432 replies to this topic

[Strife025]

coehl, on 26 February 2013 - 11:41 PM, said:

Right.

Here's what I switched to.
http://gw2skills.net...yyooohOFoSpwu2A

I also replaced the chest, legs, and helm with a knight's piece with emerald orb (20% precision, 14 toughness, 14 power)
So in replacing the berserker's pieces I lose 30 power but lose no precision. I also gain a lot of toughness.

If anyone has any thoughts on this change, I'd be glad to hear it. Specifically OP since I am outclassed quite handily by him

Switching 3 pieces of gear for knights is perfectly acceptable depending on your group and experience, it's what I started with on warrior before switching to full berserker.

As far as the orbs though, because of the superior crit damage ratios on ruby orbs you would be better served changing another piece of gear out first for knights instead of putting in emerald orbs if you care about min-maxing. It's not a huge deal but you are losing a few stat points.

For traits, defense is a terrible line for PvE. If you need more defense, you'll be less gimped by taking knights gear and keeping offensive traits because of how huge % base damage. Trait points should be focused on getting benefits that can't be acquired from gear, not just for stats, and compared to other traits you could take for 20 points, the traits in Defense are extremely lackluster in dungeons.

There are very few instances where you would actually benefit from Turtle's defense, because in a dungeon group most movement conditions will be removed immediately since they aren't very prevalent, and most of the constant stacking conditions on a few bosses are bleeds/poisons/burning.
Last stand is probably one of the worst traits you can take as well, because of the way boss cooldowns work. Stability won't be activated until your are stunned, and besides a few cases like the dredge fractal, by the time a boss/mob does another knockdown your stability will be finished anyways.

The defense line is more for PvP where you are constantly being interrupted and snared by multiple real life players where you can't always react quick enough to dodge or don't have enough endurance to constantly dodge/remove/avoid conditions and stuns and fights are over much quicker then dungeon bosses.

Edited by Strife025, 26 February 2013 - 11:55 PM.

[coehl]

Wow, yeah that makes perfect sense. I was taking the defense tree for the toughness mostly, but that is short sighted considering how much easier that would be to get on gear. Thanks man.

[masaki98]

Strife, what are your thought on the cavalier jewelry sets and the new knights ascended pieces? is it worth getting those with the food nerf for more survivability ?

[Strife025]

masaki98, on 27 February 2013 - 07:22 AM, said:

Strife, what are your thought on the cavalier jewelry sets and the new knights ascended pieces? is it worth getting those with the food nerf for more survivability ?

Not a fan of cavalier for the lack of precision, knights is okay but again, you may not want to push too much toughness because it contributes to agro management which will ultimately make it harder for you to dps. Some knights is okay, but if you are running an guardian anchor you still want to try and stay quite a bit under his toughness levels.

My guild ran a variety of dungeons tonight like every night, and we didn't really have any more trouble then usual. There will be a few bosses and harder trash pulls that won't be as face roll and require some tactics, but full berserker is still manageable. I personally ran the new AC and Arah 2/3 tonight with 0 problems. Most of the named dungeon paths are pretty easy for the most part anyways, and even at fotm 38 and 40+ dailies no one really had much more trouble then usual. So it really just depends on your group and how good you are at dodging.

I will say, with the nerf to food though, Axe/Axe has become pretty lackluster. I'm thinking of changing my build to 20-25-0-10-15 and running Axe/Mace + GS. You get the burst from GS and the superior auto attacks from Axe/Mace, with an eviscerate finisher. So I'm kind of leaning to that playstyle more now, the benefit is I can switch my perception sigil to bloodlust since I'll be sitting around 93% crit chance in my current gear with food + discipline banner. Also with more ascended gear having slightly higher stats, you will slowly reach closer to 100% crit chance as well as you upgrade your berserker gear.

I'll do an updated guide in a week or two once I get my ascended amulet on my warrior and I have time to play around with it.

Edited by Strife025, 27 February 2013 - 08:21 AM.

[Puandro]

Strife025, on 27 February 2013 - 08:18 AM, said:

Not a fan of cavalier for the lack of precision, knights is okay but again, you may not want to push too much toughness because it contributes to agro management which will ultimately make it harder for you to dps. Some knights is okay, but if you are running an guardian anchor you still want to try and stay quite a bit under his toughness levels.

