Guild Wars 2

I’ve been watching a couple of Zodin videos recently and I was thinking he can be a role model for aspiring DH roamers. I personally learned a lot from him on build and rotations etc. To me he seems a lot more skilled than the average DH skill spammer.

I just wanted to ask the folks here if Zodin is really good though and whether his opponents in the videos are good.

https://www.youtube.com/user/Xodin90/videos

Also he isn’t using traveler runes. I think it was durability runes he is using. Do you guys roam without traveler runes? the lack of movement speed is painful =/

Zodin is good, yes.

Many of the players he fought against in his latest video were decent. Dragonhunter got some really good burst damage that take people by surprise.

Notice how he places the trap Test of Faith and uses the Shield of Absorption to knock the enemy over the edge of the trap, and Spear of Justice to pull them back in–and over the edge again. That deals some really good damage.

Also, forcing enemies to go through your trap one way or another is excellent. Especially if you place it in narrow spaces and keep standing inside of it or close to the edge so if they want to attack you they have to touch the edge, where the damages comes from.

As much as he titles his videos “roamer” he’s more of a duellist, this why he runs the Runes of Durability, giving him just that, more durability.

Flashing Blade, Judge’s Intervention and Wings of Resolve gives a lot of movement option, two being a teleport and one a large distance leap/heal.

Until recently I roamed with travelers. However Ive changed that as you now need every trick in the book to ensure a win against a warrior due to the buffs they’ve been getting.

He is an excellent roamer.

-Above average fighter – has a good track record plus has a very good mastery of his weapon-set and utility skills.
-Okay mobility for a guard (chooses to focus on dueling potential rather than running/traveling)
-Has the eyes of a chameleon when it comes to fighting out-numbered. (as an anecdote: As good as I have become at dueling, I don’t think I’ll ever approach his level of outnumbered fighting capability).
-Has a very solid build that is min-maxed to nearly the highest potential for a guardian roamer.

I know of some guardians who are better duelists, but none that I can say are better roamers than he.

that is very high praise coming from you guys!
I think I will try running without travel runes too.
But what runes should I use?
This is my current build – very standard. Also is bow better than scepter?

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vVUQRArd8en8cCVdilDBWDB8DhlGiSe4T+n/aYXgAIL+uv8D-TVCFAB6r+xCnEA52fAgnAASKDMUFE11PwnSwkU6FAABwRP6RP6RPa38m38m3cnFCIwWA-w

His recent video was good. He makes good videos in general that WvW Guardians can benefit from watching. I like how he used sword/shield in his recent video. His weapon’s skins were nice too. Durability runes are strong. So strong they were rightfully removed from PvP, lol.

I won’t say long bow > scepter, but long bow definitely has huge advantages that scepter doesn’t. Long bow doesn’t need you to be as mobile to use it well. In my opinion, you need to use Pack or Traveler runes with scepter. You have to be able to move between ranges fast to be able to use scepter well.

I like Zodins videos and have watched pretty much all of them over the last couple years. He is very good. The latest video was the first he made using durability runes. I think that’s a bold choice because Guardians already have poor mobility and disengage skills. If you are a roamer and see a zerg approaching it will be a lot harder to get out of the way without traveler runes.

I think for your average skilled player traveler runes are still the better choice.

hmm…am I right to say that bow has higher burst damage and interrupt compared to scepter/focus?

You r right. I personaly like having sigil of intel for sure 3 crits on weapin swap and steal life on weapn swap aswell for extra damage.

EremiteAngel.9765:

that is very high praise coming from you guys!
I think I will try running without travel runes too.
But what runes should I use?
This is my current build – very standard. Also is bow better than scepter?

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vVUQRArd8en8cCVdilDBWDB8DhlGiSe4T+n/aYXgAIL+uv8D-TVCFAB6r+xCnEA52fAgnAASKDMUFE11PwnSwkU6FAABwRP6RP6RPa38m38m3cnFCIwWA-w

I highly recommend going for runes that have either min-maxed stats (+275 or +300 total stats) like Pack or Durability. Durability runes are a great choice since:
- you make pretty good use of the boon duration when in a party
- you get a nice boost to vitality which is something a guardian really needs as a roamer.

Also, I’ve been constantly swapping between scepter and bow trying to figure out what works in which situations. Here are my thoughts:

• Bow is more often better in WvW; having a range advantage means you can make your opponents come to you, or else they retreat/eat damage. Scepter may have better dps, but fight any guardian with a LB while you use scepter and you’re going to notice pretty quickly that they can force you into melee range/weapon swap more than you can force them (then, you eat traps).

