Guild Wars 2

So I’m trying to decide between these two classes. Currently, I have a level 43 warrior. He’s fun to play and I’ve generally enjoyed leveling him so far. Normally, I play the paladin class characters so I was naturally drawn to guardians but despite the fact this game doesn’t have the whole holy trinity thing, coming from a WoW vanilla background I was worried about being pigeon holed into some sort of healer/support role.
To make a long story short, I just wanted to know what some of the pros and cons were of playing either classes at level 80. Because I literally only just made a guardian who’s barely level 5 but I’m having tons of fun already and the weapon skill choices seem like they definitely have greater potential. I’m assuming when it comes to support, the guardian wins out there, but would I be right in thinking that the warrior will be able to put out better dps then?

If someone has experience playing both classes (or even better both classes at level 80) would really appreciate the advice!

Warrior has better burst, Guardian has better sustained damage.
Warrior has the highest tier hp, Guardian has the lowest tier.
Support wise I think theyre pretty equal, I really like banners but I think it favors guardian
Warrior has more potential with weapons as they have variety of weapons to choose from and be good at both melee and range. Guardians has one ranged weapon, the scepter.

Thats roughly what i know off the top of my head

Listen up, I’ve brought both classes to 80.

Guardian has by far – and I mean, very far – the greatest endgame potential.
Warrior is squishy no matter how you build it; on the most defensive build you deal joke damage – lower than guardian by far – and still don’t survive like a Guardian.
Warrior’s survivability can be recapped in “kill things before they kill you or die”.
They deal more damage but it doesn’t mean a lot when you’re dying.
Furthermore all their skills are meh to your team and quite boring to use, while the majority of Guardian skills are tide-turning for both you alone and the team.

Guardian is not pidgeon-holed, you play like a Warrior except your protective tools also protect your team.
It’s your team that will need to get behind your Wall of Reflection or inside your Sanctuary, if they spread too much they can’t get your defenses so they WILL follow you if they want to stay alive.

In short, Warrior is easy to deal high dps with but fails under other important aspects; if I was to need DPS I’d rather have a Ranger or a Ele.
But no one says “if I wanted defense I’d rather take X instead of a Guardian”.
Guardian is the core of a team, and great to play on solo too as not dying allows you to complete stuff instead of killing two more mobs and then die.

…in shortER, Warrior has versatility, but Guardian has survivability.

Red Falcon

Listen up, I’ve brought both classes to 80.

Guardian has by far – and I mean, very far – the greatest endgame potential.
Warrior is squishy no matter how you build it; on the most defensive build you deal joke damage – lower than guardian by far – and still don’t survive like a Guardian.
Warrior’s survivability can be recapped in “kill things before they kill you or die”.
They deal more damage but it doesn’t mean a lot when you’re dying.
Furthermore all their skills are meh to your team and quite boring to use, while the majority of Guardian skills are tide-turning for both you alone and the team.

Guardian is not pidgeon-holed, you play like a Warrior except your protective tools also protect your team.

^
This. 10000x this. And triple that for PvP (tourney).

I really wanted to like the warrior, but it’s subpar in every department when you consider what’s best for a GROUP. Melee dps? Bring a thief instead, benefit from better burst and survivability, stealth rez/stomps and such. Need someone “tanky” guard wins hands down while also bringing better group buffs, utility tied to their attacks (blinds, immobilizes, healing, buffing). Ranged LOL, bring any other ranged class which will provide your group with utility.

It’s basically like the warrior was the first class designed so it’s vanilla, then they used it as a baseline and said “hey this ability is neat, let’s do something like that for this other class but make it better”.

Go guardian, you’ll be much happier in the end. (for the record if you really want to do the 2h’d dps roamer guards can fill that slot nicely with the right build while STILL bringing more utility to the group).

I’m not one to necro but… Guardian, from my own personal experience, has bullkitten(Wait, bull kitten? Meow?) survivability compared to Warrior.

Yes, it’s an excellent class and has very good team support, however, having the 2nd to lowest HP pool in the game, not the most viable dps trait specs, and feeling “pigeon holed” in your choice of weapons for survival I ultimately choice warrior.

Why? Warrior’s ridiculously survivable in open world pve(Can’t speak for pvp. Not my forte) with their regen signet and maneuverability something that guardian just doesn’t have.

