Guild Wars 2

Hello all- The title says half of what I am looking for. I just recently obtain 4/6 ascended armor pieces and have ascended accessories. My friends and I are looking to progress through higher level fractals.

Part 1 of my question, is there a specific group make up (i.e., Warrior, Elementalist, Guardian, Thief, Mesmer)?

Part 2 of my question, can there be more than one profession in the group (i.e., 2x Warriors)? The reason why I ask is I am currently a Guardian. I sort of want to switch to my Warrior for fractals; however, one of our teammates is a Warrior. I am not sure if I would nerf the group by running as a second Warrior.

Any insights or thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

The “meta” team comp would be 2 elementalists, 1 warrior, 1 thief and 1 guard/mesmer.
You can replace 1 of the elementalists with a second warrior, but that makes you miss out on a bit of DPS, but mainly support (blinds, reflects with magnetic aura, etc)

I don’t know how experienced you and your team are, but if you are not experienced with high level fractals I would not advice to set foot in them without a guard, since the loss of a guard’s protective function can be pretty rough

Basically every group comp works, but the standard 2 ele 1 war 1 guard 1 thief comp just allows you to do pretty decent DPS while not risking too many wipes

Part 1: You don’t need a certain group setup to beat any fractal level. don’t let you tell otherwise. guardians are always helpful, but also mesmers and even necros. we beat a lvl 50 fractal some days ago with 3 warriors and 2 necros with a guild group, took a bit longer than in a better setup but still doable.

Part 2: See above. Is it better to just have 1 Warrior and 1 Guardian instead of 2 Warriors? Certainly. Are you still able to beat every Fractal with 2 Warriors? Certainly.

On a side note: having the right spec and armor setup is really important. having 2 or more people running around in tanky gear really slows down a run significantly. especially in high level fractals defensive stats dont matter that much. having a high dps output makes fights much easier then being able to live through 1 more hit.
Take a look at http://metabattle.com/wiki/MetaBattle_Wiki for good builds

Yeah… all soloable…

One war go DPS and one Phalanx Strength, you’ll be more than solid.

Meta is 1 war, 2 ele, 1 thief, 1 guard. But I successfully do fractals with much different groups daily. My typical group is something like 1 mesmer, 2 Engi, War(or Ele), + 1 more random.

Guardian makes things MUCH easier, mesmer can replace it though not as good.

Thief is great, but Engi has it’s strengths too and can replace it just fine with some strat changes.

War with phalanx strenght is just kittening powerful, though solid might production from Engi/Ele can replace it.

Ele are just the most powerful PVE profession in general, diverse in the areas that are the most important, pretty much only lack stealth which you could use consumables for or just have a group with Thief/Engi/Mesmer.

Necro isn’t even bad in Fractals considering their durability and ease of play. Rangers have some neat utility and quality as well.

No need to reduce your enjoyment to fit some predefined optimal setup, you can do it with a lot of different stuff. Did a like 45-1hour 50 (not great time) with a 5 necro group that 3 of the people had to ask how to build their necros before starting… point being even a 5 necro group can get through it without much trouble (I could see one clearing it in 30-45 depending on roll easily, we got Mai IIRC which isn’t funon necro).

IMO Guardian and Thief should always be in a party comp, Guardians walls and Aegis are too good to pass up especially in Molten Boss and Volcano. Thieves make Urban Battleground and Cliffside doable with their blinds and shadowsteps. and both classes makes “Uncategorized” MUCH easier. The rest is DPS and luxury utilities from other classes.

The Meta GRP Bladex stated has the best synergy by far compared to other grp comps, but if your willing to make sacrifices and build/spec changes, you can go with other classes as well.

@bladex, @velarian, @jerus, @ finntastic – thank you so much for the feedback. I didn’t think I would get much on this, but I really appreciate it.

