17 replies to this topic

[Cowmonaut]

Update: Re-organized an performed some clean-up.  Guide is still incomplete, but is fairly extensive.

Introduction

This build focuses on Condition Damage, mitigation, group support, and limited control.  The build is designed for PvE and WvW.  Other builds will likely perform better in structured PvP, but having not played in sPvP I frankly can’t say for sure one way or the other.

This guide will walk you through the construction and reasoning behind my Sword & Board build.  It is fairly in depth, so be sure to read it all the way before asking questions.


Build Calculator

GW2DB
GW2Skills.net
GuildHead

The GW2DB Skill Calculator is imperfect.  The GW2Skills one is closer to accurate.  At the moment, it only allows you to properly do PvP builds as it doesn't allow you to select each individual item.  Because of this, I will be detailing the individual items you will want for what I consider an ideal item combination for this build, in the Item Build section.


Skill Build

Weapon Skills
Burst Skill: Flurry
Chain Skills: Sever Artery, Gash, Final Thrust
Savage Leap
Hamstring
Shield Bash
Shield Stance

This build relies on condition damage to help bring down foes.  As such, the Sword for a main-hand weapon is a no-brainer.  For the off-hand I have opted for a Shield to increase the build's durability and utility.

Healing Skill
Healing Surge

In my opinion, Healing Surge is the better healing skill for this build.  It allows you to quickly build up Adrenaline between bouts of Flurry, and if you already have Adrenaline Level 3 it heals for a superior amount than the alternatives.

Utility Skills
"For Great Justice!"
"Shake_It_Off!"
Endure Pain

"For Great Justice!" is an awesome skill for a few reasons.  First, it gives you a perpetual bonus, for yourself and all your Allies, to Power and Condition Damage.  Then it also gives you a large boost to your Critical Chance for a short time.  It also stacks with other instances of itself.

Condition removal can be very important.  I personally prefer to bring "Shake_It_Off!" as it affects all nearby Allies as well.  Seeing as it also cancels the effects of Knockdown I just find it too useful to leave at home, personally.

Finally, damage mitigation is key to surviving fights against powerful enemies like you will find in Dungeons.  Endure Pain is useful in that it gives you a short duration of invulnerability.  Between it and Shield Stance you can outright nullify quite a lot of damage before you even have to worry about your Armor rating.

Elite Skill
Battle Standard

This is the best Elite skill for most Warrior builds in my opinion.  Battle Standard's biggest benefit is being able to pick up Down Players and Allies in an AoE.  The fact it also buffs your Allies is secondary to being able to salvage things when they go pear shaped.


Item Build

As mentioned previously, the GW2DB Skill Calculator is imperfect.  Know roughly what I wanted my attributes to be, I went and figured out the item combination that works best to reach those numbers.

For accessibility, I used the generic versions for these items wherever possible.  If you are so inclined, you can pick up some of these items (such as the Armor) as Dungeon Rewards.  The important thing is the stats on the item, as well as the Runes and Sigils.

This build is mainly about your capabilities with a Sword and Shield, but the other weapons are worthy of a mention.  With the additional Condition Damage and boosts to Bleed it makes sense to bring Secondary and Aquatic weapons that compliment the build.

Please note, you could bring a Rifle over the Longbow as it actually uses Bleeding normally.  I personally don't use my ranged weapons often, but when I do I find the incredible damage output from Combustive Shot too fun to pass up!

Spoiler

Arms
Rampager's Sword of Blood
Weapon Strength: 904-1000 (Average: 952)
+64 Power
+90 Precision
+64 Condition Damage

Knight's Shield of Earth
Weapon Strength: 805-908 (Average: 856.5)
+64 Power
+64 Precision
+90 Toughness

Carrion Longbow of Earth
+128 Power
+179 Condition Damage
+128 Vitality

Knight's Harpoon of Earth

+64 Power
+64 Precision
+90 Toughness

Knight's Speargun of Earth
+64 Power
+64 Precision
+90 Toughness


Armor
Carrion Helm of the Undead
+121 Defense
+32 Power
+32 Vitality
+73 Condition Damage

Carrion Pauldron of the Undead
+121 Defense
+24 Power
+15 Toughness
+24 Vitality
+34 Condition Damage

