Guild Wars 2

Hi! I’m really new to dungeons as a Guardian, and have come here for advice!

I’ve only recently hit 80, and I have a 10-30-0-10-20 trait spread, with a sword/focus – GS weapon combo. I’m wondering, if this is correct, as tonight I have recently joined a semi-hardcore dungeon guild, and want to potentially make this Guardian my ‘main’ over my Warrior.

Is taking these weapons at the same time bad, at all? Alot of guides I’ve read are either GS build, or sword/focus build, and never, ever mention weapon swapping, and such, have I done something wrong?

I’m not a bad player, but playing a Guardian, after a year of only Warrior, it’s abit alien to me, all this Guardian mumbo jumbo, and seeking a little help ^.^

Also, can anyone tell me where wall of reflect is required? I know of se1 golem, hotw 1, cof1 helps, ta spiders, and ac spiders and such, but anywhere else?

And I presume it’s zerkers with ruby/scholar still, yes? I’ve read a couple people saying assassins is better : o

Thanks for any help and tips!

That’s a good build. I generally try to use 10-25-0-0-25 at the very least and I often switch around the last 10 points between 5-10 in honor or 5 in each radiance and virtues. Your major traits should be II for zeal, VI and X for radiance, XI if you put 30 in there, I VI/IX for virtues, all 3 if you put 30 there. I often start off on greatsword and use my burst (4,3,2,5) then swap to sword/focus, apply vulnerability with 2 and 4 if needed, blast the fire field with 5 and autoattack and I rarely switch back to greatsword. Wall of reflection is useful in arah almost at all times, in coe i never equip it although shield of the avenger is nice for the golem boss. You’ll just have to get more experience throughout the dungeons to see where it’s useful. Everyone starts somewhere and if your guild doesn’t accept that then maybe you will have to move on. Assassin’s armor should really only be used in solo play, when you’re in a 5 man team (especially with right hand strength) you should be using berserker’s with scholar runes.

Berserker with scholar runes will always be better than assassin’s with scholar runes because of the power coefficient. Berserker itself is slightly better than assassin’s gear anyways.
At any rate you want to use wall of reflect anywhere where projectiles become a problem (I almost always use it in CoE ice elementals [that v-shaped ice attack they do can be reflected back at them and oh boy does it wreck their face…], CoE golem when he starts charging up his eye attack, AC spiders, TA spiders, almost everything in Arah, a LOT of stuff in SE, etc. etc.)

Weapon swapping is extremely important when the timing is correct, if you just switch all willy nilly because stuff is on CD then it’s pretty dumb (you want to almost always stick to sword/focus because the autoattack will out dps your GS fairly quickly but when you need to quickly burst switch back to GS for whirling wrath). I use 10/25/0/10/25 mostly because that extra 15% crit chance with the 1h sword isn’t really needed all that mcuh, it’s nice to have yeah but I’d rather have an extra boost in damage from having boons on me.
Oh and if you get downed by the icebrood dogs in CoE don’t be discouraged, they hit like a kittening 30 megaton train.
But in general for utilities I run Shelter for healing (prayer to dwayna if you’re a human), Hold the Line (for protection and regen, if regen is already being applied replace this with something else), Retreat (if I need the extra aegis block), wall of reflection (if I need to reflect stuff), shield of the avenger (if projectiles are a very big problem or if blocking projectiles benefits your group in the fight e.g. the golem boss in CoE), purging flames (if conditions are rampant), smite condition (if boss applies minor conditions and also for that extra damage), Stand your Ground (if you need stability), Hallowed Ground (if you need a long lasting stability skill).

For weapons I primarily run sword/focus and staff. Most of the time i forget to switch my staff so it just stays but other weapons I use are scepter for ranged, greatsword for dps, hammer for dps but also for the protection to mitigate some damage at melee range. I never use the shield or torch.

Mjgander.1905:

And I presume it’s zerkers with ruby/scholar still, yes? I’ve read a couple people saying assassins is better : o

Assassin’s can be better, but only in select circumstances. For instance, solo play on my mesmer putting some assassins pieces improves my dps, but if I put too many on, I end up below full berserker. I’ll sometimes make the same changes in pugs that have low party support (banner of disc/str, spotter, might, fury, etc), but if your running with a dungeon guild you should be fine running full berserker (even a semi-hardcore one should have more then enough party support to render assassin’s meaningless).

Anyway weapons:

1h sword: strongest auto attack, but the cleave isn’t great for instances like fractals where there’s large numbers of trash.

GS: I’ll start and end most encounters here for the burst. My order is 3 first for the blind (vuln stacks) > 3 > 2. Also alot better cleave when you need that (assuming your not using a hammer). Also the pull.

