Guild Wars 2

From a rational POV, why would anyone ever use 2 warhorns? You can’t blow them at the same time and while you’re blowing one you can’t do anything useful with your other hand.

oxtred.7658:

They stack and overlap

They are the opposite of each other.

They do not stack duration. It will set the duration back to 5 seconds.

oneply.9586:

witcher.3197:

Go to metabattle.com, you can currently browse from 40+ working pvp builds. Making a PvP build is free in most cases, you should be able to try almost every build without spending gold/skill points (you can also pvp from level 2 so just make a new charatcer if you want to try a new class, you don’t have to level it).

Btw your descriptions fits ele, dps guardian and engineer IMO.

thank you for that link, clears up alot of other questions.
and if i understand it correctly all i have to have is a lvl 22 character and then i can play with any character regardless of lvl in pvp?

You can play from level 2, not 22 (basically you only have to complete the first PvE tutorial instance after character creation) Everyone is equal in pvp, regardless of gear and level. Once you enter the Heart of the Mists, on the middle-top of your screen you’ll find a “PvP Build” button. You can set your amulet (every stat you can gain from gear in pve is in 1 single amulet for pvp), rune, sigils, traits there. Pressing H, opening your hero panel will still show your pve stats, don’t pay attention to that.

You do not even have to unlock every armor piece, you only have to equip chest, leg and feet armors for maximum armor rating. Gear is purely cosmetical in pvp.

Not really a constructive comment, but instead I’ll post an entire build.

Thisis the current meta guard build for WvW: http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Guardian_-_AH_Frontliner

D/D is more of a WvW set.

The 3 viable PvP sets are D/P, S/D and S/P.

I’m not really a WvW guy, but phantasm is probably the worst build for tPvP (if that’s what you mean by arena).

For tPvP I’d recommend the current shatter meta. It’s not easy to play but really effective and fun once you get into it.

Go to metabattle.com, you can currently browse from 40+ working pvp builds. Making a PvP build is free in most cases, you should be able to try almost every build without spending gold/skill points (you can also pvp from level 2 so just make a new charatcer if you want to try a new class, you don’t have to level it).

Btw your descriptions fits ele, dps guardian and engineer IMO.

D/D’s probably the best for PvP and probably small scale WvW too.

In general if you wanna catch up on builds use metabattle.com.

For PvP I’d recommend this one

I wouldn’t recommend banner warrior to anyone. A bunker guard is a lot better for teamsupport and there are so many other builds that are more useful for the team overall.

But if you want to use it at all costs try this one: http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Warrior_-_Banner_Bunker

In general if you are looking for builds you can use metabattle.com You’ll find working builds organized by effectiveness for every area of the game there.

Regarding PvP, I’m not sure you get the point of the build. AH bunker is a team support spec, you are not supposed to focus on dealing damage at all, you are supposed to aid your team.

If you want to fill a DPS role and use GS never go AH, use meditations.

Also, regarding bunker guard being “dead”, maybe on NA, but on EU every team has 1.

http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Guardian_-_Altruistic_Healing_Bunker
http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Guardian_-_Meditation_DPS_Variant

Pick one, 1st one is bunker 2nd is DPS (for PvP).

And in general use metabattle.com if you are looking for builds.

PvP. I do not like waiting an hour for the first fight to happen just to see my enemy disengaging at 25% HP with no chance of me every catching him. You don’t have to spend tons of golds to buy a decent gear and food and then pay again to try another build. In PvP, 99% of things are free.

If you actually want to play PvP then play PvP not WvW. Every single WvW fight is uneven, because of different gear level/foods.

Also, warrior probably has the most solid condi removal in the entire game so I don’t get this “getting trolled by condi specs” part. Probably it’s just that you’re not running an effective build. In that case use metabattle.com, you can browse from plenty of PvP warriors builds, all working and tested.

Also, once you begin to understand conquest, it’s fun And new gamemodes are coming soon so don’t worry about that.

Peow peow.2189:

hey guys please dont bring other theads into this one.

I have found a good p/d build i am using in spvp it is 0/0/6/2/6 and im killing alot of people. So thanks for the people that helped.

Anything works in hotjoin. You can go in with no traits, no utility skills and only a main hand pistol and still kill some people.

