game’s designers.

Cris Croix.2370:

I’m sorry, but did you just call evasion invulnerability? I think this topic needs to be closed, as the OP seems to have a serious disconnection with game mechanics.

I am well aware of the difference between evasion and invulnerability. I apologize for not being 100% terminologically accurate. I would ask you, then, what it is when a person is completely incapable of taking damage (aside from sink/float, which only comes from skills on long cooldowns)? Have you not seen this in action? It is broken and an exploit. There are no two ways about this.

I should add that unlike many glass cannon ele’s, I don’t mind thieves in general. But I happen to like Capricorn when there are no exploitative thieves camping the ruins. Why are you defending people like this? It’s an obvious unintended consequence which they are using to their advantage. That’s an exploit, and we should call it as such. It’s not simply imbalance, and you know it.

Cris Croix.2370:

No thief with any measure of skill is going to sit there spamming his skills just to evade your ranged attacks.

To the contrary, I have seen at least two thieves taking advantage of the evasion on their skills and sitting on the point in ruins for well over 30 seconds if not a minute or more. The only way to hit him is sink/float. With the sharks on that map, simply turning into a bunker is an offensive move.

This is an exploit, and it’s not that hard to understand. Can’t you see that turning invulnerable for an entire minute goes far beyond imbalance and into the realm of absurdity? People exploit this flaw in the game mechanics such that they can hold the Ruins almost without fail.

It is not an imbalance. It is an exploit, and were the stakes higher in sPvP, I would be calling for bans. They’re not, though, so it just needs a fix. This can’t continue.

It’s a series of skills, from what I understand. Whoever designed the thief underwater combat almost certainly did not intend for this to happen. The skills were probably just meant to have evasion with no regard to how they might be used together.

An exploit is different from a bug. I use the term because the combination of skills is so obviously broken that no one in their right mind could think that this is a fair way to play. Thus, knowing that this is a broken mechanic, certain thieves continue to use these skills. That is the very definition of an exploit: taking advantage of broken mechanics.

An exploit is something which uses the mechanics of the game to achieve an unintended consequence which breaks an aspect of the game in a significant way.

The only way to hit a thief who knows what he is doing is to sink/float him. You get 2 seconds to attack before he switches back into invulnerable mode. This doesn’t just apply to melee but ranged as well. Thieves can sit on the Ruins for an absolutely ridiculous amount of time while taking no damage whatsoever, making it quite literally impossible to revert the point. Everyone else gets eaten by sharks.

It is an exploit, plain and simple. I will not apologize for calling it this. It is not acceptable.

So I don’t know what the deal is here. I have been running a VERY VIABLE glass cannon pvp spec which decimates enemies. 30 fire, 30 air, 10 arcane. With CD reduction talents, downtime isn’t that bad. Survivability isn’t a problem if you realize your strengths aren’t in sitting on the point. You have RTL for a reason (FIX PATHING NOW). Arcane wave and power coupled with mist form does the trick for me. Ether renewal while running away off the point. Get in, get out, repeat.

I suppose many people are complaining more about PvE, though. I had a little bit of a problem with PvE till I took a step back and worked out some viable combos. If I were richer (I invested a ton in tailoring), I would run Fire 20, Air 10, Earth 30, Water 10 with 4 signets; as it is, I haven’t bothered earning any money since I fell in love with sPvP.

But then I was taking on these large groups people talk about killing on their warriors and so forth even before that. I’m not sure what the problem is. Maybe ele just requires a higher actions-per-minute to play effectively.

I don’t know what the particular combination of skills is that causes thieves to be able to evade for well over 30 seconds (if not longer) during water combat, but it has to stop now. There is no excuse for this. It breaks the Capricorn map.

The fact that it has existed for quite some time is disturbing. Water combat probably needs a lot of different tweaks, but this has to be top priority. Like I said, there is no excuse for this game-breaking exploit.

Well, I can think of a way to get 4 arcane hits right in a row, but circumstances would have to allow it. Arcane blast, wave, shield, and the shield from 25% hp trait. I don’t know if the combat log would show it as such, though.

Okay, I’ve been tinkering with burst D/D and S/F. They’ve both performed pretty well and each tend to be pretty devastating if used properly. I don’t know what this underpowered nonsense is when we can send an entire team reeling.

The main thing I’ve had to learn is “when.” When to unload, when to wait. Both weapon sets perform at their best when both you and the other team have established a battle. You don’t want to be part of the team initiating the battle; you come in immediately afterward or when the opportunity presents itself.

S/F tends to have steadier damage output, but DT requires that people stay relatively still, making your spikes less reliable. D/D has been, in my experience, extremely effective in making sure that the group of people running in circles around the point dies immediately.

I don’t bother engaging in much small-time fighting when running this spec. It sacrifices too much survivability to go toe to toe with anyone, but it does so to a tremendous advantage. Know who to attack and when. Pick out the important targets when they’re vulnerable.

Just FYI, when D/D I run arcane wave/shield plus mist form, and I use ether renewal. Once you unleash the burst, if things are too hot, mist form out and use ether renewal to clear conditions. This gives you a reset, and you can start the combo over shortly thereafter (minus updraft).