Carrion Coat of the Undead
+363 Defense
+72 Power
+72 Vitality
+156 Condition Damage

Carrion Gauntlets of the Undead
+182 Defense
+24 Power
+35 Toughness
+24 Vitality
+34 Condition Damage

Carrion Legs of the Undead
+242 Defense
+48 Power
+48 Vitality
+167 Condition Damage

Carrion Boots of the Undead
+182 Defense
+24 Power
+34 Condition Damage
+24 Vitality
+(5% of Toughness) Condition Damage

Gavbeorn Breather modified with Exquisite Chrysocola Jewel
+100 Defense
+15 Power
+26 Precision
+26 Toughness
+15 Vitality
+62 Condition Damage

Trinkets
Rampager’s Spineguard of the Rampager
+28 Power
+43 Precision
+28 Condition Damage

Emerald Orichalcum Amulet of the Knight
+79 Power
+89 Precision
+105 Toughness

Emerald Orichalcum Earring of the Knight (x2)
+55 Power
+65 Precision
+71 Toughness

Coral Orichalcum Ring of the Knight (x2)
+63 Power
+92 Precision
+15 Toughness
+48 Condition Damage

Total Attribute Bonus from Items
Note: Because this build is primarily about the Sword & Board, I'm disregarding the other weapons mentioned from here on out.

Defense: 1211
Power: 710
Precision: 626
Toughness: 443
Vitality: 239
Condition Damage: 684 (does not include 5% of Toughness)


Trait Build

Strength (20 Points)

Spoiler

Attributes:

+200 Power
+20% Condition Duration

Minor Traits:

Reckless Dodge

Building Momentum

Major Traits:

Great Fortitude

Berserker's Power or Distracting Strikes

Strength increases your Power and Condition Duration.  The latter in particular is of great importance, as your sources of Bleeding are relatively short in duration on their own (typically only 2 seconds).  Of course, with Bleeding only being a portion of your damage output it pays to increase your Power as well so your direct damage is high enough.

Arms (25 Points)

Spoiler

Attributes:

+250 Precision
+25% Condition Damage

Minor Traits:

Precise Strikes
Critical Burst
Attack of Opportunity

Major Traits:

Deep Cuts
Blademaster

Arms increases your Precision and Condition Damage.  The latter is important for obvious reasons, but the former is possibly even more important.  Critical Hits are essential to most Warrior builds, and this one is no different.

Defense (25 Points)

Spoiler

Attributes:

+250 Toughness
+250 Healing Power

Minor Traits:

Thick Skin
Adrenal Health
Armored Attack

Major Traits:

Embrace the Pain
Shield Master

You can’t damage anything if you are Down constantly.  Most damage is in the form of direct damage, and as such your Armor (the sum of your Defense from Items and Toughness attribute) plays a big factor in how much is mitigated.

Total Attribute Bonus from Traits
Power: 200 + (5% Toughness)
Precision: 250
Toughness: 340 (+100 more while Health is over 90%)
Vitality: 0 + (5% Power)
Critical Chance: 10% (+10% additional for Burst skills)
Condition Damage: +25%
Condition Duration: +20% (+50% for Bleed)
Healing Power: 250


Attributes

Base Attributes
Power: 916
Precision: 916
Toughness: 916
Vitality: 916
Crit Chance: 4%
Armor: 2127
Health: 18372

Final Attributes
Note: Includes 3 stacks of Might from "For Great Justice!" and static bonuses from Trait Lines, Traits, Weapons, Armor, Sigils, and Runes.

Defense: 1211
Power: 2016
Precision: 1792
Toughness: 1699
Vitality: 1255
Condition Damage: 1094
Crit Chance: 56%
Armor: 2910
Health: 21762
Healing Power: 250


Mechanics

Be sure to check out my guide on calculating damage found here.

