Guild Wars 2

Hi Widebody,

I do get your point. Warriors’ biggest issues won’t be solved by fear. And I am not trying to solve them with fear either.

I opened a thread as I thought Fear was warrior like and would complement well shouts. Forcing a foe to disengage is an interesting tool, IMHO.

I thank you for taking the time to respond (I chose your last post as answer so it’s been relocated under my first post). The comments of those who replied + the small number of replies is proof enough that the community has more pressing challenges to tackle!

Cheers.

@Widebody: I understand kiting is tough for full melee warriors, especially with Bull’s Charge not being very efficient.

But my goal here was to focus on fear, and at a larger extent, on shouts and the fact that Anet has to give them more bang if they want warriors to use them. IMHO, shouts without the Healing trait didn’t bring enough to the table prepatch (except maybe Shake it Off). After the Healing nerf, who will use them when Stances are so good and versatile?

So my reasoning is the following: even if we go back to the former Healing state with shouts, the current meta is too DPS oriented to make them at par, hence my idea to add a fear trait.

I like fear because, as Choppy pointed out, its fits the warrior theme. And it is an excellent tool. I am sure a shout support warrior that could heal properly and fear opponents at the same rate as a ranger can apply taunt (average 20-25 seconds I suppose depending of F2 ICD) could be a balanced solution. I’d love to hear Online on the subject as he/she tried really hard to make shouts still viable in PvP.

And if fear is not a good solution, please discuss what could be done to make them worth adding to our bar.

Hi Choppy,

Indeed, taunt is quite powerful and I would love to have it on my warrior. “Come to me, I am your friend!”

But I do believe a well used shout fear could prove quite useful to land an Eviscerate, an Earthshaker or even a KS all the while removing a blind with Shake it Off for instance. Afterall, a 1 second fear doesn’t allow a foe to go that far away…

Bigger issue might be the usefulness of stances and how hard it is to get away from having at least two of them on our bar.

Hi folks,

I believe we should have more access to fear. Our battle fury, our weapon mastery, our sheer strength should be able to strike fear in the heart of our opponents.

While I’d like Anet to add a fear component to the berserker trait line or new F2, if this is not the case, here is an idea.

In all times of war, the battle roar was used to give courage to allies and strike fear to enemies. Shouts are our battle roars. Instead of relying on Fear me (and its too long ICD), why don’t we replace Fear with another useful boon on the shout (like quickness) and add a trait in the Tactics line that would trigger Fear at shout use? Add a reasonable ICD to make this a balanced trait, and voilà!

I am a casual player and don’t know if this would be interesting enough for competitive play, but it looks to me that it could help build diversity.

Let me know if this is worth a shot or how we could improve the idea.

Thanks.

Hey Oranisagu,

The Hammer build Obal suggests probably is the best mix of DPS and support, but I am enjoying GS + mace/focus in melee combat. Mace can hit hard and I love the synergy with focus. Two symbols for condi rinse are great too. And the regen that comes with mace symbol is good when stacking (when no one else with better regen is providing the boon of course). I am no expert but having success with a 10 25 10 5 20 build. Not the highest DPS for sure, but it’s quite reasonable. And you have Strength in Numbers for more party support.

I find this build well balanced with pugs. A nice stepping stone to more hard core builds I will try when I get more experienced.

And thanks Obal for creating this great thread. I never thought I could try a DPS oriented build with my guard and I love it.

Sure. what I mean is that if, for e.g., I have apples or jar of oïl in my Collections panel or in my Inventory, they won’t show from times to times in the Discovery panel. Wanted to discover new food based on wiki and could not use some of the ingredients I have, meaning I am stuck.

Thanks.

Hello Silent,

Wanted to add a post to your Berserker 3.0 thread but cannot find it so sorry if it is a bit misplaced.

Came back to my guardian after a long while and decided to do fractals with him. Soon realized the importance of 10 points in Virtues so this made me think of a variation of your build. Tried it extensively in Orr (soloing champions mainly) and in one low level fractal and doing good so far and having fun.

Traits are 0 25 20 15 10 using GS + mace/focus mainly. That way, still have two symbols for more spins and condi removals, nice heal with dodge combined with Mace of Justice, Protector’s Strike hits surprisingly hard, mace/focus great for rezzing… Overall, mace/focus do very decent damage and allow me to stay close to the action, which I like. Of course, no staff means no access to swiftness, no great might stacking, no big heal combined with AH, but hey, survivability of the build is good so far.

When long distance fights are needed, I switched mace for scepter and go for Strength in Numbers or Retributive Armor.

