Guild Wars 2

Currently I’m using 6 Ruby Orbs to augment my gear.

6 Ruby Orbs come down to:
120 Power
4% Critical Strike Chance
12% Critical Strike Damage

How does this compare to other popular damage runes like Scholar or Divinity?

Superior Runes of Divinity add:
60 Power
3% Critical Strike Chance
12% Critical Strike damage
60 Condition Damage/Toughness/Vitality/Healing

Ergo considering how much more valuable Power is as a DPS stat I really don’t see how Divinity runes will ever offer more DPS compared to Orbs. The only case in which Divinity runes may be viable is if you somehow value all the other stats you get.

But what about Scholar Runes?
165 Power
8% Critical Damage
10% extra damage while above 90% HP.

This should be a bit more interesting as the 45 extra Power should roughly compensate for the 4% less Critical Strike Damage. That means we have to chose between 4% Critical Strike Chance and 10% more damage while above 90% HP.

I’d say Scholar is better if you run the “Hidden Killer” Backstab build while Ruby Orbs will come out ahead in most PvE situations.

So how do Runes of the Wurm compare to Beryl Orbs?

Beryl Orbs offer
120 Power
84 Vitality
12% Critical Strike Damage

Superior Runes of the Wurm offer
165 Vitality
6% Critical Strike Damage
3% overall Damge

I’d estimate the 120 Power more than make up for the 3% damage while the Critical Damage pushes the DPS output over the top. Wurm’s only real benefit is if you really need the extra HP.

Adding one more set of Superior Runes of the Ogre
165 Power
3% Critical Damage
4% overall Damage
5% Chance to summon a rockdog on hit

This is a tricky one as I’d estimate the overall damage is close to that of a Ruby or Scholar set. However the 5% chance to summon a rockdog is interesting, especially how it compares to other such procs. It could easily we more valuable in PvP than the 10% extra Scholar damage but then again Thieves don’t tend to get hit very often.

Overall my conclusion is that Orbs will almost always outperform Superior Rune sets while costing a fraction of their price.

Orbs are a good cheap choice – I think you are quite right in saying that not many runes can beat them for the damage they bring. Personally I use runes of the ogre, which give me more power and a summon. It has a flat 4% damage increase, but depending on how much crit chance you have, you may find the crit damage found on the ruby orbs more viable. In any case, they’re pretty much the cheapest, most effective thing out there for DPS.

I like my Divinities.

Sure, if you want to go for full on damage, nothing beats full Berserker (which Ruby Orbs are), but i like to have the extra HP and Toughness, while not suffering from any Crit damage loss at all, but giving up a bit power and 1% crit chance.

As a profession with 10k base HP you just need some sources of Vit, even if you want to be “full burst”, since a Thief that dies to a random AoE on the ground wont do any damage at all.
Which sources you take is up to you, for me it is Divinities + Berserker Ascended Gear with +18 Vit.

If you have 3k attack, +10% dmg is essentially +300 power.

Iohanna.4863:

If you have 3k attack, +10% dmg is essentially +300 power.

Nope. It should be +200 power.

If you’re looking to completely maximize your damage, runes specific to your build are usually the best choice. However, as others stated, orbs get the job done and are incredibly cheap in comparison.

I was trying to buy a complete set of superior runes then I hit upon the orbs and boom full orbs for 4 copper pieces and an old hair piece. Or something like that. Can’t be beaten on price that’s for sure. Sadly I now have 2 unused superior runes..

Runes can add something beyond stat increases, like a summon, might or fury, which might be worth more then +120/84/84 to some attribute that you already have up to 2k. And you can mix orbs, runes usually require a full set, making experimenting a lot cheaper.

That said, +2% crit damage is relatively high boost, compared to what a rune adds to any stat, when comparing a full ruby set with +12% crit damage to the 165 stat boost of a full set of regular runes I think the +12% crit damage is a better deal, provided that you do run a power/crit setup. Or you could use ruby orbs to replace two berserker trinkets with something else. If nothing else, orbs expand your options.

I run Of The Wurm rune set because I wanted something to augment vitality and crits. My armor is valk and jewlery is berserker+ruby orbs. I was going for a more balanced feel.