What is your Firebrand build?

[Alchimist.4738]

After several testing my hopes of playing minstrel or commander have been crushed, though in WvW it was pretty good, but I was more focused towards fractals/raids, so if I’d really want to play something supporty with the Firebrand I’d have to play with Seraph because it’s a good hybrid condition damage + healing/concentration, and makes ashes of the just useful.

However this build is only good in a scenario where your Druid is also playing a hybrid build in order to deal more damage, and your chrono is playing full damage with scholar instead of leadership.

[seraph Firebrand – Hybrid Support/Condition ](http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vVAQNAnfWnsADdBjFBDWCB8DhF+Bz6BkByT7b0PaJFLAsDKCA-jhiAQBCV53QVCCgTAAX2fAg6B8pmg+dEAi2DAAoq/khDBQAgDgxLe3fPw4jP+4jPed/93f/93f/93fvUAetrC-e "Seraph Firebrand – Hybrid Support/Condition ")

[Cuddy.6247]

It's not meta by any means, but here's what I've been running: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vVAQNApeRnsADlChFDBOCDkCjlHCbvemPDoZng5z9BLA0A6AA-jBSBQBvUJo/0H4Q1f03DAwjK/23+DA4QAAizAAA-e

 

I vastly prefer the greatsword to hammer. Even with quickness uptime it just feels smoother. I camp mace/shield most of the time anyway.

[Cave Rock.4869]

> @nuaa.4962 said:

> > @"Cave Rock.4869" said:

> >

> > Hey once again Nuaa, one think i notice is that you don't appear to use Ashes of the Just? is it the cooldown that prevents you from using it? Because i heard that the amount of damage that it does is based off of your own condition damage. Am i correct in saying that or not? Also another question bud, how do the pages that are used for tomes work in reseting, if we can let other new players understand that essential Firebrand elite specialization mechanic. I am right is saying it goes like this, you enter a tome and you get 5 pages, use up those five pages and then switch to another tome and it resets your pages once again, correct or not?

> >

> > Plus Nuaa thanks for the build and i am really glad your enjoying your Firebrand elite specialization as much as i am.

> >

> > Cheers from Cave Rock and Bluevoltron42.

>

> Yes AotJ works like off my condi and burn duration, also shows up as damage numbers for me, even though works like a group buff(Less people around weaker it gets)

> I got AotJ from ToJ skill 5. Remeber for pve parts i am doing this resets it so often, i have no need for quickfire giving me AotJ. And when alone, AotJ doesn´t really beat out ToJ passive burn procs.

> Now for certain situation like champion and legendaries mobs, you damage would without doubt be higher with quickfire. But right now i am focusing alot on collection, map completion and story(though that is done). So was really no need for it.

>

> But when going fractals i would suggest going quickfire over loremaster, because you know you always have 4 people around you to help max out procs of AotJ

>

> Resetting does not reset you skills in the tome. But remeber i am running loremaster over quickfire, so longest cooldown in there is 8 sec, so in worst case you just change rotation and cast skill 2 and/or 4 before 5. You will stil get same amount burns, but they just aren´t stacked as fast.

>

> BTW, i now decided to run signet of wrath of mantra of fire. perma 180 condi damage seems better then burn mantra of fire offers.

 

Hey Nuaa I read through your reply.

 

Cheers for the testing and words of wisdom about when Ashes of The Just can be useful in a specific situation, especially when you know allies or a group/squad member will be near. It will obviously be an end game trait to take that trait to increase your groups damage output and probably a good reason Firebrands should take condition damage and condition duration in raids etc. To share the potential outgoing damage to allies, even those that don't do condition damage themselves. To me Ashes of The Just seems similar to a damage add of old from DAoC. A way for Firebrands to buff up and support a group even more than they already could in the past and now.

 

Cheers from Cave Rock and Bluevoltron42.

[Cave Rock.4869]

> @phor.7952 said:

> Thought I had [an amazing/cheap open world PvE build](http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vVAQJApen8ABlChtCBGBDEEhlFCbffGQPoYJgOQJ4KA8AGAA-jBSXABSqEUXlfQ/AAUV9HRPBAHO/RT9AAs/AA-e "an amazing/cheap open world PvE build") going.

> I was sticking to exotics and avoiding upgrades that I knew were expensive or difficult to obtain like Sigil of concentration, Rune of leadership/durability, etc...

> Casual players don't want to worry about food upkeep, so that was nix'd as well.

> Yet I still hit nearly 100% boon duration.

>

> It was shaping up to be a low damage, but practically un-killable quickness/aegis/heal bot.

