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Sep 21, 2008, 03:46 AM // 03:46
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Administrator
Join Date: Jun 2006
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Warriors in PvE - The how-to guide
Warriors in PvE - The how-to guide Copyright: This guide may not be duplicated, re-used, re-mixed or re-created anywhere else without my given permission. You're welcome to PM me to discuss it. Table of Contents Part I - Introduction 1.1 - Author's NotePart II - Equipment Selection 2.1 - Weapon ComparisonPart III - Builds, Skills and Attributes 3.1 - Attribute and Skill AnalysisPart IV - Miscellaneous-Strength3.2 - Player Builds 4.1 - Important TechniquesPart V - Conclusion-Pulling4.3 - F.A.Q 5.1 - Author's Note Part I - Introduction 1.1 - Author's Note This is a guide for all players wanting to either start playing a Warrior or improve their knowledge and skill with their existing Warrior. I advise not starting from the start and reading through with the intention of going through it in one sitting. It's over 15,000 words long and I'm pretty sure you'd rather be playing then reading it all. Instead, pick out which articles interest you and read those as you feel necessary. I've aimed to write each piece so that you should be able to dive in anywhere and know what's going on, hence the term 'article'. Occasionally references may be made to things written elsewhere but I've tried to keep this to a minimum. This is intended to be a tome of knowledge more so than a guide, so it contains mathematical evidence, in-depth explanations, and other things that have the purpose of helping you understand why good players do the things they do, why they run the builds they run, use the equipment they use, etc. You're welcome to PM me here or in-game with any questions you may have. Some people have this idea that because I wrote a sticky (albeit, a huge one) or because I'm an admin that my time is somehow super valuable. This is not the case. I do this because I enjoy it. 1.2 - What is a Warrior? The Warrior, by definition, is a highly armored soldier who stands toe-to-toe with his enemies, beating them back with one of his many impressive weapons. The Warrior in Guild Wars is not much different, having the ability to fight well, both in groups and by him/herself, and take significant amounts of punishment on the battlefield. Part II - Equipment Selection 2.1 - Weapon Comparison When most people start playing a Warrior for the first time, their choice of weapon is just taste - they use what they think is 'coolest'. However, when the game gets tougher and they have to step up or drop out, their choice of weapon is often questioned. Warriors have the option of using a sword, axe, or hammer. The key to picking a weapon generally is not in their inherent differences. While there are some things worth noting, such as hammers being two handed and thus preventing use of a shield or other offhand item, the important thing to consider is the skill set of each. For example, hammers are traditionally known as the go-to option for knockdowns and axes were an easy pick when AoE damage was desired. However, these are not inherent properties of the weapons; they come from skills like Devastating Hammer and Hammer Bash or Cyclone Axe and Triple Chop. Having said that, there is a lot less difference between each weapon than there was originally. As more campaigns (and thus skills) have been released, the distinguishing features of each weapon have become less distinct. Nowadays, there is Whirlwind Attack which can be used with any melee weapon and Brawling Headbutt and "You Move Like a Dwarf!" which are not attack skills (they're a 'skill' and 'shout', respectively) and therefore do not care about weapon type. This doesn't mean weapon choice has become arbitrary - certainly not if you don't actually have any of those skills - but you've got more options within each weapon type than you used to. Despite the lessening differences between the weapons, it remains important to become proficient with each of them (both in terms of skills acquired and ability to play). You don't want to be caught out due to a lack of experience when you want to switch, and in any case it'll help you get better at Guild Wars as a whole rather than just a particular slice of it. For example, Warriors in the Prophecies campaign will find the Sever Artery-Gash combination to be very effective... and then they reach Kryta where the undead are unaffected by virtue of being immune to bleeding. For Warriors who have been diligently collecting skills this is no issue as they can simply switch to axe and get their Deep Wound from Dismember. There is no such thing as a 'sword warrior'; only a warrior who places arbitrary restrictions on what he or she is capable of. In addition, utilising weapons from other professions, namely the scythe (from the Dervish), daggers (Assassin), spear (Paragon) and bow (Ranger), is not out of the question. There are two main issues that prohibit this from being effective: the energy costs (alleviated effectively with the elite skill Warrior's Endurance) and lack of access to those profession's primary attribute (compensated for by Strength, the Warrior's primary attribute). Of those, none of them really stand up as meta options, but the daggers and scythe are reasonable, with the spear less useful but still runnable. Bows, while not unusable, have a number of issues that relegate them to a novelty. As such, this guide will focus exclusively on the Warrior weapons, though builds for these alternatives may be provided. Now, onto the actual comparisons:
*Some exceptions. This table highlights 3 key points: 1: Hammers hit slower, but harder, while axes and swords are faster, but weaker. 2: Axes are more inconsistent damage wise, as their damage range is wider than swords or hammers. 3: Hammers, unlike swords and axes, are two-handed and prevent the use of a shield. The impact of points 1 and 2 can be shown in the following table. It shows us that the high damage of the hammer more than compensates for its slow speed, and that despite the differing broadness of damage ranges of the sword and axe the raw DPS is largely the same. The higher maximum damage from the axe makes it especially powerful when you land a critical hit, making it more capable of spiking, though this is more a concern for PvP (in PvE, consistently churning out high DPS is both possible and an effective means of killing foes, but in PvP a more sophisticated approach is often required). In any case, as the armor level of foes increases, the difference in raw DPS decreases. Thus, raw DPS is not a good way to choose which weapon is suitable for any given situation.
(For those who are interested: DPS numbers were obtained thanks to Chthon's very useful damage calculator, which can be found here. Specifically, I assumed the weapon was customised, had a Damage+15% mod, and had neither a sundering nor vampiric mod, and that the user was attacking at regular speed.) Not having a shield (point 3)) results in you taking 32% more damage than you would with one (assuming the shield has maximum armor level). You also miss out on the mods that you would have had, most likely +30 health and either -2 physical damage received or +10 armor vs a particular damage type. That said, regardless of your armor level, you're going to be reliant on support from your team to keep you alive. (Remember, your job is to kill things, your backlines job is to keep you alive and in a good enough state to be able to do that). Spells such as Protective Spirit and Shield of Absorption will become pivotal to your survival, shield or no shield, so the extra 32% damage is not as big of a deal as it seems. It does make a difference, but as a Warrior you should choose your weapon based on the skills you need. Also, many hammer skills knock down foes (especially Earth Shaker which is an AoE knockdown) so when you use hammers there will generally be fewer things attacking you anyway. For those people who are looking for the final decision as to 'the best' weapon, the only true answer is none of them. Each weapon has pros and cons, each has good skills and bad skills, each has suitable places to use it in, etc. Learn to play each weapon, experiment, and enjoy yourself. Guild Wars is a game, remember, and if you find something more fun than something else, do it! 2.2 - Weapon Bonuses While a Warrior's weapon is already feared on the battlefield, you can add additional bonuses to it to make it more powerful. You can add an inscription, a hilt/haft and a pommel/grip. Inscriptions Inscriptions are one of the kinds of weapon bonuses. In Tyria (the Prophecies campaign) and most of Cantha (the Factions campaign), weapons do not drop with inscriptions. Instead, they have 'inherent mods', which are the same as inscriptions but cannot be removed or changed. For an inscription to be added to a weapon, it must have an inscription slot. To tell if a weapon has one, it should say 'Inscription: xxx' somewhere in the weapon description (when you hold the mouse over it while in your inventory). There are many inscriptions; I count 51, 16 of which can be put on martial weapons. Only a few of them are of any note for a Warrior; the rest can largely be ignored. The best one to go with is "Strength and Honor" (+15% damage while health is above 50%) because when your health drops below 50% you're either about to be healed or about to die, so it's practically +15% damage unconditionally. "Dance with Death" (+15% damage while in a stance), is an acceptable alternative because you should more or less always be in a stance that increases your attack speed. Both are cheap and common so there isn't much reason to consider the other options. See the Official Wiki article for more details. Sword Hilts, Axe Hafts and Hammer Hafts In addition to inscriptions, weapons can have a hilt/haft to improve them. Most do not have conditions or penalties, and those that do are compensated for by the bonus. To see if a weapon has a hilt or haft attached to it you can check if the weapons name has a prefix. For example, if a Dwarven Axe has a Vampiric axe haft attached to it it will be called a Vampiric Dwarven Axe. Unlike inscriptions and suffix mods (pommels/grips), there is no definitive (or close to) pick for this slot. This is because while those two mod slots offer multiple varieties of the same kind of bonus (at least for the ones you'd want to use), prefix mods tend to be fundamentally different from each other and as such are good for different situations. For PvE, you'll ideally have a vampiric, zealous and elemental weapon of each type (sword/axe/hammer). I say "ideally" as there'll be a cost involved in acquiring each of these so naturally you'll want to priorise, especially if your Warrior is your first character and you don't have a pile of cash saved up. Vampiric is a straightforward damage boost, zealous helps you regain energy and elemental is used in conjunction with skills like Conjure Lightning. Elemental mods are also useful against other Warriors (who are better armored against physical damage types), though people don't usually bother switching between vampiric and elemental in PvE. See the GuildWiki article for more details. Traditionally there has been debate over which of sundering or vampiric produce better damage. Here is some data to settle the matter:
(Once again, DPS numbers were obtained thanks to Chthon's very useful damage calculator, which can be found here. Specifically, I used a sword @ 14 swordsmanship and assumed it was customised and had a Damage+15% mod and that the user was attacking at regular speed.) This shows two things. Firstly, vampiric weapons deal more average DPS (sundering weapons are capable of higher damage numbers but in PvE the average is more important). Secondly, as the armor level increases, the difference between vampiric and sundering increases. This means vampiric weapons are more useful against highly armoured foes. A misconception is that sundering weapons are more useful against highly armoured foes because they chew through more armor. While the latter is correct, it does not necessarily justify the former. Having said that, the difference between the two is not significant. While vampiric doubtlessly outperforms sundering, those who find switching to a non-vampiric weapon outside of combat (to avoid the degeneration) bothersome can use sundering without issues. It won't ever be the difference between success and failure. Sword Pommels, Axe Grips and Hammer Grips In addition to inscriptions and hilts/hafts, weapons can have a pommel/grip to improve them. To see if a weapon has a pommel or grip attached to it you can check if the weapons name has a suffix. For example, if a Fellblade has a Sword Pommel of Defense attached to it it will be called a Fellblade of Defense. You've basically got two options here: defense (+5 armor) and fortitude (+30 health). While the rule of thumb is armor > health, 5 armor and 30 health are pretty evenly matched. See the GuildWiki article for more details. 2.3 - Shields Shields can be used anytime your character is not using their offhand. This means that hammers, staves, scythes and daggers cannot be used with shields (or focus items) due to them requiring use of both hands. Maximum armor shields provide an additional 16AL (plus up to two mods bonuses) no matter where you are hit or which way you are facing. Warrior shields will have a requirement of either Strength or Tactics. Strength is preferred as you'll be investing in it no matter what kind of build you're running whereas Tactics sees much less use. There are shields with Motivation and Command requirements too, but these are Paragon attributes and you are unlikely to use them. Shield Inscriptions Shields can have inscriptions in the same way weapons can (including that shields from Prophecies and most of Factions will have an inherent mod instead of an inscription). The only differences are that the inscriptions are different and they are defensive instead of offensive. "Run for your Life!" (received physical damage -2 while in a stance) is good for its synergy with an IAS. Armor +10 (vs. <damage type>) bonuses negate more damage than "Run for your Life!" and similar inscriptions but the damage type is specific so you'll need to either swap shields every now and then or put up with occasionally not being protected. The common damage sources (you don't need to have a shield for each type; just the main ones will do) such as Fire and Slashing are good choices, but keep in mind Warriors already have at least 116AL vs. physical damage so elemental ones are a higher priority. Note: Warriors should not be using "Luck of the Draw" (-5/20%). They're only half as effective as "RfyL!". Don't let the high selling price deceive you. See the Official Wiki article for more details. Shield Handles Shield handles work in the same way pommels and grips do (though this mod is also inherent on Prophecies/Factions shields). You can tell if a shield has a handle bonus by reading the shield's suffix. If the shield is called an Aegis of Devotion, then it has a Shield Handle of Devotion attached. Fortitude is useful because it has no requirement and endurance is good because it works well with an IAS. Consider which is more likely to result in your death: 15 less health or abruptly losing 45 due to your stance dropping. See the GuildWiki article for more details. 2.4 - Armor Warrior armor has a higher armor level than all other armors. It provides a base of 80AL, +20 vs. physical. This means you will have 100AL vs. physical damage, and 80AL vs. elemental damage, excluding shield bonuses. As a Warrior, your armor does not give any boosts to either energy or energy regeneration. This makes Warriors useless for frequent spellcasting. To better understand how armor works (assuming you and your foe are level 20, for simplicity), remember that once you get to 60AL, every 40AL after that will halve the damage. For example, a Dervish hits you with a regular 20 damage scythe attack. You have 100AL vs physical damage, meaning the damage will be halved once. 20/2=10. Excluding weapon and shield bonuses, you will take ~10 damage. Specifically, damage reduction from armor is equal to 2^((60-armor level)/2) (source: official wiki). One common mistake people make is that they think armor affects all parts of you. If you have an 80AL helmet and a 50AL cuirass, this does not mean you have 130AL everywhere. Each piece is responsible for its own part. 60AL gauntlets will only give you 60AL if you are hit in the hands, otherwise you would be unprotected by them. The cuirass (chest armor) has a 37.5% chance of being hit, the leggings have a 25% chance to get hit, and the helmet, boots, and gauntlets each have a 12.5% chance of being hit. In addition to the inherent +20AL vs. physical bonus, armor can have both an insignia and a rune attached to it. Insignia Insignia work in exactly the same way weapon inscriptions do, though they can be bought from rune traders. There are Warrior specific insignia as well as general insignia that can be used by any profession. Insignia that provide additional armor are location specific, just like the armor pieces themselves. Each armor piece can have its own insignia. Rule of thumb is to use an insignia that will grant +10 armor with effectively 100% uptime. For a Warrior this tends to be sentry because you'll want to be in a stance (usually an IAS) as much as possible. Brawlers is good too, though keep in mind that the armor bonus only applies while you're actually swinging your weapon - if you're chasing after a foe (including when you're aggroing a mob; the point at which foes like to use their strongest offensive abilities), activating a non-attack skill or doing anything else, you won't benefit. Having said that, sentinel is a great option too. I wouldn't recommend it for your first set of armor as the requirement will cramp your options but it covers your (relative) weakness well. Survivor is always an option, though armor is generally more useful. Some people like to mix and match insignia, having some health and some armor. I don't see the point in this: in any given area you're better off with one or the other, and even if you weren't the difference it'd make is negligible. In addition, Warriors with some kind of knockdown should invest in a Stonefist insignia to increase the time the foes are knocked down (even sword and axe warriors should get one: don't forget skills like Bull's Strike, "You Move Like A Dwarf!" and Brawling Headbutt). The effect doesn't stack so you'll only need one. Put it on either the boots, gauntlets or helmet as they are hit the least. See the Official Wiki article for more. Runes Runes work in a similar way to insignia but have some key differences. Most runes raise your attributes, don't stack and aren't location specific. There are 13 different types of runes a Warrior can use. For a list of runes and what they do, see this Official Wiki link. A Warrior's 5 armor pieces generally hold the following runes; 1) Minor Swordsmanship/Hammer Mastery/Axe Mastery ON THE HELMET. It must be placed on the helmet (the ones that give +1 to a weapon attribute are best) so that when you swap weapons you only have to change the helmet, not the helmet and whichever piece has the rune. Minor is better then Major/Superior, as we've seen that an extra 1/2 ranks in your weapon attribute only raises your DPS by a couple of points, as the cost of a more noticable 35/75 health. 2) Minor Strength. Higher levels of potency are only used in farming builds, but a minor strength is good for boosting key skills such as Flail and Lion's Comfort, as well as the additional 1% armor penetration. 3) Minor Tactics. Higher levels of potency are only used in farming builds, but a minor tactics is good for boosting skills such as Healing Signet. 4) Minor/Major/Superior Vigor. Keeps you alive. No health penalty for higher potency (would defeat the purpose) so naturally superior is optimal, but they're quite expensive so don't stress if you can't afford better than a minor. 5) Superior Absorption/Vitae/Clarity. The final slot is a decision between 3 physical damage reduction, 10 health, or reduced durations of blind and weakness. The choice doesn't have much impact. You obviously won't need a Tactics rune if you aren't using any Tactics skills and your shield has a Strength requirement. The same reasoning applies to the Strength rune but you'll generally always have 9-14 Strength so you won't be replacing it. Fill the spare slot with something in 5).
