I Tried Alac DPS WILLBENDER - Thoughts

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[@Galastan]

As someone who plays this build a lot, a couple of things: 1. I would use the gear setup that Snowcrows recommends. Having Runes of the Pack for the extra boon duration is literally a lifesaver. You still need to hit things but you have more of a buffer if things go wrong. For instance, I almost always hit the :30 alac duration cap during my opening if I have full access to the boss's hitbox which gives me a lot of wiggle room once the mechanics start coming out. There are definitely times where I get iced out if a push/movement mechanic happens at the wrong time in my rotation but overall the extra BD really helps. 2. You have 600 range on Flowing Resolve's alac, so don't be too shy about going a little off the group when you need to use it. You should always be pressing either Crashing Courage, Sword 2 or Flash Combo after using it, or even Heaven's Palm if the fight has no breakbars or one isn't coming for awhile, so repositioning is very easy. 3. Unlike others have said, I find the weapon skill cooldown reduction trait to be mandatory. Getting in 1.5-2 whirling wraths in one flowing resolve cycle is extremely important imo, and everyone farts out infinite might anyway so pumping out a little less is hardly a bad thing. 4. For Relic, consider Relic of the Warrior if you're having issues with the rotation. Reducing your weapon swap cooldown can help you squeeze in a whirling wrath if you're stuck on sword in the wrong part of your rotation. And while SC recommends Peitha because of the extra torment and theoretical 100% uptime on a still target, I find GJ's choice of Brawler to be more consistent overall. But Warrior definitely isn't a bad choice. Overall, though, I think the balance team needs to split the difference a little more between the initial cast's alac and the extra procs you get from your multihits. In its current state, I could never in good conscience recommend using this build on a fight as mobile as OLC or a fight where you don't have access to the inside of a hitbox like Q1.

[@oltsuboi520]

Small note, the tooltip on Heaven's palm is incorrect, as it is with many other CCs that hit different targets with different effects. The skill does a 4 second knockdown on the target (400cc) and knockback (150 cc) on others around it. The tooltip just sums them together despite them hitting different targets. Still 400cc on 20sec cooldown is very good

[@SteelMoments]

It's not exactly incorrect, it's just a bit unclear. The total defiance break could be up to 1,000 if the secondary effect hits all 4 targets. These tool tips are badly designed though, and should break out the defiance break for each effect and indicate number of targets. It'd be nice if they were added for soft CC as well.

[@lazerwolf1983]

A trick, Sword of justice has a small window where it does nothing until it starts hitting, so, if you cast it and immediately use F2, you'll get all the hits to generate alac. The relic of peitha usual combo is: SoJ > F2 > Shadowstep > Multi-hitting skills On the rest, yeah, it has one of the clunkiest ways to provide alacrity: - It needs a target - It needs to be at melee range from the target - It messes your positioning - It has a long CD, if you can't stack alac in the 6s of Resolve because of any possible setback, you might not be able to provide alacrity for some time

[@dfg12382]

The current SC rota is designed in a way that you always use a shadowstep after F2 so staying on target isn't an issue. This still is not like playing palac mech and that's why I love it.

[@GeminiKLY]

Will you try out pure dps builds after this? Would love to hear your opinions

[@Dothrask]

1 comment about stand yoyour ground. the stability is for 5 people but the stunbreak is only for yourself.

[@fullmetalathlete]

Pretty on point. I've mained guard for most of my time in GW2 and you're pretty dead on about all of this. If you can hit, it's cool, if you can't, it sucks. Both for the Alac and the heal as stated. As for the repositioning issue, I'm pretty used to opening with F3 for aegis/stab, F2 to start the Alac, and then F1 to redirect me to the target and after that it just becomes habitual to hit F2 and then immediately follow with either F1, sword 2, or Greatsword 3 to redirect me to the target immediately depending on which cd is available. But it's always F2 and then redirect to target. The pros on this build is the mobility is awesome. If you have a fight where you're moving target to target around the arena or there's a lot of puddles and stuff to get out of, you can easily move around and I'm almost always the first person on target as we rotate around. Even the elite skill is super handy for reposition and getting back on target due to its long range shadow step, as long as you know you're not about to need it for the CC. The cons are that because of how many skills you have that are movement or teleport skills, if a boss phases or detargets when you're hitting a button, (or you just flub your targeting key, ahem) it's suuuuper easy to just literally jump off the edge of the platform. The number of times I've literally just leaped or teleported myself to death is probably the majority of my deaths in group content. Otherwise it's a fun build. As for the heal, if you can get your consecration and/or spirit sword off while you're running away then you can still get some heals from range, but sometimes it's hard to land an accurate ground target skill while you're actively running away from stuff. Anyways mostly on point. Much like the heal Alac Willbender, if you can hit it's sufficient. If you can't, it's not. I would like to see if there's a viable condi pistol variation because those do a ton of hits rapidly but I haven't tried it out. Could be interesting. Great series so far, thanks Muck!

