Are you talking about OutOfCombat or InCombat mobility?
Because Mesmer, for example, do have a high IC mobility, with Blink and all the various tricks, but OOC needs either Focus, a friend applying Swiftness or specific runesets like Traveler/Air/Centaur to keep up.
Same goes for a Roaming Guardian with Sword 2 + JI. But OOC, the best you have will be Retreat, SY and Symbol (Staff). And it’s still a poor uptime unless specced.
Thief, Nec, Ele, Ranger have a passive 25% speed utility.
Warriors have 25% passive trait (when wielding meele weapon, which frankly is 99% of times).
Engies have Speedy Kits (and unless HGH full elixirs, you’ll have at very least 1 kit) for 10 trait points, which gives them perma swiftness.
So, yeah, specifiy please the situation or discussion is meaningless.
AH is a huge waste of trait points imo.
Because it’s the only trait you’re looking for in that line, and even then it’s not like AH is so godlike as some ppl describe it.
Even if you’re spamming boons (hammer auto all the time) those little greeen numbers won’t save your back from dieing more than a well timed dodge or F2/3 pop – unless you’re running heavy on Healing Power but if we’re talking about DPS builds, i’ll give that you’re using at very least a Knight/Zerk combo, if not full zerk.
Also, AH promotes bad play. Because you start using skills “To heal myself by applying boons with AH” not for their actual use – see SYG and shouts. It’s also very selfish, because (on paper) it will just help you to survive longer.
Freeing those 30 pts also gives a TON of new build options. Especially involving Radiance (RHS) and Zeal/Virtues.
It will also “force” you to improve, because, for example, you won’t use anymore SYG for the (minimal) healing due to applying Retal/Stability to 5 targets, but for the actual Retal/Stability needs.
My 2 cents.
For the other question:
What then is the alternative to a non-AH DPS build that isn’t glass? Would it be wiser to do the opposite of gearing defensively but using offensive traits/utilities? I have tried a zerker guard with a DPS build and didn’t like it (it was a long time ago so I can’t quite remember the stat distribution).
30 pts in radiance (Blind exposure, powerful blades, RHS) and 20 in honor (superior aria, EM) fixed.
Then pick up 2 of:
-10 in zeal, fiery wrath
-10 in virtues, master of consacretions
-10 more in Honor for PoV
So either
10/30/0/20/10 < personal favourite
10/30/0/30/0
0/30/0/30/10
Gear, Knight or Zerk armor as you find more comfortable with.
Zerk trinkets.
Zerk weapons.
If you’re not running PoV or simply want extra survivability, Soldier runes.
Otherwise, any DPS option (Ruby orbs, scholar, Ranger) is valid.
Sword/Focus + GS,Hammer,Scepter/Focus as needed.
Shelter, SYG, Retreat, WoR, RF as standard skills.
(edited by AndrewSX.3794)
It’s just the overflow of the PvE and AP hunter masses.
When they’ve got their achievements or new shiny PvE LS comes out, you’ll see how number drops.
I think Anet is trying to design it so “getting their achievement” will take a significant amount of time. For most people who don’t play 24/7, it may mean sticking with the whole season to get the achievement. Which will be great!
Actually is a terrible thing cause means you’ll have those useless pvers/APhunters/rallybots getting in the way both on maps and on queque for the whole season.
The reason Guardian didn’t get lots of buffs this patch is because we are in a pretty good place overall, especially compared to other classes.
I disagree.
Guardian is in a good place, as stand-alone class balance.
Sure it has some areas that needs attention/rebalancing – see Zeal – but overall it has been a decent profession everywhere since headstart.
The issue is, Guardian now is pretty much the same of the headstart due to this – because he was already in a good place at 360°.
So, while the other classes “evolved”, rising and falling, balancing buffing and nerfing, now Guardian is still balanced as profession, but is starting to see a gap compared to other ones.
Glaring example is ofc the Warrior.
He started as hard hitter and low survivability guy.
Then got some well deserved love.
Now is hard hitter, tanky, CC, and support guy all at once.
Guardian was the point holder.
Now is the point holder.
See the difference? It’s not only matter of playing for 15 months the same build, is a problem of “growing up” as class.
Now, the options are two:
-either other classes gets shaved/nerfed. See: condimeta, warriors, etc.
-either guardians gets buffed a lil bit – manly in dmg output.
-a mix of the 2.
The first one is taking in account that, imo Guardian are the balanced profession in Gw2.
If something is weaker, needs buffs.
If it’s stronger, needs shaving.
