Guild Wars 2

i want to try to do damage with the guardian, anyone can suggest me a good zerk build? thanks

Depends on what you’re looking for PvE or PvP?

The most common one is 10/30/30/0/0 or 0/30/30/5/5 meditation build.

go for triple meditation 0/30/30/5/5 maybe focused on sword/x in order to get very high crit damage… or signets

Just updated mine; https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/guardian/Burn-MF-Burn-Burst-Build/

PvP or PvE. People in this thread have posted pvp builds.

PvE wise 20/25/0/25/0 GSword/Staff is testing out highest for me in PvE. Another route may be 20/25/25/0/0 but haven’t tried it, not sure if the added crit damage would out weigh the loss of 2h Mastery.

Blood~

highest dps builds for pve are 10/30/0/5/25 or 10/25/0/10/25

Bloodgruve.6038:

PvE wise 20/25/0/25/0 GSword/Staff is testing out highest for me in PvE. Another route may be 20/25/25/0/0 but haven’t tried it, not sure if the added crit damage would out weigh the loss of 2h Mastery.

Blood~

Really? Staff?

I assume he just use it for empower

i Think the 10/25/0/25/10 is our best dps traits over 10/25/0/10/25 jsut because we get vit/healing power with might on crit. the Power of Virtuous is easier than Elusive Power but we should be dodge rolling often so they are even. Virtue of Retribution would be really nice However.

I run Sword+focus/Greatsword with 10/25/0/10/25 or something similar I’m too tired to check. Do some pretty nice numbers.

Is it worth running staff/sword+focus, using empower then swapping your staff out for greatsword before entering combat or is it too much hassle?

colesy.8490:

Is it worth running staff/sword+focus, using empower then swapping your staff out for greatsword before entering combat or is it too much hassle?

Without another reliable source of might in your party that gets you up to 25 stacks-Yes.
Otherwise- No because the stacks are short in duration and can override better, more longer lasting stacks from others. tbh though I find it a kittening hassle and a half and just swap out GS for staff in that instance, then camp sword/focus whole fight.

colesy.8490:

Bloodgruve.6038:

PvE wise 20/25/0/25/0 GSword/Staff is testing out highest for me in PvE. Another route may be 20/25/25/0/0 but haven’t tried it, not sure if the added crit damage would out weigh the loss of 2h Mastery.

Blood~

Really? Staff?

You’ll spend most of your time in GSword if you want to do damage. Staff is there for a pre-fight Empower and if you have to back out n get some HP back. Mostly utility.

I tested 20/30/20/0/0 and it was the highest so far. All you’re really getting though is damage, very little utility and you gotta be proactive about staying on your feet. 20/25/0/0/25 GSword could prolly match it or beat it if you could maintain boons. Gonna test this one also.

Blood~

Damage modifiers > raw stats. Which is why 10/30/0/5/25 is the best for dps. It uses GS and sword focus.

I’ve been using 20/25/0/20/5 as a shout and 2H-centric build and finding it working pretty well, using GW and then secondary being pretty situational, Sc/Fc or Sw/Fc for ranged/melee, staff for mobility and tagging. Really wish there was a 3rd weapon swap honestly.

I’ve been testing a Might stacking build with GS + Mace/Focus and the survivability is good and it hits like a freight train. I’ll post a build once I’ve tested further.

I will suggest (http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQNAR8dlUgqCHHSNEfYFSmiVCBtFUVIewFc9AiooGC-jUyA4LBZySgICwpvhsmAjYhrIasKGM1JRUt7oIa1yAovAA-w) 10/5/30/5/20 because it is not mentioned. Nobody seems to like Triple Meditations (or Double with SYG!) but it offers frontloaded burst like no other and grants Guardians good stunbreaks, high instant heals and mobility.
This particular spec uses Knights + Valk mainly for 2953 Toughness and 14525 HP which will allow some mistakes. 2969 Attack with 75% Crit Damage. Using GS and Sword along with JI port utility, you have the best in-combat mobility a Guardian can strap on. You can get on top of P/D thieves.
If you want better condition removal, modifications as follows:
Retributive Armour -> Purity
Runes of the Eagle -> Runes of Lyssa
SYG! -> Contemplation of Purity (but you won’t get clutch stomps off/other clutch plays with Stability)

