I’ve played since launch, and the gameplay keeps me coming back. One piece of advice I can give is, try downgrading your gear if you want pve challenge. I recently did this and it was almost a new experience pve wise.
I felt a strong need to quest and downgrading my gear made the quests more challenging and actually fun. Even dungeons are fresher this way. My good (ascended/exotic) gear is in the bank for wvw but I may continue to run this way.
I agree. I think if they sped up the chain a bit; the second attack by 1/4 sec, and the third attack by 1/4 sec., this may make it a bit better as a MH weapon without overpowering it.
LOTRO had some truly great RP ideas that should not be hard for GW2 to implement. LOTRO came out in 2007 I believe. One thing I enjoyed were instruments. Every character could play some instruments like flute or lyre. You could import midi files into game, including your own pieces and play them in game. I remember folks playing the “Cheers” theme outside of the Prancing Pony while we all stood around laughing and dancing. Nonetheless, this is a great way for a musician to share their own music with others in GW2, or for a non musician to share their favorite music as well.
Also I remember fireworks being more plentiful than in GW2. When someone takes out a box ’o fun or some fireworks in GW2, it stimulates RP in that area, so make those items easier to obtain.
Shield bash (#4) also sets up sword’s Final Thrust (#3) well. I think MH sword covers most bases as far as combat despite what the guides say. Those were probably written before Final Thrust was moved to #3—it used to be part of the sword chain, thus a player could not control it. Now, it makes up for some direct damage shortcomings from the Autoattack while not losing any condition damage. You just have to hit it right, and shield bash or I find OH mace 5 sets up Final Thrust well.
I too would like an expansion, and would not mind paying for it. I think it would breathe new life into the game. I’m not talking a subscription, but maybe a $35-50 Xpac with some new areas, dungeons, classes, races, skins, skills, and weapons would not be a negative thing. I think it would entice new players and retrieve some old players as well. It would also make some money for Anet as well.
I don’t know why they " fixed" the trait system in the first place. It was a part of the game that was not broken and I can’t recall anyone, including myself, ever complaining about it.
I do like the fact that you can change on the fly without a trainer or silver, but I preferred getting a point every level starting at 11. It felt like you were building toward something with each level. Not so much anymore.
Suggestion: Go back to the old point system/acquisition, but keep the ability to change on the fly without trainers/coins.
I run one or two banners, untraited, (Discipline and/or Warbanner) for dungeons. I always have “For Great Justice” shout (untraited) on my toolbar for any content. PVE and WvW, mainly signets (Healing, Rage, Stamina for sure, and maybe Dolyak) again FGJ would still be on my toolbar—its just a great skill.
I like Reaper of Grenth (human) for stacking some conditions that warriors normally can’t like poison and chilled, but the duration is too short (15 sec) and/or the cooldown is too long (180 sec). Otherwise it would be a great addition for a DeathKnight type of toon.
I sometimes use it in wvw for zerg busting but Signet of Rage is the go-to elite for warriors. Hounds of Balthazaar (human) would also be nice if the cooldown was shorter.
I would just stick with Consume Conditions. It’s not only the best Necro heal, but one of the best heals in the game.
I personally like sword an board with lb switch. I also like sword/mace with lb switch. I mainly play wvw at this point and I seem to do well. I prefer MH sword over axe because I think it covers all bases—damage and conditions. It does good damage if you use #3 at the right time, and this makes it good for PVE since mobs don’t kite or dodge. Also it bleeds an opponent while they kite or stealth around, perfect. And of course the mobility which is always useful.
Apparently folks are still stuck at launch when sword 3 was a cripple instead of a finisher, thus all the “guides” haven’t been updated or are just made for 1111 spammers. Listen up——-when you use MH sword 3 after a target gets to 50% health, it does substantial damage, making up for most AA deficiencies.
BTW shield 4 or mace 5 is a great way to setup sword 3 against mobs that dodge or kite. I have LB on switch for wvw wall targets like canons, archers, or oil barrels..