> A concept that seemed like it would be really fun to play while helping friends complete old content.

>

> But then I find out Minstrel's gear might as well be kitten fairy dust.

> /sigh

>

> How is it that in 2017 the economy and crafting systems are still built to push everyone to only a handful of stat combinations?

> This game would be so much more fun if build diversity didn't also come with a 1000g pricetag.

 

Hey Phor for a starting out support build you could use apocathery or clerics until you get the required gold. But your right minstrels ain't cheap at all.

 

Otherwise Sinister armour can make for great condition burst damage.

 

I personally had the same ideas with Minstrels support for WvW but am yet to test it out in PoF.

 

From Cave Rock and Bluevoltron42, I feel your pain of having little gold as well. :cry:

[Fipmip.7219]

anyone use sage amulet in pvp? you get some healing power for the price of a slice of your vitality, power and condi. You end up with a sort of budget ele, switching between dps and support - except you can still be offensive with your utilities while in support mode

[Cave Rock.4869]

> @Fipmip.7219 said:

> anyone use sage amulet in pvp? you get some healing power for the price of a slice of your vitality, power and condi. You end up with a sort of budget ele, switching between dps and support - except you can still be offensive with your utilities while in support mode

 

Sup Fipmip, that's actually a really good suggestions for a supportive hybrid damage Firebrand. The only other support amulet menders would be another option but thats more support and power damage.

 

I guess I would actually suggest Vipers in SPvP, because of The Ashes of The Just and the amount of burn you and your team could put out together. See the thing is the damage done by you and your group/allies is based on your condition damage and condition duration.

 

Cheers Fipmip for the SPvP support/condition damage amulet idea.

 

Many thanks from Cave Rock and Bluevoltron42.

[phor.7952]

> @"Cave Rock.4869" said:

> Hey Phor for a starting out support build you could use apocathery or clerics until you get the required gold.

Yea, there are a few alternatives, but you end up losing a large chunk of concentration.

Givers actually works in the armor slots to retain the concentration, and it's available on the Trading Post pretty cheap.

So that solves half the problem.

 

For the weapon slots, Apothecary's/Settler's/Clerics all have the healing and toughness, but trade concentration and vit for a damage stat.

If we're going to do that, we probably want Condition Damage since it's not affected by armor and we won't have the precision or ferocity multipliers necessary for power damage.

Settler's weapons are significantly cheaper than Apothecary's so that seems like an easy decision.

 

For the trinket slots, Apothecary's/Settler's cost about 35g (excluding back) or Ascended Apothecary Trinkets can be purchased with laurels/badges. I had the laurels/badges, so I went Ascended.

 

However; when I plug all that in, it drops our boon duration from 99.8% all the way down to 70.9%.

 

So I've made some other adjustments.

I broke down and added Superior Runes of Leadership. It's 12g and a bit of farming in Dragon Stand to get them, but that change alone adds back 10% boon duration. I also broke down and swapped out the cheap Sigil of Bounty for the 30g Sigil of Concentration.

With those two changes we can make it back to 100% boon duration, have the same healing power and a bit more toughness, but trade 5k HP from the Minstrel Build for a bit more damage.

 

To go along with those changes, I'm thinking of swapping out the Mace for Scepter and the Shout Heal for the Mantra.

The Mace heal range is way too short to affect anyone else and we already have too many sources of Aegis for the #3 Mace skill to be useful.

The build actually survives better with Scepter since you don't have to sit in melee range. It's also easier to hit party members with Quickness.

After playing the build for a bit, I found the shout heal to be quite hard to hit people with. The range is just so short. So I have just been popping Tomb of Resolve to prop them back up if something goes awry. The Mantra heal lets us throw out more consistent Aegis and makes the build feel more interactive.

 

So here's what I'm rocking now:

[Mobile Quickness Bot](http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vVIQJA7ensADFBjlCBuCBEEhF+BbPj+RPpYBgdwQ4qc1CCBA-jRSLABJpTAANMXo+jhKBX/gAojyPpfAAUv/wtTQAA-e "Mobile Quickness Bot")

 

I think it's working pretty well.

I'm still trying to decide between Strength of the Fallen vs Smiter's Boon and Invigorated Bulwark vs Protector's Impact.

Smiter's Boon would be a no-brainer if the cooldown wasn't so long. But since we already convert conditions to boons with all 3 shouts, I'm not sure Strength of the Fallen really does much. So Smiter's Boon is probably still the pick.

We're not using Mace anymore, but we still get the healing buff from Invigorated Bulwark. On the other hand, we're using our heal really often. So adding Protection to it is nice. This one's still up in the air. Both of them are really good.