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Last edited by Marty Silverblade; Apr 04, 2015 at 11:18 PM // 23:18.. Reason: 2015 update! |
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Sep 21, 2008, 03:47 AM // 03:47
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Administrator
Join Date: Jun 2006
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Part III - Builds, Skills and Attributes 3.1 - Attribute and Skill Analysis Warriors have five attributes: Strength, Swordsmanship, Axe Mastery, Hammer Mastery and Tactics. (For skill descriptions, click the attribute headers) Strength Strength is the Warrior's primary attribute. For each rank in Strength, you gain 1% armor penetration (AP) when using attack skills. It's not as useful compared to what other professions get but it suits what the Warrior does. Note that the Strength AP stacks with that provided by sundering weapons but not with skills such as Penetrating Chop. The best uses for this attribute are for shield requirements and skills. The skills mainly consist of melee stacks, shouts and stances. Elite skills: Battle Rage: It'd be good but it's a stance. This means no IAS, so bye-bye +50% damage and +50% adrenaline (BR gives +100% adr, but that's what "For Great Justice!" is for). Bull's Charge: PvE involves lots of skill spamming. BC doesn't allow you to do that. It's a poorer choice than running Earth Shaker or Brawling Headbutt on a sword anyway. Charging Strike: You're better off just taking another attack skill. Defy Pain: Warriors kill things. This stays at home unless you're farming. Dwarven Battle Stance: You need Dwarven Stability to maintain it, so consider if +40 armor and interrupt capability is worth two slots (as opposed to Flail + something else + free elite). Given defense isn't your first priority and hammers have control through knockdowns anyway, the answer tends to be no, though there are certainly worse things you could run. Flourish: Energy attacks tend to be rubbish, and those that aren't (Power Attack, scythe/dagger skills) are vastly better off with Warrior's Endurance. The best use I've seen for this is with bow attacks, but it remains nothing more than a novelty. Headbutt: Too expensive; even following up with Plague Touch doesn't justify it (there are better sources of Daze). Magehunter Strike: The +damage is too low to be worthwhile and you can't spam it due to energy costs anyway. Compared to Power Attack, it trades off damage and the elite slot for potential unblockability, which is not valuable enough in PvE (usually it's better to remove whatever is causing the blocking or switch to another target than run specialist skills like this). Primal Rage: Frenzy with a speed boost. Interesting, but I wouldn't give up my elite slot for it. Again, compare PR + a non-elite attack against Flail + an elite attack. Rage of the Ntouka: Too clunky to be useful. In PvE you want adrenaline pumping skills so you can spam your other skills as much as possible. This gets in the way. Warriors Endurance: Now that it is no longer a stance, it can be used to great effect in energy based attack builds. Some useful/interesting non-elite skills: Enraging Charge: Good for initial adrenaline build up and as a cancel stance. Flail: The most popular IAS in PvE. Lion's Comfort: Only worthwhile self-heal for a Warrior. Power Attack: The +damage is great, though it'll eat your energy at about twice the rate you can regenerate it. Every second you aren't using it because you can't afford it, it's effective benefit drops. This is where Warrior's Endurance comes in. Rush: Good cancel stance. Body Blow: At 13 Str and 14 Weapon Mastery you lose 2 points of damage compared to skills like Executioner's Strike and Galrath Slash, but it's slightly cheaper and is a nice follow up to Eviscerate. Swordsmanship/Axe Mastery/Hammer Mastery Swordsmanship, Axe Mastery and Hammer Mastery are the Warrior's damage attributes. While it is possible to put points into more than one of these it is a waste of attribute points because you will only be able to fight with one at a time. Points in these attributes raise the raw damage you do with your weapon, your chance to critical hit, the damage done from skills and meet weapon requirements. Elite skills: Crippling Slash: An elite form of Sever Artery. Doesn't justify it's elite status unless you really really need the snare. Dragon Slash: Provides insane amounts of damage and adrenaline. "For Great Justice" doubles the adrenaline gain, allowing you to use it on every single attack during it's duration. Hundred Blades: The (armor affected) bonus damage isn't what is interesting about this. It's the mass of physical damage packets it produces. With Mark of Pain on a hero and an AoE attack like Whirlwind Attack, you can create tons of damage by triggering MoP heaps of times. I'd also note that the packets benefit from Ebon Battle Standard of Honor. Quivering Blade: If the daze was easier to apply (i.e, able to be applied more consistently), this would be a very strong option. As it is however, it seems bound to be filler until you get Dragon Slash. Some useful/interesting non-elite skills: Standing Slash: +42 damage for only 6 adrenaline; the best available for non-elites. Sever Artery/Gash: One of the only ways to Deep Wound with a sword (note that the DW from Gash is what you want, Sever Artery is just there to meet the bleeding requirement, it sucks on its own). Sun and Moon Slash: Helps with adrenaline gain and provides good pressure. Galrath/Silverwing Slash: Bread and butter attack skills. Steelfang Slash: Generally used in conjunction with Brawling Headbutt, though I tend not to use it. Final Thrust: Good spike skill, but it prevents you from chaining your adrenaline skills so its use is limited. ------------------------------------------------------ Elite skills: Cleave: Straightforward damage pumping skill. Not an unreasonable choice, but the +damage doesn't stand up as well as it used to (see: Power Attack). Also, here's an interesting thread* about the usage of low adrenaline attacks. The numbers will are a little off nowadays (Eviscerate costs 8 adrenaline) but the theory/conclusions are solid. Decapitate: Anything that prevents skill spamming in PvE better be extraordinarily good to be worthwhile. This isn't remotely close. Discussion*. Eviscerate: Deep Wound + damage means you're almost guaranteed to kill if this hits. A classic for a reason. Triple Chop: A combination of Cyclone Axe + Executioner's Strike. High AoE damage is fun. While the +damage looks great, Whirlwind Attack ought to produce results at least on par (and potentially much greater) due to more frequent usage. Whirling Axe: An elite form of Wild Blow. If there's going to be a lot of troublesome blocking stances then it's a reasonable pick but for general use you'll want more +damage. Also see thread linked in the Cleave section, though you're not running WA for damage so it's less relevant. *Old threads. Do not post in them. Some useful/interesting non-elite skills: Agonizing Chop: Interrupt and damage is a good follow up from Eviscerate. Cyclone Axe: Good for building adrenaline, plus hitting more foes is always a good way to pumping up your damage. Dismember: Deep Wound means ~100 points of damage for 5 adrenaline  .Executioner's Strike: Bread and butter attack skill, simply wonderful. ------------------------------------------------------ Elite skills: Backbreaker: 4 second knockdown is nice but it's generally overkill... not that there's necessarily anything wrong with that, of course  .Devastating Hammer: Knockdown is always useful, but in PvE there are better ways to get a single target knockdown (not to mention Earth Shaker is considerably more awesome). Earth Shaker: Awesome mob control skill. Enraged Smash: An elite form of Bull's Strike. Could be interesting, though like Quivering Blade if you can't trigger the damage and KD reliably enough it'll seem a little weak. Forceful Blow: The value here is in bar compression: you get damage and stance removal and weakness. It opens a lot of doors. Magehunter's Smash: This is more of a PvP skill. It doesn't really have a place in PvE in its current state. Some useful/interesting non-elite skills: Yeti Smash: A non-elite Earth Shaker. Usefulness will depend on the rest of the skillbar, though you really ought to just use ES. Crude Swing: Provides AoE which is always good. Compare with Whirlwind Attack. Crushing Blow: You'll need either this, Pulverizing Smash, or Fierce Blow for your Deep Wound. If you're using a hammer you'll most likely have a knockdown skill so the requirement isn't an issue. Pulverizing Smash: Same use as Crushing Blow. Requires adrenaline instead of energy. Fierce Blow: Good follow-up damage and Deep Wound. Mighty Blow: General purpose smashing skill. Counter Blow: Noob AI does stupid things. Abuse it. Renewing Smash: Can produce massive amounts of single target DPS. Tactics Tactics provides no bonuses by itself, but is a requirement for shields and has an effect on many skills. These are mainly blocking stances and shouts. On the whole, you won't get a lot out of Tactics once you've established yourself and your team as the skill set doesn't do much for your damage capacity. Miscellaneous situations are mainly where you'll be focusing on Tactics. Elite skills: "Charge!": Useful only for running. "Victory Is Mine!": Neither health nor energy restoration justifies running this. Auspicious Parry: It's a stance, so it'll screw with your IAS. Gladiator's Defense: Useful for farming. Shove: The recharge is relatively long and doesn't do anything remarkable. Soldier's Stance: If you wanted to create a defensive warrior or a tactics based build I'd start here. Not that either of those concepts are particularly worthwhile. Steady Stance: Used in conjunction with Desperate Blow and it's Factions counterpart. While it's a nice idea, it's not so effective. If you do want to try this, throw "Brace Yourself!" on a hero (idea from EFGJack). Some useful/interesting non-elite skills: "Fear Me!": Haven't crunched the numbers to see how effective it is, but it's one of few offensive options. "Watch Yourself!": A solid pick, though given the choice people tend to prefer "Stand Your Ground" on a midline hero (not necessarily a Paragon) and obviously it becomes redundant when you obtain the grossly overpowered "Save Yourselves!" (see below). Healing Signet: The health boost has been buffed a few times so it's not unreasonable. It's worse than Lion's Comfort, and later on (when you've got heroes, better skills and can aggro better) you won't want this. Soldier's Speed: Useful for running. "I Am the Strongest" is a shout with an effectively infinite duration. Unlinked Skills These skills do not belong to any attribute. (Link contains no attribute skills for all professions.) Elite skills: "Coward": Simply isn't remarkable enough to be worth running. If I was prepared to burn my elite skill on a snare I'd run Crippling Slash so I can at least prime Gash. "You're All Alone": Goes in the same box as "Coward". Skull Crack: Daze is great, but shutdown is better left to your Mesmers and Rangers. Some useful/interesting non-elite skills: "For Great Justice": Double adrenaline is a massive boost towards your DPS. Frenzy: Used well, it's a viable IAS. Used poorly, you're in big trouble. If you're going to run this, make sure you've got adequate defensive measures, including Protective Spirit and Shield of Absorption ready. Resurrection Signet: Resurrection is the kind of thing that belongs on the midline, though if you need/want to run a rez this is perfectly fine. If you have a free secondary you could fit a reusable one like Restore Life or Death Pact Signet. Symbolic Strike: The heart of some novelty builds. None of them see meta use. Wild Blow: If you need to remove a stance this is your go-to ability, though you may be better off simply switching to a different foe until it expires. The adrenaline loss keeps it from having more general use. PvE skills PvE skills are a particular type of skill that are only usable in PvE. Unlike regular skills, their effectiveness is tied to various titles rather than attributes, they can't be run by heroes, and you are only permitted to have three of them on your bar at a time. There are four main categories of PvE skills: Luxon/Kurzick skills, Sunspear skills, Eye of the North skills and Lightbringer skills. For general information about PvE skills and skill lists, see this Official Wiki link. Luxon/Kurzick: "Save Yourselves": This skill is easily one of the most overpowered Warrior skills, hence why you see it wedged into most builds. 100 extra armor results in an 82.32% reduction in damage. Sunspear: Sunspear Rebirth Signet: It's a more powerful form of Resurrection Signet provided your Sunspear rank is 3 or higher. If you're going to take Resurrection Signet and have a free PvE skill slot take this instead. Note that the transportation of the target to you may not be desirable depending on where you're located. In PvE you'll want to fit the rezzes onto the midliners (Rits, Eles, Necros, etc) rather than on the frontliners because their bars are typically more cramped so I wouldn't run one. Also, in case you didn't notice, this is available to all professions, not just Warriors. Lightbringer: Lightbringer's Gaze/Lightbringer Signet: These are related to the Nightfall plot. Gaze ranges from ok-ish to reasonably powerful, depending on your title rank. I've never found a use for Signet. Eye of the North: Eye of the North introduced 4 new factions; Dwarves/Deldrimor, Asura, Norn, and the Ebon Vanguard. Each of these has a decent amount of skills that can be used by every profession. Miscellaneous: Signet of Capture: This counts as a PvE skill (remember you can only have three PvE skills at a time, so if you already have three you need to temporarily drop one). Obviously doesn't have any use other than capturing Elite skills.