Tips (whether you need them or not…):
Don’t forget Focus 4 removes condi (if not blinded).
Focus 5 can be counted down (4 secs) and made to hit with JI or VoJ + Sword 2 port (to get 10% damage when burning).
You can blindstomp with VoJ and Focus and Sword (also assist a stomp). You can Aegis stomp with VoC and blockstomp with Focus 4. You can also AoE cleave the corpse by fighting over it with your GS out.
If you block a multi-hit attack with Shelter, you’ll get ridiculous stacks of might (like blocking through a WWrath, 100b + WWind, Unload etc.) which you should immediately capitalise on.
You can remove 6 conditions in an emergency with VoR -> RF -> VoR. You’re probably dead anyway.
Sword 3 is impossible to hit without some sort of knockdown/immobilise but you can make do with GS 5 pull. Better to use for things like Kill Shot or other projectiles. Tbh, with this much Prec/Crit your sword auto hits nearly 3k anyway and almost always procs sigil. Better than the channel. You can use Spirit Hammer/KD Signet to force people to eat Sword 3 though.

Other than that, 0/30/30/5/5 is pretty great all-round and you can use Scepter + Focus/ Sword + Torch for even better burst (and an Immob for Sword 3) but at the cost of mobility. Scepter 1k+ crits with Right-hand Strength is pretty painful already, not to mention the procs on Sword auto chain no.3.
The stickied Silven build thread has a Mace + Torch/ Scepter + Focus loadout for crazy AoE burst and you can look that up too.

I don’t think I’d recommend this but when I run DPS out in WvW I go:

10 – II
0
30 – VI, IV, XI
30 – II, VIII, XI
0

Sword/shield + GS (all berserker blood/force, and blood). I also use scepter and staff.

Soldier / Berserker mix – even split. Helm has ruby (under water fights), rest citadel. Berserker accessories + neck + back using Rubies. Rings are soldiers also using Rubies. All accessories (except neck) are exotic.

Omnom Pie + maint oil are buffs.

Not the smartest build I’d wager due to the current state of the game but when I go DPS it usually comes after a day or two of PVE and I’m too lazy to switch back to a more comfortable build (healing / clerics). This, for me, is 50/50 at best because sometimes roaming you can surprise people and burst them down. However, if you run into multiple players, well, if you are not very good (<- me) you will go down quick. Heck, I wakitten the other with a 15K kill shot

The build was one someone posted a while back and I liked it. It makes things die real quick there may be safer builds or other build by the more skilled players but this is what I’m running and it just keeps me on my toes a bit more compared to the safer build I noted above, or even support friendly.

+100 power, +10% condition duration
Zealot’s Speed Create a Symbol of Wrath when your health drops below 25% (30 second cooldown)
Fiery Wrath Increases damage by 10% against burning foe

+300 toughness, +30% critical damage
Valorous Defense Gain aegis when your health reaches 50%
Courageous Return Virtue of Courage is recharged when you rally
Might of the Protector Gain might when you block attacks
Retributive Armor 5% of toughness is given as a bonus to precision
Strength in Numbers Nearby allies gain up to 70 toughness based on your effective level
Altruistic Healing Applying a boon to allies heals you

+300 vitality, +300 healing power
Vigorous Precision Gain 5 seconds of vigor when you deliver a critical hit. This effect can only trigger once every 5 seconds
Selfless Daring The end of your dodge roll heals nearby allies
Elusive Power Deal more damage at low endurance
Superior Aria Shouts recharge 20% faster
Empowering Might Nearby allies gain might for 5s [sic] when you land a critical hit
Pure of Voice Allies affected by shouts convert one condition to a boon

10/25/x/x/x is the basis for pve dps builds as it gives a straight 20% DMg increase that doesn’t require too much, just burning on target. Other damage modifiers that are nice to shoot for are 25 honor and 25 virtues. They each have there own pros/cons. From there you really have options and it depends on utilities/weapons you want to use.

I personally use 20/25/0/25/0 gs/staff for many reasons:
Zealous blade is 5% more damage over 10 in zeal, as well as 100 more power, and vuln on symbols. The very minor healing does contribute to sustain. 25 in Honor gives more base HP, dodge heal for more sustain, buffs 2h weapon/shouts cooldown, which I use along with signets (condition removal), and has DMg modifier for low endurance. I use full zerk armor/weps with scholar/force/lust, and zerk/valk full ascended with cavalier back.

