Buran.3796

Since in this summer I was using 4 different Revenant builds at PvP/WvW roaming but only a single one from Guardian (DH trapper) I was a bit frustrated due the past lack of viable FB builds in competitive game modes. So I chose to give the newly buffed celestial stats a try and made the build I think fits better my tastes and abilities, which I've been using this weekl 8along the beta ones); this is a build for FB solo roaming/small group skirmishes with a PvP variant: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PWABc6x3lVwAZYsP2IW0OnvcA-z1IY14/UCTCkpQoXRQ3KAFPLPKtB-w Radiance 221, Valor 312, Firebrand 123 Litany of Wrath, Judge's Intervention, Contemplation of Purity and either Stand Your Ground! or Save Yourselves!, Renewed Focus. Axe + shield/sword + focus with scepter as alternative to sword if needed. Full celestail stats with rune of the fireworks; absorption and celerity sigils in the axe + shield combo, energy and cleansing in the swap. At PvP I'm testing the much less effective Sage amulet , Melandru runes and absorption + energy and cleansing + energy sigils. This build solves some glaring issues with the uber-nerfed Firebrand: the chronic low HP is replaced by a healthy ~18k HP, the low mobility is replaced by a permanent 25% increased pace thanx to the runes, which also boost hugely the boon duration. High armor, decent power and crit chance, high crit damage, moderate condition damage and healing power which adds a lot to the AoE pressure and self sustain, plus a good cleansing capabilities and a gameplay revolving around ccing foes to gain long lasting celerity and absorving boons. Some foes will feel menaced by the burn ticks (which can add a lot of pressure over time) but the real deal is in the strike damage, boosted by the quickness boon. So far I've success vs fighting WvW players with way higher rank by me (I'm ~1050), like platinum Rangers builded specifically to roam, hit & run, or mauling a Scourge + Renegade duo in the same fight. Is not perfect (I've been poked and downed over time by some thieves and the build lacks tools to chase high mobility classes), bu so far the overall performance seems and feels good, and I particulary like how fast can nuke a group of enemy players if they get caugh by a few ccs. In PvP sthe stats, runes and sigils aren't there, but can be played in unranked to have some fun. DH performs better, tho.

Warrior's rifle + greatsword can work at some PvP levels and WvW roaming, but is far from being better than pew pew builds made with longbows and shortbows from other classes. I'm not very familiar with thieves but so far this is the rifle build I saw which IMO looks the best with that kind of weapon:

Yes, they were some HoT specs fairly continuist, but much less with PoF (Deadeye, Firebrand, Scourge or Holosmith felt like entirely new classes), and my point is that if you look at the latest 7 classes introduced in BDO only the Hashashin resempbles vaguely a Ninja, whereas if you take a look at EoD, the Willbender is a core Guardian with poorer virtues and better mobility, the Catalyst is a dagger dagger core Ele with an F5 key, the Vindicator a core Rev running the same Shiro-Jalis with greatsword and a different evade and the Harbingera bursty single target focused core necro with better mobility to compensate the lost of the shroud sustain. When you're introducing new classes with new weapons, skills and traits which are objetively weaker than core specs and that make that 80% of the time people keep using older skills instead of the new ones feels like a sign about the new specs not being as interesting or viable as they should. And I would put a recent example of this: PoF was released four years ago but as a main Revenant user I didn't touch the Renegade until a year and half ago due how utterly useless was the spec at PvP/WvW. Some of the classes recently portrayed in the beta felt just awful at different game modes. So I don't think that ANet is having succes at creating "entirely new experiences" but more like nailing it at "repeating the same basics" but with annoying handicaps which make some of them less practical and fun to play. So far I found Bladesworn and Vindicator interesting (but the Vindi has few novelties, the gs seems the only suable novelty) and in the other classes I would use current core/specs over the new ones.

