Guild Wars 2

Hello,

I’ve been experimenting with the Burst Precision in PvP. This is a specialized trait for direct-damage burst-based builds, so possibly interesting for axe and/or rifle builds, the burst of which is excellent. What follows is for PvP only, not PvE or WvW.

I’ve been playing axe/shield and rifle, using a build with sigils of intelligence, and another one with Burst Precision. It is my current feeling that Burst Precision, while at first not very appealing, works in fact quite nicely.

Build 1 (sigils of intelligence):
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fJAQNAneUjMdUGaVIehwJagqgCbFEA3ya1/wRkDA-TZBBwAAOBAeOEAYeCA12focZAA

Build 2 (burst precision):
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fJAQNAneUjMdUGaVIehwJagfgCbQ0CmDgCo61tGA-TZBBwAAeCAeOEA02focZgAnAAA

Sigils of intelligence are fine, but cannot compare to Burst Precision:

• They have a 9 sec cool-down, which does not work well with skill rotations and weapon bursts.
• There are only 3 stacks of them, which can be used on skills (way) less interesting than bursts, unless again you alter your usual rotation.
• When you’re not using an intelligence stack, burst kills are not guaranteed to crit,
• One sigil per weapon uses two out of four sigils slots.

Burst Precision kind of imposes the structure of the build, with pros and cons:

• One automatically gets “Reckless Dodge”, “Building Momentum” and “Stick and Move”, which are great minor traits.
• I chose “Great Fortitude” and “Axe Mastery” in major traits. These are not bad, but I’ve seen better in other skill lines.
• Putting 30 in strength forces you to choose between Burst Mastery and Cleansing Ire. I have kept CI, because I need to build adrenaline for the bursts, as well as the condition cleansing.

Comparing both builds:

• A build based on burst precision provides strength, so I’ve used the Runes of the Eagle rather than the Runes of strength, to compensate for the lost precision. The final stats are actually superior, in all power, precision, critical damage and vitality, and we get guaranteed crit bursts in exchange for less might duration.
• I believe that additional bonus damages are better for the Burst Precision build: 6% for Runes of the Eagle for targets with less than 50% health, 3% brought by “Stick and Move” and 5% by the sigil of Force (slot freed by intelligence sigil), against the 7% for runes of Strength. Also, the 7% of Burst Mastery are more than compensated by general stats.
• The build based on Burst Precision does not trait the rifle. In PvP, as I use my axe more than my rifle, this appears to be negligible. Also, one could probably substitute the rifle with a bow, without having to change anything (as for the GS, I don’t know).
• I lose Vigorous Focus, but gain Building Momentum, so I’m not sure that we lose too much in terms of endurance regeneration (that’s far from a perma vigor however).
• I lose Burst Mastery, but my burst rotations did not seem slowed down in any way.

Give it a try!

Thanks for reading.

Hmm I see what you are saying. My opinion you are benefiting more from 30 points in str than you are from burst precision.

Try 30 points in str with sigil of intelligence but instead of taking burst precession take berserkers power. Then tell me what u think.

“You have to dedicate one out of four sigil slots”

Yeah, I’d rather dedicate a sigil than going 30 points to get a GM that mimics a sigil. At most I’d be 10 or 15 points in Strength with an Axe build. Can you honestly say with a straight face that the sigil is worse than not getting Cleansing Ire or Burst Mastery on a burst build?

Hi,

Warlord.9074:

Hmm I see what you are saying. My opinion you are benefiting more from 30 points in str than you are from burst precision.

Try 30 points in str with sigil of intelligence but instead of taking burst precession take berserkers power. Then tell me what u think.

That could be true, indeed. I’ll give it a try in the coming days, and will let you know.

I have found that sigils of intelligence did work well (I had lots of fun and success with them), but – having sigils of intelligence means you have to optimize them, and so far I’ve had the following experience:

• Either you have to wait for your weapon swap, so as not to waste them, therefore sometimes ending up with a less dynamic gameplay (and you should also consider the 9s CD in your weapon swapping rotation),
• Or your adrenaline bar is full, and your next weapon swap is a few seconds away, so you burst anyway in order to not miss an opportunity – and sometimes you do not crit.

