Does everyone run berserker gear?

[Khisanth.2948]

> @"jbrother.1340" said:

> > @"Kovac.4372" said:

> > > @"Blood Red Arachnid.2493" said:

> > > Generally, yes. Every class has an effective high DPS build that runs berserker gear, and these builds are usually the best one the class can offer. Condi builds run Viper, and there are some specialty builds, but when in doubt run berserker gear.

> >

> > I checked, Viper is locked behind HoT. Core only offers 3 attribute gear ... so like, berserker, assassin ...

> >

> > What about sinister?

>

> Could be wrong about this cannot remember fully...

>

> if you are crafting ascended you can just craft another then stat swap it with the mystic forge and some other small mats.

>

> I personally only craft one stat set as I have the recipes for it already and if I find a need to change it later I use the forge and stat swap it. I have only crafted ascended in berserker. I guess I have no real reason other than I play power more often than hybrid or condition and share the armor sets on more than one toon. I have 2 cloth and 1 leather and soon heavy.

 

That doesn't help at all because you still need HoT to get the exotic viper's inscription/insignia

[jbrother.1340]

> @"Khisanth.2948" said:

> > @"jbrother.1340" said:

> > > @"Kovac.4372" said:

> > > > @"Blood Red Arachnid.2493" said:

> > > > Generally, yes. Every class has an effective high DPS build that runs berserker gear, and these builds are usually the best one the class can offer. Condi builds run Viper, and there are some specialty builds, but when in doubt run berserker gear.

> > >

> > > I checked, Viper is locked behind HoT. Core only offers 3 attribute gear ... so like, berserker, assassin ...

> > >

> > > What about sinister?

> >

> > Could be wrong about this cannot remember fully...

> >

> > if you are crafting ascended you can just craft another then stat swap it with the mystic forge and some other small mats.

> >

> > I personally only craft one stat set as I have the recipes for it already and if I find a need to change it later I use the forge and stat swap it. I have only crafted ascended in berserker. I guess I have no real reason other than I play power more often than hybrid or condition and share the armor sets on more than one toon. I have 2 cloth and 1 leather and soon heavy.

>

> That doesn't help at all because you still need HoT to get the exotic viper's inscription/insignia

 

I see. I had not looked it up and just did. I didn't see they are account bound.

 

Guess your not getting it that easy :)

[TheQuickFox.3826]

My character is afraid of death, therefore he uses Celestial stats which improves his survivability quite a bit. Zerker and similar all-offensive stats are nice, but only when you can stay alive with them.

[starlinvf.1358]

If it isn't obvious yet from the other posts, the game does have a strong leaning toward burst damage being the most efficient approach to a lot of combat situations. Whats not really obvious to new players is "why". From a high level perspective, GW2 classes are built around PvP, which has specific thresholds and limitations to more or less allow them to kill each other. The problem is PvE is largely designed around Tank and Spank design principles common to most MMORPGs; many of which are designed around Trinity comp.

 

The AI is pretty basic in its behavior- stands there and takes damage, only a hand full will run when in danger, and even then they'll eventually turn around and try attacking you again. They all have slow attack rates, Core map mobs have limited skill sets, and very few incorporates any kind of counter-play concept. To make up for this, they usually have a lot of HP (25k being around average), some degree of toughness, and substantially strong damage output per hit. They are somewhat balanced around a 1v1 damage trade, so they actually are dangerous to tanky builds with enough of them ganging up on you. As a player you tend to cleave on melee, so in a 1 v many situation, your damage output is flat per target (making your damage potential level), but incoming damage is multiplicative since multiple attacks are hitting you. Since Trash mob damage is pretty low, this tends to not be too much of an issue. But when you start dealing with mobs with stronger attacks (usually AOE), or higher Tiers such as Vet and Elites, they can potentially Out-DPS you in a protracted fight; even with ample defense stats in your build.

