Guild Wars 2

Trying to make a build for solo/duo roaming pvp that is an obnoxious, impossible to kill, bunker/heal/annoy build that does mediocre damage but has a ton of healing/sustain and obnoxious amounts of mobility.

What would be best for this, armor and skill wise?

Should I go a power/heal build with armor like Clerics?

Or should I go a Condition build with armor like Shaman?

What weapon setup should I go for it as well? Dagger, Staff, Focus, etc.

End goals for the build should be:
High Sustain Through Healing/Tough or Vit
High amount of Condition Cleansing
Decent to High Mobility
Mediocre Damage (Not great, not poor, just mediocre)

Soldiers? Knights? Crusaders?

Specifically, that it’s hard to tell what is going on half the time. Important abilities, buffs, etc, are hard to track because there aren’t very definitive animations for them that are clear. Buff bar is extremely small and most of the time things like might/regen/etc aren’t visually represented.

I want to get good at it, but in all honesty, I can’t even tell what is going on half the time until after it happens.

If you don’t think that is true, ask yourself, if you were a person who never played GW2 and watched the pvp in it, could you figure out what was happening, where damage was coming from, and what classes seemed to be doing?

I’m not saying you’d know the exact mechanics, but if you can’t tell what is going on in a game, it’s a good indicator that it is not well presented.

I want to get better at the game, specifically , in the dueling/small skirmish area.

I don’t care for dueling, it’s a pointless egofest, however, I do want to get good at it for my encounters out in WvW.

With that said, I could really use some help trying to understand key class abilities, what combos they use, what to look for, and how the animation looks.

Particular classes that give me the most trouble are:

Thief
Chronomancers
Warriors
Other Engineers (surprisingly)

Any sources you guys can offer up that can help me understand and learn the game at a deeper level would be much appreciated.

I’ve been reading the wiki and the talent calculators for each class, even playing some of them, but trying to learn on my own takes an extraordinarily long time compared to being shown the way by a helpful mentor.

Thanks for your time.

Additionally, how come people don’t use gear sets like apothecary, or ones that add vit/cond/healing?

It seems like this would still make you very tanky with a lot of sustain, but also give you decent condition damage output.

Any ideas?

Just leveled my elementalist to 80. All the builds on here are for fully specced tempest, however I still don’t have the point to get Tempest yet. I could use a good “vanilla” build in the mean time while I grind hero points.

Is there one with a lot of mobility/runspeed so that I can move quickly from point to point?

Should I be using daggers or staff for PvE as well?

Thanks for your time.

Want to roam solo and with a friend. I want a druid build that is obnoxious, heals for a lot, super durable, and has mediocre damage output that will eventually outlast my opponents.

Metagarbage didnt have a build, I need advice from some long time druids (actually confident with the class, not looking for average advice).

Thanks for your time in advance.

I’ve got the PvE spec, and the PvP, but I really need something to grind thorns until I can max my mastery.

You guys have any good suggestions?

Been looking around. I’m super overwhelmed by the different threads on here.

Anyone mind just taking a sec and giving me the quick and dirty?

Seriously, just let me pay. If I’m willing to pay, I should be able to transfer anywhere I want. You’re already on mega servers, let me change servers so I can play with my friends.

I know you’re thinking “well if we dont let them switch to full servers, its more likely they’ll ALL pay to switch to a lower pop server”, which is a gross miscalculation on anet’s part.

In a vast majority of players, people will either stagnate, or not continue to play before they can get a majority of all players to abandon servers they are on, especially if they like them.

So either open that up, or let us guest on servers and be included in their wvw queue.

I for one don’t intend on playing if I can’t play with my friends, and I don’t plan on making them transfer to a lower pop server from one they already like.

We’ll just leave and throw our money at a different game, and trust me, them skins and account features purchased for gems add up.

Camelot Unchained is right around the corner, you think we’re going to stay here if we can’t WvW together?

I play on Sea of Sorrows, my friends play on Blackgate.

We’re all pvpers and enjoy doing it, however, we can’t do it because we can’t transfer to each other servers (full), and guesting doesn’t allow us to wvw on the same realm.

