Guild Wars 2

jkctmc.8754:

I have 4 80s, Warrior, Guardian, Thief, and Ranger.

I’m sorry Guanglai, but a Guardian can’t even match my Rangers damage, let alone my Warriors damage, regardless how squishy you make yourself, in trade for damage. You just can’t.

My newish Warrior build isn’t a glass cannon build, and sports 3100 attack, 3200 armor, 65ish crit chance (full adrenaline), and only 10% crit damage. You couldn’t kill me my Warrior with your damage build, and I’d be doing a lot more to you, with 6k-7k Eviscerates, 11k-16k Kill shots, if you were not dead by the time I got full Adrenaline to begin with. Glass Canon Warriors, and Thieves are free kills for this build, and they more than double a damage Guardian build.

You keep saying the words; “you outlast”. The only way you’re going to survive, is run away. That is a far cry difference, than outlasting.

As for you saying a Guardian does more damage chasing, well, I don’t have to chase on my Warrior because my opponents are dead. I do on occasion with my Ranger, but chasing on a Ranger is really easy.

They’ve nerfed the Guardian so much, I play my Ranger more than my Guardian now.

6-7k eviscerate? 11-16k for kill shot? are you sure you have been shooting at a guardian? or are you just shouting off some damage that you’ve been doing to cloth classes lol

Ok to clarify for people who obviously can’t read. Or jump to conclusions without actually reading the post.

I am not against healing. I am highlighting that as a guardian you are a front line support. I even outlined that the best healing weapon you have is a mace.

Guardians heal while fighting. They don’t hang back and try to use symbols and staff 2 for healing.

Now why don’t Pro Guardian players that want people to play how they want to play (even if it means they become alienated by their guild for being crap at what they do) tell us how they heal effectively without attacking at the same time?

Play how you want to play. That is a choice anyone has. Being picked for a party because you are good at what you do. That’s a choice you don’t have. L2P. Thank you.

Star Ace.5207:

Note to new Guardians: we are not a “trinity” DPS class either, or a tank. So if you want to heal, heal, if you want to DPS, DPS, if you want to “tank” (you really can’t in the sense of always drwaing aggro), build up a lot of armor/toughness.

Let people play whichever way they want. Heals work well for Guardian. The important thing is that they realize they can also apply offensive boons, defensive boons, and attack the enemy while they heal. I sincerely doubt anyone who focus on heals with their Guardian sits on their back while watching health bars. They also attack, support, etc.

Why I kind of resent this type of thread? Because indirectly it praises direct damage over any of the many other options the Guardian has, even beyond healing. There’s no true healer role in GW2, BUT there’s no all-DPS role either-players should feel free to play their Guardian without anyone telling them they should not heal/invest in Healing Power, because “there’s no healer role” (then they shouldn’t invest in damage either, because there’s no DPS role…, etc.)

Again DPS IS an ok way to play-just let other people play whatever they wish too, even if it focuses a lot on heals-they will still be contributing to the party’s progress in other ways that are both fun to them and effective.

I think you need to go reread my original post

Ranc.7192:

KensaiZen.3740:

It is only a win if your opponent is too stupid to use stability. Since you will have to go into zeal and virtue for the points to make those spirit weapons useful, your survivability is reduced.

Against other guardians that use spirit weapons, I use SYG for a 5 second stability in which time I’ve avoided 2 knockdowns and have delivered a mighty blow for 3-4k whilst activating VoJ for some nice burn damage. At the end of Stability do another MB for 3-4k Damage. Thats at least half the HP gone forcing the other guardian to use their heal.

Im still left with a heal and 1 more stun breaker (if not 2 stun breakers) to finish him off. His healing would be very little as he went into the zeal line and his equipment wouldn’t be that great as he will probably spec for damage. He will be completely open to CC skills as 2 of his utilities have been taken by spirit weapons.

Alternatively, use stability then use Banish/signet of wrath for a knock down. MB followed by a swap to GS and use Whirling wrath. With no stun breaker that guardian is just fodder.

You can say what you “would do” all you want.

I have played your spec and the spirt weapon spec and the spirt weapon spec does 2x the dps, is is like having another you.

And if for some you were beating me, guess what I would use the wolf elite ^^ See spec, to stealth and charge away….so no even if you beat me, you dont beat me

Now seeing as you mention wolf elite which means you are basing this ncenario on WvW encounter. I would be running with my juggernaut build WITH hounds of balthazaar as elite. There is no way in hell you would win with this build. The damage output from the 2 hounds completely out does the spirit weapons AND I can survive everything you throw at me with my high armour and lots of healing and CC mitigation and stun breakers.

Now if I remember correctly, wasn’t it the snow leopard that does the stealth? in which case it doesn’t last that long nor can you really get away unless your literally hiding around a corner as you pop it. I’ve still got CC skills to keep you pinned. Your mobility is still Guardian mobility. Almost non existent, especially seeing as 2 utilities have been taken up by spirit weapons.

What server do you play on? can people confirm that you have been doing well with this build?

