Guild Wars 2

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vJEQNAR8ejMdQXIWFC2dAnIG6BKsG6hcwCgPIC02I8DDA-TFDEABxs/ATKH6SJo7aGaSJBAXAAIOKAPpEjFVQaTHgbPAgEV/4bwBwe7le1LYxFX8wDzA2oheHuXpAKXoF-w

edit: one of the sigil of hydromacy should be sigil of leeching.

Rules/restrictions for critique:
No axe/shield.
No berserker trait line.

Zerg fighting variant:
-take battle standard as my ult
-replace signet of might with a banner (banner of strength i usually get since idk if others r any good anymore)

This is what I’ve been using in WvsW pretty much since the last update where healing signet was buffed and frenzy got nerfed (rip my love).
Was wondering if anyone had any suggestion on where to improve. This build has stood through alot though, and most of it seems pretty much mandatory to survive in wvsw at this point. I use it for everything. Small group fights, dueling, roaming, zerg fights, solo’ing towers/keeps…whatever you can think of in wvsw I do it with this build.

In terms of the weapon sets:
-I will never change to axe/shield so don’t bother mentioning it.
-I don’t think I want to use a ranged weapon….

utility skills and traits/trait lines:
-All of what I have seems pretty mandatory here
-berserker stance is a must or i will get rekt by condition users
-endure pain is ….I can’t imagine a build without it.
-Signet of might makes killing dh and many many other professions doable in a very shorter period of time….like frenzy used to it ends fights faster which is good.
-my ultimate…dont really see any other choice, I need some form of swiftness and the fury is good for damage.
-healing signet….again i don’t see much other choice given it grants resistance to survive/negate conditions whether they can be things that kill me or cripple my ability to run from/do damage.
-Death from above….I cannot play warrior without this now. It’s pivotal for alot of fights.

Things I can think of:
-get last ascended piece of armour
-replace rune of hoelbrak with strength? Or something else? The only drawback i can see is with cripples and weakness slowing me down without the -20% condi duration.
-look at food buffs….should i use 70 toughness and 20% boon duration….or something with power…… stick with the lifesteal one? On paper i’d say go with the toughness/boon duration but the lifesteal has just worked so well for me so far, and the extra bit of precision seems to do wonders for my damage output. In terms of sharpening stones i might need to look at furious or toxic or something……100 toughness on sharpening stone and then replace a trinket with zerker or something idk.
-Dump more trinkets into zerker

Oh and with the sigils:
I just think sigil of leeching on the sw/shield is awesome I think it does wonders for my sustain. Sigil of hydromacy isnt as great but its still really useful especially for zerg combat. sigil of bloodlust, i pretty much always have 25 stacks so if you want me to remove it keep that in mind. Sigil of night…that WOULD ideally be sigil of force (5% dmg bonus all the time). And ideally i would have a night and day greatsword (2 total), but my present day greatsword is marauder stat’d and although I used to love it I just keep going back to the zerker (night) greatsword so I’m just using (the zerker Gs) day and night now…It completely recks stuff in the nighttime.

I’m still on the fence on whether I should try an all zerker armour/trinket build with this setup. I faced a warrior in a duel that used ax/shield gs and (i’m assuming) full zerk, and I seemed to have an advantage over him just because he went full zerk whereas i had more vitality/toughness. Axe throw seemed to be the only dangerous thing the axe could do…

One of the largest obstacles for this build seems to be daredevils…they are beyond annoying and wear me down to nothing in sustained fights if they take their time. I’ve been doing really well against all my other opponents though lately (none of them have been daredevils). Mesmer, elemntalist, and scrappers have all been doable lately which usually they aren’t. And fighting dh is just plain fun given how most of them have changed to full damage spec now. I think they are probably my favourite opponent atm, then fellow warriors, then probably revenants, then necro, then ranger, …..stuff with stealth falls into last place.

Seems like pretty standard SwordGS to me? Nothing wrong with it. All your questions boil down to if you want more DPS or more survivability. For instance, Hoelbrak or Strength depend solely on wether or not you need the condi reduction, or the 5% dmg increase.

