Guild Wars 2

I’m doing a full review of each class’s Elite Specializations here:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/All-Elite-Specializations-Analysis/first#post5574892

The following is my analysis of the Berserker.

I’ll be covering the following things in this review…
01) General Descriptions
02) New Traits Analysis
03) New Weapon Analysis
04) New Skills Analysis
05) Gearing Options
06) Rune/Sigil Synergies
07) PvE Usefulness
08) PvP Usefulness
09) WvW Usefulness
10) Overall Opinion

Warrior – Berserker

General Description
The Warrior has always been the damaging bruiser or the indestructible tank. Conditions haven’t really been a Warrior’s strong suit until the Berserker came along. The Berserker comes in sporting fire, fire, and more fire. If something isn’t on fire – you’re doing it wrong.

New Traits Analysis

Minor Traits
Primal Rage
Grants access to Torch, Rage skills, and Berserk Mode.
Did I mention fire?
Always Angry
Your first strike entering combat generates 10 adrenaline. This effect refreshes when Berserk Mode ends.
This is a great way to build up adrenaline without trying.
Fatal Frenzy
Gain Quickness and Swiftness when activating Berserk Mode.
This just makes you hurt them faster.

Adept Traits
Smash Brawler
Reduces recharge on Primal Burst Skills and Berserk Mode by 33%.
Makes it so you can really lay into them if you have the adrenaline.
Last Blaze
When you use a Rage skill, set nearby foes on fire for 3s.
Good for more burning.
Savage Instinct
Activating Berserk Mode Breaks Stun and removes 1 condition.
Has good synergy with Head Butt and other traits.

Master Traits
Blood Reaction
A percentage of Precision is given as a bonus to Ferocity. This doubles in Berserk Mode.
More pain – for them.
Heat the Soul
Reduces recharge on Torch skills by 20%. Grants +150 condition damage when using Torch.
Torch = Fire…sooo more Fire? More Fire.
Dead or Alive — 30s ICD
Taking fatal damage while in Berserk Mode ends Berserk Mode, but heals you instead of dying.
Good recovery skill.

Grandmaster Traits
Bloody Roar
Taunt and Bleed enemies when you activate Berserk Mode. Gain Fury for each Taunted foe.
Really good at forcing them to take your first Primal Burst skill.
King of Fires — 2s ICD
Increases the duration of burning you apply. Critical hits against Burning foes spread Burning to nearby foes.
MOAR FIYAH~!!!!
Eternal Champion
Gain Stability while in Berserk Mode. Gain Stability when you Break Stun.
Makes it very hard to CC you.

New Weapon Analysis
The Berserker gains access to the Torch.

Blaze Breaker — 15s ICD
Smash your Torch into the ground, creating a deadly shock wave that Burns and Cripples foes.
Good way to start off with Burning. It’s ranged too which is a plus.
Flames of War — 25s ICD
Cleanse conditions and become a mobile Fire Field that Burns nearby foes. When the Field expires, it explodes, damaging foes and Burning them again.
Great way to clear condi’s and pressure your opponent. The Fire Field has many great combos with Warrior traits and skills.

New Skills Analysis
The Berserker gains access to Rage skills.

Berserk Mode [F2]:
Gain Adrenaline, +15% attack speed, and Primal Burst Skills.

NOTE: All Primal Burst Skills have a 5sec ICD. I’ll not be covering underwater weapons for the sake of time.

