Guild Wars 2

This is what I’m currently using, it’s the standard build pretty much -

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vJAQNAseRjMdQVI2FCmhAnIGKCKbAegAALhWIE0uI6jCA-TFCEABps/ABHBgEV/ZLlgMp8zgDBgEPAAAOBAkBgZBA-w

I’m looking for any suggestions regarding anything, runes/traits/utilities etc.

Perhaps swap one of the utilities with Frenzy or Bulls Charge?

The armor is full zerk because it’s all I have right now.

The only trait line I see as 100% necessary is discipline for fast hands and brawlers recovery, but defense seems pretty necessary too for shield mastery + one of the grandmasters. Speaking of grandmasters, I’m not too sure what’d be better between CI/Last Stand/Rousing Resilience.

What about full yolo with Str/Arms/Discipline?

Also any suggestions on axe vs sword?

Pros for axe: auto attack + eviscerate
Pros for sword: mobility + flurry -> HB

Deep down I think GS/Hammer is better but I don’t find it as fun as x/shield

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/warrior/Destroyer-Warrior-Guide-Game-Play-PvP/first#post5313081
Axe/Sh + GS PvP Build that works in WvW with zerk/knight mixed gear
Orrian truffles and sharpening stone food for wvw

Without doing any math to support it, and just general feedback/answers:

• Consider switching out Endure Pain for Frenzy (love it while it lasts)
• If you need hustle and a buggy knockdown, consider dropping another stance for Bull’s Charge. You’ll have to see which brings the most success
• If you take BC, consider traiting Peak Performance and try slotting Rampage for a bit to see if you like it. If you don’t, go back to SoR
• Try running Last Stand over CI. The vigor’s nice if you don’t need the condi/adren management benefits from CI. I find I don’t need CI, personally
• Go with sharpening stones over oil
• Consider adding Energy sigil if you can
• Intelligence on your axe (or sword) is pretty nice too

What you have is fine as is, but it’s worth experimenting with the above to see which suits your style best. Personally, I find dodges more valuable than ever, so I’m a junkie for the things that keep those on tap, especially when you can milk major damage from Reckless Dodge.

A 90s CD on the Balanced Stance component of Last Stand is just… well, it should be reduced by a lot. It’s a drag, but the dodges help you not care so much.

As for sword vs axe….

In wvw roaming, I definitely prefer sword for the mobility. Immobilize isn’t a great cc anymore, what with all the condi sheds and pretty much every warrior being able to break it with a mobility skill, but it’s nice when it lands. 10-12k Final Thrusts are really nice.

In duels or small groups, the axe outclasses the sword dps by a lot. An Eviscerate is a game changer, and the Axe auto is very good pressure as long as you’re not getting kited.

Versus gs/h, I actually prefer the shield post patch. The mitigation from Shield 5 is really important, and a traited shield is fantastic. A hammer warrior has the build advantage over the sword in a 1v1, but I’m not so sure about the axe. Outside a 1v1 fight, you have much more staying power with the shield. Plus, if you see the very obvious hammer -> 100b combo coming, just hunker down with shield 5 and let him power you up with might before you stun and eviscerate him.

I’ve gone str/arms/disc before, but not with the shield (offhand sword). Signet Mastery’s very good, but the Defense line is better, especially if you’re running a shield.

Thanks for the responses guys.

Waveguider: I’d prefer Pack like in your build or Hoelbrak, but I can’t afford more than 1 set of armor at the moment and I use the Strength runes to PvE lol. Interesting choice of Str/Disc/Arms instead of the traditional defense. I don’t know that I can sacrifice Defense for Arms because I’m already full Zerk! I’d definitely have to mix and match armor, perhaps Knight’s like you suggested.

Choppy: Thanks for the detailed response, it seems you have a lot of experience with this build or warrior in general. If I get Frenzy should I take Burst Mastery instead of Heightened Focus? There might be good synergy somehow chaining them one after another but I dunno lol.

