Guild Wars 2

I’m making this thread because I’m almost at the last step of rounding out my gear, but I am lacking some information about a few things which I’m hoping you guys can help me out with.

Not looking to re-invent the wheel, most AH builds I’ve seen are some variation of this or other:
http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/guardian/?3.0|2.1n.h1|6.1n.h15|1n.a4.1n.a4.1n.a4.1n.a4.1n.a4.1n.a4|211.0.211.0.311.0.2s.0.2t.0.2s.0|0.5.u56b.u38b.5|0.0|v.19.18.17.0|e

Notable difference is that I’m choosing to go hammer/staff rather than GS/staff (although with my gear and traits I can easily use GS interchangeably). Reason being, everyone uses GS (for good reason!) but I think the hammer feels a little more tanky and it seems to me that I proc more boons from the hammer more consistantly than GS thanks to the autoattack symbol and the subsequent retaliation activation with MB.

Also, I finally got all my Knight exotic armor (which, btw, is a pain in the kitten to get unless you craft them all — getting the armor from dungeons requires either Arah dungeons which is irritating as hell, with my 3100+ armor friggin Lupi does NOT leave me in peace… or SE armor which looks awful on a norn female, I gave up and crafted T T). But, I’m still working on the trinkets because I’m still a bit on the fence on those.

Specifically, I’ve heard people loving the all-stat ascended trinkets to be more well rounded, and others claiming its a waste of possible traits you could have spent elsewhere and specialize more. I have no idea personally I see both points. I tried to find a middle ground by going 3 all stats (I hear that if you have lunaria and solaria rings that you slightly increase the overall stats of both or something along those lines) and 3 zerker trinkets. The result is 1730 power, and I’m hoping that this is “good” dps or at least above avg.

Also, on a lesser note (because I feel like my build would be significantly weaker if I did this), some people choose to have crit as low as 32% and rather than slotting ruby orb or emerald they slot soldier for the shouts or the runes that increase boon duration. I’m somewhat against this, because I feel like it’s very important for this built to crit to proc might from empower to stack AH heals and vigor from vigorous precision for increased dodges (for both heals and general survivability). Others prefer to go all divinity runes which is ridiculously expensive, and I’m not sure if the bang is worth the buck. I wonder how people feel about this?

Finally, the sigils for the weapons. I picked stuff at random, increased precision seems like a good idea for the hammer since I’ll use it most of the time, sigil of blood sounds like a good idea for the staff because I’m trying to be defensive when I’m on my staff, likely I’m on low health and am looking to fire off an empower or kite till my heals/dodges are off cooldown, hoping my autoattack crits to get some vigor/might.

Anyway, any input is greatly appreciated!

First of all, I don’t want to sound elitist and say “you must play this way”. These are my observations to how the game works and how I play.

1) Gameplay
There is no trinity(Tank/DPS/Healer). We are essentially all DPS. Most boss mobs hit hard to begin with. Dodging is your best defense. Ideally, you would go with whatever gives you the best DPS. Why make a fight last 3 minutes where you have to do a lot of dodging, when you can make it last 30 seconds?

(stole from my other post, talking about “trade spaces” for dps/surive)
The first place to look at is your Traits. Most classes can trait survivability, while not completely losing dps. Examples from a guardian:
Retributive Armor: 5% of toughness is given as a bonus to precision.
Empowering Might: Nearby allies gain might (5 seconds) when you land a critical hit.

Second is armor. For a guardian, we have a ton of ways to cleanse. So conditions shouldn’t be an issue. Therefore, if giving up DPS, go for toughness(Knights) gear. Reduce the overall damage as much as possibly (while giving yourself more % to crit).

Third is weapons, forth is the jewelry. I would recommend running full zerker here for 99% of pve.

2) Weapons
Greatsword is your best DPS friend. Hammer is great for control. I mostly use GS in PVE, while GS in PvP/WvW. Both are good.
While staff is GREAT, I find myself these days relying on Scepter/Focus for my combo in PvE.