Thief are not OP. Their stealth+game engine makes them broken.

Or if you look at it in terms of balance. They have highest damage, highest mobility, AND can go invisible.

There is no negative side of their play style. They can pretty much kill most people as they like because their is not negative to them being high damage or their high mobility or their stealth.

The combination of these three elements is what makes them seem OP when in fact its their stealth ability alone which makes them broken.

They should be moving -75% mobility when in stealth as you have to “sneak” behind someone to back stab them, not sprinting to them. Escape also removes targeting which is pretty powerful as it is combined with their mobility but to be invisible completely and only appearing well out of 1200 range is stupidly powerful. 100% garauntee escape.

Every class has their strengths and weaknesses but where is the weakness of a thief?

And here is another flaw in your calculation. Hammer and sword do not attack every second.

At the low end of the damage scale we have 400+400+500 (melee attack) non crit. Thats thats 1300 on the first initial tick of damage. The second is 500 for your own attack. The next tick is when all three will hit again.

Total in 3 seconds minimum is 3100 dmg for 3 seconds (damage may go up or down depending on opponent, build, and equipment)

Maximum would be 5400 dmg for 3 seconds. 600+600+1000 = (damage may go up or down depending on opponent, build, and equipment)

Now what you have to consider is. Anyone worth their salt knows to dodge the first hit of the hammer. They will also know when the hammer will strike through the animation and attack time. This build is reliant on knock down then piling damage on when the opponent is knocked down.

CC mitigation and CC skills is the bane of this type of build. I could care less how many kills you have in WvW or if your rank 35 in sPvP. Those facts don’t change the fact that people who know how to counter spirit weapon builds can and will easily counter them.

It is only a win if your opponent is too stupid to use stability. Since you will have to go into zeal and virtue for the points to make those spirit weapons useful, your survivability is reduced.

Against other guardians that use spirit weapons, I use SYG for a 5 second stability in which time I’ve avoided 2 knockdowns and have delivered a mighty blow for 3-4k whilst activating VoJ for some nice burn damage. At the end of Stability do another MB for 3-4k Damage. Thats at least half the HP gone forcing the other guardian to use their heal.

Im still left with a heal and 1 more stun breaker (if not 2 stun breakers) to finish him off. His healing would be very little as he went into the zeal line and his equipment wouldn’t be that great as he will probably spec for damage. He will be completely open to CC skills as 2 of his utilities have been taken by spirit weapons.

Alternatively, use stability then use Banish/signet of wrath for a knock down. MB followed by a swap to GS and use Whirling wrath. With no stun breaker that guardian is just fodder.

The way the current system is, if you want to be tactical you have to rely on equipment. More so than the warrior class.

I find most of the other trait lines rather useless or you have to follow a specific build to make it work making you inflexible when faced with different situations.

The Valour and Honour lines are best suited for this role. AH+EM synergy is the heart of this flexible play style as just this alone allows you to have decent enough healing without having to use full clerics gear or invest heavily into healing on your equipment. This then free’s you to use other types of gear such as Knights for hybrid style. Beserker for pure DPS. Pow/Tough/Vit for front line face tanking.

You will then be able to swap trinkets also. 2H mastery also helps in terms of going DPS or support with staff. Different writs are good with Mace for DPS and healing as well as hammer. The only down side is if you use sword or scepter or torch, but then you are only losing a very small amount of dmg (5%) for not going into the other trait lines.

I find that the Guardian is far more equipment reliant than the warrior by far. Able to deal with any situation based on a build with good synergy. Its almost as if it was designed to be this way.

New traits will be nice though. It wouldn’t make the other traits so rubbish that there isn’t much need to go into them.

What we have to consider is that FOOD SHOULD NOT BE A MAJOR PART OF YOUR BUILD. Builds that require life steal on crit should help to increase your effectiveness, not be the basis of it.

As most of us who have been playing guardian since launch will know, we are front line support. This means that we use our skills to support the melee types with boons and mitigation.

What we are not are trinity type healers. We do not have lots of skills that heal OTHER PEOPLE. sure we have the odd healing through symbols and regens from boons, but if you want to be a trinity healer, go water ele.

By trying to be a trinity type healer you are losing out on much DPS for your group. Your heals are generally ineffective in dungeons where mobs are out damaging your healing anyway. This means your usefulness in a party drops to something like 20% of what you could be doing.

One of the best healing abilities a guardian has is HEAL ON DODGE. You have the ability to heal those around you for a considerable amount of healing (dpending on spec) every 5 seconds. Now the catch here is vigorous precision only procs when you ATTACK. You get nothing if you just hang back and wait for cooldowns on your staff 3 and staff 2.

Also to note, your main healing weapon is actually a mace! which requires you to get in melee and attacking with it to make it work. Its amazing how much healing you can do when you do mace 1 chain then dodge, rinse, repeat. Wearing full clerics with trinkets with healing you will be able to do massive amounts of healing.

