Guild Wars 2

very cool, thanks, Silven! practicing the mace / torch combo and it’s fun. heh.

recently, been going back to a GS and Hammer DPS build as well. and experimentnig with Bane Signet. am quite liking the near instant knockdown! and having extra power when it’s passive helps as well.

hello Bailey! 0/5/30/30/5 is a good starting ground and very functional build for WvW! i would suggest running Monk’s Focus + Meditations when solo, and then AH + Shouts or sth in a group setting.

what are the detailed breakdown of your traits / armor stats? i used to go full Knight’s as well.. though the more i played, the more i tried mixing and matching to balance out good damage as well as defense/survivability. i liked mixing knight’s with solder or valkyrie for some more vit. or berserkers if i wanted more damage.

what are you specifically having a hard time with though? being able to disengage i will say can be quite hard if you’re being focused.

Cleric’s can work if you’re planning to outlast your opponents. so you will get much added lnoger lasting cause of the healing power, you’ll definitely hit a lot less hard. so make sure you get bloodlust stacks or sth to make up for it. : )) and also, this is just a personal threshold, but i won’t specifically invest into healing power if i don’t get over 1k.

in general, WvW is a lot of about not losing focus, while not getting tunnel vision either. always be aware of your surroundnigs. if you’re using GS, the leap can help with escaping, as well as line of warding on the staff. swiftness symbol definitely helps as well. make sure you have condition cleansing, as well as some stun breaks too. stability is great to have as well!

that’s your typical meditation / DPS setuup with the added functionality/survivability with 5 in Honor and 5 in Virtues. : )) and it seems like you’re set as is!

usually, i don’t run Contemplation of Purity unless if i know i’ll be playing against the same groups for a while and they’re condition heavy. previously, i slotted Stand Your Ground, to i can secure stomps faster. and recently, i’ev been experimenting with Bane Signet – added power, as well as a near instant knockdown which is helpful for chasing down fleers, stoppnig a stomp, or to land your big hits! though, again, CoP is actually a very strong skill (mini heal, convertsa bunch of conditions, as well as a stun break).

and even though with 30 in Radiance you kinda feel like you should pick up RHS and go one-handed, i’ve recently tried going back to hammer and GS with meditations and it’s pretty fun too. : )) i then took Signet of Resolve as well and traited for Signets in the Radiance line. still testing it out, but so far so good!

you can try out the torch too if you like! i used to go sword/focus + scepter/torch in sPvP. though in geenral most people go sword torch and then scepter focus. if you time your burst with Shield of Wrath (Focus 5), JI to your target, scepter immob them, then use Zealot’s Flame + Fire (SoW should go off here), it does a LOT of damage. follow up with Zealot’s Defense if you need.

and like you said, even in ZvZ, it holds up well! i used to play AH as well and haven’t touched it in a while now. lol

o wow i wrote a lot. ://// oops lol sorry if you know most of this already!!!

now, utilities! an easy starting ground would be shouts. all shotus are AoE based and hitting up to 5 targets, yoruself included.. but your allies do have to be in range. hold the line is good for more regen and protection (this is one boon our guards are good at giving out!). to note, with 5 in virtues, our VoR (F2) now also gives regen, and VoC (F3) now also gives protection when activated! Stand your gruond is a stnu break, which can be useful and saves you in a pinch and then also stability so you don’t get knocked down. then retreat is not bad for swiftness, though maybe not the MOST useful in dungeons, still good to have. as well as another block for big attacks. save yourselves is decent toO! it’s more of a life saver almost.. but be careful when you use it, if your allies are stacked with conditions, and while you can pull them all off them, you might bring yourself down depending on the situation. hence the name of the shout though ; )))

later on you can experiment with consecrations as well. sanctuary is good for reviving as well as area denial. wall of reflection is awesome! though i don’t think in AC there’s TOO big a need for it. hope someone corrects me if i am wrong.

