Dragonhunter PVE build?

[Xenerous.9752]

Hey guys I'm wondering if this build here is a good one for open world/dungeons?https://qtfy.eu/guildwars/guardian/power-dh/It says it's meant for raids and I do want to do raids later but I just got back into the game for PoF and just want to do some dungeons and open world to get back into it. Any suggestions would be awesome thanks!!!

[RabbitUp.8294]

This is what I use, because I can't be bothered changing gear and traits between fractals and open world. It does a lot of damage with a nice burst. It works equally well in other group content like dungeons and fractals.

For open world, there is probably some more optimal build, because this build takes raid buffs for granted, while solo, bringing your own boons, like might and fury makes a big difference. But as I said above, I can't be bothered changing stuff, so I only do some minor changes.

What I do is change scepter/torch for sword/focus. This gives me more mobility and a good amount of fury (sword 2), more defence through blocks and blinds (sword 2, focus 4 and 5) and a bit more aoe burst (focus 5). I switch back to scepter in boss events, because having range is more useful there.

If you feel like it, you can buy some Golden Fried Dumplings, they are 10s each, but they will give a nice amount of might, which makes them the best food when solo.

Now, since you said you just came back, you mechanics might be a bit rusty, so playing a 11k health build might not be the best for you. Keep in mind, that this build relies on high damage and active defences to survive. You open the fight with an AoE blind from your sword, and combined with your passive aegis, that's a good amount of damage blocked/avoided. Then, you have more blocks and blinds on your focus, your F3 active shield, another AoE blind in your greatsword and a AoE pull for CC. You can also pick Shelter as your healing skill for more blocking, and of course F2 is a good secondary heal. All that, and good use of dodging, offer a lot of survivability, but you still have a very low health pool that can be one-shotted, especially in HoT maps. If that's not enough for you, you can try Marauder or Valkyrie gear for more tankiness, but that requires spending gold.

[Xenerous.9752]

Thanks for all the great info! Definitely gonna follow your advice here

[scionofhorus.8629]

I'm hardly an expert at either the game or theorycrafting, but I've been using the following build since the 8/8/17 patch:

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vVAQJARTn8cCdditCBOCBEEhl4BrKA0AqXWhg8VkSe/1/WgA-TBSBQB5Q9nMqU7G7PoCdBA4JAYSlgiUZBFuEAAA-e

It's very similar to the qtfy build but with a few changes I made for open world stuff. The biggest change is gearing. With Retaliation and Fury I have just over a 100% crit chance against burning enemies so I found full Berserker gear pointless and traded out for a mix of Valkyrie and Marauder. This gave me about 9k more health over base Guardian which is hardly insignificant. Combined with active defenses I find my Guardian to be very tanky while also being very bursty. The general idea is to always have Retaliation up for when you Whirling Wrath. The build is nearly perfect for soloing since most veteran enemies are dead by the end of your first Whirling Wrath after popping Retaliation, which means your effective DPS is extremely high.

Also, I know, everyone seems to hate LB but me, but whatever.

[phor.7952]

If you like longbow, then my favorite build for open world soloing is:Burst-Bow Open World Dragonhunter

Here's how it works:On the engage you fire 1 regular shot (applies cripple and vuln), then you throw your Spear of Justice (applies burning, cripple, vuln, retal, might), then you hit Trueshot.At that point your damage bonuses look like this:

1. Retribution - 10% damage, +250 Ferocity
2. Radiant Power - 10% crit chance
3. Righteous Instincts - 50% crit chance
4. Unscathed Contender - 20% damage
5. Power of the Virtuous - 5-7% damage
6. Zealot's Aggression - 10% damage
7. Pure of Sight - 13% damage
8. Big Game Hunter - 10% damage
9. Force Sigil - 5% damage
10. Scholar Rune - 10% damage
11. A few extra % damage from vuln stacks and a few stacks of Might

So that sets up a base damage multiplier above 230%, 100% crit chance, and a crit multipler above 250% for Trueshot. It hits like a TRUCK. And because of Renewed Justice, you can turn around and immediately do it again. No cooldowns. Even Veterans melt.Participating in events is also a breeze since you have multiple AoE's to tag with and your shots pierce. The only thing you can't really do is solo champions.

Retreat and Save Yourselves play double duty, acting as your source of Swiftness to get around the map, but also can be used to reapply aegis or retaliation to keep your damage bonuses up. Renewed Focus gives you a reliable disengage by allowing you to double up on Wings of Resolve (jump away, pop renewed focus, jump away further).

I chose Mace/Focus as the secondary weapon set primarily for the blocks. I would really only ever swap weapons if I wanted to run through an area I expected to aggro a lot of enemies, but didn't want to have to stop to kill them. You could use GS secondary if you wanted no problem. Jump in, hit Spear of Justice, hit Retreat to get your Aegis back for Unscathed Contender, then spin to win with the same massive damage multiplier.

