Guild Wars 2

First of all as the topic states, this is for PvE.
I hear alot of talk about scepter guardians being worthless, is this true?
No matter what I don’t think I would play this cause I like my sword too much but I was playing around with the build for giggles and to settle my curiousity :P

http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-7;9;9;9;0JT;0918-56A;40;06N;4udbTudbTn-knNJ;4Vp-wWz12Z8_Ea-30Cs1kg

last 10 points are optional
Would the scepter dmg be competetive with other weapons?
Scholar runes and unscathed defender should be easy to keep on at full range.

Xhean.3452:

unscathed defender should be easy to keep on at full range.

This is something I have thought of too.

btw, Torch is not good in PvE. In fact, it’s not that great in any game mode…

Even with unscathed contender up, any melee weapon (aside from mace) will outdps scepter. It is more of a niche weapon like any other ranged weapon, PvE wise.
Also, if you’ve got problems with scholars because of the +90% health pre-req, try changing your build around a bit, and swaping to ranger’s runes, it appears all you need to get the +5% damage to trigger is a group member.

I’ve read that Torch 4 does really nice dmg with zerker build, maybe not enough which is too bad. it’s a fun weapon.

Shouldn’t be a prob keeping scholars up at that range, that’s why I thought of them.
Too bad it’s not enough (didn’t really think so but with so many dmg boosters who knew :P). This build would be nice if it were worth it since it can easily be changed to a sword/gs build

Scepter has more damage than people let on if you keep Smite up every 5 seconds. Your build is pretty much what I would recommend for PVE .. except the torch. And the fact your doing unscathed … you’re already playing in anticipation to keep your 90% HP for scholars.

If your willing, you can easily swap to GS and flip your trait when you want. Plenty of variety if your goal is lots of damage with this traiting.

Scepter is the guardian’s best weapon for certain fights, i.e. any boss with a big hitbox. The bigger it is, the better scepter is. Just make sure that even if you are sceptering, you are still in melee range so mobs don’t end up moving all over the place.

Thanks for your info guys!

But what’s wrong with the torch, why the hate? I know focus is awesome and usually the go to weapon, but what if I have a sword/focus on the other weapon set? The torch skills seem to have great dmg but with almost no utility (nr 5 cond removing being the only one).

torch can be extremely strong in a burst build in PvP/WvW. i leveled with is in PvE cause more’s more awesome than spewing blue flames. now, in PvE, i mainly use it to rack up torch kills. i think mainly cause the CD is not worth taking it over a focus, which has more utility for groups. and while torch 5 is nice, the damage is really subpar and doesn’t cleanse from yoruself, iirc. but it’s great for proccing VoJ passive.

couldn’t open intothemists at work, but i ran 20/30/0/10/10 (scepter power, RHS, Unscathed, etc) for a while running around in open PvE and scepter definitely packed a punch.

Zealot’s Fire does an insane amount of damage with the right build, and it’s also fairly hard to avoid because it’s pretty much instant.

Cleansing Flame is alright. It does a decent amount of damage and cure conditions on allies. Either they need to up the damage on it, or change it to a lower cast time.

Another great thing about Torch is it has very low CD times, even lower if you trait it.

What I’ve seen…

Scepter shows the highest single target damage with or without UC, all things being equal. The problem here is that you have to land Smite which means the target must be stationary. Also any mobs in front of your target will eat the auto attack instead of your intended target. So in practice it’s prolly on par with most other weapons depending on the situation.

Torch is a great weapon if you have to maintain Burning. Torch4 is a DPS increase if it crits. Torch5 is a DPS loss on single targets but is your only AoE in a Sc/T build. If burning is kept up by the group then Focus and Shield win out.

On a side note Mace does quite good damage, on par with Sword if Protectors Strike is used quickly as a damaging ability.

This comes from my personal in game testing. I urge people to test and make their own conclusions.

Blood~

Is scepter power trait worth taking?

Aza.2105:

Is scepter power trait worth taking?

If you’re building a Scepter DPS build then yes. I’ve been enjoying a 20/25/0/25/0 GSword and Scepter/Focus build lately. I’ll switch between the scepter and GSword trait depending on the challenge.

