Guild Wars 2

Has anyone tried and compared these two weapon choices/combinations? Which do you prefer in pvp/WvW?

I prefer Hammer in SPVP/WvW. I normally run a 1h Sword build though for both. But I still go back to Hammer now and then just for the sheer fun of it. Mace and Shield is great for guarding a control point or holding a line. It sucks for line-breaking or chasing. It’s also mostly useless in a group battle: You’re only saving yourself.

Mace/shield is just terribad.Either go sword/shield for dot damage and mobility, or go axe/shield for pure fast damage.
But from the 2 you said, it’s Hammer, every day of the week.Mace best goes for off-hand for the vulnerability stacks and the range aoe knockdown.

Thanks for the input guys. I tried out the mace and its really slow. I think I will go with the axe/shield.

I mainly wanted a weapon set for survivability. Sword/Horn for gap closer or escaping. Hammer is nice for the cc but the 5 skill for shield is so clutch I had to choose weapon/shield over hammer. Is it common to have sword in each weapon set (ex: sword/horn + sword/shield)?

I don’t think it’s very common, but that doesn’t mean it’s bad. People generally don’t want to double weapons, since the cooldowns are shared.

One solution to this problem would be to go sword/shield – hammer with three different runes to make signet of rage give you 46 seconds of swiftness and the trait point to make signets recharge 20% faster. That means you wouldn’t get much in the way of other bonuses from your runes so its a bit of a trade off, but I personally really like it.

@Zsymon true I forgot that cooldowns are shared

@Gurthang I tried this build (from stefanplc’s video) and really liked it. It was really enjoyable but having 100% swiftness uptime was not as beneficial as the soldier runes condition removal stat for overall survivability

I prefer mace+shield in pvp as my 2nd weaponset mainly because they share traits with my main weaponset (axe+mace) and I can’t see myself giving up the shield. I guess it’s related to my playstyle.
If you play more like an area denier, then hammer is the way to go, but if you like to stick on people and be pure single target lockdown, then I’d go with mace+shield.
Both are good and viable options for a 2nd weaponset honestly.

Actually mace is very usefull as a second wep. Use axe in main for damage and mace for stuns in second hand. Very usefull against fast and sneaky oponents, aka thieves in pvp or pirates in pve.

I use mace/shield as a primary weapon and Sword/warhorn as a secondary weapon for dungeons and WvW.

People that say that Mace/shield sucks are those that are not fit for it. They don’t know how to play it and they focus more on doing more damage.

-Mace gives perma-weakness. This reduces their dodge regen and make sure they do glancing blows.
-Skill 2 is a spam block with 8 or 10 seconds cooldown. Think of it like a spammable aegis without the 90 second cooldown. Use it as a gap closer. You can use it to block an auto-attack, a leap that ambushes you from behind, you can use it to block important burst. You don’t need to wait for that important skill to block. Always spam it. Just don’t spam it when you are DPSing down an enemy in low hp.
-Skill 3, 4, burst are interrupts. Interrupt burst with 3, or stun them so that your friends can burst on them. Interrupt a Greatsword warrior/guardian burst. Teach them that this is your world, not theirs.
-Skill 5 is a hard block which a hammer lacks. This is an “Oh kitten” button and you can relieve all damage pressuring you. If you are a melee, you need this button.

Hammer Every Time.

@ Runeblade : about Mace skill 2, I would spam it even if you are trying to dps, because you can double tap that skill and it will give you Adrenaline instead of blocking. Adrenaline you can use to Burst Stun your Target.

The adrenaline doesn’t fill up half of one third a bar. It isn’t worth using it when you can hit 3k worth of crit damage instead. Besides the enemy should be running for his life instead of fighting back.

Hammer is definitely my favorite weapon so far. Ignoring the practical reasons, it’s just really fun to whallop on things with a gigantic hammer.

Runeblade is right on the money!!:

I’ve tried EVERYTHING and nothing for warrior in WvW and sPVP compares to mace/shield as a primary weapon and Sword/warhorn as a secondary weapon (using fast hands of course). Hammer animations can be seen from MILES away.

MACE is the most underrated defensive weapon in the game. For those that say it is “terribad” you need try mace in defensive builds/rune of soldier/cleric’s exotics/shouts heal builds—where it was intended to be utilized.

Don’t listen to the dumb herd. Try things out for yourself.

Tried it.Was kited to death.No mobility and gap closers.

It works if you switch weapons every five seconds using the fast hands trait

warhorn for mobility issues

sword #2 savage leap ability is arguably the best gap closer in the game on a ridiculously low and useful 8 second cooldown!

as an added bonus—never have trouble with mesmers again as mace #1 ability “shatters” their clones on third swing in the event your CTRL T gets removed by a friendly.

Yes the dps is subpar but the rationale of any mace/shield build is to wear your opponent down. Personally I prefer the long drawn out kills anyways as I can savor the victory.

@Ivanov, to avoid kiting you need either a mobility set (sword+warhorn) or something to CC them from afar.

I see my two sets as damage+ranged CC/melee lockdown+damage mitigation. I’m using axe+mace for damage+ranged CC (i have immo on cripple traited), makes my job of catch kiting players a lot easier, thieves/mesmers/rangers have a much harder time to escape. Cripple+immo with axe 3, follow up with mace 5 kd, get close and melt them with axe AA+frenzy. Mace+shield gives you two blocks and 3 interrupts, weakness and slow but strong AA on mace. I agree this setup has a lot less mobility than say a gs/sword+shield setup, but it’s a lot sturdier and less predictable.

Not a lot of people use this type of setup, so it’s always fun to see people panic in hotjoin, because they have to face a warrior other than the memorized BC+frenzy+100b (not bashing btw, still a viable setup).