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[Elem] Some Sc/F Fresh Air Questions


JeetyWeety.2948

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I played Auramancer last season, which was supportive but not as fun. This season, I'm trying the S/F Fresh Air build found here:

https://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Elementalist_-_S/F_Fresh_Air

So far, it's been enjoyable, but honestly, I'm really not that great at it. Some questions that may help me improve:

1) What's the use of Fiery Greatsword with this spec? I mostly use it to get away from someone (#3) when my Lightning Flash is on cooldown.2) Do you, as recommended, only stay in Air Attunement for a few seconds to get off a Lightning Strike and then switch to a different attunement? What do you switch to?3) Is there a reason to go into water except water #3 for the heal?4) My rotation when starting a match is to go Earth #2 (rock barrier) followed by Fire#4 and Fire#2 to blast a fire field before going to Lightning Strike. Is there a better rotation?5) What do you do when someone is sticking to you in melee and keeps chasing you down? Lightning Flash, Gale and/or Obsidian Flesh?

Thanks in advance!

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@JeetyWeety.2948 said:1) What's the use of Fiery Greatsword with this spec? I mostly use it to get away from someone (#3) when my Lightning Flash is on cooldown.

It can be used for either mobility or cleave potential (#3, #5)

2) Do you, as recommended, only stay in Air Attunement for a few seconds to get off a Lightning Strike and then switch to a different attunement? What do you switch to?

Highly situational. Sometimes you'd want to stay in air for a bit, sometimes you'd want to swap to another attunement and swap back to air right away for the extra burst.

3) Is there a reason to go into water except water #3 for the heal?

Highly situational as well. You'll get into scenarios wherein you'd want to chill or drop #5 for an interrupt. Or you can swap to water and get back to air asap for the extra burst in a scenario wherein you won't get punished for using water attunement offensively.

4) My rotation when starting a match is to go Earth #2 (rock barrier) followed by Fire#4 and Fire#2 to blast a fire field before going to Lightning Strike. Is there a better rotation?

At the start of a match you can do that.

In the middle of a match there are a lot of rotations possible. I would actually advise looking up to reaaaally old rotation videos for OH Focus and Dagger in youtube. One thing you might notice from other Sc/F players is that stacking might is more of a luxury in the middle of a battle. Also, focus has fewer rotations compared to OH dagger but one of the most basic is:

Gale > Swap to Fire > Blink on top of your target > drop Phoenix a bit behind your target for multi-hit > Air swap > Air 2. This isn't actually commonly used nowadays because collateral damage from melee cleave is really deadly for glass Ele. Might want to use this as a finishing move of sort.

5) What do you do when someone is sticking to you in melee and keeps chasing you down? Lightning Flash, Gale and/or Obsidian Flesh?

Again, this is situational depending on the scenario. At times you can even bait your target to keep attacking on melee and let Arcane Shield auto-proc (and explode) then time your Phoenix > Air swap > Air 2 for a good burst.

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@JeetyWeety.2948 said:I played Auramancer last season, which was supportive but not as fun. This season, I'm trying the S/F Fresh Air build found here:

https://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Elementalist_-_S/F_Fresh_Air

So far, it's been enjoyable, but honestly, I'm really not that great at it. Some questions that may help me improve:

1) What's the use of Fiery Greatsword with this spec? I mostly use it to get away from someone (#3) when my Lightning Flash is on cooldown.2) Do you, as recommended, only stay in Air Attunement for a few seconds to get off a Lightning Strike and then switch to a different attunement? What do you switch to?3) Is there a reason to go into water except water #3 for the heal?4) My rotation when starting a match is to go Earth #2 (rock barrier) followed by Fire#4 and Fire#2 to blast a fire field before going to Lightning Strike. Is there a better rotation?5) What do you do when someone is sticking to you in melee and keeps chasing you down? Lightning Flash, Gale and/or Obsidian Flesh?

Thanks in advance!

