Guild Wars 2

Do these stats include signet or Major trait bonuses?

E: If you can find a way to move some of that excessive Armor or Crit chance in the third one over to Attack, then I’d have to say the third one.

Three months after saying I was going to grind out Arah armor for the skins, I finally completed the set by buying path completions from Warrior soloists. =P

Next long-term goal is Twilight -> Eternity. :I Because Sunrise wasn’t hard enough!

1. Neither, this always feels like a pretty balanced match to me.
2. Engineer — Conditions are too strong right now in 1v1 and small groups, and Engineer sustain is exceptional to say the least.
3. Neither
4. Necromancer — Again, conditions are incredibly powerful right now.
5. Neither
6. I would say Thief, but S/D is already getting “rebalanced” in December, so. Neither.
7. If Healing Signet weren’t as crazy as it is, I’d say some Guardian builds have too many blinds for them in 1v1, but since Healing Signet will still be able to carry almost any Warrior’s sustain against most non-glass builds, I’m saying Warrior.

I don’t think giving up your allies’ DPS for them to revive you should be considered a “pro.” Ideally you’ll simply not die and continue to deal damage so that the boss will die sooner, leaving less room for error. Retaliation hits for significantly less than a few players’ worth of DPS, even in PvE where it isn’t nerfed by 33%.

0/0/10/30/30 with Cleric’s armor and a focus on Retaliation uptime has been proven to be at least somewhat effective in WvW and to a lesser extent in sPvP. It isn’t worth it in PvE because you aren’t going to get hit that much (preferably never) by monsters. Zerker is and probably always will be the way to go for PvE.

Guardian+Ele is pretty devastating in either PvP format if you can combo well. To this day, it’s my favorite 2s comp for roaming.

Did a Thief just complain about damage avoidance?

Dude.

The core group variant of this build (in the OP) is thoroughly tested and ready for group play in those numbers. The third utility is interchangeable with things like Wall of Reflection, “SY!”, “Retreat!”, Signet of Judgment, and Contemplation of Purity. One option is to swap “HTL!” out for “SY!” and give the third slot to CoP. Honestly, it depends on your preferences and what your group needs.

Your position should be right on top of your group’s melee ball/train/group/what-have-you. Empower on regroups and when dumping damage as a group onto downed players, etc. Staff #2 as often as possible through allies. Dodge on cooldown for group heals, and consider running a Sigil of Stamina on one of your weapon sets for snowballing purposes.

Cleric’s gear works for zergs too. My guild actually runs a few Cleric main-set Guards with varying accessory and weapon choices depending on preference. The healing power is really strong for self- and group-sustain through Selfless Daring, Regeneration, and Battle Presence if you choose to use it.

:> I’ve been working on videos from other games (mostly LPs) for the sake of trying something new when I have free time. I’m trying to start doing GW2 videos again, but my focus has shifted far away from solo roaming. Solo roaming as a Guardian in T1 is wildly impractical now, so I’ve been doing a ton of sPvP, leveling new characters (it’s awful…), and GvG. I definitely have stuff coming though.

I’d switch to Soldier’s for sure. You will lose 150 healing power and the extra boon duration, but I honestly think you can make it work considering the extra health and toughness you’ll be picking up. The way the meta has shifted forces us to play more offensively when alone or in small roaming parties. Power bunkers are impractical against condition spammers, and that’s what you’re going to run into a lot of the time right now. That isn’t to say building/playing tanky won’t work, it’s still good to make defense-conscious decisions; DPS is just more important than it used to be.

And they’re unlikely to sticky it because it has a “name” attached to it which does not directly relate to any of its core functions (i.e. the traits or what-not, like AH builds). I don’t know that 100%, but it’s something that was stated by someone else a while back.

I’m raging a little bit internally, but can’t think of any elegant way to word my rage. They’re looking at “fixing” the accessibility of Vigor for the two professions who need it most. For us, that trait is one of the only things that makes DPS builds viable both in WvW and in sPvP. I assume the same applies to PvE.

If they move it to the first Major, it’s going to hurt us a lot in WvW (especially if you play an AH or group-based DPS build), but we should be able to give up either RHS or Inspired Virtue for it for sPvP. That’ll hurt, a lot. But it’s a possibility. I’m of course speaking from a triple medi DPS perspective.

