So my problem is i find 1 hand sword, lacking in everything i know its supposed to be for control but it sounds good on paper but in application its… meh i mean i love 1 hand swords and shields, now im willing to risk losing the shield for a build but all the builds that i like seem to gravitate to greatsword, (im a wvw>pve/pvp, meaning wvw is my focus and pve pvp are equal grounds)
I wanna be a tanking damage dealer with a hint of added support, which i know i can do, one of the reason i decided to get rid of my warrrior /thief main that i put so much time into because i like being in the frontlines using melee in wvw zergs (epic)
So tankiness IS wanted, just not specced full tank, ide really like to use sword/shield and then either sceptor or probably staff for that xtra support.
Hello here,
I’m playing only Guardian and a lot of WvW. Reading youn it’s also your focus.
The Sword + Shield/Focus is good in WvW but it’s more a tool for me. The DPS is nice only on single target.
Your tools to tank with Sword are the blind and the projectile blocks on 3, with the focus you gain survavibility. I do small scale a lot and Sword+Focus is on my set 90% of the time.
I recommand you to not stacking traits in Radiance because the crit you’ll gain will not help so much in most situations.
You can do DPS while speccing tanky, but you cannot be tanky while speccing DPS.
In WvW, your second set need to have AoE damage like the Greatsword or Hammer. It depend of your gameplay, I always run GS but I take Hammer when we need funnel or on kitten heavy fights. I will meet more fights with multiple opponent than 1vs1, you want DPS, you need AoE and AoE controls.
Now you want be tanky ? You need some tricky combos:
– equip 1 superior sigil of energy per weapon set and take the trait “Vigorous Precision”, this way you’ll regen endurence as hell allowing you to dodge a lot Normal regen is 6 dodges/min, while keeping swaping weapon set you can go to 12 dodges/min, and with the trait you can easily up to 18 dodges/mins when you keep hitting. Dodge = 0 dmg it’s better than 4k of toughness.
– stack things that block (focus / shelter / renewal focus). blocks also = 0 dmg, it’s a way to counter any burst.
– 6 rune of the earth helping stacking protection and give you 5s on projectile immunity on emergency. I personnaly using “Save Yourself !” + my Virtue + Rune of Earth proc and that keep me under protection a lot (-33% reduc dmg).
– stack health regen as counter for low damages (the combo AH + EM can heal a lot)
– stack condition removal
– ~3k armor help a lot.
But keep in mind you’ll never really tank because there is no really class able to tank in the game, all is about mobility. There is only class who can decay the death :p
Here a small vid of my last “tanky” build fighting in WvW if that can help:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMoN1qC3JKM
