What is the best armor or armor combo for a W/Mo? - Guild Wars Forums

Mr.Style · Jan 11, 2006, 03:56 AM // 03:56

I have gotten my W/Mo to Droknar's Forge, and I was going to begin gathering materials and money for the platemail armor, then I decided to ask the people there what the best armor for a warrior was. A got a mix of answers. Could you guys give me your opinion on this matter? Remember, I am only talking about the selection of Droknar's Forge armor...Thanks!

Savio · Jan 11, 2006, 03:58 AM // 03:58

Ascalon/Knight's Boots, +1 Weapon Helm or +1 to whatever attribute you use the most, Stonefist Gauntlets if you use Hammers, and the rest Gladiator.

Song Rui · Jan 11, 2006, 04:22 AM // 04:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Savio

Ascalon/Knight's Boots, +1 Weapon Helm or +1 to whatever attribute you use the most, Stonefist Gauntlets if you use Hammers, and the rest Gladiator.

Agreed.

mrnoobtogw · Jan 11, 2006, 04:25 AM // 04:25

What is so special about knight's boots? if you don't mind a noob question.

koneko · Jan 11, 2006, 04:48 AM // 04:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrnoobtogw

What is so special about knight's boots? if you don't mind a noob question.

-2 global damage reduction.

Feet (supposedly) get hit less frequently so the lower armor level of Knight's armor is fine for use?

Savio · Jan 11, 2006, 05:06 AM // 05:06

Yes. If you don't ever plan on using hammers/Stonefist Gauntlets you could instead wear Knight's/Ascalon on the arms. Additionally, if you want a +1 Tactics helm you could just spring for the Ascalon Helm (not the Knight's, in PvE it doesn't have reduction) and get all Gladiator.

Kamatsu · Jan 11, 2006, 06:33 AM // 06:33

Savio - I'd actually advise getting the Gladiator's helm instead as it provides +1 energy as well as +1 Tactics. Unless of course you want the "look" of the Ascalon Helm, then of course you'd get the Ascalon Helm and miss out of 1 energy (hey, whats 1 energy between friends? LOL!)

Ok, people might scoff at 1 energy.. but it's still 1 energy more than the Ascalon Helm! hehe Ok ok, the 1 energy only really helps right off the boot, once your sitting and waiting for energy regen the extra +1 energy doesn't do you much good.. hehe

BTW, I don't believe the Ascalon Helm has the Damage reduction ability. At least the 2 Ascalon Helm's from the Ascalon city crafter's don't state that they provide damage absorbtion - if they do they don't say it. Does the Ascalon Helm at the Forge say it's got the Damage Absorbtion property?

koneko · Jan 11, 2006, 07:28 AM // 07:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by kamatsu

BTW, I don't believe the Ascalon Helm has the Damage reduction ability. At least the 2 Ascalon Helm's from the Ascalon city crafter's don't state that they provide damage absorbtion - if they do they don't say it. Does the Ascalon Helm at the Forge say it's got the Damage Absorbtion property?

So apparently it does. ^_^

My warrior uses three pieces of 15k Gladiator's armor (Hauberk, Gauntlets, Leggings), Knight's Boots from Droknar's and a Lieutenant's Helm from Denravi...I like it so far, though I don't know what exactly to do with the extra energy.

Savio · Jan 11, 2006, 07:29 AM // 07:29

Ascalon Helm (+0 energy) + Gladiator Boots (+1 energy) = +1 energy

Gladiator Helm (+1 energy) + Ascalon Boots (+1 energy) = +1 energy

It's up to you... but as I switch helms on my Warrior to suit the situation, I keep the boots as Ascalon.

Red Sonya · Jan 11, 2006, 07:48 AM // 07:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by Savio

Ascalon/Knight's Boots, +1 Weapon Helm or +1 to whatever attribute you use the most, Stonefist Gauntlets if you use Hammers, and the rest Gladiator.

Actually I have modified this to have Plate Chest and Gladiators Leggings to split the difference in armor vs melee and elemental damage. Gladiators chest and legs and casters will eat your lunch with their wands and staffs. Full Plate and Gladiators will eat your lunch with the +20 defense vs melee. Splitting the two up One Plate (chest) and One Gladiators (legs) evens the damage across all playing fields.

