Guild Wars 2

I’m level 75 and trying to see if I can wrap my head around the opinions here. I’ve read a guide but I’m trying to understand why the conventional wisdom is the exact opposite of what I’ve found so far — guides don’t seem to go into enough detail why. Keep in mind that saying things like “rifles suck” are not going to be helpful to me unless you can explain why longbows are better than rifles. So, I’m looking for explanations why I’m wrong. :-)

My weapon choice has been largely dictated by which weapon I get that is higher level/quality than the others. This has let me switch around a lot and try various weapons.

So, right now I am running hammer/rifle. I’ve also liked axe/axe and sword/axe.

I don’t get greatsword. I don’t see why mobility is a good thing because I usually end up running past my target and missing. Damage is hard to compare when you’re constantly upgrading weapons. I liked hundred blades. Whirlwind attack takes too long to position correctly, or you don’t end up where you want, and you usually go past your targets anyway. Bladetrail takes too long and doesn’t do enough damage. Finally, rush goes way past your enemy and always misses. So, I end up just doing hundred blades and the basic chain.

Longbow I’m not a big fan of either, but it’s okay. Largely, longbow is spread out and rifle is focused. Maybe I just know rifle better and have a better rifle than longbow.

Axe is fun, and you can always reposition yourself after you start whirling. Plus, the enemies seem to stop while they are being hit.

Hammer knocks people down and knocks them back, which is nice and gives you breathing room.

Sword and mace were meh, but I could cope with sword main. Sword had the one mobility skill I used to get closer if things had drifted, but that went to the foe rather than past them.

Shield and warhorn are underwhelming.

Spear works well with multiple close-up enemies underwater and harpoon works at range underwater, but it’s not like you have a choice.

Folding in healing/utility/elite, I haven’t found any I like yet — either warrior or human. I go with healing signet because it seems to give the best healing per second over the long haul, and it’s really only when you have an uninterrupted chain of enemies that you have any problems in PvE. I’m ambivalent about Shake It Off. I think Dolyak Signet maybe is doing something, though it’s hard to tell. Endure Pain can be useful if you are suddenly losing health quickly. For Great Justice seems to last as long as its cooldown, so you can constantly cycle it, when you notice.

I wouldn’t say that you’re wrong about the weapons, just maybe that you prefer a different playstyle right now than the ones the other weapons offer. Longbow has excellent utility and it’s a staple at high levels of play, especially in PvP. Combustive Shot offers pressure on capture points in PvP or a firefield for blasting in dungeons. You’re also right about Rush having a hard time hitting things and it’s been brought up to ArenaNet. Rush can be used defensively as well though (Like in a level 40+ fractal to quickly get to the other side of the map and out of hard hitting area skills or something). It may not be apparent in low levels but using Bladetrail like a baws can slow enemies down just enough to keep you or your homie from getting smashed by whatever is chasing before they can heal. The same could happen from a nicely timed Earthshaker, though, so just down to your preference in my opinion, like what kind of utility you want to have.*

The thing is, if you’re just doing open world PvE, you can honestly use pretty much anything and be “effective” as long as you’re putting out enough DPS to kill mobs before you die. Where weapon choice matters is in PvP, WvW, and speed clearing dungeons.

I personally love the rifle/GS combo in open world PvE. For dungeons, I use GS and axe/mace because that’s “expected” (or it was last time I was in a dungeon). For WvW I would be expected to probably use hammer/LB because .. that’s what warriors do there. I don’t feel comfortable with that playstyle so I use a different class in WvW.

Just play what you like in PvE as long as you are getting the job done. If you want to play other modes, you may have to get “good” at different weapons/styles, skill usage.

Dolyak signet is for stability. For instance, I use it heavily if I do the Frostgorge champ train, as the trolls on the circuit will CC you all over the place. You will need to change your skills as you need to, depending on circumstances. In Silver Wastes, I use a lot of the skills that give me stability and condition cleansing, because that is what I need there. I may change those if I just want to run on the world boss train and I really just want more power.

I hope this helps! Welcome to warrioooorrrrrr

I think it’d be helpful for you to watch videos of warriors in PvE.

I made this video a long time ago with the intention of helping out newcomers. It shows a very nice weaponset and a good rotation for it:

The reason axe mainhand is always preferred on the second weaponset is because out of all 1-handed weapons it deals the most damage mainhand. Offhand axe is quite terrible; it might look like whirling axe deals a lot of damage but the reality is that the number at the end is a result of all of the hits, as it’s a channeled skill. Some people that are new to the game mistakingly assume that each number that pops up is each individual hit so it gives the illusion that you’re dealing monstrous damage when you really aren’t.

Mace offhand is generally the most preferable offhand to take for optimizing personal and group DPS, but the thing is it has no defensive utility. Sword offhand offers a block (riposte) so it’s helpful for when taking down champions/things that you can’t kill quickly.

