Shout Build Help
Is this for pve leveling then? I think judges intervention (meditation) is indispensable for leveling as it lets you escape/move away from mobs extremely fast when you click some red in the distance.
For leveling I would go 15 in radiance which lets you spam virtue of justice and at least 10 in honor for wrathful spirit. Wrathful spirit basically allows you to have retaliation up permanently which is nice extra dps. (Retalitory subconcious which you think gives 30 seconds of retaliation with a 22 second cd is actually 3 seconds of retal with a 30 sec cd (have not tested, but I need no more retaliatikon as wrathful spirit is pretty broken atm)).
I personally (for leveling) would put the rest in honor to obtain writ of the merciful and superior aura (all symbols heal, shout cd lowered) and would use a greatsword.
Leveling I would also use a staff or greatsword (maybe both) at the higher levels as most of the time you are just trying to exploit event participation with aoe damage.
For leveling there is almost no reason to use a shield either, focus is much better for survivability and torch is much better for dps.
tl:dr
get a staff and tag all mobs in events
If you are attempting to focus on “tanking” and you like the Mace, then I would highly suggest you go 20 points into the Honor line and pick up Wirt of the Merciful.
Level 40 Build Link:
http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#McccMM9MmavGmmavGm0V0GVMa
Do your best to stack Healing/Vitality/Toughness in that order. Cleric’s armor is a great crafted set you can pick up from the Trading Post at level 71. Until then you can just get the best Healing/Vitality/Toughness gear you can find.
Keep in mind this will leave you with very little offense, but you will be able to take quite a beating.
By level 60 you should focus your traits lines towards the trait Altruistic Healing. With a proper amount of +Healing gear this should heal you for about 100-150 per boon effect on you and allies. As an example the skill “Hold the Line!” will put 2 boons on you and your group. That is a total of 10 boons ever 28 seconds (with the 20% Shout duration trait). This will heal you for about 1500 health.
Level 65 Altruistic Healing Build Link:
http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#McccMM9MmavGmmavGm9MxG0VsqMa
Inspired Virtue is also a key trait in a Altruistic Healing build. This combined with the elite skill Renewed Focus will give you a pretty nice bump in healing and give your group some extra Might/Regen/Protection/Aegis boons as well!
The other option is to go for a Meditation build. This will heal you for quite a lot more than the Altruistic Healing build, and your group will not receive nearly as many boons. The key trait in a Meditation build is Monk’s Focus, which is located 30 points into the Valor line. Each Meditation cast will heal you for about 2000 health.
Level 65 Meditation Build Link:
http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#McccMM9MmavGmmavGm9MxGVzaboa
Thanks guys! Your suggestions are really helpful, and I am making a few changes to my planned build.
http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#MVcczV0MMavGmMavGm0aaxGoozMoMk
that’s what I’m thinking atm. And for the most part, this is more of a Solo PvE build. So i want to focus on applying Boons to my self, and do a little bit of self healing.
Is there anything I should change?
For leveling in particular, I think that the 15 Radiance/5 Virtues combo for Renewed Justice/Inspired Virtues combo is pretty unbeatable. Personally, I think 10 (Burning Wrath)/15 (Renewed Justice)/0/0/5 (Inspired Virtues) is a great core for solo leveling.
If you’re really concerned about solo PvE above all else, then I actually think Shouts are pretty underwhelming; they are exceptional in groups, and should not be ignored in that setting, but Meditations are the king of selfish solo play, particularly with Meditation Mastery and Monk’s Focus.
My personal build at 80 is 0/15/30/20/5 (I like to call it the Valorguard), which comes in two core varieties depending on what I am doing:
Solo play, Meditation focus: http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#Mcc9VmrnRmmrnRm0fxGVMzobcs
Group play, Shout focus: http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#Mcc9VmNvaomNvam0fxGVMVoqMR
Obviously utilities are malleable, but that’s the basic idea; with a single trait allocation, I can get either extreme power in solo play or great group utility (both with exceptional self-healing).