[Garrick Witchblade.7964]

@scionofhorus.8629 said:I'm hardly an expert at either the game or theorycrafting, but I've been using the following build since the 8/8/17 patch:

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vVAQJARTn8cCdditCBOCBEEhl4BrKA0AqXWhg8VkSe/1/WgA-TBSBQB5Q9nMqU7G7PoCdBA4JAYSlgiUZBFuEAAA-e

It's very similar to the qtfy build but with a few changes I made for open world stuff. The biggest change is gearing. With Retaliation and Fury I have just over a 100% crit chance against burning enemies so I found full Berserker gear pointless and traded out for a mix of Valkyrie and Marauder. This gave me about 9k more health over base Guardian which is hardly insignificant. Combined with active defenses I find my Guardian to be very tanky while also being very bursty. The general idea is to always have Retaliation up for when you Whirling Wrath. The build is nearly perfect for soloing since most veteran enemies are dead by the end of your first Whirling Wrath after popping Retaliation, which means your effective DPS is extremely high.

Also, I know, everyone seems to hate LB but me, but whatever.

I am actually going through a transition much like this and really liking it. I find there is really no need for the critical % increase of zerker if I have ret and burn up. I think I will be making the move to Valkyrie too. Very similar damage and considerable survivability.

[RoosterTooth.1024]

@scionofhorus.8629 said:I'm hardly an expert at either the game or theorycrafting, but I've been using the following build since the 8/8/17 patch:

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vVAQJARTn8cCdditCBOCBEEhl4BrKA0AqXWhg8VkSe/1/WgA-TBSBQB5Q9nMqU7G7PoCdBA4JAYSlgiUZBFuEAAA-e

I'm very tempted to try this....I love my guard, but never tried a real LB build.

[Xenerous.9752]

Thanks for all the replies guys! Gonna have to try them out to see what I like best lol

[Xenerous.9752]

@scionofhorus.8629 said:

Also, I know, everyone seems to hate LB but me, but whatever.

How does the longbow compare to the scepter/torch?

[mPascoal.4258]

gw2skills.net/editor/?vVAQRArf8dn8cCFChtCBedCkdil4BTe/1/WgWbg8VKoKAslqXA-jhRBABXt/o8DP9DmpEEgnAAlq/8wJBAA-e

This is the variation of the qT build that I used to play in open world in PoF while exploring and doing story. I really like the sword on GuardianJust some trait changes and a weapon swap and you are ready to do Fractals and Raids

[CptAurellian.9537]

@Xenerous.9752 said:How does the longbow compare to the scepter/torch?Longbow is a joke compared to Sc/T's output.

[Garrick Witchblade.7964]

@CptAurellian.9537 said:

@Xenerous.9752 said:How does the longbow compare to the scepter/torch?Longbow is a joke compared to Sc/T's output.

I've always been a fan of sword/t, so how does Sc/T compare and what are the ways to increase it's damage output over sword/torch? I've bee away for awhile so genuinely curious!

[CptAurellian.9537]

Sw/T is probably not so far behind Sc/T, haven't bothered to test. Scepter has the big advantage of the better symbol (uptime and damage), which makes it meta. It has been a while since I last used my sword, but that's mainly because I prefer GS as a melee weapon and having another ranged weapon set at hand is helpful quite often, meta nonwithstanding.

[otto.5684]

I like the sword/torch, scepter/torch. It packs the highest burst. It is slightly behind the meta build using gs and scepter, but it is easier and faster in open world. Probably stronger cuz you cannot maintain uptime on retaliation.

[phor.7952]

@CptAurellian.9537 said:

@Xenerous.9752 said:How does the longbow compare to the scepter/torch?Longbow is a joke compared to Sc/T's output.Well, sustained DPS, for sure.But Scepter can't come close to touching longbow's initial Burst.

And that's why I think longbow is a better weapon for open world. You literally just hit 1,F1,2 and do guaranteed 20k damage.

[Kerivek.5740]

Scepter is also probably the most boring weapon I could possibly imagine. I always use LB over scepter for open world just because I find it so much more fun to play. Sustained DPS is rarely an issue for any open world content so min/maxing isn't a requirement. When you step into an environment that DPS is important in like high fractals or raids then definitely just use the scepter but aside from that I always recommend choosing what you find more fun.

[CptAurellian.9537]

@phor.7952 said:

@CptAurellian.9537 said:

@Xenerous.9752 said:How does the longbow compare to the scepter/torch?Longbow is a joke compared to Sc/T's output.Well, sustained DPS, for sure.But Scepter can't come close to touching longbow's initial Burst.

And that's why I think longbow is a better weapon for open world. You literally just hit 1,F1,2 and do guaranteed 20k damage.And after those 20k, your damage drops into oblivion. I tried it and am not convinced. May be nice for very weak trash mobs, but even most normal non-veterans have a lot more than 20k HP.

[phor.7952]

@CptAurellian.9537 said:May be nice for very weak trash mobs, but even most normal non-veterans have a lot more than 20k HP.The vast majority of open world play is weak trash and tagging though.It's definitely not a dungeon/fractal/raid build.

But I don't know what open world mobs you're fighting. That initial burst kills just about every non-veteran. And for Veterans you just pop Save Yourselves to keep retal up and kill them with the second or third Trueshot. Are you talking about meta mobs that have massive hp due to zone scaling?