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I don’t think it’s a must-have. At the risk of sounding dodgy, I don’t think any Guardian trait is an absolute must have. Inspired Virtues is just one of those traits that fits easily into just about every build ever conceived that, in retrospect, it almost seems essential.
I agree. I don’t think any trait we have is mandatory. But some traits (like Inspired Virtues or Justice is Blind) are pretty hard to pass on. They’re only 5 points for a pretty decent effect.
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It heals around 650/675 if you only have the trait and no healing gear.
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I have to say though, that trait is actually pretty useless compared with what you can take instead.
Ee-yup.
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As Polle said, the Hammer #2 got a small leap, and we also got a trait that can give Chill on a Hammer crit, occasionally.
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I don’t want to fully spoil this party, since I also love the Guardian. So let me start by thanking you for the great concept and the way the Guardian plays.
But I’d also like to remind the community that if you love this profession, you should strive for improvement. Both by becoming more skillful at it, but also by acknowledging where the profession has faults and could be better/more fun/more balanced.
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Unless I’m crazy, retaliation doesn’t actually block or reduce incoming damage. It just damages people who hit you (the damage of which scales with +power), despite the wording. So it’s way more effective against a bunch of quick small hits than slow, hard-hitting skills, and still has nothing to do with guardian defense except that it synergizes well with it.
You are absolutely correct, but Retaliation does make a “bunker” Guardian more powerful than they probably should be. It allows a player to do fair damage, while still focusing completely on defense.
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[D]oes anybody else really think guardians’ defense needs to be buffed? Seriously?
I agree. Guardians are defensive, even when going all out on the offensive front.
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Swapping weapons out of combat is indeed a bit more complicated than it should be.
But really, are you good against other professions with a Staff out? As a strictly combat-weapon it’s pretty bad in pretty much every scenario.
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Why quote only the initial part, and totally miss the rest? I already stated that I know this, BUT you really can’t justify a paper\rock\scissor system, when for 5 years the promise was exactly to break this!
If my spec\equipment is less effective against a particular enemy, it’s OK, but if I’m challenged by someone(so I CAN’T change traits and weapon on the way) and my weapons are totally useless against him, there is something wrong.
I didn’t quote the whole thing for two reasons: 1) I disagreed with what you said and 2) I fix spelling and grammar in posts I quote, and your post would take to long to correct.
It’s impossible to make every spec/weapon combination/utility load-out… effective against every other playstyle. If I build a low-health/high damage Guardians, and I get completely pummeled by a condition Necromancer with high Vitality, the fault is in my build, not with the game. If you are getting reliably owned by Thieves, there’s something wrong with your build. You can’t prepare for everything and you can’t be strong against everything all at once.
No weapon is ever completely useless. I really don’t get what you’re talking about.
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1) Symbols: I already said in some other topic, Symbols must be a mechanic for all the weapons, and they must be fairly accessible to us, because they can be a wonderful tool of ground control. so:
I don’t think each weapon needs a Symbol, but if the changes I’d like go through, only the Sword wouldn’t have a Symbol.
-Sword: Flashing Blade after the teleport, create a Symbol in the ground that causes small damage to the enemy, no boons, combo field: light
This feels really shoehorned in. I also like that our Symbols follow the same pattern, namely: damage+boon+combo-field. I also have another criticism. I don’t see how this improves our defenses, as your title says.
-Scepter: Smite Create a Symbol on the ground that damage the enemy for a good amount of damage, no boons, combo field :light
Again, I don’t like the idea that a Symbol wouldn’t grant a boon. But it’s weird that Smite isn’t a Symbol.
New conditions exclusive for all Symbols: NEGATION: Punish the enemy that walks in your Symbol: -% movement speed -% effective heal, this value are decided by the cooldown of the Symbols (not traited), so for example, Hammer Symbol it can have a constant negation on an enemy, but its not strong as the GS\staff negation.
I like the idea of punishing people who come in our Symbols, as it’s add an extra layer of control our AoE lacks somewhat. That being said, I don’t think this is the way to go about it. We don’t need a condition exclusive to our profession. What you could do is give the Scepter (for example) a Symbol that does “Chill” to an enemy instead of granting a boon. If I’m not mistaken, all our Symbols look alike, so this could be enough to discourage people from going in them. (Incidentally, giving our Symbols a Chill or Cripple effect might be a very good Grandmaster Trait.)
