Guild Wars 2

Karma ingredients are account bound, I think what Assassinin is suggesting is cooking with those ingredients and then selling the result. Problem is, a lot of foods are cheap and/or require ingredients that also require gold.

Getting cheap karma exotics (WvW gear comes to mind) and tossing them in the Mystic Forge would also get around the no-salvage, no-sell problem, I think. But it does seem like quite the karma sink, especially if you don’t care about the output.

I would suggest you also look into what the numerical karma cap is – don’t want you running into it and really getting nothing from your bunch o’ karma.

Everyone has a unique play style, and what may fit me may not work for you. Just was giving suggestions off my own experience. But what does it matter if Engineers are “rare” or not? I think most people care about your ability to stay alive and deal damage, not exactly what class you are. In fact, seeing anyone in a mid-level area is rare on my server, lol!

Can’t help you with sPvP or tPvP, since I don’t play. In WvW, Warriors are kind of stuck with either bashing stuff in, buffing allies, or shooting from the ramparts with a longbow or rifle, and while I haven’t tried taking my warrior to WvW yet, I would guess that it would be hard to survive without being high level and having good gear. Engineers have all sorts of stuff they can do, between bombs and grenades (ranged), turrets, flamethrower, and healing. Since it is a more tactical role, you can sit a little behind the front lines and help out. Plus you could probably start contributing once you hit level 30 or so.

So start with your Engineer (since you already have one), and if you don’t enjoy the profession when you get to the 30’s, then you know you should try maybe a Warrior, Necro (I’ve never played one), or Elementalist (if you can stand the attunement system).

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone!

@akamon I’m actually only Fractal level 2 and am saving up mats for a basic exotic armor set. My guildmate (lvl 80 guardian) is to a-scared to try anything tougher without getting a good group (and the guild isn’t large enough to field a party). I’m used to dying all the time, so trying something over my head doesn’t bother me as much. Weekends are in general good, though this weekend is crazy b/c of Thanksgiving.

@M Eight Seven (duffy): Welcome! And who needs a dog crate when you can buy them a Wii and teach them good gaming habits early? I have fond memories of Mario, Duck Hunt, and the Sesame Street games on the NES.

ButterOfDeath.2873:

Said that,who has the best combination of survivability,AoE,burst,mobility of those professions?

I read all your post, but if I quoted the whole thing, I wouldn’t have room to respond!

My gut reaction, honestly, is try a Dagger/Dagger Thief with a Death Blossom build, with your secondary as Pistol/Pistol or Pistol/Dagger. DB does some crazy damage in PvE that will let you take on multiple melee mobs at once (with some invulnerability thrown in). Open with Heart Seeker or stealth/Back Stab from slightly out of aggro range, and close with either HS or BS. I’m sure someone’s gonna shout “l2p n00b” about that recommendation, but I found it kind of fun in PvE. Again, at low levels you’re going to run out of initiative too fast and won’t have options to replenish it fast enough, but at level 40 it will start to shine and you’ll be able to spam skills. You’ll have to re-spec if you play WvW or PvP because that build is not good against people. Lower AoE, but great burst, okay survivability, and great mobility.

Another idea would be a greatsword warrior or guardian. Make your secondary weapon something more support-y. Lower AoE, good burst, great survivability, and moderate mobility.

Then there’s elementalist and engineer. Depending on weapon set and utilities, you’ll get moderate to great AoE, moderate to good burst, low to okay survivability, and good to great mobility.

The most painful thing about learning any class is that you really won’t know how it plays until you hit level 30-40, so maybe try toughing out a few toons until you hit those levels? If you’re not afraid of map chat, try asking what events are going on to see where people are.

Hope this helps… or at least I hope I didn’t confuse you more!

tl;dr (okay, I skimmed)… but I’ll pick up from here!

