Guild Wars 2

I had accepted Scepter as a decent ranged weapon in PvE, until I finally realized that it’s pretty terrible. Running Dredge Fractal the other day and had the ice elemental boss. It was just taking forever to kill the thing and it finally dawned on me that 3/4 guys dpsing the thing were guardians with scepters. We couldn’t hit the boss because the adds were in front. Two of us switched into Staff and one stayed Scepter for chains, the thing dropped much faster. Scepter is no longer my ranged weapon of choice, I’ll have to make staff work.

Blood~

Guanglai Kangyi.4318:

Yramrag.3026:

Guanglai Kangyi.4318:

If you want to run hammers don’t use AH, it just doesn’t work.

I run AH build with hammers, all the time, with success. Please elaborate why you think we should not use AH if running hammer.

Your damage ends up being very, very low if you invest 30 points into Valor just for AH. It is massively overkilling on defense with a weapon that already gives you permanent protection on the tankiest class in the game. Your ability to spread protection and other boons is also not affected by your investment in AH, so you’re not contributing anything to the party either.

^This all the way. Hammer + AH + Knights is just plain overkill in most situations. There was a time that I reveled in the ability at full health while the rest of my party was at 20%. Now I run a 10/25/0/30/5 build with Hammer n Zerker gear and I feel I’m in a much better place, full health all the time is just wasted potential DPS.

Hammer FTW!

JJBigs.8456:

Let me re-phrase. If you want to be considered good at GW2, use GS. If you want to be a casual pug, use hammer.

That’s quite a large blanket to throw out…

Show us your data where GSword is the best and therefore is the only respectable weapon.

IMHO, If you want to be good at GW2 use the setup that best suites your current situation.

I would say that GS is more burst damage based and Hammer is more control/tank based. For PvE I’m a hammer guardian. That Protection is just too nice to pass up. We’re melee fighters and this lets you and your team stay in melee longer. I tend to go GS for WvW just for its burst and speed. I don’t PvP a lot on my Guard. I feel both weapons even out damage wise over time so its really a preference thing IMHO.

I run an ‘extreme dps build’. Don’t forget the 10 in zeal for Fiery Wrath. 10/25/0/30/5 using Hammer and Scepter/Focus mainly.

I’m running full zerker armor and weapons and 4/6 zerker, 2/6 soldiers trinkets for PvE. 2x Superior Rune of the Earth and 4x ruby orbs.

Protection full time here makes up for lost toughness.

Throw a Hammer Guard in a group and all your melee become tanks. 2x Sup Rune of the Earth and Writ of Persistence gives you 100% Protection as long as you’re hitting stuff. Writ of Exaltation so everyone has a spot to stand and your target stays in it.

Symbolic Power isn’t bad, 25/15/0/30/0 works well with Hammer.

I run 10/25/0/30/5 for more damage. Fiery Wrath + Raidant Power + Elusive Power + Empowering Might + Inspired Virtue adds 30% damage across the board and stacks Might for more damage. I run this in mostly Zerker gear with a few Soldiers mixed in and I can still face tank a lot of stuff.

Hammer, IMHO, is the ultimate PvE support weapon for melee. Its sustained damage is comparable to GSword too, at least that’s what I’m seeing.

GL
Blood~

Are you looking for a PvE, WvW or PvP build Lev?

kenzuro.1073:

All weapons. Am I the only one who carries 7 hammers?

I thought carrying 3 Hammers was a bit much…

Hammers hit so hard, they should be able to smash a symbol into someone’s face and have it follow them around instead of being stationary on the ground..

Both GSword and Hammer are good, just depends on how you like to play. GSword is quicker but Hammer has great utility if you can be patient and wait for the right time to use it. Both have similar damage output, GSword is more bursty and Hammer has sustain. You’ll never go wrong with Staff in WvW

GL
Blood~

10/25/0/30/5 is my DPS/Tank setup. Hammer’s auto attack Symbol gives Protection that helps you stay on the front line for a long time. This build can be adjusted for GSword, Staff n Shouts with Pure of Voice when group conditions are an issue.

