Guild Wars 2

Jski.6180:

You may get more out of 0 6 0 4 4 as an staff ele with frost bow. The trick is to do your bomb fire 5 or frost bow 4 then swap into water for the +20% dmg vs targets that have vulnerability.

Wouldn’t it work best to cast Meteor Shower and while channeling it swap to water attunement, then drop ice bow and Ice Storm?

Between Cleansing Ire, Burst Mastery and Versatile Rage there should be plenty of adrenalin gain. Berserker’s Power is more of a PvE trait where stacking damage multipliers is important, whereas the bursts themselves are useful against players.

I would take the adrenalin system over most others. It’s all relative though, the classes are balanced around their mechanic in one way or another. Non-traited guardian virtues are pretty garbage, why should bursts be great without some investment? Elementalist have to invest into Elemental Attunement, etc.

More warrior entitlement.

Carighan.6758:

Morfedel.4165:

It depends on the venue.

If a mesmer is solo roaming in WVW, it may be nice to have prismatic understanding so if you run into numbers you can’t handle, you have escape potential.

The problem is also that if you do want PU, and you do want to utilize shatters, you’d use something like 0/4/6/0/4. You’d still rather axe IP than DE, even with how strong the two losses in Illusions are. You just don’t cut off DE if you want to shatter.

What if you don’t want PU and you don’t want to utilize shatters? Would a build like this work?

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQNArfWl0npMtlqxRNcrVSphYqcn85W0VmUBK3JA-T5QHwAp3fIZZAAPBAA

Keep in mind I’ve just started theory crafting mesmer as my 8th profession, so be gentle yet concise.

I’m not one to start asking for nerfs on other classes, because karma is a kitten, but the Lightning Whip exploit had to go. It would of been best for them to do that months ago and see the results rather than lumping 4 changes all at once.

Typical anet balancing act though.

yLoon.5289:

Changes on Lithany still as useless as kitten if it doesnt provide Stability Boon through out the duration.

Stability on a heal, never mind 6 seconds every 20, wouldn’t work.

I’d like to see a trait though that gives each meditation a boon. Something like:

• Regen on Litany of Wrath
• Swiftness on Smite Condition
• 5 stacks of might on Judge’s Intervention
• Protection on Contemplation of Purity
• Vigor on Merciful Intervention

Or something. Maybe combine it with Focused Mind to something like, “Using a meditation grants fury and a unique boon”.

-Healing Spring worked well with Nature’s Bounty. Between Oakheart Salve and HS I was able to hold perma regen. This build moves away from that, and I’d have to stand there even longer to get a decent amount. Though without it I should probably swap Poison Master for Empathetic Bond.

-With the near perma fury from SotF, 57% should be plenty to proc a 50% chance sigil. It will serve it’s purpose as a perma cover condition while dealing ~100 damage/s.

-A tossup really. The 8 stacks of bleed are handy when setting up a condition bomb. Add Splitblade and Sharpening stone during an entangle with a bonfire going and watch the HP melt. Just bait out their cleanses first with smaller combinations and they’re defenseless. Also provides vuln on AA for another cover.

-Yeah, it really is a tough call here. Krait runes would bump the bleed duration two seconds making it easier to sustain the stacks. On the other hand, Sharpening Stone is 5 bleed burst that can be paired with Splitblade and cleanse two conditions with SotF. You can also preload it ~20s before a fight and have it off cooldown for your burst. I’ve done a lot of testing and I don’t think there’s a “right” answer.

-Well said, I couldn’t say I am either. That’s one of my favorite things about the condition ranger though, there’s a lot of small tweaks that can be made. As for settler vs rabid, I swapped because I didn’t think the fury from Survival of the Fittest could maintain the torment procs on settler’s amulet. The build in general moved away from regen and healing power, but the crit chance doesn’t serve much of a purpose beyond that. I’d prefer the toughness from rabid over vitality from carrion though, in the end.

With the upcoming changes, my builds are going to be a little different. I was wondering if anyone else’s were changing and what they look like.

Current Condition Survival/Regen Build

The torment sigil is intriguing, I’ve been tossing around the idea of switching out the hydromancy sigils for tormenting. It will tick for ~500 damage over 5s and serve as a perma stack to cover other conditions. Of course I’d probably swap out the settler amulet for rabid, I don’t think the fury on Survival of the Fittest could proc the sigil reliably enough.

