What are you Power herald wvw roamers running?

[Sowing Season.1723]

Hey all.  Recently been converted to the ways of rev, and herald specifically; but I have a few questions regarding gear/builds.  I see there's some builds running full mara/dura (I found this one to be lacking some damage) *or maybe I was playing like trash, totally a possibility.* There's another that's full dragon w/ leadership and roiling mists. That one I found worked pretty well. And of course a classic full zerk w/ scholar which I have yet to try.

I'm curious what some of the veteran power rev mains run with in a wvw roaming setting.  And any tips are greatly appreciated!  

BTW I know the spec is a hard matchup against cele/condi which is all too prevalent, but idc I'm having fun xD

Thanks for any thoughts and input!

[arazoth.7290]

2 hours ago, Sowing Season.1723 said:

Hey all.  Recently been converted to the ways of rev, and herald specifically; but I have a few questions regarding gear/builds.  I see there's some builds running full mara/dura (I found this one to be lacking some damage) *or maybe I was playing like trash, totally a possibility.* There's another that's full dragon w/ leadership and roiling mists. That one I found worked pretty well. And of course a classic full zerk w/ scholar which I have yet to try.

I'm curious what some of the veteran power rev mains run with in a wvw roaming setting.  And any tips are greatly appreciated!  

BTW I know the spec is a hard matchup against cele/condi which is all too prevalent, but idc I'm having fun xD

Thanks for any thoughts and input!

It isn't power build though but here  ==>

 

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PmwAUl7lpQIMLKidRSMMCiQgsCSgn10b7F-D2IY1wfKZKC6VC0tQolFgHvEUiw0bh+5KA-w

 

Read everything, sigils and all *

Edited April 21 by arazoth.7290

[Jobber.6348]

>And of course a classic full zerk w/ scholar which I have yet to try.
 

Never run this for roaming. This is the sort of build that gets 1 shot for 15k damage from Spinal Shivers. And what does Herald keep stacking? That's right, boons. You're basically begging for a Necro to delete your health bar with this. Durability is a must for roaming. You only run this if you're DPSing in a zerg, not roaming. 

Full Zerker with Durability Runes is my call for Herald specifically. You use Roiling Mists to make up for Precision you would have if running Marauder. In exchange you get much more Ferocity and Power, using Durability to prop your health and toughness up a little. Also remember to repair your armor for bonus health and armor and you're set. 

Relic of Speed is what you want for a majority of builds which makes your Swiftness + Impossible Odds run extremely fast IN COMBAT. If you ever wanna be like speedy gonzales and laugh at people trying to chase you, use this. 

Relic of Leadership is what you want if you are running into many Condi roaming builds. You need it to fill your Condi cleanse. 

Weapon options vary: 

Sword/Sword - Staff is old classic. Very weak these days. 

Greatsword - Sword/Shield is a SOTO privilege. You take Shield Condi cleansing trait for this instead of Consume trait. Very comfy for roaming and camp taking.

Greatsword - Staff is very good for newer players.  Also needs SOTO. 

 

Greatsword - Hammer 

This one needs some talking about. It's a great set after Hammer got buffed, and Hammer right now hits like an absolute truck with Impossible Odds. Straight up strongest ranged damage from 1200 range against any other build that isn't Cele. You kite well with this or swap to Hammer against enemies that can be kited, you just put them down with no resistance at all. My new favourite. Hammer will be your defensive set, naturally and you can camp it for long periods of time if the enemy is just too unsafe to go melee into. You can also use it to enrage Willbenders who will burn all their mobility to close the gap, and that's when you beat them up with Greatsword and Glint. 

People to avoid fighting: 

Druids. Thieves of any sort but more specifically Daredevils. Mesmers of any sort except Virutuoso. 
Anyone else is a skill matchup but more even fight for you compared to the ones I've listed. 
 

