Showing Posts For TheLastBrohican.5376:
In my sPvP experience (fairly limited, I’m only rank 20) the Guardian is a much more teamfight-oriented class than other bunkers, because of its generally low damage and limited ranged options.
What it lacks in this area it seems to make up in immense area control and teamfighting presence, specifically where area denial (the hammer has 4 cc skills, shield has an AoE knockback, scepter 3 is an immobilize, GS 5 is an AoE pull/interrupt) and stomp/revive control are concerned. We have a variety of ways to proc Stability to ensure stomps go through, multiple traits/weapon skills/utilities that protect downed buddies while we revive them (and buff them after), and possibly the best condition removals in the game in most of our “meta” builds.
As of this patch it appears every one of our weapons is tourney-viable (except possibly the torch), and you’ll find a starting point for a standard bunker build below:
http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-7s-3x;0NFk40J3kF-90;9;69TT;44;014A289U-F7U;1ZF18ZF183Nf
Note that the traits can be tweaked, amulet/jewel can be changed, and weapons can be swapped out and messed with at your leisure. We enjoy a lot of flexibility right now!
Depending on your field of play (PvE, WvW or sPvP) the shield is pretty nuts too. Cone protection and the AoE knockback that makes a Light combo field and busts to heal friendlies is godlike.
This is very close to what I run most tourneys – I find it deals exceptionally well with condi pressure. There’s a little wiggle room in the build in case you prefer 0/5/5/30/30 for the extra stability as well.
http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-7s-Fw;0NFk40J3wF-90;9;549TO;44;014A38-U-F7U;1ZF18ZF186gq
I would go for 0/0/10/30/30 instead of 0/5/5/30/30. An AoE blind is cool, but 1 condition-cleanse every 10 seconds is in the necro-meta pretty strong.
I agree, I was running that pre-patch and loved it. I’m sure it’s still strong, but I’ve been running 0/5/10/30/25 giving up stability on Courage for the burn on block – loving that too! It’s an interesting trade-off for sure, the Guardian has lots of choices within the standard 0/0/10/30/30 dynamic that are worth trying I think.
In general there are two big ways to mitigate the condition damage you take:
1. Stack HP over Toughness (Toughness being used to counter raw damage/burst)
2. Don’t give the enemy the chance to overload you with conditions. Burst damage is a lot stronger than people think as the meta sets, both because of the susceptibility of Necros and Engies who spec for condi overload to it and because of some of the changes Thieves and Elementalists received in the balance patch.
This is all based off of solo queueing in spvp and a small amount of organized tpvp, so your WvW mileage may vary. Guardians have pretty great condi removal right now to boot, so I’m a happy camper!
Not a lot of guardian Spirit Weapons get used – I don’t actually think they’re useless in spvp (especially with the most recent patch…DAT SHIELD), you just don’t see many yet. I think this will change soon though, the hammer KD spam and sword finisher burst is pretty nuts if set up right.
Wasn’t Paralyzation hotfixed? I remember they talked on SotG about that, I thought it was hotfixed a day or two ago. The GW2 rep definitely stated explicitly that Paralyzation adding fear duration was NOT intended.
This is very close to what I run most tourneys – I find it deals exceptionally well with condi pressure. There’s a little wiggle room in the build in case you prefer 0/5/5/30/30 for the extra stability as well.
http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-7s-Fw;0NFk40J3wF-90;9;549TO;44;014A38-U-F7U;1ZF18ZF186gq
I don’t think they’re OP, per se – but I do think they’re in a really good place. They shine even harder as the current wvw/spvp meta is settling from the recent balance patch, where condi pressure is incredibly popular. We have the tools to deal with thieves/warriors that try to burst us down, necros/engis that try to “attrition” us to death, and excellent teamfight control of stomps and revives via all the Stability, Aegis, and Blind buffs we have.
Such a fun class!
For reference, this is the build I typically run post-patch (I believe it’s pretty in line with the “meta” builds pre-patch too):
http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-7s-Fw;0NFk40J3wF-90;9;549TO;41;014A38-U-F7U;1ZF18ZF186gt