Guild Wars 2

I’m returning to the WvW scene and was looking to tag up and lead against outnumbered fights. I’m in tier 2 WvW if that matters.

I’m not as familiar with the current WvW meta but what I ran before was similar to the Front line build on Metabattle. My concern with this build is survivability. It’s tanky but with often facing outnumbered fights, I’m not sure it would work well.

I used to run Valor, Honor & Virtues trait lines. I have DH unlocked but wasn’t sure that would be of any benefit.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!!

The metabattle build will work just fine for general frontline. DH is good but not for frontlining because your defense will take a hit.

If you are pinning, you’ll have to gear more selfishly than standard frontline because you will most certainly be focused. You also want greatsword for the mobility because you need to lead in and staying in any one place these days is suicide.

Anyhow, it is likely that what you have already will probably work fine, especially if you played after the stability changes from last year and adjusted but as for what options have opened since HoT

Example:
http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vVAQJAWRlsAhehYtQwVIwPEHJEFeDeuU4usBwBknh/LAB-T1SDQBRRp3XUCOv9H6lOADq+yf0EMJVIozhAgKKDkwTAAAXAASBUkwI-w

Note that all the fancy stats are not needed, good ol’ soldier/nomad/whathaveyou is fine.

Wall of Reflection can be replaced with anything that suits your fancy. Only get enough crit to proc empowering might— you’re not taking it for damage and it is very likely you will have fury placed on you already, so you do not need much.

Durability runes are a very effective way in staying alive that seems unequaled due to the higher boon duration = more stability and protection as well as it giving you protection when hit. Unfortunately, that’s HoT only so you may try other runes such as Melandru or Hoelbrak for the -condi duration.

Honestly, Guardian just is the same old…

ArchonWing.9480:

The metabattle build will work just fine for general frontline. DH is good but not for frontlining because your defense will take a hit.

If you are pinning, you’ll have to gear more selfishly than standard frontline because you will most certainly be focused. You also want greatsword for the mobility because you need to lead in and staying in any one place these days is suicide.

Anyhow, it is likely that what you have already will probably work fine, especially if you played after the stability changes from last year and adjusted but as for what options have opened since HoT

Example:
http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vVAQJAWRlsAhehYtQwVIwPEHJEVeG+vAEvBPXKcX2A4AA-T1yHABNpEUgLAwPK9CUFC6VfBgnAQbaCCf/hV1BEwhAQIlBkCoIhRA-w

Note that all the fancy stats are not needed, good ol’ soldier/nomad/whathaveyou is fine.

Wall of Reflection can be replaced with anything that suits your fancy. Only get enough crit to proc empowering might— you’re not taking it for damage and it is very likely you will have fury placed on you already, so you do not need much.

Durability runes are a very effective way in staying alive that seems unequaled due to the higher boon duration = more stability and protection as well as it giving you protection when hit. Unfortunately, that’s HoT only so you may try other runes such as Melandru or Hoelbrak for the -condi duration.

Honestly, Guardian just is the same old…

Thank you for responding!

I think you made an error on the Honor trait line. You have Invigorated Bulwark which only works if your running mace. I’m assuming you mean Protective Reviver.

I have HoT and actually have a set of durability runes. Sounds like I can finally put them to good use.

Yea, I did; I actually read my post again just now and that’s been fixed. The three traits suck so bad that I forgot they existed Naturally you will want to pick Protective Reviver by default, unless you feel like trolling your zerg and the enemy with the fall trait in the DBL, but then the combination of the two may ensue you lose followers. :p

But yea, durability runes for whatever reason just made it so much easier to zerg dive. Arguably for folks like me, to be even possible but as always, don’t overestimate your capabilities. Shelter shall be used to block attacks, trigger smiter’s boon, and mitigate the brunt of the attacks— it’s a last resort for actually healing. It’s also not perfect and sometimes you can get interrupted via unblockable attacks like necro fears and whatnot they have these days. If you can find a way to restore your health through allied waters and heals, do that.

