Guild Wars 2

from a WvW perspective.

mace + focus is pretty good for mitigation. Back in the day when commanders got a tag buff and where being head hunted i used to run Mace/focus to protect our guild commanders. I like the combination as i has only 1 lightfield and its easy to control placement, i cry everytime i see a light field override water/fire. Mace auto attack scales insanely well and it can hit hard and fast.

But overall its a niche build,

Thinking about recent changes to meditation though it may be passable but you would have to rely on using a utility skill for movement when not in combat.

I think its still a first tier talent and isnt worth a second tier slot. But like everyone ells i see the potential in it. Going to test it with hydromancer sigil.

teaming it with intell sigil is a good idea but for zerg fights i just cant let go of my stamina sigil.

Hammer isnt Superior in every way

you dont get perm protection, it comes at the end of the chain of auto swing and drops a light field.. which isnt great as it often will overide a fire or water field.

constant AoE damage is a bit over stated. hammer has slightly longer cleave range and one 180 radius AoE skill. so i guess so

Hammer does have better CC i give it that. and really the 3 CC skills are its only redeeming feature. a range immobolise a short ranged KD and a small ring that is glitchy and easy to escape. as where with mac the only CC you will get is a Push from shield 5, which is awesome for blocking stomps and rez’s. (have even got a few people off a cliff but its though to do) but this CC is on a long cooldown and hard to use compared to hammer.

the blast finisher is nice, i give it that.

Superior damage?
Hammer auto 269+333+370= 972 base. mace 269+336+470= 1075 base
hammer symbol 3x 555 mace symbol 5×840
mighty blow 640 mace counter attack 672
so ya… really? plus you can spec into mace for +5% dam ontop so is hammer really better dps?

have not tested the healing vs each other. I think this isnt correct. lets look at with healing symbols. Hammer symbol will heal 3 pulses, mace will heal for a small amount upfront then 5x on the pulse with 996regen and an extra burst ever 2 seconds from auto attack. so again no and this is before i even factor in the +250 healing power

So lets face the truth, yes hammer skins are ugly, but we use hammer because it offers 3 CC options and a blast finisher. Nothing ells about this weapon is superior to a mace shield combo in anyway. Mace shield can give healing and protecting without dropping a light field that will override more valuable fields, but has 1 hard to use CC on a long Cooldown. Hammer dose not do more damage, but it provides a much needed blast finishers. Hammer also cannot come close to the healing you get from a mace.

Mace can provide sustained DPS and sustained healing in a fight which is great, but water field blast healing is more effective. Im not saying everyone should switch to mace but have 1 or 2 in a 20man group can provide considerable damage mitigation using shield 4 and mace 3 to block attacks and apply protection to mutliple allies without needing someone to attack.

Asura charge, For science! retreat, Science save me!

Norn charge, Bring it one! retreat, To the bar!

Charr charge, For the legion! retreat, Rally up and stop dying!

Sylvari charge, (sorry got nothing) retreat, Run forest run!

Human, charge For the royalty! retreat, Run away, run away!

I like WvW because their are no fair fights,

cannon mastery 5, what is it good for?, absolutely kittening up your golem rush

why not add another buff.. something like Protection but – condi damage
or a -condi duration weapon stat

first, when a thief loses stealth if you had him target you auto re-target him..

second and more drastic, after you come out of stealth you get a debuff = to the amount of time you where in stealth where you cannot re-enter stealth.

If they can gather up and stack 30seconds that great.. just means they cant re-enter for 30 seconds after. And i dont think this would harm the current mesmer PU meta.

For the first 15-30 seconds of a zerg clash my pet is on passive.

Once the initial keyboard mashing drop every AoE you have is over. I will send a spider after an Ele or mesmer i have isolated. If the enemy zerg trys to regroup i send the wolf into fear them; break up the restack before they can get might and healing going.

ha.. spell check got me there.. it was meant to say and wonderful buff. lol

Its not that celestial is getting nerfed. Its the new ferocity system is designed to pull down burst crit damage.

but honestly take pretty much any armor set and throw travelers armor on it and its pretty good. For roaming.

