Guild Wars 2

Good questions.

1. I enjoy the burst potential of Eagle runes. +5% damage at below 50% helps me maintain any edge I pick up early-on and makes it harder for them to recover from a good burst. Being above 90% health consistently is…difficult. I do like Scholars, but primarily for PvE. I don’t trust them in WvW. Divinity is really expensive and the whole celestial thing doesn’t really do it for me. That isn’t to say they wouldn’t work, though.

That said, I might look at them a little more closely later. My primary issue with running non-Precision runes is finding a way to make up for that lost crit chance. I’ve also just got a thing for the whole “more damage when they’re at lower health” thing.

2. I picked up the rings before Cleric’s Ascended items were released. I got used to the extra health and Power and haven’t really felt a need to go back and farm new rings. I’m not exactly hurting for Healing Power anyway, especially when I’m running Life.

thanks for the answers. I look forward to trying this out. Good point on the eagle runes.

As far as I know, PTV/Cleric’s setups are popular with some support players. You obviously give up any crit chance and some armor, but you gain a good amount of power and health. It’s up to preference, I think. Just know that you’ll do less damage overall with PTV/Cleric’s than with Knight’s, and your Vigor uptime might not be as reliable.

Christos de Soufre.3802:

Good questions.

1. I enjoy the burst potential of Eagle runes. +5% damage at below 50% helps me maintain any edge I pick up early-on and makes it harder for them to recover from a good burst. Being above 90% health consistently is…difficult. I do like Scholars, but primarily for PvE. I don’t trust them in WvW. Divinity is really expensive and the whole celestial thing doesn’t really do it for me. That isn’t to say they wouldn’t work, though.

Wait, what!? You’re not running boon duration runes anymore? What wizardry is this!?

I’ll go ahead and say 20% at the least if you really want to introduce some crit into the build. I sit at 29% with my Knight’s or Zerker GS on, not counting Bloodlust buffs, so I’m able to hit my preferred 30% pretty easily.

Christos, what do you think about changing runes of water/monk for runes of hoelbrak? And sigil of energy for sigil of battle in both weapons? With this change i can stack some extra might. And with the fix of PoV coming is nice to have -20% condition duration.

I feel boon duration and healing power give me a LOT of survivability, but i feel lack of damage and many fight ends in a draw, maybe with the extra power of runes and extra might stack would help with that. And my healing power will be 1100 and my boon duration 30%, still good numbers. What you think?

A lot of what keeps you alive is the high availability of dodge heals. I wouldn’t swap out of Energy sigils for anything; at least one per weapon set for solo or small group ops, possibly trade one out for Endurance for zerg combat.

The runes are pretty flexible. Running Cleric’s armor and weapons with 30 in Virtues, you generally have enough Healing and boon duration to get by against most opponents.

Heya guys!

First of all,as this is my first post in this thread,i would like to thank Chris to this fine build i’ve been playing with for months now.

I didnt check this thread for a long time and,now when i did,i would like to mention i made a version of it myself bcs i wanted to get my dps up and,basically,leave playstyle as much intact as possible.

At that time i didnt have like..ANY gold so i wanted to keep majority of my gear the same.( i am still in full cleric armor)

First thing i did was to change my ruine set so i went full eagle rune( and i see chris did that too,which is a bonus.
That added some crit chance and crit dmg but it wasnt quite enough for what i was aiming for.
Then i took 25 from boon duration line and put it into radiance…so i got..fury on burning and weakness on blinds( and i have LOT of aoe blinds)..and man i LOVE this build now for SOLO and SMALL GROUP play.(thats what i’ve been doing 80% of my time spent in wvw)

I’ve kept 100% chance for burning oponents when i block,bcs it works well with 25th radiance point trait ( more damage on oponents with cionditions on)
I also added some knights ascended pieces to get my crit around 45% and crit damage bit over 20%.

As buff food i am using mango pies and maintenance oil.
For my way of playing in wvw,massive loss in boon duration,which i was affraid off to be honest,didnt prove to be much of a problem.

My healing power is around 1000 and that is totally fine aswell.
So my current build is 0 25 10 30 5.

