Guild Wars 2

Im still looking for some help with my guardian.
So far Ive heard many different things that can be summarised into the following 2 stances:
AH is the way to go works well all around do not listen to the elitist Zerkers who only deepen the problems in this game.
AH is outdated and elfish, you can do way better going Zerker, if you run AH you are either a noob or a bad player.
From my understanding AH builds seem to be the way to go for WvW, while full Zerker builds are the way to go for most PvE content. So it seems like both are rather useful depending on what you want to do.
My problem is that Im a player who does a little bit of everything. Im not stuck running dungeons every day, nor do I run fractals over and over at max level. While I spend most of my time in PvE I do not always run within a group. Sometimes I even go to WvW to have some fun.
What I am looking for is a versatile efficient self-sustained build.
I dont want to be the BEST dungeon runner, or the BEST fractal runner, nor do I want to be the BEST solo player or WvW fighter. I want a well rounded build that can perform good in most if not every aspect of the game with little changes in the trait lines. A build that helps my group when I run in a group or a zerg but that can also stand on its own when I go solo.
Maybe a build like this does not exist? so far I havent really been able to find one so I would really appreciate it if some of the guys from the community could shed some light for me and maybe help me find a build that performs close to what I want.
Thank you and all opinions are welcomed!
TL;DR: hear ppl saying AH sucks, and others saying full Zerk sucks for guardian. I dont want to be the best in only ONE aspect of the game but have a build that performs good in most or every aspect of the game with little to no changes in the trait lines, any advice?

IMHO no such a build doesn’t exist but I guess it depends on peoples opinion of good, I believe a Guardian should have a solid dps build for pve and multiple builds for pvp roles.. played alot of Guardian since beta and gone through countless builds and morphed mine as i’ve improved as a player and learned situations/content..

Wondering why you are so opposed to retraiting as it’s pretty much free and fast/easy, I do it every day with no issues, helps you learn the class inside out to try everything too, take a look at how many people on this forum speak matter of factly about how someone elses build sucks or how theirs is so great, it’s really about the players skill/experience level and the situation.. when people I know are new on guardian I don’t recommend my personal builds, my pve build is too reckless without knowing the content and my pvp builds are specialized and specific for how i’m going to play and who i’m going to play with… I love having all these valid trait options it’s one of the best parts of gw2 for me.

Get yourself 2 builds in mind at least..

Incomingray.8075:

IMHO no such a build doesn’t exist but I guess it depends on peoples opinion of good, I believe a Guardian should have a solid dps build for pve and multiple builds for pvp roles.. played alot of Guardian since beta and gone through countless builds and morphed mine as i’ve improved as a player and learned situations/content..

Wondering why you are so opposed to retraiting as it’s pretty much free and fast/easy, I do it every day with no issues, helps you learn the class inside out to try everything too, take a look at how many people on this forum speak matter of factly about how someone elses build sucks or how theirs is so great, it’s really about the players skill/experience level and the situation.. when people I know are new on guardian I don’t recommend my personal builds, my pve build is too reckless without knowing the content and my pvp builds are specialized and specific for how i’m going to play and who i’m going to play with… I love having all these valid trait options it’s one of the best parts of gw2 for me.

Im not against re-traiting, its just that once you make the jump to ascended or legendary gear you are pretty much stuck with one set of stats unless you are willing to work on more ascended sets. Thus with one fixed set of stats not every build works.

Im just trying to make this jump to ascended gear and I would like to have my set have the stats that will allow me to play most if not all the content of the game without sucking.

ezhcim.3075:

Incomingray.8075:

IMHO no such a build doesn’t exist but I guess it depends on peoples opinion of good, I believe a Guardian should have a solid dps build for pve and multiple builds for pvp roles.. played alot of Guardian since beta and gone through countless builds and morphed mine as i’ve improved as a player and learned situations/content..

Wondering why you are so opposed to retraiting as it’s pretty much free and fast/easy, I do it every day with no issues, helps you learn the class inside out to try everything too, take a look at how many people on this forum speak matter of factly about how someone elses build sucks or how theirs is so great, it’s really about the players skill/experience level and the situation.. when people I know are new on guardian I don’t recommend my personal builds, my pve build is too reckless without knowing the content and my pvp builds are specialized and specific for how i’m going to play and who i’m going to play with… I love having all these valid trait options it’s one of the best parts of gw2 for me.

Im not against re-traiting, its just that once you make the jump to ascended or legendary gear you are pretty much stuck with one set of stats unless you are willing to work on more ascended sets. Thus with one fixed set of stats not every build works.

