Gear:
Go for Power, then Power+Precision, then Power+Precision+Ferocity gear.
Weapons:
Try out Pistol+Shield and Rifle and see what you like more.
Utility skills:
Get Bomb Kit, play around with the rest.
Traits:
Once you have 2 trait points put 2 points in Tools for Speedy Kits (Tools VI) if you have to run around. Switch to 2 points in Explosives for Forceful Explosions (Explosives III) if know you don’t need a speed boost for a while. Get both once you have 4 trait points.
Afterwards put points into Explosives and Firearms to get Power and Precision.
Once you unlock Master level traits you might want to add Backpack Regenerator (Alchemy IX) for more survivability.
In GW1 the different elemental damage types were mostly indifferent, more important was the difference between armor-ignoring and non armor-ignoring damage.
To be honest, making the difference between different elemental damage types practically non-existing or truly non-existing is better because then it allows the developers to make the mechanic of the different elements truly different, instead of having to makes them almost the same, just with a different damage type.
I do far more damage with LB than with GS infact I only use GS to run away or to catch up..
Why are people saying ranger does more damage? I can dish out a full 20k burst with long bow with rapid fire while with GS I’m lucky if I get a 2-4k crit with the second skill
You do realize that Rapid Fire shows you the added up damage of all shots, not the damage of each individual shot, right? Each arrow deals about 2k.
If you manage to get ~20k damage with Rapid Fire you should see around 9k numbers with Greatsword #2; if not the circumstances have changed, e.g. because you were down-leveled.
Isn’t there only something like 4 encounters in the entire game where good/high dps is a must?
Maybe, but there are a lot of fights that become easier if your group has a good damage output, e.g. the Spider Queen and Kholer in AC, two of the final bosses in AC, the weapon smith boss in CoF story, or the fights against the tunnels/nests in AC and CoF.
Gear:
Go for Power, then Power+Precision, then Power+Precision+Ferocity gear.
Weapons:
Try out Pistol+Shield and Rifle and see what you like more.
Utility skills:
Get Bomb Kit, play around with the rest.
Traits:
Get Speedy Kits (Tools VI) first, then Forceful Explosions (Explosives III). Once you unlock Master level traits you might want to add Backpack Regenerator (Alchemy IX) for more survivability.
About support type character in PvE:
Even though the Engineer has a wide arrange of support (AoE blind, Fire field and group Might, Smoke field and Stealth, Vulnerability, snares, knockback, condition remove, water field) to be helpful to your team none of these kinds of support are crucial for the team’s success.
If you want to provide your team with crucial support play a Guardian, their reflects, absorbs, Aegis, Stability, and Protection make a lot of fights noticeable easier.
Rather, make Stow Weapon work consistently. Right now it often requires multiple press to get your character to stop attacking even with normal weapons.
With conjured weapons or kits you have no way to stop attacking.
Did you had 3+ points in Alchemy? Because then you have the minor trait Transmute which converts every 15 seconds a condition that’s applied to you into a boon:
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Transmute
Fear would be converted into Stability, so you properly run into a Fear mark.
PvE or WvW?
15 characters
PvE or PvP?
For dungeons Focus is often better than Dagger off-hand, and you should only use Staff if you’re the second Ele in the group.
In open PvE I get the best results with Staff, so I neither use Focus nor Dagger off-hand.
why rifle over p/s? Wouldnt the extra blast finisher make p/s more valuable or is that small damage boost from rifle 3&5 better?
Also, Shield #4 is a knockback which can scatter mobs or push bosses out of AoEs/away from a wall so it may be disadvantageous to use it during a fight.
Just equip a shield before a fight to stack Might, then switch to Rifle. By the time you could use Shield #4 again the fight should be already or almost over.
On a side note what pets are good for dungeons?
Cats (Jaguar, Snow Leopard, Jungle Stalker, Lynx) if you want to maximize damage, drakes if you want to play it safe. I’ve heard that apparently birds (Raven, White Raven, Owl, Hawk, Eagle) are also good for damage but I have no insight regarding that.
The following link might be interesting for you: (it may be outdated, though)
http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/80554-ranger-pet-dps-comparison/
Forgive me since I don’t have a Ranger yet but isn’t the solution to this simple. (…)
The solution is to run whatever you want in PvE, and what’s best for your team in dungeons; as a general rule that means no ranged fighters and no single-target damage.
