Guild Wars 2

Just qurious, since I was tired of running a GS/Hammer warrior, I thought I would try S/S with rabid gear.

But would that make me useless compare to GS full zerker (knight) build? Specially in speed runs.

Your GS/ hammer knights build us useless as well

yes, run axe/mace gs full zerk (not knight) to not be useless

Those builds aren’t useless, but they aren’t trending toward optimal either. Currently, most people will say full zerker gear and (whatever class weapons happen to mix best). You can run something else, but you very likely won’t be putting up comparable dps.

That being said, I sometimes happen to run odd pvp or wvw builds during dungeon runs and it goes just as smoothly as if I were running one of my zerker builds. Your personal skill as a player can make up for some of the disparity between builds (not by necessarily improving dps, but by minimizing the presence of problems).

For improving dps, stack power first, and then stack a combination of precision and critical damage. Equal crit chance to critical damage (since they’re both percentages) is a decent baseline, but there are other ways to optimize if you’re curious. After that, trait for as much +damage modifiers as you can. The best dungeon builds offer the most damage while maintaining as much support as they can. For a warrior, that’ll be banners (even untraited. And since that comes out of your utilities, you can trait for more damage).

There’s basically two answers here:

1) Run meta if you want to play properly.
2) If you don’t run meta, just run whatever because “bad” and “slightly less bad” aren’t really that different in the long run.

Sword isn’t useful in PvE for any purpose other than offhand for blocks and ONLY mainhand for mobility. The only time I use sword mainhand is when I want to savage leap past things. You don’t use it for combat. It’s horrible in comparison to axe mainhand.

Al-rightly, thanks guys, I guess I will quit using Sword in PvE.

Not saying using sword in dungeons is good in any way shape or form, but my gripe with people running full berserker is that alot of noobs go on to the forum, see everybody on the forum swear by full berserker gs/axe+mace build like it is the holy grail of everything.

Then they go into a dungeon and die like 10-15 times. Half the time they aren’t even DPSing and are using bladetrail because every time they go into melee they get melted. So in actuality, how much DPS are you REALLY doing? You are also cutting other people’s DPS in half by making them have to pick you off the floor every time. That makes you a liability if I am not mistaken.

I’d much rather take a person with Valk or Knight gear or Cavalier, that doesn’t die and hinder the team, then somebody in full berserker that dies all the time. Cuz chances are the person who deals less damage is dealing more damage in two ways. One he is alive to do DPS, two, he doesn’t cut into other people’s DPS by going down all the time.

Full berserker in PUGs isn’t always optimal for many reasons. A big one is class composition. If you don’t have an ele or a guardian in your party, you may have a tough time with sustainability and condi removal. Also you don’t have the handy guardian reflect which is a very useful utility. Sometimes it might be a smarter idea if you have something like 3 warriors, 2 rangers, that one of the warriors goes more supporty so your group actually doesn’t wipe. Another reason is that some class compositions just have really bad synergy, compounded with the fact that some people may not be so great or run utilities useful to you and the party. Another reason is, ironically, is that you can bet that at least two people in your party aren’t running full berserker. That means things tend not to die as fast which means you have to tank things longer, which full berserker builds are not meant to do and you end up dieing. Sometimes a ranged weapon might be useful in those situations so you are actually doing DPS and not dieing.

Obviously if you are running with guildies or people you know, full berserker is the most optimal because most likely you guys have developed great synergy and chemistry, are all running useful utilities, things are dieing really fast and are running really good class compositions and know what you are doing.

PUGs are often missing most if not all of these elements, which is often why I cringe sometimes when people die all the time in PvE, wipe but as long as your full berserker you are not a noob, it’s K cuz he runs full zerker, nevermind that he is dragging the party down and making the dungeon take twice as long.

However, using a sword over a weapon like GS just doesn’t really make sense at all.

My two cents.

killahmayne.9518:

Not saying using sword in dungeons is good in any way shape or form, but my gripe with people running full berserker is that alot of noobs go on to the forum, see everybody on the forum swear by full berserker gs/axe+mace build like it is the holy grail of everything.

Then they go into a dungeon and die like 10-15 times. Half the time they aren’t even DPSing and are using bladetrail because every time they go into melee they get melted. So in actuality, how much DPS are you REALLY doing? You are also cutting other people’s DPS in half by making them have to pick you off the floor every time. That makes you a liability if I am not mistaken.

