Guild Wars 2

For Desolation that’s not the case Dayra, we’ve fought extremely hard to solidify our WvW community, we’ve been lucky to receive some strong guilds recently, however since our server is stuffed to the throat with pve’rs who do not care about WvW no matter what we do will bring them to play.

Since we’re “FULL” most hours of the day as a result many guilds who would have come to Desolation have instead moved to other servers like SFR.

The point being that we’ve done what we can, we cannot recruit further, we have to fight with what we’ve got, the question remains, do we have what it takes with what we’ve got to remain a tier 1 server against already strong servers who have gained more due to the announcement of paid transfers.

Krosan.2890:

You know what they say about karma…

Yeah and you know what they say about opinions too…

Last week VS complained about being “double teamed”. Deso in the majority of our matchups have been focused by both opposing servers, we don’t complain, we fight for our lives. If you think SFR and DS are joining forces against you this week then you’ve got it all wrong.

Last night in EB was pretty good, a tough fight countering SFR pushing up West and VS pushing up East but yet again the tougher opponent was SFR. Wiping VS zergs is so much easier, lost count of how many times we forced you back with half to 2/3 your numbers around Umberglade and Ogre Camp.

QuadJunky.2736:

Matt Witter.6982:

Any changes we make will undergo a lot of testing, both internal and by our trusted alpha team.

sigh…. Public Test Server

Invest in one, your "trusted’ alpha team has missed how many bugs and glitches already? Time to let the players who found those bugs and glitches your alpha team “missed” test changes.

Public Test Server.

No argument here, you guys are loosing sight of your product and community, quite frankly it is ridiculous that we have to resort to third party websites and spreadsheets to make sense of your build system. What’s even worse is that we, the players, catch obvious bugs that your team misses frequently. The excuse that things change between live and your development servers doesn’t instil much faith in your ability to accurately balance your product.

Yumiko Ishida.3769:

Does anyone consider using Power Vit Tough Gear from dungeons and Orr Temple karma vendors? No? I rest my case.

Serious blanket statement there, anyone who has spent time on the receiving end of heavy damage gears with p/v/t – before “The Build” was even made publicly available.

I’m guessing something along the lines of http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJAoYhEmkbwx5wjDAkHn4CLCFPYRRxM5A;TIADMmiA although I haven’t filled in runes and trinkets.

Here’s a version I’ve been planning on testing recently, just short on cash to keep switching out the runes or crests. It might be a little light on the defensive side of things for heavier engagements though.

The goals of this build are to get as close to the following stats as possible: 18000 HP, 2600 armour, 30% crit chance without fury, 50% crit damage, 400 healing power. and make the most of your crits.

Trait Allocation:
25 Air: 250 precision & 25% critical damage
I (Aura’s grant fury and swiftness)
VI (20% extra damage to foes under 33% health)
bonus: 15 (strike target with lightning bolt when attuning to air), 25 (60% chance to cause vulnerability on crit)

25 Water: 250 Vitality & 250 Healing Power
III (Cantrips grant vigor and regeneration)
IX (Cantrips recharge 20% faster) OR V (remove condition when attuning to water)
bonus: 25 in water for 2% extra damage per boon on you

20 Arcane: 20% Boon duration & attunement cooldown reduced to 11 seconds
V (Attunement swap grants boon)
VI (33% chance of vigor on crits)

Utilities:
Ether Renewal + Armor of Earth OR Glyph of Elemental Harmony + Cleansing Wave
Mist Form
Lightning Flash
Glyph of Elementals OR Fiery Greatsword for mobility

IF YOU CAN AFFORD DIVINITY RUNES USE THE FOLLOWING BUILD

Weapon: 2 x Knight’s Daggers. Superior Sigil of Life + Superior Sigil of Fire

Gear: Power/Vitality/Toughness armour. Guild defender’s backpack or Soldier’s backpack from TP. Superior Runes of Divinity x6

Trinkets: 2 x Invader’s Rings (Soldier’s are way cheaper for a minor point difference), 2 x Knight’s Earrings, Cleric’s Amulet.