Please consider changing this, or opening up transfers again, this is brutal. I’m not interested in playing GW2 without my friends, and doing a triple transfer isn’t really an option since requiring three people to migrate to a low population server is just absolutely ridiculous and a money grab.

Do you know a Revenant’s dps rotation? Have an immunity or triple evade? See them charging sword ability three?

Block/Evade, and punish them.

Their gameplay doesn’t revolve around much else.

I’ve tried, but it just comes off too simplistic.

Stack buffs in herald, make sure you’re running crit and might the entire time, then use sword 3, and survive until your next burst rotation is up.

Thats a boiled down version of it, but thats literally what the gameplay revolves around solely.

After coming from Mesmer and Engineer, I was looking forward to a more advanced melee class, but revenant just hasn’t delivered yet. You don’t stance dance based on situation, you do it based on your rotation, and that is simply weak.

Having this problem here as well while playing my condi necro. Going to run through again after reading this and just use non-condition skills to kill it. Will update this post if it works.

EDIT

Yeah it works, there’s a short period of time where the Chak needs to walk over to Braham, and the conditions clearly kill the Chak off too quickly for it to go over to him and start the cut scene.

So to get round the issue until it’s patched, don’t use any damage inflicting conditions, get the Chak’s health so low you can’t even see the red in its health bar, and it will begin to walk over to Braham and trigger the cutscene.

This is the confirmed work around. Halfway through the fight Braham runs back to the podium, and the other two engage the monster.

Once the monster is close to dying, it runs back to bramah and triggers the cutscene.

What unbelievable coding garbage.

I never liked braham, and this just adds one more thing to me hating him as well.

Fix this garbage bug. Anet, this is release, not alpha, not beta, but this is the released version.

Do you understand that a game with crippling bugs that impede progress of the MAIN STORY, is absolutely absurd and unacceptable?

Ship a working game, please.

Its a great game, I love it, you love it.

Yet, the inherent flaw in its spammable status effects, most not reliant on skill shots, and instantly land-able, ruin a great deal of higher level play that is not mostly skill based, but stat/status/build based.

Worse is the increasing arms race needed to combat the status/auto hit ability spam or outright huge burst abilities without having a dedicated healing class. A perfect example of this is the Warrior’s Endure Pain, and Berserker Stance abilities which need to be used on cool down to effectively fight blind spamming rogues, or condition spamming classes.

Its too much ArenaNet, its over the top. You can’t expect to first have no healing class, yet not tone down the amount of damage to allow skilled fights which rely more on consistent skilled gameplay to outplay your opponents, and you can’t add so many status effects not reliant on skill shots to say that your pvp combat is nothing more than landing quick combos which are incredibly easy to master and execute, and require less skill.

Then you have auto block, auto evade mechanics, which don’t even require skilled activation, they simply activate automatically as either a passive mechanic, or a secondary mechanic to an offensive skill.

This sadly makes the success of your PvP based solely on build, not skill based play; or if I should rephrase it, your build is ultimately much more important than you being a skilled player and mastering the fundamentals of your class.

I love this game, I want to see its potential, but as long as you keep making spammable blanket status effects, auto blocking/evading mechanics, incredibly high burst damage, and blanket immunities to counter these effects, you’ll never be considered a top competitive Esport.

Which is a kitten shame, because I really enjoy the fundamentals of the mechanics in this game. A kitten shame.

Eventually another game is going to come along and push this one out, and I don’t want to see that happen, I really don’t. This game is too much of a fundamentally groundbreaking masterpiece to allow it to happen.

Inb4ragefestsayingimwrongorgetgood.

Cmon bbs, don’t hold back

General guide is good, you did good kid, you did good.

However, put some annotations to both the bunker and the destroyer guide at the end of the video; you know, like some videos have miniature screens showing their other videos at the end of the current one you’re watching.

Ease of access adds attractiveness to your videos. The less clicks people take to get to something, the faster, and more likes you’ll get if the content is good.

I’m watching you right now, watching very judgmentally.

What kind of gear should I be rolling around in?

What is used now-a-days? I don’t particularity enjoy being super glass, so is there a gear setup out there that mixes both durability and offensive?

