Guild Wars 2

Link

Let me start off by saying I used Yojack’s Sword/Warhorn build as a starting point for this build. That build is very effective, but it did not accomplish what I was looking to do.

The main point of this build is to build adrenaline as fast as possible. It will allow you to do more damage using Beserker’s Power (Strength V) and it will allow you to use Eviserate (Axe Burst) for a nice damage chunk every 10seconds at full adrenaline. While using Yojack’s build, I realized I just didn’t do enough straight pure damage and relied too heavily on the conditions from the sword to really damage my opponent. With the axe, you gain a very powerful autoattack, stacking Cyclone Axe (Axe 2) + On My Mark! (Slot will give you an additional 14% damage to your target by applying 14 stacks of Vulnerability on your target. Extremely useful right before an Eviserate (Axe Burst).

Also, with the sigils used on the armor, this build provides:

• Perma Swiftness (for you and your entire team) – from Charge (Warhorn 4) and Signet of Rage (Elite)
• Perma Vigor (for you and your entire team) – from Call to Arms (Warhorn 5)
• Perma 3 stacks of Might (for your entire team) – 8 stacks for you with potential for more depending on the length of the fight – from For Great Justice! (Slot 7), Signet of Rage (Elite), and Sigil of Superior Battle (Warhorn sigil/Hammer sigil)
• 12secs out of 25 secs of Vigor (for your entire team) – perma Vigor (for you) – from For Great Justice! (Slot 7) and Signet of Rage (Elite)
• Each warhorn ability will convert 1 condition to a boon – Using Quick Breathing (Tactics IX)
• Shake It Off! (Slot 9) while also break stun and remove a condition

These boons are used in conjunction with Empowered (Tactics VI) to boost your damage even more.

The key to this entire build is your adrenaline. Eviserate (Axe Burst), Healing Surge (Heal), and Beserker’s Power (Strength V) all need full adrenaline. With this build, you gain adrenaline incredibly fast. You do this using the following traits:

• Inspiring Shouts (Discipline IV)
• Embrace the Pain (Defense I)
• Versatile Strikes (5 points in Discipline)

Survivability comes in the form:

• Quick Breathing (Tactics IX) – This is incredibly useful. This will convert things like Poison to Regeneration.
• Call To Arms (Slot 5) – This will keep weakness on your opponents for 7secs every 16secs. Weakness reduces their endurance regeneration (less dodges) and applies 50% fumble, which means unless they crit, they will hit you with a glancing blow which does reduced damage. On top of that, this ability provides perma Vigor which will allow you to dodge twice as many times as you could before with the endurance regeneration it provides (incredibly powerful considering Reckless Dodge (5 points in Strength) which will do a bit of damage at the end of a dodge roll)
• Vigorous Shouts (Tactics XII) – This provides about a 1.3k heal for each shout used. Over the course of 25 secs, you can use 3 shouts to give yourself about a 5k boost in health.
• Healing Surge (Heal) – In normal circumstances, you really need to use Mending (Heal) because it removes conditions. However, with all of the condition reversal from Quick Breathing (Tactics IX) and Shake It Off! (Slot 9), you can go with the more powerful heal for an additional 8.4k healed every 30secs.

The secondary weapon is pure preference. If you like to range fight more, you may prefer the longbow or rifle. If you want more survivability, maybe a mace/shield. I prefer the great hammer because it gives me some CC which unfortunately this build lacks with Axe/Warhorn (besides cripple). I switch to hammer to use either Staggering Blow (Hammer 4 – AoE knockback), Backbreaker (Hammer 5 – knockdown), or Earthshaker (Hammer burst – AoE stun). I use this to stop people from stomping teammates so I can quickly revive them using my additional revival abilities:

• Determined Revival (5 points in Tactics)
• Fast Healer (15 points in Tactics)
• Reviver’s Might (25 points in Tactics)

In short, this build really has everything I want. It may not be for everyone, but I love it. It does great damage, has decent burst with Eviserate (Axe burst), CC when needed, and buffs/condition removal like crazy.

Any thoughts/questions?

what type of set do you using on this build in PvE/Dungeons/WvW?

