Guild Wars 2

You can do that with Hammer, Mace/Focus, and Sword/Focus if you’re playing for keeps and paying attention, but really guardians can do this with any weapon if they make sacrifices in their utility bar in favor of more blocks and boons. Protection + Signet of Judgment is 43% damage reduction. That already puts them at 6 hits, and they can almost double that with judicious blocks and blinds. This is way before gear is taken into account, and is obviously more than enough time for heal to recharge.

I mean you can, if you really want, veer away from AH and use Selfless Daring as your primary source of healing. You will have to stack toughness and/or Vitality, but you can stray into non-Valor traits for extra crits, boons, straight damage % increase, whatever.

I like using mace+focus instead of scepter focus on grawl just in case I get hit with agony arrow while doing a grub pull. Again, this is an alternative to getting heals from a high crit whirling wrath and damages the grubs about to rally range while allowing you to leave without giving up on attacking them due to the protector’s strike AoE spike and the guaranteed symbol DoT.

Well some people suffer in ignorance because they don’t do that, and having the calculation handy helps – especially for those a little to quick on the trigger when buying gear.

You can avoid AH in favor of selfless daring, especially during grawl. Empower is a death sentence there.

Binding blade is kind of the worst CC a guardian has. The whirl is broadcast, the projectile is dodgeable/blockable/reflectable, and people are actually really good at watching for you to raise your sword so they can dodge right out of the pull – or if they miss that, stun break and dodge out of whirling wrath, which they know you’re going to proc right after the pull. The binding blades condition is also the easiest alarm to put up stability that there ever was. I use it mainly against people who are distracted while fighting other people, because otherwise any half decent focused player will know to dodge. The other way to use it is to just scare a player into emptying their dodge meter so you can do the real trick of JI + whirling wrath, but the main problem is that if neither of those work, you’ve got to switch out of your sword cause the match isn’t going to end well for you.

The same kind of thing happens to the hammer, which is why ring of warding and banish are best used to put distance between you and your enemy while your skills recharge. It’s also helpful to know that you can still do the third strike in the combo even if you’re interrupted, provided you get within range of an enemy in time. I mainly use the symbol to stack protection while biding time for the enemy to get within range of mighty blow.

The strength of mighty blow is the weakness of the rest of the guardian: it is an unpredictable, high damage, mobile attack with an extremely low recharge time. Those are the attacks you’ll have to resort to when a person gets to 25% health and becomes extra cautious and focused on avoiding damage. You could say the same of Leap of Faith, but the slower recharge really hurts it, and if it’s used in battle, the enemy knows that you’ve lost your spike. Most people who use greatsword have to take JI, which of course turns every hammer skill into a different beast. Mighty blow makes JI less necessary.

In PvP, you need your spikes to be available as much as possible, and Hammer makes it easy just because the spike has really low recharge.

I’ve never thought of symbol spikes as real spikes for the same reason that people discount symbol of protection as a useful part of the hammer damage combo. People are really good at staying out of area DoT.

gw2lfg.com, isn’t it stickied somewhere? Plus, you can set your status to looking for group on the contacts list when you’re in the open world.

Use cleansing flame to scare off people trying to melee you and shoot them in the back with zealot’s fire, which is probably the best spike the guardian has.

Hammer works excellently with honor simply because the perpetual symbol allows you to keep attacking and critting enemies without actually having to be in melee range. I’ve taken up dodging after landing one combo just to proc selfless daring and elusive power, and it works great.

The most overpowered aspect of the hammer is of course its spammable blast finisher. Blast finisher is a tremendous offensive and defensive tool for parties, and it enables otherwise squishy classes to get in melee range and amp synergy even more, which is critical for the classes with the better combo fields.

I just played a 20 fractal with dredge, cliffside, and grawl, and I couldn’t have had an easier time of it. Being able to blast about every field your party members put up means frost armor, chaos armor, AoE healing, perma retaliation, and might stacks for everyone every five seconds. You don’t even need to coordinate, because caster classes apparently have spammable fields like guardians have this spammable finisher. It is the fastest sustainable blast finisher by the only class likely to be in the field anyway, which completely makes up for the shorter duration of the effects.

This alone makes the hammer, for me, a lot more fun and unpredictable than the greatsword. I do however appreciate fellow guardians who wield the greatsword, which instantly becomes extremely viable against mobs when paired with a guardian wielding the hammer. The two were made for eachother, since the crowd aggregating binding blade is absolutely necessary to get the most out of the hammer, and the vulnerability of whirling wrath is best countered with a generous helping of protection.

Maybe a hidden boss trait that triggers on CC?

