14 replies to this topic

[MintyRefresh]

Basically, I've decided that the weapon that I'll want to use on my warrior is the sword. Just the regular old sword. And I know that the first response to any of my questions regarding the sword is going to be "try out different things and see what you like best." Yeah well then what's the point of having a discussion? Anyway, I would like to call on the wisdom of these forums to answer a few questions:

Overall, how viable are builds based around the sword?
What kind of build best fits the sword? (Damage, support, defensive, etc...)
What off hands are best with the sword? I'm thinking shield; it seems like a really strong defensive item.

Of course I'm not fishing out your opinions so that I can blindly follow a pre-made build, it's just that this forum seemed a little lacking in sword discussion and I also wanted to know the general consensus on the sword.

Thank you!

Edited by MintyRefresh, 18 December 2012 - 03:42 AM.

[Stigma]

If you're playing a Warrior than most obviously you can really build it a Tanky DPS no matter what. In terms of damage you can go Condition damage with a One hand sword or you can go Critical Damage with a Greatsword. Both are very viable builds. I won't get into detail as to how efficient they will be in PvP though. As there are stronger damage builds that don't use a sword.

If you do Sword + Shield, then you really can do either conditional or critical. There is a trait that gives you +10% critical to swords. But a Sword in itself has some inherent bleed built into it, so you can also get full conditional armor as well.

There are a bunch of Sigils that proc really nicely from criticals. You might want to put a Sigil of Bloodlust on one hand and a Sigil of Strength on the other hand when you dual wield or consider using a Sigil of Earth to proc Bleed as you Crit.

And how "tanky" you want to be is up to you and always  situational. You can always get different stat type armor from dungeons.

Personally, I built a hybrid damage and toughness armor build and for weapons, I use Dual Wield Swords, Sword + Shield, and Great sword and i have different stats and sigils on each weapon and I equip them depending on whether i'm doing general farming, dungeon speed runs, Fractals, WvW etc.

Edited by Stigma, 18 December 2012 - 03:54 AM.

[MintyRefresh]

Stigma, on 18 December 2012 - 03:44 AM, said:

First thing I'd like you to remember is that GW2 allows a Warrior and most classes to do several things:

• Swappable weapon sets - you can swap between two different set of weapon types with a single button during battle
  
  
• Warriors can dual wield

Using a sword is obviously a personal and aesthetic decision of which I won't question you on because I always play a "swordsman" in every MMO. =)

But in GW2 you have choices in this aspect

Not only can you swap between two different sets of weapons but among that you can go:

One hand sword + one hand sword
One hand sword + shield
One hand sword + warhorn
One hand sword + mace
One hand sword + axe...
....
Greatsword (2 hand sword)

You can also obviously use sword in one swap and a bow or rifle in alternate swap.

Read this: http://wiki.guildwar...om/wiki/Warrior

I don't mean to seem ungrateful, in fact your response was very well written. It's just that I already know all of that. I just want to find out what people are doing with the sword since I'm far more than likely not the only one using it

[Brand]

Well, to go down through your questions:
Viable? Many. Optimal? A few.
The best build will be a Condition Damage build.
Sword, Warhorn. Shield is awful for it really (Warhorn provides so much more to your group and to you).

Basically, the sword is a fully offensive weapon. You want your weapon and build to be synergistic (AKA you wouldn't use a Greatsword on a tank build, because the CC from Hammer or the Defense from Mace+Shield would be much better for the build). With that in mind, what you need is Condition Damage. The sword is based around Bleeds, so condition damage and Duration are where you want to go.

As for a specific build, I am unsure. But I would defintely recommend Warhorn, and I would speak to the user Lucav for his take on a Sword/Warhorn build.

Edited by Brand, 18 December 2012 - 03:52 AM.

[MintyRefresh]

Brand, on 18 December 2012 - 03:50 AM, said:

Well, to go down through your questions:
Viable? Many. Optimal? A few.
The best build will be a Condition Damage build.
Sword, Warhorn. Shield is awful for it really (Warhorn provides so much more to your group and to you).

