Guild Wars 2

The build, link.

Update 03 OCT 2014

- Spiked Armor, Sure-Footed, Great Fortitude, Sigil of Doom

+ Defy Pain, Missile Deflection, Leg Specialist, Sigil of Energy

After the 30 Sep 2014 patch, adrenaline has been heavily nerfed, making it absolutely crucial to land all bursts, or the adrenaline goes to waste. In order to increase my eviscerate success, I picked up Leg Specialist because with the Throw Axe skill, it’s an immobilize that’s available every 10 seconds. The immob sets up for an eviscerate perfectly. It can also set up for an easy impale.

The other changes were to streamline the build. Dodge rate has increased with the addition of an Energy sigil, which means that less damage is being eaten (it’s all being evaded instead), so the retaliation from Spiked Armor is not being utilized enough; Defy Pain is a much better substitute for clutch plays.

Finally, it seems controversial at first to remove Sure-Footed since there are so many stances in the build. However, Missile Deflection allows for this build to keep up the tempo in skirmishes. Blocking without this trait relieves too much pressure on the opponent, and a lot of interesting plays are possible only with Missile Deflection.

Enjoy.

Video demonstration example footage: http://www.twitch.tv/zonegw/c/4239476

Lots and lots of pvp footage of the build here:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCE60CA1E5DC2E053

This is a similar concept to the condition/shout warrior ( walking brick wall of death, link ) but this is better for player killing, because it sheds the burden of team-support in favor of selfish utilities and a more offensive skill set.

Perks of the build: mixture of power and condition hybrid damage with high defense and healing.

- Axe. Supplies the bulk of the power damage of this build. Deals big eviscerates without being glass because of
- Celestial amulet. Turns the warrior into the equivalent of a pre-nerf D/D ele. Essentially a walking machine gun.
- Hoelbrak runes. Enables 20+ might stacking easily, boosts condition damage output by a ton, and increases survivability by a ton, all in one rune set.
- Offhand sword. Deals very high condition pressure due to celestial amulet. Has a 3 second block for versatility in offense and defense.
- Longbow. Self-explanatory. Supreme damage output from combustive shot because celestial amulet maximizes its power and condition damage. Very good condition cleansing. Arcing shot crits as hard as the axe eviscerate with celestial amulet.

Enjoy. Feedback is appreciated. Post questions/comments about the build here.

Can never get why ppl take ‘Axe Mastery’ over ‘Armored attack’
Math assuming a crit on axe:
– Axe Mastery = 1725 power * 2.09 crit dmg = 3605
- Armored attack = 1845 power * 1.99 crit dmg = 3671
(weapon strength is multiplied by both so it can be dropped)

Even if Axe Mastery gave a bit higher score its still would be only on crit and only on axe. Its such an underwhelimg trait imo…

You welcome.

P.S
The build is strong, it’s been around even before last patch, but it’s really not the best we got, you have no mobility or hard cc. Dude thnx for your effort of posting and steaming but not every build you ‘create’ must dominate

Ya armored attack is too good and when your already putting 20 points into Def 5 more points for so much more damage is a no brainer.

Thank you everyone for the feedback so far. I have improved the build with your suggestions, and it’s now stronger than ever in pvp.

One of the key factors of this build is the off-hand sword. Combined with celestial amulet, the off-hand sword provides extreme condition pressure from just the torment alone, which synergizes nicely with the build overall.

Hi,

Thanks for the build; I was playing a similar type build but with the Valk Amulet and I must say the change is quite noticeable…My eviscerates do a bit less damage, but the condi pressure easily makes up for it…

I load signet of might for added damage, as I find that the Berserker stance and Dolyak signets are plenty as far as defensive utilities…

I’ve been testing out the Spiked Armor trait with this build, and it feels like my damage output is significantly higher than with the extra point in the Strength tree.

Because this build can easily stack 20+ might, retaliation damage is extremely high with this build. The uptime of retaliation is very good, too, with the Spiked Armor trait.

Updated build: http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-so-7F;0NKVP0f4kL-60;9;49-T-T2;328B;127ATo06L;1CoF2CoF20Ju

I’ve been using Spiked armor as well and it imo the better choice. To me all Defy Pain does more often than not is delay the inevitable, while Spiked Armor can often mean that you wouldn’t have needed DP in the first place.

My version is only slighty different. I don’t think Hoelbrak runes are necessary tbh, between Berserker Stance and CI I don’t feel like a little duration reduction is worth trading a constant 7% damage increase. I like Missile Deflecting because everything about this build is about attacking from as many different sources as possible. Why just block it when you can send it back in their faces? I’ll often turn away for the first part so it doesn’t trigger the counter until I turn around at the very end. It just feels nice to be on the offensive even while playing defensive.

