gerdian
(edited by Booms.2594)
Moobs Standard AH Bunk Guard Guide
COOL DOWN MANAGEMENT
This is pretty much what defines how good of a guardian someone is. If you spam abilities and you don’t win the fight quickly, it’s GG and you lose the fight. But if you hold onto those CDs too long, you’l lose efficiency and maybe lose the team fight due to subpar support. It’s really tough to get this exactly right, as you have to take into account your comp and the enemy comp and have to understand how long a fight will last.
“Tempo” is what I refer to is how fast team fights go. This depends on both team comps. If both times are really heavy burst and high damage specs, the tempo will be high. Thus, you want to be burning those CDs quickly and giving support to the person being focused just long enough so you can knock someone out on the other side. Furthermore, I’d both teams are really tanky, you want to be really slow with your CDs due to slow tempo. Due to how CC works in this game, someone can be 100-0’d in a team fight just because of a good immobilize or CC train. Thus, you want to be using minor utilities to keep everyone alive, but you have to save some important CDs for those burst attempts.
Now this is the part where I go through every skill in your kitten nal and tell you when to use it effectively and efficiently.
Virtues:
Virtue of Justice
This skill is mostly used for the blind. As mentioned above, you can stop things like Earthshakers. This is especially important if you’re empowering without Stab, since you don’t want to burn an aegis for something like that.
It’s also good for the burning. Coordinating with a terrormancer to give them burn when condi bursting can add thousands of burst dmg with just this one skill. One of the most common uses is to blind a 2 skill in downed state while stomping. Likewise, you can stop incoming CCs while rezzing with it. Overall this skill is really important, so don’t waste if for da might stax.
Virtue of Resolve
Best healing utility NA. 2k+ heal at 1200 range wot yes!! And regen!! If you’re coming into a point with a person losing a 1v1, popping this might just be all they need to win. Furthermore, it’s good for that little heal some people need to stay alive until their utilities come back up. The 1200 range means it can hit anyone, even your free casting engi or Mesmer on the roof of clock tower.
Virtue of Courage
One of our best utilities. Since if has such a long CD, I try to save it til someone needs it. One of its best uses is when someone is down. The protection + aegis will almost guarantee a Rez when combined with Resolute Healer. However you typically want to pop it once you see something like a hammer stun, not exactly immediately. This skill is also useful when someone far away needs peels. A quick Courage+Resolve can be life saving for a Mesmer getting trained by a thief etc. Also a common usage is when you see a thief from the enemy team coming to point. Often if you’re in a 2v2 then your ally is too focused on the fight to watch for the thief too. It’s your job to make sure that pesky thief doesn’t land a burst or steal. Virtue of Courage ftw, as it’ll usually block a steal and ruin the thiefs burst as well as give protection for the rest of the burst. It’s also really good if you’re quick with reactions. If you see your ally about to he Eviscerated, pop that kitten and save his butt. He’ll thank you later. One of the best uses is when you see HEAVY AoE dmg like with meteor shower, frost bow, or wells (waste if its corruption though). This will nullify a lot of the AoE burst and at least give your team a few thousand more HP since they didn’t get hit as hard.
gerdian
Hold the Line!
This is usually considered the least important shout, which is true. When removing condis, you probably want to pop this one first. However still remember it has several seconds of protection that can be used as described above with Courage.
Stand Your Ground
Might be the only reason people run bunker guard, this skill is that important. If you waste this skill you did your team a disfavor. Some people say to save it for stomps but tbh that’s not true. Pretty much everyone on your team has another way to get a stomp, including you with virtues and focus. Use stab when your team needs it, if people are getting cc’d in AoE dmg then that’s perfect. But don’t waste it as something stupid like a stun break when you’re not being focused.
Save Yourselves
This is your teams full cleanse. You’re AH, you don’t die. So if you see 5 million condis on your team, hit one button and GG. Usually once you cleanse your team they’ll help peel for you until you recover from having 25 stacks of torment and confusion for 10 seconds. Also good for peeling for the person being focused. 7s immob? Np ill take that. Immobilize is always near last priority on cleanses so this skill is vital for taking it off.
