Guild Wars 2

Yeah, their respawn is still buggy.

If they don’t respawn at all, try going into the city area. Sometimes they respawn once everyone’s past Dulfy’s gate. If that doesn’t work, head back to Ashym. Sometimes they respawn in that area but are bugged and don’t wake up until you aggro something on them (the squire is useful for this if he’s still around). If that doesn’t work then they probably didn’t respawn at all so you need to wipe again.

They can also respawn at your respawn but won’t wake up. Aggro one of the vets onto them and get them hit, but then take the usual detour around the edge of the map so that they don’t aggro onto more stuff and die in the field.

oZii.2864:

DEKeyzToChaos.7381:

As a more or less pure PvEer who runs around in full DPS gear all day, it’s been really fun to read this discussion.

Here’s a spreadsheet I’ve been using for some effective power calculations. It’s based off [DnT]‘s basic EP calculator spreadsheet. It makes it pretty easy to compare bloodlust vs. perception or even different weapon/armor/trinket setups given that you’re using the same weapon set. I usually use buildcraft to calculate the attribute numbers that I then plug into this. It’s currently tuned for PvE, but it shouldn’t be hard to change it to more WvW use. I could also make a WvW version if someone tells me what assumptions I should make when putting in multipliers and boons.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ApxtWkBqYzjwdDN0RnF6T1djeDU0c0VhWUhDTlEzbHc&usp=sharing

I have seen your spreedsheet before somewhere not sure where I saw it though possibly reddit?

I don’t know, the original spreadsheet isn’t mine. It’s likely that Nike posted this on reddit or got it from reddit and started keeping it up to date, and only recently did I expand it for my own ele-centric purposes.

As a more or less pure PvEer who runs around in full DPS gear all day, it’s been really fun to read this discussion.

Here’s a spreadsheet I’ve been using for some effective power calculations. It’s based off [DnT]‘s basic EP calculator spreadsheet. It makes it pretty easy to compare bloodlust vs. perception or even different weapon/armor/trinket setups given that you’re using the same weapon set. I usually use buildcraft to calculate the attribute numbers that I then plug into this. It’s currently tuned for PvE, but it shouldn’t be hard to change it to more WvW use. I could also make a WvW version if someone tells me what assumptions I should make when putting in multipliers and boons.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ApxtWkBqYzjwdDN0RnF6T1djeDU0c0VhWUhDTlEzbHc&usp=sharing

Zelyhn.8069:

Haha it took you a long time guys!

I am in a trip by the way, but next week I will be able to work on finishing the re-writing of my guide, do some more data-mining and progress on my rotation calculator. On this topic I have a question and I would like the opinion of the community. It is easily doable for me to make a rotation calculator if I use the (unrealistic) assumption that no attunement swap may occur mid-cast. This would tend to result in slightly pessimistic figures. However it would make this tool bery simple to use: you will just have to input the succession of skills included in your rotation. Is this assumption acceptable for a first version of my totation calculator? Please let me know.
Also I am wondering about the level of freedom I should give to the users:for example if they input skills with mechanical errors (such as cooldown not valid or wrong attunement etc) should I give a warning message?
Let me know what you think

I think the attunement swap assumption is probably fine. That’s an instant cast and doesn’t interrupt your current attack. I would see it being a problem for some of the channeled skills that you intentionally want to interrupt because you have a higher DPS option available.

Cooldown not valid error would be awesome, but wrong attunement (or wrong weapon) should be something a mildly attentive ele should be able to figure out on his or her own. Another thing that may be useful is an “out of charges” error when you get around to including conjures.

@ haviz: Which build is that?

The new dye is “Cobolt” dye. Very easy to not notice the difference.

The other fun bug that I figured out last night: if you use Skale Venom as your alternative to slaying pots now, avoid using projectiles that bounce to allies to provide a positive effect – it has that 10% chance to apply the venom’s vulnerability and weakness to them.

It’s just like the long-standing bug with Elementalist main hand dagger water auto attack after activating Glyph of Elemental Power in any attunement. It is not fun to cripple/chill yourself, I assure you.

