Guild Wars 2

I’ve had a bit of problem coming up with a really nice PvE condition build, but now I think I’ve found one with a bit of promise. I have not done any extensive or conclusive testing or calculations of any build, I have just tried out a few and felt how they fare.

While the Reaper at first seemed like a good choice for condition builds to me, I only really felt it useful for the AoE burn stacking with RS1. Doing this however will make you lose all your other conditions on the target, this coupled with the overwriting of Chill (removing our Chill Damage) made me decide to not use Reaper at all.

Armor stats would be something like Carrion/Sinister/Viper (whichever is the best, I have not done any testing), and then the usual +Condition Duration things like pizza.

The build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNArYGn0ICN3gV3Ae3gDcBZWsJ4gAti6MC

Spite(1,1,2) is mostly for the power damage coeff., and also because I didn’t know what other specialization to use there.

In Curses(?,1,3) I have MoC mainly for the lower CDs on the corruptions, but transferring the additional conditions with D4 or S4 is also nice. Lingering Curses is important, as you will spend most of your time on Scepter/Dagger. The Adept tier can be chosen depending on fight (if you get conditions on you, Plague Sending might be nice).

Blood Magic(2,3,?) gives a nice CDR on Dagger off-hand (and some speed), as well as a little group utility with Vampiric Presence, Grandmaster trait can be chosen depending on fight.

The “rotation” would be to use BiP, CPC, Scepter 2 and 3, Dagger 5, DS2, and DS5 on CD, and always cast a transfer (e.g. Dagger 4) after BiP and CPC. Use Epidemic when there is opportunity, otherwise fill the time with e.g. Scepter AA.

I would appreciate feedback on this build, and I would also love to see what other PvE Condition Builds you people come up with

This whole suggestions does not apply in case of a hybrid build (Siniter/Viper/Rampager) but it’s good for pure Malice builds (Rabid/Dire):

If you want to keep Spite then I suggest you to use Bitter Chill and Signet of Suffering and in this way you may want to switch Epidemic for another signet (I use Signet of Power for it’s conditions) to apply more might. The additional damage doesn’t work for conditions so both Spiteful Talisman and Close to Death are useless.
In curses take Plague Sending that works with Signet of Suffering, I proc them with Corrosive Poison Cloud + Blood is Power without using a Dagger #4.
in Blood is use Transfusion to help allies.

However my Malice build, which I use for fractals, is this one.
I don’t use Staff because it’s just a burden and switching to it gives no advantage, to me it’s even counter-productive because it deals too little conditions and slows down the bleed application from Sceptre. I, isntead, use a second dagger that I use when I know I can build Corruption stacks and switch to the other dagger for bosses.
Also, in addition to the normal rotation, I apply Torment with Shroud #5, which is speeded by Soul Reaping.

I disagree with signet of suffering. Signet of spite is such a low uptime of conditions (20 seconds of 2 bleed/poison every 60 seconds) and the healing signet isn’t that great. Closer to Death isn’t amazing but a 20% increase of damage is still a 20% increase of damage, scepter has SOME direct damage and it’s better than any other option in my opinion since a condi build going Viper / Sinister still gives a good chunk of power.

I prefer to go reaper and take shout CD reduction, that way if you don’t need epidemic you can use suffer as a extra way to transfer conditions and gives you better chill uptime, or Rise for the 50% damage reduction. The heal is also low CD and gives back a nice chunk of life force, all while healing extra because of the drain effect. Decimate defenses = more bleed stacks and deathly chill is still extra damage even if it sometimes get overwritten (you can apply tons of chill just through spite, Chilled to the bone, – RS 5 and suffer). You also get reaper shroud 4 which is crazy good for damage burst in Corrosive Poison Cloud (those poison bolts stack FAST). I’m not really a fan of going Dhuumfire since I felt i was giving up way too much just for some burn.

The second dagger for corruption stacks isn’t a bad idea at all, I might steal that for open world.

