On 10/15/2022 at 12:26 PM, Sarlan.7682 said:
Small hint: salvation ist Superior over devastation for solo Roaming and PvP...
Can be argued. I think that Aggressive Agility, in a build with greatsword #3, sword #3 & #5, Nomad's Advance, Battle Dance, Phase Traversal and Riposting Shadows makes you invulnerable to roots (as long as you properly maneage your energy), and effects that root you are crucial in WvW/PvP, because they can last MUCH LONGER than most of other cc, so I value that over the extra sustain from Salvation. Also, Notoriety has a lower value in PvP due lower duration, but in WvW that trait combined with the rest of the choices pretty much carry you to permanent 25 stack of might (as long as you don't get corrupted).
Anyway:
Part II: Renegade.
Renegade has become so flexible in terms of gear, legends and weaponry that literaly everything works for PvE: from pure dps builds oriented towards condition damage running viper/griever stats with short bow, mace and axe as weapons of choices, Mallyx + Kalla and Corruption + Devastation traitlines, to the other extreme of the spectrum, running full diviners in a more physical oriented build, with 100% boon duration for perma-alacrity and team support.
In the middle, every hybrid combination or safe bet for a more tanky approach to solo game or WvW roam also fills the task: you just need to chose either dire, trailblazer or celestial stats in the ratios you want, replace Corruption with Retribution and combo short bow + staff and Shiro + Jalis and you’ll be in a good place, even after the heavy nerfs that has been hitting Jalis and Retribution for the last 10 months.
The main advantage that the Renegade spec has over the alternatives in the Revenant is the access to a functional ranged weapon which is fully hybrid in nature, and the access to alacrity for team play improvement without having to interfere too much with our gameplay: instead of having to blast every skill as happens with quickness Herald or oftenly spam Scavenger Burst with Vindicator, Orders from Above + Righteous Rebel combo is way more relaxed and demands lower inputs. Being able to deal substantial damage at range is very useful not only to face mobile bosses but also in big OW events at which the framerrate drops can oftenly kill mele players. That’s the main appeal of Renegade: you can play it in any PvE/PvP/WvW environment, at mele or range, from solo to large groups, just replacing a weapon, a legend or a traitline.
Disclaimer: the build I’m currently running in PvE is not the best at everything; I have 3 Revenant characters and all my armors, most of trinkets and weapons are legendary, so I can afford to swap stats, runes and sigils and test things at no cost. If you’re tigh on gold on you’re a newcomer crafting your first ascended set you should go for either full diviner (which works as meta with power quickness Herald and power alacrity Renegade) or full celestial (which works with hybrid Herald, hybrid Renegade and hybrid Firebrand) and produces the best solo builds in the game (including celestial double staff Mirage, arguably the strongest solo PvE build in the game at the moment). Is also worth to remark that celestial numbers for any given stat are THE SAME as the smaller numbers in 4 stat pieces (so: a celestial item has the same crit chance and ferocity as a diviner item, or the same expertise and concentration as a ritualist item).
When you’re not trying to min-max damage stats in comformed teams at speed running the 4 stats gear offers a +9.35% stat increase over a 3 stat gear. Celestial stats wide the gap to a mind blowing +74.38% stat increase (and +59.45% over 4 stat increase). The thing is that not all the builds get advantage from evenly increasing power, crit chance, ferocity, condition damage and condition duration, and even less from rising your armor, health, healing power and concentraion. But some do. Being said that, I’ll encourage every player to get a set of legendary armor pieces ASAP for his main, since is by far the best qol gear you can get, and works account wide for every character with the same armor tier.
This is the build (celestial + ritualist + diviner variant):
Full celestial varaint (also works with cel + div), I recomend this one:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PmwAUlflxQHsOqhxROMP6hRSfMCKgjul+TH-zxIY1om/QSQEkuUIEFgiPAhrHeLPaWBA-e
Pros:
* Almost 100% boon duration (at least 67%+ in the full celestial variant)
* 22k+ HP and 2.6k+ armor (near 3k in the full celestial variant)
* ~1k condition damage (~750 in celestial)
* 33% crit chance with 184% crit damage (even larger in celestial)
* Powerful at every range
* Plenty of cc
* Shares almost perma-alacrity
* Access to group stability and damage mitigation
* Easy to play
Cons:
* Lower dps than selfish dps builds
* Bad for WvW roaming/PvP (I run a entirely different traitline for that task; gear works, tho)
* Expensive gear (the ritualist + leadership runes varaint, celestial + fireworks are way easier to get)
For reference: kills a WvW veteran charr guard in 6”, a veteran hwarg in 12” and a veteran bristleback in 30”; in PvE a crystal desert giant in 20” or the champion mordrem vinetooth in 1’30”, which is a bit slower compared to my Dragon/Marauder Vindicator, but in exchange is easier to run, les key stroke intensive, can figth well at every range and provides alacrity. Falls short in boon sharing, but is very good at breaking defiance bars and at providing ocasional access to stability and damage mitigation. Mobility is decent, specially with the Fireworks rune variant.
Overall I think that the celestial variant is better because swaping trait lines and some Renegade traits and replacing mace and axe for a staff allows to run a decent WvW roam build, and the gear works wonderfully in condition Herald builds, in both Glint + Shiro or Glint + Mallyx variants, which would touch later.
Edited by Buran.3796
