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Warrior - Greataxe

The community gave this build a rating, making it second-tier: Good

Focused on: Direct damage and Mobility

Designed for: PvP Conquest

Difficulty:
TBD
This build was last updated on January 19, 2022 and is up to date for the October 8, 2024 patch.


Overview

A core Warrior PvP build with good damage and mobility which can also be used by F2P players.


Skill Bar

Greatsword
Axe/Shield
Utility


Slot Changes

Utility

For the optional slot:

  • "For Great Justice!" - instant damage boost for you and your team, also acts as a second healing skill because of various trait synergies with Might stacking.
  • Frenzy - stun break that can also be used offensively for better burst/cleave, even has minor Might synergy.
  • Endure Pain - excellent proactive defensive choice against direct damage burst.


Template Code

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Specializations

Variants

  • Destruction of the Empowered is also a viable option if you can afford to give up some cleansing.


Equipment

Greatsword
Sigil
Sigil
Axe
Shield
Sigil
Sigil
Rune
Amulet


Equipment Variants

Amulet


Usage

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:

  • Bladetrail from outside melee range ⇒ dodge to your target ⇒ Arcing Slice ⇒ Whirlwind Attack
  • Whirlwind Attack ⇒ weapon swap ⇒ Bull's Charge ⇒ Eviscerate

Might Makes Right and Mending Might causes Template:Gw2skill applications to heal you and grant a tiny bit of endurance.

  • Add Vigorous Shouts to the mix and "For Great Justice!" basically turns into a healing skill with 2 charges.

If possible, dodge into enemies to damage them with Reckless Dodge and generate Template:Gw2skill. This is especially useful if you're Template:Gw2wikied as the damage of the dodge will miss, consuming the condition and allowing you to immediately follow up with something.

Use Whirlwind Attack and Rush as often as possible while traveling between capture points. In combat these skills can also get you out of Template:Gw2skill because of the trait Warrior's Sprint.

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 Eviscerate or to keep your adrenaline if you know a burst won't land. Arcing Slice can also be stowed instead of weapon swapped.

Burst skills - Arcing Slice and Eviscerate:

  • These are vital skills for the build and you should do your best to land them. CC targets beforehand with Bull's Charge or Shield Bash, time them to hit just after the target has dodged, etc.
  • You gain 15 endurance via Building Momentum if the skill hits.
  • Most of your adrenaline should be spent on Template:Gw2wiki, as its damage scales with adrenaline level. For Template:Gw2wiki it doesn't matter, the damage is always the same - only the Template:Gw2wiki duration scales.
  • Try to land Template:Gw2wiki right (or shortly) after swapping to Axe to benefit from Template:Gw2sigil.

Bull's Charge 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, Bull's Charge is best used in melee to make it harder to react to.

Throw Axe is a niche skill that shines in 2 situations:

  • Snaring and applying Template:Gw2wiki 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.

Brawler's Recovery and Warrior's Sprint will be used to manage condition levels before resorting to mass cleanses.

"Shake It Off!" (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 Vengeance 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 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: Throw Boulder ⇒ Dash ⇒ Kick (Rampage) ⇒ Seismic Leap ⇒ Smash

The CC skills in rampage barely do any damage anymore, but Dash and the autoattack chain are still quite powerful.


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Retrieved from "https://metabattle.com/wiki/index.php?title=Build:Warrior_-_Greataxe&oldid=245"


Ratings

This build has a rating of 4 stars based on 11 votes.
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3 stars
Yerloq gave this build 3 stars • September 2022
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.
5 stars
Malvavista gave this build 5 stars • August 2021
Great self healing and decent damage. One of the best build for warrior at the moment.
4 stars
Hanz gave this build 4 stars • August 2021
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.
1 star
Pfillbonbon gave this build 1 star • May 2020
Good way to donate wins to the enemy team.
3 stars
Aditya Cyfer gave this build 3 stars • April 2020
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
5 stars
BenBiervernichter gave this build 5 stars • December 2018
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
5 stars
Elr198 gave this build 5 stars • July 2018
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.
5 stars
ShaoAZ gave this build 5 stars • May 2018
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.
5 stars
Nathanel gave this build 5 stars • April 2018
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.
5 stars
Drummermean gave this build 5 stars • February 2018
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.
5 stars
HatSimulator gave this build 5 stars • August 2017
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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