Guild Wars 2

Hi all, just wondering what everyone’s opinions are on the weakest weapon set for each class.

Here’s mine:

Warrior: Rifle
Guardian: Shield (ironically)
Necromancer: Dagger + Axe (power sets need to be improved in some way)
Ranger: OH axe, whirling defense could use some love
Engineer: Don’t really use weapons, but OH pistol I’d say
Ele: Pretty balanced to me here, all weapons + attunements have a purpose
Mesmer: These all look good to me, they all have their purposes. I see less mesmers running OH sword though.
Thief: P/P obviously.

Necros Dagger and Axe are getting plenty of use. Power Necros are nothing to scuff at.

Dirame.8521:

Necros Dagger and Axe are getting plenty of use. Power Necros are nothing to scuff at.

If we are talking about pve, necro mainhand dagger is good, but it can still use a faster cast time on dagger #2. On the otherhand, in PvP necro mainhand dagger doesn’t see a lot of play (once again buff dagger #2). Off hand dagger is good for blinding and condi transfer. Necro Axe auto attack is mediocre at best.

Ranger: Shortbow. No reason to use in condi builds or power builds.

Ranger: Greatsword. Fills the same DPS role as sword at 20% less damage and about the same utility.

Jelzouki.4128:

Dirame.8521:

Necros Dagger and Axe are getting plenty of use. Power Necros are nothing to scuff at.

If we are talking about pve, necro mainhand dagger is good, but it can still use a faster cast time on dagger #2. On the otherhand, in PvP necro mainhand dagger doesn’t see a lot of play (once again buff dagger #2). Off hand dagger is good for blinding and condi transfer. Necro Axe auto attack is mediocre at best.

Necro mainhand dagger does not see play in PvP? What other weapon is a power necro gonna use? You are very wrong here

Dagger is not perfect but it is strong – as far as I know it has the strongest auto attack in the game which is enough of a reason to bring it plus the best life force gainer

Dagger #2 sucks we all know this – but when you are kiting and need some health this skill works the buffs weren’t amazing but it is indeed improved

Dagger #3 is pretty boss IMO – just needs a cooldown reduction or cast time reduction or something but Necros do not have a lot of CC on weapon sets so it is good for setting up anything you want as a power necro

The Axe still needs help but the auto attack is a lot faster and fluid – you can stack over 10 vuln pretty quickly now

Axe#2 is good for baiting dodges pretty much I prefer you dodge this so I can catch you with some life blasts later

Axe#3 is pure awesomeness nothing to talk about here

If any Necro weapon needs help it is the focus IMO

Eventually every weapon on every class will be listed as weak here by someone

Warrior: Main hand Mace/ Rifle
Guardian: Torch/Shield
Ranger: Shortbow
Ele: Scepter? (I know its great for stacking might but all skills blow damage wise and they end up using conjures)
Engineer: Pistol/Pistol ( the only reason to use a pistol is to have access to the more useful shield in pvp)
Necromancer: Axe ( i know it was buffed recently but it’s still pretty weak for a single target weapon)
Mesmer: Scepter/Torch
Thief: I don’t think they have any terrible ones as most weapons have their uses with the right build/content type.

Mesmer offhand sword is part of PVE meta, highest damage phantasm
Ranger offhand axe is as well the 4 is added damage, nothing to complain about, whirling axes a nice bonus if extra reflect is needed.
Necro dagger is again PVE meta, though yeah, who PVE’s on necro, the axe is part of the DS build, and I use that in WvW with much success, sure staff and DS are primary but the axe surely comes in handy as well.

Basically at least those weapons have a purpose, unlike say guard Shield which is pretty much used for griefing in EoTM and that’s about it.

@Vizardlorde, Ele scepter is amazing in PVE for the blasts, really amazing, but then it’s also part of the burst rotation some Ele’s use in PVP/WvW where they can down someone in the blink of an eye so… /shrug.

Necro axe isn’t solely underpowered because of its poor power scaling, it is underpowered because it is condi/power, and there is currently no way to efficiently build for a condition dependent power build, as well as vulnerability itself being really poor compared to the defensive boons it has to deal with. 25 stacks of a very difficult to maintain condition are more than nullified by a single boon which at least two classes can have 100% up time on.

Conncept.7638:

Necro axe isn’t solely underpowered because of its poor power scaling, it is underpowered because it is condi/power, and there is no way to efficiently build for both condition duration and power, as well as vulnerability itself being really poor compared to the defensive boons it has to deal with. 25 stacks of a very difficult to maintain condition are more than nullified by a single boon which at least two classes can have up at all times.