If you like just DPS 20/25/0/25/0 for GSword/Staff and 10/30/0/25/5 or 10/30/30/0/0 for 1h weapons push good damage. Adjust gear to taste, obviously Zerker will give you the best damage but lowest survivability.

Blood~

You won’t be able to really play a build until lvl 60, thats where you get some of the big trait options. At that point if you want survivability go with Altruistic Healing and run Hammer n Staff. If you want DPS go Right Hand Strength with Sword/Torch and Scepter/Focus. At 20 you can have Superior Aria which is nice and at 40 you can get 2 Weapon Mastery which speeds things up a bit.

Hammer doesn’t need 2H Mastery to keel its DPS going, 3,4 n 5 are more utility and shouldn’t be used in a DPS ‘rotation’. GSword and Staff both benefit from the trait much more.

We have tons of builds, I would suggest trying out different things to find what you like best. All weapons are viable and play differently. I’m currently enjoying a Mace/Torch RHS build but I switch builds up quite a bit.

I have a full set of Soldier’s gear and of Berserker’s so I can mix and match to the build I’m running that day. This class can be tanky in Berserker’s so don’t be afraid to try it out.

IMHO,

Blood~

At lvl 22 I’d suggest 10pts in Honor for Superior Aria. Save Yourselves, Retreat and Staff give you almost full time Swiftness to travel.
At 40 go 20pts in Honor for 2H Mastery and run GSword and Staff.
At 60 try 30pts in Valor for Altruistic Healing. Staff and Hammer work awesome here.
At 80 find the weapon you like most and pick a build that supports it.

Try all weapons, each has its strengths and are viable.

Some good builds are
0/x/30/30/x for Survivability and Altruistic Healing (See the sticky on these forums)
10/30/0/30/0 for generic DPS

Guardians have a ton of build options, 500 hours on mine and I’m still exploring new builds.

GL n have fun

Blood~

Khairos.3890:

The damage output on my Warrior is about 4x+ the damage of my Guardian.

DPS almost seems to be dependent on the perception of the player. How have you done your calculations?

I’ve been using almost full Zerker gear and you can push some serious DPS with the right build. I’ve seen some calculations that show Guardians being only a couple hundred DPS lower than Warriors when looking at sustained damage. Haven’t found a formula that I fully trust but in most cases the numbers definitely don’t reflect a 4x increase, maybe if you compared a Zerker Warrior to a naked guardian.

Blood~

I would start with 0/0/30/30/10. This build gives you a ton of healing and front line staying power. Get that symbol down from the Auto Attack Chain and live in it. Note the runes and increased symbol duration as this keeps your Protection going. You can also throw on the Signet of Judgement with Protection for 43% damage reduction all the time. Other melee will benefit from your Symbols also.

I run Zerker gear here because the damage reduction takes care of you quite a bit. Mix in some Soldiers if you feel you need to.

This build also supports GSword and Staff quite well. It doesn’t have the highest DPS but its not bad.

After you get used to Hammer you can move into a higher DPS build quite easily.

GL out there,
Blood~

It looks like your DPS is a total of Auto and Pistol Whip. Also, it doesn’t look like your utilization was factored in. If you’re calculating damage per second you wouldn’t be able to add those together without utilization. I am hitting 5K to 8K Pistol Whip on Orr mobs. The cycle time for Pistol Whip is more like 2.8 seconds long which makes my DPS 2857 max. To achieve 6.9K DPS you would need to see 19K+ Pistol Whips and 13.8K auto chains.

The closest formula that I’ve seen is

Non modified damage x (Crit% x (1.5 + Crit Damage %) x Damage Modifiers / Cast Time

2803 x (0.96 × 2.640) = 7103/2.8 = 2537 DPS for Pistol Whip, this assumes that the base number has the multipliers adjusted already. 3805 DPS by adding the 50% dmg multiplier.

