Guild Wars 2

Honestly, as much as I love guardian, you’re going to get plenty more mileage out of an elementalist right now. Guardian is kind of weak right now, and I’m starting to have my doubts about that changing anytime soon.

^ Pretty much this. Guardian shield is the single worst weapon in the game right now, and after 2 and a half years it doesn’t look like Anet wants to change that.

akaCryptic.2389:

I really wanted to try something without meditations. But i guess thats not gonna happen. Build seems to work fine against melees but its very very squishy. Id really be happy if they introduced dire amulet for pvp. But at the moment it looks like my terrormancer is stronger.

That’s just the unfortunate state of the class right now. There are no ways to make a viable build currently without going 6 in valor, which is annoying.

Serdoc.7261:

Neither, I vote for getting axes.

Looks solid on paper, but without a decent source of sustain you’ll flop before you can put out enough damage.

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.

Guardian has more than enough “support” abilities. I, for one, would prefer something that actually brings something to the table.

Rampager’s CAN be used for a hybrid guardian build, but usually carrion is preferred. So I wouldn’t say it’s a total loss, at least.

messiah.1908:

Black Box.9312:

messiah.1908:

pls pls pls take GS you must
you play on point -thus you need aoe dmg also the GS is better burning aoe proc.

tips
against engi – play from range with scepter – they always hit your face with conditions bomb. if you stay at range you will have easier life

against ele – they cant hold a point as you so stay at point (with GS they will stay at range from you) and hit them with scepter and immobilize them when they swap for fire so their burst will be useless.

this build is hard in 1v2 scenarios so try to go help your team in 4v3 as with GS your aoe will do far more burning proc on them

I don’t run GS on my hybrid build and I have near 100% burning uptime. Sword auto, focus block, scepter smite, and torch 4 all give much more burning potential than GS.

You can use GS if you want, but don’t go around saying it’s required — It’s most definitely not.

i said that in my opinion its required as aoe on points as sword and scepter are more 1v1 and hardly trigger aoe dmg while gs have 3 skills which are aoe if they hits. so if you job is to kill the thief/mesmer/ele its ok but if its to hold a point like far or close then GS is much useful

They’re also much easier to avoid, which is especially a problem when your goal is to apply burning on hit rather than just contest an area.

Third hit in the mace auto chain does not cleave, actually.

ArchonWing.9480:

They didn’t fix that bug yet?

Nah, things like animation looping and sit-jumping are obviously a higher priority.

messiah.1908:

pls pls pls take GS you must
you play on point -thus you need aoe dmg also the GS is better burning aoe proc.

tips
against engi – play from range with scepter – they always hit your face with conditions bomb. if you stay at range you will have easier life

against ele – they cant hold a point as you so stay at point (with GS they will stay at range from you) and hit them with scepter and immobilize them when they swap for fire so their burst will be useless.

this build is hard in 1v2 scenarios so try to go help your team in 4v3 as with GS your aoe will do far more burning proc on them

I don’t run GS on my hybrid build and I have near 100% burning uptime. Sword auto, focus block, scepter smite, and torch 4 all give much more burning potential than GS.

You can use GS if you want, but don’t go around saying it’s required — It’s most definitely not.

As I said originally, shield is good for a 30 second cd aoe knockback (which used to be 40). There’s literally no other good reason to bring one to a fight, ever.

Get Bloodseeker. It’s a small red crystal focus that makes it look like you’re holding virtually nothing in your offhand.

And you’ll be running focus instead of shield with it, which is a massive plus.

Please just don’t run shield.

Guardian also has 2 fire fields: Purging Flames and Hallowed Ground.

Smite is too RNG-oriented to be reliable DPS, so usually sword is the preferred 1 handed weapon for a DPS setup. Mace is slightly lower DPS, but more defensive and very useful in places like fractals where you’ll need an extra block and the sustain that the symbol can provide.

Shield is borderline useless. Just run focus, and if you have a dual 1-handed setup, run torch as your other offhand. The 5 skill is okay and can work if your party needs the condi cleanse, but the 4 is a very strong, low cooldown ranged nuke.

And for your final question, people usually run either hammer or mace/focus, but not both. You’ll only really be needing one of the two in any given situation.

Yeah, I hate to be a downer, but meditations just don’t synergize well with a cleric’s build set. It’s essentially trying to run a solo build with group support gear.

