DH vs Guardian (wvw/zerg)

DH vs Guardian (wvw/zerg)

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Posted by: Me Kill You.9035

Me Kill You.9035

So now that people have had some time to try out DH builds and use it in WvW, what are the general thoughts on how it performs versus normal Guard? I finally got mine maxed out and was running with it in some big fights with mixed success so far.

I mained Guard in wvw(mostly) and pve before and this is kind of how I see it so far,

Guard notes:

-Altruistic Healing (dh can take this but I feel Honor/Virtues pairing is maybe better)
-Able to quickly use virtues for immediate effect in tight spots
-Consecrations (dh will probably use traps instead) like WoR and Purging are not bad, can’t say if theyre more useful than traps though

Dragonhunter notes:

-Traps seem to be very effective if you can either preemptively place them or get them off in a group
-Justice has good application with its piercing effect on groups, but hard to pull off multiple hits if you’re moving a lot
-Resolve leap has obvious applications and the 3sec immob when traited is pretty good
-Courage active effect for blocking projectiles is nice, especially for pre-cast before leaping in for the shield and stab

One thing that worried me with DH is that you can not use Resolve/Courage instantly to recieve the effects (condi clear/stab) but they have a cast time on them. Resolve in particular was shifted far from a defensive “OH kitten” codi clear skill to a more offensive/gap closing one. Also the only virtue that can affect your allies now is Resolve and only if they are within the radius as far as I could tell, but these aspects would probably just call for a slight shift in playstyle more than anything.

I also haven’t used Longbow in wvw yet I’ve only been running pretty similar to my old build as frontline. (GS/Staff or Hamm)

I’m curious if any other previous Guard mains have had any issues like these or maybe have come up with new tactics/workarounds for some? I like the traits of DH and addition of traps, but I’m not sold yet on using it over Guard for frontline zerging. If anyone else has thoughts I’d really like to hear them.

Jade Quarry [TPA]

DH vs Guardian (wvw/zerg)

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Posted by: Indure.5410

Indure.5410

Shield of courage blocks all frontal damage, not just projectiles and according to tooltip still applies Aegis to 5 allies.

Overall really like the bow and more importantly I like the set-up of DH traitline. Every tier feels like there are some interesting options that have a real impact in gameplay (especially compared to a trait line like Valor).

(edited by Indure.5410)

DH vs Guardian (wvw/zerg)

in Guardian

Posted by: Me Kill You.9035

Me Kill You.9035

@Indure agree the new courage skill is pretty good and is probably better for zerging than before, at least in some situations

I haven’t used the bow because I play guard when frontline is needed, maybe it could replace staff on swap?

Jade Quarry [TPA]

DH vs Guardian (wvw/zerg)

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Posted by: Ragnar the Rock.3174

Ragnar the Rock.3174

The bow is rather good for chasing down groups of people or defending things from ramparts/high spots.

In the case of the former this is especially true due to the cripple spam when it can bounce to a secondary target.
No matter how much cleanse they have if they are within bounce range of an additional target you will just keep throwing cripple back on them.

In the case of the later its good because of the good damage, the fact the projectiles have a good speed & the fact that #2 can be quite nice for sniping people.