Shelter
This is the only skill you don’t have to worry about saving. Just pop that kitten when you don’t feel safe. It’s good for completely negating burst or heavy Aoes while healing at the same time.
Renewed Focus
Some people make the mistake of not using this utility until you’re low. Um hello you’re AH you’re not gonna die. Pop this once all virtues are on CD and you don’t feel like the fight is about to end in your favor. I usually use it right before someone goes down so ill have a blind and block for the rez/stomp.
Weapon skills!
First off let me explain sigils. Energy is obvious since that’s more healing and more living. Intelligence however is a bit more iffy. You get the definite vigor proc giving you 60% more dodges (not including energy sigils) but also you actually get some dmg!! Try it out. Protector strike or staff orb with intelligence and watch the 2-3k hits. More deeps sure is nice especially when you lose practically no support compared to Renewal or something.
Mace Autos
Yup you’ll do this. When you weapon swap you want to auto a couple times after your protector strike for a few more thousand dmg. The third is also a heal. I’ve given people support by autoing AI next to the ally being focused
Mace 2
Good for setting up an empower, you’re gonna stand in one spot anyway you might as well take the extra 1.5k heal from sitting in the symbol. Also good for setting on a downed ally right before they go down and likewise for a downed enemy. More people will be there which means more heals cuz AH and that regen tick.
Protector Strike Mace 3
Awesome skill. Can be used defensively or offensively. I’ve downed people using this skill and have hit up to 4k. Also good for an instant block when switching out of staff. It can also be used to body block for someone stomping a downed person. However, when doing this, make sure you’re farther away from the downed person than the person stomping. This will block the interrupt for your ally but you’ll still be hit by it.
Ray of Judgement Focus 4
This skill isn’t the best in our kitten nal to be honest. It’s a good self cleanse. Also can be used to blind enemies who hit hard like zerker warr or necro. Trying to blind before a stomp with it can work but usually doesn’t.
Shield of Judgement Focus 5
This is practically required for AH guard. Because you don’t have the second Stability ability, you need this to confirm stomps. Comboing this with Justice is usually guaranteed stomp in team fights. Also can be used to protect yourself when CCd when you don’t want to burn a CD or you just don’t have any left. One of the coolest things is trying to steal Meditations on Temple with this. Ask people I’ve played with and they’ll no doubt mention how I steal stillness in the middle of a 4v4. One of the best ways to do this is divert your team away from the buff, then having you pop Renewed Focus for the passive aegis. Then you can start casting, use Shield when hit once, then virtue again after the shield ends. Also use Justice for another blind if they’re close. The amount of steals you can get by doing this is actually ridiculous.
gerdian
Staff Auto
Doesn’t do dmg, doesn’t support. What’s it for? Idk either but it breaks all the windows on one side of Clocktower in one auto, that’s cool right ?
Staff 2
Really important skill. This and dodge heals do the majority of your direct healing support. When playing offensively, intelligence will usually give you 2k hits. Try not to detonate when you’re going for more dmg, since the dmg is tiny and the cd goes super high. When healing allies, always detonate if you know it’ll hit. That’ll land for a 2k heal every 10s which is pretty awesome. To aim it try to select enemies your allies are near or just manually aim by deselecting target or selecting ally and adjusting your camera.
Staff 3
I usually just throw this below my feet in team fights whenever it’s up. Sometimes I’ll give it to allies if they need to kite (necros and mesmers don’t have swiftness give them some love)
Always use it when it’s up since it now stacks.
Pro tip: Change your major trait for symbol duration before the match starts so your team gets 10s more swiftness, just make sure you change it back before the game starts though.
Empower
Every guard loves this skill. It’s so awesome. In a team fight it heals like 8k and also lands a 2.5k heal on allies. This skill is important to use correctly. I usually try to break LoS by going off point and have a teammate temporarily stand on point while I heal myself up and give da might stax. Also I always immediately empower when a stomp is failed due to a refuge. Since my dmg without mace 3 is completely horrid, I might as well take the moment to give might and heal everyone a little, especially myself. You have to remember Empower and Shelter are the two skills that are mostly for keeping yourself alive, so use them cautiously.
