Guild Wars 2

Two elementalists, guardian, warrior and thief will pretty must steam roll through fractals due to stealth for skips, high damage and quickness/defensive support from the guardian, this is probably the best all-round set up for fractals. and yes, obviously some players are better than others. However I’d say 2 eles, PS warrior, guard and the last class doesn’t really matter too much, but optimally thief or engineer. In less coordinated groups I think engineer is better than thief because it has more vuln/blasts
and water fields/chills ect… while still retaining stealth. But saying that even classes like necromancer can carry certain encounters such as imbuned shaman with life steal and transfusion so it is really up to you as a player to make the most of your class.

For a general strategy, keep up blinds on trash (sandstorm, black powder, smoke bomb, mortal kit 4 ect…). For bosses stay at max melee, kite around as not to trigger attacks, keep up chill/cripple to make it easier and to increase the cool down on skills, control defiant stacks to icebow 5 the boss (disable for 5 seconds) for easier DPSing and most importantly dodge at the right time.

Everything changes depending on who you play with, ultimately you can contribute to your party no matter what you play, the class isn’t as important as the player

No kidding here, that works pretty legit haha, nice one

gin.7158:

I miss the point here. so you are saying just go d/d and ignore defiance ?

No, just don’t waste all your personal DPS constantly defiance stripping, allow other classes to do it within their dps (e.g tremor). But using d/d d/p is still good for maybe taking one last stack if an icebow is ready or for double freezing/taking stacks quickly. However there is not many bosses where multiple freezes is really necessary, the only boss I think constantly shaving stacks over dps is worth it is Mai Trin or possibly Abom, maybe double freezing Mossman but the point the op is trying to make is don’t be that one kitten thief who uses pistol offhand more than dagger offhand to take stacks 24/7 as thief’s personal dps is very important.

Thief has very good damage with icebow 4, high burst and consistent damage, good blinds and the best stealth potential. In all honesty thief is better for speed running fractals because it is better for fractals such as dredge, harpy and cliff side for example. However that being said I think that engineer is a great class too, and for daily runs you will barely notice the difference of taking an engineer over a thief.

I don’t think heroes would work for several reasons,
1, Undermining LFG tool and party content
2, AI, careful dodging and adaptability is needed in dungeons/fractals. I don’t see heroes dodging or max meleeing bosses effectively or dodging the attacks right as well as adapting to situation when kitten go wrong
3, Costly, it would cost a lot of gold to fully gear up all different kinds of heroes on multiple characters

But I can see the appeal of heroes, I just don’t think which such an advanced combat system in gw2 they would work effectively.

Mai is my favorite, but the cannon phase is kitten

bearbear.1903:

I’m sure you guys tested it already, but I have to ask, did you try replacing the thief for an engineer for better vuln uptime particularly for the underwater fight?

Considering almost half the run is down to the final boss, it seems most time saved could be there. However losing a thief for their dps on the first half of the dungeon may not make it worth it.

We did consider it, but to be honest thief has good UW damage and stacks a good amount of vuln anyway, furthermore bursting down the quaggon boss is very important because ever little second longer those kitteners live the boss is a lot more irritating.

The only class which will may use a sinister like armour set in pve groups will be engineer.
I have no idea why the hell you would mix sinister with zerk for ele, I mean since staff is the meta in pve groups your damaging conditions are burning and bleeding from icebow

PoV Uploaded

I do think that the waiting time in molten facility is sort of kittened. The drill should be at least 150% of its current speed. Also jade maw is just boring as hell. I prefer it on level 50 just because the adds are pretty strong, but even then you end up waiting for the jade kittens to spawn before you can actually progress. The time they take to spawn should be changed maybe so one will spawn the second you kill the current one

Pretty sure that people just want to get stuff done as quickly as possible.

I don’t see a negative side to this, would be great, support

Personally I would try to use either flame legion or rage. Rage if you won’t be keeping up as much burning. Thief rune is also an option yeah

Element Two.7316:

Iris Ng.9845:

Imagine you are with 4x Dub who are there to troll-tanking damage. You need all the help in the world to keep them up, or simply go Yolo mode to solo Mai Trin. I usually opt gor the first choice, due to whiny guildies, though energy sigil isn’t really necessary. Unless to triple dodge the cannon.