Not out to prove you wrong, just trying to find an accurate way to calculate DPS.

Blood~

Scootabuser.4915:

Most full DPS builds hit at around 5000-6000 DPS.

Where are you getting these numbers? I’ve done some calculations and seen some others but those seem high. I haven’t found a system that seems accurate for calculating DPS but I would like to.

Blood~

From some calculations I’ve seen Warriors are higher than Guards but only by a few hundred DPS maximum. Not 100% sure the numbers are accurate though. There are some higher DPS builds that don’t sacrifice all the really good guardian traits. I have not run a warrior to endgame but I can say that I just keep going back to guardian.

GL out there,
Blood~

1. Wall of Reflection – negates projectile damage and returns it o.O
2. Shield of the Avenger – long duration projectile damage negation
3. Symbol of Protection – ‘Face Tank Stuff’ for the team… Let your warrior finish that 100b channel w/o face planting.

Honorable Mention
*Stand Your Ground
*Retreat
*Save Yourselves

Hit up gw2buildcraft.com and start messing with your gear n traits. Boost your effective power to whatever you feel comfortable with. I did this and saw a good increase in my damage but I don’t run full GC so my numbers aren’t what you’re looking for. Also, I switched from Backstab to Deathblossom if I ever decide to run my thief again after the last patch.

GL
Blood~

Glad there are other options but I fell in love with the class for the stealth mechanic and ANet just keeps messing with it.

BobbyT.7192:

Imo anyone that goes full zerk is a complete noob, I rather not have to dead weights in my party, I have yet to meet a zerker that was any good.

That’s too bad BobbyT, I hope you get to run with a few good GC’rs some day.

Blood~

Arganthium.5638:

Then, looking at the patch notes, thieves didn’t even get a single damage nerf. We just had Revealed increased by 1 second. I mean, seriously? Where are you getting these ideas of decreased DPS?

Hmm, kinda scratching my head at this.. If you play a stealth build thief in PvE you should know that Backstab is a major point of our dps. You should also know that to maintain decent dps you need to Backstab as often as possible. Then you should be able to deduce that by adding a second to revealed your dps is reduced. Not to mention everything that triggers off of stealth. 5k every 3 seconds vs 5k every 4 seconds.. 1,667 dps vs 1250 dps.. Seriously we did take a hit to damage.

On another note, I am less and less impressed with this class. Thief was my first love, but after playing other classes and testing dps I’m really kind of disappointed here. With even 1 phantasm active my Mesmer tops my thief. I even have a Guardian build that matches the best numbers I can get with Thief, and it’s not GC. Before the flames come in this is in regards to PvE sustained damage output and I am comfortable with my own data and ability to optimize damage output for these classes.

Thief isn’t unplayable but our game play did go south. Lower damage and it feels just plain wonky now.

ANet, thief needs to bring more to the table, this nerf was uncalled for in PvE.

Maladon.5760:

The dps of a dead guardian is zero

While this is true Wish’s statement is also true. I run mostly zerker with a couple pcs of PVT mixed in. Find a balance that fits you.

Might try a 10/30/30/0/0 Sword/Torch build. I use it for PvE but a buddy has been doing very well with it in WvW. He loves the damage it brings.

10/30/30/0/0 This is the build I use sometimes. Really good damage if you can keep burning going. Helpful if you have a second guardian in the group. Take a look at the Effective Power, boosted by Fiery Wrath and Sigil of Force. This is a glass build and a challenging play style but it is doable. Throw on Mace and adjust traits for the tougher situations. Mace actually has very good damage contrary to what some say, use the symbol and Protectors Strike as DPS tools.

GL out there,
Blood~

After running other classes and this last nerf I’m retiring my Thief until Revealed is back to 3 sec. Quite sad that such a fun class has to endure these disappointing changes. ANet, you had something that felt really good to play, now its just clunky.

PvE needs the old Revealed.

