The BEST and WORST new RUNES and RELICS in Guild Wars 2 SotO 

I really like the new rune/relic system but I think they failed hard at designing the relic effects. Most of them have to many or weird conditions for them to activate and just weak effects

I miss my summoning runes. I liked my battle parrot 😢

Inceedibly helpful video for those people who dont have the time to look at these rune changes in depth

I can't say I'm a fan of these relics. IIRC, they will be releasing more over time, but I still feel like we're missing so much of what we had with the old runes. Like, Runes of Divinity added 10% Max Health which is quite a bit for classes with lower health pools. I can't make up for that with these relics. That's just one example, and there's definitely others that also had a impact that these relics don't make up for. The relics are gonna need a rework for most of them to see any use.

Condition Relics seem to be the strongest so far, Cavalier has a bug that causes every tic of firebreath to generate boons. I do wish they kept the minions from Golemancer or Ogre, it's kinda sad we lost those effects since they made some fun builds.

also quick note on eye of cerus: it only hits up to 5 enemies and will rotate until it registers 5 hits for some time so maximum 5 boons removed

They really dropped the ball with the relics IMO, especially condi relics. Even the descriptions are vague like they don't even want to tell us what they do because most of them are just bad. I really hope they add some interesting ones that are more useful. No more "on elite skills" effects.

Well that is very nicely done:) Thank you for your work ! I can dive into this new system effeciently. Thanks again ;)

You can abuse the relic of Mabon right now on healers or supports that don't care about might or can quickly burst back to 25 (like a quickness herald) because the super buffed might you apply is also working on might you apply to allies too, meaning might you give them is also 25% stronger for the buff's duration. But this is confirmed to be an unintended effect and will be patched out, maybe even tomorrow (Tuesday 29th August).

As a dumb guy who has zero time to theory craft builds and what not, I cant express enough how thankful I am for your videos. They helped me become a better player. Looking forward to your builds for these reworked stuff. Again Thank You!

Thanks dude! Hopefully everything will be updated on guildjen soon, I know you all are putting in tons of work.

I rly miss Trapper rune..

“Some classes don’t have good mobility” laughing in Willbender falling off cliffs with F1 and GS3

I'd say my favorite would be Relic of the ogre IF WE HAD ONE

Awesome video like always :))

I'm kind of disappointed in MOST Relics as they are. BUT I WANT TO SEE IT DO WELL. I love the idea! What I wanna see changed in the current relics: - Either extend duration or reduce internal CD's of many of these relics... Currently feels slow and clunky. - Ditch defensive skills adding to DPS %. You almost never see these skills on a DPS build unless it's a niche build. Maybe make it so the use of defensive skills adds to the stats, ability, or nature of these defensive skills. Like adding a stability stack. Or short protection buff. - Ditch the specifics like "Grant strike dmg" or "Grant condition damage". Building might synergizes well with lots of builds. IMO would be fine just giving out might. Maybe even some Fury. - I have NOT tested this. But would hope that the AOE boon sharing, and self boon durations of the relics are affected by your boon duration stats. So hopefully those relics could 80-100% upkeep AOE boons if the player specs into boon duration. What I wanna see introduced: - I want to see more sustain relics... Class specific and General. General example being the old rune of torment where multiple classes could apply torment and gain regen, or apply barrier when you block an attack. Class specific example being Life Force building, or healing/barrier from clones, Or warrior heals a little more when spending adrenaline, ele getting a mini arcane shield when swapping attunements. etc etc. - I want to see more relic's that add strike and condi damage when you're above x% health or something where it would be possible to sustain the dps buff most, if not all of the fight. - Maybe even different rarity for lower level players that have those shorter durations and longer internal CD's. If you're worried about breaking PvP/WvW, keep in mind that skills and whatnot already have different stats when entering these game modes. The system to stat swap based on game mode exists, and shouldn't be amazingly hard to balance these separately. But hey, just some random dudes thoughts on what would make the relic system a bit more interesting. Instead of super short niche things on a massive CD. IDK though, last time I went to the forum to recommend something like getting a mount at a super low level, I absolutely got BTFO'd. New players seem to be enjoying them.

I crafted trapper runes for all my characters and I’m a little worried they will get nerfed because they are so much better for condi than any other rune it’s insane. At least power has 4-6 options that all give pure dps stats and they’re all great depending on how much precision you need.

