Guild Wars 2

I agree with most… I would rather have one of our utility skills vs any of our elite skills.

The tomes leave you too exposed, have cast times, and don’t provide stability so you can just be easily cc-ed. It’s basically like putting up a big ol’ “Please target me!” sign over your head. I really shouldn’t have to pop a utility for stability just to be able to use my long cd long cast time elite skills -.- The only times I can remember using one of these is in wvw… to give golems haste.

Renewed focus would be far more viable if it was just an instant cast with 3s invuln (allow you to attack/use skills for those 3s) + renew judgments. As is our shelter heal skill serves the same function that most people use renewed focus for (anti-burst). The renewed judgements is nice, but not enough to warrant it being an eliete. I do try to maximize this a little with traits (might/regen/protection+stability)… but even so… it’s quite underwhelming.

Still taking condition dmg would help balance the suggested renewed focus out… ‘cause atm that’s pretty messed up that people can be hurt while using any invulnerable skill… and you’re unable to use your skills.

I don’t know why they even call it invulnerability… as you’re obviously still vulnerable to condition damage (frick logic).

I dunno, tome of courage is pretty good. Just hit stand your ground right before you transform, then you can get the full heal off uninterrupted. This thing is a boss in sPvP really, you almost always win the first major team fight if you pop it, and its even good for bunkering too. Just gotta make sure stand your ground is ready before popping it.

The Tomes are great, just wish they had stability. Don’t see why they can’t just remove protection/retaliation, and add stability. Whatever

Renewed Focus is great. No complains.

Guardian has some of the most powerful elites. Plus you can trait it so Tomes last 30 seconds and Renewed Focus five seconds.

I think it would be a bit OP if it had stability instead. The abilities on tome of courage are so ridiculously strong it has to come with some sort of downside.

I honestly love the idea of just saying “hey chill for a bit guys, gonna read this book, come back and try to kill me 20 seconds from now” lol.

I’d agree with the OP. Generally speaking I’m not as impressed with how elite skills are fashioned in GW2 as compared to GW1. In GW1, the elite skill was usually the core of your build. You used the skill often and the other skills usually complemented it. The elite skill was balanced by the fact that you could only have one elite skill on your bar. In GW2, it feels like the elite skills are usually balanced out by their long CDs rather than the fact that they are limited to one elite on the skill bar. I’d like to see some of the elite skill CDs reduced just a bit. They are supposed to be “elite” after all. A normal skill that had a powerful effect would be balanced by a long CD, but a elite skill should not have as long of a CD.

Directly related to the discussion about the Guardian elites, I don’t find any of them to be a build-definer for me. I would much rather just pack an extra utility skill in most cases.

While they aren’t BAD per-se, I do feel that there is some missing potential with the elites. As mentioned by others, abilities 3 of the abilities per tome are often unused. What I’m thinking is that Anet should probably just merge the tomes into one.

1 & 2 would be the respective 1’s of each tome.
3 could be a mass stun, as it is present in both books.
4 could be the mass quickness in tome of wrath
5 is the mass area heal.

That way we combine what (imo) are the good and used parts of the books, and than we have room for another elite skill.

Just my two cents, granted there might need to be some balancing rework, b/c I would feel like a god with this book.

I’m not a big fan of the tomes. I found no real success in Tome of Wrath, and I only use Tome of Courage as a quick, full heal in the event I’m near death. Personally, I’d much rather see the tome concept removed. Instead, each “tome” casts the most powerful effect it has to offer (massive damage/knockdown or area heal).

When you start casting it, you get X stacks of defiant to help (but not prevent) from being interrupted and the buff that came standard with the tome (retaliation or protection) for 10 seconds. The cooldowns should be reduced to compensate (90-120 seconds). Judgment would need a buff. Its damage is mediocre as Whirling Wrath deals about 12.5% less damage, but has a cooldown of 10 seconds (far too short for an elite skill). Judgment would need more targets, damage, additional burning, or a combination. Light of Deliverance should be fine as it is. A full heal for you and your party would be amazing.

