Guild Wars 2

Just my 2 cents for AH build : 2-h mastery>EM (no matter how much crit chance you have)

I have done the calculation, even with 100% crit chance, no matter Might coverage (stack amount +duration) for team or AH self-healing, EM=2-h mastery plus staff 4. However, you get more benefit from 2-h mastery besides the might and healing (lower CD for other skills). And I feel significant better survivalbility with 2-h mastery than EM in WvW battles.
The only advantage EM over 2-h Mastery is that it’s a brainless trait.

2h mastery is also a brainless trait…. You put it on, and then forget it. There’s no thinking involved in it.

The advantage of EM is that you’re pushing out Might stacks to your team mates.

Sure, I can see where you’re saying 2h mastery + staff is equal to EM, but what if you don’t want to use the staff? What if you’re not using a 2handed weapon?

Empowering Might can have roughly 4 might stacks on each person with decent crit. With a 5 man party that accounts to 20 stacks of might up which equals:

700 Power
700 Condition Damage

This added on to the healing you get from alturistic healing every time it procs makes it a very useful trait offensively and defensively. When by yourself the effectiveness of it drops a lot though making 2-h mastery definitely a much better choice.

EM >2HM for dungeons and pve
2HM>EM for wvw

The problem isn’t EM, which is actually quite handy if your party don’t cap might stacks or lacks of reliable sources of group might like warriors/ele/fire + blast comboing.
And EM isn’t picked cause there isn’t anything good for that trait slot (2H mastery is good, symbols traits are good).

The problem is using EM not for the might, but for proccing AH,
That is overrated.

Get rid of AH, poof, 30 points get free to move somewhere else, build variability and flexibility explodes.
Sticking them in Virtues will grant you quite more interesting and useful tools than getting a 2 digit heals when proccing EM.
Sticking them in Radiance will give you access to a real DPS option.
(given a 0/x0/30/30/x0 or similar build)

Problem is AH is a crutch to begin with. Unless your group is just horrible and needs an anchor guard, you are better off going something like 15/15/0/20/20 or 10/30/0/20/10 or some other hybrid/dps build. Although AH is good kind of if you are new to dungeons and don’t know bosses. But in that case you should just learn the fight and not get used to using the AH crutch.

Also 2HM skills depends on the weapon. For a GS it is nice, for a hammer it is a waste. Better off getting Writ of Persistence with the 15 in Zeal for vulns.

Sauzo.6821:

Problem is AH is a crutch to begin with. Unless your group is just horrible and needs an anchor guard, you are better off going something like 15/15/0/20/20 or 10/30/0/20/10 or some other hybrid/dps build. Although AH is good kind of if you are new to dungeons and don’t know bosses. But in that case you should just learn the fight and not get used to using the AH crutch.

Once upon a time, AH was seen to be extraordinary. Everyone used it and praised it. Now its considered crutch, newbie friendly, for people afraid to play, etc etc.

AH is good, there are other options but no necessary better options. Sadly, the standard AH build gets a lot done, perhaps too much. With pov and shouts it will remove conditions, give might to allies, heal you, do great damage if you are in zerk gear.

I personally do not use AH, I like meditations. AH gameplay is much to passive to entertain me, but realistically in pve I would probably be much better off running AH than a meditation build. (I primarily use hammer btw).

Aza.2105:

Sauzo.6821:

Problem is AH is a crutch to begin with. Unless your group is just horrible and needs an anchor guard, you are better off going something like 15/15/0/20/20 or 10/30/0/20/10 or some other hybrid/dps build. Although AH is good kind of if you are new to dungeons and don’t know bosses. But in that case you should just learn the fight and not get used to using the AH crutch.

Once upon a time, AH was seen to be extraordinary. Everyone used it and praised it. Now its considered crutch, newbie friendly, for people afraid to play, etc etc.

AH is good, there are other options but no necessary better options. Sadly, the standard AH build gets a lot done, perhaps too much. With pov and shouts it will remove conditions, give might to allies, heal you, do great damage if you are in zerk gear.

I personally do not use AH, I like meditations. AH gameplay is much to passive to entertain me, but realistically in pve I would probably be much better off running AH than a meditation build. (I primarily use hammer btw).