3) Sigils
I primarily run Fire on my GS. At 45% base to crit and with buffs, I throw out that fire almost every swing it can proc. For the Scepter/Focus I do Fire/Force(5% damage).

4) Armor
Knights is a good set to start with. Think about getting a Beserker set too. You may find yourself wanting the extra DPS as you get better with mitigating damage.

5) Runes
On the cheap: exquisite jewels.
Otherwise, there are many options. I’m playing a boon duration build (link at the very bottom). Basically its 2x Major Monk, 2x Superior Monk, 2x Superior Water. Retaliation stays up for freaking ever. Getting close to 20 seconds of Fury is also nice. Might stays up a whole lot longer.
Other options can include Eagle(Pre/Crit), Scholor(Str/Crit), Divinity(Stats/Crit)*

*While I generally don’t like the idea of stat splitting on trinkets/jewelry, here divinity is good because of the 12+ to crit. But it is so expensive. My second set of Beserker I carry is Divinity runed.

I carry a Beserker(Boon), Beserker(Divinity) and Knights(Boon)

6) Jewelry
I would focus on Beserker; as the majority of your DPS stats will come from here. I dislike the stat splitting (all stats) here, as it cuts into DPS while only granting very marginal survivability.

7) skills
Shelter, just about all around best heal. 2seconds of damage mitigation and a heal. Can’t beat it. All the others react to damage that already hit you. If it hit you and you died, welp better luck next time. This can mitigate damage! Plus stack might. Its fun going against mobs that have channeled spells. In those two seconds you can generate a full 25 might stack.

Keep the shouts; only change Retreat with Hold the Line when you need to. Wall of Reflection and Shield of the Avenger are good too, but situational. I normally run full shout.

8) Food
Sharpening Stones + DPS food (boon duration, crit chance, etc…)

9) My build
http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/guardian/?3.0|1.1g.h17|b.1g.h17.d.1g.h2|1g.b1g.1g.b1g.1g.71g.1g.71g.1g.71h.1g.71h|2s.d14.2s.d14.3s.d1e.2s.d14.3s.d1e.2s.d14|0.0.u56b.u28b.a0|1.1|w.19.18.16.0|e

@ Xystus, I’m not trying to criticize anything you said, just making observations and asking for clarifications:

That’s a pretty heavy DPS build, I’m pretty worried about survivability when running this kind of build. Even if you go balls to the wall you cannot DPS a boss down in high level fractals or in Arah in 30s survivability is defn a big factor. Getting 2 or 3 shot is not fun, you do 0 damage when dead and become a burden on the team if they have to constantly rez you. Further, classes like thieves and warriors have, I feel, more potential for the DPS whereas guards seem to have a lot more ways of mitigating damage and provide support, while still doing a healthy (but not massive) DPS. I never tried this DPS heavy build but my gut instinct tells me that going this heavy in DPS I’d be playing a warrior with guard skills…

The caveat to everything I just said above is that maybe you have plenty of survivability with that build as it is. If that is the case, please explain how it works because the way I see it, for sure you will have to take several hard hits. I’m not sure how you will have enough blocks/heals/blinds/dodges to mitigate a hard hit.

Also you mentioned that condi aren’t an issue but the only condi cleanser I see are pure of voice and the passive trait. Is this generally enough to get by?

This is [url= http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/guardian/?3.0|1.1g.h2|b.1g.h2.d.1g.h15|1n.7i.1n.7i.1c.7i.1n.7i.1n.7i.1n.7i|1g.67.2s.d1e.3s.d1e.1g.67.1g.67.8g.67|0.a6.u65b.u289.0|0.0|w.11.17.19.0|e]my build[/url], a compromise between full DPS & Full Tanky.