I’m not saying this cause i’m playing guard most of the time: i genuinely think that of the 8 Gw2 professions, Guardian is still the most well-balanced (in a vacuum-like setup) across the whole game.
The second option is the start of the powercreep.
Third, self explanatory.
(edited by AndrewSX.3794)
so here we go guys.
i’m still using 30/25/0/0/15, but recently i found everyone using 30/0/0/10/30.
Funny you’re writing this right when Empower Allies get moved thus everybody stop using 30/0/0/10/30 and pick again 30/25/0/0/15 instead.
It’s just the overflow of the PvE and AP hunter masses.
When they’ve got their achievements or new shiny PvE LS comes out, you’ll see how number drops.
-Ascended: they’re the incarnation of everything you should have avoided in Gw philosophy of endgame structure.
-Living Story: you’re shooting yourself in the foot with this.
-Alt unfriendlyness: while it’s ok, for some extent, you shouldn’t try to get it more and more harsh every single patch.
-New Modes. Spvp isn’t cutting it because of that simple fact: Conquest is bad. Period.
-Balance: aside any meta or quality of balance itself…stop with balance made only for tpvp. PvE/WvW ’ers are quite unhappy about balance changes not making sense cause driven by mechanics of pvp that are not even in place for those game mode. More splits please.
-Rewards: Gw1 had a MUCH better blending between pve and pvp on this topic (Zaishen chest and rewards, glory rewards, trading Zaishen Keys, tournaments/HA with final chest for winners with item usable either in pvp or pve, etc).
I found a way that works well for me:
- Gather all orichalcum and ancient wood nodes on all your characters (go to gw2nodes.com to help you);
- Do your daily exploration dungeons paths (AC p1, p2; TA F, U; CoF p1; HoTW p1 are the easiest in my opinion) and exchange tokens for rares (lvl 68+) or exotics which you can salvage into ectos;
- Watch gw2states.com or gw2stuff.com for world bosses to get daily chest rewards;
- Do guild missions whenever you can for free rares;
- Do champs trains in Queensdale (lower levels) or Frostgorge Sound (lvl. 80) when you’re done with everything else.
Repeat this every time you can and you will make money.
If possible get yourself a static group to help you with dungeons because it’s much easier with people that knows you.
Good luck!
I second this.
Crying about KillShot is so BWE/2012.
I’d still take a LB over Rifle even if the latter had double the DPS of the former tho.
Dungeon rewards:
-more alt friendly token
-more actually balanced gold reward
/done
Shut it down.
Recreate DG team.
Create new permanent tangible (not “Press F 150 times”) content.
Bloodlust on shared sword, battle the offhands (both) would prolly be the best setup.
Its possible, but it isnt waste damage? I get 90% from the stacks with focus, so theoretically i could use it to make more damage with sword/pistil set, with a free sigil.
Depends where you find comfortable to drop Bloodlust.
If you place it on Sword, which i shared, you’ll always have it. When you ding the 25 stacks, you can change sword (you should have 2 anyway for a S/S setup when needed) with a different DPS sigil – like Force or Night.
This means that off-hands are both free to pick DPS sigils compatible. Battle is a good option because having it on both OH will net you 6 might stacks on average (iirc) which isn’t bad – if you’re not running with somebody staking 25 stacks your you ofc.
Battle is just a suggestion ofc. You can place Force on both, Force/Night, or whatever you prefer.
The issue is that +% dmg sigils won’t affect phantasms, which are you main source of dmg.
Might stacks are straight +Power modifiers, which will instead be shared with your Phantasms, increasing their dmg.
(edited by AndrewSX.3794)
Bloodlust on shared sword, battle the offhands (both) would prolly be the best setup.
How to improve Guardians: Cut cooldowns across the board, manly for 4t/5th and utility slots on skill bar.
Also on traits.
The long cooldowns makes the overall feeling of the guardian slow and static, compared to Warrior that, aside any other consideration, have shorter CDs across the board on everything.
If not for balance sake, at least in terms of enjoyability of the class this would be huge.
Step up your game, group togheter.
I’m not sure which face template she’s using (if it’s not her own, pretty sure she uses custom textures). Would these sliders do? I was playing around with my char’s face template, and came up with the face you see in the attachment. If you like it, here are all the screenies with sliders settings: http://imgur.com/a/G5lEw#0
Sir, this face is OP.
If you don’t mind, my Nec which was waiting for a makeover will shamelessy take inspiration (read: steal) this one.
It’s strange being on a server that hates Vizunah Square and then Zelyhn comes along and… well… is like the most helpful guy ever and speaks better english than probably 98% of english people.
It’s madness.
I always thought that the only spreadsheet/calculations Viz every did were about most efficent AC uses.
