Guild Wars 2

Hey!

I just leveled my guardian up to 80 thanks to tomes of knowledge, but I’m an absolute newbie to the class.

I was wondering what would be a good build for running Fractals with? I play regularly, and wanted a guardian for it.

4/6/0/0/4

Zeal: Fiery Wrath, zealous blade
Radiance: blinding exposure, powerful blades, right hand strength
Virtues: Master of consecrations, absolute resolution

sword focus, GS and scepter for range

slot wall (and spirit shield) as needed , purging flames, retreat, bane signet, group stability is useful in snow blind, so SYG and Hallowed Ground are good too.

you get party wide condi cleanse from Virtue of Resolve activation and purging flames this also creates a fire field for might stacking, focus 4 also cleanses

berserker gear and trinkets, ruby orbs or runes of the flame legion if you’re broke, runes of the scholar if you can afford it. sigil of force, don’t bother with stacking sigils as you lose stacks between fractals.

if you die too much take 5 out of Strength and slot into Honor for extra dodges, run knight’s armor, can also use sigils of energy for extra dodges.

this is a versatile build that has a high damage potential that works well with a competent group, this build is also effective in dungeons there are better builds as far a damage goes but this is a good starting point.

if you want to run tanky i can’t help you there.

Thanks for the tips!

I’m still working on getting enough skill points to unlock all the traits, but good suggestions. Right now I have GS and scepter/shield, so I set up as 4/0/4/6/0, but I can’t fill out the traits completely yet.

The best build would be 4/6/2/0/2 gs + mace or sword with focus depending on block needs and ease of cleaving and flip the 2 in virtues between unscathed and master of consecrations based on if reflects are needed or not for the event. For huge hitbox bosses (bloomhunger and molten duo) 6/6/0/0/2 scepter focus and torch. If you really feel the need to be tanky then hammer + mace/focus or gs for trash pulls with 3/5/0/4/2 or 5/5/0/4/0 depending on if reflects are needed. You can look at the sticky for the trait spreads.

What you have now is bad support for fractals for the following reasons. You should have 3 in radiance for blind spam to negate damage from hard hitting trash. You should have 2 in virtues for master of consecrations when reflections are needed since a lot of damage comes from projectiles in fractals and you can maintain projectile defenses doing wall → shield → wall with master of consecrations on. Shield is awful compared to a focus which gives blinds/vulns/blocks and negates far more damage than shield can. Also, you shouldn’t need more than 2 in virtues either like suggested for fractals since absolute resolution is a waste for everything in fractals but mai trin and the times where you need stability you can take both utilities and be fine without indomitable courage. Running more than 2 in virtues is more suited for a dungeon tour than fractals.

I think this’ll help you out

Thanks guys!

Obal, what would you recommend to fill those trait slots?

gs + 1h/focus

4 – II, VII exception would be changing to VI for imbued shaman
6 – VI, X if using sword and VII if not, XI
2 – VI
0
2 – VI if projectiles are used in fight and I if not

scepter

6 – II, IX, XIII
6 – VI, VII, XI
0
0
2 – VI since bosses you use this for have projectiles

hammer + x

3 or 5 – II, VII if using gs on swap and I if not when 5
5 – VI, VII
0
4 – II, VII
0 or 2 – VI when 2