Guild Wars 2

pve focussed. dungeons, fractals, exploring. current setup for greatsword and scepter/focus swap for the range….
so the question, what’s the overall feel for sword/board over greatsword. looking to keep up the dps (as best I can) but thought might be worth exploring shield option. don’t want to go down that road if its not worth it. thanx for replies

Depends on situation…

Shield is not a dps tool. If you want dmg, go torch off-hand.

Shield is more of a ranged combat defense (protection + projectile block/heal), while focus is more melee defense (blind/regen + block/PBAoE).

It’ll probably worth it if you try it out yourself in a dungeon and see for yourself. You’ll obviously find situations where one is better over the other but in my experience a GS is probably the optimal choice for purely damage if you’re familiar with your surroundings and completely confident in your ability to stay alive.

The Shield is mainly a defensive option and works quite well for certain encounters.

In term of general feel, I think the sword is hard press to outperfom the GS. The GS has 5 abilities that work great together and can all be used to increase your DPS. While the sword on the other hand is basically just an auto-attack machine similar to the hammer. The teleport on the sword is nice, but much more suited for PVP. The 3rd skill is terrible and barely outperforms the swords normal auto attacks. The shield is not to helpful, except for an emergency knockback. I personally like the focus better even in terms of damage since it provides 3 blocks, large burst potential, and (assuming you’re 30 radiance), a nice blind/vulnerability combo.

For PvE, I wouldn’t take the sword. Shield or Focus offhand are always nice to have though. I prefer the Mace, as I run with cleric’s gear and the regen symbol + auto attack heal really helps quite a bit. Also protector’s strike is pretty good AoE damage and can block a big hit from a champ.

But to answer your question, go GS. All of GS’s skills are useful in just about any mode, it’s probably the most versatile weapon we have.

The exception might be if you were running Right Hand Strength and going for a very offensive build.

thanx folks.. will try speccing into right-handed strength and off-hand torch.. GS while brilliant, I want to mix it up a bit with something a wee bit different. hope it works out :-)

looking at this build
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQJA8flYg67WFSJEg4Eh1DBeQ/VVIeYPqI87IA

if it works out ok, should i change to condition gear or just stay with zerker

apprciate the feedback

i like your enthusiasm for trying new things!

the only thing i would change are Searing Flames to either Blind Exposure or Signet Mastery and Pure of Heart to Superior Aria. Searing Flames is an extremely niche trait that other professions can do a lot better (necros, thieves, mesmers), and you will get more mileage out of either suggestion i made. i have never noticed the heal ever from Pure of Heart, and the cooldown reduction on shouts from Superior Aria synergize nicely with Pure of Voice, allowing you to remove conditions more often.

on another note, stay away from condition damage. based on how burning works (it stacks in duration, not intensity), guardians make rather lackluster condition damage dealers. not to say you can’t ever USE burning (as in the case of Radiant Power and Fiery Wrath), but my experience has taught me that condition damage is a poor investment on a guardian.

Greatsord comes with better skills, and deals more damage with little to no reduction in survivability nuff said.

Irena.1062:

Greatsord comes with better skills, and deals more damage with little to no reduction in survivability nuff said.

I strongly disagree with that statement. I would say the GS offers excellent damage while being able to do a slew of other things while still maintaining a level of mobility but having no reduction in survivability is untrue.

In terms of overall consistent damage, the Greatsword is [usually] the best option. Different situations may call for different things, but you can get through a majority of content, but PvE, WvW, and PvP with it. Plus, the sins look awesome, and who doesn’t like swinging a giant sword around?

That said, I myself, have grown tired of greatswords. Everyone has one, everyone uses one, it’s actually sad to see. I use the Sword/Shield+ Staff. Works really well for me, but for more aesthetic reasons. The staff is the paragon (RIP) of support weapons for the Guardian, and has it’s own usefulness. The sword/shield work well together sometimes. Definitely looks awesome. Another approach is to use the Sword/Focus+Scepter/Shield combination. These synergies really well together. The focus can be used to blind, as does the Swords second ability, which is also a teleport, btw. The 3 hit shield on the focus also does decent damage at close range, where the sword is used. Focus= close/mid range, shield= mid/long range. The shield gives area protection in a wave, which is more suitable to be used when you’re behind your party. The 5 can keep most enemies from sticking to you, as well as the third skill.

Play with the weapons you like. I honestly carry 1 of every weapon on my Guardian, and upgrade them with whatever drops. The versatility is amazing.

longshot.1397:

thanx folks.. will try speccing into right-handed strength and off-hand torch.. GS while brilliant, I want to mix it up a bit with something a wee bit different. hope it works out :-)

looking at this build
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQJA8flYg67WFSJEg4Eh1DBeQ/VVIeYPqI87IA

if it works out ok, should i change to condition gear or just stay with zerker

apprciate the feedback

You really ought to get a GS as well though, there are situations where it’s extremely helpful, it’s useful on almost all trash pulls, retaliation through combo, blind through leap, aoe pull..

On the jumping/cat robot fractal last boss it’s great to aoe pull the adds at the end.

Lava boss your group will really want an aoe pull with GS for the add phase..

Ice fractal you want to be able to pull the elemental adds in that phase..

Ascalon fract it can be really helpful to pull adds from behind statue.

Colossus it’s very helpful to pull adds in on the chest seals.

Anyways, personally I use sword/shield/torch/scepter/greatsword/hammer/staff all throughout the various dungeons, there’s a place for all of them, and I do spec for right handed strength, doesn’t matter, still need to use GS alot(no traits in 2h for me btw), it’s very important to have available.

As for the build I do not recommend going for that as you’re missing 10 in virtues which to me are very important, my biggest dungeon build recommendation is to alternate between consecration cds/duration or unscathed defender, 2 very powerful traits for dungeons… conditions are not a huge problem in dungeons generally I think pure of voice is a bad idea particularly, you can always use torch/condition cleansing consecration if they become a problem anywhere.

Incomingray there are also situations when a mace is very handy too, helps with some very tough bosses who deal alot of damage. and there are alot more ways to remove conditions than you stated too.

I only keep a sword because I have the fire dragon sword skin from the HoM.

It’s unfortunate but the GS is a better choice in most situations. The sword default attack triggers VoJ’s burning a lot but condition damage is not our best damage option. The teleport skill is kind of pointless for PvE since the GS can pull several targets for greater control. It also only works on flat terrain. Any elevation differences and your teleport my not work at all. In PvP the teleport can be useful for chasing down a target. The number 3 skill is just a joke and needs reworking. Most folks would think that a one handed sword could be used on the move. However any movement cancels the skill. Out of all melee weapons the 1h sword alone doesn’t give any boons. So if you’re running any type of boon build the 1h sword isn’t the best option.

I am not saying the 1h sword is so bad as to make it unplayable. It’s just that other weapons can perform the same tasks but better.

longshot.1397:

pve focussed. dungeons, fractals, exploring. current setup for greatsword and scepter/focus swap for the range….
so the question, what’s the overall feel for sword/board over greatsword. looking to keep up the dps (as best I can) but thought might be worth exploring shield option. don’t want to go down that road if its not worth it. thanx for replies

I’d recommend sceptor/shield and staff since you mentioned fotm.

At higher lvls trying to melee is very dangerous and you can easily be insta killed if you try to use GS attacks in close range of multiple mobs not to mention most of the bosses in fractals have deadly melee range attacks that require fighting from range.

Sceptor+shield/Staff is less burst damage but it’s more consistent damage as well as much safer, and the damage is respectable if you run bloodlust sigil and build up a good number of stacks.