Guild Wars 2

SlayerSixx.5763:

How on earth can a GSless reaper be more optimal than a LBless DH? Complaining that DH doesn’t cater to non-LB users is as stupid as complaining that zeal doesn’t cater to symbol-less players, or valor not catering to meditation-less or boon-less players. Every tree has its “idea” or “feel”. You want to go against the design, then by all means go ahead, but don’t complain that ANET isn’t catering to your style of play. Its like complaining that the current condi-guard isn’t really super viable, even though its obvious that ANET never intended for the players to try rolling the class and use condis.

To be fair, the zeal line has a scepter trait, which has no symbol attached, and cant as no OH weapons have a symbol either…. along with a focus trait currently, though with a focus you could at least run mace MH to make sense… but yeah, scepter in zeal does make no sense at all…

Arken.3725

Love/Hate:

Torch: the #4 is neat for aoe burning but the #5 is a terrible skill overall. The damage is sub par and the cone to remove conditions from your allies is too small(not to mention it doesn’t remove it from yourself).

Torch #5 + Big Game Hunter vuln on hit + multiple targets…. Sooooooooo looking forward to it…

Black Box.9312:

Celestial is only working in the current meta with classes that can consistently stack might. Guardian has some access to might, but it’s mostly very short in duration and the fact that celestial guard isn’t meta already shows that it really isn’t enough, and we aren’t really getting anything might-related that we didn’t already have.

Carrion, on the other hand, is perfect for a hybrid build that doesn’t require extra precision. Guardians don’t have any on-crit condition procs, and Radiance gives a nice boost to crit chance anyway, so the extra vitality is far more valuable than more precision. The lack of toughness can be partially made up for with Strength in Numbers becoming accessible to a meta meditation build, so the power and condition damage is really all that you need from your gear.

I’m not sure that hybrid guardian will be the meta build, necessarily, but it’d certainly be more effective with a carrion amulet as opposed to a celestial one.

Pretty much this, Cele builds work because of might stacking, because might makes up for the lacking offensive stats on the cele ammy. we dont really have that good of an option for might stacking (other than staff… but yeah…) so going for the actual damage stats is better. Also With the changes to burning, and allowing to stack, and the high access we have to burns, having high condition damage is going to be very good, as compared to just power. I mean, think of the burn on block trait with shelter, vs say rapid fire, or the Steal ability that thieves get from warriors, or any multi hit attack. It is going to absolutly DESTROY people if they dont cleanse it, adding even more condi damage to it is just going to make it, and our capabilities to deal with kiting targets so much easier

Asmodal.6489:

Still medis will provide even better sustain and condi cleanse. (We still have a speed problem though).

With radiance/valor/virtues, with carrion, speed wont be an issue, because even if people start to make distance, your condi’s will still be ripping them appart.

Thaddeus.4891:

Ya, I’m pretty sure that Medi Guardian with Valor and Virtues will still be a thing. What will be the possibilities?

Valor/Virtue/Radiance : That line is all about burning and critical chance. It also have a good looking burst option with Retribution + Unscathed Contender + Virtue of Retribution. That will give you a 30% damage modifier just by clicking F3 before a strike. With the amount and power of your burning with this line I wonder if a Celestial Guardian could be decent? Maybe, maybe not, we’ll see.

Carrion will be far better with this, with the crit chance we recieve from radiance, we wont really need anything else from celestial

aophts.9862:

Is this a joke?

Thief has almost perma-stealth and they usually takes 70% of your health with their annoying invisible backstab.

And when you start doing something against them, they vanish again with the ridiculous stealth which is extremely broken imo, and they appear like 100 meters away, safe and ready to backstab you again.

If you are letting a thief take that much of your health at once, your not blinding/blocking right. And honestly we have one of THE BEST skill sets to counter stealth. Binding blades alone is stupidly strong against any stealth class, in the fact that it tells you EXACTLY where the target it, if it actually landed, and gives you a pull, that works even if the target is in stealth.

If a back stab thief is destroying you as a guard, then learn to time your blocks better, and learn the tools to deal with stealth. The ones that should be annoying are the high evade uptime, teleport all over the place ones, simply because they will eventually wear you down.

Honestly It is really hard for me to say which is right on this. On my guard, i rarely have any issues with thieves, and that all comes from previous WvW roaming experience, and honestly just fighting them so freaking much that I just got used to them and how to get past their abilities.