As for Renewed Focus, I see no real problem with it. It’s 3 seconds of invulnerability which, if timed well, can be used to block a burst attack. On top of that, it recovers all of your virtues. If you focus around a virtues build (or need a burst counter), it’s perfect. For other senarios (like the common Altruistic Healing builds), it would seem more useful to take a fourth utility skill instead of an elite skill.

EDIT: changed to not be a wall of text.

On an AH build, with just 5 points in Virtues, using all your virtues, then RF, and then popping them again is a pretty decent “oh kitten” button if anything. Timed and executed well, can make a difference in most situations.

I like Tome of Courage for escorting dolyaks in WvW. It lasts just long enough to get them through the gate when the enemy comes rolling along. Tome of Courage is also fairly good for tower defense/healing from inside of a tower up on the walls. It gives your allies a little bit of extra time/breathing room to push back the enemy.

I like Renewed Focus quite a bit. It allows me to pop aegis and a heal to boost my allies without losing them for myself at least once every fight, which is great if someone’s getting focused.

I haven’t used Tome of Wrath extensively enough to have a real opinion.

I am not happy with them at all and almost never use them. I am also not pleased with the Norn elites. I’d rather have the option of using another of my regular skills.

Honestly, the elites are realistically fine but I won’t lie and say that I am happy with them. When talking about the elites, its a practicality issue rather than a power issue.

Tomes
Most of the time your not really able to maximise the power of the tomes in combat and the fact that they don’t really interact with any traits and remove your utility skills makes them very difficult to optimise and build around. They fail to play a role as an “oh crap” button and have poor synergy with pretty much everything. If you can stand off to the side, undisturbed then your opponents deserve the tide turning that they bring but the glowing books are hard to miss.

Renewed Focus
With a fully spec’d virtue tree this can be pretty beefy but realistically the main part of this ability is the resetting of the virtues. Being invulnerable for 3s does nothing when you can’t move away from the threat and even if you could move guardians tend to fail at escaping but at least you’d have a chance.

Suggestion
Just give 3 practical elites that interact with traits and are more useful in more scenarios.

Virtues Call (Shout, 180s recharge) – applies all effects as if all 3 virtues had been activated – this gives the same benefits as renewed focus in a singular button that is instant and adds few more benefits if traits for shouts are spec’d

Light of Deliverance (Mediation, 180s recharge) – doesn’t have to be a full heal, a 9000 heal + 1.5 points : 1 +healing is probably right for an elite – honestly this is what people want to cast, having to cast the tome then cast the spell makes it an insanely long cast, making it a mediation gives you the ability to make it instant and having mediations heal will add some extra points of healing to it.

Symbol of Radiance (Symbol, 180s recharge) – give it a large base area, 4s, placeable template, wrath like damage, applies 1s burning and blind each second to enemies in the area – honestly with the amount of symbol buffs you can get (larger area, longer, heals, more damage, vulnerable) I am surprised there isn’t an elite symbol.

alemfi.5107:

While they aren’t BAD per-se, I do feel that there is some missing potential with the elites. As mentioned by others, abilities 3 of the abilities per tome are often unused. What I’m thinking is that Anet should probably just merge the tomes into one.

1 & 2 would be the respective 1’s of each tome.
3 could be a mass stun, as it is present in both books.
4 could be the mass quickness in tome of wrath
5 is the mass area heal.

That way we combine what (imo) are the good and used parts of the books, and than we have room for another elite skill.

Just my two cents, granted there might need to be some balancing rework, b/c I would feel like a god with this book.

I actually really like this idea. I think I would be ok with combining the #1’s as one so where you cast the heal it also damages enemies. #2 should blind, cripple, and weaken targets in a cone for 5 seconds. #3 could be based of proximity to the guardian. <600 you get stunned for 2 seconds. >600 you get dazed for 2 seconds. #4 – The buffs are the tricky one to balance. You could just give all buffs to closest 5 allies for 10 seconds (like a Save Yourself) I suppose. That might need tweaking. #5 Would be a full heal to 5 allies (healing the lowest health players first) and a knockdown for 2 seconds.

All in all, no matter what they did, I would be satisfied with combining the tomes into one. Would be worth it then for being a 3 minute cool down.

The question is…what would we use as our third elite?

