Better Elite for Solo PVE?

Which Elite do you think is better for solo open world PVE and why?

Honestly, both are fine...

I just voted for Herald because after not playing it in PvE since PoF came out, I decided to respec into it to do the last Living World chapter/map because I was bored/sort of missed playing it/wanted to rock the new Inquest Outfit with Double Lightsabers :tongue:... And holy crap is it easy mode. PoF's open world doesn't have nearly the amount of condition damage flying around that HoT does, so Herald seems literally invincible with it's iframes, facet of light, no-cost stunbreaks, and built in toughness via Hardening Persistence... Add onto that being able to self generate (for zero energy) permanent fury and 25 stacks of might and things die in seconds.

Renegade probably still kills things faster, but it's really only noticeable vs Champions and Legendary's with large hitboxes... Herald keeps it surprisingly close since Renegade doesn't have all the free buffs.

(I should add that I'm just using full zerker/scholar with double swords and staff; Glint/Shiro - Dev/Invo)

Herald, for three reasons:

1: It does power damage, so no ramp up times. Everything dies immediately.2: The self sustain from vengeful hammers and life leech is insane. I've soloed the Clockheart with power herald before.3: The self boon application is phenomenal. You'll have permanent swiftness, permanent fury, capped might in fights, and permanent protection without any help from anyone else.

Herald has just better skills.Renegade has better traits but you can build a herald as a semi tank for crowd clears without effort and renegade has less tanky options although its Anti-Stun trait is hilarious.

I play mostly condi rev in open world PvE using herald. Access to might, fury and swiftness on demand. Easy access to reg, protection and cheesy heal to full, since PvE mobs do not think.

Renegade has a slow buildup and weaker sustainability.

Power herald in PvE is king. Sword 2 does like 13-14k damage.

I strongly recommend you condi variant of herald. Just spam Unyielding Anguish at 25 might. Any champion will die very fast. No skill required, but very effective.

Here build:

With this build i killed Balthazar, Mordremoth, champions, end even solo dungeons without any problem. Remember, just spam Unyielding Anguish and do some dodge.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vlAQNApXmnfN2gSuJvQRHlboskyPU4S5IKor8EllTlJNgDawe93nnNpoqC-jhiAQB2TPwFUCCFlfA4BAEEVEMo6NdZfA1twQCOBABw8HpAUUzG-e

This build is cheap to make and provide 15k dps in addition of 3500 armor + perma protection. (You will make even better dps with more expertise. Expertise is e key.)

If you going to use condi renegade, try shortbow. Just pew pew everything from a safe distance. Just don't use Kalla, it's bad for solo play.

Edit:

You can also use full rabid (or dire) and runes of Balthazar for longer burning duration from mace 2

If you have enough alts, go for HoT story (Bitter Harvest) for some Trailblazer equipment. Crafting this stat combination is expensive compared to Viper.

As much as I like the idea of Renegade, Herald just wins in straight up usability. There's no micromanaging legends or weapons in order to be effective like in Renegade. Throw up your boons and watch your health, activate your passives into actives when necessary and you'll be one heck of a bunker in solo PVE with Herald.

Renegade was designed on a DPS golem where your Legends don't get CC'd and killed with every AOE and where the bosses and champs sit still in the tiny radius of your legend. The Shortbow is also a weak contender to power Hammer. Despite Shortbow doing decent damage, it has no CC and is slow to use with little impact or control of the enemy, with little utility on top of it. In short, Shortbow Renegade needs a huge change, and not a numeric buff. The gameplay needs to be tweaked.

I like playing both, but I play Herald a little more.

Also, I must agree with the shortbow. It's kind of beyond me why it has so low utility on it, if it's also not very high damage. Feels like it loses a bit in both fields.

Accidentally voted Renegade :s

Herald has ridiculous boon application - active defenses - good power damage - ez kills

Both have their strong perks, and oddball uses.Heralds can get away with building glass cannon because of the amount of great active and passive defenses that core rev struggles to get in sufficient amount.Renegades on the other hand allow for much more liberal use of tanky stats gear, because they have ample amounts of free crit chance and extra ferocity that core revs and heralds don't get.

So basically if you want to have tons of active defenses and "high risk high reward" playstyle, power herald is the guy for you.If you prefer more necro-ish approach with lotsa free stats and gear doing more defending vs quick fingers, then renegade has a deal for you.

Power herald for sure, being able to put 25 vulnerability on something while giving yourself an instant 25 might and then just wailing on it with sword/axe and vengeful hammers is very satisfying and effective. Also having what is technically the most effective healing skill in the game is a nice bonus.

Power herald is very strong and very survivable, but I personally run renegade for solo pve. Being able to blanket huge areas with conditions is pretty fun. Sure condition damage takes longer to ramp up, but with the relatively high health of a lot of the mobs, it can be pretty useful at times. There's also less energy management. Overall though Herald is the better spec for solo pve, I don't think anyone could reasonably argue against that.

Power Renegade does huge damage for open world. 25 might, full fury, and perma swiftness. So you don't lose much vs herald. But you gain a lot of stats and icerazor which does huge damage, or aoe interupts for breakbar/control. With mounts around, I actually run jalis/Kalla for open world.