After playing my thief for just a little bit however, with just a basic trait set up and d/p s/d, I was honestly picking apart “meta” build guards, mostly because I knew exactly how to fight them. I didnt waste venom on aegis, I knew to get out and wait when focus shield went up, when to use dazes etc, etc. Honestly, I am starting to think that thieves greatest downfall vs guardians is the over use of stealth to lead into attacks, because it just becomes so freaking predictable, and with guardian there are so many ways to counter it, between blinds, blocks, and AoE. Any time I ever had an issue on my guard vs thieves, are s/d, simply because of all the evades.

Arken.3725:

Bash.7291:

Arken.3725:

A lot of those situations(barring Scepter IF they fix the AA) are incredibly niche I think. Something more reliable would be nice.

Oh I do totally agree, it is very niche in regards to when it can be useful, and the trait IS really meant to supliment the bow (and to possibly equal extent, the staff) But there are going to be situations were we are going to get bonuses from it, so it cant really be 100% discredited as a “ranged only” trait, even if range DOES get the most out of it. As i said, and have been trying for forever, a torment trait in radiance would have been the true fix we need.

Can I ask why Torment. I think the biggest “fix” we needed was mobility(movement trait would be nice). If anything, that would greatly assist with melee-support. Making it say a Master in whatever tree so you had to choose would be fine as well.

A couple reasons actually,

1) I have never been a supporter of guardian getting more speed. I support the idea of the class being less mobile, but having ways to keep people in battle, and have always supported more forms of CC, mostly in the form of chill, or through making the enemy pay for fleeing such as torment.

2) another condition brings on possibility of a true condition guard, and as was mentioned above, would help in regards to being kited for punishing people for moving.

3)Originally I supported it as a “on crit” trait in the radiance line, since currently, the radiance line actually has very little to do with helping condition builds, and would have fit into the current crit/condi them, and would have opened up some of the more conventional condition options.

Arken.3725:

A lot of those situations(barring Scepter IF they fix the AA) are incredibly niche I think. Something more reliable would be nice.

Oh I do totally agree, it is very niche in regards to when it can be useful, and the trait IS really meant to supliment the bow (and to possibly equal extent, the staff) But there are going to be situations were we are going to get bonuses from it, so it cant really be 100% discredited as a “ranged only” trait, even if range DOES get the most out of it. As i said, and have been trying for forever, a torment trait in radiance would have been the true fix we need.

I dont think its going to be an issue in regards to sticking to a target like glue to get burning stacks. Obviously its going to help, and our total sustained damage MIGHT go down because of it, but the bust potentional is going to be insane now because of it. Shelter on ANYTHING multi hit is going to wreck people almost instantly because of the insane stacks you can get, let alone other skills for burning, or traits like defenders dogma, or the torch trait which gives you free zealots flame when crit.

Arken.3725:

So if we look at all the traits to see how well it would work with melee, it’d look like this.

Minors: All except Pure of Sight would work well within melee

Majors: All except Heavy Light and Hunter’s Determination work well within melee.

The one issue I have is with Pure of Sight and that’s because as a minor, you have no choice in the matter.

Pure of sight is one of those 50/50 ones, I think it will be slightly helpful in situations when people try to run or kite you for things like scepter, torch, Hammer # 3, and even our traps could benefit from this as well depending on how far ahead they are deployed. Also keep in mind that sigils and whatnot will benefit from this too. While it is most obviously meant for the bow and maybe a few select other weapons, I think looking at is extra damage vs running/kiting enemies really needs to be considered as well. Though i will say I REALLLLLLLLLY would have liked some torment somewhere to help against running/kiting issues -.-

Saiyan.1704:

Arken.3725:

I am with the crowd that’s curious as to why we got traps when we have symbols/consecrations. It is what it is.

Each specialization take something from another profession.

• Mesmers learned Wells from Necros.
• Necros learned Shouts from Warriors.
• Druids will learn symbols/concecrations from Guardians. Speculation.

It’s quite ingenius, really. Cuddos to the Devs. Evolution in the Lore is happening “right before our eyes”! :p

Since we’re learning from Rangers, we were going to either learn Survival or Trap utilities. Because both classes already share Spirits, Signets, and Shouts.

I don’t know about you but Traps are 10x more interesting than Survival utilities lol.

