Marauders vs. Zerk

So, I've been playing a power herald for quiet some time and I rather like it. I'm currently running full berzerker's gear. However, the one thing I've always noticed is how much of a glass cannon this type of build is. I knew what I was getting myself in to when I chose this build, but didn't realize how fragile it is. I've played other MMOs before and almost always chose the glass cannon route, but this is one of the most fragile ones I've ever played. So, I started looking around the other stat combos and came across marauders. It has, almost, the same stats as berzerker's with the added bonus to vitality. Is the slight dps loss worth the extra survivability I would get?

In pve it's generally better to play tanky than to play glass. The only time when you really want to go glass is when pve elitists tell you to gear check. Full mara will almost always be better than full zerker until some pve group tells you to ping your gear. The reason why is because there is a massive difference between being one shot and two shot. In full zerk gear especially on squishier classes, you will be one shot by a lot of World Bosses or other general bosses. With full mara or zerk mixed with soldiers, you won't have this issue. If making full mara is too much of a hassle I would just use zerker and mix some soldiers trinkets in there. Swap to zerker if a group tells you to.

Honestly, Power Rev is very suvivable with bererker gear in PvE. Medium HP pool, high sustainability and multiple evasive skills. Marauder is complete waste of stats. The extra HP is pointless. It does not even improve your sustainability, just reduces possibility of being quickly downed, which is not a risk for power Rev to begin with. Even if you think you need more suvivability in PvE, either use toughness or healing power. Still a waste though.

PvP, use marauder for sure.

For open world PvE, you can run full glass or full tank. And will kill everything with easy either way (easy, not = fast).The pure dmg loss from running mara over zerk is about 7% (on test golem). Whether that is worth it for you, depends on how good a player you are and how well you know the fight. I know people that will die in a frac on FULL tank gear, and others that have an easy time on full glass and never die. It all depend on whether you know your class and the fight or not. However, something to remember is that mara dont make you into a tank, it simply mean you can make some small mistakes and not die. In gw2 active defences are generally stronger then passive defences. So dodge/eveda/block at the right time will always make you stay alive longer then any tank sett.

Thank you. I appreciate all the advice.

There's a stat called "Berserker + Valkyrie" that is a little bit of a better fit for mixing into your Zerker set if you want some survivability... If you're running Invocation, adding Marauders pieces will put you over 100% crit, which is essentially just wasted stats. B+V gives you extra health without sacrificing Power or Ferocity.

If obtaining select-a-stat gear is a chore for you for whatever reason, or maybe you're running all exotics, you'd probably be better off just staying full zerker but swapping a Ring or Trinket or two to Soldier's rather than going full Marauders, because once again, you'll be getting more stat value per piece.

I run ascended gear with marauder stats in armor and berserker in everything elese. My advice is to craft a berserker armor and weapons and then to combine zerker and marauder in the trinkets to meet your goals in tankiness. The reason for this split is due how easily affordable are to get those stats in the jewelry since the new LS3 maps were introduced in the game. If you craft a marauder armor and then you want to change the cost will be larger (albeit currently not too much).

For WvW I run a hybrid where I have Marauder Trinkets/Jewels, but berserker weapons/armor. It gives me some much needed additional health, while also letting me cap my critical chance at 100%.

For PVE, though, berserker is the way to go. The herald actually has a lot of sustain, especially with the devastation line + vengeful hammers. It's one of the more durable classes, so if you're having issues surviving then your technique is probably off.

I play glass hammer/staff in pve and wvw. Just evade stuff. You will die from stuff you do not understand more so than "it too strong I need MOAR hp!"

Just run full nomads. I like to roleplay a character that has transcended the need for weapons, so I don't equip them. I find my utilities, when buffed by my amazing nomads stats allow for some truly amazing moments. (like getting kicked from every group run)

@narcx.3570 said:There's a stat called "Berserker + Valkyrie" that is a little bit of a better fit for mixing into your Zerker set if you want some survivability... If you're running Invocation, adding Marauders pieces will put you over 100% crit, which is essentially just wasted stats. B+V gives you extra health without sacrificing Power or Ferocity.

If obtaining select-a-stat gear is a chore for you for whatever reason, or maybe you're running all exotics, you'd probably be better off just staying full zerker but swapping a Ring or Trinket or two to Soldier's rather than going full Marauders, because once again, you'll be getting more stat value per piece.

like narcx saidberserker + valkyrie is what you want if you want "some" more hp.the precision you lose is covered with your fury trait that doubles the effectiveness of fury (40% instead of 20% crt chance). and you do not lose power or ferocity.

cheers

@Doctor.1905 said:In pve it's generally better to play tanky than to play glass. The only time when you really want to go glass is when pve elitists tell you to gear check. Full mara will almost always be better than full zerker until some pve group tells you to ping your gear. The reason why is because there is a massive difference between being one shot and two shot. In full zerk gear especially on squishier classes, you will be one shot by a lot of World Bosses or other general bosses. With full mara or zerk mixed with soldiers, you won't have this issue. If making full mara is too much of a hassle I would just use zerker and mix some soldiers trinkets in there. Swap to zerker if a group tells you to.

It's a bit of a balance with this type of thinking. I wouldn't call it elitist, they are checking to see if you are not playing a more selfish self-sustaining tanky build while they are doing most of the dmg - unless you're roll is specifically tank/support. If they are taking the risk of making a fight as short as possible they are just making sure everyone else is to.Also a side benefit of wearing proper DPS gear when your role/build is dps is that you will learn mechanics propery and faster, because any mistake is death. Fully understanding an encounter will help both you and other players, where as you wouldn't know if you didn't anything wrong if you could absorb a mistake.

But yes, outside of that, run mara but I personally would run zerker and really learn how to evade damage, interupt etc, I think overall it will improve you as a player.

Also @ higher tier PVE you will be one-shot regardless if you're mara or zerker so of course you should run zerker.