Max Level Shield use

Hi guys, I recently started playing gw2 (better late than never right...), and was wondering if any of the (elite) professions is viable to use a shield at max level?

I prefer to play warrior tank type classes in MMO's but from looking at metabattle, the only class I can see that uses them are Chronos (and I dont want to play a caster...) ? Is this the case? I realise the trinity system doesnt really apply to GW2....

First, there aren't really any tanks in GW2. You can build that way, but you won't really be playing a "tank".

Plenty of classes can use a shield effectively, though. There's Chronomancer, of course (though you say you don't want to play one of those). There's also Revenant and Guardian healers. Engineers have a fun open-world build that relies on boons to buff survivability, and they use a pistol and a shield. You'll also often see Warriors using a shield in PVP or for PVE utility as a secondary weapon.

In defence of mesmers...

Chronos in meta situation basically drop AoEs and DoTs then go back to hack and slash. They're sword-and-shield fighters who cast more than they're casters who hold a shield. Strong AoE, excellent crowd control and the easiest tank in the game.

Don't let the light armour and disco butterflies fool you; at their strongest they're an upfront melee class. Phantasms are basically fire and forget DoTs and clones are basically crowd control and meatshields you can turn into a bomb.

holosmith can also use shield https://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Holosmith_-_Protection_Sword/Shieldsince you didn't include if this was for fracs/raids i assume it's for open world pve (95% would be for that)

The biggest problem with shields is that the enemies attack so slowly that you only wind up blocking a single attack and then getting a huge CD before you can block again. You'd have been better off just taking the hit and healing it or dodging/moving to avoid it.

@mtpelion.4562 said:The biggest problem with shields is that the enemies attack so slowly that you only wind up blocking a single attack and then getting a huge CD before you can block again. You'd have been better off just taking the hit and healing it or dodging/moving to avoid it.

but engi can use his shields even for offensive purpose (shield follow up skills have cc)

@"mtpelion.4562" said:The biggest problem with shields is that the enemies attack so slowly that you only wind up blocking a single attack and then getting a huge CD before you can block again. You'd have been better off just taking the hit and healing it or dodging/moving to avoid it.

I also think that there are several shield skills that just don't benefit group play so will never be recommended as meta. For example, guardian shield 5 pushes enemies out of AoEs. The rest either don't directly benefit the group or are rather weak in group compositions, so other options are better.

Chronomancer shield 5 provides boons, crowd control and does a respectable amount of damage and shield 4 is the "opt out of combat for a second and a half" button that can also provide protection for the party. .

I'd love a decent shield build, and that's literally why I levelled a mesmer. In the end it turned out chronomancer is really fun, but some stronger shield options would be cool.

Guardian's Shield 5 pushback is minimal. It's another Light Field and the secondary on it is a really good AOE heal however.

I would reccommend sword/shield holosmith;I like shields aesthetically, but guardian shield is pretty useless in non-group situations, or not useless per se, but the weapon switch cooldown isn't worth what little utility it brings to solo open world IMO. Much better in group situations where the heal matters and the knockback more likely to contibute to a breakbar/protect allies, though you're gonna be in a support role using it pretty much no matter what.

I love chrono sheild, but i will say it can be very difficult to use if you don't understand the mechanics of the game + enemies quite well; it's very easy to mistime a block or send the thingy thing in a direction you didn't intend to etc. Of note, support chrono is really the closest we get in gw2 to the traditional role of the tank; you won't really be taking hits for the group, but is often chrono's job to deal with special aggro and attack mechanics.

Holo gets my second fave (to chrono :P) shield skills in the game; you get crowd control skills and using the sheild won't take away from your offensive power that much (vs pistol offhand, you get dramatically much more CC which is often coveted more than the small dps loss, and if you aren't absolutely on point with using pistol skills you won't squeeze that much more out of pistol than if you had no offhand anyway)

Not familair with rev shield at all and barely used warrior shield that much, though it would seem warrior shield kinda serves similarly to holo shield but gets a notable damage loss, warrior might as well take mace offhand instead of shield really.

@"Caemor.1569" said:I prefer to play warrior tank type classes in MMO's but from looking at metabattle, the only class I can see that uses them are Chronos (and I dont want to play a caster...) ? Is this the case? I realise the trinity system doesnt really apply to GW2....

That is because the only place a "tank" is relevant is in raids(and a few fractal encounters but a tank is more an optimization than an neccessity in that case) and their "tankiness" is specific to that context.

If you want something durable and easy to play(the usual fighter/warrior stereotype) then most if not all classes can be built that way. The durable at least. Easy to play is debatable with some classes.

@"Lexi.1398" said:Not familair with rev shield at all and barely used warrior shield that much, though it would seem warrior shield kinda serves similarly to holo shield but gets a notable damage loss, warrior might as well take mace offhand instead of shield really.

Rev sword+shield ("Herald"), for me, in open world, feels "off" compared to sword+sword. It's one of those things that adds less than the alternatives. Or maybe I'm missing something in how to make it work.

whats wrong with the shield from warriors ? block and interrupt is nice to have ;)

Here a basic list where you can see what could be a 'tank' in the sense other MMO use : https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Taunt