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So... FB? DH? Power? Condi?


Saraneth.6021

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Hey everyone. Been out of the game for about 3 years now and have finally come back. I used to play a Mesmer but I have forgotten everything about it, so I am leveling a new character from scratch; no boosts. Going with Guardian this time. I'm nowhere near having to choose an elite spec yet but I just wanna get some advice for when I do get there. From doing a lot of research (google'search) I am leaning towards wanting to play firebrand. I know I can play both but it's gonna take me quite a long time to build even my first ascended set, so I need to get this sorted.

Firebrand, yes. I also wanna play power not condition but keep hearing that FB is better for condi but then I sometimes saw in random comments that power FB is great.

Once I get there I will be wanting to be viable for open world, fractals (low level at first of course) and raids. So my question: Can power FB be used in all three efficiently or do I need to go condi? If so, power DH works well in all three?

To be honest, the more I look into things the more stressed I get since there doesn't seem to be any easy linear path. I just wanna have fun in all game types.

Let me know. You should all have a lot more experience than my random google searching.

Thanks.

Edit: To clarify, it's the whole wanting jack-of-all trades type thing. It is gonna take me ages to make my first ascended set let alone a second. So I want the first one to be viable in all content types. I hear Condi builds aren't welcome in fractals which is why I was looking at power but still FB as they seem the coolest to me.

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Here's what I know:

If you want to play a DPS build in high end PvE, Firebrand works best with Condi. Dragonhunter works best with Power. Core Guardian can also work but it's more Power than Condi too.

If you want to play Support, Firebrand is the best you can have and I heard it ether play Minstrel stats, Harrier stats or Diviner stats.Core Guardian has some very niche support builds that could work but I suggest playing something people are more familiar with.

I'll try to suggest something that will fits you as much as possible. First, you want your first stats to be viable everywhere in pve, open world, fractals, strike and raids? I would suggest Diviner stats Firebrand build. It's Power, and its primary function is to give mass Quickness. You should be wanted pretty much everywhere with this.

Some more veterans might give better suggestions, but based on my experience, Diviner Firebrand is quite welcomed everywhere But, sometimes people will prefer something else. But this is the closest to "viable everywhere" as possible.

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You shouldn't get diviner armor for firebrand because you can compensate with traits and fractal pots. If you need diviner to have better quickness uptime, run the trinkets.

For condi, you want to run firebrand because the tomes reset on kill and axe has burn / bleed on autoattack. You aim for 100% burn duration and as high a power/ferocity as you can get. Condi firebrand is the only acceptable condi build for fractals right now due to a high power damage and burn damage tick. (see discretize.eu)

For power, you want the spear of justice from DH and so you can get the power damage multipliers.

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@Infusion.7149 said:You shouldn't get diviner armor for firebrand because you can compensate with traits and fractal pots. If you need diviner to have better quickness uptime, run the trinkets.

For condi, you want to run firebrand because the tomes reset on kill and axe has burn / bleed on autoattack. You aim for 100% burn duration and as high a power/ferocity as you can get. Condi firebrand is the only acceptable condi build for fractals right now due to a high power damage and burn damage tick. (see discretize.eu)

For power, you want the spear of justice from DH and so you can get the power damage multipliers.

So before I get ascended gear should I go with Rampager stats or something else?

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Let's put it this way. You know Virtue of Justice, which adds burning to your attacks? Firebrand turns that little ability into a whole rotation, including a group buff and some CC, basically. That you can still reset on kill. PLUS pretty good condition output on axe skills.

You also have:

  • Traits that boost Condition Damage based on your power.
  • Several traits that boost Power DPS (base damage, crit chance, and crit damage) against burning foes.
  • Traits and equipment that let you cap out +100% Burning duration without needing a ton of Expertise.
  • Reasonable party support via Quickness, Aegis, Stability, and reflects even without investing in Healing Power or Concentration.

