Guild Wars 2

Hi guys!

I’ve just finished a guide for an Altruistic Healing Guardian suited for WvW group play.
I did both a vdeo and a written one. Enjoy!

Written guide: http://intothemists.com/guides/351-wvw_ahguaridan_video_guide_included

Video guide: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4HJ1IjrE1Q

Have you considered stamina instead of compote? Stamina gives you 2 dodge rolls and aoe heal which is a better heal than compote and more group friendly.

For larger groups/zergs I would run stamina sigil on staff. When people start dying you can almost endlessly dodge roll.

Good video. Thanks for the info.

vanzan.1250:

Have you considered stamina instead of compote? Stamina gives you 2 dodge rolls and aoe heal which is a better heal than compote and more group friendly.

Hi and thanks for reading/viewing the guide! I’m actually not sure on what “stamina” food you’re talking about. If you’re referring the “Superior Sigil of Stamina” for the staff it’s really situational. As in my video gameplay I would have zero gain from it. Would be great though if running with zergs 24/7. Ultimately you can’t have best spec for both situations but the energy are good in both. As my Vigor up-time is about 70-90% a full endurance buff would also go to a bit of waste.

Nice guide, might give it a try with my guardian soon

Have you compared how it does compared to some version of the old AH crithammer build? Say, with Knight’s armor and maybe Magi weapons, and Empowering Might instead of Two-Handed Mastery. It will have a bit less damage but with the higher precision the staff will proc might on allies more often, buffing your team and giving you a bit more healing.

Great guide, thanks for posting it. You allude to a backline cleric build in your video, do you have a guide or a link to what you’re referring to?

ArtemisEntreri.4138:

For larger groups/zergs I would run stamina sigil on staff. When people start dying you can almost endlessly dodge roll.

Good video. Thanks for the info.

Hi and thank you for watching the video. Stamina on Staff tend to be better in big zergs, but I’m not a big fan of those. I rather play where there’s under 100 ppl in the fight so you can avoid the skillag. Energy is good for both situations and the vigor up-time is about 70-90%. With energy + vigor I’m kinda satisfied. Don’t wanna endlessly dodge roll hehe – put out some cc, blast, dodge, channel empower, dodge, etc.

I like your guide and build =). Keep up the good work. I run a frontline build in zergs with a similar concept.

The one problem I have this with this build is the use of Save Yourself – please do not go “OMG! Idiot!!” flame me yet, hear me out.

I play a frontline AH-based guardian build for a very hardcore EU WvW guild [HB] – mainly mace/shield and staff but often switch to hammer and staff given various open field situations. As a guild, we largely run 20+ zerg type engagements and with the megablob meta currently taking place, conditions are killer. Example, I play on Blackgate, we often run into large zergs from SoR, JQ, or TC that are heavy hammer train backed with heavy necro AoEs.

Even if you use Save Yourself as an opener just before engaging, once you get into the heat of the zerg v. zerg battle (even when peeling the onion, so to speak – skirting the zerg and killing outwards to inwards), your burning through your other skills/shouts (Stand your Ground and Hold the Line coupled with Soldier runes) as quickly as they come off CD. That said, if one uses Save Yourself at the wrong time, your Guardian will suddenly, more times than none, find itself with 7-9+/- conditions on itself, with no other shout to remove them because they are still on CD. That, in some to most cases, because you are still in the thick of the zerg v. zerg combat taking damage from that combat, will result in a quick death.

Contemplation of Purity is a good counter to those mass conditions right after using Save Yourself but it replaces a valuable shout. Anyhow, I have resorted to removing the use of Save Yourself because of what I have described above – doing such has not diminished my AH-based Guardian in any noticeable way. I am not trying to convince anyone to stop using Save Yourself, simply letting you know the experience(s) of one AH-based frontline Guardian in a WvW zerg v. zerg environment.

Rainu.6871:

Nice guide, might give it a try with my guardian soon

Have you compared how it does compared to some version of the old AH crithammer build? Say, with Knight’s armor and maybe Magi weapons, and Empowering Might instead of Two-Handed Mastery. It will have a bit less damage but with the higher precision the staff will proc might on allies more often, buffing your team and giving you a bit more healing.

