(edited by Zui.9245)
[Guide] Playing Guardian in Fractals
Introduction
About This Guide
This guide assumes that you, as a Guardian, are capable of making your own decisions regarding what traits to bring most of the time. If you’re unfamiliar with what meta trait setups for Guardian are, I suggest you check out Obal’s guide (http://dtguilds.com/forum/m/6563292/viewthread/12501056-dnt-guardian-build-12715).
This guide also assumes that you are capable of making your own decisions about what roles you most need to fill as a Guardian within a given group, as well as that you’re capable of figuring out what utilities you can safely burn at various fights.
Furthermore, one thing the guide doesn’t always mention is that if you can be buffing allies with Swiftness (Staff #3), you should do that, and if you can help blast (Hammer #2) smoke fields and fire fields, you should quickly swap to hammer to do that. Consider this part of your role throughout every fractal.
I am not telling you that you have to play in any specific way. Play how you want. If you don’t want maximum efficiency, but still want more efficiency, learn what you want from this guide and ignore the rest for all I care.
How To Use The Guide
There are a bunch of ways you could use this guide. I think one of the more effective ways would be to have it up on a second monitor, or print it, and quickly refer to it the first few times you’re running through a fractal. This will help you create “good habits” regarding your actions and utilities, instead of possibly forgetting something and getting in the habit of doing something that’s suboptimal.
Another suggestion is that you carefully read the guide, and try and figure out what certain things are suggested. You might want to consult www.gw2dungeons.net if you’re having trouble figuring it out. If you still can’t figure it out, feel free to ask me.
Credits
Author: Zui
Proofreading and Suggestions: Cracked, Enko
Champion Grawl Shaman Aegis Timing Video: Card
(edited by Zui.9245)
Order
Tier One – First Fractal
- Swampland
- Uncategorized (Harpy)
- Urban Battlegrounds (Charr)
- Aquatic Ruins (Krait) – Not covered in guide
Tier Two – Second Fractal
- Cliffside
- Uncategorized (Harpy)
- Urban Battlegrounds (Charr)
- Molten Furnace (Weapons Test)
- Snowblind
Tier Three – Third Fractal
- Cliffside
- Atherblade
- Volcanic (Grawl)
- Thaumanova Reactor
- Underground Facility (Dredge)
Tier Four – Boss Fractal
- Jade Maw
- Mai Trin
- Molten Duo
(edited by Zui.9245)
Swampland
Running Wisps
Role: Swiftness (Self), Aegis (Self), Stun Break (Self), Condition Clear (Self)
Weapons: GS + Staff
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Retreat, Stand Your Ground, Purging Flames, Renewed Focus
Mossman
Role: Aegis (“Slice” autoattack; if team is not dodging “Gouge”, the double axe raise attack, try to provide Aegis for this as well even though you’ll only prevent one of the hits), Projectile Defense, Get and hold aggro, DPS
Weapons: GS + M/F for most groups; GS + M/(F→T) for highly organized groups
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Retreat, Shield of the Avenger, Wall of Reflection, Renewed Focus (most groups) or Feel My Wrath (highly organized group only)
Other: In order to get aggro, you should be the first to run in and hit Mossman. Mossman’s aggro is highly based on first hit and highest toughness. If experienced and in an organized group 1-3 pieces of Knight’s armor to get the needed toughness. In a PUG or if you’re inexperienced, it is best to run full Knight’s armor
Bloomhunger
Role: Projectile Defense (Place WoR in center of hitbox, ideally placing it while jumping in mid air), Kill storm spirit, DPS, Quickness
Weapons: Sc/F + Sc/T
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Wall of Reflection, Retreat or Purging Flames, Shield of the Avenger, Feel My Wrath
(edited by Zui.9245)
Urban Battlegrounds (Charr)
Start
Role: Swiftness, Stability, Blinds, Projectile Defense, DPS
Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Stand Your Ground, Wall of Reflection or Bane Signet, Retreat, Feel My Wrath
Note: If your team has access to stealth, blast it and go right. Stack and pull the monks. If your team doesn’t have great access to blinds or high DPS, it’s a good idea to replace Mace/Focus with Hammer, and CC the monks with Ring of Warding (Hammer #5).
Dulfy + Gate
Role: Stability, Aegis, DPS, Quickness
Weapons: GS + M/F
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Stand Your Ground, Wall of Reflection or Bane Signet, Retreat, Feel My Wrath
Note: If you anticipate your team having a hard time with killing the oil, run Scepter instead of Mace.
City
Role: Group mobs together (if not LoSing), Projectile Defense, Stability, Blind, DPS, Quickness
Weapons: GS + M/(F→T). You can use Hammer or Staff for the CC if your group has trouble with the mobs and is LoSing them.
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Stand Your Ground, Wall of Reflection or Bane Signet, Retreat, Feel My Wrath
Note: If you have a Thief, it is faster to stealth through the city than it is to fight. If your team has enough blasts (and access to a fire field) to stack might and stealth, and also have good DPS, you can kill the gate to the city center and then stack behind it to kill the mobs (if the furthest north gate, mobs will not follow so no need to stack).
City Center (Capturing)
Role: Projectile Defense, DPS, Stability (while running), Swiftness (while running), Aegis (after pull), Blind, Quickness
Weapons: GS + M/(F→T). Swap between Hammer and Staff for CC instead of Mace/(F/T) if group lacks blinds.