Im just trying to make this jump to ascended gear and I would like to have my set have the stats that will allow me to play most if not all the content of the game without sucking.

Since there’s no ascended armor yet and you like PVE I think getting all zerkers is a no brainer since you can balance the rest out with your armor/runes if you feel it makes you too squishy, full zerk guardian in WvW can be a total joke or with the right group/situation/player quite good(but hey you can get all zerker ascended then use a healing/tank armor rune combo)… anyways yeah full zerk ascended if you want a chance at being good at everything imho, while I wouldn’t recommend full zerk to someone new at say high level fractals, it’s something I eventually ended up using alot of the time after gaining experience… get full zerk ascended and then pick 2 diff sets of armor to work on one for pvp build one for pve build.

Incomingray.8075:

ezhcim.3075:

Incomingray.8075:

IMHO no such a build doesn’t exist but I guess it depends on peoples opinion of good, I believe a Guardian should have a solid dps build for pve and multiple builds for pvp roles.. played alot of Guardian since beta and gone through countless builds and morphed mine as i’ve improved as a player and learned situations/content..

Wondering why you are so opposed to retraiting as it’s pretty much free and fast/easy, I do it every day with no issues, helps you learn the class inside out to try everything too, take a look at how many people on this forum speak matter of factly about how someone elses build sucks or how theirs is so great, it’s really about the players skill/experience level and the situation.. when people I know are new on guardian I don’t recommend my personal builds, my pve build is too reckless without knowing the content and my pvp builds are specialized and specific for how i’m going to play and who i’m going to play with… I love having all these valid trait options it’s one of the best parts of gw2 for me.

Im not against re-traiting, its just that once you make the jump to ascended or legendary gear you are pretty much stuck with one set of stats unless you are willing to work on more ascended sets. Thus with one fixed set of stats not every build works.

Im just trying to make this jump to ascended gear and I would like to have my set have the stats that will allow me to play most if not all the content of the game without sucking.

Since there’s no ascended armor yet and you like PVE I think getting all zerkers is a no brainer since you can balance the rest out with your armor/runes if you feel it makes you too squishy, full zerk guardian in WvW can be a total joke or with the right group/situation/player quite good(but hey you can get all zerker ascended then use a healing/tank armor rune combo)… anyways yeah full zerk ascended if you want a chance at being good at everything imho, while I wouldn’t recommend full zerk to someone new at say high level fractals, it’s something I eventually ended up using alot of the time after gaining experience… get full zerk ascended and then pick 2 diff sets of armor to work on one for pvp build one for pve build.

This does sound like good advice and a good idea, finally I get some concrete answers =) thanks! one more question do you think GS+H is a good combo?

ezhcim.3075:

This does sound like good advice and a good idea, finally I get some concrete answers =) thanks! one more question do you think GS+H is a good combo?

Oh jeez that’s a tough one which ascended weapon to make first, i’ve used like every weapon under the rainbow in pvp/pve.. I never use gs/hammer at the same time(I used to in WvW for a long time, nothing wrong with it) but I use each one of them with staff here and there(staff/hammer in WvW almost always as healer/support)… I kind of see all the Guardian weapons as equals depending on player/situation so i’m no help here. :X

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQJARWlUgqCnFyIEfIFRuA7DAETBGz41jESRGC-jUyAoLA0GE9BiIAk9KiGbltIasqaioa9CmHHTKABVGB-w

Closest to an all rounder I can think of. We are not quite like Warrior, everything comes at a bit of a cost. But I come back to this build all the time.

Get a 2nd set of armor. Knights with Ruby Orbs for dps and dungeons. Consider Travellers or Speed Runes for roaming in WvW.

Can use with any weapons you like. 1 handers or hammer.

Can swap in the Meditation Traits or AH.

edit: usually if I run AH and shouts I use Superior Aura, usually if I run Meds I use Larger Symbols

Just read brutaly’s guide, it’s sticked here in the forum. Pretty much every answer lies there.

I play 0/5/30/30/5, imho valor and honor traits are too good to miss.
The best place to put berserker gear is indeed trinkets because they give good critical damage conversion rate. From armor/weapon you can get the tou/vit you need.
My favourite weapon is hammer.

Only in people’s mind, in game does not exist.

and yes only decent guardian to play is wth zerker stuff, game itself promotes damage gear only, the rest is just to atract players with other gameplay to the game.

I’ve been thinking about this same thing. I really don’t pvp/wvw or go for instances much. Still, I like to do a bit of everything.

