Guild Wars 2

Adastra.9821:

Here’s one I took soon after i casted lightning flash. Note in both these screenshots, I didn’t actually swap attunements for fury so I was sitting at 38% crit chance running 0/30/10/10/20 with all the damage traits I could take.

If I swapped to air mid cast, I would’ve had fury plus another 10% bonus damage from the air trait. More crits also means more vulnerability from the air minor trait.

Wow! I will definitely try this when I play today. Thank you Adastra!

For what type would it be pve, pvp or both?

Dese.1382:

…and this is what happens in WvW, I am in full PtV with zerker weapons and 16k is not normal.

omg another burst ele! Do you solo or small group roam in wvw? if so, I really hope I find you and have fun duels. I’m from bg.

Nikkinella.8254:

Sorry to disappoint you man. But yeah. They like spawn camping too and aren’t very sportsmanlike either. I was having this fun duel with some guy from Crystal Desert that I spotted while roaming alone and 20 Mags rolled on us, killed us both then started dancing on our bodies. You’d probably have fun on my server, Yaks Bend. We rarely have large groups on as most people on our server are over 20-30 years old and actually have jobs and don’t wvw as if its their life. But when we do have people on we roam in small groups and generally have good fights. Even though they always outnumbered us, I do miss fighting Dragonbrand. There were some really good fighters on that server. So that’s an option too. I don’t know what tier they’re on now though.

I completely dislike when players do those emotes against defeated players when they kill in a group or in a zerg. Ironically when you find those same players alone, they die easily on 1v1. Interesting to know Yaks Bend and Dragonbrand tend to have those type of roamers to go against. Thanks for the feedbacks Nikkinella!

Adastra.9821:

FGS
Signet of earth > remove target > fgs 4 > lightning flash > switch attunement for fury = 70-100% hp off most builds if executed perfectly

earth v2
traited for arcane XII (forgot name)
earth 4 > earth 2 > fire attune > arcane wave + blast > fire grab
put in cleansing fire if not traited

That’s an interesting one Adastra. I want to make sure the remove target part you stated you meant no longer have your enemy target and then do fgs skill 4? if so what does that accomplish when you will be missing the leap hit from that skill to your target? just run past them with the fire left behind?

Nikkinella.8254:

@LightningBlaze Maguuma is a zerg server too. I doubt you’d have much fun there either. I’m currently fighting against them. They always have like 80 people on 24/7 running in a giant, red, mindless blob around the map.

Dang, I dueled a mesmer today and he told me I will really enjoy going against magguma because they have a lot of solo roamers and duelers there but his guild switched to jq and that’s why he left that server. What server is well known for dueling or solo/small group roaming in wvw?

I just feel I have to tell the rest of the forum community about different rotations because I keep seeing the new s/d eles in wvw using the same starting rotation over and over again even against the same opponent (earth skill 1 or 2, air, air 2, blast). The problem with using the same rotation is that as a player it becomes predictable and thus others will see it coming. Of course, you can also use this towards your advantage like having your opponent waste 1 or 2 dodges while you are just doing earth 1 skill but if you are throwing this rotation all at once, any experience player will have your air bursts miss. I will list some of the starting rotations I use and hopefully more s/d eles can incorporate it into their playstyle.

Fire:
Starting with fire casting skill 1 to apply burning, then calculate well and cast fire 5 at a distance from your opponent but as soon as you start casting fire grab do lightning flash to melee distance (this takes a couple of practices to calculate it well specially if your opponent is strafing and not just moving forward or standing still…practice with mobs first). The initial reaction of any player when getting hit with fire grab this way coming from a burst build ele is to dodge and try to heal, switch to air, cast air 2, rtl and updraft to interrupt.

Earth:
Instead of the usual earth 1 or earth 2 hurl, air, air 2 blast rotation, you can do the following. At a distance cast earth 4 as soon as you begin to cast it do lightning flash close to your opponent location to get him with the knock down, follow with air, air 2, blast. You can also confuse those opponents that are familiar with this rotation by jumping in place, having them waste a dodge or two and still be anxious that this is coming.

Water:
You can start off by taking a little bit of punishment specially against a ranger, necro or warrior using bow or rifle at start as a example. Cast water 4 and do Ether Renewal while you are receiving damage, once you are done, unleash with air, air 2, air 3, lightning flash to melee and updraft your opponent really fast (note: always watch your opponent buff whether he/she has stability on before you use updraft) or you can follow up with one of the starting combos mentioned above.

Air
You can even start off and maintain with air. kite your opponent while you are channeling skill 1 and casting air 2 every 3 secs (if you traited for it). rtl to them but don’t updraft immediately unless you are interrupting a heal or you are getting your opponent from their blind spot.

