Core, Berserker or Spellbreaker?

My warrior is about to hit 80 and I was wondering what people run these days for power open world/dungeons/etc? I've been searching for a while and some people say condi berserker, others spellbreaker in general, others advise to stay in core. Also, what weapons do you like most?

Situational.

Power berserker is most effective, especially in open world and Dungeons since everything dies so fast. Axe/axe is great burst damage and u get everything below elite level killed with just clicking skill 5.

Wont go deeper into it since u only asked for Roleplay level content.

@"Anemone.5320" said:My warrior is about to hit 80 and I was wondering what people run these days for power open world/dungeons/etc? I've been searching for a while and some people say condi berserker, others spellbreaker in general, others advise to stay in core. Also, what weapons do you like most?

Really depends what you want to do. Open world, anything will do really. On the other hand, dungeons, fractals and raids can require a dedicated build. For such occasions, it really depends on what you'd like to do : like to apply conditions? Go Condo zerker. Like to see big numbers on your screen and get satisfaction on landing great burst? Go power zerker. One is not really better than the other, it really depends on what you enjoy playing and what kind of fight you are gonna do. Some bosses have "burst phases" (time window where the players can focus the boss down) separated with invulnerability phases (where you have to focus on doing something else than bashing on the boss) so power builds perform better in those cases. Other bosses do not have invulnerability phases so you can essentially always just whale on the boss consistantly so condi specs perform better there.

In terms of elite specializations (often called "e-specs"), core warrior and berserker are just better for endgame PVE content. Spellbreaker brings boon strip and CC (which you already have more than enough for PVE with core and berserker, it's more useful in PVP than PVE) where as having a 3rd spec or going with berserker will both increase your damage much more than if you were to use spellbreaker so it's much better for PVE. I'd say spellbreaker is really only good in PVP (the considered top build for warrior is actually a support spellbreaker build, not even a damage-dealing focused build ironically).

For damage? Berserker full stop.

Axe/axe + mace/mace or mace/shield, or GS + mace/x for power. Sword/torch+longbow for condi.

Drop banners for in instanced content, otherwise utilities are free game.

Depends what you want to play. If you are just interested in open world content then it doesn't matter and pick what you enjoy playing the most.

For PvP/WvW, Core and Spellbreaker are probably what you want to be playing. Not that Berserker can't be effective in PvP, but I would argue its certainly not as powerful as most of the Core/Spellbreaker builds out there. There are great Berserkers in the game who can make it work, but again you will have a harder time being effective in PvP as a Berserker.

If you are interested in high end fractals or raids, you definitely want to be picking Berserker. Berserker can act as a great pure DPS spec or, more commonly, as a DPS/support hybrid spec known as Bannerslave which virtually every group will want.

For open world go spellbreaker, for everything else (dungeon/fractals/raid) go berserker.

Tried variations of all three, so ... some thoughts:

Core Warrior

Right now I'm running a full Cleric's Mace + Shield warrior that happily turtles through most content and has pretty good capability for bumping down break bars. Running a build that uses "Vigorous Shouts" and "To the Limit!" is awesome when I can (near-)instantly heal 13,000 HP. Damage is a bit lackluster, obviously, but you'll happily tank through most of what you can expect to fight.

Combined with "Adrenal Health" and using your F1 (burst skill) over and over will keep you in the fight with ease.

For added nacho cheese, toss on some Runes of Vampirism for an extra +10% maximum HP -- and the recovery of 10% of your maximum HP whenever you kill something.

Berserker

Personally, I like greatsword berserker because "Arc Divider" (F1) is pretty incredible. I'm running Knight's trinkets and weapons, and Cavalier's armor, possibly with Dolyak runes (it's been a long while). It's a very durable build that trades a bit of baseline damage for fairly reliably crits. Paired with the traits "Smash Brawler," "Blood Reaction," and "Eternal Champion," you'll be well-off.

However, the Berserk mechanic is a little weird to get used to, since unlike other burst skills, it has a duration wherein you can keep using it, doesn't count quite the same with "Adrenal Health" or "Cleansing Ire" (if you're running those), and is best used with steady adrenaline production -- but still has cooldowns on both individual primal burst attacks as well as reactivation of berserk.

Spellbreaker

Okay, this is the one I have the most mixed feelings toward. Effectively the same build as the former, but again, your "Full Counter" ability has rather odd synergy since it's explicitly capped at 2 bars. This means it's easier to activate without focusing on adrenaline gain, but it also means several passive defenses are less effective.

Mechanically, however, dual daggers are excellent for a critical build. Moreover, with "Sun and Moon Style," you heal for 7% of the critical damage dealt -- and like most percentile effects is not affected by Healing Power -- so running a fair bit of toughness or vitality in addition to critical hit chance is highly effective, and becomes even stronger with the "Pure Strikes" trait.

The troublesome part is that, while you do get a handy boost in damage, it's about on-par with Berserker, which can outclass it through more reliable use of Berserk and primal burst skills. Likewise, where you would think the 7% critical damage to life gain would be great for durability (I'm at ~4,000 armor with 3 or 4 ascended trinkets and one ascended dagger), the core warrior build above ends up being better off simply by exploiting "Adrenal Health" and its huge Healing Power.

