I Tried Quick DPS FIREBRAND in Guild Wars 2 - Thoughts

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[@MuklukYoutube]

The music was not intentional. The room I'm in for these testing videos actually doesn't have any in game music. But the game bugged and kept playing lions arch music at the start. I'm so accustomed to it I was tuning it out until a couple minutes in I realized it was blasting and then turned it off.

[@RocketRacer2142]

Lion's Arch music felt like it was getting louder and louder the more Muk talked

[@dokomiii]

The moment from 1:35 onward actually made me laugh out loud with Muk explaining the rotation and the music just getting louder and louder ahaha

[@manmataya]

"In my tour of all the classes, I've never played another class that it took so many different buttons to up-keep one boon before now. Maybe the Chrono shatter system." Oh how quick have the trauma walls been built around quick catalyst! lmaooooooo

[@somederp8915]

Isn't quickzerker also heavy APM?

[@Cross_111]

@@somederp8915yeah but zerker is just f1 Firebrand needs a lot of different keys to give its boon ^^

[@MuklukYoutube]

To be fair I never got cata to work at all. I have that filed in my brain next to "how much alacrity weaver provides" or "quickness spellbreaker"

[@Cross_111]

@@MuklukKZbin yeah cata is horrible... Have you tried it with relic of the herald?

[@user-hs9in1wi7e]

A while a go, they made mantra changes for the Mesmer, and more importantly, for the Firebrand: before that, you didn't have to stop everything when you used your last manta charge. The last charge didn't have more oomph to it, it was just a regular change, but neither did you have to waste time recharging all the mantra stacks afterwards, which now completely break the "flow" of the rotation. As rightfully pointed out, it feels awful to just stand there, unable to do anything while you recharge them. Not a fan; in fact I've barely played firebrand since that change. If I need to provide quickness, I'll grab a Revenant, or a Harbinger now the awful shroud effect can be turned off in the options menu.

[@GeminiKLY]

I’ve been learning a lot from these videos. You break it down in such a great and understandable way. I hope this series continues into the future, as the games and new builds evolve!

[@MerrillF]

it's so funny to me how firebrand playstyle did a total 180 with the introduction of pistols. from the ultimate axe camping auto attacker (or before that, when the rotation had you literally afk for seconds inside your 8 page tome waiting for cooldowns) to essentially what feels like blue weaver still love this build though! :D

[@relzyn5545]

You can hold down skill 5 on pistol and it will detonate shortly after leaving the gun. If you're within about 400 units of your target and facing them, it will hit and do full damage doing this.

[@traviscue2099]

I used to love playing as the quickbrand, then I came back and the range of quickness/or the amount you could dish out was cut dramatically. The rotation is fun.. but if your group isn't right infront of you at all times.. you're never going to be giving constant quickness. If it had a similar range to the Herald I'd be still playing it.. Kind of hoping they change it back to what it was.

[@Cross_111]

Truth be told there are so many broken things in the game right now that it would be fine to put the former god emp. back in its place ^^ The build is functional but pretty demanding to play in comparison to other builds that do comparable things (tome utility excluded) they are much easier to provide quickness with, bring additional boons and also have similar damage The should rework the tomes to be 450 around the firebrand and increase the quickness durations a bit too Just no cone anymore Then i think he would be quite fine

[@traviscue2099]

@@Cross_111 the cone is cool visually, but it's just not how most players move. And the builds should be for most people, even I forget to stack tight from time to time after years 😅

[@Cross_111]

@@traviscue2099 haha many builds only have a boon radius of 360...so its preeeetty tricky for those to apply their boons (or healers their healing) of people dont stack They realize that at the very latest when they die 🙈🤣

[@traviscue2099]

@@Cross_111 yet they still complain 😅

[@kitcat757]

I live for these thumbnails

[@somederp8915]

