Guild Wars 2

Hello ladies and gents,

So I have been playing the guardian for almost today now and I have hit level 20. The guardian feels very strong; he has good AOE and single-target damage and is tanky (I can face tank mobs up to 5 levels higher with ease). Basically the Guardian is very good so far.

I would like to hear you people’s opinions on how you have built your Guardian; your strengths and weaknesses you have come across and what crafting traits you took to complement your Guardians build.

Thanks

Ah someone else just made a Guardians thread XD

I personally love my guardian. I play Support tank/Support healer roles. I focus on power, toughness, and vitality. At 55 im going to be using cleric gear for my weapons and armor and something with vitality and power for my jewelery. Ill also carry a staff and scepter so i can play the healer role should it be needed.

@Sinos how well do you clear PvE content solo with your Guardian?

I do well. I have killed off groups of mobs to get to a group of players to revive them that were just killed by said mobs solo. (Mainly talking about the risen over by Lychcroft Mere waypoint where you get swamped by that krait spawns.) Over all i would say im very very hard to kill compaired to other classes.

I’m only level 5 with my Guardian and I solo’d a level 7 group event. Just keep laying down those heals and defense buffs and anything that doesn’t kill you one hit will be like a sting. I’m gonna turn him into a pure main tank, so he’ll have gear with vitality and toughness. My only concern is the ambiguous way threat works, and how bosses just kind of attack whoever.

would really like to know where i should invest my points as a greatsword guardian.

My guardian is lvl 14 and absolutely amazing! I switch between sword/shield and staff depending on group dynamics although run mostly with melee weapons as there are no shortages of Elementalists out there playing around with the traits before making a definitive decision.

For greatsword only focus into zeal. As for the other 40 points depends on what your slot skills are.

Guardian lvl 63, and i love greatword. The skills are just perfect : AOE, some combo, grapping ennemies… Lot of damages, and so far no major difficulties to play solo.
Just switch to Scepter/Shield when faces big bosses.

Greatsword / Scepter + Torch.

So cool burning people!

(Traits and skills are linked to spirit weapons, so not only do they need to fear me, they need to fear my sword, mace and my shield!)

I’ve been lvl 80 for a while now and reset my traits quite a few times. basically i’m not TOO happy with the class atm, i expected them to be very tanky while dealing little damage…like a paladin.

however at lvl 80 and in full exotic armor my lvl 80 guild mate (warrior) has the same attack as me, MORE crit, MORE armor and MORE hp with way worse gear.

my latest reset was to full defense. i’m running a greatsword with knight exotic set and superior rune of the dolyak which gives me these stats:

2600 atk
38% crit
3200 armor
15250 hp

the 3 first are good but i completely lack hp….in pvp with my gear there i have about the same attack and crit but 2800 armor and 23000 hp. that works really well and i can sometimes beat enemies 1v2 with my greatsword.

AngelofAwe.4972:

I’ve been lvl 80 for a while now and reset my traits quite a few times. basically i’m not TOO happy with the class atm, i expected them to be very tanky while dealing little damage…like a paladin.

however at lvl 80 and in full exotic armor my lvl 80 guild mate (warrior) has the same attack as me, MORE crit, MORE armor and MORE hp with way worse gear.

my latest reset was to full defense. i’m running a greatsword with knight exotic set and superior rune of the dolyak which gives me these stats:

2600 atk
38% crit
3200 armor
15250 hp

the 3 first are good but i completely lack hp….in pvp with my gear there i have about the same attack and crit but 2800 armor and 23000 hp. that works really well and i can sometimes beat enemies 1v2 with my greatsword.

We are designed to have lower HP than warriors. While we are “tanks”, our mitigation/regeneration over time is what makes us tanky, not the amount of HP we have.

Signets are your friend =D

@AngelofAwe I feel the same way too. I mean, my gear is crafted and rare quality, except for my helm and greatsword, which are exotic. My stats are:

Attack: 3126
Crit: 62%
Armor: 2101
Health: 10,805

If I put on full gear that has vitality over precision, while keeping power and condition damage, my health only reaches 17k, while dropping down to about 28% chance to crit. I am wondering what the best balance of items is and should be.

@Rock
mitigation and regeneration doesn’t do too much in pvp, i’d much rather have the extra hp the warriors do. only running signets is a bad idea too, the bonuses are not worth it, you’ll still just be a bad warrior.

personally i run GS with healing signet, the skill that changes conditions to boons, “save yourselves” and the swiftness skill. i don’t really use my elite skills at all…

my gear is more or less…superb and i still feel weak.

lvl 76 exotic GS (buying a valkyrie pearl lvl 80 today for more vitality and power at the cost of critical chance)

full lvl 80 exotic set with 6 superior runes of the dolyak. that set alone is worth 20g+ in materials.

