Guild Wars 2

We can level in spvp? o.O

I watched a vid of a condition engineer 1v1 with a d/d ele on the new WvW map. The engineer was wearing full dire armor set and the ele had the diamond trait.. guess who lost? well the ele of course.

He did answer further up..

TakeCare.3182:

That’s a good guess. xD
I basically run a full Knight’s set up with Celestial trinkets to round out my stats. There is probably better way to balance stats, but I find it really hard to give up all the little things Celestial gear provides.

Zuik.7158:

Just going to throw out some facts. Here I will display some similar mobility skills which can be used for disengaging in sPvP and I would like some opinions and justification for this from players and if possible from a developer.

The justification is that the cooldown was too short compared to most of the ele’s offhand skills.

Yep, seriously, that’s what the devs said.

If you gonna boycott, you need to boycott the game and not the class. Or else you gonna make the other classes even more popular and so they will care even less about elementalist class.

Mochann.5298:

The way I see it, Diamond Skin is going to be useless to most people running Dagger builds. Diamond Skin is the kind of trait that doesn’t work for melee classes.

On the other hand I think Staff Eles are going to love it. As a Full Zerk Staff Ele, I am used to running away, kiting, and basically avoiding damage altogether, because usually I die the moment I get hit by anything. This should help a bit.

The only problem is that, as an offensive Staff zerker ele in WvW you probably picked the offensive traits (with few defensive?). I believe you had 30 in Fire? Anyhow, with such playstyle and build I’d hate to go 30 in Earth trait line. 30 points is just a lot for a trait in a trait line where the other traits don’t benefit you much. I guess only thing is that you now have a reason to pick stability while attuning to earth.

Since you started talking about WvW.. How do you guys feel about 30/30/X/X/X with celestial gear grenadier build? or is knight+zerker better? (not interested in going full zerker in wvw).

My 2nd main was an Engineer :P I made mesmer first but I have barely played her since november last year. I really love the whole idea and concept of the engineers but everytime I pick up the class again, I get bored. :S .. Starting to miss my ele as usual.

Why o why do we have to take all those nerfs over and over.

I don’t know but for some reason I’m always coming back to my Ele. I guess I jsut generally like it the most. Despite the fact I’ve tried to main some other class because of all the class balance changes that’s been done to Eles, I keep coming back to Ele anyway =/

I still feel condition ele is horrible…

They buffed every single class but they didn’t give Ele anything to counter those changes. They just made it even harder to play Ele than it was before.

Razor.6392:

Is Celestial better than Knight’s for wvw?

Define better.

Celestial will give overall more stats but it’s a balance of every stat.. You’ll get more crit damage too than with knight.

Knights will give much more toughness, I think a bit more power and precision as well. But you will loose crit damage and vitality, and then Healing Power and condi damage too of course. I guess it depends on your build?

Hoping the build calculators will be updated with ascended stuff soon.

I agree.. I’ve been playing around in spvp today, trying to find some good build.. something outside the standard. Still trying to figure it out… but. I tested x/x/30/20-30/x bunker build and zerker, and honestly it just doesn’t work.. It’s kinda fun when you get a necro spamming their conditions on you, but outside that, one hit, and you starting to take all the condition damage again. It’s not nearly as useful as engineer’s trait that gives immunity at 25% hp..

Btw, I don’t like the cleansing fire in Fire trait line either.. It’s not a reliable condition removal, I just rather go in water for on demand condi removal.

Personally I haven’t used Cleaning Water for a while, I think Ether Renewal is enough for condi cleans, and we have a few other cleanses as well, x/d #5 and evasive arcana.. staff water #5.. However!… Considering how they moved some of the most used ele traits further into arcana and water, those who gets most hurt by those changes are those who had very little points in those trait lines in the beginning.. So in that matter, they failed in addressing build diversity..

To be fair, I think that trait was overrated in the first place. People are so used to it, just like with evasive arcana, that they don’t know how to play without it…

I just wanted post this video. He’s running valkyrie gear with zerker jewelry. Nice use of Tornado to get DPS boost on meteor shower. Never really thought of that.. Anyway, I’m kinda starting to agree with what Mochann said earlier.

Yes, you are correct about the traits. I only have 34% base crit, but you probably have more zerker pieces than me. I also use beryl orbs in my knight’s gear. But mostly I’m at 40%+ crit chance anyways with buffs.

Sadly, I feel that Guardian is much nicer in WvW zerging/melee train.. Much more enjoyable and just… won’t… die.. I run knights/cavalier set, not a full bunker guard.. Still astonished how they can get away with taking so much damage and be able to kill everything and everyone at the same time.

As for Ele, I feel the only time it’s worth running her in zergs is with staff for AoE tagging. D/D possibly for roaming. I’m trying a 30/10/0/10/20 build with staff just to dish some more damage, but feeling dam squishy.

