[vT]Hobo: Core Guard Roaming (Videos)

Picked up core guardian in the last week or two and will be dumping all the videos I make on it here.

Questions/complaints/suggestions/whatever are always welcome. Hope you all enjoy.

I'm always a fan of your vids Helly! Had no interest in roaming on guardian but you make it look so easy! :D

I've been playing core mediguard lately for roaming but with Scepter/Focus instead of Hammer. You've inspired me to try Hammer again. Great Video!

@Rysdude.3824 said:I'm always a fan of your vids Helly! Had no interest in roaming on guardian but you make it look so easy! :D

Thanks Rys. I appreciate it. Guardian is a lot of fun to roam on, though it handles a lot differently in fights than rev or necro. It's worth a try if you've never played it!

@borgs.6103 said:I've been playing core mediguard lately for roaming but with Scepter/Focus instead of Hammer. You've inspired me to try Hammer again. Great Video!

I'm always tempted by that scp/focus build but it never felt totally right. Should go really old school and do scp/focus with hammer. For the true core game feel haha.

@Helly.2597 said:

@Rysdude.3824 said:I'm always a fan of your vids Helly! Had no interest in roaming on guardian but you make it look so easy! :D

@borgs.6103 said:I've been playing core mediguard lately for roaming but with Scepter/Focus instead of Hammer. You've inspired me to try Hammer again. Great Video!

Holy crap, I'm having so much fun! Glacial Heart is messed-up, I'm telling you. It procs up to 3 times if the stars align. (Normal critical, weapon swap critical damage from hydromancy, crit sigils - air/fire/blood). It's surprisingly bursty.

@borgs.6103 said:

@Helly.2597 said:

@Rysdude.3824 said:I'm always a fan of your vids Helly! Had no interest in roaming on guardian but you make it look so easy! :D

@borgs.6103 said:I've been playing core mediguard lately for roaming but with Scepter/Focus instead of Hammer. You've inspired me to try Hammer again. Great Video!

Glacial heart does have a 10s ICD so thankfully can't proc from all of these. But it does add a good amount of damage for sure. People are surprised by the swap combo burst.

Also new video is now out.

Hi guys have you updated your sigils and/or runes after the patch? Roaming without speed/traveler is a bit of a pain but i ciuld change. Ps: i currently run GS (air/force) SW/FC (air/blood) with rune of traveler

@Bheowulf.4572 said:Hi guys have you updated your sigils and/or runes after the patch? Roaming without speed/traveler is a bit of a pain but i ciuld change. Ps: i currently run GS (air/force) SW/FC (air/blood) with rune of traveler

Sadly I only play on Sundays so haven't had a chance to test anything.

Personally I am not a fan of using runes that give additional movement speed since I feel you give up too much in return for little reward. The classes/specs that can kite you can kite you regardless of your movement speed (well maybe not speed runes). The short list for runes I need to test are sanc, defender, durability, and speed. Now speed I don't think I'll go with, mainly because as core guard you can relatively poor swiftness uptime so picking a rune that only helps when you have swiftness might not be wise.

If you are to use speed, I'd recommend using agility sigils so you have some swiftness in combat from weapon swaps as well as some added quickness. Sigil wise I need to test a few, but I don't think I'll dramatically change from what I currently use.

Thanks for the answer, which sigils are you using? Would be interesting to test defender with core guard, will try it as well

@Bheowulf.4572 said:Thanks for the answer, which sigils are you using? Would be interesting to test defender with core guard, will try it as well

I use fire/hydro on hammer and agility/air on sw/sh. I do use night/hydro on hammer at night though.

Anyone tested speed runes with core guard? I did yesterday but not too good withonly 1 agi sigil, is this a waste with 2 sigils with ICD sigil?

@"Bheowulf.4572" said:Anyone tested speed runes with core guard? I did yesterday but not too good withonly 1 agi sigil, is this a waste with 2 sigils with ICD sigil?

I ended up not testing speed runes so can't answer this. I can say that durability and defender both felt pretty solid. Hard to give one an edge though.

New video is a mix with both rune sets.

New video. Vol 4

how is guardians compared to necro in 1vX scenarios o_OReapers can kinda nuke alot of ppl down or end up dieing. Does at guardian have about same AoE damage potential? i know they got way more defense atleast..

