Guild Wars 2

Ever wondered how that Elementalist stays alive forever? Or how that Necromancer does eight billion bleeding damage to everybody in 15 seconds flat?

Here are some basic builds that are effective and fun, so you can quit complaining about Mesmers and Thieves and be one (or, you know, try a different class and playstyle)!

Elementalist
Not Today, Bro
This build is stupidly annoying, because you are impossibly hard to kill, even with only 13k HP. Constant regeneration, constant condition cleansing, lots of escape utilities translate into the ability to hold a point or keep several enemies tied up until reinforcements arrive. You’ll probably never kill anything, but at least it’ll take three to four people to kill you. Make sure you don’t start out in Water. Fire or Air are best so you can switch to Water for your regen and condition cures, then switch to Earth to go defensive with Earthquake to Churning Earth, then continue to roll around healing and annoying your foes.

Engineer
Lightning Bolt Burst
The important part of this build is the 30 points in explosives and the 10 points in tools. The rest of the points can be placed just about anywhere and you’ll still do okay. You don’t even have to use pistol/shield. You can use pistol/pistol or rifle just as easily. Bursting is stupidly easy: Analyze (F2), Surprise Shot (F3), Grenade Barrage (F4). At this point they’ll be almost dead and you just have to finish them off. Easy peasy, holy smokes this is cheesy.

Guardian
It Burns
I don’t really think this is a standard build (maybe it is), but it’s what I play on my Guardian and it’s FUN. Stuff dies pretty darn fast with the greatsword and can swap to the mace/focus and get a little survivability if you need it. Pop Save Yourselves!, Virtue of Justice, then start setting dudes on fire! Kind of squishy, but it’s always fun taking a few people with you.

Mesmer
Mantra Burst
(Fairly) standard mantra burst build. Who needs clones when you can just kill someone outright? Phantasmal Duelist, Mirror Blade, Phantasmal Berserker, Mind Wrack while you nuke them from range. /snore

There are obviously lots of other Mesmer builds, but this one is focused more on upfront damage and less on your clones (except for blowing people up with Mind Wrack).

Necromancer
Well, Just Make ’Em Bleed
Get it? Drop wells. Profit. I’ve been noticing a lot of these in PvP lately, because a monkey could play this setup. If you get in trouble use Plague and last longer. When Plague is over, use Death Shroud. /SNORE

Ranger
Shortbow Bleed
There’s a reason you see tons of Rangers running around with shortbows. Because it’s easy to stack 25 bleeds and watch those high toughness Guardians bleed to death. Condition damage is ridiculous and this build stacks bleeds like nobody’s business. Just try not to get immobilized.

Thief
Pistol Whip
This is one of the builds that everybody hates so much, because you can burst someone down so easy, it’s not even funny. There are several ways to trait, but this one seems pretty common. Steal, immobilize target with Devourer Venom, Assassin’s Signet, Haste, then Pistol Whip away. Doesn’t always work, but when it does you know the guy on the receiving end is throwing his mouse, or at the very least cursing loudly about Thieves.

Warrior
100 Blades
You don’t need Bull’s Rush. You don’t need Throw Bolas. You just need a sword in your main hand and adrenaline (which is no short supply in PvP). The immobilize on Flurry is long enough for you to kill anybody. It’s seriously as easy as Savage Leap, Signet of Rage, Flurry, swap to greatsword, 100 BLADES!, maybe a Whirlwind Attack, then wait for everybody else to kill your squishy rear end so you can do it again in a minute.

I’m not sure what you’re trying to say…….
And oh, you don’t use Assassin’s Signet before Pistol Whip. That’d be a waste.
Why would you MindWrack when you have 2 Phanstasms up?
Someone should play these classes before posting…

Zunhar.4079:

I’m not sure what you’re trying to say…….
And oh, you don’t use Assassin’s Signet before Pistol Whip. That’d be a waste.
Why would you MindWrack when you have 2 Phanstasms up?
Someone should play these classes before posting…

Maybe someone should learn to read before posting? In the disclaimer I clearly state that not everyone is going to agree with all the build decisions. These are just some of the builds that people I’ve talked to use to excellent effect.

