Guild Wars 2

Hey guys I don’t have many hours under my belt in WvW but i always liked to play sword/shield but is it viable in power spec instead of condi? I know i can go condi but that’s well, meh! but i may try it just to see what its like (i am in experimental mode atm)

I won;t be roaming solo any time soon so atm I just go with guildys in a grp of 2-5 taking camps and beating up people on our rounds.

I have a build here for you guys to have a look and I would like you tell me what you think

I chose sigil of strengh on the sword because it also effects the bleeding to as well as power and the bow is normally used for even more might stacking and utility (snaring/blinding ect)

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fJEQNAseTjMdUFahHmhQHagpgC7jXAX36AQZQE5A-TlSBABU8AAKVdF0UCelyvOOCA7oSBN7Pgn+gFOEAAcCAIFATKjA-w

All Warrior weapons are viable power-wise.

Hello,

Yes, aside from condition builds or hybrid builds, sword can definitely be used in a pure power build, Sword#3 then being particularly violent. Check out the following video to get some idea:

As for your build, it’s very good as it is. Just a little note about vigor: you use both the “Signet of Stamina” and “Furious Reaction”, so possibly some of it could be wasted. In your tests, why not explore the following options:

• Exchange “Furious Reaction” for “Furious Speed”, so as to get perma-swiftness during the fight (as your critical chance is good). Possibly use the Signet of Dolyak for the stability, getting back the signet of rage, all buffed by Signet Mastery.
• Exchange the signet for the “Bull’s Charge”, and possibly trait it with Mobile Strikes, to gain better mobility and control,
• Exchange the signet for “Endure Pain”, which would give you 3 stances – and trait them using “Vigorous Focus”, and possibly “Sure-Footed”.

Have fun – I think I’ll try power sword very soon as well!

that video was made to look so easy! i can never do that lol. i had the signet of stamina mainly for them kitten condi spammers that are going around lately (booo!) but yeah i will move traits around to see how things change my build next time i am out and about

Power sword works fine it just takes a bit of finesse to land sword #3 sometimes. It can be unwieldy.

also another question, is it worth going sigil of generosity on then sheild instead of force?

Fat Disgrace.4275:

also another question, is it worth going sigil of generosity on then sheild instead of force?

no sigil of generosity outside of SPVP is absolutely not worth it its like 50-60 gold in PVE.

Sword/Shield for a power build is a must. + the shield stun will help you land sword #3.

0/4/6/0/4 or 0/5/5/0/4 are pretty nice with power sword/shield + longbow

lots of soft cc, some hard cc, decently strong aa on sword, fire field on longbow is crazy strong and synergizes well with the blast and double leap finishers.

It’s absolutely viable, but you’re definitely gimping yourself for it.

Flissy.4093:

It’s absolutely viable, but you’re definitely “!gimping” yourself for it.

what do you mean by Gimping?

Fat Disgrace.4275:

Flissy.4093:

It’s absolutely viable, but you’re definitely “!gimping” yourself for it.

what do you mean by Gimping?

How is he gimping himself in PVP? Were talking about real warrior skills and game play here not noobish pve facerolls.

Fat Disgrace.4275:

what do you mean by Gimping?

Gimping:

A type of crippling or a crippling effect.

So in other words, he is saying you are crippling yourself in WvW by taking Sword as a main hand power weapon. As to whether he is right or not… eh, it is up in the air.

You have one skill that will deal decent damage on main hand sword and it only does decent damage when the target is below 50% health. It is more of a Hybrid/running away weapon than anything.

With that said… I have used power sword for a while and find it entertaining to hit 10k Final Thrusts. It is not expected and will take people by surprise, but if I had taken another weapon I could have dealt that much damage (plus a little more) in the time it took me to set up the Final Thrust.

Just do what you enjoy.

Sword, while I haven’t toyed around with it post April 15th patch I feel is underrated, it is actually a really good weapon and you can certainly cover it’s faults with other weapons. If you really think about it, the Sword has everything you could possibly want, while not being necessarily the best at it.

