Guild Wars 2

If you run straight into a zerg with a hammer, everyone will be targeting you, is the big problem. It’s hard enough to do a fast 2.5s sword chain when twenty people are actively trying to kill you, much less a 3.75s hammer chain with a 2+ second channel on the last hit (meaning everyone gets free hits on you for a full two seconds). If you do get it off, you get, what, a 3s symbol that does maybe 5k total? The risk/reward simply doesn’t pay off. At least thieves and whatnot can at least instagib a target in exchange for their taking the high probable risk of getting hit by literally everything at the same time.

that’s the thing, you don’t rush straight into the zerg. less you do want to drop like a fly. you take the sides, go at an angle, break the group in half, etc. in addition to that, if you have 5 men and you see a group of 30, are you going to rush in? of course, fights are never even, but i’ll assume if you are planning to take on a zerg, you have a sizeable force on your end as well. what if you run with 5 hammer Guards, throw in other classes? what have you, will there still be 20 people focusing just you? and in anticipation of people focusing on you, you prep up for what you need for that initial clash. stability is almost a necessity. AoE blinds, blocks, you have other options to rack up your dmg reduction and other migitation skills. zerg fights go both ways. i wouldn’t be so quick to write off the hammer Guardian as useless.

the Guardian wasn’t designed for instajibbing, though it’s possible if some choose to go that route.. going back to the symbol e.g. sure, it may not one shot down anyone.. but those that run through get a little boon, smart players may dodge out, thus allowing your smart players to then lock ‘em down and focus them with one less dodge, if you blast the field, you get AoE retal and if you’re taking heavy fire (again, assuming your front liners are running with you..) the retal certainly marks a dent in their force as well. some will either get downed, or some may, just may stop attacking, which gives you some breathing room.

smart usage of Ring of Warding effectively cuts off a portion of their group, allow your peeps to focus them, or spread their forces. banish is just pure fun. need to single someone out? knock ‘em off a cliff? you ercognize CC is great. and even with mighty blow alone, it’s great for breaking up zergs and you can so easily down people in a zerg with just one hit since most often there’ll be more than a handful of people’s health hanging by a thread.

i guess my point is though, the hammer has served me well. in 1v1’s, in ZvZ’s. is it the go-to weapon for every single situation? i would argue most likely not as well. though far from being useless is all. : ))

Guanglai Kangyi.4318:

phaneo.4597:

Hi, really a great writeup. I’ve played my Guardian as my main for quite a long time and since then have been trying out other professions. I was thinking about changing to this build for WvW for both large and small scale fights:

http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/guardian/?3.0|2.1g.h1b|6.1g.h1b|1n.7x.1n.7x.1n.7x.1n.7x.1n.7x.1n.7x|1k.61.1k.61.1k.61.1n.61.1n.61.1a.61|0.a2.u56b.k29.a2|39.1|v.17.18.19.1i|e

Would like to hear your opinion and any improvements I could make.

Hammer isn’t a very good weapon for 1v1 PvP because so much of its damage output comes from the stationary symbol, which is easily walked out of. Sword or greatsword should definitely remain your go-to options for 1v1 fights, even if you’re specced for hammer otherwise.

For zerg fights, hammers are less than useless, due to how suicidal it is to try to sit in at melee range in a zerg for 3.75s charging a slow symbol that will hit no one, and which won’t even affect anyone because enemies will avoid it, and allies won’t be close enough to benefit from it. I actually recommend staff for zerg fights due to the large spread on the attack being very difficult to avoid, and having much better options in general. If all the naysaying is confusing, just keep in mind that 1h sword rocks face for PvP, and is always a safe bet.

tl;dr Don’t use the hammer for PvP except to CC and swap to your other weapon.

Yeah but I think guardians in general use the symbol for it’s utility. Besides symbol of protection + mighty blow = area retaliation. Now add in Stand your ground, VoJ, and Ring of Warding on top of Empowering might, Altruistic Healing, and Writ of the Merciful or Pure of Voice. You have a very, very nice bruiser who can outlast most opponents.

You can also try using the hammer’s three control skills in the most creative and annoying ways possible. The enemy is not contesting your point if you banish them from the arena and immobilize them outside the ring. Very easy to do in PvP.

Love the thread, I’m new to guardian and just hit 80… still not sure what armor I want.

primary : PvE + dungeon + fractals, hammer/scepter+torch(or focus)
secondary: WvW, mostly EB in medium to large scale fights (aoe tagging and support), Staff/any

I have at least a stack of each dungeon token, some more than others. Down to 2 stacks of badges (can’t do full invaders), and running low on cash so i’d prefer dungeon tokens to buying crafted.

