Need help soloing difficult champs on Vindicator

[Arklite.4013]

Hi all. I'm struggling to solo hard champs (like the frog in verdant brink) on my vindicator. I feel like our damage mitigation is pretty limited since we're encouraged to use our dodge to deal damage. I feel like half the time I'm switching legends and healing just to kite and buy more time for my healing CDs - we don't really have a lot of ways to create space aside from the dodge on blue alliance. We also have very limited breakbar damage. I've been trying GS+sw/sw or staff with typical alliance/shiro with limited success. I'm not super comfortable on the spec yet but I can generally solo most of these HPs pretty easily on my other characters. Has anyone found a vindicator build they're happy with for open world? Thanks

Edited March 21, 2022 by Arklite.4013

[ProtoGunner.4953]

GS4 is a great block, but I agree that there is good healing but not much mitigation. Then again I like the sustain and most champs are no issue. You are talking about hard champs. Champs are not meant for solo and while you can do most certainly hard champs are meant for group content.

[Buran.3796]

 You're not the only one. Vindi seems designed to bite the dust soloing those HP: you're pure mele whereas a lot of them mix mele and AoE/ranged attacks; you have a single dodge and some of them invoke allies; your evade is also a main source of damage, so if you save it against one shoots you'll lose a lot of dps. Your bigest burst (Eternity's Requiem) has a 1 second cast, in which you're prone to take damage. You have no cc in the weapon nor the legend, so you rely on core weapons and legends to break the defiant bars.

   I saw some more skilled players doing well vs hard foes using the Vindicator (albeit with their HP dancing in the edge of a razor), and I'm sure that Lord Hizen will find a way to amaze us using the spec to solo legendary bounties, fractal bosses and so, but let me be honest: to me core Rev, Herald and Renegade feel better at OW than Vindicator, and that's a very recent feel due I did the HoT and PoF maps with the Vindi the last week. Conversely, I'm playing the EoD maps entirely in a condi Renegade build, and so far two first maps have been like playing in god mode, or one of those "no hit" Dark Souls videos: enemies barely touched me (the buff to Spiritcrush so now you can place it backwards is godsend). 

[wayneericgouin.9371]

Don't use metabattle builds. Zerker gear isn't going to keep you alive long enough to kill a champion unless you're lord Hizen. Vindicator has more mitigation tools than any other rev spec.

[Khubbo.9067]

swap Shiro to Jalis for decent CC bar break. Hammers and elite give you damage reduction too.

Edited March 22, 2022 by Edds.7681

[Thon.3780]

Just my idea .  
1. change to jump heal

2. Use retribution trait to improve endurance Regen rate

3. use jalis as everyone mention

4 use gs /staff .   Use Staff 5 for evade  area attack as necessary  with red ( use have daze utility) And use for cc break with blue ( use have heal from staff 1,2,4 and blue)

5. Try fragile sigil with devastation trait. Improve mark gain.

6. Gs3 use for evade boss area attack

7. the worst scenario, you may need to change armor to improve defense. Some said the best defend is high damage but I still not sure it can use for large health high damage boss or not

[nosleepdemon.1368]

I find celestial Vindicator to be pretty sustainable, you certainly do have tons of movement abilities with the pair of Vindi utility 1 skills plus greatsword 3. You can also use f2 to gain endurance back for a faster dodge. I find in harder fights it's imperative to cycle your red/blue skills for maximum damage and sustain; just using all red then flipping to Shiro is going to get you mullered. The lack of breakbar damage is, in my opinion, the Elite's biggest stumbling block. Maybe if blue utility 3 also caused a daze and did breakbar damage, things would be better.

Edited March 23, 2022 by nosleepdemon.1368

[Zaret.1450]

using jalis,  changong gear, using heal evade theres a lot of ways to have a huge sustain on vindi, but the problem is most of those things are already on renegade and even more on herald, and those 2 already are superior to vindi if we dont count pure raw power dmg output on a golem, the thing is vindi, more specific archie, looks like its designed a a pair to shiro, a full fledged fast and hard hitting power dps that can evade most things, the problem is once you get to play it it feels bad, the jump is sometimes too long to load, or lands too late, or you get it and loose the dmg buff and have to dodge baddly etc, it is usable but i have played willbender too and it fells more of a vindicator than the vindicator, willbender literaly has the same tipe of skills as vindi, but you get much more options and have better survival options too, its sad but if you want a vindi go willbender itll be less frustrating.

