Guild Wars 2

Hi, my question is simple, I want to maximize my GS damage but do it under very realistic conditions, like for example, knowing that having aegis up most of the time is not going to happen so you can skip Virtues I.

This is for PvE mind you, thanks i advanced!

20/25/0/0/25 or 20/25/0/25/0
difference is power of the virtuous (1% per boon) vs elusive power (10% when endurance not full). I feel the former more reliable but there are situations when I do have to dodge alot.

Does power of the virtuous count 1% per each might stack or only one regardless of stacks?

I’m guessing 1% for each type of boon

do you want to maximize gs damage or do you want to maximize your damage?

If it is the latter what is your primary choice of secondary weapon?

for GS only i would probably go 20/25/x/20/x

And pick 2h mastery (gs dps is in the cool downs) and switch between longer lasting symbols and larger symbols depending on encounter.

If you go hammer as secondary this might be up there:
25/25/10/10/0 (longer/bigger symbols and retributive armor) and swap every 10 sec.

10/30/30/0/0 with a 1h as secondary

If its max damage you want and dont believe in UC stay out of honor and virtues

If you want almost the same dps as max but also want some support, invest in virtues

If you need condiremvoal in shouts for the team and nice dps, 30 points in honor. Condiremoval for the team can be solved with out this investment though.

Just a slight correction on what brutaly said, longer lasting symbols is actualy master tier, so if you wanted it you would need to switch off 2h mastery.

As far as having a 1h secondary build, wouldnt 10/30/0/30/0 be better? you get the extra damage increase of dodge, and also get the supports like EM or PoV. I ask simply because i really dont pve that often, mostly just WvW/sPvp when i can.

@Bash
You are correct, its early and my daughter just pooped all over the bedroom when i wrote that. But in hammer/gs combo you just remove 2h mastery and use 2 symbol enhancers for max dps. I just forgot to add 25/25/0/20/0 as an alternative to the gs/hammer combo..

Imo elusive power is nice to set up bursts but pretty mediocre for sustained dps. EM range makes it rather poor imo and in a competent team those short terms stacks will block the long term ones like firefields.

Em is nice in environments when you struggle with having might stacks running, i dont play i such environments when i try to max stuff, which i believe OP is trying.

PoV is the only interesting trait from a dps perspective (pve) due to rune of the scholar and only in some content. Honor as a dps boost is imo weak and based on conditions being met in order to add any significant amount of damage.

20/25/25/0/0 or 25/25/20/0/0 also works in addition to the above, just higher amounts of crit damage.

Personally, in PvE with a Hammer/GS combo I run 25/25/0/20/0, big symbols for big damage

what about condition cleansing, do you guys wear any for PvE? specially dungeons?

Condition cleansing can come from traits and utilities. You dont really need to have any specific armor for condition cleansing.

I have 25 points in virtues so I rely on purging flames and absolute resolution to cleanse conditions. Since you are using GS you can use 4 or 5 on a light field (any symbol and skills like temporal curtain and wall of reflection) to make cleansing bolts as well.