I’d much rather take a person with Valk or Knight gear or Cavalier, that doesn’t die and hinder the team, then somebody in full berserker that dies all the time. Cuz chances are the person who deals less damage is dealing more damage in two ways. One he is alive to do DPS, two, he doesn’t cut into other people’s DPS by going down all the time.

Full berserker in PUGs isn’t always optimal for many reasons. A big one is class composition. If you don’t have an ele or a guardian in your party, you may have a tough time with sustainability and condi removal. Also you don’t have the handy guardian reflect which is a very useful utility. Sometimes it might be a smarter idea if you have something like 3 warriors, 2 rangers, that one of the warriors goes more supporty so your group actually doesn’t wipe. Another reason is that some class compositions just have really bad synergy, compounded with the fact that some people may not be so great or run utilities useful to you and the party. Another reason is, ironically, is that you can bet that at least two people in your party aren’t running full berserker. That means things tend not to die as fast which means you have to tank things longer, which full berserker builds are not meant to do and you end up dieing. Sometimes a ranged weapon might be useful in those situations so you are actually doing DPS and not dieing.

Obviously if you are running with guildies or people you know, full berserker is the most optimal because most likely you guys have developed great synergy and chemistry, are all running useful utilities, things are dieing really fast and are running really good class compositions and know what you are doing.

PUGs are often missing most if not all of these elements, which is often why I cringe sometimes when people die all the time in PvE, wipe but as long as your full berserker you are not a noob, it’s K cuz he runs full zerker, nevermind that he is dragging the party down and making the dungeon take twice as long.

However, using a sword over a weapon like GS just doesn’t really make sense at all.

My two cents.

well, THERE ARE players out there who play full DPS without getting killed, though its just the minority. However, u should never quit full zerker when u r dying too often, instead, u learn how to play it.

killahmayne.9518:

I’d much rather take a person with Valk or Knight gear or Cavalier, that doesn’t die and hinder the team, then somebody in full berserker that dies all the time.

I would rather just not have the slot filled with anyone at that point. I don’t want either of those lmao :P

Purple Miku.7032:

killahmayne.9518:

I’d much rather take a person with Valk or Knight gear or Cavalier, that doesn’t die and hinder the team, then somebody in full berserker that dies all the time.

I would rather just not have the slot filled with anyone at that point. I don’t want either of those lmao :P

ok have fun with 4 ppl then

If there are no other condition damage dealers in your party than a Dual Sword Condi warrior isn’t bad at all but no so-called elitist group is going to want you in their party.

I run a condition build and do amazing in pve (Love my 25 stacks of bleed and amazing survivalbility). Sadly most won’t run with me lol. I love my build and I am patient so I will usually just wait until I finally find some players who won’t complain about my build :P

I sometimes run S/S in dungeons and it works out well enough. PVE mobs aren’t smart enough to strip conditions, so the bleeds really stack up. Add to that the Deep Strikes trait (bleeds last 50% longer) and it really shines. The shield is great for skips and interrupts and also offers passive protection; even more if traited.

What’s great about warrior is there are many choices, but S/S works well IMO for PVE. In WVW or PVP I would switch to axe/shield since players are smart enough to wipe conditions, thus the bleeds won’t stack up well.

Mazdan.2071:

I sometimes run S/S in dungeons and it works out well enough. PVE mobs aren’t smart enough to strip conditions, so the bleeds really stack up. Add to that the Deep Strikes trait (bleeds last 50% longer) and it really shines. The shield is great for skips and interrupts and also offers passive protection; even more if traited.

What’s great about warrior is there are many choices, but S/S works well IMO for PVE. In WVW or PVP I would switch to axe/shield since players are smart enough to wipe conditions, thus the bleeds won’t stack up well.

Even with all of what you said in the first paragraph, axe mainhand is still significantly better. Sword mainhand may be capable of getting the job done but it’s still very inferior by comparison to axe mainhand. As for what you said about sword offhand blocks being great for skips, you’re right and it’s even more wonderful when you’re able to remain OOC whilst running past things.

S/S Bow Warrior still good for Dungeons. People like the easy “okay he hits hard” and see that burst right away. Condi I think is equal vs boss, and mobs are never really a problem, and if it is a tuff mob condi down not bad. I think it is just fine but you will be using your bow a lot more than you want to prob. With sword sword you get two counters so it gives you a little more durability and honestly if people question it just tell them to see for themselves.

Even with all of what you said in the first paragraph, axe mainhand is still significantly better.

It is, but using a sword MH shouldn’t hurt the group. In PVE sword damage is improved due the fact that most mobs wont clear condis, and the #3 skill is very landable, unlike in pvp. The #3 skill makes up a lot of damage if used correctly. This along with some investment in the Arms line (bleeds last 50% longer, blademaster trait, etc) and the sword is not as inferior as some suggest.