Name: DEKeyz (pronounced De Keyz), DEK (typing only), or Keyz.
Main Character: Scoithniamhe, Sylvari Elementalist
Current Server: Eredon Terrace
Interested Activities: PvE, Dungeons, Socializing, WvW (in order)
Active: Nights (US) and weekends
Additional Comments: No mic, but I can type when out of battle and while casting Meteor Shower! My current goal is to find a group of people with enough time to run 2 fractals in a row. I always manage to find the leavers that quit as soon as someone is downed…

ButterOfDeath.2873:

Well,the idea of the Elementalist that i have right now is of a very hard class,with medium reward compared to other classes,that have issues surviving but very fun to play with a very wide versatility…doesn’t sound too much good,but not too much bad too.

Yep, pretty much. But in Orr, I have no problems tagging stuff in DE’s before the zerg hits it, and I can stay at a safe distance. So in the end, you can get plenty of rewards. The grind to level 40 is pretty awful and expensive, though.

ButterOfDeath.2873:

I just noticed,looking on the wiki,that the guardian has some interesting staff/scepter spells…do you know anything about those?

Nope, my friend’s guardian is pretty much greatsword/mace&shield and is effective in all PvE settings. Guardian Staff reminds me a lot of Lux from LOL. Theorycrafting, I don’t think it would be very viable solo since it’s so support heavy. Scepter/torch may give you enough damage. Leveling your guardian would also give you a better feel for how skills interact to improve your PvP.

ButterOfDeath.2873:

Also,atm i’m taking in account the Elementalist,Guardian and Engineer,i am however unsure about the warrior.
It’s sword abilities look cool with short cooldowns(more precisely i like the adrenaline’s burst move)…and the bow could be nice to deal at long range,without being too boring,what’s your opinion?

Since I tend to do crazy things like following up an engineer’s Jump Shot with a Blunderbuss and then Charged Shot, or turning my ele around and use Burning Retreat to roll into an enemy, the longbow is a little boring but is my choice for a long-ranged instrument. I’d much rather just run up and smack the mob in melee if I can. Mace (main hand) also has an adrenaline rush. Right now I’m running Axe & warhorn as I’m not doing anything too challenging, but I could see myself going Axe&Axe or Axe&Sword later. On the other hand, the greatsword has great mobility and pretty low CD, too.

ButterOfDeath.2873:

What i dislike of the Elementalist are its long cooldowns,the unability to swap weapons,the cooldown you have to wait to change attunement and the fact that whenever i like a spell,it’s always in another weapon set!

Yeah, most of us ele’s hate the long attunement cooldowns, too, so we put 30 trait points in Arcane to get that CD down to 9 seconds. Other lvl 80 builds focus on the synergies between some utilities and stay with the long attunement CD. I guess the main thing is that effective builds use all attunements and stay in an attunement for only 2-4 seconds.

ButterOfDeath.2873:

Example: i HATE the scepter,specially the fire attunement…however i love the rock attunement it provides!
While i like some abilities of Dagger’s set,like the fire’s basic attack or the 2nd spell of the air attunement…while i hate the dagger’s earth set.
Or…i love the healing rain,the eruption and the meteor shower,however i don’t like other abilities because of their “crippling” cast times.
Another issue with the elementalist is that i am afraid to have issues if i’ll build vitality/thoughness instead of raw power and condition damage,because i think it’d then become a glass cannon,without cannon and not very glass :s

Sure, you get only 1 weapon for quickswap, but you have 4 attunements to make up for it. I’m very twitchy with my ele, but even I can’t manage to put everything on cooldown as long as I’m not just quick-attuning and not using any skills in an attunement. Scepter Fire is bugged… it would be better if it worked correctly. Dagger Earth works best when you have a locked target, untargeted things will miss (and hence stink), but Earth 4 is good CC and Earth 5 good damage in a group around you. Main thing about D/D is that you’re always moving around. Staff leaves you vulnerable often, so use the CC of quicker Air/Earth skills before casting slow skills.

Yes, ele’s are glassy, and you will have to work a lot harder to get the same damage as other classes, and you probably won’t tear through enemies quite as fast. The consensus is that adding more vit/tough is much more useful to us than adding crit damage and condition damage, especially at low levels. Being able to take a hit means less time dodging/running, more time attacking. You can sneak the power in on your high lvl gear though.

