Please help me stay alive and do damage

After seeing alot of weaver builds desgined for group play (many even claiming to be for solo play) I keep wondering if I really am a noob or most of these people are lying? I'm talking about those fire/earth/weaver or fire/arcane/weaver builds.I for one am running water/arcane/weaver with sinister/viper gear. It would be impossible for me to stay alive in T4 fractals and also stay in the fight. Oh, and I also have Sigil of energy (which most of the high dps builds don't), because the vigor from Invigorating Strikes (that's one other thing thay annoys me, why the devs didn't put more vigor regen in that trait) is pitiful and I don't even slot it, and so it allows me to dodge alot, with some sacrifice to damage.If I'm close to death I go to water#2 and blast it with Arcane Wave. Yes, not with an offhand earth skill (like some keep suggesting), because it's a 1/3 chances that I'd be in earth when I'd take alot of damage.I do pretty good damage, but most importantly, I don't die. It's not uncommon to be the last one alive in the party. If I do see another weaver in the group running sword (because most of the time they'd be with staff), they're mostly on the ground, probably from not having any sustain.So, can someone please explain how I can stay alive with the other builds? Because for sure I would love to do more damage and not die.

You gotta accept that down state's #1 and #5 is a part of your rotation. Make peace with it.

@Sunshine.5014 said:You gotta accept that down state's #1 and #5 is a part of your rotation. Make peace with it.

Oh and Lava Font <3

@MrRay.3027 said:After seeing alot of weaver builds desgined for group play (many even claiming to be for solo play) I keep wondering if I really am a noob or most of these people are lying? I'm talking about those fire/earth/weaver or fire/arcane/weaver builds.I for one am running water/arcane/weaver with sinister/viper gear.

How can you say that the people running f/e/w or f/a/w builds are lying or mistaken when you're not even running their builds? >.<

@pdboddy.4162 said:

@MrRay.3027 said:After seeing alot of weaver builds desgined for group play (many even claiming to be for solo play) I keep wondering if I really am a noob or most of these people are lying? I'm talking about those fire/earth/weaver or fire/arcane/weaver builds.I for one am running water/arcane/weaver with sinister/viper gear.

If you can't tell from my post, I did run those builds, just died alot.

IMO those builds are for organized group play. Like for raids where druid heals you and mesmer keeps you buffed. If you join in for LFG group for t4 you can take arcane and water If ur party looks like "Bad party"

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if you want to "stay alive and do damage", Weaver may not be the class for you. Either you're running a glass cannon build to do amazing damage, or you're running a bunker build that...well...doesn't deal great damage.

On a related note, if anyone's managed to create a bunker or bunker-lite build on Weaver that can dish out decent damage while using a sword, please let me know. I really don't want to abandon this class.

I am not an expert on eles, but i noticed that you can be kinda tanky and still do considerable dmg with condition builds paired with good vitality and good toughness. Its not top tier DPS but you dont bite the dust that often. Also very recommended is celestial for round builds. You survive and you can do pretty much everything just depending on the traits but you are not as good as min-maxing builds. I am now farming gold for a full trailblazer condi build with f/e/w. Condi dmg is increased with fire and earth traits and the vitality comes from the weaver trait. I dont know how it runs but i heard it has solid performans and a good dmg output.

@"Ace Woodlink.1863" said:I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if you want to "stay alive and do damage", Weaver may not be the class for you. Either you're running a glass cannon build to do amazing damage, or you're running a bunker build that...well...doesn't deal great damage.

On a related note, if anyone's managed to create a bunker or bunker-lite build on Weaver that can dish out decent damage while using a sword, please let me know. I really don't want to abandon this class.

So you go in and bash until you die? Well, that's no play style I wanna be a part of. And that's the problem with all glass cannom builds that rely on sword, they don't do the damage, because they're on the floor.At least with my arcane/water/weaver build I rarely die in T4s (mostly when I get to cocky in my immortality) and I do damage. Not great damage, not terrible, but decent.And I rely on my, maybe overestimated, opinion that I have some utility to the rest of the group, because every time I attune to water or air I remove a condi and give some little regen. And if I time my water#2 just right and blast it with arcane wave I get some of the group to full health.

