16 replies to this topic

[Schlez]

As the title says, is using only a single element (preferably fire as I enjoy large numbers and aoe) feasible when soloing in PVE?

Are there any single element builds out there? Of course I understand the need of switching elements when the need arises (such as water when I need to heal or air/earth when I want to run away) but I would prefer to be able to kill mobs without having to switch between multiple elements.

I was planning on using this build:
http://www.noxxic.co...uild-and-traits
but it seems a bit squishy maybe?

[jthamind]

elementalists have very low armor and vitality to begin with, so you'll definitely be a bit squishy with a build like this. and staff won't exactly keep enemies at bay in solo leveling. i've leveled an elem to 80 with 100% world completion, and imo for leveling an elem, it's more about being durable than anything. i think a great build for leveling would be something like this:

http://gw2skills.net...Fn4SQhCHMewxHeA

i've used a build like this before, and i can definitely say that while it's not the flashiest build, it has incredible survivability and can take down entire groups of enemies while questing. your main attunement would be earth. start channeling Churning Earth within max range of an enemy, then Lightning Flash to enemy the split second before it goes off. boom, eight stacks of bleed right off the bat. you can ues Earthquake for an easy chance to get away if need be, then just start spamming Earth's auto attack, since each one adds three stacks of bleed. at some point after the Churning Earth hits you can also use Signet of Fire for an easy 10 seconds of burn damage (and it only has a 20 second CD). with a build like this, it's super easy to get an enemy to 25 stacks of bleed, but they'll probably be dead long before then.

Mist Form and Lightning Flash also give you regen and vigor when used, and you'll have a bunch of toughness and vitality, plus healing to boot if you need it. but since you'll be kiting enemies with auto attack most of the battle, you don't need it most of the time. still, it's great to have it for bigger battles or for solo'ing vets or skill points. not to mention your cantrips recharge faster because of the points in water.

this definitely is a pretty easy and not exactly flashy build, but it's very durable and reliable, and it can really help with leveling.

Edited by jthamind, 16 December 2012 - 02:50 PM.

[AzureRogue]

The build in the original post is almost exactly what I ran from 1-80 (and still run now) with the small change of taking 10 from Arcana and putting it in water (not necessary while leveling, as I do it mostly for the +dmg > 90% health, which you won't have much if you're solo ).  Oh, and I also replaced arcane power with arcane blast.

Is it tough at times, using staff and a glass cannon build?  Sure.  But once you have the elite glyph of elementals you can save that for when you know you're about to take on a veteran or two and use it then.  Is there an easier way to level an elementalist solo?  Probably.  But I had a lot of fun and since I knew I wanted to end up as a staff ele once I started seriously running dungeons and partying more, I decided I wanted to level as one too.

It worked.  Because of my experience leveling solo with such a build I can survive extremely well in dungeons.  I feel that it helped me develop better kiting skills, combat awareness, and understanding of my class.  Now, admittedly, you WILL have to swap attunements in this build (although I also primarily stay in fire) because you'll want the buff just from attuning plus some of the situational skills (Water's 3&5 for heals, 4 for snare; Earth 4 for snare, 2 for bleed, 5 for immobilize, 3 for projectile reflect; Lightning 4 for running, 5 for stunning, 2 for blind).

One important thing to note with this type of build is that running past foes will sometimes be harder (especially once you hit Orr).  However, with judicious attunement swapping it can be done.  I am only at 65% map completion, but I have finished all three Orr maps run each dungeon multiple times and have done Fractals of the Mists a few times (only up to difficulty level 5, though).  When you're solo, this build works based on an understanding of PvE, the class, and your weapon skills.  When you're with a team this build works but only if you're team understands that you are a glass cannon.  You'll need to stay as far back as possible since dungeon mobs hit so much harder - but it feels great to drop a meteor shower with 12-16 might stacks (provided entirely by yourself with minimal to no effort) and watch things drop.

[Aetou]

If you aren't frequently swapping attunements then you're only playing the class at 50% efficiency at best.  You have the points in Arcane, you need to be getting maximum benefit from Arcane Fury and Elemental Attunement and that means cycling through all 4 elements to stack the boons on you and your group every 10-20s (and almost every attunement has at least one non-auto attack you can happily dump out each rotation too.)  In group situations you should also be comfortably hitting the 25 Might Stacks cap still even spending only half your time in it.  Honestly, if you want to just sit in one attunement and do dps you should make a Ranger instead.

[TGIFrisbie]

What level are you planning to solo PvE?  This is a critical question.  I don't know many soloing at 80 any more, though I see some from time to time.