As long as you drop a banner to help your group and do your best to stay upright you should be fine. I ran Sword MH for a long time and never got kicked. Just carry a banner in your skill bar.

I will add a disclaimer that the best Warrior I ever found who posted about builds (no single build almost everything depending on fight) said that sword is only used for jumping around avoiding or passing mobs and mainhand axe will always be better under current state of weapons . Shield is pretty much same thing too, which is annoying to all the people that just love the look of Sword Shield.

S/S still works great if you know how to burst your conditions and you aren’t capping out (over 25) stacks of bleed with other party members. It is actually very tanky, if used correctly with nice control over bosses that move and can be immob’ed.

A trick to that is get behind them before they turn and immob and they will not attack you with regular attacks because they are facing the other way.

Sword MH also allows you to jump around, as other said, but you can also get back into the fight faster to continue DPS. Sword 5 what you can block though and continuing to stack your bleeds.

I’ve ran a build like this a while back and it’s fun to watch monsters and bosses melt. The good thing about warriors are you can still go full zerker and still do nice damage (sword 3: final thrust) with S/S. Tip: Use quickness procs.

-Blitzpaw

Sigh.

I feel bad because I know you really like what you’re using, but at the same time I also feel bad because you and anyone else repeating similar statements about sword mainhand’s damage haven’t been exposed to what really is the best :/

Look, in the end you can do as you please. I just want to make sure you’re aware of how profound of a difference it makes to trait and gear yourself up in full berserker w/ proper nourishment with fury, 20+ stacks of might, BoD, and axe mainhand as opposed to traiting yourself to increase bleed duration and use sword mainhand with the same might/fury/banners etc. Axe autoattack, believe it or not, is actually THE FASTEST possible DPS that a warrior is capable of dishing out provided they’re at 25 stacks of might & bloodlust and have fury + the proper traits and gear. There is nothing that surpasses it at our disposal, period. Axe autoattack chain is just that good.

However, Greatsword will certainly be better DPS over time provided the enemy is either against a wall or an object (or alternatively, a large enough hitbox) so that whirlwind is able to hit more than once. Also, the might acquired from Forceful Greatsword becomes more and more necessary depending on the team composition. If you have an ele that’s capable of sustaining your might, axe autoattack chain deals the most damage. If you’re solo or with noobs, greatsword is your best friend.

Once again I don’t mean to insult you or anything… but sword pales in comparison to the damage that you’d be able to hit with axe mainhand/greatsword. Sorry, but it’s the plain truth

Purple Miku.7032:

Sigh.

I feel bad because I know you really like what you’re using, but at the same time I also feel bad because you and anyone else repeating similar statements about sword mainhand’s damage haven’t been exposed to what really is the best :/

Look, in the end you can do as you please. I just want to make sure you’re aware of how profound of a difference it makes to trait and gear yourself up in full berserker w/ proper nourishment with fury, 20+ stacks of might, BoD, and axe mainhand as opposed to traiting yourself to increase bleed duration and use sword mainhand with the same might/fury/banners etc. Axe autoattack, believe it or not, is actually THE FASTEST possible DPS that a warrior is capable of dishing out provided they’re at 25 stacks of might & bloodlust and have fury + the proper traits and gear. There is nothing that surpasses it at our disposal, period. Axe autoattack chain is just that good.

However, Greatsword will certainly be better DPS over time provided the enemy is either against a wall or an object (or alternatively, a large enough hitbox) so that whirlwind is able to hit more than once. Also, the might acquired from Forceful Greatsword becomes more and more necessary depending on the team composition. If you have an ele that’s capable of sustaining your might, axe autoattack chain deals the most damage. If you’re solo or with noobs, greatsword is your best friend.

Once again I don’t mean to insult you or anything… but sword pales in comparison to the damage that you’d be able to hit with axe mainhand/greatsword. Sorry, but it’s the plain truth

We all know that the Axe-X/GS meta build will deal the most DPS, no doubt about that but don’t you get tired of always playing the same build? I for one get pretty sick of meta builds and often prefer to step outside the beaten path. While a well built SS/LB can’t out DPS the meta Axe build it doesn’t mean that it isn’t good or effective.

Many of us don’t give a kitten anymore (some never did) about speed clears and doing max DPS all the effin time. You can only speed clear the same dungeons over and over again until the entire experience becomes stale. Exploring the same content with new builds is a great way to bring the fun back into an old instance.

