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Easiest solo open world / PVE class - specializations


Deaken Frost.7952

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I think it's useful to note that the builds that can solo anything aren't necessarily optimal for doing most things quickly, because those builds (especially the more forgiving ones) tend to trade some offensive power for survivability and self-sustain.

If you want to be absolutely safe and turtle your way through almost anything, Condi Mirage is a pretty solid option. It's a very tanky spec that kites exceedingly well and does all of its damage by stacking a bunch of annoying little conditions over time.

I think a better balance of offense and defense is actually Torment Rev (Herald or Renegade): you have very strong condition output with Mace/Axe and Mallyx, Trailblazer gear lets you eat a good deal of incoming damage that would drop Zerker builds, and Rune of Tormenting turns your condition output into pretty beefy self-sustain. I personally prefer Renegade over the Herald version because having a second condition weapons lets you stack a ton of Torment and Burning really fast, but just going full melee and abusing Infuse Light is also pretty good.

One thing I really like about the Rev builds is they actually handle trash pretty quickly, because you can use Call to Anguish to pull a bunch of enemies together into a single pile, drop a big condition burst on them, and then you've basically done because they'll tick to death in a few seconds.

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@ASP.8093 said:I think it's useful to note that the builds that can solo anything aren't necessarily optimal for doing most things quickly, because those builds (especially the more forgiving ones) tend to trade some offensive power for survivability and self-sustain.

yes exactly, for me it is not important to do the things quickly!

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Note also that the game makes it very quick to swap builds. E.g. I could very easily also make a Viper set for my TB Revenant and swap between them with a couple of clicks or a single keybind any time I'm out of combat.

Likewise, with the current state of HoT/PoF maps, a viable "solo" strategy is to just do your own thing most of the time and pop a commander/mentor tag to get 3-4 people to join you when you want a particularly nasty bounty or hero point.

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Dire/Trailblazer's Condition Herald w/ Corruption for that 33% dmg reduction with resistance uptime + Incovation/Retribtuion and Herald lines for perma protection and some dmg reduction traits on Herald. Mace/Axe and any other weapon set for weapon swapping.

Mallyx and Glint for the higher damage variant, can take Jalis instead of Mallyx for Vengeful Hammers. Jalis vengeful hammers with resistance + protection and dmg reduction food is 100% dmg reduction; 0 dmg from even Mind Crush on Deimos.

Can go Tormenting runes with a great room for mistakes but that requires playing Mallyx. Resistance runes are a snooze fest with even more room for mistakes because of abusing resistance uptime, but it's quite a damage loss.

Other builds would be minion mancer Reaper, or full Dire/Trailblazer's Weaver.

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Many guardian builds are really good for simple and easy PvE.Wooden Potatoes made a nice series for open word PvE build, and they are mostly really easy and powerful.

But the builds I enjoy the most when going solo and willing to play relax are with thief:

1) pistol/pistol diviner deadeye (deadeye, crit, trickery). You can chainkill like there is no tomorrow. Mark, unload, mark unload, mark unload... While it may seem boring, you can focus on positioning, and you can add depth to it through different ways with utilities and learning how to move around AS you shoot, rather than stop-shoot-stop-shoot like most people would do. Also, at some point you're efficient enough that you challenge yourself to speed through certain zones without leaving anything alive.

2) dagger/dagger dodgy daredevil with mirage runes, or thorn, or other relevant condi-dmg oriented runes. Deadly art, trickery and daredevil make for a relatively high condi pressure build, and quite uncatchable. I can play hours long in "tougher" zones without dying. It's not as bursty as burn guardian, and DMG is definitely lower than some other condi builds out there from other class. But if you pace your death blossom and dodge adequately (avoiding to burn all your initiatives at once basically), you can remain engaged in a fight forever.It's slow for trash mob, but it shines on foes with high HP. It really isn't the fastest option out there at clearing out mobs.in general but definitely, as far as I'm concerned, one of the easiest build.

As an example, if you go into PvP mode where condi damage is nerf hard for that build (lotus training and such), you can still take out the chieftain and warlord without taking in a single hit - if you know how to play it. It will be a little slower than other builds (ex burn/warlock Dragon Hunter, or other variations) but you can start without notice and chain fights endlessly without worrying for cooldowns, unlike DH or other professions.