To be perfectly honest with you, my character is not level 80 yet so I have not fully tested this at 80 in WvW or PvE. I have run this build in sPvP for a decent amount of time now though, and it works great. I have run a slight variation of this for my level 57 warrior in WvW that I use and I absolutely love it (and so does my group – perma swiftness ftw).

A more experienced warrior may need to step in and give you some advice on exactly how to gear towards this. I will most likely run a Beserker’s set once I ding 80 since that compliments the way my sPvP char is set up.

You may want to consider “Fear me” instead of “For great justice”, since with those runes SoR will already give you 48 out of 60 seconds of Fury and a measly 3 extra might doesn’t compare to a skill that can reliably stop an entire group from rezzing/stomping imo.

Although I would never use runes that invest so heavily into healing power myself ‘cause I find it a very weak stat in general and especially if you’re not aiming for a total support build (and you want dps I gather) since as a stat it only affects skills you use once in a while (although arguably it’s never as useful as in a shout build).

Full Rune of the soldier just synergizes so well with full shout builds it’s very hard not to take them (combined with the horn it would make you and everyone around you practically condition immune).

I don’t really care about the +Healing. The sigils are more for the boon duration. This is because I need these boons up all the time to take advantage of Empowered (Tactics VI). Also, “Fear Me!” is awesome, but the cooldown reduces the healing you get from your shouts. Also, this buffing is more than just for me. I use it to buff my group as well which “For Great Justice!” does well.

To supplement the lack of fear, I do use the great hammer to do aoe knockback with the Hammer 4 skill.

Thanks for the input! It is appreciated and it is definitely a valid way to use the build.

If you want to see something funny, use your build and swap your amulet for a Clerics for a match or two. Toughness, Power, Healing…. comboed with all that heathregen and condition removal/reversal… you might start thinking you’re immortal.

Let’s see a video

Ravnodaus.5130

If you want to see something funny, use your build and swap your amulet for a Clerics for a match or two. Toughness, Power, Healing…. comboed with all that heathregen and condition removal/reversal… you might start thinking you’re immortal.

I’m afraid I would lose a significant amount of damage from that though. If I really wanted to tweak it like that, I would probably drop 5 points from Strength and go 5 more in Defense to get Adrenal Health (15 points in Defense). Considering I already have a rather significant way to increase my adrenaline, I think that could be beneficial. I could also change my weapon sigil to Sigil of Superior Life to gain more Healing or Sigil of Superior Blood for a life drain.

It is a good thought and I may try it out, I just don’t want the damage to suffer too much which I am afraid it might.

ELEVEN.8247:

Let’s see a video

I’d love to do that, but my PC isn’t really set up for that sort of thing. I don’t really have the time for it either way. I would definitely suggest trying it out though. It has worked wonders for me.

This isn’t Warrior’s full potential. Going to address issues from here on.

1.) Chain CC will destroy you with no reliable stability such as Dolyak Signet or Balanced Stance. Your only stun break is “shake it off.”
2.) Axe as a main weapon is mediocre simply because the recent Eviscerate nerf hit it hard. I believe condition damage + kiters can potentially be unforgiving to go against since your kiting ability is mediocre and your damage isn’t that great.
3.) You don’t have a reliable way to get protection to back up all of that healing. Healing with no protection is nothing. If you get Rune of Earth then you just made your DPS ignorable as hell.
4.) Your build’s role as a damage soaker isn’t that great. And even if you had legit tank runes like Rune of Earth, you’re not gong to tank as hard as a Bunker Necro/Guardian/Engi.

Not trying to offend you or anything but this build is legit mediocre and is no where near full potential.

I could name more flaws but I’ll stop here. In sPvP this build is close to being a liability against good people. In WvW I can see it working but there are better builds anyways.

However, you ARE close to something viable. There are only a few simple changes that should happen in your build and it will be viable.

Tested this build, had some of the most interesting fights ever, yet the over all reality is the adrenaline building power of this build is too quick, my eviscerate was still on cool down while I was already full on adrenaline again, this happened even when I kept using signet of rage active effect all the time.

Schwahrheit.4203:

However, you ARE close to something viable. There are only a few simple changes that should happen in your build and it will be viable.

You got some pretty valid points in your previous post. Could you elaborate on what specific changes you think is needed?

Schwahrheit.4203:

This isn’t Warrior’s full potential. Going to address issues from here on.

