Non-Herald Build
By the way, I am talking about open world pve.
What is a good build for a revenant that doesn’t have herald, yet?
Short answer: none
Long answer: Shiro + Mallyx is a less awfull combo than the other options.
Bonus tip: get Glint asap.
Some of the posters here are either tunnel visioned or short sighted to look past the narrow minded Glint/Shiro only mindset. I’m not specifically saying this to you Buran, but to this forum in general. No offense.
To the OP, if you’re having survival problems, try using Jalis/Malyx combo, and use the staff for one of your weapons. Jalis and Malys both have heals that do not depend on further action from you or your target. Also, using Jalis’s hammers in combination with Devastation Assassins Annhiliation and Focused Siphoning trait gives you some nice healing and damage reduction. Malyx you’ll want to just use the Heal and Embrace the Darkness. The staff gives you healing from auto, if you pick up the orbs, a block, and a condi cleanse/heal.
Just watch your energy management with Jalis. He’s very energy hungry.
For traits, look at Devastation, Retribution, and Invocation. Stats, you can’t go wrong with Marauders or Zerks, or a combo of them.
Some of the posters here are either tunnel visioned or short sighted to look past the narrow minded Glint/Shiro only mindset. I’m not specifically saying this to you Buran, but to this forum in general. No offense.
To the OP, if you’re having survival problems, try using Jalis/Malyx combo, and use the staff for one of your weapons. Jalis and Malys both have heals that do not depend on further action from you or your target. Also, using Jalis’s hammers in combination with Devastation Assassins Annhiliation and Focused Siphoning trait gives you some nice healing and damage reduction. Malyx you’ll want to just use the Heal and Embrace the Darkness. The staff gives you healing from auto, if you pick up the orbs, a block, and a condi cleanse/heal.
Just watch your energy management with Jalis. He’s very energy hungry.
For traits, look at Devastation, Retribution, and Invocation. Stats, you can’t go wrong with Marauders or Zerks, or a combo of them.
I’ve run into a couple revs in WvW running mallyx/jalis when on my thief, it didn’t do uber damage like shiro/glint can but it did take a while to kill, so for open world PvE it should work well enough.
Don’t follow me, unless you enjoy being chased by angry men with sticks.
Power Build Condi Build
I used Shiro/Jalis for getting my hps… But that was mainly just so I could staff 4 blast the Jalis lightning fields for swiftness until I unlocked Facet of the Elements. Then it was Glint/Shiro all the way.
Before I saw any of your answers, I fiddled. I decided to try something that I had never intended to do before: use Ventari. Right now, I am using Ventari and Jalis. I have staff as my primary weapon and hammer as my second. I am using the Invocation, Retribution and Salvation trait lines.
It seems to be working pretty good. I hardly ever die, and it seems to kill the enemies reasonably fast. I am sure it isn’t as fast as the sword. However, for now at least, I am rather happy with it. I pretty much only use the hammer when I need to be at range. I am nearly always using the staff and almost always on the centaur stance.
I am still trying to get to the herald, though and progressing through the story line. I do intend to replace salvation with herald when I can. But it is going to be awhile.