I’m still not a fan of Endure Pain, with 2 skills with stability you can be the designated stomper in team fights and Decap Engis also can’t force you off point so easily and Hambow Warriors become a joke. Sometimes that 4-5 seconds of taking no physical damage can be useful but like I said before most of the time it feels like I’m just delaying the inevitable.

Don’t take this as me tearing down your version, it works perfectly fine, I just have a sightly different playstyle. One thing I will say though is that I find the build editor I use much better in terms of presentation. It’s also faster to use because in PvP mode it defaults to using all 6 runes and doesn’t have the gem anymore.

Everything he said ^

But I also swap doom sig for generosity.
It’s not defiantly better, but I think it still wins in most cases.
First of all, it’s a 10sec sure cleanse.
Secondly, doom always applied on your next attack if that attack misses/blocked – doom is gone. Generosity on the other hand will transfer on successful crit hit, and with this high crit chance its a sure proc.

Against builds with very few condition you can be pretty sure which cond will tranfer, against other it’s a bet.
Here are some vs examples:

Hambow – having a warrior with healing sig poisoned is always a good idea, but hambow got such great cleanses that the poison will have very little uptime. On the other hand sending that burning from his fire field back to him can change the fight around. (Im sure you are aware that in many fights most hambow dmg is actually that burning)

Any non cond Thief – the poison from steal or the short bow. longer then 6sec of doom, and you got cleansed.
On a cond thief it might be the torment or the confusion, even cripple can mess them up.

DPS Guards – again burning. they don’t have a lot of cond dmg but their burning can be quit long and sure helps thier pressure. send it back with a smile.
Bunker Gaurd – doom will be better.

Necro – pretty even.

zerk Mez – bleed stacks,, even.
cond mez – doom might be better coz they apply a lot of bs cond or very short duration one

Engies – 5-7sec of incendiary powder, which is also a lot of their dmg. or mayb an annoying immobile right back at them.

Ranger – burn bleed or poision, all will work.

Ele – no idea. chill or burn probably . they cleans a lot anyhow so doom is not that good either. its more about cleansing theirs.

I like generosity as well, I cycle around depending on what I encounter. Sometimes that extra condi cleanse is really useful, it’s also funny when you transfer a long duration burn back to an Engi.

Hoelbrak runes are important because of the risk factor of eviscerate. Oftentimes one will not be able to successfully land their eviscerate, which means the conditions will continue to tick longer.

I find that hoelbrak runes achieves a very similar damage output as strength runes, but with the added benefit of increased survivability. Hoelbrak runes are easily overlooked but I feel that they really do add to my survivability by a ton.

I just added some more footage of the celestial axebow in action on my YouTube channel. In most of these situations, I am fighting 1v2s and 1v3s even. Would not be able to without Hoelbrak:

After weeks of testing, I feel like Hoelbrak runes are most definitely an important part of this build. The increase in survivability is very significant.

Has anyone noticed this? The stronger your build is, the more often you get into really, really, really unfair situations. I find myself 1v2ing and 1v3ing way more often than what is considered normal.

zone.1073:

After weeks of testing, I feel like Hoelbrak runes are most definitely an important part of this build. The increase in survivability is very significant.

Has anyone noticed this? The stronger your build is, the more often you get into really, really, really unfair situations. I find myself 1v2ing and 1v3ing way more often than what is considered normal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iq--3tfpr2M

that is normal and expected. if people already have trouble 1 vs 1 you then they would probably want to have some friends against you the next time you meet in battle.

So ROMs ToL build with a celestial ammy then?

What do you think are the downsides to this build, other then the obvious (mobility)?

Cygnus.6903:

What do you think are the downsides to this build, other then the obvious (mobility)?

no cc ?

in team fights, cannot prevent stomp (against non stability stomp) , cannot stop opponents from reviving their team mates using cc.

Well, that’s another obvious one, although off course I agree. But this build seems heavily focussed on 1v1 and 1v2. In such fights, being able to cleave downed enemies is more important, and that’s what this build does very well.

You should not be aiming for team fights with this, hambow quickly surpasses it in terms of team fight utility.

In a way, this build contributes to team fights tremendously because if one can survive and thrive in a 1v2 or even a 1v3, that guarantees that your teammates will dominate team fights going on elsewhere due to numbers advantage.

If I am in a 1v2, that means the 4 of my teammates are fighting only up to 3 opponents. If I’m doing a 1v3, the 4 of my teammates are fighting only up to 2 opponents. Etc.

In actual team fights, this build is pure damage, nothing more and nothing less. In some team compositions, this is exactly what is needed. It’s great when you have an ally engineer to provide all of the CC mayhem needed, while you (the celestial axebow warrior) cleave everyone with power and condition damage.