I think that while Guild Wars 2 is way better game than Black Desert Online and until Path of Fire Arenanet was able to create a rich variety of builds and class specializations, End of Dragons so far did showcase that ideas and concepts for new specializations have started to overlap, delivering "new" gameplay styles which are too close to past experiences, whereas in BDO the latest class designs did provide more variety and better designed classes. I mean... You can see how Bladesworn new features radically changes the way the class can be played, but with others specs as Willbender or Catalyst you end playing exactly the same character as a core Guardian or Elementalist, and just chosing a pair of new skills if much. That was not the case at PoF or HoT.

Ok, after creating and playing a bit the new specs in the beta last Tuesday I was busy getting the WvW diamond chest with my regular Revs until Friday, so yesterady and today had more time to test the Vindicator (this time mostly in PvE). So let me re-adjust my impressions about the spec: I think that most of us agree that the main hole to fill in current Revenant builds ia a pure power (strike) dps role for PvE. Is not like power Rev can't do both Open World and instanced PvE well, but in terms of damage output (comparatively low) and keystrokes per minute (comparatively high) it requires much more effort than condi Herald or condi Renegade, specially against multiple foes. It can be said also that this is relatively common amongst other classes: at PvE condi builds have been outclasing their power varaints for quite a while, usually having better sustained damage, better AoE and better sustain due condi is less stat intensive to maximize damage. The surprise with the Vindicator is that although power oriented (the output damage for conditions is minimal and oriented to soft cc) the numbers still aren't here. What we have instead is a quite strong bruiser with promising off heal capabilities). But as was said, numbers can be changed easily, so let's take a look over the gameplay and features, instead: 1) THE ALLIANCE. The new legend is dual and has two sets of skills: the Luxon guy is more oriented towards attacking and the skills are okish, I guess (but not better than anything we current have). The Kurzik guy is oriented towards defense and support so it could have powtential paired with Ventari for pure support builds. The problem is that instead of having 3 legends we have two slots with the Alliance working in a tandem with flipping over skills. I think that the flip mechanic is trash and ruins the performance of both legends, and they should work separately asigning each one to F1 and F2 respectively. BEING SAID THAT: I'll never use The Alliance, the same as I never use Kalla. I find that Jalis, Shiro and Mallyx are stronger for both PvP/WvW and PvE than The Alliance so I would never bother equiping Abott & Costelo, specially under their current swap mechanics. They would have to buff the numbers to INSANE levels to make me chose them instead of Jalis, Shiro or even Mallyx. So I can't comment much about what to improve in them. Albeit one thing is for sure: the developer which designed the elite doesn't deserve his position. 2) THE F2. The F2 function is bland with The Alliance legend and really mediocre with other legends; most of the time I don't use it but I would lie if I say that bothers me. Core, Herald and Renegade Revs have stronger F skill functions. As I said, I would reserve F1 & F2 for Abott & Costelo and put something else in F3. 3) THE TRAITLINE. The Vindicator spents too much traits improving the self-inflicted handicaps of the Alliance, leaving only 4 traits usable for other legends and 0 traits devoted to the new weapon, the greatsword. Honestly, playing without The Alliance (which you should) you should run 3,3,3 or 3,3,2. Those are fine for PvP/WvW and PvE respectively. The traitline is decent, but has almost no synergies with other traitlines, legends or weapons. Is a super self-contained thing which puts most of the interaction in a legend that will have no use, so feels like hast a ton of wasted space. 4) THEDODGE MECHANIC. Ok, I was wrong with this one: feels good to use (despite is bugged, too long lasting and with long recoveries which hurts the usability) and has tons of potential to be incredible broken. On one hand, the damage output with the first trait is so low and the endurance cost so high that no one would use it (would have to deal 120k+ damage in PvE to even consider it), because is a net loss in dps and a huge oportunity cost to perform more active things instead. Why would I want to retire my character from the game for 3 seconds + recovery in normal gameplay? Maybe evadin a Brsitelback channel? But no because is better just to cc them and kick their backs... On the other hand the 2nd and 3rd traits are REALLY strong: in PvE you can easily recover the endurance so your evading time will equal or surpass regular dodging, and the freeze, damage, protection, barriers and heals (some of