Guild Wars 2

Why is it that the Greatsword seems to outclass every other melee option for the classes that can use it? I am desperately trying to like using Dual Axe on my Warrior but Greatsword is just undeniably better!

eh dual axe is far better then greatsword

Why dual axe?? Axe mace with axe offhand on switch

I run axe/axe on war
Gs on war just doesnt float with me. I do use gs on guard though, unfortunately. Don’t have mesmer, but ranger gs isn’t horrible, just not great

Axe/Sword on my Warrior.

Don’t know which other classes you are looking at but Axe is much better on a warrior.

I specialize with dual swords on my warrior.
You know what they say about men with big swords?

I think Greatsword (At least for Guardian) is really, really boring. You spam the buttons and waste all the skills just to put out damage, and then run around with auto attack until the cool down is over to do the same thing over again.

Compared to Hammer which got different unique skills that you need to spare at the right moment. Enemy is fleeing? Cast skill #3 and then skill #5 to trap it. Enemy is close to a cliff, or charging a spell? Use skill #4 to launch it out from a cliff (WvWvW or SPvP since AI can’t fall off cliffs), or interrupt the spell.

Greatsword is just plain boring, and they have to balance it’s boring skills by making them look really awesome.

The reasons why Greatswords rock on Warriors are

- A well-balanced set of attacks. Offense, defense and mobility, it has it all.

- The best weapon-specific Trait amongst the weapons, Forceful Greatsword.

Really, there needs to be a Trait that gives you Might on Crit like that regardless of what weapon you’re using.

I think Greatsword (At least for Guardian) is really, really boring. You spam the buttons and waste all the skills just to put out damage, and then run around with auto attack until the cool down is over to do the same thing over again.

Compared to Hammer which got different unique skills that you need to spare at the right moment.

Ability to change weapons is there for a reason.
Hammer for me is infinitely more boring than GS anyway, with GS you make good amount of damage and then switch to say staff to buff, heal etc, then back to GS, with hammer you are stuck with autoattacking waiting for that “perfect moment” (enemy running, near the cliff etc) that might never come at all. Hammer AA is mind-numbingly SLOW and clumsy and makes me want to smash my keyboard.

Greatsword is pretty overrated.

ESPECIALLY in PvP. Nothing is funnier to me in PvP than when a warrior runs up to me and uses 100 blades like I’m just going to stand there and eat it. I promptly move 2 feet to the left and proceed to take a good chunk of his health away.

To a lot of people its the fact they look so much cooler than rest of the weapons , simple

I’m talking about PvE aspect only.

As a warrior, I do DE’s at SoD and kill the vets in less than 10 secs traited with quickness and a GS equipped. I cannot do the same with an axe.
Someone mentioned forceful greatsword trait, that definitely does raise the dps as well.

Outside of PvE I wouldn’t dare walking around with a GS, terrible weapon for that.

Btw I run GS and dual axe, best combo for me when I mindlessly farm karma for legendary.

Wait… What? You are trying to decide between a Greatsword or Axe/Axe?

On my warrior i use Greatsword and Sword/Axe, together. I charge in with GS (5) then (2) then charge out with (3), then imidiately switch to S/A and jump back with (2), the cripple, then (F1), then (5) axe whirl. If somehow the target is still alive i switch back to GS and start again.

You need to start weapon switching constantly.

I run with sword/warhorn on my ranger, and sword/focus on my mesmer. Only class I use a GS on is my Guard, and even on him only for PvE

They don’t outshine staff on Mesmer (but it is as effective for its playstyle as staff is for its own).

Sword/whatever is better melee for Ranger

and Sword/Whatever is better melee for Mesmer :P

It is only Warrior and Guardian where it is grossly OP. So OK that is about 50% of the the classes that can use it.

Sword/whatever is better melee for Ranger

and Sword/Whatever is better melee for Mesmer :P

It is only Warrior and Guardian where it is grossly OP. So OK that is about 50% of the the classes that can use it.