keep experimenting with the other utilities as well! meditations are really fun but don’t really serve a place in dungeons i feel. signets are not too bad but shouts are probably better. and then spirit weapons sadly have lost it’s place in most PvE content. except for maybe shield of the avenger! a lot of Guards love it. though i personally don’t have too much experience with it yet so i won’t ocmment there.

lastly, just wanted to echo my points about dungeons being rather tough. even though AC is the first dungeon out there.. it’s certainly not the easiest. haha, in regards for dungeon specific tips, to be honest, i don’t remember AC story that much. did it once and never went back lol.. all i remember is USE BOULDERS for the Lovers fight! go look up some video guides or written guides to help you out a bit to get you started. when in the dungeon, don’t rush into things, try to plan and take your time. try to dodge attacks with big windups, stay always on the move, don’t stand in red circles, etc etc.. if you’re getting burnt down fast, focus on surviving! as once one party member goes down, it makes it twice as hard for remaining party members and then wipes can easily happen. take your time and be patient! learnthe strategies for each buit.. and most importantly, HAVE FUN! : )))

hope this wasn’t too messy for you to follow.. and ask any questions! i’ll be sure to come back to check and try to help in any way i can.

hey there! hope this isn’t too late. hmm, i’ll also be writing this from the perspective that it’s your first time donig a dungeon. so it’s been a while since i’ve done dungeons and do note i didn’t start dungeons until I was 80, but let’s try to put sth together for your lvl 40 here. so iirc, you’ll have 30 trait points to spend?

i want to say maybe something like:
10/15/0/0/5 or 0/15/0/10/5

so before i go into details.. or try to explain, i focused more on a mix of DPS/supprot type hybrid when i go into dungeons. i assume this is your frist time? know that dungeons can be extremely unforgiving so you can try to play a bit more defensively to start with.. however, if you’re cmofortable with using your dodges, blocks, etc, then by all means go a little more DPS focused. since in PvE, the golden rule is, the faster the mobs die, the less chance of you dying.

i want to add that for a Guard, even if you spec for DPS, a lot of our innate abilities giev out boons or support in one way or another as well. : ))

so you can see the basic setup is 15 in Radiance and 5 in Virtues. i would then take Blind Exposure as well for your adept major trait in Radiance (VI).

If you go Zeal, you can think about Fiery Wrath (II) for extra 10% dmg against burning foes. and i’m sure you know, we Guardians burn a lot, whether we like it or not

If you go honor, you can go Superior Aria (II) for shorter CD on shouts, or even Resolute Healer (V) for Shield of Absorption (a la shield #5) that pushes back foes whenever you res, which can be quite crucial when you have allies in a pinch. though, note the CD (60s) and most likely won’t work on bosses. so take note of stability or defiant, etc etc on mobs.

so with the x/15/x/x/5 setup, each time you hit Virtue of Justice (F1), apart from causing your allies’ affected by it next attack to burn the target, you’ll also do an AoE blind (Rad 5), as well as might (Vir 5), AND picking up Rad VI, you’ll add vuln each time you blind a foe. with Rad 15, each time a foe dies as long as you contributed enough for you to get kill credit, your F1 will reset. so if you guys kill decently fast enuogh, you’ll be hitting F1 quite awesome. which mitigates dmg, through the blinds, as well as adds to DPS through vulns, burns, and might.

in terms of weapons.. i heavily preferred having the hammer in AC or dungeons in general, unless if the situation called for something different. the #1 chain drops a symbol which gives protection so if your party is melee centric (warrior for e.g.), they’ll benefit from that as well and it helps. then use hammer #2 which is a hard hitter, on a low CD, and also gives AoE retal with the symbol of protetion (though its not of much use to mobs so much..). banish (#4) is good to knockback or interupt foes, or if you have an ally who is down with mobs attacking them, you can knock them away. remember not to knock mobs away from your allies big attacks though! andthen Ring of Warding #5 is useful for keeping mobs at choke points so you guys can keep dps-ing.

