Guild Wars 2

I love my Ele. It’s been my main ever since December last year. I’ve played various builds and I remember how well the famous daphoenix build worked in sPvP. In PvE you can pretty much play any build you like. In WvW you also have a strong roll and you can allow yourself to play different types of builds. I personally love my WvW offensive staff build that I also use in PvE, sometimes using daggers with the same build. But in PvP I’m struggling to find my role…

I play 6 other classes in sPvP depending on my mood and guardian is being my current favourite for pvp games. Maybe it’s because I haven’t played Ele much in pvp lately, but I find it lacking compared to other classes. I know Anet brought Eles down a little bit with the nerfs to some traits and skills, but I don’t feel like they gave us many other options either. While some other classes became stronger in spvp, I don’t see where Eles fit into the “new meta” (in lack of better words).

I’m trying a condition build now and it’s boring as hell. I’ve also tried fresh air scepter build, but I didn’t like it (or scepter in general) much either. So it just me or do you guys feel that Eles are back at the bottom again in pvp?

I agree with RNG being the biggest issue here and I’m waiting for a more “reliable” way of getting a precoursor.. But I have to say, even if Anet would’t change anything, I would say it’s more worth buying a precoursor for 1000g than gamble in the Mystic toilet. Maybe it’s because I hate gambling, but it’s also not too hard to save cash, even if it takes a year. Because there aren’t that many other things that requires you to spend cash.. Siege weapons and food are the only things I can come up with, while the rest is just skins and stuff for the looks.. I would probably have had bought a precoursor by now if I hadnt bought gems on Trading post to buy skins and make over kits 3-4 Times for every character that i’ve got :-P

I’ve been playing my Ele for quite a while, played most of the fotm build, mostly DD. I’m running glass canon D/D usually in regular PvE. I also have a set of PVT and Knight gear. But for WvW I want to play something else and not the typical x/x/x20-30/30 builds..

Atm I’m running 10/25/0/15/20 build, something I just tossed together quickly, with PVT gear and zerker trinkets. Mostly I want to balance the offensive and defensive and not going for pure support. But my toughness is still really low, so might have to change for knight’s armor instead. It just feels impossible to balance properly considering the low base health and armor…

Edit: So I changed the spec a little bit. It looks like this

Fire: 10 – VI
Air: 30 – VI, VII, XI
Water: 20 – VI, V
Arcana: 10 – I

Utility: Arcana Blast, Arcana Shield, Mistfor, Tornado elite
Runes: Superior runes of scholar
Knight’s Armor and Zerker/knight trinkets

I decided not to go for some of the most traditional traits like elemental attunement and staff aoe radius trait (I personally don’t think it’s that big of a deal, since ppl don’t tend to stay in aoe rings anyway). I also used as many damage amplifier traits as possible since I also have scholar runes. Still debating on tweaking with traits or utilites to get some protection.

Archenus.1230:

Yeah…. doesn’t sit right with me. Sylvari are too connected with life and nature to be necromancers imho.

Unless you are one of the Nightmare court, then it fits perfectly! :P

I do agree it’s a bit contradicting, looking purely from roll play perspective. I did make a sylvari necro myself and I am very happy with it. Humans to me feel a bit too boring as a necromancer. I think asura would fit well in such case. However, I think that as a sylvari you can still play with the thought of controlling life and death. Even if it feels as something dark, does it really have to be something evil? You can also see it as an unorthodox way to handle the nature’s forces without going over to the dark side. And then who would be more suitable than Sylvari when they are the closest to nature?

Hi, I just picked up necro again and was watching your guides a little bit. I didn’t watch it all, so I’d like to ask… Your build in this video is very death shroud focused. Why is that? I mean since it’s a condition spec.. Why do pick up death shroud traits instead of for example longer bleed duration and 33% duration from scepter conditions in the Curses trait line.

Since many people in WvW for example are building for reduced condition duration, isn’t it better then to get as much condition duration as possible in your build as a counter to that.