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Retreat, Wall of Reflection, Stand Your Ground or Bane Signet, Feel My Wrath
Note: In an organized group, you can pull both trash packs on each side.
Ritual (Defending)
Role: Group mobs together, CC mobs if low DPS, Aegis (heartseeker), Projectile Defense, DPS, Quickness
Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)Swap between Hammer and Staff for CC instead of Mace/(F/T) if group lacks DPS.
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Wall of Reflection, Retreat, Bane Signet, Feel My Wrath
Captain Ashym
Role: Projectile Defense (FGS phase), Aegis (Flame Blast while in Staff. See note.), DPS, Quickness
Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)for a high DPS team or GS + Sc/(F→T) for a lower DPS team
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Wall of Reflection, Retreat, Bane Signet, Renewed Focus or Feel My Wrath
Note: Depending on group DPS, your ping, and your skill, you might be able to aegis both pulses of the flame blast (high DPS group where he’ll only use it once), or only one pulse. If you can provide aegis for only one pulse, it’s better to provide it for the second pulse as it has a larger AoE than the first, and if someone downs because they didn’t dodge the first pulse you have a bit of “free” time during the second pulse and its aftercast to resurrect them. In any event, always let your team know what you will be aegising before the fight starts, so they know when they need to dodge, and when they don’t need to dodge.
(edited by Zui.9245)
Uncategorized (Harpy)
Harpies (First Jumping Section)
Option #1: Skipping (w/ Stealth)
Role: Swiftness, Help Blast, Provide Aegis/Reflects/Stability if stealth ends
Weapons: Hammer + M/F
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Retreat, Wall of Reflection, Stand Your Ground, Renewed Focus
Note: You can blast from many platforms with the hammer leap providing you stand in the right places, face the right way, and angle your camera properly (Looking down/up: shorter leap; Aligned with your character’s axis: longer leap). Practice makes better.
Option #2: Fighting
Role: Projectile Defense, Stability (Orbs), Aegis (Orbs), DPS
Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Wall of Reflection, Shield of the Avenger, Retreat or Stand Your Ground, Indomitable Courage (Virtues X), Renewed Focus
Holding Area (Rabbit, Bandit, Ettin, Shaman)
Role: Projectile Defense (vs. Shaman, Ettin’s Bellow for damage), take Ettin’s aggro, kite Ettin (while other mobs alive), block tank Ettin (when only Ettin is left), DPS
Weapons: GS + M/F or Hammer + M/F
Recommended Skills & Traits (GS): Shelter, Wall of Reflection, Shield of the Avenger, Retreat, Renewed Focus.
Recommended Skills & Traits (Hammer): Shelter, Wall of Reflection, Shield of the Avenger, Retreat, Renewed Focus. Hammer is superior only for teams where it’s relatively obvious that someone else in the party has extremely high toughness, causing the Ettin to try and ‘split’ its aggro. You can generally regain aggro when you lose it by immobilizing the Ettin.
Note: Ettin’s aggro is highly based on toughness and first hit. In an organized group you can run a piece or two of Knight’s armor and maintain aggro. In a PUG or if you’re less experienced, a full set of Knight’s armor would be useful. When your team is on Rabbit/Bandit/Shaman, kite the Ettin. Once the Ettin is left, stand still (except for stomps, which you generally ought to dodge) and block tank him to allow your team to safely melee from behind. If you’re unable to survive while kiting the Bandit and/or Shaman in addition to the Ettin, make sure you assign team members to get their aggro; with that said, you can survive while kiting any combination of the bosses with practice and skill, so this is not absolutely necessary.
Harpies (Before Stair Trap)
Role: Projectile Defense, Group Together (Binding Blades), DPS
Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Wall of Reflection, Retreat, Shield of the Avenger, Renewed Focus or Feel My Wrath
Stair Trap
You can block or evade the lightning pulses. They can also be reflected with wall of reflection (they remain player-hostile after being reflected), which is best done near the top of the stairs so that players can safely run up the stairs to the reflect, and then safely run jump up to the side to reach the top.
(edited by Zui.9245)
Uncategorized (Harpy) – Continued
Old Tom
Note: As a Guardian you’re no longer able to tank Old Tom’s spin due to the removal of Tome of Courage; your party should use an Earth Elemental and/or stand in the perfect center of Old Tom’kittenbox. If your party has lower DPS, you should even use the fan.
Role: Projectile Defense (Chain Lightning, Launch Fist), Aegis (Launch Fist), DPS, Quickness
Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)
Recommended Skills & Traits: Signet of Resolve, Wall of Reflection, Bane Signet, Purging Flames, Feel My Wrath
Harpy Hunters (Second Jumping Section)
Option #1: Skipping (w/ Stealth)
Role: Swiftness, Help Blast, Provide Aegis/Reflects/Stability if stealth ends
Weapons: Hammer + M/F
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Retreat, Wall of Reflection, Stand Your Ground, Renewed Focus
Note: You can blast from many platforms with the hammer leap providing you stand in the right places, face the right way, and angle your camera properly (Looking down/up: shorter leap; Aligned with your character’s axis: longer leap). Practice makes better.
