Guild Wars 2

1. What is this guide based on
In the original thread Trungalunga suggested that I should do a remake of the opening post since there was a lot of nice stuff added in the thread by me and others, so basically this is an attempt to gather most of the knowledge I can find in these forums regarding hammer gameplay and in particular in combination with altruistic healing (AH).

As a player I do mostly wvw and tpvp but I also roam cursed shore and visit dungeons. The main reason for that is to get the gear and try it out in combination with hammer/AH. Ofc I lack a lot of the knowledge some have in both pve and pvp so please respond and I will add to this post as we go along.

This guide is based on the above experience and ofc that I now have all crafted exotic gearsets and full sets of vit/tuv/pov and vit/pre/heal gear as well and a large variety of weapons. I also tried a large number of combinations and spent well over 200g on different runes and sigils so I can try them in all sorts of environments.

If I don’t have first-hand experience I will explicitly write so and also try to point at the source of the knowledge/experience but frankly I think I have tried every single suggestion in the original thread and also a couple of other suggestions I got from other sources.

Hopefully this makes me qualified to write a guide even though I find the word guide to be a bit pretentious but never the less here it is.

Most of the guide makes references to performance in pvp but all of it also applies to pve and can be done there, besides pure tactical stunts ofc. The extent of relevance is ofc different but I hope people use their brain when reading it.

2. Why a guide?
The answer is simple, the original thread was not as accessible as I wanted it to be and since it’s the most read non sticky in these forums I thought it deserves a sticky and hopefully you guys also support that.

3. Abbreviations
Altruistic Healing AH
Mighty Blow MB
Whirling Wrath WW
Zealots Defence ZD
Zealots Embrace ZE
Banish B
Ring of Warding RoW
Symbol of Protection SoP
Writ of Exaltation WoE
Empowering Might EM
Virtue of Justice VoJ
Virtue of Resolve VoR
Virtue of Courage VoC
Master of Consecration MoC

4. Altruistic Healing and its potential
What AH does is very simple, for each boon added to you and your allies you get a heal. So basically your ”job” is to maximize the number of boons you give yourself and your team and if you do that then you maximise survivability, so basically if you do max damage and give excellent support you will be very tough to kill.

In one of my builds AH healed for 73 per boon. Here you have a calculation on its potential with 73 heals per AH triggered:

Assume three allies inside the symbol and my build where AH heals for 73.

A hammer chain+symbol hits in total 6 times on a single target. Thats 3 crits (50% critrating) generating 1*73. Total of 73hp from vigorous precision.
You get in average 3 hits from empowering might as well but those also hit the teammates and give you 219*3=657

The symbol generates 3 ticks of protection, with 3 allies inside thats 9*73 which in total is 657 hp.

And when you trigger the combofield you apply retaliation to 3 people, which gives you 3*73=219

With three allies we get:
73+657+657+219=1606 heals to you.

With two allies:
73+438+438+146=1095

Soloplaying:
73+219+219+73=548

Basically its about getting heals from a large number of sources and you do that thru good team support. Understood!!!??

5. Why play with the hammer?
The hammer is probably the most versatile weapon we have! Let’s just acknowledge that and then reason why it is so.
It has great sustained dps in the chain and mighty blow. The fact is that the third step of the chain+MB is very close to WW and ZD in burst and takes shorter time to execute while being fully mobile and its on 4s cd but more difficult to execute.

MB is our best dps tool, it has higher dps then WW and ZD and its also more difficult to avoid and it’s a gapcloser. That in the combination of the aoe makes it a great weapon versus multiple enemies. MB “requires” no cc to be effective as both WW and ZD do. It’s just plain old fashioned more reliable.

Add to this that it also has a symbol attached to the third step which requires no additional casting time and you are fully mobile while using it and ofc that it’s targeted. It’s not placed where you are but where the enemy is, this is great, read on and I will tell you why.

Besides these two (three) skills we also have some great cc at our disposal. They are all very powerful even though they demand both timing and positioning, as powerful tools should imo.

Of the 5 skills we have, 4 of them are aoe and 3 hit hard, even ZE can crit for over 1k in wvw which is kind of nice if you use it in the front of the enemy zerg, hitting 3-10 people with it. Basically the hammer is an aoe weapon and as soon as you recognize that the sooner you will choose your fights accordingly.

Some find the hammer to be slow and clunky, especially the third step of the chain, but imo this is what makes the hammer great, it’s not for everyone and it actually demands some skill to use but when you get it together then the payoff imo is higher than with any another weapon.

Overall I find that arenanet made a great job in putting our hammer together and it offers a smooth, but perhaps slow, gameplay which is very rewarding.

The hammer shines when you have more than one opponent to fight. Chokepoints, controlpoints, trashmobs or breaching the enemies frontline. The hammer is both defence and offense in the same package.

Add to this that a hammer guardian is the best class around to trigger combofields and isn’t depending on cd to do it. This weapon is a “groupweapon” and shines when it’s used as that.

Last but not least we have a bunch of traits that really boosts the hammer and AH and in a much more direct way then our other weapons, AH is a match made in heaven for the hammer.

6. Hammer skills and its uses

The chain is a work of wonder and the reason for that are mainly two things.
First that it applies SoP (best symbol we have imo) and second that its slow. Sounds weird but it can be used to your advantage.
The first two steps are fast but the third step is slow and the reason for that is that it hits like a truck and applies a symbol which also applies damage. The thing is that the symbol is ranged so even if you miss with the third hit the symbol is somewhat ranged and will hit the opponent. So never cancel the third hit, use it and gain protection, do ranged damage and also plant the combofield and trigger it.

The thing with the third hit is that it applies both damage and the symbol slightly before the animation ends which delays the start of the next weaponskill slightly. This can be reduced by skipping the end of the animation and this is done by dodging. Basically you interrupt the end of the animation with a dodge and time it so you still apply damage/symbol.

This won’t allow you to do more weaponskills in a given timeframe but it will lower the time you are exposed to incoming damage considerably and also allow you to go from within melee range to out of melee range or it allows you to dodge towards the enemy to stay in distance. Basically it can be used both offensively and defensively versus both melee and ranged. The action is just reversed based on what you face.

This, animationskipping, works great in both pve and pvp and I recommend that this is a skill you learn. It takes both time and effort to both understand the benefits and also perform it, especially in pvp when your opponent actually uses his brain and your own stresslevel in general is a bit higher. A nice way of practicing this is equipping a low level weapon (low damage) and then pull two mobs in cursed shore and practice animationskipping, dodging between step 2 and 3 and also target switching with MB.

When in a groupfight you can do a little trick with SoP and that is that you target your main enemy but you attack the one besides him, this often allows you to move in and the intended target won’t move, people often move when they are attacked.
When you do the third hit the symbol will be placed around the intended target which leads me to:

Mighty Blow or even better ZE+MB+RoW. Locking him down for a chain+MB combo. This tactic, and variations of it, very often is very successful, at least when I play wvw or tpvp.

Besides MB being a great dps tool it’s also has a huge aoe and it’s the best combofinisher in the game and all this while making very fast target changes possible.

