Guild Wars 2

I’ve just got my ele to 80 about a month ago and I’ve been using berserkers gear most of the time now, now im looking forward and im going to make accended gear but i dont know what armor stat to go for celestial or berserker. if you can list the pros and cons of each or if you know one is way better than the other explain please. thanks (btw im planning to go mostly S/F)

If it’s pve then berserker but wvw you can choose any depending on your build. Celestial mainly only works on ele but it’s getting hit quite hard in the crit damage patch so I’d go with berserker.

Celestial for dual dag. S search xunleashed on youtube. Staff zerging i do 20 30 0 10 10 with valk armour and zerk trinkets. Scepter dagger just needs high dps with balanced condi removal and decent vitality

Careful with celestial. After the first living story season is finished we are going to see a major balancing patch that will also bring the infamous ferocity nerf. Given the high crit dmg on celestial armors and weapons (which is basically their selling point) celestial will likely be hit harder than berserkers (because the crit dmg reduction will be higher on celestial than on berserkers). While the devs actually acknowledged this and promised to look at it, I don’t expect anything but a nerf. After that you might probably want berserker (which will still be the top dmg option) or something like knights.

Just read about the nerf. Celestial wont be appealing. Better off with zerker or caveliers

Also, some of the celestial exotic recipe are hard to get now. I would wait until the balance update to decide. Berserker for pve, mix balance gear for wvw.

As others have said, wait till the patch. I made my ascended celestial armor awhile ago pretty much as soon as possible and i love how it works with my builds, but now that they plan on nerfing it, i wish i hadn’t wasted all that time and money on it. It was great while it lasted though. Currently, celestial is pretty awesome on ele, but it may very well become useless when the ferocity nerf hits. I’m saving up more damask in case they don’t let us reselect stats and i have to craft an entirely new set.

I think you should all chill cause the nerf to critical dmg won’t be that huge.
Even after the supposed nerf celestial will still be one of the best options for organised WvW.Celestial make bunker builds actualy hit hard.

Just for clarity (and get the word out there):

Celestial gear will not be nerfed.

There has been a lengthy discussion about it that resulted in a dev stating they were aware of it and would buff celestial’s other stats to make sure it wouldn’t be affected by the critical nerf.

ThiBash.5634:

Just for clarity (and get the word out there):

Celestial gear will not be nerfed.

There has been a lengthy discussion about it that resulted in a dev stating they were aware of it and would buff celestial’s other stats to make sure it wouldn’t be affected by the critical nerf.

I think everyone who already has ascended gear before the patch should get a one time deal to trade in their armor for a different stat type of their choice. Just since it sounds like the new meta is going to mix it up

Try for yourself to calculate damage by crit damage based on power of celestial…

You will see why celestial will probably becomes a new “magi” if they want to stick to the “lore” solution…..(lore is more important than balance and players seems…)

Either power or ferocity needs to be high, and keeping other stats as high would be OP….there is no way out….unless they stop the equal stats nonsense…

They should really offer restat….

ThiBash.5634:

Just for clarity (and get the word out there):

Celestial gear will not be nerfed.

There has been a lengthy discussion about it that resulted in a dev stating they were aware of it and would buff celestial’s other stats to make sure it wouldn’t be affected by the critical nerf.

Yup people should stop saying that Celestial will be nerf down. The devs only said that critical dmg will be transfer into ferocity. Now people take this information and asked (with reason) hey if ferocity will have the same stats on celestial, then it will be pretty bad. But it was only a question, that Anet responded by saying that they know that and are working on it so celestial won’t be useless after the patch. It’s ok to say, wait after the path to be sure what will be the position of celestial, but not to say that celestial will be nerf.

That said, for me celestial stats is just so bad already, because Power is so important and celestial have so little of it. For most profession and build, full celestial gear will always have really similar damage as a full Soldier gear, while having 20% less survivability. Even against a full Cleric set, the Celestial will only have an advantage of 8% more damage. Celestial can be good, but most of the time other gear will do the job better.

ThiBash.5634:

Just for clarity (and get the word out there):

Celestial gear will not be nerfed.

There has been a lengthy discussion about it that resulted in a dev stating they were aware of it and would buff celestial’s other stats to make sure it wouldn’t be affected by the critical nerf.

