June 2022

Core Revenant

Revenant is only unlocked with Heart of Thorns expansion, it also comes with Elite Specialization, which will always be superior to Core build. But since you only onlock last (elite) trait line at level 71, this build was designed to help you during your first playthrough and leveling. Become a speedy assassin when invoking the legend of Shiro (Legendary Assassin Stance), or a tough brawler after calling Jalis for help (Legendary Dwarf Stance). This Revenant build provides very solid damage, vast amounts of Crowd Control, great self-sustain from Battle Scarred, and access to very decent Might, permanent Fury, and on-demand Stability. It leads perfectly into playing the end-game build Power Quickness Herald. Legendary Assassin Stance gives you an incredible amount of damage and mobility via Impossible Odds and Phase Traversal. Legendary Dwarf Stance turns you into a tanky brawler, dealing consistent…

Core Guardian

Following build is designed to guide you through your first playthrough, or simply offer you a decent and reliable Core build if you are on Free to Play account. Core builds are not advised to use later in game due to superiority of elite specializations. While the name could suggest otherwise, Guardian is an extraordinary fighter, smiting opponents with fiery consecration and slicing with powerful and dynamic sword-wielding techniques. This build focuses on dealing heavy direct damage enhanced with boons provided mostly by Guardian’s Symbols and gear upgrades. You gan access to close to permanent Fury and almost 25 Might stacks with very decent Resolution, some Quickness, and a multitude of on-demand defensive boons. Core Guardian shares many fundamental gameplay elements with the end-game Power Dragonhunter build, which could be your next build to unlock. Power Dragonhunter Dps Select difficulty…

Core Engineer

Following build is designed to guide you through your first playthrough, or simply offer you a decent and reliable Core build if you are on Free to Play account. Core builds are not advised to use later in game due to superiority of elite specializations. Engineer is a versatile Core profession whether that’s dealing damage using your Rifle, weapon kits, and turrets or proving you and your team boons drinking and throwing powerful elixirs. This build provides good damage, inflicts high amounts of Vulnerability to enemies, and has very high uptime of Vigor and decent Quickness and Fury. You’ll also have access to a small amounts of Might, Protection, Regeneration, Swiftness, Stability and even Superspeed. Core Rifle Engineer leads into playing the end-game builds Power Rifle Mechanist and Power Rifle Holosmith. Power HolosmithRifle Dps Select difficulty Rifle June 2022 You’ll…

Core Mesmer

Following build is designed to guide you through your first playthrough, or simply offer you a decent and reliable Core build if you are on Free to Play account. Mesmer is very unique profession, being master of illusions and deception they will try to disorient an enemy with their clones while dealing massive damage both from afar and at close range. This build is oriented around summoning powerful Phantasms enhanced with boons and buffing your own damage in the process with very good Vulnerability application and high uptime of Fury, Quickness and extremaly good Might generation. Mesmers can summon up to 3 Clones that can later be shattered with skills F1-4, more illusions you have, the better effect of the shatter skill will be, and your shatters are: Mind Wrack Cry of Frustration Diversion Distortion Use Mind Wrack for damage…

Core Ranger

Following build is designed to guide you through your first playthrough, or simply offer you a decent and reliable Core build if you are on Free to Play account. Core builds are not advised to use later in game due to superiority of elite specializations. Ranger is a powerful Core profession orientated around keeping your enemies at the distance when needed with your Longbow, and punishing them in mid and melee range with Axes when forced to. This build offers solid damage and self-applied boons such as Might, Fury, Swiftness, Quickness, and Stability, it also has a lot of the fundamentals that lead to the end-game build Power Soulbeast, which should be next on your path to unlocking strong build. Power Soulbeast Dps Select difficulty Longbow Axe & Axe June 2022 This build combines lots of passive damage increases from…

Tactics Warrior

Tactics warrior is a core duelist build similar to Bladesworn  that takes advantage of shouts and Rune of the Soldier for self-sustain and team utility. Core warrior is not currently meta, but can hold many 1v1 matchups and be effective as a side-noder if played properly. This build is very simple to understand and execute, making it ideal for new players without access to expansions. Tactics Warrior does good damage by buffing itself with 25 might and unique modifiers like peak performance. Some of your hardest hitting abilities are your burst skills, Eviscerate and Arcing Slice , and Throw Axe which can randomly hit up to 8k. You can Might cap yourself easily with "For Great Justice!" and Forceful Greatsword , make sure to do so for large crits on your burst skills. Your basic combos all revolve around Bull's…

Terrormancer

Core terrormancer is a tanky alternative to other dps necromancer builds. Terrormancer offers great team utility and damage along with an enormous 31k HP pool from Carrion Amulet and a second health bar from Death Shroud . Fear is a special condition that makes opponents flee away from you, and this build is built around spamming it as much as possible. Terrormancer relies on chaining Fear and combining it with Terror to deal high damage while keeping opponents cc locked. Terrormancer also has high amounts of Torment and Bleeding and decent passive power damage. As a condition necromancer, one of your most powerful tools is access to boon corruption.  Feast of Corruption  and Weakening Shroud  all convert opponents’ boons into conditions and are powerful passive damage in teamfights. Save boon corrupts and strips to remove important boons like Stability or…

