Guild Wars 2

@Akamon
Yeah i have those and i also tested a lot of other stuff like different AH builds and as soon as my workload in rl goes down i will make an update of the OP.

Short answer regarding magi accessories is they are really nice and absolutely worth it if your into a more healer centric build. A really nice combination in zergs is sigil of bloodlust for dps and max crit and stacking vigor with my warrior friend and dodgeheal the team every 5th second while doing respectable damage with a 0/0/30/20/20 build or 0/0/30/30/10.

I never go full pre/vit/heal setup though, it turns us into a heal bot and i think that is a waste of space in wvw but thats is more of a personal preference since i like to max the output and a full healer/pre/vit isnt maxing the output.

I’m wearing full exotic Knight’s with mostly exotic Knight’s trinkets. Back piece is Soldier’s until I can find a Knight’s. All weapons Berserker’s with Sigil of STR on the Hammer, Ice on the Scepter and Hydromancy on the shield (for now anyways). Right now, with truffle ravioli, I’m sitting at 46% crit. The runes, though, are 6x Altruism. The price was right at 50sp per or so and 2 buffs on heal seemed like an excellent fit. That about right or should I have gone for something else?

@Brutaly – ahh very cool. i misunderstood then. so it’s only the jewlry where you use pre/vit/heal gear? that makes a lot more sense. : )) i’m sure you covered this somewhere, but where do you get pre/vit/heal jewelry? they only come in rare quality right? so i assume off drops / TP. the dodgeroll heal is AWESOME with added healing i must say.

recently put together a close to full healing build and it’s actually doing quite well. able to stay alive and push the front line more in a sense, while still being able to do decent dmg, and keeping allies alive. though i keep swiching back and forth between these styles and adapting and learning both. hoping to keep adding more styles ; )))

looking forward to the updates! and Happy new year buddy!! have a great one ahead of ya.

@brogarn – ooh interesting setup with ice on the scepter. that should help with keeping foes to stay in your smite! how’s it been working out so far? i think for the backpiece, you can keep the soldier’s since i feel your crit chance is pretty good aclready. regarding the runes, they’re interesting! and i feel could work. the fury is nice, so technically with a full set, on each heal you get might + fury. which is some additional healing as well. at the same time, i don’t use my “heal skill #6” enough for me to justify using this set (as i try to make the most useful AH before i need to put my #6 on cd). with this build, i personally prefer other runes. but i won’t say you should have gone for something else entirely. as long as you feel it works for you. : )))

@Akamon
I have both full exotic armor and rare jewelry and two exotic rings (claw of howling king) with vit/pre/heal on them.

The fact is when i change role on the battlefield i mainly switch gear since i have different secondary effect in the runes. In pre/vit/heal i use monk and water, in my pov/vit/tough i use 5*ranger and some random precision rune and in my berserker and knights i use soldiers runes.

The thing i change last are my accessories which i have the above mentioned and full knights and berserker accessories and also a couple of vit/pov/tough from wvw.

And then you add in add in 3 weapons with different sigils/stats except hammer which i have 5 of. So i can actually tailor my gear for every occasion now. The different sigils in my weapons compensate some what for the “loss” of stats i get when i change gear. For instance i run with bloodlust with pre/vit/heal to compensate for the lack of attack.

awesome build mate props 4 that.

after mixmatching stuff i came up with the following gearcomposition (see screenshot)

Knightsweapons, zerker back knights jewelery (Neck and 1 ring = valk) chest+pants= str vit tough.

divinity runes 6/6

0/15/30/20/5 spec

So, using full knight’s with runes of altruism has been working pretty great. But I want to swap out to soldier’s for more condition removal. I’m thinking pre/hp/vit gear from AC with full soldier’s runes. I think I’d just keep my current knight’s accessories.

Anyone with PvE builder or better math skills than myself let me know if this gear strategy would work out well enough? Thanks in advance.

Still love the build, btw. Couldn’t imagine running w/o it. Just so much durability and group support/healing without feeling like I’m hitting like a wet noodle.