@InsaneQR.7412 said:I am not an expert on eles, but i noticed that you can be kinda tanky and still do considerable dmg with condition builds paired with good vitality and good toughness. Its not top tier DPS but you dont bite the dust that often. Also very recommended is celestial for round builds. You survive and you can do pretty much everything just depending on the traits but you are not as good as min-maxing builds. I am now farming gold for a full trailblazer condi build with f/e/w. Condi dmg is increased with fire and earth traits and the vitality comes from the weaver trait. I dont know how it runs but i heard it has solid performans and a good dmg output.

I'd wait on that, because most likely (or hopefuly) they'll buff the power on sword.But even now, a viper or a sinister build or a combination of the two (like I have) does more dps than trailblazer.

@MrRay.3027 said:So you go in and bash until you die?That is way too much of an oversimplification.Not to mention that I don't have any blunt weapons to bash with (unless I conjure a Lightning Hammer), and Weaver doesn't do pommel bashes.

@Ace Woodlink.1863 said:

@MrRay.3027 said:So you go in and bash until you die?That is way too much of an oversimplification.Not to mention that I don't have any blunt weapons to bash with (unless I conjure a Lightning Hammer), and Weaver doesn't do pommel bashes.

Then, please, complicate it a bit. How do you survive, as a glass cannon, sword weilding weiver? Let's say T4 Shattered Observatory, or Thaumanova Reactor? Or even Volcanic.And please don't deflect with silly, bottom of the barrel sarcasm.

@Sunshine.5014 said:You gotta accept that down state's #1 and #5 is a part of your rotation. Make peace with it.

LMAO, I wish this wasn't true

@"Ace Woodlink.1863" said:I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if you want to "stay alive and do damage", Weaver may not be the class for you. Either you're running a glass cannon build to do amazing damage, or you're running a bunker build that...well...doesn't deal great damage.

On a related note, if anyone's managed to create a bunker or bunker-lite build on Weaver that can dish out decent damage while using a sword, please let me know. I really don't want to abandon this class.

I don't know about bunker or bunker-lite, but I have a Sword+Scepter/Dagger build running Air/Water/Weaver that works pretty well. You use Air and Earth to apply CCs which trigger Lightning Rod, and Sword Water #2 has a water field you can blast for healing.

@MrRay.3027 said:

@Ace Woodlink.1863 said:

@MrRay.3027 said:So you go in and bash until you die?That is way too much of an oversimplification.Not to mention that I don't have any blunt weapons to bash with (unless I conjure a Lightning Hammer), and Weaver doesn't do pommel bashes.

Playing baggage DPS for a Druid, Chrono, Firebrand/Dragonhunter, and PS Warrior?

this is what I been using for the few days now with our signet back feels really nice pve/wvw, gonna try running it with staff just to see how it plays out.http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vFAQJAsYncMA94idOAGOAM5ilTA7uMnmbzEHgAwCooEMA/AA-jlyHQBhb/BfoUpHKhAwJAwb6B+2DAQpKDYoSwEp+zSUSQKgRVGB-w

Yep, Fire with Persisting flames is virtually required. /s

More seriously tho (mostly), I find the number 1 prio for squishy classes, where Ele is definitely one most times, is to manage engaging after dismounting. The first few moments in Path of Fire you can get really frontloaded by the Forged, Harpy, etc enemy types, they use really high damage skills without much windup. So this means if you enter the fight with say Water element on from last fight that can be really dangerous just because flipping attunements around will seriously hurt you. Or if you mount engage 2-3 enemies and they turn to nuke you without dodging or blocking or whatever.

Just something I've noticed with PoF open world. Just really dangerous to let down your guard the first few secs.

Play Celestial D/D Tempest or core ele and you won't die any more: nice dmg, nice survivability. Just avoid Weaver and you will be fine.

Being a little more helpful this time, look to male incremental changes until you find the mix of survivability that works for you. Start with your utilities and traits, then your specializations, and finally your gear. You shouldn’t expect to have it easy with a full glass raid meta build unless you have full raid meta support.

