"Best" class\build for Open World stuffs..

[Joxer.6024]

Ok, yes, I know this is very open and subjective to everyone's fav and such, but just curious as to how things are playing out, especially now that SC has added OW to their portfolio? 

I myself am stuck between pUntamed, it kinda just pumps and the sustain is nuts...or Willbender, playing condi atm but the power looks fun as well. My only issue with WB is the constant moving with the F skills but it too really hits hard.

So dont be shy, what have you found that works and has the SC OW section been of any help? (and no, not asking for them,, just curious)  😉

[Tinker.6924]

By "SC" are your referring to snowcrows?  I don't see an open world section anywhere on their site.  I would be surprised if they bothered with one at all given they are raid and strike focused.

Engineer with Mechanist spec is the ultimate open world spec.  That's not something that will be described in any build anywhere, but that's my experience and I think the experience of other players that go with it.  The robot is very capable of doing enough damage on its own to hold aggro (if you withhold your own attacks for a few moments) and its 10x tankier than any ranger pet and won't die when it does.  You can be drunk, high, standing on your head, playing 1 handed, with the wrong gear, and just rolling your face on the keyboard and still solo stuff that you have no business solo'ing.  If you play with any level of competency nearly every one of those super challenging HoT HP's (with maybe 1 or 2 exceptions) will be your crying b--ch.

Open world build guides should be treated as inspiration and not gospel.  You don't have to be full glass cannon because that's overkill and you're wasting ability slots on stuff you will rarely use.  Instead use your abilities to save you time and provide QoL as you run around the world.  You don't need a build that does 50k in damage in 10 seconds if you can kill everything around you with only 5k.  Chances are the 5k build will be easier to play and give you more slots to move faster and die less. 

[Gaiawolf.8261]

2 hours ago, Joxer.6024 said:

Ok, yes, I know this is very open and subjective to everyone's fav and such, but just curious as to how things are playing out, especially now that SC has added OW to their portfolio? 

I myself am stuck between pUntamed, it kinda just pumps and the sustain is nuts...or Willbender, playing condi atm but the power looks fun as well. My only issue with WB is the constant moving with the F skills but it too really hits hard.

So dont be shy, what have you found that works and has the SC OW section been of any help? (and no, not asking for them,, just curious)  😉

I'm partial to firebrand due to its extreme versatility. It's great for almost any encounter with fantastic cleave damage and mitigation, excellent for group support whether you spec for it or not, and even for pushing through areas you don't want to deal with because of their insane stability. So many "oh kitten" buttons too! 🤣 They're not the best for soloing champs and legendaries though, because you have to drop your DPS for much self sustain, but you can get through them with patience.

Beyond that I also like playing mirage, virtuoso, vindicator, mechanist, and willbender. Mirage and willbender are good for soloing champs when I need it, but usually not necessary. Willbender is great mobility when you want, but as you experienced a pain to deal with when you don't. Virtuoso is just a blast, literally!, vindicator is my FF dragoon, and mirage and mechanist can both be dynamic or chill fun, depending on your build.

35 minutes ago, Tinker.6924 said:

By "SC" are your referring to snowcrows?  I don't see an open world section anywhere on their site.  I would be surprised if they bothered with one at all given they are raid and strike focused.

Engineer with Mechanist spec is the ultimate open world spec.  That's not something that will be described in any build anywhere, but that's my experience and I think the experience of other players that go with it.  The robot is very capable of doing enough damage on its own to hold aggro (if you withhold your own attacks for a few moments) and its 10x tankier than any ranger pet and won't die when it does.  You can be drunk, high, standing on your head, playing 1 handed, with the wrong gear, and just rolling your face on the keyboard and still solo stuff that you have no business solo'ing.  If you play with any level of competency nearly every one of those super challenging HoT HP's (with maybe 1 or 2 exceptions) will be your crying b--ch.

Open world build guides should be treated as inspiration and not gospel.  You don't have to be full glass cannon because that's overkill and you're wasting ability slots on stuff you will rarely use.  Instead use your abilities to save you time and provide QoL as you run around the world.  You don't need a build that does 50k in damage in 10 seconds if you can kill everything around you with only 5k.  Chances are the 5k build will be easier to play and give you more slots to move faster and die less. 