@Brutaly – ah, thanks fopr the breakdown! i actually have multiple sets as well. 3 and counting. various hammers, greatswords, and other weapons too so it’s been fun switching on the fly. the only thing is some builds require me to re-trait as well. i have PVT gear as well but i actually didn’t like it as much as my knight’s or healing gear. most likely due to the low precision, but not enough boon duration to make up for that. the 5x ranger + another prec rune is a good alternative. i’ll have to look into that. we have pretty mcuh the same rune setups on the other two sets. slowly working my way up to get more hammers for every occasion.

may seem a silly question, but have you been sticking with AH this entire though as the staple for all your builds?

@brogarn – the only thing i would be concerned about is the loss of toughness from your armour. i personally feel toughness is one of the most key stats for the Guardian (am sure the berserker advocates would beg to differ though). but that’s just me. and you still have the 300 from traits, jewelry and runes. perhaps you can try a mix of knight’s and magi’s (pre/vit/HP) to start with? keeping the chest and pants as knight’s and the rest you can try out for magi’s?

akamon.2769:

may seem a silly question, but have you been sticking with AH this entire though as the staple for all your builds?

No i try different builds every gamesession, own inventions but also what people advocate on these forums. But tbh i havent found any 2 hand option to be as valid as AH as long its support/dps for wvw you want to play and i havent found anything as valid in dungeons either.

Imo they should merge monks focus and AH and place them lower, as meta they are forcing us to spend almost a majority of our points in one tree which narrows down the number of possible builds. If they were placed lower it would open up for more valid builds imo.

@akamon

I was hoping to make up some amount of toughness with the soldier’s runes along with additional vitality. Now I’m not so sure. I wish there was armor that was HP/Toughness/Precision. :P

I’m honestly not quite sure why I’m tweaking my armor. It works fantastic as is. It’s like I can’t stop tinkering! My intent, though, was to get more HP and precision along with more condition removal. I might, however, switch to Cleric’s weapons from Berserker’s, and use lemongrass soup for condition reduction time. Hmm… but that might reduce my precision too much.

/ponder

I really wish I had access to a pve/wvw builder!

brogarn.8723:

I really wish I had access to a pve/wvw builder!

What about this one?

ExquisitePriide.6302:

Does anybody have working links to the original builds? Whenever I follow the links it just takes me to an empty skills page.

Same here, can we get this fixed? Looks like it’s been broken for some time now.

@brogarn – haha, i completely know where you’re coming from. i’m consatntly tinkiering with my gear, build, weapons, traits… add on food, runes, sigils.. it never ends! i almost want to roll 4 more guardian alts so i can play everything i come up with lol

HP/tough/prec would be ridiculous :OOO i have one full knight’s with soldiers, running AH. and then i have a cleric/magi mix set, healing / boon duration runes. but my crit chance % is virtually non-existent. so both very durable, i survive well enough just very different playing styles. i have fun with both. given i haven’t tried messing around TOO Much, it seems hard to find some middle ground with these in mind (high cirt and high healing).

hmm one thing you could do is maybe try to get a magi weapon? which is HP/vit/prec – so you’d be giving up some power, maintain crit chance, and gain some healing power so you can use it according to the situation? so the tradeoff would be is the healing gained from that HP enough to offset the loss in dps? though i’m assuming you’ll be playing slightly, if ever so, more defensive with that weapon set.

@Kainazzo – it’s meant to be that way : )) Brutaly’s only laid out the basics of the build, but allowing us, the users, to pick and choose how we want to build the major traits specifically – depending on runes, gear, weapons and skills we choose to use.

Am I missing something, AH only heals yourself, so how would it be good for support? Sorry I am very new to guardians

Davi.4920:

Am I missing something, AH only heals yourself, so how would it be good for support? Sorry I am very new to guardians

AH in it self isnt good at support, in fact AH on its own does nothing.

Its when you support that AH gets good and the better you are at supporting your allies the stronger the trait becomes. Basically, the more boons you give to allies the more survivability you get and the more dps you will be able to do.

just a question,i’m leveling up a guardian(actually at 60) and i already prepared the build and the equip for it(full knight) but i got a question for you .
actually my build is this
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQNAS5elYgKCXFyvDfIFRuA7DEETBGz41DHSRGC;TYAqiMFJKyWkrIZRA (copy and paste this link on your andress tab cause it keep say bad link if you directly click on it)
as you can see i use 2 shout(i will use sy on wvw and htl for the dungeon) and soj(ill switch between soj and wall of reflection ,depend on situation.
The main problem for me is that i want to insert empowering might (30 honor) on my build ,but i cant decide what trait i shuold remove.
It is whort for you to remove some trait for use empowering might,or it’s just a waste of point?

brogarn.8723:

So, using full knight’s with runes of altruism has been working pretty great. But I want to swap out to soldier’s for more condition removal. I’m thinking pre/hp/vit gear from AC with full soldier’s runes. I think I’d just keep my current knight’s accessories.

