Guild Wars 2

I’m posting this from my phone so bear with me. Also keep in mind this post is from a wvw standpoint.
Why the hammer is great
First let’s get into why the hammer is the best melee weapon for a Guardian to use. Massive mighty blow hits, aoe retal, an area barrier and a slow but effective snare. These high points make the hammer nearly invaluable in a tower capping or zerg setting. The air barrier can effectively split a zerg down the middle or block a cap point while mighty blow deals the most reliable big hits a guardian can dish out every 4 seconds. A well implemented banish can remove an enemy from a fight completely. And the benefit of an aoe retal is obvious in a wvw setting. Overall the hammer is the most reliable and effective weapon a guardian can use in wvw besides a staff.

Now let’s discuss the bad points
Hammer auto 3rd is the arguable the most difficult and telegraphed hit for a guardian to land. It’s only real use will be seen in tight quarters fighting. a Think a shorter cast time would make this a far more usefull and rele move. We already have the least mobility in the game why do we have skills that require us to stay on target for extended time to hit also?

Banish is hugely telegraphed and not generally very useful in that it only affects one target and essentially gives them a reset unless you boot them off a cliff or into a nearby wall. If this were turned into a frontal cone aoe it would make this skill a legitimate option for cc in a zerg fight. Decrease the knockback range and increase the number of targets by two. This imo would be the best fix to hammer they could make and the rest wouldn’t be necessary.

As for out aoe barrier the cast time renders it almost useless as a trap unless combined with ji. While its still good for breaking up a zerg I think removal of the casting time is necessary.

Also a 10 or 20 percent damage buff to mighty blow would be amazing though probably op.

In closing I don’t necessarily think all of these should be added because they would obviously make the hammer so op as to be a grief issue but I think any one or two of those changes would turn the hammer from necessary but frustrating tool to invaluable weapon to guardians looking for control.

They aren’t going to change anything Jackmo. The devs either don’t understand their game or don’t think the Guardian has any problems. This has been talked about a bunch of times and still little to no change made to any Guardian weapons

I’m guessing you’re talking spvp?

WvW. And I take back my previous statement. They did add a 300 range jump to the ability, however without that the hammer would be completely useless. As it stands right now its a decent weapon thats really good when you combine it with other abilities instead of it being great on its own. Actually that could be the Guardian’s motto:

This class is good when you combine a few things.

They don’t need to remove the cast time on RoW, but they could stand to have it castable while moving (with no reduction in speed I’d say) which would help the “start-stop” feel I get with hammer. Also, the AA and Banish may serve some cast time reductions, but not too huge, and Banish could definitely use a 3 (or 5) target cap. Zealot’s Embrace could also use either a faster projectile speed, or a faster cast time, as its a bit off as well.

Ring of Warding usable while moving.

Glacial Heart- ICD lowered to 10-15 seconds, and also 5% damage increase.

I like the RoW while moving more. That would still make it avoidable but easier to use on chase. And yeah glaciel heart improvement would be perfect. Greatsword gets a boost why not hammer.

Ha.
Haha.
I found Sorrengild on the forums.

I agree with your points- Hammer is definitely a great weapon (in sPvP as well); it’s hard to say otherwise. Still, the third attack in the auto chain could use a little bit of a rework. I don’t main a guard, but I’d think that since it’s a symbol, it’ll probably trigger whether or not you hit an opponent (please correct me if I’m wrong). If that’s the case, then the skill in and of itself isn’t that bad, but it probably could use a change to its functionality so as to make the Hammer a more fluid weapon. In its current state, I find it too sluggish to be all that useful for me, though that’s probably mostly because of the fact that I’m in love with mobility of all sorts.

Kitten I’ve been found. Lol yeah it needs to feel more fluid, theres a feeling of start and stop with it.

I don’t agree with this in the slightest.

Do you know what cancel casting is?

The Guardian is the most balanced class, so the devs say…
They’re not gonna change it.

If u mean cancel casting like its used in other games gw2 doesnt do that very well.

i like hammer with JI. it works nicely with meditation builds, and support cleric builds for control and blast finishing. hammer is okay with typical pvt setup, but i much prefer GS.

I have an idea!
Use a different weapon for WvW. Hammer kicks kitten in PvE.

After the recent update to stun breaks, it solidified the fact that i’ll probably never touch Hammer in sPvP again. It’s too slow and easily predictable. When you hit someone with a Banish, they deserve to go flying, regardless of them using a stun break. It’s one of the most obvious of windups and is incredibly easy to dodge.

Zanshin.5379:

The Guardian is the most balanced class, so the devs say…
They’re not gonna change it.

Well in that case ANet better start nerfing because there are 5 other proffessions that need to be toned down by a mile to be as “balanced” as we are

RoW is fantastic when coupled with Judge’s Intervention.

dace.8019:

RoW is fantastic when coupled with Judge’s Intervention.

You shouldn’t have to use a 2nd skill to get the first one to work.

Arlette.9684:

dace.8019:

RoW is fantastic when coupled with Judge’s Intervention.

You shouldn’t have to use a 2nd skill to get the first one to work.

QFT.

FIRSTLY I shouldnt have to use a different weapon if I enjoy hammer. All options should be viable or why have them. So use a different weapon is a useless argument. Second arlette is right why do I have to waste a utility slot on a gap closer I dont need just to make a move useful in trapping. (Which is what row is intended for. Keeping your opponent in melee range.)

I invite you all to go to https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/balance
and sharing all your observations and suggestions.

Who knows, maybe this time ANet will actually listen.

Pokeball build: IJ -> RoW

Arlette.9684:

You shouldn’t have to use a 2nd skill to get the first one to work.

Agreed; but you don’t. RoW works very well in alot of circumstances, it’s extremely powerful so needs an in-built obstacle, a root cast seems fair to me. Getting around that with a single meditation is building on, not fixing, the skill.

dace.8019:

Arlette.9684:

You shouldn’t have to use a 2nd skill to get the first one to work.

Agreed; but you don’t. RoW works very well in alot of circumstances, it’s extremely powerful so needs an in-built obstacle, a root cast seems fair to me. Getting around that with a single meditation is building on, not fixing, the skill.

With the uptime on stability some classes have (think the massive Warrior population nowadays) RoW is not even worth the 1 second cast, let alone using utility skill for it.

Everything has a counter, should we abandon conditions because of AoE cleansing? Stability is one of the hardest boons to reliably maintain/access for most professions anyway. And in PvE it’s pretty solid.

dace.8019:

Everything has a counter, should we abandon conditions because of AoE cleansing? Stability is one of the hardest boons to reliably maintain/access for most professions anyway. And in PvE it’s pretty solid.

Out of curiosity, who uses RoW in PVE and why?

Anyone who understands that an enemy who keeps falling over can’t hit you.

For example, Ascalonian fractal warriors.