The Guardian mechanic is designed to be frontline support. This is geared towards supporting through attacking. If you wan’t to play a Guardian effectively, L2P. And for those who think “well, I will play how I wan’t to play” you will eventually find no one will be playing with you in dungeons or in WvW. Guardians is about group play. Not selfish play style because you don’t have the ability to pay attention to what is going on around you.

If you want to be a trinity type healer. Roll a Water ele. At least you will be more useful to your party.

Ok rant over.

“A full offense guardian is fantastic precisely because your damage output equals that of a glass cannon but you retain the defensive capabilities of a bunker build. As such it’s not accurate to call them a “glass cannon” because there really isn’t any such thing.”

I smell BS

Guardians with spirit hammer is annoying to fight for the knock downs. But to make spirit weapons decent you have to invest heavily into zeal which means your survival is limited.

Any guardian with SYG would wreck a spirit weapon guardian lol

Not the ultimate 1v1 by far. I would only ever go spirit weapon with a ranged spec for kiting.

Well good luck with 10 good people trying to carry a server. Oh wait it requires numbers to be competitive.

Let them transfer but let it cost 500 gems to do it or maybe 10g fixed rate. You wont have mindless transfers if its expensive. Also guilds would think twice about abandoning servers etc

Everything in WvW should have value, reward or penalty. In its current state it is just a slow death.

Fow numbers havent increased. More people are just getting better. FoW is help up by only a few small guilds. We are just now experts at taking forts and keeps with 4 or 5 people. There is no such thing as a Fow zerg.

If any guilds wish to join our cause and help us even the numbers a bit we would be well on our way to climbing the ladders. FoW have perfected geurrila warfare. Now all we need is an army

I roam the map all the time. I don’t mind if I’m slow. Anything that gets in my way will just die. Those that get away are lucky

I have my view distance switched on full so I can see a zerg coming towards me before they can see me. This is the only thing that will make me change my course.

I enjoy 1vX situations. It actually tests me against multiple enemies. 1v1 with full cooldowns, I very rarely ever lose. Even if I do, it would only be about 1-2k between us.

A guardian is like a juggernaut. Once it gets going, you can’t stop it

Warrior priest? I think your looking for the Guardian

I don’t think people will be able to pay 500 gems for a transfer that easily.

That and also the population balance would eventually balance itself out. The only realistic way for a server to have a chance of winning the league would be to be at full capacity. Eventually there would be less servers but more full ones. Servers that are not bothered to WvW can stay in bottom and not be bothered if they wi or lose. Those that want to compete can transfer. I think this is what the Devs had in mind with free transfers but they didn’t have a carrot on the stick that people wanted so it was a fail.

I agree with the fee’s changing for moving to higher or lower position servers. That keeps it interesting.

I think the fact that people can get precursors easier from WvW would attract a major influx from PvE players into WvW as well as giving people a reward for time and money wasted.

Lets be honest, the main reason people actually play WvW is the competitive aspect of the game. You fight the enemy servers to WIN. Now the problem here is…what do we win? a rank up? ok now we rank up and win… what do we win? nothing.

Hollow victories aren’t very fulfilling. If people end up losing more because of it (because drop kitten are so bad in WvW) it is even worth less.

If they made a proper ranking system where the top servers received static bonuses such as MF or something like that for the entire server (on top of what can be won from the points system) it would be quite rewarding for putting in time effort and money into WvW.

This would give a reason for WvW and a reason for all the lower tier servers to get their game on.

Perhaps changing it into a league system with 3 different divisions that rotates the matches would make it less stale. The champions of each league get rewards, hell it should be rewarding to be a champion. If you want to be a champion you have to put something into it. Then when you win, you get something out of it (balanced).

Now to address server transfers. Activate the paid server transfers. Begin with a 100 Gem server transfer fee. After the transfers have settled, increase the fee to 500 gems. At the end of every season, reduce the transfer fee to allow for easy transfers. Keeps things fresh.

At the end of the day WvW is competitive and its this which drives people to WvW.

One great reward would be that the top tier servers will get a boost in their % for precursor drops. Im sure everyone will want to WvW and get to the top. If not pay huge amounts of Gems to transfer there.

Win for community. Win for Developers.

That’s some good Guardianing (o.O) fight the good fight

They nerfed us. We got over it. We are still kicking kitten img src="/include/images/smilies/smile.png" />

Azure.8670:

Guanglai Kangyi.4318:

Warriors hit for high damage but they do not deal enough to ever kill a guardian. You can negate all their bursts easily and your sustained is just as good as theirs. Just stay on them and trade hits and they will drop before you.

A thief can never kill a guardian. It’s impossible. You can negate their burst easily and it’s crap anyway, and their sustained is virtually non-existent. You are hitting them harder than they are hitting you and they drop in a tenth of the time, if not less. Don’t forget that you can still hit them while they are stealthed, it just doesn’t target. Just switch to your greatsword and when they disappear, use WW or Binding Blades (or just your auto) and pummel them to death. The only hard thing about the guardian vs. thief fight is ensuring that they don’t manage to escape and cheat you out of the kill when they’re losing. Having a scepter or signets helps for this.

