Guild Wars 2

I tried out a power DPS build and a condi DPS build. Both ran almost identical traits and weapons. Both had almost identical gameplay.

Power DPS for PvE – Devastation/Corruption/Invocation

• sword/sword, hammer, berserker’s gear
• Assassin’s Presence, Ferocious Strikes, Swift Termination
• [Optional], Bolstered Anguish, Maniacal Presence
• Fierce Infusion, Incensed Response, Roiling Mists

Combat was basically camp in Shiro until 100%, activate Impossible Odds, auto attack until 0 energy, repeat. You only swap to Mallyx if you need to heal.

Condi DPS for PvE – Devastation/Corruption/Invocation

• mace/sword, sword/axe, rabid gear (no sinister available)
• Rapid Lacerations, Nefarious Momentum, Assassin’s Annihilation
• Venom Enhancement, Spontaneous Destruction, Pulsating Pestilence
• Fierce Infusion, Incensed Response, Roiling Mists

Combat was basically start in Shiro, activate Impossible Odds, use 2 -> 3 -> 1, swap, activate Embrace Darkness, 2 -> 3 -> 1, swap, repeat sequence.

You never bother to go over 50%. It takes roughly as much time for IO/EtD to drain you to 0% as it does for legend swap to come off cooldown. Mobs rarely have boons to make Banish Enchantment worth it. Unyeilding Anguish is detrimental in PvE because it randomly displaces mobs making it much harder for you and your allies to attack them. May as well stick to the 3 mace skills to stack condi and blast might as fast as you can.

Rapid Lacerations seems to stack with Impossible Odds giving you a silly attack speed of +70% which lets you proc more conditions. The DPS in both builds was “okay” though not as impressive as other classes. Maybe I’m playing it wrong… Or maybe Brazil is right and it needs more damage modifiers. Or… maybe… Energy needs to be looked at…

Overall I found both builds pretty boring to play. I never needed to actually switch weapons. Ever. Offhand sword was pretty useless in pve. I only took it for the benefit of traits. You need it for the condi build to trigger Rapid Lacerations. None of the other legends or trait lines seemed to offer anything useful to PvE. I made these builds purely with focus on getting the necessary high DPS for pve. Even with every damage-boosting trait I could find, I felt weaker than other classes, and I lacked a lot of damage mitigating skills other classes have in their full zerker specs.

But enough about me. What did you all find? Did you have better luck than me figuring out a fun build that did better dps? I never tried revenant pvp so maybe someone can shed light on that experience.