It’s not condi/power. It applies no damaging conditions. It’s weak because it deals weak damage and has little utility.

Roe.3679:

Conncept.7638:

Necro axe isn’t solely underpowered because of its poor power scaling, it is underpowered because it is condi/power, and there is no way to efficiently build for both condition duration and power, as well as vulnerability itself being really poor compared to the defensive boons it has to deal with. 25 stacks of a very difficult to maintain condition are more than nullified by a single boon which at least two classes can have up at all times.

It’s not condi/power. It applies no damaging conditions. It’s weak because it deals weak damage and has little utility.

I didn’t specify condition damage, the axe is meant to be indirect and attrition damage, relying on vulnerability from its auto and retaliation. Except because of the eternally poor acquisition of condition duration it can’t maintain a reasonable amount of stacks, not to mention the poor performance of vulnerability even if maintained, or worse yet the impossibility of obtaining both condition and boon duration anywhere but with traits.

While earth on focus for ele is quite strong, every other attunement is vastly weak. Some nerfs to earth with some nice buffs to other attunements need to be worked with.

Conncept.7638:

Roe.3679:

Conncept.7638:

Necro axe isn’t solely underpowered because of its poor power scaling, it is underpowered because it is condi/power, and there is no way to efficiently build for both condition duration and power, as well as vulnerability itself being really poor compared to the defensive boons it has to deal with. 25 stacks of a very difficult to maintain condition are more than nullified by a single boon which at least two classes can have up at all times.

It’s not condi/power. It applies no damaging conditions. It’s weak because it deals weak damage and has little utility.

I didn’t specify condition damage, the axe is meant to be indirect and attrition damage, relying on vulnerability from its auto and retaliation. Except because of the eternally poor acquisition of condition duration it can’t maintain a reasonable amount of stacks, not to mention the poor performance of vulnerability even if maintained.

I see where you’re coming from but I will disagree

Condition Duration should not be the problem considering the Spite line is Power/Con Duration which is also the trait line containing Axe Mastery so you should be invested there in Axe builds

Stacking Vuln is actually not terrible on the Axe anymore due to the much faster/fluid animation of Rending Claws

The actual damage on paper of the axe is pretty good the problem comes in actual combat – Axe is simply too slow for the fast paced action of GW2 and relying on a long channel Ghastly Claws for damage is unacceptable – also why would you tie the burst skill and the sustain skill all in one – I think the auto attack should be the LF generator

Warrior: Rifle/Offhand Axe
Engi: Offhand Pistol
Guardian: Staff (No damage)
Ranger: Shortbow/Mainhand Axe/Greatsword
Elementalist: -
Thief: Mainhand Pistol
Mesmer: Staff/Scepter
Necro: Scepter/Mainhand Axe

Gabe, why do you consider Guardian and Mesmer Staff to be weak? Is it the weapons are truly weak or is it more along the lines of the weapons not having enough to offer during the 10 seconds you swap to them while you wait to swap back out?

Both weapons are enormously strong and are not uncommon at all. But they are both more support oriented and suffer from any role outside of that imo. Is this the issue you have? Lack of offensive value?

Necro: Axe should be a 900 range weapon, and the damage needs buff (compare to other single target range weapons like ranger longbow, or mesmer greatsword and you realize how bad it is). Focus needs to have a lower cast time on the 5 skill. Dagger 2 skill needs to have its cast time reduced to 2.5 seconds at most.

Thief: P/P is very meh, it either needs to be a condition set or a power set, currently it is neither. D/D needs to have 3 and 4 skills reworked to be power skills.

Engineer: Pistol, and rifle auto should be buffed and IP should be removed.

Ranger: Honestly the only good weapons are sword, dagger, longbow, and torch. Everything else is kind of weak.

Mesmer: Scepter isn’t designed well, it isn’t really op or up, but clunky due to auto and 3 skill.

Guardian: Shield is very poor.

Elementalist: Focus and Scepter could use some small changes for non pve combat.

Warrior: Rifle seems pretty bad, mace mainhand is kind of weak as well although people make it work with the burst skill.

Narkodx.1472:

Conncept.7638:

Roe.3679:

Conncept.7638:

Necro axe isn’t solely underpowered because of its poor power scaling, it is underpowered because it is condi/power, and there is no way to efficiently build for both condition duration and power, as well as vulnerability itself being really poor compared to the defensive boons it has to deal with. 25 stacks of a very difficult to maintain condition are more than nullified by a single boon which at least two classes can have up at all times.