Sword -> Flurry -> Flaming Flurry
Lash out with a flurry of strikes that destroys projectiles and shoots fireballs at foes in front of you.
Can do some serious Burning damage
Axe -> Eviscerate -> Decapitate
Leap at your foe with a powerful attack. Foes behind your target also take damage.
Just a powerful Leap Finisher.
Mace -> Skull Crusher -> Skull Grinder
Unleash a powerful skull strike that Dazes your target and inflicts Blind, +4 Bleed, +4 Confusion, and 8s Cripple.
Also causes a Blast Finisher.
Greatsword -> Arcing Slice -> Arc Divider
Deliver a circular attack to foes around you creating a violent shock wave that damages foes. Deal more damage to foes under 50% HP.
Massive Fire Field.
Hammer -> Earthshaker -> Rupturing Smash
Jump to the targeted location and slam your hammer down creating a deadly chain of earthen shock waves that Immob foes.
Blast Finisher with Immob. Less effective than Earthshaker.
Longbow -> Combustive Shot -> Scorched Earth
Fire a Burning shot that leaves behind a trail of flaming destruction.
Long 1,200 range Fire Field.
Rifle -> Kill Shot -> Gun Flame
Fire a fast flaming shot that explodes on the first foe it hits – interrupting foes in the area.
Strong Burning shot for 1,500 range.

Blood Reckoning — 25s ICD
Heal yourself and gain increased critical hit chance. Critical hits heal for a percentage of their damage and grant bonus Adrenaline.
Not too impressive of a heal.
Wild Blow — 30s ICD
Critically hit your foe and launch them. Your target flies backward with such force that they KB other foes in the way. Gain bonus Adrenaline if this hits.
Powerful and hilarious skill to use.
Sundering Leap — 25s ICD
Leap to a location and gain Adrenaline. When you land deal damage and apply 10 stacks of 8s Vuln and 5s of Cripple to all foes in the area.
Decent way to start a fight. Counts as a Leap Finisher.
Outrage — 10s ICD
Break Stun and gain Adrenaline.
Stun Break on a 10s ICD. Great synergy with many things.
Head Butt — 20s ICD
Stun your target. Stun yourself. Gain +30 Adrenaline if you hit.
Breaks stun only to apply it again. Has great synergy with many traits and skills.

Gearing Options
The following are acceptable gearing types to consider for a Berserker.

NOTE: These are types that can work depending on the overall goal of your build. They are not all equal as some are much better than others.

Power: Berserker’s, Soldier’s
Precision: Assassin’s, Rampager’s
Toughness: Knight’s, Settler’s
Vitality: Sentinel’s
Condition: Sinister, Carrion, Rabid, Dire
Healing: Cleric’s, Apothecary’s

Rune/Sigil Synergies

NOTE: These are types that can work depending on the overall goal of your build. They are not all equal as some are much better than others.

Superior Rune of (the)…
Power: Baelfire, Brawler, Elementalist, Fire, Flame Legion, Hoelbrak, Mad King, Mesmer, Ogre, Strength
Precision: Eagle, Lyssa, Thief
Toughness: Dolyak, Forgeman, Guardian, Melandru
Vitality: Exuberance, Trooper (Soldier), Wurm
Ferocity: Rage
Condition: Adventurer, Afflicted, Aristocracy, Balthazar, Krait, Nightmare, Perplexity, Scavenging, Tormenting, Undead
Healing: Altruism, Defender, Grove, Monk, Water

Superior Sigil of…
Attribute Bonus: Force, Malice
Duration Bonus: Agony, Paralyzation, Smoldering
Chance on Hit: Water, Purity
Chance on Crit: Air, Blood, Earth, Fire, Generosity, Nullification, Rage, Strength, Torment
On Kill: Luck, Restoration, Bloodlust, Corruption, Cruelty, Momentum, Perception
On Swap: Battle, Cleansing, Doom, Geomancy, Intelligence, Leeching, Renewal

PvE Usefulness
Massive damage options and just all around useful. Can’t really go wrong with a walking Fire Field.

PvP Usefulness
Havoc incarnate. This class can make sure everyone is trying to clear Burning at all times while pressuring them significantly. Paired with a Burning Guardian and you’re going to be laughing at how fast things melt.

WvW Usefulness
Fantastic brawlers in Zerg fights. Rather poor at defending, but great at roaming.

Overall Opinion
The Berserker is a very interesting class. It has a lot of synergy with many traits and weapons. It feels a bit strange to make a Warrior deal condition damage, but it’s certainly entertaining once you get the hang of it.