AngelofAwe.4972:

I’ve been lvl 80 for a while now and reset my traits quite a few times. basically i’m not TOO happy with the class atm, i expected them to be very tanky while dealing little damage…like a paladin.

however at lvl 80 and in full exotic armor my lvl 80 guild mate (warrior) has the same attack as me, MORE crit, MORE armor and MORE hp with way worse gear.

my latest reset was to full defense. i’m running a greatsword with knight exotic set and superior rune of the dolyak which gives me these stats:

2600 atk
38% crit
3200 armor
15250 hp

the 3 first are good but i completely lack hp….in pvp with my gear there i have about the same attack and crit but 2800 armor and 23000 hp. that works really well and i can sometimes beat enemies 1v2 with my greatsword.

The difference is that the pvp knight set has vit while the pve has toughness. If your 100% knight your missing a TON of vit. I personally am going to go cleric for my armor, knight for weapon, and Emerald for everything else most likely. I know cleric yuck it gives healing power but i have a ton of healing abilities in my tanky role i have set my self up with. While im not sure as to the crit rating ill have should be decent and my guess is 18k to 20k hp. But i’ve yet to be able to test it as sadly im only 51.

SiNoS.2147:

The difference is that the pvp knight set has vit while the pve has toughness. If your 100% knight your missing a TON of vit. I personally am going to go cleric for my armor, knight for weapon, and Emerald for everything else most likely. I know cleric yuck it gives healing power but i have a ton of healing abilities in my tanky role i have set my self up with. While im not sure as to the crit rating ill have should be decent and my guess is 18k to 20k hp. But i’ve yet to be able to test it as sadly im only 51.

there is no “pvp knight set”, at least i don’t have any. it’s just heavy and i have dolyak runes on it. the real difference is the knight amulet that gives a TON of vitality.

i tried to see how much of a difference healing would make. (by going to mists and wear a +500 healing amulet)
the result was disappointing, the lower heals increased maybe 50% (1500 to 2200 etc), the main heal just went from 8000 to 9000.
+500 healing power is about what you can get from your gear at lvl 80.

AngelofAwe.4972:

SiNoS.2147:

The difference is that the pvp knight set has vit while the pve has toughness. If your 100% knight your missing a TON of vit. I personally am going to go cleric for my armor, knight for weapon, and Emerald for everything else most likely. I know cleric yuck it gives healing power but i have a ton of healing abilities in my tanky role i have set my self up with. While im not sure as to the crit rating ill have should be decent and my guess is 18k to 20k hp. But i’ve yet to be able to test it as sadly im only 51.

there is no “pvp knight set”, at least i don’t have any. it’s just heavy and i have dolyak runes on it. the real difference is the knight amulet that gives a TON of vitality.

i tried to see how much of a difference healing would make. (by going to mists and wear a +500 healing amulet)
the result was disappointing, the lower heals increased maybe 50% (1500 to 2200 etc), the main heal just went from 8000 to 9000.
+500 healing power is about what you can get from your gear at lvl 80.

In pvp your “Set stats” Is the amulet. As for pvp play vs pve play. Thats 2 very different worlds. Skill’s i use in pvp are very different than i use in pve. As are the stats i build for.

AngelofAwe.4972:

@Rock
mitigation and regeneration doesn’t do too much in pvp, i’d much rather have the extra hp the warriors do. only running signets is a bad idea too, the bonuses are not worth it, you’ll still just be a bad warrior.

personally i run GS with healing signet, the skill that changes conditions to boons, “save yourselves” and the swiftness skill. i don’t really use my elite skills at all…

my gear is more or less…superb and i still feel weak.

lvl 76 exotic GS (buying a valkyrie pearl lvl 80 today for more vitality and power at the cost of critical chance)

full lvl 80 exotic set with 6 superior runes of the dolyak. that set alone is worth 20g+ in materials.

First, to clarify, I’m only lvl 53 so far, and the experience I have in PvP comes solely from WvWvW.

Anyways, what I found out;
I can stand toe to toe with ANY class (that I’ve seen so far). Granted, they might not have been the best players, and that’s why I won, but my experience so far tells me that the amount of HP a guardian has is NOT the determining factor in whether or not we are tanky.