Right now, I am around level 15 fractals. Two of the people joining the group are new to GW2, but are very experience MMO players. Currently, we have Me (Guard), Warrior, Thief, and our Ele (she is thinking of going Mesmer). Based on the comments, Ele is ideal for the group, but Jerus mention they can be replaced with Thief/Engi/Mesmer.

@Jerus, don’t get me wrong, I love playing the Guardian; however, I also the like Warrior too. The downfall I see with the Guardian is I have to play a hammer & scepter/torch build (http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Guardian_-_Fractal_Hammer) over the GS, according to metabattle. I’m not big into the hammer, but if that is what is needed, I guess I will try it again! Is there a GS build I could use, or is it frowned upon.

Again, I really appreciate the detailed advice as it has helped me understand it better!

Greatsword is widely used over hammer. It gives higher dps, aoe Blind, and a 5 enemy vacuum pull. Hammer on the other hand has better utility with perma prot, immobilize, and walls. Use what you enjoy more do not feel like you have to conform to the Metabattle builds.

You don’t have to play hammer.
I don’t play guard myself, but I’m almost sure GS is perfectly viable, if not better.
If you prefer using GS, what stops you from using it? you’re playing with friends after all, not with elitist pugs that will cry about everything that is non-meta.
I know for instance that GS is really good at cliffside because it has a pull on the 5 ability.
Every weapon has their own uses for different situations, and you should learn those and swap accordingly

Like Jerus said, you can do fractals with any team comp, using any build you want, some are just going to be a little bit more efficient than others.

DrEckers.2039:

Greatsword is widely used over hammer. It gives higher dps, aoe Blind, and a 5 enemy vacuum pull. Hammer on the other hand has better utility with perma prot, immobilize, and walls. Use what you enjoy more do not feel like you have to conform to the Metabattle builds.

Thanks. Do you have a build I could try?

Devozione.3742:

Hello all- The title says half of what I am looking for. I just recently obtain 4/6 ascended armor pieces and have ascended accessories. My friends and I are looking to progress through higher level fractals.

Part 1 of my question, is there a specific group make up (i.e., Warrior, Elementalist, Guardian, Thief, Mesmer)?

Part 2 of my question, can there be more than one profession in the group (i.e., 2x Warriors)? The reason why I ask is I am currently a Guardian. I sort of want to switch to my Warrior for fractals; however, one of our teammates is a Warrior. I am not sure if I would nerf the group by running as a second Warrior.

Any insights or thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

Part 1: No. There are no fixed group comps for Fractal but there are certain roles to fulfill.

• Projectile Defense: A Guard or a Mes or both is preferred for heavy reflect fractals: Bloomhunger/Raving Asura/Imbued Grawl Shaman. Any other classes with their built in reflect can be quite sufficient anywhere else.

• Damage Prevention: a mixture of Blind, Interruption, Aegis, Distortion. Any classes can provide these utilities to a certain extent. Some may be more investing in this role than the others but that doesn’t mean you need a Blind bot, Aegis bot to complete fractals.

• Damage Reaction: a mixture of Condi Cleanse, Stability, Healing. If you can prevent most of the damage, these buff become redundant and so, it’s not necessary to have a dedicated person for this role.

• Cleave: no matter how high your personal single target DPS, without enough cleave, life is gonna be very painful. You need good cleave at Mossman, Imbued Grawl Shaman, Cliffside and Weapon Testing Facility.

• Skip: Improve your quality of life. It’s a mixture of stealth, blink, portal, traps, etc and the ability to solo certain puzzles. It’s recommended to have at least a person in the group knows how to do all the puzzles in fractals. You will save a lot of time there.

Part 2: Yes. You can run two Warriors and no Guardian. If you decide that a certain role is not needed, you can totally improvise your strategy to accommodate the lack of certain utilities.

For example at Raving Asura, we have one person pull him to outside the room and kite him around the pillar. The rest of the group can DPS down the kitty golems without being mindful about the reflect. We still needs to interrupt certain attacks of the golem though. It is more or less the same stealth strategy at Mai Trin.