2.) The butcher will take the ramps when moving around the different shallow levels of his room. If you have a full group you can simply ranged dps the boss w/o touching the totems. To do this have your group move to the back of the room on the far left corner. Agro the boss and watch him take the ramp up to you. When he gets close simply move 2 ‘levels’ down and he will path back to the center ramp then path back in to the group. All you have to do is hop between the two ‘levels’ and you can keep him on the run. Without killing the totems he will have protection and regen but your group should be able to out dps it, longer fight but very simple. He will reflect projectiles when he is ‘whirling’ but just ground target or beam him. I have 3 man’d him this way with all totems intact.

You can completely avoid the wolf packs. Let them path away, drop down to the troll and have the whole group hug the door as you kill the troll. If you move away from the door there is potential that the pack will agro.

GL
Blood~

To start out in PvE I’d suggest 0/0/30/30/10 using Hammer with larger symbols and longer symbols. I run Zerker gear with 4 pcs of Soldiers and sit around 16k hp and 2.7k Armor. Get that third Hammer auto for Protection then your melee has a lot of staying power. Altruistic Healing works great here, you’ll take hits and regen quickly.

The biggest thing in PvE is to just observe what each mob does. There is a learning curve but after you know that different things do you’ll have a much easier time. Dungeons that took 3 hrs when the group wasn’t familiar with them now take as little as 12 mins to complete with an experience group.

1. You can ‘face tank’ better than most classes and you can remove conditions very well. You can also heal yourself very well. The above build can be adjusted to do different things.

2. Not sure what the question here is, HotW is not one I run alot. Some encounters simply shouldn’t be melee’d.

3. See above, if I want to easily complete a dungeon that is the build I run. Gotta keep things in your Symbols to be most effective.

GL out there,

Blood~

Guardian is my main with Thief and Mesmer as alts. I love the thief but he is sidelined with recent changes. Mesmer is fun, such a different class and mechanic than anything I’ve played before. Solo wise Guardian is great, it’s quite fun to just run up to something and ‘face tank’ it all day long, even with full zerker and 13k hps. Guard’s damage is actually quite good too with the right gear and traits. I’ll go against my fear of flames and say that I can almost match my Thief’s sustained damage with my Guardian. I’ve done my trials and studies and I’m comfortable saying that.

Guardian is so great in Dungeons, if you like soloing open world PvE I would guess that dungeons would be even more fun. Even if your group isn’t competent you could flex your Guardian and pull them through…

Mesmer can solo a lot by keeping the clones n i’s on the board too. I favor Guard but Mesmer is just interesting and fun.

Blood~

I like 0/0/30/30/10 with Master of Consecrations. Wall of Reflection is just too good against anything with projectile attacks. I run Hammer and Zerker gear with this and I am able to stay in melee n smash stuff for quite a long time. This is my fallback build for running PvE with inexperienced groups and pugs. Damage output isn’t too bad and you have a ton of survivability.

GL out there

Blood~

Maybe a Sword or Mace build with Right Hand Strength. 10/30/30/0/0 or 0/30/30/10/0 or 0/30/20/10/10 or something. This will give you decent crit with Sword, Mace n …Scepter. Prolly get a Monks Focus to work or maybe something up the Virtues line with Consecrations. Sword has great damage output and some mobility. Mace has very good damage but it relies on a symbol and Protectors Strike and is slower so Sword is easier to keep pushing damage. Scepter is not very effective in WvW/PvP unless you have the right circumstances.

GL
Blood~

The 3 second Revealed seemed to fit just right with CnD to Auto Attack chain. The 4 second Revealed screwed this up, now we need to let the 1st Auto hit on a second chain before we hit CnD again. It’s just messy and rough. I run mostly PvE and run a CnD build. I’ll switch from S/D to D/D depending on the situation. Got my 6x Mesmer runes for S/D and with this change it lessens Tactical Strike. D/D is quite good sustained damage with backstab, this change reduced our ability to backstab there for reducing our DPS.

The changes lately are more than nerfs, they attack the core mechanics of the thief. A once ‘elegant’ stealth rotation is now clunky. The agro/stealth mechanic that once helped us stay alive is gone.

