Guild Wars 2

Is there any point of using a shield over focus? I mean, you can’t even block with it properly…

There have been a ton of threads on this subject and the main consensus is no, there is not much of a reason to ever take if over focus. There is some niche use for shield in PvP for the knockback, but personally its not enough to replace the blind, condi clear, and block that focus provides. Shield is in desperate need of rework, imo.

I run a WvW support guard mace/shield build. Check my signature for the build and lots of gameplay videos, including a video that focuses exclusively on the wonders of Shield 5 knockback.

But, yeah, the consensus is that Guardian Shield needs some serious lovin’ especially compared to Focus. I run it because it suits my play style and I’m a sucker for punishment and working withing narrow constraints. Let’s hope the expansion brings a refresh for this offhand.

Yea the only people who run shield are the people who really just want to have a shield. I really want to use it but since I mainly just run dungeons and fractals there’s no reason

If you want to run Shield for fun, then go for it! I think there’s way too much emphasis on required builds and configurations. But then I don’t play “meta” or “FOTM” builds in any game.

I’m having a blast with Shield! I think if they added the Resistance Boon plus a blast finisher, it would be in a great shape.

Depends whether your focus is PvE, PvP or WvW. It’s a consensus that Guardian Shield in PvE is VERY situational (almost always very bad besides a few occasions). because Shield of Judgment’s damage and Protection are negligible, and Shield of Absorption not only roots you, but the AoE knockback is not worth it in the stacking way to fight, while the projectile defense is massively outclassed by both Wall of Reflection and Shield of the Avenger.

i use shields with swords cause i look cooler with that than sword and some focus

Tron.3471:

There have been a ton of threads on this subject and the main consensus is no, there is not much of a reason to ever take if over focus. There is some niche use for shield in PvP for the knockback, but personally its not enough to replace the blind, condi clear, and block that focus provides. Shield is in desperate need of rework, imo.

This ^.

They should change shield number 5 and make it an AOE centered on the guardian which knocks back enemies & grants AEGIS to allies on a 25 second cool down.

They should also get rid of the difference of how number 4 works in Spvp & PvE.

I’m going to jump right in here and defend the Guardian Shield, because alot of people give it undeserved flack (especially the complaints about skill 5, are you guys nuts?).
[This ended up rather long, so I’ll put in a TL; DR for people that CBA to educate themselves].

THE ESSAY/FIRST IMPRESSIONS
The problem with Guardian Shield, is, upon release, it got off to a really bad start. Shield 5 had a 60 second cooldown, and Shield 4 had a 40 second cooldown. These cooldowns were insane, and Anet were obviously afraid that the off-hand weapon’s functionality may have been too good. This put a sour taste in people’s mouths when it came to Guardian Shield.

However, after a number of buffs and several cooldown reductions, Guardian Shield 4 & 5 now sit at a respectable CD of 25seconds and 30seconds. This isn’t too bad at all, and the skills deserve people’s appreciation again.

ROLE
First things first. Guardian Shield is intended as a party support weapon, which no doubt is why the Shield is so iconic with the Guardian seems the Guardian is supposed to be all about party support. I firmly believe that their would be alot less kittening about the Guardian Shield skills however if they simply swapped it skills with Focus. The Focus is the stronger weapon in a solo setting, however in a group setting it isn’t (both have their functions here), but many people want to run around the world with Sword & Shield all knight style rather than with a wavey bit of cloth, which is understandable, but I think is also the core reason people disdain the Shield, not really because the skills themselves are that bad – just as they are group centric skills people don’t give them a chance (people are inherently selfish, afterall).

SHIELD 5 (Shield of Absorption)
I’ll start with Shield 5, as this is a really strong skill and perhaps I do wonder if maybe it has become a bit overpowered just to encourage more Guardian Shield use, at least in sPvP (it’s strong in PvE too, but the knockback, while one of the skills strongest assets, does screw up the dungeon-stacking meta a bit, but honestly it’s not that different from the annoying Ranger who spams Longbow 4 needlessly all the time – at least this skill will still add something to those situations, via projectile protection and healing, unlike the Ranger Longbow 4 which servers no purpose in this situation and is nothing but a DPS decrease for the party, and even the Ranger himself).

