Curse

Chuy Dog · Oct 12, 2011, 10:42 PM // 22:42

First, I have read Marty Silverblade's Warrior post. It was very helpful when I began using my warrior. I have also searched for this topic and have not found an answer to my question. I am not asking for a build but advice with my PVE warrior.

My configuration is as follows:

Max Armor
Head – Superior weapon (Axe or Sword), Survivor (2 separate helmets)
Chest – Superior Vigor, Survivor
Hands – Superior Strength, Stonefist
Legs – Vitae, Survivor
Feet – Vitae, Survivor
Shield Damage Reduction -5

My builds are modified Warrior Endurance Axe and Hundred Blades Sword. I use a 7 Hero support for most areas. I try to tank and ball as much as possible (now).

My concern is that my two superiors are reducing my health by 150 with not much increase in damage. I had to read MS thread again to realize this issue. This could possibly put a strain on my heroes to heal me instead of doing damage. Should I change those to minor, and add some damage reduction? Any other suggestions are welcome.

Outerworld · Oct 12, 2011, 10:56 PM // 22:56

Armour > HP, switch the Survivors to either Sentry's or Sentinel's. There's really no reason to run superiors on a warr at all, switch them to minors. The rest of it is fine.

wilebill · Oct 13, 2011, 12:04 AM // 00:04

Agree that minors are the safe course. Currently running Dreadnought except for Stonefist with Strength 5, 13 Axe, 15 Tactics. Rune of Superior Tactics. Change out to a minor if survivability is a problem. This build is mostly one that was posted in the warrior forum a while back.

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To make best use of Soldier's Stance, it is best to have a Command Paragon in your hero lineup to keep you covered with shouts and chants.

Doesn't look like it would work, but it does. Really very well.

Previously ran a strength mode build with Sentinel's. In the build above attack rate and critical hit rate more than compensate for greater armor penetration.

loopysnoopy · Oct 13, 2011, 12:20 AM // 00:20

My combo for my warriors is

Head Brawlers then either minor or major rune depending Axe,Sword or hammer
Chest Brawlers then highest vigor you can afford
Arms Brawlers then sup absorption or minor tactics
legs Brawlers then vitae
Boots Stonefist and minor Strength

Sheild I have afew but mainly use -2 whilst in a stance as -5 does jack and really not worth it

As you should be in a stance almost every time.

And you really want a hero equipped with SoH (Strength and Honor) and Splinter Weapon

**Marty Silverblade** · Oct 13, 2011, 01:47 AM // 01:47

Just to reiterate somewhat over what has been said:

-Armor insignia are generally more helpful than health. Best option would probably be Sentry as you should be in a stance pretty much all the time. Brawlers is good too but keep in mind the 'while attacking' clause is very literal. If you're not swinging at something (like on the initial aggro when monsters like to use their hardest hitting attacks) you're not going to get the benefits. Sentinels is also the other 'best' option given that you're less armored against elemental damage. Having a sentry set is good for flexibility (i.e, if you wanted to mess around with a third attribute line).

-Superior runes don't really add meaningful compared to the health cost.

- -5/20% shield mods suck. They're only half as effective as -2/stance (or enchant) and much more expensive.

-Getting a hammer helmet would be a good idea. There isn't really a reason to not have one and not being able to switch properly for when you want/need to is lame.

LifeInfusion · Oct 13, 2011, 03:20 AM // 03:20

Sentinel's with 14 str and 13 weapon is probably the best way to go with Stonefist on hands if you use hammer. But you don't use hammer.

14 weapon and 13str is typical.

I've also run 11 Str, 13 weapon with Dreadnought with 10-11 in some other attribute such as tactics (wonderful for the Deep when using Tactics' soldier's defense as adrenaline gain cycled with Shield Stance or Defensive Stance). Generally I ran (past tense because I rarely play anything other than monk these days) Dreadnought's with 14 Weapon and 13 Str.

What Marty means: Brawler's gives +10 while attacking and Sentry's gives +10 while in a stance and the difference is it's +10 to all. So you get 110 armor to physical and 90 to elemental before your shield bonus. I'm not a big fan of Brawler's because of the initial damage spikes from mobs.

You don't want to use superiors. A few extra damage isn't worth -75HP generally. I wouldn't recommend dipping into Tactics for "Watch Yourself!" since "Stand Your Ground!" exists ; it doesn't stack with "Save Yourselves!" due to armor cap. In the past I've run "Watch Yourself!" because it had no limit on incoming attacks and strength didn't have as many skills (Enraging charge, Lion's comfort, and Warrior's Endurance weren't buffed then).

You should run -20% blind and +10 vs element (usually fire/air) on your shield. An exception is -2 in a stance or -2 enchanted if someone else is running "Save Yourselves!" / Union such that base damage reduction will be high. -5 with 20% chance is the worst thing to run because it's random and averages to -1 damage.

You're better off with a rune of Clarity as well instead of +10HP from Vitae. Monks rarely run condition removal so having blind rune + shield will reduce blind. If the zone has no blind/weakness you can drop this for Vitae. I typically ran Absorption in PvE rather than Vitae as well, since the 3 damage reduction adds up.

Head – Minor weapon (Axe or Sword), Sentinel/Sentry's/Dreadnought
Chest – Superior Vigor, Sentinel/Sentry's/Dreadnought
Hands – Clarity, Sentinel/Sentry's/Dreadnought <-- optional stonefist if you use Brawling Headbutt, Shock, Club of a 1000 Bears, or "You Move Like a Dwarf!" (Grapple with "I am Unstoppable!" also)
Legs – Minor Strength, Sentinel/Sentry's/Dreadnought
Feet – Vitae, Sentinel/Sentry's/Dreadnought <-- optional Absorption when in areas with physical damage

* You could run Asuran Scan instead of Blind rune + shield though. SY! + Whirlwind attack is already 2 PvE skills so your third slot cannot be Brawling Headbutt if you use it (or "I am Unstoppable", which bypasses the armor cap http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Iau).

Thorfinnr · Oct 13, 2011, 03:49 PM // 15:49

here's my take on it:

Head - Sentinel + (Weapon of choice) +1 = gets you a free +2 with the right Helm.
Body - Sentinel + (Minor/Major/Sup) Vigor
Hands - Sentinel + Minor Strength
Legs - Sentinel + Vitae
Boots - Sentinel + Vitae
Shield - Damage reduction -5/20%

Typical High Health and Elemental damage reduction. Strength 13 minimum.

The only difference I have is my Hammer specific Armor. Stonefist on my Head to increase knockdown, the rest pretty much stays the same.

I do not do a War/Ele very often, but if it was a regular build of mine, I would use a -2/while enchant on a shield, as it is more efficient.

The -2/stance is fine as well, I have a shield with this; but sometimes I skip my stance depending on where I am going and what I am fighting. Having a shield with -2/stance and one with -5/20% is never a bad idea.

All the previous suggestions are fine as well, just different perspectives on how to run a warrior effectively. Best thing to do is experiment and match YOUR playstyle.

Have fun with it.