The first skill I got was Signet of the Locust for speed and a small heal for last resort. Also get Consume Conditions as your main heal skill. Signet of Spite is another great skill passive or active. Well of Power is your stunbreak and offers stability. Also, helps clear conditions from you and your group so it’s on my toolbar a lot. For elite skill, go with flesh golem first. As far as weapons, I used dagger/focus for quick kills, staff for groups and range. I still use this combo for WvW and works great.
Of course if you want minion master, that is another option for leveling, but I would still have Signet of the Locust on my bar for mobility. it sucks running slow.
As far as traits, the spite line will help with damage early on, but if you are dying a lot, put points in Death Magic or Blood Magic. it’s now free to do.
Make sure you use Death Shroud. It’s what makes a Necro a truly tough customer and is a weapon all on its own. Hope this helps and have a great time..
I like superior runes of the Wurm for “Empower Allies” or high Vitality builds. Helps with Condition defense, and increases damage through higher crit damage. Pretty cheap to craft or buy. Great for WvW.
I was wondering about mace/warhorn over mace/shield. It seems you can spec for mace to do more damage vs weakened foes (10%). Warhorn provides weakness a lot easier than mace AA (3rd part of chain). It would also offer better mobility and condition removal which are always needed in wvw. So easier to spec for more damage, more mobility and condi removal. You give up a block, interrupt and some defense but for 10% more damage I would choose warhorn if you are going to MH mace.
I mention it because I have never seen in mentioned. If I were MH mace I would run Warhorn over shield. I know the stun sets up skullcrack, but lag can do that as well. The shield stun is really brief and I think a player would get more overall use out of warhorn instead of hoping a haymaker skullcracker will land with everything jsut right.
The cooldown on Axe #2 is 6 1/4 sec if specced I think, improving the DPS. Axe training spec also lowers the cooldown of #3, which also helps DPS. Again axe needs to be specced and it helps to set the target up with ranged focus skills (1200 range if specced from same line) or I like to use Signet of Spite (1200 range) then hit 3 for retaliation on me, then drop the deuce for the damage. Seems to work well enough in wvw.
Dagger is ‘close your eyes and hack’. No need for specs, setups or thought, axe isn’t that but it can be effective if you know what to do.
Ok so conditions suck in pve, where you have to have zerker gear or GTFO, but overpowered in pvp and wvw where these same ‘zerkers’ come in and get bombed on. Here’s a quote from you elitists: “Learn how to play.”
“But I can kill Lupicus in 7 sec because that’s all I do all day.” Good for you, but put on your big boy pants and get into pvp or wvw if your really want to test your skills. Conditions are fine; mix in some Vitality. There’s even gear that provides vitality boosts.
::Gasp::, “It’s not Zerker so it sucks, and it won’t allow me to kill Lupicus over and over again in 7 seconds!!” “And Condi’s are OP, cuz I can kill Lupicus in 7 sec means I’m the best GW2 player ever, and someone beat me in WvW!!” Whaaaaa!!!
I use Well of Power for stun break/stability and it works well. It’s always on my toolbar. As far as Necros sucking, I tend to stomp GS warriors in WvW regularly (I use axe/warhorn or dagger/warhorn—doesn’t matter). I also have a warrior and my Necro tends to survive better in large group fights, because of Death shroud mainly.
Maybe I jsut play a Necro better but the only class I’ve ever had a problem with in WvW duels is Mesmer. I fought one for 15 minutes straight, we waved to each other and walked away. I eat “Zerker or GTFO” warriors for breakfast. They truly suck. Mix in some Vitality and quit complaining about conditions being OP—whaaaa!!!
For WvW i mix in Well of Power. It’s a stun break, offers stability and supports the group/folks on a ram. It’s always on my toolbar for these reasons. I also enjoy Signet of Spite to begin all fights. Excellent range and a great way to soften up the target and/or get them to burn some condi cleanse. This also dominates my toolbar regardless of power or condi spec. Good passive effect too and goes well with Epidemic.
