General, open world Firebrand build?

[Oglaf.1074]

So yeah finally got my Guardian to 80. As usual I popped over and looked up the raid meta build as it usually works but I feel like she is getting creamed far too often by just regular mobs so maybe it doesn’t really work outside of Raids..?

[Lynnie.7213]

I was playing like this in open world until i swap to DH, which is muuuuch better, gotta give that.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vVAQNAR7fnkICVDhdDBGBDkCjl4B7afFDyBVBgGQ9a/lWT7pA-jVBXABAo8rH1fCRXgoaEeQJIA-w

[Oglaf.1074]

Ah rats. See I had a choice between maxing FB or DH before the other and went with FB. Currently working on the Hero Challenges for DH.

[Mea.5491]

Unpopular opinion: my Firebrand is Celestial and works perfectly well for me. I use Balthazar runes and Sigil of Smoldering (+traits) for 85% total burning duration, mantras and Radiance/Virtues/FB, axe/torch, scepter/focus. Just finished full map and story completion on my FB (new main btw!), I only got downed 2 times, zero deaths... Extremely good survivability and great burns, I never liked Guard but I'm in love with FB! :) I find Dragonhunter boring, it doesn't have enough skills for my liking (I have Engi and Ele so I prefer having 25-30 skills). :P

[Oglaf.1074]

I got full Celestial (minus backpiece) Ascended accessories just rotting away on my never-played Engineer alt. Might just snatch them.

 

As for armour I’m currently rocking Exotic Marshal. Axe is legendary so whatever stats that are recommended fits on it.

[RabbitUp.8294]

I'm using the raid FB build in open world, full viper with renegade runes. Always use food (koi cakes, tuning icicle) since it's so cheap anyway.

 

Yes, you are squishy, but you should kill everything before they kill you. You have access to mounts, use them. Open with raptor to group them up, axe symbol to daze them, them go to your tome, use skill 3 for another cc, then 2, 4, 5, 2.

 

All that aoe cc means that you should be taking no damage from trash mobs. By the time you go through your tome skills, you are back to axe for more cc with 2 and 3. Then it's all about the tome resets.

 

Use Shelter as your heal, and don't be afraid to use it for the block, you have a second heal in F2.

[Dabrixmgp.4758]

gonna hijack this a little so dont have to start another one...

 

I have both DH and FB unlocked. One set of Marauder and one set of Viper. Just wondering which would be best for HoT and PoF stories going FB or DH?

[Ogma.4089]

I'm using a tanky cavalier setup for open world. Firebrand provides great uptime for offensive and defensive buffs. This setup allows to facetank pretty much anything in the game while doing a decent amount of damage.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vVAQNAR8ensADFBj97AuCB8Dhl4BzqEkviU7v0baPtKA0AqXA-jxBFQBOR5nc2fILKBJ4TAAAXEgHp+je0NAA-e

[Saiyan.1704]

Question, I'm a pve nub, will Zeal/Virtues/Radiance Core Guard work for Raids or is that not recommend? Has anyone tried that or will DH still offer the highest dps?

 

Serious question, I just don't pve much.

[Rune Darkmoor.3269]

Honestly, short answer, DH DPS will be better.

 

A Core guard COULD work, but you'd honestly be pretty low on the DPS and weigh down the squad.

 

Edit: Pretty much the difference between the two are traps. You can get some significant DPS boosts from boons in Virtues that would be pretty close to what you get from the DH traits, especially with the current boon spam from mesmers, but you'd have to use core utilities... which wouldn't really add much to your DPS.

[Lynnie.7213]

> @"Dabrixmgp.4758" said:

> gonna hijack this a little so dont have to start another one...

>

> I have both DH and FB unlocked. One set of Marauder and one set of Viper. Just wondering which would be best for HoT and PoF stories going FB or DH?

 

I'd go marauder DH and slot a few extra condition cleanse for HoT maps. Those mobs are nasty!