Guild Wars 2

guys how do I use unscathed contender? 20% more damage when aegis is on………….
when I get hit, the aegis is gone I hope for replies soon..

That’s exactly right. As soon as you get hit, you lose it. There are two main schools of thought that I’m aware of for Unscathed Contender – One is to use it in tandem with burst skills like Whirling Wrath, i.e. pop Retreat or your virtue immediately before Whirling Wrath for a 20% bonus. So, you might be a Berserker burst PvP guardian who uses Judge’s Intervention, Focus 5 and Whirling Wrath in a very short timeframe and be able to get all of the abilities off at the 20% bonus before you get hit.

The other is to use it without intending to get hit at all, i.e. pop it right before a long chain of blinds, knockbacks, and so forth. Using it from range with a Scepter is also another option.

never take unscathed in pvp.
blind stomps keep aegis on.

I use Indomitable Courage for PvP. Don’t need blind stomps when you have clutch stability.

More often than not, aegis will be ripped away the moment you JI to target, so I tend to re-apply with courage mid-way through my burst rotation if it’s needed.

If its PvE you are talking about then UC is surprisingly easy to maintain. Throughout a fight, you can have 5+ sources of Aegis on you depending on your trait/skill combination, with utility skills and virtues only its VoC passive, VoC active, Retreat, Renewed Focus + VoC passive, Renewed Focus + VoC active: basically 5 sources. Your other block effects trigger before consuming Aegis, so you can use Protector’s Strike (Mace 3) and Shelter (heal) to maintain your Aegis even while blocking. If the attacks are generally projectiles, then you can use Wall of Reflection, Shield of the Avenger, Zealot’s Defense (Sword 3) and Shield of Absorption (Shield 5). If the attackers can be blinded – if they dont have Unshakeable effect on them – you have numerous sources of blind to protect your Aegis such as Leap of Faith (Greatsword 3), Flashing Blade (Sword 2), Virtue of Justice (with 1 points in Radiance for Blind, 3 points for spamming). Moreover, with 1 point in Honor line you will have a large output of Vigor on yourself, so you can dodge to both avoid damage and your Aegis being consumed, or use Leap of Faith (Greatsword 3) without a target selected to sort of dodge. If you want more dodges you can always get some Sigil of Energy. Don’t forget that we can also convert conditions to boons. If there is Burning on you, with Contemplation of Purity and any of the shouts with Pure of Voice traited, you will have Aegis on you. Lastly, if you are in a trash fight and only if you really want the Aegis, other methods failed and you can afford a sigil slot; you can take Sigil of Luck with you. It doesn’t have a cooldown and has a high rate of procing but can give you any one of the boons. For runes don’t even bother to go for Aegis, as the only one that gives Aegis makes us use Signets, which are not practical to use in PvE generally. I hope this was what you were looking for

Edit: Focus 5 doesn’t work to protect Aegis, removed it by Charak’s suggestion.

Focus 5 does not prevent aegis from being consumed, it will take 1 tick from the barrier AND aegis.

My bad then, thank you for pointing outThough it seems really silly for one source of damage to be blocked by 2 sources of block. I’m hoping its not intended to be this way. Anyway, I’ll edit my response accordingly.

Pregnantman.8259:

My bad then, thank you for pointing outThough it seems really silly for one source of damage to be blocked by 2 sources of block. I’m hoping its not intended to be this way. Anyway, I’ll edit my response accordingly.

Probably not intentional, but very unlikely to ever get fixed ( since it has always worked this way ) – maybe when they run out of skill facts to update…who knows.

Made a thread about it in Profession Balance. Feel free to bump it.

Charak.9761:

never take unscathed in pvp.
blind stomps keep aegis on.

O.o Initial bursts are pretty nice.

Just out of curiosity, what else do you or anyone else take in it’s place, especially if you’re a Mediations Guardian? For me, it’s UC or Vengeful.

It seems that for Medi builds there are only 2 options in Virtues Adept traits, with Vengeful being in my opinion somewhat unnecessary. UC would not only be great for openers, but can also punish others for noticing you in time. For bunker builds however, I d go with Vengeful.

On my medi build I’ll stick with UC 98% of the time, but occasionally the situation calls for a utility swap for a consecration or two, in which case I’ll change to Master of Consecrations or Consecrated Ground depending on the skills involved.

Tarsius.3170:

On my medi build I’ll stick with UC 98% of the time, but occasionally the situation calls for a utility swap for a consecration or two, in which case I’ll change to Master of Consecrations or Consecrated Ground depending on the skills involved.

Yeah, this is pretty much myself as well. On occassion, I’ll switch over to the Spirit Weapon duration trait and use the blue guys just for funnzies.

If I’m medi, I don’t take more than one point in virtues
If I’m bunker I take 25% retailation bonus
If I’m playing my druid (spirit weapons), longer duration spirits
If I’m doing something that requires wall, concentration.

The trait is useful for burst damage, but depends on the situation. The best use is team fights in wvw – 30 0 30 5 5 for great damage or 10 5 30 5 20. The first will allow for higher damage while the second is a little more reliable. Sword + Focus / GS. Select a squishy target, focus 5 for damage and allows aegis to stay up (or should, haven’t checked if they fixed it. It’s mostly for damage.) The combo is Judges Intervention, smite (if you want even more damage,) Whirling Wrath (note: Use a sigil of rage + either force, accuracy or perhaps fire for damage,) and as you finish the Shield of Wrath explodes. As you use those, F1 and f3 for might, (blindness,) burning to trigger 10% burning trait, and Aegis for the 20% damage. If you’re ballsy, gs4 in the middle of ji and then gs2. Outside of that it’s not worth it. Lots of damage. Then you run.