The Warrior is the first sword and heavy armor class introduced. Originally, they had a good defense stat because of their access to a shield, which didn’t do anything at the time other than provide a defense boost. They gained MP and Wisdom in Build 96, and in Build 97 were given a unique ability - the Helm - to set them apart from the Knight.
A maxed Warrior is capable of dealing extremely high damage-per-second, but as an offensive oriented class, a degree of skill is recommended to make the most of it. Unlocking Warrior requires level 5 with Rogue, but new Steam accounts have this class unlocked by default. See his stat gains, caps, and averages here.
The Warrior is one of three sword classes, along with Knight and Paladin. The sword provides Warrior with high attack power, which increases even more when under a helm boost, but at the cost of low range. Although the Warrior is hindered by the short range of swords, the power it possesses makes him a force to be reckoned with.
The Skysplitter Sword (Sky) and Sword of Acclaim (Acclaim) are the main weapons for the Warrior. They provide very high damage output, but at the cost of a 3.5 tile range. These swords should be the go-to weapons for high damage output at a reasonable range.
The Crystal Sword (CSword) has plenty of secondary uses. There are times when a 3.5 tile range just doesn’t cut it. The CSword has a range of 4.5 tiles, but has a lower damage output than most high-tiered swords and many other untiered swords. The CSword is great against dungeon bosses in certain phases, and can be used for mob control in the godlands or against weaker dungeon enemies. Because of the significantly lowered damage output, the Crystal Sword is far less useful when it is safe to approach enemies with other swords. Warrior’s high attack stat can compensate for the lack of damage this sword has. This sword can be dropped by the Crystal Prisoner.
The Demon Blade (DBlade) is one heck of a sword, firing two shots at a 45° angle. Although each shot fired is weaker than that of the CSword, it has a higher damage output than a tiered sword when both shots hit. It’s very powerful if you’re daring enough to get up to point-blank range with the enemy, because the spread of the shots severely limits its effective range to about 1.37 tiles. This sword goes nicely with the Juggernaut Helm’s armored status effect. It can be found in the Abyss of Demons.
The Ancient Stone Sword (A.S.S.) is an in-between of the tiered swords and the CSword. Shot for shot, it does the second most damage of any sword, but it has a lower rate of fire. With a range of 4 tiles, it outranges tiered swords, but falls short of some other UT swords like the CSword. In most circumstances, the Acclaim will outdamage the Stone Sword (up to about 140 defense), and both swords always outdamage the CSword. The Stone Sword has a great utility by quickly dealing damage to a boss in relative safety before rushing back. Because of the Warrior’s high attack stat, each shot can do nearly 800 damage! It is therefore best to use this sword when a boss has several enemies surrounding them dealing high damage, the Warrior is constantly affected by the weak status effect, or if it is almost impossible to stay near a boss without taking a lot of damage. This sword also complements the Juggernaut Helm, just as the DBlade does. Another reason that the Stone Sword is popular with the Warrior is because his Helm’s dexterity buff almost negates the sword’s lower rate of fire. This sword is dropped by the Stone Guardians.
The Indomptable is a special sword that is part of the Dragon Tamer set unique to the Warrior. This sword does the most damage per shot of any sword in the game, and also has the ability to pierce enemies. However, it has a 25% rate of fire, making its DPS very low against singular targets. In addition, it carries a penalty of 10 defense for holding the sword (although it is negated when the entire set is worn). This sword’s projectile lingers longer than that of most other swords, allowing Warrior to better take advantage of its piercing capabilities. It is dropped by Pyyr the Wicked.
The Warrior is one of four heavy armor classes, along with the aforementioned sword classes and the Samurai. Heavy armor provides Warrior with a large boost to his defense and are the core of what makes Warrior a resilient class.
The Abyssal Armor (Abyssal) and Acropolis Armor (Acrop) are the best tradable tiered heavy armors. These provide Warrior with a substantial boost to his DEF stat, but provide no additional stat bonuses.
Warrior’s special ability is the helm, which gives the berserk status to all allies in range, and a speedy status to the Warrior. These status effects boost the attack speed and movement speed, respectively, of whoever is affected. The helm is best used before rushing at an enemy. The movement speed boost allows the Warrior to quickly rush at the enemy and strafe side to side, while the attack speed boost allows him to do massive damage before he has to withdraw. The helm boost is amplified by tinctures or effusions of DEX. As you move up the helm’s tiers, its range, duration, defense boost, and MP cost increases.
The Golden Helm (Ghelm) and Helm of the Great General (GGen) are both helms that have the greatest duration of 6 seconds, best MP cost efficiency, and greatest defense boost of 10. Because of this, these helms are the best to use if you want to boost your attack and movement speed, while also having a high passive defense boost. These helms, like all tiered helms, have a cooldown lasting one second longer than the buff duration, so be careful not to get caught in a bad situation.
