General Warrior Guide For Solo Content

Welcome to my jab at explaining Warrior - the jack of all trades, master of bonk, the 2 pip energy regen cry corner or simply; welcome home.
This might not ever be a fully fleshed out guide but more of an attempt to converge you into being able to process a twenty year old video game through the eyes of a swiss army knife or what is otherwise known as the Warrior profession in Guild Wars.

Preface

Overall warrior is considered to be quite a weak class in the solo context as a lot of gameplay defaults to something caster-esque, a very low energy pool and 2 pips of energy regeneration (0.66 energy per second) are slowing it down substantially.
Melee warrior is certainly possible through all campaigns as masterfully shown by CandyB in Prophecies (Pure) and Nao in all campaigns.
Possible however does not always mean time efficient, occasionally defaulting to W/Me with a Domination Magic setup fueled by Energy Drain / Lyssa's Aura or even a SoS Ritualist bar might save you some hours / sanity but makes you miss out on the true Warrior experience.

Now with that out of the way, there are places where a solo warrior really shines:

  • You can certainly get away taking a bit more damage due to the 80 AR (100 AR vs physical damage) and often being able to meet requirements for shields which means that non perfect gameplay is not pushinished as harsh as 60 AR professions are.
  • This also allows for some creativity in terms of Build Wars that would not be there otherwise.
  • Figuring out how to maneuver quests / missions can be a bit harder, which offers the player the chance to solve problems where other professions would simply slam the same bar and be good.
  • Warrior is the only profession that has access to Stonefist Insignia, increasing knockdown duration from two to three seconds.
  • Farming on warrior is great, be it to get the first superior runes in a Prophecies run or grinding reputation / gold at Raptor's / Halcyon Job (it even does Vaettir at quite a slow pace).

The 20th Anniversary Update really helped combat some weaknesses of the profession and enabled different builds that where not possible before or substantially improved existing ones through implementing new mods.

  • of the Necromancer - helps overall energy sustain on a weapon swap, this is key on a profession that mostly struggles with energy management.
  • of the Ranger - makes Beast Mastery as well as SoS Ritualist builds play smoother
  • of the Elementalist - enables a Second Wind type W/E utilizing Earth and Water magic and the strongest energy & life sustain. You can get up to ~100 energy if you sacrifice natural regeneration.
  • of the Mesmer - for better skill recharge on Mesmer spells and slightly quicker cast times.
  • of the Dervish - enables W/D builds using Vow of Silence for content where you need spell immunity, strong damage and sustain

General Concepts

  • There are a few overarching build variants regardless of the playthrough chosen, these are:
    • Tanking your way through, defying the pain
    • Degeneration (Bleeding, Poison, Disease / Crippling Anguish, Conjure Phantasm / Life Transfer, Life Siphon)
    • Domination Magic /Mesmer
    • Beast Mastery /Ranger

Prophecies Playthrough

  • Defy Pain can be capped early at Beacon's Perch and is a really strong skill that carries most of the campaigns content.
    • Combines well with Axe Mastery and Tactics to offer a well rounded melee build that tanks and spanks.
    • Running to Droknar's Forge can be easier with it; W/Mo Runner.
  • Warrior's Endurance is one of the first round of elites to be capped in the Crystal Desert - it works wonders with Power Attack / Cyclonic Axe spam or Renewing Smash builds (if you decide to go all campaign after Prophecies).
  • Gladiator's Defense is the most iconic farming skills for handling melee opponents on a warrior.
  • A lot of the content after the Crystal Desert is usually handled via strong usage of your secondary profession, it does not really matter what you chose until ascension but after that you'll be somewhere between /Mo, /Me, /R depending on the context in the Southern Shiverpeaks and on the Ring of Fire.
  • If you fancy yourself a connoisseur of masochism or have a decent amount of time on your hands and godly gameplay mechanics to back it up, pure warrior runs are possible.

