Buran.3796

Check the irAjaxx channel in Twitch. Is one of the best Warriors out there and plays that class almost exclusively.

Condition Herald. http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PmxAke7lhQKsIyiJRXMICjBSiMBqgj+SdrD-zRJYkRLfZ0RBESK49BJI6tsonG-e

Is not really LIKE was something seen before, because is JUST a wespon which we have been playing for 9 years: #2 is Ranger's Maul, same animation, similar effect, just different visuals and shape of the AoE. #3 is Warrior's Rush, but with cast time and a third of the range. #4 is Ranger's Couterattack, but instead of a nice extra chance of cc we have a strike which hits for less than our auto attack. #5 is Reaper's Gravedigger, but lasting like the Ele's Meteor Shower. Is fun? Yep. I had some due the jump mechanic is new and the loud sound effects are nice and find joy cleansing Drizzlewood while trying to refine a build for PvP/roaming. Once you ditch the Alliance and ignore F2 what remains is a good bruiser which can have potential and, albeit unexpected (everyone was waiting a peak strike dps), is what I wanted the most. The bad part (for me) is that I would like instead a usable new legend -prefereable not human or charr- and given the choice of a human one Balthazar would have been way better. choice. I think also that the gs is a miss and I would like instead attacks based on Bathy's patterns (even with a shorter range), but so far I think that this is my second fav spec outside Bladesworn. The new specs aren't as good as most of the PoF ones /FB, Scourge, Spellbreaker...), but hey, we had Kalla and their bunch of hippies in PoF so overall this is a step ahead....

How good was that build soloing bounties/champions, etc? Because in no way I'll replace a reliable build which already do the task for another one which tries to do the same but in a different way which just happens to work worse.

I don't known why you see Vindi's elite as a problem at this point in time: NO ONE will use the Alliance for PvP/WvW. Took me less that two ours mixing PvP and roaming to entirely ditch that posibility. Recently Tubby Two Tons (one of the best Rev roamers in the game) uploaded a 3 hours video dueling Vindi vs Vindi; He insisted in not using staff (due was present in every Rev build since the night of times) and in using the Alliance (because was the new toy). Meanwhile his oponent was more practical and ran Shiro + Jalis, gs & staff. Tubby tried everything: Alliance + Shiro, Jalis, Mallyx, gs + swords, mace + axe, mace + sword, only dual wielding, etc. Still lost 80-85% of the fights. Spear of Archemorous/Urn of Saint Viktor is a non-problem for Vindicator because the Alliance won't be used in competitive game modes. The Alliance has no "damaging elite" due using the Alliance automatically means losing damage, support and sustain. I would also advice you to look at the Vaans video duelling 1 vs 1 with the Bladesworn in PvP (including vs current meta builds), as I said I don't known if will be enough to make a new meta, but looked really solid. I've been active seeking similar performances from Willbender players and so far... Nothing. Naru, one of the best players (which mains Necro, Guardian and Engineer) ditched the WB in matter of hours, and He beats platinum players using his DH trapper on regular basis. You can't do that with a Willbender.

In PvP/WvW Bladesworn works ignoring the full charge of the new burst/mechanic, and just spamming Dragon Trigger at minimum charge. Enough to outclass other Warrior builds? Time will tell, but Warrior isn't in the best shape currently, so anything new is wellcomed. The main drawback is that is very difficult to make iterations of the Bladesworn: the class itself limits enormusly the weapon integration, a feat of the Warrior, and leaves very few weapons to combo with the gunsaber to get something viable. This also happens with some traitlines, which benefits weapon swaping and now became utterly useless. The Vindicator will be very close to the core Rev in legends and traitlines, but the new weapon seems useful and not expendable as Willbender's off hand sword, and the new evade mechanic will make jump evades way more spammy than regular evades (because between Unwavering Avoidance and Song of the Arboreum they will have perma vigor, and is a 25% enhanced vigor). I think that a scenario with lots of "kanf¡garoos" with broken sustain is possible if the Vindicator is not managed carefully. Is also imposrtant to note the Revenant was never "a core class": was released with the Herald spec, which ouperformed core for years, and then Renegade was released (which is even stronger at PvE). Only recently the core buffs made it interesting for non mainstream players. So even if the Vindicator shares a lot with core Rev, the truth is that most of players didn't play core Rev in any game mode: is not met at anything, whereas power Herald is meta in PvP and WvW and condi Renegade absolutely curbstomps PvE. A power Vindicator with heavy AoE strike damage is something unheard in the Rev comunity of players. I'm not sure about the ability of the current Willbender to being a thing: obviously won't be a meta support (which current core Guard is), and I don't think that would outpace condi/power core Guardian or power DH in PvE or competitive game modes. Felt to me like the glasscannon downstate memed from the Ele (but at least with Weaper you can achieve damage and sustain). Anyway, I'm heading to try the new specs again in the 4th beta, this time with a more clear vision of their abilities and weakness.