1.) Chain CC will destroy you with no reliable stability such as Dolyak Signet or Balanced Stance. Your only stun break is “shake it off.”

None of the ways warriors can gain stability are ideal in my mind tbh. Even so, while this build does lack stability, chain CC is not a problem. I have Shake It Off! and both warhorn abilities to change conditions to boons. On top of that, warhorn 4 cures immobilized, chilled, and crippled. Chain CC has not really been a problem in my experience.

2.) Axe as a main weapon is mediocre simply because the recent Eviscerate nerf hit it hard. I believe condition damage + kiters can potentially be unforgiving to go against since your kiting ability is mediocre and your damage isn’t that great.

Condition damage is great to go against actually because the conditions they apply to me simply give me more buffs with the warhorn uses. Kiting hasn’t been an issue either since I have perma swiftness and a 900 range snare on top of having 3 different ways to break immobilize, chilled, and crippled every 16 seconds. Axe isn’t bad damage either. It is the best 1h damage we have access to in my opinion. Also, I am unaware of the Eviscerate nerf you are referring to. Would you mind linking to the patch notes for me just so I am aware?

3.) You don’t have a reliable way to get protection to back up all of that healing. Healing with no protection is nothing. If you get Rune of Earth then you just made your DPS ignorable as hell.

The sigils are use are not for the healing. I don’t really care about the additional 50 healing I get from my sigils. The reason I went with those sigils is for the boon duration. Converting conditions to boons and the might, vigor, swiftness, and fury this build give by default allow my to keep those buffs up permanently. This is incredibly useful when combined with Empowered (Tactics VI).

4.) Your build’s role as a damage soaker isn’t that great. And even if you had legit tank runes like Rune of Earth, you’re not gong to tank as hard as a Bunker Necro/Guardian/Engi.

My goal was not to be a damage soaker in terms of a bunker guardian, necro, or engineer. The warrior simply wasn’t designed to be able to do that in my opinion. What I wanted to do was provide as much survivability as possible while maintaining decent damage, which I believe this build does. It also provides a great amount of buffs to any party members around you which can be invaluable.

Not trying to offend you or anything but this build is legit mediocre and is no where near full potential.

I could name more flaws but I’ll stop here. In sPvP this build is close to being a liability against good people. In WvW I can see it working but there are better builds anyways.

I am not offended at all. I appreciate and welcome the feedback. I want to make it better and the only way to do that is to get other people’s insight. I disagree completely with your premise of it being mediocre, but that is just an opinion. If you have the chance, I would love to hear how you would tweak it to make it better of if you could provide me with some feedback on what you think is the optimal build for those situations.

In all honesty, I would suggest giving the build a shot. It is not your standard bull’s rush/frenzy build and it will never have the damage capabilities of that build when that combo successfully lands, but it provides many other benefits that far outweight that lose in damage.

Lyonell.1753:

Tested this build, had some of the most interesting fights ever, yet the over all reality is the adrenaline building power of this build is too quick, my eviscerate was still on cool down while I was already full on adrenaline again, this happened even when I kept using signet of rage active effect all the time.

This build definitely wants you to keep Signet of Rage active at all times. Those buffs are invaluable. Also, with Beserker’s Power and Healing Surge, you want as much adrenaline as possible at all times. Being able to use Eviserate every 10 seconds and keep those benefits is amazing.

I am glad to hear you had interesting fights. I hope you mean that in a good way. Anyway, I agree. The playstyle of this build is different and it may take some getting used to, but I have a large amount of success with it. I provides you options that some builds simply do not have and it allows you to win fights previously I never would have stood a chance.

To me a viable build would be at a level where glass cannon Warrior can actually damage soak. And that level does exist mind you. Hard to explain but in time it will make sense.

Balanced Stance is legit. You can’t say it isn’t. If I’m able to land flurry on 3 people in WvW and then burn Balance stance + Endure pain + Frenzy + HB, it is MOSTLY THANKS to Balanced stance that I am able to obliterate most of their HP if not kill one of them.

How I would fix your build to something actually better? I won’t go specific on stats (other than the 30 points in vitality) or plays but Mace + Shield instead of Axe + Horn. That would compliment the lack of stability since you can chain CC them before they chain CC you AND its utility puts more to the table for team play. The damage is pretty reasonable for its capability as a weapon. Its much more rewarding to make plays with Mace + Shield with your build than Axe + Horn.