Direct Damage
Plugging our numbers into the damage equation we end up with the following against targets with 2600 Armor:

Flurry: 561 (per hit, 8 hits at level 1 Adrenaline, 12 hits at Level 3)

Sever Artery: 443

Gash: 443

Final Thrust: 960

Savage Leap: 554

Hamstring: 554

Shield Bash: 664

Note that this does not factor in our 10% Damage Bonus from Attack of Opportunity.  With this Build, your target will always have a few stacks of Bleeding, so let’s determine the improved numbers:

Flurry: 617 (per hit, 8 hits at level 1 Adrenaline, 12 hits at Level 3)

Sever Artery: 487

Gash: 487

Final Thrust: 1056

Savage Leap: 609

Hamstring: 609

Shield Bash: 730

Condition Duration
Because this Build relies on Conditions, we need to inventory our sources:

Bleed

Sever Artery: 1 stack for 8 seconds

Gash: 1 stack for 8 seconds

Flurry: 8-12 stacks for 2 seconds

Precise Strikes: 33% chance per Critical Hit to apply 1 stack for 2 seconds

Sigil of Earth: 60% chance per Critical Hit to apply 1 stack for 5 seconds

Confusion

Distracting Strikes: 3 stacks for 5 seconds

Cripple

Hamstring:Crippled for 7 seconds

Please note: you can only obtain Confusion as a Condition if you sacrifice Berserker’s Power.  For WvW this makes a lot of sense, but for PvE you will likely see better returns if you don’t.

The points invested in the Strength Trait Line give us a +20% bonus to Condition Duration for all conditions.  The Major Trait Deep Cuts gives us another +50% bonus to Condition Duration for Bleed only.  The tooltip duration is rounded to the nearest quarter second.  Keep in mind however, that conditions that deal damage over time only ticks every full second.

These bonuses stack additively, so its pretty easy to determine our new durations:

Bleed

Sever Artery: 1 stack for 13.5  seconds

Gash: 1 stack for 13.5 seconds

Flurry: 8-12 stacks for 3.5 seconds

Precise Strikes: 33% chance per Critical Hit to apply 1 stack for 3.5 seconds

Sigil of Earth: 60% chance per Critical Hit to apply 1 stack for 8.5 seconds

Confusion

Distracting Strikes: 3 stacks for 6 seconds

Cripple

Hamstring:Crippled for 8.5 seconds

How long each Condition lasts for will be an important factor in computing our total damage output.


Condition Damage
The damage from conditions ignores enemy Armor.  This damage is vital to the damage output of the build.  Unfortunately, the damage bonus from Attack of Opportunity only affects Direct Damage, not Condition Damage.  For this build we end up with the following values:

Bleed: 97 Damage per Stack per Second

Confusion: 294 Damage per Stack per Enemy Skill Activation

Remember, condition damage does not factor Armor into the equation at all.  Any Buffs or Debuffs that affect the Armor value have zero bearing on the damage caused by conditions.  These numbers also only reflect this character build in isolation.  In a typical PUG run you can expect your Bleed stacks to tick over for more than 115 damage per second.

Critical Chance
All damage oriented builds require an adequate chance to land a Critical Hit.  This Build is no different in this regard.  For this Build, the benefits of a Critical Hit include the following:

• 33% Chance to Apply Bleeding from Precise Strikes
  
• 60% Chance to Apply Bleeding from Superior Sigil of Earth
  
• 30% Chance to Life Steal from Superior Sigil of Blood
  
• 150% Extra Damage

Each source of Bleeding gets applied separately, so a Critical Hit gives you the opportunity to apply 3 Stacks of Bleeding with each hit.  Because of this, you will want to have a fair chance of landing a Critical Hit.  Please note: If you have multiple Sigils of Earth you will benefit from the extra increased chance to trigger, but you will not benefit from an extra stack of Bleeding.

With a base Critical Chance of 4%, 876 extra Precision, and the Major Trait Blademaster we end up with a 56% Critical Chance.  For Flurry, this jumps to 66% thanks to the Minor Trait Critical Burst.

One sometimes overlooked benefit of "For Great Justice!" is the application of 8 seconds of Fury.  While under the effects of Fury we will enjoy a 76% Critical Chance, 86% for Flurry.  Because the duration is shorter than the cooldown for "For Great Justice!", I tend to ignore Fury when computing damage.  Later I will attempt to include it in my calculations.

Life Steal
The Superior Sigil of Blood gives us a fun opportunity to take advantage of the Life Steal mechanic.  This Sigil will steal 325 Health from your target.  This damage bypasses Armor, just like conditions, and is in addition to all other damage done by the Critical Hit.  It will heal you for 325, but does not appear to be affected by Healing Power unfortunately.

