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Optimal builds/classes for Open World content in large teams fighting at range?


Buran.3796

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Hi, I'm on the verge of spending 250 gold coins in the griffon mount so I would want to recover that amount asap doing open world content events as Silver Wastes, Entangled Deeps, Dragon Stand, Domain of Istan, Dragonfall, etc.

Now, I known that in the past Guardin's staff was called the "farming stick" due the ability to "touch" so many foes at long range, proccing chances to get rewards from their deaths. But it got nerfed, so I would want to known which classes and combos of builds and weapons you think that perform better for that content in populous events based on those departments:

  • Use: farming in Open World PvE events such as World Bosses/Dragon Stance/Dragonfall...
  • 1) Range: prefereably long range weapons and/or skills capable to hit with large area of effect or to pierce/jump through enemies; being the damage delivered relevant but not the main factor.
  • 2) Mobility/survability once in combat; every class has access to mounts but some have better skills for positioning to avoid burst from bosses or just to tank them.
  • 3) Support: some builds could be less than optimal in raw damage but still be great at providing heals, cleanses or sharing boons while performing well in terms of mobility or endurance.

As examples: Dragon Hunters using long bow aren't the best at providing damage at range or in mobility but are good in terms of AoE impacts and they provide useful boons and effects as quickness, aegis and blocks which helps their team mates. Renegades do more damage and are more tanky but their attack range is shorter so probably some foes will be deleted before they even reach that range. Rangers with long bow have fast and very long range single target attacks and excellent mobility but their AoE attacks have longer cooldowns.

How would you rate the classes in this scenary? Which combo of build and weapon you useregulary for this pupose and why? Thanx in advance.

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The best and easy farming classes in OW PvE are :FirebrandTome of Justice + Mantra of Flame + Mantra of Potence + Radiance (Renewed Justice) + Firebrand (Quickfire)EngineerFlamethrower + Rifle Turret + Flame Turret + Firearms (High Caliber, No Scope, Juggernaut)

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@"Buran.3796" said:Hi, I'm on the verge of spending 250 gold coins in the griffon mount so I would want to recover that amount asap doing open world content events as Silver Wastes, Entangled Deeps, Dragon Stand, Domain of Istan, Dragonfall, etc.

Now, I known that in the past Guardin's staff was called the "farming stick" due the ability to "touch" so many foes at long range, proccing chances to get rewards from their deaths. But it got nerfed, so I would want to known which classes and combos of builds and weapons you think that perform better for that content in populous events based on those departments:

  • Use: farming in Open World PvE events such as World Bosses/Dragon Stance/Dragonfall...
  • 1) Range: prefereably long range weapons and/or skills capable to hit with large area of effect or to pierce/jump through enemies; being the damage delivered relevant but not the main factor.
  • 2) Mobility/survability once in combat; every class has access to mounts but some have better skills for positioning to avoid burst from bosses or just to tank them.
  • 3) Support: some builds could be less than optimal in raw damage but still be great at providing heals, cleanses or sharing boons while performing well in terms of mobility or endurance.

As examples: Dragon Hunters using long bow aren't the best at providing damage at range or in mobility but are good in terms of AoE impacts and they provide useful boons and effects as quickness, aegis and blocks which helps their team mates. Renegades do more damage and are more tanky but their attack range is shorter so probably some foes will be deleted before they even reach that range. Rangers with long bow have fast and very long range single target attacks and excellent mobility but their AoE attacks have longer cooldowns.

How would you rate the classes in this scenary? Which combo of build and weapon you useregulary for this pupose and why? Thanx in advance.

FT Engi IMO ... You will tag all, you will rarely die, you have perma stab, you have movement speed increase. You're DPS is respectable. You don't have to work hard for any of those things. The FT tags all in a cone in front of you.

I think the only requirement it doesn't have is that it's not really going to support to well.

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@Obtena.7952 said:FT Engi IMO ... You will tag all, you will rarely die, you have perma stab, you have movement speed increase. You're DPS is respectable. You don't have to work hard for any of those things. The FT tags all in a cone in front of you.

