Saiyan.1704

Ranked SPvP and Automated Tournaments are very different when it comes to what works and what doesn't. Core bunker Guard is very much team dependant. I wouldn't call it a build that "carries" in general ranked queue spamming games. You are better off on some other Marauder/Zerk meta build. AT though, it has almost always been an A pick or S pick spec.

You're telling me FA Cata will stop 1-shotting people if they remove the damage from orbs? Yeah not buying it.

I edited the DH sPvP build a little bit. Went Marauders instead of Zerks so it can stay on point slightly better. Longbow/GS feels reeaallyyy fun for some reason. Also I went Zeal instead of Virtues but you can honestly still keep Virtues if you want because F3 stunbreak/stability is still clutch at times.... I just have a strange obsession with Zeal in all my builds. I have an issue. I need help.

On another note... F3 says "teleport" similiar to the tool tip on Judges Intervention yet Line of Sight is required... it feels terrible spamming F3 on a ledge only for it to say "LoS cannot teleport". This is increasingly frustrating in clutch situations... it's one of the only shadowstep ability that requires LoS to use. Judges, sword#2, sword#4, and Flash Combo does not require LoS to use...

I complete several hundred games most seasons... tbh I'm a little addicted (and a bit coocoo). Say what you want about the game.. I'm having fun on it and a lot of other players do too. The players with multiple alts are the ones who are the most passionate about the game. All that said a small player pool is never healthy. Anet can do very little about that.

Not to answer for him, but in sPvP Willbender has one of the best, if not the best, cleave in the game. So I imagine it is similiar in WvW as well. One of the ways to offer proficient bursts in sPvP is to use zerker amulet, but there's a lot of QoL issues with our utilities and healing ability that makes that build frustrating at times. The top of the list being Reversal of Fortune being covered by Aegis or Shield of Wrath. No doubt the same QoL issues exist for WvW.

Bump... for emphasis. Changes to our heal mechanic is an absolute must. It's block mechanic needs to supersede every other block.

Lets just start with giving it a 1k minimum heal instead of it being a 200 heal, then we'll talk about the otherwise pointless conversation you inquired about. The HEALING effect is what needs to be fixed, not how instantly we are able to cast it. An instant heal of 0 is still 0

Hehehe... this makes a lot of sense XD. I never liked WvW because it was a LOT of walking... i don't like walking for 5 minutes at a time only to die in a random horde blob fight or something.....

Ooph that sounds pretty bad... Power WB in sPvP isnt on that level of terrible but it certainly needs to be played good to work and right now there are little to NONE good Willbenders in PvP. I think that's why i'm posting these builds. Because even if you don't want to WB, you can at least be decent on the other builds that are better than old meta DH LB. WB is a VERY fast pace playstyle if that's your thing. You should get back into it even casually :3

Love it!!

Willbender gameplay, Ranked (it's a low Gold game if that... will try to get something more competitive later.. I'm currently in the process of settings things up correctly on my end) Video shows how I play an 11k health WB build, which is mostly the only thing I want to show from the video below so there's nothing all too special.

I've been using this build exclusively last season and it really isn't that bad. I haven't had this much fun on a Guard build since they initially released Firebrand. If Flash Combo (amongst other items..) was buffed we'd be the new Heralds.. imo... but I do find this build a whole lot better than the old Marauder GS WB meta a few seasons ago... and any other WB build we currently have. I have been able to survive longer than other WB builds that try to utilize more toughness or Valor Medi heals. A Guard player said it best (i forgot his name sorry ;_; ) that Guardian is all about stacking damage modifiers right now and he wasn't wrong... Willbender just needs some major QoL help right now, like the Reversal of Forune issues for starters. I've been meaning to make a Youtube video in ranked/AT against some decent players... at least gold3/Plat1 level but I haven't made the time for that yet >_<... EDIT: I'm not saying it's a GG 5v5 Monthly build that destroys people but it's definitely one of the better builds Guardian has going for it.

