Guild Wars 2

I have a guardian and Im level 49 fotm.

I have 3 ascended knights armor pieces (the helm, gloves and shoulders with norn cultural skin) and making the other 3 ascended pieces zerker (chest, pants, boots). Rings, back, earings, necklace all ascended zerker.

If I spec my guardian to zerker build 15/15/0/20/10 (and other 10 pts undecided) can I keep my soldier runes on them and still qualify for zerker?

I do fractals a lot and also do many dungeon dailies and would love to get into those fast runs groups but if I ping my primarily 90% zerker gear but have soldier runes on them will they just kick me or would I not be considered zerker?

thanks

Firstly, you are fooling yourself if you think the bonus toughness on 3 Knights pieces are making any difference to your survival, especially as you’re level 49. Sucks that you got those pieces in ascended, but that’s why top players released early-meta updates featuring ascended.

15/15/0/20/10 sounds like a Hammer build to me, which isn’t really close to optimal in a regular dungeon, Hammer is more fractal-based. You probably need a Sword/X and GS and retrait as you switch between them and Fractals to qualify for a “speedrun” group.

And likely yes, Soldier runes will likely get you kicked as they are horrible. Your shouts shouldn’t be used for condition removal, Retreat should be saved for Aegis, and SYG saved for the Stability.

Dump the Soldier runes and put your 10 points into the bottom line, picking up the trait that allows Virtue of Resolve to cleanse 3 conditions. This, along with Purging Flames, is more than enough condition removal.

I can understand you not wanting to replace your 3 Ascended Knights pieces, but if you are getting regularly kicked, just buy 3 Exotic Zerker pieces and be done with it.

Honestly, if someone is going to kick you over 3 knight’s pieces, they probably aren’t worth it anyway. That being said, however, soldier runes aren’t really that great in dungeons, and you’d be better off just putting purging flames on your utility bar and using light field combos to remove conditions.

Flissy.4093:

Firstly, you are fooling yourself if you think the bonus toughness on 3 Knights pieces are making any difference to your survival, especially as you’re level 49. Sucks that you got those pieces in ascended, but that’s why top players released early-meta updates featuring ascended.

I was making a full set of knights but am thinking of converting to zerker for last 3 pieces.. I purposely made the smaller 3 pieces cuase I was already doubting knights but figured 3 pieces wont really make me a complete outcast….hopefull..lol I was doing knights since I basically been pugging fotm since release and when I find myself in those groups that just don’t get it, I usually end up having to been the “tank” (without there really being a tank in gw2) while also dishing out as much damage as I can (no wet noodle here) so knights to me seemed a someone optimal stat for my predicament. If I were in a regular group then eventually I would be able to trust the players around me and commit to DPS maximization. But you won’t hear a argument from me that Zerks are superior because they are in everyway.

I was more concerned with the soldier runes. I can definitely switch them out or maybe just get a second (exotice) zerk set with different runs for dungeon speed runs.. I’ll be honest with you, Im newish to MMO’s and PC games (this is my first and only MMO/PC game I ever played and played since release) but I fail to see the huge issue with soldier runs if your gonna have shouts anyways? I usually keep em for emergencies anyway but usually emergencies involve some kind of condition that slows you down when your trying to move quickly. I’ll pop focus 5 when im about to rez someone as mai trin or some other boss is about to destroy a party member…then if I see that we just might not make it i’ll pop aegis for that last “omg” moment.

All this is moot since in most dungeons its not that hard so I can zerk it, its more for some situations in fotm.

And yes the 15/15/0/20/10 (+10 anywhere) was for a hammer crit build I just started using in fotm but I was gonna just swap in GS or sword for dungeons and put the 10pts where it would increase my damage most.