Maybe using Assasin’s Signet before Pistol Whip is a waste. I dunno. I don’t play Pistol Whip, I use pistol/dagger. That’s just what a friend of mine does and since he pistol whips people to death in less then 4 seconds, I’ll take his word for it, not some random on the internet.

Second, you have three illusions up before you Mind Wrack. It clearly says that in my original post. Duelist > Mirror Blade > Berserker. Counting is hard.

Thanks for the input though, snarky as it was.

nldixon.8514:

Zunhar.4079:

I’m not sure what you’re trying to say…….
And oh, you don’t use Assassin’s Signet before Pistol Whip. That’d be a waste.
Why would you MindWrack when you have 2 Phanstasms up?
Someone should play these classes before posting…

Maybe someone should learn to read before posting? In the disclaimer I clearly state that not everyone is going to agree with all the build decisions. These are just some of the builds that people I’ve talked to use to excellent effect.

Maybe using Assasin’s Signet before Pistol Whip is a waste. I dunno. I don’t play Pistol Whip, I use pistol/dagger. That’s just what a friend of mine does and since he pistol whips people to death in less then 4 seconds, I’ll take his word for it, not some random on the internet.

Second, you have three illusions up before you Mind Wrack. It clearly says that in my original post. Duelist > Mirror Blade > Berserker. Counting is hard.

Thanks for the input though, snarky as it was.

For the mesmer part I think hes asking why would you waste phantasms. Not many people want to shatter and lose their phantasms for some reason.

I can tell you right now, he’s one if those that probably feels like Phantasms shouldn’t be shattered.

uMad.5719:

nldixon.8514:

Zunhar.4079:

I’m not sure what you’re trying to say…….
And oh, you don’t use Assassin’s Signet before Pistol Whip. That’d be a waste.
Why would you MindWrack when you have 2 Phanstasms up?
Someone should play these classes before posting…

Maybe someone should learn to read before posting? In the disclaimer I clearly state that not everyone is going to agree with all the build decisions. These are just some of the builds that people I’ve talked to use to excellent effect.

Maybe using Assasin’s Signet before Pistol Whip is a waste. I dunno. I don’t play Pistol Whip, I use pistol/dagger. That’s just what a friend of mine does and since he pistol whips people to death in less then 4 seconds, I’ll take his word for it, not some random on the internet.

Second, you have three illusions up before you Mind Wrack. It clearly says that in my original post. Duelist > Mirror Blade > Berserker. Counting is hard.

Thanks for the input though, snarky as it was.

For the mesmer part I think hes asking why would you waste phantasms. Not many people want to shatter and lose their phantasms for some reason.

I have noticed that lots of people don’t want to shatter. Doesn’t make much sense, since the illusions disappear after the fight is over anyway, plus you get huge burst or utility from the shatter AND the CDs on illusions are all relatively short (especially traited).

The lazy Mesmer play (leaving your illusions out and letting them do all the work while you auto-attack) works, but there’s so much more potential in the class.

nldixon.8514:

Zunhar.4079:

I’m not sure what you’re trying to say…….
And oh, you don’t use Assassin’s Signet before Pistol Whip. That’d be a waste.
Why would you MindWrack when you have 2 Phanstasms up?
Someone should play these classes before posting…

Maybe someone should learn to read before posting? In the disclaimer I clearly state that not everyone is going to agree with all the build decisions. These are just some of the builds that people I’ve talked to use to excellent effect.

Maybe using Assasin’s Signet before Pistol Whip is a waste. I dunno. I don’t play Pistol Whip, I use pistol/dagger. That’s just what a friend of mine does and since he pistol whips people to death in less then 4 seconds, I’ll take his word for it, not some random on the internet.

Second, you have three illusions up before you Mind Wrack. It clearly says that in my original post. Duelist > Mirror Blade > Berserker. Counting is hard.

