Guild Wars 2

I’ve been testing this condi build alot this weekend and i would like to share my results with you.

Build

Armor and trinkets are trailblazer.
Dual pistols both viper stats.

Rune of the undead
Sigil of corruption/earth

The traits i use are:
Firearms 1-1-3
Alchemy 2-2-1
Holosmith 3-2-2

Utility: Healing turret – Rocket boots – Elixir S – Elixir C – Prime Light Beam

Testing…

The burst burning damage is insane! The main damage skills are pistol #4, photon forge skill #4 and elite skill, making 4k+ burning ticks easily. Overall condi damage is good, nothing else to say about that. The only skill giving stability is photon forge skill #3, use it wisely.

Roaming and small group WvW is not too bad. High burst damage as i said earlier and survivability with 6.5 seconds invulnerable (total) and condi cleans with Elixir C. BUT! When those skills are off cooldown, you’re very squishy even with high toughness from trailblazer stats.

I’ve also tested this build while in a 40+ zerg, changing rocket boots with flamethrower. Make sure you’re in a stab/resis group else you have a hard time staying alive.

Pros
- High burst damage
- Mobility
- Might stacking while above 100% heat

Cons
- Builds that spam alot of condi like necro
- High burst power builds (warriors/thieves)
- Lack of stability

Is it viable?

Yes, high burst damage and good overall damage but it trades off the lack of survivability, especially when you get focussed.

My question would be not if condi holosmith is viable (because it obviously is), but if condi holosmith can output more damage then power holosmith can, and if either would be better then the other in certain situations.

Or for that matter, what situations (PvE, sPvP, WvW) holosmith would do better in compared to base engi and scrapper.

For example, power holosmith might use rifle instead due to pistols focusing on condition, and as a result might be able to achieve higher damage output for the purpose of raids and T4 Fractals.

I suppose that sort of in depth testing would have to wait until full release.

Only 4K? I get 7K without elite. Full Viper though, super glass cannon. Are you avoiding overheating or playing into it? Does self burn scales of condition damage?

Id go out on a limb and say that power holosmith is way to go, probably power, vitality, ferocity

I found that while condi is good, power is insane.

Condi: not all your skills apply conditions. Power: all your skills hit for insane damage. Yes, you can get 4k-7k burn ticks on a target going by fully landing your skills at close range, but with power, you’re doing 4k aoe+ranged autos and 10-15k aoe bursts.

In general, it felt like I was working really hard to stick condi on my opponents (being close range for rocket kick + blowtorch, ensuring I was above 50% heat before light beam, making sure every photon blitz projectile hits, etc, but for all that, it actually felt like less damage overall than yolo-power-spam.

I wanted to like condi, but I don’t think it’s better than power right now.