Why am I dying so easily?

[Fallaner, the Writer Eternal]

So I've played the game a bit, have a character at level 80 and am finishing up the first living world season... and I am noticing something that is really, really reducing how much fun I am having with the game.

I die... a lot. Like, a whole lot. I followed a guide for gearing when I first had issues earlier in the 80 content, and while I can now *kill* easily enough, I feel like I'm made of tissue paper, as I constantly die and need to revive.

Am I doing something wrong? Should I change my gear? Is it just because I haven't fully unlocked the abilities of the elite spec I chose and am playing with (holosmith engineer)?

Not sure what info specifically to provide, but gear-wise I have almost all exotic berserker's gear from what I understand, which is what my googling in an attempt to fix previous issues told me to go with, with scholar runes for the armor.

[✨Saint✨]

Sounds like a spell issue/rotation. I found some interesting information on the GW2 forums that may help you even better:

https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/topic/127423-here-is-why-holosmith-is-good-design-in-my-opinion-pve-dps/

[Frost]

Originally posted by Fallaner, Warrior of Light:

I have almost all exotic berserker's , with scholar runes for the armor.

This is a big reason why. Berserkers is good, but you really need to be on point with your dodges and defensive utilities. If you're just running through story content, Scholar runes are unnecessary.

You could opt for a few pieces of Marauder gear which will provide vitality for extra health, Valkyrie stats will also do the same but you will lose out on crit chance, also Dragon stats are very good but require EoD and can be expensive. You could also opt for runes which will provide you with more defense, like Vampirism runes if you're on a budget, Defender runes if you have access to them and have a lot of aegis generation. Generally just look for something that will supplement your build with some extra toughness or vitality.
Highly recommend https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Superior_Rune_of_Vampirism. They provide some damage and vitality, a large chunk of max health + sustain. They are cheap too.

Your build is literally glass cannon, you either have to kill fast or you will die fast. My suggestion would be to supplement your build with some extra defensive stats until you get used to the elite spec and then potentially switch back later when you've nailed everything down.

[Fallaner, the Writer Eternal]

Originally posted by Frost:

Originally posted by Fallaner, Warrior of Light:

I have almost all exotic berserker's , with scholar runes for the armor.

This is a big reason why. Berserkers is good, but you really need to be on point with your dodges and defensive utilities. If you're just running through story content, Scholar runes are unnecessary.

You could opt for a few pieces of Marauder gear which will provide vitality for extra health, Valkyrie stats will also do the same but you will lose out on crit chance, also Dragon stats are very good but require EoD and can be expensive. You could also opt for runes which will provide you with more defense, like Vampirism runes if you're on a budget, Defender runes if you have access to them and have a lot of aegis generation. Generally just look for something that will supplement your build with some extra toughness or vitality.
Highly recommend https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Superior_Rune_of_Vampirism. They provide some damage and vitality, a large chunk of max health + sustain. They are cheap too.

Your build is literally glass cannon, you either have to kill fast or you will die fast.

Sooo... I made a mistake with my gearing choice? That's rather unfortunate, I sunk a lot into it... ah well.

Thank you for the answer! (Steam why is that looking like an l and not an exclamation mark??)

[Frost]

Originally posted by Fallaner, Warrior of Light:

Originally posted by Frost:

This is a big reason why. Berserkers is good, but you really need to be on point with your dodges and defensive utilities. If you're just running through story content, Scholar runes are unnecessary.

You could opt for a few pieces of Marauder gear which will provide vitality for extra health, Valkyrie stats will also do the same but you will lose out on crit chance, also Dragon stats are very good but require EoD and can be expensive. You could also opt for runes which will provide you with more defense, like Vampirism runes if you're on a budget, Defender runes if you have access to them and have a lot of aegis generation. Generally just look for something that will supplement your build with some extra toughness or vitality.
Highly recommend https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Superior_Rune_of_Vampirism. They provide some damage and vitality, a large chunk of max health + sustain. They are cheap too.

Your build is literally glass cannon, you either have to kill fast or you will die fast.

Sooo... I made a mistake with my gearing choice? That's rather unfortunate, I sunk a lot into it... ah well.

Thank you for the answer! (Steam why is that looking like an l and not an exclamation mark??)

