Theorycrafting: Soulbeast Condi Build for WvW Roaming

[Rainbird.9458]

Hi everyone,

I haven't seen many Soulbeast builds focused on condition damage. I played around with the build editor and came up with this:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?POwAUh/lRw+YeMJ2JWcPlv3BcA-zVJYkRN/Z0hSIEZgT/IBxe4B-w

Key points:

- Plenty sources of bleeding, poison and burning (including a fire field for buring on short bow)

- Mobility from owl and quick shot (swiftness + swoop)

- A lot of condi removal (wilderness knowledge and bear stance)

- Full trailblazer gear => high condi damage + duration and quite tanky

- Even more sustain from spiritual reprieve

- Cooldown reduction on all weapon skills (and three survival skills)

What do you think?

[Dao Jones.6720]

I was playing an almost identical build for quite a while, and honestly I felt it was kinda underwhelming. It was great for solo flipping camps, but it never felt like it brought enough condi pressure to consistently kill players. 

I would say that condition duration should be secondary to condition damage given how quickly things get cleansed, and I personally found the Quickness from Quickening Zephyr more useful than the shorter cooldown and evade from Lightning Reflexes. I also don’t think Sharpening Stone is useful; I ran with Dolyak Stance for additional survivability since you kill slower as a condi build. (I also played a bit with Viper’s Nest; it was niche, and not especially useful for WvW.)

 

I'm curious to see what others think; especially if they’ve found a way to make it work, because I actually enjoy the play style and mobility of Shortbow/Axe+Dagger more than the LB/GS load out of your typical power SLB.

[Choppy.4183]

It can work, and like Dao Jones (lol), I've played a really similar build. Consider trying out this to see which you like better. It's basically a rehash of an old build, but I relies more on bleeds than poison.

 

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?POwAUh/lFw+YesO2JWcPlvzSE/EA-zVJYkRNfY0VChZg/HJI2DPA-w

 

It might have less damage than what you've put together, but it may not. The Krait runes give a big boost to bleeds, and also brings additional cover condis. You get marginally better condi protection by training in Second Skin and taking on the extra Survival skill, which frees you up to take the better raw heal skill. Also, Quickening Zephyr is certainly good for defense, but where it really shines is chasing a fleeing enemy with your quickened short bow spitting out super bleeds.

 

In terms of the pets, Fanged Iboga is nice when fighting. The merged skills give decent (and new) cover condis, and the unmerged pull is handy too. The alpine wolf is for if you think you might want to run  away, otherwise its a knockdown or an aoe chill (unmerged) when you want to keep people in your torch 5. 

 

Speaking of which, torch is good for roaming, but good players won't stand in your torch unless they don't realize what you're running. Since you're roaming, I can say it's really good when your flipping structures.

 

Pretty comparable to what you've already cooked up, though, so go with what works best for you.

[Rainbird.9458]

Thank you, guys, very interesting points.

To get more condi damage instead of condi duration, it might help to exchange some Trailblazer gear parts by Dire ones.

I like the idea of running Dolyak Stance, especially for longer periods of attacking with the dagger.

As for Krait runes: That would sacrifice 125 condition damage for a cover condition (torment) on Entangle (and swap the +duration from poison to bleeding). Might be worth it.

The Iboga skills look awesome. Two cover conditions on a 5 second cooldown skill with 900 range. If they could just bring back pet swap for Soulbeast. Those owl skills are so good for chasing down enemies or getting out of unfavorable situations.

As for torch 5: You are right, nobody will keep standing in it as he might on a capture point in sPvP. I was thinking on putting it down after Entangle or using is as a combo field for shortbow and dagger 3. At least having burn as a third main condition seems very important to me.

 

To me, the typical LB/GS Soulbeast seems to be so well known that every half decent player knows how to counter it in his sleep. And skills like Maul or Worldly Impact have such obvious animations.

[Rainbird.9458]

I did some tests with the Iboga and I must say: That F1 skill (https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Crippling_Anguish_(soulbeast)) is really a must have in this build. That may also make Krait runes less important, so you can go for the extra 125 condition damage.

 I personally would reserve Quick Shot and Lightning Reflexes for disengages then (since owl will not be available in combat). 

Edit:
Some more options: Muddy Terrain instead of Sharpening Stone as ranged immobilize/cover condi. Oppressive Superiority instead of Leader of the Pack when Troll Ungent is taken.

Revised build:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?POwAUh/lFw4YesH2JWcPlv7SE/BA-zVRYcBTG1szoDlQIyAn+RCi9wD-w

Edited May 28, 2021 by Rainbird.9458

[Choppy.4183]

6 hours ago, Rainbird.9458 said:

I did some tests with the Iboga and I must say: That F1 skill (https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Crippling_Anguish_(soulbeast)) is really a must have in this build. That may also make Krait runes less important, so you can go for the extra 125 condition damage.

 I personally would reserve Quick Shot and Lightning Reflexes for disengages then (since owl will not be available in combat). 

