Guild Wars 2

Yamsandjams.3267:

BurrTheKing.8571:

Also, I’m finding Frenzy to have surprisingly good result. A Quickness Skull Crack is much harder to avoid, and you have time for a 100b AND a Whirlwind attack.

The eternal issue with frenzy, however, is that you have to sacrifice a different stance. Balanced stance is pretty much a must have, so you get to pick between dying to conditions or massive burst. Also, if they use a stun breaker, your entire use of frenzy could potentially be nullified, whereas endure pain and berserker stance are much more reliable.

Sundering mace is an interesting choice, though I think you might be better served by shield master. It’s a 6s reduction on it’s block instead of the 2s you get on the mace block, and I’d consider shield bash more valuable than pommel bash. Though I can see how there could be advantages to going with sundering mace instead.

The 8 second CD counterblow is pretty nice because you know that chances are when you swap back to mace you’re going to have it. Also, I try to land a aa combo and apply weakness before going for Skullcrack and that makes it hit fairly hard.

The annoying thing I keep on coming across in tests at duel arenas is that everyone ends up building to counter you. It’s crazy dumb how you can take almost any build, throw on Sigl of Doom and Geomancy, and use Celestial and suddenly your build is better. Doom alone has such an absurdly high up time that your healing just gets neutered.

Brigg.6189:

Played with this and liked it, surprisingly survivable even with zerker ammy. I didn’t try valkyrie because it didn’t seem like I needed to.

I like zerk stance and balanced stance for this build, but it seems like the last slot is a wildcard. Kinda crazy but you could do signet of fury or might in that slot.

BTW Burr, I never played a lot of mace builds so I feel like my mechanics are pretty mediocre with it. Do you have any streams using it? I’d like to see how you play it.

Also, I think Burr’s right that this does counter the meta to an extent. I’ve always found mace hard to play in big teamfights, and it doesn’t have the aoe rez denial that hammer does. But, cele meta has people spread across 3 points fightings in 2s and 3s, that’s a pretty good niche for this build. It’s got the mobility to play 3 points too, unlike say, a deeps guard.

Sadly, I lack the rig to be able to stream. The biggest tip I could give you is to bind Sheath Weapon to a button you can easily reach. If you’re going to miss, sheath your weapon. You’ll only get a short CD and keep all of your adrenaline. It’ll bait out dodges, stability, blocks, everything.

Also, I changed the build a bit again. I find Mel runes to not hurt my DPS that but, but the sustain they bring to be invaluable. Also, I’m finding Frenzy to have surprisingly good result. A Quickness Skull Crack is much harder to avoid, and you have time for a 100b AND a Whirlwind attack.

killahmayne.9518:

Honestly Mace is almost there, well at least the mainhand. I just wish for a few things.

#1: Somehow make the blow part of the counterblow more reliable and effective. I feel like the opponent should be punished if they are in melee range and hit you. They need to extend the range on this attack because it is laughably easy to dodge.

edit: I’ll continue on with my rant cuz i g2g

Counterblow can be really wonky. It hits hard when it does hit, but often times if you’re reflecting missiles and move in to melee range it refuses to trigger. I would rather have that 3-4k hit than the adrenaline.

A tiny bit more range would be good as well. The speed seems fair, it hits kitten a fairly short CD so that reaction time is needed.

BlackTruth.6813:

More and more misconceptions.

Mace is A LOT stronger in team fights because Mace baits cool downs, dodges, and punishes having no stun breaks hard. That means focusing down a target becomes easier if you’re good with it. Same with Hammer. Not to mention it scales HARD with boon stripping from team mates.

It is NOT simply a 1v1 weapon.

And in situations where you can’t stun, there is still immobilize.

I run with a boon stripping Necro or Mes and the combo earns me a heathy amount of angry messages.

Simon.3794:

Nah, mace is already a pretty strong dueling weapon.
there’s really no need in buffing it farther in dueling area.

about the traits, both are way too good to merge imo.
if anything, i would more happy to see the merge of reflection and cull the weak.

Simon, come on man.

You should know you don’t balance the game around something like dueling. The game was never built around 1v1 nor should it be, it’s a team game.

A melee player needs to be able to remain in range in order to be effective, this is obvious. While I personally think main hand mace is a good weapon, sometimes it’s just far too easy for people to get out of my very short range. I often you sigil of Hydromancy and it can help but it’s not enough. Changing one skill would dramatically increase the quality of life of Mace users:

Pommel Bash: Daze your foe with a pommel bash. If you interrupt them, they are crippled for 5 seconds.

Range: 300

Because it requires a interrupt, it makes soft CCing your foe more skillful. The range would be the same as the bash on Ranger GS, helping it serve as a mini-gap closer.

Also, can we please merge the Missile Reflect and Shield Master traits? I would guess that most War’s would even be willing to lose the tiny bit of toughness to just have the CD reduction and the reflect. The reflect is infinitely more useful, so the Shield trait is almost never used, especially since Dogged March is in the same spot.

