Berserker - Defensive Condizerker Roamer

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

Focused on: Sustain and Hybrid damage

Designed for: WvW Roaming

Expansions required:

Difficulty:

Easy

This build was last updated on November 21, 2024 and is up to date for the October 8, 2024 patch.

Overview

A hybrid/condition focused Celestial Berserker duelist build for WvW roaming. The build makes up for its lack of mobility with CC, burst damage and plenty of sustain.

Skill Bar

Mace/Sword

Longbow

Utility

Skill Variants

Elite

• Head Butt - great CC on short CD that could refill your entire adrenaline bar on hit.

Template Code

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Specializations

Variants

• Shield Master lets you reflect projectiles while blocking, which is quite useful against builds like Longbow Dragonhunter/Ranger, Rifle Deadeye or even mirror matchups.

Equipment

Head
Celestial

Shoulders
Celestial

Chest
Celestial

Hands
Celestial

Legs
Celestial

Feet
Celestial

Backpiece
Celestial

Accessory
Celestial

Accessory
Celestial

Amulet
Celestial

Ring
Celestial

Ring
Celestial

Mace
Celestial

Sword
Celestial

Sigil

Sigil

Longbow
Celestial

Sigil

Sigil

Rune
x6

Infusion
x18

Relic

Equipment Variants

Runes

• Rune of Superior Rune of the Trapper - higher burst damage in exchange for lower Confusion uptime.

• Rune of Superior Rune of the Sunless - budget option that doesn't require crafting and offers stats similar to Trapper.

Sigils

There are many strong options for the Mace/Sword set when it comes to sigils:

• Sigil of Superior Sigil of Energy - extra dodge on weapon swap for more sustain.

• Sigil of Superior Sigil of Absorption - causes Skull Grinder and Pommel Bash to steal boons from enemies.

• Sigil of Superior Sigil of Generosity - helps with condition management while putting pressure on your target.

Relics

Akeem is optimal, but players without access to expansion relics should pick one of the following ones:

• Relic of Speed - mobility is one of the weak points of the build, this is a significant mobility boost when under the effect of Swiftness, but Swiftness access in the build is limited only to the Burst Mastery proc.

• Relic of the Mirage - improves condition variety, makes it harder to cleanse your more important ones.

• Relic of Evasion - defensive relic that increases endurance regen, also has synergy with dodge related traits like Resilient Roll.

• Note: dropping Relic of Akeem makes Perplexity runes a lot less relevant, feel free to take something else like Trapper.

Consumables

Food

• - great stats that fit Celestial builds perfectly while also providing 10% damage reduction.

• - a very strong defensive option which improves your endurance regen.
  • Budget version: - cheaper and more than fine.

Utility

• Optimal:

• Budget: either from Canned Food Crates found in WvW s or purchased from the Permanent Portable Provisioner.

Usage

Elite specialization mechanics

• Berserker grants Warriors acceess 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

• 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 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.

Related Builds

• Berserker - Defensive Condizerker - sPvP version of the build.