Also, with Bonfire on torch receiving what is a free Offhand Training (+60 radius), the move to rabid and away from regen might work out. I can pass on Oakheart Salve and take Offhand Training for an additional 60 units, for a total of 240. That’s twice as big as the current non traited bonfire.

Updated Condition Survival Build

I’m also excited for my longbow & sw/wh build. These changes might not be huge, but I feel that they’ve added a bit to my builds while other professions either got nerfed (ele) or practically nothing at all.

Anyone else’s build going to be altered a bit? Share it!

Thoughts on using torment sigils?

Well, when comparing greatsword and sword you always have to consider the offhand. If it’s warhorn, the fury/swiftness uptime is always great along with a blast finisher. The upcoming buffs to warhorn will certainly be appreciated to help keep those boons up. Or you could take the dagger and gain an extra evade.

As for the mobility of the two, I honestly put them at a tossup. While greatsword and swoop may be easier to do while simply traveling, I think hornet sting has much more to offer. It’s superior in combat to reposition yourself, and can be utilized just as well as swoop out of combat if you get the hang of it. Plus it’s cooldown is 4 seconds shorter, so you’ll get ~3 out of every two swoops.

I agree with OP’s pros and cons though. I would say greatsword is easier to slap on and play but sword offers more for those who can use it. If you can handle being rooted by the sword AA, I would take it every time. Not only in dungeons/PvE but also in PvP. Sword/WH is a much better offhand to longbow in a power build. Using Lightning Reflexes > Hornet Sting > Monarch’s Leap is the best get of of jail free card you can use.

Well, I’m sure if you’re reading this you already know about the nerfs coming to might and builds that utilize it. I’ll highlight it for those who don’t though.

• Stat increase reduced from 35 per stack to 30
• Sigil of Battle now provides 2 stacks of might per swap

Now, guardian has not been included in the celestial meta with might stacking like the elementalist, engineer and warrior. They just don’t utilize the stats as well.

However, I’ve seen plenty of builds that use sigil of battle. Many builds take advantage of Might of the Protector to gain stacks on block, and some even use Empowering Might to gain a few extra on crits.

Question is, how will the affect the guardian? Will it even be worth it to take sigil of battle anymore? We’ll get maybe ~4 stacks of might (120 power/condition damage) taking up two sigil slots. Seems like a sigil of force, depending on your power, could give you a much more consistent boost. With 2000 power, that would be 100 power on it’s own.

In my case, I’ll probably benefit from these changes. I don’t invest much into might, instead opting for air/fire sigils for my bump. While stacks from Might of the Protector are always appreciated, I don’t think the 5 power loss per stack is going to make much of a difference. On the other hand, I think I’ll size up against builds that do utilize might a little better now.

Thoughts? How will these changes influence your builds?

This is exactly what I was afraid of and seems to be anet’s MO when it comes to balancing guardian. Instead of actually fixing what is wrong with something, they slap a cooldown reduction on it and call it good.

Medizerk mobility was NOT fixed with a Retreat cooldown, and shield will do no better.

Dev note:

We’ve been able to clean up Lightning Whip a bit, preventing it from being exploited while rewarding elementalists for completing the attack.

Dev confirmed stowing Lightning Whip for extra healing is an exploit.

Kindled Zeal is terrible. Not even close to worth the 4 extra points you have to put into zeal to get it. Your burns are negligible anyways, boosting them a bit won’t help you. Fiery Wrath is a 10% damage boost to your raw power, the actual burn damage doesn’t influence it at all. Whether you have 0 condition damage or 700, your raw damage still gets that 10% boost.

Instead of using signet of resolve passive to cleanse your conditions, you’re better off with Absolute Resolution (master virtues trait) which cleanses three conditions on demand. That combined with Renewed Focus will give you two cleanses. You’re much better off putting the 4 extra trait points from zeal (kindled zeal) into virtues for Absolute Resolution.

edit: Also, Absolute Resolution bumps your VoR passive up to about 100 hp/s. You’ll gain more healing with that than Zealous Blade would give you.

Black Box.9312:

Can we not continue on this route of fixing problems with traits that give effects that should already be present intrinsically? Nobody took Read the Wind seriously until they added an attack speed increase because projectiles should already be reliably fast by default.

