Guild Wars 2

Hey guys, so I have been messing around with builds for my Berserker. I started with the Meta Phalanx Strength build but found it kind of boring and simple, and way too squishy. I’m not really liking any of the meta builds. I should mention this is for PvE – Fractals and Dungeons.

So this is what I am running now:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vJAQNAR3enMdAdfg1eA+dAEliFiAT5L8EmCvF3lb01IAEBGAA-TxhFABXobYgrAAJ7PAwDBYQ1fMS5XVKBBA-e

I would like to keep suggestions on the cheap side, gear wise. I changed Tactics to Discipline from the Phalanx Strength and switched a few traits around. I like the Discipline Tree SO much because it feels like I am able to use Burst Skills a LOT more, and I can swap weapons very very often. Because of that, I feel it is okay to sacrifice the strengths of one of the more offensive offhand weapons for the shield, because I can stay on Axe for a shorter amount of time.

Can I get some advice on how to edit this build?

1# you use extra Burning duration bonusses from runes but you dont have condition damage or Burning pressure.
2# you use 2 sigils twice instead of 4 different sigils. You would be better of with swap to weapon sigil bonusses.
3# to much precision (50% is enough)
4# you are to squizzy but I’m not sure If that matters in pve land.
5# use defence instead of strenght.
6# banners = utility-slot waste.
7# signet of Fury is useless
8# weak runes
9# choose anything accept Inspiring Battle Standard (you are not a healer)
10# select burst mastery over heightened Focus.

Hoaxintelligence.4628:

1# you use extra Burning duration bonusses from runes but you dont have condition damage or Burning pressure.
2# you use 2 sigils twice instead of 4 different sigils. You would be better of with swap to weapon sigil bonusses.
3# to much precision (50% is enough)
4# you are to squizzy but I’m not sure If that matters in pve land.
5# use defence instead of strenght.
6# banners = utility-slot waste.
7# signet of Fury is useless
8# weak runes
9# choose anything accept Inspiring Battle Standard (you are not a healer)
10# select burst mastery over heightened Focus.

I find the build to be quite survivable in Fractals, mostly because the shield block lets relieves some pressure from my endurance bar.

So #1 – The runes were transferred over from my Guardian, I use the set on both, the rune is exactly the same as Strength and I don’t have the gold for strength atm. I will look for a better alternative if that is an issue.

2. – I should look into Weapon Swap sigils then – Since you said I am too squishy, would Sigil of Leeching be a good one? Or Hydromancy? Battle? Energy?

3. – Swap Signet of Fury for Signet of Might then. Done.

4. – Like I said, the build holds it’s own fairly well with shield, and some of the weapon swap sigils could alleviate some survivability issues.

5. – Would that not sacrifice too much DPS? Haven’t looked into it, will do shortly.

6. – Okay, so what should I use instead? For Great Justice? Endure Pain? Could you maybe offer suggestions instead of telling me what’s wrong with it and leaving it at that?

7. – See #3

8. – See #1

9. – Switched for Destruction of the Empowered then.

10. – Was iffy on that one to begin with. Switched.

Overall, your post was useful in some ways, but it comes off as derogatory when you offer no suggestions, only insulting the build I am working on.

Can someone offer some more helpful advice with the changes made above? Thank you all.

To be honest, I dont know whats viable in Pve and what the best pve warrior setup is, sins I only come to pve If I need to craft something.
But I did saw people here on the forums that were saying that everything is viable in pve.
So maybe it doesnt matter at all? I dunno

Well, if we are talking PvE then; yes, any intelligent build is viable. On that note, I see where you mentioned fractals. I understand why you swapped Tactics in favor of Discipline however you are actually making things harder on yourself and your team. When I am running solo in open Tyria I too use Discipline for fast hands and warrior’s sprint. When in a group though, the might share from phalanx strength is an integral part of team victory. It let’s you and everyone else on your team kill faster. I’m not saying you have to use it, and I stress again that I understand why you’re changing it. However, in my experience you are hobbling the whole party. Otherwise, inspiring battle standard is fine if you feel like more healing through regeneration.

I’m not sure why you’re using rune of fire without at least a torch. If you want cheap use Hoelbrak. They give the bonus on 1 through 5 but the 6th bonus on Hoelbrak will be more useful for you in all PvE settings.