Sorry for saying this but i find this a pretty bad review

all you say is: fire fire fire mooore fire! you sound like a Dev that thinks all warrior players are stupid players that can only smash 1 key. (sorry but thats my opinion about Dev thinking of warriors)

Then you try to give feedback on skills but you dont give any decent feedback about the total picture, all skills look somewhat cool on there own but do they bring enough for a warrior in pvp/pve? can they replace a build? what are the cost if warriors do go for berserker traitline? how did you felt going in and out of berserkmode? did you feel much diffrence or did you feel just the same warrior but with some fancy new animations?

I think this berserk mode doesnt bring much, it could be run for some condi builds.. but they could also just placed some of this traits into arms.. we get a total new elite that does not bring any new way of playing a warrior. and they did nothing to even be able taking a other traitline

nicknamenick.2437:

Sorry for saying this but i find this a pretty bad review

all you say is: fire fire fire mooore fire! ….

Then you try to give feedback on skills but you dont give any decent feedback about the total picture, all skills look somewhat cool on there own but do they bring enough for a warrior in pvp/pve? can they replace a build? what are the cost if warriors do go for berserker traitline? how did you felt going in and out of berserkmode? did you feel much diffrence or did you feel just the same warrior but with some fancy new animations?

Well first I’m going to point out that the fire comments were intended for humor which didn’t seem to fly well with you – to each their own. However, if you took the link at the beginning of the post you would have seen this statement in bold…

“NOTE: I will not be covering complete builds simply because I found it more educational for me to create my own builds as I learned more about the class and its overall synergy options that suited my personal play-style. I will be providing subtle suggestions for where to focus your attention within each specialization and may point a finger here and there to give you ideas for the basics of a complete build.”

My purpose here was not to provide you with deep insight to the class nor to provide you with builds. I was giving you a big hint that if you’re going to play this Elite Spec you’ll likely want to consider condition damage as there is an immense amount of Burning available to the class. Of course there are other options for this Elite Spec, but I tell you what does and doesn’t have good synergy with the remainder of the Core Specs. I just don’t tell you specifically which ones because that is, again, an opportunity for you to learn more about the class as a whole when you go out looking for it. I don’t want to influence people in these reviews – I want them to understand the core concept and functionality that these Elite Specs bring to the table and let them decide what to do with it knowing where the strengths of the Elite Spec lies.

I apologize if this is not your preferred style, but I worked on 9 Elite Specialization Reviews simultaneously for 12 hours straight as the Beta was closing – so I had to pick and choose what information I wanted to share and comment on.

Dragon Ruler X.8512:

nicknamenick.2437:

Sorry for saying this but i find this a pretty bad review

all you say is: fire fire fire mooore fire! ….

Then you try to give feedback on skills but you dont give any decent feedback about the total picture, all skills look somewhat cool on there own but do they bring enough for a warrior in pvp/pve? can they replace a build? what are the cost if warriors do go for berserker traitline? how did you felt going in and out of berserkmode? did you feel much diffrence or did you feel just the same warrior but with some fancy new animations?

Well first I’m going to point out that the fire comments were intended for humor which didn’t seem to fly well with you – to each their own. However, if you took the link at the beginning of the post you would have seen this statement in bold…

“NOTE: I will not be covering complete builds simply because I found it more educational for me to create my own builds as I learned more about the class and its overall synergy options that suited my personal play-style. I will be providing subtle suggestions for where to focus your attention within each specialization and may point a finger here and there to give you ideas for the basics of a complete build.”

My purpose here was not to provide you with deep insight to the class nor to provide you with builds. I was giving you a big hint that if you’re going to play this Elite Spec you’ll likely want to consider condition damage as there is an immense amount of Burning available to the class. Of course there are other options for this Elite Spec, but I tell you what does and doesn’t have good synergy with the remainder of the Core Specs. I just don’t tell you specifically which ones because that is, again, an opportunity for you to learn more about the class as a whole when you go out looking for it. I don’t want to influence people in these reviews – I want them to understand the core concept and functionality that these Elite Specs bring to the table and let them decide what to do with it knowing where the strengths of the Elite Spec lies.

