Guild Wars 2

So I’ve been cruising around forums for a while now and started to level up my Warrior fully motivated.

However I was never able to really pin my build down as I would often switch out from PvE to try out some new theorycrafting in sPvP. My final goal though would be to play as a solo/small-man WvW threat.

Now I know hot-join PvP doesn’t really give me an accurate picture of what WvW combat would be like, but I have learned a couple of things and will lay them out here. Before I start though, I’d like to point out that I did know that the Warrior has its weaknesses, but I’m a fan of playing the unusual and somehow making it work, as long as it is actually possible to do so.

Weapon choices:
I always envisioned myself playing an ‘offensive’ Hammer Warrior. Starting from there I tried pretty much every worthy option for swapping, resulting in the conclusion that having a shield as a melee warrior is vital. So that quite narrowed it down to Axe, Sword or Mace + Shield.

This is where the trouble started though. I found Mace to be the most effective and fun in sPvP because the control allowed me to dish out sustained damage and set up burst possibilities. However I’m figuring that in WvW, I don’t even have to bother trying it since I would seriously lack mobility. Same for Axe. Damage output is probably higher, but again, I’d just ask to get kited around. Then the third option Sword would obviously solve that issue to an extent, but my god does that weapon lack damage. I mean sure u can stack a couple of bleeds, and add mediocre flat damage on top at best, but let’s face it, nobody is going to die from that kitten.

So it’s either:
A) Getting kited to death. (even with the soup, melandru’s and dogged you won’t beat warps and leaps)
B) Getting outlasted to death.

Utility Slots:
Ok so regardless of the weapon issue, I’ve been playing around with utilities. Turns out you always sacrifice something crucial. I’m talking vital stuff here. For me boils down to Bull’s Charge / Frenzy / Signet of Stamina / Balanced Stance.

Without Bull’s Charge you’re giving up CC packed mobility. This is just so kitten powerful, especially when using hammer it’s the only way you’re going to stop people from happily kiting you over and over.

Without Frenzy you’re giving up your damage. And I mean like.. almost all your damage. I feel Warrior’s just don’t have the sustained damage they deserve. Frenzy combined with Hammer comboing will get you an almost garanteed kill if they don’t have stability up. You’re basicly just playing ragdoll with your enemy while doing serious damage. Remove the Frenzy however and even if you hit your skills, it just takes so kitten long for them to follow up on eachother. Axe skills are nice, but if Evis doesn’t finikitten the fight your damage is still only mediocre without Frenzy since you’re prone to kites/condi and defensive boons due to no condition damage.

Without Signet of Stamina you only really have Traited Mending to save you from condi’s. Lyssa runes are a joke since they force you to stall your only buffs until you’re in trouble. Shake it off is pathetic for solo play. I’ve ran with Stamina and it really felt as if I was able to cope with condi’s for once.

Without Balanced Stance you’re the one who’s going to be the ragdoll. I don’t think it’s worth sacrificing since it’s the only way Warriors get reliable Stability.

I feel like Utility slots are ways to fix the disadvantages of playing Warrior, but there just seem to be too many to cover it all.

In the end it I feel Warriors in PvP are all or nothing. On inc you aim on setting up your burst with whatever weapon. If the opportunity doesn’t come fast enough, or if you simple miss a crucial part of it, you can basicly forget it. Other classes will outlast or outkite you easily.

Especially after seeing some vid’s from other classes in solo/smallman WvW this has become more and more obvious to me.

Feel free to share your input on the matter while I try to decide what class I should play instead. :>

I am a fairly new Warrior of a couple of months. Mostly I try to solo roam in WvW. Your post pretty much nails my exact thoughts of the Warrior. Like you I am constantly trying to figure out the perfect combination of weapons. It really is an unsolvable paradox. Believe me, being kited is a major problem.

I also agree with your description of solo encounters with your Warrior. It’s like a 16 year old with his first chick….it’s over in 10 seconds. If you don’t catch a break with a nice stun or a big crit, and finish off the enemy, you will likely die.

When I face a Warrior with my Ranger now I feel bad killing him. Some fights the Warrior won’t even hit me once…and I kinda suck. Would be even worse vs a good Ranger.

Dunno what the solution is.

Exactly, I’ve seen 2 recent vid’s from Rangers in WvW where by far the shortest (and easiest) fights were against Warriors. Real eye-opener to be honest since I don’t play Ranger myself and have never really had much trouble with them in sPvP. Probably since most players aren’t that great and kiting isn’t as much of an issue there.

I guess the solution – for me at least – is to just start looking at other classes with more to go for them. I’m looking somewhere in the direction of Necro/Ele/Ranger. I’m also tired of lining up mobs for Hundred Blades, it’s just so kitten boring. :P

Depends what game you prefer to play. Pve ..PvP ..WvW.

