Guild Wars 2

Allright im done trying around for a working greatsword build, bottom line: There is none. Because with any greatsword build thats putting some serious damage and doesnt lack totally on the defensive, you are going to have close to no condition removal. Well thats the way it is, but dont despair: We have ways to deal with condition classes even without condition removal. Mobility and regeneration. So here is my build, designed to spearhead a zerg and kick massive kitten in a non-burst way.

Skills:

Healing Surge for a big heal when your lifesteal doesnt cut it anymore, also: adrenaline for longbow combo field. Take mending if you want some condition removal.
For Great Justice – passive buff on autocast or anything you like, shake it off for more condition removal.
Endure Pain – For the hngrrrmblgrrr moments like running into 3 ballistas
Fear me – Get off my back/off the siege/over the cliff
Signet of Rage – Need this.

Traits: 10/20/30/10/0

Berserker’s power, 30% vuln, might on crit, rally health, balanced stance, spiked armor, leg specialist

Gear:

Invader Armor Set with Knight Chest – Knights Trinkets with Ruby Jewels, Knights Amulet, Cavaliers Backpiece (Ruby). Runes of Speed (+7% speed on swiftness).

Buff food:

Master Maintenance Oil
Omonomberry Ghost

Weapon: I use a Knights GS, but i guess Berserker would work nicely too, if you think you have enough armor already.
I use the Sigil of Air for some extra dps, its not debatable in the sense that there are surely superior options which i cant afford Chilling on crit could be nice, well just mentioning my sigil for completion, its still the one rather bad choice in this build imho, gonna change it when i made up my mind.

2nd Weapon of your choice, the build is only for GS… axe offhand is nice for lifesteal with #5 in a zerg, or whatever rocks your boat.. i use longbow because im too lazy to switch and need it for siege, but also putting up the fire combo field and then whirlwinding through is .. nice

How this build works? Charge and see 100b only if you can hit a lot of targets at the same time, otherwise be mobile with whirlwind, charge, dodge.. also when you on top of someone use #4 then 100b. That will root him 2 times and you can pull off almost the whole combo.

btw this is a WVW BUILD – so think before you criticise. It is not designed for 1v1, but for 1v5 (newbs) and for 1 vs 20 havoc (endure pain, fear, whirlwind, 100b) with 20 of your people arriving 5-10 seconds behind their commander and providing you with all the rallies you need to scare the kitten out of everyone.

“We have ways to deal with condition classes even without condition removal. Mobility and regeneration. So here is my build, designed to spearhead a zerg and kick massive kitten in a non-burst way.”
Your mobility is Whirlwind/Rush from GS (w/o mobile strikes). You Regeneration is Adrenal Health.
You’re spearheading the zerg w/o condition removal? Bleed much?

Longbow w/o Stronger Bowstrings is gimped in WvW.
I’d prolly pick I II or III over IV in Defense tree.
Not sure Fear Me is your best option for 3rd Utility. Bull’s Rush or another Stance maybe moar useful?

this is a GS build, not a longbow build the longbow is just there to put some fire on the walls because its the only siege weapon for warrior and thus a must in wvw, disregard it :P the best mobility is from runes and leg specialist. and no i dont bleed much, bleed is kitten and i eat those 1h warriors for breakfest any day any time. The added rally health is because when you spearhead a zerg you gonna rally like popups on a porn site and keep smashing heads in to rally more, its worth it in WvW. I used to use bullsrush when i was a newbie and did bulls-frenzy-100b combo – but outside that, dont see much use. what stance do you suggest? i used to run around with frenzy and last chance but eventually dropped it again in favour of fear me – great to get away from sticky chasers, great for making people suicide over cliffs, great for causing havoc in the middle of enemy zerg. really powerfull skill.

Your build link appears to have disappeared.

Vigorous Return remains a crap Trait imo. Perhaps it would be better not to die quite so much? Turtle’s Defence (II) and Defy Pain (XI) being the obvious choices here as opose to slightly better raise and some retaliation (not deflection) of damage before going down.

Why not 20 in Strength for Slashing Power?

Perhaps Balanced Stance.

Bull’s Rush both as mobility and cc on a 60% lower CD than Fear Me – would seem intuitive to use when charging into a zerg or getting “away from sticky chasers”.

yeah the link didnt work, so i put some more words there instead of the link. i put the vigorous return just lately and i agree its not a no-brainer. defy pain is in the 3rd tier, we got spiked armor there as a superior choice. why? because you negate onomberry healing and have a huge bonus on fast attacking targets like ranger or thief, soften them up before putting them down with a few swings. turtle’s defense would be the obvious choice, but this build is rocking 3.2k armor base.. so not much gain there. why not 20 in slashing? because its a low damage bonus compared to others and we really need the points for better stuff, also the minor is crap. balanced stance.. well we got it built in passive already. bulls rush is a single target and we have plenty mobility already of this kind with the greatsword #5, this build focuses on dishing out damage to a lot of players at the same time. fear me has much more uses and is aoe.

if anyone is testing this i would LOVE some feedback comparing it to other GS builds in WvW that you’ve played. Ive played GS almost nonstop since launch and this is my final build, wont change a thing anymore.