Aegis: I really don’t like the way Aegis work, it’s too random… I propose something like: Virtue of Courage grant Vitality(decided by level) during its duration, but you can activate it for an aegis every 15\20 sec (if you think that Shelter can be used every 30 sec and block attacks for 2 seconds, its not so OP)
I don’t think there’s a problem with how Virtue of Courage works (because your problem is really with Virtue of Courage, not with Aegis). The cooldown is a bit long, but not underpowered in any way. If I’d had to change anything about it, I’d make it so that Virtue of Courage gives us a more active way of defending ourselves. Off the top of my head it could give a 1% damage reduction and grant Aegis on activation with an overall lower cooldown.
Hallowed ground: Enemy can enter it, but cannot exit it.
I like our area-denial abilities, but you have to keep in mind that they’re extremely potent. Maybe punishing the enemy for leaving it with extra burning or a cripple can be a better way to go about it.
Sanctuary: Dome effect around the character, unable to move, invulnerable, 6 heal pulse per second. Before 2 seconds(you have only 2 sec to activate the side effect) of duration, you can sacrifice the dome, to trap the enemy inside the bubble, the enemy cannot move, regenerate skills, regenerate health.
Sanctuary is already powerful. This makes it harder-to-use and a bit counterintuitive. It would also be the only skill that would work like that. And shutting down the enemy so completely is almost griefing.
Wall of Reflection:Enemy cant step through It.
Wall of Reflection is fine as it is. Hard area-denial is incredibly powerful and we already have Line of Warding. Wall of Reflection has a specific use, and it’s really good at that. Giving it another (strong) use, would be too powerful.
Conclusion
I don’t think the Guardian really needs more defenses. Your ideas aren’t all bad, but they would make us a lot stronger in an area we’re already really strong in.
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Why don’t they give us a heavy crossbow with fiery bolts of light. It could also have a skill that stuns or knocks back depending on distance and an AoE attack that shoots three bolts at 1 time.
I’ll give you two reasons:
- We don’t actually need a new weapon, just tweaks to our existing ones.
- I doubt they’re going to introduce a new weapon-type in a random patch.
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I want you guys to focus on one thing.
You think it is right that a Guardian must change his equipment\traits, to challenge different classes?
How is this any different from other professions. Necromancers need to spec condition damage to tackle Guardians, Warriors can’t use burst-specs against us. There are probably more examples, but the point is: You can’t be good against everything.
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Our defensive skills have long cooldowns by design, because Arenanet doesn’t want defense to be too powerful. And given how good we are (defensively) even with longer cooldowns, I don’t think given us lower cooldowns will really be balanced.
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Could you post the actual link. Links from gw2skills don’t work because of the semi-colon in them, but you can still copy-paste them in your browser.
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I use this combination with a shout-build for sPvP. Here’s the link: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQNAS8elUgqCnFSKEfIFRuAbBYPwYF74lCHKRA;TsAA1CtoyyklILbWuskZtEZAyOEA
(The last 10 points change around.)
I love the crowd control the build offers, and thanks to the Sword you can put out a bit of damage as well if needed. The important thing about this build (and weapon-combination) is that you should make the fight according to how you want it. Use your control and gap-closer to make sure the enemy is at the distance you want them to be.
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How how about we deliver ideas on how to improve the scepter?
I have done so on numerous occasions and it’s getting tiresome. But sure, here are some of my ideas.
First Skill
- Increase the projectile speed and give the skill a short-ish cast-time. This keeps the (the theoretical) damage roughly the same, but makes it easier to actually hit (moving) targets.
- Make it a projectile finisher.
- Make it an attack-chain.
- A Combination of any of the above.
Second Skill
- Make it a Symbol. Seriously, most of the problems this skill has can be solved by making it a Symbol.
Third Skill
- This one is fine.
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I don’t really like suggesting or creating builds for other people (for a variety of reasons), but if you give me more info I’ll give it a go.
What do you expect from your build? What do you mean with versatile? What kind of weapons and utilities do you want?
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Thank a lot guys.
What about a Scepter+torch, will that setup benefit more with power/prec/condi? No2 scepter ability cycles pretty fast or is it not considered as a condition?