Yea cannon phase is the only place where you may need energy sigil; unless you need to dodge canon shots in order to keep herin place for stacks, no energy and no vigor is enough for her Pistol Spin. I guess if you’re pugging you may need 1 sigil to make stack removal quicker, but I don’t really see a point in 2.

Enough for her pistol spin but it’s nice for dodging cannons and her melee attacks also. I don’t think you loose a lot of damage and having extra dodges is good for dodging in and out of fields in order to pull her inside without getting rekt

If I was soloing her I would agree with you as its much easier to move in and out of melee, you don’t need to dodge nearly as much as only the pistol spin can’t be avoided with positioning, but in groups trading off a little bit of dps for a lot of sustain is worth it in my view

Element Two.7316:

Painbow.6059:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fVAQNAsdRlsApUoNDxXI8DRR8Ql5Y8iW/BtwGUVAg1TA-ThRBABXt/o8DP9BacKAA4JAQp6PmpEUMA5B-e

What is it with you and energy sigils/vigor holy kitten

With a bunch of people who don’t know how to position themselves and aoes flying everywhere for a minor dps trade off having the ability to dodge every single attack is worth it, also you don’t get any vigor in the cannon phase and if people run around everywhere like headless chickens having an extra dodge can save your live, thus allowing you to solo it and carry them

gin.7158:

Thx all for the input

Painbow.6059:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fVAQNAsdRlsApUoNDxXI8DRR8Ql5Y8iW/BtwGUVAg1TA-ThRBABXt/o8DP9BacKAA4JAQp6PmpEUMA5B-e

Personally this is the build I would use at mai trin for pugging or for fighting without stealth tactic.

You have sword 3, retreat, virtue of courage, wall of reflect, renewed focus to block teles. Plenty of dodges and condi cleanses as well so this is all the sustain you need.
Personally I wouldn’t focus too much on healing but block what you can for them or just let them die and solo it yourself. The chances are they will die instantly regardless of your healing so you may as well just do as much damage as you can while using a safe build

If you stand pretty close to being in-front of her you can block the teleport with sword three pretty easily, even if it isn’t targetting you

You should try to melee all the time, you can walk in and out of max melee range to trigger her auto chain then peddle a step back, this way you won’t get hit at all.

GS 5 is useful for pulling her into the fields as well or for a DoT

I’ve never tried to block the projectile with sword 3, only with WoR. Thx, I’ll try to max-melee her. The GS5 seems unreliable, you need to clear her defiance stack, don’t you? I wonder what the rotation of the DPS though. Do you camp GS and use sword for blocking only. Sword AA sounds unreliable in this fight since I usually need to dodge and break the chain.

You need to clear her stacks for it to work yes, you could use technobable if you were an asura perhaps, or bane signet if you wanted to drop purging. Generally you use sword more because of the range and higher damage auto attack. You can use GS dps by luring her onto a spot and using your symbol, then moving closer again towards her in order to trigger her melee chain while getting the full damage out of the symbol. Yes you should dodge to break the chain but you can usually get the first hit off, back of a lil, then move in for the final hit. I know its on warrior but https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1EfF1b2GbQ (sesshi’s warrior solo) might be a nice video for an example of how to melee her effectively.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fVAQNAsdRlsApUoNDxXI8DRR8Ql5Y8iW/BtwGUVAg1TA-ThRBABXt/o8DP9BacKAA4JAQp6PmpEUMA5B-e

Personally this is the build I would use at mai trin for pugging or for fighting without stealth tactic.

You have sword 3, retreat, virtue of courage, wall of reflect, renewed focus to block teles. Plenty of dodges and condi cleanses as well so this is all the sustain you need.
Personally I wouldn’t focus too much on healing but block what you can for them or just let them die and solo it yourself. The chances are they will die instantly regardless of your healing so you may as well just do as much damage as you can while using a safe build

If you stand pretty close to being in-front of her you can block the teleport with sword three pretty easily, even if it isn’t targetting you

You should try to melee all the time, you can walk in and out of max melee range to trigger her auto chain then peddle a step back, this way you won’t get hit at all.