That doesn’t necessary means ranged weapons can’t be viable, e.g. Staff Eles and grenade Engineers can be very good in dungeons; however they have to stand in melee range as well, otherwise they might pull bosses out of the range/AoE of their allies or scatter mobs out of AoEs.
I don’t fault your logic but a few points…and I come from a purely PVP background so I don’t know the higher end PVE details.
(…)
How common is vuln stacking on those other builds in PVE, just wondering about the relative opportunity cost as well.
Ah yeah, PvP is a totally different beast than PvE.
Dunno what exactly you mean by “other builds” and “relative opportunity cost”…
The meta Ranger build has Opening/Alpha Strike and possibly Greatsword #2 if it’s used.
I don’t know of any meta Warrior build that doesn’t put either 4+ points in Arms for Forceful Greatswords or 6 points for Dual Wield Agility. The alternative to Rending Strike is Deep Strike, so you’ll lose 40-80 personal Precision, builds with 6 points in Arms often take both, so the opportunity cost is close to zero.
Fresh Air Dagger/off-hand Eles have 6 points in Air Magic already for Fresh Air, so the opportunity cost for them is zero.
For LH Eles it depends if they want to have Air Training and Arcane Lighting, then they get it for free as well. If not they don’t have access to Air Magic 5, they would had to give up either permanent Vigor or ~10% for it.
Staff Eles usually never put more than 4 points into Air Magic; likewise, they would had to give up either permanent Vigor or ~10% for it.
The 5/6/0/0/2 Thief build (last point either in Deadly Arts or Trickery) would had to give up Mug for Sundering Strikes which isn’t a big loss for this build.
However it would be a big hit for the 2/6/0/0/6 Thief build because that build focuses more on Steal.
Grenade Engineers put 6 points in Explosives for Grenadier already, so they get Explosives 5 for free. Likewise, almost all dungeon Engineer builds put 6 points in Firearms for Modified Ammunition, so Precise Sights, even though it’s far less impressive as Explosive 5, is also very accessible. The opportunity cost is that you have to bring an Engineer, which doesn’t bring any unique bonus to your party, like e.g. the banners from Warriors, the conjured weapons from Eles, or the defensive support of Guardians.
What about vulnerability stacking? Ranger is really good at this through LB esp if paired with sigil. Are there other classes that can do it better?
25% = 25% of everyone and every pet’s bonus damage. I don’t think that’s insignificant.
If you’re using a Longbow you need to be 1000+ away from your target, meaning you are very restricted in where you can place your banners and spirits to affect the whole team, you won’t benefit from Empower Allies, and your allies won’t benefit from your Spotter, and you won’t get any Might stacks and Fury your team creates during a fight.
Maybe I’m missing something but how is a LB Ranger “really good” at stacking Vulnerability?
All I can see are 10 very short-lived stacks through Opening Strike, 10 more from Longbow #2, and another 5 very short-lived stacks if you have Remorseless from Longbow #3.
So, expect for the first 5 seconds of a fight a LB Ranger inflicts on average less than 9 stacks of Vulnerability, and less than 12 with Remorseless.
A Warrior gets around 9-10 from Rending Strikes, an Dagger/Focus Ele gets 5-20 from 5+ points in Air Magic, dunno how much a Thief gets from Sundering Strikes, but I guess somewhere between 5 and 10.
A grenade Engineer gets over 20.
In dungeons I use the standard 5/5/0/4/0 or 3/5/0/4/2 Hammer+<variable> build, so nothing much to talk about.
In open PvE I run 0/3/0/6/5:
http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fVAQJASWlsApXolCxVI8DNBARlbREh2FAYHD9wPA-TBRPwAfU+BUXAA1fcpEEA-e
With Honor VII and +25% boon duration you can get a lot of Swiftness from Staff 3 and “Retreat!”.
Virtues IX kind of frees up an utility skill slot because I don’t have to bring a conditoin remove.
3 points in Radiance allow me to blind multiple mobs per mob I kill.
Honor VII and Honor X turns the auto attack chain of Hammer into a formidable self-heal; it’s especially good for me because I often play with a MM Necro in open PvE.
Berserker is best if most or everyone of your teams use it, too; if you’re are the only one mobs might die too slow so you’ll eventually get downed.
If that doesn’t help go Hammer, 5/5/0/4/0 or 3/5/0/4/2 Hammer deals still a lot of damage, and permanent Protection is +50% armor.