TheGuy.3568:

A few things. The icd on blood will interfere with battle. in fact any cd on sigils will effect the cd on the other sigil. Blood is notoriously bad as a sigil and should not be used.

I personally don’t think that extra 450 heal is bad :P Though I didn’t know it would interfere with other CDs. The only other useful sigil I can come up with without any CD would be either bleed or burn duration by 10%

If i were you would take the 10 points out of fire arms and put it into tools for speedy kits. It will be more consistent than infused precision and better for the times you’ll have to run.

The reason why I went into firearms was cause I felt I would benefit from some extra precision and condition damage, trying to push the condition damage as high as possible considering that this isn’t a very high might stacking build. I’m still debating though with the other option. I was hoping that tossing and regular elixir s + rocket boots would be enough to get away.

Here is the build I’ve come up with for now:

http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/engineer/?2.0|a.1o.h15.a.1o.h1h|0.0.0.0.0.0|1b.716.1b.716.1b.716.1b.716.1b.716.1b.711|2w.0.2w.0.3w.0.2w.0.3w.0.2w.0|u58b.k36.0.k16.0|2s.d|2c.2f.2j.2m.30|e

With additional 25 stacks from sigil of corruption it should put me at 1910 condition damage without any might stacks. Should get a little bit of boost from upcoming ascended weapons as well. I think it should work :P

@shouzama: you’re right, 15% is more beneficial.

Anyway, I think this isn’t going to work for me after all =/ Cause I want to use grenades and rocket boots. And healing turret goes better with the rocket boots. So there is no room for elixir build, nor might stacking for that matter I guess.. And I’m not going anywhere without Elixir S! So it’s back to runes again.

KaporHabakuk.6219:

Great video,i enjoyed it a lot.Hope you make some more.

BTW: rocket boots,i thought they work different,when i tryed last time,they were throwing you backside and even had a tiny knockdown on myself.Is it new,or some old video?

That’s the old function of them. I believe it was a stun breaker as well. The changed it recently so you fly forward instead.

I’ve tested a bit more, mostly in in the mists and LA, and there was no lag. :P Anyway, it seems that it has to do with what Anymras said about iterations of the firing cycle. I just payed attention to the animation to it before blowing it up. Putting down healing turret and then pressing overcharge doesn’t cause the animation to happen until like 2-3sec.

I tried then to do it asap, and it seemed to work this time, but I had to be extremely fast. And the interval is extremely small, I guess I might even have been blowing it up too early sometimes still… or too late?

I’m currently running 10/20/10/30 (I could move 10 points from firearms to explosives).
Gear: Rabid and Coral trinkets
Weapon: P/P
Heal: Elixir X
Utilities: Elixir B, Elixir S and Tool Kit

Runes of perplexity.
Runes were actually a left over from a previous build I’ve tested. But I’ve found that they still work nicely with the Tool Kit, since Magnet (#5) will cause an interrupt more often than not, so that’s still an easy 12 stacks of confusion. I actually kinda like the build, I think it’s a little bit different from the others. But in the end it comes down to whether I’ll consider stacking more confusion is going to be more worth than an overall increase in condition damage (through more might stacking).

At the moment, I’m thinking of going as you said with the altruism, remove HGH and put vigor on swiftness instead. Use med kit, keep Elixir B and S and use them for utility and condition removal through Cleaning Formula 409. I’ve personally always felt that HGH didn’t go well with Cleaning Formula. The first one requires you to spam elixirs and toss elixirs while the other wants you to use them more strategically.

Edit: Btw, I’m actually thinking of going just with 2 runes of altruism and then something else.. For example 2 hoelbrak and 2 strenght, that’s 40% might duration instead if 15% boon and 20% might duration.

Dirame.8521:

paleeshi.1924:

Anymras.5729:

Text

That explains it, thanks. So yeah.. unreliable =/

Actually, if you just spam the overcharge button as you drop the turret, you should get the waterfield to appear every time.