CC? Cripple on 3rd Auto, Savage Leap, F1 Immobilize, pair it with a Shield for extra CC
Conditions? Bleed on auto attack and F1
Mobility? Savage Leap
Burst Damage? Final Thrust.

Sword as a power build is probably used best with a Shield offhand. Sword being a one-handed weapon offers you that luxury to have a stun and a decent block.

Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need a shield or a set-up from another weapon to reliably land Final Thrust. The sword can be it’s own set-up for final thrust.

Defektive a warrior from the past used a trick where you would use your F1 Burst, then sheath your weapon. The full duration of the immobilize is applied on the first hit and the bleeds and attacks are applied as it is being channel. What sheathing does is allow you to cancel your channel, effectively enabling you to cast other skills while the enemy is immobilized, including final thrust. I use a lot of sheathing in the video that somebody above me posted.

But anyways here is the video if you want to learn how to use the technique. It is really simple to learn and once you get used to it it is very easy to execute. It doesn’t guarantee you a successful landing of Final Thrust, and some classes will be able to counter it better than others, but at the same time, stuns don’t always guarantee that either so it is worthwhile learning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Me1UvxHaiT4

In my opinion, the hammer probably best compliments the sword in a power build. The hammer kind of overshadows the sword in having more reliable and better CC and better damage overall. So you will probably be using the hammer a lot more. However, comboing an Earthshaker or Backbreaker, or the #4 into a Final Thrust is a really good and reliable way of landing it.

In a hammer build, if all you use your sword for is mobility, landing Final Thrust and allowing you to carry a shield, then it has fulfilled it’s role perfectly and is the perfect compliment. Anything else you get from the sword is a bonus. You can pull off some pretty insane bursts with that combo too and easily take somebody from 100-0. It is as good as any top WvW Warrior build, and is far from gimping you in anyway, I just wonder why people don’t use it as often, it has an incredible amount of CC and defensive capability.

I have not tried using Longbow and Sword together in quite awhile, I still imagine that it is decent but of course the patch changed a lot of things. It is certainly a drastically different playstyle from Hammer. Both weapons have the luxury of being decent condition weapons as well and that can act as a compliment to a power build. What would be interesting is Runes of Strength on these bad boys. With Longbow and sword, you can combo your own fire field for a fire shield that grants you might if you are hit. With runes of strength, this will last a very long time and wouldn’t be surprised if you could consistently hold 20-25 stacks of might throughout a fight. Since these weapons have a lot of condition application on them, 20-25 stacks of might put you in hybrid territory, while being full on power. I see this being effective in a lot of solo roaming and 1v1 action while still being decent in small scale fights. You actually gave me a good idea here and would like to try this myself to see the true effectiveness of it.

However, Hammer + Sword/Shield is perfect for small group roaming and is better than Longbow + Sword/Shield for what you are aiming for,

As far as your build goes, it is fine, except for a few minor tweaks here and there. It isn’t the build I would run personally but that is just preference.

I would swap out your sigil of strength for something like sigil of energy. Sigil of Strength isn’t really needed and with guildies you should have no problem attaining a high amount of might stacks. At most the sigil will allow you to keep an extra 2-3 might stacks, however you are using the Longbow so that shouldn’t be an issue at all. And probably switch out the sigil of force for something like sigil of fire for more AoE damage and instant burst.

I prefer Endure Pain over SoS but that is pretty much a personal choice. I also prefer more Vit but again a personal choice.

If you went a hammer build, you could get unsuspecting foe for 50% extra crit chance on stun, ensuring you always get the most out of your stun bursts. You could also probably drop some crit chance and get more tankier if you do that.

Sword is super viable as a power weapon, perfect for a roaming warrior.

here is a video of my GS/Sw-Sh build before 15th april patch:

I consider Sw/Sh + Hammer the top WvW power build out there. I love it. Every single skill fills a purpose and the combos are awesome.