1) reality? You might aswell forget you even have an elite and still reach gold/platinum without breaking a sweat.But yeah to squeeze everything out of your kit you use it for Mobility, and maybe some additional cleave if for some reason u have it in your hands when there's some need for cleaving.

2) ok this is a bit complicated to explain, but it's much easier to do it in game once u understand the build better.As a Fresh air most of your dmg comes from AIR obviously, air AA/ air 2 / air swap trait dmg.You need to learn to keep the Air AA when you switch, let's say you are in Air, you are AAing and u used 2, u switch to Water, u are STILL using air AA in water, then u can:a) either go back to air for another 2 and then switch attune againb) interrupt your air AA while in water and use any ability u needed to use, if u actually doso basically the "minigame" of fresh air is to keep using your air AA, even when switching attune, atleast to reset Air as fast as possible because most of the other auto attack as worthless junk, and because most of the time the air AA will be the best and fastest crit proc that let u go back to air, after u have used the abilities u attuned to another element for.ofc for a fast fresh air proc u also have other options.

3) yes, u want to go to water even when u dont actually need to use the water CC (4 and 5) or the 3 or whatever.Simply go from Air with AA-ON to water, then switch back to air without using anything from water, your air AA will have procced fresh air basically less than a second after u have switched to Water. So you went from Air to Water to Air never stopping air AA.You have just gained Fury / Water swap healing from water tree / some condi cleanse / more dmg with the AIR swap trait

4) the best dmg is to maximize your AIR dmg, along side your earth 2 and the phoenix.Fire is 2 slow as fuck, and is essentialy very situational, u need to learn when to use it and when not to , because sometimes Eles use it when it almost surely wont hit anything, it's a common error I make all the time too. So yeah use it, when u really need to, don't use it just to press something, it's a waste of time and dps.If you are referring to the best and most complete burst combo, which is also very situational, u can check the phantaram video I think it's there.What I like to do for an easy burst combo is:Start from Earth / launch earth 2 / launch arcane blast while in earth and launching earth 2 / swap to air / air 2 then from here u can either follow with a LightFlash/Phoenix , or whatever u feel like u need. It's an easy combo almost guaranteed combo with nice burst dmg, because all those skills basically hit almost at the same time, it's very hard to dodge or to fuck it up yourself.

5) well aside from using LightFlash / Invuln / CC obviously... you know what's one of the most important trait as a fresh air? One with air.After you have learned how to maximize your AiR swapping dmg, you will learn how to proc Fresh air as fast as possible to proc One with air as much as possible to kite melees.Fresh air ele is one of the classes with the least mobility in the game, but also one of the best kiting classes thanks to 3 seconds of superspeed that let u buy some distance from melee and make them use their Gap closers(if they still have it). Ofc some classes just don't care about this, like Thieves with their insane mobility. But things like a guardian? Even a warrior? Yes you can kite them good enough.

Also never forget to Arcane Blast+Earth, it's soooooooooooooooooooooo good, that long range root can setup some nice dmg for you or your allies.When arenanet added that new ammo mechanic to some abilities, it was one of the best buff to FreshAir we actually received in pvp.

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1) Fire Greatsword is mainly used as a movement tool. Used to escape or to quickly get to another part of the map. For example, let's say you defend home from an attacker. You can kill the downed player with fire skills 2,3,4. Then drop the greatsword on them, do a couple more swings if you need, and rush back to mid or wherever to help your team. Then you can use greatsword 5 to aoe the point if needed. Drop and go back to regular skills. That is just one scenario, and it's already better than any of the other elite skills for fresh air ele. Also, don't forget that if you are using it offensively, you can still proc your fresh air strikes.

2) If you are going for the burst and don't need winds or blind, then yes, switch off. You probably already noticed that your air auto will channel even in a different attunement, which is useful to proc fresh air. But again, situation is everything.

3) There is a daze and chill on water focus, which are the most useful skills besides skill 3. But I usually only need them for 1v1's, or locking down a troublesome player in a group fight.