Ravenmoon.5318:

KensaiZen.3740:

Hammer, for people who can think more than just KILL KILL KILL. superior in everyway.

Really now? So what now, you think you are smarter for using a hammer?
To the dude quoting me, yes I have gotten underground fractal and colossus quite fast with my combo. I usually aggro all the mobs and just run until some team member finishes with the contol panel

I actually find that guardians with sanctuary, shield of the avenger, and focus + the standard blocks can cheat up the control panel very well. Otherwise, I’m relegated to standing on a button alone while everyone else coordinates aggro. In fact, the entire dredge fractal is actually better served by doing more CC and less DPS: getting dredge off the bombs, getting the veteran away from rabsovich, and binding and reflecting the final boss.

I’m actually curious as to how you can use greatsword effectively in the Colossus fractal, especially during the harder seals where mobility is restricted. Binding Blade hurts more than helps when dealing with cultists, as you just want to target one of them to get the hammer tag for the seal.

Those are global.

Solitary, single target DPS is a flawed philosophy anyway since the only class that applies to is the thief. Guardians especially roll in packs, stack might, use retaliation as an enemy dependent damage dealer, and are generally most effective against mobs, which is arguably where symbols shine. I find SYG and Courage break stuns to be way better than any DPS spec simply because they decrease the amount of time the party is not attacking a CC-happy boss – like Balthazar, who is possibly the poster child for Hallowed Ground and Purging Flames advocacy.

What I’d really like to know for DPS purposes is during the few times in dungeons with lame bosses that don’t attack, move, or present any threat whatsoever, whether it’s better to put on DPS for yourself or apply 25 stacks of might to team members to get the ordeal over with. I’d also like a separate calculation done for mobs in groups of five of more since the situation is totally different there. That’s really all that’s needed DPS wise since if you really want to kill damage sponges the fastest and your defenses are covered, you should really be rolling a warrior – unless of course a 25 might stack party is better than a perma fury party (in which case, elementalist or engineer of all things is probably a better choice, since at least they can spam blast finishers).

Torch for when you’re in no danger and need to DPS, Shield for when you’re facing mobs you can handle but need an escape plan, Focus for when a boss is so annoyingly one-hitty that you need the hit negation. When running dungeons, I usually use the focus as it’s the weapon I can’t do without if I don’t have the opportunity to switch weapons between skirmishes, but without a torch the guardian is useless at range and without the shield, the guardian is useless at being a guardian. I really prefer weapon switching when possible.

Ravenmoon.5318:

Huh, really? :O
Well I’ve done every single dungeon with greatsword/staff combo including getting in 20+ levels at fractals o.o
but I guess I should thank you

Thank you, GW2 community, for making most guardians pick a hammer
Thank you, for advertising it as the only “pro” weapon
It’s so much easier to kill these in WvW.
Keep up the good work, I want to see more hammer guardians :p So I could AoE you xD

I sincerely doubt that greatsword/staff is the optimal choice for the dredge fractal or the grawl fractal (and all 2 handed weapons are bad at the jade sea fractal) for various reasons, not the least of which is that retaliation is not the boon you need to have during those times. And when it comes to the colossus fractal, having a counter to all that vulnerability the cultist set up + the party being forced to melee in a huddle together + a frequent light field to remove conditions from the ArchDiviner + a boss that needs to be bound once in a while and hits hard enough and slow enough that protection would be nice and retaliation would be useless = Hammer probably does colossus faster than greatsword.

crafting is nice when some mats hit rock bottom for the long term and you can’t afford to stockpile them but still need their products.

Please preview stuff in the sPVP locker before you buy, unless it’s Priory Weapons or something like that.

Worth it on higher difficulty Old Tom in the Uncategorized Fractal. I promise that a guardian that keeps up perma retaliation is by far the fastest way to kill him before the crystals run out. Also helps jellyfish go by a bit faster if you pop SYG and just get in there when it starts doing the stun/electrocution spin.

Guardians pay for this by being bad at escaping themselves, so if you really want to kill a guardian, cause some trouble at the back line. The more a guardian actually tries to support, the weaker he becomes, and often he’ll be the victim of retreats he initiates as a result.

Yes, trait boon durations (actually, I think retaliation is the only one) are purely for yourself.

The ring doesn’t last for very long, and if he tried to weaponswap/ whirling wrath or zealot’s defense, it’ll be down before he gets back. If he tried to use any other weapon, especially the hammer, he wouldn’t have time to land the moneyshot third hit by the time you got out of there.