I know focus rocks but how can shield be better than torch? Only thing I really like about shield is how it looks :P CD’s too long for a short duration effect :S
I have used the mace quite a bit but I don’t like it so I’m abandoning it
The greatsword I kind of enjoy but I like the sword better and it’s hard to trait for both of them it you want some utility from the virtue trait line + having Vigorous Precision

Xhean.3452:

I know focus rocks but how can shield be better than torch? Only thing I really like about shield is how it looks :P CD’s too long for a short duration effect :S
I have used the mace quite a bit but I don’t like it so I’m abandoning it
The greatsword I kind of enjoy but I like the sword better and it’s hard to trait for both of them it you want some utility from the virtue trait line + having Vigorous Precision

Shield is very handy in pvp and has lots of utility: On demand aoe interrupt/knockback, projectile defense, healing, protection, ranged aoe damage. I can’t stress how useful the instant interrupt is when roaming ( more useful than a focus, where all the damage has a big telegraph )

But is practically useless in other game modes aside from a few edge-case dungeon/fractal encounters.

I don’t care about what people say, scepter fulfills my playstyle best

here are reasons why I like it:
1. When I’m low on health and need to recover, I can still continue some form of dps against a single target boss while creating a little bit more distance. My offhand of course is the focus, to get those free blocks and blind.

2. When the enemy is positioned over a moat/trench or maybe high on a pedestal (still talking about PvE) and it is dangerous for you to move in by yourself.

3. When your teammates are ranged classes, it is easier to buff them/bubble/WoR near them.

4. Jumping puzzles sometimes have annoying enemies/traps that you can handle from a distance

I’m sure there are more reasons…. but my point is you have a second weapon set, in most situations you want to utilize this for a change of tactics in the game when a situation calls for it. I don’t know about dps, but I’m pretty sure even the highest melee dps will lose its momentum if you need to step back for a second to recover….

oh I’ve also solo’d a legendary boss while my teammates were dead with a scepter/focus it took a while though.

Necroing that thread…

So the world record for a guardian soloing Lupicus is at 4:24 and it was done with a (SURPRISE) Scepter :)

That answers the question about the viablity of a PvE scepter imho.

Been telling people of the benifits of scepter for a long time, not that anyone listerns

Just being able to leave melee and go ranged / kiting about is most useful than any weapon combination.

The scepter misslies may be slow and easy to dodge but good, thats the other player wasting a dodge on a crappy scepter 1 skill and its the caste rate that matters most and the scepter is quick in this regard.

It is also one of out most powerful dps weapons and works brilliantly with shield. Wiki claims 2 skill is, im quoting:- Relative to the channel and recharge time, this is the most powerful single skill in the game if all hits connect.

Throw the chains out first to bump it even higher.

People will likely not realize the age of this thread and scepter guardians will become the new staff guardians.

It’s only better on a single target with a large hit box, such as Lupi. Sword is better for everything else.

The problem with scepter is not the damage, it’s the fact that it is a ranged weapon.
How will you give your aegis (shout 600 range) at 1000-1200 range? How will you protect them with wall of reflection or shield of the avenger, how will you cleanse them with Purging Flame.This is what people mean when they say things like AH build or Ranged build are selfish.

Just to compare, my group and I pug’ed our last slot for a Level 50 FoTM, we got a ranger. We didn’t care and everything went smooth, but he didn’t help, or barely. He had spotter, and not a single moment in the fight we got it, he was always at 1000+ range, his damage were barely noticeable, mob wouldn’t stack correctly, if he got killed by projectile we had to run back to him to resurrect him.

There’s nothing stopping you using the scepter in melee range with your buddies.
It’s not going to be top dps, but if you can guarantee all smite hits.. the dps is really good with the right spec. Too bad it doesn’t fit into the 20/25/0/0/25 spec.

Bawzdawg.2839:

Necroing that thread…

So the world record for a guardian soloing Lupicus is at 4:24 and it was done with a (SURPRISE) Scepter

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzs2ZNCNEtk

That answers the question about the viablity of a PvE scepter imho.

