Guild Wars 2

Oxxy.7068:

Ok i know this will most likely be a duplicate but… did you guys (devs) really think that the critical damage/ferocity change was well implemented? It seems critical damage got nerfed because of the amount of players complaining about zerk builds on PvE (also, i’m pretty sure some dev said that critical damage was in a good place on sPvP).
But most of the people that complained about it doesn’t have enough game knowledge to understand the situation, the critical damage nerf screwed up Celestial gear and accuracy based builds on WvW, meanwhile the PvE situation is the same as always, if not worse (now there will be even more posts asking for zerk/assassin’s geared classes on LFG, to make sure they don’t lose any more DPS, and it will be even harder to get groups with “non-optimal” builds).
The food balancing was atrocious as well, foods with 8% critical damage were converted to 70 ferocity (4,6ish critical damage) and apparently 10% foods share the same 70 ferocity, it’s less than half the original value, now, while i do understand why you guys nerfed critical damage in the first place (even though i don’t agree with it, mostly because critical damage ins’t the problem), it seems really really really awful to WvW players, and anyone who invested in ascended gear.

And i Quote Ascended Gear specifically. It takes alot of time and effort only to see things get nerfed without compensation either. Even the Traits were hammered hard. Literally all aspects of crit based spike builds were nerfed, if u ran crit dmg, u just lost more than 30% of your dps most likely, without an increase in anywhere else. Feels great to have a bunch of gear u work hard for, just end up becoming underwhelming, i shoulda just rolled an ele, and face tank 10 people and slowly kill them all without even building a single dime of crit dmg. Balance

I run a Full Cavalier Warrior for WvW roaming, and in general i love the idea of being a semi tanky champ with really crazy burst if i land my skills, but the dmg nerf to my build is ridiculous, i lose more than 20-30% of my burst dmg, which is really my only dmg since the rest of the time im trying to survive with dodges/blocks and plan my skills against my opponents. This ferocity scaling is really poor, even traits go from 30% crit dmg to 15%!!!, Thats really too much. Trinkets got hit even hard, I worked so hard to get my ascended gear, and now i feel its not even worth playing anymore, might just reroll ele or engi and just run around naked and contribute more dmg and have almost the same or not more survivability.

bleh, even worse. Still think they should change the ratios for ferocity into crit dmg, and if not atleast balance out the other gears that got kitten because of it. Its like losing stats, period. No way to make a comeback or keep same gears anymore =\

PvE no question Warriors and Zerker warriors specifically was OP. Go to PvP and WvW, we just lost our main roaming build. There were plenty of other builds that got hit, hambow, Zerker, Cavalier, Valkyrie, even celestial. But Bunker type builds for all other classes, were barely untouched, even though they out number most other builds 2:1.

30% stun duration was a joke tbh, it was always rounded up to the highest second, even with 15% stun duration, earthshaker at max adrenaline was 3 seconds. Shield bash was 2 sec even with 15% stun duration so no real buff their tbh, its just the spike dmg nerf hit my build alot, and i dont run zerks. Cavalier gear and crit chance from traits/food, let me get momentary spike dmg but still semi tanky, now i get half that dmg and still half as tanky… could go full PVT or PTP and still get more dps and the same if not more Tankiness =\

Knight will be even better since warriors have high base health as it is. Still get Good dmg, and might stack on GS will be even more worth it. Pure Power builds will definitely dominate zerker or crit dmg gears in general.

Make it clear that when Anet said that “berserker gear” would lose 10% overall, that it was only if you ran berserker gear without speccing anywhere else into crit dmg, like in traits. Cause a fully crit dmg warrior for example was close to 120% crit dmg at lvl 80 with over 80% crit chance, and now that its at 80% crit dmg at 80% crit chance, the drop in dmg is very significant. Are the developers sure they want to reduce physical damage by this degree? Everyone understands how precision crit dmg and power made things scale exponentially, but in theory, Toughness/Vitality and heals scaled exponentially as well, and countered glass cannon zerkers a long time ago. If Zerkers were too strong in PvE, why not just increase the crit resistance of mobs, so it doesnt take away too much dmg from less heavy crit dmg based builds? Wish we could get some clear understanding of why such a massive nerf to crit damage? Reason for it being massive, is 40% crit dmg nerf to crit dmg speced builds means that condition bunker builds which were already considered strong, will now become Ridiculously Strong. Also why isnt there any compensation to gears that loss crit dmg? Essentially making zerker/cavalier/valkyrie lose much of its stats means that all other gears get boosted passively. Its not like Cavalier or Valkyrie gear gave precision with crit dmg.

