Guild Wars 2

Build I originally posted in the PU forum topic (yeah I know this editor is out of date — add 150 condition damage when looking at stats with scepter as active weapon set):

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAW7flwzKqXVTsGb9IhpHBH5A/kCmLdSKK9rB-jgyAIMAcWkJPAUIIqAcOsIasVzioxqsx0wER1WdAA-e

Goals of build:

1. Attack Power >= 2600
2. Condition Damage >= 1000
3. Armor >= 3000
4. Crit rate >= 30%
4. Maximize stealth (and therefore PU)

Gear
Staff and Scepter/Torch (Carrion)
Rabid Armor with Runes of the Undead
Knights Jewelry
PVT Back (but whatever you want here really)

Some rationale behind the build:
Having 2600 attack power keeps direct damage decent.
Having 1000 condition damage doubles the DPS on most condition ticks (some increase more than 2x)
Having 3000 armor reduces incoming direct damage 14% over the reference of 2600 armor.
Crits are still useful as they’re +50% dmg even without stat bonuses and allows for on-crit sigils if you choose to go that route.

Pros:
- good condition damage
- good direct damage with reasonable crit chances
- good survivability with toughness, phantasm boons, and PU boons
- good escapability with stealth
- clones are like little bombs crippling and applying conditions upon death
- Phantasms will pack some hurt
- Torch skills will clear a conditions on use

Cons:
- OOC movement (i.e. swiftness) sucks (like every mesmer without special runes in WvW).
- Reduced clone output over a dodge-clone shatter build
- Infrequent shatters as the build rewards clone deaths (plus no c/d bonuses to F1-F4).
- Lacking the burst of a pure shatter build

Feedback welcome.

My question is why bother with power at all? The only capacity for power damage you have is in the iWarlock, and that’s not enough to sacrifice condition damage in a primarily condition based build for.

Pyroatheist.9031:

My question is why bother with power at all? The only capacity for power damage you have is in the iWarlock, and that’s not enough to sacrifice condition damage in a primarily condition based build for.

All direct damage attacks still benefit from power. Even the staff auto-attack can hit hard at close range with crits and good power.

This is why I called the build “Hybrid” — all your DPS eggs are not in one basket. All it takes is a player with an extreme anti-condition build to make your life hard. This includes condition-removal builds as well as players running Melandru’s runes with Lemongrass soup.

juno.1840:

Pyroatheist.9031:

My question is why bother with power at all? The only capacity for power damage you have is in the iWarlock, and that’s not enough to sacrifice condition damage in a primarily condition based build for.

All direct damage attacks still benefit from power. Even the staff auto-attack can hit hard at close range with crits and good power.

This is why I called the build “Hybrid” — all your DPS eggs are not in one basket. All it takes is a player with an extreme anti-condition build to make your life hard. This includes condition-removal builds as well as players running Melandru’s runes with Lemongrass soup.

All damage attacks do benefit to some extent from power, that is true. Some are considerably more benefited though. Of the skills you have in your build, only 1 will benefit in any noticeable way. Staff autoattacks even in a full power setup barely tickle glass cannon builds.

Pyroatheist.9031:

All damage attacks do benefit to some extent from power, that is true. Some are considerably more benefited though. Of the skills you have in your build, only 1 will benefit in any noticeable way. Staff autoattacks even in a full power setup barely tickle glass cannon builds.

Confusing Images also benefits nicely from power… but yeah, 2 abilities that are affected noticeably by power isn’t much worth it.

From the wiki:

Damage done = (weapon damage) * Power * (skill-specific coefficient) / (target’s Armor)

So if a skill does damage, it will scale with power based upon the “skill-specific coefficient”. I haven’t been able to find these coefficients by skill (yet).

Based upon the equation, every skill you have that deals damage will benefit to some degree from power.

This is every skill on the scepter as well as torch 4, staff 1, and stakitten . I count six skills in total, not two.

In addition, phantasms also benefit directly from power — although I have to research that equation as well.

juno.1840:

From the wiki:

Damage done = (weapon damage) * Power * (skill-specific coefficient) / (target’s Armor)

So if a skill does damage, it will scale with power based upon the “skill-specific coefficient”. I haven’t been able to find these coefficients by skill (yet).

