WvWvW Banners and Shouts Build (still crit heavy)

As promised a modified W3 build for the Warrior. This build is still crit heavy, so the gear you collect will want to reflect this (socketing crit in everything). This will also mean that you can change your spec over to the Burst Build when you want to do some solo roaming or PvE and still use the same gear you've taken the time to earn!

Most of the detail still holds true below so I won't go through it all again, just focus on the (now more important) Sword/Horn skills and the changed Utility skills and traits and how to utilise them in Keep assaults and open battle.

Breakdown: Build

Abilities

Savage Leap = Nice to quickly leap to any defender in a keep that pokes their head out of the door or squishy caster that you see in open battle. Drop a tasty Eviscerate on their face and burn them to the ground before everyone else realises what happened.

Hamstring = 9 second cripple that reduces movement speed by 50%. Good for clearing up attackers that are routing and keeping them in one place whilst you give them the good news.

Charge = Aside from being very very useful for running around the map, this is also nice to drop when the doors go down and you enter the choke point created. It not only speeds you up but also removes some immobilizing effects.

Call to Arms = Nice little buff that gives 100% endurance (rolling) regeneration to your guys and cuts the opponents regeneration and chance to hit in half.

Slot Abilities

Healing Surge = No brainer here. You're going to get hit when you're smashing a gate in, better to heal yourself and top up your Adrenaline than the others. If you see yourself getting a lot of conditions then find a new bunch of people to roam with as the support guys aren't doing their best!

"For Great Justice!" = Fury for 10 secs and Might for 30 secs. This should be up at all times giving a nice might buff to everyone.

"Fear Me!" = A bit of a funny one this, good in a big fight as it will fear enemies for 1 second (messing up their casting) and will provide Weakness for 10 seconds (50% less endurance and chance to hit)

Those two shouts are nice and get buffed heavily in the traits below. If you wanted some extra healing and swiftness giving you could go for "I Will Avenge You!", but frankly with the Horn abilities and the Traited shout healing and banner regen in this build you really don't need it.

Banner of Discipline = crit and crit damage buff

Battle Standard (elite skill) = crit chance, Might, immunity to all stuns (Stability) and the ability to revive fallen allies. Pretty nice all round in W3 due to the immense amount of dying that goes on by the ram.

Take note that the two banners and "Fear Me" are 'Blast' combo skills. Meaning if you drop them in a water field it'll add heals, fire field adds Might etc etc

Go here for more details on that: Blast Finisher

Traits

30 in Discipline which improves burst skill damage (Eviscerate) and gives higher crit damage.

Versatile Rage/Fast Hands/Versatile Power = Keep swapping from Sword/Horn to axe, drop Charge and Call to Arms and swap back. Instant buffs improved by these traits. Reduce weapon swap cooldown by 5 seconds, gain Adrenaline and Gain Might.

Chosen Abilities:

Sharpened Axes = Axe crits feed your Adrenaline

Inspiring Shouts = Shouts grant adrenaline. You won't have to worry about Adrenaline as much.

Heightened Focus = 2%/5%/9% increase in crit chance in line with Adrenaline level

30 in Tactics giving you loads of health and extra buff duration

Determined Revival = Extra armour whilst reviving.

Fast Healer = 10% faster revive speed.

Reviver's Might =  Might buff to allies when you revive someone.

Reviving is HUGE in W3. Do it and do it often. With these increased skills and your banner you can really help the group.

Chosen Abilities:

Inspiring Battle Standard = Your banners apply regeneration to allies

Lung Capacity = 20% faster shout cooldown

Vigorous Shouts = shouts heal

10 in Strength for power increase

Reckless Dodge = Rolls damage nearby enemies. Again I will say Roll Roll Roll!

Chosen Ability:

Great Fortitude = 10% Power given as extra Toughness. This build has more survivability than the Burst Build, but every little helps!

Guide

This is another short guide on how this build can be used.

Open battle

When roaming around you should be in Sword/Horn for the speed buff. When you come across another group drop Call to Arms and run in there (having switched to Axes) and drop Cyclone Axe followed by a pair of dodges to keep you relatively safe. By this time the rest of your guys should be in there so drop both banners, both shouts and Whirling Axe.