Warriors have far greater ranged options(shotgun for single-target conditions, longbow for AoE burns), higher weapon versatility, much, much easier and forgiving in the heat of battle, and, in my honest opinion, better “tank/survive” trait abilities and passives.

Please note this is written long after the original discussion but the game has changed significantly since then.

All in all, it’s all opinionated. Play whichever you like the most and whichever your most comfortable with. Both are the “Laugh in the face of danger” classes that’ll greatly satisfy like no other at endgame. Happy hunting!

Go Warrior. The future is looking quite bleak for Guardians – on the other hand Warriors have many weapons and tactics at their arsenal, and are a very well-rounded profession.

So many… biased replies…

I’m not a Warrior expert, but here’s my input on what I’ve seen so far:

Warriors deal better damage (bursty also) than Guardians, but that doesn’t mean Guardians don’t deal significant damage or are weak in any way.

Warriors have more base HP (8k) which is good since you don’t get to focus too much on Vit for survivability. Guardians might have better defensive skills, but no Guardian runs with their base 10k health.

Guardians have better group support overall. Most of their support comes from passives or other skills that benefit them and their group (this is important, so they never feel as kittening their personal stats for the group’s). Warriors have Shouts and Banners for this, which are also quite good.

Guardians have the best ranged defense / point defense. There’s plenty of utility skills AND weapon skills that allows you to defend against ranged attacks, which is great in any group fight.

Guardians have a weak ranged option compared to other classes. Warriors aren’t that great either, but still better than Guardians. You’ll probably feel this more in WvW than in any other aspect of the game.

Warriors are harder to kite than Guardians. Most Guardians weapon sets have 1 gap closer or cripple effect, with no passive movement increase. If you want more than this, you’ll have to spend utility skills for it.
Warriors are better in this, having some options for movement increase or at least 1, usually 2 weapon skills for movement.

All in all, I think both are great professions, if you like more group support at the expense of personal attributes (health, damage), go Guardian. If you prefer a more “trampling” profession at the expense of group support, go Warrior.

Danicco.3568:

So many… biased replies…

I’m not a Warrior expert, but here’s my input on what I’ve seen so far:

Warriors deal better damage (bursty also) than Guardians, but that doesn’t mean Guardians don’t deal significant damage or are weak in any way.

Warriors have more base HP (8k) which is good since you don’t get to focus too much on Vit for survivability. Guardians might have better defensive skills, but no Guardian runs with their base 10k health.

Guardians have better group support overall. Most of their support comes from passives or other skills that benefit them and their group (this is important, so they never feel as kittening their personal stats for the group’s). Warriors have Shouts and Banners for this, which are also quite good.

Guardians have the best ranged defense / point defense. There’s plenty of utility skills AND weapon skills that allows you to defend against ranged attacks, which is great in any group fight.

Guardians have a weak ranged option compared to other classes. Warriors aren’t that great either, but still better than Guardians. You’ll probably feel this more in WvW than in any other aspect of the game.

Warriors are harder to kite than Guardians. Most Guardians weapon sets have 1 gap closer or cripple effect, with no passive movement increase. If you want more than this, you’ll have to spend utility skills for it.
Warriors are better in this, having some options for movement increase or at least 1, usually 2 weapon skills for movement.

All in all, I think both are great professions, if you like more group support at the expense of personal attributes (health, damage), go Guardian. If you prefer a more “trampling” profession at the expense of group support, go Warrior.

^

go anywhere on these forums and you will read tons of posts complaining about warrior skills, and comparing every class to a war. this is because right now Warriors sit at the top of the pile. With Great Damage, Support, and control all while sitting with the highest base armor and HP Wars are a solid choice right now. However Their recent blunder aside. I personally believe ANet will not let this oversight rest. While many of the other classes should be before Guardians (Like the sad Elementalists) I think that eventually all classes will come in line with one another. And War will stop being the generally dominating force we are seeing now. So I will tell you what I tell everyone who asks this question.

Go Warrior if you just want to jump on the FOTM Bandwagon, But go _Guardian_ If you like the class for the class. the buffs/nerfs will come and go. But you will at least be playing the class you like.

Lokki.1092:

Danicco.3568:

So many… biased replies…

I’m not a Warrior expert, but here’s my input on what I’ve seen so far:

Warriors deal better damage (bursty also) than Guardians, but that doesn’t mean Guardians don’t deal significant damage or are weak in any way.

