Guild Wars 2

I tried this build with slight sigil variation on weapons and I have to say, that it’s really good build with probably the best sustain warrior can get with berserker gear.
It can’t kill everything, but I am tired of gunflaming everything around :P

I made montage with some interesting fights:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTekd7eVb6A

Shame that it is doable only in wvw as the rune is not available in pvp.
Anyway, thanks for your effort!

cryorion.9532:

I tried this build with slight sigil variation on weapons and I have to say, that it’s really good build with probably the best sustain warrior can get with berserker gear.
It can’t kill everything, but I am tired of gunflaming everything around :P

I made montage with some interesting fights:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTekd7eVb6A

Shame that it is doable only in wvw as the rune is not available in pvp.
Anyway, thanks for your effort!

Were you definitely using Defender Runes in all of that footage. Several times it seemed like you weren’t getting the regen you should have for blocking attacks. For example….

https://youtu.be/qTekd7eVb6A?t=8m15s

cryorion.9532:

I tried this build with slight sigil variation on weapons and I have to say, that it’s really good build with probably the best sustain warrior can get with berserker gear.
It can’t kill everything, but I am tired of gunflaming everything around :P

I made montage with some interesting fights:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTekd7eVb6A

Shame that it is doable only in wvw as the rune is not available in pvp.
Anyway, thanks for your effort!

Were you definitely using Defender Runes in all of that footage. Several times it seemed like you weren’t getting the regen you should have for blocking attacks. For example….

https://youtu.be/qTekd7eVb6A?t=8m15s

Choppy.4183:

cryorion.9532:

I tried this build with slight sigil variation on weapons and I have to say, that it’s really good build with probably the best sustain warrior can get with berserker gear.
It can’t kill everything, but I am tired of gunflaming everything around :P

I made montage with some interesting fights:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTekd7eVb6A

Shame that it is doable only in wvw as the rune is not available in pvp.
Anyway, thanks for your effort!

Were you definitely using Defender Runes in all of that footage. Several times it seemed like you weren’t getting the regen you should have for blocking attacks. For example….

https://youtu.be/qTekd7eVb6A?t=8m15s

Yes, 100% sure (you can see that I get 4k heal when I block – 6th bonus of the rune – in the last fight). When I look at the rune on wiki, there should not be any internal cd… which is strange. But you know anet… if skills like eviscerate are still affected by cripple or chill because “they forgot”, I am not even surprised…

cryorion.9532:

Choppy.4183:

Were you definitely using Defender Runes in all of that footage. Several times it seemed like you weren’t getting the regen you should have for blocking attacks. For example….

https://youtu.be/qTekd7eVb6A?t=8m15s

Yes, 100% sure (you can see that I get 4k heal when I block – 6th bonus of the rune – in the last fight). When I look at the rune on wiki, there should not be any internal cd… which is strange. But you know anet… if skills like eviscerate are still affected by cripple or chill because “they forgot”, I am not even surprised…

Has anyone else noticed an ICD on the regen provided by Defnder Rune 2 when blocking an attack?

Cryorion’s clearly not getting the regen as per the above link, and the wiki says there isn’t supposed to be an ICD. Tbh, if there is one, the rune becomes waaaay less interesting, imo.

Choppy.4183:

cryorion.9532:

Choppy.4183:

Were you definitely using Defender Runes in all of that footage. Several times it seemed like you weren’t getting the regen you should have for blocking attacks. For example….

https://youtu.be/qTekd7eVb6A?t=8m15s

Yes, 100% sure (you can see that I get 4k heal when I block – 6th bonus of the rune – in the last fight). When I look at the rune on wiki, there should not be any internal cd… which is strange. But you know anet… if skills like eviscerate are still affected by cripple or chill because “they forgot”, I am not even surprised…

Has anyone else noticed an ICD on the regen provided by Defnder Rune 2 when blocking an attack?

Cryorion’s clearly not getting the regen as per the above link, and the wiki says there isn’t supposed to be an ICD. Tbh, if there is one, the rune becomes waaaay less interesting, imo.