Reaper condition is working pretty well in PvE:

DPS test https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q19lyq6cCq0
Shortgameplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9p8AeG9gzCY

I know GS is not really a condi weapon. But it is fun to look at…

I am using Staff/GS on my Condi Reaper at the moment. I know that if I really want to make the build better, I have to ditch the GS and use Scepter and Dagger…

Oh My God.8423:

I know GS is not really a condi weapon. But it is fun to look at…

I am using Staff/GS on my Condi Reaper at the moment. I know that if I really want to make the build better, I have to ditch the GS and use Scepter and Dagger…

Yeah GS is not good for a condi build, but if you like it then stick with it. Too many “Metakitten” in this forums ready to jump at you with their criticisms and nothing productive to say. Is a game, have fun playing it.

For what is worth the third strike on your auto attack chain does a bit of chill (if you have chill damage trait you get a few ticks of that lol) plus you can put down Nightfall GS#4 and then RS and Soul Spiral (RS #4) and can get like 12 stacks of poison on mobs. But it doesn’t beat scep/war or scep/dagg.

My thoughts:

Dhuumfire does not seem like a worthwhile thing to invest in, as it would require sitting within reapershroud attacking primarily with power damage. I’m not sure a hybrid power-condition damage build would deal more damage versus investing in critical strike damage to compliment your 100% critical strike chance, but I’m simply guessing that this is the case.

If Anet ever adds gear that gives Ferocity, Condition Damage, and Power as stats, a reaper that used Dhumfire could be viable.

Chill on the other hand seems useful. On the target golem I didn’t have much difficulty maintaining almost permanent chill without relying on shouts or a great sword. The trick is you need a sufficiently high chill duration (i think a 50% bonus will suffice) and a couple of traits: Chilling Darkness, Chilling Nova, and (I recommend) spiteful Talisman. Using a dagger and a focus as your offhands and keeping your scepter mainhand allows you to never lose your primary condition damage weapon. Start out with spinal shivers, then reapers touch. Switch to Dagger and use deathly swarm.

I think the reason though that the target golem seemed to always have chill was that at half health spinal shivers was being activated, in an actual fight if the boss’s took longer to kill, you would likely need to every so often switch to reaper shroud until their health fell below 50 percent. RS skills 5, 3 and 2 will generate chill quickly if used in that order. Extra chill could be generated with chilled to the bone, but doing that costs you your golem which I imagine deals more damage over time if not instantly killed.

The question I’m wondering is that now that Condition duration food no longer gives a 50% bonus what is the trade off relationship between maximizing your condition damage via sinister [or even rabid + undead runes] versus condition duration optimizing via vipers/givers/condition duration runes.

But here is my Take on conditionmancer: Note that corrosive poison cloud can be swapped out with epidemic or corrupt boon depending on what is called for.

Using Viper:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQRArY7dn0ICV3gN3Ae2As3gFcBL+K2FHjQDgAwCIaD0BGBA-TxxXABzq+jeK/m7JAAw+ANuwAdnEgR1PQIgFrBA-e

I am running this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jPZiUmxJDk
and being pretty happy and sucessful so far.

Some interesting responses here

This whole suggestions does not apply in case of a hybrid build (Siniter/Viper/Rampager) but it’s good for pure Malice builds (Rabid/Dire):

For DPS, I’m not quite sure why you would want Rabid or Dire, isn’t it better to grab what offensive stats you can (e.g. with Sinister)?

Altoid.9104:

I disagree with signet of suffering. Signet of spite is such a low uptime of conditions (20 seconds of 2 bleed/poison every 60 seconds) and the healing signet isn’t that great. Closer to Death isn’t amazing but a 20% increase of damage is still a 20% increase of damage, scepter has SOME direct damage and it’s better than any other option in my opinion since a condi build going Viper / Sinister still gives a good chunk of power.

Yes this was my thought process as well. I’m not really convinced that taking SoS with Signet of Spite (and Signet of Vampirism) is better than getting that damage modifier, even if the benefit is not as great as with power builds.
(Also, the reason I took Signet of Vampirism is because it is the best offensive heal we have, I think?)

