kitten y Kshot War still looks great to me : D
ST AR DI – Rifle Sword/WH
ST = Restorative Strength – Body Blow – Berzerker’s Power
AR = Signit Mastery – Rending Strikes – Burst Precision
DI = Crack Shot – DoeT or Brawler’s Recovery – Burst MasteryGood Times – STARDI
The problem is, PvP Warriors are simply not viable without Cleansing Ire.
Yea, sadly CI with LB is about the only thing that allows anything outside of shoutbow to even stand a chance against conditions and it doesn’t look like there’s any other viable option to handling conditions with these new traits…
PvE for open world: Greatsword + Sword/Warhorn and Bulls Charge. You get perma swiftness with the Signet of Rage when you unlock them.
PvE for dungeons or DPS: Greatsword + Axe/Mace
PvP: Axe/Sword + Bow (Axebow), Hammer + Bow (Hambow), or Sword/Warhorn + Bow (Shoutbow)
Voting this as bet answer here, although for leveling, it’s not a bad idea to simply try out every weapon to some extent to get a feeling for them. However, in the end, a GS is all you need to kill stuff. =P
Gotta disagree with OP. This is pretty much the best fix possible short of overhauling the class.
Considering that turrets already hit hard enough to solo squishies like thieves and mesmers, I don’t think that they need to have critical hits, even if that does sound nice in theory.
I, for one, would love to see a warrior meta where warriors are brought for playing a CC/stun role where mace and physical utility skills are worthwhile because those will probably never become meta in PvE.
Honestly though, GS is best when you don’t worry about landing hundred blades. HB should just be used to force your opponent to run/dodge if they go too offensive or just to cleave downed enemies/rezzers. Outside of that, utilize the weapon as a mobile offensive tool.
Until Stronghold comes out though, I think LB just overshadows GS due to being able to paint a node in fire.
They may be fine against NPCs, but they do seem to be weak against players. I remember kiting 4 around a corner to group them up and burning them down with hundred blades while taking very little damage (I was using zero amulet too). If they didn’t stop and attack players, They may be more useful, but as it is, it’s very easy to just distract them from attacking your guards.
I actually think that doorbreakers are best at the start and here’s why:
There are only 2 starting guards and they’re pretty weak. If you do all doorbreakers, you can send 1 person to take them out quickly and then rejoin the main fight. If someone on the opposing team comes to defend, you can usually still take out the guards. I found I was able to pull this off with a hammer/GS zerk build that was similar to Hambow. More than 1 defender is really the only counter to this.
Risk/Reward:
If this works, you get the first door down. If no one from the enemy team defends, then the wall goes down very fast and you’re able to meet back up without much delay (especially with mobile classes). If this fails, it’s generally because the enemy spent 2 people to defend and even then you usually can get at least 1 guard down.If you send only archers with no one to attack, then one defender on the enemy team can easily intercept them and skills like Wall of Reflect are a hard counter to them.
Risk/Reward:
If this works, you get the guards down and maybe some damage on the wall before someone notices, but that’s only if the enemy team has no one defending. You may get a bit extra momentum by having more people on the field, but still have to take down that first wall. If this fails, then you still have the wall and possibly both guards left alive.It’s possible I’ll change my opinion on this after more play, but so far this has been my experience.
Your strategy assumes that the enemy NEEDS two people to beat you, though. If they are fighting at the gate you’re fighting an enemy player plus two guard NPCs while trying to prevent your doorbreakers from being wasted. The enemy has the advantage over you, and if they fail to win it’s either because you have the stronger dueling build or are a better player. The reverse is also possible. A few archers can at least neutralize the guards.
Of course I found I was able to do as you described when we ran doorbreakers at the start. I was able to easily kill the guards while fighting off enemy players without dying. But that’s because the enemy players seemed to want to defend with bunker builds, which just didn’t have the damage to pressure me. In the future I’m sure the players will be defending with competent dueling builds or burst builds that you won’t be able to easily shrug off.
As I said, each time this method was tried also resulted in the enemy securing mid, which lead to more pressure in the enemy lane during the mid game. I was always pushing the aggressive lane solo/with a partner, though, so I can’t say for certain what our defenders were doing to be losing as badly as they were. Two of those five games the door didn’t even go down as the guy running with the NPCs mysteriously vanished (Got ganked hard) and had their NPCs slaughtered before they could hurt the guards.