Sic ‘Em Soulbeast

Sic ‘Em Soulbeast is a strong bruiser with great ranged damage and spike as well as good 1v1 potential. Power Soulbeast also has the dubious distinction of being one of the most reworked and nerfed specs in the game due to its tendency to stomp new players. While it is still strong and performs extremely well in certain matchups, Soulbeast is currently hampered by the number of Harbringers and Tempests in the meta, as both classes spam projectile block. Soulbeast is a modifier-based damage dealer, meaning most of their damage is going to be concentrated in certain spikes. As an example, your longbow burst combines Twice as Vicious (5%), Furious Strength (7%), Oppressive Superiority (10%), "Sic 'Em!" (25%), Loud Whistle (10%), Sigil of Separation (5%), and Sigil of Exploitation (5%) for a total of a 67% damage boost on top…

Condition Virtuoso

Condition Virtuoso is a relatively easy DPS build to pick up which can put up very good numbers. It is one of the few DPS builds that can fully damage from range together with great cleave potential due to piercing attacks. It has access to Temporal Curtain which is a powerful skill to pull small groups of enemies together. The build also has access to powerful core Mesmer utilities such as Portal Entre and Blink. On top of all this, you will have good sustained personal healing thanks to Jagged Mind as long as you keep damaging enemies. The Dueling variant follows a more complicated rotation with a more hybrid damage profile that results in the best possible DPS. This variant also has access to Master Fencer which can provide significant uptime on Fury to the subgroup. Chaos variant comes…

Virtuoso

Virtuoso is a sideholder heavily based on projectiles. It is an excellent matchup into condition-based builds and offers good utility and damage in team fights. As Mesmer it has access to a potentially game-breaking elite: Signet of Humility. Virtuoso doesn’t have clones, instead, it stores up to 5 blades. Every core Mesmer skill that would usually give you a clone now gives you a blade, you also have access to Psychic Riposte, which is your main way to build up blades. Blocking not only stocks up 3 blades but gives you Quickness via Duelist's Reversal, which creates very interesting counterplays. Your main sources of damage are your Shatters (Bladesongs) Bladesong Sorrow and Bladesong Harmony, which you’ll want to use with a high amount of Blades to deal as much damage as possible. When you can’t use Bladesongs, cycle through your…

Power Scrapper

Power Scrapper is an incredibly strong open-world Engineer build. It has high burst damage with 100% Crit Chance and great crowd control. You gain Barrier by attacking and give yourself almost permanent Quickness, Fury, almost 25 Might, and Superspeed! This builds is based on Instanced PvE version providing group Quickness, but covers a few additional alternatives that might come in handy in Open World. Power Quickness Scrapper Offensive support Select difficulty Hammer June 2022 Most of your damage comes from Electro-whirl, Thunderclap, Grenade Barrage, and Shredder Gyro. Use these skills off cooldown. Modified Ammunition allows you to deal more damage for each condition on a foe. That means using Shrapnel Grenade, Poison Grenade, and Freeze Grenade increases your damage to enemies, so use those off cooldown. Grenade Kit itself is also a good ranged option if you need some breathing room.…

Healbreaker

Healbreaker is a variation of support warrior that combines instantcast healing from Vigorous Shouts with the utility of the Spellbreaker profession. Healbreaker is overshadowed by Heal Tempest and Support Guardian in the current meta, but it provides unique advantages and buffs that can make it situationally useful. Your main source of healing comes from Vigorous Shouts , which is an instant heal on each shout use. Healbreaker has access to four shouts – "For Great Justice!" , "On My Mark!" , and "Shake It Off!" are all instant cast, while "To the Limit!" has a cast time. Most of your value is going to come from using shouts for their AOE support to keep your team healthy over longer teamfights, but you can also take advantage of your shouts being instant cast to quickly re-sustain allies by combining skills like Call…

Condition Specter

Condition Specter is a DPS build that offers high survivability and solid DPS from mid-range via large amounts of Torment and Poisoned. It can provide a lot of barrier and crowd control without sacrificing anything from its base kit. The main idea while playing thief, is to never fill initiative, you will be using your strongest skill, Twilight Combo as much as possible to deplete initiative. Condition Specter does its damage in two ways: weapon skills while not in Shadow Shroud and non-initiative spending skills while in Shadow Shroud. While using your scepter/dagger weapon set, you will want to prioritize using Twilight Combo as your main source of damage. If you can’t cast it due to not having enough initiative, you can fill with your scepter Auto-attack chain/Shadowsquall and Siphon off-cooldown. Make sure to use Prepare Thousand Needles, Spider Venom, and…

