This build attempts to play to what I see as the Guardian’s strengths, while shoring up some weaknesses to create a well-rounded build for (almost) any situation. Posting it here for review, and hopefully as inspiration for other builds people might enjoy.
Weapon Choices
While in the build editor I chose greatsword and hammer as my preferred weapon set for sPvP and general PvE, you’re perfectly free to swap out to whatever weapon you feel is necessary in any particular situation. The main thing to be aware of is that the sigil on the weapon should always synergize with that weapon’s abilities. CC sigil on CC weapons (Hydromancy on hammer), offense on damage weapons (Strength on greatsword), etc.
Utility/Elite Choices
Signet of Resolve for the heal. The additional condition damage/precision from taking 10 points in Radiance is excellent, and you can trait the signet to recharge 20% faster, putting the massive heal and decent passive this signet offers on a cooldown competitive with Shelter (which provides about half the healing power).
The three utilities I alternate between shouts based on my situation. For general PvE and WvW, Hold the Line excellent, but for a mobile sPvP player, where stability is important, Stand Your Ground may work better. If you prefer to cap and hold a point, try replacing Retreat rather than Hold the Line, since there is less need for Swiftness.
The elite should be whatever fits your playstyle.
Support
Massive condition purging from shouts (especially once the bug affecting HTL and SYG not triggering Pure of Voice in all cases is solved) and fairly consistent AoE heals through dodge rolling are your primary support methods. You can also stack might very rapidly with Empowering Might with rapid-striking weapons, which also synergizes with your high fury uptime from SY.
Keep in mind also that you have +60% boon duration through runes (2 sets of +15% duration), an extra 25% on retaliation, and an extra 20% on might. You can provide significant damage mitigation through protection and aegis, with regeneration and swiftness factoring in as well.
Control
The greatsword/hammer provide good control all by themselves. With that specific combo, you have an AoE pull, an AoE blind, an AoE knockdown wall (Ring of Warding), an AoE root, and a single-target launch. The traits do help out a bit as well, with Justice is Blind providing another nice AoE blind to make sure enemies don’t hit too hard or too frequently, and Retreat offers a nice aegis as well to help hold off enemies while reviving allies or block a major hit. Other Guardian weapons also have their own control methods, each with their own strengths.
Damage
Support and control are great, but those alone won’t hold off a horde of angry Risen, obliterate that pesky Frenzy/HB glass cannon warrior, or let you strike the fear of the six gods into that annoying zerg alongside your teammates. Raw damage output, on the other hand, does this quite nicely.
The minor traits Elusive Power and Power of the Virtuous provide a significant damage boost. This build can potentially stack every boon in the game, and SY alone gives 7 boons for 16 seconds. Your other shouts, too, give additional duration on some of these boons, or even entirely new boons, and you’re nearly guaranteed to have a significant amount of might on a consistent basis from other sources.
This being the case, we actually get a tremendous amount of power and extra damage output, and our condition damage gets bumped up as well. The 15ish stacks of might you can maintain fairly consistently with the greatsword gives a fairly respectable 525 condition damage to add to the 100 we have normally. As for the power, consider that the Knight’s Amulet gives you 644 power. 15 stacks of might gives you 525 power. You can burst 20 stacks or more of might at times, if you get lucky on crits. That boosts you up to 700 power. Thus, you’re effectively adding somewhere around another Knight’s Amulet worth of power once we get rolling in combat. Your total power can and should be over 2000 fairly consistently in combat.
Mobility
Movement is excellent with this build, and you function very effectively as a supply runner in WvW. With 60% boon duration increase, by using Retreat and Save Yourselves on cooldown you can maintain permanent swiftness, even without the staff’s somewhat buggy Symbol of Swiftness. Additionally, while in combat (thus getting crits, giving vigor from the trait) or under the 16 seconds of vigor from SY, you can dodge very frequently. Any mobility you get from your weaponset on top of this is just a bonus.
Defense
You’re a Guardian.
TL;DR: Very strong balanced build I’ve been running, with an emphasis on boons and improved boon duration.
(edited by Kharel Arhew.1437)
