[Guide] DPS Revenant for PVE
Excellent guide as always from Obal. Mods, can we get a sticky?
Guys why isn’y this a Sticky yet!?
I’m moving from Guard to Rev too today, enjoying the class a lot in PvP, wanted to try it out in PvE too
Also I noticed that the food is pretty expensive! I’m not raiding anytime soon yet, so is there cheaper alternatives? (I run with Scholar runes)
(edited by mPascoal.4258)
All the cheaper food has precision unfortunately. I’d just go with this since it’s really cheap and good. It is annoying to have to reapply it so often but should be enough to last a dungeon/fractal/raid boss attempt at least so you will know to reapply it right after.
Does Superior Rune of Leadership have any use for Boonbot Herald? Or do you give up too much dps for not having scholar/strenght?
You don’t really need the extra boon duration since you can already provide permanent quickness and fury, and yeah the stat loss would be a significant DPS loss.
All the cheaper food has precision unfortunately. I’d just go with this since it’s really cheap and good. It is annoying to have to reapply it so often but should be enough to last a dungeon/fractal/raid boss attempt at least so you will know to reapply it right after.
Well it’s something, but yeah, it will be annoying having to apply it everytime. But still, since I’m not using Strength Runes (If I had an ascended set I would, because I could use it on Rev and War) I don’t see much use of the fried goldem dumplings and I don’t feel like spending 1g for each piece of the recomended. I literally can’t afford that yet
Op , this is a terrific guide. Thanks for putting this together it’s helped me alot. Also can a mod please get this thread stickied ? . This is a thread that should be please. Thank you.
I haven’t finished leveling my Rev as I keep bouncing between rev, guard, and ranger. all three been fun proff’s so far. Guides like this one help alot.
I don’t understand why the Vengeful Hammers always cancels themselves when they hit a wall or something … it is pretty much unusable for vale guardian if it is at the wall of the area. Or is it something else?
I don’t understand why the Vengeful Hammers always cancels themselves when they hit a wall or something … it is pretty much unusable for vale guardian if it is at the wall of the area. Or is it something else?
it’s a known but that it break against the walls, but since the range is not huge, just stay a bit away and you can fully use them even on common VG strat ;-)
Anyway yeah, venge ham (without the xploit) is a tiny dps increase and aoe potential but if you feel more confident with mallyx by all means use it, the difference is not big enough to scream about it
Wat r u, casul?
Can somebody please explain me the Shiro/Glint (Equilibrium) rotation?
I dont get the thing with 50% energy, how am I supposed to manage that for dmg boost? Or is it there for the healing instead, for more party support?
Can somebody please explain me the Shiro/Glint (Equilibrium) rotation?
I dont get the thing with 50% energy, how am I supposed to manage that for dmg boost? Or is it there for the healing instead, for more party support?
The basic idea of Rev rotation is that you should be swapping legends as soon as legend swap comes off cooldown, in order to take advantage of the 50% energy you get given when you swap; so you want to use energy at such a rate that you hit zero at the same time as legend swap becomes available.
The basic Shiro/Glint rotation is something like this:
- Start in Glint
- Activate facet of nature, darkness, elements, strength (and light if desired)
- Use your hardest hitting or most situation relevant weapon abilities to burn off extra energy (I normally go with Sword 3 for might stack, then Axe 5, then elemental blast right at the end; opinions vary)
- When you have hit zero energy and facet of nature has deactivated, switch to Shiro (it’s important to hit zero energy and let facet of nature deactivate itself or you won’t be able to use Impossible Odds without first using One With Nature, which means you lose facet of nature for your next rotation)
- Use Impossible Odds and Enchanted Daggers
- Auto attack until legend swap is off cooldown
- Back to start
The idea of running down your energy at the same rate as legend swap is applicable to any Rev loadout really; just replace the Shiro bit with an efficient use of your energy in whatever legend you’re using instead. Pretty much any Rev build is going to include Glint (in PvE at least).
(edited by technophebe.7631)
Can somebody please explain me the Shiro/Glint (Equilibrium) rotation?
I dont get the thing with 50% energy, how am I supposed to manage that for dmg boost? Or is it there for the healing instead, for more party support?The basic idea of Rev rotation is that you should be swapping legends as soon as legend swap comes off cooldown, in order to take advantage of the 50% energy you get given when you swap; so you want to use energy at such a rate that you hit zero at the same time as legend swap becomes available.
