Guild Wars 2

Hello, I come as a seeker of knowledge, what I seek is hidden behind big crits and stacked power, but most importantly, behind a pile of dead bodies.

But seriously, does anyone have a viable burst build? I really want one. The patch hit not that long ago, and I might have been just too preoccupied crying in the corner with a hammer sticking out of a nasty gash on my head, set aflame and confused, choking on a poison in a pool of my own blood. And no, I don’t consider bludgeoning someone to death with a hammer burst. And neither do I find shizzling my swordizzle around someone’s kitten for half a minute to be one either. All I am asking is for something that plays similar to the old mesmer shatter builds, or valkyrie eles, or d/p thieves, but playing of which does not impair my team’s ability to win in whichever tournament queue considerably, and doesn’t carry “played this since beta” as a requirement to be nearly as effective compared to everything else that runs around on the playing field.

Simply said, I want a burst build that rivals the current meta builds in effectiveness, namely has good matchups against them. Does anyone please have one?

I know my search might be in vain.

All is vain

oh c’mon just roll a warrior and put an axe on it.

Problem solved.

Try maybe power necro? If you’re careful and don’t take craptons of damage you could survive a decent amount with a deathshroud power build and absolutely kitten on people if done right. I’ve run about 2k games with this setup

Silferas.3841:

Hello, I come as a seeker of knowledge, what I seek is hidden behind big crits and stacked power, but most importantly, behind a pile of dead bodies.

But seriously, does anyone have a viable burst build? I really want one. The patch hit not that long ago, and I might have been just too preoccupied crying in the corner with a hammer sticking out of a nasty gash on my head, set aflame and confused, choking on a poison in a pool of my own blood. And no, I don’t consider bludgeoning someone to death with a hammer burst. And neither do I find shizzling my swordizzle around someone’s kitten for half a minute to be one either. All I am asking is for something that plays similar to the old mesmer shatter builds, or valkyrie eles, or d/p thieves, but playing of which does not impair my team’s ability to win in whichever tournament queue considerably, and doesn’t carry “played this since beta” as a requirement to be nearly as effective compared to everything else that runs around on the playing field.

Simply said, I want a burst build that rivals the current meta builds in effectiveness, namely has good matchups against them. Does anyone please have one?

I know my search might be in vain.

All is vain

There’s a bunker meta right now. That means almost every person is running as much defense as they can. That means burst can’t kill people quickly anymore (they just sponge up all your damage and dump all their conditions on you, you either die or flee). That means burst is no longer a thing. Closest you can hope for is a necromancer or engie. They have a burst…but it comes in the form of conditions, not direct damage.

All is most definitely vain.

Backstab Thief still has solid burst, you’ll just need to figure out what available defensive tactics work for you.

If you want a bit of staying power for a point go with pistol offhand.

If you don’t care about staying power use stealth/shadow steps.

Shockwave.1230:

Backstab Thief still has solid burst, you’ll just need to figure out what available defensive tactics work for you.

If you want a bit of staying power for a point go with pistol offhand.

If you don’t care about staying power use stealth/shadow steps.

There was a thread for testing backstabs on the thief forum. I think the highest realistic backstab one could hope to acquire is 7k on a glass target (with a 0/30/30/10/0 standard D/P build). That’s not enough to kill anything that’s not already hurting. And there’s a 3 second revealed period before you can do it again. To be honest, he’d be better off going with pistol whip haste. But still, conditions can do everything direct damage can do, but with more sustain. If he really hates conditions, I’d suggest a bulky DPS class like a stun warrior. But still, best burst is condition burst. Necromancers, engies, & warriors.

Just saying, thief d/p trickery is alive and well. I would say it’s probably the best and most viable burst build at the moment.

If we’re talking about soloq — if you’re a solid shatter mesmer or valkyrie ele player, you won’t be dragging your team down as long as you rotate/burst well. The level of play that they become unviable at is not really something you’ll run into in 9/10 soloq matches.

I would also suggest trying out either a static discharge engineer or a chaith/five gauge power build. Both very fun and reasonably viable.

Burst builds are still totally playable. Just don’t expect to win a battle of attrition against many of the meta condi (and some bunker) builds; know when to leave a lost battle and get your roam on.

