Guild Wars 2

Lipstick.3469:

Figured I would need all that. Shame I don’t have any organised group to do stuff with. I guess I’ll go back to my condition build for now until and if I ever find a decent group to go with.

30/30/0/0/10 Grenades w/Rampager’s will do the most damage that I’ve personally tested. Zerker will do close to Rampagers and plays well with bombs or rifle/sd or TK or grenades. Zerker builds will also do more DPS then Carrion/Dire/Rabid gear. Zerker Bombs is a very solid choice for DPS if you twist in your rifle and Pry Bar or Acid Bomb.

Blood~

I would suggest Thief or Ele.

Thief is a challenging class, high risk vs reward. We’re not real sturdy but can output quite good damage. There are a ton of builds to play with and most all are viable and they all play differently.

I don’t have a lot of experience with Ele yet but from my understanding you need to twist the attunements in and out similar to Engi kits to play the class at its best.

Mesmer is fun. Shatter and Phantasm builds play quite differently. Shatter is great aoe burst but pretty low sustained damage, good for trash but not good for boss fights. Shatter is also great in pvp/wvw. Phantasm builds are good for PvE and can output some of the highest DPS that I’ve tested if run um right. Really great class but might not be the one that satisfies ya. Tons of viable builds here too.

Blood~

I run Rabid with Grenades in WvW zerging. I really like the precision on it and prefer it over Dire. Our HP aren’t terribly low so I seem to do well with full Rabid. In PvE Rabid and Dire are not very good though. Rampagers on Grenades is good in PvE and will probably produce some very good DPS after the next patch with Modified Ammunition.

For leveling I worked with Sw/Sw and GSword. Decent tools and aoe. Sword traits easily.

The great GS debate.. IMHO GS is a solid power based ranged option. In my testing GS is only 5% to 15% behind Sw/X depending on build and number of phantasms on the board. I carry GS and switch it out with /Pistol depending on the content. As others have said Sw/Sw and Sw/P or Sw/F will produce higher DPS as well as keep you in melee buff range. But running GS won’t make you a ‘bad’ if you know how to use it.

Blood~

Its still viable but to get to the OP’s numbers you really need full stacks of Might and Vulnerability on the target and %damage to species potion. Rifle Turret’s Automatic Fire helps now with its Vulnerability.

Blood~

In PvE this works great as a point blank or close range AoE. I love seeing a bunch of 6K’s pop up on the screen. Past more then ~400 range it becomes very situational. I run this in my dungeon setup w/grenades and SD. The turret itself is pretty decent also, its growing on me.

Improvements would be welcome though..

Blood~

I’d change your GSword to Hammer. This is actually the highest DPS hammer build I’ve found so far. You won’t get blinds but your melee will get full time protection. All the symbol love you have going is only useful with one skill on your GSword which is on a cooldown. Hammer’s symbol is on auto attack which will take advantage of it a lot more. IMHO If you want a GSword build maybe try 20/25/0/25/0.

Blood~

First off, this is a great guide Killer, every Mesmer and group containing a Mesmer would benefit from reading it. +1

@Bumbler
I’ll be honest, I don’t fully trust any spreadsheet I’ve seen, nor do I fully trust my own math or testing but… There is a lack of verification, unless I’ve missed it. Anyway, the numbers come from in game solo testing derived from timed kills with know armor and HP.

I agree that Sword/X is going to be optimal in most situations. DPS, group buffs, etc.. I like having a ranged option for Power builds and GS is IMHO a solid choice for that. Since I’ve had to PuG more often lately the weapon has shown to be a bit more useful in the unorganized groups.

If you hit LFG you can’t expect an optimized group. I’d rather have a Zerker GSword mesmer then a PVT anything if they stay on their feet. Zerk vs Zerk, with 20/20/0/0/30 Phantasm, GSword max range with 2x phantasms on the board is ~5% lower then what I’ve seen as ‘average zerker dps’ across a lot of class and builds. Again, this is just what I’ve seen in my test scenario. Other builds can push the numbers up above ‘average’. I’ve come to the conclusion that if you build for DPS and understand what your build does it will make for good runs, regardless of class and in a lot of cases weapon choice.

