A Build for Every Rune Project

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

I don't see the Mercy Scourge listed. It's become very popular for soft-carrying less-than-optimal raid/fractal teams.https://old.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/9exx8g/pbt_how_healer_scourge_helped_an_average_group_no/(links to the build, Mighty Teapot's video on it)

I think it's a fun support build for people that traditionally don't like support.

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Adding the details in a more helpful way:Build: Mercy ScourgeRune: (Superior) Rune of MercyGamemode: PvE (raids & fractals & training; also relevant in open world zergs)Build Links:

• Reddit description of its use in raids
• Magi's Build used by u/rufus_furry
• Mighty Teapot's video of its use
• Harrier build recommended by SnowCrows

[Holykitten.3064]

Build: Go-Go Power Reaper.Rune: Rune of the TrooperGamemode: PvE/WvWBuild Link

I've been using this build since HoT came out tbh. It's great for Open World or a bit of WvW roaming, just flipping camps/sentry's, or 1v1/2 other roamers.I always gravitate to logging in on my Reaper because it's a lot of fun tbh.This build utilises the condition removal on shouts from the 6th Rune Bonus, and the extra toughness and vitality is a bit of 'padding' on the already huge Health/Life Force pool Necromancers have.If anyone wants to tweak this for their own use, that's fine by me! But I love this setup as is. ^^5g tyvm (if you want).

Edit for Nov 13th Rune/Sigil patch:This build is still operational. We get an additional +125 Vitality on the 6th Rune Bonus, so a bit more beef to the Death Shroud.

[DerJoker.9081]

Build: Might-Makes-Right SpellbreakerRune: Rune of StrengthGamemode: Pve/WvWBuild Link: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vJAQNAR4Yn8cAVeglCCeeAcigFjAL5Hs3OCGBgGQODfHXkTyA-jBCEABR8AAYS5HAXAgU2fIhDCwWKBd/IAko6PAA-e

Its about getting might as often as you can and make the most of it with traits. Maintaining 25 stacks is really easy, and reapplying it with 25 stacks is good, because gaining might benefits you.

Might:

1. increased effectivenes (40 Power, instead of 30)
2. +10 Healing Power for every stack of it
3. Gain health (133 default) and Endurance (2)

Also Burst skills restore endurance, using a healing skill and dodging gives Might and rezzing as well.

Choosing the tactics line and going with shouts is not really required, but i like it to be somewhat supportive and heal allies etc. I use the build for running champs solo/dungeons solo etc, where the extra sustain and 25 Vulnerability is really nice.

Hope this one makes the list, its really fun :)

EDIT: How the hell do i get rid of the long url and put the link as hyperlink, like the previous poster did it? o.O

[DerJoker.9081]

Another one, im using on my condi warrior

Build: Burn-Baby,-Burn BerzerkerRune: Rune of BalthazarGamemode: PvEBuild Link: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vJAQNAsfTnckCtki9dAOeAElilpAL5DcCKgvn2Xbt9YAGAGZA-jBSAABccIAA4MAI9DAIm9HCV9HxU+Ro+g2UCCA-e

Im trying to cap on the two conditions warrior with berzerker specialization can dish out, Bleeding and Burning.With Burning capped at 100%/92% and Bleeding at 77%/67% (depends on the weapon set) im pretty happy with it.Burst is around 22-25 stacks burning single target and 15-18 AoE. Bleeding is always around 15.With the heal and Signet of Fury, the burst skills can be used multiple times in quick succession, so you will heal and heal and heal.

Not as good sustain wise outside of the heal, but everything except champs are dead anyways after the first engage. Aoe dmg is also high, so multiple enemies dont make a difference :)

[Chrury.4627]

Spreadsheet updated.

@"Illconceived Was Na.9781" said:I don't see the Mercy Scourge listed. It's become very popular for soft-carrying less-than-optimal raid/fractal teams.https://old.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/9exx8g/pbt_how_healer_scourge_helped_an_average_group_no/(links to the build, Mighty Teapot's video on it)

I think it's a fun support build for people that traditionally don't like support.

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Adding the details in a more helpful way:Build: Mercy ScourgeRune: (Superior) Rune of MercyGamemode: PvE (raids & fractals & training; also relevant in open world zergs)Build Links:

• Reddit description of its use in raids
• Magi's Build used by u/rufus_furry
• Mighty Teapot's video of its use
• Harrier build recommended by SnowCrows

Ah, thanks. I had heard rumor of this necro support but couldn't track down the source. d(^_^)

@"Haleydawn.3764" said:Build: Go-Go Power Reaper.Rune: Rune of the TrooperGamemode: PvE/WvWBuild Link

Yep, that looks effective all right. Possibly even a First Order Optimal strat by the way you're describing it. Do you swap any skills around depending on content?

