Guild Wars 2

HeNkitten8913:

If you’re able to get hold of him get someone called strifey/strife05 or a guardian from EBay (forgot the name sorry =() but his youtube name is JDharris66

That would be forum regular: Amins.3710

I’m not sure Anet will be caving in to any more player weapon requests any time soon.

They’ve already said the 5000 range sniper rifle they’re including in the early April patch for guardians will be the last weapon buff we’ll be getting for quite some time.

You never know though.

Lalangamena.3694:

AH doesn’t scale with healing power very well. (also it should be renamed to egoistic healing…).

Depends – egotistic healing, but not egotistic support ( since ah/em by it’s nature promotes giving ladle-fulls of might, protection and other boons to everyone that’s close.)

Bakitten291 (Bash)

10/30/30/0/0 Hands down.

http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/guardian/?3.0|c.1g.h2.d.1c.h19|1.1p.h19|1n.7c.1c.7c.1n.7c.1c.7c.1n.7c.1c.7c|1p.61.1n.67.1n.67.1i.67.1g.67.1c.61|a2.u6ab.u56c.0.0|54.1|w.1b.15.13.1i|e

How good do you find Sigil of Generosity? – it’s one of the few I haven’t experimented with yet.

I can see it might be handy for glassier builds which don’t have as much access to removals as other specs.

Edit: just noticed your username gets censored – wtf

station.6421:

I think the 5 ability on the focus and shield were accidentally swapped during development and no one noticed it :P The focus shield would work better on the actual shield both mechanically and thematically. Projecting a huge, light dome seems something more akin to something a focus would do.

Not really – Shield of Wrath is our most powerful single hit damage skill, and suits the focus for that reason.

Not sure why everyone is focussing on our inability to nuke people from the walls. We can nuke people at the doors and through walls instead. You can harrass people outside the gates too, no need to stay safely inside.

Also to flip the example around, guardians are great classes for seiging.

For all the sceptre’s faults, it does a pretty good job of immobilizing and smiting wall defenders.

You’re likely to find the guardian shrugging off aoe pounding away on the gate providing continuous protection, healing and shielding for ram operators. ( no other class can stay at the gate longer than a guardian can )

If you’re trying to keep up with a zerg, just get used to swapping weapons and utilities that give yourself and your team swiftness – that way you’ll be at the front and not at the back. ( you can switch them back just before you arrive at your objective )

The one plus with the last patch is that wrath will actually tag up to 3 people if they wall through the beam, so you have more chance of a rally in the middle of a zerg

Amins.3710:

Roxtar.6487:

That way you can take a hit or two with ~2900 armor. Also crit damage has a funny stat plateau at around 50% (after which point it is [almost] always better to stat prec or pow), so knight’s is pretty great.

.

Don’t agree w/ this at all.

And I agree w/ this. For a true DPS build you need to max your crit dmg and precision. Shortfalls in power can be supplemented with bloodlust and/or might stacking.

Survivability comes through active defenses, skill timing and your team mates
( and, well, killing things very quickly )

I would like to see WxP rewards scale down with the number of combatants.

Give maximum reward to small roving groups of no more than a dozen and miniscule rewards to massive zergs – that might encourage the blobs to break up a bit.

Likewise a 1v2 kill should be much more rewarding than a 6v1 kill.

DPS build on a guardian for WvW is great fun.

A word of caution though – your survivability compared to other classes comes via all of your active defences and the ability to dodge.

You can’t go into a fight and expect to be able to disengage from it like most other damage dealing classes can ( turn tail and run ) – so you commit to fighting to the end, either their death or yours ( unless you have a good team to back you up ). This kind of reckless abandon often works in your favour though and your opponents end up running from you.

It’s incredibally rewarding, but any mistakes can be fatal.

Adding to the above:

2) Wolves have to be kited – use wards to keep them off you and your group and keep the blocks and blinds up as much as possible.

For the butcher – he’s slow so either kite him around the room if you have agro, or dodge in and out of melee range making sure you dodge his hits ( if he does his axe frenzy skill dodge out of hit range immediately or pop shelter/renewed focus and stroll away casually ).

The most important thing is to destroy the protection totem whenever it spawns, otherwise the fight lasts forever.