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Last edited by Marty Silverblade; Apr 04, 2015 at 11:42 PM // 23:42.. Reason: 2015 update! |
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Sep 21, 2008, 03:48 AM // 03:48
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Join Date: Jun 2006
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3.2 - Player Builds Regarding GWPvX ("PvX Wiki") GWPvX is a website where people can upload builds for people to vote on; the builds that the GWPvX community approve of are listed for reference. It's definitely a useful resource but be aware it's not perfect. Some people have the mentality that if your build isn't on GWPvX it's bad and you suck. This obviously isn't true. Some good builds have been voted off PvX and some builds with questionable skills or equipment recommendations have been voted as great. This is demonstrated in the effect of power creep: while skills/builds like Eviscerate are as effective as they've always been, they've become relatively less powerful compared to some of the more recently updated skills, prompting GWPvX to no longer list such builds. There is a vast amount of depth in the skill system so I strongly encourage you to continually develop your own builds and experiment. Furthermore, one of the fundamental GW principles is that a good player with a bad build ought to beat a bad player with a good one. If you strive to become as good of a player as you can, make sure you understand why certain builds are the way they are and endeavour to learn as many different playstyles as possible. One thing that really annoys me when I'm grouping up for a mission is when I find a need in the team (for example, a lack of anti-melee shutdown) and ask the Mesmers/Necromancers/whoever to bring some but they can't because they either a) don't have the skills, or b) have no idea which ones to bring, why, or how to reshuffle their bar to accommodate them, all as a result of mindlessly copy-pasting a bar they found but don't actually have any clue about. The point I'm trying to make is that while GWPvX is useful, it doesn't really help you understand the game or how to play it, and that you certainly shouldn't use it as a guideline as to what is optimal or to judge whether a skill/build has merit or not. Also, avoid any Guild Wars wiki with 'wikia' in the URL (other wikia wikis, such as for Dragon Age or Mass Effect, are great resources). To cut a long story short, these are old and no longer supported. For reference: Official Wiki | Unofficial Wiki (aka GuildWiki) | GWPvX Wiki. The Official Wiki tends to be better than the Unofficial nowadays, though there are some pages on the old one that I prefer (you may have noticed a couple linked earlier). Warrior Build Template As with any profession, a good build is key to succeeding. A Warriors skillbar is more structured than many other professions, meaning that it is possible to summarise a large variety builds in a simple template. While there is a lot more variety nowadays due to various changes that have been made over the years (most notably PvE skills; see previous section), it remains a good guideline for newer players or those who may have limited access to skills. The sentiment provided in the GWPvX note applies here too: this is merely a guideline; don't allow it to discourage you from experimenting or breaking the "rules" completely in the effort to develop builds. <Elite Attack> <Attack> <Attack> <Attack> <IAS> <Secondary Stance/Utility> <Self Heal/Utility> <Resurrection/Utility> Most of those are self explanatory, I'll go over the ones that are beyond the knowledge of most new players. -IAS: This means 'Increased Attack Speed', and refers to any skill that increases your attack speed. Examples include Frenzy and Flail. A 33% increase in attack speed results in 50% more hits, which leads to 50% more damage and 50% more adrenaline (25% increase = 33% more hits). The best ones can be kept up all the time with a suitable downside. The reason for this discrepancy is that the 33% does not refer to the extra amount of hits you'll generate, but refers to the reduction in interval between attacks. In layman's terms, instead of taking 1.33 seconds (or 1.75 for hammers) between attacks, you'll only take 0.89 seconds (or 1.17), which is 2/3 as long. -Secondary Stance: This has two potential purposes. Firstly, as a cancel stance. This refers to a stance that is taken to immediately cancel the effects of the IAS (you can only have one stance active at a time). The most common example is when you have Frenzy active and are about to take a large amount of damage. If you are not worried about the downside of your IAS this will not be a concern. The stance chosen is generally increases movement speed (IMS), which is the second purpose. It's more relevant for PvP where you can't aggro, though in PvE Enraging Charge is quite common to generate initial adrenaline (it'll be doubled with "For Great Justice" too, allowing you to almost fully charge your adrenaline). Utility tends to be things like knockdowns (if your attack skills don't provide them), adrenaline boosters (i.e, "For Great Justice") and damage boosters (such as Conjure Flame/Lightning/Frost). Meta Builds A meta build is a build that has been proven to work reasonably well and is known across the wider community. Builds are named after/listed by their elite skill because they add the key functionality that the build is structured around. Notes: * Builds are created with Hard Mode in mind. "Save Yourselves!" is overkill for most of Normal Mode, so you might want to replace it (the same applies if you generally don't get much use out of it). * As mentioned in the GWPvX note section, there are a vast amount of viable skills/builds. I've only listed the main ones here; I leave other builds for you to develop. Read about the elite skills in section 3.1 for inspiration. * Some skill choices are often "to taste". I don't usually take Enraging Charge because even though it's very useful I prefer to take a skill that's more fun to use. Similarly, if you dislike the inclusion or exclusion of a self-heal or resurrection skill you can always fit one in. * The allegiance skills are listed as the Luxon version; the Kurzick ones are identical so use whichever suits you. Similarly, whether you use Conjure Flame, Conjure Lightning or Conjure Frost does not matter either. Some foes do have a higher armor against certain elemental damage types (such as Fire Imps vs Fire) which will lead you to deal less base weapon damage (skill damage and conjure damage is unaffected). If an area features a significant amount of these foes it is advisable to switch builds. * You'll want to tweak your build according to what the rest of your team is running. Notably, don't run conjures when your team has skills that involve dealing physical damage like Order of Pain or Mark of Pain. * The links show skills in their PvP form by default. You'll have to load up the builds in game or check the skills individually if you're not familiar with the PvE forms. They also don't factor in attribute bonuses from runes or the helmet. Sorry. * Templates have been provided for easy loading of builds. To use them, copy the code (ctrl+c), open the skills menu (k), click on the floppy disk icon (  ), click Template Code, paste (ctrl+v) the code into the box labeled "Template Code" (it'll have something in it already relating to the build you're running), give it a name, then click save. If you click the floppy disk again and select Load from Template it'll be there to load instantaneously onto the bars of you or your heroes.Quote:
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Campaign Specific builds These builds contain skills that can be accessed in only one of the campaigns; this being of use for people with campaign restrictions. Some of the builds are pretty good, some are adaptations of cookie-cutters, and some (i.e, the Nightfall hammer build) suffer from a lack of key skills from other campaigns. PS: You might notice a few things about the builds. * A lot include "For Great Justice!". This is because many builds are adrenaline based and there isn't much competition for the slot. * A lot include Conjure Flame/Lightning/Frost. Again, not much competiton for the slot. +damage on hit is pretty much the basic kind of thing that happens to arise in campaign specific builds. If you don't have heroes, Strength of Honor is a good alternative if /Monk suits you better (see the secondary profession section below). * They're all W/E (or potentially W/Mo), except the Factions builds, which need to go W/A for Dash. Not my fault. When you have limited options it's hard to go past a strong +damage on hit. If for some reason you don't like it, PM me (preferably on Guru) and we'll work something out. Notes: Builds did not undergo any particular testing. The cookie cutter adaptations (which most are) will work fine, but some others may be a bit fiddly. If you're finding Frenzy is more trouble than it's worth I'm not going to force you to run it, but you need to find another IAS to replace it. PM me if you're having issues. Also, "Watch Yourself!" is a decent pick if you're looking for something defensive (and can't access "Save Yourselves"). I didn't include it on any bars but it's worthy mentioning. Quote:
