Best 1v1 builds for arena/duelling servers

[fluffypaws.2860]

Hi guys,

 

New to guardian.

I've seen someone running a guardian with hammer in duels and it did surprisingly well.

 

Does someone know what the build might be ?

 

Also, what would be considered the best 1v1 build in Core, Dragon Hunter and Firebrand.

 

Thank you 🙏

[Guirssane.7082]

Scepter shield / sword focus with full meditation 

[Saiyan.1704]

On 1/20/2022 at 8:07 PM, Midnight.9657 said:

Hi guys,

 

New to guardian.

I've seen someone running a guardian with hammer in duels and it did surprisingly well.

 

Does someone know what the build might be ?

 

Also, what would be considered the best 1v1 build in Core, Dragon Hunter and Firebrand.

 

Thank you 🙏

There can be only a couple builds that can use hammer.... but in my opinion it isn't the most viable 1v1 build because it is a very specific close quarters weapon that relies on other damaging items to utilize Ring of Warding (hammer#5). Hammer is basically the melee version of Longbow but us Guardians are not good at being up close and personal. We can be competitive in AoE damage but Berserker builds lacked self-sustains (and/or mobility) compared to other classes.

I would consider DH Zerk build the more better 1v1 build for a number of reasons. For starters it has mobility and CC with the use of LB ranged attacks, Pull from F1 and the knockback from Shield#5 for Test of Faith procs. That said... Guardians in general are not the greatest 1v1 classes in the game.

[aelska.4609]

On 1/21/2022 at 3:07 AM, Midnight.9657 said:

Hi guys,

 

New to guardian.

I've seen someone running a guardian with hammer in duels and it did surprisingly well.

 

Does someone know what the build might be ?

 

Also, what would be considered the best 1v1 build in Core, Dragon Hunter and Firebrand.

 

Thank you 🙏

 

Hello,

I am essentially running hammer builds in PvP (plat level), so i can answer you:

- Hammer builds essentially relie on the enemy failing to dodge hammer #2. So it is inherently bad in 1v1.

Fortunately, people make mistakes:

• They sometimes waste a dodge if you bore them with some auto attacking
• They sometimes are surprised if you break out of stun late during one of their "combo"
• They sometimes waste a dodge after getting cced or immob.

If you want to run a hammer build that can do 1v1, then scepter/shield will probably be your secondary set.
For all dps core builds, unfortunately you are forced to run meditations with valor, virtues and radiance traitlines.
Otherwise, drop hammer for sw+focus. It will bring more consistent damage and be more forgivable.
 

Edited January 23, 2022 by aelska.4609

[fluffypaws.2860]

8 hours ago, aelska.4609 said:

 

Hello,

I am essentially running hammer builds in PvP (plat level), so i can answer you:

- Hammer builds essentially relie on the enemy failing to dodge hammer #2. So it is inherently bad in 1v1.

Fortunately, people make mistakes:

• They sometimes waste a dodge if you bore them with some auto attacking
• They sometimes are surprised if you break out of stun late during one of their "combo"
• They sometimes waste a dodge after getting cced or immob.

If you want to run a hammer build that can do 1v1, then scepter/shield will probably be your secondary set.
For all dps core builds, unfortunately you are forced to run meditations with valor, virtues and radiance traitlines.
Otherwise, drop hammer for sw+focus. It will bring more consistent damage and be more forgivable.
 

Thank you for your insight ! Would you be able to share with me your version of the best possible 1v1 hammer build ( I know it's not optimal ) .

 

I like to try fun and challenging builds and I have the juggernaut too 🙏

 

Thank you

[Math.5123]

On 1/23/2022 at 7:00 PM, aelska.4609 said:

 

Hello,

I am essentially running hammer builds in PvP (plat level), so i can answer you:

- Hammer builds essentially relie on the enemy failing to dodge hammer #2. So it is inherently bad in 1v1.

Fortunately, people make mistakes:

• They sometimes waste a dodge if you bore them with some auto attacking
• They sometimes are surprised if you break out of stun late during one of their "combo"
• They sometimes waste a dodge after getting cced or immob.

If you want to run a hammer build that can do 1v1, then scepter/shield will probably be your secondary set.
For all dps core builds, unfortunately you are forced to run meditations with valor, virtues and radiance traitlines.
Otherwise, drop hammer for sw+focus. It will bring more consistent damage and be more forgivable.
 

Valor is a dead traitline for dps. Just go zeal rad virtues.

[Guirssane.7082]

On 1/24/2022 at 7:25 PM, Math.5123 said:

Valor is a dead traitline for dps. Just go zeal rad virtues.

monk's focus is just too good not to take

[Math.5123]

14 hours ago, Guirssane.7082 said:

monk's focus is just too good not to take

The only value monks focus brings is a substitute heal when using litany. The fury is pointless as zeal gives you perma and the heal on meditations doesn't do much since you can't run smite condi anymore. 