Alot of people forget that the Guardian Shield 5 is a chain-skill, and you can pop it for one of the fastest and strongest weapon-based group heals in the game. It heals 1300 health at level 80 which is 2600 health a minute with the 30sec CD, which is nothing to snot at. Now consider it can affect your entire team, you are looking at a 13000 extra healing a minute. That’s good. If you stack healing power, you can get it to a roughly 2k~ heal, which is 4k~ a minute, or 20k~ for your team overall. This is much stronger than the HoT heal from Focus 4.

SHIELD 5 (Continued)
The second aspect of the skill, that we just touched upon, is the knockback. Anybody remember in the Betas when Warrior Hammer Earthshaker used to do an AoE knockback? But Anet deemed it too powerful and for final release changed it to just a Stun? Well, guess what still has 360 degrees AoE knockback? Guardian Shield 5. This is a strong asset in and of itself, but the hidden value here is the cast time – it’s almost instantaneous (ignore the casting time of the tooltip, the second you hit Shield 5, so long as you aren’t CC’d in someway, it’ll work instantly). There’s not alot of interrupting skills in the game that cast as fast and in such a wide area as Guardian Shield 5 does. This may lead it to only niché uses in PvE, but this is a very strong asset to have in PvP.
Many time’s I’ve seen an enemy in the distance beggining to stomp a downed ally, and I’ve had to run closer to close the gap close enough to get close enough to teleport to him using Judge’s Intervention, and then I’ve instant knocked him back using Shield 5 preventing his stomp, when by the time I reached him he was already in mid-air with the stomp about to finish. Very few skills have that plausible a reaction time window, but Shield 5 does (and often works too, because the stomping player didn’t see it coming and already blew his blind or stability on stopping the downed players personal downed CC skill, seems you are literally inteferring at the last millesecond).

Finally, there’s the most obvious component of the skill. The projectile defense. Needless to say, there’s many applications for this in GW2. It’s niché use again in PvE, seems you do have other projectile defense options (namely, Wall of Reflection, and Shield of the Avenger), but for cases when those two may not be enough (Fractal Grawl Shaman, I’m looking at you), it certainly pulls it weight as a third Projectile Defense (and in these encounters in particular that bonus heal really does come in handy), and will give you that extra little window you need to get Wall back up.
Then, on the PvP side of stuff, the meta right now is alot of Longbows from Rangers and Warriors, with imitation ranged burst coming from the odd Thief. The projectile defense of Shield 5 is worth it’s weight in gold here. Hit it up the second you see that Rapid Fire coming in (a skill in particular alot of Guardians I’ve see complain about, which is silly, because right here, Guardians have the tools to handle it without destroying their build). Unlike PvE, this is your best option, since you don’t want to give up a Meditation as you’d be losing a Stunbreak, Con Removal, and/or burst Fury/Heal. By bringing an offhand Shield, you counter-play the meta, while retaining all the excellent utility and sustain 3x traited Meditations on your utility bar gives you (not to mention, it will give you yet another burst heal!). Once again, the Blind from Focus 4 is no viable alternative here – it’ll only block the first arrow of the Rapid Fire, and you have to actually be facing your target to pull it off – not to mention the cast time! Focus 5 dampens the overall attack but does not stop it, and by using it on advance you are wasting the burst damage potential of the skill (whereas the Heal from SoA is far less likely to be wasted).

Is that all too much to read? Good, then maybe you realise just how good and how much application Guardian Shield 5 has now.

