Fixing Berserker [PvP/WvW]

[CalmTheStorm.2364]

1. Reduce Berserk Mode to 10s CD and Adrenaline cost to 10 (or zero, preferably).
   Berserker's biggest problem is it's inability to access Berserk mode frequently enough; reduced CD addresses this (it also reduces the dependency on Discipline for the CD reduction).  Also, the high adrenaline requirement makes it necessary to take Signet of Fury or similar utility to be able to enter Berserk reliably.  Reducing the adrenaline cost will free up utility slots and improve build diversity/viability.
    
2. Bloody Roar: Gain +5% damage; double this bonus in Berserk mode.  Gain 2s resistance when activating a primal burst.
   They said on the livestream that they were worried about the amount of dmg a (full glass) berserker is capable of dealing, and that is why they nerfed the damage mod.  Assuming they aren't going to reverse course on this, reworking it to provide half the bonus outside of Berserk mode will help a little, and extending resistance gain to every use of primal burst adds that "unstoppable offense" element without actually raising the max damage.
    
3. Dead or Alive: Lesser Blood Reckoning now has an initial heal of +1875 hp; BR duration increased to 3s.
   It's just not good enough as is.  Getting a modest heal tacked on will help.
    
4. Eternal Champion: Regenerate health (250 hp/s) while in Berserk Mode.  Gain protection (3s) and Stability (1 stack for 3s) when breaking stuns.
   The might gain is negligible, and 2s of stability is paltry for a GM trait, esp given that I need to a) get CCd, and b) spend a stunbreak to get it.  Increasing the duration of the stab and giving protection instead of might will make this trait massively more impactful.  And, since damage reduction is already being covered by the protection, change the passive toughness buff to a regenerative effect instead.

 

[Azure The Heartless.3261]

1 hour ago, CalmTheStorm.2364 said:

1. They said on the livestream that they were worried about the amount of dmg a (full glass) berserker is capable of dealing, and that is why they nerfed the damage mod.

 

*rattles chains*

FREE ME.

 

 

actual comment later

[Shinja.3451]

I never understood why anet thought it would be a good idea to make entering berserker mode require 30 adrenaline, have 15s cooldown, only last 15s and keep asking for adrenaline for berserker burst abilities, it's requirement after requirement and then they complain that it has to have high damage, as if they didn't even know what they designed...

The one now half works, possibly because it is bugged, the truth is that the game right now is quite destroyed and it discourages even trying it, I can only tell you with certainty that when the berserker worked it was because of both the active and passive postures, the healing of the seal and defense, the generation of adrenaline and clean conditions that "Cleansing Ire" granted and that before you had much more damage, be it from conditions or power, which allowed you to enter a fight without exploding before and do the damage corresponding to the requirements that I asked for, things got a lot worse especially because of the new specializations and that anet was extremely clumsy balancing the game.

[oscuro.9720]

I’m still a bit lost on why primal bursts require adrenaline. You already paid the adrenaline cost up front with the 30 required to enter into berserk mode. Plus it’s time-limited and has a long cooldown for a “mode” type skill. I feel like you could remove one of those requirements, and the most logical to me is the adrenaline cost for primal bursts. 
So, tell me, people who play berserker with any regularity, how effective would berserker be if primal bursts just had a cooldown and no adrenaline cost?

[CalmTheStorm.2364]

41 minutes ago, Shinja.3451 said:

I never understood why anet thought it would be a good idea to make entering berserker mode require 30 adrenaline, have 15s cooldown, only last 15s and keep asking for adrenaline for berserker burst abilities, it's requirement after requirement and then they complain that it has to have high damage, as if they didn't even know what they designed...

 

Ikr?? Why do soul beast and reaper get their modes on 10s intervals? SB doesn't even require any resource to be generated... There is literally no tradeoff for them. Reaper at least has to generate life force, but they have much more control over when (and how long) they are in shroud--AND it doubles as a second health bar. 

 

Berserker had to jump through way too many hoops just to do its mechanic. 

[CalmTheStorm.2364]

2 minutes ago, oscuro.9720 said:

I’m still a bit lost on why primal bursts require adrenaline. You already paid the adrenaline cost up front with the 30 required to enter into berserk mode. Plus it’s time-limited and has a long cooldown for a “mode” type skill. I feel like you could remove one of those requirements, and the most logical to me is the adrenaline cost for primal bursts. 
So, tell me, people who play berserker with any regularity, how effective would berserker be if primal bursts just had a cooldown and no adrenaline cost?

Would help a little I guess... But the real problem is getting to 30 adrenaline to get into berserk in the first place. 10 adrenaline is pretty easy to get--a weapon swap and a couple of hits will do the trick--so making the primal bursts free of adrenaline wouldn't matter much. But to get 30 adrenaline reliably, you have to take Sig of fury (or something similar). That taxes your utilities and makes it hard to make a viable build. 