I apologize if this is not your preferred style, but I worked on 9 Elite Specialization Reviews simultaneously for 12 hours straight as the Beta was closing – so I had to pick and choose what information I wanted to share and comment on.

Well, I do value your effort, and the humor flew pretty well with me.

However, I think most warriors feel that Berserker indeed adds nothing to warrior unless you want to kitten yourself into a weaker version of what you were already using. I understand that not all people play to be the strongest or best at whatever it is they are doing, but the elite specialization offers too little incentive to actually pick it up, other then trolling people with broken gun flames.

Let me add that this is not primarily the ‘fault’ of the elite spec itself, but the warrior design as it is right now. We have too many mandatory traits for us to just drop a line and pick up berserker.

Oh, and for fire, there are better classes, way better then Berserker, to pick right now.

Berserker is underwhelming and offers nothing new to the class and nothing in that traitline makes you pick it over the others and the sinergy with the other trait lines, well, there is none. As it is, the only reason for taking this line is to funck arround and maybe have some fun.
Before it was revealed I had hope that the elite spec. will bring something new to warrior, solve some of the problems that it has and drag it away from the stances build in PvP and WvW and the BORIIIIIIIIIIIING banners in PvE. In reallity…?!? … well, you’ve seen it…
I don’t know who theory crafted Berserker, but the only nice thing about it is the name…When you see the name you think “oh scheise” and under the hood is just a weak spec. Like seeing a big shadow that comes from arround the corner, and you get scared of the beast, and behind the corner is just a puppey.
I like how Druid feels like a new class and it’s sad that Berserker is the same old warrior, even weaker, with some shinny new animations. It’s bad, and feels bad man.
I am sorry, but for it to work it needs a rework and it needs to adress the warrior problems, not to make a fiery theme you think it’s cool.
If you want a condi spec, just go to arms, where we have our bleeds, vurnerabilities and our condy dmg, and change or rework some bad traits there (plenty of them), add some fire and torch ones and there you go. Arms, even as bad as it is, I would take it over Berserker, Signet Mastery and Burst Precision, even Dual Wielding, makes it better than this eltie spec.
Sorry Anet, you funcked it up.

PS: This my oppinion and I would like people to respect it as I respect other people oppinions on Berserker being good or decent, or people who actually like condi warrior.

Dragon Ruler X.8512:

I’m doing a full review of each class’s Elite Specializations here:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/All-Elite-Specializations-Analysis/first#post5574892

The following is my analysis of the Berserker.

Edit: Removed wall of text from original post.

I’m sorry because it looks like you put some time into this but… this is a terrible review, I mean really really bad. You offer no real explanation of why something is good or bad, you gloss over so many important details in your attempt to simplify things into either “good” or “bad”, generally don’t consider any real in-game situations, and offer no comparisons to any other classes, skills, talents, gear or anything else. I mean I’m really not trying to rag on you but this review has almost zero merit and seems to consist of easily observable details and generic descriptions of the new skills lifted from the website.

Once again I’m not trying to tear you down but you do need to take a much more comprehensive viewpoint when doing a “review”, just saying.

Dragon Ruler X.8512:

My purpose here was not to provide you with deep insight to the class nor to provide you with builds. I was giving you a big hint that if you’re going to play this Elite Spec you’ll likely want to consider condition damage as there is an immense amount of Burning available to the class. Of course there are other options for this Elite Spec, but I tell you what does and doesn’t have good synergy with the remainder of the Core Specs. I just don’t tell you specifically which ones because that is, again, an opportunity for you to learn more about the class as a whole when you go out looking for it. I don’t want to influence people in these reviews – I want them to understand the core concept and functionality that these Elite Specs bring to the table and let them decide what to do with it knowing where the strengths of the Elite Spec lies.

