Guild Wars 2

Save the healing gear for WvW and other forms of PvP. PvE is about active mitigation and doing as much damage as possible in the shortest amount of time. You will not heal your way through dungeons.

Good use of blocks (e.g. Arcane Shield), ignore pain, mist form, etc. are far superior to poorly scaling heals. Support also doesn’t mean healing, it can mean keeping up weakness, aoe might stacking, aoe fury, and stacking other boons and conditions.

Scepter is bad for conditions because it has bad AOE. Scepter Earth 1 is bad and Scepter Fire 1 is bad.

Staff in Earth provides plenty of “support” through 100% uptime on weakness + projectile finisher on Earth 1 that can remove conditions (depending on the field). Earth 4 cripples, Earth 5 binds and Sandstorm blinds.

DPS is fine I’ve done “DPS checks” like SE 1 as 10/10/30/0/20 and can melt the 1st golem. For barriers and objects I use either chain lightning (multiples) or fireball.

Staff condition build is good for dungeons. My bleeds tick for about ~106 damage (x18 stacks = ~1900 DPS) and burn for 300+ a second, about ~2.4 DPS without buffs. There is also about ~200 extra DPS from the direct damage pop every 5 seconds at the end of Eruption animation.

I use it sometimes with full Carrion Gear. The vitality is good, you get 300 tough from Earth and you don’t need crit. 100% burning uptime, 18 stacks of bleeding (can easily max when Sandstorm and Earth 5 are off CD), can stack up to 30 seconds of weakness (i.e. constant Weakness uptime while in Earth). I stay in Earth “90% of the time” and keep up burning with Sigil of Fire (burn duration is longer than CD).

Eruption does about 14k over ~20 sec and is AOE. Plus it has a blast finisher so you can finish fields with it. Can do 3.5k+ condition damage every second with buffs.

I use this, 10/10/30/0/20:

http://en.gw2codex.com/build/21914-staff-dungeon-condition-build-eruption-spam-for-bleed-and-signet-of-fire-for-burn

Writeup:

http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/76249-condition-damage-staff-build-advicehelptipsetc/

Power scales the best, every point of power will give you a positive return in the long run. It also scales better based on how much of the other two you have. Crit damage modifies crit which modifies power.

You need at least 50% crit damage to get a positive (1:1+) return on precision. At 50% crit damage your long run damage will be increased by your crit percentage, i.e. 60% crit is 60% increased damage in the long run, at that point +5% crit is the same as +5% damage so take the crit for the procs.

If you have more than 50% crit damage you get more than 1:1 on your precision, e.g. if you have 60% crit damage you will get 1.1% added to your long run damage for each % of crit instead of 1% for 1%.

you want at least 50% crit damage to get a positive return on your precision in the long run.

Expected Damage = P * (1 + C * (0.5 + D))

Where P = Power, C = Crit % and D = Crit Damage (as a %)

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Critical_hit

RedStar.4218:

CoF : the event is triggered by talking to a NPC in a camp in the west of CoF. The chain takes around 30 minutes.

Wrong. The event is triggered whenever Raisin feels like going.

I don’t mind the event.

I mind having to wait for an NPC to decide it wants to start the chain.

Nothing says fun like standing around waiting for Raisin, but then what would an MMO be without copious amounts of standing around doing nothing?

Waiting for a fake video game character to decide it’s ready to go is just annoying. The NPC’s should be on our time and do things when we say not the other way around.

1-2-2 is for scrubs.

All in on the Smokelord. Call targets and focus fire.

jump off path to ledge on the right before first barrier.

Wait for 1st wave of inquest to run by then run out and plow the first barrier then back to the ledge.

Wait for next wave of inquest to run by and then send ONE person to trigger the golem event (there will be some talking before you can fight it) then back to the ledge.

Wait for the next wave of inquest to run past then go all in on the Golem. FF it hard.

After the Golem dies run back to the ledge to reset the trash that has accumulated. Wait for all the trash to run past the ledge, wait for the next pack to spawn and run past, then plow the barriers, ignoring the adds until you get to the Asura boss. Run past the boss and down the steps and the inquest will despawn/stop spawning.

