Guild Wars 2

I want to create a character for farming the fractals but I’m not sure which class.
First I thought upon a guardian but than I had the idea that warrior would perhaps be better.
What is your advice?
Level would be up to 30.

Guardian is one of the more useful profession for fractal, because of his utilities.
Mesmer is also pretty good and Thief is live saver in some of the fractal, but not all of them.
Warrior bring DPS like in any other dungeon, but he don’t bring something specifically nice in fractal. So even if it nice to have 1 for Banners, dps, etc you’ll rarely feel the need for a Warrior (except maybe at the right Door at the Dredge fractal). But for Guardian, mesmer and theif there is moment where you will say to you (if only we add this profession right now, kitten ).

I didn’t do enough fractals to know a clear answer, but i would say that Guardian is surely a safe option, and so is Warrior, as pretty much for any other PvE content. I don’t see Necro, Ranger or Engineer being specially useful for them, so those shouldn’t be the answer. As for Mesmer and Elementalist they surely can be useful in many situations, but probably overall Guardian would be the best.

Also i’ve never tried a lv10+ fractal, so idk how much the Agony factor could change the Profession usefulness.

S/F Elementalist. By a VERY far margin.

It can solo Mai Trin. In addition to doing a heck load other crazy team-carrying that no other class can manage.

Damage wise, 25-perm might on the full party alone already raises their damage more more than any other character can contribute; FGS in the right situations turns bosses/champions into a cakewalk; projectile nullification/reflection abilities only the mesmer and Guardian can match; the highest active personal defense of any class (perm protection, 2 invulnerability skills, perm AoE blind and perm vigor) plus AoE healing and condition removal abilities other classes can only dream of having.. a single skilled elementalist can guarantee success more or less regardless of the player skill of the rest of the party. In every other case, at high level fractals you’d have to somehow bet on the team having at least 2 other competent players… which may not always happen in a PuG. To say it’s overpowered in PvE applications is a complete understatement.

Guardian is a distant second. A skilled condition ranger is likely third, but the chances of finding one of those these days…

WoW. S/F Ele are great, but I think you make them look better than they are.

25 Perma Might??? That might don’t come all from 1 S/F Ele that’s for sure.

Dragontooth, Pheonix, Magnetic Wave, Arcane Brilliance, Arcane Wave and Comet can give 18 stack of Might for 20 second. Its powerful, but that’s far from 25 perma might.

Like a Warrior, ele are there for DPS and party buffing. They won’t be saviour to a party in difficulty. In fractal, I’ll will be cautious if I don’t have any Guardian, Thief or Mesmer in my group. But i’ll never say, oh kitten we need at least 1 Ele guys.

Don’t get me wrong, i play S/F Ele for a large part of my PvE, but in fractal they won’t make as much difference. Keep in mind that we are talking about a guys that want to go to level 30 in fractal. He probably have a limited experience in there. He need a profession that will make his run easier, not faster.

So: What guardian build is good for the fractals?

For Guardians, utilities like Wall of Reflection, Shield of the Avenger, Stand your ground, Save Yourselves are a must. Some of the fractals, like Uncategorised and Lava have projectile mobs that will mince your party. In Uncategorised it’s the harpies who gain a special aoe knock down skill after lvl 10 while you’re doing what is almost a jumping puzzle. Without a guardian, thief or mesmer you’re in for a world of pain and flying bodies. The boss has a special attack that drops 3 stacks of agony on you which can be reflected back or absorbed.

In Lava, at certain points Lava elementals spawn that have a ranged immob attack which synergises with the environment. Again, shields are a must here.

