Guild Wars 2

If you want to go the Sword route I would make a few changes:

Modified version

Or if you’re ok with less sustain and more control (with this you can sub out Bull’s Charge for EP)

Having that extra point in arms means a consistent 10% extra damage. I’m torn between Forceful GS and Blademaster because while Fury is up you have over 80% crit with Sword. I’m even entertaining the idea of using an Assassin ammy.

Deimos Tel Arin.7391:

8 april 2015 update:
thanks for the feedback everyone!
i now append here a revised version based on the feedback!

Powerful Banners
“Banners do damage to nearby enemies over time.”
Damage: 0.3 x Power x Weapon Strength / Armor
Number of Targets: 5
Radius: 180
Interval: 3 s

discuss!

I can’t comment on the damage but the radius and interval seem fair. The question is, will this be allowed to crit or not?

GS/LB on Warrior is a build that I find to be effective, but not as easy as say a D/P teef.

There’s a ton of possible variation, you can go straight up damage. Or you could also go the Might stacking route as well. Anything left blank is player choice.

I think it’s arguable if the build is worth using in serious play, teef can deal more damage and abuse the Z axis, but this build is very fast as well and has arguably better on point presence.

I think many who have encountered me know I am one salty old man (in spirit). That being said, much of what I say is part of my persona and I avoid cruel personal attacks. I will openly admit that I simply despise many of the current meta builds, but when I say something like “So skill” or something of the like it’s nothing more than lighthearted trash talk.

I don’t have issue with trash talk in games, I often find it to be half the fun. I don’t think players should be punished for engaging in such activities because What I can’t stand is when players use slurs or personal attacks when they don’t even know me. I’m not talking about “git gud bro, u got no skillz.”

What really annoys me is when someone sets themselves to offline/invisible and starts berating you but you can’t respond.

As someone who had a max level Necro but had 0 interest in Power builds, this seems like a solid change. So long as you have a teammate providing you with swiftness at the start, you can now give up Spectral Walk for something like Grasp which is good from a fun standpoint. Necro felt like Warrior in the fact that you had to dedicate most of your utilities to defense which isn’t as fun as using the offensive ones.

I still need to learn all the tricks of the class however before I can be qualified to actually say what kind of effect it had.

If you want to push the damage aspect up, you could run something more risky like this (similar gear for WvW, I just didn’t feel like adding all the extra stat items). That being said, you basically become a build that will quickly kill some builds while being easily rekt by others. The Strength minor can also be Restorative Strength. I can’t claim that Defiant Stance in good, but without any points in Defense you’re going to lack condi cleanse but Defiant Stance can help if and only if you use it at the perfect time. If Mending was a Physical Skill it might be possible to bring Physical Training and Resto Str and run something like this.

Basically, you have to perfectly use your countermeasures to be effective.

Purple Miku.7032:

It depends entirely on what you want. Just to take videos from my channel for it or what?

Nothing like that, but I’m hoping we can get several PvE people to work together on new content. You can promote your main channel all you want too. I’m not too sure on the specifics yet, but we got several interested people already.

BlackTruth.6813:

Why youtube when you can just host each other on twitch.tv?

I highly doubt youtube is more informative than being a streamer really.

On Youtube you can add effects that make for much easier viewing. There’s also the fact that you can edit things down to be as precise as possible. I’ve seen so many videos that have good content, but it’s bogged down by pauses or the presenter getting sidetracked.

Also, a good number of people do not have fast enough internet for Twitch. I know that until recently, I did not. I could play, and Youtube was low quality but watchable but Twitch was nothing but constant buffering.

When I think Twitch, I think tourneys or pure gameplay, I don’t think quality guides.

Hi Miku, I’ve been looking for people who are interested in a collaberative Warrior Youtube channel. I can’t claim to be an expert in PvE these days (still putting off getting ascended) and I was wondering if you would be interested in getting involved?

JackSpacer.4320:

I’d be interested in helping out as I was planning on making a youtube channel for Gw2.

Noted, how powerful is your computer? I can play the game fine but I’m not sure I’ll be able to record at a decent frame rate. I can write/edit no problem and plan to upgrade once I graduate.