Hi everyone.
Thank you for sharing your very good build zone. I’ve tried it in spvp duels and matches,
and found it to be very enjoyable. Things like applying sword #3 Impale for torment and
then using the longbow burst for the fire field is awesome. If your target moves, he takes
more dmg from torment and if he doesn’t, he is in the fire field getting burnt real bad.
That’s just an example of the fun things possible that I have been enjoying. Anyway, that’s
my honest opinion of the fun I am having with this build.

I do have a few questions though. Please keep in mind that even though I played daily after the launch of the game, I ended up leaving the game for almost a year due to
work and personal issues. I returned only recently, so I’m sorry if my views and
questions seem to have an obvious answer that I don’t see.

Here we go : My Eviscerate does 2.4k to 3xxx dmg. Is that normal with this build or am I
doing something wrong. I am under the impression that even if it does dmg below 4k,
its still decent dmg and when our bows burst is in cooldown and the active weapons
are Axe/Sword, I can use the axe burst to remove conditions on me. Also due to the
jumping/leap mechanism of the burst its nice against fast moving targets that are running around us. So, we can do decent dmg and also remove conditions due to the
trait we have and the leap is great cause we dont have to be in melee range.
[2.4k to 3xxx dmg to a ranger]

Apart from the question about the dmg by Eviscerate, are the above reasons why you
chose axe instead of a sword main hand? What is your impression about the main
hand sword instead of the axe? The leap skill, Final Thrust and bleeds on #1 skill are
quite attractive. #2 Gap closer, #3 high dmg and #1 bleeds.

I’d love to hear reasons for and against using the sword as a main hand weapon.
Thank you zone
Thank you eveyone

Nic3 necroing.
The celest axebow build was along with hambow our best tpvp build, pre patch.
It took a big hit this patch much more then hambow as axe burst is harder to land and the dmg effected by the adrneline level while hammer is good with just 1 bar.

Running celest sowrds bow is a full hybrid build which is very fun and good for duels but less good for tpvp, currently. But I would trait it a whole different anyhow 0/6/5/0/3

Eiland.1405:

Nic3 necroing.

Sorry I didn’t mean to resurrect an old thread but I actually tried this build
out and it was fun. I was actually complemented by many players. I didn’t
want to make a whole new thread on this same build.

Eiland.1405:

The celest axebow build was along with hambow our best tpvp build, pre patch.
It took a big hit this patch much more then hambow as axe burst is harder to land and the dmg effected by the adrneline level while hammer is good with just 1 bar.
Running celest sowrds bow is a full hybrid build which is very fun and good for duels but less good for tpvp, currently. But I would trait it a whole different anyhow 0/6/5/0/3

Thank you for your feedback. Btw, I wasn’t having trouble landing the Evis, yeah
I missed 1 out of 3-4 times, but it was the dmg that I was concerned about. I expected
a crit of 6k atleast. In the last hour I was able to get a Evis of about 4.5k. Helped a lot.
Really hard to decide between duel swords or a axe and sword at the moment.

If anyone can link a thread on a good build for spvp since the latest patch, I’ll
appretiate it a lot.

TitanHack.4372:

Eiland.1405:

Nic3 necroing.

Sorry I didn’t mean to resurrect an old thread but I actually tried this build
out and it was fun. I was actually complemented by many players. I didn’t
want to make a whole new thread on this same build.

Eiland.1405:

The celest axebow build was along with hambow our best tpvp build, pre patch.
It took a big hit this patch much more then hambow as axe burst is harder to land and the dmg effected by the adrneline level while hammer is good with just 1 bar.
Running celest sowrds bow is a full hybrid build which is very fun and good for duels but less good for tpvp, currently. But I would trait it a whole different anyhow 0/6/5/0/3

Thank you for your feedback. Btw, I wasn’t having trouble landing the Evis, yeah
I missed 1 out of 3-4 times, but it was the dmg that I was concerned about. I expected
a crit of 6k atleast. In the last hour I was able to get a Evis of about 4.5k. Helped a lot.
Really hard to decide between duel swords or a axe and sword at the moment.

If anyone can link a thread on a good build for spvp since the latest patch, I’ll
appretiate it a lot.

I’ve been trying this variant out with only two changes (sigil of purity so no reliance on crit chance and an extra sigil of battle) but I’m liking both versions of this build. I feel like this version you gave gives the axebow more options. If your burst is not landing, you’re still hitting pretty hard with the stacks of might, have pretty good hp so I don’t feel like the burst is your only option anymore, it’s just your best way to end a fight xD

typical warrior lameplay, hitting up noobs in hotjoin. Warriors that can pvp without longbow are indeed the only ones with some skill to it. Longbow should haev been nerfed long ago but apparently its the balance teams favorite weapon all over !

Prince.7198:

typical warrior lameplay, hitting up noobs in hotjoin. Warriors that can pvp without longbow are indeed the only ones with some skill to it. Longbow should haev been nerfed long ago but apparently its the balance teams favorite weapon all over !

