Guild Wars 2

Just maxed out my DH and I love it so far. Took the traits that maximize cripple, but I noticed when we are at the golem HP in the canopy that my cripples were doing nothing to its break bar.

I mean cripple is a CC no?

Cripple is considered a “soft” CC.
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Control_effect

Soft CC’s do not do direct damage to Break bars. Instead, they do something like condition damage. Slow damage over time that mainly just prevents the bar from regenerating.

If the duration of the cripple you are applying is low, then it’s just not going to move the Break bar all that much (if any). Now if you were to stack all the soft CC’s (Cripple, Immobilize, Chill, and Slow) you’d probably see the bar draining…

If you look at the list of control effects I linked you to on the wiki above, you’ll notice that you have lots of options for direct damage to Break bars as DH.

For Example:
If you take the trap trait in the DH line, then any of your traps will Daze. Procession of Blades and Dragon’s Maw are especially effective.

You can throw your Spear of Justice and then use the Pull skill.

If you use Staff, putting down the #5 skill under a large mob will absolutely melt the Break bar because the knockdown effect is applied repeatedly.

If you use Hammer, skill #4 takes a good chunk.

If you use Shield, skill #5 does some Break damage.

Even Spirit Hammer’s command skill works.

Big time thank you. Very informative.

At the time of the fight, I did not have the elite, but on fighting the Champ Arrowhead in AB it worked like a charm.