I also play staff daredevil, which is more effective than D/D daredevil in terms of gross DPS, or one shooting even small pack of trash mobs, but you got to be more careful with initiative management, and although easy once you get the grasp of the rotations, D/D remains just simpler/easier/more relaxed. That being said, even if D/D is "simpler" in nature, you can really learn positioning, dodging, and it can bring that build to a whole new level when you really master it. It reminds me of some warrior builds that seems brain-dead, very basic, but that you can bring to a new level if you master them well.

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condi renegade (or herald) - can solo bounties easily. All you need to do is make sure you're hitting something that doesn't perma blind you and with kalla you can permanently proc battle scarred and maintain perma 25 might and fury. There's a build on metabattle just look it up! Unlike thief builds, you don't have to continually dodge as much and you're not as squishy if you run full dire. Unlike tank necro, you do more damage on shortbow.

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@Deaken Frost.7952 said:Thanks for the answers. I can very often recognize the Revenant here.

What would you rather recommend?Condi Herald or Shortbow Renegade (both open world builds on metabattle)

The Metabattle Shortbow Renegade is a squishier but higher-DPS Viper build. Use Trailblazer with Tormenting runes if you want to go full lazy-mode slow-and-steady. TB Condi Herald and TB Condi Renegade have 95% identical gear.

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Solo PvE builds?

Minion Master Reaper - High damage, high sustain, easy to play.

Bearbow Ranger - Okay damage, high sustain, easy to play.

Condi Core Engie - Okay damage, high sustain, easy to play (Trailblazer gear. Bomb Kit, Flamethrower, Flame Turret)

Condi Renegade - Decent damage, high sustain, easy to play (Trailblazer gear)

Condi Herald - Meh damage, super high sustain, easy to play (Trailblazer gear)

Honestly, just pick a class, give them Trailblazer gear and you're golden ;)

You'll be pretty tanky and deal okay damage.

Minion Master Reaper and Bearbow Ranger basically some of the few Power builds that can solo really well especially versus Champs/Legends due to their lower reliance on personal stats (Ranger just uses their tanky Bear pets to take the hits, MM Reaper has their minions take some hits while all their minions siphon life for them)

Most Power builds can work just fine for most OW PvE, but they'll crumple versus Champs/Legends where they'll be too squishy (Zerker/Marauder) or not have enough Damage (Soldier).

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@Taril.8619 said:Solo PvE builds?

Minion Master Reaper - High damage, high sustain, easy to play.

Bearbow Ranger - Okay damage, high sustain, easy to play.

Condi Core Engie - Okay damage, high sustain, easy to play (Trailblazer gear. Bomb Kit, Flamethrower, Flame Turret)

Condi Renegade - Decent damage, high sustain, easy to play (Trailblazer gear)

Condi Herald - Meh damage, super high sustain, easy to play (Trailblazer gear)

Honestly, just pick a class, give them Trailblazer gear and you're golden ;)

You'll be pretty tanky and deal okay damage.

Minion Master Reaper and Bearbow Ranger basically some of the few Power builds that can solo really well especially versus Champs/Legends due to their lower reliance on personal stats (Ranger just uses their tanky Bear pets to take the hits, MM Reaper has their minions take some hits while all their minions siphon life for them)

Most Power builds can work just fine for most OW PvE, but they'll crumple versus Champs/Legends where they'll be too squishy (Zerker/Marauder) or not have enough Damage (Soldier).

Pretty accurate list and it really highlights the imbalance between the condi damage and power stats. I really don't know why they refuse to balance this.

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@ASP.8093 said:

@"Taril.8619" said:Honestly, just pick a class, give them Trailblazer gear and you're golden ;)

I mean, no, because you need to carefully pick out skills/traits that layer enough conditions to make it actually worthwhile.

If by "Carefully pick out skills/traits" you mean, pick the obvious Condi build that each class has then yes.

If you mean that this is in some way difficult... Then no. It is not. Especially since if you struggle for some reason, you can just visit Snow Crows/Metabattle and pick out one of the already optimized Condi builds that has skills and traits all nicely listed for you to copy....

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@Taril.8619 said:

@ASP.8093 said:

@Taril.8619 said:Honestly, just pick a class, give them Trailblazer gear and you're golden ;)

I mean, no, because you need to carefully pick out skills/traits that layer enough conditions to make it actually worthwhile.

If by "Carefully pick out skills/traits" you mean, pick the obvious Condi build that each class has then yes.