There is probably better gear combo for this but i cba farming golds :P

I am noit saying this build is super good or will work for everyone,i just wanted to share it with you guys.

OH yes,you will be bit squishier with this build,but not at all that much.

Cheers and take care all!

Any updates to this build?
Not including a move from guardian to warrior or ele.
I use this veraition, its nice for roaming. Swap out some traits and it holds up in zergs.
It would be great if someone could make it better. My experience is limited.
The 15 in radiance is for the stats and the blind > vul >kill > repeat is nice for blind/justice blind/burn/might burst.
I use JI because I like it and hate people getting away from me.
I someties swap to GS S/F or GS M/F.

http://www.intothemists.com/calc/index.php?build=-7;4NFV40M33G-90;9;5E-TO;15;317A18-UNk65;1xpMUxpMU40k-tKZ270;0Vl-sWv1-Z5_Ba9g0QV0c0;4F2;9;9-VVVVV;9;9;8Ck3o

I’ve actually modified the recommended builds to include Lemongrass Poultry Soup and Soldier runes. The current condition meta and the PoV fix force us to be more conscious of how rampant condition builds are, both in group and solo play.

Thank you for the build, but I have a question: why does the current meta prefer greatsword instead of the hammer?
Isn’t the hammer more useful with blast finisher, protection and cc?

Hammer’s a viable option, but in group play you run the risk of covering water and fire fields with a field that’s useless when you need one of the former (a light field via the Hammer auto chain). If you’re responsible enough to not accidentally do that ever, it’s a good choice. I do run it sometimes when we’re stacked with staff Eles.

Hey!
I’ve been trying real hard to figure out what gear to get for wvw and this had me really interested. The video was awesome and almost made me drool :P But on paper it really do looks like it would take ages to kill someone (the video says otherwise).
What’s the exact build you’re using in the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwlGXBv1tc8 ?

I was thinking of keeping my zerker trinkets from pve for some more dps but from reading other posts it sounds like I’d have way too low healing to make it work, any suggestions?
I really do like sword/focus and I use it in PvE and that’s one of the things that really spoke to me in the video. Got ascended zerker versions of those but I guess I’d better switch to cleric weps?

Also I was thinking before that I should go PVT but this actually sounded better as a whole. Heal up the dmg instead of stacking vit to take more hits.
I probably have more questions later but this is what I’m thinking about atm. I really need some help to decide cause I wanna buy my exotic wvw gear as soon as possible and I’m not unlimited in cash

If it’s just for PvE, I think you should run full Zerker regardless. For WvW it really depends on what you want to do. This build does what it’s advertised to do and a little more, but which weapons you run and how you tweak your gear/stats will depend on how you play and how many people you play with in WvW.

In PvE I am full zerker but it’s the wvw part I’ve been having some issues with I usually run with zerg or go solo, very rarely with a small team. I’ve read around the posts here that the sweetspot for healing power seems to be around 1200, sounds like alot and that it would be hard not to have clerics gear on all pieces, maybe I’m wrong.

I was thinking about buying the oh so expensive travelers runes cause they simply seem awesome. What are your thoughts about them for this build?

As much as I love this build i feel like I’m at a loss now. The absurd amount of condition spam, and then Hammer Warrior builds bursting me for 4-5k damage with one skill and being able to shrug off anything i throw at them feel demoralizing. Zerker mesmers….thieves…condi .necro and engie pretty much face roll me or eat me alive(espcially in a 1v2). Warriors depending on their build…can do the same. Solo roaming of course is what I’m talking about…so the way it feels, I can’t pressure, but I can easily be pressured all i can do is pretty much stall or try to help the team. zerg play and small groups the build works great still. I was going to build bolt for my guardian too but now I’m starting to second guess it.

Christos de Soufre.3802:

What is Healway?

Healway is an active-bunker build initially designed to allow easy transition from solo and small group roaming to zerg support. This build is ideally for group play, but will allow for success in solo play when needed. What I mean by “active-bunker” is that you will not survive simply by the virtue of having high armor or health. Your passive healing, heavy armor, and blocks will allow you to take some hits, but due to a lower-than-average health pool you must be ready to use LoS and/or put some distance between yourself and your opponent to give yourself time to regenerate if things start to go south. Also worth noting is that you have no passive condition removal with this build; it all comes from shouts.