About being on the fence when it comes to full zerk, I guess you should take the amount of physical survivability you need in order for your reaction time to be sufficient to escape ganks and such. IMO, if you master warrior enough not to need anything else then zerk, you will be more powerful, though.

As a side note, I also found I am consistently winning all my duels against every class except Necromancers (duh). The reason behind this is not that warrior got that much better, though (in my opinion). It’s that WvW is dying, and people are moving on to other games. Skilled opponents are probably amongst the first to migrate.

As Cygnus said, this is a pretty standard lsetup for s+sh/gs, and I use it myself (with slight differences).

• Might Sig is good, and sometimes optimal. But I’ve been going with Stamina Sig for the last while because (thanks to a recent patch) it stacks with the Vigor you’ll get from Last Stand, which is awesome. Plus, it can give you an emergency condi cleans when BStance is on cd and you just got bombed.
• I don’t favour Hoelbrak at all anymore. I personally use Strength (mostly because I had them already) but Scholar (even when below 90% health), Scrapper, and others are also very good (and better than Hoelbrak, imo).
• Intelligence sigil on your sword set would be a good addition.
• I run full zerk gear and think I prefer it overall (I regularly have opponents pm’ing me (even in group fights) commenting on how hard I hit). Though my perma 25 stacks of might help with that. That said, sometimes fighting slightly tankier/more-regen warriors seems like I’m putting in more work than they are (not sure why)
• I use Golden Fried Dumplings, but the Pie also looks good to me too

As for competent Daredevils, yeah, they can be rough to fight. When they’re glass, getting that lucky big hit in is what it comes down to, and surviving long enough for that opportunity. That they can escape and refresh easily if you don’t finish them off when you get that chance is a real drag,

I actually find some ele, scrapper, and druid (to a lesser extent) builds worse, the first two because they hard nerf my damage output with all the uptime of protection ,etc., while still maintaining respectable damage output themselves. Some ele builds can manage upwards of 70% damage reduction, which just ruins a build like this that is based on achieving high damage pressure and killing fast.

Necromancers aren’t as bad for me, but it all comes down to whether they can survive the 15-18s before my condi defenses where out. I’ve gotten better about bailing on them if I think it’ll get ugly after that.

EDIT: I just checked and the wiki says Stamina Sig does NOT stack with Vigor, but I’m not sure if it’s old text or not. The reason I figured it did is because of this note from the late January patch,

“Vigor and other endurance-regeneration effects (such as traits) now stack up to a maximum of 100% bonus regeneration rate.”

I guess I’ll have to do some testing. If it turns out it doesn’t stack, I’ll either go back to Frenzy for that place or go with Might Sig, as you have.

Tested. Stamina Sig does stack with Vigor, despite what the Wiki says.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vJEQNAR8ejMdQZI2FCWhAnIG6BKsG6hYQbjwPNsA4DiAA-TVCFQBA4gA0gLAg+U/ZBPAgroEsE7PwgjAg60NoQlfbGEAmQEw//fT+TkCwMdWA-w

Pack or Strength runes, both are about as good imo (pack slightly better for teamfighting tho – without signet of rage).

Obindo.6802:

Pack or Strength runes, both are about as good imo (pack slightly better for teamfighting tho – without signet of rage).

I used to run Pack runes with this too (still have the set), but since HoT I find Strength (and others) way better. Arcing Slice is enough to maintain permanent Fury uptime, even without SoR, because it’s your go-to burst on this build. HoT matters because it seems everyone and their dog has tonnes of Fury anyway, and many share their Fury too.

The extra precision and swiftness on Pack are nice, but they don’t compare to the +45% might duration, extra might stacks, and (if it works) bonus damage from Strength. Scholar, Scrapper, Defender (though less so when not traiting Berserker) seem better to me.

As for Stamina Signet, I just tested it and it does indeed stack with Vigor. So, the net result is you get the effect of having an unstrippable vigor-like buff 100% of the time, and for about 25s/min you have +100% endurance regen, which is amazing (especially when combined with an Energy sigil and Reckless Dodge).

Choppy.4183:

Obindo.6802:

Pack or Strength runes, both are about as good imo (pack slightly better for teamfighting tho – without signet of rage).