Anyone with PvE builder or better math skills than myself let me know if this gear strategy would work out well enough? Thanks in advance.

Still love the build, btw. Couldn’t imagine running w/o it. Just so much durability and group support/healing without feeling like I’m hitting like a wet noodle.

Your idea threw a wrench in my plans to get full soldier’s armor, with berserker trinkets. I’ve been crunching numbers all day. Here’s what I found.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/guardian/Which-equipment

I’m still not sure to be honest.

If im using knight’s armor, should I concentration on healing for my trinkets/runes?

@Sharez – it’s entirely up to how you want to play. i’ve played the AH build both with and without the Empowering Might traits (even when 30 in honor) and i don’t feel it’s build breaking. some may argue otherwise, but i’ve never felt it was a “must-have”. certainly nice to have though. if you’re sticking with the hammer, i personally like having two-handed mastery, but again, it’s not required. so you can try switching that out for empowering might and see how it plays for you.

if you’re looking to try out a completely different trait setup, i used to run 0/15/30/20/5 and then i switched to 0/5/30/30/5 and loved it. then i did a 0/0/30/30/10 and loved it even more. i’ve also tried 10/0/30/30/0 and 0/10/30/30/0 annd they all work well. that’s the thing, these aren’t even the only options for an AH build as wel. so fiddle around with it and see what suits you best! : ))) i personally really enjoy longer lasting symbols and / or larger symbols. both very powerful in that trait line as well.

@WRod – when i first started running the AH build, i was full Knight’s gear and trinkets and never felt the need for more healing power. i think you could go for it if you don’t lose out on crit too much. and it can be a decent way to add some vit to your build using the healing/pre/vit stats. before any of that though, what trinkets are you using now?

in terms of runes – use whatever you want to focus more on. you can go with monk x3 and water x3 for more healing and 30% boon duration. or you could build for more suvivability and the ever-so-popular soldiers x6 for condition removal on shouts as well. and there are many other options.

^

I am not running anything atm. I power leveled my guardian to 80 im just trying to look at options for his build. I dont have the armor yet but ready to buy. What do u guys recommend for a good AH build with good survival/dps?

ahh okay gotcha. excited for you : )) in regards to gear, as mentioned, i ran full knight’s everything and the build worked wonders for me. if you wanted a bit more survivability, some opt with a mix of valkyrie jewelry, or even go as far as getting soldier’s chest / pants for starters. though i prefer not to miss out on crit chance %. on the other hand, if you want a bit more dmg, some like to throw in a mix of berserker’s gear as well (either actual armour or jewelry).

i personally felt Knight’s gear and jewelry held up pretty well and didn’t feel the need for extra vit from gear. i did use soldier runes x6 for the added benefit of some tough/vit and more condition removal though.

and do remember to utilize your dodges well! the heal from that with just the +300 healing from the traits add a lot already. and have fun!!

Wrod, why not read the guide, its in the same thread as you post in and there is an answer there to your question.

The whole reason i wrote it was that people should have a place where they could find info regarding hammer and AH in particular and the rest of the forums could be used for better stuff then the eternal question of gear for specific builds.

Thanks Akamon.

Brutaly, I did read the thread and I appreciate your thread. I learned a lot about the guardian and to be honest this thread is the reason I created one. I see you list the armour/jewelry by priority, are you saying its a good idea to use all knight’s since its list first on the priority list?

Yes, knights are a match made in heaven, the more toughness and the less health you have the more effective AH becomes. They also offer high critrating and decent power which makes them very suited for soldiers runes in combination with shouts.