It’s not condi/power. It applies no damaging conditions. It’s weak because it deals weak damage and has little utility.

I didn’t specify condition damage, the axe is meant to be indirect and attrition damage, relying on vulnerability from its auto and retaliation. Except because of the eternally poor acquisition of condition duration it can’t maintain a reasonable amount of stacks, not to mention the poor performance of vulnerability even if maintained.

I see where you’re coming from but I will disagree

Condition Duration should not be the problem considering the Spite line is Power/Con Duration which is also the trait line containing Axe Mastery so you should be invested there in Axe builds

Stacking Vuln is actually not terrible on the Axe anymore due to the much faster/fluid animation of Rending Claws

The actual damage on paper of the axe is pretty good the problem comes in actual combat – Axe is simply too slow for the fast paced action of GW2 and relying on a long channel Ghastly Claws for damage is unacceptable – also why would you tie the burst skill and the sustain skill all in one – I think the auto attack should be the LF generator

Having abilities slower than the standard pace of combat isn’t detrimental, it is both a balance tool and a deliberate gameplay aesthetic, because they ideally should have sufficient utility and/or power to offset that slower pace. The warrior longbow and hammer are two of the class’s slower weapons, and yet create one of the most powerful combinations in the game. Elementalist staff is slower and yet incredibly powerful when properly used. It’s true the necromancer axe has that same slower pace, but the problem lies in that it has neither the utility nor power to justify that pace, nor any way of building to take advantage of its strengths or shore up its faults.

This might be my top 10:

1. Shield (Guardian) – The weakest weapon in the game in any mode, the #4 is useless (even more on sPvP) and the #5 is very weak;
2. Torch (Guardian) – the #5 is useless;
3. Axe (Necro) – I don’t see a viable way to use it on PvE or PvP/WvW;
4. Hammer (Guardian) – The only reason to use it is for #2, #3 and #5. Both #1 last chain (too slow) and #4 are very weak (in my opinion the #4 is only to troll people);
5. Rifle (Warrior) – Does LB have more damage than Rifle?;
6. Warhorn (Ranger) – both skills are weak (too much CD on #5 for its effect);
7. Pistol (Mesmer) – I don’t know if its is really weak, but I find Focus more useful with similar effects;
8. Scepter (Elementalist) – It is only viable on PvE;
9. Mace (Guardian) – The last hit from auto atk and the #2 have too much cast time.
10. Sword (Guardian) – The #3 is useless.

For engineer and thief I cant speak much becouse I don’t have them on max level. But I find Rifle from engineer rather weak for some reason.

lordhelmos.7623:

Ranger: OH axe, whirling defense could use some love

Oh axe is amazing. #4 deals huge amount of dmg, #5 is great reflect. Next to the reflect, or of nothing is reflected, you will still have dealt a nice amount of aoe dmg

Ele- Almost everything is fairly good and performs a role.
Engy- OH Pistol has become fairly redundant with Incendiary powder and balth runes. Flamethrower is still fairly weak as well (counting kits as weapons, as that’s what the devs do)
Guardian- Shield and Torch are both fairly lackluster. The first because it does so little (protection can be better maintained with hammer, ranged reflect is better than blocking range), the second because conditions in general are weak for a guard and burning has decent uptime.
Mesmer- OH Sword is simply a less useful pistol with a block.
Necro- Is fairly good, but needs fine tuning on dagger and axe. Dagger 2 cast time could be shortened.
Ranger- GS is viewed as the weakest currently (though this may or may not be accurate depending on who you ask), MH axe suffers from being a hybrid weapon, and shortbow is less popular than it was (though still good in my opinion)
Thief-P/P. Evade or super speed while channel 3? Needs some sort of defensive mechanism.
Warrior- Rifle, OH axe, and MH mace. Rifle was buffed out of being hybrid on its auto, but isn’t very strong overall. MH mace is almost only used for its f1, despite having decent damage on its main attack chain. OH axe is just overall lacking.

IMO

#1: Guardian Shield
#2: Warrior OH Axe
#3: Ranger Warhorn
#4: Engi OH Pistol
#5 Ranger Shortbow

Honourable mentions include Warrior Rifle, Guardian Torch, Guardian Mace.

