Guild Wars 2

Thuggernaut.1250:

Jzaku.9765:

Thuggernaut.1250:

Juba.8406:

lets wait and see, hope they read what we wrote here.

I hope so too. The language suggests to me that they’ve mostly altered skills, rather than traits. I hope I’m wrong, because the poor placement of traits in the specialization lines has caused half the problems that Warrior faces.

I personally hope you’re right because then touching our traits to fix core warrior problems will just make more mandatory traits (see: cleansing ire)

Them baselining crap and changing our weapons to be more utility has been something I’ve been dying to hear for YEARS now

My problem isn’t really the traits themselves (except for total garbage traits like Powerful Synergy, Inspiring Battle Standard, Thick Skin, etc.), but the placement of the traits.

For example, having Axe Mastery compete with Berserker’s Power is just insanity. Even axe users will have to take Berserker’s Power, forcing them to forego the reduced recharge time. Same deal with Crack Shot and a couple others.

The problem is that there are mandatory traits, and if ANet doesn’t solve the core issues that make them mandatory, they should at least move them around so not taking them isn’t as much of a penalty.

Agree with everything you’re saying here.

Moving Fast Hands won’t be a solution, however (I don’t think that’s what you’re implying, so I might just be stating the obvious here). Anyway, you could move it anywhere and that line would become mandatory.

As for reverting the adrenaline nerf, you mean the decay out of combat? Because I am totally fine with adrenaline getting depleted if you miss a burst skill.

Fast Hands is where warrior needs to be adjusted, nay, healed. Most mandatory trait in the game, more mandatory then Illusionary Persona was for a mesmer IMO. Not talking PvE, obviously.

Even if warrior is buffed enough so that you could opt not to take Fast Hands and be viable, I don’t see any road to take in which Fast Hands would not still be the better option, and thus required. Because why would you kitten yourself?

I think this entire announcement is worthless. We can only speculate until we get some details.

It’s like saying ‘we are going to try and (un)balance the game again’.

We already knew that.

online.1278:

i will try to send him personal message

This should have been the beginning and the end of this topic.

It’s kittened, because none of the minigames introduced in the event are even remotely fun enough to grind like this.

Harper.4173:

Cygnus.6903:

Honestly, I don’t think this is the way to move forward. Vitality means nothing if you can’t protect your health.

Besides, we already have a lot of it and it doesn’t seem to matter. I’d rather have a better way to replenish my health.

I see what you’re saying but there could be some value in a simple but straight-up HP buff to warrior.

Yes HP doesn’t help a lot if you can’t “protect it” – but that’s only when your HP is on par with your opponent.
Imagine going into a fight with a stronger “elite spec” but you go in with 3 times their health – even if you miss attacks, even if they block you, dodge or whatnot you’ll still have a better chance because all their good moves and hard attacks are only going to kill you twice over – and you have 3 times the HP – so you’ll still win.

This sort of simple but effective buff could be something relevant for warrior.

Why not have a 30% HP buff, unblockable on all F1 skills and why not baseline fasthands – I bet the class would rise from garbage to pretty good really quick with these changes – and they’re not even skill balance changes( you don’t ruin other modes) or mechanics changes ( you don’t risk making the class worse).

I get your point here. I still feel that it wouldn’t really help the innate problem warriors face; we are too simple. Every class with a more complex and variable design will beat us, simply because they will always have an option, a counter available.

Giving us more health seems like it would accomplish two things; drag on every fight a bit longer and allow for one or two more mistakes on the warrior’s behalf. Ultimately, at higher levels of skill, this will mean close to nothing.

eyesrutherford.1357:

I think that this 1 thing might help to put warrior back to where it is viable or at least push warrior in the right direction.

Put healing signet back to the way it was back when everyone was kittening about its OPness.

Why would this help? Well as a warrior have you had those matches where you die just a little too early? At least with the healing signet giving a lot better heals it would be a nice push into the right direction

I don’t think that ~35 hp per second is going to do anything for warrior.

Honestly, I don’t think this is the way to move forward. Vitality means nothing if you can’t protect your health.

Besides, we already have a lot of it and it doesn’t seem to matter. I’d rather have a better way to replenish my health.

Juba.8406:

Anet Fixed Warrior

Renamed it Revenant

Introduced it in HoT

o_O

Fixed that for you buddy.

Tien.3865:

… Or so I thought. From the video, it looks like the might-on-block effect of the Shield Master trait actually DOES apply to reflects. OP was gaining might while reflecting the ranger’s projectiles, but was not gaining regen from the Defender runes. So it looks like the Defender runes are indeed bugged and that reflects do count as blocks according to the Shield Master trait.

This.

You do get the might, you don’t get the regen when reflecting. I think you should get the regen (and that the bug is in the rune) even when reflecting, simply because of the way they made Shield Mastery.

Still, not getting regen from the runes when reflecting is too bad, but definitely not a reason not to pick them to me. A lot of classes use melee, and a lot of ranged classes also have melee options (or they become very weak when you close the gap).

cryorion.9532:

I tried this build with slight sigil variation on weapons and I have to say, that it’s really good build with probably the best sustain warrior can get with berserker gear.
It can’t kill everything, but I am tired of gunflaming everything around :P

I made montage with some interesting fights:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTekd7eVb6A

Shame that it is doable only in wvw as the rune is not available in pvp.
Anyway, thanks for your effort!

That’s great, glad you like it!

YaYa.5879:

Ok so i hate crafting. But seeing this video, i went from 0 to 400 in armorthmith just to craft that sigil of defense of yours.
Thanks dude!

Woah, thanks m8! I hate crafting as well, but i have armor and weaponsmith at 500 thank God.

@Choppy; I don’t know about server hopping, kind of like Piken. And isn’t Ehmry a US server?