Keksmuffin.1450:

Black Box.9312:

kitten.1685:

“AoE of scepter”
hahahah what?

Smite isn’t as strong as GS symbol or WW, but it’s harder to see, is ground targeted up to 1200 range, and has much less downtime. People often underestimate it.

Smite is not an AoE. Each of the 16 hits that go down in the target area can only hit one target so it basicly becomes less effective the more targets there are. :<

AoE = Area of effect. It may not hit multiple targets simultaneously, but technically it still is an AoE attack.

Ynna.8769:

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.

As far as I’m aware, you were the one to bring realism into debate by asserting that “anything can be used to block in real life”.

So I don’t really see where you’re going with this.

Ynna.8769:

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.

…

You’re not being serious still, are you?

kitten.1685:

“AoE of scepter”
hahahah what?

Smite isn’t as strong as GS symbol or WW, but it’s harder to see, is ground targeted up to 1200 range, and has much less downtime. People often underestimate it.

Asmodal.6489:

also I think you are limiting your ideas to melee combat moves. hammer and gs have spirit shackles for example. I think a new guardian weapon should explore a bit more of this area even if its only to mix up combat styles.

90% of guardian’s burst and utility are projectile-based. We need LESS projectile attacks, not more.

Velho.7123:

I’ve been watching all this shield dislike, and I’d like to give some good points to this weirdly seen weapon of ours:

Shield of Judgment: Low damage, 5 second protection to five allies

I know it seems ridiculous giving some short protection to five people compared to the Hammer’s permanent protection, but look at other classes’ protection sources and see it is pretty rare, just like our stability, we have it so easily we don’t give it it’s credit. I know the damage is low, but don’t forget Protection is one of this game’s strongest buffs.

Shield of Absorption: AoE 360º 5 enemies knockback, with a 4 second(bugged, I know) projectile absorption

Although rare, we do have the longest blowout with Banish (750), but an AoE knockback is still pretty unique, while also defending from as many projectiles foes can fire at you, even from a gatling gun, and having the option to detonate the shield for a considerable AoE Heal.

Please understand that we may be too used to our easy protection and projectile deflection with Symbol of Protection, Wall of Reflection and Shield of the Avenger, but the Shield is not lame, but just maybe not on par with our other weapons/utilities.

But even when you just compare it to other offhands it shows how weak it really is.

Guardian shield has: 3/5 sec protection with minor damage; knockback and either heal or projectile block bubble that roots you, preventing other actions.
____________________

Guardian focus: Bouncing blind, regen, and condi clear; 3 block blast finisher that deals massive damage if all 3 blocks are not used.

Warrior shield: Stun w/ leap finisher; 3 second duration block (this alone is better than both guardian shield skills combined).

Engineer shield: Mobile projectile reflection bubble that can be detonated for knockback; block that also stuns which can be thrown for a bouncing daze instead.

Necro focus: bouncing regen/vuln stacker; boon strip that chills and deals strong damage.

Ele focus: 8 different abilities, including a projectile reflect that cures 3 conditions, a 6 second wide radius projectile block, and an invulnerability.
____________________

There’s a certain aspect of relativity to balance, and when you have all of these offhands that are clearly superior, it should be rather plain to see that guardian shield needs to be changed in order to be viable.

Ynna.8769:

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.

Greatsword is alright in sPvP when you’re fighting on point, but other than that it’s really not that great and pretty overrated. Any decent player will know how to dodge or interrupt it.

Why not run both?

Unlike other classes, you have to actually sacrifice things to be tanky on a guardian. Because of this, bunker guardian is becoming less common and is falling out of the meta because other classes can do the same job, but just better.

Pure of Voice was really strong when it was ‘bugged’ to convert 2 conditions into boons per shout.

Now it’s hardly worthy of being a GM trait IMO, let alone worth taking over just using purging flames instead.

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.

I actually really like that idea of having the bubble just heal for x amount of HP/sec while you’re in it, with the channel and subskill removed. The bubble doesn’t have to be able to move, we just need to be able to do other things while it’s up.

What is the first thing that comes to mind when you’re about to face a Mesmer?
If it’s PU condi, I don’t even bother. Otherwise, cool, a fun fight.

How do you feel about your odds of winning?
Depends on the skill of the mesmer, but I’m pretty confident in my ability to beat one since I also frequently play my own mesmer.