[@trace3954]

Dope I was just researching this class

[@potatoraccoon27]

I think it's worth mentioning that you can trade some dps and APM intensity by taking Holy Reckoning, the middle master trait in Willbender tree. You loose the cooldown reduction of weapon skills when virtues are triggered but now instead you give a stack of might(15 secs duration) to your allies and also get some personal fury(3 secs) when activating the Rushing Justice(F1) virtue.

[@GrubySzymek]

What do you think about alacrity uptime if Battle Presence triggered alac on 3 hits instead of 5 (like permeating wrath does for F1)?

[@cometkazi]

Nice vid! Guardian ftw 🙌

[@taylorgarrett793]

one thing that might help is to also use the f1 and f3 skills as well as they can all be active at the same time the only thing that changes is the fire effect on the ground as only one of them can be active at the same time but u can have the other effects active at the same time

[@jonpierredelacruz9603]

Hey muk, you should hand tried the sc build. It used holy reckoning which provides a lot of might uptime and utilizes flash combo+peitha relic which helps with the force movement on f2 and gives more damage whenever you shadowstep

[@themightygerg]

Minor Note from someone to whom this is their preferred guardian build: As you stated, double F2 just to have it bust feels REALLY bad, so it can often work better to just work an F2 into your rotation as needed to keep the passive up. Otherwise some mechanics explanations: -F2 is a dodge, that's why it moves. If you can keep a charge spare, you can use the spare as a nice gtfo move to avoid big hits. -Your Weapon Skill cooldown triggers on passives, which only pop when you use the F skills, but thanks to an update semi-recently, your passives can now stack, so you can just camp GS and have spin to win up all the time. -(This is the only piece of info I haven't yet vetted): Whirl Finishers. You put down bunches of fields and whirl finishers in the enemy can proc extra hits for your buffs. -On that specific note: One of the most consistent combo fields you'll have access to will be light fields (Cleanse Whirl Finisher). GS Willbender just DOESN'T really have conditions on them for very long at all, doubly so if you run Whirling Light instead of the Sword. -Minor Mechanical note for Guardians that don't play willbender very often: Willbender Passive Virtues are only available for a short time after using the virtue. So Courage, Resolve, and Aegis only give their boons (basically) while on cooldown. Use 'em or lose 'em! As to flames, you can keep in mind that only one Willbender's Flame can be active at a time, so try to keep the shape in mind for best number of hits. -If you don't want to use Brawler or want a little more damage from an extra condition: Relic of Peitha gives the same bonus as brawler with some torment thrown in. The trigger is off of shadowstepping rather than Prot/Resolution, though. It's not a big deal, F1, F3, and Heaven's Palm elite (general kit that's always included) are all Shadowsteps, and you can supplement with other weapon/utility skills if you're finding it's not enough.

[@espagueti6667]

about peitha relic, brawler only has 50% uptime, 4 secs of 10% damage every 8 seconds, while peitha its much higher, sword set its perfect for it since the low cd shadowstep on sword 2 that gets further reduced with restorative virtues, gs needs some help with it, like using sword 2 before going into gs, and f3, but f1 isn't a shadowstep, peitha its usually better with flash combo as util, no need to use the flip skill most times.

[@MrBlbll]

Mukluk doing the community a huge favor with these showcases and reactions.

[@Apoz]

There is a good hybrid build that gives enough alac from the static f2 procs & some ranged procs from utils or pistol 4 skill. The gear is full grieving stats, it's not as high as condi willbender but a respectable 32k boondps with about 35-40% condi and 60% power dmg.

[@Apoz]

Since it uses little to no expertise it's good for fights where you move around a lot & have short phases.