Devozione.3742:

@bladex, @velarian, @jerus, @ finntastic – thank you so much for the feedback. I didn’t think I would get much on this, but I really appreciate it.

Right now, I am around level 15 fractals. Two of the people joining the group are new to GW2, but are very experience MMO players. Currently, we have Me (Guard), Warrior, Thief, and our Ele (she is thinking of going Mesmer). Based on the comments, Ele is ideal for the group, but Jerus mention they can be replaced with Thief/Engi/Mesmer.

@Jerus, don’t get me wrong, I love playing the Guardian; however, I also the like Warrior too. The downfall I see with the Guardian is I have to play a hammer & scepter/torch build (http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Guardian_-_Fractal_Hammer) over the GS, according to metabattle. I’m not big into the hammer, but if that is what is needed, I guess I will try it again! Is there a GS build I could use, or is it frowned upon.

Again, I really appreciate the detailed advice as it has helped me understand it better!

Do re-consider before switching your only ele to anything else. Its sheer damage, burst, cleave and solid utilities are incomparable. Don’t even replace it with a mesmer; the latter has neither burst nor cleave and requires a lot more patience and coordination for a long attrition fight. Thief and Engi are comparable. Mesmer is better than Guard because I’m biased.

I’d recommend two elementalists, guardian, warrior and thief or engi for an optimal group. Generally relog if you get dredge to thief or maw to necro/thief if playing the 5th class aside from guard/war and 2 eles. It doesn’t really matter so much though as every class can provide something useful to the group in fractals as long as you know what you are doing.

Devozione.3742:

@bladex, @velarian, @jerus, @ finntastic – thank you so much for the feedback. I didn’t think I would get much on this, but I really appreciate it.

Right now, I am around level 15 fractals. Two of the people joining the group are new to GW2, but are very experience MMO players. Currently, we have Me (Guard), Warrior, Thief, and our Ele (she is thinking of going Mesmer). Based on the comments, Ele is ideal for the group, but Jerus mention they can be replaced with Thief/Engi/Mesmer.

@Jerus, don’t get me wrong, I love playing the Guardian; however, I also the like Warrior too. The downfall I see with the Guardian is I have to play a hammer & scepter/torch build (http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Guardian_-_Fractal_Hammer) over the GS, according to metabattle. I’m not big into the hammer, but if that is what is needed, I guess I will try it again! Is there a GS build I could use, or is it frowned upon.

Again, I really appreciate the detailed advice as it has helped me understand it better!

Mace/Focus + Hammer with Honor/Virt/Zeal would probably result in the easiest time for most general stuff.

However GS has binding blades which on say Archdiviner final boss or Grawl Shaman final boss can become an invaluable tool.

Hammer can be nice for CC as well, for example Ring of warding to stop trash groups in Ascalon, or banish on the defender at the end of molten Facility.

In general though Hammer is to give you permanent protection, meaning passive defense, it assumes you’re not going to avoid the damage with blocks/dodge/evade/reflect but instead just eat it. It’s assuming you’ll play imperfectly more or less. GS is in general preferred given you don’t need that protection.

For the other Mace is basically the way to go at this point. Then for optimal damage you get radiant fire and use torch, if you’re not feeling it focus can be great, especially on harder bosses where a prolonged block rotation will help (mossman/archdiviner).

Scepter is for when you either need to range or are fighting a large hit box target or mobile target (Bloomhunger and maybe mossman/archdiviner depending on how you fight them, and last boss of dredge again depending).

Other than sword/shield every other weapon has a purpose and a strength, and really even sword does with more blinds if that’s really needed, though less dps blah blah stuff.

Hope that helps a little.

Personally I generally run either Mace + Focus with GS or Hammer and Zeal/Virtue/Honor, or I run Mace + Torch with GS and Zeal/Radiance/Virtue for basically everything (plenty of variation in specific traits).

Just make sure you take a healer, the rest doesn’t matter.