Actually I think axe was stronger during beta, they nerfed it at launch. Then about a year ago, increased the damage of #2 by 10% and also switched the trait from Gmaster to master. So they have improved axe and I hope they at least add cleave, and/or increase the range to 900 like scepter.
Again I feel it’s a hybrid weapon: some range, some conditions, some damage, but not the greatest at any. I feel the vuln stacking and retaliation are useful. I enjoy the #2 skill as well, but when I really want to drop a zerker warrior, I just maul him with dagger and watch him fall.
Zerker warriors can go back to dungeons and time how fast they kill Lupicus, that’s all they’re good for.
I find axe to be “usable” if traited and using a good (zerker) axe with a sigil of force or ruby or some damage attachment. Also not just relying on Autoattack, but using other skills and the #2 whenever off cooldown. This hits like a truck. It goes well with the focus and with minions—the Vuln stacking helps them, or your group do more damage. I think this is the purpose of the axe, for some condition stacking, and some damage, and some group support/help. Seems like a hybrid weapon like the warrior’s MH sword.
If you want to solo faceroll, use the dagger. Any old dagger will do, you don’t need traits, just tank up, wade in and hack away and watch the bodies hit the floor—like the warrior’s MH axe
Consume conditions is the Necro’s best heal by far. Some ignorant groups want well of blood, and blood fiend can work for traited minion masters, but overall I use Consume Conditions and never look back. I think it’s one of the best heals in the game overall.
I prefer axe over scepter but it should be traited, so 4 in spite for the Axe bonus. It goes well with a focus too which can be traited from this same line. I also toss a sigil of force on it and #2 hits like a truck. Autoattack isn’t bad with this setup either, well it’s not dagger but better than untraited plain axe.
Just for note I enjoy having 3 points on Soul Reaping (bottom line) for the auto Spectral shield when health is down. It works well and has saved me many times. I have found the new 1 point death magic trait really helps while in death shroud. Great for wvw or pvp.
Off hand dagger comes to mind for me.
Great list. Thanks.
I was just throwing out some less popular and more affordable rune suggestions. I use these in wvw before and after patch and they are ok. Again, affordable and great for those who run a high Vitality.
I know in pve Vitality may be a “wasted” stat, but it is quite necessary in WvW. It is the main defense against conditions. There are limitless complaints on these boards right now about conditions being too powerful and how folks are going to quit. Message to those—-stop running pve meta and pick up some Vitality. At least try now that it doesn’t cost anything. ;D
Just want to let folks know about these, I got them cheap a while back and now they increase your ferocity by like 7% of Vitality (on top of other stat increases). I like to have 4 points in Tactics for Empower Allies or Shrug if Off (which works well now since bug fix) and thus have a decent Vitality stat. These runes can help make up some DPS while still offering self and group support. I mainly do WvW, thus the higher Vitality stat than Axe/mace meta.
Anyhow if you run a build with decent vitality, look into these runes. A lot cheaper than Dolyak and Lyssa and they do other things as well.
Can’t go wrong with MH axe. maybe axe/shield or warhorn. Warhorn is most welcome in WvW for Condi cleanse and group swiftness. Axe should provide all the damage you will need. Shield can provide tankiness and an interrupt/daze that’s difficult to dodge.
Axe hardly ever used in pve? Axe/mace are the only accepted weapons for warrior in pve. Zerker Axe/mace or GTFO. I like using a sword, but I can only do that in WvW and PvP, otherwise I get death threats by elitists for real. Funny that on my thief, or necro, nobody cares about my gear or weapon set, only for warriors it seems, and Axe /mace are the only accepted weapons.
After the patch the only accepted pve build will be 30/30/0/0/10 Axe/mace using the dual wield traits and no swap. That’s it unless they change the dungeon content.
BTW I know axe was nerfed, or changed, but it’s still the best weapon for warriors pve. Sword and greatsword are serviceable (but will get you kicked from most groups), Mace and Hammer are a mess (pve), and longbow rules the ranged category.
I like the idea of mace, but after using it in pve, pvp and wvw. I just find it frustratingly slow. The only skill I like is #3. The AA attack chain is hard to land (even in pve) with a lot of long pauses. The #2 can be good, when it lands after a block which isn’t as often as I like.
