PvE - New warrior seeks for help

[Vittich.4853]

**Greetings community,**

 

after spending lots of time testing classes, spending lots of gold on classes i finally don't want to play and i finally came to the warrior.

As former WoW-Rogue (in GW basically a power-melee-glascannon-thief with permanent stealth) this unfortunately was my last thought because of "eewww who wants to play a warrior" "ewww such an easy braindead class" and "ewww why can warriors oneshot me".

 

Well - at first sorry to all warriors: Your class is really cool, versatile and in regards of teamplay - actually helpful !

And for me: Well, playing selfish sneaky childish classes was more to blame...

 

Now after spending multiple hours on my warrior, trying different weapons and farming champions points to fully skill spellbreaker i really must admit: This is my class!

 

**Now why i am here:**

I have read multiple guides, looked up several builds on metabattle and snowcrows but i am still not 100% sure how to play my warrior. I had very much fun with my spellbreaker skill, also with double axes and their damage and the mobility of the general kit i have chosen.

 

 

Still sometimes encounters are a bit harsh and even with my >Endure Pain< and >Full Counter< i have problems surviving at some point.

Currently i am questing and exploring the Heart of Thorns content.

This is my current build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vJAQNAnXRjMdQZH2FC+dAnIWICMjAQEYAg/jLyPZlvwTIGA-jRBBABVq+TAnCgzUCi1+jyPAeCAAA-e

 

 

 

 

**My requirements for a build and gear:**

 

1. Basically a damage-build capable of huge damage (should be close to maximum, but in regards of playing as a team of 2 and running from champion/veteran/event to champion/veteran/event in open world or questing...)

 

2. Being able to encounter champions or deal with a bigger number of enemies from time to time

 

3. Surviving at least a bit without loosing too much damage

 

4. Due to lacking champion points only spellbreaker and classic warrior builds are an opinion

 

 

 

 

**My questions:**

 

1. Is Marauder gear also a choice for the requirements i have? Do I loose too much damage then? Is the gained health worth the trade? I want to do some fractals or harder group content in open world too - is this a good option?

 

2. Which healing skill would be the best, the passive healing from the signet or more like an an active healing?

As i played much with the talent "Brawlers recovey" conditions aren't a big problem anymore since then

 

3. Is there a good range/melee combination? I have already seen that the longbow seem to be better than the rifle despite the fact that it should be the condition variant...

 

4. What weapons are the best choice for my requirements? Axe offhand seems kind of mandatory to me (please correct me if i am wrong!) due to the mobility while AOE and Max-Dmg. Dagger/Axe + Axe/Dagger and the selfheal/dmg talent "Sun and Moon style"? Or More like Axe/Axe + Greatsword with a full classic warrior or spellbreaker?

 

Please give me your opinions and thank you veeeery much in advance!

 

 

[Hoodie.1045]

> @"Vittich.4853" said:

> **My requirements for a build and gear:**

>

> 1. Basically a damage-build capable of huge damage (should be close to maximum, but in regards of playing as a team of 2 and running from champion/veteran/event to champion/veteran/event in open world or questing...)

 

The best damage you can achieve in the game is Berserker gear with Scholar amulets. Ask anyone and they'll tell you for PvE that Berserker gear is the best. Sure, you can mix Berserker with different gear, but since you want a high damage build, use Berserker gear with Scholar runes.

 

> 2. Being able to encounter champions or deal with a bigger number of enemies from time to time

 

The best weapons in my opinion when it comes to dealing with a large number of enemies, use the Greatsword and the Hammer. Greatsword for hitting multiple foes as well as having and evade on skill 3 Whirlwind Attack and Hammer for the stuns, knockback and knockdown. Because the hammer is a CC weapon, it's amazing when it comes to depleting the defiance bar.