ButterOfDeath.2873:

I heard some abilities of the mesmer are almost useless,mostly for the reaction time mobs have compared to players,is that true?
Also,it really lacks AoE,and when i faced up more than 3 mobs i just had to run.

Mobs don’t get as confused by the clones as humans do, unfortunately. Maybe check the mesmer forums for more suggestions on builds, but my guildy never seemed to have a problem. Mesmers are very effective in WvW, so maybe try leveling there instead?

ButterOfDeath.2873:

About the engineer: Ok,you can change sets,the issue is that you can’t do everything at once:you must choose between your weapons or the kits;switching doesn’t take time,but it’s like playing a game of cards,with 5 times the number of required cards,but having them flipped so you can see them all…Of course it would allow to much wider options but it would lack effectiveness,am i right?

Not really. Engis and Eles are kind of similar like that. Lots and lots of skills to use, so you’re never stuck auto-attacking while waiting for 2-0 to be up! Pick the family of kits you like the most, and build around those. For example, if you like turrets, overload them! Or throw down a healing turret next to a flame turret, regen mist, and then detonate your flame turret for even more AoE regen. Think about in-battle skill synergy when creating a build, not in-battle versatility.

ButterOfDeath.2873:

I see you also use a Warrior (by looking at your signature)…what i really love of it are the banners,yeah…banners,everywhere!
Having a full build of banners would give infinite swiftness…that’s soo yummy!
Also,what about the conjured weapons the Elementalist can create? They feel powerful but idk about that “max 15 spell uses” it feels very temporary.

Meh, ele’s can do perma-swiftness too, so it’s not that big of a deal. Sometimes I just like easy mode where I don’t have to think and be aware of my surroundings, hence the warrior (it’s fun, just a different type of fun from ele).

The Lightning Hammer is a very popular conjure to build around once an ele hits level 40 and has access to a very specific master-level trait. There are several builds on the ele forums for it right now, but I don’t spec that way.

Most classes won’t start to shine until about level 30 or 40. If you want a class that is not boring, I would suggest (in purely alphabetical order) elementalist, engineer, or mesmer.

My current main is an ele, and she is a blast to play. She was the most expensive to level up to 30, for sure, because of repair/waypoint rez costs. There are usually a few active threads in the elementalist forum about getting through low levels, but the basic suggestions are:
- Find the weapon that works for you (I would suggest Scepter/Dagger or Dagger/Dagger for low level, but I personally went with Staff)
- Learn which skills have CC, which skills you can combo together
- Trait in Arcana/Water/Earth when you can
- Equip Power/Toughness/Vitality/Healing power for survivability
- Dodge often
- If you get bored, you can switch your weapon and learn a whole different play style

One guildmate has a lvl 80 Mesmer. He had less problems leveling, and you can spend a lot of effort micromanaging your phantasms and clones. He also have a guardian; it’s pretty much spin to win in PvE.

Another guildmate has a lvl 80 Engineer. He doesn’t use a lot of turrets; he prefers grenades and the flamethrower. But like the elementalist, you can completely change how you play (by selecting different utilities).

Don’t forget to grab some cheap runes or marks for your gear if you don’t want to re-buy upgrade every 5 levels. The +10 to +20 or so they give to stats adds up over 6 pieces of armor, especially as you’re leveling up quickly.

I’ve noticed that gear of the same tier and same level tend to be very similar, regardless of if it was crafted or dropped. Since I leveled up my crafting evenly with my character level, I often was fit with green-level stuff I crafted (except chest and pants, buy those because crafting them is too expensive if you don’t have the mats).

Sometimes, haters are gonna hate. Last night the AC exp troll spawned in that path between the spiders and everything else, so we had to deal with it in case we needed the camp waypoint. I got though a couple iterations of my normal skill rotation, then all of a sudden the troll just decided that it wanted me gone. Even with 2 guardians (one with comparable level equipment to mine) in the party. I mistimed a roll and ended up just inside the blast radius of the AoE downing, and I got pummeled. Then he proceeded to club me while I was trying to recover from being downed. Then he would focus on anyone trying to rez me. It was just one of those fights.

