Guild Wars 2

So, I had recently been seeing more and more warriors brings a banner to apply regen on top of Healing Sig and Adrenal Health. I decided I wanted to try my hand at this and I got to say as cheesy and bad as the concept sounds it’s working surprisingly well.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fIAQNAscTjkOpwVQyQMxBEkCNsKOKSilI9IMMj1A-TsAg2CrIaS1krJTTymsNN8Y5xMAA

First, let me start off by saying that I consider this a condition spike build because while you can stack a ton of Bleeds on top of Burning and Torment, depending on your enemies build they won’t linger for that long. This build also lacks Fast Hands and man does it feel weird not being able to switch weapons as frequently as most of us are used to. Adrenaline gain is also much less than say a Hammer or Mace build. I wanted to see if I could fit in Furious but there was just no place to remove any traits without adding a bigger weakness. I like to start the engagement by popping Zerker Stance as soon as the conditions start coming my way. That way I have enough adren for a Combustion Shot and a Flurry before it’s all over. Using it early also means if the battle lasts a while you’ll get to use it twice during the engagement.

The combination of Banner Regen and the Healing sig with Shamans gear gives some pretty impressive healing. If foes what to beat you they can’t ever let up otherwise it’ll quickly regen back. It’s still not a bunker but in 1v1s and even some 2v1s you stand a good chance when you’re on a point.

Your preferred rotation will be (with full adren) Pin Down -> Combustion Shot -> Closing into melee range and using Fan of Fire -> Arching Shot, make sure to use it where you’re standing for might -> swap to swords, 3 more bleeds from sigil -> Flurry ->Impale -> Use Riposte if they are attacking you for another 4 stacks. Hitting Pin down is vital, you can win without it hitting but it means its less likely that they’ll sit in the Combustive Shot. You can of course combo other ways depending on the situation but with the above rotation it can pretty much wipe out anyone without cleanses.

This build doesn’t provide as much AoE conditions as say a Necro or a Engi but it supports the team via constant regen and might stacking. If you get the chance feel free to pick up the banner and use skill 5 in the combo field for more might. When working with a Guardian you’ll both be nearly unstoppable because all the Guardians buffs will be lasting longer, and depending on their build healing more. I tried the build with Rabid originally but I found that the extra healing at the cost of crit chance and a bit of condi damage gained me better success.

Your biggest threat with this build will be Necromancers of course, but it’s a fair chance either way. Since Zerker Stance will probably still be up by the end of the bleed spike even if they transfer the conditions it won’t matter to you. The second wave is where things can get dangerous, but with a few well timed dodges and saving your second Combustive Shot until they start to hit you your regen can win you the day.

Obvious problems with the build is of course finding a place where it fits in a team. It’s pretty handy in team fights obviously and is strong 1v1 but is it better than a second Necromancer or Engi? That will probably depend on your team. The build is still a nice departure from our CC builds if you want to try something different. I could also see it being pretty useful in WvW with some modifications.

i usually use combustion before pin down, they arrive at the same time and give you a bit of additional time (i like to use smoldering there to prevent a hard CC). also you seem to be taking the bleeding a bit over the top when pin down into flurry alone can provide 25 stacks with rune of earth and 55%+ crit chance on flurry. your build seems to sacrifice a lot of versatiliy for this bleeding spike which can be removed easily and when your zerker / balanced run out you are quite out of options.

Steelo.4597:

i usually use combustion before pin down, they arrive at the same time and give you a bit of additional time (i like to use smoldering there to prevent a hard CC). also you seem to be taking the bleeding a bit over the top when pin down into flurry alone can provide 25 stacks with rune of earth and 55%+ crit chance on flurry. your build seems to sacrifice a lot of versatiliy for this bleeding spike which can be removed easily and when your zerker / balanced run out you are quite out of options.

The problem with using Combustive first is that if they dodge they’re probably already out of the field. Also, the constantly reapplying Burn and Torment are typically removed first because it removes the most recently applied condition. Impale can basically negate several forms of condition removal unless they rapid fire them because it does a consistent increase meaning it’s always the most recent. The bleeds only have to be there for a few seconds for them to do a ton of damage.