EDIT: Beyond the 2 energy sigils, I’m not too privy on what other runes to take. I also edited the staff to contain a sigil of life, but you may want to consider a stacking sigil of your choice. IMO, a little bit of healing power to round out your build without screwing your entire build over if and when you get downed seems to be the best choice.

But yea, these stats are just an idea of what I consider to be desirable thresholds just to give an idea whatever order or combination of stats you use to get them is up to you.

As a side note, here’s a few more things to look out that are fairly new.

Not HoT, but gamechanging

• Indomitable Courage has stability. That is nice but not the main appeal. It’s an AOE stun break. Thus, save it for you being stunned, as it is likely others are stunned too. Call it out on your comms, so everyone knows to get out of the way since it is very likely that if there’s an AOE stun on your location that your enemy isn’t going to be tossing more flowers and kisses in that direction.

• The ridiculous power creep and overall weakening of stability. has actually increased the need for stability. It stacks in intensity which kinda sucks, but as a result your stabilities in your group need to be spread out too for more coverage while maintaining a decent amount. Fortunately, as a tag you can steal guardians to put in your own subsquad. You may want to have 2 other guardians, a warrior for condition cleanse, and something else to round it out. Could be another guardian, warrior, or maybe an Earth Aurashare tempest, but it’s not all the time that you can pull specific builds on demand to you, of course.

Post HOT hazards:

• Hunter’s Ward. This is a very overpowered Dragon Hunter ability in zergs atm. You can recognize it by it looking like spiked looking fences. This traps people and they cannot dodge out— you need multiple stacks of stability to get out and even worse, the game sometimes fails to render them but like a black hole you’ll know its there when people are stuck and inevitably speaking all kinds of profanities towards Arenanet. Now, you as a guardian can typically get out but you must also pay attention to how your group is doing because if you get out, leap to the enemy and then realize everyone else is stuck behind you, well, that’s not going to end up pretty. As a result, murder any DH you can with extreme prejudice, as they are not as tough as their guardian counterparts, though they do have a very powerful block (it looks like a barrier) and an escape so take note if they have that up.

• Dragonhunter Traps. Yet another gigantic nuisance, they have barbed edges which make them distinct and CANNOT be blocked. Thus, it’s not a good idea to try ramboing past it unless your dodges will take you through it. Proceed with caution through chokes and be wary of DH’s trying to kite you into trap. You may also consider using a trapsweeper to trigger the traps. Pets or someone with invuls can do this.

• Gravity Well. This ability is all pinkish and you can recognize it by it launching you in the air. Stunbreaking and getting out of the way will mitigate most damage.

• Gunflame warriors. Kill shot has been heavily buffed with the warrior’s elite spec. It has a fast cooldown and casting time, only limited with some setup of adrenaline. I don’t know what to say against this, but you definitely will get shot if you’re into front and reflects will help a lot. Terminate these with extreme prejudice; most generally have to go really glassy.

• Necro wells. You’re probably familiar with this, but reapers have many ways of chilling you and making your life miserable. Soft CC is the silent killer, so note your cleanses strategically.

Dark Night.5601:

I’m returning to the WvW scene and was looking to tag up and lead against outnumbered fights. I’m in tier 2 WvW if that matters.

I’m not as familiar with the current WvW meta but what I ran before was similar to the Front line build on Metabattle. My concern with this build is survivability. It’s tanky but with often facing outnumbered fights, I’m not sure it would work well.

I used to run Valor, Honor & Virtues trait lines. I have DH unlocked but wasn’t sure that would be of any benefit.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!!

I experimented with multiple frontline builds, including guard / DH and most of the HoT stuff. Went back to runes of Melandru, I changed my default food though from lemongrass to Saffron Bread.

Best sigil combo I found is actually generosity + purity due to so much soft CC being thrown around. Energy does squat when you’re chilled or immobed, which is a LOT, + extra vigor and endurance regen bonus you get from your traits are already more then plenty.