But in rated, don’t play that please unless you hate your teammates.

There is no such thing as good main-hand pistol build in pvp, especially not any kind of condi thief.

uberkingkong.8041:

Benjamin.8237:

I main a Mesmer here.

Med Guard > Survival Ranger > Thief

If I cant play med guard and own people easily, most of you guys cant do it either.

Just because you can’t play a build doesn’t mean it’s hard/sucks. I doubt your skill level is so supreme that if you can’t play it nobody can.

You can aslo Immobilize them with sword 3 and then burst them with GS, more damage than simply Blurred + Shatter.

Black Box.9312:

For as much as I’d love to use shield, there’s just no reason to take it over a focus, ever. Guardian shield is just plain bad.

Tell that to Tage :P Shield is making a comeback along with virtue bunker nowadays.

Terrorsquad.2349:

DejaVu.9825:

http://metabattle.com/wiki/MetaBattle_Wiki

My build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fJAQJARSjMdUFaZIWewJaAmgCdnPBhwxEIAU+EfOA-TZRBABUcBAoZ/BwLD8whAAgnAAA

Thing is, Metabattle is using my videos so I also would like to share my vids as they have a full guide ;D
Some ppl don’t like to read and instead watch vid ^-^

We link to you but you don’t link to us, /sadface :P

Well, power mesmer isn’t really the master of fighting outnumbered. But maybe this one?

uberkingkong.8041:

Odd…
For years, anet has had only one tournament system.

Not years, only 1 year.

However people requested there be a solo que leaderboard. Now the people got what they wanted, and now, they already want it removed.

People wanted a soloque, so they don’t get roflstomped by 5 man premades while they que alone. Nobody could foresee that the matchmaking will be this bad, even the devs admit that soloque ranking is not an indication of player skill level at all.

I want this
Remove this
I want this
Remove this
Just wasting developers time is all that is being done.

People wanted new maps too, and Anet added Skyhammer. Does that mean people wanted to have skyhammer? Don’t blame the players just because ArenaNet couldn’t deliver.

But, on a real note. Just do hotjoins if you don’t want to be apart of ranked matches.

If I wanted to get ebola I’d got to Africa, thanks. I just want a team of people with approximately the same understanding of the game if i que up, but if there is no chance for that, at least add variety by letting us play with different people, not just a pool of 15-20 for hours. When I’m repeatedly on a team with players runnig specs like a turret engi, phantasm mesmer or P/P thief (none of them ranked in top 1k) against a team that has members of TCG, Purple Smokers and 55hp Monks then I think I have every right to doubt that the matchmaking is legit.

Serious suggestion. It’s in a terrible state and at least we wouldn’t have to fight the same ~20 people for hours.

Talyn.3295:

The way anet explained it, when we ask on this before, if we got even partial benefit of the skill it goes on full recharge if interrupted. Like with shelter if you get pulled or hit with an unblock able attack that intrupts then you don’t get the heal from Shelter either. It sucks, but this is how anet does it.

And it makes a lot of sense. Other heals in the game are a lot easier to interrupt than Shelter and thee players don’t get any healing just because they were casting it for a split second. Yes, those don’t go on full CD, but you forget that Shelter has a block, if it wouldn’t go on full CD, people could just cast Shelter, cancel it a split second before it’s done, and in a couple of seconds they could use it again to block attacks. Same with Renewed focus. Besides, I’m sure this healing skill gets interrupted the least among all classes.

Sandrox.9524:

witcher.3197:

Well there is 1 viable condi build for mes: clone death

The teamfight pressure is significantly lower than a shatter mesmer’s, but can easily take most fights on sidenodes.

Lockdown IMO is just a weaker version of shatter.

Lockdown is counter play while shatter is full offense,lockdown is more tanky than shatter,and lockdown uses passive phntasms use while shatter use for insta burst+shatter. So yeah they both the same lol.

If you are talking aout the 4/4/6 lockdown: same weapons, same amulet, only 1 utility that’s different, and most of the traits are the same too. Plus you do use your shatter skills. Not saying it’s the same, just very similar still less effective than shatter.