The Gates Assassin.9827:

After discussing celestial meta for the past few days, I could use a topic that has 100% agreement to ease my mind. Who likes this? xD

I’m excited for the first person camera, in the GW1 days all I could manage were crummy montages. Now that I’m older and don’t have an obnoxious teenager voice I may try to do something a bit more creative.

I wanted to before but the logistics of it were always too frustrating.

BlazinFyre.2410:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-02-26-guild-wars-2-getting-a-first-person-camera

Guild Wars will apparently be getting a first-person view. sounds harmless right? well I say no just because of the part which lets you use it in any game mode. there are already bads in pvp, now imagine if they had no peripheral vision. It would be soloq hell! in a game with pvp like guild warts, 3rd person is necessary! pls if this is true, rethink the decision to make it enabled in pvp.

It’s intended to help out the creative players that want to make video content outside of guides. GW1 had a pretty healthy machinima community, I learned how to edit when I was younger because of it. Seeing it (potentially) come back makes me very happy.

kdaddy.5431:

Ive seen some people run some things that were crazy to me but crushed other people.

I saw this guy run a mace/shield, Greatsword with traits 6-0-2-0-6. I saw him trucking threw people left and right. It was awesome, now give it it was against mesmers and eles who were using other awkward builds but my thing is if your good your good. Builds are important but i think skill and timing is still more important.

Where they using 3 physical skills by chance?

If you’re like me, you hate this meta. I’ve been theorizing about team comps that are strong against builds like Shoutbow, Cele Ele, and Ele Engi. There’s also more annoying builds that are popular like LB Ranger and Turrets.

By now you may know I really like Skullcracker on War. While it’s weak to 1v1s with mesmers and some blind spam teef specs, it’s very strong vs Cele Engi, Turrets, LB Ranger, AND Shoutbow (just save the stun for after they use “Shake it Off”). While it would take to long to be practical outside of duels it also generally beats Mediguards. You either force they to spend all their counter measures, or they just don’t have an answer to your huge stun. Pair it up with any sort of spike build and chances are your target is dead.

So my question to you is, what other non-meta builds do you find counter the current meta. I also have another question, wanna team up and try it out?

Ego?

I’m gonna say this won’t be the meta. It’s basically a LB Ranger but with shorter range.

There are better damage dealers out there with better sustain, Shatter for example. Shatter could even change 1 minor trait and have the ability to reflect your Kill Shot back in your face.

IMO what Warrior exceeds in is CC and support. I’ve been messing around with different Skullcracker builds, and when paired with a Shatter Mes you have a deadly combo. The Shatter baits out stability and strips in, and the Warrior stuns them for the 100b-Shatter combo. Nothing survives. Mediguard works with it too.

Shoutbow is boring but I get why it’s popular, good support with condi removal, healing, might stacking, AND boons.

I know it was a 2v1, but you also died VERY quickly. Which was my point. Skullcracker is zerk, but my sustain due to blocks is pretty kitten high. In fact, I can win 2v1s if there’s a lot of projectiles involved. I’m only bad against a well played Shatter and blind spam teef (which I only see in duel servers and they win by hiding for 20 seconds+ once they get low).

Also, I work 40-60 hours a week as of late so I haven’t been able to play much. I am R80 with no boosting and played a ton before my schedule consisted or college, work, and sleep. I must of been fairly good considering how many angry PMs I got.

I may be more impressed if it was a different game, but the one you linked had you not being the focus for the majority.

BlackTruth.6813:

BurrTheKing.8571:

BlackTruth.6813:

BurrTheKing.8571:

I’m hoping that w/e out new specialization is it increases the skill cap.

It already is, the lack of mechanics and creativity is the problem.

I blame casual-ness, sheep mentality, and just lack of good work tbh. Oh and hambow and shoutbow.

Show me a Warrior build that is viable, and doesn’t use Longbow and I might believe you. The closest I have gotten is the Skullcracker build in my sig. While pretty good, it can also fail terribly.

IMO, and build that uses LB is going to be too easy for my taste.

K. No LongBow as promised. Both games as DPS vs. a top NA team.

http://i.imgur.com/Z4c5mBV.jpg

http://play.eslgaming.com/guildwars2/global/gw2/major/go4guildwars2-northamerica/cup-13/mmp/show/30990575/76548044/

Top your Skull Crack vs. my frenzy against abjured btw. I guarantee, you won’t be as effective as I did. This is ABJURED. You have to give me credit to even make this work against the top NA team.

Also, doom hammer. http://www.twitch.tv/blacktruth009/c/6152446

Believe me, Frenzy still works in competitive play. The problem is the lack of mechanics and creativity.

I’m not trying to be rude, but that match wasn’t super impressive because your foes hardly focused you at all. The one time the Mediguard does you crumble like paper. Your damage is comprable to something like Shatter Mes, but that Mes can also bring Portal which if used correctly is amazing. Also, Rampage is pretty great, and I use it on Skullcraker. In fact, Frenzy wouldn’t be awful on Skullcracker either because people tend to hesitate for a second before stun breaking. If they don’t, I get off a full 100b and something like rush or WW attack.