Small gameplay video of it in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTgGMMewUrQ

Have tweaked it after this and gotten alot better with it… I wouldn’t open with shield bash and final thrust nowadays, lol.¨

This guy is very good with these weapons:

Thanks for the feed back guys, I think i need to tweak things around like you have said. i have not really tryed hammer with sword/sheild yet so thats the next thing to try out.

i changed the traits but keeping SoS for now due to thee condi bombs ;( http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fJEQNAseTjMdUFahHmhwJagpgC7jXAXD5AQ5RE5A-TlSBABU8AAKVdF0UCelyvOOCA7oSBN7Pgn+gFOEAAcCAIFATKjA-w

I’ve run s+sh/gs extensively when solo roaming in WvW and personally I find it a very useful power weapon. Its auto hits moderately hard when your stacked, but exceptionally fast, so the DPS is rounded out compared to other weapons. This is especially useful seeing as GS isn’t the best ‘aa pressure’ weapon, so it complements it well. And the AoE immobilize CAN be somewhat aimed to catch multiple bads players in your 100b.

There seems to be some delay when doing this combo though and it may be due to the channelling nature of sword f1 that ‘sheathing’ may alleviate, but I don’t see why swapping after the immob to GS should have to have ANY sort of delay, although if instead of spamming your combo buttons you simply press them firmly and on their own, the combo seems to work better. Button mashing is techinally a hindrance when using this combo, as in my experience it works better methodically pressing the keys at the right time. This last part is why I have been roaming with Axe/GS lately instead of sword. Sword is actually pretty clunky and not very smooth.

Yes OP, sword is viable for power warriors. It’s decent in tpvp but shines most in wvw roaming.

Here’s what I run with my warrior, nice damage output without being a full glasscannon and if you feel like conditions are giving you a hard time you can always switch to Hoelbrak runes. Hope this helps.

So, i’ve tried to run the builds in here, used to GS/Bow, the stantard 2/0/6/0/6 build, and guess what? after playing with the builds from the thread, then I just replaced GS for Dual swords for the stantard build, idk, but it seems working better for me than having the 5 points in Arms…

Am i Crazy???

and btw, Final Thurst is a pain to land…. -_- Really in doubt now if i stay with GS or stick with Dual Swords…

pupi.2465:

So, i’ve tried to run the builds in here, used to GS/Bow, the stantard 2/0/6/0/6 build, and guess what? after playing with the builds from the thread, then I just replaced GS for Dual swords for the stantard build, idk, but it seems working better for me than having the 5 points in Arms…

Am i Crazy???

As far as I can see, 2 in Strength doesn’t do much for a Sword. Also, Burst Mastery on a power based Sword isn’t that exciting either, since Flurry is very situational.

It is true that the Arms tree has some excellent weapons for a condi-based sword, but it’s also got Critical Burst, Attack of Opportunity, Blademaster and Opportunist, all of which are excellent for Sw+X/LB.

I run 0/6/5/0/3 with Sw+Sh/LB in WvW with a power build. I choose Furious over Burst Mastery because that replenishes me to full adrenaline faster.

and btw, Final Thurst is a pain to land…. -_- Really in doubt now if i stay with GS or stick with Dual Swords…

You have all kinds of tools to land it:

• Shield
• Flurry
• Pin Down

If you were to run Sw+X/Hammer, you’d have a fairly easy time landing Final Thrust due to all the CC on Hammer.

One thing to remember about Final Thrust is that is cleaves. Which is awesome.

I don’t get why people use shield with a sword. Sword #5 does the same as shield and is 10 secs less than shield, sword 4 does a kitten ton of damage OT.
If you are using BOW instead of GS then shield #4 useless.

people like shield because its superior to sword at blocking melee attacks in PVP. I mean it doesn’t stop blocking on a melee like sword does. Sword will instead block then try to return damage in the form of a bleed if in melee range. And since you are already in melee range since your trying to hit something with a sword. It makes a 3 sec block that doesn’t stop blocking better. The stun can be also somewhat more useful than torment when you are trying to melee by helping you keep the enemy from running, or to interrupt them. Like sword leap+shield stun to interrupt someone from stomping you team mate.

Olba.5376:

pupi.2465:

So, i’ve tried to run the builds in here, used to GS/Bow, the stantard 2/0/6/0/6 build, and guess what? after playing with the builds from the thread, then I just replaced GS for Dual swords for the stantard build, idk, but it seems working better for me than having the 5 points in Arms…

Am i Crazy???

