Guild Wars 2

Because retaliation is hilarious:

<script>var guildhead_skillcalc = { “hash”: “Mmcz0z0zmRNGmmRNGmVaVxGzzMkMm” }</script><script src=“http://static.guildhead.com/skill-calc-embed.js”></script>

I thought this might be a fun build to use in the PvP fray. Charge into the thick and let your enemies defeat themselves. What could be more fun?

Anyway I hope at least someone appreciates the novelty.

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Try this!

http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#Mmcz0z0zmRNGmmRNGmVaVxGzzMkMm

Ha!

Maybe move the 5 points in Zeal to Radiance? Might help with spamming Justice and, therefore, more retaliation that doesn’t rely on you dropping to 25% health!

I’ll take Signet Mastery over Healer’s Retribution to reduce both Resolve and Signet of Judgment (16 secs cd on Judgement with Retaliation last about 8 seconds, ~50% up time).

Both of those are very good suggestions!

Renewed Justice is quickly becoming one of my favorite traits to spec. There are so many possible combinations you can make around VoJ; spreading conditions, etc. And yes, Signet Mastery for sure. I was looking at skills that directly effect Retaliation, but this is a nice way to keep it renewed.

Nice work!

Edit: http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#Mmcz0z0zmRNGmmRNGm0fVxGMzMkMm

I’m currently running a Retaliation build. I must say it’s fun, but like all builds you do have to manage your resources.

I personally went a full shout build; utilizing on the shouts that give me protection and regen.

Here’s the build I’m currently running (minus a few of the traits since I’m not lv. 80 yet, but it’s what I’m aiming for).

http://gw2skills.net/editor/en/?fUMQNAR5elYgiC33RLEgIFS2jVCBTwaBYPIQMajuFA

@NerdyMike

That’s an interesting build. You have a lot of group support buffs, and it looks like you rely on the Wrathful Spirit coupled with low a low cool down on VoC and other ways to keep an Aegis active. That adds some defense to the mix.

I’ll admit, the build that I came up with (with some input from Ancallan and Trungalung) is way overkill in the Retaliation department. I was running around with it last night (only level 52, so I don’t have all traits either), and yet there were times that I had ~40 sec of Retaliation on me. Yes FORTY SECONDS of boon. . .! I’ve not yet tried it in PvP, so I can’t speak for its effectiveness as such.

Unlike other builds, the idea is to simply blow all of your utilities when they are up and stack Retaliation. Then run into the mix and stay conspicuous. This is nice for a couple of reasons: mainly because I do not have to worry about timing my utilities perfectly or efficiently. I like trying to stay efficient with other builds, but it’s nice to have a break.

I’m not saying this is the greatest build, but it sure is hilarious! If you stack a bunch of Power and Vitality, it could be powerful. Anyway, thanks for the input. That is a nice build you have there.

I wish it did more damage. 267 + x/13.4 power is not the best. You’re looking at a max of like 400 per hit, which is generous per your power. It’s really hard to build a good retaliation traitline and have it be effective as it relies on power – stacking power and surviving are 2 opposing ideals, xD!

I’m sure once the meta develops for PvP and people find gear more easily in PvE there will be stronger builds, hopefully involving a more situational retaliation build.

Kantarufel.8496:

I thought this might be a fun build to use in the PvP fray. Charge into the thick and let your enemies defeat themselves. What could be more fun?

Anyway I hope at least someone appreciates the novelty.

That’s exactly the point, isn’t it? We’re given novelty traits while other classes have something useful. I think it’s a fun idea, but again, retaliation is a weak, weak boon (because with no healers, if you’re being hit, you will die and the small damage of retribution will not kill the enemy before you do (die)).

Exactly! This is by no means a “superior” build. I do wish retaliation was stronger. However what retaliation does do is it reflects a portion of (basically) all attacks bact to the source. That is not to say it will be the only damage you will be dealing. You are still swinging that great sword! It is intended to supplement your damage.

No it’s not the most survivable build. But if you get one medium size group attacking. your own medium size group, and they are focusing you, you can likely deal a decent amount of damage spread out among your enemies. Situational? Yes. Hilarious? Oh my yes.

