I'm playing a Guardian Fighter and it's terrible. Compared to my rogue and wizard, he's worthless. Low damage, and goes through health potions like candy.
Both of them can attack and move, get out of the way of <font color="orange">HAMSTER</font>. My GF? Nope, he's gotta block and move at a crawl, so in any kind of group, they just pound until the stamina is gone. Stop blocking to attack, and it's like instantly, half my health is gone.
This is even with trying to time the blocks for enemy attacks.
You might be trying to avoid too much damage. I generally only block attacks that knock me around. I walk out of red areas, without blocking, to avoid that damage, if I can. Otherwise, I have found that trying to avoid damage is counter productive while soloing because the fights last longer... giving the enemies more time to deal damage.
Agree OP, my rogue and wiz were easy to level, the GF is slow and painful. I'm hoping the healer follower makes things better and I'm also building for damage.
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dtrain69Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian UsersPosts: 0Arc User
Depends how to build, I'm going for damage guardian, but they do seem weak at lower levels.
Weak compared to what?
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derresshMember, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian UsersPosts: 1Arc User
edited May 2013
I second the question of "what level are you?"
After level 10 and you get the blocking at-wills, in solo play you can literally say "I don't feel like taking any damage at all on this encounter" and block while stabbing/bashing the whole time. Or you can open up and take a little damage and kill things faster if you're in a rush.
At level 24, my GF can take a beating like a champ, and with Knight's Challenge + rank 3 Griffon Strike, I can take out the bigger mobs nearly as fast as a TR.
Going for a DPS build, even at early levels I didn't find it too difficult to level or stay alive. It just comes down to knowing how to avoid certain attacks, when to block, and when to use which abilities. After playing pvp for a while I'd estimate about 5 losses out of 40 matches. (While I may have lost more in the domination aspect, my kills vastly surpassed my deaths which is what matters to me).
Just stick with it. ^_^
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cihuacoatlMember, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian UsersPosts: 1Arc User
edited May 2013
GF are great until you get to end game (T2+)... then they become worthless. If you want to tank... roll a DC. At least until they fix GF.
Also check out the GF Bugs... this will help you during the build process. It will also mean you probably will be force to purchase a respect once they fix us.
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bestarallinMember, Neverwinter Beta UsersPosts: 26Arc User
edited May 2013
Did the level 25 dungeon at level 24 and came out :
Number 2 in dmg 560k (first was level 28 rogue with 800k) I am usually midle of the pack there.
Number one 1 heals (No cleric tho). Usually in the top 2
Number one in kills (by a small margin) Dont check it out much.
Number one in dmg taken (no duh, about 3 times the next one in line) Always number 1.
No deaths. (Only died in PvP and once in my own foundry mission... to a trap... that was embarassing)
Yeah I used pots, specially kiting the last boss, but then I have about 50 lying around and never had to buy one.
I played all classed except TR to level 10. And if you compare health pots used...
- Cleric. Steamrolling through everything. People need pots?
- CW. Used one potion, but **** that was a lot of teleporting around.
- GF. Used 2 pots but one was right before I turned the corner and found a fireplace. Picked this class to play.
- GWF. We need almost all our potions and then some. Had fun playing it though.
It gets a lot harder from 10-15 until you get the champion. I heard all rumours saying to go all damage skills. And that is probably true. Tanking sure is easier with more damage. But with the skill you unlock at level 35 tanking gets a lot easier. But in now way will you be able to tank everything. I doubt that it is even intended, since it will be hard to keep guard up for blocking. And boss encounters in groups get more and more dependant on survivability, then the need for focusing on damage. There are so many add spawns in this game that the GWF is appreciated as a off-tank in groups.
It gets alot more fun once you can get your guarding at-will abilities, but its more enjoyable with the lane and charge attacks you get a bit later down the road. Im especially fond of flattening whole groups with Frontline Surge, Terrifying Impact and Lunging Strike is still a long time favorite. Also dont discount Enforced Threat while soloing, as it still does AOE damage and has a alarming radius, its a good followup after laying enemies prone with surge and the combination tends to kill or severly weaken smaller enemies.
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solresolMember, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian UsersPosts: 0Arc User
GF are great until you get to end game (T2+)... then they become worthless. If you want to tank... roll a DC. At least until they fix GF.
Also check out the GF Bugs... this will help you during the build process. It will also mean you probably will be force to purchase a respect once they fix us.
