Guild Wars 2

Every picture on the forum, every time I see a “show yourself” picture (talking about Guradians now, other classes are not that far off, specially Wariors), I see Greatswords.

Most of the characters are using a Greatsword. Are you?

I’m really interested in playing with a sword and a shield, but if you compare it to a Greatsword, it’s just bad. Why?

I’m not talking damage here – I would gladly sacrifice damage to get more fun. Greatsword just has the best skills to use.

Imagine – you’re running, see 4 mobs, and you decide to take them down. Jump come near, use blades to agro all of them, put down a symbol, pull them in, jump-blind, whirling wrath, and they’re down. You can even put down a concecration to triger fire shield and burning bolts. Seems rather fun and decent. Used all your skills basically.

But, imagine doing those 4 mobs with a sword and board. Well, you got a fast attacking auto, which is nice, you got a 10 sec blind which is decent, and a nice nuke on #3 skill. No combo fields, no combo finishers, no nothing. Rather low fun.

Now, I just love the way my Guarding looks with a sword and board, really awesome. But, I’m being forced almost to play with a Greatsword. Something I just can’t commit.

So, any wise thoughts? Any fun ways (builds) to play without a Gsword and with a sword and board combo?

Try PvP, Sword and Board works pretty well there.
Also, you have to keep in mind that weapons in Guild Wars 2 correspond to a playstyle, and the Greatsword offers a popular playstyle. This doesn’t mean the Greatsword is a better weapon than all other weapons, just that what it offers is more popular.

I assume this is concerning PvE primarily

If you want to do AoE damage then GS is definitely the way to go for the exact same reasons you mentioned. The GS also does as much damage to 5 targets and you can do to 1 target with most other weapons, so it is just the superior weapon as far as damage output is concerned.

Hammer can also be decent, but still lacking the control that the GS can provide.

The Shortsword isn’t useless though. Against single targets (i.e. dungeon bosses) you can dish out comparable damage to the GS, and the fast attacks makes foods like Omnom Pies very powerful (assuming u have decent to high crit chance).

The shield is probably the weakest offhand you can choose. Both of its abilities have way too long Cooldowns imo, and are just very lackluster. I would suggest going with the Focus if you want more survivability, or the Torch if you want more damage. If you just want to look cool then the shield is the way to go.

I mostly just Spvp and I use scepter/torch and staff. Going melee usually spells death for you unless you have some sort of escape mechanism.

Greatsword is just an easy to use weapon that gives good results without having to look much into trait synergy or anything deeper than your 1-5 skills. That doesn’t mean it’s the best weapon, however.

Arken.3725:

I mostly just Spvp and I use scepter/torch and staff. Going melee usually spells death for you unless you have some sort of escape mechanism.

Ehh… not sure about sPvP, but you don’t just die in WvW if you go melee, if you know what you’re doing (and no, just blindly charging into a dozen angry warriors is not it).

PvE-wise, Sword/Shield is best used in groups when you need to go defensive, since #5 counts as a nice AoE interrupt, and if you ever had seen one of the gravelings munch on your squishy friends to death, you know what a godsend an AoE interrupt can be.

When solo, I’d take focus over shield since it is way more useful defense-wise, you get two blinds, a three-strike block and a damage skill. But shield has it’s uses.

Ynna.8769:

Also, you have to keep in mind that weapons in Guild Wars 2 correspond to a playstyle, and the Greatsword offers a popular playstyle. This doesn’t mean the Greatsword is a better weapon than all other weapons, just that what it offers is more popular.

No, this means exactly that the Greatsword is better than other weapons.

If you give masses of people 10 choices of something, and they’re going to use these something for an activity, after some time you’ll notice which something is the better choice for the given activity.

Well, that’s expected afterall, Greatswords deal great damage, AoE, boons, blinds, controls, wide swings, that’s plenty of advantages over other weapons (arguably the Hammer is close to it).

It’s like asking “You have to kill monsters. What do you prefer, killing 1 monster every 15 seconds, or killing 5 monsters every 10 seconds?”

I picked the latter one and I’ve been using the Greatsword since launch… even though I’m sorta tired of it already.