It was just aggravating that no one wanted to TRY a new strategy. The game mode was out for a few hours and everyone thought they had it mastered. Once I got some groups that would try different methods we ended up winning more matches than losing.
You really don’t need a strong dueling build at all, especially since it doesn’t matter much if they kill you. You only need to survive long enough to kill the guards, who generally hit like wet noodles (much easier to solo then something like Svanir).
I could see that as a problem if they just implemented it the same way, but if they made it so the lord was buffed or came with NPCs, depending on the progress of the team, I don’t think it would end up the same way.
For example, if you had defended your walls and took down the enemy walls along with most of their guards, then your lord would be stronger and escorted with your guards while the enemy lord would be alone and with less hp.
That way, teams that turtles until VoD would almost certainly lose.
If a bunker guard was at the supply depot, you could just pop stability, grab supply, lol, then prance away. =P
You’d need some boon stripping for there to be much threat.
One thing I also noticed was that teams who rushed lord without a hero generally failed hard. I had one game where the enemy team had our gates down fast and would have won if they got a hero, but instead they just rushed the lord without one and wiped every time.
Could be interesting, but something like that would invalidate the whole point scoring system they have going on…
There are ways to work it in. Give each lord a buff that scales depending on your score. That way teams that just sit back and defend will be at a disadvantage if they wait out til the end and teams that push hard (getting heroes, kills, supply, etc.) will be rewarded.
GS/Hammer also worked pretty well for a similar situation. You lost a little mobility without sword offhand, but the CC from hammer is amazing for interrupting channels as well as for shutting down grouped enemies, such as in the lord room. The only downside I found to hammer was that you can’t knock down enemy heroes and really need immobilize slow them down in any meaningful way.
Also, I know a guildie who found that longbow ranger was exceptional at using the treb since the treb location is also such a great perch for ranged dps.
Yea, it’s not great for Necro…but Necro just seems to lack a lot of utility all-around. I wouldn’t say that they’re useless or an entire burden to a group though. Power build burst is still strong and flesh worm can be great for getting stuff like supply running. However, I think they’ll need a really coordinated group where they can stick with a buddy to perform best.
Yea, this was my experience as well. I started off with a soldier’s amulet and swapped to zerker after the first game and it was a big improvement.
I think very support-oriented builds can do well here, but they won’t be able to be without strong dps unless something changes. The short time limit is hindering and even if that wasn’t a factor, it just doesn’t seem to contribute as much to objectives as more balanced or dps-focused builds.
I’ve Never felt underclassed untill today…
I Just saw a Warrior swoop in, burst down two gate guards, then flew away because he looked bored. All the while, Thieves were dancing around me like I was a hat. Rangers were sniping further than the treb could fire and air Ele’s have a 1 shot wonder macro that gets me every time. I’m turning grey from all this walking, curious if that Warrior will turn into an unstoppable Rampaging brute at Mist Essence; of which, seems to eat CC’s for breakfast.
Now i’m beside myself with this wacky trait line, deciding whether I should stick with Sanctuary or Staff because causing NPC’s to smash their faces into walls seem to be my signature move.
Will Guardians get some love any time soon? rhetorical
It would be nice if I could get a bow that shoots flaming arrows while also enabling me to permanently chain myself to another human being. Now THAT would be quite useful.Yup.
One of the best classes I fought against last night was a guard. I’m not sure what build he was running, but he had a great balance of being tanky enough to survive, able to put out enough damage, and was also able to heal/support guards with staff.
Yes, some classes like war are super mobile (I was one of those people swooping in, blowing up guards, then flying away), but I did see that if a guard played well, they could be just as competitive in their own way.
Now, I did also see some guardians (particularly some tanky mace guards) that accomplished much less, so I think you may just need to find the right build/strat.
I prefer your strategy over the “spawn only doorbreakers” strategy everyone was insisting was the optimal way to play. Out of the 20 something matches I played this strategy was forced on me five times, and each time it ended in a loss because the very person who suggested it would always NOT protect the doorbreakers and just… Run off.
It was getting ridiculous. No one would even consider listening to my strategy of starting with archers so they’d take out the guards while we as a team secure mid. When PVPers think they got it all figured out they can get depressingly stubborn about it.