The usual classes you’ll see and what most people ask for, from what I’ve seen, are

1. Guards
2. Warrs.
3. Eles/Mesmers

Warrs, sometimes 2 and on occasion as many as 3, provide the DPS as others have said. The party buffs from the banners and shouts is hard to beat. Banners of Strength and Discipline are staples, but with 2 warrs the second can take shouts or if running a banner build go with banner of tactics and defence. The synergy comes from banner #5 skill being a blast finisher so it works well with ele fire and water fields. If the party keeps reasonably close and constantly blasts it will support the ele’s might generation. Also, in some fractals a warr with soldier runes in their armour and running shouts will have fast recharging cleanses. Aetherblade boss fractal has a hell of a lot of conditions that come very quickly so being able to support the party with quick cleanses that are insta-cast is very handy. One combo that I find is often overlooked for the warrior is the strength trait Restorative Strength, which removes chilled crippled immobile and weakness all at once. Coupled with Mending, this removes a staggering 7 conditions in 1 cast with 20s cooldown. Granted the healing is very low compared to Healing Surge but the condition removal is second only to the Necro’s Consume Conditions. Coupled with Soldier runes this makes for a good support build against Mai Trin.

Most pugs I’m in have a staple of 1 guard (maybe 2) and 1 warr (maybe 2). The rest just fit in to the mix. Rangers do show up on occasion but engis are quite rare. However, after the update where their turrets will now gain a reflect shield on deployment as a new grandmaster trait, this may change.

Guardian,

20/25/0/0/25
Greatsword+Swordfocus
Zerker+scholarrunes+Force/nightsigils

or

15/25/0/20/10
Hammer+whateveryouneed
Zerker+scholarrunes+force/nightsigils

10/30/0/5/25 is still alright (until the update) and 15/15/0/20/20 also works

Guard, ele, or thief imo

So there are 8 classes available in GW2, here’s how I see their utility in FOTM:
1. Guardian
2. Guardian
3. Warrior
4. Warrior
5. Thief
6. Warrior
7. Warrior
8. Mesmer, Elementalist, Engineer, Necromancer, Ranger

I would take a thief/ele/Mesmer over a warrior any day in my frac50 runs, assuming meta builds/gear and above average skill level.

However, 1 warrior is nice for the offensive support.

My party for frac50’s is usually;

Guardian (me)
Ele
Mesmer
Warrior
Thief

I find we work really well together and our frac50 runs usually last about 20-30 minutes, +20minutes if dredge/cry

Steinpilz.5078:

So: What guardian build is good for the fractals?

Like Natsu said : Either the Dungeon Meta, or the Hammer build. The difference come from the Protection that the hammer give you in melee. In dungeon, you don’t really need protection at all, but in fractal, some Bosses are harder to melee so having 1 Guardian giving constant protection in melee can help a great deal. The guardian will lose a bit of dps, but if the whole party can melee and not range the boss, then you gain a great deal of DPS.

But other than that, just make sure you gonna have 10 points in Vitues for master of consecration so you can put Wall of Reflection more often and the rest of the build depend on you. (not everybody is comfortable with the meta guardian because of the low HP pool)

Thieves will have perma weakness on the sword auto attack, and permanent blind on trash mobs from black powder. Thieves have the second highest DPS in the game with D/D (CnD, BS, auto chain, repeat. Spam HS under 25%) second only to a FGS ele. They can provide permanent AoE stealth via shadow refuge and smokescreen+cluster bomb which makes a massive difference in dredge, ascalon, and Arah.

Thaddeus.4891:

Steinpilz.5078:

So: What guardian build is good for the fractals?

Like Natsu said : Either the Dungeon Meta, or the Hammer build. The difference come from the Protection that the hammer give you in melee. In dungeon, you don’t really need protection at all, but in fractal, some Bosses are harder to melee so having 1 Guardian giving constant protection in melee can help a great deal. The guardian will lose a bit of dps, but if the whole party can melee and not range the boss, then you gain a great deal of DPS.

I don’t like hammer because it is so slow.

Steinpilz.5078:

Thaddeus.4891:

Steinpilz.5078:

So: What guardian build is good for the fractals?

