User:Wrin/levelingpaths

Introduction

One of the more popular questions we get over in the Guild Wars 2 Discord concerns leveling builds. "What build should I use while leveling" and variations of this question pop up at least once a day and the answer to this can often leave some feeling unsatisfied. This guide is meant to address this question in depth on a class-by-class basis, as well as address the true answer in a more satisfying light.

The Real Answer

To be clear, the correct answer to this question is that you should be experimenting with various skills, traits, weapons, and strategies while leveling in order to get a proper feel for your class. This helps you build a solid foundation for the core class and will lead to you having an easier time learning its more advanced builds later on. There is no technically optimal path, and Guild Wars 2 is a game that often punishes this kind of "Rush-Ahead" optimization.

However, it is notable that some options are better than others while leveling, and if you find yourself struggling or just need some kind of direction, then this guide should help you find a good way forward. These pathways are designed to force you into experimenting with several options and learning

Prep Work

Before we begin, there are a few things you should know.

• The first of these is that you will unlock every possible trait or skill by the time you hit level 80, so you cannot make any wrong decisions here.
• Additionally, while leveling you should be targeting gear with Power on it. Eventually you will be looking for Power and Precision, and later the Power Precision Ferocity combination the game refers to as Berserkers. Stats like condition damage, vitality, and toughness are not very effective while leveling.
• The final point is that this guide is just a suggested pathway. You are free, and even encouraged, to deviate from it.

The Guides

Each class has at least one leveling path. These paths are broken into sections based on level. You will see checkpoints at level 21, 45, 71, and 80 as these are when you gain your Specializations.

Warrior

Defense Hammer

One of Core Warrior's more effective builds, the Defense Hammer Warrior build offers incredibly high sustain, damage, and crowd control. It can feel rather one dimensional or lacking in mobility but makes up for this by being virtually unkillable even in DPS gear.

Full Build

Core Defense Warrior
+

Strength
Defense
Tactics

Pathway

By level 21, you should have   Bull's Charge from Physical skills and   "For Great Justice!" from Shouts already unlocked. From there, begin working on unlocking your Strength traits and unlock the Signet skill tree all the way to   Signet of Rage, which we will equip at level 31. Place any additional points into the Defense specialization in preparation for level 45.

At 45, unlock your Defense traits. Once this is complete, the build's core is finished. From here, work on unlocking other skill trees and start spending points on the Tactics specialization in preparation for level 71.

At 71, finish unlocking Tactics and the build is complete.

Playstyle

This build focuses on utilizing Hammer and Offhand Mace's extreme amounts of Crowd Control (CC) to activate Defense traits. This allows us to boost our damage very high while being an overall rather defensive build. Non-Defiant enemies will often be stunned long enough to simply kill them before they can hurt you and even against Defiant foes you will be able to easily break Defiance Bars. When you CC an enemy, several traits will activate including  Aggressive Onslaught,  Merciless Hammer, and  Stalwart Strength.

The inclusion of Tactics alongside  Adrenal Health means this build is exceptionally resilient and you should have no trouble taking hits and healing yourself through dangerous situations. The inclusion of  Brave Stride means we gain  Stability from   Earthshaker and   Eviscerate, with  Martial Cadence and  Stalwart Strength granting us secondary sources. This means we will have frequent immunity to CC.

In general, the playstyle loop includes using your hammer skills and   "For Great Justice!" off cooldown. You should always use your Burst Skills,   Earthshaker and   Eviscerate, at three bars of adrenaline. While hammer skills are on cooldown, swap to Axe/Mace and use 2-4-5-4, then auto-attack. Your goal on Axe/Mace is to use the 4-5-4 combo as often as you can while maintaining  Fury and  Vulnerability with   Cyclone Axe.

Use   Bull's Charge to initiate combat, which will immediately activate several of our CC traits, then unload your abilities. You want to maintain  Stability,  Might,  Fury, and  Quickness at a minimum.