In the clip you linked, he didn’t block anything. He dodged the Guardian’s AOE downed skill (you can see the “Evade!” messages) and then he reflected the ranger’s projectiles. Projectiles don’t count as blocks; it’s always been that way.

Tien.3865:

Choppy.4183:

Has anyone else noticed an ICD on the regen provided by Defnder Rune 2 when blocking an attack?

Cryorion’s clearly not getting the regen as per the above link, and the wiki says there isn’t supposed to be an ICD. Tbh, if there is one, the rune becomes waaaay less interesting, imo.

In the clip you linked, he didn’t block anything. He dodged the Guardian’s AOE downed skill (you can see the “Evade!” messages) and then he reflected the ranger’s projectiles. Projectiles don’t count as blocks; it’s always been that way.

In the Druid fight I linked, his reflect is from the traited Shield 5. Two things about this, if you’re right and reflects don’t count as blocks, including blocks converted to reflects through the Shield Master trait.

1. The runes are a bad route. The trait is way more valuable than the regen, and thus Tempest Runes become more valuable than Defender runes if you’re looking for sustain. True, the regen would still apply to melee attacks, but its the projectiles that are the really important bit.
2. All these unblockable skills should no longer defeat Shield Mastery, which they currently do.

Also, I’m not sure if your comment about projectiles and block referred to the reflect, or a general point that blocked projectiles don’t ever count as blocks. If the latter, that isn’t the case.

According to the wiki, blocks work against attacks, which includes projectiles. Moreover, “Blocking targets destroy all projectiles they come in contact with – this means projectiles with Pierce, or projectiles that don’t directly do attacks (e.g. Infiltrator’s Arrow) can be effectively bodyblocked by a target who’s blocking.” And a simple test shows that block skills stop projectiles.

Finally, the description of Shield Master in the wiki is, “Shield Master — Reflect missiles whenever you are blocking. Gain might when you block an attack. Shield skills recharge faster.” So here too, it appears that projectiles are intended to be and count as blockable.

Frankly, the Shield Master description suggests to me that, if the rune regen isn’t triggering from traited blocks, it’s a bug rather then the intent. If that’s the case, I’m far less interested in the runes until fixed.

Can anyone with the runes confirm that projectiles don’t trigger the regen when Shield Master is traited?

@Choppy

I cannot test (sorry), but the behavior is “historically” consistent. I’ve been using the runes of the Guardian before, and it was the same (you could check in PvP if you like). You had to make a build choice then: select both the rune and the reflect trait (knowing you’d have some opportunity cost) or use only one of them.

When they merged the CD reduction, the might-on-block and the reflect in the new Shield Mastery, I was a bit surprised, because that mechanically reduced the value of block builds. But as they see it, when you reflect, you don’t block, that’s the original (and questionable) rule.

Huh, well that’s a big negative for Defender runes, imo. I’d much rather have reflect for projectiles and might on every attack then 2s of regen on every attack, and regen for just the melee attacks doesn’t seem that amazing either.

Don’t get me wrong, it still looks like a decent rune choice. But it doesn’t look as great as I thought it did.

Oh yeah, when I said “Projectiles don’t count as blocks,” I meant that “Reflected projectiles don’t count as blocks.”

Okay, so I’m a bit confused now.

Let’s say you block a Rapid Fire with shield 5 without the Shield Master trait. The projectiles would count as being blocked (not reflected), and thus you would gain the regen from the runes. However, you would miss out on both the reflects and the might from block since you don’t have the trait.

If you block Rapid Fire WITH the Shield Master trait (and still with Defender runes), then those projectiles would be reflected. But since reflected projectiles don’t count as blocks, you would not get the regen from the runes, nor the might from the trait. You would only get those boons from blocking melee attacks.

If this is the case, then isn’t it the trait that’s the questionable choice, not the runes? By choosing the trait, you gain the ability to reflect projectiles, but those reflects don’t count as blocks, thus rendering “gain boon on block” effects useless against projectiles. But by not choosing it, you don’t get reflects at all and you would not gain the extra might from blocked melee attacks either. BUT you still get the regen from any blocked attacks, ranged or melee (correct me if I’m wrong).