Of course, if you want to troll your party a little bit, then by all means >:)

Level 40, when you unlock those master traits, is when it gets easier. Using Lightning Hammer is probably the easiest way to level up since you hit hard and auto-blind things with just the auto attack chain, but I would recommend spending time with dagger/dagger and staff if you’re going to focus on WvW and PvP when you feel like you know the class.

So it didn’t result in any deaths, but here’s one that still has me scratching my head.

Lupi did his ballet act and started floating up into the air for his AoE life drain. The party started dodging/running away as per standard protocol, but as Lupi was still on his way up, he interrupted his animation and put a Necrid Trap on me that also got the guy next to me. I really wish I was recording that just to see exactly what happened there. And it wasn’t just me imaging things – the whole party was like “what was that?”

I had a span of about 2 days where I was wondering if I was experiencing dodge bugs, lagging hard, or just noobing out – I’d press the dodge key, my character would begin the dodge animation, and I’d get hit by something. Happened so many times across a few characters that I just gave up trying to remember which attacks I was using beforehand.

… But obal’s fumble dodge while in the middle of WWA really took the cake this past weekend.

(shameless bump)

There is not a good published condition ele build + rotations out yet for PvE, so just go for direct damage. Go for zerk trinkets at a minimum and either celestial or knight’s armor, working your way to full zerk.

If you want to run staff, go with http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/85568-lh-is-the-new-bearbow-the-real-staff-dps-build-for-manly-men/… unfortunately all the support and control that the staff has to offer really doesn’t do well in PvE, so you just want to make big numbers happen while in fire attunement.

I still use a lot of exotic weapons on a daily basis – a lot of them have sigils for specific purposes and those sigils (i.e. a sigil of undead slaying) adds more DPS than the stat + damage boost of an ascended weapon (2.5%ish for a one-handed weapon, 5% for a two-handed). So don’t feel like you have to use staff all the time. Scepter/Dagger + LH or Dagger/Focus are both VERY viable sets, and Neko’s, Zelyhn’s, and Hamartia’s guides do a great job at explaining how to play them.

reikken.4961:

DEKeyzToChaos.7381:

Any requests?

oh. yes
The conjure summons, mostly. How much time am I wasting by switching to a conjure?
Also picking them up for the second use

I didn’t think about that, but yeah, that’s super important. I’ll get to that and Flame Axe probably tomorrow.

2 precursors for approximately 3-4000g? Still sounds like you lost on that one.

Anicetus.1253:

DEKeyzToChaos.7381:

I think a lot of us are feeling this kind of boredom and frustration, especially as our friends leave.

Just do it like me, forge all your money for LOTS OF PEARL STUFF!

Was actually fun and just 400g :P

I bought 10 gemstore dyes last night. Got a bunch of common and uncommon dyes. Done with gambling for now

Aww… I’m losing my ele buddy from across the pond I would invite you to join me over on the NA servers, but I know our play times rarely overlap.

I think a lot of us are feeling this kind of boredom and frustration, especially as our friends leave. Anet adds new content, but the only challenge in it is sitting through the cutscenes that can’t be skipped or finding all the bugs introduced by the newest patch. Take a break and go enjoy some other games until the Dec. 10 balance patch. Then check back to see what has happened to the ele and decide from there.

I’m usually indulging my altoholic tendencies these days, but I have been experimenting with 20/30/10/0/10 and 30/30/0/0/10 setups for some ele shenanigans. Really, variety is the spice of life… though leveling is pretty boring. Recently I’ve enjoyed mesmer and guardian almost as much as my ele, though previously I also liked thief, and ranger is a strong contender for something I’ll like once I’m bored with either mesmer or guard.

I follow the Ascension Challenge thread, and would get involved if the challenge actually sounded fun and interesting to me. I guess what sounds like fun to one person could be a chore to another… it would be hard to create a challenge that would appeal to everyone.

ThiBash.5634:

Question: with all the stacking up people do in dungeons, wouldn’t Glyph of Lesser Elementals and Glyph of Elementals be a staple choice? Because not only do Fire Elementals add extra dps, they also buff everyone around them with might stacks (on average about 5 per fire elemental?)…aren’t they a good choice for a damage build?

