Guild Wars 2

Hey guys!

To start off I am just going to say that I am normally not a warrior player. However lately I started playing it more. This is because warrior currently is weak in the Meta and I really like to have a challenge: finding an effective build. I tried many builds I found on the forums, there are some great ones in there! However I also started experimenting myself and came to the idea of making the following hybrid Berserker:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vJAQNAU8fjMdQhH24BWhAnIWmCsjjQAo1p01qd9g3Tbst2C-TJRHABfs/A4lBI7JAAwFBAA

As of many warrior builds, this build’s defense heavily relies on cooldowns. By these means you will be most effective in team fights.
There are traits to swap around with. Mainly in the Berserker trait line, the only mandatory trait is King of Fires. The other ones can be swapped around to your likes.

Your sword is your main weapon for sustained damage. Dealing about 1K raw dps on auto and same for bleeds. It’s executioner ability is a good way to burst whenever your enemy is low and Berserker mode is on cooldown.
You do need to position very well as you will likely become a target for the enemies. Taking distance and landing Rifle Butt becomes very important.

However as I said before I am not too experienced on warrior. I feel like this build has great potential (Currently on a 62% win ratio) however I am staring myself blind on how to improve it. What is your opinion on this build and where could improvements be?

Thanks in advance, Fvux!

This is an interesting build, and rather consistent at that. Well done.

I see that you’ve chosen Dead or Alive rather than Heat the Soul. At first, I would have prioritized Heat the Soul, to optimize the combos between Torch #5 and the rifle projectile finishers. However, if your actual weapon rotations do not need the reduced CD, then I suppose Dead or Alive might be better, somehow compensating for the overall lack of defense, as you otherwise have no block or physical invulnerability.

In terms of sigils, I usually do not equip on-swap sigils of the same type on the different weapon sets. With Fast Hands, you’re likely to swap weapons under the 9s CD of the sigil, thus wasting some of its value. I’d probably take an Energy Sigil instead of one of your Sigil of Doom.

Thank you for your feedback Elegie!

I chose Dead or Alive since I basicly saved my kitten several times. As I said in the original post it can be swapped to preference. I just feel like I can use the survivability to have room for mistakes. However if I manage to get better at it, Heat the Soul would be a better choice.

I originally played this build indeed with sigil of energy, however I did find it to be a bit unneeded since I already have the signet for endurance regen. Next to that it is the only poison application in this build. Poison is for me an invaluable condition and I can rotate around that.

However I think this build leaves lotta options to preference. I think it would work very well with your options

Ah yes, you’re right, sorry! Well, I’m afraid I don’t see how to improve the build for now – I really like it “as is”, and your being successful with it is quite encouraging. I’ll make sure and try it when I’m back to the game.

Just a few questions, if you don’t mind:

• Are you generating enough adrenaline, to enter Berserker mode as you need? What’s your opinion on “Furious” rather than “Burst Precision”?
• Have you considered using the Rune of the Sunless? Fear works nicely with a rifle, to push opponents away and possibly kill shot them in the process. Your current choice of runes is very strong though, so I’m not sure whether it’d be worth it.

In the past, the rifle auto-attack had bleed on it. I enjoyed running condition builds with a rifle then. Most opponents would /laugh, then /die, then /noobify you

So a good combo for sword is int sigil with hydromancy. Hydro will either hit them with chill on swap so you can gap open for an escape, or you can move into melee and swap into sword, hitting them with the hydro proc followed by a Final Thrust which is easier to land thanks to the chill locking the target down. Sigil of Intillegence will ensure that both the hydro and the Final Thrust crit, which makes that quick turn around burst come out of nowhere and really hurt.

Alternativly you could put a sigil of Agility in place of hydro. That’ll give you that 1s of quickness to either leap away, or speed up the channel of an instant Final Thrust. Int sigil again to ensure that burst hits its hardest.

Hi,

Ross Biddle.2367:

So a good combo for sword is int sigil with hydromancy. Hydro will either hit them with chill on swap so you can gap open for an escape, or you can move into melee and swap into sword, hitting them with the hydro proc followed by a Final Thrust which is easier to land thanks to the chill locking the target down. Sigil of Intillegence will ensure that both the hydro and the Final Thrust crit, which makes that quick turn around burst come out of nowhere and really hurt.

Hydromancy looks interesting indeed, all the more that it can be used to clear blinds before Final Thrust. On the other hand, I don’t think Intelligence is needed: the OP can go beyond 100% critical chance already, with Fury, Sword Mastery and the precision stacks of Signet Mastery. This is one of the big advantage of the Arms line being used in a hybrid/power build.