When I push an attack button, I like to see/hear the attack happen, and with mace, it just doesn’t. Perma weakness in nice in theory, but you mainly hit air by that time in the attack chain. Axe and sword MH are better choices IMO, but I hope they speed up maces.
Warrior—-Mace MH and OH, way too slow and clunky. They work for pve, that’s about it. OH axe—well documented. Hammer, rifle and MH sword for pve.
Necro—MH axe AA. OH focus skills are a bit slow to cast, but the effects are nice.
Thief—MH pistol. OH dagger could be beefed up a bit.
I think an overall fix to conditions in pve could help a lot of weapon skills/builds.
Try Axe/warhorn. Axe autoattack should give you all the damage you need plus a cripple and vuln stacking. Warhorn can remove condis, and grant swiftness for kiter chasing. Healing signet, or I’ve been using Defiant Stance in wvw and having good results.
Balanced stance or Dolyak signet for stun break and stability. Signet of Rage for Elite (obvious). Mix and match with the rest. I have For Great Justice autoenabled on my toolbar at all times. This leaves me with one slot for banners or another shout or another stance like Endure Pain.
So axe/warhorn, healing sig or Defiant Stance, FGJ, Endure Pain., Balanced Stance, and Sig of Rage. I toss in a longbow on swap for WvW (I usually start a fight with that) because of Pin Down.
Hope this helps and good luck. Get some more practice in PvP. You will improve over time.
I would like to see all mace attacks sped up a bit. I like maces but it’s just too unwieldy even in pve. Maces weren’t as clunky to wield as Anet displays. Moving sword’s final thrust to #3 was a good idea, but it too needs to be sped up a bit to be viable. Rifle AA needs some love too. MH axe is ok IMO.
0/25/30/0/15 ). This would be for sword/shield. The 25 in arms takes advantage of the bleeds(longer bleeds and more damage to bleeders) and offers a higher crit % for sword. The 30 in Defense offers the shield skills (Shield mastery, missile deflection) regen based on adrenaline and Cleansing Ire—lots to choose here. The grandmaster trait offers power(10%) based on toughness—free power for being tanky. Also take Defy Pain at grandmaster this will save you especially in pvp and wvw. The 15 in Discipline grants Warrior sprint (25% runspeed for wielding melee weapons) and 5 sec . weapon swap which is tough to live without.
The DPS is not optimal for dungeon speed runs, but you can have fun and be effective with a non elitist group. In wvw this should serve well. Good hp regen, tanky, with good crit % and crit damage and good condition damage as well. Also great mobility and an interrupt that’s hard to dodge. Auto Endure Pain too.
You may want to keep a ranged weapon in your bag (bow is considered best). If you don’t like greatsword, but want the mobility, take MH sword. I know many here say MH sword sucks and axe is best, but MH sword does have a button (#3) that does a lot of damage when pressed at the right time (when target is below half hp). I usually kill mobs in Orr (one shot) with this skill once they get to half hp (which doesn’t take long at all).
When I just want to turn my brain off and hit Autoattack I use axe. When I want to actually fight and set my target up, I use MH sword. Again #3 makes up for lack of AA damage.
Someone mentioned OH warhorn and it deserves consideration. I used it the other night in a group and it went over great. Not the best solo option, but in groups and WvW it works out well.
You should be fine. You may want to have a ranged weapon (bow) in your bag for ranged targets (these situations occur in some dungeons). Always take a banner (Disc. or Strength, check with the other warriors so you don’t bring the same), and you can setup Empower Allies or Shrug it off, so pick one and you should be set. I also find For Great Justice a great group skill.
You’re plenty tanky so get some zerker trinkets/weapons for more damage, and mix in some consumables (food, sharpening stones).
I’ve done many builds and frankly, it’s hard to break a warrior. The 30/25/0/0/15 is popular, but if you don’t have good twitch skills (which I don’t) you may be down a lot. Mix things up and find what works. The zerk axe/mace build doesn’t work for me because I’m not a great gamer (visually impaired), so I opt for a bit tougher warrior with more Vitality, but I still find I can contribute to groups in a solid way. Banners, Empower Allies, or Shrug it Off are appreciated by most teammates I’ve played with.