Conjure Fiery Greatsword
It can be an awesome starter too. The great mobility, single and aeo damage it provides makes it a great choice on 1v1 and specially when you are in 1v2, 2v4 or something similar. You keep your actual ele skills intact ready to be used at any moment while you have already dealt significant amount of damage to your opponent just with this elite. Of course switch between attunement to gain those buff from Arcana V trait when needed. If you are outnumbered or trying to get away from a zerg, rtl first; If air attunement or rtl is on cd then cast this elite and while casting gain distance with lightning flash. Switch to water attunement to remove possible cripple or chilled condition then spam skill 3 and 4 while gaining some speed with air attunement.

Did I ever mentioned lightning flash is my favorite ele utility since beta? now you can see the reason why.

TGSlasher.1458:

Fresh air is amazing.
Step 1, auto attack in air and use 2 and 3 quickly
Step 2, Change to something else while the auto attack is still happening
Step 3, Change back to air (since air auto critted under a different attunement)
Step 4, Continue air barrage.

Don’t just use air 3 skill randomly…. it doesn’t do damage just causes blind so save it when you really need it..

Raven.9603:

LightningBlaze.4913:

Where are all the burst eles in wvw!, been waiting with anticipation for so long to face my first one. Never have encountered a single one since beta! if you are in sor or jq go to sor battleground and lets duel right now!

you are looking for burst eles on the zerg tier? thats an odd place to start…

Well 2 showed up for 3 duels each today and yesterday I found one so there are a few out there just not many on tier 1 servers. I hear Magguma is really good at this, I might switch there.

Finally the time has come without me giving away earlier version of different bursts builds on public threads! if you are in sor/jq go to sor battleground and lets have fun duels. I always wanted to encounter another burst ele with similar build like mine and see how it feels like to get beaten by my own medicine xD. Never seen one but now i am sure there a quite a few more but still can’t find one. I’ll be solo roaming in wvw for next 3 hours from now between bg and jq area.so if you are in sor or jq server go to sor battleground and lets have fun duels! and don’t ambush me with more than 2….

Where are all the burst eles in wvw!, been waiting with anticipation for so long to face my first one. Never have encountered a single one since beta! if you are in sor or jq go to sor battleground and lets duel right now!

I will never understand why are there people complaining about lightning flash not being a stun breaker. You can still teleport while you are stunned and that’s all it is needed to counter anyone that stuns you…. Teleport!

Once Fresh air is fixed (ctually have a 5 cd) I would prefer the other grandmaster trait or even the air skill reduced cd more.

Razor.6392:

LightningBlaze.4913:

Raif.9507:

LightningBlaze.4913:

Also keep in mind Fresh air doesn’t have cd atm (there’s no 5 secs cd) so that should be fixed soon and I know this because I crit on every attack.. as soon as I change, my first attack on another attunement keeps bringing back air att. It’s broken.

I dunno, I mean the swaps for me are happening 1 second before my LS comes off cooldown, so I don’t see it. But this new trait makes putting pressure on targets a whole lot easier with those swaps.

There is a cooldown.

As soon as you crit in another attunement, air will become available again instantly. But if you try to do it again within those 5 seconds it won’t be available.

1. air
2. switch to fire and crit
3. air becomes available
4. switch to air and burst
5. switch out again to earth this time and crit
6. air is in cooldown for another 2 seconds or so

The first refresh will be instant, but no more refreshes will be possible until the 5s ICD is done.

Not at all , i just killed an opponent that was trying to escaped just by casting air 1 skill then switch to earth back to air, change to fire and then air again while the chain was still running. There is no cd. You are probably not doing crit with your first atk when you switch to another att while i do or not hitting your opponent fast enough. The trait is either broken or the description is wrong or both.

Razor.6392:

I tried S/D again. I just can’t get used to it.

Such a clunky, unresponsive and slow weapon set…

The sad part is that I knew how to do it, but just became too accustomed to dagger main hand.

Yea it is not easy at first when you are so accustomed to dagger as main hand. It has its learning curve.

Raif.9507:

LightningBlaze.4913:

Also keep in mind Fresh air doesn’t have cd atm (there’s no 5 secs cd) so that should be fixed soon and I know this because I crit on every attack.. as soon as I change, my first attack on another attunement keeps bringing back air att. It’s broken.

I dunno, I mean the swaps for me are happening 1 second before my LS comes off cooldown, so I don’t see it. But this new trait makes putting pressure on targets a whole lot easier with those swaps.