Fun fact about quickness uptime calculations: If you hit somewhere around 75% Boon duration, Liberator's vow (Quickness on Heal) becomes 3.5s duration while Mantra of Potence gives 4.5s duration quickness. That's 8 seconds of quickness. Alac also improves Charge Reload Rate by 25%, meaning 10s charge wait time become 7.5s this means if you always keep your heal mantra and potence mantra at 1 charge (use when you get your 2nd charge), you can keep up quickness with 2 buttons. That opens up the Elite Skill to bring either Stab Mantra or Renewed Focus, giving you 5 Pages which means more Tome fun. :D

[@critical-thinker666]

or you can play with 35% boon duration and use all charges every 20 sec for perma quickness. if played properly you never need any extra quicness from elite or stalwart speed. heal and potence mantra is more than enough. extra pages are pointless on fb bcs you have no cd on skills in tome 1.

[@somederp8915]

@@critical-thinker666 Honestly, I hate using all charges as the 2 seconds per mantra reload really take me out of the flow of the fight!

[@critical-thinker666]

@@somederp8915 you reloading only potence and it takes one second with quickness :P as i said,not using them all at once is huge quickness/might loss uptime and you need to cover for it by more boon duration.

[@raphaelng89]

"maybe the chrono shatter system" Bro forgot bout catalyst from sheer trauma. Don't blame him.

[@saramui797]

The cones are for range boons imo. you mostly get used to get everyone to stack really closely together for the circle. Though i *do* usually try to take a step back and hit everyone with the cone too for good measure

[@fullmetalathlete]

Yeah sounds pretty spot on. I personally prefer to not use the last charge of the mantras when we're standing there stacked and only blow it if the group has to run around or get separated, to get the extra duration. Otherwise I'd rather not have to recharge the mantra as often. Then it ends up just being hit the mantra once every time the single ammo recharges which just feels better to me. Concentration food is always nice for this just to help fill gaps or lapses. But the dps is pretty respectable and the toolbox in the tomes alone is quite good if you learn them well. You can really help out your defensive supports if you know what you're doing there. Good stuff as always Muk 👌

[@matsug5704]

Blue Muk time! I have been playing condi Dh with dual pistols and Gw, it has very good ranged damage burst using the chains and traps.

[@liamreynolds9688]

Very good summary of the QDPS Firebrand! I'm not an expert on the class, but I do have a few hundred hours raiding + running fractal CMs with both the DPS and Healer versions of this class. The main thing I'll say is that Axe is very good and should let you maintain mostly full Fury uptime when used with FMW. You definitely get used to the cones of mantras over time, but considering how easy it is for most other Quickness providers, it is a little frustrating. I would not recommend the DPS version of this build when there's already QDPS herald and QDPS harb for power and condi respectively, and both of those classes have access to pretty good utility. Firebrand really shines in Fractals, where you are able to shore up any holes in your team, but being a jack of all trades is a lot less important when you have 10 people to bring utility. That being said, having on-demand access to Stab, Pulls, Aegis, AOE condi cleanse, Stunbreak, Reflects, and Resistance lets you handle a lot of mechanics so that your DPS can thrive in blissful ignorance and gives some leeway to an inexperienced healer.

[@potatoraccoon27]

U meant with FMW(Feel My Wrath)? SYG(Stand Your Ground) gives Stability, not Fury.

[@liamreynolds9688]

@@potatoraccoon27 correct, yes!

[@YasaiTsume]

The thumbnail killed again. Yea Firebrand is literally "Hi I am Quickness, the spec" The thing is just packed to the gills with Quickness sources and it looks atrocious to spam but at least it maintains the Quickness. It doesn't feel overly bad if the player played things like FF14 before which was notorious for their optimal rotations to want the player to weave multiple spells while casting other skills. But honestly, it's somehow less stressful than playing Zerker. I can't wait for you to try Quick Zerker.

[@auran5]

the high apm i could live with; it's actually quite fun. It's the weird conal boon distribution that I hate. I constantly have to remind myself of positioning

[@ItsASleepySheepy]

My first main once I started raiding! Definitely high apm but still my comfort class. I haven't tried it with pistols though, I still have axe+torch/scepter on my girl. idk if I'll get the chance to try it since my static guild dissolved between EoD and SotO.

