Guild Wars 2

I am running in a build 0/0/10/30/30 just for full supporting .

Question is: am i the only one to think that for ultimate suppoort + 30% boon duration is a must have ? aka 30 points in virtues ? and is it that needed ?

I might change to 30 points in toughness tree maybe but how can i compensate the loss in boon duration ?

try rune of monk and rune of water instead

and http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Chocolate_Omnomberry_Cream for max duration

Boon duration is a huge deal in support roles and one of the best traits a Guardian can spec into in my opinion. If you really want to go with another trait line though, you can supplement this with armor runes.

2 Superior Runes of the Water
2 Superior Runes of the Monk
2 Major Runes of Sanctuary

This combination will give you +healing, + vitality, and +40% boon duration increase.

This rune set along with +30 in Virtues will give you +70% boon duration increase. If you consume Chocolate Omnomberry Cream, that will add +20% to your boon duration for 30 minutes, for a total of 90% boon duration increase, which is beast mode for a support Guardian who’s throwing boons around to their teammate (Yes, your boon duration increases apply to those you put boons on).

If you want to go more damage-oriented with your Guardian, the increase in boon time isn’t a huge deal. There are some rune sets out there which will increase specific boons, like might, while buffing up other stats. This can make up for a lack of points in the Virtues line. You just need to experiment and plan accordingly based on your playstyle.

This brings up a question for me.

Does ‘increased boon duration’ affect the boons you grant allies?

dream – scroll up mate

Ultramatum.5162:

… (Yes, your boon duration increases apply to those you put boons on)…

Yes it does affect your allies

My issue with increasing boon duration is that it can actually lower your effective healing if you are running a shout build with altruistic healing, or some other build that benefits from quick application of boons. Since stacks of the same boon do not proc AH, it lowers your ability to heal yourself from it.

If you are not using AH or some form of boon application build, the duration is definitely something you would want to improve as much as possible, without sacrificing too much else in your builds. Keep in mind that by dumping points into Virtues, you are passing up on core stats.

So lets say you put 30 points into Virtues, you are taking away the potential to grab any combination of +300 to some core stats, which can be a pretty big deal depending on how you play. Some people have said you should never pick up points in a trait line just for the stats, but I completely disagree. It really ends up being a choice you have to make for yourself.

What I think is even more valuable than the boon duration is the recharge rate reduction on your virtues, as well as the various major trait options the Virtues line has. That being said, I haven’t ever tried a build that had more than 10 points in the Virtues line, so take my advice with however many grains of salt you wish.

Also keep in mind having at least 20 points in virtue is a must for survivability imo. Getting improved resolve almost doubles its regen mine is at 318 healing. (0/0/30/20/20 with 2 monk 2 water 2 major sanc)

ElSdE.3215:

Also keep in mind having at least 20 points in virtue is a must for survivability imo. Getting improved resolve almost doubles its regen mine is at 318 healing. (0/0/30/20/20 with 2 monk 2 water 2 major sanc)

Definitely not a must but it is a nice perk if you want to give up some points in other trait lines. Before the change to the GS, I was running a 0/5/30/30/5 build. Now I’m running a slightly more offensive 0/15/30/20/5 build. If you gear with either Knight’s or Cleric’s, you will see that you hardly need to rely on your trait selection in terms of survivability.

I run 0/10/0/30/30 as a pure shout guardian (usually with a hammer) and 2 Water/2 Monk/2 Hoelbrak (or Pirate for MF) runes. It’s actually a very, very aggressive build, and its damage output competes on near equal terms with even a 30/30/whatever DPS setup due to might stacking.

Plus, I can strip an unbelievable number of conditions off allies, and perma-protection/regeneration from the hammer, traited virtues, and shouts is pretty dang amazing.

“Getting improved resolve almost doubles its regen mine is at 318 healing.”

It adds 30 HPS, that’s all.

huh? no way iam at 318 with it on when i take it off i got down to 159 you are wrong sir.

@ElSdE.3215

huh? no way iam at 318 with it on when i take it off i got down to 159 you are wrong sir.

That’s just a UI error matey, it only adds around 25%. extra Hps (as the official wiki page states).

Just test it (i just did), take some damage and watch with the trait on and then with the trait changed to something else, it will only be about 25% higher with it on (for you i’d say just over 200Hps).

For some reason the amount stated in the vitue is wrong (by quite an amount).

Naw per sec and what the trait says is 2 different thing. It states every 3 sec so with trait every 3 sec i get 318 health without trait every 3 sec i get 159 health.

You sure you tested it correctly?, i tested it a few times and every time the increase was only 25%, with my test i went from 104 to 130 (exactly 25%).

Without the trait the Virtue states 96 on the button and with the health popups onscreen it shows 104. With the trait the Virtue button states 259 andf yet the health popups onscreen show 130.

In every case no matter what, it’s always a 25% increase with the trait.
—-
Your also working it out wrong if your level 80 as the base heal for the Virtue is 84Hps with the default healing power, so at level 80 at a minimum you’ll get 252 health every 3 seconds.

Official page that shows the base heal at 80 and how much it goes up per second with the trait.
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Virtue_of_Resolve
And the trait page showing it stating the increase is 25%.
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Absolute_Resolution

Animus.6073:

My issue with increasing boon duration is that it can actually lower your effective healing if you are running a shout build with altruistic healing, or some other build that benefits from quick application of boons. Since stacks of the same boon do not proc AH, it lowers your ability to heal yourself from it.

Pretty sure that’s incorrect. It’s absolutely incorrect with respect to might – adding might stacks heals you with AH just fine. Almost positive refreshing other boons also heals you with AH.

Sorry, to clarify, boons which stack in intensity like Might will still proc AH but boons which stack in duration do not proc it.

Correct. Stacks have new boons applied. Boons which stack in duration are just “refreshed.” So technically, the boon is not reapplied.