If you’re still dying, try 3/5/0/6/0 or 3/3/0/6/2 Hammer and healing symbols.
You could try SD Rifle:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fdAQFAUlUUpkrdZxmKseNidBN6u8EgOARYri6gA
In open PvE the last trait would be ‘Scope’, for dungeons something like ‘Adrenal Implant’ or ‘Armor Mods’ is properly more useful.
For open PvE having another armor to switch, e.g. Soldier, to be less squishy is very handy, however in dungeons Berserker is the best option. Find a somewhat decent group that take the time to explain a few things to you, though.
If you’re not doing WvW much the most sensible choice would be Soldier for the world bosses that are immune to crits.
However imo masterwork trinkets are good enough for that, so I rather suggest you follow the advice of Zagerus or Cygnus.
The main issue with the Flamethrower is that its #1 sucks. It deals low damage, and ever since almost all effects that trigger on hit/critical have an ICD its high attack speed is more of an disadvantage (Retaliation) than an advantage.
Ever since its nerf Juggernaut is almost an useless trait that you only take because you have 25 or 30 points in Firearms for Firearms 25 and Firearms XI anyway.
Because the Engineer already has two “weapons” that can be played as Power weapons (Bomb Kit, Grenade Kit) I don’t think another Power weapon is necessary, and I doubt the developers think otherwise.
Instead, change Juggernaut to the following:
+200 Toughness
Flame Jet applies 1s(PvP)/2s(PvE) of Cripple and Weakness
It would make FT better in open PvE because Cripple compensates for the low mobility of FT, and with condition duration equipment and/or food it would be possible to debuff even bosses (almost) constantly with Weakness, which can be useful for some dungeons/fractals.
Get a Soldier armor set from the karma vendors:
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Temple_armor
(As a heavy armor profession you can get 4 pieces of armor with Melandru runes this way)
Buy/craft fine/masterwork Berserker trinkets. I wouldn’t bother getting exotic trinkets; you can get ascended trinkets quite easily with dailies (amulet and possibly accessories), Fractals of the Mists (rings) and guild missions (accessories):
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Ascended#Trinkets
Start doing the dungeons Citadel of Flame and/or Crucible of Eternity to get tokens for your exotic Berserker armor.
Get an exotic Berserker Hammer and/or 1H Sword first, after that a Greatsword because it’s often used as a secondary weapon set. You can postpone the other weapons because you won’t use them as often and/or they are off-hand weapons and you don’t attack with them often.
You may want to stay with fine/masterwork/rare versions of the other weapons and go directly to ascended.
The Bomb Kit is properly the best “weapon” to level, so Power and to a lesser degree Precision and Ferocity.
In open PvE I use:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fdAQJAqelUUpEr9ZxdLseRSaBNq0AqMKyQulPPhA8UA-TRRNgAnK/A0DEt/Ai6P2KBDAgAwEn4En4EnYA-e
Reasoning:
Unlike in dungeons/fractals you often don’t have other players around you, so if you get downed you often die shortly afterwards, and thus have to teleport away, run back (and maybe fight your way through again) and continue. Therefor my priority is to not get downed.
Shield offers a reflect or an additional blast finisher; imo too nice not to have. MH Pistol gives you an AoE blind. Giver because if you wanted to deal damage you would use a Rifle anyway.
Firearms III and Alchemy I to have almost constantly Vigor during fights, Tools IV to have permanent Swiftness to run around the map quicker. Alchemy IX is an almost constant little self-heal, very useful in open PvE.
Explosives III increases the radius of bombs (and mines, if you use Throw Mine instead of Grenade Kit); unlike in dungeons you can rarely stack mobs, so a bigger radius is very helpful. It also makes Bomb Kit passable for “leeching” events by quickly tagging mobs; alternatively you can use the Flame Thrower.
Explosives VIII instead of VII because in open PvE I rather be able to blind, snare, slow my enemies than dealing a little more damage.
Explosives XI is replaced with VII if you’re not using Grenade Kit.
Good alternatives for Grenade Kit are Throw Mine or Tool Kit.
In open PvE I use:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fdAQJAqelUUpEr9ZxdLseRSaBNq0AqMKyQulPPhA8UA-TRRNgAnK/A0DEt/Ai6P2KBDAgAwEn4En4EnYA-e
Reasoning:
Unlike in dungeons/fractals you often don’t have other players around you, so if you get downed you often die shortly afterwards, and thus have to teleport away, run back (and maybe fight your way through again) and continue. Therefor my priority is to not get downed.
