Guild Wars 2

so I just got a lvl 80 guardian and I find myself helping more people with a lot of survivability (makes sense for a guardian) but now I’d really like it if I could play a class more oriented towards dps. so I was wondering how the other classes stacked up dps-wise. especially with all the new updates. I hear necros are now a lot more capable but I hear warriors have the all around best so go with them anyway, thing is I already chose my heavy armor class so I was wondering what other classes could give a guardian a good challenge dps-stat wise. (and is kinda fun to play)

We do just fine: lol

It’s a great PvP build too – especially w/ the updated shattered aegis AoE Burst Build- 25/0/30/5/10.

Enjoy

should I just move this topic?…

Why not bring the DPS and support as a guardian?

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/guardian/Guide-DPS-Guardian-for-PVE/first

http://youtu.be/U67QNskKYHs

Cat said it. A guardian needs a lot of group support for dealing optimum DPS, since our own offensive buffs are almost non-existent, but the results are quite nice if you have that support. Not as great as ele or thief, but there is no need to hide from any of the other classes.

well tbh it just doesn’t FEEL like a dps class when im playing it. like my mentality when playing a guardian isn’t really to straight kill my enemy simply bc I have the option to be such a great tank as well boon giver. so it just takes my focus away from other things, plus, they cant dual wield… and I think that looks cool… lol

CptAurellian.9537:

A guardian needs a lot of group support for dealing optimum DPS, since our own offensive buffs are almost non-existent, but the results are quite nice if you have that support. Not as great as ele or thief, but there is no need to hide from any of the other classes.

A guardian doesn’t need to give any support for dealing optimum DPS since getting offensive buffs from our teammates isn’t dependent on them getting support from us.

If you want DPS, you need to spec for it. Don’t allow yourself to be convinced that if optimum DPS is what you want, stuff like a hammer 15/15/0/20/20 is going to give it to you.

and that’s the thing is that I do have a dps survivability build. and while I love my guardian and all he is capable of I would actually like to be able to just go up to some uber enemy and be like “its war mf” instead of “ok u hit me, nice hit, watch me heal and give myself 30 boons while I chip away at your health and theres not much you can do bc im a kittenin tank god” this isn’t always the case of course against many bosses, except, it can be if your good enough. and with a team I always envied that guy I was protecting doing all his cool moves while I just hit this guy and he would hit me and that was my main role… be hit…

Well, if that’s the case, Guardian may not be the profession for you because as Anet has stated, our class trades off some offense for that “ok u hit me, nice hit, watch me heal and give myself 30 boons while I chip away at your health and theres not much you can do bc im a kittenin tank god” ability.

I can’t comment on how the new stuff affects the hierarchy of damage in the professions but I can say that based on what we have been told, we aren’t moving around in that hierarchy a whole lot, if at all.

and I go 10/0/30/30/0 still get decent dps. and I mean boons and other stuff is great but what class doesn’t focus so much on boons and conditions to be a beast it can have them but just doesn’t have as much of a focus on them bc its gotten to the point to where I don’t want to care about who has what boons anymore and when to do what. im fine with stun breaking and going in.

omnimister.4219:

and I go 10/0/30/30/0 still get decent dps. and I mean boons and other stuff is great but what class doesn’t focus so much on boons and conditions to be a beast it can have them but just doesn’t have as much of a focus on them bc its gotten to the point to where I don’t want to care about who has what boons anymore and when to do what. im fine with stun breaking and going in.

That is not even closet to being a decent dps build…. Please go read that thread I linked…

You essentially use a terrible build and tried to evaluate the guardian’s dps. Even without crazy buffs like in Obal’s videos, I hit 25k WW very easily. 30k+ on mage crusher when the ball is rolling.