Mist Unleashed hits (a bit) hader than our hammer or sword skills in a shorter cooldown, and has a faster cast rate than anything from hammer while keeping the same number of targets and AoE (but lacking range, which makes sense as was designed as a strike mele weapon). As with 100 blades, the main handicap is that you need to set the attack with a cc (and better if you have quickness) because is relatively easy to evade or flank. The main gripe is that since The Alliance is garbage, you will just end playing a core Rev with GS and a weird jump (and you will end jumping a lot more than you evade in other Rev builds, due the synergies favours using the cheapest endurance jump and Retribution + Song of Arboreum grants you perma-vigor). I like the gameplay style but I'm not sure about the feasibility in some game modes...

Of course will be fine in a game mode that doesn't demand mobility and you can run a build with very little connection with the skills and weapon skills of the spec. At the end, in fractals you are just running a core Guard replacing the virtues and with a different traitline. But the problem is that the spec won't outpace other Guardian specs in PvE, and in PvP/WvW, where the enhancements in mobility would made the spec juicy, just falls behind anything Guardians already have. Also don't agree with Draxynnic in PvP: in those game modes both Bladesworn and Vindicator (no matter the damage) had huge sustain compared to the Willbender. Of course not using the pistol (in the case of BS) or The Alliance (in the case of the Vindicator) which are mostly useless. Being said that, I don't think that Willbender is the worst spec in the expansion; I find hard to discern between WB, Catalyst and Untamed in that race to the bottom...

Celestial is currently great for the three heavy armor classes, being at PvE or WvW, due the three have builds that benefit from hybrid damage and enhanced boon duration. A sample build from MoM from 4 months ago focused on PvE: Another one for WvW from Vallun focused on WvW roaming: Celestial is also usefull due kills the need to farm furher gear, so you can stay in full celestial untill you unlock your full legendary wardrobe 8specially the armor) or just stand in celestial armor and use inexpensive ascended trinkets from the seasonal maps.

My words were related specifically towards WvW. Celestial stas isn't ever available on PvP so of course you can't take advantage of that build in PvP. Platinum was his WvW (as I said) which means at least 2545 WvW levels (so a quite experienced player, I'm ~1100 myself). And celestial WvW Spellbreaker is really strong as a romaer/duellist (If you don't think so you didn't fought a good one).

The main problem with meditation Guard is that is mostly a mele fighter. The most power build at the moment in PvP in terms o effort/effect ratio are the necros, because they have PULSATING unblockable sources of AoE fear which can entirely disrupt team gameplay (plus they are quite tanky and can deliver strong ranged AoE damage, corrupt boons, etc). As a mele meditation Guardian your breakstuns and stability tools absolutely won't be enough to face a well played Necro, and most of matches will have a few of those. On the onter hand. the turbo trapper DH build has plenty of ranged damage, with huge burst, a 2 push - 1 pull cc combo and access to stealth to set those burst/cc combos. That can hardcounter enemy Necros in some scenarios. The other strong performing Guardian build at the moment is support core, for different reasons. So, in the current landscape meditation Guardian can win some fights, but can't carry a match, whereas other classes and builds can.

Recently fougth a platinum (WvW rank) celestial Spellbreaker with long bow + swords in WvW and He was able to beat three of my roaming builds (celestial Firebrand, condition Renegade and DH turbo trapper) using a build like this: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PKwAMxzlJwSYKMRGKOOXuPVA-zxIY1o+/QiUEkpUIbFgiHA-e ...Warrior isn't the best performer in PvE due because doesn't have the highest numbers and some other classes have larger numbers with less effort, but is quite powerfull in WvW due how much sustain and mobility tools has.

