Weaver - Staff Backline

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

Focused on: Strike damageUtility and Crowd control

Designed for: WvW Zerg

Expansions required: Heart of Thorns buildsPath of Fire Builds

Difficulty:
Normal
This build was last updated on August 28, 2023 and is up to date for the November 28, 2023 game 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

Staff
Staff
Utility


Skill Variants

Heal
  • better healing, if condition clear is totally covered
Utility
  • if extra personal survivability is desperately needed


Specializations


Variants

  • inconsistent damage increase but reduced survivability


Variants

  • Arcane is an option over Air adding a mix of utility and damage.
  • Variants
  • ferocity boost and strong immobilize on Earth Attunement when using arcane skills.


Template Code

[&DQYfHikbOBt1AAAAkAAAAPUVAAC+AQAAlwAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA=]
Copy Template Code


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
Staff
Marauder
Sigil
Sigil
Staff
Marauder
Sigil
Sigil
Rune
x6
Infusion
x18
Relic


Equipment Variants


Consumables

    • personal option


Variants

Stats

  • Add Dragon stats Dragon stats with to avoid overcapping crit
    • All trinkets except for one accessory is a possible option
  • Use as much Marauder Marauder as you feel is necessary then fill out with Berserker stats Berserker stats
    • Keep in mind crit from


Usage

General

  • As soon as you get 25 stacks of and get out of combat, swap back to the Staff without a stacking sigil
  • Read dual attunements as Old/New - i.e. Fire/Air means fire was attuned first and air was attuned second
  • Start fights in Air/Fire or Air/Earth then rotate through attunements as follows:
Attunement rotation
  1. +
  2. +
  3. // + X
  4. X +
  5. Repeat from step 2


Priorities

High
Moderate
  • Sustained damage
  • CC
Low
  • Support


Surviving

  • This build has low passive defense
  • This build has moderate mobility skill access
    • An About Face keybind can be useful for
    • Avoid using for mobility unless nessecary to survive
  • This builds has moderate active defenses
    • Save for removing Immobilize Immobilize, Chill Chill or Weakness Weakness
    • Interrupt using a Stow Weapon keybind as soon as you are full hp/condition cleared
Active defense priority


Detailed Explanations

Meteor Shower

  • Place where the enemy group is moving to, not where they are when you begin the cast
  • Make sure is procced when using
  • There are two ways to move during the cast of :
    • Cast immediately after casting and the will be queued to cast at the target location after the rollback ends
    • Use after you start casting it


Fiery Greatsword

  • Treat as a secondary
    • Try to get three casts of per use of
  • Make sure is procced when using
  • is low cooldown and has high damage, use it aggressively but don't move yourself into a bad position
    • Aim through the enemy stack if your group crosses through them and aim across the enemy stack otherwise
  • Use for mobility, on single targets or to set up
  • Coordinate with a DPS player in your group to pick up the conjure dropped on the ground
    • Make sure to place it in a safe place for them to grab
    • If you don't have anyone reliable to coordinate with, you can pick it up yourself for 30s after casting the skill


Sustained damage

  • When using ground AoEs like , place them so that one edge is on the enemy group and the other edge is in the direction they are moving to
  • Your X/Fire Dual skills are slow moving projectiles (, and ).
    • Predict the enemies movement, as with
    • Cast towards the edges of the enemy group to avoid projectile reflect
  • Use in if you expect the fight to last at least 25 seconds
    • Otherwise has more damage but with a much longer cooldown
Skill priority
  • //
  • //
  • Autoattacks


CC

  • Your three ground CCs are , and , in order of strength
    • should normally be saved to give yourself and allies instead of being used as a CC
  • Drop your target when casting to make it easier to aim, don't cast it into projectile reflect
  • You shouldn't interrupt your rotation to try and CC, instead try to predict when you'll need to CC and move into the best possible attunement early
  • Use your CC when:
    • Your group calls a spike:
      • Winds -
      • Wells - +
      • Shades -
      • Traps - +
    • On top of enemy downs (while alive players are on top of them)
    • Enemy groups moving defensively while your group is pushing


Support

  • Focus on using when your group is pushing or disengaging from the enemy
  • Cast on clashes, targeting the ground AoE so that one edge is on your group and the other edge is where they are moving to
  • If a player in your party is going to die because of Immobilize Immobilize, save them with
  • Use on your group before pushes to give


Ratings

This build has a rating of 4 stars based on 2 votes.
Log in or register to rate this build.
3 stars
Goon gave this build 3 stars • March 2023
There is basically no reason to run this in a group over any other build. However, this is a fantastic build to play as a pug and is one of the most fun builds to play in wvw.
4 stars
Arete gave this build 4 stars • June 2022
A decent selfish damage build, but somewhat difficult to play and arguably inferior to DH and even longbow berserker in the same role. Still worth bringing a couple in a zerg if you have dedicated Staff ele players.

Comments

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