Guild Wars 2

Oh boy! talk about late. Due to college i’ve been away for a while and haven’t had chance to get HPs to get berserker.

i got berserker two nights ago and spent some time in sPVP, I found the rage skills kind of interesting it almost feels as if the utility bar becomes a third weapon set this is an idea is rather liked but there is a problem. …. sustain and conditions. To be quite frank, the warrior is easily one of the worst classes in virtually all aspects in GW2. Low DPS only survivable in very specific builds (shoutbow axe/bow) most importantly. This was a problem i was well aware of and to be frank having played sPVP for a good while and rather enjoy it i didn’t the differences to much after all it was fun.
However, the berserker is by no means fun. if you use more than 2 rage skills then your chances of becoming hyper offensive becomes a big issue. You will struggle to bring enough cleanse to be effective at condition cleanse which is as everyone should kind of common in all areas of this game PVP is no different. This is particularly troubling as you need some form of mobility outside of your simple leaps. Otherwise, expect to get kited and killed. This is the in a ironic way sort of perfect the what is hurting the warrior (high cast time for Damage) is KILLING the berserker. Bloody reckoning is virtually worthless heal since you have that chance to not crit and thus no damage. Essentially the problem is extraordinary simple mediocre power dps does not make for a good heal when divided by 3. Compound this problem by the fact that Berserker has good access to burn but your burns don’t heal you. So unless you do large sums of damage maybe a berserker set of armor your healing is likely to be mediocre. Secondly, if your in full berserker you now are ultra-fragile and are going to just get squashed, and god help you if poison is on you during the six seconds this trait is active your screwed.

Next let’s talk about wild blow. At best in a zerg you can knock some people back but it’s very close range so I guess the main point is more damage, but it is not worth it. Its damage is ok at beast but it’s range is very lacking. The control effect seems pretty poor. The ability to send a group of people in a zerg flying neat, but you have to survive long enough to get into the zerg thus the skill becomes lack luster at control and only ok at damage in my experience. will say that I think this skill is kinda viable on a power zerker build it does have a good base damage and always crits, but that is still not enough to be effective in high end pvp. Because you’re going to die to quickly a lot of the time or you’re going to need to be in melee range of a large group of people.
Now shattering blow, this is a good condition skill no doubt about it. Over all this skill has no major problems about it other than the reflect is outright useless it doesn’t last long enough to be effective, but if you consider the reflect a bonus and the fact that shattering blow has a 15 second CD it is easily one of the high lights of the entire skill line.

Then we have sundering leap not going to lie this is a very meh skill. You can now jump around giving the warrior a bit more mobility and the conditions are a nice touch its aoe too. These are all nice touches but that is not going to save this skill. It is a 25 second cd of a sundering leap with 10 stacks of vuln for 8 seconds. The skill is also slow basically the same speed of earth shaker. The skill is thus easily avoided and frankly the payoff is in my humble opinion pretty bland and very lacking. I will admit and point out that this particular skill energizes well with torch, but a skill should not become poor for lacking a special weapon.

Finally covering 3 very related things
Defense lines rousing resilience, and berserker lines outrage and headbut. I’m just going to start out strong and say I HATE rousing resilience. It is situational and while you can use headbut and outrage to inflict that self-stun rousing resistances is going to be up for less than half time unless you are able to stun break or use balance stance. This becomes a problem because the only effective reliable non UTL related trait that removes conditions is in that same trait line and same tier. This is the difference between ire and resistance. Ire cleanses reliably as long as you have adrenaline although you may have to waste it. Resistance require headbut and a stunbreaks (outrage or bersker when traited are the best), and thus the trait suffers horribly by association. Also, condition cleanse for a warrior or berserker is more paramount if you enemy is avoiding you easily by kiting your not doing damage unless you go into a ranged weapon. Only a minor issue with warrior due to fast hands, but potentially fatal for berserker.

Outrage I love this skill so very much. It is a 10 seconds stun break and is very reliable. The adrenaline is a great bonus as well. wow that was short lets get onto headbut, once again this is a very good skill but quickly drops to meh territory for the same reason as and because of rousing resistance.

Traits are a mixed bag. Last blaze is a pretty solid trait over all especially for condition users except it builds onto the flaw of excessive rage skills making you easy to take down. Savage instinct is just barely able to be considered decent and only because it makes berserk into a stun break. A 15 seconds cd stun break, but the condition removal is a joke. Unless you’re a very lucky person that one condition that gets removed will likely not be the one to kill you. Even cripple and chill both are very easy to reapply so the cleanse becomes a band aid. It does hold merit in that berserk can replace outrage saving you a UTL slot for more cleanse

Smash brawler is a decent trait, but only because it shaves five seconds off of berserkers recharge. The CD reduction on primal are to be frank pointless. Shaving time off of a 5 second cool down that can only be used a few times before berserk goes back on CD is really not noteworthy at all.
Always angry is a great albeit a uncreative trait. The damage spectrum is covered on both sides and this makes always angry viable in every build a berserker will be made into. It’s pretty reliable because it is self-induced with no real perquisites such as breaking a stun. No complaints on this trait I’m moving on.
Dead or alive is a ok trait. The heal will save you in some situations but truthfully it’s pretty poor when not in a vacuum. Chances are if you’re in zerk and you die that 5k health is not going to save you it may help though. This could be potentially handy for close hard fought battles but it is by no means a game changer. AED heals probably over 70% of your health if you die in a time frame it’s activated. Dead or alive probably less than 25%. Blood reaction is an ok trait. The crit damage is good for both conditions and power users but let’s face it. This is a power based trait. This bring me to heat of the soul. Yah, I hate this trait… a lot. In all honesty I’m not a big fan of weapon required traits, and this trait has no uses outside of torch yet is the only condition damage boost in the berserker line. Fatal frenzy very ok trait. The boons last only a short time so I’m not in love but this is a minor trait so it’s pretty good. The three grandmaster traits are all pretty sweet although I have not used as of now the new bloody roar. ( was in beta so i do know bloody roar is different)

Ok so my thoughts. The berserker flaws combine with the warriors’ problems to create a mess. Traits that are essential to the functioning of the warrior in condition a condition heavy battle or even somewhat intense soft cc environment both of which are quite common leave gaping holes in the defense of the berserker. Also, the heal skill bloody reckoning is better for its 25% crit chance then for its mediocre healing. The rage skills are good offensive skills but the price you pay for taking them can quickly become unaffordable. The berserker seems to have been built solely around damage with too few form of effective cleanse sustain and yes mobility. Worse yet, the berserker comes across as bland essentially adding a button to a rotation in order to get a better version of your burst skill.

In my humble opinion berserker is forgettable. I love the primal skills I’ve used, but the price I pay for 1 skill does have its limits. The primal flurry may be a very effective condition dealing skill now, but if I have virtually no defense to either condition or power based damage and a full 10 sec cool down on swap. I really can only hold so much value in one single skill. If the berserker was to be given even more DPS potentially ele tier or higher, a 5 sec weapon swap, berserk cool down was removed, or effective reliable sustainment options berserker could really shine. However, currently the berserker is only making tiny ripples.