Guild Wars 2

In the wake of a discussion about variations of PS builds and seeing how it generated the interest of the warrior community I’ve decided to release the PS build theorycrafted by yours truly.

PS build by [QQ]

Explanations and goals
This build is mainly a support build capable of capping out your entire group’s might stacks at about 90% of the time during constant DPS, although with the mindset to offer as much might production to the group as possible with retaining as much personal DPS as possible a few noteworthy selections were made.
Note that I do not endorse this as a competitive choice for the sole reason that you are unable to provide permanent fury to your group as an Elementalist with Persisting Flames would, this build’s practical application is largely tied with PUG’ing and can absolutely carry horrible groups.

FAQ
1. Why those sigils on greatsword instead of Battle and/or Strength?
A: The choices I made on the sigils, sigil of night or dungeon specific and sigil of force, carry the hopes of sacrificing as least DPS as possible. I felt confortable with the might production while using Greatsword without having to rely on a sigil of strength for the extra might stack at about every 1.6 seconds or sigil of battle on switch at every 9 seconds.

2. Why Axe/Mace on switch in a build without Fast Hands?
A: The Axe/Mace on switch were included to provide a basis for a Fast Hands variation that can be applied in situations that demand it. Trait-wise I recommend taking 1 point out of Arms and into Discipline and dropping Rending Strikes to get Fast Hands. In fact, this is a greatsword camping build as you deal the most damage and produce the most might while doing so and I would not recommend a Fast Hands variation unless absolutely necessary.

3. Are Strength Runes absolutely necessary?
A: If you want to optimize your impact on your group’s performance, yes. Strength Runes provide the best might duration in the game (that affects all might produced by you) with the least DPS loss, in most situations they prove better than Scholar Runes even in terms of DPS.

4. How much DPS does this build pump out with such support oriented traits?
A: I have not ran the numbers but I was getting around 35k Hundred Blades in Crucible of Eternity on the golem, therefore in sub-optimal circumstances. Then again, this is not a DPS build but a build one would use when playing in a horrible group that needs a lift, I use it quite often when playing PUG roulette.

5. Strength Runes are quite expensive, are there any alternatives?
A: There are 2 alternatives and each have their own drop-offs: Hoelbrak Runes will nearly give you the same might duration but you will lose considerable DPS and Scholar Runes will sharply reduce your might duration but give you better DPS depending on circumstances (when below 90% health Strength Runes pump out better DPS).

6. Why those choices of food?
A: Truffle Steak is the standard food choice for most PvE players in terms of efficiency vs cost and it happens to help this build reach 97% crit chance under the effects of Fury and Banner of Discipline. Sharpening stones are just put in the place of specific potions of slaying that I would recommend as an optimal choice.

7. Why use these utilities?
A: For Great Justice! produces 6 stacks of might on cast for your entire group and also some fury uptime and both are valuable DPS boosts. Banner of Discipline increases your group’s chance to critically hit (170 Precision is about 8% Crit Chance) and your group’s critical damage. Signet of Fury helps you optimize your own critical chance that is vital to helping you maintain your group’s might supply via Forceful Greatsword trait. Do I really need to explain the choice of Signet of Rage?

I hope this has proven useful for you and that most of your lingering questions have been answered if there’s anything further you’d like to know, just ask.

You’re welcome

I like the it. Although the runes are a hefty chunk of change, it does seem to make this work.

Thanks again!

lol, theorycraft? it literally took me 2 seconds of looking at the trait to figure out that build

Watch out, we got a bad kitten over here.

Looks familiar.

I can’t imagine what you’re talking about!

Not sure why you guys are being so condescending towards the OP, there is good info in here for people to absorb. One thing that I feel is being missed out on is the large amount of condi damage that you get from Might and Arms. Longbow has that consistent burning tied to it + another might field that applies burning and damage + bleed pressure. Ticking for 600-700 DPS adds up, and if you have a sigil of doom on the LB that’s even more damage on that target. I know the general consensus is omgcondidmg #getgood, but I just see it as going with the trait spreads inherent advantages.

(Disclaimer: two words were spell-checked on google during the typing of this response.)

Tree.3916:

Looks familiar.