Cheers.

I see what your saying you have a good point there.

Hi,

Larynx.2453:

“You have to dedicate one out of four sigil slots”

Yeah, I’d rather dedicate a sigil than going 30 points to get a GM that mimics a sigil. At most I’d be 10 or 15 points in Strength with an Axe build. Can you honestly say with a straight face that the sigil is worse than not getting Cleansing Ire or Burst Mastery on a burst build?

I understand, and honestly I had the same hesitation when I tried it out (see the non burst-precision build, maybe our philosophies on what a burst build should be could be similar).

Now, let me clarify a bit and answer your points:

• It’s two sigils of intelligence: one for the axe, one for the rifle. If I’d swap the rifle for something else, then maybe it’d be only one indeed.
• Going 30 in Strength gives us more than the Burst Precision – I especially like the minor traits – so I do not feel that the investment is as painful as if I’d have to go 30 points in, say, Tactics.
• As for your last question, well it’s the result of both my theory-crafting and my testing in PvP, so yes, in my opinion Burst Precision can bring more at home than Burst Mastery. Note that I’d never bet that when I started investigating the trait, and I used sigils of intelligence right around 15/4.

Regards.

I feel like the trait is too expensive for what it does thats the problem. Not that its a bad trait. Just a bad idea to put it as a grandmaster str trait and for it to be less good than a sigil, but only better if u factor in it doesn’t require a swap. Considering that it requires 30 points being better even if it doesn’t require a swap is really subjective.

The only problem I have with Burst Precision is that I have to give up a damage modifier in order to get it, either lose Berserkers Power or Burst Mastery. Berserkers Power + Intel. Sigil is a far better option than Burst Precision in my opinion since I am not limited to more damage on 1 attack but get more damage on 3 attacks. On an axe build I prefer going 4-0-4-0-6 for both Axe and Burst Mastery.

Hello,

@Warlord:

This is an interesting point, and actually weapon-swapping is not the only subjective part. If you compare the stats of both builds, you’ll see that the one using Burst Precision provides better figures than the one using Burst Mastery, even including the 7% damage of Burst Mastery. So in exchange for these better stats (damage, vitality, plus the advantages provided by strength minor traits), as well as no constraint on the weapon swap, we lose burst skills costing less and the increased might duration.

A build efficiency depends on the ability of the user to maximize its potential. I’m an average player, so having a build with better base stats and less constraints on the game play works better for me. I can accept that a more skilled user, making faster burst rotations with more might, could make more damage, so maybe obtain more from an intelligence-based build.

@Julie Yann

If you take Berserker’s Power and crit, then you’ll certainly make more damage. My point is that taking an intelligence sigil is not without cost though, as it imposes a certain usage (weapon-swapping before you use your burst), which may force you to change your usual game play – thus possibly making less damage. As Warlord has outlined, this is subjective, and I intend to experiment more with Berserker’s Power.

As for Burst Mastery, I don’t lose any damage because, unless I’ve made some errors in my analysis (see the two builds provided), the 7% additional damage is still below the stats increase provided by a build using Burst Precision. I do however lose the reduced cost of adrenaline as well as about 1sec burst recharge duration, which may or may not be a problem with your skills rotation.

To conclude, I feel that the trait is not bad at all. Of course, it works only for burst-builds (and the ones where critical hits matter more than the frequency of them), but it provides a base with strong stats and no game play limitations. Above all, I like that my burst always crit and big red numbers flash on the screen (This is a childish! And I guess I’ll be less happy when I face an elem with Stone Heart).

Regards.

@Elegie You are right, it is subjective. It’s all about personal effectiveness and what works for you. Personally, I would rather change the way I play if it means I will be more effective by doing so. 30 points (6 now) is a big investment for a trait that can be replaced by a sigil.

