Guild Wars 2

Blasino.3128:

Jax, the staff, mace/focus symbol bomb build… how would that work 0.o?

I’m guessing not so much burst but a continuous stream of damage?

All of them are designed to be DPS, although you can definitely compact all of the skills to kind of ‘burst’ (which was the original idea of the build), I’ve definitely stretched out its utility a great deal so that it can be used for more of a variety of roles. Including support, DPS also is better in 1v1’s than burst due to dodging evading 100% of the damage. If you stretch it out you actually do more damage.
With dual zerka the staff does up to around 1.2k per hit (and hits a larger AoE than GS) and the Staff 2 hits 2.something (can’t remember will have to test in a few days when i get my new graphics card for my gf’s pc >:) ) so you’re only missing whirlign wrath. And against decent players they’d dodge it 100% anyway, not to mention the 420 power/condi you give everybody from empower, this is why I’ve been liking the staff a great deal more now.

Kwll.1468:

I just wanted to thank you for the defensive symbol nuke build with staff and mace/focus. It really is a great all around team fighting build. The steady aoe damage and healing it puts out is pretty unique and the 12 might stacks from empower are just clutch. I have been using purging flames instead of sanctuary because I have to admit im just bad at using sanctuary lol. I seem to waste it at the wrong times or don’t put it quite exactly where I want it and then Im looking at the long recharge wistfully.

No worries, it’s also one of the best Guardian 1v1 builds that exist. You can defnitely use purging flames, the synergy with Ele’s and Rangers is insane (for some reason people just don’t realise that) and a lot of people don’t know if you just spam walking in and out of the circle it removes a load of conditions.
But you really should practice with sanctuary! It is really clutch when you get good at it, no skill is better than resing a team mate. By that I mean an entire ally player is not going to be less useful than Save Yourselves or Purging Flames, which is what sanctuary can give you!

Wispy.8679:

Most people who do wvw roaming make videos rather than stream for the large downtime between fights but here are a couple links.

Team Riot – http://teamriot.org/streams/ They don’t really stream anymore but the past vids and their youtube accounts still have good content.

[AD] guild – https://www.youtube.com/user/RaggokOozo/videos?view=0 Don’t think these guys have a stream setup, but good small force gameplay.

B Sty – http://www.youtube.com/user/YouGotOwnedTT/videos Similar to [AD].

Some more duel orientated vids:

Targaryen – http://www.youtube.com/user/StrawHatPC

Xsorus – http://www.youtube.com/xsorus Good ranger roamer.

Turkish Krul – http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnRxcbIhjX0QIq56gRMU7zQ/videos?view=0&flow=grid Ranger beastmaster gameplay.

Yishis – http://www.youtube.com/user/bemeric1/videos?flow=grid&view=0 Very talented roaming thief.

These are just a couple off the top of my head, I’m sure there are still active wvw streamers that focus on roaming and duels but I don’t really keep up with it anymore.

Thanks for these! I’ve been watching a lot of the thief’s videos. It would be nice to see 20 players of this standard vs another 20 players of this standard in wvw and see how that goes >.

In other news I will be playing GW2 on the 4th of April, I just bought a new gcard/ups for my gf’s pc and can play. So add me in game and we can get some 1v1’s in to get me back to speed <3

woot woot! ahha am sure you are excited Silven. and there are definitely a handful more of great WvWers who roam or do awesome in small group fights : )))

will have to check out the staff / mace+focus build. i’ve been having most fun with the symbol builds so far. quick question for GS / mace+focus builds, would hydromancy be a good alternative to fire as well? or perhaps just on the GS, while the mace sticks with fire. if you’re able to catch them off guard, they slow down, all skills CD recharge slower, as well as does AoE dmg. this helps with landing your big hits as well. just a thought! a nice fire & ice combo XDD

akamon.2769:

woot woot! ahha am sure you are excited Silven. and there are definitely a handful more of great WvWers who roam or do awesome in small group fights : )))

will have to check out the staff / mace+focus build. i’ve been having most fun with the symbol builds so far. quick question for GS / mace+focus builds, would hydromancy be a good alternative to fire as well? or perhaps just on the GS, while the mace sticks with fire. if you’re able to catch them off guard, they slow down, all skills CD recharge slower, as well as does AoE dmg. this helps with landing your big hits as well. just a thought! a nice fire & ice combo XDD

