Guild Wars 2

How many of you all tried out some non-bow Dragon Hunter builds?

How did you enjoy it?

Well i made a more traditional Tank paladin build as i call it, using melee Dragon Hunter and traps.

some traps are more useful at this than others.

but one thing i would love is if Dragon Hunters were given a forth virtue skill. I like all the new virtue skills. I believe the Wings of Resolve trait should be baseline, and should have its heal increased.

also would be nice if Justice was a chain skill that pulled the target to me and taunted them.

ideas i had for a F4 is something like a temporary winged angel minion spawned that attacked the enemy for a short duration like Jagged Horrors for Necromancer.

Could heal group with each attack until they despawn.

but i dont want to get carried away. So how did you all play your Melee Dragon Hunter?

Whether they indended it or not (if other specializations are the same), it’s difficult to use DH without the bow.

I’ve tried a Sword/Shield build since shield can offer cripple
+
Scepter/Focus since blocks immediate triggers F1

I didn’t feel any noticeable improvements from the ‘F1 refreshed by blocking attacks’ trait. Maybe if F1 stacked up and we could deliver all the blocked burts from 1 attack.
Example: Block 1 attack, next attack delivers a burn. Block 2 attacks, next attack delivers 2 stacks instead of one.

IIRC, If we were to block twice, we only get 1 F1 burn proc. The only way to efficiently burn people per second is to Shelter+Focus on a triggered trap or Smite while also have people attack us. It’s a scenario that doesn’t come easy.

As a weaponswap from the bow. :P

Seriously, I’ve seen the complaints that traps aren’t ground-targeted, but I think it needs to be remembered that the dragonhunter still has a weaponswap and two specialisations that are probably focused towards melee. If you’re in one of those situations where a normal guardian would pull out a scepter or staff and fight at some distance, you can lay down traps as you kite if it comes to that. Dragonhunter or not, though, the guardian really thrives in melee, and longbow is just another option for those times when, for whatever reason, you can’t or don’t want to melee. I think I was toting a melee weapon for at least half the time I was playing dragonhunter… and planting the traps at my feet then was quite effective, thank you! :P

One sneaky combo that I think the melee dragonhunter offers, though, is setting down some traps, and then Binding Blade a few enemies into those traps.