Guild Wars 2

Hi everyone,
Been looking around the forum for a good PvE build with a shield in there because I like the idea of being a warrior with a shield but can’t find any as most of the builds on here are either GS glass cannon builds or WvW builds.(Nothing against the GS I just prefer having a shield) I’m just looking for a shield build for PvE/Dungeons which is quite tanky with some support and a reasonable amount of damage if possible. IS it worth rolling a warrior for this role or should I just roll a guardian or just go with a glass cannon warrior like most people do? Any suggestions on builds or weapons to go with a shield and other weapon sets would be cool. Links to videos would be cool too.
Thanks!

axe is good dps but mace can maintain weakness.
If you wanted to bleed stack you could maybe use sword and then choose a stat set with condition dmg and toughness ?
in open world pve trash mobbing you want to just run with axe/berserker gear. Im lame and run 5 signets (lol) with 20points in power, 10points in precision, 20points in defense, 20 points in crit dmg. +12% dmg adren, +10% crit dmg axe, +40precision/signet, blocking reflects, shield recharge, +9% crit adren. In orr i dont even heal, i just regen from healing signet and the minor train that gives 360 hp/3sec on full adren bar and sigil of blood on my shield.
In dungeon maybe use knights(?) power,precision,toughness with mace. Shouts Heal is popular. If you choose to use healing power then consider taking Banner of Tactics aswell and using skill 2 on its 10sec recharge for aoe regen and another heal.

Justine.6351:

axe is good dps but mace can maintain weakness.
If you wanted to bleed stack you could maybe use sword and then choose a stat set with condition dmg and toughness ?
in open world pve trash mobbing you want to just run with axe/berserker gear. Im lame and run 5 signets (lol) with 20points in power, 10points in precision, 20points in defense, 20 points in crit dmg. +12% dmg adren, +10% crit dmg axe, +40precision/signet, blocking reflects, shield recharge, +9% crit adren. In orr i dont even heal, i just regen from healing signet and the minor train that gives 360 hp/3sec on full adren bar and sigil of blood on my shield.
In dungeon maybe use knights(?) power,precision,toughness with mace. Shouts Heal is popular. If you choose to use healing power then consider taking Banner of Tactics aswell and using skill 2 on its 10sec recharge for aoe regen and another heal.

Cool thanks! I think I might try using an axe/shield any ideas for a weapon set to go with that for PvE/Dungeons?

really wait for more responses. I use my warrior in open world pve 90% of the time. As such i carry the rifle in offset for world bosses. But if you want to stay in melee i would still recommend mace on second slot for weakness but thats just my thinking. actually i would recommend mace/shield but i dont know.

Justine.6351:

really wait for more responses. I use my warrior in open world pve 90% of the time. As such i carry the rifle in offset for world bosses. But if you want to stay in melee i would still recommend mace on second slot for weakness but thats just my thinking. actually i would recommend mace/shield but i dont know.

Yeah Rifle seems quite sensible. I could go Mace/shield+ Axe/Warhorn so I have good defence and weakness and I still have good damage with the axe and I still have good maneuverability with the warhorn

I use Axe/Shield and Hammer.-

Seems to be a very good combo to tank in PVE.

Mesket.5728:

I use Axe/Shield and Hammer.-

Seems to be a very good combo to tank in PVE.

Thanks man, I’ll give it a try in some dungeons. I like the hammer because it looks really cool so if I can use it well it will be a bonus! Sorry for further questioning but what sort of build would you use it in?

Axe/shield (have warhorn for speed) longbow/rifle for range in case of team play where you can’t tank the mob. trait set specially for Axe and Shield.

Sovereign.1093:

Axe/shield (have warhorn for speed) longbow/rifle for range in case of team play where you can’t tank the mob. trait set specially for Axe and Shield.