Shield offers a reflect or an additional blast finisher; imo too nice not to have. MH Pistol gives you an AoE blind. Giver because if you wanted to deal damage you would use a Rifle anyway.
Firearms III and Alchemy I to have almost constantly Vigor during fights, Tools IV to have permanent Swiftness to run around the map quicker. Alchemy IX is an almost constant little self-heal, very useful in open PvE.
Explosives III increases the radius of bombs (and mines, if you use Throw Mine instead of Grenade Kit); unlike in dungeons you can rarely stack mobs, so a bigger radius is very helpful. It also makes Bomb Kit passable for “leeching” events by quickly tagging mobs; alternatively you can use the Flame Thrower.
Explosives VIII instead of VII because in open PvE I rather be able to blind, snare, slow my enemies than dealing a little more damage.
Explosives XI is replaced with VII if you’re not using Grenade Kit.
Good alternatives for Grenade Kit are Throw Mine or Tool Kit.
A little explanation for insanemaniac’s suggestion:
During leveling you’ll be running around a lot. Being able to run faster speeds up boring errands, and overall speeds up leveling. That’s what Speedy Kits (Tools VI) is for.
The best leveling “weapon” for an Engineer is the Bomb Kit. If you use it make sure you kite your enemies, don’t just stand there and let them hit you; running around in circles works well.
Future traits and gear should improve Bomb Kit, meaning Power, Precision, Explosives (Power) and Firearms (Precision).
Rocket Boots (and Speedy Gadgets (Tools III)) are mostly used for faster traveling.
You can also deploy it, activate Cleansing Burst and immediately pick it up again.
That way you get a “portable” ~16s condition remove and slightly more healing over time compared to blowing it up.
Sigils are always active, and equipping/unequipping kits count as a weapon swap.
For dungeons, ditch the Elixirs and get some blast finisher like Elixir Gun, Rifle Turret, Rocket Boots, or Throw Mine and Healing Turret; mostly the Elixirs are not reliable enough to make them worth an utility slot.
If you have no Thief in your group consider switching to Pistol/Shield for an additional Blind.
Well, if you’d like to show me all the GK guides out there on IntoTheMists and Guru with Fireforged Trigger, 20 points in Alchemy for longer boons, and Altruism runes, I’ll more than happy to see you link them.
30/10/0/20/10 is actually a fairly common trait distribution for GK; it’s even one of the builds in Guanglai Kangyi’s guide over at gw2guru.
Most people advice against to use 6 Altruism runes for the same reason they advice against bringing Elixir B for Stability or Elixir U for reflects: Either your team has it already covered, then your contribution becomes redundant, or it hasn’t it covered, then your contributions doesn’t cut it.
I believe that the FT/EG combo provides superior support precisely because it isn’t a “damage over all else” mindset.
Just because it deals less damage doesn’t mean it provides better support.
- Your FT/EG provides faster recharging EG, 3 stacks more Might (2xAltruism), and short-lived Fury (6xAltruism); the Fury becomes redundant if there’s either one decent Ranger, Ele or Warrior in your party.
- GK/BK/EG provides two to four times as much Blind, and a 10-15% damage boost for the whole party against bosses.
- BK/EG provides as much Might, slightly more Blind, and a 3-4% damage boost for the whole party against bosses.
There are certainly group compositions where the support your FT/EG provides is the most useful, e.g. no Ranger/Ele/Warrior, a S/P Thief for Blind, and one or more who inflict a lot of Vulnerability. However, claiming that FT/EG provides “superior support” because of that is what many consider a false/misleading statement because for many group compositions it provides worse support.
Does it have to be about damage? I am new to dungeons and what I cobbled together was pis/shield , Heal Tur, Tk, Ek, Elix R. I thought having all that tanking and healing would be useful even if I couldn’t pound out dps.
What keeps your team alive in dungeons is active defensive, like reflects, Aegis, Protection etc.; passive stats like Toughness, Vitality, Healing Power or selfish active defensive like Tool Kit #4 might keep you alive but not your team, and if your team dies you die, too.
So it’s better to try to increase your team’s damage and survivability; in the case of the Engineer that would be with Vulnerability, Blind, fire fields, water fields and blast finishers.
To level quickly you want two things: Power to kill foes faster, and Swiftness to travel across the map faster.