This was designed primarily with WvW in mind. Slapping Zerker gear on over it will make it work in PvE and it’s got some uses in sPvP, but I’m fairly certain there are better builds for both PvE and sPvP (glass cannons and meditations, for example).

Here’s a quick demonstration of Healway being used for solo roaming. If you are unable to view the first video, you should be able to see this one.

Great, so give us the build.

Well, since you asked so nicely, here is a video discussing the build in-depth.

For those of you who like having something to look at on paper, here is a BuildCraft layout of the core group play/support build:

http://www.intothemists.com/calc/index.php?build=-7;4NF-40M3kF-90;9;69TT;43;018A289UVk6;2CqNYCqNY40FB1-P5;2Vl-sWv1-Z5_B50sVGV350;4F2Coc2Cu;9;9;9;9;84-6y

When needed, a few weapons, traits, and skills can be traded out for solo/small group play:

http://www.intothemists.com/calc/index.php?build=-7;4NFV40M33G-90;9;69TT;41;018A189URk65;1CqNYCqNY40ka0-1370;0Vl-sWv1-Z5_B50sVGV350;4F2Coc2Cu;9;9;9;9;84-6o

Note: It should be noted that these will not be the strongest setups for EVERY situation, especially if you play competitively. It is up to the player to decide what to change and when to change it in order to play this build to its fullest in any given situation.
_______________________________________________________

One of the key points of this build is flexibility. The majority of the Major traits can be swapped around and experimented with (i.e. Defender’s Flame can be traded for Purity when engaging Necromancers or for SiN if you just like extra Toughness). Runes and food choices also have some room for experimentation and almost every available weapon can be made to work with this build in some way, shape, or form.

Traits NOT to change: Superior Aria, Pure of Voice, and Absolute Resolution. Indomitable Courage has two viable alternatives: Shielded Mind (which now breaks stuns on up to 5 friendlies) and Elite Focus. If you’re running with your guild or with a zerg, you may want your Tome of Courage to last an extra 10 seconds. Otherwise, SM is also a lot stronger than it used to be. My personal preference is IC for the clutch Stability and additional Aegis per 2 minutes, but it isn’t necessarily the best choice for everyone.

The exception to the “do not change Pure of Voice” rule: running Soldier’s runes and/or Purity can free up enough room to run Battle Presence instead. Battle Presence is a very powerful group support tool which IS affected by your Healing Power and by Absolute Resolution. The passive healing to allies even keeps ticking when Resolve is on cooldown! The only issue is finding enough condition removal for yourself without double condi removal on shout. Supplementing with Lemongrass Poultry Soup can help.

Utilities NOT to change: “Hold the Line!” and “Stand Your Ground!” That said, it’s very easy to trade out “Save Yourselves!” for a Consecration or Meditation depending on the situation and group size. When trading out “SY!”, it’s recommended that you run Purity over Defender’s Flame for the supplementary condition removal. However, SiN is just as viable if you’re comfortable with your ability to avoid death by conditions.

It’s recommended that you use a Staff of Bloodlust or Life to build your preferred stacks before moving out to roam or switching to your Staff of Energy for group play. If playing alone, Bloodlust may be preferable for additional damage. The more players you have, the more valuable the extra Healing from Life becomes — 250 extra healing to 5 people per dodge roll is a big deal. Life is the correct choice for competitive group play.

I’ve always hated WvW.
Never like WvW.

Till i tried this build.
And I owned 3 players together which consisted of Mesmer, Necro, and Ranger.

I don’t know how the duck i did that.
But this build works like magic.

Thanks OP!

Welcome to the big boy league finally yLoon.

PvP is for kids.

yLoon.5289:

Christos de Soufre.3802:

What is Healway?

Stuff .

I’ve always hated WvW.
Never like WvW.

Till i tried this build.
And I owned 3 players together which consisted of Mesmer, Necro, and Ranger.

I don’t know how the duck i did that.
But this build works like magic.

Thanks OP!

Must have faced the worst players in the game then, because a necro itself with the current condi pressure and PoV nerf can wreck the healway build.

