Guild Wars 2

So after playing a good amount of Berkserker I only found one build that I felt was even remotely decent, and it didn’t use Discipline. In fact, it seems like the specialization was designed around the idea of camping one weapon set and only swapping occasionally.

The build that worked best primarily used Mace/Torch with Strength-Defense-Berserker. Between the interrupts the Mace offers and Taunt also being able to interrupt you can potentially stack an absurd amount of confusion. With Body Blow you also apply a lot of weakness and bleed. You can also apply a decent amount of burning as well.

It seems like Rage skills are supposed to fill the gap in your offense because you’re swapping less. Of course, in reality it just makes for a overall lackluster package. Being a Power build on Berserker is just not worthwhile. I’m cool with the spec being hybrid, but then the spec should be called Barbarian or something. The bottom level or traits seem good at first glance but honestly Defense is still better.

If Warriors had BASELINE FAST HANDS and a way to have sustain outside of double Endure Pain then maybe Berserker could be good. However, the base Warrior needs changes first.

BurrTheKing.8571:

If Warriors had BASELINE FAST HANDS and a way to have sustain outside of double Endure Pain then maybe Berserker could be good. However, the base Warrior needs changes first.

Sums up pretty much everything I think of warrior/berserk.

I’m still psyched to have a go with berserker as warrior is my fav class (also fire is my theme so this all fits me like a glove). I’m thinking GS + rifle using berserker as a form of death prevention and with berserker stance being a stun breaker i can free up a move slot for something epic.

pve of course – i hate my warrior in pvp :P

Maybe you should clarify if you’re talking about PvP/PvE/WvW.
And maybe you might want to provide a link to your build.

BurrTheKing.8571:

So after playing a good amount of Berkserker I only found one build that I felt was even remotely decent, and it didn’t use Discipline. In fact, it seems like the specialization was designed around the idea of camping one weapon set and only swapping occasionally.

…

If Warriors had BASELINE FAST HANDS and a way to have sustain outside of double Endure Pain then maybe Berserker could be good. However, the base Warrior needs changes first.

Don’t you think that your impression might be biased by the fact that you didn’t use Discipline and therefore feel that Berserker is about camping weapon sets?

It feels like your insights revolve around being used to having FH. That’s fine. But I personally feel that most Warriors are simply spoiled by using FH, not realising that most rotations actually work pretty well without it. I really don’t want to start a ‘Make FH baseline’-discussion here but I feel your assessment is a bit unfair regarding the Berserker since – if you followed your arguement – this statement could be made for any build without Discipline.

That being said, I had a great time with a very similar build set up without Defense but with Discipline (mainly Verdant Brink, so PvE). It offers a very nice alternative way to play condi/hybrid on Warriors. Sword just bores me. I also toyed around with M/S which let’s you drop Endure Pain easily. But you have to anyway because you’d probably want more condition removal when dropping Torch for Shield. By the way: The build didn’t benefit from FH when it comes to cross-weapon rotations. Because it had none. Yeah… there is such a thing. And the build worked the same way without Berserker. So it’s not Berserker specific.

I feel many people – across all classes – have wrong expectations when it comes to elite specializations. They are not innately supposed to increase DPS or buff already successful builds. Berserkers offer new defensive traits and new condition options. And it does it quite well. People should embrace the alternatives and try something new.

Personally, I’m just disappointed with the utility skills since they’re bascially condition versions of Physicals. Outrage is nice, though.

Sorry, most that read my posts know I come from a pvp PoV. Also, I tried almost every possible combination of weapons, traits, and utilities and nothing felt superior to a standard Warrior.

I don’t know if this spec would even be that good outside of solo PvE. In group play the current Warrior Meta seems better.

Even condi builds don’t feel that great. The burn application isn’t that amazing even with a bar full of Rage skills. Shattering Blow is particularly annoying seeming as it likes to make you do a 180 and make you miss completely. It’s so fast that the reflect aspect is barely noticeable. Meanwhile Sundering Leap is…just a leap with some Vulnerability.

I expected the spec to offer some new form of sustain outside of Stances, but all we got is a form that turns power weapons into hybrid bursts that have no real synergy. Why would I want Burning on the GS?

BurrTheKing.8571:

Sorry, most that read my posts know I come from a pvp PoV.

Fair enough. I did. But others might not.

BurrTheKing.8571:

Also, I tried almost every possible combination of weapons, traits, and utilities and nothing felt superior to a standard Warrior.

