Guild Wars 2

Hello people of the Guardian forums.

I recently acquired Rodgort’s Flame on my guardian, but due to having only made him just two weeks ago, I am a complete noob to the finer tuning of Guardians.

I fully intend to acquire the legendary torch Rodgort, and use it quite a bit (Most likely in WvW, PvE, and maybe PvP), but the problem is I have no idea what kind of build pulls the most out of the Torch off hand.

So, I come to you guys, who are experienced in this form of thing, and ask that someone helps me set up a build to use.

Thanks for any advice or premade builds that come in here!

Torch is a good offhand for scepter in small scale PvP fights, particularly in offensive builds like meditation burst. The 4 skill is a high damage ranged nuke that works well when paired with the scepter immobilize.

I’l look into getting a Scepter/Torch build then, thank you.

Anyone else have ideas for this? My guild so far has said Sword/Torch is a good setup.

Scepter/torch has much better synergy than sword/torch. For WvW/PvP a solid build for this is X/6/6/X/X, you can run both scepter/torch and sword/focus.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vUAQRAsd7flsApaolDxbI8DRRkLw6BAPo/wFc9AiRshA-zUCBYfFRjmgQZk+IQUBwpmFRjtMsIasKkYaXAqXLqOAACwNbz2sNbzbezb+oH9oH9oHtbe0be0bezSBExyI-w

(It’s in German for some reason, have to switch to English.)

I also forgot to mention that mace/torch works very well too. This is due to the spike potential of Protector’s Strike and Zealot’s Fire.

Thank you for the link, Harbinger.

Looks like I’l be shopping for a matching scepter then.

Harbinger.8637:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vUAQRAsd7flsApaolDxbI8DRRkLw6BAPo/wFc9AiRshA-zUCBYfFRjmgQZk+IQUBwpmFRjtMsIasKkYaXAqXLqOAACwNbz2sNbzbezb+oH9oH9oHtbe0be0bezSBExyI-w

(It’s in German for some reason, have to switch to English.)

You can select the language in your url by adding the language prefix to the site name: de for German, en for English, fr for French and ru for Russian. To get the English version of your build, the link is then
http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vUAQRAsd7flsApaolDxbI8DRRkLw6BAPo/wFc9AiRshA-zUCBYfFRjmgQZk+IQUBwpmFRjtMsIasKkYaXAqXLqOAACwNbz2sNbzbezb+oH9oH9oHtbe0be0bezSBExyI-w

Unsing a Torch=using only 4 weaponskills. Skill 5 is garbage and the Focus will always outshine the torch.
The little bit extradps from skill 4 is rarely worth it. Especially in pvp where control/utility is better then burst.

I find it hard to see how a cone effect condition removal would be garbage, if you play in a group.

It will usually never happen that u can hit both, allie and enemy. Your DPS will drop hard, and the condiremove is slow and bad.

In PvP people have (or should have) enough condiclease, and it does not even remove your own conditions.
Focus gives u 3 blocks, bouncing blind, regeneration and good dmg/spike too. Much better then the torch.

Because when you have to choose between a half a second cast time condi removal wich also is a fire field, and using a long channeled ability and doing no damage during that time, you’ll always choose the first option. Torch doesn’t suck, everything is superior. There’s not that many situations where you need single target damage over blind,vuln,regen, personal condi removal, a blast, 3 blocks, and still good damage, wich is AOE, unlike torch.

Untill Torch 5 gets reworked (or a rly rly big dmgbuff, like rangers RF) the weapon will never be as viable as focus.

Well, guess I’m gonna just be coping with being less viable than other guardians.

I seriously like the model of Rodgort >.>

You can still use it out of combat/ make a ranger or a mesmer instead. If you insist on using torch, use torch 4 off cooldown on bosses, and don’t ever touch torch 5.

Mace/torch+scepter/focus is a fun combo for PVE. As stated it’s not the most efficient but that’s not really relevant – provided you are geared/specced properly everything will die fast enough that neither you or your group will care.

The typical build I use when I’m having fun with this set is similar to this: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fVAQJApfl0ApQo9CxVI8DNR8gY9nXbqMwEMnuF-ThRBABXt/o8DP9ML8gCA4EKQp6PmpEEA-e

It’s better to run these types of builds when you’ve got a group composition that accommodates it but otherwise it’ll work well enough for most pve encounters.

As Harbinger already mentioned, symbol of faith is what allows you to use zealot’s fire more or less on cooldown without losing too much damage.

I’ve used sword/torch in an experimental medi variant I made some time ago: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fVAQNAsfRnkIS5QWNEeDB/QmIeoyOFbxZsqA46fIIyBA-TlSBwA003wVJBjHAgZlgROlCXVm1Vpwt9HGq+DgjUApAiYZE-w

The main idea was to use permeating wrath in conjunction with the flame legion runes. This would proc AoE burning onto a group of enemies, thus making the +7% damage bonus from the runes apply to all targets hit by the following AoE attacks (i.e. smite condition, whirling wrath, &c.). In conjunction with the torch, it could ensure multiple targets were constantly burning in order to ensure the +7% damage bonus would be in effect often.

However, I think it fails at being as effective at its job as your garden variety medi build is, but I’ve just stuck with it. In particular, the absence of traveler runes means you’re quite slow, although this can be somewhat remedied if you’re roaming with a group that can speed you up. It also forfeits a lot of other good traits in order to dump 30 into virtues, and I don’t think the trade-off is necessarily that good. And yes, I know you’re not supposed to use litany of wrath, but I was making this as a gimmick build, so it needed to have it.

That said, I feel torch is an appropriate alternative to a focus in your standard sword/focus+GS medi spec. Just use the same setup, but toss the focus for a torch. The zealot’s flame skill in particular can be extremely useful, especially if you’re running fiery wrath. The thrown portion of it can hit quite hard, and helps alleviate the issue that some people will run into with medi specs where they can’t quite keep up with people that are kiting them. Of course, the zealot’s fire projectile doesn’t really handle ledges well, which is a bit annoying (i.e. can’t throw it at someone if you’re above them on a wall). The cleansing flame is also useful as a form of mid-ranged AoE damage, although it’s definitely geared more towards a support-type role. I think if they gave cleansing flame some sort of buff, it would make the torch a much more competitive alternative to the focus for medi builds compared to what it is now.