Trying to pick a bruiser class for PvE

[FrozenWinter.7298]

TL;DR: Looking for build ideas that are tanky DPS, prefer power based for Fractals or OW. Ok with giving Boons while I learn fights so I'm not deadweight. 

 

I'm coming back to the game to finish story, already have the three expansions, and I'm looking to get into Fractals. Eventually I want to make a Legendary but I think I can get anything to work for Open World. So this is more focused on Instanced PvE. I'm a bit indecision locked and could use some advice. I don't like going full glass cannon. I feel better when I have some beef either through really good self sustain or high defense/health. I don't want to heal others since I prefer smashing heads in but while I get the hang of things I'm gonna screw up a lot so if I can offer boons to the party so I'm not total deadweight then cool. Also I prefer Power over Condi. I'm neutral on piano playing. I'd prefer not while I'm learning fights but if it isn't some clunky mess then I'm ok with it. I'll just practice it more before I jump in. *shrug*

 

I've taken most classes to either 80 or beaten up on a Golem. I've been watching videos and these forums but I don't know what to really go with. Warrior seemed neat especially Greatsword Berserker but that turns into a Banner Support thing and I like to whack stuff rather than hold a flag. Scrapper and SoulBeast/Untamed have possibilities. Reaper was on the list but after the Valkyrie thread in the Necro Forums I'm kinda eh on it. Plus golem beating up didn't fill me with joy out of shroud. I don't expect to be topping any DPS meters but as long as I can do my job, get the kill while not being instagibbed and not be kicked from groups then woo. So first story, then fractals then legendary maybe? Thank you in advance for any class, spec, build suggestions you have. Happy gaming. 

Edited March 20, 2023 by FrozenWinter.7298
Typos.

[Infinity.2876]

Either spellbreaker (using greatsword is fairly clunky with self root as main source of dmg. Use axe/dagger dagger/axe with dual wield) or condi macezerker (bash enemy faces in literally) (technically a spvp build but works fine in ow now with the changes for quickness) (use strength instead of discipline btw)

 

d/d soulbeast is fairly bruiserly (using black bear for invulns to do harder content and forest spider for poison and combo field)

 

Staff daredevil is always a nice choice for a bruiser type and provides lots of ow sustain.

 

this is posting on ow.

I'm not sure if you are talking about ow pve or instanced pve

[FrozenWinter.7298]

I'm thinking more for Fractals since those seem cool and I'd like to do them. My logic is OW is more forgiving and I can run whatever. I'd like to focus on one class rather than, "This is my OW character and this one for Fractals." At least until I can get stuff more built up. 

Edited March 19, 2023 by FrozenWinter.7298

[Paradoxoglanis.1904]

Scrapper. Very easy to play. Can be dps or quickness-dps with some nice utility and cc options. Pretty durable with passive barrier generation and an evade and block on hammer. Can easily self sustain 25 might, fury, quickness with open world builds.

[the krytan assassin.9235]

Spellbreaker hammer dagger/axe is the way to go. 25k base health pool, strong self heal, heavy armor baseline, access to full counter, perma self stab, group might support & some self quickness, high dps output, decent aoe dmge, one of the best breakbar dmge, constant boonrip, easy dps rotation, easy access to one of the most broken party stunbreak+condi removal and a free aoe rez. The only place where spb is relatively bad is on HTCM, for all other fractals/strikes/raids/cm's the spb's effectiveness is ranging between average to BiS. 

The Spb doesn't provide to many boons, but the most consistent bruiser build by far. Boonbuilds tend to be abit more difficult to start with anyways due to your party members relying on you for a decent boon uptime. 

Edited March 19, 2023 by the krytan assassin.9235

[FrozenWinter.7298]

Hmm. I do have a Warrior level 80 already. Would just need to poke around for the Hero Points in Path of Fire or something. I have been levelling my Engineer so I might bounce back and forth between that and Warrior. 

[Ruisenior.6342]

Reaper, you won't regret it

[Dahkeus.8243]

Revenant.  
 

Edit: To clarify, it has some of the best open world builds, is incredibly tanky, and can fill any role in group content if you ever care about it.