You didn't necessarily make a mistake, the stats you chose are good, the problem is these stats aren't great at teaching people the game. It's a big problem with build websites which constantly recommend stats and gear that would normally be used for raids and the like, and people that have sunk many, many hours into the game with easy access to gear.

For now, you could just swap out the runes, or you could buy Marauder accessories for a few gold in the trading post. Alteratively, you could just get really good with the spec you are running, or maybe swap out some utility abilities or even traits for extra survivability. Have a good look at your character, this is what builds are all about.

[LSD]

Holo is a hard spec, and you're playing completely gimped by not unlocking the whole spec. It's like playing with half your armour unequipped.
Add to that the fact you're playing with gear for experienced players (damage only), and there's your problems.

First step is to finish unlocking your spec. Don't swap out your runes, they'll be destroyed, and Scholar runes are expensive and sought-after for end-game stuff. You should be able to get by with the self-heal and barrier from the usual newb spec for Holosmith:
https://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Holosmith_-_Sword_Holo

[Fallaner, the Writer Eternal]

Originally posted by LSD:

Holo is a hard spec, and you're playing completely gimped by not unlocking the whole spec. It's like playing with half your armour unequipped.
Add to that the fact you're playing with gear for experienced players (damage only), and there's your problems.

First step is to finish unlocking your spec. Don't swap out your runes, they'll be destroyed, and Scholar runes are expensive and sought-after for end-game stuff. You should be able to get by with the self-heal and barrier from the usual newb spec for Holosmith:
https://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Holosmith_-_Sword_Holo

I do plan to unlock the whole spec, It's just I haven't gone into the expansion zones yet (though I likely will be soon, as I am on the battle for lion's arch story part) and running all over the map for like another 160 or whatever points, for one at a time, is... not... fun to me.

[Q]

Berserker gear is all about pure raw direct damage and most likely you going to be a glass cannon, means that you going to deal pretty good damage that's why you kill easily BUT you goin down easy as well.

You could configure your traits, specs etc skills to add some shields, invulnerability, and have more survivability. What's your class and elite spec??? ohh holosmith ok well i play Guardian Dragonhunter with berserker stats and schoolar runes, im very squishy i die a lot but just like you, i deal good dmg, the thing with guardians is that they have lots of aegis, shields and CC to run away if needed or stay alive a bit longer during a fight.

These are some of the best sites for builds

https://hardstuck.gg/

https://discretize.eu/ (mostly for fractals which is always good for regular PVE activities)

https://metabattle.com/wiki/MetaBattle_Wiki most classic site

Im missing other website but those are enough i think.

As frost mentioned, the builds in these websites are not wrong but difficult to use for new players, you have to learn the so called skill "rotation" which is very important for the survivability of your current class and build, you dont have to memorize it or do it perfect but you have to get familiar with the skills and what they do for combos, that way you can neutralize more than one enemy without dying. Keep the schoolar runes.

[LSD]

Originally posted by Fallaner, Warrior of Light:

Originally posted by LSD:

Holo is a hard spec, and you're playing completely gimped by not unlocking the whole spec. It's like playing with half your armour unequipped.
Add to that the fact you're playing with gear for experienced players (damage only), and there's your problems.

First step is to finish unlocking your spec. Don't swap out your runes, they'll be destroyed, and Scholar runes are expensive and sought-after for end-game stuff. You should be able to get by with the self-heal and barrier from the usual newb spec for Holosmith:
https://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Holosmith_-_Sword_Holo

I do plan to unlock the whole spec, It's just I haven't gone into the expansion zones yet (though I likely will be soon, as I am on the battle for lion's arch story part) and running all over the map for like another 160 or whatever points, for one at a time, is... not... fun to me.

In expansion zones you get 10 points per challenge, instead of just 1. But they're usually harder.
In the mean time, don't play Holo, use a core Engie build. Elite specs aren't balanced in any meaningful way. You can't play specs half-unlocked, because it's a broken design built on the grave of another broken design (from a time when there weren't hero points), mixed with an expansion-selling broken design + a poor excuse for a balance team (which until recently comprised one single developer).

Unlock the whole spec before you play it -- at the very least unlock the grandmaster trait (the third tier).

