Questions/Asking for advice and Impressions about warrior in Spvp from a new warr player

Greetings fellow warriors,

This is a wall of text, I pour everything on my heart out because I feel like i slammed into a wall at some things and would like to ask for tips from more experienced warriors as I have some issues that i can't seem to overcome or find a solution to.

I came back to the game after a 6 years break and decided to leave my necro main in favor of warrior.PvP was always my main focus and as such I invested a lot of times in learning warrior in spvp.So far, I only play core, Axe/Shield + GS.

My goal is to get as better as possible before jumping in ranked (so far ~200 unranked games).

My first impression is that I found out is that I have a hard time surviving, and even dishing proper damage in large teamfights (4+), i Feel that I don't have a lot of defensive buffs that help me soak damage outside of endure pain.I guess this is due to the reason that we don't have any sources of protection, regeneration or blocks (only shield).Even if going with marauder/demolish amulet, and divinity rune, it feels that i can't survive damage as good as a guardian for example.

I found out that healing signet + Adrenal health is most of the time not enough to brawl in those teamfights.

For quiet a long time I used defiance stance and it worked really well and drastically increased TF capability.But at some point I noticed that against players who actually pay attention (fool me once kinda thing), it effectiveness is reduced in duels or 2v1, so this skill is kinda very polar, its sometimes gives amazing value and sometimes gives nothing.Mending is the current skill i'm using.

I found out that 6.6k heal on 12 CD, condi cleanse and a much reliable peak performance trigger is a better heal.Its also great when disengaging, healing and re-enraging quickly.In general, i started to get the habit of avoiding large teamfights and insead focusing on decapping and small skirmishes, i found that i'm perform better at those.

Why healing signet is so popular?The heal over time is only realy useful in small skirmishes, and with so many bursts going around, it doesn't really make such a big difference.the cast time is very long, and it can be interrupted easily.Finally, the reason to activate it is mostly against specs like scourges, and those are very likely to corrupt it.

How warrior players play in ranked games? do they prioritize rotating and decapping as well as fighting 1v1s or 2v2/1v2? do they also avoid large teamfights?

The second part is about some classes I have issues with:

Condition mirage mesmers are so far the only class that i get demoralized very quickly as a core warrior and feel very helpless....

I simply don't know how to lock them down, even if i manage to cleanse the conditions and clear the clone spam.Every time i target the real one with bullcharge/shield 4, i am greeted with "Evade" or "Invulnerable" , i never manage to actually knock one on the floor.It usually ends up me swinging GS aoe around, F1 are usually ends up "blinded" or ending in the same evade/invul or just running away.Even if i get the upper hand they blink away...How can i get better at dealing with them? so far i just try to avoid them all together....

Next are guardians....

I have trouble out lasting some specs and their massive block boon/active skills.How do warriors handle their burst (Core) or their retaliate with just sign of healing? i find out that without defiance stance/mending I just lose to attrition.For the core burst, I don't understand when is it coming and I don't know how to read it, they just insta teleport and spike me.Unlike holos, which gives me visual cues, this happens out of nowhere and i don't know how i can counter the damage spike.Other then that, I find myself losing to attrition quickly against them, even by just auto-attacking the with the axe....i guess this is due to the retaliation and their burning AOE (I don't know guardians skills that well...)My F1s are getting blocked most of the time ,and I find out that i have to use signet of might to take most of them on, and by the looks of it, i don't see any warrior using signet of might so i'm doing something wrong.How do you guys approach guardians in combat? how do you handle their burst and their boons (specifically constant application of retaliation and block) and how do you win the war of attrition against them?

The rest of the classes i generally handle pretty fine.

Finally, here is the build i'm running right now in Spvp:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vJAQNAR3ejEdQjHW3BmdApIGICK8EehRwCgIon1v41jBA-jpBHQBE8gAIuHAAAOCA5rMQG2fwAXAAA

If you have any critics or tips on ways I can improve in terms of playstyle/build and things I need to know and practice before i get into ranked (pvp fundamentals as warrior i might have missed) than please do share, i would greatly appreciate it.

thanks for reading.

Unfortunately warrior has been nerfed over the past 6 years and we got only a few buffs that then ended up as nerfs.i really don't recommend you playing as warrior in competitive WvW or PvP.After Path of fire expansion and all the stun breakers and crap that got introduce, it is a nuisance to fight the other classes with their abundant sources of dodges, stunt breakers, stability, condition spamming, etc....

As a warrior you can enjoy the game fighting mobs and bosses that stand still.If you engage in WvW or PvP, then you will spend countless times chasing opponents for minutes hitting nothing but air. Once in a while you will encounter the average noob that will stand in your 100 blades but we know those kinds of victories have a bitter taste.