I used to run Pack runes with this too (still have the set), but since HoT I find Strength (and others) way better. Arcing Slice is enough to maintain permanent Fury uptime, even without SoR, because it’s your go-to burst on this build. HoT matters because it seems everyone and their dog has tonnes of Fury anyway, and many share their Fury too.

The extra precision and swiftness on Pack are nice, but they don’t compare to the +45% might duration, extra might stacks, and (if it works) bonus damage from Strength. Scholar, Scrapper, Defender (though less so when not traiting Berserker) seem better to me.

As for Stamina Signet, I just tested it and it does indeed stack with Vigor. So, the net result is you get the effect of having an unstrippable vigor-like buff 100% of the time, and for about 25s/min you have +100% endurance regen, which is amazing (especially when combined with an Energy sigil and Reckless Dodge).

Poorly worded; Pack and strength runes are about as good options (pack better for teamfight – without signet of rage (also fury to allies) and strength better for solo – with signet of rage)*

Obindo.6802:

Poorly worded; Pack and strength runes are about as good options (pack better for teamfight – without signet of rage (also fury to allies) and strength better for solo – with signet of rage)*

No, I understood what you meant the first time. I was more saying this build has you using Arcing Slice so much that you don’t need the Fury from Pack runes (whether you use Signet of Rage or not), and that so many revs and thieves (running thrill of the crime), and others, plus most builds’ own personal Fury, means the group benefit of Pack runes isn’t as valuable as it used to be.

Pack’s still a good rune and all, but for a gs reliant warrior build in a world where everybody seems to have tonnes of Fury anyway, they’ve lost some value.

Cygnus.6903:

IMO, if you master warrior enough not to need anything else then zerk, you will be more powerful, though.

As a side note, I also found I am consistently winning all my duels against every class except Necromancers (duh). The reason behind this is not that warrior got that much better, though (in my opinion). It’s that WvW is dying, and people are moving on to other games. Skilled opponents are probably amongst the first to migrate.

I mean it’s hard not to agree with that. But with wvsw you find yourself in plenty of situations where you have to stand in the open and tank whatever damage comes at you for as long as possible. So having a bit of leeway seems like a good idea, especially when you can get hit hard out of nowhere by alot of enemies/siege/things. I didn’t die at all in our last wvsw guild run, and in roaming i hardly ever die now, so I’m thinking I can probably afford to have less hp/armour.

Obindo.6802:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vJEQNAR8ejMdQZI2FCWhAnIG6BKsG6hYQbjwPNsA4DiAA-TVCFQBA4gA0gLAg+U/ZBPAgroEsE7PwgjAg60NoQlfbGEAmQEw//fT+TkCwMdWA-w

Pack or Strength runes, both are about as good imo (pack slightly better for teamfighting tho – without signet of rage).

I honestly never considered pack runes to be even viable. Is swiftness really that important for a warrior? I mean it’s 8% greater movement speed than what I currently have. If I ever run a ranged weapon though I’ll definitely look at it again. I imagine it is fairly good for ‘mobile’ gunflamers.

I always like the idea of a full marauder build since you get more total stats (if you combined them all together as a single number) per piece out of it. It lower your overall power alot though which I thought would make damage output too low.

I mean by comparison, the difference between our build stat wise is: I have 400 more power and 200 more defense. And you have 7500 more hp and an extra +6% crit chance. I’m not really sure what to think of that on paper. In terms of zerg fighting I would take the extra 7500 hp and rely on allies for extra power. For solo roaming I ‘think’ I would rather have the extra power? Do you find yourself lacking in power or burst when fighting enemies with heavy sustain? Any drawbacks to marauder? I presently find my build to be lacking in damage and burst ability alot of the time. I mean it’s probably time I change runes and get rid of hoelbrak.

As for Stamina Signet, I just tested it and it does indeed stack with Vigor. So, the net result is you get the effect of having an unstrippable vigor-like buff 100% of the time, and for about 25s/min you have +100% endurance regen, which is amazing (especially when combined with an Energy sigil and Reckless Dodge).

