Guild Wars 2

Hey guys,

Thought I’d bring a build I’ve been trying out recently to the table. I got fed up with always seeing the same builds wandering about, Greatsword Min/Max DPS, Axe/Axe, Perma Fury High Crit etc, so thought I would try something a little different in an attempt to slightly balance damage, and survivability through mobility rather than relying on toughness/vitality.

The major traits I’m using vary between role ( WvW or PvE ), but the trait lines themselves don’t ever need to be changed. As for weapons, I’m running this with Greatsword and Sword/Warhorn for the mobility/slow removal from both sets. However, if needed you can swap out the Greatsword for a Rifle, and change the Arms Master Major trait from Forceful Greatsword to Crack Shot.

Full Berserker’s gear is recommended, but has quite a high skill cap to use it effectively, Knight’s can be used as a much safer alternative, and I would actually recommend mixing in some Knight’s armour or Emerald jewelry for some added survivability in Fractals, but you will lose out on some damage.

With full Exotic Berserker Gear, and the right buffs, your stats will look a little something like this:

Buffs: Master Maintenance Oil + Bowl of Curry Butternut Squash Soup

• Power: 2000 – Effective Power 4.2-5000
• Precision: 2100 – 75%
• Critical Damage: 100%
• 19000 HP – 27000 Effective HP ( HP + Toughness/Defense )
• 28% Damage Reduction

WvW Orientated – Zerg Build

Utilities:

• Mending: By far my favourite heal, and due to running with low-no vitality, is essential for keeping the more nasty conditions at bay.

• Bulls Rush: Fantastic gap closer and knockdown, with the added benefit or removing Immobilise due to the Discipline Master Major Trait: Mobile Strikes.

• Endure Pain: Breakstun and a few seconds of invulnerability, nice for getting out of sticky situations, or when you want to be able to stand there and deal some quick, heavy damage without worrying too much.

• Banner of Discipline / Banner of Defense: Two very useful banners, one for some added precision and critical damage, another for adding some extra toughness and vitality to your group – take your pick.

• Battle Standard: Immensely useful, but has a slightly restrictive cooldown.

Strength: 0

• I honestly can’t find a reason to invest skill points into this tree.

Arms: 25

• Adept Minor: 33% chance to cause bleeding on critical hits.
• Adept Major: Furious Reaction – I just love this trait, and remember, I’m focusing on mobility for survivability here, so vigor is super useful, and noone can say no to free fury!
• Master Minor: Critical Burst – Not a particularly useful trait as the only burst skill we will be using is the 1h Sword F1. But still adds a nice bit of extra damage.
• Master Major: Forceful Greatsword – Shorter cooldowns and might on critical hits with the greatsword, very useful trait.
• Grandmaster Minor: Increased damage to bleeding foes – Works VERY nicely with the Adept Minor.

Defense: 15

• Adept Minor: Extra armour above 90% health.
• Adept Major: New trait introduced to replace Turtle’s Defense, Dogged March. Whenever you are struck by Immobilise, Chill or Cripple, the duration of said effects is reduced by 33% and you receive 3 seconds of regeneration. Very useful trait.
• Master Minor: Regenerate Health based on adrenaline level. – Not hugely powerful, but enough to help.

Tactics: 10

• Adept Minor: Determined Revival – Nice big chunk of extra toughness while reviving other players.
• Adept Major: Inspiring Banners – Reduce those nasty cooldowns on your group buffs, very useful trait.

Discipline: 20

• Adept Minor: Gain 5 strikes of adrenaline on weapon swap – Always handy.
• Adept Major: Heightened Focus – Extra crit based on adrenaline level, more crit, more damage.
• Master Minor: Fast Hands: Weapon swapping recharges 5 seconds faster – If you don’t play a warrior, you are jealous of this trait. If you’re not, you should be.
• Master Major: Mobile Strikes – Movement skills break immobilise! Bulls Rush, Savage Leap, Whirlwind, Rush – with this trait they will ALL break immobilise, it is IMMENSELY useful in WvW.

