Berserker - Quickness Support Power DPS

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: Direct damage and Support

Designed for: Raids and Fractals

Expansions required:

Difficulty:

Normal

This build was last updated on November 24, 2024 and is up to date for the October 8, 2024 patch.

Overview

A damage-focussed Quickness provider that maintains its group boons by constantly hitting targets with Burst skills. Aside from permanent Fury and ~16 Might, this build provides no additional boons and minimal utility.

You can provide additional boons by swapping utility skills, but this is a fairly large DPS loss.

Skill Bar

Axe/Axe

Spear

Utility

Weapon Variants

• Greatsword is the best replacement for Spear for players that don't own Janthir Wilds. Both deal very similar damage, though Spear is slightly higher and has the advantage of range. However, Spear also has tighter boon uptime, which should always be your first priority over damage.
  • Either Spear or Greatsword could be swapped out for more utility if desired, though this would be a major DPS loss.
• You can run an off-hand Mace (leaving the main-hand slot of your second weapon set empty). This allows you to still have access to your main-hand Axe and maintain damage while still providing decent CC.
• Warhorn to provide some additional boon coverage. This can be especially valuable if your subgroup doesn't have another source of Swiftness as the buff from Warrior's Sprint is significant.

Skill Variants

• You can swap out your healing skill, but be aware that this effectively removes a burst from your loop, and on the Spear build in particular this means you cannot maintain Quickness without any extra boon duration (or phases short enough that it doesn't matter).
  • Mending will give greater DPS in short, phased fights where you will have enough downtime to precast it. This is most relevant in fractals.
  • Defiant Stance can be used to provide temporary immunity to damage allowing you to ignore certain mechanics such as the shockwaves at Sabir.
• "For Great Justice!" can replace Signet of Might to provide ~9 stacks of Might for a ~4.5% DPS loss.
• If you don't need the CC from Head Butt, and can start phases with full adrenaline, then Battle Standard offers some extra boon generation and an emergency res.

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Equipment

Head
Berserker

Shoulders
Berserker

Chest
Berserker

Hands
Berserker

Legs
Berserker

Feet
Berserker

Backpiece
Dragon

Accessory
Berserker

Accessory
Berserker

Amulet
Berserker

Ring
Berserker

Ring
Dragon

Axe
Berserker

Axe
Berserker

Sigil

Sigil

Spear
Berserker

Sigil

Sigil

Rune
x6

Infusion
x18

Relic

• If you are not using Spear, Relic of the Thief is the best relic.
• In encounters where the boss does not get stunned, you can replace the Sigil of Superior Sigil of Impact with a Sigil of Superior Sigil of Air on the Axe and a Sigil of Superior Sigil of Hydromancy on the Greatsword or Spear.
  • This will be a small DPS increase, but particularly on Spear it makes the rotation more reliable by providing additional sources of adrenaline.

Boon Duration

The Spear build is able to maintain permanent Quickness without any boon duration, but it is quite tight. This can be especially problematic if phases line up poorly and cause you to drop out of berserk, as you won't have enough overcap to last until you can get back in. The Greatsword overcaps Quickness sufficiently that this shouldn't be a concern.

You can bring up to ~20% boon duration via Diviner stats gear without compromising your crit chance (with the remaining pieces being Berserker stats), though 5-10% should be sufficient.

Alternatively, you could swap the Sigil of Superior Sigil of Impact/Sigil of Superior Sigil of Air on Axe to a Sigil of Superior Sigil of Concentration, which is equivalent to a ~7% increase in boon duration. This is less efficient than Diviner stats (especially if the enemy can be stunned), but is much more convenient.

Consumables

Food

• or ascended alternatives

Utility

• Any applicable slaying potion in Fractals when possible

Usage

The rotation is nearly identical to the Power DPS rotation, the main difference being that your Burst skills are now applying AoE Quickness!

Spear Rotation

The rotation aims to get as many casts of Decapitate off as possible, maintaining Berserk mode for as long as there is something to hit. Effectively, this means that while on Axe/Axe you cast Decapitate followed by a combination of skills that gets you back to 10 Adrenaline to recast Decapitate.

Using Spear efficiently requires more precision than other weapons. Maiming Spear and Harrier's Toss deal extra damage to the target closest to the centre of their AoEs, and Disrupting Throw and Spear Swipe do increased CC to the first target they hit. Additionally, if skills are not used fast enough or at the correct time, it can disrupt later parts of the rotation.

