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Guild Wars 2 Warrior

When it comes to weapons the Guild Wars 2 Warrior is the master of mayhem! Able to wield 9 different weapons, in 19 different ways, with each serving a different purpose, players can equip their warrior to suit their own play style.

The old faithful weapons from Guild Wars 1 are still available... Axes, Swords and Hammers... but in GW2 the warrior also has the option of using Maces, two-handed Greatswords, Longbows and even Rifles!

When wielding one-handed weapons in their main hand, warriors can also use shields and warhorns in their offhand or even choose to wield two weapons! A warrior equipped with the Weapon Master trait can switch back and forth between his two active weapon sets in combat, cutting a devastating path through his foes.

The warrior's choice of weapons can be :

Main Hand Weapons : Axe, Sword, Mace.
Offhand Items : Shield, Warhorn, Axe, Sword, Mace.
Two-Handed Weapons : Hammer, Greatsword, Longbow, Rifle.

Axe Warriors : quickly build up adrenaline to deliver powerful spike attacks.
Sword Warrior : is quick and highly mobile, bouncing between foes with a Savage Leap, bleeding his enemies as he goes.
Hammer Warrior : uses area attacks to pound his enemies and the ground, staggering groups of foes.
Mace Warriors : use powerful stunning attacks to disrupt foes and hit them where it hurts leaving them susceptible to further blows.
Greatsword Warrior : uses sweeping area of effect attacks to decimate his foes.
Longbow Warriors : inflict fiery area of effect damage using incendiary arrow.
Rifle Warrior : pulls foes or delivers the final killing shot on fleeing enemies using the single-target ranged weapon.

Here's a sneak peek video of the Guild Wars 2 Warrior in action...

Warriors have two general Character Trait lines called Power and Tactics as well as trait lines for each of the weapons they can wield. As your character masters traits, you slot them into these lines, affecting your character and the abilities they have. You may choose to stack traits that increase your Warrior's strength attribute so your individual melee attacks do more damage.

The short video below is from the Guild Wars 2 closed beta, in February 2012.
It displays the contents of the hero panel, showing the various
weapon skills, slot skills and traits available to warriors in GW2.

As in Guild Wars 1, adrenaline plays a big part in the damage output of the warrior. At the start a fight the warrior has zero adrenaline but as the battle progresses he gains one strike of adrenaline with every attack they make. In Guild Wars 2 warriors have three stages of adrenal power that take increasing amounts of strikes to fill. They can wait for the adrenaline to hit maximum or they can release their stored adrenaline with a "Burst" skill.

Each weapon has one Burst skill that improves at each stage of adrenaline charge, resulting in more damage, increased skill duration, additional conditions or increased condition duration. These Burst skills use all of the warrior's adrenaline so should be used wisely.

This 8-minute video from gamescom 2011 shows a Charr Warrior in some PvP action.
Initially equipped with a bow, he later changes to a sword and shield combo.

Other familiar Warrior abilities such as Stances and Shouts are back in Guild Wars 2

Stances : Lets you turn on adrenaline enhancement at the cost of energy regeneration. For example, a warrior could hit "Berserker's Stance" which drains his energy, but give him adrenaline regeneration. You can easily toggle off Berserker's Stance and send the skill into recharge.

Shouts : Spells that affect a large area, giving bonuses to allies or debuffing enemies. A warrior could use the shout "On My Mark" to lower an enemy's armor and call a target out to allied party members.

Here, a Warrior uses Shield Stance to protect against his foe's attacks

A few special skill types have been added, making the GW2 warrior even more fearsome.

Charge Skills : Some skills can be held down to power them up for more impressive attacks. A warrior with a mace can wind up the powerful skill Obliterate and release it at four different power levels to do increasing amounts of damage.

Chains : A set of three skills that share a single skill slot, chains go off in sequence if you are hitting your target. For example, the sword chain skills Sever Artery, Gash, and Final Thrust are all on the same key, so rather than making a sword warrior spend three slots, they stack to fill only one slot. Chains effectively give a warrior two extra weapon skills on a weapon set.

Banners : Similar in concept to the GW1 Ebon Vanguard Battle Standards, the warrior calls down banners to buff his allies with attack power. Where these banners are better than their predecessors is that they can be picked up and carried around to move the buff, or it can be planted in an area to convey the buff, allowing the warrior to continue fighting. One example is Banner of Courage, which increases the melee damage of allies within its range.

The video below shows a Guild Wars 2 Warrior using the skill Stomp to knock down and damage his enemies.

One thing's for sure, the Guild Wars 2 warrior is a far more versatile, resilient and destructive class than we have ever seen before. Guild Wars 2 warrior.

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