Power Specter

Specter is a safe roaming build. It offers stealth, easy decaps and a really good teamfight presence Specter is slower than other thief variant that can run shortbow but it still offers enough mobility to be very hard to follow. Infiltrator's Strike and Heartseeker will help you move on the map. It wont help if you try to go for a decap. Most of your mobility comes from wells and obviously Shadowstep this is also your only stunbreak, use it with care. First things first, all your wells will give you Quickness Sword is a good weapon to start with in any type of fight. It has quite strong auto-attacks a basic engage combo you can cancel at any time by going back to your first position thanks to Infiltrator's Return. Logically the combo goes Infiltrator's Strike Cloak and Dagger…

Curses Harbinger

Curses Harbinger is a powerful teamfight build centered around boon corruption and condition burst. Harbinger combines extremely powerful offensive abilities with heavy damage reduction thanks to pulsing Protection from Corrupter's Fervor which also reduces condition damage taken because of Dark Defiance. That alongside extra toughness from Death Magic,decent sustain from Alchemic Vigor and Elixir of Promise makes this build surprisingly durable and resilient to all damage types. Harbinger fills a damage role in a team and pairs well with a support guard or tempest as it can be vulnerable to getting focused. The majority of your damage comes from Dark Barrage and your auto attack Tainted Bolts  in Harbinger shroud. Always make sure you are auto attacking in shroud to get maximum value from your quickness uptime and the damage output. Having high Blight can improve your skills. Devouring Cut…

Condition Specter

Condition Specter is a safe roaming build that has the luxury of also being able to duel a lot of classes, you could even call it a very mobile sidenoder. Specter is slow and less stealthy compared to other thief variants. Infiltrator's Strike will help you move from fight to fight, but it won’t help if you try to go for a decap. Most of your mobility comes from wells and obviously Shadowstep, but since this is also your only stunbreak, use it with care. This build is really straightforward when it comes to dealing damage. It all comes from Poisoned and Torment. Measured Shot->Endless Night is your hardest-hitting ability. It has high base power damage and really good condition application, you want to spam it to get the most damage done possible. Siphon also brings good pressure, applying Slow…

Tempest

Tempests can provide good support with decent condition removal, passive healing, and decent burst healing, but it is not a replacement for Scrapper in larger-scale fights. It does bring some unique utility via auras that buff allies, both defensively and offensively, but once again it’s only viable in GvG & in small-scale encounters. This build allows you to be the main source of healing and cleansing in your party by transmuting auras and using shouts. This build has strong passive and burst healing from multiple sources, for exampleTransmute Frost, "Wash the Pain Away!", Water Attunement, and Overload Water, as well as from granting allies auras, via Elemental Bastion. Additional cleanse is provided by using weapon skills, transmuting auras via Smothering Auras, and using shouts. Each shout will remove a condition from all allied targets affected because of Superior Rune of…

Shoutsworn

Do you hate dying when you misplay? Then this is the build for you. Shoutsworn is a nearly immortal duelist that take advantage of Tactics and Tactical Reload to spam an ungodly number of shouts which constantly heal, cleanse, and provide boons to itself and allies. Bladesworn replaces adrenaline with Flow, a new mechanic that you use to charge Dragon Trigger. You can generate Flow with any adrenaline-granting traits or by healing with River's Flow . Maintaining positive flow lets you keep constant pressure and your opponents. Use Dragon Slash - Force if close enough to the target and Dragon Slash - Boost if you need to catch up. While charging you will have Stability. You can also use Triggerguard and Flicker Step to cover the charge. Dragon Slash - Reach is almost never used due to its small hitbox…

Power Willbender

Power Virtues Willbender is a high-mobility roamer that excels at skirmishing through offensive support in form of Absolute Resolve and Indomitable Courage, outnumbering and sticking to targets given its high mobility via Judge's Intervention and Advancing Strike amongst others, while providing powerful area pressure when contesting the capture point or cleaving a downed enemy through the likes of Whirling Wrath, Whirling Light, Symbol of Resolution and Symbol of Blades. Therefore, taking advantage of your mobility and burst damage is mandatory to get maximum value from the build. Atypically compared to other PvP roamers, Willbender heavily relies on modifiers to reach its full damage potential. In the most common Marauder version, Willbender’s important sources of damage amplification are Resolution (activating Retribution and Righteous Instincts), Aegis (activating Unscathed Contender), and Lethal Tempo, which is applied when activating a virtue or triggering the passive…

Longbow Untamed

Untamed is a bruiser-style build that takes advantage of ranged damage combined with a melee oneshot and good area pressure. Untamed excels in ranked games due to its versatility and flexibility as a profession. An important note about Untamed: It’s is one of the two classes in the game that has an F6 and F7. Binding these to something that you can easily reach so you won’t have to skill-click in a fight. Untamed is Arenanet’s attempt to take the AI component out of Ranger builds by giving you manual control over all of your pet’s actions. This is great if you’re familiar with ranger since your pet won’t try to cast random auto attacks when you need a cc, but it also means Untamed can’t get carried by random pet abilities. It is extremely important that you know how…