[New player, just unlocked first elite spec (vindicator) and it feels way worse than core?]

22 hours ago, crackofdawn.6495 said:

With vindicator the exact opposite is happening, I literally can't solo anything without dying very fast.  Not only that but it feels like I kill stuff slower than I did with core.  I tried full celestial gear, and also a lot of berserker gear and anything more than one veteran and it's 50/50 if I die during the fight.  I haven't been able to kill 3 veterans at the same time or even come close to killing an elite or champion with this spec enabled 😕  [...]

I even tried veering a bit off of those builds to enable battle scars again and try to go for more passive self healing and it doesn't seem to make a difference [...]

Thanks in advance if anyone can tell me if there's just some 'key' to doing things as vindicator without dying so easily.  I love the GS on revenant - the abilities are fun, and I want to make this spec work for OW soloing and WvW roaming which is 95% of my game play!

   Ok ok, a few things:

1) Celestial Vindicator probably sits in the highest tier of soloing Open World PvE builds, since has probably the best self sustain in the game while keeping near 19k dps in optimal conditions. There's other specs with higher dps output but none of them have the same mix of self sustain, variety of tools or easyness to be played. That build uses mace + axe as amins weapons and can run short bow as secondary for comfort and added range (other options are also available).

2) Power Vindicator is at least two tier steps below celestial Vindicator for solo OW PvE; is still decent and can do well a lot of things, but is nowhere as good as the cele build. The reason is because in order to do damage the Vindicator power builds need to heavily spent in damage traits, which greatly reduce the self sustain, or instead you can invest in better sustain but then your damage will be similar to the cele build or worse and still you'll sustain will be worse due much lower armor, healing power and boon duration. Power Vindicator can run greatsword with double sword for max damage output, or staff for more defense and cc or short bow for ranged damage and convenience. I would say that power Vindicator for solo "you do all" is a tier below Bladesworn (which also is a step below the top cele builds). Power Vindi has less room for mistakes since has lower armor and weaker regen and it last less, the same as protection and other boons and every time you get cced you stop doing damage.

3) WvW is an entirely diffrent beast: there you can run celestial Vindicator (I do with greatsword + short bow usually) or power build (can be gs + staff, gs + swords, gs + short bow) or a more condi oriented build with mace and axe and several legends can be used based on the goal (oftenly Alliance + Shiro for power builds but Jalis also works and Alliance + Mallyx for condi but Mallyx + Jalis or Shiro can also work). The main advantage of Vindi over other Rev specs in WvW is that the Alliance has very good access to condition cleansing and (until recently) to vigor. Playing celestial or condi Vindicator in WvW is easier than a power build, but in that game mode the power variant in hands of expert players can outperform cele due the burst (and because sustain is more linked to mobility and reactions than to facetanking a boss with millions of HP).

   The power Vindicator builds from Meta Battle or the raid power Vindicator builds from SnowCrows and Discretize aren't a good tools to play solo OW PvE; sure some players can solo some legendary bounties with them, but is not common and a single run played at perfection doesn't showcase the % of failures until the task was done. When I set a build for a character for solo OW I'm aiming to not die but still being able to do any task unless it requires more than a player for a specific mechanic.

   In my opinion power is not a very good option for solo OW PvE unless you run a Bladesworn and you mastered the spec, and even then there's tradeoff between the best offensive build with max dps and cc (which runs Unyielding Dragon trait) and the most surviable one (which uses Immortal Dragon trait).

   I would put an example: power Vindicator with gs + swords is my fav OW solo build, and melts regular crowds in seconds, albeit is a bit weak at crowd controlling; when I solo the Champion Bandits in the core Tyria maps with power Vindi the figths are demanding, and if the Legendary one appears it can be very, very hard/end in a dfeat. When I run celestial Vindicator to do the same task I can facetank all of them. The same happens with the PoF bounties and the SotO rifts: with power Vindi I can do some and only if the anomalies aren't extra bad. But if the anomalies are too strong or the bounty has too much cc I couldn't do the job. With cele Vindicator I can solo 95% of them.