The ony real solution I found was to use staff/greatsword. I go as tanky (power/toughness) as i can on the armor. Not zerkers, but you can easilly get your crit chance up to 50% with your jewelery. That is sufficient for me.

traits: Zeal =25, Radiance =15, Valor =30.

In a big zerg I can throw out some pretty decent support heal without even focusing on it. The staff allows you to AOE for loot. Damage is not spectacular, but in a zerg it doesn’t much matter. Switch to GS when you need to lay down damage.

Wish I had a perfect solution for you. I don’t The traits are frustrating. If you look at the trait effects, its impossible to pass up on the three I listed.

Lastly, I love the spirit weps too (particularly the bow for healing) Use “eternal spirit” to command without breaking. Plus “spirit weapon mastery” for quick recharge. The weapons take a lot of heat off you in battle.

Hope that was helpful.

ezhcim.3075:

Im still looking for some help with my guardian.
So far Ive heard many different things that can be summarised into the following 2 stances:
AH is the way to go works well all around do not listen to the elitist Zerkers who only deepen the problems in this game.
AH is outdated and elfish, you can do way better going Zerker, if you run AH you are either a noob or a bad player.
From my understanding AH builds seem to be the way to go for WvW, while full Zerker builds are the way to go for most PvE content. So it seems like both are rather useful depending on what you want to do.
My problem is that Im a player who does a little bit of everything. Im not stuck running dungeons every day, nor do I run fractals over and over at max level. While I spend most of my time in PvE I do not always run within a group. Sometimes I even go to WvW to have some fun.
What I am looking for is a versatile efficient self-sustained build.
I dont want to be the BEST dungeon runner, or the BEST fractal runner, nor do I want to be the BEST solo player or WvW fighter. I want a well rounded build that can perform good in most if not every aspect of the game with little changes in the trait lines. A build that helps my group when I run in a group or a zerg but that can also stand on its own when I go solo.
Maybe a build like this does not exist? so far I havent really been able to find one so I would really appreciate it if some of the guys from the community could shed some light for me and maybe help me find a build that performs close to what I want.
Thank you and all opinions are welcomed!
TL;DR: hear ppl saying AH sucks, and others saying full Zerk sucks for guardian. I dont want to be the best in only ONE aspect of the game but have a build that performs good in most or every aspect of the game with little to no changes in the trait lines, any advice?

Hi OP

I ran a build that largely fits your parameters, it is not the greatest at anything, but just good enough at everything. Ran it for duo wvw roaming with ele, ran it in large scale organized battles, ran it in dungeons, including 40+ fractals and was very successfull with it.

Build was 10 10 30 10 10.

I switched out the traits as needed and adjusted them on “per boss fight” basis in the upper fractals and wvw per activity (roaming vs large scale)

I did however end up switching my rings, some armor and weapons as well per situation. Incidentally, later on I found out this was the very 1st build anyone in the game used to solo Lupicus in Arah, so it can be quite powerful.

The focus of this build was on consecrations and F1 resets so that its available much more often then otherwise for might and burns. gear wise I had a few zerker pieces, knights pieces, PVT pieces and clerics pieces, and as stated above, switched them out as needed.

I ran sword+torch / staff in fractals, scepter+torch / staff when all ranged was required pending boss figth and group comp.

scepter+focus / staff in wvw roaming (since we were a kiting team), hammer/staff in wvw large scale.

utility wise, ran wall of reflection, signet of judgement, hold the line, shield of the avenger, stand your ground, purging flames as needed. switched around some traits as well here and there to reflect the utility choices.

I suggest you try it out for a week or 2 and see how it goes for you. Takes a bit to get used to but works well.

Tongku.5326:

Build was 10 10 30 10 10.

The focus of this build was on consecrations and F1 resets so that its available much

When you say F1 resets, are you referring to FoJ renewed on mob kill? If so that requires 15 in Radiance. If not, then I’m not sure what you mean here.

Cat Has Ducks.1982:

Tongku.5326:

Build was 10 10 30 10 10.

The focus of this build was on consecrations and F1 resets so that its available much

When you say F1 resets, are you referring to FoJ renewed on mob kill? If so that requires 15 in Radiance. If not, then I’m not sure what you mean here.

Hmm that may be true as it has been a long while and many things have changed since I ran this, but you can still experiment with something along these lines, with or without the F1 reset per kill, and there are new runes available now too which I didnt have before. The basis still remains the same though, lower your appropriate utility CDs, rely on AH for self uptime, adjust the rest to fit the situation.