In organized groups, FGS is usually a better option, especially if you are stacking in a corner or against a wall.

There’s no way to make an elemental stack with you, so if it draws aggro it could mess up your pull. On top of that, the might stacks that it grants are relatively short, so if you have warriors, rangers, eles, and other classes granting might, the elemental’s short might stacks may cause problems. Maybe in a PUG the glyph of eles may be a better option when the group may be struggling to hit 25 might. Now if the fire elemental could put down fire fields, it would be an awesome option, but for now I’d just use ember powders.

reikken.4961:

You are missing utility skills, however!

Utilities that I commonly use and the remaining are on my to-do list, and I have a few already measured and contained in my spreadsheet. I was kind of set back this week by some technical issues, but I think they are solved now. Any requests?

Arcane VI – Renewing Stamina. Moved to Master tier.

Definitely belongs in the Adept tier like where similar traits are in other classes. It is essential to a lot of PvE solos, something I’m really starting to enjoy I would hate to have to stick to my guard and warr for such shenanigans.

Anicetus.1253:

6u4n6m47h

Ohhh I get it now!

juno.1840:

DEKeyzToChaos.7381:

I don’t know much about eles in WvW, but for dungeons, elementalists are stronger when you specialize in doing one thing. The linked build seems to spread your strengths out too much.

A couple of popular and effective builds are stickied in this thread, namely the Scepter + Lightning Hammer build (in Neko’s guide) and Dagger/Focus (in Zel’s guide). Both take some skill to play and stay alive since you’re gearing and traiting for damage and boons, but both are fun to play

So no popular and effective staff builds?

There’s this, but it’s extremely boring to play:
http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/85568-lh-is-the-new-bearbow-the-real-staff-dps-build-for-manly-men/

Embers made it easier to deal with the locusts in P1 with the extra DPS (since we wanted to save our dodge skills for Lupi and wanted to avoid using endurance at all) and gave Lupi more targets in P2. And pretty much if we didn’t use embers in whatever speed attempt we’re going for, another group could use embers and do it faster, thus taking the record. It’s one of those things that some of us would rather not do, but still do for the sake of being competitive

The Lupi kill that you see is after many attempts of getting him to about 20% with the reflects after a bit of P2, so we were not expecting such a fast P3. An extra Moa or two in our party would have been necessary to cover that last bit of fury if the kill took > 70 seconds. Same goes for RaO – if P3 were longer and Lupi bubbled, we wanted to make sure we had that stability. I was a noob and wasted QZ during an invuln period though >.<

Could we do it faster now that we’ve done it once and know what kind of results to expect? Sure. Will we? Probably not, doing it first is good enough

Essence Snow.3194:

Nicely done!

Interested to know if all needed to time and use axe 5 for reflect to work properly or only a few were needed?

Damage-wise, more than 2 rangers reflecting is definitely diminishing returns. There were times that only 1 – 2 rangers used axe 5 and managed to take Lupi from about 65% to 20% health because each ranger got around 10 – 15 reflects. For the sake of living through the AoE, all rangers used axe 5 and probably got in the neighborhood of 5-10 reflects each. It is possible to stand in another ranger’s_ hitbox and survive, but less reliable (and even using axe 5 doesn’t guarantee survival).

I don’t know much about eles in WvW, but for dungeons, elementalists are stronger when you specialize in doing one thing. The linked build seems to spread your strengths out too much.

