Berserker - Defensive Condizerker

The community gave this build a rating, making it top-tier: Great

Focused on: Condition damage and Sustain

Designed for: PvP Conquest

Expansions required:

Difficulty:

Normal

This build was last updated on August 27, 2024 and is up to date for the October 8, 2024 patch.

Overview

A very sustain-oriented take on condition Berserker for PvP designed to win smaller skirmishes with its burst damage.

Skill Bar

Mace/Sword

Longbow

Utility

Skill Variants

Heal

• Defiant Stance - great reactive healing skill with a short cast time that could easily save you even in outnumbered situations. Sometimes it can be less consistent than Mending though, as the amount healed depends on the damage taken.

Utility

• Signet of Might over Shattering Blow - if you're expecting to face opponents who rely on blocking skills to survive you could pick SoM as a tech option. Works especially well when paired with CC skills like Skull Grinder that can cancel the block if they land.

Elite

• Head Butt - strong CC and arenaline refill on low CD, also breaks stuns.

Template Code

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Specializations

Variants

• Shield Master allows you to reflect projectiles while blocking which is quite useful against many specs including most Rangers, Mesmers and even mirror matchups.

Variants

• Crack Shot offers CD reduction and improved autos on Longbow but gives up better mobility and the ability to break out of Immobilize using movement skills like Sundering Leap or Head Butt.

Equipment

Mace

Sword

Sigil

Sigil

Longbow

Sigil

Sigil

Rune

Amulet

Relic

Equipment Variants

Runes

• Rune of Necromancer - higher burst damage.

• Rune of Balthazar - good stats and better burst on Longbow.

• Rune of Undead - worth considering if you're expecting to face Power-based specs.

• Rune of Lynx - in terms of stats this is worse than the other runes, but the passive mobility boost can be quite valuable when you need to move from one fight to another. Taking Warrior's Sprint however makes Lynx unnecessary.

Sigils

• Sigil of Exposure over Sigil of Confusion - increases your burst damage and adds another condition to your first Skull Grinder after weapon swapping, but decreases Confusion uptime which could allow enemies to recover faster.

Usage

Elite specialization basics

• Berserker grants Warriors access to Berserk (F2), a mode during which they gain new burst skills.

• To enter Berserker mode you must have full adrenaline (30/30). The Berserking burst skill Skull Grinder (Mace) and Scorched Earth (Longbow) become available during this time frame, these cost 10 adrenaline (which amounts to 1 regular adrenaline bar, 1/3 of the cost of what it took to enter Berserker mode).

• Shattering Blow and Sundering Leap are both important adrenaline management tools. They're especially useful for getting back to full adrenaline before just before Berserk recharges so you don't have to waste time building adrenaline while Berserker is available. Even in Berserker mode they are useful, allowing you to quickly fill up the adrenaline bar for back-to-back burst combos.

General

• Stay on Mace/Shield while moving between capture points when you don't have Swiftness. This will give you a 25% movement speed boost from Warrior's Sprint.
  • Don't let your adrenaline go to waste when you're leaving a fight! Using burst skills even without a target will give you Swiftness, making it easier to get around the map.

• Both the initial cast and the landing strike of Sundering Leap restore adrenaline, so try to land on top of enemies. The skill also applies useful cover conditions for burst combos and could act as a gapcloser.

• Versatile Rage restores 5 adrenaline on weapon-swap. This is quite useful when you're just a little short of having enough adrenaline to use burst skills, especially if you're having difficulty building adrenaline (like getting outranged or Blind spammed).

• Much of the pressure comes from spamming Skull Grinder and Scorched Earth in Berserker mode as much as possible.

• Use Pin Down to root people into other important skills like Impale (warrior sword) or AoE fields from Longbow F1.

• While Mace/Sword is more defensive because of the blocks and CC, Longbow can help you survive too with proper use of Pin Down and Smoldering Arrow.

• Signet of Rage is taken for its passive.

• Use Sundering Leap inside Scorched Earth for a free Fire Aura whenever possible.

• The Berserker Burst skill Scorched Earth is the only Longbow skill that isn't a projectile, you can use this to pressure targets who are using anti-projectile skills like Swirling Winds

• Skull Grinder is both a CC and a source of Confusion, which means you're able to proc Relic of Akeem on hit without any previous setup.

Survival

• Both entering and leaving Berserk grant you powerful defensive buffs, making this an important part of your sustain:
  • Savage Instinct - stun break and immunity to strike damage.
  • Dead or Alive - grants Blood Reckoning which causes damage you deal to heal you.
  • Eternal Champion - grants Stability and endurance.
  • Burst of Aggression - the Superspeed could help you run away from enemies if you're being focused.

• Don't hesitate to cut Berserker mode short with Eternal Champion (F2) if you're taking too much damage.

• Sundering Leap has inherent defensive value as a mobility skill, you could use it and the Superspeed from entering/leaving Berserker mode to quickly disengage from fights and resustain before heading back in. When playing with Warrior's Sprint this could also break you out of Immobilize, making it harder for enemies to pin you down.
  • Sundering Leap even has Aegis for covering your escape. Of course if you use this to run away you'll only get half the adrenaline, but that's a small price to pay for survival.

• It's possible to use Pin Down on targets that are behind your character (for example if you're running away and getting chased):
  • First you must have "Skill Retargeting" enabled under Combat Options.
  • Make sure that you don't have an enemy targeted, then start casting Pin Down.
  • Turn around and face your target right before the skill goes off.
  • Now select the target - Pin Down should hit them.
  • This is useful because you get to keep building distance during the entire windup animation and only have to face your target for a brief moment at the end. After that you can keep running away while they sit in Immobilize.

• Brawler's Recovery and Cleansing Ire provide a steady stream of cleansing. On Mace your Burst skill must connect if you want Cleansing Ire to proc, but on Longbow it doesn't matter whether you hit a target or not. As soon as Scorched Earth or Combustive Shot touches the ground you'll be cleansed, which means Longbow has way better synergy with this trait especially under pressure as you can even use this while running away.

• Always factor in what other cleansing CDs are available before you'd heal with Mending as this is your best mass cleanse. If the answer is none and you heal with no conditions on you in a condition matchup, you might get killed a few seconds later due to the lack of cleansing. Sometimes it's worth holding onto for a few extra seconds just to be safe.

• Shattering Blow reflects projectiles. While its duration is short, with proper timing it could still take pressure off of you. The brief Stability could also be used to cover important casts like a Mending.

• Dodge rolling applies Resistance. This is especially useful against builds with a lot of Blind spam, allowing you to land important skills without having to worry about the attack missing.

Top Streamers

• Twitch: Drazeh

Related Builds

• Defensive Condizerker Roamer - WvW Roaming version of the build.