Guild Wars 2

I have a few characters in 30’s and one in 40’s so I’m not completely new to the game. But I’m not very experienced either.
The conditions and boons and the whole combat style in GW2 is a bit confusing. I could use a few directions.

I understand by now that conditions and boons play an important role in combat.
Is this true? Are all classes somewhat dependent from conditions and/or boons and isn’t there a single class that functions entirely pure on direct dps?

My characters are:
Elementalist
Ranger
Guardian
Engineer

Is it possible to say how dependant these classes are from boons/conditions?
Like for example 70% of damage should be direct damage and 30% damage should be condition damage for the class to function at full potential?
It may sound weird but it will help understand how important that is.

Also, who’s supposed to be the better “healer”. Elementalist, Guardian or Engineer? Up to now Engineer offers me the best group healing abilities I think.

One more thing, are combos a regular thing to do? Or do most people not use them at all?

Thanks!

The best healer is the elementalist, but the best supporter is the guardian. The engineer can be a bit of both.

afaik all classes use boons and conditions and play an important role. First I don’t think you understand the difference between boons and conditions. Basicly they are opposites.

A boon is an effect that is helpfull (protection, healing, faster running, blocking knockdowns, etc) where a condition is an effect that is harmfull (burning, bleeding, poisoned, immobilized, etc). Thats why the boons are yellow coloured and the conditions red.

So it is important to be able to deal conditions to others and attach boons to yourself.

The elementalist, ranger and guardian don’t have to pay much attention to the conditions they are dealing. They deal them and they deal them well, a condition enhancer trait can help, but it is not required.

The Guardian is very much depending on boons. Like I said they are protters, helping the party to survive longer and keeping everyone alive. They do so by attaching boons to themself and to partymembers. This is generally done through shouts. So you use the skill ‘stand your ground’ and your character shouts it. Everyone in your area is getting the boons retaliation (returns next incomming attack to the foe) and stabillity (no knockdown or stun).

So for a guardian concentrating on protecting it is important to look at those boons. A good guardian uses boons and shouts when needed and not when the skill is available.

The engineer is the oddball. The reason is that they are the special ops and can fullfill almost any role. The amount of attention you have to pay on boons and specially conditions depends highly of the role your playing.

That’s a great answer, thanks.
I knew the difference, I used both effects together because I figured that a boon for yourself is in fact a condition for your enemy. Doesn’t matter…I understand :-)

So a guardian who doesn’t play with boons is simply a bad guardian right? I think that’s clear.

Elementalists and rangers don’t use that much conditions, so it’s ok to just ignore those effects on those toons?

How about my engineer? I do a lot of WvW. Should I invest in boons and/or conditions? I don’t need in depth advice. Just would like to know whether or not I can ignore boons/conditions

With rangers it depends hugely on what weapon and utility skills you’re using.

If you’re using a short bow and traps then conditions are hugely important because they’re a big part of your damage. whereas if you’re using a greatsword and things like Quickening Zephyr and Guard then while you will occasionally be applying conditions it’s more of a minor bonus which you don’t need to worry about.

But no matter what you’re playing it’s worth knowing at least the basics of how each condition works because no matter what you’re playing enemies (both monsters and other players) will be using conditions against you.

A boon on yourself isnt a condition for your enemy, some boons are dealing damage to the foe, but most are only slowing them down and not hurting them. A boon is a protective effect or gives you a boost. It isnt that an ele or ranger doesnt deal conditions. but they don’t depend on them and you don’t need to plan them.

Off course what Danikat is saying is also true. If you are attacking a foe who has 25 stacks of bleeding on him (e.g. in a DE) , it is good to know that any other bleeding you put on will be a skill wasted, but it isn’t a big deal either if you do.

It depends on how you decide to build each of those professions.

For a Ranger, you can build condition heavy and focus on using shortbow from the side (stack bleeds) and axe/torch, which gives you access to poison, burns, chill too. Stack those +cond damage/duration traits and stats and you’ll be dealing the majority of your damage with conditions.

Or, you can take that same Ranger and focus on straight damage, using a longbow at range and augmenting with a horn offhand in your other set. Then your focus will be power/precision/crit for hard hitting shots from afar.

