Guild Wars 2

Hi all!

I swore I’d stick to Thief and Engineer to break from my usual heavy armor/warrior types I gravitate to in fantasy games, but I couldn’t stay away. I’m really loving the Guardian (I had a Warrior all through Beta so I know enough of both that Guardian clicks with me more).

However, I recently stepped into WvW to break some of the questing monotony and I felt like I couldn’t do anything. Coming from my Thief (and having played a Warrior and Ranger and Ele), I know that not all classes are suited to the siege, but in defending a keep or assaulting a keep I felt like I was missing something. Especially defense; most of my spells wouldn’t target anything and aside from the reflect utility, I didn’t feel I was offering much.

I am packing a Staff as I hear that’s the WvW tool of choice, and I rock the Scepter/Focus in cases where Melee isn’t an option.

Any tips and tricks?

Stand in front of the door and auto attack lol I hear it still hits the attackers from the inside

KensaiZen.3740:

Stand in front of the door and auto attack lol I hear it still hits the attackers from the inside

This. (With a staff)

Also, pop out of the gate, cast Wall of reflection and pop back in. Then watch all the cool numbers + you helped delaying the destruction of the gate.

Another now and then option would be to use tome of wrath, get on top of the wall and spam #1 on a cluster on enemies.

ANOTHER option would be to pop out of the gate, throw some AoE’s around, throw the enemies into disarray and pop back in.
You can survive any amount of enemies with “Save yourselves” and “Stand your ground”. (for a short duration of time)

Hope this helps.

We use to be useful in Keep defenses, with our AOE staff and Wall of Reflection, but now players are getting smarter, Staff and WoR becomes obsolete to be honest. We dont have a viable Burst or AOE range weapon. We’re not that useful anymore in defense.

But i do see myself excel in covert ops grps, going around ninja supply points and towers or backdoor. Basically party support or DPS in small groups.

1. Leap into a giant pack of enemies with Stand Your Ground and Save Yourselves active.
2. Pull in even more with GS#5.
3. Drop a Wall of Reflection because it makes rangers just stare at it like a monkey and do nothing for 10 seconds (or shoot themselves in the face which is even more hilarious).
4. Start your whirlwind of ultimate lawnmowing and watch them all flee in terror.
5. Dodge-roll backwards from the Wall of Reflection to get extra points for style.

:p

Did it a couple of times at one point. No idea why they were so afraid of me though and I was in a pretty reckless mood

Just run to group of enemy players and burn them.

“1. Leap into a giant pack of enemies with Stand Your Ground and Save Yourselves active.
2. Pull in even more with GS#5.
3. Drop a Wall of Reflection because it makes rangers just stare at it like a monkey and do nothing for 10 seconds (or shoot themselves in the face which is even more hilarious).
4. Start your whirlwind of ultimate lawnmowing and watch them all flee in terror.
5. Dodge-roll backwards from the Wall of Reflection to get extra points for style.
:p”

This cracked me up.
(Annoys me that I can’t quote on the forums half the time… ANet needs to fix Forum bugs)

glad i’m not the only one who’s experiencing forum bugs. but not glad they are present. lol.

anyways, haha, that’s awesome! actually one can do decent damage when defending keeps. as said, pop out, cause a little havoc, rush back in. most of the time, most people will be so focused on the gate, they won’t even know what hit them until you’ve started leaving already. though i see more and more people hanging back a little looking for people like this so just be careful and don’t get caught!

- Tome of Wrath works wonders on the wall, and even while on the road and pushing enemies back!
- the staff is decent but i prefer the scepter and shield (if the gate needs a bit of help, i want to believe you can hit #5 right up at the gate and should push everyone back. i keep immobilizing behind the gate as well as drop #2s from behind the gate. staff #1 spam can be good too. especially if you can find a group of guardians to do the same. don’t forget you can use #4 to charge up first
- i spam scepter #2 on siege they are building and usually does a pretty good job. a few times i’ve stopped siege’s being built (of course, coupled with the help of my awsome allies and THEIR AoE’s
- wall of reflect or line of warding can prove useful as well in certain situations. even if ranged know that WoR is up, it at least stops them from attacking for a bit

- i love taking stragglers out too. not saying i like being a bully, but having two ranged immobilizes hammer #3 and scepter #3 helps a lot in not letting enemies get away when you’ve gained the upper hand

defs get a lot of my kills from defending towers / keeps alone!