Rings and earrings slotted with exquisite beryl orbs (valkyrie). Amulet slotted with exquisite emerald orb (knight) Crest of the Soldier in backpack.

Final approx base stats excluding boons, food and sigil stacks

1852 Power, 1459 Precision, 49% Crit Damage, 30% Crit Chance, (50% with fury up from auras)
1695 Toughness, 2615 Armour, 1634 Vitality, 17985 Hit points
400 Healing power

IF YOU’RE A POOR kitten LIKE ME USE THE FOLLOWING BUILD

Weapon: 2 x Knight’s Daggers. Superior Sigil of Life + Superior Sigil of Fire

Gear: Power/Vitality/Toughness armour. Guild defender’s backpack or Soldier’s backpack from TP. Crest of the Soldier x6

Trinkets: 2 x Valkyrie’s Rings, 2 x Knight’s Earrings, Knight’s Amulet.

Rings slotted with exquisite beryl orbs (valkyrie). Earrings slotted with exquisite ruby orbs (berserker). Amulet slotted with exquisite beryl orb (valkyrie) Crest of the Soldier in backpack.

Final approx base stats excluding boons, food and sigil stacks

1922 Power, 1468 Precision, 46% Crit Damage, 30% Crit Chance, (50% with fury up from auras)
1634 Toughness, 2554 Armour, 1643 Vitality, 18075 Hit points
250 Healing power

PROS: Packs a heavy punch with a fair amount of armour and hp
CONS: You don’t share auras, you don’t have Evasive Arcana heals, you have very low condition removal.

Gaudrath.6725:

For example, in EvE Online, a game famous for its zergs, one common tactic is to focus fire targets. Basically you have 50-100 people on teamspeak and the commander calls out primary and secondary targets one by one until they’re all gone. It requires cooperation, tactics and good understanding on what is important and what isn’t on the part of the commander

The difference is you had the interface to support focus firing, had counters to it (dampening, ecm, range limits) and it required pretty kitten good situational awareness across the board.

Gaudrath.6725:

The only true AoE in that game are bombs, PBAoE devices and doomsday devices. Bombs can be delivered only by ships made of soggy tissue paper, PBAoE have a really, really crappy range and doomsday devices make your wallet cry.

I would equate smartbombs and bomber fleets with daggerstorm thieves and churning earth ele’s, both niche uses of AOE.

Gaudrath.6725:

AoE, as others have said, is not a problem, the problem is AoE + multiple players. You can’t do anything about that sort of thing, people will stack up whenever they can.

I would adapt that statement to say that the problem is AoE + stupid players. What the hell is wrong with using a time-proven tactic of creating killing fields and using choke points?

Yeah humanity in the form of guild wars 2 zergs, the only other mammals besides sheep and lemmings that flock up and run INTO danger. If only we could nerf stupidity (not directed at the OP in this case).

Don’t forget those might stacks man, might stacks! And swirling winds… I sighed, dropped my head, rubbed my neck and shut the browser down.

haviz.1340:

Hah, my crystal ball was right – bunkers on the watchlist.

My hero! I hope you noticed the mention of one-shot thief builds too.

TheGreatA.4192:

Ride the Lightning obviously needs to go. It’s not much fun to battle against an elementalist when you know they’ll just run away and break combat the moment you start getting the better of it, every 15 seconds. The cooldowns on major skills are so ridiculously low that you only need to button mash with this class to beat most opponents.

No real need to think for a half a second whether you should be using this skill at this stage of the fight unlike with other classes.

Invulnerability stomp is another one that needs to go. Obviously not intended.

Stealth stomp, stealth run like a little baby, stealth skills actually DOING damage, greatsword + sword mobility + stability stomps on heavies, portal + blink + decoy on Mesmer.

Flip side, 100% melee, no weaponswap requiring a short cooldown gap closer (which in reality is closer to a 20-24 second cooldown due to attunement swaps) vs the short cooldown gap closers other classes have combined the weaponswap to ranged.

You get what I’m saying.

I don’t know if I can bring myself to not play me Elementalist any longer. I’ve got a 80 thief, mesmer, guardian and levelling a warrior when the urge takes me, but giving up on a class I’ve played the vast majority of my time since BWE1 is a really tough call to make.