Like Natsu said : Either the Dungeon Meta, or the Hammer build. The difference come from the Protection that the hammer give you in melee. In dungeon, you don’t really need protection at all, but in fractal, some Bosses are harder to melee so having 1 Guardian giving constant protection in melee can help a great deal. The guardian will lose a bit of dps, but if the whole party can melee and not range the boss, then you gain a great deal of DPS.

I don’t like hammer because it is so slow.

Then id probably go thief or ele

Thaddeus.4891:

WoW. S/F Ele are great, but I think you make them look better than they are.

25 Perma Might??? That might don’t come all from 1 S/F Ele that’s for sure.

Dragontooth, Pheonix, Magnetic Wave, Arcane Brilliance, Arcane Wave and Comet can give 18 stack of Might for 20 second. Its powerful, but that’s far from 25 perma might.

Like a Warrior, ele are there for DPS and party buffing. They won’t be saviour to a party in difficulty. In fractal, I’ll will be cautious if I don’t have any Guardian, Thief or Mesmer in my group. But i’ll never say, oh kitten we need at least 1 Ele guys.

Don’t get me wrong, i play S/F Ele for a large part of my PvE, but in fractal they won’t make as much difference. Keep in mind that we are talking about a guys that want to go to level 30 in fractal. He probably have a limited experience in there. He need a profession that will make his run easier, not faster.

No, you underestimate a S/F. Though that literally happens all the time.

Dragon Tooth, Phoenix, Arcane Wave, Magnetic Wave, Churning Earth (elemental attunement earth dodge), Lightning hammer 3rd hit.

The progression takes 6.5 seconds to execute and will net 18 might AoE for 20 seconds. I also possess the 3 might on weaponswap sigil that gives me another 3 might. Lastly fire attunement itself is 1 AoE might for 15 seconds.

With 195% boon duration, this becomes 18 might AoE for 39 seconds plus 1 might AoE for 29 seconds every 9 seconds (practically you only do this twice within the 30 second rotation though). This progression can be performed every 30 seconds (arcane wave’s CD) for 25.4 AoE might/second before adding the 3 might on weaponswap sigil’s effects. Every 3 lightning hammer attacks is a blast finisher, so any additional fire fields your party provides simply makes it easier to guarantee nonstop 25.

The elementalist is the only class that can solo provide perm 25 might.

The 195% boon duration also adds very high uptime on protection, regen and swiftness – which usually add up to 100% on all 4 boons when you add in the random boon procs from other party members, which need not even include a guardian.

I did a level 38 fractal with PuGs before with 25 agony resistance on the Elementalist and didn’t get downed. It’s VERY strong.

In uncat, if you draw aggro by running first, you can completely nullify harpy Launch with Swirling Winds, Magnetic Wave (which will be part of your rotation anyway), permblind from the Lightning Hammer and invulnerability from Arcane Shield/Obsidian Skin.

And for the swamp fractal, by doing the Lightning Hammer skill 5 – Arcane Wave – Phoenix – Magnetic Wave rotation, on a max-boon duration setup you’d end up with 1 minute 20 seconds swiftness. You can reliably take the longest distance wisp and always get back in time. Any immobs you can clear instantly with water attune and skill 6, any knockdowns you can clear with Arcane Shield (it’s a stunbreak).

This is post-nerf, at any rate. Previously the build had higher DPS by being 0-15-10-15-30, but since Anet moved Cleansing Wave up to a Master trait, it was forced to change to 0-10-10-20-30.

I hear you Hayashi. You sacrifice A LOT of personnal dps for more surviability and group support (DPS support with might). Its not a bad way to go, since you can take care of might alone.

But I prefer to keep my personnal dps high. I don’t bring enough might for a perma 25 stacks, but I also play with 4 other people that will bring the remaining might and fury that i don’t have.

Not that much. Might adds 875 power, so the results are actually quite good – 2620 power with 123% critdmg% and 32% critrate (52% during the higher multiplier hits since I make sure the Dragon’s Tooth, Arcane Wave, Magnetic Wave, Churning Earth and Phoenix all hit under the effects of the attunement swap 3.5 second Fury).