/signed

I don’t see a good reason for the Revealed increase in PvE. It reduces the effectiveness of everything that triggers on stealth and reduces our stealth builds DPS. It was harder to take my thief on runs after the stealth/agro nerf last patch, this is just salt in the wound. I used to love my thief for PvE, I no longer do…

Blood~

Laurienne.3645:

they should make this 4 sec revealed only to pvp, that’s where people are complaining

This is true, after the last patch where mobs would not wipe their agro table when stealth was used its functionality went down. 3 sec revealed is perfect for PvE, it felt like the dev’s really knew what they were doing. With 4 sec it doesn’t match up to the weapon rotations and feels clunky and unfinished. I rarely ran my thief after the stealth/agro change, now I’ll prolly retire it. Benefits to playing the class are just diminishing.

Make Revealed 3 sec in PvE, 4 sec in PvP.

Blood~

I like 0/0/30/30/10 to get Master of Consecrations. Wall of Reflection is just too good and IMO it justifies the loss of Radiance if you run dungeons. I run mostly zerker gear with a few soldiers and it’s still quite sturdy.

GL out there,

Blood~

Depending on what you’re doing 15k HP is manageable. I run 13k to 14k w/o a problem in PvE. Its a bit light for PvP/WvW though. DPS it seems is in the eye of the beholder in GW2. Some someone’s ‘good dps’ is another’s ‘low dps’. I personally shoot for 60%+ crit if possible but I like to be more on the DPS side, there is a noticeable difference from 40% to 60%. I’d suggest -5 Radiance, +5 Virtues for Master of Consecrations, Wall of Reflection is just awesome against projectiles…

Samis.1750:

Absolutely not. Mace is already a relatively low damage weapon.

Your suggested changes would reduce the damage of the mace to next to nothing. The mace would then become worthless in most game modes (PvE, WvW) except as a secondary slotted defensive “niche” weapon after you run in with the “real” weapon or as a purely defensive weapon which goes against Arenanet’s design philosophy.

I just took a look at Mace’s damage. Its slower than sword but hits harder. It also has a symbol for damage. If you look at the dps of Sword Auto vs Mace Auto+Symbol they are actually quite close. In practice its lower if the target moves out of your symbol and don’t get a damaging PS on cooldown. I think that ppl tag Mace as a low dps weapon simply because it feels like it should ‘Tank’. Sword will give the best sustained dps but Mace really isn’t too far behind when PS is used for damage. At least that’s what I’ve been seeing.

Blood~

I’ve been messing around with a 10/30/30/0/0 build with RHS and Monks. It’s built for Sword/Torch and its squishy. When things get tough I’ll throw on Mace and go. If you view Protectors Strike as a DPS ability you can get some real good numbers out of mace. It won’t sustain damage like Sword but its not too far behind honestly. Mace gives that mitigation that can complement a glassy build. Mace also has better AoE than Sword. Start thinking of it as a DPS weapon and you can make it perform like one with the right build and good PS timing.

Blood~

That is a pretty versatile build. It can support any 1h or 2h weapons, you can even get a mace/shield perma protection from it. Problem is its missing the monster traits like AH n Monks Focus. Buildcraft has a neat little ‘Effective Power’ calculation, the higher the value the more damage you could potentially do. The value doesn’t take into account everything though, just gives you a feel for where you’re at. It is weapon specific so don’t compare the value across weapons or classes.

With a couple changes you could kick up your damage. Run Sigil of Accuracy or Force, Throw on Berserker’s armor n Ruby Orbs instead of Knights and run Omnom Pies and Superior stones.

Hammer loves Altruistic Healing. You can ‘face tank’ stuff longer than normal by improving your Boon Duration and Symbol length. But that requires Valor 30.

Lotsa ways to go, your build will be effective but if you really want to just smack stuff with a 2h weapon I would suggest Hammer/AH 0/0/30/30/10 with dps focused gear. There is a great sticky on the subject at the top of this forum. I don’t play AH all the time but for groups that are new or running harder content I’ll switch back to it. Its a great cushion for learning the class and dungeons.