I have to sort of disagree. While it isn’t a high DPS damage dealer, it gives the Guardian a way to be able to do SOME damage while still being able to buff and support the party.

I ran a dungeon last night (Sorrow’s Embrace. Story Mode. That was just ghey all around for EVERYONE. But anyways…) and when I actually started to play “support”, IE rolling around enemies & allies for extra healing, maximizing Shouts to their full potential, utilizing the Mace + Shield skills effectively, we really didn’t have much of the people going down. (Not counting OMGWTFBBQ ridiculous Boss Battles, but even still I was able to give them the support to keep on going and healing whenever possible).

I can definitely see this build working well in WvW. With Retaliation you’ll be able to “score” the hits against the enemies to gain the damage / kill bonuses while still being able to run around and do the thing that Guardians do best: Support.

I’ve always kept my Mace + Shield, but depending upon the battles at hand I would switch between the Greatsword (able to go more offensive) and a Staff (12 Stacks of Might for my team + Healing? YES PLEASE!!)

This is the trend for the Guardian – he’s not a “Lone Star” type of Class (though he can survive on his own), but he truly shines in the midst of comrades, aiding them. This is why I really, REALLY think that ArenaNet needs to change WvW a bit and allow some credit points to be allowed for people truly playing a Supporting Character.

Greatsword is a pretty terrific source of retaliation in and of itself. Symbol of Wrath grants retaliation every tick, and when you use the #4 leap combo finisher in its light field the skill grants an even longer duration of retaliation.

Mace + Focus would also accomplish this by dropping Symbol of Faith for a light field + shield of wrath blast finisher you get area retaliation. I believe the single-target version of retaliation from the greatsword lasts longer, but the area retaliation would obviously be more swanky in groups.

I tend to end PvE fights before the retaliation ever runs out from just using a greatsword alone with cooldown reductions.

Anyone run any tests on when retaliation becomes better than burning, or vice-versa?

I mean, for regular mobs that you can afford to take hits from, and for PvP, it’d make sense to run retaliation; it scales well with your power, and can’t be easily removed (relatively speaking, of course, necros…). But for dungeons, where getting hit feels like slamming into Mt. Everest after sling-shotting ‘round the moon, wouldn’t it be better to have a constant tick of burning as opposed to standing there and taking it?

Been trying to figure out how to build properly for a dungeon (hard to decipher with pugs, I know), and I haven’t found much consistency.

Greatsword + Greatsword? U wot m8?

You are wrecking your character in every possible way just to get retaliation, which really isn’t needed when you can equip a hammer and have protection + retaliation 90% of the time from hammer skills alone, not to mention the one shout that is worth it in this build (Stability + Retaliation).

Keep in mind that Retaliation actually gets better the more you can keep it up on a group. As an example, if you have two Guardians keeping up Retaliation, that’s two hits of Retaliation you’re doing for a single melee attack of an enemy, if you two manage to position yourselves well!

This can be a surprisingly effective thing and fun. How effective? Effective enough to work, at least! But I don’t think we’re looking for the Ultimate Build here!

I have been experimenting in sPvP with some variations of an actual (as opposed to exaggerated) “ret” build somewhat inspired by NerdyMike’s previous build post. I added the perpetual Aegis, and dropped some of the unnecessary retaliation building effects. I still manage to keep a solid 20-29 seconds of retaliation stacked while adding some utility such as swiftness (for running between and capturing nodes). This is what I came up with (I tend to like swinging the hammer first, and using the great sword to clean up):

http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#MmcM0c0MmNGammNGam0fVGxMzMMsa

Again it is by no means an end-all, be-all type of build. But the retaliation is nice when you have multiple enemies attacking you. Which in my case is almost all of the time. I have already moved on to other more “balanced” builds, but it sure was fun experimenting with this concept.

I wanted to add that I absolutely had to go with Renewed Justice. This is one of my favorite traits for Guardian. It is so versatile, and it couples well with Virtue of Retribution for maintaining retaliation with Virtue of Justice spam.

That is all…

I think it’s possible to build a full tank w/ infinite retali and infinite protection

There are runes that up protection by about 30% + 30% in our last trait line..