Exotic Dire or rare Trailblazer's?

So it's gonna be awhile before I can remotely afford to craft full Trailblazer's, which is my ultimate goal for my main.

Dire, I can afford in exotic. Or I can use the Elonian rare armor we get and shift it to Trailblazer stats. Do you guys think the stat dip is worth the more optimal spread of Trailblazer's, or should I just stick with exotic dire until I can match it with exotic Trailblazer?

If I go the dire route I could always gear up an alt with the Elonian, since I'd mostly be putzing around zerg farming on her.

I'd say got for exotic dire mate.EditDo know that bladed armor can be chosen to have trailblazer it might cut down the time to get it.

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Bladed_armor

@"Linken.6345" said:I'd say got for exotic dire mate.EditDo know that bladed armor can be chosen to have trailblazer it might cut down the time to get it.

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Bladed_armor

Super helpful, thank you! That will certainly simplify things as I enjoy Verdant Brink events anyhow.

Note that if you want 100% Condition Duration you have to throw some Bringer's in there too. Four-stat sets with +Conc or +Expertise don't have the "oomph" to reach caps like three-stat sets such as Bringer's, Giver's and Harrier's do.

In PvE, duration is more important than damage, in WvW damage is more important than duration.

@Rainshine.5493 said:

@"Linken.6345" said:I'd say got for exotic dire mate.EditDo know that bladed armor can be chosen to have trailblazer it might cut down the time to get it.

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Bladed_armor

The gloves are a fairly common drop from the airship cargo so you should probably leave that for last and you can buy the Ice Golem Maw box from the TP for the hat which is around the same price. If this is for a charr character you can also buy the war mask which is even cheaper

Empty build template without any traits or class abilities which has 82.67% condition duration with:

• exotic armor
• exotic weapon
• ascended trinkets (since these are quite easy to get via living world episodes)
• no infusions

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PGQAYA-zRJYkKFM8h0hEIEFgCbWpxwiuPbA-e

Suffice to say, for most classes you can get some condition duration via appropriate traits, or use specific runes which give a lot more duration towards a specific condition (like Rune of Balthazar for burning) to easily reach the cap. You can also use a condition specific Sigil over the flat 10% condition duration Malice. Overall it is not that hard to cap condition duration even on trailblazer gear if your class grants around 15-25% condition duration via traits (which pretty much every class does on condition builds).

The condition damage loss of using Bringer is hardly worth the expertise gain.

@Hannelore.8153 said:In PvE, duration is more important than damage

It depends on the type of play and type of PvE (openworld, instances, group size or solo play, fight length) etc. etc. etc.

In shorter fights more duration would be wasted when the mob/boss is already dead before all condis are fully build up and then the longer duration has no effect. But with more damage (and maybe burst damage) the mob/boss would be dead faster.

@Zok.4956 said:

@"Hannelore.8153" said:In PvE, duration is more important than damage

Perhaps, but the fact that Condition Duration affects "instant effect" conditions such as Cripple, Chill, and Slow already helps the player survive battles that would normally be much more difficult. Condis do alot more than just damage.

And Vulnerability has a fairly fast ramp-up time (some skills do as much as 12 stacks), and is 25%+ of your damage.

@"Cyninja.2954" said:Empty build template without any traits or class abilities which has 82.67% condition duration with:

• exotic armor
• exotic weapon
• ascended trinkets (since these are quite easy to get via living world episodes)
• no infusions

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PGQAYA-zRJYkKFM8h0hEIEFgCbWpxwiuPbA-e

Suffice to say, for most classes you can get some condition duration via appropriate traits, or use specific runes which give a lot more duration towards a specific condition (like Rune of Balthazar for burning) to easily reach the cap. You can also use a condition specific Sigil over the flat 10% condition duration Malice. Overall it is not that hard to cap condition duration even on trailblazer gear if your class grants around 15-25% condition duration via traits (which pretty much every class does on condition builds).

The condition damage loss of using Bringer is hardly worth the expertise gain.

You could also get another 6.86% if you used a full set of tempest runes instead of mixing in trapper ...

Another thing to mention in case anyone doesn't know, you can stat-select Ornate Guild Armor. Its a bit expensive to craft but it gives you a crafting-only option that doesn't require any expensive materials beyond average stuff (leather, globs, etc.).

The worst part is the recipes which are one-time investments of Guild Commendations.

@Khisanth.2948 said:

@"Cyninja.2954" said:Empty build template without any traits or class abilities which has 82.67% condition duration with:

• exotic armor
• exotic weapon
• ascended trinkets (since these are quite easy to get via living world episodes)
• no infusions

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PGQAYA-zRJYkKFM8h0hEIEFgCbWpxwiuPbA-e

Suffice to say, for most classes you can get some condition duration via appropriate traits, or use specific runes which give a lot more duration towards a specific condition (like Rune of Balthazar for burning) to easily reach the cap. You can also use a condition specific Sigil over the flat 10% condition duration Malice. Overall it is not that hard to cap condition duration even on trailblazer gear if your class grants around 15-25% condition duration via traits (which pretty much every class does on condition builds).

The condition damage loss of using Bringer is hardly worth the expertise gain.

Good point, I was originally going for different runes and must have missed the full Tempest rune bonus. Good catch.

@Cyninja.2954 said:

@Khisanth.2948 said:

@Cyninja.2954 said:Empty build template without any traits or class abilities which has 82.67% condition duration with:

• exotic armor
• exotic weapon
• ascended trinkets (since these are quite easy to get via living world episodes)
• no infusions

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PGQAYA-zRJYkKFM8h0hEIEFgCbWpxwiuPbA-e

Suffice to say, for most classes you can get some condition duration via appropriate traits, or use specific runes which give a lot more duration towards a specific condition (like Rune of Balthazar for burning) to easily reach the cap. You can also use a condition specific Sigil over the flat 10% condition duration Malice. Overall it is not that hard to cap condition duration even on trailblazer gear if your class grants around 15-25% condition duration via traits (which pretty much every class does on condition builds).

The condition damage loss of using Bringer is hardly worth the expertise gain.

There is also1.86% from the "28 to all stats"

@Hannelore.8153 said:Another thing to mention in case anyone doesn't know, you can stat-select Ornate Guild Armor. Its a bit expensive to craft but it gives you a crafting-only option that doesn't require any expensive materials beyond average stuff (leather, globs, etc.).

The worst part is the recipes which are one-time investments of Guild Commendations.

There is also the lunatic and warbeast sets. The lunatic recipes can only be bought during Halloween the Warbeast recipe sheets can be bought on the TP and it would be much faster to acquire a couple of gold(or much less if you use buy order) for those than the 10 guild commendation per ornate guild recipe. The ornate guild armor also requires you to be in a guild with one of the HoT guild halls to get the crystals for the Guild Insignia. The guild would also need to have the ore synthesizer, ideally maxed level but even with those requirements you will be time and RNG gated by those crystals.