The important thing is to just stay on your target and don’t let them run away. Guardians have super high melee damage so you will never lose a close range 1v1 brawl.

almost fell out of my chair reading this. Thief can never kill a guardian?? Guardians do well against burst d/d thieves, but sword thieves, SB thieves, PD thieves all stand a very good chance against eating guardians. Sword thieves can immo and rock you for 10-25k in a single combo. 2 for immo, mug, auto attack. if they use sword/dagger they will also throw an invis there, hit you with daze, track your evade and 2 you again for another immo. Yes, Thieves can kill Guardians and quite easily usually, dont think they all use daggers

rofl I would love to see that happen to a good guardian player lol I really would. 10k on a guardian is likely if they are quite glassy. 25k? where did you dream up this figure? have you been killing lower level guardians with this combo? or them glass cannon ones?

On the first immo the guardian will have aegis block it. So there goes the first hit. The second hit they will either dodge (as they are aware they are being attacked) or they will throw up retaliation and mighty blow or whirling wrath. Go invis? ring of warding or GS5. throw in GS or hammer chain. Dead theif, if not he is already running half way across the map.

Guardians who don’t mitigate thief damage is an easy target. What good is a burst attack if it doesn’t hit? lol

If traited for it Pop virtues (VoJ and VoP) as soon as your aegis is removed. This will give 1 blind, 1 aegis so this will mitigate another 2 attacks.

The only thief build that a guardian should have any trouble with is a perma stealth thief or a condition thief. Condition thief can be countered with runes and food.

Once new guardians get over the “Panic” mode when being attacked from a stealth thief, its pretty much clockwork

khefka.2804:

Writing off the Honor traitline too I see? :P

WoE and WoP also add damage as well as provide support. Two hammer guardians in a group would probably be overkill, but otherwise it feels too good to pass up.

Depending on the dungeon and situation the second guardian should switch between a mace/shield, GS, Staff.

1 Hammer guasrdian to face tank and proc Protection 100% is enough. The other guardian can use the other weapons to balance the situation i.e more healing or ore damage or control.

Guardians are the most versatile class in the game. 2 front line guardians is enough to take even weak low lvl pugs through dungeons easily.

Hammer warrior here :p also packing 2 armour sets and all weapons. Guardians are quite equipment reliant for multirole action. Never leave home without your gear dont be a 1 trick pony.

For breezing through dungeons with guild or pugs the must have set up for me are AH, EM, WotM, larger symbols.

SY and SYG on utility. Slot 10 is adjustable to situation. Maybe using retreat or WoRef.

Full melandru+lemongrass poultry soup (total -65% condition damage duration)

0/5/30/30/5

With this set up you csn pretty much face tank just about every dungeon.

The only time you lose to a theif is if they use perma stealth to win.

However, let me break it down for you. Your 2.2k is quite low to deal with thief or warriors. You should try getting it to atleast 2.6k minimum. You can get it to 2.8k and still retain damage.

You also might want to change runes. I advise going full melandru for the high toughness and minus condition dmg duration plus the minus condition dmg duration food. Should not have any problems with thief at all apart from them escaping or abusing perma stealth to kill you. Just keep swinning with a hammer. If the third hit triggers u know he’s close.

Out of say 100 1v1 with warriors in spvp and WvW. Ive lost about 6 times in total.

Guardians sustained damage and mitigation destroys warriors.

If you can survive a warriors burst for 10 seconds it an auto win.

Also to note, guardians out heal them with 1 skill. Then constantly heal with every other skill. Warrior healing is obselete compared to a guardian and you loose damage if you spec to heal as a warrior. Guardians can go hybrid very easily doing good damage and bunker when they have to.

Retaliation+burn+symbol+melee/skill. Thats a lot of damage to out heal with laughable healing lol

let me put this into perspective

Warriors have roughly 20k more HP then a Guardian.

A thief does a burst combo on both classes with a 4 hit combo that does around 20k damage

Warrior absorbs the damage with its vitality and left with 15K health with no way to fully heal back up to 35K hp

Guardians block the first hit with aegis, blocked the second hit with another aegis, third attack missed with VoJ traited for blind, blocks last hit with a shield or focus or mace. If not block the last hit, the guardian can heal it back by just passive regen and symbol as well as AH giving health for using Virtues.

Damage mitigation is hugely powerful. Warriors are under powered. This is why they have been buffed recently.

Im sad to say, its another issue of L2P

FourTwenty.4268:

KensaiZen.3740:

Hmm… lets see. If culing adds 2 secs of extra stealth which it is not supposed to. Why dont we jyst reduce stealth time to compensate? Makes perfect sense.

because culling doesn’t happen every where. it doesn’t happen in pve, it doesn’t happen in spvp, and it doesn’t happen in WvWvW(when you’re 1v1 or in a small group). this bug only happens around zergs in wvwvw.

does it really make ‘perfect sense’ to cripple the class in all those other aspects because of a bug in wvwvw? some stealths only last for 2 seconds. so that means zero stealth time? lol some stealths only last for 3 seconds. so that means only a 1 second stealth?