[@baronoke5432]

I don't know about other players, but when I play Quickness DPS Firebrand, I just press the first 2 charge (yes, including the heal mantra) of all mantra making sure it always sit on 1 charge and NEVER the last. It's just too annoying during combat. Also, I don't use the offhand pistol because the 5th skill is a nightmare to use on 150ms+ ping. Makes it much simpler when I don't have to worry about weapon swapping.

[@sanguin3]

It's comfier to play like that but your group's quickness will suffer greatly if there's a spreading mechanic happening 😅

[@baronoke5432]

@@sanguin3 Every boon dps uptime will suffer greatly when there's a spreading mechanic, unless you're herald

[@animewanderer41]

I definitely felt pressured to make a firebrand because of Teapot’s Zero to Hero and how good everyone said it was. However, I found the 25 buttons and their combos overwhelming to remember while I was also trying to learn the rest of the game. So I’m really happy to hear someone say, “It’s not for me”

[@gabrielpelegrini6135]

You can set one of the mantras as autoattack with crtl+right click

[@L00pTroop]

Imho qfb is just playable with heal spec. Cause you got boon duration and than no probs on quick. And the cone thingy is not a big deal since you stay behind group in general or if tanking in front of the group. Ofc you need to use all 3 tomes imho, ofc the heal and the protection one a lot. And I think qhbf still is a great class, maybe lacking of healing when sub messes things up and maybe some cds on healing tome. But the utilities are nuts.

[@mistereiswolf70]

Are their biuld with ok DPS and low RPM? I now there are chill builds but I want to go a bit into raids and strikes with a new guild and dont want to be a dead dps slot. Maybe a boon dps biuld that can be used a bit in open world to get more of a feeling for it.

[@enzovic5242]

You should use Rune of Firebrand and Relic of the Firebrand if you're going for quickness and mantra heavy -- that would ease up your rotation.

[@mahuyo]

i tend to suggest to not use the final charge unless you have to, i think there are issue with pistol but that another story. but typically you wouldn't use tome 3, you might use it at start to do starting buffs, but you would mainly want it on an encounter like Mat, where he shoot projectiles, i would also suggest not to take Wall of Reflect bc it is a wall not a dome like Tome 3-3, things like advance is something your take with Deimos typically if your oil kiting.

[@ccrazool]

quickness harb: "lol, F1"

[@stefansilaghi7586]

Thank uu

[@markfitzgerald7889]

Looks to high APM for me. These are so helpful to watch. It would be cool if you did a summary/overview of all the boon deeps you tried and how they compare. I'd definitely watch that. Maybe do one for the healers as well. Just a thought. Keep up the good work!

[@MuklukYoutube]

I did one for the healers here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jWOUfGV7aNOkmNk I'll do one for the boon dps once I finish them.

[@markfitzgerald7889]

@@MuklukKZbin Thanks!

[@TheBlarg113]

As a guardian, I can confirm I physically gag when I have to think about my PP FB rotation so I commit that shit to muscle memory and never think about it again.

[@comradecrusader6712]

I mean, as a Firebrand at all, you just spam. You learn to spam quite quickly, because you have to do a lot of it. Condi, spam book 1 and your 4 for more fire. Quick, that plus 6/7 for quickness. Heal, 6/7 plus staff skill spam and book 2 or 3 whenever you've got an emergency. Oh, and whatever extra skill you took along because most any Firebrand build has 1 or 2 slots free for random utility like Stand Your Ground or Sanctuary. Compared to some of the other classes, I do feel like at least Firebrand isn't as timing restricted as some due to how their Mantras work, as well as not having too much in terms of timed combos of skills for damage. I will say, I played this before Guardian pistol was a thing, so I am used to melee ranged axe/torch with scepter swap. If you're used to that, you'll do fine. The biggest thing is just how varied you can make it, and how much you have to memorize to take advantage of it. When it comes to the books, I wouldn't bother memorizing the entire 3 books. Just get what you're going to need. Know the DPS combo for book 1, get the good heal and condi cleanse from book 2, get the reflect and AOE stability from book 3, and you'll be a very good help for your raid/fractal/strike group regardless of what your build is. Not a class for everyone, but it works. Just be glad it isn't as order restricted as other hybrid or support builds.