And where is the condi removal coming from? 10 second passives I take it or have to bring meditaions(or purging flames)? This build doesn’t seem to noob friendly. Requires a lot of skill swapping to specific situations.

Something like Knights Gear, with soldier runes, zerker trinkets and a build of x/x/x/30/10 will be very noob friendly. PoV+Soldier Runes will remove 2 condi’s per shout. The soldier runes will add some HP and toughness. Knight’s armor will allow you to take take 1 more hit from mobs. The zerker trinkets, will ensure you aren’t a complete wet noodle.

Then once you learn the class, you move to a all zerker build with scholar runes, with a heavier emphasis in damage in traits, while still bringing at least x/15/x/10/10.(for dungeons)

Probably Zeker weapons and trinkets with knight armor, soldier runes and energy sigils is one of the most balanced things you can achieve. Zerging in WvW might encourage eventually getting some cleric trinkets.
As starting weapon set GS/Staff could do the trick.

You can also go full berserker with scholar, which excels in PvE, and build for meditation burst when roaming in WvW (which doesn’t feel guardian-ish, but it’s pretty effective). Not the best option for zerging tough.

While I don’t want to discourage people’s endeavors to experiment, I don’t understand the motivation to have a single build cover two completely different aspects of gameplay.

It’s simply too cheap and more effective to swap your builds depending on what you wish to do.

I don’t feel there is a good compromise between WvW and PVE build. I would say the best compromise you can get is take 0/15/30/20/5, a mix of knights leaning towards zerker (for more PVE focus) or Soldiers ( for more WvW focus) trinkets. Swapping skills fitting to the situation (Shouts if you AH, swapping to WoR for dungeons. etc… )

Of course, as a minimum set of weapons: Hammer, Staff, GS, Scepter and Focus

Yea, I agree that it’s not practical to fit a build between wvw and pve because the goals are so diffrent and the retraits so cheap. At the very minimum you want to at least swap armor in between the two modes. Trinkets can stay zerker since it’d be a pain to grind out 2 sets of trinkets.

But if you insist, you can do what I do out of laziness, and take 25 radiance and 30 honor or 25 radiance, 10 honor, 20 virtues and then put the last 15 points as needed (Fiery Wrath, Strength in Numbers or something else). You want either Absolute Resolution or Pure of Voice to clear conditions, or you can just take 10 points in virtues for purging flames cooldown. I feel radiant power and condi clears are nice to have in any given situation.

If I see a zerker guardian roaming solo he’s going down.

Every one knows zerker guardians can not out DPS zerker anything else. To OP, there is no such thing, as the poster said above me, trying to mix gears/traits between WvW/PvP/PvE is just not going to happen. For WvW, if you want to take it serious you need PVT. For PvE, sure zerker is fine, but youre going to have to explain to the party members why your dropping as a guardian, especially in high level fractals. For PvP, well thats a myriad of things there.

To answer your question, sorry there is no real build like this.

I spent most of my PvE time on my guardian hitting things with my great sword and switching to mace/torch because blue flames. I survived just fine everywhere I went either with my wife or solo. Traited to have my GS heal as I hit and it was fun. Then I went into WvW and had meh survival rates, so I re-traited to something more tanking/heal group support, got some better armor and runes and pretty much go everywhere as a GS/Staff or hammer. Recently got some zerker armor and runes to play around with those in WvW and as long as I was with one other person (at least), I chew through NPCs there and made a few players that weren’t expecting a Zerked out G take a step back and rethink life a few times before their more experienced players realized I was glass and wrecked my face.

The 0/15/30/20/5 is a pretty classic build and can be changed up through gear to suit most tasks.

I am not sure about the guy dissing dps guardians. It certainly helps to learn the class by playimg beserker guardian in spvp… I can probably beat 2/3 thieves as they underestimate your damage. I haven’t had as much experience on one in WvW, generally I go as tanky as possible.

Relentliss.2170:

The 0/15/30/20/5 is a pretty classic build and can be changed up through gear to suit most tasks.

I am not sure about the guy dissing dps guardians. It certainly helps to learn the class by playimg beserker guardian in spvp… I can probably beat 2/3 thieves as they underestimate your damage. I haven’t had as much experience on one in WvW, generally I go as tanky as possible.

I have never lost to a zerker guardian in WvW, not as full PVT with 3.8k Attack, 3.4k Armor and 18k HP. I solo’d a golem on it and recently an Omega Golem on my theif…

But nevermind that, my point is you can be the best DPS in the game, but if you are laying on the ground you cant do any DPS at all.