Warhorn is typically an offhand that you should always keep on when running around in open world because it allows you to immediately remove movement impairing conditions (immobilise, cripple, chill) and maintain swiftness easier.

—

The reasons why rifles are bad:
a) single target (no cleave/aoe)
b) very very low DPS and all skills on it are trash except for volley (the third skill)
c) ranged weapons are generally a poor choice on most classes, with exceptions such as staff elementalists because they deal incredibly high damage with staff. Warrior deals very low damage with both rifle and longbow
d) lack of utility – longbows have a combo field, a blast finisher, a blind, an immobilise. Rifle has a close-range and brief knockback along with a cripple… lol.

Reasons why hammer is pretty much useless in PvE:
a) incredibly low damage
b) can’t make proper use of hammer traits because they’re in the defense tree, which is not something you should be focusing on outside of WvW and PvP.
c) knockbacks lower your DPS and pretty much all skills would be a DPS loss compared to autoattacking.
d) the utility that hammer offers just isn’t needed in PvE and would be detrimental to grouped instance content, as shoving mobs away only makes it more difficult for teammates to cleave.
e) bosses have a mechanic known as defiance to prevent them from being completely abused by crowd control skills, which is the only reason to ever use hammer.

Because of the above reasons, hammer remains a PvP/WvW weapon. The only two weapons that are miserably bad to use in PvE are the two that you are unfortunately using. :|

There are definitely good points in this thread, and I’d like to thank people for being respectful — I was dreading a fight.

I’m a little concerned that people seem to care mainly about DPS, and these damage differences are actually really small.

The reason I use whirling axe is not the damage. Maybe I’m mistaken about this, but it seems like anything around me gets locked down while I’m dealing damage, so I don’t take any damage. However, I can still move around. It’s great when the screen is so busy that I can’t even tell where the enemies are and need to reposition. It also damages 5 enemies, but the other abilities handle 3, which is usually enough. I run into a nest of gravelings with whirling axe and won’t take any damage, while locking down those critters. Finally, it builds up adrenaline like crazy. So, in short, you lock down the enemy, while doing some damage and building up adrenaline. It’s a great defensive/control ability, even if it does slightly less damage.

Axe/Mace seems like a solid choice. I tried it once, and I was fine with it, but isn’t crushing blow a bit redundant with cyclone axe? Also, maybe I’m not using tremor effectively. So, while I like axe primary, I don’t see why mace secondary is better than the other choices. At the moment, I don’t have a good mace though (last drop was level 60).

I can also see the argument against hammer in PvE — I switched back after getting some better weapons. It’s a good control weapon, but you don’t really need that much in PvE. That’s true.

Finally, the argument against rifles doesn’t seem to make sense. There are two arguments here. The first argument is that warrior should have 2 melee sets. I agree that melee will do more damage than ranged. I personally either need a ranged weapon or a better healing skill for when I’m low on HP. The only way I would not take a ranged weapon is if I got better at using defiant stance. However, no ranged weapon + healing signet just doesn’t work for me. Unless someone wants to make a better healing suggestion — I am human and thought Prayer to Dwayna did less healing than healing signet on average?

The second issue is rifle versus longbow. I genuinely don’t understand why longbow is preferred over rifle. I understand not having ranged at all (even if it’s not my playstyle), but why longbow? The single target damage is significantly better on rifle than longbow. The single-target issue is the biggest restriction, so I focus on the biggest thing, and it seems good for that. The autoattack builds adrenaline quickly on vulnerable foes — and they should always be vulnerable, and Volley does immense damage, as does the burst skill. The other skills are very situational, I agree, but you can say the same for all weapons.

I guess I like how offhand axe pairs well with rifle. You run into the thick of combat and whirl. If it’s a swarm, you’re locking down and damaging 5 target, and you just need to mop up after that. This works really well against gravelings. In other situations, you might start taking damage afterwards, so you dodge back out and use single-target rifle, but you need to focus on volley, autoattack (making sure the target is vulnerable), and burst — sprinkling in vulnerability or cripple if you happen to need them. (I never use Rifle Butt, since if it’s useful, I want to switch back to melee instead.)

Can someone make an argument for longbow in a situation that isn’t swarming?

I had written out a long post to respond to Purple Miku but it got erased :-[

Anyway, in general PvE there is no reason you can’t use anything, including rifle. If it doesn’t give 100% as much DPS as some other weapon, who cares? You’re not in open world PvE to help groups. I do agree that you could do better than hammer, but if you like it, meh, again, it isn’t META, but you don’t HAVE to be meta everything in this game.

ekarat makes good points.

I personally find rifle very valuable in many situations, but especially in places like Silver Wastes. You can use it to create space, use it to apply vuln, and use it for good burst damage, as ekarat mentions. I use GS because a quick switch from rifle to GS and skill 5 on GS and I’m right in melee range. You could throw bolas first to keep target still, use GS #5 and then GS #2 and whatever you have in sight will be pretty much dead. I also like axe/mace as an alternative. I personally do not use hammer or LB, ever, but that’s my play style.