The sacrifice I make in my build is to make it Celestial as opposed to Berserker, rather than the runing/traits. A Berserker specced version would do about 30-40% more damage on the whole.

S/F Fury Zerker is the max possible DPS in the game, maintains 100% 25 AoE might uptime and adds 100% AoE fury uptime. That is, 30(II VI XI)-0-10(VI)-0-30(II VIII XI). But it’s too glassy and heals too little, so it places a certain amount of trust in the ability of party members that I personally lack for PuGs. ;-) At last count, I still know of exactly zero players that run that, though. Even though its personal dps is equal to a maxed berserker warrior, and when adding the party fury and might effects, it actually contributes 2.5x damage of one of those to the party. My current version only contributes about 1.8 zerk warriors’ worth.

It also wouldn’t do well in Fractals, though it’d definitely speedrun easier dungeons better.

Wait just to be clear.

You use full celestial gear and 0-10-10-20-30? And you say that S/F 30-0-10-0-30 with zerker gear is the best dps for the ele?

Do I get that right, is this really what you are saying?

For PvE applications, yes.

The far more common Fresh Air build is superior in PvP and WvW applications due to the inherent impossibility of landing the 6.5 second combo chain on a human target, but it has inferior dps to a zerker 30-0-10-0-30 in PvE applications per player, not to mention after taking into account party-buffing Fury and Might effects.

And the staff fire 2-1-1-1-2-1-1-1 build is just bad. Easy to use, but bad.

If you don’t agree please do the calculations yourself or simply disagree, as I’ve already typed out the entire rotation chain at least twice in the class forums and I’m very, very sick of doing this.

Like i already said Hayashi, i run myself a S/F + LH might stacking Elementalist in PvE. So you don’t have to explain. Fresh Air Build is bad in PvE and was never talked about here.

But I will say that 30-0-10-0-30 is really not the best DPS build for the S/F ele. The 30 points in Arcana is for your own defense, so that not a full DPS build.

We can argue between 30-10-10-20-0 or 25-10-10-25-0 or something similar about which one is the best. It also depend on the party composition. But 30-0-10-0-30 is really not the highest DPS for S/F eles, even less the highest DPS for Eles.

The S/F build is GREAT, I love to run it, its powerful, it give huge party wide buff that boost the overall DPS of the group. But when it come to personnal DPS, then the staff ele win over the S/F ele. A 30-20-10-10-0 or a 30-10-10-10-10 (for larger staff attack, which can be good) have a better personnal dps in a group.

S/F ele lose time stacking might, dropping hammer and then do dps. Its great because it buff everybody, but it lower your personnal dps. The Staff ele, can take care of the of the remaining might to reach 25 stack of might (even if you use dps equipement, not boons duration) and give you the might if your S/F ele don’t give it.

You build is pretty defensive, while boosting the offensive support that the basic S/F ele already bring. I’m not saying that your build is not good (especially in high level fractal, where is harder to survive than in normal dungeon, even more if you pug), actually i find is interesting. But its not a full DPS build, and the full DPS build that your specified it not a full DPS build neither.

I’ll give you that, for the large majority of the player population, running a build more similar to your will do more overall dmg than a S/F Zerker, 25/10/0/25/0 Ele. Because this build is so squishy that most people will be dead almost all the time. But still, 30-0-10-0-30 is not the best DPS for an ele.

Like I said, I don’t want to repeat the rotation. All of the might stacking skills have very high power multipliers – and actually double the DPS of the Lightning Hammer phase. It took me 3 long essays on the Elementalist subforums to explain why the greater power multiplier of the rotation plus the derived power from Might will eclipse the 2-1-1-1 damage rotation’s power multiplier and its power. And in spite of that, what I got as a response was ‘Tldr, staff is better’ from 3 different users.

