Guild Wars 2

I am looking for the ultimate support as a Guardian in WvWvW. I’ve bitten the bullet and accepted my role as a support. I enjoy the back-lines, the heavy armour healing, the utilities. It’s a comfortable role for me to play in.

I’m currently very attracted the Mace / Shield combo, and want to find a build that uses the Guardian’s full potential in WvWvW support abilities, as well as this weapon set.

Question is: is it viable? Has it been done successfully before? Is the Mace / Shield combo not the best for what I’m looking to do?

If anyone has anything to add please post it here

I would be interested as well. Normally I run solo or with an engineer friend. Would be nice to have a build that could give out good support to them.

Personaly when I’m in need of change of playstyle I use something like this:
http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/guardian/?3.3|2.1k.h1j|6.1k.h1j|1k.71g.1k.71g.1k.71g.1k.71h.1k.71h.1k.71h|31l.e17.31l.e17.21l.e14.31l.e17.21l.e14.3u.e17|0.a2.0.u29b.u29b|0.0|v.18.16.19.1i|e
This is more of a frontline support to provide boons, condition removal and healing for other people charging the enemy. But what you are looking for is probably closer to this one:
http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/guardian/?3.3|9.1k.h1j.e.1k.h2|6.1k.h1j|1k.71g.1k.71g.1k.71g.1k.71h.1k.71h.1k.71h|31l.e17.31l.e17.21l.e14.31l.e17.21l.e14.3u.e17|0.0.u479.k37.k36|0.0|v.y.11.z.1j|e
Now, it’s actually pretty hard to measure the effectivity of such support builds, but one thing is ceratian – the more people around you, the more effective you are. Not many people run full supports because of how this game is desinged, so you will probably feel a bit unique on the field. But just a fair warning – WvWvW fights don’t favor static gameplay which symbols and consecrations need to be fully effective, so you will get to use it at almost full potential only in tower siege/defence and chokepoint fights.

NOTES:
- buildcraft doesn’t have updated traits yet – Mace of Justice also gives 250 healing power and Strenght in Numbers gives 150 toughness instead of just 70.

best build possible for zergs is x/x/30/30/x put the last 10 points wherever you want, altruistic healing is huge in wvw, staff 4 is guaranteed 15k hp (im guessing i only have 12k hp) when a zerg is around, also in the honor – 20% shout cooldown, empowering might, and pure of voice is amazing for just about anything

On mace/shield, id say its decent for very small fights/roaming if you really want to make it work but for zergVzerg its our worst weapon and tbh in zerg fights i rarely if ever swap away from staff, i just prefer hammer for a 2nd weapon because of the immoblizes, blast finish and ring of warning
edit: forgot to add i use full zerker acessories and 4 knights / 2 zerker armor with ruby orbs, if you really want to be support you should go with soldiers runes and pure of voice (shouts remove 2 condis on 5 people)
also for those who say you need high hp (soldiers), theyre wrong… ive gone days at a time without dying so it really depends on what your comfortable with in your specific server, as higher hp might actually be good if your getting steamrolled every week (btw use valkyrie not soldiers, soldiers is pure trash)

Clumsy.6257:

best build possible for zergs is x/x/30/30/x put the last 10 points wherever you want, altruistic healing is huge in wvw, staff 4 is guaranteed 15k hp (im guessing i only have 12k hp) when a zerg is around, also in the honor – 20% shout cooldown, empowering might, and pure of voice is amazing for just about anything

Where did you get those numbers from? With 1000 healing power empower will heal for 2500 and altruistic healing for additional 4740. That’s not even a half of your alleged 15k.

haviz.1340:

Clumsy.6257:

best build possible for zergs is x/x/30/30/x put the last 10 points wherever you want, altruistic healing is huge in wvw, staff 4 is guaranteed 15k hp (im guessing i only have 12k hp) when a zerg is around, also in the honor – 20% shout cooldown, empowering might, and pure of voice is amazing for just about anything

Where did you get those numbers from? With 1000 healing power empower will heal for 2500 and altruistic healing for additional 4740. That’s not even a half of your alleged 15k.