Maybe I’ll be one of the last Elementalist’s still standing, I’ve worked my butt off, weathered the plethora of nerfs during beta, had my hopes dashed through our darkest hours and still love her.

Nicely done man, it’s takes balls to play that build and you did fantastically. Wish I had more opportunities to move away from heavy bunkering but what we’re running into in tier 1 against Vizunah and Seafarer’s Rest make fun skirmishes like this extremely rare.

The future of Guild Wars 2 open field battle: 25 players from each side line up opposite each other, they all bow, then killshot the person opposite them after a commander from the third server counts down from 3.

It’s 2013 not 1713 ArenaNet.

Daendur.2357:

how much anger, dear friend. Let me ask you why, if someone has an opinion different from yours, you have to attack him instead of try to discuss. Maybe you did a wrong choice, picking up the necromancer, but wishing bad things on others is a miserable act.

Say’s the guy who spent the last week trolling the Ele forums, but I guess you got what you wanted and are now feeling very smug hmmm?

Those 20 odd players are idiots, they deserved to be beaten. The 70 (lol) on their other video are even worse.

Sadly it seems those sheep are the people this game is being balanced around.

Writetyper.1985:

Meglobob.8620:

Nerfing AoE, really, how many players want that? Like 0, zero, nought, no one…

I want it. Provided they’re talking about melee cleave AoE. What is there right now to punish warriors and guardians from walking into a crowd of mobs and autoattacking with greatsword? Nothing. Absoloutely zilch. And there’s no way other classes without melee cleave can get aoe melee damage.

Honestly you don’t even know how they’re nerfing AoE yet, you’re the one living in your own little bubble if you read two words and overreact like this without anet even detailing what “aoe” they’re talking about. You don’t even know a single thing yet.

My thoughts exactly and what I’ve been trying to get across to people but most people are having knee-jerk reactions before having concrete proof of what they’re planning.

Let’s just see what happens but it looks like I’ll be moving back to Lowsec in the not too distant future.

So let me state I main an Ele, just thought I’d get that out of the way first, have since BWE1, so no I’m not a “flavour of the month” ele. Now I got that gut-wrenching spasm we’re so used to when reading about future patches. However what most of us staff users aren’t taking into account is the sheer amount of damage that melee AOE pushes out, you’ve all seen “spin to win” things like Dagger Storm, 100Blades etc. You know those Warriors and Guardians who obliterate a horde of mobs before your first meteor has fallen from the sky.

Those skills, in my mind, are the ones they are referring to as having low opportunity cost vs massive payoffs and are likely the skills that will be looked into. Yes chances are good that staff users will be adjusted too but not as dramatically as AOE melee will be hit.

We’ve all stated that we think it is a bad idea so they know that by now, but let’s hear them out, perhaps it will be good for the meta in the long run, we don’t know what else they’re planning on implementing in the future, this could be the first step in a longer term plan.

Macha.9160:

Talindra.4958:

they could introduce a trait for all profession that protect them from ele’s aoe for certain period of time while they are 1) resing allies, 2) not attacking 3) etc etc.. and not nerfing ele’s aoe, because AOE is ele’s most important defence mechanism. and also only most offensive mechanism.. single attack from ele’s weapon are weak to other classes.

As they nerf a your “defense”, they will share the Mesmers “defense”…

So don’t feel sad, you can still run away faster then most classes can

Are you high man, because the only thing coming out your mouth is smoke. Please explain or get a clue, the door to “makes no sense” is that way, the same place that Q&A belongs.

OK guys at first I was like “wtf you gotta be kidding, them smoking some bad kittens over at AHQ” Forgive the teenage drivel I’m being overly dramatic on purpose, I gave up on teenagers long ago.

Then I spent a few minutes thinking about it a little deeper and you know what popped into my pigeon sized noggin? Awesome sequences of big hunks of meat swinging big bad kitten sharp pieces of metal, wholesale slaughter as magical big red numbers pop up all over the screen. The kinda numbers that make Elementalist’s go “COOOO!”