EDIT: @ S S E S S is not a bad word Mod bot!

that’s close to the build I had before I went with my current build. the thing is that that build is mostly glass cannon and in pve I got downed almost all the time bc mobs would just kill me when I ran out of vigor and I ran out of all other save your butt options. and besides that isn’t the 10k plus a warrior will hit or the much heard about close to 15k a thief will pull out on you which is enough to one shot the guy in this video. a guardian running that build just feels like it takes away from the whole point to the guardian while still not giving the same end result. that’s just my feeling tho. and I like my guardian for his survivability but for when I want to go straight dps with no worries id like to know a class that does this well from another guardians point of view having come from a guardian

and you can still pull out about 2800 attack power with that build and then with the buffs and might stacks easily pull up into that 3000+ attack power and still keep the survivability the guardians dps builds are mostly centered around precision as I have experienced and a crit doesn’t mean much to me in the face of someone meant for crit or doing constantly high damge and THEN does a crit. even if a guardian had 100% crit rate.

I have to agree with Cat on this one … I wouldn’t consider anything 10/0/X/X/0 a damage build at all. Other than the 10 in Zeal (a no brainer for anything but the most tanky or supportive builds), you avoided the lines that give you the damage you are talking about lacking.

You are already playing more DPS oriented class, now just build it to play DPS.

Damage modifiers. Key thing is damage modifiers. 10% from radiance along with the all important crit chance. Then get the extra percent per boon damage modifier from virtues, which is normally around 4%, then against bosses like mage crusher or lupicus you can swap in unscathed contender and get 20% extra damage with aegis up since you don’t need the condi removal. Scholar runes on top of that is 10% more damage. And you are looking at potentially 34%-40% more damage, and add 10% more if you aren’t using scholar runes(which I hope you are).

My whole point of this, is running Zerk guardian isn’t all that glassy once you get good at it. If you want to switch that is fine. But don’t get confused in thinking guardians are wet noodles. They are loved in fractals and usually see one in dungeon runs.

How many hours do you have on your guardian?

I have about 90hrs on my guardian so far. and I don’t think anyone is seeing my point to this which is simply, I just don’t want to dps with my guardian like that…

omnimister.4219:

I have about 90hrs on my guardian so far. and I don’t think anyone is seeing my point to this which is simply, I just don’t want to dps with my guardian like that…

I guess your point is, that you just don’t like guardian gameplay then. That’s cool. The thing I got from your OP, was that guards can’t do enough dps so you looking to jump ship. Guess I was wrong.

Go try a warrior. They fun in WvW and PVE. Can’t go wrong there. Aside from that, I have no recommendations.

thank you cat that is what I was trying to say. so then everyone would agree that warrior is one of the better dps options? id like to be able to do high dps with fun dps as well. like necros look like they have a good amount but im not sure…? and im not jumping ship lol I will always be a guardian at heart

Survivability and group support in this game:
Reflects
Aegis
Dodge
Blinds

Notice the above all are based on avoiding damage rather than mitigating it. This is because if you take damage it will be huge damage anyway, so dodging/aegis/blinding just one of these hits is better than loooads of mitigation.

Luckily you can have all of these and still do top dps.
10/25/0/0/10, 25 spare.
Gives you two 10% dmg mods, spammable blind, 20% longer reflects and 20% quicker reflect cooldowns.

k dk where this survivability build came from…

That’s not a survivability build.
What I’m telling you is that you can spec and gear almost completely for dps and still bring all the best support and defense of a guardian. Warrior is more forgiving (hp) and does similar dps to a guardian but is not as essential as the guardian’s plethora of blocks, blinds and reflects. Many classes bring group dps buffs and personal dps similar to a warrior, but not many people bring what a guardian brings.

omnimister.4219:

thank you cat that is what I was trying to say. so then everyone would agree that warrior is one of the better dps options? id like to be able to do high dps with fun dps as well. like necros look like they have a good amount but im not sure…? and im not jumping ship lol I will always be a guardian at heart

Warrior are good because they are able to generate more dps alone. Meaning they apply stacks of vulnerability and have good offensive buffs like banners and omm. BUT, in a good dungeon group, if you are a guardian with warriors, you aren’t a second class citizen when it comes to putting damage down. You are receiving those buffs, so it doesn’t matter who is generating them.

