Guild Wars 2

Hi All,

The only thing I can play well is guardian (DH), so I feel I had an “easier” time getting to legendary than most would playing nothing but guardian from Amber to Legendary, but right now guardian is in serious need of an overhaul. It’s ridiculous how guardian, a heavy armor profession, can’t stay in melee range for too long, because it doesn’t have the proper tools to live in melee.

I feel like a far caster (mage/archer), because all I can do every game is sit in the back and shoot arrows. The only time I enter melee is to drop a “trap bomb” swap to GS and hit #2. I think the devs should look at engineer (scrapper) and revenant (herald) and see what allows them to stay in melee range for so long. It would be a blessing to have a trait that improves our toughness over time or heals us when we land a hit…

I’m interested in seeing what other people have to say in regards to the current situation of DH. It’s not easy being one… and it barely pays off to be good at it

I guess apart from scrapper and maybe revenant not any other class has the proper tools to survive melee.

And yes I agree, I think it’s difficult to play dragonhunter on a high lvl successfully. When I have dragonhunters in my team they are with a chance of 99% more like a burden than a real help.

On the other hand, Frae and Mancow are super awesome on dragonhunter and are able to carry whole games on this class.

You actually just have to wait till revenant gets nerfed so that thiefs become viable again. If this happens, dragonhunter will shine.

Do they stream or have a YouTube?

Can’t speak for Herald, but the Scrapper can tango in melee due to passive hp regeneration and defensive utilities on hammer, especially when combined with combo fields.

I don’t think our survivability is bad at all, I’ve been playing with paladin lb/mace+sh and I’ve felt solid and can hold a 1v2 until help arrives while dipping in and out of melee. If there’s anything wrong it’s with other build outshining us. If scrapper gets a little nerf and if a revenant nerf side buffs thieves, then we’ll do better. But I also put stock in DH being about the longbow and kiting with traps, and it may be more viable to stay in melee range with a classic meditation build. While I may not spend all my time in melee, I haven’t had a big problem with living and I’ve felt very rewarded for correctly timed lb #5 and traps.

base guardian is just broken, way too many useless traits and weapon skills.

nerf DH’s burst and trap bomb nonsense a bit (so the skill floor isn’t so mindlessly noob friendly) but the base guardian traits needs a necro s2 type of buff for guardians to be competitive again.

and by buffs, I don’t mean the 5 mins Karl spent on it and slapped together (zealous scepter gives 2 stacks of might instead of 1…lol yea game changing buff right there) prior to season 2. Overhaul it with actually useful changes and rework the mechanics of pretty much all the base guardian weapon skills.

Thieves have said for this for a long time. They have no sustain in team situations.
Warriors have had it truly terrible.
Scrapper is hyped as good at sustain, but pair it against any other sustain build and its stale mated. You could watch a scrapper/druid duel go for days. That in my mind equates to it not being melee at all. Melee implies you can down a target in melee. Scrapper can only do this with assistance.

That leaves rev, still currently the most coherent and best melee profession, and unsurprisingly the heavy profession most often used.

I still believe this is an issue that needs attention… A good start would be giving guardians (DHs) more sustain… meditation healing could be buffed or a trait could be reworked to give more health or protection uptime…

mrauls.6519:

I still believe this is an issue that needs attention… A good start would be giving guardians (DHs) more sustain… meditation healing could be buffed or a trait could be reworked to give more health or protection uptime…

Sure, give them more sustain at the cost of damage reduction.

Pyriall.1683:

mrauls.6519:

I still believe this is an issue that needs attention… A good start would be giving guardians (DHs) more sustain… meditation healing could be buffed or a trait could be reworked to give more health or protection uptime…

Sure, give them more sustain at the cost of damage reduction.

Why should guardian be nerfed in another area to receive a buff in another? Guardian damage isn’t over the top in team matches

@mrauls and other DHs

I alt DH often as I love the trap utility, I’ve found the sword/focus combo to be pretty boring, how do you feel about hammer vs. GS ?

foogison.5067:

@mrauls and other DHs

I alt DH often as I love the trap utility, I’ve found the sword/focus combo to be pretty boring, how do you feel about hammer vs. GS ?

I can’t recommend hammer in good faith anywhere besides PvE (raids). GS is okay, but you can’t be in melee for too long because DH doesn’t have the proper survival tools to last long in melee. Hammer requires you to be too close to the target at all times (and is extremely slow), whereas with GS you can kind of maneuver a bit

DH already has quite a bit of sustain. That’s not all the issue either. As Mesmer I don’t dare get close for the trap bombs. It takes me a minute or more to wear down a DH from a distance. By that time there team arrives and I run away or die.

More sustain would definitely be OP. DH is already pretty strong on holding home or mid. I also combines very well with Necro or Ele. This season has been all about stacking and DH has been a big element of those stacks.

Armor doesn’t really mean much. If you’re running utility skills full of DPS skills, then I don’t see how you should expect to be super tanky in the middle of a ton of cleave/condis.

mrauls.6519:

foogison.5067:

@mrauls and other DHs

I alt DH often as I love the trap utility, I’ve found the sword/focus combo to be pretty boring, how do you feel about hammer vs. GS ?

I can’t recommend hammer in good faith anywhere besides PvE (raids). GS is okay, but you can’t be in melee for too long because DH doesn’t have the proper survival tools to last long in melee. Hammer requires you to be too close to the target at all times (and is extremely slow), whereas with GS you can kind of maneuver a bit

I’ve found hammer skill 5 paired with trapper sigil (for invisibility) very useful for locking players down on my traps. I also like skill 4 for launching players trying to res the downed.

I will have to give GS a shot though, the pull could also be useful for locking down foes on traps.

Dahkeus.8243:

Armor doesn’t really mean much. If you’re running utility skills full of DPS skills, then I don’t see how you should expect to be super tanky in the middle of a ton of cleave/condis.

I never suggested I want to be super tanky. In the screen shots I posted I was also in a custom arena match, relaxing. I normally don’t run the whirling trap, but instead use Smite Condition.

Even with that one utility change, there is nothing “better” for me to choose from. Guardians using marauder’s amulet can’t expect to be tanky no matter what…

There are Tanky amulets you can choose, but you don’t cause you want to try and one shot people with your Traps. Bookittenwhoo. Someone wants there cake and eat it too.

Ithilwen.1529:

DH already has quite a bit of sustain. That’s not all the issue either. As Mesmer I don’t dare get close for the trap bombs. It takes me a minute or more to wear down a DH from a distance. By that time there team arrives and I run away or die.

More sustain would definitely be OP. DH is already pretty strong on holding home or mid. I also combines very well with Necro or Ele. This season has been all about stacking and DH has been a big element of those stacks.

Yes it is an issue, otherwise I wouldn’t have posted this. Mesmer lacks sustain as well… I’m not surprised you run into issues fighting DHs as a mesmer. Anything combines well with an ele or necro

Storm.1653:

There are Tanky amulets you can choose, but you don’t cause you want to try and one shot people with your Traps. Bookittenwhoo. Someone wants there cake and eat it too.

At high level play who in their right mind would choose to use another amulet for guardian? It won’t work as well as using marauders, regardless of how lacking our sustain is. Becoming “extra tanky” doesn’t suddenly solve the issues DH is plagued with. Let’s get real here. Using a tanky amulet makes me dead weight… because I can no longer do the damage I did with marauders… I suddenly become a slow dps’ing turtle that will eventually die anyway