 

Edited March 20, 2023 by Dahkeus.8243

[Dr Meta.3158]

On 3/18/2023 at 4:16 PM, FrozenWinter.7298 said:

TL;DR: Looking for build ideas that are tanky DPS, prefer power based for Fractals or OW. Ok with giving Boons while I learn fights so I'm not deadweight. 

 

I'm coming back to the game to finish story, already have the three expansions, and I'm looking to get into Fractals. Eventually I want to make a Legendary but I think I can get anything to work for Open World. So this is more focused on Instanced PvE. I'm a bit indecision locked and could use some advice. I don't like going full glass cannon. I feel better when I have some beef either through really good self sustain or high defense/health. I don't want to heal others since I prefer smashing heads in but while I get the hang of things I'm gonna screw up a lot so if I can offer boons to the party so I'm not total deadweight then cool. Also I prefer Power over Condi. I'm neutral on piano playing. I'd prefer not while I'm learning fights but if it isn't some clunky mess then I'm ok with it. I'll just practice it more before I jump in. *shrug*

 

I've taken most classes to either 80 or beaten up on a Golem. I've been watching videos and these forums but I don't know what to really go with. Warrior seemed neat especially Greatsword Berserker but that turns into a Banner Support thing and I like to whack stuff rather than hold a flag. Scrapper and SoulBeast/Untamed have possibilities. Reaper was on the list but after the Valkyrie thread in the Necro Forums I'm kinda eh on it. Plus golem beating up didn't fill me with job out of shroud. I don't expect to be topping any DPS meters but as long as I can do my job, get the kill while not being instagibbed and not be kicked from groups then woo. So first story, then fractals then legendary maybe? Thank you in advance for any class, spec, build suggestions you have. Happy gaming. 

I wouldn't get downed on the Valkyrie thread with reaper. Reaper is good in pve. You can use the raid build and swap out a few traits and utilities for more general sustain while not losing much in power and just mow through content all the up to champion levels. Legendary bosses are probably going to warrant a celestial build or something along those lines. And thats if you want to bother  with soloing those.

[Koensol.5860]

Scrapper 100%. Quickness scrapper is useful for fractals and in open world it is very easy to play while being very effective and tanky with all the AoE cleave and barrier generation.

[FrozenWinter.7298]

I have played around with Reaper and even went through PoF with it. Towards the end I was kind of just eh on it. Outside of shroud it didn't feel that fun. Which is odd because swinging around a giant slab of metal should make my brain do the happy chemicals. While in shroud I felt like a monster truck that walks like a woman. I might give it another go later but for now I'm working on levelling up Engineer for Scrapper and doing HP farming on my Warrior.

 

I've seen Revenant a few times but I just can't seem to get into it. It's around level 53 at the moment. Not sure what I'm doing wrong with it. It just doesn't spark joy while playing it. Maybe it's the levelling doldrums and I'll feel different at 80?

 

I do have a question about gear as well. I see everyone recommend going Zerker's for gear but how bad would it be to run Marauder's? I like the idea of a little extra HP at least until I get better at the game. I have a set of exotic Zerker's on my Warrior but I feel a little squishy playing in it. 

Edited March 20, 2023 by FrozenWinter.7298

[Stx.4857]

Scrapper or hammer spellbreaker 

[draxynnic.3719]

The Valkyrie reaper thread should be taken in the context of a lot of it predating a set of buffs to reaper damage. It's considerably more capable nowadays.

Marauder's is fine (often preferred, even) for open world and for learning. Once you start building ascended for fractals, though, berserker is probably better.

Rev definitely has a bit of a leveling doldrum - unlike other professions that had to survive as core only for the game's first few years, rev is particularly dependent on elite specialisations. The only really functional build for core is Shiro/Jalis with power (there used to be ways to make Shiro/Mallyx work, but skill reworks have scuppered that). It really comes into its own once you have an elite specialisation fully trained.

Based on your parameters, rev and engineer are probably the best choices. Both have reasonably tanky builds available, and both have a high degree of versatility to take multiple roles. If you're enjoying engineer and not sold on rev, engi might be the safer bet.