If you have any ranged attacks at all, I’d suggest a throwaway shot before you launch in with your main stuff if he has aegis, but if a guardian knows your combo, all he has to do is queue up the number of blocks required to completely negate it. I suggest rooting the guardian and going in close if he has a hammer, since you can lay as much as you want on him and stun him before the third hit.

I find that guardians who stick with greatsword have a worse time of it with dungeons that are actually challenging, simply because of the loss of the perma symbol. For dungeon farming where there is absolutely no skill necessary, though, yeah you can stick with greatsword, scepter, whatever.

However if everything goes to crap, you need a weapon that’s versatile enough to proc boons and divert aggro if necessary. This becomes very apparent on level 20+ fractals where really the only boss you need max DPS on is Old Tom, and the rest will not ever let you do a binding blade-whirling wrath combo without paying for it. And if you’re going into fractals only using the scepter, you may as well be replaced with a mesmer or ele who are just plain better than guardian in every way if doing fractals range only.

You can also knockback the guardian out of the ward if he didn’t put stability up. If you’re watching the guardian you can also stun him beforehand.

Put cheap buy orders for the scale then make a job of reporting underwater bots for profit? I think the multiboxers have moved to frostgorge sound now. Report them when you see them and send screenshots or private video links to customer support. Keep the scale and farm other things. If the ban wave is successful, scale will go up in price again and you make a profit.

You could put a map of popular farming spots on here to help all the servers get in on the reporting action. Everyone who has a ton of scale wins, except for the botters.

For information purposes, I also received a chest in the mail having already gotten one during the event. I did have to disconnect and rejoin several times due to the siren sound bug, but I was able to reconnect in time to see the final cutscene and grab the chest. I did visit overflows other friends were in to see if doubling down was a possibility, but of course I was only able to collect one chest. The last time I disconnected was reasonably close to the end: the server was fighting the final Karka and my game crashed; I was able to come back and was reviving guildmates at the cave entrance so they wouldn’t miss the event. Afterwards, I rushed down the spiral to try to get some hits on the final boss, but I jumped too early and died to fall damage during the “pound the ground to put the karka into the lava” phase. I had participated in the entire dynamic event chain up to this point. I was revived after the end and collected the chest immediately.

I got a chest even though I was able to get a chest during the event. I did get disconnected several times during the sound siren bug, but was able to reconnect just before the end of the event. I obviously kept disconnecting and reconnecting several times because the sound bug didn’t stop, but I was able to grab the chest once.

If disconnects are the only criteria used for determining mailed chest receipt, then obviously a lot of people will get duplicate chests.

Something I’ve always wanted to try is the upper third of the trait set, moving away from boons and toward straight blocks and condition removal. That would mean putting points in the dreaded zeal line just to get focus skill recharge, though.

If you can’t use a greatsword I guess it’s viable, since it will tide you over between scepter smites

For things like the great karka event it would have been superior since there was no way you could get in there with a greatsword and live, and you can really say the same of most mobby events.

The neat thing about guardian is that he can repeatedly lay down burning forever and triumph over any amount of condition removal.

I just had a funny thought: Full apothecary and specced for block burning and pretty much every burning skill.

Teleport into a group, do greatsword pull, and pop blocks and all the skills that lay down burning. Continue fighting until downed, then push away burning dunkers and heal to full with 3 due to the healing power stat, and port out of there. Essentially, suicide firebomb.

It’s crazy enough that at least a few people will be doing it in sPvP and WvW.

Guardian does ranged for one reason only: to proc might on crit and weapon swap to staff might stacks to help everyone else range for higher damage. Don’t bother doing range solo, as even tome of wrath is only useful for the 1-2 spells of quickness it can do.

Arken.3725:

This is a difficult discussion because the Guardian only has one condition he/she can apply. And since conditions cannot crit, precision is pretty much a useless stat for it.

There is only one playstyle amenable to conditions, which is to spike and kite. You can keep the person burning while you dodge damage forever.

For this reason, you need crits just to proc Vigorous Precision to keep dodging while your opponent burns and also to spike them to get them into the 25% HP danger zone, where burning is arguably the most dangerous condition (since it can be reapplied easily without having to stack up for max damage).

I guess the best reason to go for precision is that without needing to tank damage and rely on retaliation and protection, you can free up your skill bar for spirit weapons or signets if you really want. If you go against, say, subject alpha or some similar boss where you do more dodging than hitting, I guess you go for condition damage, precision, and vitality to just burn them to death. Too bad there is no such stat combo.

Guanglai Kangyi.4318:

You realize my numbers also include the base numbers before damage bonuses are applied, right? I also gave you the formula you need to calculate the damage bonuses for any given setup. If you just want to compare relative damage between weapons for one build just take the base damages and factor in any differences from traits that only affect one over the other.

