Guild Wars 2

Assume full zerker at both, and gs / rifle; I believe you just need a ranged weapon for fotm (but feel free to discuss this after posting sound arguments).
Which one would you prefer in a pug group for fotm or dungeon run, and why?

Build 1 (dps)
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fIAQJARUjkONvJPaP4wBEzDhAIKiLjAkJ0HmDA

Build 2 (dps/shouts)
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fIAQJARUncO08YyDSBhDZAx8wIAii4UIATPQDyINA

Build 1, once it’s converted to the meta and the useless rifle is replaced by axe+mace. A ranged weapon is the exception rather than the rule, even in fractals.

1. there is no reason to always have a ranged weaponset on hand in every fractal. swap out the ranged weapon for axe/mace whenever you can, as the knockdown is very helpful. warhorn also has its uses for vigour/weakness uptime. you may also want axe/x + ranged set in some cases, as it allows you to take one of the useful offhands.

2. rifle is kitten, use longbow as it has better AOE capabilities and more useful skills in general, in addition to doing similar/superior damage (longbow AA projectile range is also more than 1000 since the shots arc)

also, build 1 over build 2 any day. build 2 is garbage.

Truth to say, I have been running both of them, starting with the full damage, and gs / axe-mace with srowd – horn for certain situations. However for mid fractal pugs, 20 – 39 the build 2 was just working better. Simply because I saw way too much kiting in fotm and way too much deaths which make the runs in long terms so very slow and painfull.
I even used a sword/horn and the horn trait in tactics for certain situations, where you need to evade aoe fields.
But the only thing I really miss is the X in Arms.
Remember we are talking pugs now. And the time spend on the particular run starts at the moment when you look for people and ends when you get the daily chest – so gathering people and leaving bad groups to start over counts too.

guanlongwucaii.3162:

swap out the ranged weapon for axe/mace whenever you can, as the knockdown is very helpful.

I liked the axe/mace and note that you can still use the axe/mace even with the b2, and while i liked the mace5, you have rifle5 instead which lasts shorter, but spawns more often.
I love the vulnerability and raw dps the axe/mace offers, but again the rifle4 works nice, too, and when stacked I always prefer to spam gs2 anyway. And here comes the bigger disadvantage of the b2, the 1.5 sec longer cd.

So while I agree with most arguments you post, I do not think the b2 is as crappy as you say – in fact it works better for situation where you can’t rely on some fixed tactics with stacking, and, raw damage aside, the rifle offers similar utility. The raw damage is also somehow compensated with the conditions, and the ability to kite.

Sounds like you’ve already decided.

30/25/0/0/15

You run Axe/Mace + Axe/Warhorn for trash. You tremor them when they group then Call to Arms to put weakness on them since weakness is so OP in fractals. You can also use skale venom which is also OP for fractals. This will mitigate a decent amount of damage done to your group.

You run Axe/Sword (Energy on Sword for overkill) + GS for bosses. This is pretty much easy mode with all the weapon evades, bursting for more energy, and energy sigil proc.

You should have Battle Standard on your bar at all times.

You should be swapping traits around when you swap around gs + axe/sword for bosses and pure axe for trash
Strength IX → X
Arms X → I

If you need a range swap for something then you will want a Longbow not a Rifle.

laharl.8435:

Sounds like you’ve already decided.

You are wrong, actually I went back to 30/25/0/0/15 earlier today to test how will the revert feel. I will also try to go more axe heavy as obal suggests in his post.

I feel and I am more vulnerable without the panic buttons I had to keep the party members alive, but there is a noticeable damage increase. An improvement in a good group, but a drawback in a bad group, where you waste a lot of valuable time trying to ress the other players.

I had one good 20 – 39 run, one slow, painfull and frustrating 10 – 19 run, and one smooth ac p3 speedrun. And it is the easy dungeon run with the fixed strategy with a lots of stacking, where the dps build really shines. But there I had no doubts, and while I was doing numerous dungeon runs on almost daily basis I never thought about a build change.
It is the fractals where I’m not yet decided.