Warrior - Greataxe
The community gave this build a rating, making it second-tier: Good
Focused on: Strike damage and Mobility
Designed for: PvP Conquest
Difficulty:
Easy
This build was last updated on March 29, 2024 and is up to date for the December 10, 2024 patch.
Overview
A core duelist Warrior PvP build with good damage and mobility which can also be used by F2P players, focusing on winning 1v1s and other smaller skirmishes.
Skill Bar
Greatsword
Axe/Shield
Utility
Slot Changes
Utility
For the optional slot:
- - instant damage boost for you and your team, also acts as a second healing skill because of various trait synergies with Might stacking.
- - excellent proactive defensive choice against direct damage burst. Currently the most popular option.
- - stun break that can also be used offensively for better burst/cleave, even has minor Might synergy.
Template Code
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Specializations
Variants
- is also a viable option if you can afford to give up some cleansing.
Equipment
Greatsword
Sigil
Sigil
Axe
Shield
Sigil
Sigil
Rune
Amulet
Relic
Equipment Variants
Relics
- - helps a lot in condition matchups, has great synergy with .
Equipment Variants
Amulet
- - a more tanky and beginner-friendly option with slightly lower damage.
Usage
Settings
- Disable autotargeting (General Options ⇒ Combat/Movement section) otherwise it'd be impossible to use skills like for disengaging from fights. For more general tips check out our settings guide.
General
- Playstyle: this build is all about weaving hard hitting skills into chains of block and evade frames. The combos aren't set in stone, rather you'll need to adapt based on what CDs are available. Minimize melee contact, dodge/block/evade as many things as possible, and spike targets when an opening shows. Examples:
- from outside melee range ⇒ dodge to your target ⇒ ⇒
- ⇒ weapon swap ⇒ ⇒
- and causes
Might applications to heal you and grant a tiny bit of endurance.
- Add to the mix and basically turns into a healing skill with 2 charges.
- If possible, dodge into enemies to damage them with and generate Might. This is especially useful if you're
Blinded as the damage of the dodge will miss, consuming the condition and allowing you to immediately follow up with something.
- Use and as often as possible while traveling between capture points. In combat these skills can also get you out of
Immobilize because of the trait .
- Swapping weapons in the middle of a burst cancels them and retains the adrenaline. You can use this to your advantage by baiting dodges with or to keep your adrenaline if you know a burst won't land. can also be stowed instead of weapon swapped.
- Burst skills - and :
- These are vital skills for the build and you should do your best to land them. CC targets beforehand with or , time them to hit just after the target has dodged, etc.
- You gain 15 endurance via if the skill hits.
- Most of your adrenaline should be spent on , as its damage scales with adrenaline level. For it doesn't matter, the damage is always the same - only the
Fury duration scales. - Try to land right (or shortly) after swapping to Axe to benefit from .
- can be your make or break skill during duels or downing an opponent. Try to use it at the end of a player's dodge or stability to make it even harder to dodge, and make the most out of it. Alternatively, this can be used defensively for the evasion and mobility to avoid damage or disengage from a fight.
- Despite its range, is best used in melee to make it harder to react to.
- is a niche skill that shines in 2 situations:
- Snaring and applying Immobilize through a trait proc, setting up burst or keeping targets from disengaging.
- Below 25% health increases the damage of this skill significantly, making it fairly powerful for finishing enemies off.
- Snaring and applying
- and will be used to manage condition levels before resorting to mass cleanses.
- (SIO) is the only stun break in the build. This skill has 2 charges: if you're under heavy condition pressure and the aforementioned 2 traits aren't enough, you're free to use one of the charges. This skill also affects nearby allies and can be used to support them if you can afford it.
- The downed state skill shouldn't always be used, only if you're certain that you can get a kill in that 15 second time frame. Let's say you were in a 1v1. If both you and the enemy are downed, a lucky Vengeance can get the kill and bring you back to life. However, if only you're downed and your opponent is alive and has already captured the point, Vengeance would be a terrible idea. Why? Because Vengeance prevents capture point contribution, which means he can just leave you alone and you'll achieve nothing except delay your own respawn by 15 seconds.
Rampage
- is what you use when you want to burst a target or desperately need mobility to either chase down someone / run away from a fight.
- Example of a Rampage burst rotation: ⇒ ⇒ ⇒ ⇒
- The CC skills in rampage barely do any damage anymore, but and the autoattack chain are still quite powerful.
Top Streamers
- Twitch: Drazeh
- Twitch: Boyce
- Twitch: Keyba
- Twitch: Tramadex
Related Builds
- Core Tactics Roamer - the WvW Roaming version of this core PvP build.