I’m perfectly aware Nike had released a build with similar traits long ago though his final PS build was a Fast Hands variation that I don’t agree with, in truth the trait selection for this build is a no-brainer for most people who can read tooltips I never claimed it to be the next groundbreaking discovery within the warrior profession’s boundaries and it had been thought of and shared closely with friends since about April 17th as it was clear to me ever since I got a look at Phalanx Strength when it was released.
Releasing it simply because there have been people with questions about it and not everybody follows youtube channels also it appears PS builds have been buried in these forums with the passage of time.
Moreover, anyone who’s read recent discussions on the matter should know people’s greatest questions have been about sigil and rune selection and if Fast Hands would or would not be recommended which I have addressed.
My sincerest apologies for contributing to the knowledge pool

So I ran your build the other day (with the exception of the gear, am too poor right now to buy a set, and need more dungeon tokens) however I was able to stack ~20 stacks of might no problem, but I did notice a huge hit to my DPS (I’m currently still in valk gear) but so far I am LOVING it! look forward to running it with the beserker gear and seeing how that goes. Thanks!

First off screw all the negative nancys, this build has to be brought to every warriors attention.

I run PS a little different, but both ways work fine. I do 2 6 0 6 0, the 2 points in strength are mainly for reckless dodge, in your combat log its named momentous strike, and it can hit 5 targets up to 10k a piece, and it counts towards your might stacking, so it can give you up to 5 might if your rebuilding. And in tactics I been running lung capacity instead of empowered, bc since im already traited into tactics I should be the one using shouts, like on my mark and fgj, while the other warriors run banners.

Oh and these 18gold a piece strength runes? Not worth it at all, dont waste your money on them. Farm coe for charged cores or lodestones and make yourself some scholar runes.

Every single group should always have 1 warrior run this build, either my way or the OPs. When im running dungeons my group has perma 25 stacks of might. I myself use a superior sigil of strength and accuracy in my phalanx greatsword, and night and force in my pure zerk one.

GL HF and experiment guys, its great to be the sole reason a boss in the crown pavalion burns super fast, bc you have everyone around you with 25 might stacks…

10k reckless dodge sure

yes Tree, and its called momentous strike in the combat log. i have a screen shot of one from april 30th, its over 9000, literally lol, im putting it on photo bucket to share here…

http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j404/arocafella26/gw227.jpg

dont they have like 0 armour?

Something fishy going on in that screen shot. I do not believe any attack with a .6 coefficient is going to do 9k damage even at 25 might, 25 vuln, both banners and EA unless there is some other mechanic in play.

From a quick look at my recordings I have a 7,637 damage reckless dodge against magecrusher with 24 stacks of might, 3 vuln, and 6 bleeds (attack of opportunity), banner of discipline, 100+ power/70+ prec food, slaying potion and the old 30/25 build.

So on a low armour target with max buffs I’m pretty sure it’s possible.

That was 30/25 though, phalanx builds are lacking like … 25% in damage modifiers so it seems a little more sketchy there.

Concerning the Momentous Stike skill that actives with Reckless dodge. The only thing I can find on it was This. I don’t know how accurate it is, or even it it applies. But it is very interesting nonetheless. I’m going to have to look into it more.

My favourite thing about PS is definitely that you do not require fire fields to provide a lot of might.

I usually ran 0/6/0/6/2, but I tried 0/5/0/6/3 last night and I like it a bit more. It adds a level of flexibility to the build that I felt was lacking just camping GS.

The problem with Phalanx is it locks you into X/4/X/6/X – leaving only 4 points left to divvy up. The extra 1 in Arms is almost necessary for the 10% modifier, leaving you with 3 points in one of 3 lines – Strength (where the best traits are in 4 and 6), Defense (Dogged March and Adrenal Health), and Discipline (Signet Mastery / Warrior’s Sprint and Fast Hands).

Oh my SS with 9+k was when i was running full zerker sorry for confusion, but 10k is absolutely attainable. I think what i was trying to say is PS helps a zerker warrior hit 10k dodges easily. and i have kitten hitting Eye of Zhaitan for 7,331.

Also Tree the only mechanic used is that i look at my might and buffs, and purposely dodge into a group while my skills are on CD, works best with 3+ mobs bc it also gives might.

aceboogie.4031:

Also Tree the only mechanic used is that i look at my might and buffs, and purposely dodge into a group while my skills are on CD, works best with 3+ mobs bc it also gives might.

What you don’t understand, then, is that the dodge has a .6 coefficient and the warrior gs auto attack is a .7. So if you were buffed enough to get a 9k dodge you could have just gotten a 10k auto. That’s a dps loss.

lol @ warrior support build without banners.

So it seems my point was not clear, im not saying i purposely dodge into my target for the skill itself, im saying its a good way to boost damage output by simply doing what i was going to do anyway… Dodge! plus even if i were to use it to hit 10k, and you say the GS auto hits harder… The dodge skill hits more targets ⁵ so i can dodge quick into them avoiding damage taken while doing some good dps to them as well as giving might to my team. im not sure if i can make this seem any more simpler?