Again, not sure why you’re using sigil of fire in your weapons unless you’re just wanting to watch that burst of fire around your target when you crit, but with kitten (really, “5-s” as in “5 second” is filtered to “kitten”) cd you have to ask yourself if it’s really worth it? I’ll use the air version but they are more expensive in return for a shorter recharge and single target strike. Anyway, if you want condi boost go sigil of bursting which affects all forms of condi, not just fire, and are cheap. Otherwise, I don’t know, you could battle, geomancy, or even leeching I suppose.

Hope something in there proves helpful.

I’m also not super knowledgeable about pve stuff, but my two bits:

1. I agree with Hoax about your rune choice. At just under 3g per Strength rune, I don’t think it’ll take you many dungeons to be able to afford them. You could stick with what you have until you have them.
2. If you’re having no trouble surviving, then feel free to stick with Discipline over Defense.
3. Burst Mastery is better for you than Heightened Reflexes, imo. You mentioned loving burst spam, and Burst Mastery couples nicely with Smash Brawler. 4s of quickness every 15s isn’t better.
4. I’d replace all of your sigils. You’ll have max might anyway most of the time (especially once you swap your runes and if you run a good food) so Strength is unnecessary, and you can do better than Fire. I’m no expert, but I’d probably put Force on both weapons, Bloodlust, and maybe Hydromancy. Hydromancy has lower base damage than Fire, but it can crit, which is awesome. Their may be better choices, but it’s better for your build than Fire if you’re swapping as often as it sounds.
5. Swapping to DotE will certainly give you more personal damage, but it may be too selfish for for groups to accept you, especially since you’ve dumped Phalanx Strength. As it is, you may get kicked from groups just because of that. If people don’t care, or the group already has lots of regen, go for it.

Good luck.

Thank you all for your advice, I am in the process of revising the build on GW2Skills right now, and will probably post a new link after the revisions have been made.

Edit 1: Another thing, about sigils, Force is 10g per atm and I can’t really afford that, I’m thinking about using Bloodlust/Leeching on the GS and…maybe Hydromancy/Leeching on Axe/Shield? Not too sure on either of those sigil setups. Advice?

Edit 2: WIP Link here:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vJAQNAR3enMdAdfg1eA2dAEliliATpL0EyCvD3k7z1YA8ACAA-TBCEABbpEEgHAQK7PExVAIR1f6Q3ATK/I+gAAA-e

Edit 3: Another idea here, what if I used Superior Sigil of Renewal as well as leeching on the axe/shield? Would provide significant boosts to survivability. Just a thought I had. Still haven’t decided on sigils.

The latter might be better. Leaching has a 9s ICD, so you only want one if you tend to swap every 5s or so.

Choppy.4183:

The latter might be better. Leaching has a 9s ICD, so you only want one if you tend to swap every 5s or so.

Like I said, I am swapping quite often, taking almost full advantage of fast hands. If I’m not getting the benefit of Weapon Swap sigils every time because of the 9 sec CD, would it be better to use a different type of sigil? These sigils are so confusing. I have no idea what would be best.

Dolothane.4306:

Like I said, I am swapping quite often, taking almost full advantage of fast hands. If I’m not getting the benefit of Weapon Swap sigils every time because of the 9 sec CD, would it be better to use a different type of sigil? These sigils are so confusing. I have no idea what would be best.

Yeah, the same two sigils share their cd, so you can’t get the benefit a second time until that CD has passed, even if you have the same sigil on two different sets.

Since the CD is 9s and you can swap to your second set and back to your original set (with Leaching) in 10s, there isn’t a good case for putting Leaching on both sets.

So, for warriors packing Fast Hands, never use the same on-swap sigil on both weapons.

I would agree with DKShang about at least keeping the Tactics line in your build. Tactics is your premier go-to for group content like Dungeons and Fractals. The support that it offers your group is just too valuable to not have. What you have right now should work fine in lower fractals since you can generally just cleave through the mobs quickly but in higher scales your PS offensive support would be a great asset to have.

Is there any way to do a Discipline/Tactics/Berserker build? I know Strength Discipline Tactics is possible but I really don’t want to give up berserker. Strength seems too vital when paired with tactics. I know I’m stretching at this point, but I just really enjoy the Discipline playstyle.