Thank you for the suggestions, I’ll give them all a try!

Shield #5 to push group of enemies off cliffside brings a smile on my face.

Get a good bubble guardian build and your team will love you forever.

No, the other team will never get smarter, and they will always endlessly pound away at a wall of reflection killing themselves. Especially if you drop it on a door or chokepoint.

This is because people are, by nature, dumb.

Thebacklash.8396

(Annoys me that I can’t quote on the forums half the time… ANet needs to fix Forum bugs)

Learn2Quote! Like this (remove the space) :
[quot e=Thebackslash.8396]Their message[/quote]

End of annoyance.

quick question for some WvW vet Guards.
if you’re inside a tower, can you walk up to the gate on the inside and drop a Wall of Reflection? or do you need to do it from the outside? either trait for ground targeting? or jump down, drop and get back inside

I do the following during defending;

1) Run out portal and cast Wall of Reflection in front of the gate.

2) Shout “Save Yourselves” and beat on the Ram for about 6-7secs.

3) Cast Sanctuary and continue to beat on Ram for another 6secs.

4) Double roll through portal and switch to staff. Find a cluster of allies and use #4 skill.

5) Tickle enemies through the gate until I can repeat one of the previous steps.

I’ve started playing a ranger recently just for a change, and my Guardian definitely impacts a siege more. Get a couple Guardians doing the above and enemy Rams have no chance. Just pray someone took the initiative to have some sort of anti-catapult plan.

As for being on the offensive during a siege, all I can do is spam Staff #2, “Retreat”, and “Save Yourself” to bring in as much supply as I can. If running is boring me, I like to sit inside the portal with my finger on a knock back skill, just waiting for someone to pop out. I love few things more than my Hammer’s #4 skill.

What do guardians do in WvW?

We die. A lot. Slow healing and a defence that is good against long-cast, slow attacks are only good against single mobs, it seems.

WvW is about fast spike damage. Guardians don’t belong there.

wow, if you die a lot in WvW as guardian, then you might rethink the way you playing….

@Drgori: That is the most common response to Svarti.

Guardians do have a bit of a problem in WvWvW:
Either we focus heavily on support. This way we make a big difference, but get no reward.
If we want to focus on ranged damage, our playstyle is extremely boring.
High Damage builds are pretty risky and harder to successfully pull of.

Even if I die a decent number of times, I keep coming back.

Nothing beats the satisfaction in seeing the enemy running away when I whip out my Spirit Weapons and Dogs (my character is human, elite skill) or they engage and there is more than 1 of them and my tools rally me if I am down and take them in the end.

I tend to lean on the safer side and run with others but I’ve gone out on my own to take Quaggan camps. I just hope that I can flip it fast enough before one of the other teams want it (I avoid underwater combat with other players).

I’m more of a bunker build atm, running greatsword and hammer. Pretty much I jump into the middle of the zerg and cause as much chaos as I can. I can break their line most of the time. I run all shouts w/Altruistic Healing. Which is great in WvW because all the allies around you most of the time.

I love Guardian in WvW you just feel like you’re invincible. Well I do…

Be a Boss!

Svarty.8019

Learn2Quote!

so…. I need to go out of my way to quote someone, cause Arenanet’s forums are bugged?
I know it’s pretty basic commands etc, but why should I have to in the first place?
I can log out, log back in and come back to this same thread… and the buttons will be there. As soon as I hit “Post Reply” they will be there on ALL threads like they should… for a while, then they disappear again.

Another great thing I love to do. Great for buying time and trolling.

Health drops below 20% become invulnerable for five seconds. (Rune of Svanir)
Renewed Focus right after five more seconds. (if using elite focus)
Finally Shelter block two seconds.

That’s twelve seconds of invulnerability. LOL

Haven’t tried it since I run all shouts, but I’m sure you could use Sanctuary after Shelter. For another six seconds for a total of eighteen seconds.

The people who are trying to min-max in WvW still don’t understand WvW.

WvW is about utility and versitility. There is a middle ground between Dmg (stats from gear) and Defense (from Utility/Elite skills).

As a general rule of thumb for me, my bases are:
2700+ Attack
25% Crit (55% crit dmg (this is LOW))
+600 Healing
15.5k Health
2400-2500 Armor

Don’t listen tot he nay-sayers… they just haven’t figured it out yet.