Also, best commander spec now is a bunker / heal /anti-condi / anti-cc scrapper, not guard or DH, though they can still be OK, they are far outperformed by scrappers.

While on my guard I have more stab, on my scrapper I dont need stab cause of the sheer number of invulns etc. and on top of that boons are often converted to condis so having stab is actually kinda bad. You don’t want stab because having it is actually a liability, you wanna be immune to the stuff that makes you think you need stab in the 1st place.

Things of note, if you’re going to be tagging up, good to have:

1. Bunker chrono or boonshare mes, these need to be seperate from your portal/veil mesmers due to utility slot usage and traits / gear.
2. Healing druids – bunker / heal / condi cleanse druids, 1 per party or 2, freagin super sustain.
3. Revs – boons for days
4. Reapers – soft CC and boonstrip
5. Scrappers (use 3 scrapper, 1 druid, 1 rev party much like you did war/guard party back in the days of GWEN, but on steroids)

Hope this gives you some ideas into whats changed, note that this may change again soon with upcoming balance adjustments, but it works at this time.

I gave runes of durability a whirl last night and think they might work pretty good for a commander-like build.

Tongku.5326:

Dark Night.5601:

I’m returning to the WvW scene and was looking to tag up and lead against outnumbered fights. I’m in tier 2 WvW if that matters.

I’m not as familiar with the current WvW meta but what I ran before was similar to the Front line build on Metabattle. My concern with this build is survivability. It’s tanky but with often facing outnumbered fights, I’m not sure it would work well.

I used to run Valor, Honor & Virtues trait lines. I have DH unlocked but wasn’t sure that would be of any benefit.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!!

I experimented with multiple frontline builds, including guard / DH and most of the HoT stuff. Went back to runes of Melandru, I changed my default food though from lemongrass to Saffron Bread.

Best sigil combo I found is actually generosity + purity due to so much soft CC being thrown around. Energy does squat when you’re chilled or immobed, which is a LOT, + extra vigor and endurance regen bonus you get from your traits are already more then plenty.

Also, best commander spec now is a bunker / heal /anti-condi / anti-cc scrapper, not guard or DH, though they can still be OK, they are far outperformed by scrappers.

While on my guard I have more stab, on my scrapper I dont need stab cause of the sheer number of invulns etc. and on top of that boons are often converted to condis so having stab is actually kinda bad. You don’t want stab because having it is actually a liability, you wanna be immune to the stuff that makes you think you need stab in the 1st place.

Things of note, if you’re going to be tagging up, good to have:

1. Bunker chrono or boonshare mes, these need to be seperate from your portal/veil mesmers due to utility slot usage and traits / gear.
2. Healing druids – bunker / heal / condi cleanse druids, 1 per party or 2, freagin super sustain.
3. Revs – boons for days
4. Reapers – soft CC and boonstrip
5. Scrappers (use 3 scrapper, 1 druid, 1 rev party much like you did war/guard party back in the days of GWEN, but on steroids)

Hope this gives you some ideas into whats changed, note that this may change again soon with upcoming balance adjustments, but it works at this time.

Do you know what the build is for scrapper you mentioned for commanding?

You might want to check out

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/engineer/Anyone-running-front-line-in-wvw-gvg/6101708

for ideas. It’s not exclusively driving but frontline should be close enough. Naturally, gear as defensively as possible, but I’ve managed to lead with just my standard gear on scrapper. With stability recently fixed, it should be even easier. But basically, my opinion is elixir S + Self Regulating Defenses can lead to a max of ~6 second of invul every 48s which is rather good on top of all the self sustain and condi clear scrapper provides. It lets you laugh off being focused, and yes the focusing can be pretty extreme. Toss Elixir S also is underrated because it lets you break target off yourself and they recently buffed it. I think it’s more selfish than a guardian though.