Thanks for the input though, snarky as it was.

Assassin’s Signet deals 150% more damage on your next attack. Since one PW hits 8 or 9 times (can’t remember) Assassin’s Signet only affects one strike, or just the actual pistol whip part of the animation. AS is largely used for Backstab builds or a final HS.

I personally don’t shatter (unless its the end of a fight) because I use a variation of Taugrim’s Legion build which treats phantasms as “valuable allies”. They increase damage, grant protection and regeneration, you move faster with more, you take less damage for each one out, etc.

Sorry if I offended you. I didn’t mean to come across as snarky.

emm the discussion about if you should shatter your ilusions or not depends a lot. Mind wrack does less damage than the phantasm you get from pistol and if you are going full on damage will always be better to have 3 of them pounding the target, you can use it as a finisher doing up to 3k traited or so which is fine but just one duelist does more damage if traited properly.

The only situations mind wrack shines is when you have simple illusions from the scepter or different traits that summon one but you are also losing an important defense, even with highly experienced players this illusions give you a break, it’s very difficult to know which is the real one in a glimpse if you keep switching positions with your clones.

Another good use of mind wrack is with the guard from the focus, since it is static you can shatter it to get some extra damage after his job is done.

Your link to the thief build is broken mate. It goes to the ranger one.

Good post btw. Whether people agree with the builds or not, it’s nice to see them being shared.

Your necro build is absolutely horrible. And why oh why oh why oh why would you ever for one second anywhere in this universe use assassin’s signet with pistol whip.

Haha nice “let’s have some easy time” thread.

Gonna contribute with a super annoying guardian build (that I just love to use) :

QQMOAR

The unkillable thingy with 16k hp

For some reason you can’t see the utilities, just take Judge’s Intervention, Stand your ground and Smite Condition.

Whole idea of the build is to have plenty of situational stuff in order to adapt quickly.

So here you go with 2 condition wipers (smite condition / virtue of resolve), plenty of defense + offense and on top the choice to fill your endurance when you kill someone, or gain power bonus, it all depend of what you want.

Same goes for the offensive options : when you swap to the torch you ll have 100% crit chance so have fun with Zaelot, and your whole armor is setted up for extra burning length.

Cherry on the cake ? Retaliation on each virtue, and you can easily play this build with a hammer, it’ll be even more powerfull.

Edit : the hell, half of the stuff done is broken. So there’s sigil of stamina on the shield, and 2 runes of balthazar + 2 runes of flame legion + 2 runes of divinity on the armor / berserker amulet + jewel

I’m not sure what the OP is trying to accomplish, but if all classes have an overpowered build doesn’t that make the game balance?

What happens if a “haha I can’t die” build fight a “haha you die in 3 sec” build?

@Zunhar.4079
No worries, man. Tone is hard to read through text. I tend to shatter my illusions when I get someone to around half health for a little more burst and by that time the CDs are up on the phantasms and can be pulled right back out. I don’t just summon them and then shatter them right away.

While I haven’t done any number crunching on Assassin’s Signet (since I don’t use it with my build), my buddy was under the impression that the on use portion of the signet applied to the entire attack (i.e., Pistol Whip from start to finish) and not just the first tick. I’ll check it out with a steady sword when I get home tonight.

@ Cribbage
My bad. I’ll get the proper spec up there later. I’m at work and it’s not the one that I personally use on my Ranger, so I don’t remember it right off the bat.

@Payneful
Anyway, like I said in my original post and reiterated a few posts down is that they’re not my builds. I’ve talked to people that have stomped me or I’ve played with that have builds that they are able to use effectively and I’ve shared them here so that people can get an idea of what some classes are capable of. That being said, I tried that Necro build (which a friend uses) and I was able to clean house with it. It’s pretty awesome for clearing out points that are being guarded by bunker builds.

If you’re basing your statement on a one on one situation, maybe it stinks. I dunno. I don’t usually go running around solo on my Necro.