I happen to love the greatsword… it’s a wonderful ranged weapon.

I find that Great sword is not OP at all for anyone. Its mostly about player skill and only partially stats. If you don’t like getting killed by great swords, find out how to counter them. On my characters I carry all weapons for the class.. certain things just work better in than others in different scenarios.
i really do enjoy doing Crit/power warrior with Axe’s though, maybe secondary GS unless i know ill need some range, then i like the rifle. Definitely a weapon swap button for a reason.

The reason I need to decide is because I use a Rifle for my 2nd weapon slot.

my response comes from 10 hours of gameplay with weapons sets more or less depending on how much fun i thought it was.. made a appropriate attribute build and went at it. on my mesmer i use scepter/focus + staff usually, but often use the great sword, and sword.
need lots of AOE moves? mesmer GS+sword/focus. focus a target at distance? GS+scepter/pistol. Kite forever? Staff+scepter/torch. having fun just thinking about it.

warrior I see the same deal.. not much experience with the other GS wielding classes but i think they all follow that concept (please correct me if i am wrong.)

450ish hours on mesmer
60ish hours on warrior

I don’t have alot of WvW/PvP experience on my warrior since I am in the process of leveling him so I am hardly an authority.

However, at least at level 60 and with respect to PVE, the versatility offered by greatsword outweighs the other weapons. The mobility provides defense, there’s a ranged attack, there’s a high (if not the highest) damage attack, and a long range “Charge” attack.

I found dual axes to be the most damaging, but I keep missing the mobility and end up going back to the greatsword as my primary weapon.

I tried Hammer, and while the damage and utility is GREAT if specced defensively, it’s an incredibly boring weapon on account of the slow speed. I wish it had a leap or a charge, but I can see how that might imbalance things.

I keep “trying” other weapon sets to keep this class interesting, but I keep going back to the GS simply because it’s more efficient at killing and offers the best mobility of any other weapon.

Of course my opinion may change once I start taking WvW a little more seriously. 100b does not seem like a viable PvP skill on account of the time it takes to complete. However in my limited WvW experiences, I find that even though it’s easy to avoid a lot of people simply don’t move out of range and it nets some satisfying kills.

What exactly makes the greatsword mobile? If i think of mobile, i think of the sword.

Retsuko.2035:

What exactly makes the greatsword mobile? If i think of mobile, i think of the sword.

Whirlwind Attack and Rush give the mobility, while Bladetrail cripples. Bladetrail into Rush lets you catch just about anything.

Retsuko.2035:

What exactly makes the greatsword mobile? If i think of mobile, i think of the sword.

Mobile Strikes is what makes it so mobile, both movement attacks break CC.

ok.. how about dual axe long bow? long bow pin down-dual axe throw axe, adrenaline, dual strike whirl attack. with my crit/power build dual axe does more DPS to single target than GS. Maybe i am just imagining it too.. but does GS 100 blade hit 5 enemy only? i know whirling axe hits… everything.

Warriors really need to realize offhand Axe is really bad. Axe/Mace for more DPS, Axe/Shield for DPS with a touch of tanking, or Mace/Shield for tanking.

That being said, those 3 combinations are better than GS

capuchinseven.8395:

Retsuko.2035:

What exactly makes the greatsword mobile? If i think of mobile, i think of the sword.

Mobile Strikes is what makes it so mobile, both movement attacks break CC.

When i think of mobile, i think of skills like leap on sword every 8 seconds, and the ability to attack and freely move at the same time.

Put an axe in your main hand and you do the most potential damage possible while freely moving around the area. A greatsword needs 100blades to do the most potential damage since it’s auto attack is as slow as a mace’s. But GS nails you to the ground, I can’t call that mobile.

Every weapon has it’s ups and downs, and obviously they are all either situational or specific to the role you want to play. I won’t say that greatsword’s damage isn’t great, but the axe is pretty much on par with the damage. So why people say that greatsword is by far the best is quite silly in my book.

