This is copy pasted from another post from many months ago (probably around the time of Season 2) If you authored this, you’re welcome to take credit. I’ve changed a couple sections, but it’s mostly the same
There are a number of possible builds. most are variations of a 0/x/x/6/6 build
As an ele you are both our critical water fields, and a primary part of our DPS.
T(oughness) > V(itality). Obviously you need both, but if you’re getting mowed down fast, you should be putting more into toughness. It’s pretty useless to buff your Vitality pool if people can eat through it really fast.
I run a Soldiers gear Ele for commanding, (PTV with Melandru Runes. You can see my build Here: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fFAQFAW...AACA7MQGglFA-w) Soliders gear is extremely survivable. If you are willing to put in the time and effort, Celestial stats are also viable, albeit a bit less tanky.
If you have a ton of Karma, you can get most of what you need from NPC vendors at the Temples in Orr.
Then run zerker items to balance it out. Some of the more hardcore players will mix armor sets to get a “perfect balance” that feels right to them. I’m don’t have that much patience. A good rule of thumb is: try to keep your Toughess >= 1600, and your armor at about 2500 or more. If you’re really trying to play support (short of a full-healer build), everything else is secondary to this stat.
Assuming your build is not gimping you, then you need to look at your play style in battles. To some extent, you’re going to have to learn by doing (and dying). Here are a few things I learned.
1. Stay on the tag. Sounds weird, a guy in a dress running around with Warriors in armor? Well, it turns out, you’re much less likely to die that way, especially if you’re in a group with others that can help buff you. Even if you aren’t, and I very often follow commanders while not in a group, you tend to benefit from buffs/heals anyway, but most importantly, you benefit from damage mitigation (most AOE damage only affects up to 5 members, except, importantly, siege weapons). Also, if you’re running on the outside, it will be much more likely someone will target you when they’re spamming for targets. Once they find a nice, squishy Ele, expect to die (until you learn all your escape tactics).
If you can learn how to stay with the tag (not easy, trust me, but you will get to that “aha!” moment), you’re going to find yourself much more effective and much more durable in big fights.
You dont need to dive in with the warriors and guardians in a big engagement, you can blink around the sides, and use staff Fire 4 (Burning Retreat) to dodge through the enemy zerg when the commander and hammer train is in the thick of a meelee battle. You have 1200 range. use it.
2. Don’t bring Daggers to a Staff fight. This doesn’t mean Staff > DD, in fact the opposite is true if you’re roaming solo (or trying to get to the zerg). But the Staff skills are designed to support large scale combat. Without them, you’re can’t really be a support Ele.
3. Don’t bring a Staff to a Dagger fight. One on one, you may as well /sit if someone attacks you and you’re holding a staff. Freaking uplevels can kill you. So, make sure you have daggers with you at all times, and equip them if you’re roaming. At least you’ll have a fighting chance. If you don’t have D/D experience, either just run around and die a lot until you learn, or jump into PvP. It’s basically the same tactics as WvW roaming, so it’s a really good place to practice. D/D is completely different than Staff when it comes to combat. You’ll need practice in both, but D/D (I found) is harder, but much more fun, to master.
but all are welcome.