Im looking forward to trying out full zerk with zerker runes in dugeons real soon : )

PS…should I stick to ruby orbs? or is there a set that is affordable and good (1gold or less per rune)

PPS… Its probably not the place but if anyone here are any experienced players who want a party member that doesn’t mind being told how or what to do, isn’t a troll ever, always wants to improve, is totally about the party and doesn’t take things bad then PM and I’d love to join up with you. I usually play about 5 hours a day and usually 2-3hours before reset to 2-3 hours after reset (weekends longer). NA server (blackgate)

I am running a few knight’s trinkets on my guard with the rest as zerk. I have never been gear cheked in any of my fractal runs and all of them since the update have been successful( except one we got a glitch and had to leave :o). With most of them being done in under an hour. I only got up to 41 atm tho. imo its not really a big deal. Only really hardcore groups will care. and those groups are not very fun to party with anyway cuz there all perfectionists, being with them is like walking on eggshells lol. Unless u can play perfect too.

Sniper,

Your 3 pieces of Knight Ascended are not really necessary, they’re there for your confidence. If you’re able to run dungeons with those without getting downed, switch to Zerker as you craft the missing Zerker pieces.

Regarding your build, it’s a hammer build indeed. If you pug a lot, just don’t care about what people say: keep it! I run the hammer build in fractals and in pug dungeons. A lot. People just don’t care as long as they don’t feel the weapon is slowing down.

If you run with regular guys and everybody knows how each other play, switch to Sw/F+GS build.

Also, Flissy is mixing Zerker build and speedrun. You never ever spoke about speedrun so focus on your build. When you want to do speedruns, just switch to Sw/F+GS. If you want to relax, keep the hammer build so far.

Finally, when you’ll be more confident in yourself, get dps runes instead of soldiers.

Finally, often people ask if I’m a dps guardian. I ping one piece of ascended armor (which is Zerker, since all are Zerker) not the complete armor. And they just go on with it. Just do the same. They’ll see your soldiers runes, but hey, they asked for zerker gear, not zerker with scholar runes! If they mind it, just leave the group you’ll have no fun, and at the first failure they’ll blame you and kick you.

I would think the soldier runes worried them more than the knight pieces. Knight really isn’t going to keep you alive much longer than zerker.

Chances are it’s either a one or two hit kill for you.. I you’re lucky you might survive a second hit with knight but it’ll be close.

Scholar runes should be on all zerker gear.

Why would you need soldier runes for high level fractal? Since when is wall of reflections a shout?

If you want a dps build – use DPS runes. If in doubts use divinity

I want to clarify something about my original question. The post had 2 parts to it which have seemingly become one and probably my fault in terms of wording it.

Part 1) Im not concerned about fractals and knights with soldier runes, I pug primarily and never had an issue in good or bad groups.. Pinging gear isn’t really a big thing up to 49 (not sure after that). The fractals thing came up because I mention stats that are primarily used by hammer build and so it fractals became part of the discussion. I had made nights gear cause I can’t afford 2 sets of ascended armor and I wanted a versatile one for dungeons and fractals and also be able to survive in bad pug groups cuase I usually don’t leave a group no matter what and tough it out.. usually helping the most I can. The fractals part of this discussion should probably stop here.. haven’t really had an issue in fractals but thanks for the replies either way.

Part 2) regarding dungeons. Yes, the kngihts gear isn’t a big deal and the runes seem more of a big deal so I will get myself a second set of zerker gear with all those kitten CoF tokens..lol I’ll pop in some orbs in it or cheaper runes and there ya go..

Skady.5916:

Why would you need soldier runes for high level fractal? Since when is wall of reflections a shout?

If you want a dps build – use DPS runes. If in doubts use divinity

I’ll use shouts most times when wall isn’t needed and then pop it in when it is needed.. I have aegis and stability shouts most of the time. Obviously put in the aegis and SoA when needed. My gameplay isn’t in question here, I usually organize my pug groups because people can sometimes pretend they know what to do but don’t or run off doing there own thing..lol not a big deal if I take 1 minute to clarify some things. Your right, soldier runes are not always needed but as I said, more often then not Im in groups where some people start going down left and right and I have to be able to get over there quickly. These runs don’t always occur but since I run 4 runs a day it usally happens at least once or twice daily so having them helps more then not having them in those situations. But again, I will agree with you if you have a strong group then DPS will rock. I love to melee most bosses even Mossman but most people just run around. I’d rather stack and rez if needed then running around while adds chase you around.

I want to clarify here, I agree with everyone about DPS. I’m not a fan of comments like “wall is not a should (sarcasm)”. I hope that I can get the right gear and right set up and most importantly the right group.