Jay.3284:

Warriors really need to realize offhand Axe is really bad. Axe/Mace for more DPS, Axe/Shield for DPS with a touch of tanking, or Mace/Shield for tanking.

That being said, those 3 combinations are better than GS

I agree, dual axes can be pretty bad. Whirling axes is really a bad skill to use against anything that is not scared to take a few hits or smart enough to move out of the way. Used to love seeing blender warriors when I played great sword just because I was tanky enough to stand there take the hits and kill them with hundred blades. Now I run axe and shield with warhorn/longbow/rifle second set, and I am way better off in WvW than I was with a great sword. So much easier to set up kills with the shield.

Retsuko.2035:

capuchinseven.8395:

Retsuko.2035:

What exactly makes the greatsword mobile? If i think of mobile, i think of the sword.

Mobile Strikes is what makes it so mobile, both movement attacks break CC.

When i think of mobile, i think of skills like leap on sword every 8 seconds, and the ability to attack and freely move at the same time.

Put an axe in your main hand and you do the most potential damage possible while freely moving around the area. A greatsword needs 100blades to do the most potential damage since it’s auto attack is as slow as a mace’s. But GS nails you to the ground, I can’t call that mobile.

Every weapon has it’s ups and downs, and obviously they are all either situational or specific to the role you want to play. I won’t say that greatsword’s damage isn’t great, but the axe is pretty much on par with the damage. So why people say that greatsword is by far the best is quite silly in my book.

The thing that tips the scales in Greatsword’s favor is Forceful Greatsword.

You’ll have 20-25 stacks of Might constantly.

And the reason why Greatsword is mobile is Whirlwind Attack (Which also counts as an Evade. Just sayin’) and Rush.

I do dungeon runs and pve. -blender does less damage than the auto attack axe. but you can move and the whirling axe can be very usefull against swarms of enemy. I do need to try axe mace though, somehow has avoided me. same with the sword.. I like the GS less and less but it still has its uses.
oh and i just remembered 33% chance bleed on crit.. with crit 50-75% and the 10+? hits with whirly axe is usefull too.

Problem with Whirling Axe is that the DPS is too low; you would’ve done a lot more damage if you just kept on trucking with the auto-attacks.

Retsuko.2035:

capuchinseven.8395:

Retsuko.2035:

What exactly makes the greatsword mobile? If i think of mobile, i think of the sword.

Mobile Strikes is what makes it so mobile, both movement attacks break CC.

When i think of mobile, i think of skills like leap on sword every 8 seconds, and the ability to attack and freely move at the same time.

Put an axe in your main hand and you do the most potential damage possible while freely moving around the area. A greatsword needs 100blades to do the most potential damage since it’s auto attack is as slow as a mace’s. But GS nails you to the ground, I can’t call that mobile.

Every weapon has it’s ups and downs, and obviously they are all either situational or specific to the role you want to play. I won’t say that greatsword’s damage isn’t great, but the axe is pretty much on par with the damage. So why people say that greatsword is by far the best is quite silly in my book.

100b isn’t the only weapon skill a greatsword warrior has.

There are 3 other skills that greatsword provides which:
1. Effectively get you to your target (at greater than 450 range)
2. Evade damage by means of rapid displacement

I would classify those as mobile attacks.

That is 2 more “mobile” attacks than any other weapon combination.

If anything, sword might be among the least mobile weapons because it’s “burst” attack requires you and your opponent to stand in place for a period of time that is longer than 100b.

Sure — sword’s savage leap is a good mobile attack, but its only one skill that does the same thing as whirlwind and rush.

“axe is better”, “mace is better”…

In what?

Are we speaking about pvp? Your forgot that we have 2 weapon sets? You need to combine those sets, so they can work together… GS is GREAT weapon in WvW, coz of its mobility (best mobility weapon), great burst (from 3rd skill, no 100b), extra evade. If u are saying GS = 100b, just try and play p2p a bit…

GS is great with hardhitting weapons, with no mobility. Like Axe. But for example with ranged weapons its total waste, and jsut dumb idea.