Elegie.3620:

Cygnus.6903:

The Chrono was pretty good IMO, and the fact that the fight was dragged on showed the competency of a sturdy warrior build like this; many duels tend to keep on going until I’ve outsustained them to the point of making a mistake.

This was the fight I preferred, too. I liked how the mesmer handled the positioning in the fight, using your line of sight to try and confuse you, preparing his shatters adequately, defending nicely. You did an excellent job winning this – and one should not forget that you were running full berserker, without even Endure Pain, so IMO this makes an interesting case for your build. This was incidentally much better than watching current PvP!

Although your other opponents were indeed inferior to you skill-wise, I still enjoyed the fights, because they also demonstrated the strength of the build. For instance, I found myself automatically frowning at your getting hit by the Revenant’s Chaotic Release (“Huh? What’s he doing?”), then laughing at my own stupidity when realizing it was on purpose to gain Rousing Resilience on Outrage (“Ah, of course”).

I’d almost come back just to try and play this, and see if an average warrior like me can get something good out of it. In the past, I stopped solo WvW roaming and got to PvP instead because I could run for long minutes without finding appropriate opponents to fight – and wanted more excitement. But I still miss roaming around, and the occasional nice fights you can have there.

Well, I don’t agree with you being an average warrior, I’ve seen some of your stuff on the forums here.

Taking a break is good every once in a while. If you do come back, be sure to try it, the playstyle really offers something new.

But roaming is still boring as ever. WvW was broken by Anet with the introduction of HoT.

Sorel.4870:

Cygnus.6903:

I get what you’re saying, but the trait works so well that in practice i think it’s pretty awesome as is.

It’s funny you should say that, because my reflexion was inspired by the roaming build you published here a few days ago (which is awesome by the way, thank you). Typically, on your build, Eternal Champion pulsing stab prevents you from getting not only your might and stab procs, but also your RR procs.

Well thats always nice to hear, thank you!

Thing is, I’d rather not get chainstunned. Many abilities that stun you have a follow up stun (hammer warrior, basilisk venom on thief, lockdown mesmer). The stack of stability after breaking the initial stun really helps there.

I get what you’re saying, but the trait works so well that in practice i think it’s pretty awesome as is.

Caedmon.6798:

Cygnus.6903:

Caedmon.6798:

Change cleansing ire from Adrenaline gain on hit to Adrenaline gain while in combat.

Small change giving a more reliable source of gaining adrenaline.

Are you not getting hit?

I find CI to get me adrenaline faster then I need it.

I mean,we try not to get hit right ? When succeeding in that, adren in combat will be a more reliable and constant source of income without throwing yourself in there because you know to make use of the ci adren proc you need to get hit.I just think that it will give a better more constant flow of adren.

It would definitely be mroe constant, but you would lose out when facing fast hittng opponents, or outnumbered.

Btw, I don’t think warrior aims to avoid getting hit quite as much as other classes do. Hence the high base stats. I get what you’re saying, but don’t think it’d be a good change except for maybe niche gunflame pirateship builds.

Caedmon.6798:

Change cleansing ire from Adrenaline gain on hit to Adrenaline gain while in combat.

Small change giving a more reliable source of gaining adrenaline.

Are you not getting hit?

I find CI to get me adrenaline faster then I need it.

Choppy explained it perfectly. It’s one of the reasons why Fast Hands is so mandatory.

CntrlAltDefeat.1465:

To chime in on the build…
It seems more like an average build that has been made viable by an experience player that has propped it up with good runes and food buffs. The ultimate test of any build is if you take it to Spvp without the defender and/or perplex runes etc runes or food buffs, does it still perform better than average?

To me personally it is just heartening to see warrior still being played. I believe 90% of what makes it strong is the runes and food and the fact is played by a veteran.

It does high light many of the issues warrior has. In the first encounter against chronomancer, the warrior was kited and stealthed for nearly the first 2 minutes and stunned multiple times where berserker mode was of no use because adrenaline built too slowly. The chronomancer eventually lost because they became complacent and got caught with everything on cool down. The warrior didn’t have any answer to remaining on target apart from experience by the player.

The revenant encounter is pretty straight forward..they used block at 75+ health,..so it is fair to say they weren’t an experienced player. However warrior does struggle with block persistent builds.

The duel thieve’s,..although a win for the warrior, the ability for the thieve’s to kite for days and the lack of reliably in tings like rush meant it came down to warrior experience again. Understanding what the thieve’s were gonna do and avoiding it and pressuring them in stealth to reveal themselves.

All in all a solid player that wasn’t given many advantages through their profession or traits..it was the runes and food what gave the player what they need to survive long enough to work their way rough all the current warrior short comings.

Good video. Nice contribution..but to me it shows food buffs and runes are currently more viable than warrior itself.

Well thanks for the feedback and the compliments

Let me react by saying that yes, the runes do add a lot to the build, a surprise factor more then anything (warrior healing like a guardian while blocking?). However, I don’t think that using Skullcracker and slapping on Defender runes is everything here (nor is my experience as a roamer).
I’d say that the combination of all regenerative abilities, not just the runes, is what makes this build work for me. Rousing Resilience has a lot to do with it as well.

The food is probably the first thing I would replace to be honest. The 40% endurance regen food is probably better by a mile, to name one. 85 HPS is quite lackluster if you think about it, 1 stack of bleed outdamages it. It’s just the total regen number that I and I guess other people like about the build.

About the fights, obviously the two thieves were unexperienced. The Chrono was pretty good IMO, and the fact that the fight was dragged on showed the competency of a sturdy warrior build like this; many duels tend to keep on going until I’ve outsustained them to the point of making a mistake. Obviously, in a roaming 1vX scenario, you would lose against this mesmer+somebody else, but that can be said about any build on any class against any 1 competent player that outnumbers you. With Sword instead of mace, I bet that fight with the mesmer would not have taken this long either.

