Guild Wars 2

Okay, I have built my build almost perfectly for use in many situations (Thanks Forums), but I need help with one last thing. I can’t decide if I want to focus on Meditations or on Shouts (Monks Focus or Altruistic Healing). I see the benefits for both and I know that Meditations heal for 2k + with Monks Focus and Altruistic Healing is more of a heal over time, but they both have downfalls. Altruistic Healing gets most benefits from groups, but it is also viable solo, and I think shouts are generally better than Meditations. Maybe I could use a combo of Meds and Shouts, but Idk what would work best.

Post your build

Generally speaking:
Mediations = solo
AH = groups

Personally, I use Mediations with Shouts, so I get the best of both worlds.

Sorry, Ive been at work today. I have 30 honor, 30 valor, 5 radiance, and 5 virtues. Ofc all the traits are exchangeable, but right now I have an AH build.

Lonewolf, do you use Judges Intervention, Smite Condition, and Save Yourself? Or what build do you run?

Sir Laggalot.5862:

Sorry, Ive been at work today. I have 30 honor, 30 valor, 5 radiance, and 5 virtues. Ofc all the traits are exchangeable, but right now I have an AH build.

Lonewolf, do you use Judges Intervention, Smite Condition, and Save Yourself? Or what build do you run?

Your build is more suited to zerg warfare than to a solo roamer build. You will be tough to kill, but you will have a hard time killing anyone either.

You definitely do not want AH for a solo build. The benefit from AH is from applying boons to others.

AH also applies heals to you if you put boons on yourself, such as shouts, virtues, and Empowering Might. I know my build is more of a tough build, but it doesnt mean I have a hard time killing people. Glass cannons arent my type, a tough bruiser is. But, I still cant decide between Meds or Shouts

if you’re solo, i want to say definitely go with meditations. if in group, both MF or AH works, depending if you want more group utility, then of course shouts >> meds.

AH does work when solo, but the effects are not as great or prominent when in a group setting. so i feel MF’s burst heals work better as opposed to an even smaller stream of heals coming in. that’s how i felt at least : )) there are definitely times where AH still allowed me to come up on top of various encounters with enemies while going solo.

also, i wouldn’t say a 5/30/30/5 build won’t kill anything. although, really depends on your gear setup then. do you mind posting your main stats?

Attack:
Armor:
Crit chance:
Crit damage:
Health:
and i guess Healing Power as well

just for reference, when i run WvW i usually always have Judge’s Intervention and stand your ground on, regardless if i’m playing AH or MF

then if AH/shouts – usually save yourselves. and then hold the line if i know i’m going to be in a group situation. retreat very occasionally, or when covering terrain. though i just use staff now and switch out right away. or GS #3. sometimes if i know JI won’t be of MUCH use, i will use a combination of any 3 shouts. most likely SYS SYG and HTL.. HTL is actualyl i feel very strong. : )) especially when allies are in a pinch. i will dodge roll heal towards them, pop HTL and that arleady helps a ton.

then for MF – usually it’s gonna be smite condition in addition. AoE dmg useful for adding to burst. also good for condition cleanse, though just one. if i know it’s gonna be condition heavy, i might bring in triple meds. i normally don’t choose contemplation over smite or judge’s. but you can mix and match.

i will of course also take Meditation Mastery for faster recharges when running MF, and Superior Aria for AH. so TL;DR if solo, i feel MF is better and you can run 2 meds + 1 shout. though AH works as well.

Yeah I can post my stats. I’m on a trip so I dont have the exact ones, but here is the general stuff.

3000 Attack
2900 Armor
33% Crit
Not sure on crit dmg, but I do have berserker weps and ruby jewels
Health is around 18k (1550 or so Vit)
And Healing Power is only 300

I hit pretty decent with this build, its not like I cant kill stuff. But, any advice would be greatly appreciated. I have only recently gotten 80, and I barely have any money atm. So, I want to stick with my knights gear and berserk weps. Any builds that you suggest? Anything that can solo pretty kitten well. (Not saying taking on 3 people and winning, but winning a good amount of 1 v 1 and being able to do decent in 1 v 2)

those are pretty decent stats. how’d you get so much health? which is nice to have, but i don’t feel as a Guardian you need that much : )) personal threshold is around 16k. i have a couple builds ni the 14k to 15k mark as well.