Option #2: Fighting
Role: Projectile Defense, Stability (Orbs), Aegis (Orbs), DPS
Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Wall of Reflection, Shield of the Avenger, Retreat or Stand Your Ground, Indomitable Courage (Virtues X), Renewed Focus or Feel My Wrath
Raving Asura + Golems
Role: Projectile Defense, Group Golems with Binding Blades (when all activate), Stability (when all activate to prevent CC), Aegis/Blind (Mittens – slow right arm swing “slash”, as well as vs. the spin), DPS, Quickness
Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Wall of Reflection, Stand Your Ground, Shield of the Avenger, Feel My Wrath
(edited by Zui.9245)
Aquatic Ruins (Krait)
Not currently included in the guide. This may change if the path becomes semi-common to repeatedly PUG.
(edited by Zui.9245)
Cliffside
Archdiviner (First)
Role: Projectile Defense (Wall in center of his hitbox for large DPS on spin), Get Aggro, Block Tank, DPS, Quickness
Weapons: GS + M/F (typical) or GS + M/(F→T) (organized)
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Retreat, Wall of Reflection, Purging Flames (Fire Field) or Bane Signet (DPS) or Shield of the Avenger (Aegis + Projectile Defense), Renewed Focus or Feel My Wrath
Note: Don’t expect any projectile defense to reliably protect you from the projectile spin. You should still dodge every time. Aggro is largely based on toughness and first hit for this boss.
Skip To Ankle Seals
Role: Swiftness, Stability (if whoever has the hammer doesn’t know to use the #3 to prevent the stun), Aegis (maintain)
Weapons: GS + Sw/F. Use Staff #3 early on in the skip for extra swiftness.
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Retreat, Stand Your Ground, Save Yourselves, Renewed Focus
Ankle Seals
Role: Blind (Autoattacks), Aegis (if serious lack of party blinds), Stability (if whoever has the hammer can’t/won’t use Hammer #3 to prevent stun) DPS, Quickness
Weapons: GS + Sw/(F→T) (Sword only because the very inferior cleave is beneficial here)
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Retreat, Stand Your Ground, Purging Flames or Bane Signet, Renewed Focus or Feel My Wrath
Skip to Chest Seal
Role: Swiftness, Stability (vs wind traps), Aegis (vs wind traps)
Weapons: GS + M/F. Swap to Staff for extra Swiftness.
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Retreat, Stand Your Ground, Save Yourselves or Merciful Intervention, Renewed Focus
Chest Seal
Role: Projectile Defense, Blind, Aegis, Binding Blades (mobs that are ranging and easily pulled), DPS, Quickness
Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Wall of Reflection, Shield of the Avenger, Renewed Focus or Feel My Wrath
Skip to Arm Seals
Role: Swiftness, Stability (if whoever has the hammer doesn’t know to use the #3 to prevent the stun)
Arm Seals
I will refer to the first seal players encounter as the near seal, which is the seal the game calls the “left” seal despite it being on the right arm of the colossus, and the second seal players encounter as the far seal, which is the seal the game calls the “right” seal. Always make sure your team is on the same page with regards to strategy before starting the arm seals.
Option #1: PUG Strategy
Role: Projectile Defense, Condition Clear, Blind/Aegis (autos), CC chanters if needed, DPS, Quickness
Weapons: GS + Mace/Focus. Swap to Staff/Hammer for Line/Ring of Warding to CC chanters as they come in if needed.
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Wall of Reflection, Retreat, Purging Flames or Shield of the Avenger, Renewed Focus or Feel My Wrath
Strategy:
1. Kill chanter at the near seal. Hit the near seal.
2. Kill chanter at the far seal. Hit the far seal.
3. Kill another chanter at the far seal. Run to hit the near seal.
4. Stack at the far seal hallway stack spot. Continuously pull chanters that spawn at the far seal and kill them.
5. Alternate hitting seals. The near seal will die first. After which, continue to focus on the far seal.
(edited by Zui.9245)
Cliffside – Continued
Option #2: Organized (No Thief, No Necro, No Mesmer)
Note: This plays nearly identical to the “PUG Strategy” above. The only difference is it’s a bit faster, requires slightly more coordination to execute, and requires everyone to be on the “same page” (and thus not killing both chanters at each seal because people are confused).
Strategy:
1. Kill chanter at the near seal. Hit the near seal.
2. Kill chanter at the far seal. Hit the far seal.
3. Kill chanter at the near seal. Hit the near seal again.
4. Move to the near seal hallway stack spot. Continuously pull chanters that spawn at the near seal and kill them.
5. Alternate hitting seals. The far seal will die first. After which, continue to focus on the near seal.
6. If the lone chanter from the far seal follows you to the stack spot, your team needs to immediately move around the corner to break LoS and lose its aggro. Do not kill this chanter.
Option #3: Organized (Thief or Necromancer) – Shadow Trap or Flesh Wurm
Role: Projectile Defense, Condition Clear, Blind/Aegis (autos), Binding Blades (chanters while fighting on seal), DPS, Quickness
Weapons: GS + M/F
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Wall of Reflection, Shield of the Avenger, Retreat or Purging Flames, Renewed Focus or Feel My Wrath
Strategy:
1. Kill chanter at the near seal. Hit the near seal.
2. Kill chanter at the far seal. Hit the far seal. Thief/Necro drops Shadow Trap/Flesh Wurm out of the way of the remaining chanter.
3. Kill chanter at the near seal. Put up reflects and pull mobs in (fight in the open). Drop hammer for Thief/Necro to pick up; Thief/Necro picks up hammer.