them shared) over a large radious will benefit both solo and team play. ANet has also a problem here due the shorter the evade is, the stronger the build is at PvP and WvW. So far for roaming and small skirmishes the third trait makes the Vindicator a extremely strong bruiser in competitive game modes, and the second trait is great for PvE. 5) THE GREATSWORD. As happens with the Renegade, the best part of the Vindicator is the new weapon. The sound design is stellar, the best part of the package; on the other hand the animations are outsourced from attacks from Ranger, Warrior and Reaper, and those would be replaced with ones with more personality. I still think that this was a waste of potential of having a telekinetic wielding greatsword with Bathazar legend (specially seeing what legend we have instead), but the overall functionality at least is good. Let's take a look: the #1 autoatacks are boring, nothing special, but the freezing at the third hit is good and the 5 foe cleave is nice and wellcomed. The #2 has the meat of the damage (not enough) but is spammable and even with current numbers can work (see later). #3 is a good movement skill which was much needed lately (neither shield, trident or short bow have any). It has to work consistenly as in other greatswords but once fixed will be great. #4 has lovely sound design and works well but the counter attack is buggy as hell (needs better target track to get consistency). #5 this is the one I would replace for cc, oriented towards PvP; at the moment is bugged and too random even in PvE, but when fixed the numbers could be massive for OW PvE. At competitive game modes can work for cleaving cced or downed foes, but #2 is just better and more consistent. Overall the greatsword is a good tool and along the new evade and a few traits it can be combined with core Revenant to generate some builds with good potential at PvE and PvP/WvW without being annoying to play or too v¡convoluted. Builds: I've using three combos of weapons for an offensive PvE/PvP/Roaming spec; support builds with Ventari and other configurations have potential but I'm less interested in those, wo I would talk obout what I did use: Legends: Jalis + Shiro (already saw a Jalis + Mallyx performing very well in PvP with mace + axe, but if I wanted to run a condi Rev I think that both Renegade and Herald would be stronger). Greatsword + swords, greatsword + staff and greatsword + hammer: double swords is more aggressive and maybe optimar for duels, but then your cc will rely almost entirely in the legends. I think that greatsword with staff (PvE and PvP/WvW) or greatsword + hammer will be better for PvE and teamfights. Satts: full diviner armor with full berzerker at everything else; vision and celerity (or force) sigins in greatsword and energy and cleansing in staff. Leadership runes. Traits: (PvE): Devastation 331, Retribution 133 Vindicator 332. WvW/PvP: Invocation 121, Retribution 133, Vindicator 233. I did test gs + staff with this build mostly in Drizzlewood, soloing hordes of enemies and some champions; the stats, sigils and traits are based on the core Rev build I'm currenly running in WvW roaming and uses tha same principles replacing Invocation with Vindicator traitline. The goal is to overcome the low damage numbers of the greatsword running a very bursty (stat wise) build with over 50% boon duration to get full advantage of brutality and sigil of celerity. The elevated quicknes uptime benefits the autoattacks but also the cast times of the other skills in the weapons, making it harder to interrupt/evade them (against human foes). I found that Shiro, while bursty, lacked stability/damage mitigation in an anrea so filled with AoE damage & cc, blinds and enemies, so most I spent 2/3 of the time in Jalis. The build performed very well against both bosses and hordes and torned apart silver veterans and their footman at way faster pace than power Herald while retaining high sustain. Most of the time evades weren't required as part of the damage rotation and I used them mosttly for damage and cc avoidance. Veredict: despite the narrow time I spent with the Vindicator and the overall lame numbers in dps and bugs that currentl has, I can see how this spec has potential to surpass other Rev specs with power damage for OW and even instanced content, but some buffs and bug fixing needs to be done. For competitive gameplay could end being a resourceful bruiser which maibe couldn't outpace power Herald as a dueler but can have pressence in teamfights due the AoE damage and great shared sustain. I would rate the Vindicator at his current state as the first or second best new spec of the 6 revelaed; is not quite as good as pure power dps role as we expected but the jump evade mechanics isn't as debilitating as I though at the beginning. I still think that the Alliance legend is mostly useless along most of the traits, but the greatsword is quite good and mix well with the core tools available. They should fix bugs, replace animations and fine tunning some mechanics, tho.

