Guild Wars 2

So I’ve had my Guardian since release, and it seems like most of the time I’ve been playing a Shout/AH/Boon build. I mostly see extreme dps, variations on burning, and builds similar to my own when looking around here.

I’m wondering, does anyone have any fun, unique, or interesting builds to try? I’d like to try some of the other awesome utilities that we have, but I don’t really know where to start!

Well first off what playstyle are you? PVE,PVP, WvW… THen are you more defensive (self), supportive,Offensive?

I have been looking at a consecration build that is Viable however im a WvWer so it might be different if you dont play WvW. The hard part with WvW is that you have to have mad condi removal… i Have started to try and make some fun viable builds that isnt mainstream because i have always found whatever to be mainstream as pretty boring and really simple.

But ya what are your goals and ill try to help out

Definitely PVE. I tend to play support/defense with my Guardian. Consecrations do look really cool, and I’ve been eyeing the meditations as well. It seems like PVE is a condition fest as well, hence the reason why I find the shout support build so helpful. It’s nice to turn a big stack of conditions into useful boons!

I’m having tons of fun with this guy. It’s my do-everything build. Tons of might stacking, tons of boons in general. Hits reasonably hard, and you will burn everything in the room. And it heals pretty well to boot. Definitely my most fun build.

You can convert it to a Consecrations build with a trait swap. You can gut the might stacking part and use different runes too if you want. If you’re in a low condition dungeon you can also swap for Battle Presence. Lots of versatility.

PvE is not a condition fest.

Aetherblade waved during invasions are impossible without cleansing, there are other areas that are bad too.

colesy.8490:

PvE is not a condition fest.

Awesome.

Foofad’s got it right. There are plenty of areas in PVE where conditions will destroy you without proper cleansing.

For reference, here’s what I’m running at the moment:
http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=V8;4RFV40J3RG-90;9;54TT4;454A17A;1J;04;2UydbTaKLK-l91-TYS0;1wV1X6Y9ZH4Ma9F-3k-B-7V-17Vi

I’ve got an ascended item in there as well, but the general idea is the same. Pow/Prec/Tough gear, Boon duration runes, Blood sigils (I can’t find it but the shield also has the “heal allies on weapon swap” sigil).

I’m tough to kill with decent damage while dishing out a ton of boons and condition removal. The elite skill allows me to spam my virtues and quickly recover them when need be. I also run GS, Hammer, and Focus as the situation requires.

Ideally, I’d like a build similar to this but utilizing different utilities in the Consecration, Meditation, or Sigil line. I’d be ok without dishing out all of the boons so long as I can still bring solid support to the party.

The problem I’m having is that I can’t really see my way around the trait lines and utilities to create something like this without shouts. Maybe I’ve been playing my current setup too long and I’ve got the blinders on because of it.

I’ve just got my Guard to 80 and I am not good at builds, I more use trial and error. :P

But at t moment I run a GS/ScepFocus with full CoF Gear with Runes of the Dolyak on each.

Scoundrel.2139:

I’ve just got my Guard to 80 and I am not good at builds, I more use trial and error. :P

But at t moment I run a GS/ScepFocus with full CoF Gear with Runes of the Dolyak on each.

I think trail and error is a good way to come up with builds. It helps you understand where your strengths and weaknesses are and lets you pick traits and gear that complement your playstyle. The tradeoff is that you have to spend a fair amount of time fiddling with your build before you can really get moving.

I’m on my phone right now and can’t look up gear. What attributes do CoF gear and Runes of the Dolyak have?

Rhialto.8423:

colesy.8490:

PvE is not a condition fest.

Awesome.

Foofad’s got it right. There are plenty of areas in PVE where conditions will destroy you without proper cleansing.

Oh yeah, like … nowhere.

If you’re dying to conditions in PvE you’re just plain bad.

Rhialto.8423:

Scoundrel.2139:

I’ve just got my Guard to 80 and I am not good at builds, I more use trial and error. :P

But at t moment I run a GS/ScepFocus with full CoF Gear with Runes of the Dolyak on each.

I think trail and error is a good way to come up with builds. It helps you understand where your strengths and weaknesses are and lets you pick traits and gear that complement your playstyle. The tradeoff is that you have to spend a fair amount of time fiddling with your build before you can really get moving.

I’m on my phone right now and can’t look up gear. What attributes do CoF gear and Runes of the Dolyak have?

The armour has Power/Prec/Crit whilst the Dolyak Sup Rune gives: Vit/Tough and if you have all 6 gives constant health regen.

Edit for furth info: I run a Shout build 0/5/30/30/5, although this sometimes changes slightly based on circumstance.

colesy.8490:

Rhialto.8423:

colesy.8490:

PvE is not a condition fest.

