3. Build : Gear, Traits and Skills (updated)

This is where I will update all the current build setups with each update and post links as to why the gear / stats/ weapons are chosen. I have re-written most of this section to reflect builds currently used / ones that I use.

UPDATED AS OF AUGUST 15th:

Current Build Setups:

I underlined everything I plan to use / currently use for most situations / mostly everything, the non underlined give you ideas of what I would run to fine tune my setup or act as an alternative.

Here’s a build link for a general overview of the gear / item / skills used:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJAoYhEmmbwR5wjDAkCnIeYhDSUeMTO2A-jkyAo+ASQAJRAJ/ioxWGDS1Nal3wqqFS12Yq4ILDAzYA-w

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Traits:

sPvP, PvE, and WvWvW traits:

1.0 Fresh Air setups (For mainly S/D and Staff, can use for D/D)

0/30/0/10/30 

0/30/10/0/30

0/30/0/20/20

For Air traits: Fresh Air (Recharge air attunement upon critical) || 20% more damage if target under <33% HP ||  D/D: Swiftness + Fury granted on aura cast || S/D: 10% more damage in air || Staff: 20% CD reduction in air

For Earth traits: 10% more damage if target <600 units away

Water traits: Cantrips grant regeneration and vigor (10 points invested) ||50% fall down damage reduction (20 points invested)

Arcana traits: 5th, 6th, and 11th trait. For staff, replace 6th trait for 8th trait (blasting staff trait)

1.1 Meta D/D setups (can be used for S/D and Staff as well)

0/15/10/15/30

0/10/10/20/30

Use the exact same traits as fresh air. For air, use swiftness+fury on aura cast.

1.2 Traditional Team Based D/D setup:

0/10/0/30/30

Same as above with meta D/D. Grab aura share trait for 30 water points.

1.3 Alternate Staff and S/D variant:

0/20/0/20/30

Mix and match traits in other builds

PvE/WvWvW Only traits:

1.4 Pure Tanky/Roamer/Commander Setup for D/D

0/0/20/20/30

Earth traits: at 50% HP, gain armor of earth || 33% reduction in CC’s

Water traits: same as above, 3rd and 8th.

Arcana: Standard 5th,6th, 11th.

ALTERNATE TRAITS NOT MENTIONED ABOVE:

Air: Tempest Defense over Fresh Air: Use this for staff in large scale WvWvW battles. Switch to fresh air for small scale combat

Water: Water attunement removes conditions. 20% CD reduction in cantrips. Remove condition on granting regeneration. Deal 10% more damage if you have over 90% HP.

Earth: Grant protection on aura cast.

FAQ:

Why no fire traits?

Fire traits as of july 9th are inferior to every other traitline in every way. There is no point in investing any points in fire, no matter how you look at it. DPS, utility, tanking, etc are all better off invested in other traitlines. Unless someone posts a video or shows some solid proof as to why its better, I will still say its inferior.

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Gear (UPDATES AS OF August 15th, 2013)

Quick Overview:

Po=Power, Pr= Precision, To=Toughness. CD = Critical Damage. Vi = Vitality. HP= Healing Power. Co=Condition Damage.

The best way to go is to take full celestial armor / weapons and customize your accessories, namely in cavalier (Po,To,CD). The reasons are detailed in the “Celestial Stat Analysis post” and this: any gear setup that does not utilize celestial armor/weapons can be replicated statwise with celestial gear + additional healing power / condition damage (or any 2 stats). Since you might be skeptical, let’s look at celestial gloves vs. knights  (or any non critical damage) gloves.

Celestial gloves offer a total of 60 stats in power, toughness, vitality, and precision (all are must have stats for any build setup), and 2% critical damage. Critical damage is somewhere around 10 stat points per 1% critical damage, and celestial gloves have 2% critical damage. That is effectively 80 useful stat points regardless of build.

Knights gloves has 24+24+34 stat points, or 82 effective stat points (compared vs. 80). Celestial and Knights are practically equal in terms of useful stats! Now we didn’t consider celestial’s healing power and condition damage, so those are nice bonuses. People tend to rate those 2 stats differently. So if you customize / mix-match non celestial gear, you will always have an inferior setup to celestial gear, since you’ll have the same Po,To,CD,Pr,Vi, without the bonus condition damage/healing power. This is assuming your not going 100% defense on every setup or 100% berserker/offense on everything, which imo is silly since you need defense / offense, otherwise you’ll either be dead on the floor all the time, or doing minimal damage.