I even have days when everything still “likes” me more than the rest of my small 2 or 3 person map completion party. Some of it I guess is just luck – but I would have to guess that getting too many crits on a creature may bug them, and I’m pretty sure having a high toughness also draws things. Straight damage spikes I don’t think draw as much aggro. I run about 1500/1500 toughness/vitality and have 30 in water for all the heals and condition removal.

Understanding and getting good at dodge rolling is probably your #1 defense tool as an elementalist. Having a good escape tool such as Armor of Earth, Mist Form, or Lightning Flash is good, as well as using your Air and Earth skills to interrupt/blind and Water to slow. Unfortunately, Elementalists really do have to work a lot harder at staying alive than most other classes.

Elementalists are tough to get good at – I reached level 80 last week, and I’m still refining how I fight in PvE and WvW using Staff and D/D. I also have a low-level warrior (hey, I like easy mode sometimes). I have spent far less on rezzing and repairing the warrior than the ele. Also, this warrior plays a lot with a guildmate’s starting D/D elementalist. He has to be a lot more careful than I do when getting into a big fight, but in little ones he pretty much copies my opening combos that I’ve told him and he does alright.

Having used a staff 100% from level 15 – level 65, I can heartily say that a staff is a very risky way to level. If you can kite/tank while your AoE kills everything, then leveling is fast. If not, your death will come faster than the mobs’. D/D or S/D seem safer because you can focus on heavy hitters/ranged mobs and you can tear through single enemies faster.

You’re not going to be able to pull off a Sigil/Aura or a Bunker build for a while (level 70), so don’t try building toward that until your traits get reset at 70. I never used Lightning Hammer, either, so I can’t advise on the use of that utility. As far as starting builds, put your first 10 in pretty much anything but air (I made that mistake). The +Prec and +Crit Dmg is only going to have marginal effects when you have low damage to begin with.

The two utilities you should get and use as soon as you can are Glyph of Lesser Elementals (for something to facetank when you need breathing room) and Arcane Wave (blast finishers). Lightning Flash is also super-fun for D/D, and Mist Form is a “get out of jail free” move.

For movement speed, your goal is to have swiftness all the time, making passive buffs useless.
-For Staff, I use Arcane V trait (Elemental Attunement) and my rotation is attune Air, Air 4, Air 5+Arcane Wave, (party member aoe speed buff or Glyph of Elemental Harmony), attune Earth, …
-For D/D or S/D (I’m a little rusty, ran staff in party almost all weekend), attune Air, Air 4, about face (bind a hotkey to it in game options), Air 5, Glyph of Elemental Harmony, attune Earth, …
-If you can’t manage that combo (too many enemies, rough terrain, etc), slap on a Sigil of Air and call it a day.

Make sure you keep your crafting up with your level. The extra EXP goes a long way. Also, try exploring the main towns of each race (if you don’t mind) for another boost.

While I am a lot fresher on Staff combos right now, here are some decent D/D combos to use when starting combat with a group of mobs in PvE:
- If dispersed but I’m likely to draw aggro from multiple directions: Air 4 to primary target from outside aggro area, Air 5, Air 2, Air 3, Fire 5, Fire 4, Fire 3 to a safer position, then either (a) roll back in or Earth 3 in to fire ring, Arcane Wave, Earth 2, Earth 4, Earth 5, Water 5, Water 4, Water 3, back to Fire or Air.
-If clumped to begin with, start with (Earth 3, Earth 4, Earth 5) or Earth 5 + Lightning Flash, Fire 4, Arcane Wave, Fire 5, Water 3, Water 4, Water 5 (if needed), Water 2 while moving to safer point, Air 5, Air 3, back to Fire or Earth.

For small groups or single targets, I’m less methodical, but I generally make use of Air 4 to initiate, and continue with:
- Air 5, Air 3, Air 2, attune fire, or
- Earth 4, Earth 2, attune fire, and
- Attune to water when HP is below 50%

While it’s fun to stack precision, crit damage, and condition damage, you really need to stack power, and two of toughness, vitality, and healing power. Grab some cheap marks and runes on the auction house to further improve your armor, but don’t invest too much because you’ll want to keep your gear with your level.