then comes secondary weapon. staff i found quite useful! though it doesn’t do a WHOLE lot of damamge. staff #4 gives 12 stacks of might as well as a mini heal. line of warding (staff #5) is useful to block enemies off and then you and your party can DPS them down more when they’re hindered. many people like using GS for the pull ability to group mobs (#5), leap of faith (#3) is good for the blind and then WW (#2) does pretty darn good damage. though, all weapons are good and you can experiment. if you feel you really need some distance between mobs and yourself, you can even try scepter, very high single target DPS actually. pair up with shield for more group utility (again, don’t use shield 5 to knockback and spread out grouped mobsi f your team is trying to DPS them down), focus adds some more blinds, regen, condition cleansing as well as more blocks (or even AoE burst!), torch is fun too but i didn’t use it much in dungeons.

mace and focus was really fun. for a while, i played a symbol nuke build. the mace was extremely useful for that. i still need better timing with Protector’s Strike as well. i imagine thouhg, you could get nice burst with SoW from Focus, then applying Protector’s Strike on top. time it so that SoW goes off the same time PS gets hit.

i am a huge fan of the torch as well though and i feel it matches up pretty well with the scepter. i liked using JI, then depending on the opponent (if they dodge instatntly or not, insta-immob chains of light, then zealot’s fire and flame to follow up. smite. then cleansing flame if you want to add mroe pressure, though its dmg is really quiet low. but it still does it’s job well. then auto away. i feel like i kill things a LOT faster this way compared to many other weapon sets.

i love 2H weapons and played those majority of my Guardian career. now i’m falling in love with 1h weapons again and sword is too, my least favorite lol.

Radiant Fire – the burn should definitely stay. i play torch as melee actually. JI in, activate, burns, toss flame. i like how it works right now. : )))

re: Inner Fire, i don’t think Torch 4 should self-inflict burn either, but if it did, i wouldn’t mind either. perhaps add might along with fury, then i’d feel that change is justified. as said, you get burns enough as is from fighting majority of the classes.

Mace of Justice – instant Symbol of Faith on trait is to DIE for.

Glacial Heart – i like the suggestion of added chills on symbols. although, symbols could be OP. but definitely great synergy for keeping people to stay on them. perhaps like Amins said, a chance to proc chills on pulses for all symbols. i think that would be incredibly powerful already. definitely would love to see this fixed! chills are easily my favorite condition in the game. XDDD then i can hack my chill-themed Guardian build out of his ice block and use him again. ; ))

Scepter – to be honest, i love the way it plays right now. i would like to see a speed increase more than a damage increase.. though at the same time, i have a sneaky feeling that the devs will not just tinker with the speed, and leave the damage component untouched. :// so we’ll see hwo they strike a balance. Smite as a symbol would be quite nice. gives even more utility for the scepter and i can play it in symbol builds too! that gives us two choices for ranged symbols though, which can be extremely devastating as well. then add on the proposed Glacial Heart symbols chill on pulse… yes please.

Zeal – i have come to love a few of these traits. though iwouldn’t mind seeing this reworked a little so that we can have more of a variety of builds. and we all know, damage is hugely based off of power. so more power = well, more power to the player!

Agreed with Christos – 2% on Power of the Virtuous would be quite nice. Virtues line is argubly as good as it already though. i feel the benefits you get from it are just not as measurable as say Radiance or Honor or Valor.

prayers going out to all me Taiwan folks! no matter friend or ally. : )) stay safe all of you! we need you guys. ; ))

jia you!

more vids pls!

i am almost full zerker in PvP too now, haha, bunker, as fun as it is at times, is just not me. ://

SIlven’s guide is a great place to start.

are you new to the Guardian? least to sPvP it seems.. to me, it was a different game comapred to WvW and PvE. BIG difference. so you do have to adapt to PvP play. i’ve run a bunch of different builds.. starting with bunker, then going semi-hybrid, and now mainly DPS. and i want to say they’re all extremely effective and play a part in sPvP or even tPvP, depending on team make up.

secondly though, and i dare argue it’s almost as important as knowing your own class, is knowing the other classes. know which attacks to dodge, know what killed you last time, dodge it next time.. again, i feel this can never be said enough, don’t stand in red circles; be constatntly aware of your surroundings, don’t get tunnel vision.