^THIS^
My GF has just over 10k GS and I do not even spend any time on boss mobs in T2 dungeons and all I do is kite a bunch of adds. Clerics are usually tanking the boss mob. This game is fairly dissapointing.
It is not lack of my threat, my threat generation is amazing, I can hold everything if I wish, problem is I get *****slapped by all the adds and boss if I try and tank them all. Boss usually 1-2 shots my guard than adds rip me apart.
The game mechanics and encounters are second rate, definetly not a D&D game, they just used the D&D moniker to make money. Never once in any D&D adventure did any DM have to keep spawning dozens of adds to keep it challenging for the party. I understand this is a video game, but every other MMO style video game out there foundd a happy medium between challenge through design and not trying to overwhelm parties into submission because of their lack of forethough and ingenuity.
My GF has just over 10k GS and I do not even spend any time on boss mobs in T2 dungeons and all I do is kite a bunch of adds. Clerics are usually tanking the boss mob. This game is fairly dissapointing.
It is not lack of my threat, my threat generation is amazing, I can hold everything if I wish, problem is I get *****slapped by all the adds and boss if I try and tank them all. Boss usually 1-2 shots my guard than adds rip me apart.
The game mechanics and encounters are second rate, definetly not a D&D game, they just used the D&D moniker to make money. Never once in any D&D adventure did any DM have to keep spawning dozens of adds to keep it challenging for the party. I understand this is a video game, but every other MMO style video game out there foundd a happy medium between challenge through design and not trying to overwhelm parties into submission because of their lack of forethough and ingenuity.
When there are 20+ mobs on the screen theres nothing i can do. Cant tank, cant help team, i can just run around and try to catch a big group of mobs with AoE taunt for few seconds, then hold few of them at myself while rest of them are aggred by AoE spells and heals which generates a lot of threat and it is just impossible to reaggro mobs.
I would suggest you go for a DPS-oriented GF.
Forget about taking aggro and tanking. Threat generation in this game is broken. Plus it is not a universal rule that GF must tank for the party.
GF has very good DPS feats and powers, especially in the Conquerer paragon tree. Some feats even link survivability with DPS (such as gaining temporary hit points, and increased damage when you have temporary hit points).
Building a GF with focus on DPS will give you a character that is tankier than others, yet able to dish out tremendous damage.
Check out Envy's compendium of a DPS GF, it's really good.
I would suggest you go for a DPS-oriented GF.
Forget about taking aggro and tanking. Threat generation in this game is broken. Plus it is not a universal rule that GF must tank for the party.
GF has very good DPS feats and powers, especially in the Conquerer paragon tree. Some feats even link survivability with DPS (such as gaining temporary hit points, and increased damage when you have temporary hit points).
Building a GF with focus on DPS will give you a character that is tankier than others, yet able to dish out tremendous damage.
Check out Envy's compendium of a DPS GF, it's really good.
Then what is reason for existence of GF at all? Another DPS? It wont be able to DPS as good as other classes same as he unable to tank. What a shame - one usable build for whole class.
Get rid of cleave soon as you can. For trash, start with enforced threat and stab over your shield while backing away.
For lt's and higher, bash with your shield. Not the bash while guarding. Shield bash will weaken the target. Unlaod all your cooldowns then go back into guard to take his counter hit. Bash again then use your other at will for three swings and back to guard to take the hit. Cooldowns should be ready to cycle those again and repeat until dead.
And focus on power and defense stat gear.
It's easy to get trapped into staying in gaurd mode trying to stop all damage. Don't, the best way to lower the overall damage on you in a fight is to kill it faster. Block and shishkabob the trash then open up on the primary mob.
I have to say, I love the GF and he is way EZ to level. I can kill packs of mobs and end up with near full health where my GWF would have to chug several pots and barely live. And in PVP he is boss.
I'm on the fence with the GF, it is my opinion that anyone who claims they are "beast" or "amazing" really haven't played the other classes. GF is by far laughable dps compared to the CW and TR ( I haven't played the GWF yet ).
Now on the upside the mechanics of the GF with blocking are fun and enjoyable but don't try to tank with one, you'll loose threat to companions and other dps even when trying to hold one target. But my experiences are only up to level 23 now so I hope this mystical talent at 35 will make a difference.
This game has a lot of potential but it really needs some structure if its going to last more than three months of open beta. Fingers crossed that they choose to fix it instead of letting it be a cash cow till it dies.
I'm on the fence with the GF, it is my opinion that anyone who claims they are "beast" or "amazing" really haven't played the other classes. GF is by far laughable dps compared to the CW and TR ( I haven't played the GWF yet ).