GS 5 is useful for pulling her into the fields as well or for a DoT

I found something better

Enko.6123:

Is jumping the wall considered restricted or unrestricted? Jumping the wall in the Molten Bosses Fractal to force the teleport was considered unrestricted before.

Looks like Anet actually fixed it where it bugs out if you enter the room before the NPCs now as well?

Nice run regardless. Something to bypass timegates is always nice to make daily runs go faster.

It is considered restricted, it isn’t skipping a boss. Just a good use of game mechanics

It’s good for scepter builds such as 04550 or 55220, could even go 66020 with tempest defence and persisting flames if you want some fury. But I wouldn’t use it in staff builds or dagger focus

EcoRI.9273:

Painbow.6059:

EcoRI.9273:

Painbow.6059:

EcoRI.9273:

engie, don’t care they sux.

sometimes the truth hurts :-D.

no

ok fine sometimes my opinions offend people :-D

High damage both single target and aoe
Access to a lot of blinds
Perma CC (immob)
Good defiance control
Condition removals
Water field/strong aoe heal
Lots of blasts
Stealth
Pulls (magnet)
Very good vuln stacking in longer lasting fights
Potential boon removal
Can leap very far
Perma burning
Low CD fire field (if bomb kit that is)
even has potential for other little things like stability and pulls ect too..

Yeah engi sucks..

EcoRI.9273:

Painbow.6059:

EcoRI.9273:

engie, don’t care they sux.

sometimes the truth hurts :-D.

no

EcoRI.9273:

engie, don’t care they sux.

In PvE they do feel different. Warrior is the offensive party buffer (banners and might with PS), which can be achieved with little effort or concentration, on the other hand guardian requires concentration to conditions and certain attacks in terms of negating the negative effects of them. I think guardian is a more active play style but the mobility and high numbers from great sword make it somewhat fun to play occasionally.

Lauren Kamieniecki.6245:

The bug I mention that is scheduled for a future fix is a similar but different issue in this fractal. They look nearly identical though.

This current problem is being looked at, actually has since this thread popped up.

How do you manage to bug something like this

Jerus.4350:

Painbow.6059:

To be honest I think engi is a very underrated class even if it’s not part of the meta.
The damage is great and the utility is great. I would argue that in fractal casual runs an engineer is better than a thief, you get sustained vuln in longer fights, perma immob, better aoe damage and tons of blinds still, furthermore its more reliable to dps on an engineer than a thief due to not being in point blank melee range. Also for certain dungeons such as HoTW an engineer is outright better than a thief, it would even be better for record runs there if more people played the class. You can also quite easily sub out an elementalist for an engineer. I think heart of thorns might switch up the meta due to engi utility potential and potential icebow 4 nerf (engi burst will be more valuable)

Well put, though I think some pathing tricks are still outside the capability of Engi, so I think I’d still want a thief in HoTW for that stuff, unless you know better( I don’t HOTW2/3 much)?

And is Engi capable of doing all the stealth for Ascalon/Harpy skipping or do you kill or block your way through the rest?

What I’d do for a second smoke field to rotate with smoke bomb.

For hotw p2/3 engi can do all the stealth needed with smoke bomb + toss elixr, it has more sustained vuln for longer fights and can even remove the boons with mines on p2 boss. Not to mention better under water damage and immobs

As for harpy we just kill cause powerful bloods, and on ascalon you can trait for lower recharge on bomb kit if you wanna stealth

for harpy you may be able to kill the first few then stealth with smoke bomb and toss elixr but not tried it

To be honest I think engi is a very underrated class even if it’s not part of the meta.
The damage is great and the utility is great. I would argue that in fractal casual runs an engineer is better than a thief, you get sustained vuln in longer fights, perma immob, better aoe damage and tons of blinds still, furthermore its more reliable to dps on an engineer than a thief due to not being in point blank melee range. Also for certain dungeons such as HoTW an engineer is outright better than a thief, it would even be better for record runs there if more people played the class. You can also quite easily sub out an elementalist for an engineer. I think heart of thorns might switch up the meta due to engi utility potential and potential icebow 4 nerf (engi burst will be more valuable)