Something I find worth mentioning is how the aoe works on MB and it seems it’s not just a circle around the guardian. It seems as it is a circle around the place of origin but also a circle around the target/landingspot. This makes the aoe huge in practice and you can try this out by switching targets and you will damage the target you are jumping from. This also allows you to trigger combofields jumping out of them and also landing in them. This is great stuff indeed and further improves SoP or any other combofield. We have a leap with a blast finisher in both “ends” so to say!!!

Hammer skills and its uses (continue)

Zealots Embrace is a tricky one, it has its limitations in duels and should basically be used at almost point blank or when you hunt someone down this is fully compensated with a very low cooldown for an aoe root. But in masspvp this just rules, the skill is all about positioning and lining the zerg up and mass root the lot. The closer you can be when doing it the more powerful it is and if you run with an aoe group this is just mayhem if combined with RoW. We are talking about 6 seconds in the aoe from an entire group, I will try to address the role of a hammer guardian further down so read on there is more to come on how to create panic in the zerg.

Banish is a nice tool even though kind of situational in both pve and pvp. The main usage imo is to either keep people from my objective or kepe them from their objective. In tpvp its great to clear cappoints with but in wvw and pve the usage is imo a bit different. You save this baby:
- Helping a downed teammate to not get stomped/killed. MB to close the gap and then banish, the damage from MB often stop the stomp in the first place. Very few like the idea of stomping if someone doing some serious damage to them.
- Pushing off cliffs, both hysterical and extremely effective in pvp.
- Preventing opponents to res, don’t hit on the guy ressing, stability is a kitten.
- Positioning and enemy/mob for your team, this is very nice in combination with knocking a downed opponent in the “right” direction.

One combo I like is when B is used in an offensive manor and this can be done by knocking them towards a wall so they don’t go that far, pull ZE to root, pull MB to close the gap/damage and finish off with RoW+chain+MB. After this not a single profession in the game will stick around. Not as long as you follow my advice in the gear and accessory section.

Ring of Warding has been mentioned a lot above and there are just a few things left to say about but the most important one is that its a CC and as such stability bypasses it. This is imo as it should be and I can’t understand the complaints.
Ring of warding is rather slow and its also stationary wich makes timing and positioning tricky indeed and you need to plan this one. I suggest you combine it with ZE and if they don’t break free (no stability) then you pull this one. If they break free change the gameplan to a bit more defensive one and time the moment when you go from defence to attack.

7. Must have traits

Altruistic healing is the first one and it’s the base of gameplay. This is also why supportive gameplay is so important since this trait gets stronger the more people you support. Not the same as playing support though since this gameplay provides tons of dps as well. I Play this very offensively and the boons are a means to an end and its much more fun then standing in the back being a healbot and it has just as much impact if not more.

Retributive armour is also mandatory, the reason for this is that it gives you about 5% more critchance and a lot of our boons, most in fact , comes from crits this is equal to both more dps and more survivability.

Purity is a no brainer in pvp but I also use it in pve. If you are dedicated in pve only there are other traits you can use but those have no or little bearing to the hammer/ah gameplay so that one you need to figure out on your own.

Vigorous Precision, this one is just amazing, A crit grants you vigor for 5 s and ofc AH. Its on a 5 sec internal cooldown so with increased boonduration or with Save Yourself you can have perma vigor which is essential in some builds.

Superior Aria. It’s all about boons and here you can get more boons and more often. Shortend cd on shouts is a must.

Selfless Daring. Well with vigorous precision you can dodge extremely often and considering how the chainskill is designed this is something you just want to do anyway so not having a heal on dodge is just plain stupid. This is also interesting since it scales very nicely with healing power so without any major losses in dps you can infact use this as very nice “adjustmentrait” when fine tuning your survivability. What i mean here is that you give up very little from your budget in vit/tough/pre etc to gain 1/1 ratio in selfless daring. Think about this for a while, its not as obvious at first and requires some thought.

2h mastery, this is mandatory in pvp and if you want to trigger combofields as often as possible. The best use of MB in PvE right now is to trigger desirable combo fields such as fire for mights or poison for weakness. If there’s no such combo fields available at a decent rate, it’s best to do a chain x2 into MB.
But it’s not meta in pve and you can do really nice without it. Still you should have at least 20 points in the Honor traitline, either you use Writ of Exaltation for larger symbols or Writ of Persistence for longer lasting symbols. They serve two different purposes though but one of them should be used.

The reason why I don’t think they are must haves is that the same thing can be achieved in other ways which still can be considered as good investments.
WoE provides larger area and more boons to the team and more crits on large packs of mobs/opponents.This is my first choice
WoP provides with more crits on single targets, more boons and 24/7 protection on the guardian when spamming the chainskill, I know a lot of people like this one better.

If you want to max the incoming healing you go for Empowering Might (EM) which grants you and your team might on crit which trigger AH. EM has a 1s internal cd which makes it kind of tailor-made for hammer which has slow attackspeed so the cd is of little consequence.

So in pve there are 3(4) different ones to choose from as “must haves” but be sure to choose one of them depending on what you want to achieve.

Inspired Virtues, to be honest, if you’re not traiting this, in any build in the universe, then you actually missed the whole point with the guardian!!! What this does is that it gives you the same benefits as 1.5 extra utility slot so it’s basically 1,5 extra shout on a 60s cd with huge aoe, teamwide, not squadwide. Trait it and stop making a fool of yourself, it’s as simple as that.

Besides that it also has some huge synergies with AH and the virtueline in general. People honestly have to start using the virtues, those are huge in any build, just check what 15 points in radiance does to VoJ and there are tons of stuff these babies contribute with if traited for it.
It’s a bit offtopic but it’s so important I think it’s worth mentioning.

If you skip AH you can instead go for meditations and if so Monks Focus should be mandatory. Monks Focus heal your self for about 2k and scales pretty well with healing power. This trait is more suited for solo play or maybe one or two teammates. If you play coordinated and can stay in symbols etc, AH is the better choice, healing wise, if you have a team mate around.

With meditations Focused Mind might be an alternative. Focus Mind adds 4s of fury when you pop a meditation but tbh if you really need fury that much there are runes etc that can solve this with greater uptime. But its a matter of taste.

Last but not least you have Mediation Mastery and that trait reduces cool downs on your meditations by 20%.

8. Other traits that can be used

Zeal
Fiery wrath ofc but make sure you have stuff besides passive/active voj to burn stuff with so you get some uptime on the target. Works nice with torch ofc but also with meditations and consecrations.

Scepter power is also worth considering if you mainly fight ranged, 10% more damage is rather nice.

Zealous blade might be worth considering, 25 heal per hit and per target and 5% more damage from GS is respectable.

Personally i wouldnt invest a single point in zeal for Tpvp but in wvw and pve it would definitely work and 10 points in pve (Fiery wrath) is more or less mandatory. the issue with the other traits are that they only boost one weapon and if you want max dps weaponswap is mandatory and traiting them is imo the same as suboptimizing the build.

Radiance
Signet mastery shorten the cd on the heal. (pve and pvp)
Inscribed Removal which removes a condition when a signet is used.
Radiant power gives you 10% more damage versus opponents with conditions. Be sure to bring burns and blinds with you.
Justice is blind and Blind exposure supports this.

There is no or vague reasons to invest more then 15 points in radiance with a hammer and AH, besides pure dps, gain but if you use Scepter/focus/sword/gs it is more valid.
This isnt the same as saying you shouldnt invest more and if you go for a dps setup with GS/hammer with scepter/sword as secondary you might want to consider 25-30 points in radiance.

