I thought about the sigil of fire, and may do that for the AOE. Ive been
using the one that procs a lightning bolt (which Ive seen hit for big).
I have to say, last night was the best WvW night Ive had on my ele since the
start of the game. More specfically, one battle in particular that lasted 40 min.
We were holed up in the keep to the west of the garrison, and the enemy
was trebbing us from there. Myself and 2 other eles were rotating out focus
skill Swirling Winds to stop the treb from hitting the wall. This conjured up
mages in fantasy for me exerting their will on their environments.
When they realized that our wall was not being hit, they zerged the keep, numbering
over 40. The group I was with, around 25, bunkered down in the keep. When the
east wall went down, the enemy was trying to get through the chokepoint. By this
time, we had 4 arrow carts covering the hole.
Anyhow, I couldnt beleive what happened next. I stayed on the wall above the breach,
and rotated my AOE down in front of the gap for a battle lasting over 30 min! As I was
talking about in previous posts, it amazes me how many people stand in AOE, but
in their defense it is hard to see allot of AOE in those large battles.
I lost count after 40 loot bags, and it was by far the most kills I had to date. I will
never forget that fight and how it felt seeing people get slowed, dropped, nuked,
etc.
With the story aside, I did have a big problem last night: A smart and good Thief.
When we won the above battle, and pushed to the Garrison, this guy must have
dropped me 5 times, and I was in the MIDDLE of our zerg. He literally came in,
dropped me, and left. I actually was on edge the rest of the night, because in this
build his Steal alone was over 6k followed by a 8k backstab (Im not complaining
since I am all offense). Luckily, most thiefs dont play this strategically.
By the way, Arcane Blast is amazing when you keep it at the ready after a cycle
of AOE. Once you see your 2-3 spells pop off, watch for the targets with the
lowest health who lived and hit them with AB. Keep in mind, this skill has
a 1500 range, and it hits HARD.
(edited by Thunderbrew.7034)
I dont even need Updraft for the swiftness. With the traits I have, when you
use the healing glyph, the duration on the boon equals the cooldown.
As far as the Glyph of Elemental Power, if you like it, use it. I just use
the three I have in too many situations to let them go. Arcane Blast for
nuking weak runners (this is instant cast so can be cast while channeling
something else), Signet of Earth for the toughness and the root in picking
people out of packs, and Mist Form for saving my bacon countless of times.
Its definitely fun Knox, you just need to play much differently. My defense
is map awareness, which I think is a very undervalued habit. Ride the Lightning
is more than enough to not get caught in open while you are going over to the next
battle.
Another thing I forgot to mention, when trying to get into a keep the enemy
is attacking, put on a scepter focus and cast Obsidian Flesh. If thats not enough
Mist Form the rest of the way. Also can use Rock Barrier and Dust Devil since
you are already in earth attunement.
Chain Lightning is probably my most used skill, especially in fast paced battles
when you dont have time to get allot of AOE off. This is especially common
in 25+ zergs where everything dies right away in a camp. The damage on that
always impresses me.
I know it can sound hard to beleive, but in a typical 4 hours run in WvW, I
average 3-4 deaths, but I also fight like a coward (have to). I stay with people,
and when fights start, Im always in the back. If you are separated from the crowd
you will get picked off. You need to spend most of your time looking at the
battlfield and watch for enemy reinforcements. If it is a losing battle, I will turn
and leave the battle. Once Im out of combat, I teleport back to WP.
The Glyph of Elemental Power is interesting, because it only has a 7 second
downtime in this spec. Im not sold on it though, since its affect stays locked
into the attunement you cast it from. Worse yet, its a CHANCE to proc the
effect on each cast.
What do you mean on the swiftness jumpback? I have not seen that with
Ride the Lightning (unless you are using Updraft).
With Mist Form, its not to surprise people. Its to escape a stun or mass AOE.
At least with my playstyle.
Magnetic Aura stops the siege projectile, it no longer reflects it.
I ALWAYS dump my combo fields before switching attunements. Its good
to review all of the. For example, Static Field and Frozen Ground are combo
fields, so you can throw either on your allies.