Don’t be disheartened if you get wiped the first few times you run a dungeon – it’s all about learning each encounter and knowing which utilities to bring to the table.

Rampant Rampage.2567:

I know I’m a little late to this party but this statement here is partially false, while I agree that the HP pool of a Guardian is low and mobility is poor, CC is by no means low! With DPS Guardian I can easily get to 97% CC!

I might be reading this wrong, but I think you’re referring to Critical Chance, while Aza was referring to Crowd Control (CC)

You know you’ve played a guardian too long when you feel naked without Protection.

You know you’ve played a guardian too long when you expect your cold to last no more than 10 seconds

You know you’ve played a guardian too long when you try and get a dodge roll in between every second and third action

You know you’ve been playing a guardian too long when you cut yourself accidentally and then wonder why rolling on the floor doesn’t help

I was having fun with a similar build too, although yesterday I retraited back to something more traditional.
It’s fantastic in roving small group combat, but doesn’t stand up well to the kind of zergs I’ve been running into since the patch.

akamon.2769:

and re: symbols, oops, i never even noticed it only hit up to 3 targets (mace and hammer). this included dmg to foes AND boons to allies?

I believe so – the hammer worked ok provided you didn’t have WoE traited – so you may not have noticed it.

Sigil of Rage is also just 3 seconds still

Hicci.8761:

Errr. How did the symbols hit wrong amount of targets again? Did they hit too many or too few? In either cases we didn’t get any nerfs nor buffs.

Some symbols were only proc’ing for 3 instead of 5 ( Mace ), and hammer protection would only hit 3 if you had Writ of Exultation traited. So you could say it’s a buff ( or rather a de-nerf )

Quite happy about that one as I often have WoE switched on

source: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/guardian/Guardian-Bugs-compilation/page/8#post1564459

Aeolus.3615:

off-topic.
Recently being observing groups of 5-6 running of all same profession, but only, necros, mesmers and thiefs, rare to find some engi’s with the turret drop spike, but for sure necros are the mostly anoying.

Well they’ve definitely focussed on the engineer in this patch, so I hope we’ll see more of them in the field

Lahm.7056:

Concerning what you mentioned about the comparison from our Strength In Numbers trait and the newly buffed Warrior banner skills, well a trait is obviously going to be inferior to a off-hand skill, also other professions who have similar stat ‘aura’ increase also have values same as us Guardians, correct me if I’m wrong. =P

I would imagine they’d think twice about giving even more utility to Valor anyway.

@Lahm – I apologise, the tone of my post may not have been entirely clear – I’ve updated it slightly.

BlueprintLFE.2358:

What the hell is wrath skill? There’s like 20 skills with the word wrath in it.

It’s our downed state uber dps skill. I expect everyone will switch to Strength and Revenge of the Fallen now – AH is dead!

Everyone who complains about a guardian’s low HP pool failed to grasp that it allows us to enter Downed State far more effectively than other classes.

Be prepared for all guardian zergs in WvW like this one:

The only thing I could comment on reading though was concerning the buff to Warrior banners, such as:

• Banner of Defense skill: Increased toughness and vitality granted to allies from 90 at level 80 to 170.

It’s a shame Strength In Numbers didn’t get a similar hike.

You can also buy a stack of “engineer” medi packs from Lionguard Harral karma npc for 77 karma each:

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Medical_Pack
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Drop_Stimulant
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Lionguard_Haral

That’s 10 secs of swiftness (and fury) every 20 seconds – and use SYS and/or Retreat in between.

It’s useful if you don’t want to be pigeon-holed into carrying a staff all the time ( you can just drop the pack and enter combat with your favourite weapon instantly )

I used to find these consumables handy in WvW too, but unfortunately they stopped them from working in the last patch.

I’ve seen those kind of numbers in PvE with a fairly standard berserker build.

( > 100 crit dmg, nearly 100 % crit chance with fury + 25 stacks of bloodlust )

Unfortunately the only screenie I have of that doesn’t quite reach that high.

( it’s an orian champion which has alot of vulnerability stacked against it ).

If memory serves that build had an effective power of about 6k – it is possible to reach as high as 10k with the right food, runes and traits ( and 12k epower when you take might and fury into account). I’ve not personally tested what real world hits that gives though and it does require alot of circumstances to be right to be remotely effective ( ie burning target, aegis up, high health etc ).