Kreoss.8419:

Honestly, the elites are realistically fine but I won’t lie and say that I am happy with them. When talking about the elites, its a practicality issue rather than a power issue.

Tomes
Most of the time your not really able to maximise the power of the tomes in combat and the fact that they don’t really interact with any traits and remove your utility skills makes them very difficult to optimise and build around. They fail to play a role as an “oh crap” button and have poor synergy with pretty much everything. If you can stand off to the side, undisturbed then your opponents deserve the tide turning that they bring but the glowing books are hard to miss.

Renewed Focus
With a fully spec’d virtue tree this can be pretty beefy but realistically the main part of this ability is the resetting of the virtues. Being invulnerable for 3s does nothing when you can’t move away from the threat and even if you could move guardians tend to fail at escaping but at least you’d have a chance.

Suggestion
Just give 3 practical elites that interact with traits and are more useful in more scenarios.

Virtues Call (Shout, 180s recharge) – applies all effects as if all 3 virtues had been activated – this gives the same benefits as renewed focus in a singular button that is instant and adds few more benefits if traits for shouts are spec’d

Light of Deliverance (Mediation, 180s recharge) – doesn’t have to be a full heal, a 9000 heal + 1.5 points : 1 +healing is probably right for an elite – honestly this is what people want to cast, having to cast the tome then cast the spell makes it an insanely long cast, making it a mediation gives you the ability to make it instant and having mediations heal will add some extra points of healing to it.

Symbol of Radiance (Symbol, 180s recharge) – give it a large base area, 4s, placeable template, wrath like damage, applies 1s burning and blind each second to enemies in the area – honestly with the amount of symbol buffs you can get (larger area, longer, heals, more damage, vulnerable) I am surprised there isn’t an elite symbol.

I like where you are going with this too. I wish they would increase symbols radius to what is talented and increase it more with Writ of Exaltation. It’s stationary so it can cause the enemy to make a choice. Fight in the symbol or run out.

Consecration – “Insert Corny Name Here” – 3 Second cast (180 second cd) – Combine all the consecrations into one for 10 seconds. Gain stability, cleanse conditions, gain regen for 1 second refreshing every second, reflect projectiles, and burn for 1 second refreshing every 1 second on enemies that walk into the bubble.

I don’t main a guardian but in comparison to other classes the elites are a bit on the underwhelming side. Renewed focus roots you into place, and 3 seconds is an absolute joke of a duration. The focus5 skill is a lot better than the elite because it at least blows up, does damage, is on a shorter cooldown and it’s not even a utility.

The tomes are ok but the dps isn’t amazing.

I love Tomes for the exact reason other people seem to hate them. I like that they’re vastly different. I really enjoy that aspect. A completely new moveset every so often, thats awesome to me and definately “elite territory”. And they’re actually good, unlike other elites that give you a new set of skills (coughAsuraMechSuitCough).

I can understand how people might not enjoy the moveset aspect, especially if they’re building traits specifically for a weapon / utility they lose access to (personally I run a Spirit Weapon build, so I can keep my utilities AND use Tomes). But I certainly don’t think they should just outright change them to something entirely different. Someone suggested on the first page that the tomes be changed to be simply large AoE buffs, and I would really hate for that to happen.

Surely new elites will be added eventually, so I’d definately prefer if they just added some new elites that accomidate what others want while also keeping the Tomes available for those who like them. As opposed to just nuking the tomes.

Though I do hate one thing about tomes. The non-stop voiceover on the spammable skills. “Feel my wrath” “Feel my wrath” “Feel my wrath” smacks character shut up already! Make it a chance of VA every cast with those ones (like how Elementalists have a chance at an attune saying each time they attune), not every. single. time. Every time is fine for the higher CD skills, though.

I actually find the Guardian Elites more flavorful than most.

Renewed Focus is obviously only useful if you have your virtues buffed by traits. If that’s the case, you can benefit from spamming all of your virtues and then pick up the passive effect immediately or spam them again, gaining some potentially amazing group buffs. And oh yea, invulnerability for 3 secs is never something to turn your nose at. Immobile or not, take the 3 secs and use it to heal yourself or others or use any of your other utilities.