If you’re asking me which secondary weapon you should get? Probably Axe + Mace or Greatsword. Greatsword probably is the more forgiving one from what I’m talking about.

Schwahrheit.4203:

To me a viable build would be at a level where glass cannon Warrior can actually damage soak. And that level does exist mind you. Hard to explain but in time it will make sense.

Balanced Stance is legit. You can’t say it isn’t. If I’m able to land flurry on 3 people in WvW and then burn Balance stance + Endure pain + Frenzy + HB, it is MOSTLY THANKS to Balanced stance that I am able to obliterate most of their HP if not kill one of them.

How I would fix your build to something actually better? I won’t go specific on stats (other than the 30 points in vitality) or plays but Mace + Shield instead of Axe + Horn. That would compliment the lack of stability since you can chain CC them before they chain CC you AND its utility puts more to the table for team play. The damage is pretty reasonable for its capability as a weapon. Its much more rewarding to make plays with Mace + Shield with your build than Axe + Horn.

If you’re asking me which secondary weapon you should get? Probably Axe + Mace or Greatsword. Greatsword probably is the more forgiving one from what I’m talking about.

Mace+Shield is no where near the survability or damage of axe+warhorn. You only have 2 CCs and 1 is a burst skill. Axe damage is much higher as well. On top of that, how does that build possibly provide more utility than the warhorn that gives perma swiftness and vigor? You realize with the warhorn 5 ability alone, I can dodge twice as much while they can dodge only half as much? How does a shield provide more survivability than that?

The point of this build is not to be able to blow all of your abilities every 90secs just so you can use 100 blades and kill a clump of people (which is the downtime of the ability combo you mentioned). This build provides sustained, high damage while providing immense survivability compared to a normal glass cannon 100 blades build.

Also, using Endure Pain does not make a glass cannon build soak up damage. It simply gives you ~3secs before you die. I am really having a difficult time understanding where you are going with all of this. Could you possibly link your build here? You can use – http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/ – in your language of preference and then click the Get Quick Link button at the bottom of the page when you are ready.

About the dodge part, you will get caught if you’re fighting people with half a brain. Mind you vigor isn’t that great in terms of survivability. Most of the time being able to land an offensive is the best survivability.

I really don’t know about high damage. With viable damage out-put comes reliability. I’d like to see how your build actually works against kiters. More-so I’d like to see if your DPS is actually that good to begin with. Add me in-game and show me in sPvP.

And Mace is great because taking away enemy stun break is ALWAYS GREAT. You are simply more vulnerable if you don’t have stun breaks. With Mace, it is ridiculously easy to force out people to use stun breaks simply because the delay of skills are that low and short bursts of attacks can be used in between. Including Hundred Blades and Whirlwind attack mind you.

Also yes a legit HB build does soak aggro because a well played legit glass cannon GS can punish and pressure hard WHILE having legit escapes (Mobile Strikes, Savage Leap, Rush, Whirlwind attack). The one that doesn’t use Bulls Charge to land HB ofc.

Schwahrheit.4203:

About the dodge part, you will get caught if you’re fighting people with half a brain. Mind you vigor isn’t that great in terms of survivability. Most of the time being able to land an offensive is the best survivability.

I really don’t know about high damage. With viable damage out-put comes reliability. I’d like to see how your build actually works against kiters. More-so I’d like to see if your DPS is actually that good to begin with. Add me in-game and show me in sPvP.

And Mace is great because taking away enemy stun break is ALWAYS GREAT. You are simply more vulnerable if you don’t have stun breaks. With Mace, it is ridiculously easy to force out people to use stun breaks simply because the delay of skills are that low and short bursts of attacks can be used in between. Including Hundred Blades and Whirlwind attack mind you.

Also yes a legit HB build does soak aggro because a well played legit glass cannon GS can punish and pressure hard WHILE having legit escapes (Mobile Strikes, Savage Leap, Rush, Whirlwind attack). The one that doesn’t use Bulls Charge to land HB ofc.

