No, tanks tend to suck. Farming builds are different as they have a set goal, they aren't really tanks. However you will see groups looking for tanks or players advertising for tanks. You then end up getting some warrior with only 8 points in swordmanship, no attack skills, dolyak signet, watch yourself, 5 different stances, and mending. At the same time a warrior with a shield can take the damage well enough and output it quite well.

As for the monk energy supply thing, playing both a warrior and a monk this depends on the player. Monks don't like to hear it, but good monks don't need to rest too often between battles. I know this because I have played monk. Thus as a warrior I will keep agroing and pushing through each group systematically until you let me know that you need a breather. However, unlike many PvE warriors if I agro something I kill it in a timely manner. If I agro two groups and we are under high pressure I start reducing enemy numbers to make things more manageable for the monks. This is one of the reasons why tanks suck. All they can do is sit there and take it. A well built warrior can help the monks by killing stuff.

QFT.

During my entire PvE experience on my Warrior in Tyria, I don't remember ever knowing what a "Tank" really was. To me, tank equaled warrior..so during THK I recall advertising myself as a tank. Of course, I had no idea about the concept of stances, just that I was supposed to kill everything up close and personal. And that worked/works well for me still.

The whole Tank mentality is pretty useless in Cantha as well. Take the Dredge for example..groups typically consist of a monk, a ranger, and a war/sins. It makes sense to go after the monk right? Well those playing tanks will do that..and by doing so defy their role by leaving melee classes free to pound on me. (the monk.)