No it really isnt. Its bad. Ft aas only purpose is to tag stuff to be a proper open world leecher. Juggernaut is a really bad build outside of half afk watchin netflix purposes. Relies on a full map to complete stuff successfully in a reasonably amount of time.

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@Buran.3796 said:snip

I think you are under an incorrect assumption here. The loot stick of guardians mostly applied to WvW, where you wanted to tag as many enemy players as possible, while the remaining players killed them. That's the critical issue: the target has to die for you to get loot.

Why does this not translate well to PVE today?

  • most meta events where there is tons of enemies spawning have loot turned off for trash enemies
  • most open world packs of enemies do not have many players killing them off constantly (the one exception is the Halloween Labyrinth farm which comes around 1nce per year)
  • making gold in open world farms has a lot more to do with meta event rotations and guaranteed rewards from those

In short: you don't only want a class which can tag enemies easily, but you also have to be able to reliably kill things by yourself if need be.

In any case, one of the obvious recommendations was already given: Firebrand, ideally as condi Firebrand.

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@Nephalem.8921 said:

@Obtena.7952 said:FT Engi IMO ... You will tag all, you will rarely die, you have perma stab, you have movement speed increase.
You're DPS is respectable
. You don't have to work hard for any of those things. The FT tags all in a cone in front of you.

No it really isnt. Its bad. Ft aas only purpose is to tag stuff to be a proper open world leecher. Juggernaut is a really bad build outside of half afk watchin netflix purposes. Relies on a full map to complete stuff successfully in a reasonably amount of time.

Um ... that's actually exactly what hes asked for. Check the criteria and the situations he wants to play in again.

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@Kulvar.1239 said:The best and easy farming classes in OW PvE are :FirebrandTome of Justice + Mantra of Flame + Mantra of Potence + Radiance (Renewed Justice) + Firebrand (Quickfire)EngineerFlamethrower + Rifle Turret + Flame Turret + Firearms (High Caliber, No Scope, Juggernaut)

Hmmm... Tried, but I have the impression that the Firebrand tomes and weapons have way less range (900) than Dragon Hunter ones, and they are slower. I mean: you can reach 1.200 with the longbow and change target with each auto attack. Firebrand feels great at medium range vs large numbers of low health mobs due the recharging trait, but in that regard is not different from a short bow Renegade, which does a ton of condi damage with very short cooldown skills and has insane sustain with the torment runes.

Tried Deadeye and fifle Warrior but the pace of their attacks is slow; I think that long bow condi Warrior could be a great choice due the long range (1200), plenty of AoE attacks, mobilty and survability. Their first 3 long bow skills have low cooldowns also. That or a Necro, marks and shades are impressive at long range tagging and they damage is more than respectable.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I posted this in the other discussion and just saw yours so I want to share my go-to build.

I use pistol/pistol deadeye to do everything, ow events, story, soloing champion, node farming etc.To solo champion I use, critical strike 3-2-3, trickery 3-1-2, deadeye 1-3-1 and equip sword/pistol on the other weapon set in case some champs reflect projectile.To tag mobs in ow events I use, critical strike 3-3-3, trickery 3-1-2, deadeye 2-2-2 with shortbow for tagging and mobility.For gear, I use berserker armor, marauder trinkets, eagle runes, force and generosity sigil since my build lacks condi cleanse.With this set up, you will have almost 100% crit chance with signet of agility and 90% hp and about 223% crit dmg.For heal skill I switch between heal signet and withdraw. I switch utility skills a lot depending on situation but I mostly use assasin and agility signet. The last slot depends on what is needed for each fight like stun break, cc, dps or utility like stealth, portal and 1200-ranged pull. For elite skill I switch between thieves guild and dagger storm.

It has ranged, decent dmg, pretty good sustain, cc and other nice utilities like stealth, portal and mobility with shortbow 5.

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LB/LB Ranger can be decent and from my experience is quite popular (So much Barrage spam...)

