Guild Wars 2

Hi guys,

I’ve been theorycrafting a support guard build for a while now, and have been testing it in unranked with a Plat power necro. Here’s the current build I’m using: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vVAQNAW8el8AhmhY9QwTIQTEH+DFOGuhfwGAd7DkTiK8CB-TZxHABwfQA8Z/BlfCAGXGAgLAAA

Occasionally I use Paladin over Knight if I expect a condi-heavy team. The build mainly revolves around coordinating (using voicechat) with the necro, when he gets low on health he can revert to shroud, and I can use the elite signet as he leaves shroud to full heal him. The signet has the added bonus of healing everyone to full, including myself. We can sustain 2v3s for a good while, though I’m finding that I crumble under serious focus. I could probably sustain longer with mace, but since the necro isn’t glued to my hip, sword gives me far superior mobility to catch up with him when he goes to challenge or defend a point. It also is much better to help supplement his burst with sword 2 -> sword 3.

That being said, the weaknesses of core guard under pressure make me wonder about how DH would fare, and I’ve been thinking about playing a build like this: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vVAQNAW8en8ABFdi1DBeCB0EhlKiSe2z9fHbACgIIbDOv0D-TZxHAB+s/A8HEAAuAAK/EAkvMAA

Fragments of Faith + Hunter’s Fortification replaces the need for a condi clear, and gives me more bunkery sustain. The extra stability is pretty important. Shield of Courage beats Virtue of Courage every day, and F1’s CC is very nice. Generally the reduced signet CD trait is unnecessary unless we’re making a series of bad plays, so the loss of Radiance isn’t a big deal.

I’ve found that overall support guard rivals other supports for utility, as with the Signet of Courage it has as good healing as ele (though the healing is more bursty) and with Mercy and Protective Reviver its rez potential is second to none. And of course bouncing people off point with Sanctuary + Shield 5 allows for quick, assured decaps even with 2 people there. Anyways, let me know what you think, especially as to whether the core or DH build is better.

Try this and let me know how it works for you.
You can also drop Dragon’s Maw for “Feel My Wrath!” for powerheal with quickness and help with condition management, more team oriented.

Warding Warden

Huskyboy.1053

1)FMW is pve skill

2)Get the only elite skill we have, to refresh your DH virtues, so u can block and heal more.

3) The healing signet is useless as well, rather have there a condi clense meditation or shout.

Aeolus.3615:

Huskyboy.1053

1)FMW is pve skill

2)Get the only elite skill we have, to refresh your DH virtues, so u can block and heal more.

3) The healing signet is useless as well, rather have there a condi clense meditation or shout.

Feel my Wrath’s quickness can turn the tides of a match (and can convert 1 condition+1 cleanse with the right setup)

Renewed focus without CD reduction it’s a pain and isn’t really needed if you don’t play aggressive marauder but a support build.

But without many on demand stability option the long casting sigils aren’t very helpful..

I’ve been using a similar build for quite some time now: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vVAQNAW7el8Ah2hYnQweIQTEH+DVOJqwL0GAd7DgjhbYPB-TJhXABAs/wslBA9JAQ8FBAA

I highly recommend ditching Pure of Voice, Runes of the Water, and the Knight’s amulet for Force of Will, Runes of the Monk, and a Mender’s amulet respectively. You shouldn’t be standing on the point with a build like this anyway (unless you’re using DH).
Signet of Courage is extremely good support, but if you’re too noob to use it or you know you’re gonna be focused, I guess you could swap to RF.

You were the mvp in todays match, pally

I’ve been playing Fashion Mage’s build ever since I spotted it on Metabattle, I love it despite having medium sustain compared to higher sustain for builds like Tempest and Druid.

The support build should only work with high outgoing heals IMO. Pure of Voice is just worse than the outgoing healing trait since Feel the Light itself is outgoing in nature. Also since we don’t have too many Aegis procs I found Honorable Staff a much better trait. More Empower for team Might, more CC, more heals, more swiftness and cleave. Plus extra boon duration is always nice.

I wanna try DH over Virtues though, the biggest problem by taking DH is the lack of Virtue refresh.