Honestly, I am kinda suprised they gave wells to mesmers, considering that each class has one thing that every other class doesnt for utilities (guard consecrations, necro wells, warrior stances, mesmer mantras.) So far, only wells have been spread out, while shouts/traps multiple classes have. Overall though I wish the unique utilities would have been given to other classes instead. of just repeating traps/shouts so far…

It all depends on the fight in regards to lich, if its a team fight, its a bit harder, if its 1v1, generally the guard should come out on top. Most Necros will simply just spam 1 while in lich, so as long as you have your blinds/blocks up you should be fine, and most wont drop form, making it easier to kill as well since they wont go DS or have heal/utilities.

And here I was hoping that we might actually get to see something interesting, and instead its “hey, lets make a guardian hambow build hur hur hur” I was REALLY hoping we were going to get a serious build that actually utilizes some different possibilities… but i guess i hoped for way to much.

I will have to take a look at this when i get home, but I am assuming the build he used was blah, and all the players were all below average, just from the general reaction. I was hoping they would actually use some submitted builds from the forum, but it sounds like not.

Arnath.2319:

A good build will not take Dragon Hunter in its current form. Our core traits are far stronger, specing into DH is deliberately nerfing yourself.

Solid build…. please use one of the other 20 threads to complain…

Well, there is and there isnt, base damage would just be a steady weapon, no extra power, and no extra armor on the target. yes, it is basicly just what the skill coefficiant is, but there is a “base” based on weapon/power/armor amounts.

I would love to see this work for conditions honestly, but i know the modifiers only work for regular. But it would be hilarious to see someone try to run only to burn to death harder….

Mace symbol actually has the second best base damage and damage scaling for all guardian symbols, (Wrath obviously being the best in both) and also provides free regen, on top of whatever other trait bonuses you have. Add in that you can stack it with other symbols for even more point damage, you really should be using it. Also even if it does “pitiful” damage, nobody is going to stand in a symbol regardless, so at the very least you can push people off point for a small breather with it.

Please tell me they buffed the hell out of Shattered Aegis to make it worthy of being GM…..

Jaxom.7310:

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/this-week-on-the-ready-up-livestream-wvw-automatic-upgrades-and-dragonhunter-pvp-demo/

“…the first look at how the dragonhunter fares in PvP. This is a new segment that we’ll run on each Ready Up, and we’ll use builds that you, the community, have theorycrafted!”

wiat a min… r u tellin mi dat devs have been to these threads…

……. Dear god what have we done? Now its all going to get nerfed to the ground -.-

http://dulfy.net/gw2traits#build=AgIC9AO4Buw~

Spvp Carrion build

Weapons: scepter/torch, Sword/focus

Utilities:
Heal: Litany of wrath : 3 initial heals, 1 for skill, 1 for med activation, 1 for smite condition on heal, also does aoe damage and cures condition
Judges intervention: heal/stun break/teleport/burns
Light’s judgement: free 25 vuln stacks for some massive damage spikes
Undecided third utility Either smite condi, contemplation of purity, or the whirling blade trap. If trap would switch VoR trait to bleed on trap hit trait.
Renewed Focus: heal/invuln/virtue recharge

Honestly, im very torn about sharing this build in regards to spvp, because honestly i have a feeling its going to get Nerfed VERY hard, due to its burst from both physical and condi. The basic premise behind the build is this, you apply the normal hybrid theory, of condi’s plus physical, but ramp the physical up WAY beyond what we have now due to trait changes. Currently the with build i listed, you can have 60% crit chance, without having a single point in precision (15% on 1h weapon, 20% from fury, 25% from attacking a burning foe) Now, add in that we will have even more access to burning stacks thanks to VoJ’s active apply constant burns, The trait in radiance that gives Zealots flame (free long aoe burn) when we are crit, and also auto VoJ activation on block, and also MASSIVE vulnerability access through the trap, and also through big game hunter, which will scale very well with Sword #3, Scepter #2, and torch #5. This is all the reason why I took Litany of wrath as the heal as well, with our increase to burning, and condition in general if we take the bleed on trap trait, and the massive increase to our physical damage, i think that litany will become a real contender for a heal, considering it will do 3 base heals, 2 applications of fury, 1 condi removal, and heal us for the damage that we do, from ANY source, be it trap or condition. The only flaw with this build currently is the condition removal, but honestly, with the pure burst we can do, I will be curious to see if conditions will actually be an issue, or if just a couple removals with be good enough.

