Tempest - Fresh Air

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

Focused on: Strike damage

Designed for: Open World and Open World General

Expansions required:

Difficulty:

TBD

This build was last updated on April 14, 2022 and is up to date for the March 19, 2024 patch.

Overview

Fresh Air Tempest is a Power-based Tempest build with good area damage by spamming Overload Air thanks to Fresh Air. It also provides some boons through aura generation.

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Skill Bar

Scepter/Warhorn

Utility

Weapon Variants

• Scepter is recommended because this build spends a lot of time casting Overload Air, and scepter's air skills can be casted during the channel.
• Dagger (mainhand) - more mobility and AoE, less blast finishers, less range.
• Dagger (offhand) - higher mobility, lower DPS
• Staff - use in zergs for ranged area damage, see Build:Tempest - Staff Tempest

Skill Variants

Healing

• Arcane Brilliance - the strongest heal if there are enemies in range, plus a blast finisher, but underperforms if there are no nearby enemies.
• Signet of Restoration - passive sustain.
• "Wash the Pain Away!" - good AoE heal and also cleanses 1 condition.
• Ether Renewal - removes up to 8 conditions but has a long channeling time.

Utilities

• Never use the active of Fire Signet, you only want it for the precision buff. If you already have 100% crit chance, use a different skill.
• Feel the Burn provides decent damage and boons, but can be replaced by Arcane Blast for stronger single target burst.
• Arcane Wave provides strong AoE burst damage, and can be replaced by Glyph of Storms for more damage over time.
• "Flash-Freeze!" - area Frost Aura for more boons and damage reduction, and to chill enemies.
• "Aftershock!" - area Magnetic Aura for more boons and projectile reflection, and to impair enemies.
• Lightning Flash - for mobility.
• Arcane Shield - breaks stun and blocks attacks.
• Conjure Lightning Hammer - very useful for Scepter to fill spaces between cooldowns.

Elites

• Glyph of Elementals - gives you a very strong pet.
• "Rebound!" - great against certain enemies with oneshot attacks.

Specializations

Variants

• Soothing Power - if there are no nearby allies for Powerful Aura to share the auras from Unstable Conduit.
• Ferocious Winds - if nearby allies are already providing fury.
• Gale Song - AoE stunbreak but less auras.

Arcane

Arcane can replace Water for less damage but more sustain.

• Evasive Arcana casts a spell when dodging:
  • Dodging in fire burns nearby foes.
  • Dodging in water heals and removes 1 condi.
  • Dodging in air blinds trash mobs.
  • Dodging in earth cripples and bleeds foes, and does a blast finisher.
• Elemental Surge - can be considered if running more than one Arcane skill but you will lose the quality of life of Evasive Arcana.

Equipment

Ascended gear and stat infusions are not required; you can use exotic gear with the same stats. This set uses gear similar to its raid counterpart and is useful for general PVE.

Head
Berserker

Shoulders
Berserker

Chest
Berserker

Hands
Berserker

Legs
Berserker

Feet
Berserker

Backpiece
Berserker

Accessory
Berserker

Accessory
Berserker

Amulet
Berserker

Ring
Berserker

Ring
Berserker

Scepter
Berserker

Dagger
Berserker

Sigil

Sigil

Rune
x6

Gear Variants

• If you can afford the luxury of a gear set tailored for open world, use full Marauder with Rune of Superior Rune of the Eagle, Sigil of Superior Sigil of Force and Sigil of Superior Sigil of Accuracy. Combine it with crit food such as and Fury for 100% crit chance and high damage, and you no longer need to slot Signet of Fire.

Budget

• Sigil of Superior Sigil of Air - budget DPS, replaces Impact sigil.
• Rune of Superior Rune of the Pack - less damage, more boons.
• Rune of Superior Rune of the Eagle - less power, more crits.

Defense

• Knight, Soldier - can be mixed with other sets to increase defense.
• Rune of Superior Rune of Durability, Rune of Superior Rune of Vampirism - defense.
• Sigil of Superior Sigil of Energy, Sigil of Superior Sigil of Cleansing - defensive sigils.

Consumables

Prioritize ascended food over everything else; steak (power) and flatbread (conditions). Using cheap/budget food is perfectly acceptable in open world.

Damage

and offer the highest damage when solo, and have good budget options in + . Run against trash for a very high damage buff.

Defense

for more dodges, for sustain against trash.

Farming

Run and (or its other variants) when trying to maximize gold per hour.

Usage

Fresh Air

Fresh Air resets the cooldown of Air Attunement every time the elementalist crits while attuned to a different attunement. This includes resetting the cooldown of Overload Air. Thus, the build just keeps going into Air Attunement continually triggering Electric Discharge, the extra ferocity from Fresh Air, and the extra damage from Transcendent Tempest.

You should try to use your damage skills while under the effects of these buffs.

Damage

The build is extremely simple and revolves around spamming Overload Air over and over, casting your Arcane skills Arcane Wave / Arcane Blast and/or Glyph of Storms (in air attunement) in between, and other filler skills:

Scepter

In Fire, use Wildfire + Phoenix + Dragon's Tooth for blast finishers in the fire field.

In Water, use Shatterstone.

In Air, use Lightning Orb. Spam Lightning Strike + Blinding Flash whenever ready.

In Earth, use Dust Storm

Dagger

In Fire, use Wildfire + Burning Speed + Drake's Breath (you can leave Fire during the casting of Drake's Breath)

In water, use Frozen Burst preferably inside a fire field.

In Air, use Lightning Orb and Convergence. Air also has the strongest auto attack.

In Earth, use Dust Storm, Earthen Rush, Ring of Earth.

Fiery Greatsword

If taking Conjure Fiery Greatsword, use it right before Overload Air, overload, swap attunement, then cast Fiery Rush and Firestorm while going back to Air, then drop the sword and continue with your normal skills.

Defense

• The best defense is always to dodge or sidestep attacks. You have permanent swiftness so you can run around enemies while they die to your AoEs.
• Glyph of Elementals, used in Earth Attunement, creates a tanky elemental that can help take pressure off you.
• Consider Arcane Shield to block dangerous attacks that you struggle to dodge.
• Starting an overload gives you stability thanks to Harmonious Conduit.

Sustain

• Attuning to Water gives some healing from Healing Ripple and Soothing Mist.
• Tidal Surge heals a bit.
• You can create a water field with Water Globe and then blast it with Phoenix or Sand Squall for area healing.
• Phoenix cleanses a condition.
• You can run Ether Renewal against enemies with several conditions.
• Glyph of Elementals, used in Water Attunement, creates an elemental with strong healing and condition cleanse on a short cooldown.
• Glyph of Elemental Harmony in Water gives you regeneration.
• If you need healing really badly, you can run away and Overload Water.

Crowd Control

• Shocking Aura ⇒ Transmute Lightning (Dagger Only)
• Earthquake (Dagger)
• Cyclone
• Tidal Surge
• Crashing Waves (from Ice Elemental)
• Shocking Bolt (from Air Elemental)