I dunno, full celestial makes an ok mid line. You just dont excel at anything. thats really the main issue.

my celestial set is 5/6 i swap between a clerics and a cav chest. then my other equipment is either healing or dps based.

Yes, if your going to make celestial make ascended. This set benefits greatly from the slightly higher stats you will get. Celestial had to much focus on crit damage for my taste in its previous setup, i welcome the +6% stats.

Celestial makes a great roaming set, slap runes of speed or the traveler on it and go nuts.

Canadians Anonymous [EhEh]

Banner, a pink beaver on a red and white field.

this is my bank guild on GoM.. just love the name.

most likely, but you already get a sort of evade form it.

wait to invest in ascended until the next content path.

but where will i lurk with my thief?

This is what i run for commanding and zerg busting. Works really well in 15+man groups, anything less then 5 man it starts to fall apart a bit. i steam roll camps though.

i have a secondary GS to stack bloodlust, and both applied. That may make a bit of a difference if you dont have the points dumped into it.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vUAQNAR5el0AbgaGWD3KcFyXYPENxf4ERWBRi9AjZcjXPc4DZIA-zkDBYfA4hRGbBBtBjYAguAh+AmABjKAKBtIasV1FRjVbDT9SISDL1BAQAu5NzmtZwQH6Q/5P/Z7cn7cn78mFCQwYA-w

RF has always felt like a crutch to me. I agree my statement was a little over the top. I feel the burst healing you get from TC far outweighs what you will get out of the activation for virtues.

Mind you its all situational and depends on group comp. especial in smaller havoc sized groups. But im one of those guys that calls his light fields for condi stripping so lets call it difference in play style .

good guide though Harbinger.

Laying down light fields is an issue, as most raid leaders want fire and water.. this makes battle presence the bomb. it also function while your on siege, adding that to reduced damage for rams makes you an ideal operator.

dropping light fields early and mid combat is the way to go, after that its down to water fields and blast finishers when you regroup.

for most of us that means open with GS, chain pull WW then switch to mace/shiled lay down your healing.shield Bubble to block rez’s or stomps. on the regroup tome of courage so your not over writing water fields. rinse and repeat.

assuming WvW

I comes down to what your losing to get all the healing power, just a quick comparison to my build your is slightly lower armor, 500 less power and i have 23k hp. with 890 ish healing power(can get cranked over 1k). your have half the crit chance and less then half the crit dam my builds runs as well. (not factoring in blood lust and applied, but my food and stones are factored in there)

that being said your dodge rolls are healing for just over double what mine do. and im sure your heals of tomb of courage are pretty sick.

In large group fights if your not running tomb of courage your doing it wrong. even in small groups, the only reason not to run it is if your running solo.

Aeolus.3615:

Thats thief role, kill overextended players, if u are built to play on teamwork and he finds you alone prepare to loose.

Learn when they roam mostly, try to avoid them or wait for more people at spawn before adventuring alone.

+1

If you want to PuG command, you need something that will survive the front line. If you playing a ranged class keep in mind most people are going to hang back behind you. This makes guardians, warriors a natural choice, but if you can make a decent mid ranger/close range fairly tanky/supporty dps hydrid, go for it.

For running with a guild, it dose not really matter what class as long as your build fits the type of play your guild is doing.

For constructed WvW zerg breaking type stuff. same as above, just fit your build to what your doing.

Anet should really consider removing applied strength and applied fort. All this stat buffing does is encourage grinding, which is exactly what you claim to oppose. I understand the need for small gear gaps to keep people playing, and honestly i have never felt i lost a fight because someone had ascended armor.

But with the threat/promise of account bound WXP, this is just going to increase the amount of trolly builds, mesmer/thief groups and over the top 3 hit wonder power builds. your forcing players to invest their first 250 WvW ranks to be competitive in dps, and survival. it forces players to choose between beneficial WvW tracks like supply master/ram mastery etc. and personal stats.

I do not see the benefit of this,

Bloodlust is awesome. Infact i hope the person whom came up with it got a pay raise (or at least a cuddle from someone). an actively shifting realm buff that takes a small amount of team effort to get, again a wonderful idea, and truly in the spirit of WvW.