All the same, it's pretty fun to play and feels a lot more active than other warrior weapon sets.

Testing Method

There's a hidden route through the Derelict Delve's lower levels that spits you out behind the huge waterfall in Desert Highlands. It has a number of destroyer foes and a handful of veterans along the way. I'd fight my way through here (or take on various fire Djinn) to see how a build fared, since you get a good mix of average and hard hits, condition damage from burning, and tougher foes. It's not the most realistic in terms of fights, but it feels like a more accurate indicator than roaming about Orr nowadays.

@"fluffdragon.1523" said:Tried variations of all three, so ... some thoughts:

Core Warrior

Right now I'm running a full Cleric's Mace + Shield warrior that happily turtles through most content and has pretty good capability for bumping down break bars. Running a build that uses "Vigorous Shouts" and "To the Limit!" is awesome when I can (near-)instantly heal 13,000 HP. Damage is a bit lackluster, obviously, but you'll happily tank through most of what you can expect to fight.

Combined with "Adrenal Health" and using your F1 (burst skill) over and over will keep you in the fight with ease.

For added nacho cheese, toss on some Runes of Vampirism for an extra +10% maximum HP -- and the recovery of 10% of your maximum HP whenever you kill something.Tanky is tankyBerserker

Personally, I like greatsword berserker because "Arc Divider" (F1) is pretty incredible. I'm running Knight's trinkets and weapons, and Cavalier's armor, possibly with Dolyak runes (it's been a long while). It's a very durable build that trades a bit of baseline damage for fairly reliably crits. Paired with the traits "Smash Brawler," "Blood Reaction," and "Eternal Champion," you'll be well-off.

However, the Berserk mechanic is a little weird to get used to, since unlike other burst skills, it has a duration wherein you can keep using it, doesn't count quite the same with "Adrenal Health" or "Cleansing Ire" (if you're running those), and is best used with steady adrenaline production -- but still has cooldowns on both individual primal burst attacks as well as reactivation of berserk.Tanky is tanky. Berserker can roll pretty well that way actually, just need the Defense line to be unborked.Spellbreaker

Okay, this is the one I have the most mixed feelings toward. Effectively the same build as the former, but again, your "Full Counter" ability has rather odd synergy since it's explicitly capped at 2 bars. This means it's easier to activate without focusing on adrenaline gain, but it also means several passive defenses are less effective.

Mechanically, however, dual daggers are excellent for a critical build. Moreover, with "Sun and Moon Style," you heal for 7% of the critical damage dealt -- and like most percentile effects is not affected by Healing Power -- so running a fair bit of toughness or vitality in addition to critical hit chance is highly effective, and becomes even stronger with the "Pure Strikes" trait.Okay so here you should take Axe Mastery and wield a MH axe and OH dagger. That healing will go higher.The troublesome part is that, while you do get a handy boost in damage, it's about on-par with Berserker, which can outclass it through more reliable use of Berserk and primal burst skills. Likewise, where you would think the 7% critical damage to life gain would be great for durability (I'm at ~4,000 armor with 3 or 4 ascended trinkets and one ascended dagger), the core warrior build above ends up being better off simply by exploiting "Adrenal Health" and its huge Healing Power.For survivability Spellbreaker is better, for DPS Berserker is better. All things said Warrior can get fairly tanky just from stats, there are just fewer 'mechanics' to achieve that.All the same, it's pretty fun to play and feels a lot more active than other warrior weapon sets.

Testing Method

There's a hidden route through the Derelict Delve's lower levels that spits you out behind the huge waterfall in Desert Highlands. It has a number of destroyer foes and a handful of veterans along the way. I'd fight my way through here (or take on various fire Djinn) to see how a build fared, since you get a good mix of average and hard hits, condition damage from burning, and tougher foes. It's not the most realistic in terms of fights, but it feels like a more accurate indicator than roaming about Orr nowadays.

Try doing some bounties or meta events and see how each build survives there.

Berserker does highest damage. I find core work better in OW, since you may frequently drop out of combat. I would use SB when sustainability is needed.

MMR spellbreaker with berserker and durability runes (Strength runes after comfort).  is GREAT, for rotational training, but berserker spec, DOES deal the most burst DMG (I do zerker gear with thief runes). At the end of the day, people solo dungeons naked, so skill development should always be the priority. 

For opel world honestly forget about berserker. If yoy are running full zerk gear, core warrior performs better. You wont make that much damage but you will take advantage of your full trait lines all the time while in berserker you loose 1/3 of your character everytime your zerk mode is out (which in OW is almost all the time). Core Warrior does a little less damage but survives ten times over. This is if you are soloing. I dont like spellbreaker for OW cause its all about countering and mobs simply dont attack fast enough to be useful. Leave SB for pvp.

For button smashing againts a boss in an organized party go berserker spec for more damage while carrying banners

Fwiw as a zerker you can bring a ton of CC. That and DorA gives benefits out of zerk mode for increased sustain.

Epic necro. My advice? Re-roll.