Additionally, are there any dueling guides for warriors around the net for the current build of the game?

Thanks in advance, responses appreciated.

Appreciate the help my friends, you guys are the MVPs!

Help me out a lil bbs, I need some advice. Its been over a year since I last played

Yo guys, how you doing?

Was looking to get into the game again and pickup a class with a lot of tricks, mobility, and decent survivability to keep things fresh and interesting.

I get bored easily with straight forward builds, so the more intricate (reasonably) and skill reliant I would appreciate.

I have an engineer at 37 (deleted my max level one a long time ago for character space, yeah, dumb.) is that a good one to roll?

Or is rogue, elementalist, or such a better option?

Let me know, and thanks again.

I like my ‘hobosack’. I think it adds a cool touch to the class and quite frankly I’d be disappointed if it was removed.

What do you mean Cempa?

Anyone have any? I’d like to see some good players smashing it up

Waiting for XII’s next (sorry), first pvp video showcasing his skill and knowledge of the game outside of raging on the forums.

Yes actually, the ones I posted in the above response. I’m guessing you must not have seen the lower half of my post, or maybe it didn’t come through, so I’ll post it again so you can.
________________________
A) How do I get geared now?
B) In two parts I’m looking for a good PVE farming build for solo/dungeons and I’m also looking for some specs in wvw that deviate away from the GS/Staff or GS/Hammer combo. I’d like to use a build that involves scepters, focus, torch, shield, and mace, or some combination of those. Even a condition fire build would be a lot of fun to play.

Help me out here guardian vets, I’ve been trying to read a lot on this board but I feel like while I’m reading a lot of information, I’m not understanding the ‘why’ behind it.

Also, whats up with the lack of consecration builds?
______________________________
Appreciate your time, thanks again.

I just hit 80 last night, and I’m flat broke. I have no idea where to go or what to start doing to accumulate wealth to afford gear. So my question will be two fold.

A) How do I get geared now?
B) In two parts I’m looking for a good PVE farming build for solo/dungeons and I’m also looking for some specs in wvw that deviate away from the GS/Staff or GS/Hammer combo. I’d like to use a build that involves scepters, focus, torch, shield, and mace, or some combination of those. Even a condition fire build would be a lot of fun to play.

Help me out here guardian vets, I’ve been trying to read a lot on this board but I feel like while I’m reading a lot of information, I’m not understanding the ‘why’ behind it.

Also, whats up with the lack of consecration builds?

I’m trying to find the most efficient class that can roam around and collect important crafting reagents quickly (both nodes, like mining, harvesting, wood) as well as being able to farm mobs quickly for scales, blood, claws, etc.

I’ve been bouncing between Ranger and Warrior, however, I’m unsure if thief would also be good for this position as well.

I know warriors are the undisputed masters of DPS, however, they lack mobility and ease that the ranger has with their passive movement speed and their bow/axe ranged damage.

So I’ve turned to the boards, you guys, to hopefully come up with an answer based on your experience and outlook.

I appreciate your time and help in advance.

Ahh I see. Man, I just feel like I’m in a weird spot, if I can bother you more for your opinion, it would be helpful.

At the moment, I’m just kind of ‘bleh’ with my Engineer. I both love and absolutely hate this class. I feel like the core mechanics are fun, but the way the traits and some of the skills are designed, we fall flat in some areas hard and are pidgeoned holed.

To this extent, I feel that the greatest reason I wanted to role an engineer (utility and versatility) has been stripped away because of this (reliance on Alchemy or the rarer glass cannon builds) and the original ideas and concepts of the class have been all but removed.

A lot of the gadgets simply arent that great, like mine kit, rocket boots, oil slick, battering ram, etc. They’re fantastic in concept, but other kits such as Flame thrower (knock back), Elixir S (stun break/immunity), not really one for oil slick though the tool kit adds a lot more versatility in ways that it can’t, simply outmatch these other skills by leaps and bounds.

To compound more problems on the Engineer, the RNG on thrown elixirs is absolutely brutal. It takes a lot of the planned strategy away and fills it in with a throw and pray type of feel. Its very hard to plan anything with abilities that are so random, but this has been stated before.