A couple of popular and effective builds are stickied in this thread, namely the Scepter + Lightning Hammer build (in Neko’s guide) and Dagger/Focus (in Zel’s guide). Both take some skill to play and stay alive since you’re gearing and traiting for damage and boons, but both are fun to play

I put some examples of good ranger play in that thread I doubt it will have any impact on the livestream though

Looking forward to seeing the devs’ take on rangers in PvE. Based on [DnT]‘s experimentation, we have come up with a melee sword-based build:
http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/84268-the-perfect-dps-ranger-guide-for-real/ (not to be confused with Eugene’s Ranger Build)

Examples of PvE ranger play:
5 ranger Lupi speedkill (41 seconds): http://youtu.be/UikyW7ITpmQ
5 rangers vs Simin: http://youtu.be/EPRFNsBqac8
Ranger POV in 5:27 CoF P1 speedrun: http://youtu.be/PWQ-39_C8LI

If the trait changes the block to a full reflect, then yeah, things could get ugly. Of course, I remember someone doing some testing with shield reflects at Lupi and noticing that the reflects weren’t working as intended (but I don’t remember how).

Splash damage would be annoying. Even on rangers, some of us would get hit mid-spin by stuff just outside of our reflect radius.

spoj.9672:

laharl.8435:

Are there a bunch of messages being deleted from the post or is the forum just acting up?

Yeah moderater went on a spree.

Even my 39k post was baleeted

Nike Porphyrogenita.8137:

DEKeyzToChaos.7381:

And warrs will never hit Lupi for 39k damage in one shot… unless Anet breaks something.

Challenge accepted.

Nike’s next warrior build: 30/30/10/0/0

Darthaemos.6370:

I predict that just 4 of you will fail CoF path 1.

They have rangers. Should be fine, albeit a little long.

Lightning hammer, arcane shield, arcane wave or, if you’re lazy in open world, air signet. Glyph of lesser elementals if you want a pet facetank. Fiery greatsword when you get elites. You probably want to trait 10 into earth or water for the time being for a damage modifier while you’re whacking away with your LH.

Frost bow has some uses (moreso on big targets), and lava axe got some interesting buffs but still isn’t great when you’re fighting more than one mob.

@ Dub: Assuming Sig of Fire, efficient use of arcane blast, 5 boons, exotic weapons (I know, not a good assumption now) linear dps, etc, Nike’s spreadsheet says 0/20/25/25/0 comes in at 28206 effective power. Taking arcane wave instead comes in at around 27900. For some odd reason, 20/0/25/25/0 clocks in at 25137 with assassin’s armor and zerk weapons and trinkets. I think I assumed 4 boons and low Arcane Power uptime for the EP numbers above hence some of the variation. I could be missing something, though – I’m not used to playing with Clippy all that much yet.

Edit: That Anet filter xD
Edit2: @haviz: love is a burning fire

While it took me a while to give up PF for organized group runs, it really is unnecessary with warriors, rangers, mesmers, and the occasional ember.

For suboptimal groups, 30/30/0/10/0 is okay damage and Zel and I think it’s a lot of fun to play (though he’ll toss that /10/ into earth or arcane). There are a lot of builds similar to 30/10/10/20/0 and 20/0/25/25/0 and the differences will probably be lost in RNG and human errors (some elite groups excluded).

EDIT: I’ve been hanging out with clippy too much. Some of these numbers may have different assumptions because I did the calculations on different days and can’t be bothered to write down my assumptions to remind myself. Also assumed full zerk gear, which probably isn’t optimal for some of these, and sig of fire/arcane blast/lightning hammer utilities.
o 0/20/25/25/0 – Pure % damage modifier build, requires bleeding target (27509)
o 0/25/25/20/0 – If you need vuln, requires bleeding target (27063 – .9837)
o 0/25/20/25/0 – If you need vuln and dodges, requires bleeding target (25857 – .9399)
o 25/20/0/25/0 – If you need charges but not vuln, requires burning target (25685 – .9337)
o 20/0/25/25/0 – 25097
o 30/10/10/20/0 – If you need charges, fury, but not vuln, requires burning target (25485 – .9264)
o 25/25/10/10/0 – If you need charges and vuln, requires burning target (25268 – .9185)
o 30/30/0/10/0 – If you need charges, fury, vuln, requires burning target (24044 – .874)

Double edit: anything with points in Arcana tanks your DPS.

I’m also revisiting my data to better separate cast times from channel times. For Meteor Shower, for example, I would consider the cast time the time window in which one could interrupt the cast and have the skill only go on partial cooldown; the channel time when the skill would go on full cooldown if interrupted. I know scepter air auto has a little bit of a cast time as well before the channel begins.