Ya I’m aware of the amount of endurance you can stack on a warrior. I took stamina over might for a couple days a while back but found that my damage output was suffering too much for pvp and pve. I attribute this to the “stick and move” extra +10% when endurance not full. Without stamina signet you do notice a decrease in your ability to dodge no doubt on that, but I want fights to end as fast as possible otherwise there is no point in my fighting in that area. I don’t want to do pvp all day where i kill one and then by the time i kill another one, the one i killed first has run back and i’m stuck there gaining nothing but kills…..that’s not why ‘I’ play wvsw lol.

I was thinking of using the food buff that gives you +40% passive endurance regen….but it seems to limit you alot compared to the lifesteal and other special food effects you can get like that high insanely high 20% boon duration or other special defense foods like the saffron bread (outside of raw stats).

I mean you can stack 90% endurance regen passively on warrior and use sigil of energy (1-2). And you can have vigor going off as well for 100% full endurance. I actually am interesting in making a gunflame build that uses this and daredevil runes.
somethin like that:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vJEQJAURnckC9dgFeA2dAEliliAzYA8ACAKdhoXW4t4mcfuA-TVCEABPcEAqf/h20FwwDAYS1fA4QA0lSQCuAASp8LAACwNvZ28mBG6QH6QH6Q73y362co3sUAVp1C-w

Pack runes give alot of extra “stats” (175 power and 125 precision) at the same time that it gives an effect that’s nice, wich in this case would be the fury uptime it provides, potentially 50% uptime wich would be (with 200% crit dmg) 10% more average damage. More or less proportional to crit dmg (Tell me if I’m wrong). However with signet of rage u will have practically perma fury anyways when using greatsword, thusly I mean that pack may be used for teamfight situations when you won’t use signet of rage, and the fury that it provides is shared with others around. But in said situation there may already be some others source of perma fury, just a thing to keep in mind. Strength is better for normal situations and solo – with signet of rage. Perma fury anyways + 5% dmg and the extra might duration is good; assume an average of 10 stacks of might constantly = the boon duration provide 4.5 stacks = 135 power (and condi dmg for auto bleed on sword I guess lel)
Imo strength is genuinly superior, but pack can be nice too; I have 3 ascended sets for my warr: Zerker-strength marauder-strength, marauder-pack. I mainly use maruader-pack for gunflame, I hate being in fight with only the base 100% movement speed.
If u get 1 set, 100% go strength for this build.

Edit: I just realized that some accesories that I selected marauder don’t exist as marauder… I think lol, so it would instead be this:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vJEQNAR8ejMdQZI2FCWhAnIG6BKLA+gIQbjwPNwaoHiBA-TlCFQBIRpXDuAAKUZg+U/BAHEAGcEAWwDA4KKBVnuhSs/QAAEgbezsZbGM0hO0hO0h2Nv5QH6NvZpAMTnF-w

I might run Might Sig instead of Stamina to see how I like it. Tbh, I think I already have too much power (for my crit chance and damage) when I hit 17 might stacks, which is almost all the time. Still, it might help at the beginning of a fight. More importantly, I’ll have access to unblockable, which is nice.

But I’m still betting Stamina Sig is the better choice. When you yolo roam, a single dodge can protect you against thousands of damage. Meanwhile, Reckless Dodge well do 5k aoe damage when the stacks are up. I watch my endurance, and never have a problem not taking advantage of Stick and Move.

As others have said, I would go with str runes also now, since the nerf to – condi food, I noticed the difference with it and hoelbrak, and it’s not doing as good of a job anymore.
I guess this is preference but I also prefer the hydromancy and leeching sigils on my gs instead for a bit of more burst dmg when I land that flurry hb combo. I use the sword shield more for kiting around more so I stick a cleansing and energy sigil in it.

Looking at this atm (still ordering the strength runes tho):

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vJEQNAR8ejMdQXIWFC2dAnIG6BKtNC/wwCgPICwaoHyBA-TFDEABJq+jbPAAmUO1kSiuUCCwFAIl9Hg4IA8kSkIOIAurZoNdABAQAu5NzmtZwRP6RH6QHaX3mD9m38mlCochWA-w

Changing 1 of the earrings from captain’s to zerker gave a noticeably damage increase. And an equally noticeably decrease in toughness. Still wasn’t dying though so I figure I can add more zerker in still. I’ll add in the strength runes, once the orders fill, and look at switching the remaning 3 trinkets to zerker stat. I would change the backpiece first but….expensive as can be to make a new one that is zerker. I am a bit worried about the decrease in crit chance, and how that will impact my damage. I mean I’m basically exchanging some crit chance for some ferocity…..it doesn’t really sit well with me considering how i view the dmg order as being : power>precision>ferocity, where precision needs to be present at the 50%-60% base mark imo.

