Maybe this could go in the “Warrior” or “Players Helping Players” forums, but it pertains to dungeons so here it goes.
I need some advice/ clarification from any warrior players or people that regularly group with warriors in high level dungeons. I myself just got to lvl 80 on my warrior last week and figured I’d start on my first dungeon. I was in blue mis-matched gear of different levels and bought the cheapest lvl 80 green knight’s armor I could find and slotted it with Medallions of the Soldier, since I was broke. I traited into defense and tactics so as to hopefully not die too quickly as I learned the ropes.
I’d prefer soldier gear, and would not have felt the need to run a dungeon if you could craft it or buy it. At the time, I was not aware of the exotic karma armors in Orr. Fortunately, the starter AC dungeon had soldier armor, so off I went.
My first run, the group consisted of an 80 ranger, an 80 greatsword warrior in full Citadel of Flame armor and the rest of the team were lvl 35’s — don’t recall the classes. I’m thinking good, we got some 80’s, one of them a warrior in exotics. We should be OK even if I mess up a bit. I informed the group this was my first run and everyone was cool.
Well, we start, get to the spider champ and halfway thru, one of the 35’s goes down, then the other warrior. I’m at about 75% life, so I’m thinking WTF? How is that possible, the warrior has way better gear, so I figure he lagged out.
I’m told what to expect for Kholer, but he tags me the first time with the hook and pulls me in. He drops me to about 60% life before I get up a shield block. The second time, the ranger’s fat bear must have obscured the hook animation and the other warrior and one of the 35’s gets pulled in and die. At the Howling King, me and the warrior get hit with the death scream, but I manage to roll away with about 20% life, the warrior dies. We do finish, and it wasn’t even that bad, but I was getting very worried about how hard the later dungeons must be if experienced players, in exotics no less, were dying on the starter dungeon.
Well, fast forward a week later, AC and me are old friends. I have 4 exotic pieces already and an exotic shield and sword. However, 99% of all the warriors I see are using a greatsword. I assume the level 80 warrior on my first run was pure damage spec—had to be, he died too fast.
It’s come to my attention that many people ask for zerk warriors for high level dungeons and that some groups may even gear check. Am I gimping my ability to get into groups by staying with a sword and shield? I’m assuming that a zerk warrior can only really shine in a blanced group with people acting as support—is that the case? I’d just feel so fragile.
Lastly—what exactly IS a zerk warior?
1). I’d assume you need to trait into strength and arms, yes?
2). Does that mean I’d have to wear berserker’s gear? If I used soldier or knight’s, would traiting into strenght and arms still be a respectable damage to survival ratio, or do people that gear check expect berserker’s gear?
3). Conversely, if I traited into defense and tactics and wore full zerk gear—that’s still going to give me good damage, no?
4). Greatsword going to be pretty much mandatory?
Keep in mind, I may be in your group one of these days. Thanks for any advice in advance.