I guess what I’m asking, Penguin, Chaba, or any other poster in this thread, is how do I rekindle me love for the Engineer class again in pvp, or should I try and figure out one what that may draw my attention better than what this class currently can?

I appreciate the responses, I guess I’ll have to try it out then.

Question about the turret build, how does that fare against mesmers and illusions?

Just really sucks that our only good stun break is pretty much in elixir form.

Also question, someone said that it was power that increased confused damage; I thought it was condition? Do you know which one does?

I’ve been having a really hard time trying to find a build that doesn’t rely on dumping 30 points into alchemy, nor having to play a power glass cannon gadget build for PvP (WvWvW and sPvP).

I’m failing to find one that is fun and simply not one trick ponied like moat of them are.

Ideally I’d like to work with a condition build, P/S, and throw in some cool gadgets/gear set without having to have ten kittening potions in there for stun breaks or buffs.

Any ideas, or are we simply doomed to the meta that is alchemy currently if we want to have any success as a condition engineer, or an engineer in general?

Either that or I’m guessing its time to role a ranger, necro, thief, or mesmer..

In a game where Thieves and Mesmers dominate the wvwvw, where do Guardians fit in and measure up in 1vX?

Yet, I’m just not feeling it. Am I doing something wrong here? Overall I’ve been trying to build condition builds that are not completely devoid of CC or utility, but I’m finding it very hard to do so.

Most CC builds revolve solely around a huge investment into Alchemy for the buffs, and then dumping the rest into pistol. To naturally get your investment out of these builds though, you’re usually packing a full elixir build, or something close to it.

However, this play style doesn’t really make me feel like there is a huge amount of depth to this particular type of play. It does however makes me feel like I’m a self buff bot and that most of the ‘skill’ is derivative of jamming down pots at the right time, rather than using disables or or proper cool down usage outside of hitting shrink potion.

Is there any other option that offers decent damage on a condition build for engineer, but doesn’t sacrifice the utility of the overall class? Maybe I should be investing more time back into my Ranger or a Necromancer or an Elementalist?

Thanks for your time.

Also, I’m not a fan of rifle builds, I absolutely hate rifle builds. Using gadgets is a lot of fun, but if its with a rifle; no thank you.

Nice; however, lay off the slow mo at every kill. The only time you should use slow mo is situations like the one you hovered around 1000 health versus that add ranger at graveyard; after you dropped her to 600 health (you were at 150) is a perfect time to slow mo the last few shots of that battle.

Otherwise the effect becomes redundant and thus loses its entertainment value. Less is more in a lot of situations; let your skill be the corroboration that your movie is worthy of watching, not the special effects.

I really appreciate all the help and feedback I’ve received in this thread. After doing research on different classes and playing around with each, I do believe I will be sticking with ranger specifically.

Cempa, thank you for the information as well, do you perhaps have a link for these videos I could brush up on? So far I’ve only been looking at youtube videos and searching for information there or on google.

Hey dudes, I currently play a Bunker engi but want to switch it up a bit. I’m looking for a high skill cap class with a lot of utility and tricks, packaged with good damage.

I’ve heard a huge mixed bag with necromancers but it is still a class that intrigues me because I don’t believe a lot of people play them, ergo not a lot of people know what their capabilities are as a class.

What are some of the pros and cons to the class?

Most specifically, what is it YOU wish you had known before rolling one? Thanks for your time and help.

Hey dudes, I currently play a Bunker engi but want to switch it up a bit. I’m looking for a high skill cap class with a lot of utility and tricks, packaged with good damage.

How is the Elementalist in this role? What are some of the pros and cons to the class?

Most specifically, what is it YOU wish you had known before rolling one? Thanks for your time and help.

Hey guys, how are you? I’m from sea of sorrows right now, and I wanted to make a new class to enjoy WvW and Spvp from a different perspective. Currently I play a bunker engineer, and while he is fun and a solid mid range character, I miss kitting or a class that also has a ton of utility (Engi does but in its own way). This situation has led me to the forums, so I can do research on a few classes and be able to pick one that I’ll enjoy the most.

