Guild Wars 2

Strength
(First Line focuses on Direct Damage, Second on Low-HP Fighting/Comebacks and third is Weapon/Utility Skills)

• Reckless Dodge – Remains as is.
• Death from Above – Damage and Launch enemies when you take Falling Damage. Reduces Damage from Falling by 50%. Reckless Dodge now Cripples (3s) Enemies.
• Restorative Strength – Gain Might (5 Stacks, 6s) when you use a Healing Skill. Using a Heal Skill while below the Threshold removes 2 Conditions. Threshold: 50%.
• Peak performance – Enhances Physical Skills.
  • Kick – Now additionally Cripples (5s) and Weakens (5s) Enemies struck.
  • Bull’s Charge – Now grants Stability (3 stacks, 3s) on Activation.
  • Bolas – Now also Pulls the enemy towards you.
  • Stomp – Is now Ground-Targeted. Range increased to 600.
  • Rampage – Now grants pulsing Might (3 stacks, 9s).
• Building Momentum – Remains the Same.
• Excessive Force (Replaces Forceful Greatsword) – Gain Might (1 stack, 6s) when you Critically Hit with a Melee Weapon. Deal 10% more Damage when you have Might Stacks over the threshold. Threshold: 10.
• Great Fortitude – Increases Vitality by 10% of your Power. While below 50% HP, Healing and Damage is increased by 15%.
• Axe Mastery (Replaces Body Blow) – Moved to Master Tier. Remains the same.
• Powerful Arms (Replaces Stick and Move) – Reduces cooldown on Weapon swap by 50% When you swap to Greatsword, Spear or Main-Hand Axe in combat. Damage is increased by 7% for 3s after Swapping weapons while in Combat. ICD: 4s.
• Berserker’s Power – Remains the Same.
• Second Wind (Replaces Axe Mastery) – When you strike an Enemy with a Level 3 Burst Skill, enter into Berserker’s Stance. Duration: 8s. Cooldown: 60s.
• Collateral Damage (Replaces Distracting Strikes) – Critical Hits while wielding a Greatsword or Spear now deal AoE Damage around your target. Greatsword and Spear skills recharge 20% Faster. Base Damage: 408. Radius: 180. ICD: 3s.

Arms
(First Line focuses on Condition Damage, Second on Critical Hits/Fury and third on Weapon/Utility Skills)

• Precise Strikes – Remains the Same.
• Body Blow (Replaces Berserker’s Fury) – Bleed (3 stacks, 4s) and Weaken (2s) An enemy when you Stun, Daze, Knock or Launch them.
• Opportunist – Striking a Crippled, Chilled or Immobilized target grants Extra Adrenaline and Fury (10s). Adrenaline: 8. ICD: 10s.
• Signet Mastery – Remains the Same.
• Bloodlust (Moved to Master) – Remains the Same.
• Distracting Strikes (Moved from Strenght) – Interrupting a Target causes Confusion (4 stacks, 8s).
• Deep Strike – Fury you apply grants Condition Damage. Critical Hits while under the effects of Fury have a 50% Chance to stack Vulnerability (1 Stack, 8s).
• Blademaster – Remains the same.
• Precise Arms (Replaces Rending Strikes) – Reduces Cooldown on Weapon Swap by 50% When you swap to Longbow, Harpoon Gun or Sword Main-hand in combat. Condition Damage is increased by 7% for 3s after swapping weapons while in combat. ICD: 4s.
• Furious – Remains the Same.
• Dual-Wielding – Increases Attack speed by 15% When wielding a Sword, Axe or Mace in your Off-hand. Whenever you critically strike a target while wielding a Sword, Axe or Mace in your Off-hand, stack Conditions over time, depending on Off-hand weapon. Duration: 5s. Pulses: 5 ICD: 15s.
  • Sword – Torment (1 Stack, 8s)
  • Axe – Vulnerability (2 stacks, 8s)
  • Mace – Weakness (2s)
• Trick Arrows (Replaces Burst Precision) – Dual Shot now Bleeds (1 Stack, 4s x2) your target, while Arcing Arrow and Smoldering Arrow now Burn (2 stacks, 3s) enemies struck. Longbow Skills Recharge Faster.