What seemed to work best was spawning three archers and two doorbreakers at the start. The archers would take out the guards pretty quickly and the doorbreakers would destroy the wall reasonably fast if all was left unattended. The enemy had to give up a guy to block our initial NPCs to stop the first wall from being taken, which usually secured a win at mid and thus control of the supply.
I actually think that doorbreakers are best at the start and here’s why:
There are only 2 starting guards and they’re pretty weak. If you do all doorbreakers, you can send 1 person to take them out quickly and then rejoin the main fight. If someone on the opposing team comes to defend, you can usually still take out the guards. I found I was able to pull this off with a hammer/GS zerk build that was similar to Hambow. More than 1 defender is really the only counter to this.
Risk/Reward:
If this works, you get the first door down. If no one from the enemy team defends, then the wall goes down very fast and you’re able to meet back up without much delay (especially with mobile classes). If this fails, it’s generally because the enemy spent 2 people to defend and even then you usually can get at least 1 guard down.
If you send only archers with no one to attack, then one defender on the enemy team can easily intercept them and skills like Wall of Reflect are a hard counter to them.
Risk/Reward:
If this works, you get the guards down and maybe some damage on the wall before someone notices, but that’s only if the enemy team has no one defending. You may get a bit extra momentum by having more people on the field, but still have to take down that first wall. If this fails, then you still have the wall and possibly both guards left alive.
It’s possible I’ll change my opinion on this after more play, but so far this has been my experience.
“Victory or Death!” – http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/%22Victory_or_Death!%22
Hey, I do remember that! I’d definitely rather have that happen then a timer running out. Best suggestions I’ve seen on the forums in probably at least a year. =)
How on earth would anyone think fighting against AI on point is PvP?
You must be new to video games. PvP is much more than dog pile team fights and halo-esque game modes copied into MMOs.
It may be that people not understanding the strat that well are causing games to time out instead of going to a lord kill, but if this continues, it would be nice to see either a slightly longer timer and/or a balance to NPCs/gates that speeds up lord kills.
Dude…it’s been out for a day…well, not even that long.
There’s not even a meta for this game mode yet. There’s no established strategies. Even if there were, it’ll all change when HoT comes out and every prof has a new specialization….plus revenant.
So take a breath before jumping on the doomsday train.
I just played a single game and instantly realised
You really should have stopped right there.
win by points after 15mins.
timer needs to be at 30mins + VoD mechanics.
Considering that the game type has been out for a few hours and that the player base has little idea how to really work the mechanics, you may be just a weeeeeee bit hasty in making judgements on how the game should be changed, lol.
Current thoughts:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQRBMhd+1IhKVs2viLLUtGQToaHAZaL/6TdPBHwLfxPNVB-TJhHwAPLDQ4JAA4kAkZ/BA
Mobility: Yes
Team fight: Kinda…
1 v 1 Potential: YesThings to consider:
Celestial?
Empathic Bond > Poison Master with Enlargement > Evasive Purity?
Swap trolls for spring and you get a good bit more utility for team fights, particularly with war horn offhand. This is even more true since you have healing stats on your amulet.
(edited by Dahkeus.8243)
Will be trying out hammer/GS war and maybe lb power ranger as well.
I like Hammer/GS! What role will you be playing? You’re not really bursty, and have no group utilities on that. The mobility is great though.
Interrupting supply and hero channeling requires CC or downing an enemy and hammer brings plenty of that. I’ll be running primarily in team fights and to kill enemy NPCs.
Basically it’s Hambow, but dropping the bow (since there’s no nodes to paint in fire anyways) for the added mobility and dps of GS. Plus NPCs won’t dodge hundred blades.
Will be trying out hammer/GS war and maybe lb power ranger as well.
So…in other words you’re criticizing the OP not because they played badly, but because their opponents weren’t good enough?
Sounds like a pretty weak reason to come into someone’s thread trying to cut them down.
@ Eurantien:
I agree with the need for pet changes, particularly for more responsiveness or lower cast time for pet F2 abilities. However some of the other suggestions feel a bit too much like they’re getting outside of what a ranger should be able to do or at least overcompensate too much on one aspect of defense that would make cause additional balance issues.
However, I do wish that we had more active ways to boost DPS, such as with might stacking so that we didn’t have to rely on the berserker amulet as much. I mean, if we could work with a soldier amulet like hambows, then having stealth/SoS on cd wouldn’t be such a liability.
Boy are you in for a surprise tomorrow….
