Guild Wars 2

I’d like to peck at you guys regarding how you go about balancing and deciding between all of Warrior’s options, cramming into two weapon sets and three utilities considering the vast array of options at this class’ disposal.

For this patch, I’ve tried the following builds:
-Mace/Axe + Axe/Sword with Axe Mastery (good at charging adrenaline and little else)
-Sword/Axe + Longbow (solid but completely lacking in CCs)
-Sword/Axe + Greatsword (superb mobility but still, lacking CCs)
-Mace/Axe + Greatsword (actually pretty good and what I currently use)

I’ve reached the point where I don’t see any significant ways to improve upon what I like about the class. I’m very fond of Combustive Shot, Skull Crack, MH Sword and OH Axe, but there’s just no way to get the best of it all in one build. Even with regards to meta builds, you can’t sneak in X+Bow and Ham/GS at the same time— you have to give up one side or the other.

How important would you rank the capacity to interrupt an enemy compared to damaging them quickly in the current meta?

Is Longbow’s Combustive Shot CI still mandatory with the changes to Healing Signet and the addition of Brawler’s Recovery?

Has immunity to Cripple/Chill on Sword 2 and GS 3/5 helped or hurt the class considering Swiftness’ irrelevance?

How important is your burst skill when it comes to deciding on weapons? Are they the defining aspects, or does the whole package matter more than the quality of a burst?

Thanks much to anyone that’s willing to crack their skull open for my edification and viewing pleasure.

you may wanna put Spvp or WvW though.

it’s very different both side. Spvp can be a long talk while WvW you can play whatever you want.

Hi,

(What follows is just my opinion at the moment. I may be wrong, or change my mind over time.)

We cannot have everything we want when building, so need to sacrifice what is at the lowest position in our priority queue, between mobility, active defense, attack, support, control, range options, targetting.

My preferences go to:

• Mobility: that’s the only tool the warrior has to engage, track or disengage. Also, investing in mobility reduces the pressure on ranged options (no need to range when you can get to melee quickly).
• Attack: I play berserker mostly now, because I enjoy its dynamic play style. Killing fast is not only fun, but also a good way to survive.
• Active Defense: I believe in the balance brought by attack-oriented stats (berserker) and templates, with defensive utilities (blocks, partial invulnerabilities, endurance optimization).
• Control: see below.

In the weapon sets you have listed, you did not include the shield. It offers a block and a stun, so is one of my preferred weapon. As a berserker, I play either sword+axe/mace+shield, sword+shield/GS, mace+shield/GS, sword+shield/rifle or GS/bow. As a condition user, I favor sword+sword/LB and sword+sword/mace+shield.

Akira.5746:

How important would you rank the capacity to interrupt an enemy compared to damaging them quickly in the current meta?

I think you need both, although interrupt-based play is a bit special. More than interrupting, I think you want disabling: hard control (daze, stun) and soft control (cripple, immobilize) to enhance your attacks patterns, gain time to regenerate (Healing Signet, Adrenal Health), and disturb the opponent’s own patterns.

Akira.5746:

Is Longbow’s Combustive Shot CI still mandatory with the changes to Healing Signet and the addition of Brawler’s Recovery?

That’s not an easy question. CI shines when you have the LB, when you have toughness (needs to get hit to maximize the adrenaline gain), and when you can burst often (good adrenaline regeneration, and possibly Burst mastery). I’d use it only when all these criteria are met (so celestial / condi builds with a LB). The combo Brawler’s Recovery and Healing Signet is quite potent, from what I’ve experienced.

Akira.5746:

Has immunity to Cripple/Chill on Sword 2 and GS 3/5 helped or hurt the class considering Swiftness’ irrelevance?

I don’t understand the question. If you refer to the fact that movement skills are not affected by speed variation anymore, then my opinion is that this has affected the warrior quite negatively.

Akira.5746:

How important is your burst skill when it comes to deciding on weapons? Are they the defining aspects, or does the whole package matter more than the quality of a burst?

The whole package matters most, the burst skill is firstly a way to perform new combos (e.g. Sword or Mace F1s + GS #2, Shield #4 + Mace F1 or Axe F1, Fear + Rifle F1, LB F1 bringing a fire field working well with various finishers…). Now, certain burst skills can also benefit more than others from certain traits (LB and Cleansing Ire, GS and Berserker’s Power, Mace and Unsuspecting Foe…), and this has to be accounted for.

Regards.