Guild Wars 2

I keep hearing people say, “dungeons suck if everyone goes pure dps, they need to build more balanced” but I have no idea what that actually means.

What are warriors typically using in dungeons to increase their effectiveness and not die so much? I know the generic answer is “there is no set builds in this game, you can use whatever you want”… but there must be some popular cookie cutter dungeon build that seems to work well. What stats seem the most useful on armor? What weapons work well? (I usually use hammer and rifle)

Those weapons are fine. I’d also bring a backup 1hander + shield incase you run into a dungeon where you’re having survival issues.

I’d say the most common/useful build for dungeons is a healing shouts build. Alternatively some people like a banner based build. Basically you want to pack skills that offer support/buffs to your TEAM, and not just yourself (like a signet build would). I’d focus on survival first as you start out, because that’s the hardest thing; most dungeons are not DPS races, they are endurance matches.

I typically run healing shouts with Knight’s equipment and the other 40 points split evenly between Arms and Discipline. Usually use a Greatsword/Hammer combo with Unsuspecting Foe for trash packs so I can consistently throw out 100% crit HBs with Fury up, and bring plenty of solid control in the process.

Might try swapping in some Cleric’s gear to get a little bit more out of the shout healing because you only need enough precision for ~30% crit baseline.

I use a 10 power/30 tough/30 vit build for healing shouts. The build allows me to revive faster, take damage in melee and CC a lot while providing extra healing. Over all I ran Arah story and we didn’t die once until the Airship part, yet to my defense the kitten thing was bugged lol. Party was composed of me in the spec mentioned above, another warrior with same spec but more conditional damage based + sword instead of mace, a mesmer, an elementalist and engineer.

The beauty of my build is that it allows you to punch a little more heal into your party while buffing em or taking critical conditions off them, you can go melee without fear as you be absorbing damage and in return got a large pool of Hp and more importantly you can interrupt and CC a lot while still dpsing just fine since you generate power from other sources. Such as more power from every boon on you, extra damage with mace talents, 5% toughness is applied as a bonus to power so on.

I’ve recently hit 35 so was spamming explorable mode AC. I used mace/board and longbow. All utility skills were physical damage, though i changed every now and then depending on the upcoming fight. the amount of control capable meant i was able to basicly shut down non-defiant enemies right where they stood, and i could strip defiance off of a champion mob in a single rotation. having access to stamp and arcing arrow also helped combo off of fields, i could personally bring 6 stacks of might but i could also use them in other fields for healing, armor buffs, debuffs, etc.

I quite frequently played the ‘tank’ by standing directly infront of the boss and using block skills to take the hits giving them no chance to reach allies, and also timing controls to land crucial 2-3 second stuns and OHKO move interrupts

Only using this example because everyone seems to talk about direct support as what god intended for true warriors. However just because im not buffing directly does not mean i am not doing a boat load for my party. Massive ability to utilize combo’s, burn based damage which is pretty good as a non-damage focused spec like me, and ultimate control allowing me to lock down really frustrating enemies and even direct mobs in directions i want them to avoid patrols or keep them apart.

Best thing i could say primarily is that every spec has a place. 5 signet GS (well, most effective is 4 signet and FGJ, but meh) might be laughed at constantly, but it is a very powerful damage model, and the quicker you can end a fight the less the allies will have their endurance strained, and this spec also allows you to eradicate adds faster then anything else. BUT the problem is so many warriors run this spec, and so many people in general lean towards DPS, that it can make it tough to run explorable mode dungeons because its not necessarily about having a balanced build, its about a balanced team. Pure face melting damage has a place, but you should check with your team if they need a support or control beast first.

I guess that to combat the damage > anything else mentality, class forums are lauding support as the only way to fight, but my advice is to play A) what ever you like best and B ) What your group needs most, which due to the overwhelming forum demand to play support, might just be a dedicated damage dealer