Guild Wars 2

Is it only me or does it feels like to win in PvP you HAVE to go for the one weapon build?

It goes for every classes…

Warrior
Nearly all of them go for greatsword and barely swap weapon in a fight unless it’s to oh crap shield block. Same with two handed hammer and rifles.

Ranger.
Use a bow or axe and swap only to use sword and dagger for the 2 dodges abilities.

Necromancer
Most of them use scepter and auto attack. The offhand weapon is usually only for 1 or 2 spells and they never stay in it.

Mesmer
Probably the only profession that make good use of weapon swapping because they need phantasms as much as possible and you get 1 per weapon.

Thief
… daggers … (Or sword/pistol with quickness for pistol whip)

Elementalist
50% of the traits benefit only 1 attunement and other attunements are used mostly for 1 or 2 spells then they switch instantly. At least elementalist benefit from attunement swapping a lot because all their spells are so crappy they need to use the 20 of them to make something barely worth it.

Guardian
Don’t really know for them. The only class I didn’t play much.

Engineer
Well they have no weapon swapping… And they use a kit only if they specced for it and they won’t use their main weapons if they specced for a kit…

Basically what I want to point out is that so many traits and poor synergy between weapons makes weapon swapping a very poorly used feature… Why switching to a bow for a warrior when you can just swing that overly boosted greatsword? Since the bow isn’t gonna do anything because you have no traits in it…
Why would an elementalist try to DPS in lightning when only the fire spells get benefit from the traits they chose?
I want to see people who use weapon swapping a lot and wisely rewarded for it… as for now you are punished for swapping out of your main weapon…

Edit : Now I know lot of you are gonna be like “Oh that’s not true I totally use this and this and this with my other weapon!!!” But you still use only one weapon to deal 80% of the job. The other one is only there like… an utility.

Edit 2 : I’ve tried finding builds for most of the professions that would make use of both weapons 50/50 rather then 90/10 but I just can’t do it… It’s either subpar builds that won’t make me win most fights or it still ends up being one weapon rather then both.

I see your point there – the traits are tied to the weapons so you really do have to pick and choose. But maybe that makes sense for PvP – just sticking with the one weapon or combo you’re good at?

Swapping weapons to change from melee to ranged, for example, may just be a convenience for PvE and was never intended to be used in PvP where we’re all expected to bring our “A” game and fight with what we’re best at – just like gladiators in the arena.

What I agree with you the problem is – is that each class only seems to have one or maybe two options for the best weapon for PvP. Hopefully this will evolve over time to encompass a wider range of options for each class depending on play style (offensive, defensive, etc.) – but even then we’ll still have to spend the traits for a specific fighting style.

Even if, for instance, the warrior has 3 or 4 legitimate choices for PvP weapons – he will still have to spec his traits to be strong with one or mediocre with two. Since PvP is what it is – I still don’t think there will be any weapon swapping 90% of the time.

It’s just you.

I don’t find this to be true what so ever..

“Edit : Now I know lot of you are gonna be like “Oh that’s not true I totally use this and this and this with my other weapon!!!” But you still use only one weapon to deal 80% of the job. The other one is only there like… an utility.”

This is also not true. I swap my Weapons/Attunement’s all the time and see the same from other’s in PvP.

Think outside of the box. Mace F1 > HB and Flurry > HB comes to mind when you’re weapon swapping for combos.

I swap weapons every 10-12 weapons when I play constantly

You’re going to be the lone wolf here.

at OP:

I laugh when I see a GS warrior coming at me. It´s just one easy drop again.

I´m running Mace/Mace + Axe/shield warrior with full healing spec and I can tell you that they have absolutely no chance whatsoever.

I´ve tried all builds for warrior with top-of-the-line gear and all I can say is that Warriors who just run around with GS are just kittens waiting to be kittenized.

I would rather go with longbow + rifle combo rather than GS + Hammer combo.

as a ranger i spent like 60% with my sb and 40% with warhorn/axe idk what youre talking about

A little trick for unique-build guys like me. i only use staff these days but i have 2 weapon sets and always swap them in battle. my 2 weapon sets are:
1: xxx staff with a sigil of leeching
2: xxx staff with a sigil of leeching
yes. they are same ones. but what will happen when i swap weapon in combat? just regard it as a bonus of pressing `key.

Swapping weapons/attunement all the time and on cd… if you stay in 1 Weapon for too long you will loose efficiency.

I will only agree with the Necro part. When running scepter/dagger and staff. And even then its only because the auto attack on the staff is just crap. Its only worth switching to the staff to lay down marks than your just waiting to switch back.

I play a Thief. i can say with 100% certainty that frequent weapon swapping between your Melee set (daggers or sword/pistol) and your Shortbow is crucially important and one of the main things that separates bad thieves from good ones.