Snowcrows added open world builds to their builds menu. They are alright. Metabattle and Hardstuck both have better open world builds. GuidJen is pretty good too.

[Nash.2681]

Tbh I often fail to see any difference between the SC open world builds and their raid counterpart. However, in my experience any raid/strike/fractal (dps)build gets along in OW just fine, as long as you make some minor adjustments (mostly utility skills) to it. Usually adding a stun break (if not already included) and some condi cleanse (if not already included) is enough to just rofl stomp through the OW.

[AliamRationem.5172]

Priorities vary, but if you want something with great sustain and probably the best DPS you can get in solo play its hard to beat power untamed.

Here's a clip with build link: 

 

[XSevSpreeX.2143]

2 hours ago, Tinker.6924 said:

By "SC" are your referring to snowcrows?  I don't see an open world section anywhere on their site.  I would be surprised if they bothered with one at all given they are raid and strike focused.

 

https://snowcrows.com/builds/open-world

They launched the section a few weeks ago (April 1st, and despite the slightly cheeky blog post about it, it was not an April Fools joke).

[Dadnir.5038]

I'd say that it depend a lot on what you want to do in open world.

• If you're going to run around alone through the gathering point, I do think thief is the best option as you got easy access to stealth and movement skills.
• If you're going to go through the jumping puzzles, from experience, necromancer is the best option (spectral walk is incredibly handy in jumping puzzle). If you intend to port some friend, thief or mesmer will be superior thought.
• If you're going to kill packs of random mobs alone, Reaper is a good option but that is also true for many specs vomiting strike damage aoe.
• If you're going to tackle defiant foes alone you'll have a whole bunch of dedicated builds.
• If you're going to join the fun with the PvE farming zergs, you'll want range lingering aoes and a good control over them. I'd say that, again, necromancer is a good option.
• If you're going to tackle boss fight meta events with the zergs, a balance of offensive boons support with good damage output is a good option.
• ... etc.

[Joxer.6024]

9 hours ago, Tinker.6924 said:

By "SC" are your referring to snowcrows?  I don't see an open world section anywhere on their site.  I would be surprised if they bothered with one at all given they are raid and strike focused.

yea, its there, under the "builds" tab.

[Blood Red Arachnid.2493]

That all depends on what you define as "open world."  There's a difference between running around casually and trying to solo the more difficult champions.  If you're running around casually, just about anything works.  Take the maximum DPS raid build, adjust a few of the more situational utilities/traits for better ones, and go ham.  If you're trying to solo champions, you might want to be more selective.  The only one I'd recommend avoiding for most players is Ele, largely because it is hard to play, and works best with non-standard gear sets that you'll have to go out and buy.  Nearly every profession can do it, though.

For example, about two weeks ago I hopped on my Condi Daredevil and went off soloing bounties for the weekly achievement.  The only thing I changed were the utilities, as venoms don't work well while alone.  I could beat nearly all of them, with the exception of one that I had to change into a specter for.  The reason was simple: with all of my endurance and skill dodges I could avoid most of the damage.  By slowing my roll a bit and saving my dodges for dangerous attacks instead of DPS, I could stay alive indefinitely and whittle the boss down.

If I were to give a short list:

#1: Engineer.  Mechanist can auto pilot through most challenges.  Scrapper's self-sustain lets me solo dungeons and fractals.  Holosmith isn't as recommended.

#2: Mesmer.  Virtuoso has immense self sustain and can kite forever.  Mirage can dodge nearly everything.  Chronomancer has an immense burst, but is the hardest of the three.  I've used Virt for champions, but I duoed Hearts and Minds CM with Axe Mirage.

#3: Warrior.  Nearly all specs have decent self-sustain and damage.  I prefer the Bladesworn, which can do really well with hit-and-run tactics.  I've also solo'd many bounties on Bladesworn.  Spellbreaker has skill dodges and the best sustain.  Berserker is least recommended, as it's berserk mode comes at a cost, and the heal skill is great but otherwise it lacks a lot of survival tools.

#4: Ranger.  I don't play ranger, but it gets recommended by a lot of people, so I'm putting it here by default.