Like the video as always.With the recent change to Pack Runes (it now gives you the buffs for 8 seconds every 30 seconds while in combat), do you think it's better to use that or the sustain defender/durability gives is more valuable than going all-out offensive?

@Noha.3749 said:how is guardians compared to necro in 1vX scenarios o_OReapers can kinda nuke alot of ppl down or end up dieing. Does at guardian have about same AoE damage potential? i know they got way more defense atleast..

I think necros are easier in 1vX against inexperienced players. Reaper in particular is what I would call a pug stomper. However it drops off considerably when you face players with more knowledge. It also suffers more when an additional player adds in. Guardian doesn't do as much dmg overall, however it has a good sustain advantage and better tools to deal with new players adding it. So I'd say both have their moments of being stronger, with reaper probably having an easier learning curve before you can pull off outnumbered fights.

@borgs.6103 said:Like the video as always.With the recent change to Pack Runes (it now gives you the buffs for 8 seconds every 30 seconds while in combat), do you think it's better to use that or the sustain defender/durability gives is more valuable than going all-out offensive?

Hmm honestly I'm not sure. My instinct would be to keep using dura or defender, with an edge to defender. Pack is fine, but it is an offensive option and you should almost always have fury when you're actually spiking with hammer anyways. So additional fury isn't as big of a deal as you might think. Typically I view runes as a way to give a small edge in an area where you might lack a bit. So I'd rather get some more sustain (since you do run relatively glassy on core guard) over doing what I already do well (dmg) a little better.

Defender gets an edge (imo) over dura since it scales better from other people giving aegis/block sources. However usually my way of testing isn't about the exact numbers persay so if people's experience is different then other options are entirely viable.

@Helly.2597 said:

@borgs.6103 said:Like the video as always.With the recent change to Pack Runes (it now gives you the buffs for 8 seconds every 30 seconds while in combat), do you think it's better to use that or the sustain defender/durability gives is more valuable than going all-out offensive?

Thanks for the input. I was theorycrafting in my head where I would already have swiftness + extra 5 might on JI+hammer5/2 openning. Not to mention the 125 precision gives me the option to get more HP or armor in my trinkets. But I was adamant on losing that clutch protection+resistance dura gives. I like the idea of defender runes getting more efficient as allies appear. Gotta theory craft more!

@borgs.6103 said:

@Helly.2597 said:

@borgs.6103 said:Like the video as always.With the recent change to Pack Runes (it now gives you the buffs for 8 seconds every 30 seconds while in combat), do you think it's better to use that or the sustain defender/durability gives is more valuable than going all-out offensive?

You won't necessarily have swiftness or the might (though retal gives you around 10 might passively once fights get going), but those are what I'd call "cheap" boons that outside of solo roaming you won't really be starved of. It'll be a fine offensive option, but you might as well go eagle or scholar if you're focused on burst.

Like I said I don't really min/max my builds so I wouldn't be surprised if stuff is better on paper.

I don't use exactly the same build and I'm nowhere near as good as you, but I have to agree that core Guard is SO much fun in WvW! I always have hammer available, and use Scepter/Focus or Scepter/Shield.

Do you prefer Symbolic avenger or Shattered Aegis?

@Etterwyn.5263 said:I don't use exactly the same build and I'm nowhere near as good as you, but I have to agree that core Guard is SO much fun in WvW! I always have hammer available, and use Scepter/Focus or Scepter/Shield.

Do you prefer Symbolic avenger or Shattered Aegis?

It's a fun class to play regardless of build! Glad you enjoy it.

I suppose it depends what you think you're lacking. Personally I think shattered aegis synergizes well with core guard as it adds it your burst. However with scepter having the root, you might want to go with symbolic avenger. I know some people have had success with SW/f sc/sh using symbolic avenger. Though I haven't tested zeal out extensively.

Scepter 3 is a serious weak spot. I suppose 2 seconds of immobilize was considered strong in 2012, but that skill needs to be buffed. Otherwise I really love scepter since its last rework.

@Etterwyn.5263 said:Scepter 3 is a serious weak spot. I suppose 2 seconds of immobilize was considered strong in 2012, but that skill needs to be buffed. Otherwise I really love scepter since its last rework.

I think scepter 3 needs ammo and unblockable to make it worthwhile. With the cast time it's kinda rough. They could make it aoe instead which could make it an option as well. I used to love the hammer SC/f build Back in Core gw2. But I agree it's fallen behind.