Guild Wars 2

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQNApeRlYgyCXFyIEm4EhVBCi9Aja8jXPcoEZIA;TYAqsMZJyymlLLZWA

So this is my build. I just hit 80 the vigil gear and soldier runes for it. I was going for a more tanky feel. I had a few questions about the set up.

1. Does the signet of resolve effect stack with purity trait and remove 2 conditions?

2. Does Altruistic Healing apply to shouts? Does it apply to boons gained by my symbols? Also does it heal for a bit just by applying boons to myself?

3. Writ of the merciful, does it heal me as well as allies? Does it stack with the healing I get from my mace symbol?

Thanks guys, I’m a bit new so I know this maybe some silly stuff to ask but I just want to be clear.

1. As far as I know, they stack, but I’m not positive.

2. AH applies to all boons, so it works with both shouts and boons gained from your symbols. It does also heal you for boons applied only to yourself.

3. As far as I know, the term “allies” refers to not only other friendly players, but you yourself as well, so yes, Writ of the Merciful will heal you.

Thanks so much!

One more question, would this build be any good for wpvp?

I would drop writ of the merciful in WvW. AH builds are very powerful in any aspect of the game its completely viable.

WvW is 30% build 70% skill

WvW is 10% skill 90% ganking.. If you’re lucky enough to find stragglers then good, but majority of the time I find it’s 5-10+ ppl roaming around. You’re better off sticking with a group than going solo. There is no DR on CC so even if u break 2 CCs you’re pretty much f’d cuz u’ll just get CC’d further and just get facerolled. Bring a ranged weapon is my take on it.

Mougen.6702:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQNApeRlYgyCXFyIEm4EhVBCi9Aja8jXPcoEZIA;TYAqsMZJyymlLLZWA

So this is my build. I just hit 80 the vigil gear and soldier runes for it. I was going for a more tanky feel. I had a few questions about the set up.

1. Does the signet of resolve effect stack with purity trait and remove 2 conditions?

2. Does Altruistic Healing apply to shouts? Does it apply to boons gained by my symbols? Also does it heal for a bit just by applying boons to myself?

3. Writ of the merciful, does it heal me as well as allies? Does it stack with the healing I get from my mace symbol?

Thanks guys, I’m a bit new so I know this maybe some silly stuff to ask but I just want to be clear.

1. yes
2. yes, yes, yes
3. yes, yes

Mujen.2089:

Bring a ranged weapon is my take on it.

Isn’t the scepter like, god awful?

Mougen.6702:

Mujen.2089:

Bring a ranged weapon is my take on it.

Isn’t the scepter like, god awful?

Actually one of the best Guardian weapons

Chris Dawnheart
This motivated me: http://www.youtube.com/user/ChrisDawnheart
Check out his WvW Montage videos… amazing!

Harbinger
Also: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rinrEGS5RU0
Here’s a link to the post: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/guardian/Paragon-Build/first

But on the average, WvW is a lot of players vs a lot of players & being within melee range is HIGHLY dangerous, good luck in WvW!

Jax.5261:

Mougen.6702:

Mujen.2089:

Bring a ranged weapon is my take on it.

Isn’t the scepter like, god awful?

Actually one of the best Guardian weapons

would it work at all with this build? I really wouldn’t mind giving up the great sword but I don’t have money/karma for new gear/runes

GS is guardian’s best weapon offensively. Scepter I would personally only bust out with if I had to range, I almost never use scepter. Staff is mainly support. Hammer I would say is a close 2nd to GS.

You have to find your own playstyle, Jax likes scepter, I don’t ever use it except when i cant melee. Everyone has their own. Check out those videos, the 2nd has a forum post with build discussion.. it’s very motivational!

Mujen.2089:

GS is guardian’s best weapon offensively. Scepter I would personally only bust out with if I had to range, I almost never use scepter. Staff is mainly support. Hammer I would say is a close 2nd to GS.

You have to find your own playstyle, Jax likes scepter, I don’t ever use it except when i cant melee. Everyone has their own. Check out those videos, the 2nd has a forum post with build discussion.. it’s very motivational!