The Helm of the Juggernaut (Jugg) is an untiered helm that serves a different purpose than the other helms. It can be dropped by either the Grand Sphinx or the Hermit God. Like the tiered helms, it gives a berserk status effect to everyone within range, but instead of giving speedy to the Warrior, it gives an armored status effect, which doubles his defense stat. Its duration is only 4.5 seconds, but it gives a defense boost of 10, as well as a speed boost of 5. This helm is the best there is for tanking shots, especially those that can’t be easily dodged even with a speed boost, or for boosting damage when a Speedy status effect would be detrimental (e.g. godlands or tombs). If equipped right, a Warrior operating under an Armored status effect can have over 130 defense. He will become capable of easily tanking Skull Shrine or Cube God shotguns, and is even capable of surviving an entire Septavius’ ring shotgun (even though the latter serves no purpose outside of bragging rights and is still extremely dangerous). Note, however, that defense can only block up to 85% of the damage of a shot, so a high defense does not mean invincibility! In addition, Warrior is one of the slowest classes in the game without his speed boost. There are some circumstances where it is better to be speedy than armored, and against enemies that can kill a Jugg Warrior anyway (Oryx 2, for example), prioritizing the ability to evade projectiles would be preferable. On the other hand, unlike other helms, the Jugg has a short cooldown between uses, and thus the armored/berserk buff can be sustained. The Jugg is an exceptionally rare item, and is highly sought after because of its defense boosting abilities.
The Warrior’s main strengths are having DEX boosting helms that also give him additional speed/defense, as well as an Attack cap of 75. The Warrior’s high ATT stat allows him to deal absurd amounts of damage even without using the Helm. As a heavy armor class, a Warrior can have very high defense with which to shrug off hits, and a Vitality cap of 75 further complements this tankiness by allowing him to recover from hits faster than most classes. As a sword class, Warrior also has a high HP capacity that averages at 675 and caps at 770. The Warrior’s helm makes him largely unhindered by his average SPD and DEX stats.
The Warrior’s main weakness is the short range inherent of swords. This forces him to tank hits if he wants to deal hits. Although fresh Warriors can deal decent damage compared to other fresh classes, the sword’s range still puts potion-farming Warriors at a disadvantage compared to classes such as Archer or Necromancer, who have access to longer range weapons. The CSword and A.S.S. can somewhat mitigate the disadvantage of short range, however.
One of the most common mistakes a new player often makes is rushing in on large groups of enemies with no worry for death. Speed or DEF boosts do not equal invincibility. You must still dodge hits in order to stay alive. However, the Jugg does help to heavily reduce damage from especially powerful shots.
Much like the Wizard, the Warrior lacks a defensive spell such as the Knight’s shield stun or a healing spell like that of a Paladin or Priest. With this in mind, even the most powerful Warriors need to pick their fights carefully and not get too reckless in combat.
Warriors, with their attack speed boosting helms, are useful in groups, and are key if you want to crack the Mysterious Crystal. Large groups attacking can bring quick death to more enemies by boosting everyone’s attack speed, which is especially important when trying to break the aforementioned Mysterious Crystal. The damage by the group is boosted even higher when coupled with a Paladin’s seal boost.
Warriors, with their extremely powerful attack stats, are able to take down event bosses extremely quickly if an opening is made for them. A skilled warrior can rise to the challenge of taking down an event boss himself if he is able to abuse the way Skull Shrines and Cube Gods shoot to where they predict the enemy will be. At a Skull Shrine or Cube God, you should rapidly twitch about the event to dodge some of the shots. A good Warrior (or any other class) should be able to make a Skull Shrine shoot behind itself, get in several shots, and back off. When fighting a Cube God, the biggest problem are the minions because most swords do not pierce enemies. Once the cube system is in a favorable position (far away from the Cube God), a Warrior can walk in strafing, making the Cube God shoot the wrong way until the cube system moves in on top of the Cube God again. Because the Warrior relies on his speed to manipulate the cube’s shot pattern, never go in once slowed by a cube minion. Wait until the slow effect wears off and try again. Especially if you do not have a Jugg, the “kill or be killed” philosophy applies here.
Also remember when rushing into a Cube God or Skull Shrine remember to watch your HP and strafe left to right, if done correctly the Cube or Skull will try to predict your movement but actually fire behind itself. One thing to do is never get over confident and never ever stop moving.
The Warrior has several applications that can be used on the battlefield that work to his advantage, if used correctly. Although it takes some experience and skill to use the Warrior effectively, it can be very good in the right hands. If you want to simply deal extremely high DPS, finish events with relative quickness, can deal with the short range of swords, and are not adverse to “risky” or “dangerous” tactics, the Warrior is for you.
