Guild Wars 2

Having been a medi guard since release, the 10/30/30/0/0— err, I mean 2/6/6/0/0 build, has always held a special place in my heart. It used Sw/F as a centerpiece for its nuclear powered autos that benefited from Fiery Wrath, Radiant Power, Powerful Blades, and RHS.

After the trait change, we’ll be losing Powerful Blades (10% damage increase), and Radiant Power will be changed (10% damage increase on enemies affected by conditions -> 25% crit increase on burning foes).

Given that 1H swords already have had a ridiculous amount of crit chance, I feel that the 25% crit chance in exchange for 10% damage is somewhat of a loss. Not to mention that we’re losing a flat 10% damage from Powerful Blades.

It seems that guardians are being ushered towards heavy symbol usage— something I’ve never liked to rely on in sPvP. Will 1h swords no longer be desirable to use in sPvP? The only use I really see for it is to trigger crits for Zealot’s Flame. The only real use for 1h sword before was for filler AA chains and occasional blinds while GS stuff was on CD.

Anyways this is a very hastily made post. So please feel free to pick it apart.

I strongly believe 1h swords will still be desirable to use in sPvP, because of the mobility it provides (something people that trait into radiance will have more of [reduction to sword skills]), projectile destruction, ability to apply burn (3 strikes from final AA), blind, cleave, ability to destroy blocks well (ele’s & guardian’s blocks), etc.

I will be using sword/focus & greatsword as always come the patch. I just reread guardian’s trait changes and I love ’em. I hope runes get updated too

You have to look at what you gain as well. One of the new traits in Radiance is 10% increased damage while under Retaliation.

Also, without traits, 1-handed weapons don’t have any higher of a crit chance than any other weapon. The Radiance trait line on live has precision tied to it, but stats are being removed from traits and added to gear with these changes.

As far as viability of sword in PvP, it will either be where it is now (decent, but there are better choices) or develop into a build focused on burning in addition to damage rather than pure damage.

Exedore.6320:

You have to look at what you gain as well. One of the new traits in Radiance is 10% increased damage while under Retaliation.

Also, without traits, 1-handed weapons don’t have any higher of a crit chance than any other weapon. The Radiance trait line on live has precision tied to it, but stats are being removed from traits and added to gear with these changes.

As far as viability of sword in PvP, it will either be where it is now (decent, but there are better choices) or develop into a build focused on burning in addition to damage rather than pure damage.

Retal uptime on 1H sword isn’t all that amazing TBH. Sure, you can gain it via combo fields from GS / Hammer, but the uptime for retal when using 1H sword (largely a sustained dps weapon) doesn’t make up for a flat 10% loss.

Also, I’m talking about a traited 1H sword’s crit rate. It’s pretty high in live. Our lost stats are being rolled onto gear like you said, so it will stay high assuming I’m still running a zerker build. I’m unsure of the math on this one, but atm I’m pretty sure that traited + geared crit rate is high enough to make flat damage more desirable as opposed to 25% more crit on burning targets. This may be more desirable for other weapons, just not 1h sword.

With the new torch trait, I’ve no doubt that they’re pushing for the Sw/T crit + ZFire synergy.

Yes there are losses in damage but there is an advantage to ridiculously high crit rates given for compensation: Freedom to choose gear without precision. I think Sword might even get more use in PVP if the reduction in cooldowns is decent.

I think that’s the biggest change, is that you don’t have to build for precision nearly as much anymore. You can run with 60% crit chance (RP, RHS, Fury from Meds) without needing literally any precision, so in essence you’ll have ~65%+ in full Soldiers, Valkyrie, Cavaliers, Clerics, etc. In PvP it sounds like Valks will be a strong choice, and WvW will be a good mix of Valk, Cav, and soldiers. This doesn’t even factor into rune or sigil choices, so if you went even more into crit with say, Accuracy ( +7%) and Pack ( +~6%), you can really avoid speccing for any precision at all.

All of your gear can start putting directly into defense in addition to your power and ferocity which should make you much more survivable than the traditional zerker. Focus will now be giving you prot if you trait for it, or Smiters Boon will be giving you an extra 2k health and fury and damage, making Shelter or Litany decent options. And this is just talking about 2 lines. You still have Zeal, Honor, and Virtues to consider depending on what you want. So yes, maybe you give up some modifiers, but you gain so much more survivability and options for utility.

They basically changed 10% sword increase damage to a 10% if you have retaliation. The upside is this 10% is for all your attacks, not just sword. Regardless, I rather like this change since Virtues line and GS + Stand Your Ground will give us all the retaliation uptime we could ask for.

If you look at it that way this change is a necessary buff.

Saiyan.1704:

They basically changed 10% sword increase damage to a 10% if you have retaliation. The upside is this 10% is for all your attacks, not just sword. Regardless, I rather like this change since Virtues line and GS + Stand Your Ground will give us all the retaliation uptime we could ask for.

If you look at it that way this change is a necessary buff.

