Guild Wars 2

Hi fellow Revenants,

I have recently returned to the game and decided to try out a Revenant. In pvp I’m decisively average – I kill about as much as I get murdolated. That’s fair game and will improve as I do.

Except for when it comes to Guardians.

They absolutely destroy me with what appears to be no effort whatsoever.
The melee ones will erect a ward and a spinning sword wheel inside it which deals massive amounts of damage even if I manage to block/UA/evasive shadows out of most of it (sometimes the shiro evade works and sometimes I get knocked down by the ward when rolling over it). If I get out I’ll get pulled back in and take more damage. If I survive that long something unknown happens at which point I get killed in less than a second from some mega-attack or super condition slam. It happens so fast I never see what it is.

How can I deal with these mega-super-burst dudes? They are as bursty as thieves but with fantastic block and healing capabilities that seem to have no mentionable cooldown. Even the few times I’ve survived the whole thing the guardian will just heal up and block until he can do the same thing again.

Second, the DHs and their bows. These will erect a ward when I come close enough and shoot me. The arrows deal very high damage. They also put down a field to keep me away. If I get close they’ll knock me back. if I close after that (at greatly reduced health) they seem to have superior defenses and stuns/disorients. I never manage to do even close to enough damage to these while I get knocked back, disoriented, and lose around 20% of my hp with every bow-shot I eat.

How can I kill these people?

I’m running Shiro/Glint, dual sword, Retribution/Devastation/Herald.

Also, does retribution boon reflect damage, i.e. prevent that damage from me, or does it replicate the damage I take on the person that caused it?

• Any time they use Judge’s Intervention to teleport on you you can expect a burst (Whirlwing Wrath greastword spin, True Shot longbow + traps, etc). So use your sword block, staff block, shield block or even Glint heal skill to negate the damage or even gain life. Unrenteling Assault is another good tool to use just at that moment.

• Skills like satff #5 or hammer # 2 are excellent to “reveal” their traps without suffering damage (albeit I advice against using hammer in PvP at his current state).

• Guardians/DH are in general at disadvantage vs Revs/Herald at close range, specially while they are handling the bow. Try to get as close as possible (Phase Traversal is excellent for this) and then use Precission Strike to chill and constantly STRAFE the foe while hitting with your sword auto attack.

• Malicious Reprisal trait in Devastation and Phase Traversal utility from Shiro are huge when fighting foes with large access to blocks as Guardians. Enchanted Daggers followed by Phase Traversal → single auto attack → Unrenteling Assault or Surge of the Mist is our equivalent to their burst, but with evade build-in.

• I’m fan of Retribution over Invocation in PvP. Invocation provides Fury, cleansing, breakstuns and increased damage, but doesn’t provide stability (which is one of the main problems against DH). Retribution’s Unwavering Avoidance grants stability more than half of the matches which seems crucial to counter the Heavy Light trait from DH’s. Retribution also offers good damage reduction for mele fighters (which also stacks wonderfully with the Scrapper runes).

• Guardians/DH are a lot more predicatable than Revs: True Shot, Deflecting Shot and Hunter’s Ward are easy to read and Symbol of Energy is slow and covers a very small area. The auto attacks should be the only concern and as I said the closer you fights them the larger would be their disadvantage.

• While fighting mele Guardians/DH you must take in consideration that most of their weapons lacks defensive capabilities: with your swords and staff you can hit and block/evade and your cooldowns are low; Guardian’s greatsword traits are in the Zeal line which is now mostly unused and hammer and staff are even more slow and can be punished spamming Precission Strike.

• If they spent their evades and you suspect their breakstuns are on cooldown and you have 65+ energy points use the Jade Winds + UA → staff swap → Surge of the Mist → Glint swap → Elemental Blast combo. Is a huge burst in damage with stun-knockdown which against a lot of players can end in a “one shoot” if they lack a proper stunbreack when Jade Winds connects.

Dessembrae.6327:

Hi fellow Revenants,

I have recently returned to the game and decided to try out a Revenant. In pvp I’m decisively average – I kill about as much as I get murdolated. That’s fair game and will improve as I do.

Except for when it comes to Guardians.

They absolutely destroy me with what appears to be no effort whatsoever.
The melee ones will erect a ward and a spinning sword wheel inside it which deals massive amounts of damage even if I manage to block/UA/evasive shadows out of most of it (sometimes the shiro evade works and sometimes I get knocked down by the ward when rolling over it). If I get out I’ll get pulled back in and take more damage. If I survive that long something unknown happens at which point I get killed in less than a second from some mega-attack or super condition slam. It happens so fast I never see what it is.