If you mean that this is in some way difficult... Then no. It is not. Especially since if you struggle for some reason, you can just visit Snow Crows/Metabattle and pick out one of the already optimized Condi builds that has skills and traits all nicely listed for you to copy....

So the easy way for a newbie to build a sustain-monster champ-solo build is to copy a Snow Crows Viper build with zero defense and a bunch of weird group buffs that only matter to a raiding party? :grimace:

I'm not saying it's hard. I'm saying that most condition damage in the game is localized to 1-2 specific weapons or a handful of traits, and if you don't pay attention to that you will do literally nothing, like worse than playing a random collection of trait lines with Soldier gear.

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@ASP.8093 said:

@ASP.8093 said:

@Taril.8619 said:Honestly, just pick a class, give them Trailblazer gear and you're golden ;)

I mean, no, because you need to carefully pick out skills/traits that layer enough conditions to make it actually worthwhile.

If by "Carefully pick out skills/traits" you mean, pick the obvious Condi build that each class has then yes.

If you mean that this is in some way difficult... Then no. It is not. Especially since if you struggle for some reason, you can just visit Snow Crows/Metabattle and pick out one of the already optimized Condi builds that has skills and traits all nicely listed for you to copy....

So the easy way for a newbie to build a sustain-monster champ-solo build is to copy a Snow Crows Viper build with zero defense and a bunch of weird group buffs that only matter to a raiding party? :grimace:

You're trying too hard to make an argument.

So when I said "Pick a class, give them Trailblazer gear" and then copy Skills and Traits from Snow Crows...

That obviously means to use Viper gear and copy the skills and traits from one of their Support builds. ;)

Snow Crows DPS Condi builds don't use "Weird group buffs" that's only on their Condi Support builds. Their DPS builds are fully focused on damage.

@ASP.8093 said:I'm not saying it's hard. I'm saying that most condition damage in the game is localized to 1-2 specific weapons or a handful of traits, and if you don't pay attention to that you will do literally nothing, like worse than playing a random collection of trait lines with Soldier gear.

Gee, it's almost like picking the obvious Condi weapon when your stats are all Condi damage makes sense...

It really doesn't take any thought at all. You just grab Trailblazer gear that clearly has Condi damage focus, then pick your Condi damage skills. There's not enough variety to be even a little confusing here especially since unlike Power builds, there's typically just 1 Condi weapon/build for each class. The only time there might be any kind of non-intuitive design, if you pick Mesmer and think that Confusion does any sort of actual damage in PvE.

Condi builds are literally the most straightforward builds to make as a result. Then with Trailblazer as a statline, even if you do somehow manage to mess it up, you have enough sustain to get through fights that are prolonged anyway. The only appreciable effect of optimized damage vs not in a tanky set up like full Trailblazer tank build, is the capactiy to do things like Bounties and certain Event champions which are on a timer.

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Daredevil or Deadeye — depends on how do you want to play. Just take invigorating precision. Daredevil is better at cleave.Reaper (power) — spin to win. I wouldn't recommend scourge because it's too slow.Mirage (condi) — you want more survivability? Take runes of tormenting. Dodge to heal yourself.Herald of Renegade (condi) — devastation traitline is all about passive healing (pretty strong healing). Take herald for tankiness; renegade for more damage.Holosmith — super easy. Just don't overheat. It hurts.

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@Taril.8619 said:

@ASP.8093 said:

@Taril.8619 said:Honestly, just pick a class, give them Trailblazer gear and you're golden ;)

I mean, no, because you need to carefully pick out skills/traits that layer enough conditions to make it actually worthwhile.

If by "Carefully pick out skills/traits" you mean, pick the obvious Condi build that each class has then yes.

If you mean that this is in some way difficult... Then no. It is not. Especially since if you struggle for some reason, you can just visit Snow Crows/Metabattle and pick out one of the already optimized Condi builds that has skills and traits all nicely listed for you to copy....

This is not good advice. No, TB armor coupled with condi on whatever class is NOT going to achieve what the OP is asking for. The 'optimized' condi builds on Snow Crows/Metabattle are not optimized for OW.

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@Obtena.7952 said:

@ASP.8093 said:

@Taril.8619 said:Honestly, just pick a class, give them Trailblazer gear and you're golden ;)

I mean, no, because you need to carefully pick out skills/traits that layer enough conditions to make it actually worthwhile.

