Guild Wars 2

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fVAQNAS8dlsApcoVDxfH8DNBERl5NEfYneTwVeZAMAA-TVCEAB6s/wgKBtS5nBHBgO0I0mugGV/BgHAwDXEASBIoyI-w

After having not played for a while I wanted to update my old AH build into something newer that goes along with my playstyle for WvW roaming or small group. I was interested in a healway build, but it relied a lot on shouts which i personally don’t like as much.

Originally, my build was centered around zealot’s, but being that I want to craft ascended armor I ended up changing it because i missed out on the events when the recipes were available.

At a quick glance i can tell damage is a bit lacking, but i’d really like to hear what you guys think

Now my first impression is that if you’re not going for damage, why bother with the sword as your offhand. Sword is the Guard’s greatest DPS weapon, but if you’re not aiming for DPS there’s not much point in taking it unless you feel that #2 blink is what you need. Scepter can offer a great immobilize on a short CD and also the range to snipe off cannons or pull Vets from a camp more easily, so I would personally suggest that.

Another idea is to substitute Save Yourselves for Hold The Line. Hold The Line grants Stability, which is often more valuable than what Save Yourselves offers. It also is a stun break, but on a way shorter CD.

I like where you’re going with the meditations though. I’ve always been a fan of them. One suggestion is to just stay flexible with which meditations you use, as they’re all honestly pretty good situationally. I think a big issue that a lot of players have is getting caught up in their one specific build and not thinking to swap out skills/weapons for the task at hand, and this is really a detriment to yourself and your team as there are so many abilities that are absolutely outstanding depending on your situation.

The traits look pretty good to me, especially for an initial set up. I’m always tinkering with my build in tiny ways, so don’t be afraid to swap things up a bit. Also, +1 for using Force of Will. I’m so in love with that trait.

One thing you might want to experiment with is using Empowering Might instead of Two handed mastery. Empowering might actually allows you to keep usually around 5-7 stacks of might up on all nearby allies as long as you’re attacking and frequently critting. Now you might have to tweak your gear to make this work, but it’s definitely not something to be snuffed at.

Now I’ll be honest. I don’t really get where you’re going with the gear. You’ve already acknowledged that your damage is rather low, so I don’t understand why some of your gear doesn’t boost your damage much (knights) and some is focusing on the damage (berserker weapons). I personally just invested in Zealot’s for my Guard, and am loving it so far, so maybe you should work on saving up the money to get that. I honestly think it’s a worthy investment. I’d suggest Zealot’s/Cleric’s, which gives mediocre damage but lots of good sustain. If you really don’t want to invest in Zealot’s then I’d say Cleric’s/Berserker/Magi might be better? Honestly I’m just not a fan of knights in most cases.

Lastly, the sigils all look great except for the fire one. I’d say replace it with battle or strength for some might stacks, since you do have good boon duration. This will offer better sustain damage, and less burst, but that’s okay because you aren’t going to be dropping anyone from 100% to 0% with your damage anyway, so sustain may be preferable. The runes look okay, though rage really isn’t preferred these days. You’ll have appropriate fury when you need it, even if you use Hold The Line instead of Save Yourselves. I’d suggest investing in strength runes with this build, even though that may be very expensive. If you can’t do strength runes, maybe Brawler runes might work? They’re nowhere near as good though.

If you feel like discussing any of my thoughts feel free to respond. I love a good theorycrafting session, and I never claim to know everything about Guard.

Temariah.9372:

Another idea is to substitute Save Yourselves for Hold The Line. Hold The Line grants Stability, which is often more valuable than what Save Yourselves offers. It also is a stun break, but on a way shorter CD.

Think you mean Stand your Ground and not HTL. But agreed, way more useful.

To the OP please tell us what you intend to do with the build (solo roaming?, group roaming?, zerging?) Seems to me you’re trying to combine too many things, I would recommend to focus on what role you would like to play and feel comfortable with: Do you want to roam and chase enemies? Go Zerker/Knight equip with meditations and traveler runes. Do you want to play as a healer (well , kinda healer) on a small roaming group? Go cleric equipment with shouts and trooper runes. Do you want to run with the zerg as a frontline bunker? Go Soldier/Sentinnel equip with consecrations and shouts with Dolyak runes + a good video card on your PC.

With your current build crit chance is way too low and not even fury will make it get to 50%. With 40% crit (what you get with fury) you’re gonna crit 4 times for every 10 hits. Also, I would pick Superior Aria over Wrathful Spirit even if you’re only using 1 shout, really worth it.

Now for weapons I would suggest changing one of them for GS. With meditations GS synergize with SW/F. With the 2 handed mastery trait your’e taking you might want to try GS-H. Energy sigils are one of the best choices but I suggedt to go with Force sigil on a set, you can’t turn your back on a permanent 5% dmg bonus.

TL;DR What I’m trying to tell the OP is that he can try everything before crafting ascended equipment that is a HUGE investment. Find what role he likes, then go and focus on it.

thanks for the responses. im taking a second look to see where i plan to go with this.

NumenorLord.6539:

Temariah.9372:

Another idea is to substitute Save Yourselves for Hold The Line. Hold The Line grants Stability, which is often more valuable than what Save Yourselves offers. It also is a stun break, but on a way shorter CD.

Think you mean Stand your Ground and not HTL. But agreed, way more useful.

To the OP please tell us what you intend to do with the build (solo roaming?, group roaming?, zerging?) Seems to me you’re trying to combine too many things, I would recommend to focus on what role you would like to play and feel comfortable with: Do you want to roam and chase enemies? Go Zerker/Knight equip with meditations and traveler runes. Do you want to play as a healer (well , kinda healer) on a small roaming group? Go cleric equipment with shouts and trooper runes. Do you want to run with the zerg as a frontline bunker? Go Soldier/Sentinnel equip with consecrations and shouts with Dolyak runes + a good video card on your PC.

With your current build crit chance is way too low and not even fury will make it get to 50%. With 40% crit (what you get with fury) you’re gonna crit 4 times for every 10 hits. Also, I would pick Superior Aria over Wrathful Spirit even if you’re only using 1 shout, really worth it.

Now for weapons I would suggest changing one of them for GS. With meditations GS synergize with SW/F. With the 2 handed mastery trait your’e taking you might want to try GS-H. Energy sigils are one of the best choices but I suggedt to go with Force sigil on a set, you can’t turn your back on a permanent 5% dmg bonus.

TL;DR What I’m trying to tell the OP is that he can try everything before crafting ascended equipment that is a HUGE investment. Find what role he likes, then go and focus on it.

i guess the original plan was to do some solo/small group roaming where i wouldnt 100%-0 an enemy in a burst, but more as a sustained damage (healway comes to mind?)

The thing is that i didnt like how reliant healway builds are with shouts so i tried to come up with something that used meditations instead, but fundamentally relied on perma vigor/selfless daring for healing