Yeah… a set with major crit dmg and a bit of all the other stats become just all stats… not nerfed… sure…

Staff zerker all the way. Sure you’ll die a lot, but I prefer take that risk while doing some of the highest damage in the game because that’s what Ele does best :P

Crit damage was used to keep the dps of celestial at roughly the same level as Soldier’s. When the ferocity change comes, the compensation to precision and power will likely result in the same net dps.

Celestial was never intended for spike builds so the upcoming changes will make it more suited for its intended role.

ThiBash.5634:

Crit damage was used to keep the dps of celestial at roughly the same level as Soldier’s. When the ferocity change comes, the compensation to precision and power will likely result in the same net dps.

Celestial was never intended for spike builds so the upcoming changes will make it more suited for its intended role.

Celestial infact doesn t work for spike builds nowaday….its alredy been proven.
Yet as i said boosting precision and power to keep the same dps of soldier would result in being OP in other stats…

Won t happen…..
That is why it will be a new trash set.

Also you can t know what IS intended.

players are not supposed what its in the mind of designers that is why its unprofessional changing the rule of a game while running….

There is the soulbound thing that will just ruin the game of many….

But this is pure speculation…
There are only 2 facts:
1) ferocity nerf is OFFICIALLY not aimed at celestial but was aimed at zerker
2) there is really no reason to change a set stat rather than making a conversion…..

Changing the purpose of a set is just a middle finger to people who get a SOULBOUND ascended set crafted on their build.

And that is why tying stats to grindy equip is not smart.

LordByron.8369:

There are only 2 facts:
1) ferocity nerf is OFFICIALLY not aimed at celestial but was aimed at zerker
2) there is really no reason to change a set stat rather than making a conversion…..

What you call ‘fact’ is actually opinion, because ArenaNet gave a reason for the stat conversion. You just don’t agree with it.

The reason you’re calling it a nerf is because you’re only looking at the damage. A buff to both offense and defensive means that the total effectiveness of celestial remains the same.

As for the damage nerf, given that celestial will get compensated and zerker will not, the relative damage difference between pure offense and middle ground will become smaller.

So all in all, celestial will become relatively more effective, not less.

I think people regret not buying the recipes when they droped in thousands and now just bash the set cause it takes time to make and money.Celestial is A LOT better than Soldier set or Knight or Berserker.(not talking about trinkets here)
If you guys are talking about dueling,then suit yourselfs,berserker might be good there IF you know what you are doing but still…High risk little reward imo.Celestial is not good only for its high critical dmg.Its good because it gives us everything.And everything is what an ele needs to be good.We done this discussion a million times.Noone is going to change his/her opinion.

In my current WvW staff build i run 110% critical dmg.Do you think it will hurt me a lot if that falls to 90% with ferocity and my critical chance/power/armor etc go up?Nope.On the contrary,it will boost my effectiveness.

FrownyClown.8402:

Just read about the nerf. Celestial wont be appealing. Better off with zerker or caveliers

Yup. I was in the of making a celestial set for my ele when the nerf was announced. Stopped cold before I wasted more mats.

ThiBash.5634:

LordByron.8369:

There are only 2 facts:
1) ferocity nerf is OFFICIALLY not aimed at celestial but was aimed at zerker
2) there is really no reason to change a set stat rather than making a conversion…..

What you call ‘fact’ is actually opinion, because ArenaNet gave a reason for the stat conversion. You just don’t agree with it.

The reason you’re calling it a nerf is because you’re only looking at the damage. A buff to both offense and defensive means that the total effectiveness of celestial remains the same.

As for the damage nerf, given that celestial will get compensated and zerker will not, the relative damage difference between pure offense and middle ground will become smaller.

So all in all, celestial will become relatively more effective, not less.

I ll try again

What harm would it cause to you seing a different number in celestial/wupwup stats?
What harm would do changing the purpose of a SOULBOUND set Worth 1000+ Gold to the point of being useless for the build players got it for?

Since celestial/wupwup is not OP and nobody complained being too strong (on the opposite…) its just an unprofessional behavior that just show how anet dn t care at all of its playerbase….

Changing EQUIPMENT stat purpose after 1 year is something no professional team would do….

P.S. mine its not an opinion….its clearly stated that ferocity is aimed at berserker pve meta…..

