Roaming build for Firebrand

Introduction

As you might know, roaming as a firebrand can be challenge, his mobility being the same as a semi-trailer truck on a countryside road, and his damage output in duel being quite challenging to land. That's why I thought I'd introduce you to a totally incongruous off-meta build ! The build is centered around heavy sustain via an insane amount of healing sources, tons of access to mass crowdcontrols, and high condition application burst. Even if this build is far from being the best duelist, it'll allow to handle fights when ridiculously outnumbered, and even win them by your landing some massive AoEs...

Pros/Cons

Pros :

• Insane sustain,
• Great when outnumbered ,
• High accessibility to massive crowdcontrols,
• High condi damage burst,
• Great to play in small party : quite a good boon bot.

Cons :

• Above average duelist, but far from being the best pick for duels,
• Very low mobility, don't expect to chase thieves around the map,
• Can struggle against constant condi pressure,
• Low access to breakstuns (F3 + or ).

The build

In this section, we look at the structure of the build and equipment, and submit some possible variants on the build.

The build was made around one main idea : how to land and exploit a maximum CC. As most of my guard builds, I love to center them around the sanctuary skill, which is for me the skill I love the most in the game. This skill creates an impenetrable dome around the player, and will expel every enemy trying to cross it, granting tons of interrupts on large scale usage. Let's look at the said build :

)

Here is the buildeditor link of the build !

The specializations :

For the firebrand specialization :

• Unrelenting Criticism is a must have. With writ of persistence, your axe 2 is a massive AoE interruption that will daze and deal massive damages. As it disables enemies, it will also proc glacial heart, stoic demeanor and your two sigils (absorption/draining) for each foe interrupted. When cast properly, it will apply 5+ stacks of bleeding, burning, cripple, slow, chilled, daze while stealing life/boons for each foe, and creating a light field symbol that will heal you over time, damage enemies and grant you fury. And it has only 8 seconds cooldown, lul...
• Stalwart Speed is debatable. I like to use a healing mantra before casting my main burst, to proc quickness and cast my rotation with a +50% animation speed bonus. The cooldown on the trait is really low, allowing easy access to Quickness with multiple sources (shield, F3, heal, ...).
• Stoic Demeanor is also controversial. The main utility of the trait is to regularly proc slow on your enemy, which is one of the best condi, and allowing you to cover your burn stacks. The burn is nice, even if short. You cast so many CC that it will allow you to have massive burning/slow output with non-offensive spells. It has a great synergy with the sanctuary skill or the axe pull, allowing you to free cast any skill when the cc is landed. Be ware of the 1 second cooldown, tho, which is quite frustrating when chaining CCs... Loremaster is also a great more offensive choice, to keep the F1 running when in CD.

For the virtues specialization :

• Master of consecrations is a must have : your two main skills are consecrations (sanctuary + purging flames).
• Glacial Heart : one of the most important trait, it allows all your CCs to apply massive amount of chilled, with no cooldown ! And god knows you're gonna CC a lot. Plus, just another condi to cover the burning stacks. This makes your axe 2/3 incredibly powerful, and also makes your sanctuary/shield 5 applying 3 seconds chilled (+ burn/slow with stoic demeanor).
• Indomitable Courage : I'm really sad to leave Permeating Wrath behind, but this build have very low stab/breakstuns access. If you feel adventurous, you can still take Permeating Wrath for a massive damage boost, but one single CC on you and you're gonna have a bad time... That's why I like my F3 to breakstun and give me stab.

And finally for the honor specialization :

• Protector's Restoration : good protection source, as well a light-field damaging symbol which is nice. The other traits are kinda meeeeh when playing alone...
• Pure of Heart : it has no cd. Oh god your enemies are gonna be mad when they'll see your hp rocketing up when they hit you. You have tons of sources of aegis/block. F3, healing mantra, shield 4, focus 5, .... Plus, you heal when you dodge. Even without healing mantras, just dodging in your symbols and spamming your defensive spells + interruptions will make you full life in no time (do NOT underestimate the sigil of draining, which will steal massive amounts of hp on each interrups with no cd).
• Writ of Persistence : you have tons of symbols, it's really a no brainer. In pvp, they removed the size boost, but not in wvw, so your axe 2 is still terrifying with this trait. Plus, even if it's a small heal, it makes huge difference on long fights.

