Mace Firebrand Support

[Roadkizzle.2157]

The game I mostly played before GW2 was ESO where I liked playing Tanks where I could pay attention to and control fights instead of joining the rat race that was DPS.

 

I've wanted to get into Fractals and maybe dungeons or strikes in GW2 but I'd like something just a bit like my main in ESO. I have a clear understanding taunts like in other MMOs don't exist.

 

But I was looking at the Greatsword abilities. And I really liked the look of the Pull ability. That was one of the most important parts of tanking... Pulling enemies into a cluster so AOE could kill it easier.

 

Then I love that the Mace has healing, lots of boons and Aegis/Stability along with the Shield.

 

I had avoided Firebrand because I really don't care for the idea of spending my time in combat with tomes. 

 

How viable is a Mace/Shield Greatsword Firebrand in instanced combat providing Quickness, defensive boons, and using CC to control combat? 

 

With limited Tomes usage? I assume I will need to use them but I'd like to spend most of my time with the weapons.

[zeyeti.8347]

As a firebrand support/tank ppl will assume you provide perma quickness and a good stack of might , without playing staff it is very difficult for might uptime .

But if you really like the pull thing from Gs , you can just use a second equipment set for that matter , playing with Gs to pack mobs , then when it ends re-change to mace shield / staff . Greatsword has litterally no use if you don't play power build , except for the cc coming from skill 5.

Mace is a good option for healing and defensiv boons , but you have to look if your group has good fury uptime , cause axe has a fury aoe pulsing , if not you can still play with "feel my wrath" (with alacrity) this skill can almost maintain fury on your group by his own.

Tomes are very situational and you don't spend a lot of times in those as they have an ammo mechanic . If you play support , focus on tomes f2 and f3 , use f1 only to cc your target. the f2 is used for area healing and condi cleanse , the f3 is used for stability , damage mitigation and reflect , and f1 has only a cc ability who is usefull as support , though you can use skill 4 for a fire combo field and blast staff skill 2 inside for more might uptime.

Edited May 13, 2023 by zeyeti.8347

[draxynnic.3719]

Like was said above, tomes are pretty situational with how they work now. Typically you only pull them out briefly for one or three skills.

If you want to pull enemies together, switching to the F3 tome and hitting skill 2 will do the job on anything that the sword pull will work on anyway, albeit with a shorter range. Anything that the taunt condition won't work on, a pull generally won't either. Admittedly, that shorter range might be a dealbreaker, but in instanced content, people expect you to specialise to your role, and mace/shield and greatsword is splitting roles.

If you want that playstyle in open world, though, playing Willbender and using Shattered Aegis can be hilarious. Not as broken as it was in testing, of course, but you can still generate a lot of procs.

[Roadkizzle.2157]

After looking at it I like the look of the Greatswords but I think I'd want to use the Axe as a swap. It also has a Pull ability but with half the cooldown. Axe will also add more Fury generation. 

 

The pulls were useful in getting to bosses quicker but were primarily used when there are Adds in the boss fights to stack the adds on the boss so they are killed by AOE instead of dedicating attacks to them. 

 

But I'll see how this turns out, and whether I'll need to do staff like is meta or not.

[Roadkizzle.2157]

19 hours ago, zeyeti.8347 said:

As a firebrand support/tank ppl will assume you provide perma quickness and a good stack of might , without playing staff it is very difficult for might uptime .

But if you really like the pull thing from Gs , you can just use a second equipment set for that matter , playing with Gs to pack mobs , then when it ends re-change to mace shield / staff . Greatsword has litterally no use if you don't play power build , except for the cc coming from skill 5.

Mace is a good option for healing and defensiv boons , but you have to look if your group has good fury uptime , cause axe has a fury aoe pulsing , if not you can still play with "feel my wrath" (with alacrity) this skill can almost maintain fury on your group by his own.

Tomes are very situational and you don't spend a lot of times in those as they have an ammo mechanic . If you play support , focus on tomes f2 and f3 , use f1 only to cc your target. the f2 is used for area healing and condi cleanse , the f3 is used for stability , damage mitigation and reflect , and f1 has only a cc ability who is usefull as support , though you can use skill 4 for a fire combo field and blast staff skill 2 inside for more might uptime.

 

I see many places saying the staff is mandatory for Might generation... But the only skill I see on the Staff line is the channeled ability. And it only provides 9 stacks for 10s... Of course boon duration exists. But am I missing anything more on it?

[zeyeti.8347]

5 hours ago, Roadkizzle.2157 said:

 

I see many places saying the staff is mandatory for Might generation... But the only skill I see on the Staff line is the channeled ability. And it only provides 9 stacks for 10s... Of course boon duration exists. But am I missing anything more on it?

Staff 4 give 9 stacks and with boon duration goes to 20 secs , it is also a freaking powerfull long range pulsing heal .

Staff AA is useless , no way around , and staff skill 5 is handy sometimes (but very few) , on the other hand skill 2 and 3 are great in combination , they are both 1200 range , skill 2 healing for a good amount (also a blast finisher) with a low cd , skill 3 pulsing heal with Writ of Persistence equiped and the two combined make also a little aoe condi cleanse , this is why staff is used as tank/heal/support .

Staff is the only (but a good one) option for consistent healing at long range , bow of truth can do the job , but after the ammo is depleted it has a long cd.

If you really struggle on upkeeping migth you can use Empowering Might , even with 30% crit chance this trait can be worth it , with all the aoe you are doing and solid boon duration the skill can maintain in figths like 8-10 stacks of might , but you loose the two other handy trait , thats one of the solid points of FB , you have multiple ways to play without loosing too much efficiency , wanna play mace ? what about fury uptime ? go feel my wrath . Need stab and breakstun ? mantra of liberation and play with axe for fury if your group lack it . Fb has the very good selling point that he has 2 utility slot and his ult free to adapt to every encounter , his only weak points are lack a bit of range healing and is not mobile at all.

No questionning he is (in my point of view) the best healer of the game , and he has the monopoly of healing in higher tiers/cm fractals .

Edited May 14, 2023 by zeyeti.8347