#5: Thief.  Deadeye can trivialize ranged bosses with infinite projectile destruction.  Daredevil can dodge nearly everything.  Specter has good self-sustain.  All power builds can have decent self-sustain by switching one trait in critical strikes.  Aside from the example above, I've used staff Daredevil to tank the Sand Giant.

#6: Guardian.  I don't play Firebrand as much to speak about it, but both Dragonhunter and Willbender have strong active defenses that let them carve through groups of enemies.  I've used both to solo dungeons before.  Personally I prefer Willbender, for it has one more psuedo invulnerability skill than Dragonhunter, but the DH has better cleave and a more reliable Courage effect.

#7: Necromancer.  Haven't played this one in awhile, but it's immense tankiness does drop off the longer a fight goes.  Still, having high health and a shroud to absorb damage has its benefits.  Scourge and Harbinger benefit from Parasitic Contagion, but Reaper has the simplest rotation and setup.  

#8:  Elementalist.  This one is low on the list not out of potential, but because it requires different gear sets to really become strong.  Granted, if you do buy a Celestial/Marshal/Traiblazer set, then the profession has incredible survival.  But, that's a long way to go out of the way just to breath.  My favorite is Weaver, due to all the barrier and skill dodges.  Tempest has super-protection and high damage reduction in general.  Catalyst used to have the hammer, but now that it has been proliferated there's not much to Cata for open world solo.

#9: Revenant.  This may seem strange, but as of late this one hasn't been cooperating with me.  Most of the sustain options have been nerfed, and while Bunny Lord Vindicator is fun, it does require alternate gear and it only works against hordes of weaker enemies and not difficult champions.  Most sustain options really hinder performance in other areas.  Best option is probably Herald, which has the best heal skill/boon support and it cooperates best with alternate trait lines.  Renegade limits you to an area for its sustain, and Vindicator needs to sacrifice a lot to keep itself alive.  

[Joxer.6024]

12 hours ago, Gaiawolf.8261 said:

Virtuoso is just a blast, literally!, vindicator is my FF dragoon, and mirage and mechanist can both be dynamic or chill fun, depending on your build.

But dont you find Virt a tad squishy? I would love to run this but seem to struggle in the sustain department...

[Joxer.6024]

12 hours ago, AliamRationem.5172 said:

Priorities vary, but if you want something with great sustain and probably the best DPS you can get in solo play its hard to beat power untamed.

Yea I am thinking of going Untamed, plays very much like old Death Knight in that hitting heals me. If I can get Virt to  be less squish may go that route...???

[SeTect.5918]

34 minutes ago, Joxer.6024 said:

But dont you find Virt a tad squishy? I would love to run this but seem to struggle in the sustain department...

Yes, I mean its not entirely bad, but it cant keep up with the damage and defensive if we compare it to cele harbinger or cele/power untamed.

Imo one of the best open world solo builds are:

- Celestial Harbinger with soul reaping (https://youtu.be/524NjjDOQPk?si=Huavu4qgaHkV9Rwg) or Celestial Harbinger with Blood magic for more defense ( https://youtu.be/JPHgKS8pAJU?si=oa6QXMKsqcu3whua ). cReaper also works well (I found scourge to deal the least dps of these 3 e specs tho)

- Cele Untamed or cele druid 

- Power Untamed ( https://youtu.be/Bw9-MBTDTE4?si=f1nBE7IASdFh6mbO )

- Cele Mirage (high cc with daggers but slow ramp up time)

- cele weaver and cele Catalyst 

- Cele Deadeye

 

 

Of course there are more like Berserker on power of cele, cele holo/scrapper/mechanist or power mechanist. Cele tempest, cele virtuoso, willbender/firebrand, cele vindicator/renegade, cele soulbeast and so on.

But personally i found the ones listed above to perform the best if we consider both the dps and defense. Most of the other builds have the same dps and lower defense or the same defense but lower dps. It doesn't mean they dont perform good tho. They do, but perform slightly worse. Maybe some are still comparable to the ones above like cele holo, but cele scrapper for example just has too low dps compared to cele untamed/Harbinger and others.