Maybe he meant staff #4 (3k+4740) + all virtues (1275+3425+425) + a dodge roll (1650)…. That could get you up to 17k… but only w/ 1600+ healing. lol

haviz.1340:

Clumsy.6257:

best build possible for zergs is x/x/30/30/x put the last 10 points wherever you want, altruistic healing is huge in wvw, staff 4 is guaranteed 15k hp (im guessing i only have 12k hp) when a zerg is around, also in the honor – 20% shout cooldown, empowering might, and pure of voice is amazing for just about anything

Where did you get those numbers from? With 1000 healing power empower will heal for 2500 and altruistic healing for additional 4740. That’s not even a half of your alleged 15k.

where are you getting your numbers from? all i know is ive healed from about 100 hp to 12.5k, been doing this for months

Clumsy.6257:

i have no idea where your getting your numbers all i know is mid zerg ive used it literally from 90hp and healed to 12.5k

It would be true if someone else healed you at the same time or you had 13933 healing power. I think the former is more plausible.

haviz.1340:

Clumsy.6257:

i have no idea where your getting your numbers all i know is mid zerg ive used it literally from 90hp and healed to 12.5k

It would be true if someone else healed you at the same time or you had 13933 healing power. I think the former is more plausible.

well since ive been healing up to full every time for about 7 months (granted i normally only put in 2-5 hrs of wvw each week), if would be impossible for someone to be healing me at the same every single time i use it

Clumsy.6257:

haviz.1340:

Clumsy.6257:

i have no idea where your getting your numbers all i know is mid zerg ive used it literally from 90hp and healed to 12.5k

It would be true if someone else healed you at the same time or you had 13933 healing power. I think the former is more plausible.

well since ive been healing up to full every time for about 7 months (granted i normally only put in 2-5 hrs of wvw each week), if would be impossible for someone to be healing me at the same every single time i use it

You are NOT healing from 90-12500 w/ Empower alone: ((85×12)x5)+3200 /= 12,500.

Prove it.

Sorry, my bad. You’d need 4288 healing power to heal for 12500.

haviz.1340:

Sorry, my bad. You’d need 4288 healing power to heal for 12500.

hmm thats weird because i just jumped into wvw to make sure i wasn’t going crazy, and boom from 2k-13k…
edit: with 300 healing power

Amins.3710:

Clumsy.6257:

haviz.1340:

Clumsy.6257:

i have no idea where your getting your numbers all i know is mid zerg ive used it literally from 90hp and healed to 12.5k

It would be true if someone else healed you at the same time or you had 13933 healing power. I think the former is more plausible.

well since ive been healing up to full every time for about 7 months (granted i normally only put in 2-5 hrs of wvw each week), if would be impossible for someone to be healing me at the same every single time i use it

You are NOT healing from 90-12500 w/ Empower alone: ((85×12)x5)+3200 /= 12,500.

Prove it.

unfortunately this would involve me recording it and its not worth the effort to prove im right

Right, you have a skill that heals you for more than self-heal skill and no one except you knows about it.

Amins.3710:

You are NOT healing from 90-12500 w/ Empower alone: ((85×12)x5)+3200 /= 12,500.

Prove it.

You have miscalculation here – it should be x6 because in zerg empower gives 12 might to You and up to 5 ppl in reach.
that’s interesting because on AC I also found myself full healling myself with Empower when all party was in reach – and I’m sure I saw some green 200’s

Feel the opness of this trait

haviz.1340:

Right, you have a skill that heals you for more than self-heal skill and no one except you knows about it.

actually anyone that uses empower in large wvw fights knows about, you on the other hand have probably never used it in wvw, just tried it again dropped down to 500 hp healed to 14.5k with 5 people in range
HERES A TIP: instead of spouting off what the heal “should” be, why dont you go and test it… i know full well that whakittens “supposed” to heal is a tiny amount compared to what it actually does heal

haviz.1340:

Right, you have a skill that heals you for more than self-heal skill and no one except you knows about it.

I know about it. I play guardian mostly in dungeons and if positioned right( all 4 other party members near me) it does heal for about the same as a self-heal. Don’t bakitten till you try it.

With generous +Healing it can heal for 8k, in a full group. Not 12.