First of all Julie… I’m absolutely certain that your claim in the first sentence isn’t true. You may understand but there’s unfortunately a lot of players in complete oblivion to the truth.

I understand that you wish for there to be more build diversity, but if you have no reason behind changing something other than for the pure sake of change, is it necessarily the best way to approach this desire?

The fundamental problem lies within the design of the game itself and without drastic change to mob AI, variety within instances, class balancing with team synergy and unique specialties, and stuctural changes implemented to dungeons there isn’t any reason for somebody to want to have anything to do with somebody equipped in a way that’s flat out awful by comparison.

“While a well built SS/LB can’t out DPS the meta Axe build it doesn’t mean that it isn’t good or effective.”

It is awful by comparison.

Something to take into account here that’s very important is that most people aren’t like me and solo dungeons all the time; most people do them in groups.

Though it’s not entirely the case, it’s selfish and pretty rude in a way to know that you’re intentionally hindering your potential just because you like to change things up, which directly affects the outcome of the dungeon for the rest of the party.

Sure, it depends completely on what specifically we’re talking about here— let’s use this S/S + LB build as an example. This is so blatantly inferior to a warrior using Nike’s GS / Axe build meta that by comparison it’s almost as if the person here isn’t even there. In fact, the idea of them splitting mobs apart by stepping back to range could very well make things even worse than if they weren’t there to begin with.

Furthermore, what if I were to maintain my very same build but join your instance without using armor?

The logic I’d use is that I’m aware of the fact that I’ll have less tankiness than before and hit less damage, but I’m seeking for something new and more interesting. Though I can’t absorb quite as much damage as before and hit as much as I could with armor, I still am able to perform at the same pace as the rest of the team due to proper utilization of my dodges, blocks and utilities to mitigate damage.

Even though the scenarios aren’t the same, it produces the same feeling upon the rest of the party; everyone feels a sensation of my presence a burden and slightly irritated at the idea of me replacing somebody who would be a more trustworthy and reliable candidate as a teammate.

Now as for me personally, no I don’t get sick of running my build. I knew coming into this game that I wanted to play to kick _, to be as good as I can be; constantly improving and seeking new challenges to overcome and perhaps to even go for record attempts.

Efficiency and personal records aren’t always what I want to do, but I still find it very thrilling to achieve the arbitrary goals that I set for myself.

One could argue that I could seek to challenge myself by completing solo runs in inefficient build setups. Yet at the same time, is this the same kind of challenge here?

In a full DPS setup, completing a boss fight that was intended to be done with 5 takes skill and proper knowledge of the mechanics and my class to do whereas repeating the same thing in a less efficient build is just senselessly hindering my potential, as it’s not actually changing the difficulty of the engagement but it’s making it arduous and more time-consuming.

I understand that this isn’t the playstyle that suits everyone and I do agree with you that repeating the same instance over and over again results in the experience becoming stale. I do not, however, agree with you on the notion of intentionally making the experience take longer for no other purpose other than for the sake of change.

If I’m going to do something like that, I need a tangible reason.

Julie Yann.5379:

We all know that the Axe-X/GS meta build will deal the most DPS

Wrong, actually. A pure-axe, 30/25/0/10/5 build deals the most DPS in a group setting where other people deal with the Might stacks so you don’t need to worry about Forceful GS.

Hey,

condi war S/S in dungeon is average despite the gameplay being original and interesting. You don’t do as much damage as a full berserker gear (still with S/S).

Before I left GW2 because you can’t change weapon skills (you know Guild Wars 1 build-style), I used S/S – Rifle with Berserker gear and traits focused on damage/crit.
You can do a lot of damage, high crit chances/damage, making auto-attacks crit for 1.800-2.500, final thrust around 10.000-20.000, and impale+rip around 1.500+6.000-8.000, if it wasn’t for the looooong cds it could have been a decent DPS spec, but the problem is that Axe auto-attack does crazy amount of damage and one single hundred blades with a LOWER cooldown is far more effective in terms of damage.

In dungeons though, it can be alright if you got the right teammates… heck even random ones can do the trick. But it’s really annoying when you know you can do way more but with weapons you don’t like.

Here’s an old screen with combat log :

http://dec.imghost.us/wtKM.jpg

Purple Miku.7032:

I understand that you wish for there to be more build diversity, but if you have no reason behind changing something other than for the pure sake of change, is it necessarily the best way to approach this desire?

The game doesn’t change, the only way to change the experience is to change the way you play it.