[Fipmip.7219]

The problem with sage is that it can't be used in PvE. As much as it sounds nice to just go full damage, i just cant let go of not having minimum health, and i want my tome of resolve to feel bolstered. In other words I want to have a cake and eat it too. With the power of spreadsheets I've come up with a way to get a kind of chinese knockoff of sage's stats in PvE:

 

With full exotic, you use:

**Marshal** armour and weapons, and **Carrion** trinkets.

 

with this you get:

condition damage: 938

vitality: 430

healing power: 561

power: 991

 

and a random extra 308 precision from the marshal stuff, which i like to think of as effectively pushing the power above 1000.

 

 

This is of course only exotic, and no upgrades in the trinket pieces. I think with full ascended and upgraded trinket pieces, you migh be able to just push it above PvP sage's stats. and have the extra 308 precision.

 

[Nick.6972]

Never played condi-oriented guard before. Could someone take a look at my current armor/build?

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vVEQJAnfnsADFBjdBDWCB8Dhl4BrKAslqX7x0b6O1aD8CeUA-jhhMQBgT9nTp8DA7PAqTAQBVCGqHAoHAA-e

I based it around the latest qT DPS benchmark video.

The build is meant for PvE/T4s/CMs.

[Zenislav.5470]

> @Cuddy.6247 said:

> It's not meta by any means, but here's what I've been running: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vVAQNApeRnsADlChFDBOCDkCjlHCbvemPDoZng5z9BLA0A6AA-jBSBQBvUJo/0H4Q1f03DAwjK/23+DA4QAAizAAA-e

>

> I vastly prefer the great sword to hammer. Even with quickness uptime it just feels smoother. I camp mace/shield most of the time anyway.

 

This! I am very interested in this build. Shield / Two handed swords is what i love in RPGs. Now coudl you please answer me this.

You are using this build with Wanderers full set for open world clearing? My guess is that this build has great survivability right? And how is dmg? You clear mobs without problem?

 

Asking all this as I am returning to game after long time (pre HoT) so need to buy and get gear and don't want to waste what gold I have. I am not looking for raids and WvW build but instead would love to make solo / survival combination first.

[Ashtaeroth.3940]

Alright, so I have had some more testing about couple of builds I want to play with and I think I've learned the mantras enough that I can trigger them when I need to. Changed **Judge's Intervention** for **Mantra of Lore** because the condi removal wasn't enough. I went to the raid testing facility in LA to test out my damage. For my burn build that I've been running for a long time now: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vVAQRAsf7en8cqBiqhkDZzQmhwoTrQQ2pgIL+DlVAUB1pc4f+v/V4mCfAA-jVDBABDqhAQdJMcgAq4AEEwBB4gTIAlKBXW5HfaFA4AIMt6Pus/AFPBASBc5yK-w

 

Firebrand burn: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vVAQRAnf7ensArBiuglDZ1QmhwRYrQQKsgIL+D2V4KF8BsCAVg60eFNjGSB-jVDBABAcAEo4JAAouEX2f4gTIwgaIC4gAUxBIgPtCUqEcZlfMcgAmW9HSBc5yK-w

 

And this new boonshare-ish build that I made with physical damage and team support in mind: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vVAQNAR7ensArBiShkCZrQmhwRYrQQQkgILSEGWCo3cBuyVBgCwe7cemPB-jFDBQB7RDSGVK8Q1fGkGCK8kCM3BFIa7PgPdDA4AIUhLAAGV2VSlgkCAzZaA-w

 

And with axe replacing the greatsword: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vVAQRAne7ensArBiShkCZrQmhwRYrQQQkgILSEGWCo3cB2bnzz85VuKAUAA-j1CBQBZUpwg0QEt9HowTKYPaQwn+BMqs7hq/USlgm7kCAgDgApAwcmG-w

 

Now the damage on the weak golem was done without any foods or sigil stacks, without weapon change since I wanted to compare greatsword and axe since axe felt like it was stronger/faster and then compared to the burn build and then put in my Dragonhunter burner for more comparison.

Boonshare with axe/shield: DPS 2803. Damage 200 161. Time 71.

Boonshare with greatsword: DPS 2639. Damage 200 144. Time 76.

Burn with axe/torch: DPS 5558. Damage 200 299. Time 36.

Dragonhunter sword/torch burn: DPS 4797. Damage 201 266. Time 42.

