Guild Wars 2

Hey all,

I’ve recently been getting into guardian, and I have to say: I’m absolutely in love with the hammer, however I’m having a bit of trouble crafting a build to fit. My playstyle is extremely flexible, and I’m not too picky when it comes to what the build is meant to accomplish (support/DPS/etc), and really I’d just like to see some interesting combinations and builds that people have come up with involving the hammer as a primary weapon.

Thanks in advance! I look forward to seeing what can be done.

EDIT: I’m more tPvP-oriented (with some WvW!), so builds to that extent would be greatly appreciated!

PvE, PvP, WvW?

In dungeons I use the standard 5/5/0/4/0 or 3/5/0/4/2 Hammer+<variable> build, so nothing much to talk about.

In open PvE I run 0/3/0/6/5:
http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fVAQJASWlsApXolCxVI8DNBARlbREh2FAYHD9wPA-TBRPwAfU+BUXAA1fcpEEA-e
With Honor VII and +25% boon duration you can get a lot of Swiftness from Staff 3 and “Retreat!”.
Virtues IX kind of frees up an utility skill slot because I don’t have to bring a conditoin remove.
3 points in Radiance allow me to blind multiple mobs per mob I kill.
Honor VII and Honor X turns the auto attack chain of Hammer into a formidable self-heal; it’s especially good for me because I often play with a MM Necro in open PvE.

Dahkeus.8243:

PvE, PvP, WvW?

tPvP/WvW, I’ll edit the OP.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fVEQJASRl0ApcoNDxKIEENR8AZ3HqNADA7psl/D-ThSBwAUOCAFV+RTXAO1fioE82+DOM/t4BAo5CAA4QAAA-e

I’ve been running around events with this, my symbols dealing big aoe damage.

I’ve been enjoying the Two Handed DPS build posted in Silven’s sticky lately.

It’s definitely not a 1v1 build and condi builds can still own you, even with all the condi removal, but it’s really solid for team fights since you have good dps and lots of support.

It may not be the absolute best build for most teams out there, but it’s a nice change of pace from bunker or meditation builds.

I just started using a valkyrie hammer guard shout build, its pretty simple so I made a video of the first game i could be bothered to record. Set up is in the vid.

Well, with the extensive research I’ve been doing over the past few days, I think I’ve settled on something which has been winning me consistent tPvP matches:

For DPS:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fVAQJASWlsApZotCxcI8DRBDRljNY3BlQyddEkhBAA-TJxFwAJuEAAeCA12fQaZAA

Mid Bunker:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fVAQJASWlsApZotCxcI8DRBDRljNY3BlQyddEkhBAA-TJxFwAJuEAAeCA12foaZAA

It’s treated me quite well. I think I’ll be sticking to the berserker amulet variant, since I still have 18k health with it, and it offers far superior DPS (which goes a long way with my 100% symbol uptime). The biggest issue I have at times is removing poison that’s applied right after I use Purging Flames, forcing me to use all of my mitigations in order to survive long enough for the poison to wear off and to use my heal or Empower. AH is stupid strong in team fights, and makes me very tanky while dishing out a respectable amount of damage.

Getting bored of your thief man?

Welcome to the world of guardian btw!

Aza.2105:

Getting bored of your thief man?

Welcome to the world of guardian btw!

I went from warrior at launch, to thief, back to warrior, back to thief, to mesmer, to necro, back to thief, onto engineer, back to warrior, back to thief, to ranger, back to thief, to ele, back to warrior, back to thief, then ranger, and now guardian. O.o

And thanks! I’m having a blast with it. Buildcrafting with it feels a lot like the ranger, as none of the traits really point you in a solid direction and it gives you more freedom to expand out from standard meta options. Honestly, it feels like guardian is where every other class needs to be right now.

Viking Jorun.5413:

Aza.2105:

Getting bored of your thief man?

Welcome to the world of guardian btw!

I went from warrior at launch, to thief, back to warrior, back to thief, to mesmer, to necro, back to thief, onto engineer, back to warrior, back to thief, to ranger, back to thief, to ele, back to warrior, back to thief, then ranger, and now guardian. O.o

And thanks! I’m having a blast with it. Buildcrafting with it feels a lot like the ranger, as none of the traits really point you in a solid direction and it gives you more freedom to expand out from standard meta options. Honestly, it feels like guardian is where every other class needs to be right now.

Darn! I didn’t know you went back and forth to so many classes. I thought you just used thief primarily hah.

Yeah guardian is really in a good spot as the devs always say. I feel that since you are relatively new to the class that you can look at things from a more fresh perspective than guardian vets can. Yea there are some staple builds and such but over time build exploration becomes minimum as players settle into the class.