4. Thief/Necro gets a charge, activates Destroy Shadow Trap/Necrotic Transversal, and hits far seal. Team holds a chanter or two at low health; team may need to retreat to the near seal hallway stack spot.
5. Thief/Necro returns to near seal as quickly as possible, gets a charge, and hits the seal.
6. Run to the other side.
7. Kill the chanter and hit the far seal. If executed too slowly, you may need to drop reflects and hit the seal an additional time.
Option #4: Organized (Mesmer) – Portal
Note: This plays nearly identically to Shadow Trap / Flesh Wurm strategy above, except it is much faster.
Strategy:
1. Kill chanter at the near seal. Hit the near seal.
2. Kill chanter at the far seal. Hit the far seal.
3. Kill chanter at the near seal. Put up reflects and pull mobs in (fight in the open). Drop hammer for Mesmer to pick up; Mesmer picks up hammer.
4. Mesmer gets a charge, drops portal, enters portal, and hits far seal. Team holds a chanter or two at low health.
5. Mesmer returns to near seal, gets a charge, and hits the seal.
6. Team spasms interact in case the portal is still open. If done properly, the portal should still be open. Otherwise, run to the other side.
7. Kill the chanter and hit the far seal.
Skip to Archdiviner (Second) / Final Seal
Role: Swiftness
Archdiviner (Second) / Final Seal
Role: Projectile Defense (Bone Fiends, Chanters at hammer phases), Get aggro and block tank, Group chanters together (use Binding Blades, standing “in” but a bit behind and to the left of the front of the seal to pull all 4 chanters), DPS, Quickness
Weapons: GS + M/F (typical) or GS + M/(F→T) (organized)
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Wall of Reflection, Retreat, Shield of the Avenger, Renewed Focus or Feel My Wrath
Note: Aggro largely is based on high toughness and first hit. If you want to be fancy, after you kill the chanters at the start you can swap to Sword, teleport in with #2, then swap back to Mace. If you want to be even fancier, you can use Indomitable Courage before you do this. When pulling chanters, you should pull all 4 during the first 3 seal phases, and in the last seal phase only pull 3 to the seal (leaving one remaining away from the seal).
(edited by Zui.9245)
Molten Furnace (Weapons Test)
Starting Mobs
Role: Projectile Defense, Stability, Aegis (Resonator’s Earthquake, Oscillator’s Uppercut, Brawler’s Leap and Uppercut), DPS, Quickness
Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Retreat, Wall of Reflection, Stand Your Ground or Hallowed Ground, Feel My Wrath
Note: You should fight these where they spawn. It’s faster than LoSing behind the rock, and just as easy. Just be careful not to kill any of the mobs before the portal spawns or you can bug the fractal (this is difficult to do unless you try to do it and have high DPS, so don’t try).
Tunnel
Role: Projectile Defense, Blind, Aegis (running into each room), Stability (rockfall), Group Mobs Together, Condition Clear, DPS, Quickness. See mechanics run down for more detailed information.
Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Wall of Reflection, Retreat or Purging Flames, Stand Your Ground or Bane Signet, Feel My Wrath
Mob mechanics/strategy run down:
Cave Bats – Group together. Blind.
Cave Spiders – Group together. Blind. Cleanse conditions after death.
Earth Elementals – Guardian runs in first and baits high damage attack with blocks, then blinds them. Drop Wall of Reflection when they are reflecting.
Embers – Group together. Use blinds and projectile defense. Cleanse conditions after death.
Devourers – Group together. Blind. Cleanse conditions after death.
Murellows – Group together. Blind. Cleanse weakness and conditions after death.
Red Oozes – Group together. Use blinds and projectile defense.
Tar Elementals – Group together. Use projectile defense.
Toxic Oozes – Group together. Use blinds and projectile defense. Dodge as Muddied Ground is about to end.
Note: You can attack the mobs through the wall using Staff #1 (thus running GS + Staff). In a more organized group (which will rapidly blind Earth Elementals and Embers), this is ideal. Otherwise, it’ll probably lead to your group wiping due to the Earth Elementals or Embers.
Post-Tunnel Mobs
Option #1: LoSing
Role: Projectile Defense, Stability, CC mobs with Ring of Warding, Aegis (maintain), DPS, Quickness
Weapons: GS + Hammer
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Retreat, Wall of Reflection, Hallowed Ground, Feel My Wrath
Note: If you’re fast, you can swap Hammer on top of GS, time Ring of Warding, and then rapidly swap GS back in place of hammer, thus allowing you to take GS + M/F.
Option #2: Fighting In The Open (Organized Group)
Role: Projectile Defense, Stability, Aegis (maintain), DPS, Quickness
Weapons: GS + Mace/Focus
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Retreat, Wall of Reflection, Hallowed Ground, Feel My Wrath
Note: This will only work if your team has high DPS and sufficient access to blind.
