You aren’t doing it wrong, you are doing it more offensively. Guardians have very low base HP, as you know, and taking traits that make us “tankier” is preferable to many other options since we can be burst down so easily otherwise.
I don’t think there is a wrong way but I find that playing guardian is about balancing your survival against your offensive capability, depending on your focus (PVE, dungeons, PVP, etc…) I’ve talked to a few other guardians in the guild. They run the x/x/30/30/x as well with GS. Why? because GS already gives them enough burst damage upfront that they don’t need any Zeal bonuses for PVE farming. I think with the recent changes to symbol of wrath, they might be rethinking that approach.
Personally, I’m running 25/0/20/20/5 in pure clerics gear with Dolyak runes and bloodlust sigils. I think my balance is almost achieved, at least for PVE solo farming.
1) The Valor line provides Critical Damage, which, in conjunction with high Precision, makes up pretty well for the lack of Power provided by the Zeal line.
2) The major traits in the Valor and Honor lines are, for the most part, better than the Zeal line unless you are specializing in Spirit Weapons. The Zeal minor traits are great for Symbols, but you need a heavy investment in Honor to really make that shine as well.
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Generally, I think it has to do with what people are trying to do. For a generic, well-balanced build, Valor and Honor are a bit better. For Spirit Weapons, Symbols, or Burning builds, Zeal definitely has its place.
Wizard, how specifically did it affect the Zeal line? (not sarcastic, just curious if I need to rebuild my build now)
With the Recharge time on SoW your essential doing alot lets “DPS” now (not be confused with just DMG)
DPS would be how much dmg you could pump out while under a certain amount of time. By increasing the time it takes in which to use that skill it hampers how many you could using, in lets say 1 min. (Completely randomly numbers here but if i could do it 5times in 1 min and get 1000dmg, now you should be only about to do it about 3 or 4 times and doing only 600-800 dmg. again not actually numbers just the theory behind the nerf to SoW dmg)
Zeal primarly focuses on spirit weapons, power, and symbols. If symbols was what u were going to try and boost with putting points into Zeal. Know now that your SoW has been taken down a notch to what is was previously. I cant be sure how much of an effect it be and whether or not that effect will cause the build to become unviable in sPvP and WvW.
Ehmry Bay – Good Fights Guild Leader
Lvl 80 Sylvari Guardian – Tzenjin [GF]
Lvl 80 Human Elementalist – Tzenkai [GF]
Ya I did notice last night in AC exactly what you said. My whirl went down from 1k-3k to 600-1.8k. I did go for the symbols in the Zeal line. I adjusted to the hammer last night and I was able to keep up the symbols on the ground most of the time.
I’m running 0/20/30/20/0 with great sword and a lot of heals/condition removal and seems to be working well with the exception of the silly GS skill swap round which has just confused my fingers.
Whatever works for you is the best build I say
Ya I did notice last night in AC exactly what you said. My whirl went down from 1k-3k to 600-1.8k. I did go for the symbols in the Zeal line. I adjusted to the hammer last night and I was able to keep up the symbols on the ground most of the time.
Will have to see how WvW goes later tonight.
Thank you for explaining, Wizard.
Greatsword is still very viable. But anyone using it as a tool for retaliation or some sort of symbol strategy will be majorly affected by this. Hammer is a good (better for the most part) choice of weapon now for the average guardian. As for me. I’ll be sticking with the Greatsword. I love my greatsword too much to ruin the one aesthetic thing i really enjoy on my guardian, which is my lovely greatsword. Even if i do get ridiculed for it and laughed at, GS guardian till the day i die.
Your very welcome for the info, i hope i answered it with clarity.
- Tzenjin
Ehmry Bay – Good Fights Guild Leader
Lvl 80 Sylvari Guardian – Tzenjin [GF]
Lvl 80 Human Elementalist – Tzenkai [GF]
I run 0/x/30/30/x, switching occasionally when the mood strikes, and I won’t play any other build. Toughness that gives you a bit more precision, gear based around that fact, and the best condition removals in the game make you a hard target. Also, you don’t need to spec into power and precision to hit hard. Look to smart usage of your skills, sigils, and runes to achieve this. I have been in multiple scenarios where I was grossly outnumbered (in wvw, I leave spvp to the tryhards and codkiddies), and still was able to achieve, at the very least, personal small victories (most recently, a 6v1 but still able to down one of them before getting downed myself).
