Guild Wars 2

In the State of the Game today, they mentioned some Guardian “Pokeball” build. Anybody have an idea of what they were talking about?

Karl in the chat mention it uses meditations, hammer and Glacial hearts. no real spec was given.

My guess it’s just a dps build using meditations and hammer.

Like precasting Ring of Warding into Judge’s Intervention. Then just having your way with that player. Don’t think it’s anything too special.

Probably something like 15/25/30/0/0

Anyone know what part of the cast they talk about guardians? I am lazy and don’t feel like skimming trying to find it lol.

Nvm, found it, ooooo so much information /sarcasm

Harbinger.8637:

My guess it’s just a dps build using meditations and hammer.

Like precasting Ring of Warding into Judge’s Intervention. Then just having your way with that player. Don’t think it’s anything too special.

Probably something like 15/25/30/0/0

Just trying to figure it out because they said that Karl actually had it working so that he killed somebody in one go with the Glacial Heart trait. Trying to see why you would take that over any of the Meditation traits.

Not sure why you would bother with the glacial heart trait if you can kill someone that fast with the hammer anyways honestly… Seems like a complete waste for a CC that doesn’t even matter.

Bash.7291:

Not sure why you would bother with the glacial heart trait if you can kill someone that fast with the hammer anyways honestly… Seems like a complete waste for a CC that doesn’t even matter.

That’s what I was thinking as well. It isn’t any sort of DPS increase and has a long-ish CD for its effect. I suppose Karl will just keep his supposed “one-shot” build a secret to himself, though. Oh wells.

I would honestly assume it to be a gimmick 10/25/0/25/10 build with full zerkers or something. 50% extra damage to burning targets when <100% endurance and with Aegis up. Use focus #5 and Judges intervention in a Mighty Blow just when it explodes, pretty much what stunningstyles showed in his vid but with MB instead of WW.

which would be quite fun to play! for fun. ; )) but should your burst not down them immediately, then it’ll be a different story, especially since the hammer is much less mobile.

still have to look up this SotG and tune in.

http://www.twitch.tv/guildwars2guru/c/2517953 Guardian Balance 58 minutes in

:DDDD thank you so much, Tarsius!

Harbinger.8637:

My guess it’s just a dps build using meditations and hammer.

Like precasting Ring of Warding into Judge’s Intervention. Then just having your way with that player. Don’t think it’s anything too special.

Probably something like 15/25/30/0/0

If he’s “one shotting” then it’s probably offhand Focus/Shield + Ray then switching to Hammer with Ring + Teleport, VoJ and Mighty Blow.

I use this all the time in wvw and i dont even use RoW in the initial attack but add in smite conditions.

I have no idea how glacial heart in any way or form actually contributes when you have the tools to instagib most profession in the game by just using utilities and weaponskills-

Its very rare that any berskerker longbow ranger, ele, thief, berserker guardian or even berserker warrior lives after the first burst.

And if he do live i have 5s of protection, 4s retaliation and ofc at least 3 stacks of might to finsh the job with ZE, RoW, chain, mb, swap to sword sword or scepter. i usually save skill 4 on focus to have a backup if things go south.

Btw i love the “new” scepter in wvw. It just devestating but demands a bit of positioning, great change by Anet.

In short this isnt something new.

Can be done with a standard Tpvp burst build (0/30/30/5/5) with beserker weapons and trinkets and a mix of soldier, berserker and valkyrie armor and ofc by an even more offensive set up.

Sigil of inteeligence is an insurance you can use to get that huge MB on swap but be sure you are in combat (swap after JL) which makes the total attack time about 75/100 sec slower which might make it avoidable.

Great for flanking zergs and taking out those stray rangers that doesnt understand thakittens the pack that give them security.

Btw why are rangers more stupid than other professions, is it a player thingy or the profession it self ;-)

I use this build in zergs, solo and small group gameplay but in solo and small groups i tend to go scepter/focus and sword/torch.

Yeah the scepter change is very nice so far.

I have another alternative to RoW I do sometimes, ( although don’t do it if they have Aegis ):

You have just enough time to pre-cast Bane Signet before doing IJ. So even if they’ve spotted the big SoW telegraph, they’ll get knockdown + some good dmg and will be unable to evade the shield burst.