Simplicity.7208:

Shockwave.1230:

Backstab Thief still has solid burst, you’ll just need to figure out what available defensive tactics work for you.

If you want a bit of staying power for a point go with pistol offhand.

If you don’t care about staying power use stealth/shadow steps.

There was a thread for testing backstabs on the thief forum. I think the highest realistic backstab one could hope to acquire is 7k on a glass target (with a 0/30/30/10/0 standard D/P build). That’s not enough to kill anything that’s not already hurting. And there’s a 3 second revealed period before you can do it again. To be honest, he’d be better off going with pistol whip haste. But still, conditions can do everything direct damage can do, but with more sustain. If he really hates conditions, I’d suggest a bulky DPS class like a stun warrior. But still, best burst is condition burst. Necromancers, engies, & warriors.

Yeah, I normally see a range of 6-9k on my backstabs before the 50% threshold is reached for executioner. Fun fact, executioner seems to trigger on necros below 50% HP regardless of active death shroud health.

I’m not saying Backstab Thief is easy to execute, but it’s still got a solid burst. Backstab followed by 2 heart seakers will usually pull around 20k damage assuming you get the crits. All in all 3 connecting hits for that much damage probably meets the OPs requirement for burst damage.

Burst damage is insane at the moment. As an Enigneer you have to go for rabit amulet or you are a 3 hit.

shatter mez
d/p thief
power necro
s/f ele

all are viable for solo q

condi users can opt to have toughness with rabid, if you go direct damage you can.. use berserk gear and be glass. What is left is soldiers. I find it funny that condi build can do armor ignoring burst while still having good armor but zerk build cannot do much better at all while having zero armor. Still better balance than with PvE gear in WvW but.. whatever.

WARRIOR – http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fIAQNAR8ejkOxutO6OMxBEzjjAIKC1j5YDbjUhxA-TsAg0CnIQShkDJDSSksINsYZxGCA

Strengths – Extremely High Mobility, use this build to turn the tide in a group fight by unleashing on an unsuspecting victim or 2. Highly effective against downed and rezzing opponents. The mobility allows you to decap far and rejoin the group fight. Keep an eye on the minimap.

Weakness – 1v1 situations 80% of the time. The current meta is a tank / condi so AS SOON AS your focused run off the healing sig will keep you alive and then you can run back and pop off a burst

Notes: Keep another class ‘tournament ready’ encase 3+ members hard counter you. Never pop your utility signet or heal signet. NEVER USE YOUR f1 SKILLS, maintain endurance

Build By Stodz not ME – For a person just starting out on a new class this is extremely easy to pick and play and great fun while you adjust.

RANGER – http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQJATVnAVUZZVQSWwaZgYpYPBqzgTSizg/M6iVKRC-ToAg0CnIoSRljKDVSqsUNsYZB

Strengths – BURST, you can kill a player before they realize they are being hit and finally take out those pesky thieves! – Can win most 1v1 situations and great as a back point alternate that rains a hail of fire on mid after securing home point. The arrows pierce targets taking out AI like a champ. NO SPIRITS YEWW

Weaknessess – Low Mobility, HIGH skill cap, Nill room for error, LB shots easy are interrupted and require you to aim your character in the right direction. To win a fight on point VS tank condi builds you have to leave the point and gain some range.

Notes: Rapid fire is extremely good for following and hitting stealthed targets. Auto at max distance is 2k + (3k when proccing the rune) which means runners are dunners (yep just said that). Use sick em when your opponent is at approx 25% to guarantee a kill. – Used this build to get to top 50 Team Queue. When a tanky target is low use the short bow with quickening zeph to burst down once at low health rather than longbow. This build is great for the player looking a for a challenge and high risk / reward. STILL NO SPIRITS YEWWW

Edit: The ranger build is better in team queue than solo as your members will rotate home if your engaged so you can leave the point and not sacrifice yourself. Use the warrior build intelligently, if you already have enough of your players to guarantee a win in the fight run off and back cap.

Thanks for the builds guys, will make sure to try them out, was getting bored out of my mind by the meta specs lately anyway.