Valor
Strenght in numbers, honestly this is the only trait worth using instead of purity but I honestly think loosing a condition every 10th second is more valuable but it’s a valid option. This trait gives you 150 toughness when in combat to you and your allies. This is a great option but demands either pure of voice or soldier runes.
I wont suggest any alternative for retributive armor since that trait has excellent synergies with the core of a AH build.

Glacial Heart deserves a comment though and with 100% to procc and with 50% critchance its 50% chance to trigger and with a 30 second internal cd its just to unreliable. If you want a chill there are much better ways to achieve it and that’s both more controllable and has way better cd. In short cc are on demand types of skills and the random part is fine but not in combination with a huge cd. More about that in the sigil chapter.

Honor
WoP, WoE and EM has already been mentioned so I will only bring up the ones left in the traitline.
Battle presence, with certain gear this is absolutely worth it and serves its purpose in both pve and wvw. Not so much in tpvp though since burst is king.
Pure of Voice, this is extremely nice and also has some nice synergies with rune of the soldier, with one or two shouts is definitely worth investing in.
Writ of the merciful, heals on symbols, mainly a pve feat but worth looking at but EM, WoP and WoE are better so I doubt anyone would choose it but there is a slim chance someone might find it to be their cup of tea,
Honor is the traitline with the most choices and its also here you can modify your gameplay the most.

Virtues
Vengeful, this one is nice for tpvp, spvp and wvw. A build like this can actually have rather substantial uptimes on groupwide retaliation and this is definitely an option. In pve I wouldn’t use it though.

Master of consecration (MoC) nice in wvw and in some pve content, increased duration and lowered cd is king in wvw. This is also a great lifesaver, for you AND the team, when pushing for the frontlines, both when going in and if you have to run back to your mates. It also gives great potential in sieging in both defense and offense.

Consecrated Ground, also an option but considering the strength of MoC its kind of unlikely that you would pick this one over MoC. If you invest 20 points into virtues then its definitely an option but then there are a couple of other interesting options.

Absolute resolution, losing 3 conditions if using virtue of resolve (VoS) in combination with more heals in resolve, always interesting in tpvp and wvw. This is definitely an option for the more supportfocused player. And yes, surprise, you don’t have to tank up to be a support focused player, you just need the right gear and traits. Read on if this caught your eye.

Indomitable courage, stability to the team with a huge aoe and VoC every 30 seocond, always nice in tpvp and wvw and it can be combined with runes, gear and utility that further enhance the effect.

So in short there are a lot traits that are interesting to this way of playing and the way to make it work is infact the right gear. The gear often dictates what traits you should/would/could use and to cover all possibilities, 10/30/30/30/20, you would need 120 traitpoints.

9. Weapons
Atm I think I have over 15 exotic weapons, and 5 of them being hammers, in my inventory and all of them with different sigils/gems/orbs and whatever. The reason why I have so many is that it became to expensive replacing those runes so i bought a couple of testweapons so I could test different setups with my hammer kitten nal.

The weapons I recommend are:
Berserker
Soldiers
Knights
Cleric

The one weapon you shouldnt invest in is the rampager and the reason for that is that condition damage in itself isn’t suited for a AH/hammer crit build a guardian isn’t about conditions in the first place.

If you want a hammer with healstats (mark my words, eventually you will) then the AC hammer is a much better choice since those stats (crits) also support the AH-build and its silly easy to get, it’s just three nights and 9 paths and you got it. This is probably the first one you get and the second will be the knights hammer.

Regarding the knights hammer och the berserker I think you should buy both but startout with the knights hammer

In pvp its pretty much up to you what weapons you use but in pve its a bit different.

In PvE, especially dungeons, you need to have every single weapon in your bag. You will need them whether to travel across the trap room with Flash Blade + Judge’s Intervention or use Protector’s Strike to group block certain boss mechanic like Kholer’s pull in AC ex or Staff’s mobility when you want to skip/move through a certain part of the dungeon. Not to mention that you can combine the hammer with greatsword to be an AoE powerhouse or with sword/torch for single target.

These are a couple of examples but the message is, when going to a dungeon you bring all weapons with you and if you havent got a specific weapon you buy it.

10. Armour
Since I now have/had 6 sets of armour (7 with my explorer set) I think I have a pretty decent idea on what to use and here is what I think you should focus on and in order of priority:
-Knights
-Berserker
-Soldiers
-Clerics
-Celestial (this should be higher in the list but its time consuming to get it so hence why its last on the list.)

Knights are great for frontline tanking and are very suited for stacking toughness and handle conditions. I will try to point out why in the buildschapter. Its also very suited for all aspects of pve.

Berskerker for the laugh and how hysterically powerful a guardian can be and ofc for pve. In wvw it works but there are better options in almost all aspects of wvw other then maybe small parties clashing.

Vit/pow/tough probably is the most allround gear and can solve pretty much everything.

Celestial since they offer a more supportive role but still throw a serious punch if built properly and they are very suited for might stacking but that is an other guide. People should be aware of that the items in celestial seem to have a very weird budget and not all pieces are worth having if you are into optimizing your stats. Chest/legs/head is a safe bet i think but i haven’t done the math myself and might be on thin ice.
The thing is that every player has their own sweet spot, for instance i am good at dodging and hitting and that means I procc a lot of AH in relation to incoming damage which allows me to stay longer in fights with a rather small healthpool and high toughness, this is ofc as affected by other parameters like opponents skill,objective, terrain etc. My point is that you all need to find your sweet spot regarding hp/toughness but one safe bet is full knights gear, start there and evolve from that.

Threre is a thread which I think everyone should read and understand. There are some great posts in there, mine is only brilliant in fragments :-), reading it that will infact help you choose gear. The part, one of EveningStars later posts, about overhealing is very interesting indeed and altruistic healing as a concept is very interesting from that perspective.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/guardian/Why-low-base-HP-might-be-a-good-thing/first#post529560

11. Accessories
Same here as gear, I have a ton of them as well and to make it brief, get them in this order
-Knights
-Berserker
-Soldiers
-Clerics

These are all crafted and the reason why I think you should go for knights is that is maximizing your survivability and also adds the most crits, the dps is still beyond good and you can take a severe beating.

Clerics are very well suited with the pre/vit/heal gear since it lacks pover and clerics has that. But you just buy rings and neck.

Stay away from celestial trinkets. Any statcombination they contribute to can be bettered by mixing other types of gear, they are way off budget wise. If your not into optimizing your stats, ignore this advice.

In the last chapter of this guide you can find my setups i have come to end up with efter getting a variety of ascended.

12. Runes
Here are some setups that’s valid options for an AH/hammer build and ofc its superior runes with one exception.

5Ranger+1Lyssa (Get a decent crtchance in vit/pow/tough, they absolutely need these runes and if you get this don’t bother using anything else then critchance enhancers, 6*Lyssa is a very strong option)

6Soldier (Usable in both berserkers and knights)

6Dolyak (Great in knights with a constant increase in incoming heals. Small healthpools and high toughness benefits more from heals. Can also be used in berserkers but rune of the soldier are better suited for that)

6Forge (20% protection duration and 10 sek protection when under 50% health works really well in knights and ofc berserkers)

6Lyssa, all boons for 5 seconds after using an elite, works will all builds and gear. This is just great with renewed focus and virtues. Statwise it suits vit/pow/tough best since it needs precision.

