So my thoughts are this +the new evasion runes allow DPS guards to finally stick to their targets really well. Maybe even an ice or bydromancy sigil just for the hell of it. Sad i didnt fotm a guard instead of a ranger
S/p is pretty easy. Harder than before the patch, but still the easies PVE set by far. Fun…now thats subjective. You could have a completely different idea on what is and isn fun to you than me.
My favorite and typical build i run with for roaming, 1v1s/duels. Significantly harder to play than the typical d/d ele tho. A lot more fun and satisfying imo. The amount of players i have oneshot with a good Phoenix+lightning flash while simultaneously at tuning to air and using lightning strike is too kitten high. Also, i forgot to put the sigils in the link, but i use air/battle. Air/energy or battle/energy would also be good
Thanks for the responses everyone. I can see the nice synergy with Cleansing Water, Soothing Disruption, and cantrips (and Elemental Attunement helps too).
As I mentioned, I really like the focus, but I don’t like the scepter, so D/F seems like it would be useful for me. But is it viable? Does D/F lack damage vs. D/D? If so, can I use the focus skills (e.g earth #4, #5, air #4) to make up the defense provided by cantrips, and then take more offense-based traits/utilities? I’ve tried D/F with signets or conjures but haven’t come up with anything reasonable. That said, I am not opposed to D/D +cantrips either. Is D/D signets viable? Or too fragile/slow for roaming?
I also like staff, but I need to be able to roam. Is this impossible for staff? (e.g. if I can’t deal with a thief, then I can’t roam with staff).
You can use any utilities you want and be “viable”, but theres a reason every single ele build uses triple cantrips or 2 cantrips and arcane bubble. Eles are so squishy you need the defense from cantrips. Even with focus. Same thing with traits. You can trait however you want and be “viable” but any decent ele build is going to have at least 4 in both arcane and water.
As for d/d vs d/f, i would say d/f can definitely be better than d/d, and downright OP in some 1v1s. I would personally build a little glassier with d/f, so you still get the dmg but you still get defense from cantrips and focus. But the only way to know for sure is for you to try it for yourself. Unfortunately staff is useless for roaming. But it can be ok for small groups (d/d aurashare is better) and its really good for zerging. In general just keep one in our inventory as you never know when you’ll come across a keep or tower to defend
My favorite and typical build i run with for roaming, 1v1s/duels. Significantly harder to play than the typical d/d ele tho. A lot more fun and satisfying imo. The amount of players i have oneshot with a good Phoenix+lightning flash while simultaneously at tuning to air and using lightning strike is too kitten high. Also, i forgot to put the sigils in the link, but i use air/battle. Air/energy or battle/energy would also be good
Just one dodge is enough to avoid all the damage from rapid fire. Not most of the damage, or some of the damage, but ALL of it. Keep that in mind when you complain. 1 single dodge. On the flipside, these rangers are pure glass, so as soon as you do your 1 dodge (yes its hard i know) their toast.
You know your name kinda seems similar to me either from the Thief or Warrior forums. I don’t bare any grudges, I just wonder. I do however fully agree with your comments, and also followed the link in your signiture. I was looking at the Tame Example part, and something was really bugging me. If iceman is made of ice, and he’s all muscley and kitten, why does he jiggle when he throws his attack? And also, can I make warriors juggle like that in wvw?
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sorry, I’ll go to sleep now.
I mained a warrior back when they were uber Fotm, way back when hambow was completely untouched, even though i never played the OG hambow. I got bore of easy mode and have mained a thief for the past ~5 months, up until Anet completely screwed over thieves. I’ve been playing S/F fresh air ele now ever since the patch and i have to say it is a blast. But ill likely go back to thief as soon as Anet gets their kitten together and fixes s/d and steal. I also made a ranger alt as soon as i saw the balance previews (lets be honest, who didnt) and just recently got enough tomes to get it to 80. plus i finally have a char with the super saiyan charr hairI do make it a habit to read over every forum tho, even if i just slim over it, as i love learning niche things people who haven’t played the class extensively wouldnt know.
Just one dodge is enough to avoid all the damage from rapid fire. Not most of the damage, or some of the damage, but ALL of it. Keep that in mind when you complain. 1 single dodge. On the flipside, these rangers are pure glass, so as soon as you do your 1 dodge (yes its hard i know) their toast.
This is the second best post ever made in the spvp forums, after Gf left cus of ledersbord of course. But still, so much yes. Why can’t people comprehend this? An then when you call people out for this they get all defensive, often saying “lol you have like no points kitten”. It blows my mind everytime
Sceptor dagger(SnD) works fine in duos to groups smaller than 10.
For that build , its the fresh air build and very glassy. But it can be very rewarding
DnD is a build for the pros. Works from solo to small roam grps to zergs,etc.
Stay away from DnD in the beginning if you are learning ele.
