I'm trying to find a way to play Warrior that isn't just the copypaste buildabear of the week dressed in all Zerk.
I will speak mostly from a wvw perspective, though I believe my setup translates to most pve content fine. The alternative to zerker warrior is to be a tanky, CC dealing frontliner. In the current SF meta this means hammer primary, sword/warhorn secondary, stances, and warbanner. The hammer is mostly for earthshaker- aoe stun and blast finisher, 'nuff said. Swap is for mobility and escape, though horn has group utility. Stances for tankiness. Warbanner to res "downies."
My build is different; I go deeper into support and survival, sacrificing damage. The core of a cleric geared warrior is 4 shouts (w/ trait), each healing for 3k+ each. People can talk up blind and aegis and all that stuff is great for other classes, but warrior care about numbers, even when healing
. I'm personally a huge advocate of mace/shield, which provides 3 CCs and 2 blocks. SF has me running hammer now and it's grown on me; engage enemy blob with hammer then swap when I'm taking too much heat. I used to always run rifle and still carry one, in addition to a sword and horn.
There are several subtle tricks of my build I'm happy to share, but the biggest is Signet of Rage + Lyssa runes. So juicy.
Edit: re: Dec. 10, this will have a significant impact on the SF archetype outline above, but should not affect my build because I'm not in it for the damage. Bow builds will also be nerfed.