 

Warrior already has far fewer buttons than other professions, so it really hurts when you need to sacrifice one of your utilities to be a "ON button" for your profession mechanic, you know? 

[Lan Deathrider.5910]

14 minutes ago, oscuro.9720 said:

I’m still a bit lost on why primal bursts require adrenaline. You already paid the adrenaline cost up front with the 30 required to enter into berserk mode. Plus it’s time-limited and has a long cooldown for a “mode” type skill. I feel like you could remove one of those requirements, and the most logical to me is the adrenaline cost for primal bursts. 
So, tell me, people who play berserker with any regularity, how effective would berserker be if primal bursts just had a cooldown and no adrenaline cost?

Well, Decap spam would shoot through the roof, so you'd see power Berserker overtake BSW or come close to it.

In all honesty, with a properly constructed build you'd be spamming them off CD anyway in PvE, so the 10 Adrenaline is somewhat of a formality at this point there. In PvP/WvW I can see the argument that I already had to spend 30 adrenaline to enter the mode in the first place, so why should I have to keep spending adrenaline?

[Grand Marshal.4098]

They just need to bake into a minor that when Berserk mode is active, in, or out-of-combat, you build adrenaline at a rate of 2 adrenaline strikes per second. 

[Shagie.7612]

not to attack anyone, cause i get wanting to play what you think is cool, but i find it to be a bit of a bummer that 99% of the suggestions for improving zerk here in the warrior subforum are entirely focused on power zerk (for pvp, anyways)

core, spb and bladesworn are all mandatory power sidenoders, i think zerk should prioritize being a competitive condi option before anything else

[Lan Deathrider.5910]

1 hour ago, Shagie.7612 said:

not to attack anyone, cause i get wanting to play what you think is cool, but i find it to be a bit of a bummer that 99% of the suggestions for improving zerk here in the warrior subforum are entirely focused on power zerk (for pvp, anyways)

core, spb and bladesworn are all mandatory power sidenoders, i think zerk should prioritize being a competitive condi option before anything else

That has more to do with Sword, Longbow, and Arms being bad and not the condi side of Berserker.

[CalmTheStorm.2364]

1 hour ago, Lan Deathrider.5910 said:

That has more to do with Sword, Longbow, and Arms being bad and not the condi side of Berserker.

This.

 

@Shagie.7612 I'm with you; I really want condizerker to be good (it's one of my favorite playstyles). But like Lan said, what is holding it back is more a lack of good condi weapons rather than bad traits. Indeed, Berserker's condi traits are pretty decent, and are some of the only ones that work outside of berserk mode. This automatically improves their viability.

 

If I could change one of the traits for condizerker, it would be to make Last Blaze grant fire aura in addition to burning enemies. That way there would be more synergy with King of Fires and would help zerker condi bomb more consistently.

 

In addition to bad weapons, the main thing holding condizerker back is the inability to get into berserk mode easily. Thus, my #1 recommendation in the OP was to make zerk mode more accessible. That will benefit all flavors of Berserker. 

[Lan Deathrider.5910]

2 hours ago, CalmTheStorm.2364 said:

This.

 

@Shagie.7612 I'm with you; I really want condizerker to be good (it's one of my favorite playstyles). But like Lan said, what is holding it back is more a lack of good condi weapons rather than bad traits. Indeed, Berserker's condi traits are pretty decent, and are some of the only ones that work outside of berserk mode. This automatically improves their viability.

 

If I could change one of the traits for condizerker, it would be to make Last Blaze grant fire aura in addition to burning enemies. That way there would be more synergy with King of Fires and would help zerker condi bomb more consistently.

 

In addition to bad weapons, the main thing holding condizerker back is the inability to get into berserk mode easily. Thus, my #1 recommendation in the OP was to make zerk mode more accessible. That will benefit all flavors of Berserker. 

The only part of Berserker I'd change for Condi is for KoF to proc in an AoE around the struck target rather than around the Berserker.

Beyond that Sword MH and OH, Longbow, and Arms all need serious review of their respective 'Power Budgets'

[Azure The Heartless.3261]

10 hours ago, Grand Marshal.4098 said:

They just need to bake into a minor that when Berserk mode is active, in, or out-of-combat, you build adrenaline at a rate of 2 adrenaline strikes per second. 

 

This or when you enter zerk mode your adren cost for primal bursts is 0, but you slowly lose adrenaline over time and can rebuild it with strikes to stay in zerkmode.

[Zekent.3652]

The heal received increase from Dead or Alive is really needed.