I don’t know if this spec would even be that good outside of solo PvE. In group play the current Warrior Meta seems better.

That’s exactly the point I was trying to make.

Don’t expect elite specializations to become meta. That’s not what they are meant for. They are supposed to offer different playstyles. Builds don’t have to be meta to be sufficient (I’d say ‘viable’ but people got too different opinions on how to use this term) or fun to play. High tier PvP or dungeon speedruns are no appropriate benchmarks for creating new content for GW2 since they make up a way too small part of the community.

Many people don’t like to hear it but Warriors – even though they might have had better times – are in a pretty good spot. They see play across all game modes. Meaning, Berserkers can’t fill a gap like, for example, Wells did for Mesmers. The only thing Berserker can do without becoming buy-to-win is offering alternative playstyles and I personally believe it does, although they might not be/become meta.

To make an example for WvW: Eternal Champion and Dead or Alive are extremly powerful here. If you combine it with Shouts, or at least Healing Surge – pardon me – To the Limit, you get on demand Stability (plus possibly a Stunbreak). Yes, you have to give up another traitline. But that’s life, really. I still see this to be very powerful in WvW. While it probably won’t become meta for PvP, I also see its use for tanky builds in PvP. Just don’t expect to become a D/D Ele. Which are pretty imbalanced anyway.

BurrTheKing.8571:

Even condi builds don’t feel that great. The burn application isn’t that amazing even with a bar full of Rage skills.

As long as we are not talking meta but ‘playable without hindering your allies’:

Torch#4 might need an additional stack of burning. But aside of that, you get a nice amount of damage out of the Berserker if you actually skill for it. King of Fire and some burning duration is the key here. You won’t see burning bursts like on some other classes – which are debatable anyway – but it is a nice additional source of damage. It’s a more sustained damage playstyle like with Swords.

BurrTheKing.8571:

Shattering Blow is particularly annoying seeming as it likes to make you do a 180 and make you miss completely. It’s so fast that the reflect aspect is barely noticeable. Meanwhile Sundering Leap is…just a leap with some Vulnerability.

I expected the spec to offer some new form of sustain outside of Stances, but …

As I said: The utilities are my least favourite part of the specialization, too. Because they basically represent condition versions of Physical skills.

The thing is: How would you design a new defensive utility type for Warriors without taking away from existing ones? Just look at what they did with Glamours…

Stances already represent a very powerful self-sustained utility type especially since they are stat-unrelated and therefore have the same potency regardless of build. Signets also bring their fair share of sustain/survivability. Shouts (and to some extent Banners) provide group sustain.

TLDR: Warriors already got plenty of utilities which provide sustain. I’d rather see ANet work on those instead of implementing new ones. They also got Shield as a very potent OH for even more sustain. Many people just don’t pick it.

BurrTheKing.8571:

… but all we got is a form that turns power weapons into hybrid bursts that have no real synergy. Why would I want Burning on the GS?

I think this happened since they started out with Berserkers being pure condition. But yeah… Arcing Sear is a brainfart, just like some other primal brusts (e.g. LB… or Flame Gun… in a different way). However, I do think that the burst skills are salvagable.

For example, Arcing Sear actually would make a lot of sense on Sword since you could combo with the field. If they slightly increased the animation time you could still add the projectile destruction.

Scorched Earth would be way more interesting if the fire fields would also destroy projectiles. Just decrease their radius. Right now, there is almost no point to it since you might just use Combustive Shot instead. It would also work for non-condi builds.

Decapite is boring as hell but has its uses.

Rupturing Smash and Skull Grinder are fine in my book. No comment on Flame Gun.

For Greatsword, on of your favourites, I know, they indeed missed the mark. I think there are many ways to incorporate ‘Berserker’ into skills aside from Burning. For example, Cripple or Quickness. Two ideas:

Debilitating Slice

• Averag damage (trade off)
• Cripple for 2-3s if above 50% health.
• Also Immobilize for 1s if under 50% health.
• Target cap: 3 (trade off)

You should love this. Makes setting up 100b easier without FH. Combos with Leg Specialist.

Enraging Slice

• Average damage (trade off)
• Gain 1s of Fury per enemy hit.
• Also gain 1s of Quickness per enemy hit if below 50% health.
• Target cap: 3 (trade off)

Also another way to improve GS on its own without invalidating Arcing Slice.

If I’m paying for an expansion I expect the elite specs to be AT LEAST viable. In PvP, almost none of the specs are really worth using. Reaper seems decent and Chronomancer is boarder line OP. Everything else seems so fundamentally flawed that I’m not sure they can be fixed for release.

