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We burned through Helm's Hold pretty quickly due to our largely Area-of-Effect based team, clearing the final boss in about 20 minutes. The Great Weapon Fighter class played much like the Barbarian in Diablo, leap into the middle of the fray and start swinging your massive two-hander dealing tons of damage to the poor devils laying in the crater you created. The two At-Will abilities (left and right click) I was using allowed me to choose between a wide arc attack dealing damage in a 90 degree angle, or a narrow upward swing hitting for more damage to single targets while damage is reduced when hitting multiple foes. At-Wills are basically the equivalent to auto-attacks.
Alongside At-Wills are three Encounter abilities which are more situational. The abilities I used allowed me to leap into combat dealing damage to surrounding foes; Roar to deal damage and push enemies back and Battle Fury, which increased my size and damage with At-Will and Encounter abilities while generating increased Action Points. When you get 100 Action points you will be able to use a Daily Ability, which are the unique and powerful abilities at your disposal. The two Dailies I was using were Avalanche of Steel, which launches you into the air after a few seconds of posturing then crashing back down knocking enemies over, much like a Superman maneuver. Alternatively I could use my other Daily (Spinning Strike) which makes your character spin around with sword out, dealing damage to enemies around you and increases Run Speed. Each of your attacks fills a bar on the left of your character, when it is halfway full or more you can use it to increase attack speed; a full bar lasts about six or seven seconds.
The Helm's Hold Skirmish was a good bit of fun on the side, something easy to drop into and dispatch a bunch of mobs, giving me time to get familiar with the class. Queuing up for the Dominion PvP map, I took time to have a look for more PvP appropriate abilities, I figured Mighty Leap and Roar would be useful for chasing down Clerics. I decided to change my Battle Fury for a disabling ability called (Takedown) which as the name suggests knocks a struck enemy to the dirt. It worked quite well in combination with my leap. Other abilities I saw in passing gave me healing based on damage done, a charge, a spin that slows nearby enemies and a shout that decreases enemy resistances. Great Weapon Fighter is basically a medium-armoured brawler focused on sustained damage.