I used all of the skills you mentioned (I do use Tome of _ … can’t remember the name, but the 30 skill point skill…you should try it out. Great support and healing abilities – Paladins LoH from WoW, but for 5 people is one of the skills :P) and they worked for me. Retaliation is a great “ability” for me tbh. I am currently running with a spirit weapon skill/trait and the shield gives me some extra defense also.

Anyways, what I’m trying to say is, if you get a barrier (let’s say one), the signet heal, “save yourself” and the shield from spirit weapons, I don’t think there is anyone out there who can kill you 1v1. If you’re good at switching/using your CDs, there are times where you can kill 2 people alone.

I know this sounds mighty kitteny of me, and I don’t wish for you to think that I believe you’re a bad player or something similar, but give it some more time, play around with traits/skills/weapons and I’m certain that you’ll find that we indeed do not fall behind in the comparison to warriors (talking about 1v1).

I am lvl 80 as well and am a little let down with the class. I expected something more solid. I have decent gear but there are too many stats to juggle to try and balance yourself out because you will never find a decent medium. I have 15k hp and some of ther risen bosses can drop me in a second with attacks that quad for over 4k a shot or so. I have about a 50/50 mix of cleric and beserker type gear and I can`t take more then 2-3 enemies most of the time because my increased healing power cannot compete with mobs raking me for over 3k a shot over and over with long cooldowns on defensive abilites.

I originally wanted to play as a tank, but now at shrine battles I use my staff and focus on healing others because nobody else does it and if I do wind up tanking i spend more coin repairing my gear in a session then I make so it`s pointless.

I would also like to know the best balance of traits for guardian. I’m lvl 68 right now. I have enough gold to buy the order of the whispers lvl 80 rare armor and some rares/exotics from the trading post

My only concern is the order of whispers armor gives precision, toughness an condition damage. I’m worried about my lack of hp and vitality. I’m also going more of a crit/burn offense guardian build.

I run a very tanky build, mainly using Hammer/Sword+Shield and swapping major traits around for either a support build using shouts for when I’m doing dungeons, or a meditation build for when I’m doing stuff on my own or in the world.

I love guardian in that I can effectively protect my allies with a lot of CC and buffs/heals, while still being tanky myself and dealing a good amount of damage.

One major flaw with guardians and my build in particular is the lack of ranged options. Even if you equip a scepter or a staff you trade a lot of damage for utility, meaning a ranged DPS guardian is just not an option, wheras it is with any other class. If there is an encounter where you can’t get in close for a set amount of time then you kind of have to just stand back and watch or help in some other way because you will be completely overshadowed in damage output.

Edit: My build is 0/0/30/30/10, mainly focused on supporting and boosting my allies while keeping me alive and sturdy so that I can resurrect allies/throw myself into danger to help them, without worrying about dying

if anyone’s interested this is what the lvl 80 crafted heavy armor exotic set looks like…plus my current stats in it.

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk17/Baltic91/gw009.jpg
http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk17/Baltic91/gw008.jpg
http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk17/Baltic91/gw007.jpg
http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk17/Baltic91/gw005.jpg

AngelofAwe.4972:

if anyone’s interested this is what the lvl 80 crafted heavy armor exotic set looks like…plus my current stats in it.

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk17/Baltic91/gw009.jpg
http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk17/Baltic91/gw008.jpg
http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk17/Baltic91/gw007.jpg
http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk17/Baltic91/gw005.jpg

That second set looks like it would be really good in PvP :P

Great Sword/Sword and Torch is what I have been rolling with (Lvl 50) while running zeal/valor/radiance and stacking precision/condition damage on gear. The sword teleport and Great Sword Leap of Faith is usually what I use to start an attack to help close the distance.

For Elite Skills I’ve been using Renewed Focus for the 3 sec invulnverability/recharge. I just don’t like that the animation for the time frame – wish it was just instant

Didn’t realize how good Judge’s Inverntion was until I started using it in this build. It even works when you are knocked down.

When I tried this out on PvP the best thing was timing an Aegis or Heal (Shelter) to trigger Might of the Protector (Grandmaster Valor). The healing primary came from Zealous Balde (GrandMaster Zeal) and Monk’s Focus (GrandMaster Valor).

Well, I’m using mace/shield and hammer and going into vitality/toughness/precision, and this is my current results;

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WZcOKdaouE0

Hey all.
I had a question about the armor sets in sPvP. I just made my first journey into the mists last night. I was kind of overwhelmed at the amount of sigils available to put into the PvP armor. I am running great sword/sword + shield. Can I get some advice on armor setup?