Yeah, but it doesn’t =/ Unless it doesn’t always show the animation or something.

Have been messing around with builds for 2 days now since I started playing Engi again, and after some testings I’ve kinda decided to go back to the old elixir/hgh build. Although I haven’t really played it outside sPvP/tPvP, I wanna use it for WvW now (solo and zerg).

I’ve checked some recent builds, I know people are testing new stuff but the old HGH build doesn’t seem as popular anymore, so I wonder if there was some major changes to it that I’ve missed?

Anyway… I was going ask for runes.. I’m using rabid gear so, would it be better to go for boon duration runes or condition runes?

Anymras.5729:

Text

That explains it, thanks. So yeah.. unreliable =/

I’ve been messing around a little, testing combos with kits and such. Something that I immediately notice is that Cleansing burst, which gives a water field for a short period of time, doesn’t always proc an area heal with a combo blast. For example, with detonate healing turret (f1).

So, usually cleansing burst shows a different animation when it overcharges compared to the regular healing turret. I’ve noticed in such occasions that when the blast doesn’t work, I usually do not see this particular animation either. I’ve tried doing it directly after the overcharge and also waiting 1 second or so, waiting for the animation to happen.. Idk… It seems to happen in and out of combat. I haven’t played much with the healing turret so might be I’m doing something wrong, either way, it just doesn’t always proc it seems..

Kit to kit doesn’t work, afaik.

Zach.3264:

Personally I think Thief is pretty kitten hard to learn how to play well. I’m not going to sit and say that I’m amazing and all that jazz, but normally I like to think I’m pretty decent in PvP in other MMO’s

I agree with this post. I’m not a top PvP-player but I’d dare to say I’m at least above the average. I’m rank 42 in PvP so I’ve played quite a bit of sPvP and some tPvP on most classes (except warrior), with various builds, everything from glass to bunkers and conditions builds. Up to date I find thief to be the most challenging (I’ve experimented with various builds).

It’s very easy to spam skills and hope that you will burst down the enemy, but it’s much harder to play thief well. It depends a little bit on the weapon set up/traits of course. I personally always play with 20-30 points in Shadow Art, no matter build/weapon set duo to the sustain I get from it. So stealth is a major part of the sustain when I play thief (regen, condition removal, ini gain, plus the fact that it lets you get away). That means I usually run S/D or D/D. Therefore, landing C’n’D is crucial, as well as using the initiativs wisely, which can mean life or death. Timing and positioning is so important, as well as knowing when to retreat and how long you need to “sit out” before you can go in again. Especially when you are going against several players by yourself. The reveal-buff also makes it much more challenging, so overall I feel there’s much more to keep track of as a thief and much less room for errors than most other classes.

So uhm, Wish, which one is your final gear set up? There was so many build links, and most were posted about 1 month ago.

I’ve been considering running two different melee weapon set ups, S/D and D/P, mostly because I’d want to utilize both of them. But in the end I’ve realized that you would most likely want to have a ranged option, so that leaves P/X and SB. I think this is also a part of the reason why many use SB. It’s surely not mandatory to have a ranged option, but still something many would feel more comfortable with I guess.

Though I played D/D ele mostly where swapping to range in combat isn’t even an option, so guess I might be contradicting myself a little bit :P

Arganthium.5638:

Maugetarr.6823:

S/D got very popular for a while, but they removed the infinite range return and the stunbreak on sword #2. I don’t remember when they changed #3 on S/D, but it’s split into 2 skills now, the first costing 3 initiative, and after people started complaining since FS was tracking properly, the increased the initiative of the second half of the skill by 1 for a total of 2 for the second skill to reduce spamming. Overall S/D got better, but it certainly left a sour taste especially considering the stun and fear locking abilities of warriors and necros right now. I’m not saying those are overpowered, but it would be nice to have a counter to the counter.