I’d still like to see a post showing the offset of effectiveness between healing power for AH, and damage via either power or crit %/chance.

Whats the minimum healing power to be effective with AH?

First of all: hats off for a great guide!

With all the new ascended gear, and the soon coming ascended armor / weapons, what ascended stats should you go for now?

(ascended earrings/amulets/rings/backpacks)

thx all

First sorry for not updating this one in a while, been very busy in tpvp, with my team and my rl business.

I will make an update with some more builds i played rather extensively, ofc with 30 points in valor, in both wvw, pve and tpvp. But it have to be later this week.

@xformulax
0 healing power is enough for AH and monks focus. Both scale very poorly which makes them good in offensive setups. Dont bother with healing power if you want to play AH. Frankly if you stack healing power the dodge is a much better way to heal you and the team.

@Awe extender
Thx.
I will make an update this weak regarding ascended and the different setups i run later this week.

Updated the last chapter of the guide with ascended gear and different setups with a focus on wvw.
21. End game, builds and accessories

The pic shows one of the setups you can find in the new chapter and that is my dps guardian. All pics are 0/5/30/30/5 so you easily can compare stats and they are all of unbuffed.

Thanks for the update Brutaly. Some interesting builds.

I’m still trying to figure out what my optimal build is with my limited armor and time I like build 1 it seems because that is how I typically play and the main reason why I don’t play a caster I always run in first regardless of the numbers I’m facing. Trying to push people back or off high ledges with shields, etc.

However, the problem I’m facing is that more often than not I’m solo roaming or small group of 2 and I can’t kill anyone. The attacker soon figures this out and focus on my partner, kill them, then leave shortly after when they can’t kill me. Thus is the bane of Cleric’s gear and healing builds.

Anyway, thanks for putting in the time to the thread and gear list. I am starting to really hate the whole idea of Ascended gear all over again. Hopefully this week they will give the WvW crowd some options because it is really starting to look like I’m going to have to PvE / Fractal in order to get them in a timely manor Laurels should be used for necks though, correct (first that is I mean?).

Thank You Brutaly!; you have given me alot to play with and think about.

Can I use this build while I am still doing map completion? Which gear should I use then?

Trinkets, ascended
Back (Berserker and soldier)
Amulet (Berserker and cleric)
Accessories (Berserker)
Rings (2*Berskerker/valkyrie, 2* prec/pow/tough, 1*cavalier, 1*cleric)

Can you clarify here? When you say "Amulet (Berserker and Cleric) are you saying we should get 1 of each of those? That’s a lot of laurels, etc.

Berry.3186:

Can I use this build while I am still doing map completion? Which gear should I use then?

Ofc you can but why should you?

Imo the best dps increase in open world pve isnt a specific build, its movement, most of the time you move so swiftness is your main dps tool.

I would go for stacking about 30-40% boonduration, runes and virtues, and do that so you can squeeze max dps out of your build.

I wouldnt go for an AH build if open world pve was the only thing i did in the game.

Trinkets, ascended
Back (Berserker and soldier)
Amulet (Berserker and cleric)
Accessories (Berserker)
Rings (2*Berskerker/valkyrie, 2* prec/pow/tough, 1*cavalier, 1*cleric)

Can you clarify here? When you say "Amulet (Berserker and Cleric) are you saying we should get 1 of each of those? That’s a lot of laurels, etc.

Nope, i posted those so people could understand what gear i used to achieve the stats i displayed in that chapter.

That part of the guide is meant to facilitate for people to determine what gear to focus on.

hello there, first of all thank you for writing a very complex and helpful guide, ive been away from gw2 for a while now and im back playing.

i like doing dungeon and WvW so im very interested on survival build for guardian

btw is this build AH & Hammer still works with all latest patch(i just download bunch of them) thx.

Thanks for the quick reply. I’m still trying to wrap my head around the gear choices you’ve made:

Cleric’s chest and leggings
Soldier’s head, hands, shoulders, feet

That’s the gist of it?

@Goodman
Yes it still works and the few things that changed in the game, with bearing on AH, has been updated in the guide.

@Iconic
Yes those are the ones i use and as i said i also mix in cleric rings, amulet and on occasion a cleric hammer/staff. Imo that is the most healing you ever need in i wvw or dungeons. Adding more is gimping your dps to much but that is an opinion, not a fact.

If its support you want i find boon duration to be much more powerful, especially with a hammer as main weapon.

What is your opinion about pack runes in a wvwvw build ? They got lots of power, precision, and a 5% chance on getting hit for swiftness and fury on you and allies (not sure if AH heals you for that), 2 boons that guardian lacks (I dislike ‘’Retreat!’’ with passion).

I think they are overrated! The only time i would consider them is when stacking power but than i would stack might duration instead.

