Guild Wars 2

So, I notice there are two versions of guardian meta build for radiance line and I would like to discuss/verify it.

1. Taking retribution and perfect inscription. (You have to use bane signet)
2. Taking radiant fire and amplified wrath.

AFAIK, Assuming both builds use bane signet, the version one has better damage than version two. Can anyone confirm this since I’m not sure?

So version number 2 is taken because you need the replace bane signet with other utilities, right?

I could imagine, but i don’t have any proof for it , it depends on the length of the fight… if it’s a short fight version 1 should be better because you have a increased damage output while using ice bow under the effect of retaliation…

you also don’t need the torch that often in short fights

The signet trait improves the bane signet by 36 power that is not that much… but the burning increase is also not really much without condition gear…

hard to say which version is better…

ofc you should take amplified wrath in situations you are not able to run bane signet.

Radiant Fire is better DPS than Retribution when you use a torch. Retribution is better when you use a focus. Metabattle wasn’t updated really well after the patch and said that Torch is better than Focus only in fight longer than 30s. But that was pre-patch and don’t work anymore. Radiant Fire + Torch is always better than Retribution + Focus. But Focus can still be nice when you need the block/blind. And the difference in dps isn’t that high for short fight.

For Amplified Wrath vs Perfect Inscription, i’m not sure. Quick math say that AW will give you around 300 DPS, while Perfect Inscription will give you around 120 DPS. So AW will both be superior and more pratical since you will want to swap Bane for a utility from time to time. But that’s with a build that use Supreme Justice, Randiant Fire and in a full buffed party. Meaning that in that situation you give more burning that AW improve and you have so much power already that Signet of Bane improvement is smaller.

When you are in a pug that don’t have as much power improvement (might, banner, EA) and you take Absolute Resolution instead of Supreme Justice and Retribution instead of Radiant Fire. Then the two will get closer in term of additional dps. At that point i’m not sure which is better. Personally, since the difference is so small, I always keep AW because that way I never have to swap it, when I take another skill instead of Signet of Bane in the middle of a dungeon.

1. Used with Torch.
2. Used without Torch

Yeah sure i agree with the most of your arguments but I am really not sure if the 10 % isn’t better in a ice bow burst … There are some fights e.g. Golem in se 1 you don’t really have the time to cast torch twice if you way to use the bow … You can also increase your dps if you cast focus before fight an switch to torch …

I personally think in daily runs both builds are ok … The differences should be small

First for the stuff on metabattle, I just didnt see the 30s thing on top, fixed that.

For the two different builds. Basically the difference isn’t really huge, so for normal dungeontours, you can play what you prefer most.

Why I chose the Bane Signet variant as a main build. Most fights in low dungeons are that fast, that you profit more from the direct damage you get with the extra power than burning can tick and do damage. You most likely use your F1 active and together with Torch #4, you end up with 4 stacks of burning for like 2-3s. That’s like nothing tbh.

Now Radiant Fire, Torch #4 does nice dmg and the trait looks nice, yes, but it’s not handy. Sometimes the 2nd Zealot’s fire doesn’t proc right away, your normal rotation gets delayed, you end up not hitting your whole Whirling Wrath into a symbol and so on. It’s nice on the papers but not in organized and good dungeon runs.
Another thing is the Icebow, tbh, I’m not sure yet if it isn’t even better to run your normal rotation instead of picking up the Icebow, but counting you pick it up, the extra 10% dmg with Retribution make a difference. There are situations, where you just pick up an Icebow before the boss spawns and use it. Enjoy your Radiant Fire then.

But yeah, as I said before, at the end, play what you want. If your group lacks on damage, I’d go for Radiant Fire otherwise take the base variant.

And there is one thing, I’d like to note at the end. Never swap out Bane Signet!

Ty thorwyn 100% agree;)

Isn’t the Retribution trait still bugged to where its acting identical to the old Powerful Blades trait (+10% MH Sword damage)?

Edit: Just tested. The trait up’s the damage shown in the tooltip, but the damage modifier works correctly with retal as stated.