P.P.S. i would again suggest you to read what you wrote….do some math to calculate what should be ferocity + power stat in celestial to mantain soldier dps….it alone proves you wrong…

LordByron.8369:

What harm would it cause to you seing a different number in celestial/wupwup stats?

Since celestial/wupwup is not OP and nobody complained being too strong (on the opposite…) its just an unprofessional behavior that just show how anet dn t care at all of its playerbase….

They have shown they do care because they will rebalance it so it won’t be affected by the ferocity nerf.

Changing EQUIPMENT stat purpose after 1 year is something no professional team would do….

Blizzard has changed stats as well. In fact, they do so virtually ever expansion. Critical damage is flawed because it’s a percentage rather than a stat. Be glad Anet has the guts to admit they made a mistake and change it.

P.S. mine its not an opinion….its clearly stated that ferocity is aimed at berserker pve meta…..

I obviously referred to your second statement.

P.P.S. i would again suggest you to read what you wrote….do some math to calculate what should be ferocity + power stat in celestial to mantain soldier dps….it alone proves you wrong…

Have you calculated the effects of the increased power/precision/condition damage? Have you even read the post that Anet wrote in reply to the celestial issue? I’m guessing no, or you would be aware of how outdated your complains are.

Celestial gear is favored for its critical damage because all the other stats are only average by design. As this chart shows http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Critical_hit , critical damage without high precision only gives a marginal increase in damage, and Celestial is low on precision. For dps dealers, except beserker, it gimps itself with stats in condition and healing power, for condition damage it gimps with stats in power and precision, for beserkers it gimps with stats in vitality and toughness. Generally speaking.

In my experience, players who are effective with Celestial provide a little bit of everything. They like to do some healing, condition damage, and dps but are not great at any of it. With the critical damage decrease of 10%, that stat will no longer offset the lack of precision and power like it partially did, leaving beserkers, (always highest in power and precision) far above at the top of the burst dps role and over all dps too.

Its simple math. Power affects base critical damage. The change of a critical occurring, precision, is calculated and applied. The critical damage is then added to 150 and multiplied. Healing power, vitality, toughness, and condition play no part in these calculations. Missing any one part misses.

If you want to balance a build, then Celestial is not a bad way to go, but not the only way. Just the most expensive.

If youre going for ascended armour I would say start saving up charged quartz crystals and wait (you can only refine one of them a day = 30 day min for celestial armor alone). The other ascended mats will take over a month to get anyway so by that time the new patch changes will be out and people will see what it amounts to.

If youre just going for exotic gear dont bother with celestial, the recipes are only available on the trading post and cost almost 100g so wayyyy not worth when ascended gear is out. Stick with zerker or swap in a mix of zerk and knight/valk if you want more defense. Though if youre only doing pve then exotic zerker gear is basically the only thing youll ever need.

I’m using mostly Berserker’s jewelery, with one Cavalier’s Ring and Earring (all with offensive slots and I’m putting 5 power 5 agony into them).
I’m also using Celestial Staff, Head, Chest and Legs and Berserker’s Boots, gloves and Shoulders. This combination gives the highest possible critical damage while changing some Power and Precision to some various defensive stats and some condition damage.

My critical chance is around 40% + perma fury + other party buffs. Imo going for 100% base crit chance is a big waste of party potential. Warrior with Banner of discipline gives another 170 precision, Ranger’s Spotter trait gives another 150, so it’s another 15% crit chance with a balanced party.

Basically by choosing my set like this, I’m loosing some power, which is the biggest loss for my DPS. It is partially covered by 4% higher crit chance and higher condition damage, but it’s way less than power could give. The loss is a bit less noticable, when you are running with 25 stacks of might (which is a goal for PVE), so basically I have choosen more support and survivability over brutal force. It works really well in fractals (and in normal dungeons – I’m playing only with guildies and we are doing no-corner-FGS-exploiting-runs).

About the Celestial crit damage nerf – I’m actually thinking about switching few more parts to Celestial after that nerf I remember the post of one of the devs, who said that they are aware that the nerf is hitting Celestial more than other sets and that they are planning to increase all stats of the celestial equipment. Since critical damage will not be as effective as it is now and delestial will give more power than it gives now, it might be still a viable option to choose a few Celestial items, but not the full set.