The basic Shiro/Glint rotation is something like this:
- Start in Glint
- Activate facet of nature, darkness, elements, strength (and light if desired)
- Use your hardest hitting or most situation relevant weapon abilities to burn off extra energy (I normally go with Sword 3 for might stack, then Axe 5, then elemental blast right at the end; opinions vary)
- When you have hit zero energy and facet of nature has deactivated, switch to Shiro (it’s important to hit zero energy and let facet of nature deactivate itself or you won’t be able to use Impossible Odds without first using One With Nature, which means you lose facet of nature for your next rotation)
- Use Impossible Odds and Enchanted Daggers
- Auto attack until legend swap is off cooldown
- Back to startThe idea of running down your energy at the same rate as legend swap is applicable to any Rev loadout really; just replace the Shiro bit with an efficient use of your energy in whatever legend you’re using instead. Pretty much any Rev build is going to include Glint (in PvE at least).
I understand the usage of run out energy rotations with shiro (only needed). You dont need to run out of energy on jalis and malyx.
What I dont understand is this described rotation:
Glint + Shiro (Equilibrium) – Activate all facets except elite -> Elemental Blast -> Assassin Stance -> Enchanted Daggers -> Impossible Odds -> Sword Auto -> Dragon Stance -> Activate facets of choosing and use Unrelenting Assault or Precision Strike if it you will stay above 50 at the end -> Elemental Blast -> Sword Auto -> Assassin Stance -> Impossible Odds -> Sword Auto -> repeat Glint and Shiro off cooldown
How am I supposed to be above 50 energy at the end and at the same time dont loose dps?
I maybe get it now, the thing is that u dont use the facet of nature in this one.
If so, is that profitable for the party (and yourself)? Dont you loose boon uptime and stacks using this and thus also the party/self dps?
(edited by Jacob.4280)
You would never want to switch legends while still above 50 energy; always burn your energy off before switching, regardless of the legend.
Perhaps if a boss mechanic required you to use one of your other legend’s abilities you might need to swap immediately, that’s the only case I can think of.
If you’re in Glint, you want to be using facet of nature (not one with nature); it means that any boon applied to your party has 50% extra duration, allowing you to maintain might/fury/swiftness uptime.
In some circumstances you may also want facet of nature enabled while in your other legend, specifically if you have a mesmer in your party who’s applying quickness. We’re getting into more advanced concepts than the basic rotation there though.
You would never want to switch legends while still above 50 energy; always burn your energy off before switching, regardless of the legend.
That isn’t true. Proccing Equilibrium is worth more DPS when you go Glint → xxxx than creating some useless might or regen stacks your party is capped on already anyway. The only time it’s worth ignoring Equilibrium in Glint is when you have a higher DPS play available, like using Sword #2 inside a boss hitbox when there are adds around for a huge damage attack.
www.twitch.tv/nike_dnt
You would never want to switch legends while still above 50 energy; always burn your energy off before switching, regardless of the legend.
That isn’t true. Proccing Equilibrium is worth more DPS when you go Glint -> xxxx than creating some useless might or regen stacks your party is capped on already anyway. The only time it’s worth ignoring Equilibrium in Glint is when you have a higher DPS play available, like using Sword #2 inside a boss hitbox when there are adds around for a huge damage attack.
Thats why Im asking how it works (how to manage it) and if its dmg boost for the party or not considering the boon uptimes. Still dont know any of those 2 things :P
That isn’t true. Proccing Equilibrium is worth more DPS when you go Glint -> xxxx than creating some useless might or regen stacks your party is capped on already anyway. The only time it’s worth ignoring Equilibrium in Glint is when you have a higher DPS play available, like using Sword #2 inside a boss hitbox when there are adds around for a huge damage attack.
Sure, if your group isn’t relying on your boons, Equilibrium may be an increase in personal dps; but bringing a Glint revenant if none of the boons are needed is a niche case at best.
For most real world situations, the boons (and in fact possibly even the healing from Equilibrium) are going to be of more value to the group than a minor increase to personal dps.
(edited by technophebe.7631)
That isn’t true. Proccing Equilibrium is worth more DPS when you go Glint -> xxxx than creating some useless might or regen stacks your party is capped on already anyway. The only time it’s worth ignoring Equilibrium in Glint is when you have a higher DPS play available, like using Sword #2 inside a boss hitbox when there are adds around for a huge damage attack.
Sure, if your group isn’t relying on your boons, Equilibrium may be an increase in personal dps; but why would a group be bringing a revenant if they didn’t need his boons?
The only boon meta teams rely on from the Rev is Fury. You can run Facet of Darkness and Facet of Nature and stay above 50% easily in Glint.
When you’re talking real world application and not a theoretical super-organized raid where everyone is running the ideal spec and doing their job perfectly (something that 99.9% of us will never experience), the boons (and in fact even the healing from Equilibrium) are going to be of more value to the group than a minor increase to personal dps.
