Guild Wars 2

Hey all! So I know this has been asked before, so if anyone has any great links to threads on this that would be great.

With that said, the meta keeps changing so I would love some current info on what warriors are running for full out tanking in WvW.. I’m thinking about commanding soon, and I want to be able to lead groups into the front lines without worrying about being the first to drop.

I’m thinking that hammer/sword-warhorn(or shield) would be the best group leading setup, and -condi duration food?

Thanks for all help!

I run a 20-35 man team in WvW when I command, usually doing this on my warrior. I have a terribly bad habit of taking on groups that I have no business fighting I.E the “mega zergs” and really anything above zerker should be fine for use, however I’ll give you a few optimal ideas if you are going to be commanding on a warrior.

While there are many different WvW builds for warrior and I’m sure others will weight in and say I’m wrong or I’m short sighted when it comes to my views on the class. So to ensure maximum credibility I’ll only be talking about things that I personally have used to lead in WvWvW.

Starting out my first warrior build that I ran was your basic 30, 30, 10 build, shouts healing with soldier runes. Pretty standard stuff,(hammer/Warhorn sword). I used all soldiers gear and trinkets and while I enjoyed getting about 1500 per auto attack(barely ever got a crit) the damage output wasn’t really enough and to be honest and this going to sound wierd, I felt my sustainability was a little to high, this is just me personally. if you are running with a team of “militia” we’ll call them this might be the way you want to go as many of them will not have group based optimized builds, if you want to get a little more risky then you can go with melandru runes and condi reduction food, dolyak signet, balanced stance, and Shake it off or Great Justice. That is going to give you the most survivability, however if you are leading a more experienced group of players or you are comfortable with your abilities then go with dolyak signet, for great justice, and shake it off with soldiers runes to help the team.
Now in my case my guild ran the Knights Cavs meta which I recently switched to and can say it is quite enjoyable, though your vitality is significantly lower so condition clearing can be a problem. However your damage output is much higher with this set up then with pure soldiers. Another option that i’ve tried is celestial trinkets and soldiers armor, again 0, 0, 30, 30, 10. I’ve found this build is just all around and good for most of the jobs that need to be done, it’s a good damage output, you /sit in the red circles to die, and your healing shouts heal for approx 1700-1800 per shout, not to mention condi removal with the soldier runes.

Again though if damage is your thing and you want to get a little wierd with it, there is another build I run which is 30, 0, 30, 0 , 10 that uses balanced stance, endure pain, and dolyak signet, and signet of rage. The build focuses around Axe/Mace with hammer and requires the use of the defy pain trait. Knights cavs. Dual wielding in the first trait line is a must as well. If you plan on using this spec then expect to take a lot of pressure if you over extend, however you have melandru runes and condi duration food to back you up in those harry situations and as long as your zerg is behind you, you’ll be able to heal up and pull them through the fight, but don’t expect to be taking all that much damage, endure pain will allow you to go kitten deep into the middle of the enemy blob and cut it in half, and while you are taking that heavy pressure your defy pain kicks in and you’ll be able to get your group out of the mess for a quick regroup and reempower from your guardians before hopping right back into the fray.

This is a little dis organized but for the more support style Warrior types I mentioned Sword/Warhorn is key along with hammer but if you really want to run GS that is ok to, but in my opinion that makes you sort of a scrublet. lol. Not implying that OP is scrub of course. Quick breathing was the point I was trying to make. Warrior condi clear is insane, no where close to guardian, but still impressive.

Bottom line and the TLDR. Warriors can go where most classes can’t and don’t expect to die a lot on the frontlines if you use one for commanding, just don’t get yourself locked down by your sword, move foward, and never back petal, a true warrior never backs down.

OH and forget about using a shield, I know there are so many cool skins, but Warhorn is way to strong not to use.

My principle in commanding is simple. You musn’t die. It means doing damage to kill isn’t your job but your teams. Your main job is to lead that team to focus fire, regroup, and achieve your end goal.

The basic build I enjoy using is 10/0/30/30 which uses either fall damage trait or the one that adds more hp to your hero, the ii viii xi for tankiness, and ii ix xii for healing, with sword warhorn/mace shield at either pvt gear, knights pvt, or with a mixture of cleric and pvt trinkets and knights or pvt armor weapon.

Another combination I like is 0/0/30/30/10 focusing on same trait skills but vi for the last trait for faster signet use.

I normally use as utilities – signet heal, balance stance or dolyak (better if traited), shrug it off, and endure pain.

I love runes of the soldier but melandru is also good and so is runes of the monk or runes of altruism.

When I’m not commanding I use hammer as main weapon or longbow. ;3

Just do your best and try different things.

Thanks so much for the replies! I am really excited to try this out with the warrior. I used to lead a lot of havoc groups with a staff ele, but this will allow me to get into the fray without having to worry as much about staying alive during the first few secs of the fight.

If your new, then you want full PVT gear. Hammer and sword/war horn. You need to be a pillar.

Soldier runes on gear.
You want one sword with bloodlust for extra damage however I’ve switched to +healing to boost shouts. I can hit about 2200 on shouts.
You then want another sword with flame blast AoE.
Your offhand should have restoration (health on kill).
Hammer should also have this sigil. Your priority is to not die.

Once your comfy with commanding and knowing why you can get away with and what’s going to hurt, you can switch it up. I run a 0/10/30/0/30 build with pvt gear and a hybrid of zerker, knights gear with a focus on precision. Still tanking in dish out huge damage. I do however run axe/shield. But that’s my style