Ive been playing today with Arcane Blast, and its definitely what I am using
instead of the Signet of Fire (which is a bleed not burst). I was really impressed
with AB since its a 20 sec CD, and I did 4682 on a Keep Lord, while the highest
versus a player was 4613 so far.
My main focus is breaking the momentum of an attack as opposed to anything
else. Once Meteor Storm starts I quickly cast Frozen Ground and Ice Spike, than
go into earth and pop off Shockwave (immobilize) and Eruption. I really think
the quick AOE overlapping is underused by many players. The damage of the string
of AOE I just stated is massive, and will down most groups standing in it.
To my advantage, many players still stand in AOE or try walking out of it
(reminds me of the WOW days “stay out of the fire!”).
The key is knowing when to AOE or nuke a single person (especially a commander).
Tonight Ive been trying Signet of Fire in place of the the Signet
of Storms. I find the 900 range on the latter more of a hinderance.
The Signet of Fire only has a 20 sec CD and does 3663 damage
so it is hard to pass up for single targets that have an escape
(after your nuke).
More and more Im relying on Chain Lightning, especially in
battles that are really bogged down (low FPS). When in doubt,
I use that since its hitting up to 3 targets for nice damage
(or 2 targets for 3 hits total).
Not sure why they have 900 range on glyph of storms, when
everything else like it is 1200 range (ie Meteor Storm and even
Signet of Earth).
Guess if doesnt matter to d/d eles, but they dont use it anyhow.
When I use it, it relies on the first one to apply the 5 stacks, so the second
one does allot more damage. Especially useful during siege defense since
90% of the players dont move out of it.
Oh yea, I personally dont use Blasting Staff. It only affects 7 of the 20 abilities,
and even though I like the increase in Lava Font, I dont find it worth it in my
playstyle.
In addition, never underestimate chain lighting (auto attack in air). Even with
two targets, the first one hit will get hit twice (the bounce after the second hit).
Even that auto attack can see crits over 2k. This is especially useful when fighting
Mesmers since it destroys their illusions very quickly.
There are many tools at your disposal with a staff, and you need to master them all.
Examples (in no particular order):
Are you fleeing someone?
Burning Retreat, Frozen Ground, Windborne Speed, Static Field, Unsteady Ground
Are you chasing or trying to slow someone?
Signet of Earth Trinket, Frozen Ground, Static Field, Unsteady Ground,
Shockwave (Immobilizes)
Are you trying to protect your siege or your walls vs siege?
Magnetic Aura
Do your allies need help?
Healing Rain (notice that this also cures a condition every 3 seconds)
AOE damage
Lava Font, Meteor Shower, Ice Spike, Eruption
—————————————————————————————————————————————————
For single target nukes (which I do ALLOT), I use Signet of Earth > Lava Font >
Flame Burst > Fire auto attack (do over 2k crit each)
Long post, but so much more I could talk about. The more I play an Ele this way,
the more fun I have. It never gets old seeing a 2-3 AOE spell rotation go off
and seeing 5 people drop (check out the total damage done when using Glyph
of Storms in earth attunement, you would be surprised). Im always amazed at
the damage of Ice Spike alone in this build.
I know there will be many people thinking “if I caught you, you would be dead in
1 hit.” Sure, its a glass cannon spec, but if combined with an intelligent playstyle,
you can avoid being caught in open (not many roamers on my realm). And with
Ride the Lightning and swiftness, its RARE if I get run down. Once again, the key
is to stay with numbers, if small numbers. Im not concerned about 1 v 1 fighting,
I want to be mage sneaking around the fringes of the fight but dropping the
serious damage (many people are caught off by the mass spike damage and are
not prepared for it. It drops them before they even get concerned about running out).
Hope some of you users have learned something new, I know the information on
the Glyph of Storms is unknown by many. Ive enjoyed this MUCH more than a
d/d ele because I got sick of feeling like a tank. Oh yea, and always missing badges
and loot since I had to be on the move!