Nike.2631:

The real joy is going to be a ghostly chain pointing dead at the Thief/Ranger/Mesmer wishing that stealth was still the absurdly powerful effect it had been before HoT came along…

Because we TOTALLY needed another reason for thieves to hate us.., you know, past our massive aoe fests, and the fun of binding blades not giving a kitten about stealth. :P

So… lets see, for all the weapon sets (despite the title of the thread being melee)

VoJ: now does more burning damage, aoe, based on staying close,
VoR, leap, gap closer.
VoC: destroys projectiles, great for when getting kited,

Traits:

Piercing light, bleed for traps, which can obviously used well in melee builds, despite weapon,

Zealots Aggression, free 10% damage to crippled enemies, count cripple from any source

Soaring Devestation: an attack AND IMMOB on VoR.

Defenders dogma: instant VoJ passive on block, good for focus and mace

Bulwark: increase to VoC, bigger range and duration, helps more with dealing with kiting,

Dulled Senses: cripple on knockback, hammer/shield both have knockbacks, and also the honor trait protective reviver. wondering if this works for wards as well, though i believe those are only knockdowns, if so, would like seeing the trait buffed to any actual stuns, knockdowns and knockbacks

Pure of sight: extra damage at range, includes scepter and staff, torch throw, if they ever fix it sword #3….

Hunters fort: free prot on virtue activation, works for any weapon.

Big game hunter: vuln when attacking Voj’ed enemies, GREAT for multi hit weapons such as GS, scepter, sword, and torch, but also allows for free vuln regardless.

So based on the OP saying that the trait line is focused around traps and LB, there is ONE trap trait (which honestly i wish had some more substance to it), and a total of TWO Longbow specific traits in the DH line, Hunter’s determination, and heavy light, which were not included in the list above. EVERY other trait than those 3 can be used with other weapons, or actually help a set of weapons (Pure of sight for ranged, and big game hunter for mutli-hit attacks for more specific examples.)

Honestly, after being gone from the game for a while, and going through the forums about these changes, I really feel like so much of the guardian community doesnt even LOOK at what we have and what we are getting together in a bigger picture. Everyone except a select few look at the specialization and see nothing but Longbow and traps, and doesn’t even seem to look and see what could be done using different combinations.

Fashion Mage.3712:

Bash.7291:

Farzo.8410:

There’s like 1 utility skill with the name “Dragon” in it, and then there’s like 2 – 3 traits out of 12 which is named “Dragon” something.

Clearly the theme was not thought out at all.

……. ok? I think this is sarcasm… i hope?

Oh please, not even ANet themselves understand what this mess of a specialization is supposed to be.

I meant going by just the names of skills alone alone… which is pretty bad logic.

Farzo.8410:

There’s like 1 utility skill with the name “Dragon” in it, and then there’s like 2 – 3 traits out of 12 which is named “Dragon” something.

Clearly the theme was not thought out at all.

……. ok? I think this is sarcasm… i hope?

Ragnar the Rock.3174:

Bash.7291:

Saiyan.1704:

Genesis.8572:

Silhouette.5631:

The devs said they gave it the name kuz of lore, not as much because of play style, wait until the expansion before yall go saying its just thrown togeather. Anet usually provides great game depth (even if the characters lines in the main plot are a tad simplistic). That being said I’m not going to complain about what Anets giving us when everything we already having is working just fine. (Go talk to a theif/necro/memser/ranger about stuff not workin right)

Even if there is a lore explanation, the specialization could use a simple name change (e.g. “dragonbane”) and have many of its abilities and aesthetics (e.g. angel wings) changed to reflect that whole draconic and foe-slaying motif. As it stands, the trait and ability names feel disjointed and like a hodge-podge of differing elite specialization ideas haphazardly thrown together.

I’m sorry but Dragonbane just sounds terrible. But to each his own. I rather have Harbinger or Grainger (play on words).

As for traps usefulness, we’ll be able to pull them off easier than rangers can. People are so quick to judge and compare.

I didn’t want mantras, shouts, or spirits. Traps are fine for the theme. They’re especially fine for condition builds which happens to be my specialty

I am looking forward to the hybrid meta in pvp so badly… between the radiance changes and the traps… its going to be very interesting.

Unless they add some support/sustain on to traps I doubt anyone will use more then one.

Because while they do good damage said damage is easily avoided & taking them means you lose your sustain & support.

I think it all depends, im still going to be running monks focus with 2 traps,and honestly im going to do something crazy and actually run Litany with it as well. Also I REALLY think people are thinking that traps are way too easy to avoid, between immobilize and wardings, i really think we are going to be able to land more than you think. at least in spvp. in WvW… well its a zerg fight, people are gonna get hit.