Awesome.

Foofad’s got it right. There are plenty of areas in PVE where conditions will destroy you without proper cleansing.

Oh yeah, like … nowhere.

If you’re dying to conditions in PvE you’re just plain bad.

So, this is the part in the grown-up discussion where instead of dismissing evidence, you instead formulate a counter-argument to our specific example of a situation which refutes your original contention.

Scoundrel.2139:

Rhialto.8423:

Scoundrel.2139:

I’ve just got my Guard to 80 and I am not good at builds, I more use trial and error. :P

But at t moment I run a GS/ScepFocus with full CoF Gear with Runes of the Dolyak on each.

I think trail and error is a good way to come up with builds. It helps you understand where your strengths and weaknesses are and lets you pick traits and gear that complement your playstyle. The tradeoff is that you have to spend a fair amount of time fiddling with your build before you can really get moving.

I’m on my phone right now and can’t look up gear. What attributes do CoF gear and Runes of the Dolyak have?

The armour has Power/Prec/Crit whilst the Dolyak Sup Rune gives: Vit/Tough and if you have all 6 gives constant health regen.

Edit for furth info: I run a Shout build 0/5/30/30/5, although this sometimes changes slightly based on circumstance.

It’s a great build. I think I’ve enjoyed it so much that I’ve neglected other parts of Guardian utilities though.

Based on my browsing around traits and slot skills, I’ve got an inkling that a Meditation-heavy build with cleric’s armor and Monk’s Focus could be decent… I’m still not sure how to make it a good support build, though.

Edit: Consecrations do seem like they carry a lot of support, on the other hand. In any case, I’m not sure what kind of runes would go with either. Something that buffs healing, maybe? Or something made from a mix and match of other runes, like my current boon setup.

foofad.5162:

colesy.8490:

Rhialto.8423:

colesy.8490:

PvE is not a condition fest.

Awesome.

Foofad’s got it right. There are plenty of areas in PVE where conditions will destroy you without proper cleansing.

Oh yeah, like … nowhere.

If you’re dying to conditions in PvE you’re just plain bad.

So, this is the part in the grown-up discussion where instead of dismissing evidence, you instead formulate a counter-argument to our specific example of a situation which refutes your original contention.

The specific example that counters your situation is all of PvE. Nothing in the open world will drop dangerous conditions on you, I run absolutely zero condition removal on my mesmer in the aetherblade events, and run sword/pistol + sword/sword so I’m in melee myself and conditions have no effect on me, I get taken down by regular damage instead if I take hits. If you get stunned, well that’s why you have stunbreakers (in the case of the guardian just pop stand your ground). Things like burning and bleeds, you just heal away.

Dungeons aren’t even that condition-heavy either.

Or just put condition cleansing utilities on your bar when you expect to get hit by serious conditions. I don’t see a need to specifically build for condition cleansing in PVE.

colesy.8490:

foofad.5162:

colesy.8490:

Rhialto.8423:

colesy.8490:

PvE is not a condition fest.

Awesome.

Foofad’s got it right. There are plenty of areas in PVE where conditions will destroy you without proper cleansing.

Oh yeah, like … nowhere.

If you’re dying to conditions in PvE you’re just plain bad.

So, this is the part in the grown-up discussion where instead of dismissing evidence, you instead formulate a counter-argument to our specific example of a situation which refutes your original contention.

The specific example that counters your situation is all of PvE. Nothing in the open world will drop dangerous conditions on you, I run absolutely zero condition removal on my mesmer in the aetherblade events, and run sword/pistol + sword/sword so I’m in melee myself and conditions have no effect on me, I get taken down by regular damage instead if I take hits. If you get stunned, well that’s why you have stunbreakers (in the case of the guardian just pop stand your ground). Things like burning and bleeds, you just heal away.

Dungeons aren’t even that condition-heavy either.

This thread is not about whether or not PVE has conditions. Thanks for the bumps, but this is not your thread for your particular argument.

Wukunlin.8461:

Or just put condition cleansing utilities on your bar when you expect to get hit by serious conditions. I don’t see a need to specifically build for condition cleansing in PVE.

Agreed. I’m not that hung up on conditions per se, but I would like the ability to cleanse them without shouts and without switching traits around.

Without changing your traits around from the 0/5/30/30/5 setup you can cleanse conditions with:

• shouts/pure of voice (you said you didn’t want to use this)
• signet of resolve (already on your build)
• purity (already on your build)
• contemplation of purity
• smite condition
• purging flames
• bow of truth
• light fields and projectiles/whirls from allies/self

You were interested in meditations, and while they are good at solo roaming, they are not as good in sustained life as would be something that ticks more frequently such as regeneration, writ of the merciful, altruistic healing.