I don’t think Necro Axe is that weak. Ghastly claws is a decent attack, I consider it just a worse version of Rapid Fire (can’t be that bad). People are guaranteed to blow dodges plus it gives you lifeforce and it has a low cooldown. What more utility do you want from Axe when it has Unholy Feast. It AoE cripples, removes boons and gives you retaliation. The auto attack isn’t amazing but I would use axe just for these two skills alone. Plus with dagger autos you got to be in melee range. It isn’t bad in a power necro dagger/warhorn + axe/dagger build.

Ah, oh my. Some of these choices I wouldn’t have imagined…Mesmer off-hand sword? Probably the most efficient phantasm there is and not horrible recharge. Elementalist Focus? Most people agree that Ele’s weapons feel balanced in use though, and Focus is my favorite ele weapon, I just wish some of the water skills were better. Ranger GS? I suppose it’s not as powerful as LB but it’s still got some decent utility and movement…it’s saved me too many times.

For the professions I play the most:
Ranger – Shortbow…how you’ve fallen.
Elementalist – Scepter…Fire’s got the strongest might stacking potential balanced by the crappiest auto-attack, Water’s got possible the strongest yet clunkiest heals balanced by the crappiest everything else, Air’s got instant skills with limited application (pop into air then pop out) and Earth is decent but semi-redundant (more blind and instant don’t hurt). It needs some help with some of its skills…
Mesmer – I haven’t touched my mesmer in a while. Is torch still crappy? I know it’s got a blast finisher and stealth but beyond that, the most useless phantasm.
Warrior – Off-hand axe…do people actually use this? No one cared about the fury and using the skills only ate into dps.
Engineer – Off-hand pistol…because I used the other weapons and liked them all. I haven’t got much mileage out of the extra conditions from pistol though.
Thief – …..hmmm, I want to say pistols but I do love playing on a condition spec every now and then. Nah, they’re all good here

killahmayne.9518:

I don’t think Necro Axe is that weak. Ghastly claws is a decent attack, I consider it just a worse version of Rapid Fire (can’t be that bad). People are guaranteed to blow dodges plus it gives you lifeforce and it has a low cooldown. What more utility do you want from Axe when it has Unholy Feast. It AoE cripples, removes boons and gives you retaliation. The auto attack isn’t amazing but I would use axe just for these two skills alone. Plus with dagger autos you got to be in melee range. It isn’t bad in a power necro dagger/warhorn + axe/dagger build.

Nercomancer axe also has the handy ranged, but not projectile so it ignore reflection, possible the set is balanced around that fact.

killahmayne.9518:

I don’t think Necro Axe is that weak. Ghastly claws is a decent attack, I consider it just a worse version of Rapid Fire (can’t be that bad). People are guaranteed to blow dodges plus it gives you lifeforce and it has a low cooldown. What more utility do you want from Axe when it has Unholy Feast. It AoE cripples, removes boons and gives you retaliation. The auto attack isn’t amazing but I would use axe just for these two skills alone. Plus with dagger autos you got to be in melee range. It isn’t bad in a power necro dagger/warhorn + axe/dagger build.

A worse version of rapid fire, that is a gigantic understatement. Far lower damage (Granted that is somewhat offset by lifeblast), 600-900 less range, and can be cancelled if your opponent walks through you. Unholy Feast is an awesome skill, only reason I would take axe. The auto attack is terrible. Low damage and it doesn’t stack vulnerability quick enough to get good stacks on anyone with cleansing (If it stacked 2 stacks per hit for half the duration it would be better, but still weak). The auto attack is objectively bad, and the 2 skill is only really good at building life force.

Not sure anything is as bad as the Guardian Shield.
The Ranger offhand axe is pretty bad too.

Those are the only weapons I would classify as bad. There are obviously some not as good as others, eg Necro axe and Guardian Torch, but nothing as bad as these two.

Jelzouki.4128:

Dirame.8521:

Necros Dagger and Axe are getting plenty of use. Power Necros are nothing to scuff at.

If we are talking about pve, necro mainhand dagger is good, but it can still use a faster cast time on dagger #2. On the otherhand, in PvP necro mainhand dagger doesn’t see a lot of play (once again buff dagger #2). Off hand dagger is good for blinding and condi transfer. Necro Axe auto attack is mediocre at best.

Power Necros definitely use Dagger Warhorn + Axe Focus.

…and they use them well.

Warrior: Rifle, Offhand Axe (?)
Ranger: Offhand Axe, Warhorn
Mesmer: Offhand Sword
Guardian: Shield (?)
Necromancer: Focus
Engineer: ???
Thief: D/D, P/P
Elementalist: Scepter/Dagger

Atherakhia.4086:

Ranger: Greatsword. Fills the same DPS role as sword at 20% less damage and about the same utility.

