Showing Posts For Ender.5803:
First thing I did when I hit 80 was deck myself out with Rabid gear. I ran Blackwater for a good while, but realized that roaming is difficult with that build. It takes forever to kill someone even though it’s incredibly difficult for them to kill you. I’m nearly done with a new build now, one that is vastly more rewarding:
Awesome! Thanks for the link >8-)
Thanks for the feedback!!
ITakatsu – Thanks for the tip! I’m changing the redundant sigil to Sigil of Purity.
Swish – Fighting a mesmer is messy and it can be difficult for a lot of players to discern between clone and player. Watch Seven Mirror’s videos. I was a bit cavalier with the term “retreat” as I only meant “get the heat off”. Also, Confusing Images with scepter 3 deals pretty heavy direct damage.
Mirror Images is better with IC. With the new patches coming up, if I’m not mistaken, they’re moving IC to master which compliments this build.
I do agree that the mantra is clumsy here. I put this build together last night and ran it for a while in WvW. I’m not used to the mantras and I made plenty of mistakes that cost me a few fights. While that isn’t a reason to keep practicing, the build feels much better with Ether Feast.
My burst rotation last night went like this: Scepter 3, Pistol 4, Pistol 5, weapon swap, Sword 3 x2, Sword 2, signet, dodge, Mind Wrack, dodge, Mirror Images, Cry of Frustration, Sword 5, blink and kite in scepter.
An update:
Blink is too good and I was instantly missing it, so it’s in.
I saw a video of some dude pumping out 15K+ crits doing this in WvW. I can’t find the video anymore but I had a look at the build to see if I could optimize it’s intended focus while trying to give it some survivability for mid to late game fights.
2500+ Power
3600+ Attack
1300+ Precision
26% Critical chance (100% Maul openers)
115% CRITICAL STRIKE DAMAGE!
1600+ Vitality (Whoah boy! We’re fat!)
Examining the trait lines, Marksmanship and Skirmishing are perfect for this type of behavior, giving you max power and crit dmg for your point investments. Nature Magic gives us vitality to compliment our Valkyrie gear and boon duration which helps with our might fury swiftness and regeneration boons.
Marskmanship (IV, IX, XI) – Signet of the Beastmaster (XI) is the only one I think is absolutely necessary. In theory, Beastmaster’s Might (IX) will help give you the super massive over-the-top crits you’re looking for. It may be unreasonable as people can see you’re going ham and run away. The signets in this build may be best utilized to close the fights after the massive opening. Signet Mastery (IV) is definitely useful, but I don’t think it’s necessary either, especially if we don’t use IX. So if we don’t go for IV and IX … we would go Steady Focus (I) and Eagle Eye (X) for the increased damage with full endurance bar and increased range/dmg for longbow. For now, let’s assume we’re taking all the signet traits though.
Skirmishing (IV, X, XII) – We must max out this trait line to see our full crit damage potential. Primal Reflexes (IV) and Quick Draw (X) are giving us some defense to play with. Vigor and reduced longbow cooldowns allow us to dodge, stealth, and knock back more frequently. Moment of Clarity (XII) gives us attack of opportunity so that when we get our dazes and stuns off we pick up %50 crit chance on next attack. This is how we finish the fight.
Nature Magic (III) – Fully clad in Valkyrie gear gives us a wonderful amount of vitality, which combats this heavy condition meta we’re in far better than toughness can. So as much health regen as we can get will take us much further than zerker and rabid builds.
If we forgo the lesser signet traits as I mentioned earlier, we may want to put the last 10 points into Wilderness Survival for Natural Vigor and Vigorous Renewal (IV).
A possible rotation: Open with Maul, dodge through them, Hilt Bash, weapon swap, Point Blank Shot, Rapid Fire, Hunter’s Shot, retreat to stealth to pop sigils for quick finish or plan for the late game.
If you are Norn then you have the elite skill, Become The Snow Leopard. I think this elite skill helps our build out immensely. It’s abilities add tons of versatility, especially in WvW. Growl weakens, Pounce cripples, Dash closes gaps and helps roam, and Prowl lets us control the game-state or get away. Alternatively, if you don’t have the Norn Racial, try using Rampage as One and swap out Signet of Stone for Quickening Zephyr. Popping both those abilities at once with Rapid Fire is ridiculous!
I’ve been examining our traits and examining some popular builds for our profession and noticed something: Our traits are arranged (for the most part) to encourage hybrid builds. Inspiration, being the most confusing, with it’s eclectic offerings, vitality and healing power; Illusions encouraging us to both use and blow up our confusing companions, condition damage and reduced shredding recycle; Domination providing power and condition duration. The Dueling and Chaos lines are efficiently built however, which is why they have significant showings in just about every build.
Considering the confusion and retaliation nerfs we’ve gone through, and the ridiculous diversity this profession enjoys, it may be time for us to think spherically. Please have a look at this and give your thoughts or experience with this sort of build, within the past three months preferably.
The aim here is play reactive, utilizing conditions and phantasms from range, and sword burst dps until retreat is possible. Rinse and repeat.