 

 

 

Edited April 22 by Yasai.3549

[Sowing Season.1723]

Thanks for the input Yasai.  Sad to hear that ss/staff is so weak. I do have soto so I can give those other combinations a go. Yeah, on relics it's always speed or leadership. Man for some reason s/shield combination erks me, like I'll miss deathstrike too much.  Either way I appreciate all that info!

Also is sword 3 always so kitten buggy? I swear it goes off like 40% of the time.

And if you have a build for the s/shield / gs would love to know what sigils and If you mix any gear or go entirely berserker with dura

Edited April 22 by Sowing Season.1723

[Jobber.6348]

59 minutes ago, Sowing Season.1723 said:

Also is sword 3 always so kitten buggy? I swear it goes off like 40% of the time.

Yes. My personal rule is never using it against an enemy who's currently dashing, never use it on steps and never use it without swiftness and without running after your target. There is a windup, so if you "sit still and cast it" it will disjoint if the enemy is far enough. You have to follow them so that when the windup finishes, you are still within distance for the initial jump. 

Sword/Shield as a defensive set is pretty standard. Energy Cleansing. The only difference this has compared to staff is lack of CC but much more damage potential. 
 

GS uses standard power damage staples like Air, Bloodlust or Fire.

You can swap Armor for Marauder if you feel it's too paper to full zerk or wanna have much higher crit chance. 

Edited April 22 by Yasai.3549

[arazoth.7290]

57 minutes ago, Sowing Season.1723 said:

Thanks for the input Yasai.  Sad to hear that ss/staff is so weak. I do have soto so I can give those other combinations a go. Yeah, on relics it's always speed or leadership. Man for some reason s/shield combination erks me, like I'll miss deathstrike too much.  Either way I appreciate all that info!

Also is sword 3 always so kitten buggy? I swear it goes off like 40% of the time.

You could take scepter/shield, it doesn't has an evasive dodge but it has;

some ranged, cleansing, defensive boon, block damage/cc and can apply weakness condi for some extra damage reduction.

As Alternative to staff for defensive set.

And maybe in the hope scepter becomes better 😅

[Sowing Season.1723]

Thanks again Yasai on the sword 3 tips; I'll def keep those in mind.

Arazoth, I just assumed scepter is for heal vindi (which does look pretty fun) but I suppose I could meme with it for the lulz. Literally haven't played with it since Soto came out. More of a power dps player.

[arazoth.7290]

51 minutes ago, Sowing Season.1723 said:

Thanks again Yasai on the sword 3 tips; I'll def keep those in mind.

Arazoth, I just assumed scepter is for heal vindi (which does look pretty fun) but I suppose I could meme with it for the lulz. Literally haven't played with it since Soto came out. More of a power dps player.

It supposed to do more damage after some nerfs idk why it even got when underperforming 😅. But it can have some niche uses.

But test both !!! And see which you prefere more. Personally when on shield on Herald I prefere scepter for pvp and WvW it got same amount nerfed so "should" be same.

But double check yourself while testing 😉 hf

[UncreativeGreen.2019]

(This is a joke … sort of. And I’m not salty, it’s just seems to be the playstyle of most of the remaining power heralds left in the small scale scene)

as a power herald you run… with friends. That’s the only time I see power heralds “roaming” anymore. Just ghankers and duelers running in about groups of 5-8 just “solo roaming”. Pretending like they had a huge impact in that 5 v1 as they sit back behind their will bender, soulbeast, and d/p SA thief friends, constantly about facing, weapon stow spamming, and jump dodging. Then they port in for their big Shiro burst after the target has wasted both dodges and other cool downs from the other “solo roamers”. Then they run one out to their skill and wonder why small man fights are dead. 
 

but in all seriousness, the other suggestions are good. Especially speed relic. Kind of essential to kite a lot nowadays 

[Sowing Season.1723]

9 minutes ago, UncreativeGreen.2019 said:

