Guild Wars 2

I don’t see Opportunist in your link. That is required for the Fury on immobilize. I like the idea of using the Sigil of Doom to stack the conditions. Looks pretty good to me if your wanting to try a Condition build.

I have been P/D for a long time and used Carrion but I am currently using Dire. It’s simply more damage(power) versus more survivability(toughness). When I first hit 80 Carrion was the only option for my build. After Dire was available I purchased a set and I have like it so far. I have pretty much played both sets the same way….just something I really like about applying poisons and bleeds to my enemies.

As far as which is better? I would say it’s down to taste. I like them both.

I am in the process of trying to put together a build focusing on Shaman items. Vitality for the increased survivability with Condition for damage, and Healing for group support. Going the banner regen route because I can drop multiple banners to cover more ground and apply more regen. I have never been a fan of Vitality gear but I wanted to give it shot. I will try it for a while and see how it goes.

Could have sworn I saw a set of Draconic Cavalier armor for sale yesterday. Is the Cavalier’s Intricate Gossamer inscription a drop somewhere, or available at a particular vendor?

Some people will always be this way as long as anonymity protects them. Manners and common courtesy are at a minimum these days. That being said I have seen both kind and really rude warriors in my time playing GW2.

I have 2×80 Warriors, 1×80 Ranger and 1×80 Thief. Been working on an Ele for 2 weeks now. So that’s where I am coming from.

In no way could this be considered OP. To get these numbers the player has pretty much forfeited all other stats to go full glass cannon. In most situations the player will get their butts handed to them. We can all make a video highlight reel of class X dominating new/unsuspecting players.

Call for improvements not downgrades to a class. If you cannot do that do not post.

Sicarius.4639:

Not sure how I feel about the response regarding pets. We’ve been told that pets are a staple of our class and what makes us unique yet it’s broken and it’s not going to be looked at any time soon. Disappointing to say the least given the state of Rangers since release.

Same here. The fact that a key component of our class, the pet, cannot hit a moving target, and really is not being looked at yet is a huge problem. Still happy for the upcoming changes.

The initiative change is on par with something you would see in a beta stage. Very significant for something that the class is based around. Does having to invest so much to increase the initiative regen become a pain in the backside? Yes, but that’s what was handed to the Thief community and what they have had to work with. I would think such a change would require strengthening in other areas. However we are not seeing this. I like and appreciate the effort, but I am not sure these changes will push others to vary traits/builds. I think the community will need a little more give with this take. Just my opinion though.

Thank you Anet! Maybe the proliferation of Warrior bandwagoneers will stop!

CMStorm, what class do you play as your main?

FinalPatriot.8034:

Felix.2613:

I am a high toughness/regen warrior with condi damage and sword/shield and longbow.

I can beat some necros, but not all.
I can beat some thiefs, but not all.
Most DD eles can beat me, but not all.
I can beat all hammer stun wars, except this one legendary guy who I went 1-1 with.
I can beat all Guardians, except this one legendary guy who I went 1-1 with.
I can beat some mesmers, but not all.
I can beat almost all rangers.

That’s a prefect summary I think of how most classes are. Any class can defeat another if it’s played in the hands of an expert.

I, of course, am the ONLY moron in WvW that will evade backwards to avoid the hammer of a Warrior only to NOT notice I was on the edge of a FREAKING cliff!

Therefore, I can beat most class some of the time but I lose to gravity all the time.

Gravity is OP.

Cygnus.6903:

Agree with a lot of things posted here.

I have a thief, mesmer and warrior at 80. No matter what build I play with those other two classes, warrior just feels most rewarding. Hence I always end up returning to him. Maybe that’s why I have 5 different exotic sets and at least two dozen different weapons.

^^ This, my bank is full of my Warrior gear. I need to go all Celestial……..it may not be the most effective but I have sooo many sets of armor……

Warrior is my first char and main….I am even lvling a Charr Warrior because I like the look better and have been bored lately. I am constantly looking for a build that works for me. I have found a few, but I started with the warrior because I like the Rifle option as well as the sword\shield combo. I have seen the glass cannon and bunker builds do well, and I have tried them. However in the end I usually have found opponents with the cookie cutter builds were the easiest to counter because they are predictable. I don’t like being predictable. Warriors are strong, true, but the complainers are just loud.

No class is the end all be all. It’s not roll warrior and your magically invincible. Plenty of instances have occurred when I had my butt handed to me in WvW and PvP. I have an 80 Thief and Ranger and have experienced all levels of play with both. All have their niche and can do well. Thieves are fun in my opinion, and Ranger is pretty weak but with a few tweaks could be much better. I would still rank the ranger as my second.

As far as my biggest complaint about the Warrior class? The Berserker/GS setup expectation for Dungeons, luckily on the rare occasion I do run dungeons it’s with guildies that do not care about that stuff. I do not like the GS and I do not like being a glass cannon.