Actually, I would say that the setup is fairly solid. You got condi removal, a get-out-of-jail-free card in Defy pain, and might stacking. Going 6/2/0/0/6 is silly, you’ll hit hard but will basically be a crap LB ranger.

The KS change was good, but I don’t think it’s there yet.

BlackTruth.6813:

BurrTheKing.8571:

I’m hoping that w/e out new specialization is it increases the skill cap.

It already is, the lack of mechanics and creativity is the problem.

I blame casual-ness, sheep mentality, and just lack of good work tbh. Oh and hambow and shoutbow.

Show me a Warrior build that is viable, and doesn’t use Longbow and I might believe you. The closest I have gotten is the Skullcracker build in my sig. While pretty good, it can also fail terribly.

IMO, and build that uses LB is going to be too easy for my taste.

Well, it’s not impossible that they make Skull Crack take a much larger chunk out of defiance than your standard CC.

My greatest disappointment when it comes to Warrior design is that our unique resource is only used for a single skill. Almost every other class has a more complex class mechanics. Every utility is a simple, boring, cool down timer. Some of the skills are really cool, but you always end up using stances or signets because the other skills are not reliable or have a huge CD.

Well, what if some skills were powered by bars of adrenaline?

For example, a skill like Kick isn’t super powerful, so it would only cost 1 bar of adrenaline. Something stronger like Bull’s Charge would be 2, and a powerful skill like “Fear Me” would be 3.

“But Burr, what’s to stop Warriors from spamming 1 bar utilities constantly?”

A good solution to this would be having skills that cost 1 or 2 bars go on a “soft cooldown.” You use the skill, and a CD timer starts (it should be shorted than the current skill’s CD), you CAN use the skill again by spending more adrenaline, but this time it will cost 2 bars. Wanna use it again before the timer? 3 bars. Skills that already cost 3 bars will force you to sit through the recharge of course.

Having some stances like Endure Pain require adrenaline would make it less of a “get-out-of-jail-free” card and make it something you have to make a sacrifice in order to use. I feel like it would be much less annoying to deal with if you know that you won’t be getting hit by a Burst because you forced them to use Endure Pain (the Defy Pain trait would still be something I hate).

This would not be an easy change, and will probably not happen ever, but man would it make the class feel so much more like GW1. It would also raise the skill cap because resource management would be a thing. Some of the changes that would be needed include:

• Increasing the speed of adrenaline gain via normal hits and traits.

• Determine what the cost of the skills and what the soft CD of these skills would be.

• Fixing Bull’s Charge.

• Whatever new systems you would need to make some utilities cost adrenaline.

• Making sure you don’t screw up any builds by making the wrong ones cost adren.

• Fixing Bull’s Charge.

I’m hoping that w/e out new specialization is it increases the skill cap.

I agree on some level with what Swish.2463 said. It REALLY sucks being forced to depend on boring as hell stances in order to sustain ourselves. There’s no complexity to them, press button for thing to happen instantly. If they had mechanics that required more skill to use well it would go a long way.

I like the idea of big obvious attacks that hurt when they hit because in theory that means it’s harder to land them vs good players. However, the skills we have that are designed to allow us to have some sort of setup for those skills hardly work (Bull’s Charge) or are just clunky to use (Stomp).

insanemaniac.2456:

BurrTheKing.8571:

So, after some thought I have an alternative suggestion:

Don’t allow for 2 sigils of the same type to be on one weapon. This means no Air/Fire, no Energy/Doom/Geo/Hydro/etc.

You could still have the same sigils, but they would have to be on two separate sets. It would avoid those crazy damage spikes or suddenly being hit with several damaging condis at once.

Some may dislike the loss of choice, but don’t forget that at launch it seemed that sigils were designed around certain combinations not being possible.

no. when sigils acted like this, it felt arbitrary. it was really annoying to not be able to take certain combinations just because of technical limitations. i, personally, would rather not go back to that. i would rather see anet play whack-a-mole with problematic sigils.

We’re not going back though. You can still have a Fire sigil and swap to a geomancy and not have it fail to activate because Fire just triggered. Almost every “problem combo” comes from 2 sigils of the same type overlapping.

Supreme.3164:

BurrTheKing.8571:

Supreme.3164:

BurrTheKing.8571:

So, after some thought I have an alternative suggestion:

Don’t allow for 2 sigils of the same type to be on one weapon. This means no Air/Fire, no Energy/Doom/Geo/Hydro/etc.

You could still have the same sigils, but they would have to be on two separate sets. It would avoid those crazy damage spikes or suddenly being hit with several damaging condis at once.

Some may dislike the loss of choice, but don’t forget that at launch it seemed that sigils were designed around certain combinations not being possible.