 

> 3. Surviving at least a bit without loosing too much damage

 

You can play core warrior using Strength, Defense and Discipline. Might Makes Right will give you health and endurance every time you get might. The best way to get might with warrior comes from dodging into a group of enemies from the trait Reckless Dodge and Greatsword crits from Forceful Greatsword in the Strength specialization. In Defence, if you're using a shield, you get might every time you block an attack, so if multiple enemies attack you, you can get a lot of might and therefore you get a lot of health and endurance. In Discipline, you get a shorter weapon swap cooldown and you get might every time you swap weapons.

 

> **My questions:**

>

> 1. Is Marauder gear also a choice for the requirements i have? Do I loose too much damage then? Is the gained health worth the trade? I want to do some fractals or harder group content in open world too - is this a good option?

 

Try mixing Berserker gear with Marauder gear if you want the stats from Marauder gear. Using full Marauder gear can slightly impact damage.

 

> 2. Which healing skill would be the best, the passive healing from the signet or more like an an active healing?

 

Choose either Healing Signet or To The Limit. For open world PvE, use Healing Signet and for fractals and dungeons, use To The Limit.

 

> 3. Is there a good range/melee combination? I have already seen that the longbow seem to be better than the rifle despite the fact that it should be the condition variant...

 

Axe/Axe or Greatsword with Rifle is good for power damage. Longbow is only good for condition damage.

 

> 4. What weapons are the best choice for my requirements? Axe offhand seems kind of mandatory to me (please correct me if i am wrong!) due to the mobility while AOE and Max-Dmg. Dagger/Axe + Axe/Dagger and the selfheal/dmg talent "Sun and Moon style"? Or More like Axe/Axe + Greatsword with a full classic warrior or spellbreaker?

 

Axe/Axe with Greatsword for open world PvE. You can use dagger in main hand of off hand if you want. I'm just saying this as someone who plays core warrior rather than Spellbreaker.

[Vittich.4853]

Thank you very much!

 

Are there any other opinions? :)

[stone cold.8609]

Your build looks good overall. Another option to try for weapons is Mace/Axe + Axe/Dagger. If you want more CC and a nice block, change the off hand Dagger in the second set to Shield. Remember to use the Axe 4 skill to speed up the Mace attacks. Also, using both Kick and Bull's Rush gives more CC and gives more up time on Peak Performance to increase your damage.

 

When I started to CC more and learned when to use Full Counter, I found I had more survivablity on the Warrior.

[Lametoile.7394]

Glad to see you're a warrior enthusiast :)

 

My humble opinion:

- weapons and traits: personnally, for open world, I use mainly axe/dagger+dagger axe, with strength, discipline and spellbreaker. I take sun and moon style, might makes right, axe mastery and magebane tether. For utility, kick and bull charge for cc, attacker's insight and peak performance. I must say, it's a wonderful build. Appart from berserker, it's the best as far as damage are concerned. Along with incredible sustain, good cc, dodging and use of full counter. Brawler's recovery help for conditions. For the heal, i prefer healing signet. However, this build has only one weakness: no protection against cc. So use dodging and full conter wisely. Guard counter is quite nice too to survive but cost you a slight bit of damage (totally worth it in my opinion).

 

- gear: I used to believe in the marauder gear, but it appears to me that vitality is not that useful when you consider the amount of healing. If I could remake my gear, i would rather go for berserker and knight/cavalier (because a bit of toughness is important). So, i suggest you don't go full marauder. For runes, strength or fury might be great (personnal thougts. I personnaly use rune of durability cause i am a weird warrior.)

 

 

Use: once you master the rotation, it's exceptionnal. Keep peak performance up, spam full counter and burst (they work together), use axe 4 and 5 after a physical for mass destruction, remember axe/dagger can heal you a lot, don't forget cyclone axe for fury...and here ou go!

 

For a long range weapon, unfortunately, they don't work well at all with spellbreaker. Longbow is mainly condi and don't have cc, and rifle is...well...terrible. Unless you love those weapons (then i advise you to use them), accept that you will go melee.

 

I hope this could be useful to you. Have a good day.

