Willbender - Power Willbender

Part of the current metagame

Our curator decided this build is in the current metagame regardless of rating. The community gave this build a rating, making it top-tier: Great

Focused on: Strike damage

Designed for: Open World, Open World General and [[|]]

Expansions required:

Difficulty:

Normal

This build was last updated on August 20, 2023 and is up to date for the October 8, 2024 patch.

Overview

Power Willbender is a hyper-mobile, burst strike DPS that applies considerable vulnerability and grants itself capped might and fury while also maintaining some quickness if taking "Feel My Wrath!"

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Skill Bar

Greatsword

Sword/Focus

Utility

Weapon Options

• Staff can be useful when farming in a farm zerg.
• Scepter can be used for ranged DPS.
• Offhand Sword is a significant DPS loss but provides extra mobility.

Skill Options

Note that Sword of Justice is an incredibly powerful skill when solo and it should not be dropped. Swap out Purging Flames first, then Bane Signet.

• Reversal of Fortune - a moderately effective heal alternative
• Shelter - can be chained with Renewed Focus to cheese certain mechanics
• Signet of Resolve - an easy-to-use, reliable heal.
• Heel Crack - moderate CC on a short cooldown
• Flash Combo - very short cooldown teleport
• "Stand Your Ground!" - useful if even more Stability is needed, very strong in farm zergs.
• "Advance!" - provides on-demand Aegis and Swiftness. Good in zergs or when fighting enemies with predictable attack patterns.
• "Hold the Line!" - Protection for yourself and allies.
• Smite Condition - condi cleanse
• Wall of Reflection - excellent projectile hate
• Sanctuary - projectile hate and extreme CC, though it has a long cooldown
• "Feel My Wrath!" - Quickness and Fury
• Renewed Focus - can be chained with Shelter to cheese certain mechanics

Equipment

Ascended gear is not required. This set uses gear similar to that of its raid variant; as such, it is excellent for general PVE.

DPS Equipment

This set uses equipment similar to typical Power Willbender raid builds and is a great choice for general PVE.

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

Sword
Berserker

Focus
Berserker

Sigil

Sigil

Rune
x6

Other Equipment

Open World allows players to be incredibly versatile with their build. If the above equipment above isn't to your liking, you can customize your build with some of the options below. Keep in mind that the variants listed below are not generally accepted in raids, fractals, or other instanced PVE which may limit the versatility or usability of your build.

Defense

• Knight trinkets can be used for a boost to Toughness. With a Jade Core, these provide more EHP than something like Marauder but the DPS loss is a bit higher.
• Sigil of Energy can replace Sigil of Superior Sigil of Force, or Sigil of Superior Sigil of Accuracy if crit cap is being reached some other way. Note that this is a very significant DPS loss for this build in particular and it's better to use dodge food like instead.

Budget

• Sigil of Superior Sigil of Air is a very good budget replacement for Sigil of Superior Sigil of Force.
• Rune of Superior Rune of the Eagle can be used in place of Rune of Superior Rune of the Thief

Consumables

Budget consumables are acceptable for use in open world.

DPS

• Prioritize Steak Ascended food.
• /
• /

Farming

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

Usage

• Note that to play this build effectively, "Melee Attack Assist" must be turned off in the settings. This is to ensure you can enter enemy hitboxes to maximize the effectiveness of Whirling Wrath and Binding Blade.

DPS

General Advice

• Use Rushing Justice to trigger Inspiring Virtue and Holy Reckoning / Restorative Virtues. This is our absolute top priority.
• This build strongly benefits from increasing the total number of hits within the rotation due to Willbender's Master-Tier traits, and this is doubly true if playing in groups and using Restorative Virtues.
• Maintaining high symbol uptime to increase ticking hits/damage and vuln is critical.
• Using Whirling Wrath within Purging Flames helps maximize DPS, however the two will not always line up and it is never worth delaying them.
• Stay inside the enemy hitbox for Whirling Wrath and Binding Blade.

Opener

Power Willbender's opener when solo is slightly altered from its raid opener due to a lack of reliable quickness and alacrity and to optimize vuln ramp. Open on Sword/Focus.

1. Note that Rushing Justice is only mentioned once in the opener, however you should use it off-cooldown. It takes priority over every other skill.
2. Shield of Wrath
3. Rushing Justice
4. Sword of Justice
5. Symbol of Blades
6. Ray of Judgment
7. Sword of Justice
8. Weapon Swap
9. Symbol of Resolution
10. Purging Flames
11. Whirling Wrath
12. Sword of Justice
13. Fill with auto-attacks, Leap of Faith, Binding Blade
14. Whirling Wrath
15. Symbol of Resolution
16. Weapon Swap

Priority

After the opener above, the rotation boils down into a very simple priority. You should weapon swap off cooldown, but if a skill listed below is about to come off cooldown, delay the weapon swap. Note that Rushing Justice takes priority over every other skill.

• On Sword, prioritize Ray of Judgment ⇒ Symbol of Blades ⇒ Zealot's Defense. Fill with auto-attacks.
• On Greatsword, prioritize Symbol of Resolution ⇒ Whirling Wrath. Fill with auto-attacks, Leap of Faith, or Binding Blade.
• Use Purging Flames and Sword of Justice off cooldown. Prioritize them over other filler skills.

Defense

• Crashing Courage is an incredible defensive tool that also helps proc Inspiring Virtue. If using Indomitable Courage it also breaks stun and grants us and our allies Stability.
• Shelter and Renewed Focus provide long-duration blocks that can further be chained with Crashing Courage for a very strong defensive skill chain to allow cooldowns to reset.

Sustain

• Litany of Wrath is an incredibly powerful heal but has a bit of a learning curve. When using this skill, it is imperative that you continue to DPS; treat this ability like an invulnerability window.
• Flowing Resolve can be a substantial heal, even in glass DPS gear.

Zerging

• Equipping a Staff with a Sigil of Superior Sigil of Fire can provide significant ranged AOE coverage. Keep your Greatsword for bosses or static mob packs.
• Taking "Stand Your Ground!" over Purging Flames is amazing for a reliable stunbreak, though Indomitable Courage does this as well.

CC

• Heaven's Palm is one of the strongest CC skills in the game
• Binding Blade