Build:Herald - Power Herald

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

Focused on: Strike damage

Designed for: Open World and Open World General

Expansions required:

Difficulty:

Easy

This build was last updated on September 01, 2023 and is up to date for the October 8, 2024 patch.

Overview

A power-based Herald build for open world. This build features very high ally support, good DPS, and relatively high personal defense even in DPS gear.

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Skill Bar

Greatsword

Staff

Utility

Utility

Weapon Variants

• Sword/Sword - DPS; replaces Greatsword if you lack Weaponmaster
• Shortbow - ranged single-target
• Hammer - ranged AoE
• Shield - defense

Skill Variants

• Legendary Dwarf Stance - defense/cc

Specializations

• Dance of Death - sustain
• Cleansing Channel - condi cleanse
• Forceful Persistence - if someone else is covering Quickness

Equipment

Ascended gear and stat infusions are not required; you can use exotic gear with the same stats.

Standard Equipment

The pure DPS and Boon DPS options for Power Herald use identical gear.

Head
Berserker

Shoulders
Berserker

Chest
Berserker

Hands
Berserker

Legs
Berserker

Feet
Berserker

Backpiece
Berserker

Accessory
Berserker

Accessory
Berserker

Amulet
Berserker

Ring
Berserker

Ring
Berserker

Greatsword
Berserker

Sigil

Sigil

Staff
Berserker

Sigil

Sigil

Rune
x6

Relic

• Rune of Superior Rune of the Dragonhunter and Rune of Superior Rune of the Scholar are interchangeable.
• Other relics include Relic of the Defender, Relic of the Adventurer, Relic of Cerus, Relic of the Cavalier, and Relic of Durability.
• For defense, equip the highest tier Jade Core you can afford. Use defensive food, traits, or skills if required. If necessary, use Knight trinkets.

Consumables

Budget consumables are acceptable for use in open world.

DPS

• Prioritize Steak Ascended food.
• /
• /

Farming

• Prioritize Steak Ascended food.
• /
• (and variants)

Usage

Damage

• Maintain Elevated Compassion via Impossible Odds or Facets. Generally, use Facet of Nature, Facet of Darkness, and Facet of Strength, but any combination of facets that maintains a minimum of -6 upkeep is valid.
• This build self-caps Might, Fury, and Quickness on itself (and nearby allies).
• In Legendary Assassin Stance, simply use Impossible Odds
• In Legendary Dragon Stance, maintain any number of facets to hit -6 upkeep, though prioritize maintaining Facet of Darkness as this is both our stunbreak and our primary Fury source. Consume Facet of Elements off cooldown.
• If using Legendary Dwarf Stance, ensure you are maintaining Vengeful Hammers.
• Our main damaging weapon is Greatsword. Follow a loose priority of Eternity's Requiem, Mist Unleashed, and Phantom's Onslaught. It is very important to not interrupt auto-attack chains.
• It's important to watch energy in Legendary Assassin Stance. Sometimes, it's better to not use Phantom's Onslaught and just auto-attack instead.

Defense

• Infuse Light is one of the strongest heal skills in the game.
• Facet of Chaos provides nearly permanent Protection uptime.
• Both Greatsword and Staff have very powerful channeled blocks.
• Dance of Death is a relatively small DPS loss but a massive boost to personal sustain.
• Cleansing Channel helps cover one of the build's main weaknesses, condi cleanse.
• Legendary Dwarf Stance has many powerful defensive tools. If you want a more comfortable playstyle, it may be better to use this over Legendary Assassin Stance, though you must still upkeep Vengeful Hammers to maintain Elevated Compassion.
  • Vengeful Hammers provides passive damage reduction.
  • Inspiring Reinforcement provides Stability for yourself and allies.
  • Forced Engagement provides heavy CC
  • Soothing Stone is a fantastic heal that cleanses conditions
  • Rite of the Great Dwarf breaks stun and provides significant damage reduction.
• In rare circumstances, it may be beneficial to use Legendary Centaur Stance for Protective Solace as a powerful projectile hate. This shouldn't be common, as even very powerful projectile-based attacks can often simply be dodged.

Crowd Control

We lose a lot of damage by swapping to Staff for Surge of the Mists, so it should be a last resort if we absolutely need to break a bar. 24px United Legions Waystation can provide sufficient CC for most encounters. On encounters with a very early breakbar, opening on Staff with Legendary Assassin Stance and using Surge of the Mists into Jade Winds can be beneficial.

• Facet of Chaos
• Jade Winds - emergencies only
• Surge of the Mists