[@SteelMoments]

If you want help keeping up the other support boons, swap a utility out for Save Yourself, which is also a stun break. Very nice to have. You'll lose damage of course, but sometimes that's what you need. Also for range, you could swap to scepter or long bow, but neither are as good (in terms of having as many attacks to fuel alacrity) as whichever weapon you replace with them. Signet of resolve is the most reliable burst heal, but it's on a 25s cool down. More than enough if your healers are keeping up. I usually ran it instead of Litany when I knew maintaining outgoing damage would be tough... And sometimes I would just leave it on because it's easier to deal with if you're not sure.

[@loopgru]

Worth mentioning that if you're going into a fight where you know you're going to be out of melee frequently you can swap GS for P/P- the damage isn't as good as it's hybrid scaling rather than pure power, but it'll pump out plenty of hits at 900 range.

[@elocfreidon]

I use the F2 to move across a target then F2 again to move back, but the problem with that is thanks to camera distance and the UI. If you try to direct your next F2 and accidentally have your mouse over the hotbar, you end up going the direction the first one pointed. The hotbar has a lot of empty space that still counts as being over it. You can't zoom out enough in almost all situations to make sure your mouse isn't over the hotbar to go back. Movement skills that make you move to the other side of your targets is always a problem in this game thanks to UI or auto retargeting. I use the dual pistol condi Willbender build. I never use Litany or Wrath. I prefer the signet since it is doing at least something. Heaven's Palm is great. Until you realize the evasion is on activation and not before it hits. I've been interrupted so many times while using it.

[@maironannatar7335]

So I assume your bringing purging flames rather than tatsumaki (whirling light) to not animation lock and continue hits for the boons?

[@MuklukYoutube]

I honestly brought it cause the build told me to. I would assume it was due to the # of hits it did + you are still free to do other skills.

[@maironannatar7335]

Yea, makes most sense, I was just thinking that purging flames has more scaling to condi than strike, if im not mistaken

[@ikc44412]

btw sword 3 is now able to move when you casting big QOL change edit: in OLC(not CM) fight when green knight cast his pull if F3 and LoW(life leech) is off cooldown just pop both of them stay in the red circle spin to win

[@GKCanman]

You probably already know this, but the suck/push damage in OLC can be dodged. The DPS timer isn't too harsh so it's a good idea to help your healers out in that way.

[@howdoichangemyusername]

imagine trying to upkeep alac on HT CM where F2 will constantly be zooming you off the platform lol

[@kaltaron1284]

APDS Wb. Short enough? Edit: Standing in the boss can be a bit iffy. Q1 comes to mind. The F2 will also be a challenge there.

[@stefansilaghi7586]

Can you make plz a video for firebrand too, I love this content

[@maximetauran3415]

Taking scepter/focus instead of sword/focus may be a good idea for a range damage for fights where you have a significiant time when you cannot melee (whisper when he dances for example). Just an idea as a guardian main, have not tried it. But yeah I love willbender as a dps but as an alac provider, I think it is weird. It also baffles me that full berserker gear is suggested because you take a huge risk to lose alacrity during downtimes. Another problem that you have not mentionned, that may not happen a lot but still could is if your quick for some reason (downstate or any other) cannot provide quickness then your capacity to provide alacrity goes down a lot.

[@geriain7448]

Would love to see your opinion on power quick harbinger

[@MuklukYoutube]

Coming soon!

[@geriain7448]

@@MuklukKZbin Can’t wait for it, thanks for all the great work!

[@student76543]

@@MuklukKZbin Uh, didn't you do condi for Harbinger?

[@mirosawmadziar2628]

Ok, because Guardian is my main and play on him almost all the time, here are two comments/tips for game play for this wideo: 1. If you know boss fight will be range, you can go on 2nd weapon set with scepter/pistol in main hand + pistol in off (less dmg) or sword + pistol, advantages of that: - scepter, you stay range all the time + "2" skill is 8 hit (impacts) aoe which last few seconds on ground and also give 5 stac of might (max) for people who are inside of aoe (10s cd). So when you need move around boss you can put "symbol" under his feet and move away to avoid attacks. - off hand pistol: [Hail of Justice] is 10s recharge cd skill which have 1s to use again it. Also this move have "piercing" effect, so if there is group of mobs you will hit all of them on the skill way. [Jurisdiction] charge skill which is nice "defense break", his explode hit by 400 points and have 20s cd, the same as Heaven's Palm but is ranged. Disadvantages is that you need cast it for 3s and then press again button to detonate orb. 2. on 9:40 you make one of BIGGEST MISTAKE of us alac on this class... which is "use other F keys to Fix your position", because: Willbender special skills cancel each other, so when use F2 to give alac, then when you use F1 to "fix position" you stop give alac and instead (him) start put fire stacks on boss per hit. The same go with F3 skill, you start give stability instead alac... You can even notice on wideo your special skill buff icons are switch each time you use F skill. (I am surprised no one from Twitch chat told you about this...) Anyway, apart from the above, like always you made great wideo where is told in short way approximate advantages and disadvantages of class with info about difficulty level of play. ps. with pistol in "off hand" you can have 3 great defense break skills (550, 400 and 300 points) where each of them have only 20s cd. xD