(This is a joke … sort of. And I’m not salty, it’s just seems to be the playstyle of most of the remaining power heralds left in the small scale scene)

as a power herald you run… with friends. That’s the only time I see power heralds “roaming” anymore. Just ghankers and duelers running in about groups of 5-8 just “solo roaming”. Pretending like they had a huge impact in that 5 v1 as they sit back behind their will bender, soulbeast, and d/p SA thief friends, constantly about facing, weapon stow spamming, and jump dodging. Then they port in for their big Shiro burst after the target has wasted both dodges and other cool downs from the other “solo roamers”. Then they run one out to their skill and wonder why small man fights are dead. 
 

but in all seriousness, the other suggestions are good. Especially speed relic. Kind of essential to kite a lot nowadays 

You're not wrong at all.  I came to the game SORT of recently - instantly fell in love with the 'world pvp' aspect of WvW, but I guess I missed the glory days. (Wasting time and big money on WoW) 😕

[Jobber.6348]

3 hours ago, Sowing Season.1723 said:

Thanks again Yasai on the sword 3 tips; I'll def keep those in mind.

Arazoth, I just assumed scepter is for heal vindi (which does look pretty fun) but I suppose I could meme with it for the lulz. Literally haven't played with it since Soto came out. More of a power dps player.

Do not take Scepter.

 

Slow autos, inconsistent 2 and 3. Very weak payoff for landing any skill. Nerfed sustain in Competitive modes. Waste of time and worthless as a defensive set. It's even worse than staff that at least allows you to evade and move with staff 5. If you run Shield, use Sword or don't bother.

[Sowing Season.1723]

26 minutes ago, Yasai.3549 said:

Do not take Scepter.

 

Slow autos, inconsistent 2 and 3. Very weak payoff for landing any skill. Nerfed sustain in Competitive modes. Waste of time and worthless as a defensive set. It's even worse than staff that at least allows you to evade and move with staff 5. If you run Shield, use Sword or don't bother.

Oh man, I tried it about 30 minutes ago... Scepter is RIP... Gonna try out shield as you recommended; another weapon I still have yet to try (sword/sword aesthetics are too good)

Edited April 22 by Sowing Season.1723

[Jobber.6348]

6 hours ago, Sowing Season.1723 said:

Oh man, I tried it about 30 minutes ago... Scepter is RIP... Gonna try out shield as you recommended; another weapon I still have yet to try (sword/sword aesthetics are too good)

One odd thing you can try if you wish is Mace (Berserker stat). 

Since the build you will be running uses Devastation 123 anyway to facilitate your burst damage and ignore nonsense like Blind, Immob and Cripple spam via Aggressive Agility, Mace is a semi viable option for a defensive set together with Shield.

This works because of few reasons: 

1. Herald has massive Might generation, giving your Mace Conditions a little bit of spice, even if you're primarily a Power build

2. Mace 3 has TWO CHARGES in WvW and has better coefficients than Hammer 2. It also hits up to 1200 range, perfect as a defensive swap and a ranged poking tool if going in on an enemy is unsafe. It also inflicts Weakness, making it a decent tool against any power spammers to mitigate their damage. 
Echoing Eruption - Guild Wars 2 Wiki (GW2W) vs Coalescence of Ruin - Guild Wars 2 Wiki (GW2W)

3. Also very good for taking camps via alot of AoE damage. 

4. The two charges for Mace 3 are both considered movement skills for Aggressive Agility, significantly increasing your Resistance application while on the defensive, making sure things like Blind, Immob, Cripple, Chill, Weakness are not hindering you. 

If you wish to experiment, it's up to you but the option is floating out there if you wanna take a crack at it. 
 

 

 

[Vasdamas Anklast.1607]

Power herald roamer...sounds more like free food for 90% of popular roaming specs nowadays.

And you are not wrong, it's lacking some damage. It's great as +1 spec, similarly to spvp, but it is just too vulnerable currently. Running zerk with rolling mists sounds like a good way to make things count. Durability runes should, in theory, make you less glassy too.