Rank match quality is a whole lot better than unranked matches. There's almost no reason to run meta builds in unranked, that said, it's still a shame that premades with some-what meta builds are in ranked. MMR should be doing better in that regards because it's no fun for soloQ unranked players who just want to chill.

Reversal of Fortune's block priority NEEDS to supercede all blocks so we can freakin' heal!! Aegis supercedes Shield of Wrath's 3 blocks, which is good because there's a higher chance for SoW to explode when it ends but Fortune does not supercede SoW or aegis... which means when we have low health and pop Fortune and SoW, we have to wait for the 3 blocks from SoW to finalize before Fortune can block and deliver us a full heal. It's utterly frustrating. Flash Combo needs to have a stunebreak on it. Secondly it needs a buff in damage.. or instead of increased damages just remove the target requirement for activation instead of having to wait for another target to enter our characters targeting range... Heaven's Palm is so disgustingly BAD that idk where to start.. give us 1.25s of invulnerability while in the air (WHY DO CC SKILLS FREEZE US IN THE AIR BTW??) remove the require target limiter so we can cast it anywhere at anytime. And if by some miracle we hit some one with it and that person gets stunned, remove the animation downtime... we lose like 100 frames from the time we land, to the time we are able to attack the stunned target.

Does that not prove my point? They nerfed FB across the bored in WvW and sPvP. When Firebrand was no longer meta in sPvP, like.. not even slightly, they still incorporated the Mantra of Solace heal nerf to sPvP which was the worse decision ever next to tomb Quickness changes. All because FB was still overperforming in WvW. WvW roaming is not all of pvp..

I don't really consider skills with a casting timer an "instant revive with no way to counter"... not in the slightest. There certainly IS a way to counter... some classes just CC easier than others. Likewise, if a Core Supp Guard doesn't save stability to use a signet rez (which has a huge animation) then he deserves to get CC'd. In 2v2's I've experienced a No Healing situation in Overtime where there are downed players but you can't insta rez them or pick them up. Some players have complained about removing downstates completely and let me tell you, that is very much not fun for me.

They have this pinned on top that deterre players from making accounts, match manipulating with bots throughout the season, and selling Monthly prizes to the person with the funniest memes. We have nothing to worry about fam.

Considering that they continuously nerfed Firebrand in sPvP over, and over and over again throughout a period of 4 years, even after it was completely useless they STILL overnerfed it... yeah, Anet cares very little about individual classes as long as WvW is taken care of. What ever happens to Firebrand in WvW will directly effect Firebrand in sPvP. So if Firebrand is fine, then FB wont see any love in sPvP because why should Anet start caring now? There is no unique balance between the game modes like how Anet promised.

I kind of agree with this. The people on our team that we WANT them to alter their builds, simply wont do it anyways. And half the time players in unranked are on a bad core class to begin with. So the people who would get the most benefit out of this change would be vet players who knows how big of a difference a single trait change can make, let alone multiple trait changes. That said I wouldn't mind a SINGLE trait change + one weapon change after the 3rd death...and only once per game. That would make things interesting mid game, IMO... but Anet would never incorporate something like this.

My biggest issue with the homing flying tooth of death is... it is an AoE skill that can hit multiple targets, all of which may not know where their party members may end up when it is casted. So I could get hit by a flying tooth of death simply because my thief ally decided to shadowstep next to me from behind. Then WHAM we both get hit. As a Guardian main I've done this towards my ally's without realizing it. The AoE hit should be lower radius imo. That's my only issue with it. It is otherwise no different than Ray of Judgement on Focus#3 that us Guards have.

