The Scourge meta build uses full Trailblazer's. I only have full Trailblazer's accessories.

I wanted to ask if it's worth the extra 500-600 Toughness and 3k health to craft Trailblazer's armor and weapons. The Maguuma Lilies cost so much. It would be around 500g to stat switch from my Dire weapons and armor.

I have full Viper's though I could mix with the Trailblazer's accessories.

If it's worth it to go full Trailblazer's then I'll farm and get it, but I just wanted to ask what others think or do.

Thanks for any input and replies.

I run Settlers/Shaman mix and i do just fine in any fight that isnt 1v1 and even then i dont do poorly (tho being a support build with nobody to support but yourself tends to leave you at a disadvantage) but if your running specifically for roaming then well first of all scourge isnt much of a roaming class due to how avoidable shades are on that bigass map. second of all 80% of roamers are terrible at it so no its not necessary. but yes of course it helps. if two players are evenly skilled and are using builds that dont counter each other then yes that gear difference is going to get you killed. is it worth that kind of gold? um no probably not. WvW players make shit tier gold/hour so unless your a PVE player who wont need that gear because you wont be roaming often or a PvP player who wont need that gear because pvp players dont use gear. then where are you getting that kind of gold anyway?

@Kam.4092 said:The Scourge meta build uses full Trailblazer's. I only have full Trailblazer's accessories.

I wanted to ask if it's worth the extra 500-600 Toughness and 3k health to craft Trailblazer's armor and weapons. The Maguuma Lilies cost so much. It would be around 500g to stat switch from my Dire weapons and armor.

I have full Viper's though I could mix with the Trailblazer's accessories.

If it's worth it to go full Trailblazer's then I'll farm and get it, but I just wanted to ask what others think or do.

Thanks for any input and replies.

Assuming you are okay with using exotics, if you have done enough WvW before, the armor chests from the WvW reward tracks actually have selectable stats that includes pre-HOT, HOT and POF stats.

For example, the new Desert Armor Box have armor pieces that allow you to choose any of the stats available, including POF.Legacy Armor Box also allows for all stats to be chosen.Same with Triumphant Armor Box.

So you get to unlock those skins, and have exotic armor set that is ready for any stat combination that you want without having to spend any actual gold.

I don't suggest using metabattle if that is where you are referencing the Trailblazer's meta build from.There are better builds IMO for WvW Pug Zerging where you need to be self-reliant to an extent and not assume you will always get support from others who may be running closed guild squads.

@EremiteAngel.9765 said:

@Kam.4092 said:The Scourge meta build uses full Trailblazer's. I only have full Trailblazer's accessories.

I wanted to ask if it's worth the extra 500-600 Toughness and 3k health to craft Trailblazer's armor and weapons. The Maguuma Lilies cost so much. It would be around 500g to stat switch from my Dire weapons and armor.

I have full Viper's though I could mix with the Trailblazer's accessories.

If it's worth it to go full Trailblazer's then I'll farm and get it, but I just wanted to ask what others think or do.

Thanks for any input and replies.

Can you salvage the gear for Trailblazer's Insignias?

Also where can you see other builds?

I would just keep the dire. I'm not actually sure where your math is coming from as dire has more vita than trailblazers.

I don't really know all the traits of scourge but all I will say is don't go over +50% condi duration. It's just a waste of stat points in wvw. To that end, I'd stack non-expertise gear and find +% condi duration instead.

@Justine.6351 said:I would just keep the dire. I'm not actually sure where your math is coming from as dire has more vita than trailblazers.

I don't really know all the traits of scourge but all I will say is don't go over +50% condi duration. It's just a waste of stat points in wvw. To that end, I'd stack non-expertise gear and find +% condi duration instead.

Ok thanks. Is Healing Power even worth it?

@Kam.4092 said:

@Justine.6351 said:I would just keep the dire. I'm not actually sure where your math is coming from as dire has more vita than trailblazers.

I don't really know all the traits of scourge but all I will say is don't go over +50% condi duration. It's just a waste of stat points in wvw. To that end, I'd stack non-expertise gear and find +% condi duration instead.

This is what I will say regarding scrounge and healing power,

If there was a 4 stat Condi + Vita + Healing Power + X gear stat yes it would be worth. Right now the stat sets with those 3 stats don't have condi as main. Proper use of scourge barrier imo should end up with you almost never seeing barrier on people's health bar. If you see fat stack of barrier often it's because you are wasteful or the enemy does terrible damage. Think of barrier like a dodge for yourself and party members, not a 5 second DH aoe block shield.