@ Guanglai Kangyi how often do you run groups with at least 2 warriors? me? i always have a second warrior at least, so we always have banners. We are selfless players!

SO I ran this build last night, casual run, nothing fancy, with a Mesmer in the group. Started stacking the might like pancakes. BAM 25 stacks and a decent sustain on it. Party was stoked. Mesmer is like…“ooo dat might! I think I’ll stack too!!” So I had mesmer stacking might as well. Well we were able to keep 25 stacks almost constistantly which was cool. But I’m wondering if 2 might stackers would be needed. It would seem if one is stacking might, and can keep a high count, the other would be better off going DPS to take advantage of it.

I never have a second warrior in my groups.

We are baddies ,though.

I usually run pugs with multiple warriors and never see banners being dropped.

Hell if you’ve actually got another warrior dropping the other banner, then take Tactics or something for the extra might/fury duration. I don’t really see how Signet of Fury or Rage helps anyone.

Do not need extra might duration, a half way decent warrior will keep the 25 might stacks up permanently and that’s without them over expensive garbage strength runes AND thats without any other might generated by the other party members. If you don’t see how the signet of fury and rage helps a phalanx warrior help his/her party, that must be a troll or you just don’t know how a phalanx warrior works ^.^ sometimes you can swap out signet of fury if you have a spotter ranger with you for signet of might, or if requested sure i would drop tactics banner but making sure my critical hit chance is maxed is my first priority.

And to the pugs that don’t drop banners, just ask or link which banner your running at the beginning before you start, wake them pugs up and don’t let them get lazy and have to be carried early on.

I can see that strength runes wouldn’t be needed for might duration, but for adding to your DPS. but I suppose any runes that provides strength would be beneficial for that end. I still havent got my zerk gear (still using valk) and am using eagle runes, and have no issues with keeping 25 stacks of might with banner of discipline.

Mesmers stacking might. i’ve seen all.

Sure you can run this build and maintain 25 might stacks on yourself with whatever bargain basement runeset you like. Or you can realize the only reason a person would run this build is to stack might on other people and understand that you cannot get 25 Might on the rest of your party without good runes.

Seriously sometimes I wonder about this community, they will spend 100’s of gold on hair kits and gem store armor but they wont spend 100g to equip their characters with best in slot gear.

Tree.3916:

Sure you can run this build and maintain 25 might stacks on yourself with whatever bargain basement runeset you like. Or you can realize the only reason a person would run this build is to stack might on other people and understand that you cannot get 25 Might on the rest of your party without good runes.

Seriously sometimes I wonder about this community, they will spend 100’s of gold on hair kits and gem store armor but they wont spend 100g to equip their characters with best in slot gear.

ummm I don’t know what you are refering to, but the stacks of 25 might were on the whole party. FGJ actually gives the party 6 stacks, and you only 3, and if you were able to get 25 stacks of might on yourself, than your party has 25 stacks of might as well. Because every time you gain might, your party gains might.

Also I don’t spend gold on the gem store fashion items. I find them stupid.

Miku Lawrence.6329:

Mesmers stacking might. i’ve seen all.

My mistake, it was a elementalist.

pdavis.8031:

Tree.3916:

Sure you can run this build and maintain 25 might stacks on yourself with whatever bargain basement runeset you like. Or you can realize the only reason a person would run this build is to stack might on other people and understand that you cannot get 25 Might on the rest of your party without good runes.

Seriously sometimes I wonder about this community, they will spend 100’s of gold on hair kits and gem store armor but they wont spend 100g to equip their characters with best in slot gear.

ummm I don’t know what you are refering to, but the stacks of 25 might were on the whole party. FGJ actually gives the party 6 stacks, and you only 3, and if you were able to get 25 stacks of might on yourself, than your party has 25 stacks of might as well. Because every time you gain might, your party gains might.

Also I don’t spend gold on the gem store fashion items. I find them stupid.

Then they weren’t all from you. With Strength runes you can do around 20-25. Without you are looking at 11-15. How much DPS is 350 Power? About 9%. Your call.

Tree.3916:

pdavis.8031:

Tree.3916:

Sure you can run this build and maintain 25 might stacks on yourself with whatever bargain basement runeset you like. Or you can realize the only reason a person would run this build is to stack might on other people and understand that you cannot get 25 Might on the rest of your party without good runes.

Seriously sometimes I wonder about this community, they will spend 100’s of gold on hair kits and gem store armor but they wont spend 100g to equip their characters with best in slot gear.

ummm I don’t know what you are refering to, but the stacks of 25 might were on the whole party. FGJ actually gives the party 6 stacks, and you only 3, and if you were able to get 25 stacks of might on yourself, than your party has 25 stacks of might as well. Because every time you gain might, your party gains might.

