183 replies to this topic

[Tato]

Great work man, keep it going!

So what does tempest think of all the changes (nerfs) happening to Eles?  I know hes a D/D ele, so im sure he loved the buffs he got.  Is he still planning on rolling D/D into sPvP AND tPvP come release?

[Anlyon Spellrage]

Updated, finished the dagger stuff and update for the last stress test.

Tato, i havnt talked to him in ages, ill ask him tomorrow.

[Tumri]

I noticed that nearly all my Fire Grabs missed despite the target clearly being in range and this led me to just stop using the skill(which obviously gimped me to an extent). What exactly do you mean when you say the right mouse button messes with certain skills? Is it a bug of some sort or is it an auto-face option that can be enabled/disabled. I'm very used to playing MMOs while using my RMB to pan the camera constantly and it's rare that the button isn't held down.

Edited by Tumri, 17 August 2012 - 10:44 AM.

[MaximumSquid]

Anlyon_Spellrage:

Based on the next stress test (if there is another one before release) if the Fire's Embrace defensive build is still viable then I think we should get it on the guide as it is one of the easiest and well rounded builds for Ele to play currently

The fact that it's based on your Utility Skills and allows you to use any weapon set with it just seems like icing

-

Edited by MaximumSquid, 17 August 2012 - 06:26 PM.

[Oldthrall]

Hi guys

I have a question about staff builds...is it possible to make a very offensive and bursty staff build that is on par with the other burst builds for the elementalist?

Edited by Oldthrall, 17 August 2012 - 07:09 PM.

[Anlyon Spellrage]

Tumri, on 17 August 2012 - 10:43 AM, said:

I noticed that nearly all my Fire Grabs missed despite the target clearly being in range and this led me to just stop using the skill(which obviously gimped me to an extent). What exactly do you mean when you say the right mouse button messes with certain skills? Is it a bug of some sort or is it an auto-face option that can be enabled/disabled. I'm very used to playing MMOs while using my RMB to pan the camera constantly and it's rare that the button isn't held down.

Im the same, and it sucks.
With auto face, you automatically face and shoot at your target, meaning, if you are in range, it WILL hit.
However, RMB will make you skills fire in the direction you are facing. If you arent facing the target exactly when the animation goes off, it'll fire off in exactly the position you are facing. In effect it turns auto face off.

If your target isnt in the 'cone' (on the server side, not yours), then the skill will 'miss' because its registered that you have a target, but your cone is 'missing' because...well... its missing.

I tested it on the target dummies, as well as in actual pvp.

It seems to be REALLY bad when you're moving as well as RMB'ing. Which is pretty much what i do all the time.

So for the moment, just let go of RMB before you use that (or Lightning Touch)

MaximumSquid, on 17 August 2012 - 06:25 PM, said:

Anlyon_Spellrage:

Based on the next stress test (if there is another one before release) if the Fire's Embrace defensive build is still viable then I think we should get it on the guide as it is one of the easiest and well rounded builds for Ele to play currently

The fact that it's based on your Utility Skills and allows you to use any weapon set with it just seems like icing

-

Great idea! ill put it up today. Thanks yet again!

Oldthrall, on 17 August 2012 - 07:08 PM, said:

Hi guys

I have a question about staff builds...is it possible to make a very offensive and bursty staff build that is on par with the other burst builds for the elementalist?

It is, but for PvP, it can be quite hard to land hits (or at least a decent amount) since they are all AoEs. You do have much better range and its fairly easy to kite with.
So in terms of burst on paper, its very possible. In practice, its a little less ideal just due to how PvP is.

If you're PvE'ing its great, infact, its totally awesome, at least.... i imagine it would be! haha.

Do you have any builds yet?

Use http://gw2skills.net/editor/en

Edited by Anlyon Spellrage, 17 August 2012 - 08:04 PM.

[Oldthrall]

Anlyon Spellrage, on 17 August 2012 - 08:04 PM, said:

It is, but for PvP, it can be quite hard to land hits (or at least a decent amount) since they are all AoEs. You do have much better range and its fairly easy to kite with.
So in terms of burst on paper, its very possible. In practice, its a little less ideal just due to how PvP is.