So to be concise, how is thief doing atm? Can they fit a far ranged/kiting class pretty well or are they strictly a melee only class? What is their possible playstyles, and a couple things you wished people told you about the class before you, yourselves, rolled one?

Thanks for your time.

Hey guys, how are you? I’m from sea of sorrows right now, and I wanted to make a new class to enjoy WvW and Spvp from a different perspective. Currently I play a bunker engineer, and while he is fun and a solid mid range character, I miss kitting a lot and being able to blast from super far range. This situation has led me to the forums, so I can do research on a few classes and be able to pick one that I’ll enjoy the most. Who knows, I could end up with something radically different but for now I’m pretty sure what I want.

So to be concise, how is ranger doing atm? Can they fit a far ranged/kiting class pretty well? What is their possible playstyles, and a couple things you wished people told you about the class before you, yourselves, rolled one?

Thanks for your time.

Took a small break about 3-4 months ago; was wondering which servers stand as the top competitive servers currently?

Would appreciate a hasty and concise response as soon as possible. Thank you for your time.

Mr. Peter’s comment, “The counter to them is being countered by them” unless out of context is pretty difficulty to perceive in a different light.

I have to say I disagree heavily on the fundamental principle that burst should be countering bunker. This just comes from general pvp knowledge acquired through trial and error of balancing in other games on a soft rock paper scissor system.

If burst can counter bunkers, what doesn’t keep the meta from transitioning to full burst teams? The strength of burst is to kill off other burst classes or medium support targets quickly; that is simply a basic fundamental that has been tried and true in many different pvp games.

Heavy bunkers are supposed to exist so burst teams cant simply dominate the meta. They’re supposed to wear down burst classes since these classes are fragile and bunkers are able to resist them.

It is the job of heavy condition builds to counter bunker targets since their access to conditions allow them to bypass toughness as well as be able to continually apply a strong amount of pressure that downs these targets.

If bunkers are somehow surviving sustained condition builds, then it is an inherent problem with giving bunkers too many condition removal abilities, not too much survivability versus burst classes.

I simply can’t agree in anyway with Mr. Peter’s logic on said issue. He wants to nerf bunkers by allowing burst to counter them, and by doing so force the meta into all heavy dps burst teams? That is effectively killing the role of not only bunkers, but heavy condition and sustained damage builds as well as support builds. This change will effectively turn sPvP into a cool down blowing frag fest more closely related to that of an FPS rather than an MMO team based strategy game.

I sincerely hope he reflects upon this decision heavily and realize that by altering the burst to bunker counter, hes reducing the depth of the pvp meta game immensely.

Burst forces Bunker which forces Sustained Condition builds and Support builds peppered in. This is how a healthy well developed balanced pvp system is designed; not the contrary of Burst counters Bunker and everything else.

Lately, with all the viable builds, and what works and what doesn’t, I’m having a really tough time trying to keep excited about my engineer.

I’ve swapped it up so many times now but something just doesn’t feel right about it anymore. I’ve done Grenades, Bomb, Flame Thrower, and to a lesser extent Elixir Gun to death.

I’ve played rifle but I’m simply not a fan of just blowing CDs for the burst and killing people based on that alone. Elixir builds feel the same with with exception to using them as support and not a main stay of the spec (IE blowing the CD every time its up to score massive burst on a target).

I’ve taken up the tool kit recently and its actually a lot of fun but, its only very good in 1v1 situations. I like to play the entirety of my Engineer, and flip through different abilities, manage cool downs, and get the fullest out of each of my tools/kits/weapons.

Staying in one kit or playing mostly in one kit has become so dull for me. Grenades and Bombs do this to a lesser extent, but if you’re playing Flame Thrower or Elixir kit I often find you must stay in these kits the longest to see their effectiveness.

I could use suggestions on what to play, I’m sort of looking for an all around build to be honest. My two favorite weapons are by far the Pistol + Shield combo and the Tool kit for its CC/Confusion.

Beyond this I haven’t really found anything that can take these two abilities in the same build and round it out by making it effective in sPvP or WvWvW without relying on Grenades or Bombs.