In PvE, other than dungeons, play whatever you like!!

In general running-around PvE, you can use anything, you can even just run around without a mainhand if you want, the PvE in this game let’s you just run around doing everything and anything because it isn’t actually a challenge until you fight champions, bosses, dungeons and fractals, etc.

The reason the rifle is seen as weak is because it’s role doesn’t fit what GW2 has to offer. It is a single target weapon, with very little self-utility, and with 0 group utility. It provides decent single-target damage, and that’s it (i wouldn’t count crack shot as multi-target) :/

ozmaniandevil.6805:

For WvW I would be expected to probably use hammer/LB because .. that’s what warriors do there. I don’t feel comfortable with that playstyle so I use a different class in WvW.

No, no no no no. Mobility is king in WvW, Hambow is for Capture Points in sPvP, because you don’t have to move around the map, and are focusing on a single small area. You are easy picking in WvW with Hambow because the enemy is free to kite, and move where they please to engage you.

Zietlogik.6208:

ozmaniandevil.6805:

For WvW I would be expected to probably use hammer/LB because .. that’s what warriors do there. I don’t feel comfortable with that playstyle so I use a different class in WvW.

No, no no no no. Mobility is king in WvW, Hambow is for Capture Points in sPvP, because you don’t have to move around the map, and are focusing on a single small area. You are easy picking in WvW with Hambow because the enemy is free to kite, and move where they please to engage you.

I admit that I do better in PvP capture points than WvW, since I’m better at defending a spot than whatever it is you do in WvW.

What do you like in WvW and how does mobility help you? (I’ve never been able to get mobility or block to work effectively for me.)

ekarat.1085:

Zietlogik.6208:

ozmaniandevil.6805:

For WvW I would be expected to probably use hammer/LB because .. that’s what warriors do there. I don’t feel comfortable with that playstyle so I use a different class in WvW.

No, no no no no. Mobility is king in WvW, Hambow is for Capture Points in sPvP, because you don’t have to move around the map, and are focusing on a single small area. You are easy picking in WvW with Hambow because the enemy is free to kite, and move where they please to engage you.

I admit that I do better in PvP capture points than WvW, since I’m better at defending a spot than whatever it is you do in WvW.

What do you like in WvW and how does mobility help you? (I’ve never been able to get mobility or block to work effectively for me.)

In WvW, as a roamer you usually have the GS taking up a slot for the mobility and some damage. for zerging you would take sword/whatever-offhand-you-want, and usually hammer.

Most roaming builds consist of:

GS/Hammer
GS/LB
GS/Axe-shield
Sword-Shield/Hammer (can zerg, usually uses Warhorn instead)
Sword-Sword/LB (condi)

Very rarely do I see enemy warrior without either a sword or a GS, and if they do, they will be engaged upon and die with no ways to escape a blob the majority of the time.

And as much fun as offhand Axe is to play with, it really has no place in PvP, everytime I see a warrior using it I just stop and chuckle, then burst them down and move on. :P

People are forced to use escape mechanics, because of the unfair nature of WvW, also unbalanced issues.

If you see a zerg or a group of people coming to you, you will have to run.

with – condition food + melandru + dogged march. warriors will pretty much be immune to soft CCs which affect a warrior’s mobility the most in PvP.

also, PvP is more of a team game with roles. there are classes who have better mobility.

Mobility in WvW is only king, because you can run away if you are going to lose

by running away, warrior does not gain any advantage, especially not against another warrior.
only if the enemy burn all his cooldown to chase down.

Can someone please explain “mobility” ? I’m getting the impression that it may not mean what I think it means.

ekarat.1085:

Can someone please explain “mobility” ? I’m getting the impression that it may not mean what I think it means.

Mobility counts as both gap closers and escape mechanics, such as Rush and Whirling on GS.

This gives a player an evade, distance, and speed which is vital on larger battlefields where enemies are more likely to kite you. You can either disengage with these tools or engage.

If you’re referring to PvE listen to Miku and none of the other responses disagreeing with his analysis.

I don’t think anyone is actually disagreeing with Miku. Merely stating the fact that in PvE (not including speed clear dungeons) you can use anything you like. Different weapons are used for different reasons. Perhaps only because a person feels they “like the feel” of it, regardless if it takes them 1, 2 or 3 seconds longer to kill a mob. That doesn’t make using those weapons WRONG.

I’m disagreeing with Miku, despite the fact that I am a clueless newbie and Miku is stating well-established conventional wisdom. Why? Not because I think I’m right, but because I want to understand the reasoning. (There are probably cases where each answer could be right for that circumstance.)

In particular, I don’t understand why longbow is preferred over rifle and why the mace off-hand skills are not completely obsoleted by axe main hand.

Also, enough with the “use what you like” talk. I will be going into dungeons, so set me straight or suffer a clueless newbie taking up a valuable dungeon slot!