Run past the golems after the boss, avoid the blue dots on the ground if you die during that part it is your own fault.

Kite the three golems deep into the big tunnel on the left. Try and get the fire one down since it does the most damage, it usually comes second though and the poison one usually hangs back.

Pull the last boss into the golem room ignoring her little Asura friend who will leash back.

Collect your 60 badges and silver.

Takes like 15 minutes including waiting for adds to run past.

as a cond ele i just kite them around the columns in front of the stairs and throw conditions on the boss as I run by. I wouldn’t really call it kiting I just run in circles and spam condition on the boss when it’s in LOS. pretty silly but it works.

so what? it doesn’t mean the skill isn’t bugged.

Schwahrheit.4203:

For WvW? I guess.

I use it dungeons and 18 stacks of AOE might on the party is helpful.

Schwahrheit.4203:

Why would you take Fast Hands with a Banner build is the better question..

AOE might stacking,

Link

Fast Hands seems to be resetting the weapon swap CD whenever you pick up and put down a banner…. bug?

video

As you can see in the video it only triggers the CD if Fast Hands is traited.

Picking up and putting down the banner resets the Weapon Swap CD. I recorded a video:

Link

AOE might stacks, weakness and regen come in pretty handy.

at least 50% crit damage with gear + traits if your goal is direct damage so you get at least a 1:1 return on your precision.

Expected Damage = Power * (1 + Crit Rate % * (0.5 + Crit Damage %))

not every staff attack is an aoe.

I like blasting staff but if maxing dps is my goal I prefer 30 in Air and Fire for max power/crit/crit damage and trait Arcane for 16 sec CD Arcane Blast spam.

Tequilapear.1246:

Nonlinear.9823:

Use this for PvE:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fIAQJASTjkOJvNPuPMxBAkCt4Sp4N4SPCDt1A;TUAgzCmsEZMyGCA

Hammer/LB + Regen Banner F1 spam ftw imo. Can combo off the LB fire field with hammer F1. Use LB to create fire field, drop banner into it with banner 5 for might or do it 2x when you first summon it then pick it up and plant, FGJ gives, put a battle sigil on one of the weapons for more might since you’ll be swapping a lot. Alternate between FGJ and Shake it Off to keep getting adrenaline, which you also get when you swap, which is CD to every 5 seconds.

Start with 3 bars of Adrenaline. You only need to 1 bar with hammer and 2 with longbow to keep it going, which you get from swapping and shouting and hitting stuff and getting hit and killing stuff and your rage signet:

Longbow F1 (Fire Field) -> Arcing Shot (LB 3 Blast) -> [Plant Banner if off CD for blast] -> Pick up Banner -> Plant Banner (Banner 5 Blast) – > FGJ -> Swap to Hammer -> Hammer F1 -> Hammer 2 (to keep up weakness on the boss, see below) -> any other hammer stuff until swap is up -> Shake it Off (if you need adrenaline) Swap to Bow -> get two bars of adrenaline -> Repeat F1…

You will provide 18 stacks of AOE might to allies and 25 on yourself with might on swap sigil.

Writeup:

http://en.gw2codex.com/build/22176-warrior-hammer-lb-tank-build

I use Dolyrak Runes for increased regen. Go with either soldier/knight gear, knight weapon and full zerk trinkets with maybe a knight ring or jewel to get your toughtness to 1850. No healing gear needed.

The weakness on hammer 2 + heal signet + adrenal heal + banner regen + dolyak runes and you can face tank dungeon bosses while doing the rotation. Just remember to keep the weakness up.

Wow u make it hard for me to choose a build and also I always wanted to try longbow.. Gonna make a second set to try out ur build! I especially like the part “face tank dungeon bosses” How much does dolyak runes actually add to the regen? Only thing im worried about on this build is the condition removal :/ apart from that seems like a solid build, thanks!

The rune adds 30 hp/sec which isn’t much but if you do the math it works out to 190 healing on your signet and banner (adrenal health doesn’t get +heal). You don’t have much of a burst heal but you can regen over 500 hp/sec w/o healing gear. You gain Adrenaline when hit so if you take some damage in a dungeon it will fill your bar and you’ll regen faster.

