Guild Wars 2

I’m mainly in small roaming/havoc groups and they rely on me for support and healing but I also want to provide dps as well as support. I usually play as a shout guardian because they are really good in providing support like boons for others and can also remove quite a number of conditions periodically.

I’ve put together a little something so tell me what you guys think and are there any other runes that are better than my ones:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fVEQNAsdRl0ApWotCxfH8DNBFBl9LS/6xOBLYCXFAA-TlCEABls/QUKNwU9gtUCawDAQiTBgWKzaTfAAHBgGVxhUARsAA-w

Overall, not bad. The divinity rune gives you +68 to all stats, though, which is really not a huge boost. I think you would be better served with Hoelbrak or Melandru, or if you’re really keen on being the ultimate condi clear machine, Trooper. Pack is also quite good as a power rune. I might also suggest going 0/0/4/6/4 instead of 0/0/2/6/6, so you can get that extra toughness and ferocity and run, well, lots to choose from in that line, but:

a) Purity: drop a condition every 10 seconds. Can’t be interrupted by CCs.
b) Strength in Numbers: grant the rest of your group an extra 150 toughness in combat.
c) Retributive armor: get a solid 7% of your toughness back as precision; make those hits count. You’re looking about an extra +6-7% crit chance from that trait.
d) Try mace/shield instead of sword/focus! Focus block will only stop 3 hits and those 3 hits will often go fast. Sword is okay, but lacks symbols. If you do decide to give it a shot, you can roll Mace of Justice for an extra 250 healing power or Honorable Shield for extra toughness and reduced CD on shield skills. If your focus is on healing and condi clear, MoJ is an obvious choice. Honorable Shield sounds a bit selfish but the knockback and detonate on shield 5 to heal is really quite nice.

Also, drop two-handed mastery. Unless you are wielding two handed weapons on each set, stick with Empowering Might or Writ of the Merciful. WotM requires you run more symbols, though.

You need a bit more vit, although your toughness is subjectively quite good. If you’re worried about dropping 2 points in Virtues, might I suggest Bountiful Maintenance Oil as your utility instead? It’s what I use, and I find it far superior to Master although yes, more expensive to make and can’t be bought or traded.

I would also like to mention that you are losing a lot by not going a full 6 in Valor, because you don’t have access to AH. AH will often save both your life and your party’s life unless you feel you have enough healing ability without it. AH+PoV is a very powerful combo for a shout guard.

My small-group roaming build:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fVEQNApeRl0ApWotCxfH8DNBDRk1P2ZnjXHdEA-TlDEABh/AAeSZSUKNwUVACOCAgqEaLlgKqWBCHCg20Ekz+DAcCAaUFF30CQKgylZB-w

Not enormously different than yours, but I can’t live without AH. To each their own, though. Oh, and drop the battle sigils. You’re not getting much out of them. Go for instant bursts like Air, Blood, or Fire. You will deal a lot more damage, and since your battle might can’t be shared, 4 stacks is barely enough to justify their use.

Good luck!

I’d agree that it is a good start. I went a slightly different way than Ark though I think his advice is good.

I went full celestial myself because I’m to lazy to fine tune all the stats, I probably would get some better stats by mixing and tricking some with it, but as said I’m lazy on stats but it does give me fairly decent offensive output while still retaining a good amount of defensive stats.

I usually use 2/0/0/6/6 for fiery wrath to help on the offensive, or swap back to 0/0/2/6/6 for purity if going up against large groups etc, also tried 0/2/0/6/6 for the vulnerability on blind etc, test it around until you find what you like.

For small groups, I’ve found that 2 stability is a bit over the top, so I have started replacing Stand Your Ground with Retreat, for near permanent swift, combo with swords leap and teleport, and if you’re sure you don’t need it, Save Yourself and you’re very mobile as well.

I’m a big fan of the runes of Trooper, and get all angsty if I have to put them away, with the current Condi heavy meta, I’m already having trouble cleansing enough condis as it is.

Also, I’m a big fan of sigil or energy on the weapons, since you have the Dodge Heal, which is very good healing and stacks very well with Healing Power, so 2 more rolls is great. It certainly takes away some from the damage output though.

To be honest, I’m not entirely sure why you have celestial in the mix, you could replace your 300 condi damage and add it to your 1800 power which feels extremely low to me…

On that subject, what do other guardians feel like a good power level is?
I try to sit mine at 2200-2300 with no stacks or might

I use both 00464 with mace/shield AND 02066 with sword/focus.
both builds swapping greatsword and staff.

Which variation is group composition determined. For instance, with 2 thieves superspeed from sw/fc-gs is handy. With 2 necros nobodys getting away from anything, so I’ll go mc/sh-staff for heavy support.

sephiroth.4217:

To be honest, I’m not entirely sure why you have celestial in the mix, you could replace your 300 condi damage and add it to your 1800 power which feels extremely low to me…

On that subject, what do other guardians feel like a good power level is?
I try to sit mine at 2200-2300 with no stacks or might

I stay around 1800 power, 30% crit, 180% ferocity. Lots of pack runes in my comp so fury comes steady. I’d love to have my power higher, but I’ve found trying to guardian without sustain from either high healing or AH leads to a severe drop in DPS lol.

I concur about celestial though, it’s usable for dueling… That’s about it.
Cele is the anti-specialist. The whole point of group composition is pairing specialists that harmonize well.