What about professions that can use 4 sigils at time? They would not lose anything respect to ele, engy ( and soon to be Revenant)

They would lose the ability to chain certain powerful combos on the same set. No Fire/Air means that one attack can’t trigger both and deal a crap ton of damage because you had the nerve not to avoid an auto attack. You’ll also lose combos like Doom/Battle, Doom/Intelligence, or Doom/Geomancy.

This will hurt Engis and Ele, but as a Engi player I can say this change won’t suddenly make me terrible.

They may lose the combo, but they won’t lose the ability to use more than one type of sigil, a clear advantage that goes against what anet preach

The 2 (soon to be 3) classes that only have access to 2 are also compensated by having access to more skills overall (generally, Engi can depend). In the case of Engi there’s also the advantage of being able to say, have Doom/Geo, swap at point black, then swap right back to something else and it only takes 2 seconds at most.

Supreme.3164:

BurrTheKing.8571:

So, after some thought I have an alternative suggestion:

Don’t allow for 2 sigils of the same type to be on one weapon. This means no Air/Fire, no Energy/Doom/Geo/Hydro/etc.

You could still have the same sigils, but they would have to be on two separate sets. It would avoid those crazy damage spikes or suddenly being hit with several damaging condis at once.

Some may dislike the loss of choice, but don’t forget that at launch it seemed that sigils were designed around certain combinations not being possible.

What about professions that can use 4 sigils at time? They would not lose anything respect to ele, engy ( and soon to be Revenant)

They would lose the ability to chain certain powerful combos on the same set. No Fire/Air means that one attack can’t trigger both and deal a crap ton of damage because you had the nerve not to avoid an auto attack. You’ll also lose combos like Doom/Battle, Doom/Intelligence, or Doom/Geomancy.

This will hurt Engis and Ele, but as a Engi player I can say this change won’t suddenly make me terrible.

So, after some thought I have an alternative suggestion:

Don’t allow for 2 sigils of the same type to be on one weapon. This means no Air/Fire, no Energy/Doom/Geo/Hydro/etc.

You could still have the same sigils, but they would have to be on two separate sets. It would avoid those crazy damage spikes or suddenly being hit with several damaging condis at once.

Some may dislike the loss of choice, but don’t forget that at launch it seemed that sigils were designed around certain combinations not being possible.

I would suggest something different.

Slightly increase the range of Pommel Bash, and add the effect that you cripple your target for a few seconds if you interrupt them.

This would make keep your target in range easier and make landing Skull Crack a little bit more reliable, but it would still require skill because you have to interrupt. I don’t want to buff Skull Crack because as it is it’s effective when it hits but is hard enough to hit that you only get a small amount of QQ.

BlackTruth.6813:

This guy is a god among mortals.

Now if only stow weapon would get nerfed to the ground..

“I’m gonnnnaaaa stun yo-just kidding……nowwww I’m gonna stun-nope….NOW YOU’RE STUNNED EAT 100b!”

SYPHA.9283:

Random Weird Guy.3528:

For the attention of anyone whining about turret engis being OP:

Beat a team with 2 turret engis, team was either full premade or 3+2. One of the turret engis is #1 on EU leaderboard.
Whole thing is sped up 3x, but if you’re still too lazy, there’s a moment at 2:26- when we essentially win the 2v2 with our mesmer + ele vs their turret engi + thief until the guardian appears. Even then, we are both able to simply disengage and leave the turrets in the dust.

This also shows how unjustified it is to have this guy at #1 on the EU leaderboards.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7VE3SHuN64

So, what I’ve learned from this video is…..Mesmer is the easiest class to play. Watch the CDs. Most of the time just spamming 1, rarely using other skills when off of CD and rarely using Utilities.

So, to play Mesmer, spam 1 and f1-3…and run in circles.

Every play LB ranger? You don’t know what you’re talking about. Setting up Shatters properly is more difficult than using Point Blank Shot and Rapid Fire on CD. Shatter also lacks condi removal generally, some take Lyssa runes but even then that’s 5 condis every 90 seconds.

I would say CI Mes is more difficult than Shatter, but both are miles ahead in difficulty than playing Ranger.

Also, what do you even consider “hard” to play in this game that is also viable?

xDudisx.5914:

BurrTheKing.8571:

Also, I didn’t wanna get on Cele but come on, if half the meta uses it there’s obviously something wrong.

And the other half classes are zerker. By the same logic let’s first nerf zerkers.

Zerker medi guard
Zerker thief
Zerker mesmer

we also see some zerker bowrangers

ArrDee.2573:

The only reason why people use Doom is because of high sustain meta builds! Nerfing Doom is a buff to these classes and a buff to sustain-y builds! Nobody wants that!

None of the S tier classes use Energy sigil! Nerfing Energy Sigil is a buff to the Celestial Amulet builds that you dislike so much!

Wahoo! Bye frands!

How can you tell that nobody likes it? You can’t.

Nerf to doom and energy would be a great change.

