Guild Wars 2

Does it basically just boil down to preference of survivability vs doing some more damage, or is there a distinct difference that puts one above the other? I’ve seen a few videos of Rabid Necro-tanking and doing fine conditioning things to death, so I guess the question is does how much faster do things die if I went Sinister? I’m basically just doing PvE right now: dungeons, SW, etc.

I’m not going to say which is “better” since I tend to make disagreeable statements but I will say that Rabid is more forgiving.

@ the attached picture, I’ve actually managed to get my condition damage higher now capping out at 2,992 with all stacks and no Might. That’s in full Rabid gear in WvW.

If you want a more forgiving armor set, Rabid is the choice. Consider trying Undead runes for the conversion of toughness into a little more condition damage. You can always crunch more expensive runes over them, later.

The highest dps will be Berserker, followed by Rampager and Sinister, which are pretty equal, in my mind.

Assassin’s isn’t higher than rampagers and sinister?

In my opinion Sinister is the best middle between Berserker (in which you just deal direct damage) and Rabid/Dire (for condition). If you want to keep staying a condimancer (and I greatly support your choice) I suggest Sinister for Dungeons and open-world content (Silverwastes included). For difficult dungeon (like Arah) and fractals I suggest Rabid for the thoughness and focus only on condition.

With Rabid stats you have less acceleration, which means it’s good for high-health bosses but not for trashes (and in general low-health bosses).

I’m using Dire, which I was able to get quite cheaply.

I also run dire but would love to know what one is better for all out damage.