Guild Wars 2

Well, enough sulking. Time to dry your tears and get to work because, lets face it, were all going to try these out when they are released. The upcoming free trait resets will compel us all eventually. Lets get down to some theory-craft.

Zeal: Amplified Wrath- Burning damage is increased by 33%

I really do find this one so odd. It could be used to help burn damage in a power build with no use for other conditions, but kindled zeal already did that (only to a lesser extent) as we only inherently have burn. There is no longer any synergy in the line after the Shattered Aegis change except condition duration. By all means it really is not a bad trait, it just happens to be in a bad place, and I honestly can’t think of a good way to utilize it.

Radiance: Radiant Retaliation – Retaliation Damage scales from condition damage instead of power.

I can see this being very potent in wvw if the scaling truly is much stronger. And it would have to be much much stronger to make it worth being a trait at all let alone a grand-master trait. We have plenty of uses for power, and almost no use for condition damage, so this would be a very specialized build type that relies on retaliation and burning. I almost want to try it with Kindled Zeal but, if I am relying on condi and especially retaliation, I want to focus on toughness and vit, not power. That said a few special purpose Radiant Retaliation spamming guardians in a zerg could be interesting.

Valor: Communal Defenses – Grant 5s of aegis to allies in 360 range when you block an attack. 20s cooldown.

Perhaps the most interesting trait in the batch. There are some decent aegis and on block traits out there that could be given some viability. Mace is going to be a must with this one, at least it fits well in the trait line. In fact, this is the only new trait I believe really feels at home in its line. I really think this whole line will be looked upon more favorably by support builds now.

Honor: Force of Will – Gain up to 300 vitality, based on your level. (around 3k HP at level 80)

Maybe useful for zerg surfing or point bunking? I think this is one of those easy low skill cap traits that are there to support the uninitiated or casual guards. Its a chunk of stat, not much else to say. There are far greater options at that level in that line.

Virtues: Purity of Body – Resolve’s passive effects increase endurance regeneration by 15%

I just don’t feel 15% is all that noticeable. I believe the intent was to share it with allies, but that would require another grand-master trait (battle presence) just to function. Even then it is based off of the passive effect of the virtue, so does it stop when on cool down? I don’t know, and maybe I have it all wrong but this trait has all the trimmings of an adept or minor level trait to me.

Well those are my takes. Honestly the only two I can’t think of a use for are Amplified Wrath and especially Purity of Body. There are burn aficionados out there who will pick up the AW and play with it. Removing 50% endurance regeneration at the minor adept level, and compensating with 15% when not on cool-down at a grand-master tier is simply… Oh well.

Share your thoughts! What will you be trying and how?

Wait. Can the valor block proc from an aegis to begin with?

Mightymealworm.8409:

Virtues: Purity of Body – Resolve’s passive effects increase endurance regeneration by 15%

I just don’t feel 15% is all that noticeable. I believe the intent was to share it with allies, but that would require another grand-master trait (battle presence) just to function. Even then it is based off of the passive effect of the virtue, so does it stop when on cool down? I don’t know, and maybe I have it all wrong but this trait has all the trimmings of an adept or minor level trait to me.

Well those are my takes. Honestly the only two I can’t think of a use for are Amplified Wrath and especially Purity of Body. There are burn aficionados out there who will pick up the AW and play with it. Removing 50% endurance regeneration at the minor adept level, and compensating with 15% when not on cool-down at a grand-master tier is simply… Oh well.

Share your thoughts! What will you be trying and how?

This one is a no brainer… instead of going 30 in Virtue, you can just put 5 in honor and get vigor ~50% up time ( more of less depending on boon duration and you need to crit on something to get it )

Also what Anet doesn’t seem to realize while trying to buff Fire build, is that fire only stack in duration, not intensity, which make it rather useless in a party comp. They should really consider giving us another condition that does stack, create a new one perhaps some kind of holy fire that only guardian has access to.

Carpboy.7145:

Wait. Can the valor block proc from an aegis to begin with?

