Guild Wars 2

I’m seeing all this stuff about warrior builds, people only using the weapons they traited for. I feel that this limits the warrior’s potential greatly. One of the best things about this profession is that it has a huge selection of weapons, each excelling at specific things.

Obviously you should trait for your main weapon(s) but you should still carry other weapons because regardless of your traits, each weapon will be the best at what it does.

Don’t forget you can swap out of combat, and you very often know what is coming next.

Right now I’m using rifle/sword+horn with traits and gear specced for bleeding. Here are some examples of why I’d use other weapons:

- In WvW attacking or defending in sieges I usually switch the rifle with a longbow. I can make a huge difference with the AoE. The rifle just isn’t good for this situation and the longbow is amazing here.

- In WvW if I think I’ll have to 1v1 somebody I switch to my hammer if possible.

- In dungeons I’ll switch the rifle to the longbow for parts where I need AoE, but I want the rifle with bleed gear/traits for most of the bosses.

- In AC explorable I’ll switch to hammer for the parts with graveling mounds.

Those are just a few examples.

Warrior is strategic. You should be asking yourself what is the proper strategy for the next battle and equip accordingly. You shouldn’t be locked to your main weapons for every situation. Trait/gear based on what you want to do best… what you expect to do the most often or what you feel is most important to succeed at.

I carry 2 maces, a shield, a longbow and a warhorn with me. My warrior uses dual axes and a hammer.

The problem with carrying everything is that not everyone likes to play with every style. Similarly, traiting for specific builds is a valid way to play, especially since some weapons, such as greatsword, warhorn, axe and swords benefit massively from their specific traits.

For example, I made two lvl 80 rare swords because I wanted to have the option of a bleeding build if I ran into a boss that would turn me into mince quickly. However, I ended up ditching that because I found that I just prefer seeing the consistent numbers you get with stuff like axes.

My traits are 30/20/20/0/0, which lets me have high crit with any weaponry I choose, along with good defenses if I so desire, plus a decent amount of power. Heck, just the specific traits give me pretty good usage of axes, greatswords, swords and maces.

Olba.5376:

I carry 2 maces, a shield, a longbow and a warhorn with me. My warrior uses dual axes and a hammer.

The problem with carrying everything is that not everyone likes to play with every style. Similarly, traiting for specific builds is a valid way to play, especially since some weapons, such as greatsword, warhorn, axe and swords benefit massively from their specific traits.

For example, I made two lvl 80 rare swords because I wanted to have the option of a bleeding build if I ran into a boss that would turn me into mince quickly. However, I ended up ditching that because I found that I just prefer seeing the consistent numbers you get with stuff like axes.

My traits are 30/20/20/0/0, which lets me have high crit with any weaponry I choose, along with good defenses if I so desire, plus a decent amount of power. Heck, just the specific traits give me pretty good usage of axes, greatswords, swords and maces.

Well all I’m saying is, here’s the most effective way to play warrior for the benefit of people who haven’t realized it yet.

You clearly have but you made a choice based on playstyle preferences. That is fine. I am not saying people should play a certain way. I’m saying they should understand how to play as effectively as possible.

Well, I did say “you should” a lot, I’ll give you that. What I meant was “You should do this if you want to play as effectively as possible” But I like to keep things as concise as possible. Sorry if anybody feels like I’m being pushy. :P

Dungeons aside, I usually just set up for a certain kind of combat and try to avoid other kinds. Like if I’m firing ranged off walls I won’t be leaping into the gate people to send them flying in all directions as I might on my CC build. Or if I have a rifle I’ll just prioritize the stronger targets (or try to line them up) rather than switching to a bow.

Not that it’s necessarily a bad idea, I just don’t like the thought of being ‘caught’ with the less-optimal weapons in a situation where I can’t get out of combat to put the ones I built for back on. And I’m not bothered by passing by troublesome targets either.

I agree. I carry a Greatsword, Longbow, Axe, Shield, Sword, and Warhorn on me, and I want to learn Hammer and Mace as well.

They’re all exotics. I am so, so broke ;_;

I carry: sword/shield/Long bow/Rifle/Greatsword and any horn i find lying around lawl.

I was going to carry 2 axes but in reality with my build great sword is enough of a damage pusher. Long bow is the siege/anti siege weapon to go. Rifle I use in one on one vs hard hitting long range targets and sword and shield = some block to escape and mobility by switching shield to horn.

I carry an axe, a mace, a longbow, a rifle, a hammer, a warhorn and a shield.

Hah, I have:

Sword
Axe
Mace
Shield (superior sigil of fire)
Warhorn
Greatsword (superior sigil of luck)
Longbow (superior sigil of fire)
Rifle

I plan on making a Hammer to add to my collection soon.

everytime I see a warrior pull out a rifle and start ranging as an opener, a little bit of me dies.

I do carry every type of weapon usable by a Warrior (missing the longbow, accidentaly sold).

I only have them all because I want to try different builds. For example at the moment I have played DPS but fancy having a go at something DPS plus a bit more supportive/sharing buff skills for groups mainly because IMHO if there is a lot of DPS in a Dungeon I could better serve the team by buffing them up a bit, dropping more flags than I already do and so on sacrificing a bit of my DPS.

Anyway, when I figure out which 2 or 3 builds I like I will be carrying only those things I need for those builds. A lot less stuff than I carry ATM.

…Theres other weapons that are half-decent with the warrior than the Greatsword?

On a serious note: Personally I only carry my two weapons I use a Hammer and Greatsword but, I rarely switch…. I haven’t really found anything that is that great outside the greatsword’s abilities.

It would be nice if warrior can hold shield + pistol, like those in swat team.

On my more defensive combat build, I was using sword and shield with hammer swap, but I also carried a warhorn to swap into the shield slot for speed, and a rifle to swap to the hammer slot for sieges, but in my current spec, just using sword and warhorn with a rifle swap, and trying out a glass cannon build. I put out pretty numbers, but I also squish way faster.

I do kind of agree, not fully, I guess here is my experience currently.

I am main traited 20/25/25 Axe and sheild. Off weapon is mostly rifle but I do also switch that out to warhorn if I know range wont be needed in a dungeon or traveling wvw. I will switch to an axe offhand if I am in an event where a ton of mobs spawn or again a dungeon where I wont be taking on too much damage.

Also I have traited 33% chance on crit to cause vuln, with superior sigil of fraility on all weapons (except offhands of course) and with cyclone axe I normally keep over 14 vulns up on bosses. So even though mace has benefits, I dont see a full need to switch, except maybe trash in dungeons.

The thing I do fully agree with is warriors always having a ranged option to hand.

I carry everything. 2 axes, 2 swords, 2 maces, shield, warhorn, hammer, greatsword, rifle, and longbow. No combination is not available to me. I understand that some people won’t like it but i agree with OP that one of the warriors strengths is the plethora of weapons we have available. I plan on getting even more weapons with various stats as well as a few more sets of armor as i have somewhat foolishly gone and decked myself out in complete beserker gear. I will probably go ahead and get clerics, knights and rampagers sets, but thats only because i am slightly crazy and love my warrior a little too much.