Guild Wars 2

I’ve also been using Merciful Intervention lately (when I don’t need Wall of Reflection) and I’m very happy with the results. It creates a different sort of “flow” in your playstyle, which I find very fun and the ability itself also does a good amount of work.

I see why they might work, but I’m not sure I see the advantages these builds have over the more traditional bunker variants.

Cuchulainn.7421:

Why is Tome of Courage barely used by guardians. With stability it´s a real good group support. Is it because of the big cooldown?

Its effect doesn’t justifies its cooldown, that’s one thing, but having to blow Stability to get some use out of it seals the deal. It just isn’t a good skill. It makes you a sitting duck, even with Stability.

Unscathed Contender can really help with an initial burst. That’s about all it does, but it does that pretty well.

This probably won’t be a surprise, but I love the Mesmer Greatsword design.

I think we can finish this thread by going: The Shield is not completely useless, but the Focus is just a way better off-hand in most (common) situations.

That would be a cool skill to get on our Rifle.

Caiden.9074:

I use shield in my Soldier’s build. It’s very good for its purpose but outside of that, I agree completely that it isn’t worth while. The biggest issue with shield is it has no diversity. If you’re not built to use it, it’s not a viable pick.

I’ve also used the Shield on occasion and I agree that it’s not as bad as people make it out to be but it really isn’t better than the Focus outside of a very few (niche) situations. In most situations the Focus offers better damage, support and defense.

I’ve tried it out a bit, but it just doesn’t work very well. The mechanics surrounding them are pretty flawed. You can’t rely on Spirit Weapons to win a fight, they just aren’t good enough.

Crapgame.6519:

In two out of the three meta of play WvW and sPvP reward group play / offensive and zero rewards for defense. That is a major problem. Fix that, and people will be stripping conditions and handing out boons like skittles falling out of the sky. Trust me.

It’s not just that, but it’s also that most people don’t notice it when you’re properly supporting them. In the clash of particle effects it’s hard to notice the (often subtle) visual effects of the plethora of boons we grant. This makes it hard to be appreciated by your teammates.

WeihGuy.9320:

My gosh… alright it works, BUT this is such a pain to do in a skirmish. I guess I have to get used to it

Try to aim it at enemies that are close the players you want to heal. That’s how I use it, but I guess this isn’t really an option in PvE.

As others have said, the Focus is just the best off-hand we have.

Ditch the Staff and take Sword (or Mace) and Focus instead. That right there is a lot of extra survivability and damage.

Guardians need to rely a lot on active defenses. Look for heavy hitting attacks from enemies and use Blinds, Blocks and Dodges to avoid them. With Greatsword/Sword+Focus you should be able to solo Champions if you’re patient.

They both have very different playstyles. I find that with Elementalists you have a much more pro-active playstyle with more moving parts. Guardians are more reactive and less tools at the same time. This provides different challenges: Guardians have to make due with the limited amount of tools they have, but they have a bit more passive survivability to make up for that. Elementalists have more and more diverse skills, but they need to work harder to survive with them.

What sort of playstyle do you prefer?

No skill works by targeting an ally. What you need to do is this: target nothing (or an ally, which is pretty much the same). Then move your camera slightly, so that the head of your character is in the center of the screen (most players hold their camera so that it’s above their character). This way the Orb will fly (roughly) straight on. Untargeted skills fly in the direction the camera is looking at.

Zoltreez.6435:

if its a longbow i will act like that part of the expansion does not even exist

im not playing a Guardian to be a freaking Hunter

gives us abilities that make us more durable more heals more soppurt abilities more capclosers etc

not a freaken bow.

Yes. Because only hunters use bows. Seriously, this is a terrible argument.

I don’t even want a bow (Guardians with Rifles 2K15), but I’m sick of people saying "X wouldn’t fit a Guardian.

I’m sure the community can easily brainstorm five skills that would work on a Longbow, Rifle or Shortbow and still fit the Guardian.

Can’t find anything about it.

Take whatever build normally does Sword/Focus and swap the Focus for the Shield. The Shield isn’t worth changing your build around and the build will largely play the same, albeit less effective.

Realism debates about what weapons should do what are silly. Not only because Guild Wars has actual magic, but also because balance and theme will always come first. The skills on the weapons are also limited and each profession has different needs.

I’m not saying the Shield is an awesome weapon. All I’m saying is that “Shield is supposed to block” isn’t a constructive argument. Swords are supposed to bleed, hammers and maces are supposed to daze, etc. Greatswords don’t exactly shoot laserbeams in real life.

Harbinger.8637:

This is why a lot of players fail with bunker Guard; it requires very selfless type of mindset. You have to put your ego and personal agenda aside for the better of your team. A lot of other professions are just about you and your own survivability. However, bunker Guard is much different. It’s all about empowering your team (no pun intended), in order to win. This is the reason why I enjoy bunker Guard so much.