Now for the utilities :

• Sanctuary : non-negotiable. Best skill in the game, op in many situations. It will burn stab stacks faster than I burn my happiness in PvP mode. Combined with purging flames, glacial heart and stoic demeanor, this skill will be a nightmare for your enemies. The different synergies/rotations will be presented in the gameplay section.
• We took sanctuary, only a fool would not take purging flame, allowing some hilarious actions where enemies just kill themselves by trying to reach you (see video).
• The last utility skill is depending on your enemies, and your gameplay in general. In duel, I almost always take mantra of truth for massive amount of blindness/weakness/cripple, and to cover my burn. But roaming means rarely duels and lots of outnumbered fights. That's why you should take at least breakstun (judge's intervention or contemplation of purity), for mobility and condition management (even if the F2/F3/light fields/purging flames should be enough to clean/absorb most conditions). I like judge's interventions to "surprise CC" stupid pewpew classes such as gun war, longbow ranger or dead eye. But for this skill, feel free to pick what you're comfortable with.

For the equipment : Huuuuh, it's at this point I feel like a wave of hatred will flow in the posts... This build has one objective : be an inkillable juggernaut oppressing foes with massive CCs and burning burst. The tremendous amount of healing sources we have implies the use of lots of healing power. If we do not want to be OS by some one trick poneys, we're gonna need some toughness and some vitality as well to have time to manage condition pressure. Finally, some condition damage will be necessary if we want to kill people. So, here's the build :

• For the armor, I simply take Dire stuff.
• For the trinkets, and god may forgive me, I go minstrel to be able to bunk lots of enemies at the same time (as the guard has very little evading frames, not like the weaver or the war, it has to be able to soak a lot damages).
• Finally for the weapons, I took Apothecary for more healing power.
• I choose the runes of the undead instead of the runes of balthazar because of the massive toughness we can exploit. Runes of balthazar is still a good choice as well, tho.
• As for the sigils, I go the o-holy-o-sacro-saint-o-sigils of absorption/draining on axe/shield. They have no cooldown against players, and allow each of your interrupts to steal 1k hp + 3 boons PER FOE INTERRUPED. One sanctuary against a bunch of sheeps and abracadabra, you're full life and full boons (once again, see video to witness the sustainability those sigils provide). On the scepter/focus, I go sigil of energy for more dodges (and thus more heal) and sigil of doom to drown my burn stacks with more condis (3 poisons stacks). The scepter/focus provide far less CCs than axe/shield, that's why I didn't take sigils of absorption/draining on scepter/focus. You should always try to cast your CCs while in axe/shield to proc your sigils.

More offensive variant

If you want to leverage your damages and reduce your sustainability to almost zero, you can swap your items to a combinaison of dire/carrion, and take this build for massive damage output (even if I'm really not fan of this build) :

)

The gameplay

I suggest you first watch the following video, displaying a thorough gameplay showdown which should make the build quite self-explanatory.

As you can see, the main idea of this build is to land a maximum of CCs, leaving you time to stack burn and cover the burn with other condis. In this section, we take an indepth look at the usage of the build : main burst rotation, sustain mechanics, etc...

Looking to protect yourself ? Or deal some damage ? Well it's great because this build is capable of both !

Damage rotations/combinaisons

You have two main sources of condi burst. The primary is the purging flames. The idea is simple : cast purging flames when your opponent does not have stab, and then pull->push->pull->push, etc.... You get the idea. You want them to cross the circle as much as possible. Each time you force them to cross the circle, they take 2 stack of quasi-everlasting burn. So, let's take a perfect combo as an exemple...

1. You cast purging flames around your foe -> 2 stacks of burn,
2. You cast a mantra of heal to gain quickness, add a damaging symbol and cast sanctuary at the center of the circle, bumping the enemy outward -> 3 stack of burning + slow + chilled,
3. you use the axe 3 to grab the enemy back into the sanctuary, bumping him once again outward -> 5 stack of burn + slow + chilled + bleeding,
4. you use the axe 2 freely, adding apply 5+ stacks of bleeding, burning, cripple, slow, chilled and daze,
5. you dodge through the enemy and bump him with shield 5 back in the sanctuary, 5 stack of burn + slow + chilled,
6. finally, you pull him with the F1 -> 3 one final time in the sanctuary before the sanctuary fades out -> 6 stack of burn + slow + chilled.

Literally all of the skill mentioned can affect lots of targets, can interrupts (stealing boons/life), and I did not count the F1/sigil of doom proc which adds even more conditions. If you play mantra of truth, you can cover all those conditions with 3 more conditions at the end of a combo (cripple/blindness/weakness).

