Guild Wars 2

Hey fellas.

for those ‘TL;DR people’ – read the topic title

I’m GW1 veteran and I’ve bought GW2 in release date, however I’ve had a long break. Few days ago I decided to spend some time on ranked arenas. I have a problem with a proper build after a lot of changes connected with HoT, new elites etc. I used to play war mainly and I would like to continue eviscrating my opponents, yet I faced a problem: I don’t have Heart of Thorns and I’m not going to buy it. I know I’d regret it – my free time for playing ends soon and it would be a waste of money.

Yet, back to problem – on metabattle there’s only one build for warrior which doesn’t require berserker traits (GS/Hammer). I wonder if there is any alternative for that. Now I’m messing around with my old-style eviscrate axe+shield/GS which I ‘uptadet’ a little and I’m doing fine in spite of being kitten d sometimes.
Nevertheless I would like to ask you, if there is any other accesible setup. I know I will not rule the Legendary division. I just wonder if there are no builds on the net because PvP without HoT is unplayable or it is so due to people’s fascination of HoT specs which are btw pretty annyoing for me. I would like to keep warrior-ing, but ANY other class build which may be considered as ‘fine’ compared to new meta will be appreciated. I play rarely, but I engage a lot when it comes to PvP and I simply want to have a potential to maybe outplay some people without playing meta-setups.

Thank you.

@edit: here is my axe/shield & GS build I was talking about, I post it in case someone is looking for proper no-HoT setup.

variaties:
1) drop Bull’s Strike for Endure Pain
2) take Rune of Melandru instead of Hoelbrak
3) pick mace instead of axe for better CC and stunlock in order to land full HB
4) take Paladin’s amulet when toughness needed

If you don’t mind being at a high disadvantage to others run Thief The old Da/Tr/Sa D/P build still works pretty well.

Thanks. I think I will just try to figure out some setups which I will find enjoyable to play. Maybe finally one of them will let me stay alive for longer than 1 faceroll done by new-meta-champions.

I’m in the same boat OP. Stopped playing after HoT release for obvious reasons; never bought it. Now I’m slowly getting back into it for some fresh air.

Anyways I’ll tell you what I know:

Necro: Marauder wellmancer is still a great roflstomper, it’s fun too. Run Flesh Wurm and well of corruption/ vulnerability. Terrormancer(never forget pre-HoT Noscoc terrormancer at worlds) is really good IMO.

Guardian: Marauder GS+hammer or scepter/focus. GS is a MUST. I almost always get top damage when playing marauder guard.

Engineer: Good ol’ marauder rifle-double toolkit-invuln elixir. Great burst and great “oh kitten” spec with double elixir proc from your passive.

I’m assuming you are familiar with the old stuff. If not, say so. And when i geta chance I’ll screenshot the builds I’m qworking with.

Bare in mind I’m in sapphire and just playing for fun :p

@up:

Nice to see I’m not the only one :D Thanks bro. Yesterday I’ve found GS/Scepter/Focus guardian quite nice and possible to kick some HoT builds. I think I’ll focus on warrior and guardian yet I don’t play a lot and these are the only classes I’m really familiar with. I saw here the topic designed for sharing own, non-meta builds. Maybe it will provide some ideas worth testing.

Full boon corrupt necro (signets + spite + curses + soul reaping) does pretty well in pvp (as well as a necro can do). I have hot but I like this more then the meta necro build.

Core warrior is still fine.

BlaqueFyre.5678:

If you don’t mind being at a high disadvantage to others run Thief The old Da/Tr/Sa D/P build still works pretty well.

this^^

used this build for 1.5 seasons, had to switch somewhere in diamond in s2 due to abundance of revs and scrappers (reveal on demand is dumb, period)

given the changes in s3-s4 it should be ok now actually

everything non-HoT is viable as long as you enjoy getting slaughtered

Lexander.4579:

everything non-HoT is viable as long as you enjoy getting slaughtered

Core Thief just as well if not better with all the Condi spam than Daredevil, Thief in general this season is at a huge disadvantage with the surplus of DHs in every ranked match, only build I found that can troll DHs effectively is a P/P build that melts DH while Kiting.
I haven’t tried any other non Hot Specs this season so I have no input with them.