Why longbow over rifle? Why mace off-hand skills, even with axe main hand?

ekarat.1085:

Why longbow over rifle? Why mace off-hand skills, even with axe main hand?

Well Purple Miku answered those already in his post, basically the Rifle does nothing while the longbow brings team support (might) and the offhand mace brings most damage compared to other offhands

There’s barely anything that you’ll ever need to range in a dungeon. I honestly can’t even think of anything besides Vahid (Melandru) in Arah P4 and maybe that dredge carrier in SE P3. Even those things you don’t have to actually range. It’s just how pugs usually do it.

Even if you do have to/want to range, rifle is generally speaking the worse option because of the fact that it doesn’t offer anything useful to a group. It’s single target and doesn’t inflict burning or have a combo field + blast finisher like longbow does.

It’s just a really trashy weapon for a warrior. There’s not much of any reason for you to be using it unless you want to roleplay as a soldier or something like that.

But ekarat.1085, if you plan to do dungeons I suggest Wethospu’s website http://www.gw2dungeons.net/ as he’s pretty much the best warrior there ever was as far as PvE is concerned (if I had to pick somebody). His website is full of very very useful and specific information for all encounters in dungeons & fractals, and if you want to make sure you’re a valuable dungeon slot you’d do well to take a look at it.

Vikkela.7261:

ekarat.1085:

Why longbow over rifle? Why mace off-hand skills, even with axe main hand?

Well Purple Miku answered those already in his post, basically the Rifle does nothing while the longbow brings team support (might) and the offhand mace brings most damage compared to other offhands

I don’t buy that. Why is rifle “useless” while longbow is “support”? Both have support, and rifle does more single-target damage. The limitation on rifle is single-target, which is a valid issue.

As for mace, axe dual strike does more damage than mace crushing blow. Crushing blow does vulnerability, but spinning axe stacks a lot more. Plus, dual strike gives fury as a bonus. As for Whirling Axe vs. Tremor, both are terrible damage, so you have to think of them as control skills. Whirling Axe has control in the full circle, while Tremor is control in a narrow line.

Longbow provides a plethora of things the Rifle does not, most importantly, team utility.

Bow has:

• Fire field + damage + might blast availability on one skill that covers enough area to effectively cover an entire mob and boss movement.
• multiple projectile finishers + a blast finisher. (very useful)
• fire again on another skill, with triple damage in close range.
• disposable blind, immobilize and bleeds.
• blast finisher + damage source on low CD.

Rifle has:

• One of the highest single-target skills (f1), but can be easily blocked, blinded, and interrupted.
• low damage cripple.
• single target multishot high damage ability with projectile finisher. (the Rifle’s Saving Grace)
• low damage long cast time vulnerability skill.
• and a long CD short range knockback. (knockbacks are not preferred in group settings, to maximize AoE effectiveness)

As for the mace, think of it terms of time spent/wasted.

With Axe 4 you get a skill with not a great CD, with fury (you should have perma nearly without this skill) and some mediocre damage….the skill may as well not exist.

And axe 5, you get a skill with some damage potential but requires a full channel to get the most out of it, with a broken whirl finisher to boot. (channeling with an offhand, means your not auto attacking with axe)

Mace gives a nearly instant 10 stacks of vulnerability, as well as a double-hit, relatively high damage knockdown (preferred over knockback) skill, both skills have no lengthy aftercast or channel, meaning you can instantly get the utility from them, and be back to Axe DPS.

Purple Miku.7032:

There’s barely anything that you’ll ever need to range in a dungeon. I honestly can’t even think of anything besides Vahid (Melandru) in Arah P4 and maybe that dredge carrier in SE P3. Even those things you don’t have to actually range. It’s just how pugs usually do it.

Even if you do have to/want to range, rifle is generally speaking the worse option because of the fact that it doesn’t offer anything useful to a group. It’s single target and doesn’t inflict burning or have a combo field + blast finisher like longbow does.

It’s just a really trashy weapon for a warrior. There’s not much of any reason for you to be using it unless you want to roleplay as a soldier or something like that.

But ekarat.1085, if you plan to do dungeons I suggest Wethospu’s website http://www.gw2dungeons.net/ as he’s pretty much the best warrior there ever was as far as PvE is concerned (if I had to pick somebody). His website is full of very very useful and specific information for all encounters in dungeons & fractals, and if you want to make sure you’re a valuable dungeon slot you’d do well to take a look at it.

• Thank you for the dungeon link. I am reading it. I can’t absorb it all immediately on first read, but it will make learning the dungeons easier.

• Um, my rifle inflicts burning all the time in combo fields. That’s what rifle does.

• What do you do when you are low on HP, continue with melee until you die? It seem better to me to dodge back and switch to range until my HP regenerates more. 80% damage is better than 0% damage.

ekarat.1085:

• Um, my rifle inflicts burning all the time in combo fields. That’s what rifle does.

