Guild Wars 2

Hello,

I’d like to share the Berserker build I currently use in PvP. It is a translation of what I was using before, which the patch has made even more powerful.

Philosophy

The build is damage-oriented, with strong finisher capabilities. It includes solid options for active defense, working in a similar fashion as other standard burst classes (Meditation Guardian, Fresh Air Elem).

It is best used in roaming, dueling and group fighting (make sure targets are called). It is selfish and auto-sufficient, so may not fit each team composition.

Build

Main:

• Berserker Armor, Runes of Strength.
• Sword (Air) + Axe (Fire) and Mace (Paralyzation) + Shield (Energy).
• Healing Signet, Balanced Stance, Berserker Stance, Endure Pain, Signet of Rage.
• Arms: II (Signet Mastery), VI (Blademaster), IX (Dual Wielding).
• Defense: I (Shield Master), IV (Defy Pain), IX (Rousing Resilience).
• Discipline: II (Warrior’s Sprint), VI (Brawler’s Recovery), VIII (Heightened Focus).

Variations:

• Substitute Rousing Resilience by Cleansing Ire, and Balanced Stance by the Dolyak Signet. The build has enough adrenaline as it is though, and would be too fragile to successfully “Embrace the Pain” anyway, so this variation is probably inferior (all the more that Cleansing Ire would not be optimized with Burst Mastery).
• Substitute Defy Pain by Armored Attack or Sundering Mace, depending on your preferences.
• Substitute Blademaster by Unsuspecting Foe (UF). However, the critical chance is so high it makes this variation questionable (UF seems more fitting with gear having less precision than berserker).

General info:

• Two high-damage skills (Sword #3 8k-12k and Axe #5 10k-14k),
• Two stuns and one daze,
• Two cripples and one immobilize,
• Two blocks, traited to reflect,
• Two stun breakers,
• Good mobility (make sure autotargetting is off),
• Good adrenaline building,
• Decent condition management, but weak to Retaliation,
• Good offensive stats (berserker), with improved precision and good access to Fury and Might,
• Bad defensive stats, but with an occasional 3.2k+ armor thanks to Rousing Resilience.

Synergies

• Strong finisher synergies, with Unblockable from Signet Mastery, Quickness from Heightened Focus and Sword #3 damage – all on targets with HP < 50%.
• Good adrenaline generation, thanks to Axe #5 hitting 15 times, Berserker’s Stance and Versatile Rage. Fueling Adrenal Health, permitting frequent “utility” bursts.
• Decent condition management with the Berserker Stance, the Resistance of the Healing Signet (optimized with Signet Mastery), and Brawler’s Recovery.
• Improved critical chance with Signet Mastery (precision stacks) and Swordmaster. Fury with Signet of Rage (optimized) and Axe #4. Using Air/Fire to take advantage of this, Axe #4 hits twice, Axe #15 hits 15 times, maximizing the chance for triggers.
• 5% additional damage, with Precise Strikes + sword AA bleed + improved critical chance, working with Bloodlust.
• 5% additional damage, with the Runes of Strength. Might sources include Signet of Rage (optimized with Signet Mastery), Versatile Power and Shield Mastery (applicable to Mace / Shield blocks).
• X% additional damage, with Rending Strikes. Likely to jump high with Axe #5 hitting a lot in a reduced timeframe (ideal continuation is Sword #3).
• Improved stuns, duration increased (paralyzation), good uptime (Shield #4 optimized, good adrenaline building for the Mace burst).
• Improved blocks, now reflect and gain might, Shield #5 optimized.
• Improved dodges, with an energy sigil. No Reckless Dodge though.
• Improved damage application rate with Dual Wielding and Heightened Focus, working well with our Sword / Axe damage set.
• Improved Retaliation of Spiked Armor, with Rousing Resilience allowing to take more hits. Retaliation can be further optimized with the Armored Attack variation.
• Improved Armor with Rousing Resilience (RR), working with the two stun breakers. Also note RR continues to trigger with Balanced Stance without the need to break stun, thus providing a protection-like effect for 8s every 40s.
• Improved Mobility with Warrior’s Sprint (working with both weapon sets), Sword #2 synergizing with “Mobile Strikes”, and Blademaster optimizing Sword #2.