You are talking 2 different trees. PoV and shouts are in the Honor tree which i agree is a very good skill. The only thing AH brings is the healing you get from shouts/boons. Nothing to do with removing conditions. EM is in the honor tree as well. The only traits valor tree brings are retributive armor and purify but the rest of the traits and passives in that tree kind of suck. I too run hammer and use a 15/15/0/30/10 build just cause i like PoV and am lazy. Otherwise i would run the 15/15/0/20/20 build and use purging flames and absolute resolution with renewed focus to be able to wipe out 6 conditions.

Like i said, AH is good if your group is bad or they need an anchor guard but today most people have run these dungeons 5k times and know whats going on so they can avoid most stuff.

Sauzo.6821:

Aza.2105:

Sauzo.6821:

Problem is AH is a crutch to begin with. Unless your group is just horrible and needs an anchor guard, you are better off going something like 15/15/0/20/20 or 10/30/0/20/10 or some other hybrid/dps build. Although AH is good kind of if you are new to dungeons and don’t know bosses. But in that case you should just learn the fight and not get used to using the AH crutch.

Once upon a time, AH was seen to be extraordinary. Everyone used it and praised it. Now its considered crutch, newbie friendly, for people afraid to play, etc etc.

AH is good, there are other options but no necessary better options. Sadly, the standard AH build gets a lot done, perhaps too much. With pov and shouts it will remove conditions, give might to allies, heal you, do great damage if you are in zerk gear.

I personally do not use AH, I like meditations. AH gameplay is much to passive to entertain me, but realistically in pve I would probably be much better off running AH than a meditation build. (I primarily use hammer btw).

You are talking 2 different trees. PoV and shouts are in the Honor tree which i agree is a very good skill. The only thing AH brings is the healing you get from shouts/boons. Nothing to do with removing conditions. EM is in the honor tree as well. The only traits valor tree brings are retributive armor and purify but the rest of the traits and passives in that tree kind of suck. I too run hammer and use a 15/15/0/30/10 build just cause i like PoV and am lazy. Otherwise i would run the 15/15/0/20/20 build and use purging flames and absolute resolution with renewed focus to be able to wipe out 6 conditions.

Like i said, AH is good if your group is bad or they need an anchor guard but today most people have run these dungeons 5k times and know whats going on so they can avoid most stuff.

Thats why I said “standard AH build.”

What you think about AH is exactly that, what you think. It doesn’t make it true. Its your personal choice not to use it or not.

Aza.2105:

Sauzo.6821:

Aza.2105:

Sauzo.6821:

Problem is AH is a crutch to begin with. Unless your group is just horrible and needs an anchor guard, you are better off going something like 15/15/0/20/20 or 10/30/0/20/10 or some other hybrid/dps build. Although AH is good kind of if you are new to dungeons and don’t know bosses. But in that case you should just learn the fight and not get used to using the AH crutch.

Once upon a time, AH was seen to be extraordinary. Everyone used it and praised it. Now its considered crutch, newbie friendly, for people afraid to play, etc etc.

AH is good, there are other options but no necessary better options. Sadly, the standard AH build gets a lot done, perhaps too much. With pov and shouts it will remove conditions, give might to allies, heal you, do great damage if you are in zerk gear.

I personally do not use AH, I like meditations. AH gameplay is much to passive to entertain me, but realistically in pve I would probably be much better off running AH than a meditation build. (I primarily use hammer btw).

You are talking 2 different trees. PoV and shouts are in the Honor tree which i agree is a very good skill. The only thing AH brings is the healing you get from shouts/boons. Nothing to do with removing conditions. EM is in the honor tree as well. The only traits valor tree brings are retributive armor and purify but the rest of the traits and passives in that tree kind of suck. I too run hammer and use a 15/15/0/30/10 build just cause i like PoV and am lazy. Otherwise i would run the 15/15/0/20/20 build and use purging flames and absolute resolution with renewed focus to be able to wipe out 6 conditions.

Like i said, AH is good if your group is bad or they need an anchor guard but today most people have run these dungeons 5k times and know whats going on so they can avoid most stuff.

Thats why I said “standard AH build.”

What you think about AH is exactly that, what you think. It doesn’t make it true. Its your personal choice not to use it or not.

I understand exactly what you meant. The thread isn’t about just AH, on it’s own with no other traits it’s horrible. In my opinion it isn’t that great, but it does have it’s place. In certain builds it’s wonderful. I personally prefer meditation builds. I love the extra mobility.

