Staff Warriors Bring Frontline Support to the Heat of the Battle

[Rubi Bayer.8493]

Leap into action, block all the things, and heal your allies!

Staff will be playable alongside the new weapons for every profession as part of the Expanded Weapon Proficiency beta event starting on November 28 at 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time (UTC-8).

 

[Mikali.9651]

I already have anxiety because of this part: Defiant Roar heals nearby allies, with the amount increasing for each attack blocked by Bullet Catcher (up to a reasonable amount, of course).
Seems clunky to balance right...

But let's go! Support Warrior!

Edited November 10, 2023 by Mikali.9651

[Grand Marshal.4098]

Hmm doesn't look bad so far. A leap and a block, def an interesting weapon to use outside of support. Let's see how it works in the beta.

[DanAlcedo.3281]

Looks like 2 movement skills? The leap and the charge? 

Anyway, super excited! 

[Wulfhearth.7962]

It's looking great so far! I love the weighty feel the animations have, a martial support weapon befitting of the warrior.

And a leap with a heal attached to it should be quite fun and satisfying to use. (Especially followed up with stomp, to create some breathing space for your allies.)

Edited November 10, 2023 by Wulfhearth.7962

[CptnChumps.1932]

Looks interesting for sure! Looks very much like rev staff but more offensively oriented with some of the daredevil animations in there for the presumed auto attacks. I'm excited to see what kind of build will come out of this and what they're going to change in their traits to accommodate it. Only thing I don't like is the name 'Bullet Catcher', it sounds a bit too cheesy lmao

Edited November 10, 2023 by CptnChumps.1932

[Flapjackson.1596]

Hard to form an opinion on it when this reveal was so barebones.

Hoping the stream addresses important questions like how does this work with current war specs being heavily damage focused, how does the burst operate, how well does a support zerk function without rage skills, etc

I still stand by my take that spellbreaker is thematically the only spec that makes sense for support but quick/alac ruin that fantasy because we can’t have healers without quick/alac.

[LichOverlord.6329]

5 minutes ago, CptnChumps.1932 said:

Looks interesting for sure! Looks very much like rev staff but more offensively oriented with some of the daredevil animations in there for the presumed auto attacks. I'm excited to see what kind of build will come out of this and what they're going to change in their traits to accommodate it. Only thing I don't like is the name 'Bullet Catcher', it sounds a bit too cheesy lmao

Yeah, I immediately thought the same thing

I see this as essentially the offensive counterpart to the more defensive/skirmisher-style of play that Revenant has with their staff

This is made to be used on the front lines in the thick of the fight - essentially a sort of battle cleric

 

[DanAlcedo.3281]

8 minutes ago, Flapjackson.1596 said:

Hard to form an opinion on it when this reveal was so barebones.

Hoping the stream addresses important questions like how does this work with current war specs being heavily damage focused, how does the burst operate, how well does a support zerk function without rage skills, etc

I still stand by my take that spellbreaker is thematically the only spec that makes sense for support but quick/alac ruin that fantasy because we can’t have healers without quick/alac.

Depends on the core/spb burst. 

Berserker(realistic scenario because we won't drop Zerker form) and Bladesworn doesn't have access to it, so it could be used in and interesting way to make support spb a thing. 

Edited November 10, 2023 by DanAlcedo.3281

[Lan Deathrider.5910]

Hmm... Leaning into the offensive side of support. We'll have to see what the other 2 skills and the bursts do.

[LichOverlord.6329]

7 minutes ago, Flapjackson.1596 said:

Hard to form an opinion on it when this reveal was so barebones.

Hoping the stream addresses important questions like how does this work with current war specs being heavily damage focused, how does the burst operate, how well does a support zerk function without rage skills, etc

I still stand by my take that spellbreaker is thematically the only spec that makes sense for support but quick/alac ruin that fantasy because we can’t have healers without quick/alac.

I'm sure we'll hear more as we get closer to release, and we'll also get a chance on the 28th to try these out ourselves, so by then everything will be out in the open

As for how it'll work with warriors, again, this is a more offensive support rather than a pure support, which fits in line with warrior

Still think they should've given alac to spellbreaker instead of bladesworn, because the last point you made is.... well, you're just right.

 

[AllNightPlayer.1286]

Great, another melee weapon for warriors. In the meantime, my bunker/support warrior doesn't know what to do with either bow or rifle.

Edited November 10, 2023 by AllNightPlayer.1286

[DemonCrypto.6792]

Let's analyse the different moves shown in the video:

1- leap ->Valiant Leap

2-simple hit -> ? (auto n°1 maybe)

3- round house hit ->?

3- 3 directions pull ->?

