Guild Wars 2

After the introduction of the new meditation healing skill I’ve been testing out the meditation build for PvE. Because we can use 4 meditation skills now it might be more worthwhile to run a meditation build. I currently run 0 / 0 / 30 / 30 / 10. Where I focus the Valor traits on meditation (I, X, XII) and Honor on symbols (III, VII, X).

In combination with the hammer and berserker gear (maybe boon duration runes or else scholar) this allows me to get constant protection, fury and healing. Also I can easily switch my traits to shouts/bunker for certain situations such as WvW or high level Fractals.

Personally, I feel this build is stronger (because of the fury) than the other hammer build with the traits 15 / 15 / 0 / 30 / 10.

What do you guys think? Also which boon duration runes would you recommend? Perhaps full Traveler runes or a mix?

I really can’t imagine PvE without a source of Stability. I’d swap out at least one of your meds for Stand Your Ground.

foofad.5162:

I really can’t imagine PvE without a source of Stability. I’d swap out at least one of your meds for Stand Your Ground.

From someone who has been playing mostly shout builds I can understand where you’re coming from. But it’s not as bad as you think. As of a few patches ago stun breakers instantly recover you from a stun. Two meditation skills give stun breakers and in certain situations (such as the AC dungeon) you could always decide to equip Stand Your Ground or Hallowed Ground (and even change from symbol to shout trait).

What is the point of triple meditations in PVE? They don’t bring anything to the team. Consecrations are the PVE powerhouse, with shouts being second. I never put a meditation on my bar since they don’t benefit the team.

When I read the title I thought you were going to discuss your WvW hammer/medi build. Which is what I run. Medi build in PVE is bad. Not because you can’t do a dungeon with it. But because it doesn’t help your team. Wall of Reflect and Purging flames is too pro to be replaced by a medi.

Agreed, meditations have no room in PVE. They are too selfish and they require too much an investment to be made worthwhile.

A single WoR is infinitely more useful than all 4 of your medis

That’s what the 10 points in Virtues is for (check the traits I showed in the OP). WoR is situational and doesn’t affect every enemy you face. Even then it only takes away 1 slot and still leaves room open for 2 other meditations plus your meditation heal.

Meditations might be more selfish. But shouts nor consecrations give the same offensive benefit as meditation does (fury). What PvE needs is DPS and that’s what Fury can give us.

Noah.4756:

That’s what the 10 points in Virtues is for (check the traits I showed in the OP). WoR is situational and doesn’t affect every enemy you face. Even then it only takes away 1 slot and still leaves room open for 2 other meditations plus your meditation heal.

Meditations might be more selfish. But shouts nor consecrations give the same offensive benefit as meditation does (fury). What PvE needs is DPS and that’s what Fury can give us.

Oh are you talking about solo’ing? Where no other classes are there to give buffs?

Noah.4756:

foofad.5162:

I really can’t imagine PvE without a source of Stability. I’d swap out at least one of your meds for Stand Your Ground.

From someone who has been playing mostly shout builds I can understand where you’re coming from. But it’s not as bad as you think. As of a few patches ago stun breakers instantly recover you from a stun. Two meditation skills give stun breakers and in certain situations (such as the AC dungeon) you could always decide to equip Stand Your Ground or Hallowed Ground (and even change from symbol to shout trait).

It’s not you I’m worried about, it’s your team. There are lots of encounters where group stability is incredibly powerful and absolutely worth taking over some personal stunbreak or condition clearing.

SYG + boon duration = 10 sec stability on 24 sec cooldown
HTL + boon duration = 10 sec regen and 8 sec prot (if not more) on 24 sec cooldown

Those 2 >> any kind of med nonsense u are bringing. Add in PoV, and u have a winner.

Cat Has Ducks.1982:

Noah.4756:

That’s what the 10 points in Virtues is for (check the traits I showed in the OP). WoR is situational and doesn’t affect every enemy you face. Even then it only takes away 1 slot and still leaves room open for 2 other meditations plus your meditation heal.

Meditations might be more selfish. But shouts nor consecrations give the same offensive benefit as meditation does (fury). What PvE needs is DPS and that’s what Fury can give us.

Oh are you talking about solo’ing? Where no other classes are there to give buffs?

That’s not true. You’re forgetting the whole protection part of the build which the hammer and the symbols provide. It gives permanent protection, regeneration and retaliation to the whole party. Plus condition removal if you have a mesmer or elementalist or any ranged in the team who can give easy projectile finishers. Does your team really need more defensive utilities that could otherwise be used for more damage output? I’ve run this build for two days now and my pug teams are doing extremely well, on top of that I’m doing a lot more damage.

I agree that Stand Your Ground and Wall of Reflection are strong defensive skills and in certain scenario’s definitely useful. The new heal meditation gives us another source of fury and therefore the build is now more flexible, allowing us to equip SYG or WoR if necessary. At the same time you can melt through the rest.

Here’s the thing. Warriors give 8 seconds of fury to the team every 25 seconds. Add that to their banner of discipline and you are looking at a ton more crit chance. That is bringing a lot to the team. With what you bring, might as well bring another warrior and stack more vuln and offensive buffs.

