Guild Wars 2

Hey guards,

How much health is “enough” in a DPS build?

I know the game can be played with 100% zerker gear, balls to the walls frenzy mode, but what I’m asking is – if you were to put a bit more health into your pool, how much would you add?

I’m looking at 14k, at the moment. Too much? Too little?

I feel like my crit should stay around 40%, too, but with 14k health, that comes at a slight cost to power and ferocity (mara gear). Tough choices.

What do y’all run with?

I like the marauder set becouse it gives you some healt,but mainly it sinergize with the rune of the wurm; you will have a decent crit chance,and a good admount of ferocity that gives more importance at your crit: usually if you are in a group you have perma fury so this extra ferocity still gives you nice dps.

Dunno if is optimal,is just what i like

If you’re asking for PVP, Marauder amulet should give you some survivability against current meta builds.

For PVE understand this:

Vitality: Gives you survivability against Condition Damage
Toughness: Gives you survivability against Direct Damage

How many mobs apply heavy Conditions on you? That’s right, not many of them, not even in Raids, Dungeons or FotM. If you invest in Vitality gear (Marauder, Sentinnel or Valkyrie) for PVE you’re wasting your money and you’re gonna swap sooner or later. If you really really have problems surviving invest in Knight (Toughness/Power/Precision) gear mixed with Zerker. Knight is kinda training wheels for Zerker wich is the gear you should aim to because PVE (even new maps) are fairly easy and ATM we have an optimal DPS ranged option (LB).

I like to use this:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vVAQJATRnsABlDhVdCeDB8DhlEiCbDeuyUe5j+s/aZDgEA-T1CBABbcIAEc/BsU+RqKBXqCRlqrwxRAYPdNnpEEgLAQfPAgNDDAjgIAmZmZaEZkhUARM0C-w

Attack: 2608
HP: 18535
Armor: 2374
CC: 38% w/signets
CD: 218%

Notes:

1) Most of DH use DH + Valor + Virtues. I do replace Virtues by Honor, so I gain 3000 HP.

2) Virtues offers a nice (albeit inconsistent) damage enhancement due UC, an extra condition clean with Absolute Resolution and and extra breakstun + stability with Indomitable Courage, plus a nice faster recharge and some extra features due the minor traits. I don’t find the stability as useful, since Heavy Ligth already provides a lot of stability, and in PvP oftenly Protective Reviver is more decisive than any of the other Virtues traits, and the extra 3k HP are crucial in some teamfights. But I understand how in duels and roaming Virtues is more valued than Honor.

3) I play the same build in PvP, with Marauder amulet, which means ~20k HP, and Pcak runes instead of Traveller. In WvW roaming, I find that any less than ~17500 HP is a gently invite to being one shooted. I never fall one shooted, and the chances are that the more to the brink of pure full zerker is a foe the less are his chances of winning the fight.

4) Valkyrie stats in weapons are the best frinds for a Guardian/DH. Pure Valkyrie doesn’t exists as a trinkets, and the (ascendant ) armor is expensive and provides a small amount of points.

NumenorLord.6539:

If you’re asking for PVP, Marauder amulet should give you some survivability against current meta builds.

For PVE understand this:

Vitality: Gives you survivability against Condition Damage
Toughness: Gives you survivability against Direct Damage

How many mobs apply heavy Conditions on you? That’s right, not many of them, not even in Raids, Dungeons or FotM. If you invest in Vitality gear (Marauder, Sentinnel or Valkyrie) for PVE you’re wasting your money and you’re gonna swap sooner or later. If you really really have problems surviving invest in Knight (Toughness/Power/Precision) gear mixed with Zerker. Knight is kinda training wheels for Zerker wich is the gear you should aim to because PVE (even new maps) are fairly easy and ATM we have an optimal DPS ranged option (LB).

Why do I see this so often?

Toughness gives damage reduction on direct damage, vitality gives you more health which is helpful for both condition damage and direct damage. The only benefit that toughness gives over vitality is that it keeps your health pool small, allowing your healing to be more effective.

In terms of gear I wouldn’t recommend training wheel armor at all because it cost you money you could be using for other things, but Marauders is just as viable as Knights since both give you enough effective health to take a big hit or make a big mistake, while Maurders provides a substantial damage increase over Knights.

@NumenorLord & Indure

I understand the basics, and I see both y’all’s points:

Toughness counters direct damage, while Vitality counters condition damage the best.

Still, a big burst hit (even with toughness) could down me with a base 11.5k health pool, right?

The reason I’m considering increasing vitality, even by a little, is to ensure that in that one scenario, I don’t get instant downed. I’m looking for that healthy mix, you know?

And a thousand times yes to the cost investment. I’m trying to figure it out before I spend my resources. I’m looking for an optimal setup.

Edit: misspelled a name, won’t say which!

Indure.5410:

Why do I see this so often?

Because it’s true?

“Vitality is a defensive attribute. Each attribute point put into vitality increases the maximum health of the character by ten hitpoints. More health allows a character to better withstand burst damage and degenerative damage.”

Source: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Vitality

“Toughness is a defensive character attribute. Each attribute point put into toughness increases the armor of the character by one, which improves the character’s ability to withstand direct damage. Toughness has no effect on falling damage.”

Source: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Toughness

Mobs in GW2 don’t do burst damage nor have heavy condition damage.

I agree that full Marauder will do more damage than full Knight. But if you mix Knight with Berserker you will do more damage depending on the number of Zerker pieces you’re using.

I agree with what you’ve said, and I honestly don’t think either of you really disagree on the way the stats work.

The problem with Knights is it’s a flat loss in ferocity, which can’t really be balanced out. With Marauder, Valkyrie, and Berserker, you can fine-tune your Power, Precision, Ferocity, and Vitality. Unless I’m mistaken, a toughness set doesn’t maintain the same control over offensive stats.

So, at least for me, I’d rather balance my defensives in PvE on Vitality gear.

But, my curiosity remains: how much vitality is “enough”? This assumes no toughness gear. I probably should have specified this in the OP.

Brendan that really deppends the player, for pve i would say anythign works even naked character lol (i dont pve), but i would bet 14k-16k is a good vitality for pve, after that u might start sacrificing to much damage output..

For wvw roaming I find anything under 14.5k-ish hp to be too risky; it puts you on the verge of being 1-shot. I have seen guardians very successfully duel and roam with 13-14k hp though.

If you invest in marauder’s gear, I’d recommend shooting between 16 to 16.5k hp as you’ll naturally fall in this range with a few pieces of marauders, and a soldier trinket.

Thanks for the thoughts guys. I know very well this is highly opinionated. I think I just need to accept that I might decide the “optimal” build for me might change.

Here’s what I’m going with for now, if anyone is curious:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vVAQJARTnsABFChddCWdCEEhl4BTe/1/WgVBgGQ9KLF1imRA-ThSBQBA4JFsgDJwNUX5K7PgFlfoQXTAVhYRKBfwFQIHqEEA4AgrDAA-e

I lose about 2% crit dmg, 13 power, and about 8.5% crit chance from a perfect berserker build, in favor of 14.1k health (over 11.5k). I’ll find out if that extra vitality is wasted, or not.