Guild Wars 2

So, I’m trying to get back into the game to decide if buying PoF is for me, and my usual MO when I return to the game is doing dailies and world bosses with each character (I have all geared up at 80), and I usually find myself running around and worrying about gold and inventory more than just enjoying the game and getting good at any one profession.

Whoa…big first sentence.

This time around I would like to pick 1 or 2 characters to really concentrate on and finish up my world completion and HoT masteries. Basically I"m looking for a roaming PVE survival build that’s also somewhat enjoyable.

I mention enjoyable because my “main” most accomplished character is a warrior with almost 85% completion, but I really just find no joy in playing the job.

I know there are lots of threads like this and people recommend a build by the title…. like “the Reaper CondiMinionMaster destroys everything”, but then I find myself looking through pages and pages of old outdated threads, or just finding the specs without much of an explanation.

I really liked how dulfy used to have really detailed guides on the professions, but most of them havn’t been updated in years.

Lots of people link builds to the MetaWiki (forget the exact name) site, and I’d like to browse through those, but I’m not exactly sure where a straight PVE type build fits into there categorization of Conquest, WvW, Fractal, and Raid.

To sum all of this rambling up for you…. I’m basically looking for a big yellow and black book titled " (Insert build here) for Dummies!"

Thanks for any and all help.

I believe what you mean is metabattle.com

Just like what you mention above, I like to do PVE roaming with my condi minon master reaper (viper and a little sinister)

Here is the build if you like to try:
http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNAW7YnM0AdbiN3Ae3As3gliBLKAMASAx9wiYSU6DEC6AA-TVyXABNuwAdXUhhVGonSvZV/ZUdPz9kCyWJIA7DQIAFzBA-w

Change the lingering curse -> parasitic contagion for more immunity to death (Heal 10% of the condi damage per condi damage tick)
- I get almost 2k heal per tick on normal battle.
- If I use epidemic on many mobs and while on zerg I get almost 8k heal per tick depends on the condi damage.

Mainly using the scepter-dagger
- For solo roaming, Flesh golem will take all the damage himself since mobs will usually aggro him
- Rise for maximizing the condi damage with the death nova
- Condi damage debuff will be transfered to minion that will transfer it to attacked monster
- Still do nice condi damage (Bleed only about 5-7k while solo roaming, and there’s other condi damage like poison and torment too)

Note:
I hear that condi reaper will get nerfed (maybe after xpac release) because they plan to make reaper = power, and scourge = condi

I sent you a message in PM with some suggestions as well.

Thank you for the tips. I think for pure suviveability, I’m going to focus on a Condireaper and my Druid Ranger.

I’ve got a good idea for how to go about my Nec, and now to find something good for my druid.

Also tempted to start working on another ascended weapon, prob a staff. My first was for my War, but sadly I just hate playing that class.

Meta battle isn’t useful for open world content, nor is QT, which focuses exclusively on Raids/Fractals.

If your goal is world completion and HOT masteries, I would recommend a Valks Reaper, DareDevil (any really), Maruaders Rev, or ChronoTank.

Valks reaper is Power build, centered either Minions or Shroud. The key to this build is Valks armor, Valk Greatsword paired with either Axe/Focus or Dagger/Warhorn, and Valk/Zerks hybrid Trinkets. You take Reaper with Augur of Death (if you run minions), Decimate Defenses (mandatory) and Reapers Onslaught. Blood Magic with Vampiric Presence, and Unholy Martyr. If minions, take Death Magic with Flesh of the master, Necromatic Corruption, and Death Nova. For skills use Rise!, Blood Fiend, Bone Fiend, Shadow Fiend, and Flesh Golem. If Shroud take Soul Reaping with Unyeilding blast, Vital Persistence, last trait is your choice. The utility slots are free in this build, though its still recommended to use Flesh Golem for its massive breakbar damage.

The jist of the build is using Decimate Defenses to make up for lower natural Crit chance, and shifting those points into Vitality. This does 2 things for you…. massive health pool, with a huge shroud health pool (24/12k with Exotics), turning you into a walking damage sponge. Minions make it even tankier by adding toughness, damage redirection, and leeching conditions from you, while healing you as they attack. Shroud build focuses on shroud uptime, and relies on Reaper Onslaught to recharge your skills faster while in it. Minions are more effective in most situations, but the Shroud build is an option if don’t want them. Also note that this build very works well with just exotics, so its by far the cheapest gear up if your goal is finishing out HOT masteries and achievements.

The Daredevil build is a slightly retraited Meta build for raids. Basically all zerks, power runes, staff pistol/pistol, and Unhindered Combatant trait, Precision Signet (which doubles as condi clear) and a Stun break. Unhindered Combatant is extreme mobility, letting you navigate and avoid most fights. Note that this build can’t take more then a couple hit….. but you can kite most Champ HPs with it.

The Marauder Rev is the WvW Front Line support build from Metabattle, using Sword and Sword traits + Hammer for range. Glint is the main Stance for the heal skill, but the other stance can be anything you feel is useful. The HP lets you take several hits, but it does have problems with too much incoming sustain damage, and its damage output is average at best. However, the nature of the Glint skills significantly boosts nearby allies, allowing for stronger power compounding if you’re rolling an HP train or during Map Metas. Its more expensive to gear because of marauders, but its easy to carry it into WvW if you’re interested in a low skill zerg support build.

ChronoTank is the Illusion variant of the ChronoTank build for Raids. Its the hardest to use of the 4 suggested, but smart use of the Phantasms produce great sustain damage and keeps argo off of you for most of the fight. It has trouble with Chak because of their swarm tactics, but the clones keep them busy so you can skip past an area. The Quickness also makes you a lot of friends at boss fights during Map events.