And the current warrior’s healing signet can flat out outheal all the DPS this build does.

Its a great build don’t misunderstand, but other classes sustain buff combined with the dmg nerf on retaliation really nullify most of the dmg.

must you put him down? :o

Necro’s aren’t as big of an issue w/ the build if you’re running Lemongrass. You have enough damage to keep pressure on them until they die, so long as you don’t get adds in the 5 min it takes to kill one!

As for the Regen Warrior, you’ll find it ~near impossible~ to kill one that is being played well. They completely negate our damage w/ their passive regen.

Lucentfir.7430:

As much as I love this build i feel like I’m at a loss now. The absurd amount of condition spam, and then Hammer Warrior builds bursting me for 4-5k damage with one skill and being able to shrug off anything i throw at them feel demoralizing. Zerker mesmers….thieves…condi .necro and engie pretty much face roll me or eat me alive(espcially in a 1v2). Warriors depending on their build…can do the same. Solo roaming of course is what I’m talking about…so the way it feels, I can’t pressure, but I can easily be pressured all i can do is pretty much stall or try to help the team. zerg play and small groups the build works great still. I was going to build bolt for my guardian too but now I’m starting to second guess it.

It’s a problem with how strong conditions and Warriors are. Condi Engis and Necros, bunker Phantasm/condition Mesmers, and stun-lock Warriors with Healing Signet are all overbalanced (I don’t like the word overpowered…) and it hurts us and most other professions pretty badly. Maybe Thieves and Eles not quite as much, since one can disengage anything and the other has arguably the most condi removal in-game.

For solo play I’ve started running Soldier runes and carrying several types of food: Mango Pie for 2+ Power build opponents, Lemongrass for 2+ opponents where at least one is conditions, and Curry Butternut Squash Soup for 1v1 versus anything. I play a more DPS-oriented build presently and believe in burning people down in 1v1 before they can kill me through attrition with conditions or by, well, being a Warrior.

If you want to build Bolt for a roaming build, it’ll probably be some kind of DPS build meant for taking on 2 opponents at the most, perhaps 3 if they’re all power builds or one of them is particularly squishy or isn’t expecting your burst. Healway’s efficiency is hampered greatly by the strength of condition spam and stun locks right now.

Warriors actually shouldn’t be a big problem on their own, despite stun locks. The trick is to hold your “SY!” and “SYG” for when they actually stun you, then just pop one. DPS after stunbreaks and when you have Stability up. Hammer attacks are highly telegraphed, so spend some time in sPvP and you’ll be able to dodge/blind/block them in no time. They are extremely annoying in pairs though… I fought a stun Warrior and a condition Necro the other day. Wasn’t very fun, but I did pull out a win. Will post the video at some point.

yLoon.5289:

I’ve always hated WvW.
Never like WvW.

Till i tried this build.
And I owned 3 players together which consisted of Mesmer, Necro, and Ranger.

I don’t know how the duck i did that.
But this build works like magic.

Thanks OP!

I’m glad you’re enjoying it.

:)

Xhean.3452:

I was thinking about buying the oh so expensive travelers runes cause they simply seem awesome. What are your thoughts about them for this build?

I don’t like Traveler runes at all. You’re either giving up a lot of Boon duration and Healing power, a lot of potential damage (if playing DPS runes), or condition removal (if running Soldier runes). I know some people like the 25% movement speed, and the Boon duration can help, but the only time I enjoy seeing them on a Guardian is when it’s a 2 Monk/2 Water/2 Traveler setup for Boon dura stacking for 15+ group play.

I just don’t like how much you have to give up for a speed increase. You especially don’t need it with this build considering how mobile the weapons are (minus Hammer) or for zerg play where you have perma-Swiftness.

Christos de Soufre.3802:

Lucentfir.7430:

As much as I love this build i feel like I’m at a loss now. The absurd amount of condition spam, and then Hammer Warrior builds bursting me for 4-5k damage with one skill and being able to shrug off anything i throw at them feel demoralizing. Zerker mesmers….thieves…condi .necro and engie pretty much face roll me or eat me alive(espcially in a 1v2). Warriors depending on their build…can do the same. Solo roaming of course is what I’m talking about…so the way it feels, I can’t pressure, but I can easily be pressured all i can do is pretty much stall or try to help the team. zerg play and small groups the build works great still. I was going to build bolt for my guardian too but now I’m starting to second guess it.