[AncientYs.8613]

Don't forget that mending as a healing skill is also really really valuable in certain conditions heavy situations because besides being on a fairly low cooldown (5 seconds less than healing signet) it also cures 3 conditions straight up. So pair this with a stun break skill like "shake it off" that also cures 3 conditions and you got 6 insta-cured conditions :>

[Vittich.4853]

I've tried classic warrior now with full berserker gear, axe/axe and greatsword.

Also i've taken the defence skill-line instead of spellbreaker.

In general the gameplay felt a bit more smooth now maybe because it's a bit less micromanagement.

 

Anyways i'm still wondering if this is the best i could do.

 

Most of the time i spent doing the HOT storyline and dealing with champions and veterans in the jungle (mostly while events multiple of them).

And i need to admit: Some of them are really hard-hitting. Even with dodging and blocking some champions killed me way too fast only with autoattacks. I know - if i spent more time understanding my class this will improve..

 

.

.

So my further questions:

 

-> **All of my questions (except the last 2 questions) are meant to be with an axe/axe + greatsword combination.**

 

1. I've taken a look at marauder armor (just in theory) and the health improvement wasn't really huge while loosing damage.

It seems health improvements aren't the thing i am looking for due to the healing won't increase - so in longer fights it's barely nonsense to choose health because it doesn't give me a benefit despite of having a bit more buffer at the beginning..

Are there other options? Toughness for example? Then the healing amount would remain the same but the health gained is worth more? What kind of armor could i choose in this regard?

 

2. Are there any weapon sigils with a healing improvement or blocking that could actually help me with champion events / champions and harder mobs? Even if they are not meta for raiding.

Once i had sigils with for example might for critting or quickness on weapon-swap (which was kinda cool in combination with greatsword-2)

What do you think? 5% Damage sound nice on the paper but is this really worth it as long as i'm not a Raid-DPS standing 10 minutes behind a boss?

 

3. Also concerning sigils: What do you think of lifestealing sigils (on weapon swap or on crit)?

 

4. If i would run condi berserker would that solve my problems? I would run longbow + sword/torch with viper gear.

Are you able to kite as condi-beserker? is the damage still ok on champions and larger mobs? (despite of having a ramp up time)

 

5. (this question is completely off-topic AND pretty noobish - so sorry!): I saw that armors with multiple stats have more stat points in total (actually i saw that from the beginning but now i saw how much it actually is).

For example berseker amulet offers 373 stat points in total, marauder/viper 408 and the celestial one 504. I know i am not playing a guardian therefore not all stats are really helpful - or is there a viable build where they could?

If it's not more than 30% damage-loss i would take a look. For example fully celestial and longbow+axe/axe?

For Raids, large meta-event champions and group content i would keep my full dps equip in my bag all the time...

 

 

Again thank you very much in advance and sorry for the questions i have...

[Lametoile.7394]

> @"Vittich.4853" said:

 

>

> 1. I've taken a look at marauder armor (just in theory) and the health improvement wasn't really huge while loosing damage.

> It seems health improvements aren't the thing i am looking for due to the healing won't increase - so in longer fights it's barely nonsense to choose health because it doesn't give me a benefit despite of having a bit more buffer at the beginning..

> Are there other options? Toughness for example? Then the healing amount would remain the same but the health gained is worth more? What kind of armor could i choose in this regard?

>

> 2. Are there any weapon sigils with a healing improvement or blocking that could actually help me with champion events / champions and harder mobs? Even if they are not meta for raiding.

> Once i had sigils with for example might for critting or quickness on weapon-swap (which was kinda cool in combination with greatsword-2)

> What do you think? 5% Damage sound nice on the paper but is this really worth it as long as i'm not a Raid-DPS standing 10 minutes behind a boss?

>

> 3. Also concerning sigils: What do you think of lifestealing sigils (on weapon swap or on crit)?

>

 

Re

 

1: As I said, I'm not sure marauder is worth it. I suggest you take berserker gear with some parts of knight/cavalier in order to improve toughness. Damage reduction synergizes well with high healing, and that should help against mobs that hit really hard. I believe in toughness (and if you use armored attack, that's a gain).

