Guild Wars 2

Well i’ve tried alot of builds and alot of gear and i’ve mained guardian since launch but im just feat up with solo roaming wvw with him. The root of this evil is easy to spot, no 25% movement increase trait or movement increase skill. This makes me take traveler runes and miss out on Rune of Hoelbrak, rune of strength, rune of flame legion, etc. If i try to play without the 25% movement then people just look at me and say “hey he’s slow, kit him cause guardians have little to no soft cc and cant catch up”.

Well because of this I can’t play my guardian in solo roaming so im switching to warrior unfortunately (which seems to be the theme for alot of good guardian players i know). I don’t like warrior class more but its as strong as a guardian but with the movement and cc to boot. I really hope Anet add’s something for passive movement to guardian because to roam you NEED the movement speed and I shouldn’t have to sacrifice a straight dmg % modifier or condition % modifier (runes) to obtain it.

yes this was mostly a vent from the countless hours trying so desperately to get this class to work for me when im not havocing with the guild. Guardian support is still beast in Havoc though.

Hmm… No way to get swiftness on guardian you say?
Guardian since launch you say?

you can obviously get swiftness but not on a dps mediation guardian. You try running shouts dps against any good player. As soon as they realize you dont have JI to make a big gap closer they fall back and dps from range. Now, by all means if you have a guardian build in mind that can provide swiftness, on demand gap closers and high dps for solo roaming then please link and make my day because I’d love to stay guardian.

Pretty much every build has to make this choice. Going 100% damage in every build decision will naturally allow builds that do not a way to avoid you.

Try 4 in virtues and swap out contemplation of purity.

Some general tips when solo-roaming:
-Try to frequently swap out between staff’s symbol of swiftness, sword #2, and GS #3 when roaming. This creates a feeling of fast roaming, albeit you can’t be lazy, and you have to continually press buttons/switch weapons. I’m able to keep up with my +25% movement speed buddies for about 2-4 minutes by doing this, especially if I stand in symbol of swiftness for a few seconds before we head out (pre-stack on 30 seconds or so of swiftness, it helps).

-If in home borderland, and heading east/west/south, pop “Retreat” Because the chance of encountering an enemy before “Retreat” CDs is very very low.

-Rune of the pack is great in both small scale, and 1v1 encounters. The swiftness you get early on helps you keep up, and put on some hurt near the beginning of a fight. Also, you get a very nice distribution of stats, and don’t lose out like you do with traveler runes.

-True, Guardian doesn’t have soft CC which is why you have to be sure to land your big spikes (GS 4 + GS2, Foc 5, Sw 3, Hammer 2, etc.) Some ways I’ve found to increase the chance of landing these spikes, is start out with auto attack. GS auto attack is actually really damaging if the opponent eats it. This often forces them to use gap openers, or dodges which you can respond to with your gap closers, immob, leap, etc.

-Consider trying Sigil of Hydromancy: I used to like sigils of fire (still do for sPvP), but I switched over to sigils of hydromancy for WvW, and absolutely love it. The icy burst from them is like a mini smite condition, plus it often slows them down enough for me to get in a good attack or two. The downside is it’s a really graphic effect, so an experienced opponent would know to dodge or block if you always used weapon swap + immediate burst.

Unfortunatelly I have to agree with OP. The only hope for us is bow which we are probably getting in HoT.

LetoII.3782:

Pretty much every build has to make this choice. Going 100% damage in every build decision will naturally allow builds that do not a way to avoid you.

Try 4 in virtues and swap out contemplation of purity.

I take it you’ve never played a meditation guardian before? Taking a shout or staff on a meditation build is a terrible idea, and so is swapping out CoP.

As for OP, I agree wholeheartedly. Guardian is getting left in the dust, both figuratively and literally, because our only truly viable build left is very easily kited through range and CC.

Perhaps sacrifice a few stats from the utility consumable for Swift Moa Feathers and then take the runes of your choice?

If you have a staff you are not a very good 1v1 build. If you take retreat you are droping 1 usefull meditation. 25% from travelers/speed won’t help against some faster classes.

