Berserker - Condi DPS

The community gave this build a rating, making it second-tier: Good

Focused on: Condition damage

Designed for: Raids

Expansions required:

Difficulty:

Hard

This build was last updated on August 17, 2024 and is up to date for the June 25, 2024 patch.

Overview

A condition DPS Berserker raid build focussed mainly on Burning and Bleeding. The rotation is fast-paced and rewards constantly attacking, weapon swapping and triggering of burst skills. Despite this and the Berserker's theming, the damage is among the slowest-ramping in the game, heavily favouring long phases.

The default build packs a good amount of CC and mobility, and its combination of high health, heavy armour and Blood Reckoning make it very survivable. In addition, Scorched Earth is a great cleave skill that can hit distant targets without losing DPS on the boss.

Its damage is heavily dependent on remaining inside Berserk by frequently using Rage skills. As such, it is very reliant on having good Alacrity uptime.

Skill Bar

Longbow

Sword/Sword

Utility

Weapon Variants

• Offhand Torch is only a small DPS loss, and could be useful for the condi cleanse.

Skill Variants

• Sundering Leap is higher DPS than Wild Blow, but you lose access to a potential CC and you may find the movement awkward if you're unused to it - to minimise movement, you can mouse over your UI and you will jump on the spot.

Template Code

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Specializations

• Unsuspecting Foe can be used for more reliable damage from Bloodlust. As you will lack the cooldown reduction from Blademaster, this should be played with offhand Torch. You should also adjust your gear to make up for the missing 120 expertise (see below).

Equipment

Head
Viper

Shoulders
Sinister

Chest
Viper

Hands
Sinister

Legs
Viper

Feet
Sinister

Backpiece
Viper

Accessory
Sinister

Accessory
Sinister

Amulet
Viper

Ring
Viper

Ring
Viper

Longbow
Viper

Sigil

Sigil

Sword
Viper

Sword
Viper

Sigil

Sigil

Rune
x6

Infusion
x18

Relic

• If running Unsuspecting Foe you will need more expertise, so in this case run full Viper stats gear with a single Sinister stats armour piece (shoulders, hands or feet).

Non-SotO Relics

There are no obvious damage relics for players that don't own Secrets of the Obscure. Relic of the Krait is likely to be the best of them, but the damage gain would be low enough that you might prefer to go for a utility option instead.

Consumables

Food

• or ascended alternatives
  • , or for a cheaper alternative

Utility

• • or for a cheaper alternative

Usage

Rotation

Although the basic structure of the rotation is simple, in practise you have multiple skills that will come off cooldown at different times from loop to loop. See General Tips for an explanation of how to use these skills in the rotation.

Opener

1. Impale (warrior sword)
2. Final Thrust
3. Weapon swap
4. Fan of Fire
5. Head Butt
6. Berserk
7. Outrage
8. Scorched Earth
9. Blood Reckoning
10. Scorched Earth
11. Shattering Blow
12. Wild Blow or Sundering Leap
13. Pin Down
14. Fan of Fire
15. Weapon swap
16. Savage Leap
17. Flaming Flurry - in the opener this is used before Final Thrust as the latter skill won't be off cooldown yet
18. Final Thrust
19. Sever Artery ⇒ Gash ⇒ Hamstring
20. Impale (warrior sword)
21. Weapon swap

Basic Longbow Section

It is important not to delay your weapon swap, so always prioritise the listed skills until the first Arcing Arrow over your Rage skills (except Outrage, as it is instant case).

1. Fan of Fire
2. Scorched Earth
   1. Blood Reckoning ⇒ Scorched Earth ⇒ Pin Down if Blood Reckoning is off cooldown
3. Arcing Arrow
4. Autoattack and Arcing Arrow until Scorched Earth is available
5. Scorched Earth
6. Fan of Fire
7. Weapon swap

Basic Sword Section

Compared to longbow, the order of skills on Sword doesn't matter too much as you will use each of them just once, thus you can prioritise Rage utility skills if they are available. However, Savage Leap will provide a fire aura if you're stood in a fire field, which is very likely as you should have just used Scorched Earth. If you already have a fire field from King of Fires, you should ideally detonate it with a Rage utility skill before using Savage Leap.

1. Savage Leap
2. Final Thrust
3. Flaming Flurry
4. Sever Artery ⇒ Gash ⇒ Hamstring - if you use any Rage skills on sword, you don't have to finish the auto chain
5. Impale (warrior sword) as soon as you can (ideally without interrupting another skill)
6. Weapon swap
7. Return to start of longbow section

Breakbar

• Your most easily accessible strong CC is Head Butt.
  • If you know you will be using Head Butt, you may wish to delay Outrage so you can immediately break the self-stun.
• Wild Blow is used in the rotation, so you will need to balance the need for CC against the risk of dropping out of Berserk if you delay the extension.

General Tips

• Use Shattering Blow, Wild Blow and Outrage off cooldown.
  • You can use Sundering Leap off cooldown, but it is optimal to make sure that you're in one of your fire fields in order to give yourself a Fire Aura.
  • You can save Outrage to break stuns inflicted during the encounter if you think you may need to, though it has a low cooldown.
• You may need to use Head Butt occasionally to prevent yourself dropping out of Berserk - combo with Outrage.
  • The most efficient time for this is when you would otherwise be autoattacking on longbow.
  • You can also use it for extra damage if King of Fires triggers and you have no other Berserker skill to detonate the aura with.
• As you delay Blood Reckoning until after a Scorched Earth, the cooldown practically lines up with Pin Down and it's ideal to use it in a fire field for the combo finisher. If they become desynced however, just use Pin Down off cooldown.
  • Although this combo extends the time you spend on Longbow you still want to only use Fan of Fire twice.
• If timed such that you block an attack, Riposte is both a strong defensive and offensive tool.
• Use Flames of War off cooldown (if using).
• You should be aiming to swap off from Sword almost as soon as your weapon swap is available.
• You can provide extra might for your group by aiming Arcing Arrow inside your Scorched Earth or another fire field.
• Some bosses have attacks that are harmful to the group if they're reflected (Primarily Matthias Gabrel and Cairn the Indomitable), make sure to familiarize yourself with these and avoid reflecting them with Shattering Blow.