[Videos] Phantaram's Post Season Elementalist and Weaver pvp guides

During the last season I played a lot of builds and I've settled on these 3 being the best builds in ranked queues for core elementalist and weaver. I don't really play Tempest as it's pretty much only a support so I can't speak to it's strength in ranked queues with certainty.

During last season Core Fresh Air Elementalist was probably the strongest it has ever been. Spellbreaker and Scourge made a lot of builds that are strong against FA ele a lot less prevalent while FA ele was very good against both Spellbreaker and Scourge. FA beats Spellbreakers in 1v1s and ignores the risky nature of standing next to a scourge for even a millisecond. After experimenting with weaver most of the second half of the season some time before the season ended I try harded and went 25-2 with FA ele on stream with no shenanigans like late night queueing. Went from 1630 to 1816 and it felt so easy. The only thing I could see being a problem in the future is maybe a small increase in s/d condi/power thieves and possibly the rise of condi mirage. If condi mirage connects it could mean danger for FA ele but I'm pretty sure FA ele is very lethal vs the mirage as well.

At first Sages amulet didn't feel that strong to me especially with spellbreaker (nearly infinite resistance) and the insane pressure scourge could do to it in melee range regardless of the crazy condi clear you can gain by having water + weaver. However through out the season and especially near the end I tried out everything I could to make Sages work and landed on the build in the video. Post season it feels even stronger with the nerfs to scourge and and with the rise of other very mobile condition builds like Mirage this build could rise in power where FA ele and Lightning Rod Weaver will struggle with low condi clear. Very promising future for this build. This build is the new D/D cele ele.

Lightning Rod Weaver was something I revisited after playing it in the beta for fun after not finding much success with tanky water trait line weaver builds at the beginning of the expansion and with just a few changes became a build I thought was just for fun and too squishy to run to something that felt quite viable. It is extremely weak against spellbreaker with the Huge 15s stability passive stability + blocks + dodges + gs3 + ignore pains = nearly impossible to kill it outside of 2v1s. Lightning Rod is very strong against every other squishy power build I could fight in the game it seemed. Power thieves, power revs... if it was power and not tanky you name it and Lightning Rod seemed to just do work. Against scourge I had to learn to never go in unless I knew I could get the kill which wasn't hard if you knew they had no stun breaker or were even just under pressure from an ally. Scourge is no joke with this little of condi removal though even being vulnerable for a split second while in melee range of them could mean kiting out of the fight for an extended period of time or in a lot of cases death. This build is an absolute blast though and the mobility is great. This is the kind of gameplay I wanted to see out of Weaver I just wish it could get a little condi clear that a melee build desperately needs. With the inevitable rise of condi mirage this build seems iffy next season but I want to believe.

As a side note I look forward to trying out the new amulet additions to spvp. They could open up some build options for weaver and... maybe core elementalist? We'll just have to wait and see.

I hope you guys enjoy thanks for reading and watching :)

Lightning Rod Sword Weaver Guide

Core Elementalist Scepter/Focus Fresh Air Guide

Sword/Dagger Sages Weaver Guide

Nice job Phanny, Fresh Air is not hard to get into at all.

I'm nowhere near as good as these two but I find Fresh Air relatively more difficult to play than SB and Scourge. However, I am less shameful to play it. Great ele guide. And plus reading about the new d/d cele ele put a nice smirk on my face.

@Vapour.7348 said:I'm nowhere near as good as these two but I find Fresh Air relatively more difficult to play than SB and Scourge.

Lol obviously.

@Chaith.8256 said:Nice job Phanny, Fresh Air is not hard to get into at all.

Good to know. It's not easy for someone like me who has picked up fresh air from the traits inception and predict for others how hard it will be to pick up at the start. I guess I mostly assume it's hard to pick up for new players as starting eles as probably any squishy build is unfriendly for new players.

Thanks for the guides! Your streams are always fun to watch when I don't feel like playing. I didn't have much of a deep interest in Ele until Weaver was introduced. I'm learning but I suck at doing everything but stalling with it (I prefer using Sage's). It's a really fun playstyle though, and I hope the sword gets tweaked a bit in its favor. My question for you, coming from someone with little experience on Ele: have you played with the other two master traits in Arcane? Beyond just the rezzing increase, Arcane Resurrection is pretty nice for the geyser: you can utilize the water field even if you dont think you can get the rez off, kinda similar to how you can tag a downed ally for Infuse Light on Rev, especially with your access to multiple blast finishers. And howbout Final Shielding? Maybe that trait just appeals to me because I don't have finesse when I play the class so the little bit of forgiveness seems nice.

