Great Weapon Fighter
(last change 08. May 2017)
Here is my build I use in NW. First some words to the different classes which are "good" for a dps build in my eyes. Three are possible human, half ork and Dragonborn but I think half ork is best choose for dps because of the +5% Crit Severity and the +2 in STR and DEX. Here the stats from all three:
Half Ork:
+2 Dex
+2 Con or STR (I chosed Power)
+5% Crit Severity
Human:
+2 on any attribute
+3 additional skill points at level 10,15,20
+3% Def
Dragonborn:
+2 on any attribute
+Power and Critical Strike are increased by 3%
+5% more healing from all spells and abilities
At beginning you need to roll your stats: I choosed 20 STR - 15 DEX - 13 CON - 10 CHA because more power is always good.
Every 10 level you add points to STR and CHA like in the picture on the left. Why Charisma instead of Dexterity? Because of the extra combat advantage damage it gives.
Ok now to the Feats. Once you are level 30, you will have to choose your paragon path for the GWF. The paragons are Swordmaster or Iron Vanguard. I choosed Swordmaster because it's moer DPS. The At-Will "Weapon Master Strick" is so hard dps and also the dailys again with Slam.
Heroic Feats:
1/3 or 2/3 Unstoppable Action (little bit more AP gain)
3/3 Disciple of the Strenght (bonus dmg, always good)
2/3 or 3/3 Toughness (bit more HP is good)
3/3 Endless Assault (bonus dmg for encounters)
5/5 Steely Defense (more power = more dmg)
2/3 Weapon Mastery (increase crit chance)
3/3 Devastating Critical (increase crit severity)
Paragon Feats (Destroyer):
5/5 Great Weapon Focus (always great because most of dmg is done by AT-will powers)
5/5 Staying Power (reduce mitigation to your encounters = more dmg)
5/5 Mighty Blade (more dmg, by striking multiple targets)
5/5 Executioner's Style (increases the damage of IBS and Sure Strike)
5/5 Relentless Battle Fury (reduce cooldown of Battly Fury and increase duration of BF)
5/5 Focused Destroyer (grant us a lot of % dmg bonus)
1/1 Destroyer's Purpose (must have, no disscusion)
Other points:
(Sentinel) 5/5 Scale Agility (we just us this to reach Powerful Challenge, if you have problems with your HP you may shoud choose 5/5 Unstoppable Recovery instead of Scale Agility)
(Sentinel) 5/5 Powerful Challenge (15% bonus dmg on marked targets)
Why no Disciple of War? Well Disciple of War only works off your base recovery, armor penetration.
Why no Battle Awareness? the main reason why is because of the current meta where you get a lot of power from clerics and paladins who can get you to 200-250k power. This makes Battle Awareness overkill and in the end all it does is slow down your rotation and forces you to spam Battle Fury more frequently to keep it up 100%. So basically the small dps increase Battle Awareness gives is not worth it compared to the increased risk of losing the 100% uptime of Battle Fury which is a 25% damage buff.
In the seven pictures below you can find my set up in the differet area boons. I dont explane all now.. just read it for yourself and do the choise!
The Gear is also very important and give you a lot of stats you'll need. Here a little list of all gear/enchantments I use for my GWF.
Gear
Basicly I'll use the primal gear because its easy to get and it have nice stats. But there is some nice gear out there which is little bit better for dps (but also hard to get):
Necklace,
Belt,
Artifact
We will aim for the Orcus artifact set bonus. Baphomet's Infernal Talisman, Demogorgon's Girdle of Might and Shard of Orcus' Wand respectively. The set bonus “deal up to 20% additional dmg based on the differnect HP between player and target”, it’s simply perfect for our GWF
Main Hand
Off Hand
For the Main and Off-Hand weapon I choosed the Pioneer Weapon Set . The Stats are very good and the set-bonues is amazing when you have a full grp.
Alternativ set is the Primal Weapon Set which you can get with Seals of the Brave.
Artifacts
After Shard of Orcus' Wand, we still have 3 more artifacts. My choise:
- Wheel of Elements has exeptebal stats with HP/Power but more important is the symbol you use from it: Fire = Deal 30% bonus dmg as fire dmg for 30 secouns. Amazing! =) I normaly use this one all the time exept in boss fights and when there is someone who can give me the wheel then I change to Soul Sight Crystal.
