Guild Wars 2

Lately, I’ve been doing a lot of Silverwastes, HoT and such, and I’ve noticed how hard it is to kill enemies quickly. I’ll be sitting there hacking away at the ankles of a Modrem Husk, taking away maybe 3%-4% of his HP with every hit. And then some other player will just run up and in 5 or so hits have killed it and then moves on to the next one.
How to players get their stats that good? Is it crafted gear? ultra powerful runes? incredible stat booster consumables?

For the record, I have yet to try crafting much and all my gear has been purchased from Tier III Culture merchants or relatively high end items on the BL marketplace, and I have put Runes and sigils etc. on my equipment. I’m not sure what else I could do. unless Crafting is really that good.

TL;DR: I see players doing massive damage. How do I go about doing something like that?

Unfortunately that culture gear is only rare stat. It has the high price tag for the skin.

You’ll want to start by getting your self lvl 80 exotic gear. This can be crafted, bought from various places(temples, TP,wvw vendor). For stats if your going direct damage you’ll want berserker which is power main and precision, ferocity minor.

You also have to look at your build. Are your traits more offensive or defensive. Usually you want to go as offensive as you can stay alive.

What class are you playing and what weapons are you using. Most weapons have a natural style to them. Some focus more on conditions vs direct damage. You’ll want to make sure the weapon you are using is a good match to your build.

A shortbow ranger using berserker gear would have lower damage because shortbow is a condition weapon for rangers

Mordrem husks have high toughness (noted under their hp bar), which means they resist power/direct damage quite well, but weak to condition damage. The guy that killed it quickly could be running a condition build, which kills husks super fast.

Anyway, Tier 3 culture merchants are not really the best source for equips. They give rare equipments which are mostly for fashion purposes. You’re better off with Exotic equipments as they give more stats. You can buy those from the trading post or other merchants.

Also, if you would like to get high damage, you would need to be focused on your stat build. For power build, Berserker / Assassin stat armors are usually the best, while Viper’s are the best for condi builds. What stats are you using right now on your equips?

Along with the aforementioned tips, certain classes have very strong burst dps that can dispatch enemies in mere seconds. For example, the guardian dragon hunter can dish out insanely high burst dps in a short span with his traps and greatsword, but once he uses those skills up and is waiting for cooldown, his dps drops sharply. A lot of mobs in silverwaste and HoT are tough to kill, but not tough enough to withstand the tremendous burst dps of certain classes like guardian dragon hunter, necromancer reaper, etc.

Okay, you guys asked for my equipment, Here they are.
(Sorry if I leave out information. Still new to all this. Expect builds to be scatterbrained or illogical) I really like the weapons I’m using, so I would like it if those don’t change. Also, I have not unlocked any elite specializations yet
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1) Warrior (I had no idea what I was doing when making this one. My first character)

Description of thoughts and playstyle: As much damage and speed as possible. Use Health to take hits. I try to focus a lot on raw damage and crits.

Armor: Full Valkyrie Draconic Armor; No upgrades
Accesories: Forgotton Seal, Fang of Tequatl, and army badge

Weapons: Dual Swords (Bonetti’s Rapier w/ Sup. Bloodlust sigil and a dire ceremonial sabre w/ sup. rage sigil) and Great sword (Dhuumseal w/ sup. sigil of rage)

Utilities: Mending, Signets of Dolyat, Might, and Stamina, Balt Hounds.

Build: Discipline: All center
Arms: Center, center, center, down center down
Strength: Center, down, center, center, center up.
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1. Guardian

Description of thoughts and playstyle: A mix of Tank of and Healer than can hold it’s own soloing in PVE. Buff allies, use shield abilities to block incoming projectiles and heal, remove conditions, etc. But still be able to do enough damage to look after myself if things start getting rough.

