Guild Wars 2

Warriors! Come out to Plaaayyaaay!

Hey whats up guys. Lvl 80 Guardian here and i need some help/points on how too…. KILL YOU ALL >:D Nah but really, im just having a hard time with you guys. Dont worry i dont think you guys should be nerfed before i’ve had a chance to try and improve on my fighting style against you guys but i’ll need some pointers.

I was doing WvW last night getting the unexplored points and having fun ganking people and getting into some 1v1s (the only 1v1s i seriously count are those who aren’t scaled up) in the borderlands and i came across a rather difficult warrior. Now i know this warrior was fluent with his choice of class he was definitely good. He used a Greatsword and Rifle.

He had a great tactic too and probably considered i was weak at a range. He used 100B (i dodged but not before 8k dmg got me) which then after he used a whirlwind to push himself through me and dodge forward after to increase the distance between us. After which he switched to a rifle and proceeded to shoot now. So i pop my heals and try and use a Leap of Faith to blind him and close the distance (how ever the LoP failed, went straight over his head and missed, which only really placed me infront of him) which then he switched back to GS to finish the job with another 100B/auto-attack.

Now i know i could of been using my CCs better, i’ve already beaten myself up for it. I know this guy was good too. Using an attack to not only dmg but increase the distance knowing i was weak at a range. This guy had a good plan, i kinda fell into it.

Now i wont be falling for that again. LoS is important in a ranged battle but what i’d really like help with is more of rotations.

What are the common warrior skill/utility rotations. Specifically what to watch of for and when. I’ve heard to watch out for Endure Pain because it basically is a couple seconds of immunity from everything, but of course this is all just stuff i’ve heard in passing. I dont actually know how to tell when a 100B is coming up from a way to preemptively dodge outta the way of a Whirlwind.

I’d like some pointers from the warrior community. Thanks guys.

P.s. – Some extra info, the warrior i fought was built for DPS i could tell from the dmg he took so getting in a close-range fight definitely wasnt his best choice. Im a Guardian using a GS/Sword+Shield and if anyone is particularly curious on my build im a (10/0/30/30/0)

You need to CC and dodge 100b. You can render the attack useless if you can tell when its coming. Once activated the warrior can’t really move or it breaks the attack.

That sounds a lot like the strategy i like to use. I have no idea what my own weakness is (other than being outplayed), but getting some way to cripple or immobile him is a good idea. Maybe get a scepter to use the immobilize. Just remember, the rifle has a 15 second CD melee attack that knocks you back and pretty much leaves you open for the massive damage rifle focus so careful.

100B does pretty meh damage if all of them don’t hit, and the strongest hit is at the end, so if you have good reflexes you should be able to dodge it easily.

I understand what you mean about the Hundred Blades and dodging before it ends, only problem tho is that the dmg that could be caused beforehand is already half my HP (16k max)

So i’d have to find a way to expect it coming or get use to the beginning animations to be able to tell the difference from a normal auto-attack or other skill.

Edit: I cant use a scepter, my dignity forbids me.

Blinds and blocks. 100 blades is excellent at punching through blinds (so many attacks), while the blocks are good at dealing with multiple-hit attacks.

Don’t try and immobilize the Warrior – if he has half a brain he will have the trait which allows movement skills (of which the Greatsword has 2) to break them. Cripples on the otherhand are annoying as hell as we need to use condition removal to get rid of them.

It might sound stupid, but you can’t allow the Warrior to hit you. A toe-to-toe DPS fight comes out in the Warrior’s favour each time due to higher DPS and more hitpoints. You need to use all of the guardian’s defensive tools to deal with the Warrior on top of your evades. Avoid the big hits and you can chip away at his health without too much of an issue.

He did a smart thing switching to the rifle and exploiting your lack of range – I’m honestly not sure what tools Guardians have to counter that part (leaps/teleports/reflection walls/etc). If you have a reflection wall it is perfectly possible for the Warrior to nearly kill himself with a reflected Kill Shot.

For landing hits on the Warrior, dodge is the main way we avoid hits so make us blow the endurance bar and we’re very vulnerable. The Greatsword whirling attack also acts as an evade, so if you manage to read that the Warrior is about to activate it, go with a block rather than trying to knock the Warrior out of it as you’ll miss every time.

Sami.1560:

Blinds and blocks. 100 blades is excellent at punching through blinds (so many attacks), while the blocks are good at dealing with multiple-hit attacks.

Don’t try and immobilize the Warrior – if he has half a brain he will have the trait which allows movement skills (of which the Greatsword has 2) to break them. Cripples on the otherhand are annoying as hell as we need to use condition removal to get rid of them.

It might sound stupid, but you can’t allow the Warrior to hit you. A toe-to-toe DPS fight comes out in the Warrior’s favour each time due to higher DPS and more hitpoints. You need to use all of the guardian’s defensive tools to deal with the Warrior on top of your evades. Avoid the big hits and you can chip away at his health without too much of an issue.

