Guild Wars 2

I keep finding myself comming back to the Greatsword in PvE, the DPS and the chance to stack might just make it amazing. Right now I’m non-critting things for 8000 on the end of hundred blades use!

The other weapons just don’t come close to the DPS output the Greatsword has when combined with traits and skills, and this concerns me…

Has anyone ells noticed this?

grifflyman.8102:

Right now I’m non-critting things for 8000 on the end of hundred blades use!

No you’re not.
The damage listed is the total damage dealt by HB thus far, not the damage of that hit.

Hammer is better simply because you look 10x manlier using one.

So the 8000 that flies above the mobs head is the added tottal damage?

What…

Yes, each number that pops up is the total of damage so far, not for what each swing is hitting for. So at my level (24), I see something like 120, 241, 398, 505, 698 for example. Therefore, I’ve done a total of 698 damage. That 698 is not the amount done for that last swing alone.

Side note, I thought the same thing you did when I first started.

grifflyman.8102:

So the 8000 that flies above the mobs head is the added tottal damage?

What…

Yeah it is a roll up of the current damage. so wen you swing around look at the first number, the rest are just adding to it.

Greatswords are designed for pure DPS so that’s about it. Hammers are somewhat better when it comes to damage mitigation and control.

Love my hammer…

Yup, I originally got on the “Me too” train and thought there was no reason to try any weapon other than greatsword.
Then I went through a drought of not receiving greatswords appropriate to my level when a hammer dropped.
Initially not appreciating the sheer utility of the weapon, it took me a long time to get comfortable with it, but now I wouldn’t go back. You glass canons with your greatswords can keep them. I’d much rather have the control offered to me by a decent hammer. With the trait that applies confusion whenever I interrupt something, hammer becomes a weapon of mass devastation, and the 3rd stage of the basic auto attack is a high damage PBAoE.
Hammer having high damage along with strong interrupt capabilities allows for greater variety on my utility bar too, meaning I don’t have to allocate snares or other secondary attack abilities. I can diversify and experiment with support skills.
Greatsword is just the most glamourous.
I’d rather have my ol’ brick onna stick thankyouverymuch.

I have also so far been riding the 2h GS…signet in every util slot because for leveling and exploring its simple(lazy) and really all you need…..and above all else I am all about being lazy when I am first experiencing a new game world. But after reaching level 40 and starting to take a greater interest in game mechanics, profession synergy, working in groups, etc I am tossing my GS and going to experiment with the other more active, effective and useful options. X/Horn really sounds like i could be pretty cool. Ive tried Hammer a few times but never really spent enough to time to really use it well so might try that if I can get myself a decent Hammer.

grifflyman.8102:

So the 8000 that flies above the mobs head is the added tottal damage?

What…

Check your combat log for individual HB hits.

draylore.2837:

I have also so far been riding the 2h GS…signet in every util slot because for leveling and exploring its simple(lazy) and really all you need…..and above all else I am all about being lazy when I am first experiencing a new game world. But after reaching level 40 and starting to take a greater interest in game mechanics, profession synergy, working in groups, etc I am tossing my GS and going to experiment with the other more active, effective and useful options. X/Horn really sounds like i could be pretty cool. Ive tried Hammer a few times but never really spent enough to time to really use it well so might try that if I can get myself a decent Hammer.

500:0 (win:loss) tourney group runs their warrior with Hammer/Mace build for support/defense. He can CC and lock people down like no other. Its incredibly powerful when group fighting.

I expect that in dungeons it would create much better situations for non-boss fights.

Bosses get CC reduction and immunities like crazy…which is part of the reason why they’re difficult fights for melee classes

Redscope.6215:

500:0 (win:loss) tourney group runs their warrior with Hammer/Mace build for support/defense. He can CC and lock people down like no other. Its incredibly powerful when group fighting.

I expect that in dungeons it would create much better situations for non-boss fights.

Bosses get CC reduction and immunities like crazy…which is part of the reason why they’re difficult fights for melee classes

Except you can still knock them down with skill 5 (or knock back – skill4) with the Hammer. I’ve been using hammer primarily now because of the control.

