Guild Wars 2

So i was wondering if anyone knows a good melee class that can tank and do bleeds. I really like this type of gameplay i have tried warrior and guardian and i like them both but i cant decide. I would prefer not to dual wield swords but if i have to i can. Just wanting any advice from some players who have been around for awhile as i have a renewed interest in playing.

I will be playing primarily pve but may venture into pvp some.

Any advice would be wonderful and thanks again.

Oshelotae.4176:

So i was wondering if anyone knows a good melee class that can tank and do bleeds. I really like this type of gameplay i have tried warrior and guardian and i like them both but i cant decide. I would prefer not to dual wield swords but if i have to i can. Just wanting any advice from some players who have been around for awhile as i have a renewed interest in playing.

I will be playing primarily pve but may venture into pvp some.

Any advice would be wonderful and thanks again.

Are you looing for a condition (heavy) class? then S+S & LB warrior would be my first idea, but if you’re looking for conditions there are a lot of builds

Some melee:

Earth D/D Ele (bleeds/fire)
S+S/ LB Warrior (bleeds/torment/burning)

Ranged:
SB/ A+T ranger (some bleeds, poison, burning)
Stf/ Sc+T mesmer (PU) (well a lot)
Stf/ Sc+ D necro (bleeds, poison, torment, terror)
SB/ P+D Thief (bleeds/torment/poison)

Grenade/ gasgun engi (a lot)

Tankyness is mostly derived from gear, Rabid or Dire Armor, Trinkets and Weapons tend to make you tank fast.

If you alsso want some power you culd choose a sinister build in a heavy or medium class and add some rabidpieces on legs/chest/head armor, while not very tanky it will have some more sustain and a more balanced way of doing dmg…

Im sorry its been a long time since i have played and i was wondering if you could explain things to me. Such as terms etc. Is condition this games version of bleeds? and…. all those terms and such are unknown to me. Sorry in advance for my noobiness.

Oshelotae.4176:

Im sorry its been a long time since i have played and i was wondering if you could explain things to me. Such as terms etc. Is condition this games version of bleeds? and…. all those terms and such are unknown to me. Sorry in advance for my noobiness.

PaxTheGreatOne.9472:

Are you looing for a condition (the build that is not focusing on a raw damage insted they apply conditions on enemies) (heavy) class? then S(sword)+S(sword) & LB (longbow)warrior would be my first idea, but if you’re looking for conditions there are a lot of builds

Some melee (melee means dmg done in close like with dagger, not from afar like shoot arrows from longbow):

Earth D(dagger)/D(dagger) Ele (elementalist) (bleeds/fire)-conditions you apply
S(sword)+S(sword)/ LB(longbow) Warrior (bleeds/torment/burning)-conditions you apply

Ranged (shooting from distance):
SB(shortbow)/ A+T (axe+torch) ranger (some bleeds, poison, burning)-conditions you apply
Stf(staff)/ Sc+T (scepter+torch) mesmer (PU) (well a lot)
Stf(staff)/ Sc+ D (scepter+dagger) necro (necromancer) (bleeds, poison, torment, terror)
SB(shortbow)/ P+D (pistol+dagger) Thief (bleeds/torment/poison)

Grenade/ gasgun engi (a lot)

Tankyness is mostly derived from gear, Rabid or Dire Armor, Trinkets and Weapons tend to make you tank fast.

If you alsso want some power you culd choose a sinister build in a heavy or medium class and add some rabidpieces on legs/chest/head armor, while not very tanky it will have some more sustain and a more balanced way of doing dmg…

there you go i explained it i hope.

edit: Oshelotae, when you say bleed, what do you mean? I have a feeling it doesn’t mean applying the condition.

Ah i see that works i can give that a try. Thanks!

Another question if you dont mind is the warrior the only one with Conditions or does a guardian have them as well? i will be making a warrior like the one you mentioned above but i also wanted to make a character similar to Logan Thackeray just for fun and RP purposes but i like the playstyle of tanky characters who use Conditions as their primary damage source. Is there any thing similar to that?

Oshelotae.4176:

Ah i see that works i can give that a try. Thanks!

Another question if you dont mind is the warrior the only one with Conditions or does a guardian have them as well? i will be making a warrior like the one you mentioned above but i also wanted to make a character similar to Logan Thackeray just for fun and RP purposes but i like the playstyle of tanky characters who use Conditions as their primary damage source. Is there any thing similar to that?

first please tell me what do you mean by bleeds. People will understand this as a condition but i have a feeling you are not asking that. please do explain.

