Guild Wars 2

Hello, I decided to re roll away from thief and level up a guardian for FoTM. I just recently hit 80 and geared up my character and ran some fractals for the first time on my guard. However, I was finding that I wasn’t really contributing as much as I thought I could be. I feel like I’m just spamming my virtues for burn, regen, and aegis as well as “Hold the Line!” and some protection from my hammer. While the regen and aegis are definitely helpful, I felt like all I was doing was throwing out small blocks and weak heals and wasn’t contributing much for my team.

I’m currently in full berserker gear, and was considering going either P/T/V or Knights to help take aggro off my party to help mitigate damage. Would this be recommended or would the trade-off in DPS not be worth it?

Lastly, I’m struggling with traits. I read obal’s guide, however I was told his trait setup was specifically for an organized, speed clearing team, and unfortunately I do not have a solid fractal group I run with. What would be the best PuG setup for traits? Currently I’m running 2/5/0/2/5 so I am able to hit most of my damage modifiers as well as keep up absolute resolution. Do I have to trait writ of persistence to keep 100% permanent protection with my hammer?

I know this is a lot of questions and a loaded thread, but I appreciate any and all tips and advice. Thanks!

Aggro isn’t reliable in this game. For some special encounters, you may want to take knight ( ettin boss, old Tom, mossman, archdiviner for instance), but for all the others, berserker is the best way to support. Hammer build is fine in pugs but you may have to stop auto attacking even if it’s a huge dps loss because the kill time is longer and you can run out of active defence. Your build lacks vuln on symbol ( another party support) and writ of persistence, wich is indeed needed for 100% protection uptime and is also a huge dps boost. Get some points out of radiance for a 3/3/0/4/4 setup, you can drop AR when it’s not necessary. Hold the line is a “meh” shout, you’ll usually do more support with adequate consecrations.

Hope this helps.

What consecrations should I bring? And for a standard fractal run where reflects aren’t needed, what are the recommended utilities?

Here is a somewhat chaotically written quick guide. I’ll probably ending up making an overview video guide of what to bring eventually so it’s not really final. It’s meant for organized groups but should give you an idea of what you should have. I have a knights set for somethings but it wouldn’t really work if you pug. Hammer is enough prot itself but it’s not really needed in a lot of areas anymore since you can change traits whenever.

Swamp:
Mossman – 3/5/0/4/2 Hammer/Mace+Focus retreat, wall, sheild, renewed, shelter. go in first to grab aggro for a bit.
Bloom – 4/6/0/0/4 Scepter Torch+Focus purge if don’t have ele to blast at start or retreat, wall, shield

Aquatic:
Krait – trident #4 at los spot then swap to spear. use hold the line and virtue of courage when the group. purging flame also
Jelly – stand your ground, bane sig, retreat. swap to 2h mastery and trident 5 the agony (starts at 75%). swap to spear after agony interupt then swap back when possible to get ready to interupt the next agony attack and repeat

Ascalon:
5/5/0/4/0 Hammer + X
stand your ground for first part and the courtyard, retreat for the town, wall, shield
Ashym – Hammer + Mace/focus retreat, wall, bane sig. use aegis as soon as you see him with a staff and wall at gs

Snowblind:
Stab the fire – Hammer + staff with wall, retreat for first event. run up to where they spawn and cast line as soon as you see them spawn. tag them with staff and use ring, wall, and zealots embrace to keep them busy and kite them away from the fire.

Elemental Source – 3/5/0/4/2 Hammer + GS signet of resolve, wall, stand your ground, hallowed ground. when transition starts get to the fire and put a wall down so you can safely light it and people can get to it safely. start in gs at transitions as well so you can group mobs and switch to hammer after. learn the ele melee move tell so you can blind, dodge, or aegis it

Lornarr – 5/5/0/4/0 Hammer + Mace/Focus retreat, bane signet, purging flames if no one has fire field to stack might during transitions

Cliffside:
5/5/0/4/0 hammer + mace/focus with retreat, bane sig, whatever else for first fight. Try to keep up aegis for people. Wall is unreliable for his projectile attack so don’t rely on it.

5/5/0/4/0 hammer + gs with retreat, wall, shield for chest seal. use reflect in middle and pull mobs if need be with gs.

5/5/0/4/0 hammer + gs with retreat, wall, purge for arm seals if using the mesmer portal tactic or theif shadowstep. use wall and pull mobs with gs. purge conditions.

