Guild Wars 2

Hey all, I’m fairly new to Guild Wars 2 and I’m trying to decide which class to main – Guardian or Warrior. I’ve tried out each class for a bit and I’m still undecided as to which class I want to focus on. Ultimately, I’m looking for a class/build that will work for pve & pvp without changing much (constantly switching out weapons, utilities, & traits), and I want to be capable of the following:
- providing allies with offensive support
- providing allies with defensive support
- providing allies with some healing
- dealing good damage
- having great sustain/durability/defense
- having both melee and ranged options

My playstyle is to primarily stay in melee, but have the option to attack foes from afar so I can wade in and out of melee as I please (as well as adapt to whatever my opponent is doing). I’m not expecting to be fantastic or amazing in any one respect (since I do want to do a bit of everything), but I’d like to be effective enough overall to be an asset to the team, as well as be able to handle some things solo.

To an extent, I think both classes can do this and fulfill the above.

For my Guardian, I’m using Mace/Shield & Scepter/Torch, and I think my future build would be Radiance/Honor/V (where V would be either Valor or Virtue – not sure which one). I go for crits (for damage & support), and I often find myself using Signets and Shouts. I use my Mace/Shield for fantastic durability, some regen, and to take the heat off my allies when I need to; I use my Scepter/Torch for pretty much everything else. In melee, I can freely swap weapon sets due to how good Scepter/Torch is even in melee.

For my Warrior, I’m using Mace/Shield & Rifle, and I think my future build would be Arms/Defense/Discipline. I use the Rifle to pull enemies and damage groups (with pierce), and I switch to the Mace/Shield when enemies make it to melee range (where I’ve got more defensive options and deadly stuns). I switch between both weapons frequently as the situation demands. I’m a big fan of both banners and shouts, but I like banners slightly better (so I’m aiming for a banner warrior).

The issue I’m having is that even after playing both of them for a bit, I haven’t found the right fit yet.

My Guardian is pretty close to what I want, but ranged combat is very unsatisfying (slow orbs aren’t terribly fun or exciting, and I didn’t like Staff). In addition, the lack of a speed boost is not fun at all, and I’m still undecided on what build would be best for my playstyle / what I want. While the second issue is somewhat mitigated by spamming Retreat! all the time, I don’t know if I want that shout on my utility bar all the time. I’m also worried that the first issue (unsatisfying ranged combat) isn’t something that’s going to change as a Guardian, even as I level up. [I know of Dragonhunter, but the traits look terrible, I’m not a fan of bows at all, and I don’t think it’s even out yet, so I don’t really consider that an option.]

My Warrior is pretty much exactly what I’m looking for for melee & ranged combat, but I’m not sure if the Warrior has as much durability and defensive support as I’d like. At lower levels at least, my Guardian is far, far, far more durable than my Warrior (although to be fair, my Warrior doesn’t have any points in Defense yet). I also don’t know if a single defensive banner is enough to really be considered ‘defensive support’ – especially since I don’t know if I’d have enough durability to go Mace/Shield and take some heat off of allies when the situation calls for it. Lastly, I’m not a fan of how I have to switch between Warrior’s Sprint and Crack Shot while moving around maps (this may also be a bigger concern in pvp), and how I can’t carry multiple multiple banners at a time.

So, does Guardian ranged combat get any better? Do they have ranged attacks/options I’m not aware of? Can warriors get a lot of durability? Can they offer enough defensive support? Does the lack of Warrior’s Sprint in melee really hurt in pvp if you can switch between ranged and melee easily?

Any help or insight into this matter would be appreciated. I’ve been wracking my brain for awhile trying to decide between these two classes, and I just can’t figure out which one to focus on.

Pick Warrior now until expansion go out with Dragonhunter Guardian.

Both are capable of good offensive and Defense support while dealing good damage. Ranged weapons on both are not particularly fun, but these still have high damage potential without much trait synergy.

Unfortunately PvP and PvE operate on fundamentally different principles. PvE only favors high damage output with active defense, while PvP tends to be very role specific. You’ll end up having to change your build regardless, so theres no point in trying to use one build for both.

Guardians operate on shared support; Essentially copying their active defenses and boon generating abilities with the group. Surprisingly they aren’t very difficult to use, but do require a great deal of forethought into their builds.

Warriors are scrappers, mixing personal endurance with powerful offensive controls. Where the guardians share strong active defenses, the Warrior shares strong passive offensive buffs. However, Warriors have a weakness toward conditions.

For PUG play the Guardian tends to be easier to work with, as they can purge and self heal well if they get into trouble. They also have access to a lot of blinds, which readily negates attacks by the enemy.

Warriors have stronger offensive potential, but their survivability revolves heavily around their ability to temporarily ignore damage rather then purge. So when they commit, the commit hard.

This difference is one of the big reasons you see more Guardians overall, despite the insane damage a Warrior can dish out during a fight.

When choosing a build, you can’t just look at the face value of your skills. This is even more apparent in group play, as everything is designed to compound off each other in a mostly passive manner. You can spec for high personal DPS, or for group support, but you can’t spec for both effectively. Once you start to understand that, you then start to gain more insight into group dynamics, as well as why its so effective despite being mostly passive.

Part of the issue is the desire to do everything, but an unclear understanding how roles work without the Trinity frame work. Metabattle is actually good resource IF you DON’T take the builds at face value. The builds listed there are designed to Min/Max with singular focus, and are effective for the most part….. but what you want from there is learning Trait synergy, and Rune synergy to incorporate into a build. There are several other build sites, but the dust hasn’t settled since the update, and the community is still trying to find all the viable builds the new system enables.

some streamers are also good at developing effective hybrid builds, so you may be able to learn of new combinations that way as well.

starlinvf.1358:

- snip -

Thank you for the well thought-out and lengthy response. It was very helpful in making my decision and trying out both classes with several builds. I hope you’ll forgive my late response – I wanted a chance to try out both classes a decent amount before making my decision.

I ultimately decided on Warrior, as it was closer to what I was looking for and I had a bit more fun with the class overall.

starlinvf.1358:

However, Warriors have a weakness toward conditions.

The devs keep making this claim but in practice this isn’t true at all. At least for PvE warriors have more than enough tools to deal with conditions.