If you need any help in-game, look me up!

Hammer’s auto-attack is weak/boring compared to a warrior’s other weapons, that’s true. But an elementalist has to give up a lot to make a “Hammer Time” build, namely:

- Survivability by traiting to get those extra 10 swings
- Usefulness that would be gained by other traits when the hammer is down
- Stats of base weapon (Weapon power, stat boosts, sigil effects) are removed for mild boosts in precision and crit damage on a 969 (@lvl 80) base power weapon.
- Teammates run off with the conjured weapons.

On the other hand, all the other elementalist’s conjured weapons are really bad. Compare a longbow to a frost bow for a chuckle.

Shademare, the build is awful. Don’t try it. All elementalists (myself included) are QQ-ing for the next 24 hours in protest to a poorly communicated bugfix that a very popular trait received. If you want real builds, check out dapheonix’s or Xavori’s recent topics, or possibly the “Post your Build” thread.

Back to the silliness of this topic… OMG! The Beetletun rats don’t stand a chance now!

While condition damage is great for PvE, smart opponents in sPvP and WvW will remove those conditions very quickly, thus making all the +Condition Damage kind of useless. Those same smart opponents are the ones you’ll have to worry about killing you fast. Thus, stacking general power and survivability is thought to be superior when facing other humans.

If you play mostly PvE, then by all means stack condition damage. Very effective in that setting, and mobs don’t heal themselves often.

So I was running around in WvW post-patch with a staff equipped in a party with my friend, a Mesmer. I noticed two things:
- With swiftness applied, we went the same speed – even when I was in Air attunement, with Sigil of Air passive on, and 5 trait points in Air. I use to be faster than the mesmer with swiftness on both of us. Looks like that 33% movement speed cap is now strictly enforced, or something?

- My Elemental attunement bonuses (From Arcane V) affect fewer allies in a zerg, or at least I don’t see the buff render on them. Did the general patch correction “Many skills, items, and traits were applying healing to an infinite amount of targets and have now been limited to 5 targets” hit that, or am I imagining things? Trait description reads “When attuning to an element, you and all nearby allies gain…”.

Can anyone else provide anecdotes supporting/refuting my observations?

Wondering if a staff precision/healing power build is viable (and fun-ish) for PvE, something like…

http://www.gw2db.com/skills/calc/elementalist#5|0|2771|3975|3983|1848|4480|10|917|0|0|10|2248|0|0|0|0|0|0|25|1684|1683|0|25|2250|1630|0|0|0|5|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|

Anyone know the recharge time on Arcane Retribution?

1. Yes, it gets better, starting at level 20, and I noticed marked survivability improvements around level 40+. If you seem to die a lot, switch up your weapons – what feels “right” to some players will leave others unsatisfied. If Scepter/Focus isn’t your cup of tea (it wasn’t mine), try Scepter/Dagger, Dagger/Dagger, or Dagger/Focus. While staff is my primary, the lack of single-target damage makes it a little harder to level when running around by yourself until you learn your combos. I’ve read (and authored) many posts on these forums about staff combos, but with the impending patch I’m hesitant to type them out again here.

If you still have survivability issues, try using Glyph of Lesser Elementals so you can summon a facetank and give yourself some room.

2. My server’s pop is low enough when I’m on that dungeon groups pretty much take anyone. The staff’s fields are super-useful in group situations, though.

3. Yes. I got a lot of my levels in WvW starting at level 35. Most elementalists run either Staff or D/D (I keep both on me at all times now), though I’m sure any weapon will work well. Since you are squishy, you will not want to venture out on your own, but again, a staff shines when you’re with other people anyway. D/D elementalists can pick off stragglers very will because of their mobility, but you have to have some skill to win more than a 1v1. About the only time when I get frustrated is when defending against a siege and I can’t find a good spot to launch staff AoE, for all other situations, there is something tangibly useful for an elementalist to do.