I’m happy for you guys! I hope to have some good fights in the future! Although part of me is a bit scared because so many of my builds are control based.

In fact, maybe it’s time to wake up my level 80 Necro for some PvP fun time.

I find that if played correctly, Shotbow can beat most builds 1v1. It may not be fast, but if you correctly stack might, your damage will eventually cascade and landing a few Arcing Arrows and your Final Thrust (also, feel free to use this at the start because it’s still OK damage) and your target will do down. Don’t forget to use Savage Leap through your Combustive Shot, it’s a ton of potential might and damage from burning.

For how easy Shoutbow is, I see a ton of people not use it to its full capacity.

BlackTruth.6813:

Once again, the meta is about what is face-roll AND effective. Guardian has been meta for 3 years because they are easy to play and effective. The reason why Guard is easy and effective is because they can spam instant cast defense while using instant cast attacks on top of ridiculous ratios on their damage skills.

Ironically Warrior is a more face-roll healer while Guardian is a more face-roll DPS. DPS Warrior compared to DPS guard is a whole different story. Warrior, with the highest skill cap DPS build (Mace+Shield Axe+Mace) can chain stun people for 5-8 seconds average while dps’ing as a 100-0 combo but that takes way more skill and effort than anything Guardian does to be honest. I would say play Warrior if you want a challenge and learn good habits which you can transfer to other classes.

But just play easy and effective things really, that’s what this game is about to be honest.

Sources on high skill cap Warrior:
http://www.twitch.tv/blacktruth009/c/6259903
http://www.twitch.tv/blacktruth009/c/6269321

I don’t like making personal attacks, but players who aren’t Warriors should know that recent Mr. Truth here has managed to get an even worse reputation than I have. His “high skill” builds are generally seen as being inferior to say, any viable teef build or a medi guard. His builds are all damage with low sustain and almost no team support.

I’ve given up debating him on this because he always falls on personal insults or “I never see YOU in tournies” (I work too much and have unreliable internet). I just don’t want his views giving non-warriors the impression that we share this opinion. Warriors are best as support with decent damage if you properly stack might and can land your Final Thrust.

We can’t teleport like teefs, we can’t hit as hard as MediGuard without sacrificing a ton of sustain that the guard doesn’t have to give up. Cele Rifle Engi can bring more useful CC in the form of pushes and pulls in addition to good damage and condi pressure. Cele D/D Ele is very similar to Shoutbow in that it’s based around stacking might for damage while bringing good team support as well.

It is pretty funny that Warriors and Guards have basically swapped roles. We used to be DPS/CC and now we’re the support class and Guard is the DPS.

Cufufalating.8479:

To be honest when I play with my warrior I always think the physical skills are surprisingly good.. it’s just that in the end Shouts are better in a group by a mile.

Kick in particular… if you get Physical Training (which I admit is a bit of a pain) it does pretty beefy damage on a low CD and is an AoE CC. It’s really very good.

Stomp is almost amazing, but the long CD and the clunkiness of it to use just ruins it.

Even Bollas is pretty neat. An immob on such a shot CD is pretty handy.. and between that and Kick landing the Warriors big attacks becomes a lot easier.

Like I said, the main problem I see if that the Warrior is chosen for it support largely, which requires shouts and banners. For dueling though.. honestly.. I really like them.

I think a large issue is that they also lack the utility of stances/shouts. Taking 2 of them means either giving up immunity to power damage, immunity to conditions, or stability. Or you lose buff/condi removal/fear. It’s just an unfortunate reality that Warriors need to focus heavily on sustain or they die much easier than a teef, and we sadly lack skills like Meditations that act as both offense and sustain (“On My Mark” and “Fear Me” help you do damage but don’t do any directly).

I do think that moving Physical Training and making Stomp less clunky would open up plenty of options however. The trait setup 2/0/6/0/6 is already solid and sacrificing Endure Pain for a Physical skill isn’t uncommon already.

EDIT: A more useable Stomp would actually be great on Hambow, it’s a blast finisher so you can get more Might, clear a point, and a good setup for Pindown or Earthshaker.

