Tempest - Condi Tempest

The community gave this build a rating, making it top-tier: Great

Focused on: Condition damage and Defense

Designed for: Open World and Open World General

Expansions required:

Difficulty:

Normal

This build was last updated on August 26, 2023 and is up to date for the March 19, 2024 patch.

Overview

Condi Tempest is a condition damage based tempest build for open world that focuses on inflicting AoE Burning and Bleeding. It is naturally tanky, with good access to Protection and some Stability. It has great uptime of Might for self and allies, and good supportive options. It is very easy to learn and play.

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Skill Bar

Scepter/Warhorn

Staff

Utility

Weapon Variants

• Mainhand Dagger - higher base damage and more AoE than Scepter, but locked to melee range and harder to use.

Skill Variants

• Arcane Brilliance - blast finisher heal
• Glyph of Lesser Elementals - very high DPS skill that can double as damage soak; note that the elementals die when you mount up
• "Aftershock!" - area Magnetic Aura for projectile reflection, Protection, and impairs enemies, plus a blast finisher.
• Glyph of Storms - AoE burst damage from Firestorm (Glyph of Storms) or pulsing Blinded with Sandstorm.
• Arcane Shield - breaks stun and blocks 3 attacks.
• Lightning Flash - for mobility.
• "Rebound!" - very situational skill that can be considered against certain bosses with oneshot attacks.

Equipment

• Ascended gear and stat infusions are not required; you can use exotic gear with the same stats.

Standard Equipment

This equipment is useful in general PVE.

Head
Viper

Shoulders
Viper

Chest
Viper

Hands
Viper

Legs
Viper

Feet
Viper

Backpiece
Viper

Accessory
Viper

Accessory
Viper

Amulet
Viper

Ring
Viper

Ring
Viper

Scepter
Viper

Warhorn
Viper

Sigil

Sigil

Staff
Viper

Sigil

Sigil

Rune
x6

Relic

Budget Equipment

A very cheap equipment set with very high HP.

Head
Carrion

Shoulders
Carrion

Chest
Carrion

Hands
Carrion

Legs
Carrion

Feet
Carrion

Backpiece
Carrion

Accessory
Carrion

Accessory
Carrion

Amulet
Carrion

Ring
Carrion

Ring
Carrion

Scepter
Carrion

Warhorn
Carrion

Sigil

Sigil

Staff
Carrion

Sigil

Sigil

Rune
x6

Relic

Celestial Equipment

This equipment does much lower damage than other variants, but uses gear provided by the Level 80 Boost and provides a more variable playstyle.

Head
Celestial

Shoulders
Celestial

Chest
Celestial

Hands
Celestial

Legs
Celestial

Feet
Celestial

Backpiece
Celestial

Accessory
Celestial

Accessory
Celestial

Amulet
Celestial

Ring
Celestial

Ring
Celestial

Scepter
Celestial

Warhorn
Celestial

Sigil

Sigil

Staff
Celestial

Sigil

Sigil

Rune
x6

Relic

Variant Equipment

• Various setups exist with this build that combine Grieving and 24px Sinsiter with Viper.

Relics

There are many good relics for general play in open world and others that may be specific to this build. Swap based on preference.

• Relic of the Cavalier - dps/defense; use with Skyscale's Fire Field for stacking boons.
• Relic of Speed - mobility
• Relic of the Adventurer - defense

Defense

• Invest in a Jade Core for additional HP and access to Jade Protocols.
• Trailblazer - luxury set: very large boost to defense at a relatively small damage loss.
• Celestial - luxury set / booster gear: very large boost to defense at a relatively small damage loss - pairs well with Rune of Rune of the Traveler as a budget option.
• Sigil of Superior Sigil of Energy - additional evades

Budget

• Carrion - this build has a budget carrion variant, see above.
• Sigil of Superior Sigil of Corruption - budget replacement for Sigil of Bursting; this sigil requires stacking, and it must be included on all of your underwater weapons to prevent losing stacks when entering the water.

Consumables

Budget consumables are acceptable for use in open world.

DPS

• Prioritize Flatbread Ascended food.
• /
• /

Farming

• Prioritize Flatbread Ascended food.
• /
• (and variants)

Usage

Damage

The build is extremely simple and revolves around Overload Fire and Overload Earth. Use Signet of Fire and "Feel the Burn!" off cooldown. Thanks to Written in Stone, you will not lose the passive effects of signets after using them. Use Glyph of Elemental Power in Fire for damage, or in Air for Vulnerability.

For open world play it is perfectly fine to just stay in fire attunement if you wish for a easier more laid back playstyle.

