View source for Elementalist - S/F Fast Air

{{MBuild
| profession = Elementalist
| designed for = Conquest
| rating = basic
| focus = 
}}

==Overview==
A variant of the traditional [http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Elementalist_-_S/F_Fresh_Air Fresh Air] Elementalist, the Fast Air build is an active playstyle relying on very short cooldowns for extreme movespeed boosts and powerful active defense skills while dealing high single-target burst damage and CC.

==Skill Bar==
{{Skillbar
| profession = elementalist
| set1 = scepter, focus
| healing = Signet of Restoration
| utility1 = Lightning Flash
| utility2 = Cleansing Fire
| utility3 = Signet of Earth
}}

===Slot Changes===
For the {{gw2skill|Optional}} slot:
* {{gw2skill|Glyph of Elementals}} - 5/5 - In Fire attunement, this skill provides a source of very high AoE DPS, allowing you to fight in 1v2 situations.
* {{gw2skill|Conjure Fiery Greatsword}} - 4/5 - The best mobility skill in the game. Nearly guaranteed escape from any situation. Lose ability to consistently 1v2 or near guaranteed win 1v1s.

==Specializations==
{{Specialization|Air|mid|mid|mid}}
{{Specialization|Earth|top|bot|mid}}
{{Specialization|Water|top|top|top}}

==Equipment==
{{PvP equipment
| weapon1 = scepter, focus
| sigil1 = Air, Leeching
| rune = the Pack
| amulet = Marauder
}}

===Sigil Variants===
* {{gw2sigil|Superior Sigil of Energy}} - 5/5 - Replacement for Sigil of Leeching. Twice the benefit of {{gw2skill|Vigor}}. Defensive sigil choice.
* {{gw2sigil|Superior Sigil of Fire}} - 4/5 - Replacement for Sigil of Leeching. About the same damage. Doesn't heal, but cannot be dodged.

==Usage==
===Damage===
* As a S/F power build, you have one main responsibility in fights-- focus a single priority target, lock them down, and kill them quickly. Your damage comes from two main sources.
** '''Unpredictable burst!''' - Fresh Air is the main identity of this build. It refreshes your {{Gw2skill|Air Attunement}}'s cooldown, allowing you to quickly go in and out of air attunement, maximizing the use of {{gw2skill|Lightning Strike}} and {{gw2trait|-|Electric Discharge}} for consistent high damage non-telegraphed ranged burst.
** '''Tons of damage!''' - {{gw2skill|Dragon's Tooth}} and {{gw2skill|Phoenix}} hit for immense damage but require CC to land. Either {{gw2skill|Gale}} or {{gw2skill|Signet of Earth}} last long enough to allow you to hit with both (use Dragon's Tooth first).
===Support===
* '''Shield your team!''' - Being an Elementalist, you will always have a lot of tools to assist your team as well. Of particular note is to set up {{Gw2skill|Swirling Winds}} when either you or your team are being attacked by projectiles.
* '''Heal your team!''' - You provide a solid amount of healing to your teammates as well through {{gw2trait|-|Soothing Mist}}, {{gw2trait|-|Healing Ripple}}, and {{gw2skill|Water Trident}}. Note that Healing Ripple has a very short range!
===Defense===
* '''Who needs protection?''' - One of the biggest benefits the mastery system has provided is the ability to go deep into two defensive lines. Between Signet of Earth, Stone Flesh, and Rock Barrier, you will have up to 2700 armor while in fights. By taking the -33% cooldown traits, the cooldowns for Swirling Winds (20), Magnetic Wave (16), Obsidian Skin (33) allow you huge uptime on immunity to ranged/all attacks as well. Of note is that Obsidian Skin can be cast while stunned, allowing you to absorb all of the damage coming your way should you be hit by CC.
* '''Use your healing liberally!''' - You have numerous powerful heals on several short cooldowns. Of note is that with Written in Stone, it is favorable to make maximum use of {{gw2skill|Signet of Restoration}} by using the active as soon as you lose near 3.5k HP to start the cooldown immediately.
* '''Keep your range!''' - With {{gw2trait|II|One with Air}} giving you max movement speed for 3 seconds every time you swap into Air (which should be around every 3-5 seconds), you have superior mobility over every single class in the entire game. Maximize the use of this trait by minimizing the amount of backpedaling you do! This allows you to completely stay out of the range of melee classes and play a peek-a-boo style of combat using line of sight against other ranged classes with your superior instant burst on short cooldowns.
* '''Cleanse your conditions!''' - {{gw2skill|Magnetic Wave}} and {{gw2skill|Cleansing Fire}} are your burst condition cleanses to be used when you have several conditions on you! If you need to remove a single condition, {{gw2trait|-|Cleansing Water}} allows you to do so with {{gw2skill|Lightning Flash}} or {{gw2skill|Water Trident}}.

===Tips & Tricks===
* '''360 No Scope''' - It is recommended to bind an easy-to-access key to the reverse camera or to use the free camera setting as several of the S/F skills (including your bread and butter lightning strikes) do not require you to face your opponents to cast them. This allows you to run away while still firing off your attacks at enemies. This is particularly useful against melee classes in conjunction with {{gw2trait|II|One with Air}}, whose benefit is lost immensely if you backpedal.

* '''Maximize the value of {{Gw2skill|Glyph of Elementals}}!''' 9 times out of 10, the Fire Elemental is the one you want to summon going into a fight (emphasis on going into-- it does the most amount of work if you have it out from the get-go).  However, you absolutely must remember to use the active skill of the elemental every time it is off cooldown! {{Gw2skill|Flame Barrage}} does bonkers supplementary damage, applying multiple burning stacks on top of ~3-4k direct damage. If you do, there are few builds in the game that can stand toe-to-toe in a 1v1 with you.
** Occasionally, you will want to summon the Elite Water Elemental for {{Gw2skill|Crashing Waves}}, which heals for 6.5k, knocks an opponent back, and cleanses 1 condition in an AoE. This is a defensive alternative to the Fire Elemental, though you will have to remember to stick close to the Water Elemental to get the benefit of the heal! In a 1v2 or 2v2 fight, this is a solid alternative to the Fire Elemental.

* '''Secure your stomps!''' The blind from {{Gw2skill|Blinding Flash}} is instant, which means you can use it in the middle of a stomping animation. This is extremely useful to securely stomp Necromancers, Warriors, Engineers, Guardians, and Rangers. Watch your opponents closely and cast it when they begin their downed interrupt animation (there are several video resources available for this).
** {{Gw2skill|Magnetic Wave}} and {{Gw2skill|Swirling Winds}} are also effective against Warriors' and Engineers' downed interrupt abilities, as they are ranged projectiles.
** {{Gw2skill|Obsidian Flesh}} will guarantee you the stomp on any of the aforementioned 6 classes.
** {{gw2skill|Lightning Flash}} allows you the chase down Thieves in the middle of your stomping animation if you are quick to follow them.

==Counters==
* '''Bunker Builds''' (Soft Counter): The build relies heavily on direct damage bursts of 5-7k damage every few seconds to win fights with the trump card of Dragon's Tooth and Phoenix as heavy hitters. Bunker builds tend to stack lots of healing, armor, and protection, denting a lot of the damage you'll be outputting. On top of that, they typically pack several condition cleanses and stunbreaks as well, meaning you will likely not be landing your CC combo into your fire skills. While they will not be able to kill you, you will take a long time killing them alone and should focus your attention elsewhere.

==Video Guides==
* ''None at the moment.''