New Player Question: Is Spellbreaker just not useful in group PvE content?

[JReyno.3049]

Hey all, hope you're having a good day.

I'm a pretty new player that got into GW2 last year and so far I've been playing pretty casually going through open world/story content with a friend along with some casual PvP and WvW.  I've played most of the professions/specs a little bit at this point but so far my favorite profession is definitely Warrior.  Specifically, the Spellbreaker spec.

Lately we have been talking about getting into group PvE content, because we really enjoy stuff like dungeons and raids in MMOs.  And of course I REALLY wanna play Spellbreaker.  

I want to make sure I'm doing my part so I go looking for Spellbreaker guides in PvE group content and what do I find?  Berserker builds everywhere.  It looks like Berseker is the better warrior spec for group play because it does more damage?  Which I don't really mind, I don't HAVE to play the absolute highest damage meta spec or whatever.  But it does make me wish that Spellbreaker had something to offer in group play that isn't done better with Berserker.

My friend really enjoys Mirage and plays a duel-oriented build in PvP, and he recently showed me this cool alacrity build for PvE.  I'm thinking that's really cool, and I was able to make a build that can maintain max stacks of might for allies.  But I go looking at other support/buff builds and see that many can maintain multiple valuable boons, including might, some doing that while having good damage and others while being able to heal. And I admittedly feel a little envious of that. It makes me wish that Spellbreaker could choose between removing boons or giving boons to allies via traits.  Or... something, maybe some healing? Idk. I guess it's started to make me feel like the Spellbreaker traits are pretty one-note.

Do people even want or need a boon removal spec in group play?

All in all, right now with my admittedly limited knowledge it's feeling like Spellbreaker was not really designed with PvE group play in mind.  And I'm kind of sad about that.

Anyway, sorry for being longwinded.  This has been on my mind for a little while and I've tried looking up some topics and discussions about it, but I wanted to actually get an opinion from current and more experienced warrior players here.  Is Spellbreaker just not really particularly valuable for group PvE content?  If I want to play group content as a Spellbreaker is my only option to just be a worse warrior damage/banner spec than Berserker?  If I decide to play Spellbreaker anyway, will I at least be able to bring a decent contribution to the group?  

Thanks in advance for any answers or advice.

[Lan Deathrider.5910]

Spellbreaker is useful in FotM for certain instabilities. Raids are full of speed clearers and speed clearer wannabes so Spellbreaker is less welcome there.

 

Overall in PvE you will find Berserker just does more damage, even while bringing banners, so that is what gets asked for and taken.

 

For the record though there is nothing stopping you from grouping with friends or guildies and playing Spellbreaker to your heart's content.

[JReyno.3049]

I wish more of my friends were into MMOs but I only have the one friend who also enjoys games like this.  So we just game together and PUG it out.

But yeah that seems to be in line with everything I've looked into about the spec so far.  Guess part of me was hoping it was outdated information or maybe there was more to it that I was missing.  For this profession I really only like core warrior and Spellbreaker, so if it doesn't work out I'll suck it up and play another class in groups.

Thanks for taking the time to reply.  

[Lan Deathrider.5910]

24 minutes ago, JReyno.3049 said:

I wish more of my friends were into MMOs but I only have the one friend who also enjoys games like this.  So we just game together and PUG it out.

But yeah that seems to be in line with everything I've looked into about the spec so far.  Guess part of me was hoping it was outdated information or maybe there was more to it that I was missing.  For this profession I really only like core warrior and Spellbreaker, so if it doesn't work out I'll suck it up and play another class in groups.

Thanks for taking the time to reply.  

Np. Unless your PvE group is super toxic people shouldn't have a problem with what you run, so play what you want. FWIW I wouldn't kick a Spellbreaker from any content.

 

There will be a big class balance patch in summer that will also change banners, so wait and see what happens.

[Tiu.3027]

You can make spellbreaker work perfectly fine as dps for PvE even if it's not top tier.  I play spellbreaker almost exclusively for PvE and have done all endgame PvE content with it and without any major issues and I don't even follow the snowcrows meta build.  Yes people will argue berserker or the upcoming bladesworn will do more dps, but no content in the game requires you to minmax and 99% of players and groups aren't speed running.  There are some endgame fights where spellbreaker feels pretty weak though such as fractal 100 and twin largos.

[JReyno.3049]

That's good to know!  I'm not really interested in speed clearing, but when it comes to group content in games it is important to me to be able to perform at a decently high level.

I'll still hope that Spellbreaker can see some benefits that make it a good alternative pick over Berserker and possibly Bladesworn in the future, but I'll definitely be giving it a shot in the meantime. 

[bananasauruswrex.3915]

Spellbreaker - Strength Fighter - MetaBattle Guild Wars 2 Builds

 

I run this (which is basically core greatsword, with full counter). I have outright REFUSED to have any banners  equipped for over 4 years now and have yet to get removed from a fractal group outside silent kicks during group formation. Happens rarely. The build allows me to solo kitten near everything and is flexible enough for most t1+ fractals (assuming your new to group content and starting here). 

 

Outside this my advice sadly is to reroll. I recommend guardian as the bias a-net has shown them is mind boggling and they are for the moment always in demand and flexible enough in what they can do.  The word "Hope" does not belong in this particular profession forum. Still waiting to see about this banner rework though I've a strong suspicion it will just be something simple like dropping the target cap to 5 and allowing you to wear them as backpacks 1 at a time.