Thanks

In my opinion, Soldier runes invite bad play. You should almost never be running a full shout bar. The main shouts, like Retreat, should not be used for Condi removal. You should probably just go with ruby orbs or scholar runes. If you’re trying to get into more of a speed run group, you should start playing the part.

I’ll put you in the friend list for when we need a pug. You sound like a level headed guy with good potential. Plus that bowbear ranger we got last night….ugh.

Sniper.3487:

If I spec my guardian to zerker build 15/15/0/20/10 (and other 10 pts undecided) can I keep my soldier runes on them and still qualify for zerker?

In my opinion no. When I hear someone say they are Zerker this is what I envision

Armor=Beserker
Runes= Scholar , Ruby orbs if poor
Trinkets= Beserker+Beserker
Weapons=Beserker

Sniper.3487:

I do fractals a lot and also do many dungeon dailies and would love to get into those fast runs groups but if I ping my primarily 90% zerker gear but have soldier runes on them will they just kick me or would I not be considered zerker?

thanks

I think you are overestimating your Zerker-ness. You mention being in 90% zerker

6 armor slots
6 accessories etc
2 weapons
= 14 slots for zerker gear

14 – 3 (knight’s armor slots)high 70% and then the non zerker runes.

Well I hope that helps answer your questions

As many other people said, the 3 knights pieces won’t make much of a difference for the damage you are going to take, I wouldn’t mind but when people see you ping this they might get the wrong impression. I would almost suggest keeping 3 Berserkers pieces just in case.

As for the rune, most dungeons/fractals don’t require much condition removal, Purging flame (which is extremely good for dungeon/fractals) will be enough in most cases, and when it’s not you can always put the extra 10 Points in virtues and get absolute resolution. Also you wouldn’t believe the difference scholar rune does to your damage :P.

Using soldier will make you want to put more Shout on your utility bar than you should, and you will end up using them at the wrong moment ( I.E. using retreat to remove a condition instead of blocking a important attack). And you’ll start loving skills like purging flame/hallowed ground. And when no condition removal is require at all, you can put things like bane signet and not waste the potential of your rune.

Other than that your 15/15/0/20/10 build is a very good build for fractal, the perma protection from the hammer is really nice when mixed with Skale venom (weakness) my group using full Berserker can facetank boss like mossman/legendary archdiviner using this combo. For dungeon you might want to keep a Sw/Fc in your inventory, not only is the auto attack very nice, but you also you get access to vulnerability and extra blind, along with a 3 blocks skills which is often very welcome.

Also about Sw/Fc Obal tested and you get something like 95% using a hammer auto attack with a 15/25/0/20/10 build of what you would get with the Sw/Fc, the damage lost is really not that big.

Hello, a bit off-topic, a question from my part:
– I play a power necro. I plan to have ~3 knights pieces on my armor for a bit more suravility, the rest being zerk. Why do you guys say that more toughness is not worth it?
Thx.

rogerwilko.6895:

Hello, a bit off-topic, a question from my part:
– I play a power necro. I plan to have ~3 knights pieces on my armor for a bit more suravility, the rest being zerk. Why do you guys say that more toughness is not worth it?
Thx.

Because in PvE, you can use damage avoidance skills and dodges to get around most damage.

rogerwilko.6895:

Hello, a bit off-topic, a question from my part:
– I play a power necro. I plan to have ~3 knights pieces on my armor for a bit more suravility, the rest being zerk. Why do you guys say that more toughness is not worth it?
Thx.

Most of the fights where you might actually want the extra toughness do so much damage that 3 pieces of knights aren’t really going to do enough to save you (also known as have a dodge or blind prepared). And honestly necros have a deep enough health pool that the attacks that might down a unprepared guardian/thief/ele only take like 2/3 of the necro’s health. You need to go all in to really be able to facetank 1-2 hits in this game, which makes your character hit really weakly. So its much better to go all in on damage and not let the bosses get enough time to swing more than a couple of times so you don’t run out of dodges/blindes/ect.