Wanted to make a PSA on the top... 1. 2. 3... X.Y. Z.. Guardian builds in PvP - Every build has Pros and Cons depending on team comp and/2v2/3v3/XvX/ matchups. There isn't a #1 build.. per se... Core Power (and variants) Disclaimer: This build will depend on Your Playstyle but the more consistently rewarding build has been Zeal/Virtues/Radiance with Marauders and Soldier rune, utilizing 'Advance' shout utility. Typically this build uses GS with Scepter/Focus for range + defense when needed. Utilities can be changed depending whether you need AoE damages (spirit sword), stun breaks such as [JI, CoP, SYG] etc. Marauder makes the build feel like old-school Willbender, delivering crazy damages with GS#3. Other build options consists of multiple sigils on the utility bar for self sustaining/team oriented purposes depending on comfortable playstyle. Reason it works: Core > WB in 1v1s - The reason it works is because it offers quicker access to immediate healing with F2 along with immediate block/stunbreak of F3, all the while using the 'Advance' for additional AoE blocks. This allows GS#3 to be as successful as it is hitting a staggering 5k to 7k damage per hit. With Marauders the increase health pool will often out sustain Willbenders in 1v1's. A lot of this has to do with damage mitigation and opportunities to successfully land GS skills against low health pool players. Willbender Zeal Bursts (use Scholar runes) Disclaimer: You will die.. a lot.. if you're not accustomed to a quick triggering build that requires map awareness and overall mechanical proficiency.. That said, this build is the MOST damaging AoE burst spec in sPvP at the moment. It's 11k healthpool is extremely low but it straight up carries any normal ranked/unranked game when climbing the ladder due to it's single target - or multi target - burst prowess potential. Utility items can be altered depending on playstyle but generally Whirling Light and Judges Intervention is an absolute must, along side a secondary stunbreak like CoP or SYG to maintain pressure or escapage. It certainly does hit dead-ends when going against anything heavy condi or anything that is an exclusive 1v1 side-noding duelist. It is a +1 build that should be treated as such. Reason it works: WB offers some of the most extreme on-point damages in the game, dealing damages to multiple targets at once. You'll gain value if you're able to dish out tons of damage enabling your team to clean house. Dragonhunder CC Zealer (edited: Jan/2023) - Soldier runes or Scholar runes, (your choice) Disclaimer: This is the middle-man between Core Guard and Willbender. When against heavy condi comps this build will self sustain better with its cleanse on block and occasional CC. It takes the core guard GS damage but adds medium/long range LB DH damage, stength of both worlds. Wrathful Spirit means you will have 100% crit chance. You lose Virtues Stunbreak + Stability but gain a plethora (this is a big word) of Aegis blocks with Hunter's Determination, Fragments of Faiths, top it off with "Advance", when needed. Because you don't cast symbols all too often, Mystic Rebuke (shattered aegis) is taken over Symbolic Avenger edit: there may be some errors on the builds because I was really drunk when making this post.. but if anyone have questions feel free to hit me up. edit: I sobered up...

I feel this 100%. It's not that I can't dish out enough damage in team fights... it's just that WB is so glass that if you sneeze in my direction, I go down lol. To prove your point further, GS Zerk WB can't be a thing due to how glass WB is by nature... I find sword/scepter zeal zerks eons more efficient than GS WB zerk/marauders at the moment but Core guards eat me like candy in teamfights rn. As for Core vs WB, you're right yet again..... I can't freakin' hit anything rofl. WB is designed to dish out as much damage as possible but that build negates a lot of damage.... and Core somehow manages to land more GS hits than I'd like to admit it does, even when i'm sword/scepter. I can't really wrap my head around it (or maybe i'm just bad idk). If i play really well by surviving, then i'll outdamage core by a lot to the point some one is going down but surviving has been a huge challenge for zerk WB rn. I'm not going to jump ship though. Nearly hit top 25 with WB until i got dishonor and derped... I'm glad Core guard is getting love rn though. Seeing a lot of core guards do well in sPvP.

I like the concept and welcome any and every Guard build posted here because it does something to my nether regions... By bunker buster, do you mean taking down bunker builds as fast as possible? I feel Zeal/Radiance Zerker Yolo WB build does that slightly better. But I certainly can see what this build offers though. It's different.

(sPvP) Every Page that is 3/4 cast time... remove it. Just remove it.