[anbujackson.9564]

As others have mentioned, you can make pretty much everything work in PvE. The sad truth is though that you limit your performance with spellbreaker. Even after many buffs it still underperforms damagewise. In solo context (open world) spellbreaker is more forgiving because of F2. In endgame content groups it does nothing a berserker cant do better. You are also reliant to spam physical/cc utilities which I am not very pleased with.

I like berserker more, even though the clunkiness really gets my mood down lately.

[Orack.4825]

On 2/22/2022 at 10:43 PM, Lan Deathrider.5910 said:

There will be a big class balance patch in summer that will also change banners, so wait and see what happens.

Have we source on this ?
I'm a bit like OP, playing what I like, and tbh Core Warrior is what I enjoy the most so far. 
Now I'm a bit afraid about what you wrote about balance's change, hope it will not make it weaker :(

[Lan Deathrider.5910]

2 hours ago, Aznarb.6347 said:

Have we source on this ?
I'm a bit like OP, playing what I like, and tbh Core Warrior is what I enjoy the most so far. 
Now I'm a bit afraid about what you wrote about balance's change, hope it will not make it weaker 😞

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/guild-wars-2-end-of-dragons-strike-missions-balance-and-rewards/

"Unfortunately, due to time constraints and work on new elite specializations, we were unable to make these changes for the Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons launch, and we’re planning to make them part of a larger profession update and balance patch coming this summer. Until then, banners and spirits will remain as they are and continue to have a 10-target cap"

[Jzaku.9765]

On 2/23/2022 at 2:23 AM, JReyno.3049 said:

Hey all, hope you're having a good day.

I'm a pretty new player that got into GW2 last year and so far I've been playing pretty casually going through open world/story content with a friend along with some casual PvP and WvW.  I've played most of the professions/specs a little bit at this point but so far my favorite profession is definitely Warrior.  Specifically, the Spellbreaker spec.

Lately we have been talking about getting into group PvE content, because we really enjoy stuff like dungeons and raids in MMOs.  And of course I REALLY wanna play Spellbreaker.  

I want to make sure I'm doing my part so I go looking for Spellbreaker guides in PvE group content and what do I find?  Berserker builds everywhere.  It looks like Berseker is the better warrior spec for group play because it does more damage?  Which I don't really mind, I don't HAVE to play the absolute highest damage meta spec or whatever.  But it does make me wish that Spellbreaker had something to offer in group play that isn't done better with Berserker.

My friend really enjoys Mirage and plays a duel-oriented build in PvP, and he recently showed me this cool alacrity build for PvE.  I'm thinking that's really cool, and I was able to make a build that can maintain max stacks of might for allies.  But I go looking at other support/buff builds and see that many can maintain multiple valuable boons, including might, some doing that while having good damage and others while being able to heal. And I admittedly feel a little envious of that. It makes me wish that Spellbreaker could choose between removing boons or giving boons to allies via traits.  Or... something, maybe some healing? Idk. I guess it's started to make me feel like the Spellbreaker traits are pretty one-note.

Do people even want or need a boon removal spec in group play?

All in all, right now with my admittedly limited knowledge it's feeling like Spellbreaker was not really designed with PvE group play in mind.  And I'm kind of sad about that.

Anyway, sorry for being longwinded.  This has been on my mind for a little while and I've tried looking up some topics and discussions about it, but I wanted to actually get an opinion from current and more experienced warrior players here.  Is Spellbreaker just not really particularly valuable for group PvE content?  If I want to play group content as a Spellbreaker is my only option to just be a worse warrior damage/banner spec than Berserker?  If I decide to play Spellbreaker anyway, will I at least be able to bring a decent contribution to the group?  

Thanks in advance for any answers or advice.

Spellbreaker is a largely selfish tanky, defensive specialization.

As such, in the context of endgame group content, it has very little value as other classes offer more for less tradeoffs to achieve what spellbreaker can do. Chrono and Firebrand are similarly defensive specializations that are able to provide a wealth of boons to the party. Mesmer, Necro, and Revenant perform boon strips inherently in their meta builds with almost no tradeoffs. 

Endgame team composition is all about getting more value from the sum of your part(y). Warrior is a painfully one-dimensional class - that's why every build for PVE endgame you can find is some variation of Banner Warrior. Essentially, a pure DPS build that slots 2 warrior-unique utilities to offer more stats to the group. Can you do this with Spellbreaker? Yeah, but Berserker is better at it. 

[artharon.9276]

In reality short answer is No. If you're going to join group of people that likes to burn things down fast and play by whatever the best-in-slot demands players to go. 

 

But there will be cases you may enjoy spellbreaker in pve. But I won't share it because I fear Anet will nerf it. 

[Gorem.8104]

Is Warrior just not useful in group PvE content*

 

Cause lets be honest here, if we didn't have banners, the numbers of Warriors in pve content would be extremely low to zero. We offer less then other classes in every way and have outdated skills galore. 
Its just fortunate that gw2 pve is not some of the hardest content in games, so that you can still bring classes that bring less to the table. In open world of course Spellbreaker is fine and tanky. Now really, we have to wait months before hopefully in the balance pass Warrior gets a lot of updating.