Dragon Hunter vs Firebrand

[Acheron.4576]

Now that many Guardians have been able to tinker around and play firebrand for a little bit which elite spec do you prefer? Are there any reasons behind your choice? What are your reasons for not choosing the other elite spec?

[Dahkeus.8243]

I voted Firebrand for a few reasons:

1) The overall aesthetic of firebrand skills is truly beautiful. All of the effects seem to be a lot higher definition than previous guardian skills and also seem to have more intricate designs within.

3) I really like the support aspects of firebrand.

4) I like the kit-like mechanics.

5) Axe is more appealing overall than Longbow. Sadly, longbow will almost always suck in this game due to the way they balance ranged DPS.

 

I like DragonHunter, but just not as much as Firebrand.

[phor.7952]

I love that Firebrand gives us more support options and I really like a couple of the Mantras, but the trait cooldowns, inconsistent range, and underwhelming Axe skills really sour the spec for me.

 

For example:

If you take Liberator's Vow, Weighty Terms, and Mantra of Solace then you can cast a heal and grant Aegis every ~9.5 seconds which is incredible. But you'll have to wait 12 seconds for each heal, or you don't get Quickness from Liberator's Vow because of an internal cooldown. And the UI doesn't show you that timer anywhere.

Then on top of that, the heal/aegis hit a 120 radius and a small cone in front but the quickness hits a 240 radius...

It just makes the whole thing feel inconsistent. A lot of the ranges are so short that you have to practically stand on top of party members for the effects to apply.

 

I tried out a couple of different builds, but ended up going back to DragonHunter.

[Miyafuji.1340]

As a WVW player I had to vote DH. If I was PVE player I would vote firebrand cause it has more long term dps trough lots of burning.

 

As it comes to lore and looks, DH seemed out of place and the concept actually not fitting the original Guardian. Firebrand does much better in this aspect ans it well done. The only thing that was completely missed is the player animations when using tome, which are just default 2 weapons animations with empty hands. Own animations for the tomes that fit would be great.

[Mikau.6920]

There is no both option :/

 

Dragon Hunter:

* If fully speced to damage it have a lot AoE burst, kills everything just by pressing a few buttons;

* On WvW I like to play LB burning on back. Power builds are viable as well (not so with FB);

* It has a descent ranged option, unlike Firebrand (Scepter is a mid range weapon).

 

Firebrand:

* I always loved playing as Condi Guard, just after they allowed to Burning stack - Cond Guard was awful compared to now, the Permeating Wrath wasn't merged with the 3 hits to burn trait and I still liked playing;

* Unlike DH, FB has access to support, so on WvW you can play both as burning and support;

* Have more DPS on PvE than DH.

 

I'll still be playing with both specs, just playing a little more with FB now because its new. I still want to make a Burning Block DH for WvW :P

[Saiyan.1704]

[PvP]

FB for sure. The only catch is due to the spec's support-type-elite, we are more reliant on our team than usual. But have, say, two teams of equal skill fight each other. The team with a Firebrand in the comp will win. This is the strength of FB that most overlook.

[Kerivek.5740]

I am enjoying Firebrand a ton right now. Especially in PvE I just love the way it plays. Tomes are a lot of fun to use. One thing I will say is I think mantras are boring and not very fun, but tomes make up for it for me. I also really enjoy axe. It could use a range increase to match the autp animation but it does decent condi DPS and I love the aesthetic of it.

 

Saiyan I'm curious...what have you been running for a FB build? I have had mixed success so far with trying to do a DPS oriented Firebrand. I find that when I can unload in a crowd I can wipe out a team faster than ever, but after doing that a couple times I start getting focused and I have more trouble surviving as Firebrand than I do as DH. Have you found that you can stand up to focus fire from the enemy team or is survivability still an issue for you?

[Garimeth.8725]

I really enjoyed DH, but I always liked burn guard and FB is very fun. I like axe (thoug I wish the symbol was TAD faster, and as a wvw frontliner the mantra range is not such a big problem for me as I hug the tag anyway. I enjoy having an on demand toolkit for whatever is going on. I will say that I have to have more situational awareness as my FB as I can get dropped much easier if I get isolated from my team. I have not tried FB in spvp.

[RabbitUp.8294]

Where is the neither option?

 

Overall, neither of them are as good as they could have been. Dragonhunter always felt like a disjointed addition to the class, and even though it was the first spec, it already felt like they were grasping at straws to make a guardian elite spec. Which shouldn't have been the case, when guardian is a notorious case of a class not exploring its core thematic. I mean, our profession mechanic is about burning, healing and preventing damage, and base guardian can't be condi, healer or tank.