A lot of your ability to tank depends on your group and the mobs. If you have another class putting conditions on the mobs or buffing you it helps quite a bit but if you are in a group with four glass cannons you’re still going to have to dodge properly, kite to regen if you get mobs you can’t CC and use the bow to blind and bind.

Why do you want to shout heal? If you are going to DPS with a GS then DPS with a GS.
GS/Rifle imo. GS build is always at 100% Adrenaline so Healing Surge will heal you for like 1/3rd or more of your health depending on your hp. If that’s not enough then use GS 3 to get out of trouble, swap to your rifle until you have enough health to charge back in and 100b spam some more. Dodge food gives you 40% faster endurance meaning 40% more dodges a well timed dodge will do more good than a 1.5k shout heal.

20/30/0/0/20

MrQuizzles.6823:

Nonlinear.9823:

arguably the worst ele skill.

I’m torn between Glyph of Renewal and Shatterstone.

The glyph at least serves a unique purpose, something no other skill can give us. At the same time, though, it’s just a zazzed up version of something we can do without a skill. Is that zazz worth it? Most would say no.

Shatterstone, on the other hand, does not serve a unique purpose, and it has been mathematically calculated to be detrimental to anyone using it in any rotation. In every case in which you can use Shatterstone, using any other skill instead of Shatterstone will put you in a better position. I think Shatterstone is a viable contender for worst (correctly working) skill in the game.

True. From the lack of AOE to the difficulty hitting people with Trident, Water + Scepter is pretty much all around terrible.

If you want to use healing gear and put points into earth then imo your best bet is to go condition damage because bleed/burn scale similarly to most heal spells, from 5% to 25%+. Full Carrion supplemented with however much healing you want. Personally that would be 0 healing and no point in water because with the stuff you get from your other attunements and your skills you don’t really need those points and can spend them on something else, e.g. instead of puny attunement heals that require you to dance around (i.e. you’re not doing DPS in spec’s primary attunement) and other heal over time effects that scale poorly you can stack condition duration and keep weakness on the boss 100% of the time and reduce it’s regular damage by 50%.

Earth and Water give you condition damage and healing so your traits already kind of hint at this setup.

For PvE dungeons as an Ele I use a heavy condition damage build and stay in earth almost the whole time during combat. I support the group by finishing their fields with eruption for AOE boons, keeping up Weakness with Earth 1, cripple/bind, and all the other goodies you get with elemental attunement and your other fields. Plus one cast of my Eruption does 13.8k (AOE) damage over 20 seconds and my Signet of Fire burns for 10.4k over 16 seconds with near 100% uptime.

I think the real question is what were you doing with Glyph of Renewal on your bar?

It is really really bad, hands down the worst glyph and arguably the worst ele skill.

Ridgeblader.7135:

Banners are not supposed to be for DPS but for support. Nonlinear.9823 seems to use a banner to great efficiency in his videos comboing with a banner to produce up to 25 stacks of might for himself and potentially a party.

It would seem that your idea of how a banner should function and be used doesn’t match how the game sees how banners function.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/warrior/Video-How-to-Combo-w-your-Longbow

Thanks for the mention. I would love for them to change the talent to add an extra effect to the banner plant instead of just doing damage on summon. Maybe a different effect depending on the type of banner (e.g. Strength does damage or grants a might stack, Tactics does a heal or grants regen or something, stuff like that) but my instincts tell me they are probably going to somehow nerf using a banner to stack might before they buff it with a trait like that.

I use staff exclusively in Dungeons. These are the builds I use:

30/30/0/0/10 Glass Cannon Dungeon Staff

Variations include 20/30/0/0/20, 30/20/0/0/20, etc.

10/10/30/0/20 Condition Dungeon Staff

Variations include 20/0/30/0/20, 20/0/30/10/10, etc.

Personally I prefer a staff condition build in dungeons because it is less squishy and brings a lot to a dungeon party but I think both are fun. AOE Eruptions that Bleed for 13.8k a cast and Burning for 10.5k with Signet or Fire taken together for 3.3k condition damage per second is very nice. Not so nice with other bleed stackers but synergizes very well with guardians and other staff ele builds that put down fields (like the glass cannon build). Can also stack up to 30 seconds of Weakness with Earth 1.