Defense
(First Line focuses on Active Sustain, Second line on Passive Sustain, Third line on Weapon/Utility Skills)

• Thick Skin – You gain 150 extra Toughness while above 90% HP.
• Health Freak – Healing reduced while suffering from Poison is lower (Down to 20%, from 33%). Whenever you gain Regeneration, you remove Poison from yourself. ICD: 5s.
• Dogged March – Remains Unchanged.
• Shield Master – Remains Unchanged.
• Adrenal Health (Merged Partly with Cleansing Ire) – Gain Health regeneration based on Adrenaline level. Remove 1 Condition for each Bar of Adrenaline spent when you hit with a Burst Skill.
• Cull the Weak – Moved to Master. Weaken (4s) enemies when you strike them while they’re below 25% HP. Weakness you apply additionally reduces Outgoing Condition Damage by 20%.
• Robust (Replaces Armored Attack) – Decreases incoming Condition Duration by 2% for each 100 Points in Healing Power. Increases Healing Power by 10% of your Toughness.
• Defy Pain – Remains Unchanged.
• Spiked Armor – Remains the Same.
• Indomitable (Replaces Cleansing Ire) – Gain Adrenaline (1) When struck. When you Block or Evade an attack, you gain Extra Adrenaline (5) and gain a buff that increases healing from Adrenal Health by 100% For 6s. ICD: 9s.
• Rousing Resilience – Gain Toughness (Up to 1000) and Health (Base: 2600) when you break out of Stun. Level 3 Burst Skills now Break Stun.
• Last Stand – Remains Unchanged.

Tactics
(First Line focuses on Soft CC, Second line on Weapon/Utility Skills and Third on Party Support)

• Determined Revival – You gain up to 400 Toughness while reviving an Ally. Allies you actively revive gain up to 200 Toughness.
• Leg Specialist – Immobilize (1s) your target when you Cripple them. Movement-impairing Conditions last 33% longer. ICD: 5s.
• Quick Breathing – Warhorn skills convert 1 Condition into Regeneration (4s) on each affected Ally. Warhorn skills recharge faster.
• Empowered – Remains the same.
• Avenger’s Promise (Replaces Reviver’s Might) – When an Ally is downed near you, you gain Quickness (2s). When you’re downed, nearby Allies gain Quickness (2s). Radius: 360. ICD: 20s.
• Surprise Maneuver – Blind nearby Enemies when you swap Weapons while in Combat. Radius: 180. ICD: 9s.
• Inspiring Battle Standard (Replaces Shrug it off.) – Moved from Discipline. All Banners grant Regeneration (3s) to nearby Allies with each Pulse and has their Radius increased by 60.
• Empower Allies – Remains the Same.
• Inspiring Presence – Might you apply also grants Healing Power (10).
• Art of War (Replaces Powerful Synergy) – Blind you Apply lasts 1 additional attack.
• Vigorous Shouts – Shouts recharge 20% faster, Heal (Base: 1200) nearby Allies and Grant you Adrenaline (5). Healing and Adrenaline is increased for each affected Ally. Increase per Ally: 20%.
• Phalanx Strength – Remains the Same.

Discipline
(First Line focuses on Mobility, Second on Weapons and CC and third on Boons/Adrenaline.)

