Guild Wars 2

Mighty Blow(Hammer #2)
Reduce base recharge time from 5 seconds to 4 1/2. Combined with Two-Handed Mastery (Honor IX) and around +50% condition duration, it would mean a constant source of Retaliation for Guardians.

I doubt it would really be overpowering considering the trait investment required.

I hope in future we can see some of this symbols:
symbol of Aegis
symbol of Vigor
Symbol of Might
symbol of Fury
symbol of Stability
…keep dreaming.

yes to all the proposed symbol-related changes!D
one of the Guardian’s specialities.. so to speak, might as well play it up.

bravo to the Glacial Heart suggestion change! chilling symbols. yes please. still makes it heavily tied to the hammer and i personally think meshes well with Guardians and our playability.

also, add any of the above symbols to the weapons that are missing them : )))

Here’s a few things I thought of. Not saying we should get all of them but I was trying to address the main issues I see with the class.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Main issues:
Offensive support
Spirit weapons
signets are selfish
area denial is useless due to stability and defiant
Light fields not very beneficial
lack of soft cc
lack of mobility (not going to touch this as I believe this is as designed)
ranged viability
conditions on offensive builds

Traits
======
Zeal
——————-
Zealous Blade
Merge with Empowering Might and remove heal. Make it weapon independent. Keep 1s cooldown. possibly increase might duration to 5 seconds so we can contribute our 5 stacks of the 25 possible for the party.

Scepter Power
Remove due to changes to Zealous Blade

Kindled Zeal
change to 15% and add torment when a burn is inflicted on your foe.

Add new zeal grandmaster trait that reduces incoming condition damage on the guardian by at least 30% (considering a warrior has over 60% more base health than us)

Radiance
——————-
Blind Exposure
increase duration to 12 seconds

Inner Fire
Have this activate with torch 4

Perfect inscriptions
Passives also apply to party members
Inscribed removal also affects entire party if also traited

Valor
——————-
Focused Mind
increase to 5 seconds and make it affect party

Honor
——————-
remove empowering might

2 handed Mastery
add the heal from zealous blade but make it scale with healing power

Virtues
——————
Should be reworked. Timeouts are too long and some of the traits should be combined. Passives need to get buffed with the traits as well as actives. Needs a better grandmaster trait. I saw some other really great suggestions for this line in other places so I won’t go into it.

Weapons
=====
Hammer
——————-
Hammer auto no longer drops light fields. Instead it drops a new type of field: Ice.
Ice field:
Blast finisher: Chill
Leap finisher: causes vuln on hit (similar to fire leap but with more blue bubbles)
projectile: condition removal

Hammer 3
no longer does immob but instead does a long chill in a cone in front of you

Hammer 4
aoe knockback in a cone in front of you. reduce distance and cooldown.

Hammer 5
Cast time removed. Stability is removed from opponent after one pass through

Sword
——————-
Sword 3
Change skill so that it absorbs projectiles and causes aoe chill. Also Blast finisher. (And make this a blue bubble… we don’t see enough bubbles any more OR could make this absorb projectiles and drop an ice field.

Torch
——————-
Torch 4
Works with Inner Fire

Torch 5
Completely change. Make it give 3 stacks of might to allies, blind and burn foes. Attack as it is now is not worth it.

scepter
——————-
Scepter 2 also causes chill.

Shield
——————-
Shield 4 also blinds enemies

Shield 5 make it reflect instead of absorb projectiles since it has to be well timed. Blast finisher would be nice.

Staff
——————-
Completely change staff 2. Make it a single target 1200 auto attack type skill. That way we still have aoe and now we have a viable long range weapon all in one. Make it do more damage the further your target is away like the mesmer gs auto but with bluey goodness.

Staff 5
Line of warding now removes stability after one pass thru

Greatsword
——————-
gs 4 change to ice field.

Mace
——————-
I think Mace is alright would like to make one suggestion now though. Change light field blast finishers to regen instead of retaliation since there are less light fields now.

