Guild Wars 2

I’m not the sharpest cheese on the tray, but where’s all the burning?

Check out Obtena’s builds, and the Pyroclasm sticky at the top for ideas.

Personally, I approach burning as a “modifier-enabler”. When used with 10 in Zeal (10% against burning foes) and 25 in Radiance (10% against foes with conditions), it really ups your melee damage output. Add in Burning Duration from Master Radiance trait (VII or VIII? too lazy to look it up), and you get 1/3 longer burns. Combined with torch, JI, VoJ spam, and fast-attacking sword (or any combination of the above), you get lots of fast re-applied burns that last longer if they’re not cleansed. Any damage burning actually does on top of that is gravy.

But I’m pretty terribad, so take my advice with a grain of salt. =)

Burning simply isn’t viable for guards. In PVE conditions do poorly and in pvp they get cleansed.

Other condition classes are viable because can apply a ton of different conditions more consistently, guards can’t.

The burning build I have for PVE is very specialized … I wouldn’t advise it for general PVE like dungeons, etc… That’s not it’s purpose.

For PVP in the current meta, I’m finding that the build is very resilient to cleansing. If you get your duration up to 100% (like mine does), you can use VoJ in a passive approach and cleansing doesn’t become an issue. People will either waste their cleansing on a 2 second burn just to get hit with it again or eat successive stings of burning because they don’t consider Guardian burning a threat … either way, they fall behind rather fast.

Bottom line is that short duration, fast applied conditions in PVP are broken atm. We have had that broken capability since day 1.

Obtena.7952:

The burning build I have for PVE is very specialized … I wouldn’t advise it for general PVE like dungeons, etc… That’s not it’s purpose.

For PVP, especially in the current meta, I’m finding that the build is very resilient to cleansing. If you get your duration up to 100% (like mine does), you can use VoJ in a passive approach and cleansing doesn’t become an issue. People will either waste their cleansing on a 2 second burn or eat it because they don’t consider Guardian burning a threat … either way, they fall behind rather fast.

Sorry but that’s simply not true. There are more specialized condition builds for other classes that easily outputs far more condition damage more consistently than your build, and if they can be dealt with by cleanses and -condi duration gear/food then so can yours to an easier degree.

I’m not commenting about other classes and their relative damage output for condition builds w.r.t. Guardian. Nor am I going to consider the speculative scenarios where condition builds, in general, are less effective. Those things are not relevant to the question the OP was asking.

My feedback is based on my experience. Therefore, it’s not incorrect. It’s simply my perception. I find I’m rather successful with that build … more so now than before, simply because of the hysteria over cleansing and conditions. More people are jumping into the barrel that my cannon is pointed at. I’m sorry to hear that other people’s preconceptions don’t allow them to be more objective.

The fact is there are other classes that can do conditions far better and more consistently. While it’s POSSIBLE to do a burning guardian, considering the current condition meta and how much cleanse and -condition gear are being used it would not be smart to do so unless you want to be relatively ineffective.

Agreed, but that’s not what the OP was asking. Even though that is the case, my advice will offer what I believe is the best burning-focused build a Guardian can use in WvW.

Even as a method to make people spam their removers, it’s worth it, especially for my team. It’s not like we offer a whole lot more in WvW atm anyways …

A regen warrior with full melandru runes and lemon grass food can literally stand there and laugh in your face as you try to inflict burn on him without flinching.

But of course it’s up to the player to decide how to play their characters. I’m simply trying to point out the facts and save people some frustration.

True, but then again, a regen warrior with full melandru runes and lemon grass food aren’t the only opponents I face in WvW. The fact that this build has a nemesis isn’t really a reason to dismiss it. The risk of meeting that person 1 vs. 1 isn’t high so it doesn’t factor into my own assessment of the value such a build has, nor would I think it should for anyone else.

Obtena.7952:

True, but then again, a regen warrior with full melandru runes and lemon grass food aren’t the only opponents I face in WvW. The fact that this build has a nemesis isn’t really a reason to dismiss it. The risk of meeting that person 1 vs. 1 isn’t high so it doesn’t factor into my own assessment of the value such a build has, nor would I think it should for anyone else.

The problem is, that’s pretty much what most warriors gear for nowadays so you’ll be seeing that a lot.

Secondly, that’s just ONE example of how easily you’ll get shot down.

Any number of classes with strong cleanse will make a joke out of you since you are a one trick pony (burn).

The fact is burn guards currently are not viable in any form of pvp. It’s unfortunate but the truth.

…and I know that honestly chaps my hide. I’ve been working on bucking the trend since the start, trying to make a relatively viable sustain burn build with good vitality and toughness mostly through equipment, damage (through similar % damage increases mentioned by the op) , and lots of burn.

Kindof my thoughts on what I wanted of my character (I chose the Fanatic’s Mantle):
I AM THE HUNTER OF WITCHES AND INFIDEL GOLD LEGION! BY THE BLOOD OF THE KHAN UR AND THE FIST OF RUINBREAKER I WILL SEE OUR ENEMIES BURNED AND BLOODIED AT MY FEET!