   The celestial Vindi build from Lord Hizen listed above by Phokus is fantastic, the only change I do is swapping staff for short bow since I don't think I need the defense and the build has already very good cc without the staff. I also think that either Mighty or Malign infussions are better choices since you can use them at WvW (Mighty benefits both power and condi builds), whereas Expertise ones will be negated by cleanses in WvW.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PmzAkeVlhQmsI6kJRpMIClBSqMBqkj2za0E-DyIY1oj/QKUVlrEoXhgC/AkgA2DvGQMtBqA-e

   For power Vindi at PvP I don't see the reason to run pure berserker when a Marauder + Dragon mix will cap the crit chance with 227% crit damage while having around 24k HP. Sure, a zerk build will provide higher base power values, but the problem is that you won't get the dps from a raid build because you won't have perma quickness, and if you go full balls to the wall in dps traits then prepare to have no re-sustain and die fast when mistakes are made (and you have less room for them since our current pst nerf access to vigor & endurance is mediocre).

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PmjAEVlZSMsTqjhScsUyjpSksSign1kdsC-DSRYiRFH0cQvHSmSheFBVoAk5ZhEIwe4+7kAENgYaDUB-e

   In WvW as I said there's much more variation; this is is what I enjoy the most due the mix of mobility, tankyness/self-sustain and damage/pressure over time:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PmgAUFlZSMsTqjhScsUyjpSksSign1UVsF-D2IY1o6/QiUBlpUtXRhIvEkgA+bxMzKA-w

   ...But as I said the amount of builds that work at WvW is much wider and the chances there of winning skirmishes rely more on skill gap than just in the gear and trait selection. I'll update this with some video exapmples later.

[Legendary Runes?]

2 hours ago, SoulGuardian.6203 said:

Thanks Dan.

Can they be purchased or have to be crafted?

 

https://gw2lunchbox.com/IstanShipments.html

   Just start getting some of the time capped materials day by day, as the Provisioner Tokens, and farm volatile magic to buy trophy chest from the vendors in the Living Story Season 4 maps to gradually fill your materials in the bank. That would make it cheaper reducing the amount of stuff you'll need to buy. The main advantage of having a single legendary rune is that you can use it for all your underwater breathers and makes good sense since there's not legendary version of them. So you can get all your respirators covered and earn the legendary relic with a single rune. For the armors I think that going for the legendary armor pieces before the runes makes more sense since they allow you to reset stats, appareance, add and remove regular runes and infusions without damaging them.

[[PvE] Celestial stats in need of a trim.]

7 hours ago, AliamRationem.5172 said:

Can almost guarantee the bleed on chill version is going to deal majority damage from conditions and more damage than if you don't focus on conditions, but I am not experienced with it, so prove me wrong.  I want to see a cele power build beat a cele condi build in damage.  It'll be educational either way.

  Hizen had a celestial power Spellbreaker build with hammer + dagger & axe in his OW Spec Builds Part 1 from 4 months ago, but at PVE Spellbreaker in general is weaker at both dealing damage and self sustain compared to both celestial Berseker and power (assassin) Bladesworn:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PKzAIhflJwuYTMKWJO2O/veA-DyIY1omvMKsCqIFs8sQACZP8aowoFoC-e

   I tried it and for me was clearly at least 3 tiers below the other two: Bldesworn does much more damage (but is relatively hard to play) whereas condi Berserker is both easy to play, tanky and has good damage. I'm of the opinion thatin power stats for solo OW PvE Bladesworn is probably the only decent choice since the alternatives (power Vindi, Willbender, Dragonhunter... ) have large holes in self sustain unless you make some trait choices that ruin your damage and at that point running a celestial hybrid damage build is just superior. I have litle experience with power Reaper, tho, but if the build were really, really good for solo we should have plenty of videos showcasing it and I think is not the case.

[Guardians are just not fun to play against.]

2 hours ago, Kuya.6495 said:

Isn't cmc an ele main?

  He invented the 5 ele x team MAT meta. I think the loser (2nd) team was only running 3 ele iterations so obviously they lost to a fully balanced, synergized team of eles.

