Guild Wars 2

@StefanS.4351 for blobbing? As things stand not really. You could use GS instead of S/Wh, but you’d be sacrificing an immobilize and water blasts+party immob clear, for a chance of landing a HB and slightly better mobility which isn’t worth it imo. You have to look at the “big picture” when it comes to large scale fights in WvW, even if something looks better for you, it doesn’t mean it’s better for everyone around you. Better to log another class if you’re bored than to run a build that doesn’t help your zerg^^ Have fun!

I actually thought about posting 2 duplicate threads, but was worried about some sort of anti spam delete or merge by the mods :P

Absorption could be a viable alternative, i use hydromancy to to chill after leap-swap to hammer so i get one or two swings more on the enemies. Draining i don’t know, if it works for you sure, to me it’s kinda like shout heals after the stat patch – it’s nice but not worth sacrificing something else for it. It is worth experimenting with sigils tho, they can be a really personal choice depending on what situations u find yourself in most of the time.

I never have problems with conditions since u’re getting rid of them with cleansing ire very fast and you really shouldn’t rely on berserker stance because it’s a 60sec CD, what do you do after the first push? I always have Berserk ready after leap from cleansing ire adrenaline accumulation, weapon swap and Outrage. Smash brawler over Savage instinct is a personal choice, i use SI to be 100% sure i’ll not be wasting even a second of Berserk+it provides extra condition clear. Leap+hammer burst+dodges should be all the mobility you need, if u’re further out of position than a leap and a dodge u’re doing something very wrong. Comparing warriors to druids and mesmers is just nonsensical and i have to assume is a troll. I do welcome all replies tho, because i want to keep the thread alive so thank you! And keep theorycrafting, it’s the best thing for WvW that people actually put some thought into it.

@timekeeper.4690 I’m working on a way to record zerg fights without tanking my FPS…bad optimization is bad ^^

SkyShroud.2865:

question: why berserker over tactic?

Because of the Hammer burst immobilize and a higher damage output. Since it’s much harder to strip stability off enemies now, immobilize is THE main CC in wvw to keep enemies in your zergs damage. If they revert the change, going back to tactics for 150 party power might be something to consider, but as things stand Berserk wins in my opinion.

Hopefully it stays on the first page long enough to make atleast some small difference ^^

Interesting things tend to happen on guild forums when it comes to new builds =P This is ment to reach the majority of wvw players – who blob. =)

I’m always aiming at 3k+ toughness, which i found is a good number to have in mind, beyond that movement and skill rotation have more priority in my mind. Also just to play a counter argument for the GS, hammer immobilize is invaluable atm and having a proper leap, water blast and a partywide immobilize clear are way to good for me to switch to h/gs destroyer. Keep the theorycrafting up tho! That’s actually what i want, more active warriors!

Kraljevo.2801:

I am surprised that durability rune is still in the game. Broken rune is broken.

Then again, we are really into PVE so the rune remains unchanged.

Would be silly not to take advantage of it while we can =)

Stand The Wall.6987:

good stuff, thanks for the post. i think eternal champ is a better grandmaster for this build tho, the little stab from breaking stuns could potentially help you stay alive a bit longer, long enough to at least dodge out of teh bomb. the stab pulse is not too shabby either. the other one, you will probably not be close enough to enemies half the time you go into berserker, and the 10% damage increase is nice but damage is not what the build is about.

That was actually an oversight, i use Bloody Roar for GvG, i’ve updated the links, thank you for pointing it out!

Warriors were kinda bullied out of WvW when pirate ship meta came about, some switched to killshot others just rerolled to revenants, but with the recent stability change they are needed again, and they are needed badly. The lack of banners and immobilizes is hugely obvious at the moment and i hope this gets some of you back on the melee train.
This is a guideline for players unsure of what to use and players looking to improve on their game. I can guarantee you can survive anything in this gear, so i’d advise new players to focus on learning proper skill rotation and dodging rather than using gear with more defensive stats. You might get a bit frustrated or even flamed, but it’s the only way to become a better player.

Link to the build (Ascended): http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vJIQNBiYD7kKRokUsLEwxDgOEsUFYvj2U7rFZx1ACAK9gGXOA-TRDEABRpkoNdDbpEE+9Hg4CA0hGG/V/5JlIPcEAY4gAIlSIAeQAMpcIAACwNvZ2sNDO6RP6RP6R7m38o38o3sUAZu1C-e

I use durability runes because my melee party uses it aswell and the proc becomes very potent when it occurs 3x-4x instead of just 1×. It’s also my 1st recommendation. If you hate PvE or don’t want to use it for some other reason, there are many alternatives. I’ll mention Rune of Hoelbrak, Strength and Melandru as some, altho Melandru isn’t as good anymore since you should rarely get stunned.

The sigils in weapons are subject to personal prefference. If you’re not landing alot of Final Thrusts after switching to S/WH, the intelliegence sigil doesn’t make alot of sense. You’ll have to work these out for yourself, just make sure you have Bloodlust on one of your underwater weapons aswell or your stacks will drop when you enter water.