I keep thinking stuff like: Is captain’s earring 74 power 74 toughness 110 presicion gonna have much dmg difference compared to zerkers 110 power 74 precision 74 ferocity?

Choppy.4183:

I might run Might Sig instead of Stamina to see how I like it. Tbh, I think I already have too much power (for my crit chance and damage) when I hit 17 might stacks, which is almost all the time. Still, it might help at the beginning of a fight. More importantly, I’ll have access to unblockable, which is nice.

But I’m still betting Stamina Sig is the better choice. When you yolo roam, a single dodge can protect you against thousands of damage. Meanwhile, Reckless Dodge well do 5k aoe damage when the stacks are up. I watch my endurance, and never have a problem not taking advantage of Stick and Move.

I ran Might Sig last night, and to my surprise, found it pretty equivalent to Stamina Sig. Both have their uses and, I’m not gonna lie, I enjoyed having 3k power before might stacks. The damage you cause while having 3750+ power after stacks is pretty addictive, as is downing someone right through the block they were counting on.

Thinking of going fuller zerk when i can, and then changing my utility to maintenance oil for extra crit chance to makeup for any lost captain’s/marauder stats…..and to makeup for not having assassin stats on my weapons and all that. Cause maintenance oil is literally half the price of the sharpening stones. Then having my food buff be 100 power and 70 ferocity…or something. That way it’s just like having more zerker stats where you’re power > precision> ferocity. Given I don’t understand how ferocity works compared to power and the discussions i read are all over the place….that seems like the best solution. Or maybe a build with nothing but power outstrips everything else and zerker stats (i.e. the precision and ferocity) exist to cap damage output.

Choppy.4183:

Choppy.4183:

I might run Might Sig instead of Stamina to see how I like it. Tbh, I think I already have too much power (for my crit chance and damage) when I hit 17 might stacks, which is almost all the time. Still, it might help at the beginning of a fight. More importantly, I’ll have access to unblockable, which is nice.

But I’m still betting Stamina Sig is the better choice. When you yolo roam, a single dodge can protect you against thousands of damage. Meanwhile, Reckless Dodge well do 5k aoe damage when the stacks are up. I watch my endurance, and never have a problem not taking advantage of Stick and Move.

I ran Might Sig last night, and to my surprise, found it pretty equivalent to Stamina Sig. Both have their uses and, I’m not gonna lie, I enjoyed having 3k power before might stacks. The damage you cause while having 3750+ power after stacks is pretty addictive, as is downing someone right through the block they were counting on.

Ya I’m also at the 3k base power point ‘now’ and it is AWESOME. It’s hard to go back after experiencing the power craze. Pure power corrupts all… hehe. If you aren’t lazy then it’s sometimes worth changing back to stamina (or something else) when you aren’t fighting alot of professions that rely on blocks (anything that isn’t a memser/dh/engie)…in wvsw anyways. Although if ur like me you will become lazy at some point and just stop switching and then ask yourself why you even bothered using those skills before (that’s what happened with bola, bulls rush, dolyak signet, balanced stance, and frenzy for me…although frenzy i still use for gathering and repairing…pleb work).

This is the chart I refer to when looking to optimize direct damage output. As you can see, a full zerk, perma-fury, might-stacker packing Might Sig has way too much power to be optimal.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/2vjoef/balancing_powerprecisionferocity_based_on_ep/

Shifting from stones to oil, or maybe furious sharpening stones probably makes sense.

Choppy.4183:

This is the chart I refer to when looking to optimize direct damage output. As you can see, a full zerk, perma-fury, might-stacker packing Might Sig has way too much power to be optimal.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/2vjoef/balancing_powerprecisionferocity_based_on_ep/

Shifting from stones to oil, or maybe furious sharpening stones probably makes sense.