Thebacklash.8396:

Svarty.8019

Learn2Quote!

so…. I need to go out of my way to quote someone, cause Arenanet’s forums are bugged?
I know it’s pretty basic commands etc, but why should I have to in the first place?
I can log out, log back in and come back to this same thread… and the buttons will be there. As soon as I hit “Post Reply” they will be there on ALL threads like they should… for a while, then they disappear again.

I have the same problem and I agree that we shouldn’t have the problem, but you said

Annoys me that I can’t quote

You can.

i absolutely LOVE playing the Guardian in WvW. i’m not a big PvPer, but WvW is so much fun. each time i enter the EB or BL’s.. i like it more and more.

last night, i switched it up and sported the staff, as opposed to the scepter / shield or focus for my second set and was completely different play style! but it’s great. a lot of it is psychological when in a mexican standoff against enemies. somehow, running in head first with a staff spamming 1 and the occasional 2 scares people off and a little hesitation CAN mean life and death in WvW/PvP

was able to hold off a 6 man scout/attack on a tower on my lonesome with siege and my elite Wrath of Tome and or scepter #2 / Staff #3. they eventually gave up and went to take the supply camp nearby. of course, i’d already have notified my team so by the time they took the camp, we had a party of 10-15 and retook it in a matter of minutes.

also had my first 1v2 experience. i have the bad habit of turning tail whenever i see enemies on my own, but i figured what the hell, i can only practice out of this. and i saw i was holding up more than fine myself, so i knock one guy away, trap the other and focused my attacks on him. utilizing CC and utilities well, and paired with a bit of luck, i was able to take them both out one by one! i know thi sisn’t much but it’s a small feat for meD

funny bit is , accidentally aggo-ed a vet wolf pack nearby and they kept attacking me and they don’t just nibble around! lol almost died during the “finish them” animation. that woulda been terrible. lol

keep trying at it! and soon you’ll find a way and place in WvW.

I just did acouple of hours with the staff and it’s a blast. Never really bother with it until now.

Staff + shouts w/Altruistic Healing. You’re pretty much invincible, with all the boons going everywhere getting you heals lol. Plus using Empower then switching to the greatsword for lulz dmg.

Definitely going to be rocking the staff all the time. With either a gs or hammer, just depends on the mood.

Following the zerg around in siege warfare isn’t the only thing you can do as a Guardian.
My guildies and I like to do “hit and run” attacks on dolyaks and supply camps, control points, etc. with a 5 man group. My job is to charge in like Galahad, and scatter the enemy group while a mesmer, thief, and/or elementalist pick them off as they run. With this we have wiped camp defenders in 2 vs 6, 3 vs 8, 4 vs 10. Even if it’s a vent coordinated guild group vs a disorganized group of pugs, it’s still quite satisfying.

I run an offensive 10/30/30/0/0 sword&shield/scepter&torch triple meditation build for this and it is quite effective for short camp and control point fights.

Learn to switch running and fighting builds.

Regardless of equipment, guardians need renewed focus, contemplation of purity, a weapon with crowd control/damage mitigation, and optionally Save Yourselves or a meditation for solo escape. When you’re targeted, pop Save Yourselves or the meditation and use the weapon skill, then pop contemplation of purity, and if they still manage to stunlock you, quickly pop all your virtues and hit renewed focus after they enter the combo chain that’s supposed to down you – those three seconds will eat up their attack and all their best stuff will be on cooldown. Mix it up depending on the circumstance, but learn that once they stun you, the heavy hitting combo always follows, so use one or the other block or dodge.

After you meet the group, switch to whatever, but unless you are a meditation guardian, be exceedingly mindful of whether everyone’s retreating or not since you actually have the worst chances in escaping zerg. No cloak, no clones, no super fast buffed HP form that does anything but help your long gone friends.

Staff is an exceedingly good weapon because it’s basically a 20 foot greatsword and should be treated as such. It insta-hits at range and has piercing, so you should be spamming it when running after a mob because you can tag people just out of melee even if they’re avoiding projectiles and you can hit downed people without looking at them.

Learn to fight at 25% HP because that’s where toughness and regen come in. People will start using their finisher attacks on you at that HP level and there’s so many ways you can mitigate that damage and render them powerless that it’s pretty much the only way you can get actual kills instead of assists. Wait for someone to get kitteny and try to down you and watch them reduced to plinking you when you’re back up at full health and stunlocking them to oblivion.