• Scepter works better in duels and in spvp; much higher dps and better sustain but lower burst. The less targets you have, the better scepter does compared to LB.

• Overall I would say it depends on your other weaponset and who you are fighting. If your other weaponset is a bursty/damaging set, I’d go with Sc/X and if it’s a more defensive or sustain weapon, I’d go with LB. If you plan on roaming, where open-fields and mobility really play much more of a role, LB performs better, but if you’re looking to do more damage in 1v1 or smaller fights, Sc/X works better. Also, depending on your opponent, the blocks/blinds from Sc/X are often more useful than the (unreliable) CC from LB.

he makes a lot of errors but his awareness seems pretty good for a WvW player

I can also make a video and cut only the bits where I win the fights.
Some combos are nothing new like knockback and pull through test of faith… it’s not like you gonna trigger some passive stability trait or if your enemy will already have stab on. I’ve done it many times and it works, but most of the time people are not that stupid.
Tons of blinds or just escape on demand (mes, rev, thief) to wait until your CD’s run out and then push you into the ground is also a nuisance :U

Rodzynald.5897:

I can also make a video and cut only the bits where I win the fights.
Some combos are nothing new like knockback and pull through test of faith… it’s not like you gonna trigger some passive stability trait or if your enemy will already have stab on. I’ve done it many times and it works, but most of the time people are not that stupid.
Tons of blinds or just escape on demand (mes, rev, thief) to wait until your CD’s run out and then push you into the ground is also a nuisance :U

Zodin has been streaming quite often so you can watch the streams to confirm, but the pattern I’m noticing is: He usually engages multiple foes or bites off more than he can chew, and retreats/dies. The second most often scenario is he engages one or more foes and comes out victorious. Very rarely does he encounter a single opponent and duel/1v1 them, then lose (it does happen, just not much).

Also, yeah none of his comboes are especially impressive but what is impressive is how he can read a situation and adapt his gameplay to land said comboes on just about anyone.

Arcaedus.7290:

Rodzynald.5897:

I can also make a video and cut only the bits where I win the fights.
Some combos are nothing new like knockback and pull through test of faith… it’s not like you gonna trigger some passive stability trait or if your enemy will already have stab on. I’ve done it many times and it works, but most of the time people are not that stupid.
Tons of blinds or just escape on demand (mes, rev, thief) to wait until your CD’s run out and then push you into the ground is also a nuisance :U

Zodin has been streaming quite often so you can watch the streams to confirm, but the pattern I’m noticing is: He usually engages multiple foes or bites off more than he can chew, and retreats/dies. The second most often scenario is he engages one or more foes and comes out victorious. Very rarely does he encounter a single opponent and duel/1v1 them, then lose (it does happen, just not much).

Also, yeah none of his comboes are especially impressive but what is impressive is how he can read a situation and adapt his gameplay to land said comboes on just about anyone.

What classes and builds does zodin tend to lose to in 1vs1?

Power druids? Condi chronos? Those are the 2 classes i hav the most difficulty fighting on my power DH

EremiteAngel.9765:

Arcaedus.7290:

Rodzynald.5897:

I can also make a video and cut only the bits where I win the fights.
Some combos are nothing new like knockback and pull through test of faith… it’s not like you gonna trigger some passive stability trait or if your enemy will already have stab on. I’ve done it many times and it works, but most of the time people are not that stupid.
Tons of blinds or just escape on demand (mes, rev, thief) to wait until your CD’s run out and then push you into the ground is also a nuisance :U

Zodin has been streaming quite often so you can watch the streams to confirm, but the pattern I’m noticing is: He usually engages multiple foes or bites off more than he can chew, and retreats/dies. The second most often scenario is he engages one or more foes and comes out victorious. Very rarely does he encounter a single opponent and duel/1v1 them, then lose (it does happen, just not much).

Also, yeah none of his comboes are especially impressive but what is impressive is how he can read a situation and adapt his gameplay to land said comboes on just about anyone.

What classes and builds does zodin tend to lose to in 1vs1?

Power druids? Condi chronos? Those are the 2 classes i hav the most difficulty fighting on my power DH

Off the top of my head, I do remember him being beaten in a 1v1 by a power-based druid (but he then went on to beat that druid in a couple duels). I can’t remember what builds, but I also remember seeing him lose (once) to a daredevil and also to a power-based chronomancer (once out of 2+ duels).

I’m in the same boat as you though; those two classes are the ones that give me the most trouble.