Guild Wars 2

Is it viable? What builds are most effective with it? I kinda want to go stance heavy but not sure the endure pain proc under 25% and balanced stance proc when knockdown is actually a game changer..

Thanks!

Yes they are. I switched out the balanced stance trait for the hammer trait though and took the dolyak rune for stability.

I have 0/0/30/20/20 and I use this for WvW and PvE. Hammer/S+Sh. Zerker Armor and knights everything else.

Good survivability, good damage, great CC with the hammer. Mesmers are annoying in WvW until you charge > Hammer 5 > then the use decoy so I use hammer 3 to immobilize, hammer F1, hammer 4 and its GG

From a PvE perspective, the Endure Pain trait is pretty shoot-or-miss. Against a hard boss, it’s pretty easy to go from like 35% hp to 0 hp and the trait won’t even activate. It also doesn’t help against condition damage/agony.

The balanced stance trait activates when you’re knocked down, but DOES NOT break stuns/knockdowns. It’s not uncommon to get knocked down, have balanced stance activate, but yet still stay knocked down for like 4 seconds. So it doesn’t help you the first time you’re CC’ed, but helps you for a few seconds after you’ve recovered from being CC’ed. Again, this is pretty useless in PvE, because 99% of mobs have a big delay before they use their knockdowns/stuns again.

Generally for PvE, I would not recommend going over 15 points in the defense trait line. However, some traits are suited for mace/shield and hammer builds(which very few warriors use in PvE).

Source: ~700 hours spent on warrior.

Ah that makes sense, any more input would be much appreciated! Right now I am

0/0/30/30/10 for stances/healing with adrenaline/banner regen/signet cd reduc

Trying to go for a warrior build that can maximize healing during endure pain. Not sure if healing over time is better than lump sum healing with mending/the adrenaline-based heal skills.

I use gs/rifle

Healing utility is healing signet
Utilities are Shake It Off, Endure Pain, Banner of Tactics
Elite is Rage signet

If you use a GS, having 20 points in our 2nd tier for Forceful GS is near mandatory. Might adds more DPS than any of our other traits COMBINED.

10 points in defense is nice for reflect projectiles in WvW or sPvP, Embrace the pain is alright too. The passive regen is pretty worthless unless your using healing signet, than you almost have decent regen. But healing signet is pretty bad too. So basically this passive skill sucks. 20 points is mandatory for hammer and mace builds. The rest I wouldn’t even bother with.

Id say 20-25 points in arms is almost mandatory for every Warrior build or atleast 10 in strength. Other wise your just tanky with low damage.

I started using Hammer/Longbow/Banner might stacking build and use 20 points in defense for Adrenal Heal and 20% CD on Hammer skills. It is the most fun I’ve ever had on a warrior.

ArcTheFallen.7682:

Ah that makes sense, any more input would be much appreciated! Right now I am

0/0/30/30/10 for stances/healing with adrenaline/banner regen/signet cd reduc

Trying to go for a warrior build that can maximize healing during endure pain. Not sure if healing over time is better than lump sum healing with mending/the adrenaline-based heal skills.

I use gs/rifle

Healing utility is healing signet
Utilities are Shake It Off, Endure Pain, Banner of Tactics
Elite is Rage signet

If you want lump healing then healing shouts is a much better option, as they require no time to use, so you can get three out in under a second for a substantial heal. Would also be better to go with a different healing utility also.

Anyone out there that did some testing with Spiked Armor? Im curious how often does it activate, or in other words how often do you get hit by criticals from mobs. Also, if its possible to keep it up 5 seconds every 15 seconds in PvE?

I played full defense in every dungeon run. It worked really well tbh. Regardless of actual traits, 300 toughness really helps. I used to run:

+200 toughness while in immobilize/chill/cripple state (cause often warrior is gonna take heavy dmg when unable to move properly)
20% mace reduction cooldown (I always used a mace in offhand, nice to have reduced cd on vulnerability /knockdown)
25% hp endure pain… now this one was actually not that useful, it’s a lot nicer in PvP than PvE

I’d only go down this tree if you are planning to use a hammer, and/or planning to be a tank (and are going down tactics line as well)

Great info guys! I decided to go with 0/0/30/30/10 and use cleric armor for healing power. So far it’s doing pretty well with healing signet+adren regen+regen. I’m going to test it out on a few dungeons to see if regen is viable but so far it works for fotm up to 10 and ac exp; I gain more health than I lose.

yea the gear your using and trait lines you went for a dungeon are amazing at face tanking. you can tank everything and not worry about your hp just save shake it off for the knock downs and you will do great with that build. thats what i originally ran with axe and mace as well with a sigil of blood and sigil of life it. the only down side to the build your dmg out put. but it makes up for it because most mobs will be attracted to you wile you hold stuff still ur group just pounds it down.

Only if you’re a bunker. If you’re a roamer then glass cannon all the way. All I’m going to say is if you can’t go glass cannon as a roamer, you’re a waste of space.

@OP
So far you’re on the right track, just that you’re going to want a Warhorn if you ever want to make the most out of tactics.

Schwahrheit.4203:

Only if you’re a bunker. If you’re a roamer then glass cannon all the way. All I’m going to say is if you can’t go glass cannon as a roamer, you’re a waste of space.

@OP
So far you’re on the right track, just that you’re going to want a Warhorn if you ever want to make the most out of tactics.

Thanks! Yeah, I think I’m going to play around with this bunker build for right now and then maybe mess around with glass canon later. : ) Ooo I might try out warhorn as an offhand. I’m sorry, but I’m new to the term “roamer”—-is that pvp? I’m not much of a pvper in that case XD just pve for me