Guild Wars 2

Hello folks!

I’m about to create a new alt and I just don’t have enough information about either of these classes to determine which would be best. I was hoping that based upon the information below if you all could point me in the right direction please?

I have played both to level 19 and found that the Guardian was a ton of fun using the GS and felt like I could survive just about anything. However, in PvP and WvW, it appeared that all people had to do was just kite me around until I died. That wasn’t so much fun.

As for the Warrior, I really liked the GS/R combo. The Rifle was AMAZING in WvW! Still, I felt more like I was wearing cloth than what I would expect of a plate machine. Also, I hear lots of negativity about this class in that they aren’t wanted as tanks or DPS?

As for my background, I played a DPS Prot Pally in WoW and loved it. Being able to do damage, basic support/healing was really nice. Still, being kited got old. I also played a fury warrior using cough daggers and it was probably the most fun I ever had in an MMO. What I’m looking for is a solid “tank” with the ability to do decent DPS while not being squished after 2 seconds. Can you all please tell me what you think is best?

Guardian will be more “tank” mainly through the protection and regeneration boons and Warriors will be more “spank” through high direct damage, might and fury, and vulnerability.

Guardians have the best defensive group support (shouts, consecrations, bubbles) and warriors have the best offensive support (“For Great Justice” and Banners).

It really depends on what you want: more tanky-healer with DPS or more DPS with tanky.

As the game stands right now, Warriors are the gods of damage in PvE, decent in WvW and not so good in sPvP. Guardians make any pug easier in PvE, required for super high end PvE (level 40+ fractals and Arah), great in WvW, and good in sPvP (especially for defending points as a bunker).

Guardian all the way. I played a pally since vanilla so I was also looking for the exact same thing. Try a symbol/meditation guardian build, it plays just like a prot dps pally. I put my warrior on the back burner until Anet fixes them

Guardian.

I can’t take warriors in s/tpvp seriously anymore.

SuperHaze.4210:

Guardian all the way. I played a pally since vanilla so I was also looking for the exact same thing. Try a symbol/meditation guardian build, it plays just like a prot dps pally. I put my warrior on the back burner until Anet fixes them

SuperHaze,

Can you link this spec for me please? I still have my level 19 Guardian but I’ll have to blow the dust off her.

FinalPatriot,

If you enjoy being an “in the thick of battle DPS” player for WvW specifically, I think Guardian would be the better choice. Not only is Guardian more mobile, it is better able to handle conditions.

Meditations like Judges Intervention and Smite Condition can be really awesome, allowing you to teleport to enemies and purging conditions every 20 seconds while adding to DPS. (These can also heal when traited) For the build SuperHaze mentioned, you just need to trait for better meditations and symbols in the Valor and Honor lines.

My main is a Guardian, and I’ve been leveling an Alt Warrior. Though I find Warrior very strong to play in PvE, I feel they are more challenging in WvW. Guardian is very versatile and can be suited to multiple kinds of playstyles. They also bring a lot of group support utility, making them more team friendly than Warriors. And in sPvP, Guardian outshines the Warrior, which is unfortunately kitten in PvP at the moment. So I find my Guardian is easier to play in multiple venues than the Warrior is.

Hope that helps.

Warrior.

If you can learn to play this class right, you will never want to go Guardian. End of Story.

I actually enjoy both equally. I just dropped some gems on the table for some gold to overhaul the guardian and I read Brutaly’s guide for hammer guardian and put some more time into the play style and love the guardian again. I’ve tried other builds to much disappointment besides the healway build. No one likes to die in anything and Brutaly’s guide has different levels to the Altrustic Hammer Guardian. I’ll note my characters and the spec with the food I am using (I buy the cheap stuff).

Tamoko(what she will be once I buy eagle runes) - http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/guardian/?3.0|2.1g.h17|0.0.0.0.0.0|1c.7h.1c.7h.1c.7h.1c.7h.1c.7h.1c.7i|1n.67.1n.67.1n.67.1n.67.1n.67.8c.67|0.5.u56b.u29b.5|56.8|v.18.19.17.1i|e

ArtemisEntreri.4138:

I actually enjoy both equally.

