WvW Warrior Build

I call it the ‘Squad Commander’ build as a throwback to the old ‘Squad Leader’ class in Star Wars Galaxies.  That was a very fun class, and I hated to lose it permanently when they wrecked the game.  This build is meant to serve as a support build.  The idea behind this build is to support your team while hanging back a little and assessing the battlefield.  I am not sure how useful this build would be in a smaller group.  It is intended to be a build for WvW, but I have now perfected it for sPvP, and you can check out the Squad Commander Build for sPvP page.

Your secondary weapon for the Squad Commander build is going to be a greatsword for it’s amazing mobility.  It’s not just good for getting to the fights, but it can help you get away from them too.  This is the ultimate survival build for warriors.

The Build

Click here for the Squad Commander Build for Warriors
I have taken all the defensive traits I can when possible.  When there are none, I have taken all the traits that benefit allies.  You want to be moving in a zig-zag, horizontally across the battle line.  From here you can rush forward to revive your melee, or throw them (or the ranged) a heal or boon.

Gear

• Armor

Power, Toughness, and Vitality are your friend.  You can get this from multiple places.  The WvW PvP vendors (with enough Badges of Honor).  The other place is the level 80 exotic gear karma vendors.  This can be slightly hard, but easily doable within a week if you have the karma.  Check out my Level 80 Gear guide for details on where to find this gear.

• Trinkets

There are no easy options for power/toughness/vitality on trinkets.  Since this is a Squad Commander build, emphasis on the squad, I went with something else.  Power, healing, and toughness or Sapphire jewelry.  This will improve all your heals to self and others.

The WvW gear vendor does have Invader trinkets available with power, toughness, and vitality if you want to go that route.  It is going to be very time consuming, so be prepared.

• Weapons

I recommend the Invader’s Sword (power/vitality/toughness) to keep your health above 25k.  A mace may work well in place of a sword if that’s your preference.  The shield I use is the WvW Invaders Shield.  For the Greatsword, choose something with power/vitality/toughness.  You won’t be using it to DPS mainly, so you’ll want some defensive stats for when you’re escaping.  Invader’s weapons are good, and there are some dungeon options.

• Sigils

Other sigils may work, but these are the ones I am using below.  This is a low crit build, so there are not a lot of options.

Sword: Superior Sigil of Energy
Shield: Superior Sigil of Life
Greatsword: Superior Sigil of Energy

• Runes

Runes of Melandru provide toughness, as well as condition removal and stun duration reduction.  I don’t think I need to explain the benefit of this for a build that needs to move across the battle line to help others.  Other runes you may want to consider are Soldier.  Dolyak runes don’t heal for enough, and their healing does not scale with healing power.

Boons and Condition Removal

• For Great Justice skill provides Fury (20% crit) and Might (+Power, +Condition Damage) to you and your allies.
• Empower Allies trait provides 70 Power to nearby allies.
• Shake it Off skill removes harmful conditions from you and your allies.
• Avatar of Melandru elite skill also removes conditions from your allies.
• Runes of Melandru give you -25% condition duration.
• Runes of Melandru give you -25% stun duration.
• Reviver’s Might trait gives nearby allies Might when you revive someone.

Healing

You are not a dedicated healer.  You are a combat healer.  You are not a ‘Heal someone while they tank many invaders.’ kind of healer.  You are an ‘I just healed you so GET BACK NOW.‘‘ kind of healer.  Your +healing gear affects all of this.  As a side note, your Lung Capacity trait reduces shout cooldowns by 20%, increasing your heal frequency.

• Vigorous Shouts trait makes each shout a small heal.
• Shake it Off shout provides a heal.
• For Great Justice shout also provides a heal.
• Avatar of Melandru elite skill puts down a healing AoE.
• Healing Signet skill gives you a steady stream of health regen.
• Regen comes from the Adrenal Health trait.

With full Sapphire jewelry I have ~800 healing power.  As far as regen, I get 394(437) from Healing Signet, and 42/80/120(85/123/163) from the Adrenal Health trait.  That’s a potential of ticking for 600 from regen!  (Runes of the Dolyak will add an additional flat 30/sec that is not affected by healing power.)  The trait Dogged March provides another 120 hp/second when you are immobilized, crippled, or chilled.  I am also healing for 2263 on shouts at level 80.  Superior Sigil of Healing adds even more healing power to everything.

Combat Medic

You are the jack of all trades on the battlefield.  Revive the dead, cleanse the wounded, and spot heal everyone.  Throwing a quick shout to heal right after you revive someone is a great idea.

• Determined Revival trait gives you 5 toughness per level while reviving.  That’s 400 toughness at level 80!
• Fast Healer trait increases your revive speed by 10%.
• Shield Stance skill allows you to block attacks while standing in front others to shield them.

Crowd Control

As a support, your CC can be invaluable to your team.  Sword and Shield provide you with a good amount of it too.

• Hamstring cripples your enemies, slowing them down.
• Shield Bash stuns your enemies, stopping them in their tracks.
• Flurry immobilizes your enemies, also stopping them cold.

Morale

Like Captain Spiers in ‘Band of Brothers’, it’s your job to inspire your troops by doing the seemingly impossible.  Whether that’s standing on a bridge alone taking volleys of arrows to cover a retreat, or dropping down off your tower wall to revive someone who died below, helping other players is the end goal.  Glory from the most killing blows or two shotting someone isn’t attainable with this build.  Do your job and support your team, so they can do their job and take or defend the objective.

Squad Commander Gameplay

Here’s a video of some WvW gameplay with this build.  There’s even more WvW footage on my Twitch.tv channel.  As always, leave any questions or comments below.  If you end up using the build, please feel free to give feedback.  I’m always tinkering with the build (traits and sigils specifically), so it’s a work in progress.