Ok, AWFUL, as s expected. The summary: 1) Useles in PvP/WvW, but surprisingly the batch of the current known 6 new specs has been so woeful that Vindicator falls (pun intended) as the second less worse of them , only surpased by the Harbinger. I'm honestly amazed of how ANet was able to craft 6 new specs and none of them aren't even able to compete against their core selfs (much less about their metas) at those game modes. 2) The greatsword, where is the damage? And I'm not taking about PvP; even in PvE falls behind core/Herald/Renegade at providing dps with power (strike) stats. The weapon is too slow for competitive gaming modes, #4 seems bugged and #5 is just a long casting attack with a very random AoE and damage output. Should have instead either a usefull cc or a powerful AoE attack to support #2, but is none of both. Also, I understand the red/blu for the Alliance, but since the gs skills don't swap their should employ a mix of black/red/white icons to fit with Rev's arsenal. Also, recycled animations... The only redeeming point is that the audio design in really good. 3) Legendary Aliance: sorry but is weaker than Shiro or Jalis, and the flip mechanics and F2 function are just terribad. I can't see why anyone would chose to run this new legend over the core ones in any game mode. This also hurts the F2 usability because for PvE is a net loss of dps. And don't make me talk about the elites... Oooooh the huge manatee! 4) Traits: "Not great, not terrible". They waste too much slots in enhancind the new dodge mechanic, instead of adding new features to the general use of the class. And this is a problem due #5. 5) Too much time wasted in dodging. Seriously. Even with the shortest evade (which is the most usable in competitive game modes) the duration of the animation is too long (which in PvE also hurst the dps), and is worsened due after the fall there's almos a full second of recovery animation with the character standing up from the ground. This makes a massive disservice to the skill due reduces dps in PvE and makes follo ups in PvP/WvW much harder: you're a sitting duck which just did use its only dodge. The dogge should be shorter in duration and provide some sort of cc instead of so much bloated PvE boons... Now, today I did play Vindicator with gs + swords and gs + staff, most of the time with Alliance + Shiro or Alliance + Jalis. Most of the time was in OW PvE (HoT maps) and PvP. I ended replacind the Alliance for just Shiro + Mallyx in PvP due how low and inconsistent was the damage. Next days I'll focus on gs + staff and gs + hammer. In PvE previous specs (and core) have better damage output with better sustain and much more cc. I think that damage can be tuned up in PvE increasing the speed of the gs attacks and coeficients; sadly I don't think the new Legend could be fixed (too much contradictory mechanics); also the evade should have defiance barr damage attached to its use. So, The good: * Good sound designs. * Finally a spec optimized for roleplaying! Imagine having Shiro., Kurzik and the other one inside your head... Never ending memes. * Has tools which enhanced will allow him be off meta in PvP in the future. The bad: * For being a power dps PvE spec, the current damage is lame. Also the sustain and cc pressure. * Doesn't stand a chance against the current PvP/roaming meta, which means that if you enjoy that content you will either have nothing of interest in EoD or the current specs will be nerfed to level the new bottom tier at the arrival of the new specs.

