Been gone for a while, looking to finish campaigns

Hey everyone,

It's been a good long while since I've played GW, but I'm interested in getting back in to finish up the various PvE campaigns before GW2 comes out. I'm not interested in PvP at all. Unfortunately I'm VERY rusty on just about everything game-wise, and am looking for some "For Dummies" help if possible. (I have the main game and all the expansions, if that affects your advice.)

1) My main character is a W/x and I play almost exclusively with henchies and heroes. My personal play style is to find a set of skills that works and stick with it for PvE... I'm not one to change around my skillset every new area, so I've been looking online for some good "this build works well across the board for damage and surviability" for swords and axes. Can anyone point me in the right direction, or possibly have solid suggestions?

2) I'm a little overwhelmed by going back to customizing all the heroes effectively, given how crappy I usually am at picking out my own skills– it seems a monumental task that I'm not particularly looking forward to. A site with good PvE hero skill builds would be helpful, as well.

I know that's a lot to ask and probably seems laughably silly for vets, but I really would like to see the GW stories all the way through and would appreciate any help I could get without tearing my hair out in frustration.

Thanks very much!
m19

all you really need to do for hero skills, is to play jade quarry luxon side....get in get out faction up and use it on skillz and equip....eventually youll have every skill for heroes available, then tis just drag and drop from there(u can use a pvp char as well dont worry about pvp...tis account wide once u unlock something)

as for the warrior alot of things have changed including Defy Pain, if u dont catch up and change skillz around(i suggest looking over the skills that were changed since ur absence-located on the game update page by month)ull be eaten alive...maybe literally and if u ever do get in a group ull find it difficult to stay if asked to ping your skillbar.

the ai is being changed soon sosome skilzl may not work on a hero or a henchman.

If you are talking Normal Mode, then I wouldn't worry about builds too much - unless you are having trouble in NM.
Just an ordinary Sword & Shield build with some adrenaline attacks and buffs/stances should work. You should get yourself some PvE skills like Pain Inverter, "I Am Unstoppable!", etc.

Hero-wise, and again talking normal mode, the builds don't need to be particularly wonderful. The biggest thing with Heroes is too properly and fully equip them with Runes/Insignias and weapons. Many people give their heroes crap equipment and then wonder why they don't work that well.
There's no need to go overboard with gimmicky hero builds either. Just normal stuff like a UA/bonder and HB monk, interrupt Ranger, MM Necro, Ele, and SoS Rit will do nicely.

^ Ahh good point, yep I mean "normal" mode. I'm already frustrated enough worrying about setups without getting killed even faster! I hate to sound worse than I probably do already, but for this...

...I understand the Elementalist, interrupting Ranger, and MM. Would you mind elaborating on what an SoS Ritualist and UA/HB monk are? It has been a while. Thanks for the help.

m19

Healer's Boon, Unyielding Aura, Signet of Spirits. They're elite skills which are used to build a bar for healing, protting and damage, respectivelly.

The big question here is whether you intend to play GW. If you want to play it, you have to visit the Campfire section of the forum, Warrior subsection, and check out the recent threads for ideas for a build. You also need to spend some time trying out several other professions until you get an idea of what makes them tick and you can start putting together half-decent bars yourself.

If there's zero interest in that and you just want builds that will carry you through the game without you lifting a finger, see gwpvx.com for team builds marked "meta" or "great" in the PvE section. Taken at true value many of them are not that good and you can do (much) better in particular zones. But they are generic builds that will work most anytime anywhere with zero involvement from you. If you don't have enough heroes for those skills, buy one of the newly released mercenary packs (you advance a character of the needed profession to lvl 20 any way you can, then you can use it as a hero). If you don't have the skills, get skill unlock packs (you will still need in-game gold to buy the skills).

For me actually figuring it by myself is (still) fun but if you're past that and just want the GW2 rewards, go for the easy way.

If all you want is some builds then PvX Wiki is a great place to start. Here are some great Warrior builds (scroll down to "W") and for team builds try 7 Hero Player Support or Spiritual Discord (just use a Mesmer hero instead of the second human player and another Mesmer hero instead of the Discord Necromancer with Blood spells).