NPC Roleplay
Role: Swiftness (on NPCs)
Weapons: Staff (#3), Hammer (Blasting), Focus (Blasting)
Weapons Test
Role: Projectile Defense (First test, Third Test, Cannon Test, Fire Tornado Test), Knockback Protector (Second Burn, Third Burn), DPS, Quickness
Weapons: GS + Hammer (for launch only)
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Purging Flames (lacking fire field) or Sanctuary (lacking projectile defense), Wall of Reflection, Shield of the Avenger, Feel My Wrath
Note: You don’t need hammer if someone else in your party can be trusted to reliably knock back the molten protector. In this case, you’re better off taking M/F. If you stand next to the thermal core on the exit door side of it, you can reflect/absorb the cannon projectiles with Wall of Reflection, Sanctuary, or having them collide with you in mid air while blocking them; Shield of the Avenger will not activate during the test phases. The same is true of the fire tornado test.
Weapons Test Engineer (Final Boss)
Role: Projectile Defense, Aegis (Impale), DPS, Quickness
Weapons: Unable to change from Weapons Test section.
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Purging Flames, Wall of Reflection, Shield of the Avenger, Feel My Wrath
(edited by Zui.9245)
Snowblind
Skip to Ice Wall / Fire
Give Swiftness.
Ice Wall / Fire
Note: Power (including Might), Quickness, and repeatedly stabbing the fire even if already lit make this event go faster. Make sure your party knows this. As another note, having one player (you) kite the Svanir allows the event to progress faster than kamikazing repeatedly or letting a Thief solo. With enough practice, you’ll reliably be able to do the Kiting (Hard) strategy without dying, although it’s not a major issue if you die as long as you last long enough.
Option #1: Kiting (Easy)
Role: Kite the Svanir and keep them away from the fire
Weapons: Staff + Hammer
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Retreat, Wall of Reflection, Shield of the Avenger, Renewed Focus
Note: Wear Knight’s armor to make surviving and maintaining aggro a bit easier if needed. Drop Wall of Reflection and Line of Warding when the Svanir spawn, and make your way over to the ice wall. Stack in the corner there, and use Ring of Warding when the Svanir get close. Use your blocks and dodges to run past the Svanir when Ring of Warding ends, and continue to kite them (if you think you might die, lead them directly away from the fire).
Option #2: Kiting (Hard)
Role: Kite the Svanir and keep them away from the fire, Quickness (extra difficulty)
Weapons: GS + M/F
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter or Signet of Resolve, Stand Your Ground, Hallowed Ground, Wall of Reflection, Renewed Focus or Feel My Wrath
Note: No need for Knight’s gear. Run a bit towards the Svanir at the start to make sure you get their aggro; Binding Blades can’t hurt.
Elemental Source
Role: Stability (Wind Gust, Lightning Strike last hit), Projectile Defense (Ice Shards), Blind (Ice Elementals), Group Aggroed Elementals (Binding Blades), DPS, Quickness
Weapons: GS + M/(F→T) if possible
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter or Signet of Resolve, Stand Your Ground, Hallowed Ground, Wall of Reflection, Indomitable Courage (Virtues G-B), Renewed Focus or Feel My Wrath
Skip to Shaman Lornarr Dragonseeker
Role: Swiftness, Aegis, Help Blast if stealthing or stacking swiftness
Weapons: GS + Sw/F. Swap on Staff and Hammer as needed for swiftness and blasting.
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Retreat, Free Slot, Free Slot, Renewed Focus
Shaman Lornarr Dragonseeker
Role: Get Aggro, Block Tank (Dodge Icy Breath), DPS, Quickness
Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Retreat, Bane Signet, Purging Flames (for fire field), Renewed Focus or Feel My Wrath
(edited by Zui.9245)
Atherblade
First Trash Pack
Role: Projectile Defense, Aegis/Blind (Smash), DPS, Quickness
Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Stand Your Ground, Wall of Reflection, Bane Signet, Renewed Focus or Feel My Wrath
Note: If your party has another Guardian or a Mesmer who can pull, you or they can just run straight at these and pull them together. Much faster and just as easy as LoSing.
Second Trash Pack
Role: Group together (run into trash pack and use binding blades w/ stability), Stability, DPS, Quickness
Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Stand Your Ground, Wall of Reflection, Bane Signet or Hallowed Ground, Renewed Focus or Feel My Wrath
Laser Floor Trap
You can use invulnerability (Renewed Focus) to run past part of the traps. You can disable multiple panels using conditions clears.
Spinning Laser Trap
You can use invulnerability (Renewed Focus) to run past part of the traps. Stability will prevent the stun. You can disable multiple panels using conditions clears.
Gate Event Timegate
Role: Pull non-LoSing mobs in with Binding Blades, Projectile Defense, Aegis (Thug-Smash), DPS, Quickness
Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Purging Flames, Wall of Reflection, Bane Signet, Renewed Focus or Feel My Wrath
Champion Frizz + Trash
Role: Stability, Projectile Defense, DPS
Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Stand Your Ground, Hallowed Ground, Indomitable Courage (Virtues X), Wall of Reflection, Renewed Focus
Note: You don’t need to LoS these mobs. Fighting on top is fairly easy, just make sure you binding blades them together at the start.
Golems + Laser Walls Active
Role: Stability, Projectile Defense (fist launch, lightning shot), Aegis (autoattacks), DPS
Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Stand Your Ground, Hallowed Ground, Indomitable Courage (Virtues G-B), Wall of Reflection, Renewed Focus
(edited by Zui.9245)
Volcanic (Grawl)
Grawl Waves (Start)
Option #1: Ledge (Slowest spot. Not much easier than Cage.)