Swap to Sword/Horn, drop Charge and Call to Arms again, choose a target (someone clothy) and Savage Leap to them, followed swiftly by a Hamstring. Back onto the Axe and you can go to town. Drop your first Eviscerate and then essentially follow the guide for Burst DPS below, remembering to drop Shouts and Banners whenever they are up. If you can aim these banner drops and shouts so that you/they are in a combo field then all the better for it! (I rarely manage to do this as there's just too much going on)

Keep take

For keeps you play two roles. Outside Warrior and Inside Warrior. Whilst outside your only job is to stay on Sword/Horn and be a revive bot. Get to everyone that falls and get them up again, drop all your shouts and banners whenever you can and Charge and Call to Arms from the Horn skills.

This should mean you have full Adrenaline pretty much at all times so when the door does go down you can run forward, pop Charge in the bottleneck (as explained earlier), choose someone to inflict pain upon and Savage Leap/Hamstring combo them. As above, you then swap to Axe, Eviscerate and business as usual.

Solo

If you want to roam around WvWvW solo, then don't use this build. You need a group for this to be viable as, although AoE only affects 5 people max, you are a DPS/Support Hybrid. If you want to go around ganking people then use the Burst Build from my earlier post!

Build Calculator for SPvP Burst Spec

http://www.gw2builds.org/view/326503/warrior_signet_crit

Above is a link to a build calculator showing the SPvP build.

I realised after I wrote the blog below that it is a bit easier to have something to refer to when reading it.

SPvP Warrior Burst Build

This build is completely based on burst damage. It will allow you to melt Mesmers (if you can find them), Elementalists and other squishies with ease and when played right you should be able to take down anyone 1v1. The only trouble it seems to have is with a full support spec Guardian, but then who can really kill those guys anyway.

Whilst almost completely geared towards dual axe damage, the second weapon of sword/horn is important due to the fact it provides you with a leap (to get in nice and close or chase people down) a hamstring and a nice speed buff.

This build is all about burst damage and getting down your opponent as quickly as possible. It's worth noting that survivability is in the toilet and you NEED to roll every time it is up to help this problem. Roll Roll Roll. Cannot stress it enough. It is also crit heavy so sometimes you can burn someone down in seconds and other times no crits means it takes a bit longer. Be very mindful of your ranges with this too. There is nothing more frustrating than winding up for the perfect critical hit with Eviscerate and then missing because they've run out of range.

In SPvP gear with all amulets, earrings, rings and armour being socketed with crit + crit damage you should be brushing around the 60% crit mark as a baseline, not taking into account the trait skills etc. For weapon sockets I would suggest the 30% chance to lightning strike on crit with both weapons. The more burst the merrier.

Abilities

Chop/Double Chop/Triple Chop = A decent auto-attack, does what it says on the tin, you chop the guy in front of you. On the face of it you will neglect this to begin with. DO NOT DO THIS. Apart from Eviscerate this is up there with your most powerful attack. 2 out of 3 hits will crit every time so keep this up whenever you can.

Cyclone Ace = Fixed place AoE, on the lowest cooldown of any ability so with good positioning this is nice to build Adrenaline which is needed for the big boy attack later on. If you have to choose between this and Chop for a single target stick with Chop. Being rooted to the ground just isn't worth it unless there are a few people around.

Throw Axe = Use this every time is is up (10sec cooldown) as it cripples your enemy, making it easier to open up that burst on him and stop them running away.

Dual Strike = This is the bread and butter of this build. A hit with box axes that gives Fury on a 12 second cooldown. Has to be used every time it is ready and gives nice damage for this build, as well as Fury (20% crit chance)

Whirling Axe = On the longest cooldown of all (20 sec), but not really a problem as you don't need to use it much. Is similar to Cyclone Axe apart from the fact that you can move whilst doing it and primarily this should be used halfway through a battle to build Adrenaline.

Eviscerate = Leaping HUGE attack. This is where the burst comes from, if this crits you're laughing whilst the guy is on the floor crying. Finisher move that is linked to Adrenaline so worth building it first and hoping it crits.This is the attack where you will suddenly see half the enemy's life disappear.

Slot Abilities

Healing Signet = Although healing surge provides Adrenaline, Healing Signet will passively provide regeneration and also +40 Precision (see later).

Frenzy = A must have. Improves crit dmg and quickness, as well as providing a stun break if you need to get out of jail. Bind it to R and pop it before your first Eviscerate.