[@ikc44412]

mate F1F2F3 wont cancel each other they already change 3 of them can be stack cancel is the early patch thing even in this video you can see all 3 buff stay on at the same time

[@mirosawmadziar2628]

@@ikc44412 ok, thx for info. It look like i miss it on some patch change. btw. I remember that about 3-5 weeks ago when I was join raid, commander still remind me about it (cancellation each other skills).

[@ikc44412]

@@mirosawmadziar2628 i checked patchnote this change is in Feb.14 2023

[@dobycool5019]

the video is down? can't watch it anymore

[@MuklukYoutube]

I double checked, still up.

[@demenion3521]

i'm surprised you are using the cd reduction trait since you are usually all for support. you can instead take the trait that shares might with your f1 trigger effect. it's a slight dps loss, but then you provide like 15-20 stacks of might to your party and have less buttons to press. also you should always start fights on sword since most of your hits and most of your dps is on gs, so you don't want to be stuck on sword right at the start of the fight. i would actually also only use f2 when you are about to swap from sword to gs since that's when you use most of your multi hit skills. the real strength of alac wb lies in attacking multiple targets. since every 5 HITS trigger your flames, you generate near infinite alac with multiple targets to hit. that's why alac wb was a very good alac source in wvw zergs for a while. and another thing you didn't mention is that your alac is literally 600 radius, just like the quickness on herald. there is a good reason why f2 doesn't stop at the target. it's an evade, so if you evade your enemy you don't want to stand right infront of it. in terms of boons you generate alac and regen with f2 for your sub (the vigor and swiftness is just for yourself). with the corresponding trait you provide a lot of might with f1. and your symbols provide a decent chunk of fury and resolution to the people standing in them. sadly f3 shares no boons unless your trait it. in terms of utility the wb heal skill is kinda niche but it acts similar to aed, but with 2 charges and prevents the next lethal blow if you can time it right. you can replace sword of justice with roiling light for extra cc on a short cd with next to no dps loss. that way you also gain a stun break. the wb elite is great, just like you said, but sadly the tooltip is just dumb. it does 400 cc to your target and knocks enemies around it back, so it's "only" 400 cc on the breakbars that you want to break and it can actually be annoying that you knockback other enemies

[@MuklukYoutube]

I truly and new to willbender, so the reason I chose any traits was cause a guide "told me to" for the most part. Thats why I love reading the feedback under these videos.

[@beneteus3833]

i tried the one on snowcrows with the peitha relic - having to tp back and forth is a pain, so i stopped playing that maybe gonna try this version

[@dallassukerkin6878]

:chuckles: The Pronunciation Fascist is here again ... Muk, how do you pronounce Divine? It should rhyme with shine ... the same with Diviners ... or is there a new stat set I don't know about :p Of course, the counter to that is that "divination" is a word ... ... ...

[@omegaweltall2001]

Would this work well with the hammer auto attack? 🤔

[@Lazyman2777]

Asura willbender feels wrong for some reason 👀

[@selenang2006]

Just being a wb feels wrong -_-

[@tbull1663]

It's just an ankle biter gnawing on your ankles😂. Fits pretty well

[@Lightscribe721]

Holy f@#K as an Australian player it is frustrating watching players seamlessly chain together ability after ability on high APM builds - GW2 does a pretty great job of disguising the feeling of playing with 250 ping, but watching players who don't have that handicap; YOUR GAME IS SO GODDAMN SMOOTH, WTF.

[@mathjoker]

F2 is why I have zero interest in playing Alac Willbender. Oh, and requiring a 2nd trait line and its grandmaster trait.

[@rastacolony7430]

Some wrong information here again. I recommend looking a bit deeper into the builds your looking into. Snowcrows build is also a bit more up to date and runs boon duration from the start.

[@MuklukYoutube]

Thats why the video is called "I Tried...". This was my first time playing this.

[@ProblemSolver101]

I try to avoid that website purely coz she is sooo toxic.