Agreed. It sucks having to trait 6 into marksmanship just to have a viable longbow. Recently necro staff projectiles was increased by 50% so I would think the guardian scepter is next in line. I’m not sure if there’s a slower, more unreliable ranged AA than it.

New trait:

Light Feet [Adept Radiance] 25% movement speed while wielding 1 handed weapons.

I’ve been trying to think of a conditional movement speed trait and I thought that fits the radiance line well. It also seems to make sense as those are “bulkier” type weapons. I’d either merge Signet Mastery and Inscribed Removal or Merge Healer’s Retribution into another line with Vengeful to make room for it.

Of course I’d prefer a flat 25% boost but most movement speed traits have a condition. Warrior for melee, Elementalist/Necromancer while wielding daggers. Engineer has a flat boost but it’s also a master trait so in turn it should be better. I’d also sign off on a condition like when wielding bladed weapons (sword/greatsword).

I put together a couple builds that will give you success while solo roaming in PvE. I’ll go over some of the main points of them.

Greatsword & Sword/Focus or Greatsword & Scepter/Focus

First, your weapons. Greatsword offers great cleave for multiple enemies. You can pull 5 together to you with Binding Blades (skill #5) and then use Whirling Wrath (skill #2) to burst them down. The symbol works well for AoE damage too. Sword build does a lot of damage while the scepter build will allow you to kite enemies and survive longer. Focus by default for offhand with blinds and blocks.

Shelter is a must for the heal. Healing Breeze is only useful if you have party members to heal. The blocks on Shelter will help you avoid a lot of damage. Likewise, the invulnerability of Renewed Focus (elite) can save your life and should always be on your skill bar. It also renews your virtues so make sure you use them all if you can. Triple shouts for utilities. Save Yourselves gives you a ton of boons, Retreat gives you swiftness which will help you kite and Stand Your Ground will help you when you get hit with CC.

Traits are really a tossup in open world PvE content. The sword build focuses purely on damage to put your target down quickly. It’s pretty self-explanatory. The scepter build will help you survive while doing damage. Traits like Force of Will boost your vitality, and Absolute Resolution will give you 100 hp/s passive heal and an active condition cleanse.

Do not expect to bunker open world PvE content though. It becomes a major pain in the kitten . You have to kill things yourself, so you might as well kill them quickly. Rely on dodges, blinds and blocks to avoid damage. Guardian is built on active defenses, and open world content is the perfect way to get use to it.

Good luck man and avoid bad advice~!

Shinigami.2398:

NinjaEd.3946:

If anet listened to venom feedback and took it more seriously venoms probably would of been fixed into a more known build but I rarely see anyone run it. Once they realize how sub-par it is to an actual support build its only there for fun really.

you are right, venoms aren’t the greatest “support” choice. however, that doesn’t mean they need to be fixed… if used the right way, they can still be very strong for a damage/support hybrid build.

this for example works pretty well for me in ranked pvp:
http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-c33V;1VwkZ0Y5FPFd0;9;4T-T-937B;138B;12;0aNV0U;1cV19cV191D

If you’re taking d/d over p/d, why not put an intelligence sigil on dagger to take advantage of all the power from the carrion amulet instead of sigil of force? Would be pretty handy to swap > cloak and dagger > backstab.

Still, I see p/d as far more effective in a venom share build in pvp. Much more consistent bleed stacks than spamming death blossom.

Zealot’s Flame/Fire is great for both hybrid and zerk builds. Right now it’s the reason to take torch maybe over focus and certainly over shield. Some changes to Cleansing Flame (torch #5) I think would put torch in a good place to make an actual tough call between it and focus.

• Lower hits from 9 to 4
• Increase conditions removed per pulse
• Strip boon per pulse

As it is now, it’s a dps loss over AA and is a niche condition cleanse on party. It can be really powerful though, removing 50 something in total IIRC. Regardless, by lowering the hits and increasing the conditions removed per pulse it can still fill that niche with less of a cast time. In addition, it will serve as boon strip that could put medizerk/hybrid guardian into new roles.

Of course specific numbers are subject to balance but the idea is what counts. Right now guardian has a measly 1 boon strip every 10 seconds (which should be bumped to 2/10s or 1/5s) and is usually passed on for classes that can strip. With a boon heavy meta and how hard it counters medizerk (think d/d celementalist) I think it would put torch in it’s own.

