Guild Wars 2

Ok so I’m sure this topic has been covered many times before, but I am looking for a tank support build for WvW. I mostly do small group roaming/havocing. (flipping camps, an occassional keep, etc.) In a small group.
I’m thinking of going Clerics to maximize my healing potential, as well as be able to do at least a small amount of damage, and remain tanky.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fVMQJAWSl8ApWo1DxUIEENRCBld+3//x+DPPFXFAA-TlCBABX8AAgS5nsKB1a/hgU/BgDBA0HBAHM/lwFAQGdBkCwZlRA-w

This is what I’m thinking, but not sure about the weapons, or the traits. Constructive input is appreciated. Thanks!

Just a couple of small things, First, unoptimized traits.

Empowering Might isn’t that great, especially since you only have 14% CC, even with Fury it wouldn’t be that good. Unscathed Contender is also not worth using on a support build, you’re not going to have high upkeep on Aegis and it wouldn’t even increase your damage that much. Retaliatory Subconscious is also not worth using, it’s a very subpar trait, you’re better off going something like Vengeful or Indomitable Courage.

Cleric is nice, however it helps if you mix it with something that gives vit. I’d recommend Solider, Nomad, or Cele. Full Cleric with guard stacks is still somewhat low on vit.

As for sigils, energy on both weapon sets. Not only does this increase your survivability, but also that of your team because of Selfless Daring. I’d also recommend Benevolence over Life. If you already have high healing power it’s more beneficial to go Benevolence.

Utilities I would not recommend Sanctuary or ToW. If you’re doing small group/havoc you’ll be mobile a lot, so Sanctuary really doesn’t have any benefit, also generally most people have stab in wvw, so Sanctuary is pointless a majority of the time. If you want to use a Tome, go Courage instead, it’s much more beneficial if you’re running support. Just made sure you trait Elite Focus for stab.

Monk is an alright rune set, however I’d go Trooper, since PoV alone is somewhat underwhelming.

Running a shout staff build without AH is asking to die. When you put six points into Virtues you do not run tomes, Renewed Focus is the center piece of a virtues build. Renewed Focus is also your primary invul if you get stuck inside a necro bomb. Healing Breeze is not that great, you won’t be able to dodge while channeling and you lack the block of shelter to negate damage. It will be very difficult to finish channeling this skill when it’s needed the most. Healing power itself scales horribly with everything except Selfless Daring. The radius of selfless daring is the size of an untraited necro mark which means you would have to keep up with your frontline and dodge when it’s needed most. The lack of self sustain from this build would make it very difficult to keep up and use your dodge rolls efficiently.

Standard AH Frontline “Support” build
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fVAQJASWlsApVo1CxZI8DNBDRlZLsfYmBbw1RQGGAA-T1yDAB3s/APK9cR9HUVC+jyAAM/dwDAwDdABcEA4UTAEXCASBwkyI-w

Support your party by:
Giving boons such as stability, protection, might, swiftness, aegis, and retaliation
Healing through Virtue of Resolve, Empower, and Detonate Orb of Light
More AOE healing through blasting water fields with Mighty Blow
Clear conditions with Virtue of Resolve and Purging Flames
Immobilize the enemy so they can sit in the damage from your backline

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cy-AdTa27JA

Someone posted the math somewhere

Life sigil > Benevolence Sigil

Your out going healing is only slightly better on some skills with benevolence like healing breeze. But overall Life is the way to go

Crius.5487:

Running a shout staff build without AH is asking to die. When you put six points into Virtues you do not run tomes, Renewed Focus is the center piece of a virtues build. Renewed Focus is also your primary invul if you get stuck inside a necro bomb. Healing Breeze is not that great, you won’t be able to dodge while channeling and you lack the block of shelter to negate damage. It will be very difficult to finish channeling this skill when it’s needed the most. Healing power itself scales horribly with everything except Selfless Daring. The radius of selfless daring is the size of an untraited necro mark which means you would have to keep up with your frontline and dodge when it’s needed most. The lack of self sustain from this build would make it very difficult to keep up and use your dodge rolls efficiently.

Standard AH Frontline “Support” build
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fVAQJASWlsApVo1CxZI8DNBDRlZLsfYmBbw1RQGGAA-T1yDAB3s/APK9cR9HUVC+jyAAM/dwDAwDdABcEA4UTAEXCASBwkyI-w

Support your party by:
Giving boons such as stability, protection, might, swiftness, aegis, and retaliation
Healing through Virtue of Resolve, Empower, and Detonate Orb of Light
More AOE healing through blasting water fields with Mighty Blow
Clear conditions with Virtue of Resolve and Purging Flames
Immobilize the enemy so they can sit in the damage from your backline

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cy-AdTa27JA

He specially asked for small group and havoc support, which that is not. 0/0/2/6/6 is much more beneficial in this environment.

If you’re using a tome and also using cleric gear and monk runes, I suggest using Tome of Courage because Heal Area is extremely powerful with healing power and percentage-increases to healing allies (gained from monk runes and benevolence sigils).

Tricare.2946:

Someone posted the math somewhere

Life sigil > Benevolence Sigil

Your out going healing is only slightly better on some skills with benevolence like healing breeze. But overall Life is the way to go

Could that have been my math? https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/archive/balance/Sigil-of-Benevolence-vs-Sigil-of-Life/first#post3968235

But yes, sigil of life is generally more beneficial. Sigil of benevolence will be useful if you want to maximize ALLIED HEALING ONLY, and not healing to yourself. If this build is supposed to be for small group applications, I feel the life sigil would be better since it will also help them keep themselves alive as well as everyone else. It should also be noted that sigil of life does also help with allied healing, just not as much as sigil of benevolence, though sigil of life has the added benefit of helping out yourself too.

In any case, as others said, I’d ditch sanctuary for sure, and I’d also use tome of courage if you want to use a tome.

For the runes, I think you should also consider water runes, trooper runes, or even mercy runes. Water runes give you better boon duration, another source of self-condi clear, and an additional AoE heal. Trooper runes is even better condi clearing with shouts. Mercy runes can be handy if your ally goes down and you need to get them up ASAP.

Slotting in some vitality would also not be a bad idea since it would drastically increase your survivability, but I can understand wanting to play a “maximum healer” build.

If you wanted to compare to something, I’ve run this build in WvW before: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fVAQNApeWl8ApXoNDxVI0ENRCBl5M+P2nYDl4yA0AA-TFSDABOcIBMUJoO7PklyPcU/54nUAAnAhU03QKgvVGB-w

The battle presence and absolute resolution combo can be quite nice, especially since the passive regen stays on your allies even after you pop the virtue (it doesn’t stay on you though). However, you do have to give up condi clears on your shouts.

The mace allows the build to maximize healing power even more, and the shield gives you a means to apply protection, those most people would probably like to use a focus instead, or a hammer. This one is also specced for reviving people, so you get faster rez speed from the runes and a bubble to interrupt and absorb. Also, the protective reviver trait is actually quite good in some circumstances, applying a very long protection boon as well as extra aegis. Of course, it’s better if people don’t go down in the first place, but that does happen at times.

This build can take some hits, but as with any high toughness, low vitality build, it’s essential to heal yourself effectively and not to get caught in damage spikes to frequently.

Players > 5, run AH Frontline build (especially if you have more than 1 guardian). Can go glassier than the build I posted, swap out knights for more zerk.

Players < 5, just run a medi-build