Are you going to run double swords with staff or SB + staff? Double Swords + GS? (full aggro mode kekw)

[Jobber.6348]

On 4/23/2024 at 8:41 PM, Vasdamas Anklast.1607 said:

Power herald roamer...sounds more like free food for 90% of popular roaming specs nowadays.

Unfortunate reality of modern WvW post burst damage nerf. 

Any build that can properly utilize Celestial (eg. good mix of damage types and great boon application on themselves) dominates. Thieves get away with stealing boons, Necros get away with deleting boons along with the enemy's healthbar. Anything else is a zergy or a cheese build. 
 

Already covered it in another thread too: Sword/Sword is just TOO WEAK right now. The only way to make it work is to use Devastation + Vindicator Death Drop to cover its gaps in damage/boost its damage. Herald right now only functions as a Boon injector trait/spec for the Revenant but Renegade does that much better and much easier via just critically attacking enemies. Plus Renegade is just better with the Fervor unique buff that cannot be corrupted AND bonuses to SB's bleed application. 

So yea in general, Herald is food. I personally eat Power Heralds on the regular, and I'm running Core Celestial. 

Edited April 24 by Yasai.3549

[goron.7916]

You should aim for a 60 percent crit chance, so with fury+rolling mists, you will have 100 percent crit chance. So you should mix some Marauder with zerker gear, get Scholar runes. Then, get a cleansing sigil on your second weapon set in case things go south, also get speed relic. Use Invocation and Devastation.

Now, how to play: you are very squishy. THe only way you are going to win is by hitting your opponent hard and fast before he can counterpressure you. So for example you could open up with Shiro skill 6, then Sword 5 and immediately after go sword 3 and activate impossible odds. At the end of the channel Cast true nature along with sword 2 and sword 4 (with impossible odds active). This should outright kill most squishies if they didnt see your burst coming.

As others have said, Power Herald is a +1 Spec by design. Think of it as a thief without stealth, or a willbender.  Avoid prolonged fights and outnumbered scenarios, as you will inevitably lose. The strengths of this build lie in its high burst and high mobility when chasing your target. Choose your targets wisely.

[Vasdamas Anklast.1607]

20 hours ago, Yasai.3549 said:

Unfortunate reality of modern WvW post burst damage nerf. 

Any build that can properly utilize Celestial (eg. good mix of damage types and great boon application on themselves) dominates. Thieves get away with stealing boons, Necros get away with deleting boons along with the enemy's healthbar. Anything else is a zergy or a cheese build. 
 

Already covered it in another thread too: Sword/Sword is just TOO WEAK right now. The only way to make it work is to use Devastation + Vindicator Death Drop to cover its gaps in damage/boost its damage. Herald right now only functions as a Boon injector trait/spec for the Revenant but Renegade does that much better and much easier via just critically attacking enemies. Plus Renegade is just better with the Fervor unique buff that cannot be corrupted AND bonuses to SB's bleed application. 

So yea in general, Herald is food. I personally eat Power Heralds on the regular, and I'm running Core Celestial. 

Cele is an easy and fast way out, success with cele builds nothing but ego. I know plenty of power revenants that just wipe the floor with cele builds or at least turn it into a permanent stalemate. The difference between cele and power mains is that cele can do a ton of misplays and still have a significant chance of winning, while with power, one mistake may lead to failure.

It's an overbloated stats combination, and yet there are lots of cases where it simply fails to contribute. Besides, some classes will always have better hybrid builds than others, so eventually you'll hit the wall regardless. Sadly, it will probably stay on WvW forever, considering what kind of direction it has taken recently.
 