[FrozenWinter.7298]

I am enjoying my time on Engineer and am almost 80. I think I'm going to finish levelling that off tonight then grab Scrapper. Throughout the week I'll work on getting the HPs for that and Spellbreaker and set them both up with Marauder's from Verdant Brink. I will go Zerker's when I start getting into Ascended gear but I don't have experience in melee enough yet. Plus I haven't even stepped into a Fractal yet. Normally I lean towards ranged but I've changed over the years to be way more aggressive and melee focused. I blame Bloodbourne. 

 

Revenant I'll work on two-ish weeks from now. It might be what I'm using as a main in the future but for now looking at my login list makes me go eh when I mouse over it. I do have a bunch of those Tomes of Knowledge to make her instant 80 but I prefer doing it the longer way to learn better. 

 

I did want to say though thank you to everyone in this thread for your guidance. I was/am a little lost on things in Guild Wars (thank goodness for the wiki) and I appreciate the direction. Next up will be finding a guild while I work on this stuff. Thank you again and happy gaming. 

[the krytan assassin.9235]

Some marauder or dragon gear can be a decent addition for lower health classes, but i'd probably avoid investing to much marauder gear in something like a warrior or necro. Unless you are willing to sacrifice like 50%+ of your dmge standing in AoE's and not dodging attacks will kill you. 

For ascended trinkets id highly recommend to start with getting some berserker stats since they tend to be alot more versatile then marauder. Also investing in a high level jade bot core will give alot more value then upgrading exotic to ascended armor 

[FrozenWinter.7298]

I have not stepped into EoD yet so I don't have a Jade Bot but that'll go on the list. 

[the krytan assassin.9235]

2 hours ago, FrozenWinter.7298 said:

I have not stepped into EoD yet so I don't have a Jade Bot but that'll go on the list. 

You actually dont need to unlock the jade bot to use a jade bot core for your character. You can slot it in on your hero tab.

Jade bot cores vary between 1-30g and provide 100-235 vitality depending on the jade bot core level. For comparison: an ascended marauder armorset provides 207 vitality. 

[draxynnic.3719]

16 hours ago, FrozenWinter.7298 said:

Revenant I'll work on two-ish weeks from now. It might be what I'm using as a main in the future but for now looking at my login list makes me go eh when I mouse over it. I do have a bunch of those Tomes of Knowledge to make her instant 80 but I prefer doing it the longer way to learn better. 

In revenant's case, I'm not sure how much that actually helps, especially if you're not enjoying the process. A lot of the playstyle of revenant once you get up there comes from the interaction between the elite specialisation and the core features. Learning Jalis/Shiro power core probably doesn't take the time it takes to 1-80 the old-fashioned way and it's a relatively simple playstyle, which might be part of the reason you're feeling so eh about it. There's probably more return for your time investment learning how the profession works with the elite specialisations, especially since you're going to have some time getting hero points anyway.

[Buran.3796]

17 hours ago, FrozenWinter.7298 said:

Revenant I'll work on two-ish weeks from now. It might be what I'm using as a main in the future but for now looking at my login list makes me go eh when I mouse over it. I do have a bunch of those Tomes of Knowledge to make her instant 80 but I prefer doing it the longer way to learn better. 

  Run a condition build to rise core  Revenant to 80 (get cheap carrion stats at level 61 in the Black Lion market). Condition Rev (specially for core) works better as a bruiser than power since you have mace and axe have much better AoE cleave than the swords, Mallyx's Call To Anguish is phenomenal to stack foes and Embrace the Dasrkness + the mace skills will melt everything in seconds, ouside some Champions. The good thing about Rev is that you can run pretty much the same gear with the 3 specs and all of them would be tanky (you can also trade sustain for damage with power Vindicator)

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PmwAkeZlhQHMJyhFRNMI6hBSfMBKgjuSfKD-zxIY8o7vUSoA6KByMC6ME8fA-e

   Hizen made a great vid about it, albeit those are for OW solo PvE (you can run Alacrigade or QHerald for instanced content, albeit those aren't bruisers).