To answer OP’s question. I’d kick you for those Soldier runes. If you had Scholar runes, Full zerker trinkets and weapons. With 3 zerker armor and 3 knight armor. I’d let you stay, but I would assume you aren’t very good and would keep a close eye on you.(I’m very tough on other guards, since I love the class so much).

edit: how is H@rd a bad word? lol

notabot.3497:

rogerwilko.6895:

Hello, a bit off-topic, a question from my part:
– I play a power necro. I plan to have ~3 knights pieces on my armor for a bit more suravility, the rest being zerk. Why do you guys say that more toughness is not worth it?
Thx.

Most of the fights where you might actually want the extra toughness do so much damage that 3 pieces of knights aren’t really going to do enough to save you (also known as have a dodge or blind prepared). And honestly necros have a deep enough health pool that the attacks that might down a unprepared guardian/thief/ele only take like 2/3 of the necro’s health. You need to go all in to really be able to facetank 1-2 hits in this game, which makes your character hit really weakly. So its much better to go all in on damage and not let the bosses get enough time to swing more than a couple of times so you don’t run out of dodges/blindes/ect.

thx for the explanation.

Cat Has Ducks.1982:

To answer OP’s question. I’d kick you for those Soldier runes. If you had Scholar runes, Full zerker trinkets and weapons. With 3 zerker armor and 3 knight armor. I’d let you stay, but I would assume you aren’t very good and would keep a close eye on you.(I’m very tough on other guards, since I love the class so much).

^ This guy is trying too hard to be an elitist.

Flissy.4093:

Cat Has Ducks.1982:

To answer OP’s question. I’d kick you for those Soldier runes. If you had Scholar runes, Full zerker trinkets and weapons. With 3 zerker armor and 3 knight armor. I’d let you stay, but I would assume you aren’t very good and would keep a close eye on you.(I’m very tough on other guards, since I love the class so much).

^ This guy is trying too hard to be an elitist.

PUG arah for two months every day p1-3, then come talk to me about not being elitist. The things you run into in PUG land will change anyone.

Cat Has Ducks.1982:

Flissy.4093:

Cat Has Ducks.1982:

To answer OP’s question. I’d kick you for those Soldier runes. If you had Scholar runes, Full zerker trinkets and weapons. With 3 zerker armor and 3 knight armor. I’d let you stay, but I would assume you aren’t very good and would keep a close eye on you.(I’m very tough on other guards, since I love the class so much).

^ This guy is trying too hard to be an elitist.

PUG arah for two months every day p1-3, then come talk to me about not being elitist. The things you run into in PUG land will change anyone.

He’s not really trying. When you party with him and know what you’re doing, you appreciate the elitism. He’s saved me several headaches when some horrible PUG joins and other carebears don’t have the heart to kick them.

Also, it blocked hard because of the word you used after it =)

Ethics.4519:

Cat Has Ducks.1982:

Flissy.4093:

Cat Has Ducks.1982:

To answer OP’s question. I’d kick you for those Soldier runes. If you had Scholar runes, Full zerker trinkets and weapons. With 3 zerker armor and 3 knight armor. I’d let you stay, but I would assume you aren’t very good and would keep a close eye on you.(I’m very tough on other guards, since I love the class so much).

^ This guy is trying too hard to be an elitist.

PUG arah for two months every day p1-3, then come talk to me about not being elitist. The things you run into in PUG land will change anyone.

He’s not really trying. When you party with him and know what you’re doing, you appreciate the elitism. He’s saved me several headaches when some horrible PUG joins and other carebears don’t have the heart to kick them.

Also, it blocked hard because of the word you used after it =)

Thank you for the kind words. And nice catch lol. I didn’t really read it again to myself. But I see now what they were censoring.

Fror.2163:

Finally, often people ask if I’m a dps guardian. I ping one piece of ascended armor (which is Zerker, since all are Zerker) not the complete armor. And they just go on with it. Just do the same. They’ll see your soldiers runes, but hey, they asked for zerker gear, not zerker with scholar runes! If they mind it, just leave the group you’ll have no fun, and at the first failure they’ll blame you and kick you.

So if they are looking for full zerkers (which clearly means zerk everything with DPS runes, sigils, consumables) and they mind you having knight pieces and soldier runes then they are probably jerks and you should leave….What?

