What are your suggestions to improve Spellbreaker for PvE?

Too many PvP Spellbreaker threads, but Spellbreaker just sucks in PvE.

What buffs can ANet do to improve Spellbreaker to make it useful for PvE? That is if you shove PvP aside.

I would like to add a "Silence" Buff. Which will cause enemy damage to do 0 damage. It'll be like blind or reverse distortion, but it ignores breakbar.

Magebane tethers decreases enemy armor(not vulnerability) instead of giving might.

Power Warrior sucks at the core so there needs to be changes to there firstKeep in mind that it would require a 80-100% damage buff to be made viable.

---Strength----Restorative Strength-Swap places with Empowered

-Building Momentum-Gain 3% damage bonus after each burst. Stacks 3 times, lasts 9 seconds.

-Stick and Move-Gain a damage 10% damage bonus for 15 seconds after a dodge

-Berserker’s Power-Becomes: Destroyer’s Power: Each successful strike increases your damage by 5% for 15 seconds (Stacks 6 times; only 3 in pvp. Each additional hits refreshes the duration)

---Discipline----Versatile Rage-Next attack used on weapon swap has its cooldown reduced by 2 seconds (5 second ICD)

-Versatile Power-Grants a 7% damage buff on weapon swap for 9 seconds.

-Destruction of the Empowered-Deal 0.50% additional damage for each stack of vulnerability.

-Heightened Focus-
Critical hits deal an additional 15% damage. Each critical hit increases ferocity by 10. Stacks 10 times.(definitely not stolen from mesmer)

---Greatsword Changes---https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1J5Bu5soIwbXKJ7YiGKg5nWcvThyojEp-ZsQ4nR5PqRo/edit?usp=sharing

The problem I have with Spellbreaker in PvE is that the Elite Specialty weapon (dagger) is barely adequate. Most builds focus on using other weapons and ignoring the dagger altogether. The solution I have would be to substantially buff the Sun And Moon Style trait with a "Dagger in Both Hands" bonus and a Dagger skill cooldown bonus. This would both buff the Elite Spec overall and make the Spec weapon much more viable and desirable.

It cannot be fixed simply by changing up Spellbreaker itself (except that base Power Warrior needs a buff).

You need to do sweeping changes across all of PvE in order to make Spellbreaker viable: all mobs would need to start using Boons to the same degree that enemy players do, and interrupting mobs needs to be as impactful as it is against enemy players.

The underlying problem with Spellbreaker is that the separate game modes are not balanced separately. Until that is changed, I'm not certain that the PvE Spellbreaker will ever get proper balance since it is so strong in the other game modes right now. With that being said, the main problem I find with Spellbreaker in PvE is that the dagger damage is subpar and is majorly holding the spec back. Substantially upping the dagger damage for PvE by at least 30% (or maybe more) would be all that is needed to make the spec shine. It needs have as much damage as the most powerful warrior power weapon. There is great synergy with power DD/GS, if the damage output didn't go way down when switching to the daggers. I like the rest of the traits as they are and gives the spec a nice flavor and style.

berserker is supposed to be the go-to elite spec for dps. Spellbreaker is for pvp/wvw. Why can't people see through this?

@TheBravery.9615 said:berserker is supposed to be the go-to elite spec for dps. Spellbreaker is for pvp/wvw. Why can't people see through this?

Because we were not told this when buying PoF.

Many PvE Warriors - myself included - are quite angry at the fact we didn't get any fancy new toys this time around.

@Oglaf.1074 said:

@TheBravery.9615 said:berserker is supposed to be the go-to elite spec for dps. Spellbreaker is for pvp/wvw. Why can't people see through this?

We knew Spellbreaker's skillset before PoF released (even before you could preorder it) and it was clear it's a pvp spec. So bad excuse over here.

E: typos

@Sobx.1758 said:

@Oglaf.1074 said:

@TheBravery.9615 said:berserker is supposed to be the go-to elite spec for dps. Spellbreaker is for pvp/wvw. Why can't people see through this?

It was never intended as an "excuse"...? I answered the guy's question. The idea of PvP-exclusive specs don't sit right with myself and many other players, and that is why people like the original poster really, really want to find ways to make Spellbreaker "work" in PvE as well.

i have no issues with D/D breaker in PvE am i going to get into raids with it? No, but I don't raid (too many elitist kittens in it) But I am able to solo champs on it without any issues. was also able to do the Balthazar fight without a single death thanks to full counter and interrupts leading into a waistrals worry slaso fun to swap to a GS while the enemy is stunned and drop 100 blades on them.

It's not Spellbreaker itself, it has the traits and stuff to increase it's damage. Berserker's Power needs to be reverted back. There's also no reason for Spellbreaker to not have access to level 3 burst skills.