i had a ton of problems against rangers, mesmers when i first started playing PvP. now? not so afraid of them. just keep trying! : )) and know that every day, every game you play, there’s a chance to have bad runs.. so don’t let those get you down.

it’s definitely not the class that’s at a disadvantage. definitely not the Guardian in PvP.

i haven’t had the chance to do these yet, but hoping to do so before they leave! thanks for posting the guide. if i see you, i’ll try to hit you up. : )))

appreciate you taking the time out to help people! and then maintaining your own thread non-stop. that’s awesome.

with 25 in Virtues, don’t forget the extra damage you get per boon as well! it all adds up : ))

agreed, CMF. definitely more applicable to WvW/PvP and even better if you’re able to coordianted with a party or allies perhaps to set up and complete that burst. and ideally, you’re taking people down fast enough this way so you can afford to blow some CDs.

and i feel definitely adds some color to the play. actually looking into trying some of these with guildies when i get more time to play.

have you come up with any builds specifically to use vuln?

Helaing Power is not bad. but it does command a certain play style. you WILL hit considerably softer.. and the main the idea is to outlast opponents. definitely shines more in PvP / WvW.

PTV is good to start with. once you start getting comfortable with it though, perfecting the Guardian mechanics, learning when and what to dodge / blind / block, etc etc.. i would suggest trying to mix in some knight’s, valkyrie’s and berserkers gear. : )) when i first started out i ran strictly knight’s as it was easier to get all of the same type, and it worked out.. but now that i spend more time, i’m able to maximize towards how you want to play : ))

if you like scepter/shield, stick with it! though definitely carry every single weapon available to your Baby Guardian. ; )) you may never know when you have to switch it up! i’m constantly switching up weapons, for encounters, as well as for fun.

are you mainly going to be focusing on fractals? or will you do abit of everything?

looking forward to the upcoming tournies! ; ))

by the way, stunning, mind elaborating on why you went 25 for virtues? as opposed to say more common DPS builds. of course, there’s extra dmg per boon, boon duration and taking SYS, which i assume helps a lot with your opening, and you don’t expect fights to last long with this build.

just making sure you’re salvaging the items you get within the chest from winning tPvP matches?

i’m a Guardian, so i salvage all light/medium armor and weapon items i don’t use. then of course, i salvage all duplicate items as well. sometimes even skins of items i can use, but don’t like. i don’t play a whole lot, but i’ve gotten my fair share of paid tournament tokens.

if you already knew this.. either way, good luck! : ))

i had a feeling the tradeoff between stacking vuln as a Guard is not the most efficient. been trying to find that balance for fun. in PvE, i’d say it’s not worth it. though in PvP or even WvW though, i’d imagine it’d be useful for setting up DPS. blinds are ever useful and Leap of Faith is great for closing the gap as well as does decent dmg. VoJ if traited gives might so that helps. especially if you went the immob route, you could technically set up your opponents so your allies can better land 100% of their DPS rotation while them being immobilized, given they aren’t able to react quick enough to get of them and counter.

but like said, if you take my e.g. above, SoW and hammer 3 both have a long windup in terms of activation time, in addition to being SoW’s passive is argubly useless and hammer misses easily. still interesting though. if you are able to land all 3 immob’s. then pair torch with scepter for e.g. you could stack 18 vulns, then Zealot’s Fire + Flame, so add another 10% with fiery wrath, i assume. and then radiant power as well (why not go for RHS with the scepter). then again, you’re going out of your way to achieve this and like i mentioned above your vuln stacking CDs are long.

i play a zerker Guard meself in PvP. doesn’t make it any less impressive in WvW though. sure some people may not be as geared, but in the end, everyone has the same resources you do (and yes, some builds may take more time and resources to build…)

and if i am not mistaken.. stunning is a serious tPvP-er as well.

haha watched again. love the bit when you decide to go into a group. lol.
only one guy gets away with barely any HP left, and everyone else is just downed. :OO

with the way the Guardian is set up as well, AH hugely benefits from a high crit build vs a low crit build. so assuming one is going full Cleric’s, your precision is going to be quite low. and like mentioned, with Cleric’s you get so much healing already, AH isn’t really necessary.

at this point, i almost feel it’s as if a cushion for when you’re going more hybrid / DPS oriented. but even in that case, not necessary as a “heal”. undeniably still very strong trait though, don’t get me wrong.

if you take a look at Silven’s sPvP guide, he has a Binding Bunker build incorporates well, Binding Jeopardy.