• What do you do when you are low on HP, continue with melee until you die? It seem better to me to dodge back and switch to range until my HP regenerates more. 80% damage is better than 0% damage.

Your rifle will only inflict burning when someone else has a fire field, Longbow has its own and also has projectile finishers, meaning it would be superior in that particular regard as well.

And in a proper group settings, running dungeons you will not be taking enough damage that you would need to retreat, heal stacking is what provides this ability, meaning you can purely focus on DPS. Also dodge….works great.

Zietlogik.6208:

ekarat.1085:

• Um, my rifle inflicts burning all the time in combo fields. That’s what rifle does.

• What do you do when you are low on HP, continue with melee until you die? It seem better to me to dodge back and switch to range until my HP regenerates more. 80% damage is better than 0% damage.

Your rifle will only inflict burning when someone else has a fire field, Longbow has its own and also has projectile finishers, meaning it would be superior in that particular regard as well.

And in a proper group settings, running dungeons you will not be taking enough damage that you would need to retreat, heal stacking is what provides this ability, meaning you can purely focus on DPS. Also dodge….works great.

Well, I did my first fractal yesterday and went with an axe/mace + longbow setup. At the end of the Thaumanova Reactor, there was the Thaumanova Anomaly boss. After failing a few times, I switched to rifle and did much better. I totally believe that some people could do melee and still dodge the disappearing panels, but I personally could not. Longbow support wasn’t doing much, but rifle was doing decent damage — not as much as axe, but the rapid buildup of adrenaline let me do a good amount of burst. However, if you’re facing a horde of gravelings, you probably do want a longbow, and the horde scenario is more common.

“Your rifle will only inflict burning when someone else has a fire field, Longbow has its own and also has projectile finishers, meaning it would be superior in that particular regard as well.”

No, the rifle inflicts burning often enough in practice. I haven’t seen a lack of combo fields, though I have seen a lack of stacked healing. Yes, with the longbow you can self-combo, but in practice, that isn’t very useful.

“And in a proper group settings, running dungeons you will not be taking enough damage that you would need to retreat, heal stacking is what provides this ability, meaning you can purely focus on DPS.”

I can’t always rely on that being true (and you expect a proper group to do that but not create combo fields?). Plus, there are people who have the opposite view — that everyone should take care of themselves. Finally, one of the draws of this game for me was that there weren’t tank/heal/DPS roles.

“Also dodge….works great.”

I can often get out of red circles (which causes me to stop doing damage), but there’s so much chaos on the screen that I can’t see the animations for attacks. I can be at full health and take no damage and then suddenly get hit for half my health without knowing what happened. There are too many special effects. Finally, you can’t dodge constantly. Basically, I believe dodging to avoid damage works great for some people, but it’s not enough for me.

Ultimately, it feels like you’re advocating a build that has the highest theoretical DPS under ideal conditions and for a specific situation and that if you need something other than DPS, the group is doing something wrong. That doesn’t always match up to the reality on my screen, and I find it problematic if people expect everyone else to do the same thing.

ekarat.1085:

No, the rifle inflicts burning often enough in practice. I haven’t seen a lack of combo fields, though I have seen a lack of stacked healing. Yes, with the longbow you can self-combo, but in practice, that isn’t very useful.

When I pug, I find the opposite to be the case. Even then, I would argue that the blast finisher in the fire field — giving everyone nearby three stacks of might — makes up for the difference in auto-attack damage. Smartcasting is a plus for this.

Ultimately, it feels like you’re advocating a build that has the highest theoretical DPS under ideal conditions and for a specific situation and that if you need something other than DPS, the group is doing something wrong. That doesn’t always match up to the reality on my screen, and I find it problematic if people expect everyone else to do the same thing.

Warrior is one of the classes that tend not to bring much other than DPS in pugs. The longbow does offer some support, same with the 7-9 skills (especially banners + FGJ). Classes like guardian, mesmer, and elementalist bring a lot of utility to a party. As you get more experience, you find that once your group has sufficient utility you might as well add more damage to move things along faster.

You had mentioned axe/mace before. The mace 4 and axe 2 stack vulnerability, applying 14 vulnerability to those hit by both. You then proceed to axe auto-attack them down or swap to a greatsword and 2-5 cycle. And yes, although it is based on ideal dps, you can come quite close even with dodges and the like.

petrocksteve.8653:

ekarat.1085:

No, the rifle inflicts burning often enough in practice. I haven’t seen a lack of combo fields, though I have seen a lack of stacked healing. Yes, with the longbow you can self-combo, but in practice, that isn’t very useful.

When I pug, I find the opposite to be the case. Even then, I would argue that the blast finisher in the fire field — giving everyone nearby three stacks of might — makes up for the difference in auto-attack damage. Smartcasting is a plus for this.

Ultimately, it feels like you’re advocating a build that has the highest theoretical DPS under ideal conditions and for a specific situation and that if you need something other than DPS, the group is doing something wrong. That doesn’t always match up to the reality on my screen, and I find it problematic if people expect everyone else to do the same thing.

