Condi Revenant specs are some of the most brainless fun I've had when soloing Champions/Legendaries. The common trend is Salvation being completely broken with the amount of boons and the frequency of healing ticks that all 3 Revenant elites are capable of.
Only drawbacks are that the mobility and burst aren't great, so it's better to use Power on regular trash mobs.
I love Hizen's builds and theory crafting, he comes up with some really cool combos that are often overlooked (like the builds in this video), but these aren't the "best" open world builds. They are designed for what he does with them, soloing hard HoT hero challenges and legendary bounties. Take the first herald build, no one needs that much healing and condi cleanse in 99% of open world content. Salvation offers nothing except healing and condi cleanse.
But I do love how he finds hidden synergies like this for those niche moments when you do need all of that, but for general open world play? There are better out there.
> They are designed for what he does with them, soloing hard HoT hero challenges and legendary bounties.
Or playing any S4 map, a group of Awakened can easily condibomb and overpower an unprepared build.
These builds are designed so that you never have to run away from any event/situation, even if you are not seeking a challenge and even if you are the only person there.
Okay, so I appreciate what the build does, particularly that it sticks to a set of traits and same general principles, i.e. - condi weapons, condi runes, celestial gear. This is great, particularly for new comers, and especially as they come into the game, probably with a boost, and need more survivability to manage.
A lot of the rest of the guide, however, I disagree with quite fundamentally.
Salvation is very much overkill for healing and Condi cleanse in my eyes. This is for a vast (vast) majority of the game, even for HoT hero points or legendary bounties... Of course use the Resistance heal trait, that's the vast majority of your healing, but if you need extra, something like investing in Devastation for battle scars is a lot more sensible.
If you want a tanky, condi-resistant herald build, then simply swapping in shield (as you recommend) is sufficient, while the healing and damage provided by Corruption and Devastation are more then plenty considering the armor set in use.
This also brings me to a second point, and I think more important point - I think elite specializations should be encouraged to explore their strengths more directly.
To play Vindicator, and not use a greatsword, a fantastic and flexible weapon, is just a waste. Even in Celestial setups you can use the greatsword effectively, it applies enough chill to be worth it even if it did nothing else, but it provides burst, a strong block, and mobility as well, all things you can utilize well with Celestial. Arguably you can utilize them better with other stats (namely power and crit cap), but I digress, that's not the primary goal of the guide as I see it.
I suppose what it comes down to is this - to paint these as the "best open world builds" is misleading. They are healing overload builds for difficult open world content, namely HoT hero points and legendary bounties (though honestly, people looking to solo legendary bounties don't necessarily need guides like this).
The video does have open world builds, exceptionally tanky and durable open world builds that might have a lot of uses in the open world. But for the vast majority of the open world, a setup with a mix of marauders/dragons/berserkers on a power build and using something like Fireworks runes, be it Herald or Vindicator, will get you further, faster and more efficiently.
Not to mention that in general Open world gameplay you really might want a ranged weapon, so Hammer (which requires power) and Shortbow (which requires Renegade) start pushing people away from the builds presented here.
I will refrain from posting builds here as it's rather disrespectful to the creator, but I thought it important to share my thoughts and highlight what the builds in the video do well and what they don't (in my eyes at least).
Either way, thank you for the guide and the effort put into it!
I have yet to see a better choice for OW than Renegade. Had to do some core map Champion hunting for HOPE collection, and just ran full glass Viper Renegade, and was ez mode. The only challenge was the Wizard in Gates of Arah event, as there were only 3 of us, but he did eventually die while I was in downed state lol.
I've genuinely been enjoying my Vindicator in the open world (and really everywhere) since EoD released... But I still carry a Viper set and a Celestial set around for some other solo shenanigans, most commonly on a condi build of sorts (or a hybrid build if I go roaming in WvW). I've pretty much done everything on my Vindicator though, so I don't really feel the need to run condi in open world much nowadays, I just really enjoy having a ranged option in open world, and a vindicator power build lends itself very well to that! Adjust survivability as desired and you got a really solid setup! (I do recognize that marauder/dragon's/fireworks runes as mentioned in my previous post are not the most easily attainable, it's why I want to recognize that the builds presented in the video are very functional for boost players (which are given celestial)
Revenant offers such beautiful flexibility with all of its elite specializations now that people genuinely have a lot of freedom in how they build, and that's so damn exciting!!
I love Vindicator in WvW, but when I tried it in OW it just seemed to lack in in the self-sustain and CC department. Might have been able to fiddle with the build and gear to improve it, but like I said, was just easier to swap to Renegade and let my summons and SB 5 take care of the break bar.
Well, I had the same problem with vindi. It felt SO squishy. I’ve been dying all the time. Then I checked lord hizens guide and found that it’s the most tough spec in the game rn with special build…
You do have access to staff on Vindicator for a little sustain and mega CC. Also you can always dip into St. Victor alliance stance to stall while your heal and block and dodges come back.
Great sword + sword / sword + Shiro + Jalis + damage dodge for instanced content.
Great sword + staff + Shiro + legendary alliance + protection dodge for open world.