I chose honor over valor or virtues because I feel the extra hp is a good cushion against conditions, the improved 2h reduction allows more frequent burst, and it still gets a damage modifier. I don’t feel valor is a good fit- increasing my crit from 227% multiplier to 257% max isn’t very appealing once you see how much it really raises crit damage (about 7-8%more damage on crits whereas both honor and virtue multipliers affect all damage, crits too).

Virtues would be nice for consecration buffs but I find base WoR is fine for when I need it. Virtues also would be nice with just 5 points in for justice/might spam on trash but the extra DMg buff from honor dodging is always on and works better on bosses IMO. The 20% more DMg from active aegis is far too gimmicky to use consistently.

This is for a 2h build though, 1h builds would go 10/30/x/x/x.

I find its consistent and easy to maintain DMg multipliers to best fit my 2h play style; the build compliments gs and staff so well. Utilities SY/judgment/bane, heal signet and renewed focus. Mobility is fair, with staff 2h reduction, SY and dropping judgment for retreat it can maintain near permanent swiftness, which is great with gs leap for keeping up with a Zerg.

Stats:
Power usually sits at 2500 without buffs, with lust/food/staff/sharpening stone, I self buff to over 3.2k power. I hit 4k power with full buffs. Crit only 45% but I group with ware/engi a lot so always have fury (and SY), crit DMg is 78%; armor 2200, 14.2k hp.

Let me just say that power scales ridiculously well after 3.5k. Also retaliation and reflection, while not a focus of the build by any means, scales on power alone.

I’ve used this build for everything: beat Liadri, Scarlet, do all dungeons and pve with this build. For wvwvwv zerging i modify slightly to a 10/25/0/30/5, which is also very fun for pve in a more support fashion with shouts. Also will switch out just armor to a pvt set for wvwvwv. I’ve used the base 20/25/0/25/0 for roaming and had decent success with it actually even when using full dps gear.

You’ll spend most of your time in GSword if you want to do damage. Staff is there for a pre-fight Empower and if you have to back out n get some HP back. Mostly utility.

Why not swap the staff out for GS after using empower and have sword+focus in your second weapon set? You’re better off dodging than immobilising yourself with staff empower for a tiny heal.

—

I’ve been testing a Might stacking build with GS + Mace/Focus and the survivability is good and it hits like a freight train. I’ll post a build once I’ve tested further.

Why a mace?

Sword + Torch

Why torch?

Isn’t torch one of those weapons which gives you a big damage number but it’s in a channel so it’s actually worse DPS?

colesy.8490:

You’ll spend most of your time in GSword if you want to do damage. Staff is there for a pre-fight Empower and if you have to back out n get some HP back. Mostly utility.

Why not swap the staff out for GS after using empower and have sword+focus in your second weapon set? You’re better off dodging than immobilising yourself with staff empower for a tiny heal.

—

I’ve been testing a Might stacking build with GS + Mace/Focus and the survivability is good and it hits like a freight train. I’ll post a build once I’ve tested further.

Why a mace?

Sword + Torch

Why torch?

Isn’t torch one of those weapons which gives you a big damage number but it’s in a channel so it’s actually worse DPS?

Hrm. I think sword/focus for #5, teleport and swap, mace 3. If they hit you they eat a huge bowl of kitten from both high bursts. They’ll usually attempt to disengage at which point torch 4 twice to launch its fireball is another huge hit. Focus 5, mace3, and torch 4 can all reach obscene crit damage, and when the stars align with 10/30/x/x/10 its possible to see like 10k/8k/10k, I’ve personally seen 12k on focus 5.

That’s why.

People ask, “why staff?”

In my build, couple posts up, staff is beastly in aoe situations that require you stay out of melee and kite around. When in a group and buffed to where GS auto hits 3 targets for 4k/4k/6k, staff would be hitting 5 targets for 3k (talking crits here) over a wider area at that. I’ve had my #2 critting for 6k. Last night in fireheart I had an orb crit 4 targets for 5k and my staff auto doing 3k follow up. In a second I had done 5k x 4 and 3k x 4 = 32k, outside of melee and mid range.