I switched from Altruism to Soldier’s last night because while everything else was working fantastically, I felt that I was weak on condition removal. Soldier’s are relatively cheap right now, so that’s the direction I went (I use full Knight’s gear, Maintenance Oil and Truffle Ravioli). Worked out pretty well I think. Lost about 150 points of HP, though, so my healing is less than it used to be. I’ll have to play with it a few more nights to really get a feel for how much I lost and what I gained in return.

EDIT: Replaced Soldier’s Spineguard with Magi’s and gained 45 HP without any significant loss. Might swap out Truffle Ravioli for Spicy Chocolate Cookie for food to get back the other 100 HP.

Thanks a lot for this wonderful build. I will try this. My female gardien looks wonderful and threatening with her two handed hammer, I like it.

I have a question though… this build is supposed to be used for level 80 of course, as all builds are. My gardian is just level 20 right now. Do you have some kind of step by step levelling tips? I mean, what I should aim at first for traits? AH is a grandmaster traits, so I should be 60 to learn it. So, what are the first ones I should learn and in what order?

Thanks

-5 points in virtues
-15 points in radiance
Those are for improving leveling speed, having voj up on every kill is massive in pve.
-Then after that i would invest 30 points and get AH
-and then end up with 20 points to get 2h mastery.

Thanks a lot. Your guide, along with the guardian 101 guide (sticky as well), is a great help for me. I love my guardian, as I can do so many different things with a single class…

And even more important… my female guardian looks so cool when idled with her staff in hand (more cool than with the staff in the back so every once in a while I strike in the void just to have her putting her staff in hand), so impressive with a greatsword or hammer, and so cool with anything else

I’ll have to check back to see what traits is at 10 in radiance And what traits to take at 10 and 20 before AH, and at 10 before 2H mastery.

2H mastery is a bit situational I guess. Sure, in your hammer build it is useful, but if I need to change weapons for 1h and off-hand weapons at some times, according to the enemies I’m facing, I guess I ’ll take another trait while I have this…

hithlain – i sure do apprecaite your love for the Guardian class! am sure many of us appreciate it as well. glad you’re having so much fun with!!

i went with Blind Exposure for Radiance 10, since that mildly synergizes with Virtue of Justice (F1) and since it recharges so fast. plus they recently buffed it, as well as if you like using the swords.

i want to say 2H mastery is nice to have, but by no means necessary for this build to work. and one of the reasons like you pointed out. even with the hammer, i felt it wasn’t as necessary in WvW as i felt it was in PvE. though that might just be my personal playstyle. as in WvW/PvP, i mix up #4, #5 and #3 a lot more as well so i’m not always counting on a #2 everytime i do a chain plus dodge.

i personally feel the symbols in the Honor line are extremely strong so I had a lot of fun with those early on. : )))

in regards to Valor, retributive armor is a strong contender as it just adds more precision and with this build and set up with Knight’s gear, your toughness is high so you benefit quite a bit from that trait.

Thanks.
Now my guardian is just 26. Cannot go higher than 10 in any trait until what… level 40, right? I have put 10 in radiance, 5 in virtues, and the remaining for now in the line which increases toughness…

I have not taken blind exposure yet because for now I play with a hammer and as alternate weapon a staff… so I have not seen any way to blind enemies. I’m perhaps wrong though. If I remember well I have taken signet mastery to reduce signet cooldown.

I’ll have to read the guide again… there are so much info, it is hard to remember all this.

Since the game launch, I’ve been playing a Guardian (a Norn Guardian), and I love him! Sure I have some alt characters, but when I’m ready to do some serious work in any part of the game (PvE, WvW, Dungeons, you name it) I head for my Guardian.

Brutaly, with this guide you’ve helped me see how to play my Guardian the way I LOVE to play him as! I tweaked a little bit here and there, and this is what I’ve got running:

All Armor Pieces: Full Exotic Power / Toughness / Vitality w Emerald Orbs in each piece.

All Accessories: Full Emerald Orichalcum pieces with the Exquisite Emerald Jewels.

Back Piece: Currently Clerics Spineguard of the Cleric.

Weapons:
All of my weapons have the same stat traits of Precision / Vitality / Healing Power

Main is a Hammer with the Superior Sigil of Perception
2nd Weapon is a Staff with the Superior Sigil of Energy.