Tamoko(what she will be once I buy eagle runes) - http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/guardian/?3.0|2.1g.h17|0.0.0.0.0.0|1c.7h.1c.7h.1c.7h.1c.7h.1c.7h.1c.7i|1n.67.1n.67.1n.67.1n.67.1n.67.8c.67|0.5.u56b.u29b.5|56.8|v.18.19.17.1i|e

Koveras - http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/warrior/?8.0|1.1g.h17|7.1g.h18.e.1g.0|1g.a7.1g.a7.1g.a7.1g.a7.1g.a7.1g.a7|1i.67.1n.67.1n.67.1n.67.1g.67.1i.67|a5.a1.k5a.a1.k68|3a.2|5y.64.6g.6f.6m|e

Koveras uses the hammer but I can adjust it to be greatsword instead of axe/shield. I use Sanny’s build with a few changes. Axe auto attack hits pretty hard (incoming future nerf...) and shield is great for when I Shield Bash w/ Full adrenaline, Eviscerate crits for 6-10k depending on who I’m attacking.

If I want to kill faster with higher risk, I get on warrior and lead charges. If I want to survive longer and still do good damage, I got guardian. If I was to put my warrior and guardian against each other, right now with the current state of both classes, my guardian would win. Hands down.

Love them both.

Indeed, love them both but do you like to damage deal, or be more of a support person? Both are needed and very valid choices.

ArtemisEntreri.4138:

I actually enjoy both equally. I just dropped some gems on the table for some gold to overhaul the guardian and I read Brutaly’s guide for hammer guardian and put some more time into the play style and love the guardian again. I’ve tried other builds to much disappointment besides the healway build. No one likes to die in anything and Brutaly’s guide has different levels to the Altrustic Hammer Guardian. I’ll note my characters and the spec with the food I am using (I buy the cheap stuff).

Tamoko(what she will be once I buy eagle runes) – http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/guardian/?3.0|2.1g.h17|0.0.0.0.0.0|1c.7h.1c.7h.1c.7h.1c.7h.1c.7h.1c.7i|1n.67.1n.67.1n.67.1n.67.1n.67.8c.67|0.5.u56b.u29b.5|56.8|v.18.19.17.1i|e

ArtemisEntreri, do you by chance have a link to this guide you were talking about? I’ve actually never played my Guardian with the hammer before and don’t have a clue on how it works. I was going with GS/Staff for the damage/support but the staff really isn’t all that fun.

Coming from someone who has a geared 80 Guardian, I’d say guardian. They are super fun with GS, and are amazing at surviving. I can take 3 people in WvW by myself as a Zerker, and in sPvP they are amazing at holding points. I have played a warrior, and as much as I like their damage output, I always found myself back at my Guardian. Once you have the skills you like and the playstyle (Guardians can be played so many ways), its like a cake walk from there. All in all I’d say Guardian, but the choice is up to you.

in my opinion, a warrior is more of a tanky/dps class, whereas a guardian is more of a support class. guardians can be pretty tanky, however my warrior usually outlasts my guardian, however my guardian is a shout guardian with altruistic healing, and thus based on boons (but no boon duration), and its my first commander character (im a WvW player) thus it has a build that works best when there’s other players around you.

I’d say, play both, because I enjoy both.

I leveled both. Haven’t played my warrior since it hit 80. I find warrior horrible in wvw.

You can do stuff like this on a Guardian.

Well it seems its all down to personal experience because honestly Vayle I’ve had the direct opposite.

My guardian survives way longer than my warrior, using mostly healing power and boatloads of passive regen, and he’s not even full bunker.