What’s the Fire Staff DPS build, for reference?
I mean trait spread and choices, haven’t seen it posted fully yet.
Reposting:
Issue is simple: Leg specalist used to be like this BUT when Final Trust and Harmstring where swapped. Which means that Warrior’s cripples were from Gs4, Hammer 3 and Sword 3, all of which had 10-20 sec CD.
Then autoattack and 3rd skill on sword got swapped, and Leg Specialist given a ICD, guess what? Exactely to prevent this (plus some AC crippling field cheesing).
Trait is as broken as Descent to Madness due to patch, hoping to see a Hotfix asap, because as said: Leg specialist with no ICD again, plus new Sword auto = perma immobilize. Which just got “buffed” in how it stacks.
So, yeah.
Only other meaningful change is probably Desperate Power, now under 25% hp instead of 50.
But only mad mans ran it anyway.
If you want to use a Hammer, play a Guardian. Here is a build that will help you:
+1
Hammer users:
-Warriors
-Guardians
Only the latter have a skill set even remotely useful in DGs.
Unless you’re counting a Elementalist swinging a fake Mjolnir “hammer user”.
Mirror blade is channeled
Wat.
Also:
It’s neither an auto attack nor a channeled attack.
nope magic bullet have 100% chance of inflicting confusion after going through an ethereal field despite it being a physical projectile attack. Are you saying this is a bug?
It’s neither an auto attack nor a channeled attack.
^
No nerf fo Mes = good patch.
the duelist was a massive nerf. confusion no longer viable in pve AGAIN. thanks anet.
That’s true, but we ALL knew and used Duelist Discipline on purpose because we saw that it bugged out combo finisher chances.
It’s on the nerf/fix thin line, but let’s face it: we knew that would have come, one day or the latter.
How do you know it was bugged and not the case that they forgot to add the description? The increase 300 attack distance when traited is mediocre compared to the reflect gained by focus skills when traited. Only having substantially higher combo finisher chances will it then be on par with the focus in terms of gain from selecting the trait.
Considering the 100% combo finisher chance ‘feature’ had remained for so long when traited, i’d wager that it is the case they did not include the increase combo finisher chance in the description.
I’m not saying that i doesn’t hurt.
Just that nobody should be surprised by it.
Just like Para sigil fix, which “nerfs” stuns: we knew it was broken, we used for that, we knew it would have been fixed someday.
As far as the “how can you tell it’s not intended” : every single (especially channeled) projectile attack have the 20% combo chance limit, by design.
Also, i think that was a dev response saying it wasn’t intended/it was a bug.
But
a) doubt that i could find it
b) i’m not even that sure of it
so don’t quote me on this.
The only 2 things i was looking foward turned out to be (surprise!) jokes.
Fury duration with FM is just nonexistant, could aswell delete it. 3 sec is just having fun of us for saying “Look, buffs for something that isn’t Warrior!”.
Glacial Hammer being turned in a on crit Hydromancy sigil would have been awesome. Whitout being overpowered. And yes, even with a ICD.
But 30 seconds? Really?
Salt on wound, looking at Warrior’s section and seeing Staggering Blow cast on move. Ring of Warding isn’t a War skill, so can wait i guess.
Also, it’s about time every CD from 4th to 9th slot on Guardians skillbars should be cut.
Why my 5th skill must always be in the 30 – 40 sec CD spectrum, when i don’t have 20 skills like and ele, and the War gets tops 25 – 30 on 5th skill?
So just get back to old 30/25/0/0/15 build, with the only difference we now are aware that Forceful Greatsword isn’t always best choice and that pure Axe builds are a solid option.
/dejavù
No nerf fo Mes = good patch.
the duelist was a massive nerf. confusion no longer viable in pve AGAIN. thanks anet.
That’s true, but we ALL knew and used Duelist Discipline on purpose because we saw that it bugged out combo finisher chances.
It’s on the nerf/fix thin line, but let’s face it: we knew that would have come, one day or the latter.
After the patch, nothing changes.
Sure, new support builds needs to be tested.
Sure, stuns are less effective.
Sure, there are a couple of new things on the table that we’ll need to see in action.
Overall?
Still condition and stun spam.
Still unbalance in the treatment of some classes over other 6.
Still very disconnected about their game – and this isn’t balance wise only.
Ive noticed most people seem to be crying about ele ever since they stopped becoming the dominant class in pvp. Wouldnt worry about subforum QQ tbh.
This.
First: elementalists main skills for DG running are untouched. QQ’s and changes are (like everything balance-wise in this game) made and thought for spvp.