Go against the grain. Make an Engineer. They scare the kitten out of me now. My last couple of fights I died so fast I had no idea what hit me. Actually thought a thief might have backstabbed me during the fight it happened so fast…but nope, it was all Engineer

Hehe, yea I’ve been thinking about them, but I don’t really like the looks of ‘em… I’m that kind of guy too then I guess. :P

Stumbeled upon this vid just now, showing some hope at least.. Seems like sPvP does bias my view a little too much.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juTKmgDPV_g&feature=player_embedded

It is definatly not easy as a warrior and since I like to play in zergs I have shouts and warhorn traited and the mobility is just awesome but I lack damage.A really good warrior has tried out a lot of builds though and also posted vids how to play them so you might want to check out this link
http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/80239-warrior-www-balance-build/page__st__150
He’s doing really good in 1on1 or more and if he’s not running in front he can survive and have fun in zergs as well

I run Mace/Warhorn and Longbow and I don’t have a problem with kiting in WvW. I actually do more damage from range so I force kiters into melee range and proceed to pound them with the Mace. I only get wrecked when there are 2 ranged opponents, I don’t have enough CC to get them both down before I get downed.

This is a long reply just on basic tips in WvW so you might wanna skip it if you know your class.

Make the best of it till the devs fix the class in a few months time and by then it will be too late and the warrior base would have switched to ESO when it comes out. Better a fresh start with an unknown promise of balance and new content (ESO) than another start with bad and neglected balance with the usual content (GW2).

It is the sad truth but the devs have to accept it and tackle it soon or they will lose even more players.

The problem is we need a lot to land our attacks in or our 100b while a thief just hits one heart seaker to get it all in on button push.

Anyway, Just a few tips that I’m sure you know them all or most of them:

-Use abilities with short cool downs. Endure pain is a big no no as the 4 secs is not worth the crazy long cool down. Its useless in small scale relative to other skills. I usually can guess when a war will pop it if I’m going against one so I just walk away and wait for it to wear off then close in. Also, its useless against most classes since they just rely on continous pressure and not a sudden burst so it is not that effective. Thieves and mesmers burst but they can just simply reset the fight or move away then start out again. They need little to no setup do burst you again.

-Only endure pain when going into a zerg to burst dps to break them up then switch to shield 5 to get out. Don’t bother doing anything beyond a frenzies 100b in a zerg. Never approach the zerg face on, make sure someone is on front of you to get their targetting on him or approach them from a side, ask a thief for a friendly stealth etc.
Use endure pain against guardians when they blast their zillion boon shout along with the crappy destruction of the empowered. Even then don’t expect much..honestly..a shout that has all the boons in the game..anyway,they usually don’t expect you to melee them while they are doing it. Alternatively, you can walk away and wait for it to wear off.

Make sure you have a reactive stability -better- or a slotted one. You have to use chain cc rapidly with frenzy to down average to poor players.

-If you see a thief player coming in, make sure you got your shield ready or dodge in time. Either that or get ready to pop an endure pain if you have it up. Smart players will stealth a few times once you pop endure pain so you can’t allow that, pop endure pain if you want to use it, bolas /bulls and unload. Take his opening as an advantage not a disadvantage. There is nothing much you can do to teleportation hacks with zero cooldown (Thief shadowstep on their sword: number 2).
Stealth is a broken mechanic and you won’t win against thief players who abuse their broken mechanics but you will wipe the floor with players who don’t know how to abuse their broken class mechanics.

-Don’t go tanky unless your group is doing the hard dps. The longer you stay in a fight the higher your chance of dying. Being tanky just guarantees that for a warrior without dps buddies. Also, toughness/vitality only mildy affects your survivability as a warrior as you will not be pressuring your target and since you don’t have protection (33% damage reduction) and regen you will be killed faster than a class that has both like a lot of other classes.

-You need a lot of zerker and some toughness. Make sure you go full zerker with only 300 toughness either from traits, runes or gear. I wouldn’t go beyond 300 toughness on top of your base armor/toughness. Make sure you have mobile strikes and preferably a GS for the mobility. Either that or take melandru runes+ lemongrass poultry soup. I wouldn’t take bogged march/mobile strikes in wvw if you got those two up. Even bogged march is crap if you got mobile strikes only. There are better traits in that line.

-Your food/oil should always be up.

-Learn to pan your camera around you, when you see a stupid thief running after you and you have a full evi ready just target him and wait till he gets close and hit him then bulls charge, bolas and 100b with frenzy etc.

- Never charge in with bulls charge, use GS 3 to close the gap, GS 5 can be used but since mobile strikes implementation is stupid (Doesn’t prevent CC from landing on you WHILE using it..) its a better bet to use GS3 then use BC in close quarters.

-GS: Use 4 followed by 5 when at a distance from the target to close the gap.

-when a thief stealth, don’t stand in one spor or backpedal, either turn around and run or use GS 5 charge or GS3 to mess up their distance and force them out of stealth if they don’t have a gap closer ready.

-For axe/shield+GS: Another useful combo: Stunned from bull’s charge/bolas etc>>frenzy>>100b>>GS 3 before 100b is finished, quickly switch weapons without turning around, press shield 4 then burst with axe. Practice this combo. It should be done within 2-3 secs max.