I personally use what i feel like that day. Hammer is what i have been using as of resent. Quite fun to hit them with Zealot’s Embrace then run in with a mighty blow. Once thats done lay down a symbol of protection and another mighty blow. Then throw up a ring of warding as they start to run keeping them bunched up as i do another round of aoe. Its a ton of fun.

Greatsword is without doubt the best guardian weapon for 90% of situations that you will run into (IT’S SCIENCE!).

The problem isn’t with the Greatsword, but really the other weapons aren’t as attractive or have singular roles.

Danicco.3568:

Ynna.8769:

Also, you have to keep in mind that weapons in Guild Wars 2 correspond to a playstyle, and the Greatsword offers a popular playstyle. This doesn’t mean the Greatsword is a better weapon than all other weapons, just that what it offers is more popular.

No, this means exactly that the Greatsword is better than other weapons.

If you give masses of people 10 choices of something, and they’re going to use these something for an activity, after some time you’ll notice which something is the better choice for the given activity.

Well, that’s expected afterall, Greatswords deal great damage, AoE, boons, blinds, controls, wide swings, that’s plenty of advantages over other weapons (arguably the Hammer is close to it).

It’s like asking “You have to kill monsters. What do you prefer, killing 1 monster every 15 seconds, or killing 5 monsters every 10 seconds?”

I picked the latter one and I’ve been using the Greatsword since launch… even though I’m sorta tired of it already.

Try soloing veterans five levels above your own with a greatsword, or certain champs on your own level with it.
Sword/focus or sword/shield are much better in many situations, especially when you are fighting a single, tough opponent.

Personally, I utilize the hidden skill called “weapon switch” and use BOTH the greatsword and a secondary weapon set. It is said that greatsword/sword/torch can really light things up!

Gaudrath.6725:

Try soloing veterans five levels above your own with a greatsword, or certain champs on your own level with it.
Sword/focus or sword/shield are much better in many situations, especially when you are fighting a single, tough opponent.

Personally, I utilize the hidden skill called “weapon switch” and use BOTH the greatsword and a secondary weapon set. It is said that greatsword/sword/torch can really light things up!

Sadly, GS will still beat it while levelling – all it takes is just doing a quick jump, get your character model inside of theirs, and push 2. Repeat when possible, abuse Aegis + Renewed Focus + Retreat for up to 5+ blocks, and the blind for a 6th missed hit. You could maybe argue for sword at level 60 with Right Handed Strength, but after a great deal of testing, I find it still lacking if you can even get 80% of the bolts to hit your target (and if it’s a large target, and you jump inside, it’ll be 100% no problem).

Gaudrath.6725:

Try soloing veterans five levels above your own with a greatsword, or certain champs on your own level with it.
Sword/focus or sword/shield are much better in many situations, especially when you are fighting a single, tough opponent.

Personally, I utilize the hidden skill called “weapon switch” and use BOTH the greatsword and a secondary weapon set. It is said that greatsword/sword/torch can really light things up!

But I already do.
The only better weapon for soloing hard single monsters is the Sword because of it’s slightly extended range.

For everything else, Greatsword is simply better.

Soloing group events? They throw you 20 monsters thinking you’re in a group?
Worry not, Symbol of Wrath + Whirling Wrath and Retaliation damage takes care of about everything if you got a good defense not to get instant-downed.

Ranged Monsters attacking you from all directions, and they’re scattered?
Binding Blade and AoE above and you’re done.

Monster is running from you, or is going to hit you with something really hard and you don’t have dodge/block?
Leap of Faith.

And although the tooltip says otherwise, compare the Zealot’s Defense damage to Whirling Wrath.
9.9 out of 10 you can deal more damage with Whirling Wrath (single target). Even more if you know what you’re doing.

And why would I need to use a one-handed/off-handed secondary weapon? Why don’t I just use the Hammer that is similar to the Greatsword for even more damage?

Or a Staff if I want to be able to heal/support my group?

Surely you wouldn’t say that a:
1. 10 second Blind with 200 damage and a 15 second 3000ish damage with 3 sec of Ranged blocks + Protection every 24/30 secs with 700ish damage and a 32/40 second pushback with 1300ish heal

…is better than:
2. Protection Symbol for 3000ish damage, 4/5 second 1800ish AoE damage, 12/15 sec Immobilize with 700ish damage, 20/25 sec blowout with 900ish damage and a 32/40 sec Ward

…right?