It’s not in his build links, but if you also include Signet of Wrath
SoW – 5 stacks
Zealot’s Embrace – 5 stacks
Chains of Light – 5 + 3 stacks

for a total of 18 stacks. which is 18% extra damage.

and of course, blind exposure with the Greatsword is a great one to have, especially if the supposed “bug” hasn’t been addressed yet.

though i have been thinking, would it be worth it? for my e.g. above, say we have 10 pts invested in Zeal. and we take Binding Jeopardy. it takes 3 skills to achieve close to 20% increased damage, but putting them on CD as well. whereas say, if we just took Fiery Wrath, 10% extra damage on burning targets, which happens quite often, especially if you’re using a fast / multi hitting weapon / skill.

don’t get me wrong, not shunning the idea, because i’ve been looking at incorporating vulnerability into some builds i’m working on. of course, i’d be taking Radiant Power as well for another extra 10%.

hmm thinking on how a targetless teleport would work.. so we would just teleport the corresponding distance in whichever direction you’re facing? how would that deal with slight ledges, etc? so we don’t get stuck etc.

would love that as well though!

i won’t be able to help much in regards to playing your specific class, in this case, a mesmer.. but i am relatievly new to gw2’s PvP myself and here are some general rules i got to get me kickstarted. hope they help!

• first and foremost, when you have decided on a class, learn as much as you can about the class! know the traits / skills / and weapons inside out.. and what combinations work well!
• there are plenty of builds / guides / streams out there.. watch and learn!
• you can even use some of those builds you see people run.. but don’t rely on them entirely.. everyone plays differently so you can try some out, and tweak them as you learn how to use them
• learn all classes as others have mentioned! i don’t have a whole lot of time to play, so i prefer spending most time on my Guardian.. what i do do though is at least try to read the important skills / mechanics i should know of other classes.. namely – which moves to avoid, how to avoid them, and counters, etc. learning the downed mechanics of each class helped me a lot in being able to secure stomps
• when i first staretd, as times i had no idea what hit me as well at times.. so each time i got taken out, i spend the few seconds before i can WP again to get back into the fray to look back on what killed me, what i should have avoided, what i could have done better, etc
• always be mobile! and definitely don’t stay in red circles.. way less forgiving than in PvE/WvW.
• when running around, i am always turning my camera.. making sure no one’s sneaking up behind me, taking note of your surroundings, etc
• learn each map as well! what are the secondary objectives. what are the quickest routes from location A to B to C. also, use the terrain to your advantage! if you’re ranged, maybe high spots will help, if you’re melee, learn to avoid those areas, etc etc
• learn when to engage / disengage as well. if you know you’re going into a fight 1v3 and will lose, i’d rather you back out and go cap another point or something. cause if you die, you give free points away and your team will be another few more seconds playing with a man down. there is no shame in running! just make sure you come back stronger.
• i was lucky enough to have joined some pre-mades who were missing one or two, got on VoiP and they were friendly enough to guide me on what to do in general. that helped me pick it up a lot faster!
• so when you find someone you enjoyed playing with, don’t be afraid to add them, and can share strategy, etc
• practice, practice, practice!!
• last but not least… let having fun be the underlying factor to all the above. ; ))

there’s a lot mroe as well.. but for now.. just keep having fun! good luck! i used to be all PvE and dungeons, then a huge focus on WvW, and i LOVE PvP now. really wish i’d started sooner! of course, i still do all the game has to offer, but truly do enjoy PvP and it’s easy to jump on even if you have little time to play and get a match or two in. ; ))

love your videos, too, stunning! that was too. much. fun. to watch.
can’t imagine being on the receiving end of your sneak bursts a la the few beginning encounters. lol they musta been like, “damm [insert GC class]! wait.. what??”