Line of Warding
Epic. Guardian can decap players who are dumb enough to leave point and no way to get back to it easily. Also amazing for locking down a player attempting to leave point or kite on graveyard. Most guards waste their Line when running to mid point off the bat but i feel like its a waste since most good guards won’t pop a Stab for it. If placed correctly this skill can also interrupt stomps and rezzes. Also, interrupting a guardians shelter with this is a dream come true.
Dodge Heal
Needs a section of its own. This kitten heals for over 800 on an ally in mace and you have a dodge like every 3 seconds. Doing the math that’s like 250 healing per second. Almost another healing signet! Take into account your Regeneration boon and staff 2 proc you can probably heal someone around 600-700hp per second. So don’t tell me bunker guards healing isn’t OP af!
Anyway, practice positioning yourself so you will land your dodge heals on allies. When someone on my team is being focused, I typically am almost entirely focused on landing dodge heals and orbs in order to keep him alive just long enough to down someone else. Of course you still want to watch your other allies as well as condition pressure on everyone, but your positioning and weapon skill usage should typically be dedicated to support on your focused ally.
Rotations
Guard always wants to be in the team fights as mentioned above. A good rule is if there are 3 enemies on one point you should be there. Try not to let your team leave you alone on a point. (Speaking about mid mostly). Leave someone else to defend it in case they 1v1, while you rotate typically between mid and far and in some cases help home if they rush. Guards are actually pretty strong in 2v2, however, when defending a point you don’t want to be with a squishy person who kites. Because you’re defending, the enemy knows they can’t kill you and will just 2v1 the squishy with little support since he’s off point. (However if hes good enough he may just completely disengage and reset like a thief) This doesn’t apply to assaulting though as the enemy has to be 1 person on point doing practically nothing while your squishy nails him while kiting the other.
Just try to never be the one to stay and cap a point. Often even my team makes the mistake of leaving me to finish capping mid after a team fight. Only exception is when the only other choice are Mesmer, CS Thief, power necro etc that shouldn’t be on point.
Other things I just remembered
Thanks for reading and remember, I’d like to hear how you guys play bunker guard. One reason I made this thread is because there really isn’t much discussion on how to play Bunker Guard the most effectively, and it’s be cool to do that here.
gerdian
Even I didn’t know the thing with the symbol duration for switftness before the match starts. Pretty stronk guide imo. Deserves the sticky way more than most stuff that is currently there. :<
Bullet Punch
Staff Auto
Doesn’t do dmg, doesn’t support. What’s it for? Idk either but it breaks all the windows on one side of Clocktower in one auto, that’s cool right ?
Loved this part, even though it’s kind of sad. :p
Ken recommended me using Healing breeze and after I tried it, I never looked back.
It is SO useful if your rotating to a point your teammate is already engaged in.
You can basically heal him back up instantly since the heal is close to 8k
plus it can be used with combination of focus so you don’t get interrupted.
As far as build goes, both AH and Virtues are strong builds.. I personally use Virtues but a lot of it comes down to team comp.
p.s.: Good guide!!
(edited by popaz.1524)
Ken recommended me using Healing breeze and after I tried it, I never looked back.
It is SO useful if your rotating to a point your teammate is already engaged in.
You can basically heal him back up instantly since the heal is close to 8k
plus it can be used with combination of focus so you don’t get interrupted.As far as build goes, both AH and Virtues are strong builds.. I personally use Virtues but a lot of it comes down to team comp.
p.s.: Good guide!!
yes I like using healing breeze too, but it really depends on comp tbh. I dont like to run it because Im on point 99% of the time since we run with mesmer+thief who cant stay on point for me to pull off pretty much ever.
gerdian
Agreed, if your team is heavy roaming, Hizzy Brizzy is much worse. The squishier the team, the less effective allied healing is and the more tanky you need to be since nobody else can stand on point. Also the more skirmishing your team does, the less effective melee range healing is.
