Guild Wars 2

Solo/Small group roam role of this build

http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/warrior/?8.0|2.1g.h2|1.1g.h1h|1n.7i.1n.7i.1g.7i.1g.7i.1n.7i.1n.7i|2s.0.1g.67.2s.d13.1g.67.1g.67.2s.d13|a5.0.k2a.k16.k6a|39.7|5y.68.6f.6i.6m|e

10/0/20/20/20
Runes: Lyssa

Utilities:

Balanced stance – Pop this and you cant be stopped from popping your SOR which is very important.

Signet of stamina – More endurance yes!! Remove all condis? Yes with Signet mastery 36 secs isnt to bad.

Endure pain – Probably the best Get out of jail card we have as warriors if you want to call it that has its place and stun breaker.

This is what I have came up with after messing around and reading.

On this build it assumed 16% damage on Hammer (empoweredsigil of impact) as that is the main damage dealer. On top of your merciless hammer trait.

To see the proper ePower you have to go to manual on build craft click damage multiplier and type in 16 and update it doesnt save on the link sigil of impact and empowered isn’t factored in before hand like other +damage traits so thats why i went with 16% on the damage multiplier

This is by no means the top ePower build you can get on hammer. If you want that you put 10 for unsuspecting foe, switch turtle defense for cull of the weak. You can also drop leg specialist in tactics for just empowered and put those points into discipline for heightened focus.

Trait choices are
Strength
Berserker’s Power – Probably dont need to explain this one +12% damage at full adrenaline Yes Please!!

Defense
Turtle defense – after testing it out awesome trait I have thread and video I posted a few weeks ago showing how the trait works. Buildcraft gives you the Turtle defense trait assuming you will meet the requirement. So that is 33% damage mitigation when crippled, chilled, stunned, immobilized

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/warrior/Some-quick-turtle-defense-trait-testing/first#post1766608

Merciless hammer – Not much explaining need here +25% damage against disabled foes and the +25% damage is given up front for Earthshaker, Backbreaker, Staggering Blow, then what ever your follow up is after one of those lands. With sigil of impact this basically become +35%.

Tactics

Leg specialist- Its an awesome trait giving you 1 sec immobilize on cripple with 10 points in strength its 8 sec cripple this allows for alot of good control. As you play with the trait more you will feel like you need bullscharge less. Though bullscharge does synergize with the +25% damage trait of hammer as in its a disable so a follow with hammer after bull charge or fear me will give you the +25%

Empowered
+2% damage for every boon the reason I take this over putting the extra points into strength for slashing or Arms for unsuspecting foe. Is because I like +6% damage to both weapons instead of +10% to just the GS. With lyssa runes and 20 into tactics you get +6% damage almost permanently +4% even longer since the might stacks from SOR will run out before your fury and swiftness which in this build last 41 secs.

With the right situation which isnt hard to pull off at full adrenaline your looking at +18% damage on GS for 7 Secs and +18% on top of the damage +35% hammer with sigil of impact. 7 secs seems small window but thats longer than frenzy by 3 secs as a comparison and its already built into your SOR.

Discipline

Signet mastery – I personally like to have 48 secs on SOR with your swiftness lasting 41 secs and fury lasting 41 secs.

Mobile strikes – Mobility hard to pass it up.

Why no unsuspecting foe?
If wondering why I don’t take unsuspecting foe I feel like that trait isn’t that good on anything above 50% chance to crit and you have access to fury anyway so I feel like the points are better spend somewhere else. The trait will only effect earthshaker and staggering but not knockdowns which are stuns but not (some kind of weird way) bulls charge is a knockdown so it doesnt work on that either. Never tested it with fear me but might work on that. I think its a good trait if you shooting for less than 50% crit chance then it seems like it would fit but at 50% chance+ I feel like its wasted.

the 10 points in tactics can be moved around to say restorative strength or slashing power or into defense or discipline those places I would recommend to put the points if you like.

DPS wise constantly 30 pts into heightened is better but not by alot if you dont take empowered. Since you dont have main hand sword mobility you can make some of that up by having longer swiftness up time. Also 20 into tactics is good since this build has 3 pieces of knights gear so extra toughness is good but its alot better when you add vit with it.

What about greatsword?

