Some questions about Firebrand

[Zei.6537]

I have full Celestial gear on my Firebrand and I recently started to play the game, so I am not very familiar with all of the boons etc.

 

-I use Axe/Torch and don't really weapon swap since I currently only do low Fractals and open world. I like Scepter/Torch more, so how much DPS or survivability would I lose if I use Scepter instead of an Axe?

 

-Is F2 a reliable way to heal myself? I spam first skill of Tome 2 but heal seems insignificant, at least the heal it does for me. Does Firebrand have some sort of direct/more traditional heal we can use to top ourselves up?

 

-I am a new player and I boosted this character so I already have Celestial gear. What pieces of gear should I aim for now? 

[Luna.6203]

 

Firebrand is suited more for party to support others. Not for solo play. When using tome 2 ideally fist you want to use book-skill 5 that boost your healing by 33% for few seconds and than spam book-skill 1 or use other source of heal during that buff. Celestial alone wont give you much healing though. If you dont want to weapon swap on firebrand stay with axe its mandatory scepter is more like optional weapon swap. For solo-play if you have EoD expansion and celestial gear. Than celestial willbender might be what you looking for. Since im lazy i just typed celestial willbender to youtube and 1st result is this video. Seems pretty good video guide that explain everything if you want to try it.

 

 

Few notes i would use greatsword as one of the weapon swap. I would avoid scepter completely. I would not recommend use that build in pvp. Unless you really want survivability i would not use rune of defender. But thats my personal preference you can use it as it is. Or make your own modifications that suits your playstyle.

 

That way. You can use firebrand in group and willbender for solo with similar gear. It wont be best but might be good way to start.

 

Overall i would not use forum to ask these questions. Watch youtube guides or join pve guild that offer some training and share guides for new players.

[Massimoni.9453]

9 hours ago, Zei.6537 said:

I use Axe/Torch and don't really weapon swap since I currently only do low Fractals and open world. I like Scepter/Torch more, so how much DPS or survivability would I lose if I use Scepter instead of an Axe?

I can't give you any exact numbers but the DPS loss of taking Scepter instead of Axe is very large as your rotation will have a few seconds downtime which have to be filled with auto attacks and having Scepter here instead of Axe will massively drop your DPS as Scepter only does any conditions from the passive of your F1 (which isn't alot). Survivability wouldn't be that much higher anyways, as Scepter just sucks as a ranged weapon. Low range, extremely slow projectiles and very lackluster damage aren't the best things in the world, Scepter is only in the mix as its skill 2 is nice as a background ticking symbol while you go through your F1 tome, so you can ignore the weapon swap for now but I'd really advise you play Axe/Torch if you want to deal any meaningful damage at least in fractals (open world is so easy you could even play staff there).

9 hours ago, Zei.6537 said:

Is F2 a reliable way to heal myself? I spam first skill of Tome 2 but heal seems insignificant, at least the heal it does for me. Does Firebrand have some sort of direct/more traditional heal we can use to top ourselves up?

I wouldn't call it "reliable" as its cooldown is just too long to be called that, even full heal firebrand sits somewhere near the bottom in the healing output ranking. The healing isn't the best in the game especially with celestial gear, but just spamming 1 doesn't net you the most healing. I would go for: 5 -> 4 -> 111 (and if you have conditions on you: throw a 2 in there, it cleanses and heals more for the condition cleansed).

9 hours ago, Zei.6537 said:

I am a new player and I boosted this character so I already have Celestial gear. What pieces of gear should I aim for now? 

Depends on what role you want to play and if you want to continue with firebrand (which I can't recommend for now as its only getting nerfed patch after patch, stuff like  pMech or cVirtuoso is just better for the stuff you described). If you really like firebrand and want to continue playing it, there are these "meta" options (so basically your only options if you don't want to troll): HFB (healer, goes for full harrier gear; not sure if this can even upkeep 25 Might anymore after the latest nerf), qFB (quickness support, is a mixture of viper and ritualist (not sure but that stat combination might require that you have the End of Dragons expansion) last time I checked; is now outclassed by stuff like quickness herald on many encounters after the latest patch) or cFB (condition DPS firebrand, which is a mixture of viper and sinister gear; isn't worth playing anymore in the absolute majority of endgame content).

As a personal side note: You will continue to hear how OP firebrand supposedly is by people in this forum but they mostly only repeat what others told them without any idea about the class itself and HEAVY bias towards their own mains.

 

It's too late now but I'd HEAVILY advise against boosting your first character to 80 (assuming this is your first) as you will miss out on a lot of the slow introduction into content. It's better to just play at least the first character to 80 manually and boost any following characters when you actually know how stuff works.

[Ruisenior.6342]

Take into consideration that willbender is way better for solo/dps than firebrand, but it requires more hands cause its gameplay is really fastpaced/flashy, nevermind you will have a blast playing it. So first without any changes needed on your build try it.