Cool thanks Sovereign! I think for open world PvE I’ll go for Axe/Warhorn and Rifle but for dungeons i’ll use a shield instead. Any ideas of a trait setup to go with this?

darthsmall.8246:

Sovereign.1093:

Axe/shield (have warhorn for speed) longbow/rifle for range in case of team play where you can’t tank the mob. trait set specially for Axe and Shield.

Cool thanks Sovereign! I think for open world PvE I’ll go for Axe/Warhorn and Rifle but for dungeons i’ll use a shield instead. Any ideas of a trait setup to go with this?

If you want to play offensively. 20/0/20/0/30 works fine. But if you’re the party support. 15/0/25/30/0 or 10/0/30/30/0 = first one allows you to abuse your burst and regain energy while still able to use healing shouts/banner, and the latter is purely for tanking.

If you are looking more at damage with sustainability I would suggest a build similar to this:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fIAQNAneDGAQPq6qtMKKKIlC6aD

The traits in defense can be switched as needed to include either additional stability or reflect projectiles (note: reflect projectiles overrides the might on block). I would go either with soldier or knight armor with either berserker or knight. Sigils and runes are more up to you.

This is a highly offensive approach to it and if you wanted to go more support I would pull the trait points from discipline and maybe strength and put them in tactics.

Also would like to say I would keep both a rifle and long bow handy. The combo field and blast finisher on the long bow can really help stack up party might especially when traited for the faster weapon swaps via discipline tree.

Go like this.
5400 E.Power (1000 less than a full zerker GS, 1500 more than a shouter, it’spretty good)
3 forms of invulnerability (19.5s invul every 90s, it means 21.6% of the time you are invulnerable)
31.4% damage reduction (good enough but not high enough to make you into an aggro magnet)
690.5 hp/second (120 adren health, 344 food, 226.5 sigil)
86.5% crit chance 250% crit damage
Buff people in 600 radius with Fury+Swift+Might every 10s if you’re tanking (stacks with FGJ)

Tanky, good DPS, boosting team offense… that’s a very effective build, one of my guildies is using it, he even bought the legendary shield with the book on it for how much he loves it.
I just send him foward to nullify the initial 50k-100k damage of mobs and jump in myself to deal more DPS, stuff dies and we dont – lots of fun.

HannaDeFreitas.4236:

Go like this.
5400 E.Power (1000 less than a full zerker GS, 1500 more than a shouter, it’spretty good)
3 forms of invulnerability (19.5s invul every 90s, it means 21.6% of the time you are invulnerable)
31.4% damage reduction (good enough but not high enough to make you into an aggro magnet)
690.5 hp/second (120 adren health, 344 food, 226.5 sigil)
86.5% crit chance 250% crit damage
Buff people in 600 radius with Fury+Swift+Might every 10s if you’re tanking (stacks with FGJ)

Tanky, good DPS, boosting team offense… that’s a very effective build, one of my guildies is using it, he even bought the legendary shield with the book on it for how much he loves it.
I just send him foward to nullify the initial 50k-100k damage of mobs and jump in myself to deal more DPS, stuff dies and we dont – lots of fun.

Cool thanks, I might roll with this. What does he use as an alternate weapon set it didn’t show on the calculator. And is this okay for a beginner, if not what changes could you make to make it more newb friendly, thanks for the help btw!

He uses Rifle vs bosses and Longbow vs trash as his secondary set.

I’m not sure what you mean by asking if the build is ok for a beginner…
I mean, if you know how to use Axe and Shield, know how to dodge and time Endure Pain correctly, you should have no problem playing this.
Of course though, the more you play a build the better you become at it.
But overall this is the most fail-safe build I can think of, you have plenty of room for mistake.

HannaDeFreitas.4236:

He uses Rifle vs bosses and Longbow vs trash as his secondary set.

I’m not sure what you mean by asking if the build is ok for a beginner…
I mean, if you know how to use Axe and Shield, know how to dodge and time Endure Pain correctly, you should have no problem playing this.
Of course though, the more you play a build the better you become at it.
But overall this is the most fail-safe build I can think of, you have plenty of room for mistake.