In PvP power Herald; Glint + Shiro words & staff, Herald (3,2,2) Invocation (1,1,1,) Devastation (3,3,3) for better sustain and Herald (2,1,2) Invocation (1,2,1) Devastation (1,2,3) to be batshit aggressive. Berserker amulet, courage, energy, exposure and cleansing sigils. Rune can vary, (Dolyak, Melandru... not much good ones to chose, to be honest): In WvW roaming similar build but hydromancy sigils are also good, and Durability runes are probably the best choice for power. Full zerker stats, this is probably still the best dueling Rev available. Condition works better against multiple foes (with not much skill or experience, because when both players are fine playing roaming/dueling builds you can't 1 vs n in most of cases). Two options there: Classic condition Herald with tormenting runes, full trailblazer (or dire) stats and mace + axe as main combo; the advantage is that with tormenting runes the sustain scales up the most foes you hit. The problem is that the changes in Mallyx and in resistance and resolution makes this build a little brittle (and the main source of torment with Mallys is the elite, which drains your energy very fast). The alternative condition herald is running full celestial with Herald (3,3,2) Invocation (1,3,1) Corruption(1,1,1) using mace + axe/swords and condemn + hydromancy sigils. The focus is on catching the foes with the legend and weapon swapping with Invoking Torment + Diabolic Inferno + the sigils to inflic AoE condition burst. Vallun has a very good guide on YT made some months ago, albeit I use that one with Glint + Shiro instead of Glint + Mallyx (I think that Mallyx is currently weak and Shiro provides much more value). I was able to beat a FB + Holosmith duo with that one recently, so in terms of damage works nice, albeits as was said any Rev build without Jalis is vulnerable to conditions.

Currently full celestial is a very good option for a WvW condi Herald roamer and the "only" choice that makes a Firebrand roamer in that game mode; can works also for hybrid Renegade builds but I think that combinations between viper and trailblazer (or grieving) are stronger for that class. Full celestial is also very strong for longbow + swords Spellbreaking roamers and for sure will fit well other specs. That's in WvW; in PvP the celestial amulet was removed, and in PvE is a decent "all terrain" choice for some hybrid specs, but the goal in PvE is just making a legendary armor AFAP and use seasonal ascended trinkets to experiment.

Yeah, breaks cohesion. I can understand the recycled moves due capturing new ones is very expensive (albeit is one of the reasons you do an expansion: you spent money adding new things to the game expecting gaining appeal and getting revenue), but the skill icons.... They cost 0. This is like when Games Workshop suddenly decided that mecha anime was cool and fit well in their dark grim universe and... voila! Habemus Tau!

