Axe/Shield in fractals
N I M S – Warrior of Judge Legends[JDGE]
Axe/Shield is solid for many encounters
Great damage, solid defense, and the stun helps with landing Eviscerate. A nice one-two punch.
Tarian Thalberg ~ Warrior ~ Lux Arcana [LUX]
Gandara
Gandara
Sorry for the late reply, I was on a 2 week suspension because I was too mean to someone -.-…
Check out my build. It’s my Axe/Shield that I use for Fractals. I originally picked up shield because I fell in love with the Legendary Shield skin, then I just started loving shield-play.
Axe/Shield play offers the best of DPS and Defense at the same time making it a solid choice for anywhere. Axe mainhand has the highest sustained DPS and the shield off-hand not only saves your butt, but it lets you invulnerability tank which is far more valuable than a shouts/banner heal/regen.
With Endure Pain and Shield #5 (20% faster CD as well) you can tank mobs with relatively good uptime on invulnerability. The amount of damage you soak in for your team far outstrips any healing that a Warrior can provide otherwise.
Skills
6. Healing Surge – No reason to get any other type of heal for any reason with this build.
7. For Great Justice – Never leaves my bar. Free and easy increase to team/personal DPS.
8. Endure Pain – Stays on my bar the majority of the time. Can be switched out for “Shake it Off!” if you are having trouble at Imbued Shaman.
9. Signet of Stamina – Extra dodges = stay in melee/alive longer = more DPS = satisfied team and player. Emergency 2 conditional removal if necessary.
0. Signet of Rage because it’s boss. War Banner is nice, but I simply prefer SoR.
Armor
Full Knight Armor. I have a full set of Berserker, but after doing a ton of Fractals, I find that Knight is just a more favorable set to run with. There are times when you simply can not dodge attacks (Colossus between fire AoE and such). The extra toughness doesn’t cost you that much DPS, but allows this build to hit 35~40% damage reduction. It does not make you a tank, but it makes you beefy enough to take a few hits and make a few mistakes.
Berserker gloves because I like the use CoF gloves with the Primeval cash set
Traits
Strength – 10 for Berserker’s Power. One of the best Warrior traits.
Arms – 25 for.. well.. damage
The extra damage to bleeding targets is a necessity. Furious Reaction allows near permanent maintenance of Fury solo, and Rending Strikes just helps the whole team destroy the target.
Defense – 20 for the defense and shield mastery. 20% CD reduction makes your shield smile. More invulnerability tanking which really adds up by the end. It’s not something you notice much, but it’s something that helps the team, and you, tremendously.
Also, note that Shield #5 activates very quickly. While some warrior skills have long swing motions, etc… the shield block is near instant so it’s a free block/tank/life-saver/whatever. Turtle’s Defense can be replaced with longer stances, but until stances get a buff, I don’t want it
Discipline – 15 because Heightened Focus, like Berserker’s Power, is an absolutely sexy skill. Also, Fast Hands is an addiction. Once you trait it, you can never untrait it. It feels like you lose a piece of your soul
General Play
Don’t be stupid, and listen to those who know better. Pretty much it.
Longbow F1 followed by Longbow #3 will give Area Might which is incredibly helpful. It’s like a mini-FGJ. I do that to open up on mobs, then I’ll roll in offensively to dodge the first spike while swapping to Axe/Shield. #2 then auto-attack until you need to either roll again or #5 to invulnerability tank some damage while your team dishes out DPS. Adjust as necessary.
Sometimes, depending on how I feel, I’ll switch to Rifle for Imbued, Ice Elemental/Dredge Mining. Make sure to switch in Crack Shot Trait if you do; otherwise, it’s a waste compared to Longbow.
Hope this helps!
Bustanoggin (Ferguson’s Crossing)