Warriors have more base HP (8k) which is good since you don’t get to focus too much on Vit for survivability. Guardians might have better defensive skills, but no Guardian runs with their base 10k health.

Guardians have better group support overall. Most of their support comes from passives or other skills that benefit them and their group (this is important, so they never feel as kittening their personal stats for the group’s). Warriors have Shouts and Banners for this, which are also quite good.

Guardians have the best ranged defense / point defense. There’s plenty of utility skills AND weapon skills that allows you to defend against ranged attacks, which is great in any group fight.

Guardians have a weak ranged option compared to other classes. Warriors aren’t that great either, but still better than Guardians. You’ll probably feel this more in WvW than in any other aspect of the game.

Warriors are harder to kite than Guardians. Most Guardians weapon sets have 1 gap closer or cripple effect, with no passive movement increase. If you want more than this, you’ll have to spend utility skills for it.
Warriors are better in this, having some options for movement increase or at least 1, usually 2 weapon skills for movement.

All in all, I think both are great professions, if you like more group support at the expense of personal attributes (health, damage), go Guardian. If you prefer a more “trampling” profession at the expense of group support, go Warrior.

^

go anywhere on these forums and you will read tons of posts complaining about warrior skills, and comparing every class to a war. this is because right now Warriors sit at the top of the pile. With Great Damage, Support, and control all while sitting with the highest base armor and HP Wars are a solid choice right now. However Their recent blunder aside. I personally believe ANet will not let this oversight rest. While many of the other classes should be before Guardians (Like the sad Elementalists) I think that eventually all classes will come in line with one another. And War will stop being the generally dominating force we are seeing now. So I will tell you what I tell everyone who asks this question.

Go Warrior if you just want to jump on the FOTM Bandwagon, But go _Guardian_ If you like the class for the class. the buffs/nerfs will come and go. But you will at least be playing the class you like.

lol They are only FOTM for PVE they suck at pvp while Guardians are a top tier pvp class.

Warriors are faster and better in the PVE dept but Guardians are not that far behind but in pvp Guardians pull away from Warriors at a very fast pace….

I don’t agree with guardians having more survivability. I get smashed often by way to powerful poison/bleeds (and to often renewed making removing condition useless). Stun breakers cannot keep up with Orr monster stun rates (and sacrafice your ’precious survival/support build slots), meaning you will be hit freely at some point while stunned, making you an easy target to die.

Blind has to short durations. Half of the time it doenst work, or the monster first use weak skill, and instantly after strong skill, making the blind useless and slashing you to pieces as well. I also noticed blind does not work for certain (especially very powerfull) attacks, meaning your only defence again got removed. The healing isnt great. Warriors can have continous regen as wel with the heal signet so really guardian isnt better. For the rest they nerfed healing so hard, most of the builds can’t keep up with Orr damage rate. Call me a noob but Guardian doesn’t have better survivabilty as warrior. On top of it warrior has a lot of ‘move fast’ (leap, whirl etc) attacks, wich can be abused to escaped battles. Guardian is mostly relying on blinds and dodges (with runes out in 5 secs in orr to dodge their first attacks, then you are at their mercy, cause they run incredible fast.

And as above posters said lowest hp pool is a big punish no matter how high defense/healing is. A few spikes can easely surprise you to dead. Ranged weapons of guardian are bad imo. They just don’t work well. Bow or gun of warrior work so much better. I love the bow so far.

If you are good at twitch games, give guardian a whirl.

I run side by side with a Warrior and while his damage is nice, my survivability is so much better (judging by how often I have to revive him )

What do you guys think about WvW? PvE and sPvP, the guardian seems to nudge out the warrior. I spend alot of time in WvW and it seems like the mobility, versatility, and ranged options favor the warrior?

Thanks for the input.

Guardian – Healing, Ally Supportive, Surviability, Boon Machine. Low Hp. Good Multi-Enemy CC or Multi-Ally Support. No ranged (No good ranged that is)

Warrior – Dmg. Access to All Weapons. High Hp. Good Multi-Enemy Dmg. Low CC (as far as i know). Good Ranged DPS if required. Good Burst Dmg. Low Healing. More Conditions then Boons.