Armor: Full rampager’s Protectors gear (w/ sup sigl of Melandru on all) (This is the cultural armor I mentioned)

Weapons: 1 handed sword: (Transmuted Rampagers Pearl sabre), Shield: (Shield of the Wing w/ Sup Sigil of Battle), Greatsword: (Cobalt w/ Sup Sigil of Hydromancy and a emerald orb. I’m looking to replace those)

Utilities: Signets of Resolve, Judgement and Bane, Contemplation of purity, and “feel my wrath”

Build: Zeal: Center, up, center, center, center, center
Valor: Center, up, center, up, center, center
Virtues: All center
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3) Elementalist

Description of thoughts and playstyle: Damage, Condition damage and healing focused. I know I should use the earth ability more, but I mainly just use Fire and Water, with Air for boons.

Armor: Full rampager’s Carapace armor no upgrades (Beside the chest, thats a Dire Seer coat I reskinned)

Weapons: Rampager’s Soft wood staff of corruption. (major sigil. I really need a better staff)

Utilities: Signet Restoration, Fire, Air, Earth, and Balt hounds

Build: Fire: Center, Up, Center, Up, Center, Up
Arcane: Center, Center, Center, Up, Center, Pp
Water: Center, Center, Cetner, Down, Center, Up
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If you need anything more, let me know

Better trinkets and put runes in those armors will improve your damage by a good margin.

Also, the stats are all very defensive and in case of your ele just wrong, but still … the runes and trinkets alone will improve it.

What you are experiencing is not only players with better gear, they also have better builds and the synergy of the gear + build makes the damage WAY higher.

Belzebu.3912:

Better trinkets and put runes in those armors will improve your damage by a good margin.

Also, the stats are all very defensive and in case of your ele just wrong, but still … the runes and trinkets alone will improve it.

What you are experiencing is not only players with better gear, they also have better builds and the synergy of the gear + build makes the damage WAY higher.

Any quick recommendations to my builds then?

Go with full exotic berserker’s gear for all 3 classes. Warrior, guardian, and elementalist are some of the highest dps classes in the game and it makes no sense to use defensive stat gear on them unless you’re in a raid and have to trait specifically for a support role. Pivoting to berserkers gear can make your characters feel more squishy, but its okay because when you’re dishing out 20K+ hundred blades on warrior or 20K+ whirling wrath on guardian, you tend to kill mobs/veterans off so quickly that they just don’t have time to inflict any significant dmg on you. Here are my suggestions.

Warrior: superior rune of strength on armor. Greatsword with superior sigil of strength and force. Axe with superior sigil of air and mace offhand with superior sigil of bloodlust or force. Traits should be strength (middle, middle, top), tactics (bottom, bottom, bottom), berserker (top, top, top). Skill slots should be healing signet, for great justice, banner of strength, banner of discipline, signet of rage.

Guardian: superior rune of the scholar on armor. Greatsword with superior sigil of force and bloodlust. Sword with superior sigil of air and shield(or focus or torch. Doesnt matter) with superior sigil of force. Traits should be zeal (mid, mid, bottom), virtues (top, mid, bottom), and dragon hunter (top, mid, bottom). Skills should be shelter (purification works fine), test of faith, procession of blades, bane signet, and dragon’s maw (or feel my wrath).

Elementalist: I’m personally fond of fresh air staff tempest. scholar runes on armor, sigil of force and bloodlust or air on staff. Traits are fire (top, top, top), air (bottom, middle, middle), tempest (middle, bottom, middle). Skills are arcane brilliance, signet of fire, glyph of storms, mist form, and glyph of elementals.

I’m just going to warn you, this will get expensive fast because this is the gear everyone goes to get.

ubersoldat.1093:

Belzebu.3912:

Better trinkets and put runes in those armors will improve your damage by a good margin.

Also, the stats are all very defensive and in case of your ele just wrong, but still … the runes and trinkets alone will improve it.

What you are experiencing is not only players with better gear, they also have better builds and the synergy of the gear + build makes the damage WAY higher.

Any quick recommendations to my builds then?