now i’m tempted.

i’ve heard about this. never experienced it. until recently.. it’s ridiculous.
what you thought was supposed to save you, now kills. on multiple levels at that.

to be fair, i’ve only ever played crab toss once.. and failed to see how that alleviated stress for the southsun folk.

then again, if it was IRL, that might be a different story. ; ))

you’re right in that from an activation time perspective, it’s only 1/4 of a second, but the strength lies in the fact that it can be cast during any other animation, thus the instant-ness.

iirc, and from experience, i think instant medi only really affects Smite Condition (which can be useful in PvP). Judge’s and Contemplation should be instant already (might have to double check Contemplation).

depending on your build, instant medi is good for Smite Condition to get rid of the exact condition / get rid of a condition faster or to pull it off while not having to wait for your current animation / action to complete first.

unless, if i completely missed what Lighter meant by instant medi.

love the new updates, Silven! and fancy running into you in-game at times. ; )) can’t help but try to gun for you when on opposite teams. :PP

haha, glad you came up with the mace burst build! been trying to find a decent mace DPS build apart from symbol, which were really strong already! your points taken regarding pairing up scepter with focus. and then sword (now mace) with torch. and especially if playing with mace, so i’ll have to try it out.

[added: and just so i’m following, the burst with this build would be..

• Shield of Wrath (time it)
• Chains of Light + Judge’s Intervention
• Smite, switch to mc/tc, then Zealot’s Flame + Fire + Protector’s Strike?

i guess the only bit i am still trying to wrap my head around is protector’s strike is your burst then becomes dependent on your enemy hitting you. though most of the time i’ve used prot strike is rarely lasts the full duration]

and yes in tPvP, 5 pts each in the last two trait lines make a lot of sense. never thought of it that way.

[added: just noticed you still have Powerful Blades (Radiance X) in your Mace Burst build ; )). i assume a good alternative would be quicker recharge on torch skills?]

like others have deduced, sounds like you’re roaming in WvW? are you usually looking for 1v1’s, etc? like many have suggested, meditations build could be what you’re looking for.

i’ve recently ran 10/30/30/0/0 with GS and scepter torch, triple meditations and it’s extremely fun to play. alternatively you could go with scepter focus as well, but immo. and bursting with zealot’s flame is a lot of fun. with focus, you can time your shield of wrath and judge’s intervention teleport to people as well for burst and get them down quick. then GS helps to pull them back in or leap. though i assume you can switch to hammer for another immo (harder to pull off against a good enemy) or RoW to trap them (though again, good players will stability or dodge out).

but i agree with what Tink wrote in the second paragraph. do learn your enemy’s skills so you can counter them. try to bait your opponents at times to chase and then surprise them. i think it’s quite key about having your opponents over commit and by the time they realize it’s too late, it’s too late. XDD they can either start to run and lose. or stick to fight it out, and lose.

@Bash – haven’t had much time to play recently, but i have tried a RHS with mace before and i loved it. didn’t have poitns in Honor then though to fully benefit from the Symbol traits but Protector’s Strike alone would crit for crazy.

@OP – apologies as mentioned above, haven’t had time to dig deep into this yet. any luck with coming up with a build that you liked yet? which symbol / retal build did you try?

will try to work on this in the next coulpe of days : ))

hmm the other day i faced a Warrior that was awesome at point holding / point defense. sure, call me bad, but i had a hard time standing toe to toe against him on point. given i wasn’t playing a “bunker” build myself, it took me by surprise.

point is, there are players out there that can achieve the same results as what you’re calling out here. though just perhaps not through the same means.

i’ve seen some pretty decent necros / rangers / engi’s bunker like crazy. ele’s are out of the question. so no, Guardian’s aren’t the only class that can do what we do. can we do it with more ease innately? sure. can no one hold points better than us though? i don’t think so.