Strategies and tactics?
Focus on the player and ignore clones when possible. An illusion will never attack while moving, so I use this to my advantage to lock on to the correct player model.

Which type of Guard build do you feel best fights Mesmer?
With a glass meditation build, you can kill a mesmer pretty quickly, but you also have to be careful of shatters because aegis and blind do not work well because of it being a multi-hit attack.

What Guard skills (weapon or utility) are most important to have in this fight?
I’m of the opinion that GS is quite lackluster on a medi guard, so I run sword/focus and scepter/torch. It’s more single-target oriented, but that’s fine because once I can hone in on the player I don’t have to worry as much about damaging the illusions, which can end up stacking conditions on me when they’re destroyed anyway.

How do you feel about Mesmer in general?
I love it. I also run a CI mesmer, and it’s a blast to play. It has a bit more of a skill curve than most builds in the game, which makes it feel all the more rewarding when I shut someone down through sequential interrupts.

The only problem with mesmer is that I find an awful lot of people in WvW that play PU condi. It’s just not fun to fight, and it’s even less fun for me to swap to it on MY mesmer and kick their kitten with their own build because of how easy and mindless it is to play.

tanshiniza.8629:

Only thing I would do is run with travelers runes over runes of the pack if you are using the pack runes but other than that this build is the standard meta so not a great deal more I can suggest for it.

You don’t need traveler runes in sPvP. And I would argue that the swiftness proc from pack runes makes them more viable even in WvW as well.

As for OP’s problem, condi pressure is unfortunately one of medi guard’s weaknesses. There’s not much you really can do other than try to time your cleanses well enough to survive.

Having a single balance update every 4-6 months certainly isn’t helping. We need balance patches once a month at MOST.

Arken.3725:

Agreed, even with the (small) change to Litany, no one will touch it with a 10 ft. pole. It would be nice if we could discuss directly with the devs on why these changes are being implemented.

Their justification for Litany not being instant cast makes me laugh. They want healing skills to be interruptible to provide “counterplay”, and yet we have Withdraw on thief, which is not only instant cast, but has an evade built into it. Anyone know how to interrupt that?

Keksmuffin.1450:

Also I think it’s pretty ridicolous that Greatsword is the default choice in this build, especially now that torch got buffed.

I agree that greatsword is not a very good pick for this. Both focus and torch are very strong for hybrid builds, so it makes more sense to go with a pair of one-handed weapons so you can bring both.

Now it’s good for one knockback every 30 seconds instead of one knockback every 40 seconds. There’s still no other reason to take it over a different offhand in any situation.

Can we get some real buffs for it, please?

messiah.1908:

What ppl forget about hybrid guard
Burning with poison and 3 stacks of bleed are better then the necro conditions
At best they will be 7 stacks of bleeding poison and fear or burning if traited
Also the same for condi engi
The main difference is the other two can proc more undamagable conditions which works as cover
So the guard have the abilities to proc the burning constantly and every weapon swap while doing good direct dmg which the other engi and necro can’t while they can offer nice cc time to time
So you can’t ask for more conditions as you make the guard op and better if his conditions will be hard to cleanse

The only thing that makes burning better on guardian is Amplified Wrath. Other than that engineer completely outclasses guardian when it comes to burning builds.

Lazeris.1725:

Thanks for all the builds I was just looking over your guide post.

How do you (or others) feel about Valkyrie gear to keep critical damage around 215-220%?

I’ve been fooling around with the stat allocations on the gear but I’m not super sure about how valuable Toughness/Armor really is in the long run or if I’m better off just going for the additional Vitality/Critical damage on valk gear.

Valkyrie gear is very strong on a meditation guardian, particularly because it’s very easy to artificially increase your critical chance without the need for precision. If you run a sword/scepter build with 6 in radiance and fury on meditation use, you’ve already gained a 35% increase for your burst with either weapon. That nearly eliminates the need for any precision from armor or weapons, requiring only hybrid zerk/valk trinkets to set your crit chance high enough for successful bursts.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fVAQRAsd7flsApcoNDxbI8DNR8QZ1IUdAMBP61/wMkDA-TJRHwAf2fAZZABnEAAPBAA

The idea is to take advantage of Amplified Wrath (which is pretty unbalanced IMO) and the carrion amulet to reach ~800 dmg/sec burn ticks, and then start stacking power. The setup works by getting in as many hits as quickly as possible to maximize the output of VoJ’s passive. Enemies will either assume you’re zerker and not pay attention to the burning, or they’ll see the 800 damage burn ticks and be so focused on condi clear that they’ll fail to realize that you’re killing them with direct damage from your 2k power attacks. Doom sigil acts as kind of the nail in the coffin by countering sustain (with a little added DPS as a bonus).