Warrior is one of the classes that tend not to bring much other than DPS in pugs. The longbow does offer some support, same with the 7-9 skills (especially banners + FGJ). Classes like guardian, mesmer, and elementalist bring a lot of utility to a party. As you get more experience, you find that once your group has sufficient utility you might as well add more damage to move things along faster.

You had mentioned axe/mace before. The mace 4 and axe 2 stack vulnerability, applying 14 vulnerability to those hit by both. You then proceed to axe auto-attack them down or swap to a greatsword and 2-5 cycle. And yes, although it is based on ideal dps, you can come quite close even with dodges and the like.

Thank you. Those are some very good points. I also admit that I misread the mace description and thought it only stacked 1 vulnerability instead of 10. That does make a difference to my opinion of it. Plus, I got my first exotic weapon — a mace — randomly, and have been using it. I haven’t been that impressed with the damage, but the 10 vulnerability makes the axe autoattack more effective.

I have been trying axe/mace + longbow. I am perfectly fine with axe/mace, but I do get into trouble faster than with axe/axe. (I still think Whirling Axe has some decent control that gets ignored, but that’s more useful for soloing — you can practically alternate between whirling axe and your burst attack and constantly lock down the enemy without taking damage yourself.)

I still consider rifle vs longbow to be situational (a single boss without adds might work better with rifle, but longbow can be more flexible). I, for the life of me, cannot use greatsword effectively, since I tend to run the wrong way when I use the mobility skills. Perhaps I could learn them in time, but it’s not my style.

I still think the weapons are more balanced than people think, but each fits better with a different situation, and the preferred weapons maybe fit better with the expected warrior role in a group?

(I still think a part of me wants to try Guardian or Necromancer as maybe fitting my preferred styles of play better. Warrior was supposed to be easy for a newbie.)

I don’t understand what leads you to believe that you’re safer with axe offhand than with mace offhand?

Whirling axe doesn’t do anything but spin for 3.5 seconds dealing lower damage than autoattacks… :P

By the way when you get to the level that enables use of grandmaster traits you’re going to want to use Berserker’s Power, so burst skills will overall be a loss unless used at or near the end of a fight.

Both axe and mace offhands aren’t useful for defensive utility, but at least you can use tremor to interrupt mobs with on mace. Axe offhand you don’t really have anything for.

If you’re looking for situational defense, temporarily swap to a sword offhand for an extra block when fighting something that requires it.

Greatsword’s skills also can be used to play defensively, namely bladetrail to keep a mob crippled while you need to recover, whirlwind when you need an evasion and/or to maintain distance, and even GS rush to escape a fight or also to maintain distance. All the meanwhile dealing a hell of a lot more damage.

Purple Miku.7032:

I don’t understand what leads you to believe that you’re safer with axe offhand than with mace offhand?

Whirling axe doesn’t do anything but spin for 3.5 seconds dealing lower damage than autoattacks… :P

By the way when you get to the level that enables use of grandmaster traits you’re going to want to use Berserker’s Power, so burst skills will overall be a loss unless used at or near the end of a fight.

Both axe and mace offhands aren’t useful for defensive utility, but at least you can use tremor to interrupt mobs with on mace. Axe offhand you don’t really have anything for.

If you’re looking for situational defense, temporarily swap to a sword offhand for an extra block when fighting something that requires it.

Greatsword’s skills also can be used to play defensively, namely bladetrail to keep a mob crippled while you need to recover, whirlwind when you need an evasion and/or to maintain distance, and even GS rush to escape a fight or also to maintain distance. All the meanwhile dealing a hell of a lot more damage.

First off, I want to acknowledge that you do know what you are talking about — it’s just that I do tend to learn by arguing (even if I know I’m wrong), and I like knowing the reasons behind a suggestion.

As for whirling axe, I seem to be able to wander into the middle of a bunch of enemies, activate it, and see them locked into the “getting hit” animation the whole time. Basically, they can’t damage me while I’m whirling (though enemies outside my range can) — and gravelings can’t toss me around. However, once I realized that mace inflicts 10 stacks of vulnerability (not 1 — that was my reading comprehension error), I can see why that would be desirable. Also, Tremor apparently hits twice, which makes it better than when I thought it hit only once. I got my first exotic weapon from a random drop, and it was a mace, so I’ve been using that now.

As for Berserker’s Power, I haven’t unlocked it yet. If you’re using that, it does nerf rifle, since rifle is mostly about building adrenaline and using the burst skill (which does seem to be the most damaging of all the burst skills, but only for a single target).

As for Greatsword, I can’t aim Whirlwind and often end up in the completely wrong direction. Plus, I often run past with Rush. I’m sure other people can use it effectively, but I can’t — I just end up running around randomly.

Finally, as for sword, I just don’t know when to block, and you can’t block constantly while regenerating (unless you are a guardian).