You mean Smite? That doesn’t do condition damage.
Condition builds aren’t really all that viable for Guardians. It’s better to see burning as supplemental damage, instead of focusing on it.
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Condition damage works pretty well against a lot of bunker builds (not all).
Another thing you should keep in mind is to stay at range if you can. Unless they’re using a Scepter, they’ll be pretty useless.
And if you’re using a burst build, save your burst for after the Guardian’s heal.
Edit: And most importantly, I want to thank you for coming to ask how to beat us, instead of just whining about how strong we are.
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It needs work. You’re definitely not being as good as you could be.
You have three traits that improve Meditations, without having a single Meditation.
Powerful Blades could be changed with another signet trait.
Binding Jeopardy isn’t really worth it if you have only one immobilize (in my opinion).
Making a Two-Handed build isn’t that hard. Just use a Two-hander, and make sure you don’t pick traits that cater only to One-handers.
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I’d focus on Crit damage, since our condition damage really only comes from one source.
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I don’t think it does. But I mostly play sPvP, so I’m probably not the best to answer this.
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I picked Human because I always play human, but I’m regretting it. I hate my character in the personal story. Armor does look good on it, and the animations are okay.
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How about something like:
Glacial Force: Using the #3 of your Hammer and Mace causes Chill.
It removes the randomness, and you can still give it an internal cooldown if needed and the same template can be used for other weapons.
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I rather disagree. Glacial Heart has to many “ifs” to ever be useful.
And I don’t really like traits that focus only on a particular weapon.
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A- It works exactly as you described.
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Another thin’ you may want to keep in mind is that wearing a Shield increases the chance of mobs attacking you.
Really? I didn’t know.
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Umm… we wear plate. We are Guardians and have to thus guard and guarding is usually most effective by being between mob and rest of your team.
Serious question back: Why be a Guardian if you just keep your distance? Roll a ranger, engineer or caster if you want to be at range.
I play a Guardian, because Arenanet has stated it would be enjoyed by players who liked healers in other games. They were wrong (I enjoy the Guardian for different reasons). But yeah, I play a Guardian because I want to support and protect my allies. Sometimes supporting and protecting my allies requires me to stay back. In this case, I’m limited to the unfocused Staff (and then my range is pretty limited) or the Scepter, which provides no support at all. I don’t necessarily want a new ranged weapon. I’d be perfectly happy if they tweaked the Scepter and/or the Staff.
Wearing plate is no excuse. Both in history and in this game there is precedent for people using ranged weaponry in accord with heavy armor.
Also, I’m sure that a Bow and a Rifle can be perfectly flavored as a protective weapon. Maces aren’t generally known for their healing and blocking capabilities.
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This might not actually be an issue with the weapons. It’s more the meta. Guardians, for example, have a damage build that’s (theoretically) perfectly viable, but the meta forces them somewhat into bunker roles, so all weapons that help with a defensive playstyle will be overrepresented in PvP.
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@Rainshine: A quick count of skills that can be used specifically to deal with ranged combat (ranged attacks, gapclosers, cripples, immobilizes…) shows that the Warrior has 21 and the Guardian has 16, which is a pretty noticeable difference. (Elementalist for example has 30).
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And if you don’t like it, maybe this is not the class for you?
Rubbish. I love the Guardian and pretty much every aspect of it (except for Spirit Weapons). It’s my favorite archetype of things you can pick in the game. But we do lack range and it’s an issue in some situations.
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Any weapon is good, it’s just dependent on your playstyle. You should try out all the weapons. If you don’t want to buy them, get them with karma or from random drops (if you don’t get the weapons you want, you can always use the Mystic Forge roulette).
And if you only use Signets for their passive benefits: that’s a bad habit.
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Here’s what should be done.
1) Consolidate all the SW traits into three. Keep them all in two branches, and make it so some of them don’t only affect SWs. For example, Altruistic Healing isn’t made for shouts, but Shouts benefit greatly from it.
2) SW cooldowns should begin as soon as the weapon has been summoned, not when the weapon has left the field.
3) SWs should initiate their finisher at the end of their duration to ensure the player receives their fullest benefit.
1) I don’t think they need to be all in one line, but having them in the first tier of the other lines would be better. Also, removing one Spirit Weapons’ trait (or combining one) would give the builds more freedom.
