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GW2 Toughness vs Vitality

Thoughts... not the easiest threat to follow. ;-) Good points in there though. I recently have been toying with stacking toughness on a necro and this thread confirms the advantages I suspected: good for long fights if you don't take a lot of damage from conditions. It's nice to have a source for that - nice find.

You can tell this is the very early stages of theory crafting, calculating health vs armor with only about 10 events considered, but it is a sound base.
 
Eh..... The issue is that you can't defend against both effectively and still be good at damaging. So really it's up to you what you wish to not get fucked by.
 
I do feel like condition damage isn't used by the majority of people.

It's just not as popular. Which makes me want to use condition damage.
 
I do feel like condition damage isn't used by the majority of people.

It's just not as popular. Which makes me want to use condition damage.

Most people do however use Health over Toughness, making condition less effective.

I also have seen tons of people doing condition damage builds. I do Burst specifically because as a thief the damage output is unquestionable, and I don't like prolonged 1v1 battles anyway. Lots of people like condition builds though, and everytime I mention I'm a burst build everyone says, "I'm a condition build, it's really effective." It is effective, but this once again goes back to preference and I prefer other means.

What you want to defend against and what you wish to aim for is all up to you...
 
I specced out of toughness and into precision/cond damage (Radiance line) on my alt guardian (granted I'm only level 25). Pure toughness just isn't really worth it at the lower end of the level range, as much as I like the idea of mitigating damage. With precision, I'm killing things faster than they can hurt me due to the synergy with sword/focus blinds, and the fact that I'm lighting everything around me on fire.

I'm currently debating my secondary line to spec into Thinking of going back into toughness/crit-damage (Valor line) due to it's synergy with precision (toughness = some more precision), and the fact that it lights even more stuff on fire when you block (focus 5). :D

I'm tempted into trying the full vitality/healing (Honor line) because I love the amount of support it brings, and will likely do that later on once I'm out of the easier low-end content.
 
i would agree that toughness is not very viable in a PVE enviroment... in sPvP though, that thread is utterly insane lol..

Toughness >Vitality by a looooong shot.

Here is a thread i wrote in another forums discussing this exact topic:

http://daramactire.com/topic/active-health-toughvitality/

Certain speccs would prefer higher vitality(primarily thief specs), simply because they are not intended for extended duration fights anyway, but that would only be for bomber spec even then; which at higher lvls of competition, you rarely see.
 
I like the bleed effects that I can use a ranger, but I'm definitely going with a power/precision build. I just want to nuke them down with big crits from across the room before they even know what hit them.

I haven't put a lot of thought into Vitality vs Toughness. I'll have to do more research on it.
 
I personally for PVE have gone with a high power high vitality build for my guardian and seem to do just fine. If i get more than three undead on me though its tough, but manageable. I did have a toughness build before and I feel I died from conditions way to fast even in PVE. In PVP I have the same build and I do great because I'm able to take all the conditions that everyone seems to throw out anymore.
 
Mm, the links do not work for me. x.x

Anyhoo, in general without taking any variables into account vitality > toughness methinks, 'cause it's the only stat that gives protection vs condition damage and it also helps vs non-condition damage (just not as well as toughness), but which is used depends on your spells and playstyle imo. If for example you have a ton of condition removal, toughness would be better. If you have a lot of CC/evasion or are very bursty as Devve mentioned then vitality may be better for a bit of overall defense.

When it comes to straight tanking damage though (for long-lasting fights), mitigation always trumps health. Condition removal is much more reliable than avoiding damage through other means, and heals are stronger with a lower health pool as they'll heal a higher percentage of your max hp.
 
Mm, the links do not work for me. x.x

Anyhoo, in general without taking any variables into account vitality > toughness methinks, 'cause it's the only stat that gives protection vs condition damage and it also helps vs non-condition damage (just not as well as toughness), but which is used depends on your spells and playstyle imo. If for example you have a ton of condition removal, toughness would be better. If you have a lot of CC/evasion or are very bursty as Devve mentioned then vitality may be better for a bit of overall defense.

When it comes to straight tanking damage though (for long-lasting fights), mitigation always trumps health. Condition removal is much more reliable than avoiding damage through other means, and heals are stronger with a lower health pool as they'll heal a higher percentage of your max hp.

Condition damage is so busted right now you really don't need anything that helps against it. IMO :)

Utility skills > than vitality.

Power Crit for Burst

Toughness if you want to be tanky.
 
I have a high toughness high crit build for my guardian in pvp with good condition removal so I may test this build as my pve build haha. I'll let you all know how that goes.
 
You don't need good condition removal in PvE. Losing a condition on average of every 10s is more than enough. A single utility, sigil, rune, or trait that removes conditions is enough.
 
You don't need good condition removal in PvE. Losing a condition on average of every 10s is more than enough. A single utility, sigil, rune, or trait that removes conditions is enough.
Very true. ANd typically if you have a ranger in your party that is using healing springs, that can be more than enough as well (if you know how to run through a puddle).
 
since shouts cure a condition with my current build I have been leaning more towards toughness. Also I think regen has more of an effect with a smaller HP pool and more damage mitigation.
 
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