Also the Helm for your weapon is the best choice since it will get you to 15/16 attribute if you also attach the superior rune of the weapon of your choice. Some prefer healing (tactics) over power, but, I prefer the power, I've been doing some testing and at 15/16 the damage increase is exceptional more often vs 12/13/14. I like those 100+pt hits on monks as often as I can get them.

Throwing a +5 Defensive mod on your weapon for >50 health and a +30hp mod with a weapon with <50 health is to your advantage as well. Use the defense until you are below 50% health and then take the hit points afterwards.

Savio · Jan 11, 2006, 08:01 AM // 08:01

With Platemail you get 5 more armor versus nonphysical attacks (a 5.9% damage decrease) than Gladiator. Is it worth it compared to the +energy you get from Gladiator? Not really.

Red Sonya · Jan 11, 2006, 08:04 AM // 08:04

Neither is the energy once you get into battle you're lucky if you gain 10 energy and not have used it already. There's no inbetweens on energy usage, it's all in increments of 5's. I'll take the 5.9% damage decrease over time vs +3 extra energy starting out. Now if it was PIPS yeah I'd take PIPS recovery any day over defense, but, it ain't so the Plate is the best for either chest or legs to even out the damage spread over time.

Kamatsu · Jan 11, 2006, 08:06 AM // 08:06

Savio - duh! Ok, I feel a bit stupid now. Of course either way your going to have +1 energy from Glad item while loosing +1 energy whether you use ascalon helm, gloves or boots.

Koneko - Thanx for the screenie! It does confirm that at least Drok's Ascalon Helm does have the Reduce Damage property - while the Ascalon City crafte'ed appear not to have it (and didn't when I crafted one.. which admittidly was quite a while ago now)...

Ok, I just went and crafted both Ascalon Helm's from the Ascalon City crafter's and niether of them had the "Reduce Damage" property on them. Strangely they both had +20 armor vs Physical, vs the +10 that the other pieces had as well as the +10 that the Drok's version had.

Here's a screenshot showing the 2 different versions.. 1 listing the listing from the crafter and the other the crafted item itself:

Red Sonya · Jan 11, 2006, 08:08 AM // 08:08

Just another reason why lowbies shouldn't have Droks armor in low level arena's thanks for that post Kamatsu.

Kamatsu · Jan 11, 2006, 08:23 AM // 08:23

Red Sonya - don't forget that warrior's DO have skills to regen energy. Bonatti's Defense, Flourish & Warrior's Endurance. As well as the fact you can have your energy regen'ed by others on your team - like Blood Ritual from a Necro, etc. a W/Mo can also use Balth's Spirit (or andother Monk could have this cast on the warrior) to gain energy everytime the W takes damage (only 1 though?)... or could be a W/Me and use certain Mesmer skills to regen energy..

So yes, that bonus energy does get chewed up fast, but there are ways to get around the warrior's poor energy regen if they want to use energy based skills/build.

Red Sonya · Jan 11, 2006, 08:30 AM // 08:30

But those are wasted skills for a warrior who should be doing damage, for PVE yeah those are nice little gadget skills to solo mobs. But, you watch your high level guilds in battle, you won't see their warriors using bonetti's defense or balthazar's spirit or warriors endurance or flourish. They are pounders and the majority are using Plate/Dragon Armor. You have Gladiators builds of course and I'm not knocking either build. The OP ask for suggestions and I'm giving my reason why mine is the best.

For PVE Plate or Gladiators or a mix is fine. For PVP I'll stick to what I know that works for me. One piece of Plate and one piece of Gladiators, one piece of Knights, my weapon helm and if I should decide to use a W/E I will use the KD gauntlets for Gale.