You could probably do something like 10/0/30/0/30 and dodge for 8 more stacks, could probably hit the bleed cap or get to at least 23-24 stacks without Sandstorm. Personally I like Quick Glyphs for the reduced CD on the Healing Glyph and Storms Glyph but the trade off doesn’t seem bad, faster swaps and boon duration is always nice and you don’t really gain anything from the 100 crit/crit damage you get from Air. Another variation is to go 20/0/30/0/20 and take Written in Stone and Fire’s Embrace and run a signet heavy build, or 20/0/30/10/10 to add some condition removal support.

I try to stay between 900-1200 at all times and only dodge when I need to avoid damage but I could see Churning Earth from EA complementing the build plus it gives you a second blast finisher. I’ll probably give it a try.

On my build I hang out in Earth like 90% of the time and only swap to water to remove conditions. It’s more of a field finisher and not a field generator like direct damage staff builds. I’d rather pump out 13.8k eruptions every 5 seconds and apply weakness on a boss than dance around and put down fields.

When I roll as direct damage, glass cannon fire I am in fire like 90% of the time because I’d rather be launching Fireballs and putting down lava font and doing damage rather than attunement swapping and putting down fields. Let the melee blast/projective/whirl finish your lava font for more dps as your support role.

I use 100% carrion gear with condition duration runes, mostly PvE:

Link to Build

As stated above I don’t recommend crit unless you are going to get at least 50% crit damage to back it up. The build I use doesn’t realy on crits at all, just bleed/burn damage. IMO Carrion gear synergizes well with the build because it gives you vitality and you get 300 toughness from Earth so you have more survival. Throw in weakness on Earth 1 and Earth Elemental and you can act as a tank in a pinch.

I have 65% duration increase on Bleed, 35% on Fire and 20% on everything else (10 points fire + Mad King Runes). Unbuffed I have 1283 condition damage, my bleed ticks for 107 and my Burn for 649. Bleed gets 5% of your condition damage (Eruption basically gets 6×5 = 30%) and Burn gets 25%. I can keep up 18 stacks with burning it is about 2.5k damage per second, with Sandstorm to get to 25 stacks it is about 3.3k damage per second.

One cast of Eruption does about 13.8k damage over 20 seconds. Signet of Fire does about 10.3k damage over 16 seconds. With 20% duration increase I can stack up to 30 seconds of weakness with Earth 1.

IMO if you are going to go direct damage then stack power/crit/crit damage and if you are going to go for condition damage then go condition damage and trade it off for healing because they both scale at about the same rate, 5% to 25%.

I don’t use war banner I use rage sig for the adrenaline.

I messed around with axes in the mist for about ten minutes and axe/axe has a lot of finisher, 1 leap, 1 projectile and 2 whirl and you can use them in your field. I was using a 20/0/0/20/30 build to burst every 8 seconds. I took the 20 points in strength for crit damage, took the 20 point discipline talent to get adrenaline on axe crit. No regen but I reckon you can do a lot of damage.

Blasting golems, I had plenty of adrenaline to swap on every CD and get 3 bars for burst. Like Burst with LB, swap to axe, 3 for projectile, then 2 or 5 for whirl. Throw in F1 if you have time for a fire shield. Swap back. Would probably use precision banner and go straight glass cannon.

Thanks I hope you enjoy the mobility it offers.

Can take ten points from arms and put them into tactics to get regen on the banner if you want to add more support. Can replace the shout trait with the horn trait to add more condition removal too. This will get you less adrenaline from your shouts though since they will be on 25 sec CD instead of 20. At 20 you can weave them into your rotation a little easier.

Can also uses Axes for all the finishers it has. Whirl, projectile, leap, there are lots of options with longbow.

Every time I’ve done P1 it has been in a pug of randoms, probably half or more are first timers and the other half are people who have done it a couple times. If P3 is smooth and DPS is good on Destroyer of Worlds I’ll see if they want to do P1.

I use two shouts in my build so I can do everything your build can do as far as what they provide outside of VS, except I don’t use On My Mark! for vulnerability, instead I use a banner that I use to blast finish and provide swiftness and regen.