 

What does this mean? Nothing really, it's just there if someone is curious. I don't know if my boonshare is any better in a team situation but the quickness + Quickfire I can give out might be the tipping point in damage. And aegis can't be bad. I'll be using axe from now on and change to greatsword if I need mobility. In WvW I'm gonna test the boonshare later but I think I'll be just running the Dragonhunter there for most of the time. Do note that none of these are aimed for suberb damage output or ultimate team stability bot or whatevers since I'm a casual and I make mistakes in rotations and I don't care about a desimal difference.

[Xithryl.2807]

Anyone have suggestions for a decent support build, with a nice amount of heals, if even only for fractals. Trying to see if I prefer the way it plays to Druid, or vice versa :P

[Cuddy.6247]

> @Zenislav.5470 said:

> > @Cuddy.6247 said:

> > It's not meta by any means, but here's what I've been running: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vVAQNApeRnsADlChFDBOCDkCjlHCbvemPDoZng5z9BLA0A6AA-jBSBQBvUJo/0H4Q1f03DAwjK/23+DA4QAAizAAA-e

> >

> > I vastly prefer the great sword to hammer. Even with quickness uptime it just feels smoother. I camp mace/shield most of the time anyway.

>

> This! I am very interested in this build. Shield / Two handed swords is what i love in RPGs. Now coudl you please answer me this.

> You are using this build with Wanderers full set for open world clearing? My guess is that this build has great survivability right? And how is dmg? You clear mobs without problem?

>

> Asking all this as I am returning to game after long time (pre HoT) so need to buy and get gear and don't want to waste what gold I have. I am not looking for raids and WvW build but instead would love to make solo / survival combination first.

 

Yeah I'm using this for the open world. I'm a scrub who can't zerk. But I also have good friends and I'm not shy to post on LFG and build an exploratory committee to join me in the desert :) -- I've had a lot of fun with it, as I enjoy the firebrand quickness and the handful of other goodies more than I enjoyed using Valor before. You can also swap firebrand for zeal (323) for a core guardian build. It would be absolutely terrible in raids, but it's actually quite strong in WvW as a boonbot and frontline tank.

[BlunterMonk.2089]

Any thoughts on this build? (new to firebrand)

I was thinking about going for a half support half dps style with burns heals and vit.

 

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vVAQNAn/ensArBiuglDZ5QmhwdIrQQKsgILBE212aOlB2foV0NqVA4B8mA-j1CBQBbV9HK8AAYwBCwF7P4SlghU5HAOACH4ECUhDQAg07EgDCAA-w

[Miyafuji.1340]

OK, since Iv posted in this topic before about possible firebrand and WvW, I will post again, unfortunately with bad news.

 

After playing it for few days, I, (and pretty much everyone around me) found firebrand pretty much useless for WvW.

 

Compared to core guard and DH its very immobile, slow and with poor survive-ability.

 

Mantras are generally weak. You need to spam them all the way trough to get the final a bit stronger one, but it takes too long to waste your time on that in actual combat. Another bad thing is that most of them are cone in front of you, so to actually affect allies you cannot be on the front-line. Did I also mention they are weak? Compare the healing one with like shelter or receive the light, compare the elite one with renewed focus, etc. Its just weak.

 

The tomes don't do much better. Except F1 which can give really solid burn, the support ones are weak. It looks good on paper, but it all takes way too long. You don't have time mid fight to Go to F3, then 5 Then 4, you are already 3 seconds in which means especially with all the boonrip now you are dead. Another problem is that skillag makes everything much worse. We don't talk about 1 minute to get stability lag in big fights on EB, but even like 20vs20 creates a little skillag, which normally on guard or DH you don't notice much, but here it hurt soo bad with all those extra little clicks and skills gaining delay. F1 tho giving a lot of burn does not fare much better. The issues there are that most of those skills are relatively close combat, which prevents you to use the cone mantras on allies, and your lack of sustain (you don't have virtues or DH F3 block now) and you also has about 0 mobility with Firebrand. It all has anti-synergy in it. The only way I managed to make it work was judges intervention straight to the middle of the enemy, pray that I don't get instantly boonripped + CCD + condied to the ground so I can cast my burns and hope I did enough to contribute to win, that is if we win in the next 5 seconds cause retreating with Firebrand is no option cause of the lack of sustain and mobility.

 

All in all, its really bad. Either stick with core guard and be the stab-bot or experiment with DH but Firebrand is no go.

[Cave Rock.4869]

> @phor.7952 said:

> > @"Cave Rock.4869" said:

> > Hey Phor for a starting out support build you could use apocathery or clerics until you get the required gold.

> Yea, there are a few alternatives, but you end up losing a large chunk of concentration.

> Givers actually works in the armor slots to retain the concentration, and it's available on the Trading Post pretty cheap.