What people fails to notice is that energy sigils are along cleansing sigils amongst the most used ones in WvW/PvP, so using them doesn't "even the field" against characters with two dodges, only puts you near the common baseline at which everyone starts, and obviously other players using them are in clear advantage. Another funny thing is how much a single weakness stack will wreck the whole theorycrafting house of cards which is the "let's gain vigor/endurance ASAP to compensate the handicap". My roamer Renegade, as an example (short bow + staff, tb + vipers, Shiro & Jalis) literally perspires weakness: Enchanted Daggers, Planar Protection, Mender's Rebuke, Surge of the Mist, Jade Winds, Scorchrazor, Soothing Stone, Forced Engagement, Inspiring Reinforcement... The weakness from half of those skills last from 4.75 to 5.25 seconds at WvW with my current stats, so there's no way a Vindicator would able to engage 1 on 1 without being engulfed in weakness. Personally I'll try the Alliance a bit but the only WvW build I can see to "work" (and by work I mean being clearly subpar) would be greatsword + hammer, Shiro + Jalis with Retribution and Invocation. A pure glass cannon designed to die in a blaze of glory...

Why bother? In tournaments almost every high level thief is running Daredevil (an almost 6 years old spec) in PvP mostly due the third evade, and every high level Mesmer is running another class due Mirage has only a single evade. They didn't bother with cc because they don't expect him to be a thing in competitive game modes.

Mirage has 2 dodges in open world.. Also, any class is powerfull in OW.

Both are bottom tier to me but at least with WB you can chose one physical skill if gets buffed, whereas with the Vindicator you want a skill you need to commit to the full package and suffer the handicap of the single evade.

Don't known mate; the Vindicator seems a bottom tier PvP/WvW spec to me. Tho I'll agree that the Catalyst looks excellent.

AWFUL. Just a minute in the showcase of Vindicator when noticed the single evade entirely destroyed my hype "oooh man, another useless spec for PvP/WvW!". See: Renegade was so bad designed for those game modes that take two years and half (until the shaving of 1/3 of all damage in the game and the revamp of Sevenshot) to make it viable in those game modes. So I guess will be at least another couple years for me before ANet makes this chump playable in those game modes. The change to single dodge deleted Mirage from the competitive game modes (at least at tournament modes) and looking the skills and traits I see no hope for this character: the damaging skills are weaker than Shiro or Mallyx, the defensive ones doesn't match Jalis, and on top of that you barely have cc... And then is the handicap of having to devote your gear and traits from other lines to cover the hole of a single evade and need of vigor... Good luck with that. Ending with the mechanic aspects: nothing against the choice of a dual legend, but the skills seems really weak; wouldn't use them above Shiro/Jalis/Mallyx... Yes, they seem better than Ventari, but that doesn't mean much to me. Also, more interesting and fun than Kalla but worse than Glint. The greatswork could replace ths staff at PvE (If you don't care about defiance bars), but for WvW/PvP is just plain worse (in reality doesn't matter due with a single dodge you'll be dead doing 0 dps). So, if doesn't work with sword + sword in 1 vs 1 figths, could the greatsword perform with hammer in zerg vs zerg where the evade would hit more targets and refill the endurance? I don't think so, because if you run hammer at a zerg in WvW you probably use zerk stats to compensate the mediocre hammer damage, and tith those stats the block+ blind + iframes + cc of the staff will provide more survability in mele clashes than the greatsword. Lore wise, not convinced: a second and third human legends which were lesser beings than the one we already had, but I guess they fill the share of "less capable people" very well. No every legend has to be badasss, I gues... I think that the game took a dip in terms of perceived quality: there's a lot of animations recicled from other classes or even from the usage of gathering tools in PvE 😦 . Even the Catalyst, which by the way looked to me the best of the current 6 reveals in terms of new skills and design and visuals and anymations, had an awful amount of lend animations from other sources. In terms of icon design the Vindicator seems ok: they look good albeit no one looks like a Revenenat skill, which is decent in terms of clarity with the legends but wasn't needed with the greatsword. So, all in all: the Catalyst looked awesone, like the FB in PoF; the Bladesworn seemed decent, with potential. The Vindicator seems to me bottom tier just below the Willbender and Virtuoso. Can't wait to be curbstomped with him this next week in PvP/roaming!