Takes a no brain for this, if Sword/Shield (or any other offhand) was better or actually even on par with Greatsword/Hammer, you’d see more of them around.
But they aren’t, and with their very specific role they’re not worth as weapons for “general purpose” that you use to play 99% of the game.

Try soloing veterans five levels above your own with a greatsword, or certain champs on your own level with it.
Sword/focus or sword/shield are much better in many situations, especially when you are fighting a single, tough opponent.

Personally, I utilize the hidden skill called “weapon switch” and use BOTH the greatsword and a secondary weapon set. It is said that greatsword/sword/torch can really light things up!

The problem here is that the Sword/Anything is not much better in “many” situations. In fact you were only able to give a single reason when sword may have a slight advantage against single tough mobs. I feel the advantage is very small and not encountered often enough to spec for it over greatsword when greatsword dominates in 95% of your encounters PvE wise.

The other problem is weapon swap, me and most others are probably slotting a scepter for some kind of range when needed or staff for the swiftness buff. Most will not slot a sword for single target when a greatsword will work just fine on single and multi mob encounters. I do hope our weapon issues are addressed soon as I am getting tired of Greatsword.

I wish this wasnt true as I love the look of sword shield as well but it just isnt viable when compared to our other options. I wish they would just swap the Focus and Shield abilities as Focus abilities seem much more suited for defense in a non sPvP environment.

In dungeons such as fractals, using melee weapons is very risky, you get hit for huge amounts very regularly, so that means you have to be perfect at dodging and keeping an eye on bosses animations.

It’s best to use ranged weapons, you avoid cleave damage and the distance from the boss provides you a better visual of incoming attacks, allowing you to dodge in time when necessary. The damage avoidance also allows you to gear for more offensive stats,which means you are still a great dps asset with support.

Unfortunately we are stuck with the scepter so you have to use that.

Ynna.8769:

Try PvP, Sword and Board works pretty well there.
Also, you have to keep in mind that weapons in Guild Wars 2 correspond to a playstyle, and the Greatsword offers a popular playstyle. This doesn’t mean the Greatsword is a better weapon than all other weapons, just that what it offers is more popular.

So true. I run scepter/torch and sword/focus in my meditation build. The playstyle is very in your face. I have a lot of fun with it and if timed right, you can unload some serious damage. I only pvp though. The only thing missing in my build is an interrupt, but I just don’t want to swap the focus with a shield because of the burst potential from Shield of Wrath.

I actually use GS and sword/x on a lot of single target boss fights. One of the things I like about that mix is that both sets keep me in melee range quickly, so I don’t lose time running back to the fight.

The flying shaman boss in the volcano fractal is one such fight where I find this useful. I’ll start off with my GS, using aegis to block his PBAoE knockback, dodge his swooping lava font attack, switch to sword to zealot’s defense him at range, blink in when the lava font is gone, switch back to GS, and repeat in a similar fashion.

On the one hand, it would be really nice to use the weapon we find aesthetically pleasing. On the other hand, if all weapons performed equally, there would be no point in having unique weapons. I personally carry many of the guardian weapons in my inventory to switch for specific uses. I felt more depth to my character after I started learning how to utilize each weapons’ strengths. One of my favorite mixes for general trash fights is GS/Hammer, where I will pull mobs together with binding blade and keep them together with the hammer.

As far as dungeons go, you’ll find yourself fighting a boss a lot, so bring your sword and board to that encounter if you wish. That’s where it will be strong aside from blinking to run through trash mobs.

I tend to look at greatsword and hammer as our main weapons, because they have big damage and impactful utilities. Sword and scepter/shield is our “sidearm”, something to complement the big weapons. And when used in conjunction with greatsword, there is simply no way you can outperform that by just using a greatsword.

So yeah, it would be nice to be able to style our characters with a certain weapon set and look, but it seems to me ANet envisioned it differently.