• Versatile Rage – Remains the Same.
• Warrior’s Sprint – Remains the Same
• Crack Shot – Rifle and Harpoon Gun Skills Pierce and Recharge 20% faster. Striking a target outside of the Range threshold with a Rifle or Harpoon Gun grants you Might (1 stack, 6s). Threshold: 600.
• Adrenal High – Whenever you gain a Full Bar of Adrenaline, you gain Fury (5s) and Swiftness (8s). ICD: 10s.
• Brawler’s Recovery (Replaces Fast Hands) – Remains the Same.
• Unstoppable (Replaces Inspiring Battle Standard) – Movement Skills now Destroys Projectiles and grants Stability (1 stack, 3s) when Activated.
• Blunt Force (Replaces Sundering Mace) – Hammer and Mace Skills recharge 20% Faster. Disabling an enemy while wielding Hammer or Mace grants a stacking buff that increases Damage, Stun and Condition Duration by 5% Per stack, for each target disabled. Max Stacks: 5. Duration: 8s.
• Destruction of the Empowered – Remains the Same.
• Brutal Arms – Reduces Cooldown on Weapon Swap by 50% When you swap to Hammer, Rifle or Mace Main-hand in combat. After swapping weapons while in Combat, your next attack will Daze (1/2s) your target. ICD: 4s.
• Burst Mastery – Remains the Same.
• Attack of Opportunity (Replaces Heightened Focus) – Gain Quickness (2s) when you disable a foe. Duration is doubled if you Interrupt them. ICD: 15s.
• Insurmountable (Replaces Merciless Hammer) – Your Boons cannot be Stolen, Stripped or Corrupted while you’re above the Health Threshold. Threshold: 90%.

Berserker

• Primal Rage – Remains the Same
• Last Blaze – When you use a Rage Skill or Activate Berserk Mode, Burn (2 stacks, 5s) nearby enemies.
• Savage Instinct – Break Stun and Remove 1 Condition when you enter Berserk Mode. Take 10% less damage while Berserk.
• Smash Brawler – Remains the Same.
• Always Angry – Remains the Same
• Blood Reaction – Remains the Same
• Dead or Alive – Taking Fatal Damage while in Berserk mode will Heal you (5.200 Base) and Remove All Conditions (13). ICD: 25s.
• Heat the Soul – Reworked. Reduces recharge of Torch Skills (20%). Bleeding an enemy while in Berserk Mode also Burns (1 stack, 3s) them.
• Fatal Frenzy – Remains the Same.
• Bloody Roar – Remains the Same.
• Eternal Champion – Remains the Same.
• King of Fires – Burning an enemy grants you Might (1 stack, 8s) for each stack of Burning you apply. Burning you apply Lasts 33% Longer. ICD: 1s.

Your “Heat the Soul” combined with “King of Fires” seems little too much to me. Also, “Savage Instinct” damage reduction doesnt make sense, when you go berserk you care only for damaging enemy, right?
Another thing – Dual-Wielding shouldn´t always proc Impale, only when using a sword in offhand, using other weapons should give you another effect.
I didnt read all of it, that´s just few points I noticed

I do like many of the core changes here, and would personally love to see them in game,

‘Second Wind (Replaces Axe Mastery) – When you strike an Enemy with a Level 3 Burst Skill, enter into Berserker’s Stance. Duration: 8s. Cooldown: 60s.’

Sounds like a strong contender for PvP, and a worthy grandmaster (due to the high number of condition players nowadays).

Lets hope the balance patch has a lot of stuff like this in it rather than, ‘reduced CD on Shattering blow’ as that would just be an insult.

Some intriguing ideas overall, and I’m glad you thought them over.

Peak Performance needs a better damage boost in order for Physical stills to not suck.
Not sure what the rationale was for pushing condi damage to Arms. Its position battles with Sword for, but Sword doesn’t use interrupts so.. Not quite sure how I feel about it.
I really don’t think ANet’s gonna fly putting Fast Hands under Arms. Admirable in trying to break the supposed Discipline hegemony, though.
Disappointed with Hammer and Mace lumped together and still not given a trait that’s worth it. The stun duration boost in the GM Minor trait should be rolled into the appropriate weapon traits.

The traits still miss a lot of what Warrior’s been needing in the new environment: Stability and Resistance. Those boons need to filter into the core class.

Ambitious re-write, and I applaud you for it. Let’s hope ANet takes some of these ideas seriously.