Originally Posted by phasola don't use frenzy Frenzy's not all bad as long as you don't go on autopilot and have a stance cancel. Used intellegently, you can keep up an IAS longer than just using Tiger's stance. ETSubmariner Ascalonian Squire Join Date: Apr 2006 Seattle Zaishen Order Guild, Budo W/R 03 Jul 2006 at 17:58 - 10 Signet of Strength is great - just load after coming out of a town (your next 16/17/18+ attacks are +5 for minimal upkeep). Keep it up, let it recharge along the way. I also use Endure Pain, which takes the edge off initially. As long as the monk is doing their job and I'm doing the right thing by having archers pull a few baddies our way rather than charging in, I don't often see my health below 50%. I captured the elite, Auspicious Parry, and what a world of difference that made. Blocks next attack and you get 2 pips for 1. Will be testing Dragon Slash when I capture it. In the city-scapes (Bukdek and Bazaar and in/around the mission areas of the city), I found that switching to bows helped a lot with henchies staying alive. Of course, as a warrior, you charge in but the henchies follow you right in (since they are supposed to follow you). That usually kills the monks and mesmers. I switched to bow and bam! Sometimes a little tight, but otherwise I get through sure enough. FalconDance Jungle Guide Join Date: Sep 2005 ...deep within the sylvan splendor... Order of the Migrating Coconuts [ALBA] 03 Jul 2006 at 18:01 - 11 ETSubmariner, Dragon Slash is the elite I'm currently using. It is sooooo handy. Only drawback is the long initial charging time (10 strikes). Once charged (and stays charged after that during the fight), however, it is sweet. SnipiousMax Perfectly Elocuted Join Date: Sep 2005 03 Jul 2006 at 18:02 - 12 Quote: Originally Posted by ETSubmariner Will be testing Dragon Slash when I capture it. Dragon Slash is easily the best PvE warrior elite. Having your entire combo of adrenaline within a few shots of recharging the entire time is incrediblly powerful. Duriel Ascalonian Squire Join Date: Jan 2006 03 Jul 2006 at 18:21 - 13 In GW there is no "best"... It all depends on what you are after. Warriors, are by far, NOT the best damage dealers in PVE. In PvE, they are equiped to deal damage. When playing PvE with my warrior, groups become much more effective if i just tank, and keep myself alive while all agro is on me. Chasing enemies is really bad on a warrior, cause you'll lose agro and mobs will go after your casters... With this in mind, Healing Signet, Dolyak Signet, Watch yourself is some pretty solid defense... Res signet (or a hard res if your /mo) is a must if your not soloing. Rest depends. If you are soloing, ripostes/attack skills are the way to go, if you are not... You can get some utility skills, or just take attack skills... Best advise i can give to PvE warriors: LEARN TO AGRO! Learn to be attacked only by 1 group at a time. Move back slowly if you risk agroing another group (if you move fast you'll lose agro on the group who is currently attacking you). One/Two meteor showers/SS/wathever just outdamages your damage by far... Im not saying you shouldnt attack, but I never have 16 on my weapon atribute while PvEing... On PvP i rarely have under 15... SnipiousMax Perfectly Elocuted Join Date: Sep 2005 03 Jul 2006 at 18:30 - 14 Quote: Originally Posted by Duriel .... Dolyak Signet... I'm sorry, this is a horrible skill. Even if you were just working at maintaining aggro, crippling your mobility for extra armor is not going to help you to keep mobs off your casters. Armor/Shield and Watch Yourself is more than enough. You kill things much quicker than the duration of D. Sig, so you end up spending most of the time walking between targets. DiceX Academy Page Join Date: Mar 2006 OAK N/Me 03 Jul 2006 at 18:35 - 15 Very good advice. I'll add another... Use a Superior Absorbtion rune. As cheap as they are now, there is no reason not to have one. If someone says the difference between 2 and 3 damage reduction can't be noticed, they are a complete moron. Senator Tom Banned Join Date: Aug 2005 California [Dark] W/ 03 Jul 2006 at 18:39 - 16 6. Agro one group at a time, and only agro when everyone is ready, NOT when everyone is a minimap behind you. phasola Krytan Explorer Join Date: Aug 2005 EaT Mo/ 03 Jul 2006 at 21:01 - 17 Quote: Originally Posted by SnipiousMax Frenzy's not all bad as long as you don't go on autopilot and have a stance cancel. Used intellegently, you can keep up an IAS longer than just using Tiger's stance. frenzy is good. in pvp and i've never seen a pve war cancel frenzy when lvl 24 mobs were on them tiger's fury is safer JMFD Jungle Guide Join Date: Apr 2005 Looking... E/ 03 Jul 2006 at 21:04 - 18 Can't help but completely disagree with the OP 1) Put max in Tactics, not your weapon. In PvE you are in a group to tank, not deal the most damage. Use tactics-based skills thrill of victory and the ripostes for extra damage instead. 2) Also disagree, I take 1-2 tops, usually a combination of the riposte skills if sword, thrill of victory, an interupt or a condition dealing skill. 3) Defense is critical - never rely on your monk. 2 stances is usually sufficient, sheild and glads being my favourites, followed by disciplined. Watch Yourself can help you and your fellow melleists (who may be the lowly armoured assassin, or fellow warriors). 4) take a res sig if you are not a /rt or /mo, if you are /rt ot /mo take a proper res instead. 