Uber, you must really care about this. I’ve never seen someone so passionate in riding a sinking ship. This isn’t fantasy esports, you can’t draft your favorite players and pit them against the top team. Even if you stuck them all together they wouldn’t have the synergy of a team just because they’re good.

Honestly, you’re better off cutting your losses. Look, Saiyan was decent enough to show you how.

Saiyan.1704:

If they’re that good, I’d like to see them win ESL tournaments and World Tournament series.

99 games all season is a ridiculously low number.

Aaron.2413:

They did. The abjured has won the last 10 weeks in ESL and they won WTS

Saiyan.1704:

I’ll shut up now.

I was trolling around with rifle one night with a friend on P/P thief. He would do Body Shots right before my Kill Shot with high success rates. If only we had a ranger with us to Rapid Fire/PBS with us it would of been a complete range spamfest.

While putting down all those poison fields you might as well have 3 in deadly arts to add weakness to it. Maybe use Potent Poison with Orr runes to bump the poison duration.

Black Frog.9274:

MightyMicah.7451:

Black Frog.9274:

It consists of dying. Lots and lots of dying.

<hands depressed thief a dire P/D build>

Let me guess, another PvP player. I do WvW. If I wanted to solo roam, maybe. Run with the zerg using P/D? Probably not. But see above, teach me how it’s done.

If you’re running shortbow for all the reasons listed above, p/d isn’t a terrible choice for a secondary.

It’s easy to land cloak and daggers to drop whoever is targeting you or to stomp, and shadow strike can be used to back out of the blob. Evade on shortbow #3 so it brings complimenting utility.

Dire is a good gear choice for toughness/vitality but you could just as easily use soldier/sentinel gear. You’ll be doing mostly dirty work with this type of build, but your poison and cluster bombs will benefit from the condition damage.

Darksteel.8412:

ranger needs following nerfs, signet of stone needs to be 3 seconds tops, ranger already has acces to most evades (with thief) in game, gs block skill needs added cd for cause now it is just spammable, and it already has acces to most evades in game (with thief) rapid fire needs a max range of 900 cause spamming it like that at range 1200+ is just full kiddo..especially when rolling gs…the mobilty is beyond overpowered and makes for full easy reset and spam rapid fire over and over…the cd of rapid fire makes reflect skills on most classes not viable enough to play…stealth shot of ranger also need a huge additional amount of seconds to its cd, cause paired with the dmge mobilty and survivabilty ranger alrdy has…its just to much…pet res…once pet gets interupted…it goes on cd, ranger is by far the strongest duelist in game hands down for the least effort of input required, does it need to have a godmode downstate as well compared to other classes? you can all rage and deny this…but many many people fully agree on these nerfs…it will make the class more technical to play and less of a garbage like spammer….the ranger as roamer on zerker setup is in extreme advantage of pretty much all classes except for thief…(maybe) that run a zerker spec as well, also maul is highly superior to eviscerate, less cd, pretty much same damage, 5 targets instead of just one and more range..both predictable…so “the but its such slow animation” counter theory is of no value in this case besides eviscerate is a burst skill that requires adrenaline as well….eviscerate should be at least 200% more useful than maul is, thats it.

Feel better now that you’ve let it all out? By the way, you missed the party by 4 months.

Well, for the most part I think shield is screwed on guardian. It won’t ever get the duration block it deserves. The big blue dome is here to stay, the basic mechanics of any of the skills won’t be reworked. It would be nice to be invulnerable while channeling it, and it would certainly deserve it’s long cooldown if that was introduced.

Shield of Judgement on the other hand could have a knockdown worked in without changing the core mechanics of the skill. I think it would go a long way in sizing shield up to focus and torch, even without touching Shield of Absorption. Engineer shield has two CC so I don’t see an issue with it either.

I’ve had a good amount of luck with this p/p build. I tried to use initiative gain builds but it feels like too much dps is taken out with a 0/2/0/6/6 build.

5/6/0/0/3
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZAQNAqaVl0Mp0pdPx3J0PNxLhs9oQb8LsuTCA-TpBEwAGOBA23fAwhA4xRAIbZACPAAA

I took Uncatchable over Flanking Strikes to provide extra cripple. Really helps with the small amount of dodges to try and create some separation. Together with Ankle Shot I have a good chance to kite my target. Sundering Strikes over Mug as the build doesn’t really focus on steal, but the extra vuln stacks are always appreciated.

