Apothecary vs Cleric armor for Guardian
I’d go with Cleric between the two, unless you can really take advantage of that condition damage on Apothecary. Judging by your weapons, you wouldn’t really make use of Apo. Not to mention, Clerics should be much cheaper to get mats for.
Fishsticks
Apothecary armor is not a good investment for the Guardian, since we only have one condition we can apply with any regularity, and that condition only stacks in duration, not intensity.
I’ve experimented with many different builds, and tried every combination of condition damage builds I could with my Guardian, but found them not to be very viable in the long run (though some were fun to play). You can do damage with burning, particularly if you stack condition damage, but you get more long term benefit from Power or Precision, which synergize better with our traits than condition damage seems to.
If you’re looking for armor to invest in, you can’t go wrong with Cleric’s for a Guardian. Next to Knight’s armor, I’ve found it to be the most effective and versatile (not to mention most affordable) option for our class.
And if you enjoy playing with the staff and mace, both those weapons have abilities associated with them that directly benefit from high healing power, but none that benefit from condition damage. All your weapons benefit from the power stat, no matter what you play with, since your damage scales with power. This alone makes Cleric gear the better choice.
I’d personally stay away from any armor that promotes condition damage, since it essentially equates to a wasted stat for our profession.
Hope that helps.
(edited by Ultramatum.5162)
Cleric. Toughness over vitality any day with any class, bar the Necromancer. And condition very rarely benefits a Guardian, for reasons Ultramatum stated.
Indeed, Apothecary is meant for elementalists not guardians.