So many people are focused on the “condi guardian” hype train that they’re missing the point entirely. Stacking bleeds and going full condition damage isn’t going to be as effective because none of the guardian’s skills and traits complement conditions other than burning in any way. You’re much better off combining the burning potential with direct damage output to apply more pressure on the enemy in less time.

Had this announcement taken place a year ago, absolutely yes.

Now, I’m not entirely sold on it. There are things that certainly look promising, but the issue I have with the current game is that it lacks engaging content. You can give me all the character progression and new classes you want, but my problem with the current game is that there’s nothing fun left to do with any of it. Dungeons have been stagnant since Anet fired the only guy who seemed to care about them two years ago, and class and skill balance are still hardly passable at best, making certain aspects of PvP much more frustrating than they need to be.

It’s great that all this stuff was being worked on behind the scenes, but the crux of the matter is that GW2 should really have the problems it already has fixed before there is more progression forward that can potentially bring about new ones.

Saiyan.1704:

Black Box.9312:

Saiyan.1704:

Mikau.6920:

I tried a condi/hybrid guard and its worthless, you lose both dps and resistance. If they add at least one dmg contion to the class, thne maybe can work.

Not sure how you can call one of the best 1v1 specs in the game worthless. The best spec is 62600 sc/focus sw/torch carrion krait runes. I’ve had top players, including eles and warriors of all builds, call it OP in that area.

If the build isn’t for you then no prob, it isn’t for everyone. Don’t let a l2p issue tell you it’s worthless when it isnt.

lol krait runes.

Don’t run krait runes on a guardian.

You will when you realize it’s the only way to beat certain specs. It’s thee best 1v1 rune. Thieves absolutely hate the rune. Foxible banned it in koth, he lifted the ban, and instead banned condi guards.

I can guarantee you that I can beat whatever specs you’re referring to with flame legion runes and doom sigils instead.

And also deal more DPS.

Booms.2594:

Black Box.9312:

Kraljevo.2801:

Black Box.9312:

Lich form is still not properly balanced, is why.

This.

Lich form is what every elite should be, a strong elite skill. However, they’ve put too way too much into skill #1 and #5, encouraging spammy gameplay.

- #1 hits like a train and can oneshot a thief (6-7k crit + 3k chill of death proc + air/fire sigils)
- #2 is useless, waste of casting time
- #3 is rarely used, mainly for preventing stomps
- #4 useless as well, minions die fast
- #5 amazing in team fights

I’m fine with it being a game changer. It just needs to have a weaker autoattack and stronger secondary abilities. A ranged, non-projectile autoattack that can deal upwards of 7k when paired with sigils is just stupid. It’s gotten to the point where I just run mesmer and moa every lich form kitten I see.

except it is a projectile

Is it? Maybe I can just never see it because people only use it to jump me from behind while I’m in a real fight. :S

Saiyan.1704:

Mikau.6920:

I tried a condi/hybrid guard and its worthless, you lose both dps and resistance. If they add at least one dmg contion to the class, thne maybe can work.

Not sure how you can call one of the best 1v1 specs in the game worthless. The best spec is 62600 sc/focus sw/torch carrion krait runes. I’ve had top players, including eles and warriors of all builds, call it OP in that area.

If the build isn’t for you then no prob, it isn’t for everyone. Don’t let a l2p issue tell you it’s worthless when it isnt.

lol krait runes.

Don’t run krait runes on a guardian.

Kraljevo.2801:

Black Box.9312:

Lich form is still not properly balanced, is why.

This.

Lich form is what every elite should be, a strong elite skill. However, they’ve put too way too much into skill #1 and #5, encouraging spammy gameplay.