Dagger+Warhorn

• In Fire, use Wildfire + Burning Speed + Drake's Breath (you can leave Fire during the casting of Drake's Breath). Use Heat Sync to share all the Might you generate with nearby allies.
• In water, use Frozen Burst when you need a blast finisher (more about finishers below).
• In Air, use Lightning Orb and Convergence. Cyclone can be used for damage if you won't need the CC.
• In Earth, use Dust Storm, Earthen Rush, Ring of Earth. Use Sand Squall when you have boons to extend their duration.

Scepter+Warhorn

• In Fire, use Wildfire + Phoenix + Dragon's Tooth. Phoenix and Dragon's Tooth are blast finishers (more about finishers below). Use Heat Sync to share all the Might you generate with nearby allies.
• In Air, use Lightning Orb and Lightning Strike off cooldown. Cyclone can be used for damage if you won't need the CC.
• In Earth, use Dust Storm and Rock Barrier ⇒ Hurl. Use Sand Squall when you have boons to extend their duration.

Finishers

Elementalists in general have many combo fields and finishers. These skills provide additional effects when interacting with each other. Here are some good combos you should keep in mind, you have to be near the skill to receive these effects.

• Fire fields like Wildfire: use a blast finisher like Frozen Burst to generate AoE 3 stacks of Might for 20 seconds.
• Water fields like Water Globe: use a blast finisher like Sand Squall to create AoE 1320 healing.

You can also use combo fields to generate auras.

• Fire field + leap finisher = Fire Aura
• Frost field + blast finisher = Frost Aura

If you want to know more about combos, check the official wiki.

Elementals

Elementals are really good allies in any open world elementalist build. Their only downside is that they die when you mount up.

Glyph of Lesser Elementals

Glyph of Lesser Elementals summons one elemental for 2 minutes. If you cast it off cooldown, you can have 3 elementals alive almost always.

• The Lesser Fire Elemental deals good melee range AoE strike damage and Burning, and provides Might. It has the highest AoE damage of all Lesser Elementals.
• The Lesser Ice Elemental deals very low damage and inflicts a lot of Chill (80-90% uptime) through an ice combo field.
• The Lesser Air Elemental deals great single target damage and generates Swiftness. It has the highest singe target dps of all Lesser Elementals.
• The Lesser Earth Elemental deals low damage, inflicts Weakness, and is very tanky.

Glyph of Elementals

Glyph of Elementals summons one elemental for 2 minutes with the same attacks and behaviour as Lesser Elementals, but can be commanded to do an additional skill.

• The Fire Elemental can be commanded to deal damage and Burning in an AoE.
• The Ice Elemental can be commanded to deal damage in an AoE, while healing nearby allies by 6401, kocking back enemies, and removing 1 condition.
• The Air Elemental can be commanded to Stun for 1.5 seconds.
• The Earth Elemental can be commanded to inflict nearby enemies with 1 second of Immobilize and 5 seconds of Cripple, while providing 3 seconds of Protection to nearby allies.

Defense

• The best defense is always to dodge or sidestep attacks. Both Burning Speed and Earthen Rush evade attacks while casting.
• You cannot dodge while doing an Overload or you will cancel it, but you can use the Swiftness from Harmonious Conduit to get out of the way of telegraphed attacks.
• Ring of Earth blocks projectiles, while Magnetic Aura from Sand Squall or Unstable Conduit+Overload Earth reflects them.
• Constantly spam skills to heal thanks to Signet of Restoration.
• You get Protection when you overload thanks to Hardy Conduit, and from Sand Squall (which also extends esixting boons).
• Dust Storm is a useful blind, very strong against groups of trash mobs.
• Glyph of Elementals is great for defense, as the elemental will often draw aggro away from you. The earth elemental is quite tanky.
• Your overloads break stun.
• If using Scepter, Phoenix cleanses 1 condition.
• When taking the Arcane traitline, dodging in Water attunement will cleanse conditions and provide a significant heal. Additionally, it is recommended you attunement swap often to benefit from Arcane Restoration

Sustain

You have some sustain in Water Attunement

• Overload Water heals, cleanses conditions, and applies Regeneration.
• Tidal Surge heals a little bit and applies Regeneration.
• Water Globe heals. Remember you can blast that water field for more healing.
• Glyph of Elementals, used in Water Attunement, creates an elemental with strong healing and condition cleanse on a short cooldown.

Crowd Control

• Cyclone
• Tidal Surge
• Melee range enemies that attack you or allies while having Shocking Aura.
• Crashing Waves (from Glyph of Elementals Ice Elemental)
• Shocking Bolt (from Glyph of Elementals Air Elemental)
• Shocking Aura ⇒ Transmute Lightning
• If you need a lot of crowd control you can use Conjure Frost Bow so that you and an ally can use Deep Freeze.
• You also have a lot of soft crowd control such as Overload Earth or Earthen Rush.