Hammer/mace-torch dps isn’t much lower than mace-torch/GS, if your group is having trouble with fights you can swap in hammer and give better passive defences until your group learns the encounters

Part 1: as long as you’re not after some record times, it doesn’t matter much as long as everyone knows the encounter and what the class he plays can contribute.
Part 2: play what suits you best

Additional note: if you don’t know something or are curious about a certain thing come to the forums and ask, there’s a bunch of great people here with deep knowledge about all classes; going to metabattle and blindly copy&pasting builds usually doesn’t end well.
Playing a guardian in fractals myself, the key is to adapt. Always carry all weapons and change weapon sets and traits (uh, sorry, “specializations”…) depending on the encounter and you’ll be fine.

Iris Ng.9845:

Devozione.3742:

@bladex, @velarian, @jerus, @ finntastic – thank you so much for the feedback. I didn’t think I would get much on this, but I really appreciate it.

Right now, I am around level 15 fractals. Two of the people joining the group are new to GW2, but are very experience MMO players. Currently, we have Me (Guard), Warrior, Thief, and our Ele (she is thinking of going Mesmer). Based on the comments, Ele is ideal for the group, but Jerus mention they can be replaced with Thief/Engi/Mesmer.

@Jerus, don’t get me wrong, I love playing the Guardian; however, I also the like Warrior too. The downfall I see with the Guardian is I have to play a hammer & scepter/torch build (http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Guardian_-_Fractal_Hammer) over the GS, according to metabattle. I’m not big into the hammer, but if that is what is needed, I guess I will try it again! Is there a GS build I could use, or is it frowned upon.

Again, I really appreciate the detailed advice as it has helped me understand it better!

Do re-consider before switching your only ele to anything else. Its sheer damage, burst, cleave and solid utilities are incomparable. Don’t even replace it with a mesmer; the latter has neither burst nor cleave and requires a lot more patience and coordination for a long attrition fight. Thief and Engi are comparable. Mesmer is better than Guard because I’m biased.

Thanks for breakdown of the roles to fulfill. I spoke with our Ele and he is going to stay with it. It seems it would be best to have at least one Ele in the group.

@Jerus and @Nash – It seems that I will need to keep multiple sets of weapons on me. Currently, I just have the GS, Hammer, Scepter, and Shield. The only reason why I use the Scepter over the mace is for range fights.

@Nash – no I’m not looking for record times. Just looking to enjoy the game while clearing content.

Depends on preferences. My team’s Use 1 PS war, 1 Guard, 3 Ele’s(Staff).

^ Casual Run Example.

Jobs/Priorities:

PSwar:

Setup:
Standard Full zerk + str runes + Accuracy&Might sigil on GS + PS traits(Support) + Dumplings + Maintenance Oil.

-0-25 Might in the first 2-3 seconds of fight (For the ele’s to nuke after their spike preps)
-Defense/Str + Discipline Banners.
-Battle Standard
-Condition Removal w/ warhorn (PS war’s are traited support so warhorn condition removal + banner regen)
-Vulnerability (3-7 stacks or so)
-Almost permanent swiftness for running around (Warhorn / Banner #3)
-Weakeness (Warhorn 5, Part of the DPSMight+Support rotation)
-Defiance Removal (With Mace/WH as secondary, you get a nice 2 defiance removal from Mace 3 + Burst)
-Vigor (Warhorn #5, Great survivability for the team since it gives Weakness + Vigor)
+Other Warrior stuff (Situational)

Guardian(s): (AH Hammer)
We only take 1 Guard max, sometimes 2-3 depending on mood, or if we’re teaching a new guildie how to guard.
Typical gear for guardian is:
Set 1:
Full soldier + Pack runes + (Full zerk trinks w/ 2-3 Soldier trinkets for extra tanking – situational)
- Since these are Pack runes, the guardian gives the party 10-12s of: Might+Fury+Swiftness often since they are getting hit alot, triggering the rune.