Wow, what build is this guy running? This video was INCREDIBLE. And I love the scepter, it’s one of my favorite weapons to use, if not always the most plausible, I’d love to make something like this workable!

Anyone able to shine some light on what this build might look like?

The key to success with scepter is to forget it’s a ranged weapon.

In PvE it is very niche regardless.

Harbinger.8637:

Zealot’s Fire does an insane amount of damage with the right build, and it’s also fairly hard to avoid because it’s pretty much instant.

Cleansing Flame is alright. It does a decent amount of damage and cure conditions on allies. Either they need to up the damage on it, or change it to a lower cast time.

Zealot’s Fire has a 3/4th second cast time, as well as projectile travel time. Instant it ain’t. Also, Focus’s SoW is ACTUALLY instant, blocks attacks, and can be cast in the middle of other animations.

Cleansing flame, last I checked, did less damage than Sword’s autoattack, even on multiple targets. Also doesn’t cleanse the guard who uses it. Reminder that you’re giving up Focus’s multi-cleanse/blind for this.

sceptre is only going to be outputting that kind of damage on a fairly stationary mob with a very large hitbox (like that video demonstrates). only small and moving targets it will do less DPS in reality because fewer hits of smite will connect.

this is why no PVE meta builds use a sceptre as a default weapon; it’s too situational to be used all the time.

Show me one boss that is constantly moving around.

Scepter is totally viable due to all bosses standing still all day, or at least for the duration of a smite, only boss would be lyssa event, teleporting running around all day, but other than that, I use my scepter for the common dungeons and it works perfectly.

As mentioned b4, u can go melee with the scepter, its not like there would be a penalty for doing so.
U guys all about bla bla scepter only large hitbox, its not like u couldnt switch ur weapon out for heavy moving mobs/bosses…

well u shouldnt use a scepter when fighting a grp of mobs, ofc thats obvious but for single target ist perfectly fine since u can immob mobs with #3 for the duration of a smite if u use smite b4 scpeter #3 the mob takes its full duration.

Nabarue.3290:

Bawzdawg.2839:

Necroing that thread…

So the world record for a guardian soloing Lupicus is at 4:24 and it was done with a (SURPRISE) Scepter

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzs2ZNCNEtk

That answers the question about the viablity of a PvE scepter imho.

Wow, what build is this guy running? This video was INCREDIBLE. And I love the scepter, it’s one of my favorite weapons to use, if not always the most plausible, I’d love to make something like this workable!

Anyone able to shine some light on what this build might look like?

Well i assume he runs something like this:
Zeal: 4 Pts = II and IX
Radiance 6 pts = VI, whatever and XI
At least 2 pts in Honor cuz he got perma vigour and Save Yourselfes in only on a 48sec cd instead of 60.

Thats all i can see from the video itselfes, in case i didnt miss something obvoius.
Well I`d put the remaining 2 Pts into Valor: VI for more Precision and Ferocity.

There u go, you could aslo ask him via PM on youtube about his traits

Hope it helps

Bawzdawg.2839:

Show me one boss that is constantly moving around.

Scepter is totally viable due to all bosses standing still all day, or at least for the duration of a smite, only boss would be lyssa event, teleporting running around all day, but other than that, I use my scepter for the common dungeons and it works perfectly.

As mentioned b4, u can go melee with the scepter, its not like there would be a penalty for doing so.
U guys all about bla bla scepter only large hitbox, its not like u couldnt switch ur weapon out for heavy moving mobs/bosses…

well u shouldnt use a scepter when fighting a grp of mobs, ofc thats obvious but for single target ist perfectly fine since u can immob mobs with #3 for the duration of a smite if u use smite b4 scpeter #3 the mob takes its full duration.

doesn’t matter if it takes the full duration of smite, but it won’t be hitting all of the strikes on a smaller mob, so it isn’t worth it. that is why sw/focus is better all around, in addition to the blind + gapcloser which are very useful.

I didn’t say that you can’t switch your weapons out; any good player is going to switch skills and weapons from time to time.