Guild Wars 2

I know jax has a good list of builds for pvp, and he is updating it sometime this week/next week for the recent changes, but I got a couple questions on what I thought the new meta was for dps.

I didn’t really have a perfect answer as I am testing things out myself.

In trying to answer the question I went full dps 10/30/30/0/0 just to see where we were at with the meditation/fury set up. Was ok but really squishy as expected.

http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-7FcBl;0NFk30G3wF-90;9;49TT;01;039A09B;45JV04;1sF04JF045ZM

After that I worked backwards to gain some balance and ended up with 20/15/30/5, and surprisingly I felt sustainable while maintaining damage

http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-7Fcg;1NFk30G3wF-90;9;4JET4-16-3;009B;45RV0;2KJG4KJG45BJ

I am not really sold on sword though, as I don’t feel it is “bursty” enough since you end up stationary a lot and it misses, then all you have is auto attack. Mace is a good choice but relies on them hitting you back. Scepter is ok, but again easy to run out of.

I went with sword just for mobility and defensive blinds, and not really damage, but it works well enough.

So back to the point: how would you as the community mold this build? Or is it good where it stands?

small change, picked up energy runes for more survival, unsure of a “good” offhand rune still, so just picked up might on crit.

http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-7Fcg;1NFk30G3wF-90;9;4JET4-16-3;009B;4UZl6;2KJG4KJG45Bt

Do this. Perma vigor and some protection from VoC are going to do way more for your survivability than anything other than something like full soldier. Key to survivability is timing blocks, evades, and blinds.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQRAsf7dlUgiDnGyNEfIFRuArHA8g+DXw1DIGxGC-jUyA4rBRTQgILhmKAk+KiGbzoIas6aM9JRUtPhIqWGA9tA-w
The site doesn’t count RHS, so add 15% crit chance.

Well I have been running a few variations all day with fairly good success in hot joins….but that does not mean much in tpvp or wvw.

Still, there is some merit to them and more tweeking might help. I urge those interested to try out some of these. The offhand sigil on focus is optional, anything you like could go there honestly. I went with might on crit to balance out the gs might on auto with sword procing might on auto as well.

Blind Zeal
http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-7Fcg;1NFk30G3wF-90;9;4JET4-16-5;009B;4UZl6;2KJG4KJG45Br

• What I started with, runs well, good damage and ability to stick to a target. Use shelter and RF to avoid burst and spread out meditations to save them when you burst back. Also you can utilize virtue of justice to get blind stomps and it refreshes for the next kill. Or you can use VoJ defensively as an aoe blind while fighting.

2H Zeal
http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-7Fcg;1NFk30G3wF-90;9;4J-TJ-16;209B58;2UZl6;2KJG4KJG45Bi

• An attempt to put more pressure through cooldowns, was able to take down some bunkers due to quick refresh on WW, plays the same as the above build, Blind Zeal.

Balanced Mediations
http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-7Fcg;1NFk30G3wF-90;9;49ET941;05;009B5;3UZl6;2KJG4KJG45Bo

• Taking Carpboy’s suggestions into mind, picked up 5 into virtues to provide more utility on activation. VoJ provides might for burst and VoC provides protection to get in the thick of things. VoJ still refreshes on stomps.

Daring Virtues
http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-7Fcg;1NFk30G3wF-90;9;4J-TE416;209B5;3UZl6;2KJG4KJG45Bj

• Dropping radiance out of the tree provides a little more survival in the same tune as the balanced virtues, but you lose the blind utility from VoJ. More passive healing provided with Pure of Heart, Selfless Daring, and Zealous Blade (I know..only 25…. but it’s bonus with the 5% extra damage) to help bridge gap between meditation uses.

Again all of these ran well, I survived while keeping pressure up. They of course can use more battle testing in rated tournaments if anyone dares step out of bunker or some wvw if you want to gear it up.

Trying to keep positive and make lemonade out of what I felt was a lemon of a patch, but feedback is welcome!

edit: bonus info, didn’t realize that greatsword auto chain gives might “per” enemy struck up to 5. That is pretty nice in a cluster….hi, welcome to a year later and I look more closely at my skills

Oh this is for spvp… The traits on mine are still good. But it won’t have the same survivability or damage as in WvW since you only use an amulet. Also, run a scepter. Please. Just try it. Everyone says its horrible and it gets passed on. The #3 is perfect for setting up a big burst and the # 2 is awesome when fighting thieves or using #3 right when theyre in the middle of it. Or in a big teamfight just drop #2 in the thick of things. Seriously. Scepter is my favorite weapon for guards actually, with sword and focus a close second and third. GS is poopy for the build i posted anyway since it really relies on the crit from RHS.

So decided to stream fights as I test these builds to see how they fare and go back to study them. Never really looked at twitch before, so it is my new little entertainment that I will never keep up :p Easy to setup though, and free so that is kind of nice. Was expecting subscription fees.

Just hotjoins so nothing special, did some solo queue with the build but it didn’t work well with the random team setup. Very selfish and does not support team fights at all.