Thanks

Banewrath.5107:

I am lvl 80 as well and am a little let down with the class. I expected something more solid. I have decent gear but there are too many stats to juggle to try and balance yourself out because you will never find a decent medium. I have 15k hp and some of ther risen bosses can drop me in a second with attacks that quad for over 4k a shot or so. I have about a 50/50 mix of cleric and beserker type gear and I can`t take more then 2-3 enemies most of the time because my increased healing power cannot compete with mobs raking me for over 3k a shot over and over with long cooldowns on defensive abilites.

I originally wanted to play as a tank, but now at shrine battles I use my staff and focus on healing others because nobody else does it and if I do wind up tanking i spend more coin repairing my gear in a session then I make so it`s pointless.

No offense to you but sounds to me like your a victim of the same thing i find myself at times. While you play the way the game is intended doing a little bit of everything to the best of your ability to support those around you everyone else sounds like there in the mind set of im a dps screw everyone else. I know that if i dont have the other classes doing more than just dps i dont last long. In truth those fights are normally the ones where i see half or more of the people dead on the ground crying about how no ones healing. This is at level 50. I can only imagine how much worse it might be at 80. I have a feeling you also revive downed players when you can. So my advice is stick to your guns. And hope that some day that crowd wakes up and realizes they can do so much more than just dps.

Quick question for Guardians who have already started to PvP (structured PvP, not WvW). I am still about level 20 so I don’t want to try PvP yet, but I am curious.

Do any Guardians have success with Hammers in PvP? I feel like the last hit of the auto attack (the one that creates Symbol of Protection) takes so long to start up that any player with half a brain would know to get out of the way. In PvE it’s fine for the most part, but I feel like in PvP there’s no way an attack with that much startup time is ever going to hit.

Hey guys, just saw this post. I’ve been lvl’ing my Guardian to 52, but am also beginning to be concerned about future prospects of the class. I saw a stream of Kungen’s stream and his warrior hit for 2k on auto-swings!
I want to dps, and thought the Guardian could be a fun new way of doing it, else than the regular warrior stuff.
So, is it just because the WvW gear is not suited for damage? Or is it simply because the Guardian falls short of the other classes around?

Level 80 Guardian here,

This class is monstrous in the right hands, Great Sword + Hammer in Tournaments, Great Sword + Staff in PVE.

My guild runs a guardian stream on Twitch (after work of course) and would be happy to help new guardians with questions and builds.

Search for ProvokedGuild on twitch.

Have a nice day,
Vitality

I’m absolutely in love with my 64 Guardian, I’ve been unable to get any of my alts further than level 2 because she’s just so much fun.

I’m focusing on Toughness, Vitality, and Precision with a theme on being able to primarily tank and off-heal when needed. I chose Precision over Power because of the Honor (the Vitality/Healing tree) trait that gives you 1 second of Vigor whenever you crit. Vigor increases your Endurance regeneration by 100% for the duration so it lets you dodge a LOT more often. So far it’s working very well. While leveling I’ve been able to jump in and tank Veteran or even Champion creatures for the squishy masses more times than I can count. My favorite weapons are…

1. Mace + Shield: You’re INCREDIBLY tanky, you’re constantly pumping out AoE healing/regen, and you do great AoE damage. Shield of Absorption may look a bit too situational at first glance, considering you’ll be in melee range, but it’s really great for protecting your fragile allies when you’re able to get to them.

2. Greatsword: Everyone’s favorite weapon, I have to say it’s quite overpowered lol. You do ridiculous amounts of AoE damage and you’re also able to stick to enemies very well because of your gap closer and AoE pull.

3. Hammer: It’s like Greatsword but you trade some straight damage and speed for tankyness and MUCH more utility. When I was doing Twilight Arbor at level 50 my Hammer was invaluable because we had to kite the Nightmare Hounds in the instance (they hit ridiculously hard, poison, and interrupt). If the Hounds went after my allies I could trap them in a circle, knock them back, or root a number of them in place. If a few Hounds went for me I was able to actually survive because of the AoE Protection I got every 3rd attack.

Sword + Torch, Mace + Focus, Staff, Scepter + Shield, and Scepter + Torch are great too. :D!

Like I said in the other thread, I’m having tons of fun with my Guardian. Guardian was actually one of the classes I was least excited about before actually playing the game; now I play my guardian more than my necromancer.

