Guild Wars 2

wanting to know for guardian if hammer or gs better in fractals as a main weapons…and if anyone got a good build

Generally Greatsword, Sword+ focus for the blinds and pull although Hammer sort of works in supportive play.
Some more information about your playstyle would help

Each has it’s uses. There is no “my build only runs hammer”. Learn to use both when needed.

That said, hammer is good for the ring to LoS mobs and CC them with immob, and ofc for the protection it gives on the auto not too say you have a blast finisher every 5s. I see it’s use on the Ascalon fractal for the hard hitting trash mobs, or in Uncategorized with the 4 champions when you need to hold agro on the ettin, it works good with scepter.

GS is pretty much staple. It has a good rotation with Sword, you have a blind, good burst and the pull from #5 which is very important in pretty much every encounter.

Edit: Builds is use in fractals

4.5.0.0.5 or 4.5.0.1.4 - when I need max utility and some condie removal for the group or extra stability (Solid, Aether Fractal, Cliffside)

4.6.0.2.2 (scepter/gs) or 5.5.0.2.2 (Mace/gs) – Mossman and Snowblind (depending on the group)

6.6.0.0.2 - for some bosses where I go full scepter/torch (Bloom, Thaumanova Anomaly, Legendary Power Suit or Ele)

2.5.0.2.5 - when I need the CD reduction from SotA, Condie Removal and Shout CD

5.0.0.4.5 - Imbued Shaman

I left a few but those I see myself using. I change my build all the time in fractals there is no run with the same build.

honestly im still new to guardian i use warr the most but i wanna play around with guardian so lookin for a good build for gs really i found one with hammer but wanna see whats out there for gs…and what gear i should be using

Like every profession (with some exception) the best gear for the Guardian will be Zerker. It’s intimidating at first (especially if you come from warrior) because guardian have a very low hp. But the Guardian have SO MUCH active defense that it still easy to survive on a guardian. But for that you need to know how to play the profession, you can take a couple of soldier or knight pieces of gear while you get used to the guardian.

GS – S/F : That’s the best weapon combo. GS is the burst and Sword is the auto-attack.
6/6/0/0/2 is the highest dps but it vary a lot because it depend on your Aegis uptime.
6/6/2/0/0 is slightly less dps, but its a lot less variable.
4/5/0/0/5 is about 5-11% less dps than to other 2 build, but it give you access to more support/survivability. It’s a good general purpose build for new guardian.
4/5/0/1/4 is a custom build. If someone still have problem running the 4/5/0/0/5 build, this one will give him more vigor to help.

GS – M/F : It’s a little bit less dps than GS Sw/F and you lose 1 blind, but you gain some sustain healing.
6/6/2/0/0 : is the dps build.
2/5/0/5/2 : is about 2-3% less dps but give you more surviability/support

GS – Scepter/F: For people that can’t stay in melee for all the fight, a scepter can do the job.
6/6/0/0/2 or 6/6/2/0/0 : are both top dps like for the GS – Sw/F.

For all those, you can swap Focus to torch if you want. Torch is better for fight longer than 30sec, Focus is better for shorter fight and give you more defense.

One question for you pro PVE guards out there. I’m so used to running AH or Medis that i find it difficult to run without them. How do you manage your sustain without either of the above? Is it all 100% active defence? Thats gotta be pretty high skill level no?

Thanks

I had the same question when I first stop using AH build a long time ago. Basically, yes it’s mostly active defense. But it’s not that hard really. You have so much active defense on a guardian that it’s easy to have a high uptime.

Blind : F1 recharge on kill, GS #3, Focus 4, Sword 2.
Aegis : F2, Retreat
Reflection : Wall of Reflection, Sword #2
Block : Focus 5, Shelter
Invulnerability : Renewed Focus

With all that, you should be able to block most attack coming your way. Of course knowing when to use them will increase drastically your survivability, but for normal fight you should be able to survive just by using those skills. If you have some problem while you learn how to use your active defense you can put 1 pts in honor for some vigor and/or a sigil of energy. If that’s not enough try the hammer build for perma protection, that should do more than enough. Alternatively you could take 1-3 pieces of defensive gear like soldier and knight so you have a little room for error while you practice.

But seriously it’s mostly mental. You gonna get use to it and then you won’t be able to get back to AH. I use to wonder how survive without AH, now I wonder how can I survive with AH since you lose so much active defense.

Thanks Thaddeus. I’ll have to try it out again.

All hail the mighty Thaddeus!

In all seriousness, he pretty summed up the right builds and tactics. My two copper on the whole matter is knowing the right tool for the right job. As a Guard we get the burden/responsibility of keeping the team alive (comes with the profession, I’m afraid). So with that we need to know when to take DPS builds to take down out enemies fast vs knowing when to slot utility builds for mitigation.

ty for help guys…..what would be good slot skills

I think it’s worth noting that even though GS – M/F may be a small personal dps loss it can help greatly in maintaining your group’s scholar bonus as a whole and yield an overall dps increase for the group as a result. This is great for higher level fractals and can be good for those questionable pug groups.

Don’t get stuck on one weapon but try to use them when you see fit. Hammer can provide more mitigation on longer fights, when Aegis or Blind can’t be used, when teammates or you are having difficulty staying alive or keeping Scholar bonus and where the foes are spread – so you can’t see their actions all at once and prepare immediately. Chances are if you are not in an organized group such situations are not uncommon. Also there are 4 more skills Hammer has besides the auto attack that provides mitigation. Surely there are many other gaps Hammer can fill.

A Greatsword on the other hand is pretty much good to go for any situation imaginable. With burst, might, active defense, leap, pull and whirl its arguably the most versatile weapon we have. The only weakness of the weapon is that it deals maximum damage when you use the second skill inside an enemy hitbox. I think obal calculated the dps loss for missing projectiles for up to 1k (in sticky). So there may be situations where an another combo might prove superior, but personally I think wouldn’t be too common.

Camping Hammer alone is only %10ish and combining Hammer with Greatsword is %5-10ish less DPS than max dps we can offer. So if you can’t decide whether to use Hammer or Greatsword, it can be a good idea to use both.

gs for pulling trash to stack
hammer for skipping trash to keep them at bay.