Guild Wars 2

I have been toying with the following HGH/might stacking build:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fcAQJAqal0piYnuShF17ICoCAmoHPGkNZfe8WPIEC

http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/engineer/?2.5|a.1o.h1h.a.1o.h1|0.0.0.0.0.0|1o.77.1o.77.1o.7d.1o.7d.1o.71i.1o.71i|1g.67.1g.67.1g.67.1g.67.1g.67.1g.67|u2ab.a5.0.u28b.0|2s.7|2d.2i.2k.2g.30|e

assuming

Sigils: battle + accuracy (or corruption or force)

Runes: 2 fire, 2 strength, 2 altruism

Rampager armor and weapons

Berzerker accessories

I believe that with the battle sigil and altruism runes, medkit will provide more sustained might stacks than elixir H in addition to providing a reliable source of fury (along with elixir B ).

A key question is whether to take enhance performance vs. explosive powder or short fuse. Presuming that enhance performance translates into 3 additional sustained stacks of might, I estimate this would yield ~1% increased power and condition damage. Depending on the calculator used (http://gw2.hazno.net vs. http://gw2buildcraft.com), this appears to translate into a 1-5% increase in bleed damage over explosive powder. Over time, short fuse could affect the number of maintained bleed stacks, and to the degree stacks were not already capped at 25, increase bleed damage. In the absence of a solid dps calculator, my limited calculations lead me to believe that short fuse would be better than either explosive powder or enhance performance for sustained damage.

One further question is whether it would be better to take shrapnel or incendiary powder. I would think that maximizing bleed stacks would do more for damage than providing a small amount of burning, though I have seen HGH builds (e.g., Ostricheggs) that incorporate incendiary powder instead of shrapnel. I am not convinced that the shrapnel grenade and sharpshooter, if taken, would be enough to secure 25 stacks of bleeding. Thoughts?

It’s pretty convoluted, honestly.
Explosive powder gives its benefit unconditionally, but does nothing for condition damage.
Enhance performance affects both damage types, but takes time to build up, assuming you don’t run around using your heal whenever you can to maintain stacks (and its benefits can also be stripped/stolen/converted, etc).
Short fuse affects both, but requires you to use skills as soon as they come off cool down or it becomes (more) lossy.

It’s a cop-out answer, but I really think it depends on the situation. Personally, I just use enhance performance because it benefits both damage types and the upkeep is easy between fights since I’m using speedy kits anyway.

Also as per your shrapnel grenade + sharpshooter capping bleed stacks alone question, no I don’t they would with that build. I manage it with +100% condition duration in PVE, but that probably doesn’t help you much.