So the "Condi" Firebrand builds you see in PvE do massive damage via Burning but also have non-trivial "i'm going to crit you with my axe" damage. It doesn't feel slow and plodding like specs that go all-in on Condition Damage (Mesmer staff, e.g.) do.

It's really fun to play! Not only do you get big damage, you've got great tools for clustering enemies together, and two different support "minigames" in the form of mantra Aegis & your two support tomes. I'm having an absolute blast playing it.

P.S. I'm talking about this particular gear mix, which is suggested for both Fractals and Raids: https://snowcrows.com/raids/builds/guardian/firebrand/condition/ — it seems really weird at first but if you load it up in gw2skills.net you can mess with the individual pieces and see why they did the stat allocation that way.

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Generally speaking, power builds in PvE anchor is zeal and radiance. Third line can be whatever you want. DH does the highest power damage. Virtues can do good damage (situational). FB provides more support. Valor provides solid sustain.

If you already read DH and FB line traits, there are several damage modifiers that DH offer. FB offers none. FB though provides quickness and aegis. In a group these can be far more valuable than extra damage. In OW, I prefer DH. Faster and easier, but FB works well. With a but of boon duration you can get very high uptime on quickness (if not 100%). There hybrid FB support builds are used as buffers. So if you want to play power FB anywhere in PvE you will find a suitable build (but may not be primarly focused on damage).

As for condi in PvE, FB is optimal. Core is solid (virtues/zeal/radiance). Do not play DH. DH provides no modifiers for condi and overall, no support. Even power damage is highly reliant on Spear of Justice active use, which will hurt your condi damage output. You could play DH/zeal/radiance with sword/torch scepter/torch, with mostly power build. Works fine and does good damage, but mostly power stats. One of my OW builds uses that with Flame Legion runes, and works pretty well.

Honestly, unless you are playing highest tier of PvE content, most guardian lines work well with most builds.

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The real answer is to get a set of Legendary gear and play all the builds. Otherwise FB for Condi/support, DH for Power/condi in competitive play, Core for anything.

Honestly you can go condi or power regardless of gamemode for damage. Burn DH has some utility in that there are more cover condis if/when that even matters. Core can get more damaging burn ticks, and cover a larger area, and heal people in said areas, but can also do decent power damage. FB's lean more to condi for damage, offer good CC, and group support.

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Thank you all for the replies. They have helped my troubled mind a lot. As for getting legendary gear... yeah na. Just looking at the requirements and watching videos on how to make it, it is not going to be something I can count on for a long, long, long time.

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@Saraneth.6021 said:Thank you all for the replies. They have helped my troubled mind a lot. As for getting legendary gear... yeah na. Just looking at the requirements and watching videos on how to make it, it is not going to be something I can count on for a long, long, long time.

Bought 25 weeks of completing the skirmish track in WvW, but yes it is a commitment for the armor. Worth it though.

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@"mikdepadua.8376" said:I feel like you cant go wrong with any build as a Guardian/FB/DH. Power/Hybrid/Condi all work in Open World/PVP/WVW. Maybe less so for DH in terms of condi builds.

I agree, guards are still in a very good spot with numerous viable setups

Eve condi dh =D

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Finally hit 80 and fully unlocked FB. Just purchased a mix of Carrion and Sinister exotic gear. Went with Balthazar runes and Smoldering/Bursting sigils. So far it feels fun but I am a complete noob with it. Gonna take a lot of practice. Will begin working towards vipers ascended gear soon. Any idea what to go for first?

@RisenHowl.2419 said:

@"mikdepadua.8376" said:I feel like you cant go wrong with any build as a Guardian/FB/DH. Power/Hybrid/Condi all work in Open World/PVP/WVW. Maybe less so for DH in terms of condi builds.

I agree, guards are still in a very good spot with numerous viable setups

Eve condi dh =D

Information overload with the UI in that video.