Yeah, S/D is a pretty good weaponset but some of the CC right now can kill thieves if they make a single mistake.

As for builds…

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/Guide-to-Thief-Guides/first

The first S/D build is Jumper’s. It’s probably the most popular one right now, but I’ve always disagreed with it… But to spare myself from the flaming of the entire thief community, I won’t go into detail about that…

The second S/D is mine. The version there is the tank version, but recently I’ve been practicing with Zerker amulet/jewel. Maybe it’s just because I find it more fun with more offensive stats though.

The links do not work…

Didn’t know they removed the stun breaker, bummer that, although it’s understandable.

Other than that, I think the boon stealing on Sword is really nice and I always like the 2nd skill for movement., But I just wonder if D/P (or even D/D) for that matter does outshine the S/D builds or is S/D just as viable today.

Hello, I’ve been away for about 3 months. I’ve played thief mostly in PvP but I want to start a new class, mainly for WvW solo and group fights.

Been browsing through the forums a little bit, seems like D/P is still the FotM build :P I did like the changes they brought to sword (with the boon stealing) before I left. However it doesn’t seem it got any more popular? Maybe it’s more suitable for PvP than WvW.

So what are you suggestions guys, S/D or D/P or D/D? Any links to up to date build would be great as well!

Hello, been away for a few months, been checking updates every now and then though. Saw that Staff got some nice changes to it…

I’ve been playing with Knight gear, staff and D/D, 0/25/0/25/20 (my own spec). I’ve been thinking of going zerker now that I’m back again. Seems like more and more people have been going zerker. After Daphoenix’s guide people was using Soldiers gear, then changed to Knight.. So I’m basically looking for what people are mostly playing now, considering all the new changes to traits and utilities that Eles have received in the past few months.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/elementalist/07-07-13-Optimized-PvE-build-Direct-damage

Any other suggestions?

Blaine Tog.8304:

Oh you guys are a bunch of spoil-sports. So many more ele builds are gonna be viable now. Taking signets or Arcana or Glyph utilities won’t just be something to do to screw around with when you just want to have fun, but a real, legit strategy.

You just…. don’t…. remove a stun breaker from a teleport skill…. That is the main issue of this change. I don’t see why they couldn’t take it from Armor of Earth instead..

Shar.3402:

I guess I’ll play without stun breakers now.
GoEP as a stun breaker is the most stupid thing ever done in a MMO, ever.

Nop. Putting a stun breaker on a turret skill for Engy takes home the prize…

It was the most stupid nerf I’ve ever seen… I wouldn’t mind any other cantrip to have its stun breaker removed but removing it from a teleporting skill makes no sense. In such case, mesmer’s Blink should have their break stun removed as well..

So I’ve heard that if you put a skin or transmute a different skin on the first stage Ascended Back, you will still be able to infuse it in the mystic forge and keep the new skin.

Can anyone confirm if this is true.
And if so, does this also work with the base exotic back you use for transforming it into ascended backpack.

Rozbuska.5263:

Engineer has the best damage output in PvE, only dumb noobs create Warriors for damage:-P
I use this build with http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Rare_Veggie_Pizza:

http://tinyurl.com/cfftnq7

- by swaping kit and constant using elixirs you can keep 25 stacks of might on you and 10 stacks on rest of party pretty much all time.
- Due to trait and high crit chance you will keep 25 stacks of vulnerability on mobs all time – its pretty much 25% dmg increase for whole party
- You have average damage output around 6k/s on 1500ft range:-)

You can also try this static discharge build with: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Bowl_of_Curry_Butternut_Squash_Soup

http://tinyurl.com/boaoy3m

- Its pretty much single target build but due to piercing rifle shots and discharge bouncing between targets you can manage multiple targets but its harder for positioning.
- This build has extreme damage spikes (about 30k in 1.5s) but you must wait 30s for recharge whole burst or 5s for partial.
- Perma swiftness and vigor allow you to kite everything.