Now that, my dear colleagues, could well be the AOE adjustments that they were hinting at, not our magnificent flaming space rocks that travelled for eternity or our titanic slabs of frigged ice, all responding to a splendid gesture while waving our staves about.

Think about it for a second or two longer before proceeding to run to the bunker like it’s 21/12/2012 all over again. Me thinks it won’t be as bad this time, remember we started the race pre-nerfed before release, perhaps they’ll take pity on our poor souls.

No this is not a recruitment post, no I won’t insult you with one either. During the “good hours” things work this way on my server of choice: Desolation [EU]. We’ve been through the high and the lows and our core guilds achieve what you’ve described to a large extent.

Any server that claims to achieve that 100% of the time is talking kitten poop.

Ruminate on this before getting your panties in a knot… watched how VOTF, RED GUARD, KAZ and most of the major wvw EU guilds roll like tanks over hapless zergs swinging away merrily while massive red numbers pop up like grandma’s at a Bingo Joint?

Perhaps THAT is the aoe abuse they’re talking about, not the slap slap patter patter of beautiful cosmic meteors or the cousin of the iceberg that sunk the Titanic falling from the heavens.

And “no” that 7v50 video is not a demonstration of the OP nature of AOE, it is the demonstration of how wolves prey on sheep. irrespective of the amount of poo poo Exarthious has caused in this thread he has picked up on a valid point and I quote “No AE damage should ever hit a single target for more damage than a single target ability, ever, which includes ALL classes. Because there is a need to change AEs, they also need to increase the number of players hit by AEs to 15, or 20.”

Ruminate on that statement a little bit, shovel some snow, come back inside and breath deeply.

Very nice ideas man! Care to work on a whip or offhand version ala. Gandalf Vs. Balrog?

I kinda like the approach you’re taking though.

There are some weird mechanics involved, I’ve been stun locked by RTL due to pathing, been placed behind my target instead of parallel, had updraft miss a running player (no dodge, no aegis, no blind etc).

Does your stunbreaker prevent blow out specifically or does it only remove the usual suspects?

ladyfabulous.1403:

You start to recruit when you were a medium pop server right now you are the only full server, that’s a lot of people doing pvp/pve.

Desolation historically has been high to full since beta weekend one, however you are right about many people who aren’t interested in WvW doing PvX.

The core of our WvW population are players that have stayed on the server through thick and thin since the release of the game.

If I may be audacious enough to speak on behalf of recently transferred guilds, they did so because our server culture and performance on the field appealed to them and we’re glad to have them with us.

If you, as a player or your guild, enjoys a drama free environment, backed up with solid performance despite the odds and has the spirit of tenacity, co-operation and the willingness to put aside ego’s and pettiness then Desolation is the server for you.

We have a mix of great guilds, everything from small hitsquads, medium skirmishers up to the behemoths like Iron. No matter what your playstyle you will find a home amongst our wvw guilds.

Finally man, thank you for posting something sensible! I agree with 99% of what you’re saying above and I’ll even admit that the D/D bunker (0/10/0/30/30 with Clerics) is a tad too tanky (that’s the OP part) but the damage output isn’t stellar (that’s the not OP part).

But let me ask you this, does the same rationale not apply to all classes then?

Now let me state why I still play the 0/10/0/30/30 trait distribution.

a) It suits my playstyle, frontline pushes with my heavy guild mates, backline disruption, siege disruption etc. When geared in Cleric’s I don’t do enough damage to out right kill anything but I cause a psychological disruption for my enemies buying the time needed for other classes to do the larger portion of damage. In short it has the ability to survive one rotation and then get out, very similar to a dagger storm or caltrops/poison field harrassment thief, who can easily mitigate more damage and gtfo as well.

2) It can be adapted to d/d, staff, s/d and s/f without having to retrait. While not specialising into a particular role it is the essence of the class’s versatility. There is no other build that can accomplish this successfully.

3) The traits available themselves provide flexibility for solo or group play.