People in guild chat have stated they are rolling a Warrior and I always say I love it, give it a shot, but beware of the grass is always greener syndrome. You have to like the feel of the class or you just won’t enjoy your playing time.

Djavlas.8249:

too little to late. almost all the WvW guild have left. From t3 to t1 i can assure you there are none left.

This. On Kaineng another of our WvW heavy guilds have transferred. Not 100% sure where they went but I can only assumed they moved to T1. I am sure the $$ made on the transfer is more appreciated at this point than keeping the players on the server. I do not think this was the vision of the devs, but they created this environment. Currently I have only been playing WvW and we are now getting stomped which is OK. However the manner in which we are so outnumbered and losing players to transfers does not sit well with me. As a matter of principal I will not be spending the money to move servers so I have been playing less. I know my participation is just a drop in the hat, but I am sure others are thinking the same.

Sounds great Jorun, I would definitely like to give it a shot. Might take some time because Apothecary gear pricing has been pretty ridiculous, and drop rates on Karka shells is pretty low. Would be pretty interesting to see this with a banner regen build as well. Regardless I would like to thank you for the information.

Jorun, what’s the mindset running your build in WvW? How do you play when in the Zerg, Large Groups, small groups, and running solo. Interested to hear your playstyle in these situations.

If you want shouts take the trait that reduces shout CD by 20%, get the healing shouts trait, and equip six soldier runes. You will heal and remove conditions with your shouts.

A vote for Norn and Charr from me. The human females, no matter how you change them look like Barbies. The males are OK. I like the Sylvari as well but the lack of “Nature looking” armor hurts them. Just my opinions though.

Not sure if Boon stripping has really caught on yet, but anyone built to do that will be essentially ripping apart your build. Other than that, if you can keep the boons going I think your looking pretty good. There is also rune that gives all boons on heal I think. Might be worth looking into.

I have run as a Rifle Warrior in WvW. Secondary set was Axe/Warhorn but shield works too. The build centered around having constant Fury via the Arms IX, and Tactics I traits. These combined with Rifle 2/Axe 3 provide Fury and a 1 second immobilize. Was pretty effective when paired with crack shot, and I also went Sharpened Axes for some extra punch when enemies got within melee range. Certainly one of my favorite builds when surfing the zerg.

Great Vid Logi. Must admit I really want to try this build out. How do you do in the Zerg? They must love the Regen banner.

Scoobaniec.9561:

^ Leave my signet alone troll.

Pve is walk in the park for any class, balancing for the sake of pve is just a joke. If u want a pve i suggest change game to Dark Souls.

And the current king of pve, if not of the game is guardian, but i don’t see ya complaining about it. They are needed in every format of game. Wvw? Check. Pvp? Check. Pve? Check. From bunkers to boon/healing bots or zerkers.

Agree 100%. It’s quite difficult to hear people want to balance PvE. The game is made so that any class can do just about any end game content. If you are a min/max type person or have min/max type friends then you or they will always complain that there class is not up to par with class x. Play what is fun and become proficient with your class and you will enjoy the game. If you are always worried about the other guy then perhaps you should roll that class.

Been running the signet with full Cleric’s gear, shout heal build, and Soldier Runes. Surviving a lot of punishment but only able to deal so much damage. I rely heavily on FGJ and the longbow might combo for increasing my damage. I can solo a lot in PvE and last pretty well in WvW while providing great condition removal. Not an optimal build by any stretch of the imagination, but something I have been playing around with.

I recently went back to rifle and have been using this build in WvW:
0/30/0/10/30
Arms: Rending Strikes/Crack Shot/Opportunist
Tactics: Leg Specialist
Discipline: Signet Mastery/Sharpened Axes/Burst Mastery

Fury is up almost constantly in most fights via Rifle 2, and Axe 3. Therefore I don’t run FGJ unless I am buffing the zerg. Berserker Rifle and Berserker Axe/Shield are my weapons. Armor is PTV with Ruby Orbs, Trinkets are the 2 ascended Berserker rings and PTV trinkets with exquisite ruby jewel. I use the Stamina signet for condition removal, and if need be I might run mending over healing surge for additional condi removal.

With this setup I am usually sitting at about 23k Health, which is lower than I like but I have had little issue due to my toughness and the fact that I tend to hang back a little to pick off targets. I have not had any issues when closing in for melee fights either. It’s not perfect but I enjoy it.

Nah mah hands hurt I am old. That’s the problem. It’s not the build, it’s me.

Not sure what is more depressing. The gold spent to get this build going, in terms of Apoth gear or the corpal tunnel I am getting from running it. Great build but I am not sure it’s working out for me. I appreciate all your work on this hyjax.