On the other hand, GS is at least a functional weapon without any of the jury-rigging required to make the sword marginally usable.

Bran.7425:

killahmayne.9518:

I don’t think Necro Axe is that weak. Ghastly claws is a decent attack, I consider it just a worse version of Rapid Fire (can’t be that bad). People are guaranteed to blow dodges plus it gives you lifeforce and it has a low cooldown. What more utility do you want from Axe when it has Unholy Feast. It AoE cripples, removes boons and gives you retaliation. The auto attack isn’t amazing but I would use axe just for these two skills alone. Plus with dagger autos you got to be in melee range. It isn’t bad in a power necro dagger/warhorn + axe/dagger build.

Nercomancer axe also has the handy ranged, but not projectile so it ignore reflection, possible the set is balanced around that fact.

Also, aside from not being reflectable, it can’t be bodyblocked by minions, illusions, turrets etc. It doesn’t have the ‘ideal’ range that other ranged weapons have, but you do land all of your damage and it can’t be reflected. As a PvP Power Necro, Axe is hardly ‘useless’ as is being claimed here. Also, for Power Necro, Axe can easily get up to 12-17 stacks of Vuln to set up other bursts.

Maybe not easily for that much Vuln I guess, but in team fights Vuln is always good.

I feel like the nearly unanimous placement of guardian shield at the top of the list should speak for itself.

Anet pls

Warrior: Rifle (why they took the bleed away I’ll never know)
Guardian: Scepter #2 should be a symbol
Necromancer: I dunno…
Ranger: shortbow. I dunno if it’s a condi weapon or what…
Engineer: It’s all good.
Ele: scepter is pretty lame. most of the earth attacks nee love.
Mesmer: it needs a 1-handed condi weapon, scepter doesn’t cut it.
Thief: seems fine to me

Eeh, you can’t make a list having “weakest weapons” and not specifying what game-mode.

PvE? WvW? PvP? …

Anyways, I’m gonna comment on the class I know the most: To all those saying about ranger shortbow/GS/Axe, they are far from weak.

Shortbow is very decent for condi build as secondary weapon.
Greatsword is excellent for open world since its basically pure power weapon with one of the best blocks in-game. It’s also very good in dungeons when fighting many targets at once.
Axe: main hand is still very good for condi builds especiallly in sPvP. Off hand is the current default meta… you can’t really say it’s bad… lol. It also has the ranger’s highest damage ability…

The real weak weapon for rangers is Warhorn. The skill #4 is a waste of time and dps, while the skill #5 has an insanely lond cd for buffs, a decent party will have anyways.
For PvP, skill #4 remains useless, and it’s actually dangerous since if the enemy gets retal. then RIP. While #5 is kinda waste since you should be running Rampage as one for furry/stab

zapv.8051:

killahmayne.9518:

I don’t think Necro Axe is that weak. Ghastly claws is a decent attack, I consider it just a worse version of Rapid Fire (can’t be that bad). People are guaranteed to blow dodges plus it gives you lifeforce and it has a low cooldown. What more utility do you want from Axe when it has Unholy Feast. It AoE cripples, removes boons and gives you retaliation. The auto attack isn’t amazing but I would use axe just for these two skills alone. Plus with dagger autos you got to be in melee range. It isn’t bad in a power necro dagger/warhorn + axe/dagger build.

A worse version of rapid fire, that is a gigantic understatement. Far lower damage (Granted that is somewhat offset by lifeblast), 600-900 less range, and can be cancelled if your opponent walks through you. Unholy Feast is an awesome skill, only reason I would take axe. The auto attack is terrible. Low damage and it doesn’t stack vulnerability quick enough to get good stacks on anyone with cleansing (If it stacked 2 stacks per hit for half the duration it would be better, but still weak). The auto attack is objectively bad, and the 2 skill is only really good at building life force.

Hmmmm let’s see ...

#1: Can’t be reflected
#2: Grants Lifeforce
#3: Can’t be body blocked

Yes the axe auto is weak, but tbh that doesn’t really matter when you can use the #2 and #3, either switch to dagger for autos or go into deathshroud for life blasts.

Axe does it’s job, an easy way to gain lifeforce, decent damage and an AoE cripple/Boon removal/Retaliation.