My guild ran a variety of dungeons tonight like every night, and we didn't really have any more trouble then usual. There will be a few bosses and harder trash pulls that won't be as face roll and require some tactics, but full berserker is still manageable. I personally ran the new AC and Arah 2/3 tonight with 0 problems. Most of the named dungeon paths are pretty easy for the most part anyways, and even at fotm 38 and 40+ dailies no one really had much more trouble then usual. So it really just depends on your group and how good you are at dodging.

I will say, with the nerf to food though, Axe/Axe has become pretty lackluster. I'm thinking of changing my build to 20-25-0-10-15 and running Axe/Mace + GS. You get the burst from GS and the superior auto attacks from Axe/Mace, with an eviscerate finisher. So I'm kind of leaning to that playstyle more now, the benefit is I can switch my perception sigil to bloodlust since I'll be sitting around 93% crit chance in my current gear with food + discipline banner. Also with more ascended gear having slightly higher stats, you will slowly reach closer to 100% crit chance as well as you upgrade your berserker gear.

I'll do an updated guide in a week or two once I get my ascended amulet on my warrior and I have time to play around with it.

Been running GS+Axe/Mace 20/25/0/10/15 for a month now and its very nice, its the highest DPS spec ive could come up with so far.

[Mordana666]

Due you emphasize on the greatsword part or the axe part in that build?

Also do keep your adrenaline at full in that build, or keep spamming it for eviscerate/dodge?

[Strife025]

Mordana666, on 27 February 2013 - 09:49 PM, said:

Due you emphasize on the greatsword part or the axe part in that build?

Also do keep your adrenaline at full in that build, or keep spamming it for eviscerate/dodge?

You start with GS for the 100B + WW rotation, but it depends on the boss or encounter and if you know you need to dodge or not. In a trash pull you may start with Axe/Mace to get the interrupt off for your group. Because of the dynamic nature of gw2, it really just depends.

The overall idea though, is to use the superior burst of GS with 100B + WW when you can, and use the superior auto attacks and interrupts of Axe/Mace when it's on cooldown. Because warriors get the 5s weapon swap cooldown, it works perfectly for them.

In this build, you would not be spamming it every 10s, you would be using it:
1. When you need endurance
2. In rarer instances where you don't need healing surge and you would spam it then use healing surge for full adrenaline regen (assuming there is some mechanic where you have some downtime, like in between phases of GL, or the boss in CoF 3)
3. Always near the very end of a fight for a big finishing burst

[Shrimps]

Hey strife, great guide and I've been running it on my warrior (starting out with 3 pieces of Knights and 3 Zerker and eventually moving to all zerker armor pieces)

But I'm just wondering, what do you do for CoF? Do you respec into your GS build or no?

And also I was wondering your sigils for your GS and Longbow/Rifle or whatever other weapons you wield besides Axe or Mace because I believe you've mentioned those but I can't seem to find your GS/Longbow/Rifle other wep. sigils.

[Mordana666]

Strife025, on 27 February 2013 - 10:23 PM, said:

You start with GS for the 100B + WW rotation, but it depends on the boss or encounter and if you know you need to dodge or not. In a trash pull you may start with Axe/Mace to get the interrupt off for your group. Because of the dynamic nature of gw2, it really just depends.

The overall idea though, is to use the superior burst of GS with 100B + WW when you can, and use the superior auto attacks and interrupts of Axe/Mace when it's on cooldown. Because warriors get the 5s weapon swap cooldown, it works perfectly for them.

In this build, you would not be spamming it every 10s, you would be using it:
1. When you need endurance
2. In rarer instances where you don't need healing surge and you would spam it then use healing surge for full adrenaline regen (assuming there is some mechanic where you have some downtime, like in between phases of GL, or the boss in CoF 3)
3. Always near the very end of a fight for a big finishing burst

I see, I figured as much. So I'm guessing the major traits you pick is also dependent on what you said? If mobility isn't an issue, picking Forceful GS and Slashing Power is great while still maintaining the adrenaline passives.