[KeoLegend.5132]

23 hours ago, zaswer.5246 said:

using jalis,  changong gear, using heal evade theres a lot of ways to have a huge sustain on vindi, but the problem is most of those things are already on renegade and even more on herald, and those 2 already are superior to vindi if we dont count pure raw power dmg output on a golem, the thing is vindi, more specific archie, looks like its designed a a pair to shiro, a full fledged fast and hard hitting power dps that can evade most things, the problem is once you get to play it it feels bad, the jump is sometimes too long to load, or lands too late, or you get it and loose the dmg buff and have to dodge baddly etc, it is usable but i have played willbender too and it fells more of a vindicator than the vindicator, willbender literaly has the same tipe of skills as vindi, but you get much more options and have better survival options too, its sad but if you want a vindi go willbender itll be less frustrating.

 

Is there a WB build that can solo champs and bounties? Since Celesbender doesn't work

[GrayHawk.7560]

Don't focus on glass DPS.

 

This will echo what a fair few people above have said but here is my 2c -

 

 GS with Staff on swap, energy sigils on both, I like cleansing on staff for convenience but that's personal preference.  

 

Cele gear actually works quite well.  Your TTK will be lower but  Vindi can venefit from the extra boon duration, vit and toughness quite well.  Rev can buff its own crit chance enough to make Cele at least somewhat viable.

 

For legends Alliance Stance and Jalis will give you all the tools you need for damage, boons, CC and survivability.

 

Mix trait choices for both damage and survivability, eg go with the healing dodge and the battle scars traits.  Vindi shits out vuln and both builds and consumes scars very quickly, along with your 4 heals and healing dodge your sustain is actually very very impressive.

Edited March 24, 2022 by GrayHawk.7560

[Zaret.1450]

21 hours ago, KeoLegend.5132 said:

 

Is there a WB build that can solo champs and bounties? Since Celesbender doesn't work

dunno, i mean for those kind of things i use my raid build and just rise comander tag, there's allwais people to help, if you want to do it alone i guess you could do it too, maybe dragon gear or somwthing like that? dunno

[Nephalem.8921]

On 3/22/2022 at 3:05 AM, wayneericgouin.9371 said:

Don't use metabattle builds. Zerker gear isn't going to keep you alive long enough to kill a champion unless you're lord Hizen. Vindicator has more mitigation tools than any other rev spec.

You mean especially if you are lord hizen? only posts solos on ridiculous tanky sustain builds.

Vindicator is just very very bad at dealing with hard content. most power builds suck solo because unlike condi they are a lot more boon dependant and have various scholar mods. play renegade instead. a single dodge which is also required for dps so technically no dodge is just bad.

[Nephalem.8921]

On 3/24/2022 at 12:56 PM, KeoLegend.5132 said:

 

Is there a WB build that can solo champs and bounties? Since Celesbender doesn't work

trailblazer plaguedoctor mix with litany of wrath heal.

[KeoLegend.5132]

1 hour ago, Nephalem.8921 said:

trailblazer plaguedoctor mix with litany of wrath heal.

can you explain me why plagedoctor with Litany? Since afaik WB will be with full HP during the whole Litany uptime due to big burn?

[Nephalem.8921]

12 minutes ago, KeoLegend.5132 said:

can you explain me why plagedoctor with Litany? Since afaik WB will be with full HP during the whole Litany uptime due to big burn?

Full trailblazer overcaps burn duration. dire works aswell but the additional bd might help.

[KeoLegend.5132]

1 minute ago, Nephalem.8921 said:

Full trailblazer overcaps burn duration. dire works aswell but the additional bd might help.

i see thank you. Do you have any real test with it?

Mainly to check:

1. How far behind the DMG is compared to Vipers
2. How good does it fare in WvW Roam
3. How good does it fare against HoT Champ and Solo Bounties?

[Blood Red Arachnid.2493]

If you're forced into a fight where it is impossible to melee, the Vind isn't going to do well.  The only solution to that is to... play renegade.  You can do hit-and-run tactics with it, though.

I don't swap out of berserker while attempting to solo bosses.  I just change the traits around.  In Devastation I will take both Thrill of Combat and Dance of Death, and for legends I will take Alliance + Dwarf instead of Assassin.  This setup will overcap on Battle Scars pretty quickly, but using Vengeful Hammers will deplete all of those stacks.  The hammers themselves heal for 159 health per second per target, Thrill of Combat adds an additional 117 per second, and each source of vulnerability will add another 117 per stack.  I.E. Death Drop will give 10 stacks per enemy, capping out at 25 for 3+ enemies.

If I should need more, I change more.  Though generally this setup out-regens anybody who can't one-shot me.  There's always Saint's Shield, Redemption's Sermon, and the Retribution line.