Yeah I did! they’re pretty cool builds for sure. I was going to try the 2nd on util I saw how much the runes are for it haha

Mujen.2089:

GS is guardian’s best weapon offensively. Scepter I would personally only bust out with if I had to range, I almost never use scepter. Staff is mainly support. Hammer I would say is a close 2nd to GS.

You have to find your own playstyle, Jax likes scepter, I don’t ever use it except when i cant melee. Everyone has their own. Check out those videos, the 2nd has a forum post with build discussion.. it’s very motivational!

Not if you’re planning on using symbol DPS.

Jax.5261:

Mujen.2089:

GS is guardian’s best weapon offensively. Scepter I would personally only bust out with if I had to range, I almost never use scepter. Staff is mainly support. Hammer I would say is a close 2nd to GS.

You have to find your own playstyle, Jax likes scepter, I don’t ever use it except when i cant melee. Everyone has their own. Check out those videos, the 2nd has a forum post with build discussion.. it’s very motivational!

Not if you’re planning on using symbol DPS.

What would you suggest for my build as a dps weapon? I love the mace and shield combo, but its very hard to land kills with seeing as the damage is so low. I normally just use the great sword to get out some quick damage.

Perhaps you should test some builds in SpvP. You can equipment change for free so you can test out as many builds as you want.

@comment about CC in WvW.

I run the Juggernaut build any conditions that give status affect clears in 1 second or less. I use 2 stun breakers. I know when to dodge. 5-10 people? if you have around the same number its not a big issue. If you are fighting with slightly less, its not a big issue. Don’t solo roam.

Anyway, If you hate zerg vs zerg, you should move to the bottom servers. This is where the small group roamers play

Mougen.6702:

Jax.5261:

Mujen.2089:

GS is guardian’s best weapon offensively. Scepter I would personally only bust out with if I had to range, I almost never use scepter. Staff is mainly support. Hammer I would say is a close 2nd to GS.

You have to find your own playstyle, Jax likes scepter, I don’t ever use it except when i cant melee. Everyone has their own. Check out those videos, the 2nd has a forum post with build discussion.. it’s very motivational!

Not if you’re planning on using symbol DPS.

What would you suggest for my build as a dps weapon? I love the mace and shield combo, but its very hard to land kills with seeing as the damage is so low. I normally just use the great sword to get out some quick damage.

What gametype?

Jax.5261:

Mougen.6702:

Jax.5261:

Mujen.2089:

GS is guardian’s best weapon offensively. Scepter I would personally only bust out with if I had to range, I almost never use scepter. Staff is mainly support. Hammer I would say is a close 2nd to GS.

You have to find your own playstyle, Jax likes scepter, I don’t ever use it except when i cant melee. Everyone has their own. Check out those videos, the 2nd has a forum post with build discussion.. it’s very motivational!

Not if you’re planning on using symbol DPS.

What would you suggest for my build as a dps weapon? I love the mace and shield combo, but its very hard to land kills with seeing as the damage is so low. I normally just use the great sword to get out some quick damage.

What gametype?

well… I kinda wanted to do wvw, but I think I messed up. As I said I’m very new to this game and I didn’t/don’t quite understand gearing. So right now I’m sitting in full soldier gear, with this build… It doesn’t seem to be working well, that or I’m just god awful haha.

Mougen.6702:

Jax.5261:

Mougen.6702:

Jax.5261:

Mujen.2089:

GS is guardian’s best weapon offensively. Scepter I would personally only bust out with if I had to range, I almost never use scepter. Staff is mainly support. Hammer I would say is a close 2nd to GS.

You have to find your own playstyle, Jax likes scepter, I don’t ever use it except when i cant melee. Everyone has their own. Check out those videos, the 2nd has a forum post with build discussion.. it’s very motivational!

Not if you’re planning on using symbol DPS.

What would you suggest for my build as a dps weapon? I love the mace and shield combo, but its very hard to land kills with seeing as the damage is so low. I normally just use the great sword to get out some quick damage.