Those are the major differences in the class that are apparent after a while. The rest of the differences that occur between players are really dependent on play style and skill. You’ll have to ask yourself which one you feel most comfortable with

I am leveling both at the same time and I definitely notice better survivability in PvE, sPvP and WvW on my guardian. The down state on Guardian is AMAZING. When I get downed on my Warrior I just hope for the time to run out but when I get downed on my Guardian I can very often finish the mob and get back up.

The main thing I miss on Guardian is my rifle. I duo with a ranger a lot and it is easier to hang back and plink or stay away from huge DE mobs.

Phoebe Ascension.8437:

I don’t agree with guardians having more survivability. I get smashed often by way to powerful poison/bleeds (and to often renewed making removing condition useless).

There’s plenty of utility skills that remove conditions passively. Pick one or two and you’re good (Purity from Valor 10 or Healing Signet).

Phoebe Ascension.8437:

Stun breakers cannot keep up with Orr monster stun rates (and sacrafice your ’precious survival/support build slots), meaning you will be hit freely at some point while stunned, making you an easy target to die.

You’re not supposed to get hit by stuns that often. If you are, either you’re doing it wrong, or you’re trying to face way too many at once.

Phoebe Ascension.8437:

Blind has to short durations. Half of the time it doenst work, or the monster first use weak skill, and instantly after strong skill, making the blind useless and slashing you to pieces as well. I also noticed blind does not work for certain (especially very powerfull) attacks, meaning your only defence again got removed.

Blind isn’t a “spam and win”. You gotta use it when you think it’s best, and not everytime it’s on CD.
Abominations, for example, hit 2~3 times their regular and slow attack and then use their stomp. You can blind that and stand still during that attack. Or, since it’s easier to avoid, blind one of it’s regular attacks, dodge the stomp.

Phoebe Ascension.8437:

The healing isnt great. Warriors can have continous regen as wel with the heal signet so really guardian isnt better. For the rest they nerfed healing so hard, most of the builds can’t keep up with Orr damage rate.

Warriors have only 1 source of passive healing, making it the same as our Virtue of Resolve. And no build will ever, no matter the profession you choose, keep up with the damage from ANY monster in the game (of your current level) if all you’re doing is standing still and hoping your healing will suffice.

Sounds to me you’re playing the game wrong, thinking it’s like the automated combat of other MMOs, where you build your stats to the strongest with your gear and fight Numbers x Numbers.

The low health pool is annoying, for sure, because you must gear or Trait for it if you don’t want to run with 10k health. But this just means we’re squishier than ever running glass cannon builds, but with any other average, balanced build, Guardians rock.

Well I have a few things that really keep smashing me down. One is conditions. I tried your suggestion of course already but it only remove 1 (or 2 with traits ) every 10 sec (they sync together, so it wont work like every 5 sec remover). So basically signet + trait is useless in most cases. Secondly I get poisons (risen mobs) so hard and so often even removal doenst pay off. They cast it, you wait for signet to get in, takes a long 7+ secs. Finally removed, dang, they renew it. You use another utility to remove it. 5 secs later another mob casts it on you (ranged). So really if i fight risen, i feel like i’m forced to have everlasting poison on me.

Secondly mobs fight animations. They are so different, even between the risen. Small vs big brute = different attack. They use the same animatino often, but sometimes very slow, and sometimes very fast. If it’s a fast attack and i respond fast it’s good because the attack basically has a cd (for monsters) giving me some time to breath. Sometimes though i double time right when the sword ‘raises’ and just (at the very beginning) of my dodge animation i still get the full damage. Kinda disappointing as this feel ‘I hit the button in time’. For some fast attacks the dodge windows seems ridiculous low (see, respond, 0,3 secs time or to late). The big attacks are also anoying. They raise sword ‘ok lets dodge’. Crap he’s still charging, and still, and still, he finally attacks, but meanwhile he moved towards me and now it’s a hit (out of endurance or bad timing of second dodge). I don’t know how you people can see the distinc difference between these kind of attacks. I think orr monster have 3 different attacks, normal attack, wire pull, poison and maybe a ’stronger attack also. The cool downs are pretty low, and Orr mobs run faster then you, making a dodge, only extend your escape for 1 second tops.

Sometimes i managed 5 mobs, perfectly time blind/dodges. But then they poison me, and because i’m strugging with that + damage from normal attacks, trying to avoid both, it’s just to hard, and I go down fast. Basically the conditions in this cases are the ‘killers’. Thie things that really finish me off.