 

This starts to make sense when you look at how the game handles its damage math. On the surface its a simple linear model, where effective DPS and Effective HP scales directly with how your stats are invested. Where this starts to go off the rails is the damage multipliers and skill coefficients, which results in a compound multiplicative effect. Classes also have far more damage multipliers available via traits then they do damage reduction. As a result, the per point investment into damage can be pushed a lot further then with defense ones.

 

Another fact of the basic game design is that all mobs and players have 100% effectiveness regardless of health level. So be it 30 HP or 30,000, your skills, traits, and gear still perform just as good. And since enemies have this same thing going for them, the only way to stop incoming damage is either stun lock the mob with CCs so it can't attack (which isn't feasible), or to kill it so it ceases to be a thing. Since mob damage output is time gated, the faster you kill it, the less threat it can pose to you. One Shot a mob, and it'll be as if it never existed. This is why so many people lean toward a glass cannon build, since the high damage output shortens the fight, and lowers the risk of exhausting your active defenses.

 

Which bring us to the active defenses. The best defense is not taking damage..... to which GW2, with an action combat system, very heavily favors. Dodges let you evade attacks and of its effects. Blocks prevent attacks and damage from connecting. Invulnerability and Condition clears stop damage from occurring, Personal Heal skill are infrequent, but very strong, to let you recover from damage taken. The first two counter front loaded damage from being lethal, while the latter two neutralize back loaded and over time damage. Since Dodging is base line ability for all characters, every player has access to the single strongest defense in the game. But to balance this strength, active defenses are treated as a resource within the game's balancing scheme, and is meant to be exhausted if overly taxed. They have limited windows of protection, and most have to be timed well to gain maximum benefit; some even down to a faction of a second. But with enough at player's disposal, and knowledge of how to best leverage them, many players can get away with minimal defense stats (if used at all).

 

So within this type of environment, defensive stats can't win you a fight, and only effectively stalls death. But in some situations, that can be a big deal. Like surviving 3 hits instead of 2, or being able to shrug off weak attacks to focus your active defenses on the stronger ones. However, without a team comp to substitute damage in your place, going deep into defensive styled builds is almost universally a liability. There are also very few situations where a stat based tank build is actually a functional advantage, since the majority of PvE content is balanced around the standard 1v1 trade, and a high damage build with enough AOE can clear a group of mobs on their own.

 

Expansion maps/content operate on similar principle, but a key difference is mobs are given more skills that increase their threat level against passive players. Things like build concepts, mimicking player skills (which are very strong), group comp in patrols, access to more CCs and AOE attacks, increased armor or damage stats for its tier, and a proper mixture of damage pressure and damage bursts that the player can't safely ignore. This also has a direct effect on active players, in that it opens up counter-play strategies that players can exploit, but also forces them to face situations they might be vulnerable to. But there is one thing the Devs made sure of in the expansions..... all the mobs, even the trash ones, are resilient enough survive things that would normally 1-shot mobs in Core Tyria. This causes most fights to last at least several seconds, allowing the majority of mobs time to use their more dangerous attacks. With the margin of error being a lot smaller when fighting these mobs, investment in defensive traits, skills and a small amount of defensive stats is prudent. Traits and skills add more resources to avoid or mitigate damage, while the defensive stats are a buffer against damage that will inevitably make it past your active defenses. This minor trade off is to buy you extra time in the fight, and allow additional rounds of damage output that (hopefully) kills the enemy before they kill you.

 

 

With all that said, the dynamic gets a little different with a group composition..... but not as big as you'd think. Group content like Fractals, Raids, and team PvP/WvW allow you spread the requirements for a fight across several players. This allows more room to specialize for each player, and take advantage of the force multiplication it enables. But as an aggregate, you're effectively acting as one character that can multitask better. And not surprisingly, if the Supports can carry the job of defense/damage mitigation for the group, that frees up everyone else for DPS. The more damage you can dish out, the shorter the fight is. The shorter the fight, the less time you have to spend dealing with something that might kill you.