Which doesn’t mean you can’t have fun playing with sword and shield, if for example you need a change of pace. Its not like switching to sword/shield from greatsword will hinder you that much.

If Zealous blade was actually worth it, GS would be far more appealing to the masses.

There are few things I love more than that greatsword pull. Getting the mobs close together is always a fast and easy win.

my love for my hammer is blind, haven’t touched a GS since BWE

I won’t argue some of the strong opinions I see promoting GS posted here but it is worth saying that all the other weapons have their place and no, not everyone uses GS. I don’t use GS much actually. Hammer tags better in events and mass mob situations and almost permanent protection makes up for any build I make with a complete lack of defensive stats. Mace is super healy with offhand support, Sceptre for range. Sword + anything gives me the ability to be extremely flexible with 3 possible offhands and sigils.

Personally I think the GS is so widely used because it’s not super specialized while providing some key features. It’s a very generalist weapon that appeals to a generalist playstyle.

Obtena.7952:

I won’t argue some of the strong opinions I see promoting GS posted here but it is worth saying that all the other weapons have their place and no, not everyone uses GS. I don’t use GS much actually. Hammer tags better in events and mass mob situations and almost permanent protection makes up for any build I make with a complete lack of defensive stats. Mace is super tank, Sceptre for range. Sword + anything gives me the ability to be extremely flexible with 3 possible offhands.

Not to mention from my own experience hammer’s damage rival’s that of the GS.

Sword + shield can actually be a decent weapon for PvE provided you build for it. For example, a build with Right-Handed Strength can put out huge damage while maintaining close to 100% crit rate (with fury at least) which lets you take advantage of on-crit effects like Vigorous Precision, Empowering Might and food buffs. It also buffs your mace and scepter, which are both handy weapons in PvE as backups/off-sets for your main damage weapon.

One of the perks of the sword is that all of its damage comes from the auto attack. Using any other skill (yes, even Zealot’s Defense) will decrease your DPS. This means that all of your other skill are to be used as situational defensive manoeuvres. It also means that the playstyle can be pretty dull compared to GS, since a lot of the time you will be sitting there swinging, only rarely using the rest of your bar. The auto attack also has a couple of annoying properties, like Sword Wave hitting in a narrow cone and counting as a projectile (can be blocked/reflected, very annoying when trying to melee certain enemies). If you can see past these issues though there’s no reason the sword can’t work.

I think the Greatsword is somewhat overrated. I think it’s probably our best weapon if we want to be offensive, but I believe the Hammer but pretty close to being an equal anyway.
• 1 skills. Greatsword is pretty quick and gives some steady might if the main combo is repeated. Hammer is slower but offers Symbol of Protection at the end. Greatsword wins in solo play but Hammer wins in dungeon play (especially if used with bigger symbols and you have a melee heavy group).
• 2 skill. Why I think the Greatsword is overrated. Whirling Wrath is pretty good but I don’t think it competes with Mighty Blow. The numbers of Whirling Wrath are bigger obviously, but that’s not considering the longer cooldown and execution time. With half the cast time, much quicker execution time allowing more flexibility and speed, easy 5k crits, a small leap so you’ll be rare to miss, and the quickest blast finisher in the game, I think Hammer wins hands down here.
• 3 skill. A matter of taste. Greatsword has a great leap here, blinds on hit and does a bigger than normal hit. Hammer has a slightly more range and less accuracy line of immobilization here that does a standard hit in damage to everything hit. Same cooldown too. From experience, immobilizers are more useful in dungeons than in solo play so I’m going to go with Hammer here. Greatsword is more useful in solo play though.
• 4 skill. Greatsword’s Symbol of Wrath does good damage and applies Retaliation however Retaliation is probably the weakest PvE boon because it does little against the sheer bulk of many mobs. Hammer’s Banish on the other hand can be used as an interrupt or a repositioner for getting a frustrating mob away or for getting a boss into a corner. However, it is somewhat unreliable depending on terrain, has 5 more seconds in the cooldown, and the damage is notably lower. Hammer and Greatsword are tied here in my opinion and which one is best depends on the situation.
• 5 skills. Binding Blade wins. I don’t even need to make an argument here.