@"DerJoker.9081" said:Build: Might-Makes-Right SpellbreakerRune: Rune of StrengthGamemode: Pve/WvWBuild Link: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vJAQNAR4Yn8cAVeglCCeeAcigFjAL5Hs3OCGBgGQODfHXkTyA-jBCEABR8AAYS5HAXAgU2fIhDCwWKBd/IAko6PAA-e

Its about getting might as often as you can and make the most of it with traits. Maintaining 25 stacks is really easy, and reapplying it with 25 stacks is good, because gaining might benefits you.

This is the sort of build I was looking for when starting the thread. I love how many things plug into might here.

@"DerJoker.9081" said:Another one, im using on my condi warrior

Build: Burn-Baby,-Burn BerzerkerRune: Rune of BalthazarGamemode: PvEBuild Link: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vJAQNAsfTnckCtki9dAOeAElilpAL5DcCKgvn2Xbt9YAGAGZA-jBSAABccIAA4MAI9DAIm9HCV9HxU+Ro+g2UCCA-e

Hey, that's pretty close to the meta Condi Bannerslave or Condi War DPS with some PvE allowances. I can vouch for it's effectiveness.

EDIT: How the hell do i get rid of the long url and put the link as hyperlink, like the previous poster did it? o.OEasiest way is to highlight a word and click the link/url button at the top of the comment box. Input the Url there and the forum will format it for you.

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

@"Chrury.4627" said:Ah, thanks. I had heard rumor of this necro support but couldn't track down the source. d(^_^)It's been around for a while. Raiders used to make fun of it (heck, some still do). MightyTeapot just popularized it as a way to help non-elite teams that struggled. (And it turns out to be fun for a lot of people. I know several "DPS or bust" folks, and they all are willing to play this.)

[FitzChevalerie.1035]

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vFAQFAWnMMAdOglMAuMAcYiFJAzdxOZzsCLgAQFs4J0EOCA-jlCEABEcBAcXHQN7P0kyhtUCykSmnUC5vKFJquCAPAgAAHArveA48zP/8zPvmffzDIFg5CtA-wplaying with this in wvw. working on removing some precision to put on power or fero since its already high with almost perm fury. good to roam and in zerg. fun to perm blind/immob people. Mostly using lyssa for the 5condi convert. rebound casts fast. can spam superspeed to get away, good vigor uptime

[Holykitten.3064]

@Chrury.4627Yep, that looks effective all right. Possibly even a First Order Optimal strat by the way you're describing it. Do you swap any skills around depending on content?

Any of the utilities can be swapped out and still be effective. But for the most part I leave it as is. The Greatsword trait can also be changed to Decimate Defenses if you don’t necessarily want the passive regen, or don’t use Greatsword much.

[DerJoker.9081]

Hey, that's pretty close to the meta Condi Bannerslave or Condi War DPS with some PvE allowances. I can vouch for it's effectiveness.

Ah i didnt knew that, sorry for doubling it Uup :)

[Chrury.4627]

So, uh, given the Rune and Sigil rework that's coming next week; Let's put this project on hold for at least a fortnight. I'll review the builds we have after the update to see how much changes.

[Ardid.7203]

Yes, please don't abandon this thread. This will be really interesting next week!

[Rysdude.3824]

@Ardid.7203 said:Yes, please don't abandon this thread. This will be really interesting next week!

I love reading these and seeing the creativity as well.

[Durzlla.6295]

I was wondering how this thread was gonna take the bombshell Anet dropped yesterday lol.

Hopefully most of the existing builds don’t need to be reworked too much.

[Jski.6180]

I love the ideal but we do not know what the runes are going to look like till the 13 nov.

[Chrury.4627]

Patch day! And I am...unenthused. :/Of the 89 rune sets in the game, 75 or thereabouts received changes. In general, the affected runes have been buffed. Tanky builds look to be tankier and damage runes look to be more damaging.

Here's the rundown of the runes we've collected builds for thus far.