I did fractals lvl 48 multiple times with both builds without problems:-).

Hello, can I ask how long you’ve been playing with this build and your overall experience with it?
I kinda miss my Engi (retired her since january), but I have trouble finding a build I like (looking for a rifle/power build).
I usually don’t like going full glass canon and hence I tried balance dmg with toughness and vit, but I just don’t like the low dps. I used to run grenades but I don’t like them much anymore since 33% nerf.. And also the endless key spamming.. Your build seems pretty decent though so hence I wonder how the world looks for a pure glasscanon engy xD I guess it won’t do as well in WvW though?

I must be completely stupid… or it’s just buggy as hell..

If I try to join a match, with say 14/20 players… It says it’s full.. When I refresh the list, the same server is still saying 14/20.. But it’s still full so I can’t join.

I tried using Play Now which would pick a random server for me.. Still saying the server is full.

Sometimes I actually got in as a spectator.. But I can’t join the match because it’s… guess what.. It’s full.

I got in like once in a match with 4 players, but I first ended up as spectator and only then I could pick to join the match.

So when I try to get into a match with many players, it’s basically impossible.. It’s either not working at all, or I end up as spectator and can’t join it it cause it’s full..

Nice build. I tried it sPvp, was fun

I have only played limited amount of HGH builds.. Do you have any tips on have to use elixirs/toss elixir strategically or do you just spam them when they are out of CD for might stack?

@OP:
But if they nerf the “op builds”, it shouldn’t touch you…. since you don’t play them :P So why complain then?

It is also very easy to kite the pet, cause they are a bit slow.. so it can be used to your advantage.

I was really annoyed with my pet yesterday in couple 1v1 situations.. It just refused to attack my target, instead it was basically going around in circles. Unfortunately it isn’t very uncommon for ranger pets behavior.

Chaosky.5276:

Honestly, I find eles to be one of the less versatile classes when it comes to combat. Sure, I have a mixture of damage, healing, and CC skills that other classes may not, but as an ele, I have to choose between damage or ranged capability, zerging or roaming – I don’t need to do that as, say, a d/d-staff necro.

I don’t see the problem? You just swap to D/D or staff out of combat when situation requires. And you mostly don’t have to respec for it, since most builds works pretty much with every weapon set. Just cause you cannot swap in combat as Ele, it doesn’t mean you have to stay with that particular weapon set/roll forever.

eldain stenlund.4306:

You dont want to call the elemental a mage class.. so.. what class is it then ?

The class is called… Elementalist. <.< Of the scholar profession.

I don’t know why everyone is so hung up on all those words. You think that by simply calling it an elementalist or mage, it will define the class to its core and what it is and what it’s not. Just do it simple. Read the GW2’s class presentation.

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/professions/elementalist/
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Elementalist

Scholars. http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Scholar

I really like your build! I’m still kinda debating though..
Not sure if I should go 0/10/30/30 or 0/10/10/20/30 or 0/10/15/15/30.. Both Nature’s Protection and Enlargement in nature’s magic talent tree are pretty yummy. Also I have hard time to decide either to focus on condition damage or PvT/Cleric gear. It feels like a condition based BM build would give more damage output from yourself. However I’m making legendary warhorn now for my ranger and it’s more power based :P

@awge: That was just sad on a completely new level…… Beating level 80s with a lvl 15 like that… xD GG.

Robert Hrouda.1327:

Semil.8279:

Now Robert is going to quit ANet and change his name, maybe move to Bangladesh or Mongolia.