Personally I LVOE the weapon swap mechanic. Ofc some traits aren’t bound for your 2nd weapon set but it makes PvP much more fun in my opinion.

Couldn’t live with just 1 set of 5 skills while I play my mesmer with Greatsword + 1h Sword for 2 effective combos.

Warrior … GS 100h blades, rage charging and then shield/axe swap for those really high eviscerate crits and shield blocks (not fo forget how freakin hard warrior hit with Frenzy + Axe/Shield swings O_o)

almost each class needs his weapon swap just to do beetter dmg or to get much more survivalbility.

If you’re not weapon swapping you’re doing it wrong, since you’re basically throwing away 5 skills. Feel free to handicap yourself, you won’t get very far.

This is basically the OP’s reasoning:

weapon swapping is useless because not all the skills on the second set are useful (ED: to his play style) and if i trait i trait for my main sets making my build less focused on my second set

Uhm well yes , obviously. What the op seems to want is that every skills is as effective to him and every single weapon set can be focused by traits. He wants to be able to be a jack of all trades.

Well fine i guess. I say to the OP go for it ! Be a hero then and remove your second weapon set ,see you on the grounds but prepare to be violated , lol.

If the OP actually lives up to his words and goes into spvp with just one set i predict that his next thread will be:

I am running with just one weapon set because i say a second set is useless but because the rest refuse to run with just one set i am at a disadvantage, nerf the second set pls *(ED: and prove him right) !

to the point , your second set is compliment your build’s focus and it does so perfectly.

Weapon swapping is one of those underutilized abilities in the game IMO. Even if you were only focused on one weapon, you should use 2 of that same weapon and swap them.

I pretty much swap on CD h3h3. Could be the way you are playing the game and not the games fault.

I must say I find myself weapon swapping rather often. In some builds because the skills on the different weapons complement each other and give me more tools for the same goal and in other builds because one weapon fills the holes of the other weapon.

My Ele couldn’t survive without changing attunements reguarly, guardian needs to swap to be effective, and if a thief didn’t swap out to shortbow regardless of build then he’d also be royally screwed.

People who don’t see the value of swapping won’t swap, and you get a lot of these players in hot join. However, youa re halfing your dps/efficiency in most cases. Plus weapon swap sigils are decent when you know what you’re doing with them.

As a warrior. Get full fury with GS. Swap to your Axe with rune of Intelligence for 100% crit on weapon swap. Hit Eviscerate for 8k damage. Useless?

Lol L2P, YOU are useless.

Warrior:
Axe auto attack does more damage then GS Auto attack. Change to Greatsword after 100b
Chain stun CC by swaping between Mace/Mace and Hammer

Thief:
Swap Dagger/Dagger x2 with Energy Sigils for condition damage build
Swap Dagger/Dagger x2 with Intelligence Sigil for backstab builds
Swap between Any Weapon/Shortbow for chasing, creating combo points, finishing and escaping

Ranger:
Swap Warhorn to Torch before you enter combat
Use Torch to create burn combo field then switch to prefered weapon of choice
Use 1h Sword to evade important attacks then switch back to weapon of choice

Mesmer:
Swap between Pistol Offhand and GS Mainhand to chain CC
Swap between Staff and any weapon of choice to create your own combo fields and juke

Possibilities are endless. You are only kittening yourself by not switching.

I’ve been playing longbow + GS warrior with great effect recently in spvp.

Requires constant swapping as you end up utilising every skill to make it work.

The warrior in fact requires most swaps I feel, as alot of skills for each weapon are pretty lacklustre/ don’t have that much group utility.

Class I found i needed to swap the least to do well with was thief. In fact I just used buttons 1+2 on the dagger and i could drop stuff with very little effort. Heartseeker is just insane.

more like fast hands warrior trait doesnt work the first time

The art of switching weapons (and attunments or weapon kits) is the first in many thresholds to becoming a better s/tPvPer. I play primarily Ele and while I’m traited 30 in air and 30 in water I’d say I global my attunments. When I played 100b warrior before I would chain my weapon swaps to deal the best burst and cc to land kills. It’s all about how you play, what you can think of and how you apply it. Even an un-traited secondary weapon brings something to the table, it has it’s role. If you feel that you can’t swap or it’s pointless to do so maybe you need to adjust your build or change the secondary weapon.

I play a ranger and constantly switch between my sword/axe and shortbow. I usually go into combat with a shortbow and try to stack bleeds, but if I’m up against squishy casters, or ranged warriors or rangers I’ll switch to melee and get in their faces, the stickiness of the sword for a ranger means I’m almost always in range and if I’m focused my ranged attacks I can deflect with my axe.

Cosmic Teapot.9162:

It’s just you.

^ lol agree