Edit:
Some more options: Muddy Terrain instead of Sharpening Stone as ranged immobilize/cover condi. Oppressive Superiority instead of Leader of the Pack when Troll Ungent is taken.

Revised build:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?POwAUh/lFw4YesH2JWcPlv7SE/BA-zVRYcBTG1szoDlQIyAn+RCi9wD-w

 

Yeah, the Iboga is pretty sweet (until you have to run). I think you might be underestimating Krait runes a bit. The combo with Hidden Barbs and the incredible amount of bleed stacking you can put out is what makes it sing, and it's also what makes Sharpening Stones so valuable to the build. People don't realize how much bleed you've stacked on them until it's too late, and you can burn through clears pretty quickly.

[Rainbird.9458]

3 hours ago, Choppy.4183 said:

 

Yeah, the Iboga is pretty sweet (until you have to run). I think you might be underestimating Krait runes a bit. The combo with Hidden Barbs and the incredible amount of bleed stacking you can put out is what makes it sing, and it's also what makes Sharpening Stones so valuable to the build. People don't realize how much bleed you've stacked on them until it's too late, and you can burn through clears pretty quickly.

Makes sense. Maximize bleeds to synergize with Hidden Barbs. Then it looks like this:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?POwAUh/lFw+YesH2JWcPlv7SeQcA-zVRYcBTG1sworECzA/PSQsHeA-w

 

I just wish I could somehow get away with taking Poison Master without losing Wilderness Knowledge 😁

[Choppy.4183]

39 minutes ago, Rainbird.9458 said:

Makes sense. Maximize bleeds to synergize with Hidden Barbs. Then it looks like this:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?POwAUh/lFw+YesH2JWcPlv7SeQcA-zVRYcBTG1sworECzA/PSQsHeA-w

 

I just wish I could somehow get away with taking Poison Master without losing Wilderness Knowledge 😁

 

It's certainly a steep opportunity cost, but it's viable. Take a look at the poison ,aster builds out there... I think Vallun has one on YouTube. You rely on Predator's Cunning a fair bit for sustain, and you slot Bears Stance to help with the condi management, but it can get pretty gnarly.

 

By the time I discovered it, I'd moved onto power builds so I can't say I have as much experience with it as I do the bleed build. But I had a bunch of success with the bleeds. High pressure mobile power builds can really ruin your day though. Watch out for thieves, sic em soulbeasts, etc. And have fun!

[Arheundel.6451]

On 5/27/2021 at 11:00 PM, Rainbird.9458 said:

Hi everyone,

I haven't seen many Soulbeast builds focused on condition damage. I played around with the build editor and came up with this:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?POwAUh/lRw+YeMJ2JWcPlv3BcA-zVJYkRN/Z0hSIEZgT/IBxe4B-w

Key points:

- Plenty sources of bleeding, poison and burning (including a fire field for buring on short bow)

- Mobility from owl and quick shot (swiftness + swoop)

- A lot of condi removal (wilderness knowledge and bear stance)

- Full trailblazer gear => high condi damage + duration and quite tanky

- Even more sustain from spiritual reprieve

- Cooldown reduction on all weapon skills (and three survival skills)

What do you think?

Problem with condi ranger in competitive environment is...the ramping is too high and takes too long, no access to the most damaging conditions like torment and burning that can deal huge amount of dmg withing few secs instead than wait 10s+., fast burst builds will make short work on a condi ranger, dmg modifier allows burst to bypass your high toughness

[Trevor Boyer.6524]

You should be using Rabid gear to optimize with Skirmishing bleed on crit and earth sigils.

 

Don't worry about expertise in pvp/wvw. Good players cycling their cleanses too quickly for expertise to do its job. You want raw high condi stat value for the highest initial condi burst damage possible on condi builds. It will render stronger condi builds for you, 100% guarantee.

 

Also, look into sigils of Absorptions and Draining. Learn how to abuse them in WvW, they are powerful on any roaming build.

[Eramonster.2718]

@Rainbird.9458

Condi SB builds are mostly cookie cutter of one another (Skirmishing, Wilderness Survival and SB), but here's a Poison & Stances build that I'm still using ever since, build taken from a PVP player.

( Condition Soulbeast PvP Build Guide : Guildwars2 (reddit.com) )

Still works great for me, with minor alteration (personal preference) :

•  Sigil of Venom > Sigil of Doom for more condi burst damage upon weapon swap. Huge condi burst after swapping into D/D skill #5 + #4 with Sigil. (Key dmg)
• Vulture Stance > Griffon Stance for more survivability.

 

- Healing Spring for amazing condi cleanses + dagger combo leap for extra healing.

- Viper's Nest (Key dmg) combo field + short bow projectile finisher (20% chance to Poison). Triggers Predator's cunning.

- Rune of Mirage's torment damage was nerfed but still offers an additional condi to divert cleanses.

- Try to land all "Key dmg" whenever opponent is rooted/cc'd.

 

PS : Dolyak's Stance is just godly. 

Edited June 4, 2021 by Eramonster.2718
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