Guild Wars 2

Before the expansion, I’d been planning for my Guardian to be a defensive/support/tank type of character for dungeons and fractals – basically, anything other than zerker DPS, because to be honest I already have two characters like that (Ele and Thief) and really don’t want a third.

At the same time though, Dragonhunter seems cool, I don’t play any classes that use longbows, and I like the idea of having a long-range weapon as my secondary.

Now I’m no Guardian expert – I basically got this one to 80 about 4 months ago, spent a week running dungeons/fractals, and then quit playing till the expansion – so I figure I’d ask here: would Dragonhunter have a place in a non-DPS PvE build? Something like:

Valor/Honor/Dragonhunter, Mace/Shield + Longbow. Fragments of Faith looks like a good trap, and then just whatever other utility is relevant (condi removal, barriers, projectile blocking, Feel My Wrath). Traits to focus on giving allies Aegis, getting good stuff when you block, and giving allies boons/clearing their conditions.

Or would it be best to stick with the old Staff + Mace/X type build if I’m not gonna go Greatsword DPS?

Bunker guards have been using DH in PvP, but the longbow is mostly used for control and harassing enemies with more range while they fight around the point. Without the need to do so many knock backs and constant little pressure with Longbow, I’d wager you are better off taking staff if you only intend to heal and do stuff like that.

You could still run DH though, and use the new VoC to block for 2 seconds for your team as they stand inside your player model. That could be cool. As far as traps for support, I can not really think of any reason to bring some of those traps outside of PvP support, so you are probably best just running shouts for condi removal and stab, and the other crap a shout build does.

I’m a pure PVE zerker enthusiast, but do play Power and Bunker guard in PVP, so I’m trying to mix the two worlds the best I can for you. But pretty much, if you really don’t care about doing any damage, just run a PvP bunker build with Staff Hammer. Hammer for Prot, and warding then staff for healing and warding.

Yeah that was one of the main things I noticed – the longbow skills themselves don’t seem to be anything other than DPS and PvP control. Same with traps – traps aren’t really a PvE thing.