Its there for mobility dodge baiting etc. I usually open with GS in a 1v1 situation most ppl expect bullscharge for the opener etc. After you have baited a few dodges etc then swap to hammer for pain. The main weakness of the build is stability imo. Anything with stability basically wipes the +25% damage that you get from hammer trait.

Will edit to clean up just wanted to post see ppls thoughts on it.

GS/Hammer is plenty of fun

Thank you fellow warriors. I must have put together something solid. I appreciate the feedback. Seriously if not many responded but looked at the thread then it must be a decent write up and build.

As a solo roamer you want to keep people perma-cc and then nearly “spam” earthshaker, damages don’t scale with adrenaline level and +35% damage from sigil/traits to add with the annoying cc. As hammer war you need adrenaline and Berserker’s Power is a total waste. Go for Restorative Strength/Great Fortitude (defensive) or put 30 in discipline and take Quick Burst to have more aoe-cc.

Stability is a great counter to the hammer warrior but with GS you can “wait” it wears off while putting a good pressure.

“Fear Me” since inefficient here, SoF (additional burst), SIO (break stun+CR) or Balanced Stance seem better.

Hey! I think your burst is good, but drops hard the moment your target has stability

I guess you gotta be careful with how you see the numbers. When you swap to your GS, the effective power drops to 4k, which is around the same the moment your target is not disabled. Similarly your toughness is on average only going to be 1300 (-100 from thick skin, -200 from turtles defense). Depending on the condition, they might only be partially available.

If I were you, I’d take Embrace The Pain trait instead of T. Def. With it, you’ll get waay more adrenaline, like full bar for every Earthshaker or even more often. Personally, I run 0/20/30/0/20. I took Culling The Weak, Forceful, EtP, Merciless hammer, Defy Pain. In discipline, it’s nothing unusual – Signet Mastery and Mobiles. As utilities, SoR, SoS, Balanced, Bulls, H. Surge. I feel like Empowered is a lolz trait, not even worth looking at it, maybe only If you prepare some kind of OMG CRITZ rifle warrior video. I prefer more sustain. You can also switch 10 points from arms to Leg Specialist, IMO way best designed trait for warriors atm. If we could only have some short cripples with short CDs, ah To add – build I use works well in both tPvP and WvWvW

You’re going to get a lot of conflicting advice here. For me, 0/0/20/10/20 is the foundation of a WvW hammer build. You’ve taken that base. After that, I don’t have a lot to say with any certainty. I like your build, and it looks like it will work fine if it matches your play style.

However, I assume that you are posting it here because you want more specific feedback… so here it is:

1. Taking 30 in Tactics is an interesting suggestion, but it doesn’t help with the main weakness of the build (which is against opponents with stability). I’d still give this a try and see how it works. If your opponent doesn’t have stability, they are kittened.

2. IMO, choosing Berserker’s Power is a solid choice if you plan on spending a good portion of your fight with the GS in your hand. You will build adrenaline quickly, and do good damage.

3. I have never been a big fan of Empowered. You are going to be consistently seeing a 6% increase in damage. The remaining bonuses that result from the synergy with the Lyssa buffs are somewhat random. For example, you will basically be spamming SoR on CD, and not necessarily when you need the damage boost most. So… yes, it’s still good. But it’s not huge.

OPTION 1: I’d consider putting the 10 points for Empowered into Defense for “Last Stand” (I.e., a 10/0/30/10/20 build). This will help you save your utility stun breaks and controls until later in the fight. That can be huge.

OPTION 2: You could move the 10 points for Empowered into Arms to get Unsuspecting Foe (I.e, a 10/10/20/10/20 build). As you’ve already states, you’d be wasting some of the crit bonus, but it’s still a good trait at +30-40%… especially when it means you can RELY on the Earthshaker crit. Alternatively, it would free you to slot more Cavalier trinkets for a little extra Toughness.

OPTION 3: Run 0/20/20/10/20 and pick up Unsuspecting Foe and Forceful Greatsword. You will have guaranteed crits on Earthshaker, you’ll be able to slot more Cavalier Gear (due to all the extra precision), and you’ll have WWA on an 8 sec CD for better evades, more mobility, and more damage when your hammer is on CD.

Personally, I think I’m partial to Option 1. Option 3 is clearly the most aggressive, and it is an alternative way to boost your offense on both the hammer and GS. I don’t think any of these are clearly better than your current build… It boils down to personal preference.