Okay, update, I’ve been trying a Defense/Discipline/Berserker build, here’s a link:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vJAQNAR5enMdAdfg1eA2dAElilqA7d0maftILuLQAQpH0CyBA-TBCBABpoboS1fq4gAAwTAALlfnpEsm9HY4CAAA-e

Did a few fractals with it last night, it is very survivable with Adrenal Health providing a very large amount of regen along with Inspiring Banners (though I might replace it with DotE, not sure on the benefit of it in PvE). I have definitely sacrificed a lot of personal DPS, but I provide good support through Banners, CC, and medium-high damage, using Mace/Shield to break bars on command and swap to greatsword for the juicy broken bar damage boost.

Would this be a more acceptable playstyle for high level fractals? The Strength/Discipline/Berserker build seemed very very fragile after having switched to defense, and I seem to be able to focus more on DPS rather than keeping my own butt alive, so would that in turn mean I do about the same damage? As in, I do less DPS, but since I can stay in the fight longer and not have to worry about getting 1-2 shot, I can dish it out longer, so I do the same damage OVERALL.

Discuss

I feel like a lot of the advice here has been a little on the pvp side of things, and I’d like to add a bit more pve perspective. In pve, people usually try to burst down mobs so fast that they don’t have an opportunity to do enough damage to kill you. Because of this, increasing your and your group’s damage is much more important than the survive you might take in pvp.

Strength gives you 25 stacks of might and a 20% damage modifier. In terms of pure damage, this is your most important trait line and I would be very hesitant to give it up.

Tactics is what makes people want warriors. It lets you share out all the might you generate to allies so that your whole group gets might. It also gives EA which is a nice dps boost.

Berserker is another huge dps boost. It also gives you access to more skills which gives you more versatility. Headbutt is an amazing cc and your primal bursts are also great.

If you want to fit in Discipline, you’re going to have to deviate from these accepted trait lines. The more you deviate the less accepted your build will be.

Here is why I don’t think you should bring Defense. When you enter a high level fractal people will be expecting you to be running highly offensive builds. Your friend the glass cannon ele is going to charge into the mobs expecting to maybe go down, but to rally before a fractal avenger can stake them. If you take Defense then you’ll be a lot less squishy but that won’t matter when your glass cannon allies die.

Essentially, unless it is critical to your playstyle and enjoying the gameplay, take the offensive option. Your original post says that Discipline is critical to your playstyle, so by all means take it, but limit your deviation from meta as much as possible while still having a build you find fun to play.

I suggest one of two options:

1. Strength/Discipline/Berserker: This would be a selfish damage build that doesn’t provide group support outside of banners. You can run this if you’re ok with being selfish and want personal dps or if there is another warrior in the party.

2. Tactics/Discipline/Berserker: This would be a group support build that doesn’t have that great of personal dps. In order to make up for the loss of Forceful Greatsword you would need a sigil of strength to generate might.

I saw some people suggest DotE in Discipline. Don’t take that because most enemies in pve don’t have many boons. Take Inspiring Battle Standard in fights without much condition pressure and Brawler’s Recovery when there is.

If you find yourself needing more defense, in pve it is best to get that from utility skills and food. Mango Pies are a great food for extra survive as they give you health over time. You can drop one banner (keep discipline over strength) in favor of a defensive utility skill like Endure Pain or Signet of Stamina.

I hope this helps

Your post was incredibly helpful, thank you so much!

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vJAQNAR3enMdAdfg1eA+dAEliFyAT5D8A2AJDgAQk7twuYjsA-TBSEABA8AAQZ/hlU+ho6PapEEhLCAH6Gi4IAAA-e

Here is what I came up with, favoring a higher crit chance in hopes to achieve a result closer to what could be achieved with Forceful Greatsword crits. Ideally, I guess you would want Assassin’s gear for higher crit chance? Provides support via inspiring battle standard (regen) and normal support provided by Tactics.

If you really want to optimize things, you could aim for 2255 precision. When you add banner of discipline and spotter from a ranger, that will put you at 80% crit chance, so you’ll be at 100% with fury. On my warrior I do this by having assassin’s helm and legs, but I have ascended weapons which makes my numbers a bit different. If you already have zerk, it’s probably not worth switching things up as you gain very little.

If you’re using a sigil of perception you definitely won’t need extra precision. However I’d favor a sigil of bloodlust over that.