Set 2:
Full soldier + Trooper runes (This is mainly for Mai trin, or fractals that require condition removal. The guardians pack “Receive the Light” + 2-3 shouts + Elite FMW so the condition removal is strong) + Full zerk trinkets(With 2-3 soldier trinkets for extra tanking)

Set 3: Full zerk, flame legion/Scholar runes. (If more than 1 Guardian, all OTHER guardians switch to zerk except the Main guardian which is the TANK)

Why not a cleric or whatever set? cause the Guardian, along with tanking is expected to do damage too. (Average DPS 6-9k+ a second on Set 1, Not much DPS loss w/ set 2 since Soldier armor retains highest Power output/modifier w/ min/secondary on Vit/Tough)

Setup is Hammer + Staff(Changes situational)

Job/Priorities:
-Facetanking every boss even at FoTM 50. (Ascalon boss can 1-shot you but a good dodge/Aegis usually saves you.)
-Boons: Protection, Aegis, Swiftness, Quickness, Fury.
-Projectile Reflects/Absorbs
-DPS: Average DPS is 6-9k Even when tanking. You keep the boss off your team so they can freely spam DPS while also doing damage yourself so you don’t hinder your team as opposed to “Cleric” or “Heal” guardians who don’t do much damage + mediocre heals.
-Hammer #5 + Staff #5 for mob control (Used properly, these freely allow you to DPS Melee mobs at corners or in open battlefields for 7-9 seconds without taking damage.)
-Might stacking : Staff #4, combined with the warrior’s “For Great Justice” gets you close to the 25 Might threshold in the first 2-3 seconds of all boss fights. (The warrior will spike it from 18-25 almost immediately upon contact w/ bosses.)
-Other Guardian Stuff.

3x Elementalists: ***VIOLENCE***

Setup: Full zerk Scholar/Pack/Flamelegion + Staff (2 staves if you want to get super moto. Staff1:ForceAccuracy Sigil, Staff2:Night+Force Sigil)

Job/Priority:

-Do Damage. Like.. not that 1-1-1-1-1 Crap, none of that [Air] [Water] [Earth] Attunement crap, its 99% *[FIRE ATTUNEMENT] 1-2-5-2-1-1-2-etc. W/ Icebows ofc.

-Might? That’s the warrior+Guardian’s job(My team’s don’t care about pre-stacking since we have 25 might almost immediately upon starting an encounter.)

-Fury? – Guardian and Warrior have that covered.

-Swiftness? – Guardian and Warrior have this covered.

-Blinds+Vuln: Glyph of storms, Situational.

-Earth elemental? Don’t summon it. We don’t need it. The Guardian has it covered, Earth ele summon only takes aggro from the Guard which messes up Positioning + Tactics.

-Fire elemental? Heck yeah!

Survival? With the guardian tanking and keeping an eye on your HP(Recieve the light heal) and giving aegis+Protection, you’re safe. Just do damage pew pew.

Skipping stuff? lol? Kill EVERYTHING or just run past, spamming Air #5, Earth #4, Guardian Hammer+Staff #5, Poof done.

But what about Spamming Icebow #5? – Lol are you serious? in Fractals? Are bosses really that hard to require constant freezing? The answer: No, they’re not. This is the only reason to take a thief (Except for Dredge stuff + Maw drain). No one needs Icebow #5 Spam’s in fractals.

Breakdown:
PS war = Damage + Support
AH Hammer = Facetanking + Damage + Support
Ele = Salt the women, Burn the fields, Grape the Houses, VIOLENCE!!

Devozione.3742:

@Jerus and @Nash – It seems that I will need to keep multiple sets of weapons on me. Currently, I just have the GS, Hammer, Scepter, and Shield. The only reason why I use the Scepter over the mace is for range fights.

@Nash – no I’m not looking for record times. Just looking to enjoy the game while clearing content.

Yeah I have 15 weapons I think on my guardian at all times.