4- overhead hit -> ? (auto n°2 maybe)

5- Wirling hit-> ? (auto n°3 maybe)

6- backward dodge (maybe flip overskill with 7)

7- Charge -> ?

8- overhead hit->? (auto n°3 maybe)

9- might signet

10- Shout ->? (full animation)

11- Wirling hit-> ? (auto n°3 maybe)

12- Block ->Bullet Catcher

13- 3 directions pull ->? (that is the last hit on the video)

i don't think they have shown the burst skill or maybe i would bet it is the shout

 

Edited November 11, 2023 by DemonCrypto.6792

[Wulfhearth.7962]

1 minute ago, AllNightPlayer.1286 said:

Great, another melee weapon for warriors. In the meantime, my bunker/support warrior doesn't know what to do with either bow or rifle.

To be honest, i'm more mad about Bladesworn getting a second GS instead of mainhand pistol. (yep, i'm STILL salty) 

Support Melee staff is actually a great addition to warriors kit and something that was actually missing. 

[Myror.7521]

So the animations seems ti be copy paste of warriors hammer and thiefs staff .... idk about that tho xd we need to wait for tha stream i gues xd

[Azure The Heartless.3261]

You have my attention 👀 

Staff has a quickly resolving leap, potentially a pull, and a channeled block, and thus I am interested. As long as it's mobile, it will be useful. I need to see numbers though.

Edited November 10, 2023 by Azure The Heartless.3261

[ZeftheWicked.3076]

A teaser to be sure...

There are still some very big questions that remain unanswered:
 

• What is it's burst?
• Same for primal burst.
• Will the weapon have enough juice to function without those on bladesworn?
• Outside of support will it provide power or condi damage?
   

That being said this looks very promising.
A huge gap is likely to be bridged between warrior and having an actual, raid viable support build.
Also existing specs may benefit greatly:
 

• Zerker already has everything a dedicated support needs except healing numbers. With not one, but two bursts from staff he may be a contender for dedicated healer spot in end game content.
   
• Core warrior will offset it's low numbers with versatility. Discipline got some support in recent patch, combine that with tactics and some other core line and you may get pretty nice jack-of-all-trades build for open world.
   
• Spellbreakers have great boon removal for competitive but little else. Staff's own boons may round this up. Big question is if staff with only lvl 1 burst available will have enough green numbers for the team to matter?

Edited November 10, 2023 by ZeftheWicked.3076

[Lan Deathrider.5910]

1 hour ago, AllNightPlayer.1286 said:

Great, another melee weapon for warriors. In the meantime, my bunker/support warrior doesn't know what to do with either bow or rifle.

Relic of Karakosa and use LB3 to blast fields.

[Frozey.8513]

Unlike the Ranger maces, War staff is actually looking pretty pog.

[Fueki.4753]

The animations look fine. Hopefully the damage won't be too bad, despite its supposed supportive nature.

Did I see them finally fixing Greatsword's Rush and giving it to Warrior on a different weapon?

That Bullet Catcher / Defiant Roar combo doesn't seem nearly as interesting as the Rampage variant that Ranger gets with its Maces.

Edited November 10, 2023 by Fueki.4753

[Za Shaloc.3908]

Well I have a total of probably 5 hours on Warrior of the many many thousands of hours I have put into this game. It's the class I care the least about and that has never piqued my interest, but this will likely change it. Really looking forward to finding out more about the skills/burst/etc. Playing a quickheal Zerker sounds really fun.

[aymnad.9023]

bundle power ! (old bundle banner visual effects)

I did not manage to catch the animations of the boons but it sounds like there will be some or other effects.

Edited November 11, 2023 by aymnad.9023

[Emberheart.8426]

5 hours ago, AllNightPlayer.1286 said:

Great, another melee weapon for warriors. In the meantime, my bunker/support warrior doesn't know what to do with either bow or rifle.

At least warrior mains signed up for a melee profession in character creation, unlike say elementalist.

[Doggie.3184]

Give it the old Banner idle. 🙂

I also like that the Pic is of the Warrior supporting the Mighty Earth Elemental by kneeling to it.

[Jzaku.9765]

I'm disappointed that there's no unique mechanic for this weapon like there was for Thief Axe and Ranger Mace the previous 2 days. If there was any build that needed serious help to get off the ground, it's Heal Warrior, so some more effort put into it's weapon would have been nice.

We'll still need to see it's Burst skill (and Primal Burst) to really make a call on it. From what the video has shown, theres 2 different leaps (both Earthshaker and Savage Leap's animations), a dodge roll, and a block on the weapon, so it seems pretty blatant to me that this weapon was designed primarily for PvP/WvW - so I'm pretty apprehensive about how impactful it'll be for PvE Heal Warrior, which would be competing against some of the most insane builds in the game.