I have more than one character from my fav classes (heavy armor users) and I play more than one build of each one of them. But I would say that I main mostly Rev (70%+ of the time) followed by Guardian (25%) and Warrior (5%). I can also play Necro in PvP (and those are the only 4 classes I've played in over 6000 matches in PvP, and I only play heavies in WvW), but I'm way worse with Necro compared to using the other ones. I started the game maining Warrior but died alot so after 4 months I was already playing more the Guardian, which also died quite oftenly and had low HP and moved slowly. Rev fresh air to me since combined heavy armor, mobility, mid HP and good burst with sutain. Currently I play 4 Rev builds (at any game mode), 2-3 Guardian builds and a couple of Warrior and Necro ones. I think that Rev has a wide range of well performing variety in builds, from power to condi, from mele to ranged, from bursty to tanky. Guardian has some amazingly designed skills but its builds are constantly moving from being op to being trash, and they don't work that well transitioning from PvE to E¡WvW/PvP and viceversa. Warrior is solid but compared to the other ones a bit boring and repetitive. So: I really main a couple of classes and can maneage other two; I'm terrible at playing the other 5, specially in competitive game modes.

I think all of them are cultural heavy tier 3 from Charr.

Vindicator will be so respectfull with Cantha's lore that it won't have evades or be able to jump. 😁

That's mostly how much you're used to play that class. Full berserker power Shiro lacks cleave damage but still I was able to 65-70% of some bounties in PoF before the time cap run out without dying, with a build with 0 stability and very few cleanses. WvW camps are faster to take with condi Revs due the higher AoE damage, but even with power you can curb stomp them even staying in Jalis and using auto attacks... On topic : not sure if the legend will have 2 sets of 5 skills or a mix of both legends in a single set; the mobility and block skills (from the weapon) seems fine but some of the attacks look slow (Willbender style slow) so maybe wouldn't be the best spec for PvP. I like the falling sword animation and the evade, the others seems too familiar (the skills from the Renegade were visually more distinctive), but that can be changed (along Harbinger's elexir incons, I hope). In terms of visual desing the most shocking class in PoF was the Firebrand: tons of love and care put in the skills and weapon animations and fx. I rewatched Renegade's promo trailer and didn't look as great as the spec can currently be played: ...But is true that the animations were more original. I would like more a "no hands" wielding of the sword (as Balthazar or some characters in fighting games) but the chances were small. Nothing against the new legends, tho: I'll just wait to see how they play. I'll await the revelation of the new Warrior and Ele specs in the next 2 days, followed with a showcase and the next beta the next week, so will be plenty to play. So far the Virtuoso seemed ok but not a thing I would play, the WB flasy but weak and the Harbinger was the one I liked the most.

Nah, Mr Bean opening theme predates both.

More like the Falling Sword skill from Diablo III's Crusader (albeit not as cool, but I'll forgive if does good damage since the one from the Crusader hits like a wet towell...).

For PvE both perform extremely well, albeit Guardian has a lower HP you have to deal with (either playing like a master, spending some atribute points there or both). In WvW solo the Guardian lacks the mobility of the Rev and your optimal builds will bounce between core burn Guardians, power meditrappers/stealth trappers and celestial Firebrands (the only viable stat for that spec, due the recent buff ). Revenant can go either power Herald (the best for duels but risky in small teamfights), condi Herald (just the other way), condi Renebow (amongst the best ranged roamers in the game) and core hammer Rev (less competitive due hammer nerfs but fun to play). Revs have the advantage in mobilityand sustain, imo. I mained Guardian and now Rev; still enjoy both but despite his bugs I think that Rev has more viable builds and has better tools to deal with other classes trying to poke you at range.

