Guild Wars 2

Hey all,

I thought I’d share this build that I concocted. It’s theorycraft at this point and hasn’t been demonstrated, but I think the focus will largely be on dungeons and group situations. I wanted my two-handed weapons (greatsword for straight-up damage, hammer for control/damage and staff for support or mid-range damage) to shine in the build. In addition I wanted a build that really used Spirit Weapons since I think they’re fun!

The build:
http://www.gw2db.com/skills/calc/guardian#7|0|3527|3971|3964|12645|4501|30|2289|2290|909|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|30|880|1400|2171|10|1410|0|0|5|0|3|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|

Key Spirit Weapon Traits:
Improved Spirit Weapon Duration, Spirit Weapon Mastery & Eternal Spirit
Key Symbol Traits:
Symbolic Power, Symbolic Exposure, Zealot’s Speed, Writ of the Merciful (swappable for Writ of Persistence) & Writ of Exaltation

Obvious weapons for this build are greatsword and staff since both have symbols on with low cooldowns, and helped both by Two-Handed Mastery. Another option for greatsword is hammer, since the latter has symbols as a part of its main attack combo.

Spirit weapons are actually quite versatile – hammer and sword together can add a lot of damage while bow and shield do a lot of the support load. Permuting the four can allow for a lot of additional flexibility. Lastly, Eternal Spirit allows the weapons to remain effective even after performing their “ultimate” ability. I actually don’t think I would use more than two weapons at a time, instead going for a bit of defense in Wall of Reflection or perhaps even some mobility in the form of Judge’s Intervention.

So there it is. Any feedback would be welcome. As mentioned the build is in the theorycraft stage, but I like it on paper and will be trying it out soon.

I must say that I’ve thought of the Spirit Weapons as well. I didn’t know just how well they would be, but after REALLY looking at the Zeal minor traits, they help with the Symbols, so utilizing Symbols and the Spirit Weapons you could have a good combo.

This is all in theory, and I do plan on trying it out:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/en/?fUMQNAR5elYgCBnDSFEmIFR+BWW9YfyzeYK0oHvFA

The one thing that I am mostly interested in trying out is how this plays solo vs a group. (My guess is that in a group – not well).

@nerdymike : zealot blades heals for how much?

imo, justice is blind is a must.

I don’t know… yet. But I plan on doing a test run soon with this kind of build. I’ll let you know.

Revenge of the Fallen? Seriously? Shouldn’t the Zeal line for this build be Spirit Weapon Mastery → Eternal Spirit → Wrathful Spirits?

I’m also not sure how well Spirit Weapons and Symbols really synergize in regular PVE. The Hammer of Wisdom and Sword of Justice engage enemies where they are and give them no incentive to come into your Symbols. And Binding Blade is only every… what? 12 seconds with Two-Handed Mastery? In big Boss Fights on the other hand I can see this being a wicked effective build, especially if the’re a lot of CC involved.

That said, I’d always pick Writ of Persistence over Writ of the Merciful but that’s me thinking of Mace and Hammer, where the Symbols already protect. Staff and GS don’t protect people in them per se. This is very much a matter of preference and weapon loadout though.

KevinK.9182:

imo, justice is blind is a must.

And IMO Justice is Blind is really only useful with Renewed Justice… But that would require cannibalizing points elsewhere.

@KevinK

It heals for 24 hp a hit

I liked Spirit Weapons too so I’ve been running with the following so far: [url]http://gw2skills.net/editor/en/?fUAQBgiIrALtZQw+VpIey7+AFB[url].
My build is more DPS oriented though, centering Great Sword and Spirit Weapon DPS with burning (Fiery Wrath + Radiant Power) and criticals (which I feel like make up a huge bulk of burst and the main reason I have points in the Valor line.) My only regrets are the squishyness and the lack of the 20% CD reduction in the Honor line for 2Handers, but the build is mainly for PVE anyway.

I considered mixing symbols, GS, and Spirit Weapons too, but I felt that the lack of Crit and Crit damage was a big loss for just more support functionality.

Schakal.6091:

Revenge of the Fallen? Seriously? Shouldn’t the Zeal line for this build be Spirit Weapon Mastery -> Eternal Spirit -> Wrathful Spirits?

Yes, absolutely right. Ha – I took Revenge of the Fallen actually as a bit of a joke as I showed this build to a friend (I’m down a lot, what can I say). When I picked up the build tonight I took those three majors.

Schakal.6091:

I’m also not sure how well Spirit Weapons and Symbols really synergize in regular PVE. The Hammer of Wisdom and Sword of Justice engage enemies where they are and give them no incentive to come into your Symbols.

What do you mean by ‘regular’ PVE? For me everything but bosses (read: champions or occasionally tough veterans) die quickly enough that I’m not terribly worried about synergies. When I’m tagging mobs with my staff, I can use the Symbol of Swiftness anywhere I need it to be (which is usually around where my spirit weapons are).

Schakal.6091:

In big Boss Fights on the other hand I can see this being a wicked effective build, especially if the’re a lot of CC involved.

Yes, this is primarily what my build was designed to do – the weapons are on 20 sec cooldowns and are out for ~30 sec or so. Command is a 10 sec cooldown, giving me 3 knockdowns, damage bursts or healing circles (as per weapon).

Schakal.6091:

That said, I’d always pick Writ of Persistence over Writ of the Merciful but that’s me thinking of Mace and Hammer, where the Symbols already protect. Staff and GS don’t protect people in them per se. This is very much a matter of preference and weapon loadout though.

I don’t have a decent hammer to test this out, but I agree – hammer is much more of a protection/control 2H, while GS lends itself way more to damage straight up. One of the things I like about the build is the flexibility in weapon selection; 4 of the 5 symbols available are covered in 2H weapons.

So I tried my variant of the Spirit Weapons… meh. I think that the skills could be better, and if the Weapons themselves did more damage and hit faster (especially the Sword).