I only have a few complaints, none of which are new. Dragon’s Tooth needs to drop faster so that it’s more urgent people run away (currently, they can slowly meander). Ride the Lightning also needs to hit every time. No excuses. This is a tremendous skill when it works and absolutely horrible when it doesn’t. I can’t count the number of times a botched RTL has resulted in mediocre damage output and my death.

So one MAJOR thing which I have come to discover recently is the necessity in sPvP of map awareness. If you are going to play staff or scepter, you really HAVE to take advantage of the map layout. An equally skilled player of a different class is going to tear you to shreds on level ground unless you play one of our bunker builds, which are fun but seemingly less rewarding than a more damaging build.

Every single point in the game has some kind of high ground area which requires the enemy to go out of their way to target you. Combined with multiple ways of dealing with projectiles, we can more than hold our own as a glass cannon if we are willing to learn the map a bit more so as to maximize our ranged advantage.

So, all you aspiring glass cannon elementalists, get on top of things. Make the enemy choose between fighting on the point while you drop freight trains on their heads or disengaging from the fight to track you down. You can make a tremendous difference in the outcome of a battle.

Now if you’re a D/D glass cannon, I have no advice for you. Good luck… lol.

Trust me, this build has more than its fair share of burst damage. Those 9 skills can kill a person outright in under 5 seconds, especially in the heat of a fight with area attacks going off. The focus is there because it provides some very necessary defense, which you need.

D/D requires a lot of toughness to survive unless you plan on going kamikaze (that actually might work…). S/D doesn’t seem to synergize very well, since D offhand skills require you to close distance. S/F gives you mid range, large damage, and some outstanding defensive options.

Every single sPvP control point has high ground which requires some sort of roundabout travel. The S/F is situational, but the situation arises often enough, especially with team play and some intelligence regarding map layout.

I copy/pasted a lot of this from another post of mine, but it deserves its own topic, because the other thread was primarily about an experimental build, whereas this is far more viable.

My spec

Works great and hits like a FREIGHT TRAIN in the right situations. Grab a buddy and the high ground. If your buddy has skill that pulls people to him, that will help you avoid a thief ganking you from behind.

Combo:
Lightning attunement, 5, 7, 8, 2, 3, Fire attunement, 2, 3

I mapped this to the numpad so that I can hit 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 4, 5. If you hit someone with it at the right time, it melts faces, and the whole rotation takes all of maybe four seconds. Steps 1 & 2 cast simultaneously, short pause, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 cast simultaneously, short pause, step 9. The knockdown makes it more certain that DT hits.

For defense, you have some great skills on your offhand from air and earth. More advantageous still would be to grab the high ground near a point.

I’m considering swapping Mist Form for Lightning Flash. Positioning will be one of your strongest defenses. I held the high ground next to the keep in Nifhel while a tank sat on the point, and this spec melted everyone.

What do you guys think? It seemed quite viable if played properly.

My spec

Works great and hits like a FREIGHT TRAIN in the right situations. Grab a buddy and the high ground. If your buddy has skill that pulls people to him, that will help you avoid a thief ganking you from behind.

I put together a 9-skill-long combo that you can pull off in all of 3 seconds. As I said above, but I’ll repeat it here:

Lightning attunement, 5, 7, 8, 2, 3, Fire attunement, 2, 3

I mapped this to the numpad so that I can hit 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 4, 5. It’s like BAM dead. Problem with the build is that you have to be able to pull it off.

I’ve been trying to work up speed with this on the training npcs. Man does this ever require quick fingers… so many fast-casting skills.

I’m still working on my timing with the combo, but I’ve worked out a decent S/F burst using arcane.

The combo works as follows, starting from either earth or water. Arcane Blast on 7, Arcane Power on 8.

Lightning attunement, 5, 7, 8, 2, 3, Fire attunement, 2, 3.

Fire 30 (VI, VII, XII), Air 30 (VI, IX, XII), Arcane 10 (I), Berserker Amulet (could work with Valkyrie)

You can put Arcane Wave into your utilities, but then you have no escape skill, and you have to be close-quarters for it to work.

This build needs tweaking, but it does show off the fact that arcane skills are great for burst damage. I’ve enjoyed the sheer toughness of a signet build, but I could definitely tell I was doing a LOT more damage with arcane. Arcane shield is a potential replacement for arcane power which gives us both offensive and defensive capability.

I’ll have to check out a few more things regarding some ways to amplify our damage. For example, the arcane trait which causes attunement benefits to linger for 5 seconds would allow us to take advantage of the 20% increased damage from water attunement with our other attunements (provided the enemy is vulnerable).

Just throwing these ideas out there to stimulate creativity. I don’t have anything in mind just yet.

Crimifa.2361:

an interesting build, proves there is hope for our burst…

too bad that its strapped onto something that can only be done once per 30 seconds (at least) and has the consistency of tissue paper

but if you ever do manage to pull it off… it will be LEGENDARY!!!

All this would require to be consistent would be a bug fix for RTL.

Also considering using Water II over Water V and switching to D/F. The additional condition would make it harder to cure the bleeding/burning, and the focus would offer a MUCH better curing option (Earth weapon skill 4) that might make up for the difference over the loss of Water V and Water weapon skill 5.

Oops, supposed to be Air I, not III. My mistake.