Guild Wars 2

So I’ve tried the ever so popular greatsword/axe+shield glass cannon build. Effective but I don’t particularly like how little it brings outside of raw damage.

I’ve tried the hammer/mace+shield shout heal build for tanky CC. Fun, but not enough offense.

I’ve tried the rifle/axe+warhorn ranged warrior build. Fun, but again it’s just a bit bland for my tastes.

I’m looking for a warrior build that can effectively stand in melee and take a bit of beating, dish out damage, but isn’t going to require being a glass cannon or being completely specced into defense. Anyone seen any builds that strike a middle ground between offense and defense that are actually somewhat effective let me know. I haven’t been able to find or make one yet.

Closest weapon to what you say is imo the hammer with defense traits and power or precision traits. Don’t forget the damage and CD reduction trait for hammers. It does less damage than 2h sword (which for regular pve is OP imo, so don’t look for a weapon that comes close to it), but more than maces/shields.
I also feel much more tanky with a hammer than with anything+shield, which is kind of wierd. But all the aoe CC the hammer has makes me get hit much less than what a shield offers. I also tried the 90tho and CD reduction for shields trait, which sounded great in theory, but I still receive more damage with it than with hammer.

A-Rush

This is a Build i am currently working on @72 and it works great for me in PVE. You Build Adrenaline so fast that you can spam bursts pretty fast. You also stack Might with Shouts and weapon swaps. mind you this is not a pro-spec build by any means but its fun for me.
I am with you on the Glass Cannon and Tank build so i made this build.

Swap Mace for Sword and you can stack bleeds for extra damage too.

Strike A-Rush
This Second Build is carbon build with a slight diffrence in Traits to do more basic damage at the expense of Adrenaline building. same rules apply but you can include a GS in the mix now since HB does a little more base damage then Mace/Axe.
You will lose some survivablity if you go this route tho.

Like i said these builds are by no means perfect just my personal choice.

To clarify, I am looking strictly at sPvp/tPVP, possibly WvWvW.