Guild Wars 2

I would like a second character that is meaty with nice dps. Like a bruiser(jax, hecarim) in league. Dps gaurdian caught my interest because i know gaurdians are tanky so a dps gaurdian must be what im looking for but not sure. Do they have any glaring weaknesses that other classes will exploit in a duel? Im very big on duels amd skirmishes

If we’re talking the meta build (GS & Sw/F, Med Zerk) which actually has a very strong 1v1 game, then yes, you will have trouble with kiting, and mobility. For this reason, many guards choose to run rune of the traveler for wvw for that 25% movement speed. If you manage your CC, and teleports properly, you can dish out enough damage in bursts so that kiting is less of an issue for you. I like to run scepter instead of sword. The ranged pressure from scepter auto attack (which is actually fairly strong if the opponent is running in a straight line and not side stepping them) usually forces out some dodges, and the immob helps you get in some nice burst (immob + weapon swap + sigil of hydromancy proc + Binding blade/pull + whirling wrath for example).

Additionally, you could try running sigil of hydromancy if you run GS or Hammer for an extra burst damage (hits 1.2k on crit), and a few seconds of chill. Sigil of air/fire are well suited for sword due to its high attack rate, but weapons like hammer or gs where you get in some burst, but generally only get in a few hits at time work better with a non-chance on crit sigil imo. I find it to help me get in a good auto attack chain, also force a dodge roll, and MAYBE a condi cleanse!

Overall though, once you really get the hang of the class, you’ll have amazing 1v1 game. Assuming you’re fighting an equally experienced opponent, there aren’t many 1v1s you will lose, except for freaking D/D cele eles, and their cosntant regen, as well as turret engis.

If you want a build that is REALLY focused on 1v1, consider trying a condi guardian, or hybrid guardian (maybe even one that runs spirit weapons). They’re not nearly as susceptible to kiting, constantly deal a lot of damage through burning while still maintaining decent survivability with meditations/monk’s focus trait.

A DPS guardian is not very tanky, and relies a lot on active defense to survive. If you’re looking for a bruiser-type, warrior is really your only choice.

Black Box.9312:

A DPS guardian is not very tanky, and relies a lot on active defense to survive. If you’re looking for a bruiser-type, warrior is really your only choice.

yep just look at the base HP pool between guard and war. like 2 ships passing in the night

Jaxom.7310:

Black Box.9312:

A DPS guardian is not very tanky, and relies a lot on active defense to survive. If you’re looking for a bruiser-type, warrior is really your only choice.

yep just look at the base HP pool between guard and war. like 2 ships passing in the night

Not only that, but a warrior has better sustain, more CC access, and higher damage coefficients. You simply don’t have to invest as much into damage or defense to get a viable amount of both.

I’d go warrior but there are two things I don’t like about them.

They are the most popular class from my experience and I don’t like playing a class where there are a bunch of me running around everywhere.

Also, they are very boring and too easy. In PvE for example, you make so many mistakes but you will be fine. On Thief, if I made one mistake I was almost dead so it was more thrilling

Arcaedus.7290:

If we’re talking the meta build (GS & Sw/F, Med Zerk) which actually has a very strong 1v1 game, then yes, you will have trouble with kiting, and mobility. For this reason, many guards choose to run rune of the traveler for wvw for that 25% movement speed. If you manage your CC, and teleports properly, you can dish out enough damage in bursts so that kiting is less of an issue for you. I like to run scepter instead of sword. The ranged pressure from scepter auto attack (which is actually fairly strong if the opponent is running in a straight line and not side stepping them) usually forces out some dodges, and the immob helps you get in some nice burst (immob + weapon swap + sigil of hydromancy proc + Binding blade/pull + whirling wrath for example).

Additionally, you could try running sigil of hydromancy if you run GS or Hammer for an extra burst damage (hits 1.2k on crit), and a few seconds of chill. Sigil of air/fire are well suited for sword due to its high attack rate, but weapons like hammer or gs where you get in some burst, but generally only get in a few hits at time work better with a non-chance on crit sigil imo. I find it to help me get in a good auto attack chain, also force a dodge roll, and MAYBE a condi cleanse!

Overall though, once you really get the hang of the class, you’ll have amazing 1v1 game. Assuming you’re fighting an equally experienced opponent, there aren’t many 1v1s you will lose, except for freaking D/D cele eles, and their cosntant regen, as well as turret engis.

If you want a build that is REALLY focused on 1v1, consider trying a condi guardian, or hybrid guardian (maybe even one that runs spirit weapons). They’re not nearly as susceptible to kiting, constantly deal a lot of damage through burning while still maintaining decent survivability with meditations/monk’s focus trait.

Ok I made my gaurdian. But when do you pick a DPS gaurdian instead of the condi or hybrid guardian? If they are better at 1v1 and dealing with kiting why pick dps guardian, do they give more buffs to teammates?

Well neither med zerk, nor condi (or hybrid) guardian is that big on team support. Their role in pvp comes from being able to add focus, and burst down a target insanely quickly (if you get a thief who doesn’t manage his stealths/evades nicely, you will destroy him/her in about 1-3 seconds). If you like support/buffing team mates, there’s a meta build for that too (AH bunker, and variants thereof).

Med Zerk guard has trouble with really mobile classes because we don’t have much access to soft CC like cripple, or chill. We have some immobilize, sure, but that’s generally only good for getting in a couple hits at best. Condi guards on the other hand need only to keep a stack of burning on to get a good portion of their dps ticking constantly. With scepter and VoJ, this becomes fairly easy to do.

As a med zerk guard with 4 points into virtues though, you CAN give your team mates on demand condi cleanse, or 3 stacks of stability for stomps, so there’s that lol.

I keep getting pawned by warrior shooting rifle beams at me in wvw.

I haven’t have too much problem with other class. But I don’t roam much.