Good luck.

Thanks for the feedback. Some of these suggestions I have tried some I haven’t. I will go back into the fray and give them a run again.

Empowered is situational in a way. I know damage wise for GS slashing power is better than Forceful.

From reading around I saw many ppl said they felt that embrace the pain wasn’t a needed trait because getting adrenaline isnt really a problem. After reading the suggestion here and thinking about it if I am running berserkers power then embrace does have synergy with berserkers power so even if I do use earthshaker when available which I do the adrenaline will build back up faster. So I think I will go with that.

Turtle defense is a really good trait though if you look at the thread I posted with video its basically 2 knights coats anytime your hit with any of those conditions. Even if stunned it stays until your hit again or out of combat. I feel like its pretty solid.

Ahh some warrior traits are really good and some aren’t to hot. I don’t know if turtle is better than last stand which is also a good trait. I guess there is no better between the 2 they are about equal.

Thanks for the thoughts definitely. I’ll play around with it some more. Me and skull/peter dueled and stability is the weakness of hammer without question but I feel like if you are running hammer you know that anyway. I like the control of hammer which is why its hard for me to give up. So hammer is staying

I dont really have a hard time with any classes except bunker guardians and bunker ele’s and staff mesmers. Those classes give pretty much everyone trouble though.

matthen.5024:

You’re going to get a lot of conflicting advice here. For me, 0/0/20/10/20 is the foundation of a WvW hammer build. You’ve taken that base. After that, I don’t have a lot to say with any certainty. I like your build, and it looks like it will work fine if it matches your play style.

However, I assume that you are posting it here because you want more specific feedback… so here it is:

1. Taking 30 in Tactics is an interesting suggestion, but it doesn’t help with the main weakness of the build (which is against opponents with stability). I’d still give this a try and see how it works. If your opponent doesn’t have stability, they are kittened.

2. IMO, choosing Berserker’s Power is a solid choice if you plan on spending a good portion of your fight with the GS in your hand. You will build adrenaline quickly, and do good damage.

3. I have never been a big fan of Empowered. You are going to be consistently seeing a 6% increase in damage. The remaining bonuses that result from the synergy with the Lyssa buffs are somewhat random. For example, you will basically be spamming SoR on CD, and not necessarily when you need the damage boost most. So… yes, it’s still good. But it’s not huge.

OPTION 1: I’d consider putting the 10 points for Empowered into Defense for “Last Stand” (I.e., a 10/0/30/10/20 build). This will help you save your utility stun breaks and controls until later in the fight. That can be huge.

OPTION 2: You could move the 10 points for Empowered into Arms to get Unsuspecting Foe (I.e, a 10/10/20/10/20 build). As you’ve already states, you’d be wasting some of the crit bonus, but it’s still a good trait at +30-40%… especially when it means you can RELY on the Earthshaker crit. Alternatively, it would free you to slot more Cavalier trinkets for a little extra Toughness.

OPTION 3: Run 0/20/20/10/20 and pick up Unsuspecting Foe and Forceful Greatsword. You will have guaranteed crits on Earthshaker, you’ll be able to slot more Cavalier Gear (due to all the extra precision), and you’ll have WWA on an 8 sec CD for better evades, more mobility, and more damage when your hammer is on CD.

Personally, I think I’m partial to Option 1. Option 3 is clearly the most aggressive, and it is an alternative way to boost your offense on both the hammer and GS. I don’t think any of these are clearly better than your current build… It boils down to personal preference.

Good luck.

I actually really liked option 3, the 0/20/20/10/20 build. Reason being that if I need to defend a tower/keep or in huge zerg vs zerg situations, I can switch leg specialist to stronger bowstrings and swap my GS for the longbow. I know it’s not going to give you more dmg, but it’s very versatile in WvW (which is where I am playing mostly on my warrior alt).

I am using 0/25/25/0/20. Unsuspecting Foe and Forceful GS, Embrace Pain and Merciless Hammer, Heighten Focus and Mobile Strike.

EQ is full zerk and ruby orbs. Basically I go in with GS using 5 or 3 then gap close with either bull charge or Earthshaker. For Earthshaker, I always follow up with 4 and 3. If you time the hammer Earthshaker → 4 → 3 nicely, you can cut off the casting animation by half. It will look like you cast 1 skill with 2 swing animation.