Does everyone run berserker gear?

From what I can tell, for PvE and like dungeons or fractals even (idk) ... no matter what class you play, you get the power-precision-ferocity stuff.

Warrior, ranger, guardian, mesmer, necro ... does it really apply to every class?

Some run viper, other commander, harrier, minstrel etc.

People run what's most effective to clear content faster, and for dps it's glass cannon stats (berserker and viper mostly, sometimes mixed with assassin and sinister, respectively).

Generally, yes. Every class has an effective high DPS build that runs berserker gear, and these builds are usually the best one the class can offer. Condi builds run Viper, and there are some specialty builds, but when in doubt run berserker gear.

@Blood Red Arachnid.2493 said:Generally, yes. Every class has an effective high DPS build that runs berserker gear, and these builds are usually the best one the class can offer. Condi builds run Viper, and there are some specialty builds, but when in doubt run berserker gear.

I checked, Viper is locked behind HoT. Core only offers 3 attribute gear ... so like, berserker, assassin ...

What about sinister?

@Kovac.4372 said:

@Blood Red Arachnid.2493 said:Generally, yes. Every class has an effective high DPS build that runs berserker gear, and these builds are usually the best one the class can offer. Condi builds run Viper, and there are some specialty builds, but when in doubt run berserker gear.

it has no expertise so it's not worth crafting when compared to vipers. Also dungeons/fractals prefer things to die now so it doesn't kill you, condi builds make it so that things die later.

Old guides will recommend beserker for everyone because the people making them considered active defences (like dodging and kiting) sufficient to survive in PvE and for the first couple of years of the game conditions didn't work well in groups. Things have changed since then but beserker's is still popular because it's something any profession can use and it's widely available.

But in open-world PvE, dungeons and even most Fractals (apart from the top tier) there's no strict group set-ups so you can use whatever you want really. There are bad choices, but more because the stats don't go with the skills/traits than because the stat combination is fundamentally flawed. For example beserkers would actually be a bad choice for my engineer because all her skills are focused on causing conditions (both damage and CC) rather than direct damage.

You can also mix and match if you want to, but it might take some experimenting to get the mix right (which is best done using a theory crafting site rather than making and equipping all the gear you may or may not want to use). My ranger uses a mix of sinister and rabid gear, because there isn't a Condition Damage, Toughness, Precision set yet.

Basically outside of the hardest group content (where you need to fit with what your group is doing) you can use whatever you want.

Druid- Harrier, Weaver and Firebrand- Viper.

Other 10 characters- Berserker.

:D

Berseker is kinda most common and the best if you want to make the highest DPS everywhere. :)

No. Not everyone.I run trailblazer on my chars. Crusader is an old time favourite for my power reaper build when i need sustain with good damage, and default reaper tools just don't protect me well enough without defense in stats. Valkyrie reaper is a well known, staple choice for near-berserker damage with nearly 10k more max hp, and around 7-8k more in life force pool.

Apothecary (or settler) scourge is known for being disgustingly tanky and supporty. Shaman scourge has less resiliance but big McDonald's level fat life force pool to use for shades.

Renegade can work well with wanderer's stats for power build, as he lacks herald's active defenses, while having huge trait-based crit chance and some nice ferocity boosts. Wanderer's gear gives him stat based defense he needs, and concentration he can use for his alacrity and might casts.

So yeah, there's a ton of berserker clad players, but it's not the only way to play. I personally have no issue with killing my mobs let's say 30% slower, but in exchange not getting downed in every bigger skirmish, and i like to jump into thick and go one man army vs enemy horde.

@Kovac.4372 said:

@Blood Red Arachnid.2493 said:Generally, yes. Every class has an effective high DPS build that runs berserker gear, and these builds are usually the best one the class can offer. Condi builds run Viper, and there are some specialty builds, but when in doubt run berserker gear.

Sinister works for some builds. Firebrands, for instance, can still achieve maximum Burning duration (i.e. their main source of Condition damage) without the Expertise from Viper.

I'm running more viper's armor sets than zerker these days. It's just more satisfying to see those big condi numbers popping up on veteran and above mobs. It is much easier these days to unload conditions and quickly ramp up than it has in the past, IMO.

It really is a personal thing, it's what you enjoy doing. Berserkers (for Power) and Vipers (for condition) sets are arguably the two that deal the most damage, so a lot of players move towards those once they're comfortable in their ability to keep their characters alive in battles. But there are a lot of other options too, and depends upon your build somewhat also.

Personally I tend to prefer power builds over condition, as I'm still suffering (albeit it's silly these days) from the hangover from the early days where condition damage was extremely lack luster. A lot of my characters have berserk armour with marauder jewellery, especially those with low base health, like guardians. However I do have other sets/pieces; like Celestial for my Firebrand, Harrier for my Druid, Trailblazer for my Herald, Commander for my Chronomancer, that I'll use for when adventuring with friends depending upon the situation.

Berserker with Assassin mixed in because I’ve sold my soul to Raid-Metafer.