Hammer: 100% protection uptime, google up obal’s fractal guardian guide for more info here

Staff: tagging stuff, for either sigil stacks or kiting. you can also stack might before fights if you’re not using a fire field for this. Line of warding can also be useful in some cases.

Scepter: when you need range.

For WoR, I’d suggest looking up some dungeon guides videos (the mechanics in strife’s should be mostly up to date still, even if the builds/tactics are not). Also learn when to use party aegis (high damaging boss attacks that only hit once) and stability. Once again, a video guide will better explain these things then I could type them.

Your guildies should have some of an idea of when to use those things as well, let them know that you are new to the class and they should be glad to tell you when you need to use certain things.

Heres a good guide for guardian PVE dps – assassins is only better if you are short on crit once buffed- so pretty unlikely (ie never).

1h sword auto (the 3rd atk in the series) – but hammer for fractals and trash

- all zerker and scholar runes

Zeal 20 ii and vii
Radiance 25 ii and vi
Valor 0
Honor 5
Virtues 20 vi and ix

heres a good explanation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GKZP3oyik0

Cefiro.9372:

Heres a good guide for guardian PVE dps – assassins is only better if you are short on crit once buffed- so pretty unlikely (ie never).

1h sword auto (the 3rd atk in the series) – but hammer for fractals and trash

- all zerker and scholar runes

Zeal 20 ii and vii
Radiance 25 ii and vi
Valor 0
Honor 5
Virtues 20 vi and ix

heres a good explanation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GKZP3oyik0

Thats Brazil’s GS build, its not very good without maintaining 25 perception stacks. All the other builds people have listed above are better, provide a more DPS, although that build is good if you enjoy GS and get completely bored of 111111111 playstyle of s/f

I don’t think 20 zeal is better than 25 virtues, and isn’t really worth it IMO. I would rather have the shout cd/boon-based damage increase and 10/25/0/10/25 build than the 5% dmg increase and paltry healing from the GS trait.

guanlongwucaii.3162:

I don’t think 20 zeal is better than 25 virtues, and isn’t really worth it IMO. I would rather have the shout cd/boon-based damage increase and 10/25/0/10/25 build than the 5% dmg increase and paltry healing from the GS trait.

Its a GS build the DPS is slightly if I remember what Brazil said on stream, its more fun but its kitten.

Allow me to hijack this thread a little:

Few days ago i asked (at the guardian forums, biggest mistake ever)if using 25 instead of 30 points into radiance and perception stacks would boost my overall dps on long fights (60+ secs) compared to blood lust and RHS, assuming i’m making my skill rotations right… anyhow, is it worth it (damage wise) to drop 5 points into radiance and put’em elsewhere to use perception stacks and boost my burst with GS at the expense of losing DPS on sword attacks?

Oxxy.7068:

Allow me to hijack this thread a little:

Few days ago i asked (at the guardian forums, biggest mistake ever)if using 25 instead of 30 points into radiance and perception stacks would boost my overall dps on long fights (60+ secs) compared to blood lust and RHS, assuming i’m making my skill rotations right… anyhow, is it worth it (damage wise) to drop 5 points into radiance and put’em elsewhere to use perception stacks and boost my burst with GS at the expense of losing DPS on sword attacks?

Damage wise no, but thats not saying its worse, taking superior aria and sticking 10 in honor is good, I spent 8g on a bloodlust sigil thats why I run 10,30 build but the other ones listed but the GS build are very good builds and probably would be more worth it as shouts are a big deal with guardians.

Yeah i’ve been thinking about getting superior aria for more blocks but then i also spent 8g on bloodlust a sigil (well, ages ago). :|
Droping RHS is really tempting since i’m spending ~15 secs on GS and only 9 at sword, it feels like i don’t need RHS that much.

Oxxy.7068:

Yeah i’ve been thinking about getting superior aria for more blocks but then i also spent 8g on bloodlust a sigil (well, ages ago). :|
Droping RHS is really tempting since i’m spending ~15 secs on GS and only 9 at sword, it feels like i don’t need RHS that much.

Should only open/close with GS, you burst then switch and camp, if another burst becomes appropriate you repeat but it often isn’t.

Wait, i do not understand. I thought swaping to GS every nine seconds to double WW would give me an increase on my dps. My life is a lie.

Oxxy.7068:

Wait, i do not understand. I thought swapping to GS every nine seconds to double WW would give me an increase on my dps. My life is a lie.

It wont, GS auto is horrible and you’re going to be stuck with it if you switch every nine. The only time swapping on cooldown is useful that I can think of is when you need energy sigil proc, but thats just Lupi solo/duo really. Its only burst damage, same kind of deal, if warrior didn’t have fast hands GS wouldn’t be used in a rotation, just as an open/close even though eviscerate should be your only way to close. If you want to switch every 9 seconds then maybe look at the GS build, because your overall DPS wont be affected.