Guild Wars 2

Which one is better? I always thought lightning hammer was, until some kid in Straits of Devastation tanked about 20 risen with it.

Opinions on which is superior? also, don’t say frost bow is better than both, I’m not looking to use it.

Id say lava axe is the easiest to L2P.
Id say magnetic shield is the hardest to L2P.

Lightning hammer is pretty cool but i haven’t used it much.

I’d like to hear more. I think it’s one of the few skills I didn’t bother to get, since it seemed so unimpressive. Does it add a lot of armor or something else not listed in the Wiki?

Lightning hammer skill 1, on third hit, it blinds all targets around u in melee range. Technically you can continue to apply blindness to all targets immediately around u and take no / little damage.

These two, like other conjures, are skills I want to like, want to use.

Lightning hammer is going to be easier overall. Spam one for aoe dmg and blinds. This is good stuff. Put down a lightning aura and use the jump attack for a stun. Fantastic. Knock annoying players on their butt. Woot. Lightning strike…..crickets chirp Hey, it can’t all be gold.

That said, I still like earth shield more. I tend to favor the underdog.

Auto attack = useless.

Cripple = near useless without a buff to cripple time or big reduction in CD.

3 and 4 are awesome. Even if you cast them and drop the shield, you’ve added something unique to your rotation. These alone make it worth it to me.

5 = I like it but I don’t like being rooted.

Could be fun to use while other stuff is on cooldown. It just isn’t worth having out as much like the lightning hammer.

Hammer is the overall winner, but I see shield having a lot of “just saved my rear end” moments if played properly. I’m still experimenting with this one myself.

All that said, my problem is that I look at conjures and look at another cantrip or arcane and go…………

I’m currently running for utilities: Lightning flash, Cleansing flame, and magnetic shield. As Platypus just said, 3 and 4 are the reasons i’m using it, and with the 2 cantrips, it has good survivability. Still, I really think lightning hammer is just as good, and it’s hard to choose.

I don’t see whats good or unique about Magnetic Shield #3. Its a typical charge, which any weapon set that actually wants to get close should already have access to (D/D has plenty and S/D has Ride the Lightning). The daze is nice I guess, but hardly enough to call it unique.

Shield #4 is unique and I could see it being really nice for a D/D build, but between the cast time on the attack itself and the cast time to summon the shield its pretty clunky to use (and unless you’re running a full defense build the hits you’re going to take during the cast are very bad), and seems buggy as to whether it actually works and pulls enemies in or just knocks them over.

Magnetic Shield needs a lot of work, far as I’m concerned. It doesn’t seem to have any distinct theme or synergy to its attacks, just a hodgepodge of different attacks that don’t fit well together at all, its got no combo finishers, no combo fields (though you can’t really expect fields on an earth weapon), and for a shield it provides suprisingly little defense.

I’d personally make the following changes to MS…

1. - Give it a 3-target AoE (a melee weapon that only hits 1 enemy? Lame!) and make it apply Cripple.

1. - Ditch this completely, its garbage and the worst fit for this weapon. Instead make #2 a magnetic burst AoE which throws out shrapnel and inflicts Bleed (4 stacks sounds good) on enemies. Blast finisher as well.

1. - Have it apply a projectile reflection for the duration of the charge, so you can charge through projectiles safely and push them right back. Also needs to be a Leap finisher.

1. - Either cut down the cast time so that its near instant or apply Protection and Stability for the duration of the cast (and for maybe a couple seconds after). I prefer the later personally, give the shield more actual defense. Fixing the attack itself so it always works and always gets enemies to you would also be good, of course.

1. - Extend duration to 5 seconds. If Obsidian Flesh can last for 4 seconds AND let you move and attack, something that locks you down completely should at least last longer.

With these changes the weapon would actually have a good degree of synergy with itself. Pull them in with #4, bleed them with #2, then drop into #5 to guard yourself while they bleed out. Chase them down with #3, then repeatedly use #1 to Cripple them and stay on them.

But anyway, I got off-topic there a bit. As for the question in the OP, I’d say in its current form go with Lightning Hammer. I picked Shield over Hammer on the basis of “I never see anyone use Magnetic Shield so I’ll grab it for fun and variety” and… yah, not a decision I’m happy with. I can see why barely anyone uses the Shield.

I think it would have been better if the #1 attack on the earth shield dealt out a weakness condition.

i can see possibly laying down a ring of fire. conjuring the shield sucking people through the ring with MS#4 and updrafting them back out of the ring….

Ms#4 info says it should effect multiple targets. “radius”
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Magnetic_Shield_

maybe some other ideas along that same line.
maybe meteor shower,lava font, MS. MS#4. MS#5

A slight buff I was thinking for MS is to have it have a toughness buff when equipped(200 at lv 80?).

Also, I would either make #1 multitarget or apply weakness, not both. And I REALLY like the idea of #3 reflecting projectiles. (Electro)