For solo dps, yeah warriors are better. But I’m pretty sure you are talking about dungeons. Anyhow, in case you can’t tell I’m a die hard guardian. I have more hours doing arah then you have on your guard. I can tell you just losing interest in your guard. I personally love being my team’s guard and being able to do things like save them with a perfectly time aegis, or Wall of Reflecting lupicus to skip Phase 2.

tl;dr Warrior much better solo DPS. Guard is comparable in fully buffed groups. I <3 Guardian.

but will it hit that 90k damage a warrior will in pve, or will it hit that 16k a thief will in pvp and wvw.

and then still be able to take a hit, without blinds and reflects and all that other stuff

If all you want is the biggest number on screen at one time then go 100b warrior.
Engineers, rangers, thieves, guardians can all hit similar damage over time to a warrior with proper group buffs and debuffs, it’s just easier to do on a warrior so people think it’s more common.

omnimister.4219:

but will it hit that 90k damage a warrior will in pve, or will it hit that 16k a thief will in pvp and wvw.

Dat burst tho?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSTe9PxId3s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjBWVeCRebI

And hitting 49k WW is better dps than the time Hundred blades take to hit 90k. You are still new. Those big hundred blade numbers are deceiving you. Someday you shall learn.

kitten … what build and weps was he using and your right I am still new like I just hit lvl 80 yesterday so how do I start the venture to become that? and what will this do for me in pve. I like pve content more thatn wvw.

lol it says kitten for curse words,

Boon’s guide to his WvW burst build:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybKAe2w0qWY

Obal’s written guide to PVE guardian(Great guide from a great guardian):
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/guardian/Guide-DPS-Guardian-for-PVE/first

I’m not trying to convince you to stay on guardian, but make sure you do all your homework and fully understand what we are capable of before trying to compare. Once you get all the facts down, then decide if it is right for you. I personally love being able to save teammates while doing nice damage.

Also if you need help with being a guardian or how to do certain dungeons as a guardian. Feel free to post and ask. Also the dungeon forum has a great group of knowledgeable people who will help those seeking it in a none ragey way.

You say on WvW or PvE?

On WvW I use a Knights/Zerker combo with Soldier Runes and works really well, I hardly die and I can kill a lot. Full zerker can work on roaming (1v1).

There are the know “Healway” build that some people uses.

On PvE just go full zerker.

I will always play my guardian bc I like him forsure so it was never a perma switch. I just didn’t see a good way to LIVE while dealing decent dps. but I just about cried watching this guy got boons… that was beautiful…

HOLY CRAP ITS AMINS! dude I just got done watching your videos like literally JUST got done and realized when I said I almost cried over got boons gameplay it was actually yours! I just scoured the internet for your build! you made a fan in like 20mins, do you have any advice for me? and i just wanted to ask y you didn’t grab all that precision in radiance with your zealous defender build

matter of fact that’s the video that made me so emotional sniff

more importantly if you take out some of that radiance and throw it into honor your raising your overall hp by another 1k or 2k and full blown honor and valor gets you roughly 20k health with amins build, and that’s if you only sacrifice 100 power that is in zeal. so the usual 16-17k health is now buffed 4k and you only lose 100 power. that’s the build I have so Is it that great to go dps with a guardian if a dps build only will give you 100 more power?

i think ultimately it depends on where YOU want to see your stats as a Guardian. i used to have thresholds of 3k armor and 16k health. now i run builds that have as “little” as 2.5k armor or 14k health in WvW. though, recently with all the condition tank builds out there, and i finally picked up Applied Fortitude, my health usually sits way higher. if i can survive and feel comfortable, i’ll push my defensive stats and try to max offensive stats. like you, many don’t expect Guardians to hit that hard (though that may be changing) so you can catch many by surprise.

but keep trying different builds. i change my build every week in WvW. though more often than not, it’s damage focused one way or another. it’s just too fun. : )) while being “tanky” though blinds, blocks, boons, cleansing and some other form of sustain. i’ve realized the best way for me to play my GUard is to play really aggressively. of course, also be smart of when to disengage or when to engage even.