[yivya]

A very general advice for later:
Builds you find online are mostly orientated towards you already having a good feel for what you're playing. Don't hyperfocus on them, but instead use them as a general idea if you're not into figuring how to create stuff that fits together.

In the end it's also about what fits you as a player the best.

- Some learn best with slowly getting into builds and rotations. And even this is only an option. If you manage to do content with stuff that is questionable, good for you - because did it for years and don't regret it.

- And others learn best with being thrown face first into a difficult to play rotation and just keep dying while getting better till they.. guess what.. stop dying.

Really up to you

[Nibbie]

Yeah, the problem is you are using glass cannon stats to solo content; it can be done, but requires much more active damage avoidance which you likely aren't prepared for as a newer player. Most likely the guide you looked at was a build intended for raids, fractals, or other such group content, where your lack of defense is offset by having teammates that can heal and buff you. When doing solo content, you will likely have an easier time with some defensive stats mixed in; you won't kill as fast, but you will die much less.

[Harrison]

Originally posted by Fallaner, Warrior of Light:

Sooo... I made a mistake with my gearing choice? That's rather unfortunate, I sunk a lot into it... ah well.

Thank you for the answer! (Steam why is that looking like an l and not an exclamation mark??)

In case you don't already know about it and since I've not seen it mentioned here yet, I recommending starting out with named armors ( https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Named_armor ). The level 80 variants have the same stats as crafted armor for fractions of the cost.

For example, Berserker Exalted gear (craft-able exotic light armor) will set you back about 35 gold but looted Zhed's armor (uncraftable exotic light armor) is just over 2.5 gold

[Q]

Originally posted by Harrison:

Originally posted by Fallaner, Warrior of Light:

Sooo... I made a mistake with my gearing choice? That's rather unfortunate, I sunk a lot into it... ah well.

Thank you for the answer! (Steam why is that looking like an l and not an exclamation mark??)

In case you don't already know about it and since I've not seen it mentioned here yet, I recommending starting out with named armors (https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Named_armor). The level 80 variants have the same stats as crafted armor for fractions of the cost.

For example, Berserker Exalted gear (craft-able exotic light armor) will set you back about 35 gold but looted Zhed's armor is just over 2.5 gold

Damn i always forget this, thx ohh and i think there's some cheap armor sets from EoD, more expensive than named armors but different skin.
BTW i'd be nice if you fix that link, steam has flagged the link as dangerous cuz has double https.

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Named_armor

nvm the set im talking about is expensive (Jade tech set, Monastery set etc)

[Frost]

Originally posted by Harrison:

Originally posted by Fallaner, Warrior of Light:

Sooo... I made a mistake with my gearing choice? That's rather unfortunate, I sunk a lot into it... ah well.

Thank you for the answer! (Steam why is that looking like an l and not an exclamation mark??)

In case you don't already know about it and since I've not seen it mentioned here yet, I recommending starting out with named armors (https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Named_armor). The level 80 variants have the same stats as crafted armor for fractions of the cost.

For example, Berserker Exalted gear (craft-able exotic light armor) will set you back about 35 gold but looted Zhed's armor (uncraftable exotic light armor) is just over 2.5 gold

This is a really good point. I completely forgot about named gear.

In that case, buying a completely new set of named gear and just popping some Vampirism runes in wouldn't cost much at all. Wouldn't have to mess with the set they have currently either.

I think the extra health + the sustain would do wonders for their survival without having to mess with the build at all.

[Fallaner, the Writer Eternal]

I did know of named armors, yes. My current berserker's set is Nika's set. Would I just buy another of those and slot in vampirism runes and pick up some new accessories? Since on the wiki I don't see one for Marauder's.

[Frost]

Originally posted by Fallaner, Warrior of Light:

I did know of named armors, yes. My current berserker's set is Nika's set. Would I just buy another of those and slot in vampirism runes and pick up some new accessories? Since on the wiki I don't see one for Marauder's.

Marauder is mostly crafted, It would be expensive. Grab another set of Nika's and slot some Vampirism runes in and see how you go. Your current accessories should be fine, but if you think you need some more HP, you could grab ebony orichalcum accessories as these provide Marauder stats, these accessories are usually a few gold each though.