Introduction
Berserkers have two viable raid builds that center around either Mayhem or Berserker's Technique. This article focuses on the former, the Mayhem Berserker.
Mayhem Berserkers enjoy not having to build Fury Meter (Identity Gauge) to enter Burst Mode over Berserker's Technique Berserkers. In fact, they can enter and exit the mode whenever they want! While they lose the +20% Crit Rate in the mode, they enjoy a flat Attack and Movement Speed increase of 15% and a 70% Damage Reduction with nearly 100% uptime.
Mayhem Berserkers have other benefits as two of Berserker's Skill Tree benefit from their naturally low health state. Deadly Blow for Hell Blade and Flame Storm for Sword Storm come to mind. Combined with Red Dust, Mayhem Berserker's skills hit hard.
As one might expect, these luxuries come with tradeoffs. The moment Mayhem Berserkers enter their Burst Mode they take a max HP penalty and can never go above 25% of their max HP. Shields applied are also only 25% effective. They cannot be healed for over 25% HP as well. Healing efficiency is also reduced while in this mode from all sources.
The HP penalty is not for everyone and even gives some players anxiety. It is sometimes difficult to determine if a stray boss attack will kill you. For example, let's say normally your max HP is 100. You take 40 damage. You're left with 60 HP. With Mayhem and Burst Mode on, your max HP is now 25. You take 70% decreased damage, which means that same 40 damage skill would do 12 damage to you out of 25. You're now left with 13 HP. You've lost almost half your health in this situation, but it didn't kill you. It takes some time getting used to.
This build guide assumes you have a Character at Level 50 before transitioning to it. Check out the Berserker Leveling and 1-50 Leveling guides to reach Level 50.
Check out the Berserker's Technique Berserker for an alternative Berserker playstyle. Check out the Guardian Raids and Abyssal Dungeons guides for an introduction to their content.
Raid Skill Build
- Chain Sword serves two purposes, first as a self-buff and second as a Counter skill. Vital Point Strike provide self-buff for Crit Rate.
- Red Dust is an important skill that amplifies damage done to a target. Hitting Red Dust will grant 24% Attack Power for 6 seconds. Damage Amplification provides a 6% party buff when hitting the skill. 800-900 Swiftness with at least a lv6 cooldown gem can almost keep the debuff up permanently with just 1-2 seconds of downtime.
- Due to Mayhem, Hell Blade does even more damage due to Deadly Blow. It is one of your highest damage skills. You can also use it as a gap closer after dodging mechanics.
- Overdrive is used with Ruthless for shorter animation time so that you can fit 4 skills in Red Dust buff window.
- Brave Slash is a filler skill that has a great animation speed that allows you to fit 4 skills in Red Dust window easier.
- Finish Strike offers high damage and high Stagger. The first row Skill Tree, Gravitational Blow has quite a start-up animation if you do not have Galewind to back it up but the damage increase basically makes this 1 of the 2 highest damage skill in your rotations.
- Sword Storm is used by Mayhem Berserkers only because of their 3rd row Skill Tree, Flame Storm. This causes bonus damage when the user is below 50% health, which is always active. Quick Preparation is taken over Vital Point Strike to fit into the optimal damage rotation.
- Tempest Slash is a decent damage and Stagger skill.
- As you require no Fury Meter gain, Berserk Fury is used as an Awakening skill over Chain of Vengeance.
Alternatives
- Finish Strike's first skill tree node can be switched to Enhanced Strike for increased damage, while not as punishing as Gravitational Blow reduced start-up time if you're not confident with bosses mechanics. If you're new to the game Tenacity can be used as a training wheel until you're more confident in using any of the other 2 damage increase tripods. but the end game choice is preference between Enhanced Strike if you want 9.8% less damage for half a second faster animation over Gravitational Blow.
- Tempest Slash third skill tree node can be switched to Storm Slash for more damage increase but lowers the skill Stagger Check potential slightly due to longer animation.
- You can replace Chain Sword with Mountain Crash for easier Counter skill but it'll require additional skill points to get it's Vital Point Hit.
Skill Rotations
DPS Rotation
With at least 130% Attack Speed you can fit 4 skills in Red Dust rotation the timing will be tight, but with a support to help max cap Attack Speed that wouldn't be a problem.
If you can't complete the full rotation while in Red Dust due to having to dodge mechanics, still continue to finish the entire rotation to line up the cooldowns as all the skills' cooldowns are synced with Red Dust, it is better to still do some damage than not doing any.
