Guild Wars 2

[Read the TL;DR if you don’t want to read the wall of text]

The warrior was the first class that I picked when I started playing gw2, and it has been my favorite ever since. I have leveled every other class to 80, and I still have had the most fun on my warrior. For almost all of the time that I have played, I had done PvE map completion or the EotM train.

I had been getting into SPvP only recently after a friend of mine told me about how fun it was and so the first class I chose was my long time favorite warrior. After entering an arena with my zerker build and getting my behind handed to me, I realized that one could not enter an arena and expect to win because the build worked in PvE. So I quickly went to Metabuild and looked at Hambow and tried it out.

The outcome was poor – I could never get in melee range of my enemies, and they always kited me to my death. After trying a variety of the build all over the internet, shoutbow, GS/LB and a few I tried to create, I could never contribute to my team. I will admit, I ragequitted a few times, I became so frustrated at the warrior PvP I couldn’t play my warrior for some time. I came out to about a 30%ish win chance, but when I won, I was really carried by a lucky group to victory; I never won a 1v1.

I tried playing a few other classes, necromancer and ranger were the most common. And I dominated at them. In unranked as a ranger, I had a 80% win chance (in unranked) at one point over about 40 games, that value has gone down to about 73% which is still very high. But not to drag on the topic any more, I really want to get back into the PvP with my favorite class. I’ve tried Guardian also, and I run into the same roadblock, I’m always kited to my death and unable to kill anyone.

I don’t want to dismiss the warrior just because of my inability to get in melee range of my target, as it seems like such a pitiful reason to leave.

TL;DR How do I play a warrior in PvP without being kited to death as a warrior?

try this

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fJAQNAscTjMdU5ZrHeewJagqgC5iHAK7hbI9J01pAA-TpRHwAQLDQ4QAU4BAA4IAI4EAEa/BA

You should have 90% win rate with 1v1.

90% win rate with a shoutbow??? O_O

I want to find you when I play my axebow, then let’s see who win XD

The shoutbow warrior is the best support class in spvp actually, but the worst 1vs1 build for warrior ever made.

But if you win in 1vs1 it’s because you’re good or because your enemy don’t know how to fight you. Or if you find a daily win noob, that don’t know how to use he’s class and how to kill you’r XD

In 1vs1, the actual “best” build is always the Hammerbow (or the axebow against some kind of builds)

here you can find some good builds:
http://metabattle.com/wiki/index.php?title=MetaBattle_Wiki

What are you actually talking about? It is exactly the contrary.
Hambow is pretty useless in 1v1 especally offpoint and Shoutbow is probably the best 1v1 build you can go for as a warrior. I guess, once Rom said that you should win most of your 1v1s with shoutbow.

I’ve played shoutbow a lot and I roll back to my axebow because I feel unable to kill a large amount of players in 1vs1 with that build.

Seems like a case of build not matching your playstyle at all. I think you should start from scratch and first ask yourself what you want to do with your warrior:

1. hold a team’s point under heavy fire and be the stomper?
2. Be the decapper that zips across map to catch unguarded points or duels for them if they’re guarded just by one person?
3. Be the team supporter that alone is not very powerful, but is a great boon for teammates?
4. Be an ambusher that attacks passing enemies without them noticing until it’s too late?

There may be more roles, but that’s about what i can get out of my head atm. Once you have your preffered role and playstyle down, then think how to make it happen, and expect some kitten kicking as you do, because nothing polishes a build better then having your enemies test it out for you the hard way;)

Silv.9207:

90% win rate with a shoutbow??? O_O

I want to find you when I play my axebow, then let’s see who win XD

The shoutbow warrior is the best support class in spvp actually, but the worst 1vs1 build for warrior ever made.

But if you win in 1vs1 it’s because you’re good or because your enemy don’t know how to fight you. Or if you find a daily win noob, that don’t know how to use he’s class and how to kill you’r XD

In 1vs1, the actual “best” build is always the Hammerbow (or the axebow against some kind of builds)

here you can find some good builds:
http://metabattle.com/wiki/index.php?title=MetaBattle_Wiki

Wow, look closely before you leave message. This is not shoutbow, yes it has shouts yes it uses bow, but it is condition based. It is actually a great 1v1 dueling build. Against general population you should have 90% win rate. Against top meta builds, you might not win all your fights, but it will be hard for you to lose as well. Against axebow, there will be no winner. And Hambow is definitely not a good 1v1 build. In fact against a hambow, a shoutheal-condition build should win, unless the hambow guy is much more skilled.

Silv.9207:

I’ve played shoutbow a lot and I roll back to my axebow because I feel unable to kill a large amount of players in 1vs1 with that build.

This might be true for a shoutbow, but not true for shout-heal conditional. The problem if a shoutbow comparing to axebow is that there is no easy burst. However with a conditional build, by timing your CCs with conditions, you can do a conditional burst for about +- 30k damage in a 15 – 20 sec period while ccing them during most of that time. The kill rate is simply better.

However, shout-heal conditional build suffered from the same problem as all conditional based builds. That is group conditional cleanse. So against super organized groups shout-heal conditional build will not be as good as shoutbow. This is the reason by this build is not well known. But if all you do is hot-join or solo queue. This is great. You can even roam with it, zerg with it in wvw.