One suggestion, is there's no reason for 100 Blades to take as long as it does to cast, for the little damage it does. It's cast time should be halved. As well as auto-attack damage buffs across the board. Since Warrior has no utility skills really to help increase DPS (like a pulsing damage AoE many classes have) and the main focus of Warrior is it's weapons, it's weapon skills in general need to hit harder

@Oglaf.1074 said:

@Sobx.1758 said:

@Oglaf.1074 said:

@TheBravery.9615 said:berserker is supposed to be the go-to elite spec for dps. Spellbreaker is for pvp/wvw. Why can't people see through this?

He is right though, it's not like it was some surprise. They gave us a few weekends to try the specs out, gave us an outline of the specs, etc. Your last post kind of implied that they were keeping it a secret or something. I have never seen a skill so obviously designed for WvW as Winds of Disenchantment. Then the rest of the spec is built around stripping boons and interrupts, both of which have very limited uses in PvE. With that said, it's not like the spec is completely unusable in PvE. Just not optimal. Unless you're raiding or doing T4 fractals, just play whatever you feel like. GW2 has always been like that. With that said I wish power-based builds were at least comparable to condition builds when it comes to high-end PvE content, but that is more of a problem with the core spec and the changes they have made to it than the elite spec itself.

@Oglaf.1074 said:....all mobs would need to start using Boons to the same degree that enemy players do, and interrupting mobs needs to be as impactful as it is against enemy players.

Yeah, this. Wouldn't impact pvp or wvw power creep at all, but it would sure make boon ripping, corrupting, etc. more valuable. And, yes, other classes can be good/better at boon hate than SB, but adjusting frequency and clumping of npcs can dramatically tilt toward different classes as being optimal.

I'm DEFINITELY in the minority here, but I don't really see an issue with Spellbreaker in PvE. I regularly crit for over 2200 on my first 2 Dagger AAs, over 3200 on the last, and have hit as high as 13k on Wastrels Ruin. Once I get Magebane Tether running my sustain goes through the roof (Might makes Right + Healing Signet), and the might just stacks up, I'm usually at 25 stacks within 5 - 7 seconds. I've even ran T4 Fractals and was hilariously "tanky" and supportive with EA, PS, and whatnot, coming nowhere close to dying unless there was a wipe - which I was ALWAYS the last to croak. I can imagine there's an issue working a proper benchmark for "meta" purposes because you're dependent on Full Counter, and you can't proc it on Golems. But I seriously have no major problem with it. The AA damage is SLIGHTLY small, but they're daggers...so I can live with it.

I don't know what to tell y'all, as I'm probably enjoying the Spellbreaker more than any class I've played in PvE since launch. And I actually bought this expansion with the full-blown intention of going for the Firebrand (Guardian main for 4 years - Thief & Warrior alts), but I was definitely not about to farm out more ascended condition gear, so I had to figure out which class I could rock my ascended Berzerkers gear in. I chose the Spellbreaker on a whim and haven't even logged into any other class since.

Generally-speaking, when peopleare talking about "PvE" on these forums they are talking about raid viability, not "Open world kittening around"-viability.

@Oglaf.1074 said:Generally-speaking, when peopleare talking about "PvE" on these forums they are talking about raid viability, not "Open world kittening around"-viability.

I haven't really seen that. At least half the time when I see someone talk about PvE it's not directed at raids in specific. That doesn't even make sense considering the vast majority will never do or care about a raid.

@Darkhydrox.8560 said:

@Oglaf.1074 said:Generally-speaking, when peopleare talking about "PvE" on these forums they are talking about raid viability, not "Open world kittening around"-viability.

Have to agree with Darkhydrox. I couldn't care less about my raid viability as a Spellbreaker, or as anything else. I got all I need out of raiding in HoT - 3 full ascended sets, 8 weapons, dozens of amulets & rings, yadda-yadda-yadda. If I REAAAAAAALLY want to raid, I can swap in the Berserker line or take my Venomshare Daredevil. Fractals is the thing I probably run the most, and I have ZERO issues with the Spellbreaker in there.

I can get where you're coming from Oglaf - few who play a Spellbreaker want it as a raid-viable class I'm sure, but that's definitely not the overwhelming consensus.

@Darkhydrox.8560 said:

@Oglaf.1074 said:Generally-speaking, when peopleare talking about "PvE" on these forums they are talking about raid viability, not "Open world kittening around"-viability.

It's because literally everything is viable in general pve like mixed stat bearbows that you can safely assume people are talking about challenging instanced content when they talk about utility, or dps, or roles.

Also there are very objective ways to measure your performance and spellbreaker is actually worse than core warrior at what we're talking about.

@Oglaf.1074 said:

@Sobx.1758 said:

@Oglaf.1074 said:

@TheBravery.9615 said:berserker is supposed to be the go-to elite spec for dps. Spellbreaker is for pvp/wvw. Why can't people see through this?