From my experiences with it, Healing Breeze serves different purposes when it’s used on a squishy character as opposed to a tanky character. For squishy characters, it would typically be used to protect them in order to give them time to do whatever they’re supposed to do. For example, I tend to play with a glass cannon staff elementalist on my team. With healing breeze and a few targeted consecrations, I can effectively protect that elementalist for a long duration.
On the other hand, for tankier characters, I’d say Healing Breeze does an excellent job of sustaining them. It’s easier healing tankier characters too.
It isn’t exactly the best heal for bunkering or personal survival though, but I very much enjoy that trade-off personally.
(edited by Fashion Mage.3712)
What I meant by the statement is two things:
1. Sometimes if you’re breezing a low-health squishy ally, they get hit by burst damage and fall mid-heal, at which point you have to cancel it and rez them, which is pretty far from ideal. This is less likely to happen on a tanky character.
2. HP going into a high Toughness character is much more valuable than it going into a low Toughness character, since it’s more effective HP against direct damage.
Agreed, if your team is heavy roaming, Hizzy Brizzy is much worse. The squishier the team, the less effective allied healing is and the more tanky you need to be since nobody else can stand on point. Also the more skirmishing your team does, the less effective melee range healing is.
I have found getting breezy allows you to turn a hambow or d/d ele into a full fledged bunker while you can patiently sit off to the side and use your CDs more supportivly. It is also good for moving, even squishy, teammates out of executioner or bolt to the heart range.
idk if I may just be biased because saying, “I am getting breezy” in TS is too much fun.
Curie is my smooth Australian sensei.
^What he said. “Getting breezy”, I like that phrase. :p
Agreed, if your team is heavy roaming, Hizzy Brizzy is much worse. The squishier the team, the less effective allied healing is and the more tanky you need to be since nobody else can stand on point. Also the more skirmishing your team does, the less effective melee range healing is.
I have found getting breezy allows you to turn a hambow or d/d ele into a full fledged bunker while you can patiently sit off to the side and use your CDs more supportivly. It is also good for moving, even squishy, teammates out of executioner or bolt to the heart range.
idk if I may just be biased because saying, “I am getting breezy” in TS is too much fun.
if youre off node youre probably running kensudas virtue build not AH anyway
gerdian
Great Guide! One thing I haven’t seen a lot about is condition control. What I mean by this is paying attention to what kind of conditions your team or yourself has, taking note the amount of stacks, durations. Too often I see guardians blow all their shouts to remove conditions that doesn’t need to be removed at that time for that current situation. For example, if you don’t need to kite, you are sitting on a point let that cripple run it’s duration.
From my experience (others can clarify):
*Poison – Always remove when able
Note: Some classes can reapply poison quickly in those situations I tend to let it run until I need to use a bigger heal. Also if the fight is finished and you notice the duration is almost over + you have enough health, then don’t cleanse it! This goes for most conditions after a fight is over it is usually best to let them run their duration. However keep in mind any team-mate that might need a cleanse depending on their health pool.
*Bleeds – Short duration, low stacks? Leave them be, wait until you have high stacks or long durations to clear them all at once.
*Cripple – If no-one needs an escape, kiting, or w/e let it run out.
*Vuln – Depends on amount of stacks and who is being focused.
*Torment – Depends on situation, duration
*Confusion – Depends on stacks – High amount then clear
*Fire – Depends on duration, but usually keep cleared
*Fear – Depends on situation
Note: How/When I clear this: If there is a team fight then I clear it to keep my team in the fight, If I happen to be left on a point, caught moving from one point to another – I’ll let it run its duration.
Immob: Are you/they being focused? Short duration? Wait it out.
Using your shouts at the right time makes a HUGE difference. Spamming them can work yes, but why use them when you don’t need to? That way you have them ready for those moments that really can make the difference for yourself and your team.
Anyone else want to add anything? Is there something I am missing?
twitch: www.twitch.tv/gamblerbihz
5k Hours Played over last 1.1k days – “I love this game”
5k Hours Played over last 1.1k days – “I love this game”
Great Guide! One thing I haven’t seen a lot about is condition control. What I mean by this is paying attention to what kind of conditions your team or yourself has, taking note the amount of stacks, durations. Too often I see guardians blow all their shouts to remove conditions that doesn’t need to be removed at that time for that current situation. For example, if you don’t need to kite, you are sitting on a point let that cripple run it’s duration.