PvE Dungeon / WvW Solo / PvE Solo Orientated Builds

Utilities:

• Mending: By far my favourite heal, and due to running with low-no vitality, is essential for keeping the more nasty conditions at bay.

• Shake It Off / Bulls Rush / Banner of xxxx: Dont want to worry too much? Take SIO, remove a condition and break a stun on a 25 second CD. Running with banners? Take the Battle Standard as your elite, and take Banner of Defense or Discipline for some added survivability or oomph for your group. Roaming in WvW? Take Bulls Rush to use with Mobile Strikes and to stop those pesky thieves from running away.

• Endure Pain: Breakstun and a few seconds of invulnerability, nice for getting out of sticky situations, or when you want to be able to stand there and deal some quick, heavy damage without worrying too much.

• Signet of Stamina / For Great Justice: Some added vigor and a good, reliable condition removal, or fury and might to help things on their way to hell just that little bit faster. The choice is yours though, choose whichever will be more useful for the current situation.

• Battle Standard / Signet of Rage: Fury, might and swiftness for your group, with the added bonus of reviving your downed allies – but with the drawback of a hefty CD, or a nice fury, might and swiftness buff for yourself that has a fairly low cooldown and a very nice duration. I personally prefer the signet, but in some cases, the standard is more useful.

Strength: 0

• I honestly can’t find a reason to invest skill points into this tree.

Arms: 25

• Adept Minor: 33% chance to cause bleeding on critical hits.
• Adept Major: Furious Reaction – I just love this trait, and remember, I’m focusing on mobility for survivability here, so vigor is super useful, and noone can say no to free fury!
• Master Minor: Critical Burst – Not a particularly useful trait as the only burst skill we will be using is the 1h Sword F1. But still adds a nice bit of extra damage.
• Master Major: Forceful Greatsword – Shorter cooldowns and might on critical hits with the greatsword, very useful trait.
• Grandmaster Minor: Increased damage to bleeding foes – Works VERY nicely with the Adept Minor.

Defense: 15

• Adept Minor: Extra armour above 90% health.
• Adept Major: New trait introduced to replace Turtle’s Defense, Dogged March. Whenever you are struck by Immobilise, Chill or Cripple, the duration of said effects is reduced by 33% and you receive 3 seconds of regeneration. Very useful trait.
• Master Minor: Regenerate Health based on adrenaline level. – Not hugely powerful, but enough to help.

Tactics: 10

• Adept Minor: Determined Revival – Nice big chunk of extra toughness while reviving other players.
• Adept Major: Inspiring Banners or Empowered – If you’re running with a the battle standard + banner or disc/defense, Inspiring Banners is the way to go, anything to reduce that nasty 240 second cooldown is a welcome sight. But if you’re running with FGJ/ Signet of Stamina and Signet of Rage, take empowered, it buffs your damage for every boon on you.

Discipline: 20

• Adept Minor: Gain 5 strikes of adrenaline on weapon swap – Always handy.
• Adept Major: Heightened Focus – Extra crit based on adrenaline level, more crit, more damage.
• Master Minor: Fast Hands: Weapon swapping recharges 5 seconds faster – If you don’t play a warrior, you are jealous of this trait. If you’re not, you should be.
• Master Major: Signet Mastery or Anything – Take Signet Mastery for the reduced cooldown on SoStamina and SoRage if you’re using them, otherwise, pick anything that takes your fancy.

Playstyle:
PvE

• Idea behind this build is to deal good damage, while playing smart and being able to survive if things go kitten up. We have a joke running in our guild, and refer to min/max perma fury builds as perma-downed in anything other than CoF. Whereas Min/Maxing is great for damage, its very punishable in a majority of the dungeons.

