Guild Wars 2

My main is a Mesmer and I’m part of a small group of friends who play primarily only WvW and focus on scout/defense/havoc/roam sort of gameplay on our home border. Basically if something is contested, we try to respond and save it, independent of any commander/zerg that might be on the map.

One of the core individuals in this group is a core Guardian who has not purchased HoT, nor does he presumably want to until there’s something in it for him. He is not interested in placing traps or spamming a longbow, but instead prefers the “knight in shining armour” sort of zerk/knights GS/Sc&F Mediguard play of olde.

The problem is, this build, while very effective pre-HoT, lacks in the survival department versus the elites. Accentuating the problem is that many of us in the group are classes with ranged or access to a lot of stealth, so often he is the only actual melee and has a nice big bullseye on his forehead.

It isn’t a L2P issue where Guard mechanics are concerned; he is a terrific and very experienced Guard and WvW player in general. I’ll allow it may be a L2P issue to an extent where specific elite skills are concerned as he does not play them (nor do I, for that matter).

I’ve not played Guard much, I have only 1500 hours in it, but I have played around with gear and traits to see if there’s anything I could suggest to him to try but I am not really seeing it.

My question is two-fold.

1) What gear or trait options would make a core Mediguard have more sustain in a WvW havoc/roam setting while not completely destroying its damage capability?

2) If there are no such gear or trait options, is there a core Guard build that I could play in the same setting as a companion to his Guard that would synergize well with his build and provide the lacking support?

While I prefer playing a Mesmer because I don’t have to auto-die to every faceroll elite that waddles by, I’d be willing to try some sort of supportive build on Guard. I don’t want to lose yet another good friend in WvW, so many have quit already because of HoT. Mesmer support builds are laughable.

Healway is basically a supportive medi guard now running three meditations.

An experienced player could probably modify it to their liking in regards to damage output.

“I’ve not played Guard much, I have only 1500 hours in it”

LOL! I wonder what you consider to be a lot of hours.

Depending on how many are roaming; he may want to consider the tank AH shout guard instead with GS/staff. He can provide swiftenss for the group to get around faster and it’s also ok for him to get focused since he can tank through a lot of it for a long time as the rest of you wear your enemy down.

I would start uber tanky and then adjust for more DPS as you feel comfortable with. There are many hybrid builds based on AH.

Also note that the virtues got a big buff in the recent update, and I think this only on the std guard virtues, not the DH virtues.

Now if it’s just the two of you, then Medi is still the way to go. There is no getting around it though, a medi-DH is just better and there is no way around it.

I think the only solution would be a medi gs/hammer build to pressure targets.

@MaximillianVonSchatten.6278, well super tanky is non existant in guardian world, even with 4k armor they are easilly defeated, a guard that sacrifices damage is a dead guardian.

My suggestion is if your not extremely attached to your guardian then roll a rev, engineer or ele.

They just do everything a guardian can do better while having more flexibility of role with the same gear.

If you however refuse to give your guardian up for some reason you could try honor/valor/x with a mix of shouts and meditations & celestial/zerk gear
It will have kinda decent support, survivability and damage.

Granted anything it can do can be done better by the classes I mentioned above.

Aeolus.3615:

I think the only solution would be a medi gs/hammer build to pressure targets.

@MaximillianVonSchatten.6278, well super tanky is non existant in guardian world, even with 4k armor they are easilly defeated, a guard that sacrifices damage is a dead guardian.

If your gona do WvW you have to have at least 1 ranged option.

Crappy as scepter may be smite at least makes them move & the ranged immobilize can be priceless if someone decides to run.
It also opens the door for shield off hand which is actually decent with the right traits.

yeah unfortunatly range and aoe still best way to clear everything, but isnt hammer 5+ji then gs with chill on swap and Gs WW better combo than specter/shield?

Aeolus.3615:

yeah unfortunatly range and aoe still best way to clear everything, but isnt hammer 5+ji then gs with chill on swap and Gs WW better combo than specter/shield?

Depends on

1: Your personal build (the teleport does have a 36 second Cd after all, sometimes people would rather have other things, if you take the pure of heart trait and have celestial gear you can get decent heals (no where near ele/druid) off of it with right utilities & shield)

2: How much ranged damage your enemies have

If your fighting a bunch of ranged Id suggest the shield, especially since the recent nerf to wards and the fact someone with stability/teleports can just ignore them anyway.

Id suggest you alter your current comp classes skills a bit to support your guard, you said a lot of stealth in your group with him being the only visible player? So take Mass Invis on mesmer, take SR on your thieves, save these skills to peel for him. Blast smoke fields for him.

As for the spec id go for something like this if you are looking at base medi guard. And offensive play.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vVAQJARSlsAhuhY5QwaIwPEHxDVeFfxYsGANQBc33YIHA-TFCEABPcJAA4IAwkyPDeAAwv/wWKBbTXAMq/QKgiEZB-w

WvW you need to bring a lot of condi clear and theres a reason they took durability runes out of PvP. Change out the hammer if you are not blasting fields for scepter focus or sword focus and trait focus mastery over smiters boon. Taking hammer i feel is reliant on what fields(if any) you are blasting.

Flashing Blade, JI and GS leap give him some mobility around the battlefield.

Or a more group supporty build, something like this
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vVAQNAseWl8AhWhYpQwbIwPEHJEVe/+vAEvBhQKcX2AIBA-TFCEABPcKAGUJIAHBArU+xi6PzrPIp9HM4BAQKAvGZB-w

Empowers, swiftness and stability for the group, decent healing power for AR and the empower for 2k heal. Condi control and removal from shouts synergy with trooper runes + pure of voice. AR also clears 3 condis and can be reset with RF. Nearly 70% boon duration when wielding a staff(100% with concentration sigil). or 80% on shield.

Again hammer will depend on if the group has fields to blast, if not take something shield depending on what he prefers, mace, scepter, sword. And trait accordingly

Edit i just realised u cant get durability so go something like Melandru instead. And lemongrass food over the saffron bread. As you have to buy that recipe in Dragonstand i believe.

Aeolus.3615:

I think the only solution would be a medi gs/hammer build to pressure targets.

@MaximillianVonSchatten.6278, well super tanky is non existant in guardian world, even with 4k armor they are easilly defeated, a guard that sacrifices damage is a dead guardian.

It all depends on the size of the roaming team. If it is more than 5, a tank guard has merit for empowering, speed, and condi clearing. I would agree that 4k armor is ridiculous, 3,200 – 3,400 is what I consider tanky.

If the roaming group is 5 or less then the Medi is the way to go. This is why I have 2 guard toons.