Guild Wars 2

So the past few weeks I have been running a sword sword/LB condi build and would like to switch back to a more traditional power build since I miss it a bit. The build (just for spvp at this point) I have come up with is as follows:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fIAQNAR8ejkOxwpQGPMxBE0DNsKEQjifAIUKmjNE-TsAg0CnIMSZkzIjRSjsGNIYRwuDA

I have always had a tough time moving away from spiked armor in the defense line since I think it is a really amazing trait and better than the GM traits in strength/discipline. My question here is what are people’s opinion on sword vs. axe for the mainhand with shield in this build? I like sword for the mobility and final thrust but the axe burst skill is much better imo. If I went axe I would probably drop spiked armor and pick up either XI in strength or XII in discipline. If some experienced warriors could share their opinion on

1. axe vs. sword (main hand)
2. XI in strength vs. XII in discipline

Thanks for the help/advice!

p.s. also any general warrior advice is always appreciated. I have almost always played a sword sword condi build on my warrior so am not very used to playing a power build.

edit: forgot to add utilities and elite in build

Honestly Just carry both. I’ve been using sword shield/gs for months now and recently picked up the axe.

For my roaming build (similar to my pvp one) I just swap out two traits when switching between the two weapons. I recommend both because the sword and the axe are great in their own way. The sword for the flurry/swap gs 100b combo and the axe obvious for the burst skill. I use axe when I can get decent roaming fights, but if I keep getting sideswiped by the T1 zergs I’ll switch to the sword for the extra mobility.

It depends on your style of play and what you want. I see some traits you can change (without retraiting) on your build, which can be done on the fly.

Edit: Realized you said pvp.
I favor the axe more for pvp, and I would probably recommend that over the sword since you don’t really need the sword mobility.

In my honest opinion I am not a big fan of the axe. Eviscerate is probably the most telegraphed, stoppable, CC-dependent move that we have. It has a slow cast-time, melee ranged and worst of all people can simply back-pedal to dodge it. It also requires a very high power/crit chance/dmg build for it to hit hard. If it doesn’t crit, the damage is very laughable.

I also find myself to be a lot more kitable when using the axe. It has no gap-closers, no CC and every skill is pretty much full-melee. A really bad #3, a #2 that doesn’t really help. The auto attack is quick but isn’t really stronger compared to sword auto-attack unless you hit the last chain, which is rare and of course requires you to be in full melee. When using an axe, you will encounter huge problem vs good mesmers, engineers and pretty much any class with a lot of in-combat mobility. Even when using the greatsword. Greatsword is also a weapon that is somewhat reliant on CC although not as much as the axe. Axe/Greatsword isn’t the best roaming build to begin with and it’s usefulness tends to get worse in small-scale fighting, although in a zerg I guess if you press #1 it would do alot of damage.

Sword has a slightly weaker auto-attack and it is slightly slower than the axe. However the bleeds it provides can more then make up for it. Even in a non-condition build the bleeds can easily add up to some significant DPS. It also has 2 cripples (3rd chain on auto-attack and savage leap) and an immobilize for some decent CC. It also has great mobility. Final Thrust is also a skill that is comparable in damage to eviscerate when the opponent is under 50%. It is also much easier to land because of the faster animation and it can be used while moving and is less telegraphed. Overall, the theoretical DPS loss from the sword isn’t much, but instead you gain more mobility, more CC and more reliable DPS. Bleeds can act as cover conditions for cripples and condition clearing for many skills tend to have additional effects like stun breaking that people will have no choice but to burn if they have a few stacks of bleeding on them.

If it were my opinion, I would pick Berserker’s Power over HF. However, if it were me I would probably keep Spiked armor because the 25 minor trait adds 10% power from toughness and retaliation is always a good trait to support your DPS.

Word of the month: telegraphed.

Thank you for the replies, a lot of good stuff to think about. I am also planning on using this for WvW eventually just didn’t have time to put the WvW gear in this morning into the build. In that case I will probably just get used to using sword and axe, most likely more axe in spvp and more sword in WvW since mobility with sword + GS is just disgusting.

If you want to go complete easy mode:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fIAQNAR8ejkOxwpQ2QMRCE0DNsKEwTBAUpwO2wUBxA-TsAg0CnIMSZkzIjRSjsGNIYRwuDA

Leg specialist. You ain’t goin nowhere mesmer.

I’ve tried axe last night for solo roaming (was GS/rifle). Evis still hits pretty dependably, even if it’s highly telegraph, and the best part about the burst skill is that it doesn’t use up your adrenaline unless you hit them. Most people in WvW still twitch evade and they evade the hits they should be taking and then eat the really big ones. All of your big attacks are on a relatively low CD. Even a random 100b makes people evade, rather than taking 1-2 hits and be behind you, people will evade your trip chop, and then even if you miss your evis, you can do it again after weapon swapping to your GS and then back to axe.

With that said though I rather use riffle build. The burst his higher and their burst skill tracks the enemy through stealth, and even dodgers have a hard time of timing evade on kill shot because of how oddly slow it is. The benefit is of course you have a offhand if you use Axe, my choice was WH or Mace.

Here’s my build anyways, it’s super squish and it relies on your putting heavy pressure on them to keep them playing defensive. GS for escape/kite.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fIAQNAnZRjkOpw1Q+OMxBEkivoKOKAQmQ9APqj4A-jUCBYfBCbBkEBkKIQZmhNPdIaFXFRjVXDT5iIqWKgRFGB-w