Battle Torn · Jan 11, 2006, 09:19 AM // 09:19

I use full plate with knights gloves. I hear the argument for glads armour for the energy, but to be honest I have never had issues with energy and I have more than enough with plate (unless you want to use a skill that uses 25) energy but for a W/Mo other than smiting I cant think of any good skills that need 25 energy anyway.... if you cant live without the +5 energy then you must be using to many skills that rely on energy and not enough using adrenalin

. To be honest I ususaly find that I have plenty of energy and never need the extra 5 that glads gives you, but I do use a zealous sword and furious sword mix that I swap as necessary. I think the debate over plate and glads armour depends also on what skills you want to be using and if you want more protection from elemental attacks v's physical attacks.

strcpy · Jan 11, 2006, 10:44 AM // 10:44

I use both. Most of the time I use Dragons armor (15k armor - same as plate) and have a set of glads in my inventory. There are missions and farming areas that the energy really helps.

I noticed that I never dropped below 10 energy using glads aromor in normal PvE. That is, of course, based on my own play style and build (mostly a adrenaline based warrrior - I found my energy drained too often in many area's so I hte relying on it). So the extra defense was better - yes, if you need that extra energy the defense looses big time but for many of us we don't use it. So the damage reduction through defense is better. Both methods are very viable in PvE - having played both they seem to be about equal.

Were I you I would go with Glads first. As was said - if you need that energy there is nothing you can ever do to get it and in PvE 5 or 10 armor isn't a big deal. That extra amount of armor will not make a difference until soloing higher level areas or post ascention - before then I doubt you will tell a difference (0 damage is a 0 regardless of how much overkill you get - either that or you get spiked and 40 armor will not make a difference). Later, after acention, you will understand your build you can choose but by then you should have enough money to not really worry about purchasing stuff - by the time I worried about "best" I could make 10-15k in an hour or so. Not a big deal to experiment even with the 15k armors.

I use knights boots always, either dragon or glads chest, legs and arms with a helm and a sup rune that adds to the weapon of choice (I like swords and axes - axes mostly. That way to switch weapons only need a helm switch). I may switch to 15k ascalon after I see how it looks with the dragon armor but I will probably stay with the knights based on pictures.

Raku Clayman · Jan 11, 2006, 07:12 PM // 19:12

This is great because I use these same combos with a little variaton. I use Dragons armor for chest and leggings, Knights boots, and Plate arms. I, also, have a full set of Glads armor which I use to max out my energy when I need it and to also switch in when I need some extra energy in my main build. I have a Sup Absorbtion and Vigor on both sets of armor.

I like the way the Dragon looks and it's funny because I've been stopped a number of times by people who like the look and want to know what I'm wearing.

With my initial build I use a combo of adrenaline and energy skills because energy management is improtant. We only get 20 en with this armor. I do notice that in FoW, I'm always the last Warrior standing and if we have a good Protection Monk, I take hardly any damage.

Jan 11, 2006, 03:56 AM // 03:56	#1
Mr.Style Ascalonian Squire Join Date: Jan 2006 Profession: W/Mo	What is the best armor or armor combo for a W/Mo? I have gotten my W/Mo to Droknar's Forge, and I was going to begin gathering materials and money for the platemail armor, then I decided to ask the people there what the best armor for a warrior was. A got a mix of answers. Could you guys give me your opinion on this matter? Remember, I am only talking about the selection of Droknar's Forge armor...Thanks!

Jan 11, 2006, 03:58 AM // 03:58	#2
Savio Teenager with attitude Join Date: Jul 2005 Guild: Fifteen Over Fifty [Rare]	Ascalon/Knight's Boots, +1 Weapon Helm or +1 to whatever attribute you use the most, Stonefist Gauntlets if you use Hammers, and the rest Gladiator. __________________ People are stupid.

Jan 11, 2006, 05:06 AM // 05:06	#6
Savio Teenager with attitude Join Date: Jul 2005 Guild: Fifteen Over Fifty [Rare]	Yes. If you don't ever plan on using hammers/Stonefist Gauntlets you could instead wear Knight's/Ascalon on the arms. Additionally, if you want a +1 Tactics helm you could just spring for the Ascalon Helm (not the Knight's, in PvE it doesn't have reduction) and get all Gladiator. __________________ People are stupid.