3monk+3water (useable in knights and ofc vit/pre/heal, 30% boonduration and 150 more in heals on every dodge)

2monk+2water+2major rune of sanctuary (See monk+water except you don’t get more than 50 extra in heals but 40% uptime on boons also great dps setup for vit/pre/heal gear). Ofc you can combine monks/water/traveler to get 45% boon duration.

2strength+2fire+2Hoelbrok (berserker, knights and especially vit/pre/heal benefits greatly from these babies, max dps with berserkers but with these you can hit extremely hard with the heal gear and still dodge heal yourself for 1k per dodge.)

6Dwayna (You get area regeneration for the team when using a healskill, super nice and goes really well with all gears actually. The paradox is that the smaller the healthpool the easier you fill it and the less you need this for you, see it as support, it’s not for you and you still get AH from regeneration on the team.

6runes of the traveler its the 6th rune that’s interesting for a guardian, it gives you 25% increased movement speed. The stats are celestial and also 15% boon and condition duration. I find myself using these more and more in offensive setups.

6Rune of Melandru this in combination with a bit bigger HP pool and consumables that reduce condition duration is also a valid choice.

6Hoelbrak The added power, 20% might duration and ofc -20% condition duration is welcome. A more offensive alternative to melandru runes.

6Divinity. (Nuff said, great allround runes but god they are expensive.

If its just stats you are looking for then upgrades/orbs from BLT is enough and you get those for like 2 silver a piece. Runes are really just necessary in pow/vit/tough (max crit) and if you want a certain function they offer.

13. Sigils
I tried a bunch here as well and these also has impact on your secondary weapon so I write the hammersigil first and secondary, if applicable, sigil last, ie Energy+Energy

Energy+Energy, my personal favourite in all kinds of pvp, being able to dodge 3-4 times in a row have saved me so many times in wvw its silly and it also support the animationskipping, in tpvp especially but not so much in wvw. This sigil has really nice synergies with vigorous precision. Can be used with all runes and geartypes

Intelligence+Energy. 100% crit on MB is huge in tpvp and the hammer is the weapon this sigil works best with. The setup is one offensive weaponset and one defensive set.

battle+battle these are used to stack might with a build that’s supports it, and if you want might on swap (3 stacks for 20 seconds with battle)

In general 1h weapons are superior in might stacking thru swaps + crit and faster attackspeed and ofc the ability to have two sigils in each setup, but its definitely viable.

I would use these with the same gear as I use monk+water, monk+water+sanctuary or strength+fire+hoelbrak.
So if you want to be a healer and hit hard as hell then you use monk+water, empowering might, VoJ and ofc the staff. So use empower on the staff (more might) and then swap and hammer with VoJ and might on crits. If done correctly you will have 20 stacks in seconds and then you hit hard, really hard.

Hydromancy This sigil makes glacial heart obsolete 100% chance to chill on swap for 3 seconds which is nice in tpvp. Sigil of ice proccs on crit for a 2s duration with 10s internal cd. This is also better then Glacial heart.

The only reason to use glacial heart is if you want to stack freeze and then I would go for:
Hydromancy+hydromany in the offhands and main being scepter in wvw and/or scepter/1h sword in tpvp
But it still doesn’t justify glacial heart imo if you look at what you lose out on.
Nice on all geartypes.

Accuracy and Force, 5% extra crit or 5% extra damage is always welcome and has synergies with the entire concept. Well spent money if you haven’t geared up properly. Nice on all geartypes.

Perception or Bloodlust These are really nice in pve and especially in open world. They are best put to use use on sets with low stats in the area where they contribute. Bloodlust increases power which suits vit/pre/heal and Perception favors vit/tough/pow.
These sigils earn a stack if the kill is done with the weapon its mounted in and the stack also remains if you swap. You can have bloodlust (Perception) in both main hand and off hand and get two stacks for each kill.

You cant combine perception and bloodlust, the first stack earned will be the one you stack with the next kill.

Fire works great with this build and adds more aoe.

Blood hits for about 300 and heals for the same amount, in aoe fights this is major thing since 30% chance on crit and only 2s internal cd. I’m trying this out atm and this looks to be a beast in wvw and also pve. I tried this during BWE and it’s not worth it in Tpvp unless you run with a 1h build, 1h handers once more benefits more from this but in wvw it’s definitely an option for hammer gameplay.
Suitable for all geartypes and definitely its an option.

Purity, 60% chance of removing conditions on crit, nuff said, stop whining about conditions and trait and gear for them. Best suited for players that doesn’t know how to stay clean.

Generosity 60% to transfer a condition on crit.

14. Elites and Virtues
In almost all aspects the elite to use is renewed focus and the simple reason for that is inspired virtues, these are great in almost every aspect of the game and it’s not just a lifesaver for you, it’s a lifesaver for the team. Our other eltites are much more dramatic but seriously I don’t think they have the huge impact that I sense that renewed focus has.

The only time I think tome of wrath is preferred is in sieges. I would probably review this opinion if stability was reintroduced in the tomes or that casting time was reduced dramatically. In tpvp you look like a light house and as soon as you pull a tome all opponents just jumps you and cc you to oblivion. As it stand now RF is superior and that is a AH/hammer guardians bread and butter.

15. Consumables
I hope two of these tastes nice
Bowl of Sweet and Spicy Butternut Squash Soup to boost burst.
Bowl of truffle steak 100 power and 70 precision to boost sustained damage.
Bowl of Curry Butternut Squash Soup 100 precision and 10% critical damage to boost sustained and burst.
Bowl of Curry Pumpkin Soup 100 precision and 70 vitality
Bowl of Spiced Meat and Cabbage Stew 60% to gain might on dodge and 20% increased refill rate on endurance.
Master Maintenance Oil, 6% of toughness into precision and 4% of vit into precision
Bowl of Lemongrass Poultry Soup This stacks with rune of Melandru and makes conditions a breeze and its 100% passive.
Chocolate omnomberry cream 20% boonduration, +10 experience from kills AND 40% magic find while under the effect of a boon. Great in all aspects of pve and pvp.
Blackberry pie, 40% to steal life on crit and 50 precision and +10 exp from kills.
Bowl of Orrian Truffle and Meat Stew, grants might on dodge, really nice in combination with a might stacking build.
Superior sharpenign stone, gives you more power based on the amount of vitality and toughness you have. This one is very nice with knights armor and pre/vit/heal.

Last but not least I would like to mention Omnomberry Pie (Ghost) which offers 66% chance on crit for lifesteal, which is about 340 hp.

16. Utilities
Healingskills
As the healing skill you have two options really, the obvious one being the signet and it serves not just as a heal but also as a condition remover every 10th second, this in combination with purity is 9 times out of 10 enough for wvw . Ofc you can also put 20 points in radiance and then you get conditionremover when you activate it. Remember, a used heal is 3 less removed conditions in the next 30 seconds.

