Guild Wars 2

I’ve noticed for quite a while now that nobody views Hammer as a viable weapon for dps in PvE, I understand this especially with such traits like “Forceful Greatsword” being so massively powerful with glass GS builds.

What I want to know, is if there’s any build currently which can entail both physical skills, mainly bulls charge and stomp, with the hammer. And be more of a hybrid than pure damage or pure tank.

I’ve tried shout healing, and sure, it’s pretty good. But it just doesn’t fit the sort of build my character would look like having. I’m very set in roleplay styled characters.

My character is the biggest possible Norn male size and I just want to feel like a very physical character who’s more of a thrasher than a shouter or ninja sword slasher. (See picture attached for character)

After a big hard look and after my experiences I decided on this build:

http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-u;4RKFM0U4cL-60;9;4JEO-907-3;019;22;0L-F8SJF1;6QpFd0-NW9WYT8v-y02253D4Ja61V;06kW5aN17V;9;9;9;9;9;4VH-6c

Now I’m currently using Soldiers runes, but that’s just because I haven’t been able to find any better and I sometimes switch “Balances Stance” with “For Great Justice” for a little more damage and utility, depending on the situation.

I’m also not against using the Longbow which I quite like, and have previously also tried going 30/0/20/20/0 to copy Soldiers stats, and I was able to get “Quick Breathing” and “Stronger Bowstrings”, depending on what I was doing at the time.

I really need some input on what a good build could look like, that fits my needs.

Thank you for your time.

Kragoth~

I’ve tried before as well – I sometimes run something close to this in pvp and I think its near to what you’re looking for.

Note I use Dwayna’s Runes + Heal Sig + Signet Mastery, its adds a bit of team support but doesn’t sink you 30 points into tactics for offheals. So you either get the passive regen or a 3.5 K heal on a 16 second cooldown with a 6 second aoe regen upon activation (Runes have a 15 second ICD on regen proc). There is also a rng regen proc on the rune set.

I dropped signet of fury in instead of dolyak because the full adren bar on a 24 second cooldown is pretty fantastic.

http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-ss-F-GCNKFM0U4RL-60;9;4T9J-917A3;059;25;0C-F0W3H0nBnBnBnB6Bb

I hate sacrificing utilities and trait points for fairly minor healing as well – become that enduring mountain.

http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-u;4RKVM0U4cL-60;9;4JEO-927-3;059;25;0L-F8SJF1t_MTt_MTNoFd0-NW9WYT8vV0X5Y8ZG4La6g0Q-5VW5PcW5P;9;9;9;9;9;4VH-6M

Helping someone carve out a build based solely on effectiveness is pretty tough… balancing that with the flavor of role play makes it even harder. I did my best to leave your build mostly intact. Feel free to ask for any clarification on choices.

Having looked at both of them, I’ve a few questions. When running Runes of Dwayna, would the healing be worth it without any sort of healing power gear? I like most of the choices even though I haven’t been much of a fan of Healing Signet since it didn’t do that good of a heal, I’m guessing that’s why the Dwayna to buff that. The build you’re giving me Veritas is only slightly modified from my own, as in still using my trait structure, was it a good number down there or are you feeling confined by it? Runes of the Pack however seem like a fun choice for me since battles often revolve around me tanking the packs and doing mass aoe, so I’m likely to be hit a few times to prock it.

Also, something I don’t believe I haven’t mentioned, I don’t dungeon a lot. I know most people looking for dungeon builds say “Zerker GS or go home” but I’d like them to still be an option. With the runes of Dwayna I can see a use for myself beside the general offensive aspect, with the regeneration.

Now I notice both builds are using the defense adept “Cull the Weak” instead of “Dogged March” what’s the decision on this 5% more damage over bonus regeneration and reduced cc conditions, especially when the build doesn’t have ANY condition removal which I’m seeing.

I ran Healing Signet and Dwayna Runes(Rune of the Water works well too) in the past. Those paired with a traited 16 second CD make it one of our strongest heals provided you are popping it every 16 seconds, which is the problem. That means that every 16 seconds, you aren’t DPSing for 1.25 seconds… it gets very tedious in an offensive role.

Contrary to popular belief, the best way to get healing outside of a full support role is to take the base source. We don’t have anything with a coefficient over 1.0 so it’s a weak stat to invest in. Meanwhile, Vitality provides 10 HP for every 1 stat point which is equal to a coefficient of 10.0 (I’m not advocating Vitality, just merely illustrating the low value of Healing Power outside of a heavy heavy support build). I made an adrenaline sitting build once that used Adrenal Health, Healing Shouts, and Runes that proced a heal and it still took me 30 seconds for my heals to surpass an equal investment in Vitality.

I honestly think your build is too defensive but since you said you wanted to role play, I tried to preserve most of your choices and only made tweaks that would yield legitimate improvements, not, “I think you should do this improvements”.

If you don’t want to run Berserkers, I think you should focus on Power, Toughness, and Precision while avoiding Vitality. I’m not a fan of Vitality because it once it’s gone, it’s worthless and you’ll never have enough HP to simply eat damage. Avoidance is the key in GW2. I only take Vitality when it is an unavoidable by product of Valk or Soldier gear.

Regarding Cull the Weak, you won’t be dealing with a bunch of movement impairing CC in PvE. Meanwhile, both your Hammer and Warhorn have weakness attached to one of their attacks for an easy to achieve +5% damage with either set. If you want condition removal for PvE, I recommend Runes of Lyssa, Signet of Stamina, Mending, Cleansing Ire, or Lemongrass Poultry… not necessarily in that order.

Another change you may consider is Healing Surge -> Mending or Healing Signet. From the looks of your build, I’m guessing you will make liberal use of Earthshaker. Running Healing Surge works in PvP where sometimes you need a burst on demand, but in PvE, where mobs are brimming with HP, sustain is the name of the game and that comes best to warriors through avoidance and lots of HPS… and a below stage 2 heal with Healing Surge is weaker than both Mending and the (Healing Signet passive assuming little Healing Power investment).

You may want to shift some points around considering you brought up condition removal as well – I fit restorative strength (Strength II) in because of how heal sig is used in this build.

That being said, Unsuspecting Foe is a great talent, but not for Hammer or Mace use only, you really need to pair up a Greatsword to take advantage of that, with a Hammer you only get 3 attacks out of a 4 Second Earthshaker (3 bars + rune of paralyzation) and its not really worth it. (I generally prefer having Fast Hands from discipline 15 to make this work as well).

I went 30 into strength because you wanted physical training, and if you go that far you might as well pick up the +15% extra damage from rank 30.

You may want to go 30 into Defense and pick up cleansing ire to help with adrenaline building and condition removal. Having 300 healing power from that tree + another 165 from the runes (465 total), would make Regeneration heal for around 200 a tic I think, very close to what Heal Signet passive does.

http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-ss-F-GCNKFM0U4RL-60;9;4T-T-917A;1589;15;0C-F0W3H0nBnBnBnB6BY

I’m liking that build you posted Sol, the added points into Defense adding that condition cleansing seems like a good idea to me, and I shall try it out more. Thanks both of you for your input on this.

What are your thoughts on a “Superior Sigil of Impact” PvE only which does 10% damage to stunned enemies?

Furthermore, what sort of Accessories would you recommend with this?