Edit 2: Don’t do that, don’t try to pretend you’re some sort of all knowing guru who has chosen to only disclose certain tidbits of information to cover the glaring holes in your “review”, it’s incredibly transparent and frankly insulting. You didn’t omit these things because you didn’t want to deny us a “chance to learn” you did it because you have zero understanding of the intricacies of these classes. So please do us all a favor and either take the time to actually understand an elite spec enough that you can offer something substantial to the dialogue or just don’t even try to tell anyone what’s up. If you do take the time to do that your review is welcome, otherwise well, thanks but no thanks.

Atticus.7194:

Edit 2: Don’t do that, don’t try to pretend you’re some sort of all knowing guru who has chosen to only disclose certain tidbits of information to cover the glaring holes in your “review”, it’s incredibly transparent and frankly insulting. You didn’t omit these things because you didn’t want to deny us a “chance to learn” you did it because you have zero understanding of the intricacies of these classes. So please do us all a favor and either take the time to actually understand an elite spec enough that you can offer something substantial to the dialogue or just don’t even try to tell anyone what’s up. If you do take the time to do that your review is welcome, otherwise well, thanks but no thanks.

Well you started off seeming like you were trying to not be insulting, but then you tried to define my level of understanding and accuse me of trying to “cover” things up because I didn’t provide you with a multitude of options and insight? That’s not okay.

First off – you miss the entire point of the post. My goal was to focus on The Elite Specialization not the class. I also made no attempt to tell you how to use the Elite Specialization in conjunction with the Core Specializations because that is essentially providing “builds” which I said I wasn’t doing.

There are numerous reasons why I stay away from providing builds.

1) I’m not here to give you a build that I took the time to make. Why? Because if I make a “good build” and share it – and if it’s widely accepted to being a “good build” – then it becomes “meta” and the Devs will likely nerf some aspect of it that made it strong. This is a penalty to me for sharing my own creation that got over used and abused that I don’t want to deal with so I stay to keeping my builds to myself.
2) From what I’ve seen – every “Elitist Player” is STRONGLY opinionated. This means if I make a suggestion that takes away 10% of your overall DPS I’ll get drawn and quartered for it – even if it actually enhances your total DoT because you live longer. So I stay away from making tweaks for “sustain” or “general practicality”.
3) The CDPS vs DPS debate is still going strong. Can CDPS out perform pure DPS? Yes if you’re dealing with something with crazy armor and no condi-cleanse. No if you’re dealing with something with condi-cleanse. Yes if you can lay multitudes of condi-stacks down. No if you have powerful bursts on fast recharge. Etc. I could say that for a short period of time the Burning burst that you can output from the Berserker can easily trump the standard DPS bursts you could get from things like Rampage. You may believe me and you may not – though unless you’re truly open minded and willing to test it out you’ll likely just call me a noob, put your troll face on and not care about finding out for yourself. Yet you’ll complain about it anytime someone destroys you with conditions. There are far too many factors involved to say which type of build is the best, but if you bring up condi-war in the Warrior forums you typically get laughed at and pointed to the door – which is exactly what the Berserker was intended to be.

Also, I shouldn’t need to hold your hand – point to everything – pat you on the head – and tell you “good job” for copying my work.

You should know something about the Warrior before even looking at the Elite Specializations. Those were the types of people that were my target audience. Therefore I assumed anyone reading this knew all the Core Specializations individually, understood their functionalities, and knew how to create synergy between them. If you weren’t at that level of understanding you’re likely in the wrong place. I used similar logic when explaining Gear Options – I don’t tell you what each type of gear has for individual stats or what each Rune does because I expect you to know what they do – that or I’ve helped you limit your research time by telling you what will likely benefit you. I do however give you their general focus – their primary stat – so if you say “I want a Condition Build” you can start looking at my suggestions for “Condition” gear. From there it’s all on you.