Which is why it does nothing to help Sword’s position within our setups. Sword needs a sword specific trait that can keep up with the boosts other weapons got.

Jerus.4350:

Saiyan.1704:

They basically changed 10% sword increase damage to a 10% if you have retaliation. The upside is this 10% is for all your attacks, not just sword. Regardless, I rather like this change since Virtues line and GS + Stand Your Ground will give us all the retaliation uptime we could ask for.

If you look at it that way this change is a necessary buff.

Which is why it does nothing to help Sword’s position within our setups. Sword needs a sword specific trait that can keep up with the boosts other weapons got.

Sword already has the highest DPS autoattack rotation of all guardian weapons. It doesn’t need a damage trait specifically geared for it.

Black Box.9312:

Jerus.4350:

Saiyan.1704:

They basically changed 10% sword increase damage to a 10% if you have retaliation. The upside is this 10% is for all your attacks, not just sword. Regardless, I rather like this change since Virtues line and GS + Stand Your Ground will give us all the retaliation uptime we could ask for.

If you look at it that way this change is a necessary buff.

Which is why it does nothing to help Sword’s position within our setups. Sword needs a sword specific trait that can keep up with the boosts other weapons got.

Sword already has the highest DPS autoattack rotation of all guardian weapons. It doesn’t need a damage trait specifically geared for it.

Base maybe, but with all the new traits mace is going to blow it out of the water honestly.

Jerus.4350:

Black Box.9312:

Jerus.4350:

Saiyan.1704:

They basically changed 10% sword increase damage to a 10% if you have retaliation. The upside is this 10% is for all your attacks, not just sword. Regardless, I rather like this change since Virtues line and GS + Stand Your Ground will give us all the retaliation uptime we could ask for.

If you look at it that way this change is a necessary buff.

Which is why it does nothing to help Sword’s position within our setups. Sword needs a sword specific trait that can keep up with the boosts other weapons got.

Sword already has the highest DPS autoattack rotation of all guardian weapons. It doesn’t need a damage trait specifically geared for it.

Base maybe, but with all the new traits mace is going to blow it out of the water honestly.

Mace’s performance is maybe on par with sword and scepter but it still can’t teleport on ledges or immobilize a target. Mace is one of those weapons that needed a buff.

Did anyone else notice that Might of the Protector’s gain might on block trait showed 3 stacks of might instead of its usual 1? I over looked it the first time but that’s a nice buff.

IMO they should swap Fiery Wrath (10% vs burning) with Retribution (10% while under Retaliation).

I still feel as if they need to do more with sword from a cc perspective. The new trait, Wrath of Justice, will help but it lags behind with no soft cc. I’d like to see a 1s cripple get applied to third attack on sword #1.

But overall I like the changes thus far. 0/6/6/0/6 is looking pretty good but now Symbol builds won’t be anything to scoff at either.

Saiyan.1704:

Jerus.4350:

Black Box.9312:

Jerus.4350:

Saiyan.1704:

They basically changed 10% sword increase damage to a 10% if you have retaliation. The upside is this 10% is for all your attacks, not just sword. Regardless, I rather like this change since Virtues line and GS + Stand Your Ground will give us all the retaliation uptime we could ask for.

If you look at it that way this change is a necessary buff.

Which is why it does nothing to help Sword’s position within our setups. Sword needs a sword specific trait that can keep up with the boosts other weapons got.

Sword already has the highest DPS autoattack rotation of all guardian weapons. It doesn’t need a damage trait specifically geared for it.

Base maybe, but with all the new traits mace is going to blow it out of the water honestly.

Mace’s performance is maybe on par with sword and scepter but it still can’t teleport on ledges or immobilize a target. Mace is one of those weapons that needed a buff.

Did anyone else notice that Might of the Protector’s gain might on block trait showed 3 stacks of might instead of its usual 1? I over looked it the first time but that’s a nice buff.

MoP now 3 stacks, but much shorter duration. And I’m expecting an internal cooldown too That one smells of trouble.

I agree mace needed a buff, Protectors Strike is great but the symbol takes a day to place and the autoattack sinks it. Mace and Hammer both have near useless autoattacks.
Sword by comparison has fantastic autoattack, a low cooldown blink/blind and the highly underrated zealots defense.. Odd as it sounds, I see sword as a utility weapon. There to deliver my other weapons.. And kill rangers. Right-handed strength only really benefitted one build, as only the sword and scepter guards used it.

phokus.8934:

I still feel as if they need to do more with sword from a cc perspective. The new trait, Wrath of Justice, will help but it lags behind with no soft cc. I’d like to see a 1s cripple get applied to third attack on sword #1.

Nah.. sword has a gap closer, Mace should really have the slow if any further bufs are needed. IMO the game has faaar too much cripple already
Right now you get Scepter(CC), Sword(mobility) or Mace(heal)
Giving Sword both a blink AND a cripple would make it OP

Warrior sword 1 and 2 has a cripple and gap closer and it us not OP. And they have way more mobility than Guardians.