Build issue with Firebrand and class builds in general - also, stats are problematic.

A few months back I spent quite a bit of time and effort (and gold) converting my Ascended armour from zerker stats as a Guardian to condition damage focused stats. Sinister I think.. I can't quite remember which. Anywho, it required a lot of effort and I only realised half way through how much of an issue it was to the flexibility in the way stats and builds are done in the game.

Fast forward and I enjoyed, for a while, my condition damage FB. The only main issue was the health pool at a miserable 13.5K. Healing spells and protection tomes are useless because of this and that is part my dislike of the Firebrand build. It breaks up functionality into several semi-permanent categories (Tomes) and unless you sink armour stats and trinkets into one particular path, one or the other sucks. This isn't actually my main beef with the Firebrand but this is besides the point, my main point is stats in general. Because it takes so long to convert armour and trinkets to other stats, I am now stuck as a condition Firebrand, but I also noticed a severe issue and that is because there are so few condition skills outside of Firebrand, condition damage builds are a waste of time unless you are strictly PVP (which I don't play). Dragon Hunter is gimped under condi stats (naturally) and all other potential builds are totally off limits, including any builds you use any other weapons other than axe and torch. Now comes my primary dislike. With the last point I made, you see now why Berserker stats are unforgiving in almost every way. They benefit practically any class. This issue means that each class isn't as diverse if you want to experiment and try another build, or if you play PVE focused gameplay like I do. One class in particular that suffers this, from a crushed diversity standpoint is the Guardian.

As a Firebrand, I must either sink time and effort and at great cost of currency, changing my stats each time I want to swap out of a Firebrand build or better yet, go back to zerker and stick with it (again pointing out the limitation with builds in general and the stat change time/cost issue). Without CD, Firebrand is gimped. With CD stats all other builds are gimped. This is a serious design issue in my mind. I know people may not want to hear that but it dawned on me how seriously limiting the supposedly diverse build system is in this game.

I am now a condition firebrand and I don't want to be. My Guardian is my main and my first character. I don't really want to start over. Do I really have to spend weeks worth of time (and probably real money if impatience gets me) changing all my stats back to zerker? Basically, zerk all the way and you can't go wrong, independent of class (especially true for Guardian). I find this incredibly disappointing.

:( I'd changed all my trinkets with laurels as well.

I like PVE. I may try (if possible with the diminished player population) obtain Marauder stats. I think that would be great for Guardian. Either that or go to base game Valkyrie ascended stats, that'll still be good.

Does anybody else realise this as an issue? My class has very little diversity.

Most players just use multiple armor sets for convenience. That said, generally it is better to change your utilities/build/tactics than it is to change gear. Gear is made account bound and soul bound to terminate goods from the economy, so this isn't likely to change any time soon.

I decided instead to mix it up. I kept a few of my Power, Precision, Ferocity trinkets from before, replaced a few others with Condition damage ones which I have now replaced with Lunaria and Solaria (I am PVE remember). I can still change my armour to Valkyrie Stats. Fortunately I hadn't invested in any particular infusions. This should enable me to have 17K+ health without boosts from build menu perks. I will be going back to a shield. I will use a mace for PVE and Sword (which I used to use) as my alternative because, well... I'm about two thirds the way from completing bolt, so... don't want to waste that. PVE power!

My Necro, which I hardly touch I will stick with exotic gear to avoid such issues in future and allow for better flexibility.

You can swap from sinister to carrion gear on a FB with a very trivial DPS loss.

I'm personally glad I recognized this problem from day 1 of Firebrand so I stuck to my Berserker gear. I still haven't gotten a condi set for him because it hasn't really been needed. I can do raids and fractals with Power DH. While I enjoy Firebrand, I only really get to play it in PvP.