Organized raids with everyone running ideal specs is my real world experience, though. You can have a theorycraft discussion, but it isn’t fair when someone presents contrary information to say “oh well that wouldn’t work in the specific groups I run because we don’t run optimal specs.” When you offered your opinion you didn’t present it as, “here is what you should do in bad groups that lack Might” you presented it as general Best Practices, which it isn’t.
www.twitch.tv/nike_dnt
I never claimed to be providing anything other than a basic rotation for someone asking for help. Most people don’t run in optimal groups and if you don’t think that helping out the average player is worthwhile, well then I’m sorry for you.
(edited by technophebe.7631)
You would never want to switch legends while still above 50 energy; always burn your energy off before switching, regardless of the legend.
That isn’t true. Proccing Equilibrium is worth more DPS when you go Glint -> xxxx than creating some useless might or regen stacks your party is capped on already anyway. The only time it’s worth ignoring Equilibrium in Glint is when you have a higher DPS play available, like using Sword #2 inside a boss hitbox when there are adds around for a huge damage attack.
Thats why Im asking how it works (how to manage it) and if its dmg boost for the party or not considering the boon uptimes. Still dont know any of those 2 things :P
It’s mostly just used for a group that has all the boons you would need covered except for fury. You wouldn’t need facet of nature unless you have a mesmer in your group. You would mostly just keep fury activated and use the swiftness one for just elemental blast. I use unrelenting assault if there are no adds and I don’t have quickness or I spam precision strike if there are adds around which takes priority. Precision strike around adds is more important in general than equilibrium. It only really applies to glint since if you have jalis you will have f2 and hammers going and for shiro you would use impossible odds and enchanted daggers so you will be below 50 from that.
It’s kind of a niche rotation since if you are providing boons that others won’t give your group will most likely benefit more in support and dps given damage on # of boon traits. Looking at DPS over 1 minute, if you could have provided 2 boons to the party that otherwise would not be maintained then equilibrium would be a trivial personal dps loss and others with damage on # of boon traits in your group will lose damage as well. If you lose 1 boon it will be a very small gain and again it’s a loss for others with that kind of trait. It’s useful in some cases so I added it to the guide but if boons are more beneficial to your group then it’s not worth it. If it means your losing out on precision strikes since you would dip under 50 then it’s not worth it in that case either. I mostly go for the boons and precision strikes myself. I probably explained it better in the video so I’ll elaborate that more in this text guide.
@obal.3218 I remembered other food that is good to have that has the same effect that Experimental Remnant has but it stays for 30 mins. It’s Bowl of Asparagus and Sage Salad. It’s pretty cheap (almost 9 silver on tp) and it’s less annoying since it stays for 30 mins
Another question. I already have Scholar Runes, but most of the times I run in pug groups. Should I use Strength instead?
Yeah there is that food but it is a little more expensive. It’s probably worth it to not have the annoyance of continually using the remnants though. You can get a spare weapon and put a strength sigil on it instead for not as much of a loss or investment. It’s a good alternative when pugging and your without a ps war or any one stacking much might. Roxtar did a break down of it all in the second tab of this thread if you want to check that out.
Do you think going marauders armor + weapon then full zerk trinks. With either strength or undead runes work as an off tank DPS build? I know you lose a bunch of power but TBH the fact that you get zerkish stats + tough/vit. Which with harden can allow you to either take over tank or solo efficiently. I haven’t run the numbers on how much you would be able to balance powerwise with the trinkets. Maybe you need zerk weapons as well. Just a theory crafting thought. I like to do a lot of solo, duo, or trio fractals and I find full zerks great but straining on survivablity.
That would be a little over 10% loss so its not so bad with the marauders + strength runes. Undead runes would tank your dps and aren’t a good choice. You would probably still want 1 toughness trinket or something in case you have short periods of no upkeep if you are trying to grab aggro.
(edited by obal.3218)
Hello Obal, with the amount of information on the changes of Revenants in the next patch, how much will it change the revenant dps build? Will staff replace sword as a main dps weapon? What are your thoughts?
Staff was a fair amount worse and the change to sword 2 getting off 3 guaranteed projectiles all the time will help make up for the sword 1 nerf somewhat. So basically you just press 2 more along with 1 and nothing has really changed except the rotation a little. I haven’t looked into it but that’s probably what will be best.
(edited by obal.3218)
Hey Obal, now that the changes are live. How is the rev weapons faring now?
I asume Sword is still on top despite the nerfs. Hammer having taken a significant hit due to the double cd on CoR. And that staff still is at rock bottom.
I updated the guide for the patch.
Hey Obal, now that the changes are live. How is the rev weapons faring now?
I asume Sword is still on top despite the nerfs. Hammer having taken a significant hit due to the double cd on CoR. And that staff still is at rock bottom.
Sword is about the same as it was before. Staff was better than hammer and still is by more now.
I updated the guide for the patch.
Hey Obal, now that the changes are live. How is the rev weapons faring now?
I asume Sword is still on top despite the nerfs. Hammer having taken a significant hit due to the double cd on CoR. And that staff still is at rock bottom.