have you run this in WvW a whole lot yet? with this build, it’s a pretty standard hybrid build and you should be able to do more than fine, even for solo. so stick with it for a while, and as you feel more comfortable with the Guard, you can swap in more offensive pieces, etc. or be more specialized in certain areas. tweak the things ya don’t like, etc : ))

general advice for a guard then, depending on what weapon sets and utilities you’re using.. mitigation is key! don’t get tunnel visioned, especially when 1vN or in a group fight. you have easy access to AoE blinds, aegis, stability, blocks, boons, area control/denial. so the more you play, the more you’ll know when you use your heals, use your dodges, which attacks you can take with retal on, which you want to completely avoid, etc.. comes with practice. : )) since you said you’re relatievly new, i will just say learn the class and the best way to do it is through experience. if you come into a few tough fights and don’t come out on top, assess what you could have done better, know what hurt you bad, and then work on those areas. : ))

and don’t be afraid to keep on switching traits, weapons, utilities throughout your encounters. and KEEP HARRASSING YOUR ENEMIES. in many cases, i’ve always felt that’s the most defensive and offensive option and it works well. play aggressively, and your enemies will be forced to be more defensive, and you can turn the tide in battle.

also, it’s helpful to learn other classes skills. if even just a gist. ; )) lemme know if you have any more specific questions though.

Go with something with shouts and maxing boon duration.

Yes, Laggalot, I pretty much use those skills. Smite Conditions always stays on the bar, the other two I’ll switch out sometimes. But I do commonly run those three skills often. I do use SYG! a lot too.

Also, style is wrong about the trait build not being solo. As akamon stated, your gear is more of a determining factor than the trait build is. Actually, akamon has some pretty good advice there.

http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/guardian/?3.3|1.1n.h17|c.1g.h15.d.1g.h1|1n.7x.1n.7x.1g.7x.1n.7x.1g.7x.1n.7x|4u.d1f.2s.e14.3s.e16.2s.e14.3s.e16.3u.e16|0.f6.u16b.k28.5|39.1|v.19.16.13.1i|e

I ran with a build similar to this(sometimes without the Radiance points, instead the -20% on 2handed) for a LONG LONG time both solo, havoc, small zerg, and in PvE. It works very well and the only reason I switched out of it was because I’m fighting in a larger group now(so need more focus on PVT/frontline uptime).

It has a good mix of tanky, bursty, shouts(2), condition removal, blinds(3), and tele/gap closers(3).

Akamon – Yeah, I have heard that it was a decent amount of health for a Guardian, but I saw how low it was otherwise, and so I got soldiers runes and Beryl Accessories to bring it up. Maybe I should switch to Berserker Accessories? Or Idk, what would you suggest? I have done mostly PvP and pug tourneys (Haha, but Im still managing over 50% wins for being a pug), but I have done WvW. I mostly do group WvW and I sometimes partake in zergs, but nothing solo or small group. Im trying to build a strong 1v1 build similar to a ret pally from WotLK or a Warrior Priest from Warhammer. I know a warrior priests strength came from being able to transfer his dmg into healing as well as being able to use his Righteous Fury and his Action Points in synergy with eachother, while the Ret Pallies strength came from being able to mitigate dmg yet dish it out at the same time. They have similar yet different mechanics that made them pro at 1v1 situations, and Im trying to make a guard that can be akin to those two classes.

Thanks for the substantive responses.

Lonewolf – Yeah I mix it up with SYG and SYS too. And, if im not using a Med build, I run both of them with Judges Int.

Somsom – Thanks for the build. I was thinking about pulling out a few points from Honor and putting it in Radiance as well. Im still playing around with stuff though.

Maybe I should go more of an AH build with clerics gear in order to be able to have strong self healing with nice regeneration abilities? Idk >_< So much to choose from!!!

If you’re really intent on roaming, and not too stuck on AH, you could try my build (though for an ideal setup, you’ll want to get some celestial-stat ascended trinkets; your armor and weapons should be fine). 0/15/0/30/25 (for a general variant that works extremely well in PvE), or 0/10/0/30/30 (for a pure WvW variant).

Traits are Radiance II (signet cooldown), Honor II (shout cooldown), IX (2-handed recharge), and XI (convert one condi to a boon on shout), and Virtues II (retaliation duration), IX (VoR active removes 3 conditions, passive is stronger), and if you’re using the WvW variant, your choice of XII (extra stunbreak from VoC active), X (stability on VoC active, aegis every 30 seconds from the passive instead of 45), or VIII (extra burning from VoJ).

Runes (this part is critically important) are 2 superior Water, 2 superior Monk, and 2 major Sanctuary (or any major variant that gives +10% boon duration). Signet heal, SYG, Retreat, and SY for your utilities, and your choice of Renewed Focus (default setup, best for roaming) or either Tome (sieges and small-group battles) for the elite.