The second heal skill is shelter, it’s a much worse heal but in combination with renewed focus it can give you a rather long period of cover. This isn’t the main reason why this heal is interesting but the fact that it blocks incoming damage and it blocks an infinite number, So far so good. In Valor you have might of the protector, a minor trait, and what that does is that it let you gain might per block, This means that if you run scepter+focus as secondary you theoretically can build 23 stacks of might really fast. So shelter might be a choice you consider if you want to create mayhem.

Shouts
In short all shouts are valid and they all serve their purpose.
Hold the line and Stand your ground in Tpvp. Great shouts with great impact.
Retreat and SY in wvw and open world pve for movement and SY and Stand your Ground in combat.
In dungeons Hold the Line and SY.
It ofc depends on group setup, if in a group with no speed boosts then use retreat as both an offensive and defensive shout, in ww.

In general you should not use more then two shouts since traited virtues in reality are an additional 1.5 shouts. You should at least keep one slot open for the job you are set to do, this makes you much more diversified. The exception is spvp and tpvp where ”three shout” builds are valid.

Meditations
Judges intervention, can be used in wvw, it’s great for moving around, great for escaping and great for catching, what’s not to like about it. Too bad you can’t teleport up on wall anymore, that was so great but you can still use it to trap groups in RoW, in a aoe death-trap, and also teleport and use banish while doing it. Worth mentioning is that you can start one skill and in the middle of the cast you can pull Judges Intervention and finish the first skill in a different place. Ie start banish and teleport in and finish where the opponents are.

Smite Condition and Contemplation of Purity: our two “active” condition removals. Very useful on fights against mobs that you can’t risk yourself having to gamble on the passive condition removal. Example would be the Bandit Cutpurse in CM Ex. One Death Blossom will equal to 12 bleed stacks AND a poison.

Consecration
Wall of reflection, can ofc be used untraited and its still super strong. It has great impact in both pvp and pve and hasnt to be traited in order to be valid.

Hallowed Ground: this skill needs to be in its own section. HG and SYG are two of our strongest support utilities. Stability is very rare among all the professions, but we have two, not to mention that it’s for the whole group. HG is a must on some encounter such as the Inquests in Arah Ex Mursaat or the first bosses in CM Ex Asura and Butler even if you don’t have 10 points in Virtue.

Purging Flame: same as above but group condition removal. Bonus: provides a 5 seconds fire field.

Both purging flames and hallowed ground has their uses in pvp as well and the above mentioned fire field adds to their usability when considering a mightstacking build. If you have 10 points in virtues you have both hallowed ground and purging flames and both are fire fields that grants 25 sec of might and 3 stacks each and you trigger them with mighty blow. With the proper runes and food those lasts 25 second +60% uptime with the boonduration increasing runes and food. Besides giving 16s stability and purge conditions ofc which can be increased with major traits as. Sanctuary is also an option.

Sanctuary is basically a dome that prevents projectiles and opponents to enter but ground targeted aoe passes thru. it also heals for a approx 2k but can be bypassed with stability.

Signets
Signet of Judgement passive -10% damage and in combination with protection it’s a 43% reduction of incoming damage and then add 3300 in armour to that. If you want to switch to offense, activate it in the crowd (600 range) and get heals from retaliation (AH) and ofc weakness in 600 range, that is just huge! Its also a stunbreaker and can be traited to remove conditions.

Spirit Weapons
Shield of the Avenger: even though this is a spirit weapon skill, it’s extremely powerful in conjunction with Wall of Reflect on fights against a large amount of range enemies such as the riflemen in CM Ex.

Other valid utilitieskills
If 20 points in radiance an other signet might be valid, why not signet of wrath for a 24 sec root and one more conditionremover if you trait inscribeed removal.

17. Gameplay and our job on the battlefield
As I pointed out in chapter 6 the gameplay differs greatly from playing gs or 1h sword, at least as long as you want to maximize damage while minimizing incoming damage. The weapon isn’t made to spam skill one as gs and 1h are but requires a bit more finesse and thought.

First we have the dodging in the chain, between step 2 and 3, and then we have animationskipping, These are some basic stuff we need to learn in order to maximise output. Second we need to understand that the direction of the dodge is crucial for out next move. Dodging away from an opponent isn’t necessarily a defensive move and dodging towards isn’t an offensive move..

Dodging as much as I suggest that we should do also introduces a risk that we reduce the personal effect we get from the symbol, besides AH. This is even more important to understand if you use a build that’s built for boonduration. How come, isn’t that build less prone to have a downside if we miss one tick from the symbol. No, the answer is no. The reason for this is that a build with no boonenhancers actually has other stats to compensate, like vitality and toughness from rune of the soldier, while the “boonbuild” actually is designed for taking advantage of the boons it produces.

This means that you need to choose the build based on what type of objective you are set out to handle. If it’s open world pvp frontline headsmashing then a high toughness, high crit, low critdamage build is the answer. Protection is just situational and inherent toughness is the important part,

If its defending a keep where the frontline door has fallen then a boonduration and toughnessbuild is the answer.

if its protecting your mates who tries to take down a towerdoor then a healbuild with larger long lasting symbols might be the answer, healing with dodges, the staff and placing SoP at the door so our team can work at the door with constant protection.

If your job is to protect a flank on a zerg or you run in a small party then a high crit, high critdamage build with great capabilities to remove conditions on the team is the answer.

The AH/hammer guardian can be all that and so much more, but not at the same time and you need to have multiple gears with you and also a couple of secondary weapons. Staff is the obvious one but I would also always have a scepter and 1h sword+focus available in the inventory
The scepter is kind of obvious but what has the one hand sword to do with anything, well I find the 1h sword to have two huge advantages, first it very quick and has very high single target dps and second it can block a lot and has blinds on really low cd. This makes this weapon a nice semidefensive option to the hammer which lacks almost any means to a successful defense in openworld pvp. In general scepter is better and there are situations in wvw when 1h and hammer are a match made in heaven.

Gameplay and our job on the battlefield (continue)

If you like I have a mightstacking hammer/gear and also might stacking 1h and focus this is also the setup to rip small parties to pieces with. 1h+focus (skill 5 might on block, shelter might on block, aegis*3 might on block) builds stacks of might so fast that 15-20 stacks is rather easy to get in a few seconds. And then when you switch to hammer with 60% critchance and 54% critdamage, 20 stacks of might and 3300 in armor its as close to a nuclear charged Leopard MBT you can come and jumping from one opponent to another with MB placing the symbol and then switch target is as close as mayhem you can come, we are talking about 8k of damage per chain+MB here. It is even easier if you add in two fire fields from hallowed ground and purging flames.

In tpvp it’s a bit different and you can’t achieve the stats you do in wvw/pve so here im ofc first in but I play the game a bit more reserved then I do in wvw. It’s more at stake and the opponents are infinite better.

In tpvp the hammer isn’t an obvious choice and some might even say it’s only good for defending points, well they are both right and wrong. If you gonna play tpvp with the hammer you need to play in a team where it’s very clear that the guardian shouldn’t ever run alone. This is imo true in general but with a hammer guardian it’s almost a must to have a teammate, this weapon and build is so much better in a group setting and if used as a group aoe monster on cappoints with teammates in reach then its definitely viable. Its downside is soloplay hence why I always have either a scepter or a 1h sword as secondary set. I can also admit that sometimes I switch to a 1h setup completely during a fight, if things needs a change, and the fun part is that this build also works relatively well with a pure 1h setup.

