Difference between revisions of "Dragonhunter - Power DPS"

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===Equipment Variants===
 
* The recommended setup takes 2317 precision to reach 99.71% crit chance.
 
* The recommended setup takes 2317 precision to reach 99.71% crit chance.
 
* You can get the exact same damage using {{rune|Superior Rune of the Dragonhunter}}, but it requires more {{tooltip|Assassin stats}} pieces.
 
* You can get the exact same damage using {{rune|Superior Rune of the Dragonhunter}}, but it requires more {{tooltip|Assassin stats}} pieces.
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===Equipment Variants===
 
 
* {{tooltip|Dragon stats}} gear is a very minor increase in damage over {{tooltip|Berserker stats}}, so running full {{tooltip|Berserker stats}} is totally fine. The optimal balance of Dragon/Berserker will also depend on your buffs so a [https://optimizer.discretize.eu gear optimiser] will be needed to know exactly what you'll need.
 
* {{tooltip|Dragon stats}} gear is a very minor increase in damage over {{tooltip|Berserker stats}}, so running full {{tooltip|Berserker stats}} is totally fine. The optimal balance of Dragon/Berserker will also depend on your buffs so a [https://optimizer.discretize.eu gear optimiser] will be needed to know exactly what you'll need.
 
* Swap {{Sigil|Superior Sigil of Force}} for slaying sigils or {{Sigil|Superior Sigil of the Night}} where applicable in fractals.
 
* Swap {{Sigil|Superior Sigil of Force}} for slaying sigils or {{Sigil|Superior Sigil of the Night}} where applicable in fractals.

Revision as of 15:14, 23 October 2023

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

Designed for: Raids and Fractals

Expansions required: Heart of Thorns builds

Difficulty:
Normal
This build was last updated on October 23, 2023 and is up to date for the February 27, 2024 patch.

Overview

Dragonhunter is a heavy burst damage power DPS that excels in short fights (such as fractals) and raid encounters with short damage windows. It has strong CC and good mobility, and provides Vulnerability Vulnerability. In addition, it brings very high defensive support for a DPS class, with a party wide block in , a strong burst heal in , and the ability to bring Guardian utilities such as and .

Dragonhunter is reliant on Resolution Resolution for maximum damage. It provides ~45% uptime itself, but ideally will be supported by other Guardians, or Renegades with .


Skill Bar

Greatsword
Longbow
Utility


Skill Variants

Healing

  • can be used to blind mobs that can knockback (Sabetha and Gorseval) or deal a lot of damage (Xera).
  • can be used to help nullify niche mechanics, such as Slothasor's shake attack.


Utility

  • provides more Resolution Resolution as well as a stun break and Stability Stability.
  • can be used for more Resolution Resolution and Stability Stability.
  • can be used to Aegis Aegis big hits for your group like the knockback from Gorseval, the timed bombs from Matthias or the shockwave from Deimos.
  • provides additional CC if needed.
  • or if projectile defense is needed.


Elite

  • Use to help slacking supports keep up Quickness Quickness. It can also be nice at bosses where the group is split, such as Sabetha when doing cannons or Matthias in general.
  • can be used for great passive healing for your team.


Template Code

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Copy Template Code


Specializations

  • If running Radiance is very close to , and may be attractive to newer players as the playstyle is slightly simpler. It should also pull ahead on bosses that spend a lot of the phase stunned (such as in fractals).


Specialization Variant

Virtues can be swapped out for Radiance. This is mostly useful for new players who wish to run , but it can also pull ahead if you're unable to stay above 90% health for .

  • You will need to adjust gear as you have much higher crit chance (see below).


Equipment

Head
Assassin
Shoulders
Assassin
Chest
Berserker
Hands
Berserker
Legs
Berserker
Feet
Berserker
Backpiece
Assassin
Accessory
Assassin
Accessory
Assassin
Amulet
Assassin
Ring
Assassin
Ring
Assassin
Greatsword
Berserker
Sigil
Sigil
Longbow
Berserker
Sigil
Sigil
Rune
x6
Infusion
x18
Relic


Equipment Variants

  • The recommended setup takes 2317 precision to reach 99.71% crit chance.
  • You can get the exact same damage using , but it requires more Assassin stats Assassin stats pieces.
  • If you want to benefit from , replace the .