Now if JI worked like blink or lightning flash guards would be great. Requiring ambient creatures to run away is a gimicky mechanic.

traveler sword gs is plenty of mobility in wvw from what ive seen. I mean you wont be running away from 5 thieves pressing all of their 50 differnet movement skills just to kill you

Black Box.9312:

LetoII.3782:

Pretty much every build has to make this choice. Going 100% damage in every build decision will naturally allow builds that do not a way to avoid you.

Try 4 in virtues and swap out contemplation of purity.

I take it you’ve never played a meditation guardian before? Taking a shout or staff on a meditation build is a terrible idea, and so is swapping out CoP.

As for OP, I agree wholeheartedly. Guardian is getting left in the dust, both figuratively and literally, because our only truly viable build left is very easily kited through range and CC.

I take a shout with with my meditation build? :[

Amongst other things Swapping out CoP would be ideal if the classes you face in roaming weren’t so heavy condi based. You can certainly swap CoP in duels, but roaming wise CoP is a must. Until there’s a 25% movement speed trait, or weapon skill that isn’t staff, Travelers and Pack Runes are the go to. Travelers are better for moving around. Also if you ever need to get away from any mob of people, and you’re near a cliff of death, you can always you the FB/JI trick. Though that’s a pretty all or nothing escape.

Saw you were looking for a spec so meant to edit and post it not double post.

I run a lot of shout based dps builds and they can be ridiculously strong. They have limitations but catching someone isn’t one of them. I run 2x 1h’ers, mace/sword with torch and scepter with focus. I have a teleport, constant swiftness, the best immobolize in the game that you can cover and ranged in both weapon sets. Two of your skill even have ranged channels. You have a ton of clears, blocks, and invulns you can use on the move. Than to top it off you have scepter 1 which works pretty darn well in proximity.

Here is one of my newest specs that I have been playing around with

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fVAQRAsf7dlsApUodDxVI8DNBARl9CGhToVBA2xwKsDA-TZBHwAAOBACOIA92fIwTAoZZAA

enjoy. I am still debating a couple of the choice and trying different variations. You can swap the 2 into either of the other lines, run it with clerics, and use a variety of sigil combos. You can also use it without soldiers. If you have trouble staying alive add an energy into either set but…. if your dodging your not dps’ing and some of your tougher match-ups require you to dps more than dodge. In cleric’s swap the sword out with the mace for a bigger crit on swap and use 2x energy and the int on the torch. The great thing is this spec is ridiculously strong in groups as well. The funniest part is the cleric’s has a bigger burst.

Animosity.5968:

you can obviously get swiftness but not on a dps mediation guardian. You try running shouts dps against any good player. As soon as they realize you dont have JI to make a big gap closer they fall back and dps from range. Now, by all means if you have a guardian build in mind that can provide swiftness, on demand gap closers and high dps for solo roaming then please link and make my day because I’d love to stay guardian.

I haven’t made a WvW guide, was going to make one in the Reserved slot but haven’t gotten to it.
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/guardian/TPvP-Condi-Guard-Roaming-Guide/first#post4804999

I have a friend that still uses the build in Post #1 for WvW (and pvp) I believe she uses Koi cakes and Tuning crystals as food. Not sure if other roaming guards can solo camps but if you grab everyone in one group, you can kill them all very efficiently through burns, weapon switching, and rune of krait applications.

Hattoni.8597:

Unfortunatelly I have to agree with OP. The only hope for us is bow which we are probably getting in HoT.

Given that the revenant’s hammer is a ranged weapon, the guardian specialization’s bow will probably be a melee weapon.

im usin rune of the centaur and my healing is on a 24 sec CD so im 100% fine with my Medi guard hehuhehuhehu

Everything has pretty much already been stated. Traveler, Speed, and Pack are all viable options to help with mobility. If you don’t want to use certain runes, then Swift Moa Feathers is an option like Tarsius.3170 stated, however they can be somewhat expensive. There are also the Speed Boosters you get from BLC. Generally GS and sword/x are preferred since they give you added mobility, however scepter or hammer are also decent since they have CCs and one is a ranged weapon. If you’re still having problems with keeping on target, try using ice or hydromancy sigils (or even both), you can also use Glacial Heart if you’re using hammer.