Let me start by saying I spend most of my time in WvW. Ive done
this on a 80 level Warrior and Ele, both fully geared and in many
different trait specs. After 3 months of playing, my favorite is still
a Staff Elementalist.
I understand there are many variations and opinions on doing things,
but this is what works best for me. It may be useful to other staff Eles.
Here is my build and setup:
Fire (30): Internal Fire, Burning Precision, Ember’s Might
Air (30): Quick Glyphs, Bolt to the Heart, Inscription
Water (10) : Vital Striking
Full Berserker gear with Ruby Orbs, and Berserker Trinkets.
Healing Skill: Glyph of Elemental Harmony
Utility 1: Glyph of Storms
Utility 2: Signet of Earth
Utility 3: Mist Form
Elite: Glyph of Elementals
————————————————————————————————————-
With that aside, let start by saying why this setup does not work
for many users: Lack of map awareness.
I cant stress that enough. While traveling and during battles, I am
ALWAYS aware of whats going on around me, and even more importantly,
possible escape routes if things go bad.
Let me break down some highlights into:
1) With this build, you have permanent swiftness which was important
to me. When you pop Windborne Speed + Glyph of Elemental Harmony
(while in air form), the duration is longer than the next CD on glyph. Actually,
if you start these off, and keep using both the second their CD is up, the duration
keeps going up (try it, ive gotten duration up to over 1 minute).
2) I used to think Glyph of Storms stunk, but not after researching it. The water
one last 5 seconds, air 6 seconds, and fire and earth both 10 seconds. Ive tested
all of the extensively in the mists. Oddly enough, on a single target, air was getting
ONE hit on a target during the duration, while water was just as bad at 3 his. Earth
and Fire were both 9 hits average.
The only one I use is the Earth one because it is SICK! Does the same burst damage
as fire, but then adds bleed and blind on enemies. One of my favorite spells, and
the blind is applied every 3 seconds so it can really affect a battle.
I used this skill in place of Arcane Blast because my auto attack in fire does more
damage!
3) When traveling in the open world, I switch out to Scepter/Dagger to use
Ride the Lightning. This combined with the swiftness insures that I do not
get caught in the open.
4) Vital Striking. There is no details on this one on wiki, so I tested this one
myself by averaging 100 autoattacks before and after picking this trait (used
the heavy armor dummy in the mists). The difference was exactly 10%. This is
a massive damage bonus, which is real nice when hiding behind walls during a
siege. Once you start mastering map and battle awareness, you will get hit
allot less, thus having this up more.
5) As an alternative to Vital Striking, sometimes I use Piercing Shards. Why? Beleive
it or not, Ice Spike does MORE than Meteor Shower! In fact, over 2k more per hit
with this trait.
Always know whats going on around you, and always have an idea on where you
are going to escape to if things go bad. Get a feel for your CDs, and cycle through
your AOEs to stack an area. This never gets old. Last night, my Ice Spikes were hitting
for 5-7k (highest was 8200 last night). Now imagine that with Earthquake and
Meteor Storm going on.
^ Inappropriate use of the word “exploit.” An exploit is using mesmer
portals to cause your allies not to render to your enemies so that you
can mop them up.
Using a chain of skills in a row, is not an exploit, but I agree with the other
people about the scaled up 80s. As I mentioned about, zero of those battles
were against a geared and/or skilled player. Not hating at all, just being
fair and stating what was seen. Ill say it again, the camera always switched
off losing battles.
lol really? thats anet doing that?
Someone make a build to crit the person who started “kitten” on these forums,
SOOO sick of that term.
Ive learned more and more that map awareness is probably one of
the biggest survivability factors. I played all last night and didnt die
as a full zerk staff ele. Yes, I ran from battles and yes, I stayed with other
people, always fighting in the back. It is however the build I enjoy the most
because the build can do mass burst to groups of people (skill combos in
rapid succession).
Interesting to watch, but one sided. In 90% of the fights all you see
is the Ride the Lightning, and burst, and when it doesnt kill someone
the camera switches to the next setup. In every scene where its going past
the opener, he doesnt show it (because its probably a death).
