Guild Wars 2

Its pretty hard to be a healer without HoT since the only good healing build is with tempest.

Metabattle.com is a good source for new players

Mbelch.9028:

Heyyo, Bad Ele!

I feel for a while it was super outclassed by a bunch of things, but there’s still a niche. Your build is not super close, but seems viable. Try water runes and swap out air for earth if you want to survive 3v1.

I see, I just noticed damage on interupts so I assumed you had lightning rod. I just went with that and tried to meat your vitality stats. Maybe ill give roaming a shot

In my humble opinion, this build would be much better with easier access to stealth. Is there any benefit to using bounded dodger for stealth? Or would the use of pistol 5 cost to much initiative to be worth it?

I don’t main thief but I applaud the effort to theory craft new builds.

I don’t think its every been unviable in wvw tbh man. As far as roaming goes it wasn’t very good in the mobility department so the chances of being outnumbered and not escaping and/or outranged by rangers is high.

I’m personally no longer a fan of roaming because of certain builds people play that abuse the high stats.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vFAQJAoYhcMozhNOwnB8RM0AYSgMAEDpjQN4HUZhb4UA-TlRSwAUUSUR5GR9AjUCCY/hvq/IKI0C-w

Am I close to your build?

Hi friend. It is known that if you angle your camera downwards it will slightly decrease how far the skill will travel. A neat trick is incorporating lighting flash onto the target during the animation

I’m sorry but if the current meta doesn’t fit your play style than it hasn’t since heart of thorns came out.

The biggest difference this season is the amount of corrupt necros and condi revs running about.

If a thief can kill you in 1 second he:
1. +1’d a fight at the right time
2. Is hacking
3. You have a berserker/murauder amulet on and no ways to avoid damage

The only builds ele can play reasonably is the d/f menders (i’d personally go magis this season) or S/F FA ele (Decent in low-mid tier play but struggles in high tier play, not recommended unless you are experienced with ele).

You might get away with a d/d build if the other team has no necros.

I think the balance team knows a bit more than you guys as far as the direction they are trying to take each class. Is every decision made a good one? No, but every balance change was made with long-term goals in mind for that class. I haven’t been happy with alot of things, but in the long run they have turned out better for the overall state of pvp.

They’ve been slow but have addressed alot of the core problems about the game mode since heart of thorns came out. Its too bad that once the game mode reaches its healthiest state, new specializations are going to come out.

To make it as simple as possible, The best way to get damage is to maximize your power stat. It’s been proven to have better overall damage than investing in crit damage/crit chance. That being said, I would try to shoot for 50% crit chance. If you are looking into reliable damage that isn’t so dependent on your health I would look into pack runes or strength runes.

The site provides good baselines. The rest is building to your group comps needs.

This is a great example of great gameplay. Arcane power testing aside, this video helped me recognize my own weaknesses with sc/f.

You could go damage and support them with aura sharing? Personally I don’t think sc/x is that good unless you go full damage

Both are bad and here is why.

1. This meta improved boon corrupt/steal making our dependency on boons an even bigger downfall.

2. Melee ele cannot function without protection+healing+condi removal

3. The meta favors necro and condi rev which is a hard to deal with.

I see what you are doing with one with fire and it would be great if we could utilize all that might, however it is not realistic with how boons are getting ripped.

Your options this season is to either go full support like usual or to create a build that does not rely on boons (FA ele if it was actually good)

ProDecius.2609:

Meh I don’t care about CONDI ele, only scepter focus burst ele and anet deleted the sigils it needed. My favorite build in the game and “poof” it’s gone. I chose to play FA ele under the idea that I would never get a nerf because my build is under powered and from 2012. OH my did I underestimate anets ability to ruin everything. I honestly might never play spvp again after this patch.

I understand why anet got rid of them. They were so much better that other choices weren’t really an option. I’d say its better for the health of the game though it pretty much confirms that sc/f ele was never one of their focuses. They probably want to make the new specialization the selling point for dps ele.

I understand why they nerfed alot of the strong options for ele (people always feel like they have to choose those option) but they didn’t give much to help core ele.

My overall thoughts from the percpective of an elementalist is
1. necros have too much boon corrupt/removal options
2. Torment is too affective on revenant
3. Teams with more condi have a distinct advantage (maybe provide better team condi removal)
4. this season is going to be more condi heavy than the last

I think the art of d/d has been lost to most of the ele community. Maybe I should create an up-to-date guide. I can honestly say I am worse at d/d now than I was 3 years ago.

d/d is still pretty fun in pvp even though it won’t be very affective in high tier matches.

If anyone is interested in a guide feel free to message me suggestions/ideas.

I won’t go out of my way to say this is OP or even meta but here is a fun power d/d ele build with decent sustain.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vFAQJAoYhcMoxhdOwwB8RMQAY1aIJWGoswRIKEFgAwCA-TpQQABAs/A0lBAA

Its very rotational and might-centric like pre-hot and is easy to focus down if the ele does not manage his skills affectively, but it offers rewarding damage, above average condi clear and above average healing.

