Build:Weaver - Staff Weaver

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Focused on: Strike damage

Designed for: Open World and Open World General

Expansions required:

Difficulty:

Easy

Overview

A long-ranged staff build for elementalist for open world. This build will mostly spam Lava Font and is easy to play.

Unfortunately, staff is not a high damage weapon, but it offers some nice healing and utility to compensate, and is fully ranged.

This build will work good enough for average open world and story content, but if you need to tackle harder challenges, consider other of our elementalist open world builds. Most of the damage of this build comes from AoE pulsing ground attacks, so this build can struggle against very mobile targets, and it lacks boon generation.

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Skill Bar

Staff

Utility

Skill Variants

Healing

We default to Glyph of Elemental Harmony, it provides strong burst healing and a boon based on attunement. You can consider other options:

• Arcane Brilliance - potentially the strongest heal if there are 5 enemies in range, plus a blast finisher, but very weak healing if there are no nearby enemies.
• Ether Renewal - very situational heal that removes up to 8 conditions throughout its long channelling time. Arcane Shield can help with channelling it without getting interrupted.
• Signet of Restoration - passive healing over time, but very weak heal on demand, leaving you vulnerable to burst damage.

Utility Skills

Glyph of Storms provides ranged AoE damage, use it on Fire for consistent damage, or on Air for burst damage but a longer cooldown. Can be replaced.
Arcane Wave provides ranged AoE burst damage. Can be replaced.
Arcane Shield is a stun break and blocks 3 attacks. Can be replaced.
We have chosen utility skills that compliment staff's ranged AoE damage, but feel free to replace them. Here are some alternatives:

• Arcane Blast - Good single target damage.
• Primordial Stance - great AoE damage but in melee range.
• Lightning Flash - Mobility.
• Armor of Earth - stunbreak with Stability.
• Twist of Fate - stunbreak and dodge, and has two charges.
• Cleansing Fire - condition cleanse.

Elite Skills

We default to Glyph of Elementals. Cast it on Fire for damage, on Water for support, healing and Knockback, on Air for a Stun, or on Earth for defense. If you don't like having a pet and/or would like more burst damage, replace it with Fiery Greatsword.

• Conjure Fiery Greatsword - provides high damage with skills 4 and 5, and mobility with skill 3.

Specializations

Trait Variants

• Power Overwhelming - when playing in groups that provide Might.
• Ferocious Winds + Stormsoul - when playing in groups that provide Fury.

Specialization variants

Arcane

Replaces Air. Adds defense and utility at the cost of damage. Final Shielding has excellent synergy with the active skill of your elemental from Glyph of Elementals.

• Arcane Resurrection - Improves revive power in groups.
• Bountiful Power - Use this when playing in groups that give lots of boons.

Equipment

This build uses the same gear as Build:Weaver - Power DPS, making it a good option for general PVE.

• Ascended gear is not required for open world, exotic works fine.
• Note the second staff is for stacking sigil purposes and is not required.

Head
Berserker

Shoulders
Berserker

Chest
Berserker

Hands
Berserker

Legs
Berserker

Feet
Berserker

Backpiece
Berserker

Accessory
Berserker

Accessory
Berserker

Amulet
Berserker

Ring
Berserker

Ring
Berserker

Staff
Berserker

Sigil

Sigil

staff
Berserker

Sigil

Sigil

Rune
x6

• This setup provides 100% critical chance with Fury thanks to Zephyr's Speed (elementalist), Elements of Rage, and Superior Elements.
  • Dual Attacks are key to help maintain Weakness for the bonus of Superior Elements. Your Earth autottacks Stoning will also help.
  • When solo, your sourcess of Fury are Zephyr's Boon and Raging Storm. You will trigger Zephyr's Boon with Sunspot and by using Arcane Wave on fields such as Lava Font. When playing in groups that provide Fury, change your traits to Ferocious Winds and Stormsoul.

