Guild Wars 2

I’m relatively new to the warrior class. I’ve mostly played on my asuran ranger; nevertheless, I’ve always wanted to roll a warrior. My warrior will be 80 in a little bit so I wanted to share my rifle build and ask the seasoned warriors for any input. The whole purpose of this build is to scout the battle field and snipe people with a big “hit”. I love having to patiently assess, then when the time is right and the enemy unaware, BANG! They wonder what is hitting them.

Heads up! This is a WvW build. Also, I do not promote this as the best sniper build in existence but one that compliments my play style. Please feel free to add, delete, modify or adjust to your liking. My personal opinion is the best build is the one that plays to your strengths and you enjoy.

Here we go! Mist’s build editor link – http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-s;4VKkN0X4FL-60;9;5T-9T;126A;15;039AL;5ytbUytbUBBlr0-iY90;1kVq0u1zY4_Aa61V-70HV8aNX8al

0/30/0/10/30
Arms – III, VII, XI
Precise Strike and Deep Cuts help maintain a bleed on a target so as to benefit from Attack of Opportunity (10% damage to a bleeding target). Critical Burst increases burst crit chance by 10% and Furious helps refund spent adrenaline for use in the next Kill Shot.

Tactics – VI
Since Berserker’s Power was moved up the Strength tree there are ten points for “play style” here. I picked up Empowered for the extra 2% damage per boon. If used with Signet of Rage (SoR) it increases damage by 6%. Couple Empowered with superior Rune of Lyssa and it can boost damage by 18% since the rune bonus provides nine boons on elite skill use. Rune of Lyssa link – http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Superior_Rune_of_Lyssa

Discipline – IV, X or VIII, XI
Inspiring Shouts enables all shouts to grant 8 strike of adrenaline. Popping “On My Mark” and “For Great Justice” coupled with a triple return on critical hits thanks to Furious and adrenaline fills rather quickly. Also, Kill Shot’s damage amount associated with adrenaline is calculated at the end of it’s cast; as a result, popping shouts while casting to fill all 3 bars is an excellent tactic in providing as many Kill Shots as possible. Essentially a player does not have to wait for the bar to fill, shouts help fill it.
Destruction of the Empowered can be selected if sniping a boon heavy target. This trait is entirely up taste and requires awareness of what boons are active on the target. Adding 21% more damage to a guardian when they pop “Save Yourselves” is sweet but realize retaliation will reflect back some of the damage.

Mobile Strikes allows for getting out of bad situations with sword #2. Add that with horn #4 and a tactical retreat is always available. Word to the wise though, disable auto-targeting. Versatile Rage/Power and Fast hands are great minor traits that allow swapping to the sword gaining might, leaping to a downed foe, hitting Final Thrust or just stomping them, then retreating back to a better to position to snipe.

Skills – Mending for heals and some condition removal. For Great Justice, might and fury is always good. On My Mark provides a 10% damage increase on the target. SoR fits just perfect versus Juggernaut or Uber Banner . Third skill is up to choice. Fear Me offers a nice gap creator or stomp preventer for an ally. Signet of Might (SoM) is good against shield professions like guardians, engineers, or mesmers. Pop it before KS and KS becomes unblockable; however, you trade off a reserve source of 8 adrenaline strikes.

Armor & Trinkets – I run berserk for power/precision/critical damage increases with exquisite ruby jewels in the trinkets. This makes the build less hardy due to the lower toughness, so being aware of the situation is highly important. Know where you are and where the enemy is. However, sword and horn are both knight (power/toughness/vitality) since these are used to either attack a down player or retreat when needed.

Runes – Right now I’m still experimenting. Currently I’m using superior runes of Lyssa. The reason is the sixth bonus increases my damage output by 18% through Empowered. The concern I am having is the boon duration is only 5 to 6 secs resulting in a short window to get off SoR, target, pop shouts and then Kill Shot. I’ve experimented with Infiltrator for the +%damage when foe is under 50% health. Hoelbrak or Soldier runes for more condition removal options. Strength runes for the 5% damage increase under might affects (it was ok but not my favorite). Divinity runes are strong contenders as they provide a 12% increase in crit damage and +60 in all stats.

Sigils – On the rifle Sigil of Fire. On the sword and warhorn Sigils of Accuracy or Bloodlust on both so I can fast stack.

Food – haven’t decided yet.

Thanks for your time and comments.

