Guild Wars 2

Hi all

I’ve been running the same build for WvW for some time now with reasonable success, but with the changes to DPS Guardian I’ve found them harder to deal with recently. I’m thinking about the Greatsword & Sword/Focus Mediation build in particular.

I’m just wondering how the community deals with them? I normally just walk away now, since against a competent opponent the outcome is usually either a stalemate or a loss because they simply out-heal me, blocking all the way.

This is my build:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQNAoYVlYmiO3eS+E+5Ey2jeqCJKuHOVS1UdFiKA-j0CBYfQ4LBkgAisAkKAI5RZN7RQsMsIas6aYKXCRqYpWGA9JA-w

Pretty standard build, hence why I think it could use a little improvements. I do build more defensively than most, this may be a part of the problem. I usually have full guard defense & guard leech stacks when roaming, and I have an ascended zerk pistol that I swap in for specific fights.

It might just be that I need to time my burst better, but it can’t hurt to ask :P

Being a solo roamer myself, I feel your pain. A few tweaks i would recommend are:
a) in critical strikes go III instead of I permanent 7%;
b) acrobatics go III for the vigor/extra dodges;
c) switch blinding powder for infiltrator’s signet, gives an extra “steal”; and
d) I prefer basilik poison to interrupt their heal.
This is my backstab build:

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQRAoY8YlUmiO3eS5E/5Ey2jdqCJKuHOVS1UdF4KA-jkCBYLDimgAkIIQUBwJPKrpPCilhFRjVXDT5KpqYCyCBIYMA-w

That being said, I am now enjoying a condition build. I will admit it’s a dance for sure and doesn’t have the quick gratification of the bs build but I do survive better and have been known to win a lot 1 v 2/3 and sometimes 4. And those healing types usually make a dash for it. I wish there was a viable s/x condition set but dancing dagger gets the job done.

This is my condition build:

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQNAqYVlYmiO3eS5E/5EB3Dnm0m6z4rjt/AXB-jECBoOCiUAA00g0BQZSFRjtMsIasKZER1KlYCBsYNA-w

To kill a DPS guard, all you really need to do is land the F1 4 second daze.

Good luck landing it though lol.

To be honest, DPS guards are one of the worst matchups for thief atm, specially Pistol Offhand thief because they can just burn through your blind field, which is one of your major defenses.

My suggestion, don’t fight them if you don’t need to. If you do, play defensive with shortbow until they burn EVERYTHING.

One of the hardest match ups for a thief alongside with an Engineer. Dps guards are absolutely difficult to kill because they bypass all your blinds and the reta+burn will do a lot of damage to you.
As the above poster said, the best thing you can do is let them use all their virtues early on, while kiting them with the shortbow. You can even play the waiting game, going into stealth back and forth until they use everything.
If you get pulled, use a stunbreaker ASAP to avoid being melted. For the elite, none of ours is really good against them because all their blocks nullify our basilisk, whereas they only need their GS #2 to kill both our thieves of thieves guild.
Still fighting them is incredibly fun, way better than engineers, and you can learn a lot from those fights.
Good luck!

Thanks for all the replies, glad to know it’s not me just missing something obvious lol :P

@ Bern: Thanks for the pointers & build links

I have a P/D condi build too, I’ve used carrion & dire so far but I think my armor is too low (~2500), I’ll give the full dire set a go. Condi’s just not as fun as direct damage imo, but if it’s effective shrugs
I feel like basilisk is too easily negated when I use it, I’ll give it another go. I like the fall damage trait because it means I can take advantage of terrain in a way that other classes can’t, but you’re right, acro III is a stronger trait. The crit III & signet tips do make a lot of sense too, thanks

@Reikou: You’re right about the stolen ability, but with all the blocks is a pain to land lol. Like I say, I might just need better timing :/

I do just avoid them generally speaking, using shadowstep to repeatedly port onto walls they have to run around is pretty fun, they get bored after a while :P it’s the usual thing though, you don’t learn how to deal with anything by simply avoiding it :/

@hihey: TEO! I remember you guys from Whiteside lol

Good advice that. I guess I need to get better at keeping track of when abilities are on cooldown. That’s always been kinda hard for me, since I have to run on minimum character detail in WvW just to make sure I have the fps to land a CnD. Everything looks like the basic attack, at least as far as character animations go anyway :/

I’ve been trying to use my shortbow more recently, it’s a surprisingly effective weapon that I tend to forget about. I remember autoattacking a zerker engi to death using it, because he refused to leave his turrets and apparently didn’t know how to deal with anything not in turret range.

Would S/D have better luck do you think? I haven’t played much with the set, so I can’t really judge.

Like I said, if you really want to fight DPS Meditation Guardians, you need to play shortbow defensive until they burn:

Shelter, all 3 meditations, all 3 virtues, Renewed Focus, all 3 virtues Again, shelter Again, and by this time all 3 medis are up again as well.

Unless you can land the Daze, you’re going to have to draw the fight out for at least a minute. Play defensive with shortbow.

I would suggest trying to Daze them while they’re either locked in GS2 animation or Sword 3 animation as most don’t really dodge out of it there.

S/D might have better luck if you can Flanking Strike their bursts. You still need to play SB most of the time though, and stall out hard with Shadow Refuge/stealths until hes burned everything.

The main thing when playing them with your build is to be patient. Dodge out and use shortbow during their burst. It took me a while using d/p to get used to it because I was used to blinding powder tanking guards for me. They’re like some thief builds that once the burst misses they’re not a threat anymore.

S/D makes them look foolish if you like that weapon set.

Awesome, thanks for the tips guys