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Secondary Professions While the Warrior is quite possibly the most self-sufficient profession in the game, there are still holes in the skillset that can be filled by a secondary profession. Nowadays with PvE skills these holes are much much smaller, but there are still plenty of things you could do with your secondary. There are two main rules for how you use your secondary profession. 1) Your primary is primary and your secondary is secondary. Primary is the most important and secondary supports that. In other words, just remember that no matter what your secondary profession is, you are still a Warrior, and your job is still to rip stuff apart in melee. You are not, and never will be, a Monk, so don't try to be a party support character. You are not, and will never be, an Elementalist, so don't try throwing Fireballs around. Sounds basic, but many Warriors fail to uphold that. 2) Everything your primary can do, you can do better with your primary than your secondary. Use your secondary to pick up skills that assist in fulfilling the purpose of your existing build. For example, don't take Elementalist secondary and expect to do more damage with fire nukes than your melee attacks. Instead, look at specific skills rather than the profession as a whole and see what could be of use to you. Using Conjure Flame to boost the damage of your attacks is a good example of this. These rules aren't set, and feel free to break them occasionally, but don't expect to be at your best. Remember some builds completely defy these two rules (though this is by design rather than by accident), so if you think you have an interesting concept, try it! Here's a discussion regarding use of some secondary skills commonly found in Warrior builds. Elementalist * Conjures add damage passively, which is nice. However, due to it requiring an elemental weapon, your attacks won't benefit from skills like Mark of Pain and Barbs. Mesmer * Don't bother. The Mesmer stuff doesn't belong on a Warrior. Monk * Never ever run Monk heals. * If, and only if, you are playing in Prophecies and are stuck with a full hench team (no heroes either) should you take anti-hex or anti-condition spells. Through a lot of the campaign the henchmen will have neither of these, so in areas where there are troublesome hexes and/or conditions you'll need to take care of it yourself. * Never ever run Monk heals. * If you don't have heroes to take this for you, Strength of Honor (9-10 Smiting Prayers) is a decent option. Compared to the Conjure spells, it deals a little more damage, doesn't require you to be dealing a certain type of elemental damage, can be more energy intensive and is in an attribute which offers more (namely Smite Hex if you need it). * Never ever run Monk heals. * Never ever run Monk heals. Necromancer * Plague Touch is ok if you're stuck in an area of Prophecies where the henchmen don't have condition removal. Even then it only justifies a slot if there are a lot of troublesome conditions being thrown at you. Ranger * Antidote Signet is a great condition removal skill. See the notes regarding condition removal for Plague Touch though. * Pets aren't really worth it. They're fun but they require too many attribute points and skill slots to be decent. Assassin * Dash is a quick recharge cancel stance. If you've only got Factions and are forced into running Frenzy you'll need this too. * You can use Warrior's Endurance to pretend to be an Assassin if/when the mood takes you. Ritualist * Death Pact Signet and Flesh of my Flesh are the hard rezzes of choice for a frontliner. Whether you actually need it enough for it to be worthwhile is the question. * If you don't have heroes to put it on, Splinter Weapon (10 Channeling Magic) can be worthwhile on your bar. Paragon * Enduring Harmony is good for boosting the duration of "For Great Justice!" to 30 seconds. * Spears can be utilised. * Signet of Return is the only available hard rez if you're locked into /P. Whether you actually need it enough for it to be worthwhile is the question. Dervish * Scythe builds involving Warrior's Endurance are viable. Shutdown Warriors, as with all professions, can be shutdown. All builds can be countered and rendered useless, and knowledge of what to watch out for can make a big difference. For the Warrior, there are generally five things to watch out for: 1) Negative effect on attack/skill use (for example: Empathy, Spirit Shackles, Insidious Parasite) 2) Slowed attack speed (Shadow of Fear, Faintheartedness) 3) Chance to miss (Blurred Vision, Spirit of Failure) 4) Blind/weakness (Throw Dirt, Blinding Flash, Enfeebling Blood) 5) Adrenaline denial (Sympathetic Visage, Soothing) Some shutdown abilities can simply be endured while others are powerful enough that removing them is a priority. It can depend on the specific skill, the makeup of your team and which area/mission you're in. 3.3 - Heroes I'd say there are three main team build archetypes you could run as a frontliner. Firstly, there's Meta-way, which is more or less a bunch of Ritualists, Mesmers, Necromancers, or whatever else is currently in favour due to profession buffs. Secondly, there's Phys-way, which involves running a bunch of physicals (weapon users) alongside buffs such as Order of Pain and Dark Fury. Thirdly, there's Tank-n-Spank, where you put in maximum effort to ball on every mob and then bring enough AoE to nuke the whole lot down. There will be elements that are common between them and there is a large scope of customisation in each. As with player builds there isn't necessarily a best setup, both in terms of player preference and per area. You can find sample builds for these on GWPvX (though, once again, my note at the beginning of this section applies) and by browsing through the forums. ...and that's about as specific as I want to get. As you can see, this guide is rather large. I assure you, if I did a write up of every hero related thing I could think of it would either be similarly large or (like in the last iteration of this guide) I would have cut out so much it'd be terrible. Thankfully, Cebe and Kaida the Heartless have written good guides on this and as such I will defer to them: Basic Guide to Using Heroes / Hero Meta: A Guide. Having said that, if you've read through other sections you'll have seen me mention some of the things I tend to run. Some advice, in no particular order: Synergy is key: You're putting together a team, not 4/6/8 individual bars. Having a set of heroes that works together tends to be better than trying to put together 4/6/8 entirely self sufficient bars, though naturally you'll want to avoid over-dependency on any on character or skill to minimise risk. This is especially true for frontliners, who act as a focal point for the whole team. For example, it gives you an opportunity to act as a platform for skills like Shatter Hex and helps you get better use of short range AoE's like Ray of Judgment. Heroes are not always better: Sure, they're customisable, but for a new player that can be as much of a curse as a blessing. Using a henchman is a perfectly reasonable thing to do if you feel like (or know) that you're not able to put together a decent bar for certain professions. The henchman bars have been updated a couple of times so the standard is better than it was, and some of them closely resemble meta bars. Naturally some of them are still a bit disappointing, but it's definitely something to consider. Playing different professions will help: It'll help in a number of ways: you'll get an appreciation of how each profession works, what role it performs, how to put a good bar together and why, and how it fits into a team. You'll unlock skills for your heroes (especially in Prophecies where many quests give skills as a reward). You'll find out things that aren't particularly obvious without having first hand experience. You'll learn how concepts you know as a Warrior apply to other professions, such as energy management. You'll see how different weapon types work and get a feel for the lower armor level of casters. Etc. Splinter Weapon is really good: Really really good. Potentially 100+DPS all by itself. Oh, and it costs 5 energy, recharges in 5 seconds and isn't elite. This makes a Channeling Rit essential, no matter what setup you're running. Think outside the box: Notice how I said "Channeling Rit" and not "SoS Rit"? The reason you run that bar is Splinter. That's one skill and one attribute line. While the cookie-cutter approach is to throw in Signet of Spirits, a couple of other spirit based skills and a few heals (which is a perfectly good option), there are a massive amount of things you could do. The most common alternative is probably a Smite hybrid. No reason you couldn't try something a little more unorthodox, like giving him/her/it a spear and going all-in on the physical support with "Go for the Eyes", "Find their Weakness" and Anthem of Envy if you wanted. No idea how effective that would be or how you'd fit it into a team, but hopefully you have an idea how diverse midliner bars can be. Observe your hero's performances: Debating and number crunching only goes so far in determining how well a bar will work. Only playtesting will tell you how effective a bar actually is: some strengths and weaknesses may only become obvious when you see the builds in action. For example, spirit spammers are popular, but if you aggressively push forward you may find the fight moves out of range of the spirits, thus rendering them useless. You could solve this by flagging your Rits, though not everyone is happy to do that. Similarly, one of the reasons people like running Minion Bombers is that they have near limitless energy and so they afford to run lots of high energy skills. However, they tend to overlook an equally important resource: casting time. Skills that don't get used don't achieve much. (I'm not saying don't run Bombers, just to be aware of whether you're getting what you want from them.) Factor in the AI: Some skills and skill types are used better by the heroes than others. For example, they have no reaction time so they're flawless at interrupting, but they don't prioritise - they're as likely to interrupt a bad skill as a good one. See here and here for full details, though I'm sure the most important things will be obvious. Don't be too conservative: This is a trap I've seen some people fall into for one reason or another, myself included. Remember that there is no such thing as adding defense to a build. There is only adding defense at the cost of offense, utility, or some other thing that you may have had. Not having enough damage can be as much of a problem as not having enough defense. The best way to prevent damage is to kill whatever is attacking you, so if you're being overly conservative you can often fit more offense in without impacting the survivability of the team. Also, the goal isn't for the team to be unkillable. Your defense merely needs to hold long enough and keep the offense in good enough shape to end the encounter (i.e, kill everything). I'm not suggesting damage is more important than defense, but it's worth experimenting to find the sweet spot where the two are maximised. Don't neglect their gear: While Guild Wars is much more focused on skills and how you use them, better equipment is naturally going to help. Don't be one of those people that enters the latter parts of a campaign with their heroes still using their starter equipment. As you complete the content, look out for items you can salvage runes and insignia from, as well as weapon drops (both in terms of the weapons themselves and their mods) they could benefit from. Spending a lot of money is not necessary, but a minor rune of their main attribute and an insignia here or there can help. There's much more advice out there and I'm sure you'll make your own observations as you go.
