Overview
| Template Code | [&DQEQLio6GzkmDwAAihIAAEgBTAH+ABYBiRI3AQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA=] |
|---|---|
| Boons |
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| Conditions |
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| Role |
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| Synergy | average |
|---|---|
| DPS | high |
| Independence | average |
| Acquiring basics | easy |
| Achieving mastery | difficult |
The Dragonhunter is a good and easy to play build for fractals. It has great burst options and deals high consistent damage while providing medium defiance bar damage and high Vulnerability. The build offers a unique party wide offensive buff by sharing for 216 Power and also strong on-demand defensive support with and other useful skills such as and .
The Power Dragonhunter has access to blocks with , and a very strong heal skill () that makes the player invincible for 6 seconds. It also benefits from slaying potions and slaying sigils such as and .
Unfortunately, the Dragonhunter is relying on fast CC to capitalize on the immediate high burst damage. Playing this build in slower groups therefore might not be as rewarding as the condi builds of Guardian. Sharing with a party that can't capitalize on the unique buff might also be frustrating.
Before progressing to the advanced version of this page, we recommend acquiring an in-depth understanding of your CC skills and when to use them efficiently. You should be able to hit consistently high DPS, which you can verify with arc-dps. And finally, you should be able to execute the basic step-by-step rotation provided below without spending too much thought on it.
The advanced page provides a more complete overview of all the utilities the Guardian has to offer. If you ever feel like you are missing information feel free to already swap to the advanced page!
Although this build lists 162 Agony Resistance, it is not a strict requirement! We recommend getting started with this build anyway - even if it might be suboptimal while being in Tier 1 or 2 fractals. Keep upgrading your Agony Resistance until you reach the suggested variant. In the beginning, it is much more important to learn about fractal mechanics and your skills rather than equipping optimal gear.
Equipment
This build assumes you have neither nor . Start here if you don't know what to do.
If you cannot maintain good Resolution uptime during your bursts, you may want to play with . By playing this trait you will lose Precision so will need to adjust your gear to Crit Cap.
Check the gear optimizer for more gear variants!
Build
Traits
Radiance
Zeal
Dragonhunter
CC skills
| 300 damage | |
| (after ) | 150 damage |
| (after ) | 150 damage |
| 150 damage | |
| 250 damage | |
| 200 damage | |
| 750 damage |
Rotation / Skill Usage
Step-by-Step Rotation
Step 0: Bane Signet
The grants you a passive boost to your Power. Its active effect (when clicked) will inflict a high amount of CC (300 CC) on your target and share the passive with your allies for 10 seconds through . Therefore, you want to do the following:
- If a Mistlock Singularity is present, cast there to share its buff right before you run into the fight, then take the singularity.
- If a boss starts with a break bar, you should cast at the start to help with breaking the bar while also sharing its passive to your allies to enhance their burst damage as well.
- If a boss does not get a break bar early into the fight, you can use before the fight starts to share the passive and start right with your burst when the boss spawns.
The first step consists of using , and off-cooldown (in this order of priority if multiple come up at the same time).
- and are your 2 biggest damaging weapon skills on the Greatsword.
- Make sure to be in the hitbox of the enemy whenever possible for . deals additional damage when casted inside a hitbox.
- will deal more damage if you are in the hitbox while there are extra enemies around.
Next up, it is time to incorporate and .
- Try to always wait until both skills are up again and then cast first, followed by .
- Using will tether you to your target making you deal increased damage while it is active due to .
- Your trap deals high damage and you therefore should always cast it while being tethered to your target.
- If you kill certain enemies, your will reset due to . Wait until you get your trap back to cast both of them unless the boss will phase or die before this happens.
The opener at this step looks like this:
Now it is time to incorporate another strong utility skill, .
- has 3 maximum charges. It summons a sword that will deal damage and inflict Vulnerability on nearby enemies while it is active.
- Its recharge time aligns with the cooldown of so we will always use 1 charge right before we cast our Trap + F1. This will enhance the burst damage further.
- The other charges may be used between other skill casts in our opener or any time we do not have another skill ready to use as we should always get one charge back when our F1 comes back up for our burst due to them having the same cooldown. Try to use them while tethered to an enemy with for the extra damage.
This last step will not contribute much to your consistent DPS but can increase your burst by a good amount which is especially important in fights with shorter phases. We will use and at the start of the fight, then swap to Greatsword and do our regular rotation.
The opener should now look like this:
- Swap to Greatsword
Improving Further
Once you are comfortable with the above steps, you are already doing most of the full rotation and will be able to deal great burst damage and good consistent damage.
There will be a few additional things on the advanced page to improve further but if you got here, you already know the most important things and these will have a smaller impact than what you learned so far.
The additional steps are:
- Incorporate your Focus skills into the rotation, namely and .
- Weapon swap more often on fights with long phases, usually after using / twice on the respective weapon set.
- Precasts: You can cast lasting skills such as before the fight starts to get your damage up earlier and have 1 less cast in your opener.
Step-by-Step Video
This video shows the step-by-step approach to the rotation listed on the left.
Golem Rotation
This video shows the full rotation on the golem. It will slightly vary from the step-by-step version. It also uses the raid setup so numbers will not be comparable.
Underwater combat
It is very much recommended to play Condi Firebrand since it provides much better DPS compared to the Power Dragonhunter. If you still want to play Power Dragonhunter for whatever reason follow these rough guidelines.
- Open with for Resolution
- Cast and swap to spear. Camp spear now.
- Priority list:
- (Spear 2)
- (Spear 4)
- (Spear 3)