So I’m working on a toughness heavy build for WvWvW and some of the tougher PvE (lol)… If my gear is zerk or valkyrie weapons, runes of the centaur, knight’s armor, and cavalier/valkyrie (exotic) or cavalier/cavalier ascended… will my damage be unbearably low? kittenter? as phantasm?
All you need to keep in mind is that, whatever you use, you need just enough DPS to wear any enemy down. So, depending on your build, you’ve got to get an appropriate amount of power, condition, and/or crit damage, with appropriate application.
Unless you give us a build we can’t give you your answer.
Thanks for the answer… I tend to switch up my build, but it is power based…
I either go 10/20/0/25/5 phantasm build with GS SW/F
or shatter with either
20/20/0/0/30
or
0/20/20/0/30
or
0/20/0/20/30
and sometimes if I’m bored I do this mixed up staff SW/F mesmer using:
20 in dueling
20 in chaos for staff cdr and reduced % dmg
20 in inspiration for glamour and focus cdr
and 10 in the last tree
Awesome!!! Thanks
What do you think about knight’s armor instead of valkyrie to increase crit chance at the cost of crit dmg?
It’s all a trade off. Honestly the best advice I could give is to play with what you have and adjust as you notice something is lacking. I currently have full Knights armor and use a build very similar to the Heavy 2.0 Osi just posted (slightly different gear, but very similar overall) and I’m thinking of swapping a couple pieces for Valk because it seems like my toughness is plenty high.
Bottom line is it all depends on your playstyle. Try it out, experiment, and adjust accordingly!
The problem with a bunker build (0/0/25/25/20 or 0/0/30/30/10) in WvW is that enemy players can just turn tail and run from you. You won’t die, but neither will they. So having just enough DPS to wear your opponent down isn’t ideal for WvW. Some burst is necessary imho.
That being said, you can complement your bursty DPS build with toughness gear. I would recommend that over a pure bunker build. (NOTE: I don’t think you were asking about a pure bunker build, so don’t get me wrong. I just felt compelled to talk about it specifically.)
Part of me thinks that someone in ANet was thinking “hey, wanna see something funny? Watch this…”
Its ofc viable, but the defensive factor for toughness – viatlity when you already have 1600 tougness make vitality better. Also I noticed when testing this build out (I tested 8 different gearmixes and spent around 30g to get this build balanced) that fury seem to be up alot of the time, so crit chance seem to be solid.
Feel free to experement mate, I only pst what I feel for the moment (and after 3 weeks testing) is what i personaly beleve is best. I sure what work for me not have to be optimal for any other.
Well if you really want a toughness build, you can do what a few of us on my server do. Utilizing a hybrid confusion/steath/spiker you can run in between the engagements and finish off any downed enemy you come across. With either centaur runes (for good swiftness duration/from heals) or full melandru runes and lemongrass you can run through the enemy and get away with the stomps. This can be very beneficial for your team in engagements (either skirmishes, or full scale sieges) as you run through, and prevent more enemies, and as those who try and res the fully dead you can get them as well (from your spikes or from allied siege).
If you want the build, i can post it in a later post. Hope this gives you a few ideas.
Because this build rewards running with max illusions. When keeping three illusions up I deal 9% more damage, and take 9% less damage. In this mode of operation the illusions will typically die from direct attack rather than shatters. This penalizes nearby foes with AoE confusion (although a trivial amount).
If I were to run as true shatters I would probably drop the +3% damage and -3% incoming damage traits and convert to 0/20/20/0/30 with Shattered Strength instead -- which would be more in line with Osicat’s guide.
Part of me thinks that someone in ANet was thinking “hey, wanna see something funny? Watch this…”
Okay these builds came to creation from watching long sieges in wvw, and noticing that some people while in tunnel vision tend to not know the difference between clone and real mesmer.
-Adds: you can swap Superior rune of the Centaur for Superior Rune of Melandru if you worry about stuns/conditions.
-swap lemongrass for Omnomberry compote (for more heals on kills to ensure maximum annoyance)
-Just fyi: these are mainly for a mop up crew/havok crew during a siege. (They may look odd, and that they may not work, but they do.) Just remember to manage your steath wisely, your clones/illusions summoned when you can (to cause new targets for them to attack and distract em) and stomp downed enemies when possible.
Job: finish stomps, distract the enemy, and just be a general nuisance.
Funny tactic: drop one of the non-steath utilities, and use portal to throw down a random portal (but dont complete it till its about to expire) this can cause people to gather near it (enemy) and pull their focus away as they worry about what will come through. (that or you can complete it, and while in stealth use it if they dont worry about it and capitialize on their negligence of a portal)
Okay these builds came to creation from watching long sieges in wvw, and noticing that some people while in tunnel vision tend to not know the difference between clone and real mesmer.
-Adds: you can swap Superior rune of the Centaur for Superior Rune of Melandru if you worry about stuns/conditions.
-swap lemongrass for Omnomberry compote (for more heals on kills to ensure maximum annoyance)
-Just fyi: these are mainly for a mop up crew/havok crew during a siege. (They may look odd, and that they may not work, but they do.) Just remember to manage your steath wisely, your clones/illusions summoned when you can (to cause new targets for them to attack and distract em) and stomp downed enemies when possible.
Job: finish stomps, distract the enemy, and just be a general nuisance.
Funny tactic: drop one of the non-steath utilities, and use portal to throw down a random portal (but dont complete it till its about to expire) this can cause people to gather near it (enemy) and pull their focus away as they worry about what will come through. (that or you can complete it, and while in stealth use it if they dont worry about it and capitialize on their negligence of a portal)