Super duper excited!!
Umm hydromancy has the problem of if you want to make the most usage of it you have to hit when they recieve it, the problem is they can just instantly dodge and you’ve got no fire to pressure later. The only success I’ve had with it is waiting for them to burn their two dodges (easily done by putting down a symbol and they’ll dodge prot strike) and then you swap to GS and WW, they’re forced to utility or take the damage.
You can do that if you want, I’ll be testing it out slightly more when I start playing again.

hmmm. good points. i’ll give it a shot soon too and see if i can make it work effectively.

also, re: sanctuary, with consecrated ground, if i see someone about to stomp an ally, and i cast sanctuary on top of the downed ally, does the enemy get pushed out of the area as well and can’t re-enter?

I used the defensive symbol build last night, and in a team its pretty epic. Dropping symbol of swiftness from a distance where ever I want was refreshing too (like on a point!).

akamon.2769:

hmmm. good points. i’ll give it a shot soon too and see if i can make it work effectively.

also, re: sanctuary, with consecrated ground, if i see someone about to stomp an ally, and i cast sanctuary on top of the downed ally, does the enemy get pushed out of the area as well and can’t re-enter?

Yes it does, because it’s half second cast that means you can use it just before they land too (which means they’re also not expecting it).
The Staff is an amazing DPS weapon with fire sigils.

Blasino.3128:

I used the defensive symbol build last night, and in a team its pretty epic. Dropping symbol of swiftness from a distance where ever I want was refreshing too (like on a point!).

Yeah it’s awesome as, and the best symbol build for sustained 1v1’s, heals a crapton. Was the ideal build IMO against 100nades. I remember dueling against a lot of 100n players and I’d always run this. (with hammer of widom or wall of reflection ofc!).

I enjoy reading what others are finding out or have learned about the guardian profession as I am rather new to the game/pvp.

I am curious though why many of the builds that I find do not include sigil of Strength and/or Sigil of Battle (might boon). It seems a lot of people prefer Air or Fire, especially in dps builds. To me, it seems that I could get more over-all dps by timing Inspired Virtue with a weapon swap and the continued potential for more with a successful Sigil of Strength tick (assuming dual-weilding with Strength and Battle sigils).

Unless something changed, I think those sigils share a cooldown.

All Sigils share the same cooldown, so it is usually better to use Energy Sigils as they give you a dodge which can dodge 5-10k damage easily.
Fire Sigils are good because of the element of surprise, if you deal consistent damage, your enemy is going to know when to pull out. If you ‘surprise’ them with the fire damage then you can force a kill easier. It may sound silly but it’s more effective for pressuring your opponent.

hmm, any quick tips to facing trap rangers? i was trying out the meditation builds last night and i do pretty decent. such a great build. and i can deal with eles, even mesmers, but this ONE ranger just melted my face with conditions. :// i had purity, smite condition and contemplation but he just stacked them back on me just as easily.. anything i can do better against them?

also, general Guardian question, does GS #4 + GS#2 or 5 combo cleanse conditiosn from myself? as well as focus #4?

A bunker Guard can kill a trap ranger much easier than a DPS Guardian, make sure you’re removing bleed stacks >9, poison when you need to heal and burning as soon as it’s applied. Most people don’t realise the ranger’s strength is from fire fields so getting them off the fire field will lower their DPS by a lot.
Unfortunately on DPS the odds are weighted against you and they have to really mess up to lose, I played around 20 1v1’s against a really good trap ranger last night and the success I had was interrupting his heal over and over until he lost.
tl;dr:

• Remove burning instantly
• Get them away from fire fields
• Remove poison when healing
• Interrupt their heal
• Pressure with damage