Maybe just need the right comp to support a meditation guard, but seems like it is only good for hotjoins and maybe wvw roaming.

Anyway, here is my goofy self and some spvp I been running all day (deleted first set cause audio was clipping way too loud).

http://www.twitch.tv/1cmf/b/471772173

I’m currently experimenting with something quite similar to the Balanced Meditations build there – except I’ve been taking just 5 points in honor and taking Powerful Blades in Radiance for 5% extra sword damage.

Prior to the patch my favourite was 0,30,30,5,5 with Perfect Inscriptions the Signet Heal with Perfect Inscriptions AND Purity for a lot of passive condi removal to help against the glut of condi classes…. now that has been nerfed to the ground so RHS is a better option.

As I’ve said in other posts, the biggest issue I have with Focused Mind is it forces you to drop Purity.

Personally, outside of fighting ranged targets without ‘pets’ I truly think Mace is superior to sword in TPvP. Especially for DPS/Burst builds Med builds. The extra sustain makes a big difference with all the crazy stuff flying around these days.

If you wanna’ try something quirky, here:

http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-7BdZ;1NFF30I3wF-90;9;59TO4;15;006B56;2LJk6;2F-03F-038BO

The Monks change opens up Mace of Justice, and with Writ of Persistence, it can all but match Sword for damage and potentially has a stronger spike. Honor minor is open season (Symbol range trait can work but you rarely need it), and CoP can be subbed for SyS if you’re having trouble with warriors (which you shouldn’t be with this sustain, just time those dodge rolls, VoJ blinds, VoC’s, SoWrath, and Protector hits and you’ll be fine). If the war decides to bail you can’t chase but you shouldn’t lose either.

Hammer/Mace+shield, GS/Mace shouldn’t cause much hassle but LBow/Hammer, and a good Axe+Mace/Random can be a pain. watch those Eviscerate crits.

If you wanna’ go full glass, Ogres, zerker ami can work, and if Condi’s are being a pain then Lyssa’s but tbh the condi’ clear is all it has. Sceptre+X/Mace+X is still awesome imo but you want the mobility to roam and might stacks on Staff for group fights, despite otherwise being inferior to Sceptre+X imo.

That second balanced meditation build works wonders for me. It took a while to adjust from being an AH shout support unit to a more offensive unit. With the sword/focus off hand it provides the build more flexibility wen it comes to burst and dealing with groups.

I use it to roam and believe me I either burst the guy so fast he has no chance to run, they try to run and die tired, or it really puts so much pressure on the other guy that the burst will eventually get them especially when the meditations heal and do more damage as they try to pop conditions on you.

Overall this build changes the offensive Guardian’s playstyle. The recent changes have added another dimension to Meditation builds. I expect to see more people discover more bursty builds.

I’ve updated my guide as of today, if any of you are interested. There was no real change to the standard Burst build, there is to the balanced one so that I can get people to transition away from the GS (beforehand I was trying to kinda sugarcoat it so that people are more accepting), since it doesn’t have a place in tpvp burst.

I’ve had good luck with a 20/0/30/20/0 build. Perma vigor with heal on dodge, take valk jewel (Zerk Amulet) in PvP or in WvW take some Clerics jewels. GS/Sw+F. Good sustain through healing while still maintaining good dps

Here’s the build I run:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQNAR8dlUgiD3GyOEf4ESli45ewUQgw31DIKiaIA-TsAg0CvIqRVjrGTNyas1MsYZxuAA

take a look at my pvp-video.

I play with my meditationbuild for a long time now.

Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ifUu_du_ZY&hd=1

interested in the build?

Manu.1478:

take a look at my pvp-video.

I play with my meditationbuild for a long time now.

Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ifUu_du_ZY&hd=1

interested in the build?

I would like to see the build

Generally what I use for my dps med build. Might be too squishy for some people. I also use this build in WvW.

http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-7Fcg-FKOFk30G3wF-90;9;49OT-41;059-09B;45RV4;2G3G3G3G35Bg

Pretty similar to one of jaxs old mace burst builds, but tried to stick to the trait line synergies and sword/mace were in those trees, so picked them up.

This runs slower than a gs/sword setup, as you don’t have the second leap to get around.

Sw/F and blind exposure has about 9 stacks of vulnerability on opener with ray of judgement and flashing blade

M/T has large crit hits with zealot’s fire and protectors strike…which cleansing flame helps to supplement the slow auto attack from mace while stuck in it.

Favored energy sigils for more dodging, and fire sigils for lack of something good? More damage I guess.

Really stuck on lyssa runes lately because of the precison/condi clear/boons. 10% from being over 90% life with scholar just does not maintain long enough for my typical encounters.

http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-7FcBl;0NFk30G3wF-90;9;5TT44;159A09B;4UNl6L;1KJG4KJG45Bm

biggest down side is I can’t help allies with shield knockback….so used to that it is hard to give it up.

Been running 0/0/30/30/5/5 with beserker jewels and runes of speed. Been having a lot of fun on this build.

For whatever reason I like sw/sh and sc/foc… I know it makes no sense but I am very used to the sc/foc combo.