Guild Wars 2

Today- as i’m playing with my typical hambow- i come across a team consisting of 4 warriors, two of which were using greatswords.

Is it wrong that deep down inside- before any combat began that i knew i was going to win? Is it wrong to think that facing more warriors means an easier match?

Well in this case it sure felt like it. For once i was able to truly see why so many people make fun of great sword warriors. It was so easy! If you know the class- its actually pretty difficult to get hit by anything substantial.

The only thing i couldnt dodge was gs 2 skill- where they whirl foward but everything else- even when it hit it seemed to only tickle my health.

Eventually i was able to fight the two gs warriors 2v1. It was simple- Cripple one, lay down conditions. When they got close i’d just stun and i think one had stability for a little while but once it was gone he was on the ground too. When they tried to hundred blades i’d just interrupt or roll away. Sometimes they would just miss altogether.

Were they bad players? I dont know- but it really felt evil being able to win them over so easily. The fact that one of their weapon’s (the gs) was like a big napkin that they swung around.

Seriously ANET, if someone actually gets hit by the GS they should be taking a whole heck of a lot more dmg than they are now.

I love greatsword, which is why I roam with it. I don’t really use it at all in pvp unless I want to have some fun with frenzy + bull’s charge, but it is most certainly viable, if not necessary, for WvW! But yes. RIP the days of GS shenanigans in pvp!

Invoker.5462:

so many people make fun of great sword warriors.

I didn’t know people made fun of GS warriors thanks for sharing.

Quakeman.9378:

I love greats word, which is why I roam with it. I don’t really use it at all in pvp unless I want to have some fun with frenzy + bull’s charge, but it is more certainly viable, if not necessary, for WvW! But yes. RIP the days of GS shenanigans in pvp!

SWORDS NOT WORDS

“typical hambow” – You know back in my day GS/LB was the warrior meta. Of course there was probably only five people playing it.

It’s not as bad as you make it sound atm, but yes, it’s a neutered spec.

They must not have been Skullcracker, because you would have been the one lying on the ground.

YuiRS.8129:

Quakeman.9378:

I love greats word, which is why I roam with it. I don’t really use it at all in pvp unless I want to have some fun with frenzy + bull’s charge, but it is more certainly viable, if not necessary, for WvW! But yes. RIP the days of GS shenanigans in pvp!

SWORDS NOT WORDS

I can in fact English I will have you know.

Invoker.5462:

The only thing i couldnt dodge was gs 2 skill- where they whirl foward but everything else- even when it hit it seemed to only tickle my health.

?

We have not faced then because youd also be dead. Lol

While I agree the GS isn’t the most optimal weapon in pvp, it sounds like you were playing against people who didn’t know how to use it. If you were able to knock them down or roll away when they were using 100 blades, they weren’t using it right.

As far as damage, the auto on a gs does a little less than the hammer auto, but not much less (especially when factoring in the vuln it applies). Whirlwind Attack (GS3) can do about the same damage as Backbreaker if it hits three times, plus has the mobility and evade attached, the GS cripple does more damage than the hammer cripple (though easier to dodge), and the GS burst does 2-3x more damage than Earthshaker, no matter if you have one, two, or three stages of adren (though it obviously lacks the cc).

So, again, it’s not optimal in pvp. Then again, your hambow isn’t remotely optimal in wvw, and I expect the hammer’s not useful in pve at all.

GS isn’t good. Axe/Mace is the better DPS set-up for when you’re good at the class.

BlackTruth.6813:

GS isn’t good. Axe/Mace is the better DPS set-up for when you’re good at the class.

Axe has the best dps, yes. but dps isn’t the only measure of a weapon. CC, mobility, mitigation, buffs, and DoT also matter.

Axe is a great weapon for warriors, but it won’t do you much good if you’re getting kited.

I use a GS in my WvW build, its just for mobility tho, GS3 and GS5 then back to Axe Shield

Judging by the poor use of Hundred Blades described in the OP, you were fighting inexperienced players. Personally, I’ve been using Gs/Hammer in unranked (I don’t queue for ranked unless I have at least a partial group) and have been tearing people up with it.

Granted, that is a WvW roaming build, but if you play it decently it works just fine for spvp (though it’s clearly not as effective in that particular mode as shoutbow).

Popcornpasta.7605:

Judging by the poor use of Hundred Blades described in the OP, you were fighting inexperienced players. Personally, I’ve been using Gs/Hammer in unranked (I don’t queue for ranked unless I have at least a partial group) and have been tearing people up with it.

Granted, that is a WvW roaming build, but if you play it decently it works just fine for spvp (though it’s clearly not as effective in that particular mode as shoutbow).

Shoutbow isnt effective in anymode.

But regardless of that point, i agree, and it does work well if played by someone who can play it well.

All weapons are situational. One isnt better outright than another in every situation.

So this guy used a condispec to beat two GS warriors in PvP?

In my experience greatsword in zerker builds is not bad. the problem is surviability against good players.

Though it would never happen due to an obvious gulf in MMR, I would love you to come up against Tarcis on zerker lb/gs, or Rom on his cele variant. For that matter, anyone with basic skills in using the weapon would do – the greatsword is a very bursty weapon, and it’s a hard burst to avoid.

Hambow has great on point pressure, and the cc, immunities and damage are hard for new players to deal with. Those new players happened to be using greatsword (where they would be best with shoutbow or hambow until they improve), and you happened to win… But it’s definitely not the fault of the weapon!

YuiRS.8129:

Quakeman.9378:

I love greats word, which is why I roam with it. I don’t really use it at all in pvp unless I want to have some fun with frenzy + bull’s charge, but it is more certainly viable, if not necessary, for WvW! But yes. RIP the days of GS shenanigans in pvp!