Whirl finishers do not remove conditions from yourself, they remove conditions from allies they come into contact with.
Focus 4 give you the regen and remove a condition if it bounces to you, which means you’d need to be near your target.

yea i figured a bunker build would be much more effective. but still! lol. i guess i don’t like losign 1v1. ://// i have much to learn. but that’s good to know. i know the skills of most classes, except the ranger. this will have me learn moer about them too. didn’t know abut the fire field so that’s one thing i’ll keep in mind. this was a good ranger as well. will have to look into interrupting his heals too (and this goes for all classes!)

thanks for the tips again. i think this time i was so surprised at the dmg i was taking, i didn’t put enough pressure on him and just couldn’t last as long. : ((

and ahh, right re: focus 4. i always forget about the bounce. i usually use it close up as well so that’s good.

Hey guys just letting you know I’m going to be updating this a great deal soon!

I also just put in the build I’m currently playing around with:
http://tinyurl.com/bnnglju

I’m intrigued =).

oo really nice stats.D

away from the game for a bit, but i’ll keep an eye on this.

All builds updated, the builds for defensive are now map specific. I will consider doing that for the offensive ones in the future, but usually there isn’t too much difference per map for them.
The testing build is actually working out extremely well too woo!

I did get a few pms strangely enough asking why I didn’t name the builds, so if you guys have any suggestions. I thought keeping them named after what they actually do was smart, so people can’t get confused, but if you got some cool names let me know!

Thanks. I enjoy reading the updates and trying new things. It keeps things interesting for me.

oooh i like giving names to builds lol. i’ll take a look after me lunch. ; )) and that’s awesome you added map specific defensive builds. the more sPvP i played, the more i realized certain builds worked better on different maps… so looking forward to check ’em out.

Running into trouble against rangers with the new build, bringing Wall of Reflection over Save Yourselves and with Master of Concecrations seems to do well.
I’m actually leaning more towards 00303010 with it but we will see!

Shameless bump too <3

Why do you take the trait “Meditation skills are now instant cast” in Valor tree in the Staff/Mc-Fc symbol build? I thought maybe it would make Empower instant cast but I just did it and it’s still a 2 1/4 cast time hmm I’m just confused, definitely wanting to try this build so I’m asking! This is my first Guardian :P

hey Sansorin, before Silven can answer.. i want to say perhaps the link / build editor just hasn’t been updated yet. Focused Mind (Valor X) is usually taken for the meditation Smite Condition. which takes away the albeit short cast time and have it be instant, so i assume, you can take off harmful conditions ASAP on demand, as well as do it during other channeled abilities without disrupting the animation of whatever skill you were running.

Furthermore, Meditation skills are a subset of the Guardian utilities (like consecrations, shouts, signets, etc), which include Smite Condition, Contemplation of Purity, Judge’s Intervention and Merciful Intervention.

Empower on your staff is just another weapon skill. : ))) hope this clears things up! the build you’re referring to is extremely fun and can take practice, but hey, there’s only one way to get better ; )))

when i first started playing, i spent a LOT of time understanding the different skills / traits / utilities and the relationships between them. i mainly referred to the wiki pages for these. good luck!!

[added: in its place, i usually go with Defender’s Flame (Valor II) since you get a bunch of blocks from your aegis, focus #5 and your shelter heal. i’m quite a fan of this trait actually. maybe the 5% extra dmg to mace wouldn’t be bad either. kinda wish it had 20% CD reduction to mace skills as well.. MOAR SYMBOLS! but that’s another story]

p.s. Silven – i failed at coming up with new names for your builds lol. they do serve the purpose of letting people know what they are for. and i’ve just been terribly busy. one of these days!!

Sansorin Winterwind.5891:

Why do you take the trait “Meditation skills are now instant cast” in Valor tree in the Staff/Mc-Fc symbol build? I thought maybe it would make Empower instant cast but I just did it and it’s still a 2 1/4 cast time hmm I’m just confused, definitely wanting to try this build so I’m asking! This is my first Guardian :P

Sorry!!
It was a blunder on my behalf, the build was meant to include Smite Condition. I have now updated the build to show that, I’ve also included energy sigils over fire sigils as they have a lot more utility on that build.
Focus Mind only affects Smite Condition, you need make it an instant cast so that you can remove harmful conditions straight away and compact damage more.