1 Shield and Sword for the rare times I want them.

Then, a set of Mace/Torch/Focus/Hammer/GS/Scepter set up with Force and various other offensive sigils

Then a set of GS and Focus with Energy Sigil for more defensive fights (my Force is always on primary weapons)

Then I actually have a whole set of gear for another build where I have a Mace/Focus/Hammer/Staff for that (WvW/Easymode set)

Then Finally, a Scepter with Sigil of Leeching for Jade Maw trickiness.

Might sound extreme but I actually know people that have more, they carry a weapon with a Slaying Sigil for every type they normally encounter.

Jerus.4350:

Devozione.3742:

@Jerus and @Nash – It seems that I will need to keep multiple sets of weapons on me. Currently, I just have the GS, Hammer, Scepter, and Shield. The only reason why I use the Scepter over the mace is for range fights.

@Nash – no I’m not looking for record times. Just looking to enjoy the game while clearing content.

Yeah I have 15 weapons I think on my guardian at all times.

1 Shield and Sword for the rare times I want them.

Then, a set of Mace/Torch/Focus/Hammer/GS/Scepter set up with Force and various other offensive sigils

Then a set of GS and Focus with Energy Sigil for more defensive fights (my Force is always on primary weapons)

Then I actually have a whole set of gear for another build where I have a Mace/Focus/Hammer/Staff for that (WvW/Easymode set)

Then Finally, a Scepter with Sigil of Leeching for Jade Maw trickiness.

Might sound extreme but I actually know people that have more, they carry a weapon with a Slaying Sigil for every type they normally encounter.

You are to hardcore for me. I think I have one of each weapon. Otherwise I am just lazy I guess….

Well my guard was my main for a long time, not needing/wanting (thinking their ugly) Legendaries I have money to drop on ascended… or well did till I dropped it all recently

Jerus.4350:

Well my guard was my main for a long time, not needing/wanting (thinking their ugly) Legendaries I have money to drop on ascended… or well did till I dropped it all recently

My guard is still my main…

High level fractals are easy enough once you know what you’re doing that enjoyability trumps class composition. Of course it isn’t mutually exclusive, as you can have a meta comp and have fun also. I guess if you’re doing a 50/40/30/20 run everyday, then speed would be of concern.

ThyShadowPaladin.9521:

Depends on preferences. My team’s Use 1 PS war, 1 Guard, 3 Ele’s(Staff).

Same set-up that we use most of the time for our runs these days. The damage is just crazy with this set-up, and to me, it’s better than running with a thief since we don’t skip mobs in our runs. Even killing all the mobs only really adds a few minutes to the run length, and it’s worth it for the extra loot if you ask me.

HwaRyun.1807:

ThyShadowPaladin.9521:

Depends on preferences. My team’s Use 1 PS war, 1 Guard, 3 Ele’s(Staff).

Same set-up that we use most of the time for our runs these days. The damage is just crazy with this set-up, and to me, it’s better than running with a thief since we don’t skip mobs in our runs. Even killing all the mobs only really adds a few minutes to the run length, and it’s worth it for the extra loot if you ask me.

Totally agree. Even with killing mobs, run times are still casual 20-25 +/- for timegates and goofing off for 50s with a seasoned guild team and usually and the loot’s pretty nice too Yay Unidentified Objects!

The thing to remember about party composition is that there are party wide buffs and single player dps. Party buffs generally give more DPS but you can’t stack the same buff twice.

This is why 1 PS warrior, 1 Guardian and 1 Thief is used even if each individual profession don’t do as much DPS as a ele, because the party buffs from those 3 professions are extremely useful. PS warrior adds about 1 extra party member (25%) worth of damage by 2 banners and 1 trait. The guardian has party blocks, party reflect and stability which are key utilities to make the run smooth and mistake free. The Thief is only second to ele for DPS and brings party stealth while also ripping defiance at a great rate.

Thank you all for your input. I have some follow up questions regarding my Guardian, but I will take it to the Guardian forums.