-100b every time you see a slow walker such as a snared target or if you have endure pain up and someone is on you or after every stun: mace stun, hammer burst etc. Never wait to complete 100b as it is very slow and crap, compliment it with GS3 always.

-Your Evis full Adrenaline bar and Axe 3 should always be on cooldown. Set up an evi with a shield bash prior to it. You can use evi when you know a target won’t run away like a thief using dagger storm. I just home in on thieve’s using dagger storm as they are easy targets and they think they are immune while doing it. Just make sure you have a good burst ready so they don’t run away in time (Evis up).

-Your bag should always be open beside your character with sword/warhorn there. I switch out my axe/shield when I’m roaming in wvw and use sword/warhorn along with my already equipped GS to travel around.

-Don’t be afraid to switch around your utility skills depending on the class you are expecting to fight. We have to adapt but other classes don’t as much.

-I never experimented with longbow/rifle but they might have potential. Not sure if it is as good as GS mobility and axe/shield burst/defense.

Having said all that, don’t get discouraged from players who know how to abuse their broken class mechanics such as the holy trinity: Mesmers, thieves and guardians. It’s their class carrying them.

Everyone knows they are OP except the devs.

Make sure you are always vocal on our forum, spvp and other class forums about the OPeness of those class and our broken class or you will never get your class fixed.

Thanks a bunch for the input guys, I think I’ll just stick to Warr and try my best. I don’t expect to play that frequently so I guess I won’t get too demotivated too quickly.

Also, I don’t really expect to get myself an ESO copy, I’ll probably just wait it out till Camelot Unchained comes out, if I ever buy a new MMO. :P

In case you want to try something different than meele:
I had some fun with this longbow/gs build in wvwvw (longbow is primary weapon, gs for mobility or zerg pushes):

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/pvp/pvp/Defektive-s-tPvP-Longbow-GS-Warrior-Build

Only thing I changed is 10 Power => 10 Tactics for the better longbow range and the combo finishers.
The build got recently buffed a bit with the bleeds on Longbow 5 and the combination of the old grandmaster discipline traits.
Longbow is not really a ranged-only weapon. Some abilites are best used point-blank or from a short distance making IMHO for fun gameplay.
Sadly, it’s really the only build I enjoy on my warrior at all (most of the time I’m running mesmer/thief/ele…)

Frigzy.8731:

Thanks a bunch for the input guys, I think I’ll just stick to Warr and try my best. I don’t expect to play that frequently so I guess I won’t get too demotivated too quickly.

Also, I don’t really expect to get myself an ESO copy, I’ll probably just wait it out till Camelot Unchained comes out, if I ever buy a new MMO. :P

Yea there are some fun builds using longbow and GS or hammer.

Hmm..camelot unchained..it either turns out great..or we get screwed like warhammer. ESO is just a clone of GW2 I just want it for the lack of AOE and downed state…I hope..

Frigzy.8731:

Hehe, yea I’ve been thinking about them, but I don’t really like the looks of ‘em… I’m that kind of guy too then I guess. :P

Stumbeled upon this vid just now, showing some hope at least.. Seems like sPvP does bias my view a little too much.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juTKmgDPV_g&feature=player_embedded

Hope.. from that vid ?? you kidding.. hes good at running. thats it.

eldain stenlund.4306:

Hope.. from that vid ?? you kidding.. hes good at running. thats it.

Mobility is crucial for solo / smallman roaming to be able to pick your fights. Welcome to large scale PvP.

eldain stenlund.4306:

Frigzy.8731:

Hehe, yea I’ve been thinking about them, but I don’t really like the looks of ‘em… I’m that kind of guy too then I guess. :P

Stumbeled upon this vid just now, showing some hope at least.. Seems like sPvP does bias my view a little too much.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juTKmgDPV_g&feature=player_embedded

Hope.. from that vid ?? you kidding.. hes good at running. thats it.

Yeah that guy sucks.

lol, you nearly got me Gathsaln but your signature gave you away

Very nice video – makes me feel embarassed though, thinking how I roam with Thief/Mesmer with all their stealth/teleport safety nets…

Just realised how stong Last Stand is btw, I always thought you had to actually get stunned/knocked/… after which it would start, which would indeed be rather stupid.

But yea, since it’s implemented the smart way it’s incredibly strong, especially since having Balanced Stance in utility increases the chance of using it at the wrong time.

Guess I can remove Balanced Stance from my Utility Slot dilemma.

Ferawyn.6542:

lol, you nearly got me Gathsaln but your signature gave you away

Very nice video – makes me feel embarassed though, thinking how I roam with Thief/Mesmer with all their stealth/teleport safety nets…

Thanks for the kind words and yeah thief/mesmer are the perfect classes to troll/annoy people with in wvwvw (i have been the victim of such! Go close to thief.. teleport away.. run a mile to catch him again.. TELEPORT AWAY.)