Guild Wars 2

So ATM my main weapon of choice is Axe and Warhorn. But I’m thinking whether I should change to shield. !!!!!!!!!!!Also, this is for WvW!!!!!!!!!

So Pros about warhorn
condition removal – an extra 2 ~ 4 condition removal depending how good I can time condition removals,
swiftness – so I can stick to enemies for longer
vigor/weakness – good trait for me to dodge and defensive ability as well as they’ll do more glanding hits
short cd’s

cons
looks kinda gay
hard to land eviscerates on people unless I happen to immobilise right on their kitten

pros of shield
looks cool – kinda want to wear the guild shield
stun – would make it a lot easier to land eviscerates on people because it takes me right to them, however, i dunno if this is like GS 5 or bull’s charge where it misses 80% Of the time time.
trait for short cd gives extra 90 toughness dunno how much difference it would make
the 3 second block seems pretty useful especially for classes like thieves, because with warhorn they can take me down pretty quick if I don’t find them first, but with shield one stun after I find them using block should be enough to kill them.

cons
long cd’s even if traited, still pretty long
no condition removal, so if I get caught in a team fight or something, i’ll probably be dead.
slower than warhorn because of no vigor or swifness

also, my second weapon set is a rifle so the mobility that warhorn gives is quite important too…

shimmerless.4560:

I prefer Shield personally, if you go for Fast Hands as well there’s a trait in the same tree where you gain Might on block: a lot of players will just keep attacking through a block, plus it has no internal CD so in WvW you can hit the Might cap pretty easily. I do carry a Warhorn for running around, though.

do you find the stun skill to be quite buggy?
and how easily do you get kited because of the lack of condition removals? (or less than there would be if you were using a warhorn)

I do the same, I just carry a warhorn in my inventory open that is moved all the way to the side so i can switch it in for swiftness while I run around. Generally I swap the axe in and out too for a sword just in case I accidentally run into a sticky situation, since savage leap and charge will get you pretty far. But in any engagement, you probably want the axe/shield.

I think it kindof depends on your other weapon set. Also I find the best method (against most, not all enemies) to land eviscerate is to throw it down when they’re mid dodge so that it connects as soon as they finish dodging. Setting it up with a shield bash, unless you know they’ve burned all their stunbreaks usually results in a stunbreak→dodge causing eviscerate to miss.

I like shield over warhorn for a few reasons.
1) damage mitigation beyond just dodge, which warriors are severely lacking.
2) a reliable interrupt, we have others but this is the only truly reliable one really.
3) it’s a really good way to get into a tower through a zerg (block+stability).
4) food buffs make condi’s less of an issue, and even if you don’t run the food less people build around them in WvW because so many people pack this food.
5) when focus fired a lot of players will switch targets when they see block block block, making them have to reacquire you if they want to try again.

The advantages of warhorn
1) AoE, making it very good support for your teammates if you’re not solo roaming.
2) Escaping is much easier with warhorn if combined with a sword.
3) Blast finisher, you can never have enough blast finishers.
4) Much much shorter CD’s than the shield.

I actually prefer the warhorn for combat situations if you have the warhorn talent. One very major reason that you did not mention is mobility condition removal. You are not going to hit anything with your Eviscerate (or any other Axe attack besides Throw Axe) if you can not remove any mobility hindrance conditions.

IMO, movement impairment conditions are far more common than unloaded high damage spam in WvW. So in order for you to effectively use Shield, you basically need to be running either a high-tanky Shout/Soldier rune build (Toughness for Shield/Hammer/Vitality for Shouts) or running Dogged March/Lemongrass/condition reduction rune set with Shield in my mind (Mobile Strikes does not cut it and SoS/Mending is better used for actual damage conditions.)

As far as visually, I agree most warhorns look pretty bad but there are a few Exotics or the E model (add -bonhawke to the prior word). Many very nice Shield models once you get pass the wooden with metal garbage models.

You can land Eviscerate without Shield (use your other weapon slot (Hammer/Rifle or Greatsword (Leg Specialist)/Longbow) and use your 5-sec swap after mobility condition applied). Or just use Throw Bolas/Bull’s Charge as a utility.

Warhorn to me is more defensive while shield is more offensive (kinda strange, but yeah).

As far as cripple/chill go I generally find this to be less of an issue as I can keep my opponent in the same state with my build. I don’t care if I’m crippled if they’re crippled to generally. There are classes with teleport, but generally these classes don’t have the ability to really keep movement impairing conditions up.

I also run a somewhat tanky crit hammer build in WvW, and I find that more often than not I use shield to absorb hits on my way to the opponent (avoiding burst is more about sword leaping out of an immobilize if you get caught in one in the first place).

Shield bash also combos very well with backbreaker.

I run a PVT build with Hammer/sword and horn….with a longbow for certain situations. Works good for me, tho its all about what yer comfortable with.

Warhorn benefits the group better imo, vigor and swiftness for you and your allies, condi removal is awesome anyway and the #4 removes cripple/immob/chill.
Shield on the other hand offers nothing but 3 sec of block which is not really needed if you position yourself right and engage at the right times.

I’ve decided to go with shield, I think melandru + dogged + lemon is a lot more effective at removing conditions than having to actively remove them using warhorn and shouts.

I love the warhorn because it gives me more ways to help team mates, as well as
permanent swiftness.

Turning conditions into boons is just so nice, plus you get free from immob and
cripple and chilled in a guaranteed way. All of that aoe.

With shield it’s harder to be of use for others.

But I never think in solo, I always consider what I can do for others without losing
the ability to hold my own.

Warhorn + runes of soldier with two shouts, and maybe one banner, is nice support
and you don’t have to sacrifice too much solo efficiency. I also use a longbow, which
gives me more ways to support my friends by giving might and placing aoe pressure.

Sylvari with an axe, warhorn and longbow, gives you a very cool warden character. I
also got the Rox’s Quiver set, which makes me look very cool as well.

It is a difficult choice as Warhorn benefits the party as a whole, gives your perma swiftness, gives you Vigor and some condition clear.

Shield however is very useful in baiting professions to blow their strongest skills on you only for it to be blocked, thus giving you a huge advantage. Great for frontline tanking in zergs, great for escaping, gives you a stun, extra armor. Often times it will save your life by mitigating so much damage. Allows you to stay in longer in the frontlines and in turn deal more damage knowing you have an invulnerability you can rely on.

Mattidore.3482:

shimmerless.4560:

I prefer Shield personally, if you go for Fast Hands as well there’s a trait in the same tree where you gain Might on block: a lot of players will just keep attacking through a block, plus it has no internal CD so in WvW you can hit the Might cap pretty easily. I do carry a Warhorn for running around, though.

do you find the stun skill to be quite buggy?
and how easily do you get kited because of the lack of condition removals? (or less than there would be if you were using a warhorn)

I don’t even bother trying to be fancy with a traited warhorn or mobile strikes or signet of stamina/shake it off to deal with conditions. Instead I let Dogged March, my runes of Melandru, and my food (lemongrass) to do the talking. It’s automatic and severely reduced that I don’t even notice any conditions on me. Then you can bring any weapon of choice you prefer to the table; although I recommend a mobile weapon in general if lining up in WvW over anything else. Since the GS offers superb burst and is the most effective mobile weapon I can’t recommend anything but it … you can bring a shield / x as a secondary if you want.