I had issues with survivability on sword/x. Tried just about every build combination. Tried full marauder and full griever. Damage was okay, but as soon as i got to Desolation my survivability was depressing. If ihad a bad pull (eg 3+ mobs) I died quite a bit. Maybe I am too ingrained with staff/tempest. I switched back to tempest, and wow, what a difference. Full marauder i can wade into just about anything and come out virtually unscratched, with alot quicker kills to boot.

Something with sword/x feels 'off'. I like the concept of sword, and I wanted to make it 'work' but the slow auto, and lack of survivability and damage is not on par with a tempest. It sorta works, but when you play the other tempest elite or other classes, it really doesn't feel right. Though if Anet reads this, they would probably nerf tempest before buffing weaver, so careful what you wish for.

@mulzi.8273 said:I had issues with survivability on sword/x. Tried just about every build combination. Tried full marauder and full griever. Damage was okay, but as soon as i got to Desolation my survivability was depressing. If ihad a bad pull (eg 3+ mobs) I died quite a bit. Maybe I am too ingrained with staff/tempest. I switched back to tempest, and wow, what a difference. Full marauder i can wade into just about anything and come out virtually unscratched, with alot quicker kills to boot.

Something with sword/x feels 'off'. I like the concept of sword, and I wanted to make it 'work' but the slow auto, and lack of survivability and damage is not on par with a tempest. It sorta works, but when you play the other tempest elite or other classes, it really doesn't feel right. Though if Anet reads this, they would probably nerf tempest before buffing weaver, so careful what you wish for.

I quite feel the same way, I can't even solo down a champ+its minions in a moderate time. There's l2p issues for sure, but there is still a large room for improvement on sword. I can OS ambient creatures though. Running Fire/Air/Weaver power/precision/ferocity/condition damage, without much investment in vit/toughness/healing only provided by a few celestial pieces. I somehow survive with lava font and downskill #5 when taking 5+ mobs at the same time. Maybe i'm too used to take full packs head on to clean faster; i should slow the pace and think before i rush.

I'm using this build which feels pretty tanky to be honest: durable weaver build

Your survivability comes from:

1. Attunement switching grants boons and health (Arcane Abatement)
2. Cantrips with reduced cooldown and grant regen (which removes conditions)
3. Activating Water Attunement heals 1939 health instantly (Arcane Abatement + Healing Ripple)
4. Dodging removes burn/chill and grants barrier (1146 barrier health)
5. Extra vitality from Master's Fortitude

Condition can be cleared multiple ways:

1. Cleansing Fire removes 4 conditions instantly
2. Ether Renewal removes 9 conditiosn over 2.75 seconds
3. Armor of Earth removes 1 condition instantly
4. Activating Water Attunement removes 1 condition instantly

Every Weaver build using sword has some additional survivability from:

1. Dual skills grant barrier (517 barrier health)
2. Sword water 2 + any blast/leap skill
3. Fire/Earth dual skill Lava Skin grants pulsing barrier

if you wanna use a glass cannon no survivability build, you need allies that can support youI haven't seen the builds claiming to be for solo play, however.

Some nice ideas in this thread. Speaking strictly for pve, I've found that running Air 313/Arcane 232/Weaver 333 with glyph heal, arcane blast, stone resonance, arcane shield and glyph of elementals as elite while running full berserker sword/dagger works more or less ok.In combat I pretty much constantly engage and disengage enemies while stunning them as often as possible to proc lightning rod and interrupt any attacks when possible.If things get too much the earth ele is an always helpfull mini tank and I am always rotating through stone resonance, arcane shield, riptide, frost aura and cleansing wave as i fight.Using the glyph heal in water or earth gives a really solid heal on a low cd with either regen or protection as bonus.

This build is far from perfect and generally once you go down it's dirt eating time, but otherwise i seem to be able to survive most things in PoF.

vanilla ele and tempest are soft, underwhelming, slow, painful and unimpressive classesbut it seems weaver isnt all that bad after some practice, still my least favourite of all maxed elite classes