All Campaign Playthrough

  • Factions offers Renewing Smash which opens up playing Hammer with strong single target DPS, the generic build can be enhanced with Warrior's Endurance, Seven Weapon Stance or Earth Shaker for AoE quarterknocking (:chefs_kiss:).
  • Seven Weapon Stance offers very weapon-fluid builds where you can constantly switch between Scythe, Axe / Sword / Hammer, Spear and Bow according to the environment you find yourself in.
  • Soldier's Stance offers 75% block chance and is a great way to get 33% IAS if you are affected by a shout (For Great Justice! / Watch Yourself!) but is capped relatively late in Nightfall.
  • Victory is Mine! can be used as a way of pseudo energy regeneration in areas with little or no condition removal on the foes, mainly due to utilizing PvE-Skills that come with a condition anyways (YMLaD, Snipe, Signet of Infection).
  • Opening up all campaign also enables the elites of other professions which means we'll get better energy management through Lyssa's Aura (/Me), Enraged Lunge (/R in combination with Scavenger Strike), Second Wind (/E) or better condition damage (Burning Arrow, Poison Tip Signet), SoS Ritualist builds are available now.
  • If you end up playing with PvE-Skills Ebon Vanguard Sniper Support -> Wastrel's Worry -> You Move Like a Dwarf! can become a way to make the rest of your bar feel mundane.

Weapons and Mods

  • Mainly depend on the situation you have at hand, usually:
    • your main weapon set
    • a high energy swap
    • a high hp swap
    • a longbow / flatbow for pulling
  • Essentially, you want weapons with suiting mods for every build / content you want to do, that might end up looking like:
    • Sword, Axe, Hammer, Scythe (Zealous, Furious, Sundering, perhaps Vampiric)
    • Flatbow (Vampiric) / Recurvebow (Zealous)
    • Specifically Arbalest (Furious, Zealous)
    • Wand + focus set for Domination Magic, Earth Magic (40/40, or of the Mesmer / of the Elementalist)
    • Martial caster weapon of the Ranger (for Beast Mastery or SoS builds)
    • Martial caster weapon of the Elementalist (for generic caster gameplay that does not need 40/40 HSR / HCT)
    • Martial caster weapon / a staff of Enchanting either for farming purposes or Lyssa's Aura builds
    • any weapon of the Necromancer for 5 energy on swap
    • Shields for strength / tactics with +30hp and +10 armor vs all 7 damage types
  • Unless stated otherwise, suffixes can be of Fortitude, of Defence or of Enchanting according to the content / build used.

Armor, Insignia, Runes

  • As mentioned above, Warrior's Stonefist Insignia should be used on any build that runs a knockdown.
  • Dreadnought's Insignia (or Sentinel's if you run 13+ strength) do greatly improve tankiness vs elemental damage.
  • Knight's Insignia can be used for specific farms to reduce incoming physical damage substantially.
  • Variants of Radiant Insignia and Runes of Attunement can be used for caster builds if you need the extra energy, otherwise armor vs elemental damage, Runes of Vitae and an of the Elementalist mod do the job.
  • I ended up with armor sets for the following gameplay situations:
    • regular caster (1 Stonefist, 4 Dreadnought's Insignia's, 1 Superior Rune, 1 Superior Vigor, 3 Vitae)
    • high energy caster (1 Stonefist, 4 Radiant Insignia's, 1 Superior Rune, 1 Superior Vigor, 3 Attunement)
    • strength based (1 Stonefist, 4 Sentinel's Insignia's, 1 Superior Rune, 1 Superior Vigor, 3 Vitae)
    • melee farm (5 Knight Insignia's, 1 Superior Rune, 1 Superior Vigor, 1 Superior Absorption, 2 Vitae)
    • 105hp farm (5 Radiant Insignia's, 5 Superior Runes)