Those are the two main weapons that I’ve focused on and use mainly, but I also have the following backup weapons to utilize depending upon the situation:

Focus with the Superior Sigil of the Hydromancer;
Scepter with the Superior Sigil of Force;
Greatsword with the Superior Sigil of Fire;

Traits:
I’m traited at 0/15/30/20/5, taking Blind Exposure, Purity, Retributive Armor, Alturistic Healing, Superior Aria, and Empowering Might as my Major Traits.

[b]Healing, Utilities, & Elite:[b]
Typically, I run with the following, ready for action:

Signet of Resolve,
Smite Condition,
Hold the Line,
Stand Your Ground,
Renewed Focus

But depending on the situation (and very rare situations in where I do need to switch something) I utilize Tome of Courage for mass group healing.

Final Stats:
Now, without food and without buffs from WvW, just by gear alone, I stand ready to face the horrors of Tyria with the following:

Power: 1658
Precision: 1777
Toughness: 1963
Vitality: 1468

Attack: 2769
Condition Damage: 150

Critical Chance: 45%
Critical Damage: 30

Armor: 3174
Health: 16325
Healing: 422

Once I have my 25 stacks of Precision from my Hammer, my Crit Chance is will over 55%, making every other hit a Critical.

If I go up with a knight set, how will I get my crit-damage to 50% ? Does precision inflict that stat too ?

btw someone in game told me knight or cleric sets are both draconic sets, and look the same, this is the same armor you make with either knight or cleric stats. Is it true?

Thanks

hithlain.4385:

btw someone in game told me knight or cleric sets are both draconic sets, and look the same, this is the same armor you make with either knight or cleric stats. Is it true?

Thanks

Yes that is true, same thing for the Berserker, Valkyrie, etc. The sets look the same because of the crafting level, “Draconic” – the Berserker and the rest of those names lets you know what kind of stats it will have.

Ok. Because I saw on the forums, don’t remember where, someone supposed to be in cleric armor, but the look was not the same as the draconic set someone showed me yesterday in game. So I guess the guy on the forum has changed the cleric armor look.
As I don’t like the look of the draconic set, it is not “knightish” or “clericish” enough for me if you see what I mean ^^

hithlain.4385:

Ok. Because I saw on the forums, don’t remember where, someone supposed to be in cleric armor, but the look was not the same as the draconic set someone showed me yesterday in game. So I guess the guy on the forum has changed the cleric armor look.
As I don’t like the look of the draconic set, it is not “knightish” or “clericish” enough for me if you see what I mean ^^

Yes, most probably transmuted the set to some other armour’s appearance. So Draconic armor for stats but another set for its looks using Fine Transmutation Stones.

would the incoming AOE nerf affect guardian and this build in any way?

I could use some advice on gearing up a bit. I run a bit of an odd build, not quite on the recommended list. The Face Tank – 0/0/30/30/10.

Note: I currently use 2 Monk, 2 Water, 2 Monk (Major) for 40% boon duration[yes, it works] +10% from traits = 50%. Permanent protection without requiring the extended duration trait. Which lets me instead go for the wider AoE Trait. [My Warrior friends love me.]

Second Note: Named so because I’ve run AC so many times I now pop SyG and HtL and Face Tank Khoeler’s entire attack routine. For fun.

My 8 skill is generally one of: Wall of Reflection, Purging Flames, Stand your Ground, or Retreat! depending on the fight mechanics. Sometimes “Save Yourselves!”. [Especially against flame throwers or Ice breath since Wall won’t help.]

I typically swap out scepter/focus for staff when I need ranged.

Current Stats By Hammer: (Knight’s) – (Magi)
Pow: 1,598 – 1,440
Pre: 1,779 – 1,770
Tough: 2,136 – 1,957
Vit: 1230 – 1,358
Crit: 45% – 45%
Armor: 3,347 – 3,168
HP: 13,945 – 15,225
Attack: 2,709 – 2,581

My questions mostly pertain to Ascended Gear. Is it worth using outside of fractals? What rings should I get? There are no “Knight’s” ascended rings, and I don’t think they can use jewels either? (Or can they?)

I’m really debating on using Solaria / Lunaria (all stats), or going with Red Ring of Death / Bagh Nak (Power, Prec, Crit Damage). The former to give me enough Vit to use my Knight’s Hammer, the latter to help increase my lack of attack/damage while using Magi.