[@GwBrasil]

As main guard since beta i shoud say: 1 - you dont need fell my wrath to perma quickness (its the most uless skill (on game)) 2 - you dont need stay on front of u grup to get quickness (yea mantra get sides and bhind too if i remeber well) 3 - its better have mantra of stablity on elite, couse you get quickness when you stab and you get stability boon / break stun when you need

[@GwBrasil]

BTW i got leer couse i play Guardian alot, so care guys o/ and i will check again the boon cone just to be sure Back, test mantra again, and yea, get on side and on the back too o/

[@potatoraccoon27]

I mean there might be a situation when your healer has no way to generate fury and you are playing without Axe. I thing saying "Feel My Wrath" being the most useless skill in the game is a big exaggeration. Also it gives quickness in 600 radius which comes in handy with PUGS.

[@GwBrasil]

@@potatoraccoon27 well i belive if youre quickness dps at least the heal alac will provide fury, of even other members, and even guardian can provide with axe 2 like you said xD super usless skill AND OBS: MAX 6 seconds quickness if i'm not wrong

[@Dark_Wizard_of_Mu]

Blame Snowcrows. FMW is promoted by them who only wants DPS in their builds and they dont like Defensive ones like Stability.

[@happyschniblie7459]

The thumbnail is goddamn AMAZING :D

[@LiatDrazil]

Equiping tomes doesnt gives quickness to your party. F3 gives quickness to your party because of the middle trait, when you gives aegis, but F3 have 40s cooldown. So it's just 3 utility skills to spam multiple times until you give up and come back to quick herald :3

[@optimizedlaziness6183]

Tome 1: burns enemies on equio 1 does weak damage, never press 2 does beeg damage 3 is a ground targeted pull 4 is beeg damage 5 is beeg damage with beeger damage in a group Tome 2: condi cleanses allies on equip 1 is mediocre healing 2 is big condi cleanse 3 is ground targeted boons, you mostly use it for the swiftness as a qdps 4 decent heal and more swiftness 5 beeg condi cleanse and healing buff on allies Tome 3: gives stab on equip 1 gives prot and swiftness, basically never press it 2 is AOE taunt, useful on breakbars 3 ground targeted projectile reflect. IT HAS A CAST TIME 4 stunbreak, make allies immune to non damaging conditions 5 AOE stab and aegis. **This gives 300 toughness to allies, can mess with tanking on toughness based tanking bosses** On equip effects happen only if your tome icon is blue

[@critical-thinker666]

im preaty sure that stalward stand isnt aoe stunbreak. 🙂

[@optimizedlaziness6183]

@@critical-thinker666 edited

[@critical-thinker666]

@@optimizedlaziness6183 lets hope fb players gona read it,since 90% of them have no idea that firebrand have tomes.

[@stefansilaghi7586]

If I want to swap the main hand pistol what could be?

[@reqq47]

Axe was the previous best choice before pistols, so I'd probably try with that.

[@stefansilaghi7586]

Thank u man:33

[@Apoz]

tbh if it wasn't needed to charge the mantra's, this build would be fine. But now, after 6 years of guardian playing, I don't touch FB anymore ^^

[@froggybeef]

Just rq, the cones are a lie! You can see the white line in an aoe circle around the character clearly at 3:35 indicating where the boons go. I hear this misconception sooo often, but it ain't true as far as I'm aware. If I'm wrong, please let me know :3

[@user-jm1hu1ny4j]

How can you do do the boon Table?

[@KuroNekoji]

ArcDPS

[@kaltaron1284]

@@KuroNekoji I think he's using the boon table addon for ArcDPS although that one has an option to display boons as well but it didn't have that in earlier versions.

