Guild Wars 2

I don’t know how others are using guardian Staff skills, but I rarely find myself using #2. And #4 is only useful in a stationary fight (it’s nice in that case, sure).

So what if the Staff was instead a weapon designed for throwing around symbols.

Here’s my suggestion:

1. Wave of Wrath – As is
2. Symbol of Vigor – Applies short term vigor buff
3. Symbol of Swiftness – As is
4. Symbol of Might – You wouldn’t get as many stacks as Empower, but you wouldn’t be frozen in place either.
5. Line of Warding – As is.

What do y’all think? OP, UP, downright crazy?

I like the idea of turning staff into symbol spammer. Im using Valor/Honor Traits, so it will be perfect for such a staff setup. Alas, i dont think Anet will make such a huge change…

Neat but im not very hopeful since the change isnt a necessity.

ImariKurumi.5761:

I like the idea of turning staff into symbol spammer. Im using Valor/Honor Traits, so it will be perfect for such a staff setup. Alas, i dont think Anet will make such a huge change…

Would it be a difficult change to implement/balance? Or do you mean any changes to ability sets would be unlikely at this stage?

Honestly, if you aren’t able to find a use for all the staff skills, you should play around with it a bit more.

• The ball launched from the staff’s 2 skill pierces targets and has limited movement tracking. The explosion damages enemies as well as heals allies. These two facets of the skill are what make it so good. You can actually get it to hit multiple targets twice; once on the pass-through and again when detonated from behind them.

• The 4 skill is the fastest stacking might skill in the game. Yes, it roots you during the channel, but you can break it before the channel ends and still get all 12 stacks of might. You can also cast it out-of-combat before swapping to a greatsword and using the leap to unleash a super might-buffed face smashing on targets. When combined with the the XI Valor Trait, Altruistic Healing (“Applying boons to allies heals you.”), the self healing potential is amplified.

Turning the staff into a symbol spammer makes it near identical to the necro staff setup which is mark heavy. We are not necros. Our symbols are distributed nicely throughout our various weapons. If anything, I’d ask for a symbol utility skill or two, but changing the staff is unnecessary. The skill setup for staff is already amazing.

I’m pretty sure Symbols are balanced around having no more than one per weapon set, which is also why the Offhand weapons don’t have any symbols. Because there are so many traits that improve symbols, giving multiple of them to the Staff can be very tough to balance.

I assume you got the Idea from the Necro’s staff, but there it’s different. Marks are only available to the Necro if he’s using the Staff or if he’s in Lich Form and with a few traits. So they don’t even have much of an impact on the other Necro weapons. But Symbols are ingrained into the Guardian’s balance. Aside from the Sword and Scepter, all weapons have a Symbol.