Guild Wars 2

A total makeover kit or unbreakable gathering node kits would make my dreams come true! This thread makes me so happy, it’s so great to see this kind of stuff. Hard to beat the GW2 community.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vJAQNAR3enMdAdfg1eA+dAEliFyAT5D8A2AJDgAQk7twuYjsA-TBSEABA8AAQZ/hlU+ho6PapEEhLCAH6Gi4IAAA-e

Here is what I came up with, favoring a higher crit chance in hopes to achieve a result closer to what could be achieved with Forceful Greatsword crits. Ideally, I guess you would want Assassin’s gear for higher crit chance? Provides support via inspiring battle standard (regen) and normal support provided by Tactics.

Your post was incredibly helpful, thank you so much!

Okay, update, I’ve been trying a Defense/Discipline/Berserker build, here’s a link:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vJAQNAR5enMdAdfg1eA2dAElilqA7d0maftILuLQAQpH0CyBA-TBCBABpoboS1fq4gAAwTAALlfnpEsm9HY4CAAA-e

Did a few fractals with it last night, it is very survivable with Adrenal Health providing a very large amount of regen along with Inspiring Banners (though I might replace it with DotE, not sure on the benefit of it in PvE). I have definitely sacrificed a lot of personal DPS, but I provide good support through Banners, CC, and medium-high damage, using Mace/Shield to break bars on command and swap to greatsword for the juicy broken bar damage boost.

Would this be a more acceptable playstyle for high level fractals? The Strength/Discipline/Berserker build seemed very very fragile after having switched to defense, and I seem to be able to focus more on DPS rather than keeping my own butt alive, so would that in turn mean I do about the same damage? As in, I do less DPS, but since I can stay in the fight longer and not have to worry about getting 1-2 shot, I can dish it out longer, so I do the same damage OVERALL.

Discuss

Hey guys, I was wondering if it was possible for a Greatsword/Longbow or Hammer/Longbow build in high level fractals. Is this kind of playstyle still possible? I used it a lot back when it was meta and it was my favorite weapon combo in the game. Is it still workable?

Is there any way to do a Discipline/Tactics/Berserker build? I know Strength Discipline Tactics is possible but I really don’t want to give up berserker. Strength seems too vital when paired with tactics. I know I’m stretching at this point, but I just really enjoy the Discipline playstyle.

Choppy.4183:

The latter might be better. Leaching has a 9s ICD, so you only want one if you tend to swap every 5s or so.

Like I said, I am swapping quite often, taking almost full advantage of fast hands. If I’m not getting the benefit of Weapon Swap sigils every time because of the 9 sec CD, would it be better to use a different type of sigil? These sigils are so confusing. I have no idea what would be best.

Thank you all for your advice, I am in the process of revising the build on GW2Skills right now, and will probably post a new link after the revisions have been made.

Edit 1: Another thing, about sigils, Force is 10g per atm and I can’t really afford that, I’m thinking about using Bloodlust/Leeching on the GS and…maybe Hydromancy/Leeching on Axe/Shield? Not too sure on either of those sigil setups. Advice?

Edit 2: WIP Link here:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vJAQNAR3enMdAdfg1eA2dAEliliATpL0EyCvD3k7z1YA8ACAA-TBCEABbpEEgHAQK7PExVAIR1f6Q3ATK/I+gAAA-e

Edit 3: Another idea here, what if I used Superior Sigil of Renewal as well as leeching on the axe/shield? Would provide significant boosts to survivability. Just a thought I had. Still haven’t decided on sigils.

Hoaxintelligence.4628:

1# you use extra Burning duration bonusses from runes but you dont have condition damage or Burning pressure.
2# you use 2 sigils twice instead of 4 different sigils. You would be better of with swap to weapon sigil bonusses.
3# to much precision (50% is enough)
4# you are to squizzy but I’m not sure If that matters in pve land.
5# use defence instead of strenght.
6# banners = utility-slot waste.
7# signet of Fury is useless
8# weak runes
9# choose anything accept Inspiring Battle Standard (you are not a healer)
10# select burst mastery over heightened Focus.

I find the build to be quite survivable in Fractals, mostly because the shield block lets relieves some pressure from my endurance bar.

So #1 – The runes were transferred over from my Guardian, I use the set on both, the rune is exactly the same as Strength and I don’t have the gold for strength atm. I will look for a better alternative if that is an issue.

2. – I should look into Weapon Swap sigils then – Since you said I am too squishy, would Sigil of Leeching be a good one? Or Hydromancy? Battle? Energy?

3. – Swap Signet of Fury for Signet of Might then. Done.

4. – Like I said, the build holds it’s own fairly well with shield, and some of the weapon swap sigils could alleviate some survivability issues.

5. – Would that not sacrifice too much DPS? Haven’t looked into it, will do shortly.

6. – Okay, so what should I use instead? For Great Justice? Endure Pain? Could you maybe offer suggestions instead of telling me what’s wrong with it and leaving it at that?

7. – See #3

8. – See #1

9. – Switched for Destruction of the Empowered then.

10. – Was iffy on that one to begin with. Switched.

Overall, your post was useful in some ways, but it comes off as derogatory when you offer no suggestions, only insulting the build I am working on.

Can someone offer some more helpful advice with the changes made above? Thank you all.

Hey guys, so I have been messing around with builds for my Berserker. I started with the Meta Phalanx Strength build but found it kind of boring and simple, and way too squishy. I’m not really liking any of the meta builds. I should mention this is for PvE – Fractals and Dungeons.

