Guild Wars 2

I’m fine tuning a Condition/Toughness build and I need some advice on weapon sigils to consider.

My current weapon combination is Shortbow (main), and Sword+Dagger or Sword+Warhorn.

I do dungeons but focus primarily on WvW roaming and small group skirmishes.

Currently, my Short Bow has a Sigil of Earth (60% chance to bleed). I’m considering swapping to a Sigil of Strength.

My Sword has Sigil of Geomancy (weapon swap bleed) and my Dagger/Warhorn has Sigil of Corruption (+10 cond dmg). I’m considering swapping the Sword’s sigil to Sigil of Battle (3 stacks of Might/20 secs).

My playstyle is: kite with Short Bow, swap to Sword for evasion and Quickness bursts.

My current crit chance is 55%, so would it be a good idea to swap to Strength, or will my Might just drop off before I can apply another? Is the 60% chance to stack 1 Bleed even worth it with Earth? What is a better option for the Sword+Dagger/Warhorn combo?

Finally, if Sword is my defensive weapon, should I stat it with Knight or get a Power/Tough/Cond one?

Thanks for any constructive feedback!

(Edited because I was apparently half-asleep when I originally posted this)

One thing to remember is don’t mix Energy/Strength and Earth. They share cooldowns, so if you proc Earth right before you swap, you won’t get Energy/Strength’s bonus.

Aside from that do you swap a lot? If so energy/strength is the way to go. If not, Earth.

energy on both main hands, corruption on offhand.

Energy will help a lot with your kiting. Might stacking works to some extent but it’s not game changing ( works better if you share boons with pets ). I suggest you go to the mists find a small server so you don’t get zerged or ask someone to duel and try different setups firsthand.

nerva.7940:

energy on both main hands, corruption on offhand.

Energy is great, although I like to have a Superior Sigil of Hydromancy somewhere, I find it useful for getting away or at least forcing them to blow a cooldown.

Carry several weapons when possible

I appreciate everyone’s feedback on this.

Funky, you make an excellent (abet, expensive) point. I should bring multiple weapons in my bags for each situation.

Capuchinseven, I’ve seen a lot of Guardians and Warriors use Hydromancy to keep their target in melee. You make an excellent argument that its just as useful for getting away. My concern is which weapon would I consider. If I’m in Sword, I’m there to burn and evade. If in Shortbow, the sigil will mostly go unused as its my primary DPS weapon. Nevertheless, its something I’ll consider.

Ursan, your suggestion for Energy is a good one, and something I use on my Guardian (Energy on both Greatsword and Sword). It was a very expensive purchase but one I’ve seen to great effect. Sigil of Energy has a 9 sec cooldown; weapon swapping is 10 so I feel I’m safe with this combination again on my Ranger. I’d still be interested if Strength can keep a “perma”-stack with my build.

Thank you all again for the feedback and if anyone else has anything to add please post below!

Strength is kinda situational. First you need high crit. Then comes the 10% chance itself. If you aoe a lot it’s easy to maintain several stacks but against a single target i don’t believe that you can get any noticeable amount.
In case of aoe – my test shows that cooldown still applies after each proc but you get more chances (one test of 10% from each target, and no 10 targets don’t make 100% ) for a proc if you hit multiple targets.
Try it in the mists – on golems it works wonders in real games it’s nothing game changing.

I tested a Superior Sigil of Strength in the Short Bow last night in CoE, paths 1 and 2.

I averaged 7-9 stacks of Might through each encounter, with upwards of 11-13 stacks. Critical strike chance was 55%, which gives me a 17% chance (rounded up) to proc the sigil.

Wearing Rampager armor, Coral jewels and Runes of the Undead, my base condition damage is 1239 and bleeds ticking around 110 per second, increasing to 140 with high Might stacking.

In short, I think the Superior Sigil of Strength works in this condition build, especially over longer encounters. I will continue to test this in WvW (especially roaming) as I work on which sigil works best for the Sword.

Thank you again for the feedback!

Hydromancy on one of your melee weapons= 3s freeze= 3s to hack and slash at will