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Just my 2cents.Condi FB is great to solo hero points, dungeons.. that's where it's arguably meta. It takes trailblazer/viper gear, the core stats don't make it snowball like it can.

FB and DH for open world are very similar as power build, simply getting very cheap berserker Armor ist getting you an awesome build.

Marauder trinkets to get to 15k health is nice.

As I said, you can play fb,DH, core with power and melt trash while still having some tools for harder fights.

Tldr is, play what you enjoy most and certainty join some hp runs to unlock both.

If you want to play condi you can get trailblazer from bladed Armor boxes,have fun running them metas.

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So far I am enjoying my condi FB. Some of the tome spells are just beautiful. I am still learning and don't even know what half the stuff does yet. I'm a slow learner so it's going to take a while. Just have to make sure I enjoy it while learning.

At the moment I have a mix of Carrion, Dire and Sinister gear. Just two pieces of Dire while I learn how to play. Was dying too much do this gives me a little cushion.

Currently leveling Armorsmithing and Weaponsmithing to make some ascended gear. I am a little anxious about what that entails so I am trying to not look too far ahead and just do a little at a time which will all add up eventually. So it seems that the best option for ascended gear is all Vipers. I am wondering if there is a little wiggle room to add a little vitality and toughness

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@"Saraneth.6021" said:So far I am enjoying my condi FB. Some of the tome spells are just beautiful. I am still learning and don't even know what half the stuff does yet. I'm a slow learner so it's going to take a while. Just have to make sure I enjoy it while learning.

At the moment I have a mix of Carrion, Dire and Sinister gear. Just two pieces of Dire while I learn how to play. Was dying too much do this gives me a little cushion.

Currently leveling Armorsmithing and Weaponsmithing to make some ascended gear. I am a little anxious about what that entails so I am trying to not look too far ahead and just do a little at a time which will all add up eventually. So it seems that the best option for ascended gear is all Vipers. I am wondering if there is a little wiggle room to add a little vitality and toughness

No, the best ascended set is not all vipers. It's a mixture. Here: https://snowcrows.com/raids/builds/guardian/firebrand/condition/ Thats for raids. For open world trailblaze is arguably best because you still get very good damage but become tanky.http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Firebrand_-_Solo_FirebrandFor open world you can do whatever, personally i got trailbalzer gear but the raid accs simply because my accs are already stacking up taking inventory slots like mad^^

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@"Edge.8724" said:Here's what I know:

If you want to play a DPS build in high end PvE, Firebrand works best with Condi. Dragonhunter works best with Power. Core Guardian can also work but it's more Power than Condi too.

If you want to play Support, Firebrand is the best you can have and I heard it ether play Minstrel stats, Harrier stats or Diviner stats.Core Guardian has some very niche support builds that could work but I suggest playing something people are more familiar with.

I'll try to suggest something that will fits you as much as possible. First, you want your first stats to be viable everywhere in pve, open world, fractals, strike and raids? I would suggest Diviner stats Firebrand build. It's Power, and its primary function is to give mass Quickness. You should be wanted pretty much everywhere with this.

Some more veterans might give better suggestions, but based on my experience, Diviner Firebrand is quite welcomed everywhere But, sometimes people will prefer something else. But this is the closest to "viable everywhere" as possible.

I think core condi is the best from my experience.

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I find that Firebrand works best on hybrid gearsets. When it comes to doing "everything" they're the breadwinner, able to do intense Power damage, Burning ticks for Condition damage (easily reaching 100% Burning duration), give out lots of support like Healing, Boons (esp. Aegis, Protection and Quickness) and Reflects and bring a decent amount of CC to the table too.

That's why people dislike the subclass, but its also why you can wear pretty much anything and be effective. You could even show up in storebought Apothecary/Settler's/Shaman's gear and you'd be just fine.

One thing to keep in mind with sets like Diviner's: Heal-on-dodge is extremely affected by Healing Power.

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