I starting to believe it must have been Automated Response and that I probably procced some trait which applies conditions.

Stillshade.7634:

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fcAQFAUlIqya37y2F1LJyoCdWIF2nECShddXiUkfNGA-jEyAYfgEYR0YrcBp0NNWdNmyNyaYUVcQiC4iA-w

This is what I am running now, any thoughts?

I think you posted wrong build, cause that’s the one I posted xD

Was running a lockdown mesmer build in spvp the other day and I came across an engineer that just… couldn’t…. get.. dazed.. And no he wasn’t using Elixir S and no he didn’t have stability buff. I checked that especially cus my dazes kept failing and failing after each other. I did see immunity text. So maybe I was really blind and just didn’t see the stability buff.. Unless there really is something else I’m missing?

So, I played around a little bit and I decided to try out this FT build instead for front line zerging. Let me know what you think: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fcAQFAUlIqya37y2F1LJyoCdWIF2nECShddXiUkfNGA-jEyAYfgEYR0YrcBp0NNWdNmyNyaYUVcQiC4iA-w

It’s not an HGH build, but I can keep up 8 stacks of might just staying in FT with those runes. Other than that runes will give might on hit. Then you have Napalm —> Rocket boots combo which will put me at base 11 stacks of might. You can also leap back for fire aura for extra might on hit and this doesn’t include sigil of battle stacks..

It has some burst potential with vulnerability stacks. Net shot will give 5 stacks with traits, then Analyze will give an other 10 (total of 15) so then you can burst with Blunderbuss, Jump Shot and Overcharged Shot on single targets..

Overall it’s more defensive than the previous build in close combat with FT and has more CC. Though I’m thinking of taking 10 points (possibly from Alchemy) for either 10 points in Tools for shorter Gadget CD or to put them in Firearms to either lower cd on Rifle skills or for 10% more damage. Alternatively longer burns.

Treborlavok.3504:

I was looking into a build unlike the norm condi nade/bomb builds and came up with this… Not sure how you feel about SD and gadgets but atleast on paper this looks nice. I can’t test it until Monday, out of town. But feel free

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fcAQFAUl0pKe37y2F17IyoHkGnFahUIh3HIF5lfB-jUCBYfBhKAIBqIas9BFRjVhET7CQDLpqYR2auIa1SBExYA-w

Just wanted to add that it is possible to change that build I linked up and not use gadgets if you choose so. I just felt to capitalize on SD the other traits in there are promising for mobility in RB, control with rifle 2, 4 and ram and then the SB on goggles + added vulnerability for the big spike from your rifle 5 rifle 3 combo tied with the double hit from rocket boots and rams f skills with Sd should down ppl fast.

I like your build but it feels more suitable for solo fights than zerging.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fcAQFAUlsp6ZnvSdF17ISIF2nEK6xjRZT2HFyVbB-j0xAofASEQCsIasVuioxqrxUuLqWFDIFwFLjA-w

What do you guys think about this build? Sort of front-line bomber HGH build..

Uh.. Kinda got tired of spamming that #1 with grenades and after that damage nerf they did months ago, grenades feels better with conditions..

What about power based bomb builds?

Mainly for small group or zergs…

Since everyone plays p/s or p/p, various condition builds, is there even a viable power build for wvw at this point? Maybe a flamethrower build?

LordByron.8369:

How do you play in WWW dynamic zergs?

I play on SFR and most zergs have to follow order from their guild leader or the commander leading the zerg.

If i have to defend a wall or to fight in an area (ex preventing enemy zerg to reach your siege machines), staff is ok.

If i have to roam…i equip D/D and i m fine…maybe because its what i mostly do.

If i have to follow the fast and tight maneuvers of a zerg i just feel useless :/ for the lack of a cleaving autoattack + passive survivability.
Staff is too slow, D/D dies too fast and his skill takes you out of the zerg….

I do too play on SFR, and mostly I use the staff with zergs.. Just like you I don’t like the healer roll but I focus on DPS and CC with staff. Therefore I’m using kinights gear and cavalier trinkets to be able to survive but dish out some damage as well.

However I don’t really understand your logic about D/D dying too fast. It’s not the matter of weapon set but what gear you are wearing, and traits ofc. With that being said, I am personally also looking for a D/D zerg friendly build. Technically of you gear/trait properly and stack on commander as much as possible, you should get enough defense, healing, etc from the group. PLUS it gives you the “cleave” option following a melee train. But it seems that commanders always wants us to use static and water fields so I run with staff :P

I’ve personally tested different gear set ups and I’ve kinda got used to more crit chance and crit damage (was running soldier with celestial before), but I think an aura share D/D build in zergs would be nice. Which also means that I will need to sacrifice some of my damage to get more vitality and toughness and that’s my only issue right now :P

Mochann.5298:

Enemy CC/conditions aren’t supposed to hit you because you’re in the back line. If you are getting hit, you are not positioned properly.

and the rest of the text…

You making it sound as if a zerg is always moving in a straight line, which obviously is not the case.. A zerg will always move left, right, back or in a circle.. If you are just gonna stay in the back you will most likely fall behind.

