8 replies to this topic

[Fiddlybitz]

Hi everybody.  I've been browsing the elementalist forums for a while now reading all the theory crafting and whatnot.  Unfortunately, most of what I see is more focused in nature.

My odd schedule as well as the fact that I live in Asia currently prevent me from being able to play very regularly.  As such, most of my time is spent doing solo PVE activities.  However, every once in a while, I'm able to get into some dungeons and some group WvW.  So I'm looking for a well rounded build that would best fit my activities.

It seems that the two predominant builds currently are Auras and Cantrips?  Which of these is best suited to solo play, and are there any tweaks that could be made to make either of them more suitable for dropping into a dungeon or WvW environment?

[Desert Rose]

The Cantrip build basis is 15 Water / 30 Arcane Power for the blast finishers of Evasive Arcana and the AoE heal every time you attune to Water. There are a few variations of this at level 80, afaik the most common are 0/10/0/30/30, 0/0/10/30/30 and 0/10/10/20/30.
The Cantrip build works with any weapon set and can be used for solo PvE, dungeons and W3, however builds that specailze in a certain weapon set and/or game mode may perform better.
Here's a guide for the 0/10/0/30/30 build:
http://www.guildwars...build-01003030/

From what I've seen the Auramancer build seems to be designed for D/D, but so far I've not seen or come up with an Aura build that I found fleshed out so I'm pretty ignorant about it.

Edited by Desert Rose, 07 November 2012 - 09:01 AM.

[tufy]

Personally, I'd go with any build that's designed around staff or at least can use staff efficiently. Personally, I prefer two builds:

1. 20/10/10/10/20 Auramentalist - you can find the basic guideline here:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tcr7A2htMMI

The build was first presented by a guildie in a slightly modified version and I've been using this as my primary elementalist build for a long time now. It is by far the most dynamic, fluid and effective playstyle for the elementalist I've seen to date. Sadly, the one major downside is that it lacks range - while you can equip staff and switch the traits around to fit it, there are better builds for it out there.

The gear I use with this is Berserker with valkyrie jewelry, as the build has more than enough defense to not worry about health all that much.

2. 20/20/0/0/30 staff build that looks something like this:

http://gw2skills.net...FHIgQhFVUeMzO2A

It is a fairly traditional evasive arcana staff build, though it focuses on overall damage through attunement swaps rather than focusing entirely on fire. This is one of those "better staff builds", capable of 2k+ autoattacks and dealing astonishing damage to groups and stuctures. Just don't try to race an S/D or D/D elementalist on a single target, they WILL destroy you.

Unlike the D/D auramancer above, I'm running power/toughness/vitality gear (think Vigil and above) for this, as staff has less burst. Still, it's capable of astonishing damage output, though in a bit more relaxed, stylish, less flashy and dynamic sort of playstyle.


I'm only using the second because I already have two melee characters (guardian, mesmer, hihi) and it just feels wrong to do the same with elementalist as well. Frankly though, if I put them side by side, it's a no-brainer, first one wins hands down, no questions asked everywhere, except where you really need those combo finishers yourself.

Edited by tufy, 07 November 2012 - 12:17 PM.

[Raif89]

Im using a 20 Air - 20 Water - 30 Arcana D/D or S/D build using a mix of Berserkers and Power/Toughness/Vitality. I haven't fully optimized the build yet as far as what kind of gear I'd want, but I aim for a ~40% crit chance and 15k health and 1.5-1.8k toughness and then focus more on crit damage/power is how i think ill end up going.

The build is taken from Phantaram's S/D build and I found if works very very well with D/D as well. It has high healing and very good damage if you are good at linking your abilities.

Utilities are normally Arcane Wave/Mist Form/Armor of Earth/Lightning Flash/Glyph of Storms and I always use Glyph of Healing.

[FrancisCrawford]

I go 20/10/0/10/30

10 Water is for Cleansing Wave for extra condition removal, as conditional removal cooldowns may not always be available.

I use Internal Fire/Pyromancer's Alacrity, on the theory that most damage really is in Fire.

For the right side of the skill bar I like

Glyph of Elemental Harmony
Arcane Wave
Glyph of Lesser Elementals
(optional)
Glyph of Elementals

This works well in scepter/dagger and staff alike, but I do die quite a bit, so others might want to play more defensively. So far it's tested in landscape PvE only.

