Guild Wars 2

I know it’s super popular in fractals and dungeons to go balls-to-the-wall with DPS, but isn’t there any value to having some personal survival traits, for people like me who kinda suck of dodging? I’m wearing full zerker gear with ruby orbs (too poor for scholars), and zerker weapons.

For survival, I’m considering AH coupled with Zealous Blade, with a Sigil of Blood on my weapon and some omnomberry pies..

i completed every dungeon (all of them pugs) i entered till now and fractals till lvl 20(stopped doing them a long time ago because i got my asceneded back) with mostly exotic clerics gear and full valor full honor traits and knight greatsword .
did also two paths of arah.

too bad valour has nothing for damage modifiers, which make much more difference than crit dmg. also, wow, 2 paths of arah!! good job, those paths are really hard and I’ve never seen zerkers do it well.

to OP – for survivability run hammer build (15/x/0/20/x) for perma protection and larger HP pool and if really necessary some knight’s gear.

guanlongwucaii.3162:

too bad valour has nothing for damage modifiers, which make much more difference than crit dmg. also, wow, 2 paths of arah!! good job, those paths are really hard and I’ve never seen zerkers do it well.

to OP – for survivability run hammer build (15/x/0/20/x) for perma protection and larger HP pool and if really necessary some knight’s gear.

did i compare my self with a zerker ?
i said the dungeons are doable without being a zerker.
even a guy like me that does not bother much with dungeons completed them.
so he can run non zerker if he wants to.
he will save the time of others ressing him in pugs aswell.

funny how you edited out the statement about valour line giving crit damage…

in any case I didn’t suggest going all out offense, since hammer + knights gear is already very defensive and survivable for the normal dungeons. eventually OP will get more used to running less defensive utility and won’t have to be “ressed by others in pugs”. if OP sticks to defensive gear and traits he will remain a bad player.

Blinds, Blocks, Retribution and Renewed Focus are your survival.

If you need some extra survivability, use Knights armor instead of Berserker.

Assuming you are running GS+Sword/Focus:
Make sure you are switching weaponsets when your blinds / blocks are on CD. There is no real reason to just keep swinging away with GS when you could be applying more pressure with Sword/Focus (remember each blind = 3 stacks of vuln = more DPS). Also, do not be shy with Focus 5.

Make sure you are popping VoJ when available and in combat. You could be costing yourself DPS (and thus needing the extra survivability) by not firing it after each kill.

You can also be more liberal in your Virtue activations thanks to Renewed Focus. Activating VoC gives your group Aegis and 5s of Protection if you need the survivability. You can run HtL if you want more protection without running Hammer (Though SYG or Retreat are better 99% of the time).

Go full zerker and if you can’t survive keep using full zerker and get better at dodging. Nothing else is as good in current pve

jihm.2315:

i said the dungeons are doable without being a zerker.

The dungeons are “doable” naked, in a 0/0/0/0/0 build or maybe even under both conditions (didn’t bother to look whether there is a video about that). So “doable” is hardly an argument for any kind of build.

You could get a knight’s set which is definitely more forgivable and I put in soldier’s rune in my knight’s set. I use 10/30/0/5/25 Balanced with extra DPS build. For food, you can do Slice of Candied Dragon Roll or even Mango Pie.

There’s a lot of way to stay alive. Blind spams, Aegis, Focus 5, Renewed Focus. Wall of Reflection I always use for combo finishers and a must really. It saddens me when guards don’t use this (been on my mesmer lately so I get to see how other guards play). It’s a steep learning curve but you will learn to mitigate damage with time and experience.

CptAurellian.9537:

jihm.2315:

i said the dungeons are doable without being a zerker.

The dungeons are “doable” naked, in a 0/0/0/0/0 build or maybe even under both conditions (didn’t bother to look whether there is a video about that). So “doable” is hardly an argument for any kind of build.

im sure the threat creator did not ask if he can do dungeons with no traits or while being without armor so take your bitterness and sarcasm somewhere else

I play in support Guardian whit armor Soldier and weapons and jewels Knight (better the stat Precision + power + toughness in the ascended jewels, but knight work well). Trait 0/0/30/30/10. In Valor increase by trait my critical damage by 30%, increase toughness of me and my ally by 150 and I obtain 7% of toughness as Precision (increasing my critical chance) and obtain at Master Trait Altruistic Healing, the better way to obtain heal whitout be a full cleric healer whit symbols.
Whit Honor I obtain shout recharge, shout that clean conditions and every critical hit I give Might.
AH+good critical rate+ might at critical rate = 450 heal every sec just hitting the enemy. And increase my damage and the damage of my ally.
(in the next update that trait will be fixed to give might every critical hit, whit not cooldown of 1 sec. Know by rumors).

That’s a support/defensive build that give you the ability to heal and defend and the power and critical rate/damage to fight and deal damage to the enemy.

I recommend you keep going balls deep with maximum DPS and not even thing about more survivability, even if you have trouble at first, you will quickly (More like be forced to) learn the mechanics and the gameplay, and once you do, you should have no trouble at all doing anything PvE with a Min-Max Build.

Alternatively, you could still grab a nice hammer build, which will have less damage but enhanced survivability, it will be more forgiving, and in higher level fractals, the protection can be nice.

First, ask yourself, do you play in coordinated groups?

If so, you can comfortably go so deep in DPS that the light of AH fades into complete darkness.

After the first few weeks of hitting 80, I was playing the guardian with mostly cleric/knight with more points in support/defense traits. However, after I learned playing the class better I soon learned about the importance of damage in PvE. You’ll soon realize why people who’s been playing PvE “well” (speed of runs/benefits) and for a while now put an emphasis on damage. A lot of its content is built around favoring damage & knowing mob mechanics (for dodge purposes). Eventually, I gradually adding on berserker’s gear and now I’m running nearly a full set of it. I was hesitant at first but I’m glad I did since I mostly play PvE. I can still support my team mates w/ some healing/blocks/boons and I become even more of an asset with greater damage. It feels amazing when you know you can still provide the necessary support and still show others you’re a force to reckon with on your own. WvW’s where you can definitely consider survival gear/traits.

Went for this and never looked back.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vUAQFAyksAxXI8DNhkpQkQQMFYkHd9IhoIGC-zwBB4fAEBAZmFRjtSqIas6aYKXCpaXRGA-e