Looking at the feedback, I’ve gone in and made a few changes:

Peak performance
This skill used to give a set Damage buff to what was essentially a Control Skill Set, which struck me as a bit odd after going back to look at it. To keep in line with the overall feel of the set while making it useful still, I changed around the bonuses from the Trait to be unique to each Physical Skill.

Dual-Wielding
While supposed to be a Crit-based Trait, this was solely useful for Condition Builds in the former iteration I suggested. Now it’s been changed to accomodate whatever Off-hand weapon’s thematics that you run with it.

Unstoppable – Powerful Synergy were sometimes useful, but often too niche to see proper use. Unstoppable on the other hand will be very useful for Warrior Sustain, allowing them to move unhindered across terrain and easily close gaps against kiting enemies, making a Melee Fighting Style more viable to Warriors and increasing In-Combat Mobility.

Blunt Force – While useful, the set Damage bonus was kinda boring and didn’t last very long. The current iteration is much more Powerful but also requires active Playing and Skill from the Warrior to actually land CC on enemies, rewarding them by letting each consecutive blow hit harder and last longer. The addition of Condition Duration also helps with sustain (Weakness) and synergizes well with Distracting Strikes, for those who wish to try a Condi-CC build.

You’ve done a great job here for a first pass. There’s too much that’s right to quibble over what seems a little off, and it’d be great to see someone from Anet respond to it or pick up many of your ideas for a trait rework.

Very nice job, indeed.

Darn, this might take me a while to go through, but I dig the presentation a bit more than my thread dealing with the same subject matter more or less.

Really clever ideas too. Some of these like Second Wind I can see immediate play to help stabilize Warrior.

Thanks for the kind words everyone! I’m by no means some sort of Master Warrior, but I feel I know enough to recognize some of the problems that the Warrior faces in competative gameplay.

Second Wind is particularily well received, and I kinda figured. I’m not quite certain making Cleansing Ire’s actual Cleansing portion into a minor is the right way to go about, but I wanted to present alternatives that wouldn’t pidgeon-hole Warriors into Defense and Discipline as much as its been in the past. Since both are skill-based (You need to actively hit a target in order to benefit from both) there’s still counter-play against each trait.

That’s also the reason I split up Fast Hands and threw portion of it into different Spec Lines, where the particular weapon in question comes to shine. Direct Damage Weapons in Strength, Condition Damage Weapons in Arms and CC-focused weapons in Discipline. I personally think Fast Hands is important, but also too powerful to be made entirely baseline. I feel the solution I’ve presented with Powerful Arms, Precise Arms and Brutal Arms works well as a middle ground between the two of the choices.

TheSwede.9512:

Thanks for the kind words everyone! I’m by no means some sort of Master Warrior, but I feel I know enough to recognize some of the problems that the Warrior faces in competative gameplay.

Second Wind is particularily well received, and I kinda figured. I’m not quite certain making Cleansing Ire’s actual Cleansing portion into a minor is the right way to go about, but I wanted to present alternatives that wouldn’t pidgeon-hole Warriors into Defense and Discipline as much as its been in the past. Since both are skill-based (You need to actively hit a target in order to benefit from both) there’s still counter-play against each trait.

That’s also the reason I split up Fast Hands and threw portion of it into different Spec Lines, where the particular weapon in question comes to shine. Direct Damage Weapons in Strength, Condition Damage Weapons in Arms and CC-focused weapons in Discipline. I personally think Fast Hands is important, but also too powerful to be made entirely baseline. I feel the solution I’ve presented with Powerful Arms, Precise Arms and Brutal Arms works well as a middle ground between the two of the choices.

That was actually one of the areas in which I disagreed. I like how you provided multiple paths to a shorter weapon swap, but felt constraining each trait to specific weapons was unnecessary.

I get that some weapons will shine more with the trait in one line over another, but it’d be better to leave that up to the player to decide rather than forcing particular weapon sets down particular paths, imo. I’d recommend leaving the secondary effects of the traits alone, but removing the weapon specificity of them.