Guild Wars 2

Hello, since the latest patch the spirit weapons seems improved.

What would be a decent dungeon build for spirit weapons?
And are there any experiences which can be shared about the RAW power output of these spirit weapons.

I have 2 sets of gear to use. Soldier’s or Knights, maybe the choice is dependant off the traits used in a decent build??

I used to run a spirit weapon/symbol build a while ago. I used it only only twice in dungeons. One was CoF story mode solo – took 4 hours, but it was doable and the other was AC story mode 3 people party – decent performance, but nothing special.

Now more about the SWs and the build itself:
Spirit weapons were buffed only slightly – Wrathful Spirits with increased damage and Shield of the Avenger command is now also a stunbreaker.
You will have to take 30 in Zeal for all SW major traits and 10 in Virtues for increased SW duration, then you will have to consider getting 20 in Radiance for “A Fire Inside” trait for more DPS (NOTE: this will technically make you a glass cannon) or some other line. I personally did not go into Radiance, but took 30 in Honor for all Symbol major traits instead. There were two main reasons I did this:
1. Symbols also benefit from the two minor traits you get by going full Zeal.
2. You get a decent tank for yourself and your SWs by using mace/shield, hammer or staff.
If you decide to go into honor, you may consider getting a full cleric set as well for the raw healing power, until then I would stick with the knight gear you mentioned, soldier simply doesn’t cut it. I must note that both SWs and symbols promote static playstyle so you will have to do a lot of tanking and/or healing therefore knight and cleric score even more points.

SW choice:
Sword – is a must, highest DPS, longest duration, shortest cooldown, but lowest health and command is almost useless
Hammer – highest health, decent damage, very useful command, but the main problem is its 3rd chain attack knockback often messing up your symbol placement and DPS, it’s best not to use it together with the sword, but “rotate” it instead while the sword is on cooldown, you can also let it tank for you for a while when needed
Shield – with the recent buff I think I would prefer it over the bow, use it’s command to reduce incomming damage as much as possible
Bow – switch with shield or hammer for more support and healing if needed, its heal can be used twice before it ends which translates to 2×4000 AoE healing (technically another healing utility)

Do SW scale with my own power and stats?

And would you recommend to take all the 3 SW traits in the Zeal line?
or shall I take the new GS trait, with some healing in it?

so for example 30/0/30/10?

That way I can also focus on bigger symbols etc.

Sylar.6802:

Do SW scale with my own power and stats?

Unfortunately they don’t aside from burning caused by the “A Fire Inside” trait which, as claimed by wiki, should use your condition damage. But condition damage stat on a guardian is one of the least useful, so getting it for just a single trait is not worth it.

Sylar.6802:

And would you recommend to take all the 3 SW traits in the Zeal line?
or shall I take the new GS trait, with some healing in it?

so for example 30/0/30/10?

That way I can also focus on bigger symbols etc.

Depends. “Zealous Blade” does not scale with healing power and you would have to sacrifice “Eternal Spirit” (which I would never do) or “Wrathful Spirits” (acceptable, but still a big sacrifice) for it. But it can work with the 30/0/0/30/10 build as an option because it also has its own symbol and Honor trait line has a Master grade trait which reduces cooldown by 20% on all 2-handed weapon skills. This, however, makes using a hammer much better option for its almost permanent protection+retaliation. So this is a matter of preference and situation, if you and your party don’t get hit too much – GS, otherwise hammer is the way. You may also consider using a staff for Empower and Mace/X for healing.

Symbol traits:
I would get larger and longer symbols, you can drop the healing one if you want to get the 2-handed cooldown reduction.

An important note:
The 30/0/0/30/10 build can be easily switched from SWs to GS/Shouts when SWs won’t work in certain areas so don’t lose hope for the GS.

A rough cleric/spirit weapon user build (Runes can be switched around for extra healing/vitality/toughness, sigils can be switched for energy for extra dodge healing etc.)
http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/guardian/?3.3|9.1k.h2.e.1k.h1|2.1k.h1|1k.71g.1k.71g.1k.71g.1k.71g.1k.71g.1k.71g|31l.e17.21l.e14.31l.e17.21l.e14.31l.e17.3v.e17|u6ab.0.0.u379.a5|0.0|v.1g.1f.1h.1j|e

http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/guardian/?3.0|1.1c.h1|6.1c.h1|1c.7i.1c.7i.1c.7i.1c.7i.1c.7i.1c.7i|2u.0.2u.0.3u.0.1c.9c.1c.9c.3w.0|u2ab.u28c.0.0.a5|0.0|v.1a.1h.1f.0|e

This is my Spirit Weapon build that I have used even before the patch. Full soldier gear (except for the backpiece, I don’t want to craft a new one). 32% crit chance is enough for me. Fiery Wrath and Radiant Power give 20% damage boost when opponent is burning.

I usually just command the weapons on my enemy and use Whirling Wrath at the same time which should take more than half of his HP. If I have the time, I use Empower before attacking.

I was trying a 30/0/0/30/10 and switched to 30/0/10/20/10 to see what happens. In my opnion, the spirit weapons provide a lot of bust damage, also with mistfire wolf buff is amazing in PvE. I use sword, hammer and shield spirit weapons, reducing 20% cooldown, not destroing on command and plus 50% duration is a always spirit together. the shield seems useless in PvE but with command (applies weakness) and aganist ranged is almost a full time immune to ranged atks.

I tried in PvP, I tried to make it work, but not worth.

In WoE, I didn’t test yet.

Sorry for my english.

Mikau.6920:

…
I tried in PvP, I tried to make it work, but not worth.
In WoE, I didn’t test yet.
…

I did test the 30/0/0/30/10 + Cleric gear in WWW and I must say it has very poor performance. Spirit weapons, just like guardian himself, lack any form of improved mobility and their AI scripting is terrible against non-NPC targets. This problem is amplified by symbols being completly static as well. It can work somewhat in small group fight, but once zerg vs zerg or mass AoE usage comes into play, you are left there alone with nothing you can do.

Unless it was changed, A Fire Inside doesn’t use your condition damage. It’s something on the order of 600~ condition damage, which is typically higher than you will ordinarily achieve. To give you an idea, for me A Fire Inside ticks for 450~ whereas my personal burning is 330~.

If you are after damage, A Fire Inside is mandatory for SW builds. Massive damage increase.

Edited to add: Shield is incredibly good in range heavy fights. Giganticus Lupicus and Grawl fractal boss spring immediately to mind.

EDIT: I lied. I think it was changed at some point, possibly when they made Spirit Weapons vulnerable to damage. I no longer deal more burning damage with spirit weapons than I do personally, it’s the same.