Redscope.6215:

draylore.2837:

I have also so far been riding the 2h GS…signet in every util slot because for leveling and exploring its simple(lazy) and really all you need…..and above all else I am all about being lazy when I am first experiencing a new game world. But after reaching level 40 and starting to take a greater interest in game mechanics, profession synergy, working in groups, etc I am tossing my GS and going to experiment with the other more active, effective and useful options. X/Horn really sounds like i could be pretty cool. Ive tried Hammer a few times but never really spent enough to time to really use it well so might try that if I can get myself a decent Hammer.

500:0 (win:loss) tourney group runs their warrior with Hammer/Mace build for support/defense. He can CC and lock people down like no other. Its incredibly powerful when group fighting.

I expect that in dungeons it would create much better situations for non-boss fights.

Bosses get CC reduction and immunities like crazy…which is part of the reason why they’re difficult fights for melee classes

Curious what the build looks like; I always wanted to try some Hammer/Mace-Shield build but get too lazy. I could guess it’s something standard, but who knows!

I spent quite some time testing and timing the dps on different weapons and came to the conclusion that axes deal the greatest amount of damage with normal autoattacks. The greatsword is just too slow, in the time it takes for it to do 10,000 damage, the axes will do double.

Has anyone else looked into this?

Amigo.5023:

Greatswords are designed for pure DPS so that’s about it. Hammers are somewhat better when it comes to damage mitigation and control.

Whirlwind Attack is an amazing defensive skill to the extent that I favor greatsword over hammer for personal survivability. Hammer, however, is better at also helping your allies survive. Also, unless you’re using Hundred Blades on cooldown, greatsword doesn’t do that much damage, at least in solo play. The greatsword #1 chain does less damage than most other melee weapons, though the vulnerability stacking can make up the difference in groups.

Skillo.2975:

I spent quite some time testing and timing the dps on different weapons and came to the conclusion that axes deal the greatest amount of damage with normal autoattacks. The greatsword is just too slow, in the time it takes for it to do 10,000 damage, the axes will do double.

Has anyone else looked into this?

Here is my data. Some of it could be outdated.

• Axe #1 hits 6 times, each for .75 multiplier (so 4.5 total), in 3.6 (±.03) seconds.
• Hammer #1 hits for .9+.9+1.2=3.0 multiplier in 2.83 (±.03) seconds.
• Greatsword #1 hits for .7+.7+.9=2.3 multiplier in 2.40 (±.03) seconds.
• Greatsword #2 hits 8 times for .54 multiplier and once for 1.08 multiplier for a total of 5.4 multiplier in 3.60 (±.03) seconds.

The multiplier (or coefficient) just scales the damage done, i.e. damage is proportional to the multiplier. Damage dealt is also proportional to weapon damage, and greatsword and hammer have 10% larger weapon damage than axe, so this must also be taken into account.

Thus, axe #1 outdamages greatsword #1 by 18.6%, hammer #1 outdamages greatsword #1 by 10.6%, and greatsword #2 outdamages greatsword #1 by 56.5% (per execution time). This is ignoring the vulnerability stacking effect of greatsword #1; it maintains an average of 6.7 stacks of vulnerability, adding 6.7% (direct) damage to the target.

Greatsword puts big damage numbers up directly – however, when I tried it I didn’t find myself killing stuff noticeably faster in PvE than I do with my usual sword/sword or even sword/shield set-up. The difference is that the one handed sword set-ups cause a steady stream of bleed damage, so it doesn’t have that “OMG! I hit for OVER 9000!” factor that captivates the easily amused skritt-like players

Rifle can play with the best of them!

yes but as a great sword user you are useless when it comes to any form of support for your group.

I like my Hammer for PvE. Using a Hammer build with 30 points in the vitality trait line for PvE, and I can swap the major traits between shout heal build and banner regen build, depending on the group setup (group has lots of regen fields? go shout heal build. group lacking regen fields? go banner build).