If you spend a lot of time in the downed state, try being a spirit weapon guardian. Hammer and Shield will prevent people from dunking you as well as providing an obscene amount of downed damage independent of your status, and if they last long enough, you’ll probably be able to rally off them.

Also you can send spirit weapons in to harrass ground level siege weapons and retreating enemies at collossal range. This is situational and independent of your trait status so you don’t even need to spec for its eventuality. If you see a siege weapon that you can only spend 1 second attacking before you have to retreat, call your spirit weapons in, tag the weapon, then bug out of there while it’s still a target. Spirit weapons are basically unkillable so it’s safe damage on your part.

Guardians have a spell which pulls enemies to him. ESSENTIAL if you’re fighting multiple enemies with your group. Usually our guardian PULLS everything, then our ranger ROOTS everything, then we unload aoes. Also you have a healing bubble, I’ve seen that help many people out :P

I run front position with a warrior in my guilds Strike Team.

We’re a 5man well-oiled organized machine. Wiping Zergs clear off the map and away from Keeps. I really wouldnt know what you’d call my build, i came up with it on my own and have been running with it since early September and it allows me to pump out a lot of dmg, I use a GS/Staff.

My job is to run Point Position with the warrior, i run in first cause a lot of ruckus and the warrior is right at my back Whirlwind-ing. We fight and run through for a couple sec until everyone see us there and grabs their attention. Then we have our 3 others bring up the rear right behind us and Nuke em will their back are turned.

I dont get even downed very often in WvW, not to say i dont take some dmg but i utilize the fact that dodging heals me as well as crits give me vigor for endurance very well.

My 2 cents

-Tzenjin

Guardian is one of the best WvW classes in my humble opinion. The reason for this is versatility. You can go DPS if you want, or support. I find I get more out of running a tanky support role in WvW. I hardly ever die, I contribute a ton to the group, and I can still rack up kills.

Playing a Guardian isn’t the same as playing a Warrior. Too many people think WvW is just about zerging and killing other players. It’s actually much more strategic than that. I run a Support Build that maximizes my Health Pool, Power, and Boon Duration. My power is over 3,000, right now with realm bonuses I have around 25,000 HP, and my boon duration is 80% longer with runes and consumables.

For support, nothing beats the Staff. This is my go-to weapon for both support and DPS in WvW. Nothing is better. NOTHING. The auto attack is AOE based, so standing behind a gate and spamming that will rack up the kills during a siege. With 2-Handed Mastery traited, Orb of Light has like a 1.5 second recharge. You can spam this skill into groups of enemies and watch as damage numbers fly by because it hits EVERYTHING in it’s path for 1200 meters. Sure, it’s slow as all-get-out, but in situations where you’re fighting big groups, nobody sees it coming, and it crits like a mutha. I’ll see 3K crits from Orb of Light sometimes since my Valkyrie armor buffs up crit damage so much.

Symbol of Swiftness not only grants speed, which is great for chasing down enemies or escaping fights, but specced right, it can heal allies and remove conditions. Plus, it’s an AOE DOT! With it’s short cooldown, I’m dropping this on grouped up enemies constantly and watching their health tick down. You can cast this from a distance so you’re constantly able to place it where it can do the most damage, even on the tops of walls and towers.

Empower is the best buff skill you have. In a battle, whether you’re defending or attacking, you’re dropping 12 stacks of might on people, AND healing them. I use this whenever it’s off cooldown. Buffing your rangers while defending a keep with 12 stacks of might is a massive DPS increase. And the Healing AOE radius is huge. Plus, when you’re specced into 80% longer boon duration like I am, that might lasts FOREVER. With more than one Guardian using this skill, defenders can have permanent 25 stacks of might on them.

Finally, Line of Warding. This isn’t a great skill, but it does have it’s uses. You can use it to block choke points and portal entrances into keeps. But it’s real use is the light combo condition removal. If you rotate this with Wall or Reflection, anyone who shoots through it removes conditions, which in WvW is a HUGE deal. Drop this in front of archers while defending a keep, and it keeps them alive a lot longer.