Jan 11, 2006, 07:29 AM // 07:29	#9
Savio Teenager with attitude Join Date: Jul 2005 Guild: Fifteen Over Fifty [Rare]	Ascalon Helm (+0 energy) + Gladiator Boots (+1 energy) = +1 energy Gladiator Helm (+1 energy) + Ascalon Boots (+1 energy) = +1 energy It's up to you... but as I switch helms on my Warrior to suit the situation, I keep the boots as Ascalon. __________________ People are stupid.

Jan 11, 2006, 08:01 AM // 08:01	#11
Savio Teenager with attitude Join Date: Jul 2005 Guild: Fifteen Over Fifty [Rare]	With Platemail you get 5 more armor versus nonphysical attacks (a 5.9% damage decrease) than Gladiator. Is it worth it compared to the +energy you get from Gladiator? Not really. __________________ People are stupid.

Jan 11, 2006, 04:25 AM // 04:25	#4
mrnoobtogw Pre-Searing Cadet Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: East Coast North America Guild: it changes Profession: W/Mo	What is so special about knight's boots? if you don't mind a noob question.

Jan 11, 2006, 06:33 AM // 06:33	#7
Kamatsu Moderator Join Date: May 2005 Location: Australia	Savio - I'd actually advise getting the Gladiator's helm instead as it provides +1 energy as well as +1 Tactics. Unless of course you want the "look" of the Ascalon Helm, then of course you'd get the Ascalon Helm and miss out of 1 energy (hey, whats 1 energy between friends? LOL!) Ok, people might scoff at 1 energy.. but it's still 1 energy more than the Ascalon Helm! hehe Ok ok, the 1 energy only really helps right off the boot, once your sitting and waiting for energy regen the extra +1 energy doesn't do you much good.. hehe BTW, I don't believe the Ascalon Helm has the Damage reduction ability. At least the 2 Ascalon Helm's from the Ascalon city crafter's don't state that they provide damage absorbtion - if they do they don't say it. Does the Ascalon Helm at the Forge say it's got the Damage Absorbtion property?

Jan 11, 2006, 08:04 AM // 08:04	#12
Red Sonya Desert Nomad Join Date: Jul 2005	Neither is the energy once you get into battle you're lucky if you gain 10 energy and not have used it already. There's no inbetweens on energy usage, it's all in increments of 5's. I'll take the 5.9% damage decrease over time vs +3 extra energy starting out. Now if it was PIPS yeah I'd take PIPS recovery any day over defense, but, it ain't so the Plate is the best for either chest or legs to even out the damage spread over time.

Jan 11, 2006, 08:06 AM // 08:06	#13
Kamatsu Moderator Join Date: May 2005 Location: Australia	Savio - duh! Ok, I feel a bit stupid now. Of course either way your going to have +1 energy from Glad item while loosing +1 energy whether you use ascalon helm, gloves or boots. Koneko - Thanx for the screenie! It does confirm that at least Drok's Ascalon Helm does have the Reduce Damage property - while the Ascalon City crafte'ed appear not to have it (and didn't when I crafted one.. which admittidly was quite a while ago now)... Ok, I just went and crafted both Ascalon Helm's from the Ascalon City crafter's and niether of them had the "Reduce Damage" property on them. Strangely they both had +20 armor vs Physical, vs the +10 that the other pieces had as well as the +10 that the Drok's version had. Here's a screenshot showing the 2 different versions.. 1 listing the listing from the crafter and the other the crafted item itself:

Jan 11, 2006, 08:08 AM // 08:08	#14
Red Sonya Desert Nomad Join Date: Jul 2005	Just another reason why lowbies shouldn't have Droks armor in low level arena's thanks for that post Kamatsu.

Jan 11, 2006, 08:23 AM // 08:23	#15
Kamatsu Moderator Join Date: May 2005 Location: Australia	Red Sonya - don't forget that warrior's DO have skills to regen energy. Bonatti's Defense, Flourish & Warrior's Endurance. As well as the fact you can have your energy regen'ed by others on your team - like Blood Ritual from a Necro, etc. a W/Mo can also use Balth's Spirit (or andother Monk could have this cast on the warrior) to gain energy everytime the W takes damage (only 1 though?)... or could be a W/Me and use certain Mesmer skills to regen energy.. So yes, that bonus energy does get chewed up fast, but there are ways to get around the warrior's poor energy regen if they want to use energy based skills/build.