Agreed with OP, but my favorite feature is sPvP games where everyone has access to the same gear and has no level difference. I hated losing matches in WoW to people just because they out geared me. =/
Feel free to play one of the MMOs that don’t have restrictions like this and are overrun with gold sellers. Is it an inconvenience? Yea. Is it still worth it? Also yea.
My first map completion was Guardian. Which I highly recommend against. They’re probably the slowest moving class, they have horrible health pool and can’t really solo with zerker gear because of said low health pool. Did I mention they’re slow? Staff sucks balls, lets be honest here staff as a weapon blows. You only see so many guardians with one because of it’s lootstick qualities and might stack.
Guard easily gets 100% swiftness with staff along with Retreat/Save Yourselves. It does reuquire some trait investment to lower the cd, but it’s not that bad. Add in a GS as secondary weapon and you’re more mobile than even a ranger (although mobs hitting your symbol can slow you down a bit).
But I’m guessing you’ve never leveled a Mesmer, lol.
Race doesn’t really matter, but here are the 3 bed for open world PvE:
Warrior: Can travel the map faster than any other profession without any trait or rune changes. Also a solid all-around profession.
Thief: Almost as fast at traveling as a war and can use stealth to skip mobs, such as with many skill point capture points.
Ranger: solid ranged weapons and the pet will often allow you to afloat with mobs around, lol.
Welcome to the game! You’ll probably find a lot of former WoW players here, so you’re in good company. =P
While I didn’t leave WoW for the sub fee, I definitely like being in control of when I support the game with real life cash.
Ignore the spoiled players who can now see nothing but the faults of the game. GW2 is still the best MMO out there, even if there’s still room to improve.
Personally, I think the standard power LB build will be pretty ideal, particularly since there’s no capture points like Conquest.
Celestial is fine for some sPvP builds, but t I can’t see it as worthwhile for an ascended set. It’s really subpar for PvE and even if you run it in a WvW build, that’s a big investment that may be a waste if you later decide your build needs more toughness/power/whatever.
Nice vid. As a side note, I foresee this as a strong build for Stronghold on Tues. Looking forward to trying it out there.
Heavily depends on what type of queue and win %.
I don’t think calling it an escort mission is really accurate, particularly since it compares it to escort missions in MMOs where the NPCs go yolo attacking random mobs. Here at least, they stick to their task.
My 2 copper:
I think hammer/greatsword may be better than Hambow on stronghold since the AoE cover from lb won’t matter as much, but the added mobility from GS will be a great benefit. Plus NPCs won’t dodge hundred blades.
Here’s a variant that I’ve found is adapted from many of the meta condi builds to be a bit more helpful in team scenarios. It’s your basic S/T A/D build, but with S/W A/T weaponset instead and using the celestial amulet.
This allows for more utility through using the blast on the warhorn for either heals or might stacking since you have access to both fields. It also gives a bit better mobility without having to use a different runeset. I have Rune of the Pack here, but really the same runesets that work for this type of build are just as viable here (krait, undead, etc.).
This small change would definitely place more of my $ in ANet’s pocket…
Hopefully they’ll make it so eventually.
It’s an issue that happens occasionally due to position lag. The person you tried to stomp most likely didn’t intend for this to happen.
Thieves counter everything at low hp when they pop out of nowhere for a kb, but Any sort of regular 1v1 side node fight will heavily favor a lb ranger. Thieves just melt so quickly and rapid fire is one of the best stealth counters unless there’s just a big discrepancy in skill.
Totally confused with the OP saying that thieves counter lb power builds, since it’s been the other way around in my experience (especially against D/P). It’s just too easy to burst them down imo. S/d can be a bit harder, but if you can time a point blank and gas stun, then it’s easy to land during a break in evade frames to leave them open to burst.
Tempting to take a PTO day on Tuesday…
Totally looking forward to this.
Thief isn’t really for constantly being with another player, they’re for flying as fast as possible around the map taking targets of opportunity and decapping.
I think a cele or rabid engi would make a better traveling buddy for a ranger. Rangers and engis both have a lot of CC, so you can cover each other. Engi is also pretty survivable, so you aren’t both complete glass.
Engis, especially condi, have a lot of blast finishers which can pair nicely with healing spring. And that also helps the engi weakness of lack of condi removal.
Agreed with this. Even the cele engi build on metabattle.com would pair well with a lb ranger.