Guild Wars 2

Hi,

I’d like some tips on WvWvW as Guardian. I’m fine running in a group and can survive a 1v1 or even 2v1 (ie get away without dying). However, I have major issues actually winning a 1v1 ie killing the other player, and if I can’t get an escape route I always eventually die.

My build is similar to this:

http://en.gw2codex.com/build/17524-tank-guardian-signets-shouts

And gear is full exotic/ascended cleric/knights (ie PVT+healing) with 6x soldier runes.

I’d like to get better – advice welcome. What am I doing wrong?

Thanks.

Instead of mace use staff or hammer(i would go for hammer).

With mace you wont reach 90% of the adversaries (i dont know how you guys play there) but a clever player will try to kill you within range and avoid loosing mobility that is when a guardian w/o wand cant do nothin .

P.S tank does not exist here

Yeah, most of the time I can’t reach them.

If I switch to hammer, I can get to them with #2. How do I keep them in range while I pound on them, once skill #5 wears off?

Thanks.

Midnightjade.3520:

Yeah, most of the time I can’t reach them.

If I switch to hammer, I can get to them with #2. How do I keep them in range while I pound on them, once skill #5 wears off?

Thanks.

humm i would rather make a WvW stat build with /krit/power/vit and use Judge’s Intervention on a meditation build if i wanted to go on charge.

try to play with gear here : http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/

Midnightjade.3520:

Yeah, most of the time I can’t reach them.

If I switch to hammer, I can get to them with #2. How do I keep them in range while I pound on them, once skill #5 wears off?

Thanks.

With mace, you don’t. You can use hammer skill 3 to immobilize (until they use a stun breaker) to gain you a second to catch up. You can swap to sword and use skill 2 to teleport gap close. You can swap to scepter and use skill 3 to immobilize (same issue as hammer skill 3) You can swap to greatsword and use skill 5 to pull them in. You can use utilities that teleport such as Judges Intervention to gap close. Essentially if you’re having issues with them running away, you should look at changing either your main hand alternate set or your utilities to get yourself at least one more gap closer and/or an additional immobilize.

I still prefer mace, because my Norn guardian is themed (drunkard using Moonshine when she hits 80.)

I’ve used Scepter 3 to immobilize and then Hammer 542 to finish people off – not sure GS5 would work well since you have to actually connect first but GS3 at least gets you close. And I’ll start using Judge’s Intervention – good idea. Hadn’t even occurred to me to use Sword 2.

Overall, it sounds like maybe Hammer main and a different alternate, and swap a #7 skill would be a good idea. Will need to balance it though.

This is really helpful – thanks!

The calc shows you as having GS + M/S.

I can’t see the stats you have but I’m assuming you’re somewhere around 2700 attk and 30% crit w/ maybe 30% crit dmg?

You’re not going to have burst with this build so it’s going to be a very long fight…. this is one of the things that is frustrating: specing for group play, but not viable when out roaming by yourself.

There is a very fine line to find that sweet spot.

I would say, if you’re out and about on your own, just change out your signet for Judges Intervention. That will help significantly w/ the kiting. Don’t change anything else, just try that first as swaping utilities on the fly is easier than gear setup (unless you have tons of gear in your back and you’re organized))))

Stay in GS for the vast majority of the fight and play a little counter intuitive: When they close in on you (or burst), open w/ your Symbol + Protectors Strike… then shield #5 to push them and #4 for dmg, then, switch to GS (as they’ll be knocked back) to smack them a couple times and wait for them to ‘escape/dodge’ for your chain.

You have no real burst. just try to apply constant pressure and save your chain/blinds for when they start to heal.

It’s a “Timing” fight.

I’ll try that. And yes, I don’t carry a lot of extra gear around although I do carry several weapons – hammer, GS, mace, shield (soon to be FSP!), scepter and staff.

I’m definitely below 30% crit and 30% crit damage – I think I can spare a few other stats to raise those both up to at least hit a bit harder without sacrificing survivability.

And I’ll switch to Judges’ Intervention when roaming.

Thanks.

I’ll just reinforce what other people are saying from my own experiences. Mace is definitely not a good weapon in general for WvW and really bad 1v1. Switching to a hammer should help quite a bit. Using Judges Intervention is also incredibly important. Keep in mind that JI is instant cast and doesn’t break channel times, meaning you can use it in the middle of an attack and the attack will still land. I.E. Ring of Warding + JI to teleport and instantly trap other players.

Overall your damage is going to be pretty low compared to other classes so you might want to consider adding some berserker gear into the mix. Gives you some more burst damage which IMO is important for guardians since they are melee centric and don’t have many skills to keep people in melee range for very long.

Also in WvW switch your major traits around for more damage, i.e. two-hand mastery and retributive armor.

Appreciate the advice – I added a bit of berserker gear and switched weapons. and it seems to help quite a bit in low-numbers situations. Crit % is up, and crit % damage too. Food and oils also help a ton.

My remaining issue is how to handle higher numbers or zerg v zerg encounters. Ending up in the middle of the latter is essentially instant death, but Guards have almost no ranged options. It’s a dilemma.

I’ve seen a lot of people get enthusiastic about Staff #1 for Guardian, but in my hands its range is too short to be useful in any kind of numbers encounter. Scepter has better range but the damage is not good.

What to do? Thanks!

I generally do reasonably well in WvW, both zerg and in small encounters. I generally run either a 0/15/30/20/5 or 0/0/30/30/10; right now I’m using the latter for WvW.

I tend to mix up gear but so far my favorite set up thus far is running knights armor with rune of the pack x6, knights Gsword with sigil of fire and Hammer with sigil of strength (superior), with Valkyrie’s accessories (except for back armor, I use cavalier with valk gem.) Oh I also use sigil of perception for +12% crit on a different weapon, then switch when I hit 25 stacks.

I sometimes use onomberry ghosts for food, but usually I use Bowl of Curry Butternut Squash Soup, or the tiered food below since they’re cheaper. I usually stick to oils because there are easier ways to get might; either master or quality oils.

1. Line of warding.
2. Wall of Reflection.
3. Staff 11111111 recurring.

But seriously, I went 0,10,10,20,30.

It’s an ok build.

Svarty.8019:

1. Line of warding.
2. Wall of Reflection.
3. Staff 11111111 recurring.

But seriously, I went 0,10,10,20,30.

It’s an ok build.

I tried using Staff in zerg v zerg last night and each time I was dead less than 10 seconds later. Granted it was T1 megazerg ie 50-75 people on each side and those situations are brutal.

Why not just use Hammer if you’re up that close? What makes Staff better? Isn’t it better to stay at range?

Midnightjade.3520:

Svarty.8019:

1. Line of warding.
2. Wall of Reflection.
3. Staff 11111111 recurring.

But seriously, I went 0,10,10,20,30.

It’s an ok build.

I tried using Staff in zerg v zerg last night and each time I was dead less than 10 seconds later. Granted it was T1 megazerg ie 50-75 people on each side and those situations are brutal.

Why not just use Hammer if you’re up that close? What makes Staff better? Isn’t it better to stay at range?

The staff is our best weapon for zerg fights. You can heal, give 12 stacks of might, do AOE damage and stop the opponents from pressing foward. I usually got hammer/staff when I’m in wvw. Hammer is better than GS simply because it offers more support in the form of CC and constant blast finisher.

I’m currently running this build and it works very well (you can replace the focus with a shield if you want). If you get a 1v1 and you open the fight as he suggests… most the time things are in your favor

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/guardian/Guide-WvW-Solo-Roamer-Build-Playstyle/first#post1681933