An aftercast is an animation that occurs after the spell effect has started. A lot of aftercast times are not listed in the in-game skill tooltips, which can really mess with your DPS calculations. Scepter earth 4 is one of the worst offenders.

For those who are looking for an easier-to-manipulate format while Zel is working on his rotation calculator, my data is stored in a spreadsheet at:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ApxtWkBqYzjwdFowa1dVVkFUV3hkRms3X3hzOXBuZWc&usp=sharing

I still have a few conjures to do and a few calculations to check, but I likely won’t bother with trident skills until I stop swapping from my ele to my guard or warr for the underwater fractal.

Jalabi.3186:

Guys… I know this shouldn’t be the proper place to post this; however, you seem to be very knowledable in regards to elementalist…

I’m a new lvl 80 ele focused more on PVE, dungeons and rare WvW zerg encounters… I invested in celestial ascended trinkets and celestial armors and would like to keep them.

What build, weapons, runes and sigils would you recommend (using the gear mentioned above) that would have the highest direct damage, a decent survivability and support.

Well, what weapons or conjures do you enjoy the most right now? There are a few different ways you can go, and while I would encourage you to eventually try all the weapons (staff more in WvW than PvE), we could certainly suggest a few things to get you started using whatever you enjoy the most right now.

I liked the list format for your optimal rotations over the paragraph format that you have in your guide now. Then again, I like seeing the rotation times and damage coefficients. I also like that you provide links to the wiki for skills and traits. The guide seems very wordy for recommending only two builds, but it’s very well written and does a good job about describing the mindset an ele should have.

Have you thought about adding a section on healing/utility/elite skill choices? How about specifying D/F in the title, since that’s what you are focusing on? Even though other guides cover it, maybe a quick note on gear, as well? And I think you can sneak in some more numbers.

You Euro boys are so violent sometimes.

And blah blah blah, blah blah blah, 30/30/0/10/0 w/e + LH for those days when I want to use all the weapon sets Though I do love having perma vigor from 10 in Arcana.

(Tagging this thread finally!)

The problem with S/D as your primary damage source is that you have one fire/earth/air burst combo that takes about 7 seconds and is mostly repeatable every 35 seconds or fully repeatable every 46 seconds. Including a fire combo in there once you can swap back into fire, you have 20-30 seconds of low DPS, no matter if you have quick attunement recharge due to Fresh Air or 30 points in Arcana. So having a lightning hammer or other conjure to pick up during the down time is a way to help keep your damage up. Think about it: you have 25 stacks of might and you’re wasting it on an attack chain that probably has a .6-.7 coefficient per second at most if you’re not using a conjure.

30/x/x/x/30, while it does indeed allow you to stack perma might and fury, means you’re giving up a lot of personal DPS. Additionally, what attunements do you really want to be able to get back to in 9 seconds? Fire’s combo recharges in 20 seconds (the fire field alone recharges in 15), and Earth’s damaging skills recharge in 30 and 45 seconds. About the only attunement you might want to get to quickly is air for its auto attack + 2 and 3, and even then it’s unimpressive damage. You could go 30/30/x/x/x, take fresh air, and make up almost half of your lost +boon duration by using chocolate raspberry cream – it’s super cheap.

For PvE…

If you like playing with conjures, 30/10/10/20/0 is a little glassy but gives you some survivability with the water regen (though all your traits are pretty much damage focused). Grab Fire III, VIII, XI; Air VI; Earth VI; and Water IV and VI. That trait distribution also works alright with the super boring fire staff build that some people like right now, but I would recommend either s/d (for burst before LH) or d/f (for a good long fire field) as your primary weapon set.

If you like daggers, try something like 0/30/10/20/10. Grab Air I, X, and Fresh Air (don’t remember which numeral it is), Earth VI, Water V and whatever else you feel is good, and Arcane V or VI.

For gear, go knight’s armor with berzerker’s trinkets while learning, transitioning to full zerk. Celestial armor with zerk trinkets is also an alright choice. The reason why you want these stat types is because you have traits that will activate when you get critical hits, making valkyrie (which does not have precision) a sub-optimal choice.