There are always better specs for different modes and this one was quite obvious from the beginning. Also by writing "Because we were not told this when buying PoF.", do you mean you wouldn't buy the expansion if you knew (seriously, we knew it already, that's the reason I called it an "excuse" -because it sounds like one) how the SB gameplay looked?I highly doubt you bought the expansion based on a single class that, for some reason, you wanted to play in pve even though its skills are pvp oriented.

To improve SB in PvE you need to increase the attacking times of the mobs so that they hit you more regularly. Currently full counter misses most of the time due to the fact that mobs just don't attack you regularly and full counter goes to waste hahaha, take notes noobs (those complaining about full counter) and stop hitting it to activate it. Even the mobs in this game are brighter than some players!

@Faction.4013 said:I'm DEFINITELY in the minority here, but I don't really see an issue with Spellbreaker in PvE. I regularly crit for over 2200 on my first 2 Dagger AAs, over 3200 on the last, and have hit as high as 13k on Wastrels Ruin. Once I get Magebane Tether running my sustain goes through the roof (Might makes Right + Healing Signet), and the might just stacks up, I'm usually at 25 stacks within 5 - 7 seconds. I've even ran T4 Fractals and was hilariously "tanky" and supportive with EA, PS, and whatnot, coming nowhere close to dying unless there was a wipe - which I was ALWAYS the last to croak. I can imagine there's an issue working a proper benchmark for "meta" purposes because you're dependent on Full Counter, and you can't proc it on Golems. But I seriously have no major problem with it. The AA damage is SLIGHTLY small, but they're daggers...so I can live with it.

I don't know what to tell y'all, as I'm probably enjoying the Spellbreaker more than any class I've played in PvE since launch. And I actually bought this expansion with the full-blown intention of going for the Firebrand (Guardian main for 4 years - Thief & Warrior alts), but I was definitely not about to farm out more ascended condition gear, so I had to figure out which class I could rock my ascended Berzerkers gear in. I chose the Spellbreaker on a whim and haven't even logged into any other class since.

I agree with most of what you said, except for daggers doing the least damage for being daggers... Had this been reality, sure it checks out, but it makes no sense from a gameplay perspective.

Daggers can only tag 2 targets at a time, and as such lack cleave for group encounters, that's already a big limitation. Thief Daggers are under the same limitation, but unlike Warriors, their Dagger is amongst the higher sources of DPS available, precisely because it's lacking cleave.

Although, I guess you could argue that because of Warriors ludicrous sustain this is fine, they will be alive forever to finish the fight while thieves won't...

There's no point in making Spellbreaker viable in PvE, its core mechanics (removing boons and blocking attacks) are and will be always useless in PvE. Spellbreaker is a competitive only Elite Spec, warrior already have its PvE's Elite Spec, which is Berserker.

I dont think its fine for an elite being design for PvP only. Why? Because if so when everyclass have an elite design for pvp there will be no choice because you will always pick that elite for pvp making pvp builds boring. And if you dont play pvp which a lot of people dont then its a -1 elite. So a loss-loss scenario.

Elite should be designed to focus something like Support, DPS, Tanking, Healing etc... Not elite for PvP or elite for PvE.

Hm I'm seeing an extremely low amount of suggestions despite this being a thread for suggestions. . .

@TwiceDead.1963 said:

@Faction.4013 said:I'm DEFINITELY in the minority here, but I don't really see an issue with Spellbreaker in PvE. I regularly crit for over 2200 on my first 2 Dagger AAs, over 3200 on the last, and have hit as high as 13k on Wastrels Ruin. Once I get Magebane Tether running my sustain goes through the roof (Might makes Right + Healing Signet), and the might just stacks up, I'm usually at 25 stacks within 5 - 7 seconds. I've even ran T4 Fractals and was hilariously "tanky" and supportive with EA, PS, and whatnot, coming nowhere close to dying unless there was a wipe - which I was ALWAYS the last to croak. I can imagine there's an issue working a proper benchmark for "meta" purposes because you're dependent on Full Counter, and you can't proc it on Golems. But I seriously have no major problem with it. The AA damage is SLIGHTLY small, but they're daggers...so I can live with it.

I don't know what to tell y'all, as I'm probably enjoying the Spellbreaker more than any class I've played in PvE since launch. And I actually bought this expansion with the full-blown intention of going for the Firebrand (Guardian main for 4 years - Thief & Warrior alts), but I was definitely not about to farm out more ascended condition gear, so I had to figure out which class I could rock my ascended Berzerkers gear in. I chose the Spellbreaker on a whim and haven't even logged into any other class since.

Agreed! Just up the dagger damage a bit and it would be perfect for PvE IMO. By the way, just finished the Departed story step on the Spellbreaker and Full Counter worked very well on the Eater of Souls.