I think the problem here is that you find the only viable build to be a 100 blades build where I do not believe that to be true. Discounting vigor is bad, it literally allows you to completely dodge twice as many attacks as you could before. On top of that, they can dodge 50% less and only glance you without a crit every 7 secs out of 16secs. I don’t know how you can’t see that the survivability is incredibly strong with that.

Also, stun break isn’t super important for this spec because you don’t have a ton of stuns. You don’t need them to use a stun break because you don’t need to stun them. Chain stunning someone isn’t critical to this build.

Honestly long bow + rifle would’ve been viable if adrenaline wasn’t so kitten with Long bow and if there was just a team death match type of game mode. HB isn’t the only viable build ofc, but my point is Axe + Horn shouldn’t be the only thing you have in your arsenal.

Much better if you simply show me how that build is supposed to be played in-game. Because I’m having too much doubts on its viability.

Axe/Warhorn isn’t the only thing in this build. As I mentioned above

…I prefer the great hammer because it gives me some CC which unfortunately this build lacks with Axe/Warhorn (besides cripple). I switch to hammer to use either Staggering Blow (Hammer 4 – AoE knockback), Backbreaker (Hammer 5 – knockdown), or Earthshaker (Hammer burst – AoE stun). …

I use the hammer a decent amount, it is just my secondary weapon. I use it to burn a few cooldowns (the ones I listed), then switch back to Axe. You can do this whenever your warhorn abilities are on cooldown since you don’t necessarily need to be in warhorn mode at that point. You can realistically use any weapon you want as a secondary weapon. I prefer the hammer.

This build is rather interesting and I am willing to try it. It is very similar to my Knight of Tyr build I just don’t throw that many points all over the place. Based on what I have seen with my build you have a solid chance of making a higher DPS version with this.

First I am glad somebody else saw the potential in Yojacks Build and modified it to use a better 1h alternative. Going into constructive feedback ones I am at home.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/warrior/Yojack-s-Min-Max-home-of-the-Yojack-Build-2012-for-GW2/469275

Might I suggest dropping Embrace the Pain and getting Signet Mastery for your elite and 5 secs weapon swapping?

Oh yes they were very good fights in a positive way. Guess this build would shine even more if they finally fixed the discipline tree passive effect to increase burst in higher numbers than 1 – 3%.

On a side note, I noticed i was doing really good even if neither of my weapons had runes and my accessory was still the condition damage oriented one… kitten #8230;.

Tested it before going to bed in spvp and a few tourneys so I guess the build by itself is really viable. Will try again today with proper gear and runes to see how it goes. Maybe even give it a try in WvW I got enough oris and other materials to make the exotic horn/axe.

I’ve used a similar Axe based Yojack build for quite some time now, I am a level 80 Norn Warrior.

I think this builds main purpose lies in PvE(dungeons+solo) and WvW! I did not enough testing to comment on the usefulness of this build in sPvP.

I really love the build because of the benefits you get from using 30 Tactics + Warhorn offhand. Perma Swiftness + Fury feels like a must to me, now.

I don’t like the Adrenal Health choice, Yojack made, or I am not convinced it is worth those 5 points. I now respecced to this build. For more crit damage those 5 last points can be spent as seen fit, I hope to achieve somewhat higher damage output by my current choice.

My Norn has full Explorer Gear (dungeons+solo+WvW) because I want to be as effective farming as much as possible. And yet I have to discover any problems with that setup. In WvW I fit more into a support role, with Warhorn condition convertion and Shout heals. And still can dish out some heavy Eviscerates if needed or use a Bow as my second weapon, which I think is a must in WvW..the bow I mean. ^^

I used Axe/Warhorn a lot on launch and really like the survivability of the whole thing. However, on your build rather than having that 10 pts in Defense into Discipline and get Sharpened Axes for that extra dmg and still keeps with your fast adren gain idea. I would go with Rifle for a ranged option and with volley and Kill shot that’s a good amount of burst dmg (If they fixed Bolas that + Killshot I find is pretty deadly). Rifle also has a good emergency knockback on it’s 5 skill. Honestly, I’d even have maybe a full set of Runes of Rage and lean more towards a build that is more about damage with a good amount of health with a good crit chance that gives you more survivability than your average glass cannon GS user.