I guess I think more highly of the GW2 community, I’d hate to see this game turn into WoW by kicking people for not running the cookie-cutter fotm build. Not saying there are not just plain bad players out there though.

Blood~

colesy.8490:

Fortus.6175:

What is the role of GS for mesmers, in dungeons ?(and a little bit outside of them)

The role of GS on mesmer is that it helps me spot bads that I can kick.

other stuff..

In the right builds* GS is only 5% to 10% lower then Sw/Sw or Sw/P. If you don’t camp the weapon it isn’t as terrible as you make it out to be. If you build for Zerker DPS you’ll still do more with GS then non-Zerker builds do. At least from my testing, and thats good enough for me.

Blood~

Kiibz.7346:

@Bloodgruve.6038 I like your idea but if I was to, i’d have to go scepter/pistol + sw/sw only because I feel skills 1-3 are wasted. Love izerker too much though xD

Reason for Sword/Sword and Sword/Pistol is that Sword MH simply does the best damage. BF is nice and if you weapon swap on cooldown you turn a 10s cooldown to a 20s cooldown while waiting for your swap to refresh. If you want the best damage you’ll want to run in Sword MH as much as possible.

I like GSword a lot, if feels good but it does 8% to 11% less damage then Sw/Sw or Sw/P depending on the number of Phantasms you have on the board. I still run it regardless of this though, I just usually lead off with GSword then switch to S/S for a majority of the fight. 20/20/0/0/30 can still be switched around from phantasm to shatter but you’d be running GSword and Sword/Sword mostly.

If you want the highest damage build, I’ve found it to be 30/30/0/0/10 Mantrasm so far. Sw/Sw and Sw/P again but I’ll run GSword in place of P sometimes too. You lose the ability to go full Shatter with this though.

GL
Blood~

You could do something a bit different and try 10/30/0/0/30 TK. Damage is actually quite good, competitive with most other good DPS builds. You’ll be bringing Vulnerability to the group with TK, Jump Shot and Rifle Turret. I’ve just started using Rocket Turret and really like it. Helps keep burning on and the toolbelt hits really hard, great for grouped up mobs. If you manage the turrets right it can be pretty effective.

I run Knights and Zerker armor with it since it’s mostly melee, but with a few trait changes you can run ranged when you need to.

GL
Blood~

coglin.1867:

Why would the engineer have hammers? We are alchemist, explosives experts, and inventors, not railroad workers, mountain barbarians, or farriers. To this day it baffles me how anyone could come to the conclusion that hammers fir with engineers thematically.

Who built those massive Char tanks? Char engineers.. I would assume you’d need a big hammer, welder and wrench to get the job done. We already have the wrench…

Maybe they should change Mortar to CNC..

As most have been saying, Shatter has pretty low sustained damage. Its pretty good for clearing trash in dungeons depending on the party though. I’d suggest a 10/30/0/0/30 build with Sword/Sword and Sword/Pistol. This trait setup and skills can be adjusted on the fly to bolster either Shatter or Phantasms. From my testing, sustained DPS in a Shatter setup was 54% lower then sustained Phantasm DPS. I had multiple people try this and we all came up with about the same result.

If you love shatter and have a patient group run this build and switch to Phantasms for any prolonged fight that your phantasms can stay alive in.

IMHO
Blood~

durend.6237:

In PvE shatter damage is sadly lacking. Shatter is all about dealing a sudden burst which works great in dropping targets in PvP content. Against the larger health pools and toughness of dungeon mobs however shatter damage cannot sustain over long periods of time like phantasms do.

This^ :/

I’d suggest the 10/30/0/0/30 Sw/Sw Sw/P build. You can switch a few traits and skills around to bolster either Phantasms or Shatter depending on the situation. Shatter is good for clearing trash when you have to, Phantasms are much better for sustained damage. When running Phantasms in this it’s sustained damage is competitive DPS if you can maintain 2x phantasms most of the time. If you have a patient group you can switch to Phantasm mode before bosses. It does lack reflects that Inspiration gives but the build does well in most cases.

GL
Blood~

I started off as Thief as my main. My main is now either Guard or Engineer. Mainly because I loved the class so much but it seems almost every major update Thief gets nerfed and it just made me sad. The class is still effective but just be ready for nerfs at any given time.