Ricochet is nice for the range and bounce for team fights, but I would have to give up some damage modifiers for it. If I were to take it, I’d probably drop the 5 from deadly arts putting 6 in trickery for Hastened Replenishment and 3 in acrobatics for Feline Grace. Losing power/damage multipliers but gaining survivability is a tough call.

Shadowstep is amazing with p/p though. Put one round of unload in, port as they approach you and put another set in and then port back as they chase you again. SR for the utility which is always useful in PvP. Roll for Initiative triples as a stun break, emergency evade/gap opener and extra unload.

ThePaladin.2140:

Let’s say for theorycrafting’s sake. Who here can make sentinel’s at least viable in pve ?

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fVAQNApeWl0ApTo1DxYI0ENx8QVVAg9R0ER613QOMDA-TByGABA8EA8UJ4Q7Pcl+AsU/J3TBQWK/sy8ngAkF-e

I chose those utilities because obviously the ones with the longest cooldowns are the best. Shattered Aegis for the dps and warrior runes to quickly swap back to staff rotation after healing with mace. I can be the tank and healer with this build, sigils of water and renewal to keep my party up.

I’d do fractals with it if they had ascended sentinel trinkets.

There is no set way to gain aggro in gw2. However, it helps to have your pet attack first. Try using the F1 pet command to send your pet in, let it attack a few times and then begin to take it down yourself.

It works best for distraction though. Say you want to commune with a skill point next to a champion. Just send your pet in, don’t attack yourself and get the skill point.

Saiyan.1704:

Arken.3725:

It would be to give Guardians mobility(runspeed mostly). I don’t even care much for controlling conditions(cripple) in comparison to speed.

I don’t want my Guardian to play like a warrior… improve our “teleport” skills by remove that crappy ‘shadow step’ mechanic… or just call it a shadow step so i don’t rage when my Teleport fails
Better our movement impending skills and signet knockdown skills…these signets should be an instant cast.

How does adding a 25% movement speed trait liken it to playing like a warrior? 6/8 classes have access to 25% movement speed through traits or signets, and mesmer has a trait that increases it 10% per clone. Are you saying that it’s a feature for guardian to be the only class without access to movement speed through traits?

Melee without movement speed is just asking to be kited, and it’s a problem many meditation guardians face regularly. Cripple would help a lot, but I think access to both is best.

Not sure if you realize this but “shadow step” is a teleport. Judge’s Intervention resembles more of steal than shadow step as it’s target based and not ground targeted. It shares a lot of the same issues steal does with terrain changes that ground target teleports don’t. It certainly is something that needs to be looked at, but it’s not exclusively a guardian problem.

Ragnar the Rock.3174:

alienfirst.6493:

Gotta agree with the greater mobility.

Or, actually, I wish the hammer felt as nice to use as the greatsword. Which is a kind of nebulous observation to make, just… greatsword FEELS good to use. Hammer feels odd and clunky.

Greater mobility sadly will never happen.

They have stated numerous times they want the guardian to get into a fight &stay until the end, not run away as many other classes can do.

Well, they can still give guardian 25% movement speed and it wouldn’t effect our disengage. You don’t see traveler runes giving us the edge to get away. Something like merciful intervention not needing allies or judge’s intervention with ground targeting on the other hand would give us a disengage and to that I agree that it won’t happen.

If 25% movement speed on guardian is such a terrible thing, then we shouldn’t be able to equip traveler runes at all. It’s a contradiction to give us an option on runes but not through natural means of traits/signets.

Draknar.5748:

Shanks.2907:

Guardians have it the worst with no 25% movement speed in either traits or signets. The only access to swiftness a guardian has are tied to defensive builds through shouts and staff. With zero access to any swiftness, offensive builds are limited to using traveler runes on most builds.

Mesmers are a close second.

Uhm, so Guardians can have perma-swiftness now if you’re looking strictly for travel. Even not specced for it, Retreat + Save Yourselves + staff #3 and you travel at 33% permanently.

“OMG but I lose utility skills!” — you don’t need swiftness in dungeons, you don’t need swiftness in WvW zerg (as long as you stay with the zerg), you don’t need swiftness in PvP as a guardian. So what do you need to have speed for then? For travelling, right? So don’t be lazy and swap your utility skills if you know you will be running around exploring as a Guardian. Inconvenience isn’t an excuse for not using the tools you are given properly. Guardians are one of the fastest. Especially since they have GS Leap on top of perma-swiftness for that added distance.