As an example for anyone else who’s considering contributing, here’s how I organize my information as I’m recording cast times and other skill information:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ApxtWkBqYzjwdFowa1dVVkFUV3hkRms3X3hzOXBuZWc&usp=sharing

To get reliable estimates of damage, I take off all armor and trinkets and untrait in the Heart of the Mists, grab the Balanced weapons from the PvP weapons vendor, and then head to the Indestructible Golem in the northwest corner of the Heart of the Mists. My process after that is:

1. Open up my combat log to see numbers to check coefficients
2. Start recording (MSI Afterburner is free and easy to use)
3. Start autoattacking to account for skill lag
4. After about 5 auto attacks, use skill 2.
5. Use skill 2 twice more once off cool down.
6. Use skills 3 – 5 three times each: if the cooldowns are short for a skill, I’ll wait so the samples are near each other, but if the cooldowns are long I will rotate between the three.
7. Auto attack at least once more
8. Stop recording
9. Open the file in Windows Movie Maker (also free)
10. Count the cast time as the time when the channeling meter is filling but not when it goes through its completion “glow” after filling.
11. Count the aftercast time as the time from when the channeling meter transition from full, to glowing, to the start of the next channeling meter (this is why I leave auto attack on)
12. If I’m uncertain, double check counts with a second sample from that skill
13. If a skill does not have a channel meter, measure total cast time as time between appearances of the channel meter used by the auto attack. Burning Retreat is an example of a skill without a channel meter
14. When ungeared and untraited, damage by weapon skills on the indestructible and heavy golems is equal to 100 times the damage coefficient of the skill when not a critical hit, making it easy to check coefficients.

I would be open to any critiques on my process, as well. Works well for the ele so far.

Zel, let me know if you need any help with classes other than ele. I’ll put it in my project queue.

Also, the sword/focus DPS guard is a popular variant (10/30/0/10/20 or 10/30/0/5/25), with a different rotation – mainly GS burst and then camp sword until GS burst is ready again.

Sanderinoa.8065:

*cough*forums are NA+EU*cough*

Also, general time of day that you play would be helpful info. Some people have really weird hours.

If you can survive it, just go zerk + scholar’s runes or ruby orbs. The state of PvE would have to change dramatically for it to ever go out of style.

Celestial armor + zerk trinkets is alright because celestial armor has decent crit damage %‘s and you’ll get a touch of toughness, vitality, and healing power, but you’re giving up about 180 power and 100 precision (based on my very rough mental math), which you can’t really make up for. There’s probably a super efficient way to distribute celestial/zerk gear, but I haven’t crunched the numbers. While I was learning to survive (before celestial gear), I used knight’s armor + zerk trinkets and just worked my way to glassier setups from there. You could probably do the same with celestial + zerk if you are still learning content.

Bright.9160:

a t s e.9614:

Hey what’s the prohlem with TC RPers? We are not douchbags like SoR . These guys will follow one person in WvW just to \dance on his body ..

I didn’t say there’s anything wrong with RP’ing. If you want to RP, feel free to do so.

I was saying that some RP’ers tend to have personalities set out for their characters and more often than not it’s going to be a tanky warrior or guardian, or a supportive elementalist etc.

I have yet to hear of an RP’er that makes personalities for his characters that says “my character always runs the most optimal build and likes killing stuff swiftly”.

Having been on TC for 11 months now, I would definitely say it’s the California of the NA worlds (sorry that this comparison is probably lost on non-US people). Lots of personality, which makes it a great place to visit, but if you try to pug via map chat, you may think the people you’re working with are a little weird (last time I did that, I got myself into a 25 minute “quick” CoF path 1). I just think of the RPers as extra NPCs that enhance my experience of Tyria.

BG might be a good server to visit.

If you’d like to try out NA, maybe transfer for a medium population server now since it’s free and think about which higher population server you’d want to reside on.

