Guild Wars 2

What would do more dmg? a build focused on 6 points in Strengh or 6 points in Discipline?

Skull cracker is the best GS duel build. GS/LB is also very good but it isn’t strictly for dueling.

Hammer/GS, Mace/GS and Axe/GS are all very good dueling builds that have it’s different strengths. GS/LB probably isn’t as good as these builds in dueling but it has it’s different strengths and upsides.

Hammer has a lot of different CC while being highly damaging
Mace is very defensive while having great CC
Axe has a lot of raw damage/burst pressure
Longbow allows for ranged pressure, mild condi pressure, OK burst and on demand condi clear

Between the top 3 I mentioned, it is hard to say which one is better because it is more dependent on how you play it and who you are fighting. Me personally I prefer Hammer/GS for dueling.

Also I like to go 10/0/30/0/30 on most of my builds. The 10 in Strength for extra power, Reckless Dodge and the Power conversion into Vit. 30 Into Defense for a hella lot more toughness, survivability and a decent damage boost (even more so if you use hammer). If you don’t use the hammer trait, Defy Pain and Last stand are decent alternatives. 30 into discipline obviously for fast hands, more damage. I have been running Heightened Focus a lot recently instead of Burst Mastery. Adrenaline isn’t too hard to generate and the GS burst is rarely used. So that is an extra 15% crit chance for free and makes up for the lack of precision because of the zero point in arms.

Going 30 into strength, while probably more powerful doesn’t leave you a whole lot of room for options. You will either go 30/0/20/0/20 or 30/0/25/0/15 those are your only two options. You drop either Armored Attack or Destruction of the Empowered, both which increase your DPS quite a bit. If your enemy has 5 boons on them that = 15% extra damage you get from DotE, basically the same as berserker’s power. If you go 30/0/20/0/20 (which I probably would if I am investing 30 into strength), you will hit like an absolute mack truck. Especially with the GS or Axe.

With that said, if you are going 30 into Strength, it synergizes best with an Axe/GS build. With a Hammer, Mace or Longbow/GS build it isn’t as good.

Going 30 into discipline offers you more options, you could go 10/0/30/0/30, 20/0/20/0/30, 15/0/25/0/30, 0/10/30/0/30 or 0/0/30/10/30. After testing all of these combos, I believe 10/0/30/0/30 is the best setup.

You have comparable power to going 30 into Strength because of Armored Attack with the luxury of still having DotE. You basically trade 15% more damage for 15% extra crit chance. The 25 minor trait in discipline allows you to keep perma 2-3 stacks of might with Runes of Strength, better than the 3% damage increase in 25 in strength. But most importantly you are a hell of a lot more survivable. You will get about 1.5K extra HP from going 10 into Strength, more toughness/healing power, either an extra defy pain/balanced stance if you don’t run hammer build which is absolutely a game changer.

Running 30 in defense is pretty much a must in hammer builds so you can’t go 30 into strength unless you want to lose fast hands, so 30 into discipline is simply the better option.

I hope this helps.

killahmayne.9518:

Hammer/GS, Mace/GS and Axe/GS are all very good dueling builds that have it’s different strengths. GS/LB probably isn’t as good as these builds in dueling but it has it’s different strengths and upsides.

Hammer has a lot of different CC while being highly damaging
Mace is very defensive while having great CC
Axe has a lot of raw damage/burst pressure
Longbow allows for ranged pressure, mild condi pressure, OK burst and on demand condi clear

Between the top 3 I mentioned, it is hard to say which one is better because it is more dependent on how you play it and who you are fighting. Me personally I prefer Hammer/GS for dueling.

Also I like to go 10/0/30/0/30 on most of my builds. The 10 in Strength for extra power, Reckless Dodge and the Power conversion into Vit. 30 Into Defense for a hella lot more toughness, survivability and a decent damage boost (even more so if you use hammer). If you don’t use the hammer trait, Defy Pain and Last stand are decent alternatives. 30 into discipline obviously for fast hands, more damage. I have been running Heightened Focus a lot recently instead of Burst Mastery. Adrenaline isn’t too hard to generate and the GS burst is rarely used. So that is an extra 15% crit chance for free and makes up for the lack of precision because of the zero point in arms.

Going 30 into strength, while probably more powerful doesn’t leave you a whole lot of room for options. You will either go 30/0/20/0/20 or 30/0/25/0/15 those are your only two options. You drop either Armored Attack or Destruction of the Empowered, both which increase your DPS quite a bit. If your enemy has 5 boons on them that = 15% extra damage you get from DotE, basically the same as berserker’s power. If you go 30/0/20/0/20 (which I probably would if I am investing 30 into strength), you will hit like an absolute mack truck. Especially with the GS or Axe.

With that said, if you are going 30 into Strength, it synergizes best with an Axe/GS build. With a Hammer, Mace or Longbow/GS build it isn’t as good.

Going 30 into discipline offers you more options, you could go 10/0/30/0/30, 20/0/20/0/30, 15/0/25/0/30, 0/10/30/0/30 or 0/0/30/10/30. After testing all of these combos, I believe 10/0/30/0/30 is the best setup.

You have comparable power to going 30 into Strength because of Armored Attack with the luxury of still having DotE. You basically trade 15% more damage for 15% extra crit chance. The 25 minor trait in discipline allows you to keep perma 2-3 stacks of might with Runes of Strength, better than the 3% damage increase in 25 in strength. But most importantly you are a hell of a lot more survivable. You will get about 1.5K extra HP from going 10 into Strength, more toughness/healing power, either an extra defy pain/balanced stance if you don’t run hammer build which is absolutely a game changer.

Running 30 in defense is pretty much a must in hammer builds so you can’t go 30 into strength unless you want to lose fast hands, so 30 into discipline is simply the better option.

I hope this helps.

I see, was testing 20/0/20/0/30 , with gs/lb , ill test, 10/0/30/0/30 to see, ty a lot!

0/30/20/0/20 or 0/20/20/0/30 Mace/Shield + Greatsword is really the best 1v1 build. Unfortunately anyone with half a brain or stability will counter it.

Hammer is objectively worse in every way to Mace 1v1, taking an Axe defeats the purpose of it being a greatsword build (since you will never actually use 100B, and without 100B Greatsword does far less damage than axe), and longbow isn’t really that good in a situation like WvW where they aren’t forced to stand in your AoE.

Mainhand sword is actually probably better than all three of those weapon options, and it’s a really old takeaway from the pre-Frenzy nerf days. I wouldn’t really recommend it though over mace. It works vs stun breaks and stability, but you sometimes get a animation bug when weapon swapping during the F1, you don’t get the benefit of Unsuspecting Foe, and they can still use abilities (blocks, evades, etc) during it. It’s harder to dodge than skullcrack, I guess.

If you’re in a situation where you don’t need mobility, any axe build will beat a GS build. More damage + More frequent burst phase + Less cost for missing each burst. When factoring in the cast time of 100B, Eviscerate + autos also technically about the same damage as 100B too.