@Justine.6351 said:

@Kam.4092 said:

@Justine.6351 said:I would just keep the dire. I'm not actually sure where your math is coming from as dire has more vita than trailblazers.

I don't really know all the traits of scourge but all I will say is don't go over +50% condi duration. It's just a waste of stat points in wvw. To that end, I'd stack non-expertise gear and find +% condi duration instead.

Ok thanks :D

I'm not sure if salvaging those reward track trailblazer gear will give the insignia but I assume it would have a chance of dropping like other armor sets, higher chance if you use black lions kit. I've never tried though...Only the WvW armor bought with WvW badges of honor does not have a chance for insignia I think.

I'm not sure where else you can find other builds for reference apart from joining a Guild and getting access to their Guild website (if they have one).I would suggest theory crafting your own build that suits you though - that's part of the fun! :#

Metabattle builds

Regarding the metabattle builds, I think its important to note that they are probably crafted with the assumption that the Scourge is running in an organized Guild or Squad where they are getting boons shared to them from other squad members. If you are playing in such an environment, then that is great and you could probably reference their build. If you are usually not in a Guild or organized Squad though, and don't have a good team comp supporting you, it is not advisable to use their build as you have almost zero self-preservation ability.

Also, regarding the current meta build on their site (Link here), I have some queries/doubts over some of their choices.

• Weapon choice: Meta build chose Scepter over Axe.

This choice is really doubtful as Axe 3 with its AOE double boon corrupt outshines Scepter no matter how I see it.

• Condi duration stacking: Meta build seems to favor condi duration stacking with Trailblazers and Malice sigils and Nightmare/Trapper runes and Koi cake.

The meta build goes up to like 80%+ condi duration...which is questionable...As Justin pointed out in his post above, it is a waste to stack duration in Zerg fights.What you really want is burst damage to overload their healing, not over-time damage that gets cleared in any competent comp.

• Lack of synergy between the meta build's Utilities, traits and stats.

There seems to really be a huge lack of synergy between their choices there.1) They have a build that heavily utilizes Punishment skills but did not choose Sadistic Searing for reduced CD and more damage2) If they had decided to give up Sadistic Searing for more focus on support/barrier, which their Scourge line is heavily spec to utilize barriers, but they have zero healing power in their build.3) Why make Serpent Siphon an optional utility when they seem to be maximizing the use of barriers in their Scourge Traits? Isn't this one of the best barrier giving skills?3) Is life force going to be a problem? Nourishing Rot is insanely good and allows constant spamming of F2-F5 which I believe is going to outweight the benefits of clearing condi/giving might on barrier.4) All the punishment skills are immense multi-target boon corruption skills that should really be traited for CD reduction. Especially Dessicate which is just spammable.

Overall thoughts on the current meta build

Ultimately, the build looks like it is trying to be a jack of all trades but a master at none.It is trying to bring boon corruption, barrier support and damage to the table but really not doing well in any of those areas.

If you're not so much into theory-crafting though and do not want to waste gold changing gear again and again to test, and just want a decent working build, then definitely metabattle is a good place to look.

@EremiteAngel.9765 said:I'm not sure if salvaging those reward track trailblazer gear will give the insignia but I assume it would have a chance of dropping like other armor sets, higher chance if you use black lions kit. I've never tried though...

You aren't wrong about the Metabattle build it's definitely far far from optimized. I was going to suggest another post about running a better well rounded one until I realized you were the one that posted it lol .

@EremiteAngel.9765 said:

• Weapon choice: Meta build chose Scepter over Axe.

This choice is really doubtful as Axe 3 with its AOE double boon corrupt outshines Scepter no matter how I see it.

Agreed. Also, Axe 2 is really good for Lifeforce generation, which is a good thing for Scourge since the F-skills chew so much Lifeforce.

@Drekor.5217 said:

@EremiteAngel.9765 said:I'm not sure if salvaging those reward track trailblazer gear will give the insignia but I assume it would have a chance of dropping like other armor sets, higher chance if you use black lions kit. I've never tried though...

To be fair, metabattle did mention that those were preliminary builds. I would wait a while for them to refine the builds before investing on them. I really liked some of their meta HOT builds. Like the Celestial shout Reaper. They are definitely a good site for good builds.