@Pterikdactyl.7630 said:Thanks for the guides! Your streams are always fun to watch when I don't feel like playing. I didn't have much of a deep interest in Ele until Weaver was introduced. I'm learning but I suck at doing everything but stalling with it (I prefer using Sage's). It's a really fun playstyle though, and I hope the sword gets tweaked a bit in its favor. My question for you, coming from someone with little experience on Ele: have you played with the other two master traits in Arcane? Beyond just the rezzing increase, Arcane Resurrection is pretty nice for the geyser: you can utilize the water field even if you dont think you can get the rez off, kinda similar to how you can tag a downed ally for Infuse Light on Rev, especially with your access to multiple blast finishers. And howbout Final Shielding? Maybe that trait just appeals to me because I don't have finesse when I play the class so the little bit of forgiveness seems nice.

The second trait in master tier is extremely valuable. All 4 of the buffs are on seperate Internal cooldowns and all 4 boons are useful. I would definitely not use the arcane shield trait without ele surge but the rez trait can be nice sometimes. Without any stability though it's iffy. Elemental contingency is just extremely strong especially for a build that desires as much personal power as you can get.

Wow! Phanta Great guide, keep it up! Proud of you. But can you explain how this helps you heal me RBGS.

Sages weaver is actually really good and a blast to play.

@Nos.9803 said:Wow! Phanta Great guide, keep it up! Proud of you. But can you explain how this helps you heal me RBGS.

yer so proud of me these days!

@Phantaram.1265 said:

@Pterikdactyl.7630 said:Thanks for the guides! Your streams are always fun to watch when I don't feel like playing. I didn't have much of a deep interest in Ele until Weaver was introduced. I'm learning but I suck at doing everything but stalling with it (I prefer using Sage's). It's a really fun playstyle though, and I hope the sword gets tweaked a bit in its favor. My question for you, coming from someone with little experience on Ele: have you played with the other two master traits in Arcane? Beyond just the rezzing increase, Arcane Resurrection is pretty nice for the geyser: you can utilize the water field even if you dont think you can get the rez off, kinda similar to how you can tag a downed ally for Infuse Light on Rev, especially with your access to multiple blast finishers. And howbout Final Shielding? Maybe that trait just appeals to me because I don't have finesse when I play the class so the little bit of forgiveness seems nice.

Ah, see, I didn't know that they all have separate ICDs. It all makes sense now lol.

phantaram hii am not ele expert but i had my share with it. i think if you using sage and wanna do burst dmg with condi you should try out GoePhttp://gw2skills.net/editor/?vFAQJAsYnMICFNgF5C+4C8RgFVArYJ2/yA3f5wcamIAsAKAA-jJhAQBA4BAAj9HkYZgNcCAAA

it may be seems too much burning duration but sometime after the foe used all his cleanse even just 2 burning stacks for 11 sec do nice 7k dmgi can do nice burst aoe of 40 bleed stacks in 3 sec. and burning about 20 was my top.

is it over the top?

Maybe there is hope for eles.

Though, I have a question.Does the sage variant work with scepter/dagger or scepter/focus? Or is this is something completely working around with sword?

Fresh air build should come with line : "only if esport level"

@Lilyanna.9361 said:Maybe there is hope for eles.

Though, I have a question.Does the sage variant work with scepter/dagger or scepter/focus? Or is this is something completely working around with sword?

Either works but Dagger offhand completes the build better. Brings pressure and mobility. Sword with sages amulet water/weaver trait lines is already pretty impressive survivability.

I have already noticed an increase in the number of elementalist players in matches. Great job Phantaram. If the meta didn't fluctuate so much I'd say this would deserve a pin on the Elementalist sub-forum :) I really appreciate what you have been doing to the elementalist community and you have definetly inspired me to try the profession again.

I have a starter's question: what's the not-so-glassy build to start with weaver?

@Ashyri.5426 said:I have a starter's question: what's the not-so-glassy build to start with weaver?

The sages one, good healing and great condition cleansing.