Weaver - Staff 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:

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

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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

Staff
Marauder

Sigil

Sigil

Staff
Marauder

Sigil

Sigil

Rune
x6

Infusion
x18

Relic

Consumables

• • personal option

Variants

Stats

• Add Dragon stats with to avoid overcapping crit
  • All trinkets except for one accessory is a possible option
• Use as much Marauder as you feel is necessary then fill out with 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 + ⇒ + // ⇒ + X ⇒ X + 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, Chill or Weakness
  • Interrupt using a Stow Weapon keybind as soon as you are full hp/condition cleared

Active defense priority - for stunbreaking - for Immobilize Dodge

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, save them with
• Use on your group before pushes to give