Guild Wars 2

Hi everyone,

I’m currently looking for a good sword/shield build for mainly PVE and sometimes abit of WvW, I can’t really find any from sites like “intothemists” and “metabattle”. I guess its because sword/shield is currently not Meta. However, I kinda sick of GS and wanting to try out sword/shield for a change. Is there anyone out there who can provide me with a good sword/shield build which I can use? I will be highly appreciate it. Thank you.

You don’t need shield in pve at all.

NvN.4321:

You don’t need shield in pve at all.

But it can still be fun to play with one.

@OP I would go Sword/mace or Sword/Axe for a power build.

Shield is bad because you won’t get 15% attack speed from the Dual Wielding trait.

Khristophoros.7194:

Shield is bad because you won’t get 15% attack speed from the Dual Wielding trait.

That’s not really the reason, since the dual-wielding trait is really bad a gimps all of your leap skills. No, the reason people don’t use the shield in pve is because there are just better options, like off-hand mace.

Tou.3078:

Hi everyone,

I’m currently looking for a good sword/shield build for mainly PVE and sometimes abit of WvW, I can’t really find any from sites like “intothemists” and “metabattle”. I guess its because sword/shield is currently not Meta. However, I kinda sick of GS and wanting to try out sword/shield for a change. Is there anyone out there who can provide me with a good sword/shield build which I can use? I will be highly appreciate it. Thank you.

Here’s a build that might work for you
http://intothemists.com/guides/5899-solo_pve_warrior_build
It’s not “sword/shield” exactly, but you should be able to switch some of the traits around to get what you’re looking for.

Just want to remind everyone that you can use shield offhand to channel a block while you’re out of combat and swap to any other offhand of your choice mid-channel. Shield is very useful for remaining out of combat.

As a combat offhand it is definitely lackluster.

I think sword/shield should work best with condition damage. Go into Arms and discipline, use gear with condition damage and precision and max bleed duration with krait runes and a low level pizza.

Obviously only works if you like bleeds.

I use sword/shield for pve/pvp/and wvw and it works out well for me. The lines I use are Arms, Defense, and Discipline. Most of the traits should be self-explanatory—trait signets and swords (blademaster) in Arms—also go with Furious at GM.

Trait for shield (shield mastery) in Defense (this reduces CD and shield block reflects and stacks might—very effective in all game modes. I ran through a mob with shield block activated in Twilight Arbor and got 12 stacks of might instantly.) Defy pain(for tankiness) or Armored attack (for damage) for the middle trait. Cleansing Ire can be your GM trait from this line tho last stand isn’t bad for wvw.

Discipline will give you warrior sprint, brawler’s recovery tho you can swap this for destruction of the empowered for wvw or pvp. Take burst mastery for you GM trait.

I usually have longbow on swap for kiters and such, but sword/shield will be your primary setup and these trait lines fit perfectly IMO.

I run healing signet, for great justice, signet of stamina (swap for banner for groups), dolyak signet and usually Rampage for elite (swap with banner for groups or Rage signet for farming mats.

I hope this helps.

I have run the same sword/shield build ever since I bought the game. I run sw/sh + longbow and have rampagers armour and carrion weapons and trinkets. I think that it is okay for condition damage and has a bit of direct damage, but I know nothing about how to make an effective build so this is maybe awful. I find it quite fun to play though.