Being that my namesake is Czech, I think I’d give them a shot first

While I wish we could make pets super awesome ASAP, this patch will be a good step in the right direction. Will it solve all the problems? No, but it’s going to put rangers and their pets in a much better place.
I realize you all may have heard this song and dance before, and it’s okay to be doubtful about the upcoming patch – folks have been burned before, and its just going to take experiencing the changes and playing them to soften that. As a ranger player I am excited about the changes, and I hope once you all get a chance to play what the balance team has worked on, you’ll be happier too

*cough*Some spoilers, please? :P*cough*

So I’ve played some different BM builds in sPvP and found em to be very fun to play and very successful. In PvE however I play a zerker build with LB/SB/sword+horn. I like using my LB, staying at 1500 range and dealing some decent damage. However I’ve considered rolling a BM build outside sPvP, but I just really fail to see it uses.

I know that in WvW, rangers is good at roaming, and BM build has its place there, but I prefer staying with smaller groups/zergs because it often can take long time to come across a solo fight while roaming.

And in dungeons… I can’t utilize my panther as well as in spvp since it will die so easily. So I’ll end up quite tanky with almost doing no damage.. Group support? Well except using healing spring or spirits I don’t see how I can bring any support to group either. Sure you can use bear or moa for condition cleansing and heals but that’s hardly a reason to play BM for dungeons.

What are your thoughts on playing BM build in pve/wvw? I would be much glad if you proved me wrong what I’ve wrote above.

@KOK: K, I see now what you were trying to say in your previous post.

One quite funny thing that happened in WvW yesterday.. There was a ranger running around outside our Keep among the ruins.. There were 5 people chasing, all level 80 (except me being level 7 thief so I feel I can be excused xD).. And no one could catch him. I had to laugh at how he successfully trolled us :P I gave up chasing him after about 5 min since the others obviously weren’t able to catch and kill him. :P

KOK.2650:

paleeshi.1924:

KOK.2650:

WvW and Spvp is very different, especially from ranger.
Ranger in Spvp has higher dmg and defence than WvW.
Other class (include elementalist) is nerf in Spvp. Ranger dmg is more or less the same .
Killing a ranger in WvW is nothing, any class should be able to do it.
That why most ranger in WvW are ranger shooter that stay with zerg.

Would you mind explaining this?

“PvP only” they actually mean sPvP/tPvP, and those changes do not effect WvW. These are only examples, but there are a lot more.

•Cluster Shot: This skill’s damage is reduced by 15% in PvP.

•Cloak and Dagger: This skill’s damage has been reduced by 33% in PvP only.

•Shield of Judgment: This skill’s protection duration has been set to 3 seconds from 5 seconds in PvP only.

•Selfless Daring: This trait had an efficiency with healing power that was reserved for healing skills only and has now been reduced to its intended level. Heal scaling has been reduced by 50% in PvP only.

•Healing Ripple: This skill’s scaling with healing power has been reduced by 50% in PvP only, as it had scaling that’s normally reserved for main healing skills. The maximum number of targets has also been reduced from infinite to 5.

Note: You can test it yourself if you don’t believe me.

I know what it means.
I didn’t say I didn’t believe you and I’m well aware of those reductions in spvp. But what you said that rangers have damage and defense reduction in pvp. None of those examples you’ve mentioned has anything to do with rangers. What I was asking you more precisely, what kind of reduction does RANGERS have in spvp compared to PvE? I didn’t ask you about the other classes.

How exactly does it work? I’m a bit fuzzled with all the numbers. The description for base heal at lvl 80 is:

Healing: 4,920 (1.0)?
6 Regeneration: 3 s (2340 health)
Radius: 240
Duration: 15 s
Combo Field: Water

So.. I take it regeneration lasts for 3 seconds.. How does the number 6 fit into the equation? Or do you get 6 stacks at first use, so a total for 18 sec duration.. Meaning 2340 health regenerated over 18 seconds total?

Since it pulses every 3 sec.. How much more regeneration do you get per pulse? And how many conditions is cured per pulse?

KOK.2650:

WvW and Spvp is very different, especially from ranger.
Ranger in Spvp has higher dmg and defence than WvW.
Other class (include elementalist) is nerf in Spvp. Ranger dmg is more or less the same .
Killing a ranger in WvW is nothing, any class should be able to do it.
That why most ranger in WvW are ranger shooter that stay with zerg.