Here is the updated build: http://tinyurl.com/cqcwvn7
It is also updated on the main page now ^^

For those interested I’m also currently testing a symbol DPS build with:

• Ground target sanct
• Mercy Runes
  To be used in conjunction with another Guardian on your team, will be very powerful.
  Also testing:
• Might Stack Hammer (around 14-18 stacks of might on self always)
• Might Stack Staff (25 stacks of might AoE always)
• Condition Bunker (need to test with a full condition team, haven’t got a chance)

ah, i see you went back to Smite Condition. i atually really liked sanctuary on that build : )) so might stick with that for a bit. though i do lose one more active condition removal. i do like the energy sigil changes though.

how do you find runes of mercy? is the reviving really significant? i was actually putting together a build for WvW that uses them.. but i think in PvP, they’d actually come in way more handy.

looking forward to hearing moer about this symbol DPS build! so using hammer and staff?

Well Mercy runes were meta in October but were dropped in favour of Soldier’s + Pure of Voice. But if you are running two Guardians there’s no reason why you can’t have Mercy on the DPS and so far I’ve found them to be extremely good in team fights. When you have to solo though you have a slight disadvantage.

Although Sanctuary is an optional for that defensive build I wanted people to have a strong 1v1 build. It has a decent effectiveness against everything and very strong survivability, you’d obviously use Sanctuary if you’re feeling that you’ll play more of a support role in the game.

I think you may have misunderstood my previous post slightly XD. The symbol DPS is seperate from the other 3 builds I’m testing. At the moment I’m currently testing 6 builds.

• Hammer/Scepter DPS
• Symbol DPS w/ Mercy/Sanct
• Might Stack Hammer DPS
• Might Stack Staff Support
• Condition Bunker
• Control Bunker w/ Binding Jeopardy

Now this last one was an idea I had last night for a damage Guardian, where you just stack 20-25 vuln on your target always and do a lot of extra damage. I then figured that if you ditch Blind Exposure and played as a bunker Guardian you’d actually be able to stack 13-18 vuln stacks on a target aswell as your immobilize.
This is determined on whether I’m running Signet of Wrath or not (Sanctuary would be dropped so in practice it would usually be 13 stacks but there could be a niche play for this build).
Builds:
Sanct: http://tinyurl.com/bq4368l
Wrath: http://tinyurl.com/dyfrn2u

It is pretty much like a normal bunker build but sacrifices some stability give your allies a large amount of extra damage on a focused target.

The might stacking hammer sounds really interesting. I would like to see that build when you are done with it =).

Blasino.3128:

The might stacking hammer sounds really interesting. I would like to see that build when you are done with it =).

http://tinyurl.com/dymb6py

Not finished yet but this is currently what I’m testing.

Jax.5261:

Blasino.3128:

The might stacking hammer sounds really interesting. I would like to see that build when you are done with it =).

http://tinyurl.com/dymb6py

Not finished yet but this is currently what I’m testing.

I love the idea of might stacking on crit but the low precision is what keeps me from picking it up. I guess the increased might duration would compensate for the low crit chance.

Lexiculus.5296:

Jax.5261:

Blasino.3128:

The might stacking hammer sounds really interesting. I would like to see that build when you are done with it =).

http://tinyurl.com/dymb6py

Not finished yet but this is currently what I’m testing.

I love the idea of might stacking on crit but the low precision is what keeps me from picking it up. I guess the increased might duration would compensate for the low crit chance.