Edited by Cowmonaut, 23 October 2012 - 07:58 PM.

[Alexander Dragonfang]

Love it!

In normal PvE you could use Signet of Fury, if you are a charr then charrzooka FTW, but signet of fury can do wonders here, at least to deal with veterans...

[lmaonade]

if you're going for condition damage in PvE, you might want to look into longbow, AoE burns with a bit of kick.

I like it though, I used a similar build back in the day, it's a very simple and effective build which is awesome (however, this was before I was a PvE longbow believer, so I might just be looking at this with biased hindsight), I eventually switched out for direct damage builds because it suited me more, but imo your guide is a good one for those wanting to play condition warrior

[Cowmonaut]

Alexander Dragonfang, on 10 October 2012 - 11:29 PM, said:

Love it!

In normal PvE you could use Signet of Fury, if you are a charr then charrzooka FTW, but signet of fury can do wonders here, at least to deal with veterans...

Veterans haven't been giving me any real grief so far, but I tend to be facing just the Veteran at the time.  Really easy to keep your health up though and keep the damage rolling with the Bleed stacks.  Still, more Might and Fury is never a bad thing.  The cooldown is just high enough you can't really spam it so I stopped using it when I didn't need to run fast.

lmaonade, on 11 October 2012 - 11:00 AM, said:

if you're going for condition damage in PvE, you might want to look into longbow, AoE burns with a bit of kick.

I like it though, I used a similar build back in the day, it's a very simple and effective build which is awesome (however, this was before I was a PvE longbow believer, so I might just be looking at this with biased hindsight), I eventually switched out for direct damage builds because it suited me more, but imo your guide is a good one for those wanting to play condition warrior

Thanks for the compliment!

I too love the Longbow in PvE.  I'm finding I miss it already, but I might want a different build to fully take advantage of it.  When I used the Longbow I tended to switch between weapon sets rapidly.  Being able to drop down Combustive Shot followed by Arcing Arrow then switching to Sword/Axe, using Whirlwind and then hitting Flurry and switching back to the Longbow made it hilariously easy to take on a large number of non-veteran mobs.

Still, with all that Condition Damage Combustive Shot can end up doing an amazing amount of damage.

[tarquin]

how does it work in orr?

i'm skeptical of this build's success with the reliance on condition damage.  it's not like engineer where you can maintain bleeding, poison and burning with the occasional confusion.  you only have bleeding and a rather slow application (only 1 per attack).

different playstyle, but is it anywhere near as effective as herpderp berserkers dps build where you can get multiple crits for 2k and the mob is almost dead in a nano second?


p.s. the most important thing for me is perma swiftness.  therefore signet of rage is a no brainer, and together with a utility banner (they all have a group 10 sec swiftness with 15 sec cooldown) you can get near enough permanent swiftness.

Edited by tarquin, 11 October 2012 - 06:10 PM.

[Raemyi]

Oddly enough, I just recently came up with a similar build myself, though tweaked a bit.  We both use the same weapons and utility skills, but I took ten points out of strength to bring Arms and Defense to 30 each, taking the quickness-when-your-enemy-is-weak and invincibility-when-your-health-is-low traits, respectively.  I forget the names, but it seemed like a good combination of trump card and/or tide turner skills to have, at a minimal loss of damage output.

Additionally, I eschewed condition damage for raw power (the viability of which, for sword, I researched and discussed in a separate thread), and planned on taking a power-toughness-somethingelse set, for the gear and trinkets.  In the end, I felt like the whole thing left me with a build that could excel in PvE by focusing on both offensive and defensive viability, allowing one to go toe-to-toe with tough but predictable enemies by utilizing good timing, tactics, and passive boosts, but not necessarily excelling in PvP where more specialized tricks are required.

I'd be interested in seeing some comparison between our takes on the build, to give us both some ideas on where to take it.

Edited by Raemyi, 11 October 2012 - 06:09 PM.

[MoneyJr]

Cowmonaut, on 10 October 2012 - 11:13 PM, said:

Greetings,

My main character since the original Guild Wars has been a Warrior by the name of Varthis the Bloody.  Life being what it is, I don't have the 10 hours a day to dump into GW2 like I did with the original GW, so I welcome any and all advice or criticism to this build.