Still improving my gear toward more berserk and one day Scholar runes but ain’t cheap so taking a mix of Ruby and Beryl orbs for now.

Utilities vary but my basic setup is Signet of Judgment, WoR and Purging Flames.

Have you tried something similar? I am wondering if this trait setup can bring more DPS in average (+10% GS +15% mace thru traits) than standard Paladin 2.5 with all its might stacking.

Thanks

Hello,

This is not the first time this is happening to me. I either find, acquire or create new ingredients but they don’t show in the food creation panel. Whether I keep them in my bags or store them in the bank, they don’t show. Needless to say, there are several level 80 food I cannot create…

Are there display limitations in that panel?

Thanks.

Wow, thanks for the speedy response, Silent!

As you could have guessed, I don’t have dungeon experience yet (trying to acquire a few more exotic before) so I was wondering if there were enough spawns around champs to make 15 in radiance worth it.

Very cool as I love playing a crit build. I am better at it but not the most skillful player yet, but there is only one way to learn.

Thanks again!

Hello Silent,

I read as many threads as possible but sorry if my question is a repeat.

If we assume trash mob will go down fast anyway and champs take a while to kill, 15 in Radiance is not perfect in longer fights. Have you tried 0 10 30 25 5 with your Paladin in mind? Is the trade-off interesting in terms of overall damage?

Most builds I see are either 0 10 30 30 0 or 0 5 30 30 5, but the middle ground is rarely discussed. What is your take on this?

Thanks!

I was indeed mindful of cost of food too and of the fact that I forget about them too many times.

Thanks all for your answers. I’ll put more emphasis on developing my cooking skills. 100 levels down. 300 more to go…

Hello fellow guardians,

When you create a PvE/dungeon build, do you focus on certain stats to maximize them and compensate with food to get your balance or do you create balance as much as possible with gear and add value with food?

I know food is an integral part of the game, but I still don’t like the idea to rely on them to get, let’s say, enough crit chance to apply my crit damage every other swing.

Thanks for your insight.

Hey Daedalus, was thinking about posting the same thread myself.

I fail to see the logic of lower HP pools being better. If a player reads his pool well (not in terms of percentage but of actual HP left), he knows when it is time to heal himself depending on skills available and his comfort zone.

And to be honest, give an additional 5 K of base HP to a guardian and he’ll take it anytime.

Unless I am missing a key element too

lol If this is the case, please make a movie

@Thz: indeed Dredges are immune to blind, but the vulnerability will still stack if you traited for it. Probably a bug, but as long as it is working, suits me

Hello guys,

Back after a few days of testing. AH build suits me and is viable even when I am soloing. I used 3 shouts for more heals but I’ll try Purging flames soon. The damage and condition cleansing might be better.

After reading more topics, I now realize most suggestions are Paladin 2.0 or 2.5. From Berserker 3.0 to Paladin, all I can say is thanks to Silentstorm for investing a lot of time developing those builds!

Now my question of the day is the following: before I purchase more exotics, I need to know what is the minimal amount of healing and boon duration I should aim at to make the investment worthwhile. It’s a balancing act and since I don’t want to go under 40% crit chance, I’ll have to sacrifice crit damage, I am afraid…

Thanks!

Looks like there are a few good options in terms of runes! Longer boon duration, more healing, condition removal…

Roachsrealm: With altruism runes, your only means to get your team rid of conditions are to convert them into boons with Honour 30 and/or to transfer them to you with shout. If the latter, how do you manage? The number of conditions might be impressive some times.

Daedalus: Yeah love meditations in my berserker build. And I assume you are using those meditation skills and traits in your meditation healing build.

But if you are using those in your AH build, please explain further. I am at a lost.

Tyber: Noted, but be patient with me! I’ll test 1-2 builds with greens. If I go your route, it’ll take me a good while to purchase all exotic gear/runes/trinkets/weapons and have a perfect feel of your build.

Firegoth: Just to make sure I understand your build well, is your armor full Knight and your trinkets a mix of Berserk/Knight? Or are you investing more in life/healing?

To all: How do you cope with conditions besides Purging Flames? Are you using SoR, Purity, other means? I thought I’d give a try to Lyssa runes if I invested 15 or less in Radiance, but it is worth it in your opinion? The condition purge + extra boons (hence extra healing) on Renewed Focus are appealing to me.

Thanks Tomkatt for the Mace suggestion. It might do the trick, although I suspect I’ll go with shield instead of focus when I try the AH build. Love Focus with 1h sword though. A shame the 1h sword does not have a symbol skill…

Tyber, can’t thank you enough for the lenghty explanation. I suspected Staff was a good secondary weapon, and I’ll have to give it a real try in combat. Alone surrounded by 3-5 mobs, unsure how I’ll do with Staff. Anyway, the crit logic is there: might, heal and regular burns all at once. Gear and runes, I hear you. As for sigils, lots of good choice, I could list half of the On Crit Hit list :-)

Now, have to pay a visit to the Trait Trainer guy.