5) Never, ever, take frenzy. Winstar Jungle Guide Join Date: Feb 2006 London 03 Jul 2006 at 21:40 - 19 There are cases where stance builds are useful, but in general you can't rely on killing things with riposts and glads when they don't get triggered. In general Warriors get worried about being more defensive than they need to be. Builds are dependant on you situation. If you are talking about joining a group to finish the game and do quests then take a high damage route with some good utility. If you are out trying to solo something the build will have to change depending on the circumstances. Efficient spider farming is different from efficient troll farming generally speaking. But imho, in mission settings you are of greater value to your team if you can actually kill things quickly (caster types and non caster types), being mobile, and having some nice general utility skills to help yourself and your party (watch yourself, for example, not only beefs up you but your party, charge gets everyone moving, shields up etc. etc.) Loki Seiguro Desert Nomad Join Date: Jun 2006 IGN: Scarlet Test Ace We play Isketch in [HoH] E/ 03 Jul 2006 at 21:42 - 20 just use one of the preset wars that anet gives you and youll be fine. thats what i did for my first char then i modded the build and later made some of my own builds. mtm Lion's Arch Merchant Join Date: Mar 2006 Portugal & Greece W/ 04 Jul 2006 at 02:26 - 21 He's talking PvE warrior Loki, so there's no premade anet builds. LoKi Foxfire Krytan Explorer Join Date: Apr 2005 Florida One Corgi Army {OCA} R/Rt 04 Jul 2006 at 02:44 - 22 I also disagree with taking 16 points in your weapon skill. The damage bonus you get from it doesn't justify losing all those points in Tactics (and Strength if you're using Sentinel.. which I believe all tanks should be now) If anything, the area of skills for tanks only helps so much if you're not going able to actually play your class right. That being said, different areas require different builds as well. Winstar Jungle Guide Join Date: Feb 2006 London 04 Jul 2006 at 03:08 - 23 I don't think there is really any reason to use sentinels other than for giving you a differnt play experience from the game. In Pve it barely matters what you do armour ware, and I'd just rather use the standard glads setup for the energy. I've never found a mission or farming area where glads was a problem. I used to prefer being a tanks tank in pve, but its really not necessary in any part of the game. You can if you want to go that route do so, but for its more fun and I actually find its faster and more effective to go high damage, playing my pve char more like a pvp char. To be honest, i don't think there is a right way to play the class in pve (boneheaded behaviour aside...) its just a matter of the kind of experience you want out of the game, and what skills you want to tinker with primarily. Aisius Lion's Arch Merchant Join Date: Jun 2006 Melbourne , Australia Crazy Clan[CRAZ] W/ 04 Jul 2006 at 04:34 - 24 Quote: Originally Posted by Warskull Most PvE warriors suck. Tanks aren't very good, yet most people insist on playing one. Here is how to play a decent PvE warrior. 1) Put 16 in your weapon attribute. Your weapon attribute makes you do damage. Just because you payed way too much for that req 8 sword doesn't mean you should only put 8 points in swordsmanship. More points in swordsmanship makes you deal more damage. 2) Take at least 3 attack skills, two of which should be adrenaline based. This is your offensive core. Warriors exist to make stuff dead, fast. If you play a warrior right you can have targets dead before the dumb ele finishes casting his meteor shower. 3) Limit your defensive skills to a few well selected skills. You want your defensive skills to be highly effective and require minimal slots. Wasting 3-4 slots on stances is just plain stupid. As a warrior most of your defense comes from your armor and your shield. Good defensive skills are watch yourself and Bonetti's defense (just turn it on to relieve pressure for the monks for a few seconds or use it as a stance cancel.) Try not to use more than 2 slots on defensive skills. 4) Take a rez sig! TAKE A FRIGGIN REZ SIG! You are pretty darn durable as a warrior so if something goes wrong you probably won't be the first to die. Getting an ally back up on their feet within 3 seconds makes a huge difference. Teams that are fast on the rez are strong teams. Leave the hard rez to an e/mo or something. 5) This will leave you with 2-3 skill slots remaining. You fill these with utility or another attack or two. Increased attack speed stances are good (Tiger Stance is good in PvE.) Some interrupts can be good (distracting blow or disrupting chop.) Heal sig can be good for yourself. Alternatively adrenaline builders such at "To the Limit!" and "For Great Justice!" can enchance your offense. Fill these slots with stuff you imagine would be useful in the mission. If the enemy has a lot of condition plague touch will serve you well. Bonetti's Defence is a prophercy only skill for one thing. I doubt many players in the Canthan explorers league will be playing prophercies so I'd have to say Defensive Stance which means you'll need at least 9 points in tactics to make it worth while imo. I think deciding what role you want to play in the pve group is the first thing, then whether being the damage dealer, knock down warrior or tank you can change your armour and attributes to suite. I have two sets of armour one for run of the mill stuff which is glads and the other Sentinels for stance tanking. I have both prophercies and factions and am lucky I can play tank having access to all the good stances. IMO Factions has terrible stances for tanking. Strength is a must for dolyak sig and Sentinels gear. Katari Wilds Pathfinder Join Date: Aug 2005 Upstate Me/ 04 Jul 2006 at 05:36 - 25 Very good advice, Warskull. That is exactly what I look for in a PvE warrior, and just how I play mine. If I wanted nothing but a meat shield I'd have rangers bring pets, or MMs use Bone Horrors. Warriors are a respected damage sourcein PvP, it's a shame that