I’m lazy and would much prefer those calculations done for me rather than theorycrafting the absolute maximum for each weapon. Ideally, a set of trait distributions with the DPS of each weapon under it, with the highest DPS weapon (or pair of weapon sets) of each category highlighted.

On topic for this thread I would also like DPS comparisons for the 45 second battle, or however long a typical skirmish lasts.

If you give up on a legendary you can absolutely afford it.

I like using it with toughness because regen can always use more protection and vice versa.

I actually do it for the retaliation rather than the buffs, because it’s usually the multi-hit skills that down me.

AerictheBoss.9172:

kaffaljidhma.1496:

Actually Kangyi’s calcuations aren’t that useful for different reasons – in situations where you need to apply sustained DPS over several utility skill cycles, trait spec matters. I wouldn’t use greatsword without honor in real application because it is the least defensive weapon.

Putting aside the fact that most non-boss battles last for 1 cycle or less, what would be a lot more useful is DPS calcs for the most popular trait specs. I actually don’t know which situation calls for max DPS on the guardian since they’re horrible at being glass cannons in general.

The point of the calculations is to denote an acceptable average to conclude what is what. Just because your not going to fully utilize the weapon does not invalidate the data on potential.

I think the problem is math is to hard to understand, the concept even harder for some. There’s probably two out of ten people that can comprehend. What’s even there. Not because its harf but because most people are at grade 5-8 in math knowledge. I think he did a really good job with what he had. Its more than acceptable.

Its an unfortunate fact if he used words like good better ect it would probably be received better.

That’s not the issue. The issue is that DPS comparisons that switch up traits instead of weapons are not as practical as ones that assume the same trait setup with different weapon and stat combinations, which are actually changeable for situations that require them. I wouldn’t be caught dead with a 10/30/30/0/0 build, for instance, except in very specific WvW situations where my party already has enough boons, and even then I’d like to know the comparative weapon DPS with that trait distribution more than the arguable knowledge that it’s the best for greatsword damage.

Players carry several weapon sets but stick with one trait set. Comparisons should reflect that.

Actually Kangyi’s calcuations aren’t that useful for different reasons – in situations where you need to apply sustained DPS over several utility skill cycles, trait spec matters. I wouldn’t use greatsword without honor in real application because it is the least defensive weapon.

Putting aside the fact that most non-boss battles last for 1 cycle or less, what would be a lot more useful is DPS calcs for the most popular trait specs. I actually don’t know which situation calls for max DPS on the guardian since they’re horrible at being glass cannons in general.

DarksunG.9537:

Brutaly.6257:

@DarksunG
80% uptime on protection by just using one single weaponskill and a supreme amount of AH proccs in combination with really nice aoe dps is pretty god kitten nice in pve and if its this is what you are looking for then the hammer has no real competition.

That’s nice & all. & it sounds great on paper.. but on a boss Wand & Focus while kiting = better survivability & much more reliable CC. Hammer CC just kinda stinks. being able to instantly chain a guy with the focus just works better. Im a little at a loss for what I’m supposed to use protection for.. I can’t just tank a boss, & if I keep dodging in and out I 1) lose my consistent protection level 2)drop my DPS to wand levels making it pointless. As for “keeping everyone alive” unless your whole team is melee, then… no.

Maybe I’m basing all of this on boss fights, but I hate the fact that Hammer is a “don’t use this on bosses” weapon. If they made the root move prevent mobs from turning, & last longer I could use it to attack from behind. But again, the reasons you listed don’t actually make it worth picking. & as for a boss.. it’s basically a “don’t use this”

I know allowing CC on a Boss is really iffy in certain situations, but the way it is now, the ring is basically pointless. it might be nice if each touch of the ring wall knocked off a stack of defiant so players could more reliably work toward meaningful CC better. but right now it’s like “wait x seconds” the chain would be better but it’s slow as balls.

Zaiel.6375:

Greatsword is great do not get me wrong. But a well played Hammer will out play any other weapon you can equip.

Don’t think I can agree. I still can’t find a reason in PvE to use it other than to interrupt a boss/vet when the chance arises. The survivability is much lower than ranged. especially against a boss. & if I dodge enough to avoid 1 or 2-shots my dps drops & my prot is gone. I do like the condition removal for teammates, but I have so much of that it doesn’t really matter that much.

if you guys can explain to me in detail (how you can survive with just protection right up next to a boss & keep your dps higher than just ranging) why Hammer is good against bosses I’d love to know because I want to use it. but geez.. it just doesn’t seem worth it.