It’s a problem with how strong conditions and Warriors are. Condi Engis and Necros, bunker Phantasm/condition Mesmers, and stun-lock Warriors with Healing Signet are all overbalanced (I don’t like the word overpowered…) and it hurts us and most other professions pretty badly. Maybe Thieves and Eles not quite as much, since one can disengage anything and the other has arguably the most condi removal in-game.

For solo play I’ve started running Soldier runes and carrying several types of food: Mango Pie for 2+ Power build opponents, Lemongrass for 2+ opponents where at least one is conditions, and Curry Butternut Squash Soup for 1v1 versus anything. I play a more DPS-oriented build presently and believe in burning people down in 1v1 before they can kill me through attrition with conditions or by, well, being a Warrior.

If you want to build Bolt for a roaming build, it’ll probably be some kind of DPS build meant for taking on 2 opponents at the most, perhaps 3 if they’re all power builds or one of them is particularly squishy or isn’t expecting your burst. Healway’s efficiency is hampered greatly by the strength of condition spam and stun locks right now.

Warriors actually shouldn’t be a big problem on their own, despite stun locks. The trick is to hold your “SY!” and “SYG” for when they actually stun you, then just pop one. DPS after stunbreaks and when you have Stability up. Hammer attacks are highly telegraphed, so spend some time in sPvP and you’ll be able to dodge/blind/block them in no time. They are extremely annoying in pairs though… I fought a stun Warrior and a condition Necro the other day. Wasn’t very fun, but I did pull out a win. Will post the video at some point.

yLoon.5289:

I’ve always hated WvW.
Never like WvW.

Till i tried this build.
And I owned 3 players together which consisted of Mesmer, Necro, and Ranger.

I don’t know how the duck i did that.
But this build works like magic.

Thanks OP!

I’m glad you’re enjoying it.

:)

Xhean.3452:

I was thinking about buying the oh so expensive travelers runes cause they simply seem awesome. What are your thoughts about them for this build?

I don’t like Traveler runes at all. You’re either giving up a lot of Boon duration and Healing power, a lot of potential damage (if playing DPS runes), or condition removal (if running Soldier runes). I know some people like the 25% movement speed, and the Boon duration can help, but the only time I enjoy seeing them on a Guardian is when it’s a 2 Monk/2 Water/2 Traveler setup for Boon dura stacking for 15+ group play.

I just don’t like how much you have to give up for a speed increase. You especially don’t need it with this build considering how mobile the weapons are (minus Hammer) or for zerg play where you have perma-Swiftness.

Hmm yea i’ve been thinking of some more DPS based traitlines for Healway…and i’ve experimented with a few Rune sets like Hoelbrak and such, but i feel like I’m just missing to much healing power. (about 1100+ with Hoelbrak Runes and lemon grass) Though I am running 2 Soldiers rings but everything else clerics. I might go soldiers runes again.

Warriors I don’t even see a point in fighting them when Roaming, they have enough swiftness uptime to just leave and they’re just as tanky as I am with the slow big burst damage to boot on hammer. I think i just might be bad at my guardian then..idk. I don’t think i can kill a decently built warrior or a roaming engie, they just have to much sustain and/or mobility for me to deal with.

Also if you run soilder runes for solo play, what do you do for the missing boon duration and healing power?

Just wandering if u know rune of the ranger is bugged atm and it provides a constant 5% increase in dmg which should make it better than runes of the eagle

Such a bug would make them more valuable than Eagle runes, yes.

@Lucent, I don’t do anything for it, really. If I’m roaming alone I’ll probably run Life stacks to supplement my sustain, but the boon duration I just do without. It hurts a little, but at least my Retaliation still has +55% duration.

Lucentfir.7430:

Hmm yea i’ve been thinking of some more DPS based traitlines for Healway…and i’ve experimented with a few Rune sets like Hoelbrak and such, but i feel like I’m just missing to much healing power. (about 1100+ with Hoelbrak Runes and lemon grass) Though I am running 2 Soldiers rings but everything else clerics. I might go soldiers runes again.