And even if Axe is weak by your standards, there are plenty of other weapons I can think of that are way weaker.

killahmayne.9518:

zapv.8051:

killahmayne.9518:

I don’t think Necro Axe is that weak. Ghastly claws is a decent attack, I consider it just a worse version of Rapid Fire (can’t be that bad). People are guaranteed to blow dodges plus it gives you lifeforce and it has a low cooldown. What more utility do you want from Axe when it has Unholy Feast. It AoE cripples, removes boons and gives you retaliation. The auto attack isn’t amazing but I would use axe just for these two skills alone. Plus with dagger autos you got to be in melee range. It isn’t bad in a power necro dagger/warhorn + axe/dagger build.

A worse version of rapid fire, that is a gigantic understatement. Far lower damage (Granted that is somewhat offset by lifeblast), 600-900 less range, and can be cancelled if your opponent walks through you. Unholy Feast is an awesome skill, only reason I would take axe. The auto attack is terrible. Low damage and it doesn’t stack vulnerability quick enough to get good stacks on anyone with cleansing (If it stacked 2 stacks per hit for half the duration it would be better, but still weak). The auto attack is objectively bad, and the 2 skill is only really good at building life force.

Hmmmm let’s see …

#1: Can’t be reflected
#2: Grants Lifeforce
#3: Can’t be body blocked

Yes the axe auto is weak, but tbh that doesn’t really matter when you can use the #2 and #3, either switch to dagger for autos or go into deathshroud for life blasts.

Axe does it’s job, an easy way to gain lifeforce, decent damage and an AoE cripple/Boon removal/Retaliation.

And even if Axe is weak by your standards, there are plenty of other weapons I can think of that are way weaker.

+1
Axe Focus completely destroys DD and fresh air eles, bunker guards, etc.

(along with any other build that believes stacking boons and destroying projectiles is enough to win a fight)

Strip the boons and go to town.

I’d like to see you use a rapid fire on a foe that is constantly destroying/reflecting/absorbing projectiles, or strip boons with your longbow.

Hmmm For guardian id have to say

Shield, (its extremely situational).
If they would get rid of the difference between PvE & PvP for the number 4 that would help. (would also be great if it was an AOE centered on the guardian)

Also if they would change the number 5 slightly. Get rid of the detonation, make it a drop & forget skill & make it apply 1 AEGIS (10 seconds) to allies within the radius on creation then it would be a great weapon.

Staff is also lack luster.
If they would swap the orb and wave abilities around so the orb can be spammed (but not detonated) and put the wave on a 5 second CD (but with greater damage) then the staff would be great.

For necro it would be the axe, if it would simply cleave enemies near the primary target then it would be good.
Or if they could bump the damage up up about 20% then it would be good.

Ragnar the Rock.3174:

Staff is also lack luster.
If they would swap the orb and wave abilities around so the orb can be spammed (but not detonated) and put the wave on a 5 second CD (but with greater damage) then the staff would be great.

Staff is a huge part of the meta in WvW and tPvP since day one. There is nothing wrong with the weapons, its just not made for PvE.

Swapping the wave for the orb would be a terrible idea. The goal of the Staff is close range aoe to tag everything and do little dmg while using the support skills of the weapon. Staff have its specific identity, we don’t want a two-handed scepter.

Ragnar the Rock.3174:

Hmmm For guardian id have to say

Shield, (its extremely situational).
If they would get rid of the difference between PvE & PvP for the number 4 that would help. (would also be great if it was an AOE centered on the guardian)

Also if they would change the number 5 slightly. Get rid of the detonation, make it a drop & forget skill & make it apply 1 AEGIS (10 seconds) to allies within the radius on creation then it would be a great weapon.

Staff is also lack luster.
If they would swap the orb and wave abilities around so the orb can be spammed (but not detonated) and put the wave on a 5 second CD (but with greater damage) then the staff would be great.

For necro it would be the axe, if it would simply cleave enemies near the primary target then it would be good.
Or if they could bump the damage up up about 20% then it would be good.

Yeah, I agree with the Shield and Axe, good suggestions. But I find the Staff from guardian “ok”. It is a support/utility weapon that really can do what it is supposed to, unlike the shield.

Necromancer’s scepter continues to disappoint in every situation besides 1v1 PvP. Damage ramp is too long and bleeds are capped quickly on bosses.