Yeh. That’s why.

What AOE situations require you to stay out of range and kite?

colesy.8490:

What AOE situations require you to stay out of range and kite?

This event with a massive Zerg and the aetherblade spawns. Gear and spec that way and see how long it takes before everything is gunning for you once full buffs/debuffs are active. Hint: not long. Staff autos just wapwapwap 5 targets for 2.5-3k+ for crazyness at midrange, with the #2 orb critting for 6k, and I’ve hit 4 targets with it for that- at 600 range. Swap to gs, 14k ww on pirate captains an gs autos at 3 targets a pop 4k/4k/6.5-7k. It takes a lot to stay standing when the aggro inevitably drops on you.
The build is like paper lol, requires a lot footwork to stay standing and at times i still go down. Once the dodges/heal/blinds/block is gone, one of the best ways of reducing damage in this game is to get some range since mobs/players do more in melee.

Try it out if you have the gear for it.

you don’t need a dps build for that sort of event though? might as well use MF since you are tagging tons of mobs and the zerg is usually large enough to kill everything (not sure about servers with lower populations, but if there is only a small group in the portal I just switch to melee to kill them quickly)

Proteus.6320:

colesy.8490:

What AOE situations require you to stay out of range and kite?

This event with a massive Zerg and the aetherblade spawns. Gear and spec that way and see how long it takes before everything is gunning for you once full buffs/debuffs are active. Hint: not long. Staff autos just wapwapwap 5 targets for 2.5-3k+ for crazyness at midrange, with the #2 orb critting for 6k, and I’ve hit 4 targets with it for that- at 600 range. Swap to gs, 14k ww on pirate captains an gs autos at 3 targets a pop 4k/4k/6.5-7k. It takes a lot to stay standing when the aggro inevitably drops on you.
The build is like paper lol, requires a lot footwork to stay standing and at times i still go down. Once the dodges/heal/blinds/block is gone, one of the best ways of reducing damage in this game is to get some range since mobs/players do more in melee.

Try it out if you have the gear for it.

I find it hard to take you seriously, talking about an open world build. If you mentioned why it would be useful in dungeons that would be interesting however.

I want to know what drugs some of you have been using, and where I might obtain said drug for educational use only of course.

Proteus.6320:

10/25/0/30/5, which is also very fun for pve in a more support fashion with shouts.

Luv you Proteus. Just beaten 8 Orbs Liadri with this. <3

Best damaging weapons are greatsword, hammer, sword, scepter.

Greatsword provides good burst potential but has its down times as cooldowns come up.

Hammer seems slow, but the consistent symbol provides a lot of consistent dps in a pve scenario.

Sword auto attack is high overall damage, but not as fast dps as using a cooldown like WW, still very good damage just not bursty.

Scepter is our best long ranged damaging ability but the randomness of smite makes the dps unpredictable and of course drops off as mobility comes into play.

For the sake of talking about it, mace is not a high dps weapon, but the overlapping symbol creates very good PBAOE damage much like hammer can, while providing some sustain via regeneration.

With the weapons situated you have to talk about traits and gear. To achieve high dps you need to increase the damage of your attacks higher than normal, and as said earlier damage modifiers are key to getting the 10k+ damage.

There are a few avenues to achieving this, the most obvious are traits that increase damage by 5-10% In a PvE scenario unscathed contender is amazing dps increase with 20% as long as you don’t get hit, good for boss fights.

Beyond that the largest impact we can have to our damage is critical hits. by maximizing your critical hit chance you gain a 150%+ modifier. Increase your critical damage to about 200% (50% crit rating) and you have a 500 damage auto attack change to 1000.

I think the guardians key to high damage is via high crit rating and critical damage with power as a support stat.

This would mean of course berserker gear because of the critical damage modifier on it and precision as well, the power is an added benefit as you wont max out zeal in your tree.

10/30/30/0/0 or 0/30/30/0/10 has shown some amazing consistently high damage.

It is difficult for us to push higher because you start to sacrifice critical damage or precision to gain power as our trait lines do not contain the trinity stat in 2 trees, instead it is spread out to 3 trees.