Note: The opener below is slightly suboptimal for DPS, as there is currently a bug that causes the first Decapitate of each axe section to not provide quickness. This opener allows for a sufficient buffer to be built up to prevent quickness dropping.

Opener

1. Head Butt
2. Berserk
3. Outrage
4. Decapitate
5. Cyclone Axe
6. Throw Axe
7. Decapitate
8. Dual Strike
9. Throw Axe
10. Decapitate
11. Whirling Axe - make sure to let the entire attack finish!
12. Decapitate
13. Cyclone Axe
14. Weapon Swap

Spear Section

1. Maiming Spear
2. Disrupting Throw - Wild Throw will interrupt the cast of this skill if you use it too early so be careful
3. Outrage
4. Wild Throw
5. Blood Reckoning - this will not interrupt Wild Throw so you can queue it during the cast of the previous skill
6. Wild Throw
7. Spearmarshal's Support
8. Maiming Spear
9. Weapon Swap

Axe/Axe Section

You have a brief window after swapping weapon where the damage from Spearmarshal's Support is still ticking. This allows you to use Decapitate immediately and then again after a single Cyclone Axe. If you're too slow, use a single auto to gain the missing adrenaline.

1. Decapitate
2. Cyclone Axe
3. Decapitate
4. Dual Strike
5. Throw Axe
6. Decapitate
7. Head Butt ⇒ Outrage
8. Decapitate
9. Cyclone Axe
10. Throw Axe
11. Decapitate
12. Whirling Axe
13. Decapitate
14. Cyclone Axe
15. Dual Strike
16. Decapitate
17. Throw Axe (optional) - if your target is below 25% health, this is worth using
18. Weapon Swap
19. Return to start of Spear Section

Video example (different opener)

Greatsword Rotation

Click to view

The rotation aims to get as many casts of Decapitate and Arc Divider off as possible, maintaining Berserk mode for as long as there is something to hit. Effectively, this means that while on Axe/Axe you cast Decapitate followed by a combination of skills that gets you back to 10 Adrenaline to recast Decapitate.

Opener

1. Head Butt
2. Berserk
3. Outrage
4. Arc Divider
5. Weapon Swap
6. Cyclone Axe - the extra adrenaline from Versatile Rage means you can immediately Decapitate after this
7. Decapitate
8. Dual Strike
9. Throw Axe
10. Decapitate
11. Whirling Axe - make sure to let the entire attack finish!
12. Decapitate
13. Cyclone Axe
14. Weapon Swap

Greatsword section

1. Arc Divider
2. Blood Reckoning
3. Arc Divider
4. Outrage during Arc Divider
5. Bladetrail
6. Hundred Blades - Make sure the final hit goes through or you may not have enough adrenaline for Arc Divider
7. Arc Divider
8. Weapon Swap

Axe/Axe section

1. Cyclone Axe
2. Decapitate
3. Dual Strike
4. Throw Axe
5. Decapitate
6. Head Butt ⇒ Outrage
7. Decapitate
8. Cyclone Axe
9. Throw Axe
10. Decapitate
11. Whirling Axe
12. Decapitate
13. Cyclone Axe
14. Dual Strike
15. Decapitate
16. Throw Axe
17. Weapon Swap
18. Return to start of Greatsword section

Video example (greatsword)

Video example (axe/mace)

General Tips

Axe

• If you have trouble memorising the Axe section, it may be helpful to think of it as a priority list to build adrenaline for your next Decapitate:

1. Head Butt + Outrage
2. Cyclone Axe + Throw Axe
3. Dual Strike + Throw Axe
4. Whirling Axe

• When Blood Reckoning is almost off cooldown, use your remaining axe skills (make sure to be at full adrenaline) and Weapon Swap instead of Decapitate.

Berserk

• All your Rage and Burst skills extend the duration of Berserk, which means it is important to use them as soon as they are available to avoid dropping out of Berserk.
  • This involves using Outrage, Head Butt and Wild Blow to maintain damage rather than a stunbreak/CC.
• If you drop out of Berserk, you should already be at full adrenaline when it is next available, so you use Head Butt ⇒ Outrage after entering Berserk instead. This means your second Berserk has a longer duration and is (even) easier to maintain.
• Generally you shouldn't be auto-attacking while Berserk mode is active.

Outside of Berserk

• Ideally you are always in Berserk during DPS phases.
• Stay on Axe when you're not in Berserk, but as Decapitate isn't available you should just use your Axe skills as they come off cooldown.
• Try to complete your Axe auto chains when not in Berserk.
• Do not use your rage skills whilst outside of Berserk.
• Use Berserk as soon as it is available.