Playstyle is fun and damage is quite good if built right. If you play a thief and get good at it you’ll be able to survive any dungeon with any other class with ease. Roll Thief to become a good player, then roll Guard to sit back and enjoy the ride.

GL
Blood~

I’ve been running a lot of PUGs lately and noticed that there is very little Might and Vulnerability stacking outside of the Vulnerability that I throw. I’m looking for a build that stacks both as best as possible. I’ve generally run full DPS builds but I want a build for LFG.

Any good builds out there for this? I’ve been messing with some Grenades/Bombs builds and FT/EG builds with a few turrets for Blast finishers but I feel there’s a better option out there to max both Might and Vulnerability.

Input is appreciated.

Blood~

Here is the problem.

Engi’s can be competitive at most aspects be it DPS or Support. We’re pretty good with CC. But compared to other classes it takes a lot more button pushes to do it. Grenades alone are on the low end of what I would consider the competitive dps scale. Start twisting in other kits, skills and weapon abilities and you can do pretty well. Most people out there will pop on a kit an live in it through the fight and do noticeably less dps then they could.

A nerf to grenades and bombs would be a bad idea IMHO. Even with the best numbers that I’ve been able to achieve Engi is still trailing a bit behind the highest DPSr’s. For Engi Grenades/Bombs could be considered our ‘god-tier’ kits but vs other classes they’re average-tier from a DPS standpoint. Nerfing these would hurt your average engineer quite a bit compared to other classes. Infact I would argue that grenades, and kits in general, need a minimum 5% dmg increase across the board.

TK can be competitive, EG is low but EG4 is a great supplement to DPS, FT alone is low but can be brought up to competitive levels with help from other kits n skills. FT and EG need a damage boost, TK could use a slight damage boost. Our weapons alone fall short on the DPS scale also so we do need to rely on our whole toolbox to be competitive.

Blood~

spoj.9672:

No i believe its a bit lower even when including conditions. Which seems right based on the cast times and actual numbers you see compared to other classes. I cant find the post but guang did some numbers and it was like 13k dps for eles and thieves, 12-10k for the others. Ranger and engi were at 9k, with ranger slightly higher than engi. I dont know the exact buffs and conditions used to calculate these values, but they were done under the same assumptions for comparison.

Engi DPS is on par with other classes if you do it right. GK was nice enough to share his spreadsheet, I’m pretty sure there are other builds that would test a lot higher then the one he had in there, if in fact the 9K was from the build he had qued up. I calculated a guess that a Rifle/SD build would clock in around 14K with his sheet but he hasn’t responded to that request yet. My in game testing is showing that we’re competitive in a lot of builds and some are actually above average depending on the group comp and their ability to stack Vulnerability.

I’ve worked with a number of spreadsheets and built a few. None that I’ve seen seem accurate TBH. I like to make my conclusions on actual in game testing. But that’s just my opinion.

I would rank a Zerker or Rampager Grenade Engi in the top half of the usefulness list. Especially in a PUG run.

Blood~

You won’t go wrong with Zerker.

I was trying Chaith’s first build up there and its dam fun. I think Rocket Turret is my new favorite. Rampagers still does more damage from what I can tell but its designed for longer fights and wouldn’t be as effective as his build if you look at the whole dungeon run.

I’ve only cared to run low 30’s fractals so past that I have no experience. At that level either my build or Chaith’s build would work well. I usually have a pocket Guardian with though.

GL in there

Blood~

From a PvE perspective Guard can dish out damage on par with most other classes. I would say for most of our builds we’re on the lower half of the scale but usually within 5% of other average Zerker dps builds. Guard has the second highest build that I’ve personally tested, although it’s situational with Unscathed Contender.

Hammer is on the lower end of our DPS scale but it gives great AoE, Protection and that wonderful Blast finisher.

Mace will actually do quite good DPS if you use Protectors Strike as a DPS ability. Its not uncommon to see 5K to 7K aoe hits in PvE with PS, this adds DPS if you time it right and proc it quickly.

Sword is good, Mace can out DPS it with PS and Symbol ticks. Sword3 is only a very slight DPS gain over auto attack.