Thank you Rainu!

I guess it’s a personal choice. From experience precision over power when you got low +critdmg is a bad idea. If you have a lot of “on-crit-procs” it might be worth it to an extent. A big purpose of the build is cc, tankyness and sustain and I believe shorter cooldowns suits better for that role.

Also a lot of our healing comes from “Altruistic Healing” and it scales poorly with healing power. Actually 0.01. So getting for example an extra 500 healing power only adds 5 on our heals. Empowering might has 1 sec internal cooldown which means it won’t pump out healing on crits. But your suggestion is very valid and i might try it out!

Again thx for the suggestion!

So you drop crit buff healing for about 300 healing power and the ability to clear 3 conditions every 45 seconds. Makes sense.

Had to mute the music in the gameplay part of the video, but otherwise, great guide! :P

This really makes me want to finish leveling up my Guardian for WvW. Do you find “Retreat!” to be of much use, or does it never find its way on the bar over the other shouts? Coming from Elementalist, I like as much swiftness as I can fit, but I can see how Save Yourselves can be of more use.

sinaddr.3407:

Great guide, thanks for posting it. You allude to a backline cleric build in your video, do you have a guide or a link to what you’re referring to?

The build I’m reffering to is 0-0-10-30-30 with full healing (cleric) gear, sanctuary and more team oriented utilities and elite skill. Thx for the kind words!

Updated my written guide @ Into The Mist. Hope you guys like it!
Go Go Gandara!
http://intothemists.com/guides/351-wvw_ahguardian_video_guide_included

just a couple of thoughts / questions / ideas

is EM really worth losing out on 2HM? I don’t know your playstyle but for me the odd extra stack of might or two for you and your allies (are you going to be stacked together all the time? with 11% crit chance how often will you even trigger it?) isn’t worth losing out on cooldown reduction on all the weapon skills in your build.

will boon duration runes be as useful as something like soldier runes if you are running shouts anyway? then you could look at SY! as an option instead of HTL! The increase in Vit and Tou from the runes means you might be able to free up some more stats from somewhere?

is renewed focus as useful as healing book in wvw group play? again depends on your playstyle but with such high healing power it might be worth seeing if it is a better option for your team?

Hi Space!

First of all thx for commenting. Here are my thoughts around your questions/ideas:

1. EM – Initially I ran with 2HM. It was great especially in groups in the size of 5-15. I switched to EM because of the skill lag. If I would break down where my healing comes from it would probably be split 60% dodgehealing+AH, 30% EM and 10% Empower/Shelter. In the current state of the game EM is really good. If I would only roam a night I would go 2HM. And yes with AoE weapons as Staff+Hammer I get alot of crits, usually there’s a warrior (fury) in my group also. Every crit I land is about 400 healing (82*5).

2. Boon duration – As a Guardian I take my responsibility as booner =) 50% increase duration to AoE stability and the Protection I share feels really really strong. Have to remember it’s not only shouts that provide boons. There’s also might from Empower, swiftness from marks, the might from EM, might and protecion from Virtues and it goes on… The math is harder to break down here but I think especially now with the new Traveler Runes it’s a very solid choice. Concerning SY! I actually run it now and then. It’s more situational and again I tend to use it when roaming with ppl I know. I don’t use it in PUG groups or when commanding as it can be devastating, especially now when Pure of Voice is nerfed/fixed.

3. Renewed Focus – My healway guardian friends got twice the +healing so they run the books. It really breaks down on what role you play. I would say this build is ideal to frontlining together with your commander or actually being the commander. I don’t see any problems though switching to book once in a while – popping it – spam heal – and then run back to the front! RF for sure is a more selfish option but ppl I run with often has me as target/anchor so it sucks if I get killed.

Thx again for your thoughts and cya out there ! What is your nick in YaK?

Aha! Hey Antiwipe! It’s Mr Whiskers

Cheers for the explanations!

Ohai Whiskers =) I’ve been playing alot with you lately but on my Warrior (Zkary) and Necro (Zkarlet). We’ve been holding some guild events also but then I play my guard ofc Go Go Gandara!