It is. Whenever i swap lets say from air to fire and use fire 4, the air att becomes active as soon as I hit my opponent and when I switch I still have my air skill 2 on 3 secs cd. It never goes close to even 3 secs cd.

That is correct, just like fresh air not having the 5 secs cd. Fixes should come soon.

snizzle.6143:

I havent read the whole so maybe someone postet it before.

If you want to insta kill someone you better start in earth:

Earthquate Teleport Combo
airattunement + air2 + arcanes
cleansingfire
firegrab + phoenix.

Imagine 20% damage boost for knockdowned enemys
10% for 90%+ hp
10% for beeing in air
5% on weaoon

Triggering an lightningstrike or flame aoe

and so on….

you can also use arcane mastery to deliver an immobilise or burning.. on arcane skills

Or better use the air attunement at the end of the combo to land firegrab and phoenix with the 10% dps from beeing in air.

That’s one rotation, s/d ele have a few various bursts rotations.

We have so many defensive skills and utilites, even more than any of the other professions.

Also keep in mind Fresh air doesn’t have cd atm (there’s no 5 secs cd) so that should be fixed soon and I know this because I crit on every attack.. as soon as I change, my first attack on another attunement keeps bringing back air att. It’s broken.

DiogoSilva.7089:

It’s actually not that hard to play once you get used to it, because of how many instant damage skills you have. But it’s also a build that demands you from mastering your other attunements: fire is a strong (but unreliable) way to finish your opponent, and water’s healing effects and earth’s defensive effects must be valued. Traits like elemental attunement (especially protection on earth) or water’s #15 can be vital to your survival, and this applies to any other glass cannon build you will want to make for an elementalist.

Exactly you said it, once you get used to it", everything is easy and only other skillful players will give you a challenge on 1v1 or 1v2. yet you’ll still be victorious must of the time. But i know the difficulty it is at first coming from d/d wep set and play as effectively with a new wep set and build that is so different from the one many are accustomed to. Plus there is no need to be glass cannon as ele to do major bursts specially now with the new air traits that I am completely sure they will get nerfed on the upcoming patches.

Ptolomy.6984:

Funny thing is I haven’t seen anyone mention the swiftness you can repeatedly get using fresh air. so its like a stealth in combat mobility buff. Coz i don’t think i am making a huge mistake by saying that almost every ele uses elemental attunement.

Yep the swiftness is helpful as well and you are correct on that almost statement. 2 out of my 4 bursts builds I constantly switch to have 0 in arcana.

As expected, finally more eles are starting to realize the effectiveness of a bursts build but many of you will give up on it because it is not as easy as d/d bunker/healer build. One or more mistakes actually have its consequences but you’ll become better because of those mistakes if you stick with it.

Razor.6392:

LightningBlaze.4913:

Raif.9507:

LightningBlaze.4913:

Hi Llobo, I’m glad you enjoy our duels! I always have a blast whenever I roam with my ele in wvw and encounter great players! You guess not being glassy and difficult to see asura animation right but the rest is wrong bud. I posted my armor and stats on another thread so that part is not unknown. That combo rotation you stated I only use it if you were getting away to get closer to you but not necessarily to get to melee distance.

If you were playing an ele and we are 1v1 for the first time, I like to start off with water/earth 1 skill to see how bunker your ele is . If it hits and based on the numbers I see, I follow up with switching to earth or fire. (excluding all thieves….. with them I use the same 2 starting rotations, [earth 1 or 2, air, air 2, blast] or [earth 4+lightning flash, air, air 2,] = down because they are all too squishy).

RTL, FGS + Lightning Flash to get away from zerg or when I am outnumbered is correct too. For the past 3 weeks I have been using FGS within combat too. specially against a very bunker players (armor 3000+) or 1v2 bunkers/2v4 or something similar. The results are quite amazing. I love this elite. I’ll tell you more about it ingame! we’ll keep in touch, Later!

You say your’e an asura on BG right? A few days ago I was commanding a small group hitting one of BG’s towers and there was this little ele S/D asura hitting me pretty kitten hard while I was on a ram and ive got about 2.8k armor. Do you happen to have a legendary or some shiny scepter? I couldn’t get a close look at the guy as he kept hitting me, then hopping into the tower, but it hurt a bit. If that was you, then kudos. your build does hurt, would take some 8-10k off me easy since I was on a ram and couldn’t dodge.

I’m on SoR and would LOVE to duel you so I can see what you’re rocking. I’ve been trying to figure out a build of my own for S/D that has a great burst and good survivability and would like a comparison.

