[Build] Marauder Boonbeast

[Professor Sprout.1560]

Before the patch I was gathering the gear for this build; now that the patch has buffed many elements of this build I thought I'd post it in case anyone was thinking of using something similar.

 

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNAsXTnUqAd8iN8CuCCs8ilOBj5XVyyb5l2V7s1pvFAKcjIN-jhRBQB5TfQGV+BgnAQCV/Zf7PYSlgBAOAIAUvUARs1C-e

 

Notes

- Marauder gear has higher precision than berzerker gear - as a result this build has a 100% crit chance when it has fury and is attacking from behind or from the side. With perma-fury and a suite of flanking skills these bonuses will apply very often. Perma fury also means that the +250 ferocity bonus from the skirmishing grandmaster will always be active, giving this build 217% crit damage when unmerged.

- With +36% base boon duration this build will hit +100% boon duration when Moa Stance is active. With the new buffs to stance duration Moa Stance now lasts 15 seconds on this build.

- This boon duration can be used to execute a "boon burst combo" that quickly stacks a mass of boons onto this build and can be used to achieve a permanent uptime for most boons: start by casting Moa Stance and immediately follow up with Dolyak Stance (12secs Fury, 6Secs Protection, 16secs Regen, 12secs Retaliation, 12secs 6xStability, 12secs Swiftness); Fortifying Bond then copies these boons to your pet, which means that casting "We Heal as One" will copy these boons back to you along with all the might your smokescale has accrued via Smoke Assault and Sword autos (common duration-stacking boons increase their durations by 4-8 seconds, stability increases to 18 stacks if your pet received Dolyak stance or 12 stacks if it did not); following this up with a Beastmode merge then copies these boons again (another 4-8 seconds for common duration boons, Stability and Might usually hit 25 stack cap at this point).

- Smokescale, Merged Smokescale, Axe 4 and Bow 4 are hard CC that will proc Twice as Vicious and help set up the Sic'Em + Axe 5/Worldly Impact haymakers.

- One Wolf Pack is now strong enough to justify taking Leader of the Pack, and the potential quickness and various multi-hit attacks on this build will ensure that you'll land most of the 48 strikes that this skill will allow.

- The Smokescale is such a good pet for this build that it's hard to justify swapping to other pets on a regular basis. As such I would recommend using the second slot for niche pets such as Pink Moa that counter specific obstacles.

- Like with most Soulbeast builds that don't run Wilderness Survival this one will have problems against spammed conditions, notwithstanding the potential 8 seconds of resistance provided by boon bursting the proc from the Durability runes. What with all the conditions and boon corruption in WvW/PvP right now it's probably not viable in those modes unless you can outrange/outburst your target. If you know you won't face any damaging conditions swap Second Skin for Essence of Speed and even more boon madness.

- Not sure what to do with the extra sigil slots. Suggestions welcome.

[Za Shaloc.3908]

If you are going for the boonstacking theme, Warhorn works really well. You can stack 25 stacks of might with WH5-->WHaO-->Beastmode from Fortifying Bond and Fresh Reinforcement. With Moa Stance, it has sweet 'n sexy duration. You can achieve 25 stacks your way, but Warhorn is just another way of achieving higher uptime. Very easy to open the fight with, which can cause some damn nice burst.

[Sandzibar.5134]

Same build I ended up on after tweaking and experimenting in wvw before I logged out last night. Just using warhorn, and with bear stance for a bit more condi safety. Was good fun. Great minds think alike etc etc

 

 

[Anuviel.9216]

Warhorn is probably the better choice for WvW as you're generally not going to be able to just stand there and axe 5 (even though its damage can be insane, i've had it doing 50k+ over the duration with sic em up).

 

Is this really much better than Axe/WH or even Axe/Axe though? Axe auto stacks might, is ranged, cleaves and deals decent damage (at least winters bite, generally don't even cast 2 unless to tag).

[Professor Sprout.1560]

@"Anuviel.9216" Not better, just different. Mainhand axe has the advantages you mention but it also gets blocked by anti-projectile attacks and lacks the disengage/evade benefits that the sword provides. Each has circumstances where it shines.

 

I agree warhorn could also work for this build. What do people think about greatsword instead of sword + axe? My view is that it is a decent weapon but not for this build, but I would be interested to hear if anyone has a contrary view.

[Aomine.5012]

> @Anuviel.9216 said:

> Warhorn is probably the better choice for WvW as you're generally not going to be able to just stand there and axe 5 (even though its damage can be insane, i've had it doing 50k+ over the duration with sic em up).

>

> Is this really much better than Axe/WH or even Axe/Axe though? Axe auto stacks might, is ranged, cleaves and deals decent damage (at least winters bite, generally don't even cast 2 unless to tag).

 

Axe mh is not a rly good weapon in wvw.

 

No mobility, barely hit target that moves quickly cuz the projectile speed is way too slow in wvw standard.

It's ok-ish for tagging in zerg, but that's about it.

If you're into roaming , LB is better than axe mh 100% of the time.

[Norseman.4280]

I made a build similar to this also, but with the boonstrip thing and condi conversion being so prevalent right now, is a boon build working for you guys? I flip between this and a more standard, max DPS kind of build and I like aspects of each.

So are your boons being stripped or converted too easily?