Guild Wars 2

Try blade & soul.

Absolutely. The trick is to find people who like the same thing as you. And if one night you fancy a change, try some different people or suggest your friends all trial a different approach

the main disadvantage of a hammer is the light field that it produces as this prevents might stacking

I know a pretty good guardian who uses cleric/pvt gear and a 0.0.30.30.10 build in fractals, he was 70+ pre patch, fairly high now. Perhaps his runs could have been quicker as zerker.. But the end result was still a completion, and every time I run with him things are perfectly smooth sailing, just a little slower.

As long as the five you set out to chill out and have a relaxing time and don’t specifically want to run a set amount of dungeons in a set amount of time… Then the anything goes.

But as soon as the rest of your party consists of people who want to get the most done in the least amount of time with no downtime or messing around.. You are doing them a disservice by not running zerker.

2 totally different ways of playing the game.. both of which are valid but it is rude to waste people’s time If they are not of the same opinion as you.

Assuming two ww at 1036 base dmg, 1 symbol at 1016 and 9 secs of 414 auto Dps over a 14 second gs swap period followed by 10 secs of 1h auto at 416 base Dps.. And taking the base dmg modifiers in my previous post which can be replicated easily using effective power style websites if you’re not lazy.. Simply sticking with 1h is better single target.

It is very close though, and possibly even comes down to the use of night and force sigil vs just night or how many unaccounted ww projectiles hit.

Or you could use the foolproof testing method of attacking golems. Hmm.

I like to stand at the bottom of the stairs and reflect the harpy fractals traps onto the backside of my friends. It’s hilarious.

We are fairly casual actually, still have a lot to learn and no there are not predetermined builds.

Made me lol, thanks :p
Biggest question right now is runes. For selfish zero play melandru seems best. Shame about run speed though.

Thanks for the advice guys

Makes sense So for my GvG gear would cleric weapon, cleric armor with soldier runes and pvt trinkets be okay? I was thinking 0/0/10/30/30 but you’ve recommended some different ones above which I’ll look into. Thanks!

Anyone got any comments for general zerg play?

Group support 50/50 pvt/cleric and soldier runes even in an unorganised zerg?
I can understand cleric and soldier in gvg because I actually care about helping the team..

Asked in the guardian forums but not many people talk about wvw there.

I’m interested in wvw & gvg only. For roaming I use my mesmer.
I don’t play much of the above game types, I’m looking to start playing more of them.
Is this right?
For zerg wvw:
0/0/30/30/10, selfish pvt gear, selfish melandru runes, lemongrass poulty soup.
(Basically selfish survival is key in a blob).

For team based gvg:
0/0/10/30/30, cleric gear, soldier runes, lemongrass poulty soup.

Any suggestions or improvements would be appreciated.. thanks

Additional questions: Sentinels > pvt? What about traveller runes?

<3

Did someone really just mention meditation guards in pve? Ugh baddies.

Any chance of a skill point refund? I think most of us unlocked it assuming there would at least be a cool animation for the awful skill.

Just had a boss fight in pve in which I took a hit. Activated my heal.
Oh wait boss is charging an attack. Dodge.
Heal wasted.

Don’t even get me started on how awful it is in pvp.

Is sentinel gear preferred over pvt?

Makes sense. The other servers don’t want to fight those blob fests.
Keep em blobbing each other at the top of t1

I hope Anet didn’t waste too much time on pointless changes like this and the trashy new heal.

I don’t play much of the above game types, I’m looking to start playing more of them.

Is this right?

For zerg wvw:
0/0/30/30/10, selfish pvt gear, selfish melandru runes, lemongrass poulty soup.
(Basically selfish survival is key in a blob).

For team based gvg:
0/0/10/30/30, cleric gear, soldier runes, lemongrass poulty soup.

Any suggestions would be appreciated thanks

You are working out the damage increase totally wrong.

Anet track what weapons we use. There’s no way they’re not aware of how bad torch and shield are.

tldr:

Zerker gear, scholar runes, night/force sigils,25 might, 100% fury, 180 prec spotter, 170 prec banner, 15% crit dmg banner, pwr/crit dmg food, sharpening stone, 5% virtuous power.

10/30/0/5/25
2h 12685ep = 13.848 mod
1h 15542ep = 16.967 mod

1h + 2h hybrid:
(1036+1036+1016+(414*9)) = 6814 over 14 seconds.
6814 * 13.848 = 94360
(414*10) = 4140 over 10 seconds.
4140 * 16.967 = 70243
94360 + 70243 = 164603 over 24 seconds = 6858dps.

1h by itself:
414*16.967 = 7024dps.

15/15/0/20/20
10700ep / 916 = 11.68 mod
11.68 * 520 = 6074dps

15/25/0/20/10
12149ep / 916 = 13.26 mod
13.26 * 520 =   6896dps

Nike’s 1h build ep (21109) is 26% higher than his dps hammer build ep (16741).
My 1h build ep (15542) is 27.9% higher than my dps hammer build ep (12149).

Looks close enough to me, I suspect the dps gap is quite small. Greatsword needs help, even the burst isn’t enough to convince me that swapping to it from 1h is a good idea. 

Ugh. I just noticed some mistakes around the night sigil and Radiance X. Numbers aren’t too far off but I’m not happy enough with them for the forums, so I’ll delete and redo later. Apologies.