Not activating Berserker on this build is something I really like, let me explain why. You will more often then not use your adrenaline for Skullcrack, not for Berserker. This build really allows you to time Berserk at the most optimal moment, instead of just YOLOgunflamespamftw. The burst does not disappoint, either.

I’d think this isn’t to hard to put to the test on one of the golems in HotM.

But I also don’t think high attack speed is going to make your build work; that’s generally not the problem with warrior.

Cerby.1069:

Travelers runes. Originally thought they were terrible. Tried them again but with more toughness on my trinkets….they have now replaced my previous build

Most of my work is pve. But plenty of pvp and dueling (1v1, 1v2) occurs along with group fights.

Armoured attack vs defy pain in the defense tree: I have an addiction when it comes to choosing armoured attack which is about +125 power…..help me!

Death from above is a must-have trait imo currently. Although my damage output is lower in pve, it saves my skin countless times in pvp and increases my mobility. It’s also an easy way to win pvp fights you are ‘strategically retreating from’….yes many people think they can survive the falls that I survive, they die instantly.

I run vanilla warrior. if you have HoT you can easily swap out the discipline tree for berserker. The only real loss would be ‘fast hands’ (5 sec weapon swap).

Axe/shield has never worked for me.

Any critique is welcome. Please specify whether your feedback is based on personal hands on experience or whether its based on data analysis/meta material. i.e. Looking at the stats and saying your power is too low based on meta or whatever vs. having tried builds with that kind of power level and deciding they were too low.

Thanks!

edit: umm the wiki ‘indicates’ warriors sprint and rune of traveler +25% don’t stack…which is contrary to my own experience ingame. Can some1 confirm? I recognize a small speed difference when i toggle the runes from 5-6. Placebo effect might be taking its toll though.

Well congrats on a decent warrior build.

Some of the things you are saying don’t make sense from a WvW roaming perspective, as well as some of the build choices being very sub-optimal.

Traveler Runes is the main culprit here. I won’t know if you need them for PvE, as it seems you are trying to use a one-build-fits-all (which is always sub-optimal), but they just don’t add anything to your build really. The small stat increases are not noteworthy compared to other rune sets (like Defender or Strength), and the 25% movement speed is a complete waste when you already have Warrior’s Sprint. They don’t stack, the placebo is strong with this one. Even if they did, it would be a bug and you could expect a fix.

Armoured Attack vs Defy Pain – in the current state of warrior it is a no brainer; Defy Pain wins every time. Also allows you to ease into more Berserk gear. And it has great synergy with Last Stand. 125 power is only a ~5% increase in damage for this particular build – hardly worth the loss.

Death from Above is nice I guess, a lot of fun for sure, but I only use it when defending a tower or keep tbh. I only roam in EB these days, the lack of height difference on that map makes DfA less useful then Restorative Strength IMO. Not a big difference though, up to you really.

Tbh, your remark about swapping out Discipline for Berserker where ‘The only real loss would be ’fast hands’‘, made me giggle. This really shows a lack of experience playing warrior in either PvP or WvW, no offense (really, I get it). But Fast Hands is a warrior’s strongest trait out of PvE. One could argue that all warrior weapons have cooldowns tailored to this single trait. You would do well to slot Sigil of Energy like Choppy suggested, and Fast Hands has amazing synergy with on swap sigils.

Other then that, seems alright to me.

nicknamenick.2437:

Easy fix for thick skin:

120 toughness above 50% health
Gain 5 sec boon below 50% health (ICD: 20sec)

Make it usefull, it doesnt have to be very strong for a minor trait but the current 90% tresshold is just stupid high.

This is still bad IMO.

Honestly, a trait with a name like that should just mean a permanent damage reduction, be it either condi or direct.

One could also opt for a reduction in Chill/Burning/Poison effectiveness or something, just cause it fits the name.

emkelly.2371:

How can thick skin still be considered bad after it got buffed?

OH! OH! OH! I got this one!
1: Toughness was nerfed months ago so that it is nearly useless. That’s why people run glassy builds. all running toughness does is kill your damage output.
2: Second, because of the burst damage meta, one hit will take you below 90% in an instant!
3: This is what Thick skin does. Take a good hard look.
Gain Toughness when above the health threshold.
Health Threshold: 90%
Attribute adjust Toughness: +120

That is a freaking joke. you may as well spit in the player’s face.

4: We already have a trait (Spiked Armor) that gives us toughness based on level.(max 1000) And it gives retaliation.

5. It is a wasted slot that is mandatory, which means even if there was something better to choose from you cannot avoid this trait.

I was being sarcastic, although your analysis is accurate.

My vote is for Thick Skin obviously, worst trait in the game for warrior.

How can thick skin still be considered bad after it got buffed?

Lordmoppdog.6341:

Thanks for the kind words, totally agree on berserker axe hitting like a kitten and being generally… meh..

In my opinion it is the foremost example that shows how they didn’t invest enough time and effort into Berserker as a whole. I mean, I really don’t ever want to use that burst skill, even if I can spam it? Rather just auto attack (which also kittenin cleaves lol) and save my adrenaline for Arc Divider spam from 450 range….

They could’ve given Axe something real instead of just dumb (and mediocre) DPS.

Well you went through a lot of trouble for these, good job.

Some odd choices, like Armored Attack over Defy Pain, just make some of the builds look weird instead of non-meta. Meta is meta for a reason, obviously, but some of the choices you make just seem to be gimping you.