the majority of PvE PUG-land dosn't see them in the same way. Stupid Shizno Banned Join Date: Jan 2006 Madison, Wisconsin, USA [eF] Mo/ 04 Jul 2006 at 06:47 - 26 i read some of the posts and i have to say WTF MATE? warriors suck at damage? and some one said warriors arnt the best for damage? WTF? Warriors are the highest DPS in game. every PvE player needs to watch a gvg match and look at a warrior. thats how its done. high damage output with a knockdown. think how elite your party warrior would be if you picked up a pvp exp player. he rushes in, kicks ass and takes name, messing up all baddies, baddies try to run, sprint + bulls charge, baddie gets kicked in the butt and bam! war is back on him hacking and slashing. give me a break with this tank newb crap. ive played all 8 profs, theres nothing i hate then some W/Mo newb tank when im playing monk. Thus increasing my hate to W/mo and kicking them out of groups. Tiny Killer Lion's Arch Merchant Join Date: Apr 2006 Oshkosh, WI USA Exile Champions of Heroic Order [ECHO] 04 Jul 2006 at 09:47 - 27 To me, the only value to being a "tank" is for a few (very few) solo farming builds. Even there I tend to run almost entirely damage output. I have never figured out a reason to just stand there when I could be killing instead. I run 16 points in my weapon (normally sword), 9 or more in strength (depending on exact build) and the rest in tactics or whatever other attribute it is needed in depending on the secondary I am using. When I have to go PUG, I advertise as "warrior lfg", never "tank lfg". It is amazing to me that so many do not understand the difference. ilmau Frost Gate Guardian Join Date: Sep 2005 Italy sUk Clan W/E 04 Jul 2006 at 10:18 - 28 i'v played 800+ hours with my PvE warrior, and about 400+ with PvP warriors. i'v got about 2k famas as w/e and about 600 famas as w/r. Did 500+ GvG as warrior. After all this i v found a build you can use everywhere just changing secondary class and getting skills (most not-related with any attrib) depending on the situations. Attrib Axe: 16 Strength: 13 Tactics: 4 2x Sentinels Armour + Stone Skin Brachets + Knight's Boats + Executioners Elm. Distracting blow, Eviscerate / Dismember, Executioners, Tiger Stance / Frenzy, Sprint / Rush, EMPTY SLOT, EMPTY SLOT, Rezz Signet EMPTY SLOT = Lyssa Balance, Expell Hexes, Shock, Bonetti's Defence, To Teh Limit, Plague Touch, Echo, Charme Pet, anySpirit, Destroy Soul, Purge Conditions, Holy Veil, Life Bond. Atm, the only thing i was not able to do with my war is run ppl in the shiverpeak >_< i really don't deal with Freeze lol jordie Academy Page Join Date: May 2005 Nottingham W/Mo 04 Jul 2006 at 10:30 - 29 I know this is a canthan explorers area but people do underestimate the power of gladiators defence and its usefull ness in tanking and killing. Drawing the agro towards the tank then using glads is a great way to weaken (if not kill) their melee fighters. General Surena Lion's Arch Merchant Join Date: Jul 2005 Germany None W/ 04 Jul 2006 at 10:51 - 30 I almost fall asleep everytime I see a PVE Warrior NOT use an IAS. It's a shame really but not their fault mostly. The full stance tank evolved during the popularity of team-based farming runs where all groups demanded or requested warriors only to bring stances. It doesn't work in the most PUGs anyway as people ignore aggro circles, so concepts like the tanking ele are even older. Signet of Strength sucks btw.... Kabale Wilds Pathfinder Join Date: Jun 2005 UK Portrayors of Valour [pV] 04 Jul 2006 at 12:10 - 31 What people fail to realise is that, unlike anywhere else in the game (IOW PvP), there's lots of monsters, and they like to ball up. That's why people bring stance tanks to 'aggro' all the mobs and then have Meteor Showers, Spiteful, and all that PvE junk to throw on stupid AI. All this time some gimp warrior is standing there with Glad's Defense. I guess if you as a warrior like that sort of thing, go ahead and do it. But I don't, and it doesn't make me or my group any less efficient, mainly because I can still aggro everything and stay alive without all the stance fluff while actually killing stuff myself. AxeMe Lion's Arch Merchant Join Date: Aug 2005 Atlanta HEX W/ 04 Jul 2006 at 12:18 - 32 Quote: Originally Posted by Winstar To be honest, i don't think there is a right way to play the class in pve (boneheaded behaviour aside...) its just a matter of the kind of experience you want out of the game, and what skills you want to tinker with primarily. I completely agree. Truth is that anytime you try to make 5 rules for this, you're gonna be wrong some of the time. Think of something - anything - that you know and understand really well in real life. Whether it is golf, baseball or nuclear physics you'll find that things aren't that simple. If you try to boil down all your knowledge into five rules you'll run into so many exceptions based on circumstances that you'll end up junking the rules. The key seems to be intelligent decisions and the flexibility to adapt to each mission. Understanding the game mechanics and the situation and then being flexible enough to change the way you do things to take advantage of each situation works a lot better than blindly following a set of rules. phasola Krytan Explorer Join Date: Aug 2005 EaT Mo/ 04 Jul 2006 at 13:26 - 33 defensive stances are for farming when playing, wars are the primary damage dealers, for both pve and pvp at least that's how i see it Vermilion Wilds Pathfinder Join Date: Mar 2006 NY 04 Jul 2006 at 13:39 - 34 Quote: Originally Posted by Winstar To be honest, i don't think there is a right way to play the class in pve (boneheaded behaviour aside...) its just a matter of the kind of experience you want out of the game, and what skills you want to tinker with primarily.

