Guild Wars 2

So I was theory crafting a WvW build on one of the builder websites using knights and Valks instead of PVT/Knights and wondered how best to test the build. You can use the mists but the stats seem lower than in PvE/WvW. So how do you test your builds without actually making the sets you want to try out? How do you verify that you have hit your goals?

Just throwing this out there since other people may also benefit.

I like to use coyotes in WvW. They spawn quickly and are decent stats. You can pull several together too.

For testing damage is great one veteran giant in Orr few steps left from Melandru

The only way I can think of to verify the stat-numbers without building the gear is to use old-fashioned math. Characters have definite statistic baselines, and the numbers granted by gear of any type are available on the wiki.
The Mists will always seem like they use lower numbers, because characters have a much more limited level of build-customization (in that it’s only an amulet and some runes/sigils, as opposed to a whole set of gear).

I just use the mists. It’s not ideal because there’s a few different rules in sPvP (i.e. revealed length) and the stats, runes, and sigil choices are more restrictive. However, it’s the only real “free” testing you can do.

Generally, the main thing I’m testing is how the build plays. That is, getting a sense for the overall feel, learning its engagement and retreat options, evaluating its offensive and defensive utility, seeing what support it can provide, &c.

As far as numerical output goes, that can all be calculated without actually testing it. That is, if you wanted to see if you hit a certain damage threshold, you can just do the math.

If worse comes to worse, you can always just get a different set of gear. While that sounds like a pain (and is), it isn’t the most expensive option in the world, especially if you use karma or WvW badges to get your gear. However, if you’re not 100% sure about the build yet, you might consider not using expensive runes/sigils until you’re sure you have the stats how you like them. This will save you the headache of wasting them.