Im going to cut myself off here before this turn into a ramble, thank you for reading.

Thief enjoy an ability that makes it so they can run very high dps spec with little draw backs. Armor isnt needed when you cant see a class to target it.

yes the amount of stealth they get is annoying, its not fair when your fighting a ghost. if only a class had 3 massive AoE cripple/damage/snare skills.. with a pet that had 2 snares and a poisons aswell… oh wait, thats a ranger. One of the classes best equipped to deal with a thief.

now a group of thiefs, lets call it a murder… well no one aside from a few super tanky specs can even stand up to the damage long enough to figure out an escape plan.

but i would love it if a few abilities pop up to counter stealth, much like the hunters flare in WoW. Or if certain pets got a scent ability and where able to keep on them. It would be kinda cool, add some balance. dosnt even matter to me which class got them, there should just be a counter to it somewhere.

Otaur.9268:

For clarification my crit damage is 92% and my crit chance is 50% Attack is 3600-3700. I should NOT be doing 400 damage with FGS to a regen warrior who is built all defensively and out healing all the damage he is taking without even using his heal skill. Give Warriors Signet of Restoration and give Elementalists healing signet for 1 month, see how fast your Warriors cry foul play.

Glass Elementalist only doing 402damage versus a Warrior who hits for a lot more damage with a hammer while fully out regenerating the damage? This needs to be fixed, and not in a few months, but like now… This has gone on for to long and it is quite pathetic that every time I see a Dev playing the game it is on a Warrior… There is a reason why Warrior is so overpowered, stop playing the Warrior and try an Elementalist for 1 hour and you will QUIT your own game. Go full bunker if you’d like, still will not help you live versus that regen. 8% Reduction is not going to be enough, you need to nerf the warrior down to Elementalist state, actually nerf ALL classes to Elementalist state. sPvP community got Elementalist nerfed, how about they get other classes nerfed now?

Un-do all the nerfs you whack-a-moled onto the Elementalist because people kittened and complained about how the Elementalist was tickling them but wouldn’t die.

i hear your frustration, but your ranting. refocus and try again.

glass isnt great as an ele nor is full bunker (bunker is for zerg busting/support hybrid, your not going to solo anything kitten a bunker, unless its a bad player or an uplevel). Find the balance. what weapon set are you running?, what traits, what utility.. and i swear if you say your running the new arcane heal for 1v1 im going to lol so hard.

staff should be able to escape a warrior, but you will almost never be able to take on heads up. D/D and S/D should be able to win most of their fights (call it 50/50, which isnt bad really)vs warriors, given equal stacks, buffs and abilities.

I used to get rolled kitten my ele all the time after the nerf bat, started running buff food and got my applied stacks and it balanced out. As i noticed all the warrior that face rolled me where buffed out the kitten and killing me in 3-4 shots.

Stick with it, cheer up and have fun. if you want to skirmish and roam in WvW, Ele just isnt the winning ticket right now.. see warrior, engi, mesmer or thief

Maskaganda.2043:

the only thing that I feel really broken with warrior is the auto stability on cc trait which really makes no sense, no class should have that. and warbanners, but for a whole other reason.

ya, try not standing still while he hammers the kitten out of you.

Warriors arnt OP, they are just a really good class. They have very few space holder or wasted skills.

they do need a balance on their mobility abilities, it comes to easily to them. Im fine with them having higher HP pool, Armor etc. But they should have to work a little bit to get that mobility.

this comes from a warrior btw.

applied fort and applied strength need to go if they are going to go account bound.

If GW2 releases mounts, im going back to WoW.

its bad enough they are sucking the life out of my video card for these stupid kittening vanity finishers.

I have always thought eles should be immune to or lose a condition that matches the attunment they are in.

example

fire attunment, cant be set ablaze or swapping to removes burning.
water, cant be chilled
air, cant be crippled
earth, weakness

this is just a quick example, but i think it would be an interesting trait possibility. even if you needed to go 5 to 15 deep into each element to get that ability.