PvE no WvW, and PvP yes

Warriors were non existent in competitive pvp a year ago, in fact the devs them selves said warriors were kitten. A year ago, condition warrior was absolutely non existent in both pve and pvp since it was extremely inefficient. Anet has its things with warriors, but over all they flip builds in very drastic ways without realizing how much hurting one build by 10-20% also boosts other builds by 10-20% which creates 20-40% gap changes (not exact, but you get the idea). Wish they would implement more changes on a finer tuning bases, and not massive ones like this ferocity kitten stuff.

With the nerf to crit dmg (overall 30-40% crit dmg, and on zerk builds that crit 80%+ of the time, idk how the 10% nerf in “Overall” dmg anet had talked about makes sense) it would probably be more efficient to roll with knight gear in terms of efficiency of stats and dps. Since crit dmg was nerfed, no compensation to other stats on gear like valkyrie, cavalier, or zerkers was done, which leaves those gears on a very weak state compared to alternatives like knight or even PTV gear since increased survivability was not scaled down resulting in more dps over time. Although its too early to say, but i think the glass cannon zerk builds are going to die for melee warriors, and knight or might stacking builds will rise in huge numbers. This is mostly on WvW state, what are your opinions on the gear meta shift?

I thought I could help with this thread.

All burst skills apply the trait bonuses for maximum benefits before they complete the attack like heightened focus and berserkers power.

All skills with knockback/knockdown/stun apply their effects first before they calculate damage, so sigil of impact or hammer trait effectively makes every attack that gives a hard CC major damage increase.

Stun from Earthshaker/skullcrack/shield bash/pummel bash is applied prior to attack, so unsuspecting foe gives these attacks 50% extra critical chance on the actual attack + any other attack that is applied during the stunned status. Great for Axe/Shield where you can get an easy guaranteed crit for eviscerate from a shieldbash → eviscerate.

All skills that apply any condition, applies the condition first prior to the calculated raw damage, so 25 into arms which gives 10% more damage on bleeding targets applies the 10% on an attack that also gives bleed. Or cull the weak applies the extra 5% damage immediately with Fierce blow from hammer.

A secret to condition builds is, that its tick dmg is based on your condition dmg at the moment, not when you applied them, which means if you had 8 stacks of might when you Flurry (F1 skill from main hand sword) on an enemy and then for great justice and proced sigil of might, the next ticks will jump in damage by the extra 8 stacks of might that you just obtained.

hope this helps
=D

I am very glad you guys are enjoying this style of play. It is extremely useful and helpful in WvW. Adapting a build to your taste is always preference and what makes each character different from someone else’s. Happy to see everyone enjoying this build =D

Space.8053:

i was playing around with buildcraft to get my warrior out of his G/S pve shackles and into wvw so i played around with your builds.

I really liked the second boon increased build you posted. I made a minor tweak taking 5 out of discipline (losing immobilize breaker but i normally run wvw with larger guild groups where group condition removals are more available) and sticking it in defense. End result is 5% less crit damage & .5% burst on the earthshaker but an extra 92 power, 50 toughness and 50 healing power. Probably going to stick to this until I get more used to earthshaking everything.

I also subbed out some of the utilities running endure pain, fear me and sig of stamina as again i was more into group fighting than 1v1s, but it feels great so far.

I am glad this Build is working for you =D, and switching traits to better suit your preference is also a part of character building. The boon duration is definitely to more well rounded and most recommended build. I run the Lyssa build now, due to the extreme bursts I can pump out when I pop Signet of rage. I love the ability to be semi-tanky and durable while bringing out massive bursts from no where, and still have some good support for my team through Aoe CC and Damage.

rchu.8945:

thanks for the info, its the built that I will go for my warrior alt. As for gears goes, the divinity rune is a bit expensive, what alternate runes would you recommend?

I personally love lyssa runes, but you can use ruby orbs, or forge for defense. Rune choice is kinda up to you, as long as you get 100% crit chance with Hammer through fury+unsuspecting foe your build will accept any stats you put on it. Or you can do 2 Fire/Hoelbrak/strength to get 60% might duration and get perma might from Signet of rage and forceful greatsword will let you keep your might stacks longer from crits =D

Elmister.8504:

I’m using hammer + GS, do you think hammer + sword / shield is more applicable in WVW? and a commander?
the sword / shield would be more for defense? since the damage and mobility of GS is great I lose much mobility using sword / shield?