22% is enough for me to keep up 10-18 might stacks all the time (remember the scetper is really strong for getting crits easily). The two blast finishers are important too.

definitely see Mercy as more group oriented. cause you do miss out on a lot of other runes attributes when in a solo situation. might stick with it for WvW then. ; ))

ahh, oops! XDD, my bad! 6 builds! sounds like fun. i’ve got a few up my sleeve, though haven’t been able to play much lately so will have to test when i am able to get back on.

i love that bunker build and it’s interesting taking Binding Jeopardy. so i guess you’d use hammer, scepter and then signet to root one after the other? and does it aplpy vuln each time immob is applied? that actually makes sense for setting up burst for your team, and you’ve stacked a ton of vuln on them. hmmm.

might stack hammer sounds like fun. also curious about hammer/scepter DPS ; ))

I notice a number of bunker builds use the Rune of the Soldier (#6 shouts remove a condi). With all the other Condi removal traits (Absolute Resolution, purity, Pure of Voice), I was wondering if Rune of the Warrior might work better since 6 decreases your swap time by -1sec which allows for more frequent weapon swaps and thus more healing with Sigil of Energy/Selfless Daring.

akamon.2769:

definitely see Mercy as more group oriented. cause you do miss out on a lot of other runes attributes when in a solo situation. might stick with it for WvW then. ; ))

ahh, oops! XDD, my bad! 6 builds! sounds like fun. i’ve got a few up my sleeve, though haven’t been able to play much lately so will have to test when i am able to get back on.

i love that bunker build and it’s interesting taking Binding Jeopardy. so i guess you’d use hammer, scepter and then signet to root one after the other? and does it aplpy vuln each time immob is applied? that actually makes sense for setting up burst for your team, and you’ve stacked a ton of vuln on them. hmmm.

might stack hammer sounds like fun. also curious about hammer/scepter DPS ; ))

I’m just testing with the new updates, there doesn’t seem to be any change in build style for the Guardian at this time.
Hammer/scepter DPS isn’t as strong as I thought it would be in teamfights. I did have a great deal of success in 1v1’s and 2v2’s on Nifhel with it though.

Yes, vulnerability does stack each time you cast it. So with the team I was playing with we’d get really fast kills with the vuln/immob chain and then have a strong advantage throughout the opening of the match. It also gives you very strong 2v2 and 3v3 fights due to your ability to buff your allies’ damage being greatly increased.

I will have the new builds updated tomorrow, watch out for SOAC tomorrow too

Lexiculus.5296:

I notice a number of bunker builds use the Rune of the Soldier (#6 shouts remove a condi). With all the other Condi removal traits (Absolute Resolution, purity, Pure of Voice), I was wondering if Rune of the Warrior might work better since 6 decreases your swap time by -1sec which allows for more frequent weapon swaps and thus more healing with Sigil of Energy/Selfless Daring.

You actually need the dual condition removal on your shouts as a Bunker/Support or you just don’t remove enough of them. Even 2 sometimes just isn’t enough and that Hold the Line bug that was just patched was only just enough to remove all the conditions that you need to.
This means that currently you can’t actually remove enough conditions to save your team, you will eventually die unless your team can pressure the players applying conditions so that you have less pressure on yourself.

A really big thing that people forget is that the minimum to bunker is around 2.9k toughness and 17k hp. Any less than this and you’re able to be bursted if you miss a dodge, these stats give you the chance to mess up slightly. Soldier runes are just amazing they give you the perfect stats you want and they double your shout condition removals. I do very much admire your thinking to bringing Runes of the Warrior because it does give you 10% extra dodge rolls but at the moment it’s impossible to fit into the builds =(

yea so far been playing the same since patch, and more or less unchanged. great 1v1 and 2v2 capabilities is pretty improtant though in PvP i feel. least from the fights / teams i’ve been in so that’s good. will check out vuln on immob and see how that goes. will ahve to get used to it a bit but it’s always useful for locking enemies down. ; ))

and i saw! can’t wait to check it out. the day i left my earphones at home : (( lol

re: Runes of the Warrior, i actually use 5 out of the 6 on a variation of a DPS symbol build. however, i never thought of using the -1s swap CD, since i’m using fire sigils. the faster recharge for the dodge heals seem nice with energy, but then i’d be losing the DPS from Fire.. hmmm. though i have noticed a few moments where i coulda used an extra dodge lol XDD

p.s. Silven, so you are looking for some to play on NA now as well?