I would really really like to see reduced cast time on Signet of the wild, Would really really help us navigate the snare laden landscape of WvW

charrdian all the way

I have 2 sets, i have a roaming set i run runes of speed with, then just spam leap of faith for the boost.

when it comes to zerging, i said kitten it and rely on group buffs and stacking staff swiftness. Warrior commanders that spam GS skills to move faster are annoying because no one (ok maybe RtL ele, or a thief) can keep up. I run full bunker/support so if they want to leave me behind i will gladly revive them when i get there.

I just jumped into runes of speed for my GS -S/F power build… they didnt break the bank and padded the HP.

you have to manage your condi peels, poison will shut down most guardians then its a dps race vs an opponent that can maintain weakness on you and out heal you.

using conditions vs a necro is silly because they will hand them right back to you, my advice is look up and learn how to play a necro or play one yourself.. then you now what to look for, you gotta force them to burn their CD’s early and then burst them down.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQJAWRlYgKCXFyvDf4ERlC+dPsHYMjw/SRCpIA-jkDBYgBCjBDzBhuAj+IQUBI5oQJqEZsFTFRjVZDT5KRaXpW9CwSuIa1yAoPBA-w

I have been running this all weekend since reset, for small groups and smaller zergs sub 30man its been great.

Im actually not in the ascended armor yet, running the exotic version but this is the goal im working towards.

I have also found by swapping the weapon set to clerics and signet to mercy and honor 30 to battle presence i make a petty solid combat healer in a pinch.

weakness, Conditions. I tried running clerics GS and Staff once charged to 25 blood lust on another weapon, and with the runes of speed was able to keep enough pressure on necros and mesmers when roaming but its an uphill fight. Atleast with the necro im not getting to many conditions handed back, and the staff is very capable at cutting illusions down fast.

Blasino.3128:

Justice is Blind and Inspired Virtues are really good traits to have.

AoE blind and boons on your virtues help your team much more then having 20 in Zeal.

i agree, and condi removal is fairly weak on this build. but in a zerg i was getting enough peels that it was not a problem.

I ended up crafting the exotic equivalent to try it out (actually i made it for my wife, then after realized that celestial is BoA. Doh!). But anyways i ended up running clerics staff and knights GS to great affect. changed zeal 10 to protectors impact and strength in numbers to purity. Worked well, after i get the bloodlust charged up i switch to energy sigils and was putting out good healing and mobility in zergs.

the 20 zeal may shift to virtues (most likely will), but as far as gear and stat balance go im happy with the armor/runes/accessories. auto attacks with full buffs where north of 4k on some targets and i was getting 6.6k whirlwinds.

ps. 25% speed buff on a guardian is crazy fun.

i will play around with it, i like where the healing is at in this build. Thats the point of dabbling into the celestial gear, maintaining a fairly solid pool of healing (along with a few other things it buffs)

judgement is also a solid choice but 3k armor is pretty tanky, and the only other shout i would run would be hold the line. I think the healing boost and keeping on the dodge rolls will out weigh the bit of regen i get there, and im not short on sources of protection.

atleast thats my reasoning, final skills can be swapped around easily enough.

focus is our best off hand IMO.

thank you very much for your feed back, it is greatly appreciated. I have renovated my build taking your points and suggestions, and melding them with my play style.

here is my reworked build
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQJASRlYgaCXFyvDf4ERlC8dPsHYMjd8SRCpIA-jkDBYgBCjBDzBhuAj+IQUBI5oQJqEZsFTFRjVZDT5KRaXpW9CwSuIa1yAoPBA-w

again thank you.

ps. i always have a PTV staff with me and i charge bloodlust stacks with a zerker GS.