Rotations

• Swap weapons frequently, taking advantage from Fast Hands, to optimize Versatile Rage, Brawler’s Recovery, Versatile Power and the sigil of Energy. The weapons sets rotations work well with fast weapon-swapping.
• Standard burst 1: Balanced Stance => Sword #2 => Axe #5.
• Standard burst 2: Sword #2 => Sword #3.
• Finisher: Axe #5 => Sword #3.
• Hard Control Chain: Shield #4 => Mace #1; can be followed by a burst, or by a tactical retreat.
• Soft Control Chain : Sword #2 => Sword F1 => sheathe weapon then proceed with a burst.
• When over a friendly combo field, use Axe #5 (Whirl Finisher).

Have fun.

Hey,

Gonna try it tonight.. but here is some feedback:

your using Rousing Resilience but also Defy pain… (these 2 doesnt work together because defy pain is a stunbreaker but your already invul to dmg.. so extra toughness is just not needed.. so your taking Rousing Resilience just for that 1 balanced stance skill? over CI that gives you more adrenaline also? dunno..

I dont think this build will generate enough adrenaline.
(edit: maby axe 5 does in group.. yup)

i do like the sword immob into a axe whirl.. but still it dmg issnt that great. with GS you just whirlwind over someone doing almost the same dmg in much shorter time without a setup and an evade.

Still gonna try it out :-) ty!

Ps tip for everyone, do not use Energy sigil on your burst weapon.. (stick and move)

Hi,

First, thank you for your interest. I hope you’ll enjoy the build. Let me know of your experience, so that I can improve the build (or fail to improve it if you spot critical issues!).

nicknamenick.2437:

Hey,
your using Rousing Resilience but also Defy pain… (these 2 doesnt work together because defy pain is a stunbreaker but your already invul to dmg.. so extra toughness is just not needed.. so your taking Rousing Resilience just for that 1 balanced stance skill? over CI that gives you more adrenaline also? dunno..

Yes, this is exactly as you said. I take Rousing Resilience simply because it triggers each time you activate Balanced Stance, without having to break stun. The 8s of RR, repeatable every 40s, means that much to me, especially in these troubled times!

When you break stun with Endure Pain, you indeed lose 4s of these 8s, but you still get 4 additional seconds, and get healed by 1,000. It’s circumstantial so don’t count on it, but when it happens, it’s still a bonus.

nicknamenick.2437:

I dont think this build will generate enough adrenaline.
(edit: maby axe 5 does in group.. yup)

In groups, no problem, yes. But even solo, I have no problem with adrenaline (I use Berserker’s Stance aggressively). If that were a problem though, then I’d probably exchange Dual Wielding for Furious.

nicknamenick.2437:

i do like the sword immob into a axe whirl.. but still it dmg issnt that great. with GS you just whirlwind over someone doing almost the same dmg in much shorter time without a setup and an evade.

The thing is, you can move with the Whirlwind, so crippling the opponent is usually enough (but immobilization and stun work great of course). Also, Axe #5 has an additional damage bonus in PvP (+50%), comparing to PvE and WvW. Yesterday, I had a13k against a ranger – for a 3s channelling, I think it’s not bad at all (and Axe #5 also has its whirl finisher and adrenaline building capabilities).

My usual combos are Axe #5 (~10k) and Sword #3 (~8k), the 50% threshold being often passed thanks to Axe #5 – it’s really lethal to many classes, especially with Quickness and Unblockable turning active.

Have fun!

Plausible, just that I would still use Axe/mace because of heightened focus.

Hi,

Thank your for your interest!