   The first cheap upgrade on your build for a firebrand will be taking traveler runes. Take leadership runes(they are expensive) in case you want to switch from willbender to firebrand without changing build. I would only use offhand sword on willbender in pvp or wvw roamming, so for pve sword torch + scepter torch works really good (you only need 1 torch equiped on your offhand in case u runing sword/torch and scepter/torch).

To answer your questions 

  -Mainly use axe on firebrand but you can also try sword, it offers more physical damage, a lowcooldown teleport and a good damage 3 skill that destroys projectiles or use both and keep the scepter on your bag only when you need to range.

  -Use scepter to start combat with the skill number 2 change to axe and only switch back to scepter in case you need to kite and recover some cds meanwhile doing some dps.

  -F2 should grant you more than 9k of hp back (celestial Gear) by just using 5,1,1,1,1 and having regen on you if using mantra of lore as an example. For solo play i would grab Litany of Wrath healing skill instead of mantra of solace.

  -With all your celestial gear, you should try first some builds on firebrand and willbender(celestial wont fit on dragonhunter) and mess around with some traits like picking righteous instincts instead of amplified wrath or viceversa and aim for a full viper gear or zerker/valkyrie/dragon. But going for a full celestial ascended crafted set is your best bet cause you will be able to use it on alot of guardians builds around all game modes.

Edited August 30, 2022 by Ruisenior.6342

[Ruisenior.6342]

As an example I'll link here to you a late game build with some notes and how to get all the equipment required. Take in mind that this build is a celestial well rounded build, suitable for all game modes, so neither the best dps nor the best tank but will serve to complete by yourself the hardest content in the game and it will be a good support build on group content.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PWABw+d7lVUxwCbP9MpkGZkW2TvvaA-zxIY14vMSIVjrqk/kI0Mxtlff2AA-e

-For Group content switch: Unrelenting criticism for Liberator's vow trait on firebrand traitline and change your heal litany of wrath for mantra of solace (do this only if you have a dedicated healer on your squad), this will improve your quickness aplication by using your heal skill every 7 seconds but will make you lose some dps.

-A good damage opener vs tough targets will be using your heal skill to proc the trait healers resolution to get resolution(resolution grants you 9+ seconds of might every second and 25% crit chance being able to achive 100% crit chance)+stand the ground to boost your defenses, then skill 2 of sword+mantra of potence after that skill 4 of torch 3 times (zealot's flame and 2 zealots fire 1 provided by using your skill number 4 of torch and the other one cause the trait radiant fire). That's an easy and deadly combo.

-Try to maintain your resolution up with your healing skill + stand the ground, its a good damage boost, in case that you prefer to save those skills for defense/panic buton switch righteous instincts trait on radiance for amplified wrath and healer's resolution for right hand strength (also change your food Tropical pepermint cake or bowl of orrian truffle and meat stew, those are good defensive options), that will boost your burns and will let open your defensive skills. Note that this variation will make your opnener combo much more easier, but you will be stuck at 75% crit chance and it will also lower your might aplication.

-I mainly use the set of weapons showed on the build editor and i only switch sword for scepter in case i need to damage at range, so having scepter+torch will make a good dps ranged option, axe has enough damage on its kit so i prefer using shield with it for the utility (good combo with axe for pulling enemies, it has projectile defense and a block on demand) but you can use torch to for a dps boost at the cost of defense/utility.

-Honor is your defensive traitline and will grant you those benefits; 1--Massive boost to endurance regeneration (you will be able to dodge alot) 2--Every dodge roll will heal for 800 or 1000 if you have quickness up to 5 allies (and will grant you might in case you are using bowl of orrian truffle and meat stew) 3--Your symbols will heal if standing on them (symbols also grant you fury on every pulse)4--You will share might on crit proc.

Last to get your gear: weapons and armor crafted, rings can be a drop on fractals but you can buy all trinket with laurels(you will need to upgrade the rings to get more infusion slots so pvp rings will be cheaper to upgrade), infusions playing fractals, runes and food bought on tp.

EDIT

I was missing the most important, when to use your Tomes. You can also switch Weighty terms trait for Legendary lore to improve your tome skills (highly recommended for solo play)

F1-- You can use it as an opener and every time you get the cooldown back the rotation i prefer to use is this; 2/1/5/4/2 but in case you need to group mobs will be 3/2/1/5/4. If you traited Legendary lore you will get a 20% burn duration (that increases the cap to 120%). Note that this rotation is done without quickness, with quickness you should go 5/2/1/1/1

F2-- Use it when you need to get your heal back and your healing skill is on cd, rotation; 5/1/1/1/1 or 5/2/1/1/1 in case you need to clean condis. If you traited Legendary lore you will get regeneration for nearly 50 seconds 🙂

F3-- This combo is used before you are going to eat damage, rotation; 5/1/1/1/1 or 5/1/1/1/2 if you need some resolution. If traited Legendary lore you will get 40 seconds of protection!!!

That's my miniguide and i hope it will help you, Firebrand is one hell of a class.

Edited August 31, 2022 by Ruisenior.6342