This site isn't quite as amazing as the original Guild Wars Guru, but I'm hopeful that as the game matures these forums will.  Already we're seeing some interesting discourse, and I for one find it better than most of the alternative websites so far.

But you didn't come here to hear me ramble.  On to the build!

Sword & Board

Arms
Primary: Sword main hand with Shield off hand.
Secondary: Rifle

Primarily, this build relies on Condition Damage.  It does not do 'spike' damage, but rather 'sustained' damage.  I won't bother getting into an argument over the merits of either damage method.  The point is, the Sword is the only melee weapon a Warrior has that can apply Bleeding reliably so that is the weapon used in this build.

The off hand was not chosen arbitrarily.  The Shield was chosen specifically because of what it brings to the table: mitigation and an interrupt.  More on these points later.

The Secondary I rarely use.  Sometimes you must use a ranged attack, so it pays to bring one.  Adding Vulnerability and more Bleed stacks doesn't hurt anything either.  I find I miss the AoE carnage that the Longbow brings, especially with the +Condition Damage in this build.

Armor
Set: Rampager's

With the Bleed Condition being your core damage source, it is important to crank up the Condition Damage.  Currently I'm in a set of Rare's and have been enjoying this build.  I really want to invest in some Exotics to get the most out of it, but I want to make sure I'm going down the right path.

The reason I've been using the Rampager's set is so that I get increases to both Power and Condition Damage.  I do not know the conversion ratio of Power to Condition Damage, so I feel armor with +Condition Damage is mandatory for this build.  It does not appear to be on the Wiki or anywhere else that I can tell, so if you know the equation please share!

Additional survivability oriented stats (e.g. Toughness) may be worth more than the Precision.  Currently I enjoy the extra Crit Chance, as that equates to more Bleed stacks.

Advice in this area is welcome!

Trinkets
Amulet: Soldiers Amulet with Rabid Jewel
Earrings: Rabid Jewel
Rings: Rabid Jewel
Back: Guild

Currently I have terrible trinkets and am sorting out which ones would work best for me in the long run before I acquire them.  I believe that with my current Armor Set I should focus on increasing my Power and Toughness.

I do think I should keep buffing my Condition Damage though (more on that later) so I've been thinking of using Rabid set Jewels for the increase to both Condition Damage and Toughness.

Advice in this area is also welcome!


Skills
Utility: For Great Justice!, Shake It Off!, and Endure Pain
Elite: Warbanner

FGJ is a very hard skill to pass up.  In addition to beefing your damage output, it buffs up all your nearby allies.  In PvE and Dungeons this can be very important and incredibly helpful.  This skill greatly affects your damage over time thanks to its affect on your Bleed stacks.

Shake It Off has obvious uses, and I find it amazing in PvE.  Even during simple events such as fighting Dragons it is amazingly useful to counter fear bombs and the like.  An instant counter to crowd control is important for you as an individual, and for your group as a whole. I'm starting to have trouble leaving this behind.

Endure Pain is interesting.  4 seconds of invulnerability (its 5 seconds if you have the Trait that increases Stance duration) is surprisingly useful, even on a large cool down.  Between Shield Stance and Endure Pain you can mitigate a fair amount of damage before having to tap into your endurance.

The Elite Skills for the Warrior are not spectacular.  I find the Warbanner to be the most useful in most circumstances.  An AOE that picks up your Downed allies (NPC and Players alike) is surprisingly useful.  I find that's all I use it for however.  In Dungeons this is excellent, but in PvE it can be a little "meh".

Traits
Strength: 20
Arms: 25
Defense: 25

And this is where things get a little more interesting.  Before I get into it, please note the skill calculator does not correctly tabulate bonuses from Traits.  For Traits such as Shield Mastery, Armored Attack, and Great Fortitude this is annoying since they are effectively always on passive buffs with this build.

Anyways, with Condition Damage being the main means of damage output, Arms is an automatic inclusion.  I went 25 points in to pickup the 10% damage boost to foes with a Bleed stack on them.

Survival is also important.  Glass cannons are a liability in a Dungeon and even world Group Events.  With the large health pool and the vast majority of PvE/Dungeon mobs not doing DOT conditions, I find Toughness is the most important stat to buff for your survival.  Also, using a Shield it provides some additional benefits.