6143dps according to the math used above but with the spec altered slightly. It’s not that far off at all actually, I’m impressed. I had a hunch that after the hefty WoP buff it would be a good bet for dps, didn’t think it would be that close though.

I’m actually looking forward to the vigor nerf. It’ll open up some interesting options for that last 5 points. 10/30/0/0/30 or 20/25/0/0/25 are niice.

Lonewolf Kai.3682:

Then by your own rules as being the most efficient, you should stay out of grouping then because you’re wasting your other party members’ time by not being good.

Everybody deserves to play the game and have fun no matter what skill level.
The difference being some people like to cover up their badness with tank gear, others like to bring the most they can bring, and learn from mistakes.

Yaki, a cleric with a spec like 20.0.0.30.20 won’t even hit half the damage a zerker 10.30.0.5.25 will bring. The zerker will bring a lot more than half of the survivability the cleric brings though, simply through reflects, aegis, virtues, conditions removal and blinds. The healing really is the smallest part of our group support.

I run zerker but I am always quick to admit I’m actually not very good at the game. I fumble dodges a lot and haven’t even been to all dungeons yet. I lack the focus to play nonstop, chat too much in game, and my keyboard often makes me auto run off cliffs. But that’s why I run with a friendly social Guild. Nobody cares what build I run, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t aim for an efficient build and play style which helps me improve and won’t waste other people’s time.

Zerker is a great way to improve though. Tank gear just tells you “oh well, you took a hit. Go stand at range while you heal up” compared to zerker learn when to dodge or die approach.

Look at pve fights in wow for example. Ones which don’t have enrage timers.

Do you see groups of 25 tanks and healers? No, because being over cautious and bringing more heals than necessary wastes everybody’s time.

Group building in gw2 101:

Step one. Find 5 people with massive Dps.
Step two. You need reflects, dodges, stability, fire fields, vulnerability, conditions removal and plenty of aegis and blinds. Sacrifice the least Dps possible to pick these up. Pro tip, guards and eles do this pretty well. Engies have sweet vuln too.
Step 3, kill stuff.

Alternative strategy :
Pick 5 random in pvt, cleric etc gear. Clear content because it’s still possible to do so, just slower.

Fact is the above mentioned mitigation techniques are so effective that adding cleric gear on top doesn’t add as much as you would hope.

Focusing on damage reduction and healing in a world where you can avoid damage completely is madness.

Keep in mind that a spvp guardian’s job is not to win those 1v1s but to survive and hold the point until a team member joins the fight.

Reflections, aegis, blinds and dodge make up a very high amount of damage mitigation /healing. By going cleric you increase healing which was never a large factor in survivability anyway.. But trade away a huge amount of damage .

But do the black lion chests contain anything decent at the moment?

I think she’s cute.

Thanks for letting me know. I’m on guru as Lilitu if you really want to send it.

Because I’m tired of offering full explanations and math everywhere I go. Often people don’t care and it ends up as a waste of time, especially when the conclusion basically mirrors Obal’s pve guide anyway.

Always happy to share math and thoughts in private.

Also, many of my posts don’t go into as much detail as I would like because I post from my phone.

I always use effective power alongside the full damage formula and skill coefficients /dmg to determine Dps.

The symbol is about half the hammer’s dps. radiance 10 percent to everthing trumps zeals 10 percent to half your dps.

15.25.0.20.10 is a better bet than 25.15.0.20.10 assuming you really don’t want 20 virtue.

If you stack up before a charge in wvw and drop a light field swiftness instead of a fire field I feel bad for you son.

When all hits of scepter connect it can be very powerful. If you can guarantee it, I would expect it to do more Dps than sword while providing higher survivability and an easier time keeping up unscathed buff.

Usually the target isn’t big enough for all smite orbs to hit, so sword wins.

Until sword has more than 20 percent more effective power than gs swapping from 1h to gs for ww, symbol, ww rotation will always yield higher Dps than camping 1h. With a 10/30/x build this gets pretty much there, with the gs only being taken for some aoe.

Regarding hammer. I believe gs/1h specs to do roughly 20 percent more Dps and don’t find protection a good enough compensation.

Wop. 4 ticks up to 6 ticks is, surprisingly, better than a 10 percent damage buff to symbols.

Traveller’s runes ftw.
Unfortunately, anet have said they want to diversify builds via runes and sigils.
Eg condi guard may want to use runes / sigil of torment.

Nah.

Total trash. In pvp it’s a giant “CC ME OR RUN AWAY FOR 5 SECONDS!” sign. In pve you won’t be dps spec AND valor spec unless you’re bad at the game.

Not sure about other classes but guardians for example were told that some of their changes would make more sense once we see the other changes which they weren’t prepared to share with us just yet.
I don’t think the preview was everything.

There are usually loads of them on patch days!

If you are insisting on range, scepter Guardian is actually very powerful in pve. Smite is the highest Dps skill in the game again when used against an enemy large enough to be hit by all the ticks.

Then you get all the usual Guardian goodies such as conditions removal and reflects.

Just make sure you’ve wearing zerker gear.
Scepter Guardian is also a great synergy with unscathed contender for 20 percent dmg.

Guardian shield 5 should be an instant cast reflection bubble based around the player which moves with him, similar to shield of the avenger.

This would see it as a very powerful choice for pve.

What do you need that much ar for?

Didn’t we already know all this?

If you think gw2 is actiony you should check out blade and soul

Incredible research, thank you.
One question from a mf newcomer though. Why exotics and not rares?