5/5/0/4/0 hammer + staff with retreat, wall, purge for arm seals if NOT using the mesmer portal tactic or theif shadowstep. constantly pull mobs with staff and line or ring of warding them with a wall up at the los spot. purge if need be.

3/5/0/4/2 hammer + sword/focus for archy #2. go in first to grab aggro. save wall/sheild for his phases where he summons devourers since they eat aegis and his projectile pull hits hard.

Dredge:

4/6/2/0/2 GS + Mace/Focus for trash

Ice ele – 4/6/2/0/2 GS + Mace/Focus with stand your ground, hallowed ground, save yourselves. use stand your ground and hallowed when the vets are up and save yourselves as your own stun breaker if you get cc. use binding blades when it tries to heal.

Powersuit – 4/6/2/0/2 GS + Mace/Focus with retreat, wall, bane sig. use wall when he starts bomb animation or use aegis (won’t save you if you are on multiple circles). use sheild of wrath against agony attack.

Volcanic:
first part – 3/5/0/4/2 hammer + staff with stand your ground, wall, shield. use line/ring and wall/shield at los spots

second part 3/5/0/4/2 hammer + staff with stand your ground, wall, shield. cc vets with staff then swap to hammer and cc more. stability if you see circles

imbued shaman – 4/5/0/0/5 GS + Mace/Focus if you melee and GS + Scepter/Focus if you don’t with retreat, wall, shield. when it starts to bubble immediately run to it casting shield of wrath and shield of the avenger. when it has <= 5 stacks dodge the opposite way it was moving and cast wall and gs pull the adds to it. let you group know when it is about to run out (22s left on recharge) so you can back off.

Uncategorized:
harpies – you should stealth them. if not hammer + sword/focus with stand your ground, wall, shield

champ room – 3/5/0/4/2 Hammer + Mace/Focus with retreat, wall, shield. use knights gear to grab ettin and pull it away. use hammer #3 then run over to shaman and drop a wall and run back to ettin throughout the fight. tank ettin after shaman is dead with block rotations

old tom – hammer with wall, bane signet, signet of judgement, tome of courage, signet of resolve. use knights gear and have everyone stand behind you. put up wall off the start (has projectile other than spin that can’t be reflected). use tome of courage #5 and spam #1 after that.

boss – hammer + greatsword with wall, shield, stand your ground or sanctuary if your group lacks reflects. wall -> shield -> wall. use stand your ground when the 4 spawn.
binding blades and stand your ground when all 4 activate

Molten:
first part – 5/5/0/4/0 hammer + staff with retreat, wall. block them as they come.

tunnel – 5/5/0/4/0 hammer + gs with stand your ground, wall, shield. block them as they come. group them if need be. use reflects.

big mob after tunnel – 5/5/0/4/0 hammer + staff with hallowed ground, wall, retreat. block them as they come. use hallowed ground at start. use reflects. Spam F1.

weapon room – 5/5/0/4/2 Hammer + GS with retreat, wall, shield. block them as they come. banish the defender away. use reflects when adds spawn.

Aethorblade:
mobs – 4/6/2/0/2 GS + Mace/Focus with purging flames, wall, shield
Boss room – 4/5/0/0/5 GS + Mace/Focus with stand your ground, hallowed ground, wall. Run to the safe spot put up wall and binding blades mobs to your group. Keep stability up.

Reactor:
trash – 4/6/2/0/2 GS + Mace/Focus with retreat, wall, bane sig

subject 6 – 5/5/0/4/0 Hammer + Scepter/Focus. Use Scepter #3 and Hammer #3 to lead in and use ring of warding if oozes move to boss

boss – 6/6/0/0/2 GS + Scepter/Focus with retreat, wall, shield. cast reflects next to it if you aren’t the target

Mai trin:
3/5/0/4/2 Hammer + Mace/Focus with retreat, wall, purge. use aegis, virtue of courage, and wall for the pistol shot if need be but you should have 1 baiting it. purge for conditions. use retreat at beginning of the fight and stay near your group to give aegis for pistol shot. renewed focus the bombs if need be.

Molten duo:
trash – 4/5/0/0/5 GS + Mace/Focus with purge, wall, shield.

boss – 4/6/0/0/4 Scepter Focus + Torch with purge, wall, shield. purge at start of each fight to stack might. keep up reflects.

Maw:
4/6/2/0/2 GS + Sword/Focus with retreat, wall, stand your ground. blind the first tenticles and coordinate reflects at the 2 first ones with mobs around. Use stand your ground and aegis spam at the second one. You can drop wall after for bane sig and sword for scepter.