Nice name btw.
And I don’t see why Meditation would be best for solo. I almost have tons of boons on me form my skills, and always am constantly gaining Aegis from my shouts. for a Solo Tank, I think these shouts are dominating. I’m unstoppable atm(have to game minimized for this) and I simply haven’t gone under 80% health unless I was fighting a boss enemy. I really like the build i made(see above).
Though what should I name it? Unrelenting Honor? Honorgaurd? Honorlicious? Super Omega Defense Shouts?
meditations, once you get monks focus heal you for like 1/7 of your maximum hp.
They also do things just for you (mostly), so anet makes them more powerful when solo than shouts which can affect a large number of players.
btw i forgot about that 10 point zeal trait that gives 10% more damage against burning enemies (they are always burning if you are specced right).
I never needed much survivability as a guard solo leveling that I went for it. Just get a focus and dodge/use blocks effectively.
As Jimmy said, Meditations really hit their stride once you can sink the full 30 points into the Valor tree for Monk’s Focus. I just did a quick test, and with 200 Healing Power (i.e. none of the stat on my gear), each Meditation healed me for about 1.8k. Smite Condition is on a 16 second cooldown with Meditation Mastery, so that gives it about one third of the HPCT of Signet of Resolve – our strongest self healing skill – in addition to its AoE damage and condition removal. Judge’s Intervention provides the same healing on a bit more than double the cooldown, but brings even more damage and a teleport escape/chasedown. And again, the thing I really love about the build I’m using now is that I can change it on a whim to suit the situation I am in; if I feel like yelling for a bit, it’s a 15 second ordeal to swap major traits and utilities.
Now, at level 40, I was running the 10/15/0/0/5 core (and experimenting with the Honor line for the first time). Without the 30 point major traits, I would argue that the Valor line isn’t really worth any investment at all. That being said, Shouts are really made to be amazing in group play, and I think they only live up to a small percentage of their potential if you don’t use them with Altruistic Healing (also 30 points in Valor) and in a group. You mention Aegis as a benefit to your build, but the Shouts themselves are contributing only one additional Aegis every 48 seconds (from Retreat).
I want to end by stopping trying to sell my build and simply giving a minor critique on yours. If you want to run a solo Shout build, I would think you would be better served by dropping the 10 points in Radiance (without the Sword/Greatsword and without Renewed Justice, you aren’t going to apply that many blinds, and Vulnerability only adds 1% damage per stack) and putting them into Virtues (you’ll gain 1% damage for each boon you have, likely amounting to more damage than the aforementioned Vulnerability, as well as 10% increased boon duration and a likely more useful major trait).
I want to end by stopping trying to sell my build and simply giving a minor critique on yours. If you want to run a solo Shout build, I would think you would be better served by dropping the 10 points in Radiance (without the Sword/Greatsword and without Renewed Justice, you aren’t going to apply that many blinds, and Vulnerability only adds 1% damage per stack) and putting them into Virtues (you’ll gain 1% damage for each boon you have, likely amounting to more damage than the aforementioned Vulnerability, as well as 10% increased boon duration and a likely more useful major trait).
Great post by Fred! I just wanted to give a thumbs up to some very good and solid information. There are a lot of posts around here from people that are talking out of their behinds. Even though he approximated some of his numbers the points are vaild, you can take this information to the bank.
You’re doing a similar shout build to me although you’re focusing purely on reducing the amount of damage where I’m replacing points put into toughness trait and putting it into power trait for a more balance build. However, I’m using a greatsword.
I noticed you’re using mace/shield combination so the route you’re going is toward the right direction of pure defense with shield synergy traits. If you lack damage at level 80, I’m sure that can be balanced with jewels added to armor and jewelry.
I am glad you’re going the shout route as it’s a really good set of utility skills to take if you want to help others. Meditations are also nice although they don’t benefit your party as much as shouts do so it just depends what you want your role to be.
I always think it’s best to go with one type of utility for 7-9 skill slots that synergize with your traits and weapons for max efficiency.