 

 

Edited March 21, 2023 by Buran.3796

[Ruisenior.6342]

21 hours ago, FrozenWinter.7298 said:

I am enjoying my time on Engineer and am almost 80. I think I'm going to finish levelling that off tonight then grab Scrapper. Throughout the week I'll work on getting the HPs for that and Spellbreaker and set them both up with Marauder's from Verdant Brink.

try scraper full zerk with vampirism runes

[FrozenWinter.7298]

41 minutes ago, Ruisenior.6342 said:

try scraper full zerk with vampirism runes

See that's what I was going back and forth on. Since Scrapper gets the shield based on how hard they hit things running full Zerker's might be better. I've been going back and forth on it. I didn't even think about runes. 

[Nephalem.8921]

On 3/19/2023 at 9:43 PM, the krytan assassin.9235 said:

Spellbreaker hammer dagger/axe is the way to go. 25k base health pool, strong self heal, heavy armor baseline, access to full counter, perma self stab, group might support & some self quickness, high dps output, decent aoe dmge, one of the best breakbar dmge, constant boonrip, easy dps rotation, easy access to one of the most broken party stunbreak+condi removal and a free aoe rez. The only place where spb is relatively bad is on HTCM, for all other fractals/strikes/raids/cm's the spb's effectiveness is ranging between average to BiS. 

The Spb doesn't provide to many boons, but the most consistent bruiser build by far. Boonbuilds tend to be abit more difficult to start with anyways due to your party members relying on you for a decent boon uptime. 

You can swap a traitline and 3 utilities and turn the build into a quickness support. Even better than scrapper since scrapper needs boon duration for quick, spellbreaker does not. Quickbreaker just needs a few assa pieces but lacking those wont stop it from performing its roles.

[AlexndrTheGreat.8310]

Skimmed over and looks like all the builds were already mentioned, but wanted to re-list them all anyway lol. Just keep in mind that in instanced content PvE (Fractals, Raids, Strikes), Berserker gear is the go to so even if you’re on one of these bruiser builds, you’ll still be quite squishy.

Spellbreaker, hammer build got buffed relatively recently and it does great damage. Runs Defense traitline so it has lots of defensive capabilities. Can also run a banner build for quickness support.

Herald, power dps and quickness dps.

Reaper is purely dps.

Scrapper for dps and quickness dps.

Untamed for dps and alacrity dps. If you’re new I’d highly recommend just ignoring the Fervent Force build for now and run Ferocious Symbiosis. It is so so much easier and does well enough damage to be competitive in groups.

[Noah Salazar.5430]

I recomend full berserker scrapper, on top of dps and tanknes, you also providing aoe superspeed to a team, and can ress up to 3ppl evry 25-35s

 

for open word use runes of pack, and cavalier hammer if you want solo bounty

Edited March 23, 2023 by Noah Salazar.5430

[FrozenWinter.7298]

So minor update on things. I have been playing my Spellbreaker through the EoD story. Since I already had a full set of Exotic Zerker's gear I just tossed that on her and have been beating up stuff. I like being able to swap between Hammer and Dagger/Axe. I get to break all the Defiance which has been more fun that I was expecting and the heavy THUD of hitting things with a hammer has been enjoyable. Also I'm not as locked as I was with Greatsword so I feel better playing it. Freedom of movement is lovely. 

 

Scrapper is waiting on the last few pieces of Beserker gear. I just put up some buy orders on the TP since I'm not in a rush for it. I've read through my tooltips and I like the concept but I don't know how busy it'll be. Between Weapon, Utility, a full toolbelt and Kits I had a minor information overload. On the other hand hitting things to get a shield sounds fun so when the orders go through I'll poke Scrapper a bit. I had a few points in Machinist already (basically the first few talents to unlock the jolly green giant) and used that to solo HoT Hero Points. Which was an experience. I never once felt like I was under threat but that bothered me a little. It's like I was the deadweight in an escort mission. 

 

I think since I'm coming back to GW2 my basis for what is squishy or not is a little off. Maybe I should spend a few hours on something that doesn't know what health means. Reaper I tried again and still wasn't feeling it. Revenant is going to wait a bit while I whack a mole with pirates. I'm probably going to do what was suggested above and use my boost on it. This way I can get the stupid thing out of my inventory and start working on an Elite spec.