Edited April 25 by Vasdamas Anklast.1607

[Jobber.6348]

20 minutes ago, Vasdamas Anklast.1607 said:

Cele is an easy and fast way out, success with cele builds nothing but ego. I know plenty of power revenants that just wipe the floor with cele builds or at least turn it into a permanent stalemate. The difference between cele and power mains is that cele can do a ton of misplays and still have a significant chance of winning, while with power, one mistake may lead to failure.

It's an overbloated stats combination, and yet are lots of cases where it simply fails to contribute. Besides, some classes will always have better hybrid builds than others, so eventually you'll hit the wall regardless. Sadly, it will probably stay on WvW forever, considering what kind of direction it has taken recently.
 

It's just Anet's fault entirely for not comprehending the ramifications of nerfing Power coefficients wily nily years ago. 

Sure, power burst was really toxic and unfun but it's the entire design of such builds and all skills that deal damage in this fashion. By nerfing it, they made the roaming scene introduce Condi meta, and high Condi meta gave birth to sustain meta which is where Cele started being used on everything remotely usable. Revenants in particular were ALWAYS weak to Condi and relied on Power burst builds to quickly take out their target in windows of opportunity because not doing so led them to die to sustained Condition damage. So now Revenants of all classes rely overly on Celestial builds to compete with a majority of other Cele camping builds because all our burst was nerfed (and even overnerfed in some cases like OH Sword). 

Other classes still have existing cheese Power builds that can 100 > 0 Cele builds because they didn't get hit as hard as Revenant ever was due to their weapon design. Revenant on the other hand got the super short end of the stick due to weapons either being clunky, made clunky or losing all damage outright due to "balance" (Staff 5 for example) 

[idolin.2831]

On 4/25/2024 at 1:27 AM, Yasai.3549 said:

Other classes still have existing cheese Power builds that can 100 > 0 Cele builds because they didn't get hit as hard as Revenant ever was due to their weapon design. Revenant on the other hand got the super short end of the stick due to weapons either being clunky, made clunky or losing all damage outright due to "balance" (Staff 5 for example) 

WB comes to mind, honestly it's so hard coming back to power herald after you've tried WB. Better single target damage, better cleave, better cleanse, better sustain, comparable engage (sigil of rage + JI only lose out to phase on cooldown) nope I was wrong, phase being available every time you swap into Shiro feels a lot better. The most obvious disadvantage is it lacks good hard CC, a reveal which is honestly so clutch when it comes to fighting thieves, and probably ranged damage based one what people are saying about hammer. Honestly though I still love revenant mechanics more than guardian (legend swap and energy management), and if they manage to buff herald damage, either directly through sword skills or might generation (which I prefer), I'd definitely consider coming back. 

Edit: I lied, not too hard to come back if you run with people. After ~3 hours of solo/smallscale roaming with GS/sword sword, definitely enough damage, GS makes up for a lot of cleave damage sword/sword don't have. Lacks cleanse as usual, kiting is more important than ever, but of course roaming in a group helps hide a lot of its weaknesses. I can't give up sword offhand since deathstrike is too clutch even if just for kiting, but without staff it's quite susceptible to being focused while WB is very forgiving. I still think it's more fun than WB especially because WB damage is PbAoE while herald damage has a bit more range/kiting to it.

Edited April 26 by idolin.2831

[Jobber.6348]

13 hours ago, idolin.2831 said:

Edit: I lied, not too hard to come back if you run with people. After ~3 hours of solo/smallscale roaming with GS/sword sword, definitely enough damage, GS makes up for a lot of cleave damage sword/sword don't have. Lacks cleanse as usual, kiting is more important than ever, but of course roaming in a group helps hide a lot of its weaknesses. I can't give up sword offhand since deathstrike is too clutch even if just for kiting, but without staff it's quite susceptible to being focused while WB is very forgiving. I still think it's more fun than WB especially because WB damage is PbAoE while herald damage has a bit more range/kiting to it.

