Here's a unique build you can try if you are feeling weak in PvP/WvW right now

Long time warrior player here. I love this class and have played it exclusively since 2012. I've made plat in multiple season and I'd say almost 80% of my game time has been spent in dueling servers over the past 8 years. Recently however, if you are like me, you've been struggling to find a good warrior build that is both fun to play and competitive in PvP/WvW. I've tried just about everything - core, strength SB, stunbreaker, healbreaker, condi berserker, but nothing really seems to work all that well. After a few months of testing, I think I have arrived at a truly formidable PvP/WvW build for warrior. It has excellent sustain, a good amount of cleansing, good pressure, mobility, and plenty of CC. It looks a little unorthodox, but after months of testing this is the absolute best build I could come up with for 1v1s and small scale PvP/WvW fights. If played well, there are very few matchups you can't win.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PKwAEh7lJwqYKsEGKOWPpvbA-z5gfI9KByXFkxQQUDA

So here is the main build. There are of course a few variations you can make to fine-tune it for certain matchups, but this is the best overall configuration I could come up with. I won't go into detail describing all my reasoning, but trust me... try this build.

Would love to get your feedback if you try the build. Let me know what you think!

I will try it in WvW roaming. It's really hard to tell on paper without details. Pretty sure I have fought this before, cant remember exactly when though.

gw2skills.net/editor/?PKwAceRlVwwYWsQGJe0XevdA-zVIYR0xfKVpACTE0rEIahgRPEhYP8WG91C-w

That's what I have been running for years in WvW. I have Variations on Core and Spellbreaker using GS/X-SH. I would rather have more stun-breaks, and the higher toughness combined with the Damage Reduction really helps. Once I break a stun I am sitting near 4k armor when DR is considered. The healing nerfs to Doly and RR hurt though.

TBH I am sick of Rampage/Bulls Charge/GS on every build.

@"sneakytails.5629" said:I will try it in WvW roaming. It's really hard to tell on paper without details. Pretty sure I have fought this before, cant remember exactly when though.

gw2skills.net/editor/?PKwAceRlVwwYWsQGJe0XevdA-zVIYR0xfKVpACTE0rEIahgRPEhYP8WG91C-w

That's what I have been running for years in WvW. I have Variations on Core and Spellbreaker using GS/X-SH. I would rather have more stun-breaks, and the higher toughness combined with the Damage Reduction really helps. Once I break a stun I am sitting near 4k armor when DR is considered. The healing nerfs to Doly and RR hurt though.

TBH I am sick of Rampage/Bulls Charge/GS on every build.

Then drop them and try other things :tongue: I had some fun last night with an axe/axe + rifle (not memeshot) build in WvW last night. Rifle is more of a f*cking BB gun right now after they butchered it's damage in February, but all that vuln + volley makes kiter's crap their pants when they think they are safe from the warrior.

Grant it I still haul Bull's Charge around. WAY to versatile of a skill. It is honestly a perfect utility skill...

Run something similar in WvW for small scale, I'll have to give the warrior runes a shot. I do love the stomp though, sooo much more satisfying than bull's charge. Especially since they made the CD on par with bull's charge in competitive modes.

@"sneakytails.5629" said:I will try it in WvW roaming. It's really hard to tell on paper without details. Pretty sure I have fought this before, cant remember exactly when though.

gw2skills.net/editor/?PKwAceRlVwwYWsQGJe0XevdA-zVIYR0xfKVpACTE0rEIahgRPEhYP8WG91C-w

That's what I have been running for years in WvW. I have Variations on Core and Spellbreaker using GS/X-SH. I would rather have more stun-breaks, and the higher toughness combined with the Damage Reduction really helps. Once I break a stun I am sitting near 4k armor when DR is considered. The healing nerfs to Doly and RR hurt though.

TBH I am sick of Rampage/Bulls Charge/GS on every build.