Berserker for my Ele, Thief, Mesmer, Guardian.Viper for my Warrior, Necromancer

Thats me. Dont know what otherplayers choices.

for dps pve, you're either viper or berserker. there are so many different gear stat combinationis, sadly most will gimp your characters.

Open world pve: run whatever you like. Some gear choices will outperform others. In general survivability is not needed but can be nice to have just to be able to go full on brain afk even in HoT or PoF. My personal favorite gear of choice: trailbalzer.

Dungeons/Fractals: power builds thus berserker or Marauder if you want to keep 1 set for power pve and wvw. Unless you are support in high level fractals, then appropriate healing (harrier/magi) or boon duration (commander/minstrel).

Raids: power builds similar to dungeons/fractals, condition builds in general viper. Since performance and output are relevant there is not that much leeway.

That's the general short current breakdown for pve gear.

@Kovac.4372 said:

@Blood Red Arachnid.2493 said:Generally, yes. Every class has an effective high DPS build that runs berserker gear, and these builds are usually the best one the class can offer. Condi builds run Viper, and there are some specialty builds, but when in doubt run berserker gear.

Core builds don't work that well with condi. If you want to play condi with Sinister I think your only viable choice is Engi. Everything else will have better results with a zerk build (possibly with assassin mix).

Every class has an effective Power build using Berserker gear, and an effective condition build using Viper gear, with related prefixes that you can substitute some DPS for greater durability. In a way that's good because it keeps things simple for the majority of players, but it kinda sucks in that probably 80% of the gear prefixes in the game aren't used much.

True that Viper is locked behind HoT. For core condi players, Rabid, Carrion, and Rampager are inexpensive substitutes easily available in the TP, and Sinister is good if you want to invest the crafting expense in getting it.

This game has active defenses.Active defenses + powercreep >>> toughness / vitality / any defensives. So defensive stats are useless for most meta specs.

Remaining options are zerk / assassin mix for power DPS, viper / sinister / grieving for condi DPS and harrier / magi mix for healers. Minstrel somewhat popular as mix for healing and chronotank because while toughness / vita isn't needed, it also doesn't hurt as long as the tank has most toughness. And since the game is all about making up for L2P issues, vita and toughness help with that.

Unfortunately, the "active defenses" in this game are compromised by several things.

• Massive AOE damage. Which often has too short a lead time to react, is too big an area to escape with a dodge roll, and/or hits a bigger area than its visible footprint. The last is especially annoying; I've been downed too many times by AOE that I wasn't standing in.
• Combinations of missile reflection (which often turns on without warning) and melee AOE/knockback on the same mob, leaving no effective way to attack without taking damage.

the old content was contructed in a way that allowed you to play anything, so obviously you would always take highest dps output.before hots I'd run zerker on every class, but today i play my main (ranger) on vipers.

however it was fun playing zerker. join lfg, enter dungeon, completely annihilate bosses in a few seconds. lol

I completely agree that active defences can be enough to keep you alive in almost any situation in GW2. But I also know from experience that it doesn't always work in practice. Whether it's lag or because they're tired or something distracted them or there's too much visual clutter and they didn't see the red circle, or they don't know the fight, or just because there's so much going on that they've already dodged 2 attacks and can't dodge the 3rd, it's very rare for me to do a world boss fight or bounty or even just a Hero Challenge without someone making a mistake and getting downed.

As long as that keeps happening I'm going to keep saying pure damage builds are not right for everyone. It's not that the theory-crafting is wrong - they can and do work exactly as designed and then they can out-perform more defensive builds. But active defenses working as designed relies on a lot of factors which are not consistent across all players. It's like the airbags in your car - you shouldn't ever need it because there are lots of ways to make sure you don't crash at all, which is preferable, but by the time you realise you do need them it's too late to do anything about it so I'd rather have it there just in case. Especially since the trade off in this case is that fights take a bit longer and since this is a game I'm playing for fun and the combat is one of the things I enjoy I don't see that as a bad thing. Given the choice I actually prefer a longer fight where I and the enemy get to use more of our mechanics over one that's over in seconds without them getting to move.

Dead mobs deal 0 DPS.

That is the basis upon which glass-cannon builds work.

Yes, I'm making aurora earring, will put it on my power Yolosmith and use Berserk stats. Ever since the launch, there was no better stats for power and there won't be

@Oglaf.1074 said:Berserker with Assassin mixed in because I’ve sold my soul to Raid-Metafer.

or Berserker with assassin mixed because that allows me to get 7% of all my damage as healing.

@Kovac.4372 said:

@Blood Red Arachnid.2493 said:Generally, yes. Every class has an effective high DPS build that runs berserker gear, and these builds are usually the best one the class can offer. Condi builds run Viper, and there are some specialty builds, but when in doubt run berserker gear.

Could be wrong about this cannot remember fully...

if you are crafting ascended you can just craft another then stat swap it with the mystic forge and some other small mats.

I personally only craft one stat set as I have the recipes for it already and if I find a need to change it later I use the forge and stat swap it. I have only crafted ascended in berserker. I guess I have no real reason other than I play power more often than hybrid or condition and share the armor sets on more than one toon. I have 2 cloth and 1 leather and soon heavy.