Okay well according to that table I am just under the line with no food buffs and just base stats. But my builds stack might and that goes wayyyy above the power values so…..according to this i need more precision? Assuming that is true:

According to this I need something like 70% crit chance….which I have with fury on and let’s assume I have perma fury with this build. So that brings me to a value of just under 3400ish max power…which requires I have 14 or less stacks of might while fighting in order to be optimal damage wise. Which I mean I think that’s pretty true for when i pvp in wvsw.

I didn’t really understand how the table worked with fury on/off and if that mattered. if i just assume i have fury 24/7 then i should just go by my new crit rate right? so 70% and 2.09 ferocity….just under 3400 power that will accomodate. with maintenance oil i get about 75% crit rate (with the supposed perma fury). allowing for about 3490 max power. So i imagine I can stack some more power at that point or go more precision….idk.

Regardless, ferocity looks like a huge mistake though according to the table.

If that doesn’t make sense I’ll have to look at this in more detail later….cause I must be failing to grasp a few concepts.

3708 is my max power with 25 stacks so according to the table i need 80-90% crit rate. I dont really get why the more ferocity you have the lower power you can have. Especially when it says you can add ferocity or precision to even the table out. If i add ferocity I just lower my max power cap according to the actual table. yet it gives formula:
ferocity = precision – 1582 without fury or
ferocity = precision – 1162 with fury.
and these formulae don’t make sense. if I use them I get a table value much much lower than the kind of power I’m trying to accomodate

I think I’m failing to grasp how might channels into how you change your table values. My might values are gonna be all over the place when I’m not in large groups with 25 going.

Plus I’m not sure if damage bonuses should be converted to power and used in teh chart or not. Like +10% from sigil of night….and +5% from strength runes

Also you added 180 power basically with the replacement of ur signet of stamina. Was your build conforming to the table before you did this? IN which case you should be over the limit and yet you stated the damage buff was more than expected right? Doesn’t that imply the table might be wrong and power might just be the thing to stack? rly sorry for rambling and long post..

I mean don’t we still have to consider that crit chance is a random chance. You could get 3-5 in a row with just 50%. And maybe in ur pvp being able to open with those 3 crits is what determines them being dead and you not having to duel and get bogged by enemy numbers. It’s a case of High burst potential vs High sustained damage. There are a ton of times where its better to roll a dice and gamble on high burst potential, especiallly when u don’t feel competent in ur combat abilities.

Also this is what I am planning on running…underwater stuff not there yet though:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vJEQNAR8ejMdQXIWFC2dAnIG6BKtNC/wwCgPICwaoHyBA-TVDEABPcAEYS5TK7PAwFIoLlgQcUASU9H3eAAZfABc/ABaGeSJUb6A6QDTAAEgbezsZbGc0je0hO0lz1t5Nv5NvZpAmYBA-w
I’m alot more glass cannon then I originally thought I would end up being since i equipped the strength runes and phased out the captain’s (toughness) accessory. But I will need time to adjust, and if need be i can ad in a defensive food instead and then look at maybe phasing in more toughness or leavings things as they are and not getting more zerk gear than i already have.

The reason the power number goes down as you add ferocity (but keep the same crit chance) is because it strengthens the case for adding more precision over power to take advantage of that higher ferocity.

Remember, the power number is the threshold telling you whether you should invest more points in power or precision (or ferocity) at any given level.

If I understand the chart correctly, the highest possible damage output is whatever puts you closest to the bottom right hand box in terms of all three numbers. But staying alive is necessary for any damage output, which is why the chart provides optimization for all builds, including those devoting attribute points to defense.

I’m finding it hard to survive. was wondering if I could do something with the sigils to give more sustain.

Only thing I really see that could be removed in sigil of hydromacy. Would sigil of blood work better?
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Superior_Sigil_of_Blood
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Superior_Sigil_of_Hydromancy

Cerby.1069:

I’m finding it hard to survive. was wondering if I could do something with the sigils to give more sustain.

Only thing I really see that could be removed in sigil of hydromacy. Would sigil of blood work better?
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Superior_Sigil_of_Blood
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Superior_Sigil_of_Hydromancy

In your build link you actually have two hydromancy sigils on your sword set. So dropping one (if you actually do have two in your actual build) for blood makes sense. But keep in mind that sigil of blood will only give you 900 health every 10s, so it’s good but not a tonne of sustain.