Marksmanship for Lead the Wind. Skirmishing for Quick Draw.

Gameplay focuses around swapping weapons and using Barrage on CD for good AoE damage.

For when there is non-massive meta battling, you can spam Rapid Fire instead to tear through smaller numbers of enemies (Given that it will pierce)

Of course, as a Ranger, you'll innately have the capacity to solo Champs too, because you just throw a bear pet at them to tank while you shoot them. Even better if you remain Core and also go Beastmastery for 3rd spec, since then you can swap between 2 bears whom have improved stats (Also, you can access Resounding Timbre and Natural Healing to provide your pet with sustain between healing skills)

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@"Buran.3796" said:Hi, I'm on the verge of spending 250 gold coins in the griffon mount so I would want to recover that amount asap doing open world content events as Silver Wastes, Entangled Deeps, Dragon Stand, Domain of Istan, Dragonfall, etc.You've already got a couple of good pieces of advice in this thread.You have also gotten some absolutely terrible advice unfortunately.

Let's talk the need for a "wide tagging build".While in many situations this is indeed a massive help, in a few scenarios it's really just not needed.Your two biggest "high value" farm right now are Silverwastes (assuming you have a dedicated lower level bag opener) and Dragonfall. Neither of these two events requires a tagging build to maximize return. The current meta for Dragonfall involves you tagging just one or two mobs per event and then letting the rest of your squad get their hits in. Just about any class/build can do this effectively and provide the expected return.Silverwastes money is far more dependent on your knowledge of when to rotate out of events to the next than tagging mobs .A big chunk of your return from Silverwastes will be from the Chest Train after the meta is complete and this, again doesn't require a wide tagging build.If these two events are going to be your "bread and butter" you really don't have to change anything.

For events that do actually benefit from a build that tags:

  1. Flamethrower Engi: As @Kulvar.1239 and @Obtena.7952 pointed out, this build can easily do everything you ask. It tags everything in a super wide cone in front of you and doesn't overkill . The Stab you can get from Juggernaut can absolutely ensure that you are able to stand pat and focus on getting your hits in. The Mortar kit can also provide the long distance AOEs that you are looking for on a very short cooldown. The downside here is that to get full value from Flamethrower you need to be closer than other tagging options.
  2. Staff Necro/Scourge. The marks from staff necro are weak and not super effective as a PvE killer, however if you are familiar enough with the event you are farming to know when and where mobs spawn, casting marks on their spawn point ensures maximum tagging. This is effectively maximizing your return, again without overkill. The downside to staff is the slow auto attack. The shades on Scourge also provide a massive area of coverage, and epidemic can spread out hits to mobs you dont even tag. This build is amazing at Orr events where mob spawns are predictable.
  3. Greatsword Mesmer. A nice quick auto that pierces from a distance, the AOE's from the shatters ensure massive coverage. You do, however need a build that can very quickly generate clones and this can be a little higher APM than some of the other options
  4. Shortbow Thief (Daredevil):Tried and true. The AOEs, the relative quick auto that bounces and the mobility make this my go-to every time. Best used in the Lab at halloween and the Lake Doric Leather Farm. The Preparations also give this build insane value in most tagging scenarios.

Now lets look at some of the awful advice you got...