Plate of Mussels Gnashblade is the best food for WvW at the moment, altho it is relativly expensive. If you don’t want to spend that much gold, use whatever food is dropped by the commander (usually Lemongrass Poultry or Saffron Bread). I’d advise against Saffron Bread, since you should always have stability, unless you are not in a party with 2 guardians for some reason. Same goes for Sharpening stones, if you can’t/don’t want to invest in Furious sharpening stone use the power ones.

Quick skill choice explanations:

Outrage – I use it as an early stun break for statics/lines that catch you before your guards pop stability, aswell as an adrenaline generator after the first leap to get Berserk asap. Due to it’s short cooldown it extremely useful in a number of situations.

Defiant Stance over Healing Signet – while Healing Signet appears nice in combination with adrenaline regen, it’s useless in a hard push or while stuck in a well coordinated bomb.
Most of the time u’ll get enough healing from adrenaline regen and water blasting/empowers, Defiant Stance comes in as a tool to push through a heavy bomb and hold damage, power ressing under heavy fire, or getting you from low HP to full HP when a refresh isn’t possible, or u see you’ll be stuck in a bomb due to unavoidable CC etc. Make sure to pay attention to your cooldowns, don’t pop Defiant Stance when you see your Defy Pain activated and don’t waste it by activating it outside of enemy damage, most times it’s better to stand in range damage for 2 seconds than running away and remaining on low health.
You can switch to Healing Signet if the skill lag makes Defiant Stance unusable, which is sometimes the case in the current build of the game with large scale fights and 3-Ways especially.

Dolyak Signet over Balanced Stance – Dolyak Signet now has the same 40sec cooldown as Balanced Stance and still provides 10 stacks of stability aswell as 180 armor before activated. Balanced Stance now applies 2 stacks of stability every 3 seconds which means there’s a possible 1,5sec window in which you can get stunned/feared so there’s is no reason to use it over Dolyak Signet.

Tips for new players:

Your priority in fights are immobilizes (Flurry while out of Berserk and Rupturing Smash while in Berserk), blasting water (Call to Arms, Hammer burst) and bannering downed players. Get these right first!

Always save Call to Arms for blasting water fields.

Use Teamspeak! Calling out your banner will enable other warriors not to waste theirs. Even if you’re shy, or have a crappy microphone, it’s only one word! And alot of times it can be the difference between your zerg wiping or surviving.

Ask the commander if he has a personal banner, if he does use you banner when you see 3 or more allies in downed state, or when the commander asks for it.

Use Charge when you see a party member or a nearby ally immobilized in a bomb.

Final Thrust does very high damage to people below 50% HP and hits 3 targets, that’s why you have the Intelligence Sigil on your sword set. Use it on downed or low HP players as often as possible.

Try to save your Dolyak Signet for bannering if you can. If you have no stability when you have to banner and are still inside enemy range, stand still for that 2sec cast to avoid being interrupted by guardian lines and static, fear unfortunatly is a gamble.

You can use sword leap and hammer burst as a getaway skill when immobilized! Altho pay attention to which direction u’re facing when using leap. While being immobilized it will use your direction on the time of the immobilize not where your camera is pointing.

Always have an ally targeted, best if it’s the commander this will allow you to both see the commander’s HP for well timed banners and prevent you from leaping back into the enemy unintentionally. All your weapon skills cleave so there is no need to target anyone else but the commander.

Don’t use Staggering Blow if u’re not sure about your positioning, alot of warriors just ignore that skill in WvW because when used incorrectly it can clear 5 enemies out of your range bomb, however it’s very powerful when used correctly by placing yourself behind the enemy to sandwich them between yourself and your raid and then knocking 2 or 3 of them into your raid’s damage preventing their escape or when pushing through on a wall or a choke.

ALWAYS STAY ON TAG! That’s where the water fields, empowers and damage mitigation will be!

Anyone with an i7 that can confirm/deny this? I currently have an i5 4690k@4.5ghz + R9 390@1150/1600 and i see the cores go above 90% only in gw, just wondering if investing in an i7 would make a difference. Guildie is running 4970k and a 980ti and he says his fps drops to 40ish in Lion’s Arch aswell (max settings except supersampling) but he doesn’t have afterburner or any other cpu monitoring app ,so if u guys have a better experience with an i7 or even some screenshots please post, thank you.

Is it possible to have another guild as a guest in the arena for a GvG or does everyone need to be in the same guild to access the same guild hall? Guild arenas are the only place where a GvG couldn’t be interrupted/annoyed by third parties, and could thus become alot more competative. If it’s not a hidden option already, guild guesting should really be looked into.

Just some feedback on the “Dragon Ball Participant” Daily. I can see the intent behind it but it has the horrible consequence of people joining and just afking or suiciding for the sole purpose of getting the daily, which really just destroys both the spirit and the fun of the arena. Maybe next year replace it with kills or some other objective that makes people actually play it, because when both teams are trying it’s just one of the most fun things ingame =)
Keep up the good work!