Guild Wars 2

Happy Thanksgiving folks. I would like to share a build I recently created with mixed success and request some critique. It’s fairly good (1v1, node holding) but I think it can be better (team battles, being kited).

The build focuses on tying up your opponent and preventing them from fighting back. With 6 interrupts (daze/stun/knockdown) it can be quite frustrating to defend against while also providing a solid 44% to crit, moderate toughness, and high vitality. In short:

Strength: Short Temper (gain might on opp block), Distracting Strikes (apply 3x confusion upon interrupt), Physical Training (20% CD 100% damage to physical skills)

Arms: Unsuspecting Foe (+50% to crit on dazed opp.)

Defense: Embrace the Pain (Gain adr. on hit)

Discipline: Mighty Defense (gain might on your block)

Your passives provide you a primary source of health regen, and a 2nd regen from Dolyak signets and possibly a third regen if you swap Mending for Healing Signet. Additionally, each ability synergizes with your stuns upping your critical, applying confusion and restoring health while your opp is tied up. Fast swapping of weapons allows for constant rotation of stuns and weapon sigil applications and decent toughness and high vit allows you to survive well, though not compared to the ridiculous OP survivability of an ele, but enough to fend off a 2v1.

A standard ‘rotation’ for me is sword 2 (gap closer), 3, to mace 5, swap, shield 4 to mace 3, f1, stomp and repeat. If they evade or fight back – shield 5 to mace 2 for 4.5 seconds of block with a riposte.

If you burn through every stun ability, in chain and without allowing your opponent back up, you can effectively neutralize them for ~10seconds.

And in case anyone is curious, the doom signet for poison is to neutralize any regen the player may have as its been proven poison, whether intended or not, seems to cancel out some/all ticks of regen.

Thoughts? Where could I improve this?

Looks like it’s completely dependent on getting off stuns, most of which are very short range, making them very difficult to get off unless used one after another without fail. This is never going to happen outside of a pub. Even if it could, the short range doesn’t make interrupting burst very easy due to it having to be chained, so it’d pretty much be a scenario of “Okay, I’ve been stunned for 10 seconds, now it’s time for the real fight to start.”

Hydromancy isn’t very good, might want to switch it out for energy or bloodlust. Don’t really have anything to sustain all the vitality you have stacked and the regeneration on Dolyak is pretty crappy at best. Probably would get better use of out of Earth, Melandru, Svanir, Mercy, etc. Losing 50 vitality is not a big deal.

Unless you work in more ways to survive, it’s only a gimmick build.

Gee: Valid points. The stuns are of course a cornerstone, but its not a one trick pony. 2k power and a 45% chance to crit means I can put out some solid damage and have various weakness/vulnerability/cripple abilities to work into the mix as well.

I will definitely look into changing the sigils. I am…not impressed with doom. Additionally, I am considering dropping the points in tactics and moving some to defense to get to sundering mace. Given both weapon sets use it, I think I’d get more use out of it than a quicker weapon swap.

Thanks for the feedback!

So you’re using Sword Shield and Mace Shield?

On a serious note though, Axe + Mace and Mace + Shield or Sword + Shield already does this. Except it actually kills people faster since it actually has DPS to back up the crowd control it brings. And you have to have killing power in order to be effective whether as an initiator or a carry.

Schwahrheit.4203:

So you’re using Sword Shield and Mace Shield?

On a serious note though, Axe + Mace and Mace + Shield or Sword + Shield already does this. Except it actually kills people faster since it actually has DPS to back up the crowd control it brings. And you have to have killing power in order to be effective whether as an initiator or a carry.

Yea if you need cc + burst go with Axe + Mace / Mace + Shield.
If you need mobility + cc + burst go with Axe + Mace / Sword + Shield.

Revelstoke.8924:

I will definitely look into changing the sigils. I am…not impressed with doom.!

Doom is actually pretty important and not just for the reduction in healing. Being stuck in combat due to a long condition is a retreating roamer’s worst nightmare.