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Last edited by Marty Silverblade; May 17, 2015 at 10:04 PM // 22:04.. Reason: 2015 update! |
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Sep 21, 2008, 03:49 AM // 03:49
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Join Date: Jun 2006
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Part IV - Miscellaneous 4.1 - Important Techniques In addition to a good skillbar, a Warrior has many things he has to be able to do to be of the fullest use to his team. These include things such as holding aggro and pulling. Pulling Pulling is the term used when large groups are separated into smaller, more manageable groups. While this can be done by anyone, Warriors are best suited for the job because of their high armor level and because when they return to the group they will be in a suitable position to engage oncoming foes in melee. The most basic form of pulling is just moving your aggro circle (on your compass) over the opponents, then running off. This has the disadvantage of allowing the enemies an easy shot. Attacking with a longbow or flatbow (the stats don't matter) makes the job easier as it allows you to aggro the enemy while just outside their aggro range. This allows time to get away before they can get their first skill off. Here's what to do: 1) Flag henchies/tell people to stay. Ensure this is a safe location - check your compass for patrolling foes. 2) Get your longbow/flatbow out. 3) Approach foes from the best looking angle. (Am I a good distance from the team? Can I use the environment to my advantage (see Holding Aggro)?) 4) Launch arrow into the nearest foe, and start running while the arrow is flying. 5) Kill enemies when reunited with the team. Tips: Know the enemy's skills - some creatures have skills that will slow you down and make it hard for you to get back to your group, like Afficted Mesmers with Kitah's Burden. In this case, let them come rushing back to you and hope that the Monk can heal you in time. Pets and minions can also cause pulling difficulties, as they sometimes run off uncontrollably. Holding Aggro Aggro is the term given to the enemy's attention. Holding aggro is not simply a matter of being in the melee. A number of factors determine aggro. The most important of these are proximity and relative movement speed. Others include things such as current health and armor level, though you can't manipulate them to gain/hold aggro so they're less relevant here. There are two reasons why you want them focused on you: to help protect your team and to improve your damage dealing capacity. The first is achieved because foes will be attacking a high armor target (i.e, you) and because it tends to be easier to protect a single ally than the whole team (specifically, just Shield of Absorption and Protective Spirit will make anyone immensely tough). Having said that, your role is still ultimately to produce damage. DO NOT waste skill slots on defensive skills purely for this purpose. Running a tank bar as you would in other games is a complete waste in GW as it is both unnecessary and ineffective! Look to hold aggro when it'll potentially be the difference between team members dying and them not. As you get access to heroes and more powerful skills you'll find this becomes increasingly less frequent (and eventually pretty much never, especially with "Save Yourselves") to your survival. The second is achieved because foes that are focused on you can ball up, making them vulnerable to AoE damage (this is especially true as the strongest AoE abilities often have only adjacent range) and that allowing your team to spend fewer skill slots on defense means they can spend more on offense. Again, with heroes and more powerful skills available that isn't as true as it used to be (particularly with a lot of Mesmer skills being strong both offensively and defensively), but it's still definitely applies, especially for people just starting out. Gaining aggro can be as simple as moving your aggro bubble over a foe/group of foes, then ideally letting them hit you a couple of times to allow aggro to settle. However the foes will be constantly re-evaluating their priorities based on a wide array of factors. These include: * Proximity and relative movement speed. As mentioned, this is important to gain aggro and also to hold it. Foes prefer targeting something within range than having to chase, and they won't chase something that's moving faster than them (conversely, they'll also prefer targeting something that's moving more slowly). Note that in Hard Mode, foes move 50% faster. * AoE damage. Foes will attempt to flee if they are hit by multiple AoE attacks in a short period of time, particularly by pulsing AoE's like Fire Storm. However this does not mean you should avoid using AoE abilities, either on your own bar or on your heroes. Having foes balled up makes nuking them easier, and with the firepower currently available in the skillset doing this will lead to a quick end for those foes. * Being blocked. If foes cannot find a way to the people they want to target they'll usually switch to whoever is in their way. As a Warrior you can attempt to do this yourself, generally using the environment to your advantage, a technique known as cornerblocking. It also happens more generally with a Minion Master/Bomber, who can create a wall of 10+ minions to surround and generally interfere with a mob. * Being knocked down. This tends to reset their priorities, generally resulting in them attacking whatever is closest. Foes will also automatically become aware of anyone who targets someone they are already aware of, regardless of whether they've been in the foes aggro circle or not. In summary, here's a list of what to do: 1) Find a suitable group, and flag the heroes/tell party members to stay back while you aggro the enemy. 2) Snag a defensive enchantment or two, depending on the difficulty of the group. 3) Allow aggro to settle, usually by taking a few hits. 4) Bring the heroes/party members back to help kill/support you. 5) Make as much effort to not lose aggro as the situation requires. 6) Once all immediate enemies are dead, and it is safe to go after the individual enemies, do it. If you're looking to do this at a more advanced level, EFGJack has a good video on this. He has a reputation for going all-in on this type of technique and microing a fair amount of his heroes skills so naturally his style isn't to everyone's taste (it's an example of the "tank-n-spank" setup mentioned in the hero section). Target Selection The order in which you kill each foe in a mob can make the difference between an easy fight and a hard one. Traditionally you target healers first, then things dealing a high amount of damage, then everything else. However, this tends to be an oversimplification, and GW is more complex than heal/tank/nuke anyway. What you'll want to do is target whatever is providing the most resistance to your the success of your team. In PvE this does often translate to the traditional system but this is not always the case. For example, if the damage capacity of your team is being smothered (for example, by something spamming a lot of conditions or interrupts) you're not going to get very far, making that foe the priority. Some factors to consider: * How good the foe is at their role. If the amount of healing the foe provides is low or is insignificant compared to the amount of damage your team produces, overlooking them for more threatening targets may be a good idea. * How many of that type of foe is in the mob. 2-3 bad healers can be more potent than a single good one. Also, if there are many high DPS melee foes, it may be better for you to hold their aggro and keep them occupied while your team takes out the healer. * Key skills on the foes. A Necromancer with Order of the Vampire is not threatening by itself, but if it is in a group with 3+ melee's it would have a higher priority due to the amount of damage it is causing. Even if there is target with higher priority (probably a good healer), you may want to split your attention or find a way to disable the key skill. * Key skills on your team. For example, if you're running a Hundred Blades build, the amount of foes adjacent to you generally takes precedence over individual key targets (not that the two have to mutually exclusive). With Mark of Pain triggering so many times, healers are often ineffectual so you don't need to worry about them so much. * Position related issues. Sometimes you'll be in a situation where there are lots of enemy patrols going past and pushing forward to target a high priority foe will cause you to aggro one of them. You just have to kill what you can until it's safe to push forward. * The state of a foe. A foe with 10% health deals as much damage and heals as well as one with 100% health. Be efficient. Battlefield Awareness Battlefield Awareness is exactly what it sounds like. As a player, you'll need to be aware of more than just you and your current opponent as this allows you to make better and quicker decisions. For example, it is important to watch your compass so that you know where you are relative to your team and be aware if any enemy patrols are approaching the fight. It's much like driving a car - just as you need to check your mirrors and use your indicators you need to check your compass and ctrl-click anything that is important for your team to know. To assist with this, you can modify your interface to emphasise what is important to you. As a Warrior, the most important parts of the interface are the compass, the effects monitor (where the enchantments and stuff are shown) and the skillbar (obviously). You'll want to be able to view and ctrl-click things on the effects monitor quickly so you know what is affecting you and indicate that you need a harmful condition/hex removed (heroes and henchmen won't react to you calling them though; you'll need real people). Not being aware of what hexes are on you and your heroes can seriously impair your ability to succeed. There isn't really a right or wrong way to set it up; it often depends on personal preference. Do you use the mouse or keyboard to move? What about for activating skills? Do you prefer to keep things spread out or do you prefer to keep them bunched up in the corner? Etc. There are other factors too, like the size/resolution of your screen. One of the main applications of battlefield awareness is understanding what is causing your team to die. If all you do is stare at your character swing their weapon at the target, you'll have no idea what the problem is and probably just restart the mission only to have the exact same problem. For example, if you find that your team is killing slowly, find out why. Do you not have enough damage? Are you playing too defensively? Are you getting shutdown with hexes or conditions? Are you not targeting the important targets first? Does the offense run out of energy too quickly? Often people will simply assume the answer to getting killed is to just add another healer, but in some cases this will just make