Guild Wars 2

What’s the absolute minimum amount of Toughness should Warriors have in WvW?

I was told 2600-2800 since warriors have a higher base health. That would put you at 30% dmg redux. Depends on build and play style too. I roll full zerker because I enjoy high risk for high reward game play.

If you really want to live purely through toughness, I’d aim for around 40% reduction, or around 1800 toughness. Semi mobile builds, you probably want around 1400 toughness or around 30% reduction. Pure damage evade, I think you can get away with 20% reduction or around 1100 toughness. Full zerker I wouldn’t recommend except for rifle builds with 912 base toughness. At least that’s my personal experience playing a warrior in wvw.

I feel my 20% damage reduction is enough.
More and you’ll sacrifice a lot of damage which is really really bad for pvp.

ArtemisEntreri.4138:

I was told 2600-2800 since warriors have a higher base health. That would put you at 30% dmg redux. Depends on build and play style too. I roll full zerker because I enjoy high risk for high reward game play.

Definitely depends on your play style. I personally enjoy standing on a flame ram in WvW under a massive pile of enemy aoe, or kiting around a particularly dangerous enemy in PvE, so I am a bit closer to 4k armor for 50% damage reduction, but if you’re looking for a good balance between dealing and taking damage Artemis got it right.

Only right answer: Depends entirely on your build.

Depends entirely on how you approach an engagement, and which engagements you approach at all… A build designed to bowl through enemy front lines and stay there needs much higher toughness than a build designed to stay away or play “hit and run”.

So, how much toughness is optimal? As much as you can without sacrificing your build.

As the others have said it really depends on your build. Just remember whatever amount of toughness you use should reflect your offensive capabilities. Do not stack toughness and then try to run around and play a healing tank. You are an offensive support and damage character.

Support your allies during zerg retreats saving their live or absorb some of that Aoe coming off the walls when you siege. Laugh and charge forward as enemies fire ballista bolts that bounce off your armor. Grant fury to your allies and be the first into the fray (though always be aware of your position) when you do a boon spike.

Also, assuming you have a way to keep your swiftness up, you work well is havock groups. Forgot what trait it was but you can passivly grant +70 power to yourself and allies.

Don’t worry about the people who say Zerker gear is the only way to go, that may be true in PvE and a bit more in PvP but WvW is a different game since there are intelligent enemies throwing so much damage your way.

TL;DR: Amount of toughness is up too you, but use it in an offensive capacity, not defensive.

P.S. Knight’s gear is a good starting point, and as you get ascended gear you can go more offensive with P/P/Crit damage or give yourself more survivability with P/T/V.

boondocksaint.6529:

TL;DR: Amount of toughness is up too you, but use it in an offensive capacity, not defensive.

There’s honestly nothing negative about using it in a defensive way, so long as you still have something to contribute besides standing in the way of enemy fire. Warrior’s have a fair amount of CC skills they can use, most of which require being right next to your enemy, and a tanky character with as much CC as possible can still help out a team without dealing a heavy amount of damage. It’s really about what play style is the best fit, and what build you can base off said play style.