 

2: I'm hardly an expert on sigils. I take the +5% damage and +7% critical hit chance to be cool on this. Damaging fasters is always useful against small mobs. That's less effective against champions however. But sigils are not really meant to enhance survivability anyway.

 

3: lifestealing sigils surely bring you a bit more healing (~100/s if lucky). However, they brings significantly less damage compared to sigils of force for example.

 

Thinks about runes too, I think there are some that can bring help for survivability.

If you want to increase your survivability, i can only advise you to practice. Observe your ennemies, know when to dodge and dodge alot (greatsword 3 is really helpful for that).

By the way, heart of thorns maps are particularly hard. Personnaly it still happens that I get defeated by random group of mobs. So don't worry too much abut this.

 

Furthermore, excuse me if this is the build you linked (my network don't allow me to go on build editor) but what traits do you take? That's essential too.

 

Have a good day

[TotallyNotJazzie.1493]

Only other advice i’d give: Just remember that a dead player does no DPS. Don’t go full zerk to max your DPS output if you’re new to high end content and what to do dodge etc as it’s an easy way to be constantly downed and trigger toxicity.

 

Warriors are amazing fun and I hope you enjoy the class.

[Vittich.4853]

Greetings!

 

Again thanks for all replies.

 

Giving an update to my current situation i really need to say: Warrior is fantastic and it's really cool that you could change so many things and pick up the best for each situation.

 

The only thing what's a bit sad sometimes is the fact viable range attacks are really limited to condi-Warrior.. but i'll try that out in the future. (i really dislike the rifle..)

 

Still i have major problems with finding the best build mostly due to changing weapons.

I used:

axe/axe + mace/mace

axe/dagger + mace/axe

Axe/axe + GS

Axe/dagger + dagger/axe

 

Of course i tested shield variants too but i kinda feel i want to take "shield master" and "might makes right" then.. which leads to taking a GS permanently .. and no offhand axe (which is a no-go for me).

 

.

.

What i don't want to change:

- Berserker armour

- 5% dmg + 7% crit sigils

- having 2 Axes ( Axe/Axe + X or x/Axe + Axe/x) mostly because i really love the axe playstyle

 

.

Now some more questions:

 

.

.

1. If i'm really interested in having 2 axes (in any combination) what weapon is the best for general situations in PVE (Open World, Story Mode and lower (easy) raids/dungeons/fractals)

Axe/Axe + Mace/mace or GS? or a combination like Axe/dagger + Mace(Dagger)/Axe?

 

Mace/mace feels like really good CC but a huge dmg-loss if swapping to it (and thus needing to stay a few seconds with them)

 

Axe/Dagger is a really good single-target burst (and healing though "Sun&Moon") but it feels you need to swap your weapons on cooldown which is kinda uncomfortable..

 

GS has really nice mobility but it feels like i need to choose between axe/axe and GS as primary.. and i would ever choose axe/axe (due to personal preference), also 100b is really annoying for a notorious jumping/moving person (even if it's not needed......).

 

So- What weapon combination shall i use?

 

.

.

2. Spellbreaker, Arms, Defence or Berserker?

Strength and Discipline are fix.

 

I know this is a weird question but i'm really wondering what combination with discipline & strength would be the best for a playstyle with 2 axes in it.

 

What really is of concern for me:

 

Spellbreaker

+ really nice blocking for defense + offense

+ rather ok selfheal with offhand dagger + "sun & moon"

+ more crit dmg

+ a possible boon removal (which is not required for the things i do)

- To gain maximum stacks of "berserkers power" you need to swap weapons often.. and i hate to do this as a fix rotation

- burst skills are weaker and often it seems like an adrenaline waste because i use far less than i gain

 

Arms

+ Easier to have permanent Fury

+ less Signet CD (i use signet of rage barely on cd)

+ Vulnerability

+ more attack speed for my axes

- The condition bonuses doesn't help me

 

Defense

+ a bit more tankyness (thus i must admit that if i am so dumb and don't walk out of a champion AOE i am dead despite of having chosen defense... so i am not sure if it's really worth the trade if i anyways try to not get hit at all)

+ a bit more power (thus lower damage gain than the other variants) or lower CD for mace (which is ok if axe/axe

+ mace/mace?) or a short defense cooldown after loosing life..