I believe it’s close, but in the end I’ll go with the Hammer unless what I’m fighting doesn’t fight back or I just really need Binding Blade.

Mace/torch and staff here

Danicco.3568:

Ynna.8769:

Also, you have to keep in mind that weapons in Guild Wars 2 correspond to a playstyle, and the Greatsword offers a popular playstyle. This doesn’t mean the Greatsword is a better weapon than all other weapons, just that what it offers is more popular.

No, this means exactly that the Greatsword is better than other weapons.

Is a hammer useless because it’s not a screwdriver? Is a Holy Priest useless because most people play Shadow? Is a Pyro superior because it’s easier to be successful with? Is an M16 better than an RPG in Metal Gear Solid 4?

1H Sword will still hit multiple targets if used correctly.

The 1st and 2nd step are arcing attacks in front of you, and so will hit multiple targets.

The 3rd step is a 300 range frontal cone attack, basically if you get your targets lined up you can hit all of them with the attack.

Ezrael.6859:

1H Sword will still hit multiple targets if used correctly.

The 1st and 2nd step are arcing attacks in front of you, and so will hit multiple targets.

The 3rd step is a 300 range frontal cone attack, basically if you get your targets lined up you can hit all of them with the attack.

Sword attack chain 3 doesn’t pass through enemies from what I’ve seen.

Anyways when comparing weapons Sword/focus or sword/shield have more defensive options while the greatsword is just DPS and more DPS but that doesn’t mean the sword can’t do some mean damage but it’s more focused for 1v1.

I don’t care about PvE but as a guardian in general, you are not very mobile. GS and Sword are the only weapons that offer additional mobility to chase your opponent, escape from them or simply move around faster. Both of those weapons also got a fairly high attack rate that helps triggering Virtue of Justice and On-Crit-effects without high precision.

Greatswords also got the most awesome looking skins in this game :P

It passes through enemies, it’s in a frontal cone.

Go and try for yourself on the Mist Golems, I’ve hit 2 Golems behind one that I was attacking by using it and got 9 hits, Golems that were out of range for Attack #1 and 2, but in range for #3 because it’s 300 range.

Ezrael.6859:

It passes through enemies, it’s in a frontal cone.

Go and try for yourself on the Mist Golems, I’ve hit 2 Golems behind one that I was attacking by using it and got 9 hits, Golems that were out of range for Attack #1 and 2, but in range for #3 because it’s 300 range.

Well I haven’t used the sword in a while maybe it was fixed but back when I used it the sword would only hit the first target.

tanshiniza.8629:

Ezrael.6859:

It passes through enemies, it’s in a frontal cone.

Go and try for yourself on the Mist Golems, I’ve hit 2 Golems behind one that I was attacking by using it and got 9 hits, Golems that were out of range for Attack #1 and 2, but in range for #3 because it’s 300 range.

Well I haven’t used the sword in a while maybe it was fixed but back when I used it the sword would only hit the first target.

This is still true for binding blades, if for example you have three enemies in a cone relative to you, some blades might hit a single enemy two or more times, resulting in fewer “tagged” enemies… something to keep in mind when choosing the time to use the skill.

Gaudrath.6725:

tanshiniza.8629:

Ezrael.6859:

It passes through enemies, it’s in a frontal cone.

Go and try for yourself on the Mist Golems, I’ve hit 2 Golems behind one that I was attacking by using it and got 9 hits, Golems that were out of range for Attack #1 and 2, but in range for #3 because it’s 300 range.

Well I haven’t used the sword in a while maybe it was fixed but back when I used it the sword would only hit the first target.

This is still true for binding blades, if for example you have three enemies in a cone relative to you, some blades might hit a single enemy two or more times, resulting in fewer “tagged” enemies… something to keep in mind when choosing the time to use the skill.

I’m a Greatsword/Hammer Guardian so I knew that already and in fact I use the binding blades as a form of nuke by sitting ontop of one target and letting him take all 5 though that takes some getting used to.