The builds you can find via the youtube links are made myself and have personal preferances built inside. For example i did split mace so i have the axe offhand pull on the mace side while having the jump finishers of mh sword on the other side. These are basically different variants of the same e spec. For example you can play power untamed with mainhand sword for more defense and mobility (and projectile reflect having no influence on you) or mainhand axe for more spread out damage to hit more targets and eliminate adds faster.

It also kind of depends which bosses you plan to solo at some point. Cele mirage for example isnt really helpful on bosses with lots of reflects. 

[Joxer.6024]

1 minute ago, SeTect.5918 said:

The builds you can find via the youtube links are made myself and have personal preferances built inside. For example i did split mace so i have the axe offhand pull on the mace side while having the jump finishers of mh sword on the other side. These are basically different variants of the same e spec. For example you can play power untamed with mainhand sword for more defense and mobility (and projectile reflect having no influence on you) or mainhand axe for more spread out damage to hit more targets and eliminate adds faster.

Lol, yea, i am using your build atm!!! Quite strong. I didnt mention Necro as that was my first 80 and am a tad burned out on the guy. Having just come back to the game am looking to run with something else but cant shake my old WOW days and being a DK, they were so fun! But Untamed is giving me that feel so thats a win!  Cheers!!  😉

 

[SeTect.5918]

3 minutes ago, Joxer.6024 said:

Lol, yea, i am using your build atm!!! Quite strong. I didnt mention Necro as that was my first 80 and am a tad burned out on the guy. Having just come back to the game am looking to run with something else but cant shake my old WOW days and being a DK, they were so fun! But Untamed is giving me that feel so thats a win!  Cheers!!  😉

 

Oh haha, I was also one back then. Specter and untamed are kind of somehow giving like a "dark" feeling either. But I'm not really having fun with the initiative mechanic of thief and I dont really know the dps of cele specter. I believe it could be able to get perm quickness with relic of chronomancer, but i dont have full legendary gear so i m not spending Ressources on something i probably wont play, because I know i wouldn't have fun with it. 

[Joxer.6024]

1 hour ago, SeTect.5918 said:

Oh haha, I was also one back then. Specter and untamed are kind of somehow giving like a "dark" feeling either. But I'm not really having fun with the initiative mechanic of thief and I dont really know the dps of cele specter. I believe it could be able to get perm quickness with relic of chronomancer, but i dont have full legendary gear so i m not spending Ressources on something i probably wont play, because I know i wouldn't have fun with it. 

Agree! Not a fan of Thief in any shape, have tried them all pretty much and just didnt click. Could be leftover hate for Rogues from my WOW days....man I hated them suckers! But yea, cheers for the Untamed build, so far its rockin!!  😉

[draxynnic.3719]

15 hours ago, Nash.2681 said:

Tbh I often fail to see any difference between the SC open world builds and their raid counterpart. However, in my experience any raid/strike/fractal (dps)build gets along in OW just fine, as long as you make some minor adjustments (mostly utility skills) to it. Usually adding a stun break (if not already included) and some condi cleanse (if not already included) is enough to just rofl stomp through the OW.

Snowcrows pretty explicitly still has a "anything but whatever stats give you the most DPS is for the weak!" attitude even with their open world builds, which includes explicitly refusing to post celestial builds (one of their builds does have a couple of celestial pieces, but that's probably because it precisely hits some threshold), which most non-SC players generally regard as the best builds for open world. Granted, if you're able to dodge everything and/or are keeping to relatively easy OW stuff than going full glass will work, but things like celestial for condi builds or marauder for power builds tend to result in pretty small losses in DPS in exchange for large gains in durability, making them more comfortable to play overall.

[Gaiawolf.8261]

8 hours ago, Joxer.6024 said:

But dont you find Virt a tad squishy? I would love to run this but seem to struggle in the sustain department...

Yes, virt is definitely squishier than mirage or the other builds I play. It's fun for fast bursting. I use a power build. If you feel too squishy, you can slot the Defender phantasm or trait your bladesongs for sustain. The spinning blade one works great for that. If you still feel squishy, you can trait Inspiration, but that's a much bigger dps loss. Really good sustain though.

