Guild Wars 2

How useful do you guys find spirit weapons to be in PvP or PvE? I have seen very few builds in either category that utilize them at all. They don’t seem to be as purposeful as shouts or meditations. The knock down on the hammer is nice and the sword does okay damage, but are there really any situations where they’re the best choice? If you use them, how and why?

I use them underwater, and that’s where I see the most use out of them. I used to run a sword/torch damage build with spirit weapons. It is only a good build if you go balls-to-the-wall spirit weapons, it’s tough to mix them in with another build and get any sort of utility out of them.

Spirit shield is very, very, very powerful in fractals.

Bargaw.4832:

Spirit shield is very, very, very powerful in fractals.

^This.
I use spirit shield in fractals that need it and spirit sword underwater.

I find them quite fun in spvp, a bit meh elsewhere.

I always run the Sword spirit cause I enjoy the extra DPS as a Guardian.

When I need to range dps something and there’s no fear of being downed, I swap out one of my other utilities and go Sword + Hammer spirit for some decent combo DPS.

Spirits are handy for ranged combat because they are virtually indestructible. I’ve only ever met one boss that could actually bring down Spirit-Weapon hp, and I don’t really plan on returning to that dungeon (I don’t even remember what boss/fight it was).

I switch from Sword to Bow when I’m expecting lots of conditions.

I’ll be looking into the Shield spirit, not really used to using that one.

yes. i use all the spirit weapons depending on the situation. if its a boss fight, i summon the sword and hammer. if we face a mob, shield and bow.

Sword of Justice is a good way to get a free chunk of DPS if you have the free utility slot, while Hammer gets you a fair chunk of free controls. If you’re keeping an eye on it, you can get three knockbacks and a knockdown every time you summon one. It’s not the best thing ever but it’s okay for a 60s effective cooldown.

@Bargaw: Thanks for the tip on the shield in FotM

@OP: I roll with a hybrid of brutally’s Crit-Hammer AH build and I don’t ever use spirit weapons. I find them to not be as useful as shouts that give boons, condition removers, projectile walls, or stability buffs. The trade-off just isn’t there for what I do as a Guardian.

But, then again, it all depends on you in the end.

Good luck to ya.

As you can see in my soldier build you can use them and use them well. The way I left things in the build you have 40 points to swing what ever way. I’m testing each of those ways as we speak. PVP wise it’s more funny then I expected.

Bargaw.4832:

Spirit shield is very, very, very powerful in fractals.

I’ll be honest, I’ve never used spirit weapons unless I was goofing around in low-level areas. Could you go into detail how the shield works in fractals. Like, does it raise your toughness, or help you block more? I’m curious >_> anything to make fractals easier will catch my attention.

Azuriel.9137:

Bargaw.4832:

Spirit shield is very, very, very powerful in fractals.

I’ll be honest, I’ve never used spirit weapons unless I was goofing around in low-level areas. Could you go into detail how the shield works in fractals. Like, does it raise your toughness, or help you block more? I’m curious >_> anything to make fractals easier will catch my attention.

In quite a lot of fractals there are fights where enemies throw tonnes of projectiles around, and even more of them as you continue to scale up, the spirit shield is a fairly long lasting projectile shield, so you can use it, stand near it, and ignore all the ranged mobs pretty much.

Azuriel.9137:

Bargaw.4832:

Spirit shield is very, very, very powerful in fractals.

I’ll be honest, I’ve never used spirit weapons unless I was goofing around in low-level areas. Could you go into detail how the shield works in fractals. Like, does it raise your toughness, or help you block more? I’m curious >_> anything to make fractals easier will catch my attention.

Shield of the Avenger absorbs projectiles. This includes not only the typical autoattacks we normally think of as projectiles but also the harpy knockback, the green bolts in Old Tom, the Raving Asuras orbs, the Legendary Imbued Shaman’s arrows, the lava grubs. . . The list goes on.

Heinel.6548:

Azuriel.9137:

Bargaw.4832:

Spirit shield is very, very, very powerful in fractals.