Zerker also has more tradeoffs than Cele. There’s also much more variety in Zerker styles. You can have huge spike based zerk and you can have sustained DPS. With Cele it’s almost always the same, a bit of condi, bit of power, and stack as much regen as you can. Even Rabid builds have more variety, you have the slow drain of Necros and the huge spike of bleeds from Warrior. I need to mess with it more but the ability to stack Torment and Confusion on Mes looks kinda fun as well.

If ANet still wants to make the game something to watch competitively, then these cele builds got to go, they drag out matches and make fights (imo) very boring to watch.

2 of the most viewed posts on this forum are now Skullcracker related, this I like.

Deimos Tel Arin.7391:

and doom sigil is balanced by the way, since the poison condition can be removed.

plus the duration is only 6 seconds, not very long.

It’s 6 seconds on potentially 9 second CD. Some put it on both sets, or don’t have to (Warriors) to have really good up time.

It seems like we could do with some balancing in terms of vigor access for classes like Mes and Necro so they can reduce their reliance on Energy.

Also, I didn’t wanna get on Cele but come on, if half the meta uses it there’s obviously something wrong. Either the stats need to become more focused (why did they not just up the crit damage instead nerfing it?) or just not be in PvP. If players need to be more specialized then we can have damage dealers who can actually die and condition dealers that can be countered by heavy condi removal.

Everyone being kinda-sorta good at everything has made PvP beyond dull. Sigils, runes, and your ammy used to not be as important as your traits, but now they are just as and in some cases MORE important.

Exedore.6320:

What I find most problematic about Sigil of Energy is that you get the energy for a dodge immediately. If instead, it granted vigor or a similar over-time effect, it wouldn’t be as powerful.

I like that idea, adds a bit of counterplay.

So, I messed around with using the Sundering Mace trait and actually found it to be pretty good sustain. Having a 8 second block that reflects is preeeettty nice. THe extra damage when weakened isn’t bad either: Yet another version.

Shiyo.3578:

BurrTheKing.8571:

Shiyo.3578:

Any decent eng/ele/necro/warrior are the best duelists.

Certain BUILDS on these classes are very strong, most are celestial. They’re good 1v1 because they are generally Jacks-of-all-trades so no matter what they face they will not be at a total disadvantage.

Just listing the class is pointless. A SD Engi may beat some builds but will be useless vs others. A Skullcrask Warrior will be most ranged builds or builds with few stunbreaks/stability but any build with a decent amount of both will just laugh at it. A Fresh Air Ele will crush those with few defenses but will look pathetic if they can survive that big combo.

Technical skills only get you so far, this isn’t a FPS or RTS, your build is just as important and sometimes even more important. Many good dueling builds are basically worthless in TPvP because they are only good at fighting 1 player.

Personally, I only duel with builds I would use in TPvP or gimmicks that either win really easily or die instantly. It’s also the worst when people make builds designed to counter you.

Yeah but ele/eng/warrior/necro have group pvp builds that are good-god tier in group pvp and god tier in 1v1. It’s stupid.

I don’t disagree, but I think you’ll find that the builds are MUCH weaker if you change the ammy to something non-cele and swap out Doom/Energy sigils. The builds will still be good, but you won’t be hitting decently hard with your power-based attacks while also whittling them down with conditions, and often times with a condition that you normally have no access to (poison).

In case you haven’t noticed, the might changes only slightly shifted the meta. We can debate up and down about whether or not Celestial is balanced, but something that is far more obvious is that certain sigils are outclassing others by a huge margin.

Doom: I’m pretty sure it’s never a bad thing to have this in your build. It’s duration is long enough that you get decent uptime even if your class has no other access to the condition. It makes it much easier to deal with any build that has regen and makes healing harder in general.

Either the duration needs to be reduced or it could honestly be removed completely and I wouldn’t mind.

Energy: Dodging is some of the best sustain to be had in the game, and this lets you do more of that. Toss this on and your sustain goes up a decent amount. Maybe not OP, but I see it as something that allows you to be more willy-nilly with your dodges rather than using them tactically.

Those two are the most troublesome. Sure, you can deal with them, but if you ask me they make PvP easier than it should be. Try running a build without these, chances are you’ll find that things become trickier than running with them.

EDIT: I should probably also mention Sigil of Intelligence. I don’t know if it’s OP per-say, but on weapons like Warrior’s Hammer and Engi’s Rifle it allows you to take a more tanky ammy and still be able to bust out some big hits.

Shiyo.3578:

Any decent eng/ele/necro/warrior are the best duelists.

Certain BUILDS on these classes are very strong, most are celestial. They’re good 1v1 because they are generally Jacks-of-all-trades so no matter what they face they will not be at a total disadvantage.

Just listing the class is pointless. A SD Engi may beat some builds but will be useless vs others. A Skullcrask Warrior will be most ranged builds or builds with few stunbreaks/stability but any build with a decent amount of both will just laugh at it. A Fresh Air Ele will crush those with few defenses but will look pathetic if they can survive that big combo.

Technical skills only get you so far, this isn’t a FPS or RTS, your build is just as important and sometimes even more important. Many good dueling builds are basically worthless in TPvP because they are only good at fighting 1 player.