That’s why I lost all my faith in the LFG tool. Too many people running whatever and joining or posting for speedruns. And then calling you names when you ask them WTH they are doing.

Upham.6137:

Fror.2163:

Finally, often people ask if I’m a dps guardian. I ping one piece of ascended armor (which is Zerker, since all are Zerker) not the complete armor. And they just go on with it. Just do the same. They’ll see your soldiers runes, but hey, they asked for zerker gear, not zerker with scholar runes! If they mind it, just leave the group you’ll have no fun, and at the first failure they’ll blame you and kick you.

So if they are looking for full zerkers (which clearly means zerk everything with DPS runes, sigils, consumables) and they mind you having knight pieces and soldier runes then they are probably jerks and you should leave….What?

That’s why I lost all my faith in the LFG tool. Too many people running whatever and joining or posting for speedruns. And then calling you names when you ask them WTH they are doing.

Yes, Tyria is the land of the play how I want as I tell you you have to let me play with you… people. =)

Actually before I post I was wondering how to close a topic for future reference.

If I may add something, I don’t get angry with people that are perfectionist or elitist or whatever cuase I know that getting into a good group for fotm 40+ you want solid players that know what there doing and do it well. That sometimes demand things of players like telling guards to bring wall or SoA there not… or asking warriors to equip banners when there not…

The whole purpose of this post was to ask if having soldier runes matters and I agree it does if your in a good group so I went out and got myself a full set of zerker armor and put on ruby orbs… easy as pie with all those dungeon tokens.

90% of the time I run fotm I run with my knights gear with soldier runes and zerker accessories (15/15/0/20/20) build beucase more often then not the fights are extended and ranged no matter what I say so then I have to adapt. BUT if I were to get in a party that said full zerker and I can see they know what there doing then I’ll swap ASAP.

Basically I would rather have 4 elitist in my party over non. They know what there doing, you know its going to be a good run.

Thanks for the replies

I mostly run a warrior in dungeons. I run 0 cleanse abilities. I run a full DPS build (36k hundred blades and eviscerate etc). I think its a fairly default build for a warrior. I find CD in FoTM is not a big deal (although Im only level 31). Some of the other dungeons CD hits a bit harder though. So I think you will find that it depends on which dungeon you are doing. I noticed your main emphasis is on FoTM but you mentioned other dungeons also. In some dungeons I appreciate the guard running soldiers runes. I don’t think it promotes bad play as some have said. Just in some dungeons players need a source of group cleanse. But then again it would probably be better to use a whirl finisher on a light field rather than reduce the guards damage so maybe they are right

You guys take this game too serious. I mean all this “gotta have zerker to do this, gotta have zerker to do that. Gonna kick this guy, gonna kick that guy”. The dungeons in this game are like a Bigwheel with training wheels. You can run it in any gear and succeed unless you REALLY are bad in which case, no amount of gear will save you. If you want hard, play EQ1 back in the days when you needed to get flagged for raids and it took 80+ people to do stuff like Rathe council, Corinev, Fennin Ro, Plane of Time. Not to mention the really old school days of breaking into Plane of Hate and Plane of Fear. A bad day here is nothing compared to 6 hour corpse runs in Plane of Growth. I love reading these so called elitists on this game who think they have conquered anything other than trivial dungeons.

But I do agree that running 3 knights pieces is kind of a waste since that toughness isn’t really anything. I personally run zerker ascended everything and depending on group makeup, either Jugg with a hammer build for fractals or Sunrise for when I want a change. But at the end of the day, if you are having fun and joking around while playing, even wiping can be entertaining. A lot of the self proclaimed elitists are high strung control freaks and you really don’t want to play with them anyways especially in a game like this where there is no raiding and no real “trophies” to show for being a well oiled machine.

And ditch those soldier runes. They are crap. Run absolute resolution with renewed focus and purging flames. That’s like 9+ conditions you can rip off in a couple secs. If you need to remove than that in that short of time, you need to work on dodging better :P

Also FYI most of the groups that specify “full zerker or kick” are usually a couple bad people who need to be carried so they specifically look for full zerker people who they assume can play in full zerker gear and if they cant, they kick them. So save yourself the headache and don’t even bother. Like I said, I run full ascended zerker everything and have been doing dungeons since I hit level 35 a day or 2 after headstart and I even avoid those kind of groups.