Also, with my Hammer I have a 10 sec CD AoE stun, a 2 second knockdown, an AoE knockback, a ranged cone cripple and a fumble that hits everyone in front of me as a sort of cleave (fumble = 50% chance to glancing hit, glancing hits do only half damage).
That’s a lot of damage mitigated in dungeons, just from control.
Also, I still do about 70-80% of the damage a greatsword warrior does, while making life a hell of a lot easier for my group.

PS: If you want to see the big numbers, I’ve done 13k crits with Rifle glass cannon builds (volley). Those builds are completely worthless for anything else than single target damage, though, unless you’re going full ranged warrior and use a bow as your secondary. Also brings very little in the way of utility for your group, which is why I don’t advocate it.

In PvE all the melee weapons are roughly comparable, with GS being maybe slightly more damage, and 1h mace being the worst. You can pretty much go with anything; i’ve used almost every weapon combo at some point, aside from i think mace/mace and mace/horn because i hate mace in main hand in general for soloing.

I wouldn’t trade my longbow for anything. I’m usually fighting 5+ mobs at once raining destruction on them while kiting their attacks. They drop like flies

My sword/axe build can stack massive bleeds, 12 sustained and 20+ burst.

The damage is comparable with that of most other greatsword users over a long period of time, only it isn’t mostly reliant on the target standing still. And most moving ones can be immobilized by the sword burst skill anyway.

The being forced to root yourself to deal significant damage, to me, is a major drawback for group pve. While the sword burst skill suffers from the same thing, it can make up for it because it can root things in place as well, such as mobs going for the squishies or ones escaping the aoe-fest.

I know this is off-topic, but as a new player, which would you recommend for PvE, then if you can, PvP.
Hammer or Dual axes + Rifle?

@EpicFace: GS or axe/axe (with rifle on swap) are probably the most popular weapon combos for solo PvE. Check out YoJack’s post in this forum for an interesting PvP build discussion.

Well at first i was all about the GS and “Hundred Blade” everything to death, but as time went on i found that GS just look OP at first and it’s good only if your target dont notice you in time to evade your “Bolas” or “Bulls charge”.
For WvWvW i find Sword+Shield and Long Bow to be the king ( for me ). Whit the spec for “Cripple” to immobilize and immobilize to give Fury i can stack bleeds in a blink of an aye to a group of ppl while holding a primary target on a spot almost limitless. And to top it off – you not only got 10 sec of invulnerability on demand ( shield block + Ignore Pain ) but you also got a nice get out of jail " Leap Attack".

As for PvE – the hammer is the king for me so far. Tho it would be nice if it had some mobility tied whit it but oh well that would be OP

As a support-oriented warrior with healing shouts, I’m going with Hammer + Longbow in explorable dungeons. The first for control and decent damage, the second for lovely AoE.

For outdoor PVE (farming events, etc) I’m rolling on Sword main hand + Axe offhand and Longbow.

In WvW (the main aspect I’m focused on), Sword + Warhorn and Longbow.

Meh you stick to that oversized toothpick and ill keep dual weilding my axes for crowds. Gives me 3 AOE skills and a nice finishing move. GS is meh compared to 1h axes. While you are beating down that single target im rounding up a crowd then mowe them down with my 3 AOE attacks and WhirlWind being one of them.

Dont confuse the GS whirlwind with Axe. They arent even the same.

Also the rifel does even better then any 2h weapon. When i pop my CD’s i can almost 1 shot targets at my lvl. Which it allways makes me chuckle when i see a warrior or gaurdian using a silly 2h hamer or sword wacking away at a target then i come along and use skill 3 on the target to kill it with my rifel.

For pvp id most definatly use the 2h hamer for to obvious reasons of what the weapon does. But ill still keep dual axes on switch. Also the auto attack damage is very nice too.

Dungeons are a pretty different story for a melee warrior, try some on explore.

I am not a fan of greatsword in PvE. Hundred Blades does nice damage, but I find the damage to be mediocre while it is on cooldown. I also seem to take a lot more damage since I have to stand still while using Hundred Blades where as when I am using dual wield axes I can constantly be on the move avoiding attacks.

Regarding the hammer build that Sgt Sarcasm mentioned, can you post a nice hammer build for our refference pls?