Unfortunately pvp has become an arms race of condi damage, cc, and mobility. Guardians as a whole aren’t really able to keep up on at least two of those. We are still great at sitting on a point and standing there, but that’s so boring.

GSSBlunaspike.4153:

Aza.2105:

Sauzo.6821:

Aza.2105:

Sauzo.6821:

Problem is AH is a crutch to begin with. Unless your group is just horrible and needs an anchor guard, you are better off going something like 15/15/0/20/20 or 10/30/0/20/10 or some other hybrid/dps build. Although AH is good kind of if you are new to dungeons and don’t know bosses. But in that case you should just learn the fight and not get used to using the AH crutch.

Once upon a time, AH was seen to be extraordinary. Everyone used it and praised it. Now its considered crutch, newbie friendly, for people afraid to play, etc etc.

AH is good, there are other options but no necessary better options. Sadly, the standard AH build gets a lot done, perhaps too much. With pov and shouts it will remove conditions, give might to allies, heal you, do great damage if you are in zerk gear.

I personally do not use AH, I like meditations. AH gameplay is much to passive to entertain me, but realistically in pve I would probably be much better off running AH than a meditation build. (I primarily use hammer btw).

You are talking 2 different trees. PoV and shouts are in the Honor tree which i agree is a very good skill. The only thing AH brings is the healing you get from shouts/boons. Nothing to do with removing conditions. EM is in the honor tree as well. The only traits valor tree brings are retributive armor and purify but the rest of the traits and passives in that tree kind of suck. I too run hammer and use a 15/15/0/30/10 build just cause i like PoV and am lazy. Otherwise i would run the 15/15/0/20/20 build and use purging flames and absolute resolution with renewed focus to be able to wipe out 6 conditions.

Like i said, AH is good if your group is bad or they need an anchor guard but today most people have run these dungeons 5k times and know whats going on so they can avoid most stuff.

Thats why I said “standard AH build.”

What you think about AH is exactly that, what you think. It doesn’t make it true. Its your personal choice not to use it or not.

I understand exactly what you meant. The thread isn’t about just AH, on it’s own with no other traits it’s horrible. In my opinion it isn’t that great, but it does have it’s place. In certain builds it’s wonderful. I personally prefer meditation builds. I love the extra mobility.

Unfortunately pvp has become an arms race of condi damage, cc, and mobility. Guardians as a whole aren’t really able to keep up on at least two of those. We are still great at sitting on a point and standing there, but that’s so boring.

You must be talking small scale pvp because in WvW groups of guardians are king.

Relentliss.2170:

GSSBlunaspike.4153:

Aza.2105:

Sauzo.6821:

Aza.2105:

Sauzo.6821:

Problem is AH is a crutch to begin with. Unless your group is just horrible and needs an anchor guard, you are better off going something like 15/15/0/20/20 or 10/30/0/20/10 or some other hybrid/dps build. Although AH is good kind of if you are new to dungeons and don’t know bosses. But in that case you should just learn the fight and not get used to using the AH crutch.

Once upon a time, AH was seen to be extraordinary. Everyone used it and praised it. Now its considered crutch, newbie friendly, for people afraid to play, etc etc.

AH is good, there are other options but no necessary better options. Sadly, the standard AH build gets a lot done, perhaps too much. With pov and shouts it will remove conditions, give might to allies, heal you, do great damage if you are in zerk gear.

I personally do not use AH, I like meditations. AH gameplay is much to passive to entertain me, but realistically in pve I would probably be much better off running AH than a meditation build. (I primarily use hammer btw).

You are talking 2 different trees. PoV and shouts are in the Honor tree which i agree is a very good skill. The only thing AH brings is the healing you get from shouts/boons. Nothing to do with removing conditions. EM is in the honor tree as well. The only traits valor tree brings are retributive armor and purify but the rest of the traits and passives in that tree kind of suck. I too run hammer and use a 15/15/0/30/10 build just cause i like PoV and am lazy. Otherwise i would run the 15/15/0/20/20 build and use purging flames and absolute resolution with renewed focus to be able to wipe out 6 conditions.

Like i said, AH is good if your group is bad or they need an anchor guard but today most people have run these dungeons 5k times and know whats going on so they can avoid most stuff.

Thats why I said “standard AH build.”