If they move it to the next Minor, it’ll severely damage DPS meditation Guardians in sPvP, and will hinder some WvW builds. They’d also have to find a new place for SD, so I sort of doubt they’ll move it there… if it gets replaced with the last Minor of Honor, that’s obviously a bad deal for any DPS build, especially medi builds and those built around blind botting for groups in WvW.

As an sPvPer, I wouldn’t mind seeing it moved to the second Minor of Valor, replacing Courageous Return. As a WvWer, I would hate to see that happen because it would hurt support-type builds that invest heavily into Virtues and Honor.

It’s a tricky situation. I don’t know how to properly rebalance it without something relatively bad happening to us in either WvW or sPvP. For that reason, I’m pretty scared of them changing it at all, unless it’s to revert back to the original functionality to reduce availability to bunkers and let DPS builds keep most of it.

We don’t need more HP. We’d be unstoppable. We could use some other stuff. But not more HP.

I don’t have a problem with any of these changes. They’re primarily an improvement to DPS builds for sPvP, but there are obviously going to be a few improvements for certain WvW builds (mostly group setups).

We could still use some help against the condition spam meta, though. Whether that means buffing PoV or Purity or whatever else, we’re definitely behind. The previews seem to suggest that the only thing being done to tone down the condi spam is reducing Necro bleed spam by 2 stacks from short CD skills in sPvP only. Bit of a bummer.

The chill/cripple/immob availability (for others) doesn’t help us very much either, since we’re comparatively slow to begin with. Not being able to remove it reliably hurts. Not as big of a group in large group play, but it’s a big problem in small ops—whether that be defined as sPvP or roaming in WvW.

Just my two copper.

Edit: It’s going to take more than the pending changes to Zeal to make it worth going into that trait line for anything. Everything else is just better, no matter how much “better” those traits get. They’re still lackluster and contribute very little in the way of utility.

There are a lot of tooltip errors in this game.

Such a bug would make them more valuable than Eagle runes, yes.

@Lucent, I don’t do anything for it, really. If I’m roaming alone I’ll probably run Life stacks to supplement my sustain, but the boon duration I just do without. It hurts a little, but at least my Retaliation still has +55% duration.

Holy Radiance was actually the inspiration for the aura idea, heh. I think it’d make sense mechanically and descriptively, as well. I’m sure there are already existing animations which could work for the changed functionality.

Lucentfir.7430:

As much as I love this build i feel like I’m at a loss now. The absurd amount of condition spam, and then Hammer Warrior builds bursting me for 4-5k damage with one skill and being able to shrug off anything i throw at them feel demoralizing. Zerker mesmers….thieves…condi .necro and engie pretty much face roll me or eat me alive(espcially in a 1v2). Warriors depending on their build…can do the same. Solo roaming of course is what I’m talking about…so the way it feels, I can’t pressure, but I can easily be pressured all i can do is pretty much stall or try to help the team. zerg play and small groups the build works great still. I was going to build bolt for my guardian too but now I’m starting to second guess it.

It’s a problem with how strong conditions and Warriors are. Condi Engis and Necros, bunker Phantasm/condition Mesmers, and stun-lock Warriors with Healing Signet are all overbalanced (I don’t like the word overpowered…) and it hurts us and most other professions pretty badly. Maybe Thieves and Eles not quite as much, since one can disengage anything and the other has arguably the most condi removal in-game.

For solo play I’ve started running Soldier runes and carrying several types of food: Mango Pie for 2+ Power build opponents, Lemongrass for 2+ opponents where at least one is conditions, and Curry Butternut Squash Soup for 1v1 versus anything. I play a more DPS-oriented build presently and believe in burning people down in 1v1 before they can kill me through attrition with conditions or by, well, being a Warrior.

If you want to build Bolt for a roaming build, it’ll probably be some kind of DPS build meant for taking on 2 opponents at the most, perhaps 3 if they’re all power builds or one of them is particularly squishy or isn’t expecting your burst. Healway’s efficiency is hampered greatly by the strength of condition spam and stun locks right now.

Warriors actually shouldn’t be a big problem on their own, despite stun locks. The trick is to hold your “SY!” and “SYG” for when they actually stun you, then just pop one. DPS after stunbreaks and when you have Stability up. Hammer attacks are highly telegraphed, so spend some time in sPvP and you’ll be able to dodge/blind/block them in no time. They are extremely annoying in pairs though… I fought a stun Warrior and a condition Necro the other day. Wasn’t very fun, but I did pull out a win. Will post the video at some point.

yLoon.5289:

I’ve always hated WvW.
Never like WvW.