I’d agree with you for sword over axe at least in WvW, I’ll probably go sword almost exclusively if for only the mobility. I prefer eviscerate over final thrust, but it isn’t half bad itself. The animation is subtle/less telegraphed and hits just as hard as eviscerate although slightly harder to land and only works <50% hp. I’ll probably start reminiscing over Axe auto attacks tho and switch from time to time, until I get kited and go back to sword lol.

I’ll probably follow your Last Stand suggestion also unless condi’s become a problem.

Can you tell me more about your offhand sword build? Is it a condi build?

I like the intelligence sigil idea on the Axe -> straight to Eviscerate, but I’m not so sure on the sword because when I swap I’ll probably leap -> auto chain for the immobilize, kinda wasting it. A guaranteed Final Thrust crit would be awesome but for some reason leap never hits lol. Of course you can move with try to final thrust without any CC but kitten its hard. Do you have any experience with hydromancy? I feel it might be a good choice.

I guess shield mastery is necessary purely for the CD reduction. Without shield 5 up, you feel naked and you feel like you desperately need to swap to GS lol. I probably will go with your energy over bloodlust sigil because without shield CD your defenses are pretty shaky if you cant swap to GS and WW out or something.

I run Sw/Sh+GS in wvw also, pretty much the same build just different runes and sigil.
I just stick with death from above since I find that I still don’t pop healing sig that much and when I do, the might isn’t really what I need. I also swap between shield master and dogged march depending on what im running into more, condis or ranged.
for utilities, I stick with endure pain, dolyak, and balance for the stun break and stab, dont feel like the adren and immune to condi is needed with, hoelbrak runes which I prefer, combined with CI, brawlers and condi reduction food. but I think those traits and utilities like always just depends on personal preference.

the sigils I use are hydromancy and doom for gs and sigil of mischief and leeching for sword. I know sigil of mischief is kind of weird, but with fast hands, every 10 secs u get a 600 ranged snowball that leeches when it hits just for swapping weapons. theres been plenty of fights where I just simply swap to my sword shield and blind someone like a warrior for example trying to land an earthshaker just to make them miss while I do 1k dmg to them and 900 heal just for swaping. and hydromancy and doom for gs to make it easier to land the flurry swap HB combo, more condis for them to remove and posion helps with them trying to heal when u land that hb on them.

Thanks for the response, I would also go with Hoelbrak over Strength but I like doing Fractals from time to time. Death from above is definitely viable as I don’t pop healing signet much either, they are both meh choices I guess as fall damage is so situational although I can see the benefits.

Interesting choice of mischief sigil, it’s cheap enough so that I can test it out, nice. I may prefer the energy sigil over it, but leeching + energy doesn’t sound so bad.

Hydromancy + doom on GS, I like it. It’s actually interesting compared to the boring Air + Fire I use. When I used hydromancy in pvp I didn’t feel it’s effectiveness though in but I’ll give it another shot. Perhaps it doesn’t last long enough or it may be the case that I haven’t been on the other end of the chill.

Operator.6523:

1. If I get Frenzy should I take Burst Mastery instead of Heightened Focus?
2. Can you tell me more about your offhand sword build? Is it a condi build?
3. I like the intelligence sigil idea on the Axe -> straight to Eviscerate, but I’m not so sure on the sword because when I swap I’ll probably leap -> auto chain for the immobilize, kinda wasting it. A guaranteed Final Thrust crit would be awesome but for some reason leap never hits lol. Of course you can move with try to final thrust without any CC but kitten its hard.
4. Do you have any experience with hydromancy? I feel it might be a good choice.
5. I guess shield mastery is necessary purely for the CD reduction. Without shield 5 up, you feel naked and you feel like you desperately need to swap to GS lol. I probably will go with your energy over bloodlust sigil because without shield CD your defenses are pretty shaky if you cant swap to GS and WW out or something.