Also I don’t spend gold on the gem store fashion items. I find them stupid.

Then they weren’t all from you. With Strength runes you can do around 20-25. Without you are looking at 11-15. How much DPS is 350 Power? About 9%. Your call.

That doesn’t even make sense. Strength runes don’t even provide a method for gaining might. It does increase the might duration yes, but with enough precision and might procs with GS, you’re continually adding might so the might duration, although helpful, isn’t really required. Throw in FGJ, and SoR your adding 11 might for 30 secs just by those. Now every crit with forceful greatsword adds might. With a crit chance of say 60%, your still adding might at a good pace, enough to hit 25 stacks and keep it there.

Edit: Correction. I forgot about the 25% chance to add might when hit. Even so, I feel that taking a hit for a 1 in 4 chance of gaining might is negligable.

If I give you 1 dollar every second, but then I take the first dollar away from you at the 10 second mark, and then continue to give one and remove one each second, you will be able to permanently have 10 dollars.

If I don’t take the first dollar away from you until 15 seconds because I gave you a bigger wallet, you will be able to permanently have 15 dollars.

change the word ‘dollar’ to ‘stacks of might’ and change the words ‘bigger wallet’ to ‘45% Might Duration’ and you should understand the concept.

Warlords_alt_account.txt

@tree

I understand the concept. Im not entirely stupid :P
I guess ill have to test it out again to be sure, although im fairly certain I was supplying 25 stacks of might

Ok test results are in. Of course it was with the dps dummy in the mists so there is a bit of total damage output difference, but for stacking might with valk gear and eagle runes, I was able to give and maintain 18 stacks of might with spikes up to 20. With valk gear/strength runes, 21, with spikes up to 23. With zerk/strength 23 with frequent peak a to 25.

So it would appear that yes someone else was supplying might as well. However my guildie, with whom I tested this, brought up the point that in a group incidental might would be added to the group. Another wartior with FGJ, a guardian doing what guardians do, etc.

He also brought up that knights might be better than zerk. Because if you are supplying might to your party it would be better to be a bit more “tanky”. I would have to agree on that point. If tou are too glassy, you arent supplying might if you are downed pr jave to dodge more often. I’ll have to look into that though.

pdavis.8031:

Ok test results are in. Of course it was with the dps dummy in the mists so there is a bit of total damage output difference, but for stacking might with valk gear and eagle runes, I was able to give and maintain 18 stacks of might with spikes up to 20. With valk gear/strength runes, 21, with spikes up to 23. With zerk/strength 23 with frequent peak a to 25.

So it would appear that yes someone else was supplying might as well. However my guildie, with whom I tested this, brought up the point that in a group incidental might would be added to the group. Another wartior with FGJ, a guardian doing what guardians do, etc.

He also brought up that knights might be better than zerk. Because if you are supplying might to your party it would be better to be a bit more “tanky”. I would have to agree on that point. If tou are too glassy, you arent supplying might if you are downed pr jave to dodge more often. I’ll have to look into that though.

You’ll also get a lot more aggro and attention from mobs, potentially leading to more downs.

Well if someone’s gotta go down, it might as well be the warrior in knights/valk doing no damage.

Guanglai Kangyi.4318:

Well if someone’s gotta go down, it might as well be the warrior in knights/valk doing no damage.

right, because hitting 11k is no damage…

So Strength runes got a bit of a nerf. The on proc might was changd from 10s to 5s. I wonder if that will effect Phalanx Strength? I’m guessing not much, as you’ll still have the duration.

The on hit proc might has nothing to do with why people use strength runes at all. Can you please take the time to learn before you speculate on things or make pronouncements?

Tree.3916:

The on hit proc might has nothing to do with why people use strength runes at all. Can you please take the time to learn before you speculate on things or make pronouncements?

While it may not be used by the general population for the on proc might, but rather the power and the might duration, I still take it into account when discussing a might stacking build. And if its just for the power and might duration, why not hoelbrak, or fire? Its not uniformed speculation, just because YOU don’t feel that the on might proc has anything to do with it, doesn’t mean it’s not a valid concern.

pdavis.8031:

Tree.3916:

The on hit proc might has nothing to do with why people use strength runes at all. Can you please take the time to learn before you speculate on things or make pronouncements?