It was a tough call, but I only went 25 points in to Defense rather than 30.  While a free and automatic Endure Pain is nice, I find it rarely trips and when it does things are usually so dire that it won't save you in the long run.  The extra points for Power seemed more worth while.

And speaking of Power, I went 20 points in to pickup an additional source of Condition Damage.  Distracting Strikes allows your Shield Bash to do a little more damage against most foes.  Not only do you stun and interrupt what your foe was doing, but I find against many enemies the additional damage gets tripped fairly often (though not always).

I like this trait setup, though I don't find it perfect by any means.  I do enjoy the fact that as I increase my Toughness I increase my Power, even if its just by a little.  Likewise with my Vitality growing with my Power.  This keeps Power, Toughness, and Condition Damage my favored stats.

--- WORK IN PROGRESS ---

Something came up and I must jet, but I got most of what I wanted down so I figured I'd hit submit anyways.  I will edit this post when I next get a chance to clarify a few points regarding the Traits.  Advice regarding Armor and Trinkets is highly sought after by those of you that have been 80 longer than I.

Just wanted to log in & thank you. I've been running sword/axe, mace/shield & rifle and have been looking for a different build. After reading your post, I went sword/shield & rifle (longbow in Orr) and enjoyed it. I tweaked my traits a little bit but overall, nice job!

[Cowmonaut]

tarquin, on 11 October 2012 - 06:06 PM, said:

how does it work in orr?

I haven't had any complaints myself.  I've been using it the entire time I've been in Malchor's Leap and Straights of Devastation.  Point in fact, the final tweaks to the build (increasing Defense and dropping points out of other damage increasing Traits to beef up survival) were brought about because of the conditions in Orr.

Right now, I'm in a set of Rare rampager's with Superior Rune of the Undead, wielding a Rare Sword/Shield.  All of these are level 80 minimum.  My Longbow is only Level 74, but the Rifle I had been running around with is 80.  I have only the Superior Sigil of Earth on the Shield.  For all intensive purposes I effectively have no trinkets, no trinket gems, and no Sigils on the Sword or Rifle/Longbow as of yet.

So my gear can use some improvement and I'm having no problems taking on Veteran mobs, surviving constant fighting, and contributing to Group Events.

tarquin, on 11 October 2012 - 06:06 PM, said:

p.s. the most important thing for me is perma swiftness.  therefore signet of rage is a no brainer, and together with a utility banner (they all have a group 10 sec swiftness with 15 sec cooldown) you can get near enough permanent swiftness.

Swiftness is not a priority for me most of the time.  There are times when I switch to Signet of Rage so I can run across a map to meet up with somebody (contested waypoints are frustrating sometimes...) but I never find myself wishing I had it all the time and I don't like the trade off in group fights.

The rest of your questions I am going to answer by editing the main post.  Since you ask for the math, I shall give it but it belongs in the main post.  I was going to do it here but its so long it really needs to be in the main post.

@MoneyJr: My thanks!

[Cowmonaut]

I've made a massive edit to the original post.  Its much longer now, and still hasn't answered all the questions in detail.  As you can see from the update though I'm working out the exact math to make it presentable for comparison to other builds!

Please let me know if you have any questions / concerns / see any flaws.

[mezooooo]

I loved this guide and it will be also my 2ed and future build for condition damage
Currently i am running Axe-Axe as a direct damage its also great but i got bored from it tbh so changing is always good.
This is the build i am currently running and it's also my own  build btw.
http://www.gw2db.com...e-dungeon-build

Edited by mezooooo, 16 October 2012 - 07:57 AM.

[Cowmonaut]

Thanks for the vote of confidence!  I hope to finish the damage calculations soon.  Sorting it out is... complicated.  To say the least.  In the meantime, I hope the latest revision of the Guide is easier to read!

[Dank Rafft]

I've never played with a shield but your guide arouse a great deal of interest in this off hand weapon. I prefer an axe as main hand weapon. I will give it a try. Thanks.

[Kovares]

Personally I prefer the direct damage of a axe/warhorn build better, since you'll never run into issues with your teammates' bleed stacks and the damage just happens faster. If you want to run this, however, you might want to look into using all your rune slots for bleed duration (namely Centaut, Krait and Undead) to get the most out of it. They even stack with food, so you could squeeze out another ~60% bleed duration which should be quite noticeable.