[Zhaid Zhem.6508]

Reaper, the most versatile.
Huge cleave, huge DPS - high mights + vulnerability - self quickness tied to the dps trait - a lot of conditions to cripple large pack of mobs (cripple, blind, fear, chill...) - correct mobility with now Sword, DS#2 - 2 Life bars - nice stab uptime - huge sustain with heal for portion of DPS - spectral walk is a formidable skill (cleanse, BS, life force, swiftness, recall). (Just use SC or whatever power reaper build)
Condi reaper is great too, particulary against large pack of mobs. It is not a common build, yet it is insane to spread lots of bleeding really fast. http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PSgAEZFTBzjVijrybTE-DSRYmhxGcZUZB0ZC4z1AAqA-e (grieving~sinister~vipere, to get 100% bleeding duration)
I also switch to celestial healscourge in some meta events. It sounds good to me to have all those builds with one character)

I like mechanist too; you have easy LI options which is quite nice for OW. http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PegAQJlxysYvMXWMO0LnRNA-DSIYR4PBFPAqA-e (Don't lie, we all know high APM / too much keys to hold to kill random mobs  get annnoying quickly )
Quickness Untamed starts to be a new favorite, I have crunched champions so fast and without even looking at the screen, it's broken; but too expensive to buy additional bag slots !  Personnaly I prefer warhorn and nature magic, but the pur DPS build as given upper is totally fine for OW. http://gw2skills.net/editor/?POAFwEW6UZFsDmKLk5iF9kX8qEhfC-DSIYR4LBbvNAQFA-e

Outside that, yeah it's a matter of tastes and habits.
All classes have effective / LI builds, but IMO they always lack something compared to reaper : lack of might/fury/quickness generation (not necessarily an issue in meta-events or with the jade thing buffs), lack of cleave, too squishy or need celestial/vitality stuff, some annoying "counter" mobs (defiance bar, condi  or CC spam, etc).

About some "OW builds" listed on some sites : Sometimes I don't really understand the choices in traits and equipments.
Overall : might+fury+quickness > damage modifiers. If you solo play it's often better to equip sigil of strength, relic of midnight, why not runes of packs/fireworks, traits about those boons ... than scholar, sigil of force etc, if you don't have those boons already. Sure it's a bit useless once in group-event (even though ...), it depends if you have money. Plus obviously a good panic button (BS, cleanse ...).

Edited April 26 by Zhaid Zhem.6508

[Antycypator.9874]

The king of Open World will always be necro.
Huge Health Pool? Check.
Big damage burst? Check.
Self-sustain traits with none or little damage lose? Check.
Easy quickness? Check.
Can have minions to make game even easier? Check.
AoE? Check.

Since Parasitic Contagion isn't a Grandmaster Trait, you don't have to choose between this and Lingering Curse anymore.

[StraightPath.3972]

11 hours ago, Antycypator.9874 said:

Since Parasitic Contagion isn't a Grandmaster Trait, you don't have to choose between this and Lingering Curse anymore.

Yes a big win for OW necros while a big slap for spvp terrormancers (can't have terror and lingering curses anymore).

But back to topic at hand...

Hammer + mace/axe  core warrior works really well for me.
Easy quickness, great cc and damage, good enough sustain.

And that's just a stepping stone to Berserker which will be a massive improvement once complete (need to get  gear for that build).
More sustain, support for allies, and strong damage. Can't wait!

Edited April 29 by StraightPath.3972

[Joxer.6024]

big THANKS for the replies! great info to know all around.  😉

 

[Zepoolpe.9217]

On 4/26/2024 at 6:28 AM, Blood Red Arachnid.2493 said:

That all depends on what you define as "open world."  There's a difference between running around casually and trying to solo the more difficult champions.  If you're running around casually, just about anything works.  Take the maximum DPS raid build, adjust a few of the more situational utilities/traits for better ones, and go ham.  If you're trying to solo champions, you might want to be more selective. 

That. 100%.
OW is as vague as PvE or WvW: there are too many type of activities to answer.

 

On 4/26/2024 at 6:28 AM, Blood Red Arachnid.2493 said:

#7: Necromancer.  Haven't played this one in awhile, but it's immense tankiness does drop off the longer a fight goes.  Still, having high health and a shroud to absorb damage has its benefits.  Scourge and Harbinger benefit from Parasitic Contagion, but Reaper has the simplest rotation and setup.  