Saiyan.1704:

Genesis.8572:

Silhouette.5631:

The devs said they gave it the name kuz of lore, not as much because of play style, wait until the expansion before yall go saying its just thrown togeather. Anet usually provides great game depth (even if the characters lines in the main plot are a tad simplistic). That being said I’m not going to complain about what Anets giving us when everything we already having is working just fine. (Go talk to a theif/necro/memser/ranger about stuff not workin right)

Even if there is a lore explanation, the specialization could use a simple name change (e.g. “dragonbane”) and have many of its abilities and aesthetics (e.g. angel wings) changed to reflect that whole draconic and foe-slaying motif. As it stands, the trait and ability names feel disjointed and like a hodge-podge of differing elite specialization ideas haphazardly thrown together.

I’m sorry but Dragonbane just sounds terrible. But to each his own. I rather have Harbinger or Grainger (play on words).

As for traps usefulness, we’ll be able to pull them off easier than rangers can. People are so quick to judge and compare.

I didn’t want mantras, shouts, or spirits. Traps are fine for the theme. They’re especially fine for condition builds which happens to be my specialty

I am looking forward to the hybrid meta in pvp so badly… between the radiance changes and the traps… its going to be very interesting.

Black Box.9312:

Bash.7291:

Obviously was a typo and was meant to be Vulnerability (i just got done reading the necro forums and the comments about needing stability for GS)

Who said anything about dragonhunter being back line support? we have backline support, its called staff/shouts. If anything DH is meant to be a more kite based damage build, that is effecient at killing enemies before they even get to you, hence the VoC change, the VoR change (which can be used to make distance) the traps, and the fact that you get a knockback on trait every 7 seconds with LB when enemies get close. So where does any of that sound like backline support?

As far as avoiding and dodging traps, we are getting the mechanics to help with that or already have them, Hammer alone with immob/warding will hold people in them, add in the snares from LB/ward from LB, and heck even the trap that does significant damage to enemies trying to leave it. Are some going to be dodged? sure are they will. will all of them with the tools we have? most likely not, since there are other abilities that need to be dodged as well. Once again, not you are not looking at the big picture of how this is going to fit into builds, and looking at it ONLY has LB and traps, nothing else.

And if i want to call people out that is my right, just like its your right to call me out. I do think its insane that people are doing most of the complaining regarding the name instead of the mechanics, and if you RP i get that, i understand that, but if not, its just a name, get over it.

“… the dragonhunter—a ferocious big-game hunter that specializes in ranged combat and back-line support.”
-Karl McLain, https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/meet-the-dragonhunter-guardians-elite-specialization/

I’d take that as a sure sign that it’s at least partially intended to be a backline supporter. Which, let’s be honest, is a terrible fit for something close-range like traps, even if the traps themselves weren’t terrible. But, they will be, because eliminating ground targeting and forcing an activation time on them will ensure that no smart player will ever fall into one unless you plant it beforehand without them seeing it. And that’s provided that you don’t put it in an obvious location where they can just activate it by dodging over it without taking any damage. Oh, and that’s also neglecting how traps lack any sort of sustain or condition removal, which are kind of important.

As for the name, people have every right to complain about it. Some people just don’t like it and want it changed because it sounds stupid and is a poor fit for a guardian spec, even if they aren’t into RP. And yes, you also have the right to tell people to just get over the name. In a similar sense, you also have the freedom of speech required to tell a Jew to get over the Holocaust. But having that right doesn’t mean that using it for that purpose exempts you from being an kitten.

Considering you just compared me telling people to get over a name and look at the mechanics of a GAME to telling a race of people to get over one of the wost genocides in history… yeah… im done even considering responding to you now.

Sagat.3285:

The traps are actually not that good imo the CD,lack of traded support and even the animations. On ranger you could take 3 traps but still have a great healing+regen+cleansing and carry evades,on thief you link them to SA with Trapper Runes without those thief traps would be ultimate trash I hate how they made me slot them but I did the trait changes also seem to improve them and ranger traps are getting rework.

So yep they can start by lowering CD on traps and not make the line (forgot name) not so basic and somewhat less restrictive.

I do agree that the cds are a bit high and could stand to be lowered, and i do understand the concern for self sustain/support, but i think there are going to be different options that may open up, personally, and keep in mind i mostly pvp, I am looking at a melee trap/medi build. And i actually plan on using the medi heal (omg i know total noobness). I think we really need to start re-looking at stuff we already have with the new stuff, instead of just picking apart the new stuff seperate.