Getting Sword Wave to hit golems and getting Sword Wave to hit AI enemies/players are two entirely different things unfortunately.
I find that unless you’re in an event with lots of enemies grouped up on top of each other, lining Sword Wave up is often a lot more effort than it’s worth. If you, say, fight three melee AI opponents, they will often spread out around you and move when you do to roughly the same locations relative to you, making Sword Wave quite difficult to hit more than one with. It’s not impossible but normal melee skills like the first two attacks in the chain or any of the greatsword’s auto attack chain will hit them with no effort whatsoever.

So, basically, everyone goes by playing with a Gsword as it offers the most of our weapons?

Spiderwick.1879:

So, basically, everyone goes by playing with a Gsword as it offers the most of our weapons?

If it comes down to what offers the most then I’d have to say Hammer because if you know what you’re doing it’s too awesome for words

The problem is not that Greatsword is too good, it’s that everything else isn’t as good. Yes, Sword/whatever is fine against a single target. Greatsword is just as good, AND it’s good against groups. That’s not Greatsword’s fault, it’s not overpowered in my opinion. The problem is that where greatsword is versatile and adequate in any role, everything else is situational at best. Mace has better AOE than sword but regardless of your offhand it’s still not as good as Greatsword or Hammer. Sword has better single target damage than Mace but its still only as good as Greatsword and Hammer, while being poor at everything else regardless of your offhand.

In my opinion the solution is not to change the one handed weapons but rather to give us a dedicated NON-CONE AoE offhand. Though I wouldn’t complain about redoing Zealot’s Defense, which is garbage.

If it matters, I’ve been playing Guardian since bwe2 and have god knows how many hours. PvE and WvW.

What I would like to point out, for me, it’s not that much about damage. It’s more about being fun to play.

For example, when I run with a Gsword, what I CAN do :

- #1 chain has a wide arc, decent damage, procs might
- Whirling wrath is a nice aoe damage, also a combo whirl, when solo, can give cleansing or burning bolts
- Leap of Faith, gives a blind, combo leap, when solo, can proc fire shield or retaliation
- Symbol of Wrath, combo field, can proc retaliation, damage (that’s all not traited for symbols)
- Binding Blades, well, aoe damage/pull, combo whirl

When I run with Purging flames, Save yourself and Hold the line, I can do a lot of stuff alone. Put down combo fields, get some finishers. All that seems fun and you have things to do.

But, when I choose to play with a sword, basically, I can’t do much. I get no combo fields or finishers, aoe damage is low (I could live with that if it was fun to play).

I would so much love to run around with a sword and shield (I’m at work, I’ll put a nice picture of my guardian when I get the chance) but at this point it just isn’t fun apart from looking lovely.

Spiderwick.1879:

So, basically, everyone goes by playing with a Gsword as it offers the most of our weapons?

The Greatsword has everything you need for offense — aoe, good single target damage, leap, pull, and it synergises well with traits.

The Mace + Shield for example is a defensive combination that does everything the Greatsword doesn’t — it heals, buffs protection, and blocks.

I’ll throw out some input.

Those saying hammer dps is comparable to gs have no clue. The only time the hammer can be said to be better than GS is in WvW because it has more cc and mighty blow is very -consistent-. But everywhere else the GS is far above in dps and basic control.

It really comes down to comparable base damages of the GS but the hammer’s auto taking way too long and mighty blow not having higher base value to show similar scaling to the ramp up damage of ww. Also mighty blow is not a reliable blaster finisher because most times you’ll finish a field you don’t want, often just giving retaliation.

Then we take into consideration that the hammer relies on the full auto chain for constant dps thus requiring traiting into symbols, whereas the GS can trait into things like 2h mastery making it that much more effective.

I use the hammer 95% of my time just because I -like- it, but I know I’m weaker in doing so and always notice a staggering difference in effectiveness for those times I want to carry a bit harder and whip out “old reliable”.

Thz.7569:

I’ll throw out some input.

Those saying hammer dps is comparable to gs have no clue. The only time the hammer can be said to be better than GS is in WvW because it has more cc and mighty blow is very -consistent-. But everywhere else the GS is far above in dps and basic control.

It really comes down to comparable base damages of the GS but the hammer’s auto taking way too long and mighty blow not having higher base value to show similar scaling to the ramp up damage of ww. Also mighty blow is not a reliable blaster finisher because most times you’ll finish a field you don’t want, often just giving retaliation.