DPS, I like Sword/Torch Scepter/Focus 10/30/30/0/0. Its challenging but doable and you can get real good numbers from it. Mace can be substituted for Sword in tough spots. I’ve been able to achieve higher sustained dps with this over any GSword or Hammer I’ve run but the community here debates what weapon has the best dps.

Response is mainly geared to PvE. Find what works for you.

GL out there,

Blood~

Like the others say, AHEM is just really good. an x/x/30/30/x gives you AH, EM and 2h Mastery which helps GSword n Staff. 10 in Virtues could improve consecrations like Wall of Reflection. This also lets you run more Berserkers gear, don’t be afraid to run less than 16k hp in PvE with this setup either. I used to put 16k minimum but I’ve been running under 13k lately. Find where you’re comfortable.

25/15/0/30/0 buffs up your Hammer’s symbol which does good damage and throws Protection. Also kicks up your scepter a bit. You lack condition removal so you’ll need to use skills for it. Writ of the Merciful could be changed up for something else if you need your shouts or Empowering Might. This is more of a DPS build for PvE, not sure how well it would do in WvW/PvP. Crit n Crit Dmg gear would be quite helpful. Support here is in the form of Protection, melee guys in your symbol will be able to stay up close longer and take less damage.

I love the damage of Protectors Strike, I would hate to see it go away. Just really starting to use mace and it can push a good amount of damage. I’m personally seeing 6K+ off of a Protectors Strike.

Blood~

Svarty.8019:

Mace is by far the tankiest weapon and it’s great against mobs.

Mace is tanky but if I build to ‘face tank’ stuff I’m gonna run Hammer and +Boon Duration. 100% up time on Protection lets me take hits more efficiently than the heals, regen and block from mace, at least it feels more efficient. You can build for full Protection with Mace/Shield, Shouts and 70% boon duration but it’s a full build with consumables to get it online.

This site has a neat ‘Effective Power’ and ‘Effective Health’ calculation, mess around with it to optimize your setup. The value is only relevant to each individual weapon and class so don’t use it as a dps comparison.

Blood~

Asmodal.6489:

well i seem to recall some pretty moody mesmer who was angry that he wasted twilight on mesmer for three reasons:

1. animations: you dont swing it. one throw and after that its autoattack
2. enemys can see you leaking in stealth
3. clones do not leak

dps wise? no idea – i agree with wildwood

edit: did you try that lately blood? I think they fixed that end of january.

Just 2 or 3 weeks ago, worked fine. Not sure if it works on anything else but I was able to recover my starter shoulders.

What happens when that other guard or ele comes in with more condition damage and loads up burning. Yours gets knocked back and could potentially just not do damage if more higher damage burn comes in. I don’t like how damaging conditions stack in this game. Your personal DPS is dependent on your group or zerg makeup. I don’t want to have the potential to do lose my damage output because someone else applies the same condition. Reason I no longer play bleeds on my thief also, too many rangers n warriors out there

Blood~

I agree with Wildwood. If I had a Twilight coming online I would give it to my Mesmer though simply because I’m enjoying other Guardian weapons right now.

There is a trick for soulbound items. I found that at 80 I had deleted my starter Guardian shoulders. Made a new toon, transmuted the shoulder graphic to a grey shoulder item and it became Account Bound, was able hand it off to my 80 guard w/o a problem. Not sure if this works for Legendary items but it may. If it does you can pop it between the toons for the cost of an Exotic and transmute stone.

Blood~

Pies still proc at 1 sec for me.

I usually ask myself what weapon I want to run that day. Then its a choice between Right Hand Strength for 1h or AH/2H Mastery for GSword/Staff or AH for Hammer.

I like either 10/30/20/10/0 for RHS, 0/0/30/30/10 for GS/Staff or 0/15/30/20/5 for hammer. These builds seem to have good survivability and support with OK damage depending on your gear. 20/0/30/20/0 is good for GSword also.