4) By changing out your trinkets you can shift the balance of the build without being too extreme e.g. you need more damage, remove the Cleric’s and go with Knight’s, need more burst go Berserker’s. I’m generalising here as each person has a specific preference however the crux of the what I’m saying is that by doing what I’ve stated above you’re balancing the scales and have to trade something in return for what you’re trying to accomplish.

The fulcrum of 0/10/0/30/30 is so delicate that a simple adjustment of 5 trait points dramatically changes how the class feels, you have to make tough decisions when deviating from it. From the outside you don’t know these things and I’m not blaming you for that, but please realise that the build is the result of evolutionary theory in practise, simply put: survival of the fittest.

edit: typos

Ajaxx.3157:

JuG is not Judge guild. Judge = JDGE

Edited to correct my stupidity :p

Dude listen, I get what you’re saying above but what Arheundel was saying wasn’t just an across the board HP increase, what he was saying was that by increasing the base HP and reducing the effectiveness of bunker traits you’re creating a situation where bunker vs burst can be balanced more easily i.e give some here and take away some there. He’s attempting to strike a balance and change the current meta of the game, allowing Elementalists to actual build into our damage traits.

Do you honestly think we as a profession enjoy having to trait the way it is currently?

Sadly you’re blinded by your obsession with getting bunker’s nerfed and are unwilling to contribute to an open discussion amongst individuals who have played this class as a main the majority of their guild wars 2 history.

Please stop trolling and contribute something more than “No, because I said so.”

You can lead a horse to water but can’t make one drink it :P

If that is the case Jomg and you guys feel like you’ll fit in with Desolation server culture, then welcome aboard. Forgive us if we look at you a little strangely for the first few days though while we test the statement “The enemy of my enemy is my friend”.

Jomg.9061:

Wanted to scout a bit there but “Full” even at 9 AM GMT +1 ,doesn’t look like we can transfer to deso.

Wait… what? Jomg coming to Desolation? Colour me sceptical… (I’ll delete this post if requested).

In the last month in EU tiers 1 and 2 we’ve not only had PC’s but the actual server running the borderland crash. Draw your own conclusions, your mileage may vary.

Name: [KAZ] The Kaz Legacy
Raid size: 15-40
Specialty: Skirmishing
Server: Desolation
Reason: Resilience and audacity. Humble while ramming weapons of mass destruction down oppositions throats.

Name: [JOKE] Not sure exactly
Raid Size: 10-15
Speciality: Skirmishing
Server: SFR (?)
Reason: Amazing team cohesion and synergy, bring your best game because they eat pugs all day every day

Name: [Jdge] Judge
Raid Size: 5-10
Speciality: Skirmishing, Operating behind enemy lines
Server: Desolation
Reason: They’re extremely good at what they do and don’t receive the credit for it. Working outmanned behind enemy lines takes balls and skills and I don’t know a mesmer out there that hasn’t read Osicat’s ShatterCAT guide. As a bonus their videos are brilliant too.

MORE base hp = LESS water traits.
LESS water traits = LESS amazing health restoration.
LESS health restoration = FEWER bunkers.
FEWER bunkers = FEWER complainers.

Regeneration and boons are the lifeblood of an Elementalist, our class mechanic doesn’t grant innate defensive mechanism’s like stealth does for thieves or aegis, heavy armour and arguably better health regen does for guardians.

We trait heavily into water for reasons other than Aura share and Cantrip cooldowns, by increasing our base hp you’re adding a buffer allowing us to explore deeper than 10 points into one of our dps trait lines without dying to a few hits. As explained to you before the strength of our 0/10/0/30/30 builds are the synergies between the traits as well as the +300 vitality and +300 healing power from the water line.

daphoenix.4283:

Nice builds and indepth analysis

Coming from you Sir, that just made my day! My thanks for your input to our community as a whole. At the end of the day sharing is caring.

Intigo.1653:

We’re moving up to Tier 3 on Friday, so we’ll be there fairly soon. Hopefully there are a great number of guilds on SFR / Deso that would be up for some GvG awesomeness.

You can bet your offhand dagger that there are Intigo, and not just the big names either. Get up here and make sure you thump Vizunah on their way down. Looking forward to seeing you guys soon.