Thx Tomkatt, but you misread my question. I was wondering if we could run an AH build WITHOUT hammer :-)

Hello fellow guardians,

I have been drawned to the class after I fell in love with GS. Tried the hammer but it is not for me. My guardian is 80 but I just started to purchase exotic equipment. So before I invest a lot of time and virtual money in this, I’d like to discuss builds.

Until now, I have been more or less berserker 3.0 with meditations. As I play solo most of time, it seems fitting. Fun and dynamic but not that dps as you all know. If we assume guardians were meant to be mostly team support oriented, is it possible to build an AH build without Hammer? Can we do without the protection symbol?

Thanks!

First of all, thanks Brutality for taking the time to write down this major piece. Your love for the profession is obvious and all your posts are incredibly informative. Hope Anet lends a listening ear to what you have to say and do something, even though Guardian already is a fun profession.

Since game balance is hard to find, I don’t see Anet changing our HP pool base so we are probably stuck with the build variety issue: 30 in Valor will most probably stay in a huge majority of builds. But improving symbols and making Zeal more relevant and coherent is feasible I am sure. Hey, did Anet ever consider adding an Immobilize effect to any mob inside a symbol?

As for mobility issue, some solutions could be easily implemented. For instance, although might is always good, why not get Swiftness instead of Might on crit with 20 in Honor? Not perfect maybe but that would be a start.

Range issue: indeed, a focus rewrite is in order. And this can also be easily implemented. If Anet thinks we are meant to stay melee, then they should add mobility. More swiftness included in shouts? Another multifunction teleport utility?

Hi folks,

Here are my two cents.

GS and Sword/Focus complement each other perfectly in a build with blind giving vulnerability. Focus 4 hits even twice so I usually apply 9 – 12 stacks of vulnerability quite quickly with sword 2 and focus 4. If I jump in the middle of a mob with S/F, my HP goes down zero or minimally, especially if they are missile throwers. Swith to GS 4 and 3 (for added retaliation) and you will kill the rest of the mob rapidly.

The way I see sword and focus, it’s a nice blend of attack and defense while GS is more offensive. And if you are a switcher like me, you will love using S/F while GS skills are recharging.

The only thing I would change (I agree with Silver on that one) is making Sword 3 real blocks (like the description says)… I had much hope to get loads of might from that one, alas…

To Drawing Guy: Indeed, the unpredictable nature of the teleport is quite nice. Gives a thief feeling to the guardian.

Cheers!

Hi there,
I’d give at least a 9 out of 10 to your human female name, Anemone. I like the sound of it and the French flavor is to my liking. Hey, French is my mother tongue after all :-)

I have one human male guardian. I gave him the name my GW1 monk had:
The Show Must Go On.

Hi folks,
Frustration is high regarding our beloved profession, especially around the bows which should be our bread and butter. Weird that bows in other professions are so loved and not ours… What I would like at a minimum?
1) shortbow being the bow of choice for cond dam build, we currently only have 1.5 skills that actually do conditions that damage over time (0.5 on skill 1 and skill 2). I would add a cond dam skill on the bar. For instance, cripple shot could also bleed (3 stacks). A reasonable humf.
2) longbow: yes, skill 1 rate should be improved. Skill 2: we should be able to dodge without losing our skill.
3) pets: more innate synergy. For instance, Fortifying Bond should work both ways: any boons my pet get is shared with me. Could be useful when I am at range and my melee pet gets boons from other melee players.
4) bows: all arrows should automatically pierce. How can we build a good trap build when piercing arrows are so useful? Can we explore something else than 20-30-20-0-0??
Good luck to us all :-)

I understand, it is just that we already have to invest 30 in Precision for traps, which is nonsensical IMO but hey, that is the way Anet built the trait lines… Furthermore, I prefer to invest 10 in Vit and 5 in Healing/Pet attributes, so my only source of damage will be precision (0-30-25-10-5), hence my question. Thx

Hello folks,

My first post here. I am lvling up my ranger, now at 63, loving the style play and diversity of attacks with trap build, and was wondering, since damage base with shortbow is so low, if I should aim for more than 30% crit damage once at lvl 80.

In your experience, or for those strong in maths, is it better to have crit damage at 40% with less condition damage? Runes of the Afflicted seem interesting for this build but maybe runes of Rage are better.

Thanks,