+ a bit selfhealing (which is still better than no selfheal at all)

- it seems like this is of course a way to gain defense (like the name tells) but i'm not sure if it's worth the trade..

 

Berserker

+- i have no idea how power-berserker affects my gameplay because i haven't skilled it yet

+ a great selfheal with the ability of healing to fulllife while doing AOE/dmg in general

+ More crit damage or a life-saver

+ ?

- ?

 

So the question is:

What would be the best?

 

.

.

3. Runes

I have chosen scholar runes as recommended but i am not that happy with it.. mostly because i am not above 90% health most of the time while soloing..

So what do you think of the following runes (keep in mind i play with axes mostly)

 

Scholar

+ Good damage and ferocity is always nice with such a high critrate

- I am nearly in every fight at below 90% health.. always too much life to heal and too less to gain the bonus..

 

Strenght

+ Might duration will help me with keeping might

- With 2 Axes i rather have Fury than might (all the time!)...

 

Spellbreaker

+ more total dmg (nearly no enemies i fight have boons)

- With so much critchance ferocity would have a higher impact than precision..

 

Rage

+ Fury will be definitely up all the time

+ more total dmg due to this

+ a lot of ferocity

- I guess i have too much fury then?

 

So what do you think would be the best option?

 

 

And again: Thank you very much for reading and helping :)

 

 

[Mikeskies.1536]

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vJAQNAR3Xj8cQdHW2BWdAnIWICMjAQEYAg/jLyPZlvwTIGA-jBCBQBlRZQe0NEgLCQlU3hkKBxy+jSPA8EAGlKBzDCAWkArqUVVVSBExyI-e

[Lametoile.7394]

Okay, many things here, so let's go slowly:

 

1) If you like axes, i personnaly think that the best choice is dagger/axe + axe/dagger (then if you have axe mastery you have the ferocity bonsu with the two set), mostly because of the extraordinary healing from sun and moon style. If you don't take spellbreaker (but i don't advise you too) then i personnaly favour the maces, combined with arms, for cc and defense (maces are actually quite good when combined with dual wielding, the auto-attack is much smoother)

Also: forget about the shield: it's too dependant on shield master but defense is not worth it

 

2) About spellbreaker, you forget to mention magebane tether, whereas is obviously one its huge advantage (especially when combined with strength).

Personnaly, it's about chosing between damage and survival. But though weapons can give you a bit more damage, spellbreaker will give you a great defensive advantage

 

Also, if you like maces: recently I turned to a build strength/arms/spellbreaker, with axe/dagger and mace/mace. Granted , you lose discipline, but the damage, cc, defense and sustain are all very high and it's quite fun to play.

 

A note about fury, since you seems concerned about it: do you use signet of rage? If that's the case, in the worst case scenario (which means the buidl without the arms traits) you have this + cyclone axe. I say, if you activate cyclone axe often enough (like two times within 15s), you can have it permanently but it can be a bit annoying

 

Which lead us to the third point:

 

3) You have slight fury issue without Arms. Yet, i think as far as you're concerned, rune of the spellbreaker is the best for offense. Rune of strength could be great as well (you gain some stacks through eviscerate and magebane thether, so that's useful.)

If you don't go spellbreaker, well there is the risk of fighting ennemies with boons and no possibility to remove them. Rune of rage seems the safest choice then (but yes you will have too much fury)

 

Hope it served. Have a good day

 

 

 

 

 

 

[RedShark.9548]

> @"Lametoile.7394" said:

> Okay, many things here, so let's go slowly:

>

> 1) If you like axes, i personnaly think that the best choice is dagger/axe + axe/dagger (then if you have axe mastery you have the ferocity bonsu with the two set), mostly because of the extraordinary healing from sun and moon style. If you don't take spellbreaker (but i don't advise you too) then i personnaly favour the maces, combined with arms, for cc and defense (maces are actually quite good when combined with dual wielding, the auto-attack is much smoother)

> Also: forget about the shield: it's too dependant on shield master but defense is not worth it

>

> 2) About spellbreaker, you forget to mention magebane tether, whereas is obviously one its huge advantage (especially when combined with strength).