While it may not be used by the general population for the on proc might, but rather the power and the might duration, I still take it into account when discussing a might stacking build. And if its just for the power and might duration, why not hoelbrak, or fire? Its not uniformed speculation, just because YOU don’t feel that the on might proc has anything to do with it, doesn’t mean it’s not a valid concern.

Because it’s a combination of hoelbrak runes and flame legion: you get the +power, +damage%, and the might duration bonuses. This is why strength runes are useful. This is where the might is coming from. If you’re good, you’re not going to be getting hit anyway, so it’s really no loss.

pdavis.8031:

Tree.3916:

The on hit proc might has nothing to do with why people use strength runes at all. Can you please take the time to learn before you speculate on things or make pronouncements?

While it may not be used by the general population for the on proc might, but rather the power and the might duration, I still take it into account when discussing a might stacking build. And if its just for the power and might duration, why not hoelbrak, or fire? Its not uniformed speculation, just because YOU don’t feel that the on might proc has anything to do with it, doesn’t mean it’s not a valid concern.

No, it’s not a valid concern. Again, you are still learning the game, you only have a faint understanding of what is good and why its good, yet you keep making silly statements about what is and isn’t. I understand we all started somewhere so I cut you slack as a newbie but you need to understand that you come off the way a teenager discussing politics comes off, which is to say, eye-rollingly uninformed. But even then, a person who is eager to learn can be afford a lot of slack, the problem is you combine not understanding at all with the nerve to tell people who DO understand things that they are wrong.

So go back to my advice: listen and learn first and then speak.

pdavis.8031:

Guanglai Kangyi.4318:

Well if someone’s gotta go down, it might as well be the warrior in knights/valk doing no damage.

right, because hitting 11k is no damage…

11k on what? HB? Because that is kitten ed bad.

pdavis.8031:

Guanglai Kangyi.4318:

Well if someone’s gotta go down, it might as well be the warrior in knights/valk doing no damage.

right, because hitting 11k is no damage…

You being dead on the floor and me soloing phase 3 of Lupicus was no damage.

Tree.3916:

pdavis.8031:

Tree.3916:

The on hit proc might has nothing to do with why people use strength runes at all. Can you please take the time to learn before you speculate on things or make pronouncements?

While it may not be used by the general population for the on proc might, but rather the power and the might duration, I still take it into account when discussing a might stacking build. And if its just for the power and might duration, why not hoelbrak, or fire? Its not uniformed speculation, just because YOU don’t feel that the on might proc has anything to do with it, doesn’t mean it’s not a valid concern.

No, it’s not a valid concern. Again, you are still learning the game, you only have a faint understanding of what is good and why its good, yet you keep making silly statements about what is and isn’t. I understand we all started somewhere so I cut you slack as a newbie but you need to understand that you come off the way a teenager discussing politics comes off, which is to say, eye-rollingly uninformed. But even then, a person who is eager to learn can be afford a lot of slack, the problem is you combine not understanding at all with the nerve to tell people who DO understand things that they are wrong.

So go back to my advice: listen and learn first and then speak.

Never once did I say you were wrong. Or anyone was wrong. In fact I corrected myself when I was wrong. Just because you disagree with my approach to things, doesn’t make me “Noob teenage who doesn’t know what I’m talking about”. I disagree with the meta. I disagree with being put into a box and expected to play a certain way, because “it’s the most effective” and “you’re a noob because you don’t do it this way.”

When considering this might stacking build, I fully understand WHY strength runes are the best for it. And in doing the research as to WHY they are the best for this build I do take into account the might proc. Because adding might and stacking it is the main purpose of this build. If you are going for more personal DPS, then yes strength runes and beserker gear ARE THE BEST. Period. However I have no desire to run a pure DPS build. And the simply isn’t a good enough reason for me to do that. “Because you do more damage…because you are not contributing to a party in a dungeon…because you are not playing to your full potential…because you’re not actually doing anything, it’s all in your mind…because you suck” These are actually reasons for me to turn away from the meta. Because who are you to tell me what I should run and how to play? Just because I don’t do things YOUR way doesn’t mean I’m wrong. I am a good enough player not to have a party carry me and I can hold my own. So you can take your “I’m better than you and you don’t know what you’re talking about” attitude and go somewhere else.

Also just because the on proc might isn’t a valid concern for YOU doesn’t mean that it isn’t one for me.

maha.7902:

pdavis.8031:

Guanglai Kangyi.4318:

Well if someone’s gotta go down, it might as well be the warrior in knights/valk doing no damage.

right, because hitting 11k is no damage…

You being dead on the floor and me soloing phase 3 of Lupicus was no damage.

and the same would apply to anyone in any gear…

also was that you in that Arah P2 run the other day?

yes