A couple builds also lack any and all stability, and carry only 1 stunbreak on a 60 sec cooldown (EP). I honestly can’t imagine that working against anything right now, as all classes have several and sometimes long duration stuns/knockdowns/floats/fears or w/e.

Your choice of Signet of Fury when you also have Cleansing Ire but don’t take the Berserk traitline seems odd as well. You can’t spam Gunflame, you build up adrenaline like crazy with Discipline and CI already, so why not take much needed stability or something else on your bar?

If I can give some advice on the sigil choices, putting Sigil of Hydromancy on the Burst weapon (Rifle, Axe, even longbow with #3) allows you to clear blinds with it on weapon swap, which is generally a good choice.

Still, some decent stuff in here and you went through the trouble, so thanks.

This won’t be a discussion thread.

Great vid, great warrior, really friendly dude too.

I get why you would switch up your build. I do think it is somewhat suboptimal as others have pointed out, mostly because of Lyssa. Lyssa really only gives you that extra condi cleanse, which isn’t worth it IMO with our other available options.
Pack would be the the most flexible here IMO, allows you to take Headbutt instead of SoR, as you already pointed out.

Still, most people underestimate the value of personal preference, which can actually make this rune better for you personally.

I actually really like the reasoning behind grabbing DotE and Cleansing Ire instead of Last Stand and Brawler’s Rec. Boonspam is everywhere right now, so I think it’s a good meta choice. Sadly, I just feel that the Berserk Axe burst skill is kittenin bad.

infinityandbeyond.9652:

Great build Cygnus. Well thought out and works a treat in WvW, like a much needed shot of morphine to ease the migraine :p. Hey btw, you need to get one of those green refractors and slot it in a ring. Get the green one for your Hulk and you will glow radioactive green !

Hey thanks for that, glad you like it!

I do actually have the green refractor, had to test it out on hulk! Tbh, it makes my character look really strange, so I think I’ll stick to the normal one

Warlord.9074:

So Well I like the whole theory of this build and I think it works. I doubt that it works as well as its being presented to and here is why. Reason A. Reflects don’t count as blocks. Reason B. Mace seems like a terrible choice in that it will only block 1 attack for a 1 sec Regen. So yeah pretty good rune if you are not fighting anything with heavy projectiles. But I think most people in WvW are still on that dumb pirate ship strat even in small fights.

Good feedback. Let me answer your doubts.

About the reflects not counting as blocks, this is quite a shame. Still, there is a positive here as well. Reflects deal damage. So you won’t be getting regen, but you do deal damage while preventing it to yourself. Any warrior build that slots Shield Master will have this advantage. And pretty much every enemy you encounter will use a combination of ranged and close combat. So choose the use of your Shield Stance wisely, and you will get high regen uptime.
In fact, against opponents with a lot of projectiles, the build performs the best. You won’t need as much regen because you will be returning their DPS to them, putting the enemy on the defensive.

Mace was the Original choice of the build due to a couple reasons;
- The synergy between Headbutt and Skullcrack. Both stun for a long time, but are useless if your opponent still has stunbreaks, stability, dodges, w/e. You can use either skill to bait those out, then follow up with the other skill for a higher chance to pull of the combo.
- The Mace Berserk Burst skill is far superior to for instance the Sword one on this build. Does a lot of direct damage (comparable to Rush), blinds, criples, dazes, and it is somewhat easy to land thanks to a quick animation and a small leap.
- Another block is still another block. And if you reflect, it does not stop blocking. The counterattack is very painful too, a fact most people don’t realise.

All in all, the build felt very smooth with Mace. Obviously, Sword is a very good alternative and arguably superior in a lot of situations. The immobilise is a good set-up for HB, and final Thrust makes for some devastating combinations after a Headbutt>Berserk>HB>Arc Divider combo.

If you would like an overview of threats, this build has performed very well for me in duels against everything other then;

- Chill condi Reaper
- PU condi Chrono
- Staff Shatter Chrono
- Well played Glint/Shiro revenants

Won pretty much every other duel then against these specs thusfar. Warriors only stand a chance if they slot Signet of Might, which is a YOLO skill only used for duels anyway (you won’t encounter this in roaming usually). Thieves can’t outdamage my sustain and will eventually run out of stunbreaks. Necro’s can’t stand the stuns. Ele’s won’t do enough damage (or die too fast). Even Dragon Hunter is manageable if you rotate between reflects and direct DPS wisely. Normal Shatter mesmers can take a while, but I faced a few good ones and managed. Rangers can’t stand the reflects, althought they can sometimes draw if they have a lot of sustain themselves and slot enough stunbreaks. Fought one good scrapper that also ended up in a draw, although it was more in my favor (with sword I could’ve probably finished, but he managed to run with a sliver of health a couple times).

In a game that is as brilliantly designed as GW2, they failed the Berserk Aura.

Epicly.

Instead of a way to turn it off, I want a better visual.

KittyRiv.5291:

Was anything changed with the regeneration from this? I seem to not be getting it when blocking with mace and the regeneration seems like it might only be 1 second as the rune describes.

Don’t know, haven’t played the last couple days.

I think the rune says you should get 1 second of regen per block, so I guess a nerf (in the form of a bugfix) is to be expected.

Vikkela.7261:

Good to see you making vids again, I have been waiting for new Hulk knows bests for a while

I am collecting clips right now to make one of those. It will feature Dragon Hunter, for one.

Just takes a very long time editing it properly
And it’s not easy getting good fights either. I do have some against good shatter mesmers and D/P Daredevils, but they were in my first HKB also.

dominik.9721:

@Cygnus: This has nothing to do with being negative/positive. It’s the reality in pvp atm – and Juba was reffering to pvp.

I know man, and from what I hear, warrior is in dire straits in PvP. Pun intended.

