Guild Wars 2

Title says it all.
I only use shields on gimmick fights. But when I do, not really sure if Im doing it right.
I was using 5% crit on my shield but Im feeling it doesnt affect my mace at all.

So, what sigil are you guys using? (Pve tank support)

Can’t comment. You need to post your build so we can have a better idea of what you need.

Power, vit, tough with some knight pieces in the mix.
AH + EM with some variables in the mix. Mostly shout build with runes of soldier.

So, control/support (as we can’t use the word tank!).

It depends. Sigil of Accuracy does not stack if you have one on each weapon (main and offhand) so don’t waste a slot if you already use Accuracy on your main hand. 5% by itself is not going to be noticeable. It’s the same as saying it will add one crit for every 20 attacks. If you have traits and other gear that buff crit chance or precision, go for it, but otherwise, forget it.

Since my guardian usually runs two sets of main/offhand weapons (mace+torch and scepter+focus), I like sigils that proc on swap for the off hand weapon.

On swap, Sigil of Hydromancy gives you a freeze on your enemies, and Sigil of Geomancy lays a decent bleed on your foes. I put the Hyromancy on the ranged set, so it gives more time to kite away from the enemy, and I put the Geomancy on the melee set, just for the condition damage benefit.

Personally I think the Sigils that help with defense or crit are much weaker/less effective than the ones that help increase damage so I lean towards Sigils that add damage.

What do “AH + EM” refer to?

Can’t ever go wrong with just slapping an energy sigil on there.

ah = altruistic healing; boons applied to allies(yourself included) heals a small bit
em = empowering might; crit hits give allies(yourself included) 5sec of might

em makes ah a powerful(staple or cookie cutter) pve and somewhat wvw build

as for sigil, energy you cannot go wrong with especially if you took selfless daring. i use it for dungeons and wvw and having an extra dodge is quite useful.

other notable mentions are sigil of battle if you swap often, strength if you run high crit chance, bloodlust if you never get downed

I agree with the sentiment that sigils should be used to increase damage, especially if you are playing primarily in PvE. The sigil of hydromancy can be fun in sPvP and WvW if you do much of that.

As for the Sigil of Accuracy not being useful, I always have one on my focus for my scepter/focus set. Since smite hits 15 times, that 5% can be noticeable.

For your mace/shield combo I think a Sigil of Energy would be a little wasteful as we already have VP up nearly 100% of the time. Sigil of Energy gives an extra dodge every 20 seconds (if you swap on cooldown) while VP is already giving a dodge every 5 seconds.

A Sigil of Strength can be useful to increase damage by adding even more might stacks in conjunction with EM (though it only effects you) while a Sigil of Force is a straight-line 5% damage increase with no gimmicks.

Something you haven’t said, and that really needs to be known, is what sigil you’re running on your mace.

I keep a couple of shields in my inventory. One would be slotted with Sigil of Perception or Sigil of Bloodlust (depending on my build) to buff my accuracy or power at the start of a session.

Once I’ve achieved 25 stacks I can switch to my other shield for another effect, such as energy, damage or lifesteal ( I tend to use accuracy sigils on the mainhand ).
If I’m downed, or move to a different battleground I switch back and start again.

If you feel underpowered go for a damage buff – either something that increases your crit ( accuracy, perception ) or base dps ( bloodlust or sigil of air )

If you want to maximise AH, then you can either choose lifesteal or something that generates might on crit

If you find your opponents are getting away from you, then hydromancy is a good bet, to apply chill on swap.

shield = sup sigil of energy.

why, well its a def item that I will only ever use when i need more def mid fight which likely means I will have already used my 2 dodges and having the 3rd one for heal/avoidance of a big hit to stay alive.

to be honest, my shield is really only ever equipped when I am in Arah and fighting Lupi to alternate the focus and shield 5’s when needed and to have the extra dodge if i miss time a dodge or get low on health after a bit of poorly timed lag.

I went with Energy, personally. Seemed to be the best place for it since I use scepter or mace depending on what I’m doing.

It has been some time since my first response, and I have been experimenting with my offhand sigils quite a bit.

I run a mostly defensive/survivabilty build and use mace/torch and scepter/shield or scepter/focus.

After trying quite a few, I have found Sigil of Restoration very productive so I use it on all my offhand weapons.

It is very helpful when you engage multiple foes at once, as these are the situations where you are likely to take some damage, so as soon as you fell just one, you get a heal. It is limited to one heal every 90 seconds to keep it from being OP, but that still allows you to keep your other heals in reserve.