The Tomes are fun. And really strong. Tome of Courage’s full party heal is probably the most OP skill in the game and incredible in any situation (PvP, PvE, WvW). But it’s only a 1-time cast and #3 & #4 have longer CDs which basically means you cast it & hit 5,4,3 and then use only 2 skills strategically. So while it is all heals/defensive, you don’t become a fully functional monk healer. ToW is incredible and has a nice variety of boons and damage.

I love our Elites. The Tomes are very strong and benefit allies and RF is the rare elite that you can actually really work into a build, as opposed to ‘that strong skill that’s cool but doesn’t really have anything to do with your build as a whole’. Not to mention that Guards are (maybe?) the only profession with a trait that improves our elites. Nice.

Love Renewed Focus.

Though, I’m ~still~ AH w/ Lyssa Runes and Save Yourselves….

Doesn’t get much better than that.

I think we should get an elite summon, Like a relic that shoots out ranged attacks that bounce or provide boons. Also unlike the other summons I think it should be health related and not time. Similar to the Necro elite.

spacelion.9865:

Renewed focus roots you into place…

I keep seeing people say this and keep wondering what in the fiery-dark-place are you all talking about?

Renewed Focus DOESN’T ROOT in my experience. If you remain still you get the little lifted into the the air ‘floaty’ animation, but you can move the entire time if you choose to.

spacelion.9865:

Renewed focus roots you into place

Uh no it doesn’t lol. I use it on the move all of the time. It’s great to use when busting through an enemy zerg to defend the tower they’re hitting. You can’t use it while dodging and that’s about it.

Sokina.8041:

I’d honestly like it if they just combined the best skills of the kitten tomes and gave me another elite choice. The only non-transform profession elite is Renewed Focus. (I love it to death, yeah) but I die so much quicker while I have this kitten book in front of me. Give me an Elite that works with my build, not against it.

Obviously the two tomes are underused for a reason, you know?

But that’s just my opinion. I’d rather have them combine the tomes and give us an interesting elite instead. Also, having only one possible elite underwater is extremely lame. (For Guardian and other classes that only have one option)

Again, I’m not saying the tomes aren’t useful. I use them when protecting a keep against attack, or pushing an attack. But they’re boring and not as good as they could be.

yeah lol, if tomes were just skill number 1 we wouldnt loose much, since is the only skill we will press more than1 time.

Feal my wrath,Feal my wrath,Feal my wrath,Feal my wrath,Feal my wrath,Feal my wrath,Feal my wrath,Feal my wrath,Feal my wrath,Feal my wrath,Feal my wrath.

Elite skills are entirely situational, but powerful in PvE and mass PvP.

Our Elites are great in a team, but a bit lacking in solo. Renewed focus is helpful (now that you can move) but isnt exactly what I look for in an elite. Most others give a good summon, a interesting state change or increased damage.
I do think its odd wE DONT HAVE A SUMMON ELITE AS WE HAVE SUMMON UTILITIES

Personally, I find the tomes to be some of the coolest elites in the game. I kind of wish there were utility counterparts to them actually, kind of like elementalists’ conjured weaponry.

I enjoy the elites we have, but I certainly wouldn’t mind having an elite version of many of our theme effect lines -

an elite signet (i.e. “Signet of Glory”)
an elite spirit weapon (“Greatsword of Destiny”)
an elite consecration (“Haven in the Mists”)
an elite shout (“Tyria, Forever!”)
etcetera.

Personally, I would like something offensive boon oriented to compliment the loads of defense we get. How about:

Shout (“Make your Time!”) (to stick with the theme)
60s cd
20s Fury
20s Swiftness

that would probably be too much for a shout anyway, maybe it should be a signet to match the warrior’s one instead, I just really wanted to get that shout name out. =)

I would much,much,much prefer another Shout to any of our elites.
I feel that a guardian should be in the front lines, and be able to carry his team to victory.
What better way to do this, rather than to add an elite shout to prepare allies for battle?

To make sure that this shout wouldn’t be overpowered in WvWvW, it would only affect 5 allies.