The fundamental problem lies within the design of the game itself and without drastic change to mob AI, variety within instances, class balancing with team synergy and unique specialties, and stuctural changes implemented to dungeons there isn’t any reason for somebody to want to have anything to do with somebody equipped in a way that’s flat out awful by comparison.

unless you party with friends, people who feel the same way and enjoy doing content with drastically different party compositions.

“While a well built SS/LB can’t out DPS the meta Axe build it doesn’t mean that it isn’t good or effective.”

It is awful by comparison. *not if you are the only condition dealer in the party, while not quite as strong and definitely not as bursty, the level of sustained DPS is actually really good if you are using a 30-30-x-x-x build (after all, it is PvE why waste points on defensive stats). It just takes a little time to ramp up your conditions. *

Something to take into account here that’s very important is that most people aren’t like me and solo dungeons all the time; most people do them in groups.

Though it’s not entirely the case, it’s selfish and pretty rude in a way to know that you’re intentionally hindering your potential just because you like to change things up, which directly affects the outcome of the dungeon for the rest of the party.

like I said before, not unless you party with friends and like minded people. I always approve it with the party first. If it’s a party I am making then I just warn people who join that this party don’t give a crap about the meta. They can make the choice to stay or not.

Sure, it depends completely on what specifically we’re talking about here— let’s use this S/S + LB build as an example. This is so blatantly inferior to a warrior using Nike’s GS / Axe build meta that by comparison it’s almost as if the person here isn’t even there. In fact, the idea of them splitting mobs apart by stepping back to range could very well make things even worse than if they weren’t there to begin with.

Who said anything about going to range, I hardly ever range. Even though I play SS/LB I still stack when it is time to stack, it makes blasting my own fire fields that much for efficient.

………………………………………

To reply to the second half on the wall of text. I also like to run max DPS and kill things fast but I also enjoy taking a weapon set that is considered bad and making it into something that is actually pretty good. Just like I did to the old MF gear that everyone hated so much, the difference in DPS wasn’t as big as people made it out to be cause most of the time I played better than the pro scrubs in “ping zerker gear plz” and maintained a more constant DPS than they did. All I am looking for is a smooth run, no wipes, and fun fights. That’s all i owe my party, whether that run takes 10 mins or 15 mins (5-8min for CoF1) is mostly irrelevant as long as it went smoothly and everyone had fun

Flissy.4093:

Julie Yann.5379:

We all know that the Axe-X/GS meta build will deal the most DPS

Wrong, actually. A pure-axe, 30/25/0/10/5 build deals the most DPS in a group setting where other people deal with the Might stacks so you don’t need to worry about Forceful GS.

That is the Axe-X/GS meta build. If GS was the primary DPS weapon I would have called it the GS/Axe-X build.

Julie Yann.5379:

Purple Miku.7032:

I understand that you wish for there to be more build diversity, but if you have no reason behind changing something other than for the pure sake of change, is it necessarily the best way to approach this desire?

The game doesn’t change, the only way to change the experience is to change the way you play it.

The fundamental problem lies within the design of the game itself and without drastic change to mob AI, variety within instances, class balancing with team synergy and unique specialties, and stuctural changes implemented to dungeons there isn’t any reason for somebody to want to have anything to do with somebody equipped in a way that’s flat out awful by comparison.

unless you party with friends, people who feel the same way and enjoy doing content with drastically different party compositions.

“While a well built SS/LB can’t out DPS the meta Axe build it doesn’t mean that it isn’t good or effective.”

It is awful by comparison. *not if you are the only condition dealer in the party, while not quite as strong and definitely not as bursty, the level of sustained DPS is actually really good if you are using a 30-30-x-x-x build (after all, it is PvE why waste points on defensive stats). It just takes a little time to ramp up your conditions. *

Something to take into account here that’s very important is that most people aren’t like me and solo dungeons all the time; most people do them in groups.

Though it’s not entirely the case, it’s selfish and pretty rude in a way to know that you’re intentionally hindering your potential just because you like to change things up, which directly affects the outcome of the dungeon for the rest of the party.

like I said before, not unless you party with friends and like minded people. I always approve it with the party first. If it’s a party I am making then I just warn people who join that this party don’t give a crap about the meta. They can make the choice to stay or not.

Sure, it depends completely on what specifically we’re talking about here— let’s use this S/S + LB build as an example. This is so blatantly inferior to a warrior using Nike’s GS / Axe build meta that by comparison it’s almost as if the person here isn’t even there. In fact, the idea of them splitting mobs apart by stepping back to range could very well make things even worse than if they weren’t there to begin with.

