DH build and skill usage? (OW, Fractals)

New to DH here, and I have been running something like this.

My gear is all rares in berserker's (I'm poor). I am using Light's Judgment as it lasts for a long time and maintains 20 stacks of vulnerability. I do see a lot of PvE builds go with Test of Faith instead. I guess I'm not sure why ToF is used when you don't want the enemies to move out of your ring of death.

Anyway, I'm paper-thin and die really fast. Also, I'm having trouble with a good skill rotation. I want to cast my two main traps, but I want a symbol to last as long as Procession of Blades lasts as well as keeping Spear of Justice on an enemy. The long cast time of SoJ is throwing me off. I'm thinking I should cast that first, but I'm worried it will time out 1/2 through the burst rotation.

Any suggestions on the build and skill usage? Some more survivability would be nice but I don't want to hurt damage too much as the main reason for going with DH is the crazy high power damage.

I think overall Guardians rely heavily on "Block" to survive. So I would make sure I rotate Block skills well too. I also use Berserker's (Zojja's actually) with some vitality in the trinkets. I usually use Greatsword, and sword/focus.

Focus SoJ and the Symbol primarely on your PowerSkills like torch4 or GS2 (make sure to stand IN the enemyhitbox when using GS2 or GS5 for extradmg)SoJ normally goes nice with procession of blades, but better focus on your weaponskills and use the traps on CD.

Why ToF > LJ?It's not your primary job to maintain vulneability, and placing ToF the way, the enemy keeps standing on the edge of the trap would be the idea. That is not always do-able in "reality", but that would be the idea of it.

So you have 3 skills to fill. Bane Signet and Procession of Blades are high DPS and kinda "must haves" the 3rd Slot needs to be switched, depending on what is to do. LJ is not wrong. But also consider wall of reflection on heavy projectile inc. situations, or "retreat" to skip things, condiclear for you and your group (e.g. Mai Trin) or even use the Spirit Hammer for CC (because using SoJ or GS5 or Bane Signet is always a DPS loss). A good Guardian does good dmg, but he has to be versatile in different situations. :)

You can watch the video rotation guide or they also have it written out.

https://qtfy.eu/guildwars/guardian/power-dh-quick-guide/

Should get your rares upgraded to exotics, many ways to get them all of which are pretty quick/easy/cheap. TOF is the better trap it’s not really debatable. You can run whatever you like but it does the most damage which is why you see it in all the guides.

For survival learning the mob/boss tells and timing your dodges and blocks will come in time. Guards work with a very small health pool. In time if your still struggling you can change some/all of your gear to marauders. It will boost your health but you will lose damage.

You can also run a similar setup camping hammer providing perm protection while learning the fights

@Preacher.9526 said:TOF is the better trap it’s not really debatable. You can run whatever you like but it does the most damage which is why you see it in all the guides.

i don't doubt you, but, does it really?or does it only, when an enemy keeps crossing the Edge?

because if it's only that strong when an Enemy moves over and over the Edge, it's very situational good. Metaguides often say what is theoratically best, but is in fact never best in PUGs or something else i have to say.

@CafPow.1542 said:

@Preacher.9526 said:TOF is the better trap it’s not really debatable. You can run whatever you like but it does the most damage which is why you see it in all the guides.

ToF and PoB should always be taken over LJ. You can play with whatever you want... it is just a game but the overwhelming majority of the community agrees on what skills provide the most significant boost whether through damage or buffs/debuffs. There’s a reason you don’t see Lights judgement in any builds. OP does mention fractals where people can be very critical and other classes will be providing enough vulnerability. Even solo open world you should be killing things so fast that building/maintaining vulnerability is not worth a utility slot.

But you understand my question? I'm well aware of the meta.

But if you can't move a boss to the edge /over the edge of ToF, the dmg would drop imo. That's why other skills situationally may be stronger or more relevant, that's why i'm asking again.

Because the Golem is kinda ridicolous

'ey there. Dragonhunters, right now, can shred anything below Champions in Open World, and not just one, a bunch of them. For fractals, if you know your rotation you can perform just as well.

This --> BUILD <-- is quite cheap besides the Air and Force Sigils, and even though it is full Berserker, Litany of Wrath and Shield of Courage let you survive nearly everything until it's dead. If you want to get fancier you can use Scholar runes, but those are much more expensive and the 10% bonus is not as easily maintained.

Pull a bunch of mobs in with Binding Blades then do the following:

1. Feel My Wrath + Save Yourselves
2. Procession of Blades -> Spear of Justice -> Symbol of Wrath -> Whirling Wrath -> Swap
3. Symbol of Punishment(Scepter) or Symbol of Blades(Sword) -> Zealot's Fire

Scepter's better for single target damage, and Sword better for cleaving. Sword also has a blind before the Symbol of Blades lands so you can take one more hit.

If at any point you think you'll take too much damage, use either Shield of Courage to be safe for a few seconds or fill your life through damaging while using Litany of Wrath. Have fun!

Metabattle goes more with shelter then litany, but i guess it's personal taste ^^

For one Metabattle's Fractal section is horribly outdated, Shelter has a 2s cooldown for a really bad heal on a 30 second cooldown, while Litany of Wrath lets you be at full health for Scholar's for 6 seconds, has a 0.25s cast time, 25s cooldown and helps you maintain Retaliation better.