In this setup, not fully upgraded on trinkets yet, I have decent stat of 50% crit chance, 79% crit damage, 2.7K armor, 3.5K damage, EHP of 21K with damage reduction of 32%. With this set up, my consumable choice is freely rotated & not limited to anything because the critical chance has been guaranteed to have 1 critical in every 2 attacks w/ decent attack power. The damage will be greater due to blind exposure trait, when you apply blind weapon skills -> VOJ -> GS#3, or in similar ways.

As with everything, nothing is free. You get some then you have to give up some. Just find the one that you feel comfortable with.

Hmm I must now reconsider my tankiness haha. A lot of people doing high DPS guards are going GS and scepter/focus, is there a synergy between these two weaponsets moreso than staff? A specific rotation that does a lot of damage? Me confuzzled

Silver.4798:

Hmm I must now reconsider my tankiness haha. A lot of people doing high DPS guards are going GS and scepter/focus, is there a synergy between these two weaponsets moreso than staff? A specific rotation that does a lot of damage? Me confuzzled

I wouldn’t call it synergy, its more like s/f is our best long range option, while GS is our best dps option. Also @ your above post, it doesn’t matter what your toughness/vitality are most bosses that are even mildly difficult will still manage to kill you in 2 hits. For the bosses that can hit you multiple times and still not do a lot of damage, your defensive stats still won’t matter. Vitality and toughness are just a worthless crutch for people who aren’t used to have to actively dodge.

For PvE it’s either dodge or die in Fractals so if you are building around that I would recommend this:

http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/guardian/?3.0|1.1g.h1j|b.1g.h4.d.1g.h1j|1g.a1.1g.a1.1g.a1.1g.a1.1g.a1.1g.a1|1g.67.1g.67.1g.67.1g.67.1g.67.8g.67|0.5.u56b.u28b.5|1b.7|w.19.18.16.1i|e

Again with the GS/sceptor/focus!! What is it about this weaponset thats so burst DPS synergistic I don’t see it, its driving me nuts!

Silver.4798:

@ Xystus, I’m not trying to criticize anything you said, just making observations and asking for clarifications:

That’s a pretty heavy DPS build, I’m pretty worried about survivability when running this kind of build. Even if you go balls to the wall you cannot DPS a boss down in high level fractals or in Arah in 30s survivability is defn a big factor. Getting 2 or 3 shot is not fun, you do 0 damage when dead and become a burden on the team if they have to constantly rez you. Further, classes like thieves and warriors have, I feel, more potential for the DPS whereas guards seem to have a lot more ways of mitigating damage and provide support, while still doing a healthy (but not massive) DPS. I never tried this DPS heavy build but my gut instinct tells me that going this heavy in DPS I’d be playing a warrior with guard skills…

The caveat to everything I just said above is that maybe you have plenty of survivability with that build as it is. If that is the case, please explain how it works because the way I see it, for sure you will have to take several hard hits. I’m not sure how you will have enough blocks/heals/blinds/dodges to mitigate a hard hit.

Also you mentioned that condi aren’t an issue but the only condi cleanser I see are pure of voice and the passive trait. Is this generally enough to get by?

None taken. With this build I have done up to level 38 fractals and have completed every dungeon in game; includes P4 Arah.

The survivability comes from a lot of the passives with the traiting and damage mitigation.

Just from the traits, you gain +300 toughness and Vitality. When talking surviving, its more about mitigating damage and absorbing it. Its all about what you can do to keep Aegis up, dodging and throwing heals.

For that, you have Virtue of Courage, applied every 40 seconds or on use.
Valorous Defense Gain aegis when your health reaches 50%
Shelter gives you 2 seconds of block.
Renewed Focus gives you a few seconds of invuln, plus refreshes your virtues, including Courage.