Hmm. That is an interesting take on SB. I for one have generally stuck to the GS + X/Sh meta for all power builds so to see Axe/Axe + Rifle is definitely unique. I'd have to try it and see if I have success. I would take RR on my build because its an excellent trait, especially if you are running Stomp and another stunbreak. However, without Cleansing Ire I can't cleanse conditions or gain enough adrenaline reliably since I am dropping Discipline.

@Red Haired Savage.5430 said:Run something similar in WvW for small scale, I'll have to give the warrior runes a shot. I do love the stomp though, sooo much more satisfying than bull's charge. Especially since they made the CD on par with bull's charge in competitive modes.

Yeah the runes are something I have been experimenting a lot with. In WvW I tend to rune Rune of Fireworks for the movespeed, but Rune of the Warrior works well there too. The reduced CD on weapon swap just feels so good on this build once you play with it a while.

And yeah Stomp is super fun and actually super strong right now. A 24s CD stunbreak these days would premium on its own - then you add the stability, gap closer, and CC? Phew, thats a good skill. Any time I rune a Strength based build these days I find myself using Signet of Stamina - Stomp - Bull's Charge.

So I ran the build last night while roaming. The value of this build is sticking to your target and pretty much locking them down, they will blow all of their stun-breaks (even the 4 stun-breaks I run are not enough), heal, and movement abilities, but you can follow them and crush them into fine sand particles. This build can obviously stun lock opponents as well, and with other allies especially high DPS, it can end fights pretty quickly.

As I mentioned above I have fought this build before, If you run a non meta build/weapon set you should really never win against it. I would describe it as "suffocating" to play against, but that's what this builds job is.

Is this my preferred play-style? no its not. Would I run this build again? I might. I can see the value of this in WvW at say a really important camp that you are trying to protect, holding certain areas like ruins, the CC guy in a small scale group, etc.

Therefore most of my critiques are personal. Both from playing against, and with the build.

Personally I never liked Rampage, but its earlier versions were hella strong. The current version kind of sucks, having all the damage removed from CC really hurts the value and we lost the health increase, I find this forces me to use the skill earlier, or I can find myself in one shot territory upon skill exit from taking damage in Rampage mode. Personally I find Shield Bash, Stomp, Bulls Charge, Disrupting Stab and Full Counter (especially with certain traits) to be more than enough CC on this build. It's already twice what i normally run.

I do prefer banner because there are many important stomps that you have to make in order to win in small scale fights. You have limited time to do this before the fight flips and you loose. I found myself in Rampage during some of these moments. Since the CC skills no longer carry the damage they used to have its pretty much not likely to cleave downs this way.

You do gain a lot of CC with having Bulls Charge, Stomp, and Rampage but I feel you do loose a good bit of utility with having 3 CC skills on the bar. Especially with the damage cut from them.

Overall I do prefer Discipline Spellbreaker, I feel bursting more often is important with one bar f1's, as well as a faster weapon swap to get those bursts when you need them. A lot of times you can get 3 off in short order with a successful FC. Most of the time you can spam 2 just from swapping. I feel this ups the damage significantly and it feels more fluid to play, and that's fun for me. Example below.

gw2skills.net/editor/?PKwAgiFlJwwYWsQWJe0X+vdA-zRIYR0xfIlKC6VK0yCwoHiQsHeLjusB-e

I threw Girth's build on one of my empty gear/build templates. I can see using it again.

@"sneakytails.5629" said:So I ran the build last night while roaming. The value of this build is sticking to your target and pretty much locking them down, they will blow all of their stun-breaks (even the 4 stun-breaks I run are not enough), heal, and movement abilities, but you can follow them and crush them into fine sand particles. This build can obviously stun lock opponents as well, and with other allies especially high DPS, it can end fights pretty quickly.

As I mentioned above I have fought this build before, If you run a non meta build/weapon set you should really never win against it. I would describe it as "suffocating" to play against, but that's what this builds job is.