SHIELD 4 (Shield of Judgement)
Moving onto Shield 4. There’s not as much to say about it. Protection is a strong Boon, no one can deny that, and once again, it could potentially stop more damage than the Blinds from Focus 4 (all depends where and when you use it, I suppose, not forgetting there’s plenty of mobs that Blind doesn’t work against). Shield 4 doesn’t do anything amazingly special, but it certainly has it’s place – if anything, it’s overshadowed by the more frequent Protection offered by Hammer auto-attack. It’s not terrible on it’s own though. It’s also a pretty decent pull-skill, due to it’s wide cone, but then again, so is Focus 4.
As for PvP, the shorter duration of the Protection does hurt the skill some (and goes into what I said earlier about Anet worrying about the Shield perhaps being too strong a weapon choice for the Guardian), but assuming you are bringing the Shield for it’s incredible Skill 5, it can be useful for when you are just trying to reduce incoming damage to your allies fighting over a point, or if you are anticipating an incoming Stun and Burst from a stealthed Thief hovering around the point you are standing on to cap.
I do like the idea of making Shield 4 another source of Aegis instead of or aswell as Protection (they’d probably have to the increase the CD again, but it’d still be nice), which would help make it a more respectable option for general use and in particular for players running builds that use alot of those “on block/shattering aegis” traits), and could be the one step needed to make those type of traits relevant enough to be worth basing a build around.
Also, Shield needs a blast finisher of some kind (or at least, a leap finisher), and Shield 4 would probably be the best place to put it, considering Shield 5’s already incredible utility.

TL; DR
The original problem with Shield was that it made bad first impressions due to ridiculously long CDs on it’s skills, this has levvied lasting opinion against the weapon, even though after several balance patches, this is no longer an issue with the weapon, people won’t give it a chance.

The shield is a focused group support weapon, not a solo/support hybrid like the focus, and as a result, comparison between personal benefits of focus over shield are not entirely fair and often don’t take all factors into account.

Shield 5 is an incredibly powerful skill with alot of really strong and useful utility. It doesn’t need any buffs or changes. And if you think it does, chances are you don’t understand the game, it’s mechanics, or even your class, half-as-good as you think you do.

Shield 4 is a bit ‘Meh’, Protection is good but the skill is a bit bland, and if there are to be any changes made to shield, this is where they should be. I like the idea of having it grant Aegis, I think this opens alot of potential to the class, and fits the theme of the weapon. Also, Shield could do with a Blast Finisher or at least a Leap Finisher, and if it get’s one of these, this is where it should go.

Have fun!

2600 HP/m is really not that substantial. Also the bubble requires a channel, which makes it pointless to use for anything beyond the knockback.

It’s not amazing but it’s not minor either, especially if you combine with other sources of healing. And once again, that’s from a solo perspective. From a group perspective, it’s actually a hefty heal overall if you catch 5 allies in it. Once again, group focus, not solo focus.

The channelling is next to nothing, it takes like a second, then you can pop the bubble for the heal if you wish and carry on your merry way (you don’t have to wait till the Shield expires if you don’t wish too). You probably aren’t going to get rupted – the bubble just pushed melee ‘rupters away, and projectile ’ruptions can’t get you because of the bubble. There is exceptions of course (like Necro fear, Stability or Defiant Mobs), but that’s usually how it’s going to go.

@KotCR: I appreciaty your effort, but even in PvP the handicaps of the shield are pretty evident:

1) The bubble knockback doesn’t compete with other classes in terms of decap potential. Most of times if you fight against a single holder the chances are that they will overcome you in terms of pushes, knockbacks and other cc in a 2:1 to 3:1 ratios.

2) The bubble does nothing to prevent melee damage, neither AoE damage. If you fight against a Warrior most of the damage He will deal to you will come from the F1 burns. Things are even worse against other classes with spamable AoE attacks as necros or eles. So, at least 3 classes from the current meta will see you with a shield and then smile.

So shield is basically outperformed by focus in BOTH dffensive and offensive capabilities.

I guess that in a WvW, with the stability nerfs, replacing the current sfaff + gs/hammer meta by staff + x/shield COULD work (specially in the incoming maps, with so many funnels and cliffhangers), due in that situation a few guys releasing AoE knockbacks in serial could end wrecking a zerg. But this is theoretycally, must be proved.

For now, just doesn’t cut. I would like to see the focus and shield skills in guardian EXCHANGED due shields looks a lot better and fits better the lore, but currently focus is a lot better so I will keep my anomaly in my left hand for a long, long time.