GSword feels like its built well but not our highest DPS.

Torch, If you need burning T4 is definitely a DPS increase, if not it’s only an increase if it crits. T5 is a dps loss in most cases.

These statements come from my personal DPS testing. Don’t take my word for it though, test and make your own conclusions.

Blood~

I’ve been doing a lot of testing lately and I’ve found Rampagers 30/30/0/0/10 P/P w/Grenades to output the highest DPS so far. After Dec10’th Modified Ammo should add a fair amount of damage also. Keeping Burning up is the challenge here, hence the Flame Turret. Rocket Boots or EG4 could probably replace it. Slightly lower but still pretty high are Zerker Bomb and Toolkit builds that I’ve tested. Happy to go into more detail if you like.

Blood~

This is from my personal solo testing on the indestructible golem in the mists. Torch4 was used on the tests to help with burning. Focus or Shield would be better in a group if others applied burning as well. Performed over 240k HP @ 2600 Armor.

25/25/0/20/0 Hammer Symbols w/Sword of Justice, 3000 DPS
20/30/0/10/10 Scepter/Torch w/UC, 4000 DPS (only with 100% Aegis)
10/30/0/5/25 Sword/Torch w/UC, 3438 DPS (only with 100% Aegis, only had 2 boons)
10/30/30/0/0 Sword/Torch Meditations, 3157 DPS
10/30/30/0/0 Mace/Torch Med 3132 DPS (Protectors Strike would add 277DPS)
20/25/0/25/0 GSword 3037 DPS (Think this deserves some retesting)
0/0/30/30/10 AH Hammer w/SoJ 2376 DPS

*These are simply comparison tests on what different builds output solo, numbers will change in a PvE group environment. All tested with Scholar, Force/Accuracy and Zerker Amulet. Builds were tested with only DPS in mind, I’m making no claims that any of these are viable

All that being said, Hammer showed a bit low but it has great AoE and you get a puddle of Protection and Blast finisher. It’s not too far off from other weapons but I did have to supplement its damage with SoJ which added DPS and helped with Burning. A 10% increase would bring it close in line with other weapons.

Most other classes and builds I’ve tested sit between 3K and 3.5K DPS. A few situational builds can push 4K+. Subtracting Vulnerability stacks brings most right around 3.1K DPS.

I’m honestly not a fan of spreadsheets, haven’t met any I fully trust yet.

Don’t take my word for it though, go test and draw your own conclusions.

Blood~

Captain Swag.5893:

The problem is that engineers have NO melee (Tool kit isnt a fighting kit, it’s for utility)
Engineer is the only profession without some form of melee, and they’re already EXTREMELY limited in what they can build.

TK with auto attack, Prybar supported with Rifle, SD and EG4 is easily on par with our other higher DPS builds.

That being said I’d still like to see hammer. To DPS with Rifle you need to treat it as a melee weapon though.

Blood~

I have mixed thoughts on IP. Burning is a great condition but in my SD builds I don’t run condition damage so in a PvE situation where others are applying Burning there’s a good chance that your’s drops off the end of the mob’s health bar. I will probably still go x/30/x/x/30, maybe Energized Armor or something. PvP, not sure yet.

Blood~

Every major update I am glad that I stopped investing in my thief. Still my favorite class but constant big nerfs are too much for me.

Hope it improves for the class but not holding my breath.

Blood~

Seu,

You may want to try Elixir Gun instead of Goggles for WvW. EG4 does great aoe damage and can get you out of the middle of a zerg, not to mention the blast finisher n stun break. Also, I’ve found Healing Turret to be super useful in Zerg play, especially with EG and Rocket Boots.

PvE, both – Mantrasm (30/30/0/0/10)
PvP, Phantasm
PvE, Shatter

fourhim,

Rifle/SD is my favorite setup on my Engi. I’ve done extensive testing and got some interesting results. I tested a lot of different skill setups and the best I’ve found is 10/30/0/0/30 for DPS. EG4 is great damage on stationary targets and bunched groups. If you are going into more mobile fights then TK will do better if you position yourself correctly for Throw Wrench to hit twice. Trick is to switch into either EG for Acid Bomb or TK for Prybar (which ever you are running) as soon as the abilities are off cooldown to maximize damage. Rifle Turret overload is good to throw Vulnerability now.