@"steveraptor.9603" said:In general, i started to get the habit of avoiding large teamfights and insead focusing on decapping and small skirmishes, i found that i'm perform better at those.As a core warrior, this should indeed be your role since the build doesn't have any particularly impactful skills for teamfights other than rampage.Why healing signet is so popular?The heal over time is only realy useful in small skirmishes, and with so many bursts going around, it doesn't really make such a big difference.the cast time is very long, and it can be interrupted easily.Finally, the reason to activate it is mostly against specs like scourges, and those are very likely to corrupt it.Healing signet is meta because it provides passive healing that can't be interrupted as long as you don't activate it. This can be crucial if you're in a 1v1 with cooldowns and get +1ed by say an enemy thief, mesmer, or holo, since warrior's stability uptime got nerfed a while back and mending has a long 1 second cast time. As a core warrior you need to dodge the major bursts and heal through the rest, but if you have to pause and cast mending you might end up tanking more damage than you would heal compared to signet passive, or wasting your stability just to cover it. However if you're finding that people in your games don't really try to interrupt mending then you're probably fine to continue using itHow warrior players play in ranked games? do they prioritize rotating and decapping as well as fighting 1v1s or 2v2/1v2? do they also avoid large teamfights?Yes, you should mostly try to push side nodes and take 1v1s. Ideally you shouldn't be the one decapping empty nodes or +1ing even fights since other professions can do it better, instead you should be pressuring an enemy player on point to create opportunities for those classes to +1 you.Condition mirage mesmers are so far the only class that i get demoralized very quickly as a core warrior and feel very helpless....I simply don't know how to lock them down, even if i manage to cleanse the conditions and clear the clone spam.Every time i target the real one with bullcharge/shield 4, i am greeted with "Evade" or "Invulnerable" , i never manage to actually knock one on the floor.It usually ends up me swinging GS aoe around, F1 are usually ends up "blinded" or ending in the same evade/invul or just running away.Even if i get the upper hand they blink away...How can i get better at dealing with them? so far i just try to avoid them all together....It's not a good matchup for this build so you shouldn't attempt to 1v1 them if you can avoid it, instead leave it to more suitable classes like core guardian or s/d thief. However sometimes you might end up fighting them anyway, in which case dueling a condi mirage is mostly about timing. I wouldn't recommend using your ccs immediately as those have obvious animations and can easily be evaded, instead you should hold them until he dodges (which you can see by the blue icon on his bar) and then press your bulls or shield 4, this way you'll hopefully channel the cc into the end of the evade frames and have a better chance of landing it. If you're fighting an axe mirage you can save gs 3 for when he teleports in using his axe 3, then instantly whirl through him to deal damage while evading the axe 2 burst that usually follows. You should also try to bait their evades using stow weapon to fake cast skills like gs f1 or auto attacks. Important skills to dodge or block are the staff ambush if they're running infinite horizon, torch phantasm, and axe 3 + axe 2 comboNext are guardians....I have trouble out lasting some specs and their massive block boon/active skills.How do warriors handle their burst (Core) or their retaliate with just sign of healing? i find out that without defiance stance/mending I just lose to attrition.For the core burst, I don't understand when is it coming and I don't know how to read it, they just insta teleport and spike me.Unlike holos, which gives me visual cues, this happens out of nowhere and i don't know how i can counter the damage spike.Other then that, I find myself losing to attrition quickly against them, even by just auto-attacking the with the axe....i guess this is due to the retaliation and their burning AOE (I don't know guardians skills that well...)My F1s are getting blocked most of the time ,and I find out that i have to use signet of might to take most of them on, and by the looks of it, i don't see any warrior using signet of might so i'm doing something wrong.How do you guys approach guardians in combat? how do you handle their burst and their boons (specifically constant application of retaliation and block) and how do you win the war of attrition against them?Core guardian can also be a tough matchup but since it's a pretty popular build at the moment you'll probably have to 1v1 a lot of them, so I'll go into more detail based on personal experience. There are 2 common variants to this build, both of them use sword + focus on one set but the other weapon can be either gs or hammer. On sword, the skill 2 is a teleport that drops a high damage symbol, you should move out of this or dodge the initial hit if you can. Sword 3 is a stationary skill that shoots out ranged projectiles, however you can avoid these without wasting endurance by running in a circle around the guardian at range so they miss, use gs 3 to burst him while he's rooted, or put up shield 5 to reflect the projectiles. Focus 4 deals a lot of damage over time if its initial hit lands, so you should dodge as soon as you see the white beam appear over your character or use shield 5 if you fail to dodge in time. Focus 5 blocks up to 3 attacks or eventually explodes for big damage if you don't manage to hit it enough, he can also cast it while stunned. You can use multi hit skills like axe 2 or gs 3 to try and pop it before it blows up, or just dodge/block the explosion since he will often swap weapons and time it to be simultaneous with the rest of his burst. Dodge priority on this set should be focus 4 > focus 5 (if you can't pop it) > sword 2 > sword 3/autos

