Power or condi heavy armor?

[Daxter.7364]

I main a Dragonhunter and have been stockpiling on mats to craft ascended armor. The recent addition of the elite specializations have halted my progress as I'm wondering if I should craft condi or power ascended armor, Zerker for power and viper for condi. So far I have not tried any of the new specializations whatsoever, I heard that out of the new heavy elite specializations only Spellbreaker is power based. I'm mostly open world and occasionally do fractals. Basically I'm asking if the new elite specializations are better in PvE content than the old; Power vs Condi.

[Kodiak.4213]

I'm having a lot of fun with my condi firebrand. I'm using vipers armor with balth runes, a vipers back and ammy, and vipers weapons to reach 100% burn duration, then filling out the rest of the trinkets with sinister. Zerker DH was a ton of fun as well. Without looking at any sort of DPS comparisons, it FEELS like my firebrand eats through mobs faster than my DH.

If you are that unsure, craft a set of zerker's try it out for a bit, then swap the stats to viper's and try that for a bit. It'd be cheaper to do it that way than to craft the viper's ascended gear straight off the starting line.

[Eros.6801]

I too have ton of fun on Firebrand, im running a mix between viper and carrion to get my HP up to 15k in open world and full viper in frac, trash mobs just melt down in 1 F1 tome combo and auto attack. The only problem with firebrand is they lack of CC which not a big deal in open world cuz stuff just die b4 u can do anything. But if you have to choose then i'll give you a head up, Apply in PvE only - Warrior need condi for better dps, Rev need condi for better dps, Guard however are good in both condi and power ( just waiting for qT ).

So yeah - Condi it is !!....unless anet mess up in next balance patch omg....

[onevstheworld.2419]

Try out each spec in the PvP lobby before you commit either way. And if you change your mind later, you can always charge the stats in the MF for relatively cheaply.

[Ojimaru.8970]

@Daxter.7364 said:Basically I'm asking if the new elite specializations are better in PvE content than the old; Power vs Condi.

This needs to be asked, but define what "better" means to you. More DPS? More versatility? More group support?

[Daxter.7364]

@Ojimaru.8970 said:

@Daxter.7364 said:Basically I'm asking if the new elite specializations are better in PvE content than the old; Power vs Condi.

This needs to be asked, but define what "better" means to you. More DPS? More versatility? More group support?

I'm inclined to say DPS as that will matter the most in a perfect scenario, also a bit of survivability never hurt anyone. It's the reason I went for DH; it had high DPS and moderate survivability. Reaper had too much survivability and Elementalist had too little.Edit: Basically something that can hold it's own solo but still not irrelevant in groups.

[Ojimaru.8970]

@Daxter.7364 said:

@Ojimaru.8970 said:

@Daxter.7364 said:Basically I'm asking if the new elite specializations are better in PvE content than the old; Power vs Condi.

This needs to be asked, but define what "better" means to you. More DPS? More versatility? More group support?

I'm inclined to say DPS as that will matter the most in a perfect scenario, also a bit of survivability never hurt anyone. It's the reason I went for DH; it had high DPS and moderate survivability. Reaper had too much survivability and Elementalist had too little.

I don't know what the post-nerf benchmarks are, but Firebrand does comparable DPS to Dragonhunter, and I would dare say it's a little more survivable because you don't need to spin inside the enemy's model (and eat nasty PBAOE).

[Daxter.7364]

@Ojimaru.8970 said:

@Daxter.7364 said:

@Ojimaru.8970 said:

@Daxter.7364 said:Basically I'm asking if the new elite specializations are better in PvE content than the old; Power vs Condi.

This needs to be asked, but define what "better" means to you. More DPS? More versatility? More group support?

I'm inclined to say DPS as that will matter the most in a perfect scenario, also a bit of survivability never hurt anyone. It's the reason I went for DH; it had high DPS and moderate survivability. Reaper had too much survivability and Elementalist had too little.

I don't know what the post-nerf benchmarks are, but Firebrand does comparable DPS to Dragonhunter, and I would dare say it's a little more survivable because you don't need to spin inside the enemy's model (and eat nasty PBAOE).

What about Spellbreaker is he viable in PvE?

[Kodiak.4213]

I just crafted two ascended daggers for zerker Spellbreaker. He's pretty fun and things certainly die. Anything you play can be "viable" in PvE, but it depends on what you consider to be efficient. It remains to be seen what will become the acceptable builds for fractals/raids/dungeons.

[Ojimaru.8970]

@Daxter.7364 said:

@Ojimaru.8970 said:

@Daxter.7364 said:

@Ojimaru.8970 said:

@Daxter.7364 said:Basically I'm asking if the new elite specializations are better in PvE content than the old; Power vs Condi.

This needs to be asked, but define what "better" means to you. More DPS? More versatility? More group support?

I'm inclined to say DPS as that will matter the most in a perfect scenario, also a bit of survivability never hurt anyone. It's the reason I went for DH; it had high DPS and moderate survivability. Reaper had too much survivability and Elementalist had too little.

I don't know what the post-nerf benchmarks are, but Firebrand does comparable DPS to Dragonhunter, and I would dare say it's a little more survivable because you don't need to spin inside the enemy's model (and eat nasty PBAOE).

What about Spellbreaker is he viable in PvE?

I haven't spent much attention on Spellbreakers, yet, but I can see them as more effective at Might stacking than the Berserker. Unfortunately, Condi Berserker damage is still far too good at the moment, while still being able to benefit from Phalanx Strength.

[EriskRedLemur.7153]

@Ojimaru.8970 said:

What about Spellbreaker is he viable in PvE?

I haven't spent much attention on Spellbreakers, yet, but I can see them as more effective at Might stacking than the Berserker. Unfortunately, Condi Berserker damage is still far too good at the moment, while still being able to benefit from Phalanx Strength.

This is good. Exactly what I was going to have said. Also, SB benefit greatly from precision so, full zerk gear isn't as good as mixing in some assassins gear. It's fun yes in PvE; dual daggers is a joy to play for me personally. And as a former power PS warrior, it does this better! However - Condi still outshines in DPS and thus, can still PS for support, and will be chosen over SB. So SB is viable in PvE, yes! But won't be chosen outside of guild/open world/dungeons. I think SB as power has a chance with updates to be viable in Fractal/Raids but for power I prefer it much more than zerker/core.