Warlord.9074:

I feel like the trait is too expensive for what it does thats the problem. Not that its a bad trait. Just a bad idea to put it as a grandmaster str trait and for it to be less good than a sigil, but only better if u factor in it doesn’t require a swap. Considering that it requires 30 points being better even if it doesn’t require a swap is really subjective.

I agree but for different reasons.

IMO, the problem with Burst Precision is that in order to maximize it, you need the traits in burst reduction as well (Discipline – up to and including Burst Mastery) AND it completely replicates and overrides another major trait already available to the Warrior (Critical Burst) in Precision. Now Critical Burst is only a 10% crit bonus but you get the idea that it makes this major trait suddenly becomes completely useless in any build with both.

No where else in the game to my recollection does this happen with any other class with function replicated traits completely obsoleting one another.

Now if Burst Precision added anything in addition to critical chance (which also does not affect conditions) such as ‘increases Burst condition and Burst boon durations’, you’d have a good GM trait.

Hi,

Artaz.3819:

IMO, the problem with Burst Precision is that in order to maximize it, you need the traits in burst reduction as well (Discipline – up to and including Burst Mastery) AND it completely replicates and overrides another major trait already available to the Warrior (Critical Burst) in Precision. Now Critical Burst is only a 10% crit bonus but you get the idea that it makes this major trait suddenly becomes completely useless in any build with both.

No where else in the game to my recollection does this happen with any other class with function replicated traits completely obsoleting one another.

Now if Burst Precision added anything in addition to critical chance (which also does not affect conditions) such as ‘increases Burst condition and Burst boon durations’, you’d have a good GM trait.

I hadn’t thought of that, that’s a very good point. I did spend 15 points in Arms in my first build in order to get Critical Burst, and thought using Burst Precision would remove the need for it – without really understanding that both skills were overlapping.

Somehow, this could very well be a design issue, worth reporting. Your idea to evolve Burst Precision is interesting, but that would not remove the overlapping, so maybe could one consider changing Critical Burst instead – something like “Burst Skills grant 5 seconds of Fury (CD 20s)” ?

Um, ..not to sound whack..but check the PvP build set up. After patch going grandmaster into strength doesn’t scale up your power damage. There is no inherent bonus from any tree now. Your damage is purely based on runes/amulet/sigils.

Hello,

CntrlAltDefeat.1465:

Um, ..not to sound whack..but check the PvP build set up. After patch going grandmaster into strength doesn’t scale up your power damage. There is no inherent bonus from any tree now. Your damage is purely based on runes/amulet/sigils.

I’m very sorry, but I do not understand what you mean. Do you say that traits, as they are chosen, cannot be used to get additional damage, and simply provide some sort of high-yet-max stats base? If not, would you mind clarifying?

The idea of the build is based on bursting, but to achieve max damage, one needs full adrenaline, might stacks and vulnerability stacks. The build lets us obtain these as follows:

• Adrenaline: Cleansing Ire and weapon-swapping of course, but more importantly the rifle helps you maintain constant pressure on the enemy, whatever the range, thus getting adrenaline more regularly. While it’s true that one misses some nice traits that provide for more, the point is to get enough adrenaline when it’s burst time, and so far I’m not unsatisfied with my current building/using adrenaline ratio. One could fairly select Short Temper over Great Fortitude to improve the situation.
• Might: SoR and Sigil of Battle for starters, but the one letting us get 20+ stacks is Mighty Defenses, which synergizes with the shield block. This works especially well against thieves, stealing Whirling Axe, and shatter mesmers.
• Vulnerability: skills of the rifle and the axe only, no Rending Strikes, so yes it’s capped here.

My gameplay rotation is actually pretty basic. Starting with the rifle, you cripple / make vulnerable / damage your opponent until he comes to melee, then block his burst with the shield (getting might stacks), then eviscerate (possibly after stunning / putting vulnerability), then either continue with the axe AA, or knock back with the rifle and repeat the cycle (kill shooting if an opportunity arises). Stances can be used here and there, to maintain yourself in good combat condition and keep up the pressure.

I’m not sure this answers your remark, though, so feel free to comment back