Sword over Hammer dps
Is honor better than zeal for sword?
The one thing that keeps honor on that list of traits is Writ of Persistence, the longer the symbol lasts the more dps you do, and if you do switch Radiance with zeal its a dps lost due to the lost of Right-hand Strength, that cool down on sword is what ups the dps with the crit chance adding to it.
The one thing that keeps honor on that list of traits is Writ of Persistence, the longer the symbol lasts the more dps you do, and if you do switch Radiance with zeal its a dps lost due to the lost of Right-hand Strength, that cool down on sword is what ups the dps with the crit chance adding to it.
Have you tried swapping out DH or Honor for Zeal though?
I was doing similar tests the other night but my internet has been shoddy and I was doing it with max buffs just to see and I was getting much different results likely due to interrupting the auto chain, just throwing it out there as I think that’s probably the difference and if so it’s a big difference.
Depends on what you where testing, did you use Utilities in your test? This was just a straight up test of the two weapons with no buffs other than what my class was just giving out, and no debuffs on the golem. I bet I would get a different result with buffs on and I’ll get back to you here in the next hour on my findings.
After a few Test with all buffs and debuffs added the numbers where close, and this was just hammer vs sword nothing else used and no off hand.
Hammer: 21.518 vs Sword: 20.051
Sword / Torch combo with all buffs and debuffs on the golem I managed to get a dps of 27.932, thats with using all utilities and elite.
Conclusion: Sword does more out the gate with little buffs but hammer squeezes by in the end with buffs, also you have to consider what you are using this for. In raids do you want protection or fury? in pvp sword might have a place perhaps? In the end its just numbers and was fun to see how the two compared after the patch.
Thanks for taking the time to dps test hammer and sword!
On a side note; have you dps-tested either of those weapons against scepter (traited in zeal)? Apparently Writ of Persistence in Honor doesn’t jive so well with scepter, but I imagine the scepter trait + symbolic avenger do.
I’ll do a scepter test and see what numbers I can push out with those traits.
After a few Test with all buffs and debuffs added the numbers where close, and this was just hammer vs sword nothing else used and no off hand.
Hammer: 21.518 vs Sword: 20.051
Sword / Torch combo with all buffs and debuffs on the golem I managed to get a dps of 27.932, thats with using all utilities and elite.
Conclusion: Sword does more out the gate with little buffs but hammer squeezes by in the end with buffs, also you have to consider what you are using this for. In raids do you want protection or fury? in pvp sword might have a place perhaps? In the end its just numbers and was fun to see how the two compared after the patch.
This looks much closer to what I was seeing, and I wasn’t thinking earlier and the base sword vs hammer without buffs you have to factor in that Fury from the sword would make it better of course, doesn’t mean it does more damage itself.
Thanks for the testing and reporting though. I have a feeling Hammer/Scepter+Torch will be the way to go with Zeal/Honor/DH, at least that’s the result I got (Scepter better on big targets but hammer = prot.).
Just something neat, with Empowering Might and the new Scepter Symbol I was able to maintain 22+ stacks of might with strength runes, not shabby at all. Maintaining like 18-20 might with nearly full fury uptime rotating scepter and sword damage.
Thanks for taking the time to dps test hammer and sword!
On a side note; have you dps-tested either of those weapons against scepter (traited in zeal)? Apparently Writ of Persistence in Honor doesn’t jive so well with scepter, but I imagine the scepter trait + symbolic avenger do.
Did some testing of this with and with out Writ of Persistence and the numbers here are what I got.
No buffs or debuffs
With Writ of Persistence : 4.4-4.9k
With out Writ of Persistence: 4.1-4.285k
With all buffs and debuffs and Writ of PErsistence and no off hand.
dps: 18.193
What it means imo is Sword offers comparable DPS with hammer and different utility. More mobility, fury, and choice of OHs. Even if hammer edges out sword at the end pending traits; sword was in no league before patch; this just adds needed options to Guardian. Not always about pure DPS; for me anyways. I personally never liked hammer in playstyle; but was forced to use it to be competitive (in PvP/WvW anyways). Even PvE really; now my much more favored sword/OH style is useful and competitive (regardless if hammer is still a little more DPS). Thanks for all the tests!
Is Honor/Radiance/Dragonhunter just for Sword, or is it better for Scepter too?
What it means imo is Sword offers comparable DPS with hammer and different utility. More mobility, fury, and choice of OHs. Even if hammer edges out sword at the end pending traits; sword was in no league before patch; this just adds needed options to Guardian. Not always about pure DPS; for me anyways. I personally never liked hammer in playstyle; but was forced to use it to be competitive (in PvP/WvW anyways). Even PvE really; now my much more favored sword/OH style is useful and competitive (regardless if hammer is still a little more DPS). Thanks for all the tests!