Xsorus.2507:

Not sure if anyone has posted this yet

But this is a possible alternative to this setup

http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-F;5FFu-g2JDV-0;9-8Y;2EET9;14;00;027B2;0WRF7;26TsW6TsWOFl-tIP5;2VPVUWZXdYj3p48aV8F0J-9cV19c;9;9;9;9;9;54-6f

As for why on using Drakes for example instead of other pets, and not using the Crit Damage Talent.

Drakes F2 is their main attack, the crit damage talent won’t work on it, Companions Might however will increase the Drakes Power level up. when you have the person focusing on you, pop Rampage as one, use Horn Offhand to apply lots of Might Stacks, pop Drakes F2 (usually Lightning), since you’ll be weapon swapping, and have fury, he’ll actually crit a lot as well…and that Drake Lightning Attack will be a huge amount of burst.

What kind of rotation are you looking at? I like the idea of the build but are you finding it effective in practice or is this theory-craft until you get the gear?

Got my hands on the Apothecary Sword/Dagger last night. Definitely made a difference but the constant weapon switching takes getting used to. Lot of learning curve with the sword but you cannot deny the effectiveness of the dodges built into the sword/dagger set. Looking forward to becoming more comfortable with this.

hyjaxxx.1584:

yeah. youre missing a large portion of the builds synergy because you dont have your sword/dagger…thats what makes the build. In regards to guard you use it on your way in to get swift/regen and prot on your pet. it also allows him to open up with his pet4 ability.

after youve done it once your other regen traits pop and with your duration you should have a min of regen in no time. there is no need to cast it again unless there is a lul in the action and you need to heal a friend.

lol im excited for you…its going to be a whole new ball game once you get S/D…wow..lol what your doin now is rolling the Ferrari down the hill. wait till you turn it on!

if you have questions please let me know!

Jaxx of GRIM

I will most likely be selling off some gear from my Warr and Thief to fund the sword and dagger. Hopefully will get this done in the next 2 days. Apothecary stuff is certainly pricier than I anticipated.

Running this build with full Apothecary armor/weapons and settler’s trinkets. WvW survival is awesome. Damage is OK but I was running with the Zerg so it’s hard to pinpoint how effective I was. Weapons I am using now are Axe/War, and Axe/Torch. Saving for the sword/dagger and sigils. By far my least used skill is “Guard” because it’s too much effort to manage the skill on top of throwing out as many conditions as possible. Might look to other shouts at this point.

As a primary weapon the Axe is not bad, but it’s not great either. Contemplating picking up a GS for wading into the Zerg, and swinging away. Either way I am enjoying this build a lot and appreciate the time your putting into this Hyjaxxx.

TheGuy.3568:

After DD ele got nerfed into the ground I realized if you run a powerful build or even suspect it is OP its better not to share it. Bandwagons kill this game’s meta. I also believe unsuspecting will get nerfed or maces stun brought down if the trend actually picks up.

There is another thing. Never demand someone share their build. Fact is if they took the time to come up with it they have no obligation to tell you anything about it. Often it is good to share but sometimes you just do not want to.

You know I always wondered about this. If a build becomes too popular is the end result from ANet to reduce it’s power and attempt to bring other builds in line? If this truly is the case perhaps you could understand that someone would not want to share a build that is both effective and makes them happy.

I am in the process of giving this a shot. I was previously using a full cleric’s regen build so I am liking the increase in crits/dmg with the rabid gear. The only issue so far is getting my hands on the trinkets. That’s a work in process.

At this point I mostly WvW, so we will see how it goes.

Fade.7658:

I’ve tried P/D with a focus on power/crit. You will be mildly disappointed. Auto-attacks hit for ~900-1K, and Sneak attack was 2-3K. The semi-surprise, though, was Shadow Strike. It actually hit decently, anywhere from 3-5K, depending on target’s health.

It was fun to play, but it won’t have the stopping power you’d like.

Thanks for the info. I am not looking so much at stopping power but balance. If I can balance good amount of survival with good damage then I can live with it. Either way it looks like I will give the P/P build a try first.

xmtrcv.5236:

Stratos.4906:

DanH.5879:

conditions will always suck because skills as:
convert all conditions to boons
remove all conditions field
etc. etc.

This. I am in the process of changing my gear due to the ease of condition removal. It’s just too easy to mitigate the condition damage now. It was prevalent before but I am seeing my bleeds and poisons cleansed faster than ever. I will stick with p/d or go p/p but I am going to move away from focusing on condition damage.

Is that to say you are going to focus on more of a critical/power build? I would be interested in seeing what you come up with in that respect.

Yes that’s what I am saying. Want to try something different but the SB range change killed going that direction and I do not want to do D/D. Therefore I am looking at P/D and P/P builds that are not based on conditions. Going to be an expensive endeavor but if I find anything I like I will certainly post it.