Some numbers:

HP: ~24k
Armor: 3285
Attack ~3.1k
Critical Chance: 69% with Fury
Critical Damage: 22%

(1 shameless bump before i let this die)

Steelo.4597:

this is a GS build, not a longbow build the longbow is just there to put some fire on the walls because its the only siege weapon for warrior and thus a must in wvw, disregard it :P the best mobility is from runes and leg specialist. and no i dont bleed much, bleed is kitten and i eat those 1h warriors for breakfest any day any time. The added rally health is because when you spearhead a zerg you gonna rally like popups on a porn site and keep smashing heads in to rally more, its worth it in WvW. I used to use bullsrush when i was a newbie and did bulls-frenzy-100b combo – but outside that, dont see much use. what stance do you suggest? i used to run around with frenzy and last chance but eventually dropped it again in favour of fear me – great to get away from sticky chasers, great for making people suicide over cliffs, great for causing havoc in the middle of enemy zerg. really powerfull skill.

If your longbow is only used for keep attack, I would opt for another weapon on your off. Something that is useful in the middle of combat. If I were you, I’d use Sword/Shield as my off. This combination would allow you to run away/be defensive more. You can use the sword leap without a target to quickly return to your zerg if your health is low. As well as using the shield block to survive more (Also! If you’re in the middle of a zerg and use block with traited reflect and traited might on block, you can stack near 20+ might in those 3 seconds) . Not to mention shield stun. The cripple (and traited immobilize) is great because it affects multiple players.

Then, when you attack a keep and need the longbow, just manually swap your weapons. The reason this seems better is because you’re not utilizing all available combinations. You’re only using longbow situationally, so you can just swap from inventory.

Explain how a Warrior can play with 1200 Toughness? Thanks.

Regarding “lack of condition removal”… I like taking Runes of Lyssa. Combined with Signet Mastery / Signet of Rage, one gets another complete cleanse every 48sec.

I got a glassy build to offer, but i dont die with it very often in WvW.
Full zerk gear/trinkets (Divinity runes of i could afford) for now using ruby orbs/exquisite jewels

Sword-Sheild/GS
20/0/20/0/30 <→ 10/0/20/10/30 (just to get leg specialist, sometimes)
Traits – Berserk Power/Slashing power/Turtle defense/Shield mastery/heightened focus/signet mastery/(sweet vengeance <→ mobility strikes)

Healing surge/balance stance/(bulls charge <→ bolas)/signet of stamina/signet of rage

Reasoning – never use burst skill, unless i know flurry>HB will land. With max adrenaline, you get max benefits from regen/healing surge/berserker power/heightened focus. Signet of stamina means more mobile and survivability, and its activation is great for escaping when you need to get out of fight using balance stance. Bulls rush/bolas are just extra engage tools to catch or lock down a target. Signet of stamina/rage are on low cooldowns, and this build is slippery. Shield helps mitigate damage, and interrupt/invuln when i need that 3 seconds to get my escapes ready. Savage leap/WW/Rush/bulls charge (if up) with swiftness. Sounds kinda sad, but most of my utilities are for getting pigeon holed so that i can get away and come back when im at full health.

Also interesting thing to note, hardest part about melee classes is the abilities that don’t bring you to your target, or as in pathing into the enemy. With Whirlwind/savage leap, you get to deal damage while dodging and reengage on the enemy constantly on a short interval. Combine with bulls rush/sheild-bash and even rush (i know it has bad pathing) at long distances, you can stick to target well. Of course, everyone has their own play style and builds, just throwing out mine.

Steelo.4597:

Allright im done trying around for a working greatsword build, bottom line: There is none. Because with any greatsword build thats putting some serious damage and doesnt lack totally on the defensive, you are going to have close to no condition removal. Well thats the way it is, but dont despair: We have ways to deal with condition classes even without condition removal. Mobility and regeneration. So here is my build, designed to spearhead a zerg and kick massive kitten in a non-burst way.

Skills:

Healing Surge for a big heal when your lifesteal doesnt cut it anymore, also: adrenaline for longbow combo field
For Great Justice – passive buff on autocast
Endure Pain – For the hngrrrmblgrrr moments
Fear me – Get off my back/over the cliff
Signet of Rage – Nobrainer

Traits: 10/20/30/10/0

Berserkers power, 30% vuln, might on crit, rally health, balanced stance, spiked armor, leg specialist

Gear:

Invader Armor Set with Knight Chest – Knights Trinkets with Ruby Jewels, Knights Amulet, Cavaliers Backpiece (Ruby). Runes of Speed (+7% speed on swiftness).