Being a commander doesn’t really force you to use any weapon set. Sword-shield has some decent mobility as well, but not as good as GS. Both are good sets, and are up to you. I personally like sword-shield more because of the 3s block, shield bash and savage leap give such good utility and defense. I also like flurry for the 4s immobilize, which sometimes is amazing. Sword/Shield still gives decent mobility, but lots of utility. Its up to you, I like sword/shield, but GS is great for AOE damage and mobility. Its up to you to use what you feel fits you better.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/warrior/Ultimate-Juggernaut-WvW-Sw-Sh-Hammer-Build/first#post1781698

I suggest the Boon duration one for starters, and you can then try others, or mix around what you like. I personally run the lyssa runes because of the extreme bursts, but its up to you. Hope it helps =D

Today’s patch was something with exploit, I thought you were referring to 3/26’s update.

10 days late =\, maybe you’ll be back to say the same thing again 3 weeks from now =P

^ Party Pooper >.>, but its most likely the sad truth T.T

I think Lyssa is better in WvW/PvP than PvE. The extra full clean condition removal and superman status for 5 seconds is pretty sweet during burst moments, especially against a zerg/group. I know when I activate SOR before I jump with my burst (Earthshaker + staggering Blow) I am about to unleash some serious pain, and no one can stop me =D

CookMETEnder.7582:

Empiren.6401:

CookMETEnder.7582:

Swimsasa Stoon.8936:

y’r all doing it wrong…
use sword-axe for flurry(immobilize)+whirling axe. sword 2 is gap closer get some bull rush or something and greatsword no. 5 rush. You don’t even need a speedbuff.

Also the signet of rage gives decent swiftness for a long period of time. so you don’t need the passive speedbuff.

Flurry is unreliable in my opinion. It works in lower tier WvWvW but.. yea…
What you say about SoR and swiftness is definitely correct though.
There is no need for passive speed buffs as long as you utilize SoR correctly.

If anyone wants to argue that you need more than 30s of swiftness… let’s be brutally honest with ourselves… if a fight lasts more than 30s with a warrior…
A) The warrior and the opponent both suck
B) The opponent is a warrior as well
C) Wha….?

Assuming these are minor skirmishes

Boon rip, and……… done.

Honestly, if we do get boon rip / hate…. I think I may really like it
Ripping away stability from a D/D elementalist…. oh the joyous days to come~

My mouth waters if we are able to strip those boons off an elementalist or guardian with my mighty hammer and finally fight toe to toe against those annoying Super Bunker builds that are like giant walls in the middle of WvW. Just imagining it is too much o.o

Loading.4503:

Just wanted say this build is fun, but it wasnt really my style, i think im too use to the quick autoattacks of my axe. and just for kicks, i had a rifle with sigil of intelligence so after a little rotation with the hammer, i would throw in a kill shot and get some adrenaline back with volleyshot to start my hammer rotation again.

Hammer and Rifle is a good combination, and I’m glad you found my build fun =D.
It is a preference based build on Hammer, but the idea of being able to sit on more tanky stats and still get burst damage drew me to this build/weapon set. Hammer felt more like what Warriors should be using and was a bit more mobile than I expected. Axe is amazing, and spoils you with attack speed, but I couldn’t love its burst as much as Hammers, and its mobility is rather low.

Elmister.8504:

As my intention is to turn the war commander, I think hammer + X / shield is the best? however use sword or ax?

Im not sure what you mean by this, but sword/shield is more utility/defense, while axe gives more damage but less mobility and utility.

Elmister.8504:

yes I will test the runes that told me I could not even put off the “target” of skill

and I was thinking of changing to GS ax / shield? is better?

Im not sure what put off the target skill is, but GS/Axe-Shield is a better dueling build that is more focused on damage rather than AOE damage and CC. It does hold good burst though.

Cause I can leave craters and smashed bodies on the ground with my hammer.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/warrior/Boon-Guide-Universal-Build/first#post1244240

My old Boon guide has a section of the build i was using while using boon duration.
1750+ condition damage, 2.7k armor, 2.9k physical attack, 25k hp, 55-65% crit chance and that was with no ascended gear at all or food, just self buffs and shout heals. I assume it could be much higher stats over all, but its an all around build that does everything well but still boasts really high condition damage. Was really fun for a while, but i realized I like to Burst enemies more through shear physical damage.

Sanny.1270:

wvw dps hammer is actually pretty kitten with the burst you can get along with the CC it has. , Fb and BB both have the ability to hit for over 10k.

Watch Sanny’s Video of his Hammer/GS spec to get a picture of how beast Hammer can be. I personally like running a slightly less glass cannon spec but still put out the same bursts during stun period of Earthshaker, and I prefer Sword-shield for its defense and utility, but GS/Hammer is an AOE melee Massacre if you want it to be, and boasts some good mobility. I have 2 shot many classes with a Clean Earthshaker —> BackBreaker, or even downed 4 at once with a Earthshaker —> Staggering Blow in a group. Hammer has Crazy burst at the cost of it being applied through less attacks(affected by blinds/block/aegis alot) and slightly long delay/animation of attacks.

