In this video, I discuss my “Captain Hammer” Warrior build with PVP gameplay footage.
It provides good AOE healing and AOE buffs via shouts, excellent CC capability, high direct damage mitigation with 1810 toughness, damage that steadily increases over time (via stacking of might boons), and high uptime on Weakness debuffs. Therefore, this spec excels at supporting friendlies and “tanking” enemies.
Let me know your questions and feedback.
For more information on the spec’s mechanics / traits / gear, please see the Guide to the “Captain Hammer” Build.
P.S. playing a Hammer and Mace/Mace Warrior takes some getting used to. The Hammer 3-4 and Mace 5 abilities self-root during the animation. The most significant part of turning the corner with this build is getting the timing down. As you can see in the video, I was able to get the hang of it in a few hours, but there is still a lot of room for improvement. Onward, upward!
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Great footage and commentary, as always. Thank you very much for this video and post.
Thanks, and you’re welcome!
I got some killer footage of my revised “Run and Gun” Warrior spec and a match with a 0/30/30/10/0 Guardian build.
Hopefully over the weekend I’ll have time to publish more videos.
That fight at the 6 minute mark is a ranger and engineer, not thief and engineer. That flock of birds ability is the horn offhand 4 button.
Correct, I misspoke during the narration. Annotation added in the video.
Thanks!
Very nice build, love how well you explain the mechanics of what is happening on screen. Thanks for the great work as always, looking forward to seeing your other vids from this stress test.
Thanks for the kind words, and I’m glad you feel the explanation provides value.
This is a great video. I’m relatively new to your content, Taugrim, but I’ve been enjoying what little I’ve seen so far. The Warrior is the one class that didn’t appeal to me at first glance in GW2, but you’re making me second guess that discrimination. Sufficed to say I’ll be giving them a shot in the final beta event.
On a side note I think I ended up in a match with some of your guildies while I was testing a short bow/pistol whip thief.
Keep up the good work, sir.
I’ll be checking in frequently for more informative videos as GW2 ramps up to a full release.
Cheers.
Warrior can be spec’d in very diverse ways, which definitely appeals to me.
Nice. If you ever see me in sPvP, say hello!
Not long now til launch. August 28th :)
Great video! Not a big fantasy fan (fantasy is so 1990s) but a great PvP video nonetheless. Keep up the good work -thx!
Fantasy never goes out of style!
Awesome work as always Ed! Really enjoyed the video and found it super informative. In fact, watching you play this spec reminded me VERY MUCH of the Warrior Priest in Warhammer Online, which was my absolute favorite class. Nothing more fun than bashing faces in with a giant hammer while buffing and healing everyone around you. Well done Sir! And thank you for bringing the Warrior Priest to GW2 :)
You know, I couldn’t pin down a reference for the “Captain Hammer” build to another class from a different game.
The closest is LOTRO Captain, which is a very durable meleer with group buffs and heals. But unlike LOTRO Captain, CH has much better CC.
Like WAR Warrior Priest, Captain Hammer wields a hefty 2H blunt weapon and bashes faces in. However, unlike WP, CH does not need to melee to generate “mana” (Righteous Fury) to be able to heal. And CH has better CC capability.
If you loved Warrior Priest, I think this spec will be a good fit for you.
Looks solid. I wouldn’t worry too much about kiters. GW2 is so much more about controlling area than it is about killing. If someone is losing a fight and runs away from a point you are defending then you have won that fight.
If you are controlling a point then they have to come to you. The main weakness of this build is if you are solo defending a point and a ranged class comes to harass you. You have to step out of the box to engage them or you will die. For that reason, this isn’t a solo build it is a group support build that should be standing in the box and creating general mayhem. Knockbacks and knockdowns are very effective in this game.
oozo, are you planning on coming out with a guide for your Area Control Guardian build? Looks like it’s a lot of fun to play from your vids.
I’m an avid fan of both you and taugrims guides and videos. You’ve both helped my Vanguard gameplay immensely.
I didn’t get a lot of great footage from the stress test, but I’ve fine tuned the build a bit using a spirit hammer over the sword since the hammer is a great offensive AND defensive tool. I also replaced the dmg reduction signet with a long duration group movement speed utility for mobility.
It’s all about denying the enemy team points by neutralizing (not necessarily capturing) enemy objectives.
While they can shoot me in the face, they can’t cap a point until they move over to it. I would go find a pillar / LoS breaker and wait for them to move in.
Thanks for the recommendation for mace offhand. I’d never tried it before, and I absolutely love the Mace 5 ability Tremor. For the dual-wielding weapon set for this spec, Mace offhand really shines.
The problem is that it only takes a few seconds for a point to be neutralized. If you get rooted, stunned, or knocked back while out of the box you can lose the point. So, IMO, a solo defender really needs ranged so you can pressure people while still in the box.
The hammer/mace build just has fun written all over it. Pair it up with a solid DPS build that has a snare or root and tagteam people. That should be quite lethal. You would also want that DPS to have a good team movement speed on a short CD to help your duo of death to get from point to point.
You might want to try to research a build that has solid DPS, snares and/or roots, and group movement buffs and convince someone to use that build and team up with you for BWE3 and see what happens.
Nice new build, hadnt really even thought of the guardian…until now. It’s now down to a Warrior (Cpt Hammer) or this Guardian…or maybe the Elem….thief, errr….damn, no more new builds till post launch Taug! lol.
Congrats on the new Show! Much deserved and I’m sure requested by the people! Ill be watching it every week. You have helped me pvp with builds and great tips since my Pally days.
Great to see good people get ahead. Hope this leads to even bigger opportunities for you. Keep up the great work!
Thanks, it should be fun. I’m looking forward to working with Tamgros again. He was the “world-ranked PVE raiding guild guy” back in RIFT, but as many of you know who’ve watched his stream in SWTOR, he is a straight-up machine in PVP too. Great player and even better guy.
Also, I do very much appreciate the consistent support in social media and during GAMEBREAKER shows from viewers – it’s an encouragement to me and feedback is helpful to help us consider new ideas such as the BuildCast one.