5% in small group play is weak and in many fights they wont even procc at all, versus a competent opponent the guardian will be the last one hit upon and in well composed roaming group you will have 100% uptime on both from the team.

I large scale zerging swiftness and fury is common, there are other professions that excel at it.

AH heals but even with 5 allies it will sum up to about 800 hp with 5% chance to procc.

In short i wouldnt use them but if you are uncertain gp to the mist and try them out.

If you lack swiftness try sigil of speed, itstacks in duration and there was no internal cd when i tried them. For fury go inner fire, no internal cd on it and fury stacks for each pulse in a fire field.

Brutaly.6257:

@Goodman
Yes it still works and the few things that changed in the game, with bearing on AH, has been updated in the guide.

@Iconic
Yes those are the ones i use and as i said i also mix in cleric rings, amulet and on occasion a cleric hammer/staff. Imo that is the most healing you ever need in i wvw or dungeons. Adding more is gimping your dps to much but that is an opinion, not a fact.

If its support you want i find boon duration to be much more powerful, especially with a hammer as main weapon.

Well, being able to mix in all those rings and match up gear will take awhile as I’m saving for Legendary. Divinity Runes are expensive enough. That being said, I have run Asc Cata until I’m blue in the face and have enough for Soldier’s.

Hey everyone, could I get you thoughts on this I put together? Trying to follow the post, would appreciate your thoughts.

http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/guardian/?3.4|2.1g.h1b|6.1g.h1b|1n.b1g.1n.71g.1n.71g.1n.71h.1n.71h.1n.71h|1n.67.1n.67.1n.67.1n.67.1n.67.1g.67|0.a2.u56b.k27.a6|0.0|v.16.19.1b.1i|e

I don’t know what’s up but I can’t get my stats to match yours at all. I’ve tried and tried and tried. No clue what’s going on but I’m frustrated as hell haha.

Edit: I’m pretty sure something is wrong here because I followed one build down to a T and came up with completely different stats.

@DoubleAron – my first take on it was i felt your health was a little on the low side. you can easily make that up with some food though. though unsure if you’re going for boon duration food as well, since you’re running +30% on your runes. : )) or maybe slot in some PVT/Soldier or Valkyrie armor. or even switch the ruby orbs in your trinkets to beryl orbs. i went with the second option just to tinker a lil bit and it brings you above 13k health. which may not seem a huge difference, but psychologically, i feel more safe. lol. but in the end, it’s all how you play!

you have nice crit chance as well! though power is a little low too. so maybe some PVT armor could be a good choice. you don’t lose too much toughness, add some vit and gain more power. of course, you lose precision as well, but hopefully the added power is more than enough to make up for it.

i personally prefer Writ of Exaltation before Writ of Persistence as well. though if you’re planning to do mainly PvE, then Persistence could be more useful as most of the time you’ll be grouping mobs and they don’t run too much. : )) hope this helps! just a few thoughts from my end.

@Iconik – haha, it’s not easy trying to match Brutaly’s stats. ; ))) which set are you trying to build or follow exactly? or what is off the mark exactly? i think min/maxing in this game is a fine art.. and defs not easy lol

@Iconik
What build in particular are you interested in? I can post a complete buildcraft with the exact gear i use to obtain it.

Please, can you give me a feedback about this build for general high end PvE?
http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fUMQJARWlYgyCXFSKEfIFRuA7DAETBGh/1DHSRGC-jgyA4LIcHAhBg+AlALiGb9sIas6aMVpQkGO1eDhIhAKvAA-e

Against general mobs I’m not a fan of hammer, I find GS much more useful. Against a boss, hammer wins hands down.

Brutaly.6257:

@Iconik
What build in particular are you interested in? I can post a complete buildcraft with the exact gear i use to obtain it.

I’m not even quite sure.

I’m using 2 Draconic Cleric’s and 4 Soldier’s. Divinity Runes are out of their mind expensive right now so I’m not touching those as I need gold for my legendary. I just went with Rune of the Soldier x5 and 2 Ruby Orbs. PVT hammers are almost non-existent on the TP so I opted with 1 Berserker, 1 Knight’s (I love it) and 1 Cleric’s (I’m unkillable but less powerful). Currently, I’m running Zerker Amulet (which I switch out for Cleric’s every so often), Zerker accessories, and a Cleric’s Ring and Valk ring (which I switch in and out often as well).

I can get the 1k heal per roll if I put on 1 Cleric’s ring and a Cleric’s Amulet…but I dip into the lower 2900s in Power.

What I want is a decent amount of Power whilst not having to worry about a 9500 backstab.