Who said anything about going to range, I hardly ever range. Even though I play SS/LB I still stack when it is time to stack, it makes blasting my own fire fields that much for efficient.

………………………………………

To reply to the second half on the wall of text. I also like to run max DPS and kill things fast but I also enjoy taking a weapon set that is considered bad and making it into something that is actually pretty good. Just like I did to the old MF gear that everyone hated so much, the difference in DPS wasn’t as big as people made it out to be cause most of the time I played better than the pro scrubs in “ping zerker gear plz” and maintained a more constant DPS than they did. All I am looking for is a smooth run, no wipes, and fun fights. That’s all i owe my party, whether that run takes 10 mins or 15 mins (5-8min for CoF1) is mostly irrelevant as long as it went smoothly and everyone had fun

Flissy.4093:

Julie Yann.5379:

We all know that the Axe-X/GS meta build will deal the most DPS

Wrong, actually. A pure-axe, 30/25/0/10/5 build deals the most DPS in a group setting where other people deal with the Might stacks so you don’t need to worry about Forceful GS.

That is the Axe-X/GS meta build. If GS was the primary DPS weapon I would have called it the GS/Axe-X build.

Except the GS isn’t used in 30/25/0/10/5

Flissy.4093:

Except the GS isn’t used in 30/25/0/10/5

Sorry, I though you wrote 30/25/0/0/15, I’m a little dyslexic. What’s the 10 points in tactics for? I don’t see any trait there that would increase DPS enough to not take 15 in discipline, unless you are picking Empowered and running with a Guardian and Ele that give you a ton of boons all the time.

Julie Yann.5379:

Flissy.4093:

Except the GS isn’t used in 30/25/0/10/5

Sorry, I though you wrote 30/25/0/0/15, I’m a little dyslexic. What’s the 10 points in tactics for? I don’t see any trait there that would increase DPS enough to not take 15 in discipline, unless you are picking Empowered and running with a Guardian and Ele that give you a ton of boons all the time.

Absolutely empowered. And yes, would be running with both of course. What group doesn’t have a Guardian? And you’re pretty reliant on an Ele might stacking to run 30/25/0/10/5 pure axe, else the GS/Axe meta is better.

I want to clarify that Flissy is absolutely correct and I said the same thing above:

“Axe autoattack, believe it or not, is actually THE FASTEST possible DPS that a warrior is capable of dishing out provided they’re at 25 stacks of might & bloodlust and have fury + the proper traits and gear. There is nothing that surpasses it at our disposal, period. Axe autoattack chain is just that good.”

I think I also said this on another thread, but the personal problem I have with the 30/25/0/10/5 alternative is that it makes you less versatile, as you rely on there being a competent guardian and ele in the group to take full advantage of your potential whereas with the 30/25/0/0/15 build you do not. I prefer more versatility as do many others, so the pure axe build is less ideal certainly for my gameplay.

Julie, I hope you realize that just because I’m asserting the fact that these builds are superior to anything else in PvE doesn’t mean that they’ll work for any and every person that starts using them. It’s very unforgiving on the inexperienced players, so noobs that go out and try to facetank are going to be pathetic. I know, I agree with you. However, if one seeks to improve the very most effective way is to put themself in a position where they must make use of evasions and timing their skills.

As for your statement of “Who said anything about going to range, I hardly ever range. Even though I play SS/LB I still stack when it is time to stack, it makes blasting my own fire fields that much for efficient.”

Erm, I do this in certain circumstances when I’m soloing actually. It definitely has its purposes, but do you normally play in groups? If so, is it really necessary for you to use longbow F1 when stacking in melee range? It seems like one heck of a waste of your own individual potential to do it if you’re stacking with a group. Ideally, an elementalist will be there for the fire fields.

Purple Miku.7032:

Erm, I do this in certain circumstances when I’m soloing actually. It definitely has its purposes, but do you normally play in groups? If so, is it really necessary for you to use longbow F1 when stacking in melee range? It seems like one heck of a waste of your own individual potential to do it if you’re stacking with a group. Ideally, an elementalist will be there for the fire fields.

I depends on a lot of factors whether I use it or not. If there is a competent Ele in the party probably don’t use it as much cause you don’t need more that 1 person dealing out fire fields. If we are dealing with a bunch of trash mobs I will use it to get burn on more targets. If the party is not getting enough might I will lay down a fire and blast it. Spending your adrenaline isn’t as big an issue with the condi build as it is with the zerk build. Most of your damage is through conditions so keeping the bleed stacks, burning, torment, poison uptime, is worth losing Berserkers Power for a few seconds. Also adrenaline is real easy to gain with SS/LB especially when dealing with trash mobs.

