Guild Wars 2

O god 3rd page? Bumpp

I like the 30 0 10 20 10 build. Perma fury for your team and vigor for yourself to keep up that endurance regen. My whole team uses embers so I have firefields to blast most of the time while using LH. Rotation in s/d is pretty simple, do your stacks in fire, earth, switch to water and pull out LH. When 25 charges run out you do rotation again, etc etc.

All goes well, until a teammate accidentally grabs my lightning hammer…. ;-;

Low health, armor, and mobility. Those three do not go well together… Fgs is too long of a cooldown to be a reliable source for mobility. RTL nerf hit eles hard as well. At least back in the day the cd on RTL was low enough to allow us to compensate for the fail of all trades class. Ele with high defense is purely a punching bag, while warriors and guardians with 3k+ armor can still have a lot of kill potential.

If new patch goes through, the practically dead d/d roamers will be even worse off. By moving vigor up to 20 points in arcana, you still lock the ele to spec into that line. 30 in earth isn’t worth going for because it’s way too easy to hit an ele below 90% health.

Here’s a very well written guide by chemsorly, an ele with 250k kills in wvw and a member of red guard before they disbanded: http://intothemists.com/guides/guide.php?id=107

I personally don’t like healing power and condition damage, so I replaced the celestial gear with a mixture of knights/soldiers/berserkers. Either way you should go read his guide, it is very well written. It mainly applies to higher tier WvW and the GvGs that take place, but good knowledge nonetheless.

zencow.3651:

InFluEnZa.6908:

I have a very solid group I run dungeons with frequently and the 30 0 10 0 30 feels a lot more effective to me.

EDIT: Gear is all zerk with scholar runes. Ascended zerk backpack/amulet/accessories/rings.

With a solid group you shouldn’t need boon duration, blasts can come easily from banners at start of fight to get 25 straight off. The extra +20% damage or more from damage multiplication is much much better.

I’m not worried about getting 25 stacks before the fight; that’s way too easy to achieve. It’s more during the fight itself the might drops very fast if I use lightning hammer. Guardian fire ring does not last long and I doubt it’s efficient for warriors to use a longbow during fights just for the fire field. Which brings me back to my original question of whether the loss in personal dps is worth it to “solo” keep the team buffed at 20+ might at all times during a fight.

I used to run that build (30 0 10 20 10), but have gotten feedback from a clannie to only focus on might stacking with perma fury; I use 30 0 10 0 30, but anything with 30 x x x 30 can easily keep the team at 20+ might even without boon runes and food.

My biggest concern is whether it’s better for eles to focus purely on might stacking so other team members do not have to interrupt their dps to stack might. I have a very solid group I run dungeons with frequently and the 30 0 10 0 30 feels a lot more effective to me.

EDIT: Gear is all zerk with scholar runes. Ascended zerk backpack/amulet/accessories/rings.

Can you test this on the veteran giant in Orr? This build does look like great dps on paper, but I’m curious about sustain damage. What I mean is, sure it’s great to see huge hits, but if you cannot keep it up it may as well be useless.

Depends on what you want to do. If you enjoy defending towers/keeps/sm then the 30 in fire and air will be good for you. But if you enjoy fighting in the fields more with your zerg, then consider gearing up for a bit more survival. Staff is terrible in 1v1 situations so I would avoid those.

A 30 in fire and air in full zerk gear can hit a lot higher, I remember being hit for around 4.7k per meteor when I ran with 1303 toughness (2.2kish armor), but then that ele got mesmer focus pulled to edge and instantly downed xD

What about WvW? Could be a pain to do those maps without deaths.

I’m running a similar build for d/d frontline atm, except with more armor, different runes/jewels/foods/utilities etc. I do not see the need for staff eles to get tanky because you are supposed to be on the outside supporting and dpsing. If you are getting caught out of position a lot then sure, use tanky gear until you learn to position. Otherwise I would definitely go with more damage.

Staff is great for wvw; it’s actually quite rewarding if you can position well and land your spells while avoiding the ball of heavies diving your group. If the leaked notes are true, then staff will be getting a buff as well.

I don’t like staff for PvE because s/d is just so much better. Constant 25 might stacks, and soon 25 might stacks + perma fury after patch. If your teammates are near you, they will get those as well.

Most things people pointed out already so I won’t say them again.

-Persisting Flame: Updated this trait to also allow Blast finishers you do to give Fury(10s) as well as might.