(and axe offhand always is bad choice tbh…)

Oglaf.1074:

The thing that tips the scales in Greatsword’s favor is Forceful Greatsword.

You’ll have 20-25 stacks of Might constantly.

And the reason why Greatsword is mobile is Whirlwind Attack (Which also counts as an Evade. Just sayin’) and Rush.

Since when does constantly mean “sometimes”?

offhand axe is not that good. only time i ever use it is when you want to farm in orr. cause mob tagging is easier since it hits 360 degrees. or when i want to use that unlimited whirlwind trick to goof off in towns.

warhorn mace or shield is better for offhand. GS is still good i use it in certain situations where i need more DPS and i can dodge attacks/dont have to dodge anything. auto attacks /whirlwind. i dont really rely much on HB unless im inside a time warp or have quickness. I like the axe skills too but now that you can’t cancel triple chop im having mixed feelings here.

PVP,WvWvW wise you can just use both. like axe+shield/GS. stun with shield to eviscerate. use GS for mobility skills NOT HB. I just use HB for some " in your face" moments and then laugh or dance at your opponents corpse. really skilled players are really careful not to get hit with that. and is very difficult to land without CC skills.

Some people really don’t get what the OP is trying to say.

Why be good at Axe/Mace when being good at GS is more rewarding?
Why even pick anything over GS builds when GS is mandatory to every build except “Tank Warrior?”

GS is just too forgiving and too rewarding compared to all other weapons to the point where it becomes “mandatory” for both casuals and competitive players alike.

@OP

I get how you feel. I would be more attached to other builds if the Discipline’s Burst Damage wasn’t nerfed and if they gave Thick Skin and Tactic’s minor traits something better.

Schwahrheit.4203:

Some people really don’t get what the OP is trying to say.

Why be good at Axe/Mace when being good at GS is more rewarding?
Why even pick anything over GS builds when GS is mandatory to every build except “Tank Warrior?”

GS is just too forgiving and too rewarding compared to all other weapons to the point where it becomes “mandatory” for both casuals and competitive players alike.

@OP

I get how you feel. I would be more attached to other builds if the Discipline’s Burst Damage wasn’t nerfed and if they gave Thick Skin and Tactic’s minor traits something better.

Exactly this.

GS is prerequisite for warriors in tPvP.

Yaki.9563:

Oglaf.1074:

The thing that tips the scales in Greatsword’s favor is Forceful Greatsword.

You’ll have 20-25 stacks of Might constantly.

And the reason why Greatsword is mobile is Whirlwind Attack (Which also counts as an Evade. Just sayin’) and Rush.

Since when does constantly mean “sometimes”?

Constantly

Axe mh is good and can compete with GS on paper at least, problem is (as said above) is that GS traits are better and require less investment.

What we need is another 2-hander (Greataxe, anyone?) to be put on the table. Personally I think 1-handers should be more utility-oriented, and 2-handers should be more damage-oriented.

Oooo Greataxe.

That’d be orgasmic.

Always bugged me it wasn’t in the game; the Warrior on the website class preview is wielding one!

I hate fighting warriors that know how to use a hammer. i do not have enough stun breaks to live so long. I never have issues with GS warriors. pvp or wvw.. maybe i have not met a good warrior.. or maybe the GS just isnt good at killing mesmers/me. So you are a “OP” warrior built specifically for GS but you can’t hit me.. sounds pretty useless.
this is why i don’t use GS on my warrior.

But i guess there is no build that can top all builds.

Blacksarevok.8104:

Axe mh is good and can compete with GS on paper at least, problem is (as said above) is that GS traits are better and require less investment.

What we need is another 2-hander (Greataxe, anyone?) to be put on the table. Personally I think 1-handers should be more utility-oriented, and 2-handers should be more damage-oriented.

quite the contrary. an Axe MH build requires very little investment outside of Berserker Power (which you’d get with a GS build anyway). all the points can be funneled into Tactics or Discipline or however you please.

meanwhile, a GS user NEEDS at least 20 in Arms or the GS is worthless. of course, Arms is a good trait line to begin with…but an Axe MH user requires much less investment to get very good DPS.