Do you think the loss of the 12% additional crit damage to be worth the trade off of pushing three stats of choice? Granted they are hellishly expensive.

Likely already clearing the snow or drinking eggnog with a keyboard macro running :P

Two days left chaps, the pressure is mounting! Good luck to all.

Sharing is caring and grab that spreadsheet if you can, makes decisions before buying gear much easier!

Are you going 30 into Arcane for a specific reason? Oh and grab this spreadsheet it really helps with speccing your builds even though it doesn’t have Ascended gear and some of the stats may be off a little.

I posted some theory crafting in another thread regarding Staff builds take a look if you have the time, might help you decide.

Old and slow, I love that! I feel that way too sometimes.

Seems we have similar playstyles though and I’m finding giving up on the 0/10/0/30/30 build tough since our server is back into EU tier1. Although I have ditched the clerics gear I still need the extra staying power since I’m pushing the frontline together with my guilds heavy brethren (don’t tell them I’ve dropped the cleric’s though).

I do think it’s time to move deeper into Air for me, sadly I haven’t had much time this week to test things out as running into 25-40 man blobs with 20 allies has become the norm.

Are we seeing a shift in meta here, perhaps a rebellion against the D/D Invasion? Interesting times for us WvW Elementalists indeed!

Does the skill need to be ground targeted on TOP of the wall or just on the edge of the lip? If it needs to be placed ON TOP please explain how you zoom out far enough to see there without a zoomhack? I don’t recall any structures that have high enough terrain close enough to a wall to allow targeting on top without placing your cursor on the very edge of the outer side.

WOW man a portcullis is a brilliant suggestion! However would people then QQ about not being able to hit behind/in front of it since you technically have line of sight too?

Nice Chipsu!

0/20/0/20/30 the logical evolution of our bunker build. Glad to see the more experienced ele’s adopting the harder hitting option and moving away from full clerics Please for the chalk of cheese select a target man! What I liked the most about your video though was the honesty of it, showing both the strengths and weaknesses of moving away from full bunker, amazing what a difference such a minor trait and accessory adjustment makes to our class.

Looking forward to your next video man.

SUPPORT: 0/10/0/30/30

So you’re here to heal, that’s all good, water attunement is your friend. To maximise your effectiveness you’re going to need to be blast finishing your water fields as much as possible when they’re off cooldown. You’ll do this by using Eruption, Arcane Wave and Evasive Arcana earth dodge so you’ll need to be close to your team mates needing to be healed, as such a decent amount of toughness will be needed. Please be aware that the rewards for playing support are pathetic since your contribution is calculated by dps only so don’t expect gold medals from DE’s and good drops.

Trait Allocation:
10 Air: 100 precision & 10% critical damage
V (5% precision converted to healing power) OR III (Glyphs recharge 20% faster) OR VI (20% extra damage to targets under 33% health)

30 Water: 300 Vitality & 300 Healing Power
I (water skills recharge 20% faster)
V (remove condition when attuning to water)
XI (Remove condition when granting regen to yourself or ally)
bonus: 25 in water for 2% extra damage per boon on you

30 Arcane: 30% Boon duration & attunement cooldown reduced to 9 seconds
V (Attunement swap grants boon)
VIII (Area attacks with staff are larger)
XI (Attunement based spell at end of dodge, one per attunement)
note: you’ll be using Evasive Arcana dodge roll in Earth as a blast finisher, get used to how it works, also dodge roll in water is a very strong self-heal.

Utilities:
Glyph of Elemental Harmony
Mist Form
Arcane Wave
Glyph of Storms
Tornado (use this in a water field to throw out heals)

Weapon: Magi’s Staff with Superior Sigil of Life + Magi’s Staff with Superior Sigil of Water once max stacks reached.

Gear: Cleric’s coat, pants and helm, Magi’s shoulders, gloves and boots. Guild defender’s backpack or Soldier’s backpack from TP. 2 x Superior Runes of the Monk, 2 x Superior Runes of Water, 2 x Major Runes of Water OR 2 x Superior Runes of Dwyna

Trinkets: 2 x Cleric’s Rings, 2 x Cleric’s Earrings, Cleric’s Amulet, all accessories slotted with exquisite sapphire gems by default.