Ratings
I suggest taking FGS instead of Endure, as the buffs recently to shouts warrant the pick. The big change is swapping mending for Defiant Stance, acting as a new Endure Pain. With the constant supply of heals from shouts and might, and with the massive dmg in the meta right now, this is easily warranted in my opinion. If timed properly it negates massive dmg spikes, and with the shout heals it easily makes up for the rest. Mending, while good, doesn't make you invul. This ability does. To top it all off, put in Scholar rune to get massive dmg increase when at max health. You'll find that with all the healing you'll either be max or quickly falling hp. Whenever engaged without cd's etc, most likely the hp will be max. This gives oppurtunity for big dmg spikes. Fighter is still alright but with the heal change I'd prefer topping off the dps.
Shield still preferred. but axe and warhorn if you want to fill a niche.
Great self healing and decent damage. One of the best build for warrior at the moment.
August update: has a good mix of sustain/damage, just not enough to keep up with the powercreep. It has a fun playstyle and it's workable even in plat, you just won't see it in ATs anytime soon.
And for F2P players this is still one of the best builds out there. People can definitely have success with it in 2021.
It's decent but spell breaker is better. And also please add the shoutbow berserker build that vallun plays. Its really nice, and a decent support+ damage. New players can totally get accustomed to it
get rid of cleansing ire, use lesser balanced stance or rousing resilience, take mending instead of healing sig (it actually heals more if kept on cd) or use it against condis. even better since its now a physical.
take bullscharge, shake it off and balanced stance. if you still get bothered by conditions use rune of lyssa and signet of rage to convert 3 condis into boons on signet of rage use (or rampage, if you want, its nice to go into rampage with no condis on yourself)
no condis will bother you with those skills, cleansing ire is just too unreliable as a remove. if you are blinded or your burst is blocked/dodged you wont lose ANY conditions.
also sigil of cleansing on axe with intelligence sigil will get rid of stuff like blind or weakness when swapping to axe to bring out the big bursts, which is more valuable than gettin a few might stacks on swap from sigil of battle, which i use on GS
Might makes right Nerf was strong but not enough to relegate the build from it's position of being one of the best duelists in the game.
Core greataxe really is a high skillcap playstyle. You've no tricks, stealth, or excessive immunites, and all your attacks are telegraphed. That being said, I've watched players absolutely wipe the floor with other people using meta specs while running this build. It more or less comes down to how well you can play, and if you play well, the build will reward you as so.
Been using a build like this since pretty much I started playing warrior, never relying on the passive endure pain though, neither berserker stance, you can actually sustain just as much with better utility if you can use your GS burst after a stun or bullscharge then back away with Whirlwind, if you get stunned Shake It Off and Stomp is much better at dealing with CC's with the added condi clear and reduced CD. Also using Mending instead of the Healing Signet because Mending works really great in synergy with Might Makes Right and Adrenal Health.
The most common combo would be Bullcharge/Shield Bash > Swap > GS Hundred blade for 1 sec > Burst > Whirlwind.
Burst Mastery isn't that good compared the cooldown on axe mastery with the added ferocity, you can get up the adrenaline easily with the bonus adrenaline compared Burst Mastery recovery.
Sigil Of Courage is a waste on the GS though, I put it on the Axe instead, while Sigil Of Intelligence not only grants you free crits for either burst or whirlwind, but you also get might from those. Comparatively the Sigil of Battle on the Axe will help you having another evade, unlike the GS Whirlwind which is easily accessed and it's passive might per crit.
Signet Of Might (-Bullscharge) is viable to throw off rotations on Chrono or SB, might even land the killing blow, if you time a burst right.
Battle Standard also a good alternative from Rampage since you often end up last one standing.
the 90 sec cd definately makes reliance on it kinda meh. I'd argue since most nerfs were mostly damage shaves and passives it's weakness to cc is more blatantly clear. nerverthless it is still an rank worthy build. still clearly outshined by spellbreaker but one of the best free to play builds available.
Greataxe is a very good build, featuring high crit damage and decent mobility. Lots of might generation via both weapon sigils and traits, meaning even higher damage if this can be sustained. Another plus is that this build is super enjoyable, and is free for all to use. Definitely in the top 3 f2p builds, along with s/d thief and radiant guard.
Insane build if played correctly. Only tip i have to people is to dodge constantly. You will have so much energy its insane. You can dodge about as much as a thief if not more and do insane damage. Easily 2v1 in some situations.
Comments
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