Guild Wars 2

Hello ladys and gents, just coming back to GW2 as Iv finally given up on the old WoW game and looking to come back fresh with a different mind set this time, Iv always had my warrior has my first character and main in GW2.

The problem is im lacking any real idea of the current warrior meta build at the moment, Iv seen “hambow” and gs/axe+shield but I have no idea whats better at the moment for WvW/PvE Content, please enlighten an old player !

Hambow is strictly a PvP build, PvE wise the “meta” is any build that kills thing at lightning speed.

Empirical data seem to favor a pure axe build (mace offhand) that relies on autoattacking 90% of the time for max-dps but the general consensus is that it’s overly boring to play.

The standard dungeon-busting build (which is about as powerful but less tedious to use) is GS+Axe/Mace (or Axe/Axe if you like the look of it). Trait allocation would be something like 30/25/0/0/15 for max dps, but you can run something like 30/x/x/x/30 and it will work just as fine.

Can’t say much about WvW, depends on what role you want to fill there (zerg frontline? zerg backline? roaming? something else i can’t think about?)

OH axe is a DPS loss, sure, axe 5 does do high damage, but over the course of 3 seconds. Although the axe chain’s DPS is backloaded, it also completes in 3 seconds and the combined hits will easily beat out the damage axe 5 can ever score. Axe 4 is mainly used for stacking fury, which is pointless since you have FGJ and SoR.

In short, stick with OH mace, or OH sword for bosses. The knockdown or block can be a lifesaver, while not sacrificing too much of your DPS.

i did say “Axe/Axe” if you like the -look- of it. you don’t lose much from not having the offhand mace and offhand maces look ugly. true story. That said i can fit an axe4 in a decent dps rotation but nobody ever said you should use axe5, axe5 sucks. I can only think of a good use for axe 5 on the second boss in HotW to eat through it’s 30+ aegis stack.

Sure, knockdown and block and yaddayadda but honestly when do you ever really -need- any of that?

adozu.6398:

i did say “Axe/Axe” if you like the -look- of it. you don’t lose much from not having the offhand mace and offhand maces look ugly. true story.

I speak from a dungeon runner’s perspective, sorry I didn’t make that clear. Looks are one thing, but effectiveness is another, and let’s face it – when you’re fighting you won’t bother to notice how your weapons look more than half the time.

adozu.6398:

That said i can fit an axe4 in a decent dps rotation but nobody ever said you should use axe5, axe5 sucks. I can only think of a good use for axe 5 on the second boss in HotW to eat through it’s 30+ aegis stack.

At least we agree axe 5 sucks. I don’t find a use for the extra fury, and I usually find myself in encounters where a knockdown/block is much more useful than (potentially 18 secs of) fury.

adozu.6398:

Sure, knockdown and block and yaddayadda but honestly when do you ever really -need- any of that?

Consider what helps your team more: additional fury that only applies to you, or a 2-second full disable that hits up to 5 targets in a line? Tremor hits twice if you’re in melee range, I should add.
For OH sword, sword 5’s block practically speaks for itself, while sword 4 applies torment and allows you to rip the sword out for a good chunk of damage.

Would Axe/Axe be good for a 30/x/x/x/30 build with Burst Mastery (Discipline XI) since Axe#5 ramps up adrenaline really quickly? You could almost sustain 2 fully charged Eviscerates on cooldown right? For bosses (single targets) that sounds really good.

Empirical data seem to favor a pure axe build (mace offhand) that relies on autoattacking 90% of the time for max-dps but the general consensus is that it’s overly boring to play.

Incorrect. Hundred blades is a ~10% DPS increase over axe autoattack, and used alongside whirlwind, rush and maybe bladetrail, using a GS/Axe+Mace rotation pushes your DPS up higher. If you don’t like whirlwinding against enemies that aren’t against a wall, just rush, whirlwind and weapon swap mid cast so you don’t go flying.

OH axe is a DPS loss, sure, axe 5 does do high damage, but over the course of 3 seconds. Although the axe chain’s DPS is backloaded, it also completes in 3 seconds and the combined hits will easily beat out the damage axe 5 can ever score. Axe 4 is mainly used for stacking fury, which is pointless since you have FGJ and SoR.