@Aelona
I’ve only seen a couple of Guardians running around with torches, but one smoked me earlier today on my Ranger. Just couldn’t get away from him. Every time I’d get out of melee range, he’d be right back on my butt. Thanks for sharing your build!

I’d like to point out again for everyone else posting in this thread, these are not my builds (except the Guardian one). I’m just passing along builds that have worked for other people that I’ve talked to. I didn’t come up with or tweak any of these builds (except the Guardian build).

Proven.2854:

I can tell you right now, he’s one if those that probably feels like Phantasms shouldn’t be shattered.

high dps phantasams should not be shattered if you use something like taugrims build where you are getting bonuses for how many you have up, with the exception of trying to burst someone down with very low health or f3/f4 to stop a stomp or get a stomp.

Lite.3819:

I’m not sure what the OP is trying to accomplish, but if all classes have an overpowered build doesn’t that make the game balance?

What happens if a “haha I can’t die” build fight a “haha you die in 3 sec” build?

I feel like nobody bothers to read anything on the internet. People just skim the titles of posts then start whining and moaning or flaming.

If you’ll read the first post you’ll notice that I specifically state what I’m “trying to accomplish”: Obviously not everyone is going to see eye to eye on builds. These are just a few that I have seen frequently in PvP or builds that made me take notice (like the Engineer running the build below that melted me in a few seconds) and Here are some basic builds that are effective and fun, so you can quit complaining about Mesmers and Thieves and be one (or, you know, try a different class and playstyle)!

In case you still don’t understand the intent of the post: I talked to a few people from different classes who play builds that are different than my own and put them in this thread so people can check out different play styles that seem to work.

Links appear to be broken.

@nldixon: If many people don’t understand the intention of your post, it was perhaps because you weren’t very clear? These days, so many posts have an underlying agenda, so ppl keep looking for that

The builds are fine (and certainly a place to start) … but the titles of the builds tend to say: “OP-build that will smash the opponent in seconds” or “make you survive no matter what” and hence the display some OP-aspect of the game.

I actually like Gw2 PvP, which is why I’m still playing it.

Science.4207:

Links appear to be broken.

There was an issue with guildhead a bit ago, I think. They should work.

Poxxia.1547:

@nldixon: If many people don’t understand the intention of your post, it was perhaps because you weren’t very clear? These days, so many posts have an underlying agenda, so ppl keep looking for that

The builds are fine (and certainly a place to start) … but the titles of the builds tend to say: “OP-build that will smash the opponent in seconds” or “make you survive no matter what” and hence the display some OP-aspect of the game.

Yeah, I was attempting to interject some humor into the post with the the names and statements like “so you can quit complaining about Mesmers and Thieves and be one”. Tone is hard to convey through text though, so I guess some people weren’t picking up on the sarcastic humor.

I guess the underlying agenda is for people to try new things that might be fun for them.

Your necromancer build is kina silly, wells scale with power so im not sure why you went with condition damage.

Ergo Proxy.6219:

Your necromancer build is kina silly, wells scale with power so im not sure why you went with condition damage.

Like I’ve said about five times in the thread already, they’re not my builds. I don’t know why he went with condition damage over power. I don’t really play Necro that much, but it seems to work for him and was working pretty well for me when I played around with it.

I haven’t talked to him in a few days, but I’ll ask him why he chose condition over power.

I definitely like the idea of a consolidation thread to hold the more standard builds out there for all the classes. No excuse not to try them yourself to learn what you’re up against.

Dashel.8056:

I definitely like the idea of a consolidation thread to hold the more standard builds out there for all the classes. No excuse not to try them yourself to learn what you’re up against.

agreed but the downside of this too is you just get the terribads that want to be carried, just want to roflstomp grab one of these builds.. like Pistol Whip thief and then proceed to get smoked and start whinning X beat me and i’m in this EZMOAD spec so clearly X is OP!! NEEEEEERF!!!!

