Guild Wars 2

Okay, currently using hammer as my main weapon, Sword/Board offset. Equally geared/level classes I can take the majority 1v1 – some more annoying than others, but Guardians rip me to shreds EVERY time.

Mesmers are difficult just from getting a hold of them – hate decoy! They feel like they are stealthed more than thieves. But I have found Mesmers generally a lot easier since I swapped to hammer from dual axes, part of the reason I swapped was retaliation/chaos armor eating me alive.

Have yet to find a decent way to fight guardians, attacks are constantly blocked and my damage seems outdone by a single heal (which I can’t interrupt because it blocks!), all the while losing excessive health in return.

Now – In general I know that Guardian is considered to be one of if not the worst matchup for a Warrior, but has anyone found a decent method to fight them? I can’t recall winning a 1v1 against a well geared/played/leveled Guardian since I stopped using the longbow (pin->arcing ftw).

How do you beat them without using a longbow? It’s not easy. Try fear me then bull’s rush when they turn away, then hit them with your hammer. Save backbreaker until you know it won’t miss, like when they are casting a spell, after hitting them with bull’s rush or after the stun on your third hammer strike. Make the most out of your hammer skills by timing them appropriately. Unless you are a norn, then you should reroll because you are ay too easy to anticipate and none of your attacks will ever connect.

I am indeed a norn ;’(

Well that’s your problem right there. The little guys always have an innate advantage; they’re harder to see.

Really it depends on your build. I use a heavy bleed build which tends to destroy Guardians, as I can apply the bleeds faster than they can cleanse them. I have trouble with other classes and builds however that you might not.

Playing a Norn really never gave my problems. Norns are awesome.. Playing Asuran is lame !

Asura animations are more difficult to see than norn are. If he’s running a hammer build with really big long animations, he will do better as an asura than a norn because it will be more difficult for enemies to anticipate and counter his attacks. These are facts, not opinions. If he changed to a different weapon (like you Slyther) it wouldn’t be as much of a problem.

Constantly blocked? Guardians got two ways to block an attack, dear. 1st is of course their virtue, that gives you 1 block every 40th second, unless they use it, giving everyone around them, inclusive themselves a block, however, then it’ll take 90 seconds for the next block to come, instead of just waiting 40 seconds, but it might be a lifesaver of course.

(PS: No, the focus ability, where you block the next 3 attacks, or do damage if those 3 blocks aren’t used, doesn’t count, as the foci are really, really ugly. So of course, no decent person would ever use them!)
The second way for a guardian to block, is by using a mace. it got a skill that lets you block the next attack done towards them, and then do an attack in return (gain protection if not hit).

(And then a third, which gives you and the person you help up an aegis, along with regeneration and protection, IF you got the trait that is.)

I guess that the reason why you have trouble against guardians, is because guardians is a very defensive type, or at least, can be. It’s the only other proffession than the one you play yourself, that wears heavy armor. However, for my own experience (my main is a guardian and played guardian since the first beta-weekend) their burst is far from as high as a warriors’. However, if you can avoid a warriors’ burst (yes, there are ways, such as stun breakers) then the guardian got it pretty much under control, if they know what they are doing.

I’ve played Guardian before and we have many in my guild, I spent a while deciding between Warrior/Guardian.

I know they can’t “constantly” block, but between Aegis reapplications, Shelter and a few weapon abilities it does still feel like there is a lot of blocking going on ;p.

I’m not specced for burst on my Warrior, as with a hammer I am more there for control. But I just cannot find a good way to beat Guardians, almost all I meet are greatsword wielding and it seems that Whirling Wrath+ the Symbol results in me utterly disintegrating, even if I draw them out from the symbols radius.

I’m aware that Guardians are generally considered the worst matchup for a Warrior, and whilst I have met the odd Necro/Ranger that I just simply cannot catch… I have never found them to be any where near as problematic as a Guardian. Just hoped someone might have found a fairly consistent way to battle them with a hammer. I noticed the last fight in Matale’s video with a Guardian he basically just has to leave :/

Side note completely: Wish the sword didn’t feel so slow in comparison to the axe I enjoyed the axes but I can’t do without that leap for WvW!

I think he was just exaggerating.

I don’t know man, I’ve beaten guardians on my hammer warrior. Try the fear me shout, it can’t be blocked with aegis. Then chain it with bull’s charge while they flee, and smack them with backbreaker when they get up. That’s how I’ve done it in the past.

I usually swap to bow and start kiting after that but that won’t work without a bow or rifle. Hopefully, by the time you’re out of knockdowns they’ll either be running away or somebody else will show up. I know hammer lacks mobility but maybe swapping in bull’s charge and swapping out the sword will help?

Now, if you’re talking about taking on bunker guardians, nothing short of getting the jump on them with a pure burst damage build will take them down. Maybe that’s the problem?

Hmmm what kind of build are you running. I usually go fairly tanky build in wvw, and basically guardians can’t really even touch me through my own heals. Usually becomes a stalemate though where neither of us can put any real significant damage on the other. I honestly can’t imagine a guardian just gibbing me though. I don’t run hammer though, i use axe/warhorn and either bow or a riffle. Hammer attacks are fairly slow, and if they get a block on backbreaker or something, your losing a huge portion of your combo/utility, so that might be why you’re struggling. I can basically just keep pressure with axe auto’s which are fast and hard hitting.

If you’re really having trouble, try a sword-bleed build, they have a bit more trouble against that.

I mostly play small scale WvW, although I am also a commander so I do have to push the frontlines often as well. My build at present is:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fIMQNAS8ejcONvxOuQMxBA0jq46KjiiMSpwu6A;TkAquMeJ8yykrLJTLMGQsBB

With full knights equipment. It’s a bit mismatched in places I know, but it’s what seems to work for the areas of combat I am in. I’ve also played about with using Healing Signet due to the reduced CD and heals remove conditions trait for more condition removal (although thats not so much of a problem tbh) but didn’t like it. I almost always have full adrenaline so used to run +crit trait as well, and my Healing Surge heals for 50% of my hp.

Not the best built, but does the job! Used to run dual axes instead of hammer as my first use of hammer I didn’t enjoy, but near commiting suicide on retaliation/chaos armor made me swap.. although I do hate the lack of combo finishers on the hammer.

Stats (with no buffs/stacks): 3089 attack, 39% crit, 3457/3609 armor (hammer/s+s), 18622 hp.

The only guardians that have given me trouble are greatsword guardians..they do a good amount of damage while still being pretty defensive. I run defektive’s cc/hammer build, not the DPS variant.
With a well-played guardian of any other type, the fight will usually last long enough that someone adds onto the fight. Haven’t noticed a lot of well-played guardians though, especially in WvW and sPvP (not that I can point fingers, warrior has some of the worst players I’ve ever seen)

@Neandramathal
Why are you using hammer and no ranged weapons for small scale WvW? It seems like a high mobility build would be much more important. I’m just curious here.

@kyokara
The only thing more common than a bad Guardian is a bad Warrior.

Actually I find it more than mobile enough for the fights we do, we tend to be in either like 5v5 or flanking opponents at keeps (small server, it’s the only real way we can defend).

I used to run Axe/Axe+Longbow but find this far better for what we do, other than the lack of combo finishers on the hammer, which was one reason I stuck with Axe/axe for so long…. it worked so well with the guardian/necro fields.