If the other weapon is gs, most of their damage comes from gs 2 which is the whirl. You can easily dodge out of this, most guardians will combine it with judges intervention to teleport on top of you mid cast, but dodging it shouldn't be a problem regardless. Gs 3 is a leap that deals pretty high damage and blinds, you can clear the blind by immediately doing axe 2 or use your own gs 3 to evade it. Gs 4 is a symbol that shouldn't be an issue if you don't stand in it. Gs 5 is another whirl that throws out swords which deal damage over time, it also chains into a pull. It shares the same animation as gs 2, but you can usually tell when it's gs 5 if the guardian is standing out of melee range when he spins around and doesn't try to port in. Dodge priority for this is gs 5 (since he can use it to pull into gs 2) > gs 2 > gs 3 > autos/gs 4

Hammer guards similarly get their burst from the 2 skill, which is a telegraphed leap that is often used in combination with judges intervention as well. Unlike greatsword however, you will need to dodge this before they actually teleport in, since all the damage is in a single hit and if you dodge afterward it'll be too late. It's a pretty obvious animation so unless they're standing behind a wall or something this should be fairly easy, you can also use gs 3 to whirl through it while he's stuck in the leap animation. Hammer 3 throws out a projectile along the ground that immobilizes you for two seconds, you should try to avoid this as you will otherwise be left vulnerable to hammer 2. You can clear the immob with a mobility skill like gs 3 if it lands, or use shield 5 to reflect it since it's a projectile. Hammer 4 is a slow melee attack that will deal ok damage and launch you away if it hits, which can be a problem if you're contesting a point but isn't hard to evade. Hammer 5 makes a cc ring that will knock you back if you attempt to walk or dodge through it, this can be dangerous since he will often try to land a hammer 2 while you're trapped in it. He can combo this one with judges intervention to teleport in and immediately trap you in a ring, so if you see the guardian starting to cast it at range (the animation has him spinning around) you should dodge away or get your stability ready. Dodge priority is hammer 2 (if you have stability available) > hammer 5 (if you don't have stability available) > hammer 3/4

Other than that, some core guardians have a passive trait that gives them retaliation and aegis after you cc them, which could be what's blocking your f1s. One of their stunbreaks (f3) also gives aegis and stability. Don't bother with signet of might, instead use a multi hit skill like axe 2 or gs 3 to clear the block first and deal some damage. It's usually not worth it to trade autos with core guards since their retaliation and might stacking will often win out, instead you should try to avoid their key skills and look for opportunities to land a clean gs 3 or f1 after you remove their aegis. It's worth noting that when they cast their heal they do an automatic aoe attack, so watch out for that if you're both low. Don't hesitate to activate rampage once they've used up most of their blocks and stunbreaks, core guard is actually pretty squishy as long as you don't let it outpressure you

Finally, here is the build i'm running right now in Spvp:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vJAQNAR3ejEdQjHW3BmdApIGICK8EehRwCgIon1v41jBA-jpBHQBE8gAIuHAAAOCA5rMQG2fwAXAAA

If you have any critics or tips on ways I can improve in terms of playstyle/build and things I need to know and practice before i get into ranked (pvp fundamentals as warrior i might have missed) than please do share, i would greatly appreciate it.Here are the issues I see with your build:-Your condi cleanse is very limited, as you're running neither shake it off or berserker stance. This means that if you get bursted by a condi mirage or scourge, you can only cast mending and try to land your f1, but if they dodge it you'll probably die-You're using dolyak signet, which I assume is for the long stability to cover your heal. However, unlike balanced stance the stability on this doesn't pulse, so it can easily be stripped or corrupted and you won't get it back-You're using signet of might, which is useful in some matchups such as core guardian, but will be pretty much worthless against a lot of other builds such as soulbeast, condi mirage, or reaperTherefore my suggestions here would be to switch dolyak signet and signet of might for balanced stance and shake it off, which will give you two stunbreaks and more cleanse on demand. If you ever decide to drop mending for heal signet, you could instead swap the stability (dolyak signet/balanced stance) for endure pain. It's also possible to swap destruction of the empowered for brawler's recovery if you're still having trouble with condi mirage. Divinity rune is a decent pick, but optionally you could change to strength rune for more damage and might stacking.

Playstyle wise I'd just recommend going to a duel server and spamming some 1v1s for practice since that's your main role, good luck

@Torqiseknite.1380

Thanks you so much for taking your time and putting the effort to post this reply and sharing all this wealth of info with me, I really appreciate it.This was a very good read.I kinda lost hope after I saw that after some days no body answers.You solved a lot of issues and questions marks I had, and This definitely going to help me, this was a tremendous read for me.

The above poster covered allot of the important info, id just like to add that if youd like id love to 1v1 to give tips.

Core warrior is (to me) allot of fun with great dps and sustain, love to help if you need any in game feel free to friend me.

Advice: Play a Mesmer instead.. forget about Warrior.. ^^