Hi folks (even you GS users)
i’m writing this because of multiple factors and reasons, first above all is the fact i simply can’t stand anymore warriors and other professions users who complain about the fact i main the Hammer instead of the Greatsword or/and Axe+Mace.
This is really annoying because it’s not just me but a lot of online friends and other people are sick about this bad feeling about our main weapon, so i want to discuss this thing with you all.
I’m not a “new” player, i sit above 8k achievement points,i have 4 toons out of 5 at level 80 and i main the warrior as a commander since mid 2013.
Since the last balance patch (maybe even before) i recognized a growing movement of people focused only about the DPS in both PVE (dungeon runs) and WVW. Now, i’m not here to state that Hammer>GS in terms of dps..i’m not that foolish.
But is GW2 all about dps?
The answer should and must be: NO
(otherwise please Anet remove all stats that are not Power,Precision and Ferocity please..)
Now let me argue a little more before giving you the word:
-Hammer has not the dps of the GS but it provides A LOT more cc and useful conditions in both PVE and WVW (especially here)
Weakness (godly for a warrior) + Fumble (Best defensive condition), Cripple (Always useful), Knockback+KnockDown+Stun (should i really explain these?)
Some of these may be situational in pve where mobs just stand there waiting to be hit, but 3 ready to go interrupts to counter some nasty mob actions or moves are undoubtedly useful.
-Hammer has not the movement range of the GS but do you need all that movement in a Dungeon? Mobs are there you do not need to run to them because THEY DO NOT RUN AWAY. Some of you may argue “ok but also cripple and weakness are useless in a dungeon run..” which is good! But this point demonstrates how a big GS pro is not always a valid excuse to use it.
In WVW (pvp in general) both weapons are equal good since the GS has 2 movement skills and a “crippler” and the Hammer has 4 out of 5 (plus the burst) skills able to stop the opponent. And let me say this, it’s much worse to recover and run away from a stun lock than running away from a gs user..
-DPS. GS>Hammer, no escape from this point. But this meta is becoming more and more “heavy” oriented, i see more than i third of the dungeon runs i do where the party is composed of AT LEAST 3 heavies (and 1-2 eles nowadays) so what’s the problem of having a warrior in a high-dps party using a hammer? the party by it’s composition is pretty much strong by itself even if one out of five members has a sub-optimal damage output. A good traited warrior with a hammer has still more dps than most of other professions builds and still won’t die from first two hits from a boss/elite. And this leads to..
-Survivability. All builds can be different but i can state that 99% of warrior hammer-users has 6 points in Defense Traitline while 99% of nowadays dps-gs users have not.
Phalanx users have ofc 6 points in Tactics but Defense>Tactics in pure survival.
Hammer users have always Cleansing Ire (best condition remover for warriors) + one of Dogged March (another condition counter+regen) or Sure-Footed (are there better defensive skills than Stances for a warr? i don’t think so..)
Why would you need all that dps if you cant survive 2-3 conditions or big hits?
Maybe gs have 15%+ dps but if you go down the entire party will suffer the drawback.
(just an example from the last dungeon run i did: SE p3 -> General Volkov. This is a pretty easy boss to kill but it spreads very fast a lot of bleeding stacks and some burning able to kill an average warrior in 2-3 seconds if they are not cleansed. Well..there is no run i do not see the average GS warrior downed because it has no condition remover or enough survivability to sustain them. Do we really always need a guardian or an ele to stay alive?)
OTHER: “have a gs”?
ME: “yes but i main hammer”
OTHER: “hammer sucks in pve, equip gs. at least do you have zerker gear?”
ME: “i do and hammer do not suck anywhere”
OTHER: “lol learn to play warr”
(this example of conversation occurs every day during my daily dungeon routine)
(sometimes i even got kicked out as soon as they see my hammer..)
When do people started to care more about the dps and the time you take to finish a dungeon run? if you take 6 minutes instead of 5 is that big loss? I hit like a truck, i’m full ascended with a set of Strenght Runes and i recently crafted my loving Juggernaut..
Should i confine myself in wvw where nobody cares about the weapon i use?
Commander Gammaburst, Warr 80 – IoJ
Headhunter Jaeger, Thief 80 – IoJ