Guild Wars 2

Hey guys, in a P/P HGH condi build, is there any point mixing Rabid with Carrion gear? Or is it better to stack one of the two (probably Rabid for better use of on-crit sigils) for all your gear?

I guess you could mix Rampager’s in too. What’s the typical P/P WvW roamer look like these days?

Since P/P HGH condition has 2 on crit condition applying traits you definitely want that precision from Rabid. In my condition set I run full Rabid with Coral jewels aside from my Carrion weapons which I crafted before I could afford Rabid. Still can’t afford them because I’m spending those resources on other characters. Point is, try and get as much Rabid as possible and sub Carrion/Rampager when you can’t get Rabid.

The only time you mix rabid and carrion is if you are going for maximum effective HP, or are trying to make a defensive hybrid build.

I’ve always mixed and I know it works much better than full carrion/rabid/rampager. Take a look at my gear and build: http://tinyurl.com/kfoelx2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cmgYIXdnik

u dont really need more than 40% crit chance, it will be 60% most time anyway because fury has nice uptimes. that extra power will make more of a difference.

@ Mask, looks interesting. The necro forums also seem to prefer Carrion or a mix to pure Rabid for condi builds.

What’s the method to the madness in your gear choice though? Like, what setpoints/breakpoints were you aiming for, if any? I get the reasoning on the 40%-ish crit chance. Just trying to understand some of your choices is all.

Thanks for the help to all that replied!

I would say to not mix them. Carrion with Superior Rund of the Undead stacks PVCT in very good numbers. The only time I would try to increase my Crit Chance is if I were also increasing my Crit Damage.

Generally speaking, you are better off with pure rabid gear simply because might is easy to come by, which makes adding power fairly easy to do.

huki.8251:

@ Mask, looks interesting. The necro forums also seem to prefer Carrion or a mix to pure Rabid for condi builds.

What’s the method to the madness in your gear choice though? Like, what setpoints/breakpoints were you aiming for, if any? I get the reasoning on the 40%-ish crit chance. Just trying to understand some of your choices is all.

Thanks for the help to all that replied!

I aim for 1500 power and 35-40% crit chance. From there I go towards 1350~toughness. Oddly enough I don’t really care for my condition damage value but I still get extremely high ticks.

I like having my pistol#1 hitting for about 400~damage each. I’ve gone full rabid and having my pistol shots hitting for 180~ was much more hindering than having lower toughness (which carrion mitigates by adding vit) and lower precision which as I explained is still more than enough. My bleeds will still hit for 115~completley unbuffed. Trying to beat a decent ele, thief or anyone running melandru+lemongrass with just condition damage is very very hard. Also, your poison and burns won’t stack damage with other sources so yoiu need to have some decent power to still be useful.

This is now a product of a year of trying gear and adjusting numbers, it’s actually slightly different now because Im using coated bullets so I changed a trinket or two. It’s also built for my needs which are solo roaming or small group vs large group (not my pov, but my group http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWwS03-qhcg ) .

I won’t say full carrion or full rabid don’t work, but for me, a mix is way better.
Just test stuff and reach values that you feel work, gear is easy to get nowadays with badges anyway :p

Maskaganda.2043:

I aim for 1500 power and 35-40% crit chance. From there I go towards 1350~toughness. Oddly enough I don’t really care for my condition damage value but I still get extremely high ticks.

I like having my pistol#1 hitting for about 400~damage each. I’ve gone full rabid and having my pistol shots hitting for 180~ was much more hindering than having lower toughness (which carrion mitigates by adding vit) and lower precision which as I explained is still more than enough. My bleeds will still hit for 115~completley unbuffed. Trying to beat a decent ele, thief or anyone running melandru+lemongrass with just condition damage is very very hard. Also, your poison and burns won’t stack damage with other sources so yoiu need to have some decent power to still be useful.

This is now a product of a year of trying gear and adjusting numbers, it’s actually slightly different now because Im using coated bullets so I changed a trinket or two. It’s also built for my needs which are solo roaming or small group vs large group (not my pov, but my group http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWwS03-qhcg ) .

I won’t say full carrion or full rabid don’t work, but for me, a mix is way better.
Just test stuff and reach values that you feel work, gear is easy to get nowadays with badges anyway :p

Alright, the advice is appreciated, Mask! I’ll get to experimenting. I’ve run a similar build with full Rabid in sPvP, and I totally get what you’re saying about pure condition damage not being sufficient to down certain classes. I’ll scramble some gear together and give this a go.

Roaming without Speedy Kits doesn’t bother you? I guess there’s a lot of boon duration for the swift off Elixir B on that build though.

Thanks to everyone else for the discussion/contrasting views.

with an elixir build, speedy kits are not necessary. minimum 17/30 seconds swiftness with my boon duration while out of combat, very close to permanent while in combat.

Honestly…unless your really lacking H/P i see carrion is a poor choice. Our survival mostly comes from healing and toughness. I never seen a large H/P pool as a great defence for an engineer.

You don’t go carrion for the hp alone Conan. You get it for power and cd while getting a defensive stat. Sadly, you can’t get power/cd/toughness armor.

Maskaganda.2043:

You don’t go carrion for the hp alone Conan. You get it for power and cd while getting a defensive stat. Sadly, you can’t get power/cd/toughness armor.

Yeah, that’s why I’ve always gone for carrion gear over rabid for p/p engg, and also for grenade engg. The condition damage is the same as rabid, but that direct damage boost really ups your damage potential and makes you more of a threat to people who handle conditions well.

There are no carrion ascended trinkets, so I use rabid for those (or that condi/toughness/vit/precision set), which helps round things out.

1400 condi dmg plus 3000 attack is superb. nuff said. Stack might and you got a killer.

So after rolling with a Carrion/Rabid/Rampager mix for a little bit, I have to conclude that the added power is a huge boon. Especially against heavy condition cleansers, your direct damage can wear them down when your conditions fall short.

Survivability is not much different than going full Rabid, but you are more prone to getting spiked down by glass cannons. You have plenty of mitigation for that though. Hella fun spec, to be honest.

Thanks again for all the ideas in this topic!