> So that solves half the problem.

>

> For the weapon slots, Apothecary's/Settler's/Clerics all have the healing and toughness, but trade concentration and vit for a damage stat.

> If we're going to do that, we probably want Condition Damage since it's not affected by armor and we won't have the precision or ferocity multipliers necessary for power damage.

> Settler's weapons are significantly cheaper than Apothecary's so that seems like an easy decision.

>

> For the trinket slots, Apothecary's/Settler's cost about 35g (excluding back) or Ascended Apothecary Trinkets can be purchased with laurels/badges. I had the laurels/badges, so I went Ascended.

>

> However; when I plug all that in, it drops our boon duration from 99.8% all the way down to 70.9%.

>

> So I've made some other adjustments.

> I broke down and added Superior Runes of Leadership. It's 12g and a bit of farming in Dragon Stand to get them, but that change alone adds back 10% boon duration. I also broke down and swapped out the cheap Sigil of Bounty for the 30g Sigil of Concentration.

> With those two changes we can make it back to 100% boon duration, have the same healing power and a bit more toughness, but trade 5k HP from the Minstrel Build for a bit more damage.

>

> To go along with those changes, I'm thinking of swapping out the Mace for Scepter and the Shout Heal for the Mantra.

> The Mace heal range is way too short to affect anyone else and we already have too many sources of Aegis for the #3 Mace skill to be useful.

> The build actually survives better with Scepter since you don't have to sit in melee range. It's also easier to hit party members with Quickness.

> After playing the build for a bit, I found the shout heal to be quite hard to hit people with. The range is just so short. So I have just been popping Tomb of Resolve to prop them back up if something goes awry. The Mantra heal lets us throw out more consistent Aegis and makes the build feel more interactive.

>

> So here's what I'm rocking now:

> [Mobile Quickness Bot](http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vVIQJA7ensADFBjlCBuCBEEhF+BbPj+RPpYBgdwQ4qc1CCBA-jRSLABJpTAANMXo+jhKBX/gAojyPpfAAUv/wtTQAA-e "Mobile Quickness Bot")

>

> I think it's working pretty well.

> I'm still trying to decide between Strength of the Fallen vs Smiter's Boon and Invigorated Bulwark vs Protector's Impact.

> Smiter's Boon would be a no-brainer if the cooldown wasn't so long. But since we already convert conditions to boons with all 3 shouts, I'm not sure Strength of the Fallen really does much. So Smiter's Boon is probably still the pick.

> We're not using Mace anymore, but we still get the healing buff from Invigorated Bulwark. On the other hand, we're using our heal really often. So adding Protection to it is nice. This one's still up in the air. Both of them are really good.

 

Hey Phor, Thanks heaps for considering an out of the box kind of starting build for those just beginning the game. There are a few bits in the build editor not plugged in but i can see what your going for in the high concentration and quickness support focused Firebrand. Some of your tips and tricks will be helpful to other new Firebrands for sure.

 

To me that kind of build would be great because in open world PvE some one with little gold and not so great gear... could in fact get started on some hardish content with a group but still be able to assist by providing plenty of quickness, support from condition cleansing and healing. Yeah it will do limited damage, but at least this beginning Firebrand will be able to help with cost effective gear.

 

Cheers from Cave Rock and Bluevoltron42. Let me know Phor if you do any more updates to the build please that is if you could, i would appreciate it and like to see how your going with it.

[Cave Rock.4869]

> @Fipmip.7219 said:

> The problem with sage is that it can't be used in PvE. As much as it sounds nice to just go full damage, i just cant let go of not having minimum health, and i want my tome of resolve to feel bolstered. In other words I want to have a cake and eat it too. With the power of spreadsheets I've come up with a way to get a kind of chinese knockoff of sage's stats in PvE:

>

> With full exotic, you use:

> **Marshal** armour and weapons, and **Carrion** trinkets.

>

> with this you get:

> condition damage: 938

> vitality: 430

> healing power: 561

> power: 991

>

> and a random extra 308 precision from the marshal stuff, which i like to think of as effectively pushing the power above 1000.

>

>

> This is of course only exotic, and no upgrades in the trinket pieces. I think with full ascended and upgraded trinket pieces, you migh be able to just push it above PvP sage's stats. and have the extra 308 precision.

>

 

Hmm Fipmip, you have me pondering about this now. When i get some time later on i will plug this into the build editor and take a look at it. Hypothetically the only things i see at least in a PvE or WvW contexts are the lack of both concentration or expertise. Plus also toughness, if you get tagged by some one that does especially power damage it might hurt a lot, and with Deadeyes or like boss mobs you might get almost one shot. But hey it is worth a test right, to at least see how it goes.