Personally, I only duel with builds I would use in TPvP or gimmicks that either win really easily or die instantly. It’s also the worst when people make builds designed to counter you.

The problem with duels is that a good player can lose to someone who is “less skilled” (what is skill in this game) because they have a build that hardcounters theirs. I was winning every duel with Skullcracker, then a Mes with Decoy, Veil, and Mass invis faces me and I go 1-4 because good luck beating something like that when most of your damage comes from stunning your foe and they have 2 stun breaks, an invuln, and multiple stealths.

That being said, I think I could be it consistently if Bull’s Charge actually worked reliably. I can’t even be bothered to bring it any more, even though the build is better with it when it works.

The game isn’t balanced around 1v1, I only do it to practice fundamentals and to use silly gimmick builds. Also, some of the “good” duelers I’ve seen will run up and all around the arena and break LoS once things look bad. That’s fine in TPvP but it really kills the fun in a duel.

BlackTruth.6813:

nicknamenick.2437:

PLs dont use “rendering strikes”….

This trait only gives you a 2-3% dmg boost if your lucky.

Always use “furious reaction” (rifle users excluded)

Furious reaction makes it so you don’t have to use pack runes. But pack runes and furious reaction makes it so that you have enough fury uptime even when you have rampage as an elite.

But only if you take enough damage to trigger the trait. That’s where my dislike of it comes. With the proper use of your mace blocks, Whirlwind attack, and possibly Endure Pain you may never receive a benefit from it. After you stun and go for the 100b, basically every attack is a crit and you can get 5-6 stacks from that alone. There’s also the ranged attacks you can reflect which can give vuln as well.

It’s personal preference, both work fairly well.

Brigg.6189:

Looks like a solid build, I’ll have to see if I can still land some skullcracks.

Also, are there any other valid amulet options you’ve found for this? Maybe valkyrie? I love zerk, but I wonder if something tankier will buy you more time to build adrenaline.

I think you could get away with it. With Unsuspecting your crit isn’t super important.

Narkodx.1472:

Skullcrack is always going to be my fav build

What about Furious Reaction and Signet Mastery with SoR for more Fury uptime combined with Intelligence and then Soldier’s Ammy

I feel that alternative is a lot more tanky without sacrificing too much damage – Still getting around 9k hundred blades after skull crack

Also does paralyzation sigil actually give you one more second on skull crack?

I think something like this could certainly work. And with sigil of para you land the whole 100b with a fully charged SC.

Some of you are probably sick of me posting updated versions of this build, sorry. I’m doing this because whenever I see this build used today it’s always an old version that is generally wrecked by the modern meta. I’ve been asked by multiple people what I’m running so I though I would post what I have been using.

The umpteenth time I’ve posted a new version.

The obvious weakness of a double melee Warrior is that you lack the easy removal that a Longbow offers. As a result, nearly half of this build is dedicated to countering them. Between Brawler’s Recovery, Cleansing Ire, Mel Runes, and Berserker Stance you can survive the condis long enough to kill your target.

There are plenty of changes that you can make. You can swap out Bull’s Charge for Endure Pain, Mel Runes for Hoelbrak, DotE for Mobile Strikes, etc.

Despite what people who fall victim to you will say, it’s not an easy build to play well, and justifying running it over Hambow or Shoutbow is also difficult. There are a few tricks to make your life easier:

• Bind “Sheath Weapon” to something easy to reach. If you’re going to miss with Skull Crack, sheath your weapon, dodge, or swap.

• Don’t go for the full combo if you know they have stun breaks. I’ll often times use a 1-2 bar Crack to bait out stun breaks and use something like Blade Trail or WW Attack.

• Save your blocks for big ranged attacks. Half the reason I still play this is because it almost hard counters LB Rangers.

This is still more of a dueling/roaming spec, but with the right team it CAN work in TPvP.

EDIT: I’m actually liking this version better. Bull’s Charge is just so unreliable for the CD.

Tom Gore.4035:

Will a channeled, rooting skill with a random chance of being useful every 30 seconds be viable in high-level PvP? Probably not.

100b never left the low-level PvP though. I still enjoy tearing people in WvW/Hotjoin to shreds with bull rush + 100b and I don’t even need quickness to do it.

Well, with Taunt a Skullcracker build might become more viable for more than just dueling and roaming because between Bull’s Charge, Shield Bash, and some sort of Taunt Elite you would be able to land the stun fairly frequently. Even if you don’t land the stun, Taunt + Frenzy/Rage + 100b would be effective. Imagine doing that on top of a downed enemy, they go for the revive and end up just running into your 100b while you cleave the downed guy.

Hammer/GS is another option, you see it in WvW but being able to pull a group of people into your Earthshaker? Scary stuff.

Cygnus.6903:

BlackTruth.6813:

Taunt > Fear Me is better anyways

This.

Shadelang.3012:

hmm. The taunt defiance stance concept really makes me want to log onto my warrior haha.