Well Generally GS/Axe-shield, GS/sword-shield are the best dueling sets for roaming builds that offer the ability to fight 1v2’s if you play properly. And yes Full zerker is the way to go since bunker warriors are not the best for 1v2’s or 1v1s. I have heard of a few PVT Axe-Shield/x shout builds that say they do well against other builds, but I personally don’t think they can 1v2 or fight another class specced for bunkering as they will just have to part ways not being able to kill each other.

I run a Hammer/Sword-Shield Build that boasts considerable Toughness and 22k HP but bursts like a glass cannon for a few seconds every time i have Earthshaker up. I don’t recall losing to anyone in 1v1 yet, but I have had a couple of stale mates against ele and guardian bunkers where neither can kill each other. If you Earthshaker + staggering blow a group of squishies, its possible to do 1v2 or 1v3 if you land your full burst and down 1 or 2 right away, but its very difficult for warriors to be able 1vgroup like other classes.

Mesmers Are easier to Deal with if you run Hammer or Longbow, since AOE chews up the clones and confusion doesn’t hamper your health as severly as auto attacks and constant random swings most people do in WvW against mesmers. I have more troubles with Super bunkers (ret guardian bunkers and Ele d/d Bunkers) than i do with mesmers. I run a Hammer/Sword-Shield Warrior, and I can only get them to drop to 25% health before they start spamming their heals and invuln/dodge/aegis to completely shut my dps till they get 100% again. At the same time they whither you down slowly, and then your forced to retreat and regain health. Its kinda annoying to think that Guardian and Ele bunkers are so tanky and have so much sustain, that they can just spec for defense and still have time to kill their enemy with almost no attack stats or traits.

Hammer imo is the best WvW weapon for Warriors, and Can push some massive burst damage without it relying heavily on utilities to perform them (HB bull rush/bolas throw). Earthshaker is probably the best Burst skill out of all the weapon sets (Longbow burst is very close second). When traited Properly, Earthshaker + Staggering Blow, can easily proc over 13k Damage up to 5 target which can equal well over 50k+ damage in only two hits spread amongst 5 players. Thats alot of AOE damage, especially if you want to spec into some tankier stats., And Its Applying CC/knockbacks to enemies. Hammer is a great AOE Burst/CC weapon, that offers some amazing damage in a short manner of time. Once you use all your cooldowns on your hammer, its usually advantageous to use your second set for Defense/utility till you can switch back to Hammer Again for more burst. Hammer Shock + Leg specialist Is like a 5 man long range 1 sec stun (its immobilize, but it helps with landing skills and catching enemies who are trying to kite, not to mention Hammer shock can crit for almost 3-4k if you run heavy crit damage.)

GS is most likely the best Overall PvE weapon, and Offers much higher mobility vs Hammer, but since the frenzy burst of Hundred blades was nerfed, and a few other annoying things on GS, like a useless burst, unreliable ranged cripple, and rush missing alot, its not the best WvW weapon set. GS offers an evasion and higher mobility, but has no other beneficial CC or conditional effects besides vulnerability and stacking might. That is great against PvE, but not so easy to work with, in PvP/WvW. Gs also tends to keep wanting more and more Pow/Pre/Crit Damage vs Hammer, since Unsuspecting Foe works wonders with Hammer. The biggest pro for GS in terms of PvP/WvW is that it isn’t shut down easily by blind/blocks/aegis, where as Hammer is.

You can run Both though, which offers some really high AOE dps, and mobility, but i feel its preference as to which weapon you wish to use. I love Hammer/Sword-Shield because of its Overall Balance between Burst DPS/Defense/Utility.

Rune of Rage isn’t too good, compared to the overall stats you get from divinity. You can even use runes of Lyssa. Earthshaker is a bit harder to land if terrain is different heights, but it is easy to land if you know how many times the enemy has dodged once you attack.

Elmister.8504:

very good you made me understand a lot I did not understand was
how to use the Hammer right, still not understand a thing because of the sword / shield instead of something else, such as ax / ax or GS
I think it’s the best build for WVW for war right?
however it is not a good build for tPvP right? what would be good for tPvP? sPvP?
and ax / ax?

Currently there isn’t any builds that I know of that works really well in tPvP or sPvP, but in sPvP, you can do almost anything to experiment what you think works for you. You do not need to use sword-shield, but it is the weapon set i recommend. GS works great as well. Axe/Axe doesn’t work too well in general as it is too easy to kite. I wouldn’t call my build the best for WvW, but I think it stands quite strong against many other builds.