Edit – I think I’ve figured out your build from the stats you’ve shown in another thread, save what gear you are using. That’s eluding me a bit, as your health and armor shouldn’t ( according to the build calculator I’m using) be possible with that much crit chance and crit damage. I’m 1k health short and 400 armor short as well as 8% crit chance short too. I’l still fool around, but I think I’ve got most of it, and no I haven’t used a single piece of valkyrie like you said. It doesn’t seem like the stat allocation should be possible, though I can see that it is. Do you use ascended gear? or non-ascended? I’ll PM you a build that I’ve been working on, do you mind giving some comments on it?

Though I would still love a duel.

Hi Raif, I saw your pm and replied to you. Yesss it is one of my horrible habits….. going straight for the commander in a enemy zerg, even if the commander is all the way at the back i try to go around most of the zerg and get him… that’s how I get myself kill most of the time and texting while i am in battle lol. Even thought I am a solo and small group roamer, I tend to help my server as much as I can with constantly taking/defending camps, stalling enemies, telling our commander where the enemy zerg is heading and in your case trying to destroy rams to reduce the dmg towards our gate or killing enemy commanders xD. I have the legendary scepter. I was working on getting the legendary dagger since I obtained its precursors but it is just too much work to do over again that I won’t do for now.. I do have full ascended trinkets and pm you back the mix I run. Absolutely lets have fun duels, I roam at night after 9pm est most of the time, if you find me pm me in game and we’ll coordinate a time for the duels.

Why won’t you reply to my post? perhaps I’m really close to guessing your build?

Perphaps….. you got most of the things down right. I logged in and been playing for the past 10 mins in wvw and trying the fresh air, arcane lightning and obsidian focus and omg my burst and survivability is a lot more. S/d burst build eles will surely be a major complain from the other professions more than ever now. The insane increase speed of fire phoenix is ridiculous as well, just love it.The nerf will definitely come but until then I will enjoy this op build lol.

Go to wvw and you will get hit with 13k+

It depends on your build, if you deal from mediocre to average dps/burst on land then on water it will be less of course but from high to massive dps/burst on land then in water will be high too. Water 5 skill is extremely powerful with a burst build ele, I take out any player from 100% of health to 0 only with that skill if I land it right.

Nikkinella.8254:

Am I the only one concerned that we might see a whole slew of fotm bandwagon scepter eles pop up now when someone inevitably posts some sort of burst build on here and more thieves will start whining and ask for us to be nerfed again? Then not only will we have no survivability, but the little bit of damage we can do in a niche build will be obliterated and we’ll all just be permanent fixtures in LA after becoming totally useless in all areas of the game. I’m hoping that most people just stay bunker especially cuz of the new earth traits and so that doesn’t happen. but at this point its hard to be optimistic.

There are already a few of those. The only difference now is that more will try s/d but many of those will go back to d/d because they won’t feel they are as good with s/d as they are with d/d. Of course the already few s/d bursts eles will be even more bursty with those air traits. It all comes down to the individual playstyle, if the person prefers more defense rather than offense then they will always stay bunker no matter the changes and vice versa with preferring offense more than defense.

All pve contents becomes easy as long as you know the mechanic well. Anything less than a full zerker will only be better to those that aren’t so good at knowing such mechanics. Even Fractal up to lvl 49 and Arah exp mode you can go full zerk and never die.

Raif.9507:

LightningBlaze.4913:

Hi Llobo, I’m glad you enjoy our duels! I always have a blast whenever I roam with my ele in wvw and encounter great players! You guess not being glassy and difficult to see asura animation right but the rest is wrong bud. I posted my armor and stats on another thread so that part is not unknown. That combo rotation you stated I only use it if you were getting away to get closer to you but not necessarily to get to melee distance.

If you were playing an ele and we are 1v1 for the first time, I like to start off with water/earth 1 skill to see how bunker your ele is . If it hits and based on the numbers I see, I follow up with switching to earth or fire. (excluding all thieves….. with them I use the same 2 starting rotations, [earth 1 or 2, air, air 2, blast] or [earth 4+lightning flash, air, air 2,] = down because they are all too squishy).

RTL, FGS + Lightning Flash to get away from zerg or when I am outnumbered is correct too. For the past 3 weeks I have been using FGS within combat too. specially against a very bunker players (armor 3000+) or 1v2 bunkers/2v4 or something similar. The results are quite amazing. I love this elite. I’ll tell you more about it ingame! we’ll keep in touch, Later!

You say your’e an asura on BG right? A few days ago I was commanding a small group hitting one of BG’s towers and there was this little ele S/D asura hitting me pretty kitten hard while I was on a ram and ive got about 2.8k armor. Do you happen to have a legendary or some shiny scepter? I couldn’t get a close look at the guy as he kept hitting me, then hopping into the tower, but it hurt a bit. If that was you, then kudos. your build does hurt, would take some 8-10k off me easy since I was on a ram and couldn’t dodge.