Based upon the equation, every skill you have that deals damage will benefit to some degree from power.

This is every skill on the scepter as well as torch 4, staff 1, and stakitten . I count six skills in total, not two.

In addition, phantasms also benefit directly from power — although I have to research that equation as well.

Sorry for the confusion. What I, and I think Pyro too, was trying to point out is that the damage increase from power on the scepter/torch and staff is insignificant compared to the damage from the conditions those weapon sets output. The iWarlock and Confusing Images will hit noticeably harder with more power, but everything else’s direct damage is soft (staff and scepter auto attacks hitting for slightly more damage with your power). All in all, iWarlock and Confusing Images damage increase from your power pales in comparison to the amount of damage you’d get from just going more condition damage. Now if you used a GS, for example, rather than the staff, then the discussion of power would be a little different.

juno.1840:

From the wiki:

Damage done = (weapon damage) * Power * (skill-specific coefficient) / (target’s Armor)

So if a skill does damage, it will scale with power based upon the “skill-specific coefficient”. I haven’t been able to find these coefficients by skill (yet).

Based upon the equation, every skill you have that deals damage will benefit to some degree from power.

This is every skill on the scepter as well as torch 4, staff 1, and stakitten . I count six skills in total, not two.

In addition, phantasms also benefit directly from power — although I have to research that equation as well.

the base damage and modifiers for staff, scepter/torch isn’t worth stacking power, especially considering those weapons all have strong conditions now.

think of it this way, just as an example, if you were to add 1000 power with all other stats constant, the GS autoattack damage would increase by 1000, on the other hand, adding the same 1000 power only increases staff autoattack by 200. however if you increased condition damage by 1000 for staff instead, the overall damage increase from bleed/burn inflicted by staff would be 1000.

so why would you take power over condition damage.

I would pick power in addition to condition damage because the direct damage with scepter is good (and therefore benefits from power). The scepter is not a “pure” condi-weapon and fits nicely with this build. It benefits from both condition and direct damage. The torch is similar. You can see some numbers here (assuming this is accurate):

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B3A3Op-Hj3dOUkJRU0xvcng5ZWc/edit

Keep in mind that an increase in power will increase all direct damage by the same percentage. A 10% increase is a 10% increase in direct damage DPS — regardless of the weapon. BUT your point is valid in that 10% of a big number is more than 10% of a small number.

Since this build is meant to be a “Hybrid” it fits really well with scepter/torch.

Staff is not benefiting much at all from the power, although iWarlock would. That in itself is not a good enough reason. The staff is really a secondary weapon in this build brought for defense. I love using it in melee range.

I created this build because I want the best of both worlds, without committing completely down a single path of max direct damage or max condition damage.

Power helps the initial burst from The Prestige too, (as was already noted,) which actually packs a surprising punch in addition to its burning damage.

A gal in my guild runs a similar trait spread but uses a full Apothecary set. (She has 20 in Illusions instead of Inspiration) I tried the 20/0/30/0/20 build using a mix of power and condition damage gear but was sort of disappointed with the overall damage output. What it did provide was some pretty nice healing via regeneration though.

Since you’ve got 20 in Inspirations, an Apothecary mix (Maybe instead of the Rabid armor?) might make a neat Support aspect to the build as you’d be putting some potent Regeneration Boons on nearby allies with your Phantasms.

In any case, I think the hybrid idea is kind of neat. It doesn’t pack a huge punch in particular field, but lets you do a little of everything. If a jack/jill of all trades feel was what you were going for, I think you accomplished it pretty well.

You might consider swapping the 20 out of inspiration and reinvesting them into illusion. That will give you 200 condi damage across both weaponsets rather than just sceptre torch. With the 33% confusion trait , the Phantasmal haste trait and plus 40 condi duration food your mage if left unchecked will be able to maintain a constant 3 stacks on the target with a half second 6 stack overlap. This is a good base to build upon with CI and 6 stack CoF. i use this build quite regularly in pve in full condi gearset. I use Sigil of Battle on both Staff and Sceptre and swap on cooldown to build 26 sec might stacks. Sigil of speed on Torch, Signet of inspiration and first aid kits takes care of swiftness. With this set up you will have 30% boon duration, 60% condition duration and 93% confusion duration.