This is what my stats look like with 4 piece soldier’s and 2 piece Cleric’s. 2 Ruby Orbs and 5 Soldier’s. I went Soldier’s because they were cheap and figured being a tank isn’t necessarily bad. I’m also wearing Berserker back, accessories and amulet. 1 cleric’s ring and 1 Valk ring. Knight’s hammer.

http://i.imgur.com/wiNw1Vk.jpg

Now, if I switch in 2 knight’s rings, I don’t lose a ton in terms of attack, but I DO gain a a metric crapton in Toughness (obviously). I just feel like 2933 attack is too low.

I don’t know, man. Any help would be great. I could even make it worth your while. I don’t do terribly in Wv3. I hold my own. Hell, I even make it look good in 1v1 or 2 or 3v1.

I have all kinds of gear that I switch in and out. What I guess I’m looking for is a decent attack with solid survivability and healing. I can get up to 675 healing power with cleric’s ring/ammy on.

Hope you’re well.

@akamon: Pretty sure it’s the Divinity Runes. If I go ALL Ruby Orb, I’m gimping toughness and I think it’s just too good of a stat.

For those interested, I was able to exactly replicate the small group build that he posted in the third pic (I added utility skills etc, but mostly for traits/gear)

http://tinyurl.com/brutaly-small-group

@Brutaly
What are you thinking of Mercy-Runes? I’m mostly interested in playing a supportive role in dungeons for example and wondered if these are a good choice. I’ll probably use a Knight-Set.

@Iconik
Dont look at attack, look at power.
This build isnt optimized but would serve as decent 1,1k heals on dodge, with food.
http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/guardian/?3.0|1.1g.h1j|0.0.0.0.0.0|1c.a7.1c.a7.1k.a7.1c.a7.1k.a7.1c.a7|21l.e13.31l.e17.21l.e14.21k.e13.2s.e13.2s.e13|0.5.u600.u000.5|4h.7|0.0.0.0.0|e

Still supporting over 1900 attack, over 2900 armor and decent crit chance and critdamage even though healthpool being rather small. BUT healthpool on a guardian is a variabel depending on multiple tools. and when you play with dodgeheal you need to lower the hp in order to still have nice dps or you go for a completely different build.
For instance 10/30/10/20/0 and stack cleric to about 900 heal power.

if you build for heal on dodge you need to give up something and that is always power, your main source to dps.

Btw, im sure you already know this but having only 5 soldiers is totally missing the point with those runes. Its the aoe condi removal on shouts that make them truly amazing.

If you use 6*ruby in your armor and take pure of voice you can boost dps and still have the same, or even better, function as you have in 6*soldiers. The build above is with rubys.

@Zumi
Ofc it is possible. I wouldnt post inflated builds. They are all very easy to obtain if you just read thru the text a couple of times.

@Nakuri
Using those is like planning for loosing and they are to situational. Someone might have a different experience but i would stack toughness thru orbs if its a reviver role you want to play or even better use the traits to improve your reviving.

Brutaly.6257:

@Zumi
Ofc it is possible. I wouldnt post inflated builds. They are all very easy to obtain if you just read thru the text a couple of times.

Oh I wasn’t trying to say I didn’t think it was possible. I was just posting it to make it easy for anyone who was trying to replicate your gear, because I had to do a little experimenting

Brutaly,

Let me do you one better as I’m really having issues matching anything for some reason. I’m just going to link what I’m currently running:

http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/guardian/?3.0|2.1n.h1j|1.1g.h1j|1c.a7.1c.a7.1k.a7.1c.a7.1k.a7.1c.a7|1g.67.1k.68.1p.61.2s.d1e.1g.67.1g.67|0.5.u56b.u3ab.5|0.0|0.0.0.0.0|e

This work?

I switch stuff in and out all the time. Seems like I’m endlessly experimenting. Let me know what you think. Once we’re able to gift, I’ll send you some gems.

No gems needed.

Its a solid build imo. The reason why you cant have the stats i have is that you are primarily exotic and im 100% ascended.

With the proper food you will have really nice competitive stats. I would add in maybe 1k health (valkyrie chest!!??) and go for a berserker hammer and we are talking about 4k mighty blows. I would also skip clerics in armor.

If you want healing power its much more flexible to experiment with those in your trinkets. Amulet and one ring and you would have over 500 healing power.

That is a really nice start.

So 1 piece of Soldier’s (legs) then? Berserker’s Hammer (Which I have) and just go with Cleric’s Ammy and ring and a Valk’s chest. Hm. Isn’t this screwing me over with Toughness, which as I understand it, is a Guardian’s #1 stat? If I replace the 2 Cleric’s pieces with Valk’s (as I get more soldier), I drop down to 1641 toughness. That feels low. If I put a Berserker Hammer on, I drop to 1462. That’s really bad, no?