[Guardians are just not fun to play against.]

6 hours ago, WingSwipe.3084 said:

Warrior, Spellbreaker and Berserker, GS, Hammer ,Rifle, Dagger, pistol, Axe, Shield. 
Berserker stats, theif relic, aristocrat runes.

Only run power build. Dont like condi build warrior has as it feels terrible to play.

  I've played core Warrior with quite success against DH since this build gets stability each time you use a movement skill or cc a foe, so they can't cc you and you avoid traps just evading or walking out: 

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PKwAIl7lJwSYKMMGKOSP/LfA-DaIPkMlC9KCCZBY1TAAA

    Spellbreaker should be even stronger since has full counter and main  hand dagger (I can use the dagger due weapon mastery but did chose mace just to test how well a vanilla core Warrior could do in current PvP and I think is solid). Do you known how fast a 12k HP stunlocked DH dies? 

[Which order?]

On 1/20/2024 at 9:21 PM, DoNotAimAtMe.3510 said:

I wish to play the last dlc first because of the weaponmastery.

  You can unlock weapon mastery in the second mission of the SotO story; it will take you 60-90 minutes since you enter in the expansion (probable can be rushed, I'm talking about normal pace).

  I would do:

1) Rise character to 80.

2) Start HoT to unlock gliding.

3) Start PoF to unlock the basic mounts, then...

4) Start SotO to unlock Weapon Mastery then go back to 3 then to 2 then finish things in order. You can also re-start (and repeat) the story mode as many times as you want so you can first unlock what you want then do the staory mode from the basic game to today with no hurry.

[[PvE] Celestial stats in need of a trim.]

Celestial stats are perfectly fine.

  You want power damage for niche, instanced team content? You run berserker, unless you don't cap crit chance so you add some assassin until you becaome aware that your class choice was wrong then you rerroll and equip zerk as expected.

  You want condi damage? Then you roll viper (who knowns why the hell grieving exist, is worse 98% of the time!).

  You want to support?  You run Minstrel. Support and damage? Then Diviner or Ritualist.

  Want to be tanky but deliver damage? Then you have carrion, dire or traiblazer. Or celestial which overshadows everything else.

 

   Any other gear stat is useless, the same as 95 of the 99 runes, which ended being a waste of time in design and balance. An happens the same with most of sigils and 75% of the relics: they do nothing. And is worse in PvP where there's like 4-5 amulets and maybe 2-3 runes in use; everything else is redundant and traps for noobs.

   And the thing is that berserker is overall very mediocre at solo  PvE: outside Bladesworn (which is tricky to play and inconsistent) most of the power damage builds are really lacking in self sustain. Yes, you mow regular crowds faster in zerker than in celestial, but you beat leg bounties better in celestial since you don't die, and players at downstate in berserker and viper stats left a lot to be desired in terms of dps...

[Runes and sigils]

19 hours ago, DeanBB.4268 said:

Not very helpful for a newly level 80 who just finished the core story, but great advice for later in the game.

  If I had to re-start from 0 with a level 80 character and no expansions my first task would be farming materials in core Tyria (platinum, logs, etc.) and doing the Wizzard Vault goals from PvP and after a couple of weeks turn all the gold farmed into gems to buy the season 3 and 4 maps (starting from Bitterfrost and Dragonfall). Those maps would then provide all my trinkets in ascended quality for free and be also strong sources of more profitable metas. I would also use the PvP and WvW tokens to start crafting my fisrt legendary armor ASAP, since you won't need more than 1-2 sets of ascended armors for your main, at most.

[WvW is in the WORST State ever]

   To be honest the best year of WvW was the first one with the leader of Red Guard screaming like a banshee going nuts in the videos and reaching 9999 in a blink. Guilds were new and everyone was hyped to 11. 

[Speculation...what do "the people" think will be the strongest, or even just most fun class\build with the patch on Feb 27]

   The balance patches after EoD were an absolute rollercoaster even after 3 beta testing events. What I mean is that some of the new weapons will probably broken in some ways no one knowns but 3 or 6 months later nerfs could make them entirely useless and redundant.