Get a minor Sigil of Bloodlust; it costs less than 1 silver and provides a significant damage boost at lower levels.
You should get Bomb Kit and Med Kit ASAP; Bomb Kit will be your main source of damage and Med Kit your main source of Swiftness.
Other important skills are Elixir Gun, Flamethrower, Rocket Boots, Healing Turret and Grenade Kit: Elixir Gun is your general tool box, Flamethrower is good to farm events with lots of mobs, Rocket Boots will get you across the map a little faster, and Healing Turret will become your default healing skills once you’re level 20; at lower levels Grenade Kit is mostly useful for the debuffs of #3 and #4.
Put your first 9 points into Explosives for more damage. Once you’re level 20 respec and put 10 points in Tools for Speedy Kits for perma Swiftness. Put your next 10 points in Explosives for more damage and bigger bomb radius. Put your next 10 points in Firearms for more damage.
Once you’re level 40 put 10 points in Tools and 20 in Explosives for more damage, bigger bomb radius and 10% more damage. Put the remaining points either in Firearms or Tools for more damage or Alchemy for Vigor.
Once you’re level 60 put 10 points in Tools and 30 in Explosives for Shrapnel/bigger bomb radius, 10% more damage or 20% less recharge and Grenadier. From now on Grenade Kit becomes your default range weapon set and Bomb Kit your default melee weapon set. Put the remaining points either in Firearms or Tools for more damage or Alchemy for Vigor.
Like I said in the other thread, the “elitists” will come forth if one says a false or misleading statement; and claiming FT/EG offers more/better support than GK/BK is a very debatable statement.
Incendiary Powder – Adept Explosives major trait
Critical hits inflict Burning for 4 seconds, 10 seconds cooldown
Incendiary Ammo – Flamethrower Tool Belt skill
Your next 3 attacks cause 3 seconds of Burning, 60 seconds cooldown
I’m not sure what you mean when you mean. Should Incendiary Powder inflict Burning regardless of critical hits?
Something I’ve written in a similar thread:
The main strength of an Engineer is that he can inflict 20+ stacks of Vulnerability with grenades and at the same time buff his team with 9-15 stacks of Might via the Bomb Kit. In addition he brings decent group healing and condition remove via the Healing Turret and potentially Elixir Gun, and a lot of Blind via Grenade Kit, Bomb Kit and potentially MH Pistol.
However, even though no other profession can bring so much support as the Engineer in a single build an Engineer cannot bring anything unique; Eles have Frost Bow and Fiery Greatsword, Warriors have banners, Ranger has Frost Spirit and Spotter, Guardian has reflection, Stability and Aegis, Thief has perma-Blind and Mesmer has reflection. If you have access to every profession for your last 2-3 party slots it’s often better to bring a profession that can specialize in an area your team lacks in than a jack-of-all-trades like the Engineer.
It’s not like a group won’t be able to finish a dungeon with one or two Engineers in their group, though. The difference is that e.g. your typical AC run takes 15 minutes instead of 14; so unless your group tries to break speed records most groups won’t mind to take an Engineer.
http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/87389-engineer-viable-in-pve/
I’d recommend trying out the current FT/EG combo setup. Less damage, but better support.
But better support? How better support compared to Healing turret + grenades + bombs + EG?
Assuming the GK/BK Engineer doesn’t put 10+ points in Firearms the recharge of Elixir Gun skills will be faster; however I neither understand how that’s more support than roughly three times as much Blind and 20+ stacks of Vulnerability.
I’d say range is an argument, because Fumigate is at 450 range while Grenade Kit users will many times put themselves at 1500. You can argue that using the Bomb Kit will put you close to mobs at times, but that’s not where you spend the majority of your time unless you feel like dodging a lot and making Enduring Damage worthless.
If a GK Engineer puts himself 1.5k away from the mobs/his allies he’s a top candidate for a kick, or at least to be not invited for a second run.
You need to dodge very rarely in dungeons, usually mobs/bosses die too fast to deal significant damage, and if so that’s where Blind, reflection, Aegis and/or Protection comes in.
(edited by DesertRose.2031)
If we don’t focus on pure damage builds, but rather some kind of semi-damage support build. Any viable options then?
Grenade Kit, Bomb Kit, Elixir Gun, Healing Turret.