Just a note, do not run with two 2-handed on guard. You need that Focus off-hand a lot, so if you want to take hammer replace GS. :P

Well there is 1 viable condi build for mes: clone death

The teamfight pressure is significantly lower than a shatter mesmer’s, but can easily take most fights on sidenodes.

Lockdown IMO is just a weaker version of shatter.

You have to play it like a Thief a bit. Pick a target, and then teleport in with your burst. You have gapclosers and a CC too on GS, an Immob on scepter.

You’ll have tons of dodges, condi removal, heals and ways to mitigate damage (Shelter and renewed Focus for example).

But in general you should not spend that much time in the middle of a teamfight, that’s the most likely issue I can think of.

Also make sure you are using the right build – you can also find a usage part there.

Sandrox.9524:

I didnt mean really for 3 izerkers, you can have duelist and a zerker or swordsman and zerker.zerker is important,cause of cripple.

This topic is about GS/Staff, you do not have duelist or swordsman (you shouldn’t have that with anything btw).

3 izerkers and you in the middle.(AND DO NOT SHATTER)
(…)
The point is that if you keep at least two phntasms the thief will eat dmg everytime he will get out of stealth

Shortbow. He takes your phantasms down in 1-2 shots, not to mention that autoattack bounces, if you stand close to your clones the attack hits you, your clone and then you again. And it’s pretty easy to dodge iZerker and Warlock, he can do that too. After he’s done with your phantasms and a large portion of your hp, the thief will switch to main set and execute you, likely. Encouraging a shatter mes to play it like a phantasm build is a bad idea, you should look for an opportunity to burst the thief instead.

Plus you are assuming the thief isn’t s/d, in which case he does not even have to change sets, he can just use dagger 4 and fire procs to get rid of your phantasms.

And while a sword set instead of a staff is also pretty good, it drastically decreases your access to movement and positioning tools + you sacrifice a great AoE skill that could deny stomps and resses.

Josh Davis.6015:

Zaxares.5419:

So, now that the Skyhammer changes have gone in (hammer now dodgable, floor break time increased, can’t break floors while in stealth), what are people’s opinions? Is it bearable, or even fun, now?

I’m interested in seeing these questions answered by those who have posted in this thread with a generally negative opinion, but have gone back and retried the map since yesterday’s changes.

In your opinion, are yesterday’s changes to Skyhammer generally positive? Are there other small tweaks like this (aside from removal of solo queue) that you feel would make the map a better experience for players – changes that wouldn’t drastically change the gameplay dynamic and aesthetic of the map?

Now that Hammer got nerfed, there is even more emphasis on CC and glass panel abusing than before, even with the glass panel changes.

This map is fundamentally flawed and I stay convinced that nothing will make it acceptable. Also, I would be sad to see further resources going into “fixing” this map. – dev time is precious and it would be nice to finally see a significant update for pvp, spending time with skyhammer can only delay things and it will never be a suitable map for rated play. Just remove it from soloque please.

Mega Skeleton.8259:

195 trick or treat bags is 9.75g at 5 silver a bag. + 20 slotter if you’re into that.

The last 2-3 tiers give personalized ToT bags, you can’t sell those.

When Halloween ends – nov 4. People, read news sometimes.

Mega Skeleton.8259:

Aren’t technically all those candy bags better money than any other reward tracks right now?

Not that i pvp for the money.

I doubt it. You can get rare/exotic weapons/armor from other tracks + t6 mats, overall they pay a lot better.

The Maguuma Wastes track will stay because Dry Top & its rewards are permanent additions. The Halloween one will go away on november 4th along with halloween.

Permanent content → permanent track
Temporary content → temporary track

Don’t expect any nerfs that affect every single team while there is a major tournament going on.

Yeah S/P can be pretty OP if used at the right time. They have multiple teleports to land that burst and also decent immobilzes.

the krytan assassin.9235:

(btw by saying that you can just randomly click skills i’d definitely not encourage that, you’re missing alot of potential :p)

You shouldn’t click your skills to begin with :P Use keybinds.

We have downed state because we don’t have healers. Zerker specs would go extinct if it got removed because nobody would take the risk, IMO.