Just think about a guardians role. It’s to guard the team, and lead them to victory.
People love it when I absorb all the damage in dungeons, with 3.4k armour and 23k health. Not to mention Guardians also pull the most aggro.

Also keeping the team alive, using bubbles to revive a downed ally while protecting the both of you. There are so many other better elites we could have, but we’re stuck with tomes which last 10 seconds, and a Greatsword AOE Spin simply does way more damage than the elite anyways.

The tomes wouldn’t be that bad if they actually worked the tome of wrath skill do same damage as autoattack with just a bit more aoe and courage have so long activate all the skills are 1 second to activate the full heal you can only use once and its 4, 1/4 second activate the casting time is so long you barely healed before it ends. if the tomes just lasted long like 60 seconds or something maybe its to much but one thing is for sure 20 is completely useless it has 3 min cooldown and is just crap.

RF doesn’t root you, for everyone who still thinks that.

I had this same problem in beta, I found that I didn’t like the guardian elites much. But I only used the tomes then, and I just don’t like the “form” elites much. I use renewed focus now and love it. You can move while using it, the invuln is very useful in some cases, and if you have altruistic healing in your traits, and 5 points in virtues, activating the virtues gives you a nice heal.

Personally I like the Guardian elites. People have already explained the awesome skills tomes have – if you’re in any kind of party situation you can take a step back in, you suddenly have the ability to spam CC, debuffs and boons? Heck, I don’t even used #5 on the Courage tome half the time unless I know people are near death as aoe heals, blinds, dazes, massive cone TEN second (untraited) protection/regeneration are more than enough to keep a whole group up while they do nothing but dps.

As for Renewed Focus – that 3 second invuln is awesome. It’s the complete opposite of a stun – you are given an automatic anti-thief/burst weapon. You see your aegis flash with no one around? Tap that button, and the average thief will have expended their entire burst combo while you are invuln and you can then wipe the floor with them. You getting walloped, and your super-heal has a few seconds left? It’s a 3-second off your timer button. Renewed focus has saved my butt so many times. Plus it allows you to pass on aegis and regens to people from your virtues with only a 3 second ‘cooldown’.

The ONLY time I find Guardian Elites lacking is solo PvE situations. When I have no one to use tomes on, and don’t need the savior button of Renewed, it just sits there unused. Because of this (and similar situations that apply to other classes), I would love to see the elite slot unlocked to have any utility skill + elite skill. This actually would open up MANY options on builds.

Drawing Guy.3701:

Tap that button, and the average thief will have expended their entire burst combo while you are invuln and you can then wipe the floor with them.

I wish the thieves I met were anywhere near this q_q

more like ‘laugh at your wasted cooldown by falling back into stealth then three shotting you a few seconds later’

I really only like guardian elites in party situations, which isn’t a problem for me, since I mainly log on to do dungeon runs with some friends, anyways. I used to like tome of courage to keep my team up, but we’re much better players now, so I rarely use it anymore.

Tome of wrath is something I use frequently for speed clears to assist with burst in certain situations, but only if theres at least 2+ other melee to take advantage of the quickness burst and might cone. Because I run AH, I get healed for spreading the boons that come from this tome. On certain groups like the champion gravelings (the ones that drop silver) in AC, I would pull the group together with binding blade, activate stand your ground (stability), put tome’s quickness, and use tome’s AoE KD. My team has other combos that they do with me that vary, but those groups drop fast because everything is in one place, so my team’s AoEs get full value. If I time the tome right, I can hit quickness twice, meaning I can get a few quickness hits with my GS after it ends. It’s a very niche elite. I sometimes use it in PuGs because sometimes they have a habit of knocking the mobs all over the place when keeping the mobs in one place makes the run go faster.

Renewed focus is pretty fun to use to avoid a lot of lethal attacks when you feel like it: kholer’s spin, howling king/rumblus screams, alpha AoEs, unavoidable agony hits (Jade Maw), etc. I didn’t really enjoy this skill until they allowed it to be used on the move. This skill inspired me to use shelter in the somewhat the same manner to get some free might stacks (might of the protector).

