Guild Wars 2

Hi guys, I’ve got a small problem. I love shields, and I’m planning on making The Flameseeker Prophecies, but I can’t decide between the four shield-using classes (Warrior, Guardian, Mesmer, Engineer) for who to main (if I main at all; hooray altaholism).

Mesmer and Warrior seem to have the most shield love, while Engineer’s is okay and Guardian’s seems to be very disliked by the community in general. However, my favorites of these are Mesmer and Guardian. _

Which class do you think would have the most success with having a shield build these days?

Thanks in advance

Mesmer. Guardian shield is a bit situational.

I also just was informed by my guild that I forgot that Revenant can use shield too. but I’ve never played rev past level 30, so maybe I’ll give that a try for now and come back to mesmer later. I do love my mesmers.

Was goign to say, Revernants also use Shield with their elite spec, and it’s a very good options in general for them.

Well, if you write down two lists: “Classes with the best shield skills” and “Classes I like to play,” Mesmer is the only entry on both lists, so that would seem like a natural choice.

Is there a reason why you stopped playing a Revenant? They don’t get shields until level 80 so if you dislike the class in general it may not be the best choice to play while collecting the components for a Legendary item.

What about engineers? Are they not effective on them?

tolunart.2095:

Well, if you write down two lists: “Classes with the best shield skills” and “Classes I like to play,” Mesmer is the only entry on both lists, so that would seem like a natural choice.

Is there a reason why you stopped playing a Revenant? They don’t get shields until level 80 so if you dislike the class in general it may not be the best choice to play while collecting the components for a Legendary item.

I stopped playing rev because I didn’t feel like the class had any upward progress. But again, that was at level 25 or 30 back when they came out. I also didn’t like anything about the ~character~ either. I didn’t like her as a norn, I didn’t like the name I picked, I didn’t like the hairstyle, etc. So I’m giving rev another shot with a human today. We’ll see how it goes. Maybe there’s a reason so many of my friends main revenants, maybe they’re actually pretty great.

I’d say chronomancer (mesmer) has the best shield skills.

Engineers have one build where shield is ~eh, okay~ but they still lose a lot of DPS when using it, so they’re better off not using it.

Both herald (revenant) and guardian have very tanky shield usage.

Since Revenants don’t use their offhand weapon in their damage rotation you can choose the offhand freely. Shield is a nice defensive option, because skill 5 serves the purpose of a panic button. Skill 4 is kinda useless though…

The only time I used a shield is for pvp on all the classes that used them however I am using the shield for my mesmer/ chromancer in PVE.

Granted I haven’t used my Mesmer properly in PVE but I do intend to do his HOT story in the near future.

Technically the shield on Revenant is handy in PVE too but again I haven’t used her in HOT story yet and I generally have her offhand a sword just for the extra damage and the dual trait (I mean skill 4 and 5 are not too useful in general PVE per say).

Renkencen.6127:

The only time I used a shield is for pvp on all the classes that used them however I am using the shield for my mesmer/ chromancer in PVE.

Granted I haven’t used my Mesmer properly in PVE but I do intend to do his HOT story in the near future.

Technically the shield on Revenant is handy in PVE too but again I haven’t used her in HOT story yet and I generally have her offhand a sword just for the extra damage and the dual trait (I mean skill 4 and 5 are not too useful in general PVE per say).

The dual wielding trait just means have 2 one handed weapons. I’ve tested and you gain the bonus from using a shield.

The warrior class’ shield is a true shield, it has a really long duration block and a shield bash, basic but very good and combos well with any main hand as well as the warriors multiple block and CC traits.

The guardian shield is a supportive weapon, it heals, buffs allies with Aegis and protection, as well as having a knockback and projectile block as per the shield norm. Procs well off the guardians many aegis and boon traits. Unfortunately does not proc their block traits nearly as well as the focus.

Engineer shield is basically an offhand hammer, two stuns, a daze, and a knockback on two abilities. Also, a projectile and blast finisher, as well as a reflect and a block. The thing is the swiss army knife of offhands weapons. People rip on it in PvE because it doesn’t contribute any damage but its utility cannot be overstated.

Can’t say anything about the other two, revenant never interested me, and I haven’t got to unlocking the chronomancer yet.

I use shield on my warrior. It’s very effective.

Ryou.2398:

What about engineers? Are they not effective on them?

Shield on engineer is completely useless.

Probably Warrior: is a core weapon for that class which is both useful currently in PvP and WvW roaming and can be used with ANY specialization (Mesmer’s shield doesn’t, and neither Herald shield).

Herald shield also was nerfed, and currently doesn’t have any use in PvE (in which is replaced for axe to break defiance bar on champions and so). Engineer shield was a thing used for condi builds with pistol, but ages ago, and Guardian just doesn’t have a shield (their shield is called focus, instead).

Buran.3796:

Probably Warrior: is a core weapon for that class which is both useful currently in PvP and WvW roaming and can be used with ANY specialization (Mesmer’s shield doesn’t, and neither Herald shield).

Herald shield also was nerfed, and currently doesn’t have any use in PvE (in which is replaced for axe to break defiance bar on champions and so). Engineer shield was a thing used for condi builds with pistol, but ages ago, and Guardian just doesn’t have a shield (their shield is called focus, instead).

Not sure if you’re confused or just don’t know, but the guardian can use a shield.