I haven’t seen any builds… as Angel said, switching attunements is how you pretty much have to roll (for the next hour, then we’ll see if we’re viable at all!). Water tends to have a lot of heals, so if you wanted to stay in water attunement, you’ll probably pigeonhole yourself into a healing/support role.

My gut reaction is to think about a Frost Bow build if that conjure is at all useful, but I have no experience with the conjures.

After many levels of using Glyph of Elementals, I see the elementals as a tool to group up mobs while I’m casting Meteor Shower and Static Field. They last about five seconds, so I don’t have the problem (any more) of them drawing more enemies. Try casting it at the start of a large battle so you won’t have much time left on the summon (if it even lasts that long) when the battle’s done. Also, take a few more steps toward your target before you summon to reduce the chance of it running off.

Like all elementalist elites, this one is also situational. If you happen to be sylvari, their elite is a decent alternative. Can’t say much about the other racials since I don’t have much experience with them.

I stick to Cleric’s, with a bit of Berserker’s thrown in for the Air trait that converts precision to healing and Arcane Precision (Arcane 25). Don’t know how much it’s helping because I’m too busy getting used to Orr to read the combat log, but I feel like it may be a good balance. I haven’t invested in gems or runes yet, since I don’t have full masquerade gear yet.

Gisei.5749:

Acension.9270:

Gisei.5749:

If they add in-combat weapon swapping, that would double the number of skills we can use, which is idiotic in every sense. I wouldn’t mind out of combat switches, but other classes would also need access to a similar feature for a 3rd or 4th weapon set.

And Elites, I pray for an elite I can use. As it is now, I don’t actually ever use my elites, ever, at all, not even occasionally.

we already have out of combat weapon swapping, we just go into our bag and change our weapon lol. So why would they need to add out of combat weapon swapping?

Because according to popular opinion, investing two seconds of one’s time in opening your bags is an unacceptable hassle that should be removed as soon as possible.

And using weapon bags or a bag immune to sorting isn’t an acceptable organization technique for some.

So, in other words, the whole trait is just another bug that needs to be fixed :p

Bonuses from the Arcane 5 minor (Arcane Fury) and Arcane V (Elemental Attunement). From how it reads, I would suspect it should apply to Earth XI (Rock Solid), too, but I’ve never used that trait.

Arcane Fury: Grant yourself fury for 2 seconds on attunement.
Elemental Attunement: When attuning to an element, you and all nearby allies gain a boon based on that attunement for 2 seconds
Rock Solid: Grant stability (2s) to nearby allies when attuning to earth

Might I say, “Shame on you A-net for making a minor so dependent on some major triats!”

Since you have so many fields to use, it is kind of a waste to not finish your own combos. I’m not going to tell you that it’s mandatory to put 30 in Arcane if you don’t want to. Arcane Wave (if you have a free spot for a utility) and Earth 4 are also blast finishers. Earth 1 and 5 are projectile finishers, as well.

Regardless of the combo, you’ll need to move into the field to get the effect for yourself.

A staff elementalist in PvE is going to do better in a group. In DE’s, spot an incoming wave and try to predict its path, throw a meteor shower in the way, and manage a decent number of tags before melee allies engage. When the battle starts, keep an eye on where the battle’s thickest, stay close enough so that allies can benefit from your attunement swaps, and put your AoE there. Anyone nearby will also appreciate your heals. If you use Arcane XI, roll into your fields to combo, but also remember to get back out so you don’t get insta-downed.

On your own, you’ll want to use all of your CC (Water 4, Air 2,3,5, and Earth 4 and 5 come to mind) to keep mobs at bay and in your AoE damage. Earth 2 is a popular opener because it’s a blast finisher, it takes forever to animate, and you don’t aggro the mob until the damage is dealt, giving you time to put down a field and roll in for the combo effect without needing 30 in Arcane. Also, I’ve heard that you can pop Mist Form while casting Meteor Shower for invulnerability, but I haven’t tried it. You’ll farm slower than many other classes, but you’ll look awesome doing it. If you ever get bored, try carrying around a second weapon set to use in situations like this.