Samurro.1463:

I’ve used a similar Axe based Yojack build for quite some time now, I am a level 80 Norn Warrior.

I think this builds main purpose lies in PvE(dungeons+solo) and WvW! I did not enough testing to comment on the usefulness of this build in sPvP.

I really love the build because of the benefits you get from using 30 Tactics + Warhorn offhand. Perma Swiftness + Fury feels like a must to me, now.

I don’t like the Adrenal Health choice, Yojack made, or I am not convinced it is worth those 5 points. I now respecced to this build. For more crit damage those 5 last points can be spent as seen fit, I hope to achieve somewhat higher damage output by my current choice.

My Norn has full Explorer Gear (dungeons+solo+WvW) because I want to be as effective farming as much as possible. And yet I have to discover any problems with that setup. In WvW I fit more into a support role, with Warhorn condition convertion and Shout heals. And still can dish out some heavy Eviscerates if needed or use a Bow as my second weapon, which I think is a must in WvW..the bow I mean. ^^

the build link is [bad link], could u post it again plz?

BurrTheKing.8571

I used Axe/Warhorn a lot on launch and really like the survivability of the whole thing. However, on your build rather than having that 10 pts in Defense into Discipline and get Sharpened Axes for that extra dmg and still keeps with your fast adren gain idea. I would go with Rifle for a ranged option and with volley and Kill shot that’s a good amount of burst dmg (If they fixed Bolas that + Killshot I find is pretty deadly). Rifle also has a good emergency knockback on it’s 5 skill. Honestly, I’d even have maybe a full set of Runes of Rage and lean more towards a build that is more about damage with a good amount of health with a good crit chance that gives you more survivability than your average glass cannon GS user.

Dropping the 10 points of defense for Sharpened Axes is not a bad idea. Losing the armor sigils however could cause an issue because your buffs may not be up permanently and that may cause an issue with Empowered.

As far as using the rifle, that would definitely work.

How about Superior runes of Lyssa (all boons for 5 seconds on using elite skill) combined with “Empowered” (Tactics VI: Increase damage for every boon on you) and “Signet mastery” (Discipline VI: Signets recharge 20% faster).

This rune set really shines on a Signet of rage warrior (like 95% of warriors)
Serious burst every 48 seconds + all the boons there are

Robique.8279

How about Superior runes of Lyssa (all boons for 5 seconds on using elite skill) combined with “Empowered” (Tactics VI: Increase damage for every boon on you) and “Signet mastery” (Discipline VI: Signets recharge 20% faster).
This rune set really shines on a Signet of rage warrior (like 95% of warriors)
Serious burst every 48 seconds + all the boons there are

This would definitely work, but for me I normally pop Signet of Rage before I enter combat (because the duration on the boons is so long) that I am afraid I would lose the benefit of all of those boons. It should definitely work though. Thanks for the idea and give it a shot and let us know how it worked out!

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fIAQNBHhJ6kzhkHjCy5BmIDAGFFFkSxculeUGbpB;TsAg0Cno6y4lwLbQuukBtEZAxUEA

I hope this links works now..

For crying out loud…

http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#mmR9wG9MxGVaosbcs

I mostly play pve with a bit of WvW thrown in. I had been running a standard glass cannon axe build but I noticed that I never really used the off-hand axe skills. That being the case I decided to try this build a try.

I like it, and it adds a lot to game play over a standard dps build. I lost a fair amount of crit (from 50% to 35%) but I feel like my damage is still very solid. I also have quite a bit more hp and feel like I bring a lot more tools to group fights.

I was thinking of dropping from 30 points in tactics to 20 though as the heal from shouts doesn’t seem too great. Anyone have thoughts on where the 10 points could go, or shoulkittenep the trait to cause shouts to heal?

If you drop 10 points from Tactics, you should consider that you could lose permaswiftness, fury and some might stacks.

Why do you have 10 points in strength for the axe critical damage? If you put it in discipline you could get 10% critical damage to everything, plus the adrenaline based critical chance (or signet recharge, so your FGJ and SoR might stacks will overlap more often).