I’m gonna play a ton of PvE, but the main appeal for PvP players is the idea of these specs shaking things up. If only one or two end up being useful then they’re gonna see this expansion as a waste.

I couldn’t find a single build that didn’t have something that made the build feel very clunky in one way or another. I thought Primal Bursts might be cool but the only ones that seemed really well done was the mace. Rifle was ok as was sword, but GS seems useless, Axe is just meh damage wise, hammer feels unwieldy but potentially useful.

What they could do is change a trait to make burning scale off of Power. Maybe add it to Eternal Chamion and nerf the Stability frequency. It lets you keep the burning theme while allowing Warrior to do it in a way no other class can.

BurrTheKing.8571:

If I’m paying for an expansion I expect the elite specs to be AT LEAST viable. In PvP, almost none of the specs are really worth using. Reaper seems decent and Chronomancer is boarder line OP. Everything else seems so fundamentally flawed that I’m not sure they can be fixed for release.

And this leaves me at the point where I believe you see viable as = meta.

As I said, primal bursts are probably the easiest part to alter before the release. It’s up to us to make suggestions here. They won’t ditch the whole concept behind the Berserker which happens to be more condition focussed, though. Even if you don’t like the traits they happen to be quite good regardless.

It also brings me back to the point that Warriors happen to be strong across all game modes. Making it very difficult to introduce anything better than current builds without a massive power creep. Just look at Tempest and Dragonhunter. I dare to say that there is a pattern here.

Viable = usable in PvP/WvW/PvE without screwing your allies over. It doesn’t have to be in every tournament, it just shouldn’t lead to groans when you see a Elite Spec in your team. Right now I see no builds on Berserker that does anything worthwhile.

BurrTheKing.8571:

Viable = usable in PvP/WvW/PvE without screwing your allies over. It doesn’t have to be in every tournament, it just shouldn’t lead to groans when you see a Elite Spec in your team. Right now I see no builds on Berserker that does anything worthwhile.

Just because you can’t see it does not mean there isn’t a good build there. And the build you claim is the only good build, is actually not that good because everything concerning burning, (which is supposed to be a big part of the berzerker) is very undertuned and almost negligible.
I was using torch a for a while but then I switched to Sword Sword and Mace Shield and all of sudden the build felt a lot better.

Also tried a shout build as well and the survivability of the class just skyrocketed so I don’t know what you’re talking about when it comes to Berserker lacking sustain.
On top of that, I made a power build that I think works. In team fights, it’s the last thing you want coming up against you because of how much disruption it can cause.

If they listen to our complaints though and improve what truly needs improving, then the class would definitely end up on Reaper levels of crazy.

I liked Sword/Torch + Longbow combo.

Also stacking ~8-10 burns and 25-32 stacks of bleed quickly felt awesome. Had tops ~4000 bleed ticks and ~3000 burn ticks. It was kinda funny because it is’t sustained condi application like other classes but burst application. I guess you could say burst condi dmg ;p

BurrTheKing.8571:

If Warriors had BASELINE FAST HANDS and a way to have sustain outside of double Endure Pain then maybe Berserker could be good. However, the base Warrior needs changes first.

+1

For warriors everywhere…

The theory behind berserker is lighting multiple cats on fire. But it feels like the design team fell short of the possible fun the spec could bring us.

Although rifle f2 was an aoe epic.

BurrTheKing.8571:

What they could do is change a trait to make burning scale off of Power. Maybe add it to Eternal Chamion and nerf the Stability frequency. It lets you keep the burning theme while allowing Warrior to do it in a way no other class can.

This alone will make a HUGE difference in how the burn spec feels. I would even be happy if they converted precision (because i want to be able to use my sinister set again) or vitality.

I was really hoping to see some interactions with retaliation as well with the berserker, to punish foes that come close when your warrior is in a fiery rage! but that was wishful thinking.

The only decent power build I found with Berserker was a play off the current Hammer/Greatsword meta build. Subbing the Berserker trait line in for either the Defense or Strength trait line.

Something like this for more burst:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vJAQJASRjMdQbI2FCWhApIWICMlvwrbKYEAiADg3k7zN6C-TphFABAcIAAvMwCXAAFeAAJcEAWZ/BA

or like this for more sustain/team support:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vJAQJASRjMdQZI2FCWhAdIWqCMleQjLGgs4aABg3Tbr91C-TphFABAcIAAvMwCXAAFeAAJcEAWZ/BA