Final approx base stats excluding boons, food and sigil stacks

1418 Power, 1216 Precision, 10% Crit Damage, 18% Crit Chance
1412 Toughness, 2332 Armour, 1430 Vitality, 15945 Hit points
0 Condition damage, 1355 Healing power
around +70% boon duration maximising the amount of healing via regen. boon.

PROS: Heals like a boss, teaches you the mechanics of using Evasive Arcana and blast finishing in water fields
CONS: Doesn’t hit very hard, requires specialised armour set, very little versatility due to armour set

LONG RANGE BOMBARDMENT: 20/20/0/10/20

This build is meant to deal a very good amount of AOE damage from range without sacrificing too much defense. You’ll need to avoid damage as much as possible but you have enough defense to survive a hit or two before getting out of danger.

Trait Allocation:
20 Fire: 200 power & 20% condition duration
VI (10% extra damage in fire attunement) or III (5% extra damage to burning targets)
VII (Fire skills recharge 20% faster)

20 Air: 200 precision & 20% critical damage
III (Glyphs recharge 20% faster)
VI (20% extra damage to targets under 33% health)

10 Water: 100 Vitality & 100 Healing Power
VI (Deal extra damage when health is above 90%) or V (remove condition when attuning to water)

20 Arcane: 20% Boon duration & attunement cooldown reduced to 11 seconds
V (Attunement swap grants boon)
VIII (Area attacks with staff are larger)

Utilities:
Glyph of Elemental Harmony
Mist Form
Arcane Wave OR Glyph of Elemental Power OR Cleansing Fire
Glyph of Storms
Glyph of Elementals

Weapon: Berserker’s Staff with Superior Sigil of Perception + Berserker’s Staff with Superior Sigil of Force once max stacks reached.

Gear: Valkyrie’s coat, pants and helm, Knight’s shoulders, gloves and boots. Guild defender’s backpack or Soldier’s backpack from TP. Superior runes of Divinity.

Trinkets: 2 x Knight’s Rings, 2 x Knight’s Earrings, Valkyrie’s Amulet, all accessories slotted with exquisite ruby gems.

Final approx base stats excluding boons, food and sigil stacks

2076 Power, 1642 Precision, 74% Crit Damage, 38% Crit Chance
1338 Toughness, 2258 Armour, 1306 Vitality, 14700 Hit points
60 Condition damage, 160 Healing power

PROS: AOE hits like a truck, while not as heavy hitting as a 30 fire build, it hits hard enough
CONS: On the low side of the HP scale but you have enough toughness to mitigate damage, low on condition removal

GENERAL PURPOSE VERSATILITY: 0/10/0/30/30

This build is a staff variation of DaPhoenix’s popular D/D build. While it doesn’t have the punch of a dedicated damage build it has enough of everything to be one of our most versatile trait setups allowing the usage of all weaponsets without sacrificing too much in all departments. Your effectiveness in each role can be tailored by using different accessories. Furthermore it requires only one set of armour that can be used in both PVE and WvW without having to retrait meaning you can easily switch weaponsets, utilities and selected traits while out of combat.

Trait Allocation:
10 Air: 100 precision & 10% critical damage
VI (20% extra damage to targets under 33% health)

30 Water: 300 Vitality & 300 Healing Power
V (remove condition when attuning to water)
VI (Deal extra damage when health is above 90%)
XI (Remove condition when granting regen to yourself or ally)
bonus: 25 in water for 2% extra damage per boon on you

30 Arcane: 30% Boon duration & attunement cooldown reduced to 9 seconds
V (Attunement swap grants boon)
VIII (Area attacks with staff are larger)
XII (Arcane skills cause condition based on attunement)
note your final trait selection is very flexible and you can change it as you see fit.

Utilities:
Glyph of Elemental Harmony
Mist Form
Arcane Wave
Arcane Power
Glyph of Elementals

Weapon: Berserker’s Staff with Superior Sigil of Perception + Berserker’s Staff with Superior Sigil of Force once max stacks reached.

