GW2. Best Open World Build. Celestial Tempest. Elementalist PvE.

Last Update: October 2023
With constant damage and sustained healing this Tempest build mainly uses the Fire and Earth attunements for boons and condition damage. Overloading the Fire Attunement gives might and inflicts burning while the Earth Overload gives protection and inflicts bleeding. All overloads will give alacrity, making both of them more quickly accessible and will benefit allies around you. Alternating between these two elements will suffice, but Water can also be used for some added healing.
The Written in Stone trait allows you to cast signets more often and still retain their passives, meaning the Signet of Restoration should be cast often to maximize your self healing, and the Signet of Fire should be cast off cooldown for the most damage. Use the Warhorn 4 skill in Fire and Earth attunement to upkeep boons.
Skill Rotation:
Prioritize Signet of Fire always, and use Glyph of Elementals in Fire for damage or Water for healing
Fire Overload > Warhorn 5 > 4 > 3 > 2 > Swap Earth
Earth 2 > 5 > 3 > 4 > Earth Overload > 2 > Swap Fire
Try to swap attunement while in the middle of a longer cast skill, but do not interrupt overloads by swapping in the middle of their cast.
Equipment
Item | Stat | Rune / Sigil |
---|---|---|
Helm Celestial | ||
Shoulders Celestial | ||
Coat Celestial | ||
Gloves Celestial | ||
Leggings Celestial | ||
Boots Celestial |
Primary Weapon Set
Dagger Celestial | ||
Warhorn Celestial |
Optional Weapon Set
Sceper Celestial | ||
Focus Celestial |
Item | Stat |
---|---|
Amulet Celestial | |
Ring Celestial | |
Ring Celestial | |
Accessory Celestial | |
Accessory Celestial | |
Backpiece Celestial |
Relic
Consumables
Infusions
Optional x18 |
Alternatives:
- Jade Bot Core: for extra vitality
- Sigil: instead of Agony
Skills
Dagger / Warhorn | Heal / Utility / Elite |
Alternatives
- Utility: instead Glyph of Lesser Elementals
Traits
Alternatives
- Fire: for more cleanse
- Tempest: for more damage
Build Template
Chat Code: (copy/paste into in-game chat)
[&DQYfFRonMCt0AAAAdhIAAMsAAAByAAAAJgAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA=]
Gameplay
Updated Gameplay:
Can you use scepter in this build in place of the dagger?
You can but not optimal.
I’m loving this OW build (and the Support WvW build as well). I went with the Sigil of Agony for more damage, but my question is how does the Sigil of Cleansing (and Energy on the WvW build) actually work. It says when you weapon swap, but there is no weapon swapping. Does that mean it activates when using skills 4 & 5?
Yes it counts when you swap attunement
Awesome. Thanks for the quick reply Jen. I pretty much exclusively use your guides and builds. I appreciate it.
Any good alternatives to Relic of the Fractal until we can grab one of those?
Can you use dagger/dagger?
can i use sword ?
Sure you can
Why Celestial? why does this attribute appear in almost all (if not all) PVE/WvW builds recommended for beginners? I’m not criticizing, I’m a newbie, but I’d like to know what benefit this kind of attribute would bring to beginners, I’m looking at the builds and trying to understand the theory behind creating them to learn how to create my own
Why not? What would you use instead? Celestial provide everyhing so is only logical that is the best for beginners, read the toolips and try to understand why each stat gets value, we cannot explain what is already written there. If you want to learn more about threory crafting you should join us on discord to chat more.
In addition to what Jen said, you get a set of exotic celestial gear when you boost a character, which is something a new player might do, so celestial builds provide a straight forward way to get started on a freshly boosted character, with the exception of maybe getting new weapons, runes, and sigils.
Are there any decent alternatives to Relic of the Fractal for those who don’t own SotO?
Not really, maybe you can try Relic of the Krait to apply conditions when you summon the elite elemental maybe.
Thanks for your quick reply. I might go for that until I can get SotO.