Disastersaurus.3146:

Renewed Focus: I…really can’t justify this elite skill at all. Maybe some Guardians are making it work for them, but the invulnerability is really just neutral, since you’re stuck in place while casting, and the only effect is to refresh virtue cooldowns? Even if I pop all three virtues at once, then use Renewed Focus, it pales in comparison to the kind of power the tomes bring to the table.

If someone is genuinely impressed by Renewed Focus and what it does for them, I guess that’s great, but I’d be surprised.

I’ve tried very hard to make Renewed Focus worthwhile, and it’s just laughably underpowered for an elite skill.

I constantly find myself comparing it to a warrior’s Endure Pain (which doesn’t technically grant invulnerability, but instead grants immunity to damage – same ballpark). We get 3 seconds of invuln during which we can’t attack or do anything useful. Once complete, our virtues are recharged.

In contrast, warriors get 5! seconds (though the wiki says it’s bugged and only gives 3 – unsure about that) of no damage, which they can increase through a perk (and by the way, they have a second perk to automatically activate the skill at 25% health). They can still move and attack normally, and the skill breaks stun. Oh, and did I mention that this isn’t even an elite skill.

So, as far as I’m concerned, when an elite skill is inferior to a non-elite skill which does the same basic thing, something’s wrong.

Blueshield.6291:

Disastersaurus.3146:

Renewed Focus: I…really can’t justify this elite skill at all. Maybe some Guardians are making it work for them, but the invulnerability is really just neutral, since you’re stuck in place while casting, and the only effect is to refresh virtue cooldowns? Even if I pop all three virtues at once, then use Renewed Focus, it pales in comparison to the kind of power the tomes bring to the table.

If someone is genuinely impressed by Renewed Focus and what it does for them, I guess that’s great, but I’d be surprised.

I’ve tried very hard to make Renewed Focus worthwhile, and it’s just laughably underpowered for an elite skill.

I constantly find myself comparing it to a warrior’s Endure Pain (which doesn’t technically grant invulnerability, but instead grants immunity to damage – same ballpark). We get 3 seconds of invuln during which we can’t attack or do anything useful. Once complete, our virtues are recharged.

In contrast, warriors get 5! seconds (though the wiki says it’s bugged and only gives 3 – unsure about that) of no damage, which they can increase through a perk (and by the way, they have a second perk to automatically activate the skill at 25% health). They can still move and attack normally, and the skill breaks stun. Oh, and did I mention that this isn’t even an elite skill.

So, as far as I’m concerned, when an elite skill is inferior to a non-elite skill which does the same basic thing, something’s wrong.

If you’re a Virtue based Guardian though it’s huge and one of the most powerful elites in the game since it scales dramatically and is effected by 5-10 traits.

Indure.5410:

If you’re a Virtue based Guardian though it’s huge and one of the most powerful elites in the game since it scales dramatically and is effected by 5-10 traits.

Which ones?

The only ones I specifically see are Inspired Virtue and Virtue of Retribution, both of which are in the Virtues line. Even by firing all virtues, using Renewed Focus, and firing all again, you’re only getting two stacks of might and a short duration regen and protection. You can easily do better with a little teamwork and some combo fields.

If a virtues-based build makes Renewed Focus viable, that’s excellent, but it doesn’t address the issue that in general it’s still a sub-par elite skill.

Blueshield.6291:

Indure.5410:

If you’re a Virtue based Guardian though it’s huge and one of the most powerful elites in the game since it scales dramatically and is effected by 5-10 traits.

Which ones?

The only ones I specifically see are Inspired Virtue and Virtue of Retribution, both of which are in the Virtues line. Even by firing all virtues, using Renewed Focus, and firing all again, you’re only getting two stacks of might and a short duration regen and protection. You can easily do better with a little teamwork and some combo fields.

If a virtues-based build makes Renewed Focus viable, that’s excellent, but it doesn’t address the issue that in general it’s still a sub-par elite skill.

Depends on how you trait, but Renewed Focus can give you in addition to 3s immune, Virtues regular effects and Inspired Virtues effects: stability, blinds, blocks, Might, condition removal, stun breakers, and retaliation.