Mesmers are by far the slowest class.

Movement speed is a huge factor for dps meditation guardians. Sure, a bunker won’t need any while sitting on point spamming staff. However, a melee dps guardian will be kited to death without any even on point. With no access to movement speed through traits (the only class without any) it pigeonholes medizerk guardians into using traveler runes.

Staff + Retreat + Save Yourselves works great in PvE. While going on resource runs it’s great to put down a SoS on the node and stack swiftness while mining it. It’s not remotely viable though to do that in PvP/roaming WvW. In combat speed is really important, and mesmers have the choice to trait for 10% per clone. So in regards to that, Mesmers have the advantage. They can also take focus with scepter or sword to fit both power and condition builds to supplement their movement speed instead of having to take up an entire slot on a weapon that does not fit the build.

But thanks for assuming that I was too lazy to swap a couple skills for simply traveling. I wonder if you even read my post before assuming anything, I was clearly talking about builds in pvp. Maybe you just don’t play enough guardian to understand my point.

Also…

Spartacus.3192:

GIve guardians a trait that increases speed by 25%.

This…

Farzo.8410:

Change aegis visual to not destroy certain shields.

This…

mPascoal.4258:

I think making MI an actual teleport that doesn’t require a ally target to do

This…

Jerus.4350:

Hammer and Mace Symbols are no longer light fields.

And this are all right up there.

HOWEVER

Guardian of Angels.9867:

Easy, change skills from Focus to Shield and revamp focus skills <3

Just because the shield needs a revamp doesn’t mean the focus needs to be destroyed. Anyways, the shield needs a duration block not the the offensive hybrid shield of wrath of the focus. The blinds don’t fit the shield either. Something like a knockdown added to #4 and a duration block on #5 would suit it much better.

I’d like to see the sword AA get fixed. A cripple on #2 and change #3 so it can’t be reflected. It sucks eating your own melee attack because of ranged defense.

Jahroots.6791:

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Theme. Elemetnalists, Rangers, and Thieves are all supposed to be mobile, hence the 25% movement speed signet. Necromancers are supposed to be extremely difficult to escape, hence the same thing.

Somehow given their other abilities, I would have expected Mesmer to be at least on par with the Thief’s mobility. Guardian is the ‘tank’ class, so it makes sense that they’re a bit slow.

Lack of a consistent, passive speed boost for these classes is a bit of a pain in PvE.

Please, just no. There are no tanks in this game, and my meditation guardian does not appreciate being slowed down by your logic. While a bunker guardian may not need swiftness (yet has it for some reason), a dps guardian does need it and yet has kitten access to it.

Leo G.4501:

Deamhan.9538:

Leo G.4501:

I love anime because it exaggerates everything

Attack on Titan for thief?
Warrior could’ve came from SAO too.
Pokemon for ranger is perfect. Especially since your character will say “I choose you” when activating a pet.

I think the Thief is perfect. They don’t just backstab, they nape-of-the-neck stab
I was thinking about it but I only wanted 1 pick per anime and there aren’t as many Paladin-esque anime characters.

I’m guessing few people recognize the necro, which I guess attests to their lack of use in some game modes. D-gray man is one of my old favs tho

Your logic for Levi is spot on. Great choices in all, though I might have put Alucard in for necromancer. I could see Edward Elric fitting an engineer well.

You nailed Heathcliff and his hax, lol.

Guardians have it the worst with no 25% movement speed in either traits or signets. The only access to swiftness a guardian has are tied to defensive builds through shouts and staff. With zero access to any swiftness, offensive builds are limited to using traveler runes on most builds.

Mesmers are a close second.

Eggyokeo.9705:

i think that the only way to extend the pet condition duration is with Malicious Training in the marks line.

Malicious Training is bugged (no effect), it’s been reported and ignored.

Loonita.7421:

witcher.3197:

For PvP, you either take Hammer or GS, not both as Scepter/Focus is a recommended secondary set in every DPS guard build.

GS build
Hammer build

Yeah its recommended and there are a bunch of GS sc/f builds out there, but I want to use GS/Ham as those are the weapons I enjoy and that is why im asking for help.