In dungeons I favour hammer and 1h sword and the situation dictates if I use a scepter or not. The gameplay isn’t as hectic and strategic in dungeons and it’s kind of simple to get the team to get inside the symbol or position the boss so I can dodge the way I want. In fact hammer is super easy in pve since all you really have to do is spam skill 1 and traited increased duration on the symbol and dodge once in a while.

There is only one thing to point out here, you play the AH/hammer guardian as you want and without changing build you can actually go full support, full control or full dps and do very well in all aspects. The truth is that you can in fact maintank as well even if Anet hate that word. A full knights guardian can do all that and much more.

One more thing, an elementalist is your best friend, they have tons of combofields and especially water and fire are just supernice. If you want to improve in your gameplay learn how an elementalist works.

18. Recommended stats for it to work
I also updated some other stat based on my experience based on the new gear I got and tested. The range of valid builds has definitely increased and also the choice of gear has followed that trend.
What stats to look for then?
25-60%% crit
2600-3400 Attack
14k-18k health
2400-3300 armour
200-1200 heal power
51-105% critdamage

19. Builds
Here I will present a number of builds I tried and got to work, some better than others but I find them all to work in a variety in situations.

I won’t tell you what runes/sigil to use, that you can find in the text, but I will show the distribution of points I used and that performed well. You also need to make your own choice of weapons and also the utilities/traits you want to use. But if you look at the distribution of points and what utilities/traits I mentioned you will have no issues figuring out valid builds and valid secondary weapons and when to use them.

If needed im willing to make builds and comment on them but as of now I don’t have more time to spend on this, hope you understand. But if needed i make the time to improve this chapter radically.

I named the builds after playstyle which also reflect the choice of gear you should try with them.

The bold one
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQBgCIXg9BAwUAAAXPAAAAA

Razors edge
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQBgCIrAAWFAATBAAc9AAAAA

Call a friend
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQBgCIXgtAsHAAAAXPAAAAA

Instead of a spouse to hug
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQBYCITBAAgpAAAueAAAAA

The stupid one (Breaking the doctrine (no inspired virtues) I know but a full out control build should be possible as well and its an acceptable excuse for breaking it)
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQBYCwSBAAgpAAAueAAAAA

The egotrip
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQBgCIXglCAAA/AAXPAAAAA
This one also serves very well as a AH build for 1h and Scepter and a very nice setup on these weapons are might on swap and life steel on crit with lifesteal food.

If you look at these distributions you will find that they have almost the same overall dps or it can be balanced with gear and still they do very different jobs.

It kind of amazing that the last “build” looks very much as a tanky build and that hits like a noodle but with the gear I suggested it will not hit like a noodle, it will be a killer and a great supporter.

Other builds that can be utilized is ofc:

0/30/30/5/5
The standard tpvp burst build and personally this work wonders with hammer and sword/focus and the burst is times with judges intervention. In wvw you can play this with AH but in tpvp i would use a full meditation build instead.

0/25/30/10/5 or 10/25/30/5/0 Might also be valid for some and especially the ones looking for a 2h burst build.

20/0/30/10/5 is an other offensive setup for AH, and i would use it with scepter (scepter power in zeal) and sword. In main hand i would use sigils that procc might in crit and in off hand i would have energy.

20. Final words
Frankly people need to stop and think that tanky healbuilds are good support and high dps builds with almost the same heals, better control and much higher dps is in any way or form bad supporters.

In fact what I learned in this game during beta, bwe and launch is that healbots are a waste of space and heals are the worst kind of support. Boons and utility is what matters and there is no need to build tanks in order to keep the boons flowing.

A hammer guardian in the front is also the best healer around with a coordinated elementalist and waterfields.

At the same time this is a game and people can play whatever way they enjoy it the most but it’s a huge misconception that the wow stylish gameplay in fact is beneficial when in most cases it in fact makes the the team one man short, the guardian. There are a couple of threads in the forum that defends this type of gameplay and I just stay out of them as long it’s not a teammate or a guildie stating it, then im obligated to help out, as of now I can only hope people read this guide to the end and understands it. You don’t have to agree with it, understanding is more than enough.

I hope you enjoyed this guide and that you take the time to give positive and negative feedback and ofc post if you want it as a sticky.

21. End game, builds and accessories

These are the builds i play mostly with atm and i will only present the distribution of points. Remember that they are mainly wvw builds but i also use them in fractals at +30.

Armor
PVT armor, i got three different sets with divinity runes, melandru and soldiers.

As a compliment i have clerics chest and leggings with berserker orbs and PVT head/hands/shoulders//feet with 2*monk and 2*water.

Personally i like knights better but still ended up with soldiers because i felt knights had to little power and i still wanted toughness. Hopefully Anet introduces a gear with power/toughness/prec, that would be really sweet.

Weapons
Berserkers or soldiers and from time to time i also swing a cleric hammer and staff. Hammer, GS, Staff, scepter, sword, focus, shield and torch are the weapons i use. They all serve a purpose and ofc i have them in both berserker and soldier.

Sigils
Energy, enough said. Bloodlust as back up for pve farming but in wvw/tpvp nothing beats energy imo.

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

Consumables
I use master maintenance oil and sharpening stone. I want to have over 40% crit when playing so depending on gear and build i balance it.

For food i use a bunch:
Bowl of buttnut squash soup (100 prec and 10% critical damage)
Omnomberry pies (66% chance to steal life)
Plates of truffle steak (100 power and 70 prec)
Spicy chocolate cookies (100 heal power and 70 prec)
Bowls of truffle ravioli (100 toughness and 70 precision)
Bowls of poultry and leek soup (36% condition duration and 60 vitality), sure i could use Bowl of Lemongrass Poultry Soup but for 100 more health and 4% condition duration im not willing to pay 4 times the price.

0/5/30/30/5 and 0/0/30/30/10 are my two main builds for wvw. When in divinitys i go for pure of voice and when using soldiers runes i swap PoV for EM, larger symbols and heal on symbols. Hammer+GS are main weapons when zerging. In small parties the gs is swapped for a staff. And i also swap 2-4 pieces of armor for more boonduration.
Ofc with three shouts as main support as the base line but i also swap in 2*consecrations and judges intervention.

I also play around with 0/25/30/10/5 and when i do i use my melandru armor or my soldiers armor för conditionremoval. If i choose the divinity armor i swap AH for monks focus and run with triple meditations but most of the times when i run triple meditations i use 1h weapons (sword and scepter) and use a 0/30/30/5/5.

The reason why i dont use fiery wrath is that it either requires to choose utility for having burns up or you have to be passively reliant on your team to start the fire. None of these are favorable imo. I actually played a lot with fiery wrath and in dungeons it works but in wvw the contribution just isnt reliable enough.

Unbuffed stats and role in wvw with a 0/5/30/30/5 build.
Pic 1
All round with decent stats all over. Can pretty much do everything even huge bursts and frontline pushing in zergs. Its just a matter of setting it up.

This is the standard build for me, if i dont know what to do, i choose this one due to its versatility. Divinity runes so i run with PoV, rings are berserker/valk and pre/tough/pow and the rest is berserker. Soldier weapons

Pic 2
Primarily dps. Suitable for smaller groups and cant really storm in the front in zergs. Trinkets are berserker except rings that are berserker/valkyrie.