From my experience (others can clarify):
*Poison – Always remove when able
Note: Some classes can reapply poison quickly in those situations I tend to let it run until I need to use a bigger heal. Also if the fight is finished and you notice the duration is almost over + you have enough health, then don’t cleanse it! This goes for most conditions after a fight is over it is usually best to let them run their duration. However keep in mind any team-mate that might need a cleanse depending on their health pool.*Bleeds – Short duration, low stacks? Leave them be, wait until you have high stacks or long durations to clear them all at once.
*Cripple – If no-one needs an escape, kiting, or w/e let it run out.
*Vuln – Depends on amount of stacks and who is being focused.
*Torment – Depends on situation, duration
*Confusion – Depends on stacks – High amount then clear
*Fire – Depends on duration, but usually keep cleared
*Fear – Depends on situation
Note: How/When I clear this: If there is a team fight then I clear it to keep my team in the fight, If I happen to be left on a point, caught moving from one point to another – I’ll let it run its duration.
Immob: Are you/they being focused? Short duration? Wait it out.Using your shouts at the right time makes a HUGE difference. Spamming them can work yes, but why use them when you don’t need to? That way you have them ready for those moments that really can make the difference for yourself and your team.
Anyone else want to add anything? Is there something I am missing?
ty for this post I knew I should’ve gone into detail about cleansing condis, pretty much everything you said is dead on
one thing you didnt mention is that you shouldn’t cleanse off condi’s for JUST yourself unless youre taking focus from a necro or something
gerdian
(edited by Booms.2594)
Virtue of Courage
as it’ll usually block a steal and ruin the thiefs burst as well as give protection for the rest of the burst..
I actually didn’t read the whole guide but you’re missing a few things. Namely you can’t block steal with aegis because it steals the Aegis before it does anything else, just like with Stability.
Anyways, you’re missing some of the smaller things that a Guard can do for his team such as Aegising for someone when they heal, staff auto for proccing intel / phising for crits if you don’t have intel (since you can sidestep orb) and Guards rotating into 2v2s, hello? They are pretty trash at 2v2s. Unless I mean, you’re trying to run 3 points, but its still less than ideal to have a guard in a 2v2. Oh and if you do take a 2v2 it should never be with a thief and probably not with a mesmer.
Decent guide over all. g8 m8 would r8 8/8
(edited by Ozie.4176)
Virtue of Courage
as it’ll usually block a steal and ruin the thiefs burst as well as give protection for the rest of the burst..I actually didn’t read the whole guide but you’re missing a few things. Namely you can’t block steal with aegis because it steals the Aegis before it does anything else, just like with Stability.
Anyways, you’re missing some of the smaller things that a Guard can do for his team such as Aegising for someone when they heal, staff auto for proccing intel / phising for crits if you don’t have intel (since you can sidestep orb) and Guards rotating into 2v2s, hello? They are pretty trash at 2v2s. Unless I mean, you’re trying to run 3 points, but its still less than ideal to have a guard in a 2v2. Oh and if you do take a 2v2 it should never be with a thief and probably not with a mesmer.
Decent guide over all. g8 m8 would r8 8/8
not true guard/thief and guard/mesmer are both very strong 2v2’s when assaulting a point. you force one person ont he other team to stand on point with you while your thief and mesmer can kite the 1 other person to their liking, which makes them extremely strong.
guard/ele is also practically unbeatable no matter what
guard/warrior is a good combo for tanking a point too, the amount of sustain these 2 can bring can allow your team to 2v3 for minutes at a time.
Why would I proc intel with auto anyway the dmg is horrible and I have 3 attacks anyway so I can just auto if orb misses (it literally never does anyway)?
You’re right about the thief steal didn’t really cross my mind but if you have stab up then it doesn’t matter cuz its the 3rd on the priority
gerdian