Guild Wars 2

Well, I’m stumped. As the title says I’m looking for a good hammer, x/shield build. For right now I want it for pve but will be doing AC dungeon once I hit 35. I’m going to make the lvl 35 rare armor I’ve already got all the mats though the type/s I should use stumps me. Should I go for just one whole set or pieces from 2 or more sets? What type of runes should I use? Same thing with the weapons. What type would be good and sigils to use as well as jewels?

For whatever reason I seem to have a mental block on this class don’t even know where to put the 21 trait points I have atm. I want to make this class work though and am not adverse to an up hill battle. I solo for the most part but in dungeons that’s sort of moot. I think once I get over this initial bridge I will be able to go on reasonably well. Till then, it would be great to get some advice and possible explanations as to why certain builds and combos work that may be suggested. Anyone’s help will be much appreciated. Thanks. =o)

From my own experience, if you’re aiming for AC not as an “experience” (like completing story mode once or twice) but as something you’re going to do a lot during your way to lvl80, DON’T invest on lvl35 rare gear.
Downscaling works in a way where you and all you gear are treated as one unique entity. A lvl35 gear is the best you can wear when your REAL character level is 35, but when you are lvl50, even if you are downscaled to 35, it isn’t. Those items are going to be downscaled along with you.
There’s no point on carefully making a gear for a given dungeon prior to 80, cause it’s going to become weaker and weaker as long as you level up and you are going to replace it more sooner than later.
Of course you can do it if you want and enjoy it, and obviously it’s going to give you some advantage over blues and greens in your first runs. Just be aware of how downscaling actually works.

About the Guardian and which builds could be viable for AC explorable:

Hammer is a really risky choice for a lvl35 character. Most lvl80 builds around the hammer are about passive tanking (endure the hits and heal over them) or melee support.
The first one relies on Altruistic Healing. It’s a 30 point Valor trait which is currently unaffordable for you, and even at lvl40, when you could get it, it will rely on having too many allies inside your symbol in order to get enough healing (rarely happens).
The lvl80 build gets a lot of help from many Honor traits, and I would say that is not really viable until you reach lvl60.
The second one expects higher level melee characters drawing the aggro and tries to help them through protection, some healing, maybe some might, while doing some minor damage. It’s mainly a Honor traitline build and it’s “viable” at your level, but since you can’t “tank”, you absolutely need another one to do it or the build becomes useless.

If you do not want to heavily rely on high level characters and team compositions, I wouldn’t touch the hammer yet and i would focus on some melee/range mixture with active tanking (blocks, blinds, evades, …) and support skills.
I would pick sword/focus as melee weapons. This gives you two blinds (3 if you invest 5 points in Radiance) and a great blocking skill (remember that blind doesn’t work sell with champions). Sword also has a short ranged attack that can be used form a “safe” distance.
With some investment on precision you can get 5 points in Honor to get almost perma-vigor (so you can roll much more frequently) and with 15 those rolls will heal you and surrounding allies for a little bit, which is also nice.
As ranged you can chose between scepter and staff. I found myself a scepter/shield much more interesting to play, but the empower skill from the staff (and the line of warding if you lack tanky characters in the group) is probably the best support skill you can have at low lvl.
I would go something like 0/5/0/15/0, with the last 5 points being up to you between Radiance (20% signet recharge for healing and better crit rate), Valor (extra block at 50%), Virtues (some party boons added to active virtues) or Honor (Empowering Might, maybe 20% CD reduction if you chose staff).

As utilities, I think that “stand your ground” is a no-brainer in AC. Gravelings use to jump at players and knock-down them to death and some of them have also annoying shouts that launch players and disable them for a short time.
The other two are up to you. I would give a try to “Retreat” if you don’t pick staff in order to actually retreat if needed (which can be also an extra party block) or to “Hold the line” if you don’t pick the shield.

As an elite I would pick Tome of Courage. It’s as powerful for a lvl35 as it is for a lvl80.

I’m not downscaling, I’d use lvl 35 gear till I reach the next tier, pretty much every 10 lvls I’d change gear even if it ends up being just masterwork.

PlagueParade.7942:

I’m not downscaling, I’d use lvl 35 gear till I reach the next tier, pretty much every 10 lvls I’d change gear even if it ends up being just masterwork.

If you are up to work on your gear and keep it updated, then it’s ok. I thought you were expecting the lvl35 set to work at full capacity on a character downscaled to 35, which actually was what I thought when crafted mine :P

I haven’t said anything about stat distribution.
In order to achieve the vigor / heal on roll thing (which is awesome at low levels) some precision is a must, so i would go for something “balanced”, some power/precision, some vitality/thoughness.
Once you reach lvl55 Knight gear (thoughness / power / precision) is probably the best, and at lvl60 you are free to give a try to the hammer with 30 points in Valor (Altruistic Healing), 20 in Honor (Empowering Might), and maybe blackberry pies (a cheap life-steal food). It won’t work at its best, but i’m pretty sure that is more than enough for AC.

Sounds good thanks.

And for weapons sword/focus and scepter/shield? I take it this would also apply to the weapons? Don’t mind waiting till 80 for the hammer