I think that Vindicator has chances of rivaling Herald as WvW roamer and in PvP, and also being competitive vs Renegade in that space, albeit it will vary based on the tunning of the numbers, and not in the new mechanics. See what we lost: Vs core Rev: core Rev has a much stronger F2 mechanic, and three traitlines offers both specialization and variety; this is specially apparent due Vindicator traitline is monochcome: the Alliance Legend is weaker than any core legend so must be ditched and all the traits devoted to it are lost causes. We have essentially either 3,3,3 or 3,3,2 (arguably). Vs Herald: again the legend, F2 and traitline are worse, but at least the shield doesn't provide terrible advantage to the Herald. Herald is stronger in boons, has fantastic cc and defensive tools and better mobility options. Vs Renegade: Renegade has better boons and traitline (with strong synergies with the weapon, the new F mechanics and both power and condi builds), a more ofensive weapon with range and cc. The legend has limited uses in PvP/roaming (still better than the Alliance, thho). Now, what the Vindicator has that those 3 specs lack? Not much, but have some advantages than can provide the fundation for a solid bruiser build: 1) The new "evade" system has potential to be stronger than the normal evades. The 150 endurance trait is gabage and the 100 endurance trait still subpar, but 50 one is very spammable with a proper build and delivers some damage, healing and barriers. But the most important part (which is counterproductive in PvE but not there) is that builds up time in which passive regeneration (as Vengeful Hammers) keeps working for us. 2) The greatsword provides mobility, a block and two strong burst; is a slow weapon (which can be properly enhanced as I'll explain later) which lacks the cc to set up those burst (a problem shared with Abott & Costello) BUT using core legends that problem can be solved. So: the Vindicator has a evade mechanic that once un-bugged and refined can potentially provide better sustain than the normal evades, and the greatsword skills #2 & #5 can deal good burst of damage. So far this is what I would use as Vindivator: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PmgAEZlxQHsOqhxROMP6hRSfMCKgl+1X8H-zVRYBR1GOsTJMJajKqMFC9KC84JIg/WEeGA-w Shiro + Jalis is a no brainer: Shiro provides mobility, damage and cc; Jalis provides tankines, sustain and control (and more cc), both work very well for Renegade builds in both roaming and PvP and this combo has much stronger condition cleanse than the prevalent Herald builds. Since the greatsword has block the staff can be replaced but albeit gs can work with swords or axe + mace I still think that the staff would be the best choice: between the mobility from Shiro, the damage mitigation, cleanses and regeneration from Jalis, the block from both of our weapons and the evasive jumps our ability to negate damage from our foes is plenty. The staff also provides weakness (a good counter vs Vindicators) and more cc to prepare our burst. We have Retribution, which means that our endurance recovery now outpaces Herald's (by A LOT) and healing under every upkeep point spent. The third traitline is Desvastation since provides Brutality: a confiable source of quickness which also removes stability on hit: that synergizes wonderfully with Surge of the Mist, Jade Winds, Forced Engagement which also synergizes with sigil of Celerity on our greatsword: we interrupt a foe, we gain quicknes, we swap to gs gaining even more quickness and removing stability, landing Mist Unleashed and Eternity's Requiem in a single second... Vision sigil on GS to maximize the burst (optional: hydromancy or energy) and energy and cleansing in the staff. Mix of berserker and diviner stats to maximize damage + boon duration with either Leadership runes or Fireworks (boon duration + cleansing or boon duration + mobility and migth). Swords can replace staff for a more ofensive playstile. Another choice would be running a hybrid damage Vindicator based in the concept of the Celestial Herald: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PmwAElflxQHsOqhxROMP6hRSfMCKgjqSf8H-z1IY1o+/MiUVlpUVxngw9b5RzK-w Here the main source of damage is the mix of the mace skills with Diabolic Inferno and sigil of doom in the legend/weapon swap. Is a weider choice since on paper the Vindicator legendary Alliance and traits are really poor in terms of adding conditions (ouside some chills, a bit of fire and torment) but with 22K base HP, almost 3K armor over 1K condition damage and decent strike damage stats, 600+ healing and good boon and condition duration the celestial Vindicator can put some nasty (four our foes) damage numbers on the table while being a heck of a tank.

I think that this post is brilliant and summarizes in a single line most of the problems of the WB. Is a badly designed spec which puts much effort into ensuring you are punished for chosing the Willbender spec (removing the passive effects of the virtues, which from the beginning was a bad idea because any skill with passive and active parts in which the passive is good enough to not want to use ever the active part is a failure) but then in replacement provides nothing of use. Yes, you have new mobility skills, which are worse than Judge's Intervention in that role and which you won't try to use because the need to fill your skill bar with sustain tools because now you are more frail than core Guard (and with less damage). Will teach you how to design a "better" Willbeder: "you lose your virtues, but now you gain 5K HP and 500 armor". See? Doesn't provide any new mechanically, but at least opens the door to experimenting with stats....

I still don't understand how most of the movement skills have so random range numbers (F skills are 450, 450 and 600, sword #5 is 500, physical abilities are 300, 600 and 900... ). They are a mesh, even without counting that most of them have long pauses either before or after the movement which entirely breaks the flow.... Then in the root is the problem that WB tries to be a sort of "single target assassin" but as dueling build deals less damage than core Guardian and in order to scale your damage and skill synergies you need to hit multiple ofoes which is the opposite of what the specialization is mean to do and which will end with you curbstomped in PvP/WvW.

The most clear things I got from the meta are that I would never use the Alliance legend and probably won't use also the F2. This isn't related of how strong ends being, because Kalla is meta for Renegade in PvE and I dislike the summon mechanics so much that I never use it, no matter how strong they buff Kalla. The same happens with the Alliance: I don't like the lore, I don't like any of Kurzik's skills, I don't like neither of the elites so Vindicator (if used) NEVER will deploy those two in any builds of mine. Now, abut the use of the spec in game modes... I will give Vindicator a chance to be used in PvP and roaming, but I'll ditch it if proves being less viable than the other builds we already have. In PvE, I'll complete the EoD maps (and maybe some of the core maps) with the Vindicator in one of my three Revs, but if falls behind the condi builds in OW PvE (and that seems to be the most ceratin outcome), I'll ditch the spec entirely. On paper the Vindicator seems fun, but we are trading a "F" skill for a worse alternative, we are trading evades for a "jump" which isn't clear if will work in PvE (dps loss?) or PvP (too predictable?) and we are trading strong traitlines for one which at best, can be used to mitigate the lack of conventional evades. The greatsword utterly lies about the reach of its abilities and demands brutality + celerity sigil in order to not feel as clunky as the hammer. To be honest the new spec adds very little to the class: most of the animations are stolen from other classes, and the jumps seem as bugged as most of the things in the spaghetti coding in the Revenant. The main theme is "cleave strike damage", but the damage is weak at the moment. Could work as a bruiser? No idea: I felt tanky in the beta but most of other specs had crap damage, and with the GS we have the same problem Rev had before the short bow: 0 pressure agaist foes at range. And double sword at least has better gap closer (I found gs + staff better than gs + doeble swords, at least vs players).