First of all, thank you very much for the guide. But, i’m still having problems with the build and gameplay. Could you please rate my build/character and give me some advices/tips?

My char:

LVL 80 Guardian – 0/15/30/20/5

Helm/Shoulders/Coat/Glove – Draconic Exotic Knight’s with 3 Superior Runes of the Water adn one major rune of the monk

Leggins/Boots – Draconic Exotic Cleric – 2 Superior Runes of the Monk

Trinkets – Azurite Orihalcum of the Sentinel

Spineguard – Soldier Spineguard of the Soldier

I have one GS exotic – 128 pwr and precision and 178 toughness with major sigil of bloodlust

Hammer exotic – 179 pwr 128 precision 9% critical

superior sigil of bloodlust

Sceptre exotic 64pwr 64 precision and 64toughness and major sigil of bloodlust

Shield exotic – 64pwr 64toughness 90 healing power with crest of the soldier

Staff exotic – 128 pwr 128 tough 179healing power with superior sigil of life

Mace exotic with 64 pwr 64 toughness and 90 healing power with superior sigil of life

I use more shouts for gameplay, but with hammer now, i’m trying the signet of power.

What i want for my guardian is more power, more DPS. With 15 in Zeal i’m doing more criticals, but my normal hits are weak, i think.

What i want is be able to do a good amount of DPS but also have boons and healing power, you see, with hammer i only get 430 healing power. How much healing power do i really need?

I just do dungeons and PvE.

@Iconik
Imo toughness is the number one stat for AH guardians since heals get relatively better with low health pools and high toughness. But its not the only statt and personally i think you have overdone it.

No those stats arent necessarily bad. Personally i have a build i play, see pic1, that i play wvw with that works just fine and that one is based on valkyrie, and mainly berserker.
Unbuffed ofc

@aophts
Running all knights will drop your dps due to lack of power and crit damage.

You could mix in some soldiers armor for power and toughness and replace the trinkets with berserkers or even better those unnamed thingys with precision/power/toughness.

Se pic 2 for a reasonable build that has both survivability and firepower.
Soldiers armor with rune of the soldier. berserker weapons, berserker accessories and pre/tough/pow in amulet and rings.
Add over 200 in power and 4% in precison from food and it becomes very viable.
Unbuffed ofc

Personally i would go for pic 1 in pve, with a composed group you will have fury 100% of the time and the bigger healthpool, compared to full berserker, will you give you room for error.

In open world pve i would go full berserker with swiftness duration runes for moving around

Both pics are 0/5/30/30/5

Brutaly.6257:

@Iconik
Imo toughness is the number one stat for AH guardians since heals get relatively better with low health pools and high toughness. But its not the only statt and personally i think you have overdone it.

No those stats arent necessarily bad. Personally i have a build i play, see pic1, that i play wvw with that works just fine and that one is based on valkyrie, and mainly berserker.
Unbuffed ofc

@aophts
Running all knights will drop your dps due to lack of power and crit damage.

You could mix in some soldiers armor for power and toughness and replace the trinkets with berserkers or even better those unnamed thingys with precision/power/toughness.

Se pic 2 for a reasonable build that has both survivability and firepower.
Soldiers armor with rune of the soldier. berserker weapons, berserker accessories and pre/tough/pow in amulet and rings.
Add over 200 in power and 4% in precison from food and it becomes very viable.
Unbuffed ofc

Personally i would go for pic 1 in pve, with a composed group you will have fury 100% of the time and the bigger healthpool, compared to full berserker, will you give you room for error.

In open world pve i would go full berserker with swiftness duration runes for moving around

Both pics are 0/5/30/30/5

Well, i could not afford a whole new gear, so i used what i had.

I’m doing 0/15/30/20/5 with Helm+Shoulders+Coat+Gloves (berserker with ruby)

Legs + Boots ( Cleric with Superior Rune of the monk)

Trinkets full berserker and spineguard of the soldier with ruby.

Wepons ( GS and Sceptre + Focus) berserker with ruby, GS with Major sigil of bloodlust.

I’m using EM with AH and i gotta say, it’s amazing, i get 8, 9 stacks of Might and i also get healed because of EM and AH, i’m running CoF so easy now, FoM too, it is working like a charm for me. Staff skill 4 with EM i get 25 stacks of Might, is amazing.

Thanks for the help.

If I dip below 1700 toughness, I get nervous.

Any chance you can make a video highlighting the roll between attack 2 and 3?

@Iconik – i know how you feel. : )) i used to have a personal thresold of having above 3k armor (~1800 toughness) at all times. then i got to experimenting outside my comfort zone and i have builds that run at 2.5k toughness and feel comfortable. and this opened up so many doors for me in terms of putting builds together. or just general flexibility if i wanted a little more healing. or a little more damage. give it a shot, use your blocks, blinds, heals right and you’ll be more than okay. : ))

@Iconic
In order to benefit from skipping you need 2h mastery to make it fluid.