Thing is, we have to face the facts, and those tell us that we are stuck with the current situation until Anet decides otherwise. I get that giving feedback, allbeit negative, might accomplish some action from the devs, but I tend to be put off from too much negativity.

WvW is less bad, but it’s still bad, trust me. Whenever I get ganked too much or just keep on running into kittens running trap dragon hunter (in wvw really? how much hard-carry do you need?) or pu condimancer I just play something else, lol.

fost.9167:

So I tried this, and its good… walked into wvw feeling a bit more useful and then a DH jumps on me and before I can ignore pain/break i am dead.

I need to l2p

Or swap out berserker for pvt :p

Glad you like it bud. Try using some Marauder or Valkyrie until you get used to it a bit more. Maybe try sword instead of mace if you like that more.

Elegie.3620:

This is an interesting idea, thanks for sharing! I’ve been using the Defender Runes before on my melee ranger, and I’m a long time fan of Rousing Resilience – but I’ve never thought about using both on a blocking warrior. I’m taking a break from the game now, but when I’m going back, I might give it a try.

Armored Attack would be pretty good on that build, because it also synergizes with Rousing Resilience, the 1,000 toughness also contributing an additional 100 power. I also wonder about using zealot armor (keeping berserker trinkets and weapons), to buff the sustain a bit.

Sad to hear you’re taking a break, but we all need those every once in a while.

Armored Attack synergizes very well, you’re correct. Be sure to slot Defy Pain if you take Signet of Stamina though.

On the Zealot’s Armor, take a look at the healing power > health conversion for our regenerative abilities:

-Adrenal Health: 0,05 at 1 bar, 0,10 at 2 bars, 0,15 at 3 bars.
-Regen: 0,125
-Mango Pie: 0 (does not benefit from Healing Power)
-Healing Signet: 0,05 (the passive effect)

-Rousing Resilience: 0,5
-Rune heal: 0,6
-Sigil of Leeching: 0 (does not benefit from Healing Power)

All in all, only Rousing Resilience and the Rune heal would benefit very well from more Healing Power, whereas all other effects get mediocre boosts. You miss out on a lot of DPS switching to Zealot’s, so I’m not sure it’s worth it.

Lurock Turoth.9085:

This build is new to people? variations on this have been around for the better part of a year. Its gotten buffed several times but I’ve been using defender runes on warrior since March. I know Wilson has been running pretty much this exact build for quite a while.

And yes, its totally gimmicky, I have been maining a variation on this since the 23rd patch its a great spec, but its totally propped up by its runes. Take the defender runes away and its got real issues.

One tip I have is try swapping heightened focus for burst mastery and go top top top in berserker. headbutt, outrage, arc divider, 100b, arc divider with all the damage modifiers and quickness is a brutal combo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jqg9n_Gz2cM

No, Skullcracker has been around for way longer then a year bud. So that really wasn’t new to people I think. It’s also been a great build back then, way before Defender Runes, but it went out of style after some nerfs and a few other issues that arose.

The combination of this many regenerative abilities and Rousing Resilience is new to a lot of people apparently. I know it was new to me.

As far as your tip goes, if your opponent allows you to do that combo to them, then you will beat them with less damage modifiers also IMO. My variation allows you to get stability and might on stunbreak, pulsing stability on Berserk, and a stunbreak/condi cleanse on berserk activation. Yes, please.

Obindo.6802:

dominik.9721:

Juba.8406:

dominik.9721:

Juba.8406:

Ok this is a great rune choice, never heard of it before.

And you know what, this could be a great rune for warrior in PvP .

Great video too.

I guess i need to do my homework about these things they add.

how can you even consider that this build could be great in pvp?
this build provides the same problems like every other warrior build in pvp atm
- it doesn’t fix anything.
Not to mention that the rune isn’t even avilable in pvp lol

Well that is sad, we wouldn’t know for sure then, and i never said “Build” i said Rune.

Was thinking with a proper amulet/traits/sigils there could be a great Point holder build either a new skullcracker or maybe a new rebirth of the old troll build Mace/Shield-Mace/Sword which used runes of the Guardian .

Well ye, but still the same answer. the rune deosn’t fix anything. the rune could provide twice as much healing as it does now and warrior would still be much worse than any tempest ele, druid, reaper or scrapper

First he said the rune was a good choice, not any specific build, and its for warrior, not saying that warrior in particular is now all of a sudden a good choice of all the classes. And to say that it doesn’t matter cuz it’s still worse than x and y is just… lol… then let’s all just run naked with no build cuz even with build it’s worse than x and y so doesn’t matter amiright?

That’s it, we should try and be more positive. You still kitten face lol.

ulchanar.4309:

Thanks for your reply, Cygnus, it all makes sense. It’s a pity the rune isn’t available in pvp, would have loved to test it there, too.

As you mention Skull Grinder, a strong argument for the berserker version is that it brings more options than just trying to land a Skull Crack > 100b combo. Headbutt is another threat and Skull Grinder and Arcing Slice are also both worth using. But somehow that was also my problem with the build: what is priority in which situation? Probably didn’t play it long enough, but I just didn’t develop an intuitive playstyle. Can you go a bit more into detail here?

In general, you build up adrenaline to use Skullcrack. That part of the build didn’t change. While you do this, you rotate defensive abilities to a; survive, b; get close to your target and c; make them waste enough defensive abilities to make Skullcrack land. It’s very important not to miss, obviously, but if you do, focus on landing Headbutt next. A lot of people won’t expect another long duration stun, especially when you can immediately follow up with Berserk burst.

Aside from this, couple of things to keep in mind.

Don’t start off blocking, like I mention in the vid. You see me do this a couple times in the roaming part, because I too am still learning a lot.