Next you have dodging. When you dodge a few things happen:
Selfless Daring The end of your dodge roll heals nearby allies; which I believe includes you.
Vigorous Precision Gain 5 seconds of vigor when you deliver a critical hit. This effect can only trigger once every 5 seconds; you can keep up vigor which is endurance regen

Still, you now have boons: lots of protection/regen options.
Inspired Virtue Virtues now also apply the following boons: Justice: might, Resolve: regeneration, Courage: protection

Resolve and Courage add survivability alongside Stand Your Ground and Hold the Line.

These two traits are huge:
Pure of Voice Allies affected by shouts convert one condition to a boon
Altruistic Healing Applying a boon to allies heals you

Basically, every time you shout, you clean conditions and apply boons. Applying boons heals you. Also, because of Inspired Virtue, that throws out boons too! Its even more healing.

Basically, you have your heal spell, 3 virtues and 3 shouts that all give healing. Plus other weapon skills, that gives boons too. Like Wrath gives retaliation; that boon heals you.

Now, on certain fights, its necessary to pull out Wall of Reflection or Shield of the Avenger. By doing this, you add the ability to absorb/reflect damage.

When it comes down to it, this is how you mitigate damage:
1) Dodge
2) Block
3) Boons to buff/heal/cleanse

Silver.4798:

Again with the GS/sceptor/focus!! What is it about this weaponset thats so burst DPS synergistic I don’t see it, its driving me nuts!

Sceptor/Focus is basically the best ranged DPS weapon you have. Guardians have iether Melee, 600, 1200 ranged options. Staff is nice, but only 600 range is kind of limiting. The Sceptor is one of the highest DPS weapons for PvE and Focus provides a blink(#4) and damage mitigation(#5)

Also, for Flame Shaman Fractal, #2 is a nice ability, as it hits 15 times to take down the bubble. 2 Guardians can basically take it down without any help.

Silver.4798:

Again with the GS/sceptor/focus!! What is it about this weaponset thats so burst DPS synergistic I don’t see it, its driving me nuts!

The skill set rotation is something like this.

Swap to S/F. 10s weapon swap count down.
1) 10 S#1 0.8s x 10 = 8s duration.
2) 1 S#3 = 3 stack of vulnerability. Will expire in 6s.
3) 1 F#4 = blind applied 3 stacks of vulnerability. Will expire in 5s
4) Swap to GS
5a) GS#3 Leap. Assume no bug. 3 stacks of vulnerability.
5b) VOJ -> Blind trait -> 3 stacks of vulnerability
6) GS#2.

Since each vulnerability stack will increase 1% more damage, you will have a minimum 9% more damage. With boon duration increased by food & runes, you will probably land total 12% more damage, then you might have an option to insert a Save Yourself between 5b/6. And it’s all by yourself.That’s pretty much it.

SkyChef.5432:

Silver.4798:

Again with the GS/sceptor/focus!! What is it about this weaponset thats so burst DPS synergistic I don’t see it, its driving me nuts!

The skill set rotation is something like this.

Swap to S/F. 10s weapon swap count down.
1) 10 S#1 0.8s x 10 = 8s duration.
2) 1 S#3 = 3 stack of vulnerability. Will expire in 6s.
3) 1 F#4 = blind applied 3 stacks of vulnerability. Will expire in 5s
4) Swap to GS
5a) GS#3 Leap. Assume no bug. 3 stacks of vulnerability.
5b) VOJ -> Blind trait -> 3 stacks of vulnerability
6) GS#2.

Since each vulnerability stack will increase 1% more damage, you will have a minimum 9% more damage. With boon duration increased by food & runes, you will probably land total 12% more damage, then you might have an option to insert a Save Yourself between 5b/6. And it’s all by yourself.That’s pretty much it.

Ooooooo I get it, that’s brilliant I haven’t even thought about that! Thank you for explaining! Hmm time for me to go out and so some serious testing, I already have the allstat ascended amulet so I’m somewhat pigeon holed into making that work now, but I’ll tone back on the toughness, up the DPS, see how it goes.

Once again, thanks to everyone for explaining!