Obtena.7952:

If anything it’s the PLAYERS that hate Guardian because we got alot of the things we have been asking for. Always be careful what you ask for.

This I feel is the reason players aren’t excited. It’s like opening a present … and you already know what your getting.

I’m excited for it, and also excited for necro, I love both of them in spvp and both kits that they are getting is giving me more of what I wanted. I get the thought behind what your saying, but that the same time, there is just so much complaining for actually getting what we asked for. -.-

Black Box.9312:

Bash.7291:

Wow, is the sky falling or what… We got extra conditions, a long range option with some pretty freaking good damage, a trap that gives 25 STACKS OF STABILITY, much better soft CC (and whoever said immob is soft cc earlier, you need to learn what hard/soft CC is…) And update to virtues with some nifty effects, and some good condensing of traits that will really help along the way.

And seriously, can we STOP complaining about the name? Oh no, it isnt what you wanted for the name of your specialization… seriously? Its a specialization that focuses on traps and a long bow, and the main evil is… a dragon… traps… going after dragons… hmmm maybe a dragon hunter for a name actually makes sense as a name FOR WHAT THEY GAVE US.

I know its a game forum and i should expect complaining, but lord when 50% of it is about the name alone, is pretty sad. And considering that we havent even had our hands on the abilities to see how well they will actually work and how well they will fit together into a build, there is just way to much complaining and not enough thought of what might actually work with them.

/endrant

Were we watching the same video? I definitely didn’t see any traps granting 25 stacks of stability.

That aside, the bow is really the only truly good thing to come from this spec IMO. The traps suck because the poor mechanics will overshadow any benefits, the “extra condition” is one bleed stack per trap hit which again, relies on poor mechanics and isn’t going to be very effective once you realize that people will just dodge out of traps or avoid them altogether, the virtues are less support-oriented despite Anet’s aim to make a backline support spec, and the name is kittening terrible and should be criticized because it doesn’t fit what we actually have, not to mention the fact that it sounds like it came from someone’s second grade kid.

Disagreeing with the criticism does not entitle you to call others out for it. Much of it is very valid, and quite obviously there’s a very sizeable crowd that is not satisfied with the name at least.

Obviously was a typo and was meant to be Vulnerability (i just got done reading the necro forums and the comments about needing stability for GS)

Who said anything about dragonhunter being back line support? we have backline support, its called staff/shouts. If anything DH is meant to be a more kite based damage build, that is effecient at killing enemies before they even get to you, hence the VoC change, the VoR change (which can be used to make distance) the traps, and the fact that you get a knockback on trait every 7 seconds with LB when enemies get close. So where does any of that sound like backline support?

As far as avoiding and dodging traps, we are getting the mechanics to help with that or already have them, Hammer alone with immob/warding will hold people in them, add in the snares from LB/ward from LB, and heck even the trap that does significant damage to enemies trying to leave it. Are some going to be dodged? sure are they will. will all of them with the tools we have? most likely not, since there are other abilities that need to be dodged as well. Once again, not you are not looking at the big picture of how this is going to fit into builds, and looking at it ONLY has LB and traps, nothing else.

And if i want to call people out that is my right, just like its your right to call me out. I do think its insane that people are doing most of the complaining regarding the name instead of the mechanics, and if you RP i get that, i understand that, but if not, its just a name, get over it.

Wow, is the sky falling or what… We got extra conditions, a long range option with some pretty freaking good damage, a trap that gives 25 STACKS OF STABILITY, much better soft CC (and whoever said immob is soft cc earlier, you need to learn what hard/soft CC is…) And update to virtues with some nifty effects, and some good condensing of traits that will really help along the way.

And seriously, can we STOP complaining about the name? Oh no, it isnt what you wanted for the name of your specialization… seriously? Its a specialization that focuses on traps and a long bow, and the main evil is… a dragon… traps… going after dragons… hmmm maybe a dragon hunter for a name actually makes sense as a name FOR WHAT THEY GAVE US.

I know its a game forum and i should expect complaining, but lord when 50% of it is about the name alone, is pretty sad. And considering that we havent even had our hands on the abilities to see how well they will actually work and how well they will fit together into a build, there is just way to much complaining and not enough thought of what might actually work with them.