Plus celestial gear has higher critical damage then berserker’s gear on some parts, i.e. helmet / legs/  coat. Did I mention celestial has magic find too?

To learn how to make celestial armor, refer to dulfy’s guide. Basically go buy “quartz crystal” off auction house (there like 50copper each), go to a place on world map where you capped a skill point, click and exchange 25 “quartz” for 1 “super quartz” (only once a day, resets on daily reset). Then get 400 tailoring, buy 7 recipes off auction house (celestial insignia , celestial X, where X is leg,pants,coat, etc). Go craft, takes 30 “super quartz” (aka 30 days) to make a full set of armor. Weapons same thing, just use your respective crafting (staves with artificer, daggers with weaponsmithing)

http://dulfy.net/2013/07/08/gw2-quartz-crystals-and-celestial-recipes-guide/

FAQ:

Why can’t I use celestial accessories and customize my armor! ?

Only accessories have the cavalier stats (Po,To,CD), albeit you can get it from lucky fractal / Orr drops for armor (even then their not optimal). Because using celestial armor drains us of so much toughness and power (from original knights), we need to have cavalier (Po,To,CD) items. Soldier’s is not considered even though it has Po, To because we don’t need the vitality since we get it in celestial and CD is hard to come by (plus who doesn’t like dealing more damage!)

WvWvW / PvE gear setup:

Optimal setup for all builds:

Armor -Celestial (+all stat)

• Runes: 2x. superior rune of melandru, 2x superior rune monk (these are obtained in dungeon AC), 2x superior rune water
• Alternative: Replace 2x superior rune of melandru for 2x major rune water
• Underwater mask: any maxed level item from Orr

Weapons – Celestial (+all stat)

• Sigil : +10 power per kill, 3 might per weapon/attunement swap.
• 3rd dagger once 25 stacks of bloodlust (+10 power / kill) achieved: 5% damage, or 10% damage at night (use ghastly daggers from dungeon AC to tell when its night time)

Trinkets (Note that each ascended item is unique, meaning if you want to get 2 celestial rings, then get one offense and one defense ring). Also all items are ascended. Note that the trinkets are what you should use to fine tweak your setup , depending on traits allocated. Don’t ever exchange your celestial armor/weapons for any setup you use! Celestial amulet is chosen since the cavalier version has a bad critical damage return.

0/30/0/10/30, 0/10/0/30/30, 0/15/10/15/30, or almost any setup:

• Cavalier (Po,To,CD) rings (2)
• Cavalier (Po,To,CD) accessories (2)
• Celestial (+all) amulet (1)
• Cavalier (Po,To,CD) backpiece (1)

0/0/20/20/30

• Exchange the 2 cavalier rings or accessories into Celestial. You can even opt to change into berserker (Po,Pr,CD) as well.

Food Buffs:

• Lemongrass Poultry (-40% Condition Duration +70 Vi) -> For WvWvW
• Superior Sharpening stones (Power based on % Vi and To) -> For WvWvW an d PvE
• Mango Pie (+70 VI, 70hp/sec) -> For PvE , cause its dirt cheap!
• Alternative: Superior Maintenance Oil (Precision based on % Vi and To)
• Poor man’s alternative: The next level down on superior sharpening stone / maintenance oil

Infusions (optional) on trinkets

• +5 precision to get 1% critical chance cutoff if needed
• +5 power or +5 toughness for the rest of them depending on if you want more offense or defense

Weapons (2 Staff, Focus, Trident, Scepter) – Celestial (+all stats)

• Sigil: +10 power per kill on one staff, and scepter
  • Sigil: +3 might per weapon swap on other weapons

Consumables:

• Balloon or Kite Toy (http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Wind_Kite) -> Use this as a way to provoke someone and it doubles up as a weapon swap! You can trigger weapon swap effects using this (i.e. sigil of battle) in combat.
• Ogre Pet Whistle (http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Ogre_Pet_Whistle), Fire Elemental Powder (http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Fire_Elemental_Powder)

In PvE, summon the fire elemental before the ogre pet whistle

These are the most useful consumables I use all the time. See http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Category:Consumables for more details.