Ansau, what gear are you using in your mantra build?

Kind of a noobie question, but what is the point of Confounding Suggestions? I know it will be changed with the patch but currently it just has 50% to do a stun instead of daze and aren’t they in practice the same?

Other than that, I really like the idea of the build, I’ve played it in spvp (though I’m more of a WvW player). However I still can’t decide whether I’d prefer shatter or this kind of build. Like someone else posted earlier, I feel that shatter build is more suitable for pvp matches.

I watched through these builds and couple other recent ones in this forum.. haven’t been updated about mesmer for a loooong time, so I wonder now.. how come almost none of these recent builds go into Illusion trait line? I remember how it pretty much was standard for any build..

Thanks, looks good Very nice stats!

Edit: I just have a question. How do you have offensive infusions in all pieces if you are using ALL cavalier pieces, meaning they should be 2 of the same type and not unique…

Smaller group or Zerg. Not so much solo.

Since I’ve mostly played condition builds on my necro, I’m not very familiar with the power-based builds.. However, the wellomancer caught my attention and I’ve been looking into specs. But… There seem to be a lot of different builds so I haven’t found any consistent idea of how wellomancers are played in WvW.

First off, which gear is normally used? I’ve seen people using either soldiers, or knights/cavlier mix, or zerker/valkyrie mix. Personally I like a mixing knights with cavalier, to have both high toughness and decent crits.

Second, assuming your first weapon would be staff, which 2nd weapon set would you use? Mainly I can’t decide between Axe or dagger. Dagger seems to have slightly better damage, but would it give any significant difference? While Axe/Focus seem to be able to stack a lot of vulnerability pretty quick and maintain some range, I’m leaning more towards this combo.. That or Axe/focus..

Third, what are the most common traits for playing a wellomancer? I know they were gonna change the blood magic a while back and improve siphon-traits. Have they become useful or should only be used with some cleric gear?

I was looking at this video yesterday and the gameplay seemed interesting, though i have no idea what spec he/she is using: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqLC21R59g4

I’m asking this mainly duo to upcoming changes and I’m thinking of going S/D for WvW.
Assuming they will move renewing stamina to master traits, would it be overkill to pick it together with Vigorous Scepter trait, or do they not stack?

which runes are you using?

So what am I supposed to do with the first 10 points in Arcane magic if I play d/d Ele? I don’t use Arcane skills so the only trait I can possibly use is Windborne Dagger, which is one of the most useless traits ever.. Thx a lot, really. Actually I now feel even more forced to go deeper in Arcane and Water magic, cause you wanna move some of the most essential adept traits… With only difference that I now have to pick aweful traits too.

Btw, what sigil would you suggest? I’m thinking it would be good to stack bloodlust and then put a 5% crit sigil into the GS.. With staff, I’m not sure though.

Well, I was thinking staff..

Im also considering S/x.

Small scale/roaming..

Well, I’m not really that interested in doing pve with the guardian so I’m not going to make a different build with an other gear set :P

I made this build for WvW, but I’m planing to use it in PvE as well.. Just wanna hear your thoughts (on gear mostly).
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQFARlYgqCnFyvDf4EhVBCi9AjZsjXPSIFZIA-jEyAYfgkHQ2LqJQlxKbR0Y12Ya4oqiFilCoilRA-w

This build is based on an other build, I just changed the gear and some trait a little bit to spec more offensive while keeping they high defense..

Bhima.9518:

Vissarion.6509:

How about this??

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEQQJAoYhEmgbnx5wjEA0DmMKIi8wDlH5MjNA-j0CBoeBEdBhgAhEBkIAI5rIaslhBp6KslXRTZDTFjIqWKgIGGB-w

I have been contemplating doing something similar but I have come to the conclusion that full celest armor is actually gimping the heck out of our dmg without giving us much extra survivability. I think a mix of soldiers and knights may be a better choice. We really should have at least 3,000 attack. 2,624 is really low regardless of crit dmg.

I think this would be more effective without losing too much in survivability (still over 15k hp, and over 1600 toughness): http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEQQJAoYhEmgbnx5wjEA0DmMKIi8wDlH5MjNA-jUDBoeAYfgoLIEEIEBAJfBK7ZZslhBp6KslXRTZDT5CQFbR1SBExyI-w

I agree about the part with having too low attack.. And I like how you mixed the gear, think I will do something similar instead of getting full celestial set. As I’ve mentioned, I run full zerker gear with one knight dagger, cavalier/celestial trinkets and it works really fine tbh, but I don’t mind pumping defense a little bit and won’t be losing too much attack with that build you posted..