Wikki states that Ice Spike can be cancelled and it will still go off. This is
not true when you test it out. If you cancel the casting, the spike will show
dropping but do zero damage.
I agree on the Lava Font effectiveness for sure, but at least for me, dont
want to invest 20 points into Arcana to get it. I find Arcana more useful
in D/D spec since you are attunement swapping allot more.
I havnt had a problem hitting people with it, mainly while defending a
keep. When there are 20+ people outside the gate, your bound to hit
5 (since most dont pay attention).
Eruption > Shockwave (Immobilize and bleed) > Meteor Storm > Frozen
Ground > Ice Spike
I like doing Frozen Ground after Meteor Storm since the former is too much
of a warning for them. As soon as the storm starts coming in, the slow is already
up.
Bolt to the Heart too good to pass up ever since it was buffed
to 33% target health.
I dont think so. The true power of that build isnt seen until late
level and good gear.
Never would have guessed that, thanks! Still find it odd though,
since in order to get the aoe you would have to initially hit the
target which is 1200 range.
I wanted to become familiar with all of the damage the staff skills
have so I headed over to the Mists and equipped the berserker amulet.
My crit/crit damage is much lower with that than my berserker set, but
I at least wanted to get an idea of damage.
I was shocked that Ice Spike had the highest initial burst of any of my staff abilities.
I had no idea it was that good. The crits on it vs heavy armor was 4000-4400,
which was higher than Meteor Storm crits. Considering the fact that
Ice Spike adds 5 stacks of vulnerabilty, your chain casting continues to do more.
After seeing this, I plan on using this ALLOT more than previously. Thought I would
post in case other staff users were missing the potential of the skill.
I used the target dummies in the mists to test the range on Staff and
I was surprised at the results. Go into fire attunement and keep autoattacking
a dummy and backing up slowly until you find your max range.
Now, try the other 3 attunements. You are out of range. Fire attunement with
staff has a much longer range (100-200 yards?) or the other 3 are not
1200 range as stated.
Than I found something even stranger. Go into water attunement and find
your max range. Now hit Ice Spike so you see the green circle and see you max
limit to the target. Its NO WHERE near the target. Try your other 1200 range
abilities as well, they are all way short.
What gives? Either the auto attacks on the Staff attunements are farther
than stated, or the range on spells is NOT 1200. I suspect the latter, since when
you look at Lava Font for example, I am not convinced thats 1200 range.
Something is definitely amiss with Staff ranges, both autoattacks as stated
and spells ranges.
(edited by Thunderbrew.7034)
Yea the line of sight on walls is not good. The ledge comes up to my knees but
I cant aim spells over it. Doesnt make much sense.
-Blasting Staff Trait does not effect all staff skills. Healing Rain visual does grow in size, but the actual AOE remains the same.
The increase in radius is as follows:
Lava Font: 50%
Ice Spike :25%
Geyser: 50%
Frozen Ground: 25%
Lightning Surge: 100%
Static Field: 33%
Eruption: 25%
In other words, it only affects 7 of the 20 staff skills (does not effect Meteor Swarm).
Lava Font and Static Field are the best affected IMO, but as a staff ele I dont dump
20 points into Arcana to get it. The staff skills are long CD anyhow so speed switching
stances doesnt really with points in Arcana.
Im going to switch out of bunker today and revisit staff. Need a change
from so long as bunker build. Previously with staff, I was zerker with
30/30/0/10/0, because of the maximium damage with that (went all or nothing).
I had an eye on Blasting Staff for the sole reason of much larger lava fonts,
but I couldnt justify going into Arcana when Blasting Staff only affects 7
of the 20 abilities.
(edited by Thunderbrew.7034)
For the last part, Gust is an AOE cone isnt it, or is it all around you? If its
the former, I have to imagine that can be easy to miss. Also, with Lighting
Surge, you have to have a target right? Might be a problem vs stealth.
I do know what you mean though, MOST players trying to kill you stay
on your path and walk right into Static Field/Unsteady Ground.