Each profession has the ability to build either way. What you as the player has to do it decide which playstyle better suits you and then build accordingly.

As for boons, most builds aren’t designed around stacking them, but when they come they’re nice. Guardians and might-stacking warriors and engineers are the few that come to mind quickly. Guardians are all about boons, it’s what keeps em alive (aegis, regen, prot) as opposed to other professions that make endurance regeneration easier to attain, meaning dodging is the main source of defense. Certain boons are situationally very important, like granting stability just before a knockdown attack, or protection just before a hard-to-avoid boss attack. The specifics of these will become apparent as you play more dungeons imo.

OK I see, from the answers I understand it’s nothing more than a matter of choice and there is no reason to believe that investing in conditions is a must.

I had a strange feeling that conditions (and boons) played a big role

While I’m not good at theory, one rule of thumb I use is to mouse over my weapon skills on the weapons I use most. If they don’t have any damaging conditions listed, then condition damage is a wasted stat for me. I think. I could be way off base with that. But if I have a lot of bleed, burn, and poison type effects, then I want those to hurt the enemy and I go for gear that bumps it up.

I am sad that so much cloth gear is filled with condition damage when my Mesmer has no damaging conditions that I can see.

As to them playing a big role, they actually do. Not necessarily damage wise (though when my necro flings a signet inflicting all the conditions on a foe I watch the health bar melt under subsequent attacks), but in control and in mitigating what the opponent can do to you. Toss a Blind when they rev up a big attack, they will miss you. Apply Vulnerability and you and your friends will get past the armor to mangle them faster. And so forth.

Boons likewise can be crucial. Stability so Lt. Kohler in AC can’t yoink you to his feet to kill you or a gust of wind can’t fling you off a jumping puzzle. Aegis so attacks are blocked. Regeneration to get some health back, helping you hold on just long enough to win. It’s well worth your time to learn the icons and effects of all of these so you can generate the right ones at the right times.

Donari.5237:

I am sad that so much cloth gear is filled with condition damage when my Mesmer has no damaging conditions that I can see.

Are you using the wrong weapon sets? For conditions you want want scepter/torch + staff.

Go to the gw2 wiki and look up boons and conditions. Good info there.

Gimano.7381:

So a guardian who doesn’t play with boons is simply a bad guardian right?

Thats not entirely true.
The average player somehow got rhe oppinion that guardians are the best supporters, therefore “all guardians must be support or theyre simply bad”.
Other professions can support just as well, tey just dont do it because groups will judge them by saying theyre bad because “only guardians can support”.
Yea… I once added some support to my mesmer… When we wiped in a boss fight (with a pug) and i told them i was support, i got kicked instantly. I whispered them why they did that. u so noob, only guardians can support, noob. I also was the last player who went down while wearing full berserker…
Yea… Thats where my disgust to those “only guardians support, and they must support or theyre bad guardians” sayers comes from.

Bad memories i completely avoid pugs nowadays…
/shakes it off

And now to answer your question: your build defines how much you need boons/conditions, but theyre almost always there, the build just decides how important they are.
An HGH engineer is built to have 25 might stacks at all time, which is very important for the extra damage.
A static discharge engineer doesnt need condions, apart from immobilize to make their target ulnerable to their burst.

A shatter mesmer isnt specced for boons, but theyre still there and quite inportant.
My favourite boon is vigor, which i have active all the time and recharges my dodge energy twice as fast!
My most used conditions are vulnerability, which i stack to 25 every 32 seconds (25% more damage), and immobilized which makes my target unable to dodge or the like. In pve i dont use conditions all that much, but i can keep a 100% uptime of vigor on allies in a range of 300!
Chaos storm applies conditions on foes and boons on allies, but the boon part of this really makes it shine. When an enemy chooses to fight in the chaos storm and attack you, well, theyre going to have a very hard time due to all hampering conditions and boons that protect you. Even with full offensive stats im very resilient while standing in the chaos storm.
When im using my booning spec i always choose to put my chaos storm on my party instead of on the enemy (in pve).

TL;DR: boons and conditions are always usefull, but you can make them more common and apply them more often if you build for it

Cheers,
Alissah