Now the question is, can I survive like that? If not you can adjust to your survival and get things in honor for more health and shout utilities such as condition removal, and then you pretty much get brazil’s pve build. A good balance of damage and utility/survival.

Damage modifiers > crit damage. So theres no point going into valor for a dps build.

spoj.9672:

Damage modifiers > crit damage. So theres no point going into valor for a dps build.

Dead dps deal no dps. Survival> any damage, and the current meta is just more proof of that.

30% critical damage, 100% crit chance

Zeal
10% on burning
5% with greatsword
10% with scepter

Radiance
10% with conditions
5% with sword/spear

Valor
30% on crit (max traits in tree)

Honor
10% on low endurance

Virtues
20% if Aegis up
9% from max boons active

So if you don’t go down valor for 30% extra damage (assuming 100% crit chance or at least 90%+ you have the option of moving those 30 points into:

Zeal (gained 15-20%, lost 15-10%) weapon dependent
Honor (gained 10%, lost 20%)
Virtues (gained 9-29%, lost 1-21%) highly situational gains
Radiance (we didn’t argue to move points out of radiance so we are using this as a baseline max 30 and building around it)

You still have 10 point to put somewhere, which will most likely get put into zeal for the 10% damage on burning, Valor for precision off toughness or 10s condi removal, Honor for shout reduction, or Zeal for retaliation modifier or aegis 20% modifier.

Valor is a higher increase, assuming high to max crit chance and it provides the all too famous altruistic healing or monks focus survivability as well.

If you do not have high crit chance, then the critical damage will not assist you, and you also will not be getting as many crits in the first place, so then your damage modifiers go from

30 in valor
150% (base crit) + 119% (crit dmg on gear/traits) + 30% (aegis/condi modifier) = 299% extra damage

to

30 spread out to damage modifiers
150% (base crit) 89% (crit dmg on gear/traits) + 50% (aegis/condi/burning/low endurance modifier) = 289% extra damage

So you lose 10% overall damage and your trait lines are all over the place. compacting it into valor provides a solid trait set up with already acknowledged survivability, especially in a group setting.

These are extreme examples and you could divy up the traits more evenly and put more into zeal to gain power and make up for the 10%+ gap here and there. But from a theoretical standpoint (not always practical in real game play) going down valor seems to go well for us in reaching our higher damage potentials.

What kind of math is this?

clarify your confusion

You added damage modifers to critical damage modifier which is also calculated incorrectly.

150% from base line crit damage
damage modifiers that are not reliant on critical hits and happen all the time
critical damage modifiers from armor, gear, 30 points into valor

I may have mixed a 10% in somewhere and duplicated a number. If I did point it out please and I’ll correct.

The next question is are these additive or multiplicative. So would the damage modifiers happen “after” the crit so an extra 10-20% on top of the crit damage, or would the damage modifier happen “with” the crit and add to the existing crit damage.

To sum it up damage modifiers modify the damage after everything else.
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Damage#Direct_damage

So say we take 1000 damage and use our 0/30/30/0/10 example with 150+119% crit damage and then an extra 30% after for damage modifier.

1000 * 2.69 = 2690
2690 * 1.3 = 3497

Now we do the 10/25/0/25/10 damage modifier set up with 150+89 crit damage and an extra 50% after for damage mods.

1000 * 2.39 = 2390
2390 * 1.5 = 3585

This would change things and make the damage mod greater like he said earlier. Or did I miss something.

Granted, the damage modifiers are very situational with aegis and low endurance, but we just going for numbers here not real game play.

Seen the wiki before Bluna, don’t see the damage modifier/critical damage sequence listed in it at first glance.

Just going back and using my original numbers even if incorrect.

299% damage mod with 1000 damage
1000 * 2.99 = 2990
289% damage mod with 1000 damage
1000 * 2.89 = 2890

Difference of about 100 damage

Using damage mods after critical damage also results in about 100 damage difference, but this range scales more as the base damage goes up. Fairly close, but room to pull away from crit damage alone.

Also haviz, how is the critical damage modifier incorrect?

Damage modifiers are applied before critical hits. So dmg modifiers are more important than crit damage.

Ok lets look at that then, think you will pull ahead on damage again with damage mods as in the last example.