With all the being said, solo roaming on Guard isn’t the easiest thing. A great deal of professions have you outclassed when it comes to roaming and if they are losing they can easily just reset the fight at their leisure.

Lucentfir.7430:

Black Box.9312:

LetoII.3782:

Pretty much every build has to make this choice. Going 100% damage in every build decision will naturally allow builds that do not a way to avoid you.

Try 4 in virtues and swap out contemplation of purity.

I take it you’ve never played a meditation guardian before? Taking a shout or staff on a meditation build is a terrible idea, and so is swapping out CoP.

As for OP, I agree wholeheartedly. Guardian is getting left in the dust, both figuratively and literally, because our only truly viable build left is very easily kited through range and CC.

I take a shout with with my meditation build? :[

Amongst other things Swapping out CoP would be ideal if the classes you face in roaming weren’t so heavy condi based. You can certainly swap CoP in duels, but roaming wise CoP is a must.

Yes, you take a shout with your meditations. Shouts builds take a consecration sometimes too. Open world doesn’t have one setup to rule them all… And if there were one, it really really wouldn’t be a duelling build like meta meditations.
Have neither of you tried a virtues build? 4 in virtues gives you access to a better condition remove than CoP, better because you can use it twice. How many scenarios do you really run into where more than 3 condis need clearing half as often? You also get unscathed contender, a 20% damage buff you can pop during other actions like a nitro boost. You get 20% additional boon duration as well, so all those boons hang around a while longer. Opening a utility slot is just one option though, for sure. Most people are gonna laugh if you argue mediguard needs a buff.. Jus sayin

LetoII.3782:

Lucentfir.7430:

Black Box.9312:

LetoII.3782:

Pretty much every build has to make this choice. Going 100% damage in every build decision will naturally allow builds that do not a way to avoid you.

Try 4 in virtues and swap out contemplation of purity.

I take it you’ve never played a meditation guardian before? Taking a shout or staff on a meditation build is a terrible idea, and so is swapping out CoP.

As for OP, I agree wholeheartedly. Guardian is getting left in the dust, both figuratively and literally, because our only truly viable build left is very easily kited through range and CC.

I take a shout with with my meditation build? :[

Amongst other things Swapping out CoP would be ideal if the classes you face in roaming weren’t so heavy condi based. You can certainly swap CoP in duels, but roaming wise CoP is a must.

Yes, you take a shout with your meditations. Shouts builds take a consecration sometimes too. Open world doesn’t have one setup to rule them all… And if there were one, it really really wouldn’t be a duelling build like meta meditations.
Have neither of you tried a virtues build? 4 in virtues gives you access to a better condition remove than CoP, better because you can use it twice. How many scenarios do you really run into where more than 3 condis need clearing half as often? You also get unscathed contender, a 20% damage buff you can pop during other actions like a nitro boost. You get 20% additional boon duration as well, so all those boons hang around a while longer. Opening a utility slot is just one option though, for sure. Most people are gonna laugh if you argue mediguard needs a buff.. Jus sayin

The thing about Unscathed Contender is that it’s based on Aegis. Your Aegis will only last a couple of seconds before it wears off. At best, you can pop F3 before you use a high damaging skill, maybe get another auto chain in. At worse, you’ll never utilize the 20% damage increase because Aegis is removed too quickly.

LetoII.3782:

Lucentfir.7430:

Black Box.9312:

LetoII.3782:

Pretty much every build has to make this choice. Going 100% damage in every build decision will naturally allow builds that do not a way to avoid you.

Try 4 in virtues and swap out contemplation of purity.

I take it you’ve never played a meditation guardian before? Taking a shout or staff on a meditation build is a terrible idea, and so is swapping out CoP.