[Strife025]

Shrimps, on 27 February 2013 - 10:30 PM, said:

Hey strife, great guide and I've been running it on my warrior (starting out with 3 pieces of Knights and 3 Zerker and eventually moving to all zerker armor pieces)

But I'm just wondering, what do you do for CoF? Do you respec into your GS build or no?

And also I was wondering your sigils for your GS and Longbow/Rifle or whatever other weapons you wield besides Axe or Mace because I believe you've mentioned those but I can't seem to find your GS/Longbow/Rifle other wep. sigils.

Yea I'll respec to CoF, but as I mentioned, I'm probably permanently moving to GS + Axe/Mace with the omnom nerf.

My longbow has sigil of accuracy right now, shield has sigil of energy, I never use my rifle but I'm sure it has force or accuracy on it.

Mordana666, on 27 February 2013 - 10:35 PM, said:

I see, I figured as much. So I'm guessing the major traits you pick is also dependent on what you said? If mobility isn't an issue, picking Forceful GS and Slashing Power is great while still maintaining the adrenaline passives.

Correct, this also allows you to go bloodlust sigil instead of perception sigil to further boost your damage since you will be sitting at about 93% crit chance with food + discipline banner and I don't even have my ascended amulet or earrings yet which will push that a percent or two higher.

[masaki98]

one quick question, what sigil do u use on your greatsword for the axe/mace+GS build? u mentioned ur sigil for axe/mace/range weapon even shield but i cant find ur GS sigil in previous posts

thanks alot

[Strife025]

masaki98, on 28 February 2013 - 12:46 AM, said:

one quick question, what sigil do u use on your greatsword for the axe/mace+GS build? u mentioned ur sigil for axe/mace/range weapon even shield but i cant find ur GS sigil in previous posts

thanks alot

Accuracy

[Mordana666]

I'm using Battle on Axe and Accuracy on Mace, with Strength on GS. Any reason why you're not using Strength? Is Forceful GS trait overshadowing the sigil?

[Puandro]

Mordana666, on 28 February 2013 - 02:27 AM, said:

I'm using Battle on Axe and Accuracy on Mace, with Strength on GS. Any reason why you're not using Strength? Is Forceful GS trait overshadowing the sigil?

It has an Internal cooldown and usually you are capped with might due to HB+WW then swapping to Axe a second later to gain 3 might. Also 2 proc sigils are a big no because they share cooldowns so if your strength procs and swap to axe your battle might not proc.

[Mordana666]

You are completely right. I cannot believe I forgot about the global ICDs. Thank god this greatsword with sigil was a weapon from a previous build or I'd be pissed if I just bought that recently.

[JonArbuckle]

I've been playing around with the new GS + Axe/Mace idea. Currently not running in a Might/Fury heavy warrior based party though and I'm curious what your opinion is in that situation of the lost might stacks from Forceful Greatsword whenever I'm auto-attacking with my axe. Obviously if you've got a guaranteed 25 stack of might already, then you only really care about the cooldown portion from Forceful Greatsword, but what if you're the only source of all of your might stacks? Does the increased auto-attack damage of axe outweigh the reduced might stacks?

[Relentless Raven]

I'm loving the idea of a 20/25/0/10/15 build!!!

Thanks for the idea and updating the first page! I love the burst of GS but love the mobility (as in moving around with the boss) of Axe/Mace. Best of both worlds!

Two questions, though:

1.) In boss fights that require more range which weapon set would you swap out? Do you still prefer LB over Rifle in this configuration where you're doing more single-target dps?

2.) I'm switching from the Sonic Boon build (GREAT build, just don't like my damage dependant on being rooted for 3.5s). I like that you still have two Superior Runes of the Monk equipped but is it feasible to keep the 2 Water runes and 2 Fire runes as well for boon/might duration instead of 4 Ruby Orbs? What is the difference in dps?

Thanks so much!

[Strife025]

JonArbuckle, on 28 February 2013 - 07:17 PM, said:

I've been playing around with the new GS + Axe/Mace idea. Currently not running in a Might/Fury heavy warrior based party though and I'm curious what your opinion is in that situation of the lost might stacks from Forceful Greatsword whenever I'm auto-attacking with my axe. Obviously if you've got a guaranteed 25 stack of might already, then you only really care about the cooldown portion from Forceful Greatsword, but what if you're the only source of all of your might stacks? Does the increased auto-attack damage of axe outweigh the reduced might stacks?

