Guild Wars 2

By offhand… I meant weapon swap.

I’m on level 19 fractal, and I’ve been using hammer exclusively throughout all of my AC runs and all of my fractals thus far. Hammer feels great with trash mobs, when I need to tank anything hard, WvW, and just most situations which value AOE.. I’ve come to realize that hammer is not the best for some situations.

My offhand right now is staff, and I pretty much exclusively use it for swiftness. I’ve noticed that I really need a viable scepter for some of the fractals I’m doing. My first questions:

What should the 3 stats be on my scepter to compliment my AH hammer guardian when I’m forced to range? What sigil do you recommend? What offhand works with best with scepter (for DPS)?

My second concern is for max single target DPS. I find myself fighting beefy bosses often. There are no adds — it’s just our group vs a boss. I am taking virtually zero threatening damage, so the value of my hammer seems pretty low during these situations. I am attacking so god kitten slow with hammer (albeit safe), I just feel like a swap for these single-target bossfights would be more efficient. My second questions are:

What is the best weapon swap for single target DPS boss fights when I do not need to worry about survivability? Think Mossman, Archdiviner, Legendary Ice Shaman, Legendary fire Shaman — painfully long and nonthreatening single-target fights. What 3 stats should I aim for with this weapon(s)?

For some more background, I have exceeded Brutaly’s minimum recommendations for efficient AH stats. I’m using a PVT set I’ve achieved from AC. I am supplementing this set with full Berserker’s exotic trinkets from fractals and crafting so I have enough precision for 40%+ crit chance / damage.

Thanks for any advice!

Guardian off-hands are split into 3 simple categories.

Shield – Group (AoE protection + Anti-projectile)

Focus – Self-preservation (Triple-block)

Torch – DPS

EDIT:
AH build – Strength Sigil is best. Might-stacking your way up.

If you want to be more supportive, you could go Water Sigil for aoe heals.

My guard uses a AH crithammer build and I always, without exception, use berserker stats on my weapons for the increased 10% (or 9%) damage on crit. Much like you, my armor is all P/V/T with berserker trinkets. The only difference I can see is that I use Valkyrie jewels in said trinkets.

In any dungeon situation (tradition dungeons or fractals) I always use scepter / focus for my second weapon set. When the target isn’t moving, the scepter is one of the highest DPS weapons available, and unless there are a lot of melee types in need of protection, I’ll always swap to the scepter for boss battles.

If your concern is only DPS, then the torch may be a better choice than focus for offhand. Throwing the flame from the #4 skill always provides a solid hit, and the #5 skill, with a crit rate as high as yours, and can be as damaging as scepter 2. I prefer the focus for the added survivability, though. The blind is all but useless on bosses, but I have a lot of fun with the #5 skill. I like to pop it, swap to melee until it either breaks or explodes, then roll back out and switch back to scepter.

The focus can also be used to avoid a lot of traps and other annoyances in dungeons. My favorite use is on that stupid staircase in the Uncategorized fractal. The focus 5 blocks hits from the energy beams that come down the stairs, and it along with popping Renewed Focus means I can get up the stairs without even needing to dodge.

As for sigils, I use a Sigil of Accuracy and a Sigil of Perception for the increased precision. I’m sure there are better choices, especially now that vigorous precision doesn’t proc on every crit, but I haven’t taken the time to look into it yet.

Thanks for the post Bullfrog. It looks like I’ll get a scepter / focus. I’ve also heard great things about sword with focus on guardian for single target dps, so I might look into that too. Range seems very helpful now though for oil carts in ascalon fractal, glitch in ice shaman, harpies, etc. As for my sigil, I will probably be using blood with the ghost food still.