As for OP, I agree wholeheartedly. Guardian is getting left in the dust, both figuratively and literally, because our only truly viable build left is very easily kited through range and CC.

I take a shout with with my meditation build? :[

Amongst other things Swapping out CoP would be ideal if the classes you face in roaming weren’t so heavy condi based. You can certainly swap CoP in duels, but roaming wise CoP is a must.

Yes, you take a shout with your meditations. Shouts builds take a consecration sometimes too. Open world doesn’t have one setup to rule them all… And if there were one, it really really wouldn’t be a duelling build like meta meditations.
Have neither of you tried a virtues build? 4 in virtues gives you access to a better condition remove than CoP, better because you can use it twice. How many scenarios do you really run into where more than 3 condis need clearing half as often? You also get unscathed contender, a 20% damage buff you can pop during other actions like a nitro boost. You get 20% additional boon duration as well, so all those boons hang around a while longer. Opening a utility slot is just one option though, for sure. Most people are gonna laugh if you argue mediguard needs a buff.. Jus sayin

I’ve always ran a shout with my roaming medi build, before medi guard even became popular. So i know it isn’t really at all a bad idea or terrible.

When you say use VoR clear two times, you forget the part where you’re going to have to pop Renewed Focus which means you’ve blown the oh kitten button to cleanse another 3 conditions. If you’ve roamed a lot you would be familiar with the the amount of Condis a good Terrormancer, Condi Engi, P/D Condi Thief, and a Condi Ranger can output, where you’ll need CoP. If you can manage it just fine without CoP more power to you.

Unschated Conteder is good for inital initiation burst, but after that it’s not really noticeable afterwards. Also far as buffs go I’m not asking for them, the people that ask for them are on the Spvp side of things. What I want to see really is just some QoL things like shield being fixed or at least being alot more useful than what it is now.

LetoII.3782:

Lucentfir.7430:

Black Box.9312:

LetoII.3782:

Pretty much every build has to make this choice. Going 100% damage in every build decision will naturally allow builds that do not a way to avoid you.

Try 4 in virtues and swap out contemplation of purity.

I take it you’ve never played a meditation guardian before? Taking a shout or staff on a meditation build is a terrible idea, and so is swapping out CoP.

As for OP, I agree wholeheartedly. Guardian is getting left in the dust, both figuratively and literally, because our only truly viable build left is very easily kited through range and CC.

I take a shout with with my meditation build? :[

Amongst other things Swapping out CoP would be ideal if the classes you face in roaming weren’t so heavy condi based. You can certainly swap CoP in duels, but roaming wise CoP is a must.

Yes, you take a shout with your meditations. Shouts builds take a consecration sometimes too. Open world doesn’t have one setup to rule them all… And if there were one, it really really wouldn’t be a duelling build like meta meditations.
Have neither of you tried a virtues build? 4 in virtues gives you access to a better condition remove than CoP, better because you can use it twice. How many scenarios do you really run into where more than 3 condis need clearing half as often? You also get unscathed contender, a 20% damage buff you can pop during other actions like a nitro boost. You get 20% additional boon duration as well, so all those boons hang around a while longer. Opening a utility slot is just one option though, for sure. Most people are gonna laugh if you argue mediguard needs a buff.. Jus sayin

Putting 4 points into virtues is too much of a sacrifice in damage for an additional cleanse that is usually not enough for the condition-heavy builds it’d be used against anyway. I’d much rather have those points in radiance for the vuln on blind and extra damage modifiers.