The roaming build for Renegades is mostly based in the PvP one, which essentially is a power Renegade build with shortbow and staff, Shiro and Jalis Retribution 1,3,3, Invocation 1,2,2 and Renegade 3,2,3 and either demolisher or berserk amulet (based on your tastes). In the past used the Runes of the Speed whereas after some nerfs people currently also runs Dolyak (or my favourite, Melandru). Sigils in PvP are the expented ones: energy, cleansing or escape for the staff and separation, explotation (maybe others) for the short bow. Now, that build has some sense in PvP: is focused on direct damage because premade teams usually deal quite well with condition damage and the stat points of the amulets are subpar for a condi focused Renegade (no viper, no grieving, no trailblazer or dire...). So in Conquest works well (albeit I run Retribution 1,3,3, Invocation 1,2,1 and Renegade 1,2,2 instead) but doesn't top power Herald due ranged attacks can be entirely negated if a pair of members of a conformed team chose to equip skills and traits to hardcounter ranged attackers. The rest of the plantif makes total sense: Shiro provides mobility, extra damage and cc, and Jalis damage mitigation, stability and more cc. Combos of Sevenshots with Scorchrazor, Jade Winds and Forced Engagement are common and you can put a lot of pressure in the first seconds of a fight casting Enchanted Daggers to both increase your damage proc Dome of the Mist from Planar Protection forcing people to waste evades in Bloodbane Path and Spiritcrush just to hit them with Scorchrazor, then Sevenshot, swap to Jalis, land Forced Engagement and Inspiring Reinforcement, etc. BUT, despite the WvW roaming recomendation for Renegade in metabattle is similar to the PvP one, I use a quite different one: http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?PmgAUZlxQHsOqhxROMP6hRSfMCKgl+U2LF-zRhYBREQGmZwsRBUKRGBZGCdkAhUACPLL6pB-e I started playing the PvP Renegade power build in WvW with condition stats due I had a viper set (no longer matters due I have the legendary heavy armor, The Ascension and Trascendence, plus some weapons, so I can experiment with gear changes without much trouble), but I came to the conclusion that pure viper, grieving or a mix of any of both with trailblazer is way better than power Renegade for roaming and small scale fights. This became aparent after test and trial for very simple reasons: 1) You do way more damage with condition stats. Is evident vs foes that doesn't clean conditions themselves (sentinels and guard camps... also most of players), but also vs people with plenti of cleanses. The short bow is a hybrid weapon with solid damage from a variety of sources (bleeds, torment, burns, physical...) and not a single trick pony with a bursty single one (Guardians). Condition also have better runes and sigils available (Tormenting, Nightmare, Malice, Bursting... ) and with the PvE/WvW stats optimization the condition duration is so long that any enemy with not enough cleanses or evades will end melted over the fight. 2) Usually the fights will be either very short (in your favour) or long (which favours condis). A pure strike build will have to chose between maximizing damage while having less HP and armor or having even less damage to get some cushion. My build sits at base 19 HP with ~2850 armor with ~1500 condition damage (with celestial stats you can achieve better physical damage and HP, similar armor and ~1000 condition damage). With tat stats, the damage mitigation, regeneration and cleanses from Jalis and the evassion and burst of damage from Shiro is easier to endure though fights and ever revert ambushes. 3) I didn't even tried the Tormenting runes in this build; the sustain is already great despite running the Nightmare runes which are a pure PvE choice. Probably I should change the sigils in the staff to energy + cleansing isntead o the hydromancy + doom I run frequently. To be hones, I don't swap to staff too oftenly except when I'm pressed to. 80%+ of the time I'm in short bow. Now, this approach doesn't work so well in scrins of 15 vs 15 or zerg vs zerg, because large groups share cleanses and anti projectile tools, so for that case I can see how a Renegade more oriented towards strike damake can make sense. By the way: as I said some builds can hard counter this one. But condi Renegade as a WvW roamer works very, very well due the access to mobility and high pace across the terrain, the fast kills when we play well our combos and the high sustain and access to stab and defense when is required. power Herald is better for duels but when is a n vs n goingf mele is highly risky, and condi Herald is good in small skirmishes but lacks the same mobility. Power hammer core Rev is way harder to play; albeit well played entirely counters Renebow builds is more a "glass cannon" kind of template with more encounters in disadvantage. Currently I'm playing both of them.