Yes, a block is a block. However, the question is whether it reapplies aegis to you as well(along with your party) once you block. It will not re-trigger a second time because of the 20s cooldown though. Unless you can go without being hit for 20s again.

If it does, we get double blocks.

The interesting part is multiple guardians running communal defense. One passive aegis block triggers a party-wide aegis, which triggers another party-wide aegis from another guardian…etc

Turtle Dragon.9241:

Carpboy.7145:

Wait. Can the valor block proc from an aegis to begin with?

The interesting part is multiple guardians running communal defense. One passive aegis block triggers a party-wide aegis

Sorry to disappoint, but 360 range isn’t ¨party wide¨.

What I am been trying to wrap my head around is a build that incorporates the ability for the guardian to continue to maintain himself on the front lines, still doing decent melee dps and applying a consistent (doesn’t have to be a long duration) of burning.

Realize that this build doesn’t pick up every ability that grants burning damage rather abilities to sustain you while you stay on your target.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vUAQNAsfRlsApWotCxZIEENhk9QkOQFs6R8cPAwVBFC-zUCB4MCik3AUHgkHQZSFRjtsuIas6GYKWER1eEFRrmQA+GDA-w

Rough stats overview:

Attack: 2557 (1h/Torch) / 2694 (2h)
Crit: 4% (looking for a sustain dps, not burst)
Armor: ~2800
Health: 17785
Condi dmg: ~1255
Condi Dur: Not necessary. Would need 100% generally to get the most out of burning since it ticks every second. Might be reachable if the new condition duration sigils granted 30% but unlikely.

Play-style vision: To be able to be fighting 1v1 or multiple opponents causing burning damage every 3 attacks and affecting 5 targets around in (240 radius). Sigil of Earth or Geomancy (hopefully being changed to Chance on Hit instead of Crit) and weapon swap grants poison (maybe go with Torment instead) for both weapon sets. That would give us burning, poison(or torment), bleed, and confusion (Perplexity).

Condition damage:
Burning - 642 base
Burning w/ Kindled Zeal - 854
Bleed - 105 per stack
Poison - 210 per second
Torment - 79 per stack not moving / 158 moving
Confusion - 318 per stack (955 for 3x and 1590 5x)

ArtemisEntreri.4138:

Play-style vision: To be able to be fighting 1v1 or multiple opponents causing burning damage every 3 attacks and affecting 5 targets around in (240 radius). Sigil of Earth or Geomancy (hopefully being changed to Chance on Hit instead of Crit) and weapon swap grants poison (maybe go with Torment instead) for both weapon sets. That would give us burning, poison(or torment), bleed, and confusion (Perplexity).

Think ArtemisEntreri has hit the proverbial nail on the head…the condition-creating weapon sigils is where guardians will get the cover conditions from…and with burning every 3 secs, it’s going to make condition cleansing by your target tricky…

Altho, this still comes down to, are we as guardians going to be able to sacrifice the weapon sigils we use now just to cover or add a couple of conditions? At the end of the day, it is only 1 extra sigil spot that we are getting on the GS/Hammer/Staff…

Mightymealworm.8409:

Radiance: Radiant Retaliation – Retaliation Damage scales from condition damage instead of power.

I can see this being very potent in wvw if the scaling truly is much stronger. And it would have to be much much stronger to make it worth being a trait at all let alone a grand-master trait. We have plenty of uses for power, and almost no use for condition damage, so this would be a very specialized build type that relies on retaliation and burning. I almost want to try it with Kindled Zeal but, if I am relying on condi and especially retaliation, I want to focus on toughness and vit, not power. That said a few special purpose Radiant Retaliation spamming guardians in a zerg could be interesting.

In case you didn’t know, Retaliation is the most nerfed boon, especially in WvW. First the damage is cut by 33%, and you can stack its duration only up to 5. The mechanics is pretty dumb: stacking mechanics.

I have 2500 Power, and that’s probably the highest number you can get by stacking Condition Damage. The damage is only around 250 in WvW.

I like the “on passive virtue” effects idea. Now the virtues passives are very underwhelming. But the 15% is really weak.