Warrior WvW | Fun Hammer, Axe/Warhorn | Assaulter Remnant of Ascalon

The general idea of this build, as mentioned before, is to mix decent survivability and continuous amount of damage output in group fights. There are a few things to consider, always keeping in mind that you're providing DPS and Support to your group.

Your nourishment's: Always choose the right nourishment depending on what you're going to be doing. In some cases, like roaming, you may want to jack up your precision and/or crit damage to quickly put a hurting on anyone that crosses your path. Although not entirely recommended, this build can and will put out a decent and sustained string of damage against a single foe. Other times, during larger fights (15v15 or more), you may need more survivability.

Some recommended foods: Omnomberry Compote is absolutely ideal for additional survivability during large fights, especially in choke points where you can lay down major damage and barely have to move from your position. If your group is organized well enough, you should have no problem constantly replenishing your health without delaying any of your damage output. You're already going to be running major condition cleanses and stun duration reductions through your armor and various ally skills, so keeping your vitality up is going to be second nature. Keeping your HP up is paramount to dealing damage and keeping others alive if you have to resurrect them.

Bowl of Lemongrass Poultry Soup is an excellent choice, as well, if the group you're facing is condition heavy. Reduced time on incoming conditions and a bump to your vitality is important in winning a fight against those red circles marking the ground all over the place. A cheaper alternative to this is the Bowl of Poultry and Leek Soup.

Loaf of Saffron Bread is a very close second as far as Defensive foods go. The additional -20% incoming condition duration, and -20% damage reduction on Knockdown/Back and Stun go great with the Superior Rune of Melandru set you have equipped. This works very well against groups running a lot of heavies or whom have a strong front line; the cheaper alternative to this would be Loaf of Tarragon Bread.

Mango Pies and Omnomberry Ghosts are also very useful as a general survival food, giving you constant HP regen with Mango Pies, and a 66% chance on critical hits for life steal with Omnomberry Ghosts. OG's do have an internal cooldown, however. Good alternatives to the latter two are Peach Pies instead of Mango, and Blackberry Pies in place of OG's.

Bowl of Curry Butternut Squash will help increase the amount of damage you can deal out in an instance. While it does help to deal more damage, it's not entirely recommended for group fights where survivability may become and issue, and is better off left on the back burners for very small or 1v1 skirmishes.

Secondary recommended armor: A set of Knight's armor, equipped with Superior Rune of Melandru set, can and should be kept on hand in your inventory when you head out into battle and expect to run into fights with larger numbers (25vs25 or more). Knight's armor grants additional toughness without sacrificing precision, losing 0% crit chance* and only 15% crit damage, which can be made up with proper nourishment's. Don't forget that what you're missing in crit damage you're making up for in terms of raw power/attack and survivability. You're traited to gain a percentage of power based on your toughness, so overall you're still dealing out a lot of pain and are able to stay alive to keep dealing out some serious damage.

Recommended Sigils:

Hammer: Superior Sigil of Restoration is an amazing gift to keep you alive and can be a key element during long battles where heals aren't always available but the enemy is still dropping, such as those insufferable fights at the enemy's spawn camp. Superior Sigil of Endurance is also a good option, replenishing your endurance every time you kill an enemy thus allowing you to continuously dodge-roll from danger if you need to. Either one is fine and both are highly recommended.

The second sigil on Hammer is up to you, since most people have varying opinions on which sigils to use dependent on the current meta. I (always) highly recommend Superior Sigil of Hydromancy for a PBAoE snare, and since the small burst counts as a connect to anyone in range, it clears blindness (assuming it is applied) on a weapon swap. Superior Sigil of Paralyzation, for an extended +30% stun duration, also comes in handy, as does Superior Sigil of Impact for a +10% damage boost to Stunned or Knocked Down foes.

Axe/Warhorn: Superior Sigil of Restoration/Endurance continues to provide it's excellence once again. I would recommend Superior Sigil of Water for your offhand (warhorn) since this is designed to be a team build; it provides a small, sometimes necessary heal at a 30% chance on hit every five seconds. With Axe being one of the superior auto-attack speeds in game, you should have no problem proccing the occasional heal for yourself and your group.

Shield (alternative offhand): Shield provides great defense and CC skills if you feel the urge to roam, giving you a daze and also full melee attack blocks. The Superior Sigil of Hydromancy on the shield puts an additional PBAoE snare on nearby fleeing foes to keep them within range so you may DPS them down with ease. This can also be traded out for Superior Sigil of Paralyzation for a +30% stun gain to daze your foe perhaps just long enough to down and spike them through the core of Tyria.

Greatsword (alternative main hand): Warriors and Greatswords are one in the same, representing unrelenting fortitude and endless amounts of damage. Because of its attack patterns, a lot of practice with the skill rotations on Greatsword is recommended, but after such, having one in your inventory to equip at the right moments is a prized addition. One should consider equipping the Superior Sigil of Fire for their Greatsword to deal out even what would otherwise be a complete lack of AoE damage. And once more, I emphasize the usefulness of Superior Sigil of Hydromancy. I sorry, but me likey that sigil a lot.