EG4 just hits really hard and is a little better then TK’s Prybar + Throw Wrench/SD unless you can get confusion on a fast hitting target. Surprised me that my DPS was better with EG4 then with TK PB and TW/SD.

If you’re good at kit swapping, Runes of Altruism and Medkit5 can give you almost full time Fury. If not go for Ruby Orbs or Scholar.

GL out there,

Blood~

I would prolly setup something like this for Shatter

And switch to something like this for Phantasms

I personally run Knights armor w/ Zerker trinkets and weapons to give my phantasms a bit of a boost. Runes of the Traveler was the best 50G I’ve spent on my mesmer.

Blood~

My rule, I run Hidden Killer in D/D BS builds and Executioner in most everything else. Lately though I’ve been having a hard time not traiting it with D/D simply for the HS spam under 50% health… I love cheese. I’ll do some testing.

I was messing with this build about 6 months ago. Watched some vids on it from some top ranked player. Its pretty effective but wasn’t my thing

My suggestion is to run a 10/30/0/0/30 if you want both. Shatter does low sustained damage but its nice for trash and AoE. This build will allow you to trait up Shatter and if you’re in a patient group retrait Phantasms quickly for bosses. It uses Sw/Sw and Sw/P.

Blood~

After a bit more testing EG4 even untraited is great. I was able to achieve competitive DPS with FT and improve my DPS in Rifle/SD by 11% with it vs Toolkit/Throw Wrench.

Aza.2105:

Bloodgruve.6038:

I’ve been running mace DPS in PvE for some time now. If my testing isn’t terribly inaccurate, Mace has the same if not higher DPS potential then Sword and GSword if Protectors Strike is triggered quickly for damage. A 7K PS strike is not uncommon for me in PvE. Its not the best on moving targets but if the group is stacked it does awesome. It also feels more like a ‘Guardian’ weapon.

Blood~

It doesn’t make sense to have higher dps potential than sword/gs, protectors strike is on a 15sec cd. And you have to wait for the enemy to hit you to activate it.

If you allow the full cast to go off then its not a DPS increase but if you can watch the target and time it right it most definitely is, but that’s the skill in using it. Not hard to predict hits from bosses in most cases and its almost instant in packs of mobs. I was surprised to see Mace so high but if you don’t believe me feel free to go compare it in the mists. PS wont proc vs the Indestructible Golem but against Chieftain and the other guy it hits for 5k to 5.3k in a 10/30/30/0/0 build. If you can proc a hit quickly every 18 seconds you’ll add ~278 DPS in this scenario. I rarely see it not crit in PvE. I’m happy to PM the test method.

Red.3572:

Guardian sword auto for example has better DPS than Zealot’s Defence if I recall correctly. Not 100% sure.

When I tested ZD it adds a marginal amount of DPS, like 50ish in my test scenario. I use it in a DPS ‘rotation’ simply because its something different the auto>auto>auto>etc..

Overlord.7394:

No way… The auto has higher damage? Wow I honestly never would’be guessed.

Whats the point of this post?

Blood~

I’ve been running mace DPS in PvE for some time now. If my testing isn’t terribly inaccurate, Mace has the same if not higher DPS potential then Sword and GSword if Protectors Strike is triggered quickly for damage. A 7K PS strike is not uncommon for me in PvE. Its not the best on moving targets but if the group is stacked it does awesome. It also feels more like a ‘Guardian’ weapon.

Blood~

Whip would be awesome, I’d want to dual wield them though. A one hand ranged option other than Scepter would be great to, like a Pistol.

OH Chair.. I love this one..

I’ve looked at maximizing DPS with a lot of different builds. The best numbers I’ve seen require supplementing your ‘main’ weapon or kit with higher damaging abilities from other kits, taking advantage of our virtually zero swap cooldown. I’ve done a lot of testing in SD builds with different setups. Rifle Turret/Surprise shot is a staple but past that EG even un-traited is pushing the same DPS if not slightly higher then TK+toolbelt or PBRtoolbelt. My conclusion is it’s personal preference between EG and TK to bolster damage in a build with SD. EG helps for sure in non-SD builds. Its just that much better when you trait it

Actually, now that I’m thinking of it I’m not sure I’ve done a comparison between TK/Throw Wrench SD and EG4, I’ll have to do that today.