He did a smart thing switching to the rifle and exploiting your lack of range – I’m honestly not sure what tools Guardians have to counter that part (leaps/teleports/reflection walls/etc). If you have a reflection wall it is perfectly possible for the Warrior to nearly kill himself with a reflected Kill Shot.

For landing hits on the Warrior, dodge is the main way we avoid hits so make us blow the endurance bar and we’re very vulnerable. The Greatsword whirling attack also acts as an evade, so if you manage to read that the Warrior is about to activate it, go with a block rather than trying to knock the Warrior out of it as you’ll miss every time.

This is great information thank you!!!

Edit: As far as the teleport/CC i do have them and i did use them. Unfortunately my blind missed (Leap of Faith Grrr >.<) And my teleport worked, but how close do you really want to be sometimes haha. They both have long cooldowns 24sec and 36sec (both WITH reduced cooldowns) so the fight was over before i could start using them again

It looks like Sword-Shield is your friend against ranged. Using Zealot’s Defense and Shield of Absorption to counter Volley/Auto Spam/Killshot should really help you mitigate any of his ranged damage. Follow it up with a Shield of Judgement to apply Prot to yourself, teleport in with Flashing Blade to blind, then swap to GS. From there, if he has been Rifle for at least a handful of seconds, you can imagine he might switch back to GS to get more damage in. Dodging out after he consumes blind, following with Binding Blade, pulling him close, then Whirling Wrath for some solid damage.

I’m not sure what utilities you like to use, but Hammer of Wisdom would be wonderful to apply some good pressure/CC while he’s shooting you (and you’re blocking it). Perhaps the natural KD could lead the charge for you to teleport in and start up on him again. If you pull 10 points from Honor (I’m not sure what you’re using in the Grandmaster slot, but bear with me) and put another 20 in Power, you can trait such that your weapon isn’t destroyed when commanded, which means 2 CC’s on command from the hammer before it dissipates, in addition to its natural KD.

Of course, this depends on whether or not he runs Balanced Stance, how he lead into 100B (Bull’s Charge? Bolas? Leg Specialist 1 second immo from a Bladetrail/Rifle shot?), etc. etc. etc. I also understand Guardians are subject to a 10 second weapon cooldown, so my usual ideas to swap back and forth between weapons (I love Fast Hands and will never not use it, even though it has a buggy quirk at the moment) fall flat sometimes depending on how you start the fight.

In short though, Warriors will almost always Whirlwind Attack immediately after 100B. It’s extra damage, but it’s also predictable and removes one of their potential dodge abilities. If he gets to range, that isn’t necessarily bad for you either depending on your condition removal/availability to swap to Sword-Shield. Also, Wall of Reflection could be very handy, as well as Judge’s Intervention (since you already have a Sword teleport and a GS leap, you’ll be able to close even if he knocks you back and tries to roll away).

Sometimes though you’ll encounter something and won’t quite have the tools to deal with it as you please. You could Utility yourself to easily handle someone like that, but what do you sacrifice? Would it be worth it? Just remember that many people are predictable in this game, so if you get close to a Warrior with a rifle, odds are he’s going to instinctually use Rifle Butt to knock you away, so it’s a good time to dodge. If he has a GS out, from range he’s probably going to Bladetrail (which you can just soak if you want. I also recommend running perpendicularly to the line between you and him, as I’ve known Bladetrail to have a very difficult time compensating for perpendicular movement like most projectiles can), and if he leads with an immo/stun then 100B/Whirlwind is following.

In any case, best of luck out there!

Thanks Cogbyrn!

Im running a 10/0/30/30/0 build and 30 in Honor because in the Honor tree (which really has no good grand master trait it) i can still use both Two-Handed Mastery and Empowering Might (20% less CDs on 2handed & Critical Hits grant Might) as well as an extra 1k hp and healing power.

Unfortunately, spirit weapons aren’t my thing. I’m more of mediations guardian. I use Save Yourselves / Smite Condition / Judge’s Intervention. And i have a problem using the Zeal tree because of the focus on symbols and spirit weapons, and without any of those your left powerless in the event of spirit weapons on cooldown and most fights your dodging so much that symbols on the ground will never do they’re full DPS/Support in a real fight.

My build is the way it is so i can heal of my meditation attacks, gain vigor and might with critical hits for more dmg/more dodge. My dodges heal me as well. Smite Condition is a great move for condition removal as well as dmg and now it heals me as well. Judge’s Intervention has got to be my favorite move in the game (Whirling Wrath + Judge’s Intervention = Exploding Teleporting Fire Torando)

My build is pretty solid and it fights my play style perfectly. Its very strong. But it wasnt my build that got me killed but my lack of tactics and prep for the fight is what i think got me. He must of gotten 90% of his attacks to hit, while i was struggling catching up and missing CDs.

Dodging 100b is possibly the easiest thing to learn from all PvP in GW2, and one of the first requirements in order to be a PvPer.
It’s pretty much at the level of dodging Ettin power blow in Queensdale.