Other Useful Sigils:

Self

Superior Sigil of Life is a great sigil to keep on you at all times (usually for an aquatic weapon since the sigil patch) for your offhand Warhorn. Building stacks of healing power not only provides you with an increased return on HP when you're regenerating health, but it also provides a faster revival of an ally should they go down during a fight and you need to hard resurrect them.

Superior Sigil of Momentum is a great alternative to have if you're looking for a stacking sigil that provides for something other than DPS.

Superior Sigil of Blood grants a 30% chance to steal life on critical hits, and stacks well with HP replenishing nourishment's (Omnomberry Ghost's, Mango Pies, etc.), but has the same internal cooldown (an effect which cannot trigger more than once every 2 seconds) as Omnomberry Ghosts.

Superior Sigil of Energy allows a 50% endurance gain on weapon swap while in combat which grants you more opportunities to evade attacks with your increased Vigor up-time from various traits and Warhorn skills.

Foe
Superior Sigil of Ice is superb in keeping those pesky, mobile, endless dodgers in place long enough for you to put a hurting on them. It's 30% chance to cause chill for 2 seconds on critical hit may seem low, but the amount of crits you'll be landing more than makes up for that.

Foe/AoE
Superior Sigil of Torment is a decent sigil to consider, granting a 50% chance on critical to cause AoE Torment for 5 seconds (and just a 5 second cooldown). While you may not be on the high end of dealing conditions damage, it still may keep them in combat long enough for you to catch them, since Torment stacks the more the enemy moves.

Recommended Armor Runes:

Superior Rune of Melandru. They speak for themselves. Although another appropriate set may be found, this is to ensure that you're not quickly losing HP to a high condition damage build, and is well rounded for self-survivability.

Superior Rune of Hoelbrak is also a great set to consider. While it may lack somewhat defensively, it more than makes up for it in the Might buff up time it provides for the user, while still granting a decrease in incoming condition duration (-20%).

Superior Rune of the Dolyak , though not highly recommended, is still a tasteful representation of how one could balance this build. It give additional vitality without wasting that particular stat for this build, and gives you a good, albeit small, constant HP regeneration.

Toughness is the thing to consider when choosing your rune set for Remnant of Ascalon. Vitality is a close second, but the majority of the damage you'll be absorbing comes from melee attacks, most notably the Hammer Trains run by the front line Heavies in Zerg clashes. If you're going to go for Vitality, you my as well be diverse; Superior Sigil of the Warrior is an excellent backup for a rune set. It grants increased vitality, additional power, and reduces your weapon swap cooldown by a full second.

The equipped Valkyrie trinkets are paramount to survival and are fairly well rounded. Not everyone can afford ascended accessories so readily, however, but the base stats of those chosen are similar to Valkyrie stats. A combination of exotics may also be used; combining Cavalier's, Knight's, and/or Valkyrie's will give you a close enough match. Of course this will depend on how much you want to placate to the min/maxer in you. They're important for the amount of damage you'll deal out: You're gaining HP with the listed trinkets which is valuable in longer fights, while also gaining good bases for the damage you will be dealing out.

If you cannot afford ascended gear, a recommendation of Cavalier's trinkets with Valkyrie jewels or Knight's trinkets with Valkyrie jewels is appropriate.

P.S.
Underwater Combat: Yeah. Do whatever you want here. I hate underwater combat, so when it's better polished I may touch back on this. I do highly recommend the Torment sigils on your weapons though since you always have to move underwater to basically do anything effective, and as previously stated, a stacking sigil of your favor so you're not wasting an upgrade component slot on your land weapons.

The Remnant of Ascalon can be a very team friendly build given allowance for, but not limited to, any adjustments listed and even some you may come up with on your own. It is designed to be an offensive team and support build, through assault. Needless to say you're going to attract quite a lot of attention with this build. In retrospect; there is no such thing as a perfect build, though we all strive for such a thing to exist in our journals and pages of theory crafting, so the choice is yours and all that can be done is to consider suggestions made by others.

Don't get discouraged if it doesn't work out for you, this is just one of an endless amount of build options available. Hell, it may become obsolete in its own time. It may take some practice to figure out rotations and combinations of traits, sigils, or even runes to feel comfortable. Adapt to your play style to get the synergy flowing, find a good group to run with that will help you understand it's effectiveness and weaknesses. I know I came up with this build through trial and error by running alternative builds and figuring out what I liked and disliked the most about them.

You win some, you lose some...You're probably going to be winning more than you lose though.

=D

With that being said, I'm open to constructive criticism. I'll be playing around with the build constantly, and editing this page every so often once I find where it needs the tweaks the most. Look forward to a Remnant of Ascalon revamp once I've found the best values for the build.

Have fun, kick some ass, and may Grenth be with you.