Taunt into defiant stance, how is this good? They will only be auto attacking… I’d rather have them attempt a burst and soak that instead of 4 auto’s.

You could use it to force players to continue to hit you after they have noticed your heal. The problem with it currently is that anyone with any knowledge of the skill will stop attacking after you use it. With Taunt you would be able to force people to hit you after they have realized. Use Defiant Stance at the start of a burst, they stop attacking, Taunt. In PvE the benefits are pretty obvious but even in PvP doing this in a team fight could be pretty effective.

Throw in Frenzy and you could have a pretty interesting burst build. Let yourself get low on health, activate everything and pull everyone into your 100b or axe aa combo. I’m hoping for some sort of elite shout that causes Taunt. It would give some more viability to double melee sets. It will make landing burst skills way easier so you can actually get a reliable cleanse.

Shanks.2907:

Just a head’s up, the build editor doesn’t work well with pets. Nothing increases the F2 durations, even the trait that increases duration by 50% is bugged.

Your link shows cleric amulet, but if you’re going with rampager I don’t think you’ll have enough power for greatsword to do any good. I think you’d be better off picking either power or conditions to focus on. Axe and dagger/torch work well with shortbow. Maybe LB with greatsword and still use Moment of Clarity. Or even go full power melee with greatsword and sword/warhorn.

Weird, the editor changed the ammy AND the rune. Fixed now. I didn’t know that runes/traits didn’t affect pets, good to know. That changes things. It may not be worth it to use Runes of the Mesmer then. That being said, having them AND Paralyzation sigils would mean that no matter if you hit them on the front or side they aren’t going to be doing anything for a while.

Changing the ammy might be the right move too. Is using SB on zerker worth it?

BlackTruth.6813:

BurrTheKing.8571:

One thing I would like to hear from both of you then, why would you run something like this over a DPS focused Teef, Ranger, or Mes? Those classes have DPS in addition to sustain in the form of avoiding being hit in the first place.

A pure DPS rifle does comparable damage but is way more vulnerable with your loadouts. I would rather deal a little less damage but have the ability to stay on point with the OPTION to fall back and snipe. GS is also good for cleaving on downed enemies for obvious reasons.

sPvP
Because Warrior can function as Tank or DPS even when played as a DPS.

Warrior is one of the very few DPS’ers who can handle “plus” and stand on a point. Rifle’s job on DPS Warrior is to make baiting dodges easier and make them more vulnerable to your team mates and your own Frenzy chop. And deal with stealth I suppose.

I would agree, but the lack of condi removal on a pure DPS rifle build like those above would simply crumble vs any condi build. At least with Zerk Stance, Mel runes, and Brawler’s Recovery you’ll be able to at least stave off the condis until you kill them first.

In fact, even my build might not have enough defense and something like this would be better.

While I have a lvl 80 Ranger, I haven’t played it in a long time due to the fact that I find the meta to be very boring. I’ve been playing a lot of CI Mes and would like to have a similar playstyle on Ranger. However, I am not that experienced in Ranger theorycrafting so I’m sure my build is going to be awful.

The concept in question.

I find the idea of a over 5 second daze on the pets to be really funny. Not so sure on the ammy choice. I wanted the daze/stun from Shortbow but it’s mostly a condition weapon. However, the trait that makes this a interrupt/lockdown build “Moment of Clarity” is for power. I picked Rampager because it has a bit of both power and condi dmg. The idea is to start out in SB, pew pew until you get a interrupt with Concussive Shot, at which point you swap to GS and go for a super powered Maul. I’ve been working too much to test it. I’m afraid that it’s probably useless because I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like this.

As for the pets 2 Moas might not be practical I’m guessing. Maybe having a Drakehound that you start with and you use them to immobilize so that the Moa’s screech can land easier.

I want to play Ranger, but not a PBS -> RF LB/GS Ranger. I want my build to require more precise timing.

One thing I would like to hear from both of you then, why would you run something like this over a DPS focused Teef, Ranger, or Mes? Those classes have DPS in addition to sustain in the form of avoiding being hit in the first place.

A pure DPS rifle does comparable damage but is way more vulnerable with your loadouts. I would rather deal a little less damage but have the ability to stay on point with the OPTION to fall back and snipe. GS is also good for cleaving on downed enemies for obvious reasons.

Yeh, people who have never played warrior like to talk about how easy it is to play, but playing it well is another issue entirely. The adren nerf hurt but it did increase the skill cap by a decent amount.

Without Bull’s Charge, when will you ever use 100b outside of cleaving on a downed enemy? No good player is going to stand in it, and Bull’s is the only thing that lets you spike them without allowing them to attack you back.

As for Zerker Stance, it basically does the job of both Sig of Fury and Stamina in one skill. Yes, the CD is longer, but it opens up a slot to use. Also, it keeps you from being blinded while using Kill Shot.