Now on the upside the mechanics of the GF with blocking are fun and enjoyable but don't try to tank with one, you'll loose threat to companions and other dps even when trying to hold one target. But my experiences are only up to level 23 now so I hope this mystical talent at 35 will make a difference.
This game has a lot of potential but it really needs some structure if its going to last more than three months of open beta. Fingers crossed that they choose to fix it instead of letting it be a cash cow till it dies.
GF should not do DPS like DPS classes. Having said that, specced right, they can.
I haven't had any issues whatsoever with my GF up to lev 25 so far, and I have the dog companion. Learn when to block and when to move, and learn your skills and you'll be fine. The class isn't bad; you are.
I haven't had any issues whatsoever with my GF up to lev 25 so far, and I have the dog companion. Learn when to block and when to move, and learn your skills and you'll be fine. The class isn't bad; you are.
LOL. Obviously, the dog companion is a key for T2 dungeon. How i didnt noticed this before.
GF I'm 60 and I've done several dungeons. From my experience in the game, the dungeons are aimed more than ever to play together. Me with my character I can catch the boss aggro all the time you want. And also this oriented cleric hold large amount of damage, is as easy as the whole group fence kill the adds while the GF is left alone with the boss to avoid affecting their area attacks the group. While the rest of the group has to protect the clergy and the fast desacerse adds focus to do so after the boss. And repeat these actions whenever the adds attack the cleric. The few times I've found a group that made me case been an easy task to kill the boss. Keep the boss with the brand and not separated from you ever;).
Sorry for the translation of google. my English is very bad.
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elanithMember, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian UsersPosts: 0Arc User
Get rid of cleave soon as you can. For trash, start with enforced threat and stab over your shield while backing away.
For lt's and higher, bash with your shield. Not the bash while guarding. Shield bash will weaken the target. Unlaod all your cooldowns then go back into guard to take his counter hit. Bash again then use your other at will for three swings and back to guard to take the hit. Cooldowns should be ready to cycle those again and repeat until dead.
And focus on power and defense stat gear.
It's easy to get trapped into staying in gaurd mode trying to stop all damage. Don't, the best way to lower the overall damage on you in a fight is to kill it faster. Block and shishkabob the trash then open up on the primary mob.
Blue Quality Sword - Good Advice - i suggest upgrading your weapon every 5-10 levels. Dont spend 20k+ AD, there are very good deals out there for blue weapons (1k and under), just keep an eye out. Wait the extra level or two to get the cheaper weapon, worst that happens is fights take a little longer while leveling.
Get rid of Cleave - WTF? I'm not saying cleave has to be on your bar all the time but it should be on there most of the time. (only time you remove cleave is if your on the boss the entire time and your not dealing with adds) Otherwise its our bread and butter for AOE damage.
Guarding/Bash - Its a good skill know how to do, and especially if your stuck on the boss and not handling adds or doing a burndown on the boss Bash is a great ability to have. That being said, by no means is Guarding and rebuilding our Guard meter our best survival method. Untill Threat and how Guard works is changed (for good or ill), as well has how much damage bosses do, its better to just move out of the red under your feet.
Power + Def : Good Advice
Kill it faster : Good Advice - I've speced full def while leveling up to see if it would help survive and it became worse. Fights would take forever and because they took longer, i would end up using more pots to survive. I traded a huge chunk of my dps for only minimal survival increase. Sense I switched back to Rokuthy's build (full dps build) tho i stack def gear (that has power on it) things have gotten a lot easier. Reached 60 last night, looking forward to hitting more than the first Epic instance over the next week.
End game for GF is currently looking to be specing into the Conqueror Tree for full dps, and either using pvp gear or pve tanking gear for survival. To tank in this game we need threat, most games just throw threat talents at their Tanks and it becomes a non issue. In this game they dont , so we need to focus on dps almost as much as dps do. This may change in time, but for now untill they change how much damage bosses are doing, and change threat mechanics for GF so we dont have to stack dps to do our job, we need to focus on DPS and threat 1st.
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lifeoakMember, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian UsersPosts: 1Arc User
GF are great until you get to end game (T2+)... then they become worthless. If you want to tank... roll a DC. At least until they fix GF.
Also check out the GF Bugs... this will help you during the build process. It will also mean you probably will be force to purchase a respect once they fix us.
