Guild Wars 2

Hey guys Killchain here!

I’ve been kind of toying with a few specific builds I’m very keen to try out come the Sept 9th balance changes. I have made a video showcasing my thoughts including showing the direct change we can expect to see to Arcing Slice. The video can be found here

I’m aware that some people prefer reading information rather than watch it so lets detail some of the ideas in this post.

OVERVIEW

4/0/4/0/6
55% crit chance with fury, I don’t feel comfortable leaving 45% to not crit as such I’d want to test out sigil of intelligence on gs to guarantee a crit on arcing slice.

0/4/4/0/6
74% crit chance on arcing slice with fury and burst precision minor trait. Feel a lot better about that, would potentially want to try sigil of fire and sigil of air on gs for that snap burst.

DO NOTE

Arcing slice ( according to tooltip from Skill Bar ) does NOT change damage depending on adrenaline level, as such I do think Burst Mastery providing constant minimum 1 level of adrenaline will allow us to Arcing Slice on demand even if we just did Combustive Shot.

Runes – Hoelbrak / Strength
Amulet – I want to try this build with zerkers amulet but depending how it fairs alternatives could be explored like Soldiers or Cavaliers etc.

PHILOSOPHY

Your 4 in Defense and 6 in Discipline will most likely stay the same.

Defence
Dogged March ( Stance Duration could be worthwhile exploring on zerker amulet )
Cleansing Ire

Discipline
Warriors Sprint ( Signet Mastery an option if you need signet of stamina etc )
Destruction of the Empowered
Burst Mastery.

Now we explore the variations.

Strength
Great Fortitude
Slashing Power

OR

Arms
Rending Strikes ( “maybe” consider Deep Strikes if you’re using Signet of Stamina?!? )
Forceful Greatsword.

The big decision here is do you want to sacrafice 200 power and 10% flat damage to GS to get that 74% crit chance on Arcing Slice. You would need significant might gain from " Forceful Greatsword " to bring it on par with running the strength line, that said, do keep in mind you get the 20% reduction to GS skills from " Forceful Greatsword " as well. What testing I’ve done so far suggests 4/0/4/0/6 will probably outshine the alternative but I will definitely be testing both.

What are you thoughts?!? Any builds you have been toying with?

I tried a lot of greatsword builds… 6/0/4/0/4…..0/5/5/0/4…..4/0/4/0/6…6/0/2/0/6 with longbow or axe. They’re fun to play but far away from beeing copetitive.
Anyway, I guess these builds will getting weaker with the patch. whirlwhind which is your main dmg will deal less dmg and the new f1 doesn’t look worth to use it instead of longbow f1.

dominik.9721:

I tried a lot of greatsword builds… 6/0/4/0/4…..0/5/5/0/4…..4/0/4/0/6…6/0/2/0/6 with longbow or axe. They’re fun to play but far away from beeing copetitive.
Anyway, I guess these builds will getting weaker with the patch. whirlwhind which is your main dmg will deal less dmg and the new f1 doesn’t look worth to use it instead of longbow f1.

And he just said damage is the same at any lvl of adrenaline and with burst mastery you can use Longbow burst and use arcling slice right away and keep the damage

GS that I’ve tried, the best for me is 4/0/6/0/4 with Pack runes for more crit and fury gain. Of course with the new burst skill, Burst Mastery might worth taking but till then Idk. Defy Pain really heps when you play so squishy. Also for GS builds you will most likely end up with Bulls change for 100b langing, that another reason I prefer getting Defy Pain

I’m also excited with the new GS changes, it’s because of those that I’m thinking in maining Warrior and I’m in a process of doing so. Only think that might take me back now is if Guardian gets some really cool change as for damage specs in PvP beside Spirit Weapons (cut the AI crap already) and they end up getting so criple or chills, leap or Merciful Intervention being ground target. If they get one of those I might consider, as they are I’m changing.

From the current meta I prefer Axe celestial. The current meta builds will not change I think and will stay, just will be lot harder to play.

Also for Runes have you thought of Runes of the Eagle? +6 Damage on targets below 50% hp, it might be a nice proc to have with the new Arcing Slice, plus with 4/0/4/0/6 will help getting more crit since I think you will be at 43% without fury with those runes. Idk just testing the waters when patch comes as it is it’s hard to predict what will work best without proper testing.

Yea the lack of double endure pain could be the biggest risk for a zerker build of this, theres a few other builds I’m thinking of but will definitely start with these 2 iterations. As for rune of eagle while it synergies well with the build the downside is I genuinely think might stacking through runes of hoelbrak / strength is too strong to ignore atm.

And what about Celestial amulet? We know most if not all Celestial builds rely on might stack and GS warrior has plenty. Also since Longbow will be even more mandatory next patch we will also have some nice condi damage. But in order od this to work you need at least 5 in defence otherwise you will lost to much power IMO

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fJAQJARTjMd04ZVImdwJaAmgCdnPBfwxEIAUWFfOA-TphFwAAeAAMuAAj2fIxhA4wRAwZZAA