   Also: a lot of the new weapons are focused on support since is what most professions lacked in one or other form, but we known that usually in instanced content and/or WvW the support spot is usually dominated by one or two specs, with everything which is either too complicated or slighly below the optimal oftenly relegated. That means that some of the weapons, nerfed or not, could be end not used at all not beacuse they are bad, but because your neighboor class is just a bit better.

[Runes and sigils]

5 hours ago, DoNotAimAtMe.3510 said:

Ring i have but no accessoire or relic.

   Don't worry. After the SotO changes runes are essentially just stat buffs and at most you'll only need to worry about 2-4 of them in the whole game (Dragonhunter for power based builds, Trapper for condition based builds, Monk for healers and maybe Surging for the extra mobility). Everything else is useless. You can craft the first two ones for ~4 gold coins x unit, get Monk's from Dungeons currencies and Surging for 2 gold coins from Itzel vendors in HoT maps.

   For relics, there's more variety and usefulness;  you either buy them from the Black Lion Market (usually around 10-20 gold coins) or unlock them playing SotO and then purchase them at the WvW vendors.

   Also, don't buy/craft trinkets: get ascended ones almost for free from the Living Season maps, specially from Bitterfrost Frontier, Bjora Marches, Bloodstone Fen, Dragonfall and Sandswept Isles. Main use of jewelry craftsmanship in the game is mostly related to making some legendary items, not the trinkets themselves.

[Fun ways for 10 champions heads]

   Do Hero Point Champions count as Champions? If they do it's easy, fun and rewarding (easily ~8 gold coins in single HoT runs of ~30 minutes) solo run:

 

[Possibly unintended & unfair Urn of St. Viktor / Power Block interaction. Additionally, shield for Herald NEEDS a buff.]

On 1/22/2024 at 8:03 PM, Eddie.9143 said:

Please God tell me you're joking...

Urn is one of the best abilities vindi has..

  Can you elaborate? As an avid PvP player I barely use it because my impression was that is a skill you use to kill yourself while healing allies in PvE, and that doesn't work well in PvP. Treesong and Selfless Spitit are the two main reasons I swap to blue...

[What Keeps You Playing?]

1 hour ago, funkychikin.2659 said:

So I'm asking you all, since I've not been here long enough to have a real reason to stay: what is it that keeps you here? What makes you want to keep playing? What is your favorite thing about Guild Wars 2, perhaps something you find only here? 

   The combat system is phenomenal and the PvP is very accesible: despite being in almost full legendaries as a veteran from release anyone can almost instantly jump in Conquest with normalized stats without having to grind anything. The PvE can be done almost entirely solo and despite the expansions created a noticeable power creep you still can progress with no pressure and your own pace and at will.  There's always things to do and if not I just can have fun doing PvP or roaming at WvW.

[FOR THE LOVE OF GOD FIX SWORD 3 IT'S THE CLUNKIEST TRASH ABILITY IN THE ENTIRE GAME]

8 hours ago, Tharan.9085 said:

In what world needs the weapon that is played on every power build in pve and pvp a buff?

  Best placed Rev last MAT was running greatsword + short bow, (didn't reach the semis), so no is not the undisputed best choice at ever running power.

  I don't think main hand swords need any buff, but being said that power builds are crap at soloing PvE, except maybe Bladesworn (which is powerful but clunky and inconsistent as hell).

  Also, core Guardian, Necro and Warrior > any Rev build at PvP at the moment.

   End of the rant = ) 

[Brand new Player looking for advice]

3 hours ago, Mayo Naze.8796 said:

·         I have tried all the classes and have narrowed them down to the 4 or so that I really enjoy, I have leveled two of them to level 30, and was considering starting on the other two that I liked a lot.  The question here is should I just level one to 80 and the work on the others, or level them all a little at a time?

·         I have watched a ton of videos on the game and seen a lot of people that use Mods.  Is this a good thing for a new player to use and if so, could you recommend some that are useful for a new player.

·         Dungeons – I see that some are unlocked at level 30.  Should I try to do them at that level or wait until I am a higher level.  I saw some one say that when I post a LFG for the group that I should put “New Player, First time through, watching Cinematics”

Any advice that you can give would be great.