Radiance Variant

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
Longbow
Berserker
Sigil
Sigil
Rune
x6
Infusion
x18
Relic
  • Dragon stats Dragon stats gear is a very minor increase in damage over Berserker stats Berserker stats, so running full Berserker stats Berserker stats is totally fine. The optimal balance of Dragon/Berserker will also depend on your buffs so a gear optimiser will be needed to know exactly what you'll need.
  • Swap for slaying sigils or where applicable in fractals.


Consumables

Food


Utility

    • is slightly stronger if running the virtues variant.


Usage

Beginner Rotation

Newer players may wish to run the grandmaster along with the Radiance build. This trades the temporary 20% modifier from for a permanent 10% modifier. The rotation is very similar, but you no longer use and can cast the skills named in the Spear of Justice Burst section off cooldown instead.


Video example (Heavy Light)


Rotation

While the rotation may seem complicated, the general structure of each weapon section is the same each time and you generally just use off cooldown. The buff from lasts long enough that you'll be able to fit in all your high-damage skills without issue so it's more important not to delay your rotation.


Opener

Start on Longbow.

  1. - any other skill will interrupt this, so leaving it until last is safest.
  2. Weapon swap Weapon swap
  3. x2
  4. Weapon swap Weapon swap
  5. Proceed to the Longbow Section


Longbow Section

You should always open this section with the first two skills, but later skills can be delayed slightly if is about to come off cooldown.

  1. Autoattack and use and as they come off cooldown (remember you can delay these if is about to come off cooldown).
  2. Weapon swap Weapon swap


Greatsword Section

Similar to longbow, it's important to cast the first three skills immediately, but those afterwards can be delayed somewhat.

  1. - this has an aftercast that can be cancelled by weapon stowing or moving shortly after casting.
  2. - this has an aftercast that can be cancelled by weapon stowing shortly after casting. This skill can be delayed if is available.
  3. Auto-Attack until Whirling Wrath is off cooldown. Always finish your attack chains.
  4. - if you're slow enough that weapon swap is off cooldown already, you can skip this step.
  5. Weapon swap Weapon swap


Spear of Justice Burst

  • , and should only be used in combination with the buff from .
  • Fit them in whenever available after the opening skills on each weapon.
  • Try to use twice in each of the first two bursts, then once for subsequent bursts.


Video example (Big Game Hunter)

Video example (Virtues variant)


General Tips

  • and should be cast together. The cooldown of is shorter, so delay using it until just before is ready - the activation delay should ensure that all hits land under the effect of the buff.
  • Try not to interrupt your greatsword autoattack chain.
  • Use and (especially if the boss has adds) inside the boss's hitbox.
  • Use with so it benefits from the damage multiplier. If all charges are full and you don't have Spear of Justice up one charge can be used.
  • will recharge your . This allows you to have a higher uptime when there are adds around. Always try to keep up as much as possible if it's being recharged with this interaction.


Breakbar

  • is your strongest hard CC, but it should only be used in emergencies since it's a considerable DPS loss.
  • The pulls from and can be used for CC if needed. However, you will lose the uptime on .
  • adds Slow Slow to all your traps, dealing 100 more breakbar damage with each second.
  • pulls and applies Slow Slow on your target.
  • deals 150 breakbar damage and knocks back enemies.


Encounter-Specific Tips

Spirit Vale

Vale Guardian Toggle
  • can be used inside of Vale Guardian's hitbox while seekers are nearby for bonus damage.
  • can block all the blue AoEs.
  • is a good gap closer as well as a strong heal, use it wisely.
Gorseval the Multifarious Toggle
  • Consider playing the virtues variant here because it is possible to maintain 100% aegis uptime when dodging his knockbacks and pulling in the adds quickly.
  • You can use to share aegis for his knockback attack.
  • can hit you quite hard due to 24px Retaliation from Gorseval. To negate that you can use , which allows you to output DPS in the CC phase without losing health.
Sabetha the Saboteur Toggle
  • Use your to jump on the launchpads fast if you want to go up to a cannon.
  • Try to use Aegis Aegis for cannon shots or kicks from adds that people might not be able to dodge.
  • Time your burst for when Knuckles is stunned.
  • If you use your burst for it you can one-shot Karde's turrets in the last phase. However, this is not advised unless turrets are overrunning the platform. Simply dropping your on turrets should make a significant impact without ruining your positioning.


