PSA: Power Renegade is bad.

[Master Ketsu.4569]

So a friend of mine who watches an apparently popular streamer messaged me and asked why I am running power renegade because he says it is bad. My response: For the lulz.It has come to my attention that some people are noticing that a few of us running this build managed to creep into plat I - II. This thread is to answer the question on whether or not power renegade is viable:

NO. POWER RENEGADE IS NOT VIABLE AT ALL.

Here is or a quick list on why you should not run power Ren if you are seriously aiming for top 250:

1. You have to rely on charged mists for energy.Herald is free. Renegade is not. Dragon stance allows for way easier energy management due to the 2nd skill being free and Facet is basically free boons. With Renegade, you must expend direct 15 and 25 energy into your buffs. This is doable if you manage to use those skills to proc Charged mists, but this isn't always the case. Charged mists is clunky and unreliable.

2. Legendary Renegade Stance is hilariously bad. Bow is glass.Legendary Renegade spirits are 100% useless against anyone with a brain. They do far less than scourge shades for far higher cost and with triple the number of counter strategies. Using a bow makes you a massive glass cannon. No one is going to stand in Kalla as you hit them. This means the only way to use Renegade and be somewhat OK is to use it as if you were a "core" revenant. Of these choices the only one that allows you to not instantly die to any coordinated team is Shiro/Jalis.

3. Unfavorable matchups to almost everything except FB.Renegade can quickly solo an FB bunker. This is your only favorable matchup. Everything else is either neutral or you get fucked.

4. Power Renegade only occasionally works because the build is so rare that most people have no idea how to fight it.One of the easiest things to notice when playing Power Ren is whether or not the enemy team has players who understand anything about Renegade. People who are in the know will immediately notice that if you are a Renegade you really can't do much if you are focused because they will know you have no infused and no protection/boonspam. They won't fall for the Unrelenting Assault+Jalis hammer 100% crit combo because it's very easily avoided by anyone who knows how to recognize revenant animations.

5. You can't really get away with Marauders.Herald has on demand access to protection. Renegade does not. Herald can thus run Marauders which makes up for the damage difference between Herald/Renegade making the choice a moot point. As Renegade, you will get exploded unless you are running Paladins or Avatar.

The only reason those of us who are running it is A : It's fun despite its flaws. B : Anet doesn't take sPvP seriously so why should we. C : Ranked is bad enough we can win enough games for elo anyways D : You will learn far more about the game playing an underpowered build that requires skill than a brainless buttonmasher build. When Scourge/Firebrand is inevitably nerfed all the people who were relying on it are going to find themselves falling to low gold/silver very quickly.

Power renegade is entertaining to play and your reactions to certain issues will drastically improve by playing this semi-ok "Worst build". Either play it for fun or to improve as a player. But if you are aiming for actual placement, don't.

[JayAction.9056]

https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/6070/renegade-non-viable-pvp#latest

[Master Ketsu.4569]

Those are some good reasons why Renegade in general isn't viable. The saddest part about Shiro/Jalis power Renegade is it's probably the best Renegade build out there. I tried quite a few other builds and they were completely useless. Power Renegade may not be optimal, but at least it does something. Other builds like Malyx Bow don't do anything. You do no damage at all and instantly die to a table of 100% negative matchups.

[Joxer.6024]

and yet we have this:https://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Renegade_-_Power_RenegadeAnd its very good/used/desired in raids as well (condi) ....so meh. Now from a PVP stand point, I have no clue.

[JayAction.9056]

@"Joxer.6024" said:and yet we have this:https://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Renegade_-_Power_RenegadeAnd its very good/used/desired in raids as well (condi) ....so meh. Now from a PVP stand point, I have no clue.

That build is kind of garbage.... Even for wvw

[otto.5684]

Well, power renegade is not even good for PvE, so ya, it surely will suck in sPvP. Honestly, outside of glint no other line works well in sPvP.

[Joxer.6024]

@JayAction.9056 said:

@"Joxer.6024" said:and yet we have this:

https://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Renegade_-_Power_Renegade

And its very good/used/desired in raids as well (condi) ....so meh. Now from a PVP stand point, I have no clue.

That build is kind of garbage.... Even for wvw

Lol, yea, I run the Herald build for wvw, go figure.

[ArmageddonAsh.6430]

Its not just Power Renegade, Hybrid and Condi both suck in WvW at the very least. Though to be fair, Revenant in general just sucks in WvW at the moment outside the Zerk Hammer spam zerg build :(

[Flauvious.6195]

@"Joxer.6024" said:and yet we have this:https://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Renegade_-_Power_RenegadeAnd its very good/used/desired in raids as well (condi) ....so meh. Now from a PVP stand point, I have no clue.

That build is bad, and this post is about power renegade not condi. Nobody wants a power renegade.

[Master Ketsu.4569]

Just to clarify, this thread is primarily in regards to sPvP.

Everything is viable in PvE.