Optional Alternatives (for those who followed my old setups)

Use Knights armor/weapons + Celestial accessories for optimized defense/offense. Not as good as celestial armor/weapons + cavalier/celestial trinkets

Armor – Knights (Po, Pr, To)

• Runes: 2x. superior rune of melandru, 2x superior rune monk (these are obtained in dungeon AC), 2x superior rune water
• Alternative: Replace 2x superior rune of melandru for 2x major rune water
• Underwater mask: any maxed level item from Orr

Weapons (D/D) – Knights (Po,Pr,To)

• Sigil : +10 power per kill, 3 might per weapon/attunement swap.
• 3rd dagger once 25 stacks of bloodlust (+10 power / kill) achieved: 5% damage, or 10% damage at night (use ghastly daggers from dungeon AC to tell when its night time)
• Alternative sigils: +10 precision per kill

Weapons (Staff, Focus, Trident, Scepter) – Knights (Po,Pr,To)

• Sigil: +3 might per weapon swap on other weapons

Trinkets (All ascended items here)

• Celestial rings (2)
• Celestial accessories (2)
• Celestial (+all) amulet (1)
• Cavalier (Po,To,CD) backpiece (1)
• Optional : Karka Shell w/ beryl orb (Po,Vi,CD). Not preferable

Same food as optimal

Same consumables as optimal

Poor Man’s Alternative (for those who don’t have ascended to farm for, and/or those who can’t afford exotics)

Use exotic armor/weapons if possible. Rare equivalents work as well.

Same armor and weapons/sigils knights stats.

For Trinkets (Exotics/Rares)

• Exotic:Po,Pr, To trinket base. Use this for rings, and accessories.
• Exotic:Po,Pr,CD amulet.
• Rare: Vi, To, CD backpiece.
• Use everything (w/ Beryl Orb – Vi, CD , Po)

Same food as optimal

Same consumables as optimal

FAQ:

I can’t find superior rune of the monk:

Dungeon Ascalonian Catacombs Vendor (wiki it :P)

But superior sigil of battle (3 might swap / weapon change) is for weapons!

Attunement swapping is considered a weapon swap

Why don’t you ever consider sigil of flame (30% chance on critical to deal a AoE attack) or any other sigil?

Sigils share cooldowns. Superior sigil of battle is a must have as an elementalist, since it greatly improves DPS, so its a must have in most cases. The only time you wouldn’t use it is if you’re not abusing boon duration gear or frequently swapping attunements, which is something you wouldn’t ever do unless you were playing in sPvP (more on this later).

Sigil of battle has a 9 second cooldown. Once it procs, no other sigil can be used with a cooldown, and this therefore prevents sigil of flame being used (its got a 5second cooldown). That’s why you go for bloodlust sigils or % damage on your other weapon.

Why 2x superior rune of monk,2x superior rune of water, 2x rune of melandru?

This setup gives you 30% increased boon duration and -10% cond duration (works well with -40% cond food item) to improve both your DPS and survivability. DPS in the form of might stacks and fury, survivability in regeneration, protection, and swiftness. No other rune is even remotely as good as these for PvE and WvWvW.

What if I only want to maximize my DPS as much as possible?

Go for a pure fresh air trait setup (1.0), with all berserker gear and stats on everything possible.

What if I only to be as tanky as possible with some DPS?

Use the pure tanky only setup (1.4) for D/D and use the above underlined items.

What if I want a build that is really good overall?

Go with the underlined gear and pick the D/D meta builds. (1.1)

What if I want to sacrifice, just a teeny little bit of tankiness, for DPS without changing my build setup a whole lot?

Swap out your celestial armor (not recommended) or knights(recommended) for berserker armor. Swap out the gloves, boots ,chest, and shoulders first, since they have the biggest critical damage tradeoff

What about sPvP builds?

Archived in another page dedicated to just sPvP, will make link later.

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Utilities/Heal/Elite:

As of June 25th / July 9th, some notable changes occured:

Glyph of Elemental Power: This skill is now a stun breaker.

Lightning Flash: This skill is no longer a stun breaker. Increased damage by 50%. Reduced the cooldown to 40 seconds.

Cleansing Fire: This skill is no longer a stun breaker. Decreased the recharge to 40 seconds.