I’m on SoR and would LOVE to duel you so I can see what you’re rocking. I’ve been trying to figure out a build of my own for S/D that has a great burst and good survivability and would like a comparison.

Edit – I think I’ve figured out your build from the stats you’ve shown in another thread, save what gear you are using. That’s eluding me a bit, as your health and armor shouldn’t ( according to the build calculator I’m using) be possible with that much crit chance and crit damage. I’m 1k health short and 400 armor short as well as 8% crit chance short too. I’l still fool around, but I think I’ve got most of it, and no I haven’t used a single piece of valkyrie like you said. It doesn’t seem like the stat allocation should be possible, though I can see that it is. Do you use ascended gear? or non-ascended? I’ll PM you a build that I’ve been working on, do you mind giving some comments on it?

Though I would still love a duel.

Hi Raif, I saw your pm and replied to you. Yesss it is one of my horrible habits….. going straight for the commander in a enemy zerg, even if the commander is all the way at the back i try to go around most of the zerg and get him… that’s how I get myself kill most of the time and texting while i am in battle lol. Even thought I am a solo and small group roamer, I tend to help my server as much as I can with constantly taking/defending camps, stalling enemies, telling our commander where the enemy zerg is heading and in your case trying to destroy rams to reduce the dmg towards our gate or killing enemy commanders xD. I have the legendary scepter. I was working on getting the legendary dagger since I obtained its precursors but it is just too much work to do over again that I won’t do for now.. I do have full ascended trinkets and pm you back the mix I run. Absolutely lets have fun duels, I roam at night after 9pm est most of the time, if you find me pm me in game and we’ll coordinate a time for the duels.

Razor.6392:

LightningBlaze.4913:

oZii.2864:

source:
Air Magic

Master Trait “Arcane Lightning” has been changed to: Gain 10% more critical hit damage for 15 seconds when you use an arcane skill. Does not stack.
Grandmaster Trait “Tempest Defense” reads as: Surround yourself with a Shocking Aura when disabled (fear, stun, daze, knockback, knockdown, launch, float, or sink). This effect can only trigger once every 60 seconds. Deal 20% more damage to stunned or knocked-down foes.
The Grandmaster Trait “Grounded” has been replaced with a new Trait “Fresh Air” which does: Recharge Air attunement on a critical hit (5-second cooldown).

Wow those air traits! even more massive bursts, can’t wait!

How can you not wait? you’re gonna get nerfed lol.

I know! the nerf sure to come now but until then all s/d burst type eles will be so op with these changes xD.

oZii.2864:

source:
Air Magic

Master Trait “Arcane Lightning” has been changed to: Gain 10% more critical hit damage for 15 seconds when you use an arcane skill. Does not stack.
Grandmaster Trait “Tempest Defense” reads as: Surround yourself with a Shocking Aura when disabled (fear, stun, daze, knockback, knockdown, launch, float, or sink). This effect can only trigger once every 60 seconds. Deal 20% more damage to stunned or knocked-down foes.
The Grandmaster Trait “Grounded” has been replaced with a new Trait “Fresh Air” which does: Recharge Air attunement on a critical hit (5-second cooldown).

Wow those air traits! even more massive bursts, can’t wait!

As much as I love getting to towers from downed mist form, I gotta agree with the op. Eles shouldn’t have that privilege while the rest of the professions don’t have it.

lLobo.7960:

Hi there LightningBlaze, I fought you quite a few times this weekend. Really insane burst you got. About 13-15k instant dmg on my 2500 armor…

For those that don’t know, its not a GC or “zerker” build…
I didnt see his armor, but I’d say its mostly valk/cavalier… maybe some knights. He still have good hp/armor, and above that, mobility.

What it happens is the stacking hits when going from earth to air.
Keeps distance, earth 2-1-3, blinding flash into melee distance, air att, air 1-2-3, arcane blast.
If things go bad, RTL away, FGS, run…

Not only the burst is mostly instant but any option to “see the animations” is made quite difficult for being asura.

The trait set-up I’d guess its a 0/20/0/30/20 or some variant.

Nice burst man… I’ve been out of the ele a long time, but it made me want to step-up my game.

Send me a msg in-game, would like to hear more about the build with the “possible changes”.

Cheers!

Hi Llobo, I’m glad you enjoy our duels! I always have a blast whenever I roam with my ele in wvw and encounter great players! You guess not being glassy and difficult to see asura animation right but the rest is wrong bud. I posted my armor and stats on another thread so that part is not unknown. That combo rotation you stated I only use it if you were getting away to get closer to you but not necessarily to get to melee distance.

