Guild Wars 2

hi, latly ive grown sick of not being able to use my hammer properly in wvw,

after some messing around im wondering is the 1h sword + a focus would be viable part of my build,

and has the 1h sword #3 skill been nerfed? i feel as tho it usedto do alot more damage? also would a torch be a better choice then focus? if so, could u tell me why? ty for you time

I’m not sure what your build is but a 1 hand sword + focus is very viable. Most notably I’ve seen it used in the Healway build and in a few others as well. I’ve seen the torch used as well but not as much. I suppose it depends what your focus is but the torch is more offense focused and the focus is more self protection focused and quite frankly, I love the focus over the torch.

I’m sure others could elaborate more on them since the only one I use much out of what you listed is the focus.

Edit: About not being able to use your hammer properly, it might be that it just doesn’t fit your playstyle but the hammer is absolutely viable in WvW and can be used to amazing effect. For a few examples, check out Amins video list and how he uses the hammer.
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/guardian/New-3-13-Video-WvW-PvE-Builds/first

dosent the sword #3 do less dmg than its auto attack?, im starting to wanan reroll warrior, mobile, high burst and still decent survivability… i find my guardian gets into fights but can never get away and i think i could make a warrior justa s tanky?

dosent the sword #3 do less dmg than its auto attack?

Yes…

i find my guardian gets into fights but can never get away

That’s actually the guardians main problem, imho.

i think i could make a warrior justa s tanky?

Never tried, but i guess you could. Most people just see warriors as Bull Rush → Frenzy → 100B but there are many options to actually spec a warrior defensively without giving up as much burst as you have to when playing guardian.

But b2t: You better never use sword #3 unless you are fighting a ranged class and need to block projectiles (ranger rapid fire, warrior volley/killshot).

I just tested this on dummies.

ZD actually takes 2s to cast. Ranged blocking lasts 1 more sec.
It hits for 6k (0 might).
Autoattack takes 3s, and for me it hits 1.5k, 1.5k, 3×1k = 6k total damage. (again 0 might)
So overall it is actually dealing more damage/DPS than the autoattack.
(I had 100% crit in all tests due to RHS / sigil / fury etc)

Btw Warriors can’t tank for more than a few second.
Warrior is all dodging, evading, moving and bursting. Forget staying power.
But yeah, you can escape fights easily.
I still have to figure a way to escape with a Guardian, but I believe there isn’t one.

When using sword and GS (optionally JI), you actually can escape at least at short distances. That is, if you can find mobs to target with Flashing Blade and JI…

You can actually wreck pretty heavily using a hammer/gs combo. When I run with my guild I demolish groups of players quite easily, being able to pull 5 people in then enclose in a circle of warding is sick and can crush whole zergs in seconds. Works best if you have more then 1 guardian doing it. I however do usually run gs/1h and focus when I’m roaming. Alot of it can depend on the situation at hand just remember that.

As for guardian escapes you can escape just…it takes some work and certain skills so that you stand a better chance.

The Devs mentioned in the Gw2 Guru State of the Game interview that Guardians lacking escape is very intentional, so any hopes of them gaining the ability to escape beyond their current leaps and ports are in vain.

Guardians are able to escape if conditions are ideal, but as a Guardian, I much prefer standing my ground. It’s more natural.

TwistedFate.1024:

dosent the sword #3 do less dmg than its auto attack?, im starting to wanan reroll warrior, mobile, high burst and still decent survivability… i find my guardian gets into fights but can never get away and i think i could make a warrior justa s tanky?

Yes but it also reflects projectiles.

It doesn’t reflect, it blocks projectiles (well, it’s not even a block, it just “stops” them).

The sword #3 is 8 auto attacks in 1, which is pretty handy.

I use GS and sword/torch combo for WvW. I used to use hammer but have found for my play style the sword/torch combo a better match. The #3 does decent damage with a little range and very handy against strafing rangers and thieves. I would like it a LOT better if I could move while using it. the #2 ability helps with chasing. Enjoying the torch also as I spend a lot of time jumping into the middle of the enemy zerg and the torches abilities do some decent damage as I work my self back out to my own lines

Sword 3 does great damage if the target is right in front of you and not moving. The projectiles lock onto the targets current location and fires it only there. If the target is running sideways past 300 range it will miss 90% of the time. Its one of the problems with the sword that I was hoping was going to be mentioned in the state of the game video from a few days ago, but guards aren’t getting any love.

When Im running my burst/survival build with sword and torch my sword 3 can typically hit for 2.5-3.5k damage.

I’m running 1HS + Shield at the moment…
Build here:
http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/guardian/?3.2|c.1p.h14.e.1p.h1|b.1n.h1d.0.0.0|1n.7x.1n.7x.1n.7z.1n.7x.1n.7x.1g.7x|31k.d1a.2u.d1c.2t.d1c.1p.61.1p.61.8c.64|0.u26b.u16c.a6.0|39.1|v.13.15.18.1i|e

Build is very much a Work In Progress but could easily swap out shield for focus if desired.

The main disadvantage I have noticed with 1HS vs GS is that it sucks in general PvE most of the time due to single target nature (duh). However it easily outdamages GS on single targets.

As has been noted, sword #3 is kitten at the moment which makes the weapon vaguely unpleasant to use. It still easily outdamages other weapons on a single target though. If I use flashing blade (for blind and vuln) and then ZD right after I hit for like 6K + burning/whatever. The really sad thing about ZD is that it roots you in place which completely negates the advantage of it being a ranged attack since people very rarely stand in one place.

IMHO the focus isn’t terrifically useful though, blocking three attacks is useful if you’re 1v1ing a thief? If you’re defending a tower those three hits will disappear. RoJ has it’s uses but I never ended up using it as much as I probably should have.

The torch would up your DPS vs focus, 1hs + torch is pretty good combo if you’re going for damage imo.

Slight digression: I ended up preferring shield mostly because #4 has good utility + buffs allies (and it imho fits better with sword because protection for a few seconds is worth more than blocking three attacks) & #5 knockback is very useful in WvW for CC.

Red Falcon.8257:

I just tested this on dummies.

ZD actually takes 2s to cast. Ranged blocking lasts 1 more sec.
It hits for 6k (0 might).
Autoattack takes 3s, and for me it hits 1.5k, 1.5k, 3×1k = 6k total damage. (again 0 might)
So overall it is actually dealing more damage/DPS than the autoattack.
(I had 100% crit in all tests due to RHS / sigil / fury etc)

but autoattack takes 1.5 sec. therefore it deals more damage

Yes but it also reflects projectiles.

no it absorb, not reflect

The sword #3 is 8 auto attacks in 1, which is pretty handy.

with autoattack you can for the same time hit 6 times multiple targets, deal more damage and move

Accordig to me this attack is only usefull when you have to retreat for a few seconds, time for you to use sword 3 and torch 5 witch are both useless instead. Nice number doesn’t mean huge dps…