Guild Wars 2

Guardian is not my main in pvp but sometimes i have to play it (when there is no bunker in my team ) and i play the same build i used pre patch : 0,0,2,6,6 with shouts, staff and mace/shield . I use cleric or soldier amulet (usually soldier) and doylak runes. I’d like to know if after last patch this build is outdated and if builds for bunker guardian role has changed .
thanks for answer
Pier

You’ve got a couple of choices to go for depending on how you feel about them. You can go 0/1/6/6/1 AH build or you can go for the 0/0/2/6/6 as you stated. I would suggest you work on being comfortable with clerics as that is what is generally run and will help your team most. Rune wise go for Soldiers for extra condi clear on shouts. Weaponset is fine unless you’d like to run a focus – your call both work fine.

i tried both build . 0.5.6.6.5 has more armor but it seems to me that in this meta in which there are many condition spammer the build 0.0.2.6,6 works better … what do you feel ?

(0/0/2/6/6) Shout bunkers are pretty solid for uncoordinated play. You can sustain yourself when alone and also support teammates if they around.

Don’t use dolyak, use soldier runes for shouts.

Use staff + scepter/shield or staff + mace/focus for support (personally prefer shield/scepter for knockback and range). Use mace/focus + scepter/shield for self-fish play (you have more survivability).

I’d go AH only if you have a coordinated team. AH is less effective if your teammates often spread out and never focus on team fights (like oppressing far constantly, and having 1-2-2 splits or 1-3-1 etc).

Post patch bunker guards haven’t changed much although some top teams used healing breeze in their setup but heard some controversy on whether it’s working as intended (heals too much I think most say). The last few patches focused mostly on dps guards, so the bunker builds haven’t been affected that much.

using staff + scepter/shield means that you don’t have a melee weapon … correct ? having staff and scepter for me is strange… i usually tend to have a melee weapon and a range one ..

PierPiero.9142:

using staff + scepter/shield means that you don’t have a melee weapon … correct ? having staff and scepter for me is strange… i usually tend to have a melee weapon and a range one ..

Correct, however, most guard melee weapons are more for dps, if you play bunker and want dps, that isn’t going to work out.

Scepter is good because it can do some dmg, but it can also immobilize to help decap (shield knockback -> immob) and/or set up team bursts (good teammates will recognize cc’d enemies and focus on them or you can call target when they are immob’d).

If you aren’t used to have those two weaponsets, mace/focus is usually the other pair or you can get shield too if you want. The reason why range is usually better for bunkers is because you normally shouldn’t run off point. If you have melee, then you need to chase; if you can’t chase, then melee is worthless. A bunker’s role is to stay on point. If you move off point chasing then your job as a bunker has failed. Thus range is usually better since you can stay on point, and still oppress enemies.

Also, be aware that your best weapons may change depending on your circumstance. If you’re in solo Q, then hammer & Sc/Sh can be strong since the knockbacks + immobilize from these weapons allow you to decap or regain control of a capture point on your own.

However, if you’re playing on Legacy of the Foefire, then hammer and shield both lose a lot of their advantages since the mid point has such a large size, thus making it near impossible to knock people out of point for the decap. Personally, I run Sc/F and Staff for this map.

I would trust Sky Avalon if I were you. Just give Staff/Scepter Shield a try. You would be dodging on the point and running around it to avoid hits. What you want on your weapons are stuff that helps out your team, boons and immobilises.

AH is now the most common.
0 0 2 6 6 old meta guard is still very much useful.

There are lots you can switch around to, but keep your shouts, maybe a consecration, RF, and Soldier runes. Oh, and ress knockback trait is really nice.
Hammer/Staff (Spirit Watch)
Hammer/Scepter Shield (Control)
Hammer/Sword Shield (Kyhlo)
Staff/Scepter Shield (Support)
Staff/Sword Shield (Mobility)
Staff/Mace Shield
Staff/Mace Focus
Mace Focus/Scepter Shield (Survival)

try this:

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fVAQNApdWlsApUo1CxVI8DRx8QlZcsiVFAYXEZRVc1LA-TJxHwAILDY4JAA4UA8a/BA

Mace/Shield is fine. I don’t understand the scepter love personally. Mace has a cleave attack, a block, and possible protection, and circle that can be traited to heal. Scepter has a slow moving attacking and an easily dodgeable immobolize on a longish timer. I am not saying you can’t do well with Scepter, because you can, but when i look at what the two weapons do mace is the winner to me. I think its more a matter of personal preference.

ArcTheFallen.7682:

PierPiero.9142:

using staff + scepter/shield means that you don’t have a melee weapon … correct ? having staff and scepter for me is strange… i usually tend to have a melee weapon and a range one ..

Correct, however, most guard melee weapons are more for dps, if you play bunker and want dps, that isn’t going to work out.

Scepter is good because it can do some dmg, but it can also immobilize to help decap (shield knockback -> immob) and/or set up team bursts (good teammates will recognize cc’d enemies and focus on them or you can call target when they are immob’d).

