Elementalist - S/F Fresh Air

The community gave this build a rating, making it second-tier: Good

Focused on: Strike damageMobility and Control

Designed for: PvP Conquest

Difficulty:
Normal
This build was last updated on February 04, 2024 and is up to date for the January 30, 2024 patch.

Overview

An oldschool, core version of the PvP archetype. Its role is to roam the map and +1 fights, quickly bursting down targets. With enough experience it could also win some duels, although that's not the main focus here. Scepter/Focus FA is one of the harder elementalist specs to master, but the core version actually has better condition removal than most other iterations of FA which should make it a bit more forgiving to play.

Core Fresh Air isn't just some stripped down version of an elite spec build - being able to run Fire Fire makes it quite strong in its own right.

Being a core Ele build it's available for F2P players.


Skill Bar

Scepter/Focus
Utility


Skill Variants

Elite

  • - much like FGS this could still be used as an escape tool, and the CC combined with the damage this skill deals could act as a finishing move against low HP targets who just barely survived your burst. The CC even works on downed enemies, allowing you to mess with ground targeted rez skills like by flinging the downed enemy out of the rez skill's target radius.
  • - the Fire elemental is very underrated and can do a lot of damage, but another reason to take this would be the synergy. This trait can give you a lesser once every 20 seconds when using an elite - the glyph's chain skill (which is on a 15s CD) can also proc this trait. You may choose to delay using the active a bit and enjoy a frequent instant defensive proc, or just take this skill for a bit of extra damage.


Template Code

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Specializations


Equipment

Scepter
Focus
Sigil
Sigil
Rune
Amulet
Relic


Equipment Variants

Amulets and Runes

  • - makes the build a bit more forgiving to play in exchange for lower damage. Take if you go with this amulet.


Usage

General

  • Avoid 1v1s whenever possible, keep moving between capture points to outnumber fights and burst targets down.
  • The build's all about swapping in and out of every few seconds, made possible by which recharges Air whenever you land a critical strike.
  • Swapping to Air triggers which you should immediately follow up with a for instant burst damage. Entering this attunement also grants you Ferocity from for a few seconds, which is why most of your heavy hitting skills should land in this small time frame. More on that later.
  • Recharging Air: to recharge Air you need to score a critical hit. The fastest way to do it on attunements with slower skills is to start channeling the air autoattack just before leaving . Swapping attunements doesn't break the channeling and Arc Lightning is almost guaranteed to critically hit at least once.
  • is a valuable defensive skill but one that could also be used offensively for the Vulnerability Vulnerability and damage. This is a very greedy thing to do and you could get punished for it, but sometimes it can make the difference between getting a kill or not. It also has the potential to instantly reset Air attunement (if it crits).
  • This build can self-stack Might Might by blasting the fire field created by . Do not prioritize Might stacking, but do take advantage of the incidental opportunities which arise. Your blast finishers are:
  • 's purpose is twofold.
    • Mobility: and are excellent movement skills that can help you disengage from fights if your defensive CDs ran out, or if you want to get to the other capture point as soon as possible.
    • Cleave: , and are potent AoE skills that could mow down balled up enemies (for instance if they're trying to rez a downed).
    • You get a free proc from traits whenever you conjure up the Greatsword. This is useful in every situation from running away to attacking enemies without having to worry about interrupts or incoming damage for a short while.
  • Try to aim slightly behind your target whenever you can. This skill passes through targets while doing damage, explodes on the ground, then returns to you once again damaging targets it passes through. The goal here is to hit the target with all 3 parts of the skill, not just the explosion damage.
    • Because of the slow travel time it's also best used in melee.


Notable burst combos

These are some of the most common burst combos used by FA players. The quicker you pull these chains off, the better.


