Guild Wars 2

I like to play a defensive style and so figured guardian would be a natural. But I keep trying various bunker/support style builds and getting my butt handed to me by glassy thieves and other high-offense characters.

I realize much of this is just my own lack of experience but I’m not really sure what I’m doing wrong as I don’t seem to be getting much better.

Most recently I’ve been using this build and it seems like it has all the tools, but I am not sure how to put them all together.

Is there maybe a build better suited to more “selfish” solo play? I want to be able to take and hold a point fairly reliably, and right now at least, I’m in the solo queue or a single player in team queue so my ability to synergize with a team is limited.

Thanks.

Thats a straight up full on support build, and not a very good one at that. Shouts are some of the most supportive skills in the game since almost all of them give the same exact benefits to your allies as well.

Heres a standard guardian bunker/support build used in pvp/wvw.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQJAWSlUgqC33RLEfIFRuAbBYPwYG741jESRGC-ToAA1CtIySllLLTWyssZN+YJC
This build is meant for pure bunker and support. You will not be able to 1v1 anything, but it will sure as hell take them a really long time to kill you if you use this correctly. Removes 2 conditions per shout, AH also provides very solid sustain. You can switch the weapons around a bit if you want, but hammer/staff is probably the most common combination used. Hammer is very nice for its hybrid CC/damage uses. Staff is mostly a supportive weapon and isnt to be used for dps.

If you want to use a more “selfish” build then you should try meditations. although i really dont recommend them to new guardians since they have a much higher skill cap, and are preferably a later game use for guardians. also i should mention that meditations are generally used for bursty builds.
Heres my pvp build for the triple meditation build
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQRAsf5dlYgiDnGyNEf4Eh1DAeQ/VVIeXPgYEbIA-TwAA2CnIqRVjrGTNyas1MIY9xGjZBA
You can switch the weapons out to your own preference, and you can try out the new healing skill if you are up for it. KEEP IN MIND that you are not a bunker, nor are you supportive with this build. this build is solely meant for DPS.

Remember that no matter what build you use, the better you know your skills, the longer you will survive, and the more damage you will do. It mostly comes down to how familiar you are with the skills.

Thanks for the reply.

I was just looking at another build with meditations and they do seem somewhat appealing. Build I found referenced in a video. Seems similar but more defensive.

I don’t really want something oriented around DPS, that’s not why I want to run a guardian. And I don’t really want something so weak that it can’t win a 1v1. I guess I’m looking for something reasonably balanced, mostly defensive, but at least capable of decapping a point reliably if not killing someone on it.

And yes, I need a lot of practice, but I need to find a build that suits my playstyle first.

Heres a more hybrid build that you can try out.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQJARSlUgqC33RLEf4ESmiVCBxUgRZ01jEiiYIA-ToAg0CtIySllLLTWyssZNEZ9B
I dont think its possible to make a hybrid build with meditations. its mostly fit for tanky or dps.

Ken’s build that you linked is highly effective as a support bunker. Maiden England, your bunker build is close to a standard full bunker (not as much support as Ken’s build) build but is going to be nowhere near effective. The Soldier’s amulet provides you a lot of health and armor but the Cleric’s amulet brings the healing power a bunker needs to support and sustain. While hammer is a good cc weapon the battle sigil will do nothing for you as a bunker, another energy sigil would be far superior. Finally, Purity is way better than Strength in Numbers, and there are better options for Retributive Armor as well.

Your meditation build is also going to make life as a guardian a lot tougher than it needs to be. Sword, mace, and focus are all effective weapons, but torch is near useless. It can provide large burst but is unreliable and brings nothing else to the table. Your traits lack a few key things to help you survive, specifically Vigorous Precision and to a lesser extent Absolute Resolution. Right Hand Strength is definitely not worth the investment, and most of the Radiance tree is optional. The Barbarian’s amulet helps get some of the survivability you’re missing from traits, but a better balance could be achieved with defensive traits and a Beserker’s amulet. Your sigils on the mace and focus set will interfere, as all sigils with cooldowns share those cooldowns. Finally, with this build you will fully experience the downfall of a dps guardian, which is not being able to stick to your target. Flashing Blade and Judge’s Intervention are too little mobility and will allow near anyone able to kite you.

Qaelyn, if you are interested in meditation play you can check out my build here:
http://intothemists.com/guides/2294-ittys_meditation_dps
If bunker is what you are looking for, hit me up in game and I can help you out with either a selfish bunker or a support bunker.