Pic 3
same as pic but swapped the berserker/valk rings for pre/pow/tough. Really nice mix of dps adn survivability. I use this with 1h weapons and swap 2h mastery for EM.

Pic 4
Frontline symbol bombing, rune of the soldier, soldier weapons, solider back and pre/tough/pow rings and the rest is berserker. PoV is swapped for EM.

Pic 5
Boon duration/support.
Divinity chest and legs. monk/water on feet, hands, shoulders and head, head is knights armor btw. Berserker trinkets and berserker/valk rings.

Pic 6
1k dodge roller (buffed) with decent dps and armor. Legs and chest are clerics with ruby orb and the rest is soldier/divnity. Clercis amulet and ring.. Second ring is berserker/valk. Rest is berserker. Pretty nice when sieging and heal the guys at the siege engines.

Pic 7
Heal and boon duration.

Frankly i only included this so people realise what they miss out on when going for healing and boon duration. Virtually useless on the battlefield.

Pic 8
Melandru. This is use when i go meditations and dont invest in PoV. With the right food nothing really sticks and the few long lasting ones you remove with smite conditions.

Here you can find fully buffed end game stats.
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/guardian/Guide-30-pts-in-valor-gameplay-Hammer/page/12#post3199084

Sticky this!

Please.

its all in the “more posting & formatting options.”

• bullet points (asterisk+word/sentence)

_ italic _
put an asterisk on each side of a sentence or word for bold

hi brutaly, first i want to thank you for that hell of a build ;D

i just becam 80 this night and the first thing to do was – getting a hammer :P

i got the hammer + 3 pieces of the AC set with preci/vit/heal (chest helm and pants) and the rest is just green knights set (cause i dont have enough money to spend ^^)

i took the runes of hoelbrak cause of my exotic armor i got more into heal and my power was very low

accesoires are pow/prec/tough with ruby jewels (ruby=berserker)
rings also but with emerald jewel (=knight)
amulet is berserker with ruby jewel

i go with 30 in honor so i can pick up empowering might, its nice with the 20%boon duration and also it was the cheapest rune with mightduration ^^

atm it comes to (all values are ~)

health 16600(700 heal – i dont know if its worth that much)
tough 1500 (2700 armor)
critch. 39% (crit dmg ONLY 43!! )

i want to get my crit up to over 40 and maybe u can give me a/some tipps which of the items i should change for another to make it more balanced… its my first 80 and im kind of a noob so i hope you can help me

(sry if me english isnt the best, its not my native language – but i read it isnt yours either so i hope you can forgive me that :P )

thx again for that super build

cu

VOTE FOR STICKY

I want to say good job on the remade guide. I also want to add some of my perspective on PvE since you already cover most in PvP:

Utilites:

Hallowed Ground: this skill needs to be in its own section. HG and SYG are two of our strongest support utilities. Stability is very rare among all the professions, but we have two, not to mention that it’s for the whole group. HG is a must on some encounter such as the Inquests in Arah Ex Mursaat or the first bosses in CM Ex Asura and Butler even if you don’t have 10 points in Virtue.

Shield of the Avenger: even though this is a spirit weapon skill, it’s extremely powerful in conjunction with Wall of Reflect on fights against a large amount of range enemies such as the riflemen in CM Ex.

Meditations – Smite Condition and Contemplation of Purity: our two “active” condition removals. Very useful on fights against mobs that you can’t risk yourself having to gamble on the passive condition removal. Example would be the Bandit Cutpurse in CM Ex. One Death Blossom will equal to 12 bleed stacks AND a poison.

Purging Flame: same as above but group condition removal. Bonus: provides a 5 seconds fire field.

In PvE, especially dungeons, you need to have every single weapon in your bag. You will need them whether to travel across the trap room with Flash Blade + Judge’s Intervention or use Protector’s Strike to group block certain boss mechanic like Kholer’s pull in AC ex or Staff’s mobility when you want to skip/move through a certain part of the dungeon. Not to mention that you can combine the hammer with greatsword to be an AoE powerhouse or with sword/torch for single target.

Also, VOTE FOR STICKY!

Thx guys

@Trugalunga i wll copy and paste your text, thx for the input.

Should all of them be under main utilities or should they be spilt up in two different sections?

You should split all the utilities into its own section: Shouts, Meds, Spirit Weapons, Consecration, and Signets.

not sure what the official way of asking for a sticky is but.. sticky this please!!

@Brutaly – thanks for ANOTHER great write-up. i’ve learnt so much from your previous thread and all the other regular contributors over there about the hammer. as you know, i’ve been a hammer user for a while, but i never did it any justice until reading your experiences and slowly learning and adapting to my own skill-level and play style.

p.s. are you still planning to post a vid of the animation skipping? just want to see it in action by you. :ppp i know your “policy” on videos haha

just sharing a bit from my experiences.. : ))
- since Brutaly is not as focused in PvE, i can attest that this build is EXTREMELY viable in PvE! when done right, you may find yourself always being the last man standing in a tough fight, or helping res people. once you realize all the synergies in this build and variations, it really is a beauty on the field

- a few variatons with mixing up #3, 4 and 5 for the hammer, which many people say are extremely situational. but be true, but i say why not create situations you can use them in?

• glad you mentioned using B against a wall. i do it all the time no matter in PvE or WvW or dungeons. people say, why would iw ant to smack an enemy away when i am melee-ing? use your surroundings, then you can learn to interrupt enemies, smash them against the wall. like you mentioend, on several occasions, i’ve been able to stop my allie sin WvW from being stomped using B, and the satisfaction it gives you seeing the enemy fly when they started the “Finish them” animation >:DDD
• again, in WvW, if straggler is trying to flee, i hit SE, MB to close or just dodge up, and then B them in the opposite direction, back to where my allies are chasing and it’s pretty much over then
• in addition to the ZE > MB > RoW and then start chain combo, i like to throw in a B after RoW, which again, knocks your enemies into the wall, and then start the combo from there. although usually enemies are trying to run, so with RoW, you’ll see them trip over themselves anyways
• B is great for position your enemies as well. in dungeons or PvE, i like to smack them into a corner, and then from there, chain and MB away

- small typo? in section 8 and under Honor, i assume you meant “EM” as opposed to “ME”? just to save some confusion while reading. if i was wrong, i apologize lol.

@DeamonDusk – glad you’re on board with the hammer! this build is truly fun and Brutaly among with many other hammer / crit build Guardian experts are great in this community. as regards to your crit chance , i am hovering around 38 as well. so i’m wondering if the main difference comes from a full set of exotic gear, vs rare or masterwork gear in terms of stats. hopefully Brutaly or someone else can answer this

oh, wanted to add on to what Trungalung wrote. i always carry all weapons wherever i run. especially dungeons as well.

for e.g. my second set in dungeons is almost always the scepter and shield. also, using CM as an example since there are so many turrets and ranged mobs
- scepter 3 [Chains of light] is another bind, which i like having. a long with ZE on hammer, it helps to be able to keep a lot of mobs or even bosses snared
- scepter 2 [smite] just to note is extremely powerful, especially against stationary objects (e.g. turrents, burrows, what not)
- shield 4 [Shield of Judgment] dmgs foes AND gives protection to allies in a wave shape in front of you —> more boons —> more AH
- shield 5 [Shield of Absoprtion] really helps against projectiles (absorbs) and as well as push enemies away (do just this according to the situation though. for e.g. if you see allies charging up a move or ele’s dropping AoEs on some mobs, you may not want to push them away just yet; can also detonate to heal allies, but i rarely use this

but always, always maining a hammer.