Can you share your thought about my build? I play in group of mobs with hammer and at bosses mainly with sword & axe.

http://www.gw2builds.org/create/bwe_1/warrior#1.0.6.0-3.8.18.12.3-20.0.20.0.0-6.5.11.5

Having a blast with dual Sword and stacking Conditional Damage

Dual Axe plus Sledge way better than GS, anyway i love GS

Sword/Axe+Rifle or Longbow are actually best for PvE DPS probably. Rampager’s gear, Earth rune on the Sword and Rifle, and you can easily shoot up to 20bleeds with your burst, and sustain 10-15 stacks.

I would be this build if I hadn’t already crafted my exotic set for PvE GS. That being said, yes GS is extremely powerful when played right.

Dual Axes are a lot better DPS than Greatswords. Much higher sustained damage, good burst damage, good AoE damage etc. And the auto attack skill hits for A LOT more.

Axe mainhand -DESTROYS- Greatsword. Mobility + Damage, 3000 damage autoattack crits, you will never go back to Greatsword once you go Axe.

Vulnerability? Axe stacks 5 vulnerability on a single attack.
Cripple? Axe 3 >>> Greatsword 4.
Burst? Meet Eviscerate.

And don’t forget the offhand. Whether you want knockdowns, defenses, more mobility, bleeds, or just crazy AOE damage, you can equip it all and maintain the flexibility of choice.

Axe Warrior is best Warrior.

I’m happy with my sword and shield. I love stacking up the bleeds, moving on to the next target and watching it drop dead. More over I love boss fights when he winds up his big attack, I hit shield stance and watch everyone else around me die!

I keep thinking I need a good longbow on switch but every time I smash someone with the butt of my rifle I feel so dam good I don’t think I’ll ever trade it in. I love running up to something while shooting it then knocking it back with rifle butt (stupid name.)

If you’re playing tank, a good longbow will definitely be better than a rifle. Your group will love the might buffs and burning.

yes but can I smack something back with the butt of it…

sometimes gratifying is more important that group benefits!

Mister Kitty.6718:

Axe mainhand -DESTROYS- Greatsword. Mobility + Damage, 3000 damage autoattack crits, you will never go back to Greatsword once you go Axe.

Vulnerability? Axe stacks 5 vulnerability on a single attack.
Cripple? Axe 3 >>> Greatsword 4.
Burst? Meet Eviscerate.

And don’t forget the offhand. Whether you want knockdowns, defenses, more mobility, bleeds, or just crazy AOE damage, you can equip it all and maintain the flexibility of choice.

Axe Warrior is best Warrior.

1. Greatsword does comparable damage to axe if you can use Hundred Blades on cooldown without interruption. Of course, typically that’s not the case, so in a mobile situation axe will do more damage.
2. Axe maintains 4.9 stacks of vulnerability using #2 on cooldown. Greatsword maintains 6.7 stacks of vulnerability while only using the autoattack — or roughly 4.6 stacks when using Hundred Blades on cooldown (and autoattacking otherwise).
3. Greatsword’s cripple hits multiple targets and lasts twice as long as the axe cripple if it makes a double hit. Assuming a double hit, it’s also a useful damaging skill in its own right (almost as much DPS as Hundred Blades). Has a slightly longer cooldown.

The real advantage to greatsword is survivability (#3), mobility (#3 and #5), and AoE control (#4). I don’t use it for the damage.

Aseyhe.2948:

The real advantage to greatsword is survivability (#3), mobility (#3 and #5), and AoE control (#4). I don’t use it for the damage.

Don’t forget that you just compared a 3-slot main hand to a 5-slot two-hander. Add whatever offhand you feel completes the Axe and it more than makes up the difference.

Right, but no offhand compares to Whirlwind Attack for my purposes.

Aseyhe.2948:

Mister Kitty.6718:

Axe mainhand -DESTROYS- Greatsword. Mobility + Damage, 3000 damage autoattack crits, you will never go back to Greatsword once you go Axe.

Vulnerability? Axe stacks 5 vulnerability on a single attack.
Cripple? Axe 3 >>> Greatsword 4.
Burst? Meet Eviscerate.

