'Best' damage sigil?
10% at night sigil(only works at night) > ~15-25 stacks bloodlust > force > less than ~15 stacks bloodlust
If you are a highly survival build such as a thief roamer or invincible guardian the bloodlust pays off big time, if your only a marginally surviving class/build its better to just use force. Sigil of Night is always better then bloodlust or force at night. One way to tell if it is night is using Ascalon Catacombs weapons which glow at night.
Depends on your class, build, and weapon set ie. skills.
The math isn’t hard to do. The formulas for the differenct types of damage are in the wiki. You can do some testing in the mists and try out everything for free.
For what is most in demand, if popularity is a measure of effectiveness, check out the auction house prices.
For example, there are two sigils that proc might. One sigil on weapon swap gives 3 stacks of might for 20 seconds with a 10 second cooldown and the other sigil on a crit gives one stack for 10 seconds with a 1 or 2 second cooldown. Might affects both direct and condition damage. But, if you don’t crit alot, or swap weapons every 10 seconds, you are not going to get the benefit of that might. It also takes time to build the might up, so the full effect is not noticed for 10 seconds on both. There is much less contribution for short term combat. If you have little to no condition damage then 1/2 the potential of the gear is lost.
In other words, there is no correct answer to your question. There are many different variables and considerations for each piece.
Depends on your class, build, and weapon set ie. skills.
To clarify, I’m wondering this from the standpoint of a full zerker mesmer using a greatsword and a sword/sword (during daytime).
In addition, are there any sigils which do bonus damage at melee range?
(edited by Day Trooper.3605)
Sigil of Force is equivalent to a direct 5% boost to your power.
Sigil of Bloodlust is equal to 0-250 power.
Strictly speaking, a fully charged Sigil of Bloodlust is always better than Sigil of Force, as you would need 5000 power for the 5% on Force to be equal to the 250 on Bloodlust. Similarly, since all classes have a minimum of 916 power, a Sigil of Force is always better 4 charges of Sigil of Bloodlust.
However, if we take a look at the amount of stats you gain with full zerker gear, you’ll amount to an extra 1003 Power, putting you at 1,919. At this point, 5% is equal to 95 Power, meaning that you would need a minimum of 10 charges on Sigil of Bloodlust to be superior. And even then, with a fully charged Sigil of Bloodlust, we’re talking 7% more damage.
So in my opinion, it comes down to two simple criteria:
- Can you keep the charges on Sigil of Bloodlust?
- Can you get 10+ charges on Sigil of Bloodlust quickly?
If either of those is a “No”, I would go with Sigil of Force.
Sigil of fire by far the most explosive and helpful sigil for me. It does aoe damage with fire on enemies and enemies around them. Its around 5-6 gold but well woth it trust me.
vvuevv
For a Mesmer, do not use Sigil of Force/Night/XXX Slaying.
Why? They do not improve your Phantasm/Clone damage, and only improve your direct damage. Unless you are a Shatter Mesmer, where you deal mainly direct damage, these Sigils will hinder your damage.
Sigil of Accuracy does affect Illusions, so it’s useful in Condition (crit —> bleeds), zerker builds (more crit chance), and that’s the bulk of Mesmer builds. Of course Perception is still stronger than Accuracy (when full stack).
So what does this mean for a Mesmer player?
Sigil of Fire/Accuracy/Perception/Bloodlust/Corruption are your best bet for improved damage.
Sigil of Generosity/Purity/Nullification are overall useful.
Sigil of Energy/Battle/Strength/Blood are always nice to have (especially if you crit often for the latter two).
Other than that, the rest are for specific niche builds (like running Sigil of Earth with a critical condition build, or running sigil of life with a healing power mantra build).
Sigil of air gives a nice burst if you have the crit.
Sigil of air gives a nice burst if you have the crit.
Sigil of Air is the same as Sigil of Fire minus the AoE. It’s a good alternative if you’re poor, but Fire is typically better (especially when you go to WvW).