Elmister.8504:

I see in some videos that F1 has not hammer the target, as has my change that?

Im not sure what you are asking, but if its the targeting for Earthshaker, than you can switch it on and off in the options menu.

Elmister.8504:

another thing I did not understand how I get fury? using the elite?

Yes you obtain fury through Signet of rage, or if you decide to run different utilities, you can also get it from For Great Justice.

I think it is a fairly Nice build and I think will serve you very well in PvE. I still Have a Really big itch that bothers me though whenever i see two weapon sets with the same mainhand weapon >.>. Have you thought about perhaps making Axe/Horn, into Sword/Horn, since it will give you some extra mobility? In WvW or PvP, i would highly recommend sword for savage leap and Flurry immobilizing, but otherwise your build seems to suit what you want and need, and seems to synergize well with itself.

Elmister.8504:

yes someone would have to build some of tPvP WVW and hammer, I feel that this build is not a good dps with this or am I doing something wrong at least tPvP, I 1.k5 around 2k damage per hit

These builds are specifically for WvW, and the PvP version would be more like this:

Weapons: Hammer/Sword-Shield
Armor Runes: Divinity (6)
Weapon Sigils: Sigil Of Fire → Hammer / Sigil of Hydromancy and Bloodlust → Sword-Shield
Amulet/Jewel: Valkryie Amulet/Berserkers Jewel

Traits:
10 : Berserker’s Power
20: Unsuspecting foe + Blademaster
20: Embrace the Pain + Merciless Hammer
0:
20: Signet Mastery + Mobile Strikes

With this you have a base 20% crit chance which becomes 40% with Fury. You get an additional 10% with sword, so that shield bash + sword auto x 2 will be all crits 100%, and since Earthshaker is a burst skill, you get 10% crit chance from critical burst, making all Earthshakers give 100% crit chance, and 90% crit chance for all additional attacks using the hammer when the target is stunned.

The use of The Juggernaut build is for Huge Damage Spikes when the opponent is disabled by Stun from Earthshaker + whatever attacks you pull off during the Stunned period. This build is better suited for WvW, where the higher stat allowed by PvE gear and the ability to more finely tune your stats to an optimal state is allowed.

If you prefer to see other Hammer PvP builds, I highly Recommend Defektives Hammer Build.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/warrior/Defektive-s-PvP-Hammer-Build-SkillCap-Edition-1/first

The key is to understand that, Hammers Damage is a Burst Mechanism that Chains from Earthshaker and that after you use your Cooldowns, its better to switch to your other weapon set to keep up the dps/chase/defense. It is Possible to hit Very High Burst damages in a small amount of time spanning 2-4 seconds with Hammer.

oZii.2864:

I took some of your suggestions like sigil of impact which was excellent and its so cheap. I still run glass though the one thing about unsuspecting is that it doesn’t give you damage on your other set unless you run mace or shield for stun.

I have come to love hammer more so than GS. Its probably my favorite weapon I have used on any class. I run GS cause of the mobility but hammer is on my warrior to stay.

Yea Hammer is amazing in WvW, and with unsuspecting foe and sigil of impact, you can get huge bursts of damage. I specifically run sword-shield with hammer, because of how well it works as a defensive/utility set that still has some decent dmg in 1v1 scenarios. Shield Bash also applies stun before its attack so, it also gains benefits from unsuspecting foe giving it a 100% crit chance, and gives enough time for 2 auto attacks from sword chain to give a nice 4-5k guaranteed damage. Hamstring with leg specialist + flurry helps me chase targets that run around too much, and Shield Block has saved me way too many times in WvW.

Hammer and GS, i feel gives more mobility, but loses a bit of utility/defense in return. GS also gives more AOE damage, which is great as well, especially if your specced for massive dps, and grab endure pain and stability stance to completely aoe everything in a group/zerg =P. I will be making a video soon of my Hammer build in Action =D

Edit: Also would like to note that using Axe-Shield is a great combination as well with Hammer because of the humongous Burst you can do with Shield Bash → Eviscerate. It would do more damage in a 1v1, but I feel the lack of mobility on both sets, would hamper the builds damage a bit too much.