Second: subforums are at same time better (cause more experienced) and worse (cause biased) than “general” forums for profession skill/trait/balance discussion.
Third: while Eles needs some love, and have some glaring issues…..yes, Elementalists on this boards cry a LOT more than how they should.
No nerf fo Mes = good patch.
Then you take a look at Warrior’s section.
Well, wouldn’t be Gw2, they have to be consistent with trends in balancing.
The right question is: should balance focus on getting all profession to a level allowing them to compete with Warriors in the various game modes, or it’s Warriors getting too much stuff?
Because if there’s a class to pick as meter for balance….that’s NOT the Warrior, imo.
(edited by AndrewSX.3794)
Warriors are getting nerfs tomorrow if the leaked patch notes are to be believed. Pretty severe ones too. Meanwhile guardians get straight buffs and people complain? Lol.
I’d wait actual patch notes.
Pre patch preview/leak madness is never healthy.
Only if it reveals as a turning point in game development.
Like
-no more LS as only PvE content, more permanent and real content
-massive WvW improvements and support
-adding pvp (uh what you’re saying? Spvp? Just no.)
-features long promised and needed: build templates, guild halls, pts and so on
-a long term and decently written story
and so on.
If it’s just a “more of our great LS, esport pvp and that minigame called WvW” it’s a huge NOPE for me.
Just out of curiosity, what would be considered the optimal Guardian DPS rotation?
Well, according to Guang/Dub (iirc) it’s just WW+Symbol…
- suddendly brain cells in my head -
-Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, stop it.
-What’s up?
-It’s Bright.
-DAT Bright?
-Yeah Bright Star Shine, ClubofThousandPandas [LOD], the good old Gw1 doasc’er, whatever.
-And so….?
-He doesn’t know the theoretical Guardian rotation?
-Uh…yeah….it’s…
-Fishy.
-Indeed.
-So, trolling or theoretical curiosity?
-Uhm.
-Should go for explaining?
-Uhm.
-Better calling out the trolling?
-Uhm.
-When did you change last time the batteries to the sarcasm detector?
-It needs a new pair every single time we face DG subforum.
-kitten it.
(edited by AndrewSX.3794)
The only reason to get Traveler’s is the 6t speed bonuses.
Makes little sense on warriors that have mobility (GS, Sword) swiftness (SoR, warhorn) and even passive 25% speed increase trait (Warrior Sprint) – which doesn’t stack with runes bonuses so there isn’t even the option for a 50% passive speed increase.
Other 5 buffs are lackuster. 1,3,5 are Dinivity ones. Might aswell use those – even if they’re overrated too.
It’s not a bad set – just useless for a warrior.
I’d suggest you to take a look also at Neko’s guide https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/elementalist/Neko-s-Comp-Guide-to-the-Dungeon-Ele/first#post2322308 for additional ideas/builds/infos.
For your questions:
So as far as I understand the D/F guide, I stay in Air unless I’m blasting/defending/cleansing?
If you’re using the Fresh Air build, yes. The reasoning behind Fresh Air is exactely that – being able to get back in the best DaggerMH Autoattack without worring about attunements CDs. So, when you’re not busy doing something else and straight DPS is all you need, Air will always be ready for Lighting Whip.
What healing skill is recommended for general play?
Either Signet (passive healing from the Ele skill spamming) or Ether Renewal (cleanses a TON of conditions).
Also, how is FGS played? is it auto attack and skills on CD or are there skills that are generally avoided?
IMO, depends if you have packed in your build Conjurer (20 pts in Fire). With the extra charges, you can autoattack a bit more.
If you don’t, FGS should be used almost only for Fiery Rush (against wall or with Lighting Flash – remember, no Autotargeting and no target when casting it!) and Whirl. Save your few charges for those: the dmg they do will pay off the downtime when you’re not attacking. 2nd and 5th skills doesn’ have amazing dmg – and auto will burn your charges too fast.
Berserker’s Power i suppose.
That was way too boring — week after week after week of the same matchup.
It’s better having always the same matchup but having is determined after actual server’s power or having a nice alway fresh and different matches but always blowouts (from either side)?
I have no doubts.
Some did and asked for change.
Now, as predicted when matchup changes, ppl are moaning for costant blowouts.
My response would be “You asked for it, i told you”.
As other said: in those stacking you’re facetoface with the boss in a “Will i kill you before you kill me?” race.
So, DPS is important, that’s not said for elitism or anything else – if you don’t have the dmg to take queen/kholer down before they kill you, you’ll be much better going to the open field.
That said, a thing that hels a TON there is projectile defence/blocking/reflection.