/endrant

I noticed sustainability was mentioned a few times regarding meditions and traps and I wanted to point out something. I have a feeling we will be seeing litany of wrath actually used come the expansion in pvp. I say this because with the changes to the trait lines 3 things are happening.

1. Smite condition on heal, along with med traits rolled together. This will cause Litany to activate 3 heals (its own, monks focus, and monks focus again for smite) it will also clear a condition, give us double fury, and also do aoe damage (thus increasing the heal as well)

2. Traps are large aoe damage, and can cause sustained damage during litany’s up time. Between the bleed trait, and the straight damage the traps can cause I feel like they are going to work VERY well with litany. Add in the trap that gives a full 25% damage boost due to vuln, which will also increase litany healing.

3. Our natural increase in damage is going to be huge. Currently a normal 6/x/6/x/x build running carrion in pvp has such little crit, between monks focus, the trait in radiance giving fury to burning enemies (if we even take that) and the other minor trait that gives a bonus to crit chance on burning enemies we are going to see a huge spike in our damage, let alone other traits which will be able to easily cause vuln (the on on VoJ activation for every hit we land) This will increase litany healing as well.

I am honestly seeing the condi builds going 1h sword/focus, scepter/torch litany, another med, 2 traps (most likely blades and ray of judgment) and then renewed focus.

Edit: not sure why it keeps listed them as 1… considering i put other numbers for the reasons…

And that is the beauty of guardian, because we play hybrid with carrion anyways, we can still do damage even if people condi clear.

Saiyan.1704:

messiah.1908:

really really

i used carrion amulet and its nice
so what they really did is to buff the burning application to get 4k dps
the bleeding doesnt really makes us condi class as we have the same problem no other condi cover

but i like the fact i can do 4k burning dmg

traps will be useless for condi guard meditation build

You’ll either be full trap guard or full medi guard. I don’t see a lot of people mixing traps and medi unless they use 1 trap utility with 2 medi utilities for what ever reason.
Technically you can mix and match both and make them work.

Ill be mixing and matching ^.^

Wait… what? how are the traps useless for condi guards? you get two multi hit traps that apply bleed with each hit, not even counting the fact that the whirl does good physical and the beam is just… insane with 25 vuln stacks. I think a radiance/DH/Valor build will still have good sustain and just be insane with condition burst between burning,bleeds, poison, and just the raw physical damage you will be able to put out between vuln application and the fact that we get an insane amount of crit on burning targets now due to radiance.

Obtena.7952:

I think the negativity is based on the idea that all that nice stuff is coupled to a seemingly crap condition, assuming Anet doesn’t flood our skills with lots of burning stacks and doesn’t change cleansing capabilities overall.

Will have to wait until we see final numbers but I don’t think the lack of added stacks is going to be to big of an issue, then again I already use torch in my burning builds and having normal zealots flame + on crit zealots flame i think is going to be able to stack enough on its own, let alone with VoJ and burn on block. Yes the damage overall is getting nerfed but keep in mind its a hybrid build, the fact that we are literally getting 45% free crit chance with a power/vit/condition amulet is pretty insane in terms of just raw damage, at least compared to our current hybrid builds. and once again add in that we will actually be getting more condi damage because its all coming from gear now instead of traits, our poison/bleed (doom/geo sigils) and also binding blades (assuming it still works on condi damage).

Im not sure where all this negativity is coming from, at least in pvp, i see condi hybrid for guard being pretty crazy…

First, the radiance line will now pretty much give us auto fury, + 25% extra crit chance alone on burning targets, also extra burn uptime and burn damage. and FREE ZEALOTS FLAME on crit

Then medi traits being combined for free fury and heal, and the extra smite condi on heal turning our shelter into a single condi clear, a channeled block that causes burning, and adding extra healing to it.

Meanwhile you still have a whole extra line to go into, meaning we can take virtues, get extra condi clear, a stunbreak+stability and free retal/aegis when stunned, and faster virtue activation. Or go into zeal if you plan on using a GS and get 10% extra damage to burning targets, Symbols causing burn/vuln and having targets take 20% extra damage while on them, and having the GS heal.

Add in that the stats on gear are getting boosted to make up for the lack of stats on the traits, and we can still use carrion but instead get even more condi damage compared to the old 6/x/6/x/x medi hybrid build.