Maiden England.3491:

KEEP IN MIND that you are not a bunker, nor are you supportive with this build. this build is solely meant for DPS.

did you skim through this part when you saw my build? that build you posted has decent dps and decent tankiness. but once you become versatile, you lose your overall effectiveness. Having the specific role of either playing for dps or playing for support is a necessity in almost every serious pvp team.
also — healing power is only a waste of time with these builds. you might think it adds the support but it really doesnt. your heals (AH or MF) are only applied to yourself, thus making healing power a very selfish choice. plus trading healing power for another essential attribute really lowers your effectiveness.

You do no dps if you aren’t on the target or are dead. This isn’t pve, players kite and attack back. More balanced builds are indeed highly effective right now, as you can see from builds like HamBow warriors, spirit rangers, minion master necros, and even dps guards. The days of everyone being full glass or full bunker are gone, and the higher up you go in team arena, the more tanky dps builds you see. As for healing power, I’m just going to agree to disagree while cautioning any new guardians reading this thread to take a look at the builds of successful bunkers and note which amulet they use.

minion master necros and spirit rangers are in no way “balanced” when it comes to stats. well, the good ones arent anyways. i do not attempt to mimic the current meta, nor do i try to create new ones. im simply broadcasting the builds ive been most successful with. if you find yourself looking for more balanced builds, you are either playing hotjoins, or playing with a team too disorganized to use role specific builds.

I am playing only team arena, and while not the highest rated, am usually above 150 and often face the highest rated teams. I am letting you know what I see, and I assure you, it is not from hotjoins.

@OP: The build you linked is my build, and it performs best with a good team and after a lot of practice. You’ll find it has the best results in high ELO Team Arena, and is good but not the easiest to get results out of in Solo Arena. For best results in lower ELO Solo and Team Arena, I recommend a more selfish build, like the following:

http://tinyurl.com/kenguardah03
http://tinyurl.com/kenwarshout01

By the way, these are complete bunker builds. You cannot kill 1v1, and you can’t really decap a point. All you can do is support allies, and maintain control of a point you own or have neutralized. For tanky DPS hybrids, Warriors tend to be much better suited for it these days.

Honestly this game is more about avoiding damage rather than soaking it up and sure some classes can soak up more damage than others.

Tanking capability really comes down to how good you are at avoiding damage. A Dps Guard who knows how to dodge and time blocks will live longer than a Bunker Guard who is aiming to just sponge damage.

Thanks for all the replies. Appreciate the interchanges, even if they leave me somewhat confused.

I’m a somewhat tricky place right now. Eventually I would like to play guardian to help in a team setting, but right now I’m in the middle of the leaderboard (50th percentile or so) without a real team. In the solo queue, or when soloing in team queue at this level, “team play” is like trying to coordinate a herd of cats. So a build focused on intelligent teamwork is not going to work well.

I actually came to guardian via warrior, where no matter how tanky I made the build, I found I seemed to just get DPSed down. Maybe again just a matter of practice, but I thought guardian was a more natural fit for the role I was looking for, which I would summarize as “mostly defensive, but not offensively impotent”. I realize there are always trade-offs in that respect.

In solo queues I usually play DPS Guardian since lets be honest you are right about trying to coordinate a herd of cats and there isn’t much you can do as a Support Guardian with everyone running all over the place.

I honestly recommend you giving the DPS style a go at least for Solo queues because sure it is selfish but in turn it’s the most beneficial you can be to a team that isn’t going to be working together. I recommend 0/0/30/20/20 with Meditations and GS/sword+focus since it deals high damage while maintaining a good level of survivability.

Are you a level 80 Guardian?

I had the same problem, I mained a Warrior and I played a tanky build in SPvP for a while because it was fun to hold a node against 2-3 power builds for long periods of time.
I tried playing Bunker Guardian because apparently they are better, but I was getting destroyed in mere seconds. I couldn’t get the hang of it at all.
I finally got round to leveling my Guard to 80 and after maybe a month of playing at 80 (fractals, dungeons, WvW etc) I went back to SPvP and I can safely say that I am far, far better now and they are indeed much better at bunker than Warrior.

I can only suggest you spend some time in PvE to learn the ins and outs of Guardian if you haven’t already done so.

You may be right, Zach.

Funny thing is that normally I always take the approach that I should level up a new class to 80 first. In fact I’m doing that with my engineer right now.