Shield. Go down to skills by professions.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Buran.3796:

Probably Warrior: is a core weapon for that class which is both useful currently in PvP and WvW roaming and can be used with ANY specialization (Mesmer’s shield doesn’t, and neither Herald shield).

Herald shield also was nerfed, and currently doesn’t have any use in PvE (in which is replaced for axe to break defiance bar on champions and so). Engineer shield was a thing used for condi builds with pistol, but ages ago, and Guardian just doesn’t have a shield (their shield is called focus, instead).

Not sure if you’re confused or just don’t know, but the guardian does have a shield.

Shield. Go down to skills by professions.

I think he’s being facetious. The guardians focus skills are way more like the shield skills found on other classes, and the shield skills much more like the focus skills found on other classes. In fact it was suggested a lot for those two solid years the guardian shield went unused that the devs should just swap the skills around.

Conncept.7638:

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Buran.3796:

Probably Warrior: is a core weapon for that class which is both useful currently in PvP and WvW roaming and can be used with ANY specialization (Mesmer’s shield doesn’t, and neither Herald shield).

Herald shield also was nerfed, and currently doesn’t have any use in PvE (in which is replaced for axe to break defiance bar on champions and so). Engineer shield was a thing used for condi builds with pistol, but ages ago, and Guardian just doesn’t have a shield (their shield is called focus, instead).

Not sure if you’re confused or just don’t know, but the guardian does have a shield.

Shield. Go down to skills by professions.

I think he’s being facetious. The guardians focus skills are way more like the shield skills found on other classes, and the shield skills much more like the focus skills found on other classes. In fact it was suggested a lot for those two solid years the guardian shield went unused that the devs should just swap the skills around.

No doubt. But both guardian shield skills are blocks or protection of some sort so it wasn’t helpful.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Conncept.7638:

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Buran.3796:

Probably Warrior: is a core weapon for that class which is both useful currently in PvP and WvW roaming and can be used with ANY specialization (Mesmer’s shield doesn’t, and neither Herald shield).

Herald shield also was nerfed, and currently doesn’t have any use in PvE (in which is replaced for axe to break defiance bar on champions and so). Engineer shield was a thing used for condi builds with pistol, but ages ago, and Guardian just doesn’t have a shield (their shield is called focus, instead).

Not sure if you’re confused or just don’t know, but the guardian does have a shield.

Shield. Go down to skills by professions.

I think he’s being facetious. The guardians focus skills are way more like the shield skills found on other classes, and the shield skills much more like the focus skills found on other classes. In fact it was suggested a lot for those two solid years the guardian shield went unused that the devs should just swap the skills around.

No doubt. But both guardian shield skills are blocks or protection of some sort so it wasn’t helpful.

Is Guard’s use shield odd, or is every other profession’s use of shield confusing? I have always found that debate interesting. It may be a relic of trinity vs anti-trinity.

If your a PvPer, warrior all the way.

Nocta.5274:

Ryou.2398:

What about engineers? Are they not effective on them?

Shield on engineer is completely useless.

I only got my engineer to like 78 but I really liked the shield. It can be used as a defense against both melee and ranged if you use the flips correctly.

i’d say Chrono and warriors make best use of shields

My ranking,

Mesmer(any where)
Warrior(pvp)
Revenant(pvp)
Guardian(wvw only)
Engi(hammer exists)

My flameseeker prophecies was made for warrior, is now on mesmer, paired with Mistforged Hero’s Scepter

I can’t not use a shield with my vanilla warrior for wvsw….lets put it that way. Warriors are in a okayish spot right now, but still don’t the versatility of chrono and engineer and revenant among others. So in terms of mimicking actual shields and all that…..and being a vital part of their buildset, warrior is good guess for the best (haven’t played any of the other classes that use shields). In terms of being a useful class to actually play in the meta…..you should look elsewhere.

nopoet.2960:

Nocta.5274:

Ryou.2398:

What about engineers? Are they not effective on them?

Shield on engineer is completely useless.

I only got my engineer to like 78 but I really liked the shield. It can be used as a defense against both melee and ranged if you use the flips correctly.

The skills on the shield are decent ( CDs are way too long tho ) but the issue is that it’s just silly to use a shield because if you equip a MH pistol, not using an OH pistol is ridiculous. The only good skill on pistol is pistol 4. Even Pistol MH is bad, its just the only chocie to be able to equip an OH pistol for Blow torch.

I main an Engi and always planned to get it for him. Engi’s skills are really only good for 2 things tho:

1 – Reflecting the odd skill out their that can kill you if not dodged or reflected. A good example are the Karka attacks.

2 – Bar breaking. Skills 4 and 5 both do a lot of bar breaking so if you are in the hot maps often or take on many bosses/enemies that need bar breaking done a lot this is a good way of doing it. Of course as an Engi if you do take shield atm you will also need to take the pistol. Skill 3 there also does some bar breaking, not a heck of a lot but it’s still some. Of course if you also have the FT equipped all of these in combo with skill 3 FT adds up to some nice bar breaking abilities.

Anyone who say’s Engi shield is useless obviously knows nothing or very little of bar breaking and how it can have a big impact in many cases. :P

PS, oh and also Engi is probably the best class to use shield for the shield killing achieve. Both skills can kill ambients and thus get the kill count up. I’m about 85% of the way through it now just from killing ambients as I go along doing other stuff lol…