Guild Wars 2

I am writing as an awful 1v1 player. I require help with how to play against ALL the classes, please.

Depends on both their build and yours. What build do you generally run with?

Recommend builds too please.

To properly help you, more information is needed.
Do you want to actually kill the enemy, or just keep them of a point? What kind of playstyle do you prefer? Offense? Defense? Roaming the battlefield? Support?

Do we really lack adaptability that much?

Is it too much to ask for advice on all of those options?

If so, then please give advice on Roaming as that suits me best, but I would like advice on all of them should I want to change later.

The game is possibly still too new to have guides against every class and builds to go with it too. You sound like the type of player that shouldn’t be playing a guardian anyways if you need your hand held through everything with builds and strats; maybe the warrior is for you.

if you with to get better with the guardian, expand your horizons with experimentation and see what works, then post it here. That’s what most of us are still doing.

If you’re into playing defensively for 1v1: I bring condition removal and heals. Usually Mace + Focus and Hammer. Then I simply “nickle and dime” my opponent for 30 minutes until their health is zero.

Make sure you don’t linger around for too long because they’ll come back with 40 more friends.

Proteus.6320:

see what works, then post it here. That’s what most of us are still doing.

I haven’t seen many people actually posting what works. All I see is “guardian is fine”. That doesn’t help those who are struggling with the class.

Let’s start with what build are you using currently and what classes you are having issues against.

It is kinda much to ask about info about every possible option and their match-ups. You haven’t been exactly positive about the Guardian, giving even less incentive to make page-long posts about how the play it.

Edit: What Lothair said. Making a proper build isn’t so hard in this game and it’s hard to do it actually wrong. Make a build, test it out and come back here to tell us how it went. (/Edit)

Here’s a build I would use for roaming. (Note that I haven’t actually used it, but there’s no reason for it not to work.)
The basic idea is that you kill people quickly, then move on to the next target. You won’t hold out very well against two opponents, but you can keep them busy for a bit.
Specific tactics:
- Keep people close. You got three gapclosers, a pull and a knockdown, so it shouldn’t be too much of a problem.
- Open with using Virtue of Justice. It will do many things at once, giving you a headstart and will refresh after the fight anyway.
- Keep moving. With this build, you’re job is to harass people in between points, or help allies on points. If you’re standing still in between fighting, you’re doing it wrong. You have all the mobility a Guardian could have, so use it.
- Symbol of Wrath + Whirling Wrath is a potent combo, if it lands. Make sure it lands by using Binding Blade or Bane Signet.
- Know when to switch weapons. Sword+Focus is the defensive part of the load-out. Use it as such.
- Know when to run away. Guardians aren’t made for running away, but some fights you can’t win. Just run. If they follow you, they’re wasting their (and their team’s) time, so it’s still an advantage to your team.

Against other professions
- Elementalist: I haven’t got that much experience with fighting Elementalists, and the lack of Stability in this build would put you at a potential disadvantage, but if you manage to just stick close to them, you will be able to shred them to pieces. They’ll be pretty mobile, but you’ve got enough tools to counter that. Don’t let them gain distance and force them in the defensive.
- Warrior: Half of the Warrior you’ll fight will get close to you anyway. These will often Bull Rush you, then stun you to finish you off with massive burst. Easy to avoid, though. If they catch you in the stun just use Judge’s Intervention and move behind them and watch them miss all their burst. Then just pull them down and use your own damage. Against ranged Warriors, again, stay close and force them into melee. They’ll often have a melee set with them, so just blind and block your way to victory.
- Rangers: See Warriors. Rangers have a bit more tools to keep their distance, so make sure you’re able to use Zealot’s Defense defensively. Apart from that, just stay close.
- Necromancer: This can be a though fight, but you don’t have that many boons they’re able to corrupt. Use your Signets to clear conditions. I never bother that much about the minions, just sustain damage on the Necromancer. They’ll try to CC you to create distance, so save Judge’s Intervention for the most opportune moment.
- Other Guardians: Against offensive Guardians, use blinds, blocks and movement impairing effects liberally. You should have more defensive than Power based Guardians. Against defensive Guardians, just take it slow, try to avoid the CC and just get them down with sustained damage. If it takes too long, just go away, they probably won’t follow.
- Thieves: Just prevent the opening burst with blinds and blocks. Then kill them. Theives aren’t sturdy. If they go into stealth, just put out some AoE with the Greatsword.
- Engineers: I don’t have specific tactics for Engineers. Just stick close. If they’re defensive, focus on damage, if they’re offensive, weave a bit more defensive abilities, but keep the pressure up.
- Mesmer: Learn to find the right one. Get Illusions down, but don’t focus on the clones. They put up a lot of conditions, so try to use your Signets to remove those.

