Guild Wars 2

Okay, I’m just gonna say it: I suck at warrior.

My main is a guardian, and I’ve become pretty reliant on the defensive capabilities of my Aegis heavy build.

On my warrior I am getting murdered on a fairly regular basis in PvE content at my level. I’ve tried Mace+sword for the two counters, I’ve tried mace plus shield for the block and stun combat (not bad), but in the end I’ve currently settled for rifle+greatsword. I pretty much kite single target until it gets to melee, knock it back with rifle 5, and if it’s not dead by then, use greatsword to finish it off.

I’d prefer to play a more melee oriented build, but it seems fighting a single target at range is the only way I manage to stay alive.

On my guardian I’m super-tanky, so fighting 3-5 enemies at a time is a fairly normal concept for me, and I have a build set up that’s oriented toward surviving this sort of encounter, but I can’t seem to work out a similar setup on my warrior. I really want some stun heavy / blocking / countering, or generally defensively suited melee combat where I can survive up close.

Can anyone help with this? And if this style isn’t suited for Warrior, can anyone give me some general tips on how to survive melee?

Thanks!

Sadly I have to break it this way. Guardians are extremely over powered while Warriors are not.

Yet having played multiple warrior set ups I can give you some advice. I personally am able to hold myself against several targets, is all into how you build yourself. For example when single targeting against say an elite skill boss or something of the like, you can use bolas, bullrush, fear me and #5 rifle skill to kite and keep the enemy at a distance. Then completely destroy em in melee with whatever weapon set up you choose.

Sword Main hand/Mace off hand: gives you a wave stun, a condition damage dot like build from main sword attacks and a lot of mobility.

Dual Axes: Give heavy damage in melee, heavy aoe with #2/#5 skills.

Sword/shield: I like this set up as most of my damage comes from bleeds and I get to reflect projectiles from long range bosses for extra damage. “Trait into it”

Now your utilities are what is gonna define your warrior. Placing banners and luring your enemies into them can give you a strong advantage in both damage and defense, while doing shouts at the right time if spec correctly will heal you and buff you while giving some control. Stances I don’t have much experience with so I cannot really tell you much on that department.

By 70+ You will be abusing shake it off a lot, I personally like the heal that removes two conditions as well. But as I said you will need to practice a lot as warrior is a class that requires a lot more dodging and player skill than the guardian.

Go Axe/Axe + Rifle. Build armor/accessories focusing on power, precision, and toughness (knight’s gear). Use healing signet since its regeneration is crazy at lower levels. Use 4 signets and 4 great justice and get the +40 precision per unused signet trait. Axe’s auto attacks deal tons of damage, plus they can hit up to 3 targets. Use “Dual Strike” whenever possible for fury (up to 12 seconds if u hit 3 targets) and spam “For Great Justice.” Only use whirling/cyclone axe if you are up against larger mobs. Switch to the rifle and kite if you get low. I like to take -5 seconds on weapon switch, switch to rifle, use skills 5, 4, then 3, and then switch back to the axe with an eviscerate.

Two words: Healing Signet

I went like my first 15 levels without it and was dying a lot. I heard about how good healing signet is and picked it up and the difference is night and day. If you’re still having trouble staying alive with Healing Signet equipped, then you’re doing something wrong. Don’t ever bother using the active on Healing Signet though. It’s not worth it. The passive regen it provides is what will keep you alive.

It doesn’t really lose its effectiveness until some time shortly after level 50. Around that time, you’ll probably want to switch to one of the other healing spells and should be strong enough by then that you don’t need the passive regen anymore anyway.

Movement and mobility will keep you alive. Don’t just stand there and take it. Move around them while hurting them. If you are standing still you will die.

Listen to Kujo The healing signet is hands down the best 3 skill points you’re going to spend on your warrior. I’ve run sword/warhorn + hammer most of the time, but I’ve experimented with all the weapons at one point or another and they all worked great in their respective styles.

I wear full crit damage gear and I’ve been doing fine, you need to be a little more active on warrior because that is how you live. Such as, running around, line of sighting, using CC to buy time for heals, kite and spam 1 with a bunch of mobs. Taking 5 mobs isn’t bad at all if your a defensive type warrior if you’re on the stages of leveling, a friend and I killed stuff with dooky gear that were 5-6 levels higher, but took ages and no deaths

It’s all in the movement, I was dying heaps as well on my warrior initially. The problem I had was that I am so used to the WoW stand and deliver method that I tried to approach mobs the same way in gw2.

You have to strafe around the mobs in a continuous circle and occasionally dodging through the mobs. The mobs in gw2 are actually quite slow, unlike WoW mobs where they always face you no matter which direction you strafe, gw2 mobs are not as fast and seem to get confused if you continuously strafe and dodge through them. So now I treat each mob like a pvp player, always strafing and trying to get on their tail end.

Axe/Axe and Longbow is the combo I use with full signets. The Axe/Axe is best for continous movement whilst still putting out decent damage. Longbow, I barely need it’s mainly there for boss fights where staying in melee range the whole time is suicidal.

I’m roughly level 60 and use Mending without any issues fighting anything. The key isn’t just Healing Signet, it’s more what Treesy says. Be mobile. Most of my encounters involve a leading stun, about half of 100 Blades, spin away, throw cripple back, switch to hammer, Earthshaker, follow with Backbreaker, auto once, knock back, cripple slam, Fierce Blow, and by then it’s typically dead. More than one enemy, auto with the hammer a few more times, then switch back to GS and whirl through them etc.

If you’re specced for damage, make sure you bring CCs along. They help loads, and you can continually play around with how you combo your various CCs into your damage abilities. Also, if you run GS, don’t be afraid to cancel 100B early to avoid hits.

I’m only lev 60, and i’m proceeding along the game at a measured pace, but i have had absolutely no problem dying with greatsword+rifle, all-signets build (with +40 Precision from each sig). I dodge out of fire/big attacks, but otherwise just stand there and take it with my GS out. If i fall below 1/3 hp or so, i switch to rifle and kite until i feel comfortable enough to continue melee. I do make sure to update my gear every 3-4 levels, so that might also be making a difference.

Tomkatt.1684:

Okay, I’m just gonna say it: I suck at warrior.

My main is a guardian, and I’ve become pretty reliant on the defensive capabilities of my Aegis heavy build.

On my warrior I am getting murdered on a fairly regular basis in PvE content at my level. I’ve tried Mace+sword for the two counters, I’ve tried mace plus shield for the block and stun combat (not bad), but in the end I’ve currently settled for rifle+greatsword. I pretty much kite single target until it gets to melee, knock it back with rifle 5, and if it’s not dead by then, use greatsword to finish it off.

I’d prefer to play a more melee oriented build, but it seems fighting a single target at range is the only way I manage to stay alive.

On my guardian I’m super-tanky, so fighting 3-5 enemies at a time is a fairly normal concept for me, and I have a build set up that’s oriented toward surviving this sort of encounter, but I can’t seem to work out a similar setup on my warrior. I really want some stun heavy / blocking / countering, or generally defensively suited melee combat where I can survive up close.

Can anyone help with this? And if this style isn’t suited for Warrior, can anyone give me some general tips on how to survive melee?

Thanks!

I dont know what some of the other OP are talking about warriors cant survive. I LOVE my warrior. I face roll champs at lvl 80. Its a mateer of simple circle strafing with a greatsword. GG. You gotta spend some trait points in defense. i currently have 25 points in mine. I have no issue pulling 8-10 enemies in orr and downing them in seconds. If your on sanctum of rall server id be happy to show you. Death Aggro is the name on sanctum.