Been using a Hammer WvW build since January, and I won’t turn away from it unless anet desides to nerf what I fell so in love with (Earthshaker Madness)

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/warrior/Ultimate-Juggernaut-WvW-Sw-Sh-Hammer-Build/first#post1733858

Please take a look at my Hammer build (I personally suggest the boon duration one, as its the best Overall build) I think you will have more fun and success with Hammer, as it is one of the strongest weapon sets for warriors in WvW. GS is also a viable combination with Hammer if you choose to not switch it with sword-shield as i recommend.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/warrior/Ultimate-Juggernaut-WvW-Sw-Sh-Hammer-Build/first#post1733858

Sigil of fire/force are your best friends for dps (impact for Hammer). Air is only better if your focusing more on 1v1’s. I think sigil of fire best compliments Longbow due to its AOE dps, but Force might give you a slightly better dps output if you attack consistently or don’t have a crit chance over 50%. Generosity beats nullification due to added effect of actually transferring conditions, but if you use Longbow more for its dps, than force/fire are better. Hydromancy is good if you switch to a weapon in melee combat consistently, but I assume you use GS in close combat anyways, so its not that beneficial to use that.

Generally a pure crit build is the best choice for a Ranged Warrior, since toughness/vitality doesn’t really contribute much to the overall survivability if your sitting in the back dropping dps at range and can run with a huge headstart if you need to get out. I have seen a few Banner/Support/Ranged warriors around in WvW, by getting some healing gear or boon duration to bring some team/group support without losing much dps wise. Full zerk will definitely give you your best bang for pure dps, but I would much rather have someone be slightly more beneficial to a whole team than just his pure dps, since it brings more to the team/group/zerg in general. I have also heard of Condition/support longbow warriors that lay out some decent burn +bleed damage, and give good aoe support buffs/heals but their main role is still damage. My suggestion though is to use scholar runes for more dps if you want to spec into some supportive traits/gear, that way your dps is still very strong.

If your going down tactics tree for shouts, than fear me wins hands down + its affected by condition duration and instant cast makes it far better. Stomps blowout doesn’t work too great unless you Earthshaker into the enemy after it, and the 20% cd reduction for physical abilities is 30 points into strength, which isn’t really worth it. Stomp can be useful though in certain occasions where you need more than one aoe disrupt (although fear me is better, using them together is quite effective). Fear me is also great if your knocked down/knocked back, since it can be used while being down, although i do wish fear me did have a slightly smaller natural cooldown (maybe like 70 or 60 seconds.)

With fast hands its like carrying 2 sets in one if you use it properly. I would rather have 3 burst skills per a weapon than carry another weapon set =\, but it is an interesting idea.

Try a Hammer build if you think Unsuspecting foe is useless.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/warrior/Ultimate-Juggernaut-WvW-Sw-Sh-Hammer-Build/first#post1733858

Thanks for reading, and enjoying it =), I personally think Hammer is not loved enough by warriors because of its weakness against aegis/blinds/dodge/block compared to other weapons, and because people believe it doesn’t have good DPS. When I started experimenting with traits and gear, I realizied I could achieve Incredible Bursts in a small time, and Still grab some defensive stats to stay in a fight longer than other glassier builds. Earthshaker isn’t the most reliable Burst, but is far better than most other burst skills warrior weapons carry. When Traited right, Hammer has incredible AOEburst dmg combined with AOE CC.

I personally believe that the second hammer build I posted with Boon duration would be the easiest to adapt and learn the build, and provides the best overall sustain dps and CC. The first build is slightly more tanky and Hits a bit harder, but sacrifices some dps uptime due to the lack of constant fury, but is just as great.

Also would like to show how Earthshakers burst does more damage over time versus Eviscerate, (can’t compare killshot due to range factor). Estimates based on WvW gear/players being 80.

Eviscerate

• High single target dps, achieve up to 10-14k against a squishy target
• 300 Range
• Leap Finisher
• Requires full adrenaline to achieve maximum DPS

Earthshaker

• High AOE target dps, achieve up to 6-8k against 1-5 squishy targets
• 600 Range
• Also applies stun for up to 2 seconds
• Blast Finisher
• Requires only 1 bar of adrenaline to use Earthshakers burst dmg, only stun duration is based on Adrenaline, not the damage.

Yes axe does allow for an offhand, which may the difference that makes or break the difference between the two bursts, but with earthshakers stun, you can effectively attack 2 times more (and practically guarantee crit if traited for unsuspecting foe which only costs 10 points into arms) which can easily achieve more damage than Eviscerate, and on more than one target. This to me is frightening to realize, how much damage Earthshaker, and hammer can do in such a small time period. I have jumped into a group/zerg many many times in WvW, and saw Huge numbers on Earthshaker/Staggering Blow/Hammer Shock combo. It might sound crazy, but its possible to hit over 60k damage amongst 5 or more targets within 2-3 second time. They also provide CC, which is amazing in WvW.

I hope to find more amazing ways to make warriors a true melee class that really makes people shiver when they see a bunch of warriors on the front lines running at them, cause sadly many people see warriors as first to kill, since our downed abilities aren’t the best, and our condition removal is iffy.