Skills
=====
Sanctuary removes stability after 1 pass through. Make bubble slightly larger again

Smite Condition is now a blast finisher

Spirit Weapons
—————————————
Remove death timeout for all spirit weapons.
Make all weapons immune during their attack sequence.
Increase health again.
Increase bow autoattacks and make them all aoe.
Make each spirit weapon provide a unique buff to the party while its alive.
Suggestions:
Greatsword: damage increase
Hammer: damage reduction
Bow: condition damage reduction
Shield: Rejuvination

For PvE Defiant should be completely reworked. instead of giving it a count of the number of CCs till the next one works it should be a time based buff for the enemies and should only activate on certain skills used by the monsters. This is the quickest fix I could think of for it.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

1. Sword 3, Staff 4, Hammer 5 → Able to cast while moving
2. Move either Purity, Strength in Numbers or Retributive armor to a different tier 1 tree
3. Torch 5 cleanses the guardian as well as allies
4. Mace attack range increased to match Sword (150 from 130 I believe)
5. Torch 4 activates Inner fire trait
6. Rework spirit weapons

Spirit Weapons suggestion:

Spirit weapons have no HP, are immune to all damage and follow the guardian.

Sword of Justice: Cooldown kitten , Duration 10s
Upon weapon skill activation, Sword of Justice attacks the guardian’s target once for Moderate damage (based on attack value). The sword will only attack the closest enemy hit. Sword of Justice will fail to attack if the guardian’s attack fails to damage an enemy. Retaliation damage from Sword of Justice’s attack will hit the guardian.
Command(Sword): Cooldown 3 seconds
Commands the Sword to explode in a 240 radius dealing damage and applying 5 stacks of vunerability for 5 seconds. This destroys the Sword.

Hammer of Wisdom: Cooldown 60s, Duration 5s
Upon weapon skill activation, Hammer of Wisdom attacks the guardian’s target once for Minor damage and applies 1 second of daze. The hammer will only attack the closest enemy hit. Hammer of Wisdom will fail to attack if the guardian’s attack fails to damage an enemy. Retaliation damage from Hammer of Wisdom’s attack will hit the guardian.
Command(Hammer): Cooldown 5s
Commands the Hammer to explode in a small radius dealing damage and knocking back enemies in the effected area. This destroys the Hammer.

Bow of Truth: Cooldown 60s, Duration 10s
Upon weapon skill activation, Bow of Truth heals the guardian (based on healing power). The bow will heal for an additional 10-25% depending on the number of enemies beyond the first hit. Bow of Truth will fail to heal the the guardian if the guardian’s attack fails to damage an enemy.
Command(Bow): Cooldown 5s
Commands the Bow to cleanse 2 conditions on the guardian and up to 4 allies in a 240 radius around the guardian. This destroys the Bow.

Shield of the Avenger: Cooldown 60s, Duration 5s
Upon weapon skill activation, Shield of the Avenger will block the next attack that would hit the guardian. Shield of the Avenger will not block an attack if the guardian’s attack fails to damage the target.
Command(Shield): Cooldown 3s
Commands the shield to create a ring of absorption around the guardian in a 120 radius. Ring will absorb all projectiles which enter it. This destroys the Shield.

The basic concept here is that successful attacks from the guardian will cause the spirit weapon to do something. The cooldowns, damage/heal amounts, and durations would be adjusted for balancing purposes. The weapon’s activation being conditional on an attack hitting allows for counter play. It also gives a risk/reward for using a fast single target attack vs an aoe or multi-hit attack. Fast single target = more procs; aoe = more chance of activation.

I toyed with the idea of having the hammer apply control conditions, ie chill/cripple/imob, but I decided that a daze/knockback was more hammer like.

I think Aegis needs to be re-worked as a boon. One indiscriminate block is just too small of a bonus for the obstacles they put in the way to get to it. I know its not a guard-specific boon, but its probably good to talk about it in the guard forum first.

I would make it something like this:
Aegis:

• Gain 10% damage reduction; does not stack with Protection boon
• Block the next attack over 10% HP
• Upon successful block, Aegis is removed

Unscathed Contender might work a little better. Courage would have a reason to be on a 40s base re-application.

Still, other changes remain on my mind:

• Change the name of “Retreat!” to “Charge!” (I don’t know that Guardians should be shouting “Retreat!” when their other shouts are “Hold the Line!”, “Stand Your Ground!” and “Save Yourselves!”)
• Reduced cooldown on Virtue of Resolve to 40s
• Reduced cooldown on Virtue of Courage to 60s
• Virtue of Resolve passive base reverted to 142hp/sec
• Inspired Virtue trait applies Protection after Aegis is removed
• Elite Focus also decreases elite skill cooldowns by 20%
• Renewed Focus is reverted to a Meditation (obviously MM and EF wouldn’t stack)
• Renewed Focus’ damage immunity applies separately (Meditations are instant)
• Renewed Focus breaks stun

The idea here is that the guard has low movement. With the exception of LoF on the GS, the guard has to either move toward a target or not at all on very long cooldowns. Most of which rely on a specific build. He should be a tough fight that’s avoidable by anyone who would lose to him…which should be the case with all mobility.