  1. Firebrand/Guardian.:With the nerfing to the loot stick and the objectively poor PvE performance of Dragonhunter Longbow, your tagging options are absolutely limited. All staff and Longbow AOEs are on very long animations and mean that frequently you end up firing at things that are dead before your shots hit. Firebrand does not have the range you are looking for in a tagging build via the tomes. Firebrand Tomes will only shine in events where this is a fair amount of melee AOE that needs doing. For melee-heavy events, a Greatsword Firebrand could be very valuable, but it's not going to make you rich.
  2. Pistol Deadeye. Pistol DE is a single target spec. While it can leverage the shortbow like any other Thief, it 's just not as solid as a good Daredevil build that can provide AOE pressure in melee via traited dodges in addition to the ranged tagging. Otherwise you are Marking the target, using the stolen skill, spamming 3 a couple times and then reselecting another target and repeating. It's terribly inefficient.
  3. Longbow/Longbow Double Bear Ranger. Good grief, where do I start? Longbow on Ranger has exactly one strong-ish AOE. Barrage has an insanely long cooldown for a tagging build and it's animation is so long that again, in a decent farming group half the mobs will be dead by the time your first volley lands. Doubling down on Longbow as suggested means your aren't even giving yourself an option and are using your weapon swap only to proc traits. The bears are awful pets are are typically used for kiting in low-skill scenarios. Anyone advising you to take a bear for open world event farming rather than the Jacaranda or the Fire Wyvern likely didn't understand the intent of your question or has no idea what you are actually looking to do here.The only really effective ranger tagging build will be a condi trapper Soulbeast using the Iboga, and this will still be situational to melee farming and not as useful as other options where distance is a concern.

Hope this helps.

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@Nephalem.8921 said:

@Obtena.7952 said:FT Engi IMO ... You will tag all, you will rarely die, you have perma stab, you have movement speed increase.
You're DPS is respectable
. You don't have to work hard for any of those things. The FT tags all in a cone in front of you.

No it really isnt. Its bad. Ft aas only purpose is to tag stuff to be a proper open world leecher. Juggernaut is a really bad build outside of half afk watchin netflix purposes. Relies on a full map to complete stuff successfully in a reasonably amount of time.You really don't understand the question.

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Ok guys, thanx for the advices, they were informative. A month has passed, got my griffon, doubled the earnings it cost, had chance to try several builds in the Dragonfall, Dragon Stand, Octovine and other metas, made my mind, some of my conclusions:

1) As Mindcircus says, you don't need to tag much targets in most of those events. Most of foes currently barely drop things, the loot is condensed mostly in reward chest, and you get the chest as long as you do decent damage in the main event (which is fairly easy). Due most recent meta events (Dragonfall) are oriented towards the completion of mini-events to get keys for the reward chest a different approach works better:2) Focus on survability + damage, to complete the events faster. Support and mobility are secondary, usually not much needed.

As result of that I'm currently playing mostly mele builds focused in either heavy AoE damage or anti-defiant bar burst:

) Condi Symbolbrand: large AoE with tons of vulnerability stacks and burn pulses; shared aegis to nearby allies, scepter as secondary weapon if range is required, good and flexible utility tools. Decent bar-breaking skills.) Condi Herald: strong AoE pressure with insane stacks of torment; almost unkillable. Good bar-breaking skills and some nice support boons and skills. Pure mele.*) Power Herald: strongest anti-defiant bar tools in the game, good single target damage while retaining sustain; high mobility.

That's all, so far with pros and cons they are serving me well.

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  • 5 weeks later...

Trailblazer's condi tempest with scepter+warhorn. It has...-AoE tagging ability with Wildfire, Phoenix and Dragon's Tooth. You can also use dagger main hand for even better cleave.-decent enough boss damage-decent mobility through Eye of the Storm-insane might+furybot ability through warhorn's Heat Sync. Best skill for that job in the whole game.-it's 100% ranged build while at it.-good survivability-as a con, you can't use it in some raid bosses due to high toughness

E: Here's an example that does close to fullest damage available while only requiring about 10g to gear from TP. You get warhorn from starting Tempest training and those named armors are extremely cheap.http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PGAFsEGaYZGMG2FLjVijqzZbD-zRRUcRF3nZkCFCq0XCVQgpgDDA-e

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@"mindcircus.1506" said:

  1. Longbow/Longbow Double Bear Ranger. Good grief, where do I start? Longbow on Ranger has exactly one strong-ish AOE. Barrage has an insanely long cooldown for a tagging build and it's animation is so long that again, in a decent farming group half the mobs will be dead by the time your first volley lands. Doubling down on Longbow as suggested means your aren't even giving yourself an option and are using your weapon swap only to proc traits. The bears are awful pets are are typically used for kiting in low-skill scenarios. Anyone advising you to take a bear for open world event farming rather than the Jacaranda or the Fire Wyvern likely didn't understand the intent of your question or has no idea what you are actually looking to do here.

