Guild Wars 2

Hi guys, first I want to do this topic because I saw a lot of people questioning about this so leave your opinion and explication please. For the best of SUPPORT/SURVIVAL to the group at WVW which one do you prefer ? Hammer , Mace / Shield or Mace/Focus.
Of course the secondary weapon is staff . In my opinion I prefer Mace/Shield than Hammer because you can heal really more and keep a good protection, as I play with other guardians I don’t need give perma protection.

For support, I like Mace/Focus.

Auto attack at the end of the chain heals.
Symbol of Faith which heals.
Protection if your not stuck.
Cure conditions on allies and heals.
Then a nice block for you.

Hammer because I love stopping up to 10 people in a line with the #3 skill, the power and AoE of the #2 skill, the protection from the third stage of the auto, the trapping of #5 + Judge’s Intervention, as well as knocking people off cliffs with #4. For Mace/Shield, I like the #3 for the block and AoE, and I like the #5 for pushing people away when things get a little too heated.

I like the shield. Knock thieves out of shadow refuge, knock people trying to stomp, shield people from focus fire, knock people trying to rez, etc. Very versatile.

For above, neither the Shield or the Focus has fantastic recharge times, but one thing people forget about the shield is that is has 61 toughness built in that the Focus and Torch lack. The shield also having a party-wide protection that can be used to counter spike damage and an excellent crowd control for scattering or interrupting and projectile defense + a heal for a moment. For me, it’s always been the shield hands down.

For OP, my walking around weapon set is Hammer and Mace/Shield when doing anything that does not require using range, in which case I’ll switch the Mace for the Scepter. Both weapons make the best use of Writ of Exaltation, the Hammer is good when above 50% health for higher damage, constant blast finishers (area retaliation with the Symbol of Protection or might with a fire field), and keeping your target where you want them (3 of the 5 skills are dedicated controllers), not to mention Writ of Exaltation on another melee ranger lets every other melee ranger fighter maintain easy protection. When my health takes a dip below 50%, I switch out to the Mace/Shield. I tend to immediately pull out Symbol of Faith or Protector’s Strike. After that, I balance out attacking, boons, etc. until either I can switch switch back to Hammer if I need to stop people from running away or until Signet of Resolve is recharged so I can heal. In combination of this and some mediocre skill, I’m almost always in melee range and rarely if ever go down when I’m with my Necromancer and Thief friend.

While the Staff is great for spiking damage and healing, as I tend to spend most fights working around taking damage I find that I rarely have a moment to use Empower. I very rarely use it in WvW unless I need Swiftness.

Unrelated to what the OP asked, but I use Meditation in WvW. Judge’s Intervention is amazing for closing the gap since I don’t use range weapons (usually following with a Mighty Blow on the Hammer or a Protector’s Strike on the Mace), Smite Condition is great when paired with Purity and the Signet of Resolve for keeping conditions off you because of the short CD when specced is great, Contemplation of Purity is amazing whenever I manage to get blanketed with conditions (though I’ve been switching it out for WoR more and more lately). Combine those with the Meditation Mastery and Monk’s Focus and you have a Guardian that can be very hard to stop in small skirmishes.

i have a build that i have hammer main weapon set and mace / shield as my off set. offers a LOT of control and great for yak duties and most people can’t even come close and just leave.

i use this weapon combo when i’m feeling “tanky”, if you will.

though comparing the two, hammer is good for overall damage obviously, and #3, 4, 5 offer great control and in a sense, support. #1 protection symbol plus blast finish AoE retal is very useful in a small group as well or in a melee-centric group. mace is very nice with the heals. again, benefits most to a melee centric group. symbol is also nice with heals. pretty decent if you trait for symbols as well (either longer lasting, larger, healing or a mix or any of them). 3 is a nice block as well for in the thick of things. shield #5 is just an awesome skill. if i can afford to , i’d take the shield trait when wielding a shield.

The topic is going to another matter. Here is the best for support at WvW in HUGE ZERGS.
Actually I am a PTV/Cleric Guardian focus in SUPPORT my squad , we fight against zergs that have 2x more people than us so in your opinion what is better just for support not damage.. mace shield mace focus or hammer ? thank u

id always go with shield over focus for the situation you described. a lot of time focus #4 won’t jump cause of distance or other circumstances. #5 is an ego centric skill which while its decent dmg the radius is too small.
the #4 shield is wide range plus some dmg. #5 while limited to targets it can knock away still overs unlimited protection against projectiles to allies behind you.