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Triple Trouble Wurm / Condi roles, post-patch.
« on: February 06, 2016, 02:46:15 PM »
Much like Adam Jensen, you didn’t ask for this, but here it is anyway - an updated analysis of condi roles as-of the latest patch. I finally managed to get together condi builds for every class, and the new calculations have been made using sinister stats, to give an idea of the raw dps output of classes alongside their pure condi damage.
Here are the classes roughly ranked according to their condi dps and total dps:
Reaper ~ 5000 (5500)
Berserker ~ 4700 (5100)
Elementalist ~ 4200 (5800)
Mesmer ~ 4100 (5700)
Ranger ~ 4000 (5800)
Engineer ~ 3700 (5100)
Guardian ~ 3000 (4600)
Daredevil ~ 2700 (4000)
Herald ~ 2600 (3800)
Class notes:
Reaper - some minor changes to the cooldown on some chill activations were all that happened to the Reaper. The reaper boasts very high condi damage, though has very weak direct damage. If there are exploitable targets to trigger minion creation, the damaged can be pushed ridiculously high. Lacking a fire field, the reaper would also benefit from an ally providing one to combo with.
Berserker - outside the nerf to Scorched Earth, it seems the change to King of Fires has led to a drop in single target condi damage. Combined with very low direct damage, berserker finds itself sitting behind the Reaper.
Tempest - overload is overpowered. Able to stack a ridiculous amount of might mid-fight, and with the second simplest rotation of any condi class the Tempest offers great amounts of both direct and condi damage.
Mesmer - a real surprise here, the mesmer was almost able to match the elementalist for damage, and in reality could probably reach a bit higher. This is thanks to the autoattack change on scepter allowing for decent stacking of torment (making it worth noting that a moving target would take much more damage). With buffs to Duelist’s Discipline and Malicious Sorcery, the mesmer’s best move now is to summon 3 pistol phantasms and autoattack with the scepter forever. This allows the mesmer to maintain around 30 stacks of bleed all by themself. Unfortunately I suspect that mesmers will struggle to maintain all 3 phantasms outside of golem tests, and without Chronomancy it takes a long time to set all 3 up. They also require 2 of their utility slots to be condition damage/duration signets, meaning they bring the least party utility.
Ranger - with improvements to Expertise Training, Honed Axes and Hidden Barbs, rangers have found themselves with a lot more bleeds, and as a consequence they are one of the highest damage condi classes, though a lot of the damage is direct.
Engineer - a real surprise to me. While most other classes except the Berserker have had some buffs, the Engineer barely changed, and now sits in a middling position. While I believe more can be squeezed out of the engineer with skilled rotations, it is easily the most difficult class to play, and in the heat of battle is more susceptible to big drops in dps coming from mistakes.
Guardian - poor Guardian. While bringing a handful of small party utilities, most of a guardian’s skill bar needs to be taken up with selfish damage skills. It sits long way below the rest of the pack and simply can’t justify itself taking a condi role.
Daredevil - while the daredevil’s numbers are low, it is worth remembering that a Daredevil’s real power comes from its venom share. I haven’t been able to test how good this is, but Brazil seemed enthusiastic.
Herald - pretty much DoA, Herald condi has never worked, and the need to spam skills to maintain its awful dps means that the uptime of its facets is very low too. I’m sorry to anyone who tried to play a condi Herald.
As a general note, the numbers do not take into account self-buffing. This means that two classes in particular (Reaper and Tempest) have numbers slightly inflated due to their ability to stack might. Where possible I tried to minimise this (avoiding traits that stack might, and standing away from fire fields), but it’s worth bearing in mind.
My personal feeling is that currently 7 classes are able to justify their inclusion in condi roles for raids.
Here are the classes roughly ranked according to their condi dps and total dps:
Reaper ~ 5000 (5500)
Berserker ~ 4700 (5100)
Elementalist ~ 4200 (5800)
Mesmer ~ 4100 (5700)
Ranger ~ 4000 (5800)
Engineer ~ 3700 (5100)
Guardian ~ 3000 (4600)
Daredevil ~ 2700 (4000)
Herald ~ 2600 (3800)
Class notes:
Reaper - some minor changes to the cooldown on some chill activations were all that happened to the Reaper. The reaper boasts very high condi damage, though has very weak direct damage. If there are exploitable targets to trigger minion creation, the damaged can be pushed ridiculously high. Lacking a fire field, the reaper would also benefit from an ally providing one to combo with.
Berserker - outside the nerf to Scorched Earth, it seems the change to King of Fires has led to a drop in single target condi damage. Combined with very low direct damage, berserker finds itself sitting behind the Reaper.
Tempest - overload is overpowered. Able to stack a ridiculous amount of might mid-fight, and with the second simplest rotation of any condi class the Tempest offers great amounts of both direct and condi damage.
Mesmer - a real surprise here, the mesmer was almost able to match the elementalist for damage, and in reality could probably reach a bit higher. This is thanks to the autoattack change on scepter allowing for decent stacking of torment (making it worth noting that a moving target would take much more damage). With buffs to Duelist’s Discipline and Malicious Sorcery, the mesmer’s best move now is to summon 3 pistol phantasms and autoattack with the scepter forever. This allows the mesmer to maintain around 30 stacks of bleed all by themself. Unfortunately I suspect that mesmers will struggle to maintain all 3 phantasms outside of golem tests, and without Chronomancy it takes a long time to set all 3 up. They also require 2 of their utility slots to be condition damage/duration signets, meaning they bring the least party utility.
Ranger - with improvements to Expertise Training, Honed Axes and Hidden Barbs, rangers have found themselves with a lot more bleeds, and as a consequence they are one of the highest damage condi classes, though a lot of the damage is direct.
Engineer - a real surprise to me. While most other classes except the Berserker have had some buffs, the Engineer barely changed, and now sits in a middling position. While I believe more can be squeezed out of the engineer with skilled rotations, it is easily the most difficult class to play, and in the heat of battle is more susceptible to big drops in dps coming from mistakes.
Guardian - poor Guardian. While bringing a handful of small party utilities, most of a guardian’s skill bar needs to be taken up with selfish damage skills. It sits long way below the rest of the pack and simply can’t justify itself taking a condi role.
Daredevil - while the daredevil’s numbers are low, it is worth remembering that a Daredevil’s real power comes from its venom share. I haven’t been able to test how good this is, but Brazil seemed enthusiastic.
Herald - pretty much DoA, Herald condi has never worked, and the need to spam skills to maintain its awful dps means that the uptime of its facets is very low too. I’m sorry to anyone who tried to play a condi Herald.
As a general note, the numbers do not take into account self-buffing. This means that two classes in particular (Reaper and Tempest) have numbers slightly inflated due to their ability to stack might. Where possible I tried to minimise this (avoiding traits that stack might, and standing away from fire fields), but it’s worth bearing in mind.
My personal feeling is that currently 7 classes are able to justify their inclusion in condi roles for raids.