Yeah, cant say I am really that impressed. And the attitude just makes it that much worse. “I am beyond the meta” You mean your playing a condi build that people have been messing around with for months now? Your using AI in a 1v1 and acting like a god? yeah…

Benjamin.8237:

Tragic Positive.9356:

Benjamin.8237:

Search and Rescue doesn’t need to be a res as we already have a brilliant one, it should be revamped into something that prevents deaths. Something like the guardian meditation, your pet (or you) teleport to a nearby player who is low on health and you give them protection and heal them.

Guild Wars currently does not support “target=ally” abilities. Even though the idea is nice – the game is not programmed for it, yet.

My idea would be “Intervene!” that would charge your pet to a selected AoE radius (let’s say… 200?) and apply protection to allies (4s?), weakness to enemies (4s?) and provide a blast finisher. Cooldown could be anywhere between 30-45 seconds.

How does it sound?

The guardian skill does exactly that, you don’t select who you go to but it picks the one with the lowest hp.

They changed that, It is now ground target, and teleports only if there is an ally in that area. so close to the same, but mostly a fix because it was broken as hell and rarely ever put you to the lowest health ally before.

I really have not had an issue with being squishy even though rampager offers like 0 defense. I feel like I have enough active deffenses between dodge rolling, dagger 4, lightning reflexes, and passive protection (dodge trait / when crit) and more offensive things like LB stealth and knockback, axe 3 chill, bird chill, and entangle.

Overall the only class I have had real issues with is terrormancers, simply because they counter very hard to everything my build uses, and is also week against, mostly that chain fear that does way too much damage against my one stun break.

So I have been screwing around for a while with this build, and just figured I would ask for opinions in regards to it.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAT3YjMqUzaLLurQ1aADhqdLEsVNrAwd8+CXdBPSA-TZRAwAAOIAUeCAcuAA92fQdZAA

It is pretty much just a Longbow / Axe + Dagger bleed machine. I originally was not going to bother posting it, but I somehow managed to actually anger a couple people enough to troll me through whispers about my build, so i figured I would post it to see if you guys think it is a cheesy build :P

I have to say, go with flame legion, power + burn duration + extra damage to burning targets, you really can’t get much better.

I normally use a 6/x/6/x/x build in spvp and its fairly fun, doom/geo sigils

However I will say that I recently started trying out a 6/5/2/1/0 build and find it pretty fun for burst. Obviously not as good with survival, but I end up getting a ton of extra damage on sword if I decide to use it (10% fiery wrath, 10% radiant power, 10% powerful blades, 7% flame legion runes) I also use torch instead of focus, for the extra aoe burning, and the fun 4k torch toss. It does obviously require a bit more tactful play though, as you really have no defenses compared to a 6 valor build.

Also, using inner fire really helps with damage as well since your getting free fury each time you get burned, which in most cases, happens ALOT now… except versus thieves… but they shouldn’t be an issue anyways.

Why are we kicking this dead horse… again? I know i have been gone for a couple months, but nothing on guardian has changed. Hybrid builds became available with the grandmaster trait additions that happened god knows how long ago. It hasn’t changed at all, and in most cases, people’s opinion of them has not changed at all.

Nothing in here is new at all >.<

Its not just blast + lightfield though, because it works fight if i put GS symbol down and blast it, gives aoe retal like normal, its only with RoW, and only with blast finisher with it. I also tested with focus #5 and it doesnt work correctly, I think RoW is just coded to not except blast finishers.

Ok I take that back, now I currently can’t get any finisher to work with RoW at all, including leap finishers that worked previously

…. I know that, What im saying is that it doesnt combo at all… I was only using the leap as an example that the field isnt fully broken.

As the title says, ring of warding is currently not working with Hammer #2 to create a combo. However, casting it, switching to GS, and using leap creates light aura as expected. The blast from hammer 2 works on other fields though, as i can generate a combo from symbols, and also from purging flames. Anyone else having this random issue?

Oh it will be fun. We finally get something useful and everyone cries foul. Honestly I would have wanted something different, like it empowers the virtues and adds an extra effect for X seconds, or does something special on the next activation, but i guess that would be creative thinking >.>

CMF.5461:

Torment is a viable answer to limit mobility with a risk/reward and cleanse type counter play. I know originally people felt it was not iconic to the archtype, but just thinking mechanics.

Ive said it before, i will say it again for the 324907309790759047905743th time, Master trait in radiance, torment on crit, call it “punish the wicked” Gives us something actually condition based IN our condition line (radiant retaliation is crap) and ties into the theme nicely, helps with soft cc as it punishes movement, and opens up new types of actual condi builds instead of the only one which is actually hybrid.