Guild Wars 2

Hi,

I normally hate reading on forums a very ‘general’ questions in Class topics but there is a reason for doing so. I have a level 80 Guard that has lay dormant for 6 months but I am finally going to waken him up and run him in www. We have several great Guards in the guild but I want to see what is the most viable combination with a Shield. It would be easy to ask in Guild for advice, but the reason for posting on the forum is that Guilds can tend to get into very similar builds which fit the Guilds playstyle, so I would appreciate a view from other Guardians outside of the Guild.

Now, I know, from what I have read and what my Guildies say, that the Sword is not so much a no no, but there are better offhand weapons for WVW (where I intend to primarily be defensive, support) but I really want to run the Shield, so which weapon fits best with a Shield?

I would also like any advice for the second set, I dont really want to run a GS, I am fine with a Hammer or any other combination (Sword / Focus etc) but I would prefer not to run with a Staff (but would be interested in what scenario Staff works best).

Based on Shield being a ‘given’ (and there may well be cries of ’Noooooo, give the Shield to a warrior) if you have any builds that could be linked that would be great.

Apologies for such a ‘general’ question in a specialist forum, but approaching it from a ‘I know nothing’ rather than a ‘I think I know something’ about the topic will hopefully explain the reason.

Thanks

I hate to be that guy, but here’s the thing; Play what you do well with. So many people like to proclaim that weapon X is better than weapon Y, and that if you pair X with Y you’re a bad player, and that bleh bleh bleh.

I run sword and shield and rock it. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the sword; there is however an intersection between weapons, builds, player mentality, in the moment play and how all of that is augmented with your utilities and those around you.

I run a mix of PVT and Knight’s, sword+shield, Hammer as the offset weapon and a 0/15/30/20/5 build which I quite like.

As a high level;
– Scepter if you want range options.
– Sword if you want mobility and some lovely single target burst
– Mace if you want to augment the healing on the front-line.

My preferences; Sword > Mace > Scepter. Buy one of each, get a couple of guildies and go roaming.

You should have all weapons anyway. If you don’t, you soon will. It just has a way of working out like that. With that being said, and to add a bit what Parthis said above:

Some builds do reference, or are built, around a weapon of choice. Meaning there is a primary weapon for some with a secondary in mind.

Think of it has synergy. It just has a way of working out like that. Regardless, the one common thread though in all of the builds is our collection of weapons

Best advice I could give you is before you even start building your character up to a final version is to define what you want. Do you want to be a powerhouse, do you want to be a tank, or a glass cannon maybe? There are a lot of options to choose, and you should choose whatever you like most or what is good in the part of the game you play the most.
And then focus on whatever you have chosen. If you want survival? Focus on surviving in any way, and don’t forget that there are a lot of ways to do this! Even the most “offensive” options could also mean survival. As long as you focus on it and on your playstyle. When you have finished to core, go and test it and fix the loose ends. Because that little bit of extra health on your dps build could mean the difference in too much situations!

And if you have already set your mind on the build there are only two options besides sword to wield next to your shield : Scepter, mace
The scepter is potentially the more offensive one and the mace the more defensive one, although with a scepter you have the distance between you and your enemies. The mace can give you some really nice healing and extra block, this will work especially well if you and your teammates are in melee a lot of the time!

And in wvw I think the staff can be great, unless you are soloing, because you hit so many people every strike. I would take either staff or hammer as second set for defensive or supportive playstyle.

TLDR : TAKE : Mace/shield and Staff or hammer (staff for multitagging)

There is also a sticky thread which explains a lot of nice synergies between weapons! Make sure to read it!

This thread already has some great advice so far but I figured I’d add my $0.02 to the mix as well.

Personally, I tend to use a fairly defensive/supportive build and usually use a mace/shield and a staff. I can swap to any other guardian weapon if necessary but those are the weapons I most often use unless the situation demands something else (e.g., I prefer a mace/focus for tanking in certain fights such as the Jade Maw in fractals or Mai Trin in Aetherblade Retreat).