KotCR.6024:

It’s not amazing but it’s not minor either, especially if you combine with other sources of healing. And once again, that’s from a solo perspective. From a group perspective, it’s actually a hefty heal overall if you catch 5 allies in it. Once again, group focus, not solo focus.

The channelling is next to nothing, it takes like a second, then you can pop the bubble for the heal if you wish and carry on your merry way (you don’t have to wait till the Shield expires if you don’t wish too). You probably aren’t going to get rupted – the bubble just pushed melee ‘rupters away, and projectile ’ruptions can’t get you because of the bubble. There is exceptions of course (like Necro fear, Stability or Defiant Mobs), but that’s usually how it’s going to go.

My fresh air burst ele (with zerker gear) can both outheal and block projectiles for my party better than a cleric guardian’s shield 5, and that’s without having to be made vulnerable by a pointless 2 second channel. Granted it might be with two separate skills, but I’d much rather have 2 separate skills that do their job well than have them combined into one kitten skill.

Shield is good for an AoE knockback. There’s literally no other reason to take one into a fight, ever. And even then, it’s heavily outclassed by focus in virtually any given situation. If you prefer using shield, then I don’t have a problem with it. But it’s also your loss for limiting your potential with such a terrible offhand.

DroidDreamer.2861:

If you want to run Shield for fun, then go for it! I think there’s way too much emphasis on required builds and configurations. But then I don’t play “meta” or “FOTM” builds in any game.

I’m having a blast with Shield! I think if they added the Resistance Boon plus a blast finisher, it would be in a great shape.

This is actually a pretty true statement in that if you want to run it for fun, do so. However, most would disagree on the too much emphasis bit. Reason why is the dance around traits or things that happen after a block occurs.

At the end of the day focus and mace just block 10x better. My personal opinion is that they need to remove the focus and move its abilities to shield.

Ragnar the Rock.3174:

They should change shield number 5 and make it an AOE centered on the guardian which knocks back enemies & grants AEGIS to allies on a 25 second cool down.

I don’t agree with that for WvW at least. Aegis to five players is a drop in the bucket in WvW during burst damage phases. One hit from an basic attack like Guardian Staff 1 wipes out Aegis for the whole group and mitigates minimal damage. That’s why Retreat! is kinda meh in in WvW. It grants Aegis to five players but Aegis is not much help in a zerg fights.

Granted, in small man, you can pull of a series of clutch blinds and Aegis for serious damage mitigation which is tons of fun but I don’t think replacing Shield 5 with Aegis is the way to go. Adding Aegis to Shield is the kind of buff that would make Shield usable for those who want parity with other offhands.

I really think the new Resistance Boon would be a great addition to either Shield 4 or 5. A short duration (3 seconds?) of Resistance Boon on top of Protection would do much to make this the butch tanky offhand it should be!

And Shield 5 should include a Blast Finisher.

Or shield could become the CC off-hand, add a small push to shield 4 and remove the channeling to keep the bubble up on shield 5 and call it a day.

The day you manage to dodge roll into a zerg and hit shield #5 is the day you weld that thing to your arm and never let go.(This is of course assuming your something other than zerker)

PVE wise: Lupi Phase 2 and might help on the harpies fractal (just for the #5 skill).

PVP and WvW: Again skill #5 is helpful because of the knockback, I guess #4 can help bunker builds but Focus is way better because of the 3 blocks, Dmg and blinds.

What would make Shield a good offhand weapon: Just like the Ascalonian Adventurer, we should have access to Fiery Block (stance for 3 seconds blocking and inflicting Burning for 3 seconds to attackers). # 5 can stay the same.

NumenorLord.6539:

PVE wise: Lupi Phase 2 and might help on the harpies fractal (just for the #5 skill).

This was the case, until they changed it so you can no longer keep the bubble if you cancel the channel. Now you’re just better off using the projectile defenses you already have so you can actually do more important things while they’re up.