Something worth noting is that Thief relic's effects in my experience proc on hit, not skill use. So, attacks that hit multiple times like Weakening Charge build it up to max stacks way faster. This makes it really good across almost every Thief, since almost every power thief has a skill in their rotation that hits multiple times in quick succession. Also, Daredevil relic has a lot of use on melee ranger specifically, because Dagger 4, Sword 3, and Greatsword 3 all have an evade during their animation that can proc the trait and make those hits automatic crits.

Thank you so much that was useful

I think you underestimated relic of akeem. It's multiple stacks of the conditions and it's a staple in many pve condi builds.

For Power Runes I would also suggest Dragonhunter. Especially for Revs that can easily geht 100% Crit with almost full Berserker Gear.

casually glances over relic of akeem wich in terms of wvw/pvp burst condi builds is probably one of the strongest relics for stuff like crev harb or czerker. also ice relic at least in wvw fires always 5 shards dealing up to 1k per shard on grieving gear, but splits the moment more than one enemy is nearby

from some testing in smallscale wvw so far, relic of lyhr can be really strong on core ventari/dwarf rev with high 75% dmg reduction uptime. you stil deal decent enough damage and your party gets nearly unkillable through power dmg. though you can potentially get 1shot in bigger fights. so be careful which enemies you engage :D

Relic of the brawler works well with my Alacrigade. I give protection with all my kala's skills so I can maintain the 10% damage modifier pretty consistenly.

A part of me wonder if part of the design is to have a bunch of these you swap between depending on the fight/situation. Like specifically I'm thinking about moments in fractals or raids you're trying to skip as engie, you can swap to the unseen invasion relic + scrapper and pop all your superspeed + stealth gyro to get through it all, and then swap back to extra boon cleansing, regen, or monk depending on the upcoming fight.

I tried the Herald relic last night on W1-4 clears. I play AlacDPS Mech so I'm constantly giving Alacrity. My Boon duration never increased more than 1% so I'm wondering if this only works if 'you're' providing the boons yourself rather than via a Mech??

Thank you, I've been holding off maxing stats with runes and relics as I have no idea what to buy.

Does anyone else see the time stamps? (edit: I see the timestamps now) Great video covering the relics, I'm sure a lot of people will find it useful.

Thanks for video, but I think you haven't recommended any power relic? On thief you mentioned some else is/are better but then haven't picked any to recommend. Or have I missed something?

Thanks for putting up a walkthrough of the relics so quickly with specific scenarios of when it's useful and why it's not. Love it and love your insights.

Feel like you did mabon dirty, its good on supports currently buffing outgoing might on allies without giving the mabon timer. Its also pretty nice on power mirage since gs ambush gives might and you get 4 ambushes making your cleave heavier with burst but thats kind of niche.

Yeah, I have been using Fractal when I PvP/WvW on my core P/D Thief. Just because it was the first decent relic I saw for him.

Much needed video

Relic of Fireworks is amazing on a power soulbeast, which has its effect triggered on axe 5, worldly impact, frenzied strike and barrage if using a longbow. Try it out, it can do some crazy bursts.

Relic of Fireworks works with Deadeye Malice Marks and upkeeps every time your mark gets refreshed either by killing the marked target or via Mercy.

yessss Vallun gimme the knowledge!!

I use Relic of the Chronomancer with boon duration gear on a Scrapper build for speedy gathering in my home instance and guild halls. 😄

I’ve tried out unseen invasion on Mirage and at the very least I will say it’s fun 😅

Which relic should I use with my power mech?

My stealth dragonhunter is dead. Is there any relic for trapper runes?

Any recommendations for a berserker warrior (axe/axe & GS)?

So i still have no idea what relic or rune is best for my dps condi mechanist 😪

I just realized I was the zerg you were fighting at 12:40.

Relic of Warrior is strong for thieves that uses the trait that recover initiative on weapon swap. I am loving the Relic of Lyhr with a Tanky Herald in wvw... party saviour

hi for staff condi mirage would you suggest trapper rune or still nightmare runes? nightmare runes just has +%5 more condi duration but -125 condi dmg when compared to trapper so maybe instead of %5 condi duration, 125 condi dmg would be better?