4) If I have time, I'll might stack before the fight. But I want to be sure to start fights on earth. I start with earth #2 for the toughness. Then I use arcane blast paired with elemental surge, which gives a 2sec immobilize when used in earth. After landing that I go straight into fresh air bursting.

5) If someone is sticking to me. I will first check if they have stability, if not then I use gale or water 5 to try and get the upper hand for a burst. If that didn't work I will use lightning flash, since it is on a longer cool down and more important to me. I try to get up onto ledges or whatnot if I can. I would save Obsidian Flesh for last because it is very important and on the longest cool down. Of course, the situation takes precedence, and you could switch this around. For example, let's say there is a persistant D/P thief who's just stealthed and you know that back stab is coming. Obsidian Flesh can take that damage, so then you can then gale them and burst, or try to escape.

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@JeetyWeety.2948 said:I played Auramancer last season, which was supportive but not as fun. This season, I'm trying the S/F Fresh Air build found here:

https://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Elementalist_-_S/F_Fresh_Air

So far, it's been enjoyable, but honestly, I'm really not that great at it. Some questions that may help me improve:

1) What's the use of Fiery Greatsword with this spec? I mostly use it to get away from someone (#3) when my Lightning Flash is on cooldown.2) Do you, as recommended, only stay in Air Attunement for a few seconds to get off a Lightning Strike and then switch to a different attunement? What do you switch to?3) Is there a reason to go into water except water #3 for the heal?4) My rotation when starting a match is to go Earth #2 (rock barrier) followed by Fire#4 and Fire#2 to blast a fire field before going to Lightning Strike. Is there a better rotation?5) What do you do when someone is sticking to you in melee and keeps chasing you down? Lightning Flash, Gale and/or Obsidian Flesh?

Thanks in advance!

1 it’s really not only a mobility tool, it can dish out a good amount of damge, 3 and 4 combined with a air swap and arcane blast burst really hard, also if you manage to have one or two enemy near a wall or a pillar or whatever who’ll stop your way use fgs3 can pretty much one shot people, so use it in creative ways.Since your teammates can also bring it, if you need to move faster in another point with soneone remeber to drop it in front on him where he can see it, eventually ping in chat also the skill.2 Even if start AA in air, swap to other attunement, and then proc fresh air and swap back to air can provide a good amount of damage I would raccomand you to don’t exagerate with it since it can just burn all your attunement and you will get stuck in air when you would eventually need other attunements. But you can do it without worry with fire when you know phoenix is on cd, since fire attunement is most of the time useless without phoenix.Out of that in air attunement you have a lot of tools, a blind, a proictiles barrier, and a very strong unblockable cc.3 water 3 also remove a condition to yourself and everyone got hit from it (teamates obviusly).So use it also to help friends that need heals, blink near them, swap in water and use water 3 sometimes can save a low health teamate.Water 4 is a good chill, use it in many ways, if someone run away, if someone chase you (you need a good camera management to do it since you can only cast it in front of you) or just make another ele go mad.If you have problem to hit people with water 2 cast it on you if someone try to melee you and combine it with an air burst + arcanw blast... even if this skill is a legendary meme actually it hit decent.Water 5 is a really strong cc since it is AoE, you can also land it to someone hiding behind a pillar/wall to eventually interrupt their heals, or into enemies trying to stomp/ress.4 if you mean stack might before actually the match start is ok, you can also use fire 3 to blast might/swiftness, if you mean start a fight in earth then NO. Earth is your free to jail card to use mostly when you need cleans, reflect or invulnerability, so don’t waste it starting a fight.5 the best defense of s/f fresh air vs melee is actually outrun and kite people. So if someone try to melee you save the more possible your important CD and just swap to air to kite them. To be a very good s/f ele you need to manage very well your camera so you need a keybind to turn your camera to see behinde you. Vs melee classes like warriors you need to fight most of the time running and looking behind you to land your skill and eventually dodge something. Here water 4 and earth 4 can help you with soft cc but mostly you need to kite with superspeed. So really, get used to look behinde you will running and casting spells, it will really change a lot your gamplay quality.