Every class can do either zerk (pure dmg guild) or condition (applying freezes, confusions, burns, poisons and so on)

Some classes do it better then others, but every class can pull both off.

I guess what i mean by bleeds would be most similar to poison where the damage ticks over time and you apply stacks to get it going. That or you reapply the bleed to keep the damage going. I guess you could say something like burn damage where its a DOT. I hope that helps and maybe explains a bit more of what im looking for.

There are more conditions than just bleed. Here’s the list -

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Conditions#List_of_conditions

Rabid, Dire and Sinister are all different types of stats -

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Rabid#Rabid

For the other terms -

Earth D/D Ele = Elementalist in Earth attunement using Dagger/Dagger
S+S/LB = Sword and Sword/Longbow

SB/A+T = Shortbow/Axe and Torch
Stf/Sc+T = Staff/Scepter and Torch
Stf/Sc+D = Staff/Scepter and Dagger
SB/P+D = Shortbow/Pistol and Dagger

Ok. Well in that case see that post Pax wrote that I edited above.

As i said, every class can do conditions so don’t worry.

Oshelotae.4176:

I guess what i mean by bleeds would be most similar to poison where the damage ticks over time and you apply stacks to get it going. That or you reapply the bleed to keep the damage going. I guess you could say something like burn damage where its a DOT. I hope that helps and maybe explains a bit more of what im looking for.

Yes poison does a fixed amount of damage over time and reduces the effectiveness of healing. it is probably with weakness one of the most overlooked things in this game IMO.

For a complete list of conditions see the post above the above post .
Some conditions are meant to do damage, some are more supporting or damage negating. Conditions are “Armor Ignoring” (they will always do the same damage solely based on (modified) condition dmg, not being reduced by anything) Conditions can be cleared. (condition removal can be timewise, recducing a -ge of the time or complete using a condition removal skill ) Completely removed conditions need tro be reapplied for further damage, so if you stack 25 blleds on someone and he clears it you start with 0 stacks again.
There are traits (with most proffesions) which apply Conditions on Critical Hits (crit), as this is managed by precision precision is always handy as a stat on armor or weapons, 33-50 should be a minimum if it’s needed fora build, more is a plus, but difficult unless precision is your main stat, which will lower you maximum condition damage…
Conditions can be reflected, in some cases conditions can be applied to self (see Necromancer mostly), conditions can be spread (see Necromancer & Sigil of generosity)

Conditions are using 2 stats being : (Condition Damage and Condition Duration)
- Condition Damage will buff the damage/tick
- Condition Duration will lengthen the time conditions are applied (normally max 100%, some cases a bit longer due to applied traits)

For condition builds people will run condition gear:
- interesting armor stats (while condition damage as main stat is preferred, it’s not obligatory )
(Rabid, Dire, Sinister, Rampager, Apothecary, Carrion)
Interesting weapon stats
(Rabid, Dire, Sinister, Rampager, Apothecary, Carrion, Givers)
Interesting sigils: Bursting (+6% condition damage), corruption (stacking up to 250 condition damage, (Sigil of Strength (% of applying might on Crit) Sigil of Torment, Sigil of Doom, Sigil of Earth, Sigil of Agony))
Interesting runes: Rune of the Afflicted, Rune of the Aristocrat, Rune of the Undead, Rune of The Krait, and quite a lot more…

Damaging conditions being
-Bleed (Stacking Damage (max 25) over Time)
-Torment (Stacking Damage (max 25) over Time)
-Poison (Duration Stacking max 5 over Time)
-Burning (Duration Stacking max 5 over Time)
-Terror (Duration Stacking max 5 over Time) short duration, necro only

Supporting conditions are (so damage
- Vulnerability (Stacking Modifier (max 25) over Time)
(^will allow DPS (non condition users to apply max 25% more damage)
- Cripple (Duration Stacking max 5 over Time)
- Immobilize (Duration Stacking max 5 over Time)
- Fear (Duration Stacking max 5 over Time)
- Stun (Duration Stacking max 5 over Time)
- Daze (Duration Stacking max 5 over Time)

Damage negating
- Weakness (Duration Stacking max 5 over Time)
- Chill (Duration Stacking max 5 over Time)
- Blinds (Duration Stacking max 5 over Time) ends after 1st attack

Generally all proffesions can apply conditions while 1 proffesion is seen as a bad character for damaging conditions (being the guardian.)