Repeat this in the Warrior, Guardian, Ranger, Thief, Necromancer, Mesmer class forums, repeat the response. I’ve made about 30-40 builds so far over the classes, narrowed it down to 11 ish which optimise the class mechanics and characteristics, and actively use 8 of them. The Guard I use for instance is nowhere near good for damage but is optimised for AoE heal support, even though I made an alternate max-dps build Guardian that is also not the current dps Guardian meta. I just don’t use it because it’s inferior to the max dps Warrior I do use – which is, again, not the current dps Warrior meta.

Atm, it’s a Boon Elementalist (Fractals), Cleave dps Warrior (Dungs), full-crit Mesmer (Dungs/WvW), max heal/damage reduction Guardian (WvW), full AoE condi Necro (WvW), full single-target AoE condi Ranger (Dungs), AoE dps Engineer (WvW, champion soloing) and max Burst dps Thief (Dungs/WvW). All of these are the best at what they specialise in, and all of them are not accepted by any meta players.

I don’t want to do that again, I’m sure you can understand why. If you disagree, please go ahead, I’m happy to ‘lose’ a discussion in exchange for not spending any more effort.

And yes, my current build is not full dps by any stretch. It still contributes more damage to the party than a 8200 dps zerkwar would, but it’s unquestionably inferior to what would happen if I did try to spec for damage.

You obviously think 30 in Arcana is a massive boost in dps and that’s what I want to figure it out. Maybe your right, i don’t know. Now if you don’t want to talk about it because your tired of explaining it, then its ok.

For the might stacking rotation I use Dragon’s tooth, Phoenix, Arcane Brilliance, Arcane Wave, Magnetic Wave and Comet (need to stack might on the boss, not before, which is good anyway in my opinion). That give me the same 18 stack of might as your rotation. So if i get the same amount of might (i know that your might last longer, but in my party we always have constant 25 stack of might anyway), then why 30 Arcana boost your DPS? There is nothing that improve your DPS more. On the other hand the 25 pts in water give you 10% dmg when higher than 90% hp, 20% when the target have vulnerability (i don’t put vulnerability, that the warriors of thief in my party, and boss always have vulnerability in pretty much any groups anyway) and I’m in water (my last might stacking skill is a water skill, so i stay there for more dps and a bit of hp regen with mist), and finally 1% dmg for each boons.

I don’t know what is more depressing; elementalists being underestimated or overestimated.

S/F Fury Zerker is the max possible DPS in the game, maintains 100% 25 AoE might uptime and adds 100% AoE fury uptime. That is, 30(II VI XI)-0-10(VI)-0-30(II VIII XI).

Good luck with no cleave, long range or melee, high delay with cleave in fractals level 49-50. That playstyle won’t get you anywhere far away from the merciful protection of your guardian mate, not even mention to carry your team.

To OP, in the order of increasing (playing) difficulty in Fractals:
1. Guardian
2. Warrior
3. Mesmer
4. Necromancer
5. Thief
6. Engineer
7. Elementalist
8. Ranger

In the order of contributions to group in fractals:
1. Mesmer (Bloomie, Harpy, Grawl, Dredge, Snowblind, Mai, Molten boss, Aetherblade, Molten facility, Cliffside, Thaumanova)
2. Guardian (Bloomie, Harpy, Grawl, Dredge, Mossman, Snowblind, Mai, Molten boss, Molten facility)
3. Ele (Harpy, Grawl, Dredge, Urban battleground, Aetherblade, Cliffside, Thaumanova, Mai, Molten boss, Molten facility)
4. Thief (Harpy, Dredge, Cliffside, Aetherblade, Jade Maw)
5. Warrior: is good for CC and banners, not really amazing in any fractals, except for Mai
6. Necromancer/ Engi: spamming condi such as chill and blind is useful in certain cases. Not particularly outshines other classes.
7. Ranger: their pets are good tanker, against Diviner and Old Tom. Their sword roots them so, good rangers are extremely rare in fractals.

