Guild Wars 2

So yeah, simple question. Just started my thief and wanted to know if zerker is viable in WvW or not.

Yes. However it’s up to you how many zerker pieces you want to use, generally full zerker set isn’t so good.

Pavel.8531:

Yes. However it’s up to you how many zerker pieces you want to use, generally full zerker set isn’t so good.

Makes sense, thank you.

so for the current meta build that every thief is running, whats the best zerker armor combination if not full zerker?

I think there is a minority, perhaps significant that also Valkyrie Armor and Zerker trinkets.

I use Valk pieces other than Chest/Legs (Zerker) and Zerker Trinkets.

If you’re going for crit-damage build of some sort yeah, zerker or mix like everyone else mentioned.
If you’re running condition build, Dire is best. (Opinion, not fact. Before the forum kittens get here…)

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/Building-a-better-D-D-thief/first

Mixing valk/zerker is bad and this thread proves it

Oh and one more thing, for zergs, I assume one can’t just go melee in that case?

Ah yes, because maths and EHP have such a relevance in PvP.

You can’t crunch PvP into a spreadsheet.

Celestina.2894:

Oh and one more thing, for zergs, I assume one can’t just go melee in that case?

Jump right in with the melee train. Report back your findings

Dee Jay.2460:

Ah yes, because maths and EHP have such a relevance in PvP.

You can’t crunch PvP into a spreadsheet.

Sure, but you can crunch stats into a spreadsheet, and the stats on that build are mathematically better than any other. How does that not apply?

Carpboy.7145:

Celestina.2894:

Oh and one more thing, for zergs, I assume one can’t just go melee in that case?

Jump right in with the melee train. Report back your findings

A level 8 would hardly be a good test ;P

pvt armor, zerker everything else.

Celestina.2894:

Oh and one more thing, for zergs, I assume one can’t just go melee in that case?

I have never felt very useful as a thief in a zerg, except for being a mobile blast finisher. Shortbow 1,1,1,1 in battle(well ok, with enough power/crit dmg you can still deal like 4k/shot combined from the bounces), occasional 2’s. With signet of malice and good positioning you can pretty much just spam 1 and tag a lot of people, daggerstorm for even more tags.
Going melee in zergs as a thief, no matter the build means circling the flanks in search for squishies to pick off and finishing downed.

Celestina.2894:

So yeah, simple question. Just started my thief and wanted to know if zerker is viable in WvW or not.

Full zerker gear can be very good if you have the skill to survive with it. However if you’re new to the class I personally would not recommend it.

If I were you, I would start out with a mix of zerker and soldiers and slowly substitute them as you feel more comfortable about it.

Celestina.2894:

Oh and one more thing, for zergs, I assume one can’t just go melee in that case?

when two zergs collide, i found it a good strategy to kite around the dense battle areas (shadow refuge makes it easier) and attack the backline.

a) most of the glass cannons/upleveled are there (easy kills, drain damage from enemy zerg, little resistance)
b) most players don’t realize you there until it’s too late
c) if people do go after you, these people don’t fight at the front (so you drain damage from the frontline again)

when played cautiously (stealth and go out before you get overrun), this can work well.
in smaller zergs you can even go into the enemy zerg from behind and troll with CnD (without backstab) – but keep away from the hammertrain.

the big downside of this is, when you’re downed, you’re dead. nobody can help you then

Carpboy.7145:

Dee Jay.2460:

Ah yes, because maths and EHP have such a relevance in PvP.

You can’t crunch PvP into a spreadsheet.

Sure, but you can crunch stats into a spreadsheet, and the stats on that build are mathematically better than any other. How does that not apply?

Because it doesn’t account for my play-style.

Theorycrafting always makes a series of assumptions to reach an objective conclusion. For example the DPS calculations must assume a constant DPS uptime.

But maybe my play-style is different. Maybe I only engage for Cloak and Dagger and Backstab. Maybe I don’t auto-attack much. The way Yishis plays for example is almost exclusively dealing damage with Backstab and using relatively little auto-attack or even Heartseeker.

This means Precision is less valuable as Hidden Killer contributes a larger share of your DPS and throws off any assumption you made in your calculations.

EHP is in a similar boat, as it too assumes regular incoming damage. But again, maybe due to your traits and play-style sustained damage isn’t all that threatening to you. Instead it’s condition bombing you fear and big unpredictable burst. This means Vitality is more valuable than your calculation might imply because they are based on a theoretical scenario that simply doesn’t occur.

Zerk and cav mix is really good. I would go for around 2.65 to 2.7k armor. That toughness really helps, and u keep precious crit dmg.

I run full zerk in WvW and It’s great.
Plenty of stealth and evade/dodge so you don’t really need a large health pool.

I use full Zerker, although depending on what I’m doing I’ll sometimes swap some or all of my trinkets to Soldier.

90% zerker build with some cavalier

I mostly roam in wvw but I run with zerg as well from time to time. I don’t change my build for zerging, imo, even in full PVT gear, your passive defenses are subpar to other classes.

Zerging is pretty fun, cluster bombs down so many people and dagger storm hits like truck as well but I am a toast really fast if many people focus on me. We lack stability for effective zerging, not extra armour.

Full berzerker is generally inferior to some combination of zerk and valkyrie; dagger main wants more valk in the mix, sword wants more zerk, but in general the right mix has more valk in it than you think it does.

Avoid soldier, despite what some (bad) spreadsheet models say; thieves get nibbled by retaliation and eaten by condition bombs, neither of which are affected by toughness. Soldier gear is more or less strictly inferior to valkyrie.

Full berserker is what you’d wear if you wandered into WvW with your dungeon set on. In can’t think of a particularly good reason to run it on purpose.

now i wear
3 celestial – 3 valkyrie (armor)
full zerk jewel
valk weapons

after the patch and celestial changes i will go … oh wait, the patch… ahahahha

Thanks for the thoughts everyone, although decided I might hold off on my thief till more of the blogs are revealed.