With 1k Healing Power

Empower

1500 Base Heal + 1.0 * 1000 Healing Power = 2500 Health

Empower with AH

(1500 Base Heal + 1.0 * 1000 Healing Power) + ( 69 Base Heal + 0.01 * 1000 Healing Power ) * ( 12 Stacks of Might * 5 Allies ) = 7240 Health

Orb of Light

766 Base Heal + 0.6 * 1000 Healing Power = 1366 Health

Selfless Daring

129 Base Heal + 1.0 * 1000 Healing Power = 1290 Health

Water Field Blast

1320 Base Heal + (0.2 * 1000 Healing Power) = 1520 Health
Via Hammer #2 or Focus #5

Clumsy.6257:

actually anyone that uses empower in large wvw fights knows about, you on the other hand have probably never used it in wvw, just tried it again dropped down to 500 hp healed to 14.5k with 5 people in range
HERES A TIP: instead of spouting off what the heal “should” be, why dont you go and test it… i know full well that whakittens “supposed” to heal is a tiny amount compared to what it actually does heal

So now it’s 14k with 300 healing power.

Uther Deathhand.1570:

I know about it. I play guardian mostly in dungeons and if positioned right( all 4 other party members near me) it does heal for about the same as a self-heal. Don’t bakitten till you try it.

More than self-heal skill is not the same as almost as much. He now claims it heals for 14k while before it was 12.5k.

Lord Trejgon.2809:

You have miscalculation here – it should be x6 because in zerg empower gives 12 might to You and up to 5 ppl in reach.
that’s interesting because on AC I also found myself full healling myself with Empower when all party was in reach – and I’m sure I saw some green 200’s

Feel the opness of this trait

It affects 4 people plus yourself, I gave you a benefit of doubt and just checked it.

For reference: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Ally

“An area of effect spell that effects allies may only affect a maximum of 5 targets. "

“An effect that emerges from the player may not consider the player be an ally of the effect unless the effect clearly states “allies and yourself”."

Empower: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Empower

“Channel might to yourself and allies around you”

In addition the notes state: Affects up to five allies, including the guardian.

Lord Trejgon.2809:

Amins.3710:

You are NOT healing from 90-12500 w/ Empower alone: ((85×12)x5)+3200 /= 12,500.

Prove it.

You have miscalculation here – it should be x6 because in zerg empower gives 12 might to You and up to 5 ppl in reach.
that’s interesting because on AC I also found myself full healling myself with Empower when all party was in reach – and I’m sure I saw some green 200’s

Feel the opness of this trait

You are NOT healing from 90-12500 w/ Empower alone: ((85×12)x6)+3200 /= 12,500.

EDIT now, if you’ve found a bug… that’s another story entirely.

Amins.3710:

Lord Trejgon.2809:

Amins.3710:

You are NOT healing from 90-12500 w/ Empower alone: ((85×12)x5)+3200 /= 12,500.

Prove it.

You have miscalculation here – it should be x6 because in zerg empower gives 12 might to You and up to 5 ppl in reach.
that’s interesting because on AC I also found myself full healling myself with Empower when all party was in reach – and I’m sure I saw some green 200’s

Feel the opness of this trait

You are NOT healing from 90-12500 w/ Empower alone: ((85×12)x6)+3200 /= 12,500.

EDIT now, if you’ve found a bug… that’s another story entirely.

I have no idea why, but when I’m using Empower with all party in reach I am fully healing myself.
and as for now I’m wondering if that 85 is good, eventually how that “green numbers” counts the healing – also when casting Empower that green numbers are packed too much so I cannot be sure, but I’ve seen multiple “200” there (in AC)

Lord Trejgon.2809:

Amins.3710:

Lord Trejgon.2809:

Amins.3710:

You are NOT healing from 90-12500 w/ Empower alone: ((85×12)x5)+3200 /= 12,500.

Prove it.

You have miscalculation here – it should be x6 because in zerg empower gives 12 might to You and up to 5 ppl in reach.
that’s interesting because on AC I also found myself full healling myself with Empower when all party was in reach – and I’m sure I saw some green 200’s

Feel the opness of this trait

You are NOT healing from 90-12500 w/ Empower alone: ((85×12)x6)+3200 /= 12,500.

EDIT now, if you’ve found a bug… that’s another story entirely.