Be glad this isn’t DDO where it’s very easy to build a broken toon (almost a given), then you have to reroll and start form scratch, or spend real money if you want to change your setup. Here it’s a silver piece or so or just a weapon/skill change.
You can also try out PvP, that helps a lot.
These boards confuse the heck out of me. From all “experts:” MH axe for warrior is the ONLY weapon and if you use a sword or anything with conditions—-you will be kicked and you are a noob and you will rot in hell. Now I see folks complaining about conditions being powerful, so does that make it ok for a warrior to use a sword(MH or OH)since it offers condition damage? I’m just confused because all I hear is " 30/25/0/0/15 Axe/Mace or GTFO." And that’s considered the ONLY way to play this game.
If conditions are so powerful, wouldn’t this philosophy by these folks be a bit off? ::sigh::
It just seems to me that folks should play how they want. There’s no penalty for dying (this is the proper way to spell dying not “dieing”). Just have fun, and if you die, or wipe on a dungeon so what? What has it cost you? Time? Money? I just don’t understand the gaming community anymore.
“OH shield for a warrior doesn’t give protection”
Yes it does. An untraited exotic shield gives 61 defense; traited it can go up to 151. Or you can trait it to reflect missiles when blocking. Again versatility. Not it’s not a DPS weapon but it does offer choices (extra protection and reflection of missiles. OH mace is untraitable and offers no choices, and for pvp it’s very avoidable, OH shield isn’t)
You may want to give axe/shield a try. OH shield provides some protection; more if traited. It also provides a block for skips, and an interrupt/stun. I like to have an interrupt on my bar for all my toons.
I find shield more useful than OH mace as most bosses are immune to the mace knockdown, the cooldowns are long and OH mace is basically untraitable. AutoAttack axe will provide the all the damage you need IMO. (I know OH mace 4 grants 4 stacks of vuln. but given the long cooldowns and I don’t see it as being superior to OH shield or sword for effects or damage.)
Head to the mists and try some PVP. That can really help your overall build choices and game. If you can succeed against real players, the PVE is cake.
Yes it’ll still be viable as long as the dungeons stay the same; which seems likely. Stacking, skipping, DPSing is the way to go for most, if not all, PVE content and zerker will provide the most DPS. As far as WvW and PVP, you can mix and match with what works for you.
Another person stated it best: Zerker gear isn’t the problem; it’s a symptom. The problem is the PVE content is best beaten by stacking, skipping, and DPSing and that’s not being addressed, and probably won’t for the forseeable future.
If LOTRO can have cloaks with their archaic graphics; I don’t see why they can’t have them here. The cloaks in LOTRO really do add something to the character and look great.
I agree. Also for my warrior, the first major trait I chose was Warrior Sprint from the Disc. line. It gives a 25% speed boost while wielding melee weapons. There’s really no other way for a warrior to get that, no signet like ranger or necro, and I find it hard to play without the 25% speed.
With this new system, I would have to wait until lvl 40 to get the boost. Well if I were starting a new warrior that is.
My OH preference changes. I’m trying out sword and it seems to work well. Similar to mace with long cooldowns, but better damage thru conditions and a block for trash mob skips. Also easier to trait as most mace traits are for weakened or some other condi that Oh mace does not provide. Also, many bosses are immune to the knockdown that makes OH mace palatable.
I also recommend shield. It’s easy to trait for (either an extra 90 toughness, or reflect missile attacks), it provides passive defense untraited, it has an interrupt/stun, and can block for skips. Cooldowns are short when traited (shield master). It’s not a dps weapon but still a great roaming, pvp and lvling up weapon IMO.
In every action MMO I have played, it’s always been a race to 0 hit points. First one there loses. This has made DPS king regardless if it’s GW2, DDO (where high HP frenzy Barbs rule the day) or whatever it may be. In fact, most videogames are won with fast, hard, accurate hits.