Warrior is sadly the easiest class to counter because our moves are predictable and slow, but of course until you fight a bit of Warriors you are prone to be killed.

Generally speaking though, stunbreaker/stability/condition removal -> Dead Warrior.

But this warrior wasnt using all that many stuns or compromising my stability.

And dodging 100B maybe be easy when ur standing and watching for it. But when you simultaneously trying to get in close yourself to be able to deal dmg back to him, while also fighting off the threat of putting yourself out to far and giving him the advantage of range, its kinda hard to dodge without taking the first 8k dmg which it might do in its first 2 secs, especially if it crits. Already more then half my health right there.

you really think the warrior is slow? Play a Guardian and tell me how fast we are. I stack cooldown reduction for a reason. Your Hundred blades which definitely does more dmg on me then my Whirling Wrath. On top of that, you have an 8sec natural CD on 100B while Whirling is at 10. I have to get a Master Trait in order to reduce it to 8sec.

Again i dont want this message to come out like “omg warriors are OP” but dont talk down on your class like that when it simply isnt true. If your not fast, maybe its a problem on your end and not the warrior class.

I accepted that i could learn to play the guardian better, not just pass it off like “its my class, not me”. Its the whole reason im here…

-Tzenjin

If you’re going against glass warrior then cripple, blinds, conditions and sustained dps are your best options. Those type of builds really hate long fights, we’re easily worn out after a while. Avoid our initial bursts and take the fight to your pace and we will have a much harder time coping with it. Don’t try going burst vs burst, we will prevail. Our two main party stoppers are 100b and Killshot from rifle. Both are predictable because we’ll have to immo/kd/stun you for 100b to be effective and when we do killshot, we go down on one knee and channel it for about 2-3 secs. That can ofc be interrupted, LoS’d and dodged out of. Whirlwind on gs is an excellent skill that helps us dictate the battle for us and it hurts quite a bit. A GS/Rifle is very effective outside spvp environment pvp and going ranged against this type of builds is not a smart move. We can outburst rangers&thiefs in range and usually in 1v1 the warrior will come on top due to our selection of condi removes and high burst damage.
Use reflects&dodges against ranged and in melee your defensive abilities regen/retaliation/protection and you’ll outwear us. Don’t try to immo a gs/sword+shield focus player, if he is half good, he’ll have the trait to break immo on movement skills.

Ability/boon icons to watch out for: endure pain, vengeance, shield stance, stability

Now versus warriors other than GS glass, it’s a totally different story.

most guardians i encounter with a sceptre will finish me off. too much damage and too much ranged

You shouldn’t be losing to any warrior 1v1 sans kiting Rifle warrior (But guardians shouldn’t be chasing targets anyways, much better professions for that) if you have the following:

Heal on dodge roll
stun breaks
gap closer

Hmm…I’d say that it all depends on builds and player skill. Saying that he should never lose against some profession because of his is kinda ignorant view. Sword+shield/axe+mace build eats through guardians pretty nicely imo. You shouldn’t judge warrior melee capabilities only to BC+100b. This profession has a bit more into it than it shows at start.

Here is excelent video of Warrior’s Dodge and You. Its guardian player explaining stuff. Its really good, everyone should see it, even warriors.

Work on your reflexes to dodge and/or use a block. If warriors are giving you trouble, thief must seem like a blinding light of insta-death.

As a warrior, I still have the most trouble with thief over every other 1-on1 because of the unpredictable nature of when attacks are coming in/fast thief attacking animation. In other words, spend some time to recognize the precursor moves before you take that spike damage.

I really don’t know how are you losing to a Warrior as a Guardian. Never had any problems against them 1v1. Spirit Weapon, triple Meditation, Bunker… no matter what build they are (90% are GS glass cannons anyway, but no problem vs Hammer or Bleed wars either).

Probably the easiest profession to deal with, on par with a DPS Ele.

I’m starting to see people finally getting wise to Bulls+100b. As a result I’ve been trying Axe/Warhorn and rifle. There’s a perk called Quick Breathing that has horn skills remove conditions and replace it with a boon. Coupled with mending conditions are much less annoying. I need to test this more but I’ve been trying to run utility skills similar to 100b but using Bolas+Frenzy with a rifle with a sigil of intel to hit a fast, buffed Kill Shot volly. With axehorn you’re also very mobile (although prob not as good as gs with that rush). Thieves/mesmers are what I have the most issue with.

This warrior just happened to crit well and im no fan of the magical tennis racket.

I am a melee based fighter, but the video helped alot to look into predictability and anticipating.

Im not having trouble with the warrior per say as much as i was having trouble predicting their moves. I just need to learn the skills to watch out for with what weapons and how fast they can pop them.

Thank you Psybunny, VictorTroska, and BurrTheKing for the great info. I’ll be looking into making a small warrior to get familiar with myself.

Wizardauz.3761:

Warriors! Come out to Plaaayyaaay!

I’d thumb you up all the way to heaven if I could. Amazing quote.
NC all the way.