Warriors I don’t even see a point in fighting them when Roaming, they have enough swiftness uptime to just leave and they’re just as tanky as I am with the slow big burst damage to boot on hammer. I think i just might be bad at my guardian then..idk. I don’t think i can kill a decently built warrior or a roaming engie, they just have to much sustain and/or mobility for me to deal with.

Also if you run soilder runes for solo play, what do you do for the missing boon duration and healing power?

You can kill warriors with this build, but take time, and GS – Sword/focus is a MUST. You need that extra blinds, blocks and blink that sword focus provide. I duel a lot of warriors and win a lot of fight. You will have bad time vs bow condi bunkers (a lot tanky, regen and kite power) and hammer/mace/shield (you maybe need double stability and a lot of good timing blocks and blinds), but you can still win.

If the warrior is a banner regen or cleric, forget that fight, you cant kill him with this damage.

So I used to run this build with full cleric except the armor, so today I’ve spent all my gold on a Cleric armor set.
Would you recomend me to stick with boon duration or switch to the Soldier Runes since there are so many players running conditions nowadays?

Edit: Make this topic sticky already, this is one of the few viable roaming builds for Guardians

I’d switch to Soldier’s for sure. You will lose 150 healing power and the extra boon duration, but I honestly think you can make it work considering the extra health and toughness you’ll be picking up. The way the meta has shifted forces us to play more offensively when alone or in small roaming parties. Power bunkers are impractical against condition spammers, and that’s what you’re going to run into a lot of the time right now. That isn’t to say building/playing tanky won’t work, it’s still good to make defense-conscious decisions; DPS is just more important than it used to be.

And they’re unlikely to sticky it because it has a “name” attached to it which does not directly relate to any of its core functions (i.e. the traits or what-not, like AH builds). I don’t know that 100%, but it’s something that was stated by someone else a while back.

Christos de Soufre.3802:

I’d switch to Soldier’s for sure. You will lose 150 healing power and the extra boon duration, but I honestly think you can make it work considering the extra health and toughness you’ll be picking up. The way the meta has shifted forces us to play more offensively when alone or in small roaming parties. Power bunkers are impractical against condition spammers, and that’s what you’re going to run into a lot of the time right now. That isn’t to say building/playing tanky won’t work, it’s still good to make defense-conscious decisions; DPS is just more important than it used to be.

And they’re unlikely to sticky it because it has a “name” attached to it which does not directly relate to any of its core functions (i.e. the traits or what-not, like AH builds). I don’t know that 100%, but it’s something that was stated by someone else a while back.

I’ll do that then.
I asked because as I said i spent all my gold on a cleric set, which was about 30 gold, and even though I might buy another one for zerg play I need to have the best option for roaming since zerg isn’t exactly my thing for now, it might start to be soon but for now it isn’t.

Btw another thing not related to this build. Will you make any video soon? I like you channel and I wouldn’t like to vanish again

Cleric’s gear works for zergs too. My guild actually runs a few Cleric main-set Guards with varying accessory and weapon choices depending on preference. The healing power is really strong for self- and group-sustain through Selfless Daring, Regeneration, and Battle Presence if you choose to use it.

:> I’ve been working on videos from other games (mostly LPs) for the sake of trying something new when I have free time. I’m trying to start doing GW2 videos again, but my focus has shifted far away from solo roaming. Solo roaming as a Guardian in T1 is wildly impractical now, so I’ve been doing a ton of sPvP, leveling new characters (it’s awful…), and GvG. I definitely have stuff coming though.

Christos de Soufre.3802:

. I’m trying to start doing GW2 videos again, but my focus has shifted far away from solo roaming. Solo roaming as a Guardian in T1 is wildly impractical now, so I’ve been doing a ton of sPvP, leveling new characters (it’s awful…), and GvG. I definitely have stuff coming though.

I can only imagine how frustrating doing anything in T1 WvW would be after facing several of the zerg 24×7 happy servers we have recently faced. However, the ruins have a bit of solo aspect to them and can be fun. Just not a lot of action around them depending on when you play.