Role: Stability, Projectile Defense, Blinds/Aegis, DPS, Quickness
Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Wall of Reflection, Hallowed Ground, Retreat (less blinds) or Purging Flames (plenty of blinds, less fire fields), Renewed Focus or Feel My Wrath
Option #2: Cage (Any group that doesn’t immediately jump up the ledge)
Role: CC (Hammer #5 in corner as mobs come in), Stability, Projectile Defense, Blinds/Aegis, DPS, Quickness
Weapons: GS + Hammer (swap off Hammer to Mace/Focus after using #5 if given a chance)
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Wall of Reflection, Hallowed Ground, Retreat (less blinds) or Purging Flames (plenty of blinds, less fire fields), Renewed Focus or Feel My Wrath
Note: Nearly all PUG groups could make the cage spot work for them if they didn’t immediately jump up the ledge.
Option #3: Rock Spire (Coordinated Group. Fastest and hardest spot.)
Role: Stability, Projectile Defense, Binding Blades (on mobs that don’t quickly LoS), Blinds/Aegis, DPS, Quickness
Weapons: GS + M/F
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Wall of Reflection, Hallowed Ground, Retreat (less blinds) or Purging Flames (plenty of blinds, less fire fields), Renewed Focus or Feel My Wrath
Note: This spot is difficult not only because it’s fast (more mobs per time, meaning tiny errors can lead to death much more readily than other spots), but also because it requires the party keenly paying attention to where the mobs are and moving around a bit to LoS them in and pulling them in if they don’t LoS. Additionally, unlike the cage spot, Ring/Line of Warding is more difficult to use and less effective even if you use it well.
Defend Villagers
Role: Stability (if rockfall directly on a Shaman you need to kill), DPS, CC as needed, Quickness
Weapons: GS + Mace/Focus. Swap between Hammer and Staff for Ring of Warding, Line of Warding, and Zealot’s Embrace instead of Mace/Focus if your team is lacking DPS and/or CC.
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Bane Signet, Retreat, Stand Your Ground, Indomitable Courage (Virtues G-B), Renewed Focus or Feel My Wrath
Champion Shaman
Role: Projectile Defense, Stability (rockfall), Aegis (PUGs: maintain in case of Bash; Organized: Churning Earth’s extreme damage hit, see video for timing), DPS, Quickness
Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Wall of Reflection, Retreat, Stand Your Ground or Bane Signet, Indomitable Courage (Virtues G-B), Renewed Focus or Feel My Wrath
Note: Try to get everyone in the party to stay at max melee range so he does not use the Bash attack. Do not use Shield of the Avenger, as it can trigger the Bash attack. If no one else is doing it, kill the Grawl Totem as it grants the boss protection and fury.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Kvk28qNfw4
Skip
Give Swiftness.
Legendary Imbued Shaman
Option #1: Traditional
Role: Aegis (Arrows when no projectile defenses are up or Firestorm hits to give people more reaction time), Projectile Defense (see note), group Lava Elementals with Binding Blades, DPS, Quickness
Weapons: GS + M/F or GS + M/(F→T) for highly organized groups
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter (very experienced with fight) or Signet of Resolve (less experienced with fight), Wall of Reflection, Shield of the Avenger, Retreat, Absolute Resolution (Virtues M-C), Renewed Focus or Feel My Wrath
Note: When a bubble phase begins, you should channel Shield of the Avenger (if someone is providing an initial reflect other than you, start channeling when the bubble phase begins. Otherwise, get good at predicting when one will begin so you can pre-channel). When the bubble is about to break, dodge back and drop Wall of Reflection. Binding Blades pull remaining Lava Elementals to your wall. Repeat at every bubble phase (do not begin next phase until you can repeat this).
Option #2: Organized (Skipping bubble phases)
Everything is the same as above, but will be used differently. Organized groups will use 100% effective chill uptime (from skills and from Ghost Pepper Poppers), coordination, and high DPS to skip all but one bubble phase. Exactly what needs to happen to make this work depends on group composition, but a generalized version is as follows.
1. Get Shaman to 75% health. Bubble phase begins.
2a. One non-Guardian party member will use a instant/near-instant antiprojectile skill while the Guardian channels Shield of the Avenger.
2b. Slow or otherwise immobilize the Shaman so he can be ignored.
3. Pull Lava Elementals together and kill them. Blinds are good.
4. When Lava Elementals are dead, break the bubble.
5. Rapidly DPS the Shaman until he dies.
(edited by Zui.9245)
Underground Facility (Dredge)
Note: If in an organized group, from the start of the fractal to the start of the bomb or gun event, it’s much faster to use the suicide strategy. I will not cover this in the guide. See these (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8ePhgUgx2g) videos (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zERcssniRIk) for an example.
To Drill Room
Role: Projectile Defense, Stability, Aegis, Group Dredge, DPS
Weapons: GS + M/(F->T)
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Stand Your Ground, Wall of Reflection, Shield of the Avenger, Renewed Focus
Drill Room
Option #1: Kiting
Role: Get Aggro, Kite Dredge
Weapons: GS + Hammer
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Wall of Reflection, Shield of the Avenger, Retreat, Renewed Focus
Option #2: On Switch
Role: Stand on switch until door opens
Weapons: Hammer + M/F
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Wall of Reflection, Shield of the Avenger, Retreat, Renewed Focus
Note: Volunteer for the “Right” switch (the one that’s to the right as you enter the room), as it’s generally considered harder, but at the same time is very easy for a Guardian.
