The One Open World Build to Rule Them All

[Providence.7185]

Which, in your view, is the best build to trivialize Open World and Story content?

 

GW2 is a fun game but I find the difficulty generally overturned in Open World. Hard, in my view, should be found in high level instances (e.g. Fractals and Raids). In the story my character is supposed to be a commander / hero type so getting downed by a handful of trash mobs (or downed at all) detracts from that. I realize many here disagree and some would even prefer the game tuned harder, kindly save such disagreements for your own or another thread.

 

As a result, I am looking for a build that can trivialize Open World and story content. The build does not necessarily need to excel in Fractals/Raids since in a game in which most items earned are account wide I am fine with a handful of specialists as opposed to only one generalist.

 

A number of sources have strong looking builds. For example, Metabattle currently lists 13 Open World builds as Meta. That is a big help in narrowing it down but I only need one and am unsure which is "best".

 

"Best" is a build that can handle anything Open World/Story/Events throws at me with relative ease. Simple is better than complex but only as a secondary consideration. I would prefer to play as the unstoppable hero.

 

One final consideration - Necro minion builds are of no interest to me. Pet builds in general are fine/fun but I have no interest in looking at the Necro's objectively ugly minions in my free time (apologies to those who like them).

 

So which build or builds have you played which trivialize the content discussed here? Including links, if at all possible, would be much appreciated

 

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[Acheron.4731]

> @"Providence.7185" said:

> Which, in your view, is the best build to trivialize Open World and Story content?

>

> GW2 is a fun game but I find the difficulty generally overturned in Open World. Hard, in my view, should be found in high level instances (e.g. Fractals and Raids). In the story my character is supposed to be a commander / hero type so getting downed by a handful of trash mobs (or downed at all) detracts from that. I realize many here disagree and some would even prefer the game tuned harder, kindly save such disagreements for your own or another thread.

>

> As a result, I am looking for a build that can trivialize Open World and story content. The build does not necessarily need to excel in Fractals/Raids since in a game in which most items earned are account wide I am fine with a handful of specialists as opposed to only one generalist.

>

> A number of sources have strong looking builds. For example, Metabattle currently lists 13 Open World builds as Meta. That is a big help in narrowing it down but I only need one and am unsure which is "best".

>

> "Best" is a build that can handle anything Open World/Story/Events throws at me with relative ease. Simple is better than complex but only as a secondary consideration. I would prefer to play as the unstoppable hero.

>

> One final consideration - Necro minion builds are of no interest to me. Pet builds in general are fine/fun but I have no interest in looking at the Necro's objectively ugly minions in my free time (apologies to those who like them).

>

> So which build or builds have you played which trivialize the content discussed here? Including links, if at all possible, would be much appreciated

>

> Thanks in advance for your help.

>

 

Condi ranger/soulbeast.

shortbow, axe-torch

Use pet as meat shield :)

Done

[Healix.5819]

> @"Providence.7185" said:

> "Best" is a build that can handle anything Open World/Story/Events throws at me with relative ease. Simple is better than complex but only as a secondary consideration. I would prefer to play as the unstoppable hero.

 

fyi...

 

> One final consideration - Necro minion builds are of no interest to me. Pet builds in general are fine/fun but I have no interest in looking at the Necro's objectively ugly minions in my free time (apologies to those who like them).

 

... that would be a necro. A reaper is by far the easiest profession and very simple to play. It _is_ the "unstoppable hero" that can walk through waves of elites without even realizing they're elites. Having minions is however a core trait and you'll have them even if you didn't specifically want a minion build.

[kharmin.7683]

This is pretty much a subjective thing. What works well for some may not work well for others, or you. Most posts I've seen here on OWPvE is that it is extremely easy. Being a very casual player, I find open world content challenging enough in the expansion maps, but not impossible. I don't run meta builds and don't solo champs and I manage to get by well enough for my style of play.

[Donari.5237]

What Healix said. I have a non-pet Reaper (well, I use the pet for heals, and one of my shouts makes a zillion tiny short-lived minions that I needn't control, and I play so zoomed out I don't see their ugly faces). Even after the shroud heal nerf I just zen out and wade into crowds of mobs. I have a mostly-exotics, condi-mix gear setup, GS/Staff/Shouts. The staff is just for when I really *have* to go ranged, it's not super effective but it does have some handy cc. I'm traited to auto-shroud if I take a killing blow so long as I have at least 10% life force. Skills are slow and hard hitting, so I have time to think about them and deliberately choose the right one moment to moment.

 

That Reaper is what I use to help friends with all sorts of PvE and story. It's my second LS run through (my daredevil forever has first dibs on new story, and after he eats floor polish repeatedly and takes forever, it's so refreshing to swap to her for the next run).