Updated the weapons chapter with pve specific information. Thx Trungalunga and akamon for the headsup and the content.

Updated chapter 16 utilities due to feedback from Trungalunga, thx feedback.

Vote for Sticky!!

Very good recap of the previous thread, Brutaly.
Will branch soon in the Lifestealing Build i am theorycrafting on, hope you don’t mind if i do a little copy/paste with credit asd

Thx, will continue myself with my dps healer/leecher concept, it looks very nice indeed.

Even if i dont like the hammer,this is really a great guide, i vote for sticky too.

there is one thing that i’m not convinced, and its about effectivness of the weapons rooster.
Hammer is a really great coice, mace i think can be really good, staff is good too.
Gs have some use with altruistic healing, but now not so good as the previous weapons, and for sword and scepter i dont see a real link, all the thing you can do with the last 2 weapons, you can do better with the first 3.

These are first rate guides.

My favourite thing to do in pvp with the hammer is use the 5 skill and after they run into it once, punt them into it, then Mighty Blow on their head. It demoralises them so much they just give up and try to run. Thieves just die.

A very solid article on the Guardian and your build Brutaly. I like your posts in the Guardian forums very positive from what I have seen.

Awesome, Brutaly. Thanks for boiling down the original 6+ page thread into one guide. Even though I followed it all, it’s been very educational to read your final impressions of the different builds you’ve tried and new tips and tricks you’ve picked up along the way.

Reading your original thread re-introduced me to my guardian; it changed the way I play and added a ton of satisfaction and enjoyment. The truly important thing to take away from it all is, as you mentioned, AH (though hammer has its own ‘virtues’ and I swear by it, myself).

Also, Vote for Sticky! Not sure how to do that officially, but this guide deserves it.

Very nice guide. Thank you for posting it for this community. Hopefully some of the information posted here will quell some of the whiners once they try it out. I run a very similar setup to the Crithammer myself.

I go with a 5/10/30/20/5 build (sPvP) and use a Berserker’s Amulet with 6 runes of Divinity. If anyone is curious as to the setup, here is the link: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQJARSlYgiCHHyKEfYFRuArCEsWAmCNmxrHOkiME;ToAg0CnoqxUjoGbNuak1sIYQA

The playstyle is very fun and allows you to survive almost any situation while still dolling out some respectable damage. With your Hammer, start channeling #5 and before it finishes, hit Judge’s Intervention and trap a target. Pop Stand Your Ground and start the Hammer chain. Finish it with a Mighty Blow and then Banish your opponent to knock them down against the wall of Ring of Warding. While they are knocked down, hit Zealot’s Embrace and quickly swap to your greatsword. Drop symbol of wrath and follow with a Whirling Wrath. Profit ensues.

As for your guide, Brutaly, thank you again for all the information and I’m sure it will help many people out. If I may suggest a couple of items, I would bold some of your more important text like ability names and perhaps sub-sections, just to make them slightly clearer. I would also specify which traits are located in which lines, bolding them as well, just for clarity’s sake. Hope you get your sticky!

Sticky! Great job!

I haven’t read it all yet but I can already tell this should be stickyed-the-hell-out of right next to [Guide/PVE] Guardian 101 – A Beginner’s Text

Outstanding guide, Brutaly. Thank you for your work. I really hope this gets stickied. I don’t know how, but I hope giving it a +1 will help.

@Ganzo
Regarding 1h sword and scepter in Tpvp, i find them to be really nice with hammer due to two reason:
1. hammer isnt a very good one on one weapon, both scepter and 1h sword are, imo those are the best one on one weapons we have.
2. hammer is slow and isnt fond of kiters, both scepter and 1h sword loves kiters.

And they do benefit from altruistic gameplay. especially 1h sword that hits fast and often and every crit is a heal. Ofc not as much as symbol weapons do but if im in a crowd i use the hammer.

AH gameplay isnt defense at all, its offense and as such the staff and mace inst really suited. Sure i could use GS as secondary, and lot of people do but honestly i find the gs to do the exact same job with equal dps, static symbol and infinite more dependent on cooldowns and its not even close to the mobility and aoe a hammer can display when stuff are on cd.. but thats me.

one other thing both hammer and sword has stuff thats slow and stationary and these two set help each other to set up huge hits. Zealots Embrace to use Zealots Defence. Skill 5 on the focus makes people move in and hit so they dont get the detonation and then you swap to hammer and ring of warding, if they move out, blink in and time the detonation and swap to hammer and ZE+MB or ZE+Row+MB or just MB+ZE+Chain.

The synergy between a low cd root on scepter and hammer is obvious to me, that cc makes things a lot more difficult for the opponent to avoid. The scepter hits hard and they cant come close and they cant run away.

In wvw there are a lot of other options as well but at least one option should be staff or scepter. Scepter works really nice on a berserker setup and hits really hard in open world pvp. Also great for catching up with runners.

In dungeons you should have all wepaons with you if you want to maximise the effect which also is added to the guide after feedback.

I dont play this like a frontline supporter i play it like an imperial stormtrooper.

@animus

Thx for the feedback and i will update it when i got time..

I incorporated judges intervention in the guide, its definitely ok to use it untraited in an AH build for all the purposes you mentioned and its also very nice indeed in some pve encounters as well. especially according to my experience that half the times you use it as a gapcloser and never get a heal from it anyway.

Great job and great post! Sticky and Sticky again!

Another great post bud, awesome work.

ANet please Sticky this.

Just throwing this out there….under consumables you have Artisan Maintenance Oil listed but the Master Maintenance Oil is a bit better, its 6% of toughness into precision and 4% of vit into precision over the 4%/2% of Artisan. It does say power on the Master version but it is precision. Might help out some if you are still a bit low on precision. Great guild Brutaly, lets make this is a sticky already!

@Ellrik
Thx for the heads up, had three different ones in my 125 slot inventory and read on the wrong one.

Fixed in the text

whats your second weapon?
i want to know your thought about using 2h sword as second weapon.
And how do you think about using rune of melandru?
i use these runes. cuz i love to rush into enemies.

Btw, thx to guide!

@Tazdingo
Depends what i do, i use all of them, except mace, from time to time.

GS sure for max burst and tagging mobs in pve when farming karma. I pvp i find that gs and hammer do the same thing and that gs is to cooldown dependent for doing damage and also has less reliable dps when stuff are on cd and also less aoe.

But im biased, otherwise i wouldnt have written the guide, so im probabaly the wrong guys to ask.

Only used them in spvp during BWE and i find soldiers runes to be better since those also removes conditions and has both vit and tough, but if it fits your playstyle you should definitely use them.

I think its better to remove the threat then reducing it.

Just a quick reply to say THANK YOU and to tag for later. Too much good info, I couldn’t even get through it all in my short lunch break!

I read pretty much all of the Crithammer thread and am looking forward to this one even more!

WOW what an awesome post, Sticky!