Guild Wars 2

Hi guys, Im new to guild wars. New to MMO tbh. But thought id give this game a go after seeing a review on the game and figured it was time to give MMO’s a go. Anyways, Im a bit unsure about the mainhand/offhand setup. Im currently a level 34 Asara Guardian with a Sword for my mainhand and a shield for my offhand. If I understand correctly, the stat buffs from the shield in my offhand still apply if I am using my mainhand weapon? I ask this because I just realised if I pick up a sceptor to use in my offhand I have a ranged attack if I switch to secondary, which is very useful in some circumstances. I mostly play on my own, although I end up in a group regularly, but in some cases the ranged ability might be too much benefit to not take despite losing some stats with the shield.

The stats on both main hand and offhand are combined, you’ll find 2 handed weapons offer twice as much as a one handed. Don’t ask me about the damage stat cause I honestly don’t know, maybe they get the average between the main and offhand? I dunno lol.

Don’t confuse off-hand with secondary weapon sets. Scepters are main-hand only, shields are off-hand only. You could run sword/shield as one set and scepter/focus (or torch, or another shield) as the other set. You’d only get the stats/effects of which ever set is active at the time, though.

But yes, in my (somewhat limited) Guardian experience it is nice to have a scepter available for ranged attack in one of my weapon sets.