Bear form for heat room

Technobabble

I think that the change will be very interesting. With the assumed defiance change maybe icebow 5ving bosses wont be a thing anymore, so have an engineer in the party to perma imob everything will be nice, as well as getting sustained vuln it will allow the warrior to run 66060. 66060 is a massive DPS boost over the current PS build, it requires others to bring vulnerability stacking for longer fights which could be achieved with glyph/ranger/engi for longer fights. Elementalist looks like staff will be getting a kick in the kitten seeing as if you want blasting staff you have to put 4 extra points into a fairly useless trait line. But on the other hand dagger focus and scepter are both getting a nice buff, enough to compete with staff and maybe put PS out of the meta or make them good enough to use including the PS warrior. The warrior could bring inspiring banners and empowered but i think for general reliability it would be better just having PS even with a scepter/d/f ele. 66060 for scepter and 666 for d/f look like pretty good options also. But with the warrior change I can’t imagine that you ever take fast hands anymore seeing as you would loose so much. This may shift the meta to something more along the lines of warrior 66060 gs camp, ele 66060 scepter-666 d/f or some staff build idk, engi 66006 rifle, guard on 66006 gs-s/f and one spot free up, maybe thief or ranger, will have to see. Sorry for long reply just a lot of ideas to spill

Artemis Thuras.8795:

Painbow.6059:

Artemis Thuras.8795:

bearbear.1903:

Skady made this post a month ago (followed by a train of hate) which looks to be exactly what you’re looking for and she uses Monk runes.

This looks promising.

Train of hate? lol I guess some don’t like it pointed out that non zerk is not only viable, but often works out better due to team strength
Which is why I’m doing some deep digging on the topic myself.

I can’t think of a single instance off the top of my head where going cleric would be better than berserker for carrying people even if they are the dumbest of the dumb.

Insulting people who are learning to play is a sure-fire way to cause a flame war, and its not needed.

I edited that post after watching the first video and the beginning of the second.
I was hoping to avoid making a second reply post but evidently that isn’t possible.

It is beyond overkill for anything I’ve seen. That being said, there are some out there who would need that much to keep them alive. These would consist of teams with little or no zerker – and even no meta traits however. – different purpose entirely.

tl;dr
Since I’m trying to create a “training wheel” environment for guildies ( and friends) who are traversing the learning curve ( and attempting to play glass cannon builds). I’m looking to give them a safety net ( which I can slowly reduce and remove as they become stronger players).

The arguments for taking monk runes seems pretty overwhelming compared to the other options. Largely due to the outgoing healing boost to everyone else.

Then train them under conditions where they will actually need to learn to dodge or use their heal skill. Or just get them to use a few soldier pieces instead of making yourself suboptimal. If what your guildies need is some support then the real way to do it is to let them experience what it’s like trying to survive in reality and they will learn from that

Artemis Thuras.8795:

bearbear.1903:

Skady made this post a month ago (followed by a train of hate) which looks to be exactly what you’re looking for and she uses Monk runes.

This looks promising.

Train of hate? lol I guess some don’t like it pointed out that non zerk is not only viable, but often works out better due to team strength
Which is why I’m doing some deep digging on the topic myself.

I can’t think of a single instance off the top of my head where going cleric would be better than berserker for carrying people even if they are the dumbest of the dumb.

Monk runes or altruism if you want to use cleric guard, but i’m warning you that it is a waste of gold. For more challenging content they are either going to have no idea and die anyway regardless of your healing, and your lack of damage wont allow you to push the fight. If they know what to do then your healing power will be wasted. This is just my opinion

lava font)))))))))))))))))))

i’m not gonna bother this time

Pretty strong for solo play I can imagine for good amount of might. I personally would rather use strength runes with power/prec food than scholar with dumplings just for health reliability

Bye Bye phil
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEXz91PJ_vE

D/F is a fun and effective build in high level fractals, good overall weapon set. I do agree that staff is generally better with a phalanx warrior though if the boss is kept still (coordinated groups), but in a lot of pug groups since bosses are moving you may be better off going d/f anyway. As a lot of people here have already said, d/f isn’t a bad set up at all, don’t feel bad for using it

dominik.9721:

Did Leon clickered?

