Guild Wars 2

I must admit I love the greatswords in this game.Especially with a guardian.Is there a way to make a tank build using a greatsword?

Brace yourself for a parade of people saying “there is no such thing as tanking in this game.”

Which is absolutely true, there isn’t. There’s no way to hold aggro. Any weapon is a tanking weapon in that respect. But to answer your question: As far as you can build defensively, Greatsword is just as good a weapon as any, although Hammer or Mace/Focus are far better for survivability. Greatsword/Hammer on swap for the Hammer AA, and the GS burst, works pretty well. You’ll want to build something like 10/0/0/30/30, something high in Virtues and Honor.

I don’t really see any reason for all those points in virtues. But before entering any detailed discussion, the OP should state what parts of the game he wants a bunker (since there are no tanks) build for.

If you double up on two handers, that means you’ll want a lot of Honor for symbols, Mastery, possibly shouts, things like that. That leaves 40, 25 of which should go into Virtues because of obvious reasons. Then with the mandatory 10 Zeal for more damage, you’re left with 5 points, which leaves you with crappy minors, Blind on VoJ which isn’t tooooo terribly useful without a full 15 Radiance for that synergy, and a GM Virtues option. With GS/Hammer Permeating Wrath becomes viable, alternatively you can pick up an additional stunbreak, or Unscathed, etc etc.

That’s the reasoning. All predicated on the notion of being sturdier. Otherwise I’d just say go with the GS damage meta but he doesn’t want to do that.

And the “obvious reasons” for 25 virtues are what exactly? 10 points there, for all the benefits of MoC. There’s nothing beyond it that’s a necessary choice, which frees up further 15 points. Hence, 15/15/0/30/10 (which is, in the end, another variation of the typical hammer builds) is an option I’d definitely prefer. Superior DPS and superior group support via blind spam and vuln stacking at the price of a bit burst condition cleansing.

Depends which definition of tanking you’re going for. Yet they both play out the same way in gw2.

After tinkering with the hammer,ill say it’s pretty cool an seems to have a lot of group defensive benefits.Can someone direct me to a good Hammer build?

CptAurellian.9537:

And the “obvious reasons” for 25 virtues are what exactly? 10 points there, for all the benefits of MoC. There’s nothing beyond it that’s a necessary choice, which frees up further 15 points. Hence, 15/15/0/30/10 (which is, in the end, another variation of the typical hammer builds) is an option I’d definitely prefer. Superior DPS and superior group support via blind spam and vuln stacking at the price of a bit burst condition cleansing.

For Absolute Resolution and Power of the Virtuous. 1200 range AOE cleanse and heal plus constant bonus damage from boons. That’s pretty obvious to me.

The DPS difference between 15/15/0/30/10 and 15/0/0/30/25 is negligible. On the order of 1-2%. The only exchange worth talking about is blinds versus condition clearing, and that’s a matter of preference and group composition.

Armuun.8154:

After tinkering with the hammer,ill say it’s pretty cool an seems to have a lot of group defensive benefits.Can someone direct me to a good Hammer build?

Good for what?

Traited purging flames and Symbol +WW are enough, there is no need for 25 virtouos if u don´t pick up UC.
But blind/vulspam is important and usefull often.

15/25/0/20/10 should be the better choice.

I don’t think symbol + WW counts. That whirl finisher throws out one cleansing bolt every second of the whirl, which means it sends out two for Whirling Wrath, and the odds of them both A: heading toward a player and B: hitting someone with an actual condition are pretty slim.

15/25/0/20/10 is only a better choice if you are going for damage. Do I need to remind you you’re posting in a tank thread?

U need to remind you are posting in a Guild Wars 2 forum?

Your point with the whirl is ok. But as i said traited purging flames are enough. I run every dungeon in this game. Some of them solo, or teaching runs. And conditions are nearly never a problem. And every class has got condition cleanse.

foofad.5162:

The DPS difference between 15/15/0/30/10 and 15/0/0/30/25 is negligible. On the order of 1-2%. The only exchange worth talking about is blinds versus condition clearing, and that’s a matter of preference and group composition.

Wrong. 15/15 boosts the whole group’s damage by the vuln stacks via symbol and VoJ active, which can be seen as a damage increase of >10 % for the guardian.

CptAurellian.9537:

foofad.5162:

The DPS difference between 15/15/0/30/10 and 15/0/0/30/25 is negligible. On the order of 1-2%. The only exchange worth talking about is blinds versus condition clearing, and that’s a matter of preference and group composition.

Wrong. 15/15 boosts the whole group’s damage by the vuln stacks via symbol and VoJ active, which can be seen as a damage increase of >10 % for the guardian.

Did you even read what I said? Both builds I listed have 15 Zeal. The only point of comparison is VoJ spam which only applies during trash fights, not during (most) boss fights.

I admit that this build turnaround has escaped my attention. So I retract the damage argument, but there’s still no good reason to ignore the guardian’s signature move blind spam. A build with 30 Honor and 10 Virtues already has more than enough condition removal available and if someone wants absolute resolution so dearly, 15/15/0/20/20 is the way to go.

I think their is an argument for ignoring it:

1. Blind spam isn’t all that necessary if someone wants to make a tanky build. Counter argument: We have to support our team … see point 2
2. Blind spam is not as useful in high HP mob fights, and it’s questionable for trash because it dies fast. If you have a mob of trash, that’s when it’s awesome.

For me, blind spam is nice but situational. I can see a case for having 0 in Radiance if it suits the build someone is after.