I had a short clip up but as i wrote in the guide the best way to practice it is to use a low level weapon versus orr mobs.

You just dodge after pressing the chain for the second time. The thing is to be able to hit the dodge and still hit with the second swing. The closer you are the less time you have exposed. If you do this correct you will dodge out of reach for a melee and bounce right back in with mb or finish the third swing from either range, symbols is ranged, or in ragne for the swing it self. Ofc stay in the combofield and trigger retal with mb. The same can be done with the end of the third swing.

The same can be done versus ranged but you dodge towards them instead, to stay in distance.

This reduces the time you are exposed to incoming damage since you can cut a couple of 10th of a second of the animation and perform a dodge instead.

A sideeffect is that this also makes you benefit from elusive power, an other wise kind of weak trait (you wont get 10% damage from it in reality), and the hammer in particular can do this due to the fact that in pvp mighty blow is the primary tool for dps, the chain is primarily for support, and the short cd makes bouncing back very convenient with elusive power.

There wil ofc be some jokes argueing about this but you need to understand that most of the negatives written about the hammer/AH are from people that dont know how to play it. If played correctly it allows you to do some crazy stunts that no other builds can even come close to.

Sure AH seem selfish but as with all tools its about how you use it that makes it selfish or not, AH allows you to enter fights where no other build can go and as such it draws attention from your teamates (support) and allows you to do really nice dps (dps) and spreading boons (support) and ccing enemies (support).

Back on topic.
Btw learning this little trick wont help you with the issues you find regarding thoughness. I think Akamons post adresses those.

Dare to dress down. I run with 17k health, 2200 power, 120% crit damage, 55% crit chance and 2400 armor atm and it works very nice in wvw, sure i wont go first in with this but i have an other armor and soldiers weapons for that.

I’ve been running this AH build for ages now. It works so well for me and my playstyle. Recently I’ve been spending lots of gold in order to make this build stronger, or just supercharge it.

In the end I’m running 0/15/30/20/5 in full Knight’s Gear, including weapons (Generosity on hammer, Energy on staff) and accessories, with 6 Superior Rune of the Soldier. I get around 2700 Attack and 3000 Armor. Though my health is low; with AH I’m always the last to go down. I have a blast dealing average damage and keeping aggro away from my teammates.

I use “Hold the Line” and “Stand Your Ground” with “Signet of Judgement” to give out boons as often as possible. If needed, I use Empowering Might over Two-Handed Mastery for the extra heals.

Conditions are no issue with my build, damage dealt to me negligible since I can literally just stand and auto attack most enemies, I can deal average damage, plus I support my team. Is this overkill? Maybe, but at least the rest of the team can DPS while I support them at the front lines.

Updated the traits, utilities and builds after the patch:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/guardian/Guide-Hammer-and-Altruistic-Healing-gameplay/first#post532403
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/guardian/Guide-Hammer-and-Altruistic-Healing-gameplay/first#post532500
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/guardian/Guide-Hammer-and-Altruistic-Healing-gameplay/first#post532562

I just played like 5 hours of wvw with the new traits but the changes are minimal so i think the initial impression is correct.

Hi Brutaly.6257,
nice build but there are some problems, at least for me:
1) Zealous blade isnt 10% more gs damage but only 5% more
2) Hammer is surely a nice weapon but i’m not sure it’s really good for WvW… you function are really limitated and remember that you can’t get protection from 1# skill if enemy run away from you or if you are forced to follow him and immobilize skill actually is really easy to avoid or remove… so it’s quite hard to hit someone. Anyway in wvw inside a zerg someone will not see you but it’s limited to few players.
3) why get 78% of crit damage multiplier with only 33% of critical chance? Personally i prefer a solid 50% crit chance with 76% crit damage multiplier.
4)condition removal isnt really enough for wvw… i still prefer to use Pure of Voice with a full shout build which mean less condition for you and allies whatever you want. Also with rune of lyssa you get a free “all condition removal” with elite and with sigil of generosity another important advantage…
5) In my opion is better to use the new “strength in numbers”, to get out some thougness from equip and put on some crit damage and power, instead of purity.
6) as healing skill i still prefer shelter to gain 2 sec of block (and might as well) and a lower cd
anyway, nice defensive build ill try it later…

Its not a build, its infact a whole bunch.

1. Typo, fixed, thx for pointing it out.
2. Its a matter of skill tbh, hammer works very well in wvw and is infact a part of the hardest hitting and fastest burst a guardian can achieve.
It has a higher skill cap, in pvp and wvw, than our other weapons but it also delivers extremely high rewards when you know what you are doing.