Till i tried this build.
And I owned 3 players together which consisted of Mesmer, Necro, and Ranger.

I don’t know how the duck i did that.
But this build works like magic.

Thanks OP!

I’m glad you’re enjoying it.

:)

Xhean.3452:

I was thinking about buying the oh so expensive travelers runes cause they simply seem awesome. What are your thoughts about them for this build?

I don’t like Traveler runes at all. You’re either giving up a lot of Boon duration and Healing power, a lot of potential damage (if playing DPS runes), or condition removal (if running Soldier runes). I know some people like the 25% movement speed, and the Boon duration can help, but the only time I enjoy seeing them on a Guardian is when it’s a 2 Monk/2 Water/2 Traveler setup for Boon dura stacking for 15+ group play.

I just don’t like how much you have to give up for a speed increase. You especially don’t need it with this build considering how mobile the weapons are (minus Hammer) or for zerg play where you have perma-Swiftness.

If it doesnt have Stability, it has teleports.

If it’s just for PvE, I think you should run full Zerker regardless. For WvW it really depends on what you want to do. This build does what it’s advertised to do and a little more, but which weapons you run and how you tweak your gear/stats will depend on how you play and how many people you play with in WvW.

Hammer’s a viable option, but in group play you run the risk of covering water and fire fields with a field that’s useless when you need one of the former (a light field via the Hammer auto chain). If you’re responsible enough to not accidentally do that ever, it’s a good choice. I do run it sometimes when we’re stacked with staff Eles.

I’ve actually modified the recommended builds to include Lemongrass Poultry Soup and Soldier runes. The current condition meta and the PoV fix force us to be more conscious of how rampant condition builds are, both in group and solo play.

If they really want people to use it, I’d recommend they consider changing it into a pulsing aura with an on-cast self-heal. Something along the lines of…

Recharge: 40
Cast time: 1½

Healing: 6,525 (0.8)
Healing: 1,725 (0.8)
Duration: 2 seconds
Radius: 600

Reduce cast time to 1.5 seconds with the removal of the channel. Maintain the 5 ticks over 2 seconds, but make it a PBAoE with a 600 unit radius. Reduce Healing power scaling to compensate for the lack of needing to channel the skill.

The pulse shouldn’t heal the Guardian, only allies.

@akamon, it’s only meant to revive downed players. It used to only revive the single closest ally, which is why it was so weird to use. You had to be closer to the ally/lord you wanted to revive than any other downed player for it to work the way you wanted it to.

It’s ground targeted now, though. Just point and click and then wait for the 4-second cast.

It will not revive defeated players. Mercy is commonly used by Guardians to revive keep/castle lords if they’re the only one there with the ability to do so while stalling for a late response force. It’s not widely known that it works because nobody tries.

Also, Guardians are extremely valuable in group play. That’s always been the case and will continue to be, considering we’re the primary source of Stability and rolling heals in most comps. That and the fact that Empower is really strong.

Giving up my AoE stability, protection, and condition removal really isn’t an option for competitive play, but I appreciate the suggestion. JI’s entire purpose is more-or-less to get me there first to force early stability and minor heals.

Meditations are definitely stronger than they used to be for solo/small ops roaming and for sPvP. This build is for neither, though.

I’m guaranteed SiN from other group members (our support Guardians). I’ll take a look at it though, thanks. Hadn’t considered what running it for myself could mean for my gear…even if it’s just for curiosity’s sake.

[Choo] from SoR is seeking any and all GvGs, you can pick the group size. We just want to get some fights and have fun. This matchup isn’t fair nor is it fun. Here’s a chance for us all to actually have some fun. :>

Please message either myself or James (james.5480) if you’re up for it either tonight or any other time this week!

Please be careful not to derail. :/ Thanks a ton for all input so far. I was hoping I’d get some solid numbers and I got them. I’ll certainly be using all of this information as reference today when I find time to work on the build some more.

For clarity, the intent of the build is to play a first-in CC and spike damage role. “Bursty” is the feel I’m going for, but I obviously have to make concessions for sustainability for competitive play. Fights get pretty big, so I need to be able to survive constant damage.

Based on input, I’m considering running a 34% chance and 69% damage setup with a little under 2.1k Power. I feel like 31% isn’t enough chance for hammer. Defensive stats TBD, but I will likely still push for additional healing power. Though as was suggested, I’ll probably play with Bloodlust a little and see how I’m able to keep myself up with that.