Hey thanks for taking the time, below is a link to the gear/weapons i will be crafting shortly and the build i plan to run it with.

any feed back is appreciated, this is for WvW/PvE i do mixed zerg/small groups and roaming.

i have also selected the buffs i can afford to run all the time =) aswell as i will be charging and weapon for either crit chance or power, not sure yet.

i guess the point of the build is to maintain good dps/crit damage aswell as fairly strong healing and mobility.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQJASRlYgiDXGyNEf4ESmiVCBxUQgZ01DIKiaIA-jUDBYgAYjQYMYYOI0FYEIAUBJKRtIaslXFRjVVbR1akYqXAWyFRrWGA9JA-w

ya, focus is great, longer CD’s but overall pretty solid.

sword on the other, i just started with for pve and WvW and i agree its great sustained and if you spread it out to key attacks it has enough blinds but the #2 attack is to short of range and clunky, the auto attacks cone finisher is to narrow and im still not sure about 3. is it supposed to be for finishing someone off when they run or is it another shield while a ranged takes pot shots while you close the gap and are still to far out for leap of faith?.

anyone have any good tips and tricks with it?

i would gladly change the cone finisher on auto for a blast finish.. lol

If you D/D with the classic build dont forget your scepter, and get comfartable running S/D if you find that your sitting back or ontop of a wall.

and ether renewal is always the right choice for healing skill.

The other one that is often forgotten is earth 2 is a blast finisher with a 2 second deley, that means you can proc you own fire (2), static(5) and water field (5, three is a kitten to try and proc but its doable).

I think the biggest mistake staff eles make is staying in one stance, work out a good rotation and keep refreshing those auras.

escaping is how i came up with my current configuration, i can evade and escape around roamers and roaming groups to rejoin with the main force.

if its ranged shooting at you just pop earth 3, and then go to air and hit your speed buff. If its melee with high mobility its tricky, but static field spin to face them fire 4, water snare at their feet when they pop a stun break on the static field. now they are slowed, jump to earth hit 3, this will stop any ranged snares and gives you a short speed buff. air should almost be off CD now so hit your speed buff, a thief or warrior will use jumps and lunges to catch up, earth 4, spin fire 4 keep running jump back to air and rinse and repeat.

hold your mistform in case they blow all their CD’s to kill you.

i would recommend cavilers/beryle and zerker accessories and valkrey armor, good toughness and lots of crit/crit damage and good power. If you want more HP a PTV necklace bumps you up to just under 18k.

just remember staff ele’s dont win fights, they win battles.

i would go scepter/dagger or scepter/focus and go full water full arcance with what ever 10 pts you want.

this will give you close range utility, peals, healing and control, you will be able to take a few hits depending on your gear choice.

commanding organized guild or TS groups you can run whatever really, but for pug zergs close/mid will serve you well.

I will command on my ele and im staff 0/30/0/20/20, but i hit and run and jump all over the map and with a couple people in TS i get everyone to stack and blast the static fields so i have everyone running with crazy uptime on swiftness. I also spend alot of time directing in /s or /map to keep the horde focused and moving, allows me to hang back and Nuke and Support.

google tap that mouse, commando build.. nuff said

i have modified it slightly, mainly im front line and cleave like mad so crit % is overall as important to me.

im running 3k ap + bloodlust, gaurd killer and food, 3.5k armor with talent, 30% crit 59% (69% with food)crit damage and 20005 health/ 22k+ hp. plus guard defender.

ummmm, other then highly highly skilled mesmers/thiefs that can out kite me to an almost laughable level i steam roll everything i run into.

Most fights where i hit and equally skilled player we get sick of combat after 10-15min on one of us bolts in the other direction.

whats you talent spec, whats you itemization?, weapons sets etc. I hate seeing this posts because all i can think is your doing it wrong, and im sure your knowledgeable skilled player.

this change to RF marks it as just about on par with Focus 5, but rather damage at the end we get our virtues refreshed. Yeah, so i will be jumping to ToC for zergin. RF as it is in small skirmishes i find im leading with my virtues and pounding RF to come out of a theifs initial burst or a mesmers shatter burst unscratched.

I have been finding its not as reliable as it once was lately, goes on CD without refreshing virtues. gets interrupted etc.

I still find the guardians elite skills lack luster, compared to other classes. I gladly trade it for a defensive version of signet of rage. lol

This is the best match up i have been involved in in atleast 6 months, I tip my hat to all of you.