The protection isnt for you primarily, its for your melee friends and its the aoe you want to place. step 1 and 2 on the chain are just as fast as gs. And your team will still gain retal most of the times.

In wvw MB is the primary source of damage, not the chain.

If you have issues catching people use scepter as secondary.

I think your issue with the hammer in wvw is " so it’s quite hard to hit someone" in wvw isnt a matter if the weapon in it self is good or not, its more of that the weapon isnt for you.

3. I play in organized groups and has 100% uptime on fury and the numbers you refer to are without consumables. Every 10th second you should be swapping weapon to take advantage of cooldowns and its not neccesary to have high crit chance to burst with the hammer since you can use sigil of intelligence which non of the rest of the main hand weapons can exploit as well.

I have all weapons types and all armor and most runes as well so if you just present a stat i can achieve it. I run all types of setups but once again they are all good in different areas.

4. if you read the guide there are numerous ways to remove conditions. Sometimes i run signet of resolve, purity, soldier runes (2 shouts with the lowest cd , pure of voice and smite conditions. In general conditions isnt a huge factor in wvw compared to Tpvp. I always has either pure of voice or soldier runes in a shout build.

I dont find Lyssa worth it since i have my elite on a 90s cd and removing condition with 90 s cd isnt very impressive compared to rune of the soldier which also helps the team. Lyssa brings very little to the team. And its not free if you look at the options you have.

Regarding generousity i prefer energy, i like to avoid incoming conditions/hits in the first place and energy has great synergies with healing on dodge and of avoiding damage in the first place. I played extensively with generosity for while but it suits me better to dodge more and i think they are redundant.

5. I find none of them better or worse, they do different things and all fill a role. For instance purity and signet of resolve in combination with melandru runes and food that reduces condition duration makes it possible to solely use your condiremoval with shouts and pure of voice for the team.

If you really have issues with conditions in wvw i suggest you check out melandru runes and Bowl of Lemongrass Poultry Soup.

6. Shelter is my main heal as well even though the heal it self is worse that signet of resolve. The thing with signet of resolve isnt the heal, its the condiremoval on the passive which allows you to do what i wrote above, play your shouts a bit more for the team.

To sum it up, i very rarely need more that 3 shouts to stay reasonably clean and my other utilities/traits/food can make me non sticky and make it possible to use shouts soely for the team..

Btw i wouldnt call this very defensive btw:

Dare to dress down. I run with 17k health, 2200 power, 120% crit damage, 55% crit chance and 2400 armor atm and it works very nice in wvw, sure i wont go first in with this but i have an other armor and soldiers weapons for that.

Hammer/sword btw.

Hi Brutaly, I’ve always been reading your guide when I started playing my Guardian. It’s my only toon that I play atm.

Btw, can I have a GW2Buildcraft link for your End Game Pic#1 please that I can favourite it up?

Thanks and great guide to play a Guardian, I’ve also recommend anyone of my friends to read this.

Cheers!

You are welcome.
http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/guardian/?3.0|1.1c.h1j|2.1c.h1j|1c.71j.1c.71j.1c.71j.1c.71j.1c.71j.1c.71j|2s.d14.21k.d14.2t.d1d.2s.d1e.3s.d19.2s.d14|0.5.u600.u000.5|0.0|0.y.16.19.0|e
here it is, its the standard build i use to charge in first in a fight. Super fun but may i advise you that you have a group that can give you fury, if so it will become just nasty and you can use food that add power. I used those in the second link (almost 2300 power) and you can figure out how it will do with 53% crit chance.
http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/guardian/?3.0|1.1c.h1j|2.1c.h1j|1c.71j.1c.71j.1c.71j.1c.71j.1c.71j.1c.71j|2s.d14.21k.d14.2t.d1d.2s.d1e.3s.d19.2s.d14|0.5.u600.u000.5|2e.1|0.y.16.19.0|e

I often use hallowed ground and you can blast finish that at least two times with the hammer, adding in 6 stacks of aoe might and if you use EM you will have an other 3-4 stacks. 2600 power is standard 6s after i clash in the front and hold the line will help you to be able to do just that. Hold the line can be swapped for save your self but personally i think that is missing the point, save your self is one of the best support shouts we have and i cant stand to use it for just gaining my self.

Have fun

Thanks.
Btw, the both links you posted, what changed the attributes ? The armor, runes, weapons, trinkets are looking identical ?

Axxo.7430:

Thanks.
Btw, the both links you posted, what changed the attributes ? The armor, runes, weapons, trinkets are looking identical ?