This is sad but true.... I'm a 9200+ geared GF and its said to say that 2 DC do it better then the tank we take way to much damage and do none. Threat is a huge issue with even talented in to every threat ability. Tanks can do some of the t2 but two clerics make them a joke to the point that CW are tanking the T2+ with no defence at all.........
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elanithMember, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian UsersPosts: 0Arc User
This is sad but true.... I'm a 9200+ geared GF and its said to say that 2 DC do it better then the tank we take way to much damage and do none. Threat is a huge issue with even talented in to every threat ability. Tanks can do some of the t2 but two clerics make them a joke to the point that CW are tanking the T2+ with no defence at all.........
If you spec Def and expect the very minimal threat bonuses we get to get the job done in the threat department you are correct. Spec for DPS and you will see much better results. I just hit 60 last night, but respecing to DPS (Rokuthy's build) from the tank spec i was working on, helped out immensely both in generating threat and being valuable to the party. Not in T2s yet, but looking forward to it.
I know it can be frustrating to be told play dps as a tank, but untill they change how threat works, its what we need to do to actually do our jobs. I spec DPS but gear as a tank, and at least for my first couple runs at 60 seems to be working well.
Why do you guys try to tank trash/adds? The GWF has no problems playing with trash through Unstoppable and high deflection, Rogues won't really have aggro on a group, Control Wizard has CC and you guys are griping about Clerics tanking everything anyway.
Comments
I found after i got my healer companion at 15 (maybe 16?) it was easy. I am now lv 35 and have used about 5 health pots since 15.
but they are tanks...they never do much damage.
I don't have the companion yet, that must be the problem.
Weak compared to what?
After level 10 and you get the blocking at-wills, in solo play you can literally say "I don't feel like taking any damage at all on this encounter" and block while stabbing/bashing the whole time. Or you can open up and take a little damage and kill things faster if you're in a rush.
At level 24, my GF can take a beating like a champ, and with Knight's Challenge + rank 3 Griffon Strike, I can take out the bigger mobs nearly as fast as a TR.
Just stick with it. ^_^
Also check out the GF Bugs... this will help you during the build process. It will also mean you probably will be force to purchase a respect once they fix us.
Number 2 in dmg 560k (first was level 28 rogue with 800k) I am usually midle of the pack there.
Number one 1 heals (No cleric tho). Usually in the top 2
Number one in kills (by a small margin) Dont check it out much.
Number one in dmg taken (no duh, about 3 times the next one in line) Always number 1.
No deaths. (Only died in PvP and once in my own foundry mission... to a trap... that was embarassing)
Yeah I used pots, specially kiting the last boss, but then I have about 50 lying around and never had to buy one.
- Cleric. Steamrolling through everything. People need pots?
- CW. Used one potion, but **** that was a lot of teleporting around.
- GF. Used 2 pots but one was right before I turned the corner and found a fireplace. Picked this class to play.
- GWF. We need almost all our potions and then some. Had fun playing it though.
It gets a lot harder from 10-15 until you get the champion. I heard all rumours saying to go all damage skills. And that is probably true. Tanking sure is easier with more damage. But with the skill you unlock at level 35 tanking gets a lot easier. But in now way will you be able to tank everything. I doubt that it is even intended, since it will be hard to keep guard up for blocking. And boss encounters in groups get more and more dependant on survivability, then the need for focusing on damage. There are so many add spawns in this game that the GWF is appreciated as a off-tank in groups.
Me too, then I'll look forward to being yelled at for not holding Agro
^THIS^
My GF has just over 10k GS and I do not even spend any time on boss mobs in T2 dungeons and all I do is kite a bunch of adds. Clerics are usually tanking the boss mob. This game is fairly dissapointing.
It is not lack of my threat, my threat generation is amazing, I can hold everything if I wish, problem is I get *****slapped by all the adds and boss if I try and tank them all. Boss usually 1-2 shots my guard than adds rip me apart.
The game mechanics and encounters are second rate, definetly not a D&D game, they just used the D&D moniker to make money. Never once in any D&D adventure did any DM have to keep spawning dozens of adds to keep it challenging for the party. I understand this is a video game, but every other MMO style video game out there foundd a happy medium between challenge through design and not trying to overwhelm parties into submission because of their lack of forethough and ingenuity.
Sacrifice
Guardian Fighter
When there are 20+ mobs on the screen theres nothing i can do. Cant tank, cant help team, i can just run around and try to catch a big group of mobs with AoE taunt for few seconds, then hold few of them at myself while rest of them are aggred by AoE spells and heals which generates a lot of threat and it is just impossible to reaggro mobs.