Relic of ice is actually good on a condi Reaper and ok on condi herald because of the chill to damaging condi traits they have. If all the icicles hit the same mob on a Reaper (which they will if it's a boss for example) it does MASSIVE bleed stacks. Similarly, akeem relic is good on torment builds ... Not confusion, because it also procs when the target has 5 stacks of torment. And applying that confusion + torment on say an harbinger pistol torch build, with the multiple cc, is great.

you say relic of the deadeye isn't good because most cantrips are defensive, but what about Untamed? all there cantrips are offensive or buffs. I use them non-stop with the Deadeye relic. I am note sure how often it triggers but in my head it seems like it is a good thing.

Celestial open world builds feel a bit shafted by relics. I find Mirage works ok on a cele vindicator with short bow as you are dodging so often you end up triggering it anyway.

Relic of the flock might be good for a bit of extra survival for warriors who use mending. Since mending is on a 12 sec cd, every use of it will trigger the relic, which means a little barrier each time. Of course, the barrier will have to be consumed in 5 seconds or else it will have been wasted. But in any fight where you need to heal, it's likely that the barrier will break during that 5 second period.

I was using your build : "HAMMER Dragonhunter - Guild Wars 2 WvW Guardian Build" - in wvw mode, can u tell me witch one relic will be the best for this build???

Thanks for the nice video. I tested most of them over the past week as well (in the PVP lobby at first, as you did) and think your thought are on point. There are certainly some niche scenario's/builds you miss here, but that's to be expected if you go over all of them. I for one have been really impressed with Relic of the Nightmare on my condi Mirage, Jaunt makes it such that I can consistently use it every 30 seconds and typically ensure I can land it (sometimes with the second Jaunt to stick to the target, or with Axe skills) and having a fear + poison effect on a build that otherwise can lack these effects has been really nice. It might seem minor, but both Fear and Poison are really high value in small fights i.m.o. and I've been loving its impact.

Deadeye relic works WONDERS on my tempest air overload burst, engaging with air ol while on stone skin cantrip?? 11 stability stacks and prot, plus dagger air 3 to stun everyone on being hit? *chef's kiss*

Deadeye relic works very well with Untamed, which has cantrips (both offensive and defensive) and can take at least 3 on any build. PvP or PvE, it's the best for me.

Re: toughness from leadership Every tank on toughness fixate fights should be able to run at least 1201 toughness. This is because catalysts without toughness gear have 1200 toughness with max Elemental Empowerment stacks (if traited), and a merged soulbeast (with the beastmastery traitline) has 1150 toughness when running no toughness gear, since they get +150 to their primary stats from the beastmastery specialization. With how strong these builds are at the moment (45k golem on catalyst + good boon output, 44k golem on soulbeast with extremely high burst), tanks should be able to handle this. (For a long time, the general advice for PUGs has been to have enough toughness swaps to at least beat celestial anyway, since giver's/harriers tank + celestial offhealer is a nice composition in groups who don't want to run two full healers but aren't comfortable solohealing.) TLDR +36 toughness from leadership is NBD, tanks should have at least 1201 toughness.

the monk relic has a few issues it only applies 1 stack for each skill that applies boons so even if I sue a skill that gives 5 boons itll only be 1 stack of the monk relics healing buff and the 3 sec duration applys to all satack so if you at 10 stacks and get stuned for 3 seconds welp time to start from the begining again, have some forced downtime back to the beginign you go \o/ these could be bugs but its the behaviour I am seeing and it feels kinda bad

I like Brawler on my Vindicator. I almost always run the middle last trait though. Every time I dodge/jump I'm giving myself protection.

very usefull video

I was messing around with relic of Mabon on the training golems in pvp. It seems to work decently on builds that can stack might quickly, especially those that can might on auto attack. I can imagine builds that use warrior MH dagger, ranger MH axe and Engie Hammer can stack enough might take advantage of the 25% boost. Also they wouldn't be too hampered by the might dropping.

I have a feeling that relic of Mabon can work quite well on a quickness DPS herald build because herald just passively generates so much might anyway and it has a trait that gets more power but less condi per might stack so surely that 25% increase is worth it no? Just get used to the timing of it and use your burst.

Tier list when? Also any relics give a combo field or finisher?

Gw2 staff who designed these runes need to watch this lol.

Thank you again for another great clarification video!

Relic of Peitha perfect for condi dmg and working super with staff mirage, staff skill 2 working like deception skill and all of utility and elite skill deception too so good working on staff mirage.

Do you have any suggestions for a power Reaper Relics? I try but I'm not satisfied

Hmm couldn't relic of the citadel work with an engineer build if you use a tool for the ultimate, like the mortar?