A problem is that in MMO’s a creature is drawn to the one doing the most damage. This allows for a tank type to grab agro from that DPS’er through some game mechanic(intimidation in DDO for example) and absorb intended attacks. This game doesn’t have that, thus no need for tank types or tank gear. The creature just hits whoever or aoe’s, so the race to get it to 0 HP is on. Zerker gear helps that. In other games it’s some other damage meta.
Hell even in tabletop RPG’s. DPR seems to win out in most situations.
I would put 15 in the bottom line for the extra initiative.
While I would like to see Greataxes, spears and crossbows for various classes, I think the current crop of weapons need some tuning. Necro axe for example. I’ve heard iffy things about MH sword ranger. Most don’t care for MH mace on warrior, or staff Guardian to name a few. Before addition, tune up what exists.
After that I would like to see Greataxe for Warrior, Guardian and Ranger. Spear for Necro, Warrior, and another (maybe Ele or Ranger?). Crossbow for Engineer, Thief and maybe Mesmer. Dunno, just some thoughts.
LOTRO had or has a lot of RPing in and outside the Prancing Pony. In that game you can even play instruments and DL your own midi tunes for your character to play.
These games (MMOs) are derived from tabletop RPG’s where folks actually Roleplay how their character talks, right down to their weapon choices—which is why many of us are resistant to meta axe/mace, Hambow or GS builds. Our weapons/armor/clothes are personal choices not always DPS based.
Now we have a generation of gamers who don’t have ties with tabletop RPG’s, or RPing in general. This spells the extinction of RPing from not just this MMO, but future MMO’s as well. From here on out it’s Axe MH or GS or GTFO!! How dare you have fun on my speed clear!!!
:sigh::
“Sword/shield may be viable in PvP but there’s barely any purpose that I can think of in PvE that you’d ever want to use a shield offhand even in a solo setting”
I think folks forget that a shield does provide passive defense untraited. With a trait it can provide even more (90 + shield stat). It also has an interrupt, something I find very valuable, and of course 3 seconds of invulnerability for skips or healing. With sword MH, you are still doing damage while hiding behind your shield as the bleeds tick. In fact, if you want to kite and heal from Healing signet, feel free; you are still doing damage. With axe, not so much.
Is axe superior, sure. Pure damage is right now in this game, but my overall point is that sword (OH or MH or shield OH) is not kick worthy for most groups.
The OP just asked if the weapon set would work for dungeons. Now I may have been mistaken for assuming the S/S meant Sword/Shield. It may have meant Sword/Sword. My apologies. From experience I have run Sword/shield in many dungeons and it worked out fine. I’m not sure about Sword/Sword but on its face it seems ok. A block to skip mobs and something to stack more bleeds, which is good for a MH sword user.
Is axe superior? Sure, if you hit it right, and it’s good to keep one in your bag, but MH sword is not as terrible as some suggest. Take the arms line to 25 (10% more damage to bleeding foes, which is will be everything you hit) and bleeds really pay off (also take Deep Cuts, and Blademaster along the way.) I can see two swords being very deadly with this line maxed out.
Go to the mists and hack away on dummies. I have found that axe AA isn’t that much uber to sword AA (1-2 sec.), and who cares if a boss or dungeon takes 30 sec. longer? I think for a warrior to be most useful—drop a banner or empower allies, or trait Shake it off. Those skills/traits help your group more than the weaponset IMO.
Even with all of what you said in the first paragraph, axe mainhand is still significantly better.
It is, but using a sword MH shouldn’t hurt the group. In PVE sword damage is improved due the fact that most mobs wont clear condis, and the #3 skill is very landable, unlike in pvp. The #3 skill makes up a lot of damage if used correctly. This along with some investment in the Arms line (bleeds last 50% longer, blademaster trait, etc) and the sword is not as inferior as some suggest.
As long as you drop a banner to help your group and do your best to stay upright you should be fine. I ran Sword MH for a long time and never got kicked. Just carry a banner in your skill bar.