Thanks for all your help! I really appreciate the advice. You have definetly helped me a lot

If you want to play a warrior with a shield you are out of luck. I would recommend you to play a guardian if you want to use a shield, effectively.

I, like you, love the idea of using the classic sword/shield combination, sadly for warriors, the shield skills are lackluster to say the least and take 100 years to recharge. Even with traits. The sword has mediocre damage and bleeding is the weakest condition in the game, even though it is stackable.

I’d also like to take this opportunity to show yall a better build editor. It pains me when I see you use that gw2BuildCtaft site….

Here it is better build editor

IvanHoe, your link looks broken, but I think you’re pointing to this http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/

IvanHoe.3468:

I’d also like to take this opportunity to show yall a better build editor. It pains me when I see you use that gw2BuildCtaft site….

Here it is better build editor

That editor not only has very outdated skills and traits, but has no PvE gear, no damage reduction shown, no effective power/health.
“Better”? It stopped being useful months ago.

Plus I’m not sure why would you want to show active skills.
Skills need be swapped according to what content you’re facing, it’s gear/traits that make your build.

IvanHoe.3468:

If you want to play a warrior with a shield you are out of luck. I would recommend you to play a guardian if you want to use a shield, effectively.

I, like you, love the idea of using the classic sword/shield combination, sadly for warriors, the shield skills are lackluster to say the least and take 100 years to recharge. Even with traits. The sword has mediocre damage and bleeding is the weakest condition in the game, even though it is stackable.

So shield isn’t viable in PvE for warrior or is it just not optimum? I’m more of a relaxed player tbh and I don’t need to have the best setup or anything. But if it just isn’t viable then I suppose I could go guardian.(Btw I never said I neccessarily wanted to use a sword I just wanted to use a shield)

Honestly, it seems like the shield wouldn’t be a good choice for PvE, since the 4 ability won’t even work on most champ mobs, and the block ability is pretty long CD IMO. If you want to do more blocking and damage reduction, Guardian really is a better choice. Near perma Protection boon, LOTS of Aegis (block) procs/boons, and regen too.

Prodigy.6971:

Honestly, it seems like the shield wouldn’t be a good choice for PvE, since the 4 ability won’t even work on most champ mobs, and the block ability is pretty long CD IMO. If you want to do more blocking and damage reduction, Guardian really is a better choice. Near perma Protection boon, LOTS of Aegis (block) procs/boons, and regen too.

Hmmm….Kinda think it’s a little bit silly that warriors aren’t effective with the shield as the traditional stereotype of a warrior is sword/shield

darthsmall.8246:

Hmmm….Kinda think it’s a little bit silly that warriors aren’t effective with the shield as the traditional stereotype of a warrior is sword/shield

To be fair, shield isn’t that great on a Guardian either. Also has long cooldowns and has no “block” effect at all (only a projectile absorb). It isn’t bad, it is just a highly situational weapon that is usually outclassed in most pve by something like a Focus.

I wasn’t aware that the build editor I posted had outdated skills. In any case, for the warrior at least, the gear and traits seem to be fine. I don’t know why you claim traits are outdated, AFAIK Anet hasn’t changed any warrior traits, just fixed bugs…

I will verify to make sure skills and traits aren’t current for other classes. Also the fact that you claim there is no PVE gear in the build editor shows you have not used the site very much…go take a second look (I fixed the link)
Yep, The build editor is very outdated. 2012/10/07 according to the site. Also there is no PVE back-Item slot. A shame.

Hmmm….Kinda think it’s a little bit silly that warriors aren’t effective with the shield as the traditional stereotype of a warrior is sword/shield

I agree completely. Go tell that to Anet and see if they listen. (good luck with that)

IMO to make the current shield skills remotely effective they would need to reduce the recharge time of #4 to 10 sec and #5 to at least 15 sec. Even then, without any other effect, they would be mediocre. To make them more useful they should increase the stun of skill #4 to be adrenaline based and add a damage reflection effect to skill #5.