Sword is about the same as it was before. Staff was better than hammer and still is by more now.
Err no, staff is barely 3-4% worse than sword now and staff has way better utilities.
And staff has always been trash tier dps so yeah….
Staff doesnt have the benefit of Laceration, which i think is what which helps to prop up sword still. Though have http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/ been updated? Unsure if its the old numbers still.
I looked into staff before it’s not that great.
I’m curious why you, and most any other build I see, bother using OH axe instead of still using shield. I know shield got nerfed to hell but it’s still a small heal and possible protection that could be used in a pinch. And in a pve setting it doesn’t seem like axe is all that useful since both are a dps loss. The port to and the pull CC is nice once in a while but I’d think you’d rather have some extra healing in emergencies instead.
And I’m not questioning your decision as I’m just now about to hit 80 on my Rev after making one last week and using a bunch of saved up tomes so I have no experience with the class. Just curious why everyone seems to throw shield away that still has at least minor utility in pve compared to axe OH that I’d think would be rarely used.
Thanks for the updated guide and video though. It’s been very helpful for me.
Too little heal and selfroot hurts shield, and i think envoy takes too much effort to use optimally and hurting dps. Axe is mainly taken for the utility of a port.
Yeah the axe is just there for a little utility. It can be swapped out if you want without much of an impact or you can just have it in your other swap. I like the offhand sword more than the shield personally. I was hoping they would buff the axe skills to make an offhand more useful as a dps option on rev but it didn’t happen this patch. Give axe a precision strike too :P
(edited by obal.3218)
Even offhand sword is now better than shield, block while moving is by far much better specially in this game where everything is about mobility.
I looked into staff before it’s not that great.
And you are right, but the sword and shield combo isnt great either anymore. Not with this terrible energy system.
Ah ok thanks all, that makes sense. Completely missed that you had to channel number 5. That sucks I like sword and board for aesthetic reasons. Hopefully they make it less awful.
Some1 need to do some tutorial like that for wvw … that its a kittening awsome job jesus…
Hey obal, with the nerf to hammer 2, how does the damage compare to hammer AA?
Isn’t it better DPS-wise now to have Jalis or Mallyx than Shiro? (no mesmer)
Hey obal, with the nerf to hammer 2, how does the damage compare to hammer AA?
Assuming you get the far hit its basically the same dps as doing 3 autos given the coefficient/time. Did they change something other than the cooldown? Hammer wasn’t that great before when I looked at it on the previous page.
Isn’t it better DPS-wise now to have Jalis or Mallyx than Shiro? (no mesmer)
Shiro is better. The gap between them was too big to fill.
Thank you for the updated guide of pressing “1” and now “2” as well!
I was so confused of which buttons I have to press after the nerf patch went live.
Hey Orbal, I came to wonder. In a given scenario of using Glint+Shiro. Where is the bulk of the damage? Id expect it to be with Shiro, but how much higher is it than Glint for example?
Mainly thinking of it, as if the bulk of damage is proven to be in shiro stance, it would encourage people to not just being lazy and sitting in glint constantly. Ive been guilty of it myself, so thats why id like to know just how important it is to drain glint and switch.
I put a rotation with glint → shiro → glint without equilibrium and chopped off the shiro part and it went down by like 2k for the 10s you would be in shiro.
Huh, are you saying that Glint does more dps than Shiro?
No. Without Shiro and being Glint instead for that 10 extra seconds it dropped by around 2k.
Aight, so youd want to drain Glint as fast as possible to maximise the number of times you can flip to Shiro.
Regarding Facet of Nature – Who really benefits from it beside Chronomancers? So far I feel it has terribly little personal benefit to upkeep Facet of Nature
You need it to keep up perma prot. If your in a split with a ps warrior they can run scholar and power food. If you make a third split of just mesmer + rev to give quickness to multiple splits it will help keep up fury on everyone. Swap legends off cooldown also.
I guess Facet of Nature helps keeping Protection active while you are not in glint, if you swap legends on cooldown, yes? That does make Facet of Nature a bit more useful, though it still feels to have little use otherwise, like soloing.
Got a question for you, Obal. Something I came to wonder about.
Ive recently started to relook into Scholar runes and have been glancing at Assassins Annihilation. How much damage do you lose running AA over Swift Termination? Being mindful that the added sustain will add more uptime on the Scholar damage bonus.
It was around 5% worse from what I remember. That was without perma quickness. It would get worse with perma quickness since it has a cooldown.
Hi, Obal.
First off, thanks for this wonderful guide! It’s helped me from when I started with my Revenant until now.
I just have a question though. In your trinkets guide, you indicated to get one toughness trinket. Does this mean a trinket with a toughness attribute as a main, or one of the minors? Also, what would the other attributes be? Power and Ferocity, since too much precision would not be good?