Lol perma stealth happens everywhere. Funniest thing is you claim it doesnt happen in sPvP. Do you even play sPvP? Its worse in sPvP then it is in WvW. Perma stealth thieves holdind points by killing anyone that tries to take it. No not OP at all.

Stealth is supposed to be an escape mechanic not a get out of jail free card. The ability to remove targetting is powerful when combined with the thiefs speed. Add stealth in there an its a garauntee escape.

A 1 second stealth turns into a 2 second stealth with culling or lag. I dont think the devs factored in the extra 2 seconds for culling and lag on skill design.

The theif has tonnes of skills to create distance from the enemy. They can easily escape without stealth as it is.

Just move to a server that suits your playtime (not necessarily your own time zone) its why they opened free transfers. They want people to move around and find a server that fits them. No need to make it complicated.

Hate to sound racist but the amount of ignorant people had to post saying thus kind of thing is not needed in forums is kittening hilarious. Yes, do go on and show why peoplw addressing one another formally with manners and respect is not a good way of doing things.

God help these savages.

Hmm… lets see. If culing adds 2 secs of extra stealth which it is not supposed to. Why dont we jyst reduce stealth time to compensate? Makes perfect sense. Devs wouldnt even need to make all the effort to fix the gane engine.

Toughness+healing+caltrops+stealth+attack skills = invincible in pvp. Theives are OP by far. Conditions then into perma stealth. Not much you can do but die.

Fix stealth and the class will be balanced.

Well it may work quite well with scepter. If you can kite well you can keep it on almost 100% of the time. If not you csn always trait for more aegis.

Lol just role a warrior. They are the no brainer kill kill kill kill class. A guardian may not be able to out burst a warrior but a guardian can survive the burst and kick the warriors kitten img src="/include/images/smilies/smile.png" />

On hammer i use superior earth (60%chance to bleed on crit) as the extra condition damage does come in handy. Alternatively you can go superior accuracy for higher crit chance.

For the actual weapon itself i used iron fist stats (pow/prec/crit dmg %)

The staff i dont really swap to unless i need the 4 heal or the speed buff from 3. It is also very handy for fort defence. Enemies cannot build rams at gste if you use staff1 to shoot through it

Staff i currently use in PvE is a pow/tough/vit from AC.

I will post my stats when i get home.

@tyber i prefer the extra toughness as it is vital to survival when 10 people are attacking you.

@dream i use this build in PvE/WvW for sPvP i switch the racial for renewed focus. The set up is still pretty much the same.

There is a far better tactic to do with a group of Guardians. 3 Guardians using staff stand behind the gate and spam 1, 3, 4. No rams or Golems will be alive for long. The only way to break through a fortification with at least 3 guardians protecting it is with trebuchet or catapult.

Heck, even 1 Guardian is enough to keep the gate clear of rams. But anyway, The best thing to do with situations such as an enemy zerg breaking down a wall is to have siege machines to cover the breach. The bunkers act as bait to keep the enemy in that spot whilst arrow carts and balistas and catapults completely wipe out the enemy.

Guardians are rdiculously good at this kind of thing and if they all used hammer and writ of the merciful, it would be VERY difficult to kill them.

I’ve simply given up on the speed race. Any class to come within range of my hammer is a dead one. Those that can get away will never come back because they know they will simply die (thieves are laughable as retaliation and stability go on the first time they attack followed by wild swinging and MB). Now the other thing you have to consider is Guardians are more powerful within a group or party.

Travel in pairs or with a ranged speedy class. We can dish out the most damage and let the other class finish off the target and we will still get the kill.

Guardian Ranger is supremely good for this. As well as Guardian thief. Never paired with Guardian Ele before so can’t comment.

We actually have an arsenal of ranged CC skills that can be used in conjunction with snares but the problem is most people do not use it in their builds.

knights helm and POW/Tough/VIT armour. There is enough there to survive a lot of damage and still maintain good damage.

Runes are still melandru as it is quite essential to the build. It has to be combined with food to give you -65% con duration. You simply wont need to worry about conditions.

Trinkets I also use berserker for the damage.

Extremely tough to kill and have the damage out put to kill any class with ease. Even d/d elementalist and other guardians.

Equip both.

Use GS for 1v1 as it kills faster in PvE as the mobs generally do not have high HP. Its mobility is better so you can bounce from one mob to the next easier.

When faced with 5+ mobs (depends how you kill as sometimes I like to pull lots of mobs and kill them in 1 go) switch to hammer.

Both have their uses.

Recently.1043:

In sPvP, you technically never need to kill anyone. Just gotta make sure your point stays capped (or alternatively, if your taking a point, keep them off the point long enough to cap it yourself).