  1) Leveling a new character from 1 to 80 just exploring PvE maps can take an experienced player 18 to 28 hours so is not a big deal. The game is very alt friendly due most of currencies are shared and you can also share ascended items and legendaries across your characters. Personally I would chose to first maximize one character since once is at 80 it can farm the expansion maps without being one-shooted and increase your gold incoming very fast and help at gearing your alts. But is not mandatory.

  2) You can play with no addons. The most useful is probably ARCdps but needs to be reinstalled every time the game is patched, so I'm not fan of it. Yolo Mouse is also useful since the in game pointer is terribad (yes, even after the high contrast option). But I play with no addons.

  3) Each time you complete a different dungeon path in a given day you get 70% of a level, so they are fun and provide lore and decent rewards and xp progression, but doing it at lower levels with weaker stats and not full range if skills and traits make then harder than playing it with 80 level character in exotic or better gear. Both options are valid, just do wht you find out to be more fun. 

[Which core Warrior build(s) would you use at Ranked PvP before having access to specs?]

4 hours ago, DanAlcedo.3281 said:

How is Hambow these days? 

Should still work fine enough. 

  Last autumn I've tried hambow albeit not in the core version but as Berserker iteration and I find out that the "meta" with long bow + mace & sword was stronger. Hambow is still my fav Warrior leveling build for PvE (and I think is the second strongest leveling build across all professions) but I was wondering if I had to play a core Warrior in PvP if it would be clear winner choice as happens core support guardian or a core terrormancer.

   Of course I'm not asking for a core PvP  build stronger than a condizerker or a stunlock Spellbreaker, I'm just wondering if someone has a core Warrior build which found as "yeah, this can work very well at regular ranked Conquest unless you need to win aoutomated tournaments".

[Which core Warrior build(s) would you use at Ranked PvP before having access to specs?]

 Which ones would you recomend? I'm slated towards trying stun chain builds (hammer + mace & shield) or a gs + rifle for poking at range and mobility, but not sure if that would be the best one could make using the starting blocks of the profession...  Any advice?

[Returning Player, thinking about dusting off my Rev]

On 1/16/2024 at 11:34 PM, mikexg.7329 said:

  Any and all insight is appreciated.  Fairly casual player.  Thanks!

   Seems like quickness Herald is meta at PvE. Support Vidicator seems meta at WvW zerging. Rev has some strong WvW roaming builds. At PvP si playable, but not meta. Cele Vindi is the best solo build at PvE.

[Next Vindicator nerf]

19 hours ago, LucianTheAngelic.7054 said:

Not sure why you need to secure either of those off of Shackling Wave when you can secure Deathstrike, Chilling Isolation, or a Utility skill

  Regarding Chilling Isolation, Mist Uleashed does more damage vs multiple targets and Sevenshot does more against single target (unless they clean the condition, but then you're forcing them to spent resources, which is not bad). Deathstrike is stronger, but again Whirling Wrath/Whirling Light are even stronger so my point remains: off hand sword in Willbender has entirely outclased Rev's off hand sword (better teleport range, much stronger root and better follow ups against the rooted target(s) ). I should add also that I'm not using/feel forced to take that weapon since I feel that greatsword gives more versatility (mobility + block + damage) and short bow provides the ranged pressure so much needed in most situations (like when you have a Necro sitting in Spectral Ring and a pure mele Rev has no answers against it).

 

   Edit: By the way, given that the 30th January patch won't have any impact in Rev's PvP builds, so what is now available is what will remain until late Feb including the MATat the next weekend, how much do you think Rev builds will "progress" at the January MAT? I don't see any build entering in semis...

[Profession guidance]

9 hours ago, RedLinkyu.5147 said:

As for people how want to know, I have decided to go with the revenant, since I never played the class before and feel like a completly new start could produce a nicer experience. However, I take all of your comments in consideration and I will for sure come back here to choose which char to go next with as soon as I will feel the need of it !