Basically, the sword is a fully offensive weapon. You want your weapon and build to be synergistic (AKA you wouldn't use a Greatsword on a tank build, because the CC from Hammer or the Defense from Mace+Shield would be much better for the build). With that in mind, what you need is Condition Damage. The sword is based around Bleeds, so condition damage and Duration are where you want to go.

As for a specific build, I am unsure. But I would defintely recommend Warhorn, and I would speak to the user Lucav for his take on a Sword/Warhorn build.

Thanks.
I understand what you mean by being a fully offensive weapon. I played a PvP condition/precision sword build once that could down people in seconds but was incredibly squishy. And for utilities, what would you recommend? Do you think that I could do something similar to your sonic boon build, meaning that the purpose is to be an offensive support?

[Brand]

MintyRefresh, on 18 December 2012 - 04:06 AM, said:

Thanks.
I understand what you mean by being a fully offensive weapon. I played a PvP condition/precision sword build once that could down people in seconds but was incredibly squishy. And for utilities, what would you recommend? Do you think that I could do something similar to your sonic boon build, meaning that the purpose is to be an offensive support?

Yes, very much. That is what Lucav's build does. It's basically Sonic Boon minus all the might stacks and with higher shout CDs. The trade off is good conditions and you get the Warhorn, which is a fabulous support tool (Constant Vigor/Swiftness, removes conditions, AoE weakness to enemies, etc). As such, you would be using the same utilities as Sonic Boon, meaning SIO, OMM, FGJ and then SoR as the elite. I'm not sure what he uses as a heal.

I would say Lucav's build is more Mobility and Support centric than Sonic Boon, but you will still do good damage, you will be pretty survivable and you'll be giving some great support (In comparison to most dps builds).

He's the expert there though, go talk to him

Edited by Brand, 18 December 2012 - 06:05 AM.

[Lucav]

I go axe / warhorn mostly, but theres no reason it wont work for sword as well.

http://www.guildhead...RTmax0GaVVkqosV

I am kinda sorta working on a write-up of the build, but dont have much time or motivation. Probably swap the 10 points in disc which is mostly wasted on swords for 10 more in tactics for healing shouts, and obviously take the 20 point arms talent for 10% more crit for swords.

Edited by Lucav, 18 December 2012 - 06:23 AM.

[Mootillay]

The sword is a sustained DPS weapon in the raw damage department with no burst and a lot of utility.  I wouldn't use a sword at all in PvE if you're not spec'ing bleed duration/condition damage.  You can get reasonable DPS with dual swords if you spec this way, just have to keep in mind that a lot of players will bring bleeds of their own which can overlap your DPS and push superior bleeds from the stack.  Otherwise, use an axe.. don't use a sword for the sake of using a sword unless actual performance is a secondary objective for you.

[Barbieslayer]

I tend to use a sword and shield in WvW with a set-up I quite like, involving the traits leg specialist, the reflect on block and piercing shot.

Having the immobilise on cripple and a rifle in my second slot allows me some good controle in small skirmishes and larger zerg situations.  And on-top of that, the sword burst skill immobilises your target.  So using rifle 2, sword 2 then 3 then burst allows me to hold people in place for quite awhile, and apply a decent amount of pressure in those instances.

Though 1v1 can be a little trickier against some of the more talented players, it is still doable alot of the time.  I do run a fairly high toughness build, around 3300 armour with a shield trait and signet, on-top of armour stats.  I find it's quite effective at applying pressure aswell as surviving with. Endure pain and shield stance for when things get hairy or you want that ranged guy to eat what he's throwing at you.  And the rifle for long range harrasment makes for quite a nice build, but it doesn't melt any faces unless you have a little backup.

Of course there's more to it, but ^ that's the idea.

GL with whatever you decide to do, and thanks for the opportunity to prattle on about the build I use.

Edited by Barbieslayer, 18 December 2012 - 07:44 AM.