Vitali.5039:

You were the mvp in todays match, pally

Te he, what a coincidence. Thanks, it was a pleasure supporting you. :p

Vitali.5039:

Aeolus.3615:

Huskyboy.1053

1)FMW is pve skill

2)Get the only elite skill we have, to refresh your DH virtues, so u can block and heal more.

3) The healing signet is useless as well, rather have there a condi clense meditation or shout.

Feel my Wrath’s quickness can turn the tides of a match (and can convert 1 condition+1 cleanse with the right setup)

Renewed focus without CD reduction it’s a pain and isn’t really needed if you don’t play aggressive marauder but a support build.

But without many on demand stability option the long casting sigils aren’t very helpful..

Sadly betting in meditations reaches a higher performance :\ , smitter boon + monk focus.
More heal, and more condi cleanses, well the support i tended to use in pvp was “melt targerts before it lays eggs” its all that needs to play pvp in this game.. :\ then i would add a few things for support when was needed.

I’ll consider using Force of Will over Pure of Voice. For the most part, I don’t find it hard to keep my necro’s health topped off when using Signet of Courage, I don’t need more heals unless he’s being focused hard.

I did switch to my DH build yesterday and am liking it better, it gives me more bunkerability. That’s irrelevant in a 5-man but is useful in duo queue because it gives me more role flexibility; occasionally the necro will go plus a fight somewhere and I don’t need to follow, yet I can’t adequately hold a point with my core build. I used mace/shield sword/focus instead of staff sword/shield and am loving it, mace’s extra blocks and aoe protection improve sustain significantly. Also the extra blocks from Shield of Courage and Fragments of Faith allow me to more easily play Mender’s instead of Knight’s.

Mace/shield sward/focus is wath i was using in pvp as well, and still use on WvW.

Well DH trait “hunter fortification” helps condi cleanse but w/o meditation or more condi cleanse ur a easy target IMO.

When i played condi builds, guardian and DH not runing meditation + traps, even nowadays they are easy to kill.

The best support in this game is the damage stacking, all we can have for support are the virtues or some heals on blocks, but still it is easiers to get carried with damage output builds + medi based.

I could criticise ANet for their tons of pvp mistakes, but this is not the topic.

Aeolus.3615:

Mace/shield sward/focus is wath i was using in pvp as well, and still use on WvW.

Well DH trait “hunter fortification” helps condi cleanse but w/o meditation or more condi cleanse ur a easy target IMO.

When i played condi builds, guardian and DH not runing meditation + traps, even nowadays they are easy to kill.

The best support in this game is the damage stacking, all we can have for support are the virtues or some heals on blocks, but still it is easiers to get carried with damage output builds + medi based.

I could criticise ANet for their tons of pvp mistakes, but this is not the topic.

The only condi build that poses a serious threat against Mender’s DH is condi reaper with their unblockables and boon corrupts. Maybe condi rev but that’s still easier to handle. Anything else is quite manageable.

Aeolus.3615:

Vitali.5039:

Aeolus.3615:

Huskyboy.1053

1)FMW is pve skill

2)Get the only elite skill we have, to refresh your DH virtues, so u can block and heal more.

3) The healing signet is useless as well, rather have there a condi clense meditation or shout.

Feel my Wrath’s quickness can turn the tides of a match (and can convert 1 condition+1 cleanse with the right setup)

Renewed focus without CD reduction it’s a pain and isn’t really needed if you don’t play aggressive marauder but a support build.

But without many on demand stability option the long casting sigils aren’t very helpful..

Sadly betting in meditations reaches a higher performance :\ , smitter boon + monk focus.
More heal, and more condi cleanses, well the support i tended to use in pvp was “melt targerts before it lays eggs” its all that needs to play pvp in this game.. :\ then i would add a few things for support when was needed.

Mediations don’t support party members as well as the other skills.. and support it’s important: don’t make your ally die easily and don’t let your foes rally with kills.

Vitali.5039:

Aeolus.3615:

Vitali.5039:

Aeolus.3615:

Huskyboy.1053

1)FMW is pve skill

2)Get the only elite skill we have, to refresh your DH virtues, so u can block and heal more.