Well, I cannot say I agree. Firebrand is my favourite PVE profession and I find the times incredibly useful, I like the versatility they offer so much that I cannot go back to Dragonhunter (I tried). I have no problems with my health pool on full viper gear. Just sounds like a l2p issue to me since I save my Firebrand for the hardest content in the game and I have zero issues with it

@Holgarf.6581 said:A few months back I spent quite a bit of time and effort (and gold) converting my Ascended armour from zerker stats as a Guardian to condition damage focused stats. Sinister I think.. I can't quite remember which. Anywho, it required a lot of effort and I only realised half way through how much of an issue it was to the flexibility in the way stats and builds are done in the game.The 2 main types of damage have always been condi and power. The former benefits more from condi dmg and expertise, the later from power, precision and ferocity.Because condi output scales with only condi dmg, builds can use power and precision as secondary stats to push their DPS higher without negatively impacting the main source of damage (condi). Power builds will suffer if they are missing any of the 3 dependent stats(power, precision and ferocity) therefore having condi dmg in the mix only reduces the effectiveness of a power builds maximum potential.As a Firebrand, I must either sink time and effort and at great cost of currency, changing my stats each time I want to swap out of a Firebrand build or better yet, go back to zerker and stick with it (again pointing out the limitation with builds in general and the stat change time/cost issue). Without CD, Firebrand is kitten. With CD stats all other builds are kitten. This is a serious design issue in my mind. I know people may not want to hear that but it dawned on me how seriously limiting the supposedly diverse build system is in this game.

I am now a condition firebrand and I don't want to be. My Guardian is my main and my first character. I don't really want to start over. Do I really have to spend weeks worth of time (and probably real money if impatience gets me) changing all my stats back to zerker? Basically, zerk all the way and you can't go wrong, independent of class (especially true for Guardian). I find this incredibly disappointing.

:( I'd changed all my trinkets with laurels as well.

I like PVE. I may try (if possible with the diminished player population) obtain Marauder stats. I think that would be great for Guardian. Either that or go to base game Valkyrie ascended stats, that'll still be good.

Does anybody else realise this as an issue? My class has very little diversity.

It's not really an issue and neither is it unique to firebrand/guard/DH. You can build a condi Soulbeast with Vipers and not be anywhere near as effective at playing power Druid. You can build a support Tempest with Magis or Harriers and massively under-perform as a Weaver.

@Holgarf.6581 said:I decided instead to mix it up. I kept a few of my Power, Precision, Ferocity trinkets from before, replaced a few others with Condition damage ones which I have now replaced with Lunaria and Solaria (I am PVE remember). I can still change my armour to Valkyrie Stats.

Please stop, it's just painful to read the "creative" mix of gear you've picked :sweat: .

On the whole, a characters gear usually has to be tailored to the role/build they play to be useful. It's naive to think you can play any way you like and be equally effective without changing equipment.

Basically, this is why most players keep multiple gear-sets available (either in bank, or in invisible bag). So you can change to different gear/stats/runes/sigils/etc without messing up your existing setups.

Basically, if I had been in your situation, I would have just bought some new exotic armor/gear in a condi stat to play with. So I could change between the zerk and the condi stats.

My experience is that FB survivability in PvE, using viper/griever or sinster is meh. DH survivability with berserker is much better. It is also less taxing on damage for DH to use Valor line, if needed, compared to condi FB.

If constantly changing gear isn't for you, then you should try prefixes with 4 stats that will cover more stats, enabling multiple play styles, with negligible loss of performance. These include Viper and Grieving.

4-stat will also let you cover a defensive stat without losing too much of the offensive stats. Marauder could replace Berserker for extra vitality. Marshal looks okay for hybrid damage if you rely on heals. Even Trailblazer if you're fully condition based (but the latter loses advantage of switching builds).

DPS Condi Firebrand is one of the funnest specs I have played in open world and in instanced PvE. It has great burst, two pulls, and enough defensive boons and utilities to survive. If you are dying easily then it's likely you aren't utilizing the Firebrand's full kit.

Sorry, but Firebrand is fun, balanced, very good survive, good sustain, good dps, great utility and great support. It is the most fun i've had on this game. If you aren't doing well with it, it means your build and your rotation need work.