Your HP and armor will be a joke

As others have said, if you want big numbers then roll a warrior ;-)

That said – you can have quite a laugh surprise flattening people in WvW, but don’t expect to survive long after. ( Shield of Wrath -> Judges Intervention -> Mighty Blow with Smite Condition give a hefty burst )

Ghotistyx.6942:

-Massive buff to Wrath, making such builds more viable. Potentially OP

Yup screw AH, I’m respecc’ing for Strength and Revenge of the Fallen the moment the patch hits.

I’ll post my “Dawn of the Downed” build later, if anyone is interested.

rchu.8945:

agree with your sentiment. I feel guardian class needs a slight bump in health pool or some extra % for dmg reduction, if the role is truly front line dps/ support instead of healer.

I imagine that’s pretty tricky to balance. Say we get our base health bumped to 15/16k – that would make a full zerker with 8.5-9k effective power build an absolute monster.

Daywolf.2630:

bloodlust
blood
speed
night
water
depends on equip/trait choice and situation.

yeah +5 can be good, but +10 better and an ascalon weapon with a night sigil works well.

Actually +15 is even better – Night and Force stack

Gaudrath.6725:

So can you use it to bat treb shots out of the air?

Doesn’t work for Trebs – only Sanctuary will stop those.

If you can afford it, it’s worth having a couple of weapon sets with alternative sigils, so you can swap to different ones as appropriate.

I recommend having 2 weapons ( can be trashy quality ) with bloodlust and perception sigils, so you can charge up power or precision to 25 stacks ( then you can switch back to your main weapon )

For main, I tend to go for Accuracy, Force or Energy depending on the game I’m playing

I see it more as an interesting quirk of teleporting to learn. ( the guardian effect takes a little bit of good timing )
Either way it rarely has any utility other than to jump off fort walls and straight into melee range without stumbling

People generally recommend about 40% as a sweet spot for a tanky build, that generates a good amount of Empowering Might procs.

I used to recommend higher, but with the long-coming nerf to lifesteal food it’s no longer really needed.

30% should probably be a minimum, enough to keep Vigorous Precision ticking off cooldown.

If DPS is your thing, then the sky is the limit – a typical dps berseker will achieve about 70%, giving about 90 with fury.

Still has it’s place in WvW.

You can use it to deny zerg entry for a while when a gate or wall is breached .

With ground targeting it’s main utility is to knock people off towers or ledges.

You can use it to absorb a catapult strike if you place it correctly.

If nothing else it buys a few extra seconds to regroup or run for the hills

Occasionally I’ll switch it in for dungeons to keep rock dogs off the party ( combining with Ring of Warding and Line of Warding ).

I definitely wouldn’t keep it on my bar for any great period of time though, it IS a completely situational skill and the long CD will tie up a slot for a painful amount of time.

That would definitely be reasonable, although I would keep the audible cue – perhaps with a short lived aegis effect when it’s restored off CD even out of combat

If you are Norn, then maybe one of these?:

http://argos-soft.net/GW2ArmorGallery/index.php?sex=0&race=3&color=10&weight=3

I would go with both too..
But really there’s no reason to choose anyway – once you’ve spent the points you’re free to switch traits as the situation requires.
If you’re in a group with no other Melee players than you can switch in Writ of Persistence instead of Exaltation.
If you’ve spent 30 points in Honor, and you’re likely to have friendlies close to you then I’d probably have Exaltation and Mercy and Empowering Might.
Facing condition heavy mobs? Switch in pure of voice.
WvW? Battle Presence or Protective Reviver.

Builds don’t need to be static

Aye, I queried Anet months ago about whether this was intended (or acceptable) behaviour, but never got a response. ( put it in the bug thread too for good measure )

FYI it works from absolutely any height, the only requirement is that there’s a neutral or aggressive targetable object in range in the landing area – it also works for friendlies with Merciful Intervention when traited with instant meditations

Damage from AoE and reflection skills are no longer limited to enemy combatants

If you want to have some fun, then Sigil of Rage on a high crit/crit damage build is very amusing

it’s all we have left

Going to comment more on sigils and utilities than actual weapons although:

Sword and Torch give insane dps if you know your target isn’t going to move. For more mobile targets then sceptre and focus is the way to go imho. (And ofc staff for might stacking)

It’s been a while since I played full zerker, and someone already mentioned my favourite combo of Shield of Wrath + Judges Intervention.