D/d is the faceroll spec. Its basically a slightly more intelligent hambow
When he said ele burst, i believe he meant fresh air burst, which is completely instant with no tell or anything to look for whatsoever that can hit for 4-8k thrown in with an instant blind. The only way youre not gonna get hit by it is random lucky dodges or a bad ele
I’ve been running fresh air in WvW for a long time, however gw2skills is still down for w/e reason so i cant really share my build. But the basics are 0/6/0/4/4, sf, all valk/cav armor (depending on if you have guard stacks or not) and zerker everything else with air/battle sigils and scholar/strength runes
Dagger is so much inferior to focus, even with rtl. The only mobility you really need is fgs
I’ve actually been experimenting with a sf fresh air ele, and have been having lots of fun and success with it. You can carry teams sooo hard with it. Basically any unfavorable situation you alone can either solve or prevent. you can melt high priority targets in a matter of seconds, or counter a lich bomb with swirling winds and magnetic wave, or get the decap on far with fgs and lightning flash, or the invuln stomps/revives with mist form and obsidian flesh that can completely turn a game around. You also have multiple ways of avoiding focus fire thanks to both invulns, the reflects, and lightning flash. And the AoE healing, protection and aoe downed body cleave can completely turn team fights around. So yeah, try out ele. Its way fun :D
Mes is easy, there #2 makes a clone, however any clone generating ability needs a target to cast. So if you stealth stomp a mes they literally can’t do anything.
Mesmers don’t need a target to cast their downed invisibility skill. They will always teleport even if you are stealthed and the only one around.
They actually do, and i encourage you to test this to see for yourself. However there has to be absolutely NOTHING within targeting distance of the mesmer. This includes rock dogs, parrots, mobs, gates, walls, etc. the mesmer also doesn’t have to target these things, of something is within targeting distance the game will automatically summon the clone
I began preparing for PvP hot joins by roaming in WvW. It’s a good place to learn at your own leisure. Fights can escalate quickly, and there is potential for a volatile environment.
The downside is that you can go for long stretches without running into an enemy player. Or you could run into a group of players that will completely roll over you. I would give roaming borderlands a shot and see how that does you.
Also, if you have friends on an opposing WvW server, you can organize duels in secluded locations. Hope this helps!
WvW doesn’t help at all with things like rotating, backcapping, and +1ing fights. In addition, the builds you find in WvW arent even close to the ones youll find in spvp.
@OP, just do solo queues. Sure, your team may rage at you sometimes, but honestly who gives a kitten?
The best profession for pvp is the one you enjoy most. If you don’t really like a profession youll really struggle to do well with it. There is no set way to unlock skills, however i will say medkit and elixir b are very useful for the swiftness they give. Rocket boots is also very useful for moving around the map quicker. Bomb kit however is the bread and butter for leveling an engi. Just stack lots of power and use the bomb autoattack. It hits like a truck, and in an AoE. Bomb kit #4 will basically make you invulnerable against any mobs inside the AoE.
On combos, youll see several skills that say combo field:smoke, fire, water, etc. youll also see some skills such as combo finisher: blast, projectile, leap, etc. you need to use one of these combo finisher skills (which will be clearly stated in the tooltip) inside a combo finisher: field (which is also stated in the tooltip). Doing this will produce an effect, depending on the type of finisher and field used. You can use the wiki and search “combos” to see all the different possibities. Other people can also use your fields, and you can use other peoples fields.
While the shortbow is useful that statement is not true. I’ve had games where I had my main melee weapon and then shortbow in the other slot, but I rarely switch to shortbow because it wasn’t worth the lack of DPS. Before you say “You’re playing thief wrong!” no, I’m just adapting to situations that don’t always call for a shortbow. If there are team mates in the fight (especially if they are struggling) I will focus on DPSing down the enemy as quickly as possible to prevent my allies from taking any more damage and to cap the point as soon as possible. (note: my role is damage/roaming so this won’t apply to all thieves and isn’t what you should always be doing, I’m just using it as an example)
The usefulness of your shortbow depends entirely on your build, your team mates and your enemies. Now say I was with a burst ele or another thief and we were fighting against a regen warrior, then I might use shortbow for the poison. But that is not always the case, so how can you say a thief without a shortbow is a waste?
Because the main role of a thief is getting quickly around the map, +1ing fights. You can’t do that without infiltrators arrow. On top of that, without shortbow in crazy, random AoE mid fights, youre contributing absolutely nothing since to melee would mean instant death
Most maps are not that large, I often find myself using the occasional heartseeker (don’t want to drain my initiative too much before the fight) to move and using shadowstep for a little bonus because half of the time when I disengage I’m in combat and I’d rather be able to use my dagger again as quickly as possible. I normally don’t have a problem with AoE because I dodge and/or move out of the way. My problem is when I get focused, usually single target attacks (Mesmers! shakes fist).