 

Highly recommended. As noted, ranged fighting is reaper's one weakness, but it's just slower, not more self-lethal :)

[Endless Soul.5178]

I pretty much use a full ascended gear Power Reaper, and I don't have too much trouble with Open World content.

[Aaron Forestman.4758]

There are two ways to do this:

1) Something very tanky and simple such as a minion reaper or a longbow/brown bear ranger. Preferably with something like soldier's stats for maximum survivability. These builds work for open world content because you can stay out of the major line of fire while slowly taking down enemies. However, I don't think that really trivializes open world content. It more just plays it the way it was originally intended, with a slow back and forth.

2) Most dps builds used for high end raiding/fractals. You'll want to dedicate an hour or two to get familiar with the build in a controlled setting, but then you should be able to roll over most anything in open world. That's my interpretation of trivializing open world content. I'd suggest a class with a fair amount of automatic self-sustain such as a soulbeast or dragonhunter so you can keep yourself going while mowing targets down. Check out https://snowcrows.com/ for a variety of top tier builds. Metabattle seems to always go for the one-trick builds that are easy to play but don't actually get at what the profession is fully capable of.

[Naxos.2503]

Anything heavily condi based.

 

Mobs dont use condi cleanses, and baring some specific monster immunities, any condi class has access to atleast 3 different condi damage.

[Voltekka.2375]

Reaper. Kill everything. You wont die to most mobs. Even champs can be cleared. Do NOT get fractal or raid meta builds.

[Tanner Blackfeather.6509]

> @"Healix.5819" said:

> > @"Providence.7185" said:

> > "Best" is a build that can handle anything Open World/Story/Events throws at me with relative ease. Simple is better than complex but only as a secondary consideration. I would prefer to play as the unstoppable hero.

>

> fyi...

>

> > One final consideration - Necro minion builds are of no interest to me. Pet builds in general are fine/fun but I have no interest in looking at the Necro's objectively ugly minions in my free time (apologies to those who like them).

>

> ... that would be a necro. A reaper is by far the easiest profession and very simple to play. It _is_ the "unstoppable hero" that can walk through waves of elites without even realizing they're elites. Having minions is however a core trait and you'll have them even if you didn't specifically want a minion build.

 

There is nothing forcing a necro (or any of its elites) to use minions - just don't slot minion skills and you won't have any. The fundamental profession mechanic is the Shroud.

[misterman.1530]

Reaper is good, but so is a Power Scourge. Your conditions will melt most mobs in mere seconds - from a distance - before they can even engage. The good thing with a Power Scourge is the build is almost identical to that of a Reaper (obviously, the elite trait switches). All the equipment can be the same (I rarely use GS anymore - too slow).

 

So the weapons are Axe/Focus (or Dagger) and either Staff (ensure you use Soul Marks in the Soul Reaping trait line) or Scepter/Dagger (you can switch Spite out for Curses). The Armor and Trinkets are the same. Without a build template, I can switch between Reaper and Power Scourge in a few seconds.

 

 

 

 

 

[whoeverxwins.1279]

Absolute best? Minion master power reaper. Minions give a carapace for each one, and add more for "Rise!", so the more trash mobs around you, the tougher you are. But you don't like minions, so... Mirage is pretty dang good as well. Viper gear, condi build. Dragonhunter is good; I use Marauder/ Valkyrie gear for more vitality. Not mentioned, but one I've rolled through content with is holosmith. Marauder gear, power build, turrets and either flamethrower or elixir gun, depending on enemies. Even if she goes down, she pops back up fast.

 

Currently playing through on a soulbeast, but I think she needs Marauder gear as well. I'm getting downed too much in Zerkers.

[Lexi.1398]

This is going to be very subejctive, as skill is a huge part of it- for example, i'd say condi mirage can make open world very easy. BUT. if you -do not have a grasp of weapon swapping at the right time -do not know how to use signet of ether -do not know how to interrupt properly and improperly your axe 3 with jaunt, you will find yourself dying quite a bit. The same goes for my favourite open world build, it is a variant of snowcrow's power chrono- but i take illusionary reversion instead of danger time, and use sword+sword/shield (or focus offhand instead of sword sometimes)- while very good, it has very active defenses, and I would not suggest using this to people who cannot time sword 2, sword 4 and shield 4 (and again signet of ether needs proper use). I love mesmer incase you couldn't tell.