 

Cheers from Cave Rock and Bluevoltron42.

[Cave Rock.4869]

> @Nick.6972 said:

> Never played condi-oriented guard before. Could someone take a look at my current armor/build?

> http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vVEQJAnfnsADFBjdBDWCB8Dhl4BrKAslqX7x0b6O1aD8CeUA-jhhMQBgT9nTp8DA7PAqTAQBVCGqHAoHAA-e

> I based it around the latest qT DPS benchmark video.

> The build is meant for PvE/T4s/CMs.

 

Yo Nick, i am fairly sure your on the right track with the build you posted. I know for one i had trouble deciding between vipers or sinisters and a combination might not be too bad at all. Here is a build that i made a week or so ago and i thought i would re-share it here and i hope that it helps out your and many other Firebrands. I am not sure if it beats the qT benchmarks but i can guarantee it has plenty of burst burning condition damage. Perhaps you could modify it more Nick because you seem to have a pretty good grasp on what you want out of a burn build.

 

Cheers Nick i really liked you comment and i truly hope that i can be of assistance to you, much like your ideas were for me. From Cave Rock and Bluevoltron42. :)

 

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vVAQNAnfRnsADVChdBDGCBkCjl4BzaD8CeUVBgtU9a/lWT3pA-jFiAQBXT5X1U/JBHCgAu/A0OBARTfAAeCA1UJ46gDgv6Vv+KwXf91Xf9VD41Xf91Xf91Xf9VpAWUZF-w

[Cave Rock.4869]

> @Fipmip.7219 said:

> The problem with sage is that it can't be used in PvE. As much as it sounds nice to just go full damage, i just cant let go of not having minimum health, and i want my tome of resolve to feel bolstered. In other words I want to have a cake and eat it too. With the power of spreadsheets I've come up with a way to get a kind of chinese knockoff of sage's stats in PvE:

>

> With full exotic, you use:

> **Marshal** armour and weapons, and **Carrion** trinkets.

>

> with this you get:

> condition damage: 938

> vitality: 430

> healing power: 561

> power: 991

>

> and a random extra 308 precision from the marshal stuff, which i like to think of as effectively pushing the power above 1000.

>

>

> This is of course only exotic, and no upgrades in the trinket pieces. I think with full ascended and upgraded trinket pieces, you migh be able to just push it above PvP sage's stats. and have the extra 308 precision.

>

 

Hey Fipmip, i plugged it into the build editor and i noticed that the stats were trying to do far to many things. The focus then turned out to be power damage and that to me isn't really what the Firebrand excels at unfortunately. A stat setup like that may actually work on a dragon hunter possible. But the healing power is far too low to be beneficial. The power becomes the main stat and just doesn't hold up for an open world or WvW setup :(

 

Perhaps you can prove me wrong. I really did find this an interesting idea, sorry to rain on the parade. From Cave Rock and Bluevoltron42. Perhaps it just need some in game testing to prove my opinion wrong. Please don't hate me for my post as i am only trying to be constructive and give feedback that i think might be of use to yourself and others.

[Cave Rock.4869]

> @Cuddy.6247 said:

> > @Zenislav.5470 said:

> > > @Cuddy.6247 said:

> > > It's not meta by any means, but here's what I've been running: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vVAQNApeRnsADlChFDBOCDkCjlHCbvemPDoZng5z9BLA0A6AA-jBSBQBvUJo/0H4Q1f03DAwjK/23+DA4QAAizAAA-e

> > >

> > > I vastly prefer the great sword to hammer. Even with quickness uptime it just feels smoother. I camp mace/shield most of the time anyway.

> >

> > This! I am very interested in this build. Shield / Two handed swords is what i love in RPGs. Now coudl you please answer me this.

> > You are using this build with Wanderers full set for open world clearing? My guess is that this build has great survivability right? And how is dmg? You clear mobs without problem?

> >

> > Asking all this as I am returning to game after long time (pre HoT) so need to buy and get gear and don't want to waste what gold I have. I am not looking for raids and WvW build but instead would love to make solo / survival combination first.

>

> Yeah I'm using this for the open world. I'm a scrub who can't zerk. But I also have good friends and I'm not shy to post on LFG and build an exploratory committee to join me in the desert :) -- I've had a lot of fun with it, as I enjoy the firebrand quickness and the handful of other goodies more than I enjoyed using Valor before. You can also swap firebrand for zeal (323) for a core guardian build. It would be absolutely terrible in raids, but it's actually quite strong in WvW as a boonbot and frontline tank.

