Guild Wars 2

Disclaimer: This build will not make your PUG group godlike, nor shall it make a bad group good, it is designed to make mistakes from your teammates more forgiving, ideal for when you dealing with players who are lacking in the dodging department.

This build takes a more defensive approach to Strife’s build allowing PUG groups to be more bearable, due to it offering a near 100% protection up-time to allies in melee range.

Build/Equipment:

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQNAS7dlYg6CnFyKEf4ERWBRi9AjesjXPcIFZIA-jAyAYMioZ6DMVYIaJwioxWZLiGruGT5SEVbyLiWtQAmXAA-e

6/6 Armor – Knights
Weapons – Knights
Backpiece – Berserker
Accessories – Berserker
Amulet – Berserker
Rings – Berserker
Runes – Soldier
Sigils – Force MH, Energy OH.

If your Jewelry and Backpiece are not Ascended, Knights stats will serve you better. If this is the case, use Exquisite Ruby Jewels/Ruby Orbs in the upgrade slots. All Infusions on Ascended equipment are Toughness/AR, as I wanted to reach 3,000 armor.

Traits/Skills:

The traits & skills I included in the link are not set in stone, nor ideal for 100% of situations. Most the changes will occur due to being in a situation where reflections are or are not useful.

Swappable skills:

Wall of Reflection <-> Retreat. Change to Wall for situations where reflections are handy.
Hold the Line <-> Shield of the Avenger. Change to Shield for especially heavy projectile encounters.
Signet of Resolve <-> Prayer to Dwayna (Human heal). This is debatable, but due to not having Signet cooldown trait the Human heal will heal more per second. This comes at a cost of losing the Signet’s passive condition removal. If your heal spends long periods off CD, use the Signet.
Renewed Focus <-> Tome of Courage <-> Damaging Racial Elites.

Swappable traits:

Pure of Voice <-> Empowering Might. Due the Hammers slower attack speed, you will not be able to maintain as many Might stacks as you would with a GS or Sword (~3 as opposed to ~5), this leads me to believe Pure of Voice is a better choice where conditions are present. And yes, this does stack with Soldier Runes.
Master of Consecrations <-> Vengeful. Use Master of Consecrations when you are using Wall of Reflection.
Writ of Persistence is used as it allows Symbol of Protection (Hammer auto-attack chain 3rd skill) to pulse an extra time. More Protection = More Healing for you.

I do not use Two-Handed mastery as Mighty Blow has a very short cooldown, and the other skills are extremely situational.

Altruistic Healing:

This trait is the center of many debates. It is the entire reason Guardians are willing to sink so many points into the Valor line. This trait allows the Guardian to be extremely defensive, healing the Guardian small amounts for every boon applied to allies.

Sources of healing:
Altruistic Healing – 72 per boon applied.
Virtue of Resolve – 102 per tick.
Regeneration – 168 per tick.
Selfless Daring – 429 per dodge roll.
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Conclusion:

As said previously, this build will not make a group godlike, nor will it miraculously turn around a bad group. However, when played correctly, this build will allow mistakes to be made from players in melee range. The near 100% protection up-time allows groups to absorb cleave damage, and helps the Guardian to shrug off a lot of the damage taken from being the anchor. A lot of players do not use condition removal, this build will allow the Guardian to take care of that almost entirely by themselves – the key is to watch the party window. Correct use of Aegis allows large attacks to be entirely negated, perfect for when lazy PUGs do not dodge.

+Remember virtues have active effects! The number of Guardians I see with all 3 virtues off cooldown for an entire dungeon is unreal. They can really make the difference. +

I’d use Exaltation instead of Persistence since part of bads being bads is not standing in the prot symbols.

Here is a minor variation based upon the above for more ‘rounded’ stats and perhaps a bit more survivability:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQNAS7dlYg6CnFyKEf4ERWBRi9AjesjXPcIFZIA-jgyA4LAM2impPwUhholALiGbVDtwRENqqJiq11Ym8ioVLEg5FA-e

You end up losing about 200 power, but you gain 2000 health, 200 healing, 200 condition damage and 10% crit damage. There is no other major variation in the stats except you are just two points shy of the 3000 armor goal.

The extra health and healing is the primary focused gain of this build variant.

Edit: You do also lose the 6 piece Soldier bonus of the ‘Shout’, however with Pure Voice already traited this shouldn’t be too significant of an impact. Then again, I could be wrong.

kasimmorathi.4963:

Here is a minor variation based upon the above for more ‘rounded’ stats and perhaps a bit more survivability:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQNAS7dlYg6CnFyKEf4ERWBRi9AjesjXPcIFZIA-jgyA4LAM2impPwUhholALiGbVDtwRENqqJiq11Ym8ioVLEg5FA-e

You end up losing about 200 power, but you gain 2000 health, 200 healing, 200 condition damage and 10% crit damage. There is no other major variation in the stats except you are just two points shy of the 3000 armor goal.

The extra health and healing is the primary focused gain of this build variant.

Edit: You do also lose the 6 piece Soldier bonus of the ‘Shout’, however with Pure Voice already traited this shouldn’t be too significant of an impact. Then again, I could be wrong.

This is probably the most expensive guardian build I’ve ever seen, but it looks very solid.