[Schlez]

jthamind, on 16 December 2012 - 02:49 PM, said:

elementalists have very low armor and vitality to begin with, so you'll definitely be a bit squishy with a build like this. and staff won't exactly keep enemies at bay in solo leveling. i've leveled an elem to 80 with 100% world completion, and imo for leveling an elem, it's more about being durable than anything. i think a great build for leveling would be something like this:

http://gw2skills.net...Fn4SQhCHMewxHeA

i've used a build like this before, and i can definitely say that while it's not the flashiest build, it has incredible survivability and can take down entire groups of enemies while questing. your main attunement would be earth. start channeling Churning Earth within max range of an enemy, then Lightning Flash to enemy the split second before it goes off. boom, eight stacks of bleed right off the bat. you can ues Earthquake for an easy chance to get away if need be, then just start spamming Earth's auto attack, since each one adds three stacks of bleed. at some point after the Churning Earth hits you can also use Signet of Fire for an easy 10 seconds of burn damage (and it only has a 20 second CD). with a build like this, it's super easy to get an enemy to 25 stacks of bleed, but they'll probably be dead long before then.

Mist Form and Lightning Flash also give you regen and vigor when used, and you'll have a bunch of toughness and vitality, plus healing to boot if you need it. but since you'll be kiting enemies with auto attack most of the battle, you don't need it most of the time. still, it's great to have it for bigger battles or for solo'ing vets or skill points. not to mention your cantrips recharge faster because of the points in water.

this definitely is a pretty easy and not exactly flashy build, but it's very durable and reliable, and it can really help with leveling.

This build looks pretty good. However, how long does it take to kill standard mobs with bleeding? Would I have a lot of problems soloing veterans? I can't actually test it at the moment because my Elementalist is only level 2 and I don't have earth unlocked yet. Due to RP reasons, if I play fire I want to make my Elementalist a Charr and if I play earth I want to make it a Svylari.

AzureRogue, on 16 December 2012 - 03:01 PM, said:

The build in the original post is almost exactly what I ran from 1-80 (and still run now) with the small change of taking 10 from Arcana and putting it in water (not necessary while leveling, as I do it mostly for the +dmg > 90% health, which you won't have much if you're solo ).  Oh, and I also replaced arcane power with arcane blast.

Is it tough at times, using staff and a glass cannon build?  Sure.  But once you have the elite glyph of elementals you can save that for when you know you're about to take on a veteran or two and use it then.  Is there an easier way to level an elementalist solo?  Probably.  But I had a lot of fun and since I knew I wanted to end up as a staff ele once I started seriously running dungeons and partying more, I decided I wanted to level as one too.

It worked.  Because of my experience leveling solo with such a build I can survive extremely well in dungeons.  I feel that it helped me develop better kiting skills, combat awareness, and understanding of my class.  Now, admittedly, you WILL have to swap attunements in this build (although I also primarily stay in fire) because you'll want the buff just from attuning plus some of the situational skills (Water's 3&5 for heals, 4 for snare; Earth 4 for snare, 2 for bleed, 5 for immobilize, 3 for projectile reflect; Lightning 4 for running, 5 for stunning, 2 for blind).

One important thing to note with this type of build is that running past foes will sometimes be harder (especially once you hit Orr).  However, with judicious attunement swapping it can be done.  I am only at 65% map completion, but I have finished all three Orr maps run each dungeon multiple times and have done Fractals of the Mists a few times (only up to difficulty level 5, though).  When you're solo, this build works based on an understanding of PvE, the class, and your weapon skills.  When you're with a team this build works but only if you're team understands that you are a glass cannon.  You'll need to stay as far back as possible since dungeon mobs hit so much harder - but it feels great to drop a meteor shower with 12-16 might stacks (provided entirely by yourself with minimal to no effort) and watch things drop.

Have you played a dual sword Mesmer before? If a dual sword Mesmer is 5, on a scale from 1 to 10 (with 10 being something like the greatsword Warrior) how would you rate the fire and arcane only Elementalist (difficulty-wise)?

Aetou, on 16 December 2012 - 07:27 PM, said:

If you aren't frequently swapping attunements then you're only playing the class at 50% efficiency at best.  You have the points in Arcane, you need to be getting maximum benefit from Arcane Fury and Elemental Attunement and that means cycling through all 4 elements to stack the boons on you and your group every 10-20s (and almost every attunement has at least one non-auto attack you can happily dump out each rotation too.)  In group situations you should also be comfortably hitting the 25 Might Stacks cap still even spending only half your time in it.  Honestly, if you want to just sit in one attunement and do dps you should make a Ranger instead.