And as I said, shortbow is good but not having it doesn’t mean you are a waste. My point is not to say don’t take shortbow but to explain what you can do while not using shortbow.
Im not arguing HS over infil arrow. (Not every thief uses dp either, sd crit fulfills the same role with some strengths over dp) Theyre both relatively the same on flat ground. But infil arrow gives insane mobility across the Z-axis, something only 2 other professions can even do, and with hefty cooldowns. You can’t “dodge or move out of the way” of random AoE and dmg flying around. I know you know the types of team fights im talking about. The ones where you can’t even move or be at risk of getting CCed/loaded with condis and then focused to death. You’re just being stubborn. Thieves need shortbow to be successful in mid to high tier pvp. Otherwise there is absolutely NO point taking a thief over another zerker, like ele or mes
engies were on every other team (even 2 at a time!) and they didn’t look underperforming at all.
And yet the parts of engi theyre buffing arent relevant at all to any of the builds these engis were playing. Theyre buffing the meh/useless stuff, not making the already strong stuff even stronger
While the shortbow is useful that statement is not true. I’ve had games where I had my main melee weapon and then shortbow in the other slot, but I rarely switch to shortbow because it wasn’t worth the lack of DPS. Before you say “You’re playing thief wrong!” no, I’m just adapting to situations that don’t always call for a shortbow. If there are team mates in the fight (especially if they are struggling) I will focus on DPSing down the enemy as quickly as possible to prevent my allies from taking any more damage and to cap the point as soon as possible. (note: my role is damage/roaming so this won’t apply to all thieves and isn’t what you should always be doing, I’m just using it as an example)
The usefulness of your shortbow depends entirely on your build, your team mates and your enemies. Now say I was with a burst ele or another thief and we were fighting against a regen warrior, then I might use shortbow for the poison. But that is not always the case, so how can you say a thief without a shortbow is a waste?
Because the main role of a thief is getting quickly around the map, +1ing fights. You don’t take a thief for the uber insane DPS, because you could just take a fresh air ele or a shatter mesmer. You take them for the absolute insane mobility offered mostly through shortbow. You can’t do that without infiltrators arrow. On top of that, without shortbow in crazy, random AoE mid fights, youre contributing absolutely nothing since to melee would mean instant death
Almost every class would rather have a 4th utility than an elite. This isn’t just an ele thing but rather has to do with how meh an lackluster elites are in general
Or you can keep them, just to have an item impossible to ever get again. Then 3-5 years from now link them in chat letting everyone know youve been here from the beginning. Or just a souvenir
And now the truth comes out…almost every profession would rather have 4 utilities than an elite. This has nothing to do with eles, thieves, engis, or guards but rather with how crappy and lackluster elites are in the first place
I just recently leveled up my mesmer, however from 15-50 i used tomes I’d saved up from spvp. But from 50-80 it really wasnt that bad. Sure, i took a bit longer to kill stuff than other classes, but it was still more than doable. And when i was fighting a tanky vet or soloing a champ and managed to get 3 phantasms out i did a ton of dmg. Best weapons to level are imo GS + Sw/f because you have the most AoE possible and you have swiftness on focus to move around the map faster. Remember your GS auto pierces, so target the back mob and try and line up mobs so that the beam will hit all of them. Also remember that if our target is about to die, use a shatter so you don’t completely waste your clones. You can also hurt the other mobs around it.
Gearwise just stack power with bloodlust sigils and 6 minor runes with power. Then go for power/precision, and finally power/precision/ferocity. Trait wise i spent my first one in dueling to get some nice vigor uptime, then in dueling again to get phantasm all fury, and then maxed out domination and dueling as much as possible while leveling up, with any spare points going into either illusions or inspiration
Ok thanks I was wondering that because I recently learned that war banners can be nullified with poison and someone in my guild mentioned that you have to poison the down so the banner doesn’t work. So to cancel out the rezzing power of the war banner I should poison the warrior.
I feel like eekzie’s and Carpboy’s posts contradict each other. Eeek is saying that poison affects incoming heals of the poisoned person but not outgoing heals while Carp is saying poison lowers the outgoing heals on a person.
I feel like poison should affect all healing done by the infected person, which would include outgoing and incoming heals. Basically if you poison a person, other people’s heals are less effective and if that person tries to heal people it is also less effective. Tomorrow I’m going to get into Spvp with some guildies and see how poison affects heals.
Poison affects both outgoing and incoming. My post was simply stating to slow revive speed you actually poison the person reviving. For some reason it doesn’t work if you just poison the downed person (except on their #4 self res). Of course i you have an AoE poison skill it doesn’t matter, as it will hit both
Supply drop and thieves guild are two of the best elites in the game. Try to be considerate to others and not post on this forum if you’re just going to mislead people.
I do make it a habit to read over every forum tho, even if i just slim over it, as i love learning niche things people who haven’t played the class extensively wouldnt know.