Natsu Dragneel.1625:

Guardian,

20/25/0/0/25
Greatsword+Swordfocus
Zerker+scholarrunes+Force/nightsigils

or

15/25/0/20/10
Hammer+whateveryouneed
Zerker+scholarrunes+force/nightsigils

10/30/0/5/25 is still alright (until the update) and 15/15/0/20/20 also works

Why so little toughness?

Steinpilz.5078:

Natsu Dragneel.1625:

Guardian,

20/25/0/0/25
Greatsword+Swordfocus
Zerker+scholarrunes+Force/nightsigils

or

15/25/0/20/10
Hammer+whateveryouneed
Zerker+scholarrunes+force/nightsigils

10/30/0/5/25 is still alright (until the update) and 15/15/0/20/20 also works

Why so little toughness?

916 toughness is actually pretty decent.

edit: and I’d take a d/f fresh air or staff ele over s/x ele in fractals even if they had to play with their feet.

Because its pointless, everything at fractal 50 will pretty much 1shot you anyway, thus, its better to just kill everything as fast as possible to reduce the opportunity for you to get hit and die, Hell, I probably survive better in berserker then most casuals to in their PVT HERO gear, the real difference is I actually do damage.

Natsu Dragneel.1625:

everything at fractal 50 will pretty much 1shot you anyway,

I don’t want to do fractals at level 50.
I want to go level 30 only.

They will still almost one shot you around 30 anyway, all gear other then berserkers will just slow runs down, make encounters longer, thus leaving more room for mistakes and increasing the chance of screwing up.

Also, once you get to 30 you may decide to continue on upwards, the higher you go the better you will have to be as a player, and the better the choice to use berserker gear becomes.

Steinpilz.5078:

Natsu Dragneel.1625:

everything at fractal 50 will pretty much 1shot you anyway,

I don’t want to do fractals at level 50.
I want to go level 30 only.

Ok. Zerker is still better

I just wanted to make you aware about these guides by Obal – Guardian and DEKeyz – Elementalist

Both guides have helped me on any class I play even though they’re aimed at Elementalist and Guardian-only since they made me aware of what a group needed for survivability (Stability, Reflects, Condi-cleanse aren’t just tied to one class.) If you pick Mesmer or Thief I recommend searching either the Forums or Youtube to learn Portal or Stealth-parts, which are unique to the class.

Have a lot of fun in Fractals and the game!

PS: If full-Zerker scares you there’s no harm in taking a few Knight pieces to have a little bit more toughness in the early levels, try to always stay right outside of your comfort-zone to become a better player though. But with the current mechanics it’s hard to argue with Zerker being superior to about anything.

What about a build based on having up retaliation as often as possible?
Would that work for fractals?

Retaliation procs when you take damage.

At high level fractals, you don’t want to take damage.

Its not important wich profession could be useful…its important wich appears on LFG.

Open LFG for a couple of days and you will have your answer.

Warrior in particular can bypass alone so many mechanics in fractal that should get the “totally not AI exploiting but only legit tactic” award.
But guardian is mandatory.

Steinpilz.5078:

Why so little toughness?

Because you can dodge, blind, block or go invulnerable.

Steinpilz.5078:

What about a build based on having up retaliation as often as possible?
Would that work for fractals?

Nope. You don’t want to get hit, but if the playstyle of doing ~300 damage while you get killed fits you … do it.

edit:

With the hammer build you can apply perma protection which is a net 33% damage reduction which is waaaaay more superior to any toughness you can get from your gear.

edit2:

Oh and don’t forget about weakness, that can reduce the incoming damage even further.

Natsu Dragneel.1625:

I find we work really well together and our frac50 runs usually last about 20-30 minutes

Link to the video of sub 30 minute fractal 50. Bloomhunger -> Volcanic -> Aether -> Duo? Theoretically possible, but I think you’re exaggerating a bit with the term “usually” describing sub 30 minute fractal 50’s.