If you're PvE'ing its great, infact, its totally awesome, at least.... i imagine it would be! haha.

Do you have any builds yet?

Use http://gw2skills.net/editor/en

I've been messing around with that skill calc but I'm not sure what burst build will be best for the staff...do I focus on lots of power and high crit chance or lots of a decent amount of power and high crit and high crit damage? which stats will be better for lots of damage in a short time?

[alikebab1]

Anlyon, I did read your post in another topic about the surviveability of an Ele. Could you explain that to me a bit further? I'm at the moment really doubting between Necro and Ele. I really like the dagger/dagge combination of Ele but I'm afraid that they won't match up with the necro and other classes especially melee in terms of durability:
-less condition removal
-less durable (Death shroud?)
-Squishy because of clothing

Could you help me out a bit?

[Anlyon Spellrage]

Oldthrall, on 17 August 2012 - 08:49 PM, said:

I've been messing around with that skill calc but I'm not sure what burst build will be best for the staff...do I focus on lots of power and high crit chance or lots of a decent amount of power and high crit and high crit damage? which stats will be better for lots of damage in a short time?

Personally man, id go moderate crit chance (35-45?), moderate power(~1.7k), high crit damage(at least 40).

With this in tow, id grab Arcane Power, and be using it right before your burst skills.

With moderate crit chance, using AP isnt wasting as many potential crits you would have gotten naturally, and the power and crit damage mean they'll hit really hard.

It also means you have some crits naturally that really hurt when you're not bursting.

Here is an armor setup for you to try. Id suggest at least 10 in air, and 10 in earth for your build, for crit damage and some toughness.

alikebab1, on 19 August 2012 - 09:00 AM, said:

Anlyon, I did read your post in another topic about the surviveability of an Ele. Could you explain that to me a bit further? I'm at the moment really doubting between Necro and Ele. I really like the dagger/dagge combination of Ele but I'm afraid that they won't match up with the necro and other classes especially melee in terms of durability:
-less condition removal
-less durable (Death shroud?)
-Squishy because of clothing

Could you help me out a bit?

Hahaha, fallen in love with D/D too huh?

First off, the Necro is the other end of the spectrum when it comes to durability. Even if they build bursty, the Life Force acts as a second health bar, and lich form as a third
What they really lack that we have in spades is survivability.

They can take more hits than we can by a metric mile, but we can use the huge array of abilities we have at our disposal to nullify/evade/remove any damage or potential damage.
For example on the D/D set we have a stun aura, two chills, an animation that makes us evade any attacks while we're animating, a knockdown, the best mobility skill in the game hands down, weakness, a shitty cripple spell....
All of this without doing a thing other than grabbing some weapons.
Plus, alot of necros are getting bored with their mechanic already.

If you want to take lots of hits and not have to worry about using a bit of timing, co-ordination and....skill to kill someone, shoot up the necro. They arent hard to learn, and they have a decent skill ceiling. They arent a bad choice i swear.

If however, you want to be on your toes, having to react fast and correctly, and have fun with your mechanic, hit the ele. We hav a very high skill floor, but in my humble opinion, the highest skill ceiling.
You will die, especially if your going to go D/D, but you'll have a blast doing it. pun intended.
Regardless of what you choose, best of luck and feel free to ask questions about how to beat us if you end up on the dark side!
.

Edited by Anlyon Spellrage, 19 August 2012 - 12:23 PM.

[Sycthrex]

Nice work, Now get it finished so this can be put forward for pinned status

[Oldthrall]

Anlyon Spellrage, on 19 August 2012 - 12:20 PM, said:

Personally man, id go moderate crit chance (35-45?), moderate power(~1.7k), high crit damage(at least 40).

With this in tow, id grab Arcane Power, and be using it right before your burst skills.

With moderate crit chance, using AP isnt wasting as many potential crits you would have gotten naturally, and the power and crit damage mean they'll hit really hard.

It also means you have some crits naturally that really hurt when you're not bursting.