Where do you start? Probably by reading.

"Barrage has an insanely long cooldown" - That's why you use Quick Draw and constantly weapon swap to get short cooldown. It basically has a 10s CD then, which is no worse than most other typical AoEs.

"It's animation is so long that mobs will be dead by the time your first volley lands" - Damage from Barrage starts before the cast finishes. Also, because if its persistent nature, you can pre-cast for enemies that are spawning (Or are still invulnerable).

"Anyone advising you to take bear for open world event farming" - Note that I didn't say to use Bears for event farming. I said you can use bears for soloing champions. Allowing you to complete events solo if you're not running in an event party at that time, or start doing some events while a party is building members.

LB/LB Ranger is very popular in my experience, with a lot of meta farming groups that I join being full of them (Which makes getting contribution hard because stacked Barrages tear through stuff before most other skills can activate)

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Hi @"Buran.3796" :

Thank you for bringing your experience.Do you mind sharing the Herald builds that you mentioned as well, please?

") Condi Herald: strong AoE pressure with insane stacks of torment; almost unkillable. Good bar-breaking skills and some nice support boons and skills. Pure mele.) Power Herald: strongest anti-defiant bar tools in the game, good single target damage while retaining sustain; high mobility."

I'm playing a Power Revenant Short Bow build (for PvE, OW, Personal Story, World Events) and even if I'm liking it, I would like to see other options.

Thank you very much.

Cheers.

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@"Buran.3796" said:Now, I known that in the past Guardin's staff was called the "loot stick"

How would you rate the classes in this scenary? Which combo of build and weapon you useregulary for this pupose and why? Thanx in advance.

To "tag" in PvE, all you need is short cast-time or pre-cast (trap-type) AoE skills. Look at professions with a number of these skills and you can tag with the best in map or world events.

These builds you look for will not be advertised because dps is generally bad but you can watch what other players cast in open-world events.

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@MarcelBigodon.5962 said:Hi @"Buran.3796" :

Thank you for bringing your experience.Do you mind sharing the Herald builds that you mentioned as well, please?

") Condi Herald: strong AoE pressure with insane stacks of torment; almost unkillable. Good bar-breaking skills and some nice support boons and skills. Pure mele.) Power Herald: strongest anti-defiant bar tools in the game, good single target damage while retaining sustain; high mobility."

Condition Herald with trailblazer or dire stats, Glint + Mallyx, tormenting runes and mace + axe/shield:

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?PmxAke7lhQKsIyiJRXMICjBSiMBqgj7SdrD-zRJYkRLfZ0RBESK49BJI6tsonG-e

Power Herald with Berserker stats, Glint + Shiro, durability runes and sword + sword/staff:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PmwAwyZlxQKMPyi1RXMOCjRSiMCqgpsVezE-zVIYR0xfItpAyUI0pMQjDA-w

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For events of this kind I usually participate with my Condi Scourge equipped with staff and scepter, has Aoe skills that can be positioned even before the spawn of some moob during the events, with the shroud and marks you do not need to target to attack the moobs , one of the best in my opinion.

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@Buran.3796 said:

Thank you for bringing your experience.Do you mind sharing the Herald builds that you mentioned as well, please?

"
) Condi Herald: strong AoE pressure with insane stacks of torment; almost unkillable. Good bar-breaking skills and some nice support boons and skills. Pure mele.
) Power Herald: strongest anti-defiant bar tools in the game, good single target damage while retaining sustain; high mobility."

Condition Herald with trailblazer or dire stats, Glint + Mallyx, tormenting runes and mace + axe/shield:

Power Herald with Berserker stats, Glint + Shiro, durability runes and sword + sword/staff:

Thanks a lot.

Cheers

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