Guild Wars 2

I am not a very skilled player but I do my best in wvw. I always stay with a group and use the greatsword and the sword/focus. I hear a ton of bad things about the staff but was hoping that somebody has found it useful in wvw. I wanted to use a staff instead of the sword/focus and was wondering if anybody has any tips or builds maybe that include the use of the staff.

I use a AH Shout build 0/0/30/30/10 GS/Staff. Tag a ton of mobs, cleanse cond while granting might to allys when you crit all the while healing. Plus area avoidance (can be very useful not to mention very funny watch a zerg run into that stacked w/reflect), mob tagging+f1, boons. Usually mix zerk/and tough gear.

Guard staff is one of my favorite weapons for the Guard pve/pvp

i would recommend buffing symbols too. larger for sure, maybe healing too.
if you’re using two two-handed weapons, i’d take two handed mastery too. it’s a nice trait to get your CDs faster.

i will say being caught with staff in 1v1 situations is not the best. but it’s not impossible, many factors depending. definitely shines anywhere from small group to zerging.

also, staff hitting through doors while defending with a high crit chance/high power build, there are bags to be had through the gate.

and like Wetpaw mentioned, stakitten both offensively and defensively – while running, set it in front of you so you stop enemies in their tracks, while taking towers, place in front of spawn to prevent enemy reinforcements or stop those who think they can cause a bit of chaos by jumping down, make them regret it, cut a zerg in half, hold a choke point and let your allies melt faces.. etc etc

staff 4 before fights. staff 2 hits pretty hard when it connects (make sure you use your focal point to aim where it shoots, simply targeting is not enough). staff 3 is self explanatory – when specced for symbols, they do good damage too and you get this on range. staff 1 is tag city.

it can be really fun : ))

I’m a staff build guardian.

crit chance of about 42%
crit damage of 80%

and with about 20 stacks of might, crit damage is about 2.7k per attack. This is while in a zerg. =) With fury from warriors, I can keep this up. And I’m AH built.. So I just heal while having crits.. Very fun to play with. Partner this with hammer for a more upclose experience..

I mainly run a variation of GS/Staff, Hammer/Staff, Mace|Shield/Staff. The staff will never leave that second spot. Staff is my only permanent weapon on my Guardian. The staff is the best utility weapon in the game and it packs a nasty auto-attack and number two skill.

It can give you swiftness.
It can give you half a stack of might.
It can wall off choke points.

It is one of the best weapons guardians have and it should always, always be in your off hand. If not in your off hand, your inventory.

I cannot express how powerful the staff is in groups.

-

Alongside this, check out an AH build. Every boon you give out heals you for 72-75 depending on your healing power. As a guardian you give out a lot of boons. This trait will keep you alive more than you think it will, specially when it is combined with the staff’s number four skill.

12 stacks of might given out to five people (including yourself). 12×5=60. 60×72. That is over 4300 heals. Stack this in with your constant regen and ability to pop that constant regen for a 2k+ heal and then your main healing skill. You are able to full heal and then some by yourself.

By far it is the best trait Guardians have.

Woah thanks. I think I have some sort of idea of what to do then. Maybe staff and greatsword with a build that focuses on toughness maybe? Since I am always with a zerg I guess I will mostly just be tagging rather than killing :P I hope I have some idea of what I am doing lol

Swiftness for several people, Empower, and Line of Warding. Who ever told you staff is anything but great in WvW may not understand how to play guardian very well.

Also, you probably do not want use use staff during the initial push in a zerg v. zerg. You should switch to your Hammer, or Greatsword, as soon as you are about to hit them head on. Switch to staff only once the enemy is down.

Love staff as 2 weapon, you have perm swift, Line of Warding to stop the sobs and before you switch to your main you buff yourself with Empower.

Staff is almost mandatory, if someone said its bad for wvw he clearly had no clue whatsoever. Perhaps solo roaming has better options (and i even doubt that) but its the default switch weapon for small scale grouping, zerging and GvG for any purpose.

1. lets you tag kittenload of players for lootbags, no other weapon can do this.
2. Gives you swiftness to keep up with the zerg/others.
3. With AH this acts like a second heal, not even speaking of the giant might stacks yet.
4. Choke point holder, while hammer #5 has the same effect, this one can be cast while walking and is on a shorter cooldown i believe.

Only the second ability sorta sux, in my opinion they should remove the heal and up the damage.

I hated the staff while leveling my guardian and largely avoided it except to try it out for a few levels. It just felt so weak and ineffective. Post 80 I fell into using one while running around simply for the swiftness buff and I began to notice how well it did tagging mobs and that the damage, overall, was respectable. And…gradually it grew on me. Now it’s one of my favorite weapons in the game. You would have to use dynamite to get it out of my 2nd weapon slot. It works very well in WvW too.

I can understand it not being used from a solo roaming perspective, or for dueling. Although i guess u could build up some stacks of might at the start of the fight and swap it out but that could be construed as cheating. But for group support you wont find better.

i wouldn’t say building up might stacks then switching it out is cheating in any sense. : )) but if you can pull off the empower+ weapon switch before you’re engaged and can’t swap, that’s the main issue.