Guild Wars 2

Hi there,

I’m in the process of levelling my Guardian to 80 and have found that I enjoy using the Sword/Shield combo a lot, probably the most out of any of the weapons Guardians can use, I like them all, but I find Sword/Shield the most fun.
I was wondering if they’re viable for proper end-game use (PvE/Dungeons/FotM, etc., not WvW/sPvP) instead of something like that Greatsword? It seems the Greatsword is the favoured weapon, but it would be nice not to be forced into using that to do well.

I was also wondering whether going quite tanky/supporty was particularly viable in PvE/Dungeons/FotM, because the majority of Guardians I see are all full DPS zerker ones.

Leveling it probably doesn’t matter much to be honest. Use whatever is fun or yields the least amount of downtime. What you SHOULD do though is make sure to use them all to learn all skills. That way when there is a time to use x weapon you will have everything unlocked.

Viable though? Yeah, it is. PvE and PvP. Best? Subjective and I won’t go down that road.

As long as you can make proper use of its strengths, Shield is fine. It requires more creative use of its skills than Focus, which is a very self explanatory weapon. You lose out on a huge burst damage attack in exchange for a knockback and projectile absorption. You also lose a blind and condition cleanse. But there are some really excellent scenarios in certain dungeons where the shield is invaluable, and it has its uses in WvW as well.

Short answer: yes. Longish answer it depends on your build. I know I’ve seen one handed sword builds out there that really crank out some impressive numbers and I’ve developed a build for sword that I enjoy using quite a bit. I would say in general terms focus would give you more personal utility with a blind and 5 blocks or burst but shield excels in a more group oriented situation. Shield might be a good choice as you ease into a hard core sword build as most these builds focus heavily on crits (radiance) and crit damage. The extra armor and protection on demand certainly helps mitigate the glass cannon feel of some of these builds until you get used to them. ie timing your blinds and learning the delay on the projectile block.

Good weather around here.

Just do what you think is fun! If your guild doesnt want to take you based on your playstyle, you probably need a better/friendlier guild Lol.

Sword/shield is certainly viable, the 2 skill is great for staying in the heat of the battle and 3 is a decent DPS skill with a small amount of utility. Because sword is more of a DPS choice, I wouldn’t recommend it for a tank/support spec, unless you are using knights or celestial gear and taking the crits=might trait. If you are using cleric’s gear, mace would prob be a more viable dungeon option.

That’s my input anyway

Just a friendly PSA, but sword 3 is less DPS than auto attacking. Its primary use is for blocking projectiles. Really funny to block Kill Shots in WvW with it.

Edit: Apparently this is a little bit wrong – it’s equitable DPS to autoattacking, but don’t interrupt an autoattack with it or your DPS tanks.

Hmmm now that you mention it, the auto attacks are a bit more impressive DPS wise

Abysinian.7051:

Hi there,
I was also wondering whether going quite tanky/supporty was particularly viable in PvE/Dungeons/FotM, because the majority of Guardians I see are all full DPS zerker ones.

Pure zerker is wasted in dungeons/fotm. However I do wear Knight’s and Zerker trinkets.
The extra toughness lets me tank the dmg nessecary while recovering with AH.

0/15/30/20/5, lets me tank dungeons with knight/zerk while constently putting out heals (rolls, hold the line, staff 2&4, virtue of courage, tome of courage [when needed])

the blind stomp is great for mob pulls, because it resets the justice on kill, so I can re-apply blind. Each new justice also applies might to you and allies, so that also procs AH.

I’m confused on the use of “end game” but not pvp/wvw. Considering those are both the “end game” of gw2. I probably just don’t understand the usage though.