Sauzo.6821:

most of the groups that specify “full zerker or kick” are usually a couple bad people who need to be carried so they specifically look for full zerker people who they assume can play in full zerker gear and if they cant, they kick them.

I run coe daily and always advertise or join “zerks only” parties. I always check everyone’s health from my side and ~30% of the players that participate in these runs are lying. When I confront them about their gear/build most of the time they keep quiet and ignore me or start making excuses.

What’s worse, are in parties where everyone is zerk most of the time we have trouble reaching 20k+ party dps because most of them either run a bad build or straight up don’t know how to properly play their own class. And this is why I would highly prefer to advertise “zerk wars only” because it’s extremely easy to play a zerk war and still be somewhat competitive.

I’m slowly losing my patience with the people who use the LFG tool.

OIIIIIO.7825:

I think you are overestimating your Zerker-ness. You mention being in 90% zerker

6 armor slots
6 accessories etc
2 weapons
= 14 slots for zerker gear

14 – 3 (knight’s armor slots)high 70% and then the non zerker runes.

Well I hope that helps answer your questions

I think you are making an undue simplification here. Full ascended weapons&armor&trinkets (without infusions or runes) will offer you 2571 points of stats. You lose the equivalent of 35 points of stats per knights piece in shoulders/hands/footwear, 105/2571 = 0,04 →4% so in terms of armor this would be 96% zerk, not 70% .

Sniper.3487:

Actually before I post I was wondering how to close a topic for future reference.

If I may add something, I don’t get angry with people that are perfectionist or elitist or whatever cuase I know that getting into a good group for fotm 40+ you want solid players that know what there doing and do it well. That sometimes demand things of players like telling guards to bring wall or SoA there not… or asking warriors to equip banners when there not…

The whole purpose of this post was to ask if having soldier runes matters and I agree it does if your in a good group so I went out and got myself a full set of zerker armor and put on ruby orbs… easy as pie with all those dungeon tokens.

90% of the time I run fotm I run with my knights gear with soldier runes and zerker accessories (15/15/0/20/20) build beucase more often then not the fights are extended and ranged no matter what I say so then I have to adapt. BUT if I were to get in a party that said full zerker and I can see they know what there doing then I’ll swap ASAP.

Basically I would rather have 4 elitist in my party over non. They know what there doing, you know its going to be a good run.

Thanks for the replies

No.

You don’t want a party of elitists. You want a party of good players who can communicate, work well together and know their jobs in that particular instance.

This is how you tell the difference:

Good players will say hello, ask questions about techniques, give feedback on issues, try to help solve problems and generally not be jerks.

Elitists may or MAY NOT be good players, but think that FULL zerk gear, the right runes, weapons, and class/skills entitle them to complain about everything everyone else is doing without actually contributing to the success of a dungeon path.

There is a middle ground between full clerics pugs and the “speed run elite,” where people aren’t kicked for using reasonable runes. Try to find that space, and remember, everyone can have an off day, so give people a break if they are civil and have at least attempted to be in the “meta” with their stuff.

People seriously need to whine less about non-zerk guardians. I see no purpose running zerk in all the low tier/easy dungeons when the difference in speed is negligible. If you really must be anal about speed, don’t run with pugs at all. The time you waste kicking that non-zerk guardian probably balance it out when you do get that zerk class you want in these easy dungeons.

Tachii.3506:

People seriously need to whine less about non-zerk guardians. I see no purpose running zerk in all the low tier/easy dungeons when the difference in speed is negligible. If you really must be anal about speed, don’t run with pugs at all. The time you waste kicking that non-zerk guardian probably balance it out when you do get that zerk class you want in these easy dungeons.

Many times the people that are gear checking are doing many runs. A person running a good build will often also have a better grasp on the mechanics of the content. All it takes sometimes is one person to slow things down.

Sometimes my guild will run premade with 3-4 guildies and get a pug or two. Even with a couple of gear checked pugs we would finish a full tour possibly hours ahead of a regular pug.