I don’t even need Stomp to have a leap, if they make the damage and the launch separate attacks and have the damage be applied first, that would make it less vulnerable to blind. Also, let us move while activating so that if they move a few feet you can follow them.

choovanski.5462:

BurrTheKing.8571:

choovanski.5462:

ive been using http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fJAQNAS8enMdQpgW5BeeAnIGoKoQXAPQAoqHSfCddKA-TZBBwAkLDw5IAA4BAg5iAUd/BA lately. the sword gives the build speed and final thrust (shield bash sets it up so well). valk amulet is super tough, and the build has four 2k shoutheals. the fury from signet of rage and FGJ are super important. mostly just camp hammer unless you want to use a skill on the sword, usually final thrust.

nice to see hammer-shout-valk becoming a thing.

Sadly, after some testing, I’m finding the DPS loss to not be worth the CC you gain. The might stacking on Shotbow is just too good.

the bow is undeniably the greatest for this reason that silly fire field and those darn mights

I’m starting to think that Warrior was designed to have either the Rifle or the Longbow but Rifle ended up being…bad.

choovanski.5462:

ive been using http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fJAQNAS8enMdQpgW5BeeAnIGoKoQXAPQAoqHSfCddKA-TZBBwAkLDw5IAA4BAg5iAUd/BA lately. the sword gives the build speed and final thrust (shield bash sets it up so well). valk amulet is super tough, and the build has four 2k shoutheals. the fury from signet of rage and FGJ are super important. mostly just camp hammer unless you want to use a skill on the sword, usually final thrust.

nice to see hammer-shout-valk becoming a thing.

Sadly, after some testing, I’m finding the DPS loss to not be worth the CC you gain. The might stacking on Shotbow is just too good.

Cygnus.6903:

Well, I’d definitely encourage this. It always seemed strange to me as to why all other classes have stickied guides where warrior does not. Even though, like you said, there are good guides out there. Take Miku’s PvE guide for example. He is still forced to bump it every now and then to keep it up.

Maybe I’ll get in touch and ask if he’s interested.

I 100% agree on making PT an adept trait, but what about making Berserker’s Might a trait that buffs Physical skills? As it currently is, it is a trait that is basically never used as far as I know. Maybe rename it to Physical Might and have it increase the effectiveness of physical skills.

If we want to get really creative, why not change the final bonus of the Runes of the Warrior to give some sort of buff on physical skill use. Maybe make the (4) buff cleanse blind on Phys skill use. This’ll probably never happen, but a Warrior can dream.

Assassin X.8573:

BurrTheKing.8571:

So, I’ve been thinking about alternatives to shoutbow but still with a focus on support. What about adapting the popular WvW zerg build and getting a mix of CC and support? Less AoE might but honestly D/D Ele’s bring plenty on their own.

Hamshouts

I was doing some preliminary testing with a variant of shoutbow with the gs. And its decent but no where near as good as the s/wh version. Its still provides all the support, but it has a much lower power threshold and does not convert condi to boon. But that is only the 1st iteration of the build, there is more testing to come.

Im still having great success with gs/a/sh.

I think traited Warhorn is a must for a support build.

This build has most of my tenants for a good build. I’m thinking an axe version that looks something like this might also work. I’ll probably be hanging around the team 90% of the time anyways so speed isn’t super important. Not sure about the ammy yet, but it makes sense and the fury uptime makes up for the lack of precision.

The strength of Axebow imo is that it can put out damage consistently from multiple sources. You got the torment and bleeding from your offhand sword and Pin Down on LB, you get might from Combustive Shot and the fire shield. In my version I actually sometimes bring Spiked Armor so that vs Engi and Teef you can really punish them for their multi hit attacks. Spiked Armor is actually a really under loved trait imo.

EDIT: This is my tweaked Axebow

I know Leg Spec might seem a bit odd, but with Sharpened Axes the skill Throw Axe is on a 8 second cool down which makes it great for reliably landing Evis and Impale. It helps counteract some of the predicability that you rightfully mentioned.

yolo swaggins.2570:

Quadox.7834:

thieves want more build versatility when they already rival war in best mobility. ok?

fixed*

Its still a poor statement.