ArchonWing.9480:

You might want to check out

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/engineer/Anyone-running-front-line-in-wvw-gvg/6101708

for ideas. It’s not exclusively driving but frontline should be close enough. Naturally, gear as defensively as possible, but I’ve managed to lead with just my standard gear on scrapper. With stability recently fixed, it should be even easier. But basically, my opinion is elixir S + Self Regulating Defenses can lead to a max of ~6 second of invul every 48s which is rather good on top of all the self sustain and condi clear scrapper provides. It lets you laugh off being focused, and yes the focusing can be pretty extreme. Toss Elixir S also is underrated because it lets you break target off yourself and they recently buffed it. I think it’s more selfish than a guardian though.

Thank you! One last question and I promise to leave you alone lol. I have scrapper 50% unlocked. Should I run the scrapper line partially until I get enough proof of heroics or should I run a different trait line?

Well, you can’t use a hammer or gyros if you don’t take scrapper which is kind of a problem— you’d have to pick up an extra weapon that you won’t be using for long (probably rifle). There really isn’t a good base engineer frontline build. Would be like my old one:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQFAUlUUh6rYtWwdLQ7FL3FV4EGQZG4CWABg4B1D5AA-TViFABVpEEgLAQCPAgz0BQo6BLpkwIlbqv/whq4UO4Awf/t3f7tX7t3bD42elBoYLA-w
(Don’t use the autoattack for FT because it hits many times with weak attacks which means retaliation kills. As a result, it’s rather cumbersome.)

On the other hand, missing the grandmasters for scrapper is also a rather big disadvantage that causes builds not to work. You want the GM minor that reduces stun duration at the very least. Fortunately a good chunk of the points for specializations is used for the elite and while that is really good; it isn’t mandatory.

ArchonWing.9480:

Well, you can’t use a hammer or gyros if you don’t take scrapper which is kind of a problem— you’d have to pick up an extra weapon that you won’t be using for long (probably rifle). There really isn’t a good base engineer frontline build. Would be like my old one:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQFAUlUUh6rYtWwdLQ7FL3FV4EGQZG4CWABg4B1D5AA-TViFABVpEEgLAQCPAgz0BQo6BLpkwIlbqv/whq4UO4Awf/t3f7tX7t3bD42elBoYLA-w
(Don’t use the autoattack for FT because it hits many times with weak attacks which means retaliation kills. As a result, it’s rather cumbersome.)

On the other hand, missing the grandmasters for scrapper is also a rather big disadvantage that causes builds not to work. You want the GM minor that reduces stun duration at the very least. Fortunately a good chunk of the points for specializations is used for the elite and while that is really good; it isn’t mandatory.

Thank you again! It’s not as easy to get the hero point farms any more in HoT zones so this gives me something to run in the meantime…..while not as optimal it does give me something to use until it is fully unlocked.

I appreciate the help greatly!!!!!!

ArchonWing.9480:

Durability runes are a very effective way in staying alive that seems unequaled due to the higher boon duration = more stability and protection as well as it giving you protection when hit.

Durability runes and a few of the sigils offered with HoT are one reason to buy HoT. They are game changers in WvW at least in my opinion. My Druid loves them. Also another reason to get the expansion is new elites and what not.

Just chiming in that Durability runes are, well, great and worth the PvE frustration

Crapgame.6519:

ArchonWing.9480:

Durability runes are a very effective way in staying alive that seems unequaled due to the higher boon duration = more stability and protection as well as it giving you protection when hit.

Durability runes and a few of the sigils offered with HoT are one reason to buy HoT. They are game changers in WvW at least in my opinion. My Druid loves them. Also another reason to get the expansion is new elites and what not.

Just chiming in that Durability runes are, well, great and worth the PvE frustration

It certainly is; I think the best runes to use for frontline; but since it is locked behind HoT content, I don’t expect everyone to go for them. It is one of the easier things to go for especially with the recent pve currency buffs.

Before the stability change that just happened lately, I think melandru runes were still a strong competitor even though “stun duration” seemed to be too specific, but as stability is much more reliable now, I think that’s no longer as essential unless your group is doing very badly in the cleanse department.

Basically, it was removed from pvp for a reason. =p