DanH.5879:

conditions will always suck because skills as:
convert all conditions to boons
remove all conditions field
etc. etc.

This. I am in the process of changing my gear due to the ease of condition removal. It’s just too easy to mitigate the condition damage now. It was prevalent before but I am seeing my bleeds and poisons cleansed faster than ever. I will stick with p/d or go p/p but I am going to move away from focusing on condition damage.

Not for nothing, but when I went full with a full Cleric/Banner build I found the healing signet did pretty well. However, I would not use it unless I was using a +Heal build. The other options are much better.

I think the issue was that SB became the de facto Ranger weapon. Which was only a result of the Anet making the Longbow so poor. Yay, for the LB buff, but why reduce the effectiveness of the SB? Makes no sense. It was not OP in any way.

Lahm,
I like the mixed approach but not sure I would rely too much on conditions……but that’s just my personal experience. If possible I would look to also add the Banner of Discipline if you want more crit. The Banner gives 170 precision, 15% crit damage and when you use Furious Rally you will get 8(boon duration increase if you have any) seconds of Fury which is 20% increased crit chance. Not bad, and may free up some other stats for you. Regardless of all this I always say, go with what works for you.

Forzani,
Yes but that was only in certain situations. You need to judge the situation and verify what you need more. With the banner traits all of your banners grant regen. However when we were being pushed I used the regen banner to apply the regen to as many people as I could. If I didn’t see a need for that I was spamming the Fury or setting down the banners and plinking away with the longbow.

Last night I decided to try something new. I went with Draconic Cleric’s armor with Runes of Dwayna, Cleric’s Trinkets with Exquisite Sapphires, and Cleric’s weapons. Ran a build of 10/0/30/30. Used mostly the Banner Damage skill from Strength, Defensive traits from the Defense line(duh)…don’t recall specifically which I used, and the Banner buffs from the Traits tree with Stronger Bowstrings for added range. Went with the Longbow over the rifle for the F1 skill so that I could create my own blast finishers with the banners. Off hand was sword/shield and slots were Regen signet plus ALL banners.

We were getting blitzed pretty badly on Kaineng for a while so I was spamming the Regen from the Banner of Tactics and Fury from the Banner of Discipline to support those around me. Off and on I was using my Longow to deliver damage, nothing major but I really was not expecting that. Lots of pushing back and forth for about an hour. I could see my Regen was ticking in the 300s on my allies around me. Not bad, and the Fury was always welcome as well. I even beat down a few opponents with my banner for laughs and damage was decent. The +Healing really helped, both myself and those around me. Revived a lot of allies while being pelted from range which didn’t put too much of a dent in my health unless I was focused on. Even when focused I was able to get away most of the time.

The most interesting development was when an enemy Guardian and myself battled 1v1. I figured what the heck and engaged. He couldn’t take me down and I clearly had the upper hand with all of the banners down as he for some reason engaged me on my terms as opposed to trying to draw me away from the banners. It ended with him running off and me joining up with the closest Zerg.

Overall I enjoyed the tactical side of the experience as I needed to think things through differently. I might consider dropping the Runes of Dwayna for the Sapphire Orbs. I would lose 40 Healing but gain 84 Power/Toughness. Might be worth it but I have not done the math yet. Might also consider a combo of Monk and Water for increased Boon Duration on the Regen and Fury.

In closing I would not recommend a build like this unless you already had most of the items available to you. I didn’t really need to buy much and already had all of the mats for the Draconic armor. You really need to be OK with being a support platform because that’s all that you really are. You deliver decent damage at best and are pretty much a bulls eye when on your own. The build excelled in keep defense/assault and in the Zerg. Condition removal was non-existent so I may grab a Warhorn and switch the ranged to rifle. I will lose the self created blast finishers but being able to remove the conditions would really help. I will also try dropping a banner for shake it off. I also did not have any Sigils in my weapons. Did not want to commit the $$ yet. If you guys have any questions about my experience feel free to ask.

ahn what server are you on? I think I was around for this too. I am on Kaineng.

In the last 3 weeks I have finished 2 separate maps in the Norn areas and I have not received any rewards. Submitted a ticket but did not receive any reply. What is the best way to address this issue?

Cool Vid.

I do not understand the C&D hate myself. It’s a class mechanic, it works, and because others cry about it your a Noob? If people want to use a class mechanic let them and keep the comments to yourself.

Either way it would be cool to run a “scout thief” but then again the cries of favoritism would be louder then they already are. Shame, as a bow centric build not based on having a pet when it was being developed would be nice.

Is it 100% balanced? No, but try this. Create a thief jump into SPvP for a while and see how “easy” it is. There are plenty of counters. I run multiple classes and all have their optimum builds. They also have weaknesses. It happens.