Guild Wars 2

I’ve been looking for at least 3 classes to use on Endgame PVE content (Fractals, Dungeons, HoT, and Raids), out of all the classes I’ve yet to level up from 5 my Warrior to say I’ve really “tried” it is my warrior. I’m about to take my main (guardian) to level 80 and I’ve yet to find a good DPS class I feel comfortable with: and many people has pointed the Warrior ro me.

However, every single time I enter the forums, I see a cascade of topics saying the Elite Spec is Garbage, the Warrior is Useless and Boring, the Warrior needs Nerfs, etc, etc, etc.

Pretty much everything said about the Ranger and Necro for PVE content is now being said for warrior, just now that it seems Warriors suddenly suck in both PVE and PVP.

Leveling from 1 to 80 is a VERY tedious and time consuming activity, so at least, I want to make sure that I’m going to invest my time on a good DPS PVE class (Since Mesmer is a pain to level and I’m still not sure how good it is for PVE).

So, care to tell me the truth?

“Truth” is pretty hard to come by. We can give you more opinions though…

Before HoT, Warrior always had a place in the dungeon meta as a Phalanx Strength/Banner bot. Greatsword still does excellent damage with tons of might stacking in PvE. You really can’t go wrong with Warrior for general PvE, and it probably still has a place in most dungeon meta groups that don’t have a Herald.

That said, Herald does what Phalanx Strength/Banner Warrior did, and better. That doesn’t make Warrior any less “powerful” for dungeons and PvE content, but generally speaking, Herald is going to be more desirable to most groups.

If you’re just playing PvE, I wouldn’t discourage you from leveling a Warrior. Just know that you will only be able to run one shoehorned build (Phalanx Strength meta), and if there is a Herald floating around, that player will probably get a spot on the team before you.

As for Berserker, I haven’t tested it extensively, but generally condi builds are hated by the dungeon meta “community” (I use the word community loosely). Berserker gets the most mileage from condi builds, so if you run a power or hybrid build with Berserker, you will probably catch flak from dungeon groups.

I’ve had great fun spamming Gunflame as a Berserker in PvE, but it probably won’t win any DPS awards. If you’re looking for super competitive PvE DPS numbers, don’t bother with Berserker at all.

In PvE you say..? Warrior is up there, no doubt about it.. and Berserker is actually a great PvE elite specialization, damage is way up there.. whichever route you choose to take, be it running a power build or a condition build you will not regret either choice as far as DPS is concerned..

Warrior has very good suitability and mobility. You can do high and sustained damage with GS/Axe build and you can buff your team with banner and phalax strength.

However, the warrior class has a few problems. The two main problem is fast adrenaline decay out of combat and that most build require the fast-hand trait so discipline line is almost always needed in most PvP build. In addition, the defense line is almost always needed in any PvP build.

When you add the berserker spec to all this, it create a lot of problem for the spec since the spec takes up a whole trait line which the warrior class kind of lack because of the importance of defense/discipline trait line. The problem with adrenaline decay also cause a lot of problem for berserker since the spec completely relies on adrenaline. You can say that berserker is useless unless the fight lasts long enough for you to active berserker. If you can’t active berserker, the whole spec line is useless. But in order to active it, you need to build up enough adrenaline which takes time unless you specifically use specific skill to get adrenaline. As a result, its an annoying spec since you can’t use it most of the time and that losing a whole trait line makes the regular state of the warrior much weaker than a warrior that did not take the berserker trait line.

Truth is Herald Rev does not might stack better than PS warrior. It doesn’t come close and it takes a huge dps hit doing so and warrior does not.

Warrior is still fine in PvE. Doing damage is what matters the most there, and doing damage, lots of damage, has never really been an issue for Warriors. Add to that abilities that make staying alive whilst doing damage not an issue (endure pain, healing signet etc) banners, Phalanx Streangth and a decent number of different weapons/builds that all do lots of damage and you have yourself a very versatile profession … for PvE. For PvP the Warrior just lacks offensive damage mitigation like blinds, gap closers that actually work how they are suppose to, skills with build in evades and the possibility to have a build that has enough damage and also keeps him alive long enough to actually do that damage.

DPS wise warrior is going to be top end. Currently condis are the best for high level fractals because of toughness and they are going to be very good in raids. Condi warrior has some of the highest condi DPS in the game (possibly the highest). I was showing it to one of my guild leaders who runs high level fractals and right after he said “Well it looks like fractal teams are going to run 2 condi warriors now”.

The truth?

EA + PS + Disc + Str.

if the mobs learned to kite we would be in thouble

As someone who doesn’t go Phalanx/Greatsword or ShoutBow, I can say warrior’s in a pitiful spot right now, especially for HoT content.