With Grenade Kit you’ll inflict 20+ stacks of Vulnerability, give your team 9-15 stacks of Might with Bomb Kit #2 and blast finisher, group healing and condition remove with Healing Turret and Elixir Gun, a lot of Blind with Grenade Kit #3, Bomb Kit #4 and potentially Pistol #3.
However it makes heavy use of Grenade Kit and Bomb Kit which you don’t want to use.
As an alternative you could use Flamethrower, Elixir Gun, Healing Turret and another blast finisher, however you will inflict no or next to no Vulnerability, no or next to no snares/slows, far less Blind and everything else at best as good as the above build.
The Engineer’s best build for damage is also the Engineer’s best build for support; that’s why pretty much everyone suggests to run Grenade Kit/Bomb Kit.
All dungeon builds I’ve seen seems to be based around the grenades and the bomb kit. Is there a viable build without those two kits?
You could try a Flamethrower build, however you’ll have considerably less damage and support.
Link you provided does not consider the Opportunist. The very thing this thread is about
Compare:
1 initiative. 50% on hit. 5 sec cooldown.
1 initiative. 30% on hit. 1 sec cooldown.
At some point (with high enough hits/second) this is a 80% nerf.
Yes, if you have a 100% crit chance and attack an infinite number of times per second it’s a 80% nerf.
In a slightly more realistic setting, e.g. 100% crit chance and 4 attacks per second it’s already only roughly a 50% nerf.
And as quoted above, someone run a simulation for Ricochet Unload spamming, which is one of the build that is hit the hardest by this nerf, and according to his simulation it’s only a 0.2% to 3.2% nerf due to the passive regeneration buff.
Do you have any links to those?
Cause so far any numbers I’ve seen that look reliable indicate a init generation buff in the Dec. Patch:
http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/87008-changes-to-initiative-on-december-10th-preview/#entry2253455
Smoke Bomb ticks once every 2 seconds for 4 seconds, meaning it blinds once 0 seconds, 2 seconds and 4 seconds after explosion.
It doesn’t blind every second anymore since the Dec. 2012 patch.
Someone over at the gw2guru forum wrote a program to calculate to compare the init gain of Opportunist before and after the patch:
Results:
Against 1 foe, you’re basically exactly the same, doing 99.8% of current damage, with essentially the same number of unloads.
Against 2 foes, it’s 97.8% damage, and you’ve lost ~0.8 Unloads/minute.
Against 3 foes, it’s 96.8% damage, losing ~1.0 Unloads/minute.
Against 4 foes, is the same as ratios as against 3.So yes, it’s a nerf. But it’s only a 3.2% nerf when you were actually able to constantly fire into a crowd.
30/0/0/10/10 is a very solid starting point:
http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fcAQJAqelIqiY3zyuF17IyoCdmoC53nHvVaBhA-e
With 10 points in Alchemy and Tools you have permanent Swiftness and Vigor, the former is good for open PvE, the later is good for dungeons, especially if unfamiliar with the dungeon/boss. 30 points in Explosives enables you to use both the Grenade Kit and the Bomb Kit.
The Grenade Kit is very good at inflicting Vulnerability and to do damage when close range combat is too dangerous, the Bomb Kit is used for melee range (e.g. if the enemy has reflection) and for fire fields which you can use for Might via blast finisher. The Bomb Kit itself, Elixir Gun #4, Shield #4 and Detonate Healing Turret provide the blast finisher. Elixir Gun is also useful for the condition remove of #5 and the Cripple/Swiftness of #2. The Healing Turret, once you’re making use of its water fields, provide almost equal healing as the Med Kit but has more condition remove and party heal so I prefer it.
You rather free spending your last 20 points, I spend them in Tools to get 10% more damage, more crit damage and Tool Belt skill recharge rate.
-
After the next update in December you properly want to use this build:
http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fcAQJAqelIqiY3zyuF1rICoH1FAMife8WpFEC-e
The last 10 points go either into Alchemy for permanent Vigor during fights (with Firearms III) (more of a dungeon build) or Tools for permanent Swiftness outside of combat (more of a open PvE build).
I also don’t really see how the 30/0 is better than 30/25 for newbies
I haven’t looked at Nike’s calculations very closely but if I have understood them correctly 30/25 is best because damage booster like Arms 25 get stronger the more you already have, and because with exotic/ascended gear, group-buffs like Fury and food you have so much precision that the 15% higher crit chance of Discipline XII hardly matters.