I’m very sick atm and have to do a 30 hour plane trip in tomorrow so I can’t update until I get back. Very sorry, the builds are very similar don’t worry.

:OO get better soon, buddy. flying sick is never any fun. : (( praying for yer health.

no need for sorries. am sure we can all wait.

Here a the builds I need to post up:

Binding Bunker (Hm / Sc-Sh)
http://tinyurl.com/ccagcgh

Condition Bunker (St / Sc-Tc)
http://tinyurl.com/bt6g7qw

Symbolic Mercy (St / Mc-Fc)
http://tinyurl.com/d58t8ma

Spirit Bunker (Hm / Sc-Fc)
http://tinyurl.com/c4bpbr5

Balanced Meditation Roamer (Sw-Sh / GS)
http://tinyurl.com/ce3yw7q

When I’m feeling slightly better I’ll update the OP, there’s also one build I’m forgetting XD

I never really messed around with the spirit shield so I thought I would try your build last night. I have to say that on Foefire, it fit very well into my playstyle. The spirit sheild forced some of the ranged enemies to come down off the high ground around the midpoint. A number of my teammates were also able to abuse it during scrums on the large midpoint.

It was an easy switch since I had been using the Bane Signet for the knockdown effect on Spirit Watch.

One of my teammates said he saw the spirit sheild reflect projectiles. I really couldn’t tell but he said he saw an engineer get hit with his own net. I didn’t think this was true but he swore he saw it happen.

Not sure I’m following the use of this build:

Balanced Meditation Roamer (Sw-Sh / GS)
http://tinyurl.com/ce3yw7q

You are saying roamer. I’m reading into this more for WvW would that be correct? What armor set is used and are these builds more for sPvP?

@Silven / Lexi – Spirit Bunker sounds interesting! i’ve never used the spirit shield either so i might have to give it a shot as well.

@Crap – these are more sPvP focused builds, but many of course with the right tweaks can be easily adapted to suit WvW. the main thing is putting the gear together and achieving the stats you want. for the build you linked in relation to sPvP, the term roamer is used in the sense of going from node to node, or to where as needed as opposed to say a bunker, who would typically sit on one point defending it.

Lexiculus.5296:

I never really messed around with the spirit shield so I thought I would try your build last night. I have to say that on Foefire, it fit very well into my playstyle. The spirit sheild forced some of the ranged enemies to come down off the high ground around the midpoint. A number of my teammates were also able to abuse it during scrums on the large midpoint.

It was an easy switch since I had been using the Bane Signet for the knockdown effect on Spirit Watch.

One of my teammates said he saw the spirit sheild reflect projectiles. I really couldn’t tell but he said he saw an engineer get hit with his own net. I didn’t think this was true but he swore he saw it happen.

Never reflects but it does absorb some projectiles that don’t make it into the bubble. The hitbox is larger than the sprite.

Crapgame.6519:

Not sure I’m following the use of this build:

Balanced Meditation Roamer (Sw-Sh / GS)
http://tinyurl.com/ce3yw7q

You are saying roamer. I’m reading into this more for WvW would that be correct? What armor set is used and are these builds more for sPvP?

These builds are designed specifically for teams in tPvP so they won’t have their flare in WvW.
The roamer is referring to transferring between points as needed!

going to start updating the guide now ^^

also enjoy my new video, just testing some things:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auV776dhrMg
If you guys want more of this let me know, or just guides with editing in general.

I had some insanely good gameplay which I stupidly did not record tonight QQ

EVERY SINGLE BUILD HAS NOW BEEN UPDATED

Some of the sigils, many of the builds in their entirety. None are the same as before so check out the new builds ^^

Ok, thanks. I wasn’t sure so figured I would ask. Thank you Jax and Akamon.

I do not really play much in regards to tPvP and only get my fix in WvW (for whatever reason). I saw roam, which is what I typically do either solo or duo so wanted to see if it would maybe work.