Is this my preferred play-style? no its not. Would I run this build again? I might. I can see the value of this in WvW at say a really important camp that you are trying to protect, holding certain areas like ruins, the CC guy in a small scale group, etc.

Therefore most of my critiques are personal. Both from playing against, and with the build.

Personally I never liked Rampage, but its earlier versions were hella strong. The current version kind of sucks, having all the damage removed from CC really hurts the value and we lost the health increase, I find this forces me to use the skill earlier, or I can find myself in one shot territory upon skill exit from taking damage in Rampage mode. Personally I find Shield Bash, Stomp, Bulls Charge, Disrupting Stab and Full Counter (especially with certain traits) to be more than enough CC on this build. It's already twice what i normally run.

I do prefer banner because there are many important stomps that you have to make in order to win in small scale fights. You have limited time to do this before the fight flips and you loose. I found myself in Rampage during some of these moments. Since the CC skills no longer carry the damage they used to have its pretty much not likely to cleave downs this way.

You do gain a lot of CC with having Bulls Charge, Stomp, and Rampage but I feel you do loose a good bit of utility with having 3 CC skills on the bar. Especially with the damage cut from them.

Overall I do prefer Discipline Spellbreaker, I feel bursting more often is important with one bar f1's, as well as a faster weapon swap to get those bursts when you need them. A lot of times you can get 3 off in short order with a successful FC. Most of the time you can spam 2 just from swapping. I feel this ups the damage significantly and it feels more fluid to play, and that's fun for me. Example below.

gw2skills.net/editor/?PKwAgiFlJwwYWsQWJe0X+vdA-zRIYR0xfIlKC6VK0yCwoHiQsHeLjusB-e

I threw Girth's build on one of my empty gear/build templates. I can see using it again.

Hey man, really appreciate the detailed feedback. Been trying to spread this build around the warrior community so I'm glad to hear you gave it a try. I agree Rampage can be overkill and I often time swap between it and Signet of Fury. I could also see using banner for group play in WvW but I'm more of a roamer so I don't typically bring it. You hit the nail on the head with your analysis though, this build requires you to be on top of your opponent applying pressure 24/7. You don't want to kite away to heal or anything like that. If you can't weapon swap or your skills are on cooldown you should be chasing them and auto-attacking. I've always enjoyed the more sustain focused and durable warrior builds (a "brawler" if you will) which is why I searched for so long to find something that fit that archetype for me. I generally feel that I can out sustain just about anyone in a prolonged fight if I play well and keep up the pressure, which is exactly the build I was trying to create. At least for me, the key to really mastering this build is 1. Getting used to constantly apply pressure 2. Learning to work auto-attacks into your damage rotations (a lot of warriors I see don't do this) 3. Making sure you are careful to not waste/miss burst skill 4. Making the most of your 100b damage by using it after landing a FC to proc No Escape. If you do decide to spend some more time with the build let me know and I'd love to hear how it goes.

Dont rly see the uniques of thes build. Because it doesnt use discipline?Has lots of cc, which deal no dmg, and no quick weaponswap to capitalize on cc'ed enemies.Is itself weak to cc

Ran the build with no changes for another 2 nights. Using the auto-attacks a lot more as suggested really helped.

The real problem was condi, specifically Burn guards, and Condi Revenant. 5.5-7.5k burn ticks and torment damage were impossible to deal with without resistance. Even with dual cleansing sigils, the weapon swap alone was long enough for an extra few ticks of burning that were fatal most of the time. Cleansing ire also felt a bit too weak with the longer weapon swap due to the reduced bursts.

34 for 14 on fights with half of the losses coming from condi (7) and messing up versus necros. That's without changing any traits or skills.

I usually have to go full condi defense for it to work as condi application usually outpaces clear/resistance if I only grab a bit of it.

I really think that running this build in specific match-ups against mostly power works. Power builds only gave issues on SA thieves, and Smoke-scale spamming Rangers.

Solo I will run my normal builds, and break this out in small-scale rather than make changes to it. I like it the way it is in certain match-ups and situations.