Warrior Class Guide

Overview

The Warrior is without question WildStars most powerful class. Not only does it deal the highest damage in the game but it also has amazing mobility, bags full of crowd control and best of all, it wears heavy armor. Although I’ve listed its strengths and weaknesses below, it must be said that it has very few downsides. It’s more than capable of destroying other classes 1 on 1 in a matter of seconds and in team games in the hands of the right player is capable of exceeding 4 million damage over the course of a Battleground (ouch!). Most Warriors as a result tend to go out and out DPS because they are so good at it however they are capable tanks. The majority of the playerbase would likely prefer an Engineer or Stalker tank but you’ll never struggle for groups if you have the right amount of defensive armor.

Strengths

Solo’s content in PvE very easily A real nuisance and incredibly powerful in PvP Capable of dealing huge damage while having high survivability Pairs wonderfully well with any of the healing classes

Weaknesses

Seen as the more traditional class out of the roster Has to remain in melee range of opponents at all times (though it can permanently snare) Arguably a weaker tank than the Stalker or Engineer

Terminology

AB - Augmented Blade AMP – A system to buff your abilities by spending AMP points AoE – Area of Effect AS - Atomic Spear Base – This refers to taking an ability at its lowest possible value BR - Bum Rush BS - Breaching Strikes BoS - Bolstering Strikes CC – Crowd Control CD – Cool Down Crit – Chance to critically hit Crit Sev – Critical severity rating DPS – Damage per second DG - Defence Grid ER - Emergency Reserves FB - Flash Bang GCD – Global Cool Down HoT -  Healing Over Time HPS – Heals per second KB - Knock back LAS – Limited Action Set MS - Menacing Strikes PB - Plasma Blast PL - Power Link PF - Polarity Field PW - Plasma Wall RS - Relentless Strikes SB - Shield Burst SP – Support Power (the primary healing and tanking attribute) SS - Savage Strikes TF - Tether Bolt UF - Unstoppable Force

Mechanic

The Warrior has two primary mechanics, the first being its stances which it can change (similarly to an Engineers Exo Suit or Stalkers Nano Skins) and the second is its Kinetic Energy. As the Warrior fights in combat it will gain Kinetic Energy that it can then spend on its skills. Just like many of the classes capable of building a resource the Warriors Kinetic Energy will deplete when out of combat and increase as they utilise their builders. With the right selection of skills and AMPs it’s relatively easy for a Warrior to maintain high levels of Kinetic Energy and as a result, allows them to unleash high amounts of damage in a very short space of time.

When it comes to their stances, the Warrior has two available:

Stance: Onslaught Stance: Juggernaut

Onslaught

This stance is for maximum damage and increases the warriors damage dealt and reduces mitigation (it makes you more vulnerable!). It’s active skill resets assault and support ability cooldowns and triggers Overdrive for 8 seconds. Overdrive prevents Kinetic Energy decay, increasing damage dealt, increasing damage taken and reduces incoming healing.

Juggernaut

The warriors tanking stance, Juggernaut, increases all resistances, increases your maximum shield and increases threat generation. Its active trigger is Bulwark which prevents Kinetic Energy decay, reduces damage taken, increases threat generation and reduces damage dealt.

For the most part there’s very little need as a Warrior to stance dance - much less so than a Stalker. Interestingly, a Warrior is still more than capable of tanking well

Playstyle

The Warriors tanking play style is very typical of the genre, you simply tank and spank and try to avoid telegraphs in the process. There isn’t necessarily a requirement to use Juggernaut stance as the Onslaught stance can sometimes work in your favour as you’ll deal more damage and thus attract more ‘aggro’. Due to the Warriors Kinetic Energy mechanic, if you’re to be truly effective in any encounter you’ll need to stay in fights utilising your builders.

During the early levels a large proportion of a Warriors time is spent continually using said builders (Relentless Strikes) but the need to do this does ease somewhat as you obtain several key AMPs. It might feel repetitive when utilising one skill (or several) as the main source of your Kinetic Energy but if nothing else it will keep your damage up.

As you might expect with a melee class there’s a need to keep your opponents up close in order to deal damage. Fortunately the Warrior has an array of skills to keep people in place which makes them a real pain in the backside. Leap, Grapple, Kick and Tremor are a must for the class, especially in PvP as they are so annoying to fight against. Certainly as an individual who has regularly been on the receiving end of a highly geared Warrior, it’s more than possible to 2-shot a player if you time your CC skills correctly.  

Tips and Tricks

Remember that without Kinetic Energy you’ll be unable to use many of your most powerful skills. Keeping your energy up is a must. Utilising a variety of CC skills (as noted above) will make you a nuisance and allow you to deal huge amounts of damage to an opponent that’s incapacitated. You don’t necessarily have to use Onslaught stance to tank. Although it helps quite considerably you’ll certainly still be capable of tanking well without it (and thus deal more damage with Juggernaut stance). In PvP I’d consider Grapple and Leap mandatory skills for a Warrior as they’re simply too powerful to not use. The Warriors DPS doesn’t begin to spike until later on when it obtains good gear and several key AMPs. Don’t be disheartened during the early levels if you see Espers and Spellslingers dealing more damage.