I was actually just trying to figure out the same thing. I loved my build before this patch but this patch messed everything up. I could get 100% crit chance with kill shot, piercing shots, and massive damage pre-patch with this build:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fIAQNBkODbkzp3N3R5hJSgYKUEHFQRAqe0G2xGmKUGA-jEyAYLBZCSkpCAJvioxWcLiGraBTVSEV7NKiWtUARMGA-w

Post patch I am trying to figure out a good build since it screwed up the traits horribly. We lost the 3% damage from the discipline line and they moved the crit and damage on adrenline traits all the way to the grandmaster slots. This is the build I am thinking about running post patch now:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fIAQNBkODbkzp3N3R5hJOAYe8jRFpeYHAxlKUGA-jEyAYLBZKSkpCAJvioxWcLiGraBTVSEV7NKiWtQAjGDA-w

Destruction of the empowered would be the master trait but the builder isnt updated yet.

It loses the 100% crit chance and piercing shots but the damage to a single target should be a higher. It loses 150 power when bloodlust is stacked over the prepatch build in order to raise the crit chance up to 74-82% depending if sigil is on cooldown. However, it gets an extra 13% damage over the prepatch build which will hopefully make up for the 150 missing power and give higher damage over the prepatch build.

I was thinking about running a sigil of battle on my ax offhand to stack some power to make up the power difference but I don’t really like the idea of constantly swapping the weapons just for some might.

Gothir.3604:

I was actually just trying to figure out the same thing. I loved my build before this patch but this patch messed everything up. I could get 100% crit chance with kill shot, piercing shots, and massive damage pre-patch with this build:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fIAQNBkODbkzp3N3R5hJSgYKUEHFQRAqe0G2xGmKUGA-jEyAYLBZCSkpCAJvioxWcLiGraBTVSEV7NKiWtUARMGA-w

Post patch I am trying to figure out a good build since it screwed up the traits horribly. We lost the 3% damage from the discipline line and they moved the crit and damage on adrenline traits all the way to the grandmaster slots. This is the build I am thinking about running post patch now:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fIAQNBkODbkzp3N3R5hJOAYe8jRFpeYHAxlKUGA-jEyAYLBZKSkpCAJvioxWcLiGraBTVSEV7NKiWtQAjGDA-w

Destruction of the empowered would be the master trait but the builder isnt updated yet.

It loses the 100% crit chance and piercing shots but the damage to a single target should be a higher. It loses 150 power when bloodlust is stacked over the prepatch build in order to raise the crit chance up to 74-82% depending if sigil is on cooldown. However, it gets an extra 13% damage over the prepatch build which will hopefully make up for the 150 missing power and give higher damage over the prepatch build.

I was thinking about running a sigil of battle on my ax offhand to stack some power to make up the power difference but I don’t really like the idea of constantly swapping the weapons just for some might.

Thanks for the response.

I agree Berserker’s Power was nice for a 10 point cost. However, for me taking it now forces me to loose a lot of traits that directly support the rifle, my burst, direct damage and getting adrenaline back quickly, all of which is found in the Arms line. Strength lends itself more towards melee fighting, something I try to stay out of as a sniper.

The good news is Empowered can make up the damage depending on how many boons you have. If you have 6 boons on you that’s 12% right there. Unfortunately we can only guarantee 3 boons with SoR, but in WvW we should be able to get a few more.

I really want the build editors to update (especially GW2skill.net) so I can do a proper stat comparison.

Out of curiosity, you run with and axe so do you melee combat also?

Expiatus.4210:

Out of curiosity, you run with and axe so do you melee combat also?

Well I try to stay out of melee combat as much as possible with a sniper build but people will still make it within melee range of you. I use eviscerate as a melee version kill shot since it does damage that is pretty close to what you can do with kill shot. You can 1 shot a thief that pops out of stealth with dagger storm going as an example whereas your kill shot would just get reflected.

I use the signet of fury and heal as my way to build adrenaline since both of those completely fill the adrenaline bar. I found that my kill shot is usually off cooldown before I regain full adrenaline through attacking without using a utitility skill.

Gothir.3604:

Expiatus.4210:

Out of curiosity, you run with and axe so do you melee combat also?

Well I try to stay out of melee combat as much as possible with a sniper build but people will still make it within melee range of you. I use eviscerate as a melee version kill shot since it does damage that is pretty close to what you can do with kill shot. You can 1 shot a thief that pops out of stealth with dagger storm going as an example whereas your kill shot would just get reflected.

I use the signet of fury and heal as my way to build adrenaline since both of those completely fill the adrenaline bar. I found that my kill shot is usually off cooldown before I regain full adrenaline through attacking without using a utitility skill.

Sweet! I imagine the thief is thinking, “Easy GC kill!” then THWOMP! They get an axe to the head and now they’re dead. I’ll admit I have very little practice on the axe. I’ll have to try it some time. Thanks.