- Red Dust > Overdrive > Finish Strike > Brave Slash > Hell Blade*
*Hell Blade can be performed earlier than Brave Slash if you can't fit it in the Red Dust window.
Filler Combo
- Chain Sword* > Berserk Fury** > Sword Storm > Tempest Slash
*Chain Sword can be replaced with Mountain Crash.
**To activate Nightmare Flower Set before the DPS rotation above.
Gameplay
- Attacking while being at the side of the bosses gives you some benefit of moving with skills built in movement from Overdrive and Hell Blade to reposition while attacking.
- Hell Blade can also be used as a gap closer after a mechanic dodge.
- Chain Sword can be used as a Counter Attack skill.
- Always be wary of how much health you have remaining.
Stats Priority
Mayhem Berserkers aim for Crit and Swiftness. While it's all preference, here are some potential stat spreads:
Pre - Relic accessories and gear sets
- Critical Build: Have Crit on all accessories and only Swiftness from the necklace. Getting 800-900 Swiftness with at least 1300-1400 Crit is unlikely at this stage, hence it is better to focus on Crit to maximize Crit Rate until you are transitioning to Relic accessories and gears.
Post - Relic accessories and gear sets
- Critical Build: 800-900 Swiftness then get as much Crit as possible. This stat spread is more about a high Crit Rate with a sprinkle of Swiftness. This helps compensate for the loss of the +20% Crit Rate from Burst Mode with Mayhem Berserker. The Swiftness helps give you Movement Speed to increase your damage when using Raid Captain. Near the end of Tier 3, your Crit will only get higher.
Note : If you do not have at least 2pcs of Nightmare Flower Set, you have to use Focus runes on Tempest Slash and Sword Storm to manage mana issues, crafting some cheap combat resource regeneration food like [Masterwork] Master's Chewy Grilled Skewers (Bound) will greatly help as well.
Bracelet
Bracelets provide beneficial effects to yourself or to your party members depending on the rolls.
Note: Bracelets should not be your top priority to optimize since it'll be much more efficient to optimize your other gear first. Bracelets are costly! So slowly build towards a Main Stat and a Sub Stat. Anything else is extra!
Check out the Bracelet Guide for more details.
Possible Special Effects to Roll:
Optimal
Combat Stats(Crit + Swiftness)
Circulate
Hammer
Wedge
Cool-Headed
Alternatives
Basic Effect(Strength)
Precise
Assail
Superiority
Sawtooth Blade
Weapon Power
Harvest
Expose Weakness
Dagger
Ambush
Engravings
Class Engravings provide powerful stat boosts that dictate the playstyle of a class. Battle Engravings are generally used to increase damage. Below are the recommended Engravings for this build.
Check out the Engraving Guide for more details.
Starter Engravings
- Mayhem is a core part of this build. You only need to reach the first level for this engraving as all levels provide a flat bonus of 15% Attack Speed, 15% Movement Speed, and 65% Damage Reduction. The only stat that changes is the increased damage at greater levels.
- Master's Tenacity complements Mayhem Berserkers incredibly well as you are naturally going to have less than 50% HP. It is a damage engraving that has no downsides like Grudge or Cursed Doll.
Add-On Endgame Engravings
- Keen Blunt Weapon* requires a high Crit stat to make use of its bonus.
- Raid Captain is a decent engraving if the player is running high Swiftness. At 140% movement speed, Raid Captain provides 18% increased damage output.
- Grudge* is another common DPS engraving for most classes as it has no positional requirement. The increased damage penalty is somewhat offset by Mayhem, external heals, and shields. You should be dodging boss basic mechanics anyway.
- Increases Mass* increases Attack Power with a penalty of 10% reduced Attack Speed. The penalty can be offset by the Swift Attack Prep Skill Tree on Chain Sword.
- Cursed Doll* offers a flat damage boost. which is good since it's an unconditional damage increase but with healing received penalty.
(*)These Engravings should only be used at Engravings Level 3.
Optimal Setups
Engravings are listed in order of priority from left to right.
Standard
Alternative
Gear Sets
Check out the Gear Set Guide for more details.
Early Game
250-1100 gearscore
Providence Set
1250-1340 gearscore
Dimensional Set
Early Tier 3
1340 -1414 gearscore
Erupting Waves Set
Piercing Gaze Set
Craft any combination of the legendary gear sets listed above and try to push to 1415 as soon as possible.