 

With that said, my go to is actually scourge- http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PSwAs+ZlNweYSsLGJW6X1PTA-zRIUb0xDA-e -this was made as a variant of the raid meta condition scourge build for open world. The raid meta build uses a lot of self-hurting corruptions, which makes it a bit difficult to play in open world, so i did away with those mostly. It also has less minions because I just don't like minions that aren't the flesh golem.

 

Things you can do with this build:

General idea is use signet of spite off of cooldown, trail of anguish is your stun break (and also use off of cooldown for movement speed increase). Plaguelands is interchangeable with ghastly breach, but plaguelands is much better. Serpent siphon exists mostly for barrier, and also for synergy with an alternative trait.

If farming, you can swap in epidemic for either serpent syphon or signet of spite depending on how much you want the extra barrier. I would not suggest having epidemic in non-farming situations as it will pull just so much aggro.

Staff is your final stand panic button weapon, you're pretty much never gonna need anything aside sceptre/torch.

 

You get barrier from serpent syphon, from manifesting sand shade (f1) due to desert empowerment trait, from using desert shroud (f5), using sand casade (f3), and using your heal skill - THESE are your defences, you use barrier to give you additional health for a time so you can take more hits.

 

Blood is Power can also be used if you take a particular trait.

 

Alternative traits:

Sand Savant instead of Demonic Lore in the final slot of the scourge traitline. This is really a matter of preference, i just prefer 3 shades but if you like the one huge shade it's not really gonna make a huge difference. If you want to take full advantage of Desert Empowerment, i suggest using sand savant instead of demonic lore as it will be easier to use.

 

Sadistic Searing instead of Desert Empowerment. This is an attack vs defense trade. Desert empowerment is there because if you need barrier you can use f1 to manifest a sand shade just like that- herald of sorrow's harbinger shroud is simply really sad compared to the normal desert shroud if you don't have any healing power, so on this build it is pretty useless. Now, sadistic searing means that you will use any of your punishment skills (of which i have put 3 in the default build) and THEN summon a sand shade- you will not get any barrier from summoning it, but you will do a bunch of extra damage with the shade. This is an alternative for another reason i'll cover later.

 

Plague Sending instead of Terrifying Descent in the first slot of the curses traitline. This also means you will swap out either your signet of spite or sperent syphon for the corruption utlity "Blood is Power". Now, this causes a self bleed which is why i don't reccommed it as a default. However, with this trait, what you're gonna do is use blood is power -> place a sand shade and attack. This will cause the self bleed of the skill to go onto the enemy - which will inflict even more bleeding on top of what blood is power already did. However, if you do not place the shade after using blood is power the self bleed can be dangerous. You will also forgo the fall damage reduction in doing this. With sadistic searing also on, you will do any corruption skill -> blood is power -> summon sand shade.

 

Parasitic Contagion instead of Lingering Curse in the final slot of the curses traitline. This is a massive trade of damage for more defence, parasitic contagion makes you VERY hard to kill, but you will do significantly less damage.

 

Master of Corruption in the second slot in the curses traitline. Would not recommend unless you're quite talented at using scourge, but you will run blood is power + plague sending + demonic lore along with this trait so you can use blood is power more often, then summon more shades to take advantage of plague sending. This is more along the lines of the raid meta build, but as it will cause unavoidable self damage from blood is power i don't suggest it if you aren't raiding with it.

 

 

But what about shade summoning:

With the recent changes to scourge shroud/shade skills, it is now more difficult to play if you need to place shades. You may note, a lot of trait changes take advtange of placing shades - sadistic searing, plague sending/blood is power and master of corruption will all only be a damage increase (often at the loss of defence) if you place shades- i do not recommend them as a default as if you now place a shade and move out of it, or the enemy moves out of it, your f2-f5 skills are literally useless until the shade dissipates.

 

In general, use your f2-f5 WITHOUT a shade unless you are using any of those traits. If you using any of those traits, using Sand Savant can make it easier for you and the enemy to remain in the radius of the shroud.

 

-

 

Viper stats are nice, but expensive, and if you aren't raiding with it carrion is much much easier to get (rabid is also okay, but carrion is better). I didn't fill in sigils and runes as there is a lot of variation depending on what you want to do, and this build already has decent enough condition damage spikes without extra runes/sigils to boost it so I didn't consider it neccessary for extra damage. And also because some are expensive and i'm too lazy to price check anything before i suggest it.

 

I'm aware of the existance of the death magic traitline, i just have never considered it needed with the barrier generation of scourge- death magic also functions just so so so much better with reaper.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

Aren't you the new player that wanted quick ways to L80 and Elite Specializations to play in Core Tyria?