Mikau.6920:

This might be my top 10:

1. Shield (Guardian) – The weakest weapon in the game in any mode, the #4 is useless (even more on sPvP) and the #5 is very weak;
2. Torch (Guardian) – the #5 is useless;
3. Axe (Necro) – I don’t see a viable way to use it on PvE or PvP/WvW;
4. Hammer (Guardian) – The only reason to use it is for #2, #3 and #5. Both #1 last chain (too slow) and #4 are very weak (in my opinion the #4 is only to troll people);
5. Rifle (Warrior) – Does LB have more damage than Rifle?;
6. Warhorn (Ranger) – both skills are weak (too much CD on #5 for its effect);
7. Pistol (Mesmer) – I don’t know if its is really weak, but I find Focus more useful with similar effects;
8. Scepter (Elementalist) – It is only viable on PvE;
9. Mace (Guardian) – The last hit from auto atk and the #2 have too much cast time.
10. Sword (Guardian) – The #3 is useless.

For engineer and thief I cant speak much because I don’t have them on max level. But I find Rifle from engineer rather weak for some reason.

I think a little portion of me died while reading this. You obviously have no idea about Guardian weapons. I agree that the shield is god awful, but the rest? Torch is the only offhand you want to use with a scepter, WHICH you use on immobile bosses since with Smite it does ridiculus damage. A focus is pretty useless then. The hammer gives you straight up infinite protection and is just great when you gotta carry some people who are struggling in PvE. And then there’s mace and sword. Just please tell me you’re kidding and you dont think that all you wanna do with a Guard is camp GS like a moron and never swap. You NEED to have something melee for your second set. And what will you use for DPS if not the mace or the sword. And about their usefulness? The sword gives you great dps, blind and ;ets you block at least one ranged attak with ‘3’. And the mace has even better dps, and you’ll do a load of damage with the symbol, and you’ll help your party out. Theese wapens are great for rotations with GS and so what you wrote here is just a bunch of BS.

Thaddeus.4891:

Ragnar the Rock.3174:

Staff is also lack luster.
If they would swap the orb and wave abilities around so the orb can be spammed (but not detonated) and put the wave on a 5 second CD (but with greater damage) then the staff would be great.

Staff is a huge part of the meta in WvW and tPvP since day one. There is nothing wrong with the weapons, its just not made for PvE.

Swapping the wave for the orb would be a terrible idea. The goal of the Staff is close range aoe to tag everything and do little dmg while using the support skills of the weapon. Staff have its specific identity, we don’t want a two-handed scepter.

Even if swapped the wave would not be on a long CD.
It would be 3 seconds, 20% less with 2 handed mastery + the damage could be increased.

Meanwhile we would not be able to detonate the orb, but it could be spammed.

This would mean you could still easily tag large groups of enemies but you would also have some actual ranged damage. (Albeit easy to avoid for anyone paying attention, but thats the case anyway.)

Anchoku.8142:

Necromancer’s scepter continues to disappoint in every situation besides 1v1 PvP. Damage ramp is too long and bleeds are capped quickly on bosses.

Agree with the cap problem & ramp up problem.

That being said if you combine scepter with signet of spite, dhuumfire & epidemic you end up with a combo that can easily melt up to 5 players.

Warrior: Mace (main and OH): needs a gap closer either to F1 or weapon skills, the auto chain is still pretty weak in dps, the cooldown of off-hand skills needs a shave – way too long for very unreliable skills – top that with the dmg it’s not worth it over, say, off-hand sword

Ele: not the whole weapons, but scepter and focus has some incredibly useless skills, water 2 on scepter does nothing, fire 4 on focus is a joke as well as water 4

Mesmer: scepter skill 2 needs a shave in wind up, it ruins the entire weapon with its sluggishness, off-hand sword block needs to execute faster – atm you will in most cases take more dmg than you do with the riposte, the daze projectile needs to travel faster to be a reliable interrupt, torch phantasm super weak, should be pushed more towards condi – remove the retal and make it 6 stacks of confusion up from 3

Ranger: Axes, the offense is not enough of the sacrifice of evades, make skill 5 so that you can move while in the animation, auto needs dps buff, Warhorn giving 1 stack of might – needs to go up to 5 atleast, skill 4 needs a rework – maybe make the birds add blindness and attack multiple foes like the mad king rune #6 effect

Engi: ALL GOOD.