SWORDS NOT WORDS

Go for the eyes Boo!!! Go for the eyes!!!!!!

Siroso.2769:

and it’s a hard burst to avoid.

Oh now that’s funny.

Everything about GS is easy to avoid. It’s only useable because of stuns, knockdowns and immobilize.

Kagamiku.9731:

Siroso.2769:

and it’s a hard burst to avoid.

Oh now that’s funny.

Everything about GS is easy to avoid. It’s only useable because of stuns, knockdowns and immobilize.

That is such a broad statement that it works for everything. Let me fix this sweeping generalization for you:

Everything about [insert weapon] is easy to avoid. It’s only useable because of [ insert CC or counterplay].

Fixed it for you.

Thats like saying the sky is blue because it is blue.

Kagamiku.9731:

Siroso.2769:

and it’s a hard burst to avoid.

Oh now that’s funny.

Everything about GS is easy to avoid. It’s only useable because of stuns, knockdowns and immobilize.

Out of curiosity, what skills on the greatsword are only useable because of stuns, knockdowns and immobilise?

Are you referring to hundred blades? If you are using hundred blades for anything other than cleaving downed corpses, you’re doing it wrong.

Siroso.2769:

Kagamiku.9731:

Siroso.2769:

and it’s a hard burst to avoid.

Oh now that’s funny.

Everything about GS is easy to avoid. It’s only useable because of stuns, knockdowns and immobilize.

Out of curiosity, what skills on the greatsword are only useable because of stuns, knockdowns and immobilise?

Are you referring to hundred blades? If you are using hundred blades for anything other than cleaving downed corpses, you’re doing it wrong.

Every single skill.

1.) GS auto is slow

2.) HB is the most clunky skill in the Warrior resume, and is in the most need of an immobilize or knockdown to work.

3.) Whirlwind is the only skill I give credit to. But even then you need to be in melee range to land it or it’s easily dodged. And even when in melee range, you can avoid half of the damage by dodging after it hits you the first time. Even so, I consider it a good skill.

4.) Bladetrail. A complete joke. You won’t ever be landing this.

5.) Rush?? Nope, never landing it against anyone half competent. Even in melee range.

What skills are you referring to? Arcing Slice? I suppose it can be hard to dodge, but Combustive Shot is infinitely better than it for point holding and condition cleansing. Especially if you’re blinded.

So what is your plan to land these skills without an immobilize or knockdown? This is why Throw Bola or Bulls Charge is pretty much a staple in a GS build. You also have Pin Down. Albeit, that skill isn’t easy to land either.

Axe is a far better weapon for DPS in PvP…Because the auto’s are fast and hit harder and it has less obvious tells. Eviscerate is very dodgeable but it’s not too hard to land and it’s way more useful at stage 3…Where-as arcing slice is garbage at stage three. GS/Bow is picked over Axebow because of the much better mobility and the evade from whirlwind that also does good damage. And you can also choose skills that knockdown or immobilize to make GS burst more manageable.

BurrTheKing.8571:

They must not have been Skullcracker, because you would have been the one lying on the ground.

not really, mace is much gimmicky dueling build that has no spot in team other then bunker.

there was a guy who was using gs/mace/shield in soloq all the time back in 2014, but he eventually fade a away, and gs/maceshield remains to a dueling build.

and pin down will always be 5 times better at stopping someone to land team coordinated bursts etc. not to mention fire feild, and ranged damage

a good DP thief can competely shutdown your ability for skullcracking as well.

reason why i hate and never use any mace build, because any mace build are strong or even OP when up against builds with projectils in 1v1. but just not good when used in team. not even when it has lb, it just lacks in some way, reason why mace/sword lb was never in the play, instead of axe/sword lb. but m/s/lb is so much stronger in duel.
only if when they can combine mace/gs build and mace/lb to one build or something. but as of right now i see no use of it in team.
also one crucial thing about m/gs is that, it is a node fighter, it is only useful when it’s close to enemy, which cause him to stay on node for the majority of the time, but he can’t keep the node, because gs 3 will constantly get him out of the node…which cause him to lose the node, sure gs/lb can’t also gard nodes, but it will have an advantage for damaging enemy from outside of the node and has more aoe for node control.

OT: yes greatsword’s damage is hard to land when enemy has no intention to fight, if he just decide to run around the node in cycle, most of your skill will miss unless you land some kind of hard/soft CC.

but if the enemy has intention to go toe to toe with you, that’s where gs is fun at.

btw when theres node like in legacy, where you just whirlwind out of the node and have to run a semi circle to get in again, it’s a pain

Invoker.5462:

Today- as i’m playing with my typical hambow- i come across a team consisting of 4 warriors, two of which were using greatswords.

Is it wrong that deep down inside- before any combat began that i knew i was going to win? Is it wrong to think that facing more warriors means an easier match?

Well in this case it sure felt like it. For once i was able to truly see why so many people make fun of great sword warriors. It was so easy! If you know the class- its actually pretty difficult to get hit by anything substantial.

The only thing i couldnt dodge was gs 2 skill- where they whirl foward but everything else- even when it hit it seemed to only tickle my health.

Eventually i was able to fight the two gs warriors 2v1. It was simple- Cripple one, lay down conditions. When they got close i’d just stun and i think one had stability for a little while but once it was gone he was on the ground too. When they tried to hundred blades i’d just interrupt or roll away. Sometimes they would just miss altogether.

Were they bad players? I dont know- but it really felt evil being able to win them over so easily. The fact that one of their weapon’s (the gs) was like a big napkin that they swung around.

Seriously ANET, if someone actually gets hit by the GS they should be taking a whole heck of a lot more dmg than they are now.

am I the only person that feel interesting in playing GS warrior in SPvP now thanks to this post?