Guild Wars 2

In my opinion it is not good . Going in power .. you need direct damage ,not condi damage so you need rifle … pistol is a heavy condi weapon … not a direct damage one. I also would trade 5 points from explosive and 5 from alchemy to take speedy kit and in any case to take invigoreting speed in alchemy. you can also take speed from the zerg but you can not take vigor from them … and dodging is important. You have also a long break stun , i would evaluate to swap elixir S for EG or for slick shoes : eg is a very good support utility ( you erase condi from your allie with eg 3 every 12 second if i remember correctly and you can also give retaliation even if in a zerg you should already have it from guardians ) . I would not go 6 in invention but rather 4,4 in invention/ alchemy becouse , in my opinion , alchemy traits are far better

are you sure he could ress you ? if i have not the right skill ready and there is an enemy many time it is better to let one die …. and keep the point …( usually i try to ress if i am under fire if i have elixir S up or mistform us … otherwise it is a suicide )

use focus or staff ( earth 4 make them quite bad ) . with freshair s/f it is not difficult to kill them in 1 vs 1 .

if this game was a 1vs 1 probably s/f would be the meta ele and one of the best build of the game …. but the pvp is a conquest game so it is quite different

and it is not true that an sf ele can not kill a d/d one … it depends on the level of the 2 players … but in 1 vs 1 s/f is really really strong … the problem of s/f is that you are not of great support in teamfight becouse if your opponent team is not noob , they target you quite always as first and you team have to play 4 vs 5 many times

problem is not killing thief. with focus you can kill it . the fact is that a good thief gives more than an s/f ele to a team . In my opinion it is not true that ele is bound to d/d cele . Staff cele and d/f cele work really well . the builds are quite the same than dd but gives different gameplays . it depends on team … opponents and so on …
The real fact is that ele is bound to celestial and to cantrips … it is the kind of build that gives you the best compromise between damage , survaibility and support …

the problem is the run ,stacking way of making dungeon … ok you make them fast but there is no satisfaction …. stay stacked and spamming skills is something that does not seem fighting to me …. only button smashing …

it is for fun becouse if you find strong foes you see all the problem from it. If u get an organized team , usually you burst down one of them. Since there , when you arrive on a point you are immediatly focused and downed as the first target … so you risk that your team is always 4 vs 5. You have no clones, no stealth , nothing … and defensive skills of focus have long cd . It works and it works well but for organized match d/d cele or staff cele work better . You can go beresrker with thief or mesmer becouse they have evasion mechanics ( stealth , teleport … clones ) … you can also go with necro becouse you have double heal bar … but with ele you lack both of them …

yes but i find it not so easy … with nades it comes to me more mecchanic … perhaps it is only the fact that i am more used to nades

you can also , if you like pistols, try one of the variuos pistol pistol or pistol shields condi builds (with rabid amult ) that usually use 2 kits. They are not the meta now but i find them really really strong in any case.
I don’t like to play all the time the same thing … so i play with p/p quite often .

i tried your build . You are tanky and your damage is good , but there is only a problem …. the rangers and the ranged professions. With nades, at leaset, you can try to blind them with nades 3 and then to catch them in melee distance …

in my opinion for pve a build like that but rifle based works much better , berserker or celestial .

S/F is really fun and really viable if you play it for fun. In 1 vs 1 it is quite strong .. .and with focus you can survive quite well . I am not saying it is better than d/d cele or staff cele. I am saying that if you want to shot people it is fun. You have not speed, it is quite a lack and i find the same on d/d elementalist in any case ( low access to speed) but if you put on a point , tipically close and wait people to come 1 vs 1 … it is fun. If they come in 2 … if you are luck you can escape .. otherwise you die . I can ensure that with focus you can win against thieves in 1 vs 1 .. as you can lose… but obviously it is not optimal for a team. Arcane wave for me is much better than arcane blast in freshairs sf becouse you can put it in your combo , on fire fields and stack might … it raises up your damage .

which prof / build work better for going solo ?
i tried engi ( celestial and condi ) but it seems to me that it has too many conters. it works well but necro and mesmers can be a problem . I found much better for going alone celestial staff ele or celestial d/d ele for the reason that there is no specific counter…. I don’t know if a stronger shoutbow warrior is better … but any suggestion is welcome

i prefer rune of the ogre ( for the dog) and i would trade mist form for arcane shield . Another thing i usually to is to trade air X trait with Air IX trait … the reduction of the air cd is quite strong imho . I’d also trade arcane blast for arcane wave. If you land firefield and then you opponent you have more blasts for increasing your damage

thief in my opinion is not good for going in 3. I’d prefer 3 professions that could try to make different roles … an engi or an ele for example , can defend a point or support teamfight and obviously warrior . If you go in 3 and you get another thief or another burst profession it can be hard. An other strategy can be to play different professions … for example , if i play a burst class and a point holder class, in the minute before the match start i can look at my team composition and switch to rebalance my team