Then we take into consideration that the hammer relies on the full auto chain for constant dps thus requiring traiting into symbols, whereas the GS can trait into things like 2h mastery making it that much more effective.

I use the hammer 95% of my time just because I -like- it, but I know I’m weaker in doing so and always notice a staggering difference in effectiveness for those times I want to carry a bit harder and whip out “old reliable”.

I use Hammer 50% of the time and Greatsword 50% of the time because honestly to get the most out of guildwars you need to weapon swap efficiently so that you aren’t sitting around on cooldowns and have access to other unique skills.

In the average fight 1v1 I must swap weapons at least 6 times to counter attacks or apply extra pressure. I agree with your statement about damage though since I usually flip to GS after trapping them with the hammer to give them a good dosage of burst damage.

I would like to state, damage is not the crucial factor – fun is. Weapons, beside Gsword, are just not fun to play as they offer not so interesting skills.

For me, the GS is Anet getting it right. It has great synergy within it’s own skill set, but also works well with others.

CC to pull enemies close for team aoe spikes
Light Field & two combo finishers
Leap for mobility

From an offensive perspective:

Hammer: Good AoE burst and CC, lacks a solid auto-attack for PvP, but has highest PvE DPS. Best PvE weapon.

Greatsword: Great AoE and gap closing, is good in PvE/PvP, AoE/single-target, lacks defensive CC. Best PvP weapon.

Mace: Let’s be honest, this isn’t an offensive weapon. Only good for support/tank builds.

Sword: Good sustained damage against a single target, but lacks burst and any form of CC. (Zealot’s Defense sucks, be honest).

And that’s why you see so much Greatsword. If you’re in sPvP and want a 1v1 build you can use Sword or Greatsword. If you want a PvE damage build you can use Greatsword or Hammer. If you want a more group oriented PvP build you can use Greatsword or Hammer. (In terms of ‘best’ options)

Hammer and Greatsword are both versatile weapons while Sword and Mace are niche. Greatsword is useful in more situations than Hammer in PvP scenarios (offensively).

You would have a lot more options if the Mace had more offensive capability and if the Sword had AoE/burst.

Ynna.8769:

Is a hammer useless because it’s not a screwdriver? Is a Holy Priest useless because most people play Shadow? Is a Pyro superior because it’s easier to be successful with? Is an M16 better than an RPG in Metal Gear Solid 4?

No, because they all serve different purposes.

Now, if we’re talking about DpS, a Shadow Priest is obviously better than a Holy Priest.

If we’re talking about “which weapon sets blocks projectiles the best?” then we can discuss how Sword & Shield are infinitely superior than Greatsword.
Otherwise for damage, AoE, control and combos, Greatsword is unmatched.

And like they said, it’s not that the Greatsword is OP, it’s the other weapons that aren’t on par.
Personally I’d love to see the Sword & Shield getting some love because I enjoy the looks and the "knight"ish stereotype… too bad it’s not practical.

It should have the exact same damage potential, though with less control and combos but projectile protection instead, and I’d be fine retiring my Greatsword…

guardian and warriors shield skills should be swapped. shield is kinda meh on guardian. gives mad blocks on war. wars dont want to block they want to kill stuff. so they dont use shield. just dont get some of the way things are done in classes sometimes. for example, the engineers shotgun compared to wars sniper rifle.

Alarox.4590:

From an offensive perspective:

Hammer: Good AoE burst and CC, lacks a solid auto-attack for PvP, but has highest PvE DPS. Best PvE weapon.

Greatsword: Great AoE and gap closing, is good in PvE/PvP, AoE/single-target, lacks defensive CC. Best PvP weapon.

Mace: Let’s be honest, this isn’t an offensive weapon. Only good for support/tank builds.

Sword: Good sustained damage against a single target, but lacks burst and any form of CC. (Zealot’s Defense sucks, be honest).

---

And that’s why you see so much Greatsword. If you’re in sPvP and want a 1v1 build you can use Sword or Greatsword. If you want a PvE damage build you can use Greatsword or Hammer. If you want a more group oriented PvP build you can use Greatsword or Hammer. (In terms of ‘best’ options)

Hammer and Greatsword are both versatile weapons while Sword and Mace are niche. Greatsword is useful in more situations than Hammer in PvP scenarios (offensively).