In PvE seems worse than Firebrand, DH or core. In PvP Firebrand is garbage, so maybe could be... third? Most probably bottom tier along FB.

My current tier: Bladesworn > Specter/Mechanist > Vindicator > Harbinger > Untamed/Virtuoso > Catalyst/Willbender. All below top specs from HoT/PoF, but some can be tuned to work well.

For the armor you can go ascended for your first set, but after that I would advice you to craft a legendary set (you can do that in PvE, PvP or WvW, each one has his pros and cons, or even mix 2 pieces of each working on the 6 at the same time. For the amulet, rings, ear rings and backpiece (and even the submarine breather) the best way to get those items is to far winterberries in the Season 3 Bitterfrost map, and also the currencies in Season's 4 Dragonfall map + Fire & Ice Bjora Marches map. Those 3 would provide you all the scended trinkets you want (Bloodstone fen was also good due you can reset the stats for some trinkets, but now is way worse to farm than in the past). For the legendary backpiece, amulet and rings PvP and WvW are great sources. If you're liking the game and plan to play it for long, getting the legendary armor ASAP is best course of action, because will allow you to swap stats and insert/remove runes and infusions without destroying them, and as all legendary itiems would be shared which each (heavy armor user) character you have.

I'm not saying that will work in WvW or PvP (or much less, that is going to be meta!), BUT I saw Vaans dueling using Bladesworn in PvP and had my own fights against Bladesworn roamers in WvW and can asure you that despite the limitations in terms of weapon and gameplay choices the Bladesworn has it can deliver a very durable and powerful bruiser. Along with Untamed and Specter seems to me as the spec with best potential to enter in PvP; whereas others as Willbeder, Catalyst or Mechanist feel like "where are you going, boy?"

Notorius Naru sometimes plays power short bow Renegade in PvP, but the chances are that youren't going to catch him oftenly doing that because He mains Necro, Engineer and Guardian, so most of the time is what He will showcase. You have a very good guide hire, albeit with not much gameplay: More gameplay:

The thing is that in WvW being realist you can't kill a Thief in 1 vs 1 if He plays well and is build up to be able to disengage and reset the figth. Since in WvW there's no "control points" to contest a Thief can change his position as many times as He wants, and the mix of shadow step access and stealth + a viable ranged weapon which also provides him mobility slants for them most of the fights against most of classes and builds. As Vallun says "if the match is unfavorable you can always chose to leave". I play a wide array of roaming builds in WvW (mostly from Revenant and Guardian classes): power Herald, condi (celestial) Herald, core Rev Hammer, condi Renegade, celestial Firebrand, power DH (trapper)... Builds have their own advantages and handicaps and my overall favourite is staill power Herald BUT I think that currently the fastest solo roaming build for things as farming WvW chest pips cruising the maps to cap sentinels, camps, and fighting other roamers in 1 vs 1 or small n vs n skirmishes is this one: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PmgAUZlxQHsOqhxROMP6hRSfMCKgl+U2LF-zRZYBREQGsZUwKlMDhejgOKgQSAhHA-e ...Because does good damage, has plenty of sustain, a lot of cleanses, is able to pressure at range and engage in mele if needed, has decent mobility, plenty of cc, important hate projectile tools (a well placed Planar Protection while landing Sevenshot is oftenly what had give me a fight against a elusive ranged target as a Mesmer or Ranger). Has also AoE stability and mitigation, which is great for teamfights. But is weaker gainst pure mele fighters than power Herald and sometimes I've more success using celestial Herald in 1 vs 2 because Permeating Pestilence is a hell of a drug... But take in consideration: Thief will always be a better roaming class due stealth and the better mobility. Which is fine since they are clearly lacking in other areas as PvE's AoE damage...