Wow. You just explained why I love playing a Bunker Guardian. It’s pretty much the closest you can get to playing an actual healer/supporter.

Black Box.9312:

Ynna.8769:

Crapgame.6519:

It makes no sense that it blocks better than a shield. I’ll even go so far to say the same thing with mace, one handed sword, and a few other classes that block with a GS. Arena Net really missed the mark around what should and should not block.

Magical things like bubbles or temporary walls are one thing. Wielding a large piece of wood or steel block is another…

Pretty much every weapon in existence can be used to block (in real life), you know.

Well if you’re going to provide that argument, you also have to mention how silly it is to try to block an attack with a harp or a baseball or a loose chain instead of an actual shield.

The Focus is a magical weapon, you block with it using magic.

glock.6590:

The other day I also tried guardian and bunker seems to be squishier than any celestial build out there. Even full zerk medi guard seems to have more sustain than bunker guard lol.

Bunker Guardian has a pretty unique playstyle in that we actually need to consider when and how we defend against certain things. It takes some getting used to, but saying we’ve got less sustain than medi Guardians just isn’t true. Medi Guardians are one of the few builds I can actually kill as Bunker.

Also, coming from Bunker Guardian and trying out Celestial Elementalist or Engineer let’s you realize just how many tools the Guardian has to stay alive.

Black Box.9312:

Why not run both?

Most people use Greatsword, which only leaves room for one one-handed weapon. The Greatsword does a lot in the Medi build, so people aren’t really eager to ditch it.

Crapgame.6519:

It makes no sense that it blocks better than a shield. I’ll even go so far to say the same thing with mace, one handed sword, and a few other classes that block with a GS. Arena Net really missed the mark around what should and should not block.

Magical things like bubbles or temporary walls are one thing. Wielding a large piece of wood or steel block is another…

Pretty much every weapon in existence can be used to block (in real life), you know.

Check this out.

There are several options, depending on what you like best.

Harbinger.8637:

It still works fine in pug zergs and also in smaller groups,

That’s pretty much the only WvW I have time for :-) It works great for me and I know how to use it properly from sPvP.

Fashion Mage.3712:

Foci range from “semi-circles” to books to wands to scrolls to musical instruments to keys, and so on. The newest one added is an hourglass. There is no weapon type in the game that are as varied as foci. So I wouldn’t call them “boring”.

There are some really cool Focus skins in the game but you kinda need to go out of your way to get them. In terms of visual variety at the lower levels, they probably suffer the most, together with Staffs and Pistols.

Crius.5487:

Harbinger.8637:

PoV has priority over Soldier (Trooper) runes. So PoV will convert a condition into a boon, then the rune will remove a condition.

This is true.

Trooper runes with PoV is actually a very old WvW frontline meta that is rarely used anymore.

Still works pretty well, I find.

CMF’s breakdown is solid. Bunker Guardian won’t kill most (skilled) players, but it still has a role to play.

It’s indeed important to be close to your allies, since you can do a lot to keep them alive and to set up kills. Generally this means that you should go mid (even if you play unranked it can be useful to share this with your team before the game starts), but you shouldn’t stay in one place, especially if you keep getting killed without your team helping you out. Go where the fighting is and try to stay close to teammates. If you’re alone defending a point be sure to ping the minimap. I also find it personally useful to call out strategy and targets, since a defensive playstyle often leaves you with a little more time for such things.

This is the build I’ve used for quite a while now and it suits me great. I do swap out “Hold the Line!” for Wall of Reflection frequently, if the other team has a lot of ranged players. (Especially good against careless Rangers).

Other things that keep you alive:

• Orb of Light is best detonated for the heal and the extra damage.
• Empower is best used as a Heal skill, but you can also use it to set up kills. You generally need this skill to go off, so try to combine it “Stand Your Ground!” or Shield of Wrath.
• The following skill-chain can do some major damage: Empower —> Orb of Light (detonate it) —> Swap to Mace (Sigil of Intelligence) —> Protector’s Strike —> Shield of Wrath —> Virtue of Justice. This can catch squishier players by surprise and is your best shot at doing serious damage.
• Line of Warding is very versatile. Use it to get enemies off your allies and off points, use to prevent people from reaching downed players (so you can rezz or stomp).
• Protector’s Strike is most useful if the enemy is in the middle of an attack-chain. The block is generally more useful than the Protection.
• Ray of Judgment cleanses a condition. It’s easy to forget this.
• Shelter is a great heal, but over time you’ll learn to also use the block really well. Sometimes I even use it just to stop burst, even if I have a lot of health.
• The main use of your Shouts is to cleanse conditions, but they also have great secondary uses. Try to learn what conditions need cleansing right now, and which you can let tick. (Poison and Chill are, in my opinion the most dangerous ones.) The best time to use Shouts is when you can both cleanse two conditions and need the effect.
• “Save Yourselves!” can also let you dish out some decent damage.
• Make sure you use Renewed Focus only when all your Virtues are on cooldown. This can be easy to forget :-) If need be, quickly activate them during the channel of Renewed Focus.
• Five or six seconds before the match starts, drop a Symbol of Swiftness.
• Dodge often.
• Resolute Healer can be used to knock people off point. It can often be beneficial to start rezzing someone who’s basically a lost cause just for the knockback. Immediately stop rezzing them and get back to doing useful things.