• When in a group, remember that you ARE in a group, got a lack of group buffs? Run with banners, don’t be selfish with your utilities, you won’t lose much damage at all, and everyone else will get a nice boost to their own. Keep on top of your conditions, and remember that you have a fair few ways to escape if you need to. Sword F1 has a built in immobilise, Sword 2 when untargeted is a very nice, and fast escape, Sword 3 is a cripple, Greatsword 4 is the same, Greatsword 5 is a nice escape/gap closer and Greatsword 3 has a built in Evade mechanic – use it! If you’re low on endurance it can be a lifesaver.

WvW – Zerging

• Same as I mentioned above when I talked about groups, use your banners, be sensible, and use your abilities to get in and out of a kittenstorm if you need to. In WvW you should be taking the Mobile Strikes trait, which means that in addition to being good gap openers and closers, abilities such as Greatsword 3/5, Sword 2 and Bulls Rush will break immobilise effects that are on you!

Solo – WvW Roaming

• Obviously banners won’t be so useful in this scenario, run with Signet of Rage/Stamina and focus on controlling fights. Thanks to the Berserker’s gear, you won’t have to control them for very long. Enemy players go down incredibly fast to this build, and with some exceptions, can find it very hard to get away from you thanks to your condition removal, immobilise removal and abundant cripples.

Here are some example builds for every situation for those that want them:

Example WvW Zerg Build: http://bit.ly/18D4AWk
Example PvE Group Build: http://bit.ly/13TDyJy
Example PvE Solo/Selfish Build: http://bit.ly/167lShH
Example WvW Solo Build: http://bit.ly/12zUaDE

You might notice that those builds are using “Turtle’s Defense”. This trait no longer exists and is now called Dogged March, explanation of what it does is in the build posts.

And that’s about it peeps, if you have anything you want to add to this, or any suggestions/feedback of your own, please leave a comment, I’ll be happy to take any constructive criticism/suggestions or answer any questions

Peace

IMO this can work fine in a group, but that’s mostly because Berserker always works fine in a group. When soloing, I can see this build being more difficult though. Good thing is that you can escape easy.

It doesn’t feel very refreshing though, it seems a pretty straight forward Bull’s Rush 100B build (talking about the WvW bit). Also, while scanning through the post, I didn’t see your choice of sigils/runes?

It doesn’t feel very refreshing though, it seems a pretty straight forward Bull’s Rush 100B build (talking about the WvW bit). Also, while scanning through the post, I didn’t see your choice of sigils/runes?

The sigils and runes are in the example links, I guess. Accuracy Sigil on mainhand with Hydromancy/Accuracy on swap. All builds run 6x Ruby Orbs.

I wouldn’t call any of these builds “balanced”. You’re running full zerker armor, trinkets, sigils and jewels. That’s far from “balanced”.

And honestly, I am not convinced here. You have 4 builds that use the same armor, same weapons, same trait point layout. The only difference is the one trait in Tactics and the second trait in Discipline.

Newsflash: There’s more to a Warrior than GS, Sword/Warhorn and Axe/Shield.

Ah, for Sigils I tend to use Accuracy on the GS/Rifle, with Accuracy and Hydromancy on the Sword/Warhorn. And where the build DOES include Bulls Rush, it’s used more as an “Okitten” get out of roots button than a knockdown, but yes, it can be used in a similar way to the Bulls Rush → 100B popular combo. Though in the case of this build, I ( personally ) find it more useful as an escape/preventative measure, as any player worth their salt in WvW will normally avoid the main damage of a BR → 100B combo.

As for armour, I tend to use Ruby Orbs or Beryl Orbs. Never been a fan of runes, the only Rune set I find particularly useful is Vampirism, and even that I only use on my thief because it genuinely needs it for survival.

@Olba: All the “builds” are just variations of the main trait setup- Im just giving examples of ways it can be slightly modified in order to fit various situations, without having to completely respec your character. I’m not showing 4 builds- I’m showing 1 build with mild variations to fit various situations. It’s no fun getting into a fractal to find that people are running awkward builds, with the setup I enjoy using, I can simply swap a few things around, and run with more support to help the group.