I have a defensive playstyle that revolves around abusing block and aegis. Mace+focus is my weapon combo of choice, and if I use my skills intelligently I can easily take down mobs that are 4-5 levels higher than me. Sometimes I’ll switch to greatsword if there’s tons of mobs around or I just feel like bashing some faces in. I’m mostly stacking vitality and power on my gear, and I’m not entirely sure if that’s the right way to do it. Then again I’m only level 18, so I’m still learning a lot about the game and how to build my characters properly.

73 Guardian here. For PvE I’ve been been using a Greatsword with Judge’s Intervention and Purging Flames skills, while focusing on +Condition, +Power, +Precision, and focusing on Zeal then Radiance trait sets. I also use Mace/Shield combo if things get rough, and often to tank the Skill Challenge NPC’s.

I absolutely love my guardian. I’m Greatsword/Hammer set because I like doing damage with two handers while still having some healing/defensive utility. As for my traits I am only high enough to still be dumping them into Zeal. There is just too much good stuff for leveling and damage in there to not fill it up first. For my heal I use the signet mainly, but swap to healing breeze when I know I will be with other players. Utility skills I use are Purging Flames (AoE burns and removes conditions), Judge’s Intervention (To stay on enemies and have more battlefield mobility on top of AoE burn damage), and “Save yourself” (Probably the best guardian ability for PvE specs). I use “save yourself” mostly offensively to get some boons before bursting, but it works wonders if you use it in a group then heal yourself.

There are some really nice sword/torch and sword/shield burst damage specs that are worth looking into, but I myself love 2hers.

At level 80 whats the most efficient farming build? Still better to go Greatsword and lots of offensive abilities and traits or would a mace/focus setup focused more on defense be better?

My set up currently at 80 is 30/0/0/30/10

The reason for this is it allows me to focus on 2 different weapons for 1 build or to change my chosen traits up for a completely different build.

The First is my general Pve/Dungeon set up. I run Greatsword/Staff, pickign up increased damage to burning foes, 5% GS dmg, and GS heal. Then i pick up larger symbols, 20% 2hander CD reduction, and Symbols heal allies. in the final one it varries, and it is still up in the air, i might just go 5 and put the other 5 somewhere else, but the boons on virtue activation makes virtues very strong and actualy worth activateing.

The build has served me very well and has gotten me trough many situations i thought i would die in. My elite is Hounds of Balthazar, Heal is the Signet, and then Judges intervention, Smite conditions, and retreat. The shout is mainly for the quickness simply to get around faster.

my next project will probably be a 1hander build.

SiNoS.2147:

AngelofAwe.4972:

I’ve been lvl 80 for a while now and reset my traits quite a few times. basically i’m not TOO happy with the class atm, i expected them to be very tanky while dealing little damage…like a paladin.

however at lvl 80 and in full exotic armor my lvl 80 guild mate (warrior) has the same attack as me, MORE crit, MORE armor and MORE hp with way worse gear.

my latest reset was to full defense. i’m running a greatsword with knight exotic set and superior rune of the dolyak which gives me these stats:

2600 atk
38% crit
3200 armor
15250 hp

the 3 first are good but i completely lack hp….in pvp with my gear there i have about the same attack and crit but 2800 armor and 23000 hp. that works really well and i can sometimes beat enemies 1v2 with my greatsword.

The difference is that the pvp knight set has vit while the pve has toughness. If your 100% knight your missing a TON of vit. I personally am going to go cleric for my armor, knight for weapon, and Emerald for everything else most likely. I know cleric yuck it gives healing power but i have a ton of healing abilities in my tanky role i have set my self up with. While im not sure as to the crit rating ill have should be decent and my guess is 18k to 20k hp. But i’ve yet to be able to test it as sadly im only 51.

I’m curious, how do the armor/amulet’s differ in wvw from structured/mists?
How are the armor sets different, and do you have to make armor yourself if you want specific attributes or are most combinations ready for some price?

Any guardians use Sword+Shield? I’m asking because I’m not too sure “when” is the good time to use Shield of Absorption. I like the fact that it pushes mobs away from me, but while my guardian is locked in the skill execution, the mobs have time to come back. Also, the shield active time is not long enough to really help allies around who tries to revive others, etc.

Any advices on this? cause I like the idea of it, but I find myself never using it because I don’t know “WHEN” I must use it to be effective.

Also, on the related subject, I’m level 25 and I’m starting to feel really strong and tough. Level 1 to 15, I felt not that strong and died a lot. But now, I’m crafting my own gear, toughness oriented and I now feel tanky a lot.