If you were playing an ele and we are 1v1 for the first time, I like to start off with water/earth 1 skill to see how bunker your ele is . If it hits and based on the numbers I see, I follow up with switching to earth or fire. (excluding all thieves….. with them I use the same 2 starting rotations, [earth 1 or 2, air, air 2, blast] or [earth 4+lightning flash, air, air 2,] = down because they are all too squishy).

RTL, FGS + Lightning Flash to get away from zerg or when I am outnumbered is correct too. For the past 3 weeks I have been using FGS within combat too. specially against a very bunker players (armor 3000+) or 1v2 bunkers/2v4 or something similar. The results are quite amazing. I love this elite. I’ll tell you more about it ingame! we’ll keep in touch, Later!

Razor.6392:

Kodiak.3281:

See what you guys don’t get is the tale of poor Razor who’s been upset ever since they started nerfing RTL. See Razor used to run a D/D Zerker build and when he got into trouble he’d just RTL out of danger. But then they nerfed it and ever since he hasn’t been able to pull it off and everything has been doom and gloom.

Poor, poor Razor

Actually… I’ve been really enjoying the focus. It’s arguably better than off hand dagger by a long shot now that RtL is useless to get away from anything.

Why are you still mad about the times I’d shut your face in embarrassment months ago? It’s not hard to use logic. You should try it sometime.

LightningBlaze.4913:

Those notes can’t be real. There are just so many flaws with it that I doubt Anet would implement all of those changes at once…..knowing how cautions anet is with patch notes with each profession whether it is a buff or a nerf.

Dunno, seems pretty ANetish to me. Something that I would expect from them.

It seems that your build will stop being unique soon, now that people will toy with scepter, even you will have to adapt.

I seriously doubt it. If it does turn out to be true then more likely these changes will occur across few upcoming patches not just in one. I always adapt through every nerf/buff patch the ele, mes and engi get (The 3 professions I roam with in wvw). I actually welcome changes specially in mmorpgs. I have seen so many trying with the scepter since the rtl/mist form nerf but few stood with it. It will be the same case on next patch. Those that are not good with the weapon set and its different playstyle, won’t become great unless they get some guidelines and they really force themselves to learn it.

P.S: My build is not unique, I’m sure there must be a few out there that have it along with the exact mix of gears, runes, sigils etcs (heck i have even given the exact details of my entire build to a few whisperers) As long as many players believe evasive arcane is a must for ele, very few will still acquire it… /hint.

Those notes can’t be real. There are just so many flaws with it that I doubt Anet would implement all of those changes at once…..knowing how cautions anet is with patch notes with each profession whether it is a buff or a nerf.

How we will lose lightning flash? just because it will no longer be a stun breaker? This is my favorite utility skill due to the so many uses within combos not for stun breaker non-sense. The only time I will lose this utility is when it doesn’t teleport me anymore. Also ewww bunkers, easy prey for my burst build ele :P

The only scepter skill that is more effective within melee would be phoenix (and you can still cast this at range to hit your opponent 3 times if they are stunned or imbolized) or while you are running away. Most of my kills as s/d or s/f ele within wvw happens at 600-900 range and I solo roam almost every night for at least 2 hours and a half.

Imo for pve anything less than full zerker I consider it to be a waste of dmg. All the instance are easy if you know all the mechanics behind the mobs/bosses etc. Play with the various wep the ele possess and know at what occasion/settings one is more useful than the others. Don’t stick with one weapon set for all pve contents, become a better ele than that.

For D/D in zerg vs Zerg or group vs group you’ll need tons of armor over 2600 at least to survive and help your teammates enough, just pray you don’t run against a burst build Ele that focus fire on you because anything lower than 2600 armor will make your ele look very glassy still against it. I would recommend you to have a mix of knight and soldier gears for you to be tanky against raw and condition damage.

Anet should nerf my burst build ele. I have to admit it is overpowered specially against new/intermediate players with its massive damage and survivability. I’m praying with new traits change I can enhance my build even further.

Mesmers like this player only become easy f you have the knowledge about their skills animations, builds, different playstyles and your ability to adjust your own build/play style to counter theirs. I will strongly recommend for you to play as a mesmer in pvp, learn their skill animations (specially blurred frenzy), different strategies/builds they use etc. I always emphasize on the old saying “knowledge is power” in pvp. Once you have that kind of power, you will never be confused which target is the real one (even when they stealth you will recognize the correct target as soon as it comes out of stealth). You’ll be able to avoid blurred Frenzy all the time (unless they cast that skill while you are within melee range and if you are caught your reaction to use utility in order to avoid/reduce its damage will be a lot faster).