I think the thing a Rifle Warrior needs to have is more sustain as opposed to something like a teef. Without that staying power, you are effectively a worse teef or LB Ranger. They both do either better damage or have longer range, so to be worth having you would have to be someone who is on point fighting with your team and have Stability to safe res/stomp. When I run a setup like this I am not going to be sitting in Rifle because the AA damage is much weaker than a LB ranger. I should be pew pewing with rifle, then swapping and using Rush to get back in there and land some melee damage with Bull’s +100b. Brawler’s will let me not be totally crushed by conditions.

I need to test to see if Fire/Air is actually better than Intel, because I find Intel good for both guaranteeing the KS crit or for just making the overala DPS of Volley higher. Maybe it’s better if you like to sit in rifle but I don’t.

There’s several ways you can go.

Option 1

If you go 0/4/4/0/6 with Forceful GS you can go Bull’s Charge + 100b to gain might then swap to Axe with a sigil of intel for a strong combo.

Option 2

The 0/0/6/2/6 gives you Defy Pain for extra sustain (if you’re running -condi duration food and boons you can ditch Zerker Stance in all of these builds) and Leg specialist which is REALLY useful for setting up Evis or Bull’s Charge.

Option 3

6/0/4/0/4 gets you more DPS while sacrificing sustain. Axe Mastery can be swapped for Slashing Power.

As for general tactics, your big two are of course Bull’s Charge + 100b and Shield Bash + Evis. Woth Option 2 you can do mini combos like Bladetrail at close range to immob followed by 100b, though this is much weaker than it used to be (before Leg Spec got a icd you could immob them again when the blade came back).

Other than that, the build is about using your attacks wisely. Save Rush until they start to try and put distance between you. Use Whirlwind attack when they are backing away from you or you have no other way to avoid a incoming big attack. Axe has always been a straight forward “use your AA” weapon while stacking up vuln. Don’t just throw out Evis, wait until after they dodge or you have a setup like the immob or Shield Bash. Sometimes you’ll get lucky but the leap isn’t as helpful as you would think.

I would say the only skills that need to be looked at are Fierce Shot and Aimed Shot. The damage on the AA is simply not that good considering its rate of fire. Either that rate needs to go up, or the damage does. I guess the intended synergy with skill Aimed Shot was with Leg Specialist, but what build has room to bring that trait when you’re already wanting to put most of your points in damage skills?

Maybe giving Aimed Shot 2 stacks of vulnerability with a 15 1/2 second duration would work. It wouldn’t make the skill do too much more, but being able to stack a bit more vuln would make it synergize with Brutal Shot. Witht hat, you may not even have to change the AA because the vuln would make it hit harder anyways. The weapon would become one that leads to a steady increase of damage as the fight does on if they don’t cleanse the vuln and ends with a devastating Kill Shot.

Well, I WAS going to use Fire/Air on Rifle…buuuuttttt…

I like being able to swap and go for either Volley or KS within 3 attacks. I need to test if having Itel+fire or air eats one of your crits (cause Air can’t) or not. That’s why force is there. I also have Mel Runes and Brawler’s because while it’s fun to run a pure DPS build, what good is that if you can’t live through condis past Zerker’s duration? Of course, the defensive rune means that I don’t have +power or +precision and having KS not crit is a terrible feeling.

I think something like this could be funny, 56% Final Thrust damage on those lower than 50% hp. Or even sillier….Infiltration runes. Last ditch stealthed KS.

Also, Rampage is good if you’re getting hammered on due to the soft CC reduction and overall dmg reduction. It’s stupid good now.

Sieg.8439:

Damage is strong on practically every Warrior weapon. They have viable cleansing available, and are one of the more durable professions.

I can’t understand how any Warrior would feel like they’re not doing damage, when they’re one of the highest damaging professions in the game, hands down.

Because mathematically speaking our DPS was greatly reduced. You’re just wrong in saying that they are “one of the highest damaging professions in the game.” That’s just…wrong. Ele has the highest AoE dps and teef has the highest single target.

Shieldbash.5304:

Vizardlorde.8243:

BurrTheKing.8571:

Sagramor.7395:

Sword is a hybrid weapon that’s great for staying on target and keeping pressure on. Long duration bleeds and Cripple on the auto-attack, Cripple and Leap on #2, and #3 hits just as hard as a full adrenaline Eviscerate if target is <50% health. So while it may not appear to do much damage, when put in the right build it can be pretty potent.

Shield may look pretty vanilla, but consider what it offers. #5 is essentially one second shy of Endure Pain without the stun break on half the CD. #4 is both a stun and leap finisher. So not only is it a great hard CC to stop a heal, burst, rez, or stomp or setup for a Final Thrust/Eviscerate, but if you use it in a field you get a nice bonus.

Sword is probably the most under-appreciated Warrior weapon. I mean soft CC (that can be buffed with a minor trait), a gap closer on a low CD, and a high damage finisher on one weapon? Yes please. Let’s not forget that the burst isn’t bad as well.

I tried the Sw/Wh shoutbow build and I found the sword to be an amazing weapon.

What build is that?

If you don’t mind being more buff/support focused you can run this or for a more “selfish” playstyle something like this.