I can’t wait to see what the new changes to sigils will allow me to do. I foresee a lot of crazy builds coming out of the woodwork. Like I said before, condi warrior only works well if you are the only condi damage dealer in the party.

As an added note, just because I am discussing the from the pro-condi PoV doesn’t mean that I am not pro-meta. The meta works, that’s why it’s meta. I just don’t like to dismiss other type of builds because their aren’t as spectacular. Too many times I see somebody looking for some advice on what could be a really interesting build that would work get shot down by the GO ZERK OF GTFO crowd and that bugs me a little.

The OP just asked if the weapon set would work for dungeons. Now I may have been mistaken for assuming the S/S meant Sword/Shield. It may have meant Sword/Sword. My apologies. From experience I have run Sword/shield in many dungeons and it worked out fine. I’m not sure about Sword/Sword but on its face it seems ok. A block to skip mobs and something to stack more bleeds, which is good for a MH sword user.

Is axe superior? Sure, if you hit it right, and it’s good to keep one in your bag, but MH sword is not as terrible as some suggest. Take the arms line to 25 (10% more damage to bleeding foes, which is will be everything you hit) and bleeds really pay off (also take Deep Cuts, and Blademaster along the way.) I can see two swords being very deadly with this line maxed out.

Go to the mists and hack away on dummies. I have found that axe AA isn’t that much uber to sword AA (1-2 sec.), and who cares if a boss or dungeon takes 30 sec. longer? I think for a warrior to be most useful—drop a banner or empower allies, or trait Shake it off. Those skills/traits help your group more than the weaponset IMO.

Understandable Julie. I actually wish that other builds were more effective. While I love everything about the notion of “the best defense comes from the best offense,” which I apply in every game, I sympathize for people that aren’t as aggressive with their playstyles and want to play with focus on other attributes. Unfortunately for them, this game is not designed in such a way for that to be practical haha. :S

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Mazdan.2071:

The OP just asked if the weapon set would work for dungeons. Now I may have been mistaken for assuming the S/S meant Sword/Shield. It may have meant Sword/Sword. My apologies. From experience I have run Sword/shield in many dungeons and it worked out fine. I’m not sure about Sword/Sword but on its face it seems ok. A block to skip mobs and something to stack more bleeds, which is good for a MH sword user.

Is axe superior? Sure, if you hit it right, and it’s good to keep one in your bag, but MH sword is not as terrible as some suggest. Take the arms line to 25 (10% more damage to bleeding foes, which is will be everything you hit) and bleeds really pay off (also take Deep Cuts, and Blademaster along the way.) I can see two swords being very deadly with this line maxed out.

Go to the mists and hack away on dummies. I have found that axe AA isn’t that much uber to sword AA (1-2 sec.), and who cares if a boss or dungeon takes 30 sec. longer? I think for a warrior to be most useful—drop a banner or empower allies, or trait Shake it off. Those skills/traits help your group more than the weaponset IMO.

I cringed.

You have a misconception of just how much direct damage axe mainhand can do…

Also unless a specific boss has condition durations reduced (i.e. Alphard in Arah P2), deep cuts is a waste of a trait because the 4 second cooldown from Precise Strikes (Arms minor 5) is perfectly sufficient for maintaining the 10% buff from Attack of Opportunity.

Sword/shield may be viable in PvP but there’s barely any purpose that I can think of in PvE that you’d ever want to use a shield offhand even in a solo setting. I only ever use it to block while I’m skipping trash in dungeon solos (still, warhorn is generally always better anyways), and it was a decent idea for Alphard solos on Arah P2 for the 3 occurrences when all of the clones appear. In a group? Hell no.

I dunno about you but with the axe AA chain being as fast as it is and with as high of a crit chance that I’m able to maintain, I easily can average above 3k crits with axe AA in a solo setting, frequently above the 4k range depending on how many stacks of might I’m at (not always easy to maintain more than a dozen stacks in a solo setting). Video example demonstrating: http://www.twitch.tv/purpleishawt/c/3805255

Now, I know that riposte applies 4 stacks of bleed lasting 15.5 seconds on each recoil. If you observe, essentially the only times in which there aren’t ~2+ stacks of bleed on Korga at all times are after he rushes… as I’m obviously evading it/side strafing. At all times that I’m attacking I am easily able to maintain bleed stacks on him.