What you profess is true Boozer, Ive done it, but in all fairness
you need to warn people that when a thief sees a staff ele you
will a) not get away, and b) die in zerker gear.
That was the only reason why I left staff Ele, but perhaps Ill have
to get over it and try it again. IMO it is the way to play the class
for me, since I cant stand playing a “melee based” mage in a fantasy
game (even though its better than a warrior lol).
I ran full zerk staff on my ele for a long time, but got sick of
getting caught in the open. As stated above, the signet > lava
font > Arcane Blast > Flame Burst combo almost always dropped
someone in quick order.
Now I run the typical d/d bunker build, BUT be creative about what
you can do. When defending a keep, I switch out my gear to full zerker
and equip the staff. Even though your traits dont revolve around this,
you will still do allot of damage.
The main problem with the Staff in open WvW is the lack of escape
compared to Ride the Lightning.
I would have to agree with the above poster about burst in WvW. I almost
feel bad for Necros when Im on my bunker ele or warrior and whipe all
of my conditions off in 2 seconds.
What has stopped me from going any further on my Necro is simple: Lack
of mobility. I literally cant handle that one aspect when it comes to WvW.
Some of the concepts of the class I do like (ie poison cloud), but the pet
mechanics are horrible with them. At the VERY least, have pet windows up
for the Necro so he knows what pets are up and what health they are at.
IMO I think it would have been cool to have Necros raise corpses in WvW,
or conjure packs of skeletons. Something that would bring fear to the
battlefield. Theres no doubt there is ALLOT of work to be done with the
classes in GW2, which is fine, but in my MMO “career” Ive never seen it taking
so long to improve classes.
^ Agreed on above post, and well stated. Glass cannon range is fun, Ive
tried it, but you sacrifice too much to be the “one hit wonder.” My idea
of a Warrior, as you stated, was to be able to be in the center of battles
and sacrifice damage for at least SOME viable survivability (for heavens
sake a bunker Ele does this 1000% better than a warrior).
I assumed you had Death From Above, but Ive watched that first jump
4 times and saw no damage. At that height, there should have been some.
Maybe Im just missing it.
All of this talk about “learn to avoid” damage on these forums is
VERY misleading. This might make sense if all battles were 1v1 and
every ability had a delay to cast with grapics.
Doesnt work that way. WvW involves larger battles in where you find
yourself surrounded by 10+ enemies. Its unthinkable to assume that you
can avoid most of the damage by “knowing what to look for.” Im not talking
about Kill Shots either. Im talking about class damage in where there is
no warning or indication its coming.
Ive played the heavy toughness with sword/shield in WvW, and I agree with
the OP. Over 2k toughness and Im still receiving hits over 5-6k. I planned
on helping a strike team roam the map, but realized that my mountain
of toughness didnt seem to matter as much as it should (so went back
to more offensive build).
I have room to talk too, since I have a level 80 bunker Ele. Its comical
how long I can last surrounded by the enemy, WHILE doing damage
and escaping. I never would have thought a fantasy game would allow a mage
class to do that better than a warrior.
How did you take zero damage in the very first jump
in that video? That height should be enough to almost kill
you. I didnt even see your health move!
Why 4 after 5? Doesnt that push them away? Or does it do
damage but not push someone already down?
Right, but maybe better in sPvP than WvW when you have more than
that 1 person to worry about. Hammer is definitely good 1v1, but no
way of moving around. Once again, relies on another weapon to do that.
Just wish there was some mobility with it like the GS, which has 2.
After playing many possible setups as a warrior, I still cant
help but think its not viable to go Hammer. Personally,
I like the theme more than GS, but lets face it, GS has
too much mobility to overlook if taking a 2Her.
Even if going a more “tank” build in WvW, its preferable to
go GS for mobility or Rifle for runners. Mobility and anti-kiting
weapons are just necessary on a warrior, and it doesnt leave much
room for Hammer.
I was thinking of Backbreaker being a charge like the GS Rush skill.
Some might think this OP, and if so thats ok, but an idea on putting
more viability into Hammer would be great.