things worse. Quarter Knocking Quarter knocking refers to the act of knocking something down within 1/4 of a second after it has gotten up from it's previous knockdown (using a knockdown on a foe that hasn't gotten up yet will be wasted). This allows you to interrupt any ability they may be about to use. This is only a necessary technique in PvP so don't worry about it too much in PvE. It's still a good thing to know however, especially if you're interested in playing PvP at some point. With a hammer and 33% IAS (and a stonefist insignia to boost KD time to 3 seconds) you need to use an initial KD skill, hit once, cancel your next attack (there isn't enough time) by moving or preferably pressing the 'Esc' key, waiting for about 3/4 of a second, then using the second KD. Swords and axes (assuming the same conditions) work the same, though the timing is a little different. If your second skill is something with a 3/4 casting time such as Brawling Headbutt or an attack (which will take roughly the same time with 33% IAS) you can land two regular attacks between the KD and the second skill. No cancel+pause required. If the second skill has a different activation time then you'll need cancel+pause. Note that the second skill doesn't necessarily need to be a knockdown - an interrupt can work just as well here. A good way to practice this is against the Master of Healing on the Isle of the Nameless. Here's a good video from Grim that demonstrates this: http://www.teamquitter.com/viewtopic.php?f=128&p=432722 Start from 4:35. Note how it's presented from a PvP standpoint - pay attention to the technique rather than the uses described as they aren't as relevant PvE. Quarter Stepping I want to emphasize I only include this for completeness as the benefits of doing this relate purely to PvP. Having completed every single bit of PvE top to tail with my Warrior I've never once bothered to or really even thought to do this. It refers to utilising the end of the attack animation (after you've "officially" attacked) to eke out a chance to move. The first half of Grim's video shows how to do this and why you'd want to (again, especially in this case, observe the technique rather than the purpose). 4.2 - F.A.Q Which is better: armor or health? As I've mentioned in the relevant sections (insignia for armor, suffix mods for weapons), the difference between the two can be pretty close. Firstly, some numbers for those interested in such things (zipped up in spoiler tags purely for cleanliness): Example 1 (Insignia; physical damage): Example 2 (Insignia; elemental damage): Example 3 (Weapon mods; elemental damage): Now, the reason why I put those in spoiler tags, in addition to cleanliness, is to ensure the spotlight is well away from the numbers. Sure, they serve a purpose, but they don't tell the whole story. A proportion of the damage you'll take ignores armor, such as life stealing, +damage from attacks and health degeneration. That straight up favours +health. What if you begin to accumulate Death Penalty? Which ends up being more effective depends on the area and other circumstances. You can't just conveniently pop everything into an equation and come out with the correct answer. Besides, once you get out of low level areas you need damage mitigation from other sources (like Protection Prayers) to keep you alive. One last point on this topic: better armor (and damage mitigation in general) makes healing more effective. The more armor you have the less damage you take. However, the amount of health you regain is constant. An example: let's say you've got 60 armor (i.e, take full damage). If you have a spell cast on you that restores 72 health, this means 72 points of damage will have been counteracted. Now let's say you've got 100 armor (i.e, take half damage). The same healing spell, restoring 72 health, will now effectively counteract 144 points of (armor affected) damage. More damage mitigation = more damage counteracted by healing. What effect does the weapon requirement have on its performance? This is a two step process: Firstly, not meeting the weapon req means you're effectively using a starter weapon. So if you're using a max (15-22) req 12 sword with only 10 in swordsmanship, your sword effectively has a damage range of 2-3. The bonuses however are not affected (such as +health). Secondly, damage scales according to weapon rank. A weapon rank of 12 will give you 100% of the stated damage range, so a max damage (15-22) sword (that you meet the requirement for) will do 15-22 damage if you have 12 swordmanship. If you only had 11 you'd be doing a little bit less, even if you still met the requirement. (The ranks 0-6 are a bit contrived because you can't get max damage weapons with requirements that low.) The formula changes somewhat when your weapon attribute rises above 12. The damage range does improve over 15-22 but the gains are smaller. In addition to the scaling of the weapon range, your chance of landing a critical hit rises with attribute rank (NOT the difference between req and attribute level). In practical terms, weapon req doesn't usually matter. Anyone seriously using a martial weapon should generally have ~14 in their weapon attribute. Sometimes this isn't possible (like if you're running a x/A dagger build or something like that), but you should still be pumping up the weapon attribute. The only real time where I can think a low req martial weapon would matter is where you're running a Paragon (or similar) who needs to split attributes four ways and you want spear damage but can't invest heavily in it.
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Last edited by Marty Silverblade; Apr 05, 2015 at 01:25 AM // 01:25.. Reason: 2015 update! |
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Sep 21, 2008, 03:50 AM // 03:50
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#5 | |
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Administrator
Join Date: Jun 2006
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4.3 - Other Stuff 10 Things Which You Must Remember Perhaps in summary, perhaps as final information, I've formulated ten things which you ought to do in order to maximise your Guild Wars experience  .1. Blow stuff up: Your job is to kill things. Rip them into pieces! Tear them apart! Whichever you prefer, remember that you have to maximise your damage potential. 2. Do not tank: While you should hold aggro, don't try and tank. It's counter productive most of the time and boring as hell. This also means you shouldn't take four blocking stances because you dying isn't the end of the world (refer to 1). 3. Don't be a dick: For those with a tendency to forget, those other people you see are actual people. If things go wrong with your team shouting abuse isn't going to help, especially if misdirected (failure is not always the Monk's fault). Everyone wants the same thing, and everyone can get frustrated. You'll just waste time and mental/emotional energy. 4. Expose yourself to as much as possible: This guide, as many thousands of words as it may be, is about Warriors in PvE. Other professions require different styles of play and PvP is a whole new ball game. Also, shaking things up by trying to farm (or run, or whatever) will expose you to situations that you wouldn't otherwise. 5. Never stop learning: Since publishing the first iteration of this guide (which I'm happy to admit had a number of errors and was otherwise lacking) I've learned a ton. As in life, there's always more to know. Perspectives to see. Experiences to experience. As the saying goes, the less you know the more sure you are that you know everything. I have no doubt there are plenty of people better at playing Warrior than me. 6. Reading forum posts only goes so far: Guild Wars is a game. Games are for playing. Reading about things and crunching numbers can be a worthwhile activity, but ultimately your performance in game is what matters. Try not to get too caught up in theory (and never use it as the be all, end all for settling arguments) as its ability to accurately represent the events of the game can be inherently limited. 7. Don't be afraid of making mistakes: Mistakes are how you learn. Experimenting is how new things are discovered. Don't let the fear of failure or potential put-downs from other players stop you from trying to do things better. 8. Apply common sense: Sooner break any 'rules' than do anything outright absurd. If the behaviour of a trader seems odd, they may be trying to scam you. Etc. Trust your instincts. 9. Blow stuff up: Again, for emphasis. 10. Enjoy yourself: At the end of the day, you're meant to be having fun. Never lose sight of that. Sometimes I run terrible builds for the lols. Sometimes I catch myself doing things because I feel obliged to rather than because I actually want to. Sometimes you need to step back and make sure you're getting what you want out of things. Useful Links Official Wiki: http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Main_Page Unofficial Wiki (aka GuildWiki): http://guildwiki.gamepedia.com/Main_Page GWPvX Wiki (for builds): http://gwpvx.gamepedia.com/PvX_wiki PvXDecode (for translating templates): http://gwpvx.gamepedia.com/Special:PvXDecode Unfortunately some of the links I had have gone dead over the years so this section amounts to the wikis. Part V - Conclusion 5.1 - Author's Note Sigh. 15,000 words later, I'm writing another Author's Note. I thought I'd have a lot to say, but I really don't have that much. I hope it helped . Anyway, to the four people bothering to read this, I'd like you to know that I appreciate you making this entire guide not as pointless as it could be. As long is it helps someone, I'm happy. I just hope I'm not going to get questions about stuff that's clearly explained in the guide. Or PM's from crappy W/Mo's yelling at me for telling them just how much of a waste of time tanking is. Wow, this is really off-topic... not that there really is a topic, it's my note to readers... oh well.Quote:
5.2 - Contributors I'd really appreciate it if someone could correct me on an typos or things that I've missed, give opinions on what I could do to improve this guide or suggest more things to put in my useful links section. Here's a list of current contributors (apologies to anyone I may have forgotten to mention): -The various wikis, just because they're so full of good stuff that needs to be known. -This forum and the people who post frequently on it, because it is part of the reason why I know so much stuff about Guild Wars. -The following people whose resources I linked: Chthon for his damage calculator, Kaida the Heartless and Cebe for their hero guides, EFGJack for his pulling/aggro video and other random tips and Grim for his quarter knocking/stepping video. -Everyone who put in the effort to understand and document game mechanics, namely Ensign, whose guide is now unfortunately no longer available. Ok, so before you comment, don't bother with criticism unless it is constructive. If you want to PM me or whisper me ingame about something, feel free to do so. Thank you, and good night.