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Power

• Chronomancer - unchanged
• Citadel - Bomb replaced with artillery barrage and fury duration. No more rune proced fury. Explosion Man still works (self-fury is no problem) but the artillery barrage hits do not count as explosions like the bomb did. Boo.
• Daredevil - unchanged
• Lynx - unchanged
• Mad King - unchanged
• Pack - Traded swiftness duration for general boon duration and now pulses boons every 20 seconds. Still usable {EDIT} only gives boons on entering combat. Rune is significantly weaker in long engagements.
• Privateer - More Might duration but "Yarr!" might be on the same cooldown as the parrot. The Pirate Captain still works and is still on theme! /o/
• Scholar - Min-maxed builds with this rune will play the same as before but will do less damage. Expect the power meta runes to shift.
• Strength - Traded Might when hit for +5% extra duration. Builds are fine.
• Vampirism - Boooo! Hissssss Terrible changes. uhg. uhk! Get it away from me! Seriously tho, the changes remove the life steal procs for +10% health and killing something heals you for a minimum of 1,200? In theory, this could be great for surviving lots of mobs in open world but without the lifesteal; Vets and Champions will take noticeably longer to kill and will be more dangerous (no rune benefit until you kill something). Rune of Scavenging also lost lifesteal so there's no longer a lifesteal themed rune. Feelsbadman.

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Precision

• Ranger - unchanged
• Rata Sum - Currently bugged? The gamma field is currently a non-damaging, non-applying poison field that doesn't apply might. I think Explosive Minions will work fine with the rune after a bugfix but No Fun Allowed will need to be archived in search of a new rune.

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Ferocity

• Evasion - Rune has lost all of its flavor. Now it's just Swiftness duration and gain swiftness on evade. It did gain +125 Ferocity tho. This version of Dagger Dancer Daredevil will be archived.
• Golemancer - Straight buffed. Oola-mancer will hit harder and now has reliable upkeep on the Golem. Very nice.

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Condi Damage

• Adventurer - Buffed
• Balthazar - Gained +5% burning duration and +10% health at the cost of quickness when low and burn on heal. Burn-Baby-Burnzerker will deal less burning (the heal is part of the rotation like the meta condi-bannerslave) but is otherwise ok.
• Krait - Gained +5% bleed duration, loses bleed when hit chance, and a lower cooldown of 6) bonus. Doesn't change SB-SB-SB but the build might be min/maxed soon.
• Nightmare - Minor buff to condi and fear duration.
• Renegade - unchanged
• Scavenging - lost all lifesteal in exchange for Vit and +20% poison duration. Kinda weird and not as fun but possibly useful for a high health condi class? Blood Scourge has moved to Sanctuary runes.
• Soulbeast - unchanged... for some reason.
• Tormenting - +5% buff for torment duration. Malicious Shadow Duelist looks like it'll play about the same. A class with more consistent torment application might love the new sustain.

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Healing Power

• Monk - Still meta
• Water - Still strong alt to Monk

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Vitality

• Exuberance - unchanged
• Ice - Ice Nova moved from when hit to on Elite skill (10 sec ICD). Chilling Reaper looks ok but will only have 1/4 the Ice Nova procs.
• Lich - Straight buff like Golemancer. More condition damage and reliable upkeep of minion. The Minion Master build stays for now but a condition damage variation would really tie the rune together.
• Trooper - straight buffed. now more tanky
• Wurm - unchanged

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Toughness

• Durability - Minor difference with less RNG.
• Mercy - I want to call this a quality-of-life buff. Some minor extra healing power will help res speed and a 20% damage reduction means you won't steal aggro from the tanks when a dps gets downed. Again.
• Resistance - minor buff. My build is safe! /o/

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And the rest

• Divinity - unchanged
• Leadership - Loses 5% boon duration. I hear the meta is shifting here.
• Revenant - Straight stat buff. nice
• Weaver - The Lemur is safe! Just a hair more random.

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With that I think we can start this up again! I just hope that squishing all the unique effects into the 6) bonus doesn't hamper the buildcraft.Let me know if you want to move your build or if a listed one is using a different rune now (particularly meta builds).

[DeanBB.4268]

Note that the bonuses that proc on entering combat will only proc once for an entire combat, which does change things. For example, Rune of the Pack, you only get those boons once at the beginning of combat. They won't be reapplied.

[Chrury.4627]

@DeanBB.4268 said:Note that the bonuses that proc on entering combat will only proc once for an entire combat, which does change things. For example, Rune of the Pack, you only get those boons once at the beginning of combat. They won't be reapplied.

Just did a quick test and you are absolutely correct. Lame.That puts those rune bonuses to the level of untraited Opening Strike. Only noticeably useful in a number of short encounters. And we all know how finicky GW2 can be about triggering 'out-of-combat'.IMO, all the 'entering combat' effects should be 'while in combat'. Just adjust the cooldowns appropriately.

