Guild Wars 2

Hello, this is my first time creating a guide and I hope that you will enjoy the guide. I am in no way a master of the Guardian, but after slotting in over 300+ hours of playing the guardian, I feel that I have enough experience to provide informations on anybody new to the guardian.

(disclaimer) this guide is going to be very similar to Eveningstar’s Guardian 101, although this will be brought through my perspective. This may be much shorter by hopefully will provide everyone with viable and valid info.

The Virtues
When starting out as a guardian the game quickly introduces you to the class mechanic of the Guardian. This is called Virtue(s), we have 3 Virtues in total. Virtues are passive effects that assist you in combat, or even outside of combat.

Virtue Of Justice- VOJ is very simple, It burns (1 sec) on every fifth attack you land on your enemy. Activation of Virtue Of Justice will give you an increase in damage due to higher burn duration (5 secs).

Virtue Of Resolve – VOR will give you a simple regeneration per second ( typo of 3 seconds on tooltip). You can consider this as a simple regeneration buff that helps you in combat by simply just giving back some of the health you’ve lost. Activations of VOR will provide a semi decent heal but then puts it on a 60 second cooldown. I must say that this Virtue is my absolute favourite and this will be further discussed later.

Symbols- Are an AoE field that provides a boon for any ally sitting within it, their effectiveness can be further increased by traits and can also provide another healing source, if you didn’t already have enough.

Virtue Of Courage – VOC provides you with the allmighty Aegis buff. Aegis completely blocks one attack. So within that period of time (or hit) you will have almost a state of INVULNERABILITY. On top of this, when roaming around you will have a permanent Aegis block due to its extremely high duration. Aegis is useful because it can allow to perform stomps, or even rez. Activation of VOC will give you and nearby allies Aegis which can allow for some pretty interesting uses.

Burning, because a naked flame is most dangerous (excuse my horrible pun)
Buring is condition, there are a few types of conditions:
DOT (damage over time)- Bleeds, Burns, Poison and Confusion.
Movement – Chilled and Cripple.
Removing damage-Weakness and Blinds.
Snares – Fear and Immobolize (learn to hate these like your ex-girlfriend who cheated on you for a clown. Yeah, it happens)
Increasing Damage- Vulnerability

You will be applying burning like nobody’s business, buring will be a good damage source, but you shouldn’t come to rely on this because other types of damage are MUCH more reliable and consistient.

Boons I have come to LOVE -As Guardians Boons are our main support element, we can provide every boon in the game due to our brilliant habit of perma boon. The boons I have come to love are:
Aegis- You will have this boon with you for most of the time and will save your kittening kitten more times in a fight then you’ll actually realise, remember within the first hit you are impervious to ANY damage source.
Stability – If you are an avid PvP or WvW player you will understand that getting stomps is absolutely essential, it provides and much quicker death rather than simply damaging your enemy to their kitten demise.
Regeneration-This is AMAZINGLY AWESOME, not only can you have only 2 sources of regen, but when you apply food buffs (Mango Pie) and your healing when dodging (assuming you trait for it) will return loads of healing.

These are the Boons that when I started Guardian that I thought were redundant. No use for a Guardian an never will be of use, but after extensive play time and theory crafting I have come to love these Boons. I love every other boons but I feel that these boons synergise with guardians so well, that they deserve a special spot in my heart.

Weapons – Guardians utilize a variety of Weapons and ALL of them are comepletely viable and valid, although some might be more useful depending on the situation.

1H Weapons- One thing I must note about one handed weapons are that they seem to be less used by Guardians in WvWand I can understand why, but One Handers have a special spot in my heart. <3

Sword- The sword is my favourite weapon in the Guardian’s arsenal, I know I shouldn’t be playing favourites but I can’t help it! The sword provides amazing utility with a teleport, a 360 degree projectile block as well as an auto attack that will provide a garanteed burn due to VOJ (assuming you leave it on). My history with the sword started of bad, and I mean REAL bad. But after of these sad lonely nights, I have come to love it.

Mace- When embarking on your guardian journey, many guardians quickly toss away the mace after they’ve unlocked all of it’s utility. It has a decent heal on its auto attack, a regen symbol and a very powerful block that deals an insane amount of damage. or if you leave it on, will provide 5 seconds worth of protection!

Scepter- The ranged weapon of doom, suprisingly this weapon is on of the more damage dealing weapons. Scepter will provide alot of burn with VOJ and has an amazing immobolize that also provides vulnerability. The problem with this weapon is that it doesn’t suit my play style. Although don’t let me get in your way, the scepter is a very viable weapon and will absolutely shred faces apart in a zerg.

Off-Handers Off handers are designed to accompany the main handed weapons, these can provide excellent synergy and most of them do!

Shield- The shield is a very defensive and supportive weapon providing you with alot of damage mitigation and an AoE heal. The thing I find wrong with the shield is that it’s skills don’t last an awful amount of time and have a ridiculous cooldown. Apart of this, the shield is an amazing choice, even if it’s not for everybody.

Focus- The focus gives you 3 whole blocks, THREE! You can insta cast this when stomping or rezzing. On top of that it provides a blind as well as some reasonable regen. Honestly my favourite weapon set when combined with sword.

Torch- If there was no focus, the torch would certainly be my favourite compliment to sword. It provides amazing damage (3k’s on my healing build) and amazing condition cleansing. Also, you can set yourself on fire. This Girl is on fire!

2 Handed Weapons- These are the most used weapons in a Guardian’s aresenal and for good reason. They are amazing for support and deliver consistent results.

Greatsword- This is a weapon that most people come to love. Greatsword provides amazing damage as well as reasonable CC. The Greatsword as absolutely amazing as a weapon and is my 2nd preffered weapon.

Staff- ALL Guardians should have a staff in their inventory, it provides possibly the best support in a weapon (EMPOWERING MIGHT) and amazing auto attack (proccing VOJ), symbols and a ward (prevents enemy from crossing a certain area).
Hammer- Hammer is an incredibly versatile weapon with an entire population of CC and a SYMBOL on the auto attack. I have to cry because I feel that I am not worthy to be in it’s presence.

I do plan on providng for info later (traits, Utilities, etc). Please Leave critiques and feedback! This was my first time so please be a bit sensitive.

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