and you forgot f3 from mesmer … it is another way of stomping but this too has long cd

elixir S and myst form on one hand have quite huge cd … i can use it usually once in a fight …. and when i pop it up i have not it for saving my life. For stealth the question is different… you can not interrupt it but your teammates can make great aoe … and use blind … not always this works but it is better than nothing

for a pve map where you can duel with people you can go in wvw … it is not a real duel envirorment but you can do it. Usually people who wants to duel wait near EB SM or in the central island on borders ( between bluebriar and lake )

for me bombs and nades remain far better than ft …

i made a lot of match and usually i did not go afk. Yesterday for first time i went afk sitting down. When you start a match .. .and you start with 4 people on mid destroyed by 2 on the other team … what do you do ? i was on close and i took it 2 or 3 times but when i see that i have 3 with me that really weren’t able to win a 3 vs 1 …. it is normal to go afk and to wait for the next match … the faster it finish the better it is . Probably people roll the daily class even if they don’t know it .. .

staff is fun , are you playing cele staff ? it seems to me quite viable .. obviously the problem is to keep melee far from you …… but the classic 00266 cele staff seems quite strong now . The only problem of staff, for me is that it has only one blast finisher and i feel obliged to take arcane blast..

there was a staff ele in final ? (or i saw the wrong video )

this is the link i used to copy the build (it is not mine obviously ) http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Elementalist_-_Celestial_Staff ) I only modified it trading cleasing fire with arcane wave for having an extra blast . I tried also switching ether renewal for signet of restoration … and it is good too ( less strong but continuos healing) .

As an engineer i don’t see power ranger as a great threat .. for me a strong shatter mesmer or necros are much worse to fight at

I have been playing elementalist since more than 2 years. In pvp i played usually d/d or s/f freshair . I gave a try to staff with celestial build ( i use the one i found in metabattle with only a change ) .
I found it quite strong and viable . Is it understated ?
In many cases it seems to me more viable than freshair based builds for the reason that you last much more on a fight and you can have 2 roles : holding a point 1 vs 1 and giving support and damage in teamfights .
the only think they should change in staff, for me , is to add another blast finisher …

why ? if they are not in rank queue i don’t see the problem …. if i have not the right build and i lose in unranked… it is not an illness

/flame !!!
I play ele and eng from a long time. I don’t play turrets eng but i think anet should buff this build . The reason is simple :
– a condi eng or a celestial eng with nades can kill you spamming nades and condi from far
– a staff ele can kill you , a s/f ele can kill you , a d/f ele can kill you , a d/d ele with gs or frostbow can kill you (any ele with frostbow should can kill you )
– an hambow can kill you
– a condi mesmer can kill you
– a condi ranger can kill you
– a pew pew ranger , can kill you if you don’t have reflect on turrets .
– a condi necro i suppose can kill you
– probably there are many other builds that can kill you if played correctly ..
In my opinion this build is not so OP … so they should buff it.

but if you leave toolkit you will not have any kind of shield … then it is much better a condi build with nades and bombs and pistol shield … and it is an old build

FT is good only for wvw and in my opinion nades are far superior … and as second option , if i don’t take nades , i prefer bomb kit … (Bombs give you might , stealth , confusion … haling if traited … for me after nades they are the best choice ) . For spvp i find FT too weak and also for pvp i prefer using bomb and nades … much more dps

I want to try 06026 with d/f and lighting rod , i don’t know if it is better with berserker or celestial …

it depdens on what you are playing . if playing duo i’d prefer another celestial prof. I play cele eng or cele ele . I don’t know what other 3 pugs will play and i think that a flexible build which can defend a point or attack it like cele’s ones gives us more probability to win … more adaptable …

obvioulsy with rabid i would let rifle down and i would take pistol pistol or pistol shield ( i prefer the first )

it is simple … let daily only in unranked …

you can do it and if you are playing solo it is a way to help your team. If you see that all are squishy for example .. and you change .. you help them . You have 1 minute and halft before the match start to change your build or to switch i suppose

can you explain what you mean with speekhacking ?

mesmer and necro ( as engineer ) , mesmer and thief as freshair ele …. nothing as d/d ele ( i can win , i can lose, but i never feel me disadvantaged ). The only luck is that mesmer is an hard class to play (with shatter ) and strong mesmer are not so common … many mesmers are not able to use shatters correctly and i can win … but when i find a strong mesmer …. it is really really hard

Courtyard is quite fun but , imo , you have to have a build for it . Usually , when it happens to me to play it i switch to freshair elementalist ( before the game start ) and i take also frostbow , i can ensure you that it is fun and i win quite often. In my opinion it is ok in unranked , in unranked i go there for fun … so if i lose a match becouse i don’t have the optimal build for it it is not a great problem. . It is not a competitive scene so take it for fun and try different builds till you find the one who fits for courtyard …. then you will enjoy yourself too. at least this was my courtyard story