When fighting condi, don’t ‘camp’ mace shield hoping to land the skullcrack. This will quickly overload you with condi’s. You are better off rotating and keep in mind that you have Headbutt available when on GS to land the combo.

When talking about the combo, be sure to check if HB is off cooldown before you attempt to use Skullcrack or Headbutt. You can try to poke them a bit with Mace auto, but it obviously isn’t as good.

About landing Skullcrack or Headbutt, obvious stuff like checking for stability, blinds, Aegis and counting for dodges is obvious. Try to use Shield Bash to make them stunbreak. If they do, follow up with another stun, if they don’t, swap to GS and HB. Shield Bash is a 2,6 second stun with the sigil, which is pretty long by itself and allows you to put a serious dent into their health bar.

If your target is very tanky but does not carry many stunbreaks (i.e. necro’s) or has already used them, something like Shield Bash > auto > auto > Skullcrack > GS HB > Arcing Slice > Headbutt > Berserk > auto > auto > Mace Skullgrinder is a pretty insane combo, I don’t think anything will survive. And the quickness gets you the oomph you need.

Also important to consider is that you are limited mobilitywise. Therefore only use Rush when you need to close a gap or create one. Whirlwind can be used more offensively, but you will often be using it just to close the gap.

I like to start off a fight in GS, close the gap, tank some damage, switch to Mace to refill my endurance and start blocking where nessecary to recover. The fight with the Revenant really shows what I mean here. He actually hits me for ~5k with Unrelenting Assault which I almost immediately fully recover by using Shield Stance.

All in all, the biggest thing you need to practice is landing the difficult to land skills like Skullcrack and Headbutt. There is a lot more to this then you would think at first sight. Other then that, get a good feel for rotating defensive abilities, and you should be fine. I’ll probably post a vid with some more duels soon, had some entertaining ones already with a DP thief and a Dragon Hunter that chased me with some friends, then found himself in a 1v1 with a fully healed and ready to go Hulk

@ Juba, Ghotistyx: Glad to see some inspired thinking on the forum here. We may or may not have the best elite specialization, but we should try to make the best out of what we have until Anet decides otherwise.

ulchanar.4309:

Nice one, Cygnus! Thanks for sharing that rune info, guess it will be used a lot now.

I was trying a Skullcracker berserker in pvp but felt like berserker didn’t really add to the build. Headbutt was just a less useful alternative setup for 100b on a longer CD than Skullcrack and with one or two more buttons in between the stun and 100b (tried both Savage Instinct and Smash Brawler where you need to use Outrage after Headbutt) .

In your build, berserker mainly adds low CD stun breaks and even a self stun to trigger RR. Did you also try a Strength/Defense/Discipline build with the same runes and Balanced Stance or Frenzy as replacement for Outrage? You could trigger RR only 2 times per minute but your burst damage would be a lot higher (plus damage on dodge).

Glad you like it!

As for PvP, a lot of people have been asking me about that. To be honest, I hardly ever PvP anymore, the abundance of braindead (condi) specs in there does not appeal to me.

But, as PvP is focussed around holding a point, warrior seems at a disadvantage in there right now. I don’t think this build will change that, even with the rune.

STR/DEF/DIS is what I was running for a while after HoT. I’ve tried different weapon/stat set-ups, both glassy and a little more sustainable. It works. But I found myself wanting something else, wanting to try the elite and make something that works for me.

The reasons I would pick Berserker over Strength for this build;

- Pulsing stability in Berserk and a single stack when you break stun is incredible. Often, people wil try to follow up (either intentionally or unintentionally – i.e. basilisk venom) their initial stun with another one. The stack you get from breaking the first also nullifies follow up stuns, which is incredibly useful. As a bonus, pulsing stability in Berserk reduces the need for stability on the utility bar, which opens up a very important utility slot (in this case for Outrage).

- Outrage. 10 second cooldown stunbreak that gives you 3 stacks of might, 2624 HP, 1 stack of stability and 1000 toughness for the next 8 seconds? Yes please. And you get adrenaline as a bonus, which actually helps a lot when you don’t slot CI.

- Headbutt. I really like this skill for this build. You can self proc above mentioned stunbreak benefits, instantly recharge adrenaline after landing Skullcrack, and it’s a great finisher with the activation of Berserk. You do lose out on some stun time going into Berserk and breaking the stun, but then you get quickness making up for that. It also has a little more range then Skullcrack and a lot less visual warning, while dealing a kittenton of damage by itself. Oh, and a 20 second cooldown is pretty sweet IMO.

- Berserk mode itself. Aside from the pulsing stability, this transformation gives you a lot of Burst potential. Stunbreak + condi cleanse on activation+quickness+Fury+Always Angry = very high amounts of very fast damage if you land the combo, that’s hard to interrupt. Then, you get 15% attack speed, which is really nice on a slow set like Mace. The mace Berserk burst skill hits almost as hard as GS #5 (most people don’t realize this, but that’s pretty hard lol). Then it also applies confusion+bleed+cripple+blind, half of those condi’s are amazing without condi damage and confusion has a nice panic factor to it.

The thing I miss the most about not picking Strength is not the damage, because let’s be clear, Strength does give you more DPS. But it’s the cooldown reduction on GS. I find myself having to adjust my sense of timing now that I don’t use it. Other then that, I definitely prefer my current set-up.

@ klam, yanoch, Juba: Thanks for the replies!

The runes are indeed a big part of this build. Seperately, they don’t seem that impressive, but with some other stuff like Rousing Resilience healing and a good amount of blocks from mace/shield, the synergy really becomes quite strong. I sometimes feel like playing a guardian with the amount of stuff I am blocking while healing myself back to full. The fight against the two thieves really shows how good this build is at staying healthy (off course, my opponents skill level helped with that here, but you get my point).