The exact choice of Arcane traits depends on which weapon is equipped and whether the optional skill is Arcane Blast. The other traits don't need to be changed, unless you're in the mood to use a Lightning Hammer, in which case you might want to slot Conjurer.

-- FC

[The Great Al]

tufy, on 07 November 2012 - 12:15 PM, said:

Personally, I'd go with any build that's designed around staff or at least can use staff efficiently. Personally, I prefer two builds:

1. 20/10/10/10/20 Auramentalist - you can find the basic guideline here:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tcr7A2htMMI

The build was first presented by a guildie in a slightly modified version and I've been using this as my primary elementalist build for a long time now. It is by far the most dynamic, fluid and effective playstyle for the elementalist I've seen to date. Sadly, the one major downside is that it lacks range - while you can equip staff and switch the traits around to fit it, there are better builds for it out there.

The gear I use with this is Berserker with valkyrie jewelry, as the build has more than enough defense to not worry about health all that much.

2. 20/20/0/0/30 staff build that looks something like this:

http://gw2skills.net...FHIgQhFVUeMzO2A

It is a fairly traditional evasive arcana staff build, though it focuses on overall damage through attunement swaps rather than focusing entirely on fire. This is one of those "better staff builds", capable of 2k+ autoattacks and dealing astonishing damage to groups and stuctures. Just don't try to race an S/D or D/D elementalist on a single target, they WILL destroy you.

Unlike the D/D auramancer above, I'm running power/toughness/vitality gear (think Vigil and above) for this, as staff has less burst. Still, it's capable of astonishing damage output, though in a bit more relaxed, stylish, less flashy and dynamic sort of playstyle.


I'm only using the second because I already have two melee characters (guardian, mesmer, hihi) and it just feels wrong to do the same with elementalist as well. Frankly though, if I put them side by side, it's a no-brainer, first one wins hands down, no questions asked everywhere, except where you really need those combo finishers yourself.

The first build you posted is very interesting, thanks. I run a different aura build that relies on signets, and I find it very straightforward and fun to use.

[SirthOsiris]

Asking here due to the 'all around' in the title. This, however, refers to armor.

Planning to make a crafted set following the 20/10/10/10/20 d/d auramentalist build, though my question would apply to anything I think. Was wondering if I should just focus in one prefix, or make one of each piece?

Math would show what I mean:

Head: Knight (32pow, 32prec, 45tough)
Shoulders: Carrion (24pow, 24vit, 34con)
Chest: Berserker's (101pow, 72prec, 5crit)
Gloves: Rampager (24pow, 24prec, 34con)
Leggings: Berserker's (67pow, 48prec, 3crit)
Boots: Valkyrie (34pow, 24 vit, 2crit)

Power: 282
Precision: 176
Vitality: 48
Toughness: 45
Crit Damage: 10%
Con Damage: 68

Or focus on two prefixes? Mainly I wanted to go power, but also wanted to get some gains from bleeding/burning and survivability.

Actually, looking at that video again and rethinking it, I might want to focus on Rampager's, not Berserker's. I'd be switching crit damage with chance, and making my bleeds and burns very powerful. Then go health from trinkets and boons like in the video.

Edited by SirthOsiris, 08 November 2012 - 08:52 PM.

[Shadowrose]

Full berserker glass cannon! kill stuff before they even reach you.

Actually that makes so much sense. If you kill monsters slowly, of course your survivability will kick in because they will maul on you until you finally kill them.

But if you kill them faster... do you really need the survivability?

Of course, soloing champions can get tricky... but for normal PvE it's fine.

Edited by Shadowrose, 08 November 2012 - 06:55 PM.

[tufy]

@SirthOsiris: I'm using full berserker set with valkyrie jewelry and daggers. Most of my defense is coming from a whole pile of dodges (permanent vigor) and damage reduction (permanent protection), as well as earth runes. In my experience, that's more than enough to survive anything Orr can throw at you (I've taken down about 10 mobs at once) and if you're a wee bit careful, works well in WvW or dungeons too. For sPvP, I'd go with Knight + Berserker jewel, though I admit I don't have much experience there.