How can I deal with these mega-super-burst dudes? They are as bursty as thieves but with fantastic block and healing capabilities that seem to have no mentionable cooldown. Even the few times I’ve survived the whole thing the guardian will just heal up and block until he can do the same thing again.

Second, the DHs and their bows. These will erect a ward when I come close enough and shoot me. The arrows deal very high damage. They also put down a field to keep me away. If I get close they’ll knock me back. if I close after that (at greatly reduced health) they seem to have superior defenses and stuns/disorients. I never manage to do even close to enough damage to these while I get knocked back, disoriented, and lose around 20% of my hp with every bow-shot I eat.

How can I kill these people?

I’m running Shiro/Glint, dual sword, Retribution/Devastation/Herald.

Also, does retribution boon reflect damage, i.e. prevent that damage from me, or does it replicate the damage I take on the person that caused it?

If you are running retri herald you shouldn’t have any problems. Retaliation doesn’t reflect damage it causes damage/strike.

To avoid getting stuck in ward dodge the last set of arrows. Dodge traps and whatnot.

The fastest way to learn how to counter them is playing one.

I’m also guessing that you are taking the wrong traits on retribution there are only 4 traits worth taking and those are Close Quarters , Dwarven Battle Training , Eye for an Eye and Versed in Stone

Just a quick few tips:
Sounds like you faced a glassy hammer/GS Medi Guardian, they have a nasty burst like that. Dodge that bubble ward first and foremost, that comes from the hammer and should have a telegraphed animation.

Also, learn to dodge that pull, it’s from GS#5.

You can try using Poison to mess up the healing, but more than likely he’ll have condi-cleanse.

You might want to consider changing to Sword/Shield and if you get caught anyways in the middle of the SpinToWin, use your Crystal Hibernation to block it all.

I can’t give you much advice on the DH other than what above stated. Avoiding that last arrow will help tremendously. You don’t really even have to waste a dodge on it. You can just walk away from it when you see the arrows hitting the ground.

Buran.3796:

• Any time they use Judge’s Intervention to teleport on you you can expect a burst (Whirlwing Wrath greastword spin, True Shot longbow + traps, etc). So use your sword block, staff block, shield block or even Glint heal skill to negate the damage or even gain life. Unrenteling Assault is another good tool to use just at that moment.

• Skills like satff #5 or hammer # 2 are excellent to “reveal” their traps without suffering damage (albeit I advice against using hammer in PvP at his current state).

• Guardians/DH are in general at disadvantage vs Revs/Herald at close range, specially while they are handling the bow. Try to get as close as possible (Phase Traversal is excellent for this) and then use Precission Strike to chill and constantly STRAFE the foe while hitting with your sword auto attack.

• Malicious Reprisal trait in Devastation and Phase Traversal utility from Shiro are huge when fighting foes with large access to blocks as Guardians. Enchanted Daggers followed by Phase Traversal -> single auto attack -> Unrenteling Assault or Surge of the Mist is our equivalent to their burst, but with evade build-in.

• I’m fan of Retribution over Invocation in PvP. Invocation provides Fury, cleansing, breakstuns and increased damage, but doesn’t provide stability (which is one of the main problems against DH). Retribution’s Unwavering Avoidance grants stability more than half of the matches which seems crucial to counter the Heavy Light trait from DH’s. Retribution also offers good damage reduction for mele fighters (which also stacks wonderfully with the Scrapper runes).

• Guardians/DH are a lot more predicatable than Revs: True Shot, Deflecting Shot and Hunter’s Ward are easy to read and Symbol of Energy is slow and covers a very small area. The auto attacks should be the only concern and as I said the closer you fights them the larger would be their disadvantage.

• While fighting mele Guardians/DH you must take in consideration that most of their weapons lacks defensive capabilities: with your swords and staff you can hit and block/evade and your cooldowns are low; Guardian’s greatsword traits are in the Zeal line which is now mostly unused and hammer and staff are even more slow and can be punished spamming Precission Strike.

• If they spent their evades and you suspect their breakstuns are on cooldown and you have 65+ energy points use the Jade Winds + UA -> staff swap -> Surge of the Mist -> Glint swap -> Elemental Blast combo. Is a huge burst in damage with stun-knockdown which against a lot of players can end in a “one shoot” if they lack a proper stunbreack when Jade Winds connects.

This was exactly the kind of detailed assistance I was hoping for. Thank you, I’ve switched to Malicious reprisal and will go looking for some guardians to practice against (shouldn’t be too hard, spvp is crawling with them).