My ele is op with its burst and survivability if you don’t have over 3k of armor and various heals you stand no chance to survive.

All you need to know is that bunker builds still are the best for spvp/tpvp. Burst builds are more like average dps glass cannon type builds = useless. This feature is completely broken and that’s why you don’t see many true pvpers (other than those that enjoy annoying another player/s with being bunker) participating in spvp/tpvp. You will only find really good players with various type of builds per profession if you roam in wvw.

Is there any latino/hispanic/spanish speaking active guild. I’m from Blackgate but I wouldn’t mind transferring to give these type of guilds a try.

Sunflowers.1729:

LightningBlaze.4913:

Master a burst build with s/d that is not glass and all thieves become the easiest enemy to kill regardless of their player skills, following bunker/cleric eles as the second easiest to defeat.

What do you do if the Thief has enough toughness/HP to survive your burst? After all, if you aren’t glass, your burst is not going to be anything amazing.

Edit: Unless you are referring to the RTL>Updraft>DT+Ring of Fire+Phoenix combo, which is easy to dodge.

When I said all thieves I meant all kind of thieves. S/d have various burst rotations. No thoughness/vit thief can last against various bursts even if they constantly stealth. Then again if the burst ele all he/she does is pressing buttons to hit the opponent without using the profession skills wisely then it might take a long while or being unable to kill it. FYI ele doesn’t need to be glass cannon to do a lot of bursts. Finally I’m not glass and my burst is amazing.

Master a burst build with s/d that is not glass and all thieves become the easiest enemy to kill regardless of their player skills, following bunker/cleric eles as the second easiest to defeat.

I do give you points on how easy it is to read the elementalist skill animations and strategies Zenith but the same goes for any of the other profession specific weapon set if you are familiar with them. You know the old saying “knowledge is power”. Once again you go with the assumption that i am glass cannon (i am not so bunker either) and that you know my playstyle, when in reality you don’t. I am usually at the front/side/behind of the enemy zerg downing 1-3 people before I need to head back to heal. In spvp/tpvp bunker builds still rule and burst builds are more like average dps glass cannon type builds instead, which you will never kill a bunker/healer with on your own. Back to wvw fun pvp, I have encountered a few rangers that are really bunker/healer types and i do agree they can take my different type of bursts and heal up fully even if i interrupt them, they can’t kill me either since they deal very mediocre damage that I can easily withstand and outheal. ( I have a video where a match took over 17 mins battling one of these ranger until we both decided to let it go.) Those rangers that are both average/high dmg and bunker are killable with my burst build easily. Engies are no exception, I duel a real good engi 4 days ago that knew ele very well in pvp since his main was an ele. We had a total of 25 duels and we kept track while having tons of fun. At the end I won 13 of those; I got exhausted and had to log off to take a break. The point? it is not really the profession that can counter this build but more about how extreme bunker/healer the opponent build is and how skillful the player itself can be. An engi with the same build/gear/weapon set/stats/utilities can perform either poorly or amazingly depending on the player skills within combat. I don’t recommend anyone on changing their gears to try this build. Those that are so accustomed to be bunker/healers will find it to be very difficult to adjust. Personally I love this build primarily because I chose this profession for this main motive to deal massive burst to other players while having great cc. I came from aion to play gw2 and as a massive burst damage dealer sorcerer I was in there, my ele in here fits that role quite right.

Zenith.7301:

LightningBlaze.4913:

ahh the assumption that the air rotation is the only burst we ele have… poor easy victims.

Yeah, obviously outside air+arcane utility a Phoenix Burst is SO easy to land rolls eyes.

Too bad you roll over noobs who eat a fire grab or 3 strike phoenix.

P.S. Arc Lightning with berk gear and a few might stacks can do over 6k in squishy targets, but it’s a terrible DPS ability if you actually compare it to other autos. People need to look more than just the numbers. 100b seems great but the reason it’s outdamaged by warrior axe mainhand is because you have to consider the channel time in which that damage number total happens and what could have been done otherwise.

Why there has to be people that make up words that i never said. Of course it isn’t easy to land these but they are not that hard either. For example many say that dragon’s tooth never hits after updraft because your opponent can always dodge out of the way, that’s not completely true. If you cast the skill fast your opponent don’t have a chance to dodge. Of course if you pressed that button a mini sec too late then he will have that opportunity. Otherwise the only way to avoid it or prevent dmg from it is by using one of their utilities. With Phoenix it is best to be within melee range (which isn’t hard to accomplish even as a s/d ele) to hit opponent 3 times but in order to do so you gotta read your opponent such as how many dodges he has left, at his buffs, is he straffing/moving straight or being stunned and does he have/used utility that can counter this skill. I also find enabling the option “Fast Ground Targeting” to be extremely useful for this sort of skill once you are accustomed to it (Warning: at first this option can be very frustrating but once you become great with it, it can be very helpful).