What gametype?

well… I kinda wanted to do wvw, but I think I messed up. As I said I’m very new to this game and I didn’t/don’t quite understand gearing. So right now I’m sitting in full soldier gear, with this build… It doesn’t seem to be working well, that or I’m just god awful haha.

I can help but what are you trying to achieve? What style offensive/defensive/certain skills/traits? If you just want a good build I’ve got a lot, but sometimes people want one for their playstyle (ie. hammer).

Nothing wrong in full soldiers but its as Jax says, you need to tell us what you want to do in wvw and how you want to do it. I.e i play 90% of the time as an offensive frontline pusher with focus on boons, conditionremoval on the team and i mix that with stability and wall of reflection in zerg clashes.

You get the picture, you need to settle on what weapons you are comfortable with, what role you want to play before you can get a serious suggestion regarding build and game advice.

If its a build you want, read thru the AH guide that is stickied at the top of the guardian forum. That covers almost everything you need to know about playing with 30 points in Valor. It can be used with all weapons (not just hammer) and AH can be swapped for Monks Focus+meditations when solo playing.

If its advice you need, you need to determine how you want to play your guardian.

Jax.5261:

Mougen.6702:

Jax.5261:

Mougen.6702:

Jax.5261:

Mujen.2089:

GS is guardian’s best weapon offensively. Scepter I would personally only bust out with if I had to range, I almost never use scepter. Staff is mainly support. Hammer I would say is a close 2nd to GS.

You have to find your own playstyle, Jax likes scepter, I don’t ever use it except when i cant melee. Everyone has their own. Check out those videos, the 2nd has a forum post with build discussion.. it’s very motivational!

Not if you’re planning on using symbol DPS.

What would you suggest for my build as a dps weapon? I love the mace and shield combo, but its very hard to land kills with seeing as the damage is so low. I normally just use the great sword to get out some quick damage.

What gametype?

well… I kinda wanted to do wvw, but I think I messed up. As I said I’m very new to this game and I didn’t/don’t quite understand gearing. So right now I’m sitting in full soldier gear, with this build… It doesn’t seem to be working well, that or I’m just god awful haha.

I can help but what are you trying to achieve? What style offensive/defensive/certain skills/traits? If you just want a good build I’ve got a lot, but sometimes people want one for their playstyle (ie. hammer).

Well right now I’m using gs, mace/shield. But I wouldn’t mind going gs,hammer

As far as what I’m trying to achieve, I guess I was going for something that was very tanky and hard to kill but at least in the long term was able to land a kill when I had to and put out a good bit of team support. I went for a lower cd on sigils so I could heal more often, larger symbols that heal everyone , and a reduced cd on shouts. I figured the aoe on my symbols and my shouts would work well with altruistic healing. I think one of the problems is because I went full soldier (weapons, upgrade slots, armor, accessories) so my healing is very weak. I’m normally very easy to kill (or so it seems) even 1v1.

Part 1
Sorry for going over multiple posts >>
If it seems like im explaining little things that don’t need explaining I’m just trying to be clear with everything, you said you were new so I assumed you didn’t know 100% of everything. Sorry if that’s wrong!

Being tanky as a Guardian will be making good use of Invulnerability, Block, Blinds and Dodges. This is regardless of your spec, all Guardians in PvP (wvw or spvp) should bring Renewed Focus and Shelter.
Change: (Taking X over Y: X > Y)
– Shelter > Signet of Resolve
– 0 Radiance > 10 Radiance
Even if their entire team is spec’d for conditons Signet of Resolve is not viable, you have to learn to heal your health with secondary heal features such as Altruistic Healing (Vigor XI), Monks Focus (Vigor XII) and Selfless Daring (Honour 15) and concentrate on using Shelter mainly for its block feature, of course if you’re in trouble heal up.
Make sure you do not heal through poison if it’s possible or you’re going to end up dying very quickly.
Renewed Focus is the best Guardian elite by far, Tome of Courage is strong but you have to have a team focused on shutting down burst or you can easily be bursted by a good player. Not to mention it’s very easy to shut down the full heal and the animation is very clear. I only recommend it if you have a good tpvp team or you wvw friends are very co-ordinated.
For Radiance the 10points invested are much better placed elsewhere. Justice is Blind (Radiance 5) is extremely good at blinding specific skills. Skills like Earthquake, Churning Earth, Earthshaker, Banish and Cloak and Dagger are very easy skills to shut down with this blind, of course you have to know the animations and have a quick finger. I do recommend this a great deal but not at the sacrifice of an important trait.