> Personnaly, it's about chosing between damage and survival. But though weapons can give you a bit more damage, spellbreaker will give you a great defensive advantage

>

> Also, if you like maces: recently I turned to a build strength/arms/spellbreaker, with axe/dagger and mace/mace. Granted , you lose discipline, but the damage, cc, defense and sustain are all very high and it's quite fun to play.

>

> A note about fury, since you seems concerned about it: do you use signet of rage? If that's the case, in the worst case scenario (which means the buidl without the arms traits) you have this + cyclone axe. I say, if you activate cyclone axe often enough (like two times within 15s), you can have it permanently but it can be a bit annoying

>

> Which lead us to the third point:

>

> 3) You have slight fury issue without Arms. Yet, i think as far as you're concerned, rune of the spellbreaker is the best for offense. Rune of strength could be great as well (you gain some stacks through eviscerate and magebane thether, so that's useful.)

> If you don't go spellbreaker, well there is the risk of fighting ennemies with boons and no possibility to remove them. Rune of rage seems the safest choice then (but yes you will have too much fury)

>

> Hope it served. Have a good day

>

>

>

>

>

>

 

magebane tether with strength rune doesnt just give a few stacks, it almost alone lets you keep 25stacks and in pve adds aditional 10%dmg, also they patched it so that you only need 1 axe to get the full bonus 300 ferocity, happened may 16. 2017

 

i personally play axe/mace and greatword in most pve situations (dont do it often tho)

with axe for the dmg, mace for cc and fast vulnerability and gs mainly for movementspeed, also gs f1 on <50% health targets. with bullscharge, full counter and mace 5 you do some serious dmg to breakbars and while soloing champs in open world i didnt encounter one whose breakbar i didnt drain with those 3 hits, magebane tether singlehandedly 25 stacks and if you need sustain you take mmr for dodges and heal, each tether tick are 399 heal+healing sig another 344 per second, otherwise berserkers power obviously for those juicy 21% more dmg

[Thorfinnr Sleggja.1209]

I have both Zerker and Marauder Armors. I use Zerker weapons. I used only Exotic Armor and Weapons in the build editor to keep it simple. Obviously Ascended versions as available would be better.

 

This is a core warrior build I use. The empty utility slot is up to you based on what you need in any given PvE situation. It does not have a range component. I di use a trait and a weapon rune to help do a small amount of condi removal. It is not max damage, but it rates pretty high, with lots of burst recovery and bonuses.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vJMQNAR3JjMdQlHY7BciYoHo02o3TjbOOhs3CgPICA-jxSBQBa4IAEQ1fKiyDUobIiKxox+DIw8E4MxAgHAAIOIAR4CAKBBA-e

 

This is a Berserker Varient. The "Savage Instinct" trait can be changed to "Smash Brawler" as needed. Again, no range here.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vJMQNAR3ZnMdAVeg9kC2eAElileA796mdHvKtheXawIA8BiAA-jxSBQB0Y/BwZiRDHBAA8AAQg5JQcQAioSsio8Igq/EhLAoEEF6GAA-e

 

Zerker with a Bow. This is just one version I use. In PvE I remain fairly fluid with weapon usage and Trait assignment. This could probably be better, but it seems to getthe job done when I need range.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vJMQJARTnMdAVeg9kC2eAElileALJKMF+evX3s741IA8BiAA-jhSBQBoQXQEViBgnAA4MxgAzTN7QAEQ1fKiyDas/QEuAgSQA-e

 

Play a lot, change things up, experiment and go with what best suits your playstyle. The links above are just examples of load-outs I personally use at different times.

 

Have Fun!

[alcopaul.2156]

full zerks/assassins, positioning, evading/dodging, predicting and countering mob spikes, going to the healer team mate if you need to.