Even if I stood still with permanent stability and endure pain with Korga stuck in a wall, I’d be willing to bet I wouldn’t be able to even come close to killing him in under 5 minutes with a sword.

“Sword/shield may be viable in PvP but there’s barely any purpose that I can think of in PvE that you’d ever want to use a shield offhand even in a solo setting”

I think folks forget that a shield does provide passive defense untraited. With a trait it can provide even more (90 + shield stat). It also has an interrupt, something I find very valuable, and of course 3 seconds of invulnerability for skips or healing. With sword MH, you are still doing damage while hiding behind your shield as the bleeds tick. In fact, if you want to kite and heal from Healing signet, feel free; you are still doing damage. With axe, not so much.

Is axe superior, sure. Pure damage is right now in this game, but my overall point is that sword (OH or MH or shield OH) is not kick worthy for most groups.

Mazdan.2071:

Is axe superior, sure. Pure damage is right now in this game, but my overall point is that sword (OH or MH or shield OH) is not kick worthy for most groups.

MH Sword is absolutely kick worthy. It’s an incredible amount of damage less than Axe or Greatsword.

MH Sword is not a DPS option, and anybody who does not run a DPS option does not belong in speedruns. It’s up to the player to join the group that they fit in, rather than complain when they get kicked from a run they aren’t suited for.

Flissy.4093:

Mazdan.2071:

Is axe superior, sure. Pure damage is right now in this game, but my overall point is that sword (OH or MH or shield OH) is not kick worthy for most groups.

MH Sword is absolutely kick worthy. It’s an incredible amount of damage less than Axe or Greatsword.

MH Sword is not a DPS option, and anybody who does not run a DPS option does not belong in speedruns. It’s up to the player to join the group that they fit in, rather than complain when they get kicked from a run they aren’t suited for.

There is also a responsibility on the person creating the group to properly advertise what he or she is looking for.

Unfortunately most people that join my LFG posts either don’t care or don’t even read the post, which brings up another point… the ever-so disgustingly awful implementation of the LFG with its incredible amount of flaws and bugs.

I advertise requirements in my lfgs and strictly enforce them. Funny thing, I end up kicking more warriors than other classes.

I run full glass ele and thief in dungeons quite often and with reasonable amount of effort and situational awareness staying alive is not a problem. There is absolutely no reason a warrior should not be going full glass both in gear and traits. It’s hilarious watching a war justify his kitten build because “I survive longer that way”. Allowing a warrior with a selfish build or gear into your party is like inviting a guy with crutches on your relay race team. He’ll only be a hindrance, unless everyone else on the team is running on crutches too.

Feel free to take your “fun” builds to open world pve or when playing with friends but please run meta when joining a pug. If you can’t stay alive, maybe you should learn to play better first.

Julie Yann.5379:

Flissy.4093:

Mazdan.2071:

Is axe superior, sure. Pure damage is right now in this game, but my overall point is that sword (OH or MH or shield OH) is not kick worthy for most groups.

MH Sword is absolutely kick worthy. It’s an incredible amount of damage less than Axe or Greatsword.

MH Sword is not a DPS option, and anybody who does not run a DPS option does not belong in speedruns. It’s up to the player to join the group that they fit in, rather than complain when they get kicked from a run they aren’t suited for.

There is also a responsibility on the person creating the group to properly advertise what he or she is looking for.

I know I absolutely do. People just don’t read, that isn’t my fault.

Recently, I asked for 2 experienced players, pref Mes & War for Arah P2. Mesmer was unable to skip anything and didn’t contribute to either of the first 2 bosses, and didn’t feedback Lupicus. I specifically stated experienced, so tell me how I am a criminal for kicking her mid Lupicus as she lay dead on the floor.

frifox.5283:

There is absolutely no reason a warrior should not be going full glass both in gear and traits. It’s hilarious watching a war justify his kitten build because “I survive longer that way”.

??

I haven’t ever been above 916 toughness ever since I’ve been level 80 and have always been using 30/25/0/0/15 since shortly afterwards as well. How am I a hindrance to the team? I fail to understand.

I don’t range anything either, not even imbued shaman.

“no reason a warrior should not go glass” implies “warrior should always go glass”. I think you misunderstood that part

with longbow for burns maybe too? and some sigils and such for more proc conditions. I used to do rampager with GS and S/axe. Add in signets and bleeds proccing on crits and y’r set. Its how I got to lvl 80 but then I didn’t really like how my charr looked so I deleted it. Now back at lvl 55 and am hooked to CCing in PVP