When using the hammer, you can basically tank just like in Guild Wars 1, and this is pretty useful against bosses when you can’t trust your team to not die. I actually don’t dodge a whole lot as a guardian because I’ve got a very block heavy utility build. You don’t have to dodge every shot, just survive until your next heal.

You’ll see the value when bosses suddenly break aggro and go on rampages to the 4 glass cannons you’re partying with. Having a bind and a CC on the same weapon (which is rare) allows you to get the pressure off downed teammates and keep the threat busy while they revive. The hammer is basically an insurance plan for your team.

I love guardian cause he staff farms like crazy and doesn’t afraid of anything

Honorless builds make me shudder

Any weapon with CC is good in WvW at least because it’s hard to dodge while running away. Of course, you can amplify that with judge’s intervention, but you can do the same with any setup.

I find greatsword to be the least defensive of all the weapons and only pull it out when I’m sure I’m not in danger. All other weapons have readily spammable boon symbols, blocks, or ranged abilities that keep you out of spikes. Ever since the greatsword nerf, it has become the poorest weapon to combat conditions and discourage damage solely because the symbol has no uptime. You have to leap off the symbol if you want decent retaliation, which means less opportunities to use leap of faith for blinds / distance closing.

Hammer and mace/shield have 2 semi-spammable combo fields each.

Gem prices will go down once everybody runs out of black lion salvage kits. However, ecto prices will skyrocket.

I wonder how heavy condition damage spec would work with the sword

Front load all your protection and know when you’ve been thief pinned. Pop any of the guardian stun breaks and protection, then go for the annoying block combos: Mace/focus, shelter, courage + resolve → renewed focus → courage.

Don’t run away cause they do extra damage to the back.

I wouldn’t hammer without meditation anyway. With a teleport, all the hammer skills are great because you can skip the windup time, and hammer makes the most of it as every single skill is a spike skill – if you teleport/whirling blades, people can just dodge out of it.

Did you guys know that the 5 skill is a light combo field? That makes hammer the only guardian weapon with two combo fields, and one of only two sets with the same.

This is actually pretty good as any guardian knows that the recipe for meleeing mobs is protection + condition removal, and a guardian working with projectile finisher companions can do both of those without even digging into the utility skills.

It’s a fine alternative to mace/shield, the only caveat being that you have to be careful about the first few seconds of engagement, especially against large mobs. Consider putting on retreat or pre-applying shield of wrath if you’re not going to use the boon shouts.

So if the hammer, greatsword, and sword autos are all above the “Overall DPS” calculation, then if you’re just going for damage, why don’t you use those instead?

Mobs and champs tend to blow all their skills on you in the first few seconds of combat, so bring renewed focus and/or shelter (or a bunch of blocks) to survive the initial assault if you’re the one to aggro.

For sustained survivability against mobs, signet of judgment + hold the line + mace/hammer survives against pretty much every mob if you’re having problems with that. Greatsword kills mobs faster though unless you’re specced for symbols.

For bosses, bring Stand Your Ground + Mace/Focus + Virtue buffs to Courage/Resolve to fight the BS one shot kills for you and party members near you. You can increase DPS with scepter and torch if that’s what’s needed. I have never found a case for using sword, but would appreciate theory on that.

For emergency situations, actually consider a meditation build, especially if there’s no warrior in the party. The reason for this is that if a guardian is annoying and knock-backy enough (to break aggro), they’ll usually be the target of renewed aggro due to their high toughness and low health. Run away from your party members once you’ve got the aggro of the major threat and keep yourself alive while the rest of the party rezzes and recharges. You can also do this with hammer/mace/focus + hold the line + signet of judgment as said before.

If this thread is still relevant, put a staff on the guardian and run Fiery Wrath (10 Zeal) and Renewed Justice (15 Radiance) as they become unlocked. In the meantime, start battles with Staff 4 and just run around using Staff 1 on as many people as possible.

This is for when you do events that have a lot of close knit mobs and also for tagging in every level 80 boosted area. You don’t really have to dodge with this build, but you do have to move around so you can hit as many guys as possible.

Greatsword 5 then 2 is good for practically everything else. Every piece of armor should have some vitality and/or toughness on it to aid survivability, since this one requires you to take some hits.

Generally, every single utility skill should not be used unless you’re in trouble, which doesn’t change at level 80, so that’s good practice. Just keep with the bread and butter weapon combos and trait for healing and supportive utility skills.

Also, run in parties if possible. Renewed Justice is much better when you don’t have to do a lot of damage to tag, and running in parties is just plain better for everything.

Nothing is more satisfying than just barely jump-dodging a rolling karka that has already flattened 40 people