Also torch nr 5 skill. Does it actually cure conditions? Because it never worked on myself so far.

That being said tried mace today and the healing of it works wonders. At low levels that slow (and low healing/damage) of it made me discard it, but seems lvl 64 range it gets very good. Still it’s again dillema ‘freeze and get healing, but also get attacked and damaged’ or move and loose almost all healing potential from symbol.

Warriors have only 1 source of passive healing, making it the same as our Virtue of Resolve. And no build will ever, no matter the profession you choose, keep up with the damage from ANY monster in the game (of your current level) if all you’re doing is standing still and hoping your healing will suffice.

Not so much.
30pts in Tactics for ‘Shouts Heal’ and you can easily get 1800hp group heals on a 20/20/24 sec CDs.
If you really spec for it 2100 is doable. That’s about 6300 for the group every 21 seconds or 300hps on top of any regen/rejuv/heal skill.

Seems like you’re having a hard time figuring which type of Risen they are for each fight.

I don’t remember their names when I’m not playing (weird), but by checking their skills, you get some of their obvious patterns.

Like the one who pulls (acts like a Guardian). When I aggro one, if I see him starting spinning, I dodge if I want to avoid the pull (most of the time I don’t bother, I want to get close too and he gets knocked down also – lol).
This one hits hard, but if you just avoid his Symbol and one or two attacks (after the pull), he’s pretty much straightforward damage/heal.

The poison is most of the time meaningless, the damage isn’t really good but the healing cut is troublesome. Though the only Risen I can remember that casts it is the “Elementalist” one, which sprays that fouled water spring (that heals him, damages you), and he attacks mostly throwing those green arcs. He’s ranged, and you shouldn’t have any trouble fighting ranged – pop a Shield of the Avenger and you can go AFK auto-attacking him.
He also jumps and knock you down, but it’s easily dodged – check for the jump.

Then there’s the Noble/Servant, who are more like Thieves. They’re weak, have low health, and you should have no trouble with them.

There’s also the Chaos one, that throws some purplish sorta-slow balls that hits like a truck. This one is one of the most dangerous imo, because if left forgotten in a pack, he can easily drop off your health if you’re not paying attention. I focus on these if there’s any (thankfully, they’re rare).

There’s also the Acolyte (the only one I can remember the name, because I hate it), who immobilizes you and is a slow ranged attacker. He’s mostly annoying because if you need movement fighting a pack, he WILL immobilize you at the most annoying time EVER.

The last one I can remember is the one with hammers, who has constantly the cripple effect on them. They’re easy if you range, but if you want to melee the only thing you gotta avoid is his smash down. It’s fast, he charges behind his back, but if you expect it, it’s not impossible. If you want to play safe, keep running backwards/sidewalk hitting at your maximum weapon range, and he’ll waste that attack.
Then he’s just a weak damage/slow hitting Risen. Takes 3~5 attacks before the knockdown again.
This one is impossible to avoid by running around, because he will AIM on you. You gotta move out of range or you’ll be hit.

These are all the ones I can remember from the “humanoid” Risen. The big one, Abominations, are terrible to fight because of Frenzy. They’re easily soloable (even champion) if you’re solo.
You put in a random player who’s willingly taking hits, and dang, he’s stacking up Frenzy and running/damaging like a dungeon boss. When this happens I simply run until he switches targets and I stay the hell away of it, while laughing (admittedly, I don’t find as much fun as before) as people get 1 shotted.

If you have to fight him, his attacks are REALLY slow, and you can easily dodge moving to his back (dodging, or just walking through). If you want to walk to the side, go to the right since he swings all the way to the left side. His smash down has a long charge and you can simply walk away of it (or to his back if you get his timing).

I remember when I was leveling and I also thought “Wow, these Risen are so OP… must be because they’re the big bad dudes” but once you get used to them (mostly from roaming around the level 80 areas), they’re not so hard. Take this chance to get to know your enemies well and you’ll do perfectly fine at the 80 areas (I had a hard time at first because I didn’t bothered fighting/figuring them out).

Torches’ #5 cures conditions only on those you hit, not on yourself.
With a decent Vitality, you can take most conditions on time enough for Signet of Resolve or Purity to proc, but most of the time I go with Smite Condition to remove immediately some “must remove” conditions (like an immobilize when I’m getting chased).