 

Firebrand is a clownfiesta or two. It's a support spec that can't support in pve. A support that tries to maximise its personal damage, which is as contradictory as it gets. The visuals get no points from me either, all mantras use the exact same recoloured visual, and we didn't see the return of tomes, like it was promised. Every time I see my character standing empty handed with toiler paper around them, it looks as bad as the first time.

 

I'm currently playing firebrand because burn guardian is what I've wanted to play from day 1, but firebrand gets no points from me for that, because it should have been something base guardian could do.

[Arius.7031]

Dragonhunter feels more interesting and entertaining from a gameplay perspective. Combos and versatility make it fun for small scale roaming an 1v1s. Firebrand feels boring to actually play imo, and I think it's a detriment to the WvW Meta for sure.

[Ahlen.7591]

Firebrand for sure, Dragonhunter is so damn boring and flat compared to the depth and complexity of firebrand. The things you can do with the set of skills provided by tomes is so high. It feels great doing CM's and t4's and feels great in open world.

 

DH never felt any different than just playing core guardian. Firebrand actually feels like a whole different profession.

[stone cold.8609]

PvE comment only - Didn't like the direction that Dragonhunter took the Guardian. Really like the direction that Firebrand is going.

[Ragnarox.9601]

I never lost to DH in duels, FB is simply better fighting DH, but with FB I cant win vs Spellbreakers while with DH I kill every warrior with ease.

[IonoI.3956]

I think they are very different so it's hard to compare, and I haven't tried all their options.

from the way I've used it:

dh: high cc, descent dps, duration blocks and some aegis, big spike burst, more solo friendly, practical in many situations, I know it better

fb: low cc, high dps, lots of group aegis, descent support, provides quickness, more team friendly, less practical overall, not as exp with it

 

so i voted dh, but i like both

[Diswan.8156]

Now that ive played it for a while, I think Firebrand is a great spec. The only thing you need to play it right is to have gear with some healing power and honor traitline, it brings soo much sustain. I used to be dh all the way and tried every build possible but a the moment and to my own amazement im liking firebrand more. Even more so on pvp.

[otto.5684]

If this was purely thematic post I would have voted for FB. Though DH is a much better (at least outside raids) function wise.

 

I also greatly dislike tomes, which for sure are holding the class back in sPvP. And I find the axe to be rather boring. It is surely better than LB though.

[otto.5684]

> @Ragnarox.9601 said:

> I never lost to DH in duels, FB is simply better fighting DH, but with FB I cant win vs Spellbreakers while with DH I kill every warrior with ease.

 

I am not sure how. Symbolist build, core or DH is designed specifically to counter condi.

[Darknicrofia.2604]

Pve: Firebrand

PvP: DH

[MMAI.5892]

Another vote for both.

 

I'll always love DH - solid power build and easy to integrate suitability if you solo a lot. The traps were always fun - especially when standing inside of a large hitbox and unleashing GS spin as well.

 

Firebrand adds a condi spec that can also be crafted for a more supporting role. Melting things with ToJ feels just as good as traps. Resolve and Courage tomes seems a bit less useful if your solo'ing, but aren't aweful. Not a huge fan of the heal skill outside of the quickness. Firebrand seems to have a bit more versatility than DH, but I still play DH when I need to bring more CC to the party.

 

The true travesty will always be the nerf to the Loot Stick - I mean staff.

[Arcaedus.7290]

Firebrand, easily. Dragonhunter is probably more viable in 1v1 and wvw roaming (the two things I like to do most) but Firebrand is honestly just a lot more fun and the animations are amazing. I've found I can maintain just about as good mobility as a dragonhunter (over long distances) but now have the added benefit of team support with whatever builds I run. Even at 0 healing power and boon duration, I find good use of f2 and f3 can be a real game changer which I feel really encourages me to spec into healing/boon dura in the future.

 

DH feels like Medi guard with a longbow and 3 new skills (f1 spear, ToF trap and f2 wings) whereas FB feels like Medi guard with 15 new skills. Not to mention, there are some firebrand builds that match up very very favorably against builds that DH does poorly against.

[Raguel.9402]

I like both for different reasons.

 

Firebrand is flashy and has a ton of utility even while running zerker gear in pve. In PVP I think I fared better on DH, Firebrand feels squishy or I just need to get used to the spec :)

[Flamenco.3894]

Dragonhunter. The burst damage is unparallelled.

[Diswan.8156]

Actually i might be right to say that firebrand counters DH in pvp, and as someone said earlier spellbreaker counters fb but then again; sb counters everything at the moment.

[Aeolus.3615]

Voted DH cause i like DH virtues, but trap utilities are horrible way to play imo...

[mes.4607]

# DH since I don't want to play as support