Teef mobility will still be superior to War until the Z axis teleports are properly fixed. So long as those can be abused War will be outclassed in mobility.

So, I’ve been thinking about alternatives to shoutbow but still with a focus on support. What about adapting the popular WvW zerg build and getting a mix of CC and support? Less AoE might but honestly D/D Ele’s bring plenty on their own.

Hamshouts

Sagat.3285:

BurrTheKing.8571:

Sagat.3285:

You are only stoping movement they are not disabled, no evades removes counter play vs immobolize, evades has counter plays and obvious animations.

The conterplay to immob is condition removal, with soft counterplay from teleportation. The immob is also often prioritized for removal.

What good are obvious animations when you can do NOTHING about them. You can’t interrupt them, so there’s no true counterplay.

Cleansing are RNG , an evading attack can be dodged,blocked,kited etc they are not permanent and some rely on it to even stand next to you. Fix immobolize bug plz. Are they that oppressive to you?

That’s not true they are cleansed from right to left if I recall correctly.

Sagat.3285:

You are only stoping movement they are not disabled, no evades removes counter play vs immobolize, evades has counter plays and obvious animations.

The conterplay to immob is condition removal, with soft counterplay from teleportation. The immob is also often prioritized for removal.

What good are obvious animations when you can do NOTHING about them. You can’t interrupt them, so there’s no true counterplay.

I think many player’s issue with teef is not that it’s too strong, but that it’s not fun to fight.

Immobilize them? They can use SB 3 to evade for the duration.

Chill them? Hardly any real effect.

Interrupt a vital attack skill? They only lost initiative and can still use that skill again.

I don’t think many mind the idea of the stealthy killer or the evasive rogue, it’s when they are CONSTANTLY stealthing and CONSTANTLY evading.

I’m not opposed to teef getting some buffs in other areas if it means they get more enjoyable counterplay in others.

This has been mentioned many times before but unless I missed something it was never officially addressed. Why is it that you can evade while immobilized? The who concept is that it locks you in place. Being able to evade removes counterplay from evade/heavy specs. Sure, you can stop the physical movement of your target, but who cares if you can’t HIT them.

Is this a technical limitation? Is it not possible to say, have skills with evade not activate when immobilized or maybe have the attack play out but the evade is disabled? If a dev/specialist could weigh in on this I would greatly appreciate it.

Scourge.1563:

Excuse me I’m busy evading……….

Excuse me…I’m using LEG SPECIALIST BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Tremble in fear, for even the most challenging of skills become much more simple when your enemy can’t move!

…and they you realize that it’s somehow possible to evade while immobilized…

Warrior is the (theoretical) middle ground between a burst class like teef and something more sustain based like Guardian. Obviously, you can build how you want and go more towards tank or burst but I would say that middle area is where the class excels.

It’s a class that allows you to easily stomp noobs, but becomes more rewarding vs higher skilled players. While the nerfs have made the class a bit weaker, it makes landing the harder hitting attacks all the more satisfying.

Just landing your skills isn’t enough as well, you also have to know what your enemy is running and use just the right amount of skills to bait out their countermeasures before going for the kill. Hammer becomes a joke if you waste your Backbreaker, the strength of the weapon comes from chaining together its CC.

As much as I complain about Warrior, the majority of weapons are pretty well designed. What’s lacking is mostly trait and utility design. There’s also the general instability of the servers recently that has made using certain weapons a pain.

Why? If it’s only around 300 range and keeps the same animation it’s not like it’s gonna be the “Stomp Meta.” As it is now, it is VERY easy to see coming.

It would be cool to make it a ground targeted AoE with a short range. Might make it a decent substitute for Bull’s Charge. The idea of running it with Hammer and Rampage and just leaping all over the battlefield sounds hilarious.

It’s certainly a really annoying issue. Most skills like this root you so that you can’t move once you start activating it, but Stomp doesn’t. I think it would actually be great if you can move while you activate so that you can actually aim it if the person who just CC’d you moves back after they hit you.

