Guild Wars 2

Can anyone do me the favor of filling me in on what’s changed for warrior in the last 2 patches? I took a break, and after coming back, I’ve noticed warriors seem to be in a much better place than…well, the entirety of the past year.

Let me be clear – I’m not claiming they’re broken, just that I need better understanding on what they’re doing so I can counterplay. So far I’ve noticed what appears to be variations on 2 distinct specs.

Hybrid – it seems like hybrid specs finally have a good mix of damage and survivability. Whereas 2 months ago these specs were easy but time consuming to drop, they’re now a serious threat if I make any mistakes. No real issue with this spec, just wondering what exactly changed so I have an idea if there are any skills/effects I should keep an eye out to counter. Seeing alot of LB here.

“Bunker” – Notice the quotes – I’ve fought a couple of warriors lately that, well, just don’t die. They’re not quite as tanky as guardians, but they seem to have great access to endure pain/shield block/Power damage mitigation. I’m usually not in any risk of losing the fight here, but I have watched them heal through pretty much everything I throw at them, and other than interrupting heals/keeping poison up (which I’m already doing), I’m unsure exactly how to drop one in a reasonable amount of time. What changed to make Warriors so survivable?

Just a note, I’m running 10/0/0/30/30 Boon thief S/D with about 3100 power, 56%crit, and 20% crit damage.

Beserker stance – Immune to conditions for 8 secs
Cleansing Ire – Removes 3 conditions when you land a burst skill
Mending – Removes 3 conditions when you heal.
Healing Signet – Passive Can heal for up to 700 per second
Longbow 5 now applies 6 stacks of bleed as well as immob
And stuns are the new thing for Warriors.

Dirame.8521:

Beserker stance – Immune to conditions for 8 secs
Cleansing Ire – Removes 3 conditions when you land a burst skill
Mending – Removes 3 conditions when you heal.
Healing Signet – Passive Can heal for up to 700 per second
Longbow 5 now applies 6 stacks of bleed as well as immob
And stuns are the new thing for Warriors.

Thanks for the info.

Dirame.8521:

Beserker stance – Immune to conditions for 8 secs
Cleansing Ire – Removes 1 condition per bar of adrenaline when you land a burst skill
Mending – Removes 3 conditions when you heal.
Healing Signet – Passive Can heal for up to 400 per second
Longbow 5 now applies 6 stacks of bleed as well as immob
And stuns are the new thing for Warriors.

Healing surge heals for 10~k if you use it with 3 adrenaline.
Brawn now reduces the CD of F2 skills.
The 5-15% more dmg trait in strength was moved to tier 3.

Basically 4s stunning with mace mainhand every 7.5s is the new deal.
That or you can stack eviscerate up to 8-12k if you really go for it, adrenalane doesn’t really deplete if you pop something like signet of fury while out of combat, so you can eviscerate into a fight pretty easily and regularly.

Yeah, survivability has improved so it’s opened up a lot of different war spec options. IMO double melee weapons was not tournament viable (only LB builds) before these patches, now there’s a lot to toy with.

A couple notes:
Bunker warriors will be a strong 1v1 bunker. High health, medium regen, good condi removal, shield block and endure pain. You should be able to slowly burn them down and eat up the cooldowns, but it’s going to be tough just like bunker guard. The real weakness is that the healing is low, so that in prolonged fights and against multiple opponents, they won’t be able to keep up.

LB builds you just need to be diligent about staying out of the fire field and dodging arcing arrow. Also be ready to cleanse the immob/bleed.