Arah P1 Ooze may be a bad test subject for professions with rotations that require movement or positioning (elementalist and thief) or have pets (mesmers, necros, rangers). Maybe Subject Alpha 1 before the path is picked? I’ve never seen what happens if he’s taken past 70% health because by then I’m seeing Mount Maelstrom’s loading screen. The champ before that might be alright for a quick test, too, since the only attacks that need to be dodged only occur every 30 seconds or so. Simin would indeed be an ideal subject if it weren’t so annoying to get to her.

For DnT’s big number shots, we use 1 ele, 2 rangers, and 1 warr. The rangers can burst vuln for the time to get one or two skills off, but would be able to sustain approximately 10 vuln by just spamming rapid fire and hunter’s shot if traited fully into marksmanship and having eaten a koi cake. Warrior, if traited fully into strength and with 10 in arms and with a koi cake, can probably keep up 7 vuln easy. Ele just auto attacking with a scepter in water attunement with at least a 30/25/0/0/0 build and a koi cake can add another 5-7. Honestly, I’d like to see a guard instead of a second ranger for the variety of boons and easy burning that it can provide, and that would get us up to 25 vuln and give all the fire fields and blast finishers needed for 25 might for a little while. Of course, this is all just mental math on my part, and an engineer could easily replace the ele. Not sure on the CD on its might rotation because my engi hasn’t been seeing much combat recently.

How about a low level Bloomhunger? If you bring a guard, it’s pretty much a lolstomp anyway. Stationary target, low damage (as long as you walk a little), and a decent HP pool. It’s just not up against a wall.

From a PvE perspective, lightning hammer isn’t all that great unless you have fire fields to keep the might going and party members that will help keep you alive. I see it as a way to keep the dps up when a S/D rotation is all out of burst.

Neko has some general PvE elementalist information: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/elementalist/Neko-s-Comp-Guide-to-the-Dungeon-Ele/first
Zelyhn has an excellent analysis of D/F: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/elementalist/Zelyhn-s-Advanced-PvE-Build-Direct-Damage/first
And Guang managed to make DPS staff a thing (but it’s even more boring than LH): http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/85568-lh-is-the-new-bearbow-the-real-staff-dps-build-for-manly-men/

But remember DPS oriented builds still aren’t all that great if you’re not running around with lots of zerk gear.

About the only thing that I’ll miss is having an easy 10 target AoE blind – now it’s only 5 targets. The rest of the documented changes won’t really impact me. Fresh air is still fine for PUGs as long as you’re doing good rotations. Zel said the fire staff dps build may have even received a buff of sorts (I haven’t confirmed), but that build isn’t much fun anyway.

spoj.9672:

Put 1 barrel on the rocks to the north of the pile of barrels. All the bandits should go for it and a get stuck. Then it should be easier for one person to run and get 2 barrels to the gate quickly. Could use thiefs shadowstep or sword 2 to teleport back faster.

I’d definitely go this route over taking a mesmer for a portal. Maybe even both, if the bandits unbug and teleport back when you start dropping barrels. The rangers’ wolves’ howl and entangle should give the thief enough time to hop back and forth.

durend.6237:

to make it even easier have the person that is 1 any class go as guard, put sanctuary over the barrel drop points while the thief is getting the final barrel.

A guard will also want Ring of Warding and possibly even Line of Warding in addition to Sanctuary.

Tree.3916:

You guys were attacking! Exploit!

Player Character.9467:

You guys didn’t use all 5 skills on cooldown! Exploit!

I’m so confused! Why can’t people agree on what’s an exploit and what is not?

Wow, great job you two!

obal.3218:

Nicely done. I’ve been wanting to duo the boss for months but never had anyone willing to go with me

You never ask!

Whoops, got the list of names wrong when I was putting it together. Snow’s ranger is Essence Ardor. Array is his mes.

In order of how fast the sparks would aggro to nearby stuff: bears >> spirits >> cats/moas > naked rangers. We actually had to reset a few times because a spark would stick to a frost spirit.

We could probably do it faster now that I figured out how to run my three sparks assuming Obal runs his two in first and they park in the right spots. But that would necessitate him not being petrified for the whole battle.