- #1 hits like a train and can oneshot a thief (6-7k crit + 3k chill of death proc + air/fire sigils)
- #2 is useless, waste of casting time
- #3 is rarely used, mainly for preventing stomps
- #4 useless as well, minions die fast
- #5 amazing in team fights

I’m fine with it being a game changer. It just needs to have a weaker autoattack and stronger secondary abilities. A ranged, non-projectile autoattack that can deal upwards of 7k when paired with sigils is just stupid. It’s gotten to the point where I just run mesmer and moa every lich form kitten I see.

Lich form is still not properly balanced, is why.

It’s a hybrid guardian, not a full condi one. Anyone trying to run full condi on a guardian in its current state should not be taken seriously.

As for my build, I run a 6/2/6/0/0 with a carrion amulet and doom sigils. It relies on the application of burning with VoJ’s passive and getting as many hits in as quickly as possible as well as having lots of blocks which also proc burning.

creepmatic.9435:

Black Box.9312:

Mikau.6920:

At least, before you could just drop the dome and move&forget (the dome would be still up), but now, even if this occurs (I not tested it) it will be worthless, becouse curretly is bugged and only length for 2 sec instead of 4 sec.

Nah, they “fixed” that because it was a “bug”. Now if you break the channel the dome disappears.

Yeah, basically Shield of Absorption translates into: “Root yourself for 4s and take a beating. You can detonate dome to heal a portion off the kitten whooping you took while looking stupid”

Now that’s advanced guardian superiority.

I lol’d.

Oslaf Beinir.5842:

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.

Hammer could use some reduced cast times, particularly with the symbol, and the ability to move while casting the ring. Sword needs to have the third hit in the autoattack chain reworked as well as improvements to make the 3 skill hit more reliably. Some sort of cripple or chill for it certainly wouldn’t hurt, either.

Booms.2594:

Thief takes so much effort to beat since if they land 1 mace crack its gonna be close and if they land 2 then its over and you lost gg..

It still really kittenes me off that when a thief steals from a guardian they get a skill that gives them something that we don’t even have.

I hate to be that guy, but you’re a little late on the bandwagon.

Your build could also use some refining; there are better ways to build a hybrid guardian.

Mikau.6920:

At least, before you could just drop the dome and move&forget (the dome would be still up), but now, even if this occurs (I not tested it) it will be worthless, becouse curretly is bugged and only length for 2 sec instead of 4 sec.

Nah, they “fixed” that because it was a “bug”. Now if you break the channel the dome disappears.

Not a fan of it. But then again, I’m not a fan of 2/1/6/1/4 either.

Use Renewed Focus in dungeons. Nothing else provides enough utility.

Heck, use Renewed Focus everywhere. The tomes are still really underwhelming.

Lucentfir.7430:

Guardian does not have a heal on block trait, the only trait that heals on block is Pure of Heart and that only procs off blocks with Aegis. If you mean AH with MotD 200-300 Health gained total is not not much better, in fact shield popping will give you at least 3 to 4 times more healing. 3 blocks from Focus 5 is generally good for alot of things but against more than one person in Spvp it loses power, granted its not traited 3 blocks on a kitten CD easily disposed of with trash AA’s or multi hit skills from range. Shield will shine there with the projectile absorption(they need to fix the length cause atm its 2s instead of 4), with the possibility of mitigating more damage from projectiles than the 3 of block anything would(absorbing nade spam and blocking a ranger’s rapid fire targeting a ally.).

Ideally the best set to use shield with, is mace, due to the fact the skills compliment each other. Especially if you use Writ of the Merciful for symbol heals that would already provide regen from Mace 2. So Regen, and protection from shield 4 mixed with selfless daring rolls. You’ll also have a block with mace 3 on a pretty low CD, and a projectile absorption bubble.

Shield has its place among guardian bunker builds in Spvp and even some groups in WvW. It just doesn’t shine well with solo play and and DPS builds. Now as far as torch goes, it’ll be much better now, more chances to throw, and or bait out dodges. It won’t be anything too major though aside from more frequent nuking,

Honestly, I see focus being better for bunker builds as well. The blinds, regen, condi removal, and blocks go a lot further to mitigate damage than the paltry 5 seconds (or worse, 3 in sPvP) of shield 4 protection. The shield bubble is even worse because it requires a channel in order to stay up, which prevents you from doing other more useful things like attacking, healing, or dodging.

Right now the only thing shield has going for it is the knockback, and no amount of cooldown reduction without tweaking the skills themselves is going to change that.