Here is an armor setup for you to try. Id suggest at least 10 in air, and 10 in earth for your build, for crit damage and some toughness.

Wow thanks so much for the suggestions! I have a question about  the "deal X% more damage to <whatever> foes" traits...do these increase both your non crit damage and crit damage as well?

Also, for arcane power, in your guide you said it makes your next 5 spells arcane as well, so for example I have shard of ice trait, does it mean my next 5 hits all apply 3 stacks of vuln on each hit? Or does it actually only apply 3 stacks because it is "on activation" and not "on hit"?

Is might stacking useful for a burst build or does it take too much build-up time that it's more suited for consistently high damage? I was just wondering because I like using cantrips and since there is a trait that gives you 3 stacks of might on use  I was thinking of taking it....but then I like the 10s of vigor as well.

And thanks so much for making this guide! It's very useful because you pointed out stuff that the tooltip doesn't say like arcane power making your next attacks arcane!

Edited by Oldthrall, 19 August 2012 - 06:38 PM.

[Kasern]

Any chance we might see some builds up this week for launch? Doesn't need to be perfect, obviously, just a rough one as a guide.

[Tato]

Yeah i too would love to see some builds But if you want to wait to be sure, that's fine, but you can of course always edit them!

[Anlyon Spellrage]

Oldthrall, on 19 August 2012 - 06:37 PM, said:

Wow thanks so much for the suggestions! I have a question about  the "deal X% more damage to <whatever> foes" traits...do these increase both your non crit damage and crit damage as well?

Also, for arcane power, in your guide you said it makes your next 5 spells arcane as well, so for example I have shard of ice trait, does it mean my next 5 hits all apply 3 stacks of vuln on each hit? Or does it actually only apply 3 stacks because it is "on activation" and not "on hit"?

Is might stacking useful for a burst build or does it take too much build-up time that it's more suited for consistently high damage? I was just wondering because I like using cantrips and since there is a trait that gives you 3 stacks of might on use  I was thinking of taking it....but then I like the 10s of vigor as well.

And thanks so much for making this guide! It's very useful because you pointed out stuff that the tooltip doesn't say like arcane power making your next attacks arcane!

You are more than welcome!
Yes 'Increase damage by X' increases you damage by that much. So if you've increased you damage by 5%, non crits deal 5% more and Crits deal 7.5% more (1.5x)

Haha good thinking there, but i didnt see shard of ice triggering when I used it. I guess the 'activation' of the arcane skill is when you press AP, but
not when the spell is fired. But Elemental Surge does work with AP. You can chain 5 one sec bursts of Immobilize or a ton of chill with it!

And regarding might stacking, on paper its better to stack might with a low power, high crit/crit damage build, since you get a greater % increase in damage.
In practice its a little here and there. It can be really effective or semi useless, and it all depends on who you are fighting and what happens in the fight.

If you are making a burst build, do it for sure. You can get a decent bump up in damage.

If however you feel like some more dodges and a little healing will help you, go with the vigor/regen (that'd be my choice)

Kasern, on 20 August 2012 - 12:16 AM, said:

Any chance we might see some builds up this week for launch? Doesn't need to be perfect, obviously, just a rough one as a guide.

Most certainly. Ill put some up right now, expect to see them up within an hour or two of this post ( Gotta make some butter chicken for dinner!)

Im not gunna just throw builds up, im actually gunna talk about why choices are made and how to use them best etc.

Tato, on 20 August 2012 - 12:24 AM, said:

Yeah i too would love to see some builds But if you want to wait to be sure, that's fine, but you can of course always edit them!

Yeap! Ill probably need to edit them in a few weeks anyway since i dont doubt there will be a post release bug fix/balance as there always inevitably is.

Im so behind now its not even funny, but hey. Its all good

Thanks for kicking my ass into gear you guys. Its easy to think there isnt much interest right now haha!

[Tato]

Haha we only got 125 hours to go!!