Silhouette.5631:

The day you manage to dodge roll into a zerg and hit shield #5 is the day you weld that thing to your arm and never let go.(This is of course assuming your something other than zerker)

Or when the other side is trying to regroup, might up and ready for another push and you knock them back to keep them from reforming… So good.

it has a place in a support bunker role but arguably hammer is better if your going for prot up time. On a side note, have you seen the data mined revenant shield skills? Closer to what guard shield should of been imo.

http://i.imgur.com/SjX7u2A.png

Obviously nothing is confirmed on that information so take it as a grain of salt. Still i hope they revisit guardian shield in the near future.

Also that was found on reddit, I didnt data mine it

Animosity.5968:

it has a place in a support bunker role but arguably hammer is better if your going for prot up time. On a side note, have you seen the data mined revenant shield skills? Closer to what guard shield should of been imo.

http://i.imgur.com/SjX7u2A.png

Obviously nothing is confirmed on that information so take it as a grain of salt. Still i hope they revisit guardian shield in the near future.

Also that was found on reddit, I didnt data mine it

Just curious, where does it say that it is a shield? It could be focus skills, too.

Edit: Nvm I didn’t see the unconfirmed part. xD

Shield is, in my opinion, really good for support guardians. Because mace can block (which is fair if you consider that making shield able to block would be a bit OP when coupled with something like sword), you can drop the mace healing symbol and either choose between blocking direct hits with the mace or blocking ranged attacks with the shield. Being able to constantly throw out 6+ seconds of protection without traits or utilities is also really nice for a support guardian. The knock back and the heal that accompanies the detonation of the bubble is pretty solid when you combine it with the mace symbol. Think about it like this, focus is for more offensive guardians with shield being for the defensive/support guardians.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fVAQNAW5el8ApeoNDxXI8DNRCRk1M2ntlXH0cA-TJRJABveRAEqMgI7PAwTAAA

Here’s a little support guardian build I whipped up, not sure if something like this has already been made, but your on-the-point support should be just about legendary.

I think you’re all missing the point on Shield versus Focus. The Guardian Focus is a selfish weapon that’s designed to keep the Guardian alive or condition free. The Guardian Shield is a team based weapon that’s designed to support a large group of players.

Shield of Judgement provides protection for anyone caught in its blast, reducing damage by 33% for 3 seconds. It’s great when a spike is incoming. Shield of Absorption is a large area block that protects and heals when it’s burst.

Both of these skills are incredibly useful in tPvP but they require slightly different play. SoA is excellent at knocking players back who are rezzing, protecting your team if they are rezzing or preventing heavy range builds such as Longbow Rangers. The heal is also nice alongside Regeneration because it heals for around 1.4K

The fact that the cooldowns on Shield are shorter than Focus is a bonus as well. Shield has its place, people just look at the weapon wrongly.

I understand the idea behind shield #5, that it’s a unique support ability, but shield #4 is just bad, really bad. Same as Torch #5. And what’s funny we don’t have a daze but thief can steal it from us, ain’t that something.

Edit: Guardian came out of the factory unfinished and Anet doesn’t know what to do with it, that’s what’s up

I’ve actually used shield #5 a couple of times in Skyhammer to knock enemies off the lazer cannon platform. x) People rarely expect a move like that and I feel like such a troll for doing it.

On the other hand, the only real value I get from shield is minimal protection and interrupting enemies from stomping, absorbing projectiles and that is about it. Still, I use it for now.

Lewis Burnell.2493:

I think you’re all missing the point on Shield versus Focus. The Guardian Focus is a selfish weapon that’s designed to keep the Guardian alive or condition free. The Guardian Shield is a team based weapon that’s designed to support a large group of players.

Shield of Judgement provides protection for anyone caught in its blast, reducing damage by 33% for 3 seconds. It’s great when a spike is incoming. Shield of Absorption is a large area block that protects and heals when it’s burst.

Both of these skills are incredibly useful in tPvP but they require slightly different play. SoA is excellent at knocking players back who are rezzing, protecting your team if they are rezzing or preventing heavy range builds such as Longbow Rangers. The heal is also nice alongside Regeneration because it heals for around 1.4K

The fact that the cooldowns on Shield are shorter than Focus is a bonus as well. Shield has its place, people just look at the weapon wrongly.