- Soul Sight Crystal with power but more important is the arti power which gives you +50% addition dmg from your attacks (single target)
- Eye of the Giant has very nice stats: +2k HP, +1k power, +500 crit, +500 armor pen, +500 defense
- Fragmented Key of Stars has +1k power, +1k armor pen, +600 crit
- Sigil of the Controller (CW Artifact) which comes with +1k Power, +1k Crit, +600 controll resist so it’s a very good choice if you need little bit more crit and its easier to get if you have a CW ^^
Ring
With the modul (lost city of omu) they insert orange Rings witch are awsome. I go for those rings for myself.
Weapon and Armor enchantments
Normaly I run with the Transcendent Lightning Enchantment (for all dungeons). At Endbosses (single target) I change to Feytouched when I have OP and GF in grp. Why? Because Aura of Courage being buffed by fey and also getting 20% extra damage from Encounters. Another thing is that in tomb Bloody Death works better with Fey because your at-wills will be doing 20% more damage. If there is no GF or OP or both in grp you can use Holy Avenger for single target.
Offense and Defense Slots
For the offense slots I go for Brutal or demonic enchants! Basicly try to get as max. power on your char and get the crit from your companion.
For the defensive slots I go for Azur or Radiant Enchants. Azur for more defense (means also little bit more power) or Radiant for mor HP to buff Aura of courage.
An other big thing are the companions. I choosed the Chultan Tiger with 3 offense slots to raise my power with Bonding Runestones. The enchants on the rings are Azur and Radiant Enchantments. One day it would be nice to change them to Brutal Enchantments.
Other four companions:
- Fire Archon (+7% bonus dmg against targets below 50% HP)
- Air Archon (+5% bonus dmg against targets not at full health)
- Eartj Archon (+6% dmg when you are at full health)
- Siege Master (Deal +4% increased dmg everywhere or 8% while on Stronghold)
Further each additional active Archon increases this bonuses by 0.5%. Then there is a last nice boni from companions because legendary companions shares stats... so the owner gains 16% of summoned companions ratings. Each additional active legendary companion gives a bonus half as large as the previous one. So first 16%, second 8%, third 4% and so on
Now the Powers. To level up it doesn't really matter but at the end you really wana have 4 points in:
- Sure Strike
- Weapon Master's Strike
- Destroyer
- Weapon Master
- Wrathful Determination
- Daring Shout
- Indomitable Battle Strike
- Hidden Daggers
- Battly Fury
- Slam
- Crescendo
because those are the powers you need most of the time.
AOE (with GF):
Tenser’s then I use wheel of elements, slam. Pop battle fury and slightly sprint to cancel its animation then pop daggers you don’t really have to do battle fury first it doesn’t really matter. Now use WMS get the one enemy at low hp and use IBS if you time it correctly and kill the enemy all enemies around it will be marked keep using weapon master’s strike until they die of course you are going to have to use the buffs again and keep the uptime at 100% as much as possible.
AOE (without GF):
Start with Daring Shout, this will give you combat advantage, 20% more damage (8% for the team) and activate the Mainhand Bonus (+10% dmg). Then Hidden Daggers for extra 40% dmg for the next 8 seconds. Normaly Unstoppable should be full, start and strick once with WMS to buff. Continous with WMS or SS for and use Indomitable Battle Strike as finisher when there is only little bit unstoppable left. Use your dailys Crescendo to charge unstoppable or Slam if you have a lot of adds there
Single Target:
It’s pretty much the same as the Boss fight just try to keep buffs at 100% uptime although you are going to want to use daring shout instead of ibs since no one is marking for you.
Boss fight:
Start by using Crescendo to build Destroyer quickly. Then instantly use Tenser’s and use Weapon Master’s Strike. Before weapon master’s strike is done pop Battle Fury. I slightly sprint to skip its long animation. I pop the soul sight artifact, use hidden daggers. When I see Break the Spirit and Forgemaster’s flame in my buff bar I use IBS (also use your at wills as an indicator on when to use IBS, NEVER SPAM IT).