Thanks for those tips, they are awesome.
I’m still struggling 1v1. Necro killed me in 20 seconds. Nothing I could do to stop it. I did about 10% to their HP bar.

Go for “reflection” spec. I won almoust all 1vs1 and mostly i can kill 2-5 peeps alone. Dont ask build, if u are too lazy to figure out by yourself, u are not ready for it!

Also!! once you are confident and if you are spec’ed into the right build (lots of heals and mitigation), you can eat a warrior’s burst on purpose or pop a block. The idea is to stand still n just whack him to death. If done successfully, he’ll return crying and you’ll see a new ‘guardian is OP’ thread :] I actually tend to do this a lot when I recognise my opponent’s skill level or equipment is not a threat.

Just stand around and pretend you aren’t phased by his attacks like a juggernaut. Of course, please don’t do this if your opponent is an actual threat. Guardian is one of the few classes that can have some fun like this.

As for actual advice, the scepter’s immobilization is a very valuable ability because we lack reliable ways to stop the opponent from escaping at a range (besides gap closure).

Damage builds are 50:50 in win/lose ratio depending on who gets the jump, who picked the right utilities, weapon sets and who is the smarter player. There are just so many variables that will effect the outcome of any 1vs1 fight.

If you really are struggling this much, I suggest changing your traits to meditations and retaliation. I won’t point too specifically because I don’t want to turn this into a cookie cutter build thread. But I will say that with this setup I haven’t lost a 1vs1 fight yet. Most people will end up blowing themselves up , but you’ll have to play around to your own style in the end.

@Svarty: Conditions are difficult to deal with as Guardians (because most of our passive defenses stem from Toughness), so naturally Necromancers and Mesmers will be difficult. In my build, every utility removes two conditions, and I still find it hard to fight those professions. Thieves can also do quite some condition damage, but they’re rather squishier.
Also, what build are you using?

Lol I love how this guy is asking for advice, so instead of most of you just giving him advice, you’re flaming him.

It all depends on what build you want to go with. Are you in this for PvE or PvP? Do you want to be more support or burst damage? I prefer Burst DPS. I go with Berserker armor with 3 items including 1 weapon that uses power/vitality/crit. Everything else is power/precision/crit. My jewelry is also berserker. I use a combination of a Great Sword and Sword/Shield. My traits are 20/25/0/20/5.

I don’t understand why you guys are helping this player with an obviously very bad attitude

How does he have a bad attitude?

Thanks for all the advice in-game today, Dnias. And thanks to everybody else trying to help me play just a little bit better.

I see very commonly in this game that battles sometimes function like a Rock/Paper/Scissor type mentality to it.

I often find that i build for one circumstance and have more trouble with others because of it.

My advice for playing against guardians is boon removal. We are the class with the most boons to our advantage (popular builds often incorporate small heals with boon application and even increased dmg for boons)

My advice for playing as a guardian is Retaliation. Its scary how good it is. If you can time heals and stay alive as a warrior is using Thousand Blades or a Thief is getting the jump on you, they’ll often kill themselves without even knowing they did it. They’ll be down to 20%-40% hp most of the time before the notice it. Finish out with moves that cause alot of Control over the battle (teleports, stuns, leaps, immobilizes) and stay on them. After losing that much hp so fast and not seeing us attack them really that when they figure out that they’re about to lose and try and run away. You hammer the last nails in the coffin.

Most people style their guardians for Survivability/Support or Glass cannons trying to maximize their burst dmg. Let me tell you, it doesnt work. Atleast i dont think it does well. I believe Guardians are better built for steady sustained dmg (with high crits, not common crits) and boon advantage and specifically Retaliation.

Most important stats IMO… Power/Vitality/Toughness/Crit Dmg %