Actually, now that I think about it, it’s not even Shield Master that’s at fault, but rather the simple fact that reflects don’t count as blocks. If reflects did count as blocks, then you could choose both Shield Master and Defender runes and gain both the reflects and the on-block effects.

Trait description:
Reflect missiles whenever you are blocking. Gain might when you block an attack. Shield skills recharge faster.

Rune description:
When you block a foe’s attack, gain 1 second of regeneration.

In my montage, I block ranger’s rapid fire (reflecting it) and getting might from it, but not regeneration.
So I think it is bug.

cryorion.9532:

Trait description:
Reflect missiles whenever you are blocking. Gain might when you block an attack. Shield skills recharge faster.

Rune description:
When you block a foe’s attack, gain 1 second of regeneration.

In my montage, I block ranger’s rapid fire (reflecting it) and getting might from it, but not regeneration.
So I think it is bug.

Oh I see. Yeah, you were definitely getting might from the reflects, so I guess the Defender runes might actually be bugged. Then that means the Runes of the Guardian that Elegie mentioned are bugged as well, since it’s been noted that the burn-on-block effect doesn’t trigger on reflects.

@Tien
As for your question about rune vs trait, I think the rune would be the questionable choice assuming no bug.

As I understand it, the rune gives 2s of regen per hit. Using zerk gear and so only the HP from the runes, that’s about 300 health per projectile. That benefit would be stacked against:

• 1 stack of might (not a huge deal, but still 30 power/condi damage for a while)
• -20% cd on the shield block skill (note: the reflect/might applies to other blocks too)
• the reflected damage of the attack (frequently in the thousands)
• the reflected effect of the attack

On the last point, I’ve been stealthed by projectiles I’ve reflected, knocked people back, generated a clone, immobilized, and pierced, which in a mob fight can do crazy damage. That’s worth so much more than 300 health.

Assuming no bugs, then there would be no problem choosing both Shield Master and Defender runes and everyone would be happy. And assuming no bugs, then yes, given a choice between the two, I agree that Shield Master is superior.

In any case, I wasn’t comparing the two. I was just saying that it’s the Shield Master trait that’s “gimping” the build, so to speak, because it combines reflects and on-block effects, which don’t synergize with each other, like Elegie mentioned. Reflects don’t count as blocks, so the trait essentially renders part of itself useless.

… Or so I thought. From the video, it looks like the might-on-block effect of the Shield Master trait actually DOES apply to reflects. OP was gaining might while reflecting the ranger’s projectiles, but was not gaining regen from the Defender runes. So it looks like the Defender runes are indeed bugged and that reflects do count as blocks according to the Shield Master trait.

Tien.3865:

… Or so I thought. From the video, it looks like the might-on-block effect of the Shield Master trait actually DOES apply to reflects. OP was gaining might while reflecting the ranger’s projectiles, but was not gaining regen from the Defender runes. So it looks like the Defender runes are indeed bugged and that reflects do count as blocks according to the Shield Master trait.

This.

You do get the might, you don’t get the regen when reflecting. I think you should get the regen (and that the bug is in the rune) even when reflecting, simply because of the way they made Shield Mastery.

Still, not getting regen from the runes when reflecting is too bad, but definitely not a reason not to pick them to me. A lot of classes use melee, and a lot of ranged classes also have melee options (or they become very weak when you close the gap).

cryorion.9532:

I tried this build with slight sigil variation on weapons and I have to say, that it’s really good build with probably the best sustain warrior can get with berserker gear.
It can’t kill everything, but I am tired of gunflaming everything around :P

I made montage with some interesting fights:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTekd7eVb6A

Shame that it is doable only in wvw as the rune is not available in pvp.
Anyway, thanks for your effort!

That’s great, glad you like it!

I haven’t played in 2 months but I remember that sometime on certain range skill the regen/Heal would not proc. It’s pretty rare. I don’t really remember which one but it used to happen more often VS certain class.

There is probably a bug.