Guild Wars 2

Just hit 80, and i’m trying to gear up w/ exotics. Looks to cost around 50-60g, which is a lot for me, so i’ll have to pick up a few pieces at a time w/ a long-term gameplan. I mostly dungeon w/ d/d (staff when needed). Build is at least 10 earth/30 water/20 arcane (other 10 wherever fits my mood on a given day). Here’s what i’ve got so far (any insight would be appreciated):

Power – don’t see a downside w/ it. I intend to get this on everything.

Vitality – I think 15-16k hp is my ‘comfort zone’. w/ 30 water, i’d need 165 added vit for around 16k. weapons alone can give me 128 (about 15.5k hp). close enough, moving on….

Toughness – I LOVE toughness. seems i can actually ‘feel’ the difference when i have too little. still, i don’t rlly have a target in mind here, so i’ll just try to get about the same amount as vitality. cleric accessories seem to fit the bill (w/ 10 in earth), plus around 800 healing w/ traits. ok, next….

Now, defense is done, and i have my entire armor set for whatever offense i want. i’ve been reading the various discussions on condition damage, and given my typical group makeup i have to say it doesn’t rlly impress me. wish i could afford a solo set w/ it though. been noodling around w/ berserker’s for direct damage. full set w/ crit runes using above scenario (plus 10 in air) only gives me 27% crit (34% crit damage). seems underwhelming given the investment. add food and it’s about 32% crit chance (+44% damage). does this seem like a reasonable investment? otherwise i guess i punt and go w/ cond damage (prec. + cond. maybe?), the attribute i was just criticizing a few lines up?

If you see anything wrong with my thought process (it happens), please let me know. Thank you for your time.

tl;dr – berserker or rampager armor for ‘balanced’ dungeon build (w/ lots of conditions already flying around)?

I would really recommend that you put 10 points in air for Zephyr’s Boon. Since you are D/D, you can get more or less perma-fury from it in combination with some runes with boon duration. That right there is +20% crit chance…in addition to whatever the 100 prec from 10 air gives you.

Also, you will get it by default if you pick Cleric’s gear, but I think Healing Power should be a major attribute for defensive D/D Ele’s…and since you are 30 water, it should be a great choice for you.

I run full cleric’s gear, full carrion acc and it works great for me.

Take a look at the exotic Dwayna set you can buy from the Karma merchant in Malchor’s Leap for 42k karma per piece. It’s a nice vitality/regen set which goes well with a defensive d/d build, and you won’t have to pay a single copper toward the armor or the runes.

Excellent tips. Thank you both.

Regarding Zephyr’s Boon, I have to admit I always found the wording a little confusing. Let’s say some guy finishes off one of my fields (I’m thinking fire aura since it happens so often). Did I apply it? In other words, who gets the swiftness and fury: me, him, or neither since it’s only for those auras that I apply to myself?

As D/D for WvW and PvE, I run full Soldiers/Invaders (Power/Toughness/Vitality) Armor, Backpiece and Weapons, with full Knights (Power/Precision/Toughness) Jewelry. This gives you very good Power, about 29% crit, ~19.5k health, and ~1650 Toughness.

Can’t give exact numbers as I’m not at home at the moment, but it gives a really solid balance of survivability and damage for WvW. Aslo, Signet of Battle is a must on one of your weapons.

The only downside to this setup is that you can’t craft Power/Precision/Toughness gear, so you’ll have to run AC every day for a couple weeks if you want to go that route. It’s worth it, imo. AC is easy with a competent group and you save yourself a ton of money that way.

funkin.3814:

Excellent tips. Thank you both.

Regarding Zephyr’s Boon, I have to admit I always found the wording a little confusing. Let’s say some guy finishes off one of my fields (I’m thinking fire aura since it happens so often). Did I apply it? In other words, who gets the swiftness and fury: me, him, or neither since it’s only for those auras that I apply to myself?

You only get it off Auras you apply to yourself. Water Dagger 4 and Air Dagger 3 give you auras which let you keep up Fury and Swiftness pretty much perpetually if you run Monk’s/Water Runes for boon duration.

You’re also supposed to be able to get an Aura proc using Earth Dagger 3 combo with RoF, but it’s been bugged since last patch.

in spvp i am partial to the runes of the forge.
not random.
toughness bonus.
protection bonus.
bonus starts within a reasonable crit comfort zone.
i have been critted for 13k in one hit.
then get all my power out of gems and such.

The cheapeast, easiest to get armor that I can think of (with exactly the stats you descrive by the way) is the set you can buy with the tokens from Ascalonian Catacombs (explorable). The dungeon itself is relatively easy, and you’ll rake up enough tokens quickly enough.

Best of all, you’ll make money instead of spending it.

mouse.1689:

funkin.3814:

Excellent tips. Thank you both.

Regarding Zephyr’s Boon, I have to admit I always found the wording a little confusing. Let’s say some guy finishes off one of my fields (I’m thinking fire aura since it happens so often). Did I apply it? In other words, who gets the swiftness and fury: me, him, or neither since it’s only for those auras that I apply to myself?

You only get it off Auras you apply to yourself. Water Dagger 4 and Air Dagger 3 give you auras which let you keep up Fury and Swiftness pretty much perpetually if you run Monk’s/Water Runes for boon duration.

You’re also supposed to be able to get an Aura proc using Earth Dagger 3 combo with RoF, but it’s been bugged since last patch.

Never thought of that. What about Frost Armor (the ice field blast finisher)? Would that work too?

ThiBash.5634:

mouse.1689:

funkin.3814:

Excellent tips. Thank you both.

Regarding Zephyr’s Boon, I have to admit I always found the wording a little confusing. Let’s say some guy finishes off one of my fields (I’m thinking fire aura since it happens so often). Did I apply it? In other words, who gets the swiftness and fury: me, him, or neither since it’s only for those auras that I apply to myself?

You only get it off Auras you apply to yourself. Water Dagger 4 and Air Dagger 3 give you auras which let you keep up Fury and Swiftness pretty much perpetually if you run Monk’s/Water Runes for boon duration.

You’re also supposed to be able to get an Aura proc using Earth Dagger 3 combo with RoF, but it’s been bugged since last patch.

Never thought of that. What about Frost Armor (the ice field blast finisher)? Would that work too?

One would think it should, considering fire shield via magnetic grasp is supposed to work. But it seems like zephyr’s boon proccing off combo auras is bugged ATM.