Wizards tower has been good for my D/Wh celestial tempest build during WvW zergs. Just pop tornado yolo in and let your Zerg do the rest

For the follow up video (after the inevitable tweaks and updates) please sort the order from less to more useful. Now you still need to watch the entire section to get the information you need.

fireworks is perfect for tempest, currently using hammer tempest with fireworks relic, proc time for relic almost 100%

They need to improve the descriptions of relics and change/add some relevant ones

Guardian can also get additional Healing to others based on Vitality through the Honor Traitline's Force of Will. "Healing Increase to Others per 100 Vitality: 1%"

How do we make legendary runes?

regarding relic of dwayna and celestial avatar: afaik the old dwayna effect didnt affect the regen priority (same for other +mods for regen) and which regen counts depends on healing power alone edit: quote from wiki "Only healing power affects boon prioritization; healing modifiers do not"

Peitha is interesting on bladesworn since it has shadowsteps and a delayed burst. If you run lush forest and maybe discipline, it could have some potential.

Would warrior relic work on element swap???? That'd be insane, specially for weavers

Has any1 tried out Berserket Runes on a Viper DD?

Sounds like most Power Relics are crap for Rangers. What is the best bow/greatsword relic to use for a Ranger at the moment? Doesn't need to be power.

Idk I dont like how they approached the system. They shouldve given you relic boxes for the amount of equipment templates you have first of all. Second they shouldve made the relics you got mostly the same as what was already there. And the newer ones you should get through playing soto. So your builds were still more or less the same ans if you wanted new stuff, you are incentivised to play the new expansion.

what relic should I use with my power soul beast?

Fireworks ... triggers on Shatters from Mesmer?

Lyhr works with tempest auras as well while allies are at 100% health. Just throwing that out there.

Is there any benefit to just running jewels now?

Anybody else having issues with the axe 1 skil being the only skill not being on the action bar as guardian? I unlocked weapon master and wanted to lvl a guardian using axe. All skills are there except the main 1 skill

Condition Relic should be Fractal or Ahkeem based on if you are bleed or corruption build.

Damn I’m sad relic or durability is so bad. I loved using rune or durability on my spellbreaker and wildy survival soulbeast. Idek what to use now

Whats that griffon skin? Thanks

I personally find the reaper relic quite nice with the build I'm running.

I miss my rock dog...

relic of ice is good on chill proc reaper, or at least usable

For the brawler relic actually, I've been working with it using Vindicator and retribution to try and get more use out of it, but I haven't done enough testing and buildcrafting with it, so it's probably only really good for some pvp or wvw builds.

What would be the best runes and relics for a power Dragon Hunter?

ty for teh video Vallun! sounds like most damage relics suck ngl pepehmm

i think relic of speed is buged at this moment tested on my willbender and its doing nothing

I play power deadeye with rifle and staff and withdrawal as my heal; really nothing seems to make sense except for adventurer relic (or whatever the gain 50% endurance when using heal skill relic is.) But I don't really do fractals, so maybe the one which grants superspeed on stealth could be useful there since this build stealths a lot. idfk

Yeah im still clueless. Mostly because my builds tend to be unconventional at best.

I've got my norn warrior with chilling shouts now. Doesn't seem to work on the auto-shout proc, but it does on the two I activate manually. It's fun!

The introduction of relics still won't change how people use Runes, which was one of the main reasons they removed the special bonus off the 6th rune to make the relics, so I'm not really sure what they've acheived. The most powerful rune effects still come from having 6 of the same type of rune. Rune of Infiltration gives +125 precision on the 6th rune..the biggest boon for this set. Until they average the benefits equally across the 6 runes, people will still stick with a single set rather than mix-n-match. Infiltration runes should give a flat +40 precision and +30 power (ish) EACH rune... do the same for all runes and then people will mix them up a bit more.

short: almost all relics are useless, for specific situations/ builds only or just weak relics would be perfect to balance stuff like: you get more healing power but loose dmg or you get vitality everytime you kill but your movement speed will go down 5% for 1 sec or make more dmg but lose thoughnesss simple effects that are very strong but with a nasty twist :) and an extra "pocket" for relics in the equip screen to change between 2 or even 3 relics on the fly without cluttering the inventory would be nice thats my 2c on this

Did they remove all the 1s we had and give us nothing in return?? Sounds a bit s***, if they pulled that one!

Good guide but how to unlock all new relics for players who don't care about PVE?

Relic of Cerus is good in pvp