Longbow is just a good weapon weapon choice, who wouldn’t want range with good AOE and immobilize? That’s not to say it’s required in all builds, but it does give us a bit of versatility.

TitanHack.4372:

Here we go : My Eviscerate does 2.4k to 3xxx dmg. Is that normal with this build or am I
doing something wrong.

Apart from the question about the dmg by Eviscerate, are the above reasons why you
chose axe instead of a sword main hand?

I’m glad you are enjoying the build. Celestial axebow is still effective after the update.

Evis should do around 4-5k on guardians, depending on the opponent’s build. It crits for 7k-8k+ on mesmers, thieves, etc, again depending on their build. Watch my YouTube videos to get an idea of the average eviscerate damage (link is in my signature).

Simply put, axe dishes out more burst damage. The point of the Celestial amulet is to achieve a delicate balance of consistent damage, burst damage, and condition damage. I found that main hand sword fails to deliver in the burst damage department for this build. The sword’s trade-off for burst is in its utility, and this build does not need that.

Enjoy. Happy hunting.

Sent from Nexus 5

“If you build celestial axebow, they will come”: http://youtu.be/Iq--3tfpr2M

Here’s an OK video. I’m fighting against multiple tanks simultaneously (even the thief was built tanky). Pay attention to the eviscerate damage.

“Small skirmishes with celestial axebow” http://youtu.be/dU8CJ3mjZGs

This video contains more fights with thieves and mesmers. Evis naturally does more damage. Near 9k evis crits on mesmers.

Sent from Nexus 5

Thankyou for your replies and insight, DrDivine and zone. I’ve just returned from a small vacation and hence the late reply. I will test other sigils too DrDivine as you indicated. Your right about having might that lets us do a great deal of dmg even on
non burst skills.

zone I love those videos. Hope I can meet you in game. Few days back I was able to land 5k and even 6k crits on thiefs and eles on Evi, that actually helped me win the battle.

You guys are awesome.

Build updated to accommodate recent adrenaline nerfs.

Kibbles.9813:

All these Warriors clinging to the only Burst skill left that doesn’t require any intelligent targeting / placement. I hope they add a single target requirement to Combustive Shot and let it be affected by Aegis and Blocks.

Yes, because Combustive Shot is the only skill in the game that doesn’t require any intelligent action.

Everything else is fine and very intelligence intensive. I often get headaches after playing GW2, because it’s so thought intensive… I’ve also grown a huge forehead because of it. I’m getting monsterbrain.

Kibbles.9813:

All these Warriors clinging to the only Burst skill left that doesn’t require any intelligent targeting / placement. I hope they add a single target requirement to Combustive Shot and let it be affected by Aegis and Blocks.

Combustive can, and often does, get intercepted by blocks.

The other burst, Eviscerate, is probably one of the more challenging bursts to land. The travel speed is slow. It’s very telegraphed. Can easily be whiffed. This is the primary reason for the inclusion of the Leg Specialist trait in the most updated version of this build.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fJAQNAsXTjMd04ZVIGewJagkgC9onBlwpAQdVU6RBA-TpRHwAEOEADOBAc2fIwDAAwRA4YZAA
This is the build I’ve been using. Took some inspiration from your build as I was fairly new to the pvp scene then.
Reasons for using 0 2 6 0 6 with sword/axe+lb instead:
- Destruction of the empowered trait + strength runes for more reliable direct damage.
- More aoe and faster andrenaline gain via axe #5. Eviscerate hits hard sure, but if you miss, it’s wasted andrenaline. Not to mention it is an single target and highly telegraphed skill.
- Sword in mainhand, sword #2 is simply too good for engaging, disengaging and travelling around. It also gives you fire aura when used in your own lb f1, more might and burning.
- Axe offhand, axe #5 is a pretty long duration whirl finisher with a decent cooldown, when used in your lb f1, again, more burning. It also hit pretty hard with strength runes and destruction of the empowered, especially so in an environment where players fight in a small point often. Axe #4, more fury uptime to boost dps, enough said!

To sum it up, this suits my playstyle more as i would be able to fight on points better due to the fact that I have more aoe dmg through lb (all skills are pretty much aoe aside to the auto attack), axe #5 and the action of swapping to your sword/axe alone (due to the use of hydromancy+geomancy sigils). Sigil of leeching on lb also adds to your survivability as your lb skills are almost guaranteed to hit. Not to put your build down in any manner at all but I guess I simply hate relying on single target attacks with a cooldown, unlike thieves we are unable to spam our skills hence I do not wish to put myself in a position in which I will have a huge reliance on axe f1 and sword #4 to hit. Sorry if my wall of text is kinda messy as I am currently working but do give it a try!