Guild Wars 2

I have been having some trouble fighting guardians, I’m not going to come to the forums and scream omg guardIan’s r OP nerf them! Just looking for some help.

Instead of blasting another class and calling them op im just asking the guard community for some help. The guards survivability and cc’s are keeping me
From bursting them down. I play a thief, and usually I’m constantly moving around switching weapons and trying to land backstab while the guard is dodging/rolling. The aegis usually does a really good damage of negating my backstabs. Usually if I get into a 1v1 fight with a guard he does pretty well of cc’ing my burst.

Anyone here have any advice?

I’m using dagger/dagger and not using a glass cannon build, built on decently high damage with stealth for survivability.

Well, one thing you can definitely try is to bait out our mitigation skills, only to hit us with something stronger. I’ve seen so many people try to burst a guardian down from the get go. Take your time.

If the guardian is a defensive build, I’d just walk away and find something else to stab. If he’s an offensive build, do the above.

Or…..you can bring friends:)

Stay at range. Guardians have crap for ranged damage. Use snares and roots to keep out of melee and whittle them down.

- If you see Aegis up, use a weaker ability.
- If you can, keep your distance. The Guardian’s best ranged skill is Wall of Reflection, so even if he has a Scepter, you’ll come on top (Scepter can easily be evaded by running around and switching direction often.)
- Start slowly. Just keep up steady damage, forcing the Guardian to use his defensive abilities. Then, start nuking him down.
- Run away when you’re losing. Depending on the build the Guardian won’t be able to catch up to you.
- Apply conditions liberally. Guardians don’t really have problems with direct damage, but damage over time is a bit of a weakness.

Guardians are pretty versatile. I’d suggest you play around with a guardian and learn some of their better abilities so you can tell what kind of guardian your fighting. It’ll tell you alot and reveal how you should fight. Look at their weapons and tell what combos hes going to want to put you in.

Hammers usually mean he wants you close. Greatsword also want you close, but they wont mind if u try and run. Hammers will just keep you there.

DPS Guardians are tough because its either the burn or the retaliation that will really rough you up, but most importantly in GS guardians, learn to see Whiriling Wrath coming. Usually comes after binding blade.

If you see a guardian with a shield, prepare for a drawn out battle. Try and remove boons if you can, and cure conditions on yourself and out boon him (you wont but maybe you’ll remove retaliation or aegis sometimes which is good)

Be careful with your cooldowns, Aegis can be a moodkiller when your most powerful CD is blocked like nothing. Mix them inbetween auto-attacks.

And lastly, Dont stand still. In fact i wouldnt even “circle fight”. i’d travel and fight (going into an area i either know is safe or has allies) and use your obstacles. Guardians can use Leap of Faith and Judges Intervention when going downwards past obstacles, but not if your elevated.

As the others have mentioned, pacing is your friend, as is baiting. In particular, watch for the visual cue of the glowy blue shield popping up in front of us – that’s a sign that your next attack will be blocked, so don’t blow anything too important or that has too long a CD. The Guardian’s defensive abilities have all the tells that a more DPS-oriented class’s big attacks have, you just have to know what you’re looking for and react accordingly.