[DeanBB.4268]

Yup, agreed.

I know Anet was trying to make all/most rune sets useful, but a lot of fun was stripped out as a result.

[babazhook.6805]

@saerni.2584 said:@Chrury.4627

I don’t have gameplay footage but I might record a match and post it later.

The torment is enough in concert with incidental bleed, power damage and the other primary damage of poison.

Skate venom isn’t as strong as spider venom in a spike but the advantages of venoms are outweighed by the flexibility that Mercy provides.

Binding Shadow and Shadowsteps are extremely good in their own way so Mercy is what would be dropped for a small increase in damage but a larger loss in sustain and overall utility.

My build very similar to yours albeit mine a WvW build only and I dropped potent poison in favor of Improv and use the skale venom .While true the Potent Poison can provide higher overall ticks, i find the flexibility of improv more helpful in WvW roaming specifically when coming up against someone with high cleanses. The major reason I prefer torment is that it punishes movement on par of the enemy which exactly what I want. It also adds Vuln which not all bad and he recent added heal per torment add is real useful.

I tried both though and both are fine.

[The Light In The Darkness.1619481526]

@"Chrury.4627" said:

Runes

You know them. They tie your build together, boost your stats, and/or give you a nifty bonus effect. At least in theory.There are currently 88 superior runes in the game. Of those, only 6 (Scholar, Renegade, Monk, Leadership, Krait, Water) see widespread, meta use. And for good reason! Those 6 are numerically best in slot for their respective roles.

I know this isn't something that can be changed and this post isn't about changing the meta. Instead, I'd like to spark the theorycraft discussion: How would we best use these 82 other runes?

The Project

I propose a discussion and exploration on runes. Let's work backwards. Instead of making a build and finding the best rune to complement it; Let's start with the rune and build around what it best supports.To that end, I have created a Google sheet: Builds for Runes LINK .I fancy myself a bit of a theorycrafter but I know my limits. I'm only intimately familiar with 3 or 4 of the classes and I've never even touched Necro, Mes, or Rev. I'm going to need your help to discover the full potential of these runes.

The Caveat

We could simply copy/paste a meta build onto almost any rune and the build would work. That's not the point here.We're looking for builds that maximize what stats or theme a particular rune is trying to support.For example, Rune of the Citadel is Power focused, Fury bonus, and summons a bomb. And if that's doesn't sound engi enough; the bomb it summons counts as an explosion for related traits. Sounds like a build brewing to me! (I have played with this build. It's currently clunky but fun to explode all the time.)

I know that a number of runes are just kinda boring. And we'll get similar builds for a few just based on stats and such. But let's do our best and talk about 'em. Why is Rune of X boring or not effective? Would a small change make it better in this niche?

Also, this is a project for full rune-sets. You could min/max more with combinations but there's no way to account for all the possibilities. o.o

The Format

Build Name/ClassRune NameGamemodeBuild Link (Suggestion: type "LINK", highlight that text, then click the link button and paste URL there. Make a text link instead of showing the whole URL)Comments: What works? What's lacking with the rune to make this really cool or effective?

The Bounty

5G per unique build. 2G if a rune already has a build in a different gamemode.I'm going to be filling out eight or ten of these myself (including the meta 6) in the next few days and will continue as I have time. So I could eventually fill it out myself. But that's a lot of work and not fun.I'm not GW2 rich but I'm willing/able to give out 5G per unique rune build. Just add "5G plz" at the end of your post. Let's see what you got! I'll try to update the spreadsheet daily.

Recap

• Builds for Runes LINK
• Find a rune that doesn't have a build yet and get thinking.
• Post build here. Discuss
• Profit! If you want.

FBI OPEN UP !

[Chrury.4627]

@"The Light In The Darkness.1892" said:FBI OPEN UP !

Uh... is the thread getting swatted? :/Thanks for the reminder though. I've updated the first post to mention the game update and the higher build bounty.

[DerJoker.9081]

Got another one:Class: RangerBuildname: Ferocious BeastRune: Rune of RageBuild: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNAsXRnUqAVsgd8CmsActgl8Aj5gVwCeLBgCQDI/9Wf7vlI93A-jxBBABYp8LP9NA8EAOTJYlq/EwpAwo9HWHMA4u7urxu7u7u7KFwYLjA-e

Ranger has quite good access to dmg modifiers and ferocity buffs, especially with soulbeast.Also ranger has a lot of interactions with fury, so many, i couldnt really choose a traitline to go with :) Ranger has the option of gaining fury with signets and survival skills, but they (especially signets) are not as offensive orientated as they used to before, so i choose not to take survival or signets to get fury.But because Marksmanships Remorseless synergizes so well with Fury, theres not really a way around it.Soulbeast provides fury and ferocity when merged, it is also kind of a must have.but the last traitline can be switched, i went for Skimirshing and Vicious Quarry to further improve on ferocity, but beastmastery with "Two-Handed-Training" works great too. Honed Axes would also be viable in that traitline, further increasing ferocity.