i think you can find a good mix if you’re going for healing power. i.e. mixing magi’s and cleric’s. you’ll definitely be playing differently compared to PVT + cleric’s. i think what they meant was just to not go full magi’s.

i’ve actually been trying to build a healing power set with higher crit chance too ; ))

was out of the game for 2 weeks (business trips), and i come back to this! :OOO

and is this really the last week of thi string of T1 matchups??
will have to read the full WvW udpate.. when i feel like it. haha, even the TL;DR version was TL for me ://

I’ll take on this challenge with you, OP! I ran 0/0/10/30/30 with hammer + mace/shield for a long time and a loved it. Huge staying power, and I still killed. Arguably, not as much as fast as our other builds. I’ll try and come up with sth other than what you’ve listed. Though, I will say a symbol build would work magic! trapping a group with hammer 5 and drop double symbols? Game over.

fnially had time to go through some of the builds. don’t mind the double posting XPP just gonna comment on a couple builds and share my variations / personal tweaks that i’ve been having a lot of fun with..

Meditation builds:

i love the full DPS build. i run something similar with a few tweaks. i actually run 0/30/30/0/10, with Unscathed Contender from the virtues line. i don’t have the hard math to support the loss of 100 power and 10% on burning (which happens quite often), but since i’m aiming to burst, i took the 20% dmg increase with aegis active. so even after i lose my initial VoC passive, i can pop VoC again to ensure i have it on for my big hits (usually the flame toss or shield of wrath explosion). still fine tuning obviously, but i love it.

also i play scepter/torch and sword focus. here’s how i set up burst: usually pop SoW, and then JI in, scepter immob while popping VoJ for blind and might stacks, then flame toss (i try to time my SoW to pop when i toss the flame), then drop smite. if they still get out, then cleansing flame. and if they’re still not dead, you can scepter auto away then switch to sword flashing blade, then zealot’s, or auto. throw in smite condition if needed or can spare it as well for a little extra kick.

took blind exposure instead as well. though i might look into other traits as well since most of the burst comes from my scepter torch combo. XPP either or, either way, super fun. not the best in tPvP if you’re up against coordinated teams and you don’t have a team to run with, but 1v1 you usually don’t have any problems.

Symbol DPS Builds:

i love the updated symbol builds as well! interesting take with the runes! that definitely gives more staying power. and i like that you’ve added Judge’s Intervention with the symbol DPS builds as well. you can cover more distance, more burns, as well as more surprise factors. definitely helps landing your WW’s. usually when i see an enemy engaged in a fight with my teammates, i like to pop SoW, queue Symbol of Faith, JI in, switch to GS, drop symbol of wrath, and binding blade them in for two symbols ticking and then WW away. works decently well since you catch ’em quite off guard XDD

i’ve also changed up the symbol DPS build to use medis and monk’s focus instead. using Warrior Runes save the last piece and full berserker ammy. so for utilities, i take SYG, Smite Condition and Judge’s. one thing though, for the third trait in Honor, i usually don’t take Pure of Voice then. i lost some condition removal but then i only get to utilize it with just one shout.. but i haven’t decided on a good one yet. Silven or anyone see any other synergistic traits?

i think i just can’t live without judge’s intervention in pvp if i’m not playing a bunker or more stationary build :PP

[edit: typo’s]

p.s. grats on the tourney win for your team you coached!

grats team!!

stunnignstyles, would love to see you play as well. though it seems the teams are filled up already?

i hope with this, more people will take note and we can get multilpe profession teams going as well – across all professions of course. givin this the attention it needs!

WOOT WOOT!!! go Guardians!!!
looking forward to seeing some footage when i get home from work.

vs Eles now, yes? good luck all. and go burst Guard!

i main a Guardian, i love my hammer and i am fine with the way it’s intended to work. stability i have no qualms with, since they’re using stability, you can then use your other control skills or knockbacks, etc.

bugs they should definitely look into. and i don’t think one should be abel to dodge roll out or in of the ring. the ring needs a purpose, but it needn’t be invincible.

fair enough. but i also think one should not be standing still spamming #1 with the scepter. i see the point of illustration, but not that convincing from an actual gameplay standpoint. when do you ever see that happen in game?

