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How do you survive as Firebrand?


Ajji.6031

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I tried this build : http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Firebrand_-_Solo_Firebrand

 

They say it has a ton of defense and heals, but I die super easily. I have a mix of dire and trailblazer gear and do great damage.

 

Right now I’m just mapping to get some BL keys for Shimmering cape.

 

However, it doesn’t take me long to die if I get mobbed in the expansions. I’m sure it’s a L2P issue, but I’m not sure where to begin.

 

Am I supposed to switch to the other 2 tomes if I’m taking too much damage? And what if I get mobbed while those tomes are on CD?

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Try the Trailblazer variant, if you have problems staying alive.

 

Basically if you go for DPS builds, you will need to rely on profession/battle mechanics to stay alive like, try to predict your foes moves, you sense some incoming attack you dodge or use your healing skill for aegis to block it, you see some AoE you move out of it, if there's a lot of projectiles aimed at you, get in tome 3 use skill 3 for projectile denial dome, something like that. Just try your best to avoid all the damages that can be avoided.

 

edit: oh sorry I missed that you said you're already using Trailblazers. Well it's still true that you have to make use of everything available.

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> @"Ajji.6031" said:

> I tried this build : http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Firebrand_-_Solo_Firebrand

>

> They say it has a ton of defense and heals, but I die super easily. I have a mix of dire and trailblazer gear and do great damage.

>

 

 

That build (and the one from Wooden Potatoes, which has some similarities) aren'r really a good "solo" Firebrand builds. Both, no matter if run based on power or condi starts, are based in the same concept: spam the Sword of Justice and the Tome of Justice AoE attacks and pray for enemy deaths to proc the Renewed Justice trait. It worked fairly well when at "regular content" in Open World before the Mantra of Solace healing were nerfed to death, because yes, you could one shoot swarms of mini raptors and forged minions and the aegis procs and healings provided enough sustain. But against enemies with larger HP or evades, or high bursts of damage, like a few veteran Smokescales, Bristlebacks or fire Djins, never did that good, and much less now.

 

Those builds are more oriented towards instanced content inside a group with team support and searching to max damage, and to to survive soloing events, champs or bounties, in other words: that's not a "solo" build. For solo content I usually run a condi based DH with full trailblazer and 4 meditations which has a lot more sustain and condition cleanses, but delivers much less damage: is good at open world and vs some champs and most of hero points but too slow to solo most of bounties.

 

Now, as you ask for a capable Firebrand build to solo PvE, so far the best one I've tried is this one from Lord Hizen:

 

 

Build:

 

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?PWwAEd3lVweYSMPmJW+PrvKA-zRhYbBFMEiIYwQBOiaSPnzICVQ6SBNeAEYPQ61MiRLA-e

 

A more simplified version (stat wise) with similar atributes but easier to build up (since has less stat mix and marauder + cavalier is simpler and can be used also in WvW in other builds):

 

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PWwAEd3lVweYSMPmJW+PrvKA-zRhYbBFAGEoYUzOCy7MiQFkuUQjHAB2DkeNjY0C-e

 

Now, first of all: I advise you to get the exotic gear to test the mechanics before investing resurces into crafting ascended gear. This is a fairly complex build in terms of game mechanics, closer to a Elementalist or Engieneer in terms of keystrokes x minute, and that gameplay style could disturb people expecting a more relaxed gameplay based on the "expected tankiness" of the Guardian. Easiest way to get the exotic armor with any stat distribution is in the PvP tracks (but NOT using this build).

 

Hizen explains very well the key points and offers examples, but I'll make you a fast summary:

* The stat distribution provides you high power and crit damage, the precission is provided by traits and skills.

* The build also provides you high armor and decent base HP; those are to prevent being one-shooted, not to tank damage.

* The build is power based because Litany of Wrath escalates much better that way. Your tankiness arrives from your sustain in the form of LoW, the blocks and the protection and regeneration that comes from that blocks.

* The boost in damage comes mainly from two sources: retaliation, which procs fury and might, and quickness, which is crucial to keep the dps.

* The build is also rich in sinergies: Symbol of Wrath creates a light field which can provide Light Aura with Leap or cleansings with WW; Symbol of Vengeance can proc cleanses with Shield of Wrath. Aura of Light provides damage reduction and retaliation...

