Firebrand fractal build?

[Winegum.2395]

Returning to the game and decided to roll a guardian. I'm only really interested in high level fractals (dont really raid). Whats the meta Firebrand build for fractals these days? I don't really mind healing/supporting or dpsing

I've seen a bunch of builds floating around, like healer, condi, quickness, power(?), and not sure which is the most desired setup for a Firebrand. Bonus points if it will also be good for the raids I decide to do once in a while (but not a big deal)

Or would it be more typical to just run a standard power DH, instead of a firebrand, for fractals?

[yLoon.5289]

Firebrand can be a Healbrand or a Diviner 100% uptime Quickness (even with 30% Boon Duration).At the end of the day still subjects to your party composition.But I do enjoy Diviner since already been bored by DH Berserker/ Marauder.

[Yannir.4132]

Well, the deal is that if you want do the Quickness or Support variants of Firebrand, you need a Renegade as well. The full support variant includes the Quickness, it's just a question of which one of the duo is geared towards damage and which one towards healing. Quickbrand is the damage variant, support is the healer variant. I understand the Quickbrand+Alacrity Healer Renegade duo is favored.

Condi builds are not favored in fractals simply because it takes time to rack up damage, and your standard mobs just die too fast for it to scale well even if condi is decent vs bosses.

Personally I just play DH because it's just such a hassle to play a Firebrand without a Renegade, and haven't bothered getting fractals-ready gear other than my Berserker set. WP did just upload a good power Firebrand build yesterday into Youtube. It'll need some adjustments for group play but the premise it revolves around is actually pretty solid.

[Winegum.2395]

@Yannir.4132 said:Well, the deal is that if you want do the Quickness or Support variants of Firebrand, you need a Renegade as well. The full support variant includes the Quickness, it's just a question of which one of the duo is geared towards damage and which one towards healing. Quickbrand is the damage variant, support is the healer variant. I understand the Quickbrand+Alacrity Healer Renegade duo is favored.

Im planning on pugging most fractals, so I can't guarantee the group composition or the presence of a Renegade. In that situation, what would the group typically want me to be? Whats the general expectation of firebrands, for me to dps or to heal?

[Yannir.4132]

@Winegum.2395 said:

@Yannir.4132 said:Well, the deal is that if you want do the Quickness or Support variants of Firebrand, you need a Renegade as well. The full support variant includes the Quickness, it's just a question of which one of the duo is geared towards damage and which one towards healing. Quickbrand is the damage variant, support is the healer variant. I understand the Quickbrand+Alacrity Healer Renegade duo is favored.

Im planning on pugging most fractals, so I can't guarantee the group composition or the presence of a Renegade. In that situation, what would the group typically want me to be? Whats the general expectation of firebrands, for me to dps or to heal?

DPS with boon support if I were to hazard a guess. Depends on what they are already fielding.I would pick up a Berserker set, and go from there. You can always play DH with it, and it's not a bad point to start building your Firebrand.

[Sovereign.1093]

sceptar focus gs diviner quickbrand is fun =)

[Painbow.6059]

Firebrand and Dragonhunter are both good for fractals. Firebrand is typically played as quickness support, which comes with a power variant, a condi variant, and a heal variant. Disorganised groups typically run a healing firebrand, but it is not necessary. Condi quickbrand is uncommon but in groups which are not super fast and bursty it's competitive with power. Similarly, condi DPS is alright in fractals, although I would still say that Dragonhunter is the superior option for DPS. If you want two sets of gear to cover Firebrand and DH, get a harriers and a full berserker set. You can play Dragonhunter and Power Quickbrand on full berserker in fractals because of the extra boon duration. Healbrand is sought after for the majority of fractal lfg groups, and it plays with harriers. In addition, Dragonhunter and Healbrand are both pretty popular raid builds, so you won't need another set of gear for those.

[BRNBRITO.9624]

Plenty of builds you can run with Firebrand.

The most common in pugs is Healbrand, staff + axe/shield, honor/virtues, harrier/minstrel/magi, try to get 100% boon duration, this can carry EXTREMELY hard.

Then there's Power Quickbrand for when you have a Heal Rev or going 5 dps comp, Radiance/Zeal, Staff and Scepter/Axe + Focus (depends if you need more fury or might)

Another really good build is Condi Quickbrand, it's pretty bursty and should outperform Power QB almost everywhere with casual groups, you lose signet share but can do crazy damage with F1 resets in some places.Full seraph with balthazar runes, smoldering + bursting and Radiance + Honor, you'll have around 55-60% boon duration in fractals so you can sustain boons pretty well and have passive heals from Writ of persistence, F2 for emergency heals.Build link: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PWwAc+tlRweYVMIGJW0SvPfA-zRJYoRHfYkUBdJgzJJY2BvFdPrA-eIgnore the toughness infusions, got someone else's link and couldn't remove the infusions so i changed to toughness to compare since i'm not running stated infusions.

Logs for condi quickbrand: https://dps.report/VjXp-20190923-211627_arkkhttps://dps.report/CwTZ-20190923-213011_enso

I had 300~ avg ping on those kills so could've been quite a lot better.

Also if someone tells you Condi FB/QB is bad on fractals just ignore them, most groups are pretty casual and will definitely not phase/kill bosses in <5s.

If you go for Condi QB/Power QB, you'll likely want a Renegade on your party to help cover boons and sustain with kalla elite/heal.

If you're going solo support, then definitely go for Healbrand with 100% boon duration.

[Turkeyspit.3965]

@Sovereign.1093 said:sceptar focus gs diviner quickbrand is fun =)

I'm trying to get used to sword, and I like it :)

Y'know last night I ran as Power QB even though we already had a Healbrand in the group. I just didn't feel like swapping to Core (I don't like DH) and instead, ran the normal build with GS + Sw/Sc, Mantra of Solace + Sword of Justice + Bane Signet, but instead of running Mantra of Potence and Feel My Wrath, I opted instead to run Mantra of Truth and Mantra of Liberation.

Quickness uptime was 100% (obv with 2 FBs), my Sword provided the Fury, and I had extra CC from Truth and as well a group stab from Liberation.

Was it ideal? Ofc not. TBH I didn't pay too much attention to might or fury uptime, but we still blazed through T4s + Recs with almost no interruption, and I had fun playing something new and fresh, and that's the goal imo.

[Makion.3457]

https://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Firebrand_-_Support_Firebrand This is what I use.