A newbie properly doesn’t have a 10% damage sigil and potion for every dungeon, the best possible food and only rare, masterwork or not even level 80 gear. Under those assumptions the damage difference of those builds should be smaller or even in favor of 30/0, not sure.
The main reason why I suggested 30/0 is because I think it’s slightly easier to play, though.
Your gear looks solid, with it you shouldn’t have much troubles dealing damage or surviving. Get Honor VII, it improves the uptime of Protection greatly and you should be able to survive more easily.
If you want a new build I advice 0/25/0/20/25. While neither the best build for Sword/Focus+Greatsword nor Hammer it’s good for both; so you can use Sword/Focus for open PvE and dungeons you’re already familiar with and Hammer+Staff for new dungeons.
We cannot tell you if you would playing Ele is fun. Outside of the mentioned E/Mo healing/protection build and some tank’n’spank spike builds in specific regions Eles are not top-tiers, though.
Taking an Ele instead of a melee is somewhat comparable to taking a Cleric Hammer Guardian instead of another Berserker; the run will be slower, some fights are harder but overall you can play more relaxed because you can do more errors without dying.
I didn’t say buff their damage, I said buff them.
Whether its lower cooldowns, or higher damage, or whatever, the other kits aren’t on par.
Then spend some time to come up with concrete suggestions!
Saying “buff this, nerf that” is hardly more than trolling.
Ever since the Flame Axe buff I’ve been running this in open PvE:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEAQJArYhEmAc0R3gjFAkCoEecwAFMK0hogFlC5A
With two conjures I almost always have one in my hands even if someone steals my second conjured weapon or I leave it behind. With Fire Magic XI, the fire fields and blast finisher from Fire, Earth and the Flame Axe I have virtually permanent Fury.
Before you conjure a weapon switch to Earth and cast #2, that will give you 250 extra Toughness.
Imo there are better options in dungeons, though. You can tell your teammates not to pick up your LH, and if they have some brains they won’t be doing it. LH has a blast finisher and if your team provides you with fire fields you end up with even more Might stacks than with Flame Axe. It also frees one utility slot.
Best build for hardcore players:
http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/83915-axemace-dps-build-for-dungeons-and-fractals-101513/
However for new players I rather suggest a variation of the old meta build before Empower Allies was moved to Master:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fIAQNAnZDjcOBvZPMxBAzjhCqI1D7mrtUhwA-e
You forgo of the Greatsword as your second weapon set and lose some damage and mobility but so you don’t have to bother with weapon swapping and can focus on learning the dungeon. Inspiring Banners allows you to have your Banner(s) out almost all the time so you don’t need to learn right now when the right time to use them is.
Once you’re more familiar with the dungeons you can switch the Longbow with a Greatsword and bring Strength IX, Tactics VI, and Discipline VIII.
It would be nice if Phantasmal Disenchanter and Phantasmal Defender would be cast on yourself, meaning they don’t require a target, would follow you and target their “attack” towards you.
In GW1 Eles did awful damage but had good support and energy management (GW1 had a classic mana system where skills both had an energy cost and a recharge time), so they were usually used as the team’s toolbox: A high-damaging skill here to assist the melees during a spike, a blind there to hamper the enemy’s spike, an expensive skill from the second profession (GW1 had a dual-class system), and so on.
While in GW1’s PvE the rule “damage > all” was also prevalent support was more complex and rewarding; an Earth Ele with Assassin’s Promise (second-class skill from the Assassin) only did around 1/3 the damage of a Warrior/Assassin/Dervish/melee Ranger (which is still far more than most Ele build can dish out) almost permanent AoE blind and knockdown greatly increased the error margin for your team.
Outside of some highly specialized tank’n’spank spike builds Eles were never used as damage dealers, at least not by players that knew what they are doing.
At some point ANet introduced a skill-split between PvE and PvP, and the result was an extreme power creep. Eles, like all other casters, didn’t got much extra damage out of this, but Eles got insane energy management and self heal, and with the ER Ele/Monks turned into the best healers/protectors in PvE.
I run 30/10/10/10/10.
With a few major trait adjustments you can either run the Lava Font Staff build or a conjure build. Afaik you’ll lose ~10% damage compared to the most damaging LH build and ~7% damage compared to the most damaging Lava Font build, however you gain permanent Vigor due to your 10 points in Arcane Power.
I haven’t played an Ele in fractals yet, though.