Gear: Any Power/Vitality/Toughness armour from either WvW, AC dungeon vendors (there are other dungeons but AC is easiest to acquire) or via Temple Kharma vendors (you won’t find pants at the kharma vendors and will have to visit more than one vendor) Guild defender’s backpack or Soldier’s backpack from TP. Superior runes of Divinity.

Trinkets: 2 x Berserker’s Rings, 2 x Berserker’s Earrings, Berserker’s Amulet, all accessories come slotted with exquisite ruby gems by default.

Final approx base stats excluding boons, food and sigil stacks

1976 Power, 1534 Precision, 66% Crit Damage, 33% Crit Chance
1214 Toughness, 2134 Armour, 1514 Vitality, 16785 Hit points
60 Condition damage, 360 Healing power

PROS: All round balanced stats but leaning towards dps with berserker’s accessories, can be customised via different accessories, very versatile trait selection favouring all weaponsets
CONS: Jack of all Trades

Preface: Firstly the following is my personal opinion, while I wouldn’t call myself a pro, I have played an Ele as my main since BWE1. What I’m sharing is my experience playing the class as well as my own approach to builds across multiple games. I prefer a balanced approach to my characters, I very rarely build a glass cannon or a full-on bunker unless there’s a requirement to do so.

Tools: I use the build editor here http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/ while it isn’t up-to-date with the latest changes, it’s the site I found easiest to use. While testing stats on the site is great for sPVP I prefer to use SatireV’s build spreadsheet for PVE and WvW as it gives a more accurate idea of stats outside of the Hearts of the Mist. You can download the spreadsheet here and read his thread on Reddit here .

GEAR SELECTION IN GENERAL

Because I’m lazy and there is so many different permutations of runes/gems/sigils etc. I’m gonna simplify things and say go for a Berserker’s Staff.

What sigil you use is entirely up to you and dependent on the build to a lesser degree but obvious choices are Superior Sigil of Battle (3 stacks of might on attunement), Superior Sigil of Bloodlust: +10 power per kill stacks to 25, Superior Sigil of Force: +5% damage, Superior Sigil of Perception: +10 precision stacks to 25 and two of my favourites for dual-wield: Superior Sigil of Fire and Superior Sigil of Air. Up to you what you choose, if uncertain try buying the Major version of each and test them before deciding.

Regarding Runes, again I’m gonna be lazy and say if you can afford them then Superior Runes of Divinity ((+10 to all stats, +2% crit damage)x6) for your final choice of armour. If you’re rich enough to deck out multiple armour sets with these bad boys then kudos to you!

Now about the armour, in my opinion the only options are Soldier, Knight and Valkyrie, the rest are too specific and don’t have enough versatility for my taste. We don’t have the base hp and armour to build too glassy and healing power scales badly preventing a dedicated healer build. I’ll post specific gear combinations for each build but would like to say don’t be afraid to mix pieces since you get the most stats in descending order from Chest, Pants, Helm, Shoulder Guards, Gloves and Shoes. Buff your priority stats using your trait points and armour and then fill in the holes or specialise via your jewellery choices.

Like Thibash said, if you’re going for condition damage then Scepter/Dagger earth + signets build is your best bet. Staff leans more toward Power as a base supplemented with Precision/Crit Damage to get the most bang for your buck.

Staff condition damage isn’t worth it in my opinion, it goes well with Scepter for burning and bleeds but if you’re running dungeons with necros or thieves chances are good you’ll hit the bleed cap fairly quickly.

Regarding your role, well just remember you have four attunements and each one has a general purpose. I’m sure you know them by now but fire is dps, water is healing, air is crowd control/mobility and earth is protection/cc/damage related. The point being that you have something to contribute to a fight in every attunement. Usually healing will involve dropping your water fields (either blast finishing them yourself or allowing others to do that for you) and/or switching to water attunement when positioned close to you team. Sadly healing power doesn’t scale all that well and some of our healing skills have been reduced in effectiveness. As long as you aren’t spending all your time in one attunement then you’re doing fine.

I’ll link some builds and gear choices in a bit, need to spend some time getting the info for you, I’d rather post them here as you can’t copy/paste any text from ingame.