I’m not sure which is the better idea. Or are the ascended just bad for us? [It really seams to me that I will be losing crit % no matter what Ascended I go with, and that is one stat I really want to boost most.]

hello to OP and other seasoned hammer guardians,

my new guardian just became 80 earlier this week and I’ve followed this thread for weeks while leveling him. I’ve geared him up based on the recommendations and these are my stats:

Current Stats By Hammer: (Knight’s armor + berserker/valk accessories)
Pow: 1885
Pre: 1802
Tough: 1591
Vit: 1340 – 1468 (depends on which hammer I use)
Crit chance: 40% – 46% (depends on which hammer I use)
Crit dmg: 82%
Armor: 2802
HP: 15045 – 16325 (depends on which hammer I use)
Attack: 2906

my trait is currently 0/5/30/30/5 (before was 0/15/30/20/5)

but I have not seen my MB hit for over 5K. It has hit for low to high 4k when enemy is down, but before down state it usually hit for low to high 3K. My food buff are master maintenance oil and +100 precision and 10% dmg. So I am really curious are all of you hitting 5K regularly with your MB?

I mostly use hammer attack 1 and 2 with the occasional 3 to 5 depends on situation, and I am still learning about the animation skipping trick. Any tips and advice will be greatly appreciated, thanks.

hithlain.4385:

Thanks.
Now my guardian is just 26. Cannot go higher than 10 in any trait until what… level 40, right? I have put 10 in radiance, 5 in virtues, and the remaining for now in the line which increases toughness…

I have not taken blind exposure yet because for now I play with a hammer and as alternate weapon a staff… so I have not seen any way to blind enemies. I’m perhaps wrong though. If I remember well I have taken signet mastery to reduce signet cooldown.

I’ll have to read the guide again… there are so much info, it is hard to remember all this.

The synergy comes from the first minor trait in Radiance, which makes Virtue of Justice do an AOE blind. It won’t really shine until you can put 15 points in Radiance for the second minor trait, which refreshes Virtue of Justice on each kill.

I’m taking the same path as you (just hit 32 last night) and I’m really liking it. The only thing that’s giving me trouble so far are mobs that attack quickly with heavy conditions (destroyer crabs), I’m contemplating switching a utility out for Bow of Truth for those fights. Purging Flames could be nice but fire against destroyers is no fun.

Just for kicks I figured out my point distribution as I level in a way that works ingame:
10-40: 5 Virtues, 10 Radiance, 10 Valor, fill in last 4 points with Honor or Zeal
40-60: Start with 5 Virtues, 15 Radiance, 10 Valor, add to Valor to 20, then add to Honor
60-80: Start with 5 Virtues, 15 Radiance, 30 Valor, add to Honor for the rest

rchu.8945:

but I have not seen my MB hit for over 5K. It has hit for low to high 4k when enemy is down, but before down state it usually hit for low to high 3K. My food buff are master maintenance oil and +100 precision and 10% dmg. So I am really curious are all of you hitting 5K regularly with your MB?

Dont remember the name of the food (at work) but switch master maintenance oil for the one that gives you power based on vitality and toughness.

Use scepter/shield/focus and hammer berserker ofc, fit those with sigils that give you three stacks of might on swap for 20 seconds and the off hand should have might on crit. Trait empowering might and use the two consecrations that give fire fields which you trigger for 3 stacks and 25 s duration. Those consecrations are one of the best supportools we have as well. Hallowed ground is also a massive heal for you when placed in the right spot and just awesome for the team in wvw.

Use three different runes for 60% longer duration on might.

Start the fight with what ever weapon thats suited, swap as often as you can and when you have 12 stacks, you pull the fire fields and trigger them and then you pull VoJ on top of that. With this setup you should have no issues getting 21-23 stacks of might for 10 seconds and its here the big hits start coming.

Just by weaponswapping you should have 12-15 stacks.

But you need a specific build for this with a very specific type of gameplay.

I’m near 58 now. And yes, the mobs with heavy conditions are a pain, I can die quickly. Perhaps the utility which converts all conditions to boons would be fine then, and with AH (I don’t have it yet), more boons means more healing.