BlaqueFyre.5678:

Lexander.4579:

everything non-HoT is viable as long as you enjoy getting slaughtered

Core Thief just as well if not better with all the Condi spam than Daredevil, Thief in general this season is at a huge disadvantage with the surplus of DHs in every ranked match, only build I found that can troll DHs effectively is a P/P build that melts DH while Kiting.
I haven’t tried any other non Hot Specs this season so I have no input with them.

yep p/p is probably your best bet against DH spam but then again equally skilled DH will simply bury you under his defensive CDs while all he needs to bring u down is pull u through his test of faith then push you out with true shot using knockback trait

in other words DH only needs needs to land his pull to kill a thief which is extremely precise and fast, making it difficult to dodge other than on prediction

Lexander.4579:

BlaqueFyre.5678:

Lexander.4579:

everything non-HoT is viable as long as you enjoy getting slaughtered

Core Thief just as well if not better with all the Condi spam than Daredevil, Thief in general this season is at a huge disadvantage with the surplus of DHs in every ranked match, only build I found that can troll DHs effectively is a P/P build that melts DH while Kiting.
I haven’t tried any other non Hot Specs this season so I have no input with them.

yep p/p is probably your best bet against DH spam but then again equally skilled DH will simply bury you under his defensive CDs while all he needs to bring u down is pull u through his test of faith then push you out with true shot using knockback trait

in other words DH only needs needs to land his pull to kill a thief which is extremely precise and fast, making it difficult to dodge other than on prediction

Or this happens if you actually attempt to use stunbreak mid of pull :<

Cynz.9437:

Lexander.4579:

BlaqueFyre.5678:

Lexander.4579:

everything non-HoT is viable as long as you enjoy getting slaughtered

Core Thief just as well if not better with all the Condi spam than Daredevil, Thief in general this season is at a huge disadvantage with the surplus of DHs in every ranked match, only build I found that can troll DHs effectively is a P/P build that melts DH while Kiting.
I haven’t tried any other non Hot Specs this season so I have no input with them.

yep p/p is probably your best bet against DH spam but then again equally skilled DH will simply bury you under his defensive CDs while all he needs to bring u down is pull u through his test of faith then push you out with true shot using knockback trait

in other words DH only needs needs to land his pull to kill a thief which is extremely precise and fast, making it difficult to dodge other than on prediction

Or this happens if you actually attempt to use stunbreak mid of pull :<

anet got tired of seeing thieves escape dragon maw and hunter’s ward just by spending shadowstep and getting a 1 sec knockdown out of nowhere so instead DH can imprison now inside the terrain

Of all of the core builds to run, I would say Core Altruistic Healing Shout support guardian is the most viable.

Most warrior power builds should work just fine without berserker, including the axe/shield and GS one you mentioned. Just be sure you take the defense line and try to consistently land your bursts for Adrenal Health- which might take some practice given all the defenses HoT added. Stances are good as always.

Core warrior should actually be in a pretty good spot right now. Berserker, while a strong line with a lot to bring to the table, left us well behind other classes until the relatively recent buff to AH in the defense line.

List of classes.

Support guard
Burn guard
burn engie
condi ranger
boon corruption necro
shatter mes
condition mes
condi teef
viper necro
viper mes
viper war
Mantra mes

As light of abyss said tho – "" Core Altruistic Healing Shout support guardian is the most viable.""

i was gonna say bunker guard with aegis but the truth is DH synergizes too well with it. fragment of faith and condi removal on block is too good to pass up.

Many thanks for advices. What do you think about GS/Rifle, precisely I mean this one?

Sato.1320:

Many thanks for advices. What do you think about GS/Rifle, precisely I mean this one?

Why Rifle? I always use LB with GS … Hmm, maybe i should give this build a try … looks interesting.

ATM I am testing it, looks quite fine, here’s the template based on yt video.

GS/Hammer with Demolishers.

In my experience Warrior has the best build diversity, and is more viable non-HoT. Warrior’s stances, in particular, are just as effective as always. Try glass gear (Zerk or Rampager, depending on your style) with stances, and whatever weapons you enjoy. The Defense Trait line is pretty awesome, although they recently nerfed the passive heal.

Thief Dagger/Pistol may also be viable non-HoT, as others have mentioned.

good luck, you’re not alone.

No one seems to have mentioned fresh air elementalist, which I think is one of the most viable non-HoT specs to run, it has a high skill ceiling but once you start progressing it’s incredibly rewarding, can outplay most builds (jk condi mes and d/p / staff daredevil)

http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Elementalist_-_S/F_Fresh_air_roamer

The build is the same for WvW and sPvP, (I suggest the water variant instead of earth with aeromancer’s training),