Not to mention from a survivability standpoint if you double up Virtue effects you can achieve (with 30 points into Virtues): 3s of immune, 2 blocks, 10s of Protection/Regeneration, ~4K instant healing, 6 stacks of Might, 6s of stability, 18s of retaliation, and 2 condition removers.

All on a fast cooldown of 60s. Combine with Lyssa runes and it is even more potent.

EDIT: 90s, don’t read tooltips enough.

Renewed Focus used to immobilize you, and both Tomes used to grant Stability for the entire duration.

Just a heads up since not everyone has been playing a Guardian since launch.

Indure.5410:

Blueshield.6291:

Indure.5410:

If you’re a Virtue based Guardian though it’s huge and one of the most powerful elites in the game since it scales dramatically and is effected by 5-10 traits.

Which ones?

The only ones I specifically see are Inspired Virtue and Virtue of Retribution, both of which are in the Virtues line. Even by firing all virtues, using Renewed Focus, and firing all again, you’re only getting two stacks of might and a short duration regen and protection. You can easily do better with a little teamwork and some combo fields.

If a virtues-based build makes Renewed Focus viable, that’s excellent, but it doesn’t address the issue that in general it’s still a sub-par elite skill.

Depends on how you trait, but Renewed Focus can give you in addition to 3s immune, Virtues regular effects and Inspired Virtues effects: stability, blinds, blocks, Might, condition removal, stun breakers, and retaliation.

Not to mention from a survivability standpoint if you double up Virtue effects you can achieve (with 30 points into Virtues): 3s of immune, 2 blocks, 10s of Protection/Regeneration, ~4K instant healing, 6 stacks of Might, 6s of stability, 30s of retaliation, and 2 condition removers.

All on a fast cooldown of 60s. Combine with Lyssa runes and it is even more potent.

I still don’t see specific mention of traits. I’m looking at the traits and trying to figure out how you’re coming up with this, and I’m not seeing a way to make it work.

If you’re unwilling to point out specific traits, can you at least indicate which trait lines you’re using?

And I reiterate – elite skills shouldn’t need a specific build to make them viable or comparable to other elite skills.

Blueshield.6291:

I still don’t see specific mention of traits. I’m looking at the traits and trying to figure out how you’re coming up with this, and I’m not seeing a way to make it work.

If you’re unwilling to point out specific traits, can you at least indicate which trait lines you’re using?

And I reiterate – elite skills shouldn’t need a specific build to make them viable or comparable to other elite skills.

Specific traits:
Justice is Blind (5 minor Radiance)= Blind on Justice use.
Inspired Virtues: (5 minor Virtues)=5s Protection/Regeneration/Might
Virtue of Retribution (15 minor Virtues)=3s Ret. per virtue (thought it was 5 in my OP)
Indomitable Courage (20 major Virtues)=3s Stability on courage use
Absolute Resolution (20 major Virtues)=Removes 3 conditions on resolve use
Shielded Mind (30 major Virtues)= Stun breaker on courage use

*note: can’t have all 3 majors in Virtues, only 2 at a time.

I agree that an Elite shouldn’t need a specific build to work, but keep in mind that it is one of the few elites in the game that benefits from a large number of traits and because of this is balance accordingly.

No, but to be fair, I don’t think it’s a pressing matter. I certainly don’t underperform as a Guardian because my elites aren’t spectacular. RF is a sufficient placeholder until the time comes to review these.

Instead of the tomes becoming a transformation it should just be an ability that you activate. lets start with Tome of Courage. Combine the Daze, the Full Heal, AoE Protection, and instead of the little heal skill the group gains a special boon that regenerates health over a certain amount of time. couple it with a 4 second cast time being able to be cast on the move with 4 seconds of stability. this way you no longer lose your utilites and u can go right back to combat. this way they can keep the same book cast animations and the book with out having to recode much. you can do the same for Tome of Wrath as well. Just lump Big Damage (skill 5), 8 or 10 seconds of quickness, AoE Blind, and along nasty burn into a 3 second cast time with 3seconds of stability that allows you to run and cast. it would be nice to benefit from the quickness we cast with our normal abilities and not be stuck using a silly tome when affected by quickness. it would be worth them being on a 180second cool down then and having the ability to have options in my eilite skill slot.