Altoid.9104:

The heal is also low CD and gives back a nice chunk of life force, all while healing extra because of the drain effect. /…/ I’m not really a fan of going Dhuumfire since I felt i was giving up way too much just for some burn.

Why would you want to build so much life force, when you won’t sit in it for long anyway (no camping RS1 for burns)? Just casting RS5 and RS4 does not need much time/life force?

I see some of you are using Focus and Deathly Chill; while I can see the value in single combat, how would being in a 5v1 (group vs boss) affect the DPS? Focus 4 would bounce to allies instead of on the target, and Chill might be overwritten, how much would this affect the DPS of your builds you think?

Also, really great videos you’ve posted!

Aesa.4819:

Altoid.9104:

The heal is also low CD and gives back a nice chunk of life force, all while healing extra because of the drain effect. /…/ I’m not really a fan of going Dhuumfire since I felt i was giving up way too much just for some burn.

Why would you want to build so much life force, when you won’t sit in it for long anyway (no camping RS1 for burns)? Just casting RS5 and RS4 does not need much time/life force?

I see some of you are using Focus and Deathly Chill; while I can see the value in single combat, how would being in a 5v1 (group vs boss) affect the DPS? Focus 4 would bounce to allies instead of on the target, and Chill might be overwritten, how much would this affect the DPS of your builds you think?

Also, really great videos you’ve posted!

Even if the focus #4 bounce to allies you’ll still get the life force, which is very important in a shroud build. About the chill being overwritten, i’d only worry about that if you have another reaper in party. You guys can get to an agreement and swap to Reaper’s Onslaught, maybe.

Aesa.4819:

Altoid.9104:

The heal is also low CD and gives back a nice chunk of life force, all while healing extra because of the drain effect. /…/ I’m not really a fan of going Dhuumfire since I felt i was giving up way too much just for some burn.

Why would you want to build so much life force, when you won’t sit in it for long anyway (no camping RS1 for burns)? Just casting RS5 and RS4 does not need much time/life force?

The main reason I like Your soul is mine is that it’s a low CD heal that heals a really good chunk of life, so I can get quite a few out rather than having to wait 30 seconds or so. I don’t like consume conditions because of the added blind effect and because I don’t want to screw up and eat conditions I would rather be sending back for more damage.

The life force thing is just an added bonus really, I like timing RS 4/5 for those times where I know I am going to eat damage and would rather have my second lifepool take the hit instead. Also, in order to get RS4 in every CPC cast you need to use it every other CPC, which means there is a window where you can flash into shroud to absorb a hit. So the life force generation while not a intergral part of the build is still useful for keeping yourself up with minimal dps downtime.

Aesa.4819:

For DPS, I’m not quite sure why you would want Rabid or Dire, isn’t it better to grab what offensive stats you can (e.g. with Sinister)?

In theory yes however in a Sinister build you may want to go hybrid. Scepter is our main condition weapon (along with dagger usually) but the direct damage is negligible (this is why Signer of Suffering is useless) so power is not useful.
For a pure malice build you need three stats: condition damage, condition duration and time. Time is not a stat so let’s ignore it for now. Other stats are irrelevant, so usually our old habit was to increase malice with Rabid or Dire stats indirectly: Rabid’s precision increases it with Target’s of the Weak (and can proc Barbed Precision and/or Sigils) and the extra toughness increased malice with a Tuning Crystal, this is the same with Dire.
Personally I see no reason to add power if we can deal damage while using some defensive stats.

The advantage of a pure malice build is that you can see really big numbers with conditions the main disadvantage is that you need time and in the most encounters enemies are dead before you can apply enough stacks to proper build your damage.

In fractal, though, I use that build I wrote you and it works since Fractals is bosses and trash: against bosses you have time, against trash mobs you have Epidemic.

Is it better to use Giver’s or Viper weapons?

Oh My God.8423:

Is it better to use Giver’s or Viper weapons?

Vipers.