I’ve ran greatsword with both hammer and sw/f with plenty of success. You don’t really need the scepter if you can stick to your target. Helps to have a teammate with cripple and other CC but it’s still manageable. If you look through the forums there’s a ton of builds/videos of greatsword/hammer.

Hammer/Greatsword is a great combination. It has good burst potential with WW and MB, along with most of the guardian’s CC. There’s a few different routes you could go here. The standard meta works well with hammer/greatsword and offers a bit of extra survivability with Absolute Resolution and Vigorous Precision. If you don’t mind losing AR, perhaps you’d like a build like this that utilizes the symbols of hammer AA and greatsword #4.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fVAQJASRlsApaolDxbI8DRR8gYTVBwd62r/FMHA-TpBFwACOEAMeAAy3fgwFAoaZAAHBAA

With larger symbols that last longer, the hammer will offer AoE in team fights while providing some protection. This build still has Justice is Blind for a blind on VoJ and Fiery Wrath’s 10% damage, along with another 10% damage on Elusive Power. It also gives you a bit of extra vitality which is always nice on guardian.

Variants would include swapping out Writ of Persistence for 2 Handed Mastery. You could even trade Justice is Blind for Force of Will to gain an extra 3.5k HP. Or you could try a 0/0/6/4/4 where you can take both Writ of Persistence/2HM and Absolute Resolution.

Make sure you take traveler runes though or you’re dead in the water and will be kited all day long. Fire/air sigils work well on greatsword and I prefer hydromancy on my hammer to slow down the enemy.

Well, I built this by cramming as much support in while still being useful with damage. Uses staff/hammer and AH/virtues.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fVQQJAWSlsApfndDxVI8DNRCRl9+9fFIWfw1PQAcAA-TVSEwAPeEAo2fgl6PQVaA4IBoVJYhLAwSlZs1FQKAmUGB-w

12 stacks of might on staff for your group, and 3 from VoJ. You can also swap out CoP for Purging Flames (swap the 20% cooldowns too, use either purity or retributive armor in Valor) for more might stacking with hammer and thief shortbow. You can also stack swiftness when channeling empower, so your team doesn’t have to worry about traiting for movement speed.

Absolute Resolution for some cover cleanse for your team, along with Shielded Mind for an extra break stun for them. Save Yourselves works good to cover cleanse too with CoP to clear it if needed. Good self healing with all the boons flying around and AH.

You could also do meditations with this in a 0/0/6/2/6 keeping the virtues line/weapons and still get good support results.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fVQQJAWSlsApaolDxbI8DNRDBl98vf/xaDXfgEEAA-TVSEwAPeEAo2fgl6PQVaA4IBoVJYhLAwSlZs1FQKAmUGB-w

You still have the might, swiftness, Absolute Resolution and Shielded Mind along with some protection from hammer symbols. Team gets fury on meditations too.

I’d say the standard meta 2/1/6/1/4 meditation guardian works fine with GS/hammer.

Obal is super effective!

The burst of a 2/6/6/0/0 build may be about the same as the meta, but the sustained damage output through sword is higher than what the meta can produce. I’d say it’s less of a gimmick because it’s more than a one trick pony. If the burst fails, that’s okay, you can still put a great deal of pressure out through sword auto attack.

With pack runes, you’ve got a 90% crit chance (55% + 20% + 15%) with 2100 power and 30% damage multipliers. You’re going to hit around 6.5k on an auto attack rotation if all hits crit (which they will 9 out of 10 times). To me, the extra pressure you can put out is worth dropping absolute resolution and vigorous precision. Most of the active defense of a meditation guardian is still there.

All the build needs is cripple on sword AA #2 and 25% movement speed on adept radiance. Opening up the runes beyond movement speed would be appreciated.

I like this focus a lot.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Mistforged_Hero%27s_Focus

I used to use the anomaly but it sticks out like a sore thumb.

lordkrall.7241:

Liz.1497:

So you’re denying that 90% of the backpiece skins are largely (if not literally) unused? I mean clearly I must have gone and enforced my own taste on (nearly) everyone in the game. I am Abbadon reborn! Bow to me peasant!

Where do you even get all these numbers from? Or are you just making up a random high number to make it seem bad?

Unless you have actually seen all the potentially 3+ million accounts (and all their characters) in-game you can have a grand total of no idea how many of back pack skins are used or not, so stop shouting about it as facts.

