Caster weapon and shield?

What would the be ideal stats for a caster weapon and shield/offhand for a elementalist?

I am particularly curious regarding the shield as the offhand is somewhat obvious.

Caster weapon is fairly obvious as most green fire wands have good stats.. I find most fire eles will go with [wiki]Exuro's Will[/wiki]* or [wiki]Rago's Flame Wand[/wiki]

Offhand is fairly obvious as well. Something like the [wiki]The Bison Cup[/wiki] would work fairly well.

*This is a staff, so you can't equip an offhand

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/List_...t_unique_items

Oh bad wording!

I meant swords and shields! For the AI no dazing you effect. Also what do you think looks best? A caster axe or sword? And what kind of sword?

A weapon with stats like the [wiki]Totem Axe[/wiki] or [wiki]Rajazan's Fervor[/wiki] are pretty good for farming and casters who use enchants. Either that or something with +5 energy and +30 health.

For a shield, typically it would be +30 health and +10 AR against different damage types (like a different one for slashing, fire, lightning, etc). That's my opinion though.

As for looks, that's all up to you. I think there is a list on wiki on all the different sword and axe skins out there.

Yeah, so the prefix of the martial weapon doesn't matter?

For martial weapons...
10% HSR and +30 health for ele, basically.

You don't need that +5e.

As for a shield... a whole bunch of +10AL vs. X - particularly Slashing and Fire, with +30 health.

Wow. So not only do I need a caster shield, I need a whole collection of them..

well, if you plan on doing any serious pve, you most certainly do. If you plan on just running around and focus swapping in pve, you can get away with +10 vs fire, +10 vs earth, +10 vs lightning, and +10 vs piercing, as it's really easy to kite melee monsters, but impossible to kite non-projectile direct damage spells, and somewhat difficult to kite various projectiles when they come at you in large quantities.

It is actually not that difficult to obtain a whole set if you have access to EotN:

Marduc Snakeslayer in Drakkar Lake near the exit to Varajar Fells trades you a Aureate Aegis (a nice skin too btw if you ask me) with a inherent +30 HP mod and an inscription slot for only 5 Stone Summit Emblems.

Those are easily farmed during the repeatable quest by Kilroy Stoneskin (Kilroy Stonekin's Punch-Out Extravaganza!) in Gunnar's Hold.

You then only have to get your hands on the shield inscriptions which are not that expensive (beside the -5 physical 20% chance ~ a bad mod overall).
And in addition to Thom Bangalter ... I would take vs. cold over earth any day since most earth damage can be avoided by kiting or is armor ignoring anyway.
Multiple deep freeze in Torment Area ~ Nightfall, Far Shivernpeaks ~ EotN and Prophecies ~ Shivernpeaks are something you will like extra armor against.
For PvP you need all anyway.

And like Stormlord Alex said go for a martial weapon with 10% HCT inscription.
A spear is always a good choice if you want to hit trappers, but any other weapon will do good if you like the looks better.

I personally go for cripple or furious but that is just for particular builds which are not need for most others.
Make a fire mod spear if you use mark of rodgort to trigger the burning in down times ... but in the end you should cast anyway all day long =)

Don't forget that you should get your hands on a so called 40/40 set as well; which means one & off hand with both 20% halves casting time and recharge ... nice for nuking if you are not under fire.
Oh and forget the Bison Cup -.- the armor is gone when you need it the most ... bad choice.

If you have lots of pve-only spells in your bar consider bringing a staff instead of the offhand combo since the 20% recharge of staves affects all spells.

Cheers,
Timebandit

Cheers! Thanks a lot!

That IS a nice skin... Now I get to work on my survivor too!

Off Topic:
If you don't want to risk to much there is a fairly save xp farm right out the door of Boreal Station if you have access to Hard Mode already ... killing first 10 level 30 wurms at the beginning is boring but grants good xp.

Good luck,
Timebandit

Still haven't beaten the game yet... Messed up Oola's lab 4 times already from disconnects and stupidity.

I just want some stuff for my ele to look fly.

Off-topic: You haven't died, right? If you did, you can't get the Survivor title.

I operate under the assumption that the norn area is incredibly easy, and ice enemies are fairly rare, especially when compared to the number of guys that spam air magic at you (mind shock pop ups in norn areas, arc lightning guys in factions, lightning surge plants everywhere in NF, the blinding surge undead all through EOTN, mursaat, etc) whereas cold damage is limited to a few easy to kill elementals in one specific area in the expansion, and incredibly rare everywhere else. You could probably get away without earth OR cold, to be honest, and limit it to lightning, fire, and piercing mods in pve if you're on a budget but prefer form over function and want to spend your resources on a few desirable skins.

my ele uses a zodiac shield with fire +1 20% on it, lol

Well I definitely want a piercing one to fight ranger who will hit me the most that's not elemental damage.

Fire and lightling cause they hit hardest... Maybe an earth if I have the spare dough.

And a slashing in case a war gets through?

Hey Angmar Nite,
There is another thread where damage types in PvE are discussed, you might wanna check that out for further information:

The most common types of damage in PvE?

Sidenote: Another nice addition are vs. monster type shields that are found in the high end market (gotta have big money), at crafters (vs. charr) or greens.

But remember: In the end any max shield will give at least +8 Armor and +30 HP and it really doesn't matter too much in pve, like N E D M stated.
Most of us have finished the campaigns with less then topnotch equipment - just ask how many people still run major vigors and only one weapon set. You rarely see weapon swaps in pve and most of the time it isn't really necessary as well. Nice to be the exception though.

Have fun,
Timebandit

Yes I have a:

+10 vs Fire
+10 vs Ice
+10 vs Lighting
+10 vs Earth
+10 vs Piercing
+10 vs Slashing
+10 vs Blunt

+10 vs Undead
+10 vs Demon
+10 vs Charr

And a 16AR +10AR vs Dwarves +30hp shield that I use on my Warrior that has been invaluable for the Slaver's Exile Dungeons that I would not give up

Holy cow!
I am jealous now

Do you guys carry all these shields on you or assess an area before you go and take the 2-3 shields best suited for the area? I assume the latter but wanted to check.