I find that if played correctly, Shotbow can beat most builds 1v1. It may not be fast, but if you correctly stack might, your damage will eventually cascade and landing a few Arcing Arrows and your Final Thrust (also, feel free to use this at the start because it’s still OK damage) and your target will do down. Don’t forget to use Savage Leap through your Combustive Shot, it’s a ton of potential might and damage from burning.

For how easy Shoutbow is, I see a ton of people not use it to its full capacity.

Drumanas.8209:

[Read the TL;DR if you don’t want to read the wall of text]

---1--I could never get in melee range of my enemies, and they always kited me to my death. ---

---2--After trying a variety of the build all over the internet, shoutbow, GS/LB and a few I tried to create, I could never contribute to my team.---

---3--I never won a 1v1.---

---4--I tried playing a few other classes, necromancer and ranger were the most common. And I dominated at them.---

---5--I’ve tried Guardian also, and I run into the same roadblock, I’m always kited to my death and unable to kill anyone.---

I don’t want to dismiss the warrior just because of my inability to get in melee range of my target, as it seems like such a pitiful reason to leave.

TL;DR How do I play a warrior in PvP without being kited to death as a warrior?

Addressing some of the points in your post.

---1--- A few things, first in spvp especially 1 on 1 scenarios warriors have some of the biggest tells in the game, this does not make them unusable, many warrior abilities are all really strong if used properly, but many will be dodged. Essentially having knowledge of the other classes and their evades/dodges will greatly help you here. In a 1v1 scenario you will need to be prioritizing certain abilities later in your rotations to increase the chance they are not dodged due to lack of enemy evades.

For the kited part Warriors have many great gap closing abilities such as Hammer 3, Hammer F1, Longbow 5, Sword 2, and Shield 4, In addition the Leg Specialist Trait can be used in many builds to help close distance and keep a close distance if needed.

Lastly the death part, Glass warriors are very high risk as warriors due not have the same level of evades escapes as other glass builds(You become a very hard hitting sitting duck) hence why hambow and shoutbow tend to do well. Hambow offers CC to a team and it is that CC that becomes the warriors sustain with healing signet. For example Hammers burst can stun someone for 2 sec and can be followed by an aoe knockback for about 3-4sec of CC this is essentially a 1,500 heal with healing signet(375*4). Also get out of the habit of using the heal as a general rule when pressured with warrior as it is a bad burst heal with a huge drawback as you lose sustain equal to twice what you healed for.

---2--- Warriors can contribute a ton to a team but it is not always as noticeable as playing ranger and wiping a point. Warriors have some amazing utility and are generally a point holder/supporter. Look at shoutbow, you will hit like a wet noodle compared to a ranger but your ability to hold and help the team sustain a point is huge! Do not expect to be getting top kills all the time tho. Hambow offers nice CC and a steady source of pressure on points and usually have great stability and self sustain making them great home and mid bunks.

---3--- as said in the first point you have very big tells, also 1v1 does not equal winning a team fight, look at shoutbow for example it when faced with other players running other meta builds (d/d ele, turret or kit engis, medit guard, power necro etc.) assuming they are competent will not typically do well(unless the build is squishy and relies on condis), but make it a 2v2 and pair the shoutbow with a ranger, theif, necro, etc. and the tables will turn. While warrior can be an amazing 1v1 machine for someone not used to spvping with warrior it can be a very harsh place to start. Try 2v2ing or3v3ing with guildies and start with shoutbow.

---4--- Ranger is an off point sniper typically, and offers a very different playstyle than warrior so would not compare the two. Necro on the other hand while lacking mobility has very decent mid-range abilities as where warrior is typically used in melee.

---5--- Both guard and warrior are heavily used in melee and are used as point holders, which is a different mindset from say thief or power ranger. the thief is not supposed to stay on a point, keep it de-capped and die on point in the same fashion as a warrior, thiefs and rangers are better at killing and then getting out and reinforcing other points, as a warrior is not expected to break from fights as much, if they die they are to die on point until the bitter end whilst assisting with CC’s, Shouts, etc. so that the theifs and rangers can effectively do their jobs. While not always that simple in complicated team fights that is generally the mindset.

Hopefully that helps, also I would recommend giving shout bow another go, but emphasize your usefulness in teamfights not 1v1’s.

Also sorry for wall of text...

BurrTheKing.8571:

I find that if played correctly, Shotbow can beat most builds 1v1. It may not be fast

Problem here is a good team will have reinforced the point long before you are likely to kill someone 1v1(typically home and far fights) and usually shout bow is better served on a point with other teammates. than bunking home or assaulting far.

You should definitely try bigmonto’s build suggestion. It’s excellent for 1v1 fights. Very easy to use as well. Basically stay on longbow mostly and use double sword when u need to block or put torment on enemy with skill #4. Whenever your long bow burst is at max adrenaline drop it on top of you so it creates an aoe flame that burns anyone standing inside of it and cleanses your conditions as well. Then hit them with all your long bow skills and they should be dying pretty soon if they don’t have enough condi clears. Just use shout when u need to heal up a bit. Use fear me or shake it off if they stun you or when u need to cleanse or heal. Don’t forget to dodge when things are on cooldown. You should do fine. I recommend watch Vaanse video, he shows a good example on how to play with longbow as well as stacking might to make yourself stronger throughout the fight.