Returning after a hiatus since the launch of HoT

[Desolate.8492]

So I stopped playing for real life reasons around the launch of HoT. Recently came back and grabbed POF which I am loving because I am missed crystal desert.

Originally I played a zerk warrior with travelers runes. I tend to play mainly solo through the living story, I never played the HoT living story though. I just seem to be getting steamrolled. Maybe I am not up to date with the specs and such currently. I've always ran GS/LB too. Sometimes switching to Axe/Axe

Any help really would be great. It's nice to be back but I feel like I'm missing something

[Itz Jay.8941]

Zerk warrior is still one of my go to options for open world. For solo play I run defence for adrenal health with strength for dps and might generation. Usually take endure pain for stunbreak and also outrage for another stunbreak, then third utility is for great justice to get fury before I enter combat. This is all on my fractal/raid build which is full berserker stats with some assassin with scholar runes, sigil of force and sigil of accuracy. I run greatsword and either axe/mace with shield for open world. There are a couple of trait options like lesser endure pain and lesser balanced stance which you can use if you need to, also in berserker elite, on the last tier you have stability or 10% extra damage. Remember the more defence traits you take, the slower your enemies die, so the more you have to fight them. I will try to take as much damage as I can so I can kill before I have to cooldown.

Generally gameplay wise, when playing power berserker elite spec you won't ever swap off of greatsword, because it is a huge DPS loss. What you need to do is headbutt into zerk mode, F1 smack hundred blades and whirling blade into your enemies, F1 again, so you build up adrenal health stacks, then kite around and dodge while letting the adrenal health heal you back up. Rinse and repeat. I also almost always use blood reckoning in solo play, because you can let yourself get really low health then use it after F1 in zerk mode, so you get instant second F1 and then hundred blades to heal up again and gain even more adrenal health. If I am really getting messed up I use endure pain to cover tanking while I hundred blades so I don't take damage, if im still getting messed up, I run through the enemy with whirling blade and/or greatsword 5, then kite around while I let adrenal health heal me/ wait for my headbutt, F1, heal, F1 combo or if I need to swap to mace/shield and start blocking. Usually though, you do the same rotation; headbutt, F1, blood reckoning heal, F1, hundred blades, whirling blade, using F1 as much as possible in zerk mode. This should destroy everything fast xD unless your fighting veterans, which then you adjust to kiting and using endure pain or saving your heal instead of using it to reset F1. Another thing you should do, try to kite enemies together before you do your burst combo, so that you kill everything at once.

When it comes to playing with a group or doing meta events, I swap to my condi raid build, which is full vipers, sword/torch and longbow. This way I can still put out some damage, but I can survive a lot better due to being able to range 75% of the time. Not only that I can also tag a lot more enemies with longbow f1 and aoe condi's. On this build I still run defence, with arms as my first spec. The damage is a lot less but I survive better in the zerg so overall I'm getting more damage out. I also use the same utilities apart from changing for great justice to shattering blow.