I don’t play turret engi, i find it terribly boring. I play usually 2 class in pvp eng ( rifle or condi ) and ele (d7d or sf freshair) and sometime shatter mesmer. I can ensure you that usually i can take them down quite fast .In my opinion it is only a problem of positioning and timing. . Try to spam them from range till their health is about 50% or so and then you will kill them quite fast … (with ele if you have gs …. there is no game … destroy rocket turret and it is an easy win )

I am really boared to play all the time the same celestial d/d . I tried sf freshair build , it is really strong but in my opinion it is suboptimal in a contest game , you can win 1 vs 1 but on teamfight you are really an easy kill . Which other builds are really viable in pvp ? ( not staff, i hate it ) the only build i found , on youtube , which is quite viable and fun to play is this one http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fFAQJAodhcM6cW4wxBdEBGACpoBTEY0tyn3GG-TJRGwAAOBAJeAAg2fYZZAA taken from a youtube video ( it is not mine )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gy7VRmAqFjM
if you have something different to try … i would be happy

remember to stack might, your damage come from there . in a fight usually you don’t have to do all the chain like a robot … but for example , if you have fire and earth ready ….remember fire 4, fire 3 earth dodge in and earth 3 twice … and if you have you can add an earthquake …. when your stacks of might raise up … your direct and condi damage raise up … I avoid to stack might with water 3 becouse i usually tend to preserve water for healing but it is only a matter of taste and if you fight against ranged prof rememeber that earth 2 block projectils

Kodiak.3281:

A lot of PvP is understanding what is actually going on and why things are happening the way that they are. Even in unranked, I catch a lot of people who are extremely stationary at all times and stand in powerful AOE’s that they should never be hit with.

A lot of Ele’s survivability is understanding your cool downs and when to use them and when to simply walk away. I usually rock a S/D Fresh Air build (06044) and the main reason I stay /D over /F is the colossal number of defenses I have with /D that I like.

With these Water heavy builds, going into Water attunement is a huge defensive cooldown. You heal, you cleanse conditions, you gain regen, you gain a side regen and in the case of /D you also get some huge defensive cool downs with Frost Aura and another heal/cleanse. Most players you face know this and they try to push you down low enough fast (with burst) to force you to blow that cool down. Typically I don’t like to go into Water unless I know I got Frost Aura to help transition out of Water when they start wanting to burst me down.

There’s a lot of other cool downs as well, from Earthquake to Updraft to passives like Evasive Arcana. Knowing when to use these and when not to use these is ultimately what gets you killed.

Doesn’t mean you’re not going to face hard teams from time to time, good teams are going to prod/poke you and see what kinda Ele you are. If you are very survivable and use everything right I find most teams will do their best to ignore you cause they know you know what’s up. However if you don’t and you just fall over dead then a lot of teams will continue to focus you in any kind of engagement. All about learning how to survive and then figuring out how to do DPS afterwords.

just a curiosity for learning : which are the defensive skill of /D ? i can think air 4,5 for evasion and water 5 or earth 4 … but you don’t have any defense againt projectiles … i play s/f but with s/d it seems to me much harder to survive … and i am just curious to learn

I tried your build and it is quite fun . It is a little different from the usual cele rifle … and sometimes changing is better . It works quite well .

why don’t use the same build with rabid and elixirs ? ( new hgh life )

you can win but it requires time. It is a strong build in 1 vs 1 … but , in my opinion , it gives the best in teamfight . If you want to kill fast go S/F freshair , a little more difficult to play .. more risky but much more fun to play

how can you fight pew pew rangers or ranged class in any case ? you can not stealth with elixir S to get close to them … only the block … but it is hard to get close to them with sufficient heal …. with nades at least you can blind them ..

Random Weird Guy.3528:

PierPiero.9142:

2 turrets engi and 3 pew pew rangers

We saw turrets in NA WTS qualifiers and look how that turned out

It was a joke …. did you understand it ?

2 turrets engi and 3 pew pew rangers

Lawful.5314:

PierPiero.9142:

elementalists are better now for the fact that anet unnerfed signet of restoration and celestial amulet. I play ele and eng ( for making a parallel ) and also eng celestial build hase become really popular and effective …. before the unnerfed of celestial amulet the builds strong for eng were quite only based on rabid amulet … in my opinion it is not the elementalist who got buffed … but only the runes he uses. And we wil lsee after the little nerf on might and on sigil of battle if something will change

Is there another one coming? As far as i know might was already nerfed to 30 from 35 power per stack.

No , i don’t think . I wanted to say that the effect of nerf of might and of sigil of battle will be visible in a while . For example now many cele rifle eng don’t use sigil of battle more but that build is less based on might than elementalist one . I was only saying that something could happen .

I agree with you Bitty but freshair s/f is much more difficult to play … only the finger agility to land super fast combo’s is not simple to get …. compared to d/d . I was not saying it was not viable . only that it is much more hard to learn