IvanHoe.3468:

I wasn’t aware that the build editor I posted had outdated skills. In any case, for the warrior at least, the gear and traits seem to be fine. I don’t know why you claim traits are outdated, AFAIK Anet hasn’t changed any warrior traits, just fixed bugs…

I will verify to make sure skills and traits aren’t current for other classes. Also the fact that you claim there is no PVE gear in the build editor shows you have not used the site very much…go take a second look then come back and say that again. (I fixed the link)

Hmmm….Kinda think it’s a little bit silly that warriors aren’t effective with the shield as the traditional stereotype of a warrior is sword/shield

I agree completely. Go tell that to Anet and see if they listen. (good luck with that)

IMO to make the current shield skills remotely effective they would need to reduce the recharge time of #4 to 10 sec and #5 to at least 15 sec. Even then, without any other effect, they would be mediocre. To make them more useful they should increase the stun of skill #4 to be adrenaline based and add a damage reflection effect to skill #5.

Don’t know about that…
With the 20% shield trait, you would have an interrupt every 8s (okay, that’s not that bad)… but 3s of invulnerability every 12 seconds…?
Maybe 20s to make it a solid 16s with the trait.

IvanHoe.3468:

If you want to play a warrior with a shield you are out of luck. I would recommend you to play a guardian if you want to use a shield, effectively.

not only this is an exaggeration, this is also not true.

warrior shield skills are better for solo play and when traited properly (reflect on block) are superior to guardian shield.
skill 5 doesn’t root you in place.

EDIT, to the OP.
play what you feel like.
mace/shield = tanky set
mace/mace= double control set
axe/mace = dps/control
axe/warhorn -DPS mobility
axe/shield= dps with block
sword/shield = double mobility
sword/warhorn = double mobility

etc

Lalangamena.3694:

IvanHoe.3468:

If you want to play a warrior with a shield you are out of luck. I would recommend you to play a guardian if you want to use a shield, effectively.

not only this is an exaggeration, this is also not true.

warrior shield skills are better for solo play and when traited properly (reflect on block) are superior to guardian shield.

And what trait is that ? I’m not aware of any warrior trait that makes reflect on block.
In fact that was my suggestion to improve the skill.

Even if what you say is true, the recharges are still too long to make the shield viable. 16 sec and 24 secs and thats with the recharge reducing trait.

If you wanna go solo and have a very defensive build and still kill things, nothing beats a mace/sword.
You have an 8 sec recharge block/riposte with mace #2 (with recharge trait). You have a 15 sec recharge block/riposte that causes bleeding with sword #5. You have 12 sec recharge interrupt with mace #3 and finally, you have a decently lasting stun with the mace elite.

Any time I wanna be defensive, I carry mace/sword and it beats the hell out of any shield.

IvanHoe.3468:

Lalangamena.3694:

IvanHoe.3468:

If you want to play a warrior with a shield you are out of luck. I would recommend you to play a guardian if you want to use a shield, effectively.

not only this is an exaggeration, this is also not true.

warrior shield skills are better for solo play and when traited properly (reflect on block) are superior to guardian shield.

And what trait is that ? I’m not aware of any warrior trait that makes reflect on block.
In fact that was my suggestion to improve the skill.

Even if what you say is true, the recharges are still too long to make the shield viable. 16 sec and 24 secs and thats with the recharge reducing trait.

If you wanna go solo and have a very defensive build and still kill things, nothing beats a mace/sword.
You have an 8 sec recharge block/riposte with mace #2 (with recharge trait). You have a 15 sec recharge block/riposte that causes bleeding with sword #5. You have 12 sec recharge interrupt with mace #3 and finally, you have a decently lasting stun with the mace elite.

Any time I wanna be defensive, I carry mace/sword and it beats the hell out of any shield.