Hunter.4783:

Rifle: Another likely addition; only problem is that it just don’t fit with the class

I know I’m hella biased here, but I really don’t think the Rifle wouldn’t fit with the Guardian. I think it would look awesome to see blue flames spitting out of a blunderbuss.

Zephyron.7081:

I’m not happy with the might nerf. Period.

Doing less dmg is never more fun. Not to mention the gold I spent on Strength Runes!

Might will remain one of the best ways to increase your damage in a fight.

Monk seems sorta obvious and seeing how men of the cloth are often very supportive in games it’s one I’m rooting for.

I’m sorta hoping for some kind of “zealot” that uses a pistol or a rifle. I’d really like the way that looks.

Mikau.6920:

For me, the biggest problem with hammer is the #4. This skill only have a troll purpose or knock off cliffs people. But I agree, they should reduce the cast time of #1 to 1 sec and the #5 only works with JI.

I find Banish to be very useful in PvP, but there isn’t really a build that support using the Hammer in a Bunker Build.

My problem with the Hammer is that three of its skills are situational. In mundane situations you only use the auto-attack and the blast. It’s skills are fine because you need that sort of niche skills, but a knockback and a slow-moving root is something the Guardian only occasionally need and they’re both on the Guardian.

Oslaf Beinir.5842:

No Hammer or Sword love

The Hammer doesn’t really need love. It’s a bit bland, but it’s mostly competent. Same with the Sword. It’s not perfect, but it does a decent-enough job.

To the people asking if I’ll use Shield now: Yes. I’ve used Shield in PvP in the past and found it quite nice for group fights and point-defense. Especially if you have a well-coordinated group. It was worse than the Focus, but the abilities were pretty nice to have, especially the knockback. Now that the cooldown is decreased, the Shield has become better. Not better than the Focus, but it does fill a pretty decent spot in the control-support role, at least in PvP.

Too bad the Staff is so required, because I’d like to run Sword/Shield + Mace/Focus as a bunker build.

Jerus.4350:

All things are nice, but I don’t think it’ll be enough, ohh well we’ll see.

Yeah. I’m happy with these changes (they are in the right direction), but we’d still end up with a lot of useless stuff.

Just gonna list everything without given possible fixes.

Weapons:

• Orb of Light: Generally useless and annoying to use.
• Orb of Wrath: Can still be dodged by simply strafing sideways.
• Smite: Isn’t a true AoE, making its actual damage pretty low
• Zealot’s Defense: Being rooted in place is hella annoying and doesn’t make sense on the only one-handed weapon that gives us mobility.
• Shield of Judgment: Cooldown too long compared to the effect.
• Shield of Absorption: Cooldown too long compared to the effect; the knockback is annoying in PvE but really useful in PvP
• I don’t use the Torch often enough to comment, although I find Zealot’s Flame clunky to use.

Utilities:

• Healing Breeze: Skill isn’t good enough to take over Shelter.
• Litany of Wrath: Skill isn’t good enough to take over Shelter.
• Merciful Intervention: The ground-targeting is a huge improvement, but there’s still little reason to actually take this skill.
• Sanctuary: Doesn’t actually provide sanctuary, as AoE and melee attacks can still hit you without problem, negating about half of the intended benefits.
• Signets in general are too useless. Neither the passive or the active is all that attractive for Guardians.
• Spirit Weapons in general have quite some issues.
• Shield of the Avenger: Creates shields too randomly to be counted on.
• Tomes: Losing your utilities is too much of a drawback.

Traits:

• Protector’s Impact: I know every profession has these, I still don’t like the “effect on falling damage” traits. And if we need to have these traits, Protection is a useless boon right after falling.
• Revenge of the Fallen: I want traits that either prevent me or my allies from getting downed or cause my enemies to get downed. I don’t want to be better at slowly dying.
• Zealous Blade: Heals for far too little to be worth it.
• Scepter Damage: I’m just going to say this here, but this applies for all skills that just increase damage on one weapon: These are silly and boring traits.
• Inner Fire: Too unreliable to be worth taking.
• Strength of the Fallen: I don’t want traits that affect the downstate. I want to avoid being in that state.
• Glacial Heart: If I crit and if I’m lucky my Hammer chills. Too much randomness involved.
• Supreme Justice: Seems to work counterintuitive in regards to how the other traits around Virtue of Justice work. Most traits heavily encourage activating it.
• Permeating Wrath: A bit weird that the burning is centered around you, rather than around the target.