From Fire: (ideally Air Attunement should already be available by the time you start this combo)

  1. - both the transmute and Dragon's Tooth have a delay, your goal is to get into Air by the time these go off
  2. - optional: right at your target before you finish casting Phoenix to cut down on the projectile's travel time.
  3. - swap to this while casting Phoenix. Note: swapping out of fire triggers an explosion from , dealing considerable damage in melee (after a short delay). Swapping to Air while in melee range of the target therefore adds more damage to your combo.
  4. to avoid taking damage in melee, but it's not required

Note: if Air isn't ready by the time you get to step 3, you need to recharge it somehow with a proc. This is greedy but you could sacrifice an instant utility skill like or and hope for a crit. That's the most seamless way because it doesn't risk messing up your timing, but a cast or two could also get the job done.


From Earth:

  1. Optional: if you're in melee range of an enemy you may throw in a which can proc if it hits something.
  2. + then swap to during the channeling to make the projectiles land in the right attunement.


From Water:

  1. - the trident does more damage to Chilled enemies which is important. Shatterstone should secure that but could substitute it.
  2. - swap to this the moment you press Water Trident. The goal is to make the 2nd strike of Shatterstone and Water Trident land while the Ferocity bonus from is active.


Survival

  • makes it easy to kite most specs. Avoid melee range whenever possible! Don't stay in melee unless the target is Blinded, CC'd or you're about to burst them.
  • is a source of spammable Chill Chill which you can even place behind your back when running away. Chill is great at building distance.
  • Needless to say other CCs can also be used for shaking off pursuers.
  • and provide excellent protection against enemies who use projectiles. These however do not work against unblockable projectiles, and some ranged builds - such as this one - are mostly unaffected by projectile reflects and blocks.
  • is the build's best condition cleanse which can also be used while stunned.
  • offers protection against all kinds of pressure.
  • Swapping to Fire procs a Fire Aura from and gaining an aura removes 1 condition via . In the 5th slot on Fire you'll find a skill which grants the same aura, but if you already have the aura it flips over to its chain skill . Smothering Auras removes 2 conditions when you transmute an aura.
  • If you need to cleanse a lot of conditions do the following chain:
  1. - cleanses 1 condition as you gain an aura.
  2. - cleanses 2 conditions.
  3. Use Focus #5 , removing yet another condition.
  4. Transmute again for another 2 cleanses.
  5. if necessary for another cleanse.
  • is great at avoiding crucial skills by blinding enemies, and it also shuts down Power-based specs in general with the Weakness. could fill a similar role. While this is one of your stunbreaks, it could also be used proactively to blind dangerous skills instead of tanking them.


Related Builds

  • Freshweaver - a higher damage version of the build that's even harder to play. Bit of a gimmick, it's arguably less viable than core.
  • FA Roamer - WvW roaming version of the same build.


Ratings

This build has a rating of 4 stars based on 5 votes.
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4 stars
Hanz gave this build 4 stars • October 2023
Updated it for the relic patch, actually saw a few eles switching to this in ranked after Cata nerfs. I don't think core is better overall, but it could do a bit more damage and has better cleansing. Reduced recharge on Fire skills isn't bad either. It's surprisingly good once you get the hang of it.
3 stars
Ssendink gave this build 3 stars • May 2019
Decent build for f2p players, but lack of all
4 stars
ShaoAZ gave this build 4 stars • March 2019
With all the changes the core specs got, it's hard to say if Freshweaver is actually better than this one if played with Fire. With more control over skills at a loss of a rather telegraphed burst of weaver, core gets to be more volatile and organized, which is arguably putting the player in a better place for any type of situation. IMO water should not be used any longer as long as a focus is involved, the might , damage increase and cleanses in Fire are way more accessible and efficient for dueling.
5 stars
FalkonLink gave this build 5 stars • May 2018
This build has given me quite a bit of success. After a few matches I swapped out S/F for D/D to see if it would make a difference and ended up far more successful.
5 stars
Walle gave this build 5 stars • January 2018
This build has given me the most success with ele so far I still find ele squishy that's why I only put good but obviously that's just the current shape ele is in. I really enjoy playing this build

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