Empiren.6401:

Lol @ hammer build

Whats Wrong with my Hammer Builds? >.<

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/warrior/Ultimate-Juggernaut-WvW-Sw-Sh-Hammer-Build/first#post1715739

Hammer luckily hasn’t been touched. Give it a go, Guarantee you will be shocked by the burst it can do, while still being relatively Tanky.

Been Waiting months to hear a dev actually respond to a warrior cry for balance, and I am glad they finally decided to respond. In response to people thinking warriors don’t need any fixing compared to other classes, please note that most balancing issues are related to all of theses = PvP : WvW : PvE. Not just PvE. Everyone Clearly knows that against Ai, Warriors are the most desired class simply because of the pure dps a warrior can lay down against multiple and single targets is so high. I think many warriors can agree that we are strong in PvE, maybe too strong, but its not why we picked being warriors.

I for one know that my love of the warrior class comes from the idea of being the best melee class for damage and require adequate skill to master. The skill curve of each class exists, and for Warriors currently It has a massively steep curve at the end (specifically for WvW in my opinion) because warrior have such an easy time playing in PvE, that the need to dodge/use certain utilities at specific times/min and max builds for proper fights, doesn’t exist at lvl 80 for many warriors.

D/D ele’s are perhaps downright the strongest in almost all aspects of PvP and WvW, even with their decently high skill curve to learn, its not impossible to master. Warriors are hindered not only by the skill curve required to play (which would be nice if it was the only factor) but because of the lack of synergy between skills/trait/weapon and how they correlate to the games meta for both WvW, and PvP.

I mostly speak from a WvW view, since i Have long given up trying to make PvP warrior a goal. Warriors aren’t terrible in WvW, but they can’t really do the role I thought they were ment to do, such as being incredibly strong disruptive class with high toughness and can get in the face of 3-5 players without getting downed in a few seconds flat (for those who run P/V/T gear and hammer/(anything) builds, must admit that conditions and Aoe skills make warriors minced meat no matter how much toughness/vitality you stack). I don’t want warriors to be invincible in any way, but I wish there were mechanics that assist warriors with sustain and defensive measures to stay in the front lines for more than 4-6 seconds at a time before having to jump out because of all the ridiculous focus fire and AOE/condition spamming. Warriors really lack sustain in almost all fields of play.

Please offer us some more insight on what you guys plan to take on warriors, because I know I have been playing since launch as a warrior, and have stuck to a build luckily that hasn’t been touched by any patches in a negative way, but should it happen within the next patch, I would find it best to reroll a guardian which boasts considerably better synchronizing skills/traits/weapons for a Melee oriented Class.

One more thing is, why Buff banners? They already have decent use in WvWPvE for regen, Offer decent stats in PvE places where picking up banner and putting it down isn’t really a hastle (compared to WvW/PvP). Did any devs ask the community if Banners are the most concerning things for warriors? I for one think that Banners truly only need the design to either be carried or altered to be more mobile, as their uses aren’t too unique in design. I believe Stances need more look over, or even our physical abilities that many players on the forums have asked to be looked at. Not to mention almost no one uses 1/2 of the Signets due to how useless they are at lvl 80. I can atleast say I think Banners were fine before, and even with the buff now, they are fine, but their place in PvP is for bunkering, and Warriors still will not be able to bunker with just Banners.

Thank you for your response Mr. Sharp

Gutts.8791:

Hi Neandramathal, are you absolutely sure about that? Please could you provide a source? I would love to know this is absolute fact. That would be amazing and make me look further into my hammer/GS build.

Thank you for keeping the warrior theory crafting still alive =D. Yes stun is applied prior to the damage. This is easy to test by simply going to the PvP Mist and get 50% crit chance and taking unsuspecting foe. This should result in 100% crit on earthshaker and any additional attacks given to the opponent while they are stunned. Normally on a full adrenaline Earthshaker i can pull of a staggeringblow + hammer shock fast enough to guarantee both of them to crit, which normally can do above 12K+ Crit burst in about 2 seconds per a person, which can equate to alot of damage among zerg or group of players. Even if done one a single player, Earthshaker + Backbreaker can easily chain to a strong 13K burst alone and the opponent is still disabled. This is why i think Sigil of impact actually is the best for Hammer, where many argue that sigil of fire is better.

I agree that Attack of Opportunity may not be such a good investment for a Hammer warrior, which is why if i wanted to gain more burst i would probably run the lyssa route with empowered, or the boon duration route which gives more sustain dps and allows for leg specialist which makes hammer shock an amazing snare in zerg fights. Only reason for attack of oppurtinity would work decently is due to using sword-Shield more, and keeping hammer as a sort of secret burst weapon for when you think you can land a quick Earthshaker + (staggering blow or Backbreaker), but this forces you to duel with sword and shield for a bit before you can truly burst the opponent down.

