New Rev (returning player), need help

So...coming back to the game after ~4 years, figured I would try something completely new. Level boosted an 80 rev, going through HoT content.

Im running with a lot of the starter gear (exotic soldier gear, Ive replaced some weapon upgrades with power/prec/feroc). Running S/A and S/S. Im finding S/A is better, but please correct me if I am wrong. Using Jalis and Shiro.

My rotation is (generally):
Shiro: Impossible odds + frigid blitz to the target(s).
Switch to Jalis. Vengeful hammers, Unrelenting Assault, Precision strike.
Try to weave in Inspiring Re enforcement because stability seems to be crucial in HoT, annoyingly lol. Also try to weave in temporal rift, but man they need to buff the width/radius of that thing. It often hits nothing or sometimes doesnt even fire off (dont see the animation or graphic).

Mobs die, but I feel they should be dying faster. I feel as if I am putting in a lot of work to kill something, when other classes might have it much easier. 4 years ago I was a P/P Thief and G/S + S/A Mesmer. Things died rather easily and I didnt have to put forth much effort.

Any suggestions to make leveling with Rev easier? Currently, just focused on open world PVE leveling. Not doing fractals, raids, pvp, or WvW at the moment. Just want to run through the content at a decent pace. I just feel a bit underpowered even for open world public events. Aoe seems weak and I literally feel like Im hitting absolutely nothing (sounds aren't even there sometimes, not visceral like other classes).

I also started dumping HP into herald, since it seems it would fit my stat choices thus far (power/prec, etc). Not using it yet because Im only halfway through the spec.

Thoughts?

For solo play I'd recommend you get Herald immediately and go Shiro/Glint. I've tested solo power dps for both shiro/jalis and shiro/glint and they're about the same with glint being slightly better. Shiro/Jalis is better in group play, though, when you know that you'll have quickness and 25 stacks of vulnerability on the target. Glint is far better at supporting you solo or in a small group (i.e. open world with a friend or two) due to the great boon spam. It's also the most survivable legend in PvE due to its heal skill, Infused Light which is really great since you can just tank a boss hit and get most or all of your health back. I would honestly use Glint and Herald even if you don't have everything unlocked yet, especially if you have the heal skill and the F2 since it really provides you everything a Power Herald needs.

Next I'd recommend full Berserker gear with either Strength runes or Scholar runes. Scholar Runes are better but only if you have good 90%+ health uptime (which is definitely doable) and are better in group play.

Your weapon choices are interesting! I've never seen anyone run s/s +s/a before, but was thinking about doing it myself since it has interesting synergy with one of the Devastation traits. S/S should be your bread and butter for burst since S4 and S5 are both great damage in solo and S4 is good in group. Axe is good, but in pve its outclassed by offhand sword. Aiming your A5 can be hard at first but once you get the hang of it definitely not a problem. I use it all the time and never miss it. Additionally, Hammer is a good option for range if you need it for the offhand. If you need CC Staff is AMAZING with Staff 5 doing up to 750 breakbar damage alone making it one of the best CC skills in the game. Additonally it's a great survivability tool. Also should make an honorable mention for Offhand Shield as it gives you access to a long duration block and extra heal, but it's largely unnecessary in most PvE scenarios. Replacing your Axe with Staff or Hammer (or even a shield) in certain situations can be really helpful, so I would keep one of each in your inventory just in case. Also fun fact, since you may not know since you haven't played in a long time. You don't need two swords for both mainhands. You can equip one sword in your mainhand and then the other sword in the offhand. After that just put an axe in your other offhand slot and when you swap to it it will use your current mainhand. This means you'll only need 3 ascended weapons instead of 4

For running around when you're not on a mount keep Glint out with Might/Fury/Swiftness facets on to stack buffs. When you want to engage someone, instead of using Axe 4 swap to Shiro after stacking boons in glint, activate facet of nature for 33% more boon duration for a few seconds, then use Phase Traversal from Shiro. Phase Traversal gives you 3seconds of quickness which is then extended by another 49% duration due to Facet of Nature and one of Herald's core traits (another 16% boon duration) which will give you 4.5seconds of quickness at the beginning of your attack which is a huge dps increase in solo play. I would then hit all your major damage abilites and finish up with Impossible Odds boosted auto attacks. That combo alone will destroy most regular enemies and put a large dent in veterans. Additionally, since you're running S/S/A you can take the trait Brutality in the Devastation line (grandmaster) which makes it so that every time you weapon swap while in combat you'll get an additional 3s of Quickness (4.5s with Facet of Nature active). This is an interesting trait for solo play that really only your build can make use of effectively since most people would take Staff or Hammer in the offhand instead of Axe. So I would use Brutality and weapon swap after killing your first one or two enemies then use Frigid Blitz to any farther enemies and destroy them with your extra quickness. These are just ideas of what kinds of rotations you can do in solo pve. Between Phase Traversal, Frigid Blitz, Deathstrike, and Unrelenting Assault you have a lot of mobility while in combat which is a lot of fun!

Traits I would go with Devastation, Invocation, Herald. For devastation take middle, bottom, and either Top or Middle. Swift Termination and Brutality do just about the same dps while solo on any bulky enemy, so its your choice, but personally I'd take Brutality since it fits into your build well and I think you'll like the quality of life increase of having frequent quickness from both Phase Traversal and Brutality.

For Invocation take Top or Middle (personally for solo I take top since you have 0 condi cleanse otherwise, middle is better for groups), bottom, bottom. Invocation is amazing because it gives you Incensed Response which gives you 5 stacks of might every time you get Fury (which with Herald is a lot) meaning you'll almost always have 25 stacks which will boost your damage output tremendously. Revenant is pretty much balanced around having 25 stacks of might constantly, so if you don't have it you'll always be underperforming on Rev. Lastly for Herald take bottom (or middle if you feel you can make use of it with a friend or something), middle, top.

Hope that helps! This became a lot longer than I originally intended, so apologies if it's too detailed. Best of luck with Rev!

@Lucious the Layle.3527

Thank you very much. Very helpful and a nice read. Went ahead and grabbed a full zerker set, along with a staff for a quick heal/condi removal(4). Going to use S/S from now on instead of S/A.

Switched to glint/shiro. Seeing how that goes. Gotta get used to it.