Just so those who suggested it know I’ve considered it, running extra Vitality is something I’ve tried but have not felt a need for. I have access to AF which puts my health up to 18.5k, which is far more than I’ve played with in the past with similar armor values.

You’d think I’d be used to this kind of thing because I played a Ret Paladin for almost 5 years, but I’m not. Buff everything else every patch while we sit still. Small ops gets harder and harder every patch because the overbalanced builds just get stronger and stronger.

Changing the functionality of two consecrations means very little to most WvWers outside of fights over choke points and even less to PvEers. I can’t comment on sPvP, but I’m fairly certain medis and shouts far outshine any consecration build there as well. The only “good” things here are the FM and GH changes, and even those and minor at best.

I’ll never really reroll because I believe in perseverance, but I might actually start playing me Ele more often now. At least she can keep up with all of the condi Engis and condi-stacked group comps running around in WvW these days. Incredibly frustrating.

Thanks for the responses so far. Here’s a link to the WIP build:

http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-7;4NF-40M33G-90;9;6TT9;454A18A1;0UVk6;2CqNYCqNY40kc0-35;3wVqW62zYH4M50kVAs170;4F2CoFYDo;9;9;9;9;7VR-6M

My crit chance is technically 31% and my crit damage is 77% because I have Ascended weapons. My Precision is right on the edge of pushing over to 31 without the extra 6 stat.

I typically get my stacks with a staff before any major engagements. If we hit a major engagement before I’ve got a full stack, I’ll just go with what I’ve got.

The additional healing for Selfless Daring is half for the benefit of my guild’s melee train and half for myself. I’m the first in with the JI/ring and need to be able to walk away from it if they don’t panic and decide to drop damage on me. I’m open to considering Bloodlust instead though. I ran it for a long time and do enjoy the additional damage. A flat 250 extra healing per dodge to myself and 4 other members of my melee train is pretty attractive though (plus the several other self-sustain abilities which scale with Healing).

I’m hesitant to run Perception to stack Precision considering how strong additional Power and Healing Power is/can be.

For reference, the benchmarks I’m looking for are: 15.5k to 17k Health, 3k to 3.1k Armor, 2k+ Power, and 500+ Healing Power. Precision and Crit damage are the stats I’m trying to balance. Ideally, I’ll run at least 30% Crit chance and 60% Crit damage. The only things that can’t change are the runes and trait point distribution.

All that said, I’m relatively new to balancing stats for large group DPS-based builds, so I’m open to all points of view and arguments for what should be what and why.

I’m inclined to agree. Are there any opinions concerning Bloodlust vs Life, considering how powerful the 1:1 scaling of Selfless Daring is.

Good post, thanks. Will take this all into account.

3,102 Attack, 35% Crit Chance, and 74% Crit Damage

OR

3,202 Attack, 30% Crit Chance, and 74% Crit Damage

OR

3,202 Attack, 34% Crit Chance, and 66% Crit Damage

Assuming you’re working on a Judge’s Intervention Hammer/Greatsword build for organized 20+ gameplay, and you were attempting to squeeze out as much damage as possible without giving up all of your sustain, which would you go with?

Between all variants, defensive stats remain stable at 3030 Armor, 16k Health, and 517 Healing. I have access to both Applied Fortitude and Guard Leech and will likely use Life stacks as opposed to Bloodlust because of how powerful Selfless Daring is (though if you believe Bloodlust is a better option for point-lining with a burst build, please discuss). Both weapon sets will utilize Sigils of Energy for more SD availability.

[e] For clarity, the intent of the build is to play a first-in CC and spike damage role. “Bursty” is the feel I’m going for, but I obviously have to make concessions for sustainability for competitive play. Fights get pretty big, so I need to be able to survive constant damage.

Thanks in advance for any and all input.

Please run 20 people with no Guardians against another 20 with Guardians in WvW. Report back with your findings. Video is not required but preferred.

A lot of what keeps you alive is the high availability of dodge heals. I wouldn’t swap out of Energy sigils for anything; at least one per weapon set for solo or small group ops, possibly trade one out for Endurance for zerg combat.

The runes are pretty flexible. Running Cleric’s armor and weapons with 30 in Virtues, you generally have enough Healing and boon duration to get by against most opponents.

We had a pretty intense fight in SoR Bay a few days back. It was mostly between SoR and JQ, but BG did make an appearance at some point. Was a lot of fun to participate in and it’s reasonably fun to watch. :> Here’s ze video for those interested:

Big mistake, mostly in terms of WvW.

