Guild Wars 2

Per reddit it’s been confirmed that they are adding Assassin’s stat combinations (PREC, POWER, CRIT DAMAGE) in place of Explorers and I wanted feedback on how this might change up the Berserker mesmer builds out there.

Do you think sacrificing power over crit is worth it? How much crit should a mesmer even have? Is this OP?

Dub concluded it was better to run berserker with guards and warriors but didn’t post anything on mesmers. Might have to run some tests as our phantasms suck when they don’t crit (painful to watch on an iSwordsman) and see whether the drop in power is worth the increase in precision.

I’m thinking a mix. Remember that phantasms have the bonus of permanent fury.

Assassin is slightly better for a fully buffed pistol mesmer because it allows more bleeds, but we are talking like 200 damage out of a potential 14k. Berserker is still better for a solo mesmer.

That doesn’t include the increased chance to proc might from a Strength sigil, though, which will probably sway solo damage in favor of Assassin across the board.

full berserk+ appropriate traits + food and maybe sigil rocket your crit rate to 70% or more already with barely any sacrifice in dmg… and no you don’t have fury yet. assassin armor is irrelevant for mesmer. This is a hey-let’s-make-thieves’-backstab-more-OP armor.

DavyMcB.1603:

This is a hey-let’s-make-thieves’-backstab-more-OP armor.

Uhhhhhh no. Thieves already have plenty high crit chance, they wouldn’t take this armor in a backstab build.

Not to mention, any Thief running Hidden Killer can honestly kitten on Crit Chance, and just crank Crit Damage.

DavyMcB.1603:

full berserk+ appropriate traits + food and maybe sigil rocket your crit rate to 70% or more already with barely any sacrifice in dmg… and no you don’t have fury yet. assassin armor is irrelevant for mesmer. This is a hey-let’s-make-thieves’-backstab-more-OP armor.

Zerk + 30 in Dueling + Banner of Discipline + Spotter + fury = 99%. Then you just pump power instead of precision on your sigils and consumables.

Assassin will be more flexible because it will allow you to raise your crit chance if any of those above favors are absent. In general the difference isn’t that big between points in power and precision (it actually favors precision for mesmers) so as long as you are not going over 100% you won’t actually lose any damage.