Playing Your Warrior - GW 2

[RD]

Now that we have info on all professions' skills and traits, it's much easier to start to narrow character selection down. I'm looking through them all, and I think Warrior is going to be the profession for me. I don't really like to be a main tank or DPS, but I love a good support role. Guardian was looking okay, but something about it wasn't feeling right. Now that I can see all the skill info, I can start to build a support warrior pretty well in my mind, and see how his bar will look different when he's solo.

My preference for weapon is 2hs. This would limit my weapon skills to damage. I think I am okay with this, though I might opt for sword + shield for survivability or sword + warhorn for more boons. For Utility skills (support), I'm liking Banner of Courage, Shake It Off, and IWAY.

Anyone else planning out their build?

[djacob]

Where are their traits listed?

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/List_of_warrior_traits

Has blank info. >.<

[raspberry jam]

Anyone else planning out their build?

I'll play like I did in GW1, that is, tinkering around with the build, changing it a lot, and finding the most exploitable combinations I can.

[RD]

Where are their traits listed?

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/List_of_warrior_traits

Has blank info. >.<

There is some info on the individual pages:
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Power_%28trait_line%29
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Tactics

[djacob]

So three traits versus 20+? What's different about warriors that they aren't getting their traits listed like the others anyway? Anyone know?

[Carc]

I'm also starting to design my Human Warrior with the new info and gameplay brought by the closed beta weekend. These builds and the rational behind them will certainly change but I think this is a good exercise to make now.

PvE

Weapons: Axe/Shield & Rifle or Axe/Mace & Rifle
Heal: Healing Surge
Utilities: Kick, For Great Justice, Frenzy
Elite: Battle Standard

Weapons:
Axe was my favourite weapon in GW1 (along with hammer for PvP) so I will carry that tradition to GW2. Rifle looks like a good fit, both in terms of gameplay and looks to this weapon set. I also want to try out the Axe/Mace combination.

There's one thing that can totally change this - WvW. I read that if you enter WvW, albeit maxed to lvl 80, the only skills available to you are the ones already unlocked - the statement was done for utility and elite skills ("level 80 character is still going to have more bonuses on their gear and access to a full complement of utility and elite skills that players just don’t have at lower levels."), but I was unable to confirm if this happens to weapon skills also. Can anyone confirm this?

If this also happens to Weapon skills then I would have to change to Axe/Shield & Longbow or Hammer & Longbow. The choice of Longbow here stems from seeing the MMOGAMER.ES video footage and that style of play draws me to conclude that ranged weapons are a deal breaker even for warriors. Moreover it has better AoE damage skills than rifle.

Heal:
Healing Surge seems better just looking at the skill stats - longer cooldown leads me to think that the amount of health healed will be higher than in Mending. Also conditions will be more manageable in PvE than in PvP.

Utilities:
I want a good interrupt here so I choose Kick over Stomp because of the shorter cooldown that allows me to put, in theory, 3 Kicks vs 1 Stomp. It Also meshes well with Eviscerate, which is a leap attack.
Frenzy is obvious since it will probably be one of the staples of every warrior build.
For Great Justice looks like a very powerful buff not only if you're soloing but also if you're in a group.

Elite:
For now Battle Standard is the most obvious.


PvP

Weapons: Axe/Shield & Hammer
Heal: Mending
Utilities: Enduring Pain, Fear me, Frenzy
Elite: Battle Standard

Weapons:
Axe for damage and Hammer for control (Knock outs, stuns and cripples).

Heal:
Mending for the condition removal ability since I'm not using Shake It Off

Utilities:
The standard for PvP builds right now since Arenanet Warriors use mainly this (the only variation is swapping Enduring Pain for Shake It Off), though I can envision some significant changes on the skills chosen once the game starts and non obvious combinations start popping.

Elite:
For now Battle Standard is the most obvious.

WvW

It's very difficult to make a build because there's at least 3 factors that determine a build in this type gameplay:
1 - Will you have immediate access to all your weapon skills or only to your unlocked weapon skills?
2 - Can you equip different weapons during the WvW match, i.e. going to your inventory and changing your weapons?
3 - What role or roles will you play during the WvW match?

The 1st and 2nd will largely determine the answer to the third.

If you have immediate access to all your weapon skills and if you can equip different weapons I can probably play all the styles although the choices of Heal, Elite but specially Utility skills will define your main role.

What could be a role in WvW match? for example, you could specialize yourself in conquering and protecting resource camps and supply routes. If chose that role skills like Charge and Call to Arms will be very important. Now, they are tied to Warhorn Weapon so this leads you to drop the use of ranged weapons if you still want to have DPS or control power. Although further away from the traditional role of the warrior, you could choose to forego DPS or control power and go straight to support warrior builds.

[RD]

There's one thing that can totally change this - WvW. I read that if you enter WvW, albeit maxed to lvl 80, the only skills available to you are the ones already unlocked - the statement was done for utility and elite skills ("level 80 character is still going to have more bonuses on their gear and access to a full complement of utility and elite skills that players just don’t have at lower levels."), but I was unable to confirm if this happens to weapon skills also. Can anyone confirm this?

Based on the video you linked, weapon skills appear to be affected by this limitation as well. Notice when the Charr takes out his bow, he only has a couple of skills on the bar, one of which is partly unlocked.

[Carc]

Based on the video you linked, weapon skills appear to be affected by this limitation as well. Notice when the Charr takes out his bow, he only has a couple of skills on the bar, one of which is partly unlocked.

Ah, thanks for the hint. I was so immersed in the video that I didn't saw that.

Well this changes my PvE setup to unlock Axe/Shield & Longbow skills first and then go the Hammer & Axe/Warhorn second. I really think Warhorn could be very important in WvW.

[RD]

Agreed, Warhorn could be very helping in WvW; it will definitely be in my WvW rotation.

[Gmac]

Warhorn is looking good for sure. I also checked out mace MH and sword or axe offhand. Axe giving you some more offensive abilities, "Crushing Blow' followed by a "Dual Strike" seemed like it would be very effective. Or use the mace to stun opponents and bleed them out with the sword and you would have "Riposte" for some defense as well. I'll probably keep a rifle in my other skill set, even though I don't want to, just to pick off those fleeing enemies. But I do intend on picking up "Bulls Charge" which might be sufficient for closing the gap/killing fleeing enemies. Then I would be able to role with Mace/Axe and maybe Sword/Shield.