WvW needs some central points of contention where stealth or tactics come into play. Sounds like the new mist map may have it, we’ll see.

I’m looking to solely run in groups of 15+, would you recommend this build as is or make any changes to it based on that criteria?

The core group variant of this build (in the OP) is thoroughly tested and ready for group play in those numbers. The third utility is interchangeable with things like Wall of Reflection, “SY!”, “Retreat!”, Signet of Judgment, and Contemplation of Purity. One option is to swap “HTL!” out for “SY!” and give the third slot to CoP. Honestly, it depends on your preferences and what your group needs.

Your position should be right on top of your group’s melee ball/train/group/what-have-you. Empower on regroups and when dumping damage as a group onto downed players, etc. Staff #2 as often as possible through allies. Dodge on cooldown for group heals, and consider running a Sigil of Stamina on one of your weapon sets for snowballing purposes.

I’ve been pointed at this build, but I am concerned about a lack of Vitality. Could someone please explain why Vitality is not an issue when there is such high spike damage in WvW?

Svarty.8019:

I’ve been pointed at this build, but I am concerned about a lack of Vitality. Could someone please explain why Vitality is not an issue when there is such high spike damage in WvW?

I am new to Guardian just dinged 80 2 days ago but Elementalist is my main and frequent the forums alot there. They both have the same base vitality but Guardian has higher armor. The main issue for spike damage is a Thief running a signets of power build full zerk. No other class should spike you fast enough where you feel you couldn’t react. Other classes can build as glassy as a Signet’s of power thief but they can’t repeat that burst nearly as often as a thief. The other class that would maybe force you to add more vit would be a 30/20/x/x/x Terrormancer and that is a maybe.

I would never roll around with 15.5k HP on my Ele in WvW but I so far don’t feel I need more then that guardian.

oZii.2864:

Svarty.8019:

I’ve been pointed at this build, but I am concerned about a lack of Vitality. Could someone please explain why Vitality is not an issue when there is such high spike damage in WvW?

I am new to Guardian just dinged 80 2 days ago but Elementalist is my main and frequent the forums alot there. They both have the same base vitality but Guardian has higher armor. The main issue for spike damage is a Thief running a signets of power build full zerk. No other class should spike you fast enough where you feel you couldn’t react. Other classes can build as glassy as a Signet’s of power thief but they can’t repeat that burst nearly as often as a thief. The other class that would maybe force you to add more vit would be a 30/20/x/x/x Terrormancer and that is a maybe.

I would never roll around with 15.5k HP on my Ele in WvW but I so far don’t feel I need more then that guardian.

Thing is, that thief is also running 10k health, medium armor, no defenses except stealth, and if you hit him with a Dragon’s Tooth/Whirling Wrath on a DPS guardian/ele you’ll wind up with a dead thief shortly thereafter.

Viking Jorun.5413:

oZii.2864:

Svarty.8019:

I’ve been pointed at this build, but I am concerned about a lack of Vitality. Could someone please explain why Vitality is not an issue when there is such high spike damage in WvW?

I am new to Guardian just dinged 80 2 days ago but Elementalist is my main and frequent the forums alot there. They both have the same base vitality but Guardian has higher armor. The main issue for spike damage is a Thief running a signets of power build full zerk. No other class should spike you fast enough where you feel you couldn’t react. Other classes can build as glassy as a Signet’s of power thief but they can’t repeat that burst nearly as often as a thief. The other class that would maybe force you to add more vit would be a 30/20/x/x/x Terrormancer and that is a maybe.

I would never roll around with 15.5k HP on my Ele in WvW but I so far don’t feel I need more then that guardian.

Thing is, that thief is also running 10k health, medium armor, no defenses except stealth, and if you hit him with a Dragon’s Tooth/Whirling Wrath on a DPS guardian/ele you’ll wind up with a dead thief shortly thereafter.

Yup I agree still I think it is the most forgiving full zerk class in the game for pvp.

yup, any update of this build Christos ? ty

As it is, this build is more of a guideline than anything. Condition builds are still too strong for me to recommend it for newer roamers without some damage-biased modification. In the last few months I’ve started running a few new DPS builds for my guild (when I bother to log in), but I’m unlikely to post any of those since I really didn’t try too hard with them. Then again, I’ve said some things then done the opposite before anyway.