Started playing bunker guard myself recently and its the first time i played a pure bunker builds and gotta say i really enjoy the different play style. I really enjoy the whole point control and team-support role. Only time i really score solo kills is when a glass cannon commits to a long fight and doesn’t disengage soon enough before eating a cc combo + burn damage.

I love reading the book during team fights, seriously, incredibly satisfying lol.

Being able to kill a squishy thief, ele, mesmer, ranger, necro, warrior when they try to capture your point is far easier than to try and just keep the point. Especially in 2v1 situations.

A bunker that can kill has a better chance to surviving 2v1 or even 3v1 due to being able to take out the enemy numbers AND maintain point control.

lol half my bag is full of weapons and armour sets for me to swap depending on situation.

This is one aspect I love too. Guardians are so versatile. (don’t even have to retrait)

If anyone wants to do the number crunching on these combo’s I would be very grateful as I’m stuck at the office and can’t run the tests myself in the mists.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUEQJASRlUgqC33ROEfIFRuAbBYP0I8z41DISRGC;TABg0ynEOJdStlSLKjMGJMyakzIpRLCGVci4FB

This build is for the Guardians out there who prefer a bit more damage and a bit more mobility to the Juggernaut.

The main Concept behind this build is the combo system that exists in the game. Those who play Tekken or VF or any other fighting game quite religiously will know what I mean when I say combo starter, cancels, linkers etc

So, this build has a much higher damage output than the Juggernaut build as it sacrifices some defence and vitality for higher crit chance % as well as crit damage . It is possible to drop to 18k HP and gain 60 crit chance and 70% crit damage but that depends how glassy you want to go (you just need to change the soldier earrings for berserker ones).

The Hammer is the main weapon for CC and general damage. Its attack power is equal if not more than the GS itself but it lacks in mobility. We team this with the GS for added burst damage and greater mobility. We can let those pesky people escape from us that easily .

With these 2 weapons it is possible to create very good combinations with the skills and utilities that are present for the guardian.

Now let me explain about Judges Intervention as this is a key skill to cancel into another attack. It also allows for instant teleport for skills such as Ring of Warding where you actually are rooted on cast though this can be used on any attack. It is also a very good gap closer and also a stun breaker at the same time. All in all, the best mobility skill the Guardian has.

In this style of gameplay we use JI as a move cancel which can then be linked into another move to keep the combo ticker going and reduce down time for animation as well. Any skill that causes instant damage can be used as a linker for the combo counter, even VoJ as this activates instantly without animation.

Now for the combo.

Hammer #4 is my preferred Combo starter as I mainly use Hammer as my weapon of choice, but there are people who prefer GS in which case it usually is GS #3.

The formula for the combo is as follows;

Combo 1

Hammer#4, Hammer#2+Ji (teleporting mighty blow to where enemy landeded), Hammer#1+Voj (just one swing), Hammer#3, Hammer#1 chain (all three attacks).

As I have not fully tested this build I cannot give you an accurate number for damage for this combo but its a guestimate at between 6400 with no crits and not including burn damage and 13800 with all crits and no burning damage. When you add burning damage into it the damage would go much higher.

Combo 2

Hammer#4, Hammer#2+Ji (teleporting mighty blow to where enemy landeded), Hammer#1+Voj (just one swing),Hammer#5, Hammer#3, Hammer#1 chain (all three attacks), Hammer#2 (will also trigger blast retaliation combo finisher)

Almost identical to combo 1 but with the added benefit of Ring of Warding to trap the enemy inside to garauntee the last part of the combo and enough time for the cooldown on mighty blow to finish to activate it for more damage at teh end.

Max Damage approx 18800 all crit and without burn damage.

Combo 3

Hammer#4, Hammer#2+Ji (teleporting mighty blow to where enemy landeded), Hammer#1+Voj (just one swing), Hammer#3, Swap to GS and use GS#2, GS#3.

This combo keeps up the burst damage by swapping to the GS and using whirling wrath to do high damage at the end of the combo with Leap of faith as the combo ender which can then link to something else if you like but they should be dead by the end of the combo.

Max Damage approx 15600 all crit and without burn damage.

Combo 4

Hammer#4, Hammer#2+Ji (teleporting mighty blow to where enemy landeded), Hammer#1+Voj (just one swing), Hammer#3, Swap to GS and use GS#2, GS#5×2, GS#1 chain, GS#3.

Max Damage approx 20000 all crit and without burn damage.

Instant kill combo for just about every squishy class. Those that aren’t dead instantly can be killed off very quickly.

These are just a few examples of what can be linked into a killing combo. The damage will vary depending on target but generally these combo’s are insta kill for all light and medium armour classes if all hits crit and you add burning damage.

If you are a GS user and have it as a main weapon then I suggest GS#3 as a combo starter or the GS#5 as the combo starter. Just mix and match according to your playstyle

Guardian of Balthazaar

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUEQNAS5elYg67WFyLEg9ERWBRi9Qjw/jXPcYCZIA;TEBg0ynEOJdStlSLKjMGJMyakzIpRrMGVcIYbxLCA

(copy and paste link to make it work)

This is to be used in conjunction with the Lemongrass Poultry soup which gives -40% condition duration and +70 Vitality. Overall it will give -65% condition duration which will make conditions go from you VERY quick (any bleed or poison less than 5 seconds is a joke) Also with the reduced stun rate it also helps.