Jski.6180:

FrownyClown.8402:

Jski.6180:

FrownyClown.8402:

Duration nerfs on defensive skills/traits. It just gives enemies a larger window to kill you. I would say its justified as long as thief/dh/warrior got a decent power nerf.

So about that condi nerf and ele’s condi def?

I haven’t really read other classes stuff tbh. I will look at it later

No update in that i am talking about the lack of ele dmg mitigation vs condi protection is nice but over all it dose nothing for most of the dmg in the game now as in condli dmg.

Ele got a 25 sec 5 stack of burning but that about all glyph will do now because every thing else on it is bad.

Over all more core ele nerfs because of tempest class. That the spvp nerfs to ele.

From changes to rev alone d/x ele is going to have a hard time. I understand why all the nerfs to classes happened (it eliminates alot of auto proc and slows the pace of the game down slightly), but they still have not addressed the fact that condi damage has always been more affective than power damage.

My advice is the same as the build above. Use magi’s and focus on condi removal. I used the build last season and it was better overall than mender’s IMO.

My hope is that the changes to the power melee classes is enough to put d/d ele back on the radar because the on-point pressure from power classes was too much to deal with.

S/f ele seems out of the question atm since the damage from sigils was reduced and their condi mitigation isn’t all that great

Imagine how great this game would be if condition damage never existed

Jski.6180:

FrownyClown.8402:

Duration nerfs on defensive skills/traits. It just gives enemies a larger window to kill you. I would say its justified as long as thief/dh/warrior got a decent power nerf.

So about that condi nerf and ele’s condi def?

I haven’t really read other classes stuff tbh. I will look at it later

Duration nerfs on defensive skills/traits. It just gives enemies a larger window to kill you. I would say its justified as long as thief/dh/warrior got a decent power nerf.

How about when you get killed right before a match starts and you have to sit in a 15s timer while the game starts without you

Everyone would run cele if it was reintroduced. Have fun fighting cele warrior or cele reaper

Hey guys I got this build a week ago from the forums and I wanted to post some gameplay of it in action.

The build is in the link.

This build is pretty good, but if the other team has alot of shield guards and a good ele than I wouldn’t run it.

Let me know what you think =)

Sigil of Frailty is still not going to be used because its a damage modifier that can be removed. Its like a weak version of sigil of strength that we have now. Increase the stacks to 3 and reduce the duration to 8 seconds might do the trick.

Sigil of battle still pretty weak. The duration seems fine but the amount of might stacks for the duration do not.

The thing about condi damage is it requires party setup and communication to mitigate it affectively. An average pug group isn’t going to have resistance up or cleanse condis for their party. In a way it promotes organized groups.

Thief is the only class where you can be exponentially more useful the better your play. Its because the mechanics are different for one and its because its mobile enough to be a roamer/decapper. Simply knowing when to decap and +1 a fight makes you better than half the thieves out there

Dragon Dragon Dragon Dragon Rune

played about 10 matches with this build and so far its very good. Nos said i was best pug lmao

I tried it the dps is nice but gg vs thieves. I also forgot to switch sw/torch for gs so that might be why lmao

Happens if you dodge roll

I’d like to think ive given anet the benefit of the doubt, but i’ve been waiting for scepter to be viable for over 2 years now. Ive waited for offhand dagger to be viable for over a year.

You want feedback anet? Here is why each one doesn’t work

Scepter
-Carried by Fresh Air and superspeed
-Unhindered combatant on thief makes an already top tier mobile class able to reset a fight.
-Our potential damage is halved if we have to constantly run since half our skills dont utilize look behind. This is our biggest disadvantage. Since we are always on the run if we get focused we lose out on our damage. Alot run tempest for air overload to cover this weakness, but it makes running air and tempest almost required.

Dagger Offhand
-Product of old meta
-We do not have sustain we used to and can’t recover from corrupt/rip
-We have to spec for more damage but the sustain we lose to get it is too much
-Insane on point cleave that didn’t exist pre-hot
-Burn nerf (for real how can you justify burn guard right now after what you did to ele burns)
-Build relies on stacking might, but lacks sustain to do so.

How to improve scepter
-make DT actually hit targets
-Make shatterstone not tickle the enemy’s balls
-Reduce Cd of phoenix
-Nerf unhindered combatant on thief
-Nerf warrior

How to make offhand dagger viable
-frost aura applies freeze affect in 240 radius (mini chilled to the bone)
-RTL is 20s
-Make ele movable during churning earth
-Revert nerf to burning fire so cantrips grant might again.
(side note that the damage from mender’s with fire traitline is good, but we are pretty much a weak version of warrior)

TL;DR

ANET please quit trying to reduce CD’s of things and letting us test it for 3 months without understanding why it doesn’t work in the first place

You are a very talented thief, but christ the damage modifiers and stats on wvw give thief too much damage imo. Can pretty much 100-0 someone within the duration of basi venom lol

Ele still has a place in backline and frontline.