You would have a lot more options if the Mace had more offensive capability and if the Sword had AoE/burst.

I’d like to disagree on two points:

1) I don’t believe that the Hammer can be so easily described as the best PvE weapon. I think it faces stiff competition from the GS for that position, with the GS being the more aggressive weapon and the Hammer being the more defensive. You can, of course, make an argument for MB’s DPS potential (I’m well aware that it can drop 4-5k crits every 4-5 seconds), but there are a couple factors holding the Hammer back when it comes to matching the GS’s DPS. The first, and most critical, is that most of the Hammer’s DPS is focused into MB. The Hammer’s autoattack is much slower than the GS’s, and while you can argue that Symbol of Protection can help to close the DPS gap, that extra DPS is focused into a small, static area, which is not ideal. MB can make up for this with its low cooldown, fast animation, and wider area, but since the Hammer’s 3, 4, and 5 are not DPS tools, MB is competing not only with Whirling Wrath, but also with Leap of Faith, Symbol of Wrath, and even the damage ticks on Binding Blade. These latter skills not only bring additional damage to the GS, but boost its clearing power far above the Hammer’s, since you have a low-cooldown gap closer with AoE damage and the ability to pull distant enemies into tight balls. The Hammer’s toolbox is relatively limited and situational in comparison – while you’ll certainly find uses for Zealot’s Embrace, Banish, and Ring of Warding, you won’t use any of them nearly as often as you’ll use the GS’s 3, 4, and 5, because you’re not always going to need to use CC against mobs, but you are always going to want damage. The Hammer’s an excellent weapon when you’re in over your head, but when you aren’t getting overwhelmed, the GS is going to outperform it.

The other reason why the Hammer’s DPS is not as reliable as the GS’s is because MB is concentrated into one hit, while Whirling Wrath is spread out over multiple hits. Most GS and Hammer builds have a crit rate somewhere in the range of 35-50%, so you’re going to have hits on MB that don’t crit, and which only deal around 2k damage as a result. Since the Hammer doesn’t have many other DPS tools, that’s going to lower your DPS significantly until MB is off cooldown again. The GS, which hits many times, does not suffer from this problem – on a moderately tanky DPS build, the damage is consistently going to be in the 3-5k range. Even if it hits on the low end of the spectrum, you’ve got all of your other skills to pick up the slack until you’re ready to spin again. With that in mind, Whirling Wrath still does have twice the cooldown of MB, but you can’t just say that MB is going to deal twice the damage. It doesn’t work that way, because lower crit rates work against MB much more strongly than they do against WW.

With all that said, I still think that the Hammer is a great PvE weapon, but as I stated before, I believe it’s a more defensive/group-oriented tool best suited to situations where the odds are stacked against you. It has fantastic healing potential when combined with AH (much better than the GS’s), the Protection uptime is wonderful, frequent blast finishers are great in groups, and you have your choice of defensive CC when situations get tough. It’s an awesome choice when facing down champions or hordes of enemies in dungeons, and you can get the best of both worlds if you pair it with the GS (which I often do). When you’re not as worried about survival, though, GS is going to be the more efficient choice for clearing enemies.

2) I’ll be much briefer about this one – I don’t think you can make the blanket claim that the GS is the best offensive PvP weapon, unless maybe you’re referring to WvW. GS is a good option, certainly, but for a DPS role, a dual 1h set is just as popular and effective. Sword and Scepter combined can drop some heavy burst damage on a target, and RHS gives the build a respectable crit rate even when it’s packing a Soldier’s Amulet. The result is a very, very tanky DPS that can shred glass cannons and 1v1 anything short of a Trap Ranger. The GS will bring more AoE to team fights, but will not perform at the same level outside of them (largely because it’s much harder to balance armor, HP, and crit rate with a GS build, since RHS is missing).

Alarox.4590:

Hammer: Good AoE burst and CC, lacks a solid auto-attack for PvP, but has highest PvE DPS. Best PvE weapon.

Hammer highest pve dps weapon? Was there a patch I missed?