In my sword discussion thread, already covered how weak Swords have become for Revenant. The GS even post nerf stands strong as Revenant's defacto Power weapon for competitive due to how hilariously trash Swords were made with multiple repeat nerfs that never got compensate when Incensed Response and Herald finally got nerfed. So now we're stuck with bad weapons nerfed due to an Espec's dominance and now that Espec has been nerfed too. Nonsense balancing.

WB also has the ultimate middle finger: Elite Invul that resets all their mobility skills. And now they also have an instant finisher with baked in evade. Balanced class. 

[idolin.2831]

1 hour ago, Yasai.3549 said:

In my sword discussion thread, already covered how weak Swords have become for Revenant. The GS even post nerf stands strong as Revenant's defacto Power weapon for competitive due to how hilariously trash Swords were made with multiple repeat nerfs that never got compensate when Incensed Response and Herald finally got nerfed. So now we're stuck with bad weapons nerfed due to an Espec's dominance and now that Espec has been nerfed too. Nonsense balancing.

WB also has the ultimate middle finger: Elite Invul that resets all their mobility skills. And now they also have an instant finisher with baked in evade. Balanced class. 

Yep you're not wrong, if I do come back to power herald I'll probably have to slap on shield when running alone. I'm only able to run sword/sword when I run with a group. But even then its effectiveness can't be compared to WB, I can generate downs much quicker on a WB. 

On a side node, what do people think will improve power herald as a roamer? Off the top of my mind there are a few ideas:

- Better cleanse 100%, though not sure in what form. More cleanse when legend swap? Cleanse on using consume skills instead of heals?

- Either buff incensed response or sword skills (better damage on sword auto, instant sword 3 similar to smoke assault, faster cast time for sword 4). 

- Unroot shield 5. That root is kittenous to say the least.

 

Edited April 27 by idolin.2831

[AlphaReborn.1567]

26 minutes ago, idolin.2831 said:

- Better cleanse 100%, though not sure in what form. More cleanse when legend swap? Cleanse on using consume skills instead of heals?

 

It could be kind of cool if they could make it where in addition to Facet of Nature on Glint already increasing boon duration, if it also DECREASED condi duration when active by some percentage. 

[idolin.2831]

4 hours ago, AlphaReborn.1567 said:

It could be kind of cool if they could make it where in addition to Facet of Nature on Glint already increasing boon duration, if it also DECREASED condi duration when active by some percentage. 

Oh yeah good idea, or bake that into Elder's Respite. I can't stress enough how bad shield is when there are more than 2 enemies involved, you're caught out of position so easily. Back to sword it is.

Edited April 27 by idolin.2831

[Jobber.6348]

2 hours ago, idolin.2831 said:

On a side node, what do people think will improve power herald as a roamer? Off the top of my mind there are a few ideas:

- Better cleanse 100%, though not sure in what form. More cleanse when legend swap? Cleanse on using consume skills instead of heals?

- Either buff incensed response or sword skills (better damage on sword auto, instant sword 3 similar to smoke assault, faster cast time for sword 4). 

- Unroot shield 5. That root is kittenous to say the least.

Deserves its own thread but off the top of my head, they need to buff Herald's more selfish traits in competitive.

Elder's Respite could use 3 Condition cleanse on a 90s cooldown in addition to gaining Regeneration upon hitting 50% HP and its current Regeneration buffing effect. 

Forceful Persistence should be buffed or reworked as it's the least used GM trait in Revenant's entire arsenal. Ever. Its other options just outshine it in Competitive and PvE, especially since the Herald's main design is to be a boon supporter, Forceful Persistence's selfish nature only benefits ONE build, and that's PvE Power DPS. 

 

Edited April 27 by Yasai.3549

[Dreamonology.8362]

Hard to run power rev in current meta roaming, current meta is cele. Most popular wvw roaming build for rev is cele mace/axe/sword/shield mallyx herald. Power shiro just not what it used to be. Most of your dmg will be condi mixed with some power but you have way more sustain in cele. 

Trailblazer condi pretty awful now to.