Putting 4 points into virtues isn’t ideal as you should put in 6. UC & Power of the Virtuous can be used to burst damage. If your running a shout 2 0 0 6 6 with retreat. You have multiple accesses to aegis. Your original aegis to start the fight, retreat on low cd, f3, the aegis you get when you use renewed focus, the aegis you get when you use f3 again. You also have other access to aegis through condition removal and at 50% health if you run a 0-0-2-6-6. In addition, f1 and f3 and retreat all have buffs that increase your +dam as well as f1 is a guaranteed 10% dam modifier. SoW into a Double dodge (while popping the right buffs/modifiers) to start your burst if needed to drain energy so you can have longer access to another 10% modifier than weapon swap with int and a zealot fire and boom!
In a fight where you don’t get many hits in a weapon swap it can be devestating. All in all UC is really, really powerful in certain specs. The best use of it is clearly anything with a x-x-x-6-6 run with clerics but it can be used in many specs. It will give you more burst than the other option typically taken of more retaliation. The other nice thing is the aegis also heals you while blocking an attack with a low healing co-efficient. I think the aegis heal is more effective in dps specs than in healing specs compared to the other options you could replace it with and the other heals taking higher use of healing co-efficients.
If you don’t think you can roam and be effective 1v1 in clerics you just aren’t fighting the right opponents. It works very well against the lower armor classes that you can’t hit very often and at worst stalemates some tankier builds. Really good meditation guardians are likely going to beat you unless you do some funky stuff with condition pressure on top of zerker.
The guardian isn’t one build for all situations or against all opponents. Overall the meditation guardian is probably the strongest 1v1 in the most situations but since it can’t roam effectively or escape a fight it is less effective in a lot of situations in PvP and WvW.

Saiyan.1704:

LetoII.3782:

Lucentfir.7430:

Black Box.9312:

LetoII.3782:

Pretty much every build has to make this choice. Going 100% damage in every build decision will naturally allow builds that do not a way to avoid you.

Try 4 in virtues and swap out contemplation of purity.

I take it you’ve never played a meditation guardian before? Taking a shout or staff on a meditation build is a terrible idea, and so is swapping out CoP.

As for OP, I agree wholeheartedly. Guardian is getting left in the dust, both figuratively and literally, because our only truly viable build left is very easily kited through range and CC.

I take a shout with with my meditation build? :[

Amongst other things Swapping out CoP would be ideal if the classes you face in roaming weren’t so heavy condi based. You can certainly swap CoP in duels, but roaming wise CoP is a must.

Yes, you take a shout with your meditations. Shouts builds take a consecration sometimes too. Open world doesn’t have one setup to rule them all… And if there were one, it really really wouldn’t be a duelling build like meta meditations.
Have neither of you tried a virtues build? 4 in virtues gives you access to a better condition remove than CoP, better because you can use it twice. How many scenarios do you really run into where more than 3 condis need clearing half as often? You also get unscathed contender, a 20% damage buff you can pop during other actions like a nitro boost. You get 20% additional boon duration as well, so all those boons hang around a while longer. Opening a utility slot is just one option though, for sure. Most people are gonna laugh if you argue mediguard needs a buff.. Jus sayin

The thing about Unscathed Contender is that it’s based on Aegis. Your Aegis will only last a couple of seconds before it wears off. At best, you can pop F3 before you use a high damaging skill, maybe get another auto chain in. At worse, you’ll never utilize the 20% damage increase because Aegis is removed too quickly.

You’d be amazed how often the guardian goes unscathed in a thief based havoc comp

Black Box.9312:

LetoII.3782:

Lucentfir.7430:

Black Box.9312:

LetoII.3782:

Pretty much every build has to make this choice. Going 100% damage in every build decision will naturally allow builds that do not a way to avoid you.

Try 4 in virtues and swap out contemplation of purity.

I take it you’ve never played a meditation guardian before? Taking a shout or staff on a meditation build is a terrible idea, and so is swapping out CoP.

As for OP, I agree wholeheartedly. Guardian is getting left in the dust, both figuratively and literally, because our only truly viable build left is very easily kited through range and CC.

I take a shout with with my meditation build? :[

Amongst other things Swapping out CoP would be ideal if the classes you face in roaming weren’t so heavy condi based. You can certainly swap CoP in duels, but roaming wise CoP is a must.