It’s a fun skill in concept but it’s very clunky.

Reserved for future posts

So, I’ve had a concept bouncing around in my cranium. We have a few small War-centric channels around, but they are all basically one person which can limit what you can do. I thought it would be nice to get all of the more active forum users and get them together to do War content for all parts of the game.

I know I stay some stupid/not well thought out stuff which is why I would like to do collaborative work so that we get the most well-rounded opinions. I don’t think I would be able to commit a huge amount of time because I’m working full time and wrapping up my college edumacations but I have enough free time to be active.

Some things that would have to get done:

• Channel/Group name. I’m kind of partial to “Forum Warriors” because nothing makes me laugh more than taking a negative phrase and embracing it.

• Players experienced in PvE, PvP, and WvW.

• Writer/Editors/Commentators. I’m a communications major and a part of this idea is that I get practice in these areas, but I am no expert in any 1 field, which is why I want people to fact check me. It would be nice to get someone who’s more active in the competitive scene of every mode in on this. I might also need to save up for a computer upgrade because GW2 does not play well with AMD stuff. Which leads to the next thing…

• “Cameramen”/“Actors”. It’s one thing to show a optimal build rotation in PvP/WvW, it’s another to see someone play it against another competent player. As I said before, I can record the game somewhat, but it would be nice if any of you with beast machines would be willing to record and help demonstrate.

Some ideas for content:

• High quality guides. There’s plenty of good guides out there, but sometimes they get overlooked due to poor mic quality or the like. The quality is good but the presentation could use help. With multiple people you can also go mock battles and shoot it from multiple angles (first person mode YAY!).

• “How to Fight X.” A video series showing how to best face a particular class. What skills to look out for, what to use your countermeasures on, etc.

• Some sort of Theorycrafting series. Pretty straight forward. If we come up with a promising build, we show it off.

• A series on issues with the Warriors class. I don’t want this to be too ranty. I would like something that is politely structured and is directed more towards the balance team. Many people don’t have time to read a long post, but most have enough to watch a short video. Rather than a long video a bunch of short videos that quickly highlights an issue and offers a reasonable solution. By reasonable I mean something that is simple in concept and wouldn’t require programming entirely new systems.

I don’t know if anyone will actually be interested, but I thought it would be fun. Even if you don’t like me, I would actually want you to be in on this even more because every team needs differing opinions.

I actually really like this idea. It allows you to set up for Evis much how Rifle Butt sets you up for Volley/KS. Also, totally agree on the WA reflect and the need for utility. Pure DPS is for teefs, Warriors are supposed to be steady damage with utility.

Any chance you can make your image bigger?

I really do hope it’s Mainhand and Offhand if we get pistol. Heavy armor P/P is something that you never really see in fantasy settings. I already have an armor set that’s a mix of CE armor and the gemstore Scarlet glove/boot/helm so the idea of that + Mystic Pistols sounds great.

YuiRS.8129:

In my opinion the Greatbow build is much better than those. Or Tarcis’ Longbow/GS build. Or w/e you want to call that one.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fJAQJARTjMd0FaVImhwJagfgC7t3C2CA1zRuXGA-TpBHwAMLDQ4IAU4CAA4BA0a/hBHCAA

It offers a lot of armor and good burst with AA into GS swap+dodge+Arcing Slice. Great Fury uptime allows you to deal good damage outside of Sigil of Intelligence swaps. You can replace Valk Amulet with Soldier’s, but the damage drops considerably. It uses triple Stances, because you don’t really need to land 100b to kill people, it’s just there to cleave or punish people who think they can tank you.

Now, I love this build to bits. You need skill to play it, landing your skills is crucial and extremely rewarding, it’s good in team fights and solo. The problem is total lack of support for your team, which is why it’s worse than shoutbow, but I think it’s one of the best fighting builds in the Warrior’s kitten nal right now. < really? ?rsenal is a curse word now?

I don’t see why you would want building momentum, with the “fix” it barely gives any endurance back now.