last week, i was playing a build similar to Got Boons with my own tweaks. your standard 10/30/30/0/0 DPS build. with 2.8-9k power, lovely crit ratings, 2.5-6karmor, and 17k health consistently hitting 6-9k’s worth of shield of wrath (focus 5), zealot’s fire (torch 4 throw) and protector’s strike (mace 3). and survivability was pretty decent.

when i first started, i got tossed around a lot in WvW lol. (and tbh, i still do now sometimes) but just stick with it cause it sounds like you love the Guardian a lot : ))) good luck and enjoy!!!!

there are some great Guardian vets out there you can learn from.

yeah I tried out amins build and so far I am loving it like having all that health doesn’t even matter anymore lol. I do love guardian a lot and so far I think amins has shown me a pretty beast build so I think im going to roll with it for a while thanks guys

Obtena.7952:

CptAurellian.9537:

A guardian needs a lot of group support for dealing optimum DPS, since our own offensive buffs are almost non-existent, but the results are quite nice if you have that support. Not as great as ele or thief, but there is no need to hide from any of the other classes.

A guardian doesn’t need to give any support for dealing optimum DPS since getting offensive buffs from our teammates isn’t dependent on them getting support from us.

And … how exactly is that related to what I wrote? Not at all. Besides, it is not really correct – our support allows people to have maximum DPS time instead of having to dodge some attacks.

ive decided to go with 25/0/30/15/0 that meditation kitten is cold. every time I use it its a heal for like 2k and THEN it deals damage, AFTER getting rid of conditions. yeah 3 of those plus the signet of healing is a full heal right there buddy. takin a mace and hammer and focus is just too powerful really. with WAY too much survivability. I love it. best dps build to me. oh yeah and when I get a lil more healing power that dodge roll heal will just be stupid survivability.

haha, glad you’re having fun, OP. meditation builds are pretty strong right now i must say heh.

you can easily down some squishier builds out of nowhere with Shield of Wrath (focus 5; time it) —> JI + Protector’s Strike (mace 3) + Smite Condition (optional), then switch to hammer and follow up with a Mighty Blow

Check out this vid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lj53ltNJ_FE
Zodin’s build has an insane amount of burst and decent sustain due to MF

I run a glassy symbol build in www and pve. It provides support with lots of AoE damage goodness.

Definitely tough to bring for solo roaming though. Much better builds for that.

i will say x/30/30/x/x medi burst builds are probably most fun for me for roaming.

If you want other dps classes, ele is top dog. Mesmer sometimes can be good dps.

Gyler.8150:

If you want other dps classes, ele is top dog. Mesmer sometimes can be good dps.

Mesmer? Very, very rarely. In principle, only against targets where you can reflect a massive amount of stuff. 3 phantasms are awesome in theory, but when do you really get out 3 phantasms?

Anyone telling you gaurdian is not a DPS class is wrong. I play only WvW, so I can only speak from experience in that, but I run pretty bunker traits (0/5/30/30/5), and I deal HEAVY DPS. The great thing about gaurdians, is we have SO much natural survivability. People often look at this and think “Hmm, gaurds abilities/traits are obviously defense orientated, I guess I should build defensively too”.
This is bad logic. We have so much defensive and supportive abilities built into the class, it gives us freedom to build awesome DPS stats with our gear. Traits and utilities (with some decent toughness) are more than enough to keep gaurdian alive. Just take advantage of that, and build damage with your gear.

When I’m fully stacked, I hit up to 8k on my mighty blow (rare, squishies I usually hit 4-6k, heavies 2-4k) which is on a 4 second cooldown. I can then follow this up with 2.5-3k auto attacks,(again, not common, but I usually crit between 1.5-2k) and get constant ticks from my prot symol if I can consistently land my AA combo. That is massive damage, and my build does not sacrifice much survivability.

I’m not trying to brag or anything, I’m just giving an example of what the gaurd is actually capable of.