As far as I can see, 2 in Strength doesn’t do much for a Sword. Also, Burst Mastery on a power based Sword isn’t that exciting either, since Flurry is very situational.

It is true that the Arms tree has some excellent weapons for a condi-based sword, but it’s also got Critical Burst, Attack of Opportunity, Blademaster and Opportunist, all of which are excellent for Sw+X/LB.

I run 0/6/5/0/3 with Sw+Sh/LB in WvW with a power build. I choose Furious over Burst Mastery because that replenishes me to full adrenaline faster.

and btw, Final Thurst is a pain to land…. -_- Really in doubt now if i stay with GS or stick with Dual Swords…

You have all kinds of tools to land it:

• Shield
• Flurry
• Pin Down

If you were to run Sw+X/Hammer, you’d have a fairly easy time landing Final Thrust due to all the CC on Hammer.

One thing to remember about Final Thrust is that is cleaves. Which is awesome.

Oh, i dont use burst mastery, i got that trait who gives you 15+ crit on full adrenal…

I found myself playing better with a sword in oh instead of shield… i’ll try to replace LB for the Hammer, as bored as i am with it… maybe the playstyle fits better.

And thanks, i’ll try this 0/6/5/0/3 build…. Have you tested the new trait? Dual Wield Agi ?

I play a axe/sword & sword/mace build with 6 in Strength (Burst precision, 100% crit chance with burst skills) and a sigil of intelligence on my main hand sword.

Critical evicerate followed by critical Final Thrust can be devastating. Not always easy to land tho. I use Bolas too, it helps a lot.

I want to try that lol sounds hard to land but very funny to land it and win. Evicerate then throw bolas then final thrust.

great feed back guys’ very good ideas too.

@xbutcherx I play sheild for the interupt mainly, may be it’s only 1 but sometimes, that’s all that is needed to win a fight – i actualy was very close to dieing vs a d/d might stacker ele – i ruped his heal and managed to spike with final thrust then change to arcing arrow – (ele was not below 50% but i still hit him for 5k crit and arc arow hit for another 6k) i dis like melee wepaons on off hand, they seem, too – how can i say it? it’s juts not my style

pupi.2465:

Oh, i dont use burst mastery, i got that trait who gives you 15+ crit on full adrenal…

Going into Arms instead would get you more, as with 4 into Arms you get 200 Precision and Blademaster, which gets you 19-20% crit on your Sword. And if you go 5 into Arms, you get that extra 10% damage on bleeds, which will be active pretty much always due to Sword AA having long, fast bleeds.

I found myself playing better with a sword in oh instead of shield… i’ll try to replace LB for the Hammer, as bored as i am with it… maybe the playstyle fits better.

Sword OH is nice for damage, but the block isn’t that terrific: It’s not going to save you from a Thief, which Shield would.

And thanks, i’ll try this 0/6/5/0/3 build…. Have you tested the new trait? Dual Wield Agi ?

Problem with Dual Wield Agility is that it requires using Mace, Axe or Sword in OH. Mace and Axe aren’t good options outside of PvE and I prefer Shield over Sword. It also doesn’t help Sword that much due to its already fast attacks. If I wasn’t using Furious, I would probably go with 0/5/5/0/4 instead.

I don’t get why people use shield with a sword. Sword #5 does the same as shield and is 10 secs less than shield, sword 4 does a kitten ton of damage OT.

Biggest reason for me is that Sword #5 doesn’t do much against a Thief whereas Shield #5 does.

every warrior build for WvW needs 1h sword just because of mobility – only exception is GS users. there might be better power weapons (though not condition) once you are fighting because the burst does very meh damage and immobilize where you are up front is only half good.. but if you dont use sword (or GS) you cannot decide which fights you want to pick and which not. so yeah not much choice there. for your build i would rethink the shield choice because the shield bash isnt a very good skill for your build (you dont need to set up heavy bursts and i think the stun is not long enough for final thrust?) and the block well.. its only the block. for wvw i would pick a warhorn for constant swiftness and versatility (weakness to lower incoming power damage and cleansing of soft CC even untraited). or if you are looking for the interrupt maybe try offhand mace for a good ranged knockdown and additional vulnerability. personally i cant live without perma swiftness. gunnars greetings

I see Olba, thanks a lot for that tips.

