Guild Wars 2

I’ve been running a boring GS build 20/30/0/10/10 for speed running CoF and was wondering what build to go into. So that I know what gear to invest into.

I’ve seen some videos of some interesting tanky warrior builds but they seem to be old or dated.

So I was wondering if there was a build for tanky warriors that can still dish relatively decent damage that’s out there.

I’ve seen some sword/warhorn – mace/shield, and other variants. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBJ3lUCB5I0)

And is clerics needed for shout healing or is soldiers fine?
Thanks!

Pure tank builds in PvE are just a waste of time imo.
Not only stats won’t really protect you from real dangers, but you can achieve a similar survivability by just getting Defy pain / Endure pain and then go full zerker.

Warriors go GC or go gimpy.

That is all.

A full knight set with a few berserker pieces and ruby gems in the jewelry will handle most cases in PvE. You’ll have great damage and will be somewhat survivable. Things will definitely change once you hit FotM level 30+.

To me, the warrior feels like a very offensive class with little sustain. This becomes a problem at high level PvE. As a trade off to their sustain issues, warriors will always have some good DPS options regardless of their toughness level. This makes building full PVT very viable.

Speccing tanky will not ‘gimp’ your warrior. You won’t be able to achieve glass cannon damage, but your sustainability issues (if you also spec into healing shouts/banners) will be almost nullified.

I hope this helps and good luck!

“Is clerics needed for healing?”

No, +healing scales badly for warriors. You’re much better off with PVT gear and some points in the toughness tree for survivable traits and an inconsequential gain in healing power.

I’ll put it this way, a full tank warrior kills a full glass warrior.

Clerics is used by some in WvW to be worth more to their team (you have to multiplie the heal scaling by 5 for the aoe) than it can be worth while.

Going solo, don’t take clerics, you’ll lose way to much stats just to get a little bit better heal.

Thanks for the replies, much appreciated!

So I’m thinking of mixing PPT and PVT and going towards a tankier trait line, but should I be taking the healing shout trait?

Not too sure what my traits should look like or what weapons I should be focusing on.

I did see a balanced build on youtube which looked pretty good but I’m just wondering if there are tankier builds that can be just as good; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7obEXYSS5Y

When Ele’s get balanced there will definitely be a reason to go “Tank” Warrior.

I personally run 20/0/20/30/0…

Berserkers Power, Slashing Power
Embrace the Pain, Last Stand
Empowered, Lung Capacity, Vigorous shouts

My helm, chest and legs are PPT. My GS is berserker, and the rest is PVT. I socketed my jewelry with ruby jewels.

~3.15k attack
~3.08k armour
20% crit chance
26% crit dmg
Close to 28k hp I believe

Also, This is strictly my PvE build. You should check out Defecktive’a Avalanche build for PvP.

a half cleric/half pvt shout warrior is only good in pvp if you usually play with a small group. and you have enough GC damage in that group to make up for your lack of damage.

you still do decently with 3k attack, but not enough to burst anyone down. which is why i like to use hammer, provides even more support for your party in addition to the heals.

Warrior tankiness is pretty weak, due to a lack of protection and get out of jail free cards.

That said, a support warrior who is a bit tanky is a great frontliner in a zerg due to the fact that you live long enough to CC things and support others. WvW only though.

In dungeons, the best sustainability you can get is going full glass, traiting defensively and eating an omnomberry pie.

Nergrom.7592:

eating an omnomberry pie.

^this.

All your tankyness in the world doesn’t come close to the sustain this wonderful food gives a dps build.

I run a GS/LB Warrior and I have 20/20/15/0/15 and I have no problems in PvE. I can actually accomplish anything I like besides actual [Group] Events.

1st 20- Damage % increase based on adrenaline levels and Increase GS Damage 10%.
2nd 20- +40 Precision per Signet and Forceful GS (crits grant might and GS skills CD reduced 20%).
3rd 15- Turtles Defense (Taken for the Health Regeneration based on adrenaline levels).
4th 0- Nothing good can come from this.
5th 15- Crit % increase based on adrenaline levels and for -5 seconds on Weapon Swap.