Mobility should be balanced as such: Lose or Leave; your choice. You have every option to leave and/or chase as a high-mobility build. Those builds should not be extremely difficult to defeat for any class on any build…even other mobility builds.

Power of the Virtuous: from 1% up to 2% again.

Indomitable Courage merged with Shielded Mind (Still called Shielded Mind, grandmaster trait)

Retaliatory Subconscious merged with Vengeful (Still called Retaliatory Subconscious, adept trait)

Permeating Wrath merged with Supreme Justice (Still called Supreme Justice, master trait)

Elite Focus: Elite Skillst last longer and recharge 20% faster, master trait.

Unscathed Contender: Deal 20% more damage while under the effects of aegis. Aegis now stacks up to 3 times (which means up to 3 blocks, if you can provide 3x aegis ofc), master trait.

New Grandmaster Trait: Master of Virtues: All your Virtues recharge 20% faster.

I aim to create diversity for the Guardian Virtue line and I hope it gets used more often. The Virtues of the Guardian are his trademark, but atm they are really underused and not really that gamechanging.

Added a 4th Virtue (Virtue of Defiance):
Passive: If you get hit by a melee attack your attacker and nearby foes get weakness for 5 seconds (30 seconds cooldown)
Active: You and your allies inflict Chilling on the next attack (3 seconds) (Virtue recharge 50 seconds)
Inspired Virtue’s minor trait adds Vigor for 5 seconds.

Added new traits for this Virtue:
Defiant: Virtue of Defiance’s Passive effect also adds 5 seconds of retaliation to you when triggered, Virtue of Defiance’s Passive effect now triggers every 20 seconds, adept trait.
Offence is the best defence: Virtue of Defiance’s active effect also adds 5 seconds of weakness for your foes. Add fury (5 seconds) to you and nearby allies when you activate Virtue of Defiance, master trait.

ArtemisEntreri.4138:

Aza.2105:

Relentliss.2170:

VofC (aegis) is on a longer cd than any of the Pain skills… just sayin.

Apparently Aegis is more powerful than being completely immune to physical damage for 5 seconds twice (traited) with a 60 sec cd.

Aegis is too situational. It can either save you from a killing blow at that right time or break off something like an auto attack allowing a large blow to come through. Another idea would be to have Aegis have a damage absorption for physical attacks only. To break Aegis you have to do X amount of damage before it breaks. I’d be ok with Aegis being a absorption shield than a bladeturn effect (Note the DAoC lingo).

I.e. Absorb up to 3,000 damage before your Aegis shatters.

Of course it won’t stop you from receiving the CC effects of other attacks. You’d still be knocked down for instance but it wouldn’t do damage unless the attack was stronger than 3,000.

Sorry for the triple post. I’m all for adjusting the guardian and bringing the warrior down slightly to more reasonable level.

Adding this quote from another user. I believe he had a good idea for aegis. Basically aegis would have its own health and would break after enough damage was done instead of it always breaking after one hit. If we could still have it completely negate the last hit even if there was only 1 health left on the aegis, I’d be completely down with it. Might have to modify the damage modifier on unscathed contender but I’d be willing to drop to 10% for consistent activation of it.

Healing breeze need to be “heal around guardian”
Also I like idea to make virtues like aura around guardian with one virtue active in one time.

Deathmond.7328:

Healing breeze need to be “heal around guardian”
Also I like idea to make virtues like aura around guardian with one virtue active in one time.

This isn’t Warhammer.

That would kitten the Guardian even more.

Zeal
Grand master trait
“Soul barrier”
Description
Adds a barrier of health and adds damage to all the guardians attacks while aegis is up.

Aegis adds a 3k healthpool to the guardian. Each hit that hits the guardian consumes health from that pool, when 3k damage is done aegis is removed. Aegis also grant 10% extra damage.

Radiance
Grand master trait
“Resistant”
Description
Passive effects from virtues are still in effect even if the virtue is on cool down and all virtues passives are 100% stronger..

These two might make a 30/30/x/x/x build valid.

I think Aegis need a rework…something like:
- Aegis boon block all attack;
- Aegis boon have a duration-style block;
- If I have 2 sec of Aegis boon – I block all attacks during 2 sec;
!!!