The reason being is that if you don’t use the meditations on cooldown the healing potential goes away and you have a moderate gap in time before you can use the heal again. They are amazing in terms of burst heals, but not as good for sustained combat (meaning soloing champs gets tricky, but doable).

The mechanics of meditations are inherently selfish as well, so you lose a lot of group dynamics with it, at most Merciful Intervention is an ok buddy support, but again, not as good as regeneration in longer fights, good burst and mobility though.

Concecrations are very group oriented, but at the same time limited in application. Mostly see good use in WvW or even s/tPvP.

Purging flames is pretty amazing at condi removal because you can run in and out and so can your team mates. Maybe get 2 or 3 conditions off that way. Also it is a fire field to provide more of that ever so loved group might boon stacking, provides burning to enemies as well.

Hallowed ground provides stability to your group…but so does stand your ground and it is not area specific. Hallowed ground is best for longer durations of stability, but stand your ground will provide more useful because of the short cooldown and provided mobility.

Although, with Altruistic Healing and Hallowed ground ticking on multiple people, it does provide a good source of healing for you if used correctly.

Sanctuary I have a love hate thing with it. I like the projectile block and “ward” aspect of it. I hate the small bubble and weak heal, as well as I hate how easily it is to walk up to it and melee you through the bubble or even aoes can hit/push you back out of the bubble. It can buy a lot of time in PvP, but I see less use in PvE honestly.

Wall of reflection is a well known and really useful projectile reflector that is highly useful in a lot of PvE scenarios. Also it stays up a good period of time and has a fairly fast cooldown.

Some things to consider as you look for an “interesting” build to play.

CMF.5461:

Without changing your traits around from the 0/5/30/30/5 setup you can cleanse conditions with:

• shouts/pure of voice (you said you didn’t want to use this)
• signet of resolve (already on your build)
• purity (already on your build)
• contemplation of purity
• smite condition
• purging flames
• bow of truth
• light fields and projectiles/whirls from allies/self

You were interested in meditations, and while they are good at solo roaming, they are not as good in sustained life as would be something that ticks more frequently such as regeneration, writ of the merciful, altruistic healing.

The reason being is that if you don’t use the meditations on cooldown the healing potential goes away and you have a moderate gap in time before you can use the heal again. They are amazing in terms of burst heals, but not as good for sustained combat (meaning soloing champs gets tricky, but doable).

The mechanics of meditations are inherently selfish as well, so you lose a lot of group dynamics with it, at most Merciful Intervention is an ok buddy support, but again, not as good as regeneration in longer fights, good burst and mobility though.

Concecrations are very group oriented, but at the same time limited in application. Mostly see good use in WvW or even s/tPvP.

Purging flames is pretty amazing at condi removal because you can run in and out and so can your team mates. Maybe get 2 or 3 conditions off that way. Also it is a fire field to provide more of that ever so loved group might boon stacking, provides burning to enemies as well.

Hallowed ground provides stability to your group…but so does stand your ground and it is not area specific. Hallowed ground is best for longer durations of stability, but stand your ground will provide more useful because of the short cooldown and provided mobility.

Although, with Altruistic Healing and Hallowed ground ticking on multiple people, it does provide a good source of healing for you if used correctly.

Sanctuary I have a love hate thing with it. I like the projectile block and “ward” aspect of it. I hate the small bubble and weak heal, as well as I hate how easily it is to walk up to it and melee you through the bubble or even aoes can hit/push you back out of the bubble. It can buy a lot of time in PvP, but I see less use in PvE honestly.

Wall of reflection is a well known and really useful projectile reflector that is highly useful in a lot of PvE scenarios. Also it stays up a good period of time and has a fairly fast cooldown.

Some things to consider as you look for an “interesting” build to play.

Thanks! I actually do use Pure of Voice in my shout build, it’s a great boost, but yeah in a non-shout build I wouldn’t get much use. I’ll take all of this into consideration. Much appreciated.

I think Soldier Runes also cleanse with Shouts without traiting for it yes?

true story, I didn’t include options outside of guardian mechanics. If you want to go that far you can talk about lyssa runes and what not for % condi reductions and such.

After chewing over what CMF posted and looking through traits and utilities, it seems like Shout does provide more of a constant stream of support and the other traits and utilities give a much different kind of support, if any. I think it will still be possible to make a support-ish build, but it will significantly alter my playstyle in the process. (Not a bad thing. I’m looking for some freshness and can always switch back if I feel like it.)

Thoughts?