Guild Wars 2

Idk if its just me or what but DPS guards just apsolutely suck. theres like one good build but its got a huge skill requirement and its total glass, if you try to build some surviveability into it you have no damage. try to put some damage back into it and its too squishy again. or you end up inbetween where you cant survive or deal damage at all.

i think the power trait line needs a complete overhaul and spirit weapons need to just be removed all together. their crap, nobody uses them, and AI is crap so buffing them will just make stronger CRAP. remove them.

replace them with some utilities that you know glass cannons need. like some invulnerability, maybe some big damage boosters, some stuff like that.

i understand being a glass cannon due to our high heals and stuff. but its just not enough. we need spirit weapons gone and a whole new line of power based traits in order for dps guard to ever be worth anything in spvp.

What’s your current build? I’ve been running both MediGS and MediHammer Builds in sPVP and have had extreme success. I do agree that the zeal tree really needs work. It feels fairly limited in general and lacks any real usage outside the Zealous Blade trait and Fiery Wrath. There’s literally no good alternatives to them and the T3 Major Trait is just utter garbage.

Ok so, here goes.

- If you’re trying to run a DPS guardian, you shouldn’t even be thinking about spirit weapons.

- If monk’s focus and all of the blocks/blinds that the average medi guardian build has isn’t enough for you to take one player down, you’re beyond helping.

- If the damage isn’t enough to down anyone who isn’t a warrior nearly instantly, you are beyond helping.

Go learn to play the class before you start asking for buffs.

hahahaha I’m so happy I got a tanky as kitten guard with a butt load of damage. if you guys stopped looking up guides and actually tried making your own builds you’d see just how insane this class can get

^this guy knows whats up.

Here are my issue’s with Guardian as a DPS role.

-Worst ranged weaponry in the game(scepter is still easily strafe-dodged)
-Little-to-no cc/mobility to keep up with your enemy
-Sustain dmg is non-existent
-Too easy to predict burst

When your ranged weapon misses <50% of the time, there’s an issue. Depending on the build you’re running, if you have no stability, countering you is that much easier.

Guardian is a great class and one I consider to be the most balanced. This is a vague explanation as to what I believe is a problem even though there’s far more.

Arken.3725:

-Worst ranged weaponry in the game(scepter is still easily strafe-dodged)
-Little-to-no cc/mobility to keep up with your enemy
-Sustain dmg is non-existent
-Too easy to predict burst

- Well the auto-attack is pretty bad for PvP, but your main goal is to land the Smite as a burst. Forcing the guy to take the hit inside a node or with immobilize.
- Yes and no. You still have Judge Intervention and 2 immobilize (Hammer/Sceptre) or 1 CC and 1 leap (with GS). So you have a good cc/mobility, but it’s short duration. If we can’t burst down with down, we gonna have a problem.
- Yes, but we have many shot CD burst which allow a good rotation. Mighty Blow (5sec CD), Smite (6sec CD), Smite Condition (16sec CD), Whirlwind (10sec CD), Symbol of Wrath (20sec).
- Well it depend how to use it. You could say that of a lot of burst skill. Lich Form, Rapid Fire, Backstab, etc. Good players know how to recognize them, but good players also know how to use these burst at the right time. Judge of intervention allow you to put a burst without allow much prediction and smite condition is instant cast. Overall I don’t think it’s a huge problem for Medi Guardian, but we still need to be think about it and play around that, like most other burst build. If the first thing you do as a ranger is Rapid Fire, you will waste it too. If you use Lich Form at the wrong time people are gonna be able to burst you down or immobilize and fight behind you.

King Noob IV.3560:

hahahaha I’m so happy I got a tanky as kitten guard with a butt load of damage. if you guys stopped looking up guides and actually tried making your own builds you’d see just how insane this class can get

Can you share your build please? I’m bored and want to try something OP.

Thaddeus.4891:

Arken.3725:

-Worst ranged weaponry in the game(scepter is still easily strafe-dodged)
-Little-to-no cc/mobility to keep up with your enemy
-Sustain dmg is non-existent
-Too easy to predict burst

- Well the auto-attack is pretty bad for PvP, but your main goal is to land the Smite as a burst. Forcing the guy to take the hit inside a node or with immobilize.
- Yes and no. You still have Judge Intervention and 2 immobilize (Hammer/Sceptre) or 1 CC and 1 leap (with GS). So you have a good cc/mobility, but it’s short duration. If we can’t burst down with down, we gonna have a problem.
- Yes, but we have many shot CD burst which allow a good rotation. Mighty Blow (5sec CD), Smite (6sec CD), Smite Condition (16sec CD), Whirlwind (10sec CD), Symbol of Wrath (20sec).
- Well it depend how to use it. You could say that of a lot of burst skill. Lich Form, Rapid Fire, Backstab, etc. Good players know how to recognize them, but good players also know how to use these burst at the right time. Judge of intervention allow you to put a burst without allow much prediction and smite condition is instant cast. Overall I don’t think it’s a huge problem for Medi Guardian, but we still need to be think about it and play around that, like most other burst build. If the first thing you do as a ranger is Rapid Fire, you will waste it too. If you use Lich Form at the wrong time people are gonna be able to burst you down or immobilize and fight behind you.

-Except it’s not. When your auto attack is pretty much completely mitigated just by moving side to side, that’s a huge flaw.