The might you do get when using Greatsword should mitigate some of the might loss from swapping, how much you lose is really going to depend on your group though. In a 1 guard/3 war/1 mes group I don't need to make up much might to hit 25 stacks.

One option that I will be doing since I already have a sigil of battle and can just black lion kit my old CoE Axe which is easy to replace with tokens if I ever need a 2nd axe again, is having 2 maces, one with Battle and one with Bloodlust. That way when I'm in dungeons where I'm at 25 bloodlust stacks or I won't have much opportunity to build stacks I have the option to use a battle sigil in offhand instead of bloodlust.

Relentless Raven, on 28 February 2013 - 09:30 PM, said:

I'm loving the idea of a 20/25/0/10/15 build!!!

Thanks for the idea and updating the first page! I love the burst of GS but love the mobility (as in moving around with the boss) of Axe/Mace. Best of both worlds!

Two questions, though:

1.) In boss fights that require more range which weapon set would you swap out? Do you still prefer LB over Rifle in this configuration where you're doing more single-target dps?

2.) I'm switching from the Sonic Boon build (GREAT build, just don't like my damage dependant on being rooted for 3.5s). I like that you still have two Superior Runes of the Monk equipped but is it feasible to keep the 2 Water runes and 2 Fire runes as well for boon/might duration instead of 4 Ruby Orbs? What is the difference in dps?

Thanks so much!

Yep always LB for PvE in a high direct damage build. Which weapon I would switch out would really depend on the boss. Something like the last boss in the snow fractal where you have opportunity to get off a full 100B and you have downtime when he goes to the top allowing you to recharge your cooldowns, I would probably lean to GS + LB.

But a boss like the Collossus Fractal where you have to dodge and move quite a bit and you probably can't get 100B off all the time I may stick to Axe/Mace + LB. It just depends on the viability of which is better depending on what boss you are fighting and which melee set you think will offer more melee burst when you can go in for melee.

I'm not sure on the exact % of dps, but you are losing out on the 80 power which is ~3-4% base dmg, the 3% crit chance, and the 8% crit damage which is still pretty big in terms of dps. I personally don't like going further then 2 monk runes.

Edited by Strife025, 28 February 2013 - 11:51 PM.

[Ceridwen Daere]

Ooh! I tried axe-mace/gs a few weeks ago & I loved it, but I was confused as to whether to trait more for the gs or axe - or both - and then I gave up & went back to axe/mace/axe.    It was incredibly satisfying.   So how much do you trait for gs damage & do you still boost the axe main hand somehow?

[Relentless Raven]

Ceridwen Daere, on 01 March 2013 - 03:53 AM, said:

Ooh! I tried axe-mace/gs a few weeks ago & I loved it, but I was confused as to whether to trait more for the gs or axe - or both - and then I gave up & went back to axe/mace/axe. It was incredibly satisfying.   So how much do you trait for gs damage & do you still boost the axe main hand somehow?

Both are traited for equally from the changes he made to the build in the first post. You have Forceful Greatsword for the GS and Dual Wielding for the Axe!

Also thanks for the reply. I've been spoiled by the boon uptime but I guess it really isn't necessary to keep 25 stacks of might for this build to be effective. Cheers!

[Ceridwen Daere]

Relentless Raven, on 01 March 2013 - 04:43 AM, said:

Both are traited for equally from the changes he made to the build in the first post. You have Forceful Greatsword for the GS and Dual Wielding for the Axe!

Ok, thanks.  So no slashing power?  I guess it's easy enough to switch around, especially if I get dropped into water.

[Relentless Raven]

Actually now that I look at it, it seems a more slant towards GS. I assumed Dual Wielding would be used but instead he put Slashing Power. Either could be swapped out I suppose depending on the situation. For bosses that tend to stay still more I'd use Slashing Power but for much more mobile I'd use Dual Wield.

For ranged I still prefer the Rifle so I can swap Furious Greatsword for Crack Shot. Very adaptable build!

