Radiant GS vs Radiant Hammer

Hello all So I am newer to guard im sure people have seen my posts before about DH, I decided to give core a go and its fun its a blast actually except for 1 thing, I see the Radiant hammer version really hitting for some hard numbers and insta downing people which is amazing however

I WANT TO USE GS because I finally got my first legendary and I am IN love with the GS I gotim looking for some help on the burst for GS because I don't seem to EVER down someone with my burst with GS like I see other people do to me with GS

Combo ive been doing --------- start casting whirling blades ---JI+ Virtue of justice --symbol of wrath..

I was messing around with doing all that but then adding smite condi for the extra umph which has seemed to help but then im out a utility skill is this wise or no ? does anyone know what I SHOULD be doing ? P.S im using S/SH + GS my gear may not be fully optimized as well I do not have Cavalier trinkets yet I have zerk.

I'm assuming WvW here? I'll point you to Hobo's videos, as he is pretty badass in WvW on...well most stuff..https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/66530/vt-hobo-core-guard-roaming-videos

@sinsrock.1702 said:Hello all So I am newer to guard im sure people have seen my posts before about DH, I decided to give core a go and its fun its a blast actually except for 1 thing, I see the Radiant hammer version really hitting for some hard numbers and insta downing people which is amazing however

I WANT TO USE GS because I finally got my first legendary and I am IN love with the GS I gotim looking for some help on the burst for GS because I don't seem to EVER down someone with my burst with GS like I see other people do to me with GS

Combo ive been doing --------- start casting whirling blades ---JI+ Virtue of justice --symbol of wrath..

I was messing around with doing all that but then adding smite condi for the extra umph which has seemed to help but then im out a utility skill is this wise or no ? does anyone know what I SHOULD be doing ? P.S im using S/SH + GS my gear may not be fully optimized as well I do not have Cavalier trinkets yet I have zerk.

Using GS over hammer isn't an issue at all for the radiance build (just change glacial heart to the condi cleanse trait). Personally I found it falls off once you fight more people but it's still a great choice to use.

Now a disclaimer is I'm not a GS expert so maybe some other roamers can chime in.

Your combo is fine on paper. I'd suspect most people who insta burst you on GS are using focus 5 to give them extra burst for the opening of the fight. So don't worry about not 1 shotting people, when you use shield over focus you give up a lot of the instant burst potential you have with focus in order to gain some more utility.

Now if you do think you should be 1 shotting people, don't feel bad about using smite condition. It's an extremely low CD. And you have a lot of overlap for cleanses so you aren't likely to be dead before its back up anyways. Besides you're already using JI (a much longer cd) anyways, just toss in smite condition as well.

Now you do use a lot of CDs for this, and honestly if you're using shield it can backfire, but you definitely can do the 1 shot or almost 1 shot with GS just as much as hammer.

Also imo cav trinkets probably aren't the best (especially if you're zerk otherwise). Since guard has such low base hp valk is a better choice in my experience. Even more so for shield builds since you get a lot of toughness from the shield trait.

@"Turkeyspit.3965" said:I'm assuming WvW here? I'll point you to Hobo's videos, as he is pretty kitten in WvW on...well most stuff..https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/66530/vt-hobo-core-guard-roaming-videos

Appreciate the shout-out <3

A big part of the burst (on both hammer and GS) comes from focus 5, so if you don't have a focus and use shield you won't oneshot anyone.Also what traits do you use? Wrath of Justice in Radiance (immob on active F1 proc) is really good for GS and if you hit the full burst rotation will make sure your target eats the entire GS2. It also helps to have an agility sigil on the GS for that but then you have to be in combat for it to proc during your burst.

Generally with focus + wrath of justice the wombo combo is -Focus 5 -> wait 2 seconds -> F1 -> GS2 -> JI -> maybe smite condition.

@Helly.2597 said:

@"Turkeyspit.3965" said:I'm assuming WvW here? I'll point you to Hobo's videos, as he is pretty kitten in WvW on...well most stuff..

https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/66530/vt-hobo-core-guard-roaming-videos

No worries. I ran into you when you were testing out Renegade w/Tormenting runes. I recall seeing a Rene coming my way and thinking "who roams as Rene...", and then I was back at respawn....

@sinsrock.1702 said:Hello all So I am newer to guard im sure people have seen my posts before about DH, I decided to give core a go and its fun its a blast actually except for 1 thing, I see the Radiant hammer version really hitting for some hard numbers and insta downing people which is amazing however

I WANT TO USE GS because I finally got my first legendary and I am IN love with the GS I gotim looking for some help on the burst for GS because I don't seem to EVER down someone with my burst with GS like I see other people do to me with GS

Combo ive been doing --------- start casting whirling blades ---JI+ Virtue of justice --symbol of wrath..

I was messing around with doing all that but then adding smite condi for the extra umph which has seemed to help but then im out a utility skill is this wise or no ? does anyone know what I SHOULD be doing ? P.S im using S/SH + GS my gear may not be fully optimized as well I do not have Cavalier trinkets yet I have zerk.Hit f1-2-3 focus 4 before ur gs2 or gs5 than ji than smite conditions followed by symbol usually brings most classes close to downed state,if not blocked

I usually only go to my meme Radiant Hammer build to counter a bunch of gankers, otherwise I use a rather weird radiant build that uses Staff/GS.https://imgur.com/a/eGu3fN1An example of a meme Radiant Hammer build.

@sinsrock.1702

I've played a lot both builds in sPvP for a "long" time and both builds were kinda equals in the past. But last patch the glacial blow had a serious blow that made GS slightly better.But as the others said you have to change 2 traits to make GS working.

• Virtue Master trait : cleansing on virtue of resolve instead of mighty blow
• Radiance Master trait : Immobilization on F1 active (you need to hit when F1 is active)

Then yeah the dmg is less instant but still in 2 sec. Use Focus 4 to make him waste a dodge then precast 5 -> weapon swap and F1 -> Judge intervention + GS 2 -> GS4 + GS 3 and the target is dead :D

The only targets that could survive are the daredevil and the ranger cause they can quickly remove imob ... the rest will die to you eitherway.

PLUS ! It's easier to disengage fight on GS than on hammer thanks to the leap on GS3. It's less "all in" as the hammer could be sometimes.