I also need to take a look at the new kick leap and see if its mechanics can be made into a sort of build. =P

New patch inspires me to continue on the road to Hammer builds and other non Frenzy builds. For those who still want to roll a warrior and do something fun, try playing WvW with builds that aren’t affected by Anet’s troll patches which they call fixes.

The once hyped about Roaming warrior builds are now less usefull than AOE/CC or even our stupid Support builds. I can see Warriors in WvW using Longbow’s, and Hammers, or Banner builds because GS and Axe based builds on frenzy are now even less useful. I will try to make more builds that can be used in WvW that still work, and isn’t completely broken or useless due to patches given by anet. Anyone who can Contribute would help keep the whatever left over warriors who are on a threshold of rerolling a different class or leaving all together.

Warriors may be the strongest in PvE and they buffed something no warriors cared to get buffed, but play a warrior in PvP and you might delete your own post. In WvW warriors are average, and have strong points and weak points.

If warriors ever get a “real” buff, Ill let you know, cause its been tooltip and random buffs for builds and traits/skills that barely any warriors ever used (in the past 7 months). Not to mention we are still the only class without a “real” viable bunker spec.

Yea i get a good kick out of it too. Strength banner does help though.

Coldviper.6794:

The CC is hardly all that impressive or unique being that it’s so easily countered by blinds and people who know how to press dodge when I’m flying in the air or pulling it back for a charge smash.

Hammer could really use some love. Perhaps 3rd swing with 1 being a blast finisher as well.

I think i could argue the same for Bull+100b builds that if someone knows how to dodge or have a stun breaker can easily counter it all the same, but a good warrior who uses their trump card when they know they have a high chance of landing it is gonna have a better chance of winning. I don’t doubt Hammer could use some love, perhaps more mechanical wise and the blast finished at the end of auto chain would be swell.

Daecollo.9578:

The problem is hammers are very easy to avoid, and since they are that way, people can just roll out of the way or trash you, Hammers need protection because they are slow and melee.

Guardian does have protection however it is GROUP protection, and it also has arguably more CC and a Gap closer, it is much faster then Warrior hammer and because it has a gap closer, you don’t need to take time running up like a warrior does, nore do the attacks root you.

@Coaxial:
The Mace offhand gives a knock down that is much easier to use then the hammer and 100x better in almost all situations.

I agree Hammers are harder to land than the rest of the weapons warriors can use which is why warriors have Fast hands to use both weapon set cooldowns at a faster rate than a guardian could achieve. This is the only reason why I think warrior Hammers aren’t really that bad and doesn’t really need protection within the weapon set (albeit i think protection through traits/utilities for a warrior would be more appropriate). Yes I agree also that blinds/dodge do affectively hurt Hammer more so than our other weapon sets, but I feel like every weapon should have a small Achilles heel, or else everyone would roll a hammer on their warrior. GS gives perhaps the greatest sustain dps both single and aoe wise but lacks any real CC, just like axe.

Mace offhand is quite a strong offhand but Tremor isn’t very quick either, and does not apply stun like Earthshaker does which when traited with unsuspecting foe can be quite a strong burst. Tremor is easier in a sense of its reliability (based on distance) but it does have a 25 sec cooldown (20 second if you trait) which isn’t that much better than being able to earthshaker twice within the same time span, even if the first one missed.

Neandramathal.9536:

I would say hammer’s AoE dps is not actually that great at all, infact other than when using sword in my offhand I actually treat the hammer as the secondary because it’s DPS is lower.

Biggest issue for me with hammer atm is that if you time it right you can actually just sidestep away from the attacks because they’re so slow, walking out the arc is enough. Not really sure what can solve this though, if you speed it up it becomes too heavy hitting, speed it up and reduce dmg and it alters the style of weapon. Perhaps give it a longer reach (180 up from 130?) and bigger arc?

I feel Hammers DPS comes from its burst and abilities (skills 2-5 not auto attack) and when on cooldown would be more beneficial to switch to a different weapon set. I trait for Hammer Burst, which can net me a good 12k+ damage to a single target within a very small time frame. It does have slow attack animations, which is one of its big weakness combined with its weakness towards blinds/blocks/dodges, but I feel that its a strong weapon set for warriors. I still think there are ways to make the hammer better, but not in a way that easily tips the favor in making hammer a weapon set all warriors should carry. Hammer doesn’t have good DPS in a long term battle, but has great burst DPS. Burst DPS =/= overall DPS. A longer reach would be a nice buff to hammers to make it more appealing I admit.

I assume you meant leg specialist is supposed to be Mobile Strikes =D