The tactic used with this build is a line breaker style of play. Generally you charge straight into the centre of enemy lines or into the back of enemy lines where all the squishy targets are then activate the wall of reflection and stand your ground for the 5.5 seconds of stability.

As you are now protected from all range attacks (make sure you stay inside the wall and the melee classes have now turned around to attack you (which means in about 3 seconds your team will have broken their lines) you will focus on doing damage and surviving. If no one attacks you then you have the option of choosing one side or the other of the wall to attack so you will be guarded from behind from ranged attacks.

Activate the hounds of Balthazaar for the extra damage AoE and single target but also for the extra healing this will give you from your hammer symbol (around 100hp per hound per tick depending on your healing power) This greatly increases your survivability as with every proc of the protection boon on them you gain healing. With them in your symbols you gain healing as well as healing from EM that they also receive. Their damage also softens up the squishes and tanks ready for you to go on a rampage. Pop a heal if you need to.

For 5.5 seconds the enemies have unloaded all their bursts and CC skills onto you with very little effect which now gives you more than enough time to start your wrecking spree with your AoE skills (I use hammer so my main damage skill is Mighty blow which crits for about 3k-4k a pop (on a 5 sec cooldown this does more prolonged damage than whirling wrath which does a little bit less damage on a 10 second cooldown)

Now is the time to go on the offensive. Activate “Save yourself” (if you havent already done so) for all necessary boons and in case there was still someone with a CC skill that used it on you. You should now have Fury, Might, Swiftness and all the other goodies to help you go on a rampage behind enemy lines.

By this time, your allies would have rushes to your side and the collapse of the zerg is complete.

This build replaces the need for speed buffs (retreat) with staff 3 for mobility and extra healing.

You can replace signet of resolve for shelter to gain a smaller heal but giving you about 20 stacks of might for the 2 seconds your blocking the entire zerg attacking you. Then unleash hell with an AoE

In PvE it also works for tanking 10+ mobs as your reflection and retaliation plus AoE hounds and hammer will mean you survive anything and kill anything (My personal test on tanking is to face tank the Champion ooze king in Orr. If a build can’t face tank it, its not a good enough tank build)

Enjoy being godly

In PvP you will need to change your elite to Renewed Focus. A 3 sec invulnerable plus around 4k healing + boons is very powerful.

The damage is pure guess work as I am at the office when writing the build and haven’t had time to go to mists and test the damage with steady weapons yet.

Here’s the ultimate combo

Hammer#4, Hammer#2+Ji (teleporting mighty blow to where enemy landeded), Hammer#1+Voj (just one swing), Hammer#3, Swap to GS and use GS#2 then cancel into GS#5×2 (if they stun break and dodge WW early), GS#1 chain, GS#3.

I don’t even think a bunker will live after this one

I’ll share my build that I have posted on my guilds website here as well as it shows all my combo’s and of course it was originally inspired by this thread

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUEQJASRlUgqC33ROEfIFRuAbBYP0I8z41DISRGC;TABg0ynEOJdStlSLKjMGJMyakzIpRLCGVci4FB

This build is for the Guardians out there who prefer a bit more damage and a bit more mobility to the Juggernaut.

The main Concept behind this build is the combo system that exists in the game. Those who play Tekken or VF or any other fighting game quite religiously will know what I mean when I say combo starter, cancels, linkers etc

So, this build has a much higher damage output than the Juggernaut build as it sacrifices some defence and vitality for higher crit chance % as well as crit damage . It is possible to drop to 18k HP and gain 60 crit chance and 70% crit damage but that depends how glassy you want to go (you just need to change the soldier earrings for berserker ones).

The Hammer is the main weapon for CC and general damage. Its attack power is equal if not more than the GS itself but it lacks in mobility. We team this with the GS for added burst damage and greater mobility. We can let those pesky people escape from us that easily .

With these 2 weapons it is possible to create very good combinations with the skills and utilities that are present for the guardian.

Now let me explain about Judges Intervention as this is a key skill to cancel into another attack. It also allows for instant teleport for skills such as Ring of Warding where you actually are rooted on cast though this can be used on any attack. It is also a very good gap closer and also a stun breaker at the same time. All in all, the best mobility skill the Guardian has.

In this style of gameplay we use JI as a move cancel which can then be linked into another move to keep the combo ticker going and reduce down time for animation as well. Any skill that causes instant damage can be used as a linker for the combo counter, even VoJ as this activates instantly without animation.

Now for the combo.

Hammer #4 is my preferred Combo starter as I mainly use Hammer as my weapon of choice, but there are people who prefer GS in which case it usually is GS #3.