Whether it’ll do the job in part depends on what you’re dying to. For example, I generally have an Energy sigil on one of my sets with every build I run on just about every class because dodging well can avoid thousands of damage. I’ve also used Cleansing in the past during a previous condi meta, though haven’t for almost two years now.

So what are the circumstances in which you find yourself dying too much?

Choppy.4183:

Cerby.1069:

I’m finding it hard to survive. was wondering if I could do something with the sigils to give more sustain.

Only thing I really see that could be removed in sigil of hydromacy. Would sigil of blood work better?
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Superior_Sigil_of_Blood
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Superior_Sigil_of_Hydromancy

In your build link you actually have two hydromancy sigils on your sword set. So dropping one (if you actually do have two in your actual build) for blood makes sense. But keep in mind that sigil of blood will only give you 900 health every 10s, so it’s good but not a tonne of sustain.

Whether it’ll do the job in part depends on what you’re dying to. For example, I generally have an Energy sigil on one of my sets with every build I run on just about every class because dodging well can avoid thousands of damage. I’ve also used Cleansing in the past during a previous condi meta, though haven’t for almost two years now.

So what are the circumstances in which you find yourself dying too much?

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vJEQNAR8ejMdQXIWFC2dAnIG6BKsG6hcwCgPIC02I8DDA-TlDEABps/Q2HQguUCGxRAoNdAQcQASU9HAuABdoh5hDggbPAgnUCxkyH3PQgmhAAIA38mZz2M4oH9oDdoLnrbzbezbezSBMxCA-w
Sorry didn’t notice that again….one of those hydro sigils should be sigil of leeching. Most death comes from condi bombs or just getting hit with conditions that drain insane amounts of hp. I have healing signet and berserker stance but they are never enough. It is typically a case where a mesmer hits me with confusion constantly that i need to clear within 2-3 seconds of getting hit by it. When and if I use healing signet I’m sort of dead in the water given i lose all my sustain pretty much. When I use up berserker stance I lose alot of damage from the adrenaline windup being used….and the regular mesmer kiting game. I used to use condition clear on my sword/shield with hydromacy…i could look at going back to it. I still have similar problems with just condi bombs in general though….where more than 2 condi’s are on me at same time….replace signet of might with stamina and i lose out vs dh and even mesmers alot of the time tho.

More health healing in combat while my abilities are on cd is pretty much the solution i see for all this. Lacking options though if its just sigil of leeching and blood.

Then Cleansing is a better choice than Blood. It’s like a bonus Brawler’s Recovery every second swap, and it can remove an entire stack of conditions.

Honestly though, I think your bigger issue is on fighting style. This build is very much about getting in, killing, and then bailing when it gets too hot. Berserker Stance gives you (roughly) a 15s window in which to murder a condi-reliant opponent without having to worry much about anything. You then have your dodges, blocks, Brawler’s, and Whirlwind Attack with which to survive outside of that window and to get the job done.

If you can’t, because they were able to kite you, or were too tanky to put down quickly, or they had supportive allies, then you need to use your mobility to get out before they bomb you again once your Berserker’s Stance is up. If they hit you with that bomb, use your Healing Signet active to help you get the hell out of there. You’ll be able to get between one and three weapon swaps in that time with which to clear condis so you don’t die after the HS wears off.

Also, there are some builds that just counter a build. Condi mesmers load you up, spend a lot of time in stealth, porting, blocking (chrono), etc. while their clones do much of the work. So they can wear down your defenses through attrition.

While you’re at a disadvantage, be sure to cleave their illusions as much as you can. It’ll greatly reduce the amount of conditions they put on you, which will make it easier to clear the massive stacks of confusion they put on you (which is caused by shattering illusions, but also from sceptre3 (I think), and probably interrupts). Keep moving so they never have you surrounded by clones, and you’ll have an easier time killing those clones with Bladetrail (straight line) or just avoiding an incoming shatter.

But yeah, I think Cleansing is a better route to take than Blood. 900 health every 10s won’t make the difference against heavy condi pressure.