I tried to skip this with guardian (only went up to level 10 or so thus far). My reasoning was that it was a more straightforward profession, and also, PvE is all about offense and killing things quickly and I didn’t think I’d get a lot of preparation for playing a defensive character that way.

But I might just be all wet on that.

Qaelyn.7612:

You may be right, Zach.

Funny thing is that normally I always take the approach that I should level up a new class to 80 first. In fact I’m doing that with my engineer right now.

I tried to skip this with guardian (only went up to level 10 or so thus far). My reasoning was that it was a more straightforward profession, and also, PvE is all about offense and killing things quickly and I didn’t think I’d get a lot of preparation for playing a defensive character that way.

But I might just be all wet on that.

Honestly, I had the exact same thoughts. My Guardian was probably the second character I ever made. It was level 35 or so and over a year old (I got my present on it not too long ago). I finally decided to play it, I crafted it to around level 70 and leveled the rest to 80. After playing it for a while at end-game I became much more competent with it.

I did however play it in SPvP a lot beforehand, but could never get the hang of it. Without even realising it, I gained a lot of knowledge through PvE for SPvP. All the little things you pick up while playing that you may not even realise help a ton. Such as all the trait effects, cast times on weapons, what plays well with what etc.

I had trouble on my guardian until I started trying to hang with teammates more, which makes sense with a support build. The virtues and shouts should be used for the teamwide boons, not only as condition clears.

Survival is more about pacing your abilities and getting a feel for knowing when to weather the storm instead of panic popping skills. Don’t be afraid to bail out if you know you’re going to lose a fight. If you’re not going to be able to hold out any longer for help to arrive, then there’s no point in giving the other team another 5 points.

I had to learn to trust in the Hammer auto-attack. The protection from the symbol is very helpful and all the strikes hard hitters. That’s your damage to them while cutting the incoming pain while you hopefully have some regen running.

It took me about 150 sPvP games before playing guardian clicked... I was an utter disaster when I first started with meditation DPS. I wasn’t too good at support either. I had a bad habit of waiting until I was almost dead to pop F2 and F3 and holding my shouts for condition clearing. Even Shelter, sometimes you got to use it for the blocks instead of using it as a heal.

Guardian isn’t as straightforward as you’d think it is, but once you sort it out, you’re good to go.

Funny thing is, it didn’t click for me until I went back to a meditation build for 2 sPvP nights. That just drove home the point that it really is all about using skills at good times, not just because the cooldown is up.

Thanks. What builds are you running, Zach and WyldKat?

Qaelyn.7612:

Thanks. What builds are you running, Zach and WyldKat?

Well, right now I’m only using my Guardian for running fractals as it has most AR on it, I’ve been on my Necro recently. That said, my build is a bit of mix and match to be completely honest.

I primarily use hammer because I love the perma protection and AoE retaliation. I do tend to swap traits around a lot, but I’ve been running something like 20-15-0-30-5 mostly.
Does decent damage, loads of Vulnerability, good AoE might and excellent AoE might in heavy trash situations. Along with some decent group healing.

My secondary set will be Staff or Scepter+Torch/Shield depending if I need range or extra support. I also take a GS for the pull.

I use celestial trinkets and a mix match of zerk/valk gear with traveler runes. Fire sigils on weapons.

I generally just jump around the top 50 in solo que, and one thing I learned is I don’t like playing full bunker in it. When you play team que, you all have you set roles so it works well. Solo que is a different story, you never know who you’re going to get on your team or who you play against. So I personally like to play hybrid builds in solo. So that way I can fulfill any role.

These are the two builds I generally use:

First one is a team fighter build, works better for group play. Still decent in 1v1, but its main purpose is team fights.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQBVSBKLcVI/O8hUE5CsFg9AjwvjXPcYCZIA-TgAg0CvIySllLLTWyssZB

Next one is a med build. It’s more useful in 1v1, only class I have a hard time with are good condition engies. Its damage isn’t has high as other med builds, but it makes up for it with the amount of sustain it brings.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQBdCRUaoxh4GCfIKkMFFICaLA/QFd9AiioGC-TgAg0CnIYSxkjJDTSmsMB

I left the weapons empty because you can pick what fits your playstyle. I personally like gs and s/f. It gives you great dps, the ability to stick to targets, and a lot of blinds.

If you want a tank, make a spiked armor warrior, and thieves will kill themselves on your retal + health regen