To the OP
20/30/0/20/0gave me the highest sustained numbers with FT, comparatively on par with Grenades. Its not just sitting in FT though, its switching to Rifle for 3n5, to EG for 4 on cooldown and Rifle Turret overload for Vulnerability. Incendiary Ammo will guarantee Burning off the bat and its not hard at all to stack Burning with all this. Problem is if you have another Burner in group your ticks will get pushed back.

I think burning is a stupid way to deal damage in PvE, if you’re not top condition damage your ticks usually fall off the end of the mobs hitbar :/ Design wise.

This was tested with Zerker gear but I’ll give Rampagers a shot n see what it does.

Lastly, tested in the Mists for comparison of DPS levels, that is all. This isn’t a statement of absolute viability in PvE…

30/0/0/10/30 GK/EG/SD is right under that 3100 DPS level.
Had a 20/30/0/20/0 FT/EG at 3100 also.

Bombs clocked in at 3300 and Rifle/SD at 3200 for me.

Again, these are only comparative numbers, not saying anything about PvE or scaling or survivability/utility or group play other than I believe, when taken to PvE, these builds should stay somewhat even dps wise. Don’t take my word for it either, test and draw your own conclusions.

Blood~

Rezzet.3614:

FT is flat out horrible if you want dps go Static discharge

you ll melt your targets each tool belt of mine hits for 2-3.5k as well as the SD shots

so thats 5-6k with surprise shot 7s cd
5-6k with battering ram 12s cd
5-6k tool kit 17s cd

shave 2 seconds if you put 30 trait points

Comparatively 10/30/0/0/30 Rifle/SD is only ~5% higher DPS then 10/30/0/20/10 FT with the right ‘rotation’ in my personal testing. And only ~80DPS higher then 20/30/0/20/0.

Blood~

Rezzet.3614:

only shows how bad FT is, my grenades hit for 1.3k-1.5k each average 1.9k tops Each grenade easily over the 3k specified and theres the fact FT has a 2s attack chain so grenades do in fact add for 50-100% more damage solely on attack rate.

Everything being equal, FT in this scenario is 50DPS lower then Grenades, these are comparative tests not definitive PVE DPS values. Numbers from ‘this attack’ or ‘that chain’ are deceiving, you can’t assume DPS by looking at one number. Again, don’t take my word for it, go see test yourself. I’m happy to PM my test method.

FT is DPS viable with the right build and ‘rotation’. Just posted a bit of info in this thread. Not the easiest but its rewarding once you get it down.

At least from what I’ve seen and tested.

blutstein.2468:

DesertRose.2031:

No, Grenade Kit or Bomb Kit will give you between 20-50% more damage

thats simply way exaggerated, you never do 20%-50% more dmg with grenades.
Its a statement some people come up with because they don’t like the FT kit or whatever, i don’t know how you come to this numbers. So tell me, I would really like to see it!

A FT/EG 0/25/0/20/25 build comes close to Grenades. On top of that the only considerable support with grenades is vulnerability, its laughable calling ‘cripple’ support, sry. FT/EG has multiple condition cleans, weakness, knockdowns etc. imho far better support with nearly comparable dmg.

Unfortunately those numbers aren’t too far off from a solo perspective. FT drew me to start playing the class n I’d hope they give it a boost at some point.

Strictly DPS wise these numbers are from my personal testing. Done in the mists for a ‘sterile’ environment. All done with Zerker setup to simply compare DPS levels.
30/10/0/0/30 Grenades w/SD runs around ~3100 DPS
0/30/0/30/10 FT/HGH ~2100 DPS
0/30/0/20/20 FT w/EG4 and SD ~2670 DPS
*10/30/0/20/10 FT w/EG4 and SD ~3050DPS

Keep in mind those numbers are solo with PvP gear so they will change in PvE but should be comparatively similar. Vulnerability plays a part here. Grenades averages ~16 stacks where FT does not. If your group already supplies 16 stacks you’ll match Grenades damage on a personal level. If you take vulnerability away from Grenades they do similar damage to FT/EG/SD.