Wall of Reflection and the summoned Shield are both great skills, they almost trivialize some fights that use projectiles.

I’ve decided to gear more offensively with a mix of Zerkers and Soldiers. Boon Duration runes for Hammer are nice to keep Protection going or just simply trait WoP. Otherwise I have been using Orbs until I really nail down what I like to play which may never happen. 13k hitpoints is manageable with the right setup.

I’m experimenting with a PvE build, don’t think it would be much good in WvW but may have potential in PvP. Its a bit squisy but I’m tweeking it to see what I can do with it. It throws big numbers and you need a proactive play style but its interesting.

GL out there,

Blood

If you’re looking at Staff as a main weapon AH is hard to pass up. The healing from Empower is just huge. So if you want to take advantage of that you’re looking at least 30 Valor and 20 Honor. After that I’d personally go with the 0/15/30/20/5 build to take advantage of Virtues also. Scepter is great in PvE but it lacks in WvW as its easy to dodge or run away from the shots. May want to simply run GSword instead in WvW to take advantage of 2h Mastery. Pay attention to Crit n Crit Dmg for the best increase in damage as most gear should already run Power. The calculator shows Effective Power, and even though it’s not a comparison of damage output across different weapons or classes it will give you a feel for more effective gearing and traits per individual weapon. Improving your Effective Power does pay off in game.

Omnomberry Pie is still a noticeable heal and I’m always running it even after the patch/nerf/fix.

Blood~

ionic, that’s a solid build. Gear looks good. A couple slight changes could be made to increase your protection up time and damage output, what I’d suggest for PvE. You’ll have a lot of healing with this and Staff 4 n Virtues for emergencies. Wall of Reflection and summoned shield are amazing vs projectiles. Weapon Sigils, flat 5% is tough to beat. Don’t forget consumables, they can add a lot. If you don’t want to run WoP you can use Boon Duration food. Key here is to adjust your traits, weapons and skills to the task. You’ll want different setups for PvP, WvW and PvE but this build has good versatility.

GL out there,
Blood~

haviz.1340:

Zerker is for warriors. If you don’t want to be called warrior wannabe, get soldier’s, knight’s and/or cleric’s.

My take on it is that if you can survive and support your team you should push as much damage as you can. Any bit of extra unneeded toughness and hp is wasted potential or a safety blanket. But if you want to be carried I guess that’s your call.

I run Zerker and I don’t want to be a warrior.

Red, wanna say ty for some inspiration here. I’m messing with something completely different but this post brought me back to an RHS build. I was Sword before the crit/food patch but I’m back now after messing with the build calc.

I’m actually surprised by the performance of Mace, I also don’t think it would match Swords sustained damage but I feel it could come pretty close. If you view Protectors Strike as a means to dps it does quite well. I’m seeing 6K+ crits out of it which is equal or bigger than ZD on the same CD and if timed right the damage/block happens very quickly. With Protectors Strike timed right you can burst kill stuff just about as quickly as Sword. I need to run it more to see how it does in the long run but I think its a viable option.

Blood

I started with full PVT gear, then I ‘dropped down’ to 5x pcs of zerker armor and 3x zerker trinkets, the balance of gear being PVT. This is close to my current setup and its still a work in progress. I will switch in and retrait for Mace or Hammer depending on the environment. Pretty low on support but I run with a group that doesn’t need a lot of support

I just know that I thought PVT was what I wanted and spent a good amount of cash and time getting it, only to discover it was overkill for me. Now I’ve regeared and I like where I’m at. My survivability has diminished some but is still manageable but my dps has over doubled from my full PVT days. I’d suggest finding your own ‘zerker limit’, start a little heavy on PVT and switch out when you feel comfortable. If you wanna stand on the front lines of a zerg n just not die go PVT all the way. I personally like to play it more aggressively.

Again this is mostly PvE geared, I’ve had some real fun in WvW with it too.

GL
Blood~