I could honestly argue it's the best healing skill in the game, but I won't because ArenaNet will at some time see this comment.

Most DH builds runs radiance to hit the 100% Crit chance easily. This means Bane Signet, PoB and Stand your Ground! are the highest dps skills. You need stand your ground! to maintain perma retal on yourself.

For a bit of a flavour switch away from a pure power build, I run a condi-hybrid DH for all my openworld PvE stuff, and for doing certain Fractals. It heavily uses passive Justice, which you can then activate when clearing last mob or two if a couple are being stubborn at the end of a fight. Although to be honest I don't get stragglers very often. The build's damage scales up rapidly the more mobs you have, although the ideal number is 5 or 6 if you want all the damage output to focus on just them. It's also effective in situations where there are a lot more mobs. I use it in T4 Molten Furnace mainly because of the fight after the tunnel/before the steam vents. A very large group of charr/dredge, which with proper management of the F3 block for survival you can put instant 25 vulnerability on basically the whole mass of them along with a truly ridiculous amount of AoE burning alongside the direct power damage (if you have 5-6 mobs, they get up to 65 stacks over the course of the opening combo which takes about 3 seconds to place and lasts about 6 seconds from the start if you drop it right, these burns are spread out/average total per mob lowered the more mobs you have above the 5-6). If you manage the block frames properly to drop the combo, you can then use your dodges and your F2 leap for damage mitigation/heal as the traps finish unloading. By the time the 6 seconds or so of the combo running is up, most of the mobs are dead and the remainder are still suffering the 25 vulnerability as you and your group mop them up.

For fractals the build I use is definitely situational, I don't recommend it for any Fractal where most of the fights are single targets as the sustained dps on singles is well below that of the purely power DH build (for those fractals I use other professions). It's also basically pure glass, so block management in certain fights is a must. But for situations with lots of mobs, especially in openworld PvE, I just love charging through the middle of things laying traps and symbols as I go and leaving a swathe of burning ruin in my wake :)

If anyone wants the build, PM me and I'll happily message back with it ^_^

@Velho.7123 said:For one Metabattle's Fractal section is horribly outdated, Shelter has a 2s cooldown for a really bad heal on a 30 second cooldown, while Litany of Wrath lets you be at full health for Scholar's for 6 seconds, has a 0.25s cast time, 25s cooldown and helps you maintain Retaliation better.

I could honestly argue it's the best healing skill in the game, but I won't because ArenaNet will at some time see this comment.

I see. I try it out.Normally i confess, i use the noob signet. Cause the "bursty heal" suits my casual playstyle.

@Loop.8106 said:Most DH builds runs radiance to hit the 100% Crit chance easily. This means Bane Signet, PoB and Stand your Ground! are the highest dps skills. You need stand your ground! to maintain perma retal on yourself.

If I don't have a Chronomancer to bounce back the Retaliation I give them with Stand Your Ground, I use Save Yourselves for the higher self-uptime on Retaliation, and it also gives Fury to help me maintain higher DPS.

tl,dr: Stand Your Ground for Retaliation when you have a Chrono, Save Yourselves for when you're alone. Some people like using Hallowed Ground as well for it, but I like the Fury and stun break.

Hmm, my reasoning on picking LJ is that in solo OW, it's basically a 20% DPS boost for 10 seconds. In higher fractals, yes, I would probably swap that out for a pure damage setup.Also, if I use the 2nd skill on SoJ (the pull), will I immediately lose the Big Game Hunter damage bonus, or does that linger afterward for a short time? Thematically setting up a huge trap death zone and then pulling your prey into it is nice, but the BGH damage bonus is awfully high to be giving up.

Normally you don't push the SoJ and keep being tethered. Exception is, if you really need to CC but it's a dps loss

For open world I use a zerker/marauder mix. Its a bit hard to keep up in certain places without vitality and on some HoT maps you'll get one shot very often as glass cannon. But lately I'm playing as FB on open world maps.

For Fractals I don't believe you would be able to get far without Agony Resistance (you need ascended equipament to slot the AR). You should try to get the ascended trinkets from LS3, it is very cheap and easy.

I was using Zeal/Radiance/DH, but I find a higher DPS with Radiance/Virtues/DH instead with pugs. This is my build (I use on t4 fractals):

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vVAQNAR7fnkICVdiddCGCBkdilBiKrAXwGU+6z+z3KAq22E-jhRBABAcRAwT3gZKBpU9nHeCAXt/o8DA-e

Taking Indomitable Courage trait instead of Permeating Wrath triat on Virtues seems better not only to get a Stun Breaker but allows to keep Unscated Contender trait more often. Also, you want to keep the Spear of Justice on cooldown, so doesn't make any sense to take this trait. Taking Virtues instead of Zeal allow a much higher Retaliation up time without taking away a utility slot on both retal duration and on Virtue usage.

Also, I often change Test of Faith for Stand Your Ground or Wall of Reflection on some fractals.

I don't belive that you need Light's Judment anywhere, its very easy to get 25 stacks of vulnerability as DH, even more if you use Zeal instead of Virtues. Big Game Hunter trait alone grants very high vulnerability stacks.