Slap a WoR at your feet when doing those stacks, and it will negate Queen’s poison fields (they comes after a projectile) and Kholer spin (afaik he won’t spin if the scorpion wires get reflected. Not sure on this tho).
Best end game is WvW, Dungeons is a bunch of whining casuals.
Shame Anet spent first half of game’s life ignoring it, and second half breaking it.
At least DGs are still in the “ignore” phase.
Else, i’d agree on WvW being real Gw2 endgame. But in current state…
(edited by AndrewSX.3794)
One Up One Down will always create matches including 2 servers with 4 to 9 ranks of difference (except first and last tier), because every single matchup will include a server from lower tier and one from upper one.
Best model was the first one, with matches based on straight up rankings – it just needed to adapt/fluctuate faster.
That’s what ppl moaning for fighting the same servers brought to us: yes, now you’ll likely face a new server each week, shame that for doing so you’re never matched based on actual server strenght, thus almost every single match you’re either blowout your opponents or getting blownout by them.
Add another Dragon Rolls lover to the list, right here.
+1
Make a conversion recipe for Bloostone Dust to Luck.
Solved. (with a decent ratio.)
Back on topic, the thing to answer your question:
Yes, DG wise, there are professions outdamaging warriors – Mes Ele Nec Guard Thief (according to Guang’s math).
Yes, DPS + utility for doing better/easier DPS is pretty much everything you need in DGs.
So one might ask “Why almost everybody – especially out of speed/guild runs – still prefer Warriors over anything else for DPS?”.
The answer is: Because it’s easier.
Ofc i’m not saying that playing a top level DG Warrior is easy (Desperate Power on Lupicus anyone?), but let’s do a list:
-highest HP and Armor. Looking only at raw numbers, is most survivable “Zerker” class.
-extremely easy access to fury, might, vulnerability and stability when needed.
-very good power scaling of skills.
And all of those are baseline or simple to achieve conditions for a Warrior.
So, compared to other professions in DPS setups, much more ppl can hop in a War, grab zerk stuff, push few buttons for istant might and fury, and do a simple rotation (HB WA swap Axe auto for 5 sec swap HB). And even if far from great players, they’ll do a decent chunk of dmg.
Let’s compare now to the 5 profs we said outDPS a war, in their zerker spec. (looking only at DPS):
-Mes: light armor, medium hp. most of the dmg comes from phantasms, which are, most of the time, unreliable and reached after at least 20/30 sec in the fight. The calculation itself is factoring 3x phants uptime.
-Ele: light armor, lowest hp. You’re literally a paper sheet. Must manage attunement rotation and active defense.
-Nec: light armor, high hp. Math is factoring minions, thus AI, thus unreliable (i’ll leave spoj to argue about numbers on Nec). Can’t cleave.
-Guard: high armor, low hp.
-Thief: medium armor, low hp. Another paper sheet. Also, can’t cleave (D/D is taken in account for calculations).
Yeah, that’s it right there. Outdpsing a War is possible, and with a decent gap, but you’ll have to get up and mantain 3 Sword Phantasm or minions, or play with 10k hp and light/medium armor.
I know, that list doesn’t take in account a LOT of stuff. Mesmers have clones/evades, plus a huge amount of utility. Eles have a lot of cleanses and way to avoind/mitigate dmg. Same for thieves, which carry stealth too. Necs have death shroud and lot of debuffs. Guards support is still valuable even in a zerk setup.
Also, traits. And gear. And food.
Yeah, there’s still lot to factor on the table.
But point still stands: Warriors seems designed to be played as DPS zerker role. Other classes can outDPS him, but there’s a price for it. Thus, pugs (low skill level) or casual runs (when you’re with skilled and well-known people but feel lazy) willl go for warriors as DPS guys. Record/serious runs will use eles for that – but as said, it’s 2 players that will have to play a full DPS zerker Ele – with all the load of concentration/tension/little room for errors that means.
(edited by AndrewSX.3794)
Bad idea.
This would not address the zerker problem, while encouraging more elitist behaviour. Casuals would be even more discriminated against, and being blamed and hated for wiping and losing the bonus.
Seeing how MF was removed, this is not going to happen.
Where did the OP stated it was meant to adress the “zerk problem” in any shape or form?
Also:
There is no zerk problem.
(only a content design one)
Minstrel or Bolt.
1) Use a melee weapon.
2) Bring Frost Spirit and Spotter.
3) Bring a DPS pet.
This.
Consecrations really just need reduced cool downs. More active gameplay.
Almost every single skill from 4th to 9th slot on a guardian’s skillbars needs a cut off in CDs.
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