Staff elementalists in WvW do great in supporting zergs, sieges, being part of small roaming groups, and the not-so-glamourous task of running dolyaks (Air 4, Earth 2, Air 5, Air 4 …). Aim Meteor Showers at people and siege weapons on a different altitude, heal and buff allies, and static field any stragglers. Your lower single-target damage means that you’re not going to be able to 1v1 as easily, your low HP means that thieves really hurt, and your lack of awesome escapes means you’ll have to be a little careful.

Can’t help you with sPvP. It’s just not my cup of tea.

TL;DR: Staff elementalists in PvE and WvW do best as team players. And use Blasting Staff (Arcane VIII).

- RTL/ Grasping Earth fix
- Blasting Staff target area fixed in PvE (though I have learned to auto-correct)
- Dragon’s Tooth speedup
- Other bug fixes
- Reduction in attunement swap CD
- Better Elites
- Fix ele speed buffs (Zephyr’s Speed/One With Air/Signet of Air) so that they stack properly. Or at least tell us how they’re supposed to stack. Really, race a thief and see who wins!
- Better lady sylvari chest armor choices that don’t make my ele look like a man or like a middle-school girl trying to get attention. While I’m at it, I also want female Asura and Charr armor. (Yeah, I know. Not happening)
- More HP so I can stack more Precision/Healing Power, less Toughness/Vitality
- Improve downed mist form so that I can actually get far enough away from the battle to possibly heal
- Increase AoE target limit to 8 or 10, or even remove it.
- More bug fixes
- First person camera and even more zoomed out camera

I play an elementalist, and a guildmate I party with pretty often plays a greatsword/something&focus mesmer most of the time. Recently he started an elementalist because it looks like more fun.

Can’t advise you on sPvP, but in WvW, his mesmer probably contributes more and dies less, but an elementalist who is good with multiple weapons can probably be just as viable. I stick to staff right now, which is good for sieges, taking camps, and small skirmishes, but doesn’t have the single-target damage or mobility to do well in 1v1’s.

While I’m no expert myself (just hit level 80 last night! \me does happy dance), I was building towards and now am running 0/10/0/30/30, which I either tailor for support or higher damage.

Support: 0/10(V)/0/30(III-V-XI)/30(V-VIII-XI)
Damage: 0/10(I)/0/30(VI-V-XI)/30(V-VIII-XI)

The main point of this build is using your fields. At Arcane 20 get Blasting Staff, which increases the AoE of a lot of staff spells with targeting circles. Arcane 30 get Evasive Arcana. Then roll into your own field (or use Arcane Wave) for combos.

If you don’t want to play that way, then obviously this isn’t a good build for you. Maybe go 20(III-V)/10(VI)/0/10(VI)/30(III-V-VIII) and focus on equipment for power, precision, and crit damage? There are also sigil and glyph-based builds out there.

Sure, staff is the ultimate DPS tool because it has tons of AoE, but it’s not really that bursty. I never really got the hang of the scepter, but I do remember getting really annoyed at how slow Dragon’s Tooth animated. I have started playing around with a D/D setup, and it takes out one enemy faster than staff in PvE. I can’t say too much about D/D in group situations yet.

In WvW, if I get caught alone with my staff, I’m dead meat. Meteors are too slow, and Shockwave and Static Field can be dodged. It seems like I could convince someone I’m too much trouble with all the in-your-face conditions and damage of D/D. Plus RTL + Burning Speed is too much fun

Only level 65 right now, but what I have so far:

In a small group:
0/10(II)/0/15(VI)/30(V/VIII/XI)

In a large group:
0/10(V)/0/15(V)/30(V/VIII/XI)

Aiming for either 10/10/0/20/30 or 0/10/0/30/30, not sure yet. Haven’t tried dungeons yet, either. Gear is focused on Power, Toughness, and Precision.

I like using a staff for both PvE and WvW. In WvW, you’re not going to be that D/D elementalist that just runs around the battlefield making people’s lives miserable, but you can put up a field where the fighting’s thickest and not only do you hurt the enemy, but your allies in the area can throw up a finisher. You have aoe harass for sieges, and aoe speed boost for rushing that zerg (or that dolyak).