BurrTheKing.8571:

I’m confused by this “hardcountered by Thieves” thing though because if you open up with a stealth and use that to set up you can pretty much one shot them become they have a chance to react. Sure if you get ambushed you might be screwed but if you save your Chaos Storm for defensive use all the aegis will keep you going. This is an actual game btw not duels, I don’t really worry about duel balance.

Shatter mes heavily relies on positioning and making gap with blink/phase retreat, with these skills you can kite a lot. But then you meet an S/D thief with multiple teleports, one of those has no CD, and making gap becomes impossible (they don’t even need line of sight for any of their ports). Or watch the recent WTS qualifiers, Levin on D/P jumps at Helseth in a teamfight, Steal + backstab = rekt – in 1v1 you can somewhat predict the burst, but in a teamfight there is no way, if the burst’s coming from stealth, there is 0 counterplay. You can’t even heal if you survive a Steal because you will have an extremely long Poison.

SaintSnow.6593:

I’m specifically speaking from a team que perspective in pvp. Even spvp as a whole. And like I’ve stated before from a high tier of players.
I.e. Condi terrormancer meta build

Even they said that you have to be really really good to take some of the 1v1 matchups and only some necs per region can pull it off. But being good at 1v1s and fighting on a point are 2 different things – you can beat warriors on nec but if they use berserker stance you better leave the point for a while. There are many specs that just do the side-node / 1v1 role better and those players don’ t have to be extremely good to succeed.

DrDivine.5378:

witcher.3197:

DrDivine.5378:

witcher.3197:

It’s a hard build, and mesmers can’t really stand on a capture point for too long not even in 1v1s, that’s not their role. But the damage you bring into teamfights is great, along with portal play, for example you can put portal at far and then go mid – if your opponent leaves far, you can portal back to decap and then portal back to the fight – but if they don’t want that to happen, they obviously can’t move away, which should make your team win the other points in 4v5.

It’s good for 1v1s just not on a tiny capture point. And don’t drop halting strike, it’s a really important part of your damage.

Can you name the utilities that trigger halting strike with this build?

There are no utilities there that trigger it with this build. Only Illusionary Wave, Chaos Storm (randomly dazes in AoE), Diversion (F3), but it should be enough. The first 2 are AoE skills, and HS can proc for 2-4k on each target with every interrupt.

A question about chaos storm then, I usually try to save it for things like rezzing or stomping, but should I also use it offensively when encountering an enemy?

You should try to keep it for res/stomp and other important situations if possible, you’re doing it right :P But sometimes it’s the only way to stand a chance, for example against thieves (your hard-counter) – if a d/p goes into stealth + you are low on health and out of CDs, an Aegis from chaos storm or a daze to the thief can save you. Or if you really really want to interrupt a healing skill and you are in for a gamble (it’s not 100% that the skill will get rupted in time).

DrDivine.5378:

witcher.3197:

It’s a hard build, and mesmers can’t really stand on a capture point for too long not even in 1v1s, that’s not their role. But the damage you bring into teamfights is great, along with portal play, for example you can put portal at far and then go mid – if your opponent leaves far, you can portal back to decap and then portal back to the fight – but if they don’t want that to happen, they obviously can’t move away, which should make your team win the other points in 4v5.

It’s good for 1v1s just not on a tiny capture point. And don’t drop halting strike, it’s a really important part of your damage.

Can you name the utilities that trigger halting strike with this build?

There are no utilities there that trigger it with this build. Only Illusionary Wave, Chaos Storm (randomly dazes in AoE), Diversion (F3), but it should be enough. The first 2 are AoE skills, and HS can proc for 2-4k on each target with every interrupt.

It’s a hard build, and mesmers can’t really stand on a capture point for too long not even in 1v1s, that’s not their role. But the damage you bring into teamfights is great, along with portal play, for example you can put portal at far and then go mid – if your opponent leaves far, you can portal back to decap and then portal back to the fight – but if they don’t want that to happen, they obviously can’t move away, which should make your team win the other points in 4v5.

It’s good for 1v1s just not on a tiny capture point. And don’t drop halting strike, it’s a really important part of your damage.

infantrydiv.1620:

Engineer appears to be the most popular class

Chinese parents won’t let them be anything but engineers.

RushandCash.7835:

Thank you guys. I tried pu messmer in pvp. I think is good.