Stacks are capped, so 25 stacks is the MAXIMUM (!)
Also when doing world bosses and so on, leaving condition builds hampered when doing open world content and when playing with other condition users.

Still conditions can be great fun. Most versatile with conditions IMHO is necro, though I use condition and hybrid (DPS+DOT (= mix of damage and conditions)) on half of my 15 characters.

Conditions seem to be the PvP meta. But I rarely play PvP.
In WvW they can be powerfull but not in zerg combat (blob-fights), only when roaming (small group infiltrations), mostly because the zerg can clear so many conditions)

Main stat = (most armors at l80 have 3 stats: 1 major (or main stat) and 2 minor stats
DOT= Damage over time (condition damage)
DPS = Damage per second (generally used for direct damage)
Hybrid= (using a mix of DPS and DOT, often buffed by a lot of might)
tick= duration of time between condition damage applications

There are a lot of things that you may confuse with other MMOs terms. Conditions in this game is a general term that every class can and usually will apply. There are usually no conditions that is unique to a class like in WoW or Final Fantasy. So, most classes can apply a condition like bleeding. But best would be to read the wiki-article about conditions:

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Condition

Also, I am not sure what you mean by ‘tank’. Do you mean your characters has to be very durable? Or do you mean your toon is the guy who holds aggro all the time? Be cause that’s not possible, since GW2 has no trinity (DPS, Tank, Heal).

Generally you can play every class as a ‘tank’ in GW2 terms: you can craft/buy armor that has only defensive stats, which makes a generally squishy character extremely durable. There are of course the classes with more durability – either with basic stats like warrior, or class mechanics like Guardian.

EDIT: I forgot something important about conditions in PvE. This mechanic is kinda broken. The problem is, that in PvE the cap for bleed stacks is 25. So in open world with bosses etc. this cap is reched within seconds, newly applied conditions by other sources (even non conditions warriors will apply with some traits bleeds) will overwrite your much stronger bleed stack with a weaker own version.

So generally conditions in PvE is NOT welcome. However, if you are in parties/groups in dungeons who doesn’t care you will be fine. But still; it is not advisable to make a conditions class – it is simply a broken mechanic in this game and well known since the betas and Anet hasn’t changed that.

Ah i see pax thanks for posting that as i didnt know there we so many. Despite having this game for a long time i havent been able to play it due to worldy duties. So for my Warrior would i go a build that has condition damage?

Like i said for my guardian i was thinking of doing it more for RP reasons so i wanted to do a sword/shield type guardian like logan thackeray. Any advice on that and the above warrior question?

ProtoGunner.4953:

There are a lot of things that you may confuse with other MMOs terms. Conditions in this game is a general term that every class can and usually will apply. There are usually no conditions that is unique to a class like in WoW or Final Fantasy. So, most classes can apply a condition like bleeding. But best would be to read the wiki-article about conditions:

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Condition

Also, I am not sure what you mean by ‘tank’. Do you mean your characters has to be very durable? Or do you mean your toon is the guy who holds aggro all the time? Be cause that’s not possible, since GW2 has no trinity (DPS, Tank, Heal).

Generally you can play every class as a ‘tank’ in GW2 terms: you can craft/buy armor that has only defensive stats, which makes a generally squishy character extremely durable. There are of course the classes with more durability – either with basic stats like warrior, or class mechanics like Guardian.

EDIT: I forgot something important about conditions in PvE. This mechanic is kinda broken. The problem is, that in PvE the cap for bleed stacks is 25. So in open world with bosses etc. this cap is reched within seconds, newly applied conditions by other sources (even non conditions warriors will apply with some traits bleeds) will overwrite your much stronger bleed stack with a weaker own version.

So generally conditions in PvE is NOT welcome. However, if you are in parties/groups in dungeons who doesn’t care you will be fine. But still; it is not advisable to make a conditions class – it is simply a broken mechanic in this game and well known since the betas and Anet hasn’t changed that.

I guess i mean mainly durable.

I prefer to be the guy in the front line doing subtle damage rather than being all about the burst i would rather rely on teammates to do the burst while i bolster their damage with my DOTs.

Oshelotae.4176:

Ah i see pax thanks for posting that as i didnt know there we so many. Despite having this game for a long time i havent been able to play it due to worldy duties. So for my Warrior would i go a build that has condition damage?

