Guild Wars 2

Obviously, the meta for power builds now is strength runes, and the meta for tanks is melandru runes. But, there is a nice little 6g total rune set that people are looking over, Hoelbrak runes. These runes are great. All of the might duration of strength runes with minus 2o% condi duration, that’s a bit OP. I have come to love these runes. I was wondering, what possibilities you guys see these runes open up for hybrid(tank/damage) builds for different classes?

This is a copy and paste of something I put together on the Ele forums just to show the difference between Strength and Hoelbrak.

This is WvW with the -40% food to go with it.

So there has been some talk about Strength Runes they are expensive right now mostly because they are good in WvW and PvE. Hoelbrak is a very very good option I wouldn’t say it’s worse then Strength but it’s different. Against a condition build you could potentially put on more pressure since you could stay on the enemy longer before being forced to back off.

First lets look at might stacking effectiveness

• Sigil of battle w/ Hoelbrak+30 arcana = 32 seconds of might
• Sigil of battle w/ Strength+30 arcana -= 35 seconds of might

Fire Field blast finisher(might from elemental attunement is the same)
15 seconds base

• Hoelbrak+30 arcana = 24 seconds of might
• Strenghth+30 arcana = 26 seconds of might

So lets look at 2 builds

Rune of Strength build
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fFAQJAoYhcM6c2zwwBd0APAC5fv2JKQ5qJfC-TFCFABls/AWKBB4EA4kSqkUu4wDAIR1fUTPApA0TZE-w

This is a typical build you would see in WvW standard D/D setup.
2272 Power
30% crit chance pre fury,
2575 Armor
179 crit dmg

75% might duration
7% damage while under might

Here you would see battle sigil w/ air or strength or energy.

Now what if we a few sacrifices but also add the ability to deal with conditions

Hoelbrak build
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fFAQJAoYhcM6c2zwwBd0APAC5fv2JKQ5qJfC-TVCFABAcCAuSJISKHcSJVSKRc4BAko6Pts/ga6BIFATKjA-w

2170 Power
31 Crit chance pre fury
2540 Armor
182 Crit damage

60% might duration
-60% condition duration

So the Effective Power difference in these 2 builds assuming 25 might stacks and 100% fury uptime.

Effective Power: 4727.77 Strength @ 25 stacks of might

Effective Power: 4321.99 for Hoelbrak @ 25 stacks of might

Both builds can stack 25 stacks of might Hoelbrak will have -60% condition duration. Assuming with food Food buff: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Bowl_of_Lemongrass_Poultry_Soup

In WvW sacrificing some damage for condition management isn’t unheard of. Eles wouldn’t even put points into water for cleansing water or cleansing wave. We would just take the 3 water and be done with it.

Do you do less dps then strength? Yes but you do much better against conditions reducing their potential damage by 60%. Warriors are running -65% with melandru -98% to cripple chill and immobilize.

A Elementalist can get -93% cripple, chill, and immobilize with Hoelbrak runes sacrifice some water points go into Earth for Stone Splinters get geomancers freedom. Just something to think about if you are looking for possible points to move.

TL:DR So in summary will you hit less then Strength users? Yes, but you will be much stronger against condition builds, and soft cc of power builds by far. The immobilze from the mesmer ileap may wear off before he can even blurred frenzy the strength user might be forced to get hit by it.

This is all assuming with food Food buff: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Bowl_of_Lemongrass_Poultry_Soup

The above is just a copy and paste of the thread I made on the Ele forums as I like to post different build ideas just to consider even if I might not run that setup.

The might stacking difference between the 2 runes is very minor and that is what many people first talk about when they bring up strength runes the might stacking and not so much the damage modifier.

Hoelbrak is a good rune it isn’t strength but it’s good in a different way.

Love Hoelbrak from even before the feature patch. I’m surprised that it hasn’t received any attention until now.

I was already using Healbrak, before it was cool! :O

Longtime hoelbrak user. Funny how it used to be that hoelbrak was the offensive version of melandru, now it’s the defensive version of strength.

Cygnus.6903:

Longtime hoelbrak user. Funny how it used to be that hoelbrak was the offensive version of melandru, now it’s the defensive version of strength.

Yea the runes might duration was buffed I think people just focus on the might stacking of strength when the difference is tiny. I used both sets pre-patch thought they where both great back then(when they finally fixed strength runes after 1.5 years).

Personally I love using hoelbrak runes on my mes for raiding. It’s a wonderful compromise between melandru and strength. Of course, I always have a melandru set ready for those more…challenging fights.

I use them on a might stacking Necro build….the -duration is great since you spend a LOT of time in DS without a condi clear available.

i wouldn’t call it “The Poor Man’s Compromise” , hoelbrak is becoming the “Must have” for power WvW roam.