Guild Wars 2

So I’m quite happy with the build I’m using but feel that either it or I could get better and would like some help fine tuning it. The way I feel, or at least how I would like it to feel is a good multipurpose build for PvE, Dungeons, and WvW skirmishes (not so much for sieges, but options for that would be welcome).

At the moment I have a static Exotic Soldier’s Armor with Superior Runes of the Soldier. Primary weapon is either a Berserker’s Greatsword of Rage or a Knight’s Greatsword for a bit more durability. Secondary weapon is generally an Exotic Soldier’s Staff which I use mainly for movement speed, warding, and AoE Heals/Might. I carry at least rares of every other available weapon to guardians in case I feel I need them, or just want to use them. For accessories I have a full exotic set of Clerics and a full exotic set of Berserker’s depending on the situation.

For traits I go 20-0-0-30-20, opting for Spirit Weapon Masteries in Zeal (CD, and no destruction on Command). Taking Superior Aria and Pure of Voice in Honor and alternating between Two-Handed Mastery, Writ of the Merciful, and Empowering Might as the Master rune depending on the situation. And Improved Spirit Duration and Absolute Resolution in Virtues.

Utility Slots I take Signet of Resolve and Renewed Focus as 6 and 0. And depending on the situation I will take various others. Dungeons Usually have me with one of Sword of Justice/Save Yourselves/Retreat paired with “Stand Your Ground” and “Hold the Line”. WvW I will take Hammer of Wisdom coupled with either Bane Signet or “Hold the Line” and “Stand Your Ground”.

If you have any advice to fine tune it or change it up a bit I’ll appreciate the advice, however I’d like to keep the GS as my primary damage source because it feels the most fun to me personally.

I see you ommited 2 trait lines that have some really nice stuff on them.

I encourage you to give a try to
x/15/30/5/5
where the numbers I’ve written are the minimum.

As for the gear, put on full berserker at the begining and tweak from there. (Like mix with knight for example).

The idea behind Radiance is to take Justice is Blind, and Renewed Justice.
These 2 innocent looking minor traits give you “god mode” in PvE.
Especially if combined with Inspired virtue from Virtues trait line.

Here is how it works. You have greatsword, and berserker’s gear, which means you deal a lot of damage. You pull a group of mobs to you, and activate virtue of justice to blind them. You have around 2-3 seconds of invincible and burn one of the foes. You also got 3 stacks of might further increasing your damage (and damage from burn). You will kill a mob quite fast, and when it dies → you get another aoe blind, burn and 3 stacks of might. Since in PvE there is a lot of mobs and they tend to die fast, there are situations where you just keep pressing virtue of justice and provide 25 stacks of might to you and ppl around you. This more than doubles your and your team damage output. The defense it provides is great and partially removes the need for vit/toughness/healing gear. At least outside the dungeons.

30 points in Valor is to get Altruistic Healing (and 300 toughness and 30% crit dmg!).
5 points in Honor will double your passive regen (you will apply vigor twice per second and get additional 180 hp per second) and give you constant vigor.
Empower from staff will grant you and your party 12 stacks of might which means 12*5*90 hp = more than any of your heals!!!!!

If you take Purity from Valor you will get the same effect as the signet you are using. This will free your heal up for Shelter which has lower cooldown and gives you INSTANT 2s block while on the move. In the dungeons it means you just ignore the bosses most powerfull attack if timed right and heal at the same time. It additionaly gives you Might from Might of the Protector and because of that heals you due to the Altruistic Healing.

I’ve heard of using that build before, at least the 15 points in Radiance mainly as a farming tool in Orr event chains. And it sounds good primarily for PvE (world events and farming) but I don’t feel that it’s as flexible as what I currently have when it comes to WvW and dungeons, although I can see how those 15 in radiance would make AC Ex easy due to all the mini mobs the bosses spawn.
Chaining burning and might sounds great, but in a dungeon and you’re paired with an elementalist the burn stacking you do cuts back on parts of their dps since odds are they have some more conditional damage than you do.
Altruistic Healing I may have to try though some way or another.

With the 20 points in Zeal I have now, it makes it so Spirit Weapons aren’t destroyed when commanded. Coupled with Hammer of wisdom, that’s 2-3 knockdown’s every 10 seconds on a 36 second cycle. Which is absolutely brutal for skirmishes in WvW.

Update:

Tried out a 0-0-30-30-10 build taking mainly Altruistic Healing as well as the condition removal on a 10 second timer and Area toughness (couldn’t find another to use). Then went into CoE where I was asked to be the primary tank so I was like okay.

Equipped my Knight’s GS and Cleric’s Trinkets along with Sanctuary, Hold the Line, and Stand your Ground. Immediate reactions were pretty nice. The overall build made me a lot tankier, which I did like. As the dungeon progressed I swapped my gear from Knight’s + Clerics to full Berserker’s with no real drop in survivability, overall using this build was excellent for dungeons, I had Damage, I had Defense, I had Condition Removal, all is good.

However going from CoE to WvW, I started having problems. Since I usually just run around with one other person, lack of chain CC was an issue. I could still take Bane Signet and Hammer of Justice, but the loss of multiple Hammer knock downs and the increased cool down affected my usual playstyle. I couldn’t lock people in place long enough to prevent reactions which would draw the fight out longer.

My next traiting experiment will probably be along the lines of 20-20-10-10-10, taking spirit weapon, signet, and shout runes. Worries about this are going to be the lack of defensive stats gained from the stats, which I have used for as long as I can remember. Also it doesn’t go 30 in anything, so I may be missing out there but from what I wanted I couldn’t find one worth getting from Zeal and Radiance that I was willing to sacrifice elsewhere.
If I wanted to use this set up, it would probably need a mixture of Knight’s and Valkyrie gear to compensate for the lack of defensive stats in the trait line, although it may work with my existing Cleric’s Accessory Set, it would probably be better if I went something like Berserker GS, Soldier’s Armor, Knight’s Accessories.

Has anyone tried something like this and gotten results (good or bad) I’d like to hear them.