First a preface: I have a lot of fun playing my Warrior and experimenting all the time with builds that suit my mood. Therefore, the build presented herein is designed to suit the player of a similar mood. This build would likely best suit the player who wants an aggressive warrior but one that isn’t a glass-cannon and has good sustainability/support. Should it mimic the build of another I am pleased but by no means was my endeavor to upstage. Please criticize, praise or suggest. Thank you.
Here is a look at the statistics of this build:
http://www.gw2build.com/builds/simulator.php#1.2.4.9.15.15.0.0.0.0.28.38.40.39.50.1.1.41.0.0.0.95.0.0.0.0.0.122.128.132.139.140.146.0.10.0.30.30
Playing your warrior this way is a lot of fun. I have found this build most affective in PvE and WvW. I haven’t tried it yet in SPvP but my hunch is that it will only fair moderately poor to moderately well.
Gear:
I use Clerics armor with Superior Runes of the Soldier. Jewelry I change out often based on my area. I might throw in some ‘crit’ jewelry for open world, healing for Dungeons or WvW etc.. On my axes I like to use Superior Sigils of Strength/Bloodlust but really Sigils don’t seem to matter much in a build and so really any sigil works with this build.
Pros:
*Great team support with shout healing and condition removal (Supp. Rune of the Soldier)
*Constant Bursting. 90% or more of the time your Eviscerate is ready to go. The speedy player wins here.
*Moderately high to high DPS. Lots of AoE to boot.
*Permanent Fury and Vulnerability application.
*Moderately high to high solo success.
*Axe is fun: Period. It’s fast, sexy and each hit is aesthetically satisfying.
Cons:
*Low crit-chance. (see below)
*Incoming damage will spike with slow swinging power-hitters. Mostly during boss fights.
Additional comments:
A fairly low Critical Chance will only look bad on paper. In play I have found that I ‘crit’ quite often with 39-40% Critical Chance (which is the lowest you can possibly have but will always be present with this build). Because there is so much AoE and speed in this build your eyes will fool you to believing you’re landing critical hits more often then dry ones. Certainly, the output is still there and that’s what matters.
I have found that carrying a shield and ranged weapon for swapping is ideal for moments when you need to change it up. At least, that’s how I like to play (especially in dungeons with a bad pug). The nice thing about this build is that it also offers some easy change-ups with weapon and traits that allow you to instantly modify your output. Like easily adding in a Warhorn or extra range for your Longbow when you’re defending/sieging a structure in WvW.
I don’t want to to be too winded so I will close with saying this: My play style is usually aggressive but I hate glass cannons. I enjoy the feeling of being not only a threat to my opponents but a valuable support to my allies. I like to play fast (usually) and require some sense of sustainability while doing so. This is my first time posting a build. If you already play this way or bother to try playing this build let me know how it goes.
Thanks
Vinnlander