The formula for the combo is as follows;

Combo 1

Hammer#4, Hammer#2+Ji (teleporting mighty blow to where enemy landeded), Hammer#1+Voj (just one swing), Hammer#3, Hammer#1 chain (all three attacks).

As I have not fully tested this build I cannot give you an accurate number for damage for this combo but its a guestimate at between 6400 with no crits and not including burn damage and 13800 with all crits and no burning damage. When you add burning damage into it the damage would go much higher.

Combo 2

Hammer#4, Hammer#2+Ji (teleporting mighty blow to where enemy landeded), Hammer#1+Voj (just one swing),Hammer#5, Hammer#3, Hammer#1 chain (all three attacks), Hammer#2 (will also trigger blast retaliation combo finisher)

Almost identical to combo 1 but with the added benefit of Ring of Warding to trap the enemy inside to garauntee the last part of the combo and enough time for the cooldown on mighty blow to finish to activate it for more damage at teh end.

Max Damage approx 18800 all crit and without burn damage.

Combo 3

Hammer#4, Hammer#2+Ji (teleporting mighty blow to where enemy landeded), Hammer#1+Voj (just one swing), Hammer#3, Swap to GS and use GS#2, GS#3.

This combo keeps up the burst damage by swapping to the GS and using whirling wrath to do high damage at the end of the combo with Leap of faith as the combo ender which can then link to something else if you like but they should be dead by the end of the combo.

Max Damage approx 15600 all crit and without burn damage.

Combo 4

Hammer#4, Hammer#2+Ji (teleporting mighty blow to where enemy landeded), Hammer#1+Voj (just one swing), Hammer#3, Swap to GS and use GS#2, GS#5×2, GS#1 chain, GS#3.

Max Damage approx 20000 all crit and without burn damage.

Instant kill combo for just about every squishy class. Those that aren’t dead instantly can be killed off very quickly.

These are just a few examples of what can be linked into a killing combo. The damage will vary depending on target but generally these combo’s are insta kill for all light and medium armour classes if all hits crit and you add burning damage.

If you are a GS user and have it as a main weapon then I suggest GS#3 as a combo starter or the GS#5 as the combo starter. Just mix and match according to your playstyle

You are very right

I Generally use this as a secondary heal to my signet as the overall healing it quite considerable.

To put it into perspective, shelter does 2 seconds invulnerability plus around 4.6k healing.

Popping all three virtues then using RF and popping them again will give you 2 blinds, 2 stacks of might, 2 regen, 2 protection 3 seconds of mobile invulnerability AND (if traited) around 4k healing.

All this with a 8-9k signet heal ready to pop if all goes horribly wrong. or shelter for an extra 2 seconds of invulnerability. Hell, you can even use sanctuary after this for an extra 6 seconds of your enemy being unable to attack you properly.

RF is not a standalone skill. It is massively powerful once you use the synergy between traits and virtues.

RF is majorly powerful but you have to be using the right build. Other elites are situational but can be used with any set up BUT they have massive cooldowns so you have to choose wisely when you use them.

Don’t fear the D/D ele. Personally ive never lost to one 1v1 before. Even when it was the enemy commander (RoS commander you know who you are ^_-)

One of my guild mates is also a d/d ele and we fight in sPvP to perfect our builds and playstyles. Nelanb is quite right in that they have one major skill that actually does decent damage to us. This is why you should have hammer 4 ready for when you see them channeling that skill. 5 seconds is plenty of time to be interrupted. Either that or use shield 5.

If you contested on cc skills to disrupt their flow and keep up the damage, eventuallytheywill go down.

Also to remember are your stun breakers and stability skills. Stand your ground I find is absolutely a must have. I sacrifice mobility from swapping retreat just to have it.

A bunker that can kill is formidable

Just thought of another one for maximum damage going hammer/GS

Hammer 4, hammer 2+JI, hammer1, VoJ, hammer 3, switch to GS for garauntee Whirling Wrath Max hit, finish with leap of faith. If not dead then continue with GS5, GS1 chain.

If that doesn’t kill them I don’t know what will. Pretty much a garauntee combo once the combo starter hits.

It is a missconception that there are no tanks in the game. Every class can fulfil every role. Some better than others.

The shield mechanic you mentioned would be too OP for 1 and 2 it would prevent the shield users to actually dodge.

For the sake of game balance it should never be implemented.

Try hammer#4, 2+JI, #5, #1×3

Haven’t actually tried it myself yet since I don’t use JI in my build.

Just remove the 5 to make a better link without a delay. I would use #5 as a way to garaintee more hits from the #1 combine+symbol.

There are plenty of guardians who like RF. Its the only decent elite we have. Those that don’t know how important our virtues are will not know how good it is.

As for the rooting. It used to root us to the spot for casting but they removed the rootingand made ut mobile to improve the skill.

Only elite I will ever use in spvp and sometimes in WvW. Though in PvE I prefer racialist.

I run with -65% con duration. Their conditions dont slow me down enough to get away. Also if your a human guardian you can always use prayer to lyssa for random cobdition. You get cripple and chill quite often. 1200 range insta cadt.