Guild Wars 2

The concept for this build is based upon the hybrid Mesmer build I use in that I wanted to find some sort of balance between conditions, CC, and all out damage. The problem I have with the traditional S/S + LB is that at this point, most people know how a condi Warrior will attack and so the LB skills are not only predictable, but reasonably avoided. In the last few days of playing that build, I felt the LB just didn’t accomplish what I was hoping. Perhaps I’m still too much of a noob with this class but I really like the “in your face” play-style that comes with the GS.

Anyways, with that being said, the build below is an attempt to use P/T/C armor with “cough” perplexity runes combined with zerker trinkets/weapons. If used correctly, I think it should be effective in causing enough CC to make the runes worth the trouble while dealing out some decent damage as well. I suppose you can change out the GS and modify the build some to allow for the hammer if that’s your choosing.

Can you all please take a moment to look over this build and let me know if you think it’s viable or not? Also, can you make some suggestions as where it can be improved upon? I really like the look/feel of my warrior and as I drained most all of my gold to get her geared out, I would really like to find a style that is “fun” and effective. As a note, this is mainly for roaming.

Hybrid Condition Zerker

Well…

First order of business would be your build. From teh looks of it, you’re trying to make a Perplexity build. Well, let me tell you one thing: Your best interrupt is Kick and your other options are very crap. If you get evaded/blinded/stabbed, it’s all worthless. For Perplexity, you would go with mainhand Mace.

I don’t think that 30/10/0/0/30 is a good build for your weapon set. Firstly, Unsuspecting Foe is hardly worth the effort, as you have better ways to land Final Thrust. Secondly, Burst Mastery with Flurry is silly as ducks. I would probably go with 0/30/25/0/15 to get Furious, Forceful Greatsword and Deep Cuts in Arms. Deep Cuts is especially important: That +50% bleed duration is huge for your bleeds. Also note that Slashing Power is equivalent to Attack of Opportunity, as you’ll have bleeds on your enemy 24/7.

Now then, onwards to your runes and foodz. You basically have 2 choices for food and 2 for runes. For food, it’s either Rare Veggie Pizza or Lemongrass Poultry Soup, with the former being offensive and latter being defensive option. For runes, your options are Undead and Antitoxin, with the former being offensive and the latter defensive. Do note that if you choose Rare Veggie Pizza, you should use a Sigil with +10% bleed duration to achieve +100%.

Lastly, your Sigils. The +15% stun duration Sigil is worthless with your shield, as they recently patched the rounding issue: it will now grant you a miniscule 0.15s more stun on Shield Bash. I personally don’t think that sigil of Geomancy is worth the effort, as we’re talking 1 more bleed every 5 seconds, while your weapons are putting out 1-4 bleeds per second. If you want more bleeds, use Sigil of Earth. You might also want to consider a Sigil of Bloodlust to make up for your fairly low Power.

Lastly, your gear: Either you optimize your Berserker stuff or you get Ascended. Also, I wouldn’t go with Rabid. Power is always superior to Precision, so I would choose Carrion.

Now then, to summarize, here are two builds made from this, both without Ascended stuff:

• 100% bleed duration setup
• Defensive setup

Wow… See, this shows how much I still don’t know about the class! Thanks so much for reviewing over this concept Olba and for picking it apart for me. Thanks as well for providing a few build ideas. The problem I have right now is the armor set listed on the build is what I actually have on hand. It also has the perplexity runes in it as well so I’m sort of suck atm to some extent. Is there something you can recommend that still uses those perplexity runes but isn’t the normal LB + S/S build?

FinalPatriot.8034:

Wow… See, this shows how much I still don’t know about the class! Thanks so much for reviewing over this concept Olba and for picking it apart for me. Thanks as well for providing a few build ideas. The problem I have right now is the armor set listed on the build is what I actually have on hand. It also has the perplexity runes in it as well so I’m sort of suck atm to some extent. Is there something you can recommend that still uses those perplexity runes but isn’t the normal LB + S/S build?

Well, everything I said about the sigils still applies. Not being able to switch from Rabid to Carrion armor is a pretty big sting though.

If you insist on using the GS, this is probably what I would use. You could also try switching the Shield for a Mace, as they both provide an identical interrupt (25s cooldown), but Mace has 1200 range, making it far easier to land. Plus there’s vulnerability on Mace 4. Note that I switched Stomp for Bull’s Charge for lower cooldown and more range.

If you can find the will to ditch the Mace, I would probably go with Sword/Mace, Axe/Shield. Axe provides decent damage, plus Shield Bash will let you add to the interrupts and land Eviscerate.

Olba.5376:

If you can find the will to ditch the Mace, I would probably go with Sword/Mace, Axe/Shield. Axe provides decent damage, plus Shield Bash will let you add to the interrupts and land Eviscerate.

I assume you were talking about ditching the GS….

I went and played around with your weapon idea in sPvP and while it’s limited in that situation, it’s pretty darn fun. All the interrupts are amazing! Looks like I’m going to have to suck up a few more gold and fix the mess I created.

Should I go for a 0/20 (IV, IX) 20 (V, IX) 10 (I), 20 (VI, III) sort of build?

Again, thanks for the help!

FinalPatriot.8034:

Should I go for a 0/20 (IV, IX) 20 (V, IX) 10 (I), 20 (VI, III) sort of build?

I don’t think that playing with Unsuspecting Foe is a good idea at this point, since it’s getting pushed to Master in December. And as I mentioned, Deep Cuts is going to be a mayor boost to your condition damage. Similarly, whether you go for Opportunist or Blademaster is a matter of preference.

Personally, I am not a fan of Leg Specialist. I would much rather put those points towards Furious in the Arms line.

Olba, I went back and changed the build based upon your guidance and found it to be instantly addicting! It’s kind of like the old days when nobody played the D/D Ele and so few had a clue how to defend against it. Basically, the amount of CC is just unreal and when you add the condi damage, it’s simply amazing!

My biggest problem in WvW has always been a skilled Necro or a Thief. Last night, I engaged on a Necro and while doing a quick CC/bleed rotation, I was able to get 12 stacks of confusion on him. After that, he just simply died. Granted, he wasn’t the best of players but it was still an very effective test of the build.

Thanks again for all your help!