This is better for weapons that don’t already have the CC potential of the hammer though and obviously the main downside is you’re losing some power from Bane Passive effect in doing so, but it’s good against fleeing foes.

Smite condition I tend to reserve for when I actually do get conditions, since it’s effect is so much better in general. I really hope it gets the buffs hinted by Jon Sharp in the SoTG video, eg reduced cooldown or increased damage depending on the actual number of conditions you have.

i messed around with Bane Signet for a bit in PvP and i LOVED it. used it for opoenings, chasing fleeing foes, offensively, defensively.. pretty fun stuff.

ooh i really needa check out this last SotG. i feel Smite Condition is good as is! it’s CD is pretty low already traited.

akamon.2769:

ooh i really needa check out this last SotG. i feel Smite Condition is good as is! it’s CD is pretty low already traited.

Yeah well it was just some offhand comment by Jon Sharp, but he seemed quite keen on the idea…so you never know ( the non-guardian co-hosts didn’t look too impressed at the idea of it )

Tarsius.3170:

Yeah well it was just some offhand comment by Jon Sharp, but he seemed quite keen on the idea…so you never know ( the non-guardian co-hosts didn’t look too impressed at the idea of it )

finally watching it now! heh, of course they wouldn’t be. “most balanced class” getting a “buff”? what. XDD

It is pretty funny watching their reactions. So which one of us has been sleeping around with Anet to keep getting these nice “tweeks”?

akamon.2769:

i messed around with Bane Signet for a bit in PvP and i LOVED it. used it for opoenings, chasing fleeing foes, offensively, defensively.. pretty fun stuff.

ooh i really needa check out this last SotG. i feel Smite Condition is good as is! it’s CD is pretty low already traited.

Bane signet is fun, as well as carrying a very nice passive Power boost. Though the idea of even lower CD on smite condition depending on the amount of Conditions you have, would make me actually think of taking it over Contemplation of Purity. I love Judge’s intervention to much to give it up xP especially where there’s people that teleport and leap everywhere like no one’s business lol.

Yea I’m gonna try something like this as well though I don’t know exact build. It has potential…though not sure about 1 shotting…

I actually asked Karl and he got back to me with his answer.

“The build tends to vary, but I’m currently running 10(II), 25(VI, X), 30(I,VIII,XI), 5, 0. I use Sword/Shield (Sigil of Blood and Accuracy) and Hammer (Sigil of Fire).
Runes: 5x Citadel, 1x Divinity.
Amulet: Berserker
Utilities/heal: Shelter, Judges Intervention, Contemplation of Purity, Smite Condition (or other utility… currently I’m enjoying Hallowed Ground), then Tome of Wrath for the team haste+damage.”

Seems hard to believe, to me at least, that he’s managing to gib people. At least people that aren’t AFK.

Only way I can see a one shot is if he used Focus;

Shield of Wrath
Judges Intervention
Mighty Blow
Smite Condition traited with Focused Mind so you pull it off during Mighty Blow.

Might be possible with a 10/25/0/25/10 and pull ZD and JI and MB+SC after those two, but its relatively slow and absolutely depends on aegis being up. I know you can hit MB for over 10k with that setup, on a medium armored opponent, in wvw

But that build is imo a gimmick in almost every aspect of the game except burst potential.

but in sPVP you’ll never see those numbers.

You can cast focus #4 at the start to land at the same instant you teleport in for a bit extra damage ( it helps protect your Aegis too ) – and/or ofc VoJ the moment you arrive for the vuln+blind+guaranteed burn.

There is a borderline “exploit” that allows you to ( in my tests I could one-shot AoE a group of heavy golems in a single hit in the mists – they have about 13k of health ) – I seriously doubt he’d be using that though ;-)

I actually messed around with a 10/25/0/25/10 in spvp with full zerkers last night. There was no literal one shotting people even with SoW/MB/JI combo, even on other GCs. However it did leave alot of people low enough to finish them off with a few swings, and was actually alot of fun to play in hotjoin, but actually playing against a few good people really shows how much of a gimmick the spec is.