Yes, I know the assumptions shout heal warriors use to justify shout healing over other builds or other types of support. Everyone is in range, everyone is taking damage, you don’t need shake it off for condition removal or stun break, you are only fighting one mob to get the most out of On My Mark!

I’ve read them all and they just don’t do it for me.

Manijin.3428:

Nonlinear.9823:

With my build I regen 7.8k to 15k health every 20 seconds not including what allies get from banner regen.

Which is fine, except that shout heals work on every party member in range. You may be healing a lot, which is fine, but how are you keeping the party alive? Sure, you may be running banner regen, but without any healing power the amount of health being regenerated is quite small, so small in fact that it won’t really be noticable in more difficult fights.

Again, there’s nothing wrong with your build. It’s a strong, self supportive build. However, you seem to be under the impression that I’m only using 1 shout every 20 seconds, when I’m actually using about 3 shouts every 20-ish seconds. Yeah, 2.6k isn’t too much, but 7.8k is pretty nice. Combined with the buffs that come from shouts, and an AoE regen on your heal (I like runes of dwayna, what can I say :P), and you’ve got pretty solid group healing. Heck, if you wanted more regen and less burst healing, you could run a shout build and just bring a Banner of Tactics.

One thing I want to mention, though, is that shout heals can, and have, saved many a party member. Yes, my damage is relatively low, but between shout heals, regen, condition removal, and crowd control, you can make a very support oriented character that a group can appreciate having around.

The other thing to remember is that, obviously, not all builds are suitable for all situations. Some dungeons and PvE content require more damage than others, and some are easier with more support and crowd control. The trick is to be flexible with what you’re willing to bring to a group.

Banners work on everyone in range too and with my build they have 100% uptime.

You should try SE1 it is a solid DPS check and beating it feels like an actual accomplishment.

Yeah it is super bad. Probably one of the warriors worst traits.

Longbow makes everything more fun because the other weapons have finishers you can use to combo with the longbow’s fire field.

eXs.6210:

I run a ranged warrior… Honestly, these days I barely even bother healing in pve or dungeons anymore… All its gonna do is let you get hit one more time by a boss… Yuppie… With the damage output of some of these bosses, I don’t even know why heals are even in this game in the first place… The damage is so high and heals are so weak that they barely do anything besides buy you another 1 or 2 seconds tops…

This is why I prefer to provide support through 18 stacks of AOE might on my allies group. More power means more damage means stuff dies faster means it has less time to kill you with big damage insta-kill attacks and you have to pop fewer skills with long CDs.

With my build I regen 7.8k to 15k health every 20 seconds not including what allies get from banner regen.

Yeah, you’ll heal 2.5k or whatever but is isn’t worth sacrificing 40% or more of your personal DPS to heal 10% health in a five man group. Maybe in a 40 man zerg where your support is offset by the zerg but not in 5 man dungeons, especially DPS checks like SE p1. The more shout spam heal warriors in the group the harder it is to kill the golem compared to 20/30/0/0/20 builds. Faster kill = less adds/fewer CDs.

Try this build IMO it is AMAZING in dungeons and a lot more fun than GS:

video

True but I prefer having 100% uptime on regen and banner swiftness between trash/bosses in dungeons over shout heals.

If group members are wearing their own +heal gear they will benefit from it. Personally I have enough +healing gear in my dungeon build (i.e. 0).

I can regen 15k health in 20 seconds without a single piece of healing gear. 14.4k hp per 20 sec without runes. Shout spam is less than 1.5k x3 every 20 sec because On My Mark! has a 25 second (traited) CD. 4.5k on self, MAYBE 22k IF you can hit all five people and blow all your CDs among other assumptions.

Condas.7056:

Nonlinear.9823:

Condas.7056:

I use full Cleric everything with 6/6 water runes. My build is 0/0/25/30/15. I carry either a GS or hammer and a sword shield for the second set.

I can do banner heal/support with signet of healing, shake it off, tactics banner, endure pain, signet of rage. I have near 100% uptime on might/swift/fury from signet of rage. I heal around 350hp a second from my banner along with maybe 260 from healing signet and more from adrenal regen trait. I do strong damage and can take huts very well. If a healing aura ele is in the group I regen so much a second its ridiculous. I use this for dungeons.