Gs is the best melee choice on warrior for 4 reasons:

1( and the most important if you pvp)mobility -2 cc breaks,evade,speed.You can catch up with ppl,you can run away from a zerg faster than with sword
2 best burst burst
3 awesome double cc(double cripple +double immobilize) on 10 second cd o.o
4 mobility

A second good choice is sword in mainhand but lacks burst and has only half of the mobility gs has plus lacks the ranged cc so not as effective to catching up runners or kiters.

nr4 represents the most important reason to use it as ranger too.

Also Gs is better in groups since the gs trow cc is piercing so u can basicly immobilize and cripple multiple enemyes(good for pve too),or get stalker off your back very smoothly.

I have never found GS to be anything special in any department. I have downed GS opponents in PvP (my experience there is limtied so far though), and in PvE it doesn’t let me move like I want.

My theory is that people who think GS is the be-all-end-all for warriors simply play with a style that favors it and cannot bring the others to their potential using their particular style. That is the way they play and if GS suits them then let them enjoy it, I know I like teaming up with a GS warrs, it is a good synergy (I run sword/warhorn). They cut a path, I jump around keeping bleeds up. Centaurs fall down.

Meowwilson.5106:

I hate fighting warriors that know how to use a hammer. i do not have enough stun breaks to live so long. I never have issues with GS warriors. pvp or wvw.. maybe i have not met a good warrior.. or maybe the GS just isnt good at killing mesmers/me. So you are a “OP” warrior built specifically for GS but you can’t hit me.. sounds pretty useless.
this is why i don’t use GS on my warrior.

But i guess there is no build that can top all builds.

Greatsword is a PvE weapon.

Once you’re up against something that actually has a brain, 99% of your damage can be avoided. Or you go with Bull’s Charge+Frenzy and you get one kill every few minutes due to the cooldown on Frenzy.

Definition of a one-trick pony.

GS is very good a killing mesmers. lock them down with #4 and leg specialist, destroy all their clones while dodging with #3, keep up with their blinks with #5.. what other weapon is better against Mesmers? But really most GS warriors have no idea what they are doing, its the best PVE weapon and all the upscaled newbies use it. but beware of the GS warriors that know what they are doing..

Oglaf,just because 99% of the warriors are so bad that they need to use bull’s charge+quickness(LOL at quickness wasted skill)100blades to do some damage doesn’t mean the gs is meant to be played that way.Gs is meant to combo with a ranged weapon but i mostly preffer longbow,once u get urself in the right situation pop the gs and quickly finish whats left of your target(note i said “what is left” ).And tbh 100 blades is the best defense weapon against annoying thieves,pop that after a sword throw at the right moment and u’ll see sparkles.Mos warriors think 100blades is the main offensive tool and how wrong are they.Maybe against some afk or terribly bad pvper since as i already said the greatsword’s main advantage on warrior is the mobility burst factor and none of those can be found in the 100hblades skill ^^
I lost count how many thiefs i killed in stealth because the ability to immobilize them without having to target,or dodgers that didn’t make it because of the boomerang effect of the same skill ^^

You wanna know why GS is superior to most other weaponcombos? Because of forceful Greatsword..
Remove that and almost noone would use GS. I think it would be nice if they would rename it to “forceful Blade” or something and grant might on all weapons.

Also why exactly is Axe/mace better than axe/axe? (In PvE)
I keep reading this everywhere but i dont understand why. I havent tested it but all maceattacks deal less damage than axe’s according to tooltip. Tremor has a smaller cone and a longer CD than whirling axe. I doubt that the Vulv on mace4 makes up for all that.

Or are you talking about PvP only? If so please clarify next time. generally saying “axe/mace> Axe/axe” confuses people like me.

Dunno bout others but on my Guard I use hammer and do more dmg whilst also having toughness to handle anything