The food (Plate of Truffle Steak) and the utility buff ( Superior Sharpening Stone)

First thanks for taking the time to write this excellent guide, it really helps understand the background of how things work. Second, I play the most WvW, enjoy being in front of the zerg and when there’s no zerg I run 5man roamer groups. I am NOT a stat numbers person, so I don’t know if the decision towards my gear is correct or not, that’s where I’d like some input from you guys.

My build with gear and food: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQJASRlUgiCXFyvDf4ESmiVCBxUgRZ01DHiiYIA-jEyAYrARfAIQQJwioxWZLiGr6BTZSEV7OKiWtQA6GDA-w

Feel free to move around anything, the only limitation that I have is regarding trinkets, I must use exotic ones, as I just don’t have enough laurels to replace all of them to ascended. Thank you very much

May i suggest you use buildcraft instead. If you check the link i added in this post you will find effective power and health, those number are much more infomrative than power and vitality/toughess.

Overall its a solid build but you might want to check out the link below and change the gear you have chose to have crit damage in. Crit damage has different “cost” depending on in what piece of gear you have it in.

First i would move 10 points from virtues, as a front runner you need vitality/toughenss primarily and group buffs and condition removers for the team.

I would go for a 0//30/30/10 build and keep 25% to retaliation in virtues.

I wouldnt play with a triple shout if its zerg gameplay and i want to stay upfront and personal most of the time.

Both wall of reflection and hallowed ground are just to good to pass on, at least one of them should be on your cast bar when sieging.

In open world both judges intervention (offense/before hand) and signet of judgement (defense/after hand) are great and the latter also brings aoe retal, stun breaker and aoe weakness which synergies well with the life at the frontlines and 25% retal..

i would also remove purity or retributive armor in valor and swap for strength in numbers, one of the best group buffs we have and it also allows you to pop in more firepower into your build and still maintain toughness.

I would go for soldiers/knights armor but swap chest, shoulders and maybe feet for valkyrie to add in crit damage. The main reason for that can be found here:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/guardian/stat-values-on-gear/first#post2348072

Rune of the soldier is fine as it brings great support but you will have to use at least 2 shouts, i would go with the two ones with the lowest cool down, stand your ground and hold the line.

Berserker weapon. You can keep the soldier back and also invest in a new one when you can get an exotic. They can be bought for karma in cursed shore btw.

your amulet should always be either berserker or valkyrie, see link above.

I would personally go for berserker accessories all the way and have a soldiers weapon set and knights rings in stand by when you really would like to tank up.

Finally this is what i would use a as an exotic geared frontline tanker when running around on the plains in eternal battleground and when you feel comfortable with this i would swap some utilities and one of two pieces of gear for more offense.
http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/guardian/?3.0|1.1c.h1j|0.0.0.0.0.0|1n.7x.1n.7x.1p.7x.1n.7x.1c.7x.1n.7x|1g.67.1n.67.1n.67.1g.67.1g.67.1c.67|0.0.u64b.u28b.a2|40.7|0.1b.16.19.0|e
This is a very competent frontline pusher with tons of support through:
Strength in numbers (150 toughenss to the team and you, the calc says 70)
AH allows you for pushing harder and for longer periods of time and thru that bring more frontline support,
Superior aria and shouts that bring aoe retal, protection (these two boons are a match made in heaven), regeneration and stability.
Signet of judgement gives you 10% less incoming, aoe retal to the team and aoe weakness and ofc its a stun breaker.

Empowering might increases your groups dps

Pure of voice turns conditions into boons for the team. You might even consider getting a second set of armor with more offense in if you use pure of voice. Rune of the soldier and pure of voice might be overkill but pure of voice is better.

Hammer isnt as dependent as other weapons on 2h mastery and also has close to 100% uptime on aoe, even untraited and works extremely well with AH. I would use staff as my secondary or scepter which i think is very nice after the changes that they did in the last patch.
I would also consider using mace instead for hammer and especially when sieging.

Ofc combine hammer and gs if you want to maximize impact as a pure melee.

Brutally thank you very much for replying my post with such details. I will follow all your advices. Thanks again, you rock!

hi, Brutaly.6257, i maxed guardian, now i m searching a good build to make WvW, and find your topic, you can tell me a good build ( , armor, skill, thrinket ect) to make WvW ( love it, maxed guardian playing only it).
then i thinking a berserk build ( , armor, skill, thrinket ect) to finish pve , it is possibile , if yet , also a build for it .

thanks a lot

Sorry, i dont propose builds in this thread, i actually actively avoid it. People need to understand the gameplay before enjoying a certain build.

But all you need for an AH-setup in wvw can be found in the guide.

Gear, traits and some useful wvw advise in there. So read it thru and enjoy your time as a guardian.