What you think about AH is exactly that, what you think. It doesn’t make it true. Its your personal choice not to use it or not.

I understand exactly what you meant. The thread isn’t about just AH, on it’s own with no other traits it’s horrible. In my opinion it isn’t that great, but it does have it’s place. In certain builds it’s wonderful. I personally prefer meditation builds. I love the extra mobility.

Unfortunately pvp has become an arms race of condi damage, cc, and mobility. Guardians as a whole aren’t really able to keep up on at least two of those. We are still great at sitting on a point and standing there, but that’s so boring.

You must be talking small scale pvp because in WvW groups of guardians are king.

WvW has become one server stomping the other. Then you can always do PvD if you want, but that’s just boring. Guardians are good in zergs, but then it’s just you running around as a massive pile of people until you run into another group with even more people plus they have 2 bl going. We know how that ends. The other option is the two zergs avoid each other and you end up killing doors/npcs. Boring.

I prefer small group/solo roaming in wvw, but that isn’t really done anymore. So it’s just pvp duels until they add something more fun than stand in the circle/square.

Starting to sound like Doorhammer(Warhammer) style pvp

GSSBlunaspike.4153:

Aza.2105:

Sauzo.6821:

Aza.2105:

Sauzo.6821:

Problem is AH is a crutch to begin with. Unless your group is just horrible and needs an anchor guard, you are better off going something like 15/15/0/20/20 or 10/30/0/20/10 or some other hybrid/dps build. Although AH is good kind of if you are new to dungeons and don’t know bosses. But in that case you should just learn the fight and not get used to using the AH crutch.

Once upon a time, AH was seen to be extraordinary. Everyone used it and praised it. Now its considered crutch, newbie friendly, for people afraid to play, etc etc.

AH is good, there are other options but no necessary better options. Sadly, the standard AH build gets a lot done, perhaps too much. With pov and shouts it will remove conditions, give might to allies, heal you, do great damage if you are in zerk gear.

I personally do not use AH, I like meditations. AH gameplay is much to passive to entertain me, but realistically in pve I would probably be much better off running AH than a meditation build. (I primarily use hammer btw).

You are talking 2 different trees. PoV and shouts are in the Honor tree which i agree is a very good skill. The only thing AH brings is the healing you get from shouts/boons. Nothing to do with removing conditions. EM is in the honor tree as well. The only traits valor tree brings are retributive armor and purify but the rest of the traits and passives in that tree kind of suck. I too run hammer and use a 15/15/0/30/10 build just cause i like PoV and am lazy. Otherwise i would run the 15/15/0/20/20 build and use purging flames and absolute resolution with renewed focus to be able to wipe out 6 conditions.

Like i said, AH is good if your group is bad or they need an anchor guard but today most people have run these dungeons 5k times and know whats going on so they can avoid most stuff.

Thats why I said “standard AH build.”

What you think about AH is exactly that, what you think. It doesn’t make it true. Its your personal choice not to use it or not.

I understand exactly what you meant. The thread isn’t about just AH, on it’s own with no other traits it’s horrible. In my opinion it isn’t that great, but it does have it’s place. In certain builds it’s wonderful. I personally prefer meditation builds. I love the extra mobility.

Unfortunately pvp has become an arms race of condi damage, cc, and mobility. Guardians as a whole aren’t really able to keep up on at least two of those. We are still great at sitting on a point and standing there, but that’s so boring.

Of course, its really not a stand alone trait. Its meant to be synergized with other traits. I think its a good trait, but just not for me. If someone else enjoys it and swears by it, thats good that they found something that works for them.

AH game play is much too passive to hold my attention. I definitely prefer meditations over them, especially when oct 15th patch hits.

Yeah the current meta isn’t too great for guardian. Since the class doesn’t have strong cc, mobility and lackluster condition damage. No use in complaining about it though, its been that way for months, sadly.

EM is good trait. Not OP just good.

it’s a bit lousy in groups that can stack might properly

colesy.8490:

it’s a bit lousy in groups that can stack might properly

Yes, that’s the only downside.

On the other hand, most groups don’t do that – not only talking about filthy pugs – or don’t get perma 25 stacks – so EM ones aren’t wasted, but comes in play mid-fight for keep up the high numbers – and the 20 pts Major trait slot can hold some other neat stuff aside EM – like symbol traits for running a Hammer build.