[Gorgexpress]

Signet of stamina is another utility skill to take note of. The endurance regen is great for when you have to dodge often. The active is nice to have too.

I would also carry around a warhorn incase you get into a situation where the shield doesn't help much, like giganticus lupicus. Running out of endurance is a big issue on that fight, and even traited shield stance has too long of a cd to help much.

[Sansia]

I tried this out over the last week and all i can say is WOW it works very well never enjoyed playing my warrior so much, so a big thanks from me for this Cowmonaut and keep up the great work.

[Cowmonaut]

Dank Rafft, on 17 October 2012 - 05:45 PM, said:

I've never played with a shield but your guide arouse a great deal of interest in this off hand weapon. I prefer an axe as main hand weapon. I will give it a try. Thanks.

I'm glad my build is having a positive effect   Sword main hand isn't for everyone.  Which is a good thing, since if everyone did use it we'd have problems in Group Events!

Kovares, on 17 October 2012 - 06:26 PM, said:

If you want to run this, however, you might want to look into using all your rune slots for bleed duration (namely Centaut, Krait and Undead) to get the most out of it. They even stack with food, so you could squeeze out another ~60% bleed duration which should be quite noticeable.

I'm working on a less 'tanky' version that doesn't use the Shield.  The 5% bonus to Condition Damage from 6 Runes of the Undead gives you ~85 Condition Damage.  This appears to be added before the Trait bonus so it actually makes a pretty big dent in your Condition Damage if you take it away.  Whatever you do, just stay above 1000 Condition Damage if you can.

My personal preference if you were going to mix/match runes for Bleed Duration would be to go with 5 Superior Runes of the Nightmare and 2 Superior Runes of the Afflicted (since the Rune from your Aquatic Helm appears to get counted when you are on land).  It gives you something like +211 Condition Damage, +10% Condition Duration, and +15% Bleed Duration.

Also, with this bulid you generally have 15 stacks of Bleeding if you aren't spamming Flurry already.  Another 60% Bleed Duration (assuming you didn't lose any Condition Damage) would be overkill I think.  I'd have to run the numbers to be 100% sure, but if you had another 25-30% I think you'd be hitting 25 stacks all time as is.

Gorgexpress, on 18 October 2012 - 07:52 AM, said:

I would also carry around a warhorn incase you get into a situation where the shield doesn't help much, like giganticus lupicus. Running out of endurance is a big issue on that fight, and even traited shield stance has too long of a cd to help much.

  This is a good point.  In my opinion, a good Warrior is going to be bringing a Longbow, Rifle, and Warhorn with whatever main weapon he carries.  There are just too many different situations in the game for you not to.  Sometimes you need AOE (so off hand Axe and Longbow helps this build) and other times you need to help your team keep moving (warhorn).  Be flexible.  In PvE, there will never be a time in which you didn't wish you had something.

Sansia, on 18 October 2012 - 10:22 AM, said:

I tried this out over the last week and all i can say is WOW it works very well never enjoyed playing my warrior so much, so a big thanks from me for this Cowmonaut and keep up the great work.

My thanks!  I definitely appreciate that my efforts aren't wasted.  Hopefully with other eyes on it and bodies using it we can see if it can be improved.

[Sheffyeld]

Looking your build, so nice, but I want a S/S build just because I LOVE THE **** animations!, so nice man =/.

I know everybody says condition damage build is "weak", but for someone who just want to have map complete + fun, it's better I use what I like.

But for now i'll stay using this build <3

@Edit

Do you have a build for S/S? I think the shout skills looks nice with that, but i'm not sure, because I stoped to play with a warrior :3

Edited by Sheffyeld, 23 October 2012 - 02:47 AM.

[Cowmonaut]

And since its been requested so much, here is my take on a less tanky version.  Now, its designed with you using a Sword/Axe combo but can be adapted.  You might lose out on being able to spam Flurry as often, or perpetual Fury, but you could run the same build with a Sword or Mace easily enough.

Edit:  Also, your first 3 skills only use the Main hand, so I guess I don't see why you are in love with the animations?   Your off hand doesn't do anything except when using Flurry (and even then its not actually used for calculating anything).  But to each their own.

Edited by Cowmonaut, 23 October 2012 - 10:04 PM.