Post Drill Room Mobs
Group together with Binding Blades if necessary. Kill or stealth past.
Breach The Door
Gun Side
Once using the detonator, you can run into the next room (to the left as you run in) and stack to LoS the trash and kill it, or you can simply fight on the detonator. Fighting on the detonator is almost just as easy as well as much faster.
Bomb Side
Group up adds that spawn after shooting the door with Binding Blades. Binding Blades can strike and pull them once the first one has spawned.
Rabsovich (Dredge Cart)
Role: Aegis (autoattacks), Stability (optional), DPS, Quickness
Weapons: GS + Mace/Focus
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Retreat, Bane Signet, Hallowed Ground or Free Slot, Renewed Focus or Feel My Wrath
Final Boss (Power Suit or Ice Elemental)
Note: This guide assumes you will be fighting these bosses in melee. You can do this even if your team intends to run around and kite, although these bosses aren’t that difficult to melee if you know their mechanics. If you don’t intended to fight in melee, just run Sc/T and range.
Rampaging Ice Elemental
Role: Stability (Boss: Ice Spike, V-shaped Stomp attack; Adds: Ground Smash; It’s safe to just chain stability instead of trying to use it reactively), DPS, Quickness
Weapons: GS + M/(F->T)
Recommended Skills & Traits: Signet of Resolve, Stand Your Ground, Bane Signet, Indomitable Courage (personal stunbreak), Hallowed Ground, Feel My Wrath or Renewed Focus
Mechanics:
Ice Spike – Don’t stand where it will land. Walk out or if you’re late to move out, dodge out.
Fist Smash – Walk or if slow dodge out of range. You want to get behind the boss, a bit beyond max melee range when he uses this skill as it has a very large AoE (which is larger than the indicator would suggest).
V-Shaped Stomp – Walk or dodge through the boss. The “V” on the ground does not accurately indicate where you will be damaged by this attack.
Kneeling (Heal) – Heals and summons 3 adds. Interrupt if “Superheated” is not on the boss.
Dredge Powersuit
Role: Projectile Defense (Bombs), Aegis (Bombs, or if inexperienced players, to take first hit of Slash so players have more time to dodge), DPS, Quickness
Weapons: GS + M/(F->T)
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Retreat, Wall of Reflection, Bane Signet, Feel My Wrath or Renewed Focus
Mechanics & General Strategy:
Slash – Pulls right arm back (dodge as soon as you see this) and punches with one arm, followed by the other. 2 extreme damage melee hits. Dodge or multi-block.
Ground Smash – Glows and smashses ground. Dodge. Powersuit gains stability (1 stack) for 3s.
Bombs – Both arms out to sides, up, and down again. Projectile Defense / Block / Evade / Hope you’re not standing where a bomb lands. Bombs 1 shot alive players, and deal no damage to downed players.
Shockwave – Jumps. Dodge.
Heal – Crouches down. Interrupt if “Superheated” is not on the boss.
(edited by Zui.9245)
Thaumanova Reactor
Start
Role: Projectile Defense, Group Mobs Together, Aegis, Blind, DPS, Quickness
Weapons: GS + M/(F->T)
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Retreat, Bane Signet, Wall of Reflection, Renewed Focus or Feel My Wrath
Subject 6 (Ooze Room)
Immobilize Strategy
Role: Immobilize Subject 6, DPS, Quickness, CC smaller oozes if necessary
Weapons: GS + Hammer
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Retreat, Bane Signet, Purging Flames or Sanctuary (additional “last ditch” CC), Renewed Focus or Feel My Wrath
Note: Do not trigger Subject 6 until everyone is “ready”. The immobilize strategy works by preventing S6 from reaching the NPC it needs to kill before it gains skills.
Normal Fight
Role: Condition Clear (Corrode Weapon, Corrode Armor), DPS, Quickness, CC smaller oozes if necessary, Binding Blades pull to interrupt Subject 6 if necessary
Weapons: GS + Hammer
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Purging Flames, Bane Signet, Sanctuary, Absolute Resolution (Virtues M-C), Renewed Focus or Feel My Wrath
Turret Room
Role: Press buttons, kill golems if needed (Wall + DPS)
Weapons: GS + M/(F->T)
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Retreat, Stand Your Ground, Wall of Reflection, Absolute Resolution (Virtues M-C) Renewed Focus
Note: You can solo 3 out of the 4 buttons. Simply press the “left” button through the wall near the “top” buttons (give yourself stability in case you mistime it). Have someone press the “right button”. Press one of the “top” buttons, clear your immobilize, and then press the other “top” button.
Hot Room
Just let a class that can easily solo the room do it (Warrior, Thief, Mesmer, Necromancer). Or you could collect and use the cooling rods.
Rescue Room
Kill doors. Kill portals. Press the button. It’s worth it to save the researchers even on bugged levels where the door to press the button is open by default, as they now actually give the damage boost against the Anomaly.