Guardian: Shield: cooldowns too long, cant move while using skill 5, skill 4 being a cone attack makes it ridiculously hard to hit any allies with it. Make it simply 240 or 360 radius skill

Necro: Focus, cast times WAY too long, making it very awkward to use, needs to go down to 3/4 second

Thief: P/P dual skill needs a rework, needs more defense – short evade while channeling it maybe

Smirgel.9460:

Warrior: Mace (main and OH): needs a gap closer either to F1 or weapon skills, the auto chain is still pretty weak in dps, the cooldown of off-hand skills needs a shave – way too long for very unreliable skills – top that with the dmg it’s not worth it over, say, off-hand sword

Ele: not the whole weapons, but scepter and focus has some incredibly useless skills, water 2 on scepter does nothing, fire 4 on focus is a joke as well as water 4

Mesmer: scepter skill 2 needs a shave in wind up, it ruins the entire weapon with its sluggishness, off-hand sword block needs to execute faster – atm you will in most cases take more dmg than you do with the riposte, the daze projectile needs to travel faster to be a reliable interrupt, torch phantasm super weak, should be pushed more towards condi – remove the retal and make it 6 stacks of confusion up from 3

Ranger: Axes, the offense is not enough of the sacrifice of evades, make skill 5 so that you can move while in the animation, auto needs dps buff, Warhorn giving 1 stack of might – needs to go up to 5 atleast, skill 4 needs a rework – maybe make the birds add blindness and attack multiple foes like the mad king rune #6 effect

Engi: ALL GOOD.

Guardian: Shield: cooldowns too long, cant move while using skill 5, skill 4 being a cone attack makes it ridiculously hard to hit any allies with it. Make it simply 240 or 360 radius skill

Necro: Focus, cast times WAY too long, making it very awkward to use, needs to go down to 3/4 second

Thief: P/P dual skill needs a rework, needs more defense – short evade while channeling it maybe

Agree with all but 2 things

First, the engineer could use a ranged power build option. Grenades used to be this option, then they were redesigned for conditions since they sucked. That left engineers without a good ranged power weapon.

Second I don’t think P/P needs more defense. As is it’s capable if extremely high damage output at range, a spammable daze (until you run out of innit & a smoke field)
+ with traits the attacks can cripple enemies & bounce to other enemies.

A skilled thief will use P/P to do allot of damage then either vanish into stealth the second someone gets close or swap to their other weapon set which likely has evades, stuns etc…. on it.

If they did give P/P more defense then they would need to reduce the damage & or CC potential it has.

Ragnar the Rock.3174:

That being said if you combine scepter with signet of spite, dhuumfire & epidemic you end up with a combo that can easily melt up to 5 players.

Theoretically, that is true. In practice, it is a lot easier to do in PvE where enemies will group, not counter, and not cleanse than any sort of PvP. Old PvE content was good for this but the new LS stuff is more interesting in AI behavior and skills. Real players, though, break out the hard CC, cleanses, and position themselves better.

Ragnar the Rock.3174:

That being said if you combine scepter with signet of spite, dhuumfire & epidemic you end up with a combo that can easily melt up to 5 players.

Not to be a meow, but I think if you run all that in one build, you are pretty much going to commit suicide ._.
(That is, taking into consideration that Corrupt Boon should always be on your bar, thus having no escapes at all)

On topic:

I think the issue with “Weakest Weapons” is that people tend to either compare them to the other class’ weapons, or review them on their own, of which the former can lead to any weapon looking underpowered… Some examples:

Axe for a Necromancer as well, people have given good ideas as to why it is not a bad weapon to run, however, my personal experience learns that it is a lackluster as a melee power weapon as compared to Dagger, and for a range/utility Staff takes the cake…

Pistol offhand for Engineers is not bad, it is just that Shield is miles better – and the need for burning is gone with IP and Balth Runes…

Offhand Axe for Rangers, again, great utility weapon, but why run it if you can run Warhorn or Dagger? Heck, even Torch provides a lot of pressure, and sometimes more than /Axe can do…

So yea, remaining is pretty much the Guardian shield, of which I have to agree with everyone… Before the “Nerf” of it’s unintended functionality (leaving the bubble after activation) it was actually quite a decent pick – not as good as Focus, but hey, it was “fine”… Now it is pertty much one of the most useless things to pick within any buid, unless you want to play Decap Guardian or something… This could use some help, and that is it compared to it’s own and other weapons…

In closing, what are the criteria? What makes a weapon the “Weakest”? When compared to their own counterparts? When looking in a vaccuum?

Warrior Rifle is really bad.

All weapons are cool if used properly and skillfully.

Ranger: Shortbow and offhand axe.

Whirling Defense is terrible because you can’t move while doing it and Path Of Scars is only a threat if you’re nearly full glass. Shortbow has no idea whether it wants to be condition damage or power. Even with a hybrid build it’s still pretty mediocre. Either it needs stronger (longer duration) conditions or less conditions and stronger attacks. Removing the bleeds while flanking from the AA and making the AA stronger or making the bleeds stack regardless of position would be a good start.