Serp.3264:

Robique.8279

How about Superior runes of Lyssa (all boons for 5 seconds on using elite skill) combined with “Empowered” (Tactics VI: Increase damage for every boon on you) and “Signet mastery” (Discipline VI: Signets recharge 20% faster).
This rune set really shines on a Signet of rage warrior (like 95% of warriors)
Serious burst every 48 seconds + all the boons there are

This would definitely work, but for me I normally pop Signet of Rage before I enter combat (because the duration on the boons is so long) that I am afraid I would lose the benefit of all of those boons. It should definitely work though. Thanks for the idea and give it a shot and let us know how it worked out!

I’ve been using it for some time in sPvP and it’s awesome. The thing is, that it also removes ALL conditions when you use your elite skill, so I usually use my signet of rage right after an average player spams all his CC and condition skills.

The idea for PvE (mostly exp dungeons) is to be a pseudo-tank for a couple of seconds right after the pull. Pop Signet of rage right before you pull everything and let the mobs use all their CC and special attacks on your aegis, stability, protection, regeneration. Helps alot if you get those out of the way and give your group enough time to set up their AoEs and CC.

@LameFox

You forget the additional power you get from putting points into strength. Still worth the consideration.

I’m not sure what 100 power actually gives you damage wise, but it’s already pretty high from that berserker amulet (still the highest of his attributes even -100). Unless it offers a flat damage increase per point, I wouldn’t expect the loss to hit that hard, especially given he could then have a more widespread critical damage bonus plus either higher crit chance or more frequent access to the signet (thus higher might stacks, which give power anyway).

For Wvw and PvE, what gear is everyone running? I still have full rampagers gear from yojacks build ..should I just keep it or get berserkers/mix and match.

Crit Damage is most important damage boost for this build, so Valkyrie or something similar is best I guess.

I am not sure what is the most efficient percent for crit chance, with full Precision on gear you get about 40-50% with fury up, which is quite a lot. My guess is that going down to about 33,34% crit chance would be best, to maximize Crit damage.

Edit:
A mix of Knight + Berserker would be optimale for my thoughts, I suppose.

Samurro.1463:

Crit Damage is most important damage boost for this build, so Valkyrie or something similar is best I guess.

I am not sure what is the most efficient percent for crit chance, with full Precision on gear you get about 40-50% with fury up, which is quite a lot. My guess is that going down to about 33,34% crit chance would be best, to maximize Crit damage.

I’m using berserker armor and ruby jewelry (all only rares)… crit chance unbuffed is 51% and 80% buffed and with full adrenaline. Crit dmg 72%
No crit dmg from runes… only 165 precision.

over 50% crit chance is whack, as I said I would focus on crit damage, and 34% crit chance buffed.

I use a similar build with Axe/Warhorn conversion but also favor Healing Signet and Adrenaline Health.

Three sets of gear to focus on really if you want it to be all it can be
1. Explorer gear with MF runes (simply for PvE farming)
2. Knight gear with Soldiers Runes (mainly used for dungeon groups), an alternative would be Cleric gear/Water sigil but I personally prefer high crit chance and active dodging/watching and actively removing conditions versus brute force play
3. Berserker gear with Ruby Orbs (used for PvP zerg and roaming, like gathering resource nodes in PvE)

Samurro.1463:

over 50% crit chance is whack, as I said I would focus on crit damage, and 34% crit chance buffed.

Not sure I understand your logic.
My whole gear has the best +%crit dmg you can get.
Got 20 points in the crit dmg trait tree.
So what other way there is to improve crit dmg further? Oh, I know… having more crits.
It’s not that hard doing the math… 80% crit chance and 72% crit dmg is better than
34% crit chance and 72% crit dmg.

You don’t improve your damage with more crit if you already have more than enough. Power would be a much better investment or defensive stats.

And I hardly doubt you do much more damage with 80% crit compared to 34%, it is way more efficient to improve other stats, because there are no scenarios besides “smashing on test dummies” where you don’t get hit yourself and defensive stats help you dish out damage for a longer time aka not dying.

Samurro.1463:

You don’t improve your damage with more crit if you already have more than enough. Power would be a much better investment or defensive stats.

Well, I’m using Berserker’s armor set which has the best power stat ingame, decent precision and crit dmg, so no improvements are needed there.

Samurro.1463:

And I hardly doubt you do much more damage with 80% crit compared to 34%, it is way more efficient to improve other stats, because there are no scenarios besides “smashing on test dummies” where you don’t get hit yourself and defensive stats help you dish out damage for a longer time aka not dying.

