NorthernRedStar.3054

Takes ~500 games for plat 3. "Easy." Guess we have differing definitions for the word.

I think North's human male performance has steadily gotten better over time, and has really grown on me over time.

In all honesty this sounds like someone trying to justify their inability to perform in instanced content.

Matt's an absolute unit in voicing the norn male commander, probably my favorite performance out of the player character ones.

Awesome, good for you mate.

This. One of my absolute favorite characters!

Lot of the CC from enemies can be avoided simply by strafing and/or understanding the encounter. Bosses, for example, often have a set of behavior patterns (knockup always followed by kick, for example).

It happens, because people have lives and a limited amount of time, and sometimes they don't want to spend an hour doing a strike mission because some pug player never bothered asking writing a single word in the chat. Btw, these are the same people who say Sekiro is too hard, and then refuse to learn and adapt the explorable ways to play offered by the game itself in order to progress. It's always the others, never themselves. The environment must adapt to me, not the other way around! How dare you!

Guild Wars as in GUILD Wars. People complain content's hard to get into because they never actually put any effort into getting into it. Do you go in and expect people to carry you without even mentioning you've never done that stuff before so someone can efficiently explain it to you beforehand, AND help you get better? GUILD Wars is easily played in GUILDS, where you can easily find like-minded people and tutors to help you improve your understanding and mechanics of the game. Revolutionary, I know.

Top tier in PvE (solo and group content), sPvP and WvW. It's been a great year for any and every kind of necromancer main. Necromancer can officially be called the "low risk, highest reward" -class of the game.

I'd never suggest rifle Deadeye for a new player. Not only is the optimal rotation + repositioning fairly hectic, but the spec completely lacks reliable AoE damage and is a bore against trash mobs as a result. Staff is obviously the superior weapon for thief at the moment - both in terms of trash mob clear and single target DPS. But OP asked for tips before they manage to reach that point in the game. Additionally, sword damage isn't bad at all for core game purposes. It just pales in comparison with the expansion power creep. Nigh' permanent 10% damage modifier per strike is good for pistols. The ability to finish off mobs who get close by dodging is an added bonus. In general, the extra damage you gain from daredevil traits is well worth it for non-deadeye pistols.

Deadly Arts, Critical Strikes and Trickery. For grandmasters: (1) Executioner, (2) No Quarter (switch to Invigorating Precision if you need sustain against a boss or smthn), (3) Sleight of Hand (reduced Steal recharge and breakbar damage). Trickery will grant you some boon strip and endurance regen, as some of the later mobs have protection application and hit harder and more often. Lead Attacks is a fairly substantial damage modifier than often goes unmentioned, but it's really good in longer encounters. Running double pistols, you'll benefit a lot. Critical Strikes is a trait line you always go for when maximizing DPS. On top of that, Invigorating Precision trivializes most of the core game content. Assassin's Fury mixes in well with No Quarter when doing solo content (for instances, such as raids and strikes, your party usually grants you max Might stacks anyways). When in a larger group, take Twin Fangs, instead. Always take Practised Tolerance (maximizes damage). Same goes for Deadly Arts. Plus, the added poison on Steal gimps the regen of some mobs and bosses - i.e. scales. The power bonus from Revealed Training goes in really nicely with Cloak and Dagger for some of that added burst OOMPH, while Mug offers both burst and healing outside Invigorating Precision. Never ever take Deadly Aim. It's just plain awful. Pray, instead, that Anet grants us Ricochet back. Acrobatics trait line might look tempting, but it's a bait. For roleplaying purposes, only.

Viper can't solo a lot of bosses with attack chains that are unavoidable in their entirety due to terrain preventing efficient and swift kiting (Legendary Forged Demolisher comes to mind). You want something that can sustain through ley-line energy build-up (which hits like a truck post-50%) and trash mob summons (i.e. harpy bounties) hitting you between evade frames and windows. I use zerker on core world, raids and things like Chak Gerent. Things with telegraphed attacks and no need for major sustain. Those aren't things I need advice with.

Suppose you can go for Smoke Screen to cheese the necro. The key really is blinding out and/or dodging the most crucial CC and burst. Either way, it's an uphill struggle since thief can't burst reaper or core necro out of shroud anymore, and disengaging multiple times will most likely lose your team the game.

Looks like Koda's Warmth enrichment added on top, as well.

I like adding more mobility to Death Blossom, but it also indirectly messes up with condi d/d builds due to the current synergy with Uncatchable (spreading lesser caltrops).

In terms of solo capacity at the moment? Speaking legendary and champion bounty + group event solos. I've been thinking of trying out Celestial gear hybrid soulbeast, but is Trailblazer full-on condi with d/d and torch much better?

No offense, but this is overthinking for the sake of overthinking. Jalis is dead, if he wasn't we would've seen him by now. Now, of course, the devs could always retcon this in case we're visiting the Depths of Tyria at some point in the future. Regarding destroyer names / titles: they're inconsistent, ranging from vague to "earned".

Are you trying to imply Hizen is a PvPer or doesn't do instanced PvE? Because both are wrong.

"Spaces where you can't kite." Oh boy, you need to watch Lord Hizen. And tread some PvP. You can always kite.

Plenty of enemies in the expansion areas (particularly Awakened) apply weakness, which decimates your DPS output. Thankfully, core ranger has access to great condition clearing in Wilderness Survival grandmaster trait line + survival skills. Since a fair bit of ranger's DPS is reliant on the pet (particularly on core builds), you want to make sure you have a pet that has functionally apt tracking and non-tank stat line. For cleaving trash mobs, greatsword is the best secondary option, and you might want to try out axe + axe besides it. The projectile denial in Whirling Defense can be a great sustain tool in large-scale fights, but also decimates the enemies in melee range. I solo legendary and champion bounties (toughest open world bosses available at the moment), go for world completion on various characters, collect skins and gear for builds, do fractals and raid with my guild weekly. Only for tier 2+ fractals, where you want ascended gear with agony resistance. You can do by with exotic gear otherwise. Understanding what the most dangerous attacks and enemies in each mob are is the key to trivializing most fights. Same goes for bosses. Generally speaking, you might want to trait for added endurance regen / gain in your open world build. Rotations are much more improvisation-based here than in raids or fractals. I'd recommend you use gear with some added vitality (Marauder for power ranger), or both toughness and vitality (Trailblazer) for condi builds. Celestial gear is also possible for soulbeast once you unlock it, assuming you won't go for Grieving stats.

Staff Master doesn't grant endurance w/o staff being wielded.

Sustain is the ability to keep yourself in good health during a fight. Depending on who you ask, this includes healing, toughness and damage reduction; or just healing.

I take Uncatchable on daredevil, but Thrill of the Crime on deadeye, too. I honestly never really saw the point on deadeye, since you'll be dodging very selectively by comparison. I'd swap out Panic Strike for Even the Odds, though, and Havoc over Staff Master. Just wondering, do these builds have enough sustain w/o the poison leech from SA?

This sounds interesting, I'll definitely give this variation a go.