Focus 4 bounces onto allies and provides condi clear and regen, and focus 5 is a blast finisher. I find those more useful for a team than anything shield provides.

Only time I don’t use a shield is PvE. Too many times I’ve used shield to knock people who are stomping a teammate or pushed someone off Skyhammer to give up on it. I’ve also used it to get that extra second of getting enemies off the point to decap. With the Power Ranger build being so popular, even the absorb effect is very handy since it can take an entire Rapid Fire (for you or a teammate).

I’ve also found it useful in WvW. Staff is essential but that Shield of Absorption is invaluable if you know how to use it. You can protect a lot of people against a lot of damage if you pop that at the right time while your team can regroup or unload back. Additionally, it is absolutely fantastic in EotM. Not only running into zergs on a bridge and popping it but roaming and getting a group of people to follow you (like you’re running away) to a rocky edge before hitting that skill is one of the most satisfying things I’ve ever done as a Guardian.

I’ll agree that Shield of Judgement can use some buffs and I’m sure to maximize your build for use in more circumstances it’s better to use focus. That said, the amount of people not expecting the shield and the havoc you can play disrupting things by doing so means I’m not going to stop unless they nerf it.

[Disclaimer: This is in no way influenced by the fact that I’m going for Flameseeker Prophecies as my first Legendary… Nope. None at all.]

Black Box.9312:

Lewis Burnell.2493:

I think you’re all missing the point on Shield versus Focus. The Guardian Focus is a selfish weapon that’s designed to keep the Guardian alive or condition free. The Guardian Shield is a team based weapon that’s designed to support a large group of players.

Shield of Judgement provides protection for anyone caught in its blast, reducing damage by 33% for 3 seconds. It’s great when a spike is incoming. Shield of Absorption is a large area block that protects and heals when it’s burst.

Both of these skills are incredibly useful in tPvP but they require slightly different play. SoA is excellent at knocking players back who are rezzing, protecting your team if they are rezzing or preventing heavy range builds such as Longbow Rangers. The heal is also nice alongside Regeneration because it heals for around 1.4K

The fact that the cooldowns on Shield are shorter than Focus is a bonus as well. Shield has its place, people just look at the weapon wrongly.

Focus 4 bounces onto allies and provides condi clear and regen, and focus 5 is a blast finisher. I find those more useful for a team than anything shield provides.

Focus 4 is also easily dodged or blocked and it only clears 1 condition. It’s not mind blowingly good. As for Focus 5 being a Blast, that’s great but considering Medi Guardian’s use Hammer it’s largely irrelevant.

Lewis Burnell.2493:

Black Box.9312:

Lewis Burnell.2493:

I think you’re all missing the point on Shield versus Focus. The Guardian Focus is a selfish weapon that’s designed to keep the Guardian alive or condition free. The Guardian Shield is a team based weapon that’s designed to support a large group of players.

Shield of Judgement provides protection for anyone caught in its blast, reducing damage by 33% for 3 seconds. It’s great when a spike is incoming. Shield of Absorption is a large area block that protects and heals when it’s burst.

Both of these skills are incredibly useful in tPvP but they require slightly different play. SoA is excellent at knocking players back who are rezzing, protecting your team if they are rezzing or preventing heavy range builds such as Longbow Rangers. The heal is also nice alongside Regeneration because it heals for around 1.4K

The fact that the cooldowns on Shield are shorter than Focus is a bonus as well. Shield has its place, people just look at the weapon wrongly.

Focus 4 bounces onto allies and provides condi clear and regen, and focus 5 is a blast finisher. I find those more useful for a team than anything shield provides.

Focus 4 is also easily dodged or blocked and it only clears 1 condition. It’s not mind blowingly good. As for Focus 5 being a Blast, that’s great but considering Medi Guardian’s use Hammer it’s largely irrelevant.

1 condition per bounce, which even still happens to be 1 condition more than shield clears. And not everyone runs the hammer build. I, for one, do not.