:<

The meta is changing at an alarming rate

Really nice run, good job

Bet you didn’t know igniters could teleport

Thieves are universally good in fractals. Highest single target dps, blinds with pistol 5, the ability to remove defiance stacks quickly with pistol offhand and not to mention stealth for skipping

This build is what you want: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fJAQNAR3ZjMd03ZtHefQHaAmg6aEEA6ei0rQME8A-ThRBABXp8jm9HwT3AAPBAKV/xMlgiBQP-e

For utils take both banners and signet of fury. If there is another warrior in the group then drop a banner and bring signet of might/FGJ (or even better play another class), or you can sometimes sacrifice the signet of fury to take FGJ if your group is lacking might/fury.

If you don’t want to buy strength runes then get scholar and use the dumpling food for more might duration. I do think that strength runes are better though for health reliability (you don’t wanna interrupt your 100b on mossman ect), but a lot more expensive.

You don’t really want offhand sword a lot of the time, it can be nice but mace is a lot more vuln stacks for the party and has a KD, the only place I use sword is Mai Trin. Warhorn is nice for Mai trin and Imbuned shaman (can drop EA and bring quick breathing for quality of life)

and no, overall a bit of knights gear will just make the fights last longer and not much difference in sustain. You don’t get one shot on warrior for the vast majority of fractals but it still isn’t worth using

It is by Jaymes Young, he isn’t that popular but he is a great singer

Here is our fractal run yesterday as airplanes with cliffside and jade maw still in around 25 minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Znr19XWPFrU

Also if you think we kick people for making a mistake you are very wrong, we’re actually fairly easy going and we don’t skip harpies or dredge the vast majority of the time, we even kill Mai Trin without stealth because we find it fun.

Bumping again to the top

The average run takes 25* minutes (for 50) in an experienced organised group with good synergy, a lot slower in less organised groups however (40-50 min and 45 ish+ for average pug). For that you get several materials, rares, a chance for exotics and 1.4g from the end chest. You also get a chance for fractal weapon skins, armour/weapon chests, and last but not least the tonic. Furthermore, fractals are fun!

But at the end of the day dungeons are more profitable than fractals, however the loot in fractals is not as rubbish as some believe if you add up everything from the run.

Bumping again, more hotw p3 goodness:

For elementalist

bumping this again, please mail me in game or on the forums for an invite, not over the thread itself

-Ele 1= Ferroni – Painbow.6059 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us_YlkvmbJM

-Ele 2= Johnny Howitzer – Aldarn.4650 (game build) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aA-f872BvmQ

-Ele 3= Taku – Taku.6352

-Guardian= Bright Skyblade – Doomblade.7852

-Warrior= Ildirun Ankor – Gruocs.3412

Ele 1 build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fFAQFAWnMISTD2yAWPAfEGgAQCHIyAxly0p0bA-TxRBABUcBAua/R5Be6AITJGAPAAKV/xMlgiBQP-e

Ele 2 + 3 build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fFAQFAWnMISTD2yAWPAfEGgAICHENMaWcZWHA-TxRBABXp8z4LAAN7PgnOAAeAAUq+jZKBFDgeA-e

Warrior build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fJAQFARjMd03Z3H2eQHaAgAxchALOnKUmUDB-ThRBABXt/o8DPdAVcBAA4BAQp6PmpEUMA6B-e

Guard build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fVAQRArf7dlsApUo1BxXIEERR8QlVKa9H8CbQlBwEc1RA-TxRBABUcCAua/R5He6Hq4gAAwTAgS1fMTJoYA0D-e (or at least what he should’ve used)

Not a perfect run but still pretty fast. Thanks for watching and feel free to ask any questions