Guardian Weapons

[Lux]

I'm planning on playin guardian and, unless I'm in a boss fight, I'd like to stay away from ranged weps, because 1. They aren't that good and 2. Their range isn't that long. So, as a substitute, I'm thinking of having a sword and a shield or focus. The sword has a semi-ranged attack (Zealot's Defense) an it can teleport to the enemy (Flashing Blade). Plus, both the shield and focus have short or medium range attacks. My other weapon, the hammer, has no range. What do you think of this?

[Grim]

I think this is fine. I agree, the scepter and staff for guardian don't look too great. With all the damage mitigation and heavy armor, you shouldn't need to stay far away from an enemy (unless, like you said, it's a boss--but even then, some are easy enough and you can just hang back and support).

[HypnoGoggles]

I personally liked the hammer. You get a buff that adds a shield to you and a pretty wide range of abilities.

[Grim]

That "buff" is a virtue, isn't it? The spirit-shield thing that's blue? That's a guardian mechanic that is permanently on them, no matter the weapon.

[iDwarf]

The game is in beta right now so nothing is permanent. We never know if they'll switch stuff around last minute to give guardians more ranged variety so you could play them as a ranged profession.

[HypnoGoggles]

That "buff" is a virtue, isn't it? The spirit-shield thing that's blue? That's a guardian mechanic that is permanently on them, no matter the weapon.
Yeah sorry I didn't realize that. Also about the no range thing that I didn't mention before. The hammer can summon a bubble that keeps people inside of it so you can keep swinging at them at close range. I guess I just like it better also because it looks cool imo :P

[Lanka]

I've seen a lot of videos with that hammer and I really love it, can't wait to remodel faces with such a great weapon! :P

[Slazapuss]

Ya i hate the ranged weps for the guardian right now, however im gona go with a sword and torch and scepter and focus for my 2nd set. If the scepter isnt really doing it for me tho ill replace it with a hammer. It sucks tho cuz i wish the guardian had more range seeing as how apparently every profession can do everything, well in the guardians case uh no it cant. hopefully they change the skills around a bit and add more range options but if not ill just have to live with it i guess.

[Shaun]

Sounds like a good weapon set especially for leveling. For boss fights I'm thinking more mace shield for increased healing and party buffs. You can also use the boons from your abilities to heal if you choose the right attributes. With the mace and shield pretty much all of your abilities will give boons so you should get a lot of buffs and heals (in theory). I haven't tested this yet but did some research.

[Zyllos]

I am actually looking to do Mace/Touch. Want to catch everything on fire!

[Ruse]

I am actually looking to do Mace/Touch. Want to catch everything on fire!

And it's BLUE fire, so it's even cooler! ;)

[Landshark]

I cant wait to play Guardian... Although compared to the other classes I have some concerns with getting kited like crazy and really struggling 1v1 against anyone with ranged abilities. Not much for immobilization/cripple with the available weapon sets but that is compensated by an awful lot of damage mitigation abilities.

Heres a build I've been messing with but theory-crafting just confuses me after a while lol c'mon release!

http://gw2.luna-atra.fr/skills_tool/?lang=en&code=3ac6g09a9ghp9j9f70kaua06q73767ki0i5ij

[SkullBoy]

The thing is, Guardian seems too rounded for me. They have OKAY damage output, they have OKAY supportive qualitites (probably one of the best in the game but with no dedicated support/healer it's still not great) and OKAY/GOOD survivability.

I was going certain my main for the immediate future was going to be a guardian but now I am toying with the idea of Ranger and Mesmer.

[Vayne]

The thing is, Guardian seems too rounded for me. They have OKAY damage output, they have OKAY supportive qualitites (probably one of the best in the game but with no dedicated support/healer it's still not great) and OKAY/GOOD survivability.

I was going certain my main for the immediate future was going to be a guardian but now I am toying with the idea of Ranger and Mesmer.

I'm pretty sure the guardian is one of the most if not the most survivable class in the game. It certainly can be for soloing. And depending on how you spec, I'm sure it can hit high damage output. It's, like all the classes, more of a play style than anything else.

[SkullBoy]

I'm pretty sure the guardian is one of the most if not the most survivable class in the game. It certainly can be for soloing. And depending on how you spec, I'm sure it can hit high damage output. It's, like all the classes, more of a play style than anything else.

Fair enough. I tried guardian at Gamescon and in the PvP it seemed lacking in the damage area. I played a thief straight after and my damage was crazy compared. I understand that a thief's survivability is poor compared to a guardian but it was slightly crazy.

I guess the game has advanced in 8-odd months but it just made me less inclined to play the guardian.

[Vayne]

Fair enough. I tried guardian at Gamescon and in the PvP it seemed lacking in the damage area. I played a thief straight after and my damage was crazy compared. I understand that a thief's survivability is poor compared to a guardian but it was slightly crazy.

I guess the game has advanced in 8-odd months but it just made me less inclined to play the guardian.

Right but back at Gamescon there were no real traits to play with per se, not like today and there was no real balancing being done at that point. Major changes to everything are being made across the board. You can't really judge where the classes will end up, even by how they are now and beta and Gamescon, from a development standpoint was ages ago.

[SkullBoy]

Right but back at Gamescon there were no real traits to play with per se, not like today and there was no real balancing being done at that point. Major changes to everything are being made across the board. You can't really judge where the classes will end up, even by how they are now and beta and Gamescon, from a development standpoint was ages ago.

Yup agree with all you're saying. Just initially put me off as they seemed pretty weak. Hope the necessary changes have been made as I have not played the game since Gamescon.

Back on topic i'd really like to use a Hammer or Mace/Shield!

[Shaun]

I'm planning on playin guardian and, unless I'm in a boss fight, I'd like to stay away from ranged weps

I wrote up a Guardian build I will be trying out. Check it out here (http://guildwars2grandmaster.com/blog/profession-theories/guardian-boons/).

[Ruse]

Yeah, Shaun, I think you have done a great job of taking a narrow focus and using traits to maximize it. Imo, that will be what sets good builds apart from just serviceable ones.

[Shaun]

Yeah, Shaun, I think you have done a great job of taking a narrow focus and using traits to maximize it. Imo, that will be what sets good builds apart from just serviceable ones.

Yea if you dig deep enough you can see what the developers were thinking when creating each profession. That's just one piece of the Guardian, but definitely a piece lol.