Guild Wars 2

I have a guardian main which I enjoy in general pve, dungeons, and most of the time in spvp, but am less than pleased at their limited uses in WvW combat. The lack of range is a pain. Consequently, I was thinking about trying a warrior primarily for pve and wvw. How is the class faring in these areas? Anything I should note in terms of play difference versus guardians overall, or things to beware/take advantage of? Am I off the mark here and should just roll something else more fitting for wvw?

applied disbelief.8763:

I have a guardian main which I enjoy in general pve, dungeons, and most of the time in spvp, but am less than pleased at their limited uses in WvW combat. The lack of range is a pain. Consequently, I was thinking about trying a warrior primarily for pve and wvw. How is the class faring in these areas? Anything I should note in terms of play difference versus guardians overall, or things to beware/take advantage of? Am I off the mark here and should just roll something else more fitting for wvw?

Well if you’re just looking for the most raw power and utility in WvW you’re barking up the wrong tree with the guard OR the warrior. Grab yourself a thief, D/D ele, or mesmer and you’ll be a factor for sure.

However I am a stubborn bastich so I continue to roll on my warrior. I have 6 exotic sets of different stats, along with accompanying accessories (and maxed jewelcrafting so I could swap gems in and out at whim) and you can definately feel productive on a warrior in WvW with a fair number of setups.

The ranged is probably a bit more fulfilling, though I have seen some guardians since the staff buff really up their support game during ranged fights (blocking escapes after a mesmer pull off the wall is always wonderful to have).

In PvE warriors are wonderful, though I don’t see really any class that can’t just blow through PvE. It is PvE after all.

TLDR: If there is a point I guess it would be “Roll a warrior if you really think you’ll enjoy it. However if you’re going for raw power/utility in WvW there’s better classes to choose from”

I run a warrior mainly in WvW, and I find myself enjoying myself immensely running headlong at the front of the pack into a fight and being aggressive as possible to put pressure on my opponents. I do plenty of damage and can survive for a while being chased by 10 people. 2v1 is no problem most of the time because the second I jump in and start whacking people, they get scared and blow most of their escapes right off the bat. I’m very survivable in a big fight and I put pressure on people with my damage output. With a rifle, too, I can put pressure on people from far away with heavy damage from volley and the ranged cripple, and even half-health people with killshot (seeing as it’s much harder to notice the killshot animation in a big brawl), and that ranged pressure is a huge plus from the guardian’s lack thereof.

Of course, as Braxxus said, there are definitely better choices for pure damage and utility. The mesmer is probably the most useful of all classes in WvW and a thief would probably do more damage. A staff elementalist or a ranger are better at taking out siege on top of walls. A guard can do a lot with wards and shields and jump in a big group and probably survive a bit better through their heals and a D/D elementalist has probably the best dive in and out of a big fight with heavy AOE damage and accompanying survivability with their mist form and stability.

That being said, I do agree. If you don’t REALLY enjoy the warrior playstyle, then you may not be able to accept the warrior’s shortcomings in group utility (especially with the recent nerf of shout heals). However, I enjoy the brawler playstyle immensely. Your playstyle, of course, depends heavily on your choice of weapons. A GS warrior will be running out of fights more often than I do as an axe/shield warrior and can’t hold/push the line as well. A hammer warrior pushes well, but does not output as much damage in a big fight. I have not seen a good sword warrior in a fight yet, so I can’t comment on that.

Try it out. You may love it, or you may hate it. All I can tell you is that a warrior is not a class that’s heavily biased into one role or another. Support is viable, damage is viable, survivability is viable, CC is viable. It all depends on how you like to play.

applied disbelief.8763:

I have a guardian main which I enjoy in general pve, dungeons, and most of the time in spvp, but am less than pleased at their limited uses in WvW combat. The lack of range is a pain. Consequently, I was thinking about trying a warrior primarily for pve and wvw. How is the class faring in these areas? Anything I should note in terms of play difference versus guardians overall, or things to beware/take advantage of? Am I off the mark here and should just roll something else more fitting for wvw?

If your main complaint is lack of ranged, then warrior will not fix it for you either. Warrior ranged (while it can be momentarily nice) is not a primary reason to run with one in WvW.

While Warriors are anything but troubled in WvW, they face similar issues that Guardians have in general standoffs. Either not enough gap closures/escape tools or not enough CC/snares or not enough defense to survive for much more than 5 seconds every minute and a half under focus fire (all are required when you don’t have stealth as a melee based attacker). Guardians are far stronger with a certain build here than Warriors will ever be.

Thank you for the feedback everyone. I do enjoy the things that a guardian can bring in terms of defensive utility, but I still would like to try something with a bit more ranged offensive flair. I can always use my guardian for brawling if I get the urge. I may still try a warrior, but I’ll go looking around for a bit first before sinking too much time into one.

I love it. Plain and simple. I run Hammer, Sword/Shield, 0/0/30/30/10. I just move to the front of the pack and use my raw power to spear head the assault, push deep into their zerg and start swinging my hammer usual looking for those softer targets. When I need to back out or chase down swap to my shield to shield block or lunge with my sword. I use my shouts as often as I can to heal/condition remove/buff my allies. When we are attacking a tower I man siege equipment or move to a scouting position at our flank. Defense I hop down and get my hands dirty always keeping in mind where the door is to get away. I am 1st to stack up to portal bomb out there if they are further off with catas/balistas where I focus on the enemy siege utilizing my hammer CCs to deny them access to the equipment.

So with out a ranged option I find my role as a warrior in WvW extremely fun and rewarding. I am the in your face person who applies pressure on the enemy that makes up the vanguard of any open field fight and I still remain viable at all times with out a ranged weapon.

As far as your guardian is concerned I love good guardians in WvW. I am not saying your a bad one, but guardians who CC and take up more of a support role can have profound effects on any type of fight at any given scenario in WvW. Maybe you don’t like that role that’s fine. But deffinitly try asking around the Guard forums if you have not or find some really awesome guardians on your server and ask them about what they do in WvW.

Altruistic Healing Hammer + Staff guardians are beast mode in WvW. Just sayin’.