I still hesitate between this kind of build and the healway guardian build I saw elsewhere on the forum, perhaps at 60 I’ll try the healway path to check how it works…
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/guardian/WvW-PvE-The-Healway-Guardian/first

Trait purity and use healing signet, there is no need for more conditionremovers then that in pve.

Or/and slot smite conditions.

In pve the need for conditionremovers is very limited imo and if you have the above and still have issues something else is wrong.

In fact I have noticed I have the most issues against undeads, especially when you’re outnumbered, when you’re fighting a few at once. Undeads spam conditions, especially poison, you can remove them, sure, but as soon as you have removed one, another one is popping because there are many undeads.

And with poison your life drops that fast that I have to activate my condition removal signet, and so after that I have no more condition removal every 10s, except purity.

And often with undeads I have 4 or 5 conditions at once, too many for purity or the condition removal signet…

Hello! Been following this thread for a while and I’ve already started on my guardian and he’s at 80. Currently wearing full knights with 6 soldier runes running 0/5/30/30/5 gunning Altruistic Healing and Empowering might.

Haven’t tested him in WvW in earnest yet and I was informed that I will be better served by a greatsword with my build rather than the hammer. I was also told that I won’t heal enough to keep myself up using AH and empowering might. Might I ask what your comments on these statements are?

Also as a follow up question, what accessories, rings and amulet do I use and how do I gem them? Thank you

I’ve been meaning to work with my EM/AH build more.
Thanks again for the information.

ThePaladin.2140:

Hello! Been following this thread for a while and I’ve already started on my guardian and he’s at 80. Currently wearing full knights with 6 soldier runes running 0/5/30/30/5 gunning Altruistic Healing and Empowering might.

Haven’t tested him in WvW in earnest yet and I was informed that I will be better served by a greatsword with my build rather than the hammer. I was also told that I won’t heal enough to keep myself up using AH and empowering might. Might I ask what your comments on these statements are?

Also as a follow up question, what accessories, rings and amulet do I use and how do I gem them? Thank you

Both weapons work, play the one you like the most. If you run on small parties i would consider GS, in aoe fights with zergs i would consider hammer. They do different things and should be be looked upon as that.

The build you use have more than enough survivability in wvw. Its just a matter of knowing what you do. You can even play a 15/30/20/5 build and it will work. If people say it dont just means they they havent figured out how yet.

If you need more survivability add in omnomberry pie and master maintenance oil, personally i use other consumables btu they are there and are silly OP with the build you have.

agreed with Brutaly regarding GS in small groups and hammer for zergs. though, again, both work in both situations. i have a build that i run with both GS and hammer since i can benefit from the DPS and control that both offer.

again, this can never be stated enough, i carry all weapons on me and i switch my weapons and sets quite often while i WvW. sure some weapons work “better” with AH, but it’s not to say the others don’t work at all.. and changing traits where it’s applicable for different situations. of course, sometimes you’ll be stuck with a certain weapon set when forced into combat when you least expect it.

thank you for this guide, I enjoyed hammering even more now, great job Brutaly !

First, let me thank Brutaly for an awesome guide. It helped me a lot working on my guardian WvWvW build.

After the latest patch (28th of january) I have a question to all of you though:

Is just me, or did Anet figure out a way to remove the ability to animationskip with the latest update? I could do it just fine last night. After the update the amount of animation I manage to skip, by dodgerolling, is almost not noticeable if there is any at all. It for sure doesn’t break the dodge halfway through to start strike number 3.

It’s not a big deal, and Anet might not have intended it to be possible at all, but I’m one of those people that really like animation/comboskipping in games. It brings another level of skill into the picture and skill>gear is so much more rewarding to me than the “gear-grind to win” approach a lot of other games have gone with. Not trying to say removing animationskipping will make GW2 a more gearbased game at all. And I do have what I (after reading this guide) deem to be “best in slot” for my build, mind you, and just love that it only gives me a slight edge in WvWvW if I find my self in a 1v1. Just like animationskipping was.

Just like the poster before me, I can no longer perform animation skipping. Kind of a bummer since it was fantastic in conjuction with Selfless Daring, +40% endurance regeneration food and perma vigor.

Still, thank you so much for this amazing guide. I love benefitting others in combat and the whole concept of AH Hammer gameplay helped me to accomplish this a whole lot better.