Guild Wars 2

4/6/2015 edit: After much more playtime, I can’t recommend the following build. The goal was support/DPS balance, but the DPS is just too low to be effective. Also, I mention below that I wasn’t using hammer because I couldn’t get the timing down. Now I can’t play without it. Cheers

I’ll preface this post by mentioning that I’m extremely new to the game, and thus far my PvP has purely been hotjoin (for practice, as I don’t have a group to play with). I’m not actually any good at PvP (those who have seen me can attest), but I’m improving, and the build below has helped a lot with that.

Initially I went the meta medi dps route. For a new player, the “glass cannon” style has a lot of appeal. The damage was nice but I felt it was kind of a selfish build—I couldn’t synergize with my team at all. Perhaps more importantly, I was frustratingly squishy, and downed guardians don’t synergize with anything. Then I tried the meta Altruistic Healing and virtue bunker builds. This solved my squishy/selfish build issues, but it was frustrating being so useless in terms of damage. If even one player showed up at point, I could never come close to eliminating them. This was probably my fault, as it takes some skill to DPS with a mace and staff. Being able to buy time at a point didn’t help when teammates don’t arrive (I suppose this is unique to hotjoin). Importantly, being a bunker meant that my team was down a considerable amount of firepower. I’ve found a build I’m currently enjoying playing (the most important part) and thought I’d share it…any comments ya’ll have would be great.

I’ll call it the Prostate build to help raise cancer awareness.

Weapons:
Sw/Fc, GS
Nothing was more fun as a bunker build than planting a line of warding in the middle of point with the staff. Staff damage never impressed me though, and I started using a usb controller (the ultimate luxury), effectively eliminating my use of AOE skills. This rules out the scepter too for the 2 skill (orb was too easy to dodge anyways). I found the shield most useful with the scepter, so that was off the list. Torch4 burst is nice, but I never found torch5 useful. I really like the CC of the hammer, but I could never get it to work for me in practice. Having to stand still while casting and the slow AA3 chain made the hammer an unrequited love for me. I suppose if I practiced my timing I could work well with the hammer, but I’ve got plenty of time for that. By process of elimination, I found myself with Sw/Fc and GS. I like the mobility/blinding GS3 and Sw2 offer. Focus just felt natural, as I rely on Fc4 and 5 for blinds and blocks. This weapon combination is, in my opinion, the easiest to use.

Traits:
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Initially I had 2 in Valor for Strength in Numbers, but I’ve come to rely on the VoJ blind. My build is shout heavy, so Superior Aria was a no brainer. Without Monks Focus or AH, the sustain this build offers is below the meta. I took Pure of Heart to aid this weakness. Although the healing isn’t much (or even frequent) it is “on demand” (virtues + retreat), and helps out my allies. I took Pure of Voice—I don’t consider this a pure support build, but I really can’t part with being a condi removal machine for both my team and myself. I took Unscathed Contender mostly because nothing else seemed to fit. If I time my Fc5 block or VoJ/GS3/Sw2/Fc4 blinds well I can get a few hits off with aegis still on, but I haven’t yet gotten the timing right to make this anything more than mediocre (edit: I just found out Fc5 doesn’t keep aegis up on hit. Maybe I’ll switch UC to Vengeful). Absolute Resolution and Indomitable Courage are my last 2 traits, mainly because I needed stability for stomps and more team condi removal.

Skills:
I like the way shouts synergize with the team (and clear 2 condi), so I’ve loaded up on them. I’m using Stand your Ground for the stomp stability, and Hold the Line for some team healing/protection. Originally I was running Save Yourselves, but now I actually prefer Retreat. This was a tough decision to make because of the obvious benefits SY brings to the table, but I prefer the team-wide speed/aegis over a single target (i.e., myself) boon-fest. After traiting Absolute Resolution, I didn’t really need the extra condi removal; none of my teammates get the boons; and the CD is a tad high. After switching to Retreat, I never looked back. It adds much needed mobility to my guardian (133% movement speed 81% of the time), allowing more effective movement across the map to points/wherever needed. It also offers me a way to disengage. This is important: if I’m getting 3v1’d (unfortunately this happens often) and need to run for it, I’ll pop retreat and stability, and haulpass out of there. If I can’t disengage and am still getting ganked, at least 2-3+ of the other team’s players have wasted their time on me while my team is (hopefully) outnumbering the rest of them and kicking butt. The team aegis from retreat may not initially seem like it’s worth all of the lost SY boons, but with pure of heart, it offers a 3rd “on-command” aegis to block/heal me and my teammates for a modest 765 once every ~15 or so seconds. Retreat also theoretically synergizes well with Unscathed Contender, although I can’t get this part to work well to be honest. Like I said, I was running SY for awhile, but I do prefer retreat. Renewed focus is a must, as my virtues are nearly always on CD—blinds, condi clears, and stability stomps as much as I can.

Gear:
I’ve got intelligence sigils on both weapons. Aside from the modest damage boost on weapon swap, it’s important that I trigger Vigorous Precision so that I can keep dodging (base critical is a meager 6%). I use Sigil of Leaching on both weapon sets to aid the lack of sustain in this build. It helps a lot. I use Rune of the Soldier so that I can get the most out of my shouts. I use a Soldier Amulet: If I don’t, the power is too low to do any damage. My power is only 1858, but I can work well with the 2.9k toughness and 22k health.

Sustain:
I’ve already mentioned the lack of Monk’s Focus and AH. It’s definitely a loss, but I do prefer the benefits from maxing Honor and Virtues for the team condi clear and stability. Individually, the healing from VoR/VoC/Pure of Heart/Retreat, the leaching sigils, plus the regen from VoR/HTL are unsubstantial. Together, however, they add up to a passable level of team sustain. The healing from these and shelter can go a long way by taking advantage of dodges, blocks from VoC/Retreat/Fc5/Shelter/Renewed Focus, and blinds from VoJ, Sword2, GS3, and Fc4.

This is starting to sound like a virtue bunker build with a GS, and I guess that’s kind of what it is. I’m trading healing power for the capability to do passable damage. If I’m mistaken in calling this a hybrid feel free to correct me; I’m using that term because it offers plenty of team support through virtues/shouts, but the Sw/Fc and GS playstyle is meant to stay offensive and aggressive in a skirmish. It’s not bursty, but the damage over time is high enough to make a difference on point, and I’m really comfortable in 1v1’s.

Controller:
In case anyone is curious, my virtues and Renewed Focus are on the D-pad. Left toggle is movement. Right Toggle are my shouts + stomp (click to jump). Left triggers are strafe L and next target, and Right triggers are strafe R and weapon swap (double tap the strafes to dodge). Right-side buttons are skills 1-6 (this controller has 2 more buttons than a ps2 controller).

Thanks for sticking around; I’d love to hear your thoughts. I’m new to the game, so thanks for going easy on me.

4/6/2015 edit: After much more playtime, I can’t recommend the abobe build. The goal was support/DPS balance, but the DPS is just too low to be effective. Also, I mention above that I wasn’t using hammer because I couldn’t get the timing down. Now I can’t play without it. Cheers