Evoker - Spear Backline

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

Focused on: Strike damage, Utility and Crowd control

Designed for: WvW Zerg

Expansions required:

Difficulty:

Hard

This build was last updated on November 02, 2025 and is up to date for the October 28, 2025 patch.

Overview

A backline zerg WvW DPS build for Elementalist providing damage, CC and field support. Requires a precise usage of skills and positioning to survive.

Skill Bar

Spear

Spear

Utility

Familiar

• Attune to Hare

Variants

Weapons

• Staff

Utilities

• Hare's Agility ⇒ Signet of Fire

Template Code

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Equipment

Head
Marauder

Shoulders
Marauder

Chest
Marauder

Hands
Marauder

Legs
Marauder

Feet
Marauder

Backpiece
Marauder

Accessory
Marauder

Accessory
Marauder

Amulet
Marauder

Ring
Marauder

Ring
Marauder

Spear
Marauder

Sigil

Sigil

Spear
Marauder

Sigil

Sigil

Rune
x6

Infusion
x18

Relic

Equipment Variants

Relics

• Relic of Fireworks

Sigils

• Sigil of Superior Sigil of Fire
• Sigil of Superior Sigil of Frenzy
• Sigil of Superior Sigil of Strength

Usage

Quick Guide

• Spear Evoker is a fully ranged power DPS with both good spike and ground damage
• Use Zap any time it is available
• Prioritize your Fire Attunement and Etching: Volcano/Meteor

Fire Attunement Combo

1. Etching: Volcano
2. Arcane Echo (Zap or Blazing Barrage if unavailable)
3. Meteor
4. Seethe
5. Volcano

• Once Fire Attunement is on cooldown use Air Attunement and combo to activate Etching: Derecho while also getting as many casts of Fulgor as possible

Air Attunement Combo

1. Etching: Derecho
2. Fulgor
3. Energize
4. Twister
5. Derecho

• Earth Attunement should be used to fill downtime on Fire Attunement and Air Attunement

Earth Attunement Combo

1. Etching: Haboob
2. Earthen Spear
3. Harden
4. Fissure
5. Haboob

General

• As soon as you get 25 stacks of Sigil of Superior Sigil of Bloodlust and get out of combat, swap back to the Spear without a stacking sigil
• Spear has Etching skills as the skill 5 in each attunement.
  • You must stay inside the field the etching creates for three skill casts to charge the powerful flip skills.
    • These casts do not need to be weapon skills - your heal, utilities and elite also count
    • You do not need to stay inside the field to cast the flip skill once it is fully charged

Surviving

• This build has low passive defense
• This build has moderate mobility skill access
• This build has low active defenses

Defensive Skill List

• Ripple - Evade + Movement
• Harden - Barrier
• Hare's Agility - - Invulnerability + Stunbreak

Priorities

High

• Burst damage

Moderate

• Damage

Low

• CC

Detailed Explanations

Burst damage

• In Fire Attunement combo:

1. Etching: Volcano
2. Arcane Echo (Zap or Blazing Barrage if unavailable)
3. Meteor
4. Seethe
5. Volcano

• The goal of this combo is to apply as many damage modifiers as possible to Volcano for maximum damage
• Make sure to only use Etching: Volcano when you can safely stay inside it for the three casts needed to fully charge the skill
• Blazing Barrage can be cast before and after the combo to add damage
• Make sure to use Seethe after all other Spear skills so its effect buffs Volcano
• The center radius of Meteor deals an extra 25% damage, so aim carefully and try to hit 5 target in the center every time
• Using Seethe on Meteor instead of Volcano is more burst damage, but a significant loss in sustained damage. If your group is ranged spiking or you're not able to consistently get good Volcano casts off it is worth doing
  • If you decide to do this swap the position of Seethe and Meteor in the above combo

Sustained damage

• Your attunement priority for damage is:

1. Fire Attunement
2. Air Attunement
3. Earth Attunement
4. Water Attunement

• Always cast Zap and Lightning Blitz as soon as they are ready
  • Your Etching skills can be charged by Zap and Lightning Blitz, use them to replace casts of less desirable skills when they are available
• Try to start fights with your Familiar fully charged so you can quickly use Zap ⇒ Lightning Blitz
• Use Rejuvenate immediately after casting Zap while in Earth Attunement or Water Attunement
  • This is a great way to charge Etching: Haboob while skipping Earthen Spear
• Glyph of Storms should be used in Fire Attunement so it can be combined with damage modifiers such as Empowering Flame

Air Attunement

Air Attunement Combo

1. Etching: Derecho
2. Fulgor
3. Energize
4. Twister
5. Derecho

• Fulgor is an incredible damage skill and should be cast at least twice every time you go into Air Attunement
• Since attuning to the Hare Familiar reduces your Air Attunement cooldown to 1.5 seconds, you should swap into Air Attunement after using any other Atttunement, cast Fulgor then leave Air Attunement if your other skills aren't ready yet
• Etching: Derecho should be charged whenever possible to enable Derecho
  • Typically you want to use Etching: Derecho as soon as you enter Air Attunement, but if it isn't a good time to spike hold the skill while poking with Fulgor
  • Since this build is already at 100% crit chance, use Energize as one of the casts for Etching: Derecho and don't worry about its crit buff

Earth Attunement

Earth Attunement Combo

1. Etching: Haboob
2. Earthen Spear
3. Harden
4. Fissure
5. Haboob

• Use Etching: Haboob as soon as you enter Earth Attunement to enable Haboob as soon as possible
  • Use Harden to charge the Etching
• Like Meteor, Fissure deals 25% extra damage in the center radius, so aim carefully

Water Attunement

• Water Attunement has limited damage, so avoid entering it except for specific reasons:
• To CC with Undertow on a group spike
• To reposition with Ripple
• Using Ripple to reduce the cooldown of Etching: Derecho or Etching: Volcano
  • Ripple should be used immediately before swapping into Fire Attunement to lower the cooldown of the Etching: Volcano
• If you've entered Water Attunement for one of the primary reasons, Ice Beam is usually worth casting
  • Beam skills like Ice Beam much more consistently hit their target cap if an enemy at the back of the group is targeted
  • Be careful about consuming the Ripple buff with Ice Beam

CC

CC skill List

• Undertow - AoE Stun
• Twister - AoE Pull
• Elemental Procession - AoE Knockdown + Line + Stun

• Use your CC when:
  • Your group calls a spike such as Wells (Well of Corruption)
  • On top of enemy downs (while alive enemies are on top of them)
  • Enemy groups move defensively while your group is pushing
• Only the center radius of Undertow and Twister apply CC, so aim carefully
• Elemental Procession is a great skill to cast before your Fire Combo