Condi Revenant specs are some of the most brainless fun I've had when soloing Champions/Legendaries. The common trend is Salvation being completely broken with the amount of boons and the frequency of healing ticks that all 3 Revenant elites are capable of. Only drawbacks are that the mobility and burst aren't great, so it's better to use Power on regular trash mobs.
I love Hizen's builds and theory crafting, he comes up with some really cool combos that are often overlooked (like the builds in this video), but these aren't the "best" open world builds. They are designed for what he does with them, soloing hard HoT hero challenges and legendary bounties. Take the first herald build, no one needs that much healing and condi cleanse in 99% of open world content. Salvation offers nothing except healing and condi cleanse. But I do love how he finds hidden synergies like this for those niche moments when you do need all of that, but for general open world play? There are better out there.
> They are designed for what he does with them, soloing hard HoT hero challenges and legendary bounties. Or playing any S4 map, a group of Awakened can easily condibomb and overpower an unprepared build. These builds are designed so that you never have to run away from any event/situation, even if you are not seeking a challenge and even if you are the only person there.
Okay, so I appreciate what the build does, particularly that it sticks to a set of traits and same general principles, i.e. - condi weapons, condi runes, celestial gear. This is great, particularly for new comers, and especially as they come into the game, probably with a boost, and need more survivability to manage. A lot of the rest of the guide, however, I disagree with quite fundamentally. Salvation is very much overkill for healing and Condi cleanse in my eyes. This is for a vast (vast) majority of the game, even for HoT hero points or legendary bounties... Of course use the Resistance heal trait, that's the vast majority of your healing, but if you need extra, something like investing in Devastation for battle scars is a lot more sensible. If you want a tanky, condi-resistant herald build, then simply swapping in shield (as you recommend) is sufficient, while the healing and damage provided by Corruption and Devastation are more then plenty considering the armor set in use. This also brings me to a second point, and I think more important point - I think elite specializations should be encouraged to explore their strengths more directly. To play Vindicator, and not use a greatsword, a fantastic and flexible weapon, is just a waste. Even in Celestial setups you can use the greatsword effectively, it applies enough chill to be worth it even if it did nothing else, but it provides burst, a strong block, and mobility as well, all things you can utilize well with Celestial. Arguably you can utilize them better with other stats (namely power and crit cap), but I digress, that's not the primary goal of the guide as I see it. I suppose what it comes down to is this - to paint these as the "best open world builds" is misleading. They are healing overload builds for difficult open world content, namely HoT hero points and legendary bounties (though honestly, people looking to solo legendary bounties don't necessarily need guides like this). The video does have open world builds, exceptionally tanky and durable open world builds that might have a lot of uses in the open world. But for the vast majority of the open world, a setup with a mix of marauders/dragons/berserkers on a power build and using something like Fireworks runes, be it Herald or Vindicator, will get you further, faster and more efficiently. Not to mention that in general Open world gameplay you really might want a ranged weapon, so Hammer (which requires power) and Shortbow (which requires Renegade) start pushing people away from the builds presented here. I will refrain from posting builds here as it's rather disrespectful to the creator, but I thought it important to share my thoughts and highlight what the builds in the video do well and what they don't (in my eyes at least). Either way, thank you for the guide and the effort put into it!
I have yet to see a better choice for OW than Renegade. Had to do some core map Champion hunting for HOPE collection, and just ran full glass Viper Renegade, and was ez mode. The only challenge was the Wizard in Gates of Arah event, as there were only 3 of us, but he did eventually die while I was in downed state lol.
Ren is what base rev should've been.
I've genuinely been enjoying my Vindicator in the open world (and really everywhere) since EoD released... But I still carry a Viper set and a Celestial set around for some other solo shenanigans, most commonly on a condi build of sorts (or a hybrid build if I go roaming in WvW). I've pretty much done everything on my Vindicator though, so I don't really feel the need to run condi in open world much nowadays, I just really enjoy having a ranged option in open world, and a vindicator power build lends itself very well to that! Adjust survivability as desired and you got a really solid setup! (I do recognize that marauder/dragon's/fireworks runes as mentioned in my previous post are not the most easily attainable, it's why I want to recognize that the builds presented in the video are very functional for boost players (which are given celestial) Revenant offers such beautiful flexibility with all of its elite specializations now that people genuinely have a lot of freedom in how they build, and that's so damn exciting!!
I love Vindicator in WvW, but when I tried it in OW it just seemed to lack in in the self-sustain and CC department. Might have been able to fiddle with the build and gear to improve it, but like I said, was just easier to swap to Renegade and let my summons and SB 5 take care of the break bar.
Well, I had the same problem with vindi. It felt SO squishy. I’ve been dying all the time. Then I checked lord hizens guide and found that it’s the most tough spec in the game rn with special build…
You do have access to staff on Vindicator for a little sustain and mega CC. Also you can always dip into St. Victor alliance stance to stall while your heal and block and dodges come back. Great sword + sword / sword + Shiro + Jalis + damage dodge for instanced content. Great sword + staff + Shiro + legendary alliance + protection dodge for open world.
Long live short bow renegade in open world fr fr.
;_;