Here’s comes another benefit of using a burst build, many ppl will panic seeing their health go down a bit too fast and will make mistake such as dodging unnecessary or wasting a utility. Fire grab is the same scenario and i normally use this in conjunction with my favorite utility lightning flash. As a solo/small group roamer in wvw you meet all sort of players; beginners that all they focus on is trying to lower their opponent health and pros that actually read you and use their profession skills wisely thus provide you with a very fun challenging match.

Razor.6392:

Blaine Tog.8304:

Razor.6392:

I’d say it’s overpowered, even. It barely has counterplay other than “pray that you dodge roll whenever the guy switches to air and rolls face on keyboard”

The counterplay is to have even a little bit of toughness or vitality in your build and then press 6. Now you’re safe and he’ll die to pretty much anything you throw at him.

Or, alternately, to have even one other person with you. Because while that burst was flashy, he can’t do it again for 45 seconds and he’ll die way before he gets that chance, rallying you.

My burning speed can do 5300 damage to him, so he’s not that tanky (probably lying).

But still, to pin down an elementalist… it’s not easy.

He uses ether renewal, lightning flash, arcane blast and mist form. And fiery greatsword for an elite (spams 3 and 4 to get away from everything).

His burst has a downtime of 12ish seconds in the best case scenario, and even if it fails Air #1 still does ridic damage (6000 damage for the entire channel, on average)

And no… he doesn’t use arcane power, like I said, he uses Lightning flash, mist form and arcane blast. Also uses crit chance stackable sigil. I’m sure the guy has like 30 points in air, scholar runes or some kitten.

That’s can’t be me then, I never notice my auto doing more than 5.1k of dmg and unless you attack me from my blind spot on 1v1 or 1v2, you will never hit me with burning speed. Finally I use the fiery greatsword in combat as well not only for getting away from zerg.

oZii.2864:

Dingle.2743:

I’m calculating a base burst before crit of five hits (Lightning Strike, Electric Discharge, Arcane Wave, Arcane Blast, Ride the Lightning) totalling 5559 damage + sigil of air (can’t crit, roughly 83% chance of triggering during the burst). This is calculated against 2600 armor. All five hits crit – Arcane Power gives 100% crit for precisely that many hits.

Throw in crit damage. This build hits 122% crit damage, so we’ll go with a 2.72 multiplier.

5559 * 2.72 = 15120 (rounded down)

Throw in damage multipliers. There aren’t many, but 10% while attuned to air (already factored in by the build editor), sigil of force (already factored in the build editor) and 5% if the enemy is on fire (can be fixed assuming the target doesn’t react and cleanse within 1 second, thanks to Evasive Arcana fire dodge)

15120 * 1.05 =15876

Sigil of Air will add another 1028 damage or so if it procs, or 1187 if it triggers in air attunement while the target is on fire.

So final damage = 17063 (before 20% from bolt to the heart, might, bloodlust (pushes it 10% higher if the ele farms mob kills somewhere first, with max might+bloodlust the damage is up nearly 50%), vulnerability (of which we’ll get 1-3 stacks during the burst), the additional burning damage and direct damage from the dodge roll at the start, bonuses from other classes…)

That’s 17063 damage which happens almost as fast as the elementalist can hit 5 buttons. Apart from dodging at exactly the right moment when there’s almost no warning, there’s not much that can be done to survive it other than having high enough stats.

Interestingly, Ride the Lightning can be used in an instant-cast burst because it’s also instant-cast and has moderately high damage.

Numerically speaking, the only elementalists that’ll survive the base burst are ones wearing gear with both vitality and toughness, or happen to have protection up when the burst begins -and- have 12k or more base hp. Same goes for thieves and to a degree, guardians.

But it’ll never (except with high might+bloodlust) one-shot any warrior or necromancer with toughness gear. It might get them close, but they’ll have time to react. This kills the now-helpless berserker-elementalist-who-happens-to-be-in-melee-range.

That is a full zerker build lightning blaze dude said its not glass. Which depends on his definition of not glass as a ele.

I posted my stats on another thread, my armor is 2403 with food buff with rock barrier is a bit over 2600 and 16.4k of hp, if you consider that to be glass then I am glass cannon.