It is too bad only a few of our tool kits create conditional effects on targets, I’d really like to use them more but they’re pretty much strictly + power gadgets (exception rocket boots tool belt). I’m starting to wonder if I should just go a Hybrid build Power/Condition to circumvent this problem and try to grab as much toughness and vitality as I can. The only problem with this though is the stats layout and spreading myself too thin.

I’ve looked at turrets a bit but they feel a bit clunky. Net turret is pretty kitten good though considering that it deals with both melee and ranged well on a 1v1 basis (stun net), so its possible to throw that in, yet that leaves one spot left for a condition removing effect (potion) which means the spec is now only good for 1v1.

Help me brain storm a bit, I need all your kitten ingenuity combined with our greatest minds to try and throw a new hybrid build together that uses a pistol + shield, tool kit, and whatever else we can scrounge out of our kitten in a rag tag but effective all around build that may not excel at one thing, but allows a good player flexibility and a high return based on the skill at which they play.

Our goals are to achieve a build that has good survivability, decent damage, and most of all requires a high amount of micromanagement and nimble fingers to keep us interested and on our feet.

Let’s do this kitten, engineers.

Here is a question; for the PVE staff build, and in lower levels while leveling (before you get the tri stat pieces of gear) what stats should you be aiming for?

Also, when you summon so many clones, do you ever reserve a spot for the warlock to be out? I saw a ton of clones, but only a few warlocks through your rotations.

Is most of your damage coming strictly from conditions, and if it is, then why not put more emphasis on stacking heavy condition damage and less power?

I just hit 42 at the moment, so I’m only capable of accessing armor that is dual stat’d (wearing a full power + vit). Clones do the majority of my work and I often feel its the condition damage that does the heavy lifting in the build. I do use shatter liberally, but as you said near the end of the fight when they’re low anyway.

What is your opinion on this or could you perhaps give a little bit more clarification on the situation?

Thanks for your time.

I want to take a moment to thank you sincerely for putting effort into your informative post. I realize that must have taken you a bit, and I have made sure to read every part of it since you dedicated the time into helping me.

Thank you again and I’ll try out each build to see how I do with them.

My main question involves the ability to make your phantasm’s crit, applying the bleed per critical when using traits.

Why is it that most phantasm builds go power instead of condition, especially if they’re using Phantasmal duelists which stack 3-5 (average) up to 8 bleeds on a target each volley?

Is the normal damage from the phantasm that much better than the condition damage, or whats the deal?

What build then would you go for straight power and why?

Also, what builds are the other stats good for? I’ve heard people ignoring everything and stacking crit; why do they do this?

I’m guessing condition specs are for staff specs, but wouldn’t that also incorporate duelists to get that large stack of bleeds on their targets for their warlock to destroy targets with?

Thanks for the help.

Well, the thing with the Pistol skill “Explosive Shot” is that despite the name, its combo finisher is actually Physical, and its condition is a bleed. So despite its misleading name, it actually has nothing to do with explosions at all.

The other abilities are actually categorized specifically as a ‘Elixir’ subset skill on their tool tabs. Much like how a mesmers skills tell you what category they fall under, I.E. Clone, Phantasm, Manipulation, etc.

List of skills not effected by Traits and/or Alchemy line duration:

Elixir Gun Kit:

Skill – Super Elixir. Category ‘Elixir’. Base Cool down 20 seconds, duration 10 seconds:

Alchemy: Potent Elixirs (Increases elixir durations by 20%)
Alchemy: Fast-Acting Elixirs (Elixir Skills recharge 20% faster)
Firearms: Fireforged Trigger (Flame Thrower and Elixir gun skills recharge 20% faster); with trait equipped, the cool down over the ability will first read 15, then after a second passes, jumps back up to 19.

(Not effected by Alchemy line duration)

Skill (Utility Belt) – Toss Elixir H. Category ‘Elixir’. Base CD 30 seconds, duration dependent per boon (10 seconds Swiftness, 5 seconds Protection, 10 Seconds Regen):

Alchemy: Fast-Acting Elixirs
Alchemy: Potent Elixirs

(Alchemy line increases duration of this ability)