Guild Wars 2

I have played Warrior the most out of any class, and I think it’s the one I’m most familiar with. But recently in high level fractals I am just feeling completely useless a lot of the time. I’m not the best player by any stretch, but I feel like I have no survivability whatsoever. I know condi PS is the preferred build at the moment, but I (rather stubbornly) don’t want to convert my dude to a condi build after all these years.

Is Power PS just not really viable, or do I just need to git gud? The build on metabattle has pretty high ratings, but this comment also stood out to me:

Overrated, No survivability, Has no place in high level fractals imo.

That’s pretty much exactly how I feel. But I also fully realize it could just be me sucking and my own bias is making me think it’s the build. Anybody play power PS in high level fractals like CM 100? How do you stay alive without a healer? Are there any build variations you’d suggest? Should I just scrap the idea of Power PS and try another class?

I have, although I have recently switched out to condi PS.

The reason you’re not surviving is simply the nature of your play. Warriors heal by doing damage, which means puts a power PS build at 2 disadvantages:
1. Your whole damage is coming from Melee, meaning it’s dangerous to heal.
2. Nature of Power Vs Condi. See, the main damage mitigation for Power dmg is Toughness, which simply reduces the amount of dmg you do. For condi, the main damage mitigation is Vitality, which increases the amount of damage you need to do. Since on Condi your numbers will generally be higher than Power, you will heal more.

Also, specifically for fractals, Toughness scales a bit harsher than Vitality does, and as a result power builds lose more damage than Condis with the scaling

I was very sad about it too at first, Power PS is simply useless right now outside of very specific scenarios [Molten boss, Underwater combat and KC],
But I was pleasantly surprised with the CPS build, it’s more fun, it’s easy to use and it’s just straight up better.

Warriors heal by doing damage

I assume you mean with Blood Reckoning? Maybe that’s a big issue then, because I have always used healing signet. I guess the passive heal just isn’t enough at this point. I probably need to get better at using Blood Reckoning in that case. I agree it is sad about Power PS though. I get that Berserker meta was the norm for years and it got really stale, but I don’t think making condi so much stronger is a better alternative. I wish they were just equally viable, but hey…no sense in dwelling on that I guess.

SWI.4127:

Warriors heal by doing damage

I assume you mean with Blood Reckoning? Maybe that’s a big issue then, because I have always used healing signet. I guess the passive heal just isn’t enough at this point. I probably need to get better at using Blood Reckoning in that case. I agree it is sad about Power PS though. I get that Berserker meta was the norm for years and it got really stale, but I don’t think making condi so much stronger is a better alternative. I wish they were just equally viable, but hey…no sense in dwelling on that I guess.

Healing signet? You’re losing both healing capabilities and dmg
Also, part of surviving fractals is killing kitten quickly and make less room for mistakes. I honestly dont understand why would you use healing signet when Blood reckoning is so kitten strong

But besides that, dont ignore everything else I’ve pointed out

I guess the passive heal just isn’t enough at this point.

That’s just part of a big problem with the PPS build that isnt cutting it right now
You’re probably aware of the recent nerf to Arc Divider. If you thought it’s hard to heal in time before, right now it’s straight up impossible

I wish they were equal too, but that’s not that state the game is in right now. The game constantly changes, the meta shifts, and things are different to day now than before and they are different from what will be in the future, I understood that I shouldnt be fighting it.
Just try the CPS build, Im sure you’ll get used to it and love it eventually
And dont forget there’s an expansion soon !

I honestly dont understand why would you use healing signet when Blood reckoning is so kitten strong

Old habits die hard lol. I think I tried BR a few times but I never really got used to it. That’s on me of course, I will adjust. I’ll probably just tough it out a bit and wait for the expansion before I make any huge equipment changes though. You never know how things will change. Thanks for the advice, I appreciate it!

I’ve played PPS for 1 year , that’s my main character for all high level content: t4 fractal ,100 cm , raid
I don’t have the survival problem .
There’s one thing u have to consider , should u always take banner? For me my utility skill is wild blow, endure pain and frensy. If my team have chrono, I’ll switch frensy to banner of discipline. Most of time I don’t replae endure pain to banner of strength unless we need heavy burst damage like when engaging subject 6 .

About my build , full berserker armor , trinkets with all mighty infusion. Oh yeah , and scholar rune. And double axe , GS , sometimes I might switch off hand to shield .
During the fight , u can melee when

1. Mobs didn’t focus on you.
2. Endure pain is active.
3. Blood reckoning is active , and u successfully restore health by arc divider.
4. You disable mobs by wild blow or other player use their cc skill.
5. You have enough endurance to dodge the attacks.
6. For boss fight, only when u break the bar. This is critical when against boss in 100 cm.

You still can switch axe to rifle if needed, some ppl said rifle isn’t “the meta build”, but it still useful and can deal good burst damage , just remember don’t count it’s auto attack.

My opinion for PPS

no reason to play power ps,condi is EASIER,DEALS MORE DMG AND HAVE BETTER MIGHT UPTIME AND DEFINETLY MORE SUSTAIN AND OFC YOU ARE RANGED IF NECESARY.

Alright as a little update, I think not using Blood Reckoning was one of my biggest problems. I don’t know why I didn’t change to this before, but the burst heal is soooo much better than healing signet for sustain, especially in instances where you take massive damage quickly. I no longer have to just run around useless waiting for my signet to top me off, and the cooldown on BR is very low as well.

@Roderick, those are some interesting points you bring up about utility skills. I have always just brought banners and FGJ – all offensive support abilities. So it would make sense I have very little utility or defensive options. I just assumed that if I didn’t bring these things, then I’m not really doing my job. Is that true to an extent? I definitely see the need for Endure pain during the nightmare CM though. Maybe I’ll start being more selfish with utilities for really challenging content. I guess the offensive support abilities are no use if I’m dead.