QFT.

If you not in the group to tank mobs, then why are you there?
If you have whole bunch of attack skills and 3 slots for defence you'll be wasting heals like crazy... and then you die... and then we back to point #1 - why are you in this group?
If my ele have to take punishment and be interrupted and stipped all over the place, then why take warrior into group anyway?

Who said aggroing more than one group is bad? Of course it bad because you can not tank it!
Truth is good tank can sustain 3 or more groups of high level mobs. Good tank knows how to pull caster mobs into one ball and then pull melee onto them. Good tank knows that amount of mobs on him is irrelevant to how fast they die to SS and nukes, thus reducing time for killing three group by factor of three.


Moral: Yet another good example of something that somehow works but has absolutely no though behind it about the purpose and efficiency.

defensive stances are for farming when playing, wars are the primary damage dealers, for both pve and pvp at least that's how i see it The problem is that the majority of players I see do not share this view. The people who want the cookie-cutter builds, consisting of Nukers, Tanks, and Healers, believe the Warrior is just responsible for holding aggro. This is especially annoying when you see this mindset diffuse into Alliance Battles. Paperfly Krytan Explorer Join Date: Jun 2006 04 Jul 2006 at 13:51 - 35 Heh, I saw two "true" stance tanks decide to show how "honourable" they were by duking it out one-on-one just outside the gates of Fort Aspenwood. ...The fight lasted the entirety of the match - and probably would've continued indefinitely, given how little damage they were doing. The rest of us just played on normally, since we were even with one player out of the game on each side. I've got to echo Vermillion's point here: Tanking is less useful in Cantha. Assassins slip into the back, all mobs are mixed-class (unlike the monolithic groups from Prophecies), and enemy builds are sophisticated enough that you need to pay attention and think about your target priorities beyond just "kill the monk first". The result is that you're never really in a position to just stay in one place holding aggro... Winstar Jungle Guide Join Date: Feb 2006 London 04 Jul 2006 at 16:14 - 36 Solong farming and just doing missions is definately a different ball of wax in Cantha as many have mentioned. In particular the general value of things like ripost/glads etc have gone way down since there are almost no (or maybe none at all) all warrior mobs to fight. If you stand there with your riposts dealing no damage since they aren't trigger by most things your aren't much use to your team or yourself. Ira Blinks Banned Join Date: Feb 2006 04 Jul 2006 at 17:16 - 37 Quote: Originally Posted by JMFD Can't help but completely disagree with the OP 1) Put max in Tactics, not your weapon. In PvE you are in a group to tank, not deal the most damage. Use tactics-based skills thrill of victory and the ripostes for extra damage instead.