In a nutshell

*Warriors do more burst damage
*Guardians do sustained damage

*Warriors have higher base health
*Guardians have more effective health

*Warriors have a wider range of weapons to use
*Guardians have one ranged weapon option

*Warrior abilities are mainly aggressive and have banners for support
*Guardian abilities more often benefit group play and give more boons.

Polle.6908

In a nutshell
*Warriors do more burst damage
*Guardians do sustained damage

*Warriors have higher base health
*Guardians have more effective health

If this was the design document, they’ve got a long way to go to make it into the game.

These statements are simply not how the game plays.

Just my two cents,
I have made it to lvl 18 and new at Guild Wars. I have played most of the mmos out there. Besides being new and feeling better than the others I wanted to tell about my Guardian so far. I tried a few different weapons. and as far as the “range” issues. I use a 2h hammer/ mace and sheild combo. For ranged I use the #3 on the hammer that holds them in place long enough for me to get close and then #2 witch is my favorite button, a few swings later and if 1vs1 it will die if my own lvl. I also have both fire aoes, so if I need aoe I can port to them then smash. The mace and shield is for when I get low on hp I switch and use boons to get back up to full. I am having a blast smashing anything near me. I mostly die only when big boss fights ether there is a newb dragging the boss over the dead, or the boss has targeted me and after a min ill die. But mostly getting the hang of it. I have tried a few other classes the mister is fun but theres nothing like leaping though the air and smashing things that look at you funny.

If this was the design document, they’ve got a long way to go to make it into the game.
These statements are simply not how the game plays.

Obviously there is a difference between how the classes are played and how they’re designed. Warriors inherently have more hit points than Guardians unless we start talking about extremes and gear variables. Guardians have enormous options in ways of healing and condition removals which brings both classes into line.

Discussing damage potential can be sensitive. A guardian can deal an excellent amount of damage if the player is devoted to traiting correctly and wearing the appropriate gear. The comments I made earlier are meant as an archetype of both classes and ignores these types of possibilities.

The thread was a simple pro/con for each class. If we start discussing each player’s play styles it would effect gear/trait setup, and this is something that the OP has to decide for himself, not us.

I have both classes at 80.

Warriors have a higher damage potential, but they have to sacrifice a lot of damage to use any non-offensive support.

Guardians have a lower damage potential, but they DO NOT have to sacrifice much damage to provide a lot of support.

It’s everyone’s job to DPS, so don’t be afraid of being forced into a healing role.

Polle.6908

Obviously there is a difference between how the classes are played and how they’re designed. [..] Guardians have enormous options in ways of healing and condition removals which brings both classes into line.

While I agree that Guardians have many options, I disagree that they bring the classes into line. Many abilities are simply too weak and need boosting. Take, for example, the Power of the Virtuous minor trait at 25 in Virtues. This could be completely amazing, and be the centre of many builds all by itself, but instead it is reduced to sub-mediocrity by being such a tiny percentage that it may as well not exist at all.

I find that the Guardian needs to re-trait and change weapons for every encounter in order to be competitive, while the Warrior seems able to stomp into any zone confident that he can head the keyboard and still succeed.

Well after level 60 I tried about 10 builds, in quick succesion after each other. Only one worked superior. (Others where medicore at best). Altruistic healing ftw!

Level 60-70 risen, ive taken 15 of them in story mode and survived. I took armies of 6 (alone without support) without dodging and i survived. The healing all countered it and the blinds. When 7+ enter it can get a bit hard or when one of the monsters has a stun, then dodging is more important.

Lastly though finally got to Orr again (level 73 now), and those risen stroke me down again.) What specific? The necromancer risen. He uses a 5x hit skill, and dodging at most evades two. (Sceptor 3 and dagger 1, third hit, of necromancer makes this sound, this mob, uses this sound in a quick succession of multi-hit skill, giving each hit this ‘necromatic’ sound – easy to recognize wich skill I mean) Wich means 3x 300 damage you’ll take at least, he’s ranged and repeats it fast. Another one ‘wire pulled’ me, making me take the full necromancer strikes on my body. Dodging feels irrelevant. They move so fast you cannot avoid them. And the moment you dodge, they trow an aoe right where you dodge, making you take even more damage. Perhaps there where to much of them, but i was in story mode, had no choice but to right them all off.