 

So another dps line will actually give you more sustain due to the fact that people will have to play on the back foot instead of going ham on you. 

[Guirssane.7082]

2 hours ago, Math.5123 said:

The only value monks focus brings is a substitute heal when using litany. The fury is pointless as zeal gives you perma and the heal on meditations doesn't do much since you can't run smite condi anymore. 

 

So another dps line will actually give you more sustain due to the fact that people will have to play on the back foot instead of going ham on you. 

Why would they play on the back foot in the first place? That's not how it works. And that's not how sustain works

[Math.5123]

2 hours ago, Guirssane.7082 said:

Why would they play on the back foot in the first place? That's not how it works. And that's not how sustain works

If you run valor you don't have enough damage to pressure high sustain classes enough to force them to kite. And what little sustain valor gives is nothing compared to what rev, thief, holo, etc has meaning you can't trade with them regardless. 

[Tulkas.2576]

It’s a little low on sustain and mobility but probably the most fun build I’ve played is celestial DH with GS/Hammer. 
radiance 3/3/3

virtues 2/3/3

DH 1/2/3

 

you can somewhat often 1vX up to 4 or 5 people with it, especially if you run blade trap in place of JI, but it’s also decently strong against most classes particularly if you have some line of sight so you don’t just get pew pewed from range. 

 

this guy has some great montages of it in action. 

 

 

[Hogwarts Zebra.8597]

On 1/26/2022 at 9:03 AM, Math.5123 said:

If you run valor you don't have enough damage to pressure high sustain classes enough to force them to kite. And what little sustain valor gives is nothing compared to what rev, thief, holo, etc has meaning you can't trade with them regardless. 

I like radiance/zeal/valor with GS+sw/fc, u only lose ~10% dmg from dropping virtues (unscathed contender is too unreliable to upkeep) but gain a lot of staying power in fights. U do lose stunbreak+stab on f3 but usually I don't find it to be that problematic. Still a budget pherald/holo but unfortunately that's just what dps guard is these days

[soltrain.5960]

On 1/26/2022 at 9:32 AM, Tulkas.2576 said:

this guy has some great montages of it in action. 

This does look like a lot of fun! Thanks for sharing that.

I have been wanting to find a heavy weapons build for guardian. I am new to the game, and after trying out a few profs, guardian seems to feel the best so far. 

Are there any tips for getting that monster burst I am seeing in that video?

Edited February 3, 2022 by soltrain.5960

[Hogwarts Zebra.8597]

8 hours ago, soltrain.5960 said:

Are there any tips for getting that monster burst I am seeing in that video?

1) Never expect anywhere near the same performance as what u see in montages. These videos are very heavily cherry-picked. A 10 minute quality montage translates to at least 5 hours of raw footage. 

2) The build featured is pretty bad. It's nice for farming newbs but pit it against any decent pvp main and it'll get destroyed. 

 

If you really want to play that build though, a typical burst would be: land f1-->JI+maw-->GS4-->GS2-->hammer2. But this is an extremely slow and telegraphed burst, and results will be disappointing against anyone who understands the basics of pvp

[soltrain.5960]

17 hours ago, Hogwarts Zebra.8597 said:

1) Never expect anywhere near the same performance as what u see in montages. These videos are very heavily cherry-picked. A 10 minute quality montage translates to at least 5 hours of raw footage. 

2) The build featured is pretty bad. It's nice for farming newbs but pit it against any decent pvp main and it'll get destroyed. 

Thanks for your input.

I see that you have a few videos up for DH trapper, is there a link to your favourite build for that?

Edited February 4, 2022 by soltrain.5960

[Hogwarts Zebra.8597]

2 hours ago, soltrain.5960 said:

Thanks for your input.

I see that you have a few videos up for DH trapper, is there a link to your favourite build for that?

For wvw roaming, take the build featured in my latest vid. Strong dmg, mobility, sustain, CC, it's one of the most well rounded guard builds atm 

For pvp just take the standard zerk DH build (u can find it on hardstuck.gg), since my wvw build doesn't translate well into pvp

Edited February 4, 2022 by Hogwarts Zebra.8597

[Ratnoon.4251]

On 1/21/2022 at 3:07 AM, Midnight.9657 said:

Hi guys,

 

New to guardian.

I've seen someone running a guardian with hammer in duels and it did surprisingly well.

 

Does someone know what the build might be ?

 

Also, what would be considered the best 1v1 build in Core, Dragon Hunter and Firebrand.

 

Thank you 🙏

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXHvpICdc8A&t=1s

Here u go mate!

Edited February 19, 2022 by Ratnoon.4251