Forget about taking aggro and tanking. Threat generation in this game is broken. Plus it is not a universal rule that GF must tank for the party.
GF has very good DPS feats and powers, especially in the Conquerer paragon tree. Some feats even link survivability with DPS (such as gaining temporary hit points, and increased damage when you have temporary hit points).
Building a GF with focus on DPS will give you a character that is tankier than others, yet able to dish out tremendous damage.
Check out Envy's compendium of a DPS GF, it's really good.
Then what is reason for existence of GF at all? Another DPS? It wont be able to DPS as good as other classes same as he unable to tank. What a shame - one usable build for whole class.
Get rid of cleave soon as you can. For trash, start with enforced threat and stab over your shield while backing away.
For lt's and higher, bash with your shield. Not the bash while guarding. Shield bash will weaken the target. Unlaod all your cooldowns then go back into guard to take his counter hit. Bash again then use your other at will for three swings and back to guard to take the hit. Cooldowns should be ready to cycle those again and repeat until dead.
And focus on power and defense stat gear.
It's easy to get trapped into staying in gaurd mode trying to stop all damage. Don't, the best way to lower the overall damage on you in a fight is to kill it faster. Block and shishkabob the trash then open up on the primary mob.
Now on the upside the mechanics of the GF with blocking are fun and enjoyable but don't try to tank with one, you'll loose threat to companions and other dps even when trying to hold one target. But my experiences are only up to level 23 now so I hope this mystical talent at 35 will make a difference.
This game has a lot of potential but it really needs some structure if its going to last more than three months of open beta. Fingers crossed that they choose to fix it instead of letting it be a cash cow till it dies.
GF should not do DPS like DPS classes. Having said that, specced right, they can.
LOL. Obviously, the dog companion is a key for T2 dungeon. How i didnt noticed this before.
Sorry for the translation of google. my English is very bad.
Blue Quality Sword - Good Advice - i suggest upgrading your weapon every 5-10 levels. Dont spend 20k+ AD, there are very good deals out there for blue weapons (1k and under), just keep an eye out. Wait the extra level or two to get the cheaper weapon, worst that happens is fights take a little longer while leveling.
Get rid of Cleave - WTF? I'm not saying cleave has to be on your bar all the time but it should be on there most of the time. (only time you remove cleave is if your on the boss the entire time and your not dealing with adds) Otherwise its our bread and butter for AOE damage.
Guarding/Bash - Its a good skill know how to do, and especially if your stuck on the boss and not handling adds or doing a burndown on the boss Bash is a great ability to have. That being said, by no means is Guarding and rebuilding our Guard meter our best survival method. Untill Threat and how Guard works is changed (for good or ill), as well has how much damage bosses do, its better to just move out of the red under your feet.
Power + Def : Good Advice
Kill it faster : Good Advice - I've speced full def while leveling up to see if it would help survive and it became worse. Fights would take forever and because they took longer, i would end up using more pots to survive. I traded a huge chunk of my dps for only minimal survival increase. Sense I switched back to Rokuthy's build (full dps build) tho i stack def gear (that has power on it) things have gotten a lot easier. Reached 60 last night, looking forward to hitting more than the first Epic instance over the next week.
End game for GF is currently looking to be specing into the Conqueror Tree for full dps, and either using pvp gear or pve tanking gear for survival. To tank in this game we need threat, most games just throw threat talents at their Tanks and it becomes a non issue. In this game they dont , so we need to focus on dps almost as much as dps do. This may change in time, but for now untill they change how much damage bosses are doing, and change threat mechanics for GF so we dont have to stack dps to do our job, we need to focus on DPS and threat 1st.
This is sad but true.... I'm a 9200+ geared GF and its said to say that 2 DC do it better then the tank we take way to much damage and do none. Threat is a huge issue with even talented in to every threat ability. Tanks can do some of the t2 but two clerics make them a joke to the point that CW are tanking the T2+ with no defence at all.........
If you spec Def and expect the very minimal threat bonuses we get to get the job done in the threat department you are correct. Spec for DPS and you will see much better results. I just hit 60 last night, but respecing to DPS (Rokuthy's build) from the tank spec i was working on, helped out immensely both in generating threat and being valuable to the party. Not in T2s yet, but looking forward to it.
I know it can be frustrating to be told play dps as a tank, but untill they change how threat works, its what we need to do to actually do our jobs. I spec DPS but gear as a tank, and at least for my first couple runs at 60 seems to be working well.