[Oldthrall]

Anlyon Spellrage, on 20 August 2012 - 01:28 AM, said:

You are more than welcome!
Yes 'Increase damage by X' increases you damage by that much. So if you've increased you damage by 5%, non crits deal 5% more and Crits deal 7.5% more (1.5x)

Haha good thinking there, but i didnt see shard of ice triggering when I used it. I guess the 'activation' of the arcane skill is when you press AP, but
not when the spell is fired. But Elemental Surge does work with AP. You can chain 5 one sec bursts of Immobilize or a ton of chill with it!

And regarding might stacking, on paper its better to stack might with a low power, high crit/crit damage build, since you get a greater % increase in damage.
In practice its a little here and there. It can be really effective or semi useless, and it all depends on who you are fighting and what happens in the fight.

If you are making a burst build, do it for sure. You can get a decent bump up in damage.

If however you feel like some more dodges and a little healing will help you, go with the vigor/regen (that'd be my choice)

Thank you very much for that detailed answer. I can't wait to do some more experimentation on the staff burst build.

Thanks!

[Anlyon Spellrage]

You're welcome.

[FrancisCrawford]

Nitpick:

Might is a poor example of a theme one should stick to. Might is just a stat-tweaker. If you have it, yay. If you don't, oh well. It's equally useful in almost any kind of build, now that it affects all kinds of damage.

Also, Spell Slinger is pretty dubious. Cantrips have long cooldowns. On average, over the duration of a fight, how many stacks of might does it give?

[Kred]

Great guide, Anlyon.. glad it got to be stickied, at last

I'm still a bit confused about which tipe of Ele I'm gonna play.. burst, condition, survivability..

I'm going PvP, the less it's frustrating, the more I'll go sPvP (or WvW with guildies, in the sparetime)

I'm reading a lot about D/D Eles, but in the last BWE I fell in love with the bleeding effect of scepters and rock barrier/ hurl in earth attuning.

I was also a fan of the arcane finishers, but I chose to leave them out, since I tried to make this condition build.

I tried to add some movement speed and mobility

I had got some problem in sorting traits out, too

Got to this build: can you please give me some thoughts about it?
thanks a ton

[Anlyon Spellrage]

FrancisCrawford, on 20 August 2012 - 04:53 AM, said:

Nitpick:

Might is a poor example of a theme one should stick to. Might is just a stat-tweaker. If you have it, yay. If you don't, oh well. It's equally useful in almost any kind of build, now that it affects all kinds of damage.

Also, Spell Slinger is pretty dubious. Cantrips have long cooldowns. On average, over the duration of a fight, how many stacks of might does it give?

Going with Pyros Pussiance, Sigil of Strength, and some Blast Finishers for a fire field or two can make a very viable build for Direct Damage, however i suppose its not limited to non-crits.
But it doesnt affect condi damage.

And i agree spell slinger is kinda dubious, i might remove it. Dont want to lead people astray.

Thanks yet again!

Kred, on 20 August 2012 - 01:10 PM, said:

Great guide, Anlyon.. glad it got to be stickied, at last

I'm still a bit confused about which tipe of Ele I'm gonna play.. burst, condition, survivability..

I'm going PvP, the less it's frustrating, the more I'll go sPvP (or WvW with guildies, in the sparetime)

I'm reading a lot about D/D Eles, but in the last BWE I fell in love with the bleeding effect of scepters and rock barrier/ hurl in earth attuning.

I was also a fan of the arcane finishers, but I chose to leave them out, since I tried to make this condition build.

I tried to add some movement speed and mobility

I had got some problem in sorting traits out, too

Got to this build: can you please give me some thoughts about it?
thanks a ton

Cheers!


Yeah, so a couple of things. You've got two movement speed traits (which dont stack atm), and one of them requires you to stick to air attunement for a period of time. Since you're a condi build, and air doesnt really do that, I'd drop One with Air and probably the 10 point in air too, since thats your only source of crits.

Id then throw those 10 points into Earth for more condi damage and toughness, and grab either Geomancers Alacrity, Geomancers Freedom, or Rocks Fortitude.

I also swap Stone Splinters for Salt Stone or even Earths Embrace.