 

Cuddy, Zenislav and Fipmip... oh i see what your all thinking now. Having a high amount of power damage and quickness to boost your damage potential. Hmm i would like this to work but in practice will it? I guess in some regard the core trait lines do have some percentage damage modifiers, but do the Guardian/Firebrand weapons give off enough raw power damage, and also do we have accesses to enough skills to flip through to do that damage. Also consider are they on low cool downs so that we can pull off builds like or similar to yours.

 

Also we as Firebrands need to consider how much we can offer to group as support or condition damage burn bots because of the Ashes of Just Trait in conjunction with quickness... All this is based of the Firebrands condition damage and condition duration. I'd image in a group the damage we could add to allies and group members would be insane. It just makes me wonder how much group support we are giving up to max out our own damage potential.

 

Hmm continues to ponder on these notions and theories.

 

Cheers from Cave Rock and Bluevoltron42.

[Cave Rock.4869]

> @BlunterMonk.2089 said:

> Any thoughts on this build? (new to firebrand)

> I was thinking about going for a half support half dps style with burns heals and vit.

>

> http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vVAQNAn/ensArBiuglDZ5QmhwdIrQQKsgILBE212aOlB2foV0NqVA4B8mA-j1CBQBbV9HK8AAYwBCwF7P4SlghU5HAOACH4ECUhDQAg07EgDCAA-w

 

Hey BlunterMonk, welcome and i am so glad you chose to become a Firebrand, you going to have a blast, pardon the fire pun it was unintended :) Your build appears fairly well rounded, but would suffer to power damage from mobs or other players and that extra bit of vitality will only really help you out against incoming condition damage. This would be a build i would consider playing with if i had some friends to support otherwise you may wish to try out another option of gear setup.

 

If you soloed a bit i would suggest Dire or Trailblazers for tanky condition damage or Sinisters/Vipers for condition burst and kill or be killed mode.

 

It really isn't easy to find a true stat setup for the Firebrand because we can do so many things :( which makes it hard to choose. Therefore it will take you time to figure out what really works. Keep at it and persist i am sure you will find a setup that works best. BlunterMonk it looks like your already on the right track to find out what works best for you.

 

Cheers for the posted comment and i hope my ramblings were helpful from Cave Rock and Bluevoltron42

 

[Cave Rock.4869]

> @Miyafuji.1340 said:

> OK, since Iv posted in this topic before about possible firebrand and WvW, I will post again, unfortunately with bad news.

>

> After playing it for few days, I, (and pretty much everyone around me) found firebrand pretty much useless for WvW.

>

> Compared to core guard and DH its very immobile, slow and with poor survive-ability.

>

> Mantras are generally weak. You need to spam them all the way trough to get the final a bit stronger one, but it takes too long to waste your time on that in actual combat. Another bad thing is that most of them are cone in front of you, so to actually affect allies you cannot be on the front-line. Did I also mention they are weak? Compare the healing one with like shelter or receive the light, compare the elite one with renewed focus, etc. Its just weak.

>

> The tomes don't do much better. Except F1 which can give really solid burn, the support ones are weak. It looks good on paper, but it all takes way too long. You don't have time mid fight to Go to F3, then 5 Then 4, you are already 3 seconds in which means especially with all the boonrip now you are dead. Another problem is that skillag makes everything much worse. We don't talk about 1 minute to get stability lag in big fights on EB, but even like 20vs20 creates a little skillag, which normally on guard or DH you don't notice much, but here it hurt soo bad with all those extra little clicks and skills gaining delay. F1 tho giving a lot of burn does not fare much better. The issues there are that most of those skills are relatively close combat, which prevents you to use the cone mantras on allies, and your lack of sustain (you don't have virtues or DH F3 block now) and you also has about 0 mobility with Firebrand. It all has anti-synergy in it. The only way I managed to make it work was judges intervention straight to the middle of the enemy, pray that I don't get instantly boonripped + CCD + condied to the ground so I can cast my burns and hope I did enough to contribute to win, that is if we win in the next 5 seconds cause retreating with Firebrand is no option cause of the lack of sustain and mobility.

>

> All in all, its really bad. Either stick with core guard and be the stab-bot or experiment with DH but Firebrand is no go.

 

Hey Miyafuji, this may seem like you whinging or whining about Firebrand and it is a wonder that others haven't bitten back, but i think it is because your 100% correct. You know what i think it is about the Firebrand. These close range and radius skills of Mantra's and hard to access at all times Tomes and some what previous said to be clunky, were not really intended to be played as a um how do i say it squishy burst condition build. I personally think they were intended to be played as a tanky condition damage dealer, like for example a player wearing trail blazers or dire's etc, so we have time to react to the situation or move into position with out feeling we could be three, two or even one shot into a downed state.