There is a difference between Pvp and hotjoin. You literally couldn’t come up with a build that can’t be used effectively in hotjoin. Problem is PU won’t teach you anything about mesmer and will make you useless in rated play.

eldenbri.1059:

This is the power PU phantasm build I use for roaming in WvW

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fhQQNAR7ansISZa2oGupB3aGJ1IM996LJHCK5XIA-T1yHABnt/AQKpE7CAEo6DIqCTPKT8RpwAPEAv0NAwRA4OlgBAQAYlPX4CX46sMAVLA-w

It’s fun for me. I never play pvp, so no idea how it would do.

Good luck!

PU is bad, but Phantasm is the worst you can do in PvP. PU + Phantasm is basically as useful for your team as going afk in your base.

SaintSnow.6593:

current condi necro meta is the best 1v1 class making it a great side node fighter

It’s pretty far from that. Many specs are able to 1v1 a nec, unless he is extremely good and the enemy makes mistakes. And a nec should avoid standing on the point whenever it’s possible.

Urejt.5648:

glock.6590:

Sizer farms every thief on EU, the only reason Levin killed sizer its because he was sitting in stealth forever and waiting to get that spike off.

And those 2 thieves never dueled, it was just the D/P trying to gank sizer while he is in a team fight. Sizer would 100-0 Levin in a actual 1v1.

What i meant was not actual duel between Sizer and Red Levon but clash of two of them in seperate teams. Red Levon performance was more meaningfull becouse he was able to insta down players while Sizer did steady but only moderete dmg which resulted in not so many downs compered to Levon’s.

It’s still Levin.

Zenith.6403:

Don’t play anything with conditions. Condition damage is capped, delayed, reduced and purged. Go with berserker.

Full-Berserker is the official rallybot stat in zerging afaik. Btw as you mentioned conditions aren’t the most optimal choice for zerging, but with carrion you have decent Power too and vitality to survive the Retaliation.

As a returning player metabattle might be a good place to start, especially for PvP. It’s a site that collects viable builds for every area of the game.

About your last question. Shortbow is bit of a panic/teamfight weapon – skill 3 can save your life if you’re being focused, you can evade attacks even while immobilized. It also provides nice AoE cleave on a downed enemy + a poison field which makes it harder to res the enemy. You can also stay in shortbow until you decide which target to pick in a fight. In 1v1s people often use it after they got bursted and don’t want to get into melee range and want to reset a bit. (but I’m not a thief expert)

And in general watch top streamers play You can learn a lot from them. If you go to metabattle there are multiple top streamers listed on every build’s page that play that build.

DrDivine.5378:

Shanks.2907:

What’s your build look like DrDivine?

I just copied the build from meta battle wiki titled “AH bunker Guardian” and on paper, it sounds like it works really well. It has over 3k armor , lots of condi clears and some good heals, but when it comes to relying on the focus I have really bad survivability.

With the shield, it’s a bit more user friendly as it has better cooldowns and a pushback i naddition to +90 toughness. The focus I just can’t survive with, the moment I am focused in a team fight I almost drop instantly. I’ll be taking 8k hits so I have to pop my heals which are struggling to keep up with the massive dps from enemy players. Once the block on the focus is exspired, I die pretty easily.

You should not use your healing skill unless you are getting bursted or extremely low on HP. You have many ways to heal yourself up with other skills, like using Empower on staff. Use your healing skill and your elite when you are being heavily focused because they give you block/invulnerability. Use staff 5 to disrupt the burst and gain some time.

And try to LoS. You can’t do that on most capture points, but sometimes you can leave the point for some seconds, especially if you have a D/D ele or a Hambow who can take your place for a bit of time on the point. This gives you time to reset a bit.

And dodge. This is the only possible issue i can see. You are likely facetanking entire shatter combos atm. Keep playing the build and learn to watch out for enemy burst, it’s a matter of practice.

Or you can also try the other bunker guard build: http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Guardian_-_Traditional_Bunker – Tage often uses this with Sanctuary and Shield, but IMO it’s harder.

For PvP, there is no such thing as good PU mesmer build. PU’s terrible in conquest.

Welcome back :P

If you are looking for builds for any content type try metabattle.