As for survivability, toughness and healing power are worthless, +200 vitality from traits is enough.
The key is condition removal, healing and dodging.
Warhorn skills convert conditions to boons, Signet of stamina removes all conditions and thanks to Superior rune of Lyssa, Signet of Rage removes all conditions + gives protection, stability, aegis and regeneration for 5 seconds.
Healing surge heals for 8.4k every 30s.
Superior sigil of blood: 30% chance on critical to steal health (can occur once per 2 seconds)

I run an axe/warhorn + greatsword build and in combat my stacks of might rarely go under 20. There is some room for improvement but for now 20-25k dmg from Hundred blades every 6.5s is enough.

Samurro.1463:

You don’t improve your damage with more crit if you already have more than enough. Power would be a much better investment or defensive stats.

And I hardly doubt you do much more damage with 80% crit compared to 34%,

Not true, unlike other MMOs, the scaling is linear as there is no other soft or hard caps (except when 100% critical chance is achieved) so you need to change your state of mind as you approach this GW2 system.

If you have a +80% critical damage and a 80% critical rate, over time, you have a 64% increase in potential damage output. If you have a +80% critical damage and a 34% critical chance, over time, you have a 27% increase in damage output. In other words, if the base weapon strike damage was 100, the average strike damage for 80% critical rate would be 164 and for 34% critical chance would be only 127. So in this example, the increase of critical chance from 34% to 80% equates to a 29% (*) damage increase.

Samurro.1463:

it is way more efficient to improve other stats

This is true but it is because of linear scaling (on defensive traits as well). However, (*) as critical chance increases, the proc rate of weapon Sigils also increases (plateaus based on weapon attack speed and internal cooldown) so it is not just a straight calculated result to achieve the best itemization (it is in tiers).

TL;DR 34% critical chance is too low and 80% critical chance is questionably too high unless +critical damage bonus is rather large.

Robique.8279:

There is some room for improvement but for now 20-25k dmg from Hundred blades every 6.5s is enough.

On level one chickens?

Srsly, stop boasting without any facts behind it. 20 stacks of might without Sigil of Strength is bullkitten, I hardly get over 20 with the Sigil and this specc. And using GS with this build is complete and utter failure. No synergy at all. But stick with 5 signets build if you can’t let go of HB pewpewness.

Artaz.3819:

…the average strike damage for 80% critical rate would be 164 and for 34% critical chance would be only 127. So in this example, the increase of critical chance from 34% to 80% equates to a 29% (*) damage increase.

TL;DR 34% critical chance is too low and 80% critical chance is questionably too high unless +critical damage bonus is rather large.

This is not true you cant average an attack by the critchance + critdamage multiplier. A strike crits or it doesn’t. Essentialy if you have 34% critchance every third strike should crit in theory. Same goes for 50% and 100%. So using 80% crit has less effect on your damage output compared to 100% ofc, but the gain going from 50% crit chance to 80% crit chance can be theorized, but in actual combat you won’t see any difference.

And you should not forget that every “on crit:..” Sigil has an internal Cooldown, which makes 100% Crit chance useless in that regard.

Edit:
Saying defensive stats are useless or pointless maybe true when hitting on dummies, but in every other scenario more defense stats net more damage output. There is no invinsible limit, esp. in WvW or sPvP.

Samurro.1463:

(et al.) the gain going from 50% crit chance to 80% crit chance can be theorized, but in actual combat you won’t see any difference.

And you should not forget that every “on crit:..” Sigil has an internal Cooldown, which makes 100% Crit chance useless in that regard.

/facepalm

If you crit more often, your average damage per hit increases and in actual combat that means that the enemy will die quicker. Each hit is mutually exclusive but assuming the target doesn’t die from one hit (a critter), the more hits required to kill a target means the greater impact critical chance is for time-to-kill (TTK) and reduction of deviation from TTK.

Crit sigils are either 10%, 30% or 60% proc rate per hit AFTER a critical. You would be correct if crit sigils were 100% and weapon attack rate was not interrupted by other actual combat mechanics (ie. affected by fear or CC)/movement or positioning/dodging.

This is not just theory. It’s math.