I play warr mainly in pretty much any fractal level and Battle Standard is a skill that has gotten pugs I’ve been with out of a pinch too many times to count. No matter how skilled a party you’re in, there will always be that one moment where someone times a dodge wrong or gets knocked down after a dodge, another team mate who has gone down ressing another, a run that goes wrong, etc.

Quite a few times I’ve been a party and I’ve had to vengeance and banner up every one else so the run won’t have to restart because someone has over extended and pulled too much aggro.

The new traits coming may see other classes having a shot at being viable in fractals once more.

People have offered some pretty good advice as to which class to run in fractals. I would just like to add that I run fractals for fun and at any level. There are some groups out there that are pretty hardcore with their fractal-ing. I have one of every profession at level 80 and they have a variety of different builds. I know what each of them can do and I tend to pick based on what my party needs. If I see my party has plenty of support I may pick something with more damage. By the same token, if I see my party is full of squishies I’ll grab a tank to help take some of the pressure off of them. Play what you enjoy and happy hunting everyone!

Dalanor.5387:

With the hammer build you can apply perma protection which is a net 33% damage reduction which is waaaaay more superior to any toughness you can get from your gear.

What about mace/shield? 2x protection and faster than hammer.

Tree.3916:

Natsu Dragneel.1625:

I find we work really well together and our frac50 runs usually last about 20-30 minutes

Link to the video of sub 30 minute fractal 50. Bloomhunger -> Volcanic -> Aether -> Duo? Theoretically possible, but I think you’re exaggerating a bit with the term “usually” describing sub 30 minute fractal 50’s.

I don’t think any of us usually record our runs but it happens sometimes, bloom only takes 1-2 minutes to kill, and maybe 1-2 minutes to sort ourselves out and get the orbs, so that’s 4 minutes there, I think we ended up with snowblind, 2-3 minutes to get the fire down, 4-7 to kill the ele, and another 2-4 to kill the last guy, so 14 minutes there, then aether which takes what, 7-10 minutes maybe, and duo was the last, 1-2 minutes for effigy and another 2-3 for the duo, so yeah around 30 minutes is reasonable with a good roll, given that we are all Meta/MaxDPS and play well, 30-40 minutes if not, maybe 50ish if dredge (been getting a lot of dredge recently, really sucks kitten Usually was a bit of an exaggeration, I think we get them maybe 1/3 runs around that time with the others being 30-50ish, I don’t think we have ever pushed over an hour except for a few times where we were just being lazy and screwing around for a bit of fun and trying out new tactics to see if they work and so on.

I’ll get fraps running for our next few runs and record them if you like.

Also, you will get nowhere near perm protection with mace/shield, your damage will be dismal, shield is bad for PvE and mace is equally as bad.

Hammer on the other hand is excellent for fractals, perm protection guaranteed, you also get your blast when you need to blast might or just do a bit more damage.

Its kind of true that Warriors can’t contribute much to fractals besides DPS.

However I found a Regeneration banner Warrior borderline overpowered in fractals. An Engineer, Guardian or Mesmer can in theory keep the same Regeneration uptime, however it doesn’t work out in reality because of combat and self-survival, where as the Warrior banners are completely immune to attack.

Try it some time when you are bored, you’ll be amazed at how much everything changes with 24/7 regen boon on your entire party. Any mistake that doesn’t result in a one-hit kill has a greater chance of recovery.

(Plus, that same tree also offers the +250 power aura and boon duration for FGJ.)

Steinpilz.5078:

Dalanor.5387:

With the hammer build you can apply perma protection which is a net 33% damage reduction which is waaaaay more superior to any toughness you can get from your gear.

What about mace/shield? 2x protection and faster than hammer.

Mace/shield is a lot less protection than hammer. Hammer poops protection out the autoattack. And it does really high DPS to boot