Signet of Fury = If you are having trouble with Adrenaline creation then take the Signet of Fury which gives a nice crit chance boon as a passive and the active is an Adrenaline boost. This should be popped as soon as you enter SPvP or are resurrected. This will allow it to recharge and mean you enter the fight with full Adrenaline.

Throw Bolas = Immobilizing attack. An absolute must have in SPvP. Not only can this freeze opponents from running, but it is also useful for keeping someone in place and unleashing a Triple Chop on them. Bind this to C and use it often.

Signet of Rage (elite skill) = Passive Adrenaline and active almost everything! Take it.

Traits

30 in Discipline which improves burst skill damage (Eviscerate) and gives higher crit damage.

Versatile Rage/Fast Hands/Versatile Power = These three are why you need to start the fight off with Sword/Horn (more explained later). Reduce weapon swap cooldown by 5 seconds, gain Adrenaline and Gain Might.

Chosen abilities:

Sharpened Axes = Axe crits feed your Adrenaline

Quick Bursts = Burst skills recharge 20% faster

Heightened Focus = 2%/5%/9% increase in crit chance in line with Adrenaline level

20 in Strength for power increase

Reckless Dodge/Building Momentum = Improves dodge capability through making Eviscerate recharge endurance and making your rolls damage nearby enemies. Again I will say Roll Roll Roll!

Chosen Abilities:

Axe Mastery = Improved crit damage for Axes

Great Fortitude = 10% Power given as extra Toughness. You need this extra survivability badly!

20 in Arms for crit chance

Precise Strikes = 33% chance to cause a bleed on crit

Critical Burst = 10% extra crit chance for burst skills (Eviscerate)

Chosen Abilities:

Rending Strikes = 33% chance to cause vulnerability on crit (this stacks nicely with the 33% bleed to give 66% chance to do something nasty on crit!)

Deep Strike = +40 precision for each unused signet

If you want something a bit different you can go for one of the two below instead of rending strikes.

Last Chance = seems nice on the surface (provides Frenzy at 25% enemy health) but realistically 90 seconds is too long for it to proc.

Sweeping Strikes = Your auto-chain attacks hit up to three foes. Gives a little bit more AoE.

Guide

This is just the way I play this build. I am by no means a 'pro' player. I gave up on the Elementalist because it confused me too much, so this is pretty much idiot proof. (I also play a support Guardian... take from that what you will!)

I start off by popping Signet of Fury when I spawn. This gives me full Adrenaline straight away and by the time I've found a fight the Signet is usually back up.


From the Spawn I start with the Sword/Horn combo. Using both Horn skills on the way provides a nice speed boost and then a nice little buff before you get to the combat. I will then select a target, use the Savage Leap ability to introduce myself to him, pop Hamstring to keep him in place and then switch to the Dual Axes. This means you now have a slow moving target, full Adrenaline, a might (from switching weapons) and vigor (from the Horn) buff on yourself and your primary weapon set in hand.

As soon as you switch to Axes pop your Frenzy utility and press F1 to drop your first Eviscerate. It might crit, it might not, but there's a decent chance at least a third of your opponents health will now be gone. With no Adrenaline and a nice 6secs of quickness (100% faster skills) from the Frenzy, drop a Whirling Axe, which should build your Adrenaline back to full, followed by a Dual Strike and a Throw Axe.

This will mean that, once again, your opponent (who will be messing their trousers by now) will once again be slowed if they try to run away. If by this point Eviscerate is back up, pop it again and repeat. If not, throw in a few Chops for good measure. If you get confused or slightly lost with what to do, just Chop. It is a solid attack and will do very decent damage whilst you get your bearings.

This should get your opponent easily down to around 25% and starting to freak out. At this point they will be thinking about dropping all their big cooldowns to save themselves. Don't let them do this by using your Throw Bolas to keep them in place so you can finish them off. Usually straight after Throw Bolas I just let Chop/Double Chop/Triple Chop chain and from this you will really see the damage it does.

There you have it. An idiots guide to Warrior burst play written by an idiot. Needless to say you should roll every time you have the opportunity to and if your health drops below half pop your heal. Yes you lose the +40 precision and the regen, but you won't die.


Next up will be a WvWvW build.

The above video isn't me (as you can see from all the success), but is a fair representation of what a similar build to the one above can do. I will try and get some of my own videos sorted next BWE.