Ragnarox.9601:

Nope they wont change it they like guardians running around with branches and boomsticks in offhand defending other players. Real defenders like Warriors and Engies have real shield skills. We are just girls.

There’s so many things wrong with this post, the sexism being the worst.

Only one? That’s pretty hard. I’m going to put in a weird one, since I guess the more obvious ones will be said by other people.

Give the Guardian a Pistol (less cool, but easier to balance) or a Rifle (very cool, but harder to balance).

I’m going to file this under “Things that have been proposed since beta and occasionally come up again.”

Very similar to my build, although mine is a lot more defensive with a Staff. I do use three shouts, which works pretty well for me. I occasionally swap out “Hold the Line!” for Wall of Reflection if the comp I’m facing is ranged-heavy.

I also use Resolute Healer instead of Writ if the Merciful.

cymerdown.4103:

It’s not true, though. If you play with it for a long time, you would see how powerful it can be, again because of its versatility.

Please continue to assume I give my opinion on things without actually trying them.

Sanctuary has niche uses. This is true of every skill. Signet of Mercy has niche uses. Niche uses don’t justify a spot on my bar, unless the skill is called Wall of Reflection (and I’d hardly call that niche, given the meta and our role in it).

Hamster.4861:

I’ve seen people make the hammer work in 1v1 or 1v2s…. but thats about it

The Hammer is easily the best of them in PvP. A while back I was trying out different gimmicks and one of them was an “All the CC” build that used Spirit Hammer to great effect.

cymerdown.4103:

Sanctuary’s actually the best Consecration (still) for PvP in a tanky build. It extends our point presence better than any other skill we have (including our elite).

People say this, yet when actually using the skill (and staying in the dome, otherwise it’s just an extra Ring of Warding) it hardly has any effect. It’s too small and too easy to play around. It’s only effective against stupid players.

Thaddeus.4891:

I don’t need no run speed. I’m a bunker. My job is to stay on point whatever what. If I need to die on a point to keep it for a couple more second I will. They can kite however they want, I’ll keep the node. I’m not there to win fight, i’m there to give time to my team.

Exactly. A Bunker’s job is not to win. It’s to not lose.

It is used by some sPvP bunker guards, but only in the sense that the Shield is also used by PvP bunker guards: Hardly and generally not the best thing to use.

This is a reasonably common build. There’s little reason as to why it wouldn’t work. The main difference is the focus on keeping Might up, I guess.

Greatsword/Hammer can work with pretty much every imaginable build. Not perfectly, but decent enough.

creepmatic.9435:

PvEAnd the sad thing is that Anet really believes in the following and considers it balanced:

Resolve

Through Resolve, guardians passively regenerate health, allowing them to wade into the most dangerous situation and come out alive. – Anet circa 2012

If the Consecrations actually pulsed one-second boons, it’d make a pretty good Altruist Healing build. Alternatively, we should have a trait that provides some (significant) amount of healing when using them (or when players enter them or something). That’d be nice.

Consecrations also aren’t very good in tPvP because their cooldown is pretty high compared to the effect. In PvE they have the problem that a lot of fights aren’t static enough.

Wall of Relfections is pretty good, but only because Guardians have some serious issues with ranged professions. Sanctuary is too small to be meaningful. The best use I’ve found with it is making consecrations ground-targeted to knock people of positions. Pretty good for area denial, but that doesn’t use most of its effect.

The other two’s effects aren’t bad but Hallowed Ground has an 80 second cooldown, which alone makes it not worth taking. Purging Flames isn’t half bad either (and a good way to get a Fire Field), but it’s most important effect (condition cleanse) can be done in a lot of ways as a Guardian and almost all of them are better in any situation.

You know what would make them work? If they were actually annoying to walk into for opponents.

Dahkeus.8243:

Yup, it’s a PvP weapon that only fills the niche of a bunker build. Not like this is the only weapon in the game that’s like that (ex: the Mesmer scepter only works for PU PvP builds).

…but it works well for bunker builds.

Anyone who takes a few seconds to skim builds on MetaBattle would know that.

A lot of weapons are incredibly niche and some are completely useless. The Mace being a staple of Bunker Builds already makes it more useful than the Scepter, the Shield and the Torch.

1: Guardians are in a pretty good spot. Not perfect, not over the top, but good.
2: Devs don’t read these sort of things.
3: Even if they did, stuff like this has been posted over and over again. It doesn’t matter how much you say Zeal should get an overhaul, the Scepter, Shield and Torch need work… It won’t make any changes happen faster. At best you’ll feel slightly better about yourself since you “took action.”