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Elementalist - Fire & Air Scepter PvE Build


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flooximbuildpic.jpg

 

 

Description

This character was built upon the idea of using a Scepter as a main weapon for two reasons :

-Majority of Elementalists use a Staff, which can become kind of boring since you will end up always seeing the same skills.

-People had concerns about the Scepter being a viable weapon for the Elementalist.

So this is a different and enjoyable Scepter/Focus build focused on the Fire & Air Attunements.

 

Weapon(s)

 

Like I said in the description, the Weapon Set used for this Character is Scepter/Focus. The secondary weapon set is unavailable for the Elementalist, because of the Elemental Attunements. Scepter provides good damage when attuned to Fire, and good crowd control when attuned to Air. Same thing for the Focus.

Scepter do not have the best range (900), but a lot of the scepter skills are really worth it. The Air Attunement is mostly being used in single enemy fights (Veteran, Champion, etc.) while the Fire Attunement is mostly being used in bigger fights because of the big Area of Effect skills.

 

Weapon skills worth of mention

Fire #4 (Fire Wall) : No description needed. A great skill against single enemies and a must in bigger fights.

Air #3 (Blinding Flash) : Causes the next enemy attack to miss, this one can be a life-saver.

Air #4 (Swirling Winds) : Destroys incoming projectiles for the next 5 seconds. Very useful against enemies that are not yet in your range.

 

 

 

 

 

Weapon(s) attributes and Upgrades

For this build, I used weapons with the Knight attribute. They give Power, Precision (for more Critical Chance) and Toughness. I decided to upgrade both of them with Runes of Accuracy (+% Critical Chance).

 

 

Armor

Rather than giving specific item names, I will list the Attributes and Runes I used in each piece. For this build, Valkyrie is the best attribute ; it gives Power, Vitality and Critical Damage. So a full armor set allows to inflict much higher critical hits. I use the Fire #2 (Dragon's Tooth) skill on critters to measure the highest critical damage this character can reach.

When I switched to a full Valkyrie armor set, the first Critical Hit I inflicted was 25,000 points higher than the highest one I achieved before. So that meant a lot to me. I also had a lot more Health. The Armor set had been upgraded with Runes of the Dolyak for more Toughness and Vitality.

 

Accessories / Trinkets

For this build, I'm also using Valkyrie-modded items in order to have more Vitality and Critical Damage. The accessories give Power, Toughness and Vitality and are upgraded with a Beryl Orb that gives the Valkyrie attribute to the piece of equipment.

 

Healing Skill

For this build, I use Signet of Restoration. The Healing is less powerful than Glyph of Elemental Harmony, but the cooldown is lower , and it heals my character on every skill cast.

 

Utility Skills

At the beginning, I decided to go with purely offensive/support utility skills. That didn't work quite well since the Weapon Skills are already pretty offensive. So I decided to go with more Defensive skills that generate indirect offensive at the same time.

 

#7 : Cleansing Fire : Cures three conditions and burns foes. Exactly what's needed for this build.

#8 : Signet of Earth : Passive : Improves Toughness. Active : Immobilize target. A great overall utility skill.

#9 : This one is a bit tricky since I use a Asuran Racial Skill called Pain Inverter : Apply Confusion to nearby foes. You gain Retaliation.

Here are a few skills that could replace this one if you're not playing an Asura :

Arcane Shield : Blocks attacks. Explodes after three attacks. We get to deal damage without getting any.

Conjure Frost Bow : Replaces the Weapon Skills by 5 new skills that deals good damage, and crowd control.

Signet of Fire : Passive : Improves Precision. Active : Burn your target A great overall utility skill.

 

Elite Skill

I'm not digging the Elementalist Elite skills a lot, and the fact of playing an Asura doesn't make it better. So for this build, I went for :

#10 : Conjure Fiery Greatsword : Manifest a greatsword in your hands and at the target location. I use this one for pure damage when things get hot.

 

However, there is only one elite skill that works on both dry land and underwater : Tornado. When you go underwater, this skill will be called Whirlpool. It's pretty self-explanatory. It blows out or pulls enemies, dealing constant damage for 16 seconds.

 

Make sure your elite skill is Whirlpool when you're underwater, otherwise you might be fighting with no Elite Skill at all. This change won't affect your dry land Elite Skill.

 

Traits

Since this game is all about survivability, I decided to spend my Trait points in a way you wouldn't exactly expect from a mostly offensive build. You'll notice sometimes gear is often not enough, so Traits are here to help.

 

Fire Magic - 30 Points : Our main attunement. This Trait Line gives a lot of Power and Condition duration, to make our enemies burn longer.

Major Trait Slot 1 : Burning Precision : Since this build is focused on High Critical Chance and damage, this Trait Slot is a must. I found out it also works on the other attunements, so this Trait is gold for this build.

Major Trait Slot 2 : Pyromancer's Alacrity : 20% Faster recharge on Fire Skills. Also a must for this build.

Major Trait Slot 3 : Pyromancer's Puissance : Each Fire skill cast will grant 1 stack of Might. Very useful to gain a lot of Power quickly.

 

Air Magic - 20 Points : This Trait Line gives Precision and Critical Damage, two things really useful for this build.

Major Trait Slot 1 : Bolt to the Heart : Attacks deal 20% more damage to enemies with less than 25% Health. This brings a bit of Sacred 2 nostalgia because this Trait Slot is pretty similar to Sacred 2's Deathblow item mod. It's also really helpful in this game, as tougher enemies will die faster when close to death.

Major Trait Slot 2 : Aeromancer's Alacrity : 20% Faster recharge on Air Skills. A must for this build.

 

Earth Magic - 20 Points : This Trait Line will greatly help our survivability by increasing our Toughness and giving Condition Damage by the same occasion.

Major Trait Slot 1 : Signet Mastery : Signet recharges 20% faster, this will give us a chance to immobilize enemies more often.

Major Trait Slot 2 : Geomancer's Freedom : This will make us recover from Crippled, Immobilized and Chilled 33% faster. Very useful for general survivability.

Gear Overview

Here is the overview of my gear's stats (updated December 2nd, 2012) :

flooximelementalerdec22.jpg

Here's a picture of the critical damage you can achieve with this build (could go even higher with higher tier gear) :

 

flooximhighcrits1.jpg

 

Closing Comments

Since this is my first Guild Wars 2 build, it might not be perfect. But I have a lot of fun with it, it feels kind of fresh and different than what's being used by other Elementalists. If you have any suggestions/questions/comments, I'm available to answer the best way I can.

I hope you'll enjoy this build as much as I do!

Edited by Flooxim
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