This isn’t class time for the Warrior who wants to become a Berserker.

This is an overview of what the Berserker is, what it does, and some basic highlighting of notable skills, traits, and features that will lead to decent synergy to the rest of the class if you do the work to figure out how. Nothing more.

That’s the problem right there, it is impossible to look at the Elite spec in a vacuum, because it does not exist in one.

Cygnus.6903:

That’s the problem right there, it is impossible to look at the Elite spec in a vacuum, because it does not exist in one.

Yet at the same time when you level a character from 1 → 80 you gain one specialization at a time and for that brief period where you have only one specialization that is essentially equivalent to being in a vacuum.

We all look at specializations in a “vacuum” without realizing it.

If I asked you what Specialization you would use when considering only the Core Specializations for condition damage builds – you would likely analyze all the options available, condense their total functions to a general concept, and then tell me that “Arms” is the best choice due to offering multiple condition oriented options. You would then look for compliments to your build – which is where you ask yourself “What will make this better?”.

I’m starting with the beginning steps – total functionality within the specialization and generalizing its concepts into easy to understand comments.

It is your job afterwards to figure out how to compliment this specialization with the core specialization options.

Dragon Ruler X.8512:

Cygnus.6903:

That’s the problem right there, it is impossible to look at the Elite spec in a vacuum, because it does not exist in one.

Yet at the same time when you level a character from 1 -> 80 you gain one specialization at a time and for that brief period where you have only one specialization that is essentially equivalent to being in a vacuum.

We all look at specializations in a “vacuum” without realizing it.

If I asked you what Specialization you would use when considering only the Core Specializations for condition damage builds – you would likely analyze all the options available, condense their total functions to a general concept, and then tell me that “Arms” is the best choice due to offering multiple condition oriented options. You would then look for compliments to your build – which is where you ask yourself “What will make this better?”.

I’m starting with the beginning steps – total functionality within the specialization and generalizing its concepts into easy to understand comments.

It is your job afterwards to figure out how to compliment this specialization with the core specialization options.

OP thats not what “Review” means

This is your “first impressions”.

Also yes you clearly don’t have any depth of understanding of the class at all please stop pretending you’re some kind of guru that’s leaving the learning up to us.

Jzaku.9765:

Dragon Ruler X.8512:

Cygnus.6903:

That’s the problem right there, it is impossible to look at the Elite spec in a vacuum, because it does not exist in one.

Yet at the same time when you level a character from 1 -> 80 you gain one specialization at a time and for that brief period where you have only one specialization that is essentially equivalent to being in a vacuum.

We all look at specializations in a “vacuum” without realizing it.

If I asked you what Specialization you would use when considering only the Core Specializations for condition damage builds – you would likely analyze all the options available, condense their total functions to a general concept, and then tell me that “Arms” is the best choice due to offering multiple condition oriented options. You would then look for compliments to your build – which is where you ask yourself “What will make this better?”.

I’m starting with the beginning steps – total functionality within the specialization and generalizing its concepts into easy to understand comments.

It is your job afterwards to figure out how to compliment this specialization with the core specialization options.

OP thats not what “Review” means

This is your “first impressions”.

Also yes you clearly don’t have any depth of understanding of the class at all please stop pretending you’re some kind of guru that’s leaving the learning up to us.

It’s not what your definition of a review is.
A review is a simple re-covering of a topic with no specific level of depth. Period.

And you’re clearly a derogatory individual who has no shred of tact and chooses to disrespect and degrade others to make yourself feel superior.

I have plenty of understanding about the class – been in this game since the 3-day head start and memorized most if not all of wiki in terms of game mechanics. Don’t act like you know anything about my level of understanding because I choose to withhold my full opinion on a given topic.

This…was more of an overview than review really.

Not to be mean, but you only really outlined what the Berserker does without actually giving an assessment of the traitline. That’s why people might see this thread and be a bit underwhelmed by the content.