Introduction:
The idea behind this build is to capitalize on the way the trait lines of the Guardian are laid out, which is similar to other classes (such as the necromancer, ranger, and warrior). The key to doing this effectively is going to depend upon a lot of synergy between the 30 point trait in Radiance giving you an additional +15% critical chance with a one-handed weapon, sword and torch to apply fast and powerful burns, as well as a Superior Sigil of Earth to stack lots of bleeds from your near 100% critical chance.
Traits:
You’ll start by investing 30 points into Zeal and Radiance and your remaining 10 points into Valor in order to maximize your condition damage as well as your chance to proc critical hits.
In Zeal, you want to take Fiery Wrath (10% improved damage versus burning foes), Shattered Aegis (burn foes when aegis is removed), and Kindled Zeal (add 10% of your power to condition damage).
In Radiance, you want to take Inner Fire (when you are set on fire, apply burning to foes), Radiant Fire (torch recharge speed, also improves burning), and Right-Hand Strength (add +15% to one-handed critical chance.)
In Valor, you can take whatever you want, but I prefer Defenders Flame (100% chance to burn foes while blocking) because it works well with the overall theme of the build (applying conditions and bursting).
Utility:
For your utility skills you can take whatever you need depending on the situation. Utility skills are not going to enhance or degrade the effectiveness of this build all that much. Some compliment it well, such as Judge’s Intervention or Signet of Wrath (because we will be doing a lot of condition damage), but these are largely a matter of preference and you should not feel as though you must adhere strictly to a specific set of utility skills for this build. For your healing skill, this will depend on whether or not you use the 10-point Valor trait Defender’s Flame. If you do, I recommend you use Shelter for the 2-seconds of block, as this guarantees a proc of burning on your foe every time you are hit while healing.
Gear:
For gear you will need to balance yourself because by taking both Zeal and Radiance you will not have a lot of survivability from traits. For this, I recommend to wear Knights gear, in order to greatly improve your toughness (which allows you to mitigate damage) as well as your precision and power (precision is important for improving critical chance, which is the primary focus of this build). With enough Knights gear, as well as the inherent durability of the Guardian profession itself coming from virtues and heavy armor, you should be able to improve your survivability enough to get by easily.
However, we also need to to bring Rampager’s gear to improve condition damage and precision as much as we can in order to capitalize on burning and on bleeds from Sigil of Earth. To do this you will have to figure out exactly how much precision you actually need on your gear. Because there is no point in exceeding 100% critical chance, and because your 30-point Radiance trait Right-Hand Strength improves sword critical chance by 15%, that means that you only need enough precision to have at least 85% critical chance. Anything more than this is not necessary. Therefore, it is up to you which items you will wear to improve condition damage and precision. Personally, I use trinkets for this, while my body armor is of the Knights variant.
Runes & Sigils:
For runes, I recommend you take Superior Runes of the Undead in order to further improve your condition damage and your damage mitigation from toughness. Both of these traits will help you stay in the fight long enough to burst lots of conditions.
Finally, as I mentioned at first, the key point of this build is to take Superior Sigil of Earth on your main-hand sword and torch, as your very high (100%) critical chance rate means you will proc the bleeding effect from Sigil of Earth.
(edited by Meyrink.6792)