Neverwinter Great Weapon Fighter Guide

Neverwinter Great Weapon Fighter Guide by fcrowles

Hey there. I’m Thorin from MindFlayer server. I am a level 60 Great Weapon Fighter. I always see people struggling and complaining with GWF. I would like to do my best to help you out! If you have any questions feel free to ask me in game. Thorin@Fcrowles

Leveling up:

This is what people seem to regret the most. I personally didn’t have any troubles. My first death was level 51 so I’ll do my best to share my experience. Keep in mind I did not do any dungeons passed 30, it took too long to get into one at the rate I was leveling. This is also a guide for people who have the legacy weapon because that is the path I took.

Level 1-5 : Intro
Face stomp opponents and as soon as you finish the sewer quest pick up your mail. Legacy weapon!

Levels 5-16 : Roflstomp Mode
The legacy weapon is ridiculously powerful. Just equip skills as you get them, try them all out. AoE works wonders with this weapon. No real strategy here, you should overpower everyone you face against.

Levels 16-25 : Cleric Mode
As soon as you get 16 pick up the cleric companion. She will make your life so much easier. She will save you butt loads on potions. I understand how cool the dire wolf is but the cleric is just so much more useful. Your encounters don’t really matter at this point because the cleric will keep you running. Focus the adds first, use wicked strike at-will for 3+ monsters an Sure strike for 1-2. I recommend using Avalanche of Steel as your daily. It will save you in a big pull and destroy everything. It also looks awesome.

Levels 25-30: Dying of old age
These were the hell levels for me. They weren’t hard but you fight bandits and bandits use potions. The fights are long and tedious. The cleric should still keep you alive, you might have to start using potions at this point. On gear try to focus on defense, power, and regen/life steal. Continue using Avalanche of Steel for solo. For encounters I use single target encounters. Restoring strike, Takedown and Mighty Leap for a AoE. I’d sprint into a crowd, if there are a lot of weak enemies I use Restoring strike and Takedown on the tough one, then go into Unstoppable and spam wicked strike until the weak ones are at about 40% Then I use mighty leap to finish them before they use a potion or a scroll of healing.

Levels 30-50: Time to shine
These levels were MADE for a Great Weapon Fighter. Tons of weak enemies all piled up in small groups. Use Weapon master strike in place of wicked strike and only use it when there are 3+ enemies. It’s beastly. The cleric will save you on tons of potions and basically keep your health full after a fight. These were the fastest easiest levels for my GWF and I ran through things faster than a CW and a TR. I replace Mighty Leap with Flourish and keep the other two. I enter a fight and use my single targets on the big guy, then spam the WMS to kill the little ones then when the cooldowns are over on my encounters I use them on the big guy once more.

Levels 50-55 : Hell
These were the hardest levels by far ever for me. The fire mountain took SO many potions I lost about 10 gold. The cleric was now so weak she wasn’t even worth using. I switched to the Dire wolf to get him to level 30. I think using a tank companion would be better or an AoE one. Everything in this area sucks for GWF. Lots of point blank AOE, ground AOE, Aura AOE. All I can recommend is use potions. I used the same encounters. I switched my daily to slam once you get the 5 points in battle awareness. It’s all about getting into unstoppable and killing as much as you can before it runs out using AoE. When they are down to single target you can chain CC them with Takedown and Flourish, kiting if you need to.

Levels 55-60: Downhill
These levels became much easier. The drow come in large groups and Slam + WMS + Unstoppable just destroys them. I use the same build, just less potions. Oh, I replaced Takedown with Indomitable battle strike.

End game:

Strategy: Stay in unstoppable as long as possible. Unstoppable raises action point gain faster than any other class. Slam + Unstoppable + WMS is crazy damage.

Build:
Feats –
Heroic :
Unstoppable Action – 5/5 – Bread and Butter of the build.
Endless Assault – 3/3 – More damage on encounters the better.
Disciple of Strength -3/3 – More damage the better.
Steely Defense – 5/5 – More power more benefit from Slam
Devastating Critical – 3/3 – A lot of attacks means a lot of crits
Weapon Mastery 1/3 – Nothing else to put it in

Destroyer:
Great Weapon Focus – 5/5 – GWS is your primary damage tool.
Deep Gash – 5/5 – More damage from crits, can’t complain.
Staying Power – 5/5 – Weapon Master strike is awesome.
Battle Awareness – 5/5 – 25% more power? So Whaaa
Destroyer’s purpose – 1/1 – Faster unstoppable the better

Sentinel:
Student of the Sword – 5/5 – Now you’re increasing everyone elses damage by 15%, awesome.
Powerful Challenge – 5/5 – 15% more damage sounds nice.

Passives:
Steel Blitz – Chance of extra attack means faster action points and more determination.
Steadfast Determination – If you have a decent GF you won’t be taking many hits so this is good.

Encounters:
Flourish – Very nice damage when it crits.
Indomitable Battle Strike – When you are AOEing a bunch of weaklings use this to finish one off.
Daring Shout – This increases your determination like CRAZY, decreases their resistance and increases your dmg.

Daily:
Slam – All you ever need and should use in any situation.
Crescendo – Really pretty, but that’s about it.

At Will:
Sure Strike – 1-2 Targets
Weapon Master Strike – 3+ Targets

Gear:
Priority 1 : Power – More power means more benefit from Slam.
Priority 2: Recovery – Faster cooldowns means faster action points
Priority 3: Defense – Raises power.

Personal Experience:
I usually score second in the DPS charts. Its rare I’ll beat a TR, not impossible but rare. I usually beat CW unless they outgear me like crazy. I’m only at a 7000 gear score. Indomitable can crit for about 14-15k which is impressive to me, not sure what rogues crit for. I’ve main tanked heroic dungeons with this build I change Daring Shout for Come and Get it and I can usually hold threat, not so much on single targets, but clerics are beasts.

PvP:

Passives – Steel Defense, Steel Blitz
Encounters – Flourish, Indomitable battle strike, Not so Fast
Dailies – Crescendo, Slam

…vs Rogue – He fills your determination quickly. Pop unstoppable right away and start the fight with Flourish and Indomitable battle strike. Save not so fast for when he tries to run. Save your daily for when he tries to run as well. We have the advantage vs rogues, but if he out gears you then you are done. If you’re losing wait until you’re low and pop slam giving you 5 seconds of invulnerability and insane damage.

…vs Control Wizards – This is a tough fight. You have to eat his first wave of control effects and sprint towards him. He will usually flash away. After his second flash hit him with all 3 encounters, then pop unstoppable and keep right on his tail. Save Crescendo for when he is low or Slam if you don’t think it will finish him.

..vs Guardian Fighters – I usually don’t fight them, they take too long to kill and aren’t much of a threat.

..vs Cleric – Hardest match up. You have a very brief window to kill one. Eat their encounters, pop slam, unstoppable and all 3 encounters right away and unload. If you don’t kill them before their cooldowns reset or slam wears off you’re better off running.