Rune of Rage give +5% dmg with Fury, Soulbeast gives +7% dmg with fury, +5 % dmg from "Farsighted" and sigil of force, the dmg-modifiers add up with fury :)The ferocity bonusses Rune of Rage gives complements the extra ferocity from merging with a ferocious pet and "Vicious Quarry", making those "Mauls" and "Worldly Impact" numbers really really big.With full Berzerker Gear and Fury the build has circa 80% crit chance, so i tried to get those numbers up with Accuracy Sigill and precise infusions.

In the end, 250% crit dmg, perma fury and permanently 24% more dmg without Vulnerability makes this build hit hard :)

I run it with longbow from time to time, as it increases the dmg-modifier from "Farsighted" from 5 to 10%, but i think its a dmg loss, compared to other full melee weaponsets.

[Chrury.4627]

@"DerJoker.9081" said:Got another one:Class: RangerBuildname: Ferocious BeastRune: Rune of RageBuild: LINK

You gain an additional 10% crit chance with Fury from Vicious Quarry, so you are actually sitting at 97% when the boon is up. You could cap your crit chance by wearing Assassin's head, gloves, and chest but I think that's splitting hairs. You're effectively critting all the time.Which makes me wonder a bit on how much value you're getting out of Remorseless. Sure, your OS is 25% more powerful but how often are you proccing that? WI should always be a OS crit in this setup; does that feel like enough for open world?

I've been theorycrafting sometime similar but with Ogre Runes and Valk gear (has a 'pet' while merged, tough to kill, rare but hard crits). So I feel your pain with the fury sources. Haven't quite got it yet.

[DerJoker.9081]

@Chrury.4627 said:

@"DerJoker.9081" said:Got another one:Class: RangerBuildname: Ferocious BeastRune: Rune of RageBuild:

LINK

You gain an additional 10% crit chance with Fury from Vicious Quarry, so you are actually sitting at 97% when the boon is up. You could cap your crit chance by wearing Assassin's head, gloves, and chest but I think that's splitting hairs. You're effectively critting all the time.Which makes me wonder a bit on how much value you're getting out of Remorseless. Sure, your OS is 25% more powerful but how often are you proccing that? WI should always be a OS crit in this setup; does that feel like enough for open world?

I've been theorycrafting sometime similar but with Ogre Runes and Valk gear (has a 'pet' while merged, tough to kill, rare but hard crits). So I feel your pain with the fury sources. Haven't quite got it yet.

Using your heal gives opening strike again and whenever you are under 75% health you can reapply fury quite nicely.True, totally forgot about the extra 10%, ty

Combining heals with maul or getting hit with WI etc can get some nice OS's I found.

Maybe beastmasteries two handed training is better with OS :/ :)Good to have options though : D

EDIT: pre patch was better with Opening Strikes :/

[Lan Deathrider.5910]

I've been playing around with Superior Runes of Speed on my warrior. Let me say, perma super speed is kind of nice...

Build: Speed SpellbreakerRune: Superior Runes of SpeedGamemode: PVE, Fractals, DungeonBuild Link: LINK

Use Signet of Rage and Bladestorm to maintain swiftness. Warrior's Sprint gives a damage boost with swiftness on, Bowl of Seaweed Salad gives a damage boost while moving while also generating swiftness on kill. Sustain through Might Makes Right, and Sun and Moon Style healing you. This one is a CC variant.

Warrior's Sprint from Discipline is part of what makes this so mobile. Not tested in PvP or WvW, but the mobility increase should be very handy.

Build: Speed BerserkerRune: Superior Runes of SpeedGamemode: PVE, Fractals, DungeonBuild Link: LINK

This one uses Berserk mode as a damage boost, but also generates swiftness through berserk mode and bursts. More of an active high risk high reward variant

Build: Speed WarriorRune: Superior Runes of SpeedGamemode: PVE, Fractals, DungeonBuild Link: LINK

Lastly the core warrior variant. I purposefully added in the rifle, because with perma pseudo superspeed you can stay safely out of danger while harrying a foe.