Jan 11, 2006, 08:30 AM // 08:30	#16
Red Sonya Desert Nomad Join Date: Jul 2005	But those are wasted skills for a warrior who should be doing damage, for PVE yeah those are nice little gadget skills to solo mobs. But, you watch your high level guilds in battle, you won't see their warriors using bonetti's defense or balthazar's spirit or warriors endurance or flourish. They are pounders and the majority are using Plate/Dragon Armor. You have Gladiators builds of course and I'm not knocking either build. The OP ask for suggestions and I'm giving my reason why mine is the best. For PVE Plate or Gladiators or a mix is fine. For PVP I'll stick to what I know that works for me. One piece of Plate and one piece of Gladiators, one piece of Knights, my weapon helm and if I should decide to use a W/E I will use the KD gauntlets for Gale.

Jan 11, 2006, 09:19 AM // 09:19	#17
Battle Torn Krytan Explorer Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Scotland Profession: W/Mo	I use full plate with knights gloves. I hear the argument for glads armour for the energy, but to be honest I have never had issues with energy and I have more than enough with plate (unless you want to use a skill that uses 25) energy but for a W/Mo other than smiting I cant think of any good skills that need 25 energy anyway.... if you cant live without the +5 energy then you must be using to many skills that rely on energy and not enough using adrenalin . To be honest I ususaly find that I have plenty of energy and never need the extra 5 that glads gives you, but I do use a zealous sword and furious sword mix that I swap as necessary. I think the debate over plate and glads armour depends also on what skills you want to be using and if you want more protection from elemental attacks v's physical attacks.

Jan 11, 2006, 10:44 AM // 10:44	#18
strcpy Desert Nomad Join Date: Jul 2005 Guild: One of Many [ONE]	I use both. Most of the time I use Dragons armor (15k armor - same as plate) and have a set of glads in my inventory. There are missions and farming areas that the energy really helps. I noticed that I never dropped below 10 energy using glads aromor in normal PvE. That is, of course, based on my own play style and build (mostly a adrenaline based warrrior - I found my energy drained too often in many area's so I hte relying on it). So the extra defense was better - yes, if you need that extra energy the defense looses big time but for many of us we don't use it. So the damage reduction through defense is better. Both methods are very viable in PvE - having played both they seem to be about equal. Were I you I would go with Glads first. As was said - if you need that energy there is nothing you can ever do to get it and in PvE 5 or 10 armor isn't a big deal. That extra amount of armor will not make a difference until soloing higher level areas or post ascention - before then I doubt you will tell a difference (0 damage is a 0 regardless of how much overkill you get - either that or you get spiked and 40 armor will not make a difference). Later, after acention, you will understand your build you can choose but by then you should have enough money to not really worry about purchasing stuff - by the time I worried about "best" I could make 10-15k in an hour or so. Not a big deal to experiment even with the 15k armors. I use knights boots always, either dragon or glads chest, legs and arms with a helm and a sup rune that adds to the weapon of choice (I like swords and axes - axes mostly. That way to switch weapons only need a helm switch). I may switch to 15k ascalon after I see how it looks with the dragon armor but I will probably stay with the knights based on pictures.

Jan 11, 2006, 07:12 PM // 19:12	#19
Raku Clayman Krytan Explorer Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Marquette MI Guild: Elite Lan Gamer Profession: E/Me	This is great because I use these same combos with a little variaton. I use Dragons armor for chest and leggings, Knights boots, and Plate arms. I, also, have a full set of Glads armor which I use to max out my energy when I need it and to also switch in when I need some extra energy in my main build. I have a Sup Absorbtion and Vigor on both sets of armor. I like the way the Dragon looks and it's funny because I've been stopped a number of times by people who like the look and want to know what I'm wearing. With my initial build I use a combo of adrenaline and energy skills because energy management is improtant. We only get 20 en with this armor. I do notice that in FoW, I'm always the last Warrior standing and if we have a good Protection Monk, I take hardly any damage.