1. Up to you. Burst Mastery certainly works with an axe, but I run both Frenzy and HF. Quickness is just that good, tbh… much better than +7% on burst plus 1 stage of adren

2. It was a hybrid that relied on might stacking on the gs and swap to boost power damage on the gs and then power+condi on the swords. It was an odd build that worked alright, but I preferred being burstier. One nice aspect is you could choose the damage type that worked best against your opponent. Anyway, I tried it for a week after patch. It could have been straight power though. Dual swords can do full power, and Signet Mastery can give you a huge Precision buff, allowing you to run something like Valkyrie and still crit.

3. I run Intelligence on my sword. 1v1, you have to bait out the dodges or use Shield 4 to land FT, or you walk through them a bit so their body conceals the animation (it’ll still hit). IN a group fight, it’s easy, just get close. One thing about FT is it cleaves, so you can crit for big numbers on a few people in a group fight if they’re bunched. I usually save my Flurry to set up 100b if I think the person can’t clear it. If they can, I’ll always use Arcing Slice.

4. I used to use Hydromancy on my gs a couple years back. It’s good, but I don’t find it necessary… especially now that I’ve got so much quickness.

5. So, shield 5 for defense but remember it’s stacking might for you too every time it blocks. The reduction on shield 4 is also great. As for Energy Sigil, I find it to be that good, really. Also, Reckless Dodge is nuts… I’ve averaging 2.5-4.2k on a dodge roll (into opponents), but some people have reported as much as 8k+ under ideal circumstances. Energy Sigil helps with that.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vJAQNAseSjMdQVI24BehAnIGmCKMBigC4OiAYk1go2nAA-T1RAABKfIA+4EAAwDAgRtB8pD4U1fI4IAAA-w

People underestimate MH Sword outside of condition builds, this build prepares everything for you to land a perfect FT with an almost guaranteed crit to seal the deal. Bleeding is the icing and gives you extra damage while you have it applied.

Open up with Sword, apply some bleeds, swap to Hammer, CC chain the hell out of the poor soul, wrap it up with Earthquake then instantly swap to Sword, hydromancer sigil will kick in, FT a stunned and chilled target and it’s a GG.

Traited hammer is a huge improvement, hammer will hit ridiculously hard, sometimes Sword will not even be necessary, unless the fight drags out and your target is beefy. Squishies will beg for mercy.

Stability and stun breakers will make this combo harder to hit, but not impossible.

You can swap OH Shield for Sword, but I find Shield superior in this build.

I like Sword in particular, because it gives you a short CD leap, mobility is a huge factor, and also for the surprise effect. You could go Axe for more burst or Mace for more CC, but you’d be a sitting duck.

@Lahm
Agreed, MH sword is good outside of a condi build. In fact, I regularly use it in power builds in wvw, but the overall dps outside of Final Thrust is the lowest of all weapons when specced to power.

Your build gave me an idea for a slightly different build that I may experiment with for a while. I don’t have any Valk gear, so my stress tests will have to be in zerk.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vJAQNAscSjMdQdH24BGeAnIGmCKMBigC4OiAYk1go2nAA-TVSHwADOEAEOCAi1H4X9HgK/orEk1+DAeAACOBABAQAuZb2m3MgbezbezbezSBwkyI-w

• Permanent fury from the runes and SoR already brings crit just under 50%, and Signet Mastery could push that to about 70% at max stacks. Hence Valk over Zerk
• Signet of Might could easily be swapped out to whatever’s most appropriate
• The high power/crit makes all of hammer, FT, and Rip extremely strong
• Riposte combined with Shield Mastery provides fantastic ranged defense (2.25s on a 12s CD) that also stacks might
• Sword mobility is as good as gs now, so you’re not that kiteable and have escape
• Valk gear gives 26k health
• Signet Mastery plus Sigil of Strength makes you unblockable much of the time
• Sigils are obviously swappable to whatever is preferred
• This build has excellent control between the hammer and Flurry
• You’ll never be short on adrenaline

EDIT: Actually, I’m going to move this to a new thread for comment.