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Last edited by Marty Silverblade; Apr 05, 2015 at 01:31 AM // 01:31.. Reason: 2015 update! |
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Sep 21, 2008, 10:42 AM // 10:42
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#6 |
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Desert Nomad
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Your backline
Profession: W/
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Thanks for updating this guide. I have a few comments tho:
- Tactics: Overall it can very well be lol, but there still are those rare few ok skills left in it tho. ["shields up!"] and to a lesser extend ["watch yourself!"] can be very useful. Mainly ["shields up!"] can be very useful when you know you'll face a good amount of rangers. Like the barragers in FOW, or the charr rangers with their stupids amount of damage. These skills are still worth mentioning imo. - [Visions of Regret] -> You're still explaining the effects of this skill pre-nerf. Still dangerous tho. - In the aggro part I feel that you should add something: Don't take aggro and run back into your mid/backline. I've seen a lot of warriors(afraid of dying ?) do this and I have no idea why as everything will just target the squishy targets then instead of the warrior. If you're gonna run in, run in, don't hesitate and stop halfway and come back. - Overextending. I don't think I saw this in your guide. Keep an eye on your positioning and those of your partymembers. It will happen that a monster will run off from you when it's about to die, if you chase it too far you can run out of your monk's aggro range and die because you were too far off from your monks. - Target chosing. I think this is a rather important part of a warrior aswel that I believe is not mentioned in your guide. Some people might say always to kill the monks first, but not all monks you encounter in PvE are worth killing first. You should kill whichever target first that poses the biggest threat to your party. This will differ from area to area and from mob to mob. Since this is PvE, you can look up what you're going to encounter and you can analyse the mobs you'll be fighting. Look at their skills and look for those skills that will ruin your party/team build the most. Take down these targets first and your chances at victory will be much higher than when you're just c + spacing(attacking closest target) you're way through everything. That's all I think. Thanks for taking the time to updating this
Last edited by Squishy ftw; Sep 21, 2008 at 10:44 AM // 10:44.. |
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Oct 07, 2008, 01:16 PM // 13:16
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#7 | |
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Frost Gate Guardian
Join Date: Nov 2007
Profession: W/
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Quote:
what happens mob well just run past you and start bashing on casters. have a monk watch your back or with heroes let them cast ps on you before agro. or they just run straight into mob by the time monk can save them they are killed.. also i think very important. how to control aggro. remember always to tank on one side wether its an ivisbible wall or actuall wall. what happens they wil gang you mobs have a tendency to bodyblock the enemy. just let it happen at a wall or corners are best. (has been said and im saying it again) while the monk cast protects on you. a couple will break lose. and ive seen this alot the tanks(warrior,dervish etc..' also break lose just to kill the ones that escaped. this is just plain stupid. now the whole mob breaks and again may result in party wipe. if you have agro dont move if you have more than 4 monsters orso on you. final part kill stuff |
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Nov 19, 2008, 06:37 AM // 06:37
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#8 |
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Krytan Explorer
Join Date: Apr 2008
Guild: House of Myrthe (HoMe)
Profession: W/
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Another Mesmer skill that shuts down Warriors is [soothing images]. That's what makes the Dreamers so hard in the EotN dungeons.
Of course, [binding chains] is a nuisance too. |
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Nov 26, 2008, 06:03 PM // 18:03
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#9 |
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Academy Page
Join Date: May 2007
Location: AZ
Guild: Brotherhood of Feklaar
Profession: P/W
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I'll admit, when it comes to warriors I'm no expert...but I was always under the impression that [eviscerate] was more of a pvp skill and that [cleave] was the preferred axe elite due to the fact it's more spammable. Is Eviscerate really that much better?
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Nov 26, 2008, 08:42 PM // 20:42
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#10 |
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Always Outnumbered
Join Date: Jul 2006
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I personally prefer Cleave over Eviscerate in PvE, because stuff dies easy enough anyway.
I usually only take Eviscerate in some areas. I personally prefer to run Triple Chop in PvE though. |
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Nov 26, 2008, 08:53 PM // 20:53
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#11 |
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The Greatest
Join Date: Feb 2006
Profession: W/
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Nice guide, although I highly disagree with your take on empathy and spiteful spirit. Your job is to deal damage, your monks job is to remove hexes/heal. If you stop attacking every time you get empathy/spiteful spirit on you, you're going to be losing quite a bit of damage output. A warrior doing nothing is a useless warrior. Yes, a dead warrior is also useless, but you have a backline for a reason. Unless your whole team is getting pressured enough for a wipe, or your getting heavily pressured, attack through these hexes and let your backline do its job.
Also, for PvE, I'd say cleave > eviscerate. You aren't trying to spike, you're trying to pressure. It's half the cost of eviscerate, and has the same additional damage. Bring dismember for deep wound, or let someone else bring it. |
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Nov 26, 2008, 10:54 PM // 22:54
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#12 | |
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Furnace Stoker
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Planet Earth, Sol system, Milky Way galaxy
Guild: [ban]
Profession: W/
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Quote:
Unless you are more mighty than I. @Marty: You might want to note that a Zealous axe is required, or at least highly recommended, for the Triple Chop AoE bar. Last edited by MisterB; Nov 26, 2008 at 11:37 PM // 23:37.. |
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Nov 26, 2008, 11:39 PM // 23:39
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#13 |
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Bubblegum Patrol
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Singapore Armed Forces
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Your shock axe bar doesn't have shock on it. The name is rather unnecessary, no?
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And the heavens shall tremble. |
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Nov 26, 2008, 11:45 PM // 23:45
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#14 | ||
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The Greatest
Join Date: Feb 2006
Profession: W/
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Quote:
Quote:
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Nov 27, 2008, 04:58 AM // 04:58
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#15 |
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Administrator
Join Date: Jun 2006
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I didn't have a cleave build? I thought I did. Oh well; now I know I do. Thought I mentioned the zealous as well...
About the SS/Empathy thing, it is worded quite badly. I hadn't intended to say 'omg stop everything'. It's more about awareness really, if your health bar is high and the monks can take care of you there isn't a reason to stop attacking. I'll change it now.
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Nov 28, 2008, 01:49 AM // 01:49
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#16 |
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Banned
Join Date: Aug 2008
Profession: R/Me
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Nice, this helped me so much!
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Nov 28, 2008, 10:52 PM // 22:52
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#17 |
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Will Bull's Strike for $!
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Isle of the Dead
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Always a good read, Marty.
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Jan 07, 2009, 05:02 AM // 05:02
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#18 |
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Krytan Explorer
Join Date: Jan 2007
Profession: W/
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Scythe Warrior
Warrior / Dervish 12 Scythe Mastery 12 + 1 + 1 Strength [Copy [Scythe Warrior;OQoiExp8YXEKNXmbQR0zXH9A]] [PvE build] Scythe Warrior -This build relies on Warrior’s Endurance to provide the energy required to spam the attack skills. -Use a scythe. Scythes can inherently hit up to 3 foes, so massive amounts of damage can be dealt. -“Save Yourselves” is included just because it’s such a powerful defensive skill. The build is not designed to be able to keep it up all the time, but it’s there if you need it. -Swap out a skill for Pious Assault if you like; Asuran Scan is also very good for incredibly high single target damage. -Wild Blow is good to remove annoying blocking stances, as well as making use of the scythes natural high damage range (9-41, which is monstrous when you get a crit hit). If you find yourself in need of adrenaline (like you were under heavy pressure and needed to keep SY up as much as possible), then don’t use it. -Technically, you could run this build with any melee weapon you wanted to because Eremite’s Attack and Mystic’s Sweep are actually melee attacks, not specifically scythe attacks. However, the build works best with a scythe. I want to address the issue ive put in bold. It might be helpful if you add in this bold part that if you decide to not use a scythe you need to replace Aura Of Holy Might for another skill. Yes this is obvious but there are a lot of idiots out there. And a lot of them are on their warriors. |
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Jan 07, 2009, 09:46 PM // 21:46
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#19 |
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Administrator
Join Date: Jun 2006
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The thing is, if you used this without a scythe it really won't matter if you have AoHM or some other skill because your DPS is not going to be even remotely close.
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Jan 08, 2009, 12:10 AM // 00:10
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#20 |
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Krytan Explorer
Join Date: Jan 2007
Profession: W/
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But i would think that any almost any other skill would be better than AoHM when not using a scythe even if the DPS is fail.
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