Core Warrior

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The following build is designed to guide you through your first playthrough, or simply offer you a decent and reliable Core build if you are on a Free-to-Play account. Core builds are not advised to use later in the game due to the superiority of elite specializations.

Warrior is a melee-focused profession that loves hitting enemies hard with a wide arsenal of weapons. Their dual axes provide them with some serious damage, while weapon swapping to dual-wielded maces gives them access to powerful crowd control abilities.

You can upkeep a permanent 25 stacks of Might, permanent Fury, and almost permanent Quickness through the Axe abilities, traits, and Banners. You also provide some of those boons to your allies, and with minor trait changes you can even keep 25 Might on them.

Build Fundamentals

This build revolves around upkeeping the damage modifier from Berserker's Power by using your burst skills off cooldown. This damage modifier can be further increased by Peak Performance triggered by using Mending, but be careful with using it as this is your only condition cleanse and direct heal.

You’ll also be a great addition to any team, as you can easily provide Fury with "For Great Justice!", Quickness with Banner of Strength, Might with both of those, and via Marching Orders. And if you want to sacrifice some Quickness for more group Might, you can pick Phalanx Strength.

Weapons

Your dual-wielded Axes are your primary weapons, you shouldn’t swap off them unless you need movement aspect from the Greatsword.

It’s important to use your Axe burst skill Eviscerate off-cooldown as soon as you have full adrenaline to trigger the effect of Berserker's Power.

To further increase your damage, you should use two weapon skills that give you boons when used. Cyclone Axe grants Fury and Dual Strike grants Quickness while also dealing solid damage.

In addition, any movement impairing effects will also increase your damage via Leg Specialist, so whenever you can, engage enemies with Bladetrail or Throw Axe.

Under all that effects, and Might applied by other skills and traits, you should use Whirling Axe, which is one of your hardest-hitting skills. It’s important to note that you can move while using this skill so use it to stay in the melee range of your enemy.

The Auto-attack chain is a three-part chain where the final attack deals the most damage. Finishing the entire chain before using any other skills is very important to get the most damage out of your attacks.

Using Throw Axe can be used to Crippled and by proxy Immobilize due to Leg Specialist. It also deals more damage if your enemy has less than 50% health and even more when only 25% remains.

Greatsword seems like a powerful weapon, but due to it being very slow, it underperforms in comparison to dual-wielded Axes.

The most interesting skills that you could potentially use are your movement skills Whirlwind Attack and Rush, which can be used from afar to give a bit of extra damage before swapping to your Axes. You can also throw Bladetrail for similar effect to Throw Axe (Crippled and Immobilize from Leg Specialist).

Skills

Mending can be used to heal yourself and remove a few conditions. Using this skill also triggers the effect of Peak Performance, increasing your damage by 10%, so you can use it offensively if you are sure it won’t be needed.

Most of your Might and Fury comes from using "For Great Justice!". This shout should be used as often as possible.

If you are in a group or fighting a stronger enemy, and you need extra Might stacks and Quickness duration, place your Banner of Strength.

Signet of Might is picked for its passive 180 power (at maximum character level), and at higher levels, this bonus is too good to give it up for the signet’s active effect.

The elite skill Rampage will transform you into a massive juggernaut, replacing your weapon skills with a new set.

This form does really low damage and is not really used anywhere in the game, but during leveling, it can be a great source of Crowd Control from Kick, Throw Boulder, and Seismic Leap when fighting enemies with Defiance bars.

Additionally, in this form you take 50% less damage and constantly apply Stability and Swiftness to yourself while also being immune to Immobilize, which can be handy… during some jumping puzzles!

Alternatives

Skills

If you find yourself killing enemies too fast and not needing Banner of Strength, replace it with Signet of Fury for some passive precision (the higher your level, the better effect you’ll get), and if Banner of Strength was your only banner, swap Doubled Standards to something best suiting your current needs.

If under high condition and CC (Crowd Control) pressure, you can change "For Great Justice!" for "Shake It Off!" to trade a lot of Might for a Stun Break and additional condition cleanse.

Your elite is situational, if you are not encountering enemies with Defiance bars to break, swap Rampage to Battle Standard if fighting in a group or selfish Signet of Rage for some extra passive adrenaline.

Gear

For a huge boost in Crowd Control, swap out Greatsword for two Maces.

Any power-based rune set will work fine in this build, you can use Superior Rune of Strength to swap out some might sources on your skill bar or in traits, or Superior Rune of the Scholar if you are able to keep yourself above 90% health for most of the fights.

Crowd Control

• Banner of Strength
• Kick
• Throw Boulder
• Seismic Leap
• Immobilize from Bladetrail and Throw Axe from Leg Specialist

Gearing Tips

This build is designed to be your entry point to Guild Wars 2 world. Let’s start with the basics – if you haven’t checked the guides below, give them a read to make yourself familiar with game basics.

Game basics – first steps in Tyria

This short guide contains answers to the questions you might have on the first days of your adventure, such as where to look for tips, how to look for a group (LFG), what are the most important parts of the interface, and more!

Game systems and mechanics

Downstate, dodging, skills tied to weapon types, heart quests, and meta events, it all can be overwhelming for the new player. This guide attempts to answer all your questions, even those you don't yet know you have.

Gearing guide for PvE

This guide aims to teach you about the easiest, fastest, and most importantly, cheapest methods of acquiring your first entry-level equipment for instanced PvE content.

Introduction to the Warrior

Get to know the warrior! A master of weapons, the blood-thirsty warrior delivers powerful attacks while supporting their allies with shouts and their unique banners.

Try to avoid investing in Runes and Sigils before you acquire proper level-80 Exotic gear with Berserker’s stats. Transferring upgrades is not possible without destroying the item, and using most salvage kits only have a small chance of retrieving them.

As you level, you will get items from drops, crafting, and level-up rewards. Pick items with Power, and on later levels supplemented by Precision and Ferocity.

Unlocking Skills

If you’re looking up this build as you’re leveling through the wide world of Tyria we recommend unlocking "For Great Justice!" as soon as you can, as this skill will provide the most utility at the earlier levels. Follow it with Signet of Might for very good passive bonus that you’ll use even in the end-game.

The first specialization at level 21 should be Strength as it offers the most useful traits in early levels. At level 45 get Discipline and finally at level 71 unlock Tactics.