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 July 24, 2022 and is up to date for the March 19, 2024 patch.

Overview

Fresh Air Tempest is a power-based tempest build that excels in doing AoE damage by spamming Overload Air over and over thanks to Fresh Air. Through several traits, it also provides AoE Auras to support itself and nearby allies.

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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 have no casting time so they can be casted during that channel.
• Dagger (mainhand) - more mobility, less blast finishers, less range, AoE auto attack in Air.
• Staff - more AoE, lower dps, higher range.

Skill Variants

Healing

Glyph of Elemental Harmony is a great burst heal.

• 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

Signet of Fire is only here for the precision buff, so never cast it. If you already have 100% crit chance, equip a different skill.
"Feel the Burn!" has low cd, decent dmg, and provides Fire Aura for great synergy with the rest of the build.
Arcane Shield is your stun break, and also blocks 3 attacks. It has a long cooldown, if more frenquent stun breaks are preferred over the block, try Signet of Air or Glyph of Elemental Power.

• Glyph of Lesser Elementals - cast it on Fire for damage, on Earth for defense, and on Water for an excellent middle ground between defense and offense. Don't use it on Air.
• Glyph of Storms - AoE 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.
• Conjure Lightning Hammer - good to fill spaces between cooldowns. Use Invoke Lightning (skill 4) and auto attacks, and drop it.
• Arcane Blast strong single target burst damage, but quickly falls off.
• Arcane Wave strong AoE burst damage, but quickly falls off.

Elites

Glyph of Elementals - cast it on Fire for damage, on Earth for defense, on Water for an excellent middle ground between defense and offense and healing, or on Air for a Stun.

• Conjure Fiery Greatsword - more damage and great burst with skills 4 and 5.
• "Rebound!" - great against certain enemies with oneshot attacks.

Specializations

Variants

• Soothing Power - if there are no nearby allies for Powerful Aura to share any aura.
• Ferocious Winds - if nearby allies are already providing fury.
• Gale Song - AoE stunbreak but less auras. Auras are quite good in this build, so only use this when absolutely necessary.

Arcane

Arcane can replace Water. It offers less damage and less sustain, but makes the build more forgiving through boons and an emergency shield.

• Arcane Restoration very little sustain, but gives up on Vigor which synergyses with Evasive Arcana.
• 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.

Equipment

Ascended gear and stat infusions are not required; you can use exotic gear with the same stats. This set uses the same gear as its raid counterpart for ease of gearing 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

Warhorn
Berserker

Sigil

Sigil

Rune
x6

Infusion
x17

Infusion
x1

• This setup relies on and Signet of Fire to reach 99,99% critical chance

Budget

• Rune of Superior Rune of the Eagle - cheap alternative.
• Rune of Superior Rune of the Pack - less damage, more boons.

Defense

• Marauder} - 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.

Gear Variants

If you can afford the luxury of a gear set tailored for open world and want more defense, use the following gear.

Head
Marauder

Shoulders
Marauder

Chest
Marauder

Hands
Marauder

Legs
Dragon

Feet
Marauder

Backpiece
Marauder

Accessory
Dragon

Accessory
Marauder

Amulet
Marauder

Ring
Dragon

Ring
Marauder

Scepter
Marauder

Warhorn
Marauder

Sigil

Sigil

Rune
x6

• This gear set has about 54% more health and reaches 100% crit chance without food and without Signet of Fire, freeing up that utility slot for another skill.
• For ease of gearing at a very minor dps loss, you can just use full Marauder.

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

Overload Air

Fresh Air resets the cooldown of Air Attunement every time you crit while attuned to a different attunement. This includes resetting the cooldown of Overload Air. Thus, the build just keeps spamming Overload Air, continually triggering Electric Discharge, the extra ferocity from Fresh Air, and the extra damage from Transcendent Tempest. Never delay Overload Air.

Damage

The build is extremely simple and revolves around spamming Overload Air while filling the gaps with weapon and utility 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 off cooldown. Cyclone can be used for damage if CC is not needed.

In Earth, use Dust Storm. Consider casting Rock Barrier for free extra toughness.

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.

Staff

In Fire, use Lava Font + Flame Burst + Meteor Shower (you can leave Fire during the casting of Meter Shower). Burning Retreat evades and distances you from your enemy.

In water, use Ice Spike for its blast finisher. Cast Ice Spike first, then the combo field. Use it with Geyser or Healing Rain for AoE heal. Use it with Frozen Ground for AoE Frost Aura. Remember Healing Rain cleanses conditions.

In Air, use Lightning Surge then auto attack until your can Overload.

In Earth, use Eruption and Shock Wave. Remember Eruption is a blast finisher.

Fiery Greatsword

If taking Conjure Fiery Greatsword, use it right as you attune to Air. Cast Firestorm and Fiery Rush then Overload Air. If using scepter, drop the greatsword to cast Lightning Strike; if using dagger or staff, keep the greatsword until the chanelling finishes and drop it when leaving Air to benefit longer from the extra power.

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.
• Arcane Shield blocks 3 attacks.
• 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)
• Cyclone
• Tidal Surge
• Crashing Waves (from Ice Elemental)
• Shocking Bolt (from Air Elemental)
• Gust (staff only)
• Unsteady Ground and Static Field (staff only, only work if an enemy walks crossed the edge of the skill, has no effect on targets that don't cross it.)