If you aren’t used to have those two weaponsets, mace/focus is usually the other pair or you can get shield too if you want. The reason why range is usually better for bunkers is because you normally shouldn’t run off point. If you have melee, then you need to chase; if you can’t chase, then melee is worthless. A bunker’s role is to stay on point. If you move off point chasing then your job as a bunker has failed. Thus range is usually better since you can stay on point, and still oppress enemies.

Why would you need to chase or run off point ever as a bunker? If people run off a point thats what you want them to do. Healing Breeze is working as intended its been buffed multiple times. A-net is horrible with tool tips.

I’m also not really a fan of scepter when it comes to bunker. When it comes to CC, you’re better of going hammer. Besides Chains of Light, scepter doesn’t really have any utility. Sure you get a range option, but your damage is going to be low. So that’s not a huge factor. I’d rather have a lot of CC to help my team (hammer), or more of a support tool (mace). For the most part I run, mace/shield/staff or hammer/staff. I will go hammer/mace/shield, but that’s just for Skyhammer. There’s nothing wrong with going scepter, however in my view there are better options.

brannigan.9831:

ArcTheFallen.7682:

PierPiero.9142:

using staff + scepter/shield means that you don’t have a melee weapon … correct ? having staff and scepter for me is strange… i usually tend to have a melee weapon and a range one ..

Correct, however, most guard melee weapons are more for dps, if you play bunker and want dps, that isn’t going to work out.

Scepter is good because it can do some dmg, but it can also immobilize to help decap (shield knockback -> immob) and/or set up team bursts (good teammates will recognize cc’d enemies and focus on them or you can call target when they are immob’d).

If you aren’t used to have those two weaponsets, mace/focus is usually the other pair or you can get shield too if you want. The reason why range is usually better for bunkers is because you normally shouldn’t run off point. If you have melee, then you need to chase; if you can’t chase, then melee is worthless. A bunker’s role is to stay on point. If you move off point chasing then your job as a bunker has failed. Thus range is usually better since you can stay on point, and still oppress enemies.

Why would you need to chase or run off point ever as a bunker? If people run off a point thats what you want them to do. Healing Breeze is working as intended its been buffed multiple times. A-net is horrible with tool tips.

Right, the goal is to not be off point. Generally, having an melee weapon usually means you intend to use it effectively. For most melee weapons, you cannot use it effectively by sitting on point but by being within melee range at all times when you are using it.

As a bunker your role is to be on point (unless you need to rotate with another bunker-like char on your team when your cds are down). That means the moment the enemy is outside of the cap point, they are more than likely out of range. Now, the moment an enemy is out of range, your melee weapon absolutely useless—that was my point, that this is the disadvantage for melee. And that’s why scepter and staff is definitely a viable option—NOT the only one however.

I don’t mean to say “don’t use melee cause it’s bad”. It’s as viable as you can make it to be, but one advantage of scepter, is that it can consistently keep pressure on opponents regardless of their position (and every bit of damage counts in close fights! even if it is weak). This is just my suggestion, at the end of the day, it’s a game, play whatever seems fit.

edit: When PierPiero said he normally carries melee, it sounded like he wanted to be able to do damage. If he meant carrying mace and supporting, then that’s pretty standard. Lots of different choices, different advantages. Test them out.

One other key aspect is the importance of Cleric amulet compared to Soldier. Combined with Selfless Daring, Vigor, and Energy Sigils, Cleric’s produces quite a bit of group healing. It also boosts regeneration, virtue of resolve, and other assorting healing sources. Remember that you can weapon swap to get a free dodge, and that’s a large part of your survival.

Can anyone elaborate on the staff scepter/shield 0/0/2/6/6 build? which traits to get and what sigils/runes and what utilities to run with. The gw2skills editor doesn’t seem to work. Thanks.

Alex, check tinyurl.com/kenguardguide for my guide on virtues guardian.

IMO, the best build to start with and the one that is most often best for solo q is 01661 AH bunker. It has the best solo survivability, which is more important in an uncoordinated setting. Virtues has its benefits and is conditionally a better spec, depending on a ton of factors. Maybe I’ll make a video on my current views on the two builds after the next patch.

Also, I can’t say I can really recommend hammer for a bunker build, a central focus always needs to be 1vX survivability and hammer is really bad for that compared to the Mace/X set. And hammer is way behind staff ever since you could stun break launches, so there is really no room for hammer outside of maybe some wonky blast finish team comp.

ArcTheFallen.7682:

Post patch bunker guards haven’t changed much although some top teams used healing breeze in their setup but heard some controversy on whether it’s working as intended (heals too much I think most say).

I’m pretty certain Healing Breeze is working as intended. It’s the first time I’ve ever heard anyone mentioning this too.
The tooltip was messed up because the devs didn’t document the changes for it in-game (they did it in the patch notes only), but they fixed it a long time ago.