Dagger SLB dead? :(

[Yvern.7608]

My hybrid Soulbeast has been weeping since the OWP nerf but was at least relieved when they made compensation that worked well enough for power builds.

 

That said, I have been trying to fit dagger into the build but Axe is just superior choice in any case of scenario it seems... even when you're going condi which is rather dead since OWP nerf and you don't have even half the hit count to proc Sharpened Edge during the phase 😞 Any tips or know-hows for utilizing dagger SLB into more meta-centric environment at the time?

Edited July 20, 2022 by Yvern.7608
Added L between SB

[RainbowTurtle.3542]

It's not just dagger that's dead.

 

Hybrid is dead.

[anduriell.6280]

Ranger is depression. 

[Gotejjeken.1267]

In PvE, probably.  In WvW can still be useful on a roaming boonbeast.  

[Yvern.7608]

On 7/20/2022 at 8:54 PM, RainbowTurtle.3542 said:

It's not just dagger that's dead.

 

Hybrid is dead.

Also condi it feels like :( At least SLB wise. SnowCrow seems to think only viable condi build for ranger right now is alac Untamed with condi as side. That said I also swapped to power build just to see the feel of it and it's already killing things so much faster

 

3 hours ago, Gotejjeken.1267 said:

In PvE, probably.  In WvW can still be useful on a roaming boonbeast.  

I'm sadly more leaned towards PvE. Difficult to have enjoyable time with over 200 pings against other players rather than with them. I am just running D/A and A/WH in berserker set for now and pulling the dagger out during more organized activities like Strike. Or just play alac heal Druid :(

[RainbowTurtle.3542]

37 minutes ago, Yvern.7608 said:

Also condi it feels like 😞 At least SLB wise. SnowCrow seems to think only viable condi build for ranger right now is alac Untamed with condi as side. That said I also swapped to power build just to see the feel of it and it's already killing things so much faster

Snowcrows killed the build because when the duration for stance sharing was nerfed, condi soulbeast's already low output dropped, because it relied on vulture stance.

 

Side note: Druid isn't in a very good spot right now. Might is spotty and moving helps kill might generation.

[Trevor Boyer.6524]

On 7/20/2022 at 12:57 AM, Yvern.7608 said:

My hybrid Soulbeast has been weeping since the OWP nerf but was at least relieved when they made compensation that worked well enough for power builds.

 

That said, I have been trying to fit dagger into the build but Axe is just superior choice in any case of scenario it seems... even when you're going condi which is rather dead since OWP nerf and you don't have even half the hit count to proc Sharpened Edge during the phase 😞 Any tips or know-hows for utilizing dagger SLB into more meta-centric environment at the time?

Dagger isn't the way to go anymore. Axe is just better at this point.

On 7/20/2022 at 7:54 AM, RainbowTurtle.3542 said:

It's not just dagger that's dead.

 

Hybrid is dead.

Not so sure about that.

I haven't tested it yet, been getting around the resources to do this, but Grieving stats on Soulbeast may make hybrid still work. Vicious Quarry in Skirmishing now grants +40% misc crit chance, you get the misc 10% crit while attacking from side or behind, and a Writ Of Masterful Accuracy will grant another 10%. You can now get 100% crit chance while wearing Grieving.

So the idea is to make this work with Sharpened Edges 33% chance of bleed on crits while maximizing the amount of strikes used in the DPS rotation. We'd be looking at Axe/Axe as the main set for Axe#5 and then swap to either Axe/Warhorn for WH#4 or Longbow for Barrage, maybe even use Torch for #5. But I think Warhorn is going to be the better bet vs. single targets like bosses because it has 16x strikes and Vuln.

From there it will probably be best to optimize this strangely with Mad King Runes which will grant the +175 power and +45% bleed duration, and then the #6 ability is ANOTHER Warhorn #4 that happens in an AoE, another 16x strikes and Vuln. It'll want to wear an Agony Sigil for an additional +20% bleed and that with the GM Soulbeast trait will be 75% bleed.

On a single rotation this build is looking at landing a ridiculous amount of strikes for the 33% chance to bleed. We'd be looking at about 60x strikes for a single damage rotation, just the first one with OWP prebuff. Those 60x strikes will land about 20 stacks of bleed alone. With Sharp Stone it'll be 30 stacks of bleed. With Split Blade and Winter's Bite it'll be 38. <- And this is happening in about the first 3 seconds of the first burst, and not to mention the heavy power damage it is still dealing. If it keeps the damage rotation on, it should be maintaining between 40 and 60 stacks of bleed in addition to all of the other power damage.

Important to note that this version of the hybrid doesn't worry about other condis. It just wants bleed. This build would essentially be a power build with 100% crit rate that is slightly tweaked to get more out of those bleeds. Would it be worth the dip from Berserker to Grieving? Not too sure about that yet, but it would have to be at least equal in DPS if it didn't surpass a straight power variant.

I may test this today actually.

Edited July 21, 2022 by Trevor Boyer.6524

[Yvern.7608]

12 hours ago, Trevor Boyer.6524 said:

On a single rotation this build is looking at landing a ridiculous amount of strikes for the 33% chance to bleed. We'd be looking at about 60x strikes for a single damage rotation, just the first one with OWP prebuff. Those 60x strikes will land about 20 stacks of bleed alone. With Sharp Stone it'll be 30 stacks of bleed. With Split Blade and Winter's Bite it'll be 38. <- And this is happening in about the first 3 seconds of the first burst, and not to mention the heavy power damage it is still dealing. If it keeps the damage rotation on, it should be maintaining between 40 and 60 stacks of bleed in addition to all of the other power damage.

I've thought about that variation for a bit, but I just thought about how heavy burning can scale to even if only for the short moment and dropped the idea since I was still thinking more on the viper focused setting.

 

12 hours ago, Trevor Boyer.6524 said:

I may test this today actually.

I am curious to see the results if you get around to testing this build. I don't have access to Grieving build right away to do so myself without extensive investment 😞

 

That said, it still doesn't save my love for daggers, but more options for ranger is always worth knowing!

[Yvern.7608]

14 hours ago, RainbowTurtle.3542 said:

Snowcrows killed the build because when the duration for stance sharing was nerfed, condi soulbeast's already low output dropped, because it relied on vulture stance.

 

Side note: Druid isn't in a very good spot right now. Might is spotty and moving helps kill might generation.

I noticed. Literally just alac pump. At least they buffed the healing so much that assuming people aren't walking into damage and only handling a mistake or two I could keep the entire squad of 10 at full health during most cases. And thankfully there's so many might generation all around that while it may not be 100% uptime it's still enough to not suffer from it.