Axe 5 really doesn’t do high damage at all. Axe auto cleaving three targets is again, around ~10% more DPS than whirling axe hitting five targets (when I tested, I would have dealt 50,853 damage with the auto and 46,625 damage with axe 5). Off-hand axe does actually work for easy boss solos – stacking fury on axe 4 enables you to drop FGJ and just go 4-sig + banner.

i did say “Axe/Axe” if you like the -look- of it. you don’t lose much from not having the offhand mace and offhand maces look ugly. true story. That said i can fit an axe4 in a decent dps rotation but nobody ever said you should use axe5, axe5 sucks. I can only think of a good use for axe 5 on the second boss in HotW to eat through it’s 30+ aegis stack.
Sure, knockdown and block and yaddayadda but honestly when do you ever really -need- any of that?

Try doing dredge at 49 without knockdowns. Try soloing bosses (Lupicus being the default example) without blocks. Vulnerability on mace 4 lets you burn bosses down faster too.

Would Axe/Axe be good for a 30/x/x/x/30 build with Burst Mastery (Discipline XI) since Axe#5 ramps up adrenaline really quickly? You could almost sustain 2 fully charged Eviscerates on cooldown right? For bosses (single targets) that sounds really good.

Axe 5 is quite literally never worth using. And you shouldn’t ever be eviscerating except near the end of the fight because you want to maintain the 15%+ damage modifier from Berserker’s Power as long as possible. In x/x/x/x/30 as well, you get 15% crit chance at full adrenaline too, so you’ll be destroying your own crit chance.

as i mentioned, axe5 is worth using on the second boss in HotW path1 to remove his 30+ stack of block. see? one boss in the entire game>never being useful ever!

regardless, we all agree axe/mace > axe/x but don’t take dredge 49 or lupicus solo into it, i don’t think the OP will jump in there right away or anything. axe/x is just fine, could even go axe/shield and at the end of the day nobody would really notice the lack of dual-wielding trait.

on the topic of eviscerate: just don’t use it if it’s not going to score the kill.

hendo.1940:

Would Axe/Axe be good for a 30/x/x/x/30 build with Burst Mastery (Discipline XI) since Axe#5 ramps up adrenaline really quickly? You could almost sustain 2 fully charged Eviscerates on cooldown right? For bosses (single targets) that sounds really good.

Axe 5 is quite literally never worth using. And you shouldn’t ever be eviscerating except near the end of the fight because you want to maintain the 15%+ damage modifier from Berserker’s Power as long as possible. In x/x/x/x/30 as well, you get 15% crit chance at full adrenaline too, so you’ll be destroying your own crit chance.

But what about x/x/x/x/30 with Burst Mastery, not Heightened Focus? Getting 1/3 of your adrenaline refunded and having Eviscerate deal more damage seems like a good thing. Wouldn’t Eviscerate be good if you could get your adrenaline back to max almost instantly? With Burst Mastery and Axe#5 you can spike with F1 and then get back to full in like 3 secs. Still a dps loss?

Fairly new warrior player. Just trying to learn.

regardless, we all agree axe/mace > axe/x but don’t take dredge 49 or lupicus solo into it, i don’t think the OP will jump in there right away or anything. axe/x is just fine, could even go axe/shield and at the end of the day nobody would really notice the lack of dual-wielding trait.

“your examples don’t count because I said so”.

Right, so I guess your example of HOTW p1 doesn’t count, because I said so.

But what about x/x/x/x/30 with Burst Mastery, not Heightened Focus? Getting 1/3 of your adrenaline refunded and having Eviscerate deal more damage seems like a good thing.

If you don’t take heightened focus your crit chance will be terrible, which means your eviscerates are more likely to miss anyway. Burst mastery is a pretty lousy 7% damage increase on one skill too, while 15% crit chance will give you far more damage for fights.

Wouldn’t Eviscerate be good if you could get your adrenaline back to max almost instantly? With Burst Mastery and Axe#5 you can spike with F1 and then get back to full in like 3 secs. Still a dps loss?

Still a DPS loss. Axe 5 is one of those “skill check” abilities (if you’ve played magic: the gathering you’ll be familiar with this) where you’re presented a skill that look deceptively good but is actually pretty bad. If you want to get adrenaline up you’re best off using hundred blades. It’s six less hits but it’s like ~25% better than axe 5.

30/25/0/0/15 GS/Axe+Mace with eviscerate at the end of fights for that final push of damage are your best bet, If you don’t like GS, 30/25/0/10/5 axe+mace/axe+warhorn (or axe+mace/axe+sword) work too.

my example was just a disguised way to say “yes, axe5 is useless”. same as if i said “X isn’t useless, you could use it as an earplug assuming you’re at -30 degree”. so it doesn’t count period, not because someone says so :P

yours instaed is something 90%+ of warrior population won’t ever do, so it’s more akin to “X matters when you’re at the olympics” told to a group of schoolkids learning a sport. it matters, but it’s not really a deciding factor to most players.