Guild Wars 2

So I just hit 80 on my guardian and had all the money saved up to buy full beserker exotics, weapons, sigils and runes and I am using the metabattle GS SF build. Now I go do a level 9 fractal (I play ranger and mesmer so I have experince in fractals but from a ranged stance) and I think I was downed almost every other fight. I would use up all my rolls, and have my heal and virtues on CD and would just be getting rekt all the time. Is it just my timing? Are there skills I should be using instead to help survive? Any help would be appreciated as I have fallen in love with guardian but don’t enjoy dieing as much as I have been.

Thanks

First off as melee there is allot more stuff to avoid.

Second while you may be able to do full zerker once you know the fights by heart I would suggest having some soldier or even celestial till you get to know them.

I would also suggest using a hammer build till you get to know them, possibly even after.
The constant protection is a nice thing to have & will keep many things from 1 shotting you (at least till high level fractals). There are several such builds out there that work very well. (there is also barely any damage difference)

Lastly for any further advice you may want to link the build on http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/

With retreat, virtue of courage, renewed focus, shelter, shield of wrath, and protectors strike you can block most bosses for a really long time without dodging most things. Get used to using them to “tank” damage along with dodging. Use wall of reflection -> shield of the avenger -> wall of reflection when there are projectiles. Spam F1 at trash. That is how to survive as guardian in fractals. Mace is pretty good in fractal over sword for the extra block against bosses as well as better cleaving.

The Meta Guard, though extremely powerful, is rather squishy if you’re new to the build. The idea behind the meta build being they aim for max DPS as being dead is the best form of hard CC against mobs (heh).

Surviving with any Meta build requires attention in three areas
-Know your enemy: As a guard Aegis is your best friend, but some mobs/bosses have unblockable attacks as such you’ll need to know to dodge those attacks rather than soak them. As far as dodging is concerned doing just mindlessly tap the button when you start to panic but instead discipline yourself in paying attention to your target to learn the tales. It’s all about the timing when going from ranging to up close melee.
-Nourishment: I cannot stress enough how important food is in the game. Food has effects such as heal on crit, more damage, and boon/condi extention/diminisher respectively. There are also potions that give you a whole 10% damage boost as well as reduces direct damage to you by 10% of a particular creature type. Beyond that bring Utilities such as stones or oils to make sure you are maximizing your potential.
-Flexibility: This is a matter of practice and comfort in knowing various builds as well as your skills “bring the right tool for the job”. Effectively don’t try to lock yourself into the Meta build but rather use that as a guide. Sure 4/6/2/0/2 and 4/5/0/0/5 are fantastic builds, but sometimes you need to switch to a Hammer build for support such as 3/5/0/4/2 or 5/5/0/4/0.

As a Guard we kinda have the burden of the party looking to us for support (since we do it so well!). So aim to be the last one down. Meta Guards overall require more attention as we don’t have ubber traits like AH to mindlessly keep us alive. For trash mobs blind them like crazy and remember that F1 blinds as well and recharges upon killing an enemy. You also have blinds on both you weapon sets so be sure you’re using those. Aegis, as I mentioned before, is your saving grace. By all means, don’t spam Aegis but use it when you need it. Eventually you’re goal should be to save virtue F2 and F3 for your allies rather than for yourself. You have blocks on other skills as well and can always slot in renewed focus for Invuln frames.

Finally, be sure you’re in a good team. As a ranger a bad team isn’t as noticible as you said you were ranging. In a melee group bad/moderate teams are more readily recognized.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fVAQJASWl8ApXolCxQI0ENR8QVVAg9TsFV61HRMcDA-ThCBABCYBRlq/cmSQsU+BwlUgijUQKaa0THQAPAAn2PgUA5pMC-e

Try this ^. High dps, Excellent survivability. It’s an AH hammer build on Zerker gear. Just stand there and whack your Hammer 1 till the symbol’s down and staff empower for a decent 6-7k+ heal burst (self) w/ 2k+ to team. Freely switch your weapon’s depending on fights, etc (Scepter/mace/GS/Whatever). Use your healing breeze on team to heal up to 3 other people 4-5k hp and spam your aegis’.

Ignore the one above.

I wouldn’t go as far as saying ignore it as it’s agood middle ground. AH + symbols are enough to keep someone lazily alive. AH + Empower offers a heal that rivils your dedicated 6 slot. Though I would change the build up a bit to something like 2/0/6/4/2 as the one Virtue slot has a lot of versitility. The runes and sigils are a little odd as well, and I would recommend sticking to the meta.

I’ll repeat myself in saying do not spam aegis. As guards we have supierior access to that boon, but we are still limited in how often we can access it. Be smart about it, you’re aiming to block a killshot not just basic mob cleaves.

Here the things that I really don’t like about the proposition of ThyShadowPaladin.

- Mesmer runes? What is the motivation for that move? If you want to give a relatively cheap rune that don’t need you to stay at 90% hp, then propose Flame Legion. A far better choice than Mesmer rune.

- Retreat and Wall of Reflection are good utilities that he need to learn how to use, but then AH before useless since he won’t give that much boons to his party members. A more meaningful sustain healing would be Absolute Resolution.

- F1 blind is a big part of the survivability of a guardian in PvE and a relatively hard skill to use. Spamming F1 in the middle of the fight is something easy to forget when you are new and need to be learned as early as possible.

- Staff isn’t much of a good option. It’s not a bad option in that case since he should camp Hammer anyway. Mace/Focus will give him way more survivability option (regen + blind + 2 blocks), while boosting his dps rather than limiting it. Sceptre/Focus is also a better choice as it give him the option of going in range when thing get bad in melee for him.

I would see more something like this :
http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fVAQJASWl8ApXolCxQI0ENR8QVVAg9TsFV61HRMcDA-ThCBABCYBRlq/cmSQsU+BwlUgijUQKaa0THQAPAAn2PgUA5pMC-e

Not ideal, but it give him mechanic that he can train and that will carry on if he want to play more offensive build later. For gear, it’s his choice to get the mix he feel the most comfortable with and switch back to berzerker when he feel ready.

Just run a few regular dungeon to get used to the build before you go into fractals.

If you have to buy a completely new set of gear just to learn how to play your class its going to take forever.