Salvation Pass

Slothasor Toggle
  • can be used inside of Slothasor's hitbox while slublings are nearby for bonus damage.
  • can block everything at Slothasor which is especially useful when he does his shake attack, as many have trouble dodging it. It can also block the fear that Slothasor applies after the CC phase which is valuable, especially for the last CC phase at 10%.
  • If needed, you can pull slublings with your . Keep in mind that it pierces, so multiple slublings can be pulled with it if used optimally.
  • potentially stronger and cheaper than as killing slublings occurs frequently.
Bandit Trio Toggle
  • Run for this fight to mitigate all the annoying CC.
  • Since you are somewhat tanky and have a lot of useful CC in the form of , , , and traps, it is a good choice for you to deal with the mortars, as you are able to solo the snipers on the bridge that respawn between mortar #2 and #3 really quickly and reliably.
Matthias Gabrel Toggle
  • You can take the role of the main reflect in this fight; however, you have to keep in mind that the cooldown of is 30 seconds-the same as Matthias' invulnerability bubble. Thus, you need decent Alacrity uptime and must cleanse chill as fast as possible if it is applied to you.
    • A way to always have up in time without having to rely on Alacrity is replacing Radiance with Virtues and using . You will lose quite a bit of DPS in doing so though.
    • On a sidenote, all of Matthias' attacks in abomination phase have longer cooldowns. Accordingly, you don't have to worry about not having up in time.
  • In the phase from 40% until the end blocks become very valuable. A well-timed Aegis can block the undodgeable timed bombs. The same principle applies to the damage from the ghosts, which is blockable but not dodgeable.
  • can be brought for 10 player stability, which can help greatly during abomination and rain phases.


Stronghold of the Faithful

Escort Toggle
  • Since almost all the mobs have some kind of annoying CC it is definitely recommended to bring .
  • If you need help with capturing the towers, a Shield is useful for knocking mobs out of the capture circle or away from each other.
  • Use your immobilizes and cripples to slow down the wargs engaging from the front.
Keep Construct Toggle
  • You can assist in pushing the orb into the rifts by pulling them with . Be careful with it though, as the impact of the spear hitting the orb will push it away from you a tiny bit before you can pull it in.
  • You can use everything you have including for CC without any drawback since after each CC phase,there will be some DPS downtime.
  • You can share aegis with to help your team when the room is filled with small AoEs before the last burn phase.
Xera Toggle
  • You can deal with Xera's adds extremely effectively by pulling them in and/or bursting them down with the Greatsword.
  • Try to perform your rotation in a rhythm that allows you to be on Greatsword when Xera is spawning adds and on Scepter when she is the only target.
  • Your pretty decent ranged damage with Scepter allows you to assist with clearing shards and standing on the buttons surrounding the big shards that you have to destroy both before the fight and when you get teleported to the other platform.


Bastion of the Penitent

Cairn the Indomitable Toggle
  • can be used for mobility.
  • Bring for stability.
Mursaat Overseer Toggle
  • Consider playing the virtues variant here as keeping up aegis on this fight is very easy.
  • You can use to block the explosions from adds.
Samarog Toggle
  • Consider playing the virtues variant here as you can easily keep up aegis by dodging Samarog's attacks and jumping the shockwaves.
  • You can bring for more CC. You can also consider .
  • Consider bringing for stability.
Deimos Toggle
  • You can share aegis to block Deimos's pizza attack or Mind Crush.


Ratings

This build has a rating of 5 stars based on 5 votes.
Log in or register to rate this build.
4 stars
OfficerAndyGentleman gave this build 4 stars • May 2023
Strong burst keeps dragonhunter among the top fractal builds, and has enough sustained damage to keep up in raids.
5 stars
Troupe gave this build 5 stars • November 2020
High burst DPS and strong sustained DPS across all size hitboxes. Also capable of providing defensive support at little to no DPS loss
5 stars
Yonguy gave this build 5 stars • May 2020
This build is simply incredible, provides a lot of damage, great control of the area and being a guardian, provides a huge help to your groupmates, making it a great way.
5 stars
Screaming gave this build 5 stars • December 2018
Extremely strong DPS with high burst, solid sustained damage, and excellent utility, both in-built and optional, as well as solid CC, an extremely large positive in a post 11/12-patch world. You really can't go wrong with Power Dragonhunter on the vast majority of fights that favour burst.
5 stars
Chinkeeyong gave this build 5 stars • November 2018
An excellent, beginner friendly, burst DPS class for dungeons and fractals. It brings a lot of utility to cover common weaknesses in pug groups, and also performs well in raids.

Comments

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