Power reaper is usually great for most fights but the hardest champions if you know the fight mechanisms AND you don't have to soend half your time kiting.
From all Necro specs, Cele scourge has the best result for the hardest champions and even some legendary bounties (again, if you know the fight) as LF management is a lot easier, and the constant barrier and self-healing is helping a lot.
Check out Hizen's channel on YouTube for his build.
 

[Joxer.6024]

21 hours ago, Zepoolpe.9217 said:

OW is as vague as PvE or WvW: there are too many type of activities to answer.

True, and yet people do run OW "specific" builds so appreciate all the great replies! 😉

[HnRkLnXqZ.1870]

As you are asking for class/build, I usually go for this:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PSwEE6MsMBGHzh5xKxz7qq5D-DSZYbBxME1Ac4mLjArg0TBVfLITNCqA-e

That is a customized Power Reaper with a few modifications to drastically enhance its sustain. There are two variants. The one I have linked is the one I personally use, because I can solo even fractals with it. The one I usually give to new players uses full berserker's stats, dragonhunter runes and Impact/Force sigils instead. Just using slightly different traits and a different relic compared to the meta. The reason is simple. When they get skilled and want to follow the meta strictly, they do not have to replace almost everything ^^. And in the early stages of the game, even if you dive into endgame content head first, boon-uptime is completely neglected.

Anyway. The one I have linked passively builds up Carapace (+20 toughness, + 10 power, + 10 condition damage per stack) while in combat. You can easily get 25-30 stacks while in Reaper Shroud, as your auto-attack constantly spams Vulnerability on your target. Each stack of Vulnerability on the target adds +2 % critical hit chance. Which means if you fight something with more HP, you automatically end up at ~ 90 % critical hit chance without fury. Reaper does not have Fury, so there is nothing to worry about.

The boon-duration is optimized to help you maintain 100 % quickness & protection uptime. Just follow the Soul Barbs icon, which tells you when it is time to leave Reaper's Shroud. Then use your normal weapons until RS is ready again and switch back.

Your  toughness and the Carapace grant you 1825 toughness under perfect conditions. In combination with the permanent protection uptime, you take very little damage compared to the other players. That should be enough to balance out your weak healing skill. The biggest mistake you can do as a reaper is trying to heal like a normal class. Your skill is way too weak to start healing at 50 % HP or lower. You have to start using it at 80-90 % already, or you will not be able to survive longer encounters. 

This build is technically capable of surviving even the nastiest attacks we have in GW2. The reason for this is the Spectral Armor. If we have any necromancer mains in this thread, they already ponder why the heck I use that piece of junk XD. It has quite a ridiculous synergy. Under normal circumstances it is completely impossible to collect life-force while in Shroud. Spectral Armor converts incoming damage into Life Force. So if you use Spectral Armor right before entering Reaper's Shroud, the effect still works. That means that a portion of incoming damage that lowers your life-force fills it again. This can also be used to maintain longer Reaper Shroud phases, when fighting zergs of enemies. 

You can cleanse conditions with your heal-skill, your 8 skill and your elite skill. Skills 7-9 are stun-breaks, which is very convenient on a Reaper. 

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Skale_Venom_(consumable)

This works in Open World and a few instances ANet forgot to block it. If you have this buff active, you can easily maintain 25-30 stacks of Carapace both inside and outside of Shroud. You vomit even more Vulnerability on your targets. It is blocked in Fractals, Raids and Strikes. But still works in story-instances. The problem is to re-apply it every 10 minutes, as the duration does not stack. But the effect on this build is unrivaled compared to other utility-food. 

[Edit] Regarding Snowcrows, no. All the builds I use and share, I've created, tested and optimized on my own. I know a lot of people benefit from their guides and builds. Which is nice. I'm just not one of them.