Our weapon sets in general are meh. Axe is passable, but not good, damage. Hammer damage is nerfed into the ground “because it has CC” and PvP would kew if it got buffed. Sword might have some application in stacking condi for Berserker, but it’s lackluster. Mace and Shield are slow and defensive, which is something ANet clearly doesn’t like in its enemy design.

Other classes, especially elites, are better. Herald and Scrapper knock hammer skills out of the park. The Herald buff machine dwarfs warrior “support”.

The very notion of warrior support and skills has gotten laughable. Banners nerfed. Warhorn nerfed. Shouts work, somewhat. Physical skills are mostly PvP-only and otherwise lame. Stances are on too-long cooldowns.

Given the new content is 50% dinosaur-charging-knockdowns, warrior doesn’t get anywhere near enough Stability to really stay in melee. Which means using rifle or bow for subpar damage.

So.. warrior, not in a good spot. Go Guardian or Revenant until ANet pulls head from orifice and starts buffing something on warrior besides greatsword.

Rev can’t stack might the way a PS war can. I main War with a heavy focus on Fractals and you always want a PS War. I run Axe/Warhorn/Greatsword with banners and GFJ and I can condi clear, swift, vigor, party regen with banners, might stack to 25 with one 100b, fury (not as well as Herald for sure), access to quickness, and good damage all without changing my set up. I do end up camping Greatsword 90% of the time in Fractals and World bosses.

In SW and Maguuma I run Sword/Shield/Hammer because I need those blocks and interrupts to CC/Cripple. I can survive for quite a while without having to change much.

I’m not a fan of Beserker but I’ve been playing with it in pvp.

Long story short, Warrior is fine PvE, but don’t be surprised that the PS/Banner Zerk Meta is what you find yourself in because it just works the best in a team.

Every meta group will still have a warrior. Nothing can match the combination of might stacking, banners and dps. Some people say rev can but it can’t. To have that level of support you have to camp dragon stance which is a huge dps loss that puts they way behind warrior is dps and still doesn’t match warrior team buffing.

Thuggernaut.1250:

“Truth” is pretty hard to come by. We can give you more opinions though…

Before HoT, Warrior always had a place in the dungeon meta as a Phalanx Strength/Banner bot. Greatsword still does excellent damage with tons of might stacking in PvE. You really can’t go wrong with Warrior for general PvE, and it probably still has a place in most dungeon meta groups that don’t have a Herald.

That said, Herald does what Phalanx Strength/Banner Warrior did, and better. That doesn’t make Warrior any less “powerful” for dungeons and PvE content, but generally speaking, Herald is going to be more desirable to most groups.

If you’re just playing PvE, I wouldn’t discourage you from leveling a Warrior. Just know that you will only be able to run one shoehorned build (Phalanx Strength meta), and if there is a Herald floating around, that player will probably get a spot on the team before you.

As for Berserker, I haven’t tested it extensively, but generally condi builds are hated by the dungeon meta “community” (I use the word community loosely). Berserker gets the most mileage from condi builds, so if you run a power or hybrid build with Berserker, you will probably catch flak from dungeon groups.

I’ve had great fun spamming Gunflame as a Berserker in PvE, but it probably won’t win any DPS awards. If you’re looking for super competitive PvE DPS numbers, don’t bother with Berserker at all.

^This guy.
The one thing warrior has going for it is that it is form follows function and it is intuitive to use. This suits a straight forward play style where the builds are purity of purpose and the gamep[lay is about being reactive. Warrior still has the ability to stick on PvE target fairly well. (Provided you know and understand all in game one shot mechanics.) However if Fractals etc is your end intention, take warrior to 80, but start crafting armour/AR infusions for something else. Warrior is antiquated, the receiver of multi awarding nerfs, obsolete in many ways. The introduction of berserker only showed cased what anet wanted warrior to be, but nothing players wanted warrior to be. It lacks good team dynamics and doesn’t synergise with any other profession well.

Thuggernaut.1250:

“Truth” is pretty hard to come by. We can give That said, Herald does what Phalanx Strength/Banner Warrior did, and better. That doesn’t make Warrior any less “powerful” for dungeons and PvE content, but generally speaking, Herald is going to be more desirable to most groups.

No. No. No. This is horrible.

Herald can do the warrior’s job by hurting himself DPS wise and it will still do the job far worse than a warrior, the reason an Herald should pop his might is when it’s a party without someonestacking might/or if there is things that can’t be crited (TA bosses/dredge car…) otherwise I do not recommend using it. Even with that banners are to good to be ignored, 170 precision/ferocity/power/condi damage is huge party wise and herald can’t give the same buffs.

Warrior in PvE is in a very great shape, berserker got us very good DPS and the offensive team buffing is the best in the game.

Herald compete with elementalist most likely or engi when no stealth is needed. Warriors should still be taken in meta groups.