Best Auction House PVE armor set for a condition berserker please?

[fourhim.3584]

Just a casual player here who does not do Dungeons, PVP, WVW, Fractals or Crafting. I just play PVE story and exploring, including POF. I only mention that so that folks don't suggest that I craft armor sets, or use Dungeon tokens, etc. I just buy what I want (Exotic rarity) from the AH. With that in mind, these seem to be my 3 options.

 

Rabid - What I'm currently running with my Long Bow/Sword-Torch Berserker. I like it OK, and I stay alive really well, unless being pounded by nonstop conditions, which apparently ignores toughness. Does good condition damage and gets decent crits (over 50%), but of course lacks power. I know I could kill even faster with power gear.

 

Rampager - This is usually my "go to" Condition damage set. Enjoying it at present on my Renegade, Mirage, Ranger/Soulbeast, Engineer and Firebrand. I haven't tried it on the Warrior yet. This set is great for damage, high crit rates, but also condition damage. It also helps that I can buy a set with Karma in Orr. High crit rate is good for certain traits and things like Sigils of Air. But it is a "glass cannon" condition damage set, so I would certainly be more fragile.

 

Carrion - This is the one AH set I have not tried yet. Has more survivability like Rabid, and I assume works better against conditions because of the high health pool. Also substitutes power for crit rate. What I'm unsure of is if the increased power makes up for the low crit rate, especially when considering traits and sigils.

 

So given these 3 choices, which do you feel is the best for a PVE condition berserker who buys their gear off the AH? Thanks.

[Oglaf.1074]

The sad part about most PvE condition builds is that, unlike power builds which can get Berserker items from pretty much anywhere, the optimal gear - usually Viper stats - is locked behind walls such as crafting or raiding. Out of the three available to you though, there is no contest - Rampager is the best. Offensive stats all the way.

 

Toughness sucks outside of PvP/WvW (in fact, in group events and the like it will most likely get you killed due to how aggro works in GW2) and Warriors have a naturally high enough Healthpool to get away without using any Vitality.

[Sieghilde.7632]

> @Oglaf.1074 said:

> The sad part about most PvE condition builds is that, unlike power builds which can get Berserker items from pretty much anywhere, the optimal gear - usually Viper stats - is locked behind walls such as crafting or raiding. Out of the three available to you though, there is no contest - Rampager is the best. Offensive stats all the way.

>

> Toughness sucks outside of PvP/WvW (in fact, in group events and the like it will most likely get you killed due to how aggro works in GW2) and Warriors have a naturally high enough Healthpool to get away without using any Vitality.

 

Actually according to this thread: [https://reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/78zzn1/science_why_you_should_almost_always_use_rabid/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/78zzn1/science_why_you_should_almost_always_use_rabid/ "https://reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/78zzn1/science_why_you_should_almost_always_use_rabid/")

 

Rabid wins out over Rampager, the rationale of it being that any condition damage loss in a condition build is a big deal, so you'll want condi damage as the major stat.

 

The difference between the sets isn't huge though (~500 DPS) and both are actually pretty close to Viper for general PVE.

[Opopanax.1803]

And rampager is nice in open world because the power damage is good for contributing when other people are taking mobs down quickly.

[Oglaf.1074]

Oh yeah, I didn't take into account the fact that they come with different quantities of the various stats.

 

That being said, I still don't like Toughness as it makes you targeted more than the people running glass cannon stats.

[Saraneth.6021]

> @Oglaf.1074 said:

 

> That being said, I still don't like Toughness as it makes you targeted more than the people running glass cannon stats.

 

Thought that was only in raids. Never seen toughness effecting agro outside of them.

[Oglaf.1074]

> @Saraneth.6021 said:

> > @Oglaf.1074 said:

>

> > That being said, I still don't like Toughness as it makes you targeted more than the people running glass cannon stats.

>

> Thought that was only in raids. Never seen toughness effecting agro outside of them.

 

No, that's how Toughness has always worked everywhere.

 

Raids are pretty much the only place people care about it simply because the game doesn't require someone tanking anywhere else.