Anyway, it’s all down to how you personally play

I mean most people say Guardian is support, tanky etc, I run my guardian DPS oriented and am planning to go very glassy in the future. I love that damage

FinalPatriot.8034:

ArtemisEntreri.4138:

I actually enjoy both equally. I just dropped some gems on the table for some gold to overhaul the guardian and I read Brutaly’s guide for hammer guardian and put some more time into the play style and love the guardian again. I’ve tried other builds to much disappointment besides the healway build. No one likes to die in anything and Brutaly’s guide has different levels to the Altrustic Hammer Guardian. I’ll note my characters and the spec with the food I am using (I buy the cheap stuff).

Tamoko(what she will be once I buy eagle runes) – http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/guardian/?3.0|2.1g.h17|0.0.0.0.0.0|1c.7h.1c.7h.1c.7h.1c.7h.1c.7h.1c.7i|1n.67.1n.67.1n.67.1n.67.1n.67.8c.67|0.5.u56b.u29b.5|56.8|v.18.19.17.1i|e

ArtemisEntreri, do you by chance have a link to this guide you were talking about? I’ve actually never played my Guardian with the hammer before and don’t have a clue on how it works. I was going with GS/Staff for the damage/support but the staff really isn’t all that fun.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/guardian/Guide-Hammer-and-Altruistic-Healing-gameplay/page/9#post1832410

It’s stickied on the guardian forums at the top.

Happy Hunting.

Christos de Soufre.3802:

You can do stuff like "this":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gg5rF9WI6hU on a Guardian.

Chris has some great content and he runs the Healway build which has great survival and medium damage. The trick is to outlast your enemies and he does a great job at that. I actually use his build for dungeons. WvW I use AH build since I roll in the group/zerg.

Guardian:

Good DPS, multiple ways to play (Can be Bunker and never die, Support and provide lots of boons to allies as well as condition removals, can go DPS and be pretty tough while putting out damage with high mobility (Through Meditations))

Lower health means that you need to focus on utilizing Boons to stay alive, which can be fun to do (Also gives nice defence even if going full zerker)

Warrior:

High damage capabilities, a few ways to play (Healing shout builds, zerker builds and the 1-shot KS build is also viable for WvW skirmishing)

Higher base health but lacks active defences to prevent Conditions and burst damage (Outside of some CC and Block on shield) but makes up for it with higher uptime of offensive Boons like Fury, Might and to a lesser extent Swiftness (Prevents kiting when mobility skills are on cooldown)

So it comes down to more defensive style (Guardian) or more glassy burst style (Warrior)

For me, I favour going a DPS build on Guardian and putting out good damage with decent survivability.

That said, I do have a warrior for the 1-shot KS build:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ru_rXq2LYg0

Which is so stupid, yet hilarious every time…

I’ve played both to level 80 and I chose Guardian over Warrior.

In my solo experience, because I love soloing, the Guardian has better survivability.

The Guardian has powers that redirects damage back to the attacker which helps you take down large mobs fairly easy.

Also the Guardian has defensive powers that help you take a large amount of damage and stay in the fight.

Guardians, from what I have been told, are outstanding healers which of course is a good thing for Dungeon runs, if you choose to heal.

My favorite weapons for the Guardian is the Great Sword, Torch and Scepter.

If you’re looking to put out a great deal of damage then the Warrior would be the way to go.

FinalPatriot.8034:

SuperHaze.4210:

Guardian all the way. I played a pally since vanilla so I was also looking for the exact same thing. Try a symbol/meditation guardian build, it plays just like a prot dps pally. I put my warrior on the back burner until Anet fixes them

SuperHaze,

Can you link this spec for me please? I still have my level 19 Guardian but I’ll have to blow the dust off her.

Sorry I haven’t been following the thread but here you go. You can swap GS with hammer for more cc in pvp, but this build is more for solo play with SYG used for stomping, so you can switch it with Sanctuary for more survivability in PVE. Credit for the build goes to Sylvan.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUEQNAR5dlYgSDHHyKEfIFRugaBYP04H941DHCxGC