Guild Wars 2

So..I just dinged 80 on my first character, a Warrior. No big feat these days I realize but…I am stoked about being able to finally really tweak my gear as there will be permanent sets now since I won’t be out leveling the pieces as I go. Other then working towards legendaries/ascended items and what not.

So I have been browsing metabattle for a bit and its causing me quite the anxiety. How are you supposed to be “best geared” for Dungeons/WvW when everyone wants you to run specific runes/sigils dependent on the situation.

I feel I would need like 3-4 sets of weapons and armor all sigiled/infused up just to cover all the dungeons/WvW setups.

Its not just the time/hardwork/gold im concerned about as much as storage capacity.

I am not a hardcore player. I log in 3-4 days a week. On a good run ill burn 4-5 hours on a day off. Normally about 3 hours tops per day I play. I am not concerned about min/max and server known status as elite because I do not have the time/skill to be THAT guy.

So, is there a general rule of the thumb that will make me acceptable in Dungeons with one armor setup for all of em, and then a second set for WvW? ( PvE is simple enough I figured either set could work depending on situation)

I just know that most dungeon builds I read are Berserker and WvW can be Zerker/Soldier/Knight just depending on what position on the field you intend to play.

I am elite squishy…still learning to time dodges and find myself mighty, mighty squishy. So prolly run the Frontline Shouthealer build from metabattle?

Anyways, if you read all this…thank you, here’s a cookie. All I am really looking for is:

Can I lock in one Dungeon Gear setup for ALL dungeons and still be perfectly capable of doing my job without raging other players in group? Same goes for WvW?

I do not care for the headache of 10 different weapons with different setups and 6 sets of dang armor all with different sigils and blah, blah, blah…

Thanks in advance to those who know these areas of the game well enough to inform me if I really need to nit-pick this or not.

You can do every dungeon in the same gear set up. The only thing that may require a different set-up (ie. more survivability) is high level fractals. And yes, the meta for dungeons/pve is berserker. WvW can be whatever works best for you as a player. If you want to, instead of having a complete second set of armor, you could work on getting two sets of trinkets. Have one set for when you do dungeons (berserker), and then have another for wvw (something to give you more survivability, such as knight or valkyrie or something). And you could maybe have two of the weapon you use most, one with stats and sigils for one thing and one with stats and sigils for another.

My point is you don’t HAVE to have a full set for everything you do; you can simply adjust little bits to make it easier.

Clean and to the point. I appreciate the suggestions and figured it would not be that big of a deal but wanted to make sure the community wasn’t so elite they would faint if I was not carrying all that in the bank. Thanks for the help and anything else anyone wants to add is also appreciated.

The important thing here is that not everyone wants you to have specific runes/sigils for each dungeon, or even have a specific build.

I’ve never heard of the website you mentioned but my guess is they’re coming up with the best possible builds for each dungeon, which would include runes and sigils specific to that dungeon (I think there are sigils for each group of enemies). But that doesn’t mean that’s what everyone expects you to have, or even what they would expect you to have. The difference between that and a generic +damage sigil will be fairly small, so in most cases it’s not going to matter.

I’ve done numerous dungeons with casual – mid-range groups and no one’s ever asked about my sigils or runes. In fact usually the only time I get asked about my build at all is if there’s multiple rangers in the group and we need to make sure we’re not doubling up on spirits.

For dungeons you will want to go full Berserker with Strength or Scholar Runes. Greatsword and Axe+Mace, you should also carry a Longbow with you for the odd situation when it is needed. Sigils: Force, Night, Strength, Fire, Air, take your pick, but Force should be on both GS and one of the other weps (Bloodlust is pretty situational and it can have little use sometimes, so it’s best to avoid it if you want an all-around set). A single set is sufficient.

The build is 65003, the traits something along the lines of V, IX, XI / V, X / – / – / III; if you use 2-3 signets, you can replace V with I in Arms. Learn your dps rotation and remember to also use GS skills #4 and #5, particularly the last one since it has been finally fixed and now works conistently and it hits like a truck.

Always bring a banner, communicate with the other warriors in your group to see who has which of the 2; if you are the only warrior, bring both banners and a third utility depending on the situation, you will probably change it a lot between fights. The only relevant banners are Discipline and Strength, in this order; Defense and Tactics are not that great, do not bring them. If there are still banners down after a fight is over, pick one up and carry it to the next fight. Use the #3 skill for AoE Swiftness. Use the #2 skill on the Discipline banner before fights. When you drop the banners, make sure they are dropped comfortably away from the stack if you have Elementalists in your group; this is so that the conjured weapons they drop do not overlap with your banners and are easy to pick up. If there are already 2 warriors in your group and they have both banners, bring other utilities and not the bad banners (For Great Justice, On My Mark, Frenzy, signets, Shake it Off etc.).

Elite: either Warbanner or Signet, but with pugs in dungeons I generally bring Warbanner since it’s a get-out-of-jail-free card.

Food: you can buy potions of slaying for each dungeon (except AC), they are incredibly cheap on the TP and offer a great advantage. Other food is up to you, it’s good but not necessary.

Now, about the squishiness – I know it’s tempting to add some defensive gear to help you a bit, but please do not do it. The advantage is sooo very little and the mobs hit so hard that it’s pointless to run anything than full damage gear; if you are going to die, you will die either way. The best damage mitigation is positioning, dodging and blinds/blocks/reflects from your party. As a warrior, you only have dodge available and positioning, so learn those well. It may be frustrating at first, but it’s worth it. And your heavy armor + Healing Signet will take care of the smaller hits.

Learn the dungeon encounters and the boss tells so you know what to do and when to do it. Information is key.

This is about everything I can think of right now to make you not get kicked/raged at in pug dungeon groups. Some people will do it anyway because this is the internet, but there’s not much helping that.

For WvW – it depends if you zerg or roam. A set of Soldier’s armor is good and I think Hoelbrak runes are now meta for warriors in WvW. I think a warrior’s best place in WvW is the zerg though, running Hammer and Sword/Warhorn. See metabattle for more details on this. Oh, and you can also use the Soldier’s set for PvE stuff like Tequatl where Berserker’s is useless.

All the best!

Trying to optimize your gear for every game mode is a LONG term goal (if you want to work toward it). Note that obtaining a decent set of Exotic gear (stat wise) from the TP should not cost a lot and there are lots of other options to “gear up” your new LVL 80.

One thing to keep in mind is that sets of armor / weapons you get from karma (Orr Temple sets) or WvW badges are NOT salvageable and thus the upgrades you put on them are NOT retrievable (sans a rather pricey gem item). Just keep that in mind BEFORE adding update items to gear (might want to double check if it can be salvaged if the ruin/sigil is pricey).

Ya don’t put too much pressure on you. The vast majority of players have only one build and change nothing from one instance to the other one. If you like to adapt to all situation then it’s great, but only if you feel like it. As long as you use a different build in different game mode. WvW zerg, Roaming and PvE is very different and you should use a build for each.

If you’re running out of space in your inventory look into crafting/buying bigger inventory bags. They go up to 20-slot backs (giving you 100 storage slots total) but I usually just get 18-slot bags for all my characters because of the price of 20-slot bags.

Thanks again everyone, I appreciate the advice and will take it all to heart. I also do understand that what ALOT of people forget is to become better at their class and to gain more knowledge of what they are fighting. A well played character can out perform a better geared player (to an extent) so I shall strive for a good armor/weapon setup while practicing more on my playing ability and WvW/Dungeon knowledge.

You’ve all been very helpful, safe hunting friends.