...Aaand Firebrand got destroyed and no one plays it in PvP. No one. Zero. Imagine paying PoF to get the Firebrand only to find out that doesn't work in one of the game modes. Also don't understand the problem with "being too easy to play". What do you want then, to delete Warrior, Ranger and Necro because they are easy? And making the Weaver the convoluted gold standard of how classes should be made in this game?

Power Herald has plenty of damage but needs to expose himself in mele range ro deliver it, and that's hard when at the moment the main tanks in the game can pulse fear on will against a built that lacks stability. Renegade can both pressure at range for more safety and rely in Jalis for stability and damage mitigation if is required.

It made sense since Sevenshots fires a volley of 7 arrows in a 7 seconds cooldown which stacked torment for 7 seconds until the recent nerf to 6 seconds. Also, the changes in torment nerfed its performance in both PvP and WvW. Historically Renegade's short bow was a joke at the release: a weak ofensive weapon which most of their skills didn't land ( Sevenshot initial "reversed shotgun" mechanics made almost impossible to hit but freezed mobs, Spiritcrust unable to be casted except in perfet leveled terrain) and with larger cast times (0.75") that skills from Thief's and Rager's short bow (0.5"), plus a weapon with no block/evade and no mobility (again if clear disadvantage vs Thieves and Rangers comparing their short bows). But adjust were made over time and with the introduction of the new Sevenshot mechanic and the overall reduction in damage across all game modes in Feb 2020 the Renegade became viable and shortbow even meta... Which is no longer the case: short bow works well but is easily countered by reflects and blocks so that's why you don't see much of them in AT lately. In WvW in large groups is easily neutered since the amount of skills which block it (2 hammer revs in a squad can block 7S forever... ). Meanwhile, Rev's hammer have been heavily nerfed in both dps and mechanics. Let's be clear: your class (Ele) has plenty of tools to deal against Renegade's short bow. Some of them will imply trade offs which will make your build less capable against other builds in exchange to be able to hard counter this build. You can aslo play in small groups with other memebers taking that anti-projectile role. Sevenshot is strong, but mostly when you get cced and have no breakstun at hand.

Thanx for the answers. Yesterday I (temporaly) ended swapping Song of the Mist and Dance of the Deaad for Roiling Mist and Swift Termination respectively; as Hainese pointed out the hammer is slow so Dance of the Dead doesn't gives us as much as paired with dual swords, so extra crit (almost 100% when in fury) makes the damage more consistent. On maths Swift Termination is "only" a 10% increase (20% half of the time) but man those extra hit points on weared down foes are tasty. Still testing other traits and sigils, but so far great results in 1 vs 1. Not so great being attacked while taking a camp because cleans those veterans slower than Renegade's shortbow and when you face ranged foes (most of necros, rangers and mesmers... ) you absolutely need to put all your tools in properly spacing vs the players, and you lack Spirit Crush/ Scorchrazor to roast A.I. mobs while fighting humans. The importance of quickness is clear, but availbility relies on Brutality and the boon duration to get out the most of that combo requires to lower the damage output, so in theory you hit more oftenly but dealing less damage, which not always it the best choice. Well, for sure is a interesting design; I'm still not sure of which woul work the best... I'll keep trying.

ANet trashed FB until became useless in PvP (no damage, no sustain, pity support even compared to core... ) then people moaned about burn DH (a one trick pony easy to counter into nothing...) and now is having trouble with another easy to counter glass cannon in a meta in which the current damage is easily 1/3 lower than in January 2020... Unbeliable. You're only wasting bullets to fall in the same problem again: as soon as DH trapper gets nerfed a new meta will emerge and you'll be moaning again. Darwin set it clear: the ones which survive aren't the strongest or the fastest, but the ones which in a crisis can adapt. The players which beat your as*** with trap DH today are the same ones which will do the same tomorrow with any other build, because aparently this game PvP doesn't have bttom ceiling...