While pulling random numbers out does very little for an argument, replying in semantics does even less. Both of you need to sit in the corner for a minute.

If we remove the evidence of negativity, it’s like it was never there!

Except it’s spread to every other subforum now…

Liz.1497:

Why are people defending the notion of pouring art resources into a large number of items literally no one uses, instead of a handful of items people would be excited to use? I’m all for variety and pleasing different tastes, but if you look at the backpieces people actually use it’s pretty evident that there is a strong consensus on what people like and are willing to use.

This right here. It takes time and money to make those pieces that the majority of people will never use. Resources that could have been better directed in other places.

I think it would of been fine having them upon release, when everyone was progressing through the game collecting their shiny armor. At this point though it seems to be a complete waste, if only for China release and their progression.

I can say for certain Amir, your time would be better spent learning how to counter classes than complaining on the forums about them. Who am I to judge how you get through your day though.

I could see 5x pure glass longbow rangers running around in a group being extremely broken.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNBjYDbkRlWWLZxiFuWDsHUrDgC4s7NEcH4RogNVA-TFCEABE8AASU9ntUCy0+jyPDuAAtpbAgjAwDHEASBExyI-w

I’d say it has the most dps potential of mediation builds used in all-in situations. Well, to be precise, I’d say the 2/6/6/0/0 with pack runes is but a 2/5/6/1/0 isn’t very far behind for the survivability it adds.

I run it generally when I want to rely on sw/f for my sustained dps. For my secondary I’ll take whatever I’m in the mood for, mostly for burst and utility. It’s tough to choose between sc/t, greatsword and hammer. They each have their pros, cons and combinations so it’s a tough call even if scepter would benefit from RHS.

I think it’s a matter of preference really if you want to take it over the meta. Maybe the more appropriate question is how much is absolute resolution worth to you?

The Pied Piper.9827:

Silalus.8760:

This would be awesome. I would pay too, though probably not if it was per character (like bag slots). If a reasonable price unlocked it as a feature for all characters, like a bank tab or the wardrobe, I’d certainly pay for that.

I do not think something like this should be a gemstore item. This would seem more like something they would add in an update, kind of like the wardrobe and mini pet storage.

I think that two or three should be available by default, but there’s nothing wrong with selling extra templates like they do bag slots, bank tabs and characters.

Each template bought should unlock an extra gear, traits and pvp template slot. Or sell them individually for less.

Mace works pretty well in medizerk builds, surprised no one mentioned it. The burst on protector’s strike does good damage, and the symbol adds some sustain and damage. Certainly helps having traveler runes to land that third strike though, cripple would be nice too. >.>

messiah.1908:

its a fact regarding dmg you keep saying its not . carrion hybrid (power and condition) guardian does more dps (dmg over time) and sdps ( sustain dmg over time) than the zerkmed meta

You say it’s a fact so convincingly. I have a really hard time believing that. You’re basing that on the fact that some direct damage can be dodged while burning is constant, right? That doesn’t automatically make it do more damage though.

The damage scaling from power/precision/ferocity on top of damage multipliers exponentially gets larger. They don’t add up 1+1 like burning and base power damage do. Without any type of math I don’t see how you can say this.

messiah.1908:

if you look at my videos (and others) you will the dmg which is higher or equal and sometimes lower than the medzerk as zerk depends on hitting and crit dmg

I really didn’t want to touch on this but you keep bringing it up like your videos prove a point. I’m sorry, but I watched your videos. I honestly think you could have contributed more with either a condition class on other professions or a different guardian build. Some fights were good, but there were others I just wondered why you even put them in the videos.

Again, I’m not trying to be rude or anything, but making a video and killing a few people doesn’t show a whole lot. In fact it kind of proves the opposite of why you shouldn’t run that build.

messiah.1908:

i know we can convince you till we or other fight in the ESL and win with it (remember the condi ranger…. now you can see it in some ESL …. )

I’m not sure what you’re implying. The condition ranger is a legitimate build. They have a multitude of options in weapons that apply conditions, traits that synergize with it and the sustain to match. A 2/0/6/6/0 s/d a/t condition ranger would mop the floor up with most classes, to mention it in the same post as condition guardian is just silly.

CMF.5461:

I “WANT” a burning/condi build to work and I keep theorycrafting them and testing them out, but they are not ready yet.

^My thoughts exactly.