[@nerdicusdorkum2923]

I have a guardian in ascended celestial gear for my dedicated fractal do'er. I only got firebrand because apparently at t4, everyone suddenly gets a stick up the rump about being an optimized party. Not even challenge mode, just normal daily fractals for the easy money. While I do like how the mantras work (Always a sucker for instant speed buttons that don't interrupt stuff), and the books are a great toolbox of all sorts of wonderful tools, I hate the teeny wheeny little micropeen you got for a boon applier, both in aoe size and duration. Frankly, when I claim qdps for fractals, what I actually mean is 'I get quickness. You might get quickness, depending on how chaotic the fight is.' IMO, this is not a quickness provider. This is a joke for support that requires too much good team coordination and good effort on your part. I'm only doing it in fractals because I'm stuck with it, or vanilla celestial 100% crit chance hybrid damage greatsword. And frankly, the latter is a hard sell. Otherwise, goto quickness providers are deadeye, or if I want a little more action, scrapper. If I am feeling extra lazy, harbringer.

[@demenion3521]

The way you put your build together is incoherent. You took the trait to give quick when you give aegis or stab, but you don't give either of those at any point of your rota. If you run fmw you run the trait that gives you pages back when you use the last charge of a mantra. With the trait you chose, you can and should take the elite mantra for group stab and stun break to keep up your quick. You said fmw is a little circle, but it's quick and superspeed in 600 radius which can be quite neat. Going into tome 3 gives aegis as you said, but going into tome 2 cleanses allies around you for free. You don't even have to know any of the buttons for a quick cleanse. Note that you do provide a solid chunk of might with the build and some prot, resolution and fury while cleansing a whole lot with purging flames alone. It's for sure a difficult build to play well, but you can also camp pistol/torch at a slight dps loss to make your life easier

[@demenion3521]

Ah, one point I forgot. For any Player new to fb: you give yourself quick when you enter or leave tomes, even if you don't play qdps. So just having full quick on yourself does not mean that your group has full quick

[@nashiihsanshaf]

Used to play fb all the time. Had thousands of hours gameplay with it. Until they rework/nerf the tome.. Kinda weird sharing pages across the tomes..

[@saunorine]

just saying 100% uptime on you doesn't mean 100% uptime on allies since your elite grants double quickness duration to yourself

[@lucaspolinard5875]

I think the Tome's "opening" boons are only for urselve.

[@ikc44412]

yup just about to comment this

[@keegamii]

That's wrong actually, all of them give one boon from Inspired Virtues and tome 3 gives aegis.

[@SzymonDWS]

@@keegamii but the quickness is self-only, so QFB has the dubious honor of being the only Q/Alac provider who can't just look at their own buff bar to check if they are slipping.

[@relzyn5545]

Nope, they're not the only one. Berserker and some configurations of Untamed have this issue, and I think alacrity chrono has the inverse issue due to the negative alacrity duration, but that's not really a problem.

[@henseltbrumbleburg3752]

TF2

[@critical-thinker666]

you seems to be quite confused about quickness on fb. it takes exactly 4 button presses to upkeep perma quickness. 3x potence and fmw.... thats it... it works until like 35% boon duration and you can go even lower if you pressing heal mantra every 7 sec. theres some big confusion in most fb players which dont use all quickness mantra charges, thats HUGE quickness loss, never save them,always use them all,they give 18 mights as bonus. also pistol variant lose all utility from axe (ccs,pull,fury,cripple) its a pure dps variant where you must be sure that cc.pulling,fury is managed by other support... dont play this one for fractals 🙂 oh and you can drop fire mantra if you dont feel like pressing it constantly and change it with condi sigil. customize your build how you like it and dont be slave to meta, meta is for speedrunners and speedrun clears.. 99% groups will never get even close to speedclear,so dont be afraid to change things to your liking. (stalward speed if you wana perma stab for group,legendary lore if you wana give more might,advance for aegis etc... take meta build as guiding lines not as rule.)

[@darkknightman8428]

Just remake mantras with no recast and all will be fine , recast mantras in fight so anoing

[@samuelvine]

*Inserts comment on how you played it wrong here*

[@liltom513]

Fb just feels like shit in both pve and pvp. They gotta change the shit.

[@soulsfood5691]

First

[@meowmageddon]

unfortunately, firebrand fell off hard because of the cone vomit. :/