[Pacman110]

Brand, on 18 December 2012 - 03:50 AM, said:

Well, to go down through your questions:
Viable? Many. Optimal? A few.
The best build will be a Condition Damage build.
Sword, Warhorn. Shield is awful for it really (Warhorn provides so much more to your group and to you).

Basically, the sword is a fully offensive weapon. You want your weapon and build to be synergistic (AKA you wouldn't use a Greatsword on a tank build, because the CC from Hammer or the Defense from Mace+Shield would be much better for the build). With that in mind, what you need is Condition Damage. The sword is based around Bleeds, so condition damage and Duration are where you want to go.

As for a specific build, I am unsure. But I would defintely recommend Warhorn, and I would speak to the user Lucav for his take on a Sword/Warhorn build.

In my Opinion you think a bit to much in mere stats.

It could prove clever to build a sword/shield-crit build. You could go Full Knight and take the Maintainence-Oil + Omnomberry Pie to Maintain a high Crit Rate + Self Heal.
You can now specc the +10% Crit on sword.
The Shield is very usefull not because of the Skills it provides but for the bonus you receive in the aggro-calculation (see http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Aggro)
The Sword can furthermore help you to stop Mobs attacking your Team-Mates.

So I wouldn't say that the best Build is a Condition Damage Setup. Binding Mobs to yourself (and you can do that quite effective) is a great Way to support your Group.
You can make a lot of Combinations work awesome if you think around the corner =)

[typographie]

Pacman110, on 18 December 2012 - 11:42 AM, said:

The Shield is very usefull not because of the Skills it provides but for the bonus you receive in the aggro-calculation (see http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Aggro)
The Sword can furthermore help you to stop Mobs attacking your Team-Mates.

This sounds like a non sequitur to me. That's something the shield does all on its own, and having a mace in your other hand would give you more ways to deal with that aggro once you have it. I guess you could argue that the sword does more aggro-significant damage than the mace, but without a condition damage build I have my doubts.

To be clear I don't disagree with your premise that holding aggro is valuable utility for your group, but you definitely haven't justified the sword over the other options. Even axe would be better in that case.

[xyzxyz]

Lucav, on 18 December 2012 - 06:17 AM, said:

I go axe / warhorn mostly, but theres no reason it wont work for sword as well.

Im curious to know, gearwise - are you using knight's armor? how about weapons and sigils (sword/warhorn)?

[Lucav]

xyzxyz, on 19 December 2012 - 06:52 AM, said:

Im curious to know, gearwise - are you using knight's armor? how about weapons and sigils (sword/warhorn)?

Knight's chest, legs, helm, rings, and earrings. Berserker's gloves, boots, shoulders, amulet and weapons. Everything with beryl jewels. Sigils are fire on axe, and bloodlust / 5% damage switch at full stacks. With this gear set and spec I have a base of 2k pwr, 1880 pre, 1450 tou,1250 vit, 49% crit, 63% crit damage, 21.6k health, 2650 armor.

[Antithesis]

Warrior sword builds have good mobility but imo lack too much in the dps category to be useful.

You can apply alot of bleeds but by itself that doesnt do too much. Swords do synergize well with
longbow for a couple finishers.

As for offhand the horn is fine as you get some speed as well as breaking immobilize/cripple so that is useful.

The shield, however, can also break immobilze when traited "Mobile Strikes", can be offensive and defensive. Also
adds another finisher.

So really both are viable.

Outside of pve the sword dps weakness really shows. When relying on bleeds and low dps it takes awhile to actually
kill someone. In WvW you often dont get enough time to finish without putting yourself in trouble. Additionally you will
have to be really good to get any badges. Mostly just contribute to alot of kills getting junk for loot.

[Jonnie Law]

Are you 80 or still leveling?  If the latter, go sword/warhorn & longbow.  Engage mobs with your long bow, saving LB #3 while you round them up.  Once you got a few and some adrenaline, drop the burst, LB #3 on yourself within the field for some might and then leap thru it for a fire shield.  Stat for condition damage and duration and you'll do just fine.