Larynx.2453:

Questions:

1. Why Bull’s Charge over Bola?
2. Why Heightened Focus over Burst Mastery?
3. If you take Heightened Focus, wouldn’t 6 in Arms be better instead? 10% constant damage from minor + Major trait (Furious for example) vs 0-15% damage from Heightened Focus.

1. Bull’s Charge is a gap closer and also knocks down your target which forces them to either stun break or eat the damage. With Bolas, it’s a skill that still loves to miss, and the target can still cleanse the immob very easy (lack of cover conditions) AND hit you back.

2. It WAS supposed to be Burst Mastery, fixed. The editor must have been tripping, or I was.

Larynx.2453:

Link 2 and 3 are identical.

Fixed, idk why but sometimes the build maker spits out the same link even after changes.

Shoutbow is a build that is simple mechanically, but it is not as simple to play CORRECTLY. Many Shoutbows play too selfishly, wen their primary goal should be to support their team. Don’t just use your shouts, use them to cleanse condis from your team. Don’t just drop your Combustion Shot, use it on your teammates and use Arcing Arrow and Call to Arms to give them might. Also, use Savage Leap through your fire field, it gives you a shield that burns and gives you might every time you are hit.

So no, I would not recommend Shoutbow for beginners, it requires game knowledge to play well, even if mechanically it’s simple.

I would like to imagine it’s just due to our high amounts of testosterone which allows us to preform feats once thought to be outside the realm of possibility.

Also, having the attack pull on the way back would be awesome.

Assassin X.8573:

BurrTheKing.8571:

Assassin X.8573:

The other day i got the opportunity to have a dueling session with a very good shoutbow, actually the only one who has completely dominated me. So far i had been skeptical about the whole build, but when it is played correctly, then it can pump out some rediculus damage and support.

I have actually the opposite burr, i am thinking about hanging up the longbow and going full out melee. Right now, testing theories with gs+a/sh and quickness without frenzy (last chance and sig of rage). Prelimiary testing has had decent results.

The problem with a set like that, I always end up comparing my DPS to S/D or D/P teef or MediGuard and come to the conclusion that it isn’t as good. Teef allows you to teleport right to your target and immob them long enough to get hits in. When it comes to Axe/GS Wars you sadly lack that advantage. The DPS on teef is also just nuts and has boon stripping/sharing capabilities.

Axe/GS just seems selfish no matter how you run it. At least with GS/LB you are giving your team a combo field and might. The AoE on LB is also always useful. I WISH that Axe/GS was viable, but when I compare it to the other zerk specs it doesn’t seem to match up. Power Necro is also selfish, but it can deal SO MUCH damage that I can understand why you could want it on your team.

Thats true, it is avery selfish builld lol.

Before players learned how to dodge we used to be able to play selfishly because Frenzy + 100b was a thing, but now even on full glass our DPS is just “OK.” I would say Hambow is still viable because while its DPS is just decent unless you chain an entire Hammer combo you’re still giving CC and might stacking.

I don’t think you have to be super support on everything, you just got to bring SOMETHING to the team besides just pure killing power as a Warrior.

I agree with it being either pistol or dagger. I too am leaning towards pistol, it’ll possibly give more ranged options.

Maybe this mysterious F2 skill will be a burst tied to offhand weapons. What that means for 2handers I don’t know.

Assassin X.8573:

The other day i got the opportunity to have a dueling session with a very good shoutbow, actually the only one who has completely dominated me. So far i had been skeptical about the whole build, but when it is played correctly, then it can pump out some rediculus damage and support.

I have actually the opposite burr, i am thinking about hanging up the longbow and going full out melee. Right now, testing theories with gs+a/sh and quickness without frenzy (last chance and sig of rage). Prelimiary testing has had decent results.

The problem with a set like that, I always end up comparing my DPS to S/D or D/P teef or MediGuard and come to the conclusion that it isn’t as good. Teef allows you to teleport right to your target and immob them long enough to get hits in. When it comes to Axe/GS Wars you sadly lack that advantage. The DPS on teef is also just nuts and has boon stripping/sharing capabilities.