30% damage mod then 269% crit damage on 1000 damage

1000 * 1.3 = 1300
1300 * 2.69 = 3497

50% damage mod then 239% crit damage on 1000 damage

1000 * 1.5 = 1500
1500 * 2.39 = 3585

Actually that shows that the damage mod is before or after, doesn’t matter, but it is a little higher than crit damage in value. They are very close though, and having the survival from valor I contest is a good trade off for 100-200 damage loss.

Either way, I admit the mistake for putting critical damage and modifiers together, didn’t know the sequence which I am sure is a common mistake so I am not ashamed of that one.

30 in valor and critical damage is not “pointless” for a damage build, but not “as” optimal for damage as getting more damage modifiers.

Again, you gain a good chunk of survival and you don’t drastically dip down in damage by going down valor.

CMF.5461:

Again, you gain a good chunk of survival and you don’t drastically dip down in damage by going down valor.

Yeah I don’t think spoj, or anyone else, is debating that when it comes to actual game play. The point was about some theoretical damage, that doesn’t actually work with real game play with respect to pvp/wvw/or pretty much any of the new content (freaking non dodge able 15k damage aoes is just stupid).

The reality of play is that most of us would gladly take a ton of survivability over a relatively small increase in damage depending on the content. That’s kind of the important thing, it depends on the content you are playing for.

As much as I hate the generic meditation or AH builds, they just prove too useful in terms of making up some lost damage (provided you have high crit chance) and providing us good sustain, grouped or solo.

Honestly I tend to run more bunker or support style most of the time and sacrifice damage for the ability to stay alive. I solo a lot, so all damage isn’t always as useful in certain scenarios. I do have a full cleric set and a full zerker set to switch out between depending on situations.

I am constantly trying to find the balance between them that has survival and high damage, but I think we all are.

GSSBlunaspike.4153:

Dead dps deal no dps. Survival> any damage, and the current meta is just more proof of that.

I’m guessing you are talking about pvp?

He must be because everyone knows you dont need a shred of survivability in dungeons.

Open world you should get some survival as is being seen with these world invasions (lol at people downed/dead constantly as I am still standing), certain dungeons have harder to avoid damage than others, wvw you for sure need survival, and spvp/tpvp you definitely need survival, but just pure defense will never kill anyone.

…but we can’t reach/maintain the same type of damage as other professions because we are inherently squishier with less survival in a dps set up….which puts us at bunkers.

We can dps in spvp/tpvp and it is done, but not as effective for our profession and the current meta.

The only events ive had trouble surviving in zerker gear are the aetherblade events when they chain stunlock you to kitten. But I still rally every time so its no reason to get bad gear just for one type of event. The rest are easy and the champ twisted have really obvious tells. All other open world stuff is easier in dps gear aswell. Not that I do that much open world stuff anymore because its boring as hell.

Just briefly glancing at some of the math in this thread I think many of you are overlooking the fact that damage modifiers are multiplicative with one another.

For example, a 10/30/0/25/5 (coincidentally, my preferred dps build for pve atm), has:
1) Fiery Wrath, 10%
2) Powerful Blades, 5% (with sword/spear)
3) Radiant Power, 10%
4) Elusive Power, 10%
5) Scholar/Racial Consumable

No Scholars/Consumable
10% * 10% * 10% * 5% = 1.397 or 39% (I round down, as the game seems to round down all other situations, when it needs to), about 4% more damage than if they were additive.

Scholars/Consumable included
10% * 10% * 10% * 10% * 10% * 5% = 1.691 or 69%, about 14% more damage than if they were additive.

This has been tested and confirmed by myself and several other players that wander around here and reddit.

Just be sure to calculate that when trying to math things out. Crit damage is calculated last in the damage sequence:

(Damage after Modifiers/Debuffs) * (1.5+Crit Modifier)).

I’m running full zerker for those too, but I have the AH and larger symbols to tag as much as possible and provide a lot of inbound healing with so many people clustered together.

Without AH I think I would be getting downed as well.

Kelnis, they corrected me on that one, so no worries. Although it doesn’t seem to matter if the crit mods are before or after, just as long as they are separate.

1000 * 5 = 5 * 1000

+1 to kelnis

Wasnt even looking closely at the maths. Damage modifiers being multiplicative makes modifiers over crit damage even more obvious.