To get the numbers on 0/30/0/20/20 you need to hit Rifle 3 n 5, EG 4 and your Rifle Turret toolbelt as soon as they’re off cooldown. I have a lot of fun with FT, its great for open world events and just fine for a lot of dungeons.

Lastly, don’t take my word for it. Do your own testing and make your own conclusions. Fun trumps DPS IMHO.

GL
Blood~

*Seems with some rotation and trait refinement you can pull quite close to Grenades, with the same ‘rotation’ of hitting cooldowns. Bombs and Rifle/SD are both a bit higher but I’m quite pleased with FT numbers in this setup.

Divinity.8041:

what is pbr!!? me no what is it

Sorry for the late response. Yea, PBR is Pabst Blue Ribbon Personal Battering Ram. Magnet them in, hit um with Tool Kit3 n Rifle3 > knock um back with PBR and PBRtoolbelt>Rifle2 net and Throw Wrench>run up and Rifle5 on top of them>Rifle4 knock back and Surprise Shot. If they’re not dead yet you have some tools on Toolkit that are nice like the shield and Box of Nails, Rifle Autoattack isnt terrible either and Supply Drop can be a game changer. This is a mix of burst and control.

Watch your target, don’t engage until after they’ve popped some of their anti-CC abilities and stability. You don’t have much that you can do to counter CC either but if you time Magnet right you should be good. I’ve taken out tons of opponents this way, I’ve also done my fair share of dieing because thats what you do as a GC in sPvP

I play it cuz its fun and effective, ~60% of the time it works every time…

GL
Blood~

MoPain, but thats simply from a solo testing perspective. You bring up a good point though with Power Lock, gonna give that a try. Was thinking of messing with a Halting Strike build… 7 stacks of Vulnerability and a ~4k hit would definitely out do MoPain. Good call.

Blood~

I run a 30/30/0/0/10 Mantra/Phantasm build and I’m really enjoying it since the last patch. Best damage I’ve been able to personally pull out of any build from any class. Even with one phantasm on the board I’m doing respectable damage. I run Knights armor to try and keep my phantasms on the board a bit longer but I’m building a full zerker set now to see how it runs.

10/30/0/0/30 is another build. Versatile, you can go shatter or phantasms and get good damage out of readied mantras.

Neither of these really support Glamor well though.

Some people out there feel GSword is a bad weapon. My personal testing shows it to be surprisingly close to Sw/Sw with this build, full range and MoP spam. Don’t take my word for it though, test and make your own conclusion.

Its funny but the change to Mantras has brought me back to my Mesmer.

GL
Blood~

I really like a 10/30/0/0/30 build in Hotjoins. Rifle Turret, Toolkit and PBR, save your burst until you can get them CC’d then go all out. Toolkit is great in this, Magnet to PBR to Burst. Especially fun for Skyhammer

Rifle Turret’s toolbelt is great cuz you can use it at any time even when you’re CC’d. So you can chain your own CC and get a head start on the burst. Throw the turret and pop it for another SD also.

I’ve been thinking of trying a Turret/SD build. Maybe 20/20/0/0/30.

Hello OMFG

I’d like an invite.

IGN: Guile and Blood
Server: Borlis Pass
Playstyle: Mostly PvE, Some PvP and WvW
Role: Tester/Scholar

Playtime after 10PM CST most nights. Interested in maxing DPS with Survivability,Utility and Fun.

Xyonon.3987:

As much as I like the GS – the problem Blood is, that you will stay out of range for might buffs. Overall the Sword will deal about 20-30% more damage. But it’s not that terrible as ppl try it to look like.

Agreed, as stated in that first post, simply posting raw data. Its group comp and buff stacking dependent.

Interesting though, even with a single phantasm and this setup S/S and GSword build will do more damage then a lot of non Zerker builds. Compared to other tests I’ve done, assuming my test method isn’t terribly off base.

Its a comparative DPS test. I don’t think much changes from this scenario to PvE, comparatively. Unless I’m missing something which I could be.

I moved to the 30/30/0/0/10 build and I had a great time with it, so great that I picked up a set of Travelers runes for my poor slowkitten Mesmer.

Blood~