Guard Warrior

I posted this in another thread. Based on the response it got, I think it should have its own thread.

Guard Warrior

W/Mo

Attributes -

9 Healing Prayers
10 Smiting Prayers
1 Protection Prayers
2 Strength
11 Axe Mastery
9 Tactics

(Darn runes mess up my point spread. =P)

Skills -

Bonetti's Defense
Cyclone Axe
Symbol Of Wrath
Balthazar's Aura
Word Of Healing/Healing Hands
Heal Area/Orison Of Healing/Healing Breeze
Healing Signet
Light Of Dwayna/Restore Life

Gladiator Armor/Knight/Platemail Armor (will switch between all three later on)

Weaponsets -

Axe/Shield
Wand/Shield or weak longbow for ticking off remote groups.
Axe/Healing Ankh - Primary Set
Wand/Ankh - Secondary Set

Health - 510
Energy - 40 (32 without Gladiator Armor)

Later in the game, with multiple warriors and multiple monks in a party, I almost always run into the question of whether multiple tanks are necessary, as one platemail dude usually provides enough of a distraction for the casters to do their thing and the monks to only heal ONE person instead of two or more so they don't stretch themselves too thin.

My guard warrior begins combat with a smiting wand, standing just in front of the casters. The main berserker warrior will charge into battle and start swinging as usual. Any monsters who don't crowd around him will charge towards me, at which point I may switch to melee and Symbol of Wrath their sorry ###es. =) If the berserker is surrounded and nobody's charging, he gets Balthazared for 200 AOE damage to that mob just from me (a warrior nonetheless), and I might run in to join him with Symbol of Wrath ready.

If I stay near the casters and we've got a firing squad of ranger/caster monsters, I use Heal Area to heal them for over 100 HP a pop and to serve as a 2nd line of defense in case we get charged or back-attacked.

In the event that one of the healers stops watching the bars for whatever reason, Word Of Healing if they fall below 50% will patch them up over 100 HP for only 5 Energy. Not a bad bargain, though I'm thinking of swapping it for Heal Other and making Healing Hands my elite skill.

Up front when buried in mobs I can use Cyclone Axe for a quick group attack when the other two spells or energy levels are recharging. That helps power up Bonetti's Defense, which I'll fire off to get some energy back when I'm just going to be swinging anyways. Bonetti's Defense is my limit break, and the fun part is it works minus the energy when I'm in ranged combat too.

My most powerful attack is when I'm in melee and do the 4-3 Combo. B Aura + Symbol of Wrath for a combined damage output of 320 AOE Holy Damage to the poor monsters around me.

My pet peeve is interrupters. When I see Mesmer monsters I usually engage them first, usually ranged while everyone else wonders what the heck I'm doing while they keep getting interrupted trying to fire off spells.

I'd better throw in here that I am strictly a PvE player. I don't PvP as I find it not worth the trouble to endlessly stress over builds and uberleetness in the arenas.

heal area is a no go,
and way too much healing (unless you doing a monkless party)

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Oh, when you said a guard warrior, thought you actually meant like hitting foes with knockdowns, protector's strike, bull's strike, and what not.

The problem about Light of Dwayna is the range. And if others are running away from you, symbol of wrath won't be so useful.

Since this is PvE...

You'll probably have more success with W/N. Pump up the Curse line. Bring along "Shadow of Fear". Run into a group, hex the lot and cut their Attack Speed down by 50%. Use stances like Gladiator's Defense (E), Shield Stance, Bonetti's to evade attacks.

Making a W/Mo Healer is never gonna be a great idea ( just as it isn't in PvP ) -- with 2 pip's of energy regen and a small energy pool -- it's flawed from the start.


And I've gotta ask why the Casters are getting hit in the first place..?? Sounds like someone can't draw agro properly. Ideally the whole mob should be hitting the Warrior. I also favour "Rebirth" as my PvE resurrect of choice, for when it all goes pear-shaped.

well you need to group up with decent monks then.

and you DO realize that heal area heals monsters too, right?

Frankly, a mo/w with defensive stances would be a far better choice for this kind of build.

Again, that's why I only use Heal Area where there are no monsters nearby. Sometimes I'll switch it with Orison of Healing if I know I tend to get surrounded in a certain part of the world.

Invariably I almost always get into groups where the berserker doesn't draw the whole mob. Any who get past him have to deal with me.

I've been experimenting with Nuke Warrioring this evening with Tactics, Axe Mastery, and Fire Magic. I just use Bonetti's Defense, Cyclone Axe, Healing and Resurrection Signet, then Lava Font, Meteor, Fire Storm, Meteor Shower.

Basically once the berserker has engaged the mob, I soften them up with something before I run in and attack. Sometimes I soften things a little more.

It's cute though how Warrior energy regen isn't much faster than the Exhaustion regen. Not a problem though when I can just switch to Axe-swinging in between spells.

Interrupting with Meteor proved instrumental to killing the Monk boss for Healing Hands after our Nuker quit.

umm ur build goes too much in to being a monk than warrior i mean WoH?

This is like my build but modified to have way more healing :S. I aggree with them, if u only using heal area when there r no monsters around, might aswell use breeze, so heal area is a waste of a slot. And since this is a pve build, why do u bring rez.... 2 monks should have it, and if they arent noobs they will back off when aggro takes a mind of its own. Also, Cyclone axe doesent really serve a purpose... it does low damage.... and ur wasting tons of points into axe for only one attack, u could rip out those points and put them into smite or heal, and then change cyclone with a smite that does way more then cyclone.

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I think Yukito's right on this one.. try running a curses w/n, and you'll see some better ways that you can support your team, without using enchants, and staying where a tank should be in the first place. (the front)
To the people who were moaning about energy, it's not really a problem with bonetti's, I think you'd all know with the advent of the solo mo/w...

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Just tried curses. Now THAT's a waste of energy. Total pandemonium vs. the monsters on Perdition Rock.

I have played axe yes, i know what cyclone can do, and it seems irrelivant in this build your running. Unless you put in vigorous spirit, then cyclone would have a use. BUT, when ur running a smiting/self healing tank. A wand or rod which makes enchants last longer would be much much more usefull

I'll say it again, I don't PvP. I play CHARACTERS, not BUILDS, and have no interest in doing the same crap over and over again regardless of the situation unless I switch tons of points around.

Cyclone Axe is a 3rd group attack and energy grabber, plus it hits harder on single enemies than a standard axe swing.

By the way, I beat Thunderhead Keep with that setup using henchies, and used my smiting wand more than my axe.

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I'm saying, a good tank will stay the hell away from the group, because your job is to DEFEND them, not stand right next to them and attempt to heal. My warrior takes about 4 damage from those meteor storms, and I don't get knocked down. As for curses being a waste, get real. Reducing a mob's attack power by 80% is the same as giving everyone 60 armor that gets attacked. Shadow of fear halves enemy DPS. Mark of Pain shreds mobs to pieces. I don't consider skills like these a waste of energy.

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Last update.

I've finalized the setup.

I use Word of Healing and Orison of Healing alongside Healing Signet and eliminated Heal Area.

I just beat the game using all the elements of this build with an incredibly good team, and even did some good old-fashioned tanking as well, including single-handedly pinning down Undead Prince Rurik in the final mission with Bonetti's Defense so the whole rest of the team could heal me from time to time and take out the army of golems. After fighting a duel of attrition with him I 4-3ed him with my two AOE smite spells and that was the end of him.

This is doable if you know what you're doing and stick with 5 Energy heal spells only.