Id drop those sigil of purity's and grab a Sigil of Doom and a Sigil of Smouldering

I'm still waking up so let me re-read this sometime soon to make sure im thinking straight

[Kred]

Anlyon Spellrage, on 20 August 2012 - 03:10 PM, said:

- snip -

Cheers!


Yeah, so a couple of things. You've got two movement speed traits (which dont stack atm), and one of them requires you to stick to air attunement for a period of time.

I thought they did.. but this build is just theory, atm: then no reason to keep 10 in air, as u suggest.

Anlyon Spellrage, on 20 August 2012 - 03:10 PM, said:

Id then throw those 10 points into Earth for more condi damage and toughness, and grab either Geomancers Alacrity, Geomancers Freedom, or Rocks Fortitude.

Think I prefer Alacrity better.. with fortitude second choice if needed

Anlyon Spellrage, on 20 August 2012 - 03:10 PM, said:

I also swap Stone Splinters for Salt Stone or even Earths Embrace.

right.. that was a not intended mistake

Anlyon Spellrage, on 20 August 2012 - 03:10 PM, said:

Id drop those sigil of purity's and grab a Sigil of Doom and a Sigil of Smouldering

I'm still waking up so let me re-read this sometime soon to make sure im thinking straight

I thought sigil of doom wouldn't proc, as it's activated by weapon swapping.. which actually cant be done by Eles.. am I wrong? I'll pick smoldering and agony (10% bleeding), in case two don't stack!
have a nice day, mate!^^

Edited by Kred, 20 August 2012 - 03:30 PM.

[Stormseed]

Gratz on the pin! Great to see it finally happen!

[Anlyon Spellrage]

Update:

Removed the Trait section and changed it to a Playstyle section covering a bunch of important topics.
Added a Power Build base.

Stormseed, on 20 August 2012 - 03:52 PM, said:

Gratz on the pin! Great to see it finally happen!

Thanks

Kred, on 20 August 2012 - 03:26 PM, said:

I thought sigil of doom wouldn't proc, as it's activated by weapon swapping.. which actually cant be done by Eles.. am I wrong? I'll pick smoldering and agony (10% bleeding), in case two don't stack!
have a nice day, mate!^^

Last Stress test it was changed so attunement swapping activates on weapon swap sigils, and all weapon swap sigils have a 9 sec ICD.

Edited by Anlyon Spellrage, 20 August 2012 - 04:00 PM.

[Livia Silvermoon]

Lightning Flash on a 45s timer, is it new? Last time I checked, it was 60s and so is wiki.

[Anlyon Spellrage]

Livia Silvermoon, on 20 August 2012 - 05:51 PM, said:

Lightning Flash on a 45s timer, is it new? Last time I checked, it was 60s and so is wiki.

Last stress test it was 45.

[Livia Silvermoon]

Anlyon Spellrage, on 20 August 2012 - 06:41 PM, said:

Last stress test it was 45.

So, it can be 36s with Cantrip Mastery, interesting news

[FrancisCrawford]

Actually, Might DOES now affect condition damage. I think it was a change for BWE3.

[Anlyon Spellrage]

FrancisCrawford, on 20 August 2012 - 06:53 PM, said:

Actually, Might DOES now affect condition damage. I think it was a change for BWE3.

Huh. Well that was ignorant of me. Thanks

[Razkurdt Thunderclaw]

grats on getting your guide pinned anlyon ^^ i`m wishing to see it done some day . watching your pvp d/d fight was what made me want to chose ele as my main

[Anlyon Spellrage]

Razkurdt Thunderclaw, on 20 August 2012 - 09:17 PM, said:

grats on getting your guide pinned anlyon ^^ i`m wishing to see it done some day . watching your pvp d/d fight was what made me want to chose ele as my main

Thank you very much! Its very much a work in progress, hopefully i'll have most of it done pre-release, and then i can give it a nice overhaul post release when i get more time to test things and so on.

Hopefully you'll see me around in game

Edited by Anlyon Spellrage, 20 August 2012 - 09:35 PM.