Signet of Air: This skill is now a stun breaker. Increased the cooldown to 30 seconds.

Also be sure to checkout which skills are still bugged: (may or may not be updated, do your own research as well)

https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/professions/elementalist/Elementalist-Bugs-Glitches-Thread-July-13

So what should you run?

Heal

• Ether Renewal -> Still a great contender when it comes to burst healing and condition removal. I primarily run this since it offers the most flexibility and healing imo. This skill has been buffed in the past.

• Signet of Restoration -> There is debate over which one is better, this or ether renewal. IIRC some passive dodges no longer proc on signet’s heal anymore, and this skill has been nerfed in the past.

• Glyph of Elemental Harmony -> Use this for underwater combat due to reduced spell cast time. Also great for using in air attunement for just traveling, as it grants swiftness.

Utilities

• Lightning Flash -> Still great post nerf, as teleporting does alleviate some of the downfalls from getting stunned. Very commonly used with x/D’s churning earth ability, near the end of the channel.
• Armor of Earth -> One of the only ways to grant yourself stability, albeit long Cd.
• Mist Form -> One of the best skills for elementalist. You should always take this skill, since you can use it while stomping or rezzing.
• Cleansing Fire-> Not as great anymore, due to loss in stunbreak.
• Signet of Air -> Possible replacement for armor of earth using the 1.4 pure tanky setup. Helps mitigate some of the loss in perma swiftness using that setup
• Conjure Icebow -> Use this primarily in dungeons or against large structures / walls/ doors with its’ 4th ability, as it deals the most damage in your arsenal.
• Conjure Hammer- > Use this for its’ 3rd ability to knock enemies away. Useful in sPvP, cliffsides on WvWvW, etc.
• Conjure shield -> use this for its 3rd ability, as it pulls enemies toward you. Useful for WvWvW, by pulling enemies off defending tower walls.
• Glyph of Elemental Power-> I don’t see why you’d use this
• Arcane Blast -> Great for fresh air (1.0) setups, as this always criticals. Used primarily in sPvP, as a way to burst down opponents.
• Arcane Wave -> Same reasoning as above
• Glyph of Storms-> Great for PvE based content. Used primarily in fractals, due to its difficulty. The earth’s casted version helps improve team survavibility by blinding opponents.
• Arcane Shield- > Great for PvE based content. Used primarily in fractals to block agony attacks.
• Glyph of Lesser Elementals -> Use this just for fun with all your other PvE consumable summons. You can have 4 summons up with glyph of elementals + fire powder + ogre whistle (a minion master ele!)

Elite:

• Fiery Great Sword – This is one of the best elites in the game IMO. By using this weapon, you have the most mobility of any class in the game, meaning you can escape nearly anything or chase nearly anyone. Its’ 1st ability does ridicolous amounts of single target damage AND multi target damage if you line it correctly. Its 2nd ability is okay, but it can be animation canceled and still work. The 3rd ability is a free dodge and cripple enemies it passes by, meaning you can cripple an army. The 4th ability is like staff’s burning retreat, and can instagib someone with Lightning flash. 5th ability has no AoE limit, so you can tag nearly every enemy.

• Glyph of Elemental – A very strong summon. Water is considered to be one of the strongest, especially in sPvP due to its’ tankiness and ability to fully heal you by chance. Air is used in PvE as its ranged, and won’t die as often. Earth is great to draw enemy fire in PvE. Fire is only if you suspect that it won’t die, since it does go in melee range to deal AoE damage.

• Tornado – Here is a great example of when I use it to its full extent . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suBOJ9f2R2E  .
  Tornado is absolutely deadly along fall off points as you can instagib enemies. Its also used for tanky D/D setups in sPvP to hold and knock enemies off capture points. It is a whirl finisher, so make sure you cast a elemental field before hand to get combo effects (see gw2 wiki -> combos  for more details)

• Avatar of Melandru – Human Racial Elite. Makes you extremely tanky with stability. Makes a great counter for almost everything, especially when your CC’d and can’t do anything. Why stun break yourself when you can just overtank everything for that time duration? Its’ 5th ability also roots up to 5 enemies nearby to the ground, upwards of up to 20 seconds or until destroyed. Its a very, very powerful summon.

FAQ:

But what about “X” skill? You didn’t mention it.

Post it here and I’ll give you my opinion! 😀