Is there a 5 second cool down for that trait? Going to incorporate that into my PvE build regardless though. If there is no cool down… s/d eles will do so much in dungeons. Before it was keeping 25 stacks of might on yourself and few nearby teammates, now it’s 25 stacks of might “quicker” plus fury on top of that.

Things I would do different is take 10 points off earth and put that into air and get air I. This way you can keep perma swiftness/fury/protection on yourself and your team if they stay close to you. Sup Monk and Sup water runes, and 2 major water runes. Use the 10% boon duration food; throw in d/d so you get access to 2 instant auras instead of trying to combo finisher them. You can also stack might with fire 4 then earth 4, 5. I’m pretty sure the swiftness and fury is perm, but protection may be off for 1-2 seconds.

Throw 4 different pebbles into the mystic forge. I get about… 10-20 silver doubloons per 250 trials (1000 pebbles).

It’s also an “okay” money making method, aside from all the clicking of course haha.

I think it’s wrong to take heavies just because of survivability. While for most dungeons you can get away with well played light armored classes, I personally would prefer to do FoTM 48 with at least 2 guardians for their reflects, rings of warding, line of warding, etc. As for the post on gw2lfg asking for heavies, it’s probably because they have a lot of light armor in the party already. I’m not saying that higher fotm (48) cannot be done with all light, I am saying that having heavies like guardians will make the run a LOT smoother.

We were building seige on the hill, when we finished building it I fell under the hill and couldn’t get out. To make matters worse, JQ started hitting me and the other guy stuck under and we couldn’t waypoint out…

The pic of us stuck: http://puu.sh/2WncK.png

The place where it occured: http://puu.sh/2Wng8.png

To make matters worse, everyone probably reported us because we were stuck there UNABLE to get out because we were in combat.

Yep, I just got kicked off with that message and can’t log back in.

d/d eles, I’m a thief and I want to kill you, how do you suggest I go about this?

As d/d, I find it extremely annoying dealing with d/p thieves because of blinding powder negating my pbaoes. I run away against that weapon set most of the time because the blind just completely shuts me down.

As for the original poster, a d/d ele tanking 10 and killing 3 of you… were you all level 1s with one attack? When I use d/d, I find it easy to pick on groups of inexperienced/up leveled players, but when I run into even 2-3 experienced players I often find myself forced to run away. Even one shatter mesmer or condition engineer make me run away; just have to know which fights to pick and which ones to avoid. Simply put, d/d has great mobility which contributes to a lot of players playing the spec.

It’s the typical dd ele build; I prefer 10 in air for perma fury+swiftness though, and water V (remove 1 condition when you attune to water) and arcane VI (the ones that gives vigor on crit hits). Try fighting an experienced shatter mesmer or condition engineer, you’ll find yourself beaten or forced to run away; this build is OP, but definitely not invincible.

Instead of a close range air 5 or earth 4 with offhand dagger, you now have 900 range ones.

Unbanned, ty for fixing this.

Happened to me as well while I was standing in LA.

Sounds like to me you need to learn how to actually play the class before offering some of the worst balance offset tweaks to staff someone can think of. Better yet, just go play a rifle warrior.

Adastra.9821:

InFluEnZa.6908:

Staff eles bring a lot of team support; staying solely on fire is a waste in my opinion. Even if you are in full zerk gear, throwing a meteor shower followed by water 4,2, then air,5, earth 2 then fire 2 (for might stacks) is better than just doing a fire 5 and then spamming 2,3,1,1,1,3,1,1,2 (something like that). You can also throw in water 3,5 for team healing, then earth 2 + arcane blast for more 2 area heals. Or, water 5, earth 2, roll inside in earth + arcane blast for 3 area heals. Full zerk build probably won’t have 30 in arcane, but water 5, earth 2 + arcane blast are still 2 area heals. Or if you team has high hp already, you can simply do earth 2 into fire 2 and arcane blast on it for 6 might stacks. On top of what you can do with your own skill set, your team can also use your combo fields. Projectile finishers through air 5 can add a lot of vulnerability stacks; 10+ seconds of chill in ice field. Bunch of blast finishers in your fire 2 can add lots of might stacks fast.

tl;dr. In my opinion, staff elementalists need to attunement swap for maximum potential. When I run into staff eles only using fire, I turn into a very sad panda :c

That’s all very situational. For example, you can’t guarantee that your entire team is close enough to get the might stacks. In fact for some more difficult encounters, your party is probably doing something wrong unless you’re coordinating grouping together. There’s no point in going up to someone to give might or heal them when two or more you are going to get downed in one shot.