It may also be that warrior is just not the style for me. It’s my first character and I wanted something easy to learn to start.

ekarat.1085:

and see them locked into the “getting hit” animation the whole time. Basically, they can’t damage me while I’m whirling (though enemies outside my range can)

That’s all in your imagination. Nothing like that is actually happening in game.

You can be hit while attacking with whirling axe, so you are unfortunately mistaken about that. It has no utility other than for building adrenaline, which can be done with literally everything else :P

Whirlwind is much easier to make use of if you change ground targeting to instant. You can change this in the settings: http://puu.sh/dw3le.png

It is by default on “Normal” which makes it more difficult to time it for evading. If you want to make sure that it goes in the direction that your camera is facing (forward), you can actually click on it.

GS’s #5 Rush skill is currently bugged and does indeed go past targets. If you use it in close range, however, it’ll hit. Try it. It has a very high damage coefficient.

Sword’s block is just something you’re going to have to get used to over time. It’ll at some point become more obvious when enemies are about to attack and it’ll be second nature. You’ll then be able to substitude a dodge for a block when you become more comfortable.

Perhaps warrior isn’t for you, but you’ll find that out as time progresses. At the very least you’re trying to learn which is a lot more than most do.

It sounds like the OP might be skill clicking if he is having trouble aiming whirlwind. If this is the case, try using the hotkey instead. If not, try Miku’s suggestion too!

If you think that guardian would be better suited, please keep in mind guardians have much smaller health pools and as such may rely on even more skill to stay alive by using blinds/aegis/blocks. Taking damage as a guardian is a lot less forgiving. As for necro, it is notoriously bad for most PvE situations. I would suggest sticking with warrior for now.

Like Miku said, you’re trying to learn and that’s good. I like that you aren’t just blindly accepting what has been said here despite that it is coming from some of the best/most well known warriors in PvE, because understanding the reasoning is just as important.

ekarat.1085:

Finally, the argument against rifles doesn’t seem to make sense. There are two arguments here. The first argument is that warrior should have 2 melee sets. I agree that melee will do more damage than ranged. I personally either need a ranged weapon or a better healing skill for when I’m low on HP. The only way I would not take a ranged weapon is if I got better at using defiant stance. However, no ranged weapon + healing signet just doesn’t work for me. Unless someone wants to make a better healing suggestion — I am human and thought Prayer to Dwayna did less healing than healing signet on average?

The second issue is rifle versus longbow. I genuinely don’t understand why longbow is preferred over rifle. I understand not having ranged at all (even if it’s not my playstyle), but why longbow? The single target damage is significantly better on rifle than longbow. The single-target issue is the biggest restriction, so I focus on the biggest thing, and it seems good for that. The autoattack builds adrenaline quickly on vulnerable foes — and they should always be vulnerable, and Volley does immense damage, as does the burst skill. The other skills are very situational, I agree, but you can say the same for all weapons.

I guess I like how offhand axe pairs well with rifle. You run into the thick of combat and whirl. If it’s a swarm, you’re locking down and damaging 5 target, and you just need to mop up after that. This works really well against gravelings. In other situations, you might start taking damage afterwards, so you dodge back out and use single-target rifle, but you need to focus on volley, autoattack (making sure the target is vulnerable), and burst — sprinkling in vulnerability or cripple if you happen to need them. (I never use Rifle Butt, since if it’s useful, I want to switch back to melee instead.)

Can someone make an argument for longbow in a situation that isn’t swarming?

Just a few things on this.

In your scenario, You jump in with Axe/Axe and whirl away, then dodge backward, switch to rifle and take out mobs on at a time. Which is not a terrible way to do things. I do it myself. However, with the Longbow, when you dodge backward you can drop combustive shot (Long bow F1), then Arcing Arrow (Longbow 3) for some might and AoE damage. Then target a single mob with Pindonw (Longbow 5) and immobilize him in the fire, then target another mob coming at you with Smoldering Arrow (Longbow 4) blinding him. Switch back to Axe/Axe and tear them apart.

As single target situations, basically the same as in a group. It works just as well. Although rifle can be great for single targets, there aren’t very many situations in PvE where you are only facing 1 mob. And if you are, then you should be able to melee them down fairly quickly anyway.

Purple Miku.7032:

You can be hit while attacking with whirling axe, so you are unfortunately mistaken about that. It has no utility other than for building adrenaline, which can be done with literally everything else :P

It seemed that way from the animations, but I can believe that it only seemed that way.

Purple Miku.7032:

Whirlwind is much easier to make use of if you change ground targeting to instant. You can change this in the settings: http://puu.sh/dw3le.png

It is by default on “Normal” which makes it more difficult to time it for evading. If you want to make sure that it goes in the direction that your camera is facing (forward), you can actually click on it.

What does instant do? Does it go where the mouse pointer is at that moment? Because my problem is that the direction it goes is effectively random. Or are you just using it to dodge and you don’t care where you end up. Does clicking make your character go the way the character is facing or the way the camera is facing (because they get out of sync during combat)? I’d really settle for “go in the direction of your currently selected target and possibly past that.”

