Need help to understand Firebrand class

Hi. Those that play Firebrand, im not sure when im suppose to be using the F1, F2,F3 tomes.On core and DH, those skills are easily understandable but on FB it gets a little confusing for me.This is for WvW though.I would basically just use F1 regularly to open fights and F2/F3 as last resorts if fight i going south when on core.The FB new tomes kinda confuses me. Do you use all those tomes before switching back to regular weapons?So anyone with any help or know of guides on it, could you please do share.Much appreciated.

Depends on build. You can build for more tome use, or less. I prefer less, and rely on my weapons, but tomes are still useful, just really awkward. Mantras are the best part of Firebrand TBH.

Tome of Justice - AOE damage. Skill 4 (fire circle), spam 1 (basic aoe) till you run out of pages. Done. Skill 3 is a CC if you need it. If you are a condition build this will be a major source of dps and you should learn it better then I advise here.Tome of Refuge - Healing. Skill 5 (buff), 4 (aoe heal), spam 1 (heal). Done. Skill 2 is a condi clear if you need it.Tome of Justice - Got nerfed, now it sucks. Still OK if you need to give stability to allies though. Skill 5 for aoe protection and stab, then don't bother with spending pages, just close up the tome, unless you need stability spam, then use 1. Skill 3 is a projectile reflect if you need it.

Actually I like a lot tomes, you have just to use them when they are needed.Tome of justice is a low dps high utility tome, with a good CC on 3 that you can use to prevent ress or ball enemies, a fire field on 4 and a AoE burning on 1 and 5 to cover allies condi.Tome of refuge is an outstanding healing tool, basically spam 5 on CD, then use 1 to AoE heal or 2 to cleanse+heal (I think it's the best ability).Tome of courage is a really anti pressure tool, spam 5 on CD for aegis (aegis heal when triggers), 4 on CD for huge AoE resistance (best skill of the tome) then 1 to spam protection and stability (you can stack a lot of stab). Skill 3 is really useful against projectile.

I think that the best way to use tome is to pop them up when there's a lot of pressure, especially tome of courage is a really good tool for pre-prot your team with stab aegis and resistance!!

@Rhyse.8179 said:Tome of Justice - AOE damage. Skill 4 (fire circle), spam 1 (basic aoe) till you run out of pages. Done. Skill 3 is a CC if you need it. If you are a condition build this will be a major source of dps and you should learn it better then I advise here.

You should always be using skill 2 off cooldown if you're a condi build. Don't just spam 1.

They're all very situational. Tome 2 and 3 and definitely the most important.

If you're trying to heal through heavy Condi damage, Tome 3 is your best friend. Spam f3-4 for high uptime AoE resistance, Spam f3-5 for other great defensive buffs in an area. I like to also use f3-2 on CD as it reduces incoming damage (by forcing targets to auto attack), CCs people in place/eats up stability, and gives you Aegis (which then heals you because traits). Using only those 3, it can take a bit to go through the tome, so I like to pop it early when I've still got full charges of my heal skill up. You can also use f3-1 out of combat for swiftness or in combat for stability, and f3-3 to block projectiles.

Tome 2 is just a generally useful skill. If your health is starting to dip towards half (or an allies is), pop this open and spam f2-5, along with either f2-2 if there are conditions or f2-1 if there aren't. f2-4 is useful if you're gonna be standing in the same space for a while or have a lot of blasts on your team. f2-3 is rarely useful.

I mostly use Tome 1 for clearing mesmer clones, cleaving bodies, or on demand CC. If you're trying to catch someone with CC just f1-3, f1-5, f1-4, maybe wait for another f1-3, and then drop the tome. If you're cleaving clones just use f1-4 and spam f1-1 (maybe throw in an f1-3 if it'll help).

Every time I attempt to use tones they feel like they take forever to switch my skill bar. I see guardians in wvw roaming videos that use times and it looks like they switch instantaneously but mine always seem delayed.

@Asphidel.8423 said:They're all very situational. Tome 2 and 3 and definitely the most important.

If you're trying to heal through heavy Condi damage, Tome 3 is your best friend. Spam f3-4 for high uptime AoE resistance, Spam f3-5 for other great defensive buffs in an area. I like to also use f3-2 on CD as it reduces incoming damage (by forcing targets to auto attack), CCs people in place/eats up stability, and gives you Aegis (which then heals you because traits). Using only those 3, it can take a bit to go through the tome, so I like to pop it early when I've still got full charges of my heal skill up. You can also use f3-1 out of combat for swiftness or in combat for stability, and f3-3 to block projectiles.

Tome 2 is just a generally useful skill. If your health is starting to dip towards half (or an allies is), pop this open and spam f2-5, along with either f2-2 if there are conditions or f2-1 if there aren't. f2-4 is useful if you're gonna be standing in the same space for a while or have a lot of blasts on your team. f2-3 is rarely useful.

I mostly use Tome 1 for clearing mesmer clones, cleaving bodies, or on demand CC. If you're trying to catch someone with CC just f1-3, f1-5, f1-4, maybe wait for another f1-3, and then drop the tome. If you're cleaving clones just use f1-4 and spam f1-1 (maybe throw in an f1-3 if it'll help).

I would go F2 against conditions, since it got cleanse and heal, or maybe F3 for resistance, then fast shift to F2. Staying in F3 imo would still make you lose health.

Depends what do you play. Support or dps.

I myself playing power firebrand for roaming, and you can consider it a core guardian 2.0, a core guardian with more tools to both survive and deal damage.

If you face a projectile class like ranger, dh, deadeye, you go on f3 and pop the reflect bubble, get yourself stab etc.Against scourges you pop resistance from f3 or you cleanse yourself with f2 tome.

If you wanna do extra damage while have gs and sword on cooldown you go for f1 tome and burst.

It's not definetely a spamming class (at least in roaming), every single skill has to be used when it's needed and not random like scourges can do, pressing F skills casually.