Would you mind explaining this?

GS is so much better in dungeons than the glyph

I made a Charr female thief and I absolutely adore her My only problem is that male and famale gear look the same (same as with asuras). I still want my Charr to have a bit of the feminine look :P

I actually thought male and female looked the same since so many of female faces looks kinda male. Then I checked male Charr settings and saw the difference was quite huge.

@LordByron: I never said that, you don’t need to read in between the lines.

Cirax.9231:

Maybe like Beauty and the Beast

Charr is the beauty and the mesmer is the beast? The mesmer looks more creepy than the Charr, to be frank xD

Elementalist — master of the elements; elementalists change their elemental attunement in battle to adapt to any situation.

I’m just saying..

LordByron.8369:

do you have any idea on how anet designed staff?
look at pre launch staff and launch nerf….
Then you may have an idea…..

So i wouldn t act as if anet designed staff as it is because its clearly not so…
What we have is the result of the usual ovenerf without compensation by anet…..

Even anet knows that infact is slowly buffing staff…..the issue is they are fast and drastic in nerfs but takes months to them to give any minor buff unless is for warriors and thieves.

And sometimes the design doesn’t turn out as they intended it to be. How it was then and how it is now is no argument for how it should be. They call it beta testings of a reason.

I find CCing a S/x thief is very hard and that’s whom I have most problems with countering, especially if they play somewhat tankier than pure glass cannons.
I started playing my thief again in spvp recently, so I’m well aware of how thief works with their skills and so in general. But with S/X builds, thieves can break immobilize and stuns easily with pretty much non existant cool downs. Though their damage compared to D/X suffers. So thieves can be very tricky to CC.

I’ve got a lvl 80 ranger too as well that I play bunker BM build in spvp with. I usually have no problems killing thieves with it 1v1. Using GS/SB and can tank thieves damage most of the time while my panther is shredding the thief to pieces In WvW however, my biggest problem is that despite my armor/hp (not full bunker, but still pretty decent) the thieves just do insane amount of damage that you get almost no chance to recover from it.

I recently started leveling a guardian (lvl 18 currently), though I still feel that I know nothing about them :P Anyway, I’m looking for a build for WvW. Are there some common builds (a previous posted guide would be nice if there is any) for it (a tanky one I suppose). Though I don’t necessary need a full detailed build, but rather some key traits/utilities to build around…

Sabull.5670:

Oh didn’t realise you were talking about WvWvW well then absolutely not only fire lols :S…

(More text..)

I also wanted to add a few things to consider when playing WvW, especially in larger groups.

First of all it’s rarely that you will just stand/move and spam skills.. There’s a lot of time spent moving (avoiding hits or getting in range of a certain target). A lot of the time is spent to use skills tactically (as this poster also showed in the video, to know where to put the AoE to make sure they will land on enemy and to control groups). In reality I find that there are many pauses between casting spells, hence you don’t just stand and nuke.

An other thing I’ve noticed just this last week (since I started do more WvW)… Many people might think that a zerg is a zerg and it doesn’t matter what you do or how you gear. I’ve seen several commanders just this week to complain of how fast people that run with them simply die too fast due to low survivability. They will always say survivabilty>damage and most will recommend using knights or soldier gear. I’m not saying you should do like the commanders bids, but survivability is a lot more important than doing tons of damage. Zergs are not just big numbers of people. They require their people to stay alive for the strategies to succeed when you’re going against an other zerg.

Honestly, staying in fire, with low survivability, nuking with auto attack is not gonna bring much to the field. Pretty much just a useless pug who will only give rally to enemy. This game doesn’t have healers and tanks. Even though you can contribute with heals and other sustain to the group, it is mainly YOUR job to keep yourself alive. You cannot compare this game to WoW where the class mechanics are completely different.