Olba.5376:

pupi.2465:

Oh, i dont use burst mastery, i got that trait who gives you 15+ crit on full adrenal…

Going into Arms instead would get you more, as with 4 into Arms you get 200 Precision and Blademaster, which gets you 19-20% crit on your Sword. And if you go 5 into Arms, you get that extra 10% damage on bleeds, which will be active pretty much always due to Sword AA having long, fast bleeds.

I found myself playing better with a sword in oh instead of shield… i’ll try to replace LB for the Hammer, as bored as i am with it… maybe the playstyle fits better.

Sword OH is nice for damage, but the block isn’t that terrific: It’s not going to save you from a Thief, which Shield would.

And thanks, i’ll try this 0/6/5/0/3 build…. Have you tested the new trait? Dual Wield Agi ?

Problem with Dual Wield Agility is that it requires using Mace, Axe or Sword in OH. Mace and Axe aren’t good options outside of PvE and I prefer Shield over Sword. It also doesn’t help Sword that much due to its already fast attacks. If I wasn’t using Furious, I would probably go with 0/5/5/0/4 instead.

I don’t get why people use shield with a sword. Sword #5 does the same as shield and is 10 secs less than shield, sword 4 does a kitten ton of damage OT.

Biggest reason for me is that Sword #5 doesn’t do much against a Thief whereas Shield #5 does.

Assuming everybody goes 15 into discipline for fast hands, it is only an extra 15 points to get to 30 discipline.

With that extra 15 points, you get:

- More critical damage
- More damage per boon
- Shorter burst cooldown (helps with condition removal mostly)
- Better might stacking
- Up to 15% more critical chance

With 25 in arms you get:

- Probably either Rending Strikes your Furious Reaction (Both are kind of meh)
- Bleeds on crit: This is OK at best
- 10% Critical Chance on Burst (also really meh with a sword and a longbow)
- 10% extra crit with the sword
- 10% extra damage to bleeding foes
- More condition damage and precision

Heightened Focus makes up for a lot of the precision you forego by not going into arms. Destruction of the Empowered makes up for the 10% extra damage on bleeds. Plus you get more damage from crit damage and better might stacking to make up for the condition damage loss and bleeds on crit.

You have many options with the 10 extra points you have as well. You can go into strength for more power. Getting Reckless Dodge which is amazing, and you can choose between, Greater fortitude which gives you around 1.5K+ more HP, Short Temper for more might and duel wielding for 5% extra damage if you are using S/S.
Or you could go 10 into arms to make up for most of the critical chance deficit, attain bleeding on crit and whatever adept trait you want. I probably wouldn’t spend the extra points in tactics.

What I also notice as well is alot of people who go into arms also have only 25 in defense. At 30 defense there are so many amazing traits you can choose from. Last Stand, Defy Pain, Spiked Armour, Missile Deflection, etc.

killahmayne is right.

you can do somthing like a

0/0/30/10/30 with power sword. Interestingly enough that is the same traits as
hambow that’s not a coincidence its just how warriors has been pigeon holded into a build because of nerfs.

I’ve noticed a lot of hambow builds as well go 10/0/30/0/30, but I believe that this trait set-up isn’t restricted in terms of how optimal it is to just that weapon set.

It works perfect with GS/LB, GS/Hammer, Hammer/SwSh, LB/SS, Mace/GS pretty much all popular roaming builds.

Only thing I would probably go 25 into arms for is for a GS/Rifle build because of the Rifle piercing/CD, extra critical chance on Killshot, extra damage on bleeding foes, etc. Or maybe even get the frenzy buff from going 30 into arms. Even then, 0/10/30/0/30 still rivals that setup.

I was thinking, 33% is the maximum of speed right? i was thinking about get Furious Speed, and dropping Warrior Sprint for something else, like signet mastery…

You guys think Furious Speed a good deal?

Furious speed is Perma swiftness. Its a 10sec swiftness with a 10 sec ICD… I use furious speed in my skull crack build. Helps alot having perma swiftness in a fight either to chase down kiters or to run away.