I’ll be honest, I’ve never used spirit weapons unless I was goofing around in low-level areas. Could you go into detail how the shield works in fractals. Like, does it raise your toughness, or help you block more? I’m curious >_> anything to make fractals easier will catch my attention.

In quite a lot of fractals there are fights where enemies throw tonnes of projectiles around, and even more of them as you continue to scale up, the spirit shield is a fairly long lasting projectile shield, so you can use it, stand near it, and ignore all the ranged mobs pretty much.

I am so glad I have learned this. Now, does this apply only to the guardian, or for everyone next to the shield? Also, would it be good, in situations where projectiles rule, to bring along wall of Reflection and throw it up right after, or would it be smarter to have a shout or something?

Azuriel.9137:

I am so glad I have learned this. Now, does this apply only to the guardian, or for everyone next to the shield? Also, would it be good, in situations where projectiles rule, to bring along wall of Reflection and throw it up right after, or would it be smarter to have a shout or something?

It applies to everyone. If you have more than one guardian, you can stack, set up a rotation and have almost constant protection for the entire party.

And yes, in fights where it’s worth bringing SotA I always bring WoR as well, since they serve the same function. It’s usually wise to drop WoR first, though, since it has a shorter cooldown and actually reflects attacks rather than absorbs them.

Urthona.3198:

Azuriel.9137:

I am so glad I have learned this. Now, does this apply only to the guardian, or for everyone next to the shield? Also, would it be good, in situations where projectiles rule, to bring along wall of Reflection and throw it up right after, or would it be smarter to have a shout or something?

It applies to everyone. If you have more than one guardian, you can stack, set up a rotation and have almost constant protection for the entire party.

And yes, in fights where it’s worth bringing SotA I always bring WoR as well, since they serve the same function. It’s usually wise to drop WoR first, though, since it has a shorter cooldown and actually reflects attacks rather than absorbs them.

Can’t wait to try this out. Thank you

When I started playing this game, I was such a huge spirit weapon fanatic until I learned that shouts were generally better for what I wanted to do. However, I do occasionally switch to certain spirit weapons if the situation calls for it.

The spirit hammer shines with single target shutdown, which seems to work best with underwater combat’s chaotic feel. I no longer use this for general dungeon group play and solo play because I spend half the time chasing the target instead of killing it. Also, it’s detrimental to group play because the hammer separates mobs when you want them together for AoE and because it messes up defiant stack management on bosses.

The spirit sword is pretty much free extra damage. When fully traited, if I remember correctly, you can command it four times before it vanishes.

The spirit bow is pretty nice as a supportive weapon with its condition removal and the heal on command is not bad. However, because my team is usually very mobile, it’s hard to justify using this over shouts and other quick access heals.

The spirit shield is now my first priority spirit weapon as many things in this game have dangerous projectiles. I’d have to say it’s one of the most powerful, if not the most powerful, anti projectiles in the game. When fully traited, you have a 30 second anti projectile that you can reposition. I even think guardians not specced for spirit weapons should be using this when the situation calls for it. If there is any spirit weapon a guardian should be using, it’s this one. If the tooltip was more clear, more guardians would probably be using this spirit weapon. This thing essentially shuts down anything that relies heavily on projectiles. Why would one not use this for those situations when it occurs a lot?

The really great thing about spirit weapons is that they can draw aggro, but they’re impossible to damage. So if an enemy starts attacking one of your spirit weapons, that’s 20 to 60 seconds where the rest of your group isn’t taking non-AoE damage from that enemy.

1) Wall of Reflection is better than Shield of the Avenger. Traited shield is 30/78, or 38% uptime. Traited wall is 12/32, or 37% uptime, but only takes up one trait. Moreover, it is easier to control the placement of the wall, and it reflects, not just absorbs. Also, the shield isn’t up 100% of the time, it’s only up about 80% of the time. Of course, you can always use both.

2) The Sword of Justice command is actually quite slow. Even if you trait it to not be destroyed on command, the animation + recovery of the move still puts it out of commission for the entire 10 seconds of the recharge. It’s only really worth using the command if you can time it reliably to occur right as the weapon is about to vanish. Otherwise, you actually get more damage just letting the sword attack on its own.