And don’t forget the offhand. Whether you want knockdowns, defenses, more mobility, bleeds, or just crazy AOE damage, you can equip it all and maintain the flexibility of choice.

Axe Warrior is best Warrior.

1. Greatsword does comparable damage to axe if you can use Hundred Blades on cooldown without interruption. Of course, typically that’s not the case, so in a mobile situation axe will do more damage.
2. Axe maintains 4.9 stacks of vulnerability using #2 on cooldown. Greatsword maintains 6.7 stacks of vulnerability while only using the autoattack — or roughly 4.6 stacks when using Hundred Blades on cooldown (and autoattacking otherwise).
3. Greatsword’s cripple hits multiple targets and lasts twice as long as the axe cripple if it makes a double hit. Assuming a double hit, it’s also a useful damaging skill in its own right (almost as much DPS as Hundred Blades). Has a slightly longer cooldown.

The real advantage to greatsword is survivability (#3), mobility (#3 and #5), and AoE control (#4). I don’t use it for the damage.

axe users are able to be mobile and get hit less often so there’s more survivability there. you can always doubleroll out intead of having to have greatsword #3. also, there’s always the shield offhand

axe users can warhorn offhand for increased mobility

cripple on greatsword is marginally better since hitting foes in a line rather than just 1 foe, but again if warhorn offhand, speedboost is better. there’s also always mace offhand.

Aseyhe.2948:

Right, but no offhand compares to Whirlwind Attack for my purposes.

you’re right there but there is no need to whirl out of battle if you have a shield or knock foes down. also being more mobile with an axe makes you get hit less often so you last longer in battle and don’t have to whirl out, therefore doing more dps at the same time when compared to a gs user who needs to whirl out. and when needed, doubleroll is always a viable option.

overall i feel that axe/warhorn is a superior option for your playstyle if you can just get over the fact that you don’t have whirlwind but are compensated by a speedboost that removes crip, chill, and immobilize and have access to your roll when you finally do end up taking too much damage

Axe users aren’t able to get hit less often. Greatsword can double roll in addition to #3.

In PvE, I run greatsword and hammer with the 5-second weapon swap trait. This means I can cycle Whirlwind Attack and Earthshaker, performing one of these attacks every (just over) 5 seconds. Between the evasion and the AoE stun, I can take virtually no damage from entire groups of enemies — especially since between these moves, I can keep them crippled with greatsword 4 and hammer 3, and on top of that I still have all of my endurance available.

Axe/Warhorn has the Warhorn 5 ability, which doubles endurance regeneration. Axe users can effectively roll three times while AOE inflicting Weakness for even more survival. Warhorn breaking ALL forms of movement reduction also means less CC which means less getting hit by combos.

that seems like a very slow way to kill normal pve mobs since you have to wait for the burst cooldown that you’re relying so much on. also increasing fight time to take zero damage versus marginal non-lifethreatening damage is seeming very overrated. i’m assuming the advantage of cripple here is to keep foes off of you to wait for your recharges, which adds to my argument for not needing to prolong battles so much.

cripple to me is useful only for stopping fleeing foes and to keep bosses off of me while i range. i’m not sure why you seem to need it for mass mobs.

having axe/warhorn, you can just dodge out of battle for a few seconds to let healing signet (and adrenal health if you have it) boost you up a bit before rampaging again. also, you free up your weapon switch for a ranged weapon (longbow massive aoe burning and damage or rifle for single foes). if you throw on your speedboost and switch to bow, you can use the burst and just have your foes run through the firefield, hurting them as you heal.

edit: you can also spam earthshaker on its cooldown with axe if you still choose hammer as your weapon switch

edit2: axe users are able to get hit less often because their main form of damage doesn’t make them immobile. and being able to whirlwind and roll is not really a big advantage, if at all, over singlerolling through the foes and hitting warhorn 4 and getting outa there.

you’re right there but there is no need to whirl out of battle if you have a shield or knock foes down.

I dunno man, when I have 48 red invaders loading on my screen, I’m pretty sure that a shield daze or knock down isn’t going to do squat compared to GS abilities for GTFO.