Feel free to send me a mail on how to beat warriors lol

From my experience these are the most underused sigils.

All condition duration sigils

Condi spike damage is far more effective than increasing duration of some condis. Increasing duration of chill has little meaning when most chills last like 2s anyhow. You would have to stack chill duration from multiple sources.

I do see meaning in increasing duration of things like chill cripple and stun, but a 20% modifier isn’t much unless the condi can be consistently reapplied

sigil of generocity

Relies on rng to randomly remove a condi. Not reliable

Sigl of nullification

More rng. It could remove 25 stacks of might or 2s of swiftness

Sigil of Rage

I like sigil of rage but its CD is too long. 1s of quickness with a 10s icd might be better though it competes with sigil of agility.

On Kill
Stat modifiers should be removed and others are meaningless in smaller fights. Much better utilized in wvw where you can get kill credit from tagging downed players

Sigil of Frailty

Not very good. Vulnerability is only affective if alot of it can be applied at once. Perhaps give it 5 stacks of vulnerability with kitten icd. I feel this type of sigil could be affective with Opening strike builds on ranger or some necro builds but it doesn’t suit “on hit”.

You can run most dangerous game with a trapper build. Makes for some nasty damage but its high risk high reward. I recommend sword/torch and axe/dagger with trapper runes.

Rune Suggestions

Power stat with boon duration. Only 1 exists right now and its not great.

Rework rune of the tempest for boon duration. Rework 6 skill since its very situational and not reliable. I’d do something like gain 1stack of stab for 1s everytime a shout is used (idk really its just bad right now).

For sigils add on interrupt

I tested it a few matches. The endurance was noticable but having 1 stun break still made it difficult. I want to incorperate it into a power build so ill play with it some more but so far it hasn’t been gamebreaking

cool concept ill give it a try and provide feedback

Warrior will be op.
Medi Guard varients will be strong (not as op as warrior)
Power reaper will be op
Ele will be stuck in d/f menders for another season
Ranger will probably run menders gs/staff with tiger for burst
Revenant will run ventari until people realize its not meta
Thief will still be top tier roamer
Engi will probably switch to condi builds
Mesmer will still poop out condis

The only thing that has made me angry recently is Anet putting bandaid fixes on ele scepter and offhand dagger without addressing the issues with those weapon sets. They think reducing cooldowns on skills will somehow make the weaponset viable.

After further testing the build is not viable. I am afraid offhand dagger will be just like scepter, buffs that never address the issue with the weapon. Builds too dependent on boons and not enough damage mitigation or condi cleanse. Its pretty ridiculous the amount of condis being kitten out these days.

Sorry anet but I can’t polish a terd

I forgot to mention fire grandmaster trait is personal preference. I chose that for fury and fire field uptime for stacking might. Blinding ashes is only useful in 1v1-2v2

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vFAQJAoYhcMowhdOwxBsSMQAY1aIJWGoswRIKEFgAwAA-TJxHABA8AAkvMgAnAAR2fAA

After 6 hours of testing this is the most viable build I think ele has for d/d. I really wanted to go back to the roots and get rid of tempest since might stacking doesnt work well with overloads.

It suffers from obvious weakness

-massive boon corrupt
-heavy focus/projectiles

Strengths
-Very good burst potential with might stacking (i crit 5-6k fire grabs)
-High condi cleanse
-High healing and protection uptime

You have to be careful in the team fights if there is a dh or necro around. Strafe around the points to do your damage.

You can win or stalemate most 1v1’s

Reasons why it won’t be top tier

-Strong melee burst on point with dh/reaper/warrior
-improper use of cantrips will leave you vulnerable to condi damage
-one stunbreak
-ride the lightning often useless when it comes to running away

The signets arent for burst. I am essentially trading out burst potential for signets since pet burst does not require being traited for it. Its an alternative to other builds out there and I felt it might increase survivability through signets

Scary Spice
Sporty Spice
Baby Spice
Ginger Spice
Posh Spice

Yup it was a slight modification of the metabattle build, but getting rid of marksmanship all together might be worth looking into as well. Nature magic looks like an interesting replacement do to fortifying bond and lingering magic. You could potentially run a menders amulet and rely on pet damage with staff/gs at that point.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQJATRjUqQDL2vCusAXLW+DM4zab9uuUEWABgn0wP4oVy0CD-TpBFQBE4CAEwyAFZ/hGcIAAwDAQdHBAA

Was also playing around with rune of the warrior for faster weapon swaps

This is pretty similar to other builds out there. It has overall less burst potential but moment of clarity is no longer required for your tiger to land its burst. The big selling point of the orginal build was your pet critting 8k on top of you critting 7k. Now you will crit 3-4k with your pet critting 8k. Test it out and make your own assessment

Only reason druid is used in dps builds

Tiger and hilt bash hit more reliably, but it still is an easily counterable build. Warrior thief and any Condi build will shut you down still.

the build isnt viable because its too hard to use vs thief and anything condi