I’ll also add that Sigil of Force and Sigil of Night stack, which is an extra +15% damage on top of the usual boosts you get from unscathed contender and fiery wrath.

Have a spare offhand or two so you can either charge up Sigil of Bloodlust or Sigil of Perception to 25 stacks to maximise either your crit chance or power depending on what your build is lacking.

On a max crit damage/chance setup with fury you also get some impressive aoe burst using Sigil of Rage and staff staff#1 ( Quickness ftw ).

I’ll throw in a mention for Justice is Blind which applies a helfty amount of vulnerability if you blind multiple mobs in one hit, which can have a big impact on the numbers flashing up on your screen.

I never went full glass cannon, but I’ve definitely seen the torch#5 and sword #3 channel for 12-13k damage on orian vets and champions, so I imagine it’s possible to get much higher.

kiba.2768:

Tarsius.3170:

You can’t really allow the effect to be turned off as enemies often rely on the the visual cue so they can avoid wasting their high damage skills on you ( which is a fair mechanic )…

that’s why I said client-side, not server-side

Right sorry – although I think if have something like the the Flameseeker Prophecies, you’d want to fix it so that everyone can see it in all it’s glory too – so I’m not sure if a client-only option would really cut it.

You can’t really allow the effect to be turned off as enemies often rely on the the visual cue so they can avoid wasting their high damage skills on you ( which is a fair mechanic ).

I think it would be nice if they changed the effect when the shield is equipped so it emanates around the shield edge. But I’m fairly certain this would require tweaking every single shield model to accommodate the effect – Anet has (hopefully) bigger fish to fry.

Asuras can also fire off Pain Inverter if they suspect a cloaked thief is about to strike. Will make them think twice about ( or regret ) unloading all their burst onto you.

While spirit weapons are now good enough for my purposes ( I never had a build around them ), it reinforces my main gripe.

If all of our skills are situational ( which I’m fine with ) – please let us be able to switch utilities that are on CD. ( the CD can be transferred to the new utility ).

Tarsius.3170:

Not guardian specific, but I’m expecting an internal cd for lifesteal foods… 2 seconds? ( on the tool tip/patch notes, but 5 seconds in reality ).

Putting an optimistic hat on for a moment, then “fix scaling issue with spirit weapon stats” ( …taking the hat off, will probably mean they now will also suck at low levels )

So it wasn’t quite as bad as I predicted, just a 1 second ICD and a 30% buff to spirit weapon HP

ComeAndSee.1356:

Orb of Light only heals for 494 with 1,114 healing power. Eh, not as great as I thought.

Empower is a 3 second cast.

Shield of Justice got a new sound.

I do notice my Wall of Mist is a lot brighter now. Cool.

Yeah staff is pretty nice to use now – I might actually use it a bit more than just situationally.

Got the Wall of Mists here to, but didn’t check it before logging out for the night

Not guardian specific, but I’m expecting an internal cd for lifesteal foods… 2 seconds? ( on the tool tip/patch notes, but 5 seconds in reality ).

Putting an optimistic hat on for a moment, then “fix scaling issue with spirit weapon stats” ( …taking the hat off, will probably mean they now will also suck at low levels )

Change lots of skill cooldowns and durations to match incorrect tooltips

sceptre#1 will now fly in random directions by design, and staff #2 will target the nearest bird, or squirrel.

Wall of Reflection will now be a mesmer skill.

Pure of Voice will work on meditations instead of shouts ( but only with merciful intervention )

With Right Hand Strength traited, guardians will now have a 30% chance of dropping their greatsword or hammer on crit

Merciful Intervention will now prioritise birds and squirrels

• Only a WvW blacksmith can afford their own tropical island
• Only a WvW mesmer gains a tactical advantage by being downed
• Only a WvW player does a jumping puzzle with their map open

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/guardian/Guide-Hammer-and-Altruistic-Healing-gameplay/first