Edited May 1 by HnRkLnXqZ.1870

[StraightPath.3972]

I will counter this reaper with my experimental Berserker build:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PKwAkeJlJwwYUsLmJO+O/tfA-DSRYwR39aOE0nR6SrWWBq52ALjKuBA-e

It's yet to be tested by me due to lack of materials (ascended diviner's), but given it's a straight upgrade from core warrior build i use all the time I'm fairly confident it'll perform.
So how does it contest the reaper as OW king?
By not having it's weaknesses.

It won't "Outreaper a Reaper" at what it does best - a fast and brutal cleanup of armies of trash mobs.
But it'll deliver in areas Reapers naturally struggle, such as dealing with strong enemy cc, 1v1 fights with champions and boonshare support.

DEFENSE:
The anti cc is through the roof with this one. Hammer + mace ensure massive Stalwart Strength procs and if that's not enough you got 5 stunbreaks on you (Berserk mode entry + exit, two charges of Shake it Off!, Headbutt).

Your self healing is no joke either. Thanks to Eternal Champion and Dead or Alive traits you basically have 3 casts of a healing skill, two of which are 3 seconds of healing based on damage you do. And your axe 5 along with hammer 2 -> 5 -> 2 combo provide massive damage to heal from.
And then there's the low cd and condi cleansing Mending which is always useful.
All this sprinkled with passives  from Defense line - Adrenal Health, 5s protection from healing skill (because you got massive boon duration) and resolution when you eat a crit.

And there are other avenues of surviving a fight if needed. Might Makes right + Forceful Greatsword for one.
Your might will not only heal you now but also restore some endurance. As do your bursts. As does Eternal Champion trait.
Not only will you get some extra passive healing, but a lot of free dodges along the way if needed.

Anti - condi is pretty solid as well - Mending cleanses 5 condies on 12s cd, which is awesome, and then there's Shake it Off! to deal with any stray conditions in between if needed.
When facing some major condi abuse you can swap Stalwart Strength for Cleansing Ire, if the near perma Stab is not necessary.

SUPPORT:
While not a healer, you do have large impact on allies around you.
By default anyone going near you will be capped on might and fury, because every source of it you use for yourself affects nearby allies as well.
Except maybe the reckless dodge trait, but you'll live that down somehow 😉
If grouped and feeling safe about your odds of surviving, you can easily swap Dead or Alive to Heat the Soul for some quickness share.
And the "Shake It Off!" never left being both aoe condi cleanse and a stunbreak.
With big fat servings of might, fury, quickness and Shake it Off! keeping them on their feet and hitting, your impact is no joke.

ATTACK:

If you're going Defense 3-3-3 (and you are), your hammer will be hitting like a ton of bricks and providing good AoE damage along with it's big cc.
Mace + Axe only push this further.

Needless to say your cc game is strong with this one.
So you can add that to support as well - it'll be easy for you to break enemy bars and give your team opportunities to hit their hardest.
Also once again that Dead or Alive choice comes into play. When in organized group with a healer you can swap it not only for Heat the Soul, but also for Blood Reaction if you want maximum damage. Pair that with Bloody Roar and you can use this build in raids/strikes/fractals etc.

The big play in this build is abusing your Sigil of Severence for some big precision and ferocity boosts.
Imagine you land an interrupt with mace (quite doable) or dagger (real easy). Next 4 seconds you get 11.9% extra crit chance and 16.6% more critical damage.
Now pop that healing skill for 10%  more damage from peak performance, and signet of Fury for 24% more crit damage (and around 8.5% more crit chance compared to passive mode). Then you press axe 5 and enjoy the carnage...
All this is quite doable if you're under effect of quickness which you can get from axe 4, and entering/leaving berserk mode if using Eternal Champion grandmaster.

While this does carry periods of imperfect critical chance and dps loss that follows, it's not a big issue as this is burst-based build.
There are hard hitting skills and combos (Axe 5, hammer 2 -> 5 -> 2) and the rest is mediocre so it's ok the boost the big ones at expense of the rest.

Will it do absolutely best damage? No.
But given how much it brings to the table it won't be an issue.
For example if they're really picky about not running a meta build, you can equip a dagger instead of mace  and go support mode with heat the soul.
DPS that can strip boons, cap his group on might, fury quickness and still bail them with aoe stunbreak should be welcomed by any sane group leader.
 

Edited May 3 by StraightPath.3972