 

I'd suggest the best Open World build would be the 'take-your-time-and-learn-the-game-don't-rush-everything' build. It's worked wonders for most of us. (I use a mostly whatever has dropped for me equipment-build Ranger with axe/torch, and I don't have issue with Stories or Open World; with very few exceptions [Heart and Minds]).

 

Welcome to Tyria, and good luck.

[borgs.6103]

Daredevil. Get 100% Crit chance. Trait Invigorating Precision and Bounding Dodger. Put a Sigil of Stamina on your staff. Vault/Dodge the trash mobs. Every time one dies, you get 50 stamina back. Never run out of health and stamina ever again.

[Gop.8713]

Interesting OP, with the question basically being "I want the build that best trivializes open world content except I don't want to play the build that actually does that." :p

 

For me the answer to that question would be dh. You can burst pretty much anything down instantaneously and if something survives you have an eternity of blocks and invulnerabilities available . . .

 

But tbh I think pretty much all of the classes have some sort of gimmick that can be leveraged to trivialize open world content if that is your goal. You have two main advantages: You can think and the mobs can't, and the content is designed for you to win . . .

[ArchonWing.9480]

? Open World and such as trivial by default, especially after the introduction of mounts.

 

But probably just any power well reaper really. Against world bosses, take blood magic to res people. I used to like scrapper with stealth gyro to bypass mostly everything.

[Westenev.5289]

Daredevil Staff thief would be my pick for most content.

 

You have:

- perma swiftness and a cripple/chill/immob cleanse with unhindered combattant (useful for places like Bitterfrost Frontier)

- Lots of cc with bas venom (team) or thieves guild (alone)

- Lots of life leech with staff cleave + invigorating precision (critical strikes)

- 16s cooldown stunbreak + cc.

 

 

Firebrand would be my other pick.

 

- Any build works for open world. Condi, power or quickness support all have enough aoe burst to quickly kill mobs on low cooldowns, while being able to self-boon and panic heal.

- On the topic of quickness, firebrand has it. Use it while harvesting nodes, you'll gather faster.

 

 

 

Really though, winion necromancer really does take the cake as the king of No Risk Decent Reward builds in gw2.

[dodgerrule.8739]

Warriors any elite spec or even without. Warriors are meant to be the simple easy class to play by default. Warriors are still favored by developers today when they get nerfs it’s always less then any other class even though they’re op to begin with

[Providence.7185]

> @"Inculpatus cedo.9234" said:

> Aren't you the new player that wanted quick ways to L80 and Elite Specializations to play in Core Tyria?

>

> I'd suggest the best Open World build would be the 'take-your-time-and-learn-the-game-don't-rush-everything' build. It's worked wonders for most of us. (I use a mostly whatever has dropped for me equipment-build Ranger with axe/torch, and I don't have issue with Stories or Open World; with very few exceptions [Heart and Minds]).

>

> Welcome to Tyria, and good luck.

 

Yes, that was me.

 

You might note that with all but one exception (possibly Warrior) that all the answers to my query are elite specs. No surprise there as the elite specs are generally stronger than core. What is surprising is why anyone would question that a player might want to play the stronger specs ASAP instead of having to learn them at or much closer to end game.

 

That the elite specs are normally only available late is the result of a business decision by the Devs. My goal is to obtain those specs and then play the game through normally.

 

Thanks for the welcome.

[Providence.7185]

> @"ArchonWing.9480" said:

> ? Open World and such as trivial by default, especially after the introduction of mounts.

>

 

I disagree with your premise that OW in GW2 is trivial. The Devs obviously wanted a game that is not face-roll. And more than a few players prefer that as well.

 

If you compare this game to its 3 siblings - WOW, FFXIV and ESO - you find that the landscape here is much, much more challenging - at least generally speaking. To me the World events in gw2 are a blast so my goal is to find a very strong open world build. Thanks for your response.

 

 

[Providence.7185]

Thanks for all the build suggestions so far. I am reviewing the suggestions and hopefully others get some ideas as well.

[Gop.8713]

If you're looking for a core class easy mode I'd say condi engi. You can just stack condis, run away with your rocket boots and watch things melt from a distance . . .

[Eloc Freidon.5692]

> @"Providence.7185" said:

> Thanks for all the build suggestions so far. I am reviewing the suggestions and hopefully others get some ideas as well.

 

Credit given when its due, Woodenpotatoes on Youtube actually put out some genuinely good build suggestions. A vid for each class specifically for PvE open world and instances. Check them out.

[Ashantara.8731]

Dragonhunter :+1:

 

https://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Dragonhunter_-_Radiant_Greatsword

 

Easiest to learn and pretty much unbeatable in the type of content you mentioned. Does insane burst damage.