Like i said for my guardian i was thinking of doing it more for RP reasons so i wanted to do a sword/shield type guardian like logan thackeray. Any advice on that and the above warrior question?

I thing I forgot to mention Is the fact you do not damage items or objects with conditions…: You can kick or stick an armored door with a dagger and it takes damage , but if you set it on fire nothing happens.

For Warrior:

I play a S/S & LB hybrid warrior and I like it, it’s definatley not meta, but it works, at least for me.

My Warrior has 2 armors which I exchange to make myself more or less tanky at a cost of power:
1 Rabid, (CONDITION DMG./precision/toughness) with runes of strength
1 Sinister, (CONDITION DMG./precision/power)with runes of strength

It has Rampagers weapons (with Sigil of Strength, fill the other slot to your liking), and Sinister trinkets for as far as I could get them, the trinkets used to be Rampagers (PRECISION/condition dmg/power), but since the last few stories in silverwastes we got acces to sinister gear, whoich allows for more condition dmg

depending on how and where I run it I use the following build
?/6(III,VIII,XIII)/?/?/?
Variants are:
6(V,III,XI/XIII))/6(III,VIII,XIII)/0/0/2(III) for a more damage oriented build
2/6(III,VIII,XIII)/3(V)/0/3(III) for a general purpose build focused on durability
2/6(III,VIII,XIII)/0/4(V,VIII)/2(III)) for a general purpose/support build
0/6(III,VIII,XIII)/5(II,IX)/0/3(III) for a tanky build (mostly usefull when running Full Rabid)

Skills :
6: Healing signet
7,8,9, For Great Justice and a choice of Banner of STRENGTH! Signet of Might, Signet of the Dolyak, Balanced stance, Shake it Off
10 (Solo: signet of rage, when group Warbanner, unless you do content where it’s not very usefull (dungeons?))

For the idea you’ll get ~1240 condition dmg, ~2000 (1800-2250) power,
You will have no problem getting ~10-15 might (350-525 power AND condition dmg) (22-23 is possible SOLO when you have adrenaline (start LB: F1, 3, Banner,pick-up banner, 5, For Great Justice,Signet of Rage: 17 might) sigil of strength will add some more)
Your banner of strength will add up (170 power AND condition dmg)

And longbow can be very nice to start with in a fight as it will give a long burn , immo and might… If you are not stacking might this fanatically you could also use your firefiels with sword 2 to gain armor of fire for some extra burning duration….
So on average you will have 1850 condition damage and 2650 power, and while sword autoattacks do not scale very well with power this still allows for interesting abilities. Final trusts of 8-12 k are not uncommon and the second skill under impale can still do 3-5k dmg if you time ok, you will need the timeing as the torment is very usefull…

Just as a remark, you’ll be effective vs high armor targets, but in case you think you will outdamage your companions, I need to dissapoint you. DOT is not powerfull enough to really have a big effect in dungeons and PvE, due to the fact you ‘ll need time to apply your condition stacks… And when running with zerk friends there just isn’t any…

When I’m doing dungeons I usually go full Sinister with the support build, for Perma banner (well recharge will be 96 secs, up time 90… buff lasting 5 secs) and empower allies, While I’m not a pug carrier (AoE Might stacking Greatsword Warrior) I can still contribute 320 power and 170 condition dmage to the whole team. and maintain myself very well….

there are more combo’s to be made with the stat points above but ?/6/?/?/? will be base for nearly anything.

For food I tend to switch between sharpening stones (more power) and tuning crystals (more condition dmg) (or toxic variants (adding a bit of condition duration as well) AND +40% condition duration food (rare Veggi Pizza of Cactus fruit salad for example.) when needing pure dps I can take truffle steak(100pwr,70 prc), or fire flank steak(100 pwr/70 condition dmg)

Just look into it. I am not saying it will be better then a pure conditions warrior, I will just say it is more versatile then a pure conditions warrior.

there are more spinoffs but as the main traits are bound to offhand weapons and no warhorn or shield… you are bound to S/S or S/A often… and interesting variety would be axe offhand, for a very fast Adrenaline stacking attack… You’d lose a condition completely though AND a block. The criple you’ll get in return isn’t that interesting as sword has 2 on mainhand. Mace could give you a knockdown and a 10 vunerability attack… allowing for 10 seconds of more dps. and a 2 sec disable.