[Relentless Raven]

Here's one more thought:

With the build changes have you given thought to losing the Monk Runes and Ruby Orbs for 6/6 Superior Runes of the Scholar?

You'd lose:

56 Perception
15% Boon Duration
20 Healing Power

But you'd gain:

85 Power
10% damage when health is over 90%

Boon duration isn't really the focus of this build anyway so I'm not upset about losing that. Crit damage is exaclty the same as 4 Ruby Orbs you're currently using and since you're using Healing Surge now anyway (or should be) the 20 Healing is insignificant. That leave the question is 85 power and 10% TOTAL damage (if I'm understanding the tooltip correctly) when over 90% worth losing 56 Perception? That's a ton of damage for an opening 100B...

[Strife025]

Relentless Raven, on 01 March 2013 - 04:19 PM, said:

Here's one more thought:

With the build changes have you given thought to losing the Monk Runes and Ruby Orbs for 6/6 Superior Runes of the Scholar?

You'd lose:

56 Perception
15% Boon Duration
20 Healing Power

But you'd gain:

85 Power
10% damage when health is over 90%

Boon duration isn't really the focus of this build anyway so I'm not upset about losing that. Crit damage is exaclty the same as 4 Ruby Orbs you're currently using and since you're using Healing Surge now anyway (or should be) the 20 Healing is insignificant. That leave the question is 85 power and 10% TOTAL damage (if I'm understanding the tooltip correctly) when over 90% worth losing 56 Perception? That's a ton of damage for an opening 100B...

Yes scholar is better then ruby orbs if you can keep your health over 90%, I just don't know if that's always possible in a full berserker build. It basically means if you get hit once you lose your 10% damage. There are quite a few fights I watch of mine where I'm not in danger, but you still take pot shots and sit under 90% health, especially with the life food nerf. So ruby overall is just more reliable.

[Relentless Raven]

Well I actually use full Knights armor with Zerker weapons/trinkets for a little more survivability but I see your point. I guess the real tradeoff is whether you would sacrifice 3% crit chance for 3-4% base damage (your math from above) with the added bonus of extra damage when over 90% (which isn't often I'll admit).

[Ymzuki]

God,i was going to buy my 2nd axe,good that i came to see the build again .

Just 1 question:Some 1 said that omnomberry food ( the 66% life steal  on crit) was nerfed? how is that? *Means  for the new build  that food isnt needed anymore or how?

I just didnt use the build before,atm im builing my warrior so i didnt test him yet.

[Lucav]

Ymzuki, on 02 March 2013 - 09:57 PM, said:

God,i was going to buy my 2nd axe,good that i came to see the build again .

Just 1 question:Some 1 said that omnomberry food ( the 66% life steal  on crit) was nerfed? how is that? *Means  for the new build  that food isnt needed anymore or how?

I just didnt use the build before,atm im builing my warrior so i didnt test him yet.

Omnomberry pies have a cd now, but its relatively short and the effective healing from the food is still far and away better then any other option for a high crit build.

[Ymzuki]

Lucav, on 02 March 2013 - 10:38 PM, said:

Omnomberry pies have a cd now, but its relatively short and the effective healing from the food is still far and away better then any other option for a high crit build.

Aye,and axe nr5 was nerfed too?
i can't understand why he went from axe/mace+ axe to axe/mace+gs

[Kanister]

Ymzuki, on 02 March 2013 - 11:00 PM, said:

Aye,and axe nr5 was nerfed too?
i can't understand why he went from axe/mace+ axe to axe/mace+gs

The only point for Axe #5 was for the 15 Aoe hits to proc the Omnomberry pies, now since they have an internal cooldown of 1 second, there is no point for Axe #5.

Hence the switch to Axe/Mace + GS for more dps.

[Ymzuki]

Kanister, on 02 March 2013 - 11:24 PM, said:

The only point for Axe #5 was for the 15 Aoe hits to proc the Omnomberry pies, now since they have an internal cooldown of 1 second, there is no point for Axe #5.

Hence the switch to Axe/Mace + GS for more dps.

Ok thanks again,also,with the new build it seems that its harder to gain adrenaline
+the trait that reduced adrenaline consume for burst skills