Axe/GS just seems selfish no matter how you run it. At least with GS/LB you are giving your team a combo field and might. The AoE on LB is also always useful. I WISH that Axe/GS was viable, but when I compare it to the other zerk specs it doesn’t seem to match up. Power Necro is also selfish, but it can deal SO MUCH damage that I can understand why you could want it on your team.

You’re right about the CD reduction, I didn’t consider that certain combos would become too strong and that it may not even be technically possible.

Yah, i tried messing around with this trait and I still think Burst Mastery is the superior skill, if for no other reason that you can follow up a full burst with a free level 1 burst if needed.

It seems like you need at least 2 traits dedicated to adrenaline gain. You almost always have CI but you’ll also need Burst Mastery or Inspiring Shout because without one you run into the problem of not always having adren when you need it.

I’ve felt it. I had to stop using Mace on Warrior because it was taking too long to activate and would refuse to cancel via sheathing so I would consistently lose all of my adrenaline when I shouldn’t have.

What about a small AoE that damages foes in the area? Perhaps have it pulse at the same rate that the banner buff reapplies itself. As for how much it would do idk, it would require play testing.

Although I do like the idea of actually having a reason to use the banner skills, maybe keep the CD reduction? Not sure if that’s too much for a minor trait.

I’ve posted a thread in the Warrior forum about the GS/LB War Spec and whether it’s a viable replacement for S/D teef.

I’m posting here for visibility and because the War thread is more about the build itself and less about the PvP viability.

Recently, I’ve been dabbling into GS/LB builds. While playing I came to the conclusion that their mobility and decent AoE damage makes them a decent candidate to replace a S/D teef on a team. This will be even more true if the teleport changes ever actually work properly.

There’s many ways to run this spec, most variations are minor. When it comes to runes I find Pack to be good but Ogre is also solid. For Elite you can go Rampage for DPS or Banner for support. Some sigil’s can be swapped if you prefer such as Energy for Leeching or Hydromancy. Here’s what I’ve used thus far:

Balanced Sustain and Damage

Recently Bull’s Charge has been working a bit better for me. I took off melee assist which means you’ll often pass through your target then hit, but I find I hit more often to the point where it’s worth taking. You can take the points in Strength and put it into Tactics for leg Specialist to use Bladetrail as a way to better ensure Bull’s Charge hits.

More Damage, Less Sustain

You lose all of your “training wheels” in the form of Defy Pain but gain much more might stacking and GS skill reduction. I would recommend Rampage on this version because it gives you damage reduction that can be useful if focused.

More Sustain, Less Damage

This gives you double Endure Pain which helps increase your survival under pressure. I add in Leg Specialist because without it your only way to get any use out of 100b is with Pin Down or to cleave downed enemies. Stand close and use Bladetrail and follow up with 100b and you’ll get a good number of hits in. You can also use Bladetrail at range to ensure you hit Rush. You could also just go for 2 in Strength.

There’s plenty of other variants, but these are the 3 I’ve found to be the most useful. I really like option 2 but it does mean you got to be more on your toes. I find though that all 3 of these builds can beat the other team’s teef, if for no other reason that standing on point and taking the constant Combustion shot hits normally forces them to use their heal, which normally makes them roll off point at which point you use Pin Down and laugh as you steal the cap. Don’t forget to use Combustion Shot for combos. On the DPS version save Bull’s Charge for a Leap Finisher so even if the attack misses you at least got a fire shield out of it, which is more might for you. Try to not chain Pin Down and +Bull’s Charge if you don’t have to. Using them separately means you get 2 chances to hit with 100b. Also, when Pin Down lands, try to move behind them so they can’t hit you back with melee.

Gl; HF.

In addition to all of the info already given, I have a feeling no two classes will be getting the same new weapon. So far we know:

Ranger – Staff
Engi – Hammer
Mesmer – Shield
Necro – GS
Guardian – Longbow (supposedly, hinted in a WvW video)

So far there is no overlap. If I had to guess I would say that no classes will be getting new primary 1 handers. They had an interview where they tried to drive home the fact that if you don’t get a 2 hander that the final 2 skills will be very impactful on the offhands.