Ross Biddle.2367:

Alternativly you could put a sigil of Agility in place of hydro. That’ll give you that 1s of quickness to either leap away, or speed up the channel of an instant Final Thrust. Int sigil again to ensure that burst hits its hardest.

Quickness can indeed be nice for Final Thrust. As for leaping away, I’m not sure, though: Quickness makes movement skills travel less far (as Slow make them go farther), unless they’ve finally fixed this?

Elegie.3620:

Hi,

Ross Biddle.2367:

So a good combo for sword is int sigil with hydromancy. Hydro will either hit them with chill on swap so you can gap open for an escape, or you can move into melee and swap into sword, hitting them with the hydro proc followed by a Final Thrust which is easier to land thanks to the chill locking the target down. Sigil of Intillegence will ensure that both the hydro and the Final Thrust crit, which makes that quick turn around burst come out of nowhere and really hurt.

Hydromancy looks interesting indeed, all the more that it can be used to clear blinds before Final Thrust. On the other hand, I don’t think Intelligence is needed: the OP can go beyond 100% critical chance already, with Fury, Sword Mastery and the precision stacks of Signet Mastery. This is one of the big advantage of the Arms line being used in a hybrid/power build.

Ross Biddle.2367:

Alternativly you could put a sigil of Agility in place of hydro. That’ll give you that 1s of quickness to either leap away, or speed up the channel of an instant Final Thrust. Int sigil again to ensure that burst hits its hardest.

Quickness can indeed be nice for Final Thrust. As for leaping away, I’m not sure, though: Quickness makes movement skills travel less far (as Slow make them go farther), unless they’ve finally fixed this?

No, you’re right, the quickness will shorten the distance traveled. It’d only hasten the activation immediately after swap, so you’d only want to take it for the thrust.

It is a single second of course, so for general purpose a swap into an eventual leap wouldn’t hurt.

You know, as nice as Flame Legion rune is, berserker is a superior rune. You’re losing 1s of your burn ticks, but you’re getting more condi damage, and the flat +5% bonus to all condi’s, and power too.

Assuming the 6th effect is working, I’d heard it wasn’t post release.

Okay hey all! Sorry for the late response, I’ve been very busy so couldn’t get online.

For the questions and suggestions:

• Are you generating enough adrenaline, to enter Berserker mode as you need? What’s your opinion on “Furious” rather than “Burst Precision”?

For the first part of the question my answer is easy. I do feel like I generate enough adrenaline. One mistake I see warriors do alot is that the activate Signet of Rage too soon, even pre-combat to get swiftness. I never do this. In teamfights I am mostly already receiving might, fury and swiftness so I don’t always activate it. It really helps filling up the adrenaline when you start a fight.
About the traits, I tried Furious. However in my opinion it feels too weak to not hit your gunflame. I think both are viable options, I just like playing with Burst Precision more.

Elegie.3620:

• Have you considered using the Rune of the Sunless? Fear works nicely with a rifle, to push opponents away and possibly kill shot them in the process. Your current choice of runes is very strong though, so I’m not sure whether it’d be worth it.

I did not even think of this rune tbh. I think it could work well, but losing that burn uptime means losing quite some dps. I think it is good if you have a very offensive enemy team and little support in your team.

Ross Biddle.2367:

So a good combo for sword is int sigil with hydromancy. Hydro will either hit them with chill on swap so you can gap open for an escape, or you can move into melee and swap into sword, hitting them with the hydro proc followed by a Final Thrust which is easier to land thanks to the chill locking the target down. Sigil of Intillegence will ensure that both the hydro and the Final Thrust crit, which makes that quick turn around burst come out of nowhere and really hurt.

Alternativly you could put a sigil of Agility in place of hydro. That’ll give you that 1s of quickness to either leap away, or speed up the channel of an instant Final Thrust. Int sigil again to ensure that burst hits its hardest.

I am definetly going to try hyrdomancy. It indeed seems like a very legit choice because of the reasons you mentioned.
About intelligence I’m not very certain of it. You can already have up to 75% crit chance easily with this so I don’t really feel like I need it just for that one skill.
As mentioned above sigil of Agility will only shorten you leap. It could indeed make the landing of your sword 3 easier, but I think there are better choices.

Ross Biddle.2367:

You know, as nice as Flame Legion rune is, berserker is a superior rune. You’re losing 1s of your burn ticks, but you’re getting more condi damage, and the flat +5% bonus to all condi’s, and power too.

Assuming the 6th effect is working, I’d heard it wasn’t post release.

The bonusses you get from Rune of Berserker will not be stronger in this build than with Flame Legion runes (If my calculations are correct). However when you play with Vipers it is stronger due to the condi duration you get. However I felt like I lacked some precision with that.

Thanks for all the reactions!