2) Shouldn’t this make the baseline cooldown longer for the Spirit Weapons for balance reasons?
3) Good idea.
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I mean, Guardians aren’t supposed to stay at range.
Serious question: Why not?
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I can answer 1. easily. It doesn’t work like that. The tooltip is very misleading there.
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Darn, I hate the fact that I don’t have a lot of color dyes.
Restriction breeds creativity. And it’s not that hard to find random dyes while just doing everyday content.
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I don’t plan on using it. I dislike exploiting as much as you probably do. I’m just curious about it. Because the Bunker Build I use doesn’t rely on any exploits and is still very powerful.
But I can perfectly understand not wanting to share it, even though you say many Guardians you use, so it probably should be common knowledge…
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I have no knowledge of such a bug. Could you PM me the explanation, if you trust me with such information.
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I really like the way it looks, especially paired with Staffs and Shields.
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I was using Dijon with Matte, but I recently got bored of that.
Now I did my entire armor “Frost”, which is white-shiny metallic and I’ve used “River”(Blue) , Tea Jeans (Darker Blue) and Stone (Gray) for details.
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How about using Greatsword together with Mace/Torch?
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The problem with the Greatsword is that all of its skills come together in high burst. This leaves you with a lot of down-time, since you’re most effective using all your skills close together, and because of the high-ish cooldown of the Symbol, it’s not really worth preserving your combo-finishers for it.
The Greatsword is a powerful weapon on its own. It’s just very boring, because you’re auto-attacking for a long time. The auto-attack is actually pretty good, so if you’re in a situation where you just need to do damage, you don’t actually need to weapon-swap.
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I’m not sure about “the best s/he can be”, since I don’t have a dedicated sPvP team and can only play free tournaments, but I play a Shout build that has neither of those traits and I’m still very, very effective.
The thing to remember here is that defensive Guardians are (as Eveningstar describes it) are “meta-good”, which means you’ll see a of Guardians that spec in deep Valor (Yeah, Toughness!) so it would be silly not to take those traits.
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Yeah, as someone pointed out, I was mistaken and it was a Mace together with the Shield. Point is, s/he still weaponswapped and you’re still overreacting. The fight lasted 4 minutes and 30 seconds and the Mesmer also wasn’t really in danger of dying for the most part of that video.
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You made the builds, did you test them? If so, which one kills enemies the fastest without you dying? Because that’s the best one.
Also, which one do you find most fun (because that’s not unimportant)?
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The Guardians often changes his weapons (he was running Scepter/Focus and Sword/Shield, I think).
He also had a lot of healing either traited or geared, or a very low healthpool in order to heal that big of a chunk of his HP. This means that you can rather easily burst him down when his defenses are gone, or that he’s not going to do a lot of damage.
Also, that last sentence is completely ridiculous. He was using almost every tool in his arsenal and it still took ages to kill that Mesmer.
So, do you have any valid complaints?
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Just, you know, pick up traits you like and that suit your playstyle.
It will be really hard to do it wrong and if you think you did something wrong, come here and post the build.
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That’s in PvP. In PvE the hammer is amazingly bad for many reasons which I have already stated, so I don’t see the need to repeat myself again.
The Hammer is still pretty good in a lot of PvE content. Yes, the skills, outside of the first two, are really situational, but they provide you control that no other weapon gives you. And the first two skills are pretty amazing. The first chain gives you a reliable source of what is probably the best (defensive) boon in the game and the second attack is a high-damage gap closer.
In PvP the Hammer is amazing.
The shield #5 skill has great concept, really cool, but it doesn’t really work that well in this current form.
Perhaps it could be remade into something in line of a shield throw that jumps between 3 – 5 targets and dazes them, or that it jumps between allies adding a small reg-heal.
How does the #5 doesn’t work well? It works exactly as described and it’s pretty powerful. It’s a big AoE knockback+protection from projectiles+a Light combo field+a pretty decent heal.
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This question has been asked around a week ago.
But anyway: Yes, the stack. If you have two (or more conditions) and you use a Shout with this setup, you will lose two conditions and gain one extra boon. What’s even better is that when you only have one condition, Pure of Voice takes precedence, so you’ll never remove a condition without getting a boon.
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