 

That was one method but i believe the Firebrand was also fully intended to be a support class that offered some limited condition damage to give it a bit of flavour whilst it fully supported its team. Just look at all the boons a Firebrand can do and it screams play me in this way please, you all know what i mean. Plus even Ashes of The Just is just a more offensive kind of buff in away also.

 

Personally i think we just need to find a happy medium between damage and reaction time. So therefore i propose that we all investigate or test this notion of making a more durable damage dealer or an incredibly good supportive Firebrand. It might just mean that we need to take a mix of shouts and mantra to give it right, but in time i think the Firebrand will havea a place in the meta unlike some of the other new elites :(

 

Like i said people don't hate on Miyafuji they are just as disappointed to find this out as we all are and we should offer as much support and advice as possible. If they are any Firebrands out there that can help out Miyafuji please do so.

 

Cheers Miyafuji for your honest and insightful post about your last WvW experiences as a Firebrand. Keep at it and stay positive i am sure you can work out something on the Guardian/Firebrand that will work. From Cave Rock and Bluevoltron42.

[Miyafuji.1340]

Well in WVW generally you cannot spam support skills. You need big good support skills, everything that needs to be spammed gets caught is the skill-lag. Like if I for example go F1 + 5 + 4 while we are sitting it takes 2 seconds to get there. If in actual combat 20vs20, it takes 5 seconds to even get the skill 5 effects and sometimes it skips the command and goes straight to 4. Like I had some semi decent support rotations that fell apart in actual combat cause the stuff just did not cast in time.

 

Oh and I forgot to mention one more thing. The healing. None of the new healing skills scale well with healing power. The difference between 0 healing power and 1200 is like 20% healing, its absolutely not worth it.

 

As it comes to condi, your only good condi is burn, and for that you don't go squish bursty stuff, you can go full dire, you don't need expertise as well (you get duration from radiance and runes and big duration is not good idea in WvW cause of cleansing). You need your condi to do as much damage as it can in the first 2 ticks. I was able to pull like 40-50K a tick damage on tower lord while having 21K HP 3,2K toughness but despite the tanky stats the class is not tanky at all. You will die instantly once you get caught by anything. The new elite skills stunbreak looks cool but falls flat in actual combat. on DH you can push with F3, on core guard you can easily make it with renewed focus while spamming your virtues and they get them refreshed right after, like the less of the new utility skills I used in favor of the old ones the better it got.

 

Now the next question is what do you sacrifice. The biggest problem is that core-guard is just too good, it all synergies too well. Your virtues give you AOE clense + another stunbreak + AOE stab on F3, your Honor gives you cleansing shouts, betters cooldowns on them, heal on dodge, heal on aegis pop if you want (both of which scale well with healing power), then you have valor where you get more condi cleanse on heal ( hear the thing, you get more on your skills, aka your skills get better, exact opposite of firebrand, where you have to spam many weak skills piano style to make up for the fact that they are weak), then you have communal defense, aka aoe ally buff, altruistic healing which makes your empower heal you more than the firebrand healing skill (and again it makes your skills better, not adds tons of small skills which you will fail to spamm cause of skillag). Its eh... its just no go. As things are ATM, firebrand in no go for WvW. I had good time in the PVE campaign, but thats PVE.

 

 

[Redleaf.4759]

Please allow me to ask a basic FB question here:

 

During in WvW especially group fight, I normally use tome skills and rotate in between these 3 tome skills. My question is, since I am using tome mostly, does the quality of my weapon (exotic or ascended) affect the damage or healing power of the tome skills?

[Cave Rock.4869]

> @Redleaf.4759 said:

> Please allow me to ask a basic FB question here:

>

> During in WvW especially group fight, I normally use tome skills and rotate in between these 3 tome skills. My question is, since I am using tome mostly, does the quality of my weapon (exotic or ascended) affect the damage or healing power of the tome skills?

 

Hey Redleaf (cool name btw), I would think that anything you wear, equip or consume will increase your tomes damage, healing or support potential. Now i am actually going to get this tested and let you know for a fact. But this just comes from my knowledge of using the build editor and remembering that my weapons stats condition damage and duration will increase the potential burns that i did on the Tome of Justice.

 

Thanks heaps for your interesting preponderance about whether weapon stats transferred when tomes were activated, the comment was much appreciated cheers from Cave Rock and Bluevoltron42.