Right now I don’t even have full exotics, just running full Vigil Armor and I can go to any level PvE zone and own. My Jewelry is PPT with PPT sockets, my GS is actually PVT just like the vigil armor, Ghastly Greastsword from AC actually.

Skill wise I usually run For Great Justice, Endure Pain, (Insert Skill here) and Signet of Rage. For Healing I use Healing Signet for the constant regen ticks, I haven’t really thought of using a different heal skills because with the two regen ticks from the skill itself and the trait line regen from adrenaline levels it allows me to tank more damage because of the increased armor while above 90% health passive trait in the 3rd trait line. For Great Justice allows me to go over 50% crit a lot of the time and gives me a power boost. I usually use Signet of Rage and FGJ at the same time as much as I can to pump out around (In a level 80 area Cursed Shore for example 10-14k on Hundred Blades) every 6 seconds along with the other skills.

I can take on anywhere from 5-20+ enemies (hit Endure Pain then Signet of Rage, FGJ and then Hundred Blades, anything left standing Whirlwind through them and they are dead).

I can usually take on 9 enemies without having to touch Endure Pain. I rarely have to use Endure Pain, it is more of a fail safe in case I run into a WHOLE LOT of enemies that would bring down a super tank spec’d warrior.

Also eat your omnomberry pie and you are unstoppable. Just my experiences with my Warrior. This build can also apply to Dungeons, with some variations based on the Dungeon is how I run my Warrior.

I plan on sticking with Power, Vitality, and Toughness. It has really made the game more enjoyable actually making you feel like a hero, someone who is truly extraordinary, compared to the Glass Cannons.

If anyone tries it out, let me know how you like it!

Get your crit chance (not too high, you have fury..), power (don’t need much, you have gs might trait), crit damage, toughness up..

Then use precision enhancer consumable(based on toughness) + Omnomberry pie/ghost.

In addition, use all tick heals, use percentage traited damage enhancers in traits (more cost effective than power or toughness, no real percentage based increases). \o/ The power of percentages. Use dual knights axe/warhorn or axe/axe with sigil of blood on crit (60% chance heal on crit) or greatsword with same sigil. You can nullify alot of damage using whirling or dodging or sword/mace (bad damage but can nullify all attacks). Axe attacks very often so you will literally outheal the damage with proc sigil + food crit + 15 defense tick + regen signet (or a regular heal, but remember signets increase your food healing via crit chance).

Carry -alot- of weapons for every situation. Carry skale venom + other dungeon consumables such as healing seed turret.

You can now face tank two veteran karka egg layers or solo orrian champion giants.
…
I do it with that build.. and I’d be happy to tell you it if people show interest.

Remember though, to heal with this, you have to keep swinging your sword! Over and over. Not a problem? Its called sustainable damage. I can still do 20k hundred blades if I time things correctly. My build can switch or mix knights/berserkers to be as tanky or GC as I want.

Vitality just doesn’t provide longevity for this sort of build. Toughness does. Critical healing does.
Percentage damage traits are advantageous because it frees up your statistics for toughness/precision(not too much, you have natural traiting and fury for this), crit damage. Might gives you power. You can weigh stats against each other to realize certain pieces give a better cost/benefit of crit damage versus toughness.

The one weakness to my build would be knockdowns. This can be eliminated by ensuring I have the enemy on the ground more than I am. I am vampiric. I regenerate by attacking, if I go down I may dash to a mob and burst it to stay up. Traited vengeance will save you when you have toughness. It is also in an advantageous tree for critical damage and precision.

Edit:
I didn’t mention this but you can also go shout heals + damage based on boons can be advantageous with a guardian or boon giving team. This allows you to heal even more and be more of a wall while also doing nice sustainable damage. The healing of (probably 2) shouts and inevitably shake it off as a stun breaker will help shift odds in your favor.