Edited the Thief build and also tested with a steady sword and steady pistol. Assassin’s Signet does appear to only increase the damage of the first attack, so it’s actually a DPS loss to use the signet before your Pistol Whip. My bad and apologies for spreading misinformation.

Necromancer
Well, Just Make ’Em Bleed
Get it? Drop wells. Profit. I’ve been noticing a lot of these in PvP lately, because a monkey could play this setup. If you get in trouble use Plague and last longer. When Plague is over, use Death Shroud. /SNORE

You have to ways to play necro, conditions, or mm. MM works but its not constant dmg. Conditions work because 90% of players don’t pay attention to condition removal. Oh and in Plauge form you can get killed, you still take dmg, in DS you take no HP dmg. Seems you never played a necro. You also can’t just drop wells constantly. You will end up blowing some skills and getting yoru self killed. There is strats.

Your Engi build will do much more burst if you replace Surprise Shot with Throw Wrench or Rocket Turret. Surprise Shot barely does any damage compared to the other two.

Aelona.8572:

Haha nice “let’s have some easy time” thread.

Gonna contribute with a super annoying guardian build (that I just love to use) :

QQMOAR

The unkillable thingy with 16k hp

For some reason you can’t see the utilities, just take Judge’s Intervention, Stand your ground and Smite Condition.

Whole idea of the build is to have plenty of situational stuff in order to adapt quickly.

So here you go with 2 condition wipers (smite condition / virtue of resolve), plenty of defense + offense and on top the choice to fill your endurance when you kill someone, or gain power bonus, it all depend of what you want.

Same goes for the offensive options : when you swap to the torch you ll have 100% crit chance so have fun with Zaelot, and your whole armor is setted up for extra burning length.

Cherry on the cake ? Retaliation on each virtue, and you can easily play this build with a hammer, it’ll be even more powerfull.

Edit : the hell, half of the stuff done is broken. So there’s sigil of stamina on the shield, and 2 runes of balthazar + 2 runes of flame legion + 2 runes of divinity on the armor / berserker amulet + jewel

Why two runes of divinity instead of Baelfire for another 15% burn duration?

@Kargion
That isn’t the build I use on my Necro, but I tried it out and it seemed to work pretty well. The wells were up frequently and I never felt like I was crippled without them. It wasn’t really a build that meshes well with my personal play style, but it worked out alright. I realize you can die in Plague form, but when I used it my HP jumped to like 50k or something crazy and I was able to go right into Death Shroud out of Plague like nothing happened.

@DoubleUnder
I actually asked about that and my buddy told me that he uses Surprise Shot over Rocket because you can do six Surprise Shots in the same time frame as one Rocket and so you get six more lightning discharges. He said by the time his first rotation of toolbelt and rifle shots are up Surprise Shot is ready to go again.

you could also do a hybrid condition/pet necro (0/30/20/20/0), for a touch of healing and some cc/dps on the side. Yes i know their AI is pretty garbage (golem especially), but it’s a permanently active (ground) elite that does decent damage and cripples. plague is nice mostly to get away, and lich form is a magnet for focus fire.
it does make me sad that plague form is our only water elite, but i despise water combat anyway and avoid it like the plague (hur hur pun i know)

That warrior build is absolutely horrible, and the ranger one isn’t that far off.

Larynx.2453:

That warrior build is absolutely horrible, and the ranger one isn’t that far off.

I don’t use either of those builds, but the Warrior who uses that build crushes people. So maybe it looks horrible on paper, but in practice it’s been put to good use (for the record, I don’t use that build, nor have I tried it).

The Ranger build is not something I would use either, but there was a Ranger rolling around a week or so ago that was using that build and making it look effortless. Like I said, it’s possible these are just exceptional players using subpar builds, but it’s just as likely there are lot of armchair PvPers on the forums picking apart everybody else’s non-cookie cutter builds.

Your Mesmer build has a minor problem. Dueling trait Empowering Mantras is now XI – meaning you need 30 points in Dueling to activate it. Those 5 points can be taken out of Illusions, however, since elongated confusion is useless in a Mantra build.