Consecrations are HUGELY powerful in WvW. I think everyone can attest to Wall of Reflection’s awesomeness. Sure, smart players will learn to avoid it, but most don’t. And even if they do stop firing, your side can still attack, which gives you an advantage. And in the heat of battle with all the spells being dropped, most people don’t notice it. I use ground targeting with my consecrations, so I can stand over a gate and drop this down in front of it and laugh as I see a littany of damage numbers pop up on my screen. But more than that, you can use purging flames both offensively and defensively, since it not only removes conditions, but causes condition damage and is a fire combo field. I’ll rotate dropping this on allies or in the middle of an enemy zerg for a nice DOT. Plus, with ground targeting enabled, you don’t have to make yourself vulnerable by running into the middle of the battle, you can cast if from afar.

Sanctuary can be really good for rezzing allies, or popping it before you use your elite. I’ll also place this on top of Rams for it’s heal over time. It’s useless against AOE damge and siege equipment though, so I don’t use it as much as others do.

And Shouts is where an increased boon duration of 80% really shine. Retreat’s swiftness boon lasts an extremely long time, making your team much more mobile. Plus, the aegis granted to 5 teammates can be a huge deal. Rotate this with Virtue of Courage and you’re helping keep your team up longer in a protracted battle. And the buffs you get from Stand Your Ground last FOREVER, while removing conditions from allies. And any protection or retaliation your shouts give to the group can save their butts in a clutch.

The Tomb of Courage can be a huge deal, especially in choke point battles where your team is grouped up. The AOE heal is amazing on it. Tomb of Wrath is also great when defending a keep or in a zerg situation.

A properly traited Virtue of Resolve is a big deal. Not only is it a small AOE heal, but it removes 3 conditions. Between this and your consecrations and shouts, you never have an excuse to have conditions on you or your allies.

Also, if you go deep into the Honor line, your dodge roll becomes an AOE heal. Not only are you healing allies, but yourself as well, and considering how much you doge in PvP, this skill is amazing. Plus, it scales well with healing power.

Oh, and with my huge health pool, I’m able to rez allies in very dangerous situations. I think people tend to fail to realize how important rezzing allies on the field is.

And if you want to go a more glass cannon route, you can. Both Staff and Greatsword can do incredible damage, as well as hammer. And you can spec to be more of a balanced tank/dps build if you want to, while still offering a lot of support and utility.

It’s for all these reasons that I love my Guardian in WvW. I play him there all the time.

PsionicDingo.2065:

I am packing a Staff as I hear that’s the WvW tool of choice, and I rock the Scepter/Focus in cases where Melee isn’t an option.

there is only one rule in wvw when you play guardian. melee is always an option. and i do mean always. embrace melee and realize that guardian is by far the most overpowered pushing class in this game.

great points brought up by many others as well!! this is awesome. makes me want to even spend some coin and try out new builds. brought the staff onto the battlefield the other day! and it worked wonders! crazy how #4 can make such a HUGE difference to you and your allies. loving it so far. #1 spamming defending a game is awesome. i was the last man standing at a tower, and unfortunately lost it : ((( but i definitely got some XP just from spamming 1 and 2.

that being said, when i wanna dish out dmg, i ALWAYS go melee. obviously when it’s safe enough. if you see a 50 man zerg coming your way, and there are only 3 of you, best bet is to run, regroup and come back at them harder. but i am getting more and more comfortable facing enemy players. sometimes it’ll cost a few deaths to learn. but after that, i am dying less now.

hope this thread keeps going! some invaluable points as to what Guardians can do in WvW. which is so so much.

Similar to others, once I started using a staff, I didn’t go back. :P Its abilities aren’t dmg-oriented, but it definitely adds-up when you consider how long a guardian can stay alive. Plus, they’re a lot of fun to use!

I’m primarily a vitality/toughness build, but I’ve traited/runed into improving boons. I think without orb-bonuses, I sit at close to 3k armor & 18k health, which would’ve been higher without the focus on boons. ;P

that’s decent HP! i am thinking i MIGHT need a different build (or at least, armorset) for WvW. i’m hovering around 15k and while i do okay, in WvW, conditions can stack up SO fast, a large pool of HP is awesome to have.

do you feel with the focus on boons is pretty beneficial? i’ve yet to dig into that side of builds for now. i can see how you love using the staffD

is there anyone that excels using mace + weapon in WvW? curious to see how that set holds up.