Of course, the rotation is likely to fail at some point, due to blindness, a good enemy dodge or a good breakstun. But still, you have to take advantage of each second your enemy is not stabbed to push him to commit into your sanctuary/purging flames. As you can see in the video, the rotation is actually quite simple to land.

Defensive rotations/combinaisons

The sanctuary is your more faithful friend. Not only it heals you passively for a huge amount of hp (plus those from interruptions), but it also allows you to safely recharge your mantras, perform a full F2 rotation, secure downs/res, or deny narrow passages. You'll be the most vulnerable when your sanctuary is on CD. If you're under heavy damage output, and your sanctuary is on CD, try to go through most tomes before using Renewed focus (your invu). Your F3 is pretty much your lifesaver after the sanctuary : it's a breakstun that grants you stab, resistance, protection and aegis, plus a good source of interruptions with the taunt (forcing them to stay in your symbols). The chapter 3 (dome of reflexion) is a skill you MUST overuse in roaming. There are so many pewpew classes out there that the amount of protection you have is barely enough, considering your mobility (sanctuary/shield 5/chapter 3 of F3). Every thing I said above is for soaking a lot of damage but you need to heal as well !

The heal comes from a lots of sources : symbols, blocking, regen, interruptions, dodges, F2, etc... You get it, your healing mantra will not be your main source of healing, even if it provides a good heal burst. It is important you try to play around your symbols, and blast them with your focus 5 for condi clean. I practically never use the F2 unless I'm under heavy condi pressure and I don't have purging flames up, in which case you must switch to F2 as fast as possible, use 5/2/4 while the quickness is up, and go back to your rotation. The raw healing of the F2 barely surpass what you can achieve through CCs and casting symbols.

Conclusion

Like a lot of builds, there are tons and tons of tips, rotation tricks and subtlety that would be too wearisome to write here. That's why I preferred making a video of me playing rather than a looooong gameplay section, where all the nuances in the rotation would be more confusing than understandable. I think the best way to find out how to assimilate the build is to play it, and eventually ask me, or other guardians, questions !

I remind quickly that I'm far from being an excellent player, I'm just a regular player that enjoys playing and sharing my off-meta builds, and that my build is of course all but flawless ! I hope you'll get as much fun as I do playing him !

sorry if my english isn't perfect

Excellent job and very smart and thoughtful design of the build. Is a very clever use of the resources and synergies of the spec trying to cincunvent the current limitations imposed after a long chain of nerfs. And even resembles the feeling of grappling characters in fighting games. I tried to build a suitable burn Firebrand a few months ago with full trailblazer gear and the same weapon selection (but Radiance instead of Honor) but sadly the damage and sustain ratio wasn't there: with similar tools the DH was way more tanky. Your approach with Sanctuary is very clever, and I would say "but..." but the video speaks from himself.

My only problem with the build is the mobility and a certain feeling of frailty: it relies to large extent on the notion that if you face multiple targets chances are that some of them will play bad and feed your procs. But as you say is not oriented towards duels. Anyway, a refreshing take of the FB for WvW, thanx for sharing it!

Thanks for this! I was wondering if you would change anything in the build after "retaliation" was nerfed and replaced with "resolution"? I don't think so since you didn't rely on retal much right?

Also, you mention glacial heart as important, but isn't that only applicable for hammer only whereas this build uses axe? 

On 6/3/2021 at 6:52 PM, Godivari.7281 said:

Thanks for this! I was wondering if you would change anything in the build after "retaliation" was nerfed and replaced with "resolution"? I don't think so since you didn't rely on retal much right?

The retaliation nerf isn't really notable for this build, the extra damages it provided were welcome but not really that meaningful, compared to the burn damages.

On 6/3/2021 at 6:52 PM, Godivari.7281 said:

Also, you mention glacial heart as important, but isn't that only applicable for hammer only whereas this build uses axe? 

As for the glacial heart trait, the effect isn't only applicable for the hammer. Since 2018, the trait indeed modify a skill from the hammer skillset, but the damage/chill it applies is applied on every hard cc.

The huge con of the recent patches is that purging flames got a huuuuge nerf, making the build really less viable, as you can't burst as much as you used to with the purging flames combo. The build is still doing great, but it truly was much better with the old purging flames 😕 

have you tried runes of defender? getting 5% health back after block could make you even more tankier (1k at hp pool of 20k or ~>750 with your setup)

On 8/12/2021 at 4:04 PM, Lattekahvi.2347 said:

have you tried runes of defender? getting 5% health back after block could make you even more tankier (1k at hp pool of 20k or ~>750 with your setup)

That's actually a wonderful idea, I didn't even know about those runes !