Tier 3 Legion Raid Set
1415-1490-1580+ gearscore
Nightmare Set
The name of your set will change with every higher tier gearset you acquire, but the set effect will remain the same. Look for the keyword of your set when recrafting it so you don't easily get lost.(e.g Entropy, Hallucination etc)
Sidereal Weapon
Recommended Sidereal Unity Effects for your Seraphic Mount Havoc are Thirain and Balthorr.
Check out the Sidereal Weapon Guide for more details.
Runes
Runes enhance skills by providing bonuses such as Attack Speed or Cooldown Reduction. Runes have limited availability and you cannot acquire them from the same source twice. For some runes there are 2 sources and as such, you can acquire two of the same rune. Therefore, it's important to place your Runes on skills wisely. Below are the recommend rune placements for Mayhem Berserker.
Check the Rune Guide for more details.
| Skills | Runes |
| Finish Strike | Galewind(In future when you get 2nd Legendary Grade) Galewind |
| Tempest Slash | Focus |
| Red Dust | Bleed |
| Overdrive | Galewind |
| Hell Blade | Galewind |
| Sword Storm | Galewind Focus |
| Chain Sword | Purify Galewind Quick Recharge |
Brave Slash | Galewind Focus |
| Mountain Crash* | Purify Galewind Quick Recharge |
- Bleed works best on skills with low cooldown. For Berserkers though, we are putting it on Red Dust.
- Galewind should be applied on almost all your damage skills when we get enough rarities of them in the future. Most of Berserker's skills have a long cast time.
- Wealth is useless as you can enter Burst Mode immediately.
- Quick Recharge helps you with a chance of reducing the overall cooldown of skills.
- Purify can be slotted on any skill just for the chance of removing a debuff.
- Overwhelm helps increase Stagger damage done from skills, but it's mostly used as an alternative if the other runes are not available.
(*)Optional skill choices.
Gear Skill Tree
While Gems add benefits to skills, you can also increase the effects of Skill Tree themselves. Skill Tree levels go up to 5 and each level can increase the damage, cooldown reduction, or buff that they provide.
For more information on how to add equipment Skill Tree and how to get them, please visit our Skill Tree System Guide.
| Finish Strike | Enhanced Strike or Gravitational Blow Weak Point Detection Lights Out |
| Tempest Slash | Weak Point Detection Driving Hit or Storm Slash |
| Hell Blade | Deadly Blow Bloody Eruption |
| Chain Sword* | Vital Point Strike |
| Overdrive | Weak Point Detection Deadly Blow Ruthless |
| Sword Storm | Quick Prep Weak Point Detection Flame Storm |
| Red Dust | Vital Point Strike |
| Brave Slash | Quick Prep Weak Point Detection Acrimony |
| Mountain Crash* | Vital Point Hit |
(*)Optional Skill Choice.
Gems
Gems grant bonus damage and cooldown reduction to specific skills. You can only equip 11 of these Gems at a time so it is recommended that you prioritize the Gems for your most important skills.
Please visit our Gem System Guide for more information like how to create higher tier Gems.
Attack Gems
Tempest Slash
Brave Slash
Finish Strike
Hell Blade
Overdrive
Sword Storm
Cooldown Gems
Finish Strike
Hell Blade
Overdrive
Sword Storm
Red Dust
Card Sets
Cards are an endgame system for maximizing your character. Below are the recommended sets for this class.
Check out the Card Guide for more details on how to obtain them.
Beginner Card Set
Budget Damage Card Set
Budget Damage Card Set 2
This card set does not replace Light of Salvation set or Kazero's Legion Commanders set, but it can be use if you're new to the game and has set to get your Light of Salvation/Kazero's Legion Commanders set +18 or +30 yet.
Optimal Damage Card Set
Summary
- Mayhem Berserkers free themselves of annoying Fury Meter. They can immediately enter Burst Mode and enjoy an instant 15% increased Attack, 15% Movement Speed and 70% damage reduction.
- Lead with Red Dust into your other heavy hitting skills. If done properly, you'll be able to fit in your entire rotation within the 6 second debuff window.
- Most Berserker skills have high Stagger and contribute significantly to boss mechanics.
- Master's Tenacity is the ideal engraving for Mayhem Berserkers.
Credits
Written by Rei
Reviewed by Starlast
