Check out my weaponry.

So this is my first time through the game, and I'm a lvl 12 pure Warrior. Currently I have...

Game of the Year Serrated shield - Req9 Tactics - 16 Armor - Health +30 - Physical Damage -2

Furious Sephis Axe of Fortitude - 16t28 Damage - Health +25 - Double Adrenaline - Req9 Axe Mastery

Barbed Wingblade Sword of Fortitude - 14t20 Damage - Req8 Swordsmanship - Damage +10 while Health below 50% - Health +22 - 33% Bleed Extension - Damage + 20%.

Furious Mursaat Hammer of Shelter - 17t32 Damage - Req8 Hammer Mastery - Armor +4 - Double Adrenaline on Hit.

That's the gear I use for my character. My armor is a complete Charr Hide suit with one Minor Rune of Vigor, and for my helmet I alternate between Sword/Hammer/Axe Gladiator +1 Skill helmets.

Is this a decent outfit for me? How would you suggest I upgrade it?

Due to the "balanced" nature of Guild Wars, equipment with maxed stats is very easy to come by. Rare skinned weapons are the hard part. I wouldn't start worrying about your equipment until you reach Level 20, which, contrary to your average game, is when the game actually begins.

The axe is very good; max, and a pretty rare skin too. I'm a little surprised you came across a max req9 Sephis on your first playthrough. Shame it doesn't have a damage mod.
Wingblade is a pretty good skin albeit common. Max damage for swords is 15-22, so it could be better, as could the damage mod.
Mursaat hammer is another rare skin. Max damage is 19-35, so again a tad off max.

Armor is easy. You'll get your max armor at Droknar's Forge, a while after you reach level 20. I'll tell you right now that sticking to minor atttribute runes is generally best; the extra 2 attribute points (and therefore about 4-8 extra damage from skills and a couple points on autoattack) isn't worth the -75 health. Superior vigor runes have no penalty though, so you should get one of those once you build up some cash.

Basically, since this is your first time through and you're only lvl12, most of the stuff is not bad, for now. As you continue playing you need to keep an eye out for some better weapons, or better mods for the ones you have.

The Axe is good, except the +25 (Axe grip of Fortitude) is on the low side. +30 is max.

The sword is basically junk. Max damage for a sword is 15-22. Max health (sword pommel of Fortitude), like the axe, is +30. Max for "health below 50%" would be 20%, but even that is not as good as 14 or 15% "while health is above 50%" - if it's not an inscription, that's really bad.

The Hammer is also less than max - 19-35 - and a max "hammer grip of defense" is +5

You didn't mention whether you have any other runes or insignias on your armor. You need more of them, if you don't have a full set (1 rune & 1 insignia on each piece). Superior Absorption is a must.

I've never found a superior absorption very useful. -3 physical damage would be better in PvE though, I guess, than +10 health.

And since he's got a Sephis and a Mursaat hammer, it's pretty safe to say he's Proph-only for the time being.

Yeah, all I've got is Prophecies. I did, however, end up paying 3K for that Sephis. Was that an appropriate price? (I put on the Furious and Shelter myself.)

Price can be subjective, if you like the skin and the 3K didnt bankrupt you then its a good deal.

In general I like to use the following formula when it comes to buying weapons.


Max Dmg can be crafted for 5K
Most mods can be purchase from 5-20K

So a max item with 3 mods, say 15^50, 20/20 sundering and 30 armor will cost you around - 5 + 10 + 20 + 20 = 55K assuming this is a gold item req9

Now a green item with the same stats will cost much less and a skin that is less popular will as well.

The rare skins comand the highest prices and some extremely rare stats like req8 or 7 weapons are very very expensive.

For practical use find a weapon that meets your req by at least 1 point, so a r10 sword if you use 11 swordsmanship, this is to protect you from the -1 of weakness.

You can find some purple and blue items with perfect stats that will sell for almost nothing, if your on a budget look for these.

What do the colors mean? That Sephis axe is gold, but most of my weapons are this cyan-light green color, and I have a few purples as well. Is that the 'skin' you all are referring to?

The skin of a weapon is the weapon's appearance - what it looks like when you're wielding it.

The colours of an item's name tell you how rare it is. White is common (without mods), cyan is common (with mods), purple is uncommon and gold is rare. As a general rule, rarer items tend to have better mods on them when they drop for you.

also at lower levels remember that if you don't meet the requirements of an item...for instance your shield... If you don't have 9 points in tactics...you will only get half of the armor rating. same we an axe...if you don't meet the req of the axe you will only do a certain percentage of the "mele" damage that the axe is capable of doing. Always try to meet the requirments of you weapon and off hand until you are further along in the game and understand the game mechanics a little better.

for your level and probable location purple items will be the norm i believe.

To further clarify, "skin" is a technical term that refers specifically to the texture used to decorate the weapon's wireframe model. More a programming term than anything else, but somehow it became commonly used.

(Thanks for the answers, mates.)

So are you saying it's better NOT to wield a 9 tactics shield if I only have 6 tactics?

Well it's better to wield it than not too because you still get some bonus for having it.

If you don't have the required attribute, then you receive the 'base' armor for a shield (8 I think).

Yes, you get half the armor rating if you don't meet the requirement. Stick with it though, unless you're lucky enough to find a shield with more than 8 armor with a req of 6 or less.

Even if you only have 6 tactics while wielding a req9 shield, you will still be getting the other bonuses on the shield even if you're not getting the full armor level from it. Sometimes these bonuses can make the shield worth using, even if you're not getting full armor out of it yet.

basically you always want to meet or beat any req of an item you have equipped. Shields come in both Strength and Tactics for wars so if you cant meet the tactics req but have high strength you may wish to change shields.

Skin is also another way of describing the name of the item.

So you have a Sephis Skinned axe, there are many other axe skins such as Great, War, Tribal, Chaos, Whyte Scythe and Victo to name a few you may find in prophicies.

Look on GuildWarsWiki.com to find pics of all the diff skins. If you find one you like check out the Auction or the buy/sell forums on Guru to get some idea of the price of these items. Note that these prices are not fixed and change very quickly so look at the date of a post as well as the price on the item.

You are in good shape for a beginner! One thing i would suggest is to go for higher reqs, not like your req 9 sephis axe, req makes no difference in dmg as long as you meet it, contrary to the beliefs of many beginners and false accusation used for scamming. Use greens and blues at first then change around for inscribable golds when you get enough money to support urself.

I would also say not to equip all of them in your weapons bar. I.E. You should always use only swords when using a swords build, since you should have 4 sets dealing with different situations.