Btw, does protection buff stack with frost aura (10% dmg reduction)?.. I assume it does, but still wanna check that.

Bump this, still no fix!

Good to know it’s not just me..

raziel.8375:

Here’s a build iv been useing in wvw running 5 man and solo roam tell me what you think. iv gotten more away from arcana to see if i can this is what i came up with

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJAoYlEGCO2Zw5AfNBA9gJDFiMi8wDFF5MDA-j0CBoeBEdBhgAhEBkIAI9pIaslhBp6KslXRTZDTFjIqWKgIWGB-w

Hello, I like where you’re going with your build.. I’m just playing around a bit, so I swapped the armor for full celestial, I also changed food to Lemongrass and put Hoelbrak runes in. It’s just a personal preference to balance the lack of condition removals without 30 in water and I like them more than Melandru since they give power. As you see, toughness went up quite a bit and you have higher crit chance and you only lose 4% crit damage.

I’m still debating on how useful Rock Solid is. It’s a pretty nice on demand stability, but still rather short even with boon duration runes.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJAoYlEGCO2Zw5AfNBA9gJDFiMi8wDFF5MDA-jUyAo+AiuQIIIkIQiAQyvIasVwioxqtxUxER1SBwkyI-w

Findo Gask.4103:

The way this build works is namely becouse of the sigil of intelligence giving you 100% crit chance on weapon swap (or attunement)

Afaik you cannot have 2 sigils of same type on main and off hand, and by same I mean “on weapon swap”-sigils. Why I say this is because I feel that battle sigil is superior to any other on swap sigil (in this case). So I wouldn’t really pick any other on swap sigil other than battle sigil. But it’s just a matter of playstyle I suppose.

LordByron.8369:

If anyone has a working and versatile D/D build i m interested too.

I did check daphoenix’s guide on wordpress, it’s from this summer, so a bit old but more updated than his thread.. I actually found a few build to play around with. There’s for example a Fresh Air build for daggers. There’s an other build with 15-20 air and 10 earth for the Stone Splinters (10% increased damage in 600 range). He also suggests using mostly celestial gear and trinkets.

I’ve mixed and matched with traits and gear and realized that it’s really just a trade off between how you wanna trait your talent points and what kind of gear you are going to use. I personally like to be more offensive than to play bunker, but have some defense and sustain in my builds. So this is how I decided to build

Amulet: celestial
back: cavalier
rings and accessory: celestial and cavalier mix
Gear: either full knight or full zerker
weapon: celestial

Traits:
0/20/10/20/20 OR 0/10/10/30/20 OR 0/10/10/20/30.
Utility: Armor of earth, lightning flash, mistform or cleansing fire.

The 2nd and the 3rd option is basically a personal preference, whether you want Evasive arcana, faster attunement swap, more boon duration OR more vitality and healing power. I prefer 30 in water, also because of better trait synergy. I use this set up with Signet of restoration and smaller group in wvw and using zerk armor, while I pick the first trait set with the knight armor if I want to run in a large zerg, using ether renewal instead of signet.

edit: originally I was using knight armor, but I tested with zerker and it works pretty well outside the zergs. I have around 2450 in armor and 15k HP, which isn’t so bad considering the sustain you get from signet and water attunement. Daphoenix was using full celestial in his latest build and his armor was around the same so I felt that I’d rather go for zerker than celestial armor. With Knights however, you get over 2800 armor so it would be more suitable in zergs.. The only thing I haven’t fully decided for yet is the runes.. I’m just using ruby orbs for now.

Does stomping in Mist Form really works still? or they just changed it in PvP? Cus it doesn’t seem to work anymore in spvp..

Just wondering if the old daphoenix build is all the way to go still? I was hoping for something more updated, but nothing glassy, I want to be able to survive in a zerg..

Mukk.3402:

. Unless you gear/spec your ele in a survivability manner, but there goes all your DPS and you become a difficult class with moderate survivability and no real damage.

This is pretty much how I feel and it’s an old story everyone already knows, but unfortunately nothing has been done to change this.

I feel that it’s unfair that for example I as I guardian can spec into pretty high survivability with 3000+ Armor and still dish our pretty good damage. But I’m not gonna get into the whole class balance thing here..

So I wonder if there is any competitive build for eles right now in pvp? I was gone for about 3 months and I noticed that some classes seem to have gotten much stronger in pvp (daze/stun warriors being one of them). I adjusted the old daphoenix build a bit, playing 0/20/0/30/20 with aura share D/D spec. But I see that Scepter seems more popular nowadays.