I’m trying to find a new middle of the road build and gear set to try. I’m currently in all clerics including accessories and weapon sets using the former 0/10/30/30/0 build. However, I want to incorporate more mace and shield and not having much luck. I am finding it more and more difficult to survive for some reason say when I compare it to great sword, sword and focus weapon sets.

Staff, scepter, and shield are still my mainstay in groups but I find myself usually in smaller settings and just trying to mix it up. When I look at what I enjoy oddly enough it is outlasting the attacker until one of two things happen.

1. my side arrives and kills them. Or
2. they figure out they can’t kill me and I can’t kill them so they leave

Although I would like to be able to output some damage I value duration over burst

hmm bed time for me so i’ll check these out tomorrow!!

but i did watch the vids and would love to see more! i felt they were a little short lol XDDD but really just because they left me wanting more. the DPS montage was a LITTLE choppy, though i get the desired effect.. i personally just wanted to see more gameplay as well XDDD lol. i think what you write is great, and you could use these videos as a demonstration of said builds. the quick build at the end of the first video was good to have as well!

so if it’s not TOO much trouble on your end, i’d love to see more written guides as well as videos to supplement! thanks for all the work you put in Silven!

fnially had time to go through some of the builds. don’t mind the double posting XPP just gonna comment on a couple builds and share my variations / personal tweaks that i’ve been having a lot of fun with..

Meditation builds:

i love the full DPS build. i run something similar with a few tweaks. i actually run 0/30/30/0/10, with Unscathed Contender from the virtues line. i don’t have the hard math to support the loss of 100 power and 10% on burning (which happens quite often), but since i’m aiming to burst, i took the 20% dmg increase with aegis active. so even after i lose my initial VoC passive, i can pop VoC again to ensure i have it on for my big hits (usually the flame toss or shield of wrath explosion). still fine tuning obviously, but i love it.

also i play scepter/torch and sword focus. here’s how i set up burst: usually pop SoW, and then JI in, scepter immob while popping VoJ for blind and might stacks, then flame toss (i try to time my SoW to pop when i toss the flame), then drop smite. if they still get out, then cleansing flame. and if they’re still not dead, you can scepter auto away then switch to sword flashing blade, then zealot’s, or auto. throw in smite condition if needed or can spare it as well for a little extra kick.

took blind exposure instead as well. though i might look into other traits as well since most of the burst comes from my scepter torch combo. XPP either or, either way, super fun. not the best in tPvP if you’re up against coordinated teams and you don’t have a team to run with, but 1v1 you usually don’t have any problems.

Symbol DPS Builds:

i love the updated symbol builds as well! interesting take with the runes! that definitely gives more staying power. and i like that you’ve added Judge’s Intervention with the symbol DPS builds as well. you can cover more distance, more burns, as well as more surprise factors. definitely helps landing your WW’s. usually when i see an enemy engaged in a fight with my teammates, i like to pop SoW, queue Symbol of Faith, JI in, switch to GS, drop symbol of wrath, and binding blade them in for two symbols ticking and then WW away. works decently well since you catch ’em quite off guard XDD

i’ve also changed up the symbol DPS build to use medis and monk’s focus instead. using Warrior Runes save the last piece and full berserker ammy. so for utilities, i take SYG, Smite Condition and Judge’s. one thing though, for the third trait in Honor, i usually don’t take Pure of Voice then. i lost some condition removal but then i only get to utilize it with just one shout.. but i haven’t decided on a good one yet. Silven or anyone see any other synergistic traits?

i think i just can’t live without judge’s intervention in pvp if i’m not playing a bunker or more stationary build :PP

[edit: typo’s]

p.s. grats on the tourney win for your team you coached!

Is there such a thing as an offensive Sceptre Guardian? What role dose the Sceptre play? Can you solo with it or it solely as a defensive weapon used in places melee range is not desired?

The scepter does have its uses but I don’t usually rely on it to put out tons of damage. I usually use the scepter for the immobilize/smite and the defensive skills on the focus/sheild. Immob/Smite combo can put out some decent damage and control but it’s not consistent enough to rely on as your main damage dealer. The scepter’s auto attack just doesn’t cut it when most of the your enemies are moving a lot in PVP. The auto attack is much more useful in PVE where the enemies aren’t moving as much.

