Guild Wars 2

So I’ve been playing a Thief since launch, and decided I wanted a class with a little more utility and survivability. I decided to run a Guardian with a Sword and Shield, as I prefer it aesthetically (always been a fan of the Sword & Board types). I’ve heard it suggested that I should be using a sword with a focus, but I’ve no interest in using one.

Am I limiting myself too much by doing this? Do note, it’s not my objective to TANK specifically, I just want to be of use to a group, do decent damage, and be able to take the hits.

Would I be better off rolling a Warrior for sword and shield before leveling my Guardian further?

The reason why most of us recommend the Focus for melee combat is because it provides much more survivability than the Shield. However, I don’t see anything wrong with your weapon choice. The 1h-sword is our top DPS weapon for single target and the Shield is useful in dungeon groups for its Protection Boon. Shield of Absorption is also a life saver in some dungeon, such as Caudecus’ Manor, where the ranged mobs pack a punch.

That said, how effective and useful your Guardian is or will be is dependant on more than just one particular weapon set. Did you have a Trait and Skill setup in mind?

Not sure about sword and board but a hammer set up with altruisctic healing, larger, longer and healing symbols is pretty tanky.

^ I agree with the hammer + an altruistic healing build. What i love about the guardian is that our critical damage is included in the same branch that contains toughness – in which has some great traits. You could try a meditation build also, especially if you like one handed weapons that don’t rely on symbols.

i play a hammer as well, and altruistic healing is not ONLY for the hammer. but that’s what many Guardians are starting to prefer. Onza brings up a good point in that with toughness, you get crit damage as well. naturally i love crits so i was building for that from the start, and it works really well with this build and the hammer.

back to your point though, if you prefer the shield for its aesthetics, that’s completely fine. half this game is about how you look. at the same time, we’re given so many weapon choices and the ability to weapon swap IN combat just gives us the option, and the option i believe we should all exercise. each weapon has it’s uses for any situation. and i don’t think there’s a weapon out there that trumps all.

the sword is great for DPS and being mobile. and the shield? i find it particularly good for against ranged mobs/enemies, as well as perhaps using the pushback to CC or hold up a choke point. so it definitely has its uses.

i have at least one of each weapon set in my inv. so i can switch on the fly if i know an upcoming battle WILL require me to put down my hammer (though more cases than not, i don’t lol) but it’s good to have those backups.

it’s also important to think of your build and traits, like Ojimaru mentioned. then you can truly dig into the details of how you’re going to work your sword and board. : )))

Thank you for the replies. For traits, I was thinking 30 Honor, 30 Valor, and 10 Radiance. I’m not sure how that’ll work, as I haven’t looked up what unlocks down the line yet.

For now, I’ve taken to using Sword and Shield for one set, and a Mace and Shield in the other. I know it sounds goofy, but I’ve actually taken a liking to it.

Mace + Shield is a good combo and the best for tanking. Symbol + heal on third hit on auto attack = a lot of self healing. I use a staff as my secondary mainly as a quasi ranged / extra heal kind of thing.

With a good rune set-up (2x water, 2x dwayna, 2x monk) and using Mace + Hold the Line you can get 100% up-time on self regen.

This is my PvE tanking build atm. http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#mVccM9mmRLv0mRLv9MaGxaMVscabo

0-10-30-30-0 can be built as either a Meditation build with Battle Presence (nearby allies benefit from Virtue of Resolve passive; works even when Virtue of Resolve is on cooldown) or switched into a build sporting Pure of Voice (allies affected by your shouts convert one Condition into Boon; buggy with Hold the Line) and Altruistic Healing (heal a small amount for each Boon you apply to allies).

The former allows for a more offensive set of Utilities, such as Judge’s Intervention and Smite. On the other hand the interesting thing about the latter is the amount of healing you could possibly get from Symbol of Faith, Writ of the Merciful, Altruistic Healing, Virtue of Resolve (Activate) and Shield of Absorption (Detonate); and that’s not even considering 3 shouts applying 6 boons to 4 nearby allies.

I agree – anything with 30 Valor and 30 Honor gives you a lot of traits to choose from that have good synergies. Meditations, symbols, AH + passive boon procs. Not sure the same can be said if you go 30 into Zeal or Radiance.