Consumables

Budget consumables are acceptable for use in open world.

DPS

• Prioritize Steak Ascended food.
• /
• /

Consumables

Budget consumables are acceptable for use in open world.

DPS

• Prioritize Steak Ascended food.
• /
• /

Farming

• Prioritize Steak Ascended food.
• /
• (and variants)

Usage

Damage

• Your damage skills are Lava Font, Flame Burst, Pyroclastic Blast, Eruption, Lightning Surge, Plasma Blast, Shock Wave, and Ice Spike. Fill in the gaps with auto attacks.
• Lava Font is your main source of damage, make sure to spam it. When attuning to other elements, go back to Fire Attunement as soon as possible.
• Generally speaking, you only want to double attune to Fire Attunement, unless you really need the healing of Geyser, the crowd control of Gust, or (in extremely rare occasions) the Magnetic Aura of Magnetic Aura.
• Use Firestorm (Glyph of Storms) and Meteor Shower on groups of enemies.
• When solo, your sourcess of Fury are Zephyr's Boon and Raging Storm. You will trigger Zephyr's Boon with Sunspot and by using Arcane Wave on fields such as Lava Font. When playing in groups that provide Fury, change your traits to Ferocious Winds and Stormsoul.

Opener

For burst damage, start combat attuned to Earth Attunement + Fire Attunement and do the following:

1. Eruption and attune to Fire Attunement+Earth Attunement
2. Lava Font
3. Pyroclastic Blast
4. Shock Wave and attune to Fire Attunement+Fire Attunement
5. Flame Burst
6. Firestorm (Glyph of Storms)
7. Lava Font
8. Meteor Shower and attune to Air Attunement+Fire Attunement
9. Lightning Surge
10. Plasma Blast and attune to Fire Attunement+Air Attunement
11. Lava Font

Fill the gaps in cooldowns with auto attacks.

Defense & Support

• The best defense is to dodge attacks or get out of the way. Your Dual Attacks provide Swiftness thanks to Swift Revenge to help run out of attacks.
• Burning Retreat is a powerful defensive evade and movement skill, can be used in any direction by rotating your character.
• Sandstorm inflicts Blinded in a large AoE, useful against groups of trash mobs.
• As a weaver, you can attune to water and then to another element to access Healing Rain to remove conditions, provide Regeneration, and a water field. You can double attune to Water to use Geyser for healing and a water field.
• Ice Spike, Eruption and Transmute Earth can be used on water fields for additional area healing or on fire fields for extra might.
• Magnetic Aura provides Magnetic Aura for projectile reflection.
• If you need more defense, you can slot and use Stone Resonance.
• Lahar provides 1 stack of personal Stability.
• Arcane Shield can be used to block dangerous attacks.

Glyph of Elementals

Elementals from Glyph of Elementals can be commanded to do an additional skill.

• The Fire Elemental can be commanded to deal damage and Burning in an AoE. Use this one for damage.
• The Ice Elemental can be commanded to deal damage in an AoE, while healing nearby allies by 6401, knocking back enemies, and removing 1 condition. Use this one for support.
• The Air Elemental can be commanded to Stun for 1.5 seconds. Use this one for on-demand crowd control.
• The Earth Elemental can be commanded to inflict nearby enemies with 1 second of Immobilize and 5 seconds of Cripple, while providing 3 seconds of Protection to nearby allies. Use this one for tanking.

Crowd Control

• Gust - Knockback
• Pile Driver - Daze
• Static Field and Unsteady Ground - Stun and Knockback, respectively. These only work if an enemy crosses the edge of the skill, they have no effect on targets that don't cross it.
• Frozen Ground and Shock Wave - Soft CC options.
• Crashing Waves - From Ice Elemental.
• Shocking Bolt - From Air Elemental.
• If you need a lot of crowd control you can use Conjure Frost Bow so that you and an ally can use Deep Freeze.