Guardian: good build for CoF?
I have the exact same setup as you, and I’m doing just fine. Which part are you having trouble with?
If it’s the 1st boss of p1, there’s not much you can do there. Hope you have enough dps to burst it down before anyone gets down. I could easily come out unscratch off the last boss.
I’ve been messing with mace lately, it’s damage is not as bad as I use to think and the healing can be nice against the blind/aegis/reflect unfriendly mobs in CoF(just toss mace on, and go radiant fire instead of powerful blades in radiance master trait). I’m not sure what areas you’re having issues on but I also like hammer say at the end of p2 before the last boss, just sitting there pounding protection into the ground can make that a lot easier, though may kitten people off with the light field so just be aware of that.
If your team doesn’t do enough damage then it’s no surprise you die and die. Guardian will be the first to go down then. You could go a bit more defensive with pugs, something like 4 / 3 / 0 / 3 / 4. This gives an extra buffer to do more dodging and healing. I also don’t shy away from hammer 3 / 3 / 0 / 4 / 4 if the team is inexperienced (low AP).
As others have said, that first boss in CoF P1 can dish out some heavy damage. Not much you can do about that other than to use all of your blocks and dodges and hope he dies before you do. Also make sure you have Wall of Reflection ready to reflect the other minion’s flame balls.
For fights where you don’t need absolute resolution/ indomitable courage, swap to 4/6/2/0/2. But yeah, 4/5/0/0/5 will be just fine. The first cof boss is actually pretty hard ( ye I know I know) in non organised setups because it hits really fast, really hard, etc. In pugs, rotate between your aegis and other blocks and try to keep aggro on you for a while so they can dps freely, and when you’re out of cooldowns, just take your breath by dodging backwards and using, for instance, sword 3, since it has a bit of range. Bring wall of reflect for the effigy, and maybe some life on crit food/vigor if you’re struggling. You can play 4/5/0/1/4 without that much of a dps loss and gain vigor on crit to help you starting/progressing. Good luck!
If you’re on EU and need help to get into dungeons, pm me.
sounds like alot of work for a boss that should be killed in 10-15s
thats why alot of dungeoners don’t like non-zerker players.
path 1 : first elite pack
use Wall of reflection, GS 5 to pull both elites to 1 turret and cleave them down
Slave driver : wall of reflect to reflect effigy projectile, hold the line if you need
Effigy boss : Wall of reflect as he slams fist into ground, retreat to block AoE burn if teammates are bad and cant dodge, Stand your ground as crystals fall from the sky and knock you
Path 2 : first trash pack
Retaliation is good, GS 5 to pull them
Devourer’s nest : Wall of reflect to reflect their poison, Purging flames to cleanse cripple and poison , stand your ground incase they knock you down
3 elites after devourers’ nest : wall of reflect to reflect their projectiles
TALK IMPOSTER OR I’LL CALL MY DEVOURERS in here : nothing much, retreat, bane of signet
Magg’s balls : retreat, save yourselves for swiftness
2 elite pack before magg detonates his balls : wall of reflect
Protect magg’s balls : Judge’s Intervention, run whatever really
Gaheron’s flame crystal : Purging Flames, whatever
46202 in organized parties, 45004 when pugging
In path one the focus is pretty much on bosses only and the first boss focuses on a player and continously damage him/her where your sources of active defense to protect the said player may run out. In path 2 arguably the most struggling part is the door event where waves of enemies come over and over that makes it hard for the group to survive through active defense alone. In path 3 there are quite long boss encounters and Hellstorm mobs that come in waves that arguably pose the greatest danger to the group due to their channeled attacks. For those reasons I favor to use the meta hammer build to provide passive defense along with active. You can use Scholar or Strength runes and max damage or Strength sigil, with 3/5/x/4/x (use the remaining points however you see fit for the situation). A great trait to use in CoF is Inner Fire to utilize the innate Burning spam most of the enemies can perform.
Edit:
You can use the 2 points remaining interchangingly. If you need projectile defense and/or you are the only source of it move the points into Virtues for Master of Concecrations. If you need condition defense take Master of Concecrations or Pure of Voice in Honor line – with the Burning spam in the dungeon you can convert many of them into Aegis for your group to have great active defense. If you need might make sure you stack might yourself before combat and use your 2 points to get Empowering Might in Honor, I use Strength Runes and Omnomberry Cream for better loot and can provide 7-8 stacks of might to group as long as the fight goes along with 21 long duration stacks starting combat. If your group doesn’t need anything consider moving your points to Zeal for Greatsword damage bonus or Virtues for Unscathed Contender.
(edited by Pregnantman.8259)
Heya OP! I’ve been playing guardian since I purchased the game, so I have a fair amount of experience with it. I found the same frustration you did with survivability and tweaked my Berserker build a tad and have no problems since. DPS is very respectable and survivability is awesome. E.g. Ran a 15 fractal the other day with no agony resist and had no problems. Here’s a link to my build in video form: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHEp5LP-R6Q&list=UU-tlslzrjmddKDAt-Roe_vA
Magg’s balls
I lol’d. Made me think about a South Park episode (such big balls for that tiny Asura)
On topic go 2/5/0/2/5 with Superior Aria extra Vit and faster Aegis from Retreat might help your survival. Also remember to always run with Potent Potion of Flame Legion Slaying on you. Some food like Mango Pie or Omnomberry Pie will help you survive and they’re cheap to craft/buy on TP (once you get comfortable playing zerker guard you can switch to Bowl of Sweet and Spicy Butternut Squash Soup)
But most important is that you run with other zerkers. As said before, if your party is composed of 2 bearbow rangers, 1 condition necro and 1 bunker guardian, odds are that you die a lot.
Find competitive players on your guild and if you strictly have to pug state that they must be experienced (would suggest AP filter) and run zerker gear.
EDIT: Typo
(edited by NumenorLord.6539)
As others have said, join a Berserker, speedrun, rush, speedclear, etc. group. Berserker mix bad with anything but Berserker, if you use Berserker you want to your teammates to use Berserker as well.
If you have an Ele or Engineer in your group ask them if they’re stacking Might, if not you could simply run Hammer:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fVAQFAyksAxVI8DRR8gk1Yb/8qqAY+cLA-e
If the auto attack chain isn’t canceled too often it deals comparable damage to a Greatsword Guardian, but with perma Protection the whole party will be much more durable.