Especially the necromancer is hard at the moment. Perhaps my ‘medium good’ gear, is partially at fault (lvl 72 green greatsword, 730 damage), yellow lvl 65 armor (rare) etc.

The ones having trouble surviving with a Guardian just haven’t fully gotten used to the class yet. Don’t care if they typed out an essay explaining their woes, the Guardian is easily the bulkiest class in the game. If you don’t think so, you’re just not as good as what you can be.

Guardians may have a lower HP modifier than Warriors, but they are very much more tanky. The main difference being the Guardian’s defenses are all active versus the Warrior who just soaks more of it up. You have protection, regen, blinds, aegis, blocks across your whole arsenal, how you time these abilities determines your mileage with them. If you pop Virtue of Courage on a normal swing, it’s going to be on CD when the big bad boss does his stomp.

Conditions are the bane of Guardians, they eat through armor and is more threatening with a lower HP pool. Time your removals better. If it’s only a 3 stack bleed, it’s not going to harm you. Removing it ~7-8 stacks means whoever applied it has to start from scratch again. Like all other defenses the Guardian has, if you blow it on the littlest things, you won’t have it when it counts. In fact, for removals, the Guardian is actually one of the best off in this department too.

The Warrior is more offensively inclined where as the Guardian takes the slow and steady finishes the race approach. Warriors pack a lot of burst (it’s their mechanic) while Guardians go by the route of having really good sustain. Don’t let their defensive facet fool you, they’re very capable of pulling out numbers.

That being said, it’s impossible to build a Guardian without having some sort of light field, and people love these. Its ability to remove conditions when combo’d makes it one of the best field effects in the game, and Guardians have it in abundance. You don’t have quite as much as the Warrior, but the Guardian has options to choose from for finishing combos too. Both the Greatsword and Hammer have self comboing potential.

Something completely unique to Guardians though is the ability to ward off areas from your foes. Once again, how effective this is is entirely in the hands of the beholder. It’s less straight forward than Warrior’s Earthshaker AoE stun, but has the potential for even more control.

The Guardian is great already by itself, but its usefulness is amplified in groups when you realize all this and the fact that they pretty much spew boons as a byproduct of doing everything.

Lumines.3916:

The ones having trouble surviving with a Guardian just haven’t fully gotten used to the class yet.

This. In my limited experience with the game — all PVE, too — I thought a Warrior with the healing signet was going to be the most survivable class. Longbow, rifle and greatsword were all so good I have to carry them all and swap between them just for fun.

Meanwhile my Guardian kept getting stomped.

With some experience though, I’m really enjoying PVE with mace/focus, with a good balance of Toughness, Vitality, Power and Healing. I still get downed by some tough enemies (usually skill challenge or “group event” bosses) but for the most part, what I can’t outlast I can at least escape. And when I’m not alone, people cluster around for all the regen and blocking and retaliation.

Focus 5 is a combo finisher, and while it’s not as spammable as Hammer or Greatsword combos it does work well with Mace 2, or with Purging Flames. Overall I seem to outlast tough fights best with mace/focus.

My secondary is staff (mostly for Empower and Symbol of Switfness) but I’m considering making Hammer my secondary, because it’s fun too and its combos are more spammable, and still offers some defensiveness. I feel pretty exposed switching to staff in the middle of a tough fight.

Reinhartd.7369:

So I’m trying to decide between these two classes. Currently, I have a level 43 warrior. He’s fun to play and I’ve generally enjoyed leveling him so far. Normally, I play the paladin class characters so I was naturally drawn to guardians but despite the fact this game doesn’t have the whole holy trinity thing, coming from a WoW vanilla background I was worried about being pigeon holed into some sort of healer/support role.
To make a long story short, I just wanted to know what some of the pros and cons were of playing either classes at level 80. Because I literally only just made a guardian who’s barely level 5 but I’m having tons of fun already and the weapon skill choices seem like they definitely have greater potential. I’m assuming when it comes to support, the guardian wins out there, but would I be right in thinking that the warrior will be able to put out better dps then?

If someone has experience playing both classes (or even better both classes at level 80) would really appreciate the advice!