Shield is good for solo play…?
How do you define solo play? Whenever I play alone, I’m roaming or hunting veterans and champions… and I find shield to be rather useless lol

IvanHoe.3468:

And what trait is that ? I’m not aware of any warrior trait that makes reflect on block.
In fact that was my suggestion to improve the skill.

Even if what you say is true, the recharges are still too long to make the shield viable. 16 sec and 24 secs and thats with the recharge reducing trait.

If you wanna go solo and have a very defensive build and still kill things, nothing beats a mace/sword.
You have an 8 sec recharge block/riposte with mace #2 (with recharge trait). You have a 15 sec recharge block/riposte that causes bleeding with sword #5. You have 12 sec recharge interrupt with mace #3 and finally, you have a decently lasting stun with the mace elite.

Any time I wanna be defensive, I carry mace/sword and it beats the hell out of any shield.

the trait is defense V named “missile deflection”
I wholeheartedly agree that mace offhand is superior to shield offhand but this was not the question, the question was if guardian shield is better than warrior shield…

EDIT:
both posters above me made me question the availability of the shield in this game…
feels like other offhands are just better in most of the situations, and shield is just for looks…

the question was if guardian shield is better than warrior shield…

No, the question of the OP was for a good pve build that included a shield.
I simply stated that there was no such thing, as any warrior pve build that includes a shield is not going to be good.

Now to back to our argument.
The trait you talk about works only for missiles and works not only for shields but for every weapon that blocks. (sword,mace, etc) So its not really a shield specific trait.
I’m sure there are a lot of guardian traits that benefit and maximize the shield skills for guardians and even if there aren’t, guardian’s shield skills are still far superior.

Let’s do a comparison:
Shield Comparison
I think arguably the engineer has the more powerful shield skills, however the guardian in comparison to the warrior wins hands down.
even though the shield skills for the guardian take a little longer to recharge, its effects are strong enough to merit it’s use.

Guardian first shield skill:
1- gives protection to up to 5 allies and yourself for 5 seconds.
2- damages multiple enemies for 302.
Second Skill:
1-Pushes foes out of the area.
2-Deflects projectiles for 4 secs.
3- Heals for a decent amount.
4- Creates a combo field.

First warrior Shield skill:
1- Damages one foe for 302.
2- Stuns one foe for 1 sec.
3- Executes a combo finisher.

Second shield skill:
1- Block all attacks from all direction for 3 secs.

I think guardian wins hands down. In fact, If it wasn’t for the long recharges, the guardian shield skills would be not only good but great.

PS: when I said mace/sword I meant mace with a sword off hand. Though I agree a mace off-hand is much better than a shield, I was referring to the particularly defensive and effective combination of mace main hand and sword off-hand.

Thanks for all your feedback guys, never thought I’d get so many responses.

Most people seem to be saying the shield isn’t worth it for the warrior due to cooldowns and because the guardian shield abilities are better anyway. I already have a guardian and I don’t really find him as enjoyable as my warrior (although I’ve only got my Guardian to level 20).

So I think I’ll either keep going with my warrior but try out having a warhorn or something in my off hand because I quite like them too. Or I could just continue to level my Guardian even though I don’t enjoy him that much atm but I suppose that could change in a later stage of the game. Thanks everyone for all your contribution so far

Warrior with shield is great if played properly.
As I said above I have a guildie who uses shield+axe and he’s a walking fortress that deals great DPS and never dies.
It’s too bad some people here can’t see the potential of some things and will just try to morph every Warrior into a GS clone.

HannaDeFreitas.4236:

Warrior with shield is great if played properly.
As I said above I have a guildie who uses shield+axe and he’s a walking fortress that deals great DPS and never dies.
It’s too bad some people here can’t see the potential of some things and will just try to morph every Warrior into a GS clone.

Yeah I find GS a little boring….I’ll definetly try the build out that you showed me and I’ll try and learn to use the axe/shield. I’ll mainly be playing casually with my friends anyway so I don’t care about the optimum build for damage or anything. I just think a shield looks and feels cool so I’ll try and make it work well for me. Thanks for the help.