Warlord.9074:

Furious speed is Perma swiftness. Its a 10sec swiftness with a 10 sec ICD… I use furious speed in my skull crack build. Helps alot having perma swiftness in a fight either to chase down kiters or to run away.

So, you think i should drop Warrior Sprint to get Furious Speed?

nvm, i think rending strikes worth more.

keep this up guys = so much infomation, infact i am starting to get lost with build ideas! i 0/x/6/x/6 look good, but i dunno, i like the precision from x/5/x/x/x

@killahmayne Your tips seem very intresting, i shall try 2/0/6/0/6 with sword/sheuild – longbow. i see wheer you are coming from.

pupi.2465:

nvm, i think rending strikes worth more.

idk in pvp that all depends on how reliably you are procing it and how often and how many stacks. I like that trait when it procs though. Sometimes it will not reliably proc for me and when it does worst case scenario i get 1 stack. So i decided not to use it in PVP.

Warlord.9074:

pupi.2465:

nvm, i think rending strikes worth more.

idk in pvp that all depends on how reliably you are procing it and how often and how many stacks. I like that trait when it procs though. Sometimes it will not reliably proc for me and when it does worst case scenario i get 1 stack. So i decided not to use it in PVP.

I’ve tested, it seems i got a dps increase since im using assassin stats on swords, and with the #4 ofhand critting too im often seeing stacks along with the bleeds.

Im not sure if weapon stats count for pvp? i guess not, but at least, on “psychological side” is working. (sorry if this term is weird to you, not a english guy here)

Does anybody have a video with sword offhand gamplay in a power build?

I’ll have to dust my warrior off and try these suggestions I just never am worried about a sword warrior when I’m on any of my other classes there isn’t any scary damage there except final thrust. I don’t know if I ever died to one 1v1, I never see sword used in duels by warriors except if they are condi.

currently trying this out atm. http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fJAQNAseTjMdUGaVIGewJagkAB9nMdOGoiyqZB-TlSBABlquyOqUQz+DPcCAuS5HaKB74QAgn+gFOCAA8AAIFATKjA-w

Gamgee.8612:

Does anybody have a video with sword offhand gamplay in a power build?

LOL Fatty.

Welcome back to warrior!

It’ll never be viable in real tpvp-matches. Maybe it’s fun to play with those kind of builds in wvw for roaming but it’ll not be that efficient as regular pvp-builds,though.

I’m assuming you’re not talking about PvE at all.

Sword is only good for skipping past trash mobs as a mainhand weapon in PvE, not for attacking. In WvW and PvP I wouldn’t consider it a very good power weapon, but it’s surely good for a condition build.

Purple Miku.7032:

I’m assuming you’re not talking about PvE at all.

Sword is only good for skipping past trash mobs as a mainhand weapon in PvE, not for attacking. In WvW and PvP I wouldn’t consider it a very good power weapon, but it’s surely good for a condition build.

Are you talking about group play or solo? Sword is pretty strong solo. And this thread is obviously about PVP….And LOL sword is one of the best weapons in WvW and very good in PVP.

Purple Miku.7032:

I’m assuming you’re not talking about PvE at all.

Sword is only good for skipping past trash mobs as a mainhand weapon in PvE, not for attacking. In WvW and PvP I wouldn’t consider it a very good power weapon, but it’s surely good for a condition build.

The strength of Sword does not lie in its power, but the utility. Sword has ridiculously good mobility and you can pair it with Shield, Mace, Sword or Warhorn depending on your preference and what you are doing.

Sword itself gets access to Cripple, Immobilize and one of the best movement skills in the game, making it very hard for anyone to escape you. The OH options can give you Swiftness, Vigor and Weakness or a stun and a block or a block and a decently damaging ranged attack or a line aoe knockdown.

As for Sword dealing damage: Final Thrust at <50% HP is equivalent to a full adrenaline Eviscerate. And if you cannot get your foe to <50% HP with(out?) your other weapon set, you’re probably the problem and not Sword.

Also don’t forget that Flurry, Hamstring and Final Thrust all cleave.