I have no idea why, but when I’m using Empower with all party in reach I am fully healing myself.
and as for now I’m wondering if that 85 is good, eventually how that “green numbers” counts the healing – also when casting Empower that green numbers are packed too much so I cannot be sure, but I’ve seen multiple “200” there (in AC)

Your virtue of resolve is still ticking…..

You have Regen on you…..

Ele bunker is next to you in water form….

Standing in a water field….

Standing in your own mace2 field…

List goes on and on.

haviz.1340:

More than self-heal skill is not the same as almost as much. He now claims it heals for 14k while before it was 12.5k.

i never claimed it healed for only 12.5k, i only had 12.5k hp and have never bothered to test how much it actually heals for, yesterday evening though i went and bought a few piece of soldiers to boost myself up to ~14.5k and healed fully from 500 hp
if you’d read my first post:

staff 4 is guaranteed 15k hp (im guessing i only have 12k hp) when a zerg is around,

you’d realized that i mention that i typically have less than 13k hp

Clumsy.6257:

haviz.1340:

More than self-heal skill is not the same as almost as much. He now claims it heals for 14k while before it was 12.5k.

i never claimed it healed for only 12.5k, i only had 12.5k hp and have never bothered to test how much it actually heals for, yesterday evening though i went and bought a few piece of soldiers to boost myself up to ~14.5k and healed fully from 500 hp
if you’d read my first post:

staff 4 is guaranteed 15k hp (im guessing i only have 12k hp) when a zerg is around,

you’d realized that i mention that i typically have less than 13k hp

I’d like to live in your world.

Unless clumsy can produce evidence of the amount he claims being healed, I suggest following what the wiki and what other guardians have posted about empower.

zythyl.1864:

I am looking for the ultimate support as a Guardian in WvWvW. I’ve bitten the bullet and accepted my role as a support. I enjoy the back-lines, the heavy armour healing, the utilities. It’s a comfortable role for me to play in.

I’m currently very attracted the Mace / Shield combo, and want to find a build that uses the Guardian’s full potential in WvWvW support abilities, as well as this weapon set.

Question is: is it viable? Has it been done successfully before? Is the Mace / Shield combo not the best for what I’m looking to do?

If anyone has anything to add please post it here

Support builds vary with how big the group is, (like I consider the <5, 5-10, 10+ experienced pretty different). Mace/shield is great though, the knockback really shines if you can spot when to use it (usually when cliffs or stomps are involved). I get the most use out of symbols holdin stairs or healin up rams. The mace block is amazing as is the protection buff off the shield (it’s pretty long lastin as far as protection goes).

anything/30/30 is pretty much the support build base. 0/0/30/20/20 would be a more tanky/less supporty variant. There’s videos of Smokee leadin HB with 0/0/10/30/30 swingin his mace/shield into zergs of SoR, so I don’t think you really need AH. I run 0/0/10/30/30 in cleric’s and people are surprised to find I don’t run AH since apparently I seem tanky enough (I mainly do engagements on the scale of 5-10 people).

Amins.3710:

Lord Trejgon.2809:

I have no idea why, but when I’m using Empower with all party in reach I am fully healing myself.
and as for now I’m wondering if that 85 is good, eventually how that “green numbers” counts the healing – also when casting Empower that green numbers are packed too much so I cannot be sure, but I’ve seen multiple “200” there (in AC)

Your virtue of resolve is still ticking…..

You have Regen on you…..

Ele bunker is next to you in water form….

Standing in a water field….

Standing in your own mace2 field…

List goes on and on.

no there wasn’t elementalist here.
I’ve checked it once again when I was on better computer and had much higher graphical settings – problem was with that the green numbers was too close to themselves on my computer – but after checking that was many many 20’s not 200’s.
also that was AC so my overal hp was much lower.

but still I was able o heal nearly 2/3 of my hp with this skill only (when all party was affected by it)

and I’m talking about situation without elementalist in group, not standing in water field, and not standing In my own symbol of faith…
but now I’m not sure, if I didn’t use stand your ground shout while casting Empower….

http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/guardian/?3.3|6.1k.h6|9.1k.h1l.e.1k.h1m|1k.7x.1k.7x.1k.7x.1k.7x.1k.7x.1k.7x|41l.d1e.21l.d1e.31l.d1e.2u.d1e.3u.d1e.3u.d1e|0.0.k47.u2ac.k69|22.0|w.16.19.10.1j|e

This is my build. I use it as is in WvWvW zerg vs zerg open field battles, Roaming 5 or less battles, dungeons/fractals without modifying.