   Good luck! For manually leveling a Rev I would recomend running a condi build (with condition damage, vitality and power, mixing pieces until carrion gear ~level 61), buying gear every 25-30 levels (not more than 4 gold coins from 1 to 80) and doing mostly PvE maps (leaving hearts until level 60 or more). Core build:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PmwAkeZlhQHMJqhFROMI6hBSfMBKgDgzaqC-DSIYrS3wXKJUAVmAZGC9GBOcJIAhzr5EfaAA-e

 Then I would unlock Vindicator first with cele stats. A sample of a typical cele Vindi run of Hero Points farming gold:

 

 

 

[Next Vindicator nerf]

5 hours ago, Sobx.1758 said:

You discount vuln based on group pve and then move to pvp/wvw while still not counting vuln.

  That's a fair and valid argument.

  In practical terms, tho, when I play Willbender (not oftenly) I do use off hand sword because the 2 seconds root + 3 seconds slow has  very strong follow ups as Whirling Light or Whirling Wrath which are fast heavy hitters with  multiple hits proccing burns. When I play Rev (much more oftenly) I don't use off hand sword because I usually  already have mobility enough and the 1 second root essentially faded out while I'm casting the animation of my next attack/burst. You can barely secure Sevenshot or Mist Unleashed. Axe's Temporal Rift affects more targets and its cc last longer and has more impact in teamfights (yet not as much as Advancing Strike).

[Next Vindicator nerf]

5 minutes ago, Sobx.1758 said:

Because 12 stacks of vuln and shorter cooldown doesn't count. It's always fun to see players trying to single out one skill fact while disregarding anything else it does for the sake of claiming "theirs is totally worse".

    Cooldown is 15 s + 10 energy vs 20 s. I don't think the vuln stacks have much impact since in PvE at groups the foes oftenly have 25 permanent stacks (in solo a frailty sigil grants you the same) and in PvP/WvW what truly  matters is the duration of the root.

   I instantly would trade Rev's off hand sword with WB off hand sword even if you keep 20 s cd with 10 energy cost and no vuln stacks since the 2s root + slow is much stronger at setting burst. And I would say the same about Ranger's greatsword: better mobility, better block and a useful stun + daze cc instead of the randomly delivered AoE which ends hitting nothing. In fact, I use WB swords at WvW and PvP whereas I run Revenant's off hand sword at 0 game modes across 3 Revs characters in use.

[Profession guidance]

   You don't specify game mode but I will guess is PvE..   Some of your request are hard to concilliate:

   * Greatsword with power burst, mobile. On paper I would say Warrior, but the strongest solo Warrior build is Bladesworn, which is slower and more tactical than the other Warrior specs, and usually doesn't  wield greatsword and camps gunsaber unless needs to reload ammo. Is also tricky to play, albeit the power burst are phenomenal. Power berserker is closer to your goals, but much squishier than Bladesworn and condi Berserker is also superior (and doesn't use greatsword).

    * Power Willbender has very good mobility, uses gs and has good burst, but has a frentic gameplay and relatively low dps, and is more squishy that other options. Guardian has great build variety, tho, but only WB is very mobile.

   * Vindicator with gs and power stats is very mobile and has high burst, but is harder to play than the celestial variant, which is much tankier but slower paced and has lower dps (the trades you have to made to get a build which is essentially immortal). Power Vindi in pure mele is my favourite PvE build in the game, but I play mostly celestial since it just performs better.

   * Power Ranger with gs has great mobility and good burst, but is nothing special in AoE damage and as with Rev, the celestial/condi builds are tankier and overall better.

   * Power Reaper woth GS has great AoE, strong burst and very good sustain, but mobility isn't its strongest side.

   * Mesmers with power stats and greatsword have huge dps burst but is more single target oriented and a bit squishy.

[Firebrand support is in a good state]

  Not only is a mediocre support overshadowed by the core version of itself, but also since the developers are stubborn with the idea that Firebrand can only fit a support role they provide us a mediocre support that can't be a dps, a tank or a bruiser (I won't demand it to be a quick roamer or +1 since that's Willbender role, but for sure  Firebrand could have traits than just "bad support ones".