If Im missing something, and you are having success with Hammer in WvW,
please share your experiences. Id love to give it a shot, but right now
leaning on Rifle/Sword + Axe.
My son has one on his toon, and it not sellable. Someone told him
in chat that a patch made them sellable, but it did not include those
who already had it.
Is this true? Do they plan on fixing this?
Quote:
-Get the Arcana Trait VIII (8) Blasting Staff. The increase in area radius is too good to pass up, since it affects a majority of your skills.
Majority? No. It affects 7 of your 20 staff skills, Meteor Storm NOT being one of them. Is nice to have to increase Lava Font, Frozen Ground, Static Field, and Eruption though.
Disregard that. After looking into it, is called a my son who somehow
watched me type in password and decided to give his guy a bonus for the day.
So disappointing.
(edited by Thunderbrew.7034)
I bought a gem card at Gamestop worth 1200 gems. I only bought the self styling hair kit for 250, and had 950.
Upon checking after the patch, Im left with 556. Nothing in the log, and no one else
uses this account. Oh yea, and no gems were traded for gold.
Anyone experience the same thing?
I actually use the same gear strat you do, WvW exotic armor,
with Berserker accessories. Im running with Rifle and Sword/Shield,
but I do like the Bow combo you are using. The whirling axe is a finisher
once the fire field from the bows burst is up.
To many other warriors going all zerker or all tank, and I think a mix of the
two definitely has its merits. Just sucks that you need to waste points just to
get the bow to 1200 range.
It would be too strong, but at the VERY LEAST they need to put in a better system
for swapping weapons when out of combat.
This is especially true for staff builds, in which you want to use daggers when in
open world for more mobility (otherwise a staff ele is a sitting duck unless around
people or behind walls).
Im sure your right, and thats why they want to favor people buying gems. The
first point is the one ruining the game at the moment, which is sad since WvW
is supposed to be “the end game.”
Its not that its east to move people, I have no problem with that. The problem
is that 90% of the big battles utilize the portal to prevent themselves from
being rendered to the defending players. This results in an army of “invisible”
people who wreck the defenders.
The abuse of the portal to take keeps is even more game breaking.
Add to that:
1) A better system for gathering the badges since its so easy to miss
loot bags in big battles.
2) Disable or change Mesmer portal until rendering is fixed AND preventing
a mesmer from hacking into a keep. Both of these reasons make WvW broken.
I came into GW2 with 8 yrs of experience from WOW and Rift, with
thousands of hours played total. I welcomed GW2 for the non raid setting,
but there are some key things I would suggest to improve them game.
1) Disable or replace Mesmer portals until it is fixed. Period. The “mesmer
bombing” in WvW has completely ruined the experience. Worse yet,
people hacking into keeps with it is game breaking.
2) Give a better reward for winning WvW in a week. Something simple like
bonus Karma or Honor Tokens. As it stands now there is a hollow feeling
of taking first or second place.
3) Have a better way to switch out weapons as opposed to doing it through
the inventory. Perhaps Im biased as an Elementalist, but it seems it would be
much better having weapon set hotkeys that can only be used outside of
battle.
4) Out of all the games Ive played, GW2’s money grind is by FAR the worse. Past games
allowed me to make good money by grinding or questing, and GW2 seems to
be the opposite. I know one player who has thousands of gold from working the
TP, but the majority of the people are not this savvy. Why is this a problem? If you want to encourage people to play more, than allow more ways to make money so
that they can gear out alternate characters. I have 2 level 80s, but have been hesitant
to level a third as bad as I want to because of the money involved.
The last 3 are trivial compared to the first one. That is by far the most de-motivating
thing in the game.
Whats with the overuse of the word “kitten” in almost every post
I read? Is this a “fill in” for other words because people dont have a
broad vocabulary? Being serious, not insulting.
Couldnt agree more, and if you look around more you will see more
examples of this. Therein lies the problem: Escalating prices while seeing
less ways to make money (in fact Ive been broke since day 1, but was rich
in WOW and Rift after the same time period). Bad design IMO.