I’ll go ahead and say 20% at the least if you really want to introduce some crit into the build. I sit at 29% with my Knight’s or Zerker GS on, not counting Bloodlust buffs, so I’m able to hit my preferred 30% pretty easily.

As far as I know, PTV/Cleric’s setups are popular with some support players. You obviously give up any crit chance and some armor, but you gain a good amount of power and health. It’s up to preference, I think. Just know that you’ll do less damage overall with PTV/Cleric’s than with Knight’s, and your Vigor uptime might not be as reliable.

Good questions.

1. I enjoy the burst potential of Eagle runes. +5% damage at below 50% helps me maintain any edge I pick up early-on and makes it harder for them to recover from a good burst. Being above 90% health consistently is…difficult. I do like Scholars, but primarily for PvE. I don’t trust them in WvW. Divinity is really expensive and the whole celestial thing doesn’t really do it for me. That isn’t to say they wouldn’t work, though.

That said, I might look at them a little more closely later. My primary issue with running non-Precision runes is finding a way to make up for that lost crit chance. I’ve also just got a thing for the whole “more damage when they’re at lower health” thing.

2. I picked up the rings before Cleric’s Ascended items were released. I got used to the extra health and Power and haven’t really felt a need to go back and farm new rings. I’m not exactly hurting for Healing Power anyway, especially when I’m running Life.

I’m personally okay with a flat 10% reduction in damage.

There were skeletons in GW1. Lots of them. I’m sure there are still a few around here somewhere, mostly underground and in Palawa Joko’s army.

Sure. Here’s what I’m running now:

http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-7;4NF-40L3RG-90;9;69TT;44;018A189U-k67;1xpMUxpMU40FW0-k7-VYo8wV1X6Y9ZH4M50sVGV350;4F2Coc2Cu;9;9;9;9;7V3-6t

The Staff gets swapped out for S/F when I’m alone or with only one other person. I will sometimes run Mace and/or Shield as well, depending on my mood and how many players I’m running with. M/F is pretty fun, too. All off-hands have Sigil of Force on them while main-hands and two-handers have Energy.

I actually have Sunrise, so the GS hops between Zerker, Knight’s, Cav’s, and Cleric’s depending on how tired I am/how many Bloodlust buffs my server has/how many people I’m playing with. I build either Life or Bloodlust stacks with a Staff before swapping to S/F.

All of my off-sets — whether S/F, Staff, Hammer, or M/S — are Cleric’s. I treat them as my defensive/sustain sets, a la GW1.

Windu The Forbidden One.6045:

Christos de Soufre.3802:

They likely moved to the center of the world to form a new civilization. By dinosaurs, for dinosaurs.

Only to be wiped out by the Destroyers.

I think a better theory is that the Dwarves are using them as war mounts.

Things I think we need more of: Humans and their gods, Mursaat, Seers, other ancient races, the Elder Dragons themselves, and the Lich and/or Shiro re-appearing with a speech about how the Gate of Madness was merely a setback.

Well, you’d better go catch it!

Sorry. My real advice is to play shouts in WvW, with at least “SY!” on the bar. Playing with at least Greatsword or Sword will help as well, if you really don’t like Staff.

I have access to both Guard Leech and Applied Fortitude, so I’m able to make some safe concessions for damage. I’ve been running Knight’s armor with Eagle runes for a few weeks now. All of my weapons are still Cleric’s and my trinkets are still a PTV/Cleric’s mix. To make up for lost staying power, I’ll sometimes revert back to running Life over Bloodlust if I’m fighting/expecting to fight overwhelming numbers.

I’m still waiting for him to publish his thesis about it.

Part of me hates when threads are posted about the Mursaat. Makes me miss them even more. I do love talking about them, though.

Like, what are the origins of Spectral Agony? Is it something they’re born with the ability to inflict upon others? A spell they simply developed long ago for the purposes of war? I know Saul was given the ability to cast it, so… DERAIL.

I get excited. I need to go play some Southern Shiverpeak missions.

epiq.7084:

Really loving this build.

Would Rune of Melandru be a good alternative across all 6 pieces if we can’t get Monk?

Seems like healing would still be above 1000 and the added survivability would offset the loss of boon+heal?

Okay, this is super late, but… Considering how much condi removal and Stability (plus the two stun breakers) we have access to, Melandru might be a little overkill. I’ve actually taken to more damage-oriented runes myself, though.