Yes, you take a shout with your meditations. Shouts builds take a consecration sometimes too. Open world doesn’t have one setup to rule them all… And if there were one, it really really wouldn’t be a duelling build like meta meditations.
Have neither of you tried a virtues build? 4 in virtues gives you access to a better condition remove than CoP, better because you can use it twice. How many scenarios do you really run into where more than 3 condis need clearing half as often? You also get unscathed contender, a 20% damage buff you can pop during other actions like a nitro boost. You get 20% additional boon duration as well, so all those boons hang around a while longer. Opening a utility slot is just one option though, for sure. Most people are gonna laugh if you argue mediguard needs a buff.. Jus sayin

Putting 4 points into virtues is too much of a sacrifice in damage for an additional cleanse that is usually not enough for the condition-heavy builds it’d be used against anyway. I’d much rather have those points in radiance for the vuln on blind and extra damage modifiers.

We’re getting off topic.
OP wanted to keep his hoelbrak runes but still have swiftness.
Playing with smite condition and no other condition remove is baaad idea.. I’m sure we can all agree there.

Solo roaming guard is perfectly viable. Maybe not optimal, but viable.

A medi build, let’s be real, doesn’t need a buff. In the hands of the right player it is one of the strongest 1v1 builds in the game, and even has the potential to 1vX.

I don’t even run Traveler/Speed runes and I still manage just fine with Pack. High stats and swiftness on hit goes a long way. I don’t understand why so many “longtime guardian players” just come on here to cry when it’s so obvious that many other roamers are managing just fine.

IMO it’s not that Guardians lack in movement skills, it’s that we lack lockdown/disengage skills. Every successful roaming class has skills to keep there target where they want them and skills to disengage when a fight isn’t going there way. A Guardian gets in and…kinda just sits there.

ventusthunder.5067:

S I don’t understand why so many “longtime guardian players” just come on here to cry when it’s so obvious that many other roamers are managing just fine.

Maybe because “us” – ‘long time guards’ now have 80’s of every other class and realize just how good engi’s and mesmers are compared to gaurdians when roaming.

just maybe….

Roaming is about Mobility and Disengaging so you can kite in outnumber situations.

It’s doable as a guard, but very difficult BECAUSE you have to sacrafice soo much to do it, whereas other classes don’t.

That right there is why most people bi7ch: FYI – it’s the long cooldowns in that build that kill the disengaging.

I honestly don’t struggle much with solo roaming. I’d say I have a very good win ratio in 1vs1 fights and I only ever really feel like I’m at a disadvantage if there are multiple opponents. I use sword/focus and scepter/torch as an alt. Scepter is actually really good for dealing with kiting enemies, believe it or not (I’m not sure why so many guard players think it’s crap, you just have to use it properly and it can be devastating).

I just cycle between weapons as the battle goes depending on the situation, and I don’t even use swiftness or movement speed runes (medi guard here). Sure, some enemy players disengage and run away to the extent I can’t catch them, but I still wouldn’t be able to catch them even if I had swiftness, so that’s a bit of a moot point.

Tenrai Senshi.2017:

I honestly don’t struggle much with solo roaming. I’d say I have a very good win ratio in 1vs1 fights and I only ever really feel like I’m at a disadvantage if there are multiple opponents.

I honestly love my guardian but I get so frustrated if I run into a class that can easily kite me. I fought a thief and a ranger last night that would just keep me slightly out of range while they slowly cut me down. Sure I would get up on them from time to time but never long enough to do much. Those SB rangers are even worse!

Again, the guardian is a ton of fun and I was really trying to learn it well enough to make it my main character but after getting killed 3 times due to folks kiting me, now I’m not so sure anymore. After the 3rd death I changed over to my p/d thief and just murdered folks. /sigh

Try runing with scepter,root is pretty much 100% succes rate,it has nice dps.Or you can try sigil of incapacitation “criple on hit” on melee weps,so with sword/GS and port medi,you got fair amount of mobility and can even run from zergs with some NPCs/criters/objects to port to.

Both variation works well,thou in solo roam i would take scepter and accept ocasional zerg overrun.In groups sword with cleaves sound better.

As some ppl already said in here,give scepter a try,u might be surprised.