Buff food:

Master Maintenance Oil
Omonomberry Ghost

2nd Weapon of your choice, axe offhand is nice for lifesteal or whatever rocks your boat.. i use longbow because im too lazy to switch and need it for siege, but also putting up the fire combo field and then whirlwinding through is .. nice

How this build works? Charge and see

btw this is a WVW BUILD – so think before you criticise. It is not designed for 1v1, but for 1v5 (newbs) and 1 vs 20 with 20 of your people arriving 5-10 seconds behind their commander.

calling it a “god” build, you know you are inviting some critiques right ?
No mobility strikes almost confirms death in a 1 v 5 situation.
no shield stance, again will mean death in a 1v 5 situation. heck, even 1 v 1 you’ll get owned. not to mention the 1 v 5.

I would love if someone actually tried it out instead of pointing out the flaws that are obvious and that i named myself even :P i am conscious of the weaknesses, but still i wouldnt change the build. the runes of speed are elementary to this build. they bring higher mobility and extra vitality which scales very well with the huge armor.

Novean: For serious dueling i would pick Axe/Axe as 2nd set, #5 will give you serious healing with omnom. Like i wrote im just too lazy to switch and i dont build for 1v1, ignore the longbow if you arent too lazy to switch weapons during wvw, there are much better choices (actually: all of them) BUT the longbow has its uses catching those elementalists that laugh about my mobility even with this build

Cempa: I dont understand

Clyne: Of course. The god build is because you feel like a god when you go into enemy zerg and start killing left and right

Well tbh i would rather have someone really try this build and then tell me his opinion. Because the downsides that are mentioned – well yeah im aware of them and i still wouldnt change the build. taking mobile strikes means taking 20 points of of this build which will remove core elements.. not possible, although i love mobile strikes. Use the roots for casting your heal or something ^^

i wouldnt mention 1v5 if i had not actually done it.. of course they were upscaled, but still.. ^^ i hope someone will check it out and not only criticize in theory.

I plugged your build into a trait builder and ended up with 1,200 Toughness did I do it wrong? I have never been able -other than Mesmer- to play any form of PvP with below 15xx – 16xx Toughness.

Well sorry i am at work and cant check on my toughness value. But armor is 3284 – i think that should not be low on toughness? all my gear have toughness on it O_O

Only plugging it in a skill calculator wont show toughness from gear and accessories..

And as said before dont use LB as 2nd set.. Better to have axe/mace or sword shield depending on more DPS or more defence.. And if you go defend a keep/tower you usually get out of combat fast when inside and you can swap out your GS or 2nd set for LB..

i would take axe / axe for 2nd set for serious melee. but the longbow is not too bad in WvW zerg vs zerg, give it a try also. When you go out of the zerg because you got a heavy beating, the longbow can still keep firing, also the longbow is the only weapon to put down serious aoe from range for warrior, very important in WvW to block zergs coming through narrow path. I was of the opinion the longbow is totally crap, but the longer i play it the more uses i find actually. A 2nd melee set will gimp your combat time because for upfront battle you have already the GS. Also the number 5 skill is nice for catching someone and set him up for GS #4 into 100b. bad longbow skills are #2 and #4 only, the rest is very valuable. It doesnt synergize well with GS, but for WvW its still one hell of a weapon.

edit: you are right, for 1v1 mace in offhand is very good, i wrote it wrong up there, axe offhand is good for zerg vs zerg, not 1v1.

I cant find any reason to use offhand axe over shield or mace.. Sure if you run in a zergtrain its good.. But for 1v1 or small skirmishes the mace and shield both give a CC and shield offers a 3 sec block while mace gives you 4 stacks of vulnerability for 12 sec with low CD..

feedback from someone who tried this build:

I admit I had my reservations, thought glassy spike damage was the way to go with GS. You proved me wrong. The build worked beautifully! First I started with capping camps, and yeah it was very easy to solo them. No need to even heal. Then I tried some minor skirmishes. Found a group of 4 _ (server name) who were derping around durios. After a few painful (for them) encounters of them trying to gank me and realizing I wasn’t going down anytime soon, I actually had 4 people run away from me. Those were ______, _______ (good guild names) etc. guys btw. Only lost a few duels vs kiter condition builds, something leg specialist could have helped with (she took empowered >.<)

I had so much fun with it I burned through all my ghosts. :P Can’t recommend this build enough if you want GS in WvW!

Tried the build today and I like it, at first sight I thought the lack of the 10%+10% GS dmg boost (10% dmg when bleed and the 10% GS dmg increase) was a big thing but GS hits like a truck even without those traits.

I do ask more discussion on utilities, what are you all doing?

Considering moving points into reduced Shout CD.

10/20/20/20/0 Shout GS Build