Support.

tbh i found AH not overly useful for small group WvW(i run in a 5 man). The Guardian is pretty tough already with boon uptime(especially with the boon duration i pack, SY lasts 18 seconds, and i have quite a bit of uptime on retal with vengeful/virtue of retribution/SYG to deter thieves) so people usually move onto other targets like our 2 glass cannon mesmers. This is where our groups big spike DPS comes from, 1 is a phantasm mesmer the other shattercat and being glass cannon means they put out some solid numbers, but of course are squishy and need protection. My job is to help keep them up along with our groups D/D ele to splash down healing when he can. The longer these 2 stay up the more targets will drop.

AH does absolutely nothing for them so i take pure of voice so my SYG and HTL convert their conditions into boons, i also pack absolute resolution to clear condi’s off party members. I use the healing breeze to add to my healing capabilities and of course pack tome of courage, my offhand mace gives me a protectors strike( for party members) and symbol of faith, this is good to drop on rooted party members or downed players, i pick up honourable shield for faster cycle on the shield of absorption/shield of judgement so more prot/healing for the group with the added benefit of a puhsback, but our main CC comes from the “capt’n hammer”warrior.

And of course i run staff mainhand, with 25 stacks of life my empower heals for over 3k, my orb of light 1.7 on detonation add this to my boon duration uptime on vigour from SY or vigorous precision so i can pump out dodge rolls for 1.5k heal with selfless daring regularly and my stacks of might have good duration.

There are some drawbacks because im not running the runes that clear condis on shout use i have to slot purity but i think its a small price to pay for the uptime im getting on my boons. And that the party are getting from any boon i put out.

http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/guardian/?3.3|6.1a.h6|9.1k.h1j.e.1k.9a|1a.71h.1k.71h.1k.71g.1k.71g.1a.b1h.1k.b1h|21l.d1b.21l.d19.31l.d15.31l.d19.21l.d1b.3u.d19|0.0.k59.u29b.k29|1.7|x.16.19.18.1j|e

This is what i run, or close to it, im on my laptop so i cant verify if its exactly what i have but its very close.

Any guardian claiming success with 12.5k HP in wvw should be viewed sceptically.
Still, due respect to the fellows taking time to unmask the troll mathematically.

Full cleric is a mistake for any support guardian simply because you’ll be “overhealing” most of the time and any above average spike attempt or mild focus will get you killed due to low HP pool, and saying that relying on boons will avoid that happening, then it won’t.

In my opinion the best bet would be mixing a Soldier armor set with Cleric trinkets, Runes of the Soldier along with Pure of Voice trait will give all condition removal/convert you need with shouts.

If needed for some nasty disruption a.k.a enemy raging whilst fighting zergs, proceed with Staff/Hammer along with Sanctuary instead of a third shout for uncontested crowd control against stability lacking enemies.

Last time I heard great hate on the combination You are sugesting Lahm

from my personal experience I would advice considering Magi’s armor with cleric’s trinkets knight shield+mace and clerics staff with 20 points in Virtues and “Absolute Resolution” trait – that with some other traits can give You good supporter, who even alone have pretty good survivability.

Lahm.7056:

Full cleric is a mistake for any support guardian simply because you’ll be “overhealing” most of the time and any above average spike attempt or mild focus will get you killed due to low HP pool, and saying that relying on boons will avoid that happening, then it won’t.

In my opinion the best bet would be mixing a Soldier armor set with Cleric trinkets, Runes of the Soldier along with Pure of Voice trait will give all condition removal/convert you need with shouts.

If needed for some nasty disruption a.k.a enemy raging whilst fighting zergs, proceed with Staff/Hammer along with Sanctuary instead of a third shout for uncontested crowd control against stability lacking enemies.

LOL. Overhealing? Healing Power is weak as it is and there is no overhealing at this state.

Support guardians heal others apart from itself. you are making it sound like these support guardians are zerging alone. of course they will die if focused coz of their low hp.