Guild Wars 2

Hello all. I would like some advice. I was just running the boss train, hoping to boost my old world mastery when what should drop, but Zojja’s Weapon Chest. It would be my first ascended weapon and it has zerker stats. I haven’t chosen yet and would appreciate some advice.

So far, my experience is limited. No dungeons, though I’d enjoy trying that in the future. No PvP/WvW (nor plans to do them) – just casual open world PvE stuff.

My build so far has been dual pistols w/ kits, stacking condition damage.

So, I haven’t used the rifle much. I took a few test swings with the hammer, but I’m still training the specialization. Does anyone have some advice for how to best make use of the free ascended weapon? I’d hate to let it go to waste.

Thanks!

EDIT: I forgot to actually say that I’m open to new builds and such. That’s why I’m asking – I’d be trying something fairly new.

welp, for the zerker meta in dungeons you want rifle…

Anyways, the new HoT content is quite engaging and while you’ll definitively mix some toughness into your power gear, zerker mainhand weapons are definitively ok. That also includes the new raid-content as far as I’m concerned

So it depends on your preferences:
If you like dungeons & the easy champ-trains / open world farming of tyria: Rifle
If you rather want to play the new HoT content and like scrapper for its defensive boost for powerbuilds, pick the hammer.

Arantheal.7396:

welp, for the zerker meta in dungeons you want rifle…

Thats only because nobody decent cares enough to update the dungeon meta because dungeons are dead. Hammer is perfectly viable and likely optimal too.

Yea, I’d honestly say that from a min/max DPS perspective, the hammer is better than rifle. Considering that it also has some really advantageous utility on the weapon skills that the rifle doesn’t and I’d say that hammer is hands down the best weapon for any power-based dungeon/fractal scenario. Considering the usefulness of blocks/reflects, I think it’s even better for fractals.

ocirne.7915:

Arantheal.7396:

welp, for the zerker meta in dungeons you want rifle…

Thats only because nobody decent cares enough to update the dungeon meta.

Considering the now diminished rewards & how laughable easy dungeons always were, can you blame us?

Hmm. From the sound of things, I think I’ll hold onto the weapon chest for now, try to collect more hero points, try out some hammer builds, and go for the the hammer. I did like the hammer when I gave it a basic test-run. It’s just a very different play style.

Thank you all for the help! I really appreciate it!

Pick rifle.

If you pick hammer without being a scrapper, you will not be able to use it anyway in PvE. You’ll have plenty of time to craft or get an ascended hammer while you unlock all the hero points you’ll need for the scrapper. Same for the pistols and shield, which don’t make the best use of the zerker stats.

Remeber this doesn’t need to be your “only and final” weapon. It is just the first. As an engie, you should always carry all your weapons with yourself, because every one of them gives you something different and are best in different situations.

In shorter words: Since you’ll end with a full set of weapons in the end, my advice is to begin with zerker rifle.

Ardid.7203:

You’ll have plenty of time to craft or get an ascended hammer while you unlock all the hero points you’ll need for the scrapper. Same for the pistols and shield, which don’t make the best use of the zerker stats.

Well, I logged in…yesterday? …to find that I had Scrapper suddenly fully unlocked…and a ton of Hero Point point surplus! (I think I have over 100 spare hero points now.) One of the patches obviously changed how many points were needed and I was nearing completion of the Scrapper tree.

I’m considering going rifle as well because I happened upon one of the pieces to the Fix-r-Upper achievement (apparently I need to pay more attention because that was something like my third or fourth). Apparently, if I can collect all the items listed, I get a free AWESOME-looking hammer that I absolutely need…and it’s an ascended weapon. I’m now sitting at 7/14…pondering how long it would take to collect the other 7 that mostly seem mastery-locked.

I’ve been giving the hammer a try…with mixed feelings about it (I seem to kill things better, but I haven’t been able to settle on a build I’m completely happy with yet). I think I’ll try rifle for a while – see how that goes.

Oh, if you already have the Scrapper, by all means try to get the Fix-R-Upper. But is seems is going to be long-ish, because AFAIK we need to clear all the new maps to obtain one of the items, and other 2 are RNG. (I started a thread about it, you can find some tips and problems there)

Also remember there’s a way to change ascended stats on the mystic toilet, and you can obtain ascended weapons doing fractals.