I agree, I dont understand why anyone would pick guardian for pure dps, they are a hybrid class period. I also agree on the hammer its a bit to slow for my tastes but I also love proving my group protection.
Im not a fan if hammer buy im also not a fan of being selfish when playing in a group. In high lvl fractals the almost perna protection saves your kitten . Sword sybols fury is sort of pointless in a group since fury comes easy. And about the same damage as hammer just makes hammer the better option. (retal doesnt matter because if your doing t4 fractals with no boon rip your already messing up.) i want other weapons to be good in group content, i really do but its just a matterof not cripling your party. And on a side not. Scepter is good dps but is probably only useful asyour main weapon in very specific situations. No real reason to use bow in pve any.ore it seems though. So maybe not so specific lol.
Im not a fan if hammer buy im also not a fan of being selfish when playing in a group. In high lvl fractals the almost perna protection saves your kitten . Sword sybols fury is sort of pointless in a group since fury comes easy. And about the same damage as hammer just makes hammer the better option. (retal doesnt matter because if your doing t4 fractals with no boon rip your already messing up.) i want other weapons to be good in group content, i really do but its just a matterof not cripling your party. And on a side not. Scepter is good dps but is probably only useful asyour main weapon in very specific situations. No real reason to use bow in pve any.ore it seems though. So maybe not so specific lol.
That depends if you actually need the protection though, depending on the group set up you may need more dps instead, and symbols from scepter and 1hsword seem like they are good sustained so far.
According to Quantify ([qt]?) who ran numbers on a bunch of builds, they found that Scepter, Sword, and Hammer all performed extremely close to one another in a raid setting. The traits happened to be mostly the same with only minor gear adjustments, so in a less hardcore setting, any of those options would be fine. Under optimal conditions Scepter edges out the rest, but it’s largely negligible.
I’ll maybe grab a link when it’s not 5am and I’m not forced to be on mobile.
Found it
Fishsticks
(edited by Ghotistyx.6942)
According to Quantify ([qt]?) who ran numbers on a bunch of builds, they found that Scepter, Sword, and Hammer all performed extremely close to one another in a raid setting. The traits happened to be mostly the same with only minor gear adjustments, so in a less hardcore setting, any of those options would be fine. Under optimal conditions Scepter edges out the rest, but it’s largely negligible.
I’ll maybe grab a link when it’s not 5am and I’m not forced to be on mobile.
Found it
Scepter only wins out on large hitboxes, otherwise their tests show hammer. My question is scepter/sword rotation, better? I’d think getting to double up on symbols now and then would be beneficial I’d think.
According to Quantify ([qt]?) who ran numbers on a bunch of builds, they found that Scepter, Sword, and Hammer all performed extremely close to one another in a raid setting. The traits happened to be mostly the same with only minor gear adjustments, so in a less hardcore setting, any of those options would be fine. Under optimal conditions Scepter edges out the rest, but it’s largely negligible.
I’ll maybe grab a link when it’s not 5am and I’m not forced to be on mobile.
Found itScepter only wins out on large hitboxes, otherwise their tests show hammer. My question is scepter/sword rotation, better? I’d think getting to double up on symbols now and then would be beneficial I’d think.
It is… (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWARUSSYScM)
Does more dmg than hammer even without alacrity.
Furthermore I wanna say both the sword and scepter build only do marginally less dmg than hammer on an average hitbox in the tests, but that’s without alacrity. Hammer dps doesn’t increase with alacrity, but any of the other builds increase a lot since with alacrity you have much larger symbol uptime and many more torch bursts. So in other words in a decent raid group hammer dps is always going to be the lowest.
According to Quantify ([qt]?) who ran numbers on a bunch of builds, they found that Scepter, Sword, and Hammer all performed extremely close to one another in a raid setting. The traits happened to be mostly the same with only minor gear adjustments, so in a less hardcore setting, any of those options would be fine. Under optimal conditions Scepter edges out the rest, but it’s largely negligible.
I’ll maybe grab a link when it’s not 5am and I’m not forced to be on mobile.
Found itScepter only wins out on large hitboxes, otherwise their tests show hammer. My question is scepter/sword rotation, better? I’d think getting to double up on symbols now and then would be beneficial I’d think.
It is… (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWARUSSYScM)
Does more dmg than hammer even without alacrity.
Furthermore I wanna say both the sword and scepter build only do marginally less dmg than hammer on an average hitbox in the tests, but that’s without alacrity. Hammer dps doesn’t increase with alacrity, but any of the other builds increase a lot since with alacrity you have much larger symbol uptime and many more torch bursts. So in other words in a decent raid group hammer dps is always going to be the lowest.
Nice, yeah I hadn’t seen that and I haven’t gone back and tested myself (initial testing I was being very bad about cancelling the sword auto which of course ruined the rotation) but I was seeing an increase from pure sword by adding scepter, but a decrease on large hitbox for scepter. That seems to sync with what we’re seeing now.