It goes where your mouse is pointing. Instant cast makes it much better as a defensive mechanism since its one button push instead of two.

Clicking the skill will launch you in the direction of the camera based on the test I did using teamviewer on my phone because I am not at my home computer. Either way, I would strongly advise against clicking this skill or any of your skills in GW2. Use hotkeys on your mouse and keyboard for all your skills and try instant cast as suggested or even fast-targeting.

Edit: Since you asked about what instant does I’ll tell you what fast-targeting does in case you don’t know. Fast targeting allows you to press and hold the button for the skill you are casting, place the location or direction of the skill based on the mouse position, then release the button to cast it.
Still better than the default, also only 1 button press, might be a little easier until you get the hang of things better, idk.

If you can get used to it, clicking on whirlwind can actually very advantageous depending on the situation. Perfect example: here.

If I weren’t to have clicked it, it wouldn’t have been as reliably precise with the direction and chances are I’d have probably slid off beyond the little rock that I wedged myself against. I strategically was trying to make sure that my movement would be obstructed to not only keep the two bosses clumped together, but to make sure my entire whirlwind would hit them.

Sometimes it’s better to click it, sometimes it’s not. Either way I’m only sharing that with you because it’s something that I learned from playing a long time ago and it greatly helped me, so I figured it may do the same for you.

Rifle isn’t about building adrenaline and using f1, it’s a dps loss to use it. You just sit there for 3 sec and achieve meh damage.

Traited Axe #5 brings in a lot of adrenaline that I can spam Burst as soon as cooldown. Of course having 50% base crit chance helps a lot.

ShakeyStorm.7180:

Traited Axe #5 brings in a lot of adrenaline that I can spam Burst as soon as cooldown. Of course having 50% base crit chance helps a lot.

We’re talking about PvE.

hybrid.5027:

ShakeyStorm.7180:

Traited Axe #5 brings in a lot of adrenaline that I can spam Burst as soon as cooldown. Of course having 50% base crit chance helps a lot.

We’re talking about PvE.

And this also applies to PvE. I use it quite often. Trying to either solo open world champs, or for higher level vets, etc. It has many uses. I like my Axe/Axe thank you very much.

Whether or not you like something doesn’t make it more effective than something else… please take that into consideration before giving advice.

I want to steer OP in the right direction is all.

The reality is that anything can work, but we’re talking about what works best.

We know you like axe offhand, pdavis. It’s still blatantly suboptimal. Don’t take it personal.

Purple Miku.7032:

Whether or not you like something doesn’t make it more effective than something else… please take that into consideration before giving advice.

I want to steer OP in the right direction is all.

The reality is that anything can work, but we’re talking about what works best.

We know you like axe offhand, pdavis. It’s still blatantly suboptimal. Don’t take it personal.

Oh I am well of that. But my response wasn’t as to whether or not it was the most optimal (which it isn’t but it’s still fun :P) My response was directed more to the PvE comment. Which is the main topic of this thread.

Yes another OH weapon would be far more efficient, but thats not the point I was trying to make.

pdavis.8031:

hybrid.5027:

ShakeyStorm.7180:

Traited Axe #5 brings in a lot of adrenaline that I can spam Burst as soon as cooldown. Of course having 50% base crit chance helps a lot.

We’re talking about PvE.

And this also applies to PvE. I use it quite often. Trying to either solo open world champs, or for higher level vets, etc. It has many uses. I like my Axe/Axe thank you very much.

That’s largely what I was doing myself with axe/axe. I could burst every time it came off cooldown.

Anyway, thank you for the control suggestions, but they don’t actually work for me. I am set up very differently than everyone else, and I don’t think I’ve ever clicked on a skill once either — not implying that other people do, just that I don’t do that either. I can press ‘3’ twice faster than I can press ‘v’ once, since I rest my fingers up there. That works for me. What doesn’t work for me is quick positioning of the mouse pointer because I’m on a trackpad, not a mouse, and that changes everything.

ekarat.1085:

I’m on a trackpad, not a mouse, and that changes everything.

Well that’s a pretty big factor in an action based combat mmo. I’d hate to play gw2 with out a mouse. Now I see why you had trouble aiming the skill during combat.

Mother of god… no mouse? This reminds me of back when I used to play Runescape and did dungeoneering nonstop. A girl I was close friends with was constantly playing with a laptop touchpad and I honestly didn’t understand how, because I feel like I could type better with my rear end than I could navigate a mouse cursor without a mouse. >_>

ekarat.1085, take my word for it… buy this:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/logitech-m510-wireless-laser-mouse-light-silver/9928441.p?id=1218196478797&skuId=9928441

It is cheap, extremely comfortable for the hand, and lasts long. I’ve been using them for ages and they are awesome!

I have one of those. I carry it in my backpack to use with my laptop at school and etc. It’s a great mouse. The contour is awesome.