That said, there’s still a fair amount of success to be had when using this build as a group/zerg support platform.

Please do post them. I’ve been playing around with DPS builds for WvW but can’t really come up with anything that doesn’t seem thrown together and a mish-mash of a bunch of gear.

I am running 0 10 10 30 20 variant of this build in my guilds 5 men group.

Full cleric armor/weapons,with knights/valkyrie trinkets and soldier runes and dps food.

What you bring on the table for your team with it are many aoe blinds,vulnerability on

blinds (you can easilly stack 12-15 stacks of vulnerability in first 3-4 sec of the fight),150

toughness for your group while in combat,good dodge heals and lot of condi removal

with pure of voice and absolute resolution.

I still find it to be the best support build for small scale…well at least for me.

Cheers

Been using this recently in WvW Zerg. Don’t play with this for quite a while and I might try to roam again with it. Although coming from a Thief to this might be difficult. I might try this with Traveler runes and 2 Shouts with Purging Flames to roam. Much more mobility and even more condi removal, but less HP to a build that already doesn’t have much. Maybe I’ll try this:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vUAQNAsdRlsAXgqF2C3KcFyZYOE/wf4ES2DRCBTQsHYUG1RXFUIA-zUCBofJDPUQk+YRjUBAJpFRjtMsIasqZCpKbYqXROAACwNbz28mZzbezbGZAYGDA-w

Thinking well it as everything to work out. I move faster, have more boon duration than with Soldier Runes. With Triple Shouts I have total of 9 Condis removed, here I have 8 but 3 of them in shorter coldown than 2 with Triple Shouts (since last Shout will be SY or Retreat and both have 48 sec coldown), and I’ll have a bit more burning when roaming. kitten Why haven’t I looked at this before? The only downside is that in Zergs will be a bit less effective than Rune of Soldiers since Mobility in thos cases isn’t a problem because Perma-Swiftness. I might be able to run 2 sets of clerics if I can afford them or have space to be constantly with them (I already have with me constantly my PvE set, so that I just have to go to the Trait changer and not to the bank too, can’t wait for April 15th)

For zerging I found out that it’s better to have Rings and Earrings Solider isntead of just Rings. I keep 900+ Healing Power and the Vitality difference helps to keep you up in Zergs fights

Any updates on how the new grandmaster-traits will play into the healway build?

Not much, since with triple shouts, Pure of Voice will always be superior. There’s even competition from battle presence. You could try to replace save yourselves with purging flames if you’d like.

For zergs, maybe do…
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vUAQNAW5dlsApZo1CxVI8DNhk9QkQwEE7BGpRAwVBHC-zECB4hCykDw0HBKJtIasVWFRjVNDQrETDbR1ECo/YA-w

With the additional 3k health, going soldier trinkets would be overkill imo.

Lots of PMs and in-game whispers about this. I consider Healway viable as a jumping off point, as I have for a long time now. Retooling for more damage is probably for the best (especially if you play solo or in particularly smaller groups), but keeping to the basic tanky/group support concepts is still perfectly acceptable.

Edit: Went ahead and made some minor changes to the base group build; more extreme alteration to the solo/small group base build.

Thanks for all your work Chris. I’m sure there are a lot of guardians out there who appreciate your efforts

Just FYI
don’t use intothemists that site hasn’t updated for a long time.

The builds need to be updated using gw2skills.net build calculator, intothemists is outdated and has been for quite a while.

It appears to have been updated for Ferocity, the Celestial stat increase, the new GM traits, and rune changes (albeit not the names), so it should be valid enough. The trait points just need to be fixed, I think. Maybe the sigils too; didn’t check.

Since Boon-duration got nerfed, pretty much the whole concept of high boon uptime is ruined. Which runes do you use atm?

I’ve been using Soldier (now called Trooper) runes for some time now. If you don’t feel like you need the extra health and AoE condi removal (or you just don’t use shouts, I guess?), Hoelbrak is apparently really popular as well.