I suggest checking the sub forum of each class for better builds, but you can check these links:
For meta builds: http://metabattle.com/wiki/MetaBattle_Wiki
For more diverse builds: https://www.reddit.com/r/GuildWars2Builds

Thanks guys! I appreciate the help

Also do remember that the damage setup for some classes differ greatly depending in groups or solo. For example, the meta Phalanx Strength Warrior (STR-TAC-BER) build is a big DPS increase for groups, but doesnt add much damage to your own DPS. You’re better off with STR-ARM-BER for personal DPS.

I agree with the above posters on most of the points, but in case you want to start with something cheaper for solo DPS, here’s my suggestions for a starting point. You can adjust to your personal preferences.

Warrior

Armor : Full Berserker Exotic Armor. Cheapest way to get these are buying with Karma from Temple of Grenth in Cursed Shore, or Bladed Armor from Verdant Brink. Note that Karma armor cannot be salvaged, so dont put expensive runes in them.

Rune : Strength / Scholar are the best, but expensive. Rage / Ogre are cheaper alternatives.

Weapon : Berserker Greatsword / Axe + Mace. Sigil of Force + Air are the best. Bloodlust and Accuracy are cheaper alternatives.

Build : STR Mid-Mid-Top / ARM Mid-Mid-Mid / BERS Top-Top-Top for DPS.
Switch ARM for TAC for group DPS, DIS for faster running, DEF if you need extra survivability

Skills : Healing Signet – For Great Justice – Signet of Precision – Head Butt. Spam those signets for Signet Mastery stacking bonus. Use banners for Group DPS.

Simple DPS Rotation : Basically start with buffs, Dodge into the enemy, Headbutt to fill your bar, F2 – F1 – GS 2 (hundred blades). Dont interrupt GS 2 if you can help it. It’s your biggest DPS.

Guardian

Armor : Same as warrior
Runes : Scholar is the best, Flame Legion is a cheap alternative.
Weapon : Berserker Greatsword / Sword + Torch. Scepter for ranged. Hammer is also good sustained damage, but less burst than GS.
Sigils : Same as warrior
Build : Zeal Mid – Mid – Bottom / Virtues Top – Top- Bottom/ DH Top-Mid-Bottom

Simple DPS Rotation : F1, Symbol, Whirling Wrath on top of Symbol of Wrath. Move into the opponent when doing Whirling Wrath to get more hits.

Elementalist
Armor : Same as warrior
Runes : Scholar is the best, Flame Legion is a cheap alternative.
Weapon : Dagger / Warhorn for close-ish combat. Staff for more range. Both do excellent DPS. Lots of ways to play Ele, so you might want to try which style fits you.
Sigils : Same as warrior
Build : Fire – Air – Tempest. This depends a lot on your playstyle. The most important trait selection is Fresh Air if you want to switch elements.

Simple DPS Rotation : For fresh air Dagger/Warhorn, start in Air, F1, switch to fire, skill 3/ 5, when it crits switch back to Air, skill 5 – autoattack until F1 is available.

I really don’t recommend going full berserker gear on anyone other than a warrior or revenant when you just casually pve because a lot of encounters will simply one shot you. There’s really a BIG difference between being one shot or two shot in pve. I recommend wearing zerker exotic armor and weapons and using a mix of soldiers ascended trinkets and zerker to find a good balance between damage and survivability. You can also play condi builds but those builds are more limited to a traitline and weaponset so it can be hard to make for a new player. If you are playing a necromancer (reaper), play rabid or vipers (if you can make it).

You can also make marauder gear which has a nice balance between survivability and damage. I like to use marauder gear mixed with berserker and soldiers trinkets on my thief when I casually pve.

If you mainly play PvE you are fine with 90% of the content if you run Berserker Gear with those classes.

You really should get ascended berserker trinkets, they are rather cheap/easy to get, then you can either craft or find (i.e. in fractals) ascended weapons. They are rather expensive though (couple of 100g).

Last but not least if you really want to min/max go for ascended armor. It is by far the most expensive and only gives you a small damage boost. Also you can use Scholar runes or depending on class rune of rage etc. The builds from Metabattle show it pretty well.