I went to a duel server and fought against most of the current meta builds. I trounced Ele, Spirit Ranger put up a bit of a fight but the spirits always got themselves killed in the Combustive Shot, a Hammer/Mace Warrior with the same Zerker Stance/Cleansing Ire traits I had never got me below 50% and I only dropped as low as I did because of lag, I lost the first time to a Necro because for some reason all my Pin Downs were “obstructed” no mater what but then I won the next 3 after that, Thief didn’t apply enough constant pressure and always had to stand in my fire field if they did want to attack. Didn’t get any Mesmers but they aren’t that big in the meta atm and they die instantly to condis anyways.

1v1s of course aren’t the most important things but everyone there seemed to be playing their build correctly. The Warrior Vs Warrior fight took like 5 minutes though because every time I’d get him low I’d get a lag spike and miss something. Still didn’t have much of a chance because of my high armor and regen. Necro was either hard or easy depending on whether or not I blinded/Dodged/used Zerker well. I haven’t run it in SoloQ yet, want to be certain it’s actually good because I don’t wanna screw people over.

yeah you have to be guessing a bit where they are going and put the combustion in that direction. i can see your combo being a safer way to land it though and with balanced stance you dont have the problem of getting knocked out from flurry. you might be in for a surprise against zerker phantasm mesmer, they eat through the sustain pretty fast and are evasive enough that you cant land your combo and end the match quickly. tanky condi necromancer can sit out the stances and then they are really dangerous, but yeah with this kind of build you have a fair chance of beating them. also engis can be a pain in the butt, but you outsustain their damage from my experience. guardians are a joke. in 1v1 these builds are pretty much king. would encourage you to run a few duels with my build and see if you like it, the sustained healing is probably higher, you can recover more easily and you can drag out fights untill the enemies run out of cooldowns and the mechanics are pretty much the same when it comes to combos and playstyle, except you get more boons and overall increased survivability with additional condi cleanse from horn trading for a bit lower dps.

in spvp you can drop anyone 1v1 and hold yourself for a bit in 1v2 and be a total boss at orb carrying, but because of the lack of blocks / endures you cant really bunker through a lot of damage against 2+ enemies. at least that is my experience.

I use the same exact build (0/20/20/30/0) but with slightly different abilities since I roll with gs + sword/war horn for pve. Sporting full berserker armor, with runes of water (2 minor, 2 major, 2 superior) for the boon duration, full berserker accessories with berserker-like stat upgrades, and a berserker gs, I do enough damage to satisfy myself. The sword is only there for when I use my war horn to remove conditions and/or apply boons, and used only for secondary attacking until I can swap back to my gs, so I don’t count it in my build.

With my current build, I’m traited for balanced pve. I deal decent damage while having good regeneration. Speaking of, in terms of health sustainability, I use healing signet, adrenal health, a banner, and mango pies. I have a total of 420 healing power (50 from runes, 200 from traits, 170 from banner of tactics). It’s not a lot, but note that I have four sources of passive healing, and it easily heals for more than mending and healing surge at rank 3 . With cleansing ire (defense 20) and quick breathing (tactics 20), as well as signet of stamina, I have a wide array of condition removal as it is.

Other classes will likely out-damage me, other classes will probably heal better than I can, but I can do both pretty well too. I can stand on a few veterans and not get my butt handed to me in a silver platter (tested with veteran aetherblade thugs, strikers, etc.). I can also hold my own with champions. I can solo them, but, of course, it’ll take a while. Oh and I use 60-70% boon duration for my signet of rage. Since I don’t have any points to discipline, I don’t have signet mastery, thus the cool down of SoR is set to its default 60. But with a 48-51s duration, it doesn’t bother me. Plus, there’s always my burst gs skill for extra fury duration, so that’s always nice.

I’ve done pure power builds and pure tanking builds, but I can’t stand either of them. With a pure power build, I go down too fast and too often if I’m not careful. Whenever I go down, and someone has to revive me, that’s time wasted on trying to take down the boss/target. If I have to spam that 4 button, without someone reviving, that’s even more time wasted. If I use vengeance, I’ll go down anyway without Sweet Revenge, and I’m not too fond of the mere 25% rally chance without SR. With a pure tank build, I’m just slowing my team down with pitiful damage. But with a balanced build, I do enough damage and heal for ridiculous amounts despite having low healing power.

Power: 30xx-38xx (depending on might stacks)
Critical chance: 64% (72% with banner of discipline, and 91% SoR/GS burst)
Critical damage: 62% (77% with banner of discipline)
Healing: 420 (250 with banner of discipline)

TL;DR = my power comes from gear, but my healing comes from traits, skills, and food.