Choppy.4183:

And it actually looks like a viable roaming build too. Great job… I think this is the only one so far!

Would I be right in assuming the biggest issues are kiting bursters and condi bombers? That’s how I’d play against this build I think… either saddling you with plenty of conditions or, if I was a mesmer/thief, setting you up for bursts and otherwise keeping distance until I wore you down. That being said, every build is weak against something.

One question about the build itself… what you said about the value of stability when stomping notwithstanding, what are your thoughts about trading up Eternal Champion for Bloody Roar?

Normally, I’d say EC is the better trait, but then I think your build could use a little more burst to take advantage of any opportunity to kill kiters, and the Taunt fits in with the 100b grinder your build is built around.

Thanks for the support m8, your insights are always much appreciated.

When talking about the difficulties, yes, conditions are good against this build. I don’t run CI, which hurts, but I do feel that the mace burst is too unreliable to hit for CI to be worth it anyway. That, and I explained in the vid why I take RR over CI.

Still, that does leave you vulnerable to condi’s. There are a few ways to circumvent this. One is to slot Signet of Stamina instead of Endure Pain. You are already extremely resistant to direct damage as is, and you still have 3 stunbreaks left without EP.
I am also trying out sigil of cleansing instead of paralysation on Mace, as the stun sigil is good, but I usually find myself using headbutt when I am already on GS so I don’t lose any stuntime (before my target stunbreaks) switching to GS. So the sigil really only adds to shield bash and Mace burst, which may or may not be better then Sigil of Cleansing in the long run.

However, with all the regen you get, you can actually counter a lot of condition damage simply by healing it back up. So the weakness to condi is there, but it is less prevalent then I myself thought before trying it out.
Poison is the worst offender and the main reason why I’ll quickly slot SoS if I think I will be facing condi.

Kiting burst specs, however, have not been successful against me yet. I fought a pretty good D/P thief yesterday (which kites a lot if played right against warrior, and this one did), beat him three times without dropping below 50% I think. Recorded it so I might put it in a vid soon. Also, in the build vid, the fight against the mesmer showed the extreme capability of this build to tank damage, and get back into the fight by healing back up. Add reflects to the equation, and this build does pretty well against kiters.
The real problem when fighting these enemies is that it would take too long to kill one in outnumbered, so it definitely becomes a weakness there. Try sword over mace to help with this.

About Eternal Champion vs Bloody Roar, the main reason why I like EC over Bloody Roar is that EC also helps (a lot) when not in Berserk mode. One thing you should realize about this build is that you often ‘sit’ on a lot of adrenaline, patiently waiting for the opportune moment to land your skullcrack. This means that you won’t activate Berserk a lot when you have full adrenaline – it is simply too precious of a resource to use for that (in most situations). Berserk is there to boost the burst after you land a Headbutt, or to secure a stomp should you have full adrenaline and a downed enemy.
So, BR will only be useful like ~30% of a fight. Also, BR has a nice taunt, but you should already have your target stunned when you activate Berserk, meaning the taunt does nothing, except for making them damage you?? (as I think taunt ‘breaks’ stun?)

Apologies for the wall of text.

Thanks m8, you should see my Thor

Hi everybody!

Been a while, but I’ve recently been working on a new wvw roaming spec using the elite specialization for warrior. I think it’s a lot of fun to play and it certainly feels like a newish way to play warrior. You’re basically tanky as hell while using berserker gear with multiple ways to set up your burst.

Check out the video, any feedback is appreciated as always.

The Indestructible Hulk Build:

Cya!

The borderlands are amongst the best designed maps in the game.

Too bad they are about 3 times larger then they should be.

Fun build, i was actually trying out something very similar, bit more YOLO;

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vJAQNAsfRnMdAlkidhAGeAEliFlA7ILEAqZKThj3R4t3OcTuA-TphAQB5rMQA3f4PPAgOcEAAwJAYAHCAA

Taking Arms instead of Defense (because we die anyway?) gives you Signet Mastery, added bleeding duration, another 5% damage against bleeding foes and Unsuspecting Foe, to really make your headbutt>HB hurt. Reminds me of the good old Skullcracker days, although this build applies some serious condi pressure.

Viper over Carrion so you get +57% burning duration (and +70% on bleeds) without having to slot Flame Legion runes. This opens up the way for you to use Berserker Runes instead, which just boosts your damage more then Flame Legion runes do. Also, the +7% dmg from Flame Legion is negated if the burns are cleansed (which often happens after you switch to GS) whereas Berserker just applies constant +5% damage along with slightly higher condi damage even though the amulet gives you 150 condi dmg less then Carrion. The precision allows you to reach 80% crit chance when you succesfully land Headbutt, 100% flat with Fury (which you get from allies and Fatal Frenzy).

Definitely take Eternal Champion for this build, as it gives you Might which is very good for hybrids, and it allows you to channel the full Hundred Blades better. Take Outrage over Dolyak Signet or Balanced Stance for frequent stunbreaks and extra adrenaline build up.

Highly dependant on knowing when to get in and out of a fight. A fun playstyle that’s not just another condi cancer build.

Xillllix.3485:

I’m making a new topic, because I don’t feel Anet understands the gravity of the situation. This is WvW now in Tier 2:
Friday night, 11pm est
Home BL: a dozen people afk, a handful roaming, no tag
Other BLs: one is empty, one has 3 people on it, no tag
EBG: a few people roaming the map, one of the enemy team has a group, no tag

In fact the only tag I can find is a EotM group farming keeps without fighting, probably some of the few people left not realizing that the rewards have been nerfed.