If by "Carefully pick out skills/traits" you mean, pick the obvious Condi build that each class has then yes.

If you mean that this is in some way difficult... Then no. It is not. Especially since if you struggle for some reason, you can just visit Snow Crows/Metabattle and pick out one of the already optimized Condi builds that has skills and traits all nicely listed for you to copy....

This is not good advice. No, TB armor coupled with condi on whatever class is NOT going to achieve what the OP is asking for. The 'optimized' condi builds on Snow Crows/Metabattle are not optimized for OW.

Trailblazer gear offers the most defence while providing significant boosts to condition damage.

Snow Crows/Metabattle (MB having an "Open World" section) pick all the condition damage things. IF for some reason, you are incapable of doing so yourself, given how straight forward condi builds are.

This WILL work.

See: That guy who likes to post videos of his TB Condi Weaver soloing everything. My own Condi Engie that solo's everything. Various Firebrands that solo everything. Mirages that solo everything. Condi Revenants (Both E-Specs) that solo everything.

The only thing that I'm not 100% sure on is if Condi Thief and Condi Zerker can solo stuff particularly well. The former because there's not much support for Condi builds in the class (Though, I'm reasonably sure that there could be a Condi DD build that would function for this purpose) and the latter because that 300 toughness loss hits the tankiness pretty hard.

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@Taril.8619 said:

@ASP.8093 said:

@Taril.8619 said:Honestly, just pick a class, give them Trailblazer gear and you're golden ;)

I mean, no, because you need to carefully pick out skills/traits that layer enough conditions to make it actually worthwhile.

If by "Carefully pick out skills/traits" you mean, pick the obvious Condi build that each class has then yes.

If you mean that this is in some way difficult... Then no. It is not. Especially since if you struggle for some reason, you can just visit Snow Crows/Metabattle and pick out one of the already optimized Condi builds that has skills and traits all nicely listed for you to copy....

This is not good advice. No, TB armor coupled with condi on whatever class is NOT going to achieve what the OP is asking for. The 'optimized' condi builds on Snow Crows/Metabattle are not optimized for OW.

Trailblazer gear offers the most defence while providing significant boosts to condition damage.

Snow Crows/Metabattle (MB having an "Open World" section) pick all the condition damage things.
IF
for some reason, you are incapable of doing so yourself, given how straight forward condi builds are.

This
WILL
work.

See: That guy who likes to post videos of his TB Condi Weaver soloing everything. My own Condi Engie that solo's everything. Various Firebrands that solo everything. Mirages that solo everything. Condi Revenants (Both E-Specs) that solo everything.

That wasn't the OP's ask or what the question is here. Lots of things work. He's asking for easiest.

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@Taril.8619 said:

@ASP.8093 said:

@Taril.8619 said:Honestly, just pick a class, give them Trailblazer gear and you're golden ;)

I mean, no, because you need to carefully pick out skills/traits that layer enough conditions to make it actually worthwhile.

If by "Carefully pick out skills/traits" you mean, pick the obvious Condi build that each class has then yes.

If you mean that this is in some way difficult... Then no. It is not. Especially since if you struggle for some reason, you can just visit Snow Crows/Metabattle and pick out one of the already optimized Condi builds that has skills and traits all nicely listed for you to copy....

This is not good advice. No, TB armor coupled with condi on whatever class is NOT going to achieve what the OP is asking for. The 'optimized' condi builds on Snow Crows/Metabattle are not optimized for OW.

Trailblazer gear offers the most defence while providing significant boosts to condition damage.

Snow Crows/Metabattle (MB having an "Open World" section) pick all the condition damage things.
IF
for some reason, you are incapable of doing so yourself, given how straight forward condi builds are.

This
WILL
work.

See: That guy who likes to post videos of his TB Condi Weaver soloing everything. My own Condi Engie that solo's everything. Various Firebrands that solo everything. Mirages that solo everything. Condi Revenants (Both E-Specs) that solo everything.

The only thing that I'm not 100% sure on is if Condi Thief and Condi Zerker can solo stuff particularly well. The former because there's not much support for Condi builds in the class (Though, I'm reasonably sure that there could be a Condi DD build that would function for this purpose) and the latter because that 300 toughness loss hits the tankiness pretty hard.

That weaver guy soloing everything uses all Dire gear actually

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