Edit: for the point 5 if someone try to melee you can also just counter burst them easier most of the time, a thief running behind you to chase you, for example, is actually one of the best time to land a phoenix to him.

Edit2: practice a lot, really a lot, the phoenix lighing flash combo.Actually the combo is : phoenix behinde the target (the center of the AoE behind the target)lighing flahs in front on him (need to hit him) arcane blast, air swap, air 2.You need to do it VERY fast and it will result in an whole instant combo, so you need some confortable keybind just for it.And you need to get some muscles memory on it.

Even if I reccomand you to use it the less possible during a match, since lighing flash is a very strong escaping tool, there are some key moment where use it can be very devastating.For example counter burst an enemy thief with it can mean a dead thief, or use it on a 50/60% health enemy can kill him.But you need to be so confident with it that it become automatic while moving or under pressure/panic.So go to a target golem and practice it.And never use it vs a full health enemy since with all the damage mitigation and passive procs around you will waste your skills 9/10 times

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1) What's the use of Fiery Greatsword with this spec? I mostly use it to get away from someone (#3) when my Lightning Flash is on cooldown.

Mobility and damage. People mostly use it for the movement, but it's also fairly strong in focusing targets and has moderate cleave. Fiery Rush + Arcane Blast + Air swap is a significant burst. The whirl has a long range but can do a ton of damage if you Lightning Flash back halfway through, or use it against a wall. If using FGS like this, don't stay in it too long. It's usually best to just get 1 big burst off and then go back to your scepter to maintain pressure, unless you're cleaving downs.

2) Do you, as recommended, only stay in Air Attunement for a few seconds to get off a Lightning Strike and then switch to a different attunement? What do you switch to?

Think of FA as a series of small bursts - Hurl + Arcane + Air, Phoenix + Arcane + Air etc. You don't necessarily need a constant stream of damage. Sometimes it's better to do a quick burst, kite away, then burst again. While the highest damage comes from constantly swapping in and out of Air, you don't want to burn important attunements on air procs only to get stuck without your condi cleanse or invuln 2 seconds later.

3) Is there a reason to go into water except water #3 for the heal?

Chill and daze. Comet is an AoE interrupt (no LoS required) which can be especially good for stopping a res. The water auto is also almost as strong as the air auto (much better than the first 2 stages). If you do mess up and get stuck with air on cd, water autos are a decent way to proc FA. Personally, I also tend to run Cleansing Wave over Aquamancer's Training, making water swap a 2-condi cleanse.

4) My rotation when starting a match is to go Earth #2 (rock barrier) followed by Fire#4 and Fire#2 to blast a fire field before going to Lightning Strike. Is there a better rotation?

You don't need to prioritize might stacking. Earth 2 is better used for damage than defense. A very common opener is Hurl + Dust Devil (blind) + Arcane (immob) + Air + Lightning Strike. Remember that Phoenix is a much longer cd than fire attunement. If you swap to fire and can't land the damage, don't waste it. Against good players, fire swap alone can often be enough to bait out a dodge or defensive skill. Against bad players, just unload your shit, it'll probably hit.Don't waste your blinds. Dust Devil, Blinding Flash, even Arcane Blast in air can be extremely useful survival tools. Against most things, though, Earth should be prioritized for Arcane Blast. Always try to keep at least 1 charge up for emergency Blind/Immob/FA proc (i.e. don't spam it), and remember that Elemental Surge procs based on your attunement when Blast hits, not when it's cast.

5) What do you do when someone is sticking to you in melee and keeps chasing you down? Lightning Flash, Gale and/or Obsidian Flesh?

Kite them. You have superspeed on demand. Most of your skills do not require you to be facing your target. Obsidian Flesh should be saved for cases where you can't avoid the damage. Melee generally should not be able to catch you without ports. This is why Fresh Air shits on Spellbreaker, for instance. Also keep in mind that in some cases, being in melee range (briefly) is to your benefit. Phoenix will almost never hit from 900 range.

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