Prophecies Playthrough

Start

  • So, you started in good old Prophecies, thinking warrior will be a good choice for your solo journey ahead. Usually people come to their senses after the had a couple Empathy's cast on them in the first missions in the Northern Shiverpeaks but do not waver - you have to choose a secondary class before leaving Pre-Searing!
  • As mentioned above, any melee / adrenaline hate makes you suffer as a warrior; any caster / range secondary can help mitigate that, runs up until ascension have been done as /E, /Me, /Mo, /N, /R - the world is your oyster.
  • Once you leave Pre-Searing some people advise to do all skill quests in every area to save gold in the long run (this can be overlooked if you intend to become a stellar raptor farmer).
  • A list of salvageable upgrades from collectors which comes in handy if you need to quickly get some mods.
  • Overall, Prophecies can be ran all the way until the Crystal Desert without killing a single foe, warrior does it best with Sprint and Defy / Endure Pain - you can also run from Beacon's Perch directly to Droknar's Forge if you want to start with the content Southern Shiverpeaks.
  • If you intend to play through every mission in order, which can be recommended on a first playthrough as a warrior or first playthrough in general, I would advise to capture the aforementioned Defy Pain as early as possible as you'll need it in the missions to come, specifically so if playing melee.

Farms

All of these are what I would consider entry level farms to get you started on gathering runes, materials and gold. Generally speaking, farming in a Prophecies playthrough is not required, you'll be able to finish the campaign without best in slot runes / insignia - if you however have a specific build in mind it might be needed.

Runes / Insignia:

Miscellaneous:

All Campaign Playthrough

Start

  • If you are straight up rushing from Ascalon to Lion's Arch taking the ship to Kaineng Center / Kamadan or the tunnel to Boreas Station before progressing further, this is the section that will be there for those who stray from the righteous path of playing through the game in it's god given order to cut corners.
  • All campaign approaches often head to EotN early on to get access to PvE-Skills and to craft max AR armor.
  • Prophecies, Factions and Eye of the North appear to be the most straightforward campaigns to complete and are described in detail in the belonging sections of the wiki, Nightfall is a longer project as you just can't skip almost all of the content.

Missions

Prophecies Build Factions Build Nightfall Build EotN Build
The Great Northern Wall Pure Minister Cho's Estate Chahbek Village Finding Gadd
Fort Ranik Pure Zen Daijun Jokanur Diggings Lab Space
Ruins of Surmia Pure Vizunah Square Blacktide Den A Little Help
Nolani Academy Pure Nahpui Quarter /D Consulate Docks /R Finding the Bloodstone
Borlis Pass Tahnnakai Temple /R Venta Cemetery The Elusive Golemancer
Frost Gate Arborstone Kodonur Crossings /Me G.O.L.E.M. /Rt
Gates of Kryta /R Boreas Seabed /Me Pogahn Passage Search for the Ebon Vanguard
D'Alessio Seaboard /R Sunjiang District /R Rilohn Refuge /Me Against the Charr
Divinity Coast /R The Eternal Grove Moddok Crevice /Me The Dawn of Rebellion
The Wilds /R UWW (Kurzick) Tihark Orchard /Me Warband of Brothers
Bloodstone Fen /R Gyala Hatchery /D /Me Dasha Vestibule /Me What Must Be Done
Aurora Glade /R UWW (Luxon) /Me Dzagonur Bastion /R /A Assault on the Stronghold
Riverside Province /R Raisu Palace /D /Rt Grand Court of Sebelkeh /A Tracking the Nornbear
Sanctum Cay /R Pure Imperial Sanctum /Me Jennur's Horde Curse of the Nornbear /Me
Dunes of Despair /R /E /Mo Pure Nundu Bay Flames of the Bear Spirit
Elona Reach /R /Mo Gate of Desolation Blood Washes Blood
Thirsty River /R /E Pure Ruins of Morah Vision of the Raven Spirit
Augury Rock Pure Gate of Pain A Gate Too Far
The Dragon's Lair /R Pure Pure Gate of Madness /P Heart of the Shiverpeaks /Rt
Ice Caves of Sorrow /R /Me Pure Abbadon's Gate /R Destruction's Depths
Iron Mines of Moladune Pure A Time for Heroes /Mo
Thunderhead Keep /Me /R Pure Pure Pure
Ring of Fire /R Pure Pure
Abbadon's Mouth /Me /Me Pure Pure
Hell's Precipe /Me /Me Pure Pure

Farms

Factions
Nightfall
  • …
Eye of the North
Elite Areas
Underworld
Fissure of Woe
Domain of Anguish
  • W/A HM edit this later
page revision: 175, last edited: 04 May 2026 17:56
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