So this is what I am running now:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vJAQNAR3enMdAdfg1eA+dAEliFiAT5L8EmCvF3lb01IAEBGAA-TxhFABXobYgrAAJ7PAwDBYQ1fMS5XVKBBA-e

I would like to keep suggestions on the cheap side, gear wise. I changed Tactics to Discipline from the Phalanx Strength and switched a few traits around. I like the Discipline Tree SO much because it feels like I am able to use Burst Skills a LOT more, and I can swap weapons very very often. Because of that, I feel it is okay to sacrifice the strengths of one of the more offensive offhand weapons for the shield, because I can stay on Axe for a shorter amount of time.

Can I get some advice on how to edit this build?

This is my Norn Guardian who I really love. I’ve played him all the way since just after launch and he is still my favorite WvW character and one of my favorite PvE characters as well.

Shoulders: Stag Spaulders (Norn T3 Cultural)
Chest: Stag Mail (Norn T3 Cultural)
Gauntlets: Eagle Gauntlets (Norn T2 Cultural)
Legs: Stag Chausses (Norn T3 Cultural)
Boots: Studded Plate Greaves (WvW token skin I believe?)

Dyes: Midnight Ice, Silver, Starry Night

Weapons: Entropy, Corrupted Avenger

Superior Sigil of Water and Blood with 4% Crit chance? Lol what a joke

I read that thread earlier, and I’m aware of that problem. I do agree that the change has negatively impacted Greatsword users who didn’t take advantage of retaliation, but I am once again only getting it out there that skills are ordered in order of cool down from shortest to longest, which people don’t seem to realize. Many people that don’t take advantage of those traits are just complaining about the skill order and constantly asking for the old skill order.

Like what? I am addressing only the people that are hating on the order of skills, not the other issues, although please do mention these. I play Staff + Mace/Shield and have not used Greatsword for a while. I know that certain traits like the ones in the honor and zeal trees are only half as useful because of it, but then again you get more blinds out of the leap because that CD was shortened.

The skills in this game are organized by cool down, which is why SoW was moved back. There is a reason for this change, and no number of requests can get your old skill bar back without changing the cool downs again.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/en/?fUMQNApeRlYgyC33RMEg4ERWBRi9Qje8jXPgoEZIA;T8AgzymEMJZS1kiJqbMHJOyej7G5NrNGNM3A

That’s what I’ve got going right now. It focuses on consistently switching weapons and keeping your symbols up. In dungeon runs this is extremely good for keeping you (and other melee players as well, you even get healed more and for larger amounts whenever others are near you, or inside you Hallowed Ground and/or both Symbol of Faith and Symbol of Wrath. If you keep both symbols up, AND Hallowed Ground, in a group of melee characters this will make you nearly unstoppable. If you play with a guild that happens to have enough Guardians, FORCE them to run dungeons with you with this build, along with maybe a ranger and/or thief and maybe another Guardian with the same build. I guarantee that you the people in melee range will most likely never die. Note that the #3 skill while downed also heals you (Writ of the Merciful) and when others are in it that heals you more as well, so even if you do go down you will be up very quickly if you have others using the build above with you.

I definitely think they should add a longbow to the Guardian’s arsenal. They can use a spirit bow, so there obviously isn’t any problem, I guess “lore wise”, although this game isn’t like WoW where lore is a GIANT part of it, but it still matters. I think the guy who posted about the slingshot was spot on for the auto-attack, but implement it into longbow instead. Maybe make the longbow arrows teleport or fire light, and give it a short cast time, make the second one fire a stronger arrow/light beam, and make the third have an AoE, small damage fiery explosion around the target that of course burns them for 4 seconds. I’d LOVE to see longbow on Guardian and it definitely could work, I think.

Altruistic Healing – You’re using this WAY wrong if you think it’s laughable without a ton of people. My build has 30 Valor, 30 Honor, and 10 Virtues. In Valor I took: Retruibutive Armor, Honorable Shield, Altruistic Healing. In Valor I took: All of the Writ traits (Longer, larger, heals allies) In Virtues I took: Vengeance

I use Mace/Shield and GS, and my utility skills are: “Hold The Line!”, “Save Yourselves!” and “Retreat!”. I gear for Healing Power and Toughness mainly, with Vitality and Power as secondary stats. This build works like this: Run in with GS and use BB to pull everything to you. Either A) Use Whirling Wrath if you have no or one condition on you, or B) Use Symbol Of Wrath and then use Whirling Wrath. Continue until Symbol Of Wrath is up again and use it. Now IMMEDIATELY switch to Mace/Shield and throw down the Symbol Of Mercy. This allows you to get one boon EACH SECOND for EVERY PERSON inside of it multiplied by TWO for the duration of the symbols. This also STACKS with the Writ Of The Merciful, allowing for MORE healing. Consistently switch between the two weapons, using the symbol twice between each switch: on entry and exit. This doesn’t sacrifice damage either, because both Symbols do damage every second as well, and those count towards the Virtue Of Justice. Combine all that with Whirling Wrath and you get a LOT of burning as well as healing. I run this build all the time and almost NEVER need to dodge. I use the Signet as my heal and Tome Of Wrath (Sometimes Tome Of Courage) as my Elite skill.

Both of these symbols combined do decent damage (when combined with normal attacks) and can make you near invincible together. Let’s not forget to mention that “Hold The Line!” and “Retreat!” also give you another two heals. I won’t talk about “Save Yourselves!” because we all know what that does.

The reason our damage is so low is because our defense is really high, and we are very supportive. If you want to dual wield then this class isn’t for you anyway, you should probably play a Warrior if you want something like that. Guardians can’t dual wield for the same reason Paladins can’t in WoW. They try to be more defensive and supportive of others, and someone who dual wields would be very offensive and intimidating. A Guardian is more calm and honorable in battle, and dual wielding is a bit relentless and just clumsy.