EDIT: that being said, i of course am not opposed to any improvements made to the scepter. matter of fact, i quite welcome any plans to be made! it’s just not as useless or broken most people make it out to be.

hmm i can see where you’re coming from. say i am playing a certani build, then you’d build for a counter, so i see your build countering mine, then can i go and change mine again? who dictates who sees what when? if there are no changes to be made afterwards, then i don’t see the difference either.

i will agree most people will build more defensively to start with, that’s what i did. but now i am playing extremely one-sided and i just do my best when i can. part of the fun for me is figuring out what the other players builds are in the moment. and then learnign through the process, being able to counter it.

sure, there will be times when i die to a certain player. then i actually look forward to playing them again, trying different things, not making the same mistakes.

hmm bed time for me so i’ll check these out tomorrow!!

but i did watch the vids and would love to see more! i felt they were a little short lol XDDD but really just because they left me wanting more. the DPS montage was a LITTLE choppy, though i get the desired effect.. i personally just wanted to see more gameplay as well XDDD lol. i think what you write is great, and you could use these videos as a demonstration of said builds. the quick build at the end of the first video was good to have as well!

so if it’s not TOO much trouble on your end, i’d love to see more written guides as well as videos to supplement! thanks for all the work you put in Silven!

lol good look Arc, i didn’t even notice.

ahha your binding blade just REALLY didn’t like that thief. especially with the 204 dmg they dids to ya. XPP

was this on your DPS build?

this is fun. just watched it and goly, Amins. that was tasty and made me wanna go in WvW now. i actually built a scepter torch build and gonna have to test it to see if i can achieve similar results.

i ran a build for a while that was hammer and then mace/shieldD was ton of fun. not very mobile, but very hard to kill. i might go back to it soon too. and depending how confident you feel landing the symbols on the hammer, try traiting for buffed symbols. especially larger and healing if you need. if not, go for longer lasting since most mobs in PvE are rather stationary. if not, you can also always easily “root” them with hammer 3 or 5.

oh mann. i know about the touney and heard about Guards’ first match being against mesmers. my last game of tPvP broke my streak and left my high note hanging rather low.. lol.

so myself, two thieves, ranger and a necro. not a bad matchup. we were 3man queueing and then got paired up with two more that we played together with in pervious matches and were doign well together. then our opponents..

one thief, meh. and two mesmers! could be tricky. o wait, what’s this, 4th person joins. mesmer. again. and wuddya know, last one to fill their team’s spot, yep, another mesmer.

needless to say, it was like fighting a mini zerg. lol. and so. much. stealth. i’ve been in 3v5’s where i felt we still had a chance. but this match? it was pretty rough. i used to struggle with mesmers.. then i looked up their skills / traits a bit. and then once i figure dout how to pinpoint the real deal, it made thigns a lot easier.. but facing so many at once, i felt i was trying to find the real one or two or three, who knew, in the sea of illusions / clones , etc.. was pertty tough. make sur eyou guys communicate well!

hope the training will help you guys put together some strats to deal with them mesmers!

i’ll get on to donate as well!

expect some mail soon Bas. are we only taking gold for now?

i guess.. one small addition to the leaderboards is that when and if someone doesn’t play for a certain amount of time, they lose rank. whether how that works can of course be entirely up to ANet.

hmm to be honest, thieves not that big of a deal in regards to the new patch and skill/trait changes. at least definitely not as big a deal as most people made it out to be.

i will agree with ithinkimhaunted that i’ve been seeing them a lot more running in duos or even groups in sPvP. :///

Christos de Soufre.3802:

Bakitten291:

Looking forward to listening to amins’s show. Always been a fan of him on the forums. Will have to look into these later when i get home, but it sounds like I will have to wait for a WvW focused one.

Not mine? :< SOME FRIEND.

tsk tsk Bakitten! ; )))
i for one will be looking forward to hear Chris speak. XDD lolol

/instigation

ps. still have to catch you two in WvW! (though i admit it’s been a while for me as well ://)