I switch to shout heal for roaming PvE using the same traits and gear, so only one purchase of equipment is necessary as well as no trait respec. I just switch the banner CD and regen slots for the shout CD/heal. This build does even more damage with 8-12 stacks of might. I change tactic banner with for great justice and endure pain with on my mark. I lose some swiftness uptime but not much. I love this build.

This might tickle your fancy. I find my 80 guard cannot outperform my warrior for durability and staying power in PvE.
Edit: Or damage for that matter.

This is for PvP, right?

Full clerics in dungeons you hit for like, what, 500 damage with a GS?

How does this build fare on SE p1?

I can hit for 750+ with auto attack and 100b for 10-14k especially if I am not the only person passing might around. The damage will vary based on your group, keep that in mind.. I wouldn’t use that build in PvP, you would trade blows with bunker builds till you both get bored and leave or get chewed up by a glass cannon unless they are bad. The build is stacked with power and keeps near 100% uptime on 8 or so might and fury. I have not done SE1, I did SE3 though. I felt like MVP there just like everywhere else. I never go down and can get others up with little worry.

When I do SE 1 with more than 1 shout spam heal warrior DPS slows considerably, enough so that you have to deal with at least one extra set of adds while trying to dispatch the golem.

I love SE 1 because it is a real DPS check that can’t be GY zerged or beaten through attrition. SE 3 is a joke you can AFK on two “bosses” and practically AFK the one before them.

I can keep up 18 aoe stacks and 25 personal stacks with Hammer/LB:

Video

Manijin.3428:

If you want 2-3k heals, you need full clerics, period. You could try a condition based spec that would let you use Shaman gear instead, but…. well, I wouldn’t recommend it…

And if you want to do 2-3k heals I would stick to doing them in WvW where personal DPS isn’t important because you sacrifice like 40% or more of your DPS going full clerics and in a dungeon with only 5 people it makes bosses a drag and the shout heals don’t make up for all the damage that gets dished out, e.g. run SE 1 path in full clerics and you probably won’t have a lot of fun.

without healing power they heal for 1,192. Palty imo. With adrenal heal + banner regen + healing signet I regen more than that in two or three seconds depending on adrenaline level.

I top that off with Dolyak runes. Treating each source of regen separately:

Since heal power has no effect on adrenal heal or the rune regen the 30hp/sec is like increasing your adrenal heal effect by 24% for one bar, 12.5% for two bars and 8.3% for three bars.

With 3.25% healing applied to signet, adding 30 hp/sec would take 923 healing power.

With 12.5% healing applied to regen, adding 30 hp/sec would take 240 healing power.

Ignoring adrenal health (since it gets no benefit from healing gear), that means you get a total of 30 hp/sec split between signet (3.25%) and banner regen (12.5%). Since banner gets more the health it is the bigger number. If the signet contribution is X and the banner contribution is Y, then Y = 30 – X. Solve for X:

X * 3.25% = Y * 12.5%
X * 0.0325 = Y * 0.125
X * 0.0325 = (30 – X) * 0.125

X = ~190

So basically you are getting 190 healing from a single rune which is more healing than you get from a healing weapon. I think is worth using the runes over healing gear for defense and using the gear slots for more DPS.

Heal shouting requires you to sacrifice dps to use poorly scaling healing gear to shout for like 1.5k health. Support doesn’t have to mean heal shout spam. I’d rather provide weakness, blind, cripple, immobolize, Aoe knockback w/ whirl, knockdown, 100% uptime on regen through traited banner and 18 stacks of aoe might.

If I am going to use a GS I will max my effectiveness with GS and go something like 20/30/0/0/20.

ViperFang.4980:

All banners have a burst combo effect too, when summoned or banner 5.

I just made a thread with two videos showing how to combo off your longbow using banner + weapon finisher:

Thread Link

How to stack might and finish your longbow fields with hammer and banner. 25 stacks of might with 0 boon duration runes (although you get +30% from traits). Can keep up 18 stacks of AOE might for allies.

Longbow + Hammer Link

Another link with longbow and sword/horn for the fire shield:

Longbow + Sword/Horn Link