Anomaly
Role: Take Aggro (first hit, then keep running around the outside while he is targeting you), Stability (Cosmic Barrage), DPS, Quickness
Weapons: Sc/T + GS
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Retreat, Bane Signet, Purging Flames, Indomitable Courage (Virtues G-B), Feel My Wrath
(edited by Zui.9245)
Solid Ocean (Jade Maw)
Skip
Role: Swiftness
Weapons: GS + Sw/F
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Retreat, Anything else
Awakening (First 2 Tentacles)
Melee Scale (1-49)
Role: Projectile Defense, Blind/Aegis (Tentacle Attacks), DPS, Quickness
Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Retreat, Wall of Reflection, Bane Signet or Shield of The Avenger (see note), Renewed Focus or Feel My Wrath
Note: Melee is much faster than ranged. Drop a reflect at each tentacle. If no one else can be trusted for a second reflect, take Shield of the Avenger, use Wall on the first tentacle, and while running to the second start channeling Shield.
Ranged (Scale 50 or not comfortable with melee)
Equip a scepter and attack from range.
Trash Mobs (Jade Maw “Fight”)
Role: Blind/Aegis (Tentacle Attacks, Jade Colossus’ Ring of Earth), Projectile Defense (vs. Irukandji if scale 50), DPS, Quickness
Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)
Recommended Skills & Traits (Scale 50 while Irukandji alive): Shelter, Retreat, Wall of Reflection, Purging Flames, Renewed Focus or Feel My Wrath
Recommended Skills & Traits (Scale 1-49): Shelter, Retreat, Bane Signet, Purging Flames, Renewed Focus or Feel My Wrath
Speeding Up The Jade Timegate
Jade Maw can be sped up by life stealing. It is imperative that you do not begin life leeching the Jade Maw until all of the Colossi are dead. If you start leeching too early, you risk bugging the instance.
One method of life leeching that requires no coordination is having a Scepter with a Leeching sigil.
Another method of life leeching that requires some coordination is a dark field (e.g. Shadow Refuge or Necro Wells) and projectile finishers (e.g. Icebow #2). This second method is much faster and can also be in concert with leeching sigils.
(edited by Zui.9245)
Molten Duo
Molten Effigy + Trash Mobs
Role: Projectile Defense, Group Trash Together (Binding Blades, DPS, Quickness
Weapons: Sc/(F→T) + GS
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Wall of Reflection, Shield of the Avenger, Purging Flames or Retreat, Renewed Focus or Feel My Wrath
Note: Camp Sc/F versus the Effigy, and GS (after using any focus skills that might be up) versus the trash mobs. If you kill the Effigy fast enough, you can swap Sc/T out for M/T.
Molten Berserker + Molten Firestorm
Role: Aegis (Berserker’s Uppercut, which is the 3rd and final attack in the auto chain), Projectile Defense, DPS, Quickness
Weapons: Sc/(F→T) + GS
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Wall of Reflection, Shield of the Avenger, Retreat, Renewed Focus or Feel My Wrath
(edited by Zui.9245)
Captain Mai Trin
Trash Mobs
Role: Binding Blades to group mobs if not stacking, Stability, Projectile Defense, DPS, Quickness
Weapons: GS + M/(F→T)
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter, Retreat or Purging Flames (if Fire Field needed), Wall of Reflection, Hallowed Ground or Stand Your Ground and/or Indomitable Courage (Virtues G-B), Renewed Focus or Feel My Wrath
Mai Trin
Role: Lure/Pull/CC boss into blue (when necessary), Condition Clear, Aegis (teleporting shot, especially if you can’t tell who it is on or it’s unlikely they can block or absorb it), Block shots yourself (stand far away) if/when necessary, DPS, Quickness
Weapons: GS + M/F
Recommended Skills & Traits: Shelter (if experienced) or Signet of Resolve (if newer to the encounter), Retreat, Purging Flames, Bane Signet, Renewed Focus or Feel My Wrath (organized group)
(edited by Zui.9245)
Updated for the core specializations patch (with possibly more updates to follow as ANET tweaks things). The largest change being that the meta weapon has shifted to making full advantage of focus and torch more often. Mace was already meta for fractals.
Since there isn’t a standard way of annotating the new traits yet (the build editor that’s currently up lists Absolute Resolution as Virtues V for example, when that’s no where in the game), I’ve devised a new method: Line X-Y. Where Line is the trait line (i.e. Virtues), X is the trait level (Adept = A, Master=M, Grandmaster=G), and Y is the location at that level (Top=T, Center=C, Bottom=B), which would make something like Absolute Resolution “Virtues M-C”.
Additionally, there’s a bit of a formatting issue with the new guide for the weapon sets. It says "GS + M/(F?T) (I swear, in the editing window the arrow symbol showed perfectly). This isn’t a big enough issue to comb through and replace the “?” with a manual arrow “→”, at least not given that I’ll likely be updating things again relatively soon and can just fix it then.
As always, any suggestions or things you notice that don’t look quite right are appreciated. It’s an extremely long guide, and I wouldn’t be shocked if a few things have slipped through the cracks of my proofreading abilities.
Enjoy,
Zui
Minor updates.
Volcanic – Added a great video by Card on when to Aegis the Champion Shaman’s Churning Earth attack.
Formatting – replaced “?”s with the proper “->”‘s. No idea why the forum allows the -> symbol if you combine a "-" and a “>”, but doesn’t allow it (but it shows up on the preview) when you paste it in directly.
the link on Underground Facility (Dredge) “Suicide strategy” is broken, can you please fix the link.
Chaos | Death And Taxes [DnT]
Thanks for pointing that out! I’ll update the links in the guide shortly, but for now there’s: