Rate my build [PvP] - Holo Burst Bruiser

Hey guys! Rate my build!http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQJAsenUUBFYh1IDWXBcJjF2CDcEdiCAibkY0NqPNGHvjA-jJh5gA3nAAgyAl7PM8AAAA

This build exploits the huge ammount of damage reductions the holosmith has to offer:

• Iron blooded: ~-10% condi and damage reduction
• Light Density Amplifier: ~-15% damage reduction
• Scrapper rune: -5% damage reduction

Synergies:High damage output through:

• High might stacking
• 1050 ferocity (with Fury)
• 49 % critical chance thanks to fury, High caliber and Hematic Focus --> Due to alot of leaps you will be able to stay in close range of your target --> also procs the 5% damage reduction from scrapper rune

Condi removal through Elixir C, Transmute and healing turret.

Healing from:

• Gaining boons (which you get alot!)
• leaping through water field

Light Density Amplifier increases your heat gain. Thanks to Enhanced Capacity Storage unit, this is taken care of. This can also enhance your abilities on your sword.

Try this build! I find it more fun and sometimes better than the current metabuild!

I think this will do quite well if and when anet go ahead with there plan of nerfin damage and passive tank across the board mainly because your genna have an easy time sitting on people faces and i know this sort of setup sword becomes a beast when your in peoples face

I run Conversion Holo with marauder amulet right now and I can't see this being better vs Scourge or the bunkers. Since those are the only classes I have trouble with I'm not sure this is very good. I also typically blow the other burst holos away when they 1-1 me.

@Dristig.9678 said:I run Conversion Holo with marauder amulet right now and I can't see this being better vs Scourge or the bunkers. Since those are the only classes I have trouble with I'm not sure this is very good. I also typically blow the other burst holos away when they 1-1 me.

You are correct when it comes down to scourges. It requires a very different approach than the traditional holosmith. Your burst is higher, thus you have to coördinate with a teammate a burst on the necro instead of a longer lasting fight against the scourge.I've fought dozens of other Conversion Holo's, and this build is within that battle definetly superior, mainly due to the damage reduction and quick bursts you can get off. However its a very skill based match with no clear upper hand.

I've noticed this build works extremely well against bunkers. I've been able to down most druids relatively quick for example since I simply outdamage their healing.

I think its worth a try. Its not always better than the conversion holo, but it definetly has its strengths above it, just like its weaknesses.

Stacking damage reducing traits is inefficient because they are multiplicative not additive, its better to have 1 or 2 only big ones instead.

I think your design direction is the biggest hindrance to your build, it seems to be good at a little bit of everything but a master of nothing. I give it 5/10

Some things that I think seriously hold you back are:

• Scrapper Runes, these things are honestly absolutely garbage, but they just look nice. Consider rune of water or leadership runes, those would benefit you MUCH MUCH more.
• Cavaliers Amulet, you have a lot of burst potential as a holo, there is a LOT to be said for counter pressure, being able to pressure someone enough to play defensive should be a massive part of your strategy. Making them go defensive can be your defensive tactic too. Also you gotta kill people in pvp xD So you really have to make a stretch your to thinking to think that cavaliers offers better sustain than menders or paladins. There really is a LOT of lost potential in cavaliers, not even considering the precision vs ferocity.
• There is no disengage, its a very good reason to take rifle because of its engage and disengage potential, you also miss any substitutes for rifle like rocket boots.

Overall I think you've over invested into damage reduction from boons and undervalued the finer points on what makes an effective bunker.

Further Ideas for improvement

• Elixir gun over elixir B, dropping it means a bit less uptime on boons, but it also means you get 1 more stun break, a very good source of regen and it lets you bring self-regulated defenses over comback cure. Also it brings aoe condi cleansing, aoe group healing, poison access, even more mobility etc...
• Find a reliable source of protection, it confuses me that you have specifically chosen scrapper runes but you haven't included a reliable source of protection.

I think it has the potential to make a viable bruiser, but please take this feedback into consideration.

@The V.8759 said:

@"Dristig.9678" said:I run Conversion Holo with marauder amulet right now and I can't see this being better vs Scourge or the bunkers. Since those are the only classes I have trouble with I'm not sure this is very good. I also typically blow the other burst holos away when they 1-1 me.

I'm not seeing it vs other burst builds. I run rocket boots and rifle. I can keep you away or run away and reset. You can't.

For comparison here is the version of Conversion Holo I run:http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQFAUnUUBlIjVWB+dBcJjlKDrPD+BLhh5jwyXRcZEACPA-jJR6gANlBAeAA/XAAs9HAA

Note: I switch Prismatic Converter to Light Density Amplifier depending on the other team's composition.

@Zlater.6789 said:Stacking damage reducing traits is inefficient because they are multiplicative not additive, its better to have 1 or 2 only big ones instead.

I think your design direction is the biggest hindrance to your build, it seems to be good at a little bit of everything but a master of nothing. I give it 5/10

Some things that I think seriously hold you back are:

• Scrapper Runes, these things are honestly absolutely garbage, but they just look nice. Consider rune of water or leadership runes, those would benefit you MUCH MUCH more.
• Cavaliers Amulet, you have a lot of burst potential as a holo, there is a LOT to be said for counter pressure, being able to pressure someone enough to play defensive should be a massive part of your strategy. Making them go defensive can be your defensive tactic too. Also you gotta kill people in pvp xD So you really have to make a stretch your to thinking to think that cavaliers offers better sustain than menders or paladins. There really is a LOT of lost potential in cavaliers, not even considering the precision vs ferocity.
• There is no disengage, its a very good reason to take rifle because of its engage and disengage potential, you also miss any substitutes for rifle like rocket boots.

Overall I think you've over invested into damage reduction from boons and undervalued the finer points on what makes an effective bunker.

Further Ideas for improvement

• Elixir gun over elixir B, dropping it means a bit less uptime on boons, but it also means you get 1 more stun break, a very good source of regen and it lets you bring self-regulated defenses over comback cure. Also it brings aoe condi cleansing, aoe group healing, poison access, even more mobility etc...
• Find a reliable source of protection, it confuses me that you have specifically chosen scrapper runes but you haven't included a reliable source of protection.

I think it has the potential to make a viable bruiser, but please take this feedback into consideration.

You've made some very good points, thank your for that! I'll run them down one by one and share my thoughts:- Scrapper runesBoth suggestions you've made should indeed be taken into consideration. Both runes offer more sustain in this build while missing out on some power. I personally chose for Scrapper rune not only for the sixth bonus, but also to compensate on the 300 or 150 points of power that is lost when taking Cavaliers amulet. In this way the Amulet offers slight sustain through damage reduction (toughness + 6th bonus) and offensive through power.

- Cavaliers AmuletAs you've mentioned, my main strategy within this build is pressuring so much to play defensive. And as you've noticed, indeed my point is to kill people. Now when I compare Paladins vs Cavaliers, theres a few things to be said. First of all we have the defensive stats: Paladins offers less toughness but more vitality than Cavaliers. This effectively means that Paladin offers better defensive against damage over time. Cavaliers has the upper hand when it comes to sustained incoming damage. This is where personal preference comes in play: I feel like I'm having enough condition defenses and thus prefer a higher ammount of toughness. A max of 16K health is more than enough for me to survive.The second point is offensive stats. There is no denying that the increased presicion vs the ferocity offers more dps. Thus Paladins has a higher DPS. However, this does not take away the Cavaliers edge in burst potential. Effectively, there is a chance that your holo leap, corona burst and holographic shockwave (as an example) will all crit within a very small time span. When equipping Paladins, this burst would be lower than Cavaliers. In that sense it comes down to RNG bursts.

- There is no disengageThe disengage in this build comes from Crystal configuration: Zephyr. With this skill you can have a 90% uptime of superspeed while running away while removing movement impairing conditions. Most classes wont be able to outrun that. Traditional holo converter might be able to catch up at first with jump shot and immobilizes. However, immobilizes are easily countered by projectile reflection on your shield. long story short; this build has descent disengage oppurtinities, though very far from the best.

Overall I think you've over invested into damage reduction from boons and undervalued the finer points on what makes an effective bunker.Please note this is not ment as a bunker, but rather a killer machine. Kind of like a warrior.

- Elixir GunVery good suggestion. I was already regulary swapping these out, and you're totally correct on this; it offers more. I only still sometimes use the Elixir B because otherwise I have zero stability.

- ProtectionCurrently the only sources of protection are removing vulnerability with (toss) elixir C and potentially protection injection (Which can be taken above invigorating Speed).One subsitute could be rune of the herald, but the ammount of protection it adds is not that significant IMO (2.3s). Other runes dont really fit this build. Other sources of protection are situated in the inventions line, however that would remove sustained healing from compunding chemicals and more (condi) damage reduction though Iron Blooded. Ofcourse this could be traded out for Bunker Down, however I find the middle choices of inventions rather useless within this build. But indeed a fair thought.

All in all, thank you very much for the feedback. I'm going to play around with some things and test out further :)

@The V.8759 said:

@Zlater.6789 said:Stacking damage reducing traits is inefficient because they are multiplicative not additive, its better to have 1 or 2 only big ones instead.

I think your design direction is the biggest hindrance to your build, it seems to be good at a little bit of everything but a master of nothing. I give it 5/10

Some things that I think seriously hold you back are:

• Scrapper Runes, these things are honestly absolutely garbage, but they just look nice. Consider rune of water or leadership runes, those would benefit you MUCH MUCH more.
• Cavaliers Amulet, you have a lot of burst potential as a holo, there is a LOT to be said for counter pressure, being able to pressure someone enough to play defensive should be a massive part of your strategy. Making them go defensive can be your defensive tactic too. Also you gotta kill people in pvp xD So you really have to make a stretch your to thinking to think that cavaliers offers better sustain than menders or paladins. There really is a LOT of lost potential in cavaliers, not even considering the precision vs ferocity.
• There is no disengage, its a very good reason to take rifle because of its engage and disengage potential, you also miss any substitutes for rifle like rocket boots.

Overall I think you've over invested into damage reduction from boons and undervalued the finer points on what makes an effective bunker.

Further Ideas for improvement

• Elixir gun over elixir B, dropping it means a bit less uptime on boons, but it also means you get 1 more stun break, a very good source of regen and it lets you bring self-regulated defenses over comback cure. Also it brings aoe condi cleansing, aoe group healing, poison access, even more mobility etc...
• Find a reliable source of protection, it confuses me that you have specifically chosen scrapper runes but you haven't included a reliable source of protection.

I think it has the potential to make a viable bruiser, but please take this feedback into consideration.

Overall I think you've over invested into damage reduction from boons and undervalued the finer points on what makes an effective bunker.Please note this is not ment as a bunker, but rather a killer machine. Kind of like a warrior.

Mmm I get what you are saying with a lot of it, but I think I should elaborate more on the rune choice and the amulet especially, I don't want to convince you but make it more apparent because the same oversights that you have are oversights I have made when beginning in build craft.

The biggest thing is lack of balance. When stacking damage reduction; for example you have these reduction passive (of which you have much more):33%25%15%7%The reduction amount isn't 80%, it's actually only 54%, because of how it stacks. The same is true for toughness, the more toughness you have the less effective it is at making you more survivable. And actually it's even true for ferocity, because you always start with 150% critchance it is almost always better to stack precision instead.

Something that's even more mind boggling is that it also applies to the interaction between different stat types. For example if you take exactly the same damage from an attack on a light and heavy class the same. Adding 1000 toughness is going to decrease the damage of the next exact same hit on a heavy class more than what it does on a light class, that's because the relationship between armour and toughness is more balanced on heavy.

Defensively and easily measurably this extends to vitality, damage reduction, healing power and healing per second. It's about finding the most optimal balance, some people call it measuring your ehp (effective health pool). I implore you to consider your amulet choices with that in mind.

With rune choice, scrapper is a lot worse than it sounds for that above reason. Let's take rune of the scrapper and leadership for example.Scrapper: 175 power 100 toughness and 7% damage reduction.Leadership: 36 of each stat 252 total, 30% boon duration equal to 450 concentration and additional condi cleanse.

So leadership provides more defensive stats and are much better distributed but less offensive stats that are more poorly distributed.

Then there is boon duration, 30% higher uptime on might not only means longer duration. But also higher stacks which give 30 power and condi damage each. It also means higher uptime of protection which is massive damage reduction, regeneration which is a major source of heals and fury which is like your dps crutch. Not to forget about things like retaliation. Also not to mention your additional damage reduction per boon. The effects of boon duration on your boon dependant build is great, and it's something you should definitely not overlook.

Sorry about so much text. But I just wanted to share some of the deeper considerations with you about this because I think you really enjoy it! GLHF

@Zlater.6789 said:

@The V.8759 said:

@Zlater.6789 said:Stacking damage reducing traits is inefficient because they are multiplicative not additive, its better to have 1 or 2 only big ones instead.

I think your design direction is the biggest hindrance to your build, it seems to be good at a little bit of everything but a master of nothing. I give it 5/10

Some things that I think seriously hold you back are:

• Scrapper Runes, these things are honestly absolutely garbage, but they just look nice. Consider rune of water or leadership runes, those would benefit you MUCH MUCH more.
• Cavaliers Amulet, you have a lot of burst potential as a holo, there is a LOT to be said for counter pressure, being able to pressure someone enough to play defensive should be a massive part of your strategy. Making them go defensive can be your defensive tactic too. Also you gotta kill people in pvp xD So you really have to make a stretch your to thinking to think that cavaliers offers better sustain than menders or paladins. There really is a LOT of lost potential in cavaliers, not even considering the precision vs ferocity.
• There is no disengage, its a very good reason to take rifle because of its engage and disengage potential, you also miss any substitutes for rifle like rocket boots.

Overall I think you've over invested into damage reduction from boons and undervalued the finer points on what makes an effective bunker.

Further Ideas for improvement

• Elixir gun over elixir B, dropping it means a bit less uptime on boons, but it also means you get 1 more stun break, a very good source of regen and it lets you bring self-regulated defenses over comback cure. Also it brings aoe condi cleansing, aoe group healing, poison access, even more mobility etc...
• Find a reliable source of protection, it confuses me that you have specifically chosen scrapper runes but you haven't included a reliable source of protection.

I think it has the potential to make a viable bruiser, but please take this feedback into consideration.

Overall I think you've over invested into damage reduction from boons and undervalued the finer points on what makes an effective bunker.Please note this is not ment as a bunker, but rather a killer machine. Kind of like a warrior.

Sorry this may be a bit off topic since I can only refer to WvW, but I still argue your points against Scrapper runes. Namely:

1. Despite how damage reduction stacks, it still stacks, even if by a small amount.
2. You discount the difference of power way to much between Scrapper and Leadership runes. Even a small amount of extra power goes a lot further than a spread out stat application tha only gives a small portion.
3. The toughness stats can help bring up deficits in defensive stats if you pick stats in gear (or amulet) that are more glassy.
4. I think boon duration is outdated now considering the amount of corruption and strips available now. Therefore, concentration is far less valuable imo.