That said, if you’re not traited and equipped defensively and get caught alone, there’s a high change you’ll wilt like a leaf on a hot summer’s day.

What weapon(s) are you going to use?

As a staff elementalist, I stay away from the middle of battle and throw in AoE nukes and heals, so I would recommend going for equipment with power and either vitality or magic find. You level up a lot faster in WvWvW than in PvE (hence the magic find to promote gear drops), so I wouldn’t invest too much in equipment. Also, if you use a staff as your primary, I would get the Blasting Radius trait at Arcane 20 as soon as you hit 40.

I’ll leave it to the S/D and D/D guys to tell you how they build, but I suspect you need more toughness and vitality.

Staff at low levels is pretty difficult. I spent a lot more money rezzing myself at waypoints on my elementalist than other classes I’ve tried until about level 20. If you are getting discouraged, try S/D for a little bit, or if you want a different challenge, try D/D. Also, get Glyph of Lesser Elementals ASAP so you have something else to draw aggro.

Maintaining distance between you and enemies and knowing combos are key. Fire (as mentioned above) is best for dealing straight damage, and if you have space so that you won’t draw in another mob with Earth 2, Earth is good too.

Air 2 and 3 are good for controlling one mob, but Air 1 can aggro that peaceful Doe next to you, so be careful with that one.

Some easy combos to start using:
Fields:
Fire 2
Water 4
Water 5 (Healing combo)
Air 5

Finisher:
Earth 1
Earth 2*
Earth 5
Arcane Wave

Earth 2 is also a finisher, but since the animation is long and won’t draw aggro until the very end, put it down before putting down your field.

delmarqo.5038:

Question: why Earth 3 in your Large Groups? Air5 doesn’t last very long so I generally go Earth5, 2 or 1 for the projectile or blast finisher.

And yet I see the Earth3 icon blink as a recommended action when I have an active field and switch to Earth.

Does Earth3 reflect projectiles back to ranged mobs and therefore it’s treated as a projectile finisher?

Staff’s Earth 3 has a negligible casting time, so it’s easy enough to hit while going through Earth’s spells. It’s more of a precaution than anything. If there is a mob with a nasty ranged attack, then save it for that attack. Air 5,3 is a useful sequence because you can push back a nearby mob or two into the stun area.

According to the wiki, any reflected projectiles retain their original properties. If I’m interpreting that correctly, if an enemy sends a projectile finisher at you, you reflect it, and it goes through another spell’s combo field, then that field gets applied to the finisher on its way back to the enemy.

I switched to staff as soon as I found one when starting out, and I love using it. It is tough to use when soloing, so don’t be discouraged when you start getting downed a lot! It gets better after about level 40. Focus on power and vitality for your gear.

I like to run around in air attunement with the speed traits at Air 5/10 and signet of air, but it’s not very combat-effective, so you may want to put your traits and utilities elsewhere. Focus on getting the Arcane 10 Elemental Attunement trait first. Once you hit level 40, grab the Arcane 20 that increases staff spell radius and put your other 10 trait points in your favorite element or two.

Remember that you are super squishy, so you want to keep space between you and melee mobs and you want to take out ranged mobs ASAP. Also, since you have a lot of AoE you want to keep your enemies clumped together. Grab the Glyph of Lesser Eles, but switch that out for something more useful when you get the Glyph of Eles. It’s nice to have something else to pull aggro, but having 2 seemed like diminishing returns to me.

For large groups:
Summon Elemental → Fire 5, 3, 2 → Air 5, (3 if needed), 2 → Earth 3, 2, 4, 5 → Water 4, (5, 3 if needed) → Fire (4 if needed), (5 if possible), 3, 2 → Air or Earth …

Or if I feel like changing it up:
Summon Elemental → Earth 2, 4, 5, 3 → Fire (5 if possible), 3, 2, (4 if needed) → Air 5, (3 if needed), 2 → (Water 4, 5, 3 if needed) → Earth …

For 1-3 mobs:
Air 3, 5, 2 → Earth 3, 5, 2, 4 → Fire 3,2, (4 if needed), 2, 3 → repeat