Now, I’m not gonna lie, this will make you a little squishier than an AH or Monk’s Focus build. However, what you get out of it makes you a far more effective roamer as far as 1v1 combat goes:

• You have 9 active condition removals, and 3 of them convert a condition to a boon. You also have 1 passive condition removal every 10 seconds. Many of the enemies you’ll fight in 1-on-1 or small group settings will have conditions as a major part of their builds; and even if they’re not relying on them for damage, getting rid of immobilize, cripple, and chill quickly is critical in 1v1 combat. Moreover, with SYG and the 65-70% boon duration this setup provides, you end up with at or over 33% stability uptime, in addition to your two (potentially 3) stunbreaks.
  This makes you nearly impossible to pin down (at least by 1-2 players), and completely mitigates one of guardians’ main weaknesses—that is, our ability to “stick” to a target.
• Over 100% retaliation uptime. Your enemies will have to weigh their actions against you very, very carefully, because you’ll hit them back every time they hit you, and even with retaliation damage nerfed in WvW it’ll still add up quickly on anyone using rapid attacks.
• Over 100% swiftness uptime. If you want to disengage, you can (especially if running greatsword). Likewise, if you want to catch someone, you can. If your enemy tries to use conditions or stuns/knockbacks to keep you away… Well, good luck to them.
• With the celestial gear, you have a bit of everything in your pocket. Your dodgeroll heals for around 650, your healing signet will easily heal for around 10k health (scales by healing power * 1.25 with a base of 8150; quite possibly the most powerful burst heal in the game), and Virtue of Resolve will tick for a lot, in addition to better regen thanks to the healing power. You have good use for power, precision, crit chance, crit damage, vitality, toughness, and healing power, and condition damage (though not great) isn’t useless, either. Since celestial-stat gear gives you a significantly higher overall stat allocation, if you can make effective use of every stat on it (or at least most of them), you come out ahead in the end.
• You can use whatever weaponry you want.
• You will faceroll condition-damage builds, since you can nearly entirely negate their primary damage source.
• Depending on weaponry chosen, you have an unbelievable number of blocks and blinds, making direct-damage builds have to work for quite a while to even touch you.
• You can solo camps easily.

It’s not for everyone, but it’s a cohesive, durable, nearly-unstoppable build that suits my own playstyle well—it’s up to you if it suits yours.

18k health pool? Heck, I’m still trying to figure out how you guys/gals get into the 15k range. I’m sitting close at 14,800 or so and feel like I’m roaming solo out in WvWvW using a wet paper bag for armor

Crapgame.6519:

18k health pool? Heck, I’m still trying to figure out how you guys/gals get into the 15k range. I’m sitting close at 14,800 or so and feel like I’m roaming solo out in WvWvW using a wet paper bag for armor

I’m running 15k health but with 3000+ armour.

High health is not a requirement for guardians, mitigation works better in my opinion, as we have some of the best health regen tools in the game. you need to limit incomming dmg and use your health pool like a buffer that you continually refill, rather than as a large pool that drains away.

depends on the exact build you use of course, but I’d want my crit pretty high as lots of our traits trigger on crit.

I wonder if I could tweak this a bit to use mace/shield or sword/shield. I don’t know why I like the shield but I do

Thanks Cameirus btw. I am currently running a 0/10/30/30/0 build varrient and my health is around 14,000 but armor is 2900 or so and a 1,390 healing power. I switch between sword/focus and great sword when I’m roaming solo. Staff, mace and shield in group.

I have a bag full of knights gear in my bank with a hammer from when I was trying a AH/hammer build. I didn’t do well so went with the clearics set. Maybe I’ll try and look at this build on the calc and see what it does. I don’t have zerker weapons though for sure.

Crapgame.6519:

18k health pool? Heck, I’m still trying to figure out how you guys/gals get into the 15k range. I’m sitting close at 14,800 or so and feel like I’m roaming solo out in WvWvW using a wet paper bag for armor

Yeah i know what you mean, I was roaming with just over 13k at one point. I think i am at 14k now but I also have 3.2k armor so it kinda evens out. I also run condition durations reductions so the low health doesnt get chewed up by conditions as well.

I changed some of my Trinkets around. I now have 16.5k HP with higher crit (41%) and 100 higher armor. Also, I have slighlty less Attack, but only by like 40 or so. I agree that having a high health pool doesnt really mean much if you take more dmg and you can refill the pool. Ima give this build a try, thanks guys.

Keep posting if you guys have any more suggestions or any more builds youd like to share.