3) The healing signet is useless as well, rather have there a condi clense meditation or shout.

Feel my Wrath’s quickness can turn the tides of a match (and can convert 1 condition+1 cleanse with the right setup)

Renewed focus without CD reduction it’s a pain and isn’t really needed if you don’t play aggressive marauder but a support build.

But without many on demand stability option the long casting sigils aren’t very helpful..

Sadly betting in meditations reaches a higher performance :\ , smitter boon + monk focus.
More heal, and more condi cleanses, well the support i tended to use in pvp was “melt targerts before it lays eggs” its all that needs to play pvp in this game.. :\ then i would add a few things for support when was needed.

Mediations don’t support party members as well as the other skills.. and support it’s important: don’t make your ally die easily and don’t let your foes rally with kills.

They are for more selfish builds i know, but more important that dont make your ally die, is to make target die faster than he can burst your allies.

And its way more easy to be carried with damage output in this game than actually play with some mind and toughs on good gameplay, this game is way more simple than people thinks.

Shouts actually and consecrations it is not hard to overwhelm that kind of support, so imo better support with mobility and damage.

Aeolus.3615:

They are for more selfish builds i know, but more important that dont make your ally die, is to make target die faster than he can burst your allies.

And its way more easy to be carried with damage output in this game than actually play with some mind and toughs on good gameplay, this game is way more simple than people thinks.

Shouts actually and consecrations it is not hard to overwhelm that kind of support, so imo better support with mobility and damage.

Not really the most sound logic. If you’re playing a DPS build in a team comp then that’s fine, but if your necro needs support then I guarantee that doing more damage isn’t going to solve that glaring issue.

Also, mobility/damage =/= support. No offense but I literally cringe when I see people saying “I’m supporting my allies by dealing damage”.

Fashion Mage.3712:

Aeolus.3615:

They are for more selfish builds i know, but more important that dont make your ally die, is to make target die faster than he can burst your allies.

And its way more easy to be carried with damage output in this game than actually play with some mind and toughs on good gameplay, this game is way more simple than people thinks.

Shouts actually and consecrations it is not hard to overwhelm that kind of support, so imo better support with mobility and damage.

Not really the most sound logic. If you’re playing a DPS build in a team comp then that’s fine, but if your necro needs support then I guarantee that doing more damage isn’t going to solve that glaring issue.

Also, mobility/damage =/= support. No offense but I literally cringe when I see people saying “I’m supporting my allies by dealing damage”.

I know i felt the same when i was typing (i tend to play support on games )it but that is how ive find myself getting the best results, leech the damage ouput the game has, , guardian/dh has already some team defenses, and i would play with it, bit not make a full support build, primary on offense and then would tweak it a bit to adapt for the other person in team.

Even for WvW ive abandoned my guard/DH, im playing a zerker rev with hammer no condi removals no defensives besides 2 dodges and 1 heal, pure hammer spam leech due its damage output forcing other playrs to pull back or panicking them.

Yay, looking at the update seems that someone want this builds work.

Vitali.5039:

Yay, looking at the update seems that someone want this builds work.

still a bit of a shame these changes where pvp only when pve could benefit from them as well. but oh well.. maybe next ‘balance’ patch.

Khailyn.6248:

Vitali.5039:

Yay, looking at the update seems that someone want this builds work.

still a bit of a shame these changes where pvp only when pve could benefit from them as well. but oh well.. maybe next ‘balance’ patch.

They fear the mighty lootstick in WvW

Well, for one thing, that’s not a support build. ._.

Vitali.5039:

Yay, looking at the update seems that someone want this builds work.

I’m so glad that ANet are actually thinking for themselves and not balancing the game around what the meta sheep want, and I’m not just saying that for guardians. I hope they keep buffing underperforming but very interesting stuff like glamours, the ele’s staff, and so forth. Hopefully conjures and spirit weapons are next, and if the meta sheep QQ about it, all the more delicious.

Support in this game has an actual meaning and its usually buffing and healing. It’s a role. If you are mainly damage and were asked in chat at the start of match what you were and you said support you could cause others to switch into something not complementary at all.