* You need quickness to maximize those combos; you get quickness enetering and exiting from the tomes and the mantras from Mantra of Potence.

* The Mantras of Lore provide cleanses and regeneration, the Mantra of Liberation stability and retaliation.

 

If you do the rigth timing with the quickness and retaliation procs everything works together: you get high boon stacks with long duration, your damage is high and also your sustain, you proc Light Aura oftenly, etc. Fail at transitions and everything starts to fall apart: lower damage, slower gameplay, less protection uptime, skills more oftenly under cooldowns...

 

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Healing Power, Vigor, Endurance-regen food, heal-on-dodge mechanic, You're basically invulnerable even with 10k health.

 

Guardian can reach +100% Endurance regen 24/7 due to Virtue of Resolve.

 

The important thing to understand when it comes to survivability is that certain classes have mechanics that scale insanely with healing. In these cases its better to take Healing Power over Toughness or Vitality, as long as you can dodge one-hit KOs.

 

Furthermore Trailblazer/Viper is completely unnecessary on Guardian. They only inflict a single condition (Burning) outside of Axe. You don't need any Expertise to reach 100% Burning Duration. Just Balthazar runes, Smoldering sigil, Torch trait, and food. Even Plaguedoctor would be better, because at least then you get some Boon Duration (for Save Yourselves etc.).

 

You can even do max burns on full Grieving(or Marshal's, for the more tanky variant) gear.

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Rabid stats.

Pure condi, because why would you need power for condi build? It's just not worth it. Precision has more value that power in these builds. Condition builds are much easier to make, because you need only 2 stats: condi and expertise. For classes like guardian and elementalist (focused on only ONE condi — burning), you can get 70-100% burning duration just by runes, sigils and traits (50% Balthazar runes, 20% sigil of smoldering), so everything with major condition damage stats will be good.

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I solved this problem by dropping firebrand and going back to core guardian. I set up this build with inexperienced players transitioning from core Tyria to expansion content in mind, but TBH I haven't been able to beat it with any of the FB builds I've tried, and I have been trying...

 

 

That said, I do think FB offers tons of survivability... and yes, swapping into F2 and F3 is one way to get it. Trouble is you lose DPS when you do. I wouldn't be surprised if expert players can get more out of a good FB build than I can, but I think for the average player this build is going to work better (particularly for solo open-world content, which seems to be the OP's concern).

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> @"Ajji.6031" said:

> I tried this build : http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Firebrand_-_Solo_Firebrand

>

> They say it has a ton of defense and heals, but I die super easily. I have a mix of dire and trailblazer gear and do great damage.

>

> Right now I’m just mapping to get some BL keys for Shimmering cape.

>

> However, it doesn’t take me long to die if I get mobbed in the expansions. I’m sure it’s a L2P issue, but I’m not sure where to begin.

>

> Am I supposed to switch to the other 2 tomes if I’m taking too much damage? And what if I get mobbed while those tomes are on CD?

 

 

I am totally new to firebrand and just started using a similar build today after watching Roul's solo guardian video. It seems like firebrand has a lot of passive burn application. Pulsing damage from Zealot's Flame, sword of justice, scorched aftermath, etc. You can use quickness to get these effects into play rapidly. Since they continue to apply damage and your conditions themselves continue to tick, you can use blocks, invulns, and evades as needed to sustain without letting off your offense. With such high damage, your Litany of Wrath heal essentially becomes a full heal + 6 second damage immunity on a 25s cooldown.

 

It also seems like there's quite a bit of flexibility with regard to heals, utility, and elite skills. The tome skills fill in nicely for some of the things you might use these skills for, which makes it easy to swap in whatever you think you'll need.

 

Update:

 

I've practiced a bit today and I think it's coming along nicely. I've definitely been enjoying abusing Litany of Wrath. Look at me heal for over 30k health while facetanking a pair of veteran bristlebacks here. I don't even have to dodge or use any blocks or reflects! Just all out offense! I have to say it's making my other classes a bit jealous. If you haven't been using this heal you might want to give it a go. It's really making life easier out there so far. The heal works better the more damage you deal, so it's also perfect if you're being mobbed by enemies. Just lay the burn down, pop that heal, and your enemies top off your health automatically!

 

 

 

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