-You’re assuming someone is going to utilize a Great sword, Hammer and Scepter all at once with that description. My problem wasn’t with getting to your target but rather sticking on them afterwards.

-That’s all burst assuming you’re not getting kited. Smite condition is really the only one on that list that will hit reliably due to it being instant. The rest is just far too easy to avoid.

Can some1 explain to me the QQ on scepter auto attack? Maybe there’s a video some1 can link me that demonstrates just how dramatically “bad” scepter auto is because I can’t find such a video. I can’t count how many times I’ve seen some1 complain about it on these forums, yet I’ve extensively used scepter in both spvp and wvw, and in general I’ve observed this:

People side stepping the auto attacks: Uh yeah, not unless they run around zig-zagging constantly. I have yet to see someone do this lol. Even then, latency issues will likely result in them getting hit anyways. When people strafe around me, the first and maybe second scepter auto attack will miss, but the rest will be dead on. Not a big deal considering how much damage each orb can hit. At close range (130 to 600), every scepter auto attack will hit, especially if the target isn’t running away from me.

People running away: The only time I’ve observed trouble with scepter auto attack is when people are running away from me, and get about 600-700 away from me or more. At this point, they out run the max range of scepter simply because the projectiles move so slowly. But if they’re running away from me, they’re not going to be attacking in the first place.
Essentially, anyone who is fighting vs. scepter guardian has to choose: Either attack the guard, and eat scepter auto attack, or run away, avoid scepter auto attack.
/shrug

A simple google search can do wonders Arcaedus. Also in response to your last paragraph, this is completely false. You can be attacked while still avoiding these orbs.

Edit: Look at how close that dude is too, i’d say he’s around 600 units away.

Heheh, this video should be stickied!

In all seriousness though: this is a problem common to many projectiles. Scepter’s auto attack makes this problem look pretty drastic of course. But lets be real here: In an actual exchange, no one is going to mini strafe/zig-zag to that extent. In fact, I have yet to see anyone do it for more than a second (then again, I’m not top tier in spvp so perhaps this nonsense goes on top tier matches). Sure, it will get them out of a few scepter auto attacks, but that’s not where guard’s dps comes from. If you try to run away from a guardian while mini-strafing, the guardian is going to catch up to you. My argument was that scepter makes for a good anti-kiting tool. Constantly firing orbs of wrath, while meanwhile moving closer to your opponent (assuming you’re dodging when you need to, not getting soft or hard CCed) is going to increase the likelihood of one of two things:
1. You catch up to them, and can swap to another weapon for somer serious hurt.
2. They suffer a fair amount of damage while still trying to kite you.

Note: I’m not saying it’s impossible that your opponent is going to successfully kite you AND avoid scepter damage, it could totally happen. It’s just that it’s rather unlikely from my experience. Using scepter makes that possibility much less likely compared to using sword.

From what I’ve seen dude, the only other projectile that’s even remotely as problematic as this is Ranger MH axe.

Edit: I get your argument but if 90% of the projectiles in this game cannot be strafed, that’s a problem too.

Arken.3725:

A simple google search can do wonders Arcaedus. Also in response to your last paragraph, this is completely false. You can be attacked while still avoiding these orbs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSJ0pqRwjuU

Edit: Look at how close that dude is too, i’d say he’s around 600 units away.

That video is from 2013, way before they increased the projectile speed of the scepter. It’s not nearly as bad as that now.

Coodles.6198:

Arken.3725:

A simple google search can do wonders Arcaedus. Also in response to your last paragraph, this is completely false. You can be attacked while still avoiding these orbs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSJ0pqRwjuU

Edit: Look at how close that dude is too, i’d say he’s around 600 units away.

That video is from 2013, way before they increased the projectile speed of the scepter. It’s not nearly as bad as that now.

It’s pretty much just as bad. It only got a 20% increase I believe? Not completely confident but still nearly just as slow/unreliable.

I hate to be that guy, but the results of the previous WTS tournament and ESL cups with DPS Guard on the comps indicates to me that this role is fine.

Apoc.2459:

Idk if its just me or what but DPS guards just apsolutely suck. theres like one good build but its got a huge skill requirement and its total glass, if you try to build some surviveability into it you have no damage. try to put some damage back into it and its too squishy again. or you end up inbetween where you cant survive or deal damage at all.

I do use this build in PvP:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fVAQNAR7dlsApcoVDxbI8DRRDRljNY/BZQXe9BkABAA-TJBBwAcuIAAeCAjLDUc/BA

Mostly a triple meditation build, but with a 01661 arrange and using a cleric amulet. It gets near 17k HP, 3K armor, 1750 power. The sustain is very good (heals over 1k x evade, has meditations, shelter, a ton of blocks and blinds).

Due Focused Mind trait and the Pack runes fury is almost constantly up, so the crit chance is around 40% (more than enough for procs with Vigorous Precision). Of course lacks the beastly burst of a pure dps from a meditation zerker, but can sustain a lot more damage (the difference in armor and basic HP is huge) and still provide a notable stream of constant damage and good AoE damage.

Another option is going hybrid with a carrion amulet and a 62600 build. You will have similar problems in terms of survability (as with zerker builds) but at least you will constantly burn people, no mater how much you miss landing hits on targets.

The main thing guardian lacks is the spammable cripples/chills that every other melee has access to.

Burst is nice, teleports are nice as well, but if you cannot keep the enemy in melee range once you get there then it doesn’t matter.