Consecrations are the bread winners in PVE. Meditations are crap for team play. No need for em. You are gimping yourself and your team. But at least you aren’t running a cleric build or something. I’m just glad I left pug land a while ago.

And look in this thread for a real team hammer build:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/guardian/Guide-DPS-Guardian-for-PVE/first

Also 0/0/30/30/10 is a terrible build damage wise. But whatever. “Play How I Want” I suppose.

Cat Has Ducks.1982:

Here’s the thing. Warriors give 8 seconds of fury to the team every 25 seconds. Add that to their banner of discipline and you are looking at a ton more crit chance. That is bringing a lot to the team. With what you bring, might as well bring another warrior and stack more vuln and offensive buffs.

Again you’re forgetting about the symbols in this build. Warriors do not provide the party with protection, regeneration nor retaliation (or WoR and condition cleansing if necessary). As you can see my build is still less egoistic than most other classes you’ll have in your team. Of course if you have a team full with warriors you might ask yourself if meditations are as useful as you can keep fury up almost all the time. But it seems you’re blessed with the perfect team set up every time you play.

Consecrations are the bread winners in PVE. Meditations are crap for team play. No need for em. You are gimping yourself and your team. But at least you aren’t running a cleric build or something. I’m just glad I left pug land a while ago.

Shouts are crap unless your team is really bad and is not able to survive without the overkill of defensive buffs. Also good luck with the Wall of Reflection when the mob isn’t shooting projectiles. But at least you’re not running full bunker like most pugs…Come on, give me a break already. Meditations are not crap as you keep saying because guardians do not have any other reliable offensive utilities.

And look in this thread for a real team hammer build:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/guardian/Guide-DPS-Guardian-for-PVE/first

Also 0/0/30/30/10 is a terrible build damage wise. But whatever. “Play How I Want” I suppose.

Your link is outdated and doesn’t take into account the new changes. Also, I already used his exact build before (check the OP) and feel like this current build provides more offensive power and still gives the party plenty of buffs.

You say shouts are overkill ay? Ever chained aegis so your team doesn’t have to dodge in order to kill a boss really quick? Ever do a Wall of Reflect Lupicus stack kill? Those blocks are pro. I generally only run one shout, and that’s so my team doesn’t have to dodge, which makes us kill things quicker.

I see there is no hope for you. Your ways are set. Carry on.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQJASWnQElGacIehwHiiIrgIrKEPMFaMjXPgYEbIA-jgBBoiBisIQ5pFRjtNoIas6aYKXER1A-e

You probably shouldn’t asked us what we think if you are just going to defend any criticism thrown at your build without really considering what we are saying.

ellesee.8297:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQJASWnQElGacIehwHiiIrgIrKEPMFaMjXPgYEbIA-jgBBoiBisIQ5pFRjtNoIas6aYKXER1A-e

This is definitely more “team friendly” build – and it has over 51^ crit chance (plus fury ofc) to take advantage of that sweeeeet crit dmg from having to invest 30 into valor in order to commit to meditations.

Slotting the 10 in virtues in order to reduce the cooldown on consecrations is worth it if you AREN’T plan on going with more than 1 person, because purging flames is also a consecration – and a pretty sick source of cond removal and dmg. At the moment, without purging flames, cond removal is probably the major weakness of the build – which is personally why I would switch to hammer/gs for whirl > cleansing bolts through your symbol of protection (hammer) for some self cleanse.

To OP; I would say that using a meditation build without going at least 20 (or 30) into valor is a potential weakness- sure go 15/15 – but don’t then rely on meditations, as without a cooldown reduction, the recharge is gnarly :E – Also, valor is the crit damage trait line, + some zerk ,+ all that fury = hard hitting crits (at least until they change it to ferocity :PPP)

To those saying “shouts or gtfo” – perma protection and regen is a great way to support your team, being able to cleansing whirl for party wide cond removal (assuming your party knows how to stack) is so much better than traiting into cond removal on shouts… which since they only remove 1 are pretty darn pathetic. – plus outright heals are patheticly low, and we all know when it comes to the meta: direct dmg > everything else, and damage mitigation/avoidance > healing

Guardian shouts are dull to play, dps guardians DO have a purpose in this game, and they can be incredibly powerful – rather than those who have a full heal build with zerk gear… gs and staff and basically act as an empower bot… they actually do dmg AND provide support for the team. It also helps if you have a team of competant players, who know their class, have the ability to might stack and blast fire fields, know how to dodge, and have their OWN way of mitigating damage, not just rely on a guardian to carry them through.

Traditional guardian roles (healer shouts) make it able to carry 4 lazy players through a dungeon/fractal, but at high end this is not enough. Boss attacks one shot you if you get hit, so it’s much important that you can dodge rather than you have cond removal on shouts…The new meta for guards is zerker

High end, it’s always about damage, damage, damage. Hammer damage is pretty sexy, and I really enjoy the flexibility, mobility and damage/support hybrid that meditation play can give – give constructive opinions, not just “you’re gimping your team if you don’t run shouts and wor”