I played warrior to about 20 and have gotten my guardian into the 40s. One thing you mentioned in your OP is that you like playing paladins. While the guardian is very different from a WOW paladin in terms of skills, it really captures the champion of justice/holy warrior feel. It’s the main reason I chose guardian over war – because I felt the warrior was a little too generic in terms of flavor and weapon skills. I also like bathing myself in holy fire and setting the heretics ablaze.

There is one glaring weakness with the guardian if you plan to play lots of WVW. The guardian has a handful of ranged attacks that make defending a keep tough. The warrior can be brutal at range with the rifle for single targets and longbow for AOE.

Lumines.3916

Guardians may have a lower HP modifier than Warriors, [..] The main difference being the Guardian’s defenses are all active versus the Warrior who just soaks more of it up.

This makes the guardian extremely vulnerable to Thieves.

Lumines.3916

Conditions are the bane of Guardians, they eat through armor and is more threatening with a lower HP pool.

This makes the guardian extremely vulnerable to Necromancers.

Contrary to what most ppl say that Guardian has the best survivability, I notice Warrior actually has better survivability that us Guardians. We’re talking based on both professions going full tanking spec AND also base on individual survivability.

Warrior has bigger HP pool(to combat Conditions), better blocks(based on duration not # of blocks), a lot more VIABLE Control options(Stuns/Daze/Knockbacks etc) and their toughness on par with Guardian. So definitely Warrior is the better sole survivor.

But in team games, Guardian is a better asset, they do not have better individual survivability but has better team survivability than warriors, as most of their boons extend to party members and their traits are dependent on having allies within the area to boost the effectiveness of their traits, hence weak in solo survivability.

Warriors are damage dealers where as Guardians shut out damage.

Focus 5 = 3 blocks, Aegis = 1 block, activate VoJ = 1 blind (traited), Focus #4 = 1 blind, switch to mace and use mace #3 = 1 block counter, pop another virtue which gives prot and aegis = 1 block

That’s negating 8 attacks! and you haven’t even begun losing health!!!

Then pop Renewed focus = Invulnerable for 2 seconds which would negate another 2 attacks, then pop VoJ = 1 blind, pop the other Virtue for aegis = 1 block.

By this time your other cooldowns have either recharged or are very close to recharging. You can either evade 2 more attacks or you take some damage and heal your health whilst you wait for cooldowns to finish. (8k+ heal whats their to worry about?)

Whilst your negating just about everything the enemy is throwing at you, you are chipping away his health with burning and other in between attacks, not to mention if you use Phantom weapons to knock down or do extra damage on your enemy.

The Guardian is not built for DPS like a warrior. But a Guardian 1v1 will win against any class. All you have to do is reverse the mentality of kill kill kill. The winner is the one still standing at the end of the fight. This is what Guardians do.

I have a lvl 80 Guardian. tried rolling a warrior both can fight a mob 2-3 lvls higher without much problem. Warriors will kill faster and take less damage but a Guardian can take 2-3 of them and laugh in their faces where a warrior would be running for his life.

To put it in another perspective, a Warrior is a Berserker. He kills the enemy but cares little about protection and his own safety.

A Guardian is like a Paladin…. but one that will just not fking die

@Svarty

I have no idea how you have problems with thieves, if anything, they cry out about heavies the most including Guardians. Retaliation eats them, aegis can negate their backstab spec, hell just popping Shield of Wrath completely destroys their spec. Besides, just because the modifier is low does not mean you will have low HP, it’s all in your set up. My offensive pub-stomping build for hot-join has 20k hp with Knight’s Amulet but still 2.5k armor, that’s just a tad (~100) less than a clothie using Rabid. Otherwise, for bunker builds, Soldier’s Amulet is really all you need.

Necromancers can be a hard fight for Guardians, but that’s about the only redeeming factor about them at this point. Unless you use your removals really badly, you can resist for a long time. The only damaging DoT they have are Bleeds, their poisons are short in duration unlike the ones from Engineers or Thieves.

They can corrupt your boons yes but Corrupt Boon is blocked by aegis, Well of Corruption being the only true one but even then, it’s 1 boon per second for a total of 5 which you can walk out of (not always the best when defending a point but you can’t expect to face tank everything..)

If anything, it still takes a good Necromancer a good while to eat through a Guardian. Their strongest suit aside from corrupting boons? Transferring conditions which is slightly less effective against Guardians. For one Guardians can’t stack a 12+ stack bleed and watch it get bounced back like it would be for other condition specs.