Guild Wars 2

hello everyone, i am hoping to get the in put of a seasoned player who has tanked a good few times in a dungeon in GW2. either way. my big problem is how do you tank?! Idk how the agro system works, or at the least I think the person who does the most damage is the one that is targeted. As a guardian, even with my WH, a warrior will kick my kitten at DPS. my big question is how oh how do you build a norn guardian to tank? currently he has mace shield/ war hammer, and he is spec’d in toughness and vitality. please give me any and all input from people who are experienced in the topic.

Nobody knows exactly how aggro works in this game, but here’s some pointers. The following tend to draw threat:

• low HP Max
• high crit dmg and condition dmg
• high damage in general
• guardians have an innate threat boost of 25%
• necro Death shroud skill seems to draw high threat

That’s all I really know. There’s no real “tank” in this game, it’s about mobility and avoiding damage, not soaking it all up and getting healed. High damage weapons like hammer and GS will help, mace is slow and defensive, better as your swap weapon than your main attack.

Edit – just an aside, while you can provide support and mitigation as a guardian, your allies are still responsible for their own survival and self-healing. You need to escape the tank/healer/dps trinity mindset, everyone fills all of those roles at some point in GW2, depending on build, weapon choices, and playstyle.

Tomkatt.1684:

• low HP Max
• high crit dmg and condition dmg
• high damage in general
• guardians have an innate threat boost of 25%
• necro Death shroud skill seems to draw high threat

The only things you mentioned above that we know for sure are high damage. I haven’t seen any evidence for the rest of them other than anecdotal.

We know that damage and proximity are two major factors in determining aggro. We also know that depending on the mob, they might specifically target certain professions/armor-classes. We also know that it might be the reverse for some enemies, the mob may target your allies far away instead of close up. A good example of that are the Wurm fights in TA.

Alarox.4590:

Tomkatt.1684:

• low HP Max
• high crit dmg and condition dmg
• high damage in general
• guardians have an innate threat boost of 25%
• necro Death shroud skill seems to draw high threat

The only things you mentioned above that we know for sure are high damage. I haven’t seen any evidence for the rest of them other than anecdotal.

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We know that damage and proximity are two major factors in determining aggro. We also know that depending on the mob, they might specifically target certain professions/armor-classes. We also know that it might be the reverse for some enemies, the mob may target your allies far away instead of close up. A good example of that are the Wurm fights in TA.

“The following tend to draw threat:”

“necro Death shroud skill seems to draw high threat”

I only posted my observations. The guardian 25% modifier is true though, I’ll see if I can find the anet confirmation, but that did come from Anet. However if we’re talking anecdotal, we’re not even sure about the high damage thing, that’s also anecdotal. There are times a mob will run right past a damage dealer to a player who hasn’t even attacked yet.

yosei.9351:

how do you tank?!

I think the most important thing to take away that Tomkatt mentioned is don’t try. You can strategically try to draw aggro, but no one has the durability to be a tank in the traditional sense in this game, and no one has the ability to heal a tank like a normal “healer” class would in other MMOs. Everyone has to watch their own tail, and make sure they keep themselves alive. There are certainly ways that party members can aid each other with boons and different utilities, but you can’t approach this game with the same tank/healer/dps trinity mindset as you would in WoW, EQ2, or any other classic MMO.

don’t forget healing the dead draws aggro really fast.

Agro works on Toughness. The higher the toughness the more likely you will get agro.

Plenty of times I’ve had mobs pulled from me from toughness Engineers and necro

A guardian is about the tankiest class you can get in this game and it is possible to tank mobs in dungeons or even bosses tbh. You have to find the synergy in the traits that give you nice healing and pick utilities and weapons that give you good protection and healing.

AH/MF for good healing based traits. Hammer for ultimate tank weapon (wirth EM and WotM traited as well) you will start to feel imortal.