Due to RP reasons, I only want to use one element. If my Elementalist is a Charr, I want to make it a fire one. If it is a Syvlari, I want to make it an earth one. I don't mind not hitting the top of the DPS chart since I only want to level it at the moment. Once I hit 80 and feel like getting dungeon armor for it I will then consider using multiple elements continuously.

TGIFrisbie, on 16 December 2012 - 07:29 PM, said:

What level are you planning to solo PvE?  This is a critical question.  I don't know many soloing at 80 any more, though I see some from time to time.

Well I plan on soloing from level 1 to 80. I plan on making my greatsword Warrior or my dual swords Mesmer my 100% completion character so I'll probably hit the dungeons or finish the Priory storyline once I hit 80 if I still feel like playing it.

[TGIFrisbie]

You can solo as fire while levelling.  I recommend Tough/Vit armor for most of that, I did this recently.  At 60 I switched to Berserker, continued mostly as fire, using other attunements rarely and not really required.  At 75 I switched back to defensive armor and did CS events as Fire, used Water when necessary to support the randoms and self as needed.

From 60-75 I went from Staff to Scepter/Dagger and played with the build posted somewhere here in this forum.

[jthamind]

Schlez, on 16 December 2012 - 07:53 PM, said:

This build looks pretty good. However, how long does it take to kill standard mobs with bleeding? Would I have a lot of problems soloing veterans? I can't actually test it at the moment because my Elementalist is only level 2 and I don't have earth unlocked yet. Due to RP reasons, if I play fire I want to make my Elementalist a Charr and if I play earth I want to make it a Svylari.

enemies die surprisingly quick from your bleed stacks, plus the added burning from signet of fire. this is assuming that you'll get all condition damage gear when leveling as well as condition runes and a sigil of corruption. if you really gear for the build, things will drop very fast, even just from your conditions. and like i said, there's little chance of you dying since you would have so much toughness and so many escape options.

as for solo'ing veterans, it's pretty easy. you won't have to get near them other than to teleport in for Churning Earth, and the rest of the time is spent spamming earth #1 while kiting the vet and any possible mobs it has with it. it's a really safe build, but it is kind of boring since it's so safe/easy. but i understand that leveling an elem and trying to solo skill point bosses or other veterans can be tough at times, since we aren't naturally durable. that's why i suggested this build.

i have to reiterate, though, that this is a pretty boring build. definitely effective, but if you want to play it for 80 straight levels using only one element and one type of weapon set, i would guess you'd be pulling your hair out after 20 levels or so. lol. i completely understand where you're coming from as far as the RP perspective, but most of the fun (and effectiveness) of being an elementalist comes from constantly switching attunements to have the best spells ready at the perfect time, and having certain attunements compliment one another.

[Schlez]

Boring is fine. I'll make up ways to make it interesting...like going into battle naked or only using a specific skill XD. I guess I'll try the build out then. If it doesn't work I can always delete it and make another. By the way, does it work well at higher levels? For example against the Risen? Those guys take forever to kill.

[jthamind]

it worked fine for me in Orr. you can always Ride the Lightning and Lightning Flash if you want to skip them, and if you want to fight, Churning Earth, Signet of Fire and auto attack will take care of them without a hassle.

Edited by jthamind, 16 December 2012 - 09:10 PM.

[Oviron]

Schlez, on 16 December 2012 - 08:59 PM, said:

Boring is fine. I'll make up ways to make it interesting...like going into battle naked or only using a specific skill XD. I guess I'll try the build out then. If it doesn't work I can always delete it and make another. By the way, does it work well at higher levels? For example against the Risen? Those guys take forever to kill.

jthamind, on 16 December 2012 - 09:10 PM, said:

it worked fine for me in Orr. you can always Ride the Lightning and Lightning Flash if you want to skip them, and if you want to fight, Churning Earth, Signet of Fire and auto attack will take care of them without a hassle.

Once you get to level 80 stuff, you need to swap elements if you want to make any kills quick.  If you are completely determined to run just fire, it will work...but it's going to take you a while to down anything.

[TGIFrisbie]

Schlez, on 16 December 2012 - 08:59 PM, said:

By the way, does it work well at higher levels? For example against the Risen? Those guys take forever to kill.

You don't need to kill Risen to level up to do CS events, then you have to kill Risen.  Anything after Sparkfly on the way to Cursed Shore you will not be soloing anyways, no point as there are no hearts.  Don't need to do Risen in Sparkfly to level either.  Just do other things, plenty of options for content and levelling through it.