Is Anet taking note of what is happening to their own game? It’s impossible to find a fight on a Friday night in the most populated servers. Other tiers beside Tier 1 are just completely empty, but Tier 1 is impossible to join. A friend of mine just transferred to T2 from T3 to realize that the game is dead here too and was so dissapointed. People are just leaving the game because the simple improvements that would make WvW good are apparently never coming (and no I’m not talking about new WvW rank masteries; I’m talking about scoring system, new overflow system, removal of identical maps and population merges).

If you are not doing something soon to attract people to the new Borderland maps (rewards, massive server merge, PPT improvement, PPK system, waypoints, etc) you’re just going to lose the few people that are left.

Again, I’ve said this over a year ago: It’s a shame to see the wasted potential of WvW. It could easily beat the multiplayer gamemodes of any game currently available with just a little bit of care from the developers.
I’m saddened to see my friends leaving the game so soon after an expansion, and that there is nobody in charge of WvW at Anet willing to make it a truly rewarding and intense experience. Many GvG guilds have already disbanded.

I hope you have something planned for soon because I don’t think the WvW/GvG community will wait another year.

Playing against BB and SFR is not any better I can tell you. Roaming is completely dead. All that’s left is ganking squads and blobs, the borders are completely deserted.

I ran into another person from my server yesterday after 15 minutes of walking around on a border because EB queue was up. He told me i was the first person he saw after 20 minutes….

The borderland maps are just some dev’s wet dream that he realized, not thinking for one second that the map is too freakin big.

HoT killed GW2 for me.

Ross Biddle.2367:

• Dead or Alive:
  Taking fatal damage in berserk mode will heal you. 2 seconds blur (or block) when Dead of Alive activates.
  • Why this change? While the heal is a nice bit of sustain, under the effects of a lockdown or burst it can fly by without notice or even be inconsequential. Generating the 2s of evade would not only alert the Berseker to the traits proccing, it’d allow a window, albiet a brief one, for the war to take a breath and change gears. Whether that be to swap to a shield to further his blocks, open a gap with a GS, activate his healing sig to counter a condi bomb, or issue a counter burst when a stun runs out. Really though this effect is in line with much of what other elite specs have got, and while it should be effective, it’s fairly minimal for a defensive berserker line pick.

Thoughts?

Great ideas in general. My only thought is that instead of giving us ‘blur’ upon activation of DoA, or something else that really doesn’t fit our class, why not give us 3 seconds of resistance and protection instead? Has counterplay, and you can boost the duration if you spec for boon duration.

Being completely invulnerable would be nice, but warrior already has a lot of passive stuff thats making the class so dumb to play.

perko.8309:

I totally agree that no class should have +25% movement baselined. That’s crazy greedy.
We, like most classes these days, have a trait for +25% movement (Warrior’s Sprint, ofc). But I wouldn’t by any stretch say we have “amazing access to swiftness.” If we assume an untraited SoR and Pack Runes, that’s barely over 50% coverage out of combat (32.5 sec on 60 sec CD). And a traited SoR is not likely due to Runes of the Pack (power oriented) don’t go well with the Arms Traitline (Condi oriented, but has Sig Mastery). We’re actually quite behind compared to some other classes:
Ranger: a good heal (WeHealAsOne) + a single trait choice in the already popular Beast Mastery line gives real perma Swiftness + perma regen + -20% CD on shouts.
Engi: Streamlined Kits Trait choice + ANY kit = perma Swiftness.
Both are more flexible and effective than Warrior’s option.

When I am talking about perma-swiftness with SoR and Pack, I mean in combat off course. Out of combat is exclusively a QoL matter, which balance has nothing to do with in my opinion. I also don’t think the Warrior Sprint baseline request is being made because of out of combat mobility wishes.

That being said, in PvE, you can take a Warhorn offhand set to make it perma quite easily.

I honestly think Warrior’s Sprint is great more so because of the immobilise removal then the 25% speed boost.

bladex.9502:

much info

Alright, taking a step back here. I’ll let you PvE boys duke it out.

The whole condi thing looks like fun for PvE.

Rauderi.8706:

I’m baffled as to why Fast Hands is so lauded as a thing to get. It doesn’t make actual cooldowns come by faster. Shrug-worthy sigils, maybe? Discipline’s Fury on switch?
But then you’d still be taking Discipline. Baseline Fast Hands might free up some other trait choices, but…

Fast Hands isn’t going to revolutionize Warrior.

Most of our weapons skills are a joke. Swapping more quickly between two lackluster weapons isn’t going to fix it.
Half utilities are a joke, even when they work like they’re supposed to. Our support’s been nerfed, so the only thing we’re properly allowed is greatsword.

What we need is better access to Stability and Resistance on demand, and for some of our traits to mean something.

Wait what?

Disagreeing is one thing, but saying warriors need better access to stability? What?

About the Warrior’s Sprint baseline, that I don’t agree on and never will. No class has baseline 25% movement speed, and other classes arguably need that just as much as we do if they go double melee. If you don’t go double melee, then there is no solid argument at all.

Combine that with the fact that warrior has amazing access to swiftness and can easily get it permanently at a very reasonable cost (for instance, Rune of the Pack and sigil of Rage), baseline Warrior Sprint seems unneeded.

There was another topic about this a few days ago. Your vid seems alright, although the build is not optimized.

And no, this does not do more dmg then other classes/builds. We can’t touch elementalists ever, but even warrior has a better DPS build, especially now that Berserker has gotten some pretty crazy melee damage buffs. I believe something like this is optimal for warrior now;

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vJAQNAR3Zj8cQfHW7BefAnIWKCMjBwDIAkEE+BPv3hby95C-T1RBABUcRAuS5HN7PgnuBAeCAUq+jZKBDAcA87v5bfDWe5lXe5l73f/93f/tUARM0C-w

DPS is higher, group utility way better. And I am not very well informed on PvE, so there are most likely way more optimised versions of this build already.