I'm just afraid that the build might really lack some condi dmg (if you add the nerf of the purging flames), but I think I'll actually begin to play with those runes, thanks for the advice ! 😄

Been greatly enjoying the new changes to Celestial recently with Firebrand since you make use of every single stat with them. Been playing around with this Build .

Survivability is huge with the defensive boost of Celestial armor along with Alturistic healing (Applying tons of boons to yourself) and the rune of defense. Mantra of Potence alone procs Alturistic healing 7 times and you get 3 charges! Blocking attacks gets you the 5% hp and 3 procs of Alturistic healing thanks to Valor tree.

Damage wise your dealing both power and condi damage and with Righteous instincts your crit is high and you can stack up to 25 stacks of might with a combination of your mantra, blocking to gain might, and righteous instincts (Which of course are also proccing Altruistic Healing). The boon duration also maintains high amounts of quickness to further your offensive fury which makes up for going an all around build.

Anyways, worth a try if you have a full Celestial set 🙂

6 hours ago, Thereon.5219 said:

Been greatly enjoying the new changes to Celestial recently with Firebrand since you make use of every single stat with them. Been playing around with this Build .

 

Survivability is huge with the defensive boost of Celestial armor along with Alturistic healing (Applying tons of boons to yourself) and the rune of defense. Mantra of Potence alone procs Alturistic healing 7 times and you get 3 charges! Blocking attacks gets you the 5% hp and 3 procs of Alturistic healing thanks to Valor tree.

 

Damage wise your dealing both power and condi damage and with Righteous instincts your crit is high and you can stack up to 25 stacks of might with a combination of your mantra, blocking to gain might, and righteous instincts (Which of course are also proccing Altruistic Healing). The boon duration also maintains high amounts of quickness to further your offensive fury which makes up for going an all around build.

 

Anyways, worth a try if you have a full Celestial set 🙂

Yeah definitely try Celestial Firebrand. I've also been running an edited version of the Paladin build, and it seems...a bit too strong?

Firebrand's already pretty good, but the concentration and expertise update to Celestial made it a bit too much. You can, and will, down people in 1vX scenarios (X > 5, I'm not kidding). 

Anet might nerf Altruistic Healing. They probably should, if they are going to bring Mantra of Solace back up to par. 

On 8/24/2021 at 3:13 PM, Thereon.5219 said:

Been greatly enjoying the new changes to Celestial recently with Firebrand since you make use of every single stat with them. Been playing around with this Build .

 

Survivability is huge with the defensive boost of Celestial armor along with Alturistic healing (Applying tons of boons to yourself) and the rune of defense. Mantra of Potence alone procs Alturistic healing 7 times and you get 3 charges! Blocking attacks gets you the 5% hp and 3 procs of Alturistic healing thanks to Valor tree.

 

Damage wise your dealing both power and condi damage and with Righteous instincts your crit is high and you can stack up to 25 stacks of might with a combination of your mantra, blocking to gain might, and righteous instincts (Which of course are also proccing Altruistic Healing). The boon duration also maintains high amounts of quickness to further your offensive fury which makes up for going an all around build.

 

Anyways, worth a try if you have a full Celestial set 🙂

Full mantras even after all those nerfs? What a complete madman! I used to run your full Wanderer, full mantras build from 2 (3 years?) ago with great success. Roaming nowadays without JI or Sword is just too ballsy for me tho 😅 

4 hours ago, Celestia.9128 said:

 

Full mantras even after all those nerfs? What a complete madman! I used to run your full Wanderer, full mantras build from 2 (3 years?) ago with great success. Roaming nowadays without JI or Sword is just too ballsy for me tho 😅 

you are celestia, you must use celestial stats! xD

On 8/24/2021 at 4:53 PM, nativity.3057 said:

 

Yeah definitely try Celestial Firebrand. I've also been running an edited version of the Paladin build, and it seems...a bit too strong?

 

Firebrand's already pretty good, but the concentration and expertise update to Celestial made it a bit too much. You can, and will, down people in 1vX scenarios (X > 5, I'm not kidding). 

 

Anet might nerf Altruistic Healing. They probably should, if they are going to bring Mantra of Solace back up to par. 

Please dont nerv Altruistic Healing because it might be strong with one E-spec... It's a core trait after all and should be usable with all Guardian versions.