Mainly do WvW, it’s what I enjoy the most, and you’re right, GS + Sword/Warhorn, Axe/Shield etc AREN’T the only way to play warriors, I much prefer Sword/Sword and Longbow, unfortunately, I’m yet to find a build with them that’s viable in groups that already have high bleeding stacks ( SB Ranger, Conditionmancer etc ), so I tend to stick with weapons that synergise well with mobility and critical damage. However, if I’m roaming, I often will switch things up, don some Carrion/Rabid gear and go around with 2 swords, it makes things a little more interesting.

If I really wanted, I could go GS + Axe/Shield, but I got fed up with people pretty much ignoring the Defense and Tactics trees, they have some great traits that don’t need that much investment to utilise well.

I also got fed up with the Berserker’s gear offering very little defense, so tried to play around so that I could still retain some defense ( 30% damage reduction ) and minimise the damage I take through strategic maneuvering/position rather than simply hoping I kill people before they kill me

Seriously guys, if you’ve got any suggestions, let me know! If I can improve upon the survivability further without giving up any more damage- I would love to, I’d love to see suggested Runes that might work well with it, different ways it could be used, variations to the trait lines that would change it up a bit.

Also, the builds are not really balanced. Turtle’s defense and Thick skin are adding an additional 300 toughness, which you shouldn’t see. So your actual toughness is 1066 for most of the fight, which translates to 19.37% damage reduction

peter.9024:

Also, the builds are not really balanced. Turtle’s defense and Thick skin are adding an additional 300 toughness, which you shouldn’t see. So your actual toughness is 1066 for most of the fight, which translates to 19.37% damage reduction

You gotta stop misusing GW2BuildCraft like that, dude.

The damage reduction percentage is nothing but showing your gain in total armor value over the absolute possible minimum value in the game for exotic armors.

FYI, warrior starts at 13.68% reduction.

That number is basically a bunch of irrelevant crap.

However, your point that 1066 toughness (which would imply 2,277 armor) is too low to call something “balanced” is valid.

In terms of PvE you can run anything as a warrior and be Ok as long as you are some what DPS minded. So there outside CoF you could run full zerker or group support and still be to the benefit of the party. There isn’t much advice to give there because it is really hard to go wrong.

WvW is different. In a Zerg where you are taking a keep or something those types of stats are meant for ranged. Getting in there and meleeing it up you are going to die too quickly. You could absolutely run those stats for Zerg but you would be better off with a rifle. If you absolutely must melee shield will serve you better than warhorn. That 4 second block will save your life more often then any other skill you have.

If you are going to put the points in tactics for WvW the only reason should be for leg specialist. Empower is useless there. That’s a PvE trait. Leg specialist is a staple for Wv3 and is really going to help you land attacks. I highly suggest you take it.

Unless your build is tanky (which it really isn’t) then adrenal health is a waist it less that 1k every 10 seconds and you probably wont notice it. I would take the 5 points out of that and the 5 points out of attack of opportunity and get the 10 points in Strength for Berserker’s power. I would seriously consider dropping furious reaction for rending strikes.

One last thing about bull charge into 100b. The thing about that is if you miss it your screwed and in most cases your going to miss it. You can either fake with short range rush hope for the dodge then go into BC. However, the best way I have found to land the whole thing is shield 4 into swords burst then then swap immediately into GS for 100b if they have broke the immobilize then you Bull Charge into 100b. If you pull this off right you will most likely have burned most of is not all of their CC and landed 100b.

I haven’t fed you my build or anything like that I run 0-0-30-30-10 lyssa but I hope you take the advice seriously. Hope it helps.

Edit:

As Far as damage reduction goes. Sigh, It hard to explain but like many have said before you will find your own sweet spot. For some is 2,500 armor and 20k hp for me its 2,700 armor and 22k hp other its 28k hp and 3k armor. Either way it something you’ll have to figure out on your own.