Fissure Of Woe – [lpe]
I Silent – Thief
…. That’s about it.
I Silent – Thief
…. That’s about it.
WvW roaming build question
Focus >>>> Shield especially in cases where you can only take 1. Focus blocks + hunter’s fortification too good.
Sword and Mace are probably better for symbolic because those symbols are really good. But you could get a GS or hammer swap to work, though it’d be better for the more general meditation build.
GS is for the mobility which means quite a bit in WvW and pull. The symbol isn’t bad. Hammer is good for the immobo and troll banishing/ring of warding. However, it’s highly unlikely anyone’s going to let you whack them with your hammer so that symbol will be unreliable.
Either weapon requires good setup because anyone can see these things coming from a mile away. So you generally pull them out after your enemy has wasted some dodges to deal with the other stuff. Oftentimes people will let their guard down and feel a bit smug after evading your spear of justice— this is the best time to send them into a panic.
For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards,
for there you have been and there you will long to return.
for there you have been and there you will long to return.
(edited by ArchonWing.9480)
Thanks Archon! Yes, I know Focus was always better overall than Shield, I just grew to really love Shield regardless so I hoped to stick with that. I’ll do some playing around with both and see if I can find something that works.
I actually hadn’t thought about using mace, I always thought that was more of a bunkerish weapon? Do you think mace would be worth taking in a build over Sword or Scepter?
Fissure Of Woe – [lpe]
I Silent – Thief
…. That’s about it.
I Silent – Thief
…. That’s about it.
Symbolic by nature is more of a bunker build. I’m not too fond of mace, but some people swear by it so I might as well bring it up. Mace does have the greatest synergy simply because the symbol already heals, so stacking it writ of persistance makes it even better sustain with the extra large symbol making it easier for you to be in it. You also get to take invigorated bulwark and that’s nice because alone none of the Honor adept traits are that great without mace. You get another block/cc that yet again can help with condi clear. It basically turns you into quite a troll build. I would take it over sword and not scepter though, since double melee is not fun and sometimes people can just walk away from you and guardians are already sort of slowpokes.
As a result, sometimes I stick a torch into the build instead of shield, not because it’s that great, but almost nobody expects a sudden zealot’s fire to the face. Sometimes that and smite condition (that thing is actually really good for damage) point blank can take down some squishier opponents.
Here;s some interesting discussion over it: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/wuv/Dragonhunter-fights-back-agnst-cheese-builds/first Given how triggered others got just by seeing the build, I think is a great indicator of its success.
For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards,
for there you have been and there you will long to return.
for there you have been and there you will long to return.
(edited by ArchonWing.9480)
Focus >>>> Shield especially in cases where you can only take 1. Focus blocks + hunter’s fortification too good.
Don’t agree with this fully. Focus performs better in certain scenarios: Duels or 1v1s (in general), opponents with a lot of CC (since focus 5 can be used while CCed), opponents with slower attacks (you get excellent usage out of both focus 4 and 5) mesmers and rangers (near guaranteed hit with focus 4 if you target pet/clones) and paired with sword imo.
Shield does have some situations where it’s preferrable to take: Opponents who deal high dps rather than burst (the protection helps more than 3 blocks). It’s more useful if you’re in a party; you get a lot more utility out of shield 4. When fighting outnumbered, more likely than not you’ll have someone using projectiles, so shield 5 helps quite a bit. Shield 4 synergizes pretty well with Hunter’s Fortification (1 condi removed per 16 s vs. 1 to 2 condi removed per 36 seconds) and shield works well paired with scepter imo.
I think GS + scepter/shield is actually a pretty decent roaming weaponset. You have a good balance of dps, burst (shield 5 + ToF makes up for the burst you would get on focus), mobility, CC, condi clear and sustain.
Well, I also suppose as numbers increase, shield tends to be better for the group protection and especially well when you have more healing power because of pure of heart so that’s always possible too. There’s also some value in being able to knock people offf.
As for the condi removal, I put more value in being able to remove more conditions at once as opposed to over time. It’s very likely they’ll be able to proc my hunter’s fortification pretty much by accident, and can clear up to 3. And if they don’t remove my shield, that’s not a bad thing either.
For some reason I somehow don’t put a premium on protection. Maybe it’s because too many people run condi kitten, I gear too defensively, or maybe I really should take another look at it— granted I have trouble focusing (pun intended) on these things. There’s also a good point with the projectile hate. I do use shield on a roaming build sometimes, but usually with focus on the other end too excluding the odd occasion I want to be a resbot in a small party.
For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards,
for there you have been and there you will long to return.
for there you have been and there you will long to return.
(edited by ArchonWing.9480)
If you run a burn guard, everything (except maybe hammer) works fine. play with what you like most. i agree focus is better then shield but with shield you can pull off some nice combos like : connect Spear of Justice, lay down Purging Flame, pull them into your consecration then knocked them back out with Shield of absorption. resulting in at least 9stacks. Posted a vid recenty (my first one so its full of mistakes) and about a minute in im playing a mace build, another decent weapon for a condi build since you apply burn on block and mace 3 (protectors strike) is a very short cd when traited and applies aegis when used. Heres the vid https://youtu.be/VHwZIMNVqbs feel free to leave a comment, im open to any criticism.