Dragonhunter - Power Dragonhunter

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:

TBD

This build was last updated on May 14, 2023 and is up to date for the March 19, 2024 patch.

Overview

A very high-burst build for power dragonhunter. This build offers extremely high burst damage, great CC, great defensive tools, and decent mobility.

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Skill Bar

Greatsword

Sword/Focus

Utility

Weapon Variants

• Longbow - highest dps ranged option
• Staff - good farming weapon thanks to spammable ranged AOE

Skill Variants

Healing

• Shelter - defensive option. You can cancel the animation but keep the block by stowing your weapon during the cast. However, you won't receive any healing if you do this.
• Purification - heal trap that blinds an an area when triggered

Utilities

• Test of Faith - great AOE damage that mobs can be made to repeatedly walk over; higher burst than Procession of Blades. This skill also provides Protection
• Light's Judgment - generates Vulnerability
• "Stand Your Ground!" - stunbreak that also grants you some Resolution uptime.
• Hallowed Ground - grants more Resolution
• Smite Condition - condi cleanse
• Wall of Reflection - if you need to reflect projectiles.
• "Advance!" - long-lasting swiftness while running, also gives aegis
• Judge's Intervention - teleport with a moderate cooldown

Elite Skills

• Renewed Focus - defensive option.
• "Feel My Wrath!" - alternative DPS option; higher DPS if using Longbow

Specializations

• Perfect Inscriptions - less reliance on Resolution
• Eternal Armory - use if running in a zerg
• Hunter's Fortification, Bulwark - lowers DPS for defense

Honor

Honor can be taken for more defense at the cost of damage. This should typically replace Radiance.

• Pure of Voice - extreme condition cleanse
• Empowering Might - extra might uptime

Equipment

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

This set uses gear that is very similar to Build:Dragonhunter_-_Power_DPS, making it excellent for general PVE.

Note: running full Berserker stats is totally fine.

Head
Dragon

Shoulders
Berserker

Chest
Dragon

Hands
Berserker

Legs
Dragon

Feet
Berserker

Backpiece
Dragon

Accessory
Dragon

Accessory
Berserker

Amulet
Dragon

Ring
Dragon

Ring
Dragon

Greatsword
Berserker

Sigil

Sigil

Sword
Berserker

Focus
Berserker

Sigil

Sigil

Rune
x6

Variant Equipment

Gear

• Berserker stats - Minor DPS (and HP) loss over Dragon stats, but much easier to obtain
• Marauder - trades -10% damage for +60% effective health; luxury set
• Knight - use some trinkets to provide extra Defense

Runes

• Rune of Superior Rune of Strength, Rune of Superior Rune of Infiltration - budget dps
• Rune of Superior Rune of Durability, Rune of Superior Rune of Vampirism - defense

Sigils

• Sigil of Superior Sigil of Accuracy - higher dps than Sigil of Superior Sigil of Impact but less versatile; generally not used in other modes
• Sigil of Superior Sigil of Energy - strong defense
• Sigil of Superior Sigil of Air - budget DPS

Consumables

Food

• Any ascended food is superior to any other food you could use. Steak for power, flatbread for conditions. Budget versions of these foods exist and are acceptable.
• - farming
• , - DPS
• - defense

Utility

• (and variants) - farming
• , - DPS

Usage

Damage

General Advice

• Note that to play this build optimally you must turn off "Melee Attack Assist" in your Options menu. This is so you can stand inside of boss hitboxes.
• Your main damage skills are Symbol of Resolution, Whirling Wrath, Zealot's Defense, Ray of Judgment, Symbol of Blades, Procession of Blades, and Dragon's Maw. Swap between your weapons using these skills whenever possible, and fill with autoattacks. You should attempt to use Spear of Justice and Symbol of Resolution right before you use Whirling Wrath.
  • Never interrupt your Greatsword or Sword autoattack chains as all the damage is loaded in the last hit.
• Resolution is a massive damage boost so you should try to have it up as much as possible. Your main Resolution sources are Symbol of Wrath, Healer's Resolution, and "Stand Your Ground!". If using the Virtues variant, Spear of Justice will provide an enormous boost to your Resolution uptime as well as significant damage.
  • If using Virtues, Spear of Justice resets off every kill thanks to Renewed Justice. You should use it whenever possible.
  • In long fights you should bring Hallowed Ground instead of "Stand Your Ground!" for increased Resolution uptime.
• If running Zeal, fight enemies in your symbols to get the damage buff from Symbolic Avenger.
• You should wait until Inner Fire procs before activating Spear of Justice

Generic Opener

While this opener may not apply in every situation, it is a good general-use rotation to start with. Open on Sword/Focus.

1. Shield of Wrath
2. Dragon's Maw / "Feel My Wrath!"
3. Procession of Blades
4. Spear of Justice
5. Sword of Justice
6. Symbol of Blades
7. Weapon Swap
8. Symbol of Resolution
9. Whirling Wrath
10. Sword of Justice
11. Auto-attack until Symbol of Resolution, Whirling Wrath, and Spear of Justice are back up
12. Sword of Justice
13. Spear of Justice
14. Symbol of Resolution
15. Whirling Wrath
16. Leap of Faith
17. Binding Blade
18. Weapon Swap
19. Symbol of Blades
20. Zealot's Defense
21. Ray of Judgment

From there, your goal is to load your big damage skills into the window provided by Spear of Justice while auto-attacking and using Symbol of Blades off cooldown.

Defense

• You have a ton of Resolution uptime which helps you against conditions.
• Shield of Wrath is a powerful defensive skill. If you stand on top of an ally while this is active it can block attacks for them as well.
• Spear of Justice, Leap of Faith, and Symbol of Blades blind enemies.
• Wall of Reflection and Shield of the Avenger can be used against projectiles.
• Shield of Courage is a block that also gives aegis, protection, Resolution, stability, and a stun break.
• You can run Shelter for more active defense. You can also run Renewed Focus but this comes at the cost of one of your best burst damage skills.
• Remember to always dodge and sidestep attacks if possible. Don't get hit by anything you can move out of.

Sustain

• This build doesn't have much sustained healing unless you have Rune of Superior Rune of Vampirism, so avoiding damage is extremely important in long fights. You can run healing food, such as in these situations to relieve some pressure.
• Wings of Resolve is a powerful heal and condition cleanse. You can also use Whirling Wrath in the light field from your symbols to cleanse conditions.

Zerging

• When zerging, use your Puncture Shot, Deflecting Shot, and Symbol of Energy to tag mobs. Try to make sure your Sigil of Superior Sigil of Fire procs on groups so you get credit for all of them.
• Against bosses or static groups of mobs (while the zerg isn't moving much), use your higher-damage weapon set such as Greatsword or Sword/Focus.

Crowd Control

• Pull
• Procession of Blades
• Dragon's Maw
• Hunter's Verdict
• Hammer of Wisdom
• Bane Signet (as a last resort)