Some of the others in the thread can provide more details but this is just my two cents. =)

Lexiculus.5296:

The scepter does have its uses but I don’t usually rely on it to put out tons of damage. I usually use the scepter for the immobilize/smite and the defensive skills on the focus/sheild. Immob/Smite combo can put out some decent damage and control but it’s not consistent enough to rely on as your main damage dealer. The scepter’s auto attack just doesn’t cut it when most of the your enemies are moving a lot in PVP. The auto attack is much more useful in PVE where the enemies aren’t moving as much.

Some of the others in the thread can provide more details but this is just my two cents. =)

In WvW I can of remember a couple of Guardians using a Sceptre and it seemed odd those blue bubbles never actually reaching me lol

I usually find myself using the staff instead of the scepter for my bunker build. It offers some decent ranged aoe and nice support/control. It hits suprisingly farther than the visual you see when you use it. It doesn’t do crazy damage but I find that in many situations, it is more beneficial to me than the scepter.

When I bunker, one of my favorite things to do is to give staff 4 (empower) + VoJ to my roamer and watch him melt opponents with all those stacks of might and then staff 3 to help him sprint to assist another point.

akamon.2769:

stuff

I’ve tried a lot of Unscathed Defender, unfortunately it’s only useful for Zealot’s Fire and SoW sometimes because most of the time you can’t get the Aegis off and your aegis has a very long recharge. Meaning you’ll rarely ever get the bonus, the 10% from burning has a large uptime and effectively does a lot more damage.

The reason I run Scepter with Focus and Sword with Torch is the spike set up and the DPS are stronger that way.
Spike:

• SoW then wait 2s
• Chains of Light
• JI + Smite + Zealot’s Defence + Zealot’s Flame (SoW lands here)
• Zealot’s Fire

Other setups are much easier to dodge or have less damage or are too slow. Scepter Focus is the fastest way to rack up crits as a Guardian, so you can Smite + RoJ + Auto Attack (and chains if you need to) to dish out a lot of crits. Which means fire procs as fast as possible and you get a lot of vigor if traited.
The only reason to put scepter and torch together is if you put intelligence on that set so that your Zealot’s Flame will crit 100% (if you hit somebody with Zealot’s Fire though or any other skill it will waste it which is why I don’t use it).

On symbol DPS the JI is ideally used for WW, otherwise the chances of you getting enough damage with it are very slim.
WW percentage of damage dealt:

• With no other skills – 0%
• With Judges – 25% – 100%
• With Pull – 25% – 50%
• With allied snare – 100%
• With Chains of Light – 33%
• With Sig of Wrath – 100%
• With Bane Signet – 75%
• With Hammer of Wisdom – 100%
• With Swiftness – 0-60%

This is how much damage you will get in before you enemy can dodge (if they’re decently good), which means opening without JI + WW won’t land you nearly enough damage to be using GS or the Meditation.

With the build I posted the AH will heal more than any meditation build, I’ve actually have a solution to the people who don’t want to run PoV, that build is coming very soon ^^
For now it’s super important that you do bring PoV simply due to the lack of survivability you will have without it. Generally you will not be near the other Guardian most of the game and will have to rely on the Ele for cleanses, you’d be extremely weak to conditions.

And I do love Judge’s Intervention in PvP but sometimes there are better options for Symbol DPS, especially when running Staff ^^

And thank you ^^ I might post up all the builds here since I made them for that tourny and for each round specifically.

edit: going to answer the other questions tomorrow, too tired atm =-((

Just noticed the full on dmg meditation build, gaining fury on being set on fire, has this been changed to work with torch #4? If not, why run this trait? If for no other reason that you get set on fire a lot?

Jax.5261:

also enjoy my new video, just testing some things:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auV776dhrMg
If you guys want more of this let me know, or just guides with editing in general.

really great video! Can you tell more about the spec maybe? How to play it? plz more information.