In a lot of situations, the damage you lose by switching to earth and waiting the 12 or so seconds to switch back to fire results in lost total dps (just going by my own anecdotal observations) since the other attunements offer less dps, at least for crit/power builds because you wouldn’t be hanging around in fire if you have some staff bleed condition build. I’ve found no reason to swap attunements unless I needed some utility from another one while using staff.

If someone’s going to swap attunements for the sake of attunement swapping just because someone on the forums told them eles revolve around constantly doing so, I’d rather have this person contribute to more dps by staying in fire. Most likely I’m in a pug for some easy encounter to meet bad players in the first place so it wouldn’t really matter much. They probably can’t recognize when it’s appropriate to swap and likely tunnel vision their own health. Just focus and keep yourself alive so I don’t have to.

I agree that it’s better for someone swapping attunement just to look good to just stay on fire and dps. While it’s situational for might stacking and using blast finishers to do area heals, earth 4, water, 4, and air 5 gives you useful cc’s to use against mobs. If I had teammates to cc and tank for me, I will happily stay in fire and dps :p

Kodiak.3281:

Gaudrath.6725:

Kodiak, the reason you’re the last one to die is because those guys take the brunt of enemy fire and us elementalists usually stick to the back or sides and often get neglected in the commotion.

Try rolling as a frontliner in ’zerker gear, let me know how it handles.

As for rifle warriors, they can oneshot a glass cannon ele, the only problem is that they have to stand still and their target has to remain unobstructed and in range while the shot is priming, which often doesn’t happen.

Anyway, try small group action or 1vs1. I bet you can’t even solo a supply camp if you don’t use all the elements. There’s your empirical data.

I’m glad you’re finally starting to see my point that playing a particular way isn’t wrong and like most things it’s all based on not only how you play but the situations you put yourself in.

InFluEnZa.6908:

Even if you are in full zerk gear, throwing a meteor shower followed by water 4,2, then air,5, earth 2 then fire 2 (for might stacks) is better than just doing a fire 5 and then spamming 2,3,1,1,1,3,1,1,2 (something like that).

Prove it.

There is nothing to prove; using meteor shower in conjunction with cc abilities will keep your opponents stuck in the aoe longer so they take more damage.

Staff eles bring a lot of team support; staying solely on fire is a waste in my opinion. Even if you are in full zerk gear, throwing a meteor shower followed by water 4,2, then air,5, earth 2 then fire 2 (for might stacks) is better than just doing a fire 5 and then spamming 2,3,1,1,1,3,1,1,2 (something like that). You can also throw in water 3,5 for team healing, then earth 2 + arcane blast for more 2 area heals. Or, water 5, earth 2, roll inside in earth + arcane blast for 3 area heals. Full zerk build probably won’t have 30 in arcane, but water 5, earth 2 + arcane blast are still 2 area heals. Or if you team has high hp already, you can simply do earth 2 into fire 2 and arcane blast on it for 6 might stacks. On top of what you can do with your own skill set, your team can also use your combo fields. Projectile finishers through air 5 can add a lot of vulnerability stacks; 10+ seconds of chill in ice field. Bunch of blast finishers in your fire 2 can add lots of might stacks fast.

tl;dr. In my opinion, staff elementalists need to attunement swap for maximum potential. When I run into staff eles only using fire, I turn into a very sad panda :c

They should just make it so you need 5 gifts of _ (2500 tokens) from each dungeon to get a precursor of your choice. It’s actually pretty reasonable because 2500 tokens from each dungeon actually take quite some time to get.

I would go with ruby orbs instead of the pack runes for more dps. And yes, gs is the best for dps if your opponent stands still (don’t rely on #2 gs in wvw unless you see something like a portal bomb), so it’s amazing for pve considering most things stand in close proximity. Personally I stick with gs whenever I can and switch to range only when forced to.

That’s what guesting is for. They made it expensive so PUGs are less likely to leave their world when they face a real challenge in WvW.

I would love to see this feature added as well; fully geared 3 characters with ascended rings and saved 10 relics just for my necro… when I checked out the fotm vendor there was a lot of qq’ing :’(

I had my fractal staff for quite some time now and noticed that it doesn’t have the same effects that the other fractal weapons have (the white smoking trail); can we get the effect added to the staff?

Broken in Ferguson’s Crossing as well; been showing the “The pact are strategizing at at Caer Brier” for well over 6 hours now.