BlackTruth.6813:

Plausible, just that I would still use Axe/mace because of heightened focus.

In the past, I was running sword+axe / axe+shield, it was very dangerous indeed. The problem is that it lacked defense, and I would sometimes take dangerous bursts, even with the shield. I switched to mace main hand some day, and realized that the additional control gave me more opportunity to manage the fight, while still retaining good damage.

It still bugs me, though, because I love main hand axe – and I could have lots of fun with offhand mace, too. The problem is that I must choose 2 among these 3:

• sword + axe for mobility, soft control and damage,
• mace + shield for hard control and blocks,
• axe + mace for damage and a bit of hard control.

… so it’s a matter of what I want to sacrifice

Added an IntoTheMists guide, so that it becomes more readable.

Added a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwlb7bM4N3M

I’m sorry for the original wall of text, hopefully this video will demonstrate how the build works. Don’t expect high level fights though, I’m an average player, making painful mistakes, and shamelessly carried by the build

Hi man very nice build, original. And that vid was great.
Was always wondering if sword+axe can compete with GS, I guess now it can.
Say does axe #5 effected by ‘duel wielding’? I tested it a bit and it seems to me it doesn’t

Really fun build, I think warriors should investigate on going full DPS a bit more now that we got Heightened Focus.

Well done, and entertaining vid!

Hello guys,

Thank you very much for your kind messages. I’m quite happy that you find the build and video interesting.

@Eiland: I don’t know about Dual Wield and Axe #5. I’ve (naively?) assumed it worked out of the box. Unfortunately, I’ll be away from the game for one or two weeks, so won’t be able to test soon.

with this build you are just dead meat against any condi or any decent kiting player

Also is too much based on your stun to land, that not gonna happen easily against good players who knows how to dodge.
Still is fun build to play.

Hi Shala,

Thank you for your interest!

Shala.8352:

with this build you are just dead meat against any condi or any decent kiting player

Unfortunately, you’re right; these are indeed some of the major weaknesses of the build (others being: Retaliation, and opponents with lots of adds).

In terms of conditions, the build only has Berserker’s Stance, Brawler’s Recovery and the Resistance from the Healing Signet. Usually, the stance allows me to take on the initial condi bomb and perform my burst – but if the target manages to survive and refreshes his CDs before mine, then I might need to either go all out (using Resistance to try and finish the fight) or disengage.

The kiting part is also a problem – classes that have superior mobility (thieves, mesmers) can give me a hard time, providing they remain patient and don’t make mistakes while kiting. Usually, in these situations, I try and abuse terrain (using LoS, reflecting projectiles when possible) or disengage.

Shala.8352:

Also is too much based on your stun to land, that not gonna happen easily against good players who knows how to dodge.

Actually, I don’t really have a problem with them dodging the mace stun – sure it’s best if it hits, but in the end I just need to cripple (Sword #2) to successfully land Sword #3 and Axe #5 (and even without it it’s doable). Might I ask what you have in mind when you say that the build depends too much on the stun?

Shala.8352:

Still is fun build to play.

It is! It’s been called a “no-brain” build by my friends, though

To be fair, everything dies to a condi build right now.

Cygnus.6903:

To be fair, everything dies to a condi build right now.

I guess we’ve all had our fair share of nasty surprises. I’ve been using the Berserker Stance and the Healing Signet way more aggressively since the patch came out.

At first sight, I’d say that burning is probably an issue, because conditions ticking double digits feels too violent. However, reflecting on my actions, I have to admit I’m not familiar (yet) with all the (new) skills and patterns leading to condi bursts, so there’s clearly a L2P component to address in my case.

It is the same with me, but I have faced some roflstomp specs already. Engineers, Rangers and to some extent guardians have a few setups right now where they have answers to anything along with very high built in sustain and absolutely insane burst. Like I said in another topic, 100-0 in 2 seconds from condi has happened to me.