I’ve been testing Warrior builds during the off-season to see how far I could take what is on its face a fairly clearly low-tier class. While I’ve had fun testing condition builds, gimmick builds and glassy burst builds, when it comes down to it I can quite easily outperformed just about every tested build on Scrapper, Reaper and Dragonhunter without much thought, and while I don’t personally prefer playing Daredevil, Herald and Druid, I know well enough to say that they are better classes in the right hands.
So, since I’m not posting this on the Tempest or Chronomancer forums:
-What approaches do you see Berserker relying upon in the next season?
-What can Warrior offer that other classes can’t, on a level far above other classes?
-Is there any hope for Berserker in a competitive situation, or is the reliability of the aformentioned meta classes too important to ignore?
Regarding my testing,
I had a ton of fun with Sword/Sword + Mace/Shield Berserker, both as condition and hybrid builds. There’s a lot of room for customization and fine-tuning, and I therefore tested the following niche synergies:
-Standard Defense 112, Discipline 233, Berserker 133 with Wanderer’s or Mercenary amulet.
-Dropping Disc. for Strength to run Body Blow and Distracting Strikes — absolutely fantastic 12+ Confusion stacks when it works, but suffers immensely from adrenaline starvation.
-Dropping Disc for Arms 232 and running Wanderer’s amulet — fantastic adrenaline generation and bleed stacking, but much harder to fight Necromancers with.
-Swapping CI for RR and Tempest Runes for a 5k heal every time you burst, with another variant using Berserker 332 for more less stability (read: more breaks).
-Swapping in Torch for a long cooldown cleanse and burn, but less reflect.
Of all the variants, I enjoyed the Wanderer’s Arms build the most due to the passive Signet of Might at 50%. However, in terms of consistency I suspect Mercenary RR+Tempest is the most durable.
That said… while I did have fun, I never felt like any of these builds performed well in a team environment. None offered the whopping damage you’d want to justify how squishy Warrior is, to the point where I feel the opposite approach will be more common in competitive play:
Rifle Warrior can get all of the necessary traits and utilities (Fast Hands, Cleansing Ire, Endure Pain, Berserker Stance) while still focusing heavily on offense. Crack Shot and Traveler’s runes can keep up mobility while increasing adrenaline generation; Viper’s amulet with Smoldering and Torment can maximize your Gun Flame damage; and with Viper’s Expertise, Hydromancy and Ice on Mace/Shield can give you access to 5 seconds of Chill every swap.
This build’s playstyle should be familiar to anyone that played Longbow Ranger or Shatter Mesmer, but it’s nevertheless one that’s easy to focus down after cooldowns are spent. You only have 15 seconds of Stability in Berserk mode, 15 seconds of Resistance, 8 seconds of Endure Pain, 4 seconds of Reflect/Block and two stun breaks instead of the typical three.
How much can Warrior really do with 8~15 seconds of unmitigated damage dealing? Which approach is better when both are softer than the average meta class’ build?
I’d really love to hear some input from stubborn Warrior mains. I hate the thought of a class being pigeon-holed into either a glassy newbie-friendly build, or a melee-heavy build that’s mediocre but serviceable (S/S, M/Sh). Gun Flame feels like the better choice considering it’s the only unique part of Berserker that’s better than what others have, but… well, it’s Gun Flame. It’s inherently easy to predict and counter even when you build to protect it.
Show me something to get excited about, if you’d be so kind? Maybe we missed something…?
Thanks much for reading, testing, and responding.
EDIT: Updated the build and write-up.
(edited by Akira.5746)