At 80 no idea what you are going to be soloing, or why.  As someone mentioned, once you are 80 you really should be using the elements and not crutching on fire only, it won't cut it for effectiveness.

[AzureRogue]

Schlez, on 16 December 2012 - 07:53 PM, said:

Have you played a dual sword Mesmer before? If a dual sword Mesmer is 5, on a scale from 1 to 10 (with 10 being something like the greatsword Warrior) how would you rate the fire and arcane only Elementalist (difficulty-wise)?

I have not played a dual sword Mesmer.  And because I only have two level 80s (a shout-heal warrior and my glass cannon elementalist) I don't think I can give a metric assignment that would be helpful.  I should ask one clarification question, though.  Are you going to NEVER swap attunements or do you just mean to spend almost all of your time in one element?  The difference is important.

I very much think you could manage to play only fire but it will be tough.  Earth would be slightly easier (only for survivability).  Good luck with whatever you decide.

[Schlez]

TGIFrisbie, on 16 December 2012 - 11:02 PM, said:

You don't need to kill Risen to level up to do CS events, then you have to kill Risen.  Anything after Sparkfly on the way to Cursed Shore you will not be soloing anyways, no point as there are no hearts.  Don't need to do Risen in Sparkfly to level either.  Just do other things, plenty of options for content and levelling through it.

At 80 no idea what you are going to be soloing, or why.  As someone mentioned, once you are 80 you really should be using the elements and not crutching on fire only, it won't cut it for effectiveness.

I won't actually be soloing on my Elementalist after I hit 80 (with the exception of the story line) as it will not be my 100% character. If I'm still not bored with it at level 80 I would probably start running dungeons for armor or loot.

AzureRogue, on 17 December 2012 - 06:16 PM, said:

I have not played a dual sword Mesmer.  And because I only have two level 80s (a shout-heal warrior and my glass cannon elementalist) I don't think I can give a metric assignment that would be helpful.  I should ask one clarification question, though.  Are you going to NEVER swap attunements or do you just mean to spend almost all of your time in one element?  The difference is important.

I very much think you could manage to play only fire but it will be tough.  Earth would be slightly easier (only for survivability).  Good luck with whatever you decide.

I might have misspoke earlier. What I meant was I only wanted to deal damage with only one element. For example if I'm low on health I would switch to water or if I wanted to run away then I'd switch to air or earth.

I actually decided to test the earth Elementalist out at the moment since it seems a bit more forgiving when I make mistakes or when I lag. Thank you for all your help though! I may decide to switch to fire later on if it seems like earth kills too slow.

[FrancisCrawford]

I leveled all the way with Fire as my main source of damage -- first staff, then s/f, then s/d.

Internal Fire and Pyromancer's Alacrity were high-priority traits.

Right side of the skill bar featured both elementals, Arcane Wave, Arcane Blast (early and probably not correctly), Glyph of Elemental Power (very early only), Glyph of Storms (for the Earth defensive option), Glyph of Elemental Harmony, and not much else.

In Orr I used s/d, preferring to be at point-blank range. So in theory the change to Dragon's Tooth shouldn't affect results much, although I basically stopped playing when Dragon's Tooth was downright bugged and never properly tested the fixed version.

That said, there's not a lot of point to autoattacking in Scepter/Fire, once you know the enemy will Burn for the rest of its short and wretched life.

-- FC

[Sword Hammer Axe]

This isn't as much a question of build as it's a question of whether fire can do the trick. To which my answer is, "Yes. Yes it can." Most of the PvE content doesn't require much more than a half-assed amount of focus on your part, even for the squishier professions, so you could basically just spam fireball while running in circles, occassionaly using pressing 2 and 3 and maybe even open with 5 and escape with 4, and as you said yourself you'd switch to the other elements if need be. I'd say go ahead, grab a staff, go burn stuff, apply cold water to burned area (except the one you burned) and that's about it.

[matsif]

I'm having no problems focusing on fire in pve leveling.  grab mob -> meteor shower -> glyph of storms -> lava font -> flame burst kills just about everything, and if I have to I can just burning retreat out of there if I take too much damage casting meteor shower.  and that's if I feel like pressing buttons, fireball works just fine most of the time.

It's common PvE content, which is a joke.  On larger DEs, against champion mobs, and in dungeons however, you need to switch attunements in order to be as effective as possible.  All fire offers is a roll out dodge and aoe damage and burning.  The other attunements will boost your damage far past what fire can by itself, will offer control that fire can't offer, will offer support that fire can't offer, etc.