I know Signet of Judgement looks like a decent skill, but it’s not worth the skills that could replace it. We’re no longer investing in Signet Mastery (Radiance II) to reduce its recharge either. So we’re going to remove it in place for a stronger optional skill (I’ll list good options here). This will also decide where those 10 points you took from Radiance will do.
Change (Pick one):
Option 1: Control
– Hammer of Wisdom > Signet of Judgement
– 10 Virtues with Improved Spirit Weapon Duration (Virtues V)
This option is your 1v1 option, good for very good control on your enemy. The auto-attack knocks back every 3 hits and you can use the Command ability to sacrifice your Hammer to Knock Down an enemy. Which sets you up for very, very hard to counter chains such as:
Hammer of Wisdom, Greatsword 5, Greatsword 4, (just after the summoned hammer’s knockback), Greatsword 5 (pull), Hammer of Wisdom command (so the knockdown this time), Greatsword 2, Greatsword 3, swap to Mace/Shield, Shield 4, Shield 5 when they try and heal.

over the text limit one sec!

Awesome I look forward to reading more =D

part 2

Option 2: Triple Shout
– Retreat/Save Yourselves> Signet of Judgement
– 10 Virtues with Vengeful (Virtues II)
Retreat: WvW only option, high group mobility and removes a condition thanks to your Soldier’s Runes. Not much to say about this one, I actually love the Aegis that Retreat provides, not many people really use it for anything bar the swiftness. This also has very strong retaliation options with the increased duration.
Save Yourselves: Has a 10 second duration base on all the buffs in WvW holy crud is that amazing, super support skill, pay attention to your allies and pull poison off them, or high cond stacks. Really good for pulling poison off a downed ally so you can res at normal speed. Comes with Fury, definitely a good offensive and defensive option.

Option 3: Consecrations
– Sanctuary/Wall of Reflection > Signet of Judgement
– 10 Virtues with Consecrated Ground (Virtues III) / Master of Consecrations (Virtues VI) if using Wall of Reflection
Sanctuary: Has always been amazing, stopping that vital stomp or securing one. The 0.5second cast time from Consecrated Ground (Virtues III) is much too important to miss, so if you are running Sanctuary you MUST run that trait. Vital choke points can also be cut off too, not to mention just absorbing projectiles.
Wall of Reflection: Really good in WvW and one of the best choices, usually due to the enemy being too laggy to realise it’s up, they don’t know what it does or they simply don’t care. Still a good skill to bring, forces enemies to not use projectiles for a long period of time, or take a lot of damage. Can also be used in reaction to a lot of projectile abilities to reflect them, such as countering a 100Nades Engineer or a Trap Ranger. Consecrated Ground (Virtues III) isn’t as strong with this ability due it not needing to be placed so quickly, you can just walk there and use Master of Consecrations (Virtues VI) instead.

While the shield is very good, you must be extremely consistent with your Shield 5’s interrupts of your enemy’s healing skills.
Change:
Retributive Armour (Valor VI) > Honourable Shield (Valor IX)
This is to just add in some additional critical hit chance to try and get more Vigor from Vigorous Precision (Honour 5). Also increasing Whirling Wrath’s damage and Protector’s Strike can be very strong.

Due to the armour we’re slightly restricted, we can’t use dodge rolls to self heal us due to not being able to break 1000 Heal Power, but that’s OK! Let’s focus on the heals we do have available, don’t worry you’re armour choice didn’t screw you up! I’m not entirely sure how Pure of Voice’s conditon convertion works because I get Vigor almost 100% of the time, so there may be a bug there or maybe I observed incorrectly but that’s very good for us. Vigor is the by far the best boon.
Change:
– Pure of Voice (Honour XI) > Writ of the Merciful (Honour X)
Combine extremely well with your Soldier runes and definitely the best support trait Guardians have, by far. Make sure you take note of your allies and the conditions they have, remove harmful ones (poison/immob/high bleed stacks) this may take getting used to, but this clears so much poison that it’s not funny.

Now our last trait choice is going to be purely up to your playstyle. You can either spec for more support or more damage. Symbol healing will give you more support while 2hd skill recharge reduction will give you much more damage. It looks to me as if your playstyle is more about symbol usage so I’d recommend the symbol trait for you, but I feel the 2h trait is more powerful.
Change:
Pick One
– Writ of the Merciful (Honour X)
OR
– Two Handed Mastery (Honour XI)
Although Symbol heals give you a lot of health when coupled with Altriustic Healing (Valor XI) you do lack a bit of damage, so reducing the recharge on Whirling Wrath and your symbol will do a lot to keep up your damage. Remember good bunkers will still be able to kill players with low damage, just know your skills well.

Finally there’s only one extremely strong option for your sigils.
Mace / Shield – Energy and Minor Accuracy (I THINK THIS HAS ANOTHER NAME IN PVE, gives precision every kill, not superior accuracy)
Greatsword – Energy
You can use fire sigils on the greatsword but your crit is pretty low, if you get full stacks of Accuracy and Fury this should be viable.
Energy mods avoid wayyyy more damage than any other sigil, there isn’t really a debate about these in any way.

Part 3

So after all that here are your choices in builds with your armour:
Triple Shout Balanced
http://tinyurl.com/bnp6fym
Best All-round, probably the best build for you to start with.

1v1 Beast
http://tinyurl.com/ctpeaev
If you’re having trouble with 1v1’s try this, has a fire sigil on the greatsword to increase the damage, Hammer summon is your best friend.

Sanctuary Support
http://tinyurl.com/bubf2ld
This one has the symbol heal and Target Sanctuary, the best support out of these builds.

Of course just mix and match until you find something that fits you.
And eventually try and build to one of these if you’d like:
Symbol DPS
http://tinyurl.com/cuu9goe
Massive symbol damage, with tons of healing, extremely powerful. Probably the best Guardian build for WvW.

I hope I explained everything well enough for you, thanks for reading! It’s better than me just handing you a build.

sorry for the giant, massive post lol <3

Thanks so much, you’ve been a ton of help.

i think I’ll try the triple shout first. It seems straight forward and fun to play.

a quick question. Would the triple shout build work as well with a hammer as a mace shield combo?

Well you got some really nice help there just a couple of things.

Vigil gear (rare) is a bit weak and you should farm some exotic PVT. Imo the fastest way to get those is to run ascalonian catacombs. 9 days to have them all and after those runs you also have money to buy rune of the soldier.

Shelter isnt neccessary better than healing signet. In my experience having two passive conditionremovers often makes it possible to purely use the shouts for conditionremoval on your mates, when using pure of voice and soldier runes. Using shelter is only for your own safety. Frankly when you know what you are doing the heal is the last line of defence and most of the time you go down last. So dont rule out healing signet. Personally i even run a signet heal even without reduced cd since i very seldom have to use the heal. This makes it possible to use the shouts exclusively for my team. I run shelter as well but i find that a bit more ego centric, i have to use shouts for conditionremoval on my self a bit more often.

DPS Symbolbuilds are very viable in Tpvp but in wvw they wont work as well. In Tpvp you have objectives which in essence is an area this isnt the case in wvw. I wouldnt go for a dps symbol build in wvw.

Of the builds he posted i would aim for the balanced triple shout. That one allows you to play multiple roles by just switching one trait (vengeful/consecration mastery) and a couple of utility skills. Imo its extremely versatile. If you add in berserker/knights accessories and consumables you can infact have some amazing offensive stats while having great teamsupport. Signet of judgement also has room in this build, aoe retal and aoe weakness is just uber and ofc 10% less incoming damage.

Spirit weapons isnt as good in wvw, they work better in tpvp. If you want a really nice build for 1vs1 or 1vs2 check out the healway build. There is a topic in these forums but dont expect to have any major impact in large clashes but one on one its really nice.

Other than that i have nothing to add to Jax write up.

Brutaly.6257:

Well you got some really nice help there just a couple of things.

Vigil gear (rare) is a bit weak and you should farm some exotic PVT. Imo the fastest way to get those is to run ascalonian catacombs. 9 days to have them all and after those runs you also have money to buy rune of the soldier.

Shelter isnt neccessary better than healing signet. In my experience having two passive conditionremovers often makes it possible to purely use the shouts for conditionremoval on your mates, when using pure of voice and soldier runes. Using shelter is only for your own safety. Frankly when you know what you are doing the heal is the last line of defence and most of the time you go down last. So dont rule out healing signet. Personally i even run a signet heal even without reduced cd since i very seldom have to use the heal. This makes it possible to use the shouts exclusively for my team. I run shelter as well but i find that a bit more ego centric, i have to use shouts for conditionremoval on my self a bit more often.

DPS Symbolbuilds are very viable in Tpvp but in wvw they wont work as well. In Tpvp you have objectives which in essence is an area this isnt the case in wvw. I wouldnt go for a dps symbol build in wvw.

Of the builds he posted i would aim for the balanced triple shout. That one allows you to play multiple roles by just switching one trait (vengeful/consecration mastery) and a couple of utility skills. Imo its extremely versatile. If you add in berserker/knights accessories and consumables you can infact have some amazing offensive stats while having great teamsupport. Signet of judgement also has room in this build, aoe retal and aoe weakness is just uber and ofc 10% less incoming damage.

Spirit weapons isnt as good in wvw, they work better in tpvp. If you want a really nice build for 1vs1 or 1vs2 check out the healway build. There is a topic in these forums but dont expect to have any major impact in large clashes but one on one its really nice.

Other than that i have nothing to add to Jax write up.

Few things, although I don’t know all the WvW builds, I’m really good at 1v1’s and maybe the gear difference from tpvp to wvw means that some builds against some they dont in pvp. Just to clarify:
Shelter is only worse if nobody’s going to be attacking you, to survive burst you need it (unless they’re built incorrecly / don’t know what they’re doing).
Signet of Judgement isn’t good for the slot it takes up, the optionals are all stronger. The spirit weapon was just if he was having trouble in 1v1’s because it gives you long combos which can only be stopped by long duration stability, if they stun break you use your next knockdown/knockback and continue with the chain. It actually doesn’t work in tpvp due to every player who has the opportunity to 1v1 has to be built for teamfights too.
I had a look and that healway build has no chance of beating a symbol dps guard 1v1, especially since he’s forced to stand in your symbols which crit over 1.2k-1.5k but a burst guard can beat a symbol dps. In tpvp theres the Guardian Circle (Control Bunker > Meditation Burst > Symbol DPS > Control Bunker).
Maybe I missed something about the healway? I can’t try it until I’m home from holidays, sorry.

The gear difference between tpvp and wvw is huge and its two entirely different games. As an example DPS guardian in wvw is really weak compared to in tpvp.

In a groupcentric build signet of judgement is actually very good since it has aoe retal and 10% is additive which means you can run with perma >80% mitigation with a proper build and still do decent dps. It all depends on what you are looking for. SoJ might be bad for your playstyle but i can see a number of scenarios where it actually is a great addition, negating burst in combination with protection for instance.

No you dont necessarily need shelter to negate bursts, you can also use a cc remover and dodging. I have no issues what so ever with burst when doing wvw, with signet as heal. Im not saying shelter is worse, i just say they do two different things and both are viable depending on playstyle, sometimes i like to use my shouts for the team exclusively and a signet heal helps me to achieve that. I use both btw.

The healway is surprisingly strong in 1 on 1 and it doesn’t matter if the symbol hits for 1k. Two hits deals 800 in retaliation damage and the healway negates the incoming damage by dodgerolling and healing for almost 2k. Its a lame build and for people that cant play but its very strong in one on one but close to useless outside of duelsituations. What you describe as the guardian circle is so true in tpvp, in wvw its not. Frankly i dont know of any player that plays a pure control bunker or pure symbol dps, with success, in wvw even though personally i would like to play a symbol build but its just to weak in wvw due to symbolsize.

I can tell you for sure that there is no chance at all that a dps guard beat me on my balanced shout/signet guardian. In Tpvp i might loose, in wvw, no way.

Brutaly.6257:

The gear difference between tpvp and wvw is huge and its two entirely different games. As an example DPS guardian in wvw is really weak compared to in tpvp.

In a groupcentric build signet of judgement is actually very good since it has aoe retal and 10% is additive which means you can run with perma >80% mitigation with a proper build and still do decent dps. It all depends on what you are looking for. SoJ might be bad for your playstyle but i can see a number of scenarios where it actually is a great addition, negating burst in combination with protection for instance.

No you dont necessarily need shelter to negate bursts, you can also use a cc remover and dodging. I have no issues what so ever with burst when doing wvw, with signet as heal. Im not saying shelter is worse, i just say they do two different things and both are viable depending on playstyle, sometimes i like to use my shouts for the team exclusively and a signet heal helps me to achieve that. I use both btw.

The healway is surprisingly strong in 1 on 1 and it doesn’t matter if the symbol hits for 1k. Two hits deals 800 in retaliation damage and the healway negates the incoming damage by dodgerolling and healing for almost 2k. Its a lame build and for people that cant play but its very strong in one on one but close to useless outside of duelsituations. What you describe as the guardian circle is so true in tpvp, in wvw its not. Frankly i dont know of any player that plays a pure control bunker or pure symbol dps, with success, in wvw even though personally i would like to play a symbol build but its just to weak in wvw due to symbolsize.

I can tell you for sure that there is no chance at all that a dps guard beat me on my balanced shout/signet guardian. In Tpvp i might loose, in wvw, no way.

Well I’ll have to test things in WvW out, but against good players you do need Shelter 100%. In tPvP there is no balanced shout guardian and signet heal is amazing guard vs guard, just not verse much else. But yeah I don’t profess to play WvW much at all, I may play it more when I get home.

Hi guys im also fairly new to the game, but i am using this build:

http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/guardian/?3.0|2.1g.h1b|6.1n.0|1n.71h.1n.71h.1c.71g.1n.71g.1n.71j.1n.71j|21k.0.1g.64.1g.64.1g.64.1g.64.2u.0|0.0.u56b.u28b.a2|0.0|v.19.16.18.0|e

It works pretty well due to the constant damage reduction of the armor and protection. But when i get knocked down allot then the S hits the fan. Because you guys are (very) experienced (imo) players, im wondering if we have like 4 or 5 other guars specced like this is it possible to have a continues uptime of not only protection but also stabillity? And wouldn’t that be Frikkin awesome not to be downed and have like a minimum of 70% damage reduced?

Blazin Blunt.6908:

Hi guys im also fairly new to the game, but i am using this build:

http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/guardian/?3.0|2.1g.h1b|6.1n.0|1n.71h.1n.71h.1c.71g.1n.71g.1n.71j.1n.71j|21k.0.1g.64.1g.64.1g.64.1g.64.2u.0|0.0.u56b.u28b.a2|0.0|v.19.16.18.0|e

It works pretty well due to the constant damage reduction of the armor and protection. But when i get knocked down allot then the S hits the fan. Because you guys are (very) experienced (imo) players, im wondering if we have like 4 or 5 other guars specced like this is it possible to have a continues uptime of not only protection but also stabillity? And wouldn’t that be Frikkin awesome not to be downed and have like a minimum of 70% damage reduced?

The key to not getting knocked down is not just stability but dodging/blocking/blinding key skills which will knock you down. You can’t chain stability beyond 3 stacks I believe, so you’d have to have a split second downtime in between usage. TBH I only use stability if:
– I expect an instant control (like shield of absorbtion) is going to hit me.
– I’m immobilized and can’t dodge the control.
– I have no energy they’re going to control me.
The other point is using stability at the correct times, if you’re just using it because you think maybe a skill like Banish is about to be used then you’re not going to stop many skills (especially since the player will wait for your stability to end and they can even cancel their skill if they’re midway through using it).
These are you main sources of anti-control:
– “Stand Your Ground!”
– Dodge Rolls with:

• Energy Sigils
• Pure of Voice to give you Vigor
• Vigorous Precision (Honour 5) to give you Vigor
  – Indomitable Courage (Virtues X)
  – Renewed Focus
  – Shelter
  – Justice is Blind (Radiance 5)
  – Hallowed Ground with Consecrated Ground (Virtues III)
  – Increase your boon duration for slight increases in Stability duration
  – Flashing Blade, Leap of Faith, Ray of Judgement
  – Shield of Wrath
  Then you can just control them first, Banish them, now they can’t touch you. Pressure them so that they have to run away, most people don’t realise this is one of the best forms of damage mitigation. Or snare them so they just can’t get close enough to control you.
  There are many, many ways but the best is to dodge the skills that do it in the first place.

PS: Bullet points ended up stupid and I’m not going to bother fixing <3

Ok thx for the reply.

Just a quick update

I’ve been using the triple shout build and doing much better. I think one of my issues is I play this game more like wow than I should. I relies defensive game play is much more active. Also I find that I don’t always know other players ‘burst’ attacks. I’m hoping its something I pick up over time so I know what to counter with shelter.

Brutaly.6257:

The gear difference between tpvp and wvw is huge and its two entirely different games. As an example DPS guardian in wvw is really weak compared to in tpvp.

In a groupcentric build signet of judgement is actually very good since it has aoe retal and 10% is additive which means you can run with perma >80% mitigation with a proper build and still do decent dps. It all depends on what you are looking for. SoJ might be bad for your playstyle but i can see a number of scenarios where it actually is a great addition, negating burst in combination with protection for instance.

No you dont necessarily need shelter to negate bursts, you can also use a cc remover and dodging. I have no issues what so ever with burst when doing wvw, with signet as heal. Im not saying shelter is worse, i just say they do two different things and both are viable depending on playstyle, sometimes i like to use my shouts for the team exclusively and a signet heal helps me to achieve that. I use both btw.

The healway is surprisingly strong in 1 on 1 and it doesn’t matter if the symbol hits for 1k. Two hits deals 800 in retaliation damage and the healway negates the incoming damage by dodgerolling and healing for almost 2k. Its a lame build and for people that cant play but its very strong in one on one but close to useless outside of duelsituations. What you describe as the guardian circle is so true in tpvp, in wvw its not. Frankly i dont know of any player that plays a pure control bunker or pure symbol dps, with success, in wvw even though personally i would like to play a symbol build but its just to weak in wvw due to symbolsize.

I can tell you for sure that there is no chance at all that a dps guard beat me on my balanced shout/signet guardian. In Tpvp i might loose, in wvw, no way.

I had a look and it seems healway is just the meta bunker from tpvp about 4 months ago, not spec’d into fury at all either. So it’s definitely defeated by symbol DPS, just to clarify.

Healway build is very strong 1v1. You may not like it, but there’s no denying that it is very effective, especially when you start getting comfortable enough to swap in more PVT gear to the basic Cleric gear.

Rok.5074:

Healway build is very strong 1v1. You may not like it, but there’s no denying that it is very effective, especially when you start getting comfortable enough to swap in more PVT gear to the basic Cleric gear.

I didn’t say that I don’t like it, I said it’s an early version of the control bunker which can be beaten by good Symbol DPS players.

In tpvp i agree with you. In wvw, where you can do dodge rolls for 2k each, i disagree.

The itemization in wvw makes heal/retal builds silly strong compared to bunker builds in tpvp.

Brutaly.6257:

In tpvp i agree with you. In wvw, where you can do dodge rolls for 2k each, i disagree.

The itemization in wvw makes heal/retal builds silly strong compared to bunker builds in tpvp.

Sorry, I didn’t realised it wasn’t nerfed in PvE. My bad.