Guild Wars 2

hi im new to guildwars in general and im a huge fan of pvp in games in general.

so to just jump to the question

i was wondering what is better? sword and board wise in pvp
guardian or warrior?

why and or why not. what would make one better then the other keep in mind this is purely sword and board build. perspective not secondary.

Bonus question is what kind of tips do you have for pvp (asside from obvious practice)
in GW what are things i have to keep a eye on or watch out whats the main skill for pvp

for example in Wow its all about timeing and lining your CCs and cooldowns
but in archeage its all about DPS and CC and burst
but in some games its about sustain and surviabilty
so what about GW

I consider myself an average player (1400-1500 rating usually).

Weapon themselves have unique skills and the usefulness of different weapons change with the patch. Sometimes it’s not just the weapon but paired with traits as well.

These are my opinions, anyone is welcome to stop me from misleading OP.

Currently if you’re trying to run Sword/Shield it works paired with a Longbow on the Dragonhunter (Guardian specialization). Otherwise if you lack the HoT expansion and play Core, Guardian is best played as Meditation with Scepter/Focus + Greatsword.

DH: Post by Naru.

Core Meditation: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vVAQNArdRlsAhuhY5QwaIwPEHxD1dfjhcInivYMWDgGoeB-TpxHQBA4BAMwDBQ/2f4alBS4JA4bHBAA

Sword/Shield + Rifle Killshot Warrior also works, but the Sword/Shield set doesn’t really bring you damage, it’s just there to provide mobility and block when you need to go defensive after a burst. Sword main-hand is not the best weapon in PvP for a Warrior in both Power and Condi setups, so you might try Mace/Shield + Longbow for Condi instead, or Axe/Shield + Greatsword for Power.

Core Warrior (LB/GS): http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vJAQJARTjMdQVIW2BehAnIGICK9Lm+tAPhXYEsAICGAA-TpxHQBJ8QAoi9HAwRAYgPAAlUG4bXAAA

I can understand you want to stick to certain aesthetics, but since skills are tied to weapon type you’d have to run with what works best if you want a baseline to your performance. Note that Warrior isn’t doing well at this moment due to significant nerfs, but Core Warrior can be fun.

Time-to-kill is fairly short in GW2, and survivability can be extended significantly if you avoid (dodge/block/evade/invuln/stealth/positioning/movement) damage. A lot of the defensive stat amulets have been taken out, so even bunker builds won’t be able to bathe in focus fire.

sPVP is only “Conquest” based, which means you are fighting for the possession of 3 nodes. Nodes tick every 2 seconds and accumulate up to 500. Don’t chase kills way off point, fight for nodes and think about capping, decapping, rotations. In general if you think you’re about to lose a point, back off and push another node (e.g. far instead of mid node). Stay alive, don’t feed, don’t die on point unless that wins you the game in the last few seconds.

Team composition is important, because some classes are squishy and built for +1’ing fights, while some have viable builds that let them stand on node to keep it capped or neutral, and others may be duelists.

I suggest you watch Sindrener for rotational knowledge, top Thief play, and useful critique. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXQEmr_-XvMRSIKJg4MDMIA

Frosty (Ranger): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCgTXdbRMe3e7rK11U4h7YA

Helseth (Mesmer): https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLordHelseth

Crinn (Necro): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCImCs2deTjCz1LQgPleI-Pg

I limit myself to watching these, in no particular order, because of time constraints, but there are many many other good channels to learn from (that I must have missed), especially some WvW players and duelists.

its ashame warrior seems like it could be fun and fit my playstyle but its seems to get alot of hate from what i have seen

It’s more the patch changes that are getting the hate, but Spellbreaker was rather powerful in the beta (intentionally made so). Might be the thing to get Warrior back in the game.

Warrior had its glory in Core and HoT, the nerfs are merely a setback!

Edit: I don’t know if OP will re-read this, but just want to give some more information regarding builds and other things.

Dragonhunter (DH) is geared aggressively usually, and has great spike in the form of push and pulls that manipulate your target into and out of Test of Faith. Ping squishes with your Longbow autos while you gauge situations. DH defenses are bursty and CD reliant (small heals, clears, blocks, invuln, leaps), so keep track of how many outs you have, or else you might run out and plain die.

Warrior with the Berzerker specialization used to be a great duelist, but its sustain was nerfed and CD timers were increased to the point where it has great difficulty taking care of daily life. The theme was supposed to be a melee combatant with the impactful “Burst” adrenaline mechanic. Land your F1s and you get sustained healing, condition cleanses, and pressure your opponent at the same time. The posted GS/LB Core spec is a great start to Warrior, since LB’s F1 can be dropped on the ground and triggers your sustain without having to hit a target (though it takes quite a bit of skill to master this setup).

WvW and custom server duelists are a separate group, and though in WvW items and traits are different, there are players with great mechanical skill which can be great to learn from. Conquest sPvP teaches you how to play around the nodes with builds designed for this particular mode, but 1v1 duels as well as open-field combat call for different strategies and setups. WvW roaming videos are more popular since WvW is arguably a more accessible game mode with better variety.

I’ve linked some pure sPvP-based channels, but GW2 doesn’t end there, not at all. In fact players occasionally post roaming videos in the class subforums and there’s always some new techniques you can learn and try out.

Hey and welcome to GW2! It would be hard to offer better advice than what Ralkuth offered. I will say this though. Have FUN! Play what you want in unranked and enjoy. Warrior and Guardian are great classes and offer different things. Like WoW a lot of your experience will depend on the most recent balance patch. Right now warrior is sitting on the scrap heap. Mettabattle.com will usually give you the most recent meta builds available if you’re interested in that. Unranked is great for practice or using off the wall builds to experiment with. Like Ralkuth stated, in GW2 your weapon skills are weapon specific. That being said, don’t be surprised if sword/shield doesn’t appeal to you as much as axe/shield or mace/shield. You may even dump the shield and run something like sword/torch.

Once you start playing “ranked” don’t be surprised if your team expects you to play a specific build and or fill a specific role. You can even get flamed in chat if you are playing a class that’s unpopular at the time. Ranked can be toxic and it’s pretty common for the person doing the least on your team to be doing the most complaining in chat.

I forgot to add. World vs World can be the best pvp in the game. Depending on what you’re looking for. You can roam around by yourself or in a very small group looking for 1v1 or small scale fights. Another option is to zerg with a large group and steamroll smaller groups and look for large scale fights. Attacking / defending Stonemist Castle in Eternal Battleground, or any major garrison can be pretty epic. Think Alterac Valley but with 3 teams not 2 and a whole lot more people.

is it true can a Reverent use sword and shield also? someone told me that they could

theres a video of a guy using sword and shield on rev but yet i cant find any info about the shield skills? was it taking out or somthing?

potatocity.6470:

Bonus question is what kind of tips do you have for pvp (asside from obvious practice)
in GW what are things i have to keep a eye on or watch out whats the main skill for pvp

for example in Wow its all about timeing and lining your CCs and cooldowns
but in archeage its all about DPS and CC and burst
but in some games its about sustain and surviabilty
so what about GW

PvP here is structured (sPvP) around objectives and gear/stats are all streamlined so everyone has equal footing. WvW is more open-field, anything goes.

Being successful at sPvP here, outside of knowing timing of skills,CCs, cooldowns, pro/cons of each profession, etc. also comes down to map awareness and objective rotations.

You can be a master at any class, dominating everyone at 1v1…but if you don’t know how to play objectively, it won’t matter.

potatocity.6470:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggw_E3n2Pa4

theres a video of a guy using sword and shield on rev but yet i cant find any info about the shield skills? was it taking out or somthing?

seriously thou is this true?

potatocity.6470:

seriously thou is this true?

Revenant is the newest class added in the Heart of Thorns expansion. I must have subconsciously filtered it out because I suppose anyone trying out the game would only have access to Core.

Yes, the Revenant class with its elite specialization Herald can use a Shield; the Sword/Shield + Staff combo using Power Shiro/Glint is a potent roamer that can greatly affect game outcome if you play well and win fights that matter. Sword/Axe is also very much viable though.

Power Rev: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vlAQNAsemn3guNSuQ7JRboVlsP0rS4IaWJ4EdskFNFqtABIC2DMhPkdMnpNA-